The Joy of Books
For the love of books and all the bookworms out there.
On Audiobooks and Being A Bookworm
Back then, I never thought there would be a far more greater literary experience than reading a book. My Dad, who is also very much a bookworm himself, was the one who exposed me and in actuality “pushed” me into reading. He did not stop giving me books to read until I came upon an author that I would be fond with. According to him, all I needed was a story that would interest me and an author that I would like to follow. Then, the time of reckoning came upon me when my Dad gave me the book Dragon by Clive Cussler. I was fascinated by how the author described scenes in the book that while I was reading it, I could also see what he was describing through my imagination (I have a VERY wild imagination, you know…). Due to this, I have collected all his books and other books from Robert Ludlum, Jeffrey Archer, Tom Clancy, J.K. Rowling and other authors I could no longer remember (should have a visit back to my bookshelves…). I never stopped reading books or anything else that interests me since then.
When I was into the so-called “hot streak” of my reading habit, I was always a customer and an avid visitor of Book Sale in the Philippines looking for titles for a lesser price. I also have searched through the World Wide Web and downloaded scores of E-books. It was also during that time that I ran across audiobooks. But I never gave it that much interest. For me then, the reading experience cannot be surpassed by anything. I have always thought audiobooks were intended for people who cannot read, the blind or just about anyone who were very lazy enough to even turn a page of a book.
That was until now.
When I went here in Dubai, I never had the chance to continue reading and I missed it a lot. As customary for me, I could hardly put down a book until I finish it which is not very ideal considering my schedule at work. To put it more plainly, I cannot do anything else when I start to read. So, I thought of a compromise.
When my sister told me about the new hype on the Twilight Saga back there in the Philippines, curiosity crept on me and I was itching to read about it. While searching for an E-book of Twilight, I stumbled upon its audiobook. Then I told myself, why not try it. Compromise. Since I’m always spending almost 5 hours a day in traffic going to and from the office, this would be a great companion to pass by time and get back to reading (rather listening…) and not getting dizzy in the process. And I was not disappointed. I would not say that it is better than reading but maybe of the same level or maybe yes, a bit better.
Listening to an audiobook is comparable to like listening to your mother when she was reading you bedtime stories before you sleep when you were still a kid. It was very interesting. Of course, it helped that I really have this enthusiasm to read Twilight, but I should say it was just a part of it. Audiobooks are amazing in its own way. The book is literally read to you by a narrator but with added spices. The narrator gives life to the dull words of a book by not just reading it but by giving emotion to every situation in the story. The narrator would even change her intonation and give a different voice for each character in the book. She read the story very convincingly and animatedly that you’ll just not imagine what she’s reading out but you’ll also get carried away and would even see yourself almost as if your watching a movie. Actually, tt’s very much like reading, minus the eye strain and the added weight of a thick 500-page book. I enjoyed it a lot that I downloaded all the four audiobooks of the Twilight Saga (currently at Book 4 – Breaking Dawn!) immediately.
I know having this experience with audiobooks won’t easily take me away from reading books, but at least thanks to it I was able to keep up with one of my favorite past times. If ever I would have a spare time to read, I would surely grab a book rather than listen to it.
Into The Twilight
Just watched Twilight last night and I can say I’m still in a bit of euphoria. I’m sure the initial question everyone would want to ask is “is it as good as the book?” The answer is definitely “no”. If I am to look back at the novel-gone-to-theaters movies genre, I can’t think of any movie of that kind that became as good as the book. I believe it is not possible to fit the reading experience in only two hours. Maybe, the better question to ask about this is, “if a person wasn’t able to read the book, would he or she have liked the movie?” I would say “yes”. I’m sure not everyone would have the patience of reading an almost 500-page book. Although changes in the story were made for the movie’s sake, for me the core story of Twilight was excellently preserved and compressed in a two-hour period and I can’t see any reason that just because a person is not an avid book reader they won’t enjoy a great story.
Although generally the movie is good, it is not without flaws. For those who have read it, I am sure everyone would agree when I say the story went by very fast. Especially the part where Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) should have developed their feelings for each other. I think the movie’s writers relied heavily on “love at first sight” to cover up for that part. They were so suddenly drawn to each other. This shortcoming in the movie was made more evident by the lack of Kristen’s acting skills, especially on the facial expression department. She lacked the passion and the head-over-heels picture that was intricately described in the book. But she was so cute though, very much the Bella I pictured her to be (now, that is a one-sided male bias.). Robert, on the otherhand, did great. He is as described in the book. Aside from the overly applied lipstick, I believe he prepared well for the role. He just have to exert more effort in delivering his lines and in hiding his British accent. Anyways, these flaws of the main characters were partially covered by how both of them look good together.
There were many differences between the book and the movie, but I think those were made to cut the length of the story and improve the movie cinematically. The most noted differences I remember are:
- Bella’s Macbook (in the book, she used a very old desktop computer)
- Bella researched about the Quileutes, she just found about the vampires in a Quileute book she bought in a bookstore in Port Angeles (in the book, she researched about vampires and found information about Quileutes on the side; she did not buy any book in the bookstore).
- A friend of Charlie (Billy Burke) was killed by the vampires James (Cam Gigandet), Victoria (Rachelle Lafevre and Laurent (Edi Gathegi) (in the book, no friend of Charlie’s was killed, I believe that happened in the second book New Moon, and that friend died of heart attack).
- The High School Prom Night (in the book, there were two school events: the Girls’ Choice Spring Dance and the Prom Night).
- The climbing of the trees and the fight scene between James and Edward (these were not mentioned in the book).
- The “Danag” vampire from the Philippines was not mentioned at all (that disappointed me…).
I know I shoudn’t be comparing, but I just can’t help it. Maybe it’s just the natural thing to do especially when you first read the book. But don’t get me wrong, I really liked the movie a lot. It wasn’t perfect but it was good. Seeing the characters you just imagined while reading come alive in front of you is just so thrilling.
P.S. If you’re a very keen observant, you would have noticed the Philippine Flag in one of the cafeteria scenes of Edward and Bella.
Pugad Baboy at 20
My cousin Mark came back from his vacation and at my request brought me back a copy of Pugad Baboy XX. Imagine that, my favorite pinoy comic strip is already 20 years old and still, whenever I read its previous books, I still roll on the floor laughing (ok, that’s an exagerration…). Back in the Philippines, I have my collection of Pugad Baboy Comic Books and I know this latest installment would not be different and would successfully put a smile in my face.
Spider-man 3
Saw Spidey 3 today, after waiting for months and months to see the alien costume on celluloid. It’s kind of hard to say which of the three installments I enjoyed the least at this point, but the first one is still easily the most engaging, if only for the fact that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end the first time Peter climbs up a wall. (I had been waiting all my life to see a really good wall-crawling sequence, and the look of awe on Tobey Maguire’s face when he realizes that he’s got these crazy new abilities was a fan boy’s dream come true.)
III is an interesting animal though. There are sequences here that’ll make your jaw drop — good and bad in equal proportions. The Sandman’s birth is certainly a sight to behold, as is the very interesting use of pipes in the final battle between Spidey and Venom. (In the comics, Spidey uses a sonic gun borrowed from the Fantastic Four to subdue the symbiote.) Unlike the first movie, the fight sequences in III are all very well-executed, superior even to the already superb Octopus matchup in II. The sheer number of villains in this movie guarantee that there’s a big fight every half-hour or so, nestled in between a cringe-inducing teen drama that feels more like Dawson’s Creek than The Amazing Spider-man. (On the other hand, if it works for Smallville …)
Indeed, it’s the constant attempts at character-development that really bring this feature down. Sam Raimi somehow manages to pack the story arc of your average chinovela’s full season — complete with subplots and supporting characters — into a running time of about 80 minutes (the Spidey sequences account for the remaining 40 minutes or so). As you can imagine, this results in some seriously fragmented pacing and some strange dead-ends: we never see the results of Eddie Brock’s Photoshoppery (we only know he was humiliated because he said so), or the fate of Flint Marko’s daughter, or the state of Peter’s relationship with Gwen Stacy.
And don’t even get me started on the dancing. The emo hairdo and eyeliner was bad enough, but to have Peter strutting about like a freakish, non-mutant John Travolta? (I silently thanked God that he didn’t do the oft-parodied Pulp Fiction dance move; I would have walked out of the theater right there.) I thought it unbelievable that test audiences did not universally pan that entire sequence, to be honest. Wouldn’t some scenes with Spidey seriously maiming some random criminals have been a more effective — not to mention far less revolting — way to show his increased aggression? This isn’t exactly Stomp the Yard, you know what I mean?
But whatever. Spider-man III is the first of the big summer movies, so we still have a long way to go in terms of over-the-top marketing hype and the inevitable disappointments. I suppose you just have to learn to treasure the small moments of brilliance instead of dwelling on the overwhelming ludicrity. It’s actually kinda fitting that my favorite scene in the entire movie was the Bruce Campbell cameo at the French restaurant. Pass me my boomstick, s’il vous plait?
Death of Superman: The Animated Movie
I absolutely love the Warner Brothers/DC Comics animated series: they collectively represent some of the best-written superhero cartoons ever aired. Recently, producer Bruce Timm mentioned an upcoming full-length animated adaptation of the Death of Superman story arc from way back in 1993 (man, can you believe that that was all of 14 years ago?). The epic slugfest between Supes and Doomsday was a milestone in comics — it represented just how far a comics publisher was willing to go to push sales 
Even cooler — or maybe not cooler, I haven’t really made up my mind about it yet — Adam Baldwin (of Serenity/Firefly) is voicing Superman. Jayne-boy voiced Green Lantern in the JLA animated series, so I guess he’s not really a stranger to comics, but I sure hope he don’t tawk laik this gawddemmit.
Like most of the WB/DC movies, this is a direct-to-video release (scheduled for release on Sept 18), which simply means I’ll be able to grab it off of BitTorrent before it even arrives in Manila.
