BEASTLY

Book:

Title: Beastly

Author: Alex Flinn

4/5 Ms.

Main Characters: Kyle Kingsbury, Linda 'Lindy' Owens, Kendra Hilferty, Will Fratalli, Magda.

Summary (Courtesy of Publisher's Weekly, 2007/2008.): "Kyle Kingsbury is a gorgeous high school freshman, spoiled rotten by his famous anchorman father, a man who'd rather dole out cash than affection. Kyle attends the exclusive Tuttle School in New York City and torments those poor unfortunates who lack his looks and wealth. When he humiliates a girl at school, she transforms him into a horrific-looking creature. Kyle's only hope for breaking the spell lies in finding true love-as he reports online in meetings of the Unexpected Changes chat group (other members include Froggie and the mermaid Silent Maid)."

My Thoughts: My favorite part of the whole book would have to be the Unexpected Changes Chat Group. It was so interesting to me to see people like Froggie (No doubt the Frog in 'The Frog Princess') and SilentMaid ('The Little Mermaid') in the chat group as well. Alex Flinn DEFINITELY got some major points for that one. Well, from me anyways.

I also liked that I could get the characters. I knew who they were. When Kyle (now Adrian) was attempting to get Lindy to like him, he bought her things she wouldn't accept. The fancy clothes, furniture, and sheets weren't what she desired. The things that really made her gasp were his roses and her library.

I loved how Lindy was so different from Belle in the original B&B. Lindy wasn't perfect; she was ordinary. (Belle was ordinary too; didn't come from money. But Belle looked absolutely. Perfect.) She also came from a troubled family, but seemed to do alright in the end. You could tell she didn't want to end up like her father, and while she despised him; she still loved him. After all, she did show up to Kyle's prison, didn't she? And she went back to save him from the sickness, even though he treated her like crap. Much like Belle, I loved her simplicity.

But my favorite character, by far, was Will Fratalli. The tutor. No idea why; he just was. I guess it was his unconditional love type thing he held for Kyle/Adrian. Even when said teenager was turned into a hideous monster.

I guess that was my favorite part. The Characters. They brought the book to life, and made me smile all the time. And gasp.

Movie:

Title: Beastly

Director/Writer: Daniel Barnz

Actors/Actresses: Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, Mary Kate Olsen, Neil Patrick Harris, Lisa Gay Hamilton.

My Thoughts: Personally, I prefer the tattoos and scarred skin to hair and claws. Maybe that's just me. I thought it added depth to the movie. Everyone is talking about the wolfy, beary, side of things. This is more realistic.

Comparison: I loved how the movie took it's own creative perspective on things. I honestly liked that better. What I didn't like was how many of the names they changed.

Magda turned into Zola.

Adrian turned into Hunter.

Those are kind of major, don't you think? Maybe that's just me, again.

Other changes:

Kyle had one year to find true love in the movie, two in the book.

Kyle had a magic mirror in the book, not so in the movie.

Kyle took Lindy to a lake house in the movie, a snow cottage in the book.

Personally, I think the word 'based' was used too loosely. Obviously, the movie was based off the the book. But the amount of changes that happened twisted the movie into something that DIDN'T resemble the book. I didn't mind, it just would've been nice to add a few more details to the movie that were in the book; such as the mirror.

Again, maybe that's just me.

PeAcE,

M

The PK Files: Entry Two

The PK Files: Two

Hard, Hard, Hard as Heck; ruining my life. Feels like my little heart is being stabbed by a knife.

Kill, Kill, Kill me now; I don't wanna leave. I almost think it'd be more fun to have a bad disease.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat can produce so many wonderful rhymes...right?

Anyway, Two weeks ago, we went to see the house. It made me want to stay here even more than before; and that's saying something. Nothing against Lafayette or the people of the church; it's just not here. They aren't these people. It's not even close to being the same.

The church is a lot smaller than Trinity. I knew it would be; you can't keep up a building the size of Trinity without four or five hundred regular parishioners. It's a nice place, has a nice sanctuary. The thing I don't like about it is the smell. It's like this:

80 year old person rolled along the floor about six billion times. Then a cat peed on the carpeting six billion times. And then it was flooded with water about six billion times.

Yeah...not pleasant. It's also extremely junky. There are things lying on every available surface; things that don't need to be in a church. For example: The youth collect old parts of computers to sell. The stacks of them are spilled all over the too small room. Yes, it's a source of money and whatnot, but is it really practical to have junk laying all over? It's easy to navigate when everything is clean and organized.

The house is okay. The living room and family rooms are a mix of seafoam green and paneling; which, thank GOD, is coming down. We're also getting new carpeting and we get to paint whatever colors we want. But seriously; it smelled like cat in that house.

Three bathrooms, four bedrooms, porch on the front and back. There's lots of storage; which is a pro. There's a lot of good about the house. It's just not here.

I wish we could take the people with us. My friends, the staff, everyone. It would make life so much easier on everyone. Especially me; to have some familiar faces around.

Oh well. Life goes on.

Hope for the best, guys. You know I am.

PeAcE,

M