Reviews Coming Soon [#1]

New Movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bedtime Stories, 7 Pounds
DVD Movies: Eagle Eye, Bruce Almighty, Pans Labrynth, Hangmans Curse, Legends of the Fall
Books: Skinned, Paper Towns, The Hunger Games, City of Bones, The Host
Anime: Popotan, Ef: A Tale of Melodies
Manga/Mangwha: Dorothy of Oz (1-4), Magical JxR (1), Special A (1&2), Paradise Kiss (1), and more
Video Games: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (PSP)
Movie: About a Boy, and others

[Movie] New HP:Half-blood Prince trailer =D

Ohhhh, now I was already excited for this movie (one of the main reasons I went to see Twilight my first time around... I just realized the HP #6 trailer did not play when I went to see Twilight today. Whattttt??), but this trailer just makes me even more excited.

Dang it! Why can't it be July 2009 already!? I'll have graduated from high school and New Moon will be 4-5 months away =D

Image Credits: WB Entertainment

[Movie] New Moon Bite [#10]

I'm going to be posting all of my New Moon Bite's over here but I will post notices on this blog and on my myspace page. Here's the link to New Moon Bite [#10]. Enjoy =p

[Movie] Twilight review (for my second viewing of the movie)

Twilight
[original motion picture review]
Hearts: as an adaptation, this movie gets 3 but taking into consideration the use of what the director/crew had, this movie deserves 4.5 billion =]

If you would like to read the first review I posted for Twilight, head over here! While you're at my Myspace blog, feel free to add me because any New Moon movie news (or Twi-universe news) will also be posted over there!!

When I walked out of my second viewing of Twilight, I was greeted by cloudy (and windy/rainy) wether which allowed the mood from Twilight to linger on the way home =D

Disclaimer: The above picture does not belong to me. It belongs to Summit Entertainment and any partners realted to them.

Here are a few points you should know before diving into my review of the movie Twilight:

1] I am a Twi-hard. I belive I am the true kind of Twi-hard; not the love stricken Edward Cullen fan girl. *prepares to be hit* Let me explain! I am on Team Jacob *prepares to be thrown across the room*... and I believe that by being Team Jacob I have paid more attention to the books (and enjoyed/understood) than most Twi-hards. If you want my full explination, leave a comment and I'll post a blog entry about it, just for you (and anyone else who will read it). By the way, my favorite books in the series are (in this order) New Moon and Breaking Dawn. I'm surprized I even continued with the story considering how hard it was for me to get into the first book... yet I did. I'm completly glad that I read the first book and continued to read the series because of how amazing New Moon is and always will be. I'm not a Twi-hard who has to have everything Twilight related (but I do have both soundtracks for the movie and the movie companion which is amazing. go get all three of those iteams)... but I do dream of Twilight on occasion and the Twilight series is one of the series that has gotten me to start writting epic YA novels. That's about it for that little rant >.<

2] I went into the movie this time to pay attention to details. Like many before me, this movie was even better the second time around. I don't know why, it just is. And I'm glad because this means the movie has a very high rewatch value.

I know that most self proclaimed fans of Twilight have seen this movie about 40 times, but I have only seen it twice (today was my second time). This is just one of those movies that can't been seen a million and one times because it will get old (and I do know the reason that Twilight had made over $211,748,631 is because fans have gone to see it 40+ times); it will get old fast. Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying "don't go watch this movie a million times"! I'm saying that I would not go see it a million times because I want the movie to stay as magical as it is. I remember back in my childhood days I watched a movie called The Little Vampire about 6 times in one day. I still have no idea why I was able to do that... yet I did. In the end, the movie lost about 75% of it's emidiate magical value. I could probably watch it now and feel the magic, but back then I would not have. That's what I got from watching the movie too many times in one day. Then again, that's just how I am =D

The Meadow Scene [2/5 hearts]- First off, when Edward (Pattison) and Bella (Stewart) were walking towards the forest, I had a bad feeling in my gut. In the book, Edward and Bella take a hike to the meadow then Edward reveals his diamond like skin. In the movie, Bella all of a sudden starts walking towards the forest all the while being followed by Edward. The first time I saw the movie, I thought that maybe she said "follow me" but during my second viewing of the movie I saw no lip movement- so that theory was trashed. Considering that Edward could not read her mind, I pretty much tried to leave this scene alone... then the reveal came up. I have to agree with a lot of Twilighters who said that his shimmer looked more like persperation- if persperation looked like rainbows (because that's my interpritation of the 'shimmer'). There are, in fact, several parts of this scene I did like a lot. When Edward was trying to scare Bella, I gasped in amazement. Even though this wasn't exactly in the book, it fit really well in the movie and gave non readers of the book the feeling that the book gives of how Edward sees himself and how Bella does not see Edward as a killer. I also love how Edward's face looked throughout this scene because I could see the fear and anger Edward must have felt. As a reader of the book, I went in to my first viewing of the movie doubting that Pattison could pull off Edward's movements and facial expressions (I was too busy sqealing during my first viewing to really pay attention to his face), but he most definantly did and I commend him for that whole heartidly.

The Baseball Scene [5 million/5 hearts]- This is still my favorite scene from the movie. Not only was it well done, this is one of those scenes you have to see rather than read in the book. Alice's pitching was fantastic to watch, as well as Rosalie's batting and Edward's running. This is one part of the movie that has excellent pacing and music. Most of the movie seemed choppy, but this scene pretty much redeemed the movie while setting up for the last few scenes.

The Ballet/Fight Scene [4/5 Hearts]- I have to admit, this is my second favorite scene from the movie... despite the obvious wire works. This is another scene that has to be seen rather than read. This was also a scene where non readers of Twilight could get a feel for who Edward cullen is and how he thinks. I loved Bella's reaction to the venom that began pulsating through her blood (gets me excited for how she will react in the Breaking Dawn movie if it is ever made). Pacing in this scene was a little awkward and the wire works were way too obvious just like most scenes from the movie that involved wires. Those are the only reasons why this scene gets 4 instead of 5 hearts.

Overall, the Twilight adaptation was a nice breath of fresh air from many movies out there in our world. Not only was the movie heavy on natural scenes rather than sound stages, the music was placed really well and the movie has one of the best casts I've seen in a while. <3

[Other] Anime Remix Teaser

The video is already released (so don't be sending clips in, unless you want to be apart of the new video which is in production). This trailer is amazing in itself.... but still go watch all of Anime Remix while you cannnnnnnnn ~Akia

[Manga] Kingdom Hearts v.1-4

Kingdom Hearts

[Volumes 1-4 review]

Hearts: 5

-Introduction-
I typically stray away from manga with a A (all ages) rating simply because there is almost never an original and captivating story. In Kingdom Hearts case, I decided to pick up the manga because of it's cheap price tag (8$ a volume) and the title. I love the video game series (my dad bought Kingdom Hearts II today and I found out Re:Chain of Memories was released in the States about a month ago) soooo I pretty much had in mind that the manga would be good, if not great.

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Credits and Disclaimer(s):
All opinions expressed here are that of their individual owners and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Goggle Blogger nor that of their partners. The above image belongs to Tokyopop, an imprint of Mixx Entertainment. I claim no ownership to any images used in my blogs unless stated otherwise, nor do I claim all these opinions as my own; just the ones that have Akia and/or Akia Tomiyo beside them (unless I'm the only one reviewing because then all the opinions are mine unless stated otherwise).
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-Plot Sumary-

When a strange storm hits his island home , 14-year-old Sora is separated from his friends and swept into a mysterious new land. There he meets Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy, who are on a mission to find their king, Mickey, and return him to his throne at Disney Castle. When the three learn of the Heartless, ominous creatures who feed off the darkness in the hearts of others, they join forces to recover Sora's friends, return the king to his rightful position and save the universe from the Heartless!Based on the super-popular world of Kingdom Hearts from Disney, here is one boy's epic journey of courage, trust, and unlocking the key to ones destiny! [thanks to amazon.com for the summary]
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-The Visuals-
I was expecting this to be a serious manga, but the art decided to change my opinion. The game may have it's lung pounding moments, but the manga has a lot more of them... not that I mind (especially the special chapter in the last volume, number 4, with Winnie the Pooh and friends). Over all, the art is pretty simple and to the point; just like the game! This kind of style works really well for a manga of this type.
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-The Story-
If you love the games like I do, then you'll realize how good of an adaptation this manga is. Not only does it follow the games story line, it adds some nice manga only moments and parodies some Disney stories we all have come to love. I highly reccomend this series for Kingdom Hearts fans and kids at heart.

[Life Post] An Akia Update [#7] <(0__0)> ((new banner!! woooooo))

Hey, lOOKIE!! It's a nice banner for all my [life post]'s!! Yayyy.

I made it soooo, no stealing >:D ((though I'm pretty sure you won't because, well, you're not me so if you are posting life posts as me... wow. You need to re-think your life))

Today I went to Barnes and Nobles to spend my Christ-mas money!! For the past three years, my parents have given my sisters and I each $200 to spend for Christ-mas instead of buying presents theirslefs (theirself's= my parents). This, sadly, is my last year to get to do something so over-the-top kind of amazing. I'm 18 now, and I'll be going to college starting in the fall of 2009 (if all goes as planned). I'm currently looking for a job and am on the Jenny Craig program. Yep, I AM going to be a Jenny Craig success story. Just wait and see =p

Here's what I bought =D

I bought Paper Towns [it's a young adult novel] becuase one of my friends/co-workers (he's a part of I-studios like I am. Which, by the way, I was not featured in the December issue of JA NE like the rest of the I-studios crew because I was *cough*grounded*cough* unable to send in my paragraph in time for the issue) named Domo reccomended it in this part of his 139th v-log. I don't know when I'll read it because I have a lot of books to read that I have from way back in summer 2007 all the way up to this month >.<

I purchased Skinned because Scott Westerfeld (the author behind the Uglies and Midnighters series' of young adult novels) pretty much reccomends it. Man, I'm buying a lot of YA novels due to reccomendations! I bought The Hunger Games yesterday because Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series and The Host) reccomended it!! Ha ha. I'm a sucker for a good YA novel =D I'll be posting reviews of these books when I get the chance... I've been meaning to post my review of the entire Twilight saga... ahhhh.

Dorothy of OZ volumes 3 and 4 were purchased because my sister really wanted them, and I decided to get them. I bought volumes 1 and 2 back in October (I had read volume 1 last year) but have yet to get around to reading volume 2. In fact, I have several volumes of manga to catch up on (like Special A volume 2). I also bought Kitchen Princess 6-8 for my sister to read even though I love this series to death!! I'll for sure have read this series by the end of tommorrow.

The picture labled 'Code Geass vol. 2' is like that because I did not buy a Japanese copy of the manga. Lol. I bought the english translation released by Bandai Ent. I want the Nanali version, but I have yet to see that at a bookstore, so I'll probably read it online. The other Code Geass book is the first one in the light novel series.

I choose to (finally) get volume 1 of The Wallflower because I've wanted it for a while and I could not find the anime at Best Buy!! I also bought volumes 1 and 2 of Kingdom Hearts II because my family does this secret santa thing. I wrote down that I wanted Fruits Basket volume 21 and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories volume 1.... so, buying that was not an option >:D I recently finished the first manga series of Kingdom Hearts.

Here's the new banner (to go along with the new 'life post' minibanner):