I've Joined the Ranks of the Whovians

I was a young child, living in England, the first time I was introduced to The Doctor. My first Doctor was The Fourth Doctor, as he is called. I remember a silly TV show with weird robot things called Daleks who yelled, "Exterminate!" a lot and a long multi-colored scarf on the curly-haired traveler. Beyond that, much of what was the popular TV show, Doctor Who, escaped me. And then came the reboot a few years ago. My sister got sucked into it, and a few friends, too. And my Dad. After listening to an in-depth conversation about this new Doctor Who, my curiosity was piqued. I added it to the Netflix queue and time passed. A few weeks ago, after watching several other things in the Netflix and Amazon streaming queues (Lark Rise to Candleford, MI-5, BBC's Robin Hood), I was ready to embark on the Doctor Who voyage. The Ninth Doctor was OK. I liked him by the end of that season, but he died and regenerated into The Tenth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor is the BEST Doctor. Love him. I just finished watching his last adventure and regeneration into The Eleventh Doctor and I'm very sad. I did see The Eleventh Doctor's first full episode, too, and I like him. I know it will take time to adjust to him. The thing is that I didn't actively watch any of the episodes. I was always working on something while it was playing. As a result, I think I missed some very important things. But I'm not sure I want to re-watch 5 seasons again any time soon. Anyway, I'm a huge DW fan now. Huge.

Frivolous Quiz Time: Jane Austen Edition

I agree 100% with this. I think it is why Sense and Sensibility may actually be my favorite of the Austen novels, even over Pride and Prejudice. As much as I love Elizabeth and Darcy, I most relate to Elinor Dashwood.

Take the Jane Austen Character Quiz here!

The Reading Room

I'm in read mode these days. I'm reading every chance I get.

I finished listening to another book on Friday - Divergent by Veronica Roth.

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is - she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are - and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves.... or it might destroy her.

I love it so much I have already pre-ordered the sequel, Insurgent, for my Kindle and which comes out on May 1.

I mentioned in my last book-centric post that I had started The Power Behind the Throne by Sally Nicoll on my Kindle. I admit that it never really grabbed me and since I got it for free, I stopped and removed it from my Kindle. It was kind of liberating to not complete a crappy book. Ah.

Instead, I decided to start The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler. This one is only $.99 for the Kindle. I'm about 25% into the story and I'm hooked. It's so not my normal thing, but I really like it so far. This the first in a trilogy, too, so I'm sure I'll read the other books.

Happy Easter!

Lots of Completed Books

In the past week I have completed several books. It's a miracle, but I must confess that I neglected a lot of other things in order to get in the time to devote to the reading.

First, I listened to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens in the car. Narrated by Frank Muller, it was such a different listen than what I have done recently. The old, lyrical prose that we just do not get in modern writing. Well, we do, but it's rare. At least it's rare in the stuff I tend to read. I found myself almost in tears at the beauty of certain scenes because of the way they were written.

I had never read AToTC before. When I was a young teenager I saw this miniseries. As such, I knew how the story ended. How it got there, I didn't remember as much. While I sometimes found the journey a little plodding at times, despite the pretty prose and the excellent narration, it was well worth the effort of the listen.

By the time I got to the last 10 minutes I was fully invested in the characters. And the last inner monologue of Sydney Carton broke my heart.

4 stars out of 5.

Next, I managed to re-read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in a week. This time I got them for my Kindle and actually read the words. My first "read" was a listen. I'm glad I did it - there were large portions that I did not remember at all. Given that I listened to them when I was sick for a week last year, it's likely that I dozed off for a lot of them. They are just as good with the second reading and I'm even more convinced that they are not about the love triangle between Katniss/Peeta/Gale. That said, I was able to garner new insights into the triangle, Katniss' relationship with each boy and how things ended up. I'm still happy with the ending. And I cannot wait for the next movie. I'm so curious how it will be done and who will be cast in the new roles.

The entire trilogy gets 5 stars out of 5. The first book is still my favorite of the three, but I really think they needs to be taken as one work at this point. Much like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it is one story broken into 3 smaller parts.

Finally, I have started two new books: Divergent by Veronica Roth came recommended as one that Hunger Games fans will enjoy. After reading a lot of positive reviews, I got the audio book. I'm on chapter 9 as of this moment and I am enjoying it a lot. The narrator is excellent, too.

On my Kindle is The Power Behind the Throne by Sally Nicoll. I'm not that far in, but it's started out pretty well.

The Hunt Begins

Remember a few years ago when we started a house hunt? It was the height of the foreclosure boom in our area and there were a lot of houses available for cheap. It was depressing. And then I got pregnant with Molly and the house hunt stopped because I was ill, ill, ill and the thought of the hunt made me cry.

We are restarting the hunt.

Our goal is to find The House in which I can die when I'm old. This because in my 40+ years of life on this earth, I have moved a grand total of 5,432 times. Actually, that is a slight exaggeration, but not by much. I'm done with moving. Thinking about this pending move makes me want to sit down with a good book and escape from reality. I hate moving.

But ... I'm excited that we are actually able to buy our own home. I'm excited about having a yard for our kids to play and run in. I'm excited about being able to paint and decorate the way that I really want to and can't as a renter.

We have a lot on our plates in the next few months, that adding a house hunt is stressing us both out. So we're open to a short sale knowing that they take several months to get approved. We're happy to move later in the year than in the next few months. We're just praying that God will make it all clear and smooth and within our budget.

Movies: The Hunger Games

(This post has been edited to add new thoughts after a second viewing. Scroll to the bottom of the post for new stuff.) I was one of the millions who went to see The Hunger Games on Friday. I am one of the millions who adore the books and was hoping that the movie would at least be a faithful adaptation of the book. From all that I had read early on in the process of the movie being made, I had high expectations that it was going to be OK. It looked to be well cast (although Woody Harrelson made me really nervous because I am not a huge fan of his), the locations used for District 12 were awesome (I spent my college years in that part of North Carolina and knew that it was perfect), and from the things said by director Gary Ross it sounded like he "got" the story. And then the buzz started about a month ago when the advance tickets started selling. Then it continued to swell because the ticket sales were going through the roof. The March 12 premiere was crazy and the critics seemed to like the movie a lot. I started to lower my expectations out of fear of disappointment. I wasn't very successful. By the time I got to the theater on Friday afternoon I was beside myself with excitement.

I've had the weekend to think about the movie so here's my review. Generally, I liked the movie a lot. I think I want to go see it again in the theater. It's 2 hours, 22 minutes long, but it didn't feel that long to me (or my butt). It is violent, but well done. That said, parents of kids younger than the PG-13 rating should seriously consider whether or not to take those kids to see it. It is one thing for their young minds to try to imagine that violence. It is quite another for them to see how adults enacted it. I give it a solid 4 stars out of 5 - for faithfulness to the original story, a good cast and acting, excellent visuals.

Consider this a ***SPOILER WARNING. What follows will discuss plot points from the book and movie.***

I'll start with what I didn't love:

1. Some of the camera work was too choppy for my older eyes. I found that the first 20 minutes or so were hard for me to watch, especially with my bifocals. That said, what I liked is that by using that technique they were able to convey a lot of information in a very short amount of film. So I liked it on that level, but it caused eye strain. I was grateful that it was short.

2. I wished the scene with Peeta and the bread had been fleshed out more, including the whole thing about his mother.

3. I wished Haymitch would have been a little drunker, dirtier. Sounds weird, but he was cruder in the book. That said, I think that Woody Harrelson was excellent in that role. He far exceeded by overall expectations.

3. I wished there was more Effie, more of the stylists with Cinna, and the Avox. About the Avox, I read why Gary Ross did what he did. I wish he hadn't. I think she could have been part of it easily. The stylists were such a huge part of Katniss' time in the Capitol before the Games that I really missed them in the movie. I wanted to see them, hear them, their interaction with Katniss as they grew to love her.

4. There was not enough of Katniss'/Peeta's time in the cave. I feel that this was one thing seriously lacking, although I understand that to keep the movie to the length of a movie and not a mini-series, it needed a lot of paring. I did expect more of this, though, since it is the genesis of Katniss' conflict Peeta in the later story (Catching Fire and Mockingjay).

5. Can I admit that the first flaming outfits kind of disappointed me? I expected something a bit bigger and more spectacular. My memory of the book description was that the flames were larger. The red flaming dress was cool, though.

Now to what I loved:

1. District 12 was exactly how I pictured it when I read the book. The Capitol was a little too CGI, but still a good portrayal. I loved how the Capitol population were so over the top visually - exactly as written.

2. The overall casting was nearly perfect. I was also nervous about Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, but he was actually very good. I heart Stanley Tucci, who was perfect as Caesar Flickerman.

3. I liked the use of silence. Where a lot of action and drama movies use music to build tension, this movie uses silence to good effect. I was also glad that Gary Ross opted not to use voice-overs to fill in Katniss' thoughts.

4. I liked that it didn't focus on the romance. I never felt that the books were about the Team Gale/Team Peeta conflict. Katniss' main conflict was always about survival, providing for her family, and the revolt against the Capitol. The romance was always secondary and unimportant. My hope for the sequel movies is that they continue to keep this in the background.

Additional Thoughts (Added 3/28) ***Seriously Spoilerish***

1. The dude playing Cato was very good. His last scene was very well acted. Really, everyone was good. But I was struck with the second viewing just how good Cato was in that one scene.

2. Something I missed the first time: Peeta tapping the hand on his cheek. The first time I was watching Cato. The second time I made sure to watch Peeta because I realized later that I had missed some interaction between Peeta and Katniss in that moment.

3. I love the little details that are in the movie that only the readers of the books would know to look for. And you have to have read all three books to catch the significance of them. First, President Snow and the roses. Second, before the gamemakers send the fire down, they note that Katniss is skirting the outer range of the arena. That isn't in the first book, but it foreshadows the next movie.

4. The movie is way more faithful to the book than I remembered. I'm reading it again and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that most of it is in there. The tough part for the filmmakers was getting into Katniss' head space, especially since the book is told in first person. I am more convinced that they did a good job of showing it than I initially thought with the first viewing.

5. I'm also more excited to see Catching Fire next fall when it comes out. They did a good job of setting up the next part of the story.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

YouTube of the Day: Parenting Win

This has gone viral and it is awesome. Adult language warning.

Books and TV, Redux

I've gotten less sleep this week, but I managed to finish reading North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell last night. Here's the review I posted on Shelfari:

After watching the BBC miniseries based on this book, I wanted to see how the story was written. As much as I loved the series, I felt that it was a bit rushed. I was right. What was lacking in some of the development of the characters in the TV production was fully fleshed out in the novel. Margaret Hale was more haughty and yet still likable. Mr. Thornton was more vulnerable, if that's possible. Mrs. Thornton was much more sympathetic. The BBC production was very faithful to the book until the very end. They are similar in terms of the ultimate ending, but the locations are different. I'm OK with both endings. What I found challenging was navigating and interpreting the working class English of Nicholas Higgins and his daughters. It took until about halfway through the book for me to feel that I had a good grasp of the entirety of what they were saying. I got the gist enough and having seen the miniseries first helped me to know what was going on. If you like old classics, you may enjoy this book. I did, thoroughly.

I admit to tears at the very end. I am a romantic sap.

I also finished listening to the very short, abridged audio version of Sylvester by Georgette Heyer and narrated by Richard Armitage. He is an excellent narrator who acts the characters instead of merely reading them. I enjoyed listening to it so much that I started Venetia, which is just as fun a listen. And these abridged versions seem to be better than most - there are times when you can tell that there was some heavy editing/paring, but the general story still works.

In TV news, I bought a second Roku unit. The one we got last year got moved to the TV in my office in the basement when we got the new HD TV for the living room. That TV is internet enabled, so we can stream Neflix, Amazon Instant, etc. directly from the TV. However, lately there were times when I was doing things in our bedroom and wishing that I could watch something from Netflix, but couldn't. I had a little money in my PayPal account, so I splurged on the new Roku. It's already paid for itself in the laundry that's been folded and put away in the past couple of weeks! And I've managed to catch up on some stuff that I've wanted to watch for a while.

For instance, I'm watching MI-5, which I started to watch years ago and never got back to. I'm currently in season 8 and it's annoying me. There's a CIA woman who is clearly not being played by a real American if her terrible accent is anything to judge by. She's close, but so not close that it grates on my ears. Add to it that I haven't trusted her character to be honest, which turns out to be the truth, and it's doubly aggravating.

I'm also watching BBC's Robin Hood which is super campy in a Xena sort of way. I never watched Xena because it was campy. So it's a struggle to continue. But I will.