Guest Post: Summer Sisters, Part 3

 Most of the casted characters in Summer Sisters keep the same characters, as they don’t age or are not seen in the later parts of the book. Check out parts 1 and 2 for previous casts.

The adult roles of Caitlin and Vix can carry the girls from college until the end of their story when they are in their mid-thirties. Adulthood separates the girls from each other, physically and emotionally, more than in any other period of their lives together.

I see Rachel McAdams taking on the role of adult Vix with ease. She is a very versatile actress and the role is really not that far off from any character that McAdams has played before. As an adult, Vix has learned a lot about herself through her relationship with Caitlin as well as with her her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Bru. Vix attends Harvard as an undergrad and grows up to be a smart, strong and loving woman despite the emotional curve balls that Caitlin throws at her as they age.

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For Caitlin’s adult role, I imagine Sienna Miller would be the perfect cast. Caitlin remains beautiful, even as she ages, and she still has the same wild personality that’s been her trademark since she was a child. She spends most of the book jetting off to various parts of the world, living adventures that her friends and family members don’t understand. When she returns to the island in her early 20’s, she announces a marriage that shocks everyone, especially Vix – and its an announcement that changes the girls friendship and their lives forever. Caitlin’s character is wistful and carefree and remains so even when she is in her 30’s with a family and is expected to settle down and mature. Sienna Miller could pull this off brilliantly.

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The only major characters that come back in the end of the book are the Chicago Boys, Daniel and Gus. Daniel doesn’t change much as he gets older but is influential in the plot because of his friend, Gus, and the role that he plays in Vix’s life later in the story. Daniel goes to law school and becomes a lawyer as an adult and remains to be rich and entitled. No change there! I see Ryan Kwanten taking on this role. He has the face and the look for the character and even though he is Australian, he does a great job on True Blood without it so I think he could pull it off.

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Gus is a great character in this book – probably one of my favorites. He becomes important later on, especially for Vix. He’s described as the kind of man who is big and broad, with strong shoulders and muscles but I’ll settle for the less big but still strong and protective type. I know that he’s type casted himself and often plays the same general character roles but I see Chris Evans playing this part. I think he can take on the role of Gus and that he could carry Gus’s silly, fun loving personality but still hold onto the strength that Gus conveys.

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Now that my three part Fantasy Cast is over, I highly suggest that you go out and read the book for yourself. If you’re a warm-blooded woman with a heart for chick lit and an emotional-capable brain, then you won’t regret it. Summer Sisters is, without a single doubt, my favorite book and maybe Gina’s blog will somehow make it to Judy Blume herself and these roles will get cast… officially. But a girl can dream! Now go read! And THANK YOU Gina for giving me the space on your blog!
Ciao! - Heather

Heather blogs over at New German Girl about being an au pair and the glories of slave labor. Kidding. Sort of. But not really.

Guest Blogger: Why I don't bother reading the book

   My name is John.  I get bored a lot and have very high opinions about my own opinions, so blogging seemed like the natural segue.  You're welcome and I'm sorry.  I do not claim to be an expert, and that little disclaimer is built right into the URL, folks: John's Intellectual Gobbledygook. 

Considering the content and readership of this blog, I might be publicly caned or this will go down in history as Fantasy Casting’s most hated post ever. Mind you, I am completely OK with the latter scenario. But, I must confess I have never read the Harry Potter Series and don’t think the movies are all that great. Therefore, I definitely did NOT go back and read the books. Also, I’m about as interested in reading or seeing the Twilight Saga as I am interested in seeing how flammable my hair is.

In a world where just about every great book is turned into a movie or an all out movie franchise, why read the books?

I’m a guest here, so you don’t know me, but let me try to shed some light on the above statements. Like most Americans, I am an extremely lazy person who hates being disappointed. Also, if and when I actually read (an US Weekly or others’ blogs) I read REALLY slowly. So, why would I invest a lot of my time and mental energy to get through a 200+ page book just to be disappointed at a crappy ending?

If you just wait for them to make a movie about it, you’re simply out 2 hours and $10. If you read a book that has a horrible ending, you are out hours of your life, countless paper cuts, and the cost of the book. Plus, a movie doesn’t sit on your shelf taunting you for your poor judgment while simultaneously collecting dust.

Just like home ownership, a book is not a level of commitment I am willing to make. This coming from the person whose sole reason for not watching ‘V’ is not having enough time to invest in an hour long show (a.k.a. – not enough DVR space because it is overflowing with episodes of Glee, 30 Rock, Top Chef, and Family Guy reruns).

Finally, the movies I have seen (and loved) that originated from books were fantastic. So why tempt fate? Whether it is cautionary tale about science like Jurassic Park or a cry for hours in your empty bathtub flick like The Notebook, in my mind, I don’t think anything could top these movies.

So, you readers out there, like recovering alcoholics, I will probably never understand this particular life decision. But, I applaud your efforts and your fandom that encourages the transition of text to the silver screen for people like me!

This is actually a bog-swap! That's right, folks, this is Gina and I'm blogging over on John's Intellectual Gobbledygook today. It's not my usual fare, but you could still check it out. By the way, John's an IRL friend, so show him some love in the form of comments and traffic. He loves trolls, too.

Guest Blogging: Book Infinity

Hey, there, Fantasy Casting readers! I know, I don't normally post on Saturdays, but there's a good reason for it. I'm guest posting today over at Book Infinity for her 10 Days of Halloween feature. Maybe you'll get some last minute inspiration...

EDIT: Below is the post as it originally ran on Book Infinity.

As Halloween grows nearer, each of us is looking for costume inspirations in every possible place. I, and my fellow book nerds, are often looking to the stories and pages that we cherish for costume ideas. So, this year, I present to you the Nine Most Costume Inspiring Stories.

However, as nobody wants to receive blank stares on Halloween night (a la Josie and Guy in Never Been Kissed - fast forward to the 4:40 mark if you need to watch the video for reference) we often end up relying on stories and books that have been turned into movies. With a movie version of your beloved character, other less bookish friends will have a visual point of reference. So, in reality, I present to you the Nine Most Costume Inspiring Stories That Were Turned Into Popular Movies.

I will tell you up front, I don't have any Princess stories or fairy tales on this list. You can come up with those all on your own, and really, they aren't all that creative. You can go as Princess Fill-In-The-Blank and your guy can go as Prince Charming. Next year, you can be a different princess, and he's still Prince Charming. Not fun, ladies. Let's spice things up a bit, shall we?

1. Peter Pan by JM Barrie
Between our hero, the forever-child Peter Pan and his supporting cast; pirates, Indians, lost boys, Wendy, Tinkerbell, mermaids and the rest of the Darling family, there is a nearly endless supply of costume ideas. And, as every Halloween connoisseur knows; anything with tights and short skirts is an automatic best seller. Plus, anything that lets you dress up your little fairy princess thusly:

is a total winner in my book.

2. Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Harry Potter is excellent for three reasons: 1) it is instantly recognizable 2) it is easy to put together a group of almost any size 3) it doesn't require anybody to dress like a skank. You could sex it up if you wanted but on the whole, every character has a family-friendly getup. An extra bonus: you probably don't have to buy much to make the costume work. You probably already have the white button up, black skirt/pants and a cardigan.

3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice, The Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter have all long been favorites of the costume-wearing fandom. This year, we add a new element to the mix, as Tim Burton's version gives adults choices for these costumes as well. I went as Alice when I was 8, and the costume was as pristine as any 8 year old's costume should be. There have always been the overly-sexy versions, especially of Alice, but now we have some adult and teen costumes that are decidedly not childish, but are also not trashy.

4. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
This is another story that blends the three great costume needs: family friendly, makes a great group, instantly recognizable. And, like the Harry Potter and Alice costume sets, you can easily adjust the size of your group; just a few of the main characters, or add in lots of peripheral characters like munchkins, monkeys, guards, etc.

5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Gone with the Wind is an excellent choice for couples costumes because it fulfills both her desire to be pretty and dramatic and allows him to skip the tights, makeup and wigs. Plus, he can reasonably carry a weapon without ruining the authenticity of the costumes.

6. Where's Waldo by Martin Handford 
 These are easy, perfectly identifiable, funny and almost never done. I think I've seen one person as Waldo in my whole life, and it was hilarious. Because nobody thinks of it- but it is brilliant. And talk about comfortable... jeans, t-shirt, hat. And you probably already have it all.

7. Dracula by Bram Stoker
Tell me, is there any more ubiquitous costume than vampires? Adult vampires, child vampires, baby vampires, sexy vampires... the list goes on and on. And while vampires have spun off in a zillion different directions; they wear leather (so do the female vamps) they disguise themselves as bikers, they look like aristocracy, they sparkle, but I think we can all agree that Dracula is the most famous, and likely the first one thought of when anybody dresses as a vampire.

8. X-Men by Marvel Comics (created by Stan Lee)
OK, so this one might be outside the standard "book" concept, but I think we have to acknowledge that comic books are increasingly influencing our culture, our reading and our viewing habits. Of the Marvel Comic universe, X-Men are, I think, the most costume friendly characters. The reasons? They don't require masks (I hate masks- your face always feels like it's suffocating and you can't eat anything all night...blerg) and they never look like pajamas. Let's be real- Spiderman costumes always look like you're wearing Spidey jammies instead. Plus, with X-Men, you can go several ways: For instance, if you are dressing as Wolverine, you can go the ultimate geek route (yellow and blue spandex) or you can be a movie version (black leather and badassery) or go for the wife-beater tank, jeans, super sideburns and a cigar. Versatility ensures that nobody else at your party is wearing the same outfit.

9. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess
This makes my list just because I think EVERY set of twins needs to dress as Thing 1 and Thing 2 at some point in their lives.Seriously- how cute is this:

So, there you go, internet. The nine greatest costume-inspiring stories. You now have no excuse- there are plenty of costumes that are cute, easy, identifiable, comfortable and make you look smart. Because you got the idea from a book.

Gina blogs over at Fantasy Casting where she spouts her opinions about who should be cast in the inevitable movie versions of all of our favorite books and stories.  You can contact her here.

Guest Blogger: Ultimate X-Men

OK, kids, today's post comes from Jonathan Manor of The Titan Project. He's talking about a subject near and dear to my heart, so let's get down to it:

Ultimate X-Men

The X-Men have come a long way since its humble beginnings of super powered humans and giant robot sentinels.  Marvel comics since then has made its mark upon the world as one of the largest sci fi entertainment franchises.  However, what was it that made these comics great?  A lot of people would say it was the powers.  A lot of people would say it’s because Storm is a hotty.  More than often most people say it’s the storyline.  Everyone knows the characters, most people know the storylines, but did you know they remade the comics to adapt to a more current audience?  These aren’t the same X-men everyone grew up with.  The new X-men reached higher and took things to a really random level.

For those who don’t know the basic storylines of the X-Men here’s a little rundown.

Cyclops: The astute tactical leader who’s power is the ability to shoot beams out of his eyes.  His main storyline in the original comics was his love for his fiancée Jean Grey who would later die tragically when she transformed into Pheonix.

Jean Grey: The down to Earth redhead who’s admired by both Wolverine and Cyclops has the power of telekinesis.  Jean Grey’s main story had to do with keeping a professional team outlook along with juggling her sensible feelings for Wolverine.

Wolverine: The rugged man of the hour.  Some say X-Men was built around Wolverine.  That’s not true.  X-Men actually started without Wolverine, in which they later found him in Canada working for Alpha Flight.  He has Adamantium claws and the ability to heal quickly.  His main story was his love for Jean Grey and his overall badassness.

Beast: Beast was the overall scientist/intelligence of the group who has animal strength and agility.  His main storyline is his sensitive side and his anguish in dealing with his appearance.

Storm: The second in command of the X-Men with the power to control the weather.  She set on being a more professionally diligent member of the X-Men.

Colossus: The sensitive steel Giant from Russia.  He would later be in a relationship with fellow X-men Shadowcat.


Nightcrawler: The religious mutant with the power to teleport.  He's also German and Catholic.  When his village sent him to exile, he went off to join the circus.

That’s all the important characters that have changed drastically when it comes to the new remade version of X-men.

The Ultimate X-Men

The Ultimate X-Men which is the remade version of the original X-Men has more of a high school drama texture.   It’s focused on a younger X-men team.  The love triangle between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine isn’t focused on sexual tension between Jean Grey and Wolverine.  The love triangle is actually focused on Jean Grey and Wolverine breaking up and getting back together over and over.  Cyclops isn’t engaged to Jean Grey.  Jean Grey’s character knows that Cyclops is attracted to her, but she feels Cyclops lacks passion and should admire her from a far; which is where Wolverine comes in.

Why do Jean Grey and Wolverine break up so often in the new comics?  It’s simply because Wolverine does a lot of stupid things.  In the Ultimate X-Men, Wolverine does a lot of stupid things, for example, his attempt at killing Cyclops.

Wolverine’s beginnings in the Ultimate X-Men don’t start in Canada.  They start with Magneto.  Wolverine plays a villain in the beginning of the Ultimate X-Men comics who switches sides.  First he switches over to be a spy, but then realizes, he kind of likes being a good guy.  They changed his persona from the charming cocky person, to an overall douchebag cocky person who raves about how many people he kills and how easy it is for him.


What about Weapon X?  Wolverine still has his humbling start with Weapon X, but he doesn’t suffer from Amnesia.  He remembers all of it.  What downplays Weapon X even more, was that Wolverine wasn’t the only X-Men to come from there.  In the Ultimate X-Men, Rogue and Nightcrawler also come from the Weapon X project.  Nightcrawler isn’t banished from Germany as a circus performer, he was found from The Weapon X Project.  Rogue didn’t run away from a Southern home, she was kidnapped for The Weapon X Project.


More tainted origins of teammates who also have major makeovers is Storm and Colossus.  Storm isn’t recruited from Africa where she would summon the rain for her indigenous tribe; she’s a ghetto black girl from the hood who shoplifts.  She would later develop a relationship with Beast.  Colossus dawned one of the more risky storyline changes which tends to have a big of controversial criticism.  They made Colossus gay.  Out of all people they pick the large bulky steely guy.  It does show that Marvel chose to reach new horizons, but changing the sexual orientation of one of the teammates doesn't tread well with a lot of X-Men’s major audiences.  The way they play out Colossus’s sexual orientation is his failing relationship with Nightcrawler's religious perspective on life.

Some more tweaks and changes to the storyline:
- Gambit is introduced and dies in about 4 scenes and is brought to life.
- Beast dies in the beginning and is brought back to life.
- Jean Grey dies when she turns into the Pheonix and is brought back to life.
- Sabretooth, Wolverine’s nemesis, doesn’t have sharp long nails, he has 4 allimantium claws just like Wolverine but plus one.
- Pyro is a good guy.  He wears an ocean diving suit looking costume.
- Iceman is played by a little kid, not a young adult who has a childish personality like the old Bobby.
- There’s a love triangle between Rogue, Gambit, and Iceman.
- Cable also has claws like Wolverine.

Those are just some of the changes taken by the remake.  I found a lot of these changes quite difficult to swallow.  A few years ago comic critics gave Ultimate X-Men a C grading, saying something along the lines as to either bastardizing the vision of Stan Lee or staying too close to the storyline for it to even be categorized as a remake.  Maybe somewhere along the lines I’ll remake the X-Men.  I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be too hard to top the tragedy which is Ultimate X-Men.

Jonathan Manor is the author of The Titan Project, a blog about taking short cuts, breaking traditional systems, making complicated things more relateable, and chasing hearts and dreams. He currently talks a lot about his darling love for his girlfriend which is probably annoying to some people. Jonathan Manor is a laid off website content writer who spends most of his time going to rock shows, meeting awesome people, and eating his vegetables. He loves blogging, sunsets, and reading all sorts of online literature.