Revisiting Sunnydale

So, I tried to do the whole read-and-review Twilight thing. Do you know how much I didn’t want to do it? I finished my summer AP work instead of rereading it. Well, I’m not going to make myself do it. For one, there isn’t anything to procrastinate with, I’ve already done it all. For two, I’d rather share my thoughts on something I enjoy. This leads me to a new project, one that I might actually start!

Re-watching and reviewing the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer! I watched all the seasons (including Angel) a couple years ago, so re-watching will be fun and full of nostaglia and new connections!

Hopefully I’ll do a minimum of one episode a week, but since it is summer, I can do more than that. Well, off I go!

See you soon,
Your humble Servant

I got Pokemon White Version!

I pre-ordered it at Game Stop! I rushed out of my house this fine morning to be there when Game Stop opened. I got White Version and the Collector’s Edition of the Stradegy Guide! (The Collector’s Edition is hardback and looks pretty. Don’t judge me!)

I started playing immediatly! I choose Snivy as my starter. Usually, I go with the Fire Starter. However, the Fire Starter for this version is a Pig that only gets uglier. The final form looks kind of stupid in a brutish way. I named my Snivy Draco. A green snake- can you blame me?

I’ve already caught one of my favorite Pokemon in the game- Blitzle! The Electric Zebra! Heck yes! Can we say pwnage? The other Pokemon are okay, still too cute, but much better then the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Pokemon. I’m dissapointed that they didn’t let the Pokemon follow you around in this one, and that you can’t register Trainers so you can call and battle them. Also, you have to hold the B button again to run. Oh well, it’s still has good gameplay. The Battles are awesome! The cameras are always moving, and so are the Pokemon! It makes the battle really interesting and exciting! I haven’t gotten to the three-player battles yet, but it looks interesting. The soundtrack isn’t half bad either, I don’t mind letting it play. (Usually I play Pokemon with the sound off.)

The opening sequence is really interesting! The whole intense corronation-like thing has me wondering where the plot is going to go. (I lie- I know where it’s going. I looked ahead in the stradegy guide. I couldn’t help myself!)

Overall, I am pleased with this! Chances are that my DS will not leave my hand this whole week!

Until next time fellow Trainers,
Your humble (Pokemon Master) Servant

Taking the Path Already Traveled- Blogging on Twilight

I do not like Twilight. And yes, I have read all of the Twilight series, including Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, and most of Midnight Sun (I could not get through all of Midnight Sun. Too much, too much…).

Lately, as in for the past year, I have been reading a lot of well-reasoned and rather entertaining critiques on Twilight. I have not reread the books in a long time, excepting Bree Tanner, which I read about a couple weeks ago. It is fair to say that I have read more critique on Twilight then there are pages in the cannon series. (Which is quite a lot, if I do say so myself.) It would also be fair to say that I’m getting a lot of information second-hand now, as I can’t remember the, um, finer details of the book from my own expirence. When this happens, I think it is time to revist Twilight and leave my opinions at the door, to see if said opinions really are my own and if they are true. I don’t doubt that they are true, so I guess I better leave that at the metaphorical door as well. I’ll be going chapter-by-chapter through Twilight, hopefully posting at least one a week.

As a Christian, I think I will beable to provide some sort of critique on the Mormon under-tones. Hopefully, I’ll be able to defend Christianity as a whole from the blatent abuse it has suffered in the books. Here are some awesome Twilight blogs! It would be well worth your time to check them out!

• Twilight & Girl
• Reasoning with Vampires
• Dan Blogs Twilight

Here we go. I’ll try to get the first chapter up this weekend.

Until next time,

Your humble Servant

The Rise of First Person YA Novels

Please tell me other people have noticed this.

I don’t know if this first person explosion came about before or after the Twilight fiasco. As pleasant as it would be to blame Twilight, I can’t blame it without knowing for sure. Now adays, it seems like I can’t pick up a YA novel without having to read the unexplained first person! I mean, who are these nararrators talking to? First person should be used when someone is telling a story to some identified someone or used in a journal-like format.  The first person novels today are just talking… to who I’m not sure. It seems like a cheap way to ‘put the reader in the shows of the narrator’ – cheap and hard to pull off well. Do the authors think that the kids are too stupid to relate to a character being described in third person? I see this kind of dumbing-down in school all the time. The school will give the College Prep and Honors kids a stupid worksheet or busy work, requiring little to no idividual thought, when they’re capable of so much more. Glad we’re pushing them past their limits. Back on topic-

When stories are told in first person, they loose some of the detail and perspective of third person omnipresent. In first person, you only see the narrarators point of view. (Well, duh.) The significance of that is a good chunk of craft-work on the author’s part is removed with the lack of opitions. In third person, there are many ways to mold the story, more choices to make, and there are more details that the author can add without seeming like a rambling fool (as a first person narrator would seem). For these reasons, first person is harder to pull off. Few do it well. Personally, I think Tamora Pierce pulled it off rather well in her Beka Cooper Series (Terrier and Bloodhound). Twilight, not so much.

Oh well. First person is here to stay in the YA section, it seems. Hopefully it will stay there- I can live without getting book from there. The Fantasy/Sci-Fi section has more then enough for me. I can only hope that the pendulum will swing back after the Twilight craze falls off. Assuming it does, of course.

Until next time,

Your humble Servant