My Favourite Fantasy

What are you thinking?! Haha. :P
My favourite fantasy novels are The Elenium trilogy and the sequel, The Tamuli trilogy by David Eddings. Plenty of action, excitement and humour. 
I rediscovered the happiness of reading these two fantasy series after finding them stashed deep within my cupboard when I was doing the "spring cleaning" during Christmas last year. 

Movie Time

The girls and I went to watch a movie as I promised to bring them to one during the school holidays. The girls initially wanted to watch "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" but they realised that it is PG13. So in the end, they chose to watch "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters". It is a nice family movie - there is enough action and humour to entice the children without being too violent. We enjoyed the movie, especially me because I have always loved Greek mythology. In fact, I love mythology of any kind - Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mayan, Chinese, Scottish, Norse, Persian, Babylonian, Celtic, Welsh, ... :) 

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters trailer (uploaded by CieonMovies)

The Passage & The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Tried out a new author, Justin Cronin. 
Read his "The Passage" and it was GOOD! A totally engrossing tale of catastrophe and survival in a futuristic America overrun by vampire-like creatures. Cronin is not like James Rollins or Matthew Reilly who fill their pages with lots of action-packed adventure. But Cronin draws you into his book even without tons of physical action (don't worry, there are some action in the book lol). He looks deep into human nature and the way he bonded us to the characters is in itself an adventure!     
Reading the sequel, The Twelve now.

The "An Unexpected Journey" is An Unexpected Thrill!

Just in case, the Mayan prediction came true, I went to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D on IMAX yesterday. The Hobbit is just epic!! It blew my mind away. The duration of the movie was 2 hours and 50 minutes but it didn't feel that long. In fact, I wanted more!! 
I have heard of complaints about the movie being in 48fps (high frame rate) IMAX 3D, saying it's like watching tv. However, I beg to differ. I thought every image looks sharper and the details are amazing! Now I can't wait for the 2nd and 3rd installments of The Hobbit! 

 The Hobbit trailer 2 (uploaded by StreamingTrailer)

Here is also the other posts about The Hobbit that I have posted on 23 December 2011 and on 20 September 2012

The Hobbit II

I posted about The Hobbit and its trailer way back on 23 December 2011. Since then, there has been a change. Now, instead of two parts, The Hobbit will now be a trilogy - An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and There and Back Again (2014)! :) It is good that the movie will now last longer but the waiting would be painful too lol. What's also exciting is that a second trailer for The Hobbit has been released!! It coincides with Tolkien Week - the 75th anniversary of the release of JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit. :) 

 The Hobbit trailer 2 (uploaded by PromotingFilms)

I can't wait for The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (part 1) to be released in December 2012!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I accompanied a friend (who was afraid to watch it on her own) to watch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It is certainly an interesting spin on Abraham Lincoln, casting him as a lawyer/ president-to-be/ president by day and a vampire hunter by night. (Buffy does pop into the mind - cheerleader/ counsellor [in the later seasons] by day and vampire slayer by night lol :P). I have heard some people were appalled with the idea of a well-beloved president having a secret life and as a vampire hunter at that too. I guess the main thing to bear in mind in order to enjoy the movie is the notion of "What If". This movie is a result of "what if Lincoln has a secret life as a vampire hunter, how would it be?". The movie combines imagination and a bit of history and it is definitely not meant to replace the real history. That's how I see it and I enjoyed the movie lol. 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer (uploaded by ENTV)

The bloodier ALVH trailer (uploaded by ENTV)

PS. Not too long into the show, a scene where Lincoln, an amateur, shot the vampire who murdered his mother - when he turned to look at the corpse, it was nowhere to be seen. From watching so many horror movies, I knew the vampire was going to attack Lincoln from behind so I braced myself for the attack on screen. Little did I know, the "attack" came from behind my seat! The movie-goer seated behind me screamed most loudly and jammed his knees with force into the back of my seat in fright! I have NEVER heard a guy screamed like a girl before and much less see, or rather felt a violent reaction like that. Goodness! All I can say to that male movie-goer is: Be a man!

John Carter

We spoke to my nephews via Skype much earlier than usual today. Reason being my brother is taking them to the movies. They are going to watch "John Carter". Hey, that is one movie I am interested in watching. Boys, remember to tell 姑妈 if "John Carter" is good, ok? Maybe I will bring your cousins to watch it too. :)

(uploaded by DisneyMovieTrailers)

The Hobbit

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer is out! :) I read Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (3 volumes) before I watched The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. But I always enjoyed the first Tolkien book I read, The Hobbit. :)
It is going to be a long wait though for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (part 1) as it is scheduled only to be released on 14 December 2012 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (part 2) will only be released in December 2013. Long wait. :( Might read The Hobbit again.

(uploaded by ColliderVideos)

Fallen

There is a new TV series, Fallen on AXN Beyond, 11pm every Friday. I caught the first episode last Friday. It's about fallen angels living among humans. To be precise, it is about nephilim, the hybrid offspring of fallen angels and human. In Fallen, the story centres round a lad who discovered he is a nephilim on his 18th birthday and apparently he may be the Redeemer, the Nephilim who is prophesied to be born to redeem all the Fallen. So far, it is interesting. Anyway, I never fail to enjoy supernatural and fantasy genres. :P

Fallen is not a brand new TV series but one produced in 2006 by ABC as a 6-episode miniseries. It is based loosely on the Young Adult novel series, The Fallen by Thomas Sniegoski. Hmm, I may read the novels after watching the TV series. :)

Alice in Wonderland

The girls have been bugging me since the start of the March break to bring them to see "Alice in Wonderland". I finally brought them to see the movie this evening at Lido cinema.

We went for the 7pm show in 3D. The girls were thrilled as they had to put on the glasses to enjoy the 3D effect and also because I finally relented and bought them sweet popcorn. The girls were really good and sat through the 110 minutes movie. :) I think the 3D effects, the stunning visuals and the vivid colours all helped to capture their attention lol.

"Alice in Wonderland" gives a childhood story we are all familiar with, an imaginative and enchanting twist. It is set 13 years after Alice first fell into the rabbit hole. After Alice fell into the rabbit hole again, she met up with her friends - White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Her magical adventure begins as Alice finds a way to end the Red Queen's reign of terror along with finding her true destiny.

"Alice in Wonderland" is a delightful adventure, fantasy movie that is for everyone. We left the cinema with big smiles on our faces.

Here's the trailer for "Alice in Wonderland".

Alice In Wonderland - Theatrical Trailer #2 Movies & TV SPIKE.com

The girls like the song "Alice" by Avril Lavigne while I like the song "The Technicolour Phase" by Owl City from the movie.

Xena's Mama

The girls received toys with their MacDonald's Happy meals, a Sonic saucer which can be played like a Frisbee. Juliane has been playing with hers and the extra she got from Marieann's friend. She would throw them out like Xena's chakrams (the round killing things) with a loud war cry and followed by an announcement. After two day of this, I got fed up.

Juliane: Ahhh. I am Xena, Warrior Princess.
Marieann: Mama, she hit me.
Me: Want to see Xena's mama go after Xena with a cane?
Juliane: Got? Afterwards on TV at 4pm, is it?
Marieann: (Howling with laughter)
Juliane: (puzzled) Why is Jie Jie laughing?
Me: (to Juliane) You Xena?
Juliane: Yes, I am Xena, Warrior Princess.
Me: So I am Xena's MAMA!
Juliane: Hahaha!
Me: So want to see Xena's mama go after Xena with a cane?
Juliane: OH! NOooooooooooooooo! (ran off)

I think she has gotten the idea and hopefully she stops pretending to be Xena lol.

PS I think I am quite happy that the girls have similar tastes as I do. We won't have to fight over what to watch. They are now both watching the re-runs of Buffy, Charmed and Xena. Hahaha. :P

The Demon Child Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

I started reading The Demon Child Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon. Just done with the second book, Treason Keep. The first book is Medalon and now I am waiting for the last book, Harshini. The Demon Child storyline reminds me of David Eddings' The Elenium Trilogy and The Tamuli Trilogy which I totally enjoyed and I have not managed to find another fantasy series as good until now. :)

The Demon Child Trilogy has fantasy, action, adventure, magic, politics and somehow something about old-fashion battles fought with armour and swords has a certain charm for me lol. Think 300. Ok fine, they have no armour hahaha. :P The Demon Child Trilogy is definitely engaging and you won't want to put the books down until you have reach the last page. :)

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

It is a breath of fresh air, The Majesty's Dragon. It is fantasy, adventure, and history (alternate history, a kind of parallel dimension/ world if you like) all rolled into one. The dragons are what gave life and essence to the story. The dragons have their own personalities, characteristics, thoughts, ideas, ... The dragons are no mere side-kicks but the main characters too like their human counterparts.

In story of The Majesty's Dragon, dragons are well and alive. What we know as the Air Force in this history is known as the Aerial Corps, in the alternate history during the 18th Century, in The Majesty's Dragon. Instead of fighting aboard aircrafts, the pilots or the aviators as known in the story fought on the backs of dragons! The aerial combats and maneuvers by dragons with thinking abilities are definitely a lot more exciting than those executed by aircrafts. :) (No offence intended to aircraft lovers out there)

The Majesty's Dragon is a joy to read. I think folks who read books by Dale Brown, David Hagberg, Stephen Coonts who write about military, action, aviation stories might find Naomi Novik's Temeraire series interesting if they give this genre (fantasy, adventure, history) a chance. :) I am now reading the second book in the series, Throne of Jade. :)

The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik

I recently started reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. It is the first book of the Temeraire series: a fantasy series set in an alternate history during the Napoleonic era. The story has dragons in it as indicated in its title lol. His Majesty's Dragon has been really addictive and the action sequences are unbelievable. I would never have guessed that the air battles between dragons could be so much more interesting than dogfights between combat planes! Haha. :P

I will write a book review of it when I am done reading it. :) Hopefully I won't be too overwhelmed with work to do that. :P

Marieann's 1st Movie Magic Experience

The girls' father's car went for servicing today. He wouldn't want to go out without a car so I thought I would bring the girls out myself. However, Juliane decided that she wanted to stay home. So I took Marieann out with me. We detoured to the post office first to post some letters. Just as we were crossing over to Tanglin Mall, it started to drizzle. We were lucky to get into a cab before it poured! :)

We went straight to the cinema to get tickets when we arrived at Great World City. She wanted to watch "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Since we had an hour before the 12:05pm movie, we went to have lunch first at Mckkies. Marieann chose it, lol. I managed to look into a few shops before adjourning to the cinema. Thank goodness, the cinema was only 1/3 full. But it was mainly families with children watching the movie, lol.

It is Marieann's 1st movie experience. She was really thrilled to be seated in a dark cinema and watching the movie on a huge screen. She couldn't stop smiling. :) She really enjoyed watching the movie. I am also proud of her because she remained quiet and only asked me questions after the movie ended. I am really glad that I got to share with Marieann what movie magic is all about. :) I hope to bring her to watch more movies and of course, Juliane too. :)

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth" has action, adventure, fantasy and sci-fi all rolled into one movie. But the movie never intended to make itself out to be a serious movie which is its saving grace. It is just as it is, a good fun movie. It has plenty of light hearted fun and movie-goers are all in on the joke that the movie can be a little silly but hey, who is actually keeping tabs (a pun from the movie :P)? Not me, except for the laughs it brought me. There is no need to think with "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", just sit back, laugh and enjoy the movie. :)

TV series

When taking a break from my writing, my mind started to wonder, as usual. Today, it wondered to all the TV series that I have watched or am still watching. I realised I watched only certain genre of TV series too, like the books I read. What I think of the series (not in chronological order):
(Do I like them? Of course, otherwise I won't be watching, right?! lol)

Sci-fi:
Space 1999 - saw it when I was really young so only remembered the "Eagle" spacecraft. There was a re-run recently on tv, so managed to fill in the many, many gaps of my 1st sci-fi tv series from my childhood. I think this series sparked my interest about space and astronomy.
Battlestar Galactica (original) - Starbuck, Apollo, Athena, Cassiopeia,... names from Greek mythology. An interest of mine so I was hooked on the series too, besides it being sci-fi. Have the DVD set. Ok, Starbuck is not part of the Greek myth but I had a crush on him. Hey, I was very young then, ok?! Hahaha.
Battlestar Galactica (new) - already a big fan of BG. Love the darker and more serious themes.
V - lizard aliens posing as humans. "Humankind's last stand".
Star Trek (original) - I saw the series as re-run when I was studying in Oz. "To boldly go where no man has gone before".
Star Trek: The Next Generation - actually found Borg quite cool. Hahaha.
Star Trek: Voyager - again the Borg, Seven of Nine is so cool.
Star Trek: Enterprise - really refreshing, I thought it has so much room to develop, compared to the other Star Trek series.
Babylon 5 - about a space station (No. 5 actually) stationed in neutral space, it is a sanctuary, a military post for Earth, as well as a home to aliens and humans. I tried to follow all 5 seasons but I might have missed episodes here and there.
The X-Files - really COOL. "The truth is out there". I have got the X-Files comics too.
Stargate SG-1 - the combination of sci-fi and Egyptian mythologies.
The Twilight Zone - no need for introduction, this one, it's sci-fi, horror, everything.
The Outer Limits - kind of like The Twilight Zone, just more sci-fi.
Roswell - what better place than Area 51 for teenage alien/ human hybrids to land ...
Dark Angel - hmm...barcode on humans, the way to go for us in the future??
Taken - a story about 3 families, spanning over a few decades and three/ four generations, intertwining with aliens...
Farscape - a bit like Lost in Space, except this is just one man who is lost.
The 4400 - has paranormal abilities/ 'superpower' elements, time-space issues...
Smallville - the teen years of Superman minus the cape and red undies. Thank goodness. Hahaha.
Heroes - like reading comics and there is hope for us to have superpowers. Hahaha.

Action/ fantasy:
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - ok, for the hunk, no I mean for the Greek mythologies! Hahaha.
Xena: Warrior Princess - again for the Greek mythologies and great to see women kick butts. :)

Action/ supernatural
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - lean, mean fighting machine. Hahaha. I have the DVDs for Seasons 1 to 7. For 3 seasons, I have to lug home from UK cos they are banned in Singapore.
Angel - a spin-off from BtVS. I also have the DVDs for Seasons 1 to 5. Again have to lug 2 seasons home from UK for the same reason as BtVS.
Charmed - "The Power of Three". Who doesn't want to be a witch and have magical powers? For good, of course. Hahaha.
The Hex - kind of like BtVS but the Brit version with the ghosts and demons.
Ghost Whisperer - she talks to dead people and helps both the dead and living to have emotional closure and to move on. Can be very heart warming, "sob sob" kind at times...
Supernatural - ghosts, demons, vampires, urban legends and folk lore, ...

Crime/ drama:
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - love the forensic autopsies, the unravelling of the crimes.
CSI: Miami - same as above.
CSI: New York - same as above.
Numbers - never knew numbers can be so cool. Hahaha.

Drama
JAG - for the aircrafts, like F14 =) and the courtroom drama.
NCIS - Naval Criminal Investigative Services, a bit like CSI except they are with US Navy and Marine Corps. A spin-off of JAG.
House - love the Dr for his brand of humour and his unconventional thinking.
Lost - where the hell are they?!

Hmm...now I know why my mother always said I watch far too much tv. But hey, if I still have time for books, it is not too much tv then. Hahaha.

Fantasy, Sci-fi, Horror, Comics...

For a moment, I thought you have decided to reveal your identity as "Y", Secret Admirer. Sigh. Happy too soon. Hahaha. Ok, so there are 2 separate persons who commented on my post: "Books - Borrow or Rent?".

Thank you for your recommendations, Y. Haven't heard of Trudi Canavan (sorry :( ) but I did a quick search on the net and read a bit of the extracts of The Black Magician Trilogy. It is pretty interesting. As for David Gemmell, I thought he sounded very familiar. Went to dig into my bookshelf and I found Gemmell's graphic novel, Legend. Hmm..I guess I am reading alot more than I realised. Trojan War trilogy seems very captivating with my favourite combination of fantasy and ancient history. Will definitely keep these authors and titles in mind. Thanks again, Y.

As for you, my Bookworm, Horror too Secret Admirer (told you, it is getting to be too much of a mouthful! So why don't you just tell me who you are?! Hahaha.), why are you so keen for me to go to NLB? Are you sure you don't work for NLB?! An undercover NLB agent perhaps...Hahaha. Yes, I do have to pay some fees for renting the books but just treat it as having one less dessert. :) But I don't have to pay for car park fees cos I don't drive. Hahaha.
Ok, being into aircrafts too, I think Naomi Novik's Temeraire will, without doubt, be on my list of books to read. Oh my gosh, do you realise how long my book list has just gotten?! Hahaha.

I am a big Battlestar Galactica fan. I have read the BG classic books and I have the original BG series on DVD, a birthday present from my lovely brother who is currently residing in UK. Yup, I have also seen the new BG series. Took abit of getting used to the gender changes of Starbuck and Boomer. I like this new series, it is darker but more in-depth development to all characters. I think they will be producing Season 4 in 2008 and it may be the last season. (Needs to check up on this, it would be a shame though to end it so soon.)

I like Horror too but I haven't ventured very far with this genre. Only read Edgar Poe, Anne Rice (The Mayfair Witch series), and Stephen King (the odd book here and there). Dean Koontz and Laurell Hamilton, you say? My list has just ballooned again! Hahaha.

Comics. Yes, I like reading them. Why not? =) I have read graphic novels like Batman/Dracula series, Gemmell's Legend; comics like The X-files, X-Men, X-Generation; manga like Akira, Appleseed, Fist of North Star; and Chinese comics like Tian Xia. So what do you read?

Thanks for the recommendations! If I am behind in my writing, I know who to blame. Hahaha.