My thoughts on ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

I recently finished reading the uber best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey, which will soon become a Hollywood production, and I was left feeling intrigued, disappointed, angered, amused, disgusted and entertained. I had a lot to say about the book–and I’m sure there are going to be tons of fans who launch a tirade at me, but I welcome any discussion, so go ahead and tweet me or hit me up on facebook to tell me what you think.

Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy Let me start off by saying that I’m no English Lit major and I’m not a big time reader, but I have read my fair share of book-to-screen adaptations and, since this book will soon become a movie, I feel qualified to make a judgement call. This review will contain some spoilers, so consider yourself warned!
Read the rest on trashwire.com.

Have you read the books? What did you think? And what does the popularity of BDSM erotica say about today’s women?

‘Twilight: Eclipse’ and ‘Cyrus’ reviews on Trashwire

Because I’m so not on the grind with this blog, I forgot to post links to my latest Trashwire reviews. I had the chance to write about two very different films, one about a clingy teenager trying to get intimate with her vampire boyfriend, the other about a clingy son trying to battle his mom’s boyfriend. The Twilight: Eclipse review was also published on KDVR.com, where a bunch of Twi-hards proceeded to tell me I was an idiot because I wasn’t comparably intrigued by the epic battle of Edward vs Jacob. I’ve read the books and seen the movies and, like I say in the review, I get the phenomenon. I just like True Blood and Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse Series better.

You can read my “stupid idiot” review of Twilight: Eclipse on Trashwire…

When I want to watch sexy vampires and werewolves, I choose True Blood, but if I was ten years younger, I’d be swooning over the sparkly vampires and ab-tastic werewolves in the Twilight movies. If the first film and its sequel New Moon were burgeoning with sexual undertones masquerading as tween-friendly melodrama, then Eclipse is practically porn.

Read the rest on Trashwire.com at http://trashwire.com/2010/06/30/twilight-eclipse-is-like-true-blood-for-tweens

And check out my review of indie comedy Cyrus, starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei on Trashwire too…

Both Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly are more recently known for broader comedies like Step Brothers or Superbad, but both prove they can hold their own with quirky indie fare as they battle for the attention of Marisa Tomei in Cyrus.

Read the rest on Trashwire.com at http://trashwire.com/2010/07/02/cyrus-john-c-reilly-jonah-hill

Check ’em out and let me know what you think in a comment or on Twitter @AlexisGentry. All comments welcome, even if you’re a hardcore Twi-hard who wants to call me a moron for not being in love with Robert Pattinson.

Happyslapped by an Octopus

As a huge fan of Karl Pilkington, I’ve practically memorized his book Happyslapped by a Jellyfish. Imagine my surprise when I saw this video of another creature that fascinates Pilkington stealing a guy’s camera. I can only imagine what he’d have to say about this!

View a quick video about Karl Pilkington’s book after the jump…
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The great eBook debate

I’ve been in the market for an eReader ever since I got into the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I saw the full box set of the books available at bookstores, but it cost about $80 and that was just more than I was willing to spend. On top of that, I really wanted to read a few other books that were only available in $30 hardcover form. After thinking about the price of buying books and the space they’d take up in my tiny condo, I decided it might be time to invest in an eBook reader.

Naturally, I turned to my twitter friends for advice. When you’ve got 1,500 potential votes, it’s easy to pick a clear winner. Almost everyone advised me to get a Kindle. I got tweets from very satisfied Kindle users and even a brief endorsement from my Dad. Still, I had heard good thinks about the Barnes & Noble Nook and wanted to check it out.

I’d read about the eBook reader, which features a small iPhone-like touch screen, on Gizmodo, where they’d given it a very positive review. Having done my research on several other sites, I decided to go down to Barnes & Noble to see for myself. One of the biggest benefits of the Nook is that you can actually go to the store and try it out or get tech support. I went up to the counter where they had a Nook on display and began navigating the menus on the touch screen and clicking through pages on some of the sample books. I was impressed. I was really impressed. The navigation was great, perfect for someone whose iPhone was almost glued to her hand. I loved being able to view the covers of books before I bought them and being able to read sample chapters before you decided to purchase a book. I had heard that eInk screens had slow response time that made reading an annoying activity, but I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the “pages” could turn and how quickly the screen was able to change from the text of a book to the main navigation screen. The Nook also offered GoogleBooks, which meant several titles available for free, and you could customize it with your own screensavers and home page images as well as load it with your music. The books were affordable and the Nook featured 3G and wi-fi and didn’t start at $500 like some other handheld devices (*cough* iPad *cough*).

The coolest feature, though, was all the Barnes & Noble perks. You could get special deals or even free eBooks when you used your Nook in any Barnes & Noble store. You could read any eBook free for up to an hour in the store too. I must say, I was also really impressed with the idea of in-person support in case something ever went wrong.

I went home and looked up the Kindle a bit more, having narrowed it down to those two candidates. The Kindle seemed nice, maybe even great, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that it had a real keyboard as opposed to a touch screen. A physical keyboard can’t change, a touch screen can gain added features with every software update.

I bought the Nook and started reading. I’m happy to say, I absolutely love it! I’ve probably been reading more in the last few weeks than I ever did in school. After burning through the first five books in my beloved Southern Vampire Series, I’m excited to keep using my Nook and get more cheap eBooks to read in the future.