The Wham Curse, Snow White and the Huntsman

The Wham Curse by Virgil Alexander is a novel based on a historical event from our county. In 1889, a group of local citizens allegedly rolled a boulder blocking a pass, then ambushed a company of Buffalo Soldiers and stole the Army payroll for a several local army forts. The citizens were tried and acquitted, and the money (over $30,000 in gold and silver coins) was never found. The event is known as the Wham Paymaster Robbery because the military unit was led by a Major Wham. The novel asks the question, "What if that treasure were to be found now?" It's a police detective mystery, with a murder and a whole lot of local geography getting starring roles. I loved reading about the history and locations of our county. The author is clearly a real history buff and has a deep love of the area. While there are a few flaws in the novel (it's self-published, so some things do crop up), the story itself pulled me through the novel. Good characters, great setting. I'll gladly share this with friends.

For date night we saw Snow White and the Huntsman. It's a pretty dark retelling of Snow White (not that the original is all rainbows and unicorns) with the evil queen able to keep her youth and beauty only by eating the actual human hearts of beautiful young women. Um, yuck? Pretty much. Cannibalism is what we're accepting as our entertainment these days, I guess. Well, anyway, as truly gorgeous as Charlize Theron was as the evil queen, I didn't quite get an evil vibe from her. And I know they kept saying Kristen Stewart is the fairest of them all, but really? Prettier than Charlize? Mmm, no. Yeah, yeah, based on what was in her pure heart. Fine. And the movie did emphasize that. Okay. Since the title is what it is, I kind of expected a little more romance than it delivered, which was a bummer. Much as Chris H...what'shisThor... did fine in the role (seemed like Thor showed up in the fairy tale), I didn't see any chemistry between him and Stewart. But the mirror was totally cool. And the 8 dwarves were great. And the special effects were fantastic! Loved them. Best I've seen in a while. That pushed the whole movie up a star. But it's LONG. And it felt long. I kept checking my watch. I don't know. This movie was a mixed bag. 2 1/2 stars. Maybe 3, if it weren't for the cannibalism. Nope, I gotta go back to 2 1/2.