Posts

Showing posts from June, 2014

Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2) by Richelle Mead * * * *

Image
I picked up this book after having enjoyed the first one in the series. I only gave that one 3 stars, because I couldn't decide if I was less thrilled by the story because I had seen the movie, or because it was just not a very thrilling story. The second book I read a lot faster. Finishing a book, in spite of it not being very long, within a week is pretty uncommon for me nowadays. However, about the last 25% was very exciting, and I almost missed my stop on the metro because of it. In fact, the metro was having problems, going extra slow today, and I didn't mind, because I was reading. Returning home I finished it quickly. The story itself picks up right after the last book. I liked how it started, it was kind of mysterious like some of the events in the first book. Though while that one had an actual mystery, this one didn't really. There were some weird things that were found out later, but the first book had an actual "whodunnit", and this one didn...

Shitsuren Chocolatier (JDrama) * * * *

Image
I eagerly waited for this drama, because I'm a huge fan of MatsuJun. I also noticed that he happens to be extra cute when cooking or eating, and since he was going to play a Chocolatier in this drama, I hoped for many scenes like that. It didn't disappoint. The drama itself was very interesting. It was in a way centred around making chocolates, but not the technical side of it, rather the artistic one. As someone with an artistic disposition myself, some of the things discussed in it gave me thought. The other theme of the drama was relationships. Friendships, friends with benefits, love, marriage, unrequited love. The drama examines how relationships develop, and how people are in them. Learning to get out of the relationship what you want, and letting go when reality clashes with your hopes. This is more of an adult drama, as it has sex in it. Casual and non casual, and it's even discussed, which is pretty uncommon in Japanese dramas. However, I never did feel th...

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1) by Richelle Mead * * *

Image
I've known about this book series for a while. It sounded like something I wouldn't like, in spite of my love for vampires. My main issue was that it takes place in a school. I've graduated high school 14 years ago, and since then I tend to be annoyed by stories that take place in a school. Okay, other than Harry Potter. I decided to read this book after seeing the movie. I know it wasn't very popular, but I thought it was a lot of fun. Though compared to the book they amped up the action. I've also read that in the book the friendship between the two girls is more prominent, which sounded good, since I'm not a fan of romance. While the book does have some romance, it's not too much. The story is really about two girls looking out for each other. I've read a lot recently about the lack of female companionship in books. This is just the opposite. Quite refreshing. The school aspect is not prominent in the sense that we don't get details on the differe...

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) * * * *

Image
This movie is like a sci-fi Groundhog's Day in many regards. I have been a great fan of the formula. Especially in the 90s, it was sort of required that every TV show has it. Xena , Stargate SG-1 , Buffy are some memorable examples. The formula is this: a person gets stuck in a time loop for some reason. The only way he / she can get out of it is by solving why they got into the loop, and changing something about their life. It usually requires learning some new ability as well. A problem that this formula can have is that it becomes boring after a while. I remember that the Xena episode had this problem, because she was doing the same thing too much. Stargate changed this by putting some funny elements into it, like when O'Neil played golf at the Stargate. What this movie did to keep it from boring was the huge learning curve that Cage (Tom Cruise) went through, and his romance with Rita (Emily Blunt). The story itself is not boring at all. From the trailer we can gather...