Tag: Random

The unfortunate ones. The miserable ones. The poor ones. Les Misérables is the story of the people….the downtrodden and the oppressed all searching for one thing: freedom.

As I have said before, I normally don’t do file reviews on this blog though I am going to make an exception for some of the up and coming books into films due out this year and Les Misérables is one of those exceptions.

Victor Hugo’s master piece came to life on the silver screen this holiday season and I went to see it on its release day. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as I have not read the novel or seen any of the other film or play variations….I haven’t even heard the Broadway score, so I went into this entirely clueless about what was to come.

If you aren’t familiar with the story, here is a short summary:

Continue reading “Film Review: Les Misérables” →

Still trying to figure out what to get the reader in your life? Why not an e-book?

What’s that you say? You don’t know how to gift an e-book? Well you need not fear, gifting someone an e-book is simple!

My friends over at Open Road Media have put together a fantastic ‘how to guide’ about giving e-books for the holidays that I thought I would share with you! Since WordPress.com is lame and I can’t embed JavaScript, I’m going to include a link to their website here so you can watch the video. Not a video person? Here is an easy step by step guide for the reader in us all about gifting an e-book.

Open Road Media is one of my fav places to purchase e-books from. They have a variety of books to choose from so that means they will likely have something for even the most difficult person to buy for on your list!

Not to mention, For the next three weeks shoppers can choose holiday gifts from the thousands of ebooks in their catalog. They even have special features and suggestions for everyone on your list from “the romantic” and “the geek” to “the culture buff ” and “the kids.”

The best part though….they have an ongoing “steals and deals” selection featuring gifts under $5. Shoppers can watch the videos to quickly learn exactly how to give an ebook across major online stores, then scroll through to find ebooks that make excellent holiday gifts!

Continue reading “Special Feature: Giving the Gift of an E-Book” →

Love has finally arrived in theaters! After months of anticipation I have finally seen Anna Karenina. I normally don’t do film or TV reviews/discussions on this blog but I’m totally making an exception since this is a film based on a book…..and since I’ve been obsessing I thought it was only fitting that I do a review.

Anna Karenina has been made into a film many times over so then the question becomes, how is this film different from all that have come before it?

Hands down, Joe Wright’s vision is artistic and romantic. This is a film about love….the mise-en-scene and artful use of color, staging, and costumes really brought out that aspect of the film.

I watched many of the behind the scenes videos on the Focus Features website so I was familiar with the ‘the world is a stage’ concept of the film. One of the things Joe Wright discussed on the behind the scenes feature was how he saw Imperial Russia at that time:

Continue reading “Film Review: Anna Karenina” →