The Sunday Post #3

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

What I've Been Up to This Past Week

I've been sick, and seen shows! Boo and Yay!

After last week's post my husband and I went to our local dinner theater with my Mom to celebrate our combined birthday's, hers was earlier that week and mine was just yesterday! We saw The Dixie Swim Club starring visiting guest Morgan Fairchild!  A couple of our other local favorite actresses were in it as well, and it was a great show!  Their food is always fantastic too! Luckily my nasty cold mostly held off until Monday so I was able to enjoy it!

Synopsis: Five Southern women, whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every August to recharge those relationships. Free from husbands, kids and jobs, they meet at the same beach cottage on North Carolina's Outer Banks to catch up, laugh and meddle in each other's lives. The Dixie Swim Club focuses on 4 of those weekends and spans a period of 33 years.

Next up, the hubs and I watched Passengers Friday night and kicked off my actual birthday weekend with a pizza feast! I had heard there was controversy over the story line in that movie, so I was a little apprehensive, but we enjoyed it, discussing the particular plot point, and we both came to the conclusion that yes, it was wrong, but we might have done the same thing if presented with that particular problem. If you've seen it, what did you think?

Synopsis: A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.

The last show we saw was Wonder Woman on Saturday for my actual birthday! I've been very excited for this one to come out, she is one of my all time favorite Super Heroes, back from the days of the show starring Lynda Carter! I loved the movie, I felt they did a really good job!

Synopsis: Before she was Wonder Woman she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war to end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

We may try to squeeze another movie or two in, we'll see, we still haven't seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2, or Beauty and the Beast yet! Luckily I felt pretty good by Friday, because I need to eat cake, and I need to be able to taste it! ;)

I joined in on the Summer Sci-Fi Read-a-thon held by my friend Michelle @ Seasons of Reading. I'm hoping to get a couple of titles read, and make a dent in American Gods finally! I didn't actually do a blog post for it, I just posted on Instagram and join in the Facebook Group.

Here was my goal post!

A post shared by Shaunesay Eslanai (@shaunesay) on Jun 1, 2017 at 2:39pm PDT

Last Week on The Space Between

I didn't get A Shadow Bright and Burning reviewed like I planned, yay for being sick, not, so we'll keep that on for next week!

I did get My TBR List Post for June up though, so you can go help me out by voting on which of the three books I should read this month!  They are all fun romances by author Vicki Lewis Thompson!

Coming This Week on The Space Between

I'll be reviewing:

I think this cover is just beautiful!

And I'll be posting the winning book of the My TBR List vote for June

Added to the TBR Pile

Books labeled as Kindle Freebies may not still be free

Netgalley

Kindle Prime

Kindle First

US Kindle Freebie

US Kindle Freebie

See you next week! 

Christmas Spirit Challenge - The Day After Christmas

It's the day after Christmas, which is my favorite time if I'm lucky enough to take the day off because that means all the before work is done, all the presents are open, and it's time to play and relax! My favorite online game, Guild Wars always hosts a Holiday event where they have special missions, holiday drops from monsters and festival hats and costumes for your characters to wear. The towns are always decorated too. Here are a couple pictures from the game:



Since my last update we have also been to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert which has sort of become a tradition for us at this time of year. If you don't know who they are you should really check them out, you may have heard some of their music being used in synchronized Christmas light displays. Here is a video of one of their more well-known songs.



Neither of those count for our challenge of course, but in the interest of sharing all things Christmas, I decided to report in!

Today I watched Snow with Tom Cavanaugh, very cute and I recommend it as a fun holiday movie. Tom starred as Ed Stevens on the TV series Ed. In Snow, Tom plays Nick Snowden who has inherited the role of Santa Claus from his father. Buck, the villain has captured one of Nick's younger reindeer who has not yet learned to fly, and is hiding him at the local zoo, where Sandy works. Nick must get Buddy the reindeer back in time for Christmas because he's not able to pull the sleigh with only 7 reindeer. He tracks Buddy down at the zoo and has to try and get him back safely. In the meantime he falls in love with Sandy and tries several times to let her know who he really is but the timing is never quite right. Buck finally brings his own plan to fruition, which was to sell Buddy to a rich hunter as a premium game experience since he's able to jump very high, though not yet fly. It's during the rescue attempt that Nick is finally able to show Sandy who he is as they escape from Buck themselves. Of course is must end happily, so Buddy takes care of escaping himself, getting the best of Buck, and learns to fly at the last minute, saving Christmas. I had actually watched the sequel Snow 2: Brain Freeze first, in which Nick has amnesia and Sandy must help him to regain his memory of being Santa Claus. I really enjoyed them both, they were ABC Family titles.



As for reading, I did finish A Dixie Christmas, which was two novellas by Sandra Hill. The rating on Goodreads isn't too high, but I enjoyed them both, they were light and humorous. In Blue Suede Suites a rich business man falls (quite literally) for a farm girl and finds out what is really important in life. This one sports an Elvis theme, and I can only imagine the nativity scene that is described there! In Jinx Christmas a NASCAR driver gets the help of a matchmaker to win his ex-wife's love back and ends up as the star of a bad boy strip show. I picked this up free for Kindle, though I think it's not on the free list anymore.



I'm not sure what holiday read I'll settle on next, I'm reading for the Wrap Up 2011 Read-a-thon right now, trying to finish a non-holiday book, so I'll check in later on that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

Christmas Spirit Challenge - Week 3 1/2

I'm a little late reporting in for the Christmas Spirit Challenge this week, but my excuse is that I was putting up the rest of my outside decorations on Sunday.

I finished up We Three Dragons, an anthology of 3 holiday stories centered around dragons. I was thrilled to get a hold of this one when I saw it offered up in a Bookcrossing trade box because you just don't see many holiday themed fantasy novels. I enjoyed all three stories, but the last and longest of the three was basically a dragon centered version of A Christmas Carol, where a mean old dragon is re-awakened to the joys of love. I've already passed it along to Bookcrossing friend and hope she enjoys it too!



I've next started reading A Dixie Christmas by Sandra Hill, two novellas packaged together. The first one is very funny so far, the Elvis themed Nativity Scene was a hilarious idea! It's just the kind of light and humorous story I wanted!




I did watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians from 1964, and it was bad, but fun, honestly a lot more enjoyable than the Santa Claus movie with the devil wandering around. The theme song was pretty catchy too. It definitely had that 60's feel to it! The Martian suits were very silly, and the polar bear was great too, in a cheesy but fun kind of way. The premise is that all the Martian children are watching Earth television and becoming obsessed with the idea of Santa Claus. In order to make their children happy, they go and kidnap and couple of children and Santa Claus and bring them back to Mars, where they intend to keep them forever. Of course there are good Martians and bad Martians, and there is sabotage, but good triumphs, and everyone parts as friends, Santa and the human children going home to Earth, and one of the Martians taking up the reins of the Santa role on Mars. It was fun, and bad, but definitely worth a laugh, even if you don't watch it all the way through.



Believe it or not, I had never seen more than the most famous bank scene of It's a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart. We watched that this past weekend while visiting friends and playing cards. I have to admit I wasn't watching it closely, but at least I have seen more of it than I did before! I should probably watch it again when I'm actually paying attention!



We also watched a Barry Manilow Christmas special Barry Manilow: Happy Holiday from 2009. It was a smaller audience setting where he was taking requests, and there were definitely some superfans there! He's just got such a wonderful voice, and along with John Denver, he was one of my favorites as a child.




I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas reading and watching! I need to get around and visit!

Christmas Spirit Challenge - Week 2

I participated in a Holiday Readathon this weekend, which helped me to finish up An Enchanted Season, which I really enjoyed.



This is a collection of 4 short stories by Nalini Singh, Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy and Jean Johnson, all known for Paranormal Romances.

In Melting Frosty Matt and Holly both suffered the loss of their parents, but it affected each very differently. Holly keeps Christmas traditions alive to honor her Mother, while Matt tries to avoid Christmas altogether if he can because memories of his father, and the loss of a keepsake hat are too painful. The grow to care for each other when they are stuck together in Holly's old house during a snow storm. They both receive a few unmistakable signs that they are meant to be together.

In Charlotte's Web Charlotte has long been in love with her best friend Will, but doesn't think he returns her feelings. Though her sister insists they are witches, Charlotte has never believed it to be so, until her powers awaken quite humorously. She then goes along with her sister's idea of casting a lust spell on Will, but then she is left wondering if his actions are because of the spell, or because he really feels for her.

Beat of Temptation was my favorite of the collection as it dealt with characters I had read about before in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series. Tamsyn returns from medical school for Christmas, to a mate who believes she is too young to handle his true feelings, so he forces them back. Tamsyn needs to make him understand that though she is young, she's more than ready to take him on, and wants nothing more than for them to be together as true mates should.

Gifts of the Magi is another story where a group of people thrown together in a snowstorm learn about themselves and each other, guided by a group of magical travelers from out of town.

I really enjoyed all of these short stories and highly recommend this as a Christmas read! The paranormal aspect, while important, is fairly light in all stories except Beat of Temptation, and they focus more on relationships, and the magic of cherishing another.

I'm currently reading We Three Dragons, which is another anthology of 3 holiday stories centered around dragons, something you just don't see too much of! Fantasy and Sci-Fi rarely have holiday based stories in the way that romance and mystery do. I do recommend Orson Scott Card's A War of Gifts if you're looking for a Sci-fi holiday read, it was excellent!




I've only seen part of a movie this week, and I don't think I'll be finishing it! LOL! When I saw the following cover on Netflix, I had to give it a try, wouldn't you?



It's just called Santa Claus, here's the synopsis from Netflix: José Elías Moreno stars as Santa Claus in this decidedly dark take on the Christmas season, a bizarre tale involving the devil, a demon named Pitch (José Luis Aguirre "Trotsky") and a plot to derail yuletide cheer with pure, unadulterated evil. But there's another big twist worth mentioning: This Santa Claus lives in outer space, and his only hope for saving Christmas lies in the hands of Merlin the Magician (Armando Arriola).

I do not recommend this one, unless you just like really bad sci-fi-esque older films (it's from 1959), because that's exactly what it is! (My husband is nodding in agreement, it was really bad!) Just in case you want to judge for yourself, it's available for instant watching on Netflix.

I have another one that I just can't resist trying out, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians from 1964, I expect this one will be bad as well, but with a title like that, I have to check it out!

I'll report in again next week!

Christmas Spirit Challenge - Week 1

I haven't gotten much reading done yet on the Challenge, but I have managed to catch some Christmas movies this week. Check out ABC Family because they are showing a bunch right now!

So far I have seen:



Santa Buddies was cute and definitely for kids. Puppy Paws, the son of Santa Paws, Santa's dog conterpart, wants to learn how to be a normal puppy and gets the "Buddies" a group of Golden Retriever puppies, in all kinds of trouble. Meanwhile the magic of Christmas is waning the longer Puppy Paws is gone from the North Pole. Finally they locate Puppy Paws, and with the help of the "Buddies" get him back to the North Pole where he is able to save Christmas.

The Muppet Christmas Carol is a classic. Michael Caine stars as Scrooge, with Gonzo narrating in the part of Dickens. All our favorite Muppets are there, it has catchy songs and it's just wonderful!

Snow 2: Brain Freeze stars Tom Cavanaugh, so if you were a fan of the TV series Ed, you should definitely watch! I need to go back and watch the first one where he becomes Santa. In Snow 2, he loses his memory, and so his wife Sandy must find him and help him to remember who he is in time to save Christmas.

All three of these were fun, and I definitely recommend them to help you get in the mood!

The first book I'm working on right now is Enchanted Season by Maggie Shayne, Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy and Jean Johnson and is an anthology of paranormal romances. I enjoyed the first one so far and I've read all but one of these authors before, so I think I'll like the rest as well!



I hope to start getting my decorations up this week, I bought a few more spiral trees for my poor light up animals, so they don't feel so exposed! ;)

The DaVinci Code versus Angels and Demons

I have just finished watching Angels and Demons, which I was told by many was even better than The DaVinci Code. Now this statement was made to me in regards to the books themselves, and honestly, while this one was an intriguing movie, and I'm sure I'll still read the book in the future to get all the interesting details, I was drawn into The DaVinci Code much more. I know exactly why, it seems to me there was more artwork and interesting historical locations in it, not that the Vatican isn't interesting, but I think the whole idea of The DaVinci Code just drew me more.

I did listen to The DaVinci Code before I saw the movie, so in essence I had already read it, and have not yet read Angels and Demons, so maybe it's just that I don't have the backing of the book knowledge to fill in the gaps. I would be curious to know which story you prefer, and why, and what you thought of the movies? Okay friends, discuss! :D

Movie Check In

I've actually gone to see some movies this summer! Three movies in the last three weeks, that's a record for me I think!

First we went to see The Last Airbender which we'd really been looking forward to as we have watched the cartoon and really enjoyed it. We saw this one in 3D and loved it! I do have to say it was darker and more serious than the cartoon, but even so I think they still did a good job in staying true to the characters. The scenery was gorgeous! I was very pleased with how it turned out and am looking forward to more of them!




Next we saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was cute if not as amazing as The Last Airbender, still a fun movie, especially if you like Nicholas Cage. There was a nod to the Disney cartoon of course, and it's a great scene.









Just tonight we saw Inception and wow! This was an amazing psychological thriller, very convoluted and exciting! I was on the edge of my seat, and just exhausted when it was over, one of the most engrossing movies I've seen in a long time! Originally I thought this one was in 3D also but it was not, and it probably would have been amazing if it was, but honestly it didn't need it, and I think it might have even been distracting if it had been.


I highly recommend all three of these movies!

Movie: Legend of the Guardians, The Owls of Ga'Hoole

I saw this movie poster tonight while out to see The Last Airbender. Guess I'd better get busy and read the books! The movie is due out this September.



Check out THIS SITE to see the other movie posters for each of the owls.

For more info on the book series Guardians of Ga'Hoole, see Kathryn Lasky's Website

Happy Holidays Everyone!

In my last contest I asked people to tell me what their favorite Christmas movies were if they had one, so I'll share a couple clips from mine...

The White Christmas Finale:



And Sisters because it's the funniest one in the whole show to me. Be sure to watch both clips:





Happy Holidays everyone! Stay Warm, Stay Safe, and I wish a Peaceful and Blessed New Year to you!

Movie: Silverado

I caught Silverado on AMC tonight (they play a lot of good movies!) and was reminded of the first time I saw this in the theaters. Back then, in 1985 (wow, feelin' old now) I didn't know who Kevin Costner and Kevin Cline even were, but I became fans after that movie. John Cleese is in it too, which I appreciate even more now that I'm more of a Monty Python fan than I was back then.

The storyline itself doesn't seem that exciting, brothers Emmett and Jake Hollis (Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner) are going to visit their sister before heading to Silverado, teaming up with Paden (Kevin Cline) and Mal (Danny Glover) along the way. They get mixed up with a crooked sherriff (Brian Dennehy) and corrupt rancher who they of course get the better of. What made this movie great to me was the scripting, the development of and interaction between the characters. The music was wonderful too, and was nominated for Best Original Score in 1985 but lost to Out of Africa. Look here for more info on this great movie! If you haven't seen it, and are a fan of any of the main actors, or even if you aren't, but just enjoy a good witty film, I highly recommend it!

Stella - "The world is what you make of it friend, if it doesn't fit, make alterations."

Movie: Wall-E

How on Earth do you make a little robotic piece of dirty junk that lovable?! I mean, for crying out loud, even the roach was cute! I actually saw this one the same weekend as jezebelsk at Walking on Sunshine, but I'm a slow poke and only now am getting around to posting about it!

The basic premise of the movie was that the earth was getting so overrun with trash that they decided to take all the people off on an enormous space ship, leaving the Wall-E units to clean everything up. In theory they would come back eventually and the place would all be cleaned up and ready to live in again. Only they didn't come back. And the Wall-E units kept faithfully doing their jobs until they finally all broke down except one, our lovable little star. And every day he continued to process trash into cubes and build with them, saving bits and pieces of this and that to add to his collection. They did an amazing job of building Wall-E's personality by showing the things he collected, his friendship with the little roach, the fact that he loved to watch old musicals...

The people cruising around on the ship were not out of the picture however, periodically probes were sent out to check for life on Earth, to see if anything was yet sustainable. Eve was one one these, and during her visit to Earth, she meets Wall-E and discovers the plant which triggers the process that is to eventually bring the ship back to earth. Wall-E's caring for Eve after she shuts down to await pickup is just heart breaking, once again showing an amazing ability at character building for a robot who really only says 1 or 2 words!

There is definitely some social commentary going on, about how people are too dependent on the virtual world, losing the ability to do anything for themselves as computers do it all for them, but overall the ending is hopeful, showing that humanity isn't a complete loss. All of Wall-E and Eve's adventures are just hysterical, and their interaction doesn't need a script it's so well built.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wall-E, and highly recommend it to anyone! I just wanted to hug him so much of the time, in spite of the fact that he was just a dirty little beat up robot!

Movie: Evan Almighty

Evan Almighty starring Steve Carell was a lot of fun. It is a "sequel" to Bruce Almighty, though I don't know if you really need to have watched it in order to enjoy this one. I love the Noah's Ark theme because I'm an animal lover and have always enjoyed that motif. Many funny moments, and Morgan Freeman was great as always in the role of God! I think one of my favorite parts was the animals helping him to build the ark. I cannot even imagine how complicated it was to have all of those animals together at one time. Especially on the group shots. I don't know if they were all really there together, or if they were digitized in somehow. Definitely a lot of fun if you're looking for something humorous and light!

Giveaway #6: A Babe in Ghostland

Case Lambert has a problem. He's just bought himself an old Victorian house to restore, and it's haunted big time, only he doesn't believe in ghosts. Surely everything he's experienced can be explained away somehow... or can it? That's what sends him to Megan Barrows, owner of Antique Fancies, a small antiques store in town. He's hired Eric Ramsey, a supposed supernatural expert, to help explain the activity in the house, and in turn Eric recommended Megan, believing her to be one of the few genuine mediums he knows. He believes Megan will be able to determine if there are any ghosts residing at the house or not.

Case gives Megan a bit of a test with an old watch that belonged to his grandmother before explaining his situation to her. He eventually convinces her to visit the house, no small feat, as a bad past experience while working with Eric and his paranormal investigation group SPIRIT has convinced her she would be perfectly happy only using her ability to fill her store with antiques that harbor happy memories. The temptation of the challenge finally gets to her though, the chance to prove to the skeptical Case that her abilities are real, though she ends up getting into something much deeper than she expected. Case's new home has a few inhabitants with a dark history and their own agenda.

This was my first read by Lisa Cach, and I really enjoyed it. In spite of knowing it was not a "real" ghost story recounting, I still found myself with goosebumps on occasion and reading more quickly to see what happened next! From the cover and the description I expected fast, light and fluffy, and while it was some of that, there was suspense and danger thrown in as well. I will definitely me reading more of Lisa Cach! I especially can't wait to check out George and the Virgin, the title and the description are just too funny!

Check out Lisa Cach's website HERE

And now for the giveaway! My gently loved, Bookcrossing labeled copy is ready to make new friends! I would love it if the winner would make a journal entry for this when they receive it (you can do so anonymously if you decide that you don't want to be a full-fledged member, and it is free), but it will be yours to do with what you like. To enter, please comment on this post, telling me if you do or do not believe in ghosts. I'd be thrilled to hear of experiences you've had! I will choose a winner on September 1st 2008. Remember to leave me a valid e-mail to reach you!

As for my own answer to the question, several people around me have recounted experiences of sightings or activity they couldn't easily explain, but I myself cannot say that I've had such an experience. I also can't say that I'm unhappy about that! I think it would scare me to death to have something happen, though I love to read about it and watch it on TV! Ghost Hunters just cracks me up!

If you like the haunted house idea, I've also got a movie to recommend. The Changeling, starring George C. Scott. My friend DragonGoddess turned me on to this movie one Halloween night and I could not sleep afterwards! It was very scary, but not in a bloody/gory way at all! It was definitely a mind trip, and now I can't help but get goosebumps every time I hear the racquetball my cats like to play with rolling or bouncing across the floor! *shiver* This movie is apparently based on a true story, give it a try!

Movie: Iron Man

I saw this movie a few weeks ago, so it may not be out in the theaters any more, but if it isn't, this is definitely one to keep in mind for renting!

Tony Stark is the head of Stark Industries, which makes devastating weapons. During a display of the newest weapon the company has made, the caravan that Tony is riding in is attacked, leaving him fatally injured. He is kidnapped by a terrorist group, whose ringleader wants him to make the group the weapon he was just demonstrating. Upon waking, Tony finds that he has suffered a dangerous heart wound, and that his life is being sustained by a car battery, that his partner in captivity has rigged up. Working together, as they are supposed to be making another Jericho weapon, they are instead making Tony an iron suit in the hopes that he will be able to escape, giving birth to the Iron Man idea.

He does escape, but returns home a much changed man, his views on the world and his place in it challenged to his very core. Meeting opposition from his business partner and long time family friend Obadiah Stane, he continues his new experiments in secret in his own basement, where he develops the Iron Man idea and powers.

Now, I'm not really a huge comic book fan, so I really had never been exposed to the Iron Man story, and probably wouldn't have been able to tell you which super hero he was if shown a picture, but I REALLY enjoyed this movie. I thought Robert Downey Jr. did an excellent job in this role, really making Tony Stark a likable and alive character for me, especially in his interactions with his own robotic creations, and his assistant Pepper.

I highly recommend this one if you're in the mood for a fun action packed super hero movie!

Movie: The Game Plan

Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) plays star NFL quarterback Joe Kingman, who seems to have it all, wealth, women and fame. In the beginning he's very self centered, and indulged by everyone around him. EVERYTHING in his life centers around himself, until Peyton appears on his doorstep, and then EVERYTHING suddenly changes. Joe begins to realize how empty his life really was, and Peyton comes to mean everything to him, even as she's turning his life upside down. This is a heartwarming movie, very funny and sweet. I love Dwayne Johnson, and am so glad that he's turned to acting after wrestling, as I never would have seen him otherwise. He is a great comedic talent in my opinion, but can also pull at your heart as you'll see in this movie. Madison Pettis (Peyton) would have stolen the show completely with any other actor I think, but together the two are a great pair and made this cute movie great!

Movie: Nanny McPhee

I love Emma Thompson, but have to admit her initial appearance in this movie is pretty off putting! But that's part of the magic of this story. Nanny McPhee appears on the scene when Mr. Brown has run out of nannies to watch after his brood of children, and they are awful children! Nanny McPhee soon brings order to the household through a bit of magic and where the children at first dislike her as much as any other nanny they've had, they come to love her very much. She strikes me as a little bit darker of a cross between Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Mary Poppins, but these children definitely need a firmer hand than those of the other stories! Cute movie, I recommend it!

I really like this script sequence from it:

Nanny McPhee: There is something you should understand about the way I work. When you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me, then I have to go. It's rather sad, really, but there it is.
[Nanny McPhee turns around to walk out of the room, but stops once she hears Simon]
Simon Brown: We will never want you!
Nanny McPhee: Then I will never go.

Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

We finally got around to seeing Indiana Jones 4 this weekend! The storyline was pretty weak with the alien angle but all in all, it was still a fun movie! The effects and stunts were great as always, and of course I loved all the archaeological sets and props (studied the Nazca lines in school, probably won't ever see them for real though, so that was neat). I'm glad Marion was back as well, and I was happy about the ending. So, does anyone see Shia carrying on the series as a Young Indiana Jones? I'm not sure I do, he's cute, and has been very visible lately, but I just don't see the charisma. You know I'll be there if they make one though, I love the whole Indiana Jones/Archaeology theme! I've been thinking about reading the books even. ;)

Hopefully I haven't said too much if you want to go see it but haven't yet. If you're an Indie fan you'll find it fun, even with the storyline. If you're needing realism in your archaeology/storyline, well... yeah... you might not get that! ;) But it was still a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it! I'm glad they made another one!

Movie: The Princess Diaries

I just caught this one on ABC Family, and it was very cute! I had always meant to watch and it just never gotten around to it yet (am I the only person who hasn't seen it?) so when I was channel surfing tonight and caught it almost at the beginning, I was excited to finally be able to cross this one off the list. I love Julie Andrews anyway, having grown up with an appreciation of musicals instilled by my family at an early age, the Sound of Music is one of my favorites, and along with Hector Elizondo, I knew I would enjoy it!

Mia is an unpopular tenth-grader who lives with her mother, who is an artist, and has two very good friends Lilly and her brother Michael. Just before her 16th birthday, Mia's paternal grandmother comes for a visit from Genovia. It is then she finds out that her father, who had died a couple months before in a car crash, was the crown prince of the fictional European country, and that she herself is now the crown princess and only heir left of the Renaldi family.

What follows is a bit of a My Fair Lady story from the teenage point of view, with all the harshness of highschool, but very funny and endearing as Mia learns more about herself and what it means to be a royal. She learns a few life lessons as do we all about who her real friends are, unfortunately in a very public way, and nearly decides to renounce her claim. She almost runs away, but at the very last, receives a bit of help from her departed father in realizing the opportunity before her, and of course steps up to accept the responsibility.

The plot is of course pretty predictable, but the real fun of this story is the events that lead up to Mia accepting her position. I really enjoyed this one, Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo were very lovable characters, and I look forward to the next movie, Princess Diaries 2, and to reading the books the movies are based on. If you're looking for a cute fluffy movie, this would be a good one!

Movie: The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is a fantasy movie based on the novel by Phillip Pullman of the same name (also known as Northern Lights in some places).

Lyra is a little girl who's uncle, Lord Asriel, brought her to live at Jordan College while he travels, questing after the sources of the mysterious "Dust" (Dust is consciousness, or awareness of the world around you and all of its possibilities), which is treated as a threat. While there she gets into all kinds of mischief with her Daemon, Pantalaimon, and her friend Roger. Everyone in this world has a Daemon, which is the outward expression of a person's soul. While young, the Daemon's are constantly changing form (Pantalaimon had at least 3 or 4 different shapes during the movie I believe), but settle into their permanent form once the person is an adult. Lyra's uncle Lord Asreal Lyra meets the acquaintance of Mrs. Coulter, who takes a liking to her and wants to take her North. Lyra is all for this, as that's where Lord Asriel has once again taken off for, and she really wants to learn more about what "Dust" is.

In the meantime, children and their Daemons have been disappearing, and it's been blamed on a group only known as the Gobblers. Lyra, insatiably curious as always, discovers notes in Mrs. Coulter's study that she believes links her to this frightening group, and escapes from the house, to be rescued by the Gyptians, who have been watching out for her all the time she has been at the college. That's when Lyra discovers that another her friends, who was a Gyptian, has disappeared.

The Master of the College had given Lyra a very special device before she left, the alethiometer, or golden compass, that only certain people can read, of course Lyra turns out to be one of these. The golden compass shows the truth of things. Using this, they find out that the children are in a place called Bolvanger, and so the group of Gyptians heads North to try and rescue them, enlisting the aide of an Aeronaut (Scorsby) and an Armored Bear (Iorek) along the way.

My initial impression of the movie was very good, though much simplified from the book I think. Also a few things happened out of order, and in different ways, but that's almost always the case when taking something from a book to a movie. "Dust" was not well explained in the movie, it was shown that they all felt threatened by it, but not really why, though by end you could kind of get the idea that was basically free will/consciousness. Lord Asriel has a much smaller part in the movie than in the book, but I think the movie ended sooner than the 1st book of the trilogy. The effects were very good, on the daemons and the bears. I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it, though it is a lot toned down from the book, just as a warning (which in some ways was better for me, because there were a few parts of the book that really bothered me, just because they were painful and sad). I think it's a good beginning of a trilogy/series, and hope they make another one, though I haven't read book 2 yet!

Movie: The Forbidden Kingdom

Jason, a modern day teenager who is a fan of the martial arts greats, goes to visit his favorite pawn shop in Chinatown, where he's friends with the proprietor, Lu Yan. Discovering an old staff in the back room, he realizes it is the same as in a dream he had, but the old man hustles him back to the front room, where he pays for the movies he found and leaves. Getting waylaid by some girls that he knows, a gang of boys comes up behind him, and starts to give him trouble about having been in Chinatown, and his enjoyment of all things martial arts. Finding out where he had just come from, the boys force him to help them break into old Lu Yan's shop to steal his money. Lu Yan, mostly blind, finally realizes that Jason is not alone, and that's when things get out of hand. He tries to fight back, but gets shot by the leader of the gang in the process, and giving Jason the old staff, tells him to run, that he must return the staff to it's owner. At this point the fantasy adventure begins, as the staff transports Jason to another time and place.

I've always enjoyed Jackie Chan's comic antics, along with his martial arts prowess, and the scene of Chan and Jet Li sparring is great, also when they both decide to teach Jason how to fight, very very funny! I felt so bad for Jason, he really was getting the raw end of that deal in the beginning! LOL! The scenery and costumes of the movie are beautiful, and the story is a typical fantasy adventure quest, and enjoyable! The feeling I came away with was "well that was a lot of fun!" and I prize that feeling a lot, it's what I look for in my movie entertainment! ;)

I highly recommend it, if you're a fantasy story fan, or enjoy martial arts and/or oriental themed stories, I think you would like this one!

If you're a Jet Li fan, look for him in the 3rd of Brendan Fraser's Mummy movies, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor coming later this summer. I know I'll be there! Mmmmm Brendan Fraser! *drool*