Snoskred Reads

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More on Twilight

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So. I liked the movie. I saw New Moon, and I liked that too.

The first time I read the books, I skim-read them – as in I did not spend a lot of time absorbing the deeper meanings of what I was reading. I just wanted to know what happened and how it happened. Reading them that way, I thought that I liked the books.

On second read.. turns out I actually don’t like them so much. In the books, I am not a fan of Jacob at all. Actually all the characters as written in the books are pretty sucky. Bella is whiny and needy, Edward is stalkerish and overprotective, even the high school friends become awful – other than Angela, who just may be the sanest person in the books other than Charlie, and he even lost his mind in the last book – as if he’s just gonna pretend like there are things he shouldn’t know! He is a police officer, fer chrissake! The only characters in the books who are not sucky are the Cullens – other than Edward.

I know that by typing this out loud I run the risk of many screaming twi-hards arriving here and commenting nastily. So be it.

Twilight is not really about vampires or werewolves. At the heart of the story is a love story and as far as love stories go, it is an ok one. But the vampires and werewolves get in the way of the love story in the books in a way they do not get in the way in the movies – at least in the two I have seen so far.

So, that is my overall thoughts on the books. Does anyone else have any thoughts? ;)

books, movies, Twilight

The Danger Of Flicking..

1 Comment Posted on by Snoskred

So there I was innocently flicking around on the teevee last week and I ran into a movie known as Twilight..

What I knew about Twilight before watching it – not a lot. Three things, to be exact –

– that the other half said vampires do not sparkle in the sun and how stupid that means it all is (he is a big Anne Rice fan).

– that the cast are very pretty.

– that Kristen Stewart really does not love being on the red carpet.

I did not reckon on

– Robert Pattinson being like a car accident you just cannot look away from and at the same time incredibly charming.

– Kristen Stewart being equally compelling and by the look of it an excellent actress.

– that they would use part of the movie like an advertisement for a very fascinatory Volvo that I recently looked at in a car yard and after investigation happens to contain the exact same motor which is in our XR-5 Turbo.

– that it would be so.. green and involve so many trees.

So I was surprised to find that I liked it – in fact that I liked it so much, I watched it a second time when it was on the +2 channel.

I then went off and spoiled myself for the future books because I wanted to know what happened next. Just a couple of days later, I decided it was time to get the e-books and read them. More on Twilight at a later time, I am still processing.

I do want to type about my stunning ebooky thingy. The other half got this gadget a while back mainly as a gps however you can use it for so many other things. He has since moved on to other gadgets and I have inherited the awesomeness as an e-book reader.

I have always been a huge book reader ever since I was a kid and I was not sure that I would like an e-book reader. However it turns out I adore it for the following reasons –

– percentage thingy – it tells me at the bottom of the screen what percentage of the book I have read.

– touch screen to turn the page – absolutely silent! this does not wake the other half up yay.

– can read it in the dark.

– can carry around a whole bunch of books in the one small unit.

– do not have to hold up a heavy book – the unit is very light.

– can download a bunch of free ebooks from places like project gutenberg.

I think it is pretty reasonable at just under $166 considering you can use it as a GPS also – and having used tomtom and navman, this is actually the best GPS we’ve used. So if you are looking for either a GPS or an e-booky-reader thingy, then this could be your answer.

I will leave you with a link to one of my favourite Volvo scenes from Twilight. Enjoy!

Volvo

books, e-reader, movies, Twilight

Speaking of Books

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

There is one book that I never pack when we move.

Back in 1998 or so, I first was introduced to Jane Austen. We were travelling to Sydney the next day and I happened to catch one of the early episodes of Pride and Prejudice – the miniseries with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy – on the ABC. The story drew me in.

The next day we were at the airport, both in Adelaide and in Sydney, and I looked for the book. No joy. Why airport bookstores do not stock the classics, I have no idea.

So that night I went to bed wanting to read the book Pride and Prejudice, but not having it.

The next day we ended up in the main street of Sydney where all the shops are. It was an alien world to me – I knew the city of Adelaide like the back of my hand, where all the shops were, where to go and find what I needed or wanted. So I was completely lost and it was raining and the streets seemed slightly scary.

I can’t remember where or how but I did find a bookstore, and I found this book – The Complete Novels Of Jane Austen. It does not contain Love and Friendship (which I have never read yet) but it does have the 7 other stories that I love and can read over and over again without getting bored.

This book has travelled all over Australia with me. It never leaves my bedside when I am at home, it is the one book that never gets put on the bookshelves. It always stays on my night stand.

On the day where the nightstand gets moved, it will be picked up and placed next to my handbag where it will wait for me/us to leave.

It will travel next to me in the car if I am the driver – on my lap, if I am the passenger.

It will wait be placed next to my handbag in the new house, and once the nightstand is in the new spot, it will be placed on the nightstand.

That night, as my books will not be unpacked yet, I will probably pick it up. If I am not already in the middle of one of the stories, I will allow it to fall open to where it feels like, and then the book will have chosen which of the stories I will read next. I will turn back to the first page of that story and begin to read until I get too sleepy to continue.

books, Jane Austen, Moving House, moving on

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed.

3 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

Today we took the car in to be serviced (15,000kms) early (let me not get into the need to replace the front wheel tyres already – it is a performance vehicle not just a car with very low profile tyres and soft compounds etc – and let me not get into how much they cost – over $400 per tyre) and while we waited we wandered. I had a credit at a second hand bookshop so we went in to browse and ended up spending all my credit and then some.

I found a book called “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed” by Alan Alda. I’ve always been a huge fan of his so the book tempted me. After the bookstore we went to a cafe to have cake and coffee. I picked up the book and started reading it. Wow. I am only a few chapters in but I know this is incredible writing already by the story about the dog. One minute you’re wanting to cry and the next minute you’re laughing out loud.

Which is a little strange when you’re sitting in a cafe – The Other Half wondered what was wrong with me.

I think I’m going to enjoy this book. :)

books

A Pride and Prejudice thought..

1 Comment Posted on by Snoskred

It’s one of my favourite books and you can read it over and over, it never gets old. Most people who read a book will want to change the story in some way and for me the thing that needs changing in Pride and Prejudice is the part where Elizabeth goes to Pemberley and meets Mr Darcy on his enormous and very expensive estate.

It always leaves one wondering, if he had *not* had a lovely country estate and ten thousand a year, would she have chosen him?

To me the book is brilliant but it would have been even better if she had met him again somewhere else and hadn’t gone to his estate until they were already married.

Would you change the book, if you’re a fan of it?

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Exposure.

1 Comment Posted on by Snoskred

I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the girl with the one track mind saga. It’s a blog on the internet where a girl has been pretty intimately blogging details of her life. Somehow it got turned into a book and the girl decided to release it under a pseudonym – however, she may have forgotten for a moment that she lives in the UK, and that is the home of tabloid journalism. A newspaper found out her real name, who she really was, and then published those details.

I feel really sorry for her – I can’t imagine blogging that sort of stuff, let alone having everyone from your parents to everyone in your entire country then finding out you wrote it, and reading that kind of personal stuff.

That and another incident which I have been reminded of have led to this blog about baiters and our potential exposure. I personally would feel *safe* if my real information got out on the net, because I live in a country where there’s not too many lads, but I would be plenty not happy all the same. For some of the baiters reading this who live in the US, Canada, UK, Amsterdam and possibly even South Africa, there’s a lot more potential for harm actually finding its way to a baiter who is exposed.

So when any of us tell other people information about ourselves, we *trust* that information won’t be given to others. There’s been a couple of occasions where I have *deliberately* led fellow **baiters** astray about who someone actually is. Once it was for a joke, which the baiter himself came up with, and several of us went along with. I believe there are still some baiters who are completely unaware that it was a joke – I do not believe the baiter involved ever got a chance to dispel the myths about himself. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he got busy. And they *were* brilliant myths.. that was a heck of a lot of fun, that joke.

Once it was because unknown to other baiters, we have an incredible secret in our midst, which myself and only the baiter involved are actually aware of – as far as I know. There’s very good reasons to keep it secret and I certainly do not intend to share the secret here but the reason I mention it is.. underlying everything there has been a fear that it will get found out somehow. Looking at the One Track Mind blog, I cannot imagine the aftermath if it were to be exposed.

Those of you thinking you know what it is, you’re dead wrong. To make sure you realise this, I will now state that the secret is who someone is in real life, not who they are on the internet. Just so you know.

And now to other topics of lesser import.

1. Pride and Prejudice. I read it again. What a surprise, huh? I love this book. I actually have a big book with all Jane Austen‘s books in there – Sense and Sensibility, P&P, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan and Persuasion. I bought it for $20 a couple of years ago. The amount of times I have read it, I would hate to think. This is the book I always read in between other books. This is the book I always pick up when I go to bed, want to read a little, but am too tired to start a new book. The language is so soothing. It is almost as good as Shakespeare but my Shakespeare book is way too heavy to hold up in bed. :(

2. Indiana Jones and the temple of doom. I was playing this at work today and a kid who was about 8 years old got scared by it. Hello? What closet has this kid been sheltered in? So his Mother says to me “You should have something a bit more kid friendly on”. I said, this IS kid friendly, it’s PG rated, and most of the other movies I have which “look” kid friendly are packed full of swearing. I can’t play animation because it makes the screens look terrible and we’d never sell any. So while I was doing the invoice, she kept telling this kid not to look but he was mesmerized, and he was starting to get a bit freaked out, so I said to him, hey mate, don’t worry, he’s Indiana Jones and it all turns out fine in the end. It makes me wonder what kind of movies (if any) this kid is allowed to watch at home. It was the bit of the movie where the little kid has the voodoo doll and is stabbing it while Indy is fighting some guy. If something as simple as stabbing a voodoo doll makes this kid freak out.. I fear for his future in this world. BTW I am gonna order this, too.

3. I just watched Girl with a Pearl Earring. There’s never enough Colin Firth. Even the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice did not contain enough of him. The movie was good though.

That’s it for now, off to bed. Night all.. :)

Angry Snoskred, anonymity, books, internet, Internet Safety, movies, pseudonym

Entertainment

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Stephen King’s Cell – I read this book again over the last couple of days, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time. I don’t want to spoil the book for you because sitting down to read it should hopefully have an impact on you, but basically anyone who read Stephen King’s The Stand – swap superflu with cell phones.

There is only one thing I would change about the book, and that is the ending. I’d like to know what happened when Johnny Gee took the phone call.

I also watched Interview with a Vampire – to be honest, I’m not a huge Anne Rice fan, but this movie is actually pretty good. Kirsten Dunst in particular. And the costumes are stunning.

Recently seen too – Chocolat – I love that movie. :)

On the soon to be watched list – A Knight’s Tale – I have never seen the whole thing in one sitting as yet, but I have seen Jousting for real, in real life. It was brilliant.

Also Girl with a Pearl Earring – a bit of Colin Firth never goes astray ;)I’m going to take a bit of a break from baiting for most of tomorrow, I’ve been working hard today on the various projects I have going right now.

books, movies