From Book Store to the Big Screen

In response to the recent Pins on Pintrest and posts on Facebook about the random list of books you MUST read before they become movies, I have decided to share my thoughts on this "genre" of movies and my experience with them.  A follower and someone I am also following on Pintrest seems to repeatedly pin items about how people who watch the movie before they read book have committed some crime and shame on them for even seeing the movie in the first place. Another friend of mine doesn't read, in fact when they saw my collection of books they asked if any of them had been made into movies, almost implying that if they made the movie, then that person doesn't have to read the book. I disagree with these 2 extreme views.  The movie gives a wider audience the opportunity to experience this story and expose them to the book.  I would know because movies have exposed me to certain books that I never would have given a chance or knew they existed.

The most memorable movie that I saw before I read the book was The Hunger Games. I went with some friends to see the movie and loved it so much and was so intrigued by the concept of the Games and the Tributes that I bought the book shortly afterwards. I remember zooming through the first book, because the movie was very close to Suzanne Collins' story.  The next books I think I finished in a couple of weeks. I never would have given the series a chance if it had not been for Hollywood and their adaption of the book.  I do realize, however, that Hollywood rarely gets the book to movie right.

The Percy Jackson series if the biggest offender that I can think of.  In the books the kids are 11 or 12 at the most, while in the film they are easily 15 or 16. Making it to 15 or 16 as a half-blood is an amazing accomplishment, but the film completely down plays that. Also the film downplays Percy's mother's strength. She was supposed to find her our way out of the Underworld, instead Grover takes her place because he likes how Persephone looks. This is not what I get out of Percy Jackson, when I read the books. I love those books because even though I'm older that the target audience, they are very well written and introduce readers to the Greek and Roman myths.  I read the myths as a kid so I think I did what the author intended in reverse, i.e. read his books and then a couple years later read the myth, because you have some background to basis the story in.  This series Hollywood didn't get so right, but it seems that they are redeeming themselves with the upcoming release of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, because they may actually be including Clarisse, who was not in included in the first movie.


Yes, Hollywood can get these books to movies wrong, but in the process they are giving the books exposure to a massive audience.  Best examples of this are Twilight and Harry Potter.  Since Twilight was made into a movie guys actually know the story, my brother saw the last Twilight movie, but I can almost guarantee he hasn't read the book. With Harry Potter I know a couple of people who saw the movies, but never finished the series, because Hollywood made these sagas into movies a wider audience now knows about them.

 Yes, I agree the book is almost always better than the movie but the movie make lead to you reading the book, and honestly who doesn't want to see their favorite literary character on the silver screen.  Hollywood is in the business of making money so there are some elements that get left out of the movies, but that's where you are hopefully intrigued enough to read the book and get to experience  those elements that way. So take the movies based on books with a grain of salt this  year and remember it gave your favorite book a wider audience and introduced more people to it, which isn't that what you really want with your favorite book, to share it with the world?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Healing Show

You know those days, weeks, months where just every thing is going wrong and you want to escape for at least a little while and not worry about whatever is happening in your life. I have had, in my opinion, way too many of these days and feel like I have become an expert on what I like to call "Healing Shows". These shows somehow just make everything seem a little better and help with my healing process, until I am whole again or at least whole enough to pull myself back together. The main show that I go to when I'm having a hard time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Actually that is what I'm watching now.

I love this show, because for the last couple of years, whenever something has happened that affected me in such an adverse way it just brightens my day. The characters are real and flawed and above all it values FRIENDSHIP and not LOVE.  I think sometimes everyone needs to be reminded that friendship is one of the most important things in life.  Friendship falls by the wayside too much when love comes into the picture. With Buffy, friendship and love are treated equally for the most part.  Friendship sometimes even takes a backseat to love and this is probably one of the things I like best about this show.  Plain and simple I love this show and just watching it makes me smile.

This goes especially true for certain episodes, in particular Once More With Feeling. After some really low points in my life I've watched this episode and feel much better about everything that has happened. The episode just makes me very happy, even though it really isn't that happy at all.

Here's hoping the healing goes quickly, this time.

The Moving Company moved Nick out...

So I was wrong, but I'm very happy that I was (I won't that often, so this just shows how close I feel to all of you). Nick left Big Brother!!!!! Now don't get me wrong I like Nick, but he thought he was running everything and it was a game move not a "let's get Rachel's sister out move". The way this season has been going there will be plenty of shots to take at Elissa. She doesn't seem to be good at competitions and for whatever reason America keeps voting for her to be the MVP. I don't think she is the best game player this season, and I think the only reason she is able to make moves is because of the MVP power.  I don't like this, I think MVP should be an add-on to whatever moves the player is already making, not as the crutch for the player's game.  I think Elissa's entire game hinges on her winning MVP. You really shouldn't bank on getting a power from America, especially if you are a woman on Big Brother.  Traditionally woman game players are not well received by America, therefore at some point in time, Elissa won't be voted MVP during her time in the house, this is my prediction.

On to the Moving Company. My original thought was that this season would be a repeat of Big Brother season 12, Rachel's first season, with a secret dominate male alliance running the game.  The Moving Company, well that alliance was shot when they brought Jeremy in my opinion and it was formed pretty close to night one. Jeremy is only looking out for  Jeremy (and maybe Kaitlyn), he thought that the Moving Company were grunts, only there to do his dirty work. Bad idea Jeremy, very bad idea. The Moving Company was a good idea in theory but it's a "5 minute alliance" and I feel like those very seldom work out for you. Especially if you can't keep everything on the down low, which is a key element that these guys were missing. Also being on the same page. The Moving Company was split down the middle of as to who voted Nick out, with Howard an Jeremy voting for Elissa and Spencer and McCrae voting for Nick. The guys have never been on the same side for a vote, which isn't a good sign for an alliance. Better luck with your next alliance guys.

So I feel like I should touch on the derogatory comments being made by the house guests, and some people's reactions to them. I do not condone the comments being made, but I also don't think some one should get kicked out of the house for these comments. Signing a petition to get a 22 student out of the house is just not a good idea in my mind, Aaryn will learn soon enough that those words have consequences, don't think she won't.  Big Brother  live feeds, to my knowledge, show people as they are and let America make the judgments, so make your judgement and don't vote for that person to be MVP, but don't try to get them out of the house. Let that person be stupid and make those mistakes, but don't try to get them off a show for being stupid. Especially when you already know  the house does not like them and most likely they won't get that far.

Let me know what you think. Till next time.       

Elissa's good but poorly timed move

So again on Big Brother Elissa won MVP, I don't understand this, but I take comfort in the fact that there are players who in a couple of weeks will be shining much brighter than her. So enjoy MVP while it lasts Elissa cause it won't be long, one way or the other.  Now this week she used MVP power (3rd Nominee) much better than last week and it had the potential to be a big move, if the Nominee would have stayed Jeremy. With Nick on the block he has the votes of his alliance (the Moving Company: Jeremy, Howard, McCrae, and Spencer) most likely the vote of GinaMarie, and Jeremy will bring in the vote of Kaitlyn. Elissa has Andy, Candice, maybe Amanda and Judd, with Jessie floating out in no man's land. But that still leaves the vote 5-6 with Elissa going home. Sorry Elissa, this week you should have played like Rachel and gone after the girls.  You might have been able to get Kaitlyn out, especially after Jeremy decided to try and intimidate his alliance into keeping his girlfriend. Elissa I give you props for making the move,but I really don't think it will work out for you in the end. Sorry, but if you do stay I hope your game gets better, because you give away so much information every time you talk to Nick.

Till next time.

Big Brother: the Dating Game and Alliance Naming

ALLIANCE NAMING

Big Brother is the only show I watch where contestants consistently want to name their alliance. Why!?! Why do you want to name your alliance? Do you sit around and talk about Brigades, Legions of Doom, Quack Packs? Do you think that people don't know what you're talking about? Like Quack Pack is such a common term used in everyday conversation.  I just don't understand the urge to name the alliances. People on Survivor don't do it, so why do you feel the need to. Does it make you feel like you're making a name for yourself? Because it makes you blend in with Big Brother  history not stand out. You might be better off not naming the alliance,but letting the media do it for you, it might mean you made a bigger impact than the previous alliances.

DATING GAME

This season seems to be the season of "let's hook-up".  I don't like this. Note to David if you want to spend the summer hooking up with people on TV try out for the Real World. Big Brother gives you an amazing opportunity and you took that away from someone who really wanted it. Good job, David, good job. In the 2nd episode, which I'm watching right now, really the only thing the girls seem worried about is who the want to hook up with during the summer. I hope there's more to these girls than that or it's going to be season 12 all over again. They even have a Rachel look alike (in the form of her sister Elisa) in the house to be hated on.  Girls please get your heads in the game and come together and stop trying to hook up with the boys, leave that for outside the house. 

Can't wait to find out who will go far and who will fall, but let's just hope it's a season of good game play and not hooking up.  

Top 9 Survivor Seasons

Since I've been away for so long I've decided to do my top 9 favorite Survivor Seasons.

1. Borneo- of course the 1st season is going to top the list, it started everything.  One reason why this season always goes to the top  is Richard Hatch. Hatch is the original winner and is just an amazing player. He sort of 'founded' the idea of the alliance on Survivor and this has since spiraled out further as the seasons have progressed. Hatch helped make the season amazing, but I was always a big fan of Kelly as a kid. She was tough and competed against the boys and won constantly. I just loved how this season progressed and thought that it was the perfect first season to this amazing show. 
2. Amazon- this season was pretty good and everytime I watch it, it just gets better and better to me. I think it introduced an amazing player to the show (Rob C.) and just brought a new element to the game. I think this season is somewhat underrated due to the final two, no offense to Jenna M. and Matthew, but  Rob C. played the most overt strategic game this season. Rob C. made the game interesting and still had a chance to win at the end, this is not usually the case. As the player who plays the most openly strategic game generally is not respected enough at the end of the game to actually get votes from the jury. 
3. Fans vs Favorites- this season was awesome!! It had an interesting concept of having fans play favorites, currently Survivor is trying to do this concept again, but with not as much success. I think the original Fans vs Favorites was so successful, because the Favorites that were cast, were actually players and not characters.  The players are who I as a viewer want to see. If I want to see a cast of characters, then I'll watch a scripted show. Reality TV is to see people play a game in my opinion. Save the characters for the scripted shows and the players for reality TV, please. 
4. All-Stars-i like this season a lot, but partly due to the DVD. This DVD release of the season has the most commentaries per season. with only around 4 episodes not having a commentary.  This season had game play and also let Boston Rob make a name for himself, because in my opinion he would not have been asked back to other seasons based solely on Marquesas.  This season was just very different than the ones before it and that made it interesting to watch, and re-watch.  I would know I re-watch this season very frequently. 
5. Tocantins-this season is high on my list because it had everything that a Survivor fan wants to see. Characters, game play, stupid moves, and really cute boys. This season just had a mixture of good things, while it did bring Coach to the Survivor world it also brought J.T. and Tyson as well. I can get over Coach for Tyson's witty comebacks. This season might be a little underrated due to the winner being perceived to win just by being likable, but J.T. had some strategy and good plans.
6. Cook Islands- this season brought me one of my current favorite players-Jonathan Penner. This man is hysterical and so very smart. I think this man is awesome and want to see him play a little more, but not too much. Also you can't discount a season that spawned 3 favorites in the original Fans vs Favorites season and 1 returnee in Heroes vs Villains. Go Cook Islands...you spawned many amazing players and also were interesting to watch to boot.
7. Vanuatu-this season had some amazing moments that after watching the DVD I have come to appreciate more. Eliza is still one of the most opinionated and paranoid players to date.  I don't think winner Chris gets enough credit for how he played, he truly manipulated people. Manipulating people, I think takes more skill than outright lying to someone. Being manipulative is a little harder and really anyone can lie. Chris manipulated the women at the end and then Twila before the final tribal council. This season had a lot more game play with subtlety and less people going on immunity runs, which makes the game a little more compelling to watch, than just win and pick everybody else off.
8. Redemption Island- Boston Rob owned this season, right from the start.  This was his season to lose and he won it outright. This season had one of my all time favorite moments, Russell got voted out!! I hate Russell and Boston Rob winning was one of the best moments of the series.  This season brought many people back for Fans vs Favorites season 2  and the players seemed to redeem themselves, since on Redemption Island everyone seemed to be Boston Rob's puppet. 
9. Philippines- this season makes the list partly due to Jonathan Penner and Mike Skupin being on the show.  I love these two players and I think that they were amazing to watch. I thought this season was fun and interesting, I couldn't stop trying to figure out who would win, you can track my thought process as to who I thought would win this show through the blog. Denise winning was awesome and I loved it. She was a great player and very subtle. I love it when the subtle players win, because it shows that the jury actually knew what was going on and didn't vote for the person who they thought was pulling the strings but the actual puppeteer. 

So there is my top 9 favorite seasons of Survivor let me know what you think. 

Hibernated for the Winter....but now I'm back for (kinda)Spring

It's been a long time since I've posted.... and I'm really sorry, but I'm back. Yeah! So just to comfort you that I really am going to stay and post more often, I'm planning out some blogs now.  I want to rank some more of my favorite things and I think lists were easier to follow and start up with Survivor comparisons. I'm really sorry that I didn't start from the beginning so I could track how far off my predictions were. I just wanted to check back in with you guys and let you know that I'm going to start blogging again. So look back and their will be some posts coming, maybe even right after this post. I will try to never leave you alone for this long ever again. I thank you for sticking by me and not leaving. Thanks for staying and I will be posting and waiting to hear from you.