Movies

1. 'Bolt' was shockingly good. I went with illucian, eclipsegryph and kynekh_amagire, who were gracious enough to let me drag them to a cutesy talking animals flick that they'd barely heard of on short notice. Thanks, guys! I liked the film. It was basically Buzz Lightyear + The Truman Show + The Incredible Journey, but it was sweet and exciting with sympathetic characters (well, other than the hamster, who I kept hoping the cat would eat) and really pretty art. Disney, why did you not promote this film better? You did such a good job on it.

2. Kestrel and I also saw 'Twilight.' It too was much better than I was afraid that it would be, though when reading the thing I did think that it would make a better movie than it did a book. (It does; its simple plot lets it be largely a mood piece, which is its strength). The movie is pretty and fun and really quite sweet, although this is the most sanitized and bloodless vampire story I've yet encountered. The audience of sighing and tittering adolescents was pretty entertaining, too.

EDIT: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH MAY HAVE VERY MILD SPOILERS
...not enough for me to put it under a cut, though. /shrug/ I don't know that anyone reading my journal will care, but
.
.
.
Still, I had the same main problem with both versions of the story: why do these two kids fall for each other so hard, fast and completely? It's not like there is any convincing chemistry between them, although the idea that Edward likes Bella precisely because he can't read her thoughts...if he could, she'd be as boring as everyone else...causes me dark amusement. Alas, the author doesn't seem to be going anywhere so interesting as this. Stalking=sexy disturbs me a bit, too. Oh yeah, and why is the whole vampire family so keen to welcome a human? I thought they didn't like the idea to begin with? Where is this turmoil that gets mentioned at the beginning and then pretty much completely ignored?

All of this 'huh what?' factor that kept coming up for me in the book made so much more sense after reading This highly amusing lj entry. Apparently, the author is a Mormon housewife, and the story, either deliberately or unconsciously, fits handily into Mormon belief systems like predestined life mates and the family that decides as one in perfect agreement. OK, so they are Mormon vampires. That explains everything.

Wait, Mormon vampires are the "in thing" right now?

...really?

/giggles helplessly/

go watch Bolt, especially if you're a furry type or a pet lover.

Awesome Squiddy Goodness!!!!!!!!

Yip!

Check out This really awesome article with video of a big-fin squid. Link via spacebabie. SO neat. And, of course, adorable.