:: Fox Lunacy ::

Book: “The Hunger Games” Trilogy Author: Suzanne Collins Publisher: Scholastic AU Opinion: I was raved to about this series for weeks, by a girl friend. Admittedly, at first glance, I wasn’t too sure I’d actually like it – my sister had a similar reaction to the first few pages. The same day I bought the fist volume, I wached the cult Japanese film “Battle Royale” at a friend’s, which incidentally, has a mutual component. We’re introduced to one Katniss Everdeen, a resourceful and strong-headed young woman. From a very young age, Katniss has had to shoulder the burden of her family’s survival, upon her father’s death. Her post-apocalyptic North America, now known as Panem is ruled by a fascist regime where twelve districts are forced to serve the Capitol, the city. Every year, each district has to give up two children, a male and female, to compete in the extremely cruel, televised event known as the Hunger Games. Each ‘tribute’ must fight for survival by killing all the other trib...

I've discovered the following covers for the new Orbit reprints of Kelley's Otherworld series. I'm wondering why they haven't shown up at the shops yet. I guessed; perhaps it has to do with selling the old stock first, before they order more copies of the reprints. Bummer... Might have to resort to A & R ordering them in for me. I'm loving the covers as well. Still understated and simple, like their previous, but much more mature and non-fantastical. I'm kind of glad they did away with the cliche icons like demon masks and pentacles and the like. Loving it! :)

Most excellent news, although I'm terribly late in updating. (surprise) Kelley's publishers have released the cover art for the first book in the upcoming "Darkness Rising" trilogy, also known as book four in the Darkest Powers series. This series will see a bunch of new kids also connected with the Edison Group . The North American cover is really beautiful, keeping in line with the previous three, however this one now shows the person's face. The colours are blue tones with the earring being highlighted. I wonder if it will bear any relevance to the main character, Maya, as the gem did to Chloe. I really am in love with this cover. The UK publisher, on the other hand, has decided to go with their own design. Where have I seen this before? Orbit pulled this stunt at the start of the Darkest Powers trilogy and whilst I had no problems with their design, they quickly changed back to the US covers, but thankfully re-released the first book with the US cover. I just ...

Book: Beautiful Creatures Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl Publisher: Puffin Opinion: Ethan Wate lives in the town of Jackson * (?) in Gatlin County. “The Middle of Nowhere”. To paraphrase; it has no Starbucks, no McDonald’s and no movie theatre. A small, simple town. Nothing ever happened there. “There were no surprises in Gatlin.” Heh… Famous last words. As luck would have it – a new girl comes to town. Lena Duchannes – the hottest thing to hit Gatlin since Savannah Snow. To say her arrival causes a storm is a joke as well as a colossal understatement. Through a series of events, we come to find a lot of secrets, a lot deceit and a lot of bad decisions made with the best intentions. Quite a bit of Jackon’s history comes to light, culminating in a big showdown in the final chapters. However, we’re still left with a fairly open ending, as there will indeed be a sequel – much to my delight. The characters are quite believable and some of the minor characters are given decent ...

As soon as I saw the trailer, I was sold. Noooo... It was not "Poker Face" playing in the background. Although, that naturally raised my enjoyment of the clip. The way the speech seemed to flow naturally and the story truly looked funny. I thought: I would seriously, (and willingly), pay to watch this at the cinema. So we start with Olive, sitting down at her computer, starting a live web-cast. She is about to tell the story of her downward spiral from noticed to downright infamous, without omitting truly hated. When a rumour gets out that she's lost her v-plates, Olive becomes the talk of the high school. She does a poor job of dissuading people and the mill keeps turning. Chinese whispers is a gross understatement. However, after reluctantly helping a gay kid achieve some fame as a straight stud, Olive comes to achieve the rank of slut, skank - choose your colloquial synonym. All the social outcasts begin to go to her for help. As expected, it starts to go dow...

Book: Waking The Witch Author: Kelley Armstrong Publisher: Orbit UK Opinion: We return to The Otherworld only to find that the feisty, coltish teenage daugther of Eve Levigne has now grown. And what a fine young woman she is. Now, no one could call her angel, but then she is her mother's daughter. To not beat the really dead "apples & trees" anecdote-horse. Never quite quite descending fully into the darkness, but toeing the line just enough to give us that tantalizing taste of the edge. When Savannah's presented with her first opportunity to fully lead a case of her own, she grabs it with both hands. Rocking up in the small, dying town, things begin to look oh so clear. As usual, te rug is repeatedly swept from under us. My favourite part. Savannah has a delicious encounter with another witch, which is right about when we really see just how like Eve she really is. Mos exciting is how Kelley is setting Savannah up as the narrator for the next book. (I believe...

I'll admit that though I found the trailer hilarious, not to mention the snippets I caught on a film review show, I still had reservations about this film. It was meant to be a romantic comedy which, we all know, can often fail to meet expectations. Secondly, I've a limited impressions of Kutcher's acting ability; "That 70's Show", "Dude! Where's my car?" In typical Heigl style, we get 'crazy-awkward' fright from the start. Sure, after at least two films (that I've watched), I've long accepted that Heigl, having appeared so long on a tv show, has shown us all her emotional cards, thus, will inevitably always remind us of Isobel "Izzie" Stevens. However... What is it about this actress that brings out an air of Grey's Anatomy-esque humour to any movie she stars in? Speaking of humour - this movie didn't feel too forced to me, because the situations were unusual enough in themselves that they, at once, presented ...

Book: “Poison Study” Author: Maria V. Snyder Publisher: MIRA Books Opinion: At first I thought this book was going to be boring. It has a somewhat more relaxed feel than what I'm used to. I couldn't have been more wrong. It's speed isn't anything to discriminate it for. In fact - I rather welcome a book that will maintain my interest, without depriving me of the power to think about life outside its pages. (Eg. Queen of the Damned) Poison Study simply has a slower tempo, but I think that's a false feeling as it eats away at you as the substance in its title, rising to a small burning that draws your interest in. In this book, we are introduced to Yelena, a young woman condemned to hanging for a crime of murder. Though, was it? As she gets a lucky break, we become aware that things aren't exactly black and white - there is more to Yelena's terrible transgression to Ixia's Code than other characters may think. In this lukewarm thriller, surprises are...

This dvd was sitting on my 'To Watch' shelf for the last three years. I'd come down with a bad cold and yesterday, as an evening relaxation, I shoved it in the player. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised - after being bombarded with very mixed messages about this film. This film was just as good as I was originally told (Thanks, sis! ^^) and more. Had I known the producer was J. J. Abrams himself, I would've had much more faith. I've never disliked anything this guy puts out with the exception of the television series "Lost", which, to be honest, I don't know whether I like, since I've never actually seen more than fifteen minutes, in between channel surfing. After an official-looking message from the US government, we are treated with the beginning a home video. You follow these two initial characters to the culmination of a farewell party for the camera operator's (and turns out, the rightful owner of the camera), brother. ...

So I saw Eclipse, the other night, with the Jchan. It was awesome! I walked in with little expectations, as per our growing ritual, and only recalled small bits from the teaser I'd seen many months back. So worth it. The wolves are looking even more amazing. Bella and Edward have some normalcy about them. It was the "Finally - they're getting it right!" movie. In my opinion, this just proves how an inexperienced (horribly so), director like the first movie's, can completely kill a script with mild-potential by not directing the actors properly. How else can one explain the vast improvement in New Moon, and the easy, realistic flow of the actors/story-plot, in this movie? It no longer looked like some backwater indie movie and more like a film you'd be happy to see more than once in an overpriced cinema. I actually loved Bryce Dallas Howard (left) as the new Victoria. Her sweet, child-like voice fits her better than Rachelle Lefevre , as does her cute cherubim...

Book: “Bo ne Crossed” Author: Patricia Briggs Publisher: Atom UK Opinion: Once again, we join the ever charming Mercedes, the VW Mechanic of the Tri-cities. In this volume, we see a softer side of Mercy's, as she becomes attached to a little boy. Mercy also manages to enrage the queen of the local vampire seethe, and Marsillia is one ruthless cookie. I really enjoyed the climax of this book but managed to stretch the book over a week so as not to finish it too quickly. I especially loved the showdown with the whole vampire seethe in attendance. No matter how often I’m reminded that in Brigg’s creation, the vamp’ers are truly evil, yet how can it be so, with someone like Stefan? Who could resist liking him, if only for his obsession with Scooby Doo. I do love this series. “Gimmie… Gimmie more… Gimmie, gimmie more…” ======================================================= Book: “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner – An Eclipse Novella” Author: Stephenie Meyers Publisher: At...

At a re gular dinner at a girl-friend's, I encountered a passing reference to a television show called "V". I immediately enquired about it - as first having seen it at JB Hi-fi, I wondered if it had anything to do with the movie "V for Vendetta". I highly doubted it, seeing as it was in the Sci-fi TV section. The words "reptilian", "creepy" and "alien invasion" were thrown in and I was immediately intrigued. Having just sampled the pilot episode, I'm in absolute love. I do hope this series continues on for a while as it shows much promise. Right off the bat, you're faced with a scene ever so reminiscent of the much beloved (to me) '96 film, "Independence Day" - massive mother-ships hovering over major cities, worldwide. And the similarities end there, because here comes the age-old, but ever so deliciously effective posing-as-humans technique. I fell in love with the duplicitous and stunning "Anna",...

Book: "Hush Hush" Autho r: Becca Fitzpatrick P ublishe r: Simon & Schuster Opinion: This title was a surprise. Back in ’09, when I first saw it in Borders, I was intrigued by the cover. Angels, these days, aren’t exactly a common theme. (Since then, more precisely in the last eight or so months – I’ve seen at least two other titles and one series.) However, after reading the first few pages, it didn’t inspire much interest. Later, I saw a recommendation by my Goddess, Kelley Armstrong and I decided to buy it. In the first couple of chapters, I confess I strongly felt the similarities with “Twilight”. The North-American school environment, the strange fellow student, an inexplicable attraction, but the similarities end there. I liked the story very much – especially in a period in time when I abhorred all of the other titles I’d been concurrently reading to that date. The writing style’s simple and easy to get into and the characters, in my opinion, are well...