improbable fiction

Once upon a time (two semesters ago) I was casually wondering around a little known website called youtube (maybe you have heard of it) when I suddenly came across an interesting looking video. So with great enthusiasm I clicked on the play button and INSTANTLY had a new favorite web series. The show is called Dorm Life and it follows the lives of the residents of 5-South through all sorts of events like talent shows, frat parties, March Madness, Spring Break, blood drives, camping out, pet funerals, Halloween fun, and the always classic parents day.

The cast is absolutely hilarious and made up of very… unique individuals. Marshall Adams I is the self-absorbed RA known for his extreme competitive nature and puka shells. Stephanie Schwartzman is the very loud, very happy, very interesting (to say the least) floor fun facilitator who is in a (not so) secret relationship with Marshall. Abigail Brown is the extreme conservative who grew up on a farm and barely speaks. As Stephanie’s roommate, Abigail has had quite the culture shock coming to college. Mike Sanders is the freshman who just enjoys hanging with his floor-mates and his artistic roommate. It is a well known fact that Marshall greatly dislikes Mike. Josh Morgan is Mike’s extremely artistic roommate who loves a good project, whether it be creating his own documentary, trading places with a homeless person, or writing, directing, producing, and starring in his one man show.

At the end of the hall there is Brittany Wilcox, the calm cool and collected freshman who is a great friend and loves her floor. Brittany has known her roommate Courtney Cloverlock since middle school. Courtney is the very pretty, very blond gal who loves to be witty, zany, and the center of attention. Occasionally Courtney teams together with Josh to make an artistic statement. Across from Brit and Court is “the triple.” The triple consists of Daniel Benjamin, the very sheltered, conservative, mother lovin’, sweater vest wearin’, uptight know it all who, contrary to popular belief, does not actually wear glasses. He (against his will) rooms with Shane Reilly, a notorious party animal and loves everyone on the floor. He also happens to be a musical prodigy (at college on a full scholarship) and can play the heck out of a piano. Shane’s best friend and second roommate (and my personal favorite) is Gopher Reed. Gopher is also a party animal and the ying to Shane’s yang. After being invited to join separate fraternities, Shane and Gopher decided to create their own– Kappa Gopher Shane (slogan: “we got foam”). Shane and Gopher also spend the majority of their waking moments being happily drunk.

The show is shot as a documentary and each of the characters were equipped with web-cams to shoot from their rooms. The show has a similar vice as “The Office” but is much more fun to watch. The actors have great chemistry and are very entertaining. Each episode lasts around five or so minutes with the exception of the Spring Break episodes. There are currently two seasons fully filmed (semester one and semester two), with a third season up in the air (not entirely sure if they will continue, though I desperately hope they do!) The show aired every Monday and between episodes the cast shot webcams (in character) that consisted of bonus material of random things happening then, or where they would discuss what happened in the previous episode. Mostly the webcams are just for funsies.

The official website has all the videos (you have to scroll down for semester one), as well as the webcams which can be viewed by episode or character. I really, really recommend watching this series if you have five or so minutes a day you could spare for a good laugh. Also some of the cast is currently on Twitter! Follow Dorm Life, Marshall, Mike, and Gopher! All the cool kids are.

And if that wasn’t enough to convince you:

At the beginning of this month I started a new little series on Improbable Fiction- comparing the Harry Potter movies to the Harry Potter books. (Part I found here.) As the title of this post is “Part II” this means we have reached the end of the second book (finished last night) as well as the second movie (finished this afternoon). So without further ado, let’s get to comparing! (And contrasting. Because any good English major knows that you cannot compare two things without contrasting them.)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Book

Let’s quickly go over the plot so it is fresh in your mind. ‘Tis year two at Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts (school song anyone? Anyone?) and once again Harry finds a way to get into trouble before he steps onto the school’s ground. Once he and Ron finally get to Hogwarts (platform 9 3/4 has been blocked! The horrors!) by a FLYING CAR events occur and they learn that the chamber of secrets has once again been opened by the heir of Salazar Slytherin. Well of course everyone suspects Harry, he does speak parseltongue after all, so naturally it is up to Harry, Ron and Hermione to not only prove Harry’s innocence, but to figure out who has opened the chamber of secrets and why.

As a sophomore book, it is pretty good. Definitely not the best of the series but I must say J.K. Rowling certainly has all of her plot details completely ironed out and ready to go, as there are MINOR details in this book that go all the way to the sixth and seventh books. (A vanishing cabinet, a horcrux, as well as a certain prophecy to name a few…) My favorite aspect of this book comes in the form of one Gilderoy Lockheart. I honestly love characters like this in books and movies; characters so completely wrapped up in themselves and so completely clueless. The story flows nicely and doesn’t rely too heavily on facts from the first novel. Rowling assumes you have read Sorcerer’s Stone so she only references it when necessary, which is nice. Often times in a series the writer will spend just as much time rehashing the first book as he/she spends on new information.

Often this book has been noted particularly because of the racism factor. Racism in this case means pure-blood wizards such as Harry, Ron, or Draco (Draco often resembling a supremacist) who were born of both a wizard mother and a wizard father. Then there are half-bloods, such as Professor Snape, who are born of one wizard parent and one muggle parent. And then there are the muggle-born, such as Hermione, who are born to non-wizard parents and yet posses magical powers. Muggle-borns are sometimes referred to as mud-bloods (particularly by the Malfoys and other supremacists) which is “not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation.” This is particularly relevant to the second book as the chamber of secrets has been opened and the monster dwelling within seems to be after muggle-born students. J.K. Rowling has often been praised for her delicate handle on the issue of race.

Another thing Rowling does manage is a nice, clean ending. I’m not sure if this is necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but both the first and second books leave you with no cliffhanger. Obviously there is the overall cliffhanger of finding and defeating he-who-must-not-be-named, however if you were to finish the first two books and decide you didn’t want to finish the series, you could put them down and never look back. Luckily they are just too good to do so.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Movie

I must say, this is one of the most closely adapted books of the series with many of the scenes being word-for-word matches to those in the book. However, if they were going to be so close to the book, I don’t know WHY they chose to eliminate (or at least partially eliminate) two of the most important scenes! I understand the deletion of the undead party (in which Nearly Headless Nick celebrates the anniversary of his almost-decapitation) as it serves no real advance for the plot of the book, although it *would* have been cool to see all of the ghosts together for a party. And I kind of understand the deletion of the scene in Diagon Ally with Draco and his father, as that just further proves their involvement with the Dark Arts.

But if you are going to include pretty much every other scene (with minor changes that just work better for a movie) then it is ridiculously stupid to alter two of the biggest scenes in the movie- the flashback where Harry actually goes into the diary, and the final scene in the chamber of secrets! The reason I am all about the preservation of these scenes is because they offer so much IMPORTANT and relevant information! Information that should have been kept in! Plus I really do like the in-depth story of how Ginny Weasley became attached to the diary leading it to fall into Harry’s hands, then back into Ginny’s then into the chamber and so on. There is quite a bit more information on Tom in the book that answers some questions reader’s might have, though I am forced to admit the movie hasn’t completely butchered the ending. I just think they could have cut out some less important details (such as the “eat slugs!” spell which is funny but not absolutely necessary) to make time for such pertinent plot information.

With that being said, I do like this movie a lot. Like I said before Guilderoy is one of my favorite characters and I am a little sad they cut out a large majority of his scenes (he has a LOT in the book) but I still think they did the character justice. As for the other characters, I am still not a huge fan of Daniel Radcliffe but according to a recent article he isn’t a fan of his earlier work either. Don’t get me wrong, he did a good job, especially in the chamber scene, but for some reason there are just certain things about him that I don’t like. (I don’t think he does the character justice until the end of the 4th or the 5th or 6th movies.) I do think that Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Tom Felton gave good performances. I also think that Bonnie Wright did a good job, though I was surprised while rereading the book to see just how much of her dialogue they cut out. Overall this is a great movie. Better than the first, but not necessarily the best in the series (by a long shot).

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Moment of Truth

I would have to say (and expect this every time) that the BOOK wins the match. Hooray! Okay, you knew this was coming, but COME ON people. The movie was a great adaptation so by watching it you aren’t missing TOO much information (this will not be the case further down the road) but I still believe you won’t get a full understanding until you read the books. Or, if you don’t have the time to read them, I have a few friends who listened to the “book on tape” things and really enjoyed them. So go. Go and read. Or go and listen. Or go and watch. No matter what you do, just go.

This is the teaser trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland! It was shown today during Disney’s 3D panel at Comic-Con.

Ladies and Gents of the Interweb, I haz a new favorite Harry Potter movie. Not unlike our very own Doug, Prisoner of Azkaban used to be my favorite of the HP series, however unlike Doug, Half Blood Prince just overtook the top spot. Now let us discuss why, and BE YE WARNED I do mention spoilers of various natures, however nothing absolutely too serious to spoil the entire movie for you, that is, if you haven’t read the books before. Obviously.

Before we begin with the why, let me set up a few background details. I BARELY remembered the plot of this book/movie. I knew the whole Half Blood Prince thing as well as Draco’s mission from the Dark Lord himself, and I vaguely remembered something about love potions and horcruxes and Ginny and Harry… okay, I suppose I remembered more than I thought. HOWEVER, as I was sitting there watching the movie I realized how much I forgot, as well as how much they left out, though that is a different post for a different time. NOW, on with the show!

I think the actors portrayed their characters the best in this movie. I’m not a fan of Harry (in the book or in the movie) but I think Daniel did a fantastic job in this movie, although has anyone ever noticed that he cannot cry on cue? For some reason that really, really bothers me about actors, particularly HARRY. But whilst under the lucky potion thing of which I have forgotten the real name, he was really funny. Emma Watson did a great job in this movie when it came to facial expressions, particularly when she couldn’t figure out the potion, or when she was talking about Ron (so basically the whole movie). Speaking of which, RON was hilarious! I was really impressed with Rupert’s acting, considering when having to act like a ditzy man in love sometimes it doesn’t come across so well. However he really impressed me. Ginny was great as well, I mean the girl got to have more than ten lines this time so woot! Luna is always fantastic and the Lion headdress thing was FANTASTIC. They really paid attention to the details (according to another post, as I previously stated I can’t remember a lot of the book).

And then there is Draco Malfoy. Since the first movie came out I have always been a Draco fangirl. I always thought he was particularly nice looking (being the only girl on this Bullshish network, you HAD to know that this subject was going to come up at least once…) and I would actually be proud to be sorted into Slytherine. Even if it is associated with he-who-must-not-be-named. I really think Tom Felton did a phenomenal job considering just what his character goes through. At the end during THE SCENE (if you have seen the movie/read the book you should know what I am talking about) I thought Tom did AMAZING and look! He can cry on cue! More than once in the same movie! With all of these things in mind, I think the true characters of the books came out in the movies which made it really enjoyable to watch.

Also, there is NO DOUBT that this movie was the funniest of the series. I have a feeling the next movie will have a significant loss of lighthearted hilarity, so I am glad this movie just goes ahead and makes up for that. Again I have to give mention to Ron for a large part of this, particuarly the scene in Professor Slughorn’s office when he was completely intoxicated on the love potion, as well as when he was sitting on the bed with Harry. This movie is also one of the most “romantic” of the series and I am really happy how they kept the plot very similar to the book (love story wise).

With that I am forced to bring up a few things that were “wtf” moments. For instance, I understand the bit about the Millennium Bridge being blown up or whatever (speaking of, I have totally been on that bridge many times walking to The Globe) as it is mentioned in the book. However (spoiler) THE BURROW BURNING TO THE GROUND?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! WHY? Why was that necessary? I mean, I suppose they had their reasons (and these reasons being that it “was made just for the movie to serve as a representative of all the news reports, which are scattered around in the source novel, about various attacks by Death Eaters on the wizard community. It was considered to provide better pacing for a movie to have Harry actually experience one such attack first hand, rather than hearing/reading about those that kept happening to some other students, or their relatives” found here). I guess I understand that well enough, things do have to change for the movies, but did you even SEE the look on Molly’s eyes? Absolutely heartbreaking.

Then there was the lack of the Ministry of Magic plot line which I don’t really remember anyways, so until I reread the book I suppose it isn’t THAT big of a deal. But they still cut it out. Other than those details I can’t really recall anything MAJOR but if I did leave it in the comments.

So for now this review will have to do, because it is late and I is exhausted. Let me know what you thought!

In case you don’t know this about me already, I might as well tell you. If there is one thing I love a whole lot in this world it is Harry Potter. Yes, I am a “Harry Potter” fangirl (and I use quotation marks because I am referring to the Harry Potter franchise. The actual character of Harry Potter- ew. I’m a Ron or Draco Malfoy girl myself.) I wouldn’t say that I love Harry Potter as much as William Shakespeare, but it is pretty up there. I mean, they are both from the same country so that has to count for something. Right then, off to the actual post. (Also, it is much better if you read this in a British accent. It helps you get into the correct setting.)

In just a few short days the latest Harry Potter movie will be coming out (the sixth in the seven volume series -book wise- and eight volume series- movie wise). Needless to say, I am VERY, VERY, VERY much anticipating this. As I am attempting to read fifty books throughout this year I have started to reread the HP series which led me to compare the movie to the book the ENTIRE time I was reading it. That led me to this little Bullshish series where I compare the movie to the book and validate the point that reading the book is ALWAYS better than seeing the movie. Let us begin. [Obvious warning- spoilers will jump out at various moments.]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: The Book

Let us discuss the plot (in my own words) as it has probably been a while since anyone has read the book (unless you have never read it at all *cough*CALEB*cough*). Harry Potter is a normal boy who lives with the most horrible people on the earth. On the days leading up to his eleventh birthday he receives strange letters by a bunch of owls but his mean old uncle takes them away before he can read them. A giant shows up the exact moment Harry turns eleven and informs Harry that he is, in fact, not normal, but surprise! He is a wizard just like his parents were. The letter eventually gets to Harry (not even the Dursleys dare to mess with a giant) and Harry is whisked off to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry where he learns that he is extremely famous because when he was a baby he defeated the evil dark lord “he-who-must-not-be-named” (aka Voldemort for those, like our boy Harry, who aren’t afraid to speak his name) which also happens to be the reason his parents died. He makes friends and fights bad guys.

Let’s just cut to the chase- this isn’t my favorite book of the bunch. As the first of the series JK Rowling is finding her groove, a perfectly acceptable thing for all writers to do. I just don’t happen to like this book (mainly the first part) because if there is one thing I hate most in books and academic papers, it is choppy sentences. Yes, I do realize I write choppy sentences whilst blogging, but this isn’t being published! Millions and millions and MILLIONS of people are not flocking to my blog daily, hanging onto my every word, waiting with bated breath of just what I will say next! However, since this is the first book and things improve drastically as the series goes on, I can live with it. Rowling’s writing style is great. There aren’t any parts that I can recall where I felt as though this book was targeted towards a specific age group. I would have enjoyed this as a younger kid (I believe it came out when I was in fifth grade or somewhere around there but I didn’t start reading it until book five or six came out) and I will continue to enjoy it when I am ninety seven years old (provided I live that long). It is a very easy read, so easy in fact that as the fifth (or sixth) was slated to be released at midnight on my birthday I read the first four (or five) books in less than a month. And if you know anything about these books, they only increase with time.

The story is pretty well set up from the beginning. You can definitely tell that Rowling had the story planned out before she even pressed a letter on her keyboard. The first book sets up many important things you don’t even really find out until books five, six, and seven! The story wrapped up nicely and while still leaving you wanting more, it doesn’t leave you feeling as though you HAVE to pick up the next book RIGHT AWAY which is nice.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: The Movie

So you want to make a movie adaptation of a book. To me, and this is strictly my opinion as I know nothing about adapting movies, much less writing screenplays (besides what I learned from Adaptation, which is kind of EXACTLY what we are talking about), but it seems as though this is a very difficult thing to do. What do you leave in and take out? What do you change to make the overall movie more appealing to audiences? Who do you cast that sort of resembles any idea of what the audience has created in their head while reading this book?

These are all very difficult questions to answer, especially with a series that hasn’t been completely published. If you omit something from book one is it going to magically show up as a major plot development in book five? How do you know? The answer- you don’t. What do you do? The answer- guess. I think as far as adaptations go, this was pretty decent. Compared to the adaptation of The Princess Diaries this movie is viewed as a masterpiece! (Don’t get me started on The Princess Diaries adaptations. That is another post for another time.) I think they kept in what they thought necessary, though a few bits here and there that I really loved were omitted. Nothing too significant (that I can remember at this moment in time) to the plot but just nice moments I liked.

As far as the characters go, I would say they did a great job. Whenever I start reading a book I always come up with how I think a character should look or sound, so when adaptations come out and there is finally a face and voice to the character and it is different than the one in my head, it can be difficult for me to accept. (For example, Twilight. Rob Pattinson is NOT Edward, NOT EVEN CLOSE. Kristen Stewert is NOT Bella, NOT EVEN CLOSE.) The Dursleys are one of the worst families I’ve ever encountered in a book. Uncle Vernon is just purely disgusting and all I want to do is reach out and punch Dudley. Aunt Petunia is also awful in the way she talks about her sister and treats Harry. They really did a fantastic job casting these guys. I don’t think they could have picked better people if they tried. As far as Harry goes, I like him well enough. I mean, he is the main character… I definitely would not say he is my favorite though. Casting wise, Daniel Radcliffe is perfect for the part because I happen to think he looks like the Harry Potter on the book covers. So well done there.

As for the rest of the cast- Rupert Grint was a lovely choice, as he has the Ron act down (you know… the pretending to be brave when really scared sh*tless act). Hermione is one I have mixed feelings about. Now, don’t get me wrong, Emma Watson is a beautiful, beautiful actress and really plays the part well. But this is Hollywood and Hollywood relies on sex appeal. In the books Hermione is described as being frumpy, ugly, basically far from beautiful. She has huge teeth and giant frizzy hair. In the movies, Hermione does not. I know that when casting a girl at such a young age it is sometimes difficult to predict what she will look like when she grows older, but they could still do things like frizzing out her hair (which I will admit they did in the first two films). This is when I don’t like film adaptations. Also, the characters of Fred and George. They have a MUCH larger part in the books, and while reading the books I really fell in love with their characters. They are so funny and have great jokes and laughs and moments. They are all but cut out of the films, especially the first. I want my proper dose of Fred and George!! The rest of the cast is great. McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledor, Nevil, Hagrid, etc. They are all fantastic actors who do the characters justice.

Harry Potter and the Sourcer’s Stone: The Moment of Truth

I would have to say (and expect this every time) that the BOOK wins the match. As with all books you are able to get more information, more scenes, more conversations and better insight into the character’s minds. Yes the movie is good, but I can not stress to you how much better the book is. If you enjoy reading and are looking to get into a series, do me a favor and put down the Twilight and pick up the Harry Potter. You will so thank me for this some day.

I have not read all of the following books, but while looking around on this awesome website I couldn’t help but take notice of particular book covers that really caught my eye. A lot of times I will get a book to read based solely on the cover (having no idea what it is about -besides what is on the back) and I often find myself going towards the unusual looking ones which turn out to be the most interesting (to say the least). Here are a few I would pick up:

1. Wet Apples, White Blood

Book by Naomi Guttman

Cover by David Drummond

Based on the title alone, I am guessing this is supposed to be white blood dripping down an apple, which reminds me of rain dripping down the window, which makes me happy because I love thunderstorms.

2. Imprint

Book by Daniel Eatock

Cover by Daniel Eatock

Who doesn’t love a good thumbprint made up of tiny text?

3. The Bug

Book by Ellen Ullman

Cover by Jamie Keenan

Is the bug my computer? Is the bug my keyboard? Is the bug some sort of symbol? Only Ellen Ullman knows.

4. Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs

Book by Chuck Klosterman

Cover by Paul Sahre

Every time I hear the phrase “sex and drugs” I immediately think of a popular breakfast cereal targeted for children. Oh, is that just me?

5. Trauma

Book by Patrick Mcgrath

Cover by Peter Mendelsund

Red background= blood= trauma= accurate book title.

6. Devil in the Details *

Book by Jennifer Traig

Cover by Kelly Blair

This cover is just mesmerizing.

7. When You Are Engulfed In Flames **

Book by David Sedaris

Cover by Chip Kidd

I can’t express how much I love David Sedaris.

8. No One Belongs Here More Than You ***

Book by Miranda July

Cover by John Fulbrook III

Such a simple design. Sometimes I just like clean and simple books.

9. The Lie That Tells A Truth

Book by John Dufresne

Cover by John Fulbrook III

This book cover is wicked awesome because how many times have I sat in class and rearranged my sentences? The answer is a lot.

10. Jane Eyre ****

Book by Charlotte Bronte

Cover by Megan Wilson

I don’t know why, but I have always loved a good silhouette.

11. American Nerd *****

Book by Benjamin Nugent

Cover by Jason J. Heuer

I wear glasses! I am American! I have also been called a nerd a lot, so this book appeals to me on many levels.

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*Once when I was bored on a SEVEN hour flight from France to America, a friend let me borrow this. I got almost half way through, and it was very entertaining. I really recommend it. (Also, I just realized that may sound like it took me seven hours to read half a book. It didn’t. I borrowed it towards the end of the flight. Just clearing that up…)

**I’ve read two other books by David Sedaris and I must say he is one of the most entertaining authors out there. I really can’t say anything bad about him. If asked, I would tell you to put his books on the top of your list. His books are comprised of short stories (ranging from as little as four to fourteen or more pages) about his life. They are sometimes crude, sometimes sad, always hilarious at some point and always, always, always extremely entertaining. Expect a full review of this guy soon.

***I knew about this book from previously stumbling upon the author’s lovely blog. When you get a chance you should check it out.

****I know this was supposed to be primarily about books I have never heard before, and I know Jane Eyre is a classic, but I haven’t read it yet so I am counting it. Also, even if I had read it, this has got to be one of my favorite covers for some unkown reason. I really, really like it.

*****Nerds Rule.