Life has been incredibly hectic for me these few months and these weeks with the travels and people flying in and meeting them. I simply couldnt find time to blog anything nor watch anything! Dust is collecting on my PC believe it or not. I still havent finish watching BBF last few eps, but i seriously doubt I am missing anything much....
Had a great time in Taipei. Was eating and shopping so much that I was overly exhausted and if my tummy can expand anymore, I would prob look like some pregnant woman. Taipei is a haven for snacky food and chinese desserts........... I went to the 24hr bookstore Eslite and bought "Akai Ito" original novel! I had to go to 2 places to try to get hold of the 2nd installement as it was completely sold out! So i was lucky to really grab the LAST book in the store. I have to find time to read it after I finish my Twilight novels. Yeah its a reading month.
Did I mention I saw the Twilight movie on flight, and I found it impossibly boring and incredibly slow? How can such a lame teen flick garner so much hype? I much prefer Rob as Cedric in Harry potter than as Edward. He is alright as a vamp though Not so sure what the fuss is about.
However, I personally did think the novel was on a better level, readable and more captivating than the movie itself. Am now into the third installment Eclipse after finishing Twilight and New Moon. The last book is totally out of stock for now. One of the reason I prefer the written over the movie is perhaps the book was able to cover more grounds, detailing emotions and other lead up, while the flick was more cryptic about some parts which didnt make sense, till I finally read the book. I kinda cringe at those cheesy lines but oh well, it is afterall a romantic movie.
I am increasingly liking the chracter of Alice ALOT at the story development. She is just sooooo sweet!!! I cannot wait to see how the animosity between Jacob as a werewolf and Edward's clan develop due to Bella's existence and Victoria after Bella as vengence for Jame's death. Apparently the treaty states that so long as Cullen is back in town, the wolves cannot enter their terrority as part of the pact unless Cullen breaks the truce if they so choose to take a bite at anyone. This becomes tricky because Bella is sooo hell bent on wanting Edward/ Alice to transform her. Tonight, I cannot wait to start on the third book. 3 books in 2 days. Can't go any faster since I have to make the 3rd book last till I lay my hand on the 4th.
Up to date, somehow, I get the feel that the Twilight series remains of an amateur version of Laura Hamiliton's vampire/ werewolves series but Twilight series is of a more censor PG friendly version to date without the outright sexual intonation set in Laura's version.
Sorry I digress. It's hard to stick to just drama summaries at times :)
I havent sort out my pictures but I didnt take much in Taipei since I was so busy running around and soaking in hot spring.
Ok folks, next week on, I shall be back in action! All my fav anticipated drama should be on too by then!
7 comments:
hi there, welcome back...i envy your travels. the last time i left the country was like 2 years ago for australia. my husband is visiting taipei this july and asked if i wanted to come, does taipei only offer good food and shopping? when i go to a new place, except for the US (nothing beats US theme parks), i enjoy historical areas besides food and shopping. so, if taipei has more to offer then i might consider going with him.
this is so interesting, since mysoju and viikii are acting up and i couldn't watch any dramas lately. like you, i went back to reading. i just finished "anansi boys" by neil gaiman (my favorite author...if you like graphic novels, check out the sandman series. he also penned "stardust" which was made into a movie last year and "mirrormask", it's an adult fairytale) and now am re-reading lee harvey's "how to kill a mocking bird." have read the twilight books as these came out so i understand when you say that twilight the movie is dragging. like me, you were probably expecting too much because the book was explicit about the characters emotions that unfortunately, it didn't translate in the big screen. you are going to enjoy "eclipse". "new moon" was written to introduce the new characters essential for the last book, "breaking dawn" and to show us the dynamics between bella and jacob without edward around. you will love Alice even more. this year stephanie meyer was supposed to release "midnight sun" the twilight version in edward's point of view (you will enjoy it more, guaranteed)...however some chapters were released prematurely in the net, (you can read it in her webpage though), so she is delaying the publishing of this book. i like vampire themes so anne rice is on the top of my list. great books re-written into screenplays can disappoint fans. i was so dissastified when they made "bourne identity" into a movie which a lot of my friends couldn't understand. i just reply "you didn't read the book that is why." so far, "lord of the rings" movie is one that managed to deliver for me.
BBF, hmmmm...you are right, you didn't miss much, was so disappointed. such a pity, it started really great.
ooops...blabbed to much, welcome back and here's hoping that mysoju and viikii, get fixed soon...will check out the japanese robot love story you recommended...sorry, title slipped my mind.
oops harper lee not lee harvey, hahahahaha...my fascination with comic books always creep in sometimes hence my mix-up
Welcome back. Glad that you have great time in Taipei
I'm pretty sure that you didn't miss a lot, since I guess we already known the ending of boys before flower and the new drama season hasn't started.
You're not the one who think that the movie version of twilight is worse that the novel. Despite reading all the four books, I'm not really a fans of the story. No offense, but in my opinion nothing really interesting in the story,just a typical love story with a vampire family as a background, I even feel that the words are a bit cheesy. The movie adaptation even worse, the path was very fast, like jumping from one screen to another screen without clear explanation. But, just like you, my fav character is Alice, I even love the Alice Jasper pair more than Bela Edward.
Well, I don't know how you feel since you haven't read the third and fourth book, but just don't put too much expectation for the ending . Tell me your opinion after you finish reading it ^^
Hey Elisa! Welcome back too (to this blog! haaa)
Oooo..July will be summer and it will be sweating hot and sticky...personally I cannot stand summer so I tend to avoid anywhere that is blistering hot.
Taiwan is a lovely country with much historical, cultural and scenic sights with its very warm helpful people. However if u are limited to Taipei only, then your options as a tourist will be more limited to cosmoplitan city, though I still thoroughly enjoyed my 3 nights there.
If u are looking for historical architectural buildings like I normally do, then Taipei itself doesnt hold much. They have historical temples but it is not a major draw for me. I have seen much more beautiful shrines.
HOWEVER, I love my day trip to the Gu Gong Museum which houses thousands of cultural relics which was both eye popping good and educational about the chinese history, western influences and many more. I couldnt finish the whole place in a day which was the onluy pity I had. Some exhibition such as the rare books and others are on a constant 3 months exhibit because many of the relics and exhibits are from the forbidden city palace and even 30years of rotation would not completely exhaust showing the items as I was told.
Taipei isnt all about shopping, and frankly I didnt visit any of the malls. Instead, it was the night market that I went to. It is a completely refreshing experience, the bustling crowd, the food variety and all. If u have never been to anything like this, I would recommend it. I bought the stuff coz its dirt cheap and nice, at a fraction of a price for the same things sold in mall. The korean fashion wave is sweeping thru Taipei night market currently so all the shops are stocking up on the varied designs. However be warned, the biggest size is 38 which is really not very big. I was kinda shock I had to be in their 38 size. I was thinking "dont these people eat anything to fit into anything smaller???!" And if u did go there, U only have to be selective about the stores and items u buy.
If u have a chance to visit Taipei, explore Yang Min Shan. It's a really really lovely place.
Check out this site "welcome2taiwan" official website and u can decide for yourself if the trip is worthwhile for you :)
http://www.welcome2taiwan.net/
PS: I typically would travel by the metro and public bus to get the local feel and its really convenient but the cabs are fairly cheap as well. Let me know if u need more info:)
Yeah U have my full vote! Anansi Boys is really good. I read that about 3 years back when it was launch coz i am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and own every book he has out after first taste of Sandman and Neverwhere. The only book I didnt like from him was Fragile things... To date, Neverwhere still top my list :) I thought I like Tom Holts but after a few books, I lost interest.
To share, I am more of an avid crime thrill murder book fan and also period literature series (eg: The tudors, The constant princess etc). Currently my fav crime author is Karin Slaughter. I love how there is always a twist in her plot. I use to like Patricia Cornwell but she got really really boring after like her 10th book.
Oh yes! To kill a mocking bird is a FANTASTIC literature read, together with Lord of the flies! It was my school literature read back in high school and I loved them! They were so much better than the shakespere R&J I was forced to read. Somehow, heavy romance is just NOT my fav....I never had a thing for them and hardly read any. Maybe coz my English tutor who also happens to be Sister Mary, use to call them "Canal desire TRASH" and somehow her very strong distate was etched in my head forever.Hoo Hoo
I finished eclipse last night. Yeah I couldnt wait. I am one of those obsessive complusive sort who once decides to do or want something, I would not stop to catch a breathe till I finished what I started. Somehow the 3rd book leave me high and dry what is to come between Bella and Edward and I was hoping breaking dawn would dwell more into it but reading what u just shared, am i going to be let down by the 4th book? Is breaking dawn the last installment for the series or more? I am asssuming midnight sun is a spin off book and not a continuation from the twilight series?
I laughed when I read your comment about bourne. I SOOOO agree but I didnt mind Matt Damon so I was ok with the 3 movies:)
I think it is suffice to say that I have yet to come across any adapted movie from novel that can surpass or even be on par with the book they are based on. Hence, many times if I had already read the book, I would would almost never catch the movie such as Namesake, the kite runner, Charlotte's Web etc. Sometimes I wish I didnt read so much because it really deprive me of many hollywood movies. I think the movies often does the book (author) injustice..... I had never read Lord of the Rings, so I can live with it:) Harry Potter was also the only exception that I thought the movie was relatively on par in terms of story presentation. Oh Bridget Jones Diary was pretty funny so I guess it was alright. However, I think I would skip "Confessions of a shopaholic" movie. I loved that book when I first read it many years back, so I dont think I want a tainted on screen version marring my memories of the book :P
I love Vampire books and read many series I know off. Anne rice series however never really did it for me though. I much prefer Dresden Files by Jim Butcher which has more action. I hate the TV series though and I heard it got canned. The book can be a little corny but it's great entertaining read if I do not want anything too heavy. It's only a pity it takes forever for the new releases to be out of state.
Oh cow! I didnt realise I wrote so much! Sorry if I bore u or anyone reading :P And in case anyone is wondering now, yeah, I have enough books in my house that I had to dedicate a whole room to shelve all the books bought.:P
Arh u mean Zettai Kareshi?! Ha! Take your time. I love the Manga itself so I am not a keen supporter of the drama series itself because it deviate too much from the original manga. The only reason I watch was for Hiro the actor. Haaaa haaa. call me shallow! haaaa
As for BBF, I finally caught up. So lame, so lame.....so lame till I dont even want to waste my time blogging it anymore!!!
Hey Cincan!! Glad to see u are here too!!!! :)
I know what u mean! The lines in Twilight and the subsequent books are pretty cheesy isnt it?!!! U know the first time I heard the tofu thing that Edward was explaining to Bella about not feeding on human blood, i was like "Where the hell that came from?!!" I was like "Eeeewwwe" soooo cheeeeeesy!! Well I am sure many more but i have to keep reminding myself its a teenage flick, not an adult movie to keep my eyes from rolling backwards.
Oh u are really a girl of same taste! I thought Alice Jasper pair was soooooo much better too!! Even the Bella/ Jacob thing doesnt do it for me. There is something about Bella I dont quite like. How she seem to have so little regard of her own life and ready to throw away, love or not. She is just plain weird. Edward is too saintly...i find it hard to well, believe...
Oh dear... reading your advice about not having too much expectation...i think I am going to be disappointed now. Breaking dawn is completely sold out so I have to wait till end of the month to lay my hand on it. I have finished the 3rd book and still pretty dissatisfied. Will I feel "cheated" as a reader? I hope not! I hate those leave me hanging dry series! I will certainly share my thoughts after i get to read the 4th book.
Incidentally, I bought the book novel version for the Japanese drama Akai Ito and browse thru it quickly and it seemed a little different from the drama? I could be wrong but i caught a page that seem to indicate Mei slept with someone...Oh dear. I hope I am wrong!!
@Tvaddict
That's what I exactly thought about Bella too. She didn't appreciate her own life and her parents.
Forgive me for giving you disappointed feeling about the books, but it just my opinion. Some people did think that the book was great and maybe you're belong to this category.
hope you still enjoy your reading.
@Cincan, Elisa
I finally finished reading Breaking Dawn. I finally also know what you mean about the last book being not so spectacular...
While its not crappy, but its also not fantastic and kinda well, lame...
I was rolling my eyes when Bella got so aggravated about Jacob calling her daughter Nessie. Big hairy deal. What is her damn problem. I never once linked it with lock ness. I think the author is alittle ahead of herself in trying to be "creative" in dialogue. Plus what has Bella got to be so upset about? She should be glad that its jacob who is imprinted on her daughter. What? Does she think for a min her half bred off spring has a chance of liking another human, another off the world freak like her? A shape shifter is perfect.
Bella continues to annoy me in the last book though the part where she learn to control and expand her power was a small good part that stop the book from falling from grace. Edward has gone to a complete heartthrob to a wimp in my book...
Well, I cannot see how the movie will be captivating honestly, even though one can tell that the book is written with a movie conversion in mind. The book itself while not a failure, is a letdown for any discerning reader.
Say, let Twilight honestly fade into the twilight. It honestly doesnt deserves all the hype and media attention for a lampe plot as such. Then again, those 15-16yrs old would prob drive a stake through my heart for such dismayal review...
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