Geek Heaven

Today Tracy and I went to Salt Lake Comic Con. (By the way no matter what I do Blogger messes with the pictures and text so this post is a little messy)  It was a lot of standing in lines and crazy sensory overload and paying $20 for cold pizza and soda, but it was also amazing.  I've been in love with TV and movies and geek stuff for most of my life, so the kid in me was pretty darn gleeful about all of this.

Some of our highlights:

One of the few things on Tracy's Comic Con To-Do list was his picture with Han Solo in Carbonite - it's one of the first things we did .... he was a little cold though :-)










When I first heard about Stephen Amell the lead actor in Arrow coming to Comic Con I said "It would be so awesome if he did a panel...but that would probably never happen"  ....  well, sometimes you get what you wish for...

The next panel we went to was Shannon Hale and Brandon Mull, a lot of fun, and much lower key.  Nice to be in the same room with one of your favorite actors and one of your favorite authors in the same day.







One thing that was also a lot of fun is that there was a ton of awesome geek stuff there to buy, but we kept it down to a fairly respectable minimum.- Here's our small haul: a Comic Con Pin with a flying superhero, a button with the Arrow's catchphrase and a Doctor Who keychain.  The whole batch cost us less than lunch :-)   We also, at the last minute found some vinyl window stickers so our new car named "Clark" will have a Superman sticker in the back window.


























The other great fun in the vendor row was visiting Chris and Stacia at their HobbyTown USA booth.  It was a busy spot, but I did manage to get Tracy and Chris in the same photo.

And the last stop for our night (apologies for the repeat for those of you on Facebook) was a  picture with Stephen Amell.   The one funny random moment was that while we were standing in line for this photo, Tracy suddenly turned me the other direction as a someone brushed past me.  I turned and had to suppress a squeak when I realized it was actor Manu Bennett (another actor from Arrow that I'm fond of) 

This photo op was super fast, but Stephen Amell seemed really nice and I met some really fun people while we were waiting in line.   This picture also shows off Tracy's "Have you tried turning it off and on again t-shirt" which got tons of comments from people.

I'm not sure I'd go to ComicCon again necessarily, it was a long, crazy day, but I'm so glad I got a chance to do it and that I got to do it with my amazing husband! 

Writing Buddies and Storytelling (and a little TV ....again)

Today I met with my writing buddies, Pam, who's been my critique partner for awhile, and Jenny, who's a new writing friend. (Yes, Tracy has joked that maybe I'm collecting writing buddies named Jennie/Jenny the way I used to collect best friends named Becky).  They are always great, but today they were particularly helpful with the novel I'm working on.   Pam helped me walk through a scene I was really struggling with (seriously, I think I've spent two hours just staring at my computer screen this week trying to write it) and Jenny is giving me great feedback on my second draft.   It's incredibly helpful to know what doesn't work, and sometimes even more importantly what does.  I also feel like I help them as well, which is great feeling.

It's interesting because earlier today one of my TAs/grad school buddies was asking me about how to improve at writing and also how I managed to do anything other than schoolwork while I was getting my PhD.  I think having a critique partner was a huge part of that.  It gave me permission to work on my writing amidst all that grad school craziness because I had someone to be accountable to on the writing side of things.   I realized how lucky I was to have that - so thanks Pam!
 
I also realized again how much storytelling and words inform my whole personality.  Even my love of history grew out of a love of historical fiction, and even now I see the best history as telling stories that connect people with the past.   I write stories, I watch stories, I read stories, and chances are at any given time when I don't have something else I have to think about I am thinking about a story - or writing one in my head.  I sometimes (major geek public confession here) tell myself stories as I drive by myself as a way of keeping entertained.

I wouldn't know how to function in a world without narrative, both fiction and non-fiction, and it once again makes me grateful for libraries, shelves full of books, and friends, family and a husband who put up with a woman who has lots of imaginary friends running around in her head.


So if you want to be proud of me for writing a blog post about something other than a television show just stop now.

Speaking of emotional reactions to stories.....

I've gotten a whole bunch of people watching Arrow, and last week's episode sucked on so many levels (bad morals, bad storytelling, jerky characters) it made me angry in a very real way.   I was talking with one of my Arrow watching buddies today and we've agreed to give it a couple more episodes to get back on target (silly pun intended) or we're both bailing.  So I just feel the need to issue a pseudo-public apology to all the others I've roped in. 

Some Good Stuff

Some good stuff from the last few weeks -

- My cute husband is definitely my hero!  When I went to go to a job interview yesterday I discovered my keys were locked in the car and Tracy rushed home to help me.  He also helped me with a big Young Women activity on Wednesday night (which my Mom also helped me figure out.)

-  I've had a chance to spend some time with both old and new friends lately.  For example, a couple of weeks ago Evevanne came down and we got to hang out for a Saturday, it was so much fun.  She got me the cutest flip-flops I've seen in in a long time - and I really needed flip-flops.  Michaele's in town so I have someone to commiserate with about the ups and downs of history.  Pam is one of the world's best writing buddies. And last month Becky Criddle and I got confused about the date we were having lunch - the great part - even though it wasn't the day we had e-mailed about, we both planned for the same wrong day.  It was funny and awesome!

- I'm reading books and writing again.  This is a good sign, when I'm at my most stressed I stop doing these things, so it's good to be back at it.  Though I've got a long way to go I'm just past the 150 page mark on the current novel I'm working on.

Yes, there are still some challenges going on in my life, and in my head, but it's great to look back and see the good things that happen.

10th Anniversary

Friday was Tracy and I's 10th Anniversary.  We had made some okay plans, but Tracy surprised me both by getting off early and with reservations to a restaurant that just earlier in the week I told my friend Pam I was craving, clearly he knows me well.   We then went to Deseret Book where I used a gift card I got for my birthday (thanks Tricia!) to find a fun book.  Last we went to a park less than ten minutes from our house that turned out to be really beautiful (it was a good week for parks.)  In any case it was a wonderful day and I can't believe we've been married ten years.  Time flies when you're having fun.

Tracy posted a cute picture of us on his blog:
http://potrazeebee.blogspot.com/2013/05/ten-years-of-happiness.html

In an unrelated note we ended up with some discount tickets to Lagoon because of the book I bought at Deseret Book, so if anyone wants them let me know.  

Hobby Mania

I have too many hobbies.

Seriously -  here's a list of things I do, or am learning how to do, or feel like I should be learning how to do (at least the ones I can think of at the moment):

-Writing Fiction (though this should be a profession, but it's a hobby until someone pays me for it)
-Writing Poetry
-Reading Books
-Papercrafts (Cards, scrapbooking, etc.)
-Crafts (anything not falling into the above category, including jewelry making, decoupage, home decor DIY....I'm beginning to think this list would be freakishly long if it weren't for the word "crafts")
-Learning to play the Piano
-Crochet
-Gardening
-Cooking
-Baking
-Camping
-Postcard Collecting
-Watching TV
-Going to the Movies 

This list does not count the things -  like learning to play the guitar -  that I started enough to actually buy books for, but never did anything with.  (Though this is part of why Tracy talked to me after coming home teaching and asked me out on a date so I'm pretty happy about that one) It also doesn't count things - like playing volleyball - that my younger self was good at, but I can no longer really do.

Apparently I like projects and goals and learning new things.  However, I sometimes think that save item #1, my sheer number of hobbies keeps me from being particularly good at any of them.  Yet they also keep me doing things that are happy and productive.  (Even those last two have helped me make friends.)   I sometimes just wish I had a little better focus, and a few more hours in the day.

The Big Return

So over the last seven years at the University of Utah I have checked out A LOT of books.  However, since they don't actually require you to ever take anything back unless someone else has requested it, there has been this cache of 20 plus books on my dissertation topic that I've had for years, literally.  Add to this the odds and ends from various projects that just never got returned and I've had half a bookshelf full of the Marriott Library's books.  Tonight, inspired by the feeling that I might, actually, really be graduating and by the urge to get those shelves back, I gathered them all up and tomorrow Tracy and I are going to return them.

It's the most excited I've ever been to return library books.

Bookworm

Just read a statistic from the American Library Association that the average number of books checked out each year by library card holders is seven.  I was shocked and a little horrified.  Seriously, seven books is like my monthly minimum.  I've read 22 library books since the start of this year, and that doesn't include things like cookbooks that I get just to browse or books I check out but don't like and so don't finish.  If I ever check out only seven library books in a year, someone probably needs to make sure I'm still breathing.

The Geek Girl Bucket List

So recently on Pinterest I saw someone's geek bucket list,  a list of amazing - very fictional - things one would like to do if it were possible.  And because I had a cranky morning, I decided I needed something silly and fun to do for a minute, so here's my own version.  

One thing that struck me about the list on Pinterest though was how many of the things sounded cool in theory, but when you really thought about it would be kind of horrible.  Seriously, super powers sound awesome, but I don't know that I want all that responsibility.   So I tried to make my list things that really did sound fun to me.  (And even with that, numbers 4, 6, and 7 I would only want to do on a day when I was feeling particularly resilient.) 


Jenel's Geek Girl Bucket List
1. Temporarily replace Jimmy Olsen as photographer of the The Daily Planet (Superman)
2. Join a book club with Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
3. Work a case with Castle and Beckett (Castle)
4. Work a case with Sherlock and John (Sherlock)
5. Become the official historian of Starfleet (Star Trek)
6. Co-pilot the Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)
7. Co-pilot Serenity (Firefly)
8. Convince The Doctor, preferably Ten, to take me back in time to meet Abraham Lincoln (Doctor Who)
9. Become Minerva McGonagall's teaching assistant (Harry Potter)
10. Take an archaeology class from Dr. Indiana Jones
11. Visit Rivendell (Lord of the Rings)
12. Visit Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
13. Have Belle take me on a tour of the Beast's castle, before the spell is broken  (Beauty and the Beast)
14. Rhyme with Inigo and Fezzik (The Princess Bride)
15. Be in a position to end a conversation with, "Mulder, I think you're crazy." (X-Files)

I know - silly - but my brain needed a break and I needed to blog, so actually I'm multi-tasking :-) 

Doctor Who

So I was beginning to wonder if my geek credentials were going to be permanently tarnished by the fact that I hadn't watched Doctor Who. Every time I turned around, someone was extolling the virtues of the nameless Doctor and his time-traveling Police Call Box.   So it came up on Netflix and I started watching it.  Now, I was nervous because apparently people get REALLY into this show, and frankly I don't think grown-up me needs the return of Superfan Jenel of the X-Files years.   The good news,  I like the show, it's fun and funny and VERY geektacular (William Shakespeare and multiple Harry Potter references in the same episode, yeah, sign me up.)  The even better news -- as much as I like it, I have no urge to write bad fan-fiction, or name my firstborn TARDIS. 

However, between the good Doctor and reading a book set in the UK this week I actually said the phrase, "I'm rubbish at math" in conversation yesterday.  (At least I didn't say "maths" which is the pure Brit version, I believe).  Anyway, the current book I'm reading is set in the desert of eastern Oregon, so that should help me reset my vocabulary:-)

Favorites A to X - Part Nine "R-X"

Pardon the marathon finish...I'm about to have a delightfully busy, relatively computer-free week.

Alas, no entries for poor lonely "Q" 

R

Movies 
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Have it memorized.  Seriously, I can mouth the words along with the characters.

Return of the King - yeah, it may have six endings, but after nine-plus hours of film making you can get away with it. 

Return to Me - This is my favorite David Duchovny role, and if that seems like a underwhelming thing for me to say see the TV entry under "X"

Roman Holiday - I really do love Audrey Hepburn, but so often I feel like she was kind of poorly matched in terms of co-stars.  This movie is an exception.  I so love watching her and Gregory Peck wander around Rome. 

Books 
Rapunzel's Revenge (Shannon Hale) - Normally, I'm not a fan of graphic novels.  I don't even own a Superman graphic novel, and I own this one.  Really, Rapunzel in a mythical wild west, that's a good idea.

TV
Remington Steele - In junior high my dream car was a white convertible VW Rabbit.  This is not a coincidence.

S

Movies 
Serenity - The reason I watched Firefly, oh and Tracy and I noticed that both Mal and Han Solo both have striped pants and routinely wear a holstered gun and a jacket.  Is this a coincidence?  I don't think so.

Star Wars - Han is my favorite character, Chewie is my second, and the Millennium Falcon is third.

Superman - Of course.

Books 
The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis) - the most spiritually enlightening book I've read that falls outside the LDS canon, and it's funny. 


The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - Just downloaded this book FOR FREE to my phone.  The world is a beautiful place sometimes.

Seer of Sevenwaters (Juliet Marillier) - This is, partially, a book about a giant shape-shifting sea monster, and yet I related to it on a very personal level.  You have to love an author who can manage that. 

TV
Sherlock - This is somewhere between a television show, a series of hour and a half movies, and a mini-series.  Honestly I'm not sure what the format is, and one of the six episodes, from my moral framework is relatively unwatchable.  However, I still found this BBC update of Sherlock Holmes to have everything the recent movies lacked.  This is definitely a textbook case of "how to update a classic."

Star Trek The Next Generation - In my opinion, quality wise, this is the best of the Trek universe.  Well, at least once Riker grows a beard and Tasha Yar dies (the first may be a coincidence, the second unfortunately, not so much).  And really Captain Picard is so entirely awesome.

Star Trek Voyager - having just said that I think Next Generation is the highest in quality, I have to say that for sheer entertainment value I like Voyager the best.  Maybe because it's the only one of the series in which I had a crush (at the time) on three different characters at any given time.  And don't worry Tracy knows this, and hopefully is confident that he has no competition, fictional or otherwise.

T

Movies 
To Kill a Mockingbird - I love my Dad, but if I could also be adopted by a fictional character, Atticus Finch would be in the running. 

The Two Towers - as I've said before, my favorite Lord of the Rings movie. 

Books 
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Judy Blume) - this book is about having an annoying but lovable little brother.  I had three :-)  No wonder I loved it. 


To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - the magic of such an deep and layered story told convincingly from a child's point-of-view is brilliance. 


A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute) - Apparently, in looking at this list, I'm a sucker for heartwarming World War II fiction with a romantic bent.  And this book has AUSTRALIA in it, yeah, I kind of think the guy wrote it just for me :-)

Twilight (Stephenie Meyer) - call it a guilty pleasure, a flavor of the month, or just a symptom of my general obsession with the Pacific Northwest, but I couldn't honestly leave it off the list.


W

Books
Wee Free Men (Terry Pratchett) - An brainy-tough-little girl witch and a brawling, drinking band of tiny Scottish-inspired men?  Yeah, it's awesome. 


Wildwood Dancing (Juliet Marillier) - a lovely version of the "12 Dancing Princesses" fairy-tale in a great Eastern European setting.

Winter Sea (Susanna Kearsley) - It's an interesting thing about time travel-ish novels, I tend to either love them or hate them.  I really enjoy Susanna Kearsley's books and I think Winter Sea is the best of them.


X

Movies 
X-Files Fight the Future - If I hadn't seen the movie, I wouldn't have watched the show.

X-Men - This movie, in part, helped inspire the current series of books I'm writing and introduced me to the awesomeness of Wolverine.

TV
X-Files - It seems appropriate to end with X-Files.  It's the most truly geeky I EVER got over a television show, at least in my adult years.  I even dressed up as Scully for Halloween once.

Favorites A to X - Part Eight "M-P"

Sorry for the delay, an awesome writing conference and a bad cold kept me thoroughly distracted, but I'm back now and ready to resume :-)

M

Movies
Maverick- Beyond the fact that Graham Greene gives one of the single funniest performances ever, and one of, in my opinion, the best portrayals of an American Indian on film.  This movie is just the perfect blend of adventure, romance and western silliness. 

The Mummy - the sequels are extremely inferior, but the initial movie with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and John Hannah is so much fun.  One of my favorite lines (especially since I was working in a library at the time) is Evie's proud declaration, "I...I am a librarian!"

The Man From Snowy River - this movie probably has a great deal to do with the fact that the second place entry on foreign countries I'd like to visit is Australia.  It's also partly responsible for my desire to play the piano. 

Books
Monstrous Regiment (Terry Pratchett) - My adviser has actually thought about assigning this book in her women and war class.  Plus it's awesomely funny. 

My Antonia (Willa Cather) - I have always kind of thought that Willa Cather is what Little House and the Prairie fans read when they grow up. 

N

Movies
National Treasure - In spite of the fact it stars Nicholas Cage and the fact that the Archivist in me almost has a heart attack every time they touch the Declaration of Independence, I still love this movie.  Plus when I start missing the D.C. area, this movie is a good way to get a fix.

Books
Nation (Terry Pratchett) - On a deeper level, I think this book does lead you to question tradition and religious beliefs, but it does so while giving room for them to still be true and still mean something.  It's another of those books that makes you think long after finishing it.

O

Movies
Ocean's Eleven -Why is a movie about thieves so much fun?  I don't entirely know.  But I do love how clever it is, and how well it juggles so many characters at the same time.

Books 
One in Thine Hand (Gerald Lund) - Before Gerald Lund wrote epic church history books he wrote this great novel that takes place during Israel's Yom Kippur War.  A few years after reading it the first time I took a Middle Eastern History class, and was surprised with how well that novel set me up to start understanding what was going on in modern Israel. 

Outlaws of Sherwood (Robin McKinley) - the first book I read by Robin McKinley and still one of those books I'd put on a list of ten I'd take to a deserted island.

P

Movies
The Princess Bride - Of course, I mean I even dedicated a blog too it once.

Pirates of the Caribbean - The first one is the best. 
 
Books
The Princess Bride (William Goldman) - Uh yeah, it's here twice.  It's one of the few times when the book and the movie version of something are equally good. 

TV
Pride and Prejudice - So is a miniseries a movie or TV?  Not sure.  Anyway, the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth is something I watch at least a couple of times a year.  So much frothy British fun.

Favorites A to X - Part Seven "J-L"

J

Books
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - some classics really do deserve the title
Jenna Starborn (Sharon Shinn) - an awesome sci-fi retelling of Jane Eyre. 

TV
Jeopardy- I love random trivia, and Jeopardy gives me my daily fix. 

K

Movies
A Knight's Tale - possibly the most anachronistic movie on the planet.  I love it anyway.

L

Movies
Little Women - this is slightly sacrilegious but I honestly prefer the Winona Ryder/Clair Danes version of this movie to the book.

Books
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) - Really all of the Narnia books are good, but I don't think any of them are quite as magical as the first adventure of the Pevensie family.

Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder) - this was pure pioneer escapism for my elementary school brain.

TV
Law and Order - just recently started rewatching this show via Netflix and find it as fascinating as ever.  Though I can't watch too much of it or I start to think that everyone is out to get me :-)

Lost- I've already written several previous posts about Lost. For a convoluted show about a bunch of murderers, adulterers and other assorted miscreants it was quite uplifting.

Favorites A to X - Part Six "H-I"

H

Books
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling) - My favorite of the Harry Potter books, I
especially love Fred and George's dramatic exit from Hogwarts. 

Heart's Blood (Juliet Marillier) - a lovely moody fantasy that's a great take on Beauty and the Beast. 

Heist Society (Ally Carter) - one of my favorite contemporary young adult novels in recent years.  Sort of like a sweet version of Ocean's Eleven for teens. 

The Hero and the Crown (Robin McKinley) - honestly, picking a single favorite Robin McKinley book would be impossible for me.  It changes depending on my mood.  If I want tough, independent girl power then this is the book I turn to.  I like the Disney idea of "princess" don't get me wrong, but sometimes I think we need a few more princesses like smart, stubborn, sword-wielding Aerin in the pop culture mix.

The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) - no other novel in the world makes historical research look so adventurous and glamorous.

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jaimie Ford) - Another gorgeous historical fiction novel that tells a great young-love story set in the extremely diverse world of Seattle during World War II.  Plus, even though it deals with difficult history it manages to do it with such warmth and hope that it never becomes to difficult to read. 

I

Movies
Incredibles - There isn't a lot of super creative filmmaking going on in mainstream movie making these days, unfortunately, but I think Pixar is an exception.  They always come up with great new ways of dealing with beloved elements and the Incredibles is my favorite example.

Independence Day - there needs to be some special sort of Academy Award for best odd couple buddy comedy, and it needs to go to Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith for Independence Day.  This is exactly what a summer action movie should be. 

Favorites A to X - Part Five "F-G" and some Real Life Stuff

My Mom and John came to visit over the weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  On Saturday we went out to lunch at one of Tracy and I's favorite restaurants, Tin Roof Grill.  After that we went and flew our stunt kite for awhile.  The gusting wind made it quite and adventure to fly, but Tracy and John especially had a great time with it and were excellent kite pilots.  We were really glad they came! ....and now back to the list....

F

Movies
The Fellowship of the Ring - For anyone who knows me, this entry is not a shocker.  I think it's funny though that this movie, like Star Wars, doesn't really get interesting until the locals walk into the bar and meet the shady character who will help them finish their journey :-)

Books
Fire (Kristin Cashore) - When I heard about this novel and knew that it was about a young woman so beautiful and powerful it was a curse I was extremely skeptical about whether I would like it.  But I love it, which says a lot about Cashore's writing talent.

Fools Crow (James Welch) - This novel is told from the point-of-view of a young Blackfoot man just as white society begins to really change their way of life.  The native characters are dynamic and extremely easy to relate to.  When I read it as an undergrad it really changed my perspective on how native people should be depicted in fiction.

Forest Born (Shannon Hale) - My favorite Shannon Hale book, and that is definitely saying something. 

TV
Firefly - So again I have a hard time wholeheartedly recommending Firefly to anyone because there are content problems. One of the characters is a "companion" and I find her character extremely grating, and not just for moral reasons.  But I have to be honest and admit that deep down in my fangirl heart I am a little bit of a Browncoat.  (For the non-geeks out there, that's what Firefly groupies call themselves.)

G

Books
The Goose Girl (Shannon Hale) - Lovely, lovely, writing.  Period.  Even my Mom who doesn't really like fantasy liked this book.

Graceling (Kristin Cashore) - When I read this book I was both annoyed and delighted.  Annoyed, because I feel like this book is very similar, genre wise, to my book Rell, and I was a bit jealous that this got published and mine didn't.  But I got over it, very quickly.  I do think Kristin Cashore's books (see Fire above) got better as they went, but this book still makes the list.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer) - So if you haven't read this book, ignore the silly title and read it.  It's a stunning historical fiction novel.

TV
Gilmore Girls - Recently I was trying to decide what my favorite tv show of all time was.  The Gilmores are tied for first place.   The other first place finisher has something to do with the fact this list ends in X.

Favorites A to X - Part Four "D-E"

D

Books
Daughter of the Forest (Juliet Marillier) - I've written about the characters from this book before, so I'll add another note about why I like it.  Marillier writes historical fantasy, in this case an era when their were still druids but Christianity was also just taking hold, and Marillier balances this really respectfully.

TV
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - While there were some things about this show that bugged me, especially in its later seasons, I am constantly wondering why Netflix hasn't managed to add this to their instant play offerings. 

E

Movies
Empire Strikes Back - This is my favorite Star Wars movie, probably because it's the mushiest.  Apparently when Princess Leia says, "I love you" and Han Solo said, "I know" it was an ad-lib by Harrison Ford. George Lucas wasn't sure it worked.  He was wrong.

Ever After - Cinderella has never really been my favorite fairy tale.  This was the first version of it that I really loved.

Books
Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) -There are other books by this author that I like, but this is my favorite.  And the book is definitely much better than the movie.

Enna Burning (Shannon Hale) - the grimmest of Shannon Hale's books, but also one of the most powerful.

The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde) - An impossible to describe book  Alternate history?  Fantasy?  Science fiction?  All of the above and hilariously funny.

Favorites A to X - Part Three "C"

C

Movies
Casablanca - some classic movies don't age well, but this one is definitely timeless.  I'm not even a huge Humphrey Bogart fan and I still love Casablanca.  There is a reason that half of the lines in the film have become famous quotes.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - with subtitles of course, the voice over makes me a little nutty.  I heard that this is a Chinese take on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and I can completely see that.  Plus, women who can be feminine and still action heroes - I love that.

Books
Chalice (Robin McKinley) - a stunning short novel that makes bee keeping seem infinitely magical and cool.

Christy (Catherine Marshall) - I have at times been a little bit dismissive of "Christian fiction" but I shouldn't be - because Christy definitely falls into that category, and I love it.  The story of a woman who travels deep into Appalachia to teach school and tests her faith in the process.  Plus it has a good love story, which never hurts.

Crocodile on a Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters)  - Again, I've written about Amelia Peabody before and how much I enjoy her as a character.  I didn't think I really liked mystery novels - and then I read this.

Television
Castle -  Of course :-) 

Favorites A to X - Part Two "B"

B
Movies
Beauty and the Beast - I've written before about how much I like these characters so I'll just add that this is my favorite animated film of all time.

Better Off Dead - okay, so honestly this movie is stupid, really it is.  It's essentially about a guy who is really into skiing and keeps having delusions and trying to kill himself because his milktoast girlfriend dumped him.  However, it is also hilarious and extremely quotable. ("Gee, I'm really sorry your mom blew up, Ricky")  I read somewhere that John Cusack kind of hates this movie, which made me sad.

Bourne Identity- One of the best action movies there is.  Whenever I need inspiration for action sequences in my writing, this is the movie I turn to, it's my favorite car chase ever. 

Books
Beauty (Robin McKinley) - there are a lot of good retellings of Beauty and the Beast, but this is my favorite.  I think McKinley stays true to the original tale, while giving it a fresh and lovely spin of its own.

Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore) - oh, just realized I was wrong when I said The Avengers was the newest entry on the list, as I just finished this book last weekend.  Kristin Cashore has written three books, they are all on this list, and I think Bitterblue is the best of the three.  Also, since they are traditional fantasy and on the bestseller list it gives me hope that someday my books might have a chance.

The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley)- For a recent Relief Society activity we were asked to bring a favorite book to share.  I took this one.  The first time I ever thought "I want to write a book like this" I was reading The Blue Sword. 

Book of a 1000 Days (Shannon Hale) - I like that Shannon Hale took the inspiration for this fantasy world from Asia rather that Europe as is usually the case, it's a sweet, interesting story that I highly recommend.

Favorites A to X - Part One "A"

So in the spirit of giving myself something to blog about this month, I'm going to do a list of my favorites in fiction (Books, Movies, TV) from A to X.  Why A to X and not A to Z? Well, because I apparently can't think of any favorites that start with Y or Z.  This might be mind numbingly boring reading, but hey, it's something right?

A 
Movies
Aladdin - A few times a year Tracy and I have a Disney song listening fest - and almost every song from Aladdin makes that list.

The Avengers - The newest entry on my favorites list.  The more I think about this movie the more I like it.   I imagine we will be quoting it for some time. 

Books
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) - This is one of those books that works as a great adventure read and as something deeper.   I had to read it for school, and it still survived to make it on the favorites list, that's a rare event.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie) - OK, this book definitely has mature content, so I'm not really recommending it.  But I still think it's a fabulous book about teens in general and Indian teens specifically.  It's one of those books that I found myself thinking about long after it was over.  

Television
A-Team - Not all childhood favorites age well, but Tracy and I watched some of these a few years ago and they were still fun.  I remember one of my elementary school teachers being somewhat startled when I said this was one of my favorite shows.  It might have had something to do with the fact I grew up with three brothers :-)  

 

Geekiness

So I'm currently listening to the Scarlet Pimpernel as my audio book and am really enjoying it.  I'm also thinking about how geeky you have to be to be enjoying a book from the early 1900s while simultaneously thinking about how much it reminds you of Batman.

Breaking Dawn Part 1

So I've written about every other Twilight movie on my blog and though I'd pretty much like to pretend the series ended with Eclipse, last night we watched the first installment of Breaking Dawn. The fact that I didn't go see it on its opening weekend tells you that I was already a little leery of it. Yeah, it's really not a good movie. In fact it's pretty awful. Telepathic werewolves work in a novel, but a scene with them on screen was just crazy-bad.  I had to fast forward through two fairly large sequences because they were either too racy or just too grim.  I really think they could have mashed all of this gory/freaky stuff into thirty minutes and made one decent movie from the whole book, because in my opinion, the book starts to get a little better right at the point that the first movie cuts off.

Here's the good news - The personality they surgically removed from Taylor Lautner before he filmed Abduction seems to have been returned and, most importantly, Tracy's narration/horror/mockery of the movie was vastly entertaining.

Edit: I've had second thoughts about how harsh this is.  There were in fact, moments that I did enjoy, still I don't think I'll be adding this movie to my collection.