Are you having trouble getting in the mood for romance? It happens! Here are some great romance novel covers to help you out! After looking at this collection of shirtless man and woman in bodices, I defy anyone not to be in the Valentine spirit!
What have we learned today? Pirates are sexy.
His title card was terrible so I’m using the New York Yankees. Why not? We have a haunted house theme in this story where Google speaker is involved. Alexa’s evil twin. The main character is at his house, which I believe is probably Levi’s residence because his films always take place there. He ask google speaker to help him, but she has turned…..EVIL!!!
The main character asks to google to turn the light back on upstairs and he sees…… a shape. This is kinda scary. Google speaker puts on license free music on for mood; so, evil or not- she is protecting Levi’s shoestring budget. I give him credit for editing in music.
The character unplugs the device and it still talks. It’s a good trope. I don’t hate on that. There is a guy in his house who has a cloak on, which is definitely bad. The shape approaches him. He begs google to turn on the light, but instead she goes rogue and turns off the lights.
I meant to watch a horror comedy, but oops – it’s just horror. I actually might put this in the thriller category because there’s an artificial intelligence working in collusion with the evil shape- is that like a google prime option? I mean I’m not saying that we should pay for google to do evil, but I mean….a little evil? Nothing permanent- mild evil like crappy salsa that never satisfies.
I do admit that I feel bad for Levi Morgan because he hasn’t done anything since 2023 and he’s doing some normal job now. His films are good enough. Levi’s not Hitchcock, but he’s better than Alex Magana and that’s important. I hope he makes it a vibrant hobby. Levi is just not great at writing. His scene angle setups and cinematography is not bad. Levi can make a scene suspenseful and I think he would be a good director of photography. He does need a writer. God doesn’t give with both hands and I would encourage him to pursue a career as a Director of Photography and Directing. I’m not gonna crap on him. He’s has talent and should focus on cinematography.
I read 1988’s The Lifeguard earlier today. It’s a fast read, which is always a good thing.
The book tells the story of teenage Kelsey, whose father has just died and whose mother is already getting ready to marry her new boyfriend, Eric. Personally, I think mom is moving a bit too fast but then again, Eric’s rich and he invites Kelsey and her mom to spend the summer on Beverly Island. Kelsey makes new friends. She meets the people who might soon become her stepsiblings. She develops a crush on two of her potential stepbrothers, shy Justin and the intimidating Neale. And she gets involved in a potential murder when Beth, yet another of Eric’s children, disappears. Did Beth drown or did she fall victim to the killer of Beverly Island?
This book was so silly. Can Kelsey solve the mystery? Even more importantly, can Kelsey decide which one of her future stepsibilings she wants to date? Justin seems nice but Neal is so dark and mysterious. Can Kelsey figure out why the mysterious old man keeps yelling at her? Could he be the killer? He seems like kind of an obvious choice but Kesley might as well go ahead and break into his boat just to be sure….
Apparently, this book is considered to be a bit of a cult classic, solely because of the cover. And the cover is pretty cool. The book itself is nothing special but I probably would have appreciated it more if I hadn’t already read countless old school YA books with the exact same plot. I can only guess the R.L. Stine read The Lifeguard at some point.
This book also wins some points from me for having a ludicrously “happy” ending. Everything works out even though, to be honest, nothing should have worked out. Kelsey should have been traumatized for life and whatever plans her mom had to marry Eric should definitely have been cancelled! Seriously, there’s some things that not even the best of relationships can survive! That said, the ending was so over-the-top and — here’s that word again — silly, that I couldn’t help but appreciate it.
With Valentine’s Day approaching, here are some more historical romance covers to hopefully help everyone get in the mood for vintage love!
Welcome to February!
Since February is the month of love and Valentine’s Day, I wanted to help everyone get into the spirit by sharing some great historical romance covers! Whether you call them bodice rippers or gothic romances, they prove that love, romance, and old dark castles have been with us through the centuries.
Here are a few of my favorites!
In my absence, Lisa Marie did quite a great job picking up the slack when it came time to put up a new anime music video. She had quite the eclectic choice of videos that ran the gamut from comedy, space opera, ecchi to drama.
As I continue my return back I thought it was high time to put up a new AMV and this time from an anime I haven’t even seen. It’s actually an anime that even the site expert pantsukudasai56 hasn’t seen but had heard of. The anime in question is the supernatural romance anime film Hotarubi no Mori e.
Just from researching what the anime was about I knew this was going to be one of those shoujo fares that I would need to find time to watch. It helps that the video’s creator, youlazybum, did such a great job pairing scenes from the anime with one of my favorite songs these past ten years, Lauren Aquilina’s “King.”
So, here’s my latest AMV of the Day, “You Can Be King Again.”
Anime: Hotarubi no Mori e
Song: “King” by Lauren Aquilina
Creator: youlazybum
Past AMVs of the Day
Last year, at this time, we shared some classic romance comic book covers. Starting in the late 1940s, many comic book companies tried to broaden their audience by publishing romance comic books. These comics told dramatic love stories in which young women had to deal with issues of cheating, divorce, jealousy, heartache, and the search for the one.
By Gene Colan
Because it’s Valentine’s Day, here’s more love and romance.
By Bob Oskner
By Bob Oskner
By Jay Scott Pike
By Nick Cardy
By Nick Cardy
And remember, while you’re searching for love, be careful and don’t accept a ride from the first guy who offers. Or you could end up with a bad reputation like Toni!
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
By Gene Colan
It’s been a month since Anime Boston 2014 and I’ve decided to put up the third AMV to win one of the categories from the con.
This particular AMV won the Romance category and for once it uses an anime that I’m not familiar with, but after watching the video I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out once the blu-ray comes out sometime this year.
The AMV in question is “Strangers Like Us” by davenfonet who uses the Phil Collins song of the same title and the mecha series Gargantia on the Verdorous Planet. The video itself doesn’t go for the usual ballad-like tone, but instead goes for a much more fun romance vibe that doesn’t seem to win many Romance category contests. This time this type of romance AMV wins and the fact that it makes me want to watch the series after never having heard of it til Anime Boston means the creator succeeded.
Anime: Gargantia on the Verdorous Planet
Song: “Strangers Like Us” by Phil Collins
Creator: davenfonet
Past AMVs of the Day
Will make it short but sweet. Happy Valentines from everyone here at Through the Shattered Lens.
What better way to celebrate today than with one of the most romantic scenes in cinematic history. Classic romance for a classy time.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
1993’s In the Line of Fire was and continues to be one of my favorite action-thrillers. What’s not to like about a film that has John Malkovich playing a rogue and mentally-unstable CIA assassin who has decided that he wants to assassinate the current President of the United States. Then there’s Clint Eastwood as the last living Secret Service agent who failed to prevent Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas.
The film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and was both tense and thrilling in equal amounts. Yet, the film also took some time to develop the relationship between Eastwood’s aging Secret Service agent with a much younger, but capable agent played by Rene Russo. This is a relationship that starts off as quite adversarial but one that gradually moves past that into one of respect then romance.
It was the scene with the two characters taking a break from the dangers of their job to debate the role of women in the Secret Service. It makes Eastwood’s character sound very old-fashioned and while it annoys Russo’s character to no end there’s a sort of playful and flirty byplay between the two throughout the scene. It’s a scene that culminates with Eastwood’s character predicting through years of experience that Russo’s agent character has shown interest in him and thus planting the seeds of a budding romance.
This is the scene I’ve chosen to continue the march towards next week’s Valentines Day.
Through the Shattered Lens 