NEW MOON Deleted Scene!

How many of you are ready for the New Moon DVD release? Stupid question! Target recently released this deleted scene to promote it's DVD release of New Moon in March. I'm stoked about the special features and CAN NOT wait until March. Do you know how many release dates I'm anxiously awaiting? I guess that just means I have MANY interests, right?

Mockingjay is Too Many Months Away!

Alright, forgive my cheesiness, but it really is too many months away for me to endure without complaint! At least the New Moon DVD release in March and the Eclipse release in June will pacify me for awhile. I also think the new seasons of Glee and True Blood will be starting soon, so I'll have plenty to keep me occupied. However, I can't help but anxiously wonder what will happen to my beloved Peeta. My students will begin reading The Hunger Games in March and I'm sure I'll have a slew of fans to read Catching Fire and discuss with me Peeta's fate before school is out in May! What would really satisfy me about the world that is Panem, District 12, and The Capitol would be some FREAKIN' HUNGER GAMES MOVIE NEWS! What the heck? Why NOTHING?! I know I've posed this question before, but it really is ANNOYING, the utter lack of information for this project. At least we now know the new title for the third book, MOCKINGJAY, and have a cover to drool over until August 24th. Let me know if you hear anything about the movie, peeps!

A few tidbits from Publisher's Weekly about the third (and final) installment in the awesome Hunger Games series:

Anticipation—and speculation—have been building ever since fans closed the page on the cliffhanger ending of Catching Fire, the second in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games trilogy. What will happen in book three? And what will it be called? Though the plot twists are top-secret, the book’s title has just been revealed by Scholastic: Mockingjay. It will have a one-day laydown date of August 24, 2010, and a first printing of 750,000 copies. (The cover, and title, refer to the hybrid birds that are an important symbol—of hope and rebellion—throughout the books; the mockingjay appears on the jacket art for all three volumes in the series.)

Scholastic will not be distributing advance copies of Mockingjay, though it did create ARCs for the first two volumes. (In keeping with the embargo, media outlets won’t be receiving the book in advance either.) According to a Scholastic spokesperson, because this book, which concludes the series, is so highly anticipated, the publisher wanted to give fans the chance to discover the ending at the same time and prevent spoilers."

Argh! It's hard to wish for August 24th to get here already (because I will be wishing away my summer break), but I need to know! This is about as bad as waiting on Breaking Dawn...let's just hope Mockingjay won't let me down like that little doosey of a final installment did! Oy Vey!

Must-See Movie: SHUTTER ISLAND

The previews for Leonardo Dicaprio's new movie, Shutter Island, in no way made me want to see the production. I'm a huge chicken and scary films are not my forte. My husband is a fan of Dicaprio and wanted to see it Saturday evening, so being the good wife that I am, I begrudgingly agreed to accompany him. I can't tell you very much about the film without screwing up what makes the movie AMAZING, but let's just say that the previews do not do this film justice. IT WAS MIND-BENDING AND, AND, AND.....JUST WOW!!! If you have the chance to see the film, take it. Trust me...it's that good!

ANTICANCER by David Servan-Schreiber

Cancer scares the crap out of me. Both of my maternal grandparents died from this terrible disease and my fraternal grandmother is currently battling cancer as I type. It's a disease that effects all of us in some way, either through people that we know enduring the illness, or God forbid, we face the disease ourselves someday. According to the statistics on the role genetics plays in certain cancers, I SHOULD be scared but I'm doing what I can to ease my fear of CANCER. Even though I'm known for my fondness of fiction and teen literature, I love reading nonfiction, particularly in the categories of health, fitness and medicine. While browsing through my mother-ship, Barnes & Noble, I picked up David Servan-Schreiber's book, ANTICANCER,the 2nd version and 2010 re-print of the 2008 original. I found myself sitting in the aisle, reading his work for nearly an hour before I gave in and bought the book! (My butt was going numb, so it was either by the book or give the old lady reading the Paula Dean cookbook the evil eye until she forfeited her comfy chair.)

What drew me in to Schreiber's work (a dedicated scientist and doctor) wasn't his premise (that diet can affect cancer cells) or his credentials, but the fact that he himself had been diagnosed with BRAIN CANCER fifteen years ago and is currently cancer-free. A feat he attributes to the diet and other methods detailed in the book.

David Servan-Schreiber, post surgery at the age of 31

BRAIN CANCER is a bitch. Sorry to put it bluntly, but it is a very deadly cancer. I know this from personal experience. My Nana, Mary, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor during my seventh grade year and passed away by November of my 8th grade year. To say it was a traumatic event for my family would be a gross understatement. The operation and treatment of brain tumors and cancer is barbaric and extremely painful for the patient to endure. Just knowing that Schreiber was able to overcome the odds and THRIVE for the past fifteen years was is an outstanding accomplishment in my eyes. I HAD TO READ MORE about this scientist and his findings. Finishing the book, I've vowed to completely change my diet and outlook on food. Food should be the "medicine" we give our body to function and flourish, not a means of entertainment or an outlet for stress relief. If you want to know what "super foods" help your body to fend-off cancer, and you want to pack your lunch with them each day, then checking out ANTICANCER is what you need to do NOW to protect yourself and your family.

David Servan-Schreiber today and cancer-free

The book doesn't claim to be the CURE for cancer, but the methodology behind it is sound and backed with Schreiber's own scientific findings. Cancer isn't a disease that discriminates, but I do want to give my body (the only body God will provide me this go-around) with the best defenses against this horrible disease.

ECLIPSE Movie Stills!!!!

What a wonderful Valentine's Day gift...Eclipse movie stills! I wasn't expecting to see anything from Eclipse for at least a couple of months, but this just might get me through until a trailer finally emerges. Even though I'm not disappointed in the images (enthused is more like it) I have a few beefs about certain aspects of the wardrobe and makeup. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. KStew's Wig - nearly as bad as Jacob's Twilight wig. Why in the HELL did she chop her real hair for The Runaways? The 80's mullet is easily found in every Halloween costume shop, but long Bella hair is hard enough to duplicate with extensions and down-right IMPOSSIBLE with a wig. The wig sucks. I'm sure this is the best Eclipse makeup and wardrobe could do with KStew's mutilated mane, courtesy of The Runaways. WTF.
2. I Will Miss Rachelle Lefevre - the images of the supposedly "new and improved" Victoria are not holding a candle to Lefevre's Victoria. Bryce Dallas Howard is going to have to pull out all of the stops to impress me, and so far, the curly-ass wig isn't cutting the mustard.
3. Edward & THE Bed - This isn't a beef...this is a "Hell Yeah!" for Eclipse fans. We all know about the wrought-iron bed in Eclipse. No, nothing R-rated went on (Steph isn't a fan fiction author), but A LOT went down dialogue-wise in the scene. Terms of marriage were established and big events discussed. They better leave EVERY MORSEL of the scene from the book in the movie. Every word. Every kiss. EVERYTHING!

We know where this is going...nowhere, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. THE BED SCENE with too much conversation, but hey, I'm looking forward to it!

Grabby Edward, take one.

Bryce Dallas Howard, you better not screw this up! No pressure, though. Do vampires get perms?

Just a hunch, but I don't think there's much acting going on in this still. You don't eat face when you act....just sayin'

Edward is lookin' good. Still not over the wig. WHYYYYYYY????

Edward is grabby, take two. I like it.

You can grope my muffin-top anytime, Edward. Anytime. It looks like you also have a bit of light reading going on over in this corner.

The wig doesn't look too bad in this scene, but the image of Rob on a bed is distracting me. Helloooooooo, biceps.

Yum. (Rob, not Kristen's nappy wig.)

If you look really quickly, it looks like he's making out with Jacob. I'm sorry, but I hate Bella's wig. I'll just focus on Rob's mouth.....there, that's better.

Another beef I didn't mention? Bella's skinny jeans. I hate them. I don't know why, but I do? Is it ironic that something labeled as being "skinny" makes people (who actually ARE skinny) look not so skinny?

Click on this one and when it enlarges you can see Bella's engagement ring! Awe! How cute!

Maybe we should print these images and make a flip book?

Edward. June 30th. Too long.

Take IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF! Nothing like wearing a flannel shirt to turn on your man!

I wish I knew how to photo shop better than a preschooler...I would totally but myself in KStew's spot...sans crappy wig.

'Bloodroot' by Amy Greene

Sorry to my regular fans who come to this site everyday. I've been M.I.A. lately, due to the craziness that is my job. The Spring semester always kills me for some reason, but I'm starting to pull my head above the water and will do a better job of updating! Speaking of updates, I've actually been reading BOOKS again. I know, craziness! I'm wierd and go through reading "spurts" that I can't explain. I'll go two weeks without touching one and then read three books in that same amount of time. My brain has been sluggish lately and I need a book that would lube the gears a bit more than my regular brand of teen fiction has been. I always try to stick to teen fiction during the school year so I can help my 8th graders find books they enjoy, but I needed a book with a bit more depth this go around. Everyone knows my love for Entertainment Weekly magazine, and I read a great review for the new novel, Bloodroot by Amy Greene.

Bloodroot is a perfect storm of literary devices and imaginative writing. Amy Greene may be a new novelist, but you can't tell from her debut novel. Using the perspectives of SIX different characters, Greene manages to conjure a consuming and devastating love story that kept me thinking for days about it's characters after reading the last delectable page. I know a book is good stuff if I'm running through the plot in my head while doing my grocery shopping or vacuuming my carpet!

This may be a story about love, but it is not LOVABLE or a tale that makes you feel warm and gushy inside. The synopsis from Barnes and Noble does a better job of giving you insight into what the book is about:

Told in a kaleidoscope of voices, Bloodroot is at once a moving exploration of familial love and the story of an incendiary romance that consumes everyone in its path: Myra Lamb, a wild young girl with mysterious "haint" blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain; her grandmother, Byrdie Lamb, who protects Myra fiercely and passes down "the touch" that bewitches people and animals alike; the neighbor boy who longs for Myra but is destined never to have her; Myra's children, who must reckon with all that they have inherited from their mother; and John Odom, the young man who tries to tame Myra and meets with disaster.

The love between Myra and John is a consuming one, and usually those relationships that consume us, destroy us.