A Good Book...A Bad Movie

In case you hadn't realized it yet, I am an avid book reader. I LOVE books! There is nothing that a book lover hates more than to see Hollywood screw up a book with a horrible film adaptation. I am dedicating this post to those instances, starting with the most recent one to me: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I was SO certain that the film adaptation of the novel would be absolutely amazing. I was so disappointed that I never got the chance to see it on the big screen and I was really happy to see it come out in the Redbox. I have patiently waited nearly two weeks for it to not be "sold out." Finally, I found it in stock and I seized the opportunity. What. A. Waste. Of. Money!

I don't think I was blogging back when I read this book. It was a pretty good read. One of the best things about it was that it actually told the story of Abraham Lincoln, only with a supernatural twist. The history in it was pretty accurate and delivery was as such that it did not bore the way non-fiction can. The only flaw with the story was that it starts out with a narrator and at the end of the novel, it never tells the reader what happens with/to that narrator. Otherwise, great read!!

On to the movie. Right from the beginning they changed the story. I'm actually not SO picky that I can't handle a little bit of change. However, they started picking and choosing the history aspects to leave in the story or scrap all together and THAT started getting to me. When an author tells a story, each bit of the story builds up to the moments that follow. When you start leaving out those bits, it brings down the quality of the story. This is the very reason I stopped watching the Harry Potter movies at the third one. You CANNOT leave out important plot points and still expect the same impact! Just don't do it!!!!!!

Hollywood: please come up with fresh ideas of your own and quit butchering the written word!

First Day of School and a Humid Run

So stinkin cute!

Today was the first day of school for my kids! I actually woke up BEFORE they did. (That never happens). I was dressed and made their lunches and was about to head to E's room to wake her when Shane got home from work, so he went with me. We got her started on getting ready and then woke up G. He was a little resistant to wake up, even with the prospect of seeing his friends, but he did get up and demand a Nutra Grain fruit bar! I dropped them off and took pictures and such, then left to go for my run.

I had planned on running 8 miles seeing as how my training has been really non existant slack the past 6 few weeks, but that's not really how it played out. There were a ton of walkers out. I don't mean single walkers, either. I mean pairs and small groups. They were taking up the majority of the lanes on the trail. I'm generally OK with passing a single walker with my sad little jog, but passing clusters of people really hits my social phobia nerve. So, while I did manage to pass several "couple" walkers, there were these two women that I was behind for over two miles!!! No matter how much I gained on them, they never moved over and I swear they slowed down little by little as the miles passed. By the time they finally decided to turn around, my left shin was really hurting from the power walking I was doing to pass the other walkers. Still, I jogged from then on.

I went about a half a mile and then came upon one of those memorial crosses, like the ones you see on the side of the road. It was for the woman, Jennifer Ewing, who was killed on the trail (apparently in that very area) in 2006. Now, I know I've mentioned that my hubby doesn't like for me to go on the trails alone. I take mace and a heart-attack knife with me every time. However, the further I got away from that site, the more remote the area was and I wasn't passing any walkers or joggers anymore. The few bikers cyclists that did pass by were kinda creepy looking and it just seemed that the area had a bad mojo about it. Almost as if the aura had been damaged too bad. Needless to say, it gave me an uneasy feeling and I turned around at about 3.2 miles. I jogged a lot of the way back before I got behind, yet again, more clusters of walkers. I kinda gave up at that point and just resorted to power walking back to the car for the last mile and a half. I'm considering it a fail of epic proportions.

The movie, Beastly, was actually pretty good. The writers veered a little from the book in some areas, much to my dismay, but it wasn't a bad movie. If you get the chance, I recommend it, even if you haven't read the book!

Tomorrow, Shane and I are dropping the kids off at school and enjoying a "daytime date" at the movie theater. We are going to the last week of "free summer kid's movies" at the local theater. (Complete with free popcorn and $1.00, free refillable sodas). We are going to see Megamind, which I have not seen yet. Then, we'll kill some time and then pick the kids up, then it's off to work for me!