Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Reading Rush 2019 Wrap-up


So, very recently I realized that you can't classify a period in your life as a "reading slump" if it lasts for over a year. I started my first year of college last fall, and since then I've done a LOT of academic reading, with very little time and motivation left over for casual reading. To try and inspire myself, I've decided to take a more active part in a bunch of read-a-thons so that I have goals and communities to encourage me to read! And so far it is kind of working? Kind of?

For those of you who don't know, "read-a-thons" are generally week/month-long events where a group of people get together to try and read as much as possible. These events usually have fun themes or challenges.

Last week I took part in The Reading Rush (formerly known as the Booktubathon), which is a week-long read-a-thon that I participate in annually. There were tons of goals and prompts, and I successfully completed eight of the challenges and read a total of five books!

Here is my wrap-up for the week!


Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Screen Review 10. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch


Image result for bandersnatch posterShow: Black Mirror
Episode: Bandersnatch
Director: David Slade
Runtime: 1h 30m
Release Date: December 28th, 2018
Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe
Rated: TV-MA

Synopsis: In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he works to adapt a fantasy novel into a video game.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"You are just a puppet. You are not in control."


Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Screen Review 9. Venom


Movie: Venom
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Runtime: 1h 52m
Release Date: October 5th, 2018
Stars: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Rated: PG-13

Synopsis: When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will have to release his alter-ego "Venom" to save his life.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

"Parasite?" 
"Yeah. It's a term of endearment, that's all."

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Screen Review 8. Zombies

Image result
Movie: Zombies
Director: Paul Hoen
Runtime: 1h 34m
Release Date: Feburary 16th, 2018
Stars: Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, James Godfrey |
Rated: TV-G

Synopsis: A zombie and a cheerleader work together to show the town of Seabrook what they can achieve when they embrace their differences and celebrate what makes them a community.

★  ☆ ☆ ☆

"You're either pro-cheerleader, or pro-zombie."

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Screen Review 7: The Suicide Shop


Image result for magasin des suicidés movie posterMovie: The Suicide Shop
Director: Patrice Leconte
Run Time: 1h 19m
Release Date: September 26th, 2012
Stars: Bernard Alane, Isabelle Spade, Kacey Mottet Klein
Rated: n/a

Synopsis: Patrice Leconte adapts Jean Teulé's darkly comic 2007 novel into a animated musical concerning a young child with a sunny disposition born into a family that thrives on the misery of others. Since 1854, the Tuvache family has owned a small shop catering to the suicidal impulses of its depressed clientele. A walk down the shadowy isles of this morbid boutique reveals a dazzling variety of instruments with which weary shoppers can end their suffering. When pessimistic proprietor Mishima and his depressive wife give birth to a baby boy named Alan, they're overjoyed at the thought that he will be just as miserable as his somber siblings. But Alan isn't like the others; bright-eyed and energetic, he's a ghastly ray of sunshine in their cherished world of grey skies. Realizing that the very future of their enduring family business may be threatened by the beaming boy, the Tuvache's soon resort to desperate measures in their efforts to keep the misery alive.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

"Has your life been a failure? Let's make your death a success!"

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Book Review 47. Saga Volumes #1-4

15704307
Book: Saga Volumes #1-4
Series: Saga (#1-4)
Author: Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Genre: Adult Fantasy Graphic Novel
Pages: 600 (total)
Published: October 23rd, 2012 - December 17th, 2014

Synopsis: When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.
From bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan, Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Doesn't matter if it's personal or professional, a good partnership takes work.”  

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Book Review 46. The Great Gatsby

4671
Book: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 180
Published: April 10th, 1925

Synopsis: This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but as writer Nick Carraway is drawn into the decadent orbit of his Long Island mansion, where the party never seems to end, he finds himself faced by the mystery of Gatsby's origins and desires. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon, this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ +

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Screen Review 6. Love Stage!!

Image result
Show: Love Stage!!
Season: 1
Number of Episodes: 10 (24 minutes)
Stars: Daigo, Takuya Eguchi, Daisuke Hirakawa
Release Year: 2014
Rated: TV-MA

Synopsis: With a father who's a singer, a mother who's a movie star, and an older brother Shougo who's the lead vocalist for the super-popular band "The Crusherz," Sena Izumi-an otaku college student-is the only dull one born into this super-famous and talented family. He loves "Magical Girl LalaLulu" and is working hard to become a mangaka, but one day he winds up appearing in a TV commercial he just can't turn down. There, he's reunited with Ichijou Ryouma, the super-popular young actor he costarred with on a project ten years prior.

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

"What's this...? Could it be... LOVE?"

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Character Choruses 2. Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane


Hey! I make playlists for my favorite characters all the time, so I thought a good way to keep this blog alive is to post some of them on here!


My new playlist is for the character Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane, from Voltron. This playlist is titled "I am not as fine as I seem."

The playlist can be found here, on 8tracks!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Screen Review 5. After the Dark

Movie: After the Dark
Director: John Huddles
Runtime: 1h 47m
Release Date: October 10th, 2013
Stars:  James D'Arcy, Sophie Lowe, Daryl Sabara
Rated: R

Synopsis: At an international school in Jakarta, a philosophy teacher challenges his class of twenty graduating seniors to choose which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

"If with incinerated grace, we still become the human race."

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Screen Review 4. Cowboy Bebop

Show: Cowboy Bebop
Season: 1
Number of Episodes: 26 (24 minutes)
Stars: Steve Blum, Beau Billingslea,  Wendee Lee
Release Year: 1998
Rated: TV-MA

Synopsis: In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System. Amid a rising crime rate, the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) set up a legalized contract system, in which registered bounty hunters (also referred to as "Cowboys") chase criminals and bring them in alive in return for a reward.The series' protagonists are bounty hunters working from the spaceship Bebop.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

"Nothing good ever happened to me when I trusted others. That is the lesson."

Image result for cowboy bebop gif

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Screen Review 3. Mob Psycho 100 (Season 1)

Image result for mob psycho 100 mob
Show: Mob Psycho 100
Season: 1
Number of Episodes: 12 (24 minutes)
Stars: Akio Matsuda, Yuki Nagano, Jun Fukuda
Release Year: 2016
Rated: N/A

Synopsis: Shigeo Kageyama is an average middle school boy, nicknamed Mob (モブ means background character) for lacking a sense of presence. Although he seems like an inconspicuous person, he is in fact a powerful psychic. As he grows older, Mob realizes his psychic powers are dangerous. To avoid his power getting out of control, he constantly lives a life under emotional shackle. Mob wants to live just like others, but a barrage of trouble comes to him. With the suppressed emotions growing inside Mob little by little, his power threatens to spill over its bounds.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Listen. Just because you have psychic powers doesn't make you any less human."

Image result for mob psycho 100 animation

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Book Review 45. The School for Good and Evil

16248113
Book: The School for Good and Evil
Series: The School for Good and Evil (#1)
Author: Soman Chainani
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 488
Published: May 14th, 2013

Synopsis: This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.-
But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

“Only once you destroy who you think you are can you embrace who you truly are” 

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Next Up On Base 3. December 2016


Haven't done this in a while, but I have 3 books I feel I really want to finish this December, so here they are!

(Also, update on my annual reading challenge: I set out to read 52 books, and I am not doing very well on that one, let me tell you...)

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Book Review 44. In Cold Blood

5096865
Book: In Cold Blood
Author: Truman Capote
Genre: True Crime
Pages: 343
Published: January, 1966

Synopsis: On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

“I thought that Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman. I thought so right up to the moment that I cut his throat.” 

Friday, November 25, 2016

Book Review 43. Winter

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4)
Book: Winter
Series: The Lunar Chronicles (#4)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Pages: 832
Published: November 10th, 2015

Synopsis: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.
Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won't approve of her feelings for her childhood friend--the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter is"n't as weak as Levana believes her to be and she's been undermining her stepmother's wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

★ ★ ★ ★ 

"Broken isn't the same as unfixable."

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Book Review 42. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

29056083
Book: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Series: Harry Potter (#8)
Author: J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne
Genre: Fantasy Play
Pages: 327
Published: July 31st, 2016

Synopsis: It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

“Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch.” 

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Screen Review 2. Kubo and the Two Strings

Image result for kubo and the two strings poster
Movie: Kubo and the Two Strings
Director: Travis Knight
Runtime: 1h 41m
Release Date: August 19th, 2016
Stars:  Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey
Rated: PG

Synopsis: A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

"If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see no matter how unusual it may seem. If you look away, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish."

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Screen Review 1. Fight Club

Image result
Movie: Fight Club
Director: David Fincher
Run Time: 2h 19m
Release Date: October 15th, 1999
Stars:  Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf
Rated: R

Synopsis: An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

"The things you own end up owning you."

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Character Choruses 1. Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow


Hey! I make playlists for my favorite characters all the time, so I thought a good way to keep this blog alive is to post some of them on here! 


My first playlist is for the character Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, from the Marvel Universe. This playlist is titled "Love is for children, I owe him a debt."