Movie Review: Boyhood 2014

Well, first of all I need to start this by saying that I had good expectations about the movie, the brilliant idea that someone made a movie over so many years was new and exiting and the perfect answer of a common complain that the use of different actors for the same character is not good to keep the flow of a movie. That's what Harry Potter is all about, but it doesn't count really in this format.

I knew about this movie for about some time, how can I not hear about it when the idea is so good, then came the Oscars and I finally got my hands on a copy, well then this is what happened, it was one hour into the movie and I realized it was going to be long, like Lord of the Rings long, then halfway into the movie I was wondering about what I needed to do the next day (never a good sign), by the time the movie ended I was "oh...that's it?" what I mean by this is that if you make a movie over 12 years you should make a deep intertwine flowing story, the fascination of watching them grow old fades away rather quickly over the fact that they don't do much, is like watching the mediocrity and boring side of a family, I just didn't get it.

Anyways, the movie follows Olivia the mother of Mason and Samantha and how they live for over 12 years, the idea is brilliant, they often say that movies lose their magic when you get distracted and in most cases it happen by the use of different actors playing different stages of life, but in this case the magic in constant and I repeat myself, such a brilliant idea that I don't get why aren't more movies like this out there, my problem is that there should have been a deeper story, in the end you just saw flashes of different moments that don't really connect, where is the psychological damage? if you put in an abusive father, that has got to leave some sort of trauma, right? there is too much conformism to be something with value at the end.

There should have been more stories that intertwine with the past and the future, with and opportunity like this I guess that I'm angry that it wasn't fully exploit to it maximum momentum. 

The real problem for me is the lack of flashbacks, why didn't the use this option? it would have been perfect, but then maybe and like the movie the script was written in over 12 years, with some more planning it would of been truly a fascinating experience.

Also on the topics of drugs, sex and alcohol, to me it seemed too stereotypical nothing much to say or do about it, it was like watching any other troubled teenage movie, it was a bit too general.

Having said that I think my  favorite part was the Latin guy who got his studies in order thanks to the advice of Olivia, it was a beautiful scene and there should have been more of those in the movie, it was almost 3 hours long they totally could've done it. And yes the Oscar to Patricia Arquette was totally well deserved her character was the true connecting line.

I just hope that now that the idea is there someone would rise to the challenge to make a better one.

The Downward spiral into K-pop

While out in he actual world I came across a music genre called K-pop, the first time was through a K-drama called Boys Over Flowers back in 2011, while the drama was really entertaining and kind of fresh to watch, I was really interested in the OST, a few clicks later I was in K-pop world.

I'm actually one to like Asian cultures specially the Japanese, I've read my fair share of mangas, watched a ton of anime and all that so the transition from Japan to Korea was fairly easy, two more K-dramas and that was it, I was a fan!

My first approach was a girl group named Kara, I like them because they are very bright and energetic, very similar to what I was used to listening to Japanese artists, I particularly enjoyed the dances they are very fun and very good exercise, from Kara I went to SHINee and from them I learned that there are 3 big entertainment agencies in South Korea, SM, JYP and YG, I ended up listening to all their artist and I found my favorite among them, which is Big Bang.

Then Psy came with Gangnam Style and the whole thing exploded, at first I actually wasn't a fan of the song alone I found it very repetitive and plain, but after watching the music video and I found that I kept murmuring the melody all day long. I loved the music video specially because of the cameos.

After that a lot of new groups debuted, I became a fan of B.A.P, Beast, Orange Caramel, Teen Top, EXO and more recently GOT7 and WINNER.

What I find very interesting is that I can actually understand like 40% of what they say in a show, I can sing along to my favorite songs, it's a very fresh feeling actually, it kind of reminds me my way into English, being a native Spanish speaker my favorite groups were all English artists, like Radiohead, Oasis, Muse, Linking Park, NIN, so I learned English through music, movies and eventually books, I sometimes catch myself thinking Korean responses, it was very weird at first but after Gangnam Style it's all more accepted, even though my family still thinks I watch "Chinese people".

Looking back, I think this was all a downward spiral, at first is interesting then is fun then is like I can't past a day without watching something in Korean. specially the K-dramas but that's another subject.

So, if you are curious about K-pop just be aware that it's very addictive and a very expensive hobby,  they have ton of merch that is actually good, before K-pop the last album I bought was Muse's live album H.A.A.R.P. a very common double CD-DVD case, but these K-pop albums are a piece of art, the first thing you notice is the format, I have not seen a classic CD case in K-pop and that's saying a lot, they know their audience and the love to please the fans, so that's always very welcomed and one of the reasons they still sell a good amount of physical music, compared to the rest of the world.

Photo Source: http://24hrkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/kpop-logos.jpg

Movie Review: 2010, Easy A

"Take me away..." be warned you may find that you can't take that song out of your head, warning made, now to the review, I had nothing to do the other day and I thought why not watch a movie, I thought this was going to be a very easy going movie and I was surprised at how funny it was, I liked the main character Olive, played amazingly by Emma Stone, overall the movie is a fun watch, funny witty and sarcastic, who wouldn't love that?.

Jane by Design and the Spring Finale

I'm not going to even mention that I haven't posted anything in half a year now, so let's get to business.

Jane by Design started as this little show about a girl that gets a work in fashion but she's really a teenage school girl, so far really cute, right?

I honestly believed that I was going to be sick of this show by the third episode but it turns out it became a guilty pleasure, next thing I knew I was expecting the next episode every week and really getting the characters and all that jazz.

But then (there's got to be a but) the spring finale came, I had a few days to digest that now and I really didn't like it! Billy was so OOC that it was awkward to watch him, I mean ok (and here comes the spoiler) Billy realizes that Jane is the love of his life and whatever, but I really feel that those things take time, it was all so rushed the last few minutes between Jane and Jeremy and Billy was so fake to me, I applaud the plot about India though I really thought she was the mole, I feel sad for her just when we really got to see the real India, she gets fired. I hope she comes back with a bang.

Anyways, I think I owe it to the show to keep watching, but if they keep rushing stuff I don't think they are gonna get anywhere. Andie Macdowell rocks too.

Just a Random Update

I know I'm lazy, couch potato, call it whatever you want (I call it anemia) but the truth is I want to write more often, seriously you should see the number of drafts this blog in particular has, but I'm kind of an overachiever when it comes to writing so I want to get all the facts before I make a mistake which is kind of funny because if I make a mistake I wouldn't really make it right.

Anyways, what's up in the life of an "An unemployed late bloomer with a Peter Pan complex"? (as my twitter describe me) well, not much really ever since since I turned down that advertising job, I kind of close the door on advertising altogether I was having real bad karma also, not necessarily a factor but still, I was on the verge of depression and that just wasn't good for me, or anybody, depression is bad, get help people. So when I realized that the advertising world (for which I studied 5 years) was not a lifestyle of my liking I expanded my views. Now I'm into arts and cooking and mostly I'm just looking for the simple life, I'm kind of contemplating living in a small city also, but not yet.

I think I'm getting carried away, anyhow next year I'm going to study again, International gastronomy or something, the point is that I want to cook, desserts mostly but I can do with new knowledge on other cooking subjects as well.

Meanwhile I'm exploring my options, knitting, drawing, movie watching, etc... Might as well just post more often too.

To end this weird update I'm just gonna say, are you happy with your life? I know I wasn't so I'm trying to make some changes.

See? really random post. Cheers.

Good Reads!!!

Click here to see the website

Yesterday I found out about this website about books that I actually like, so far is simple, fun, and most importantly useful, I've encountered many books websites in the past but this one beats them, because it's like a Facebook of books, you can share opinions, the books, there are links to buy them, and the people there is really honest, it's not like amazon reviews, because I can see more of the person behind the review, like what kind of books that person read, I know you can do that in other websites but in this one is much more simple. I also like the groups there I'm currently in two of them and so far, so great.

So add me if you like books, I promise to be honest in my reviews. My username is Shiriusa.

Try it out!

Book Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy

Hunger Games Trilogy

by Suzanne Collins.

The first time I saw this book, was in a compilation of e-books, I got curious and started to read it, I read the first chapter and got dizzy for two reasons, the first was that I read the chapter so fast that my nose was like 3 inches away from the screen (that can't be good for my eyesight) and second because it was really good reading.

I got a simple way to say whether if it's a good or a bad book, I read the firsts chapters and if I can't put the book down, then it's good, very simple, right?

So I wanted to read a lot more about this Katniss girl, so I went to my favorite bookstore and bought it (not a cheap thing really) then I got home and since it was Friday night and I had no plans I read, and kept reading until 6:15 am, I remember very well the time because I was supposed to get up at 8 o'clock that day (I had a family trip to go) anyways the moment I finish the book, it entered my all time favorite books.

I haven't seen that kind of literature in a long time, the themes exposed are very dark, like death and misery but it was so well written that some scenes that could be really gore and bloody, were kind of beautiful.

The overall story is that in the future, there is a bad big controlling Capitol and 13 districts under their control, in the 12th district lives Katniss, a teenager who haven't had an easy life, then we have these Hunger Games, which is the way the Capitol keeps the fear and hatred present in Panem (the country) the way it works is this: each of the districts select 2 tributes a boy and a girl (only underage kids are eligible) and they are send to the Capitol to compete, there is only one winner and this is the creepy sick part, the winner is the one left standing and there has to be one survivor only, for this to happen they have to kill each other, and it is all televised.

So when I say gore and blood, I meant it, as for who should read it? I don't really see a specific target for this book, because I made my mom read it and she couldn't put it away either.

There are three parts, the second book is also as great as the first, maybe even better and that's extremely rare to say, then when the third book came out I was anxious to see how the story was going to end, but (and I'm not spoiling anything) I'm not sure if I liked the end, sure it's and END and the book needed one but it's been a lot of time since I read it and I still can't come to a end with my opinions, I ask my mom and she just made a confusing face, so I don't know how if some people have loved it or hated it, you have to read it to see what I mean.

UPDATE

I had this post written for a long time (4/7/10 according to blogger) and now that there is a movie coming out I need to say something about it, I did some research and Suzanne, the author was part of the script writing process so I thinks that in terms of story it will be related (what I mean is that they especially waited for the last book to come out so they had all the details that will meant something in the end really there, not like for example; what they did in the Harry Potter series).

In terms of casting I'm happy with it, I can't actually judge until I see the film but for what I'm hearing they did great auditions.

I just hope that the result is not that graphic, because the best part of the book is that beside the gore and blood you actually paid attention to the characters, and maybe that can be lost in translation.

Movie Review: 2010, Welcome to The Riley's

Welcome to the Riley's

I'd like to star this post by saying that this movie was a total surprise to me, but in a good way, I watched it out of boredom (and partly because I was waiting for the new episode of American Idol). So that being said, lets talk about the story, it's a very simple but increasingly deep kind of story, we have this couple Doug and his wife, they are having a though time, because the death of their daughter keeps hunting them, actually they are having 8 years of bad time, so Doug while at a work convention, meets Mallory, a runaway teen that lives like a Stripper/Prostitute, Doug starts to take care of her and asking no compensation or retribution, that's when the story really develops and this is were the surprise is to me.

In terms of acting, I must say that is was really good, Kirsten's corky demeanor really suited the rol, and what can I say of James and Melissa, they were right on the zone, I really enjoyed Melissa's performance more than anyone else's, because she was the most believable out of all these freakishly weird characters, she did her part effortleslly and with such a dept to it that it is one of the reasons why I enjoyed so much this movie.

In terms of directing I have to say that it could have been better and I'm going to leave it at that, I don't really wan to spoil it, so if you can watch it, and hopefully you'll be surprised to.

As for the perfect audience, maybe families with teenage kids, because it has a lot of trusting issues, and questions about what a family is and caring and respect.

Movie Review: 2010, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

A HP review from a fan's POV.

I saw this movie yesterday at midnight, I was so thrilled waiting in the line for 5 hours with a friend and just talking about the past 10 years we have been fans of Harry Potter, we laugh a lot remembering the first time we waited for Philosopher's Stone back in 2001 and how it was like "look at this, look at that" or "it's just like I imagine it would be like" and stuff, so yeah it has been a ride for sure.

The fact that it is getting over is so sad and yet cool, because it has to end and even though it is not going to be a happy pretty end it would be a rightful end.

To the movie now, after I got over the fact that I was actually watching the film, I have to say it is so detailed compared to the other books that I felt like they should have split every movie, because scenes I was sure they would left out were there plus some new scenes that where really cool like that little Harry/Hermione scene in the tent that I think will make an impact in the amount of fanfics about that pair. I loved all the funny scenes, George creeping up behind Harry and Ginny kissing was hilarious! there was a lot to laugh at, Ron's lines were lots of fun except when he was wearing the horcrux, Oh! and about the horcrux, right after the whole locket display of Harry and Hermione was up I just looked at my friend and I knew we were thinking the same "awkward!!!!" it was so surreal to watch it instead of reading it, but I like when that happens.

One of the big questions around was "where are they splitting the movie?" we all had a sense it was going to be around Dobby's dead and so it was, but I don't mind that they have done that it was like a natural thing to do anyways and it does feel like the second part it's gonna be a lot more frantic because everything that needed to settle is finished in the first part and all there is now it the actual end, which will be awesome I'm sure, I'm already anxious to see the final battle at Hogwarts.


So I have to talk about the death scenes, I like how they did Hedwig's it was more realistic than the book, I mean it's a much better idea that she would die triyng to protecting Harry rather than falling in her cage anyways, right? and Dobby, oh Dobby everybody in the theater knew what was going to happen but to actually seen it right after they gave Dobby a really moving speech about being a free elf, it was just heartbreaking, the room was SO quiet it seemed like nobody was even breathing, but I know that everyone was screaming in their heads "DOOOOBBYYYYY" (when the credits started someone actually screamed that).

I was just in shock after the movie ended, trying to digest what had just happened but all in all it was great, and seeing it at midnight has it's own special flavor too, it is as if everybody is connected, the spontaneous "awws" and laughs and claps were just natural, I've always liked that about premiers, that and the fact that we laugh a LOT when someone get's a little carried away with the costumes, like a Bellatrix we saw around waiting in line.

About the movie making, I like how they did the elfs, Kreacher and Dobby looked great now, it was a very good move to replace that little orange ball for actual actors, I liked the open sets too the cliffs the forests, the photography was well selected, according to the mood of the scenes. Nagini also had an improvement, oh! that reminds me Bathilda Bagshot was SCARY as hell!!!, gave me the creeps every time she was on the screen.

About the acting, for the trio ever since the 5th movie I have been enjoying it more, now I can actually watch the whole movie without making a lot remarks about how awkward that was or how the rhythm was so off. I liked Luna too, Evanna Lynch is the best Luna they could have ever found. There were a lot of new characters as well, I like Bill Weasley until he spoke, he had a voice of a 10 year old. Scrimgeour and Mundungus were cool, but for some unknown reason I imagined Mundungus as a black person. Well I better stop now before I review each character. I will just say that after 10 years I like everybody, specially now that Snape washed his hair, he has a bit of a curly hair now.

To end this review, I just want to say that I like being part of the Harry Potter fandom, every since I read that first book my life changed, before I was all about anime and manga and what I'm going to do not to bore myself to death, and after it was like this whole universe of books and stories was at my reach, so I own a big fat Thank You to Mrs Rowling for that, now I have an actually library in my room, who would have thought that would happen? certainly not me.

PS: Obviously I didn't give any recommendation as to how and who should watch this movie, if you haven't seen at least the 5th and 6th movie you won't get a clue about what is going on.

PS2: No hyperlinks too, every fan knows were to go for info.

PS3: and please follow Lord_Voldemort7 on twitter he is absolutely hilarious.

Movie Review: 2010, Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love


I spend a lot of time thinking just how to start this review and came with the same old phrases, but the truth is that this is a good-movie-that-left-you-thinking-about-life kind of movie, which is always good, right?

I know this was a book about self discovering, that was made into what we can call a chick flick, but this is a chick flick for everybody (a very unusual thing) I'm going to explain what this movie did to me because I'm sure that the experience of watching this movie will be different for everyone.

Be aware that I only watched the movie though, I have like 0 patience for nonfiction books, I must have read 3 of them in my whole life and I finished just1 (not gonna tell which one). So the movie as you can imagine divides between the discovery of enjoy eating, praying and finally enjoy love, it's starts with this woman, Liz who finds herself in a situation that a lot of people can relate to, she has a life that doesn't excite her it doesn't make her feel good and happy, so she decides to take a trip to remember what is good in life and to be honest, I absolutely think that if I had the money to do it Rome India and Bali would be marked in my calendar, like tomorrow.

Eat, Liz starts the journey by trying to remember the times when you ate something and be amazed by it, not doing the typical fast lunch, microwave dinner that ends up tasting like nothing, so she goes to Italy, the feeling I got while watching this part was that people sometimes forget how to enjoy the simplest things about food, I must say that I enjoy cooking and baking and it reminds me of how the ingredients must be felt and selected to make something new, I have never gone on a diet in my life and I find that eating is what you need to do to live, not live for eating maybe that's the problem, if you eat just to stuff your mouth with something your not eating you are just surviving and therefor not living really, so next time you eat a snack ask yourself do you really need it? and most important will you really take your time to enjoy it?.

Pray, this part I can't say I relate to, I have never properly prayed, like Liz in the beginning of the movie, but I know the good effects of meditation, I didn't get the whole guru thing but I don't think that was important, what I like about this part is that it reminds you to feel good about yourself, about who you are and if your not do something about it, have balance.

Love, so after the meditation trip to India, Liz ends up in Bali, Indonesia we all know this part really, every chick flick has the falling in love part, but the difference I think is that because of the distribution of the movie, it becomes more enjoyable to watch, by the time she meets her love we are all kind of friends with Liz so I kind of wanted a good ending for her, which obviously she had (it would have been a very anti-climatic movie if it didn't, right?).

So my finals thoughts are that this is a great movie to watch probably alone, because as I said earlier this movie is different for anyone who watches it and you don't really need another person's POV, also I liked the casting a lot, Julia Roberts as the leading role of Liz was probably the most perfect choice, she's very relatable which for this kind of movie was very important the other roles too, very believable of the casting choices, well almost all, the girl in India I didn't like her too much for some unknown reason (and I must say I have a weak spot for James Franco so he's always good) Javier Bardem as a Brazilian was a very good casting call too, as was the soundtrack, I don't know much about bossa nova, but I know that is can be damn seductive.

I just hope you watch this movie, and share your thoughts about it with someone, it should be interesting to know what other people felt and thought about it.

PS: and if you think this movie was too corny for you, maybe you should read Drink, Play, F@#k by Andrew Gottlieb.

Movie Review: 2010, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs The World


I have to start by saying that I'm a mayor geek, so with that settled, all I can say is that this movie was every shade of AWESOMENESS there is, I love every bit of geeky and cheesy parts of this movie, I know that this is based on a graphic novel and it really shows, the design the cinematography worked really great with the story which shows the director must have been a big fan of graphic novels himself and not some money maker dude who would forget-about-the-graphic-all-the-way, I will be keeping a tab on Edgar Wright now. (that's the director's name, now that I see his IMDB page I notice that he has done some other nice movies... good to know)

Let's move on to the review itself now, beside the cool graphics I really liked the clothes, that Sharpie t-shirt must be a must for every geek in the world, the music was cool too, that bass battle was epic to me.

About the casting, I must say the hit it right with their choices and I only have one method to review casting, it's very simple, if I can imagine someone else on that role then the casting sucks, on this particular movie, I only imagine two other actors and in minor tiny roles so, that's a very good rating according to my standards. Oh! and Micheal Cera playing a 22 year old... it was kind of a shock, maybe I'm used to see him playing 16 year old losers, it's a nice change for him.

Now about the Ex's, they where the good fun, I personally enjoyed the vegan one, Todd and his mind control power, because the whole theme of being vegan is really funny and I really don't get those people and how can they remember what's vegan and what's not, the one I enjoyed less was probably the girl, because the fact that it meant girl-on-girl action it was nothing more than that, it could've been more interesting, don't you think?.


The fighting was really cool, although it was kind of funny to watch Micheal Cera kick some ass, like I said before the losers part was his thing, but then again I was glad to see that he really can kick asses (please insert happy face here). And an honor mention to the gay roommate, he was funny too.

So to wrap this up and in case you already haven't noticed I loved this movie, it's a good, funny, entertaining and fast by fast I mean not-let-you-look-the-other-way-fast movie, that any geek person in the world would appreciate and probable the not so geeks will too, although I do not see my mom watching this through, she will probably fall sleep between the fights, although she does that with every movie... anyways, good movie to watch with friends or alone, with your favorite snack and nobody to bother you.

PS: Beware of the catchy phrases they could hunt you through the day.

Movie Review: 2010, Vampire Suck

Vampire Suck

First of all I don't know what came over me to watch this movie, as a general rule I can't stand these parody type intentions to make someone laugh, I probably fell for the looks (it wouldn't be the first time either) anyways, you probably guess right about this, because this Movie Sucks it's an awful movie so over the top it's not even entertaining and I end up thanking God for the fast-forward button.

On the bright side, I'm an enthusiastic believer that every movie was a positive thing to add, so I must say that I did find some things funny, and all of them are in the official trailer (Hollywood does that a lot... give everything away in the trailer) like the way Becca's head turns into an hamburger, that was funny because that's what I though when I watched New Moon, then the "It's raining men" dance and of course the whole Team Edward/Jacob thing is always funny, that part must be connected to the funny fact that someone humiliating himself/herself is always a laugh. Oh! and the one thing that caught me off guard was that this "Becca" was actually more convincing as Bella that the real one, so that was interesting, I mean really, she was really a better Bella, good casting call I guess.

Anyhow, if you like this type of movies I wouldn't even recommend this one, maybe go back and watch Scary Movie, remember what was good about it, laugh a little and be happy. (Scary movie 1 was the only movie of this category that I actually enjoyed, although Anna Faris is awesome at comedy, she's the female version of Jim Carey to me).

That's all I can say about this movie, wasn't this short?

About Photography...

I recently updated my Flickr profile, and I was thinking about what I wrote there about capturing a moment that makes you say "wow, life's good after all", I think that came out wrong, what I mean to say is that the reason I love photography (and after an awful lot of thinking too...) can be explained in one moment, when I'm transferring my photos to my mac and watching them one by one comes this perfect little moment that only I get to see, and that's when I see something in a photo that I didn't notice when I shot it, can be the twinkle of an eye, or a small sly smile, that's what I love about photography the simple moments captured in time, so that when you look at the photo, your face muscles turn involuntarily into an effortless smile.

So when people give me trouble (meaning crap...) about not letting them know I'm taking a picture, I just don't care because I don't like to see those self-conscious looks people normally get when they see you picking up the camera, I rather capture a yelp of surprise because I startle them creeping up behind some tree or something.


Maybe that's why I like shooting animals so much, they don't know how to pose or what is the best angle for them, (again, that may have come out the wrong way... It's nothing against people!) .

Anyways, I'm happy now that I have a new camera, a better camera I have never would have dream of having which made me think about what I did to get one, so perhaps I'm doing something right with my photography skills, now I feel I can take my camera out and really show my view of the word, all the pretty colors and all the little things we take for granted, which sadly is a very common decease, or maybe that's why when we finally see the little things we feel so alive, yes alive that's what I feel when I get those moments in front of my computer, I can see life captured in a still photography.

To close this post, I forgot to mention what camera I had upgraded from and to. I had a Canon PowerShot S3 IS, I had that "bridge" camera for about 3 years now and I honestly believe it made me a better photographer, now that I can actually work my way through manual ISO, long exposure and micro shooting, I'm grad I upgraded from this wonderful camera to a Canon EOS Rebel T1i, why Canon? I guess I like the colors, I never had good enough results with a Olympus and a Sony camera, maybe one day I'll try a Nikon and see how I like that for a change, but right now I totally at peace with my choice.

PS: didn't check spelling, this are thoughts straight from my head.
PS2: Photos all by me.

Music Review: 2010, Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns

A Thousand Suns

Just let me say it clear, Linkin Park was one of my favorite bands ever since I ever listened to "Crawling" in fact "Hybrid Theory" was the first CD I've ever collected money to buy back in 2001, so Linkin Park is a BIG DEAL to me, I even remember the first time I push play on the CD and how the more I heard it the more it grew in me.

So... "A Thousand Suns", I downloaded it because I have no money to pay for it right now (besides my "go to" music store is closed for whatever reason) but I promise I will buy it first chance I get (maybe I'll get if as a Christmas present) and I have all their albums so I may as well complete the collection.

Now to review it, (actually more like "first Impressions") I must start by saying that this is totally different from what they have done before, it's almost a experimental (in the concept art category maybe?) sound and I say almost, because I think that by the time I play this for the 5th or 6th time I would totally think this totally normal for Linkin Park, so may as well state that for future reference (first impressions tend to change, especially with me).


So far, the 8 tracks I've heard are kind of the same, I mean, they are connected in a way that I can't really tell when one track finishes and the other starts, not that this is bad, they kinda do this in their albums, but this time the songs have kinda the same "undertone", sort of melodic and dark, nothing really hype, like "Bleed it out" or "Runaway" or "Faint", which by the way, these 3 songs are the more like powerful and aggressive to me and they are all the number 7 of their respective album, funny right? (maybe it is intended) anyways I'll wait to see if this changes or not, I'll be back later.

So, I've listened to the whole album now, it totally changes, the second half of it it's more of what I'm used to hear from them, "Wretches and Kings" is really cool and must be awesome live, also it is totally more easy to tell the end of one song and the start of the other, so there it is, I really think they'll get mixed reviews on this one, but I'm cool with it, like I said, you can divide this in two the more experimental part and the more normal part or whatever you wanna call it, I don't want to think that this is kinda of a tendency (to go experimental) but they are kind of influenced by war and human nature so it is kinda natural that they would do this, personally I liked the album, but I don't think that it is my favorite (which is a mix between Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight).

About rating?, I'm not much of a grade girl, so let's say that if your a fan, you can be a fan of this one, but if you just stumble upon this you may not get it yet, "yet" being important.


PS: I'm so totally bumped that they will be playing near me but I don't have the money to go!!!!! and with good reason the tickets are insanely pricey!!!

10-09-2010 Update! in the end I went to see them live, it was great! a real show I mean I was with people that didn't honestly like Linkin Park but they all had the same opinion, "It was a great show" personally I enjoyed every song and I was very glad that I got the chance to go (half-price tickets!!!) definitely my favorites were Given Up from the older albums and from the new one Wretches and Kings. It was soooooo cool I'm still all hyper about it.

Movie Review: 2010, Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans


I had this movie for quite a long time, yesterday I decided to give it a go and I still don't know if I liked it or not, because although it is a great action movie, I had a problem with the characters, I'm well instructed in the whole mythological thing so the moment they put Io as a love interest/partner of Perseus it feel totally wrong to me, and though out the movie I just couldn't let this drop completely, I don't know if they did this in the 1981 version of this movie and I don't care much about it because I'm not going to watch some plastic-stop-motion-monsters when I had this 2010 version, with all the tech and 3D wow moments, so that being said, let's move on to the parts I enjoyed like the Kraken, which was very well design and kinda creepy which totally works on a monster, I liked Medusa a lot for two reasons, they gave her a beautiful face and they told the myth kinda right, so A+ for that.

On acting, I liked Sam Worthington as Perseus, I remember he said in an interview that he liked this character to be not God-like, focusing on his human side, which I totally get, so nice acting for him. Another one I liked was Ralph Fiennes as Hades, the men can work with special effects!

I didn't like Liam Nesson as Zeus, not sure why, he is a good actor but maybe and just this time I didn't get his vibe.

I think the movie is very well paced, which is important in a action movie, because if you have to many down moments or to many hypes it just confuses the audience and it's not very good in the profits I guess too.

For what type of audience is this now?, I think that this movie is best to watch it in the most giant TV you could find with a nice audio system too, because it's action at its best, you may think that this is kinda like for a guy gathering but I'm a girl and I liked the men in skirts as well, so it's a win-win in the action category.

PS: now that I remember I got this movie because Kurumada the author of Saint Seiya drew the posters, and I liked them. Here you can see them all.

Book Review: The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

By Mark Haddon

This book is at least ten shades of awesomeness, I read it in the summer around January I went to the mall library in which my mother is subscribed and I found this little red book with a dog upside down on the cover, I know the "don't judge a book by it cover" thing but this one was really cool, so I took it home and read it, at first there was surprise to know that the book is narrated by Christopher a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, which is (in case you don't know) a type of autism, loosely explained people with these syndrome don't get emotions and can't be emphatic because they don't know how, and therefore they have zero to none social skills, they don't relate to people like in the normal way, they have a very logical mind, which makes them good at working with maths and science, because numbers don't get emotional.

So, this kid narrates the story, he explains how he sees the world and his relationship with his father, the mother is not in the picture because his father told him that she died when he was little.

The story stars with a dog murder, a dog that belongs to a Eileen a close neighbor and because Chris like dogs he decides that he would find out ho killed him and bring him to justice. That's the mayor scene, is very simple and easy to follow and read but what makes it interesting and brilliant is that Chris in his investigation starts to uncover some information, about the dog, his owner Eileen and information about his mother and father, the story gets interesting when Chris finds letters of his mother, actual letters of his mother ho he believed was dead, he doesn't understand it because of the Aspergers, but we as readers do get the undertone and the implications that this letters and information brings.

That's what really caught me the fact that Chris is discovering all this stuff about his mother, and we as readers already know what happens.

I'm not going to tell how the story ends, because I'm no fan of spoilers, so I'm going to strongly recommend this reading, is fun is thrilling and at the end you just want a happy life for Chris, he is a very likable character after all.

For a summer reading or a Sunday raining day, this book won't take much time to read it, but it leaves you thinking about the nature of humans and how people take advantage of other people's weaknesses.

Have a nice reading.

To know about the author, here is his website.

Movie Review: 2010, Killers

Killers

I got this movie hoping it would be a funny watch and though it has some funny moments, it was kind of a let down actually, the movie is about this couple, Jen and Spence, Jen is a geeky girl and Spence is a retired killer for the US Government, the couple got together in France and they get married but then trouble stars when Spence past comes to hunt him.

So, I really didn't feel any good chemestry between the two characters, I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but the relationship was very forced, like no good reason for them to hit it of so fast, I didn't feel any sparkle of love at first sight, no nothing, so no good there.

Then when everybody they know are trying to kill them it get just awkward and not so interesting, on the plus side, I really like the character of Jen's mother, she's an alcoholic but in the funny not-pathetic kind of way (the funny moments came from her).

I don't really have much to say about this one, I hate to say that this wasn't very good, but I don't blame the actors, it was actually a very good cast, I guess I had problems with the script and direction mostly, I mean that they could have done a lot better in the editing, it was very slow overall and off point with so many killers at one point too.

I guess that this could be a Sunday movie, it was so not a "chic flick" I don't even think it was a "guy flick" either, but if you really are bored and have nothing better to do you may well like this, but if you have something else to watch go for another one, it's not like if you missing something here, not even a good soundtrack (which would've helped a lot).

True Blood & Charlaine Harris's books

I just wanna do a little comparison between the tv show and the books by Charlaine Harris, let's start with the books (because I don't think that all the viewers have read the books).

So a little background is required, I think it was the first week of January of 2009 when I downloaded a ton of e-books and among them was Charlaine Harris's books series, by that time I was a little biased with the whole Twilight Saga thing so I went for the Southern Vampire Mysteries series, "vampire" being the key word keeping my attention, anyways, I read the first one, Dead Until Dark in an afternoon, I found it kind of short really, and with no surprise I was totally hooked by the story and it's not that this is the greatest book of the decade, because it isn't, for example; the writing sometimes goes off point and some of the characters are just so over the top, but like I said I liked the story.

The way Sookie's brain works is really interesting, I can just imagine what it would be like to hear everyone's thoughts with no filter to them whatsoever, an absolute nightmare, so to go from that to then met a Vampire and hear nothing (they are supposed to be dead with no electric brain waves, so Sookie can't pick up their thoughts or at least that's the explanation of the book) must be an absolute relief, so I don't blame her for getting involved with vampires in any way.

Also what I really liked about the books is the way that the vampire big revelation works, (they reveal themselves to the world because of the synthetic blood, meaning that they don't need humans to feed) . I don't really think this is a big theme in the show, although it's kind of there and assumed, it doesn't have the big impact portrayed in the books, because there you really get the whole accepting/rejection of people, Charlaine describes this in the books like the situation is kind of the same thing we face today with the Gay marriage laws, for example, where we see all these people against it while others are in favor. So it's a really interesting theme that is present throughout the books.

Now, after reading the first I couldn't just stop there, so I read a book a day until I was finished (at the moment there where 8 books, now there are 10 and counting) and what I have to say after reading them all is that Eric Northman is one of my favorites characters ever, that's why I read them really and Charlaine must have realized what a strong character he is too, because Eric slowly made his way into the spotlight and obviously, I'm not complaining about it.

Others characters I really liked and I hope I will see in the TV Show are Amelia, Claudine and Claude, they where really fun to read, I love Amelia's personality and I absolutely adore Claude's attitude, he's such a bad ass, Claudine actually appeared in the latest episode of True Blood, I don't really get why are they portraying her as a fairy straight forward, but honestly the show has its own way to tell the story.

In the process of comparing the books with True Blood I must say that my conclusion is that I like them both for very different reasons, I love that they kept Lafayette around in True Blood for example, and the little side stories they have added, like Godric being Eric's maker, and Jessica's story (I really like how her role is to explain what is like to be a new vampire).

The only thing that concerns me though, is that I don't know how they will evolve from those story lines, because every time they change something it gets more complicated to follow it from the books perspective, like with Eric's maker, we know that it wasn't Godric but Appius Livius Ocella a very disturbing roman vampire who made him, so there you have it and as much as I like were this is going, I just can't wait for the Eric show time (this meaning the adaptation of book 4), I hope they make it good, and knowing the boldness of Alan Ball I know it will be good.

To finish this post, I will say that I still recommend reading the books, because it's always good to read, but keep in mind that what you'll read is not True Blood, but the story that inspired the series, which can be very different.

Movie Review: 2010, Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass

Sometimes I would have a movie saved in my computer and then I do other things, when I return to the movie and if the movie is great I always ask myself, why the hell I didn't whatch this sooner? well, it happened to me today, Kick-Ass is so cool, my favorite character was Hit Girl, actually, the actress Chloe Moretz was really good, although she had some of the best lines of the movie ("Show's over motherfuckers") she is a very good actress, ever since I first saw her in The Amityville Horror 5 years ago, I kept a tab on her like I do with every interesting actor/actress, so I'm very exited that she is playing the adapted version of another great movie "Let the Right One In".

So, back to the review, I noticed that early on while I was watching the movie, I saw so many "wtf!? moments", specially when Hit Girl was involved (getting shot by your own father?!, how more fucked up can you get?). Maybe that's why I like this movie so much, it was surprisingly unpredictable which is always good in this kind of movie, I actually took notes while I watch movies and under WTF?! is "Nicholas Cage :O" I just can't remember why I wrote that now, but I though you should now, maybe someone can make sense of it.

I think that the whole superhero theme of this movie, along with the "nerd" theme, is always a good theme while treated right, I mean I remember watching the Revenge of the Nerds when I was a kid and though there were a lot of grown up jokes I still enjoyed it, besides lets be honest, nerds in movies are really kinda cute (the lead character was really cute, but that's just a girl's comment, good job of the casting director).

The Othere thing that really made this movie so cool was the cinematography, the camera angles and the little but awesome effects that made was so much fun to watch, kudos to the director for his original view, oh! and also kudos to the music director, the soundtrack and score was really nice, it completed the scenes, more so because there was not the typical music background in there, the style changed in every scene, and I appreciated the variety in there.

To finish this review I would like to say that this is a well named movie, it really kicked ass, and for a good time with friends this one is an absolute winner, because there's no way you can watch this one without making side comments, so you may want a friend to share the laugh.

I just looked at IMBD and found out that there's part 2 coming up in 2012, so, yay!!

Movie Review: 2009, Adam

Adam

This is the story of a young man, who has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a kind of autism, and basically makes it difficult to them to socialize with other people, like for example they don't understand sarcasm, they take it literally so imagine how hard it must be to not tell the difference between a joke and a real statement.

Anyway, this movie in particular tell the story of Adam and Beth who moves to the same building, she face the awkwardness of a relationship with someone with Asperger's Syndrome, some of you may be interested in Adam as a character, but me (having some problems with social activities myself) found very interesting they way she took the situation, so I wander, what would a viewer with Asperger's thinks about this movie?, I think they would be very emphatic about Adam, Hugh Dancy really does a good job, but I think it would be a perfect job if he didn't take Adam to such an extreme... sometimes I found his face expressions to be like too much, but maybe they were going for that kind of thing, I don't know this is the first movie I've seen from this particular writer/director.

So, to wrap this up, thumbs up to Rose Byrne she was awesome as Beth, it's a good movie for a cold winter weekend, to make you think about the problems the people of Asperger's Syndrome have everyday and that a normal person take for granted. (Sorry about grammar, didn't checked it)