Le Cirque de Rêves (The Circus of Dreams)

The circus arrives without warning.

That is the first line of the book that I just finished.  It is titled, The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.  It was a wonderful story that blended magic, love and intrigue all into one.  It’s the tale of two people, rivals at first, that become so entwined with each other that the game they are playing no longer matters.  But the game does matter and so do the players whether or not they realize it.

I won’t go into too many details about the story because I think it is one that should be read.  I will tell you, however, that Miss Morgenstern has managed to create a beautiful world that is built upon a circus and its themes.  Though there is little mention of other scenery, such as the various cities the circus travels to, the details are in the individual tents in the circus and what they provide to the customers.

As the story went along, I found myself rooting more and more for the main characters, hoping beyond hope that certain circumstances would not come to pass and that their destinies could be changed.  Again, not going to give away too much, but I was satisfied by the ending.

I have read other reviews of this book from scathing to praise and though my opinions are on the praise side, I can understand some of the critical reviews for the book.  The writing is not extremely complex though I don’t find it to be elementary either.  It serves its purpose as the reader takes their journey with the characters.  Other complaints regard the so-called game and the love story.  It is my opinion that there are times when love stories do not need to have all of the elements of modern film and television – i.e. sex and alcohol – and simply just need to be.  This not only allows the reader to use their imagination, but it also lets the writer not have to conform to certain methods that might be more convenient.

Regardless of inconsistencies or whatever people call them, I still found The Night Circus to be a good book and I highly recommend you read it if you’re into magic and intrigue.  Oh, and love.

Until next time.

A Post Valentine's Day Comment

When I was in high school and college, I would have done anything to get a girl to like me.  Like me so much that when I would leave her sight, she would be sad (yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds, but it was high school and college, so let me have my moment).

I can finally say that this has happened, though it's not exactly in the way I had hoped.  It turns out that when I'm sitting with Abby or playing with her and then I have to get up and walk away, even if just for a moment, she starts to cry.  Yep, I finally have a girl crying over me.  Like I said, though, it's not exactly how I would have planned it.

I suppose I should feel good about that, though, because it shows just how much she loves me.  Of course, there are plenty of times that she would rather push me away instead of hugging me, but the good always seems to outweigh the bad, so I'm okay with it.

Anyway....just thought I would pass on that little tidbit about my daughter.  Hopefully, you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day because once I went to sleep, I did not.  I think I have picked up a cold from somewhere and am dealing with that, which is not fun.  I have medicine and oranges, so I might even be okay.  We'll see.


Until next time.

Hello, My Name Is Trademarked

When I heard that Jay Z and Beyonce were in the process of trademarking their daughter's name, I had to sit back and wonder.  Trademarking a baby's name?  It's not like they named her after an already trademarked name and would have to fight, like Yahoo or Google.  The name is very original, Blue Ivy Carter.  But now that this information has come out, it makes me wonder if they had thought of that name ahead of time in order to trademark it.

According to them, it's because other people are trying to create a brand using her name and they don't want that.  They don't want Blue Ivy Carter's beautiful name to be exploited at such a young age.  And yet, that link up there suggests that Jay Z and Beyonce are already planning on using that name on a line of baby products.  What?  Wouldn't that be doing exactly what they don't want others doing?  Would it be considered exploitation because they are the parents?  In my opinion, yes. 

The whole point of naming a child is so that they can be an individual.  Yes, there are the exceptions, like Chris, where every other boy and one or two girls in a room are named that, but that's not a big deal.  Look at some celebrities, like Jason Lee, who named his son, Pilot Inspektor (?!?!).  You don't see him going around and trying to trademark that name, do you?  Of course not, because he just wants to be a dad.  He doesn't care about marketing Pilot Inspektor jackets.

Jay Z and Beyonce are household names.  Most people in the world at least know one or both of them and I think that they want to keep that momentum going.  They want to make sure that people will remember them for a long time and if it means using their daughter's name as a brand, then so be it.  I'm not saying that's exactly what they are doing, but really, what other reason would there be to trademark your child's name?  It would be as if I trademarked Abigail's name and forced everyone in the world to pay me royalties anytime they wanted to name something (or someone) Abigail Grace.  That's just ridiculous.  Let people name things what they want.


Until next time.

Awakening the Underworld

I recently went and saw Underworld: Awakening.  This is the fourth film in the franchise and so far (even though I didn’t even see number three), I can say it isn’t my favorite.  Granted, there’s not much to a film where the whole plot is the war between the Vampires and the werewolves.  Sorry, Lycans.  This plot has carried four films and has managed to generate a decent about of money for its producers.

When it was first conceived, it was surprisingly an original idea to come out of Hollywood that had a decent story behind it and good actors – Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy to name the leads.  As I said, at the core of the story is a “death dealer” (Beckinsale) who’s sole job is to kick ass and not bother with asking questions.  Selene, as she is called, moves through the movie and kicks ass.  She even has some dialog.  I think, however, that the whole point of the Underworld movie (at least with the first one) was to put Kate Beckinsale into the tightest black leather outfit (not that there’s anything wrong with that, either). 

But really, if you’re into hyper violence and watching Vampires and Lycans get their guts splattered across a room, then by all means, this is the movie series for you.  However, if you’re used to seeing pretty boy Vampires and Werewolves with their shirts off and looking sparkly, definitely don’t worry about this series because not only are the pretty boys only on screen for a brief moment or two, they also have a tendency to be killed.  Except for Kate Beckinsale, of course.  As the lead in the movie, not only is she contractually obliged to be pretty, but also she can’t die.

Getting back to the movie I saw, though.  Awakening did its job.  It was a standard Vampire vs. Lycan movie (is there such a thing?).  But this one is different.  Apparently, the human race at large has discovered the Vampires and the Lycans and have begun to hunt them down like the “vermin” they are.  I suppose that in this movie world, the human race has decided that Vampires and Lycans pose more of threat to the world than nuclear missiles and terrorists – or even Communism.  So the world chooses to stop fighting each other and go after the “real” menace – non human beings.

What’s really nice about this film is that it does a good job of setting up the current story by recapping the previous three movies in a nutshell.  It even opens with a telling tale of Selene trying to escape with her lover, the only “hybrid” Lycan/Vampire (he showed up in Underworld 2).  However, the bad guys (or are they good guys?) appear and blow the place to bits, causing Selene and her lover to be captured.  Of course, Selene doesn’t realize that until she wakes up and starts to see images through another person’s eyes.  She assumes that it is her lover, Michael that she is seeing until it turns out to be a little girl.

Now, I’m not going to think about the logic of all of this because it might hurt your brain and mine if I do, but okay, I get it.  Selene has to protect the little girl from the Lycans who are still around and trying to work on some serious steroids in order to eliminate the Vampires altogether.  I won’t go into more specifics than that, but let’s just say that I was a little surprised by some of the story as it unfolded.

From a story point of view, it was alright.  There was enough action (bullets or people flying about) that carried the movie between the times when the dialogue had to unfortunately interrupt.  There were characters introduced briefly that weren’t even dealt with later in the movie, which makes me wonder if the filmmakers were simply trying to fulfill a quota on actors.

Cinematography wise, it seemed as gritty as the first couple of films, allowing for a hint of believability in some of the action as well as some of the character’s lives as they had been living over a period of time.  The action sequences were well done and I did find that I did jump once during the film when a particular bad guy happened to show up, but the rest was quite predictable.  But there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

Overall, I would suggest seeing at least the first movie in the series and determine your level of interest from there.  For me, it was fun to see a movie that I didn’t have to do too much thinking while watching.  For some of you, this might not be the movie for you.  Or, if you just feel like watching Vampires and Lycans (werewolves) get beat up and blown to bits because you don’t care about what Twilight has done for their image, then so be it.  See the film.  Either way, it’s a way to spend ninety minutes in a quiet theater.

Until next time.