Meyer "So over Twilight". Steph joints the majority of the World

Right so, it has emerged that the writer of the multi-million dollar book and movie series, Twilight, is "so over it". Well this should be good.
In an interview with Variety, Stephanie Meyer said of the Twilight universe "I am so over it. For me, it’s not a happy place to be, (and) I get further away every day."
Although she has said that she wouldn't rule out writing another book set in the same world she has lessened the promise saying,
“What I would probably do is three paragraphs on my blog saying which of the characters died,” she says, adding, “I’m interested in spending time in other worlds.”
Okay, seeing as I slagged Twilight in my very first post to this blog, I think you can guess that maybe I'm not the biggest fan of the franchise. Now that is true, I don't like the franchise. Back in the days where vampire fiction was only a new retelling in the young adult world, I really enjoyed these books. I borrowed them from a friend, enjoyed them, gave them back and then read Harry Potter again and it was fine. I even enjoyed some other vampire fiction, The Vampire Diaries were enjoyable and handled the love triangle WAY better than Team Edward/ Jacob and even House of night is still OK for some light reading; but that was before it exploded. 
I understand from a literary standpoint that books go through trends. After vampires, Young Adult authors tried reanimating (excuse the pun) other standard horror monsters such as zombies (behold the terror that was "Zombies don't cry") and more recently fallen angels, which, when written true to the nephilim origin can actually be good as in the legends, many of the angels actually did fall because they fell in love with human women, thus the romance in these books work!    

The most recent trend, as most people will have noticed is the Dystopian  future model. This example works well as it shows a trend that was done well, exactly what Twilight failed on. 
The Hunger Games is one of the best book-to-movie adaptions I have seen in quite a while and is a prime example of this trend. Although, the love triangle is still present, it is not the center of the book and the main story line (e.g vampires/ games to the death) is not overlooked to allow the love story to get in the way.
Here is what I mean:
Katniss: Gale is the only person who understood me when my Dad died and I needed to find food for my family even though I risk my life in the process. Peeta was the boy who gave me food when my family fell apart even though he was punished for it and now, in the Hunger Games, he wants to do everything he can to protect me, even though it could get him killed. This is quite a dilemma, but you know what is more so? THE FACT THAT I AM ABOUT TO BE KILLED IN A DEATH MATCH.

Bella: I am sad because I am (by my own choice), going to go live with my dad in a place where it rains a lot and I will have good friends and not want for anything. *enter the plot twist that is the fact there are vampires and werewolves* Oh he might kill me but he's hot. Wait now he's gone, this guy likes me, so I love him now even though he could kill me. Wait the vampire is back.. I love him again, who cares that he's a vampire? I totally trust this soulless beast.  

What The Hunger Games did was understand that romance is a large part of the growing-up experience but it is never the whole story, especially when there is something else more important going on in someone's life. 
But at the same time, as an author (I use the term loosely), Meyer is basically disregarding her entire fan-base. No matter what my personal opinions are, people got behind these books and movies and loved them. That is evident with the excitement behind the release of the full collection of movies and the online cult following. By saying that the only revisiting of the work is to write "three paragraphs on my blog saying which of the characters died" is putting a definite end to an open ended series which was still being written by the fans. 
In conclusion, I say a big F**k You to Ms. Meyer, grab the money and destroy what little good you may have done, good job.
End Rant. :)

New 52 Harley Quinn Comic Announced

I personally love a good villain. But more than that I love a good back-story to go with that villain. Enter Miss Harleen Quinzel, psychology graduate, gymnast, nut job (in the nicest sense of the word).  
I first fell in love with this character when I revisited Batman the Animated series (I was only born when the show originally aired) where she was a completely new villain and henchwoman /crazed love of The Joker. 

I was instantly drawn to her craziness and how her madness revolved around her love of Joker with no other motives other than making him proud and the hope that he will love her back. Now some of you may say that she was just the same as other female characters whose sole purpose was to fawn over a man  (*cough* Bella *cough*) but she was different. You can tell that underneath that obsession is a woman who grabbed onto the only person who understood what she had been through when her world fell in on top of her. (She accidentally got her boyfriend killed after conducting an experiment on him to see how far people will go for love while working as a psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum - Read "Harley Quinn- Night and Day for more info).

So why the blog post? Well, starting later this year, co-writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, along with an unannounced artist, will be putting together a new Harley series away from her stint in the "Suicide Squad" as part of DC's ongoing "New 52" run.

In an interview with CBR, Palmiotti said, "We took a good long look at the New 52 version and then applied it to what we were going to do in the series. Harley is a complex character and we are going to build on her background, motivations and her home and supporting cast. Sort of what we did with Power Girl but with a mix of a bit more homicidal maniac added in."

Conner added, "We want to put her in a new surroundings, with new people, and see how she behaves in that environment. Is she going to try to keep it together, or is she just going to cut loose and introduce her new world to the Harley brand of crazy?"

"The Joker is someone that she'll never be able to shake, nor is she really going to want to. Their relationship is a lot of what defines her now, although she is going to get into a lot of stuff where it has nothing to do with him. But that will always be looming in the background. She'll have some serious ex-boyfriend issues."

But here's another question, what do we think of the new image? They are obviously taking inspiration from the Arkham  generation over the more classic version which we have seen in her standalone comics, but do we really want the new overly-sexual Harley? She has always been a flirty character but for the new comic world which has grown to include women are we not able to make a character sexy without skimming back the clothing? 

Don't get me wrong, I do understand the inspiration behind the new look, she is supposed to resemble a sort of "roller derby" hard chick which is an awesome change which I can get behind. But I have to say, I don't remember Ellen Page showing that much ass in Whip It...

Tell me your thoughs down below but for now, peace out. :P

Welcome to the World of Random!

So here we are them, the first post of the blog. My name is Lorraine and I am the person behind what you are reading. I am a nineteen year old student in Ireland studying English and Classical Studies (I know, I sound like an exciting person already), but to the wider world I also enjoy reading young adult fiction and the odd comic.

 As the cherry on top of this sundae of strangeness, I enjoy cross-stitching game characters and animated characters from TV shows.. yep, that strange.  

So for anything else you need to know, have a look at the About page and I'm sure if you keep an eye out, I should say something worth while.. :P

Thanks and see you (figuratively) soon.

Lorraine