Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, has recorded a public service announcement for gay youth suicide prevention with The Trevor Project.
According to this article, Radcliffe says, “I just loathe homophobia. It’s just disgusting and animal and stupid and it’s just thick people who can’t get their heads around it and are just scared…I grew up around gay people entirely. I was the only child in my class who had any experience of homosexuality or anything like that.”
Further, “Radcliffe first became aware of The Trevor Project, founded in 1998 by three filmmakers, while he was appearing on Broadway in the 2008 revival of “Equus.” Their movie, “Trevor,” which won an Academy Award for best short film, concerned a gay teen who attempts suicide. The Trevor Project allows young people to call in for counseling or just to talk.”
The announcement is scheduled to appear this spring.
Well, first, I have to say that, yes, this book is filled with teenage-girl angst and the kind of Prince Charming/Cinderella love that, well, nobody I know has ever experienced. That’s a bit troublesome since there are girls that think this is how life is or could be if they find Mr. Right.
That being said, here’s what I love about “Twilight” (the book that is).
The wallflower moves to a new town and is seen for the beauty that she is
Old-World vampires as 21st century high school kids
It’s set in Forks, WA - a small, rainy town that I could never live in (I’m a city girl)
The Native American characters and the depiction of their lives
Modern-Day werewolves who are do-gooders
Modern-Day vampires who are do-gooders
The writing is captivating (I agree with Stephen King that Jo Rowling of Harry Potter fame is a better writer but it’s pretty harsh to say that Stephenie Meyer “can’t write worth a darn.”)
I love the way the author can write a steamy scene with NO sex and NO biting (they’re vampires after all)
I know that movies are different than books but I really wanted to enjoy the movie. Some of these are petty complaints but some just ruined the movie for me.
I like Rob Pattinson but thought he was miscast for this role. He didn’t have the “old-world” aura about him as far as I was concerned (plus, what was the deal with his lips? Weird.)
Bella is so monotone in the movie.
The interactions between Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) and Edward pretty much put me to sleep. Where was the chemistry that was pretty much the crux of the book?
The key scene in the sunshine made Edward look like he had a radioactive skin disease.
The scene where Bella tells Edward that she knows what he is, is just painful to watch. It’s so stilted. (Watch below and judge for yourself).
The plus? Cam Gigandet as James, and Taylor Lautner as Jacob are both wonderful and full of life.
My favorite blog, Pop Candy, posted 4 lists last week. Blogger Whitney Matheson calls it a “High School Survival Kit.” They’re the best in pop culture for high school students:
Top 25 books about teens (go, Harry Potter! and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. But what happened to the Twilight series??)
Don’t worry - I’m not going to tell any secrets about the 7th book!
I just had to write a blog post about Harry Potter because I am a huge fan. I have always loved J.K.Rowling’s books about the boy wizard and his adventures and now that I am a children’s book writer also (just sent out my first manuscript!) I can better see just how skilled J.K. Rowling is.
She has a way of pulling the reader in and “controlling” the reader’s emotions so that we become Harry’s friend and we start to perceive things the way Harry does.
I have loved reading these books and now that I’ve finished the last one, I feel sad. Apart from the any part of the plotline which may have made me sad, I feel sad that I don’t get to “play” with Harry and Hermione and Ron and all of the wizarding world. I know it seems ridiculous for an adult to be so caught up in “Harry Fever” but I am and I make no apologies for it!
There are also a significant number of Generation Y-ers (your teens) who are anticipating with dread the end of an era. (See this excellent article in the Christian Science Monitor online).
Just look at this quote from a Stanford University senior (from the aforementioned article):
“The books might be just as meaningful to [new generations of children], but it won’t be such a cultural experience for them. ” He argues that his generation has struggled with apathy. “If we can show that we really cared about something, that we allowed ourselves to unify around one thing … why not [Harry Potter]? For a children’s book, it’s really tied into contemporary, grown-up problems. It’s about alienation and identity and how we cope with great tragedy. It speaks to … terrorism and all these things going on.”
How ’bout that? The article also mentions that many of the REAL-LIFE teen icons of this era are basically superficial, materialistic, hedonistic party animals and are not worthy of our children’s adulation.
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