True TrueBlood

Well, this is a first for me.  See, I love the show TrueBlood.  It is clever, funny, and shows all the scary and loveable sides of vampires.  As a voracious reader, I had no choice but to check out the Sookie Stackhouse novels authored by Charlene Harris.  The books hold on their own, however, I find the plots lacking a little.  Sometimes the books end in a simple manner.  Sookie as a character is the same as the one portrayed on the show; yet the show has gone beyond what the book can offer. 

Since the show is not tied to Sookie’s perspective (as in the books), the writers of the show can go into more depth and offer alternative plots that I’ve enjoyed more.

This is one of the few times that I’ve actually preferred a show or movie to a book.  However, I will admit that since the books are not really the same as the show, I can enjoy both without having to worry about ruining the suprises the TV show offers.  And that is a big plus.

Breastfeeding Takes Persistency

I consider myself one of the lucky few who has been able to breastfeed up to my daughter’s 1st year birthday.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t really luck.  There were many times, especially during the first four months, when I was close to quiting.  I experienced the stabbing pain of clogged ducts, which takes two days or more to heal, and the fever that is caused by Mastitis.  I have even experienced the annoyance of Thrush. 

There were too many times and too many good reasons to quit.  I didn’t because there is one person who deserves to have all the best chances in life I can give her: my daughter.  Breastmilk has so many benefits for kids: fewer allergies, fewer colds, healthier immune system, and a higher IQ.  As a parent, I could not choose my selfish pettiness over my daughter’s health. 

And yes, it did hurt the first four months when I was trying to get breastfeeding down.  What finally worked for me was that my daughter had gotten sick the first week she entered daycare.  She felt miserable and was crying.  I knew that breastmilk was the best thing for her.  So I bit back the pain and breastfed my baby almost every hour she was awake and willing. 

It worked!  She got better within a few days and the breastfeeding got easier and less painful.  We both learned what the proper way of breastfeeding is.  Now, she can’t get enough of breastmilk and her interest is finally beginning to lessen as she experiences the joy of eating finger foods.

It was a real struggle, but I’m glad I breastfed her.  And, if I am to have a second child, I would breastfeed that child as well.  I just feel that as a parent my children should be given every chance to have a better life.  Breastfeeding is the first of those chances.

The sorrow over Michael Jackson

Most of my childhood took place in the 80′s, and throughout that backdrop was the King of Pop’s music.  He was truly an icon.  I remember when my mother bought the Thriller album.  It was a record we played often in our house.  The videos captured my imagination.  Michael Jackson’s otherworldliness was so deeply rooted to my subconscious mind, he even starred a role in one of my earliest nightmares, where he turned into a fox and walked up my bedroom wall and ceiling.

Michael Jackson was from another world.  He was the antithesis of perfection and hard work.  No one turned like him, no one danced as hard as he did, and no one brought such professional artistry to performances as he did.  His movements were confident and real.  Even at a young age, I understood what made him different.

As a child, I always looked forward to new hits of his and sang proudly the words of any of his songs.  Man in the Mirror hit an emotional chord with me.  Annie are you okay thrilled my imagination and I was always relieved when Michael saved her from those criminals in the music video.

As I became a teenager, my love for Michael Jackson began to dwindle.  The song he did with Janet Jackson in the 1990′s was the last straw for me.  No matter how great his music, he became too elementary for my growing taste in Punk and Grunge music.  I saw him as a singer that had appeal for pre-teens only. 

In my adulthood I’ve witnessed on tv the strangeness that became Michael Jackson.  He had become a dark character, with all of us wondering what was making him behave so strangely.  At this point I had become immune to him.  I wanted to ignore the tragedy of such a talent that had gone awry in the public.

Now that he is gone, a different kind of sorrow has taken over my heart.  For me, Michael Jackson represented all my childhood innocence.  In his death, a part of my childhood has gone.  And that is a hard-hitting type of sorrow. 

Michael Jackson, you were my Rosebud.  May you rest in peace.

The problem with MPG meters

I love my car.  It has everything I wanted, a classy look, nice beige paint job, leather interior and a sun roof.  It’s stylish and I can’t help it but smile when I think of driving it.  However, it is a 2006 Lincoln, and like other American made cars of its kind, is not all that gas efficient.

Okay, maybe that poor gas efficiency isn’t the car manufacturer’s fault.  As my husband likes to point out, I do drive like a speed demon.  But, I think the real problem is that my previous car had a manual engine.  That car also had less horsepower, only 140 to be exact.   I made do by getting to know how to use that clutch and manual shifting to optimize its go power.  And yes, my friends did comment that they’ve never seen a Saturn move as fast as mine. 

Making the transition from a manual car to an automatic car has brought on some challenges for me.  I got used to “flooring it” in order to shift gears.  The first week I drove my new Lincoln I kept experiencing a “delay” with the acceleration.  Sure, it could easily be the seconds between zero and 60 mph, but it’s really that lack of control over the shifting.

Then there’s the MPG feature on my new car.  It tells me the average MPG.  When I got the car, it initially was at 20.7 MPGs.  As the weeks of my driving went by, that .7 has finally become a .1.  I kept trying to tone down my fast driving, change my driving style to get that point back up. 

Well, when you are a young thirty something, you quickly learn that Lincolns are associated with an older, slower age group.  People kept cutting me off, and I found myself a little late then I’d like to my destinations.  After one week of driving this way my MPG meter went up one point. 

In my frustration I gave up.  I reasoned that a point up and down is still 20 MPGs.  While I am still learning the ins and outs of my new car, driving with restraint was driving me crazy! 

Now I drive the way I want, and that MPG meter no longer taunts me.  I’ve turned it off.  I have found other ways to save on gas.  Like listening to my iPod, or shutting off the AC and opening the sun roof and windows.  There’s nothing like the feel of the wind whipping your hair around!

Rereading Old Work

I have filled out journals stacked away in my bookshelves.  They are filled with short story ideas, poems, and mementos I wrote from long ago times.  They form a story of my struggle through a young adult’s life, which is why they are now collecting dust.

Recently, I had gotten the desire to revisit those journals.  I found some pretty insightful poems, a couple of witty ones that made me laugh, some momentarily sad thoughts, and even a creepy short story I wrote about a lawyer who had a phone he kept bolted away in private office at home.  

It made me reflect on my younger self and reminded me how much I hated not knowing what I wanted out of life and having to fight what I want.  I have what I want now and my life is now a good satisfying one.  Sure I still struggle, but in a happy way.  It also reminded me that inspiration can come from all sorts of places.  Not just misery. 

For example, take that short story.  It is actually based on something a relative, who is a lawyer, did when she was working from home and helping criminals with appealing their cases.  She didn’t want these clients of hers talking to her family.  So she had a separate line installed into her home office and wouldn’t allow any of us to answer it.  Now, imagine what a writer’s sick and twisted mind could do to that!

If you want to know, a link to the story is provided below.  As a writer, life is always providing good writing material.  As I look through my old work, I see my story appear before my eyes, and I think it’s good enough for me to share.  I am now working on a collaboration.  When it’s ready, I’ll release to the world.

The_Red_Box

Oh, So Clever

My daughter is barely 8 months old and already she’s trying to be independent.  She likes to practice walking when I hold her up, her small feet unevenly taking big and small steps as she makes impatient strides around the carpet.  But, her mind is working faster than her body.  And that is why last week she looked up at me and gave me this “I’m so clever, watch this!” smile, before she let go of my hands and tried to walk quickly away.  I had to grab her shoulders to prevent her from falling on her face.

 

Though my Julie is bold, trusting, and is progressing at a normal pace for her age, I’m really in no hurry to see her grow up.  She makes me laugh as she wittily acquires each new skill.  But, I also mourn a little for the baby she was.  I can see why there are some mothers who just continually crave babies.  The truth is newborns do not stay newborns for that long of a time.

 

Having a daughter has made me afraid of time.  I feel like I must race against the calendar as I try to document what I think I will not always remember.  Julie is no longer just my baby; she’s a different person every day.  If I don’t make the effort to bring out the camcorder or the camera, a little bit of Julie gets lost.  It may exist for awhile in my memory, but there are too many memories to hold on to.

 

That is why it is hard for me to keep up with Julie.  She’s having fun thinking up surprises, hurrying to be a big kid.  She’s already decided to skip crawling.  She wants to run and feel the wind in her face.  She wants to play with the other kids at the park.  She wants to prove to her parents that she can do things on her own.  And while I want to encourage that streak of independence, I also love those moments when even her boldness scares her.  It’s in those times that she wants to be rocked or held in my arms, and to be reminded that she’s my baby still.

Getting Down with the Baby Blues

I thought I’d write about an experience most of us new mothers don’t like to talk about: the Baby Blues.

I truly believed I wouldn’t get the Baby Blues. Sure, I read the explanation in my What to Expect While Expecting book and in the patient brochures I received from my OBGYN, and they all said that I was more likely to experience the baby blues. That didn’t stop me from thinking it wasn’t possible. I’m an easily humored type of person, I’ve always believed in silver linings and I am not easily subject to depression.  I just thought I was strong enough to not get the blues.

Then I got the Baby Blues.

The Baby Blues is the short-term depression a mother feels roughly 1 -2 weeks after giving birth to a child. It’s temporary and not as severe as Postpartum Depression, which requires treatment. I thought it strange that women would get the blues after the excitement of having a baby.

But, then my daughter’s due date came onto the horizon. This was my first child, and I was relieved to get the pregnancy done and over with. My body had swelled over the 9 months, and I was getting tired of carrying around the extra weight. The nursery was ready and time was moving slow in that final month. Until the baby was coming.

The child labor I experienced was an easy, normal one. I decided to get an epidural and didn’t regret that decision for one second! I felt absolutely no pain.  And maybe this is why I didn’t feel mentally worn out afterwards. 

I was in disbelief when the doctor showed my baby to me; and became ecstatic as the nurses placed her little body in my arms. Not even an hour old and my daughter’s eyes were open and looking eagerly into my face.

Despite how normal my child labor was, I still had some recovering to do. I was prescribed a narcotic pain reliever and some Motrin. It was at first painful to walk and my body felt worn out.  But, in my mind I was so excited to finally have my daughter, I pushed myself to stay up, to take walks with the visiting in-laws, to take care of my new little one while I could.  The nurses had to convince me to nap, and I followed their suggestion and had my daughter sent to the nursery at night so I could catch up on my sleep.

I was scared the day I was released from the hospital – just two days after I gave birth. The nurses that took care of me were really good and had a gentle approach of making sure I was taking care of myself.  At home I no longer had this.  I was behaving like my old self and my husband saw this and started treating me as if I’m 100%. 

The narcotics made me whoozy and I found it hard to concentrate when I took them.  I stopped taking them, thinking I didn’t need them.  Two days later, I found myself crying like a newborn.  All the pain got to me and I was beginning to find myself feeling isolated.  I felt ashamed that physically I couldn’t do everything I wanted to do (clean the house, be hostess to visitors, take care of the baby). 

I loved my daughter, yet I found myself stressed out as I slowly learned how to take care of her.  I kept trying to rush through her wake times so that I could get back to taking care of the house or napping.  I felt lonely and helpless when my husband was away, and experienced anxiety.  And I would cry whenever I felt this, which was often.

I finally realized that I was getting overwhelmed, and that this is why a new mother would suffer some depression.  I decided to fight this depression.  I spoke to my husband and was honest to him about how I felt.  We split the responsibility for watching the baby among us and my sister who stayed with us.  I tried to lay-off the cleaning, but sometimes he had to yell at me to go nap!  And I took my medication whenever I felt pain.

I went on walks with the baby.  Walking helped the most.  I connected with other new mothers and we shared stories.  This is how I found out that all the literature I read is true.  Mothers do experience the baby blues, and that it’s really no big deal as long as we know what to do with it.

It took about 4 weeks for my depression (and the crying) to vanish.  As my body mended, so did my mind and my attitude towards things.  However, I know that if it weren’t for the support of family and friends, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get over it as well as I had.

If you have any stories to share, I would love to read them.

Dog & Vampire Movies Based on Books Are Boring Me!

There is always the battle of book vs. movie (based on book).  The books have time on their side, can provide all the details and character development, expand on themes and subplots as complicated as the reader wants.  Movies on the other hand, can blow your mind apart with great visual arts, sound effects, and emotion.

Still, there aren’t too many movies based on books that I’ve enjoyed.  Last of the Mohicans remains the one exception where the movie is better than the book.  Lord of the Rings and some of the Harry Potter movies are not better than the books, but are great representations that are a pleasure to watch.

But, I’m getting sidetracked.  This blog is about Marley and Me and Twilight.  Both books I’ve read, and both movies bored me.  In both cases, I felt I was watching the Cliff Notes versions, with no character development and on fast forward.

Marley and Me is a wonderful book not just about the quirks of a dog, it’s also about a young man who grows to become a mature family man.  His wife’s and his love for this quirky dog shows how deep their compassion is for a pet that became a family member.  That’s what makes the story compelling – besides the great narration of the funny scenes.  The movie just shows a young insecure journalist who remains insecure as he grows a family.  Owen Wilson brought no maturity to the role.  I felt that his character continued to lack self-esteem.  And the funny scenes were made in a very unfunny way.  They were just gleamed over like they weren’t important.  There was no explanation as to why Marley behaved the way he did, and there was no focus on the connection the dog had with the family members.  Just that he was a bad dog.  This was why my husband and I (both great fans of the book) had to step away from the movie before it ended.  If you’ve read the book, you can spare yourself by not watching the movie.

Twilight was very awkward for me .  Firstly, I thought Robert Pattinson was poorly casted as Edward Cullen.  I know I may be the only female on Earth to think this and let me explain.  Imagine vampires being these feeding frenzy predators whose intellect becomes over driven by the need to eat when they smell blood.  Think of Great White sharks, how muscular, sleek and fast they are.  Now imagine one of these sharks falling in love with a seal that it finds irresistibly tasty.  That is the relationship Edward has with Bella.  In the movie, this isn’t really explained all that well.  Instead, Edward is portrayed as an awkward gawky teenager that looks like a cross between Eddie Munster and Lurch.  I didn’t find him sexy at all – just creepy.  None of that vampire confidence or sex appeal.  A lot of the lines come in fast and in strange contexts.  For a guy who is supposed to be secretive, he comes off as talkative.  The reason for this is because 50 pages or so are condensed into 5 minutes of the movie.  The book also is loosely portrayed on Pride and Prejudice, at least the courtship of Bella and Edward.  This doesn’t appear in the movie.

While this movie was done much better than Marley and Me, I was still bored.  I was really hoping that the movie would do a great job portraying the vampires the way they are in the book.  Yes, it’s a love story, but Twilight is also about how a young woman makes the choice to become a vampire.  I’m reading book four now, and still enjoying it.  The movie however, was a bit disappointing.

I’m almost losing my confidence in filmmakers.  I think I may need to watch Slum Dog Millionaire to gain that confidence back.

Reading Labels on Baby Food Jars

I try to be careful when I shop for baby food.  Diabetes runs on both sides of my family, and my husband has a lot of food allergies.  So, I read the labels on every single jar of baby food.  I try to follow the guidelines my doctor and Dr. Sears provides on feeding solids.  And yet there are a couple of things I just don’t understand.

There are certain foods, like tomatoes, wheat, and corn, that I can’t introduce until my daughter is between 9 to 12 months.  These items have been found to be highly allergenic for babies, so doctors prefer we wait until our children’s digestive system are more developed to handle them.

What I don’t get is that Gerber offers Stage 2 (which is the food for babies 6 months to 9 months) food mixed with corn, tomatoes, wheat, and citrus!  You’d think they’d at least try to create foods that follow the same guidelines mothers are told to follow!

The worst label I read was by Beechnut.  Some of their meals include heavy cream as an ingredient.  Babies are not supposed to have milk until 12 months, and yogurt can be introduced at around 9 months.  But, why oh why would I want my child to start eating heavy cream?

I know the newest trend for mothers is to create our own babyfood, but I am working mother and do not have the time.  Which is why I depend on companies like Gerber and Beechnut to provide baby food that is healthy, doesn’t have unnecessary seasonings or ingredients, and the right food for the right developmental stage.  And I find myself upset when that is not always the case. 

I will continue reading the labels on baby food jars – and hope that some day these companies will get it in their heads to meet the needs of these guidelines most mothers are told to follow.

Verdict is in: I’ve decided to try to make my own baby food.  It’s a good thing my husband bought me a food processor for my birthday last year.  Now it’s off to buy organic veggies and fruits!

Watchmen

MOVELUVR (MR): I’ve invited a guest to discuss the movie Watchmen.  His name is Joe Perez, (AKA Dr. Nebuloso), a fellow lover of movies and avid comic book reader. 

 

Joe, how close is the movie to the book?

 

DN: The movie is very close to the book; although, the same could be said for something like Doctor Zhivago or Les Miserables. Not to compare those great works of literature to an 80’s graphic novel, but the idea is the same. All in all, the movie stays very true to story in the book. The major part is the art direction and director’s palette. It has a loud echo of the source material. What lacks is the underlying theme of the story and the full message of what I call, the ‘serious satire’ of comic book world grounded in reality. Also some of the layers of the story telling is there, but not as apparent as the book.

 

Margie, as some one who has never read the book, what did you think of the story/characters? 

 

MR: I really liked parts of the movie. This movie is not your average Superhero movie.  It focuses more on the drama of being a superhero.  I loved how the movie challenged the thin line between what makes a superhero and what makes a villain.  This can be seen in the characters The Comedian and Rorschach. 

 

I was most impressed by how Watchman challenges the idea of a Utopia and the lengths one would have to take to bring about one.  We’ve heard people justify the casualties of a war by saying, “You’ve got to crack some eggs to make an omelet”.  This movie is definitely a parody on that. In some ways it reminded me of a play I read in college called Major Barbara, by Bernard Shaw.  Towards the end of the play, the character, who was working for the Salvation Army, is convinced by her father that it’s okay to develop weapons of mass destruction if they helped create a clean, happy and morale society of middle-class citizens.

 

I’m a sucker for thought-provoking movies.  Do you think most people would understand that this story is a parody if they have not read the book?

DN: That’s a tricky question, I don’t think anyone who hasn’t read the book, or have been knee deep in comics for a while will fully understand the satire it presents; some of it is very apparent (hint: there is a batman and robin poster on the wall in some of the stills from the opening credits for symbolism). Even the heroes themselves are allegories for already established comic book heroes. Historically comic books are looked at in ‘ages’: The Golden Age heroes (1931-1950), the Sliver Age (1950-75) and the modern age, which we are still technically in.

 

Dr. Manhattan – Captain Atom, Golden Age Superman

Rorschach – The Question, ‘dark’ Batman

Nite Owl – Goodie two shoes Silver Age Batman

Silk Spectre – Silver Age Black Canary

The Comedian – Us, the dark side of human condition

 

I think it would have been hard to get this to come through in a movie, as even the book is hard to really understand unless you have some knowledge of comic book history. You can read Steinbeck or J. D. Salinger in Elementary School, but you won’t really understand it till you have been somewhat seasoned in life and literature all together. This is what makes it difficult for the movie to work.  Most people, not all, but most people are unwilling to see comic books in this light. Something does get lost in translation on film, without a doubt. Watchmen is such a respected book in the comic book community, even those that don’t like the book, seem to have some respect for what it did for the Industry all together. The movie should have been a bookend to the comic book film genre, very much like “A Touch of Evil” bookend the true Film Noir Genre. It will be interesting what people with think of the film after the comic book fad is over and put to sleep for sometime.

 

That being said, I didn’t think this was a ‘great’ movie. It was good, but not great. There were many aspects of the movie that just didn’t work and came off as pretentious and silly.

 

Margie, what were some of your favorite moments, and worst… ?  

 

MR: The movie was just good for me also.  Favorite moments for me were all the parts with The Comedian.  Jeffery Dean Morgan was perfect in this role and I wouldn’t be surprised if his career skyrockets after this. Rorschach in prison was hilarious; and even Dr. Manhattan’s break down was good. 

 

I hated the song choice in the movie.  The music was too loud and gave the movie a forced music video feel.  But, mostly the movie lacked some needed depth.  I understand that movies are always fighting the clock, and Watchmen was already three hours long.  However, the movie doesn’t really explain the relationship the superheroes had with the government. Dr. Manhattan was the only superhero whose past was fully explained.  I kept wondering how the other heroes got their powers, in some cases, I was wondering what those powers were.  Most of the movie only shows the heroes fighting or shooting.  No x-ray vision, no weather manipulation.  The supposed villain in this movie needed to be developed some more. 

 

There were some holes in the plot as well.  I didn’t fully understand the Pyramid scheme. It felt like it was thrown in as an easy solution.  In addition, I was expecting a murder mystery in a superhero alternate universe.  While the movie began that way, it didn’t end that way.  It became a conspiracy type of plot instead.  Though this is what gave the movie its depth at the same time.

 

There was a point in Western films where the cowboy as a hero was turned into an anti-hero.  It seems like that is the new trend with the comic book-based movies.  With Batman Begins, Iron Man, the upcoming Wolverine movie, comic book movies have really become popular.  Do you think there is still room for more comic book movies? 

 

DN: I agree with you. Malin Ackerman was dreadfully awful in this film, nearly every scene she was in she felt out of place and uncomfortable. More than anything I felt she was just too young. There were some gems as you mentioned. Jeffery Dean Morgan stole every scene he was in. I was surprised how much he looks like Javier Bardeem. Patrick Wilson who played Nite Owl was great also. I definitely identified with him as a character.

 

The movies music was much displaced like red wine stains on a white silk shirt, although the music during Dr. Manhattan’s origin story as amazing. It is on heavy rotation on my Ipod.

The good parts were any scene with Rorschach doing what he does best. The fight scenes were well thought out. The overall story was entertaining.

 

The book gives a lot more explanation about the governments roll on Costumed Hero registration. If you have ever seen the Pixar’s The Incredibles that pretty much sums it up. It borrows heavy from Watchmen.

 

I think there is still room for comic book movies. I think we are just getting started. The Dark Knight was definitely a high water mark for the genre…Although, that movie borrowed very little from any source material, other than characters and a few subtle sub-plots.

 

I think the key to making a good comic book movie is take what we, the viewer, loves about them and write something original. I think we will see a lot about the direction of this genre with the upcoming release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. With Wolverine (the anti-hero of the Marvel universe, the equivalent of Batman to the DC universe) if all goes well, we most definitely see the re-birth of the Anti-Hero. Interestingly enough, there was a similar pattern that happened in the comic book world. Shortly after the Watchmen book was released, we saw many anti-heroes come to the forefront. i.e. Wolverine, The Dark Knight Returns, The Punisher, Sin City… People love anti-heroes.

 

It will be interesting to see what will happen. I love Spaghetti Westerns.

 

What I am really looking forward to is the ‘Directors Cut,’ I have been hearing rumors about it on the Intarweb. The Curse of the Black Freighter will be edited into the film along with many of the deleted scenes.

 

Margie, Do you think you will own the DVD, or re-watch it when the director’s cut is released?

 

MR: Anti-heroes does seem to be an American tradition, and comic books are no different.  I can’t wait to see what comes after the anti-hero. 

 

I would pass on owning Watchmen.  Though I think I would re-watch it for the Director’s cut.  And I’m definitely interested in reading the book.

 

Thanks for the intellectual discussion!  That about wraps up all there is to say about Watchmen.