Brownies speak to my soul

Published by admin under In The Begining on August 31, 2009

I detest Mondays. It is so hard to get going, and I can never seem to accomplish everything I set out to do no matter how hard I try. Today was no exception, but I did manage to make the day a little brighter. I made brownies. Maybe it’s something about their gooey goodness that allows brownies to speak to my soul or the fact that they are chocolate! This was no ordinary brownie making experience today. It was the first time I made brownies with Vera’s assistance which makes it extra special. She did exceptionally well at following directions too (I just make ‘em outta the box), and even enjoyed stirring it. I think Naomi had a good time too watching us. It won’t be long and she will be helping us too

I love watching her get into the activities that I plan for us. It’s amazing to watch the little wheels in her head turning….you just know that she’s learning/absorbing everything by the expression on her face. The brownies turned out awesome, and she was pretty proud of herself when Daddy told her how much he loved them. I can’t believe how fast they went though 0_0!

The Twilight Saga Through Man Eyes

Published by Matthew under In The Begining on August 27, 2009

I’ll begin this review of the book series by saying this.   This was all my fault, I began this escapade because a co-worker was all in love with Edward.  We ordered some card board cut out of Uncle Sam so we could help push some sales at work.  What came was not Uncle Sam but seven 6 foot cut out’s of Edward.  Everyone swooned over them at the office and girls posed with him and had snap shots taken.  This brought some curiosity for me to the series.  I questioned the “Twilight Girl” and she lent me the movie.  Brittany and I watched the movie tucked away in our bed room while our oldest daughter slept.  After the movie Brittany was wooed by Mr. Edward and started comparing me to him.  Being the book worm that Brittany is she was compelled to read the book.  I reluctantly purchased them and brought this upon myself.  So we begin with reviews starting in chronological order.

Twilight

This series is obviously written by a woman.  Not that I’m saying anything is wrong with that but all the books carry this over the top, unrealistic romance that only exists in a women’s heart and mind.  If only us men could pull this out of them like Edward we would all be in a much better position with our women.   The first book starts slow like any new series.  The writer lays down some basic characterization of Bella and places her in a new “fantasy world” that she doesn’t know she is in.  Stephenie Meyer does a good job of capturing teenage mentality which is probably why it does so well with the tweens and teens.  Without giving away to much plot Edward begins to finally warm up to Bella and the two of them fall in love.  Love from the perspective of Bella gets really irritating to me.  This goes on for chapters and right about the time you think you can’t stomach any more the plot finally goes somewhere.   The only part of this time span in the book that I liked was the tale of Carlisle.  This is easily my favorite character in the books.  He has a control over himself that no one can compete with.  I enjoyed this because it’s the basic mind over matter that I firmly believe in.  I think that anyone can do anything they choose to regardless of what obstacles are in the way and what people say.  Unfortunately due to this being her first book her inexperience as a writer shows on the character back story of Carlisle.  She does a good job with him but she does a better job with other characters stories later in the series. To elaborate on this, his development is a straight forward tale from point A to point B.  He lacks a lot of the embellishments of the other characters emotional development.  The story finally begins to get interesting at the baseball game.   This begins to transform the story into a book instead of a diary of a teenage girl’s love life.   With a definite goal in mind you can begin to speculate what is going to happen and the suspense builds slowly.  I think she did this because she really wanted you to feel for the characters.   By this point you actually do begin to feel for them or at least a hand full of them.  Things begin to pick up and the self sacrifice of Bella is as Jesus Christ as you can get to show you her dedication to Edward and her family.  The action is not super dramatic but it is enough to pull you into the event and cause you to struggle to set the book down.  Eventfully this does wind down to fantasy ending were the Boy and the Girl have a perfect world. This doesn’t sit well with me because the super sappy endings like this are almost too predictable.  The book could have easily have been the ending of the series.  It probably was meant to play out like this to see if the book sold well.  I’m going to rank this on “zzz” the more z’s the more times I fell asleep in the stories.  I give this book 5 Z’s out of 6.  I fell asleep more in this book than any other.  This is due to the fact of the teenage love trip.  The book isn’t bad just hard to keep going with.

New Moon

By the way she closed Twilight this book had to pick up on a story book ending.  This is generally pretty easy to destroy.  You can send a dark disfigured monster that pillages the village and steels the lady or make the man renege and jet town like most real dudes confronted with a tough issue.  She chose the 2^nd option.   This absolutely cracked me up because it’s a more realistic spin on the lessons of love and life.  This also made it a good chuckle because the higher you go the harder the fall.  Believe me she was floating way above cloud 9.  She then dropped to the 7^th circle of hell where she had a tea party with Lucifer himself accompanied by Hitler, Stalin, and Ivan the Terrible.  Notice how most of the evil people come from Russia…. hmm.   I really enjoyed this new found emo Bella.  She was dark, depressed, cynical and selfish.  This much reminded me of a 16 year old version of me.  I’m still carrying much of those attributes with me today; mostly cynical and dark ones.  This taught her a very important lesson and that is to put value in your friends because you significant other may not always be there for you.   This unfortunately also complicated her life, but made the story more interesting.  I enjoyed the motorcycle section and even found myself googleing the bike she gets.  This really helps develop another key character in the series and expands on the magic of the town.  A bit more light is shined upon the legacy of the vampire and the way they fit into this modern world.  I can’t give this book a long review because it would give too much away.  I will say this, most of this book is setup for the following books and not much action here.  This is a much more emotionally interesting book because it really pulls you through the mud and the nitty gritty of life.  Unfortunately it’s still a love story so you have to end with a good note.  I have to say I enjoyed this book more than the first.  I give this book 3.5 Z’s out of 6.  I could stay awake through a lot of it but I still passed out in points.  The three books following Twilight take a very Star Wars trilogy approach: You introduce a lot of new characters<book two>,you place them in a impossible winning scenario<book three>, and then they win<book four> .This is why I feel the last 3 books are after thoughts.

Eclipse

Hands down this has to be the most action packed book of the four.  It also has the most definite goal in mind.  It lays out exactly what you think is going to happen and shows the path of how it happens.  There are enough embellishments along the way to make this book entertaining.  Obviously you can’t have a good love story without a love triangle.  To name a few: King Author, Lancelot and Guinevere; Romeo, Juliet, and Perris; and finally my favorite the most appropriate Cyclops, Wolverine, and Jean Grey.  By reading the book you will understand how funny that last one actually is. If only there was super natural powers and fist fights between Edward, and “him” it would be just like X-Men.  Oh wait they do . Even better yet there is one clean cut guy and the other is kind of grizzly. Stephanie, were you an X-Men fan?  You also find out a bit about Jasper.  This character is much darker then I originally thought.  I found a new respect for him but he is still your stereotypical solemn veteran; grumpy and hesitant to let go of the past.   Even though this wasn’t my favorite book, I did manage to stay awake more in this one then any of the others.  I think it was due to the fast pace plot caused by the relentless draining of the hour glass.  You feel that it’s running out quicker and quicker by every page you read.  I believe we read through this book in probably 1 week instead a month.  This ranks as my 2^nd favorite book and gets 1 Z out of 6.  I did manage to crash a few times.

Breaking Dawn

By this point in the game I was really enjoying the characters but wanted the series to end.  It’s bitter sweet when you get to the last book because it feels necessary but you want to continue on in their lives.  The book starts where the 3^rd ends.  It’s a happy beginning all the ducks get in a row and rose peddles fall from the heavens.   The man sweeps the women off her feet and takes her away to the most romantic place on earth.  If you begin to get a little peeved by Edward at this point you should.  He totally makes us men look like schmucks and needs to be taught the laws of man.  Don’t go over the top because you set the bar to high and she will always expect it to be that romantic all the time. Then when you’ve literally got eternity to spend with her you’ve literally shot yourself in the foot.  There is also a high anticipated scene that completely falls flat on its face.   By this point you are expecting much more to this scene and literally it ends right as it begins.  If it was a movie the scene should at least dim to a soft focus and hear some giggling and then black.  Nope, not here. It is more along the lines of a bad splice; you looking at the elaborate scene laid before you and all the sudden you’re looking at the end credits running backwards.  You can’t respond any other way then WTF was that?  After that un-interesting scene everything completely changes.  The story is no longer from the main characters point of view but from a supporting character.  I haven’t seen a book do this before.  It is unusual but not complete crap.  I hope this doesn’t become a new thing in story telling because it would greatly ruin the effect this book sets. The plot itself begins to drag right about 2/3’s the way through the character shift and finally shifts back to Bella.  This is a godsend because I don’t care much for the person you see things through.  I would say this book really has 2 major climaxes.  Both are well done and they don’t leave you complaining about the denouement.  I would give this one a definite 2.5 z’s our of 6

This series isn’t the complete devil but it is definitely not a godsend that women make it out to be.  I would not go back and read any of the books, but I would recommend them to a woman.  If a guy has to be duped into listening to them you can have fun making up little scenarios in your head.  All the books follow a man vs. man setup except the 2^nd one which is a man vs. himself.  I always enjoy a little internal conflict. The most fascinating thing I found was the way these novels make women react.  It makes them so susceptible to seductions.  Edward apparently does all the heavy lifting for you. Then you just come and reap the rewards.  However the 2^nd book gives you more of a cuddly woman which you have to work a bit harder to woe.

So onto the next book series, a series for real men; James bond.  This will be an interesting chauvinistic compensation to enforce after reading the Twilight Saga.