Friday, January 31, 2014

Book Report - The Spectacular Now

Title: The Spectacular Now
Authour: Tim Tharp
Length: 294 pages
How long it took me to read: 3 days

What it's about: SUTTER KEELY. HE’S the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He’ ll get everyone in your parents’ pool. Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O., life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.
Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.

The ending is the most important part: I'm kind of put off that everyone got a good ending except for Sutter. This ending disappointed me and made me sad.

Last word:  Sutter Keely is to the new millennium that Holden Caufield was to the fifties. I loved this kid. Warts and all. He was definitely no phony. I recommend this book.

Spoilers after the jump

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Song of the Day - Mirror


This song by Ellie Goulding is in Catching Fire so I thought I would include this video version.

It makes my skin all goose bumpy and shivery.

If you've seen the movie, or are familiar with The Hunger Games at all, watch the video. I love Ellie Goulding so much, I loved Catching Fire this is a brilliant marriage.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Book Report - Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Authour: Stephanie Perkins
Length: 372 pages
How long it took me to read: 3 days

What it's about: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming,beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

The ending is the most important part: The ending was a little too neat and tidy for my taste.

Last word:  This is a YA book written for YA audiences, and YA readers will really like this book. I am a little too old for this one. The story is cute and nice, though. I still recommend it.

Spoilers after the jump

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Song of the Day - Team


I feel like it's inappropriate how much I am enthralled by Lorde considering the difference in our ages.

I love her words. She is such a lovely poet. The words of this song are so great, but I also love the chanting at the beginning. It's so different from anything else I've ever heard. No wonder she's getting played all over the world right now.

I'm kinda over being told to throw my hands up in the air. So there.

Monday, January 20, 2014

So this happened...

After last year's Salt Lake Comic Con fiasco of waiting in line only to find out it's all sold out, I took matters into my hands and bought tickets online this year.

Actually, Salt Lake is having a FaneXperience Comic Con in April in addition to the regular Comic Con in September. Anyway, I bought mine and Huey's tickets already.

This week in Utah we are having the Sundance Film Festival, and I have wanted to participate in that for years. George Takei is in town for Sundance, and contacted the FanX people to tell them he would do a signing/photo-op thing while he was in town.

O. My.

You guys, I have never done anything like this before.

Ticket holders got to stand in the line behind the VIP folks, but in front of the General Admission people for a chance to have their picture taken with Sulu. It was like pictures with Santa, but with nerds.

A couple of things;

  1. I forget that certain Star Trek fans are social pariahs and don't have the best social skills. Nor have any concept of personal space. Or of social cues - as in, I'm standing in line with my nose buried in a 500 page book, I am not up for a conversation; and, stop touching me with your jacket!!
  2. O, the people watching - I cannot wait until FanX
  3. Some women are in major need of Shapewear
  4. I am such a former mean girl, if the nerds knew this, I would be so banished.
  5. I really hate it when my inner high school mean girl comes out. She is such a beeotch to my inner nerd.
  6. Sulu is so cute, you guys! Look how cute he is!! OMYGOSHILOVEHIMSOMUCH!!
  7. George Takei has a unisex cologne that you can buy. It's called 'Eau My'.
  8. There is a lot of waiting in line with these things; wait in line to get in, wait in line to pay $30.00 cash only, wait for the VIP line to empty, wait in line for your picture... I'm glad I did this, and I'm glad I wore the right shoes.
  9. I can't imagine how draining doing something like this would be for me. Major kudos to George for sacrificing his time like that!
  10. I am really disappointed in my friends - I posted this picture on Facebook and not ONE person commented with an "Oh my".


I was so giddy once my turn came. I couldn't believe I was meeting Sulu!!! I loved him when I would watch Star Trek with my dad. It was such an emotional thing for me to meet him, and to feel his aura, and to have the memories of my dad in my brain. I was flying when I left. That was so fun. It was really well organized and went really smoothly too. I was there for an hour and a half, but the time really flew by because the lines did move quite well.

I'm so glad Sulu was my first fan experience. I will totally do something like this again.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Book Report - Gone Girl

Title: Gone Girl
Authour: Gillian Flynn
Length: 395 pages
How long it took me to read: 4 days

What it's about:On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

The ending is the most important part: Wait, what? That was the end? What a sick and twisted ending.

Last word:  Wow, what a good book. Ugh, what a terrible, twisted ending. I loved and hated this book. Not since East of Eden's Cathy Ames have I hated a character as much as I hate Amy Elliot Dunne.

Spoilers after the jump

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Song of the Day - Black Out Days


I am currently obsessed a little with Phantogram.

This song rocks, it's haunting, and it's different. I love it. Enjoy.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Book Report - Why We Broke Up

Title: Why We Broke Up
Authour: Daniel Handler
Length: 354 pages
How long it took me to read: 4 days

What it's about: I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped

The ending is the most important part: Whoa, I just barely saw that coming!

Last word:  I found myself hoping for Min and Ed throughout the book. I found myself thinking that they could just work things out and that they should totally have got back together. Until the end. This is a great book, full of googly, squishy, high school love feelings. It's honest, the illustrations are terrific, and I loved how true it was.

Spoilers after the jump

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Song of the Day - Love Missile F1-11


Here's one from the archives. O my gosh how I loved to dance to this one. I was having a particularly difficult day and the radio gods blessed me with this.

It made my day, so I thought I would make yours.

Sorry that there's no real video. Have fun wasting the rest of your day on YouTube looking at these dudes. Sigue Sigue Sputnik are so awesome.

Shoot it up!!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Book Report - The Virgin Suicides

Title: The Virgin Suicided
Authour: Jeffrey Eugenides
Length: 249 pages
How long it took me to read: A week and a half

What it's about: The haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters, The Virgin Suicides, now a major film, is Jeffrey Eugenides' classic debut novel.

The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear

The ending is the most important part: The best thing about this book was that there was an ending.

Last word:  This was really hard to read, however poetic, and I don't recommend this book.

Spoilers after the jump