Would You Still ...

Photo Cred: purkkapallo

I you knew how is would end would you still ...?

I have literally been racking my brain all week and all day trying to figure out what I should make my post about today! And to be honest I have this problem most weeks, except for those aha moments where a lightbulb goes off and my train of thought veers dangerously towards a a perfect idea!

But today was a little difficult, until I saw this post on Tumblr. And here's my feeling on this matter, if you knew how any story would end, including your own, would you still read? Would you still make the same choices?

And I have to say regardless of the ending it doesn't tell me anything about the journey to get there. The journey is the important part in life, in reading, in anything! Knowing the ending is almost like cheating because you can alter your state of mind to ready yourself for it. If I could find out when I was going to die I'm not quite sure I would want to know. The journey to get there, the how, the choices I make are the fun parts.

So the question here remains: If you knew how it ends would you still read?

A BIG, resounding Y-E-S, yes! Because I don't want to know just how it ends, I want to about the journey to get there!

From Page to Screen

Okay so here it goes …
And in this week's post guys keep this one question in mind 'Is my nerd showing?'

Here's the deal recently the world of YA fiction has been blowing up, series are getting adapted into movies and hitting the big screen. Let's just get the obvious out of the way and say that this is AMAZING! Authors have put their blood, sweat and tears into these stories. People have worked for years and years to get to this point. Characters that have become almost like family or friends to them are becoming tangible, they're being brought to life. The world's that have, until recently, only existed in the author and the reader's mind are coming to life. Concept becomes reality and that is just truly an accomplishment unlike any other.

But the flip side to that accomplishment is opening your life's work up to even more hate and criticism. Now of course critics are expected to be very critical and even at times harsh, but that's their job! They're supposed to critique these things and while reviews from critics are supposed to be objective human nature does not always allow for that. But it's the viewer's choice, the reader's choice, everybody's choice to take the reviews at face value or ignore them all together and form your own opinion.

It seems to me though that lately the critics aren't even the ones to watch out for, it's the fans. Fans that have read the books and have fallen in love with the characters, the worlds, the author in one way or another. And I agree the fans of the books should be critical, they after all have given years to these series! I myself gave Harry Potter more than ten years! More than a DECADE! Out of that I got seven books, eight movies, three heroes and I am part of a generation that is unlike any other. As a self-proclaimed Potterhead I'm part of the original "fandom." A fandom that basically all others strive to become, the following and the success that only one franchise has successfully claimed and kept the crown of having the most loyal fans. As a Harry Potter fan from the start; I read the first book in the fourth grade and followed the entire series to completion in 2011.

And yes I am guilty of being critical of a series that I love so much, an example would be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. Of all the movies in that series I felt this was the movie that was least like the book. There were plot points missing from the movie that I just wish had not been cut; I still enjoy the movie but in terms of my own rating system it's not my favorite of the bunch.

That being said I spent the last few days scrolling through different tags on Tumblr, where a majority of the ranting and raving seems to happen, and found every type of fan review possible. Those that praised the book to movie adaptations, those that hated them and justified their reasoning behind their hatred. But then there were those reviews in which the writer simply felt the need to nitpick and gripe over every little minuscule detail that was changed or omitted from page to screen. These are the reviews that bother me the most and hopefully others as well.

Now the reviews I spent my days reading focused largely on The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. I chose these three because they're not only some of the most current adaptations but they are also ones that I myself have both read the books and seen the movies. They're not the only YA books I've read, I'm up to date on Twilight, obviously Harry Potter, Hush Hush, The Gallagher Girls series, etc. and I'll admit I have not yet read Insurgent or Allegiant; so if I'm short on a few details that potentially come back in later books I won't comment on those changes either.

There are still plenty of things I can share my opinion on, such as many viewers apparent hatred of the fact that Christina (Zoe Kravitz) is not significantly taller that Tris (Shailene Woodley) in the Divergent movie. The point of a casting of a particular actor/actress for any adaptation is that they capture the essence of the character, the life that you felt from them in the book and needs to be translated onto the screen. Now Zoe Kravitz playing Candor turned Dauntless Christina I enjoyed very much and chopping a couple inches off her height is not in the long run a big deal! It does nothing to affect the overall performance of Zoe or the portrayal of the character.

It's little details like this that fans hang onto so hard that it blinds them and makes them hate the conversion. Jennifer Lawrence is a natural blonde, therefore she was a terrible choice for Katniss Everdeen. Hair dye people! That is a fixable problem! And JLaw really does Katniss justice. All the Shadowhunters have accents; are we completely forgetting that the country they all originate from is Idris? Smack dab in the middle of Europe? I think I would've been disappointed if they were completely Americanized considering while Jace, Alec and Isabelle live in New York they rarely socialize with its inhabitants. The Shadowhunters have always held, in my opinion, and old world air about that that makes them mysterious and seem almost as if they were from another world entirely. In a way though they really are.

Now I'm up to date on Twilight but I'm not even going to touch that one, because let's face it a blog about Twilight could be it's own post all together. But seriously guys let's not focus on the fact that Effie's dress was a different color at the Reaping from the book to movie. Madge? I'm sorry but she's not a major character and if you haven't read Mockingjay yet, trust me overall she's not necessary to the series itself. Madge Undersee's job was to get the Mockingjay pin to Katniss and as long as Katniss ultimately gets the pin it really does not matter how she gets, just that she does. Seeing things from the Gamemakers point of view? It's necessary to telling the story; Madge is not!

City of Bones' Simon, no he didn't become a rat and yes I was looking forward to that but it's not a deal breaker that Robert Sheehan remained human throughout the entire movie. If I were to nitpick it would be more about the ending of the movie and the current location of the Mortal Cup. The filmmakers dug themselves into a nice little hole with that one, getting out of it will be interesting. But really I've read a review and the reviewer is angered over leaving out Church! A cat! People it's a cat! Church is awesome but what role does he play other than tour guide? Even Peeves got cut from Harry Potter and Peeves was in every book in several different ways, he was a tormentor, an ally, an enemy; part of Hogwarts!

Things get changed from page to screen, pieces get cut and things are added. It's part of the process, making something flow on the page is different from making it live on a screen. What is described in several paragraphs of exposition and detail can be done in seconds on film. And once again these are all adaptations! The stories are made to fit their new format while trying to remain as true to the original as possible. I highly doubt the writers, producers, directors and actors go into these projects with the objective to butcher much loved books and anger the existing fans. The point of these is to please the existing fans while bringing on new ones to the franchise.

So yes there are some cases in which I would love a 17 hour long retelling of the story, with no detail left out but that's simply not reality. I go into a theater and look at the movie for what it is and where it came from, if I can leave that theater and have the same or similar feeling I had reading the books then I'm happy. If the characters had the same energy and feel that they did on the page, I'm good. But for the love of god don't change the endings! They're written the way they are for a reason!

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/0QLOq 

                                       

Above are some quotes from the different blogs I found on Tumblr reviewing these movies. These quotes are taken from larger pieces but are otherwise unedited. The blog URLs are listed with their related quotes beneath them. 

The Divergent Waiting Game

      Now for one of my more nerdier posts, shamelessly so in fact, and largely in part driven by this past weekend's box office release of Divergent based on the novel by Veronica Roth. A series in which for once my sister and most of my friends have on up on me, I think I am in fact one of the last ones to get into the series and read the books. That being said not only did I fly through a majority of the book in less than a day I also saw the movie on opening day with Caroline. 

     Now was a fangirling and bursting with excitement to see the movie on opening day … well if I'm being truthful here no I wasn't excited to see it. Yes I did want to see the movie. Yes I did want to see it sooner rather than later. Yes I did want to see it while it's still playing in theaters. However I did stay up until nearly two in the morning the previous night finishing the book, I did get up to be at work bright and early and the only showing that my sister and I could get tickets for was well past ten o'clock at night. So no I was not particularly excited to see the movie under those circumstances and by the time the previews began to roll I was ready for bed.

     But thanks to pacing and story, action and suspense the movie by itself rallied me and I made it through the 2+ hour movie more energized than when I had walked in. And there's something to be said about seeing a movie on opening day, midnight premieres are even better, because there's an entirely different atmosphere in the theater. You sit in a seat surrounded by true fans, by real fans that both respect the film on the screen and everyone around them. You're not interrupted by side conversations, no one is on their phones, emotion is collectively shared by everyone in the theater. It's truly a great group to be a part of and vastly changes the movie watching experience.

     That being said … and I highly recommend seeing the movie … here's my issue, very slight issue … Okay that's a lie! It's a big issues, at least for me and my OCD. 

     Now I very much enjoyed Divergent and want to read Insurgent, Allegiant and complete the series. So I figured why not head out and just buy the second book? It's very popular right now and almost impossible to get from a library, at least in the immediate future. So I planned to buy the paperback version of Insurgent and then eventually get my hands on Allegiant. I'm old school and I refuse to upgrade to any kind of tablet or e-reader until absolutely necessary. But I can't find the paperback version of it ANYWHERE!

     I had this same problem when I started reading The Hunger Games books; but in that case the paperback versions of Catching Fire & Mockingjay had been pulled from circulation in order to be re-released later on and keep the hype up for the forthcoming movies. I could've made it easy on myself and simply purchased the hardcover version of the book, the boxed set even and get them all at once but paperback simply happens to be my preference. In general they're much easier to carry around, to handle and to read. So yes I could've made it easy but I have a preference and that's a personal choice  I know. However it's impossible for me to believe that I am the ONLY one that has this preference, the only person that prefers a simple paperback to a clumsy hardcover.

   

Let's Get the Ball Rolling Shall We?

So now I really want to make my blog a regular thing. My plan is to post every Tuesday night, however in honor of Christmas Eve tomorrow I'll be making this post a little early. So from now on expect regular posts every Tuesday night and every other Sunday evening, that is for anyone that reads my blog. And to those that do I really appreciate it, I love my readers and gaining readers is the goal here! I do want to be an author, even the few that have purchased and read my book already I love you guys a lot.

Now let's really get the ball rolling, because this post is really about an article I read on Yahoo when I was at work a few days ago. A new series that has the ability to overthrow both "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games." And I think many of you know which Young Adult series is being made into a movie that is big enough to earn this title; enter "Divergent" starring Shailene Woodley & Theo James.

Before I make any enemies, no I have not read the "Divergent" series, from what I've seen in the promos and trailed the concept seems interesting however I was sternly warned by a friend that it simply is not a book I'd enjoy. My forthcoming litany has nothing to do with the series itself, Young Adult is my preference both to read and to write. Hooray for Veronica Roth having her trilogy published and made into a major motion picture within three years, that's amazing!

All that being said do I see "Divergent" overthrowing two very popular & very high-grossing series, one of which has not even released its final two installments yet! "Twilight" yeah go ahead, I can see that being overthrown. "Twilight" I am still firmly in the belief rode very heavily on the coat tails of the the very popular, very successful institution that is "Harry Potter."

It also goes without saying that the leading lady of "Twilight" runs not only hot and cold with her critics but with fans as well. Kristen Stewart. It's no secret that she's not held in the highest esteem of many movie goers or critics; her lack of emotion and just general appearance of indifference is extremely off putting. Not only that but every movie after the first went from awkward to uncomfortable to creepy really quickly.

Go ahead and overthrow the vampires that glitter and the werewolves that aren't bound by the full moon. However I do not foresee "Divergent" overthrowing "The Hunger Games" for one reason and one reason only. Miss Jennifer Lawrence.

THG's leading lady is not only relatable she is both a joy to watch both in character and as her vivacious self. The entire cast of THG seems like they're a joy and a nightmare to be around. They must always keep their Director on his toes but as a whole they make one hell of a movie. The first installment of "The Hunger Games" was amazing. However "Catching Fire" was simply amazing! The sequel was not only an equal to the first but it far exceeded it, the second upped the ante and the countdown for "Mockingjay" Part 1 has begun!

So go ahead "Divergent" and do your worst, but just remember JLaw might whip out her Oscar and pull a Katniss Everdeen to keep her throne if need be.