Viola's comments (member since Sep 17, 2008)

Viola's comments from the Cyber Book Club group.

I'm posting this here since this article (the reason for the thread in the first place) is what led me to that wonderful thief, Eugenides. :)

Here is an interview with Megan Whalen Turner about the fourth book. I love her description of Gen. LOVE him! :)

http://hipwritermama.blogspot.com/2009/1...

Oh, Jenn, I wish I was there to giggle with you about Eddie's stare. :) I can't wait for you to do it for me in real life with your loping gait! I'll totally be flourescent dancing Bella for you too. The ewok will be in the trees, and then my Alex will appear in the woods and we'll get out the syrup...we WILL resurrect our New Moon the musical plans! :)

Nic Cage: oh my! That bird wig is NUTS! There are people who think he is hot. Do any of you? He creeps me out!

I know, Precious. I know. I LURRRVVVVE it! I mean, him. :)

:(

So sad I missed you, my Precious! I hope we can find each other today.

Well, hello there, Mr. Jace...

http://alexpettyfersource.com/gallery/di...

http://alexpettyfersource.com/gallery/di...

Jenn, I have the first Crown Duel but not the second. Must work on this! I'm half-way through my STephen King doorstopper and have 500 pages to go. I must finish quickly and will need a distraction. A very bad man by the name of Rennie is causing me distress!!!!! Sexy, chivalric book man...where are you???

Okay, about Mr. Miach...what can I say?

Mr. Miach, aka Archmage of Neroche, is a super precious book boy. He is intelligent, kind, handsome, well-mannered, and he nails the art of chivalry PERFECTLY. Once I met him, I knew why Jenn AY wanted to marry him and the trilogy he stars in. He is definitely worth reading about. And, the entire time I read about him, I pictured Henry Cavill! WAHOO!!!!!

By the way, in case anyone is reading, Mr. Miach, Jenn AY's husband, is from ...

Star of the Morning
The Mage's Daughter
The Princess and the Sword
--all by Lynn Kurland

My MIACH!!! Are you here? Mrs. P. is feeling neglected. :(

Methinks I need to post some pictures, but I can't get them to paste on here. I could post the website, but that's no fun. Not today. :) I just want pictures. Poor, poor technologically challenged Viola. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE! :)

Jenn, Angie, Shari, and Lisa...

Thanks for your strep throat wisdom! I'm not happy that people have had to deal with this over and over again like you all did, but it makes me feel better knowing that somebody else has had this issue. Right now, everyone I see is like, "My gosh. He's sick AGAIN???" It makes me feel awful!

I have many students at school who are sharing stories with me about their experiences with tonsilectomies (sp?), and they had a variety of experiences with pain. A few kids had them out as late as 6th grade (last year for some of them), and they recalled that it was painful. The ones who had them out as younger children though, said it wasn't that bad at all.


I'm not really sure what will occur at the moment, but we're seeing an infectious disease specialist at Riley on Thursday to determine if he has any other infection that is causing his immune system to be down, making him more susceptible to strep. On 12/23, we see an ENT.

On Tuesday, he also had a double ear infection, so...the saga continues. He has no pain, no fever, and has been at school. He's now on two antibiotics, an oral one and drops for his ears. We just have so many unanswered questions, but I think the ID and the ENT should help us figure out what is going on and what we can do about it.

Thanks for sharing all of your stories. It's very helpful. :) And Lisa, this is his first year at public school. You're right; it's obviously tough on him being sick, but it's hard on the parents. I think my husband and I are both going to have ulcers pretty soon if we don't get him well for good. You just worry and worry and worry. I've made the nurse at our pediatrician's office cry twice because I've called there freaking out so many times. I didn't mean to take out my anxiety on her, but I'm pretty sure I did. Oops. Viola must send a card apologizing for being a crazy mom. :)

Footloose...not sure how I feel about this. I was a dancer all my life, so as a kid, this was a HUGE movie for me! I've always loved it and will have a crush on skinny Kevin Bacon forever because of his character. I loved him for the dancing, but now as a nerdy English teacher, I love how he talks about Slaughterhouse Five. *sigh* Boys and books...have to lOVE it.

Anyway, I will probably try to embrace it. Maybe. But THE KARATE KID????? Have you heard about this? Will Smith's son is the new karate kid. I'm so ticked.

What I don't understand is the fact that they don't leave the good ones alone. There HAS to be new material out there that is great. I'm certain there is, but the film industry must be like the publishing industry: they don't take risks on new writers or new material when they have a guaranteed sale sitting in their hands. Clearly, it's all about money. It's not about bringing the old stuff out for a new generation either; the new generation LIKES the old stuff when they see it! Technology may be different and special effects may be better these days, but when it's classic, it should be left alone. :(

Granted, the Karate Kid isn't Casablanca or anything, but I think it's a pop culture classic, if you will. I did something with one of my hands in class the other day, and one of my 7th graders who was born in 1996 said, "Wax on. Wax off." My point is, they are aware of some of the oldies that are great. Why can't we leave them alone? :(

No more pouting for Viola! Off to cook a turkey! :)

I've seen the dances I missed now, or parts of them anyway.

LOVE Jakob and Ashleigh.
LOVE Legacy and Kathryn.
LOVE ...I liked them all. Seriously, this is starting to get tough for me!

The one that I didn't care for was Karen, as usual, so I was happy that she left. She does well at her specialty, but she doesn't stand out to me in the other dances. I don't think she is as versatile as the other girls who can pull off everything. Channing was the same way.

As for Viktor, I think he is an amazing dancer. He's been hit or miss on the performances, but his solos are beautiful. That's when he really shines for me. I've always liked Nathan, but last night...I'm not sure. I would love to hear the rationale from the judges about why they kept Nathan but got rid of Viktor. I'm not disagreeing with their choice; I just wish we could hear their debate, especially since Nigel didn't agree.

Can't wait to hear what Cilly and Jenn think!

Boohoo! My hubby ERASED the show from my DVR! GRRRR!

I agree with you, Jenn, about Channing. She was kind of bla in terms of personality, but I love her when she does contemporary jazz. Love may be a strong word. I enjoyed her and see so much potential there. I definitely thought her solo was MUCH better than Karen's. That said, Karen has performed better consistently, and I think Channing was still finding her way.

I'm so bummed I can't see this week's episode!!!

By the way, Jenn, guess what? I saw a preview for Lost last night! NO KIDDING! I screamed!!!

Lisa, when we moved from our last house, my son thought we forgot something HUGE. It had a three-car garage, and when we got to the new house, he started crying and said that we forgot the other garage!!! He was very concerned about how we would get it back. We never did! :)

Also, at school in kindergarten, he had to write a sentence starting with I. My little guy's sentence was, "I have a toylet." Yay! He definitely proves that theory that boys are WAY more fascinated with body parts and bodily functions. He loves to say the word toilet because everyone (not me) laughs. :)

Jenn, have you seen the movie?

From last week...

I was sad to see Channing go because her solo was sooo much better than Karen. Granted, Karen has delivered better overall. That said, I still can't stand KAren!

I thought it was what's-his-name's time to go. :(

Hey everyone...

I LOVED the movie! Here are some thoughts:

1) I can't believe that KMonotone actually has a personality! Sort of! She was soooo much better in NM than in Twilight. I still don't feel like she captures the true essence of the Bella from the books; it feels like there is still too much of quirky Kristen Stewart in there, but this was better than Twilight. Less ticking. More emotion. A softer performance. I think the scenes with Jacob really showed this.

2) RPatz...again, it was better for me. The crazy stare was gone, and I felt like we got a softer side of him as well. I like RPatz, especially in interviews and photo shoots, but he never quite completely captures the Edward from the books for me. It could be my interpretation, but the Edward from the books felt so smooth, suave, intelligent, chivalric, and old-fashioned, and I didn't feel that with RPatz in Twilight. This is not to say that I don't like him or his performance; it just wasn't the Edward I loved from the books. His performance in NM was more of that, for me anyway. It's not what I think a more experienced actor (Henry Cavill...who cares how old he is!) could bring to the table, but it was better for me this time around. A major improvement from Twilight.

3) Hair and makeup...WAHOO! Whoever was in charge here did a great job! Aside from Jasper, who I still think is made up to look like Edward Scissorhands, looked so much better! RPatz had his smokin' hot hair (that was clean, no doubt!), and Kristen Stewart looked more like the part of Bella. Again, this was a softer look for her. I LOVED her hair throughout the entire movie, and the makeup suited her well and made her look less ...what's the word? Unapproachable?

4) Cinematography...I thought the whole movie was so pretty. I especially loved the entire Volturi scene.

5) Camera work...I'm not sure if this is the category to put my comments in (Jenn AY can add her expertise here!), but I loved all the slow mo shots, especially in the Volturi. So many parts of Twilight felt rushed and choppy to me, and this movie felt so much smoother! I loved it!

6) Charlie and the teenagers...loved them. They were perfect.

7) Jacob: I was sooo impressed with Taylor Lautner. I thought he captured the essence of Jacob perfectly. His performance seemed natural and genuine; never once did I not see him as a friend to Bella, someone who is falling in love with her slowly. I especially loved the interaction between Jacob and Bella. It seemed so natural and authentic. I'm totally on Team Edward, but I loved the scenes with the two of them.

That said, New Moon is not my favorite in the series. I love it, but I know others love it more and are better acquainted with the text and the characterization in New Moon, so I look forward to hearing their thoughts on this.

8) Volturi...again, I LOVED all of this. Jane was a bit creepier for me in the book, but I LOVED Dakota Fanning's calm delivery of "This may hurt a little." I'm so impressed with her as a young actress.

The scenery was beautiful here, and again, I LOVED the camera work with Bella running to Edward, the fight scene, etc. For me, it was my favorite section of the whole film, which I thought was fitting since it ends with a bang.

Speaking of that bang...I know that some don't like the ending (not the Volturi maybe, but the final minutes), so I won't speak for that. I need to familiarize myself with the end of the book again before I comment.

9) Music...loved it.

Overall, I LOVED the movie! There were no scenes or moments where I cringed with embarrassment like I did in Twilight, and I attribute this to the growth of the actors but mainly to the director and his vision. The differences here between Chris Weitz and Catherine Hardwicke are sooo clear, and I LOVE what he has brought to this. Yay! Can't wait to see it again! My Twilight-obsessed mother and I are going again on Tgiving weekend.

Yes, Jenn, there are several people at NMW. I was going to go, but my kiddo can't stay healthy. In six weeks, he has had strep throat twice and keeps getting this 104+ fever that lasts for at least 5 days. Between the two strep illnesses, he had the random high fever again.

After this last time, we made an appointment with an infectious disease specialist for December 3. I am hoping to get some answers them so we can get our little guy healthy. In the meantime, I would love for anybody with strep throat wisdom to offer it!

And yes, I did see New Moon at midnight with friends, here and I loved it. I need to get on the thread and comment.

94) The Princess and the Sword--Lynn Kurland

Man, I cannot believe everyone is nuts about Beautiful Creatures. I'm SOOO glad Melis and I are totally in sync on this one. It's all the rage, and I genuinely don't get it. Those Dark Side haters who thought Bella Swan was a Mary Sue...they'll have a field day with those characters in BC. Truthfully, I won't recommend it to anyone, but if somebody here reads it, I would love to hear thoughts on it. I won't argue with anyone if they love it! I would just love to know exactly what is so great about it if they genuinely like it. For me, it was BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA about people I didn't care about.

Brooklyn is on my list. I'm asking for that one from Santa. Wolf Hall is on that list too. Woohoo!