The Brothers Bloom (2009)

Director Rian Johnson's got an eye for style, I'll give him that. I watched Brick waiting for something fantastic to happen but was left with some atmospheric visuals, an intriguing idea, and not much else. The Brothers Bloom was sort of like that. Of course, I've seen my share of terrible movies this year so this was actually pretty good in comparison.I mean, the story moved along nicely, there were some genuinely funny moments, a Wes Anderson-lite...

Walk it out, walk it out

Hey all, I'm on virtual book tour right now! I've been emailing back and forth with Yan for the past few weeks and she and her partner in crime, Carol, have prepared a few blog stops for Exclusively Chloe on their Traveling to Teens site.They've put a lot of work in and assembled a veritable army of bloggers. In talking with Yan and learning about her interests and projects, she's been incredibly creative with putting her voice into the young adult...

Bring It On

I'm definitely a little late to the Glee party but I've just watched the pilot episode twice through and I love it. High school cliques, lots of singing, good dialogue, fun characters, and more singing. Glee is about the dreams of one teacher to take his under funded, no respect, glee club to the top. There's so many things about Glee I like, but I'll let the reviews tell the story.Right now, I've only got The Office and The Duel 2 on TV rotation...

Spunky Rooster

My friend Gene, more famously known as "Dave's Son," had this great song -- one of many -- and it was an ode to Sriracha hot sauce. Every Sunday afternoon, after a hard night of hanging out in the garage of our friend's house, we would cruise down the street for a relaxing bowl of pho. Gene would sit down, pour hot sauce onto a little side platter, and then dip individual uncooked string beans into it. Munch munch. It was like watching a kid...

Angels & Demons (2009)

Well, it seems like Ron Howard and Co. learned a thing or two from The Da Vinci Code. First off, Tom Hank's hair is so much better. Thank god. And while I love Audrey Tautou, Ayelet Zurer was a better fit as Robert Langdon's yes-woman. The movie is still bogged down by lots of exposition but that's impossible to avoid in a book/movie this.Was Angels & Demons a better book than Da Vinci Code? Probably not, since the art slant and the whole...

Back at One

Oh look, the Rough Guide to Blogging is still alive! Books with Eskimos and pink on the cover never die. Never.I answered a few interview questions about how blogs can help you network and get a job and am quoted in a little blurb over at Men's Health UK. Cool right?"Jon Yang, author of The Rough Guide to Blogging (Rough Guides) says, 'Don't worry about design as much as content. Try using pictures, audio, video or any number of widgets to give...

Into the Wild

The first picture I've gotten of EC in the wild was taken by my friend Steve -- he started reading immediately and already finished it!. I think he got it at Barnes & Noble, and he might have gone to a couple of them to round up additional copies. Isn't he great? Thanks Steve!People have been telling me that various places either carry it or don't carry it, and I forgot to tell everyone to call ahead because sometimes bookstores either (a)...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Today is finally here! (Well, obviously). What does a debut day feel like? Well, in my imagination, everywhere I walk there will be rainbows. And one giant rainbow will be emanating from my head, lighting up the cloudless sky with ROYGBIV goodness. Strangers on every corner will stare and then they'll shyly approach me at the bus stop to ask, "Wait, aren't you?..."I'll nod. "Why yes I am." How good of you to notice.Then I'll whip out a colored...

U + Me = Us (Calculus)

There's a great conversation going on over at The Story Siren. Kristi asked: "I've been thinking a lot about this lately, honestly I've thought about it for a while, but I think my addictions to Twitter and Facebook that have brought it to my attention once again. All the reviewer/author interaction.... makes me wonder."The main point of concern seems to be if authors and reviewers are getting too close, to the point where the integrity of the review...

Video Star

So I have a friend, she's cute, she's fun, she's got personality and verve. So I sat her down in front of my camera and made her do a few impromptu promos for Exclusively Chloe. Okay, I made her do a lot of them. But here's the first o...

Great Title

Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their TitlesIt seems these poets have nothingup their ample sleevesthey turn over so many cards so early,telling us before the first linewhether it is wet or dry,night or day, the season the man is standing in,even how much he has had to drink.Maybe it is autumn and he is looking at a sparrow.Maybe it is snowing on a town with a beautiful name."Viewing Peonies at the Temple of Good Fortuneon a Cloudy Afternoon" is one of Sun Tung Po's."Dipping...

Geek Think

Listening to: A Fine Frenzy, "Almost Lover."Last night, after watching Star Trek and going over the merits of the film along with a few of its flaws with Chris and Ameer, I looked over at George's face while we talked and she was bewildered. Black holes, red matter, time travel, "set phasers to stun," she was lost somewhere short of the final frontier.I immediately assigned her a geek cred level of three, while saying that I'd probably qualify as...

Star Trek (2009)

Movie prognosticators are saying that Star Trek is this summer's Iron Man. Hugely anticipated, critically acclaimed, and destined to make a killing at the box office. It's hard to say I disagree. With Wolverine sure to falter after terrible word of mouth, Star Trek will be the king of summer even with so many blockbusters yet to launch. It is worthy?The short answer is: I guess so. I'm not much of a Trekkie myself but I know enough about its...

Catch'em All

If you love books, you hope that one day you get to walk into a room and someone tells you to take what you want. Visions of Supermarket Sweep probably run through your head. Let's say you had only ten minutes to canvas your local bookstore with a shopping cart and whatever you get is free. What's the strategy here? Do you go to your favorite section and just start clearing the shelves? Run over to graphic novels and sweep entire series into...

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

This was my most anticipated movie of the year. This review it totally biased because virtually anything X-Men related would get a passable grade from me. Having said all that, I can't understand why this movie is getting killed in reviews. It's definitely not the best comic book movie ever. Yes, there are way too many shots of Wolverine screaming into the sky. Yes, there are some bad special effects and the story is slight, but it's not a horrific...

Un Baiser s'il vous plaît / Shall We Kiss? (2009)

For a movie that's pure discussion, centered on conversations about relationships, and features some very winning actresses, I feel like I should have loved every bit of it. Instead I spent much of the running time wondering when it would get "deeper." It felt a little too fluffy to me and no real great insights were had. The main debate here is whether or not two virtual strangers should kiss. The movie is centered around a woman's story about...

Forever Young

"Who's your unicorn?" my friend asked. I had no idea what he was talking about but I loved it already. I mean, "unicorn" is my stock answer for everything. Catchphrase answers, Win Lose or Draw guesses, chaotic basketball plays, trivia shots in the dark, anything. When in doubt, say "unicorn!" with emphasis. Works for me.But what my friend was asking about was who my romantic unicorn was. Under his particular definition, your romantic unicorn...

Housed

"The best NBA first-round playoff series this side of ever finally came to a reluctant end Saturday evening as the Boston Celtics cut the Chicago Bulls into Game 7 sushi rolls. The C's won 109-99 and move to the Eastern Conference semis against Orlando. The B's return to Chicago, but with their heads in the raised position.Anticlimactic? Sure, but only because there's almost no way this series could have sustained its historic pace. It would have...

It's All Happening!

Dear Friends, Family, and Foe,As many of you know, I've been working on book two for quite awhile now. I started the process two years ago and it's finally ready to hit shelves soon. As in two weeks soon. On Thursday, May 14th, 2009, my newest book, "Exclusively Chloe," will be released by Penguin/Puffin. This will mark my debut as a fiction author and I'm terribly excited for all this to be happening.What's the book about? Well, remember all those times you've thought to yourself, "Omg, Jon's such a girl!" Well, it's true. And now she...