9 posts tagged “gemma doyle”
This last past week more ads for How to Be surfaced. It's had some success in London and New England with screenings. I hope that it means that it will get a fair shake in the new year and get some distribution. I am just dying to see this film. Some yummy Rob goodness.
I have my desktop looking like my trash pin it's covered in pics so I thought it was time that I posted some of them so they can be dropped into iPhoto and I can see my desktops again. I love the new baseball one. I think Jackson looks good there. I'm not a fan of his crazy 80's hair in the film so seeing him with the hat on is major points in my book. I am totally becoming a huge Cam Gigandet fan and I think this pic is such a good James one. I watched the video from Comic Con again and he's just a creepy mofo.Krys... I'm such a sinner with the perving on a baby, but I think he's really beautiful. Should have been Jacob. I could have bought him over Taylor Lautner. The Read poster makes me shake my head. It's genius in a marketing standpoint but I wonder if they have any shame. And then the girls. I both love and hate this picture. It makes it all seem neat and pat. They are all Twilight whores. All of them.
Yesterday I found the audiobooks and pdf for Breaking Dawn. If anyone sees this and wants me to upload them let me know and I will. I am not ashamed of my pirate-y ways and think audiobooks cost way too much for something so cheap to make. By the same notion, anyone know where I could score the Gemma Doyle Trilogy on audiobook I would greatly appreciate it. I do miss me some Kartik. And I loaned my first two books out and can't reread them.
D has been really unhappy at work for a while so he was going to take the latest offer that Get Back. But just when he thought all was lost Spike TV, who he works for offered him a promotion with an office and a pay raise. So of course he couldn't in good conscience say no to that and he took the promotion. Today he got his office and you can see it in the picture to the left. Nice view too. Now I am determined to decorate his office. I want to get some lucky bamboo for it and he can use one of my Twilight posters if he wants. I think he needs to get some swag from MTV, it's the mother company to Spike TV and then his walls won't look so bare.
My plans for the weekend include seeing a movie with Connie and whomever else is coming. I think I plan to do nothing but read over the weekend. I have 80 Harlequin Blaze books, Vampire Kisses, Vampire Diaries, Tithe, more Sookie Stackhouse books. I could happily read and do nothing else and have no problems with it. We will see.
Last Monday I started coming down with a cold. It stayed throughout the weekend and lingers still. I would like to have veto power over it, but it rather seems to be autonomous. During this time I have been a bit down. It all seems to be compounding and I demand a change of things starting immediately. Being sick sucks.
Today was a therapy day and I got a ride in early with D. I spent two hours at Iso reading The Host. I was a little distracted and only read to chapter 5. I have to admit that I am having a hard time getting into it after reading A Sweet Far Thing. But I think once I am really in the story that that won't be the case anymore. I hope that that will be how it turns out. I plan to spend the majority of tomorrow reading so that I will be pretty far into the story before the reading on Thursday. I don't want to be spoiled when Stephenie reads. Just 2 days now.
Last night I finished A Sweet Far Thing and it was very good. I didn't agree 100% with how things ended but I would read the Gemma Doyle Trilogy again and I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy. I would have D read it but I already told him how it ends and he is stuck on how Gemma drove me mad. I hope to get the audiobooks and then he will listen to it.
I just got off the phone with my doctor and I got, what is in my mind, bad news. I have to increase the dosage on one of my medications because I've been having some fluctuations in my moods. Why is it that whenever I think I'm getting a handle on this something happens and my meds are increased, when all I want is to have them decreased? But if it means that I will have my concentration back and I'm not feeling up one week and down in the dumps the next then I guess it's a good thing. Being bipolar really isn't the fun it would seem to be.
As for the watching of movies. Last night D and I watched Cashback with Sean Biggerstaff. In case you don't recognize the name he played Wood in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Cashback was really good. I identified with Ben's view of time, even though I can't admit to the insomnia. It was a really good movie. Tonight I was on a Pirates kick and we watched Dead Man's Chest and End of the World. Johnny Depp is just brilliant and I love watching him act. He is one of my favorite actors. And sometimes Pirates of the Caribbean can go a long way to making bad things right. Friday Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull come out. I want to be excited about it but really I'm just scared. I don't think a geriatric Ford will blow the sexy Indiana Jones role out of the water. I don't get the fuzzies for grandpas. And I know Belle is excited to see it for Shia Labouf but he doesn't do anything for me either. I do hope that it isn't a complete waste of time.
Finally, tonight, something that I have been remiss to mention. No, not remiss but maybe reluctant. The new Joss Whedon show, Dollhouse. I'm not moved. I don't like Eliza Dushku and a show centered around her does nothing for me. Tahmoh Penikett plays an FBI agent in it and not even that is really inspiring me. D is rather optimistic about it though and he had me watch the trailer. I in turn am including it in my post. But I don't think I will be sticking by Joss for this one. I maintain that I still love the man and next time if he has a pilot that stars Emma Caulfield I'll be there from the word go. But this show promises me no Anya and I'm sore about it.
Never mind the video is destined not to be posted here. Go here and watch it.
We weren't able to find anything in the tide pools but the beach was empty and we sat there and watched the water for a time. I miss the ocean. Something about it really seems to balance me. I know that sounds like goofy new age stuff, but it does. I could sit and watch the water for hours. Of course I say that but at a beach, I tend to be the person that doesn't stop moving. In theory I am enjoying the water but in reality I think I am perpetrating a strange criminal act in standing still. It must be a control thing.
D told me this story about this town that sits below the mountains and all the real estate is cheap because the mountains landslide once every so many years. I saw it as we drove by and it's not much to look at. I wonder if you are so desperate to own why you wouldn't invest more sagely. Maybe some people are just risk takers. It made me feel sad. It seems like a hopeless cycle.
We listened to New Moon on audiobook for the car ride and it made me remember how much I love the chapters from Visitor on. We got from Visitor to The Truth in our travels and it just made me want to read the book. I think tonight I will read from Volterra to the end and see if it doesn't settle me some. I love the part where they are in the sewers and Edward is drawing her near and touching her face. It is such a quiet devotional act. And then I love The Truth so much. There is not a sentence in the entire chapter that I would have rewritten. I'm a silly romantic at heart. I love when they love and I ... well I was going to say, hate when they hurt, but I love well Bella hurts. It makes up for all the times she's stupid and I'm wondering what Edward sees in her.
I am on page 678 of A Sweet Far Thing and I am having a problem reading farther. I know what happens to one character in the end and I don't want it to happen so I am resistant to reading further in the book. It's childish and silly but very much a real reaction. It doesn't help that Bray writes imbuing each sentence with such tension that I feel rung out at the end of each chapter. It is not the sweet forget-me-not writing of Stephenie Meyer, it's rather angsty and bittersweet. I mean Meyer writes a love story of a vampire and girl and she thinks they are star-crossed. Bray can one up her and write of a 16 year old British sorceress and an Indian man, who is educated and alone, who are in a situation where they may have feelings for each other but they won't be accepted anywhere. Not to mention everyone wants the magic of the realms and Gemma doesn't know who she can trust. Bella and Edward have it easy.
And lastly, and only Heather and David will get the significance of this photo, but a silver S60 Volvo.
I am about 250 pages from the end of A Sweet Far Thing and I really hate Libba Bray. There is just no way that good things can really come from the mess she has unveiled. I had hopes for this book, that it would have a great deal more of Kartik in it, but I think it's even less than Rebel Angels. I love some of the scenes she has with Gemma and Kartik, but she marks them all with an awful exclamation point. Since I spoiled myself concerning the end with Kartik I can't say that she is particularly good to him in this book and that makes me really sad. I wish Ann and Felicity were left behind in the realms. They are really annoying. I actually am annoyed with 90% of what Gemma does and I don't know how it is that I claim this trilogy as something I like. But I would read it again. I would love to get it on audiobook so D can listen to it.
Nothing has been going on in the Twilight fandom since Wednesday. It makes me antsy when nothing is happening. I need the constant influx of information or I feel like it's being forgotten. But it is the weekend now and Tuesday will be Twilight Tuesday. Then after that will be the book signing on Thursday. Although I know that will be more Host related, but somebody, maybe me, will ask a Twilight question. I have to think hard and come up with something never asked before. I think I'm formulating one right now.
I bought two new books today. I will have to read The Host before Thursday, so it will be a few days until I get around to reading them. One is The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint and the other is Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Both are YA books but I don't think that means anything at all. I hope it doesn't anyway. I also have plans of reading a book D has been wanting me to read forever called Sword Dancer by Jennifer Roberson. That is a pretty good reading pile.
And on to my other obsession, no not Ben Barnes, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I finally read last night to where Kartik comes back. That made me happy. But I spoiled myself for what happens to him in this book and I am really sad. Kartik is my favorite character and I wish that somehow he would find a resolution to the problem of him being Indian and her being British. I know that is just rather unlikely with the social structure as it is. I didn't get that far in the book today with having class. I plan to read most of tomorrow. I want to get a couple hundred pages in.
Today was my last day at the Getty Villa. I went an hour early and took my time going through the collection. I went and looked at the art object that I am doing my paper on and I was done. I wanted to go home. I didn't want to go to class and I considered calling David to just come get me. BUT I didn't. I went to class and it was painful and difficult but I made it through it. I am ticking off weeks now, but I care so much less. This isn't ending well.
Now who will win ANTM? I'm surprised as hell who are the final two. Suprised as hell.
I did like Ben Barnes as the hapless young Dunstan Thorn. I think the boy is very pretty and I am just a sucker for the pretty. I also liked Claire Danes as Yvaine. I loved Charlie Cox in Casanova and I thought he was perfect for Tristran/Tristan. I did not like Kate Magowan as the Slave Girl/Una. I thought she was a bit odd for the part. I pictured someone tinier, more agile and pixie-like. I also imagined the fair Victoria as a lot better looking than Sienna Miller. I did love Mark Strong as Septimus. He's still my second favorite character of the book. And De Niro as Captain Shakespeare was entertaining, even if they built that character entirely for the movie and he is not the man he was in the book. Oh and I didn't like Michelle Pfieffer at all. I thought she was just cheap compared to the rest.
Back to Ben Barnes, I also finished Prince Caspian. It was a quick and sometimes pedantic read. The voice that the entire book is written in is so obviously masculine that sometimes it feels rather cardboard. I don't know how to actually describe it. It's just a shallowness. Like if a male is telling a story where you aren't really described the situation, but you are getting a summation. I am looking forward to the movie at the end of the week. I am hoping that I find this more memorable than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe movie. I just can't say that I recall a whole lot of what actually happens in the first. This is the bane of being un-fan-like about something.
I am hemming and hawing now, whether to read The Host or A Sweet Far Thing. I have missed Kartik this last week without him. I even found Gemma Doyle fanfic and I couldn't read it without spoiling myself. Of course, because it is my way, I did manage to spoil myself some anyway. It's not as bad as last time where my nosiness spoiled me for the end of Rebel Angel's. This is more of a 'and after everything that happens, this happens' thing. I will stop talking about before I write it out and spoil Belle. So I guess I just made my decision. I will be reading, A Sweet Far Thing next. I wouldn't be sad if that got made into a movie. I don't have a clue as to who would play Gemma or Kartik. I would love for Kate Winslet to play Miss Moore. I don't know who I would have play Gemma's mother or father. Could I pick Charlie Cox to play Thomas though? And Pippa, Felicity and Ann... *sigh*. Too hard. I have one person cast in my version of A Great and Terrible Beauty. I will have to keep it a work in progress.
Tonight, Belle is coming over for us to watch the Ring of the Nibelung or otherwise known as... Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. It has Benno Furmann and Robert Pattinson in it. Benno Furmann played Inspector Detector in Speed Racer. We rented it to see Rob. We aren't hoping for a lot from it. It is a made for TV movie. But hey, it could happen, it could be the best made for TV movie ever.
Today it is only 18 days until the 31st. I am hoping to be awake and coherent at 10AM that day to go to the bookstore and read the Special Edition Version of Eclipse for the Breaking Dawn chapter 1. I have tried to talk D into buying me the new version but as I want the paperback versions too, he's not as convinced to buy every version that comes out. So I might be living at the bookstore reading and rereading the chapter until 2 August. How pathetic. But it can't be helped. I feel like I've been waiting for this forever and it hasn't been a month. I can't imagine how those who read Eclipse when it came out feel. They are probably heavily medicated.
I have so many things I want to write about today that I just don't even know where to start. I finished Rebel Angels this afternoon. What can I say, I really love Kartik. I loved how his character was developed in book two of the trilogy, although I was a bit disappointed about how things end between him and Gemma. The action was great in this book. The twists and turns were diabolical. All those things you sort of thought you were right about you find out you are, but you no longer think you are. It's tricky. I liked Gemma more in this book than in A Great and Terrible Beauty. She was still terribly immature at times but she isn't as blindly naive. I was ambivalent up to a certain point about Simon Middleton and then flat out didn't like him. Not to mention I measured him up to Kartik the entire time and he doesn't compare. I think Bray is doing an excellent job of defining the taboo and the expectation of the society. I just wish that Kartik wasn't taboo. I'll take him if Gemma can't make it work.
I went and bought The Host and A Sweet Far Thing today. I am currently torn because I don't know if I should read either one of those or Stardust. Stardust, I could probable read by tomorrow. Okay I have to study so maybe not. But I could read it quickly. The Host is 600+ pages and A Sweet Far Thing is 800+. Those are real commitments. With how fuzzy my head is at the moment I just don't know which is the better book to start. And I'm reading Twilight again with Jason and I told him I would be ready to discuss chapter 5 by Thursday. So many books and so little time.
While at the bookstore I took note of the display for Twilight. It is so big and always in flux. Sometimes stocked, sometimes not so much. The woman who checked us out gave me a small happy when she noticed that I was buying The Host and asked me if I was waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out. I admitted, shyly, that I was and told her how many days until 2 August. I mentioned the movie coming out in December and she surmised that it was going to be huge. She thinks the sequels won't be a problem. It made me feel good about the whole situation. Random bookstore clerk who sees popularity of the books, thinking that the franchise is a go. *sigh* Happy thoughts.
Speaking of Twilight, today is Twilight Tuesday and MTV released the official movie poster. I'm not that excited about it. I think it could have been better. Edward looks disjointed to me, not like he's looking over her. I think she looks soft and he looks too dead. Maybe he should look dead, but it just makes me not like it. I do like one thing. His eye looks topaz. Score points there. There was a fan poster made by Loleia that I liked, I'll post that too. If I had my choice between this and the cast photo I would pick the cast photo. I think the teaser trumps them both. Although with some time and space I can recognize that the teaser caters too much to those who already know and love the books and were going to see the movie anyway. It could have been catered more toward a more diversified audience.
Tomorrow is my second exam in Art History and I am not, exactly, looking forward to it. I am sort of dreading it. But to save me from real dread, the class is at the Getty. I hope to go in early and be able to look at one statue in particular. I want to do my paper on it. It's called the Venus Genetrix. She's very much in the style of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. I hope to compare them to one another. It will also give me time to study a bit before the exam. Of course I don't think we will have a tour tomorrow. Since we have so much to make up after last weeks class fiasco.
After class it will be a comic book day. Angel: After the Fall, Buffy and Lords of Avalon are all coming out tomorrow. It will be a nice reward after the exam. LOA left off at the place where Seren is stabbed by Kerrigan. It's one of my favorite parts of the book and I loved seeing it done in comic. D told me that after Angel: After the Fall that they are going to do a Spike: After the Fall. I am interested in that. I still can't get into the Buffy comics. I don't like the legions of slayers. It was hard enough for me when there was Faith. I hope that there could be a Twilight Manga. That would make for good adaptation.
Tonight I caught up with past times and finally saw SuperBad. I must confess... this movie did nothing for me. I don't really get the cult success of it. I found it just overdone and embarrassing. Why is it that embarrassment is seen as funny? I have to say Michael Cera was my favorite part of the movie although I liked some of the facial expressions of Seth Rogan as one of the cops. I don't think that this is in the vein of Knocked Up or Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Or maybe it's just a lot more guy-oriented that I would like it better if I had a Y-chromosome.
The Lion & Lamb LJ community is a big resource for getting Twilight things of all kinds. Some rather ambitiously creative people there have been making movie posters for the long awaited (221 days) movie. I saved a few of the really good ones for my desktop but I wanted to post them here for prosperity's sake. I really love the one done by Lovewithbite, the bottom one. The other two are done by Flame_Eternel. I think they are rather impressive.
I have been having a bit of a hard time reading lately. I'm unfocused and undisciplined and have been tending to get sucked into some truly horrible fanfic rather than finishing what I have started. I explained it today as being a heroine addict and taking cough medicine to get me through. It is a bad, nasty habit that is attached to a goodly amount of self loathing. But enough belaboring... I have been reading Rebel Angel's for almost an entire week. I am liking it well enough, but would like to just be done with it already. I am looking forward to finishing the Gemma Doyle Trilogy with A Sweet Far Thing. I hope the last book has more Kartik in it than this one does. I am not feeling the Simon Middleton vibe. I don't care if Kartik is taboo in her society. They kissed once and I want more of the same.
Lastly, after The Host, I am going to attempt to read Stardust so D's head won't explode. I have yet to see the movie because I haven't read the book. D would love to watch the movie again and I'm the wrench in the works. I owe him this small favor. So it's been added to my cue. Of course at the rate that I'm reading this could be reading for next month. How did I go from reading a book a day to not finishing one in five days? It's Twilight. It ruined me in so many ways.
6 May is when The Host comes out. It will be the first non-Twilight book Stephenie Meyer has written and I am oddly excited about it. I'm a little afraid for the subject matter, alien life forms that inhabit the host body of humans but the story goes beyond that to humanity and love. I am excited for it all the same. It's no Edward Cullen but I'll give it a try.
Tonight I tried to read Dark Side of the Moon to tide me over. I found it really hard to concentrate on and I also was skipping parts in the book that moved too slow for me. All in all I would say I probably don't really want to read this book right now. That makes me sad, it wasn't too long ago when I read it four times in two weeks. Maybe I am a little burned out on it. Maybe I'm reading too much fanfic and it is ruining me for real books.
I do have one other new book which I have yet to read. I bought it when I bought my Twilight Saga books. It's Jennifer Ashley's Highlander Ever After books and the last in a trilogy. I reread the other two books not long ago so I am refreshed and ready to commence this series at any moment. It's the story of Egan and Zarabeth, who you get tidbits about in the other two books. I should have tried to read that today instead. Or Sebastien by Anne Bishop. That is another book I could have tried to read instead. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.