Across the Universe by Beth Revis

This book seems to have received some good reviews, but I really can't see why. The first third of the story moved along nicely and I was totally into it--a ship headed off to a new world, the people cryogenically frozen for the trip. Then the characters started doing illogical things and the science of Beth Revis' world retreated in some places and completely fell apart in others. (If you're going to write science fiction, you should probably understand that ships don't just slow down in space.) Then parts of the end of the book seemed not just emotionally illogical, but completely rushed.

Did anyone else read this? Were you impressed?

Across the Universe

Hunger Games Rocks!

I've watched it twice so far and plan to go again before it leaves the theaters. The movie-makers did a great job of translating most of the major emotional points of the book onto the screen. Of course, how could you go wrong with Suzanne Collins writing the first draft? I had my doubts about Jennifer Lawrence--I didn't think she made a great Mystique in X-Men: First Class--but she converted me. Josh Hutcherson really impressed me. He's come a long way since Journey to the Center of the Earth. He always plays the spoiled kid with a chip on his shoulder; I'm glad he got a chance to spread his wings. Who's Liam Hemsworth? Never saw him before. What has he been in. His part was pretty small but he did alright. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of him in the next two movies, of course.

As always, what did you think? Did Hunger Games live up to its hype? To the book?

Hunger Games movie.

In Time

I wasted six hours of my life on this movie. Oh! You say it was only a two hour movie? I guess it just felt like six hours. It was a fantastic premise--a society where your life clock is used as currency, so the poor live short lives and the rich live forever--but it was soooooo poorly executed. The fact that Justin Timberlake was in this movie I assume was the only reason it made dollar one. None of the characters had any motivation to do any of the life-threatening things they did and apparently the director thinks that even in a ghetto where everyone is twenty-five, being twenty-five somehow means everyone is a supermodel. I was twenty-five once, and I was not a supermodel. The director also assumed that in the future there would be only one car manufacturer--a company in love with 1970s Chargers. Shall I speak of the cinematography? Okay, I will. The look of the film was trying too hard to duplicate the amazing cinematography of Gattaca, but came far short. In fact, you want to see In Time done right? Rent Gattaca. I didn't believe any of In Time for one second. If you value your time, don't see this flick.

Of course, I'm just one man. Anyone else have a different opinion?

Gattaca Link
In Time Link

EON

I'm right in the middle of reading this  book by Alison Goodman. I'm totally engrossed. My thoughts to come.

http://www.eonbook.com/

Star Wars Episode 1 - 3D

Episode 1 is typically considered the poorest of the six films, and so I was slightly reluctant to shell out the money to see it in 3D. But let me tell you, it was worth every penny. Seeing all those familiar images in three dimensions was a whole new experience. I felt like I could reach out and touch the universe that has been such a part of my life since I was nine. Especially cool is seeing the inside of all the ships in 3D. It was like I was standing there next to Ben, Anakin, and Padme.

I'm soooo geared up to see the other movies now. I hope they don't spread them out over too much time, because I can't wait to be right in the middle of that first battle scene in Episode III.

Anyone else see it?

MUPPETS ARE BACK!

I finally went to see the new Muppet movie (The Muppets) this weekend. I actually had to convince my wife to go because she just remembers the Muppets being sad when she was a little girl. But it was hilarious--okay, there were some really sad parts--but we laughed out butts off for most of the movie.

In the movie, Walter (the world's biggest Muppet fan who coincidentally looks remarkably like a Muppet) helps bring Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the gang get back together to save their Muppet studio after a long hiatus. There are plenty of dance numbers, singing, and montages! For those of you who need a human face to look at, it also stars Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) and Amy Adams (The Fighter, Julie and Julia).

I know the Muppets are supposed to be for kids, but they've always seemed to be able to reach way beyond the age barrier. What do you think, do the Muppets transcend age?

Star Wars and Good Ol' George

I've been watching the Blu Ray release of the Star Wars saga over the past couple of weeks. My wife got it for me as a Christmas present and she said she almost didn't get it because the reviews were so bad. I wanted it anyway. The revues are mostly bad because good ol' George still hasn't released the original movies in their original theatrical release forms. I don't exactly get why, I think he should give his audience what they want. I mean, what would it hurt?

That being said, I can't understand why so many die-hards were up in arms about the "fixed" versions of the films. They're still the stories I grew up with, still fun to watch, and I'm digging all the extras on the discs. And I say this as someone who watched the original film over forty times IN THE THEATERS! I even had all my original Star Wars toys in pristine condition up until a few years ago. I think we should all just relax for a moment and realize that these are movies, not holy scriptures.

What are your thoughts?

http://starwars.com/

Tin Tin and Cycles

It's funny how my viewing and reading habits go in cycles. I haven't read a middle grade or YA novel in a while but I've been watching kids' movies like crazy. I just went to check out The Adventures of Tin Tin on Monday. It was one of those days I just love--sitting in an almost empty theater in the middle of the day, eating popcorn and watching an adventure.

A vaguely remember something about Tin Tin when I was a kid. The image of his button nose and quaffed hair definitely rang a bell when I saw him on the screen. Really, I am too young to have any emotional connection to the character. He's more of a Stephen Spielberg era thing. But this version of Tin Tin, as opposed to my fuzzy memory, was very much modernized in comparison.

To begin with, the computer graphics were amazing. Sometimes they were to the point that the characters looked remarkably real. I imagine the production team really had to discuss just how close to reality they wanted to get. Tin Tin actually looked like a real young man, as opposed to his very two dimensional comic strip counterpart, and his dog looked absolutely petable.  I'm guessing that they used an animation technique called motion capture--where live actors put on special suites that are tracked by digital camera systems that the artists then animate--because the movement of the characters was stunning.

Now, as far as 3D goes, I think I've been spoiled. After watching the amazing cinematography in Hugo, I was expecting at least as good from a Stephen Spielberg film, but, alas, the 3D was just okay. Much better than the 3D of three years ago, but just okay.

Although it was a rollicking good time, the story did leave me wanting a little more. From the beginning, I just kept asking myself why Tin Tin was so determined. He didn't seem to have much at stake in the whole caper (which I won't spoil for you here) and I'm assuming that the original stories didn't dive very deeply into why Tin Tin is as tenacious as he is. I found the story of the sea captain more intriguing than Tin Tin's place in it.

All-in-all, it was a good way to spend an afternoon. I don't bemoan the money spent and that's always a good sign.

But as always, what did you think?

The Adventures of Tin Tin on IMDB

War Horse

Working so hard on the new novel, but I did get a chance to see War Horse in between feverish typing sessions. I was really fooled by the beginning, thinking it was going to be very Disneyesque in tone--boy meets horse, boy loses horse, etc. The movie did follow that formula somewhat, but there was plenty of drama in it for the adult side of me.

Anyone see it? What did you think?

http://www.warhorsemovie.com/

RUNNING WIDE OPEN

Seems I've been seeing Lisa Nowak everywhere lately--at a book signing in Vancouver, we were both peddling our wares at the WW Author's Fair in Portland, and just around town. She has just released the sequel to her book, Running Wide Open, called Getting Sideways. The following is an interview I did with her about her first book in December, but she also goes into a little detail about the new book.

Blurb from Lisa's website:

Cody Everett has a temper as hot as the flashpoint of racing fuel, and it’s landed him at his uncle’s trailer, a last-chance home before military school. But how can he take the guy seriously when he calls himself Race, eats Twinkies for breakfast, and pals around with rednecks who drive in circles every Saturday night?

 What Cody doesn’t expect is for the arrangement to work. Or for Race to become the friend and mentor he’s been looking for all his life. But just as Cody begins to settle in and get a handle on his supercharged temper, a crisis sends his life spinning out of control. Everything he’s come to care about is threatened, and he has to choose between falling back on his old, familiar anger or stepping up to prove his loyalty to the only person he’s ever dared to trust.

INTERVIEW:

Me:  Thank you for joining me today. I know you're busy getting your latest book ready for publication, but we'll get to the new one a little later.

 Lisa:  Thanks for inviting me to participate on your blog.

 Me:  Running Wide Open really caught my attention because the cover has a bright yellow racing car on it. Can you tell us the basic set up of the book?

 Lisa:  Running Wide Open is a coming of age story about 15-year-old Cody Everett, who gets in trouble for vandalism and is shipped off to live with his uncle, a laid-back guy who calls himself Race, eats frozen Twinkies for breakfast, and races a stock car. Cody's sure the arrangement won't work out, but he finds himself drawn into the racing community, and Race becomes the mentor he's been looking for all his life.

 Me:  Now, a lot of our male readers might think to themselves, "What in the world would a female author know about racing?" But, tell us a little of your history with cars.

 Lisa:  I was an amateur stock car racer for 13 years. I built and drove cars in Eugene, Oregon, Hickory, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon. In fact, the car on the cover is one I raced at Hickory.

 Me:  What got you interested in racing in the first place?

 Lisa:  Good question. I guess it goes back to my sense of independence. When I got my first car--a '72 Gremlin--I was shocked by the cost of parts and labor the first time I took it in for a little work. I decided I was going to learn how to repair it myself. Working on cars led to an interest in making them go fast, and that led to stock car racing. Which I guess was a good thing, since the alternative was to be a menace on the streets.

 Me:  Which your main character, Cody, seems to be.

 Lisa:  Well, he's a menace, but not behind the wheel. When he moves in with Race, he doesn't even have his permit--something his uncle remedies in a hurry.

 Me:  Did you have someone like Cody's Uncle Race in your life growing up?

 Lisa:  Not at all. That's why I wanted to write about him. As a kid, I looked to books to find that sort of relationship. I hope that kids in difficult situations will likewise get a few hours of comfort and escape by reading my books.

 Me:  That's a great goal.

 Lisa:  I think every kid deserves to have someone like Race in his or her life.

 Me:  Coming back to Cody and his troubles, he's not only in trouble a lot, but he has a very rocky relationship with his parents, especially his mother. Why did you find it important to give Cody such a unstable past.

 Lisa:  I think a lot of kids are in situations like that. They're not abused severely enough that anyone would take them away from their parents, yet the neglect and emotional trauma they go through damages them. They're left in a position where they don't think they have a right to complain because, after all, nobody's beating them. But they don't have a "real" family, either. I want kids in those circumstances to know that someone understands. And, regarding the plot of the book, putting Cody into a situation like that made his ultimate trust in Race into something meaningful. This book is really about their friendship. About how a broken kid can learn to care about others and believe in himself.

 Me:  Is helping young adults in that transition from kid to adult part of what inspired you to write a YA novel?

    Lisa:  I've never thought of it in those exact terms. I've been writing YA since I was 13, so it's a genre that always seemed natural to me. I think the reason I like it so much is because that coming-of-age time in a person's life is so interesting. It's fascinating to see people discovering who they are and learning how to fit into the world. I would never want to write anything that came across as didactic, but I do hope my books will give kids some food for thought that will help them navigate that time in their lives.

 Me:  So then I take it that your new book, Getting Sideways, is also a YA?

 Lisa:  Yes. It's the second book in the Full Throttle series. At this point, I don't see myself writing anything other than YA. It's the natural voice that's inside me. If I were to write an adult book, I'd feel like I was pretending. I guess I feel like I'm really still a teen inside, and whenever I'm interacting with other people, I'm hoping they won't figure it out. But I hear a lot of YA authors feel that way.

 Me:  Can you give a quick rundown of what Getting Sideways is all about?

 Lisa:  Cody's been deeply affected by an event the previous summer that's changed things between him and his uncle. When he gets the opportunity to build a race car of his own, he thinks it'll be the perfect way to get things back to normal. But he doesn't have his dad's permission, and Race doesn't know that. Cody has to keep Race from finding out long enough to convince his dad to let him build the car. And, or course, messing things up with Race is the last thing he wants to do. Oh, and then there's the fact that he's not sure he has the guts to get out on the track and try to live up to his uncle's reputation. But he can't come clean about that, either.

 Me:  Sounds very intriguing. That comes out in early December?

 Lisa:  December 26th.

 Me:  Can't wait. Lisa, Thank you so much for taking time out to talk.

 Lisa:  It was my pleasure.

Visit Lisa on her blog at http://lisanowak.wordpress.com/

Bad Boy

Yes, I've been a bad boy. This Christmas season was busier than usual and therefore I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. My apologies. But wait until you hear why. I was inspired just before Christmas to write a new book. I'd had an idea in my had for years now, but just before Christmas, everything with the story seemed to fall into place. I finished my rough draft this weekend; a book in three weeks. I'm so excited! It's about a group of orphans that gets stranded on a distant planet. I start revisions today.

I also get back to business today. So following this post will be an interview I did with Lisa Nowak about her novel, Running Wide Open. She released the sequel this holiday season and you can read all about it in the Running Wide Open post.