New Moon review

As promised, here is my opinion and review of the latest movie in the Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Going to see New Moon at midnight on the day it was released was pretty exciting. I've never went to a midnight release of any movie before so I was anticipating it greatly. And, I convinced my fiance to go with me...another plus since none of my friends were able to buy tickets in time before they were sold out.

I waited in line for an hour and a half in the freezing cold until they finally let us start filing into the theater at around 11:30 p.m. I was about the fifth or sixth person in line, so you would think that I would get pretty good seats...WRONG. Unfortunately, the movie theater decided to do this special double feature thing, showing Twilight at 9:30 p.m. and then showing New Moon in the same theater at midnight. Those who bought tickets for Twilight and went to it did not have to leave their seats in the theater in between Twilight and New Moon. Much to everyone's shock and disappointment, as the people who had been waiting in line for two hours entered the theater, they were greeted by an almost entirely full theater. Only the very front four or five rows remained, with a few single seats scattered around the rest of the theater.

I have to say I have never seen so many females in one movie theater before. And the even weirder thing, about 95 percent of them were college girls, not the middle-school girls you would expect for such a movie. Finally the movie began with a giant moon flashing across the screen with the words "New Moon" appearing over it (one girl even decided to take a picture of this...) New Moon started out pretty much exactly like the book. However, I felt the movie did not do a great job of sticking to the book throughout. Some parts were dead on, but that doesn't make up for the parts that were left completely out of the movie that are quite frankly pretty important to the story. Those of you who have read the books and saw the movie will know exactly what I'm talking about.

As far as acting goes, I have to say I think Kristen Stewart (Bella) did a much better job portraying her character in this movie than in Twilight. As for Robert Pattinson (Edward) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob)...not so much. Their acting skills seemed to suffer slightly in this movie...especially Jacob who apparently has problems doing "break up" scenes (It's not you it's me...REALY?) I would have to say that big thing that saved this movie...Taylor Lautner putting on 30 pounds of muscle to play werewolf Jacob and looking damn good after he did that. I think my fiance may have enjoyed the movie more if he hadn't had to listen to 200 college girls screaming everytime Jacob appeared on the screen without a shirt...and in the rain...which had to have happened at least five times.

I will continue to see the Twilight Saga movies as they come out. I just hope that the directors and actors work really hard on the last two movies, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, because those two are the most important and if they are done even slightly wrong it could ruin the whole series for some people.

To read New Moon reviews from some other folks, check out those at Rotten Tomatoes.

Redbox fights back

I am a college student, and like other students I live on Mac n' Cheese and Top Ramen; cheap food. Not having parents to fall back on for money, many college students feel broke. But even broke college students find ways to relax and be entertained.

Redbox provides consumers with $1 DVD rentals. Although the cheap rental is great for consumers, some Hollywood studios see Redbox in a different light. Some studios are blocking Redbox's access to their DVD's unless Redbox agrees to their terms. For now us broke college students will have to wait to see the some of the latest movies on DVD if we rent through Redbox, but the wait could be short; Redbox is fighting back and has filed a lawsuit agaisnt the three studios that are preventing their access to the DVD releases.

"While some Hollywood studios have inked deals with the company, others see low-price Redbox as a red menace, a threat to lucrative businesses such as DVD sales and the cuts it gets of higher-priced rentals at companies like Blockbuster Inc.

Universal Pictures, Twentieth-Century Fox and Warner Bros. have tried to block Redbox's access to their new DVDs unless Redbox agreed to terms like delays for new movies. Redbox, a unit of Coinstar Inc., is firing back with lawsuits against all three studios."

Read the whole article and interview at the Wall Street Journal here.

Does cable cost too much?

Time Warner Cable, the nation's second largest cable operator, (behind Comcast), is launching a new campaign to counter ideas that cable companies are charging consumers too much.
The blame for rising cable costs is caused by rising programming costs, according to Time Warner Cable.
However, TV-network owners claim they are only asking for fair compensation for their programming, for which costs are rising.

Subscriptions to both cable and satellite are expensive. With more programming being streamed free online, it isn't wise for cable and satellite companies to continually increase their prices. More and more consumers are switching over to only purchasing internet and they still are able to view their favorite TV shows. This creates problems for networks though, because then viewers only watch shows they know they like, it doesn't leave much room for people to find new favorite shows.
If they want to keep viewership numbers high TV-network owners and cable/satellite companies arguing over what are making costs rise and find a way to cut costs together.

For more on Time Warner Cable's campaign visit the Wall Street Journal.

Johnny Depp named "sexiest man alive"...again

In 2003, People Magazine named Johnny Depp as "the sexiest man alive." Depp has won the title again, being deemed the "sexiest man alive" by People in 2009. Read the full story and see who the runner-ups were here.

Happy Birthday

Mickey Mouse turns 81!

"Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and voiced by Walt Disney. The Walt Disney Company celebrates his birth as November 18, 1928 upon the release of Steamboat Willie."

Is Twitter's 15 minutes up?

"Growth has been slowing for Twitter, the 140-character social networking site, and in October usage actually declined from September. The response from Twitter is, of course, to try new features that frankly I find annoying. Such a slowdown should have been expected, not to mention that like Facebook, many people sign up, look around and then don't come back. What do I know? I'm not some Silicon Valley genius. TechCrunch takes a look at the decline in twits."

From the L.A. Times "Company Town"

New Moon almost here

The highly anticipated second book/movie in the Twilight Saga, New Moon, comes out in about two weeks on Friday, Nov. 20. I will be attending the midnight premiere at Village Centre Cinemas...check back afterwards for a full review!

coming to you in 3D

Village Centre Cinemas recently purchased and installed a 3D projector. The theater now has the ability to play movies in 3D, such as the recently release "A Christmas Story".

Check back later for the full story.

China OKs Disney theme park plans -- latimes.com

China OKs Disney theme park plans -- latimes.com

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The Mouse comes to Shanghai

Disney has announced that it has approval to build its fourth theme park in Shanghai, China. The project is estimated to cost more than three billion dollars.

This is an large investment for Disney, as their park in Hong Kong is performing below average. The park opened in 2005 and annual visit rates are still about 25% below the original target, according the CNNMoney.com

For full stories visit the New York Times, the L.A. Times or Bloomberg.com

Southland dropped by NBC, but picked up by TNT

The critically acclaimed "Southland" has been struggling to gain a large audience. NBC has decided to drop the program from their lineup before the fall 2009 second season premiere. According to the L.A. times, TNT will air the six episodes from season two that have already been taped, but continuation of the series depends on viewership. To read the full story visit the L.A. Times or the Washington Post.