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"The Missing Butterfly, by Megan Derr"

Title: The Missing Butterfly
Author: Megan Derr
Genre: mm rockstar
Notes: 143 ebook pages
Website: Less Than Three Press.

Summary: Cassidy Monarch had dreams—to sing, to be famous, to tour the world at the head of his own rock band. Then his parents were killed in a tragic accident, leaving him to raise his two siblings. Determined to hold on to what remained of his family, Cassidy settled into an ordinary life, his dreams of fame reduced to occasional nights of singing at karaoke dives. But his careful, ordinary life began to fray with his new job, and the beautiful, charming boss who reminds him of all the things he tried to stop wanting.

Malcolm Osborne is a classic rags to riches story, a foster child who wound up with the perfect family and more money than he knows what to do with. He’s wealthy, beautiful, successful, and completely miserable. Then he hires a new worker for his office, a young, hard-working man with a sadness in his eyes that Malcolm aches to banish, hoping that in doing so he will be rid of his own loneliness as well.

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Cassidy had to give up his rock and roll dreams with the death of his parents, and his determination to keep his siblings together is really touching. At eighteen years old, he discovers that his parents have left debts he has to pay off and he has to change his life plans to keep his brother and sister with him. He doesn’t hesitate to make the sacrifice.

Nine years later, he’s working as an office drone with the hots for his boss. He goes out on occasion to sing karaoke or play pool, but basically he lives his life as though it’s already over. He’s “a … Read the rest “RE BOOK: The Missing Butterfly, by Megan Derr”

Title: Con-Air (1997)
Genre: action
Directed by: Simon West
Written by: Scott Rosenberg
Actors: Colm Meaney, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle

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I would just like to state for the record that the best thing about the movie “Con-Air” was Steve Buscemi.

There was just something so enthralling about his creepy serial killer cannibal guy character (he did eat people, didn’t he? He totally seemed like he did on the creep meter). I just couldn’t look away whenever he appeared onscreen.

So there’s like Nicolas Cage running around trying to help John Cusack’s cop-guy character and John Malkovich is the bad ass guy they’re trying to stop. There’s all of these convicts running around on a hijacked prison plane, then stuff about taking over an airport – it’s been a long time for me –  and there’s lots of explosions and car chases and some people end up dead.

“Con-Air” is just an action popcorn flick of no real importance to the world at large. All I can remember is that it was fun to watch and Nic Cage had longish hair and I think Monica Potter was in it as the pretty young wife.

But Steve Buscemi totally stuck out. And that’s something he’s always done for me.

“Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “The Sopranos,” “Big Daddy,” “The Adventures of Pete and Pete,” “Monsters Inc,” the list goes on and on. And in every single one of the movies or television shows Steve Buscemi has appeared in, he has always done a most excellent job.

He is a real icon.

Which is why, whenever I think of “Con-Air,” it’s not John Cusack or Nicolas Cage I think of. It’s Steve Buscemi in that white jump suit sitting down … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: Con-Air [action, escaped convicts]”

Title: Untraceable (2008)
Genre: drama, thriller
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
Written by: Robert Fyvolent (screenplay), Mark Brinker (screenplay), Allison Burnett (screenplay)
Actors: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks
aStore: DVD, Blu-Ray, digital

The first time I saw a trailer for this back in 2008, I thought it was going to be another one of those stupid “Killer guy has a website and everyone that visits it *mysteriously* dies” type of movies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I bought the DVD on sale and wasn’t really expecting too much when I watched it. Sure, there’s lots of stupid stuff going on and you can totally be like “Why the hell would she get back in the car?” But come on, it’s a movie, it’s for entertainment, and I honestly really enjoyed it.

You have a guy killing people on his website, building crafty machines that use the hit counter to decide how long someone is going to live. So of course everyone in America was going to check out the site, they got told not to!

It’s kind of a grim commentary about the kind of people we are. We might not go out and kill someone personally, but we have no problem taking a peek at a dead body. Wasn’t that the whole premise of that coming of age story “Stand By Me” where someone asks “Do you wanna see a dead body?” and everyone unanimously replied, “Hell yeah!”

If you suspend some of your belief in the FBI and the police being able to track some guy down, this is actually a pretty good popcorn movie. There’s just enough ick — guy gets killed by sunlamp, guy gets melted by sulfuric acid — that you root for the good guys, and there’s some fairly clever death machines … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: Untraceable [drama, thriller]”

Your Highness (2011)
Genre: fantasy, stoner
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Starring: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman
Rating: R (for language, imagery, etc)
aStore: DVD, Blu-Ray, digital

Storyline from Universal: Throughout history, tales of chivalry have burnished the legends of brave, handsome knights who rescue fair damsels, slay dragons and conquer evil. But behind many a hero is a good-for-nothing younger brother trying just to stay out of the way of those dragons, evil and trouble in general. As two princes on a daring mission to save their land, they must rescue the heir apparent’s fiancée before their kingdom is destroyed. Thadeous (McBride) has spent his life watching his perfect older brother Fabious (Franco) embark upon valiant journeys and win the hearts of his people. Tired of being passed over for adventure, adoration and the throne, he’s settled for a life of wizard’s weed, hard booze and easy maidens. But when Fabious’ bride-to-be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), gets kidnapped by the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux), the king gives his deadbeat son an ultimatum: Man up and help rescue her or get cut off…

It’s very sad that this movie did not do better in theaters or with audiences, but I think that might have been due to some misplaced marketing. Seeing the trailers on TV, I was kind of expecting it to be set in the Middle Ages and to be kind of an adventure thing with knights and going off to save the maiden fair. Though, considering the casting, I realized it would contain some rude humor. So basically Hot Tub Time Machine in a medieval setting.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the great costuming (Zooey Deschanel as Belladonna had the greatest dresses) and setting and the actually pretty awesome special effects. There were some … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: Your Highness [comedy, fantasy]”

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