The book is always better...

Recently we went to see Enders Game with a group of friends, which was fantastic and exciting and thoroughly captivating.  Asa Butterfield, who portrays Ender, is just so watchable.  His face is just magic, which is good since there are a lot of close ups of it in the movie.  Neither Dave or I had ever read Enders Game, while the other 3 people had.  It was unanimously loved by all.  However, my brother, who loves this book series beyond all others, is very skeptical as to whether the movie can live up to the book.  My argument to that is always, "It never will.  The movie will never be better than the book."

(Seriously, look at that face!)



There are many times when I love the movies or show made from a book, and sometimes when they  just doesn't do it justice.  But most of the time, you just can't compare the two.  You have to take them as two separate entities, and enjoy them individually.  Not many of us actually understand the film making process and everything that goes into it, but you have to know that there is no way to fit everything from a 500-800 page book into a 2 hour or less movie.  Sometimes things have to be cut, things that may seem to be important details to us, but are insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  Now, I do find that a TV show adaptation can ring a little more true to the book, depending on creative producers, because they have more time to let the story unfold.  This is especially true for series. Dave let's this get to him sometimes, but I have learned to appreciate the movie for what it is, not a comparison to the book.  It'll never live up.  Here are some of my favorite adaptations, and a few of the details that we noticed.

Harry Potter:  Obviously, my number one, my favorite book series.  I could do a whole blog post comparing all these movies, and their different styles and directors, but I won't.  I loved the series as a whole, although some were better than others.  The one detail that I wish had been included was Hermione's S.P.E.W. campaign.  She has this passion for the welfare of the house elves from Chamber of Secrets on.  And while it's not the house elves that I really missed, SPEW is what leads to Ron and Hermione's first kiss, a moment in the book that always makes me cry, and just wasn't quite as special in the movie.

The Hunger Games:  I am so excited to go see Catching Fire in a few weeks with the same group of friends.  We actually saw The Hunger Games when AJ was 9 days old.  It was the middle of the day, and he just nursed and slept through it.  Dave and I were so excited about it that we couldn't wait any longer to see it, and I didn't want to leave AJ yet.  I thought it was fantastically done, and the casting was magnificent.  Literally, the only problem Dave had with it was that the wrong person gave Katniss her Mockingjay pin.  I can over look that, knowing that they had to cut out some parts.  It doesn't lend to the overall story arc, so I'm OK with it.  Even as I'm rereading Catching Fire in preparation, I can see that Madge, the Mayors daughter, isn't a very large part of the book, but there is some history to the mockingjay pin that is lost.  Those kinds of details are hard to catch in a movie anyway.

The Game of Thrones: While not a movie, this show being produced on HBO is so perfectly adapted from the books.  That's what happens when the author maintains creative authority over the show.  George R.R. Martin has written such a detailed and meticulously intricate world in Westeros, and the show is truly worthy of the book.  I'm sure that there are details that have been left out, but none that matter.  What actually matters, is that the show is true to the books, even when that is an unpopular choice amongst viewers.  The most popular character is killed off in the first season, and it was a shock to all that hadn't yet read it.  I did read the book after that season, and saw that Starks death in a necessity for the rest of the story to unravel as it's supposed to.  Martin isn't afraid to kill off characters, and I'm glad he's on board.

True Blood (aka The Sookie Stackhouse Novels): Unlike Martin, Charlaine Harris, the author of these southern vampire novels that are so delicious to devour, did not choose to be involved in the series on HBO that was adapted from the books.  In the first book, a character who came to be very popular on the show was supposed to die, and did not, because truthfully, they probably would have lost viewers.  While True Blood is still one of my favorite shows, it has veered so far from the book series, that it is hardly recognizable as the same.

And finally, the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon:  I cannot wait for my favorite series (besides Harry Potter) to FINALLY be brought to life on Starz next year! It is currently in production, I've seen casting, and thus far, it looks like it will make fans happy.

What are some of your favorite or least favorite book adaptations?

Throwback Thursday- My 30th Birthday!

I started this post a year ago (!) and I don't know why I never finished it, but I thought I would do so now.  It was great reliving this memory!



I am going to start writing a new post topic for Thursdays.  I'm going to revisit some memories and occasions that I have pics of from before I had a blog.  We have had a lot happen in the last few years alone to take up quite a bit of blog space, so I want to share some with my readers, and maybe give more details about things than my Facebook status would.  Some future events to be covered will include our wedding and honeymoon of course, but also our move to Hawai'i and back, and many other events.  Look for these post about once a month.

First up, a recent fun time was my 30th birthday in October.  The big 3 0h.  I had been looking forward to my birthday for awhile.  I like my birthday... make that LOVE my birthday.  Ask my family, and they'll tell you I'm kind of a diva about it.  It usually is a week long celebration of me, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  My birthday is in October, all by itself, while everyone else in my immediate family has birthdays in either March or July, just a few days apart.  So, obviously, I milk it for all it's worth.  And it's usually worth a few dinners out, a homemade one from Mom, and a day with my Hubby.  We both took the day off this year, it was a Monday, so it was nice to hang out together.

Since it was my 30th, I wanted to do something fun and different.  I love my husband, but he has a problem.  He is the, "Well, I was gonna..." guy.  Every year, I get a list of I was gonna's.  He was gonna book this trip, he was gonna buy these tickets, he was gonna get me such and such, but for whatever reason didn't.  It drives me absolutely bonkers!  I don't want to hear about everything he was gonna do and didn't, because then I want those things, and we usually just end up going to the mall and out to eat.  So this year I told him that I didn't care what we did or where we went, I just wanted him to make a plan.  That's all I asked for, him to make a plan.  So he did, but he has a thing about secret plans.  It's obnoxious.  But then my friend spilled the beans accidentally, but it was ok.  It was a great plan.

We were going to Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret!  I have been wanting to go see a show there for a long time.  It was a great plan, he had some friends on board already, I just needed to decide where I wanted to eat. Since the cabaret is on the 16th street mall, we decided on The Cheesecake Factory.  I like it because they have something for everyone, but that's also a reason that I kind of hate it.  The menu is insanely long, and I always have a hard time choosing what to eat anyway.  I prefer fewer choices, it cuts down on my browsing time.  I think I had some buffalo chicken wrap thingys, good but not amazing.  Colleen had the Cashew Chicken, and it was fantastic.  I'm toying with looking up a copycat recipe to make it soon.  But really, who goes there for dinner anyway?  It's all about dessert, hence the name!  I got the Chris's Outrageous Cheesecake, which was like, chocolate cake, brownie, and coconut chocolate chip cheesecake.  Amazing.  The server said it was their most underrated kind.  We had about 15 people for dinner, some of them thoroughly offending neighboring tables, so after dinner we moved on to The Tilted Kilt where we could be a little rowdy.  I had never been there, and I thought it would be a little more of a bar, but it was more like a restaurant, so we just sat around and talked which was nice too.  They serve a birthday shot called a Blow Job, no joke, that I had to take without my hands.  It was topped with whipped cream and scrumptious!  The other drink specials were underwhelming for sure.

After drinks we headed over to the clock tower.  The clock tower is this beautiful building downtown that has a cabaret in the basement.  They host all kinds of shows, mostly with adult themes, but some comedy and other things too.  We had purchased tickets earlier in the week, they recommend that you do.   My brother Justin didn't, because he was going to pay cash, and he couldn't get in because it sold out that afternoon.  Definitely a bummer for him, he would have enjoyed the show.  The burlesque show is all about the art of the striptease, and less about the nudity.  There was a variety of acts, like an aerialist, a belly dancer, a fan dancer, and some group dances.  We had VIP tickets, so that meant front row, and I had to get on stage and shake my stuff!  It was a very fun silly time.

Update: Dave and I went back this year for my 31st birthday, for the Lights! Camera! Hollywood show, which was a burlesque tribute to all things hollywood.  We enjoyed it so much more than the first time we went.  We're pretty big movie fans, so it was right up our alley.  There was a Star Wars dance, Gilligans Island, Cleopatra, and our favorite was a very sad and haunting Marilyn Monroe piece. It was set to Gotye's song "Hearts a mess" from The Great Gatsby, and the dancer was fantastic, portraying such a sad longing, and she was a spot on Marilyn. I definitely would recommend Lannie's as a wonderful place to spend the evening with adult friends!