Month: March 2012

All Over the Place

/ Lisa Asanuma / Leave a comment

Hi guys!

Okay, this blog is still a little rough-going. I’m in between apartments at the moment… which, in case there’s any confusion in that, is not an easy place to be. So posting might be sporadic, just so you know.

Best news is The Mr. has one job already—part time, but we’ll take what we can get. In the meanwhile, I’m still posting at The Hollow Tree and the Dojo.

Make sure to check out my most recent posts – I wrote a very well-received (to my delight!) explanation of Voice over at the Dojo with the Blue Bike Experiment, and on Tales From the Hollow Tree, my latest story went up today called The Frozen Castle, with a retelling of one of my all-time favorite fairy tales. See how long it takes you to figure out which one it is!

In other news, I’m plugging along working on Daughter. I’ve successfully pieced together a lot of it, but there is still an awful lot to go. I’m excited to see it starting to come together, though! This book really is my baby, and I’m glad I’ve made the commitment to finally get it done.

 

** Why the jellyfish? Because that’s how I’ve been feeling of late. Floating through life in a sporadic way, being rushed along by the tides. Hopefully I’ll be settling into a more familiar skin soon!

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

/ Lisa Asanuma / 5 Comments

Once in a while a movie adaptation of a book is good enough to make lovers of the novel want to stand up and cheer. I think Hunger Games was a prime example of this. The movie, while not 100% faithful to the book, was wonderfully, refreshingly loyal to its original incarnation. I suspect it had something to do with Suzanne Collins working on the script, but maybe it’s more? Maybe Hollywood is finally understanding that movie adaptations turn out better when they stick to the plot of the book? (See: Harry Potter vs. Percy Jackson). Any book canon sacrifices in the movie seem to have been done solely for the sake of clarity for a brand-new audience, and those were handled deftly, if I may be allowed to say so.

Overall, I thought it was brilliant. It was visually perfect, as far as I’m concerned, and the some of the side characters did a marvelous job with a tiny amount of screentime. For example, I’d never felt much emotional attachment to Gale before (don’t judge, I’m only a couple of chapters into Catching Fire), but Liam Hemsworth made my heart ache for the boy more than Katniss’ narration has yet been able to.

Gah, I’m almost too pleased with this film to review it well! Jennifer Lawrence was a bit more trembly than I imagined Katniss being in the books, but on the other hand, she had nothing but her facial expression to convey everything Katniss tells us in the book, so I forgive her entirely for that. Josh Hutcherson was point-perfect as Peeta. Woody Harrelson was the only person who possibly could have played Haymitch, and his performance did not let me down. I always pictured a serious-faced Alan Tudyk as Cinna, but Lenny Kravitz did the job admirably.

And yes, I cried. When Katniss volunteered herself, when Rue… well, you probably know, but best not to say anyhow.

Even the end music was perfection. Haunting and lovely, exactly what you want walking away from that.

Now I better get finished with Catching Fire! Because really, it’s getting so good…

On Hiatus

/ Lisa Asanuma / 2 Comments

Hi all. Sorry to do this, but I have to go on hiatus for a bit. I’ve had to go out of town unexpectedly for some personal business, and I won’t have time to blog! I hope to get back to you soon… Definitely by the 19th!

Still moving. Definitely by the 26th!

Booking Through Thursday: Different Kind of Romance

/ Lisa Asanuma / 11 Comments

Ted asks:

Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character? Who and what about them did you love?

Well the short answer is, yes. Multiple times. Here is a glance at a few characters that really stand out to me in particular.

Captain George Wentworth from Persuasion by Jane Austen

I think Captain Wentworth is impossible not to love. He is everything masculinity should be. Strong, but not rigid. Proud, but not to a fault. Also, he speaks to the heart of every single person who has ever lost a love over a misunderstanding, or circumstance, or happenstance. He is the promise of love conquering over all even when time and everything else imaginable has intervened in the worst way possible.

Edward Fairfax Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Rochester is all about charisma. He has one of the strongest charismas of any character that I have ever encountered, and charisma is inherently attractive to me. I’ve always thought of Rochester as Anne Shirley’s “someone who could be wicked but wouldn’t.” Of course, Rochester was a little wicked, but he changed his ways for Jane. He was tempted to go on in his wicked ways, but Jane wouldn’t allow it, and eventually was able to marry her rightfully.

Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

I know, I know. A lot of people don’t care for Ron. A lot of people write him off as the jealous one of the HP trio who simply can’t grow up. This is not how I see Ron. I see Ron as someone who, despite having less natural ability or inclination towards greatness, wanted nothing more than to be great. As someone on my tumblr list pointed out, we see this in the very first book. In the Mirror of Erised, Ron sees himself as having made great accomplishments. His greatest desire was to be Extraordinary. And that’s really something we can all relate to, isn’t it? This isn’t even going into his unquestionable loyalty—maybe it was overridden by jealousy once in a while, but whenever it counted, Ron never hesitated.

Finn in the Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale

This one is a little more obscure, but one of the dearest characters to my heart. Finn is the epitome of the slow burn. His love for Enna is calm and quiet, but fierce and strong. Finn probably says less than 150 words in all four of the Books of Bayern, but his action and presence are tremendous in their quiet steadiness. He was also willing to change himself—make himself stronger and better for Enna. He’s like what Westley from The Princess Bride would have been, had he never become the Dread Pirate Roberts. (Speaking. Of. I love Westley. I guess for the same reasons.)