Safe Haven and The Great Gatsby--The Books and The Films

I saw Safe Haven the other day and I can't seem to get it out of my mind. I know it got terrible reviews, but I really liked it. While many critics scoffed at the plot twist, I found it endearing. It's not a family movie, but I think it's a sweet chick flick and I'm never opposed to seeing a Nicholas Sparks film (even though I've never seen Nights in Rodanthe or The Lucky One).

I'm the kind of person that can't get memorable movies, songs, or books out of my head. Sometimes a whole movie will play in my head while I'm doing the dishes or some other boring chore.

Anyway, the other thing that I can't get out of my mind is The Great Gatsby preview that came on before Safe Haven. I feel so weird about it. We all read The Great Gatsby in high school, right? It's one of "the classics." It's well written, full of deep symbolism, and has timeless characters--but it's also really, really SAD.

It reminds me of some of the other novels I read in high school like 1984, Lord Of The Flies, and The Grapes of Wrath. They're amazing, but they also made me feel depressed (and to be clear I am not bashing these books at all, I understand their importance). It just confirms my opinion that Hollywood can make anything look current, beautiful, and fun.

Another thing that made me feel strange about the preview was the music. It featured songs from Kanye West, Jay Z, Florence + the machines, and an edgy cover of Happy Together. I like Florence + the machines, but I had a hard time meshing current trendy music with such a classic, somber story.

Earlier this year in the Halloween episode of Pretty Little Liars, Aria, one of the main characters, dressed up like Daisy from The Great Gatsby. Her friend Hannah asked, "from the movie?" and I thought that was such a strange line. But now I understand it. With Leonardo Dicaprio starring as Gatsby in previews that show characters dancing in glittery costumes to music from Kanye and Jay Z, teenagers are getting a very different view of the story than I ever did. It will be interesting to see what kind of feedback it gets after its release date in March.

Both of these movies are based off of books, so I'm curious to see what you thought. Did you read or see Safe Haven? How do you feel about the new film adaption of The Great Gatsby?

Best Harry Potter Costumes

With the release of Harry Potter 7 coming up, whisperings of muggles dressing up have been circling about. I would like to dedicate this post to those who spend countless hours planning, sewing, enchanting, and purchasing the absolutely perfect Harry Potter costume for Halloween, book and movie release parties, and/or running up and down the street yelling out spells (don't pretend like you haven't).

The first Harry Potter book release I went to was The Order of the Phoenix. It was a night I will never forget because it honestly seemed perfect to me. I remember my brother Chris lending me some of his church clothes so I could have a tie and vest similar to a Hogwarts student. My little sister Holly and I both fought over who looked most like Hermione (Yes, its true), and the countdown at Borders was just bliss to me.



It shouldn't be surprising to you that after that event I went to every Harry Potter release party I could. For the 5th Harry Potter movie I dragged Kellen, my husband, to the midnight showing. I convinced him that we HAD to dress up, and willingly he agreed, even though he hadn't read the books. So once again I dressed up as a Hogwarts student (not very creative I know), and Kellen showed up as spider-man. Yep, a full complete spider-man costume, red boots and all. This wasn't that surprising to me, Kellen's rather unpredictable. What was surprising was that he WON the Harry Potter costume competition.

For the release of Harry Potter 7 part 1, Kellen and I once again dressed up for the festivities. I tried making a costume resembling Professor Trelawney (tried being the key word...), Kellen began arranging his costume trying to resemble a death eater, but became a golden snitch in the end (I think?). And Bekki, Kellen's sister, wowed us all with her whomping willow costume. It. Was. Awesome. She won the costume competition that time (duh!) and luckily I got a picture of it.



So when you dress up (and you better!) for the release of Harry Potter 7, I congratulate you on your creativeness and hope you have a magical evening!

PS my spell check says "Muggle" is a real word. Weird.