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I don’t plan to spend any pennies on The Twilight Saga: New Moon after the living nightmare that was the sneak-preview screening of Twilight.

So I refer you to the critic I trust most. (Check back: More reviews may be linked later.)

Steven Greydanus – Decent Films:

You can see why 14-year-old girls eat this stuff up. That the Edward Effect is no less potent for many of their mothers seems troublesome.

Twilight and New Moon are essentially uncritical celebrations of that overwrought, obsessive passion that is the hallmark of immaturity — passion that wholly subordinates all sense of one’s own identity and elevates the beloved to summum bonum, or even the sole good; passion that leaps as readily to suicidal impulses and fantasies as to longing for union.

And here:

While the Romeo and Juliet references underscore that self-destructive behavior among young lovers is both a perennial fact about human nature and a long-standing motif of romantic drama, Shakespeare at least gives a tragic if not cautionary context to his protagonists’ suicidal tendencies. Romeo and Juliet is also about other things than young love — for example, the family rivalry of the Montagues and Capulets, without which the tragedy would not have occured and which is finally put to rest by the deaths of the lovers. In New Moon, the Edward–Bella–Jacob triangle and the characters’ happiness or unhappiness is all that really matters.

And then there’s the…

Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Girls Learn From Twilight

My favorite? #12. “Lying to your parents is fine. Lying to your parents while you run away to save your suicidal boyfriend is an extremely good idea that shows your strength and maturity. Also, it is what you must do.”

If Precious wins Best Picture, don’t you think Gollum should present the award?

Here are some worthwhile reviews of the film. Check back: More reviews may be linked later.

Alissa Wilkinson, Filmwell:

In a landscape where the “inspirational” film is often nothing more than a tearjerky sports movie or a rehashed and often sanitized tale, Precious is moving, and difficult – difficult because it’s a reality we’d like to ignore, about people we might like to judge, in a package we may not be ready to encounter. But it’s well worth your while.

Roger Ebert:

…a great American film that somehow finds an authentic way to move from these beginnings to an inspiring ending.

The film is a tribute to Sidibe’s ability to engage our empathy. Her work is still another demonstration of the mystery of some actors, who evoke feelings in ways beyond words and techniques. She so completely creates the Precious character that you rather wonder if she’s very much like her.

The adventure continues…

Top 5 Top 5 Confessions about Auralia’s Colors, Chapter 2 – The Concert of Stitching (more…)

Digging back through the archives of the original Looking Closer site, I’ve polished up and re-posted some of my favorite pieces. (more…)

“I think the ears are tastiest.”


“Me, I prefer the chin.”


“I’m a forearm man, myself. And things just taste better when the girl’s has helpless as this one.”

Yes, like it or not, New Moon is here. And last night’s midnight opening show set some kind of all-time box-office record for such arrivals. Basically, ticket-buyers told Hollywood: WE WANT MORE OF THIS. And so, that is what moviegoers will receive. Except what’s coming will be even worse because it will be even more derivative. (If somebody wants to pick up a worthwhile vampire story, get your hands on the rights to Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, which is actually worth reading.)

So, how’s the movie?

I turn to the discerning Steven D. Greydanus:
(more…)

You may have noticed that there are still some “Under Construction” flags planted in various sections of this site. That’s because I’ve been so busy writing The Auralia Thread and chasing other deadlines that I haven’t had much opportunity to complete the process of moving my old website’s material to my new website. (more…)

Ladies and gentlemen, here are…

The Top 5 Confessions about Auralia’s Colors, Chapter 1: “Old Thieves Make a Discovery.” (more…)

Okay, no, I’m not really asking you to name your favorite child. But now you know something of how I felt when asked to name my favorite from among my characters. (more…)

Last time on the video blog, my special guests were singer/songwriter Sam Phillips and poet Luci Shaw.

Next time, it might be you.

Let me explain. (more…)

Tomorrow, November 13th, Sam Phillips will be interviewed on WPKN Radio Base Camp, between 1 and 4 pm EST.  (If you are in the northeast, tune in to WPKN/89.5.)

For the rest of us, we can tune in live online at http://www.facebook.com/l/0de6f;stream.wpkn.org. (more…)