Friday, February 26, 2010

What i want for my birthday

Hot. For a February it feels weird hot today, just when i actually thought it will rain and this is what i got.Crispy sunny sunshine above Singapore.
I should not care since i am inside most of the time, but heck the season gives me headaches and all sorts of negative feelings. I hate the sun, i hate the gleaming shine of sunlight in my window every morning. I hate the burning feeling of ultra violets in my skin. I despise the freedom of light that goes about anywhere it wants to.

Its my birthday tomorrow. I want rain.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Flint of Fear and Sadness

Today i was home unusually early and i truly intend to have a little fun in this benefit but fun turned out sadness and anxiety. I have come to realize that maybe this is God's calling. I should be lucky. For a few hours now, i had been silent and i kept consoling myself of a phrase that might seem simple for others. "Fortunate are those prepared for death".. Really..

So, when i saw a sign should i be happy? should i be overjoyed to be fortunate, every one is going there anyhow and i know its just a matter of time..But I am not a hypocrite. I know I am not ready..

This day i promised myself one thing i will live my life to the fullest and fulfill my purpose. For God and God alone.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Percy Jackson & the Olympians


Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightning Thief : READ this if you wanna watch the movie or if you did already !!! >>

Okay so i was feeling bored and wanted some brain food i hushed to MPH and grabbed a few books. One being the stated above. I thought of getting myself busy after all the longest holiday in Singapore wont be much of use to me. I was halfway done when i thought of looking for some free movies of the same book. I mean, i did the same thing with Harry Potter, Twilight, New Moon..so i stopped reading, and i marked the pages where i'd stopped, turn the lights off and told my boyfriend to shut up on ym. So there goes the movie, i watched until the part that was the same as i read in the book and until it was finished. I had my thoughts but i kept a few reservations since i have'nt finished the book just yet.. this morning i finished the book.. Now its time for me to write my review both on the film and on the book itself.

What about the book?

I would say its a good article, it can actually be a piece of learning material, its fun way to learn mythology and to remember names and places much easier which are in most cases greek or latin.

The pacing is good and the setting is very common. To give the impression that it happens in the present world New York is set to be the lead's hometown and the setting in the real world is America.

The lead, which happens to be Percy Jacson, demi god, son of Poseidon.

The twists in the story are nice but it is not as nicer are those in Harry Potter, the style is narration which has a negative effect specially that it is being tld by only one person. percy and Percy Alone.

So the direction of the story is always forward, there are twists and turns, but its always heading forward, in chronological sequence just as how Percy sees it from his eyes.

Percy was born from a poor family back in New York. His mom works for a candy store and lives with his stepdad which he calls "Smelly Gabe" . Percy never knew his father.

Percy was not normal like the other kids. For 6 years he transfer from school to school. He was dyslexic and he has ADHD.

His quest with the other world started one summer when he thought her mother died. Bec he believed he was not normal he gave himself reason why he sees writtings differently and hallucinated oftentimes.

he went to camp and he soon learned that he is normal. he just happens to be special. he is a halfblood. a sire from one of the 3 most powerful gods. Poseidon.

he was sent to a quest to look for the Zeus bolt, the most powerful weapon. and his journey started he left the camp and went out the real world, killed monsters on his way to the Underworld. Apparently the Underworld is located in Los Angeles and Olympus in New York, right up at the 600th floor of the Empire State building.

Percy was persistent to go to Hades to get her mother back. He met Hades and Hades learnt that he has the bolt which was actually given by Ares. He saw his mother in the underworld and learned that she is still alive kept hostage by the Lord of the Dead. He bargain to get the Helmet of Darkness for his mother

But Percy do not know anything abt it, as far as he is concern he only knows of the missing bolt and he is not even responsible for stealing either of the two. He left the underworld without his mother and went to Olympus.

When he touched the land. He met Ares, surprised that he is alive. They went on a fight and Ares told the whole story how the Helm and the Bolt was stolen, but he never said a name. They fought and bargained their debts, when Ares wins, he gets the bolt, if he wins he get the helm.

It was no easy for Percy to battle with Ares. after all he is the God of war. He is no match for his strength, but he also believed that sometimes strength vows to wisdom. He fought with all his wits and used his power. Being the son of the God of the Sea, he has control over water. He overpowered Ares and he was able to wound him on his heel. Ares cursed him and declared him an enemy.

He got the helm back and send it to the Hades tru the furies which happens to be following him from the Underworld. The furies have seen everything and heard everything from Ares. Percy's name was cleaned. He was after all, not the real thief. Hades paid his pawn and he sent his mother back home in one piece.

Percy got back on his feet and headed to Olympus to hand over the Bolt to Zeus and asked him to stop declaring the war. the war of Gods have direct effect to humans. if Percy had'nt been brave enough to return the items Kronos's plan will happen. Zeus blames Poseidon for the missing bolt. Poseidon thinks it Hades. Hades blames Poseidon for the missing helm. World War III will surely happen.

Things ended well and everything was in place and he also get to talk to his real father. He went back to New York and saw her mom alive. He missed home. Or maybe not because Gabe keep pestering his life and for many times he was holding his temper so as not to harm Gabe, a human. so he decided to go back to camp.

He was more than satisfied to come back. He stayed in camp for 9 months and he grew pretty strong until one day he learned the real story as being told by Luke. His friend and the real enemy. he was the ligthning thief. his orders come from no other than the voice in the deepest Pit - Kronos.

Luke left Percy to die with the venomous sting of a pit scorpion. Luke went to the real world and will continue to serve Kronos. Percy survived the bite and lived he decided to leave the camp too and saved the next year living with her mom who has already left Gabe.

They have plans for the next year to come as they will be returning cam after their seventh grade.

(the story i made here is just a gist, i did not mentioned the Oracle the prophecy, other monster they fought, his thoughts, bec if i do i cant finish it in one sitting) but this is how close the story is as it is written in the book..

Now about the movie part.. i could say one phrase "such a shame"

The movie changed the story. maybe the director did not read the book lol and has only come out of fancy things in his head or maybe the movie writer was some kind of possessed to have written something falsely of the same title blaha.. let me point out a few differences.

in the movie, they are teens, about 15 or so.. in the book they are 12 they are kids.

in the movie percy lives with his mom, in the book he don't he lives at school dorm and only comes back home every breaks.

in the movie percy lives a much more normal life, in the book percy is some kind of a sick person, he is dyslexic has adhd and he studies in the schools for the disturbed.

in the movie the character of Clarise (daughter of Ares) is strong and pretty. in the book the character of Clarise is ugly.

in the movie he did not kill the Fury, his teacher.in the Book he killed the Fury in the museum using the pen that turns into a sword.

in the movie he did not see the Fates.

in the movie he did not struggle to learn who he really is being the son of Poseidon, in the book it took his effort to learn that he is Poseidon's sire. He was not the one who took the flag as well, it was Luke.

in the movie Luke gave him a map and some instructions about the pearls and how to get it one by one. Pearls are used to take them back to where they want once they are done with Hades. Luke also gave him a Shield. In the book, Luke only gave him a pair of sneakers with wings.

in the movie there are pearls they need to recover from different places in the book it don't, the pearls were given by Nereid, servant in Poseidon's court.

in the book they met Ares who gave them a task in the book it don't.

It the movie the bolt was in the shield Luke gave Percy, in the book its in the backpack Ares gave him.

in the movie there's only one missing item - the Bolt, in the book there are two - Zeus lightning bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness.

in the movie, Persephone appeared and was their hostess in hell, Persephone stuck Hades with the bolt and they escaped, he took his mother but since there are only 3 pearls, he left Grover - his keeper.

in the book, there's no Persephone - because it is summer that time, so she must be visiting her mother Demeter (Goddess of agriculture). Summer is a season created because Persephone is above, the summer heat comes from her. instead in the book, the gates of hell was guarded by a dog creature - Cerberus. In the book they met Hades and Hades looked for his helm in exchange for his mother. they left the underworld he left his mother, not Grover.

When they escaped Hell he met Ares on the beach. They battled and he wounded his heel he won the pawn. the Helm. It was with Ares all along. the entire incident is not in the movie.

in the movie he asked Zeus to return his mother, in the book it was Hades to returned his mother as the price for him retuning the helm.

in the movie he met Luke on his was to Olympus, he tried to stop him from bringing the bolt to Zeus. Luke told the complete story and Percy killed him claiming his true power being son of a god. there's nothing like this in the book, in the book percy learned about Luke later after 9 months in the camp.

in the movie he went Olympus with his mother and Annabeth, daughter of Athena. in the book he went alone.

in the movie they cut Medusa's head off and kept it and there's a scene at the museum where they used it to turn a Hydra into a stone. Its not in the book

in the book, after cutting Medusa's head off, he put it in a box and sent it directly to Olympus.

in the book, at the later part, the box was sent back to his address in new york, returned. He planned on turning Gabe into a gnome with it one day when he saw he hit his mother. that's when he decided to back to camp. he left the box to his mother's care.

During his stay with the camp, his mom wrote to him. that suddenly Gabe left and she found a very nice piece of life size garden gnome and sold it for very good amount. she got money as well for his education and savings.

There are still a lot of missing things i should have written but those are not as important as the above. So if yu are ever going to watch the movie and brag of how much you know about the real story, think again, because its not the real story.

The story filming of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightning Thief >> WORST ONE i SEEN SO FAR. WHY THE HELL DO THEY EVEN HAVE TO CREATE A MOVIE OF THE SAME TITLE WITH EXACTLY A DIFFERENT STORY?


Are u gonna watch it or have you? just read the book its worth more than the movie.

~~~ The ending is still a mystery. Which only means, just like any other sequels, the ending will the next beginning. The Next book is titled "Sea of Monsters". Good! i hope they don't make another shame of movie out of it!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wuthering Heights

I’m not yet done but I’m more than half way through it so I don’t know if my judgment will change after im done with the entire book. Having read this far I thought of things and I have failed to capture the excitement I was expecting. Reviews mentioned this book as a great find. I don’t. Maybe its not my type of reading. The story is all but sad and dark and everything seems negative. Each character’s domineering attitude is insane and savage and brute. No one seems to provide contrast of the same degree, or maybe there’s a little, but so little its not even felt. Even the settings are harsh, all around is an atmosphere of wild and carefree and unmannered generation. I guess I maybe expecting too much or maybe I have incorrectly understood that the time this novel was written and the condition the writer had been is just the same as the story was told.

I will continue till I finish the book, I will watch the films and I will try another book same Wuthering Heights but retold by a different writer. So far I got one from Usborne, this is what I am reading now. And i have come to realize that maybe this is Usborne’s Style of writing and not that of the original writer which is Emily Bronte. I still don’t know, but I will find out eventually.