Beastly

Summary:

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.

Review:

I was tooling around on Youtube and I found a "teaser trailer" for this book which I had on my To Be Read pile. So I moved it up on my reading list.

I have to admit I thought the trailer was a bit...lame...but after reading the book I can see that the movie actually fixes some of the more traditional and out of date concepts of the wonderful story of Beauty and the Beast.

It took me about 70 some pages to get into this and then I couldn't put it down! It is a modern telling of Beauty and the Beast and it keeps to the very traditional storyline, the beast is hairy (unlike in the trailer...but I like the image in the trailer better, I don't think a modern witch would turn a bratty teen into a woolly mammoth anymore). Also the way the Beast obtains his Beauty is traditional...her father exchanges her...and while the book made this seem half believable I still don't see it happening...I do wonder what they will do in the movie.

As a young adult book I found this one perfect for a teen girl. The female character is not weak nor is she particularly boy crazy. She gets the boy because she is portrayed as a good wholesome studious person. Which not many of the "popular" teen book are doing these days.

Overall I give this book 4 stars...

Frosty

This week over at One Powerful Hour the theme is...

The Truth about Cats and Dogs

I selected this theme for a couple of reasons 1. I love both cats and dogs 2. lots of people seem to have fun with this theme and 3. Because every time I think about a dog I can hear my father telling stories of his childhood.

The photo I used in my sample is of my dad and two of his brothers with their dog Frosty. My father is one of those natural story tellers and none of us ever grow tired of hearing about his childhood adventures. The one I remember the most about Frosty is when there was a storm that flooded the area. Frosty had been trained not to use the backyard so instead of going to the bathroom on the small patch of dry ground next tot he house he swam across the street to use the neighbors yard!

The stamp I used on the background is from Paula's Kit club. I also received the stickers and paper that I cut the bright dog from Paula's Kit Club.

Hope you enjoy!

Luxury Travel

This weeks theme at One Powerful Hour is...

Vacation

Last week I made some ATC's for a Circle of Friends swap. The theme for those was travel. Well, to me one travels to a vacation so I thought this would work.

This is my first ever entirely photoshop/digital piece. All the images I either got from copyright free downloads or had them (stamps). I printed them out and colored them. Then scanned them back into the computer.

When I printed the finished piece out I of course had to add some texture. The bubbles have diamond glaze over them. The car has been painted with sparkling H2O's so it looks more like the finish on an actual car. I filled the water/waves in with glitter and finished it off with flocking on the ships sails.

I can only imaging how much work these would have been if I hand cut all the elements that ended up going onto it. Digital is good for some things. However the feel of this piece was totally different than my usual work b/c it was "flatter". I hope the members of the Circle of Friends think these are okay.

The Handmaid's Tale

Summary:
In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies?

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....

My Thoughts:

I decided to read this after finishing The published books of The Hunger Game trilogy. My reasoning being a love of distopian society books that was brought back to the surface after reading The Hunger Games. The Handmaid's Tale fit that criteria and had also been highly recomended to me.

Margaret is a superb writier but I was not a huge fan of the book. I stated in my review of The Hunger Games that I had a friend who could not get past children killing children. Well I couldn't get past the "sex slave" type aspect of this book. I also found it compleatly unbeleivable. No matter what the government does (even back with this book was writen, late 80's) there is no way women will just lay down and take this drastic of a society change.

The book abruptly ends which I guess is how it had to and I would have been okay with that type of ending but Margaret goes on to add an epiloge. It is set further in the future where the society Offred lived in is being studied. This to me added nothing but I guess I can see how some people would need a bit more closure. I beleive that my total lack of being able to swallow the theory behind this book made me not need any closure.

I do however think that they should remake the movie. I didn't know there was a movie until after I had cast it. The movie came out in 1990 and the amazing thing is that I even cast some of the characters the same (and remember I did not know there was a movie).

My cast at Story Casting
Offred (The Handmaid): Natalie Portman
The Commander: Robert Duvall (this is the character I cast the same)
Serena Joy: Susan Sarandon
Moira: Kirsten Dunst
Aunt Lydia: Anjelica Huston
Aunt Elizabeth: Jodie Foster
Nick: Scott Caan