The Williams - Dream Casting

So, in the excitement of having found our perfect visual of William Drexler III and Katherine, I decided to put up a whole new post just for these sparkly dreams which also involve Summit Entertainment. Sigh. 

Gary Oldman as the Second and Brant Daugherty as the Third! Swooooon!

Janelle Froehlich as Katherine Demure

Building my Dream Cast

People always ask me if I fashion my characters off real people. The answer is no, I did not write The von Strassenberg Saga with Miley Cyrus in mind. There is only one character who was actually written to reflect a friend of mine. That would be Abbie, the Drexler's assistant. The real Abbie is a school chum of mine, a wonderful, bubbly gal with a smoky voice and even smokier eyes. She's gorgeous, but a lot of people are gorgeous. The reason Abbie received the token honor of having her own character is because she read the rough, ugly pages of Filter before I even really knew where the story was going. She was so encouraging that it is likely the book was only completed because of her enthusiasm. Were the powers that be ever to make The von Strassenberg Saga into films, I would want Abbie to play the role of Abbie. Because no one else could be better. Last night I was watching 27 Dresses with my mother and was shocked to see Klaus von Strassenberg decorating a cake. Ronald Guttman, a Belgium born actor, looks exactly the way I picture Klaus. And tho I have waffled back and forth between William and Peter, I believe Tom Welling should be that bad boy Peter Strauss. Well, if Tom Welling wasn't a year old than I am he could be that bad boy Peter Strauss. But Peter, Captain Sexy as Rocky calls him, is only 18. I don't think Tom Welling can pass as 18 anymore. Unless this is like one of those '80's movies wherein the entire cast was in their early to mid 20's and playing 16 year olds. Sigh. And I have no clue who would play Rocky. Know any six foot tall, chestnut-haired, 18 year old actresses?

LEGION

I just watched Legion.
I guess vampires and werewolves have been a bit overused lately so writers are turning to fallen angels.
The movie follows a similar plot to a book I'm reading right now. Both of which are a bit skewed in their perspectives, the movie more so than the book.
Being Baptist, I don't have a firm grip on the whole angel/demon thing. Which is sad. I think the reason we, as humans, are so pulled to the idea of the supernatural is that we are innately aware that there is more going on in the universe than what our histories and our five senses let on.
There is more mystery in the world than our reason allows.
We look at the miracles and evils of the Bible and seem to believe that angels and demons and strange goings on were reserved for ancient times.
My Bible says there are angels and that Christ and his disciples cast out demons.
I'm just saying. We take the exorcisms and the Virgin Birth and accept those, but we don't accept the fact that maybe Divine and demonic mysteries still exist. I think technology has made us lose touch with so much of the reality of things. 
But back to the movie...
If you look at it from a completely earthly, spiritually uninformed POV it is a very entertaining flick. It's predictable, it's been done but it's fun.
What gets under my skin is Michael the Arch Angel's line: You gave Him what He asked for, I gave Him what He needed.
As though the Almighty needs the counsel of His created. Granted, there are times in the Bible when His people presented their cases and He relented, but the movie sends the wrong message to those who are uninformed. And the idea that angels possess people and are mistaken for demons....I ain't buyin' it. Or that angels can be killed so easily. Or that we can run from them. No. And I think they missed the fact that God already redeemed His people through the birth of His Son.
Aside from the garbled message, it was fun. The language is rough. Some of the scenes are a bit violent and grisly.
My only concern is that it's contaminated message will only lead those who are lost even further from the path of salvation. And that is a very big concern.

The Mist~Stephen King

This is one of the MOST idiotic movies.
It's completely unoriginal. Usual Stephen King Formula.
Oh and let's not forget the liberal crap tucked so neatly into it.
The Vietnam vet is a quivering mass and not to mention a complete imbecile.
The hero, who is an artist, is all brave and has to tell the soldiers to get off their butts and help.
What?
Whatever Stephen King once had (and I think he had it most in Bag of Bones) it's gone.
This movie is just ridiculous. The characters are caricatures and the dialogue is stupid.
These people have to be the stupidest people in the world all stuck in this store together.
Waste of my time. It's actually still on right now and I don't even care.
.......
I have now finished watching this piece of trash, throwback movie.
Wanna know the moral of the story?
The military causes trouble and then, when things are all jacked up beyond recognition, they finally come in to clean up their mess.
You think I'm overstating things, dig around in some interviews King has done and you'll see I'm not.
The ridiculous part (and yes, I am breaking my own rule here), they discover there's a gun in the grocery store. And their trying to figure out if anyone knows how to properly use it.
....Um, morons, there are three uniformed soldiers in there with you. They might have some idea.
Of course two soldiers hang themselves and the third is sacrificed to the Mist.
....Yes, I know. I'm always finding some political slant to things, but wake up....they do it intentionally. Have you ever seen the kids' movie, Igor? Oh it's hilarious, we own. But it's a total platform movie, which is what I call these movies with agendas. Like Happy Feet and Avatar.
You may hate politics and you just want to watch a movie, but movies shape people's perceptions and beliefs. If not shape, then reinforce. And this movie ticks me off. I'm surprised they didn't make the soldiers alcoholics as well.

Impatience: Red Box or Netflix?

Go ahead and laugh.

I'm trying to decided if it would be best to wait and get New Moon from Netflix or if it would be faster to try my luck with Red Box? And I will still have to mail back my current Netflix rentals and that would mean waiting for New Moon to arrive. Of course, more often than not, the videos I want from Red Box are gone by the time I get there and I wind up waiting anyway.

Strategy, folks. It's all about strategy.

My husband's laughing at me again.

Why?

1: Still haven't sent Twilight DVD back in. It's been weeks. It helps okay? On the days when the teenage novelist groove is hard to find, just takes poppin' in Twilight to get my muse infuriated.

2: I promptly bought Eclipse after finishing New Moon.

3. There's a bit of anticipation to see New Moon.

Despite warnings that he was going to be the end of my blogging career, he continues to laugh. Makes me so angry, which is why he does it. I am not in love with Bella and Edward. I actually find myself rooting for Jacob a bit. That's Meyer's fault, she put a lot more work in to make that relationship tantalizing and believable.

My main passion for them is curiosity about the author. Did she get better? Has she grown as a writer since the last novel?

I've only gotten through the first chapter of Eclipse and the growth is obvious. She's even gotten better about weaving in the mandatory recaps from the previous book. Now, the burning question is: How badly did they screw up the New Moon movie? Is it possible that they pulled off two amazingly faithful adaptations?

I still have some qualms with New Moon, beyond basic writing skills. Story issues. But I am getting cramped under my desk. Yes under my desk. Network cord isn't long enough. My real house has high-speed, wireless internet.

Confessions of A Teen Novel Junkie

There is a confession I must make.

I am 30 years old. Three little boys call me "mom," my husband calls me on his way to work, on his way to school, and on his way home. My university calls me a Broadcast Media major with a business management minor.

In short, I am a grown woman with the responsibilities of a grown woman...and I have read Twilight.

There. I've said it.

For years I ignored the series and chided those who didn't. After all, it sounded like a rip-off of LJ Smith's Vampire Diaries series which I had read back in 1991, when they came out. (My originals sit proudly within my towering stack o'novels. They have that wonderful old book smell.) Last year, however, I began debating with a girl who always had a copy of one of the Twilight books. She kept insisting that I read them. My response was that I was too old for vampire love stories and that it sounded just like a series I had read when I was in middle school.

Over Christmas break, in spite of my husband's demeaning laughter, I watched the movie. The parallels between the two stories were blatant and almost embarrassing. The only difference was that, I didn't buy it. I didn't buy the sudden love. "You smell so good, I have to be with you." And where did her love spring from? It just wasn't fleshed out enough. I don't know.

It also irritated me that the two initial scenes wherein the damsel is rescued by the brooding hero, were so fast. He gets out of the car and growls at the guys, seriously?

Maybe, I thought, it was just a poor job of adapting the book into a movie. Like Harry Potter, maybe it lost the essential essence in the adaptation.

So, amid more laughter from my loving husband, I bought the book. And read it in a day. He marveled, "I could never read a book that fast." I shrugged. It was no big deal. There was nothing complex or new about it and I didn't feel compelled to slow down and savor the story.

I will say this, Twilight is probably the BEST book to film adaptation I have ever seen. That is something to be admired.

So I can now say, "Yes I have read Twilight and yes, Vampire Diaries is way much better. "

More on those embarrassing parallels to come.....