Books I Grew Up With

I saw this post on the Got YA! blog  and it got me reminiscing about books I grew up with.  I read a few that were listed in that post.   

I loved  the "Ramona" books by Beverly Cleary and am waiting to see the "Ramona and Beezus" movie this summer.  Yes, I will see another movie based on books, which I already read  years ago;-).   I also loved the" Fudge" books by Judy Blume.  I still see and glance at these books at bookstores and a second-hand stores.  Same with Blume's classic but controversial "Are You There God? It's me Margaret."   

Another series of books I loved was the "Sweet Dreams" romance books.   I would often buy them back in the 1980s, since borrowing them from the school library was nearly impossible!   They were always checked out,  seemingly by people who would have never read them if they had to buy them.  I only managed to ever check out one of two of them in seventh and eighth grade.  Last June, I came across a few of these books at a second-hand store that I never read the first time.  

There were other teen romance novels I read such as "First Love From Silhouette" books. I liked these as much as the "Sweet Dreams" ones and owned several of the "First Love" books as well.  I also recall reading a few other romance novels from series I don't remember the names of.    Some others are profiled in this blog post.  Some of these sound familiar to me, but some do not.  I pretty much gave up these books  by the time I was 16.  Reading some of them as a grownup, however, brought back some memories and made some new ones from reading the books I missed the first time. 

I unfortunately don't have any of these books now, but the memories live on.  

Movie Theater Test

You Are Imaginative and Idealistic

You are funny and playful. You bring out the brighter side of things. You are one colorful character. You tend to go to your friends for advice and opinions. You value what your friends have to say. You have an optimistic take on life. Things are always a lot better than they seem at first. Spending time alone makes you more optimistic and ready to take on the world. You like to recharge.

The Movie Theater Test

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

I'll admit whether I read the book or not, but sometimes I didn't know about it

I recently came across this blogpost from Steph in the City and it got me thinking about how many movies I'd seen without reading the book.  I left a  comment saying how in some cases I was unaware that a movie was based on a book.  Two years ago, from Netflix, I stumbled upon the movie "Fast Food Nation."  I don't know what compelled me to add this to my queue, but somehow I did.  I was totally unaware that there was a book until someone I know said he'd read the book.   Similarly, last year, after I saw the trailers on TV for "Hotel for Dogs," I went to see it and I liked it, but once again, I did not know about the book!   

Here are some others I watched without reading the book first:

Zathura

Because of Winn-Dixie

The Clique

High Fidelity

Where the Heart Is

In these cases, I did not know about the book either, but in the case of the last two, once I became aware of the book, I decided to seek it out and read it.   I glanced at a copy of "The Clique" at my town's library, not feeling too compelled to read it all.   And I don't even remember hearing about the film "Zathura" when it came out, let alone that I didn't know about the book.  I just came across this film somehow while browsing Netflix one day. Something obviously made me decide to add it to my list of films.  I received and watched this one about three weeks ago. 

As far as the "Harry Potter" series is concerned, I did go with my mom to see the first two films in 2001 and 2002, but never read the books.   But I've not watched the subsequent movies either.  And I'm well aware of the books--I've always assumed everyone was.  But were these people?  I just haven't been able to get into this series. 

There are probably others I've seen based on book that I did not know about, that I cannot recall right now.

 

I did know about the novel on which the recent hit film "Precious" was based when the movie came out.  This was evidenced by the film's full title:

In 1996, when the book upon which this movie is based was first published, it was titled "Push: A Novel." The film was likewise originally titled, "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire," but in February 2009, the movie title was changed to Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009) to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push (2009). When the novel was republished in 2009, it was as a movie tie-in edition with cover art from the film, a common enough practice regarding books that have been turned into movies. What is unusual about the movie tie-in version of the book is that the book's title had also been changed to the movie's - which means that the book is now called "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," even though it is the novel "Push" by Sapphire.

On the other hand, my mom had the books in the "Twilight" series so I asked to borrow them.  

The first film had already come out in the theaters before I started reading the series and she had already seen it.  I decided I would read the books before attempting t see the film, which she also bought and I borrowed.   I saw the second "Twilight" when it was in theaters last November.   And she had the books that were published before the films were made, thus not having covers that were revised with pictures from the actors in the film such as this:

When I first saw the trailers for "Marley and Me," I knew it was a film I wanted to see.  Shortly after seeing the previews, I read the newspaper review which made me aware of the novel on which it was based.   I never got around to seeing it in the theaters and once it was released on DVD, I added "Marley and Me" to my Netflix queue. It would be almost a year before 

I received the DVD, since there were a lot of other films already in my queue.  When I saw the book at my place of work, I decided to buy it in hopes of getting to read it before the movie reached the top of my queue.   I won a $10 gift card in a drawing work one day and immediately used it to buy the book.  I read the book in less than a week in early January, and it was more than a month till I received the DVD in the mail.

And I read "Charlotte's Web" many times as a child before I saw any of the film adaptations.

What is Your Shopping Stereotype?

Your Shopping Stereotype is Traditional

You tend to be a very down to earth shopper. You go for function and quality. Price matters to you, but you also want to get the most bang for your buck. You never buy junk. If you find a brand or store you like, you tend to stick with it over the years. You are a loyal shopper. You don't buy the latest thing right away. You prefer to purchase things that have stood the test of time.

What's Your Shopping Stereotype?

I don't want to say it, but these quiz results are not quite right, which always happens when I do one of these quizzes.

'80s Movie Gadgets You Know You Wanted - Entertainment News Story - KSBW The Central Coast

'80s Movie Gadgets You Know You Wanted - Entertainment News Story - KSBW The Central Coast

This is how my hometown makes national news

It's rare that my hometown of Hollister, California ever makes the national news. The local news, yes: most recently for rape trials, budget cuts, and teacher layoffs.  Chances are until this past Thursday,  if you're not from Hollister (or anywhere else in California), you've probably never heard of Hollister.  Either that or you've only seen bits and pieces of this rural town on national news, in newspapers or even on your own local newscasts.  A family friend who grew up in Hollister but was living in Hawaii in 1989 (he's been back in Hollister since about 1998) recalled turning on his TV on October 17 of that year and seeing glimpses of his hometown on the news.  It was then that he learned of the Loma Prieta earthquake on that date.  Hollister was among the hardest-hit communities, along with much of the San Francisco area. And until 2005, Hollister held the annual Motorcycle Rally during Fourth of July weekend.  Bikers from all over the country and even the world turned out for these events.  Although the last official rally was almost five years ago, bikers have continued to turn out in Hollister on July 4 weekend in the years since.  If anything, events like these are what most people outside of California have ever heard about this town.   Until now.  

While watching NBC's Thursday night line up, the anchor from KSBW in nearby Salinas broke the news during the commercials.  I was more than shocked to learn that the person who had drawn a gun at the Pentagon was from my hometown.   Later on, she gave the guy's name: John Patrick Bedell.  I had not seen or even thought of this guy in years.  He was two years behind me in school.   I did not get to watch the channel's 11PM newscast since I was asleep by then, but plenty more news came the next day.  After work yesterday, I stopped at the county library, which is next to the county courthouse (Hollister is the county seat for San Benito County), and spotted a news van from KSBW parked across the street.   Several of my Facebook friends who grew up in Hollister wrote about the situation on their status updates.  I then let all my Twitter followers know that I went to high school with the Pentagon Shooter.  That night it was the top story on NBC Nightly News.  Curtis Hill, the current sheriff of San Benito County, was on Nightly News.  I don't think anyone from our town or county has ever been on a national news program.  KSBW then  covered the story on their 6PM newscast.  And at 10PM,  Salinas Fox station KBCA covered the story, showing pictures of Bedell in the San Benito High School yearbook from the 1988-1989 school year. (Bedell was then a sophomore).   A fellow graduate of San Benito High--now a journalism teacher at the high school and a columnist for the local paper The Pinnacle--wrote about the story in his blog yesterday.   More is expected to be in Hollister's two local papers next week.   And the shooting and the shooter made the front page of today's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle--to which I have been a subscriber for years and in which have rarely seen my town mentioned.  This kind of breaking news rarely occurs in this rural and often quite California town.

Worth the wait

After hearing about the movie "An Education" last summer and waiting many months to see it, I finally got the chance this week when it was shown as part of the Wednesday Cinema Arts Series at my town's theater.  I was certain it would not a a regular-run film at the theater, but it seemed a likely candidate for the Cinema Arts Series.  I first went to the theater for this series last October when they showed "(500) Days of Summer." The series is on hold during summer and winter since a lot of major releases come out on Wednesdays during those seasons.  The series returned two weeks ago with "Precious," another art film I'd been waiting to see.  I'd pondered going out of town to see "An Education," but was always too tired or too worried about gas, or it would be raining or the movie would be shown late in the day.  I was sure they'd bring it to my town once they got the art film series running again,  especially after "An Education" got several Oscar nominations.  I kept checking their website and once I saw it was coming on March 3, I was excited.  At last.   The wait was over.   I loved the movie, just as I'd been certain I would.  It took a long time to get to see it, but it was worth the wait.    Carey Mulligan, the lead actress in "An Education" looks to be a good actress and I am looking forward to seeing more of her.  I was not aware until recently that she was one of the sisters in the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice."   

I'm still deciding whether to see the next three art films at my town's theater this month: "Broken Embraces,"  "The Young Victoria"  and  "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus."   I now hope they'll bring "Me and Orson Welles," "A Single Man," and  "Fish Tank."    I'm at least glad they bring art-type films to my town, even if it's only once a week.  It lets the residents of this town experience these not-s0-mainstream (but often critically acclaimed) movies without driving to another town (before the film hits DVD), even if it takes months to see a particular title.   "An Education" was originally released last October.  I first read about it August last year and that's when I knew I wanted to see it.   And at last I did.