Colleen Houck's Blog, page 25

September-Colleen Houck Book Club

Fairest

by Marissa Meyer

Last month’s pick was The Body Electric by Beth Revis. For those of you who participated in the live chat on Goodreads with authors Beth and Colleen Houck, thanks! It was so much fun! For the next reading selection Colleen has chosen…

Fairest

Marissa Meyer

Book Four in the Lunar Chronicles Series

Here’s a little teaser

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story—a story that has never been told … until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from WINTER, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.”

 Introducing Marissa Meyer

“I finally got to meet Marissa Meyer at a book signing at Powell’s in Portland, OR. She’s so cute and charming and everyone who meets her just adores her. And special bonus, she wears glittery high heels to her book signings just like Cinder! They’re so gorgeous!” =)  -Colleen Houck

“One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.

When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).

When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.

Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER is my first novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around too.

I now live with my husband and our three cats (Calexandria Josephine, Stormus Enormous, and Blackland Rockwell III), who go in and out, in and out, about eight hundred times a day. My favorite non-bookish things include Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, re-watching episodes of Firefly, and playing all manners of dress-up.”

You can find out more about her and her books at her website, www.marissameyer.com.

I’m very excited to check out her novel and I look forward to discussing it at the end of the month with all of you on Goodreads for the live chat on September 29th at 6pm (PST). 

 

So everybody who wants to join us, go get your hands on this book. You can start leaving your questions right away (but don’t share spoilers just yet). Also, remember that you don’t need to read the book to participate in the live chat. It’s a GREAT opportunity to get to know the authors and ask any questions you’d like!

For fun there will be a GIVEAWAY during the live chat!

Happy reading everyone!

~Till next time,

Linda Louise Lotti

Subject of Poetry- September Contest of the Month

eek, in honor of poetry, I’d like to host my first Poetry Contest! – See more at: http://www.tigerscursebook.com/blog/p...
A word fitly spoken is music to the ears, emotion to the soul, even a bright star to which we fix our gaze. Poetry can be severely powerful and it can also be dangerously fragile. Emily Dickinson said, “If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire could ever warm me, I know that it is poetry”.  Poetry to me is like a chiseled marble of language and by allowing its words to take root in our heart and mind, it can enliven our sensitivity to life’s meanings and purpose.  I have great respect for those great poets such as Faust, Shakespeare, Frost, Austen, Whitman, and Twain, to name a few, who have mastered the written language. There talent is truly wondrous and boggles my mind. – See more at: http://www.tigerscursebook.com/blog/p...
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A word fitly spoken is music to the ears, emotion to the soul, even a bright star to which we fix our gaze. Poetry can be severely powerful and it can also be dangerously fragile. Emily Dickinson said, “If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire could ever warm me, I know that it is poetry.”

Poetry to me is like a chiseled marble of language and by allowing its words to take root in our heart and mind, it can enliven our sensitivity to life’s meanings and purpose. I have great respect for those great poets such as Faust, Shakespeare, Austen, Whitman, and Twain, to name a few, who have mastered the language. Their talent is truly wondrous and boggles my mind.

Poets are unrelentingly carefully in selecting the perfect words for preciseness and clarity. While it is not uncommon for writers to write “poetically” in general, poets go well beyond the reasonable. The poet considers a word’s emotive qualities, its musical value, its spacing, and even its spacial relationship to the page. They create a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

I’d like to share a poem from one of my favorite poets, Robert Frost.

Pray to what earth does this sweet cold belong,

Which asks no duties and no conscience?

The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful path

In some far summer stratum of the sky,

While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.

The fields gleam mildly back upon the sky,

And far and near upon the leafless shrubs

The snow dust still emits a silver light.

Under the hedge, where drift banks are their screen,

The titmice now pursue their downy dreams,

As often in the sweltering summer nights

The bee doth drop asleep in the flower cup,

When evening overtakes him with his load.

By the brooksides, in the still, genial night,

The more adventurous wanderer may hear

The crystals shoot and form, and winter slow

Increase his rule by gentlest summer means

Many of you have a shared interest in reading and writing with Colleen and so for this contest we’d like to reward our top two favorite poems written by YOU with a Writer’s Prize Package put together with you in mind!

Here are a few guidelines;

1- The subject is nature (You can interpret this any way you’d like!) Please no longer than one page.

2-Must be YOUR writing and you must give permission to post it (if you are the lucky winner) on this website.

3- Must be submitted by September 30th at midnight PST. Submit all entries to  colleenhouckcontests@gmail.com

Reach high, dream deep, and dare to write from your heart! Good luck everyone! – See more at: http://www.tigerscursebook.com/blog/p...

So, without further ado, “let your imagination bud forth and give form of things unknown, the poet’s pen, and turn them to shapes which gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name”~ William Shakespeare. –

Reach high, dream deep, and dare to write from the heart! Good luck everyone!

~ Linda Louise Lotti

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August Contest Winner Announced!

How Well Do You Know Your Mythology?

 

In celebration of Colleen Houck’s upcoming release of her new Egyptian series, REAWAKENED on August 11th, 2015, we held a contest for a chance to win a fun Adventure Pack including an official Hardbound edition of REAWAKENED signed by Colleen Houck!

 Thanks to everyone who participated! And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for! The winner is . . .

Kellee Griffis

Congratulations Kellee! An email has been sent to you for you to claim your prize.

If you would still like to play, Colleen Houck keeps the contests going every month! So, if you want to increase your odds of winning, just keep playing! :0)

September’s contest of the month is live and ready to go, you can check it on our blog.

~Till next time,

Linda Louise Lotti

RECIPES: Burgers, Stuffed and Flavored

RECIPES: Burgers, Stuffed and Flavored

 

In the United States we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday in September. Since this 3-day weekend is the tail end of our summer many people take the opportunity to barbecue, kind of as a last hurrah before autumn rolls in in earnest. So, in celebration of Labor Day and the end of summer, this post is all about burgers. Stuffed burgers. Flavored burgers. Not so much a recipe, but tips and ideas for making stuffed or flavored burgers.

Colleen had a family barbecue for the 4th of July so we took advantage of the pre-BBQ food prep day to work on some recipes and test a burger stuffing gadget called STUFZ. You can read our review of the STUFZ burger stuffer on the GADGET TESTING & REVIEWS page.

Here’s what we learned about stuffed and flavored burgers:

1. We prefer to season the ground meat before making the burgers. At least with salt and pepper if nothing else.

2. We also found that we like burgers stuffed with cheese. The cheese really helps keep the burgers moist from the inside out.

3. Sliced or chunked cheese is easier to cover completely with your ground meat than shredded or grated cheese.

4. Sautéed vegetable type items work better on top of the burger than they do stuffed inside.

5. There are two pretty effective ways to stuff your burger by hand. One method is to take a burger-sized ball of ground meat and make a hollow. Place stuffing in the hollow. Work the meat up and over the stuffing. The other method is to make a thin burger. Place stuffing in the center of the burger leaving a border of meat uncovered. Place a second thin burger over the stuffing and seal the edges of the burgers together.

6. If you are pre-making your burgers it is very helpful to use burger papers (4×4 squares of parchment paper) in between them so they keep their shape and don’t stick to each other.

7. Don’t go crazy with the stuffing. The more stuffing in the burger, the more likely it is to fall apart while cooking.

We made two different kinds of stuffing for the 4th of July. The first was a Mushroom, Onion, Gruyère burger with sautéed mushrooms, onions, garlic and Gruyère cheese all mixed together inside the burger. The second was a Hawaiian burger with a stuffing of sautéed onions and garlic, bacon, crushed pineapple, chopped deli ham and a Polynesian marinade all cooked together. Both tasted great, but based on our tips above you’ll see those burgers reworked in the list we’ve included for stuffed or flavored burger ideas.

Some ideas we brainstormed for flavoring or stuffing burgers:

ASIAN SHRIMP BURGER: Grind shrimp, green onions, garlic, ginger and a splash of soy sauce in a food processor. Serve shrimp burger on a French roll with mayonnaise flavored with wasabi or Sriracha.

BISTRO CHICKEN STUFFED BURGERS: Chicken or turkey burger stuffed with Brie, Gouda or chèvre cheese. Serve on a fancy bum like brioche with apricot jam mixed with grainy mustard. Or sliced fresh pear with pesto.

CHICKEN APPLE SAGE STUFFED BURGER: Ground chicken seasoned with sage and mixed with shredded apple. Stuffed with Gouda, Brie or fontina cheese.

HAWAIIAN STUFFED BURGERS: Ground meat of choice formed around a whole pineapple ring. Top burgers with thinly sliced ham, caramelized onions and sweet barbecue sauce.

ITALIAN STUFFED BURGER: Mix ground meat of choice with Italian sausage. Stuff burgers with mozzarella or provolone cheese. Serve on Italian rolls with giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetables).

MUSHROOM, ONION, GRUYÈRE STUFFED BURGER: Ground meat of choice stuffed with Gruyère cheese. Serve on a toasted French roll or a pretzel roll and top with sautéed mushrooms and onions.

PHILLY CHEESESTEAK STUFFED BURGER: Stuff beef burgers with provolone cheese. Top burgers with sautéed bell peppers and onions.

SOUVLAKI FLAVORED BURGERS: Ground chicken, turkey or pork seasoned with garlic, lemon zest and oregano or Greek seasoning blend. Serve in a pita with crumbled feta cheese, sliced or chopped tomato, red onion and cucumber and tzatziki sauce.

SPANAKOPITA FLAVORED BURGERS: Ground chicken or turkey seasoned with garlic and fresh dill. Mix in finely crumbled feta. Top burgers with sautéed spinach and onions. Bake squares of puff pastry then split them to use as buns to imitate the flaky phyllo dough used with spanakopita.

Hopefully these burger tips and ideas will come in handy if you’re planning a barbecue of your own for Labor Day or if you are just looking for ways to make burger night more interesting. As I was writing these ideas out it occurred to me that some of these ideas sound great for meatballs or pasta bakes as well. This is certainly not an all-inclusive list. Be creative with flavors of other dishes you already know you and your friends and family love and re-imagine them into a burger. 

If you’re taste buds are ready to amp things up a bit on the grill, than we’ve made it even easier for you to try! You can enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win your very own burger making basket!

Check it out,

Enter rafflecopter here,

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

We’d love to hear what you think of these burger ideas and how they worked out for you, simply leave a comment below.

GADGET TESTING and REVIEWS

GADGET TESTING & REVIEWS

 

Gadgets tested / reviewed in order:

STUFZ Burger Stuffer

 

STUFZ Burger Stuffer

 

STUFZ Burger Stuffer – Nope.  (Unless you’re very patient and enjoy playing with new kitchen gadgets.  We’re aaallllll over the second part of that caveat, but fail miserably at the first part.)

Colleen and I tried out this burger stuffing tool while prepping for her family’s 4th of July get together. I should preface this one with a little information about Colleen that you may not know:  She is NOT big on patience in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong. She’s definitely a Foodie and likes cooking, and her food usually turns out well. She just doesn’t really enjoy the pesky little details of cooking. Like reading through the recipe or instructions first. Or measuring precisely. Or rotating cookie trays in the oven for even cooking. Or letting things cool before moving on to the next step. Or not manhandling fragile plastic doohickies. Remember that last one…it will be important later.

DETAILS:

This Burger Stuffer retails for around $10 in our area. It is made of plastic and not in America. It makes a rather wide and tall burger with an abundance of stuffing.

PROS:

-It does, indeed, make a stuffed burger.

-The instructions are pretty clear.

-The process for removing the stuffed burger from the device is kind of ingenious.

CONS:

-It makes ginormous burger! Who needs a burger that big!?!?

-It can hold A LOT of stuffing. It almost seemed like more stuffing than burger, which is how it seemed after cooking as well.

-Getting the top (kind of like the burger’s lid) on the burger with the gadget was kind of an unwieldy and unsuccessful process.

-One of the plastic pieces broke off during the stuffing of burger number 2.

-It was a pretty messy process.

CONCLUSION:

If you are patient and follow directions carefully, this might be a fun gadget to play with. By the time we finished the second burger and broke a piece off the stuffer, we were done. We ended up throwing the stuffer away at that point. If you’re going to have to get your hands dirty anyway, it just made more sense to us to go ahead and stuff the rest by hand and make them a more reasonable size. And while the instructions were pretty clear, the process from start to finish had a lot of steps, and was not very intuitive. This means reading & following the instructions on each burger until you get the hang of it. Pretty sure Colleen just winged it after I talked her through the process on the first one. And, though it does appear there was some manhandling of fragile plastic doohickies, in her defense, it did seem to require a good amount of force to form the bottom part of the burger. Not too surprising that could lead to breakage.

It’s a PARTY! Houck’s First REAWAKENED Book Signing

For all of Houck’s die hard fans, you know that two weeks ago, August 11th, was the release date for her new book series, REAWAKENED. The week flew by with back to back events in Salem, Portland, and Seattle. Each event was done in typical “Colleen Houck fashion” (which if you know her at all, you’d know that she does everything bigger, better, and above and beyond anything you’d expect for a book event).

In true party fashion, Colleen’s staff stormed the stores with balloons, Egyptian themed table decorations, posters, prize bags for every fan, FREE books, candy, charms, goodies, raffle prizes,  cupcakes, cherry danishes (if you’ve already read the book you know why ;-)), cookies, an Egyptian themed photo booth, and last but not least a real LIVE MUMMY!

It was crazy, it was exciting, it was intensely fun!

Just take a look at some of the awesomeness,

Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from Beaverton Bakery! Yummy!

Just one of many raffle prizes!

Our mummy walked the isles while the audience listed to author Colleen Houck!

(You see all of those bags and bags of prizes??? Every attendee left the event with one!)

(Our mummy was moving among the crown and making some, oh I don’t know if it’s excitement, fear, or maybe both?)

Excited fans receiving their REAWAKENED copy plus FREE books from author friends! Yeah!

Colleen’s VERY FIRST official book signing for REAWAKENED! So exciting!!

Eager fans bringing their books to get signed!

Standing in line! I heard some fans drove all the way from California for the book events! How sweet!

Colleen’s fans are so cute!

So funny, Colleen posed here trying to tempt her mummy with a cherry Danish (Amon’s favorite dish in New York).

 

 

Colleen posing with family (aka her minions for the evening).

Behind the scenes was a major production. Colleen’s team kept busy loading and unloading over 250 prize bags, almost 30 raffle prizes, 75 balloons, decorations, food for over 250 fans, and that’s not everything!

Our first stop for the week was the Salem Book Bin. Check it out,

Some of Houck’s kind author friends donated some of their books for the event! I think they are excited!

After Salem, we headed to Powells Book Store in Portland. Most of the pictures you’ve already seen above but here’s a couple more,

 It was such a fun event and I think everyone really enjoyed it!

Lastly, we drove almost seven, that’s right I said SEVEN, hours to Seattle for the last book event of the week at Elliot Bay. This was a much more private event for a VERY LUCKY youth book club! They got the rare opportunity to have a reading by Colleen in the cozy upstairs corner of the book store of her new REAWAKENED novel. The kids giggled and were hanging on every word. It was super fun!

Here’s a picture of the club,

Colleen shared that Twilight was her first introduction to YA and how she fell in love with the books and genre. It was those books that inspired her to put pen to paper and how Tiger’s Curse was born. This sweet young fan approached Colleen and said, “your books were my first YA love”! Awww!

Colleen got a surprise visit from a relative she’d never met!

These sugar cookies were AWESOME! Look how detailed the paint is! The secret is rice paper!

So, after the whirlwind of events, we cooled our heels for a day in downtown Seattle. We walked Pikes Market and shopped the mall. Afterwards we chilled in the hotel watching chick flicks and giggling as sisters do!

So if you weren’t able to attend these events, you missed out but don’t worry, Colleen will be making stops in several states so be sure to check the FAQ’s for upcoming events! Maybe she’ll come to a city near you!

So far, she’ll be heading to Brazil, Utah, Idaho, Chicago, San Fransisco, and possibly New York in the next two months!

Stay tuned till next time!

~ Linda Louise Lotti

Reawakened Hits the NY Times Bestseller List!

I’m not sure if I can call you tiger fans anymore. Mummy fans doesn’t fit exactly right either. We’ll come up with something I’m sure. Anyway…

It’s thrilling to hit the New York Times Best Seller list and its much harder to do than you might think. Not too many authors get to add that title to their name. 

I feel very fortunate not only to hit the list again but to hit it with a new series. I know this is thanks to all my very supportive and awesome fans who love my tigers and were willing to give my mummies a chance. Without all of you, I wouldn’t be able to write books for a living. I love my job and I know I’m very lucky to be able to do this full time. I’m so very grateful to all of you for sharing my books with your friends and family and students and to the wonderful people at Delacorte who have worked very hard behind the scenes to make sure my books can get into your hands in as seamless a way as possible. 

I didn’t achieve this alone…we did it together.

Thank you!

RECIPE: Brussels Sprout Salad

RECIPE: Brussels Sprout Salad

 

 

Did you know that Brussels sprouts were named after Brussels, Belgium where they were first cultivated? Yep. I had to google it. Many people say they hate Brussels sprouts or refuse to even try them. This dish may just convert or recruit them to sprout lovers. If you’re feeding it to picky eaters, I suggest you just call it “lemon cranberry slaw”, or something else innocuous, until they’ve given it an objective try. This sprout salad is another dish that is an excellent choice for a potluck, party or barbecue. Instead of a mayonnaise based dressing I adapted Martha Stewart’s Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette. This salad is easy to make and just as easy to make a large batch as a small one. It gets even better after a few days, so you can make it ahead and have one less thing to do on the day of your gathering. The recipe can easily be halved if you don’t need to feed a crowd. The first time I made it I shaved a gazillion sprouts one-by-one on my mandoline. While I prefer the shaved version, it is a lot of work. This food processor method is much quicker and easier.

 

 

Brussels Sprout Salad

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed & halved

5-10 green onions, green and white parts

1 med size bunch cilantro, leaves and stems

2 large lemons, juice & zest

4T Dijon mustard

2T rice vinegar (plain, not “seasoned”)

2 large cloves garlic

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1T sugar, additional to taste

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup pine nuts, toasted

Salt & pepper to taste

Some notes before we get started:

BRUSSELS SPROUTS: Choose sprouts that look pretty uniformly green without a lot of yellow leaves or black spots. Trim the stem end if it looks a bit dry. If you will be shaving them instead of chopping, look for the largest & tightest sprouts you can find to make the shaving a little easier. If the sprouts don’t look good when you’re ready to make this salad you could substitute cauliflower, broccoli florets & peeled stems, broccolini, asparagus tips & peeled stems, or even bagged pre-cut coleslaw mix. (The “angel hair” shaved variety of coleslaw mix would be my first choice.) 

GREEN ONIONS: I like a lot of onion in my salads. Normally, I would put several green onions in the blended dressing and add some diced red onion directly to the salad, but I didn’t have a red onion handy when I made it this time.

CILANTRO: I like cilantro so I use a lot. If you don’t like cilantro you could substitute a big handful of parsley or even a handful of mint leaves.

DRIED CRANBERRIES: I have only used cranberries in this salad so far, but I have been thinking about some alternative dried fruits that would also work well. Dried apricots (diced), cherries or raisins seem like some good alternatives. Maybe even drained canned crushed pineapple or mandarin orange segments?

PINE NUTS: While pine nuts are my favorite choice for this salad, they can be hard to find and/or very expensive. You could really use almost any nut or seed that you prefer. Preferably toasted, and chopped if needed. If you are making the salad ahead you may want to wait and add the nuts just before serving to ensure their crispness. I go ahead and add the nuts at the beginning and then often sprinkle some more fresh pine nuts on the salad when serving.

Okay, now on to the method:

1. Pulse halved Brussels sprouts in batches in food processor until uniformly chopped. Add to a large salad bowl for mixing.

2. You can make the lemon Dijon dressing in the unwashed processor or in a blender. Roughly chop 4 of the green onions and the cilantro (leaves & stems), add to processor bowl or blender, and pulse several times to chop. Add lemon juice & zest, Dijon mustard, rice vinegar, whole peeled garlic cloves, olive oil and 1T sugar. Process or blend until fairly smooth with no big chunks. Pour over chopped sprouts in salad bowl.

3. Thinly slice the rest of your green onions and add to salad bowl.

4. Add dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts. Mix.

 

5. Add salt, pepper and additional sugar to taste.

6. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to a week.

 

MOVE Live Tour Report- A Guy’s Perspective

Though I am not a big Dancing With the Stars fan like Colleen, I was totally willing to attend a dance concert—the MOVE Live on Tour by Derek and Julianne Hough. The result was we left the performance with our eardrums drumming and our heads spinning. We arrived 3-hours early to begin our VIP experience. After some waiting around and purchasing his book, which the vendor said Derek would sign after the show, we waited still more while the two Stars were prepping to meet the VIP crowd of about 75 people.

Finally, Derek, with his usual high-strung energy, enthusiastically greeted us and gave a speech about the MOVE theme of their concert, saying they believe that motion equals emotion, and he wanted us, who would be seated in the front section, to reflect that belief during the show by jumping out of seats when they said MOVE, pumping our fists and screaming at the top of our lungs. Julianne joined in and we lined up for a Photo Op.

When our turn came, we hugged and shook hands. I was surprised at how young Julianne looked in person. I had to Google her age, and learned she is 27 and her brother is 30. It’s true, isn’t it, that the camera adds pounds and also years to your appearance? As we left, we were given a bag with some items and went to a restaurant next door to wait for the performance to start. That was pretty much the extent of our VIP experience.

Our seats were six rows back from the stage, and they were great. Deafening music fueled the entire show, just the way I like it. I was surprised to see that Julianne sang some songs without even dancing, and Derek also threw in some vocals for good measure. A talented supporting dance cast of ten members—five females and five males—filled up much of the stage and performed while the two stars changed costumes or needed a breather. Like most of the attendants, I’m sure, whenever Derek and Julianne were dancing with the cast, I mostly ignored the cast and fixed my eyes on the two celebrated dancers. The video below depicts elements of the show far better than any of my blurry pictures could provide.

Most of the dances were up-tempo, and infested with sharp twists and turns, even some acrobatic leaps and lifts, one after another. I was impressed with how easily dancing tells a story, conveyed simply by brief expressions and gestures. Not that I didn’t know that before, but up-close homed in that reality for me. Once in a while, the show slowed to allow Derek to wax poetic with thoughts of the following-your-dreams variety: “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you need to start to become great.” She narrated some humorous DWTS judging anecdotes, and both stars paid homage to family members who were supportive of their careers.  

 

Their “I Can Do Anything Better Than You” competition/banter was funny and they both clearly compare themselves to Donny and Marie Osmond, featuring a photo of them for a few moments during the show. Even in his book, he says that when he and his siblings began dancing classes at a studio, it was like they were “the blond Osmonds.” Two years ago, I actually attended the Osmonds’ concert in Vegas and I confess I enjoyed it more for different reasons, but the MOVE show was definitely stratosphere-high in terms of energy, adrenaline, music, and noise.

 

After the concert we tried to get into a line for Derek’s book signature, but to our dismay, the line stretched across the entire lobby floor and back around, so we decided to head home, safe in the knowledge that an up-close and personal digital picture (seen above) was forthcoming. If you get the chance to see a MOVE performance in your area, don’t hesitate to get tickets. You will have a great time!

Brad

Movie Review: Minions

Minions

Colleen’s Movie Review

I always give spoilers so consider yourself warned. =)

Romance: N/A

Special Effects: We saw this movie in 3-D. Not sure I noticed the special effects from that. 

What I Liked: I love the minions. Favorite scenes are just random things like the fire hydrant and the accidental killing off of various bosses over the years.

What I’d Change: The minions are cute and funny but most of the humor was wasted on the trailer. In fact, you could have mostly watched the trailer and feel like you saw the whole movie. The Queen of England was fun. My favorite thing is when the minions sing but this time there was too much singing but not enough reason to if that makes sense and the song choices weren’t what I would have liked. They really need a comedic foil. When the boss they’d always searched for entered the picture at the end, the movie suddenly got funnier by like 500%. They needed Gru.

The Tagline: They had five altogether.

Uh oh.
Meet Stuart, Kevin & Bob
Go back to where it all began.
Before Gru, they had a history of bad bosses
It’s going to be a blast.

Not sure I like any of them. Like the movie, they just aren’t that funny.

Hunky Hero: N/A

The Villain: 

Sandra Bullock as Scarlett Overkill was a bad choice I think. How much better would the movie have been if their villain was Ellen or maybe Melissa McCarthy? Now Herb Overkill was fairly funny.

 

Best Line: 

Scarlett Overkill: Do you know who this is?

[points at a British Royal portrait]

Kevin the Minion: Uh… la cucaracha?

 

Best Scene: Playing in the torture chamber was fun. 

 

Recommended for YA Fans: Sure but maybe wait for video.

 

Compared to the Book: N/A? I’m sure there are plenty of Minion books out there but I haven’t read any.

 

Trailer:

 

A Kid’s Perspective

 

 

 

 

Aidan’s Review: (Age 11) 

Q: What was your favorite character and why?

A: Bob, Kevin and Stuart because they are funny!

Q What was your least favorite character and why?

A: The villains because they are mean and not nice at all.

Q: What did you like about the movie?

A: The minions act silly and it made me laugh. I laughed at the very beginning when the minions were singing.

Q: What did you not like about the movie?

A: The story wasn’t perfect. They could have made the story more interesting and mysterious.

Q: What did you think about the story?

A: It was ok. Funny, but not the best.

Q: What parts made you laugh or cry or feel awkward?

A: I laughed when Kevin grew super tall.

Q: What would you say to your friend about this movie?

A:I would tell them to go see it because it’s funny but not the best story. Mostly ok. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

 

 

Madelyn’s Review (Age 13)

Q: What was your favorite character and why?

A: My favorite Character was Bob the minion. He was only a baby minion and very cute. I liked him because he had two bicolored eyes and made me smile.

Q What was your least favorite character and why?

A: My Least favorite character was Scarlet Overkill. She was a very boring villain and had a very boring purpose.

Q: What did you like about the movie?

A: I liked the family of thugs in the movie and Bob.

Q: What did you not like about the movie?

A: I didn’t like that they showed all the good jokes in the movie trailers. I felt like I already knew the jokes and it was less funny.

Q: What did you think about the story?

A: The story was good. I think that it was a very simple plot and it could’ve had more to it. But overall, it was cute.

Q: What parts made you laugh or cry or feel awkward?

A: I definitely laughed at the jokes. I especially laughed at the new jokes. I didn’t really cry, but I smiled when Bob came on. Bob was definitely the cutest and made me smile wide.

Q: What would you say to your friend about this movie?

A: I would tell my friend to go watch it. It definitely is cute and worth your money. You would definitely enjoy it.

Kaelyn’s Review (Age 5)

Q: Who was your favorite character and why?

A: The one with the teddy bear because he was silly. Maybe that was Bob?

Q Who was your least favorite character and why?

A: The big boy in the robber family. He was really tough.

Q: What did you like about the movie?

A: That they found a master so they could be dee doos (minions) to some bad groovy guy that saved the day and find the dee doo guy that they wanted to find.

Q: What did you not like about the movie?

A: I didn’t like Gru being bad as a kid. I like him in the before shows because he’s funny.

Q: What did you think about the story?

A: That it’s totally a little bit weird but it’s great!

Q: What parts made you laugh or cry or feel awkward?

A: A few parts made me awkward like when Gru just freeze them and grab the crown and when the minion played the guitar and then broke it. It was also a funny part.

Q: What would you say to your friend about this movie?

A: Nothing. I don’t really like saying stuff about movies to my friends very much.

Brad’s Review: 

Minions

Since the first two Despicable Me films, I have been a big fan of the minions. Turns out, after watching their self-titled film, that I realized I actually like them better when they are with their evil master, Gru. I hadn’t realized it before, but together, the Minions and Gru are like a perfect marriage, like Laurel and Hardy, like Babe Ruth and the Yankees, like Ginger and Fred. By themselves, however, the Minions are just loveable pills and, after a while, one can tire of their cheesy-idiocy, oblivious luck, and gibberish “Minionese.” Gru provides the needed sarcasm, intelligence, and balance in their unified quest to commit evil. It’s a formula that really works and that was sorely missed until the conclusion.

The movie starts off with the early Gru-less minions’ historic search to provide service to an Evil Boss bent on crime. But whenever they run into a potential Evil Boss, in their giddy eagerness to serve, they unwittingly cause the Boss’s early demise. Some of these scenarios are pretty funny. As their search resumes anew after each demise, they start to feel worthless and depressed. Three minions—Kevin, Bob, and Stu—set out to find the Evil Boss their entire clan can serve.

This separation from the group is when the film starts to sag a bit. The three Minions end up at a Villain-Con where they meet super-evil Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and earn the right to be her henchmen. Eventually, Scarlett feels betrayed when Bob inadvertently wears the crown to become the King of England. In revenge, she seeks to destroy the three minions, but is frustrated at every opportunity. Enter young Gru, who, in the end, masterfully disposes of Overkill and takes off with the crown as the three awed minions and their minion buddies hotly follow after him.

Though I kind of smiled throughout the film, I was relieved when Gru finally showed up! Never until that minute did I appreciate Gru more. It was one of those ah-ha kind of moments, when everything really makes sense, and I sadly realized the minions, as cute as they are, really can’t carry a movie alone.

Scarlett wasn’t as funny as I hoped. Sure, she was pure evil, which was her charm, but her lines didn’t have the necessary punch expected from her evil character.

The frequent use of “Minionese” gibberish/language/dialect or whatever it was felt like overkill.

In retrospect, I shouldn’t have bothered to buy a 3D ticket. Completely unnecessary.

Overall, a fun film, but without Gru, it proved to be somewhat lackluster. 

I give this film 5.5 out of 10 Hulk Smash Fists.

 

Cindy’s Review

WARNING: Possible spoilers…

I loved, loved, LOVED the first Despicable Me. I have to say Minions didn’t really get too close to the bar the first Despicable Me set.

-I knew going in that Sandra Bullock was the voice of Scarlet Overkill, but her voice wasn’t recognizable and didn’t really sound very villainess-y to my ear.

-I enjoyed the scenarios when the minions were looking for a “Boss” with each candidate coming to a comically tragic demise inadvertently caused by the oh so helpful minions. I wish the movie had been more about these scenarios.

-I really enjoyed the relationship between Scarlet Overkill and her husband, Herb. They were very loving toward and supportive of each other.

-I enjoyed how Minionese seemed to borrow words from several different languages but I was never sure if I was just imagining that or if it was coincidence.

-I enjoyed the jokes and references targeted to adults rather than kids. Especially the Beatles/Abbey Road bit.

-I had some “sticker shock” when we arrived and bought our tickets. 3D movies are up to $15 now?! I think I would have been fine seeing this without the 3D for a slightly lower price.

I think it all boils down to the fact that minions are funniest when they are busy tripping up their villain. But, in this movie, Kevin, Stuart & Bob spent too much time being the leads. While I DID find the movie amusing much of the time, parts of it kind of dragged. It’s cute, but not $15 cute.