Breaking Dawn Review

Avery Cat gives Breaking Dawn 4 out of 5 catnip mousies


I finished Breaking Dawn a couple of days ago, and I enjoyed it. Personally, I think it was the most well-written of the series. Now, I have blogged about the previous three books in the series before, and if you read any of those posts, you'll know that although I voraciously consumed all three books in little over a week, I also concluded that they weren't very well-written. I felt the plot was uneven, with nothing happening in the beginning, and all the action at the end. The character of Bella also really, really annoyed me. She was too passive, always letting things happen to her without taking control of her own life. In fact, I was completely mystified as to what Edward saw in her, because to me, she was flat and lacking personality. She just was. It seemed like she was only defined in her relationship to Edward. I'm a big fan of strong female characters in the books that I read, and Bella just really wasn't cutting it.

Now I'll tell you why Breaking Dawn was better.

Spoiler Alert!
I thought the plot in Breaking Dawn was a lot better balanced. There seemed to be a little more action in the beginning of the book and so it sustained my interest a bit better. And Bella getting pregnant? Well, I wouldn't have predicted that for the last book, although once I started reading I figured it out pretty quickly due to the foreshadowing.

And although I know for a fact there were a lot of people hoping that Bella would get together with Jacob instead, I knew that it was going to be Edward. I mean, they've been together since book one, and they consider each other soul mates. It was a done deal long ago.

And I personally think that the character of Bella improved 100% in this book. Even before she gets her cool vampire powers, she takes a stand on keeping the baby, where before, she pretty much has had to go along with whatever Edward has said.

And I enjoyed the ending a lot. The whole stand-off in the woods was good. And of course, although Meyer has said she's done writing from Bella's perspective, the ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel what with the unresolved confrontation with the Volturi. Perhaps she'll continue the storyline with Jacob and Renesmee as the main characters.

I am also excited about the Twilight movie which is coming in December. Check out the trailer. It looks good, but Bella's voice is somehow wrong to me.

And in other news, I just watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace again last night because it was on TV, and I was just reminded all over again of how horrid parts of that movie were. But it also had some really good parts too. I liked especially all the light saber fights. But if you remember the last fight, after Darth Maul has killed Qui-Gon and then he knocks Obi-Wan off the platform so he's dangling below him. And then Obi-Wan jumps up and does a flip over his head and then slices Darth Maul in half. And it suddenly struck me... is that not exactly what Anakin tries to do in the third movie? So how come Obi-Wan can do it, but when Anakin tries it, he gets sliced in half? Hmmmm?

Harry Potter Obsession

Yay Harry Potter! Check out the trailer for the new movie. It sent chills down my spine. You'd think that maybe a year later my obsession with all things Potter would have faded... but, no.

Harry Potter forever!!!!

Scary, scary, scary

Well, the one good thing about all the annoying security at airports, is that if you end up sitting next to a psychopath on the plane, at least he won't have a large butcher knife hidden on him.


Kind of makes you never want to take public transit again.

Letters

Dear Curves evening-shift girl;

I know that if no one comes in after 7:00 that you can close early at 7:30 pm. I am sorry that I had the nerve to come in at 7:15 and work out for my full half an hour. I am sure you must have been anxious to get home to your leftover pizza and reality tv. But even though I was the only person working out, you are technically supposed to be open until 8:00 pm. Sighing dramatically and looking longingly at the clock will not make me leave any faster. Actually, just for you, I took an extra long time stretching out my hamstrings tonight. And turning off the lights while I was still in the dressing room, well that was just rude. So don't be surprised that I didn't give you my usual cheery post-workout wave. Bitch.


Dear adolescent punk who was walking down ninth tonight;

I'm sure that the two girls you were with thought it was very funny when you pretended to dart out in front of my car, causing me to slam on my brakes. They probably would have been more impressed if I had actually swerved into oncoming traffic and hit another car. So keep practicing. And hopefully someday someone won't be paying attention and you'll become someone's new hood ornament.


Sincerely,
Violette

Kittehs!

Thursday Next Series - Jasper Fforde

First I would like to whine about the fact that I am sick. In July! Goodness knows I get enough colds during the rest of the year, but summer is supposed to be the one season I can count on not to get sick. And I am laying the blame squarely at my sister's feet: K, this is all your fault. Keep you cursed germs to yourself next time.

But I do want to talk about this fabulous new series I'm reading. ypk blogged about it a while ago on Speak Friend, and Enter, but I hadn't gotten around to it. So I finally did, and it's brilliant. It's the kind of novel, that if you're a writer, throws you into the depths of despair, because you know that in a million years you'll never be able to write anything half as good.

The series is a weird kind of melding of science fiction / fantasy / crime novel. The main protagonist is a woman named Thursday Next. She lives in England in the mid-1980s, in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few major differences. For example, the Crimean War is still going on, the Germans actually managed to invade England for a brief time in the Second World War, and Wales is still a separate country from England. Those are just the historical differences though. It gets weirder. The entire country is run by a massive corporation called Goliath, and Thursday Next works as a LiteraTec (Literary Detective) in SpecOps (Special Operations), which is an organization under Goliath that handles investigations that are too much for the regular police force. Among other things, SpecOps is in charge of dispatching vampires, zombies, and other deadly creatures of the night.

In the first book in the series, The Eyre Affair, the original manuscript to Jane Eyre has been stolen, and someone is attempting to alter the manuscript, which would therefore alter all copies of the story for good. Thursday discovers that she has a talent for jumping into books, and so she goes into the story to save it. I actually had to stop in the middle of reading this book and go and read Jane Eyre (which by the way, if you haven't done, do it. It's quite good for one of those 19th century novels), because I was really missing out on all the plot references. Anyway, Thursday discovers that there's a whole other world where the characters from all the novels interact freely. And because of her ability to read herself into books, she gets drafted as a JurisFiction agent, charged with policing the Book World.

Besides being crime thrillers, the books are also very funny. There are numerous allusions to other classic novels (For Example, Miss Havisham from Great Expectations has a penchant for fast cars and often gets together with Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows for a race), and the author has a lot of fun with the conventions of plot and grammar, etc. I shall now share a quotation (the same one which ypk originally blogged) which amply demonstrates the sort of clever silliness that I'm talking about. JurisFiction (the organization that polices the Book World) is meeting to discuss several problems on the agenda:

'Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren't you working on this?'

Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts.

'Indeed. The use of had had and that that has to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the ImaginoTransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.'

'Go on.'

'It's mostly an unlicensed usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.'

'Hmm,' said the Bellman. 'I thought had had had had TGC's approval for use in Dickens? What's the problem?'

'Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,' explained Lady Cavendish. 'You would have thought that that first had had had had good occassion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.'

'So the problem with that other that that was that --?

'That that other -other that that had had approval.'

'Okay,' said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, 'let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim's Progress, which had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC's approval?'

There was a very long pause.

'Right,' said the Bellman with a sigh. 'That's it for the moment. I'll be giving out assignments in ten minutes. Session's over -- and let's be careful out there.' (p 256-7)

Various

My life has lately been very, very busy, but sadly not very exciting. So here are some reviews of what I've been reading/watching.

Sex and the City
Ummmm. I enjoyed it. But I'm not sure if anyone who hadn't been a follower of the tv series would have. It was pretty much like three or four episodes strung together to make a movie. My favourite part was when a certain character confesses that they've been cheating on another certain character, and the whole audience gasped. Which wouldn't have happened in a regular movie. But because everyone in the theatre was a fan and had been watching and knowing these characters for years, it was like your best friend came up to you and confessed that they'd been cheating. Oh and there were like, four guys in the audience. Including my sister's bf. Hi J!

Bee Movie
Yes it's a kids movie, but I am a Children's Librarian. Not that that's really an excuse. The second most watched channel on my tv is Teletoon. But, anyway, I thought it looked like it could be kind of cute and funny, so I rented it. And after it was over, I just kind of sat staring at the screen going "huh?". It's like, halfway through, the creators just said, "You know what? This movie is not very good, and it's already kind of starting to not make sense. So let's just throw out EVERYTHING we know about plot and character and make the dumbest movie ever. Sound good?" I mean, seriously, the beginning had its moments, but after you get about mid-way through, the whole thing just becomes so random and stupid. You know, just because it's a kids movie shouldn't mean you can just make a steaming pile of crap and get away with it because Jerry Seinfeld will sell it for you. Yuck.

Sweep Series by Cate Tiernan
This is a series about a teen girl who discovers that she's an extremely powerful witch when she joins a Wiccan coven. They're pretty good. Not fabulous, amazing writing, but the plot keeps the pages turning. There's lots of twists and turns, and there are a ton of books in the series. I just finished book 8, and I'm not even sure how many books have been written. They do almost become a bit soap-like though, in that they have to keep changing things around and shocking you to keep you reading, right? So in every book it's like, ohmigod, so that guy, who you thought was bad, is actually good! And that guy you thought was good, is actually bad! And so forth. But they're good for a quick, entertaining read.

Mediator Series by Meg Cabot
This 6-book series is about a girl who can talk to ghosts. And when she moves to California she finds an amazingly sexy boy ghost haunting her bedroom. And it might seem like their relationship can't go anywhere (him being dead and all), but this girl can not only talk to ghosts, she can touch them too, just as if they were real people. So literally kicking ghost butt (or kissing) is not out of the question. Good series. The first three books were okay, and then in the fourth book the plot kicked into high gear. And you know it's got to have a happy ending, but I couldn't figure out HOW she was going to pull it off. So it was pretty good. Again, not especially deep... but who am I kidding? I never read anything deep unless I'm going to have to write an essay on it.

Inkheart
Uh, no. I haven't actually seen this. Because it hasn't been released yet. I just wanted to complain about the fact that it was originally scheduled to be released in March 2008, and I put in my library newsletter that it was going to be released then, and it wasn't, and now it says it's going to be released in January 2009! That's almost a year later! What happened?

And what's up with this cold, rainy weather? I mean, I'm not complaining about the rain, cuz I know the farmers need it (Hi Dad!), but seriously, (if you can believe the weather channel) it's going to be rainy and cold for the next week. This is not nice June weather.

Okay, I'm done bitching. Ciao.

Veronica Mars Rocks

I bought all three seasons of Veronica Mars on DVD exactly one week ago. And I've watched them all. Yes, all three seasons in one week. Needless to say, it's been a week of indulgence. Right now my place looks like a hurricane went through it (Dishes? Laundry? What are those?) and I haven't actually slept in the last 24 hours, but it was worth it. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, please take a look. It's pretty freaking awesome.

For those not in the know, Veronica Mars is kind of like Nancy Drew for the new millennium. The parallels are obvious: teenage girl living with single father attempts to live a normal life while solving mysteries for friends on the side. Veronica and her dad even use the names Carson and Nancy Drew as aliases during an episode (ha ha), but the concept has been updated quite a bit into something much less wholesome than the original Nancy. Unlike Carson Drew, Veronica's father Keith is not a famous, well-to-do lawyer, but a former sheriff turned private detective, who now makes his living taking dirty pictures of cheating spouses and chasing down parole jumpers. Nancy's mother was dead, whereas Veronica's mother just ditched them for reasons that are not entirely clear in the beginning. And while I have always been an admirer of Miss Drew, Veronica basically blows her out of the water, both in sleuthing ability, and personality. Veronica has nerves of steel and she's not satisfied with just catching the crooks, she likes to make them pay. Revenge is a dish best served cold indeed. Not to mention that next to all Veronica's high-tech spy gadgetry, Nancy's trusty old magnifying glass just looks hopelessly inadequate.

The series has, as most of my favourites do, a good balance between "bad guy of the week" episodes and continuing storylines that pop up from time to time. I really think the first season is the best; that storyline is so wickedly convoluted and sordid. But the second and third seasons were also eminently watchable.

It makes me very sad when an awesome show like Veronica Mars gets cancelled after the third season while crap reality shows like American Idol and America's Next Top Model just keep going, and going, and going... Yuck.

And now my thoughts on some characters and how the series ended. Please don't read this if you haven't watched the series. You'll enjoy it more if you don't know what's coming next. Otherwise, feel free to click and drag.

So at the end, Veronica has just gone to vote in the election for sheriff, but considering that her Dad just destroyed some evidence to save Veronica's butt, she may be the only one who voted for him. But in a way, it's a good way to end the show because it's such a good example of how their relationship works. They don't always tell each other everything (and that pisses them both off on occasion), but in the end, they're there for each other, period, no matter what happens. So I think Veronica makes Keith lose the election, and although he would of course make a much better sheriff than his rival, I also got the impression that he was feeling a bit chafed by the official rules and restrictions he was forced to work under. Keith likes being able to just go and do something, never mind the warrant. So I think he would ultimately be okay with not being sheriff anymore.

Some other characters who I loved: Mac, who is awesome, and I'm glad she got to be a recurring character through the whole series. I also liked Eli "Weevil" Navarro, although I thought he lost some of his character's bite in the third season. There was that whole thing where he lied to Veronica about finding that computer that allows you to make fake student ids, suggesting that you can take the boy out of the biker gang, etc. but he just didn't have the same feeling of danger around him. So that's too bad. But he was still a cool character.

Mostly I just want to talk about Logan Echolls, because I love, love, love that character. He's such a bad boy, and yet I wouldn't want Veronica to end up with anyone else. The way the series ended, Veronica was still with Piz, but Logan had broken up with Parker. Then Logan goes up and punches a guy in the food court for harassing Veronica, and you can just see the hint of a smile on her face as she watches him walk away. Cuz, you know, I gotta be honest here. I would consider myself to be a feminist and a believer in the equality of the sexes... and yet there is something incredibly appealing about a boyfriend who would take a baseball bat to a police cruiser just so he could get into the same jail cell as the guys that attempted to rape and kill his girlfriend and then proceed to beat the crap out of them. And how many times does Logan either a) save Veronica's life, or b) beat the snot out of someone for her? The truth is, I think, considering Veronica's line of work, she needs a boyfriend who can handle that. Piz is a really nice guy, and that's the problem. Veronica needs someone who's not going to worry about breaking a few rules, or cracking a few heads when necessary. There's also just so much history between Veronica and Logan. He was there with her, through the whole Lilly Kane thing, through the whole rape thing, and he really understands her, because he's been through the same sort of crap. Although of course, there is the problem that Logan is also very wary about letting himself be open and therefore vulnerable. He has this defensive shell of sarcasm and anger that he keeps wrapped around himself. By season three, it's mostly gone when he's with Veronica, but there are still secrets he keeps, and times when he needs to be alone and away from her. And Veronica, who has had the people she loves keeping secrets from her from day one, just can't handle that. She needs to know, she needs to know now, and she needs to know everything. And that's why they're like the amazing rubber couple: can't stay apart, can't stay together. But, in my mind, (forget that whole Veronica Mars season four first year in FBI crap) they end up together. Cuz I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and those two deserve one.

So just go and watch it already. You won't be sorry.

Books, Books and Facebook

Well, well, it's been awhile, hasn't it? You might wonder what I've been up to.

Well, for starters, I've been doing a lot of reading. I first of all got addicted to the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. They're a series of three books, with the fourth coming out this August. First of all, I have to say that I enjoyed reading them very much. However, after having read all three of them, I will now say something that may be shocking to fans of the series: Bella Swan is the most whiny, passive, selfish, and boring female protagonist that I have come across in a long time.

But you know I'll still go and buy Breaking Dawn as soon as it's out.

The other series I've been devouring like a woman possessed is the Mélusine series by Sarah Monette. I've only read the first two, but I expect to acquire the third in the series within the week. It's an adult fantasy series about two half-brothers who grow up in very different worlds. Felix is an aristocratic wizard, and his younger brother Mildmay is a cat burglar and assassin-for-hire in the lower city. And there's just something about those characters. They stay with you and you think about them and wonder about them long after the story's over. That may be because they are complex characters; neither one of them is 100% good or bad.

Here's an exchange that Felix has with Astyanax, his jilted ex-lover, shortly after Felix dumps him without warning:

He [Astyanax] stared at me for a moment, vanity and rage and wounded, throbbing, screaming self-love contorting his face. Then he said, feigning disdain, "I hope for your sake he's as good in bed as I am."

I let myself smile, sharp, wicked. "Darling, that wouldn't be hard."

Oh Felix, you nasty boy you.

And Mildmay's favourite expression: "Fuck me sideways 'til I cry."

You see? That's personality. Something Bella Swan just doesn't have.

I would also like, at this point, to proclaim my official hatred of Facebook. I am not on Facebook, nor will I ever be on Facebook. So please, for the love of God, STOP asking me. If someone wants to know what I've been up to, then they can e-mail me and ask. What's that you say? You don't have my e-mail? Well, there's probably a very good reason for that. My feelings about it are pretty much echoed in this elegantly-worded post.

Idiots

So this guy (university age) comes into the library yesterday ten minutes before closing. He walks up to me, as I happened to be out in the stacks, and asks if we had any books about bullying? And so I said, "Children's books?" And he said yes. So I showed him the relevant section in the juvenile non-fiction. And then he said, "No, stories about bullying". So then I said, "Well, that will take a bit longer, let me have a look." Then thank goodness I had the presence of mind to ask him what age range he was looking for. "Oh, Gr. 6 - 12". So not exactly children's books, more like teen books. So I madly typed away and found him a couple of titles, and then dashed off to the stacks with him to find them as it was now about 2 minutes to closing. And then he looks at them and says, "I need one more". And so then I said, "Well, if you come back tomorrow, I'll have more time to look." And then he says, "I can't. My assignment is due tomorrow."

You stupid git. You come into the library, the day before your assignment is due, 10 MINUTES BEFORE CLOSING, and expect miracles. Well, I'm pretty awesome, but not that awesome. What you need is a good smack upside the head. Allow me. *SMACK*

I was also weeding the children's poetry section and came across some poems by Dennis Lee, a rather famous Canadian poet. He's written a lot of cool children's poetry like Alligator Pie, and he also wrote the lyrics for the Fraggle Rock theme song, and was involved in the writing of Labyrinth (which as you know is one of my most favourite movies) so I had a fairly good impression of him. Then I decided to read a few of his poems and found out to my disgust that he was under the impression that "Saskatchewan" rhymed with words like "gone" and "lawn". Which of course it does not. But he is from Ontario. Of course.

So, to all those stupid, misguided dolts in Eastern Canada who NEVER pronounce the name of this province correctly: *SMACK* Say it right! *SMACK*

Ahhhh. That feels better.

The Highs and Lows of Website Design

I know a little something about website design. I'm not an expert, but I can usually manage to create something that, if not fancy, is functional and reasonably attractive. I've been maintaining a few sites for the past couple of years, but it's been a long time since I actually tried my hand at designing from scratch. Lately I've been kind of thinking that maybe I would like to get more into the website design side of things, maybe get some more training and make it more a main part of my career. And then my current job suddenly presented me with an opportunity to start designing a new site. I was really looking forward to it. Until I tried to start. And then I realized that: a) I've forgotten a lot of my CSS, and b) What I do remember may be out-of-date.

So that was depressing. And then tonight I started fiddling with one of my sites and I suddenly remembered something else that I'd forgotten about designing websites: the emotional turmoil. The absolute frustration you feel when something isn't working, and you don't know why. You check and re-check your code until the screen starts to go blurry. And you curse your browsers (all three of them) for their stubborn contrariness. You agonize for hours, and then suddenly you find the problem. A forgotten quotation mark, a stray semi-colon... or maybe, as in my case, Firefox is behaving stupidly. And then everything falls into place. Relief and happiness wash over you as you look at your screen: finally, finally, you have managed to make the menu move 8 pixels to the left.

I'm telling you, it's an emotional roller-coaster. Remind me again why I want to do this more?

Worst Valentine's Day Ever

I have never been overly fond of February 14th, but today may go down in history as the worst Valentine's Day ever. Not only do I not have a hot date, but I'm spending the day huddled on the couch surrounded by Advil, Tylenol, orange juice, and a mountain of used Kleenexes. I've been battling a cold/flu thing since last Thursday, and just yesterday it decided to get really nasty. I've had a temperature of 102 off and on since then, and I've been basically miserable. So if anybody shows any signs of sickness around you, RUN, run as fast as you can as far as you can in the opposite direction, because this is the nastiest flu I've had in years.

I've also been doing some reflecting on Terminator. I mentioned before that I really like the new TV series. But here's the thing. They're not just trying to keep John alive, they're trying to stop Skynet from ever being built. But if they succeed in that, then John's dad Kyle Reese will never have a reason to go back in time to protect his mom, and then John will never be born. He will therefore cease to exist, completely fade out Back-to-the-Future style. So it seems like there can really only be two outcomes: either they succeed in stopping skynet, and John ceases to exist, or they fail, and John lives, but the robots nuke the planet, killing or enslaving all of humanity. And I mean, really, you'd think that one of them would have thought of this already. I'd really like to see them write themselves out of that.

Fast Fingers

73 words

Hmmmmm. It appears I have improved slightly since Gr. 11 Info Processing. I used to get around 60 words per minute. I think that's pretty good. Can anyone beat it?

!

Holy crap, Heath Ledger's dead.





In totally unrelated news...

Jerry O'Connell makes fun of Tom Cruise. Good for you, Jerry. I really wish more people would tell Tom that he's full of crap. (This video only makes sense if you've already watched the one of Tom Cruise that I posted about previously).

Good books, great tv, and insane celebrities

Wow, it's been awhile. I've been meaning to post on all sorts of things, but I just haven't had the time.

1. I just finished reading Inkspell by Cornelia Funke, the second novel in her trilogy. I thought I should read it in anticipation of the Inkheart movie that's coming out in March. I thought the book was okay. It was actually really, really hard to get into at first, but about half-way through it picks up a bit, and actually turns out to be pretty good. I came across an absolutely scathing review of the book, and I do agree with a couple of things in it - namely that the book should have been edited a bit more. And I also agree that, when you think about it, the female characters, especially Meggie (who's supposed to be the main protagonist!) are a bit weak. But in the end, it was still a good story. Although it kind of left you hanging. The last book, Inkdeath, is being released in English in April of this year.

2. I was channel surfing on Saturday night and stumbled across the new series on Space, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and was it ever good! I liked the Terminator movies, although I'm not an uber-fan; I haven't even seen the third movie because I heard it wasn't very good. And apparently the creators of this series agree, because it takes place after the second movie, and is all about sarah and john hiding out and trying to stop the creation of skynet. And they're being protected by a sexy teenage cyborg from the future, who sometimes acts like a normal teen girl and sometimes acts like a creepy robot. I am wondering a little bit about the age of John. Now, the first movie, Terminator, takes place in 1984. Sarah gets pregnant with John in the movie, and even if you assume that the movie takes place in early 1984, so that John would be born in late 1984, that still makes him only 15 in 1999. In the first episode, they do a time jump from 1999 to 2007. That's good in a way, because it brings the series up to the present, but John still gets to be a teenager. If he hadn't skipped those 8 years, he'd be 23. The thing is that the actor who plays John, Thomas Dekker, is actually 20, and I have a hard time trying to believe that he's only 15. But aside from this, I thought the first two episodes were really good, and the series has potential. So if you get Space, and you even minorly enjoyed the Terminator movies, check it out.


3. Tom Cruise is insane. He comes across as a total megalomaniac in this video (I'm the only one who can save the world!), that is if you can get past his almost complete incoherence. Jargon and acronyms all over the place, incomplete sentences and unfinished thoughts, basically the same idea stated over and over again (I'm here to help people, cuz scientoligists can really help, so we're going to help because people need help...). Tom does not do well without a script.

Welcome 2008

Hello all;

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Smashing New Year. My New Year's was technically smashing (although not as smashing as last year) because somebody broke a mirror in my friend's bedroom at her New Year's Eve get together. But that's a really misleading anecdote as it was an otherwise fairly tame event, and I was at home and in my bed by 1:00 am.

Now the other thing that comes with the New Year, besides broken furniture and hangovers, is resolutions, and it seems everyone I know has been pestering me to tell them mine. To be honest, I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions. Mostly because I have discovered I am all talk and no action, and I break my resolutions almost before I've finished making them. But I think this year I'll make an exception. So my resolution for 2008 is:

No More Procrastinating. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. And all that jazz. Because although I've gotten slightly better about this in recent years, it is still an area of my personality that could use some major work. How bad am I? Well here is a prime example: I have lived at my current residence for 2 years and 3 months. And sitting in a corner of my living room is a laundry basket full of paper. And it's been there since I moved in. 2 years and 3 months ago. Shocking, I know. And I can't say that I haven't had time to go through the papers. I'm sure there was an afternoon or an evening somewhere that I could've just bit the bullet and done the deed. But you know, there's always better things to do. BUT NO MORE.

In fact, in honour of my resolution I have declared January "National Get-Your-Shit-Together Month". And I encourage any of you who are similarly inclined to join me. I have even cleared the slate at work - no storytimes or programming - so that I can do some badly needed file sorting and weeding. So hopefully I'll be a busy non-procrastinating little bee this month, sorting, de-junking, and cleaning.

Starting tomorrow. Because you see, I was going to start tonight, but there was a really good movie on TV (never you mind that I've already seen it three times). And then of course I had to blog about my resolution. But, starting tomorrow, No More Procrastinating.

Really. Serious. I promise.

Items good and bad

1) The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray is officially out in four days. Woo hoo!

2) I have just purchased the Labyrinth Soundtrack and it is fabulous. When I hear a song, I can see exactly what's happening in the movie, even though it's been years since I last saw it. Labyrinth is the best movie ever made, and no one will ever convince me otherwise. Jim Hensen, Goblins, Jennifer Connelly, and David Bowie in tight pants! You can't go wrong.

3) Today at the library I noticed two young boys, around 5 and 8 years old, sitting in the children's section. They were just sitting there looking sad and incredibly bored. So I went over to talk with them. And apparently their Dad had ditched them to go and do something on the adult side of the library. So I asked them if they would like to look at some books while they were waiting, and they said no. And I said, "Well, you look bored. I'll go find you some books and you guys can look at the pictures." So I found some picture books, brought them back to them. And they didn't even open them. They sat there for 45 minutes, completely bored, with an entire children's department of books surrounding them. It was so frustrating, because I don't want to force books on unwilling kids, but I mean really, what is this world coming to??? Obviously their parents don't read to them at all. If my parents had ditched me at a library at that age (or any age) I would've been in heaven.

4) I noticed that SB over at Digital Diamonds has attempted to read God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and found it... lacking. I read this book a few months ago, but just never got around to posting about it. Basically, although I agree with the sentiment behind the book whole-heartedly, I have to say that it is a spectacularly badly-written book. First of all, it's a tough slog at times because he uses a lot of big complicated words. Sometimes it's good to add a new word to your vocabulary, but there are other times when it is completely unnecessary. Hitchens may think he sounds intelligent, but really all he's done is make his book inaccessible to normal people. People who don't have the patience to wade through his overly-complex prose. If you want to convince people of your point of view, then you should probably try to speak to them on their level.

Secondly, and more importantly, he meanders. He starts out the book well with a well-organized introduction. And each chapter seems to start out fairly well, with a clear direction of where he wants to end up. After that's where it all falls to pieces. He meanders of topic, goes into various asides, and often ends the chapter in a completely different place than where you thought you were headed at the beginning. If I had turned in essays like that in university, I would've gotten a C-plus, at the most. I don't know a lot about him, but I think I read somewhere that the guy's a journalist. For someone who is supposed to write for a living, he sure doesn't appear to have had much practice.

Really, the book in general is a pretty big disappointment. It promises so much with it's bold controversial title, and then just ends up being barely mediocre. Sad, sad, sad.

5) Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My cat is weird

George is kind of a weird cat. Avery sleeps in normal kitty places, like in her kitty bed or curled up on the couch. George is another story.


This is George, momentarily disturbed mid-nap by my camera's flash. He really does sleep like this. On his back, legs in the air, usually in the middle of the floor somewhere.




These two pictures display George in his other preferred sleeping position: Face down, usually on top of my desk or my stereo. I've never seen another cat do this, with one possible exception.

In other news, I saw The Golden Compass last night. And I thought it was pretty good. Maybe a bit slow in the middle, but good. I was worried cuz I'd read a bunch of bad reviews. People were saying that the end was terrible because there was no climax. Of course there was one, but it obviously didn't tie up all the loose ends because it's the first part of a trilogy. The book was like that too. If you didn't go on to read the second and third books, then the first one was really unsatisfying. A lot has to get set up in the first book for the other two to work. Interestingly enough, the movie ended in an earlier place than the first book. But I think I agree with the way they did it. Because in the book, it was like you got two climaxes. The first one (where the movie ended) and then the second one later. And they're saving the second one for the beginning of the first movie. And that's fine. Good acting from Dakota Richards, the girl who plays Lyra, and Nicole Kidman who plays a very good (bad) Mrs. Coulter. Didn't get to see too much of Daniel Craig. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next Bond movie.

I've also just finished reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It was quite good. The book is absolutely huge. In fact, I'd say the length is on par with the fifth Harry Potter book. But it really is deceptive, because probably about a third or more of the book is made up of drawings. It's a really neat book, because it's like a novel/graphic novel in one. But the pictures almost work like a film sequence. And film is a very important theme throughout the book. So it was a good read, and for you librarians out there, don't be fooled or put off by the thickness of the book. The book is actually quite short, I read it in a couple of evenings, and I would feel comfortable recommending it to a good third grade reader.

I also finished reading Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and have moved on to its sequel Inkspell. And while I was at The Golden Compass, I saw a preview for Inkheart the movie. And I think I have a new crush on Brendan Fraser. I also just re-watched Mrs. Winterbourne which isn't a great movie in my opinion, but it just reminded me of how cute Brendan Fraser can be. Anyway, Inkheart is slated for release in March 2008, and I can't wait.

*blush*

So I went home for lunch today...

And discovered that I had been wearing my shirt inside-out all morning. And no one said anything. Now it could be that no one noticed, because it was chilly in the basement this morning, so I wore a sweater to do storytime. That would have covered up the attractive white tag sticking out the side. But it wasn't buttoned up, so it probably flapped open a bit during the Hokey Pokey. Luckily my copious amounts of hair camouflaged the wonky collar.

But I was stilly pretty embarrassed.

I've never actually done something like that before. I mean, how could I not notice all morning? Yes, I got up late and dressed in a hurry. And I hadn't finished planning for my morning storytime so I had to rush right away and do that, and then launch immediately into storytime. But still.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most organized or 'together' person in the world, but this was bad even for me. So has anyone else done something equally silly? That maybe you could share? And then I wouldn't feel quite so dumb?

More silliness

*Sigh* Not again.

And this just after an attempt to ban a book in my own library system. A mother was angry because her 8-year-old read an 'inappropriate' graphic novel that was shelved and labeled as young adult. So maybe you should tell your 8-year-old child to stick to the juvenile section instead of trying to yank an entire series of graphic novels off the young adult shelves. Ever think of that, hmmmm?

So, according to a recent news article (thanks for the link Garden Girl), a Catholic School Board in Ontario has yanked Philip Pullman's Golden Compass trilogy from its school's shelves due to all the atheist controversy swirling around it.

First of all, it is my personal belief that it is almost NEVER acceptable to remove any book from library shelves. I do realize that because I work in a public library, it's a little easier for me to say that. I'm supposed to be a neutral party, promoting no one point of view over another (let's please not get into whether it's actually possible for a librarian to be completely neutral). A Catholic School Board however, by its very nature, is already biased. So when they come across a book that promotes atheism, I can see how it might draw some negative attention.

But does the Golden Compass trilogy promote atheism? Oh yeah, absolutely. I read and loved those books, and one of the reasons I loved them was because they were so critical of Christianity. I mean, they basically turn the Christian Creation Myth on its head. And I loved that because I've always found Christianity to be horribly misogynistic, what with the whole thing about Eve being the mother of all sin. And Pullman turned it around and basically said that original sin is good. Eve's a HERO for eating the fruit of knowledge. And I think that's fabulous. And the bad guys in this story were members of a religious organization which was basically a thinly disguised version of the Catholic Church. So I can see why Catholics might be upset.

But the thing to remember here, is that we're not talking about adults reading these books, but children. I was 23 when I first read these books. So yeah, I got all the biblical references and I knew exactly where Pullman was coming from. But a kid? Even a teen? I think maybe an older, thoughtful teen would pick up on the atheist sentiment, but otherwise I think most kids are going to read this book as an awesome adventure fantasy novel. Because that's exactly what it is.

When I was in Gr. 3, I read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. And I fell in love with them. I thought they were awesome. At that time, I went to the Anglican Church almost every Sunday, and I was fairly familiar with the story of Jesus. But did I get any of the Christian allegory?? Of course not. I just thought they were really good books. The parellels of Aslan allowing himself to be sacrificed on the stone table to save Edmund and Jesus allowing himself to be crucified to save humanity is something that only became obvious to me when I re-read the books when I was a lot older. Kids just aren't looking for these things, and they don't really care either.

The funny thing is, Philip Pullman absolutely hates the Chronicles of Narnia, seeing them as these horrible tools to indoctrinate children to Christianity at a young age. But I think he's being kind of silly. It didn't work on me. And I think if anyone, including Philip Pullman, thinks that the Golden Compass is going to churn out a whole generation of atheists, then they're dreaming.

Kids will, for the most part, just read it as a story. But I think the Catholic School Board has probably done the exact opposite of what they intended by removing the books from its shelves. Cuz now kids KNOW that there's something wrong with the books, something that adults don't want them to know. Now they're going to be curious. What's up with this book? And many more kids, who might not have picked up the book otherwise, are going to want to have a look. And they're going to be able to get ahold of it whether or not the silly Catholic School Board has it on its shelves or not.

And that basically sums up what I think of the whole thing:
Attempted Censorship = Silliness

Get a life peoples.