Charlie St. Cloud

I have just returned from seeing the new Zac Efron movie, Charlie St. Cloud, and let me tell you: it was amazing!  If you haven't seen the previews for this movie, let me sum it up

Charlie St. Cloud loves sailing.  He's the captain of the sailing team at his high school and even won himself a sailing scholarship to Stanford!  On the evening following his high school graduation, tragedy strikes: the death of his young brother (ladies, prepare to begin the waterworks).  With Charlie grieving his brother's death wondering why he was the one who lived, he defers his scholarship and stops sailing and instead works at the cemetery as a caretaker.  However, Charlie has such a strong bond with his brother that he can see him and they play catch together every day at sunset.  Then, one day five years later, a girl comes along.  They went to high school together and she is as much an avid sailor as he was.  She is about to embark on a six-month solo race around the world.  One day she takes her boat out into a storm to test it.....and doesn't return.  Charlie must now go in search of her to save her life and only he knows where she is...

Zac did a wonderful job in this movie.  Compared to the other movies he is most known for (High School Musical 1-3, Hairspray, and 17 Again), this is a whole new type of role that he plays very well.  I don't know if I'll see it again while it's in theaters, but it's definitely on my 'to buy when it comes out' list.  I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did! 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Since writing the above, I have read the book (originally titled The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud) by Ben Sherwood.  The book was just as amazing (if not better just because of the way the story is told) as the movie.  There are, of course, the usual artistic liberties were taken with the movie, but that doesn't mean that I didn't like them (there are some movies where these liberties do not make me happy).

Paranormal Activity

I was at the theater recently and watching the previews (which are just the best part of seeing movies) and what comes on but Paranormal Activity 2.  Yes.  I know.  We are all excited about this because, let’s be honest, we were all pretty excited about the first one. 

            Paranormal Activity was filmed in 2006 over a period of a week at the directors’ house using a handheld camera and released in 2009 worldwide.  Directed and written by Oren Peli the movie follows a young couple, Katie and Micah who have just moved in together in a suburban house in San Diego.  The film follows the couple as they investigate the entity that has been following Katie around since she was eight.  Recently the activity has become more common so Micah is determined to figure out what is going on and who is trying to contact his girlfriend.  Unfortunately, the more they try to find out, the more the entity begins to reveal itself.

            This is an edge of your seat thriller.  Although it is low budget and contains no high end visual effects that can stun your senses the film provides more bone chilling and goose bump causing scenes than any other horror movie I have seen to this date.  This film is not like most traditional horror films because there are no scare tactics in it – devoid of any suspenseful music that leaves you hanging you are able to get all the thrill without any of the disappointment.   The use of a handheld camera provides a level of reality that no other thriller does and it lets you really believe that this is really happening and at the end of the movie you find yourself wondering if you were in fact watching a real persons home videos.

            If you enjoy being scared I definitely recommend this movie because, even after watching it several times, I still get chills and have difficulty watching it alone.  Things that go bump in the night….might actually be things.  I was afraid, you will be too.

-S

Sloppy Firsts

Megan McCafferty does an amazing job at bringing to light all the insecurities and inner musings of teenage girls the world over in Sloppy Firsts.  Popularity, boys, school, SAT, college, family, boys, friends, gossip, and, did I mention boys?  As you read through each journal entry you can’t help but think that these are your journal entries from when you were in high school (and, let’s be honest, even from now).

            Jessica Darling begins to document her life the year her best friend, Hope, moves away with her family due to a tragedy in the family.  Without Hope, Jessica is forced to become closer with the other girls in her clique despite the efforts she goes to to keep distant from them.  Throw in some unwanted (or, maybe not so unwanted?) attention from a boy Jessica barely knows and you yourself are thrown back into your high school experience.  As you are reading you begin to feel a part of everything that is going on and you begin to see Jessica, Hope, and the other characters as your personal friends.  When you put the book down you begin to feel withdrawal from your new friends and you are forced to pick it back up and keep reading.

            McCafferty doesn’t just skim the superficial surface of high school life – she goes deeper and really gets to the heart of the problems girls go through, not just in school, but in life.  There isn’t one character that you can’t relate to and, a lot of the time, you find yourself shouting “Yes!” when you come across something you have thought or said.  What is best about this book is that it’s only one in a series.  I have read three of them already and, from high school, to college I have been able to relate the whole way and I am eager for more. 

            Do yourself a favor, pick it up the next time you’re at the bookstore.  Maybe it’s not a classic, but you will definitely feel good after reading the Jessica Darling books.  You’ll laugh, maybe cry, and you will without a doubt fall in love with the characters and yourself in the process.

-S

A Hopeful Heart

While meandering through the bookstore one day, I glanced upon this book: A Hopeful Heart, by Kim Vogel Sawyer.  It wasn't the title that caught my eye, it was the fact that the girl pictured on the cover reminded me of Keira Knightley.  However, after reading the back cover synopsis, I decided to read the first chapter to see how I liked it.  Well, considering I bought and read the book, I guess I liked it.  Actually, I loved it.  How can anyone not enjoy a good love story?

The story takes place in the summer of 1888 in Barnett, KS.  Tressa Neill lost both of her parents when she was young and was raised by an unloving aunt and uncle.  Despite her upper-class education, she is forced to come out to KS by her aunt and uncle for a chance at "second-best" because she will not be accepted by any man of status because she has no dowry.  Along with five other young women from New York, she arrives in Barnett to attend the Wyatt Herdsmen School run by Hattie Wyatt.  Hattie had been a widow for a couple years and began this school to take girls from the East Coast, teach them the duties and responsibilities required to be a successful rancher's wife with the goal of marrying them off to the single ranchers in the town.

Abel Samms was one of these single ranchers who was still nursing a broken heart from the last time he'd fallen in love...with a woman from the East.  Needless to say, he still harbors a grudge against women from the east.  He tries to keep his distance from these young women, but there's something special about Tressa.  Abel has problems of his own to solve, however: over the past two years, he has been the target of a cattle rustler.  Before he can solve the problems of his heart, however, he must find the cattle rustler to save his ranch.

Searching for Pemberley

Searching for Pemberley, by Mary Lydon Simonsen, is a story of Maggie Joyce, a young girl from the small coal-mining town of Minooka, PA.  She moves in with her sisters in Washington D.C. near the end of WWII after finishing school to help the war effort by clerking.  After WWII ends, her sisters move back home and she decides to transfer to Germany with the promise of the chance to transfer to London after a year.

Maggie is a huge fan of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Once she finally moves to London, she is trying to get ideas of places to visit on weekends.  When a co-worker suggests her visiting the house that inspired Austen's Pemberley, she gladly jumps at the chance.  During the visit, she is drawn into the whole story of the families that inspired the characters in P&P and is encouraged to visit a family who know a great deal about the Laceys, the family the Darcys are based on.  She becomes very close to this family and visits them often to find out as much as she can about the real people of P&P.  She also takes as many trips as possible to see all the homes of the P&P families.

During her time in England, she wins the hearts of two men: one an American flyboy she met in a local bar and the other the youngest son of the family.  When it is finally revealed to her that the mother of the family she has grown close to is actually a descendant of the great Laceys, and therefore so is her son.  Maggie must now decide which man is right for her.  But which will she choose?

This is a really good story and despite the time period, I wished I could have been there right alongside Maggie touring the English countryside.  I wanted to just jump on a plane England.  And one of these days I will get to do that...  But until then, I will dream of the English countryside...and English gentlemen.

Pride and Prejudice....and Zombies??

Yes, there is a book out there called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

I first heard about this book from a friend who said it was hilarious.  Since I trust her judgment, I went ahead and bought it.  However, it was a while before I actually read it.  There was a part of me who was skeptical about how good it would be when I love the original story so much (and, incidentally, I read this book right after reading Pride and Prejudice).  The first page of the book assuaged my fears.  Instead of girls being admired primarily for their beauty and tact, they are admired for their remarkable fighting skills against the 'unmentionables'.  The people you learn to dislike (sometimes with intense passion) - the mother, Lydia, Wickham, Mr. Collins, Caroline - all get their comeuppance in one way or another.  I was very happy to discover that most of the original words were maintained in this new story.  Admittedly, some parts of the original storyline was left out (and unfortunately one of my favorite scenes was left out).  The parts that were altered to fit the whole zombie scenario were done well and very humorously.

So, I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice and/or have seen at least one version of the film.  I'm not sure if it will be as funny to those who have never read Pride and Prejudice or seen the film(s), but hopefully it will still provide a modicum of entertainment.