The Prequel

Why does Hollywood always have to ruin a good thing? If Hollywood made a good movie many many years ago, why do they feel they need to try to outdo themselves and recreate that? Why can’t they just let that movie live in the vault and inspire them to make more movies like that? Why must they try to remake it or something similar to it? I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, but Hollywood is making a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. The idea of there being a place over the rainbow was always my favorite notion. Judy Garland talked about what the song meant to her when she sung it and how she always tried to find that place over the rainbow and was never able to and I will never forget what she said. And here Hollywood is trying to mess that up.

I think people got lucky with Wicked. Wicked happens to be good, but let’s leave it at that ok? That’s the only prequel we need. I guess this prequel is going to focus on the Wizard and who he was before Oz so I guess that’s ok, but I still feel it might be unnecessary. It’s going to be called Oz: The Great & Powerful. I think the thing that pings my heart the most is that Zach Braf and James Franco are part of the cast. Come on! At least pick good actors. I honestly can’t stand James Franco. 127 Hours literally felt like it was 127 hours long to me. I hated seeing Franco’s face close up for 2 hours. Anyway, I digress. The producer is also the same producer from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Oy vey. This just keeps getting worse and worse! The only good news from this is that the sets are going to be all real. There won’t be many green screens. The actors will be standing on football sized fields of set. That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to seeing. Grrr!!!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

I had a totally different post in mind today, but the second I saw Google, I knew it needed to be changed. Today is the 71st anniversary of Wizard of Oz!!! If you couldn't tell already, I freaking love the Wizard of Oz.
My mom bought me the special edition set and it comes with a million hours of bonus footage as well as a watch and books. So amazing. I have yet to sit down and watch it all, but I know there will come a time where I will spend hours in front of the TV watching. I received the Wizard of Oz Monopoly game as well. The license plate on my car is even dedicated to the Wizard of Oz. Kind of insane. And I have Wizard of Oz lunch boxes and figurines.

What makes the movie even better is how many stories are behind the film. People got sick from the make-up, people think a shadow in the background is the director's daughter committing suicide, etc. There's just so many stories surrounding the movie. And I'm sure we all know that if you play Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, it sort of matches up with the movie. I did it once and hated it, but some people love it.

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery showed the movie at their summer kick-off and I was so sad I had to miss it. I've seen the movie at the ArcLight, which was amazing and I saw it projected on the wall of IKEA in Burbank one summer when they used to show movies. I don't know why they stopped because it was so much fun. Anyway, Wizard of Oz has obviously touched many more lives than mine and I would like to throw a party in honor of the movie and Judy Garland who had a tough, yet amazing career.

Reading Rainbow

Every once in a while I go through phases where I want to read everything in sight and then other times I can’t be bothered with reading. Right now I am in the read everything in sight phase. I had been reading this one book called “Prophecy of the Sisters” and I was reading it super fast, but suddenly it got super scary and the only time I was able to read was at night and since the book was so scary I had to stop reading for a while. It was sad because the book is good. Well, I finally finished it and because I had stopped reading because I’m a scardey cat, I had forgotten a lot of the important details. Luckily, I was able to go back and refresh a little. The book is the first of a trilogy and I seriously cannot wait until the next book comes out. This book can be found in the teen section at a Barnes and Noble near you. Although Amazon is cheaper.

My dad bought me “The Da Vinci Code” so I am reading that right now, but I decided to peruse the teen section at Barnes and Noble the other day. Now, I will admit that I am one to judge a book by its cover. If the cover is cool looking, than the book must be. I was in the new release teen section and suddenly this face popped out at me. I new it looked familiar. It was the face of the evil queen from Snow White.

Her face was against a black background and it looked freaking cool. I picked it up and read the description of the book. The book is called “Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen.” It’s based on the queen’s perspective and why she hated Snow White so much. Ok, I know what you’re thinking, she totally stole this concept from a million other writers and you’re right, but this story line seems cool to me. “The Wizard of Oz” was twisted to create “Wicked” as well as many other books and they all seem cool including this one. I am very curious. Of course because the book was in the teen section the font was a bit bigger than normal and would probably take 5 minutes to read, but I want to read it nonetheless. Don’t judge me!!! * hint hint for xmas gift*

Description:
Fairest of All is the story of the Wicked Queen, who she was before, and who she longed to be before she was destroyed by her vanity and the need to murder her daughter Snow White. It is a bloody tale of abuse, heartbreak, love and grief, and the lure of a mysterious man in an enchanted mirror.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 10 - The Shattering of A Soul:

“Little bird . . .” the Queen’s voice broke and trailed off.

“Momma, what’s wrong?” The Queen shook her head, and closed her eyes tightly to dam the tears. Snow looked at her mother with sad, black eyes and said, “He’s not coming back yet, is he? Not now?” The Queen shook her head. “Not ever.” - “I think maybe you’re wrong, Momma, he promised he would come home soon, and Papa never breaks his promises.”

The Queen’s grief intensified at the child’s denial. She choked it down and felt it grip at her, slicing at her insides like broken pieces of glass. She felt broken, no longer able to contain her tears. “I know, my poppet, but I’m not mistaken. He couldn’t help it, my darling, he isn’t coming home this time.” The little girl’s lip quivered and she began to shake. The Queen held out her arms to her, and Snow White crumpled into her mother’s lap and howled an unearthly sob. The child was shaking so violently that the Queen felt she might crush the little girl for holding her too tightly. As she hugged Snow she wished to take the child’s grief and lock it away inside her with her own.

So what do you think?

There's No Place Like Home

This year marks the 70 anniversary of one of the greatest movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz. The DVD will be coming out on September 29. The movie will be re-mastered and there is apparently going to be 13 hours of bonus features. Holy hell I am so excited!!!

Anyway, the movie was in select theatres last night in HD. I am so sad that I had to miss it, but wow. Have you ever seen that movie in theatres? It is incredible. I saw it projected on the wall of IKEA one summer and that was incredible and then last year they showed it at the Arc Light for whatever reason and it was just….wow. No words. I love this movie. It would have been great to see in HD.
The Wizard of Oz has sparked amazing books and the amazing musical, Wicked. It made Judy Garland an icon. She was in her early teens when she became a house hold name. This movie also helped Pink Floyd drug out. I don’t see the appeal in that one, but to each his own I suppose. The album matches up in some parts, but for the most part I was bored with it. I just want to hear Judy sing.
I am so excited to know that after 70 years, this movie is still recognized and referenced often. The movie wasn’t that big of a hit when it first came out because it was right when color TV’s were emerging, but this movie will live on forever and for that I am truly happy.

Oh and apparently you can learn Spanish while you watch too.