Stuff.

19Aug10

I read The Alchemist. It was pretty good–the very end was magical, but I refuse to review it. I don’t know why.

I also read the Perks of Being a Wallflower. (Chbosky). Just saying.


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Have new books to read.

08Jul10

It’s been a while! Busy busy school year.

I have 3 books. I think two are debuts and one is just awesome. But we’ll see. I was thinking of re-reading Swim the Fly again. Hahaha. But then I got sad because…well you know. So I didn’t bother. Lucky for me, it wasn’t in plain sight. That would’ve been painful too.

The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall

Uh. Something tells me that the ending to this won’t be so great. The story is that some 40 year old depressed woman gets a student that is amazing and then it all just goes downhill from there. That’s what I got from it. Hahaha. Seems pretty interesting.

Freefall by Areila Anhalt

Hm…I remember a cliff. *looks at inside cover* Oh it’s about friendships and murders and stuff. Sounds intense. I’d rather not summarise it because i’d just massacre it. So, we’ll see if I read it or not. Haha.

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk

Oh God, this book. It’s so fun. About a deaf teenager who goes into highschool. I gotta tell ya, this guy is fierce.

Hahaha. And during all this, I need to go read The Alchemist. Hmm. Also, more on what i’m reading. One-shot mangas, a while ago I was reading those left and right.


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[manga] DearS

25Oct09

“Oh Takeya, you’re so genderless!”
“I think you meant generous.”

DEARS! The hentai-ridden manga of the century~. Can’t get anymore perverse than this Peach-pit masterpeice. Like holy shit. But you know what? It was still very charming. I don’t know what dragged me into it; with the pronz and all but. I loved the ending and the emotions and the fact that Ren is so damn clueless. Ah so cute. Also, it’s hilarious. It’s fun.

But please make sure you’re atleast over 14 or something IDK. It’s a great manga filled with fanservice and too many similarities to Chobits. But you know what? Oh well :). Then I can say the same to every Magical Girl anime in the world.

SailorMoon owns.

I didn’t think the ending would be so great. But you just love the characters with all you’ve got and then the ending was just something that made you happy. And filled you up with happpiness.

lmfao did you catch that? ↑

It’s funny, cute and sweet. But it’s still hentai-ridden. LOL.

Mark: 9/10


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[movie] The Art of Seduction

16Oct09

[if anyone finds a tagline please tell XD]

This cute movie is about a woman named Han Ji-won and a man named Seo Min-jun who are both beautiful and are experts in the art of dating/flirting going at each other. When they can’t seem to crack each other, I guess love gets to them. Blah blah, honestly I think the guy won the battle. Not sure though. Maybe I just have the mind of a guy. Which isn’t good.

Anyway minus my gender-bended mindset. Here’s a sweet film about the ART OF SEDUCTION. Yes.

It probably wasn’t the best movie, but it was a great deal better than all the other typical chickflicks. It was genuinely funny and you just feel in love with the characters. The ending was great, not like some “happily ever after” but it wasn’t sad. It was a good fit for the movie. I really can’t say much.

The acting is pretty well done; or maybe I was just watching too much crappy Disney Channel. Oh what can I say? I love this movie; but it wasn’t the best.

It’s definitely in my favourites though because I managed to watch it twice in a month. Haha. It’s well done :).

Mark: 9/10


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[fiction] The Demon’s Lexicon

12Oct09

By: Sarah Rees Brennan

“‘I don’t really get scared. Want to know what else i don’t feel?’
‘PITY’”

The Demon’s Lexicon..hmm. This book wasn’t all that confusing to me as it was to other people. I also think I’m biasing about how I feel about this book because of it’s fantasy genre. I love fantasy. But the thing is, I haven’t read fantasy in maybe…3 years? But this still wasn’t “fantasy-fantasy” like Medieval witches and wizards, knights, kings kind of fantasy. It was realistic but at the same time the thing about demons made no sense. Wouldn’t there be more cases of the symbols then? I just don’t know.

Okay let’s rush this summary before I lost sight of what I have to say for the book.

So Alan and Nick are brothers. Alan’s a good kid. Nick’s an asshole. They’re all caught up in magic stuff. Then one day two people come to their house asking for help and they really can’t do anything for them. But they’re persistent, and even though it pisses Nick off; Alan just has to help. Then, Alan gets bit by some magic snake and he has a mark of his own. Nick is pissed off; but then he’s looking to get rid of Alan’s mark too now. So the two siblings named Mae and Jamie tag along trying to get rid of the cursed demon mark. Somewhere along the way Nick realizes how much Alan has lied to him. Oh shi–

Best. Summary. Ever. ↑

The plot twist however, caught me waaay off-guard. And I started realizing it the same time Nick in the story was realizing it as I read. Sarah has a great way of writing suspense and conveying plottwists and fast-paced realizations without sounding lame.

I on the other hand, have trouble showing that girl got hit by a car without actually writing “THEN A CAR CAME BY AND SMASHED HER IN THE FACE.”. No, I’m only kidding–but seriously, I just can’t do it and sound good.

So she gets points for that. YUS.

In other news, the writing otherwise either was so bad and the story was so grasping that it was great. Or maybe I was watching too many yaoi animes and was hoping after I found out about the truth between Nick and Alan that they’d make out or something.

I’ll just pretend the did at the end. I’ll just pretend.

Nah I’m joking. The story was great; and it was unexpected and well planned out and written. I’m not sure if I’m blinded with bias or anything–but I can’t find anything particularly wrong with this book. Maybe other people thought it was confusing; but I thought it was exciting and thrilling. I think those two mean the same thing, oh well. It was funny at points too. Jamie is such a sweetheart–and he’s bound to get his ass kicked daily but you know, he’s still a sweetheart. Mae was well depicted and I knew Nick and Alan would like fight over her; except they didn’t really fight. They just kind of bitched about it and then after #1 of the big confrontations it was great.

The last chapter was well done. The way Nick was “set free” I hope I’m not spoiling anything because that shouldn’t mean anything to you yet. He got bored. The way him and his brother kinda “re-bonded” was pretty cool too. (I was actually afraid this book would kill it and make him go hug Mae or something. but thank the gods).

When I picked up this book, it was because it was fantasy and I hadn’t read any fantasy in a long, long time.The cover killed me. I just looked at the japanese cover and I’m feeling FMA sick but; it’s better. The UK cover makes my life. And this cover made it seem like it was a sick twist on Twilight. Now I’m not even sure what made me pick this book up.

Whatever it was; this was a good book. I love books that can fit a nice story with a good beginning and a great ending into one book. Those books deserve praising. Some of them may be cliffhangers; sure. But they have to be ending cliff-hangers. The Demon’s Lexicon did the ending pretty well though. At first it was so normal, and then the talisman, then the magic; then wow.

I liked it; I don’t even know why I took it out.

MAGIC.

I have nothing against Twilight; it’s just my stubbornness and my dislike towards the crazy middle school girls that make love to it. I swear to God Twilight is a cult. It could be a good book too, you know? I might actually love it. But…nah getting any motivation.

Oh yeah as a side note; this book mentioned MTV. Yes. MTV. MTV + GOBLIN MARKETS + MAGICIANS + WEIRD TALISMANS = GOOD MODERN FANTASY BOOK.

Mark: 10/10


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[fiction] Skunk Girl

12Oct09

By: Sheba Karim

“As soon as I make it home I run upstairs to my room and tear my clothes off. I stand naked infront of my full-length mirror and twist my head to get a good view of my back. And that’s when I see it. A wide line of soft, dark hair running from the nape of my neck down to the base of my spine; the stripe Asher was talking about. A stripe right down the center of my back, like a skunk. This brings me to a whole other level. I’m not just a hairy Pakistani Muslim girl anymore.
I’m a skunk girl.”

“Skunk Girl” is a book about freedom and respect. It’s about growing up in a world where you’re convinced your parents are slow and can’t catch up. It really illustrates what most girls with religious and cultural parents go through. That’s being tied down.

Nina Khan is a Pakistani Muslim girl. A Pakistani Muslim girl is a girl that has to become a doctor; and has to marry a rich reliable husband—who has to be Pakistani and Muslim himself. Her parents, fearing the American world have landed them self in a town lacking of real racial diversity. Not to mention, Nina’s in high school; a sensitive part of life. One day she crushes on a boy named Asher, even if she knows there’s absolutely no chance with him. That isn’t all either. She goes home one day and realizes how hairy she is as a Pakistani Muslim. It messes around with her life and makes her feel inhuman; like a skunk girl. Without being able to go anywhere, and with all this hair and restrictions Nina Khan’s life is like a miserable pit of doom.

To be honest, this book was cute and easy to get dragged into; and it gets points for being easy to relate to I suppose because my culture isn’t that different from Pakistani culture—but so much could’ve been done to make it better. The writing style was hilarious and it was pretty great, but the structure around the end kind of broke everything apart. I didn’t like it too much, but it was still a wonderful read.

I’m actually not sure how a person with a completely different culture (like the white girls described in this book for example) would react to the stuff in this book. It probably is pretty weird to them. Just like how to the parents; parties make no sense. It almost made me cry because it kind of/ sort of related to me. I guess that was why I even read this book; because in the first thing someone said she used “beta” which isn’t something I’m familiar with really but I know what it means; and I don’t think anyone else that was in the library would’ve known. Maybe that’s the only reason I liked this book. Maybe it would’ve sucked if I wasn’t who I was?

There was a part in the book were Nina’s parents left to Pakistan and left her and her sister; Sonia alone. Nina was invited to parties, to go skiing. She was only allowed to go because her sister was chill, and her parents weren’t there. That says a lot. It’s like those teachers that tell you to practice abstinence and give you some sad, lame teen-fic about getting wasted and getting pregnant. It’s hilarious. (Well, until it’s you maybe)

I’m not sure, but though the structure at the end was a little broken and the book might be only to some people’s taste—I wouldn’t know, I liked this book as a whole and it was cute; but the ending didn’t wrap enough up for me to love it and close the book up and smile. I don’t want to explain the ending and spoil it. So, it just wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t the best; and even though this is Sheba Karim’s first book; I know there’s that one thing that could’ve been changed about the book. But if it were changed; I’m not sure what the message would be anymore. Read it anyway, it’s pretty amusing :).

Mark: 8/10



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[movie] 100 Days With Mr. Arrogance

03Sep09

“Are you crazy? You wanna die?”

This movie was pretty cute; and the main actress was very exageratted. I guess that was part of it. She seemed dorky until she got drunk. (Then I thought she was completely badass). Ahem. Well. Anyway…summary…right.

This beloved chickflick is about a girl who chips a rich arrogant guy’s nice Lexus paint and has to be his slave for it. Then, because it’s a chickflick; they fall in love.

Charming already, isn’t it?

Yeah my summary sucked. That’s because this movie wasn’t too great! I have nothing too much against it,  but I’m starting to think I’m being to nice in these reviews I have way too much in the 10/10 tags and some of them weren’t as great as others. SOOOO. Here. I’m gonna beat this movie down.

No but seriously, it was like any other chickflick. It did make me cry I suppose but then after, I realized it was because I haven’t watched a chickflick in so long. I don’t think “Knocked up” was a chickflick more than a comedy…or rip off of that Hindi movie “Salam Namaste” or “Star Trek”; I don’t know if that movie was one either. Yeah probably not (haha).

So the way it turned into a comedy that kinda made me kinda laugh (Oh my God that woman who thought the dork girl–yes sorry I forgot her name already, was a pervert was freaking hilarious!) and then it turned into a sappy romance. My first that was “Wow what a jump O_o”. Well, at least they ended with “You’re such a prick” or something but I’m a sucker for the chickflicks so somehow I saw them falling in love. SOMEHOW. But really, the only reason they were perfect for eachother was because the screenplay said so.

I’m sure otherwise it would’ve been the least believable couple.

Good actors though :D. Thank God we have that.

So even though the movie wasn’t too great; I loved it. But yes, it doesn’t deserve a ten. And honestly it wasn’t that great; but hey it’s great if all you want is a chickflick with a happy ending for sure.

You see the ones that aren’t funny in the beginning have BAD endings :D. That’s what I’ve learned from Korean drama/movies. Even if they’re funny in the middle.

Ugh. Here we go.

Mark: 7/10

I know. I’m going to go cry now.


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[fiction] The Vast Fields of Ordinary

09Aug09

By: Nick Burd

“I got in the shower and scrubbed my entire body with mint shower gel, then rinsed myself and did it all over again. After the shower I stretched out on the bed and let myself cry for a few minutes in the soft flash of the purple Christmas lights that ran long the edges of the ceiling around my room. I told myself that it was okay that I was crying, that it was necessary part of mourning, because that’s what I was doing. I was mourning the end of everything that had defined my life up to this point: Pablo, my parents’ marriage, this house and Cedarville and the very idea of home. My new home was in the life that was waiting somewhere on the other side of the summer. It was college and Fairmont and the great tower of adulthood that loomed before me. I stared at the lights and thought of these things until I wasn’t crying anymore, until their mild flickering had coated me with a numbness that I was able to confused with acceptance.”

“The Vast Fields of Ordinary” is a heartwarming book that’s filled with uber amounts of “real”. I couldn’t get enough of it. This is a debut novel by the way. Nick Burd has an amazing way with words. I’m not sure where he gets it from, but his writing will surely inspire me the moment I get started on my own shit.

This book is about Dade Hamilton, a gay guy who is going on to escape his little home called Cedarville; which has grown out to be total crap to him. His “boyfriend” who himself is confused of his own sexuality is always giving him shit and his parents are in their own about-to-break-up world. There’s also reports of this missing girl named Jenny Moore and it just bugs him; how it feels to be lost like that. Dade feels like he’s living in hell. This all changes when he meets Alex Kincaid. And you know… yeah.

And my summary honestly (I know) sucked; it was actually a lot more. Foreshadowing here and there. Parts where; you’d have to pay close attention to understand; for them to have meaning. When I first read it; some things came out of nowhere seemingly like the purple Christmas lights, the having no one close dying and how Dade wrote “DH+PS” in a heart. Turns out that whole heart incident was the first thing Nick mentioned even happening in the book. (Heh, whoops). I still almost feel like the last time I had someone close die was too long for me to remember. I mean, I was really really young. It’s almost as if now; I forgot the feeling. God forbid I need to experience it; but it’s so hard for me to write those scenes now; and I never understand what the character is really going through. I have an idea though.  I guess I kinda remember? I don’t know.

Anyway…

God, I may not be able to fully relate to this book, but where I can—it’s just beautiful. Honestly to me the ending did seem pretty rushed. I dunno, it meant nothing though. I still knew it was gonna wrap up. And there was probably no other way to do it. I wanted to know what happened to Alex though. I really did. Oh well. That’s why we have fanfiction. I was pretty okay with the ending after a while. Besides, before every separator thingie and at the end of each chapter, there was this very deep, fitting, and firm ending or conclusive line that just made you smile or you know; turn the damn page to read something else well written.

Go read it. It’s an awesome debut! It’s one of those books where the ending makes you turn through the extra white pages (Why do they have those there?) and smile!

Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

The  beautiful writing, great foreshadowing, realism, and hot gay romance moments (lol) give this book a…

Mark: 10/10

Surprise, surprise ;]


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[fiction] Surface Tension

29May09

By: Brent Runyon

“At thirteen he’s excited. At fourteen he’s cool. At fifteen he’s pissed off. At sixteen he’s in love.”

Maybe I’ll be a little bias because I finished this book LAST night, so I’m out of it. Be right back, i’ll read the ending again. … Not working. Okay maybe I should face it.

This book is about a boy growing up as he goes to place he loves the most in the summer time. Summer’s the time where you roam free and shit. His place to roam free and get away from troubles is the lake. As Luke grows up, 13, 14, 15, then 16, the changes that go on within him are shown.

I really liked this book, though the ending seemed a little cut short. That’s cool and all, I mean I could’nt have found another way to end it quick (because what way would there be to end it). It seemed weird though. Sure him and Claire are all good and well, but…ugh Sophie–what’s her purpose? It’s so weird.

It feels like a lot of things were forgotten. Otherwise. It’s a beautiful book. Absolutely read it, it’s a great way to understand change. It’s interesting how Brent Runyon wrote this book with summers as different sections.

I really enjoyed it. The ending? I don’t know.

Well nuff sed right? Get a copy :). It’s beautiful anyway.

Mark: 9/10


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[fiction] Swim the Fly

17May09

By: Don Calame

Well here we are, the funniest book I’ve ever read. I’m damn serious. It was funnier than The Boy Next Door AND Peeled AND My Mother is a French Fry I KNOW RIGHT? Unbelievable. I was laughing outloud. It was just amazing. It reminded me a lot about ROUGH (j-movie) because of the whole epic swimming scene/love story. It was cute, hilarious. I’m not really sure though if this was meant for boys or girls.

I guess it’s for those non-bitchy girls who just laugh at the shit guys do. Guys are amazing when they don’t think xD.

Crap, that came out wrong.

The book’s about a boy named Mark Matt who’s on the swim team and chooses to take up the difficult ordeal of swimming the fly. (or butterfly–google it). All this to impress a girl–Kelly. Not only that, his friends have thought up of their new summer goal–to see a girl naked. Hell of a summer they’re asking for.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. It’s amazing. Holy shit. I even decided to send the guy an e-mail because he’s so damn good. The ending was magical it had me frozen for a bit to register the book was over. It only took me about two days to finish–which was I think faster than Smiles to Go! Wow I know. That took three days? Whatever. This book. Just read it okay?

I was laughing sooo damn hard and long (shut up….).

Haha, just read it? I ended up kissin’ it. I’m in love with this book.

Mark: 10/10


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