Which is Better? AKA Jessica Jones and Alias

Wait, AKA Jessica Jones was based off this comic book? Did the script writers read the comic book, toss it to the side and thought, 'no, we can do better?' Or they thought, 'hey, let's take the most uninteresting things about the comic book, toss the rest aside that makes it great, and put other characters in because, well, we're sooo creative and naturally, what we come up with is far more riveting than Alias?' Because that's what the show felt like.

AKA Jessica Jones has been critically acclaimed and raved about, but honestly? I thought it was just OK. Not the worst thing I've ever watched (I'm looking at you Chappie. You abomination.) Now that I've read the beginning of Alias, I've realized that the tone and the mood doesn't transfer over into the show. There are also quite a few terrible things they added, like Ruben and... what was her name? Rylie? Rudder? Rumplestiltskin? and Malcolm, who, let's be honest, had the most thankless character arc ever. Not to mention they rewrote the entire story to where it's almost unrecognizable. There are bits and pieces of the show that I appreciated, and recognised what they were trying to accomplish, but it fell flat. Especially standing next to the comic book.

Even Jessica Jones' hair is different! Which, ok, it's not a big deal. I mean, hair is hair, but did they keep the black hair because it's Krysten Ritter? It would have been interesting to see her have a hair change, but maybe she's butt ugly with red hair... who knows? But it felt to me that black hair was to on the nose with how "dark" the show was.

What I also noticed most about the show was how... cheap it looked. Now, I don't mind low budget movies, and honestly, sometimes creativity can be a wonderful thing that actually adds to it. However, when you notice that even the makeup looks awful in certain lighting (really... there was a defining line between her makeup and her neck, not to mention her skin looked yellow), and your husband points out that the high profile lawyer's office is incredibly bare, and not in a minimalist way, but in a oh-shit-we-have-no-money way, it's a problem. I don't set out to watch a movie to look for makeup flaws and bare settings but it smacked us in the face. It was so low budget that it couldn't even be covered up.

Now, Josh and I have different theories on why it looked so low budget and I think it's a mixture of both of them. I think some of it was intentional, or tried to be. In the comic book, at least in the first volume, she's mostly on the streets, investigating. She's just in tee-shirts and jeans, and only twice does she demonstrate her super powers. It seems like they tried to carry that over to the show. I also think they spent a lot of their money getting Carey Ann Moss, David Tennant, Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter on the show. Josh thinks that most of the budget for the Marvel TV shows were blown with Daredevil, which had a lot of really remarkable shots and stunts and they none left over to shoot Jessica Jones. Man, I hope they are able to film the Luke Cage one (which btw, was one of the best parts about the show).

So, verdict? I haven't read all the comics, so I would have to update as I read them. However, it's a shame that AKA Jessica Jones didn't use much of the story line with Alias, because it would have been neat to see, even if it was just the Rick Jones, sidekick stuff. So far? Read Alias... and I guess see the show if you want to know what everyone else is talking about and you want in on the convo...  but you didn't miss much.

Marvel Mondays: Jessica Jones: Alias 1

To be honest, I was a bit nervous reading the comic book. I saw the show, and I wondered if the book would directly reflect the netflix show (to varying degrees of success). My husband told me that it was a dark comic book series, and he wasn't sure if I would like it or not. However, BAE still bought it for me for Christmas for my blog! Thanks bae! 

I actually really enjoyed it. It was gritty, but I liked the idea of Jessica Jones on the peripheral, abandoning her cape and seeking to try and carve out a normal life. Sure, she's a private investigator, which has her associating with the dredge of society, but it seems like she can hold her own. Her powers are not really played up here, with the exception of her holding her own in a fight (and removing a man's arm from her collar, full strength). There are characters in the comic that are desperate to associate with anyone who has powers, and Jessica falls victim to this several times during the course of the story. 

There are lots of appearances of other, very well known characters in the comics, such as Dare Devil, Captain America and Powerman. I would have liked to see more of their relationship, but I have a feeling there is going to be more of that later on. The story line is political,  with a lot of foreshadowing. It's done very well and it leaves you with the same confusion Jessica feels, but doesn't leave you frustrated that you have no idea what is going on. 

Comic book illustrations and artwork doesn't get a lot of credit, I feel and sometimes, even comic book illustrators don't use their entire toolbox to convey the story at hand or they are refrained from doing so. Gaydos does and his illustrations take on a 90s grunge theme. It's perfect for the atmosphere of the story at hand. He doesn't waste colors either, and reverses light versus dark theme. He uses brighter colors during scenes where she is reflecting on her past as a masked superhero, a time in her life that she would prefer to bury deep, but everyone else glorifies it, wondering why she decided to stop. Gaydos uses darker colors when she is wading through her crisis and detective work, something that she enjoys doing, but everyone else puts down, especially since they deem her worthy of doing more, like becoming a superhero. 

I also love how it's mapped out, and the panels are easy to follow in Alias. My favorite part is when she listens to clients, and artistically, the scene should be very boring. They are sitting at a desk and the client is talking, while Jessica listens. However, the panels go back and forth, depicting the client talking, and Jessica smoking a cigarette, listening but unmoving. Nevertheless, Gaydos conveys that she's on her guard, studying the person, thinking about whether to take the case, or whether it's all bullshit. 

I can't wait to read the rest of the series! 

The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory (Or, a slow burn of a sad story that we've all read before)

So let me explain the title first. I came up with the title as I waded through the book and I remember repeatedly telling my husband that it's just a sad story... one where we know the ending, and most likely, know the big parts of the story.The only difference is that it's through the eyes of another character, not one of the key players. I knew of Margaret Pole and her sad end, but I didn't know backstory or her role during the War of the Roses.

I'm not sure about you all, but I hate reading about characters that are so happy and life is wonderful when the reader knows that it's going to go to hell pretty soon. I'm going to go out on a limb and state that Gregory was laying it on with Katherine of Aragon's happiness, especially since we all know what's going to happy to her. It also happened with Margaret Pole, to a lesser extent, with her rags to riches story, seeking refuge in a nunnery until Katherine of Aragon marries Henry the VIII and is invited back to court. We all know where she ends up and her being elated makes me squirms. I feel like it's a horror movie, where the main character goes into the darken house when you know there is a killer there waiting for them.

Gregory also lays it on pretty thick with the character of Gregory, who eventually betrays Montague and his mother and his entire family. He's the apple of his mother's eye, but bad things only happen to boys that are overindulged and spoiled, which brings me too...

Damn, Henry the VIII. The rise and fall of this vapid, egomaniac of a character is pretty satisfactory, but in his wake is a path of destruction and headless women, not to mention a destruction of a religion in England. He surrounds himself with corruption, but I take issue with Margaret's viewpoint. It's skewed because she's a York Princess and her family is pushed to the side. Need I say that her father was killed because he eagerly tried to overthrow Edward II?

The last 100 pages of the book was also interesting to me because I haven't read anything on Jane Seymour or the aftermath of the fall of Anne Boleyn. I appreciated the last pages or so of the book when King Henry marries Jane Seymour. I feel like I've read a lot of books recently and saw a lot of movies that depicted the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, but we never hear about the wives after that dangerous affair. It was interesting to read it through the eyes of a powerful bystander and an heir of the Plantagenet line, the oldest royal family in England.

I even enjoyed the beginning of the book when Katherine of Aragon and Author are introduced and they were wedded and living in Ludlow when Author comes down with a mysterious illness. Katherine of Aragon is also another character I haven't read so much about, other than the displaced wife of Henry the VIII. The women are very sympathetic with her, and hate Anne Boleyn, and the reader can see how she isolates herself from everyone at court so when she is put on trial, no one is there to defend her. The act of putting his wife aside leads him into doing crazier and crazier things, with the people of court too afraid of him to advise him otherwise. Again, I feel like this is Margaret's black and white viewpoint because King Richard was definitely flirting with his niece...

Finally, like the other books in the series, there is mention of witchcraft, curses, religion and mythology, and the like, which gives it an interesting flair and spin on the history. I've read a few other books in the series, like The White Queen and The Red Queen which repeatedly mention the above themes and motifs. I'm not sure if it needed such repetition of a curse throughout the book and Margaret's adamant refusal of acknowledging it.

I'll see what other books in this series I can find for a bargain. I have a few more that I need to read, The White Princess and the other book about the rise of the Woodville family, but I'm not paying full price for them!

Marvel Mondays: The All-New, All-Different Avengers #2 by Waid, Kubert and Oback

It could have been written as 1 comic, but I'll give it to Marvel to try and make a buck wherever they can.

The story continues with The Vision showing up and helping Tony Stark bust out of his car-Iron-man. The Warbringer goes to Jersey City, where Nova tracks him and he is dreading meeting Ms. Marvel again more than battling his old foe. Ms. Marvel is concerned about her town and the damage that Nova is causing due to his focusing on the Warbringer.

All the Avengers arrive and meet up with Nova and Ms. Marvel, and Nova does not want to admit that the Warbringer is back due to his first incident of being dropped into the sun. The Warbringer wants immortality, and low and behold, Thor arrives to help the Avengers, or the group that do not want to call themselves the Avengers, take down their new enemy.

It's a great story, but again, I wish it was meatier. It feels even though there are a lot of characters involved, since they are making an "All-new, All-different" Avengers team, but it's just... lacking in action. Spider-man had more action than the new Avengers comic does.

I hope it picks up, and I hope that Josh buys the next month's addition. However, I do have a bone to pick with this headline... it's not completely all new, is it, if Tony Stark and Spiderman is still there, right? Aren't they part of the original Avengers? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, MARVEL?

Good read, but don't expect it to be a long one. It goes by quicker than usual.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeiffer (I'm hunkering down for the apocalypse and don't call me crazy)

Guys, I can't even.

When my husband is on board with a YA novel, I know it's relatively good. It was recommended to him by his co-teacher, and of course, I nabbed it after he was finished.

Guys, I can't even....

Not only do I want to recommend it to everyone, no matter their reading interests, ages or even if they are a book reader, I am actually dismayed that it hasn't been made into a movie. Now, realistically, this book wouldn't make a good movie because it's all about survival and the realism of stepping back a century to survive. They would have to either combine the other two books (that I haven't read yet but dropped heavy hints to Josh that I wanted to read them) or just add crazy nerve wrecking action scenes in order for the movie to fly by.

Guys, I can't even!

Now, I just want to read up on camping and survival skills and stockpile food in case of an asteroid hitting the moon and the moon being knocked off orbit closer to the earth and life ending as we know it. Seriously, I'm all for gun control, but you know I'm bribing the guy who knows how to shoot (or honestly, can point the gun... they don't need to shoot) the second the end of the world comes along so I can go to a pharmacy and get all the insulin, all the kinds, and shove them in the cold ground until I need them. I'll probably get other stuff too... you know, antibacterias and z-packs....

I may have gotten off topic here. Besides for the fact that I'm a bit freaked out about the end of the world coming and maybe Josh and I should invest in a wood burning stove and it might not be a bad idea to move out of the city into the rural area so that people won't know we are there... it's a very good novel.

I'm also checking off friends that I would help, who would be useful for survival and those I would definitely pretend I didn't hear them when they come knocking. Eliza... you'll be relieved to know that you are on the list of people that I would help. Family is a very big theme in the books... and alright Lyndsay and Morgan, I guess you can come and stay. Just make sure you pull your weight. I may even find my 6'5" cousins just for protection.

Ok, but seriously. I love the voice of Miranda, and her first person perspective as told through her diary. Sometimes diary novels annoy me, because it still reads like the author trying to communicate everything that is going on, even other perspectives when the character can't know what someone else is thinking. What I also love about the book is that it's unpredictable. I had no idea what was going to happen, and the seemingly simple setup of the end of the world and this family living on the outskirts of town in Pennsylvania threw me a few curve balls.

Like, holy crap. Guys... I can't even.

That's all I have to say. Go out, read the book, read the rest of the series, and probably start stockpiling batteries and a radio.

End of the Year Top Authors

Ok, so I know I said that I would do Top 5 books of the year, but the problem with that is that though I've took the time to read and review a lot on my blog (and get into the habit of posting on a regular basis), I've read books that sort of did double duty. I reviewed a lot on my blog that I used for my lesson plans and though they are good literary novels, I'm not sure I would rank it as one of my top books of this year.

As I reviewed my past posts, a few books, but most importantly, 2 authors caught my eye that I thought were very noteworthy and I'm so glad that I discovered them this year. In order to be genuine to this blog and most importantly, to myself, I thought I would discuss both of them instead of arbitrarily listing 5 books that I sort of liked.

2. Sherman Alexie

I discovered this author last year when my co-teacher assigned one of his books for her American Literature class. I've read 2 books by him, and I would like to read more when I get the chance. The first book I read by him is Reservation Blues, a book I acquired when a teacher retired at the end of June. I enjoy Alexie's voice and his style. He's a realist, with humor, depression, alcoholism and poverty all rolled into life on the Reservation. He shows the decline of the characters in the book with such gentleness, and also handles the plight of their circumstance due to systematic racism with the same sort of factual gentleness.

My husband has a copy of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and I read that one next. Even though he uses some of the same characters from Reservation in The Lone Ranger (or really, he uses characters from The Lone Ranger in Reservation), it's not overdone. They are familiar faces in much of the same circumstances. The Lone Ranger are a bunch of short stories about life on the Reservation, with folklore and mythology thrown in. It was his first book published, and I can't wait to read his other books next.

1. Octavia Butler

I think one of the reasons I enjoyed my last 3 months as an English teacher was because of this book. My husband taught this book to his 9th graders at the beginning of the year, and when I was struggling to rewrite my curriculum for the second half of the year, he suggested this book to me. Butler's writing is just phenomenal and Kindred, a stand alone book, is wonderful as it is horrifying. It allows a fresh take on the Antebellum South, as if it were if someone of color traveled back in time. This slave narrative really hits home for what actual slavery was like, and what our country was built from. Like Alexie, Butler also discusses racism but shows it through the lens of Kevin and Dana, an interracial couple in the 1970s.

I then read some of her other books, such as Parable of the Sower, Dawn and Adulthood Rites. I love her weird science fiction, and even more importantly, I love the diversity of her characters. The books that I've read so far have a majority of strong, female characters and they feel genuine because they are treated like people who make mistakes but ultimately power through.

However, unlike Alexie's books, Butler's books are finite. I look forward to reading them, but I dread the day when I read her last one.

These two authors really affected my literature and novel choices this year. Their gifts with words and their insight, whether it's folklore on the Spokane Reservation mixed in with realism and fiction or it's a science fiction story about the future of the world in the lens of a woman of color, has stayed with me.

What authors did you really enjoy this year? What authors did you discover? Comment below, or tweet me!

The Nerve-wrecking Thing About Choosing Your End of the Year Top Books...

I've never been the one to recount or accumulate yearly memories for the end of the year celebration. Maybe it's because it's easier, at least for me, to see the bad than the good, and I end up getting depressed on what went wrong for me, my friends and my family. Cynical and Negative? Absolutely. So I learned very quickly that there wasn't a major pay off and any sort of resolution I made for myself in the start of the New Year also bombed incredibly. Therefore, instead of waiting for the New Year to start thinking positive and doing better for myself, I just try to actively to do it during the year, with varying degrees of success.

Josh, however, does the opposite and does it in a more light hearted way. When he and I started dating, he posts his top 10s on facebook. Top 10 movies, top 10 albums, top 10 shows. I read what he wrote and he and I would talk about. He would ask me what my top 10s were, and I would... avoid the subject.

Choosing your top 10 seemed intimidating even though there aren't any stakes involved and no one will be hurt if you don't rank your favorite things in order from least favorite to most favorite. So, this year, I decided that I would rank my top 10 books and top 5 movie/show adaptations that I liked. I told my husband, who so very dearly wanted to talk with me about them... and promptly made me want to not do it.

It's not his fault at all. However, when he brings up individual episodes of shows that you and he both watched together as an adaptation (that you had no idea it was an adaptation or you haven't read the book/comic of that show yet) and you don't really remember watching the episode all that much, you feel intimidated. I found myself questioning where my memory has gone, where can I find it and how I can get it back, if he's so in tune to certain episodes and I barely remember what we watched last week.

Initially, I was going to avoid doing it at all. I'll start anew next year and then by the end of 2016, I'll be prepared. However, we all know how that goes. Why would this resolution turn out any differently?

When I talked to my friends, they suggested starting somewhere a bit less overwhelming, like a top 5 book, or as my friend Ashley suggested, and she does know me very well, books that I disliked this year. I think it's good practice for my future "Top 10s" posts.

Stay tuned for which books I thought were noteworthy!