After wadding through the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer with the insistent prompting of a friend, I was a little more than reluctant to start The Host. I imagined the same language geared toward pre-teen girls and the same creepy, inventive plotline.

Much to my surprise and delight, The Host exceeded all of my expectations. A sign of a truly well written, exciting novel keeps me up into the wee hours of the night as I pour through its pages. The Host did just that.

The story starts with Wanderer, a soul who travels the universe occupying various hosts (from bears to plants) and is implanted into the body of the human, Melanie. Melanie was one of the few human resisters of the souls occupation on Earth. This resilient girl will absolutely not give up the right to her body and becomes and integral part of Wanderer’s brain. They share thoughts (except ones they hide from one another) and experiences as Wanderer experiences the world. Most of the humans whose bodies were taken away do not stay in their mind like Melanie, therefore, most of the human population is lost to the souls.

The small resistance is constantly tracked by Seekers, souls whose job it is to catch wild humans so they may be implanted with souls. Wanderer is put in Melanie with the hope that she can help the Seekers find the rest of the human resistance and extinguish them for good.

Melanie is drawn to go to her brother, Jamie, and her love, Jared, and through the sharing of experiences with Wanderer, the soul eventually begins to love them, too. They then start the journey in the deserts of Southern United states to find Jared and Jamie using a crude map from Melanie’s uncle. By going on this journey, Wanderer is leaving the perfect soul civilization for good.

The rest of the novel (which I will not give away) deals with how the pocket of human resistance, including Jamie and Jared, deals with the infiltration and assimilation of the enemy into their society. The Host is jam-packed with adventure, suspense, love, friendship, and most of all the big question: what makes us human?

4.5 out of 5 hearts

buy this book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Host/Stephenie-Meyer/e/9780316068048/

image url: http://www.talentjug.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/thehost.jpg

Ieri, 28 noiembrie, am fost in excursie cu clasa mea si inca o clasa de a 10-a. Am fost la targul de carte si in loc de teatru, la film. Pe drum, faimoasa trupa de alternativ/metal/whatever rock iEdy si Lory ne-a cantat cateva (mai) melodii. La targul de carte am ajuns pe la 10-11 parca… nu mai stiu exact. Am fost singurul tâmpit (normal… mai exista altul ca mine? :> ) care a mers in tricou. Am colindat cu Sorin pe la toate standurile. Desi am pus ochii pe multe, mi-am luat foarte putine (multe fata de cate si-au luat toti ceilalti… cu mici exceptii). Mai exact, mi-am luat un mic ghid ortopedic si ortografic roman (cuvintele schimbate in doom… ca am ramas in urma), 2 carti legate de it (una legata de retele si una mai avansata pentru nu-stiu-ce) si doua romane – The host (Gazda) scrisa de Stephenie Meyer (aia care a scris si seria Twilight) si The lost symbol (Simbolul pierdut) de Dan Brown (ala care a scris Codul lui DaVinci si Ingeri si Demoni). The lost symbol vroiam sa o iau peste 2 luni cand aparea in romana, dar nu am putut sa astept si am luat-o in engleza (abia mai invat cate ceva). Din cate am vazut, este foarte interesanta. Totul pleaca de la un vechi document inchis intr-un seif al CIA in 1991, document in care este scrisa locatia unui portal catre un loc subteran. Personajul principal este aelasi ca si cel din romanele mai sus amintite – Roberd Langdon, un profesor care se ocupa de simboluri. Am mai observat ca se leaga de masoni si ritualurile lor, chiar si de fata ascunsa a acestora (secrete, istorie si altele). In fine… o sa ii fac un rezumat cand o sa-l termin de citit.

Dupa targul de carte, ne-am dus in mall la film. Am ajuns pe la 1:30 si nu am avut de ales decat intre New Moon si Iubire fara preaviz (parca asa se numea). La al 2-lea nu m-am dus pentru ca suna a film de dragoste d-ala siropos si nu avea rost ca nu prea e genul meu, asa ca m-am dus la New moon (de fapt nu m-as fi dus la niciunul… dar daca Andreea, Roxana si Alina se duceau si m-au tot batul la cap cu cateva zile inainte, impreuna cu Ade, ca e tare si ca merita vazut, m-am dus si eu sa-l vad). Filmul a fost ok… dupa mine povestea ar avea nota 8 din 10 (vampiri buni ce se indragostesc de fetite sweet), actorii ar avea 4 din 10 (si da Andreea… stiu ca Jacob e bun… mi-ai zis asta tot fimul… dar Ed si Bella au fost praf… mai bine era sora lui Ed in locul Bellei… mi se pare mai frumoasa)… ce mi-a placut la film? Pai… mi-au placut efectele, membrii din clanul Volturilor si partea in care cei doi indragostiti aleargau in slo-mo prin padure (pentru ca toate fetele salivau iar eu nu mai puteam din ras)…. scena parca era rupta din desene animate sau comedii proaste (andreea :> Inorogi, curcubee…. oooh… si floricele… ce sweet :-&). Ce m-a enervat… nu stiu… ar fi cam multe de spus… cel mai mult m-a enervat Bella… tot filmul si-a muscat buzele si si-a ros degetele. Pacat ca albu’ nu i-a facut nimic frigidei

In cora l-am vazut pe Romeo Fantastik. Am ras cu Sorin incontinuu… Era imbracat cu o bluza alba (mulata… ca sa se vada burta aia mare), blugi negrii (tot mulati), ochelari de soare, parul unsuros dat pe spate si ondulat la capete, cu o piranda dupa el si o pitzipoanca data cu var pe fata, machiata strident, toace pana-n gat,si buzitele roz iesit in afara de la atata munca cu gura. In fine… din descriere nu va puteti da seama cum arata si cat am ras. La un moment dat a trecut pe langa masa la care eram eu si radeam de nu puteam in spatele lui,si cred ca m-a auzit piranda ca s-a intors la mine. In clipa aia am inceput sa rad si mai tare.

Nu stiu cum a fost ziua de ieri pentru ceilalti, dar pentru mine a fost extraordinara. M-am simtit foarte bine si ma bucur ca am mai iesit si eu pe afara

PS: Ieri cand am iesit de la film am vazut un poster maaare cu Prince of Persia pe care scria “Coming soon!”. Abia astept

Şi uite că a trecut şi Gaudeamus 2009. Acum am în prim plan mai multe cărţi pe care le-am luat de la târg. Toate sunt grozave şi mi-a fost greu să aleg cu care să încep. Până la urmă am început cu TUNELE 3- ÎN CĂDERE LIBERĂ, şi nu sunt deloc dezamăgit. Deja am citit un sfert din carte şi este…super!

Ce mi-a plăcut a fost că am găsit la târg Monster Madness (sau Monster Revenge în UK) şi Monster War, continuările seriei Academia Coşmarurilor, de Dean Lorey. Sunt în engleză, dar nu are nicio importanţă!

Am luat şi Gazda, de Stephenie Meyer, la traducerea căreia a contribuit mult şi Shauki! Să nu uit de Ucenicul din Araluen: Ordinul Haraminilor, de John Flanagan şi Darren Shan: Tunelele Sângelui, ambele apărute la Corint Junior.

Abia aştept vacanţa de iarnă! Mai jos aveţi nişte poze cu cărţile…

Aşa cum ne-am obişnuit, şi în această toamnă va avea loc Târgul Internaţional Gaudeamus, un târg de carte ce adună pentru câteva zile la un loc cele mai importante edituri din România, şi nu numai. Deschiderea târgului va avea loc miercuri, 25 noiembrie, la ora 12:oo.

Ca să fiu mai exact, iată cum stau lucrurile pe scurt…

Eveniment: TÂRGUL INTERNAŢIONAL GAUDEAMUS

Locaţie: PAVILIONUL CENTRAL ROMEXPO, Bucureşti

Program: 25-29 noiembrie, între orele 11:00- 20:00 (de luni până vineri), 10:00- 20:00 (sâmbăta), 11:oo- 16:00 (duminica)

Dintre editurile participante, amintesc editura Corint Junior, de unde puteţi achiziţiona noile apariţii TUNELE 3- ÎN CĂDERE LIBERĂ, de Roderick Gordon şi Brian Williams, TUNELELE SÂNGELUI, de Darren Shan şi multe altele, editura Rao, unde vor fi disponibile GAZDA, de Stephenie Meyer, dar şi alte cărţi şi editura Nemira, de unde vă puteţi cumpăra JOCURILE FOAMEI 2: SFIDAREA, de Suzanne Collins.

Just got back from a Q&A with Joon-ho Bong, one of my favourite Korean directors.

Despite a disastrous screening of his latest film Mother – they played the first hour of reels in the wrong order – the Q&A afterwards was well worth the wait.  It’s been a long time since I felt that level of excitement in a cinema audience.

Young and ambitious yet incredibly humble, it was massively reassuring to hear how critical Bong is of his own work.  In fact, one of the most exciting aspects of his direction is how deceptively simple his choice of shots are yet they continually culminate in moments of genuinely staggering cinema.

For anyone unfamiliar with his films, you should check out Mother while it’s on limited release and in particular, The Host, which is one of the most enjoyably inventive monster movies I’ve seen in years.

Filmography

Mother (2009)

The Host (2006)

Memories of Murder (2003)

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Today I couldn’t stop watching the new moon trailer. I clicked on it again and again and again, just to get impatiently more and more. The nearer the movie start in the cinemas comes, the harder it is for me to wait.
Actually, I wasn’t really happy with the movie they made of Twilight. I missed so many emotional things which came up in the books. The writing of Stephenie Meyer just catched me while reading and kept me in Bellas world. I was so crazy about the Twilight Saga that I bought Breaking Dawn twice. First in english, because the german translation wasn’t available at the time… and two month later, finally in german… Just to make sure that I understood everything with my (really not good in school learned) english.

Back to the movie: I think and I hope that I will like New Moon a lot more than Twilight. The trailer promises sooo much. I always get goosebumps while watching

(Will need a couple of handkerchief =/so so sad... )

And that feeling I want to share:

The new book from Stephenie Meyer is harder to read for me in English than Breaking Dawn. Maybe because of the different plot. It’s more science fiction than love-fantasy stuff.

But I won’t give up yet

And now I’ll take “The Host” to read a few pages until I will fall asleep…

Goodnight

And please be so kind and vote for my cute hamster… Lotta and Joda really want to be in the calendar…

Last year I wrote a short review of The Host, singing its praises. Since first reading this book it instantly made it to the short stack of books that I keep within arm’s reach. Which also means it has become my most read (and re-read) book as of late. You can imagine my elation when I learned that Stephenie Meyer was working with ‘the powers that be’ in making The Host into a movie. The mounting anticipation is already there people.

Prior to this exciting piece of news, I had already sort of drawn up my ‘casting list’ for some of the pivotal characters. It’s just the way my brain works. I need a visual. I know you makers of the movies have this casting this down to a science. You certainly don’t need the assistance of some random blogger girl. But, I just want to put it out there that you don’t have to feel any less competent in your skills if you feel the urge to pick a few gems from my list. Please feel free to use as many of my picks as you feel the need to.

Seriously though, I think these are some pretty good matches for the characters in The Host. Whoever is chosen to play these roles, I can’t wait to see The Host come to life on the big screen.

Joy’s Casting List:

• Melanie – Shantel VanSanten
• Jared – Scott Speedman, Paul Walker
• Jebb – Fred Ward
• Ian – Matthew Bomer
• Jamie – Regan/Henri Young
• Wanderer – Anna Sophia Robb
• Doc – Steven Weber
• Kyle – Robert Baker
• Seeker – Lacey Chabert

Must-Have Scenes:

• Jared/Jamie Flashbacks
• Touring the caves
• Fighting Kyle
• 3-day mourning
• Saving Jamie

My husband recently went on an ATV ride out in SE Arizona. There was an old broken down mining house that instantly reminded me of the house that Wanderer/Melanie come across in the desert.

Martinez Cabin:

Enquanto esperamos desesperadamente por noticias sobre o filme e a sequências, fica valendo as velhas entrevistas com ela… mais uma ai! confiram!

_

O que inspirou a idéia para The Host?

S.Meyer: O núcleo do pensamento que veio a se tornar The Host foi inspirado pelo mais completo tédio. Eu estava dirigindo de Phoenix para Salt Lake City, através de um dos mais secos e repetitivos desertos do mundo. É um caminho que eu fiz muitas vezes, e uma das coisas que eu faço para não enlouquecer é contar histórias para mim mesma. Eu não faço idéia do que deu início para essa estranha idéia de uma alien parasita de corpos apaixonada pelo namorado de sua hospedeira. Quando me dei conta eu já estava no meio da história. Depois que eu comecei a história imediatamente exigiu minha atenção. Eu sabia que havia algo interessante na idéia de um triângulo tão complexo. Eu comecei a criar a estrutura da história no notebook e então comecei a construir o romance em cima disso assim que tive um computador ao meu alcance. The Host era pra ser apenas um projeto secundário – algo para me manter ocupada entre pequenas correções em Eclipse – mas acabou se tornando algo de que eu não pude me afastar até que estivesse pronto.

Você escreveu The Host, seu primeiro romance para adultos, de uma forma diferente da que usou em sua série juvenil?

S.Meyer: Nem um pouco. Assim como na série Crepúsculo (e essa é provavelmente a única coisa em que The Host é como Crepúsculo!), The Host, é apenas uma história que eu me diverti contando para mim mesma. Minha própria diversão é sempre o segredo para terminar a história. Nunca penso em outro público além de mim mesma enquanto estou escrevendo; isso pode esperar pela fase de edição.

Você tem se referido a The Host como sendo ficção científica para quem não gosta de ficção científica. Pode explicar por quê?

S.Meyer: Ler The Host não é como ler ficção científica; o mundo é familiar, o corpo no qual a narradora se move é familiar, as emoções nos rostos a sua volta são familiares. O cenário é esse mundo, apenas com algumas diferenças chave. Se não fosse pelo fato de que histórias com alienígenas são, por definição, ficção cinetífica, eu não o classificaria nesse gênero.

Existem muitos dialogos entre Wanderer, a narradora e “alma” invasora, e Melanie, o corpo no qual Wanderer agora vive. Cada personagem tem sua própria voz distinta e luta interna. Foi um desafio fazer com que as duas personagens, que ocupam um só corpo, serem distintas o bastante?

S.Meyer: Wanderer e Melanie foram duas personalidades distintas para mim desde o início. Melanie é a vítima – é com ela que nós, como humanos, deveríamos nos identificar; ao mesmo tempo, ela não é sempre a pessoa mais admirável. Ela pode ser brava, violenta e impiedosa. Wanderer é a vilã, a ladra. Ela não é como nós, nem mesmo é um membro da nossa espécie. No entanto, ela é alguém com quem ao menos eu gostaria de me parecer mais. Ela é uma pessoa melhor do que Melanie em muitas formas, e, ainda assim, uma pessoa mais fraca. As diferenças entre as duas personagens principais são o ponto principal da história. Se elas não fossem tão distintas, não haveria motivos para escrever.

Algum dos personagens foi uma surpresa para você enquanto escrevia?

S.Meyer: Eu sou constantemente surpreendida pelos meus personagens enquanto escrevo – é realmente uma das minhas partes favoritas. Quando um personagem se recusa a fazer o que eu havia planejado para ele ou ela, é ai que eu sei que o personagem tem vida própria. Vários personagens me pegaram fora de guarda em The Host. Um em particular havia sido estipulado para um pequeno papel como braço direito do vilão. De alguma forma, ele sabia que era mais do que isso, e eu não pude impedi-lo de se tornar um grande interesse amoroso.

Os livros de Crepúsculo tem apelo também para adultos, você acha que The Host também será interessante para os seus leitores mais novos?

S.Meyer: Meu público juvenil de leitores demonstrou bastante interesse no lançamento de The Host. Eu não tenho duvidas de que eles continuarão sendo a base do meu público alvo. Eu amo borrar as linhas entre diferentes gêneros e categorias – porque na minha cabeça, um bom livro nunca se encaixará em uma única categoria. Eu espero que The Host continue a fazer o que Crepúsculo tem feito: provando que uma boa história não pode ser encaixada em gráficos.

Como você se sente em relação ao enorme sucesso da série Crepúsculo? De que forma isso mudou a sua vida?

S.Meyer: O sucesso dos meus livros me surpreende todo dia. Eu nunca o subestimo, mas também não o levo em conta nas minhas expectativas para o futuro. É uma coisa muito agradável, e eu vou me divertir com isso enquanto durar. Eu sempre me considerei em primeiro lugar uma mãe, então ser escritora não mudou muito a minha vida – a não ser pelo fato de que eu viajo bem mais e tenho menos tempo livre.

Que autores de livros adultos você lê?

S.Meyer: Eu tenho lido livros para adultos minha vida toda. Sempre fui uma leitora ávida – quanto mais grosso o livro melhor. Orgulho e Preconceito, E o Vento Levou, A Espada de Shannara, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, etc. Sou uma grande fã de Orson Scott Card e Jane Austen—Não consigo passar por um ano sem re-ler os livros dela.

Fonte: The host novel
_

Em pensar que é dessas “pequenas histórias” que surgem na imaginação dela, que nós temos hoje em dia TH! Thank you Meyer! <3
Por hoje é isso! Beijo hosters =*

I heard a rumor that Stephenie Meyer’s The Host will be adapted into a movie shortly, which is no surprise, given the enormous success of the Twilight franchise. And since I enjoyed The Host immensely, I was actually very excited to hear such welcome gossip.

I immediately Googled it.

And came up with this.  

Yeah, clearly this is not a cinematic depiction of Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel.  But it still looks highly entertaining. Can’t wait to see it.

As for the OTHER Host (the non-Korean version), in this interview with MTV, Meyer confesses a desire to see Robert Redford as Jeb, Matt Damon as Jared, and the Affleck brothers as Ian and Kyle (Ben being the abrasive Kyle, of course). I think Redford would be awesome as Jeb, though I sort of had this romantic ideal of Jeb being a little more plump around the middle. 

Either way, I’m excited to see who they come up with for Wanderer. Milla Jovovich, maybe?  Too obvious?

Multipass!

by Nate Bell

Mother is bolstered by a powerful performance by Kim Hye-ja, whose credits prior to this one were so sparse (this is only her third film in three decades) that it took a little digging to discover that she is actually a respected Korean star of television and stage. It’s unlikely that she will ever be forgotten after Mother is released. This is the kind of role that actresses long for their entire careers, and Kim does wonders with it, filling every close-up with intense fascination.

Bong Joon-ho’s latest film tells the story of an overly nurturing mom (Kim) who lives in a quiet suburb with her 28-year-old son Do-joon (Bin Won). Their relationship is close-bordering-on-creepy—she eyes him watchfully through the window of the herb shop where she works, observes him as he relieves himself in an alley, and, in a scene that easily trips the Oedipal alert, shares a bed with him (though nothing more is implied). Do-joon is a good-looking kid but not very bright, and prone to blackouts brought on by inexperienced boozing. When a local girl is murdered, her body found conspicuously slumped over a ledge in the center of town, Do-joon becomes the prime suspect. Despite all evidence pointing his way, Mother decides to investigate the crime and free her son from blame.

The story, on which Bong shares credit with Park Eun-kyo, bears a faint resemblance to the superb 1949 Max Ophuls thriller The Reckless Moment, later remade as The Deep End with Tilda Swinton. It differs crucially in this way: The mother in The Reckless Moment acts under the assumption that her son is guilty; the mother in Mother is convinced her son is innocent. (“He wouldn’t hurt a water bug!”) Both, however, are motivated by single-minded devotion to family. Later we are given clues as to why she is so committed to her son, and they are not particularly pretty.

Bong, one of the bright lights of Korean cinema, made a small splash on this side of the pond with The Host in 2007, although his real breakthrough was the 2005 serial killer procedural Memories of Murder. Mother suggests the work of a minor master—steady, controlled, carefully calibrated, and with that distinctively Eastern sensibility that pauses to look at things like wood being sinisterly sliced, a pool of water creeping over kitchen tile, an expanding pool of blood. The film is about 20 minutes too long, but it reveals its disturbing secrets at exactly the right moments, and there is a sly sense of humor that works to temper the suspense without lessening its impact.

Mother is extremely well made but it’s a difficult film to get behind because its vision is so bleak. It’s about self-delusion, and no film that ever dealt with that subject left anyone dancing for joy. There are certain scenes that are meant to be half-funny, half disturbing (as when a character’s front tooth is knocked out during an interrogation), but it’s the disturbing part that sticks in the craw.

A friend sitting next to me at the screening joked that he’d never seen a Korean film that ended happily (even the comedies are downers). He may have been onto something. Certainly Mother, with its pungent, disturbing performance by Kim and its guilty secrets, won’t break the mold.

Picture Source:

http://outnow.ch/Movies/2009/Mother/Bilder/movie.fs/02

Doğrusu, birkaç haftadır pazar günlerim harala gürele içinde geçti. Planlar, programlar ne kadar kaçınsamda tek dinlenebildiğim gün pazar gününe denk geldi. Bugüne kadar.

Soğuk ve yağmurlu bir Kasım ayı karşıladı bu sene bizi. Her ne kadar böyle soğuklar için erkense de, sonunda sevdiceğimle evimizde geçirebileceğimiz, DVD seyredecebileceğimiz bir Pazar için en uygun hava koşulu olduğunu söylememe gerek var mı bilmiyorum. Dün gittiğimiz arkadaşlarımızdan gasp ettiğimiz 6 adet DVD filmimiz vardı önümüzde. Normal koşullarda 1-2 film seyredebilirken bu sefer 3 filmi öyle ya da böyle seyredebildik.

Belli olmaz seyredersiniz filan, onun için can alıcı noktalarından hiç bahsetmeyeceğim. Sadece naçizane (ehemms) yorumlarımı paylaşacağım. İşte film 1:

SUNSHINE (Güneşe Yolculuk):

Trainspotting ve 28 Days Later‘ın yönetmeni Danny Boyle‘dan bir film. Bu iki filmden dolayı olacak beklentilerimi biraz yüksek tutmuş olabilirim. Yanlış anlaşılmasın, öyle kötü bir film değil ama beni pek açmadı desem de yalan olmaz.

Öyle bir zaman gelir ki, güneş soğumaya başlar ve dünyada da yaşam tehlikeye girer. Kahramanlarımızın görevi ise yedi yıl önce başarısız olan ekibin yapamadığını yapmaktır.

“…ve olaylar gelişir” türünden bir macera, bilim-kurgu. Sık sık “ne saçma şey”, “olacak iş mi şimdi bu” türünden iç geçirişlerde bulunabileceğiniz türden bir film. Öte yandan hoşça vakit geçirir misiniz? Evet, geçirirsiniz. Danny Boyle, ne yapmış etmiş, film boyunca sizi esir alacak bir yapıma daha imza atmış.

Yine de puan konusunda çok bonkör olamayacağım. 3,5/5

THE HOST (Yaratık):

Eğlenceli olabileceğini düşünmüştüm. Yanılmamışım Uzunca bir zaman filmin korku mu yoksa komedi mi olduğu hususunda bir karara varamadık. Arkadaşımdan değil de para verip alacak olsam sanırım bu filmi hayatta almazdım. Tüm olay Güney Kore’de geçiyor. Zehirli atıklardan beslenerek devasa boyutlara ulaşan bir nehir “yaratığı” ortalığa dehşet salıyor. Bir yığın yaratık filmi arasında bir farklılığı var mı? Var. Seyredin, görün Puanım: 2,5/5

SOLSTICE:

Neyse ki son seyrettiğimiz içlerinde en iyisiydi. Gerçi bu da oldukça klasik bir korku filmi klişesinden çok öteye geçememiş.

Hiç de yabancı olmadığımız, genç amerikalı arkadaşlar tatil için nedense izbe bir ormanın içindeki eve giderler teması. Bu tür filmleri seviyorsanız seyredin derim. Ne de olsa çekimler, background efektler sizi korkutmaya yetiyor zaten.

Ama yok seyretmem ben öyle filmler derseniz de aman aman birşey kaçırmış olmayacaksınız. Bu filme 4,0/5 gider benden.

Bu arada unutmadan, iyi bir korku filmi seyretmek isterseniz, geçenlerde izlediğim “Orphan” ı şiddetle tavsiye edebilirim.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Horror Plus Thriller: 28 Days Later (screenrant.com)
• Trainspotting 2 (guardian.co.uk)
• Danny Boyle’s Next Project Cuts Off Its Own Arm? (cinemablend.com)

Ah, it’s a fish…monster….thing!

Here’s my issue with The Host: what I saw, I really liked and what I heard, I did not.    The Host is pretty much about a gigantic fish-monster … thing spawned by scientists dumping toxic chemicals into a river that makes with the roaring and the rampaging one fine day.   The survivors start coming down with a virus (or do they?) as one family struggles to find a member that they thought was dead – but really isn’t.

Since I was knocking together bookcases, I put The Host on the dubbed version since I was trying to multi-task.   It’s really never a good sign when one of the voice actors does an impression of Officer Barbrady from South Park for a cop voice.    I think that I missed out on a lot by not reading the subtitles and listening to the normal voices, but what I saw I liked.   It’s fun and a little frenzied, if at times sorta forced.

Although…fish monster?   Really?

A bunch of women go spelunking only to discover uncharted horrors!

So, things I have learned from The Descent:

• Don’t ever go spelunking in caves;
• If you do, bring extra knives, maybe a gun;
• If you spot some creepy, blind cave dwellers – run, don’t ask them for directions;
• DO NOT GO SPELUNKING WITH ANYONE NAMED JUNO;
• The Descent 2 shouldn’t even be in existence if we’re going with the “real” ending here;
• Be prepared if you are in a group stranded in an extreme situation that strikes you as the kind of place Bear Grylls would explore on camera for one or more of your friends to go batshit insane.

I think the worst part of The Descent isn’t the creepy crawlers; the film would’ve worked properly and efficiently if they hadn’t been included, with all respect.   The extreme sense of claustrophobia and of being hopelessly lost is frightening enough.   The breakdown between the members of the group and how they react to such a situation is even more frightening.   The crawlers, actually, are just the icing on the cake, so to speak.

we — all of us — are surely a fan of something or someone… as i have mentioned in my very first blog, i am a fan of David Archuleta …

in my page header, his last name can be seen… but what word did i just attached to “archuleta”???

TWILIGHT, yes.

i am a Twilight saga fan…and in this blog, i will try not to sound creepy/obnoxious/stalkerish (LOL), but i’ll be sharing my story on how i entered the World of Twilight.

it all started back in 2008. i do know the fact that Twilight was born in 2005, but i am one of those people who you can consider as the ones who have just hopped in on the bandwagon in 2008.

Twilight is something that’s always been talked about in my school… when u say “twilight”, all i can think of is “The Twilight Zone”…

but then i knew that the story’s about vampires. of course, all these freaky things came into my mind: gore, fangs, gloomy and scary nights, humans running away from the blood-thirsty vampires… i, then, sort of found Twilight creepy. but why is everyone just loving it???

oh, a normal human girl fell in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. mmmkay… ??? upon hearing this, i still didn’t have any idea that Twilight is going to be a movie… so i have no idea how the characters really look like, of course. all i can think of though is a girl falling in love with Dracula.

and then……….

everything about Twilight was just everywhere…

I finally saw the actors on tv, on pictures, on articles online that i — out of curiosity — have checked out. By that time, I didn’t know that I have actually already seen these actors in movies before…

One of them looked VERY familiar, and it’s the actor playing the role of Jacob Black… his name’s Taylor Lautner. out of curiosity, i checked out the movies he’d been in… then the movie name boomed on my face.

This was a movie i have watched for a couple of times with my younger brother when i was younger.

“The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl” …but which role??? **looks at the list** … SHARKBOY!??!??!?! it’s him!??!?! he’s Jacob Black?!?!?!?

…this then triggered my interest in this whole fandom thing.

The first Twilight movie came out in theaters by the end of 2008, but i refused to watch it FIRST. i decided to read Twilight first, back in February 2009.

and that was when my addiction started. i got magnetized by the book that i even read it until 5:15 in the morning one time. after finishing the book, i finally watched the movie… to be honest, the movie was not as good as the book, but there’s still New Moon, right? and a different director this time…

The Twilight saga is something that keeps me alive during my spare time. I read New Moon in April 2009, Eclipse in July, and Breaking Dawn in August… upon finishing the saga, i have really wished there’s  a 5th book to the series…

the one that i love the most is:

ask me if I’m on Team Edward or Team Jacob, and i’ll say Team Switzerland… both characters have flaws and something in one of them that makes him better than the other and vice-versa.

by that time, i have obviously been loving the books so much, but i wasn’t really INTO the actors until…

Comic-Con. In California.

Comic-Con is a HUGE thing and tons of people go there each year. knowing that the New Moon cast are going to be there, i got very, very interested to know what they’ll talk about, and so, i started checking out various fan sites, as well as twitter pages of these fan sites to keep me updated…

and it is just like how much i’ve been so addicted to David Archuleta…

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another novel by Stephenie Meyer that i have heard before is:

during August 2009, this novel is what I’ve been reading. Like Twilight, “The Host” got me hooked into it…

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And… as a Twilight fan, here i post my most favorite song from the Twilight soundtrack and New Moon soundtrack, as well as a clip from the upcoming movie, New Moon… can’t wait for Nov. 20th!

*don’t mind the comments… i’m not really a fan of Muse, but i love both of the original and NM remix versions of “I Belong To You”…

*u just gotta love the hug in 0:44 / 0:45 (=

The Host is Stephanie Meyer’s first book for adult readers, although before I read that on the dust jacket I was under the impression that it was also a YA book. The main character is only 21, the text on the page is large, and there’s a lot of white space. There’s no sex, but there is a lot of passionate kissing and arm stroking. Meyer’s uses a lot of heat metaphors when writing about her character’s feelings towards people (or, in this case, aliens) they are attracted to.

Like the Twilight books, The Host is hefty, but presents an eye-catching cover to entice the reader. Here’s a plot summary written by someone else (I know it may seem lazy, but what’s the point in me trying to word things in a slightly different manner just so I don’t copy-and-paste?):

“A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won’t surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body’s longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing” (Amazon.com Review, Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008). Sidenote- Amazon.com has 1,295 customer reviews for this book! I wonder if there’s a way to see what book have the most reviews on the site.

Stephanie Meyer has a shrugging problem:

Funny British lady reviewing The Host:

Here’s my opinion on the book: (I apologize for the unenthusiastic post today- I just didn’t experience any new media in the past two weeks that I’m really excited about well, not that I’m ready to talk about yet. It’s shameful and I’m not ready to go public. Plus I’m tired from staying up too late finishing this book, and I had to get up early to cut and glue and print. I was supposed to do all that last night, but my printer is an evil piece of shit that only serves to anger me and spend money on print cartridges. The damn thing won’t print just black and white, so I have to buy a new color cartridge even though I purposefully don’t print color things! But I just figured out how to embed videos on here, so I’ll give you guys a couple extras to make up for the dolorous tone.) Eh.

The festival is beginning to take its toll on me, especially as I also have to work during these afternoons, so I only managed to fit in two films in my schedule. By shear chance, both of them were South Korean and both starred the always good Kang-ho Song.

Song is one of Korea’s biggest moviestars, but he also is a very competent and versatile actor, often adding a touch of humour in his roles. I first became aware of him in Swiri (from 1999) by Je-gyu Kang, who five years later made the good war film Brotherhood. After Swiri, Song did J.S.A. Joint Security Area, which was his first collaboration with Chan-wook Park. Park used Song in his next project, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, as well. Park went on to make the internationally acclaimed Oldboy, without Song this time. He gave him a cameo in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance before granting him the undisputed lead in Thirst, which is the first film I saw today.

Thirst is a gorgeously filmed vampire story. For the first hour it is really good, at times exceptionally so. There are scenes we haven’t seen before and the protagonist is definitely not your typical vampire. Song plays a devout catholic priest who becomes a vampire through a tainted blood transfusion after having briefly died as a test subject for an experimental vaccine. He soon realizes his predicament, and not feeling it is a sin, as he didn’t ask for this to happen to him, he considers it an illness and not inherently bad in any moral way. There is initially no big change in his personality and he makes sure that he doesn’t harm anyone in order to procure the necessary quantities of blood, tapping blood from coma victims at the local hospital who are not likely to miss a bottle or two of the red stuff.

Soon, however, he is introduced to Tae-joo, a young woman forced into servitude of her sickly husband and mother in law. The priest, soon to be ex-priest, and Tae-joo begin an erotic relationship which is very well represented in the film. The scenes of love making all seem natural and as a result comes off as truly erotic and not the silly wish fulfilment fantasies of countless Hollywood films. Unfortunately, it turns out that his love is a bit of a femme fatale who uses him for her own ends. From this point in, I felt the film became overlong, dwelling too much on its grantedly beautiful frames, but not advancing the plot in any surprising ways, or at all. I won’t spoil the film, so I’ll limit myself to saying that for me, at least, the film didn’t reach its potential. I saw where the film was heading and it didn’t make any meaningful detours from that direction. As a result, a short trip felt far too long. What made this second half of the film worth staying, was the stellar work of Ok-vin Kim, an actress I’d never heard of before. She really made the character of Tae-joo a full bodied creature, upping the menacing aspects of her arc in the film. I’ll recommend the film with caution, as it is very well made and looks fantastic, with some really breath taking scenes. Just be aware that the recommendation is not unconditional.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird also stars Kang-ho Song. In this film he plays almost an amalgamation of the two characters he has played in the films of my favourite Korean director, Joon-ho Bong. I assume anyone with an interest in Korean films has seen Memories of Murder, in which Song plays a policemen with a temper and some intellectual shortcomings. I personally found this even better than David Fincher’s Zodiac, being a very similar story. Song also played in the environmental monster film The Host, which was a bit of a hit internationally as well. Here he played a well meaning buffoon, possibly short of some marbles.

As The Good, the Bad, the Weird gives Song the chance to essay a character who seemingly has two personalities, he can really let loose with his two most typical screen personas. Song, of course, is the weird one of the title.

The film is directed by Ji-woon Kim, who among others has made the solid A Tale of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life. Kim is a very visually oriented director, often presenting tableaus which are easier to admire than really like, but in The Good, the Bad, the Weird, he uses his considerable talents to give us the purest entertainment this side of Indiana Jones (disregarding the fourth near-abomination). The title of the film makes the countless nods to Sergio Leone quite clear, but more than a Spaghetti Eastern, I felt this was an adventure film, an action film like they don’t make em anymore.

The plot is all a bit of nonsense, with a treasure map serving as a MacGuffin for countless inventive chases and spectacular fight scenes, not with kung-Fu, but guns, cannons and everything that can be fired from a steel tube. In between the action scenes, we get to know the characters just enough to care about them. There is also a sub-plot regarding how Korea has been stolen by the Japanese, and as a result the three protagonists are men with no country, all now making a life lived in the eternal present in a soon to be mythic Manchuria. This gives them the chance to reinvent themselves, something Song’s character has done most successfully, gladly accepting the role as a happy-go-lucky small time thief and adventurer. Again, I can’t say more, as it would spoil a plot point towards the end.

The plot, however is not the important thing here. The unbridled entertainment on display is all that counts. I laughed out loud many times during the film and too often during the action scenes, I found myself sitting with my mouth open for a longer time than is considered proper in polite society. The only thing that was a let down was the ending, which I felt was too abrupt and disappointing in its stock situation. I felt that it was unnecessary to emulate Leone to such a degree at this point. That particular scene can probably never be bettered anyway, so it was a bit of a suicide attempt for Kim to try to get away with it. Be sure, by the way, to watch some minutes into the credits, as some resolution can be found there. Heartily recommended, but not for those who feel that all art should be slow moving, reflective and involve the deeper meaning of life, come hell or high water.

The following will be a excerpt from Ms. Stephenie Meyer’s site. It was posted last September 23, 2009 and I know how late I am for this news T.T but ofcourse, for those of you who doesn’t know yet. Here’s what she have to say about her other master piece, “The Host”.

. . .

Hey guys, great news! The Host is on its way to the big screen:

Variety.com: “Twilight’s Meyer…”

I’m so excited to be working with Nick Wechsler, and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to bring The Host to a visual format. They’ve all been a dream to work with, so lovely and collaborative, and I feel like we’re in a really good place to make a great movie together. And then to have Andrew Niccol writing and directing? Truly awesome. If you’ve never seen Gattaca, go watch it now. One of my favorite movies of all time. It’s such a great example of character driven science fiction, which is ideal for The Host, no? I’m having an absolute blast imagining different dream casts, which I would post if people didn’t take my silly blogs so seriously these days. I’m looking forward to seeing the cast lists you come up with in the fansite forums, and if any of them match mine.

So, very exciting. Yay Host!

XO
Steph

. . .

I’ll be honest. I haven’t read the book, yet. lol

I tried.. so many times, to read the book. And I actually started to read the first chapter, but I didn’t get the chance to finished it. T.T I promise to read it this weekend, though.

Congrats to Ms. Mayer! Her every works making its way to the big screen is such a great thing!

Una de dos, si no sabes de qué película estoy hablando, has estado criogenizado durante los últimos meses o, sencillamente, no tienes Internet. La campaña publicitaria de “Cloverfield” ha sido más viral y monstruosa si cabe que su título en nuestro país.

El padre de la criatura es J.J. Abrams, artífice de la popular serie de TV “Perdidos”, un tipo hábil donde los haya, que convierte en oro todo lo que toca (lo próximo es Star Trek) y sacó del tedio a la saga de “Misión imposible”. Aun teniendo reciente el estreno de “Rec”, ambas parten de una premisa sospechosamente parecida: unos jovenzuelos que graban en primicia el ataque de lo que parece ser un descomunal bicho en pleno centro de Nueva York.

Visto así, “Monstruoso” podría considerarse un remake inconfeso de “Godzilla”. El americano, claro está. No esperéis encontrar a un japo fondón, combatiendo cuerpo a cuerpo con Mothra y demás fauna, de manera que otakus, ni acercarse.
No obstante, para alivio del personal, tampoco veremos cómo el vecino americano salva al mundo por enésima vez. Precisamente, lo mejor de un film de esta guisa es la lectura tan pesimista que nos ofrece. No hay ningún mensaje ecológico o sociopolítico oculto entre líneas, como en el caso de la fallida “The Host“, y, sin embargo, tampoco puede decirse que esté vacía de contenido.

“Monstruoso” se toma su tiempo en ponernos en situación, presentándonos a los personajes en su justa medida, algo de lo que adolecía la mencionada “Rec” y que funciona aquí como motor de la historia.

Por un lado, está Rob, que emprenderá una búsqueda desesperada por salvar a su exnovia Beth de las garras del monstruo. Le acompañan, entre otros, su cuñada y su mejor amigo, en quien delega la función de reportero y, ya de paso, sirve de contrapeso cómico. Esta empatía ayuda a hacer partícipe al espectador del realismo de los hechos que ocurren en pantalla. Por supuesto, también descubrimos ciertas incongruencias en el guión, empezando por el propio cámara, que no suelta la misma ni para cagar, o esos bichejos que habitan el metro y cuya credibilidad deja mucho que desear.

Volviendo al ámbito interpretativo, el reparto en general está bastante integrado, en especial, Lizzy Kaplan. El director Matt Reeves no deja títere con cabeza y, aunque no hay mucho donde rascar entre plano y plano secuencia, tanto la impresionante puesta en escena como el ritmo apabullante de los acontecimientos, compensan con creces sus mareantes movimientos de cámara. La ausencia de música hasta los créditos finales (el tema central de Michael Giachino es puro Godzilla) es otro punto a su favor.

“Monstruoso” no es ni más ni menos que lo que es. Un blockbuster disfrazado, que no pasará a los anales de la historia del cine, pero nos brinda una escasa hora y cuarto de sano entretenimiento.

17ª Participación para el concurso del DVD de Payasos Asesinos (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), reseña escrita por Manu Riquelme.