I went to see Beowulf in IMAX a couple weeks ago. It was ... well, it was big, that's for sure. This Hollywood blockbuster is very true to the original story all the way up to the part where it completely veers. It's like, pretend you're driving down a highway behind a tractor trailer and you're thinking to yourself, "That tractor trailer is doing exactly everything it should. The driver of that big rig is very good at what he does." And then all of a sudden, the tractor trailer plunges headfirst into a volcano. "That's odd," you think, "I don't remember there being a volcano here."

Yeah well, that's Hollywood for ya.

Beowulf is the classic tale of a hero, the likes of which the world has never seen. This guy is sheer muscle and brawn. When the gods look down on him, they think, "Why can't I be more like Beowulf?" That's not in the story, I'm just saying. Beowulf is pretty much the toughest dude you'll ever meet.

One day, this monster named Grendel goes and kills and eats a whole bunch of Danish King Hrothgar's men in the great hall of Heorot. These scenes are violent and bloody and, let's face it, pretty cool. Grendel is a terror that, it seems, no man or army of men can defeat. Heh. Not so fast...

Enter Beowulf, a hero from Geatland. He brings a small army with him over the seas to come and fight the beast. Beowulf is pretty much pride incarnate. If anyone was every a glory hound, Beowulf is it. He wants all the glory of all the world. And, it's no lie to say, he's also very full of himself. That's ok though, he has the resume to prove it. All his life, Beowulf has been killing monsters. Grendel, he assumes, will just be one more notch on his belt.

When he fights Grendel, Beowulf chooses to do so without weapons or armor. In fact, um, he, ehhh, kind of fights the monster wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Yikes.

Anywho, Grendel is just the beginning. After Bewoulf and Grendel have their massive fight, Beowulf has to go and meet, um, Angelina Jolie.

Yeah. Angelina Jolie plays Grendel's mother. And this is where the movie takes a turn for the bizarre. If you're looking for literary accuracy, walk out of the theater now because the film is about to drive itself right into a volcano.

It's cool though. It's entertaining. It's animation. It's Beowulf... kinda.

All told, I enjoyed the movie a lot. It was packed with plenty of action and gore and heaven knows I love me a good literary adaptation. Even if it is a little off the mark at times.

I highly recommend you see this movie in IMAX. Don't wait for the DVD to come out. The IMAX experience is killer. And you'll be missing out on some beautiful scenes if you do wait. IMAX has a way of taking you over. There's one scene in particular, where a hawk snatches up a rodent and flies off away from Heorot. The flight goes on for a few minutes and you start to feel as if you are the rodent trapped in it's claws. Neat-o.

If you have yet to read the original Beowulf, we have a three part Reader's Theater adaption of it here. Knock yourself out. It's really quite good. One of our freelance writers, Wim Coleman, did a fantastic job adapting it.

Oh, and just for a taste of what to expect at the movie, here is a preview. Enjoy.

I just got my 2008 calendar, which made me realize that 2007 is almost over. There are only ... (wait, give me a minute, math isn't my strong suit) 12 days left! And I haven't even started thinking of my resolutions yet!

Well, I know it's a little early, but the early bird catches the worm (or something slightly less cliche). So, just now I thought of my top ten literary resolutions for the next year.

1. Read more books. Good books--not just trashy magazines. Why find out more about Britney, Paris, and Lindsay when I could be catching up on Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Speaking of which ...
2. Read a Harry Potter book. Any Harry Potter book. Bad WORD blogger! I know, I know, how could I not have read Harry Potter yet? Well, stop yelling at me. I've been ... busy with ... stuff. OK, there's really no exuse.
3. Buy and actually read the new Gone With the Wind spin off. I know I shouldn't judge it until I read it, even though I know it's not going to be as good as the original.
4. Write a television pilot. Well, as of now the writers are still on strike. I want my TV!
5. Lose 5 pounds. It's not exactly a literary resolution. OK, it's not a literary resolution at all. But still ...
6. Start keeping a dream journal. Dreams can sometimes be great story starters, but who can remember them after awhile? Plus I'd like written proof of every time Justin Timberlake asks me to marry him.
7. Reread some of my favorite books that I haven't read in years. Maybe I'll get some new insights. And maybe this time when I read The Shining by Stephen King, I'll be able to go to the bathroom without checking to make sure there isn't a dead woman in the bathtub ... if you don't know what I mean, you should read the book yourself. And if you have read the book and aren't afraid of the bathtub corpse lady ... well, you are far braver than I.
8. Read the book first before I see the movie. Because the book is always better anyway.
9. Write more by hand. It's so much more satisfying than typing on a computer. Plus, as a lefty, I don't get that nice smudge across what I've just written when I'm typing.
10. Write the Great American Novel. A girl can dream, can't she?

OK, so those are my early resolutions. Hopefully, as it gets closer to New Year's eve, I can think of a couple more, because you can never have too many goals when it comes to reading and writing.

So (OK, you know what's coming ...) what are some of your literary goals for the new year?

Fantasy aficionados, rejoice! Because those of you who have felt a void in your hearts after all the Lord of the Rings movies and Harry Potter books were done with, your prayers have been answered. Peter Jackson, the director of all three Lord of the Rings, has just signed on to produce The Hobbit.

In case you don't know (and maybe you shouldn't call yourself a fantasy fan if you don't), The Hobbit is a book by J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings.

So, are you excited about a return to Middle Earth? Do you think this movie is going to be awesome? And if you read The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings books, can you fill me in on what happens? Sadly, I've never read any of them. I did sit through the first Lord of the Rings movie, but I must admit, it was under much duress. I'm not a huge fanasy fan (although I did enjoy the Orlando Bloom aspect of the movie). OK, well then, let's get some comments that we all [read: I] can understand. Who would you cast in this movie?

Well, we asked you before what you would pay to get your hands on J.K. Rowling's new book The Tales of Beedle the Bard. And no, you wouldn't be able to wait for this book to go into the bookstore bargain bins [side note--yay for alliteration!] and you wouldn't be able to get it for free at the library. There were only seven copies of this book that were published. What would you pay? $19.95? A hundred? A million?

How about $4 million?

Yup, that's right. That's how much the book was auctioned off for. Wow, too steep for my blood. (Unless my boss wants to give me a raise. Crickets. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? No? Didn't think so.)

The money raised at the auction goes to The Children's Voice, which is a charity set up by Rowling. I guess that softens the blow, well a bit anyway. It still would have been cool to read The Tales of Beedle the Bard--and to have a spare $4 million lying around. Ah well.

So now that you don't have to worry about saving up for the book, what are you going to spend your hard-earned cash on? (OK, don't tell me you're going to buy Guitar Hero 3, even though that game does sound awesome. What books are you going to spend your hard-earned cash on?)

As I suspect none of you are as into the chick lit genre as I am, how about Artemis Fowl? A bunch of you who have posted comments on WORD reccomended it, and I trust you guys. I've never read the series myself, but a quick Wikipedia search says that it's a fantasy series with a style similar to Rowling's. So there you go.

So, what's on your book wish list? Should I check out Artemis Fowl? And are you still bitter about not being able to read The Tales of Beedle the Bard? I know I am. The only thing that would make me feel better is a brand new book. Or Guitar Hero 3. No, no. A new book is better. Definitely the book.

The following blog entry was written by Sarah Chassé, a copy editor of READ, Writing, and a whole bunch of other Weekly Reader magazines.

Quick--think of the last five movies you've seen. Were any of them based on a book? It seems like every hit novel gets made into a film these days. Need I mention the Harry Potter movies? The Chronicles of Narnia series? Bridge to Terabithia? Charlotte's Web? Even epic poems like Beowulf are getting the Hollywood treatment. Are the people who make movies running out of ideas or what?

But don't get me wrong; I love seeing my favorite books come to life on the big screen. So this past weekend I saw The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and talented young newcomer Dakota Blue Richards. The fantasy flick is based on the first book of a trilogy by British writer Philip Pullman.

If you've read the Harry Potter books, you'll recognize a few familiar themes in the pages of The Golden Compass. The main character, a young girl named Lyra, is an orphan destined for great things. Like, oh, helping to save the universe. And like Harry, she lives in a world full of adventure, danger, and magic.

In Lyra's reality, every person's soul lives outside his or her body in the form of an animal-shaped daemon (pronounced like demon). I know. You're thinking, "Huh!?" But I swear, it starts to seem normal after you've been reading for a while. Lyra and her shape-shifting daemon, Pan, battle the sinister Mrs. Coulter, who is part of a government plot to kidnap children to the Arctic and conduct terrible experiments on them. Along the way, Lyra is helped by wise witches, warrior polar bears, and a mysterious golden compass given to her by her uncle.

And that little summary is just the half of it. Or maybe just the quarter of it? I can't possibly fit all of the action and intrigue from the book into this blog entry. And you know what? It didn't quite fit into a two-hour movie, either. Important plot points felt rushed and confusing in the film. But then again, two ferocious, talking polar bears fighting to the death was more exciting with swelling music and deafening snarls than it was on the page. The movie was worth my $10, but the first thing I said when the lights came up was something you've probably heard before: "The book was better!"

Why do you think books are often better than movies? What books would you love to see made into a film? What books would you hate to see made into a film? Have you ever liked a movie better than the book it was based on? Am I asking too many questions? OK, just one more: What literary smash do you think will be the next Hollywood blockbuster?

We at WORD love words. (After all, that's what we named ourselves after. It wasn't one of those ironic names, like the bald "Curly" from the Three Stooges.) So we get a little excited when dictionaries pick their "word of the year." Last year, Merriam-Webster picked "truthiness" from The Colbert Report. It's a great word, made even greater because it was made up by one man, and it spread and entered the lexicon; it wasn't from some stodgy, well, dictionary.

Well, it was all a lie! OK, maybe that's a little dramatic. But apparently dictionaries pick their words of the year to garner publicity! Can you believe it? Here I am, thinking that a word has gained enough attention to be officially recognized, and it's all a stunt to sell more dictionaries! I am appalled I tell you, appalled!

Let's do it up right! I know you all love words as much as I do. And since we have no hidden agenda, we should nominate our own words of the year. (I would never try to trick you guys. And I think the words of the year should be, ahem, "weekly" and "reader" because they are great words. Joking, of course.)

So what is your word of the year? Here are some of my favorites:

-chartreuse (because it is a cool color, and hey, it just sounds awesome)
-ostentatious (because who doesn't love showing off, just a little bit)
-Jessica (because I'm a bit of an egomaniac, which is also a cool word)

I know you all have favorite words. Send them in, and let me know why! (Unless you are shilling for the dictionary company!)

I'll admit it: I'm not a huge comic book fan. I just never got into going to a comic store and digging through the racks. I wouldn't even know where to begin! It's a shame, because comic books and graphic novels and the like are a great medium. They're probably one of the more influential types of stories today. However, most of my knowledge of comic book characters come from the movies. And, while I was Batgirl for Halloween this year, it was more because they had the costume in my size than because of any love for the character. In fact, I didn't even know her secret identity! (A collegue just informed me that Batgirl's idenity is Barbara Gordon, Commissionor Gordon's daughter. You learn something new every day!)

But now Marvel Comics are putting their issues online. For a fee, you can read all about the adventures of the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, and all of the other loveable mutants and heroes. This is pretty cool, at least in my opinion. I mean, I would never be able to track down issue number 4 where Spidey's suit is the wrong color (totally made that up, by the way, I have no idea what color Spiderman's suit is in issue 4), but if it's online, maybe I would look it up. I like when things are easy and accessible. And then I can read up on all the crazy backstories that are probably awesome. Plus, it would give me something else to do at work ... clearly, for research purposes only, of course.

So, how do you like your comic books? Would you read them online, or is part of the joy getting the ink stains all over your skin/putting Silly Putty on the frames to pull up the image? (Do people even still do that anymore? Wow, suddenly I feel old.) What comic books have you read lately? Who's your favorite superhero and why? And who do you think is superior, Batman or Superman? My vote is for Superman. Without his utility belt, Batman would be nothing.

Well, those TV writers are still on strike ... but they're talking again! They're hoping for a pay increase, and they might actually get it. That's excellent, because I know I for one am going crazy without new programs. And if the strike goes on for a lot longer, it might even affect movies. I don't like the sound of that one bit. No TV and no movies makes Jessica a dull girl. (Oh, for all you out there who aren't movie nerds like I am, that was a reference from The Shining, which is an old movie--and an awesome book, by the way--so at least you can rent it if the strike goes on.)

I'm certainly glad that the writers might be back to work soon. But there is one thing that's been nagging me about the strike. (OK, one other thing besides the leaving us without new TV episodes.) These people are writers. And, while I'm sure we all have different opinions of the quality of TV shows, these are good writers, more or less. So what's with all the boring signs? "Writer's Guild of America on Strike!" Yeah, that's creative.

Come on, WORDians. If you were a Hollywood writer who was on strike (and if you were a Hollywood writer, you certainly would be on strike. We don't like scabs. Solidarity, brother!), what would your sign say?

Here's mine:

Writing? It's in the Scripture!

Uggh, I guess it's harder than it looks. But I bet you guys can do better! What would be on your signs?

Oh, and on a completely different note--tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. For all of you celebrating, eat some latkas for me! (I don't think I've ever used my kitchen, so I must enjoy the latkas vicariously.)

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Boys and girls!

Children of all ages!

READ Magazine is proud to present...

THE ONE...

THE ONLY...

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!!!

(See this is where you applaud madly and scream with glee.)

Click here for Willie's goodness.