31 March, 2012

Fifty, 50, and 25 plus 25

I was at my daughters swim practice yesterday and there were 4 moms huddled together and they were discussing none other than Fifty Shades. What is Fifty Shades? If you don't know, may I direct you to Google I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was a situation of two worlds colliding. I had to refrain from making any comments, even when they were discussing, "I would love this to be made into a movie" Sigh.

I have been reading FanFiction for quite a while now. No, I will not say how long, but it's been a while. I've read some outstanding stories and some really crappy stories. Fifty Shades, or as it's called in the Ficdom, Master of the Universe, has always been one of my favorites. It's not the outstanding writing that drew me in because, well, the writing is what it is and outstanding it is not. However, I liked the story itself. The romance between the two characters, the growth of said characters and of course the drama that evolves as the story plays out.

MotU a.k.a Fifty Shades is a self published book from the author and has been recently optioned at Random House for proper publishing. It's also been optioned by Universal and Focus for a reported 5 million dollar film deal. To say this has created a stir in the in fandom and outside of it is an understatement.

I have stayed out of many a conversation on this topic for a variety of reasons. Some of my friends support the idea and are happy for the author while some, do not. And that is okay. We are all entitled to our own opinions and after what I've been through in this ridiculous fandom, I'm the last person to begrudge someone that. I can see both sides of the argument when dealing with this very sensitive subject. The fact that this is a published book is not at all shocking to me. I've said many times, E.L. James is not the first to self publish her fiction and she is certainly not going to be the last. She is however, the first to get this much recognition for her story and I'll be honest if the story did not have the sexual themes that it does, I'm not so sure she'd be getting this attention.

There are a lot of self published authors doing quiet well. Some publishing their own fanfictions only reworked and some publishing original works. Angel Lawson, a.k.a EZRocksAngel, is one of them. Her "Wraith" is doing quiet nicely. Another fiction, "Sempre" by J.M. Darhower was a fan fiction called "Emacipation Proclimation" that was reworked a great deal and self published. It too is doing well. So, it can be done.

Entertainment Weekly this week has Fifty on the cover. Well, if you're a subscriber, that is the cover you will receive in your mail. News stands will have The Hunger Games on their cover. The author has been on countless radio and television shows, news feeds have picked up the story and just about everyone knows someone who is reading it as it makes its way into every day life and conversation.

The next phase of this situation is the movie.  EL James retained rights on the casting of the film, a smart move for any author, and she has said she would like to cast unknowns to play the lead.  Well, that's nice in theory, but after shelling out $5 million on an unknown author who happens to have written the flavor of the week, that is not going to happen.  Universal/Focus are going to want to see a return on their investment and unknown actors are not going to do that.  So far everyone who has been associated with the story has been receptive to the idea.  However, we all know that no one burns a bridge in Hollywood so saying and doing are two very different things.

Time will tell what direction things will go for the movie version, but as of right now, the book is everywhere.  This is one hot topic that's for sure and it's not going to go away. Although, at times, I sure wish it would

19 February, 2012

the best they can do at this point...

I wrote this blog post back in February. Just messing around a bit really, but the thoughts are still mine. I find it funny to go back and read drafts, but this one stuck out for me. You don't have to read though the thing, but I would like to draw attention to the highlighted bit at the end and compare it to this

There's also a sense that the film has been edited to keep her presence as limited as possible, with few shots lingering and a role that's mostly passive
Mostly passive?  Her character is in the title of the film!!  She is supposed to be the lead character, how is she "mostly passive"?  Oh wait! Thinking back to the first, second and so on tv spots, not many of them actually feature Stewart and even fewer of them feature her speaking in them.  That is NEVER a good sign.

That was a bit of a review from ClickOnline.com which you can read here   I find it funny that these seems to be a common theme with this film.  I also saw a tweet last night that read,

"Phrase nobody ever saw coming: "the vastly superior 'Mirror, Mirror'"

That cracked me up, of course it was in the 2am hour.  After all the comparisons to these two films, which are clearly nothing alike, yeah, that was funny.

Any noodle...this is the rest of the blog if you are so included to read.

So there are going to be two Snow White movies coming out this year. Yes, two. Now, I've got nothing against Snow White, I mean she is the "Fairest of them all" but she is just not my favorite of any of the Princesses. So the fact that there are two movies coming out does nothing for me. However, these two movies, while possibly having similar themes, have a very different look and feel to them.

First up is "Mirror, Mirror" staring Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane, Armie Hammer, and Lilly Collins. I'll let you guess who is playing who. This version of Snow White is going to take a stab at the campy, humorous side of things. Just imagining the screen time between Julia Roberts and Nathan Lane has me excited to see this version.

The visuals alone look stunning and adding to that are the wonderfully designed costumes by Eiko Ishioka. Oh the colors!! I'm betting on this being a treat for the eyes.

"Mirror, Mirror" hits theatres on March 30, 2012, despite the earlier dates on the posters.

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Now for something completely different. The second of the Snow White's to hit theatres this year is "Snow White and the Huntsman" staring Charlize Theron, Chris Helmsworth, and Kristen Stewart. Again, I'll leave it up to you to figure out who plays what character, though I'm betting you already know.

While both Snows have similar approaches, this one looks to be the darker of the two. In this version, Snow White takes on more of a bad ass approach. After being sent off to the woods where The Huntsman is supposed to kill her, he has a change of heart and rather than kill her, her trains her up to fight back against the Evil Queen. Enter bad ass Snow White.

There is no doubt in my mind that Charleze not only will act the part, but she looks every bit of the role of the Evil Queen. Her acting talents prove just how good she is in each role she takes, so I'm sure this will be no different. The spotlight so far in the films trailers has been on her which does not make me sad at all.


Oddly enough, the spotlight has not been on the films name sake. I found this strange. There have been a few rumors surround this topic. Are they saving Snow White for the big reveal, is her role not as big as suspected, how bad is her rumored British accent? Take your pick.



Now, I'm not suggesting that Stewart's acting is below par, but I have viewed her in other things and lets just say, well, ya know, I think I'll keep those comments to myself. I will say this, if her role is not that big or if she is not up to the task, Universal could always cut the film to make it all about the evil queen. Yes, it's been done before. This would give Universal a huge jump at the live action villain franchise that Disney is going to kick off next year with "Maleficent" staring Angelina Jolie.

"Snow White and the Huntsman" hits theatres on June 1, 2012

That evil part of me

I know it might sound evil to be happy about pissing someone off. Okay, it IS evil to be happy about it, but this couldn't be helped.

It gave me great satisfaction to piss off my husband this morning. You see, we signed our son up for baseball last week knowing full well the many nights we would be spending at the ball fields between practices, clinics, games and more. I mentioned the sacrifices that would have to be made to my hubs as we filled out the online forms and forked over the $100 registration fee. "Oh, it's no problem, I'm well aware of the sacrifice" he said. Well, that seemed to have gone right out the window when I reminded him of the Sunday practice our son had.

Our home schedule is not your typical Monday through Friday, nine to five schedule. Oh no. I work weekends and one day during the week while hubs works nights. Hubs usually takes morning shifts, while I take the afternoon. He gets the kids off to school, while I pick up and do the homework rounds. It's not the most convenient of schedules, but it works for our life.

Unless of course he has something more pressing to do. Recently he has gotten into competition BBQing. He's in with a great bunch of guys and they mean business. This is all well and good. I mean, everyone should have a hobby and I'm glad he found this as cooking comes very natural to him and he's very good at it. Although at times I wish he'd stop thinking of me as his "plongeur" (sorry, just watched Ratatouille) but I digress.

So here we are facing the Sunday ball practice. Hubs was complaining that if he knew about the practice he'd have come straight home from work instead of going out and picking up his BBQ smoker. This is something that could have waited, but didn't. Not to mention the baseball information that is marked on the calendar, in the paperwork in the counter and written on the dry erase board. All reminding him of the Sunday practice.

The question I was waiting for came not ten minutes into the "conversation" about this practice. "Well, can't your dad take him?" Breathe in, breathe out. I looked at my hubs with the patience of Job and said, "If you don't take him, he doesn't go. This is part of the sacrifice I talked about when we signed him up." Then of course came the complaints about lack of sleep.

Funny, there were never any complaints about lack of sleep when he stayed up many a mornings building his BBQ smoker. And believe you me, he put in some long hours making that thing. Don't get me wrong, it looks amazing and he could easily sell it for a good $2500. However, why is it so easy to make the sleep sacrifice for that and not our sons baseball schedule?

And don't get me started on lack of sleep. We have two children, twenty months apart and not once did he ever get up in the middle of the night to feel either one of them when he worked day shift or on weekends or on a day off. Not. Once. So for an estimated four years I woke up for every feeding and diaper change because that is what a parent does. So I don't even want to hear about lack of sleep. I'm pretty sure my current bouts of insomnia are still residual effects from night feedings.

The bottom line is that my son will go to ball practice today and it will be his father who takes him. And yes, the evil part of me is happy about his.

28 November, 2011

So, I have this blog...

Not that I've done much with it. Not that I've done much with any of the blogs I have, but they're there. Every now and then I dust them off and do something with them. No one really follows them. Oh who am I kidding, no one at all follows them. And you know what? I'm okay with that.

I put things on them when I feel like it and send them out into the abyss. Reading them. Super. Don't read them. Fine. Either way, it's a great stress reliever.

Today I feel a bit bitchy. Not really sure why and the wine seems to be helping with that for the most part, but it's still there. Teetering on the edge. I never know what can make it explode. It's kind of cool and scary at the same time.

Being online is my escape. It's my time to do what I want to and get lost in the worlds that are out there. Lately my worlds are bubbling over with turmoil and I'm okay with that. You see, I don't really care if people like me online or not. They don't know me. They only know a perceived version of me that is already deluded by their beliefs. Oh well, too bad for them because I'm a pretty nice person once you get to know me.

The funny thing is is that this seems to bother them. This me, or in this case us, not caring. They can't stop obsessing over it. It's quiet funny to be honest. It gives me a good laugh.

Okay, enough of the vague ramblings. I'm done. For now.

22 October, 2011

When less is more...

Is anyone really surprised that once again Summit Entertainment is shoving yet another Twilight movie down our throats? This is typical for the production company that was lucky enough to land the highly successful franchise. During promotion for the "Twilight" there were no less than eight T.V. spots, fans were with cast and crew every step of the way throughout filming, Hot Topic Mall Tours for the cast, and various "sneak peak" of the film at one festival or another. Still, the buzz was at an all time high and the movie went on to break box office records.

The same formula was used to promote "New Moon". While set coverage was scaled back and the Hot Topic Mall Tours canceled, there were still numerous T.V spots, stills and clips released. When I sat in the theatre to view the movie, I felt like I had seen most of it already. This prompted a personal media black out for "Eclipse". I'm glad that I did as I enjoyed the movie much more having not seen even the first clip, let alone a T.V. spot, for the movie.

"Breaking Dawn, Parts One and Two" is the ending of the Twilight franchise for Summit. They HAVE to make this work in order to hit what I think is an unrealistic box office goal they have set for themselves. That goal? One billion dollars (with or without the Austen Powers voice) per film. I just don't see it happening. While all the films thus far have had stellar box office numbers, none of them have broken the billion dollar ceiling. The highest grossing film to date is "New Moon" with $709,827,462 in 19 weeks of being in theatres.

Looking at Summits track record with the other films they produce, it's not good. Twilight is their cash cow, we get it. This is why we have two very unnecessary parts to Breaking Dawn. This being said, do they have to shove it down our throats? Shouldn't the films speak for themselves? Granted, we're not talking Oscar caliber films here, but they are enjoyable. Well, at least they have been. From what has been leaked so far from Breaking Dawn, I'm not holding out much hope for this one. Although I am looking forward to some hilarity between Jacob & Rosealie.

I say less is more and that alone should put people in the seats, but what do I know. Well, that and Robert Pattinson, but that is another story for another time.

02 October, 2011

You're kidding, right?

I like fairy tales.

I like the escapism of them. The good vs evil themes. The over all fantasy of it all. There seems to be a lot of blame and anger towards fairy tales for the unattainable expectations of girls in today's society. I find this laughable.

Why do fairy tales get the bad rap? Why not current events? Video Games? Music? Why not all fiction? I recently read "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin. It was a cute book as well as a cute movie. I did not go into either expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised with the end results of both. The book, as well as the movie, were entertaining and made me laugh. They were a nice escape, which is exactly what they should have been. Did I come out it thinking that falling in love with your best friends fiance was acceptable? No, but I do understand that things happen for a reason.

I came across this post on tumblr and it's bothered me.
OUR PARENTS ASK SOCIETY WHY THE KIDS IN THIS GENERATION ARE SO BAD:

But Disney taught us.

SNOW WHITE lived with seven men on the same house

CINDERELLA snuck out of the house to go to a party

ARIEL and MULAN ran away from home and defied their fathers

not to mention MULAN pretended to be a guy

SLEEPING BEAUTY talked to a stranger prince guy and afterwards did nothing but sleep

BELLE fell in love with an animal-like creature and lived with him

POCAHONTAS always loiters around the forests and goes everywhere without permission

So you see parents…

DISNEY TAUGHT ME ALL I KNOW
DISNEY MADE ME WHO I AM

BLAME DISNEY

If all this person has learned is this, then I feel sorry for them. Is this person trying to say she never defied her parents or snuck out of the house? Did she never fall for the wrong person or talk to a stranger? I think the examples used are extremely weak and the greater point is being missed.

Yes, Mulan did pretend to be a male. To fight for her country for what was right. Shouldn't she be praised for her bravery and independence? I think so.

Belle showed us that by loving someone for who they are on the inside and not judging a book by it's cover, that great thing can happen. It was also magic and I'm pretty sure, in my limited experience, that handsome princes do not get turned into beasts by petty witches.

And shame on Sleeping Beauty for talking to a stranger. To the best of my knowledge, no one in modern times ever fell into a deep sleep from doing so. Bars and clubs across the globe would be out of business. Now, in Beauties case, this "stranger" just happened to be a prince who over came the evil Maleficent and rescued our fair maiden from a life time of dreaming.

If Disney is to blame, then lets blame 20th Century Fox as well for given us the "Star Wars" trilogy. I mean that didn't happen either and no one walked away with any false expectations. And while we're at it, I'd like to have a word with the C.S. Lewis estate. I've been looking in wardrobes for the passage to Narnia for ages and have yet to come across it. Don't even get me started on the world J.K. Rowling has created.

Too many people look too deeply into things that are simply to be enjoyed. Further more, too many people look for someone else to blame instead of taking responsibility for themselves. Perhaps if they'd stop blaming Disney and fairy tales and got in touch with themselves, they'd be happier, but I doubt it.

Testing...testing..

Is this thing on? No? Okay, I'm going to start anyway.

Ever just have things in your head that you just feel the need to get out? Well, that is where I am now. My mind seems to have a hard time shutting down lately. I call it internet ADD. I just get too preoccupied with everything online to concentrate on one thing. I blame tumblr, pinterest, message boards, and more. They are just too damned addicting.

I'd love to say I have an idea of what I'm going to put here, but I don't. I know this sounds like a complete contradicton to my first sentence, but I guess what I mean, is I have no idea of the topics I'm going to blog about or how often I'll update this thing. If my other blog is any indication of how well I'll keep up with this thing, prepare to need to have this dusted off on a regular basis.

I'm most likely going to vent about certain fandoms and the lunacy of it all. Point out the stupidity of every day things. See, I dont let much bother me, but after a while even I need to rant. Consider this my therapy.

Comments will not be open because this is not an open for discussion blog. If you don't like what I have to say, there is an "x" button in the top right corner on the tab of this page. Please feel free to click said "x" and close my thoughts to you. You don't have this read this, you don't have to agree. They are my opinions and feelings and I'm not going to allow anyone to tell me I'm wrong. If you feel the need to do that, find me on Twitter, if you can, and tell me there.