Wednesday 31 July 2013

My Thoughts on The Notebook


My rating: 2*


Ugh… This movie… 

Just a quick warning before you carry on reading: this blog contains spoilers, so go watch the movie first, unless you want me to ruin the whole plot for you.

So you might have noticed that in my last blog I said I’d recently watched The Notebook, which is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks… you know, if you were confused as to which Notebook I was talking about… Anyway… I also mentioned that you should go watch it, because it made me cry.

Let me just clarify something here: The Notebook is by far THE soppiest, most utterly gooey, romantic movie I have ever watched in my entire life, and I did NOT cry because it was “romantic.” The way I see it, the bulk of the movie was not “romantic”; it was horribly clichéd, and I couldn’t even watch it in one sitting because it just made me want to rip out all my hair, stab my eyeballs out with a fork, and then join a nunnery.

And no, I’m not saying that it wasn’t well directed, or that the acting was terrible, because the actors were amazing and the directing was fine. I just… ugh. It was SUCH a typical romance movie, with the kissing in the rain and the fights and the crying… except it wasn’t. I liked the old couple. They were cute, and their romance wasn’t too stereotypical, but OH MY WORD the young Allie and Noah were just… No. It was so unoriginal, and I’m sorry, but if you told me to lie down in the middle of the road with you, I would run you over with MY car.

I get it. I really do. I get that some people want the whole “Romeo and Juliet” thing with the forbidden love and they want the moments when you kiss in the rain and fight and make up and fight and make up… But at the same time, The Notebook has the saddest excuse for a storyline that I have possibly ever come across. Children’s picture books are more interesting. How is this movie so popular among teenage girls? Are we so obsessed with that clichéd romance that we will spend two whole hours of our lives watching people fall in love, then break up, then fall back in love again and again?

Never mind. It has Ryan Gosling in it. NOW I get it…

And yes, I did cry at the end, but only because she finally remembered, and then she didn’t, and then we found out that she’d written the book that he was reading to her and… oh my word. Then they were talking about their love after he had a heart attack (literally – he had a heart attack) and she asked if he thought that their love could take them away together, and he said he did, and then they died in each other’s arms and I cried. So sue me.

I have nothing more to say on this topic. Just… no. I have too many mixed feelings on this stupid movie. Yes it was romantic, no I did not like it, and yes it made me cry. I don’t want to talk about it any more.

Feel free to comment below on what you thought of The Notebook, and if you have any recommendations for other films you think I should watch.

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The Nerd List: July 2013


Okay, so I’m trying something new here which could potentially become a monthly thing, depending on what you guys think of it. I’m not going to take full credit for the idea: I got it from watching DailyGrace’s Sexist on YouTube, but I thought I’d put a twist on it by making my own nerd version of stuff that I’ve enjoyed this month, and handing out (metaphorical) prizes for… well… nerdy stuff.

So without further ado, here is Amy Bouwer’s Nerd List for the month of July!

(This is the part where you clap and scream with enthusiasm… No? Okay.)

Books

Book of the month:

I’m going to go all mainstream here (I’m sorry!) and say Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Partly because it was one of the only four books that I finished this month, and partly because it really was amazing.

Read my review for Pride and Prejudice here.

Book Quote of the month:

"If there were such a thing as terminal literalism, you'd have died in childhood."
- Cassandra Clare, City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)

Book Boy of the month:

Sooo… As I said before, I’ve only read like four books this month, so there were not a lot of boys to choose from. After a lot (A LOT) of thought, and careful consultation with friends, it has been decided that the Book Boy of the Month Award goes to…

Marcus, the bad boy from Vixen by Jillian Larkin.

Yes, I did choose him because he was a bad boy turned good. Yes, I picked him over Romeo Montague from Romeo Redeemed because Marcus did not pretend to love somebody for supernatural purposes. And yes, I did not pick Mr. Darcy because Marcus did not spend half of Vixen insulting a girl and then proposing to her.

And I’m a total 1900s fanatic. That, too, contributed to some effect.

Read my review of Vixen here.

Moments

Fangirl Moment of the month:

WAIT FOR IT. WAIT FOR IT.

OBSIDIAN (by Jennifer L. Armentrout) IS BEING MADE INTO A MOVIE. MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE RELIES ON THIS BOOK (and The Hunger Games… and some other stuff like air) AND NOW IT’S BECOMING A MOVIE. WHAT?!?! YES. A MOVIE. ASDFGHJKL.

I only have one more comment on this topic: IF YOU DO NOT CAST DREW DOYON OR PEPE TOTH AS DAEMON, YOU ARE DEAD TO ME AS A DIRECTOR.

See the details here.

Read my review on Obsidian here.

Facepalm Moment of the month:


So you might have (should have) heard this already, but... I just cannot get over it. Just the pure cruelty and stupidity of naming your child North West. I mean, really, Kim Kardashian? I get it, you're trying to be creative, but please take the time to envision your child on her first day of school, when her name on the register is called out, and the entire class laughs at the stupidity of a human being being called "North West" which also happens to be a compass direction... in case you didn't know that...

Just... Why? Why? Why?

Other

Song of the month:

Rock N Roll by Avril Lavigne was released on YouTube, and I almost died. Okay, so the lyrics are a bit PG (as per usual with Avril Lavigne) but it’s perfect. It’s like a mixture of Sk8er Boi, Girlfriend, and What The Hell, except better. And yes, I am an absolute die-hard Avril Lavigne fan, which may or may not have contributed to this winning song of the month to some effect… 

Listen to the official audio here.

Lyric of the month:


“Uh, uh. No way, hose. There ain’t no way I’m gonna be getting out of these pajamas here today. It’s much too cloudy and rainy and grey. Let’s play another day; it’s called a rain check. What do you say, okay?”
- La di da di da, Emblem3

Story of my life. ‘Nuff said.

Listen to the full song here.


Movie of the month:


The Great Gatsby

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Okay, so I know it was released a while ago, but I literally have hardly watched any movies this month (or since May... wow, I need to catch up), and all of the ones I did watch sucked. And The Great Gatsby was amazing. Please just do yourself a favor and go check it out or buy the DVD.


Tweet of the month:




This just sums up life so perfectly. I’m just gonna leave it at that.


YouTube video of the month:


 Okay, don’t get me wrong; I love Disney with all my heart and soul (who doesn’t?) but this dude is freaking amazing. And his song left me in fits of laughter and crying at the same time because… you’ll get it after you watch the video.



Noteworthy stuff (that you should go check out if you know what’s good – or not good – for you)

Music:

Emblem3 is my new music obsession. Well, not so new. I've been hooked since their first audition on The X Factor USA. And the term “obsession” should be used… loosely. Okay, so maybe it’s sort of reached full-blown obsession by now, and started bordering on stalker-ish behavior when I woke up at 6 a.m. yesterday morning to download their new album, Nothing To Lose, as soon as it was released on iTunes… and have been listening to it pretty much ever since...



Movies:

I just finished watching The Notebook yesterday (don’t judge me – I know, I should have watched it earlier, but I just hadn’t okay?) and… I’m not gonna lie. It made me cry. But only at the end.

So if you’re a total loser like I was at the beginning of this week, go watch it because it’s just one of those things you just have to watch if you’re a teenage girl. And if you’re not a teenage girl… Go watch it anyway. 




Thanks for reading my Nerd List for the month of July!

Please let me know what you thought of my Nerd List; whether you agreed/disagreed with the things I liked, what you would have chosen as the winner for each category, and what you think I should check out for next month.

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Saturday 27 July 2013

Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay


Date Finished: 27 July 2013

Series: Juliet Immortal, #2

Rating: 4*


Read the Goodreads description here

I love the feeling you get after just finishing an exciting book that ended on a high. That's why I thought I'd better review this a.s.a.p. before the buzz leaves me and I feel depressed because the series is over.

Romeo Redeemed was just as beautiful as Juliet Immortal, and filled with just as much - if not even more - drama, action, romance and twice as much adrenaline. It was beautiful, and I loved it - despite the fact that if you ask me in six months whether I loved a book based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, I'll deny it.

Romeo Redeemed has a similar storyline to that of Juliet Immortal, except that it's now a two-way narrative between Romeo and Ariel - the girl whose body Juliet inhabited in Juliet Immortal (if you're not following, read my review on Juliet Immortal - sorry, the storyline is confusing), but this time, Romeo, previously destined to live out eternity in a rotting body, has been given a second chance, this time to work with the Ambassadors of Light. His first mission to prove himself is to go back to where Juliet's story began in Ariel, this time without Juliet, and to make Ariel believe in love. Easy, right? Wrong. Ariel is ready to kill herself, and her date, after finding out that bad boy, Dylan Strauss, was only going out with her on a bet, and then offered her fifty bucks to "seal the deal". Coincidentally, Romeo is now inhibiting Dylan's body, so convincing Ariel that love exists is proving to be a lot harder than he imagined...

It sounds soppy, right? Well, it's not. True, it's a soppy romance novel at times, but it's also got that supernatural twist which, let's be honest here, makes all us teenage girls go a bit gooey... So long as there's no Edward Cullen... Which there isn't, I promise.

I love the characters in this series, Romeo Redeemed especially. When I say Ariel is a typical teenage girl, I mean she's a typical teenage girl. She has issues with her body, even though she's beautiful; she falls far too easily for boys, especially the ones that are no good for her; she has major trust issues; she believes everything her best friend tells her; she has fights with her mom... the list goes on. She's relatable, and that's what makes a good book. Honestly, all of us girls want to believe that a seven-hundred-year-old badass who's been reincarnated several times could potentially fall in love with us... sort of... (We'd settle easily for Patch or Daemon... If you're out there...)

But back onto the book. It had all those moments where you wanted to rip your hair out, then squeal, then cry... and then you just had to put the book down because, you know... too many feels. But that's what made it good, and that's why I liked it. 

I recommend the entire Juliet Immortal series to anyone who's looking for an easy, fluffy read. It's really short and the storyline's easy to follow (once you're reading it). 

Please feel free to comment below what you thought about the series, if you've read it, or if you want to read it, or if you don't want to read it. 

Also let me know if you have any other books you'd like me to read or review! Because now that I've finished this series... Well, it feels a bit like my life is over (as per usual - #booknerdproblems).

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Tuesday 23 July 2013

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay


Date Finished: 22 July 2013

Series: Juliet Immortal, #1

Rating: 4* 


Read the Goodreads description here

This is so not the type of book I usually read.

Okay maybe it kind of is.  Though I hate to admit it. It was soppy and romantic and… and…

Okay, what the hell am I going on about? Yes it was romantic, but it was also pretty freaking awesome. Basically, we have the whole story of Romeo and Juliet wrong. Simple as that. And the true story (according to Stacey Jay) is a hell of a lot less twelve-year-old-falls-in-love-with-eighteen-year-old-badass-and-three-days-later-they-get-married-then-he-kills-her-cousin-and-gets-banned-from-the-country-and-she’s-supposed-to-marry-some-Paris-dude-so-she-fakes-her-own-death-so-Romeo-kills-himself-and-then-she-kills-herself-the-end-goodbye, and a whole lot more demented-Romeo-wants-eternal-life-so-he-kills-his-new-bride-Juliet-but-SURPRISE-she-becomes-immortal-too-and-now-they’re-on-opposite-sides-of-the-forces-of-the-universe-that-create-and-destroy-true-love.

So… um… yeah it’s a whole lot cooler than it looks. Juliet has just been transported to a new body in modern-day time, and is seeking to fulfill her usual job of bringing together two soul mates and helping them discover eternal love. But now Romeo’s shown up, and he wants her to help him escape his life of inhabiting the bodies of the dead. And Juliet’s fallen for the boy she’s supposed to be making fall in love with her best friend.

It’s complicated.

But… I loved it. It was quick and easy and light and happy… It just made me feel all fluffy inside, okay? Don’t judge; we all need those short, happy books that make us believe in humanity again.

But seriously, it was really cute. The writing style was fantastic. The characters all had so much depth to them, and were surprisingly relatable, seeing as they’re adapted from a play written by Shakespeare absolute ages ago, and getting teenagers to read anything Shakespeare-related is… tricky at best. I mean, come on, I am pretty much as book-nerd-teenage-girl as you get, and the most Shakespeare I’ve read is the first two pages of Macbeth (and the SparkNotes summary for a Drama project… but that doesn’t count) and the closest I’ve gotten to actually READING Romeo and Juliet was this book… and watching Baz Luhrmann’s film starring Leonardo di Caprio… So well done to Stacey Jay for helping teenagers understand Shakespeare a little more. And for making it interesting along the way.

This is the perfect book to read in between thick serious books, if you’re an avid reader, or even to help you get on track to becoming an avid reader. It took me about a day and a half to finish it, so it’s very short and fluffy, and the storyline’s pretty easy to follow once you start reading.

Please feel free to comment below and subscribe to my posts to get an e-mail every time I write a new blog or review!

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this novel: if you’ve read it, or want to read it, or don’t want to read it, whatever - and any other books you might want me to read or review!