You know it’s going to be a creepy, mind-bending story the minute Coraline says “the dreams aren’t dangerous” to her mother. Um, yes they are, sweetie.

Coraline, directed by Henry Selick, is definitely not for young kids! With a very Tim Burton-esque feel and a macabre storyline, even I was freaked out at points. Henry Selick also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas which was written and produced by Tim Burton. Despite Tim Burton not having any involvement with this film, I still felt his vibe, probably because this type of animation and dark, creepy characters are so synonymous with his work. See my last post on The Tim Burton Exhibition at MoMA.

Brief synopsis: The story is about a girl called Coraline who is unhappy with her life, and feels bored and neglected by her parents. When Coraline discovers a mysterious door in her house, it leads to a mirror-image parallel world where everything is perfect. Perfect parents, perfect friends, perfect everything. The people in this world though, all have button-eyes (yes, very disturbing) which hints that everything may not be as perfect as it seems. Sure enough, the “other” mother tries to get Coraline to stay there forever by sewing on her own button-eyes, in effect, giving up herself for the spiderish soul-sucking “other” mother to eat (yes, and it is exactly as it sounds – she eats children, very reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel). Coraline fights her off with the help of a magical cat that moves between both worlds, and frees the souls of three other children “eaten” by the other-mother as well as her parents. Escaping from the horrific parallel world, she throws the key in a bottomless well so that no one can ever reopen the door to the “other” world.

Rated 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, Coraline is a fantastic story. Coming from the mind of Neil Gaiman, you’d expect nothing less. Henry Selick did an excellent job in bringing it to life in a frighteningly magical way that had me cringing and wanting more at the same time. At times, the movie also reminded me of Pan’s Labyrinth – the same feeling of escaping to a magical, if strange and terrifying, world. Coraline herself is a bit annoying, snarky, and willful, but I found myself rooting for her at the end to use some of that precociousness to outsmart the “other” mother. She definitely grows on you.

The movie straddles several important themes, the biggest of which is that the grass is not always greener on the other side, a common “want” of most children and adults alike. You always want what you don’t have but as most parents always warn, be careful what you wish for. Be grateful and appreciative for what you have because the alternative could be far worse. Coraline also portrays how courage and determination can overcome any odds, no matter how large.

Entertaining, terrifying, and gratifying, Coraline is unique and will entertain for years to come. I rate Coraline 4 out of 5 stars.

The second trailer looks awesome for The Last Airbender! Great cinematography and scene settings, definitely worth the wait since the first trailer. The air bending effects look amazing!

The film is based on Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon which I’ve enjoyed occasionally. It’s an interesting story-line even in 2D animation. Can’t wait to see what M. Night Shyamalan pulls out with this film – I’m a big fan of most of his movies, like The Village and The Sixth Sense, and even Lady in the Water which didn’t get the best ratings.

According to the LA Times article, M. Night Shyamalan had a sense about ‘Airbender’: ‘This would make a killer movie’, “this is the first time he’s directed a film based on pre-existing source material.” Even so, I’m excited to see his unique flair in this film. He’s weird and talented and different, and I’d be excited to see what he does with this one.

Based on this trailer that stays pretty true to the animated story of the four nations of air, water, earth, and fire, and one boy’s journey to discover his power to master all four elements and fight against the corrupt fire nation, I think it’s definitely going to be something to see.  Check it out. The Last Airbender drops July 2, 2010.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick was a quick read. I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. The language flowed well and was mostly driven by dialogue as opposed to descriptive scenes. I tend to favor descriptive language more than dialogue but I’ve been told that is more telling than showing. I still fell that too much dialogue feels somewhat artificial. But I digress.

A brief synopsis: Patch is a fallen angel who is doomed to roam the earth. The only time he can feel anything is when he takes control of a Nephil’s (half angel/half human) body for 2 weeks during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. He has been using the same Nephil, Chauncey, for many years. According to the Book of Enoch, he has two choices – “he can kill a Nephil vassal and become human” or he can “save a human life and become a guardian angel.” When he meets Nora, a descendant of Chauncey, he falls for her, and faces the most difficult choices of his life because he can sacrifice her to become human or remain fallen forever to be with her. Chauncey shows up pretending to be another high-school boy, Jules, and tries to kill Nora, but she tricks him sending him to his death by sacrificing herself to save Patch. Patch refuses her sacrifice and she returns from death. Patch becomes her guardian angel.

I think I need to read the book again where Jules/Cauncey dies to see how he dies because he’s supposedly immortal. I think I missed that. Other than that, and the VERY annoying fact that Patch calls Nora “Angel” the whole time (gag, gag, and wow, totally contrived), the book was a decent read. I thought there could have been more romantic tension between Nora and Patch, because I just didn’t get them as a couple, especially later on in the book. In parts, they just felt like two people thrown together. Their relationship needed to be a little more developed. I liked the best friend Vee in the beginning and then she started to lose color toward the middle and end of the book. I think she needed to be stronger, and not just give up on her best friend, despite the “thoughts” being placed in her head by Jules/Chauncey.

As I think about that, the whole background of the fallen angel concept in this book is quite thin, but I’m not sure whether it’s because this book is geared toward young adults or what. It’s quite simplistic – I wanted more explanation, more meat to the surrounding story because it was a good one. I wanted to be drawn into the world as opposed to a just a superficial relationship with its characters.

One pet peeve – does every teen relationship in YA books need to start in Biology???

Overall, I would give Hush, Hush 3 and a half out of 5 stars.

Although NaNoWriMo finished last November when my cumulative word total  was a mere 36,880, I wanted to post an update. Just because NaNoWriMo finished in 30 days didn’t mean that I stopped writing (nor should you if you did try the 30 day challenge). Plus writing something else definitely helps with the waiting (see my previous post on that subject).

At a current tally of 76,230 words, the new manuscript is shaping up to be something pretty cool, but then again I am biased. It’s still just a “shitty first draft” in Anne Lamott‘s eloquent words in Bird by Bird. That’s not to say that I’m not self-editing as I go. I find that writing this novel given what I’ve learned from the whole process of the first novel (still ongoing) is a lot different.

One, I am more aware of my target readership – have to keep in mind they’re young adults, and in my opinion, sophisticated young adults. As Krista Marino, Senior Editor of Knopf Doubleday Dell, says in an SCBWI article – Secrets of Voice and Plot: A Panel on YA Novels with Editors Krista Marino and Lexa Hillyer, “teens are not simple, and authors shouldn’t make teen characters simple.”

Two, I am more rigid with managing the number of points of view (learned that most publishers for young adult only like one or two).

Three, I am more aware of making sure my “world” has structure and believability which is critical for any reader, regardless of age.

Four, I am careful to build the action smartly and more aware of pacing.

So what’s this novel about? Well if I told you, I’d have to kill you. But when I get a little more confident, I’ll post a tidbit or two about it. Right now, it’s pretty much word vomit, although not the smelly kind which is a good thing.

I find the most stressful part of writing, although some may argue that sometimes it’s the writing itself, is the waiting. Waiting to hear back from an agent, waiting to hear back from an editor, waiting to hear back from a publisher…it’s excruciating. And then of course, probably even worse after all that waiting, is the dreaded no…the ugly kiss of rejection. Ok, so it’s more like a kick than a kiss, but that’s just semantics.

In my “day” job, I once had a boss who said – it’s a numbers game. The more cold calls you make, the greater your chance of getting an appointment, and ultimately getting a sale. Let’s apply: if you make 10 phone calls, you may get 2 appointments, and 1 second meeting (although 50% odds is aggressive). The chances that you will make a sale on that single second appointment is slim to none. Now, if you made say 100 calls, you may get 40 appointments, then 20 second meetings, then 5 VP level “buying” meetings, and 1 0r 2 actual, honest-to-goodness SALES.

This methodology can apply to getting an agent but it doesn’t really help in getting a publisher because you’re depending on someone else to make that sale for you, which means it’s out of your hands…hence the waiting game that you have zero control over. If you’re a control freak like me, that’s worse than torture. So you pretty much have to trust in the knowledge that the agent you selected you chose for a reason – because they are expert at what they do.

On American Idol last night, Ellen DeGeneres told one of the girls who begged to stay on after she’d been cut that “no” hurts now but it’s not the end of the world. Someday you’ll look back and say, that was just one no. She’s right. In almost any walk of life, rejection is unavoidable. But the silver lining in that is that at one point, if you don’t give up, it will just be your time.

I picked up MAX – A Maximum Ride Novel in an airport for two reasons. 1) Seemed like a cool concept – human children grafted with avian DNA fighting against various villains, and 2) I wanted to see how James Patterson wrote for Young Adult.

I wasn’t blown away but it was better than what I’d been expecting. The flavor I felt was definitely James Patterson and I’ve read a few of his adult novels (you will probably know him from the Alex Cross books, Kiss the Girls, and Along Came a Spider, or The Lakehouse). His chapter format is definitely similar to his adult novels, and while the language was very teen-oriented, I still felt the James Patterson vibe throughout.

The book itself was a light, quick read with a lot of sarcastic, witty teenage humor written from the perspective of the female leader of the flock, Max. I’m not sure whether this was the first installment of the series but it read pretty well on its own as a standalone. I don’t think I would go out and buy the series, it just didn’t grip me that much, but it fulfilled its purposes both on the plane and my curiosity about James Patterson writing for YA.

So briefly, Max and her flock, a hodge-podge group of 5 kids ranging from 6 to 17 (oh, and one more flying dog, Total, making the flock count 6), were genetically created from merging human DNA with avian DNA. Apart from various other skills like super sight and super strength, they have wings, as in real bird wings with a 14 -foot wingspan. In this book, they team up with the US Navy against the mysterious Mr. Chu who has captured Max’s mother. Add in some romance between Max and Fang, the love of her life and one of the flock, and you’ve got the requisite teenage angst for any YA novel. During the search for Max’s mom, 3 of the flock learns to swim under water – they develop gills, and they meet some sea-creatures who have been mutated from radiation who help them rescue her. Angel, one of the flock, can read minds and speak to fish.

I know, I know. It all sounds a little far-fetched, right? The neat thing about it though was I didn’t feel while reading the novel that it was far-fetched at all. It just felt like part of the story, like a natural progression of the flock’s talents. And I guess that is all due to the author’s ability to spin his story in such a way that it’s entirely believable while you’re reading it.

Kudos Mr. Patterson. Not that the man needs it – he is a genius. There was a recent article in the NY Times Magazine about him a few weeks ago, “Patterson may lack the name recognition of a Stephen King or a John Grisham or a Dan Brown, but he outsells them all. Really, it’s not even close.” He is a novel-writing machine as well as a business and marketing genius in every single genre. As far as young adult titles, add Witch and Wizard to the bookshelf as well as graphic novels like Daniel X. I haven’t read either of these series but that’s not to say I won’t. Let me know what you think if you have. Check out the NY Times Magazine article if you can, it’s pretty awesome (and inspiring for all you would-be writers).

Overall, I’d say not bad for MAX – A Maximum Ride Novel. Fun, light read. Love the language and the witty dialogue between the characters as well as Max’s humorous internal monologues. I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars.

What a sad episode! For the first time ever on the Vampire Diaries, I think I actually may have welled up. I think that was more due to the Leona Lewis remake of the Snow Patrol song, Run at the end, but it was still an emotional episode with Bonnie’s grandmother dying after the tomb spell. She was an awesome character.

I felt SO sad for Damon when he couldn’t find Katherine, and especially when Ana told him that the last time she saw Katherine was in Chicago in 1983, and she knew where Damon was but never looked for him. Says a lot about Katherine, doesn’t it? I have a feeling that Damon is going to lose it when the Vampire Diaries returns…as in ‘hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-vampire-scorned’ losing it.

I loved the part when Elena hugs Damon and said that she was sorry after he couldn’t find her in the tomb. I think he really needed that. I also liked when Ana found her mother and they were reunited in the end. That was awesome. I also liked Jeremy’s and Ana’s relationship in this episode. I really don’t want that to end because he actually looked happy for once. And so did Ana. I wanted to see more of that.

And for once, despite the overall sadness, Stefan had all the cool lines in this episode (instead of Damon):-

Tom Cruise’s Doppelganger-Vampire: Is that all you got?

Stefan: No, I got this (and barbecues him with a flame-thrower).

It would have been cool in the end if they showed a snapshot of Katherine partying it up in some other town instead of the vamps getting out of the tomb. That just felt predictable – I knew it was going to happen the minute Damon smashed the blood against the wall. Would have been nice to get a glimpse of Katherine since she was the main driver of practically every episode up to this point.

Great ending episode!

The Vampire Diaries returns March 25, 2010.

I really had high expectations for this book, which is probably why it fell a little short for me. Overall A Great and Terrible Beauty was good and I read it during a flight to Miami, so a solid three hours. But I found myself nodding in parts where the story just didn’t grip me to keep me turning the pages, far less doing my trademark cheek-chewing when I have a great novel in hand. One thing I’ve learned as a writer – if you’re creating a new world, it has to have structure. Structure is critical because if the rules aren’t clear, the world isn’t clear, which means your readers aren’t going to believe in it. This happened to me with the Realms which felt more like a dream sequence as opposed to an actual place.

The novel is set in the Victorian age which is the first thing that separates it from current YA books. The beginning was exciting and different, starting out with a bang, and I was pulled into Gemma Doyle’s life as she leaves India following the murder of her mother to attend an elite boarding school in London. Plagued with visions of a mysterious beast stalking her, Gemma discovers that she holds the key to reopening the Realms and bringing back magic into this world, albeit with a price. She finds the diary of Mary Dowd, and with the help of three unlikely friends, sets out on a journey to discover Mary’s terrible secret, and the power that she herself holds.

I found that Gemma as a character held me on and off, and I’m not sure that was due to Libba Bray’s portrayal of a teenager (one minute you like them, the next you want to lock them in a box) or just that she wasn’t a complex character. I just didn’t love her. I didn’t feel like I connected with her or understood what drove her. At times I felt myself thinking how petulant she was which probably didn’t help with the connection aspect. I liked the other girls, particularly Felicity and Pippa. Ann was empty to me – I really expected more from her but just didn’t get it. She fell completely flat at the end and became very one-dimensional. My favorite thing about this group of girls was Libba Bray’s message that they were all flawed, i.e., no one is perfect. I think it’s an important message that young girls/boys need to understand in any time.

I have such mixed feelings about this novel. In fact, this is quite a difficult review to write because Libba Bray is an excellent writer. She’s lyrical and descriptive, and everything flowed really well from a language perspective. It’s exciting and interesting. I just had that feeling of not really getting there. Things would get some momentum and then wouldn’t really go anywhere. That feeling happened quite a few times in this story. That, combined with my lack of connection with the characters, led to the disappointed feeling of expectations left unfulfilled. I felt that some of the more exciting things (the Realms, the Order, the Rakshana, the Huntress, etc.) weren’t explored in enough detail to satisfy me. I mean, there’s so much good stuff here, it could have been so rich if the elements had come together in a better way.

I felt that the plot piece particularly with the Rakshana was not explained clearly, and I kept waiting for Kartik to do something Rakshana-worthy, other than his threatening notes or steamy kisses/dreams with Gemma. I wanted a lot more from this mysterious boy who followed Gemma all the way from another country. I didn’t get it. In fact, all that I did get was how long his eyelashes were, which does something for fluttering teenage hearts but not so much for plot richness.

Further, I didn’t think there was enough development/story-line about Gemma’s powers. That felt way too thin especially since she’s supposed to be this key, the mystical conduit to the Realms’ magic. The other glaring thing that I didn’t like was the ending where Gemma confronts and overcomes the monster, which felt very rushed and contrived and predictable.

Lastly, I’m just not a fan of the set-up for future novels (see my review of The Summoning). If someone buys your book, give them a journey that has closure, even if you have sequels and prequels and multiquels.

Overall, a decent read. Liked it, didn’t love it. I’d rate it 3 and a half out of 5 stars.

Final round of edits completed, and we are off to the races! My agent likes the changes we have made and is happy with the final result. Now we are going to go back to publishers after months of very hard work and see if we can get this book sold! Stay tuned for more updates and keep your fingers crossed for me!

Things are starting to heat up on the Vampire Diaries. I loved the flashback scenes. I thought it was really neat to get some perspective on Katherine’s character especially since she and Elena look so much alike. It’s cool (and scary awesome) to see that “vamp” side. Strangely enough, it makes me like Elena more knowing that it’s the same actress, only because Elena sometimes feels very bland to me.

I felt really sad for Damon when he was betrayed by Elena. He expected it from Stefan because Stefan has betrayed him in the past (the biggest one of course was with Katherine), but he’d started to trust Elena. That was sad. I mean I love Stefan and Elena as a couple but I just feel so sorry for Damon….all the poor guy wants is to get his love back!

Next week’s episode looks like it’s going to be another nail-biter with Elena’s life hanging in the balance, now that Ana has kidnapped her. Bonnie’s also been kidnapped by her “date,” the other vampire working with Ana. I guess they need her for the spell on the tomb. I would really like to see Bonnie amp it up in the next episode and put some hurt on him. She’s a witch for crying out loud – she needs to come into a little more power than flaming up a few candles!

Oscar Nominations are in, and Avatar has picked up 9 of them, including Best Picture and Best Director. Not to put a downer on anything but Titanic had 14 nominations. Too early for sibling rivalry? Ok, I’ll leave that alone. I’ve got other things on my mind.

So downer number 2. Seriously what is with the decision to have 10 Best Picture nominations? Some people say that maybe it was because there were so many good films to choose from, but I disagree. I think that maybe they wanted to send a message about Avatar – like, listen you CGI’d, non-artsy, tons-of-dough 3D blockbuster, there are a lot of other films that are far better contenders than you are so you better watch your blue behind! But maybe I’m just cynical or emotional, or both.

Downer number 3. So Zoe Saldana didn’t get nominated for Best Supporting Actress which she probably could have easily. BlackBook’s article “Was Avatar’s Zoe Saldana snubbed by the Oscars” where the author, Robin Guha wrote “Sure most of us would agree that if honors were being handed out for Avatar‘s acting, then obviously Michelle Rodriguez’s five-line cameo deserves to be the front-runner,” made me see red. I 100% disagree with this statement. Obviously Ms. Guha  and most of her friends did not appreciate that there was a real live actress behind Neytiri, with real emotions along with a real gritty delivery of those emotions. That is not rocket science technology, it’s acting. People connected with that film because of the actors and their voices and their interaction and their movement. Not because the actors are playing an “animated” character!

Further to that, this is not pure animation like say Disney-Pixar’s Up where there’s no real live actor behind the character. There is a difference, a very big difference between the two. I’ve talked about Zoe Saldana’s acting before in other posts – in my view, for an actress to be able to convey such raw emotion through a CGI’d visual projection of her character, then that demonstrates far better ‘acting prowess’ than anyone. James Cameron himself stated to the Hollywood Reporter, “People confuse what we have done with animation. It’s nothing like animation. The creator here is the actor, not the unseen hand of an animator.” If people don’t recognize that, then they have a very narrow view of what constitutes acting. Maybe we need a new category? Um, Best Actor in an Animation-Like but Non-Animation Film? Or maybe just a new vision. We are moving into a technology-advanced world, shouldn’t our awards and recognition of such art media broaden to follow?

Anyway, enough of that. You all know if you’ve followed my blog on my love for Avatar where I stand. If you don’t, what are you waiting for? Type “Avatar” in the little search bar at the top and get going! I’ll see you guys for more Avatar-drama after the Oscars which airs on March 7, 2010.

I knew what I was getting into when I went to see Legion. I’m not blind, I read the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and the 18% standing on the tomatometer had me nervous about shelling out $10. But Rotten Tomatoes sometimes gets it wrong – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was rated a mediocre 36% and I really enjoyed that movie!

Sad to say that in this case, they were right. Legion started out so good too, I mean I was excited to see it – it’s a pretty decent concept and Paul Bettany’s six-pack draped across billboards in Times Square was a definite pull. And then the pain came and didn’t stop until it stopped. I hate it when that happens. 

Legion had so much unrealized potential which just got completely eclipsed by all the bullets and comatose, possessed, shark-toothed people. Oh wait, did I mention that said shark-toothed people were possessed by angels? Now I’m pretty much open to any kind of fantasy (oldies but goodies or far-out newfangled concepts) but seriously, angel possession? We’re talking black eyes and pointy teeth demonic-looking things. Again, I repeat, angel possession? Really??? Sorry, but I don’t get that.

So basically the short synopsis is that one angel, Michael (Paul Bettany), goes renegade when he disagrees with God’s supposed plan to wipe out mankind, and cuts his wings off in a stand-off to protect an unborn child prophesied to lead mankind out of darkness.  Mouthful, I know! Anyway, this standoff takes place at a busted rest-stop in the middle of nowhere with a stockpile pile of automatic weapons big enough to level a small country. In the end, Michael does save the child and his mother, and is forgiven by God because Michael “gives him what he needed” as opposed to “what he wanted.” Bold words, you bad-ass, renegade angel, you.

Most of the good parts were shown in the previews, like the ice-cream man or the old devil lady, although she had some pretty choice lines just before she goes all praying mantis on the ceiling (way too R-rated for repetition here). Tyrese Gibson also had some well-delivered one-liners which gave a bit of ‘flavor’ relief to the otherwise drab and painful dialogue. Paul Bettany, while awesome to look at as the brooding, rogue angel, seemed too wooden and uninterested in his role to really make it believable. If he doesn’t believe he’s an angel, how the heck am I going to believe it? And let me not even get into Dennis Quaid’s acting which was more in line with a C-grade movie. He was definitely not as strong as he could have been. His best scene was when he died at the end.

From a plot perspective, I felt that many elements of the script and story were too unconnected. There were far too many holes – like what was the deal with the “instructions,” the tattoos that appeared on Jeep’s body which had previously been on Michael’s? Or who was the child? Or why do the crazies, um I mean angels, stop attacking right after Charlie has the child? Why can’t they attack the child? The list goes on…

There’s one other sliver of light in this whole 100 minute debacle. I will give them props for the two angel fight scenes in the end. They were definitely cool. The spinning thing with Gabriel’s wings blocking oncoming bullets was awesome and the overall special effects here were very well-done. The wings looked realistic…well, except for the flashback heaven scene with Michael and Gabriel where they look like giant pieces of carpet. But except for that, kudos on the wings, especially on the wing flex which looked pretty darn amazing.

Like I said, Legion had potential, but failed miserably on execution. I rate the first forty minutes of Legion a solid 2 out of 5 stars, but 100 minutes all in, probably 1 star.