Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 8, 2014

THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 8, 2014 
10 THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 8, 2014 
10 
SEAN’S SHAMELESS 
REVIEWS: 


Review By Sean Kayden 

THAT AWKWARD MOMENT 

Am I surprised I didn’t really care for a ‘romcom’ starring Zac Efron? Not 

really. Efron, Miles Telle,r and Michael B. Jordon are best buddies who make a 
pact to stay single, but secretly fall in love with the girls they’re talking to in “That Awkward Moment.” 
It’s one cliché after another in this mildly humorous tale of young men not wanting to fall in love, but 
really they do all along. This is supposed to be the opposite of a chick flick because it’s coming from 
the male perspective. However, the film offers little to no insight on the male mind. This formulaic 
relationship themed film doesn’t hold a candle 
to the earlier films it desperately tries to 
emulate. The film has a few laughs, mostly from 
up and coming actor Miles Teller, but that alone 
doesn’t save this witless male driven romantic 
comedy. 

Basically, the movie is about these three 
best friends who want to hang out more once 
Michael B. Jordan’s character’s wife files for divorce. Efron and Teller are already trying to play the 
field or add to the “roster” as Efron comfortably states in the movie. There’s nothing special or unique 
going on here. All the characters are one-dimensional and there is literally no character development 
on any of them. Efron falls for a girl but doesn’t want to admit to it. Teller has his best girl friend 
helping him with random girls at the bar, but what do you know? They actually like each other. Jordan 
is going through a divorce, but his ex-wife starts to hook up with him again. It really doesn’t make 
much sense if she wants a divorce. All three guys keep it secret from one another because they said 
they wouldn’t get involved with any girls on a serious level. Of course all is revealed, the guys have a 
mini tantrum and seemingly everything is forgotten a few scenes later. 


The only thing outside their pursuit of getting laid is what they do for a living. Efron and Teller 
work at company that design book covers and Jordan is a doctor. Even that seems forced and not at 
all relevant. Efron produced this script as a starring vehicle for himself. I guess he had the power to 
have someone want to invest in this, but it offers nothing special for him as an actor. Light on laughs, 
insight, heart and real romance, the film barely touches mediocrity. “That Awkward Moment” feels 
like it’s in a dead zone during its second half. There’s little significance to be found and much of the 
film just becomes tedious. A lot of the scenes were filmed in the same locations over and over. No 
variety, no surprises, all filler, no killer. It’s everything you’ve seen before in other movies, but done 
extremely better in them. In the end, there’s little to recommend. If this film is geared for women to 
finally see the male’s point of view, no discoveries will be made. As for guys seeing this, there’s nothing 
this film will tell you that you didn’t know already. Therefore, it’s a stalemate for both sides. 

Grade: 2 out of 5 


Adrianne Marie Hall is an avid reader, 
a writer of poetry and fiction, a published 
author, a photographer, and a multi-media 
graphic designer. She is also the President and 
CEO of Anthurium Publishing LLC, an independent 
publishing house “Where Writers 
Become Published Authors”. She believes that 
everyone has a story to tell, which is the driving 
force behind her passion for helping writers 
who wish to realize their publishing goals.

She is very candid about her personal 
experiences going through the publishing process 
with her first published novel ‘Thresholds’. 
She says that “Thresholds was born from an 
eighteen year old manuscript that I wrote when 
my three children were very young. For over a 
decade and a half I thought of going the independent 
publishing route with the manuscript 
but I kept putting that endeavor off because the 
time just never seemed to be right. Then after 
years of re-writing and re-editing the manuscript, 
I finally sent it to a publisher. Within a 
few months a box arrived with the first printed 
copies of my published novel. With nearly two 
decades of work that had been invested from 
start to finish, my adult daughter dubbed the 
novel her youngest sibling. It was exciting and 
incredibly surreal to see the results of pages 
and pages of my writing finally packaged and finished 
so beautifully into a bound book.” 


Although finally realizing her own dream of 
being a published author was an exciting experience, 
she goes on to explain that the publishing process was 
not without its ups and downs. “The road that I traveled 
with the publisher from manuscript to novel was 
not free of potholes. Because there are so many moving 
parts to the publishing process, not being made 
aware of them at the start of the journey could prove 
to be discouraging and or overwhelming while on the 
path to getting published. When I decided that my 
plans were to continue writing with the expectation 
of publishing my work, I knew it was time to move 
full speed ahead and invest as much time and energy 
as necessary into learning the ins and outs of the 
world of independent publishing. I was determined 
to streamline the process and make it more enjoyable 
not just for my future self, but for other writers 
who dream of being published authors as well.” Anthurium 
Publishing LLC is the result of her decision 
to go to the next level in the world of independent 
publishing. 


In addition to running her publishing company, 
another outlet for Adrianne was hosting workshops called “The Keys To Getting Published” 
where she could speak directly to and mentor writers who have aspirations of becoming published 
authors. At those workshops attendees would receive a workbook full of vital information on the 
intricacies of publishing because she wanted them to have something tangible to refer back to long 
after the workshop was over. 

This year she has taken the format of her workshop and all of that vital information and 
repackaged it into a fifty page book titled “The Keys To Getting Published”, an easy-to-read and understand 
handbook which is now available at Amazon.com, the CreateSpace E-store, and through 
the Anthurium Publishing website. Her hope for The Keys To Getting Published is that it provides 
aspiring authors with the information needed to help them proceed smoothly toward their ultimate 
goal of becoming published regardless of where they are on their writing and publishing journey

To find out more about Anthurium Publishing LLC visit http://www.anthuriumpublishing.
com where you can also find links to Amazon and Createspace to purchase your own copy of The 
Keys to Getting Published. 

To learn more about Adrianne and other accomplished members, visit www.Authors Tour 
USA.com. 


Jeff’s Book Picks 


GEORGE WASHINGTON’S SECRET 
SIX: THE SPY RING THAT SAVED THE 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 


by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger 

When General George Washington beat a quick 
retreat from New York City in August 1776, many 
thought the American Revolution might soon be over. 
Instead, Washington rallied, thanks in large part to a 
little known, secret group called the Culper Spy Ring. 
Washington realized that he couldn’t beat the British 
with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated 


and highly secretive intelligence network to infiltrate 
New York. So carefully guarded were their identities that one spy’s name was not uncovered until 
the twentieth century, and one still remains unknown today. Historians have discovered enough 
information about their activities to put together evidence that these six individuals turned the tide 
of the war. An interesting book about a little known, but very important, part of our history. 

THE RACE UNDERGROUND: BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND THE INCREDIBLE 
RIVALRY THAT BUILT AMERICA’S FIRST SUBWAY, by Doug Most 

In the late 19th century, as cities like Boston and New York grew more congested, the streets became 
clogged with horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 crippled the entire northeast, a 
solution had to be found. Two brothers, Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins 
Whitney of New York, pursued the dream of his city digging America’s first subway, and the great 
race was on. The competition between Boston and New York played out in an era like our own, 
with economic upheaval, life changing innovations, class warfare, bitter political tensions, and the 
question of America’s place in the world. The Race Underground is full of the famous, like Boss 
Tweed, Thomas Edison and Grover Cleveland and the not-so-famous, from brilliant engineers to 
the countless “sandhogs”. The author chronicles the science of the subway, looks at the fears people 
overcame about traveling underground and tells a story as exciting as any ever taken from the pages of 

U.S. history. It is a great American drama of two rival American cities, and an invention that changed 
the lives of millions.