Unicorns Are in the World Again

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Movies to Look Forward To, Part Pyat

The Legend of Zorro -- I know I already mentioned this one, but the teaser poster was the only poster available before. The new posters for the movie were released last week. I think they are both excellent.
September 23rd

Cars -- This one isn't out for a while, but I saw the teaser trailer before The Incredibles. It looks like it will be cute, as usual with Disney/Pixar movies.
Jue 9th, 2006

The Da Vinci Code -- This was a big book, and I think it will probably be a big movie. Ron Howard directing, starring Tom Hanks, Ian McKellan, Jean Reno (from the Professional), and Alfred Molina so far.
May 19th, 2006

Flightplan -- Jodie Foster's next big movie. Sean Bean will be in it too, as the Captain. Foster's daughter disappears mid-flight, and everyone thinks she is crazy.
Fall 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- This is probably my favorite book in the series. I'm looking forward to the dragons, and tons of other things. The book was long, so I know a lot will be cut, but that will be okay. Yet another new director, Mike Newell. The official website is up, with a teaser trailer.
November 18th

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang -- Looks like an interesting movie. "A petty thief (Downey) posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Monaghan) and a detective (Kilmer) who's been training him for his upcoming role..."
Sometime in 2005

Land of the Dead -- The fourth movie in George Romero's zombie series, the zombies have taken over the world and the few survivors try to stay alive in a walled city, but the zombies start to mutant, and some of the survivors are unstable.
June 24th

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

My Early Romance Reading

There's been a lot of talk (from Nicole, Meljean, and Candy) in the last week about the books that introduced people to romance, which has compelled me to reflect on my own early romance reading. The first romance book I ever read was Nobody's Angel by Karen Robards. A friend gave it to me in 8th grade. It was the one with this cover:

I remember that I was fascinated with that book. My parents never talked to me about love or sex, so I learned A LOT from that book. I knew my mom would flip if she saw me reading it, so I hid it under my bed and read it at night after I was supposed to go to bed.

After that one, I didn't read another romance for a while because my friend didn't have any more (I don't know why not), until I found some more while babysitting for a neighbor. I remember picking up Season of the Sun by Catherine Coulter and Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey. The kids would go to bed at night, and I'd read romances.

From there, I got them from the library. I used to go by myself and come home with a backpack full of romance books. I'd hide them in my room and read them on the sly. My mom never paid that much attention to what I read back then, so it took her about two years to catch on. In between, I devoured books by Robards, Lindsey, Coulter, Sandra Brown, Heather Graham, Diana Palmer, Linda Lael Miller, Betina Krahn, and other prolific early-90s romance authors. Somehow, I never did read a Nora Roberts at the time. I was definitely a fan of historicals. Sandra Brown and Diana Palmer were the only contemporary authors I remember reading at the time.

After my mom caught me reading one when I was about 15, I was forbidden from them in a while (my mom thought they were porn and was HORRIFIED when she caught me reading one). I didn't read romance at all again until basic training, when the girls in my unit would hide them in our clothes and lockers and read them at night with flashlights. We would even lift up the ceiling tiles and hide them there! Anything for our romance books! That second time around I found better authors!

I try to read pretty widely -- I like historical, contempory, paranormal, futuristic, time travel, whatever sounds good. But there are some major authors I've never read, including:

Barbara Cartland -- not really interested

Betty Neels -- ditto

Georgette Heyer -- probably sacrilege, and I have one on my TBR, but I don't know when I'll get to it

Janet Dailey -- I never got around to reading any of hers, and after the plagarism scandal a few years ago, I probably never will

Susan Elizabeth Phillips -- I hear great things and then I hear bad things about her books, so I keep putting it off, but eventually I will read one

Lavyrle Spencer -- for some reason, she doesn't really interest me. I know she used to be big, but I never did pick up one of her books

Diana Gabaldon -- I've heard enough about Outlander to know that it's not for me

Connie Mason -- I've moved beyond her type of book, and I don't want to go back

Dorothy Garlock -- another one I don't know why I missed

Jude Devereaux -- like SEP, I hear really good things and really bad things about her books

Kathleen Woodiwiss -- probably not my cup of tea anymore

Judith McNaught -- I probably would have read her books eventually, but I've heard so many horrible things about Whitney, My Love that I don't think I ever will

Elizabeth Lowell -- I've been meaning to read her historicals (anyone have a good suggestion?)

Suzanne Brockmann -- I try to avoid books with military heroes/heroines because most are just to unbelievable for me after being in the Army myself

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Top 20 Animated Movies

My husband and I saw Robots at the theatre a couple of weeks ago -- I thought it was great, Robin Williams was hilarious as always, and it's interesting that most animated movies attribute human characteristics to just about all creatures and things, whether animal or robot or whatever. Anyway, after watching it at the theatre, and then watching The Incredibles at home, I was thinking about animated movies in general, and how many of them, though on the surface are for children, are really for adults. When you're a child, it's all about the story and the animals and the fun, but when you're an adult you notice the little things like the social commentary and the relationships between characters, the little jokes and the clever phrases.

So my husband and I were talking about the best animated movies. I was going to do a top 10 list, but it's too hard to narrow it down to ten. So here are my favorite 20 animated movies. (I didn't include any anime because I will probably do a separate list of anime sometime.) There are lots I wanted to include, but I had to limit it at some point. Toy Story is probably the biggest missing movie, and though I enjoyed it, it isn't one of my favorites. My husband probably wouldn't agree with the final list, and certainly not the order, but this is my blog, so my list. And #1 shouldn't surprise anyone.

1. The Last Unicorn