Happenings

Protein-Man

leothom:

should be my superhero name. I go through cottage cheese and soy milk like a rich girl goes through clothes. It’s a real shame that the healthiest of foods is also the most expensive.

All of this protein consumption relates to my current effort to bulk up by the end of the year.

I’m getting a head start on my New Year’s Resolution. I have 2 months to gain 15 healthy pounds.

If you see me, please feed me. If I say “no”, it really means “yes.” (That’s what she said.)

I know what you mean dude. Its really tough to stick to a healthy diet and put on muscle weight. I’ve been trying it myself too, but results are coming very slowly. At least its something though. Good luck to you though!

Book Review: New Moon

So, as my last post has stated, I just finished reading “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the second book of the series. For some reason, I felt the need to write a review on my thoughts about the book, and any suspicions any of you may have that I am still a guy … who reads Twilight.

Before I start though, let me clarify why I wanted to read it. First, the latest preview for the new movie made it look amazingly good and nothing like the first film. Second, I saw the first movie and liked it to a certain extent, so its only natural to see how the second one turns out to be. Also, let me also clarify that I did not read the first book, only see the movie. The only reason I was able to start on the second book was because I knew what happened in the first one based off of the movie, but no worries, I’ll go back to reading the first one in due time. Now, let’s begin!

I’ll start with a summary, no spoilers though, in case anyone wants to read it in the future. The plot picks up after the first “Twilight” ends with main characters Bella Swan and Edward Cullen now an official couple and Bella completely mesmerized by her vampire beau. However, due to a certain ‘incident’, Edward deems it is too dangerous for Bella to be a part of his vampire world and breaks up with her. In an unusually dramatic state of depression, Bella has become so catatonic in her daily life — coping to life without Edward. However, she finds salvation in her old, childhood friend Jacob Black. Her pain is somewhat eased with Jacob’s presence and she finds herself falling for him, only to be revealed that he has a mythological secret of his own. Jacob eventually is revealed to belong to a cult of guardian werewolves, in which Bella becomes the subject of protection against suspected vampires hunting in the area. As Bella becomes entwined deeper into the lives of the werewolf pack, and Jacob as well — her loyalties are tested between the vampire family she co-existed with or the werewolves who commit all to protect her.

Now that plot is out of the way, I’ll talk first about character development. I’ll start with Bella Swan — in the first one, she’s a new girl in town who is whisked away by Edward Cullen, but still feels new to the town of Forks, Washington. In this second book, she is much more situated and comfortable, even when she’s in her depression phase, she does know how to deal with her father and her friends and knows the town well. My only complaint is the completely drawn out depression phase. She’s depressed, I get it, but there is no need to repeat that for nearly 200 pages. It almost started to getting funny, apart from being sad. Bella’s constant reference to the “hole” she has in Edward’s absence becomes annoying after a certain point. Nevertheless, I can see author Stephanie Meyer’s intentions for this, so I can forgive it in regards to the story. The next main character, Edward Cullen, is absent for a great majority of the book. Only his voice is hinted at and his physical presence appears in approximately 150 pages out of 560. He however, has not changed much — well, how can he? He’s been dead for 150 years.

Now, I think my favorite part of the book is the character establishment of Jacob Black, Bella’s ‘safe haven.’ He had just a small role in the first one, just introduced as a geeky childhood friend and the one who revealed to Bella that the Cullens are actually vampires. In this book, he is described as a completely different person: larger physicality, mature persona, but still retaining his eccentric attitude. Meyer’s slow revealing of Jacob’s character made the werewolf introduction much more epic. Also, it made his character more likable — a great contrast from Edward’s serious, stone cold persona.  Jacob is more outgoing and friendly in that aspect. I prefer the mythology of his werewolf alter ego, but that’s just a personal liking because I like werewolves more than vampires — even before reading this.

The book is 563 pages in length, a hefty chunk of content in it, but it was handled quite well. Lots of introductions to many characters, building on previous ones, and creating new settings were what composed the book. I do like the fact that it was smoothly written and easy to follow; then again, the series itself is a fairly simple read. Could it have been shorter? Maybe, but it was excruciatingly long, but some parts I could have done without. I think my main issue was Bella’s whiny attitude and being over dramatic about her breakup. I don’t really have a problem with Meyer’s descriptions of a “perfect Edward Cullen” and going adjective-high on that, because I can easily skim that. Usually, that seems to be the reason male readers refuse to read the book. Yes, it does happen a lot when Edward is present, but I just ignore that. Bella’s whining for 200 pages? Much harder to do. Aside from that, that’s my only complaint on the book. Everything else was really interesting and kept me reading without falling asleep or tossing the book in my drawer.

I do hate to admit that …. yes, it is addicting. Not so much to the extent of Harry Potter or Dan Brown status, but it is a book that will leave you wanting to know what happens in the next book. As a result, I bought the third book, “Eclipse”, already and I’m in the process of reading that one as well. Now that I’ve read “New Moon”, I’m interested to see how the movie will turn out to be. From the looks of the trailer, they do have key scenes correct and added more action which is always a plus. Overall, it was a good book and I think this started a beginning in me finally starting the Twilight books.