In the past week…

In the past week I’ve done a few things. The content is finally up on voice of the player which means that I’m officially a content writer for a website. Woohoo! I’ve spent some time with my little sisters and my brother’s fiancee taking their engagement photos in Laguna Beach. Congratulations Chris and Rocki.

I’ve seen the movie Precious, which is well worth the ticket price but might been too heavy for a lot of people. It follows the struggle of one girl who has been raped, abused by both parents, has learning disabilities along with a lack of education, and is pregnant for the second time by her father.

I’ve also seen Avatar, which is well worth the price of admission too. Contrary to what many people think, this movie is not just beautiful (though it is that), it clearly has several messages. I think the reason people don’t notice is because it doesn’t feel heavy-handed. It is a movie that is anti-military conquest and anti-big business. It is pro-The-Little-People, pro-ecology, pro-connection with each other and the world. The good guys in this movie are connected to everything around them while the bad guys want to destroy the planet so that they can mine an ore and make a ton of money. Somehow, I think that connection vs. disconnection and greed seems to be a moral.

Also, I saw Law Abiding Citizen, a movie where Gerard Butler plays a sympathetic bad guy who can kill from behind bars. When his wife and daughter are raped and killed horribly in front of him, he goes a bit out of his mind, for a value of “a bit” that torture and murder seems normal to him now. There is some serious violence but the movie is well done. If you’re squeamish though, don’t go see it. My favorite scene was actually at the end because the fire is strangely beautiful and once again, you feel for the guy who you’ve been trying to figure out and think of as straight evil once he begins killing people involved in the trial.

Other than movies and engagement photos I’ve been reading books and managed to pick up 5 books for $1.25 at the Friends of the Library Bookstore connected to the local library in my town. It’s pretty awesome. Beyond those 5 books I’ve got another 5 I need to read. Looks like I’ll be booky for the next few weeks. 🙂

In the past week I have read two books. I’m going to sum up the series a little bit and then get to the reviews. The series as a whole is called The Chronicles of Elantra. It follows Kaylin Neya, a 20 year old Hawk (Elantra’s version of a police force detective). She left the fiefs, the poor side of town where each fief is lead by a different fieflord (think crime lord/dictator), seven years ago and joined the Hawks, going from outside the Law to a part of the Law. Kaylin loves children and hates magic. She is the Chosen as a result of the runes written all over her skin and is forced to deal with various magical emergencies from murder, to kidnap, to the destruction of the city she has come to love. Because Kaylin is Kaylin, each book has something to do with children and magic. I don’t want to tell too much of the story because each book reveals something new about her.