Book to Movie Adaptions...

With the new Twilight movie just released I thought I’d do a short post on book to movie adaptions (and yes, there will be spoilers)…

Harry Potter by JK Rowling

               I think that Harry Potter is probably the golden standard for book to movie adaptions (at least in more recent times). You have 7 books, 8 movies, and now Pottermore… it is a full blown phenomenon. The movies for the most part followed the plot set forth in the books (yes people could get nitpicky and say they left parts out but I haven’t read all seven books so I can’t really comment on that). The other great part of the Harry Potter movies was that there were only cast changes if they really had to change them… Most of the main cast stayed for all 8 movies. If this didn’t work out then the Harry Potter franchise could have turned out differently (Of course the cornucopia of talented British actors also helped).

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

               Twilight gets a lot of hate (but the most recent movie is also been the #1 movie two weeks in a row). On the front of book to movie adaptions it actual isn’t that horrible. Yes, the sparkle effect is a little cheesy but then you’re trying to make someone sparkle it’s going to be cheesy. The love triangle is a little exaggerated in the movies and the acting is only so-so but they did follow the basic plot line (unlike this next book to movie adaption).

Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

               First I should start off by saying that I really loved the Percy Jackson series. The movie was decent except for the fact that it didn’t follow the book… at all. First there actors were too old (If you were wondering the main cast is supposed to be 12 in the first book...) Next they left out one of the characters who is pretty important in the second book (Were they even aiming to have a sequel). Finally they didn’t follow the plot. They used 10% of the actual plot, left out some if my favorite scenes, and… Well I’m going to stop here because I could go on and on. If you’re interested the Percy Jackson Wiki lists some differences here…

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

               This is the next “big” teen book trying to break into the movie making business. I’ve been following the hype leading up to its release (March 23, 2012). You can see the full length trailer here. Will this take off like Harry Potter or crash and burn like Percy? My current opinion is that it has all the ingredients to be great… Will it? Well that’s TBD…

So give me your opinion. Do you like me doing reviews and want me to do more? Who knows this could become a regular thing (and feel free to give me ideas on stuff to review)…

I’ll be back sometime later to get you caught up on what’s happening at school (it’s been over a month since I’ve given you an actual update on my life).

So over and out (for now)…

SVAMS

PS. Congrats to everybody who was able to finish Nanowrimo!

11-11-11

It's 11-11-11 11:11! YAY!

Halloween

Sorry for not updating... but this will be a quick post...

It's that time in my life where I have to decide whether or not to go trick-or-treating... and this year is officially my first year not going... it's weird...

Anyway... I guess I'll just spend it at home - hanging out...

I'll try to update later... but until later have a Happy Halloween

SVAMS

PS. For all my writing blog readers it's also Nanowrimo eve... Good luck writers...

Homecoming Update #5

So the homecoming dance is just starting... And I'm not going.

It starts at 9 PM and ends at midnight (quite appropriate for the Happily Ever After theme, that is if you're Cinderella).

But for me it's a night of tv watching...

That's it for this year's homecoming... Next weekend we'll return to a series of semi-frequent updates...

See you at next year's homecoming...
SVAMS

Homecoming update #4

So today was the day... the homecoming assembly...

It was two hours of non-education work (though I did learn that you can loose your sight, hearing, and voice in one event...) It was hard at the beginning because we had to stand up for an hour (okay it was more like half that but it sure felt like an hour...)

We saw skits, the homecoming court, and yelled class chants... the Seniors won everything except for the penny wars.

We were really happy about this... the freshman had been flooding their bucket with quarters (in the vain hope that the Seniors wouldn't sweep all the events...) We actually pulled something off... It was also surprising because we placed 3rd in this event (we placed 4th in all the others...)

Anyway over all it went exactly as planned (with freshman in 4th place...) but the winners of homecoming get to ring this bell (like an actual bell). The Seniors were really premature that they got out of their seats and started surrounding the bell when they had 2 more categories to announce. The staff wasn't very happy, they kept saying "Seniors get back to your section!" But when they won they formed a mosh pit and people started falling down (the underclassmen laughed at them...)

The assembly miraculously finished 15 minutes early. Teachers were telling students to go home... but then an announcement came over the PA system that we were suppose to stay to the end of the school day. Nobody really listened (though my teacher only released us when the assembly was suppose to end, 10 minutes before the end of the school day.)

Well that's it for now, I may or may not update tomorrow with the homecoming game scores... and a little info on the dance.

Ready to win 3rd place next year,
SVAMS

Homecoming Update #3

So yesterday was career day...

I dressed up has a classic private eye (you know trench coat, fedora, magnifying glass, etc.) but I saw a lot of doctors scrubs. Also construction workers, fire fighters, athletes, and even a vampire author. Yesterday was also the spirit relay race... I heard that the freshman's performance was dismal at best but there is question of disqualification (I guess in the three-legged race part, the bindings came off and people just ran back...)

Now today was class theme day... For freshman it was lots of hats and bunny ears. Also I heard we placed 3rd in the dance off (beating the sophomores...) It was also the last day of the penny wars... I have no idea how the rankings to this event will turn out (though I think the Seniors have it, I saw one of them with $25+ worth of pennies, still in the rolls...) 

Tomorrow is the Spirit day and the homecoming assembly (so I'll try to remember to update...) Also we play the homecoming game tomorrow, according to my dad we're playing an undefeated team ranked 8th in the entire state...

I'll be back next time with a dish on the homecoming assembly,

SVAMS

Homecoming Update #2

Updating you from school... They're doing PSAT testing today so school doesn't start until 11:00. I have about an hour to burn...

So anyway yesterday was class color day... I saw a good amount of white from the freshman... (Though some went all out with white... everything, while I just decided to go with a white t-shirt.)

Yesterday was also the tug-of-war, freshman placed 3rd... the standings were (I didn't watch it because it was pouring ran outside):

Seniors
Sophomores
Freshman
Juniors

There's also a all-week event in the form of a penny war. They have buckets for each class and you try to put pennies in your bucket and silver change in the other classes'.

Today is career day and also the spirit relay race....


Anyway I'll try to update later today with the wacky careers,
SVAMS

BTW - This post marks the first with me being 14 years old.... Thanks for letting me burn 10 minutes...