Fast and the Furious Returns!

Currently listening to: "What Else Is There?" by Royksopp.

This is probably old news, but during my looks through the myspace trailer park I noticed this:



How awesome is that? I loved the first one out of all of them the best, so it'll be great to see the original cast back (in what should have been the sequel, in my opinion). I suddenly can't wait for 09...

It came, I saw, It conquered (my heart)

Currently listening to: "Doesn't Matter (Juan Maclean Remix)" by Kasper Bjorke.

It’s been just over 48 hours, but—if it’s possible, and I’m starting to believe it is—the Twilight phenomenon has GROWN, thanks to the release of the final theatrical trailer.

Just putting it out there, before I watched it I expected the worst. Well, okay, that’s a little exaggerated. I guess I didn’t expect it to be good.

I was wrong. It was made of AWESOME.

Unlike a lot of people, I don’t mind the changes they made for the movie. I guess I was conditioned early on with the Harry Potter movies to expect things to be different, so nothing really surprised me, not even the tree-climbing-fiasco people can’t seem to get over. It’s a movie. They need to amp things up otherwise it’ll be all definitions of dull. They need to emphasise the different aspects of the movie—the romance, the action, the supernatural side—to pull in different demographics.

My favourite parts:

- The music. A lot of people have commented on how it didn't suit, but I find it did--incredibly well. And the techno-ish transition? Kinda sounded reminiscent of the Prodigy's old sound in Fat of the Land (but slowed down).

- The diner scene at the very beginning – “You gotta give me some answers”. If I do say so myself, Robert is looking especially Edward-ian and HOT in this part. Not that he doesn’t look hot in the entire thing. But he especially pulls it off here.

- The Kiss. Yes. Capitalised, because of how good it was. It was… hot. If people doubted the chemistry before, it should have been snuffed at this part. I don’t think they could have casted it better, and I don’t think I could be more jealous of Kristen in this part. I would have died a happy woman if we could have swapped for that particular scene. And MTV Best Kiss Awards in 09, anyone?

- The homage they paid to the cover of the book in the form of Edward catching the apple. So well done, and probably so appreciated by the fans of the book, too.

- Alice, Jasper and Emmett leaping over the balcony all Matrix-like. Very, very cool.

My only issue with the trailer was they didn’t include the human kids enough—Mike, Angela, Eric, Jessica and Jacob. Especially considering Jacob plays such an important role in the upcoming books, I would have thought they’d have put him in. But oh well, beggars can’t be choosers, and this trailer blew me away. I think it blew away quite a few people—for once, I haven’t seen a slew of hate for it yet (coughBreakingDawncough).

And just for the record:

Aww. They are too cute.

My New Novella Obsession: The House of Night Series

Currently listening to: "Disturbia" by Rihanna.

(I may have a spoiler or two in this entry)

I have just recently discovered a brand new book series to sink my teeth into (painful pun intended). The House of Night series, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, is about a teenage girl who is Marked—practically ‘chosen’ to become a vampyre—and must move to the House of Night, a boarding school for teenagers who have been Marked, and try to live through the Change (the period of years in which the body slowly transforms from human to vampyre).

The only problem? Not everyone lives through the Change. Like some vaccinations for diseases, not everyone’s body accepts the metamorphosis. If the body rejects the Change, the person dies in a pretty gross way.

I’ve read the first three books in the series—Marked, Betrayed and Chosen—and so far like it a lot. It’s different from Twilight, but also the same: it takes previous Vampire lore, gives it a swift kick up the ass and presents us with something different. House of Night is slightly more stereotypical though—the students sleep through the day and wake when the sun goes down, are pale, have really long, thick hair and are usually superhumanly beautiful. A difference, though, is that changing into a vampyre is a slow process that ends with their Mark (the crescent moon tattoo between their eyes) being filled in and an intricate band of tattoos adorning their face and body, and of course developing the bloodlust and extreme power.

The main character, Zoey, is more of a Suze Simon than a Bella Swan, something I kinda appreciate, especially with a story like this one. The novels bring back memories of the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, my first love: Zoey is witty and kicks serious ass, but is still burdened by the everyday problems of being a teenager—such as dating three guys at once and her best friend (and roommate) rejecting the Change and dying in her arms. At times I felt like throwing the books across the room because of some of her decisions, but on the flip side it just goes to show how good the characterisation is—to merit such extreme emotions in me, they must be doing a pretty stellar job.

I checked out their site, and the yearbook is worth checking out--except for the guy they chose for Erik Night. Sooo not how I pictured him. But everyone else was gold.

The fourth, Untamed, is out in the US already, but I’m still waiting for it to come out over in Aussie Land. Hopefully it lives up to my expectations!

Hitler Wasn't Dazzled By Breaking Dawn

Currently listening to: "Full Moon" by the Black Ghosts.

It's controversial, it's exaggerated, it's completely, freaking HILARIOUS. For all those people who were just slightly scandalized by Breaking Dawn (not that I'm one of the haters, sorry!):



I especially heart the last bit about Midnight Sun *sob*. That was a sad day, it really was.

My Prediction

Currently listening to: "Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs.

Disclaimer: My opinion. If you don’t agree with it, I respect that.

I fully stand by my predictions—when I seriously bother to make them—and they usually turn out accurate. When I first borrowed out Twilight in 05, I knew the book would be the start of something beautiful. Like, no one at the time listened to me, sure, but now I have the right to smush it in their face with a massive “LOL at you!” When I heard the rights to Gossip Girl, a series of books I’ve loved since forever, had been sold early last year, I told anyone who would listen to watch out for it, because it’d be the next OC for sure. Again, no one cared at the time…

My current prediction? I’ll let you in on it.


It’s all about Katy Perry at the moment, right? She came out of freaking nowhere, almost, with a catchy song to boot, and now she’s all anyone cares about. For now. I’m officially adding Katy Perry to my list of blink-and-you’ll-miss them talents that I’ve seen over the past few years.


The definition of blink-and-you’ll-miss them’s: they are the SHIT while their songs are in the top 10; people get over their songs faster than they eat a block of chocolate, and they disappear forever, perhaps returning every now and again to pump out a song that is epic FAIL.


The first person on the BAYMT list is… Sandi Thom.


You don’t know who Sandi Thom is? Or, better yet, REMEMBER who she is? Well that, my friend, therein lies what I’m talking about. One or two years ago, she released a couple of hits – “I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)” and “What If I’m Right?” Everyone was hailing her as the next Missy Higgins, or whatever.


Yeah. I bet Missy took offence to that, too.


The second person on the BAYMT list is (not everyone will agree with this, but I’m sticking with their popularity in Australia so…) Lily Allen.


She came out with her infamous myspace popularity, a Kelly-Osbourne-approach to everyone and a witty song laced with her English accent – “Smile”. Instant success over here, and everyone freaking loved it. Then came a few others, including “LBD”, but now… nada. The only time I see her in tabloids anymore is to see that she’s gone from size twelve to size eight, seemingly with the aid of drugs.


Go figure.


So now, onward with Katy Perry! I’m guessing that her first album will be a chart success—no brains there—for around two or three months at best. The setback with instantly catchy songs is, well, they reach their use-by date so much quicker than others. Soon, if someone so much as quotes “I kissed a girl…and I liked it,” they’ll probably get a guitar pick shoved up their ass just for saying it, because it will be SO OVER. She’ll return in a little while with another album, only to have it do as well as those aforementioned.


But hey, that’s just me, and I’m on Bitching Madness Wednesday at the moment.


P.S: Back on the topic of Katy Perry… she DOES look like Zooey Deschanel, right???

The Official Twilight Soundtrack

Currently listening to: “That’s Not My Name” by The Ting Tings.

Dude, I’ve literally waited for this day for MONTHS. I’m something of a music nerd, so I was actually anticipating the music they were going to use more so than the actual movie. I’m a freak, I’m aware of it.

It was announced today the official tracklist, and apparently they’re ALL appearing in the movie:

1. Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
2. Paramore – Decode
3. The Black Ghosts – Full Moon
4. Linkin Park – Leave Out All The Rest
5. MuteMath – Spotlight (Twilight Mix)
6. Perry Farrell – Going All The Way (Into The Twilight)
7. Collective Soul – Tremble For My Beloved
8. Paramore – I Caught Myself
9. Blue Foundation – Eyes On Fire
10. Rob Pattinson – Never Think
11. Iron and Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth
12. Carter Burwell – Bella’s Lullaby

I was already aware that Supermassive Black Hole was going to be on it, and I heard Decode when it was released a few days ago, but I was very surprised to see Tremble For My Beloved on the final list—for Stephenie Meyer used that song herself in the original Twilight playlist.

I’ve given all the tracks—bar the ones that haven’t actually officially been released yet, such as the one by Perry Farrell and Robert Pattinson—a listen, and I like it. I don’t LOVE it, but I like it. The song by The Black Ghosts is easy listening and I love love the Blue Foundation song. I appreciate new music, and the music Alexandra Patsavas picked out suits the theme incredibly well…

I just—and I KNOW I’m not the only one out there—wish that Time Is Running Out by Muse, perhaps a little Why Does It Always Rain On Me by Travis… or even just a bit of In My Place by Coldplay, made it on. Because, to me, those three songs are just so purely Twilight. I’m just a little put out that, of all the songs Stephenie Meyer had put on the original playlist, they chose the one by Collective Soul. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good song, but they picked the one I liked least out of the playlist. I should probably just count my blessings, though. They could have included My Chemical Romance, after all.

Oh, and Blue October is missing—I thought for sure that it was a given, considering Justin toured with Stephenie for her Breaking Dawn tour. Obviously not.

I’ll still be buying it on November 4th, though. I can’t miss this CD, Coldplay or no Coldplay.

My two cents

Currently listening to: "Without It" by MuteMath


I decided to grace the world with my opinion on this atrocity:

Yes. The heel-less boots. The very ones that Victoria Beckham has been whoring around town lately—because boots with no heel are so comfortable, and versatile.

Right.

They look, in a word, STUPID. And they scream DAMAGE, too. You’re basically balancing on the balls of your feet. What a way to ruin your feet, right? At least they went out in style.




Or not.

I’ll bet my next lousy pay-check that she only wore them to get a rise out of everybody—not because she actually believes they’ll be in next season—because I bet there’s nothing more Posh Spice loves more than to be on the front cover of every tabloid.

Tekken Movie

Currently listening to: "One Headlight" by Wallflowers

Obviously, I’ve been under a rock where this movie is concerned—the last time I wrote about this movie was way back in January, and apparently since then the entire thing has been CASTED and FILMED! Where have I been?

Wait. Don’t answer that. I know where I have been, and it definitely wasn’t anywhere near Tekken.

I blame:

Exactly. Now, moving on.

My opinion on the casting? I just watched this youtube video:

You know what? I don’t hate any of them. And, I’m happy to say, I fully approve of who they chose as Nina and Ling. I mean, in the game, Nina is supposed to be something of a skank. An assassin, sure, but a skank. The chick who’s playing her has already been and done the Maxim covers. So go figure, she’s already something of a sex symbol.

The only thing I’m kinda bummed about is the fact that they don’t have Michelle in it. Other than Nina and Ling, she’s also My Character. It said on Wiki that she’s being played by Holly Marie Combs (woo, go Piper!) but considering it’s not anywhere else, I doubt that’s true anymore. I know I should listen to my friend Minus-5 when she said I should believe everything I read on Wikipedia. But it’s just so… convenient! Information like THAT.

My opinion on the directing? Hmm… the only things I recognise that he’s directed is Prison Break, Bones and Free Willy. Just putting it out there, I haven’t seen the first or the last, and watched half an episode of Bones. So I won’t go there.
Overall, I’m excited. It’ll be interesting to see whether it’s any good, considering beat-em-up video games don’t exactly have a good history of being turned into movies…