Enough of Jon and Kate Plus 8

Don't get me wrong. I love Jon and Kate Plus 8 but with all the tabloid junk that is all over the place these days, I am actually finding myself not enjoying the show at all anymore.

I used to watch the show when I was stressed or down in the dumps because watching the adorable kids of theirs always puts a smile back on my face and makes my heart warm. My favorite of the sextuplets is Joel -he says so many funny things, especially during the Crayola Factory episode. My favorite of the sextuplet girls is Alexis because she is so wild and reminds me so much of my own niece. In fact, watching all the kids is like give me a crystal ball into my niece's own future development (she is only 21 months old).

But all this negative press around Jon and Kate makes it hard to enjoy the show (even the older episodes during happier times) no matter how adorable and cute the kids are. Now when I watch their vow renewal ceremony episode, it really makes me sick that it is now all a sham.

Of course, I am going to watch the fifth season premiere on Monday because I am curious to see how TLC and the show deal with all the stuff that has come to light. Plus the episode focuses on the sextuplets 5th birthday party and they are bound to be adorable no matter what is happening in their parents' lives.

For the sake of their marriage and their kids lives, please stop the show after this season. I think you guys make enough money now that I think you can survive without what TLC pays. I mean you get the royalties from book sales and DVD sales and probably repeat royalties. Re-visit again when the sextuplets are like 16 and the twins 18. We don't have to see them grow up before our eyes.

I am officially in love with The Twilight Saga

Over the past few days, I've been inundated with tons of news of the Twilight Saga, in particular New Moon, the next movie installement. The poster to the left is one such news. It makes me excited to see the movie, even though it is my least favorite of the book series.

Robert Pattinson looks awesome but so does Taylor Lautner (who looks quite buff -but doesn't make like Jacob any more than I do now, which is I don't!) and Kristen Stewart, as always, looks great too. This poster is way better than the final poster for Twilight.

Every time I see this poster or see photos from the set or watch video of the set visits, it makes love Twilight more and more. Then when I heard that at the MTV Movie Awards on May 31, they are going to show a clip from New Moon. That really got my heart racing. At the same show, there are going to show clips from Harry Potter and the Hal-Blood Prince and Transformers The Revenge of The Fallen, while I am excited to see both of these films, I've already seen clips so I am more excited to see New Moon as these will be the first official images of the film.

Then came news that Breaking Dawn will indeed be made into a movie and will have Robert Pattinson in it. I am so excited to see this adaption. I am so looking forward to all the love scenes between Edward and Bella. But now it just when it will be filmed. After Elicpse finishes filming, Pattinson is going to be busy filming a bunch of different movies, amongst them a film starring Hugh Jackman (where do I line-up to my tickets?)

Angels and Demons doesn't quite illuminate

By Vanessa Ho

Tom Hanks, this time with better hair, returns as symbologist Robert Langdon in Angels and Demons, a sequel to 2006's The Da Vinci Code (but in actuality the book is a prequel), who this time around is in Vatican City trying to solve clues to find four kidnapped cardinals before they are murdered and a canister of stolen anti-matter that threatens to blow-up Vatican City that is crowded because of Conclave (the event to elect a new Pope).

The film really picks up pace and excitement as Langdon and Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer) traverse across Rome and Vatican City trying to follow "the path to illumination" in order to find these four cardinals and the canister before potential disaster can occur. Also on hand is Ewan McGregor as the Carmalengo (a priest in charge of the Vatican when there is no Pope) helping Langdon and Vittoria find the cardinals and Stellan Skarsgaard as the head of the Swiss Guard who seems to stand in the way of their investigation.

The detective work was a marvel to watch and eschewed fairly close to the book. I also enjoyed director Howard's interpretation of the Vatican archives, which was quite neat to see and made me wonder if that was a realistic representation of the actual location.

Frustratingly, the screenwriters decided to either completely ignore or re-write key plot points that proved distracting to fans of Dan Brown's book, which was also what happened to The Da Vinci Code. Some of the stuff that they cut out could have helped explain certain things while some cuts made were necessary for storytelling purposes but that didn't make it any less annoying.

As with The Da Vinci Code, Hanks didn't exude much chemistry at all with his leading lady, Zurer, who I felt was a bit underutilized in the detective work. However, why have a beautiful young woman helping Langdon with his detective work and not have her be his love interest (as it was in the book). Here's hoping that when they do the film adaptation of Langdon's next adventure, The Lost Symbol that they actually give him a love interest or re-introduce Vittoria somehow.

Having read the book sort of took the suspense out of the film for me and I think I would have thought the film would have been more thrilling and suspenseful if I hadn't read the novel.