Reading The Riot Act

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

van

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular?

The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise—meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.

As an aggressively nerdy and not particularly elegant young lady. I avoid many books abut making over geeks primarily out of shame. Honestly, I expected this book to be a 'the girl takes off her glasses and everyone realises she was pretty all along' kind of book, but it really wasn't. I realise now that yes, she did make a physical transformation, making her more traditionally appealing. But really, this book is a message of inner beauty.

I know what you're thinking, messages? from a fifteen year old. Yeah it surprised me too. But the thing is, this girl has managed to figured out a lot of things I didn't figure out until I turned twenty, and some things I still struggle with now. She has a message and sends it to the masses and yet, it's not preachy. Maya is aggressively relatable, I mean I think most people can relate to the bullied and unnoticed, being seen as the lowest of the low within the school social ladder. Yet Maya deals with this with a gentle grace. That kind of treatment made me very untrusting and angry throughout school, a thing that still afflicts me today. However Maya still manages to remain compassionate and kind in the face of adversity. She speaks for redemption and the pure kindness within humans. It's an incredibly inspiration book and view of the world.

These themes are nicely balanced with the candid humour of Maya's (to quote Tina Fey) 'Word Vomit'. As a tenured professor of making an idiot out of yourself I was well aware of word vomit, bt Maya takes it to a whole new level - when she accidentally recites and entire chapter of The Hobbit and the guy just walks away with no words- I swear I almost peed.

Then we have Maya's brilliant bravery. The guts and moxy she must have had to read what she had to do next and actually gone along with it. I mean who would've known if she hadn't. Every time someone insulted her she just turned it into a compliment. It takes balls to do that and a lot of self respect.

'I don't quite have the same finesse'

Overall I thought this book was delightful and insightful. The laugh to learn ratio was like 1:1. And it kept me thinking after I turned the final page. Maya is exactly what is right with the world and that's a thing we don't think abut enough these days. She's a reminder that people still retain the ability to surprise you and see the best in you.

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

rick riordan

Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Louise Wilkes 11:59:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

But when you're the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh, and guess what? The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive...

Image from Novel Infactuatus

Having finally gotten to the part of The Percy Jackson series I know literally nothing about, I can safely say, I am not disappointed, finally the format changed and it wasn't as innocent and predictable as it was before.

We BOOM! BANG! and CRASH! straght into the action with new heroes, lost friends and the introduction of The Hunters. I loved them I would join them in a heart beat, they are basically the Greek equivalent of angry feminists. Only they kill stuff and have super powers.

So within the first couple chapters, Annabeth is kidnapped or taken or just gone. This left me worrying that the book would be very male dominated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but as a girl, I do enjoy seeing other girls kick ass. Luckily Thalia and The Hunters were there to bring in some intense 1990's style girl power.

Thalia for me is one of those characters that is severely underdeveloped, sure you can tell me shes rock-chick like and she asks like an ass sometimes, but I still don't know anything about her, I can't tell her motives or why she does what she does. She's promptly removed from the whole prophecy situation aswell with her joining the hunters, therefore she will never be 16, solving everyone's problem. If it was gonna be that easy, don't get me all hyped for her return, I want some battle, some inner conflict to be good, GIVE ME SOMETHING!

We are given Hades' children (though we don't know that yet) and one is quickly killed off (or is she?) and the other decides to run off and become evil because of this. But worse than that Percy decides not to tell anyone, I mean come on dude, he could be the kid in the prophecy in what world is keeping that a secret a good idea, seriously. Zoe is by far my favourite character in this book. She was sassy ad tormented, there were motives behind how she was and we were given more and more as the book went on. She's the characters development queen.

The beginnings of romance with Percy and Annabeth is terribly adorable, his book is lacks on Annabeth but the encounters they have are just the sweetest and the scene with Aphrodite when she basically suggests that she writes all the love stories of the world and she cant wait to make there's tragic and see how it all turns out. I just thought that was hilarious. She's all YOU ARE GONNA LOVE HER! and he's all NAH! and then he like panics when he thinks she's leaving. Also why is everyone in love with Luke. I mean is he really that fit, all the girls want this guy and he is like seriously cray cray with his daddy issues.

I did miss Percy's brother and his mum, they were just kind off pushed to the side to make way for the adventure but I'm not complaining. I think as Percy grows the books become much more adult and I am loving it. I can't wait to see how things turn out.

ANNABETH & PERCY?
I SHIP IT!

I also ship GROVER & PAN! They deserve each other!

Tell me what you thought!

Monday, 23 June 2014

Word Nerding

Thoughts on Delirium Pilot

Louise Wilkes 14:15:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

You can watch the Pilot all on the up and up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB0yfeJ2SGI

I, like many readers of the Delirium series, was left feeling unsatsified after Requiem. Therefore with the announcement of a Delirium based television show we were excited initially and then disappointed when the pilot wasn't picked up. However many many months later Hulu (kinda like Netflix only it's not Netflix) have picked up the pilot and it is now available to watch on the internet.

So I watched the trailer and my expectations flew, then I watched the episode and well, my notes consisted of:

Awkward Dialogue
INSTA-LOVE!
Kiss and Declaration of Love 19 minutes in.
Anti-climactic reveal *snore*
Party raid scene was incredible.
Casting is excellent
Julian is delightful but I do not ship him and Hana. YUCK!
Blaze through a lot of info every quickly
Too contemporary, doesn't seem realistic.

I may have been a bit harsh but I studied Media so naturally, I'm aggressively judgmental. I feel like this Pilot will make zero sense if you haven't read the book. The pacing of this episode is awful, it's really awfully written. I can describe it through use of The Vampire Diaries. In the Pilot we get a hint that he is a Vampire and that they will be in love, but none of that happens until later in the series, she doesn't find out and they don't have INSTA-LOVE just to get on with there own rewrite all in the first episode. That pilot enjoyed the journey.

This Pilot was the entire first book, leaving characters and plots underdeveloped. A 300 page book in 43:20 minutes just makes it sloppy. There is so much possibility and fun to be had with this series, she definitely shouldn't have crossed the wall, fallen in love with Alex then watch him die all in 1 episode, that actually makes me angry because there is more to it, development, moments that you yearn for when you read the book.

If I was Lauren Oliver I would be furious. This undermined everything that happened in the book to make way for there ow storyline. I mean you want to add to it and twist it go ahead. TVD didn't exactly stick to the book narrative but it was still TVD at it's core and in fact it was better.

I JUST CANNOT EVEN PUT INTO WORDS MY FRUSTRATION RIGHT NOW! Dammit Delirium.

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

rowling

The Birthplace of Harry Potter.

Louise Wilkes 08:25:00 0

Throughout my many, many years as a Potterhead, I have been to many, many places associated with the Harry Potter World.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter? CHECK!

Leavsden Studio Tour? CHECK!

Real Life Set Locations? CHECK!

But somewhere I'd been meaning to go for many years is The Elephant House Cafe in Edinburgh, where Rowling (atleast once) sat and wrote Harry Potter. Dubbed "The Birthplace of Harry Potter" I don't know why I'd never been before and this week I did. It wasn't all that exciting but I really want to talk about the bathroom!

Yes, I said bathroom.

The bathroom was a work of art.

Potterheads from across the world had come and left their mark. They put up quotes, and recited entire chapters. They made Potterhead puns or maybe just signed there names but they were all there. Real people who had come through those doors, people I would never meet from Canada or Mexico but all people pulled together by a common thread.

They came knowing they would see nothing about Harry Potter or the secrets behind where it came from hidden within the walls, but they came anyway and they left something in what I would call a very fancy cafe' for more and more Potterheads to see and add to. Breathing life into old walls and making the ordinary, extraordinary. And isn't that what the books did in the first place.

Naturally I was immediately compelled to leave my own dedication, but mine was neither pun nor quote, but it stood with the Thank You Graffiti. Calling to a woman who was not there and probably wouldn't be again. But just wanting to put into words, in that moment that I felt so much love for so many strangers I would never meet. I wanted to Thank, the world, the universe anyone who would listen for the gift of these books and all books after that. It's a wonderful life.

"For all the years I was lost and alone, these books saved me. Thank you."

2017 UPDATE!

I returned to The Elephant House!

They also make great Jacket Potatoes!

Friday, 13 June 2014

the fault in our stars

Fuck Fate! The Fault in Our Stars Movie.

Louise Wilkes 01:35:00 0

Yesterday I was able to go to an Advance Fan Screening of The Fault in Our Stars Movie with my sister. Afterwards I sat down and took time for me to put together what I really thought about the movie.

First off, the movie was incredible, Shailene Woodley is so talented and so truthful, I had no qualms about her as Hazel, I really cannot fault her at all. The reviewers are right when they say this adaptation is authentic and respectful to the book. That doesn't mean it is exactly the same it matched up to everythig perfectly in my head. But it felt the same. It felt like how I felt when I read the book. The biggest difference I would say, was Augustus...

Ansel Elgort did not play Book Augustus. I don't care how controversial that is because the girls in my cinema were getting very worked up. Gus in TFIOS is sexy and smouldering and mysterious and very out together. He hides his goofiness even though that's the part Hazel loves most about him. Ansel was all goof, but it worked. I think we can all agree Gus is pretentious, but when a serious, good looking boy s pretentious he can come across as a douchebag. But with Gus being kind of goofy, it allowed us to still like him in a visual medium. We know in the book he's awesome because it's written down, but the direction can't just put some writing at the beginning going

HEY BTW GUS AIN'T A DOUCHE!

That's not how films work, as you may have noticed. But the film was faithful and there were these incredible and beautiful sequences. The journey up the Anne Frank House was lovely and with the voice over you can see the moment Hazel isn't scared anymore. And the moment Gus tells her he's sick and the moment he's dying and the pre-funeral and egging the car. All the bits I wanted were there, all the quotes I'd spent so long wrapping myself in for comfort were there. This is not a movie for Hollywood, this is a movie for readers.

This then got me thinking about how TFIOS is currently the number 1 movie in America, and how for my 18th Birthday, I asked my Grandma to take me to New York so I could buy a Signed, American, First Edition of the book. I didn't know then, that this would turn out to be my favourite book. I didn't know that for the year I begged everyone I knew to read it that within a year after that I would be in a cinema surrounded by crowds of people who loved the story just as much as I did. I didn't realise that loving a book, a solitary act could expand and become something social and wider, something that brings people together not sets them apart. Nobody ever reads the same book, you take something different away with each individual and yet we were all there, together, celebrating what we all took from it.

When we all stood and clapped at the end. I started thinking about Norway. Don't worry this is relevant. Norway translated the poetic, Shakespeare reference title to literally "FUCK FATE". And as I stood in a place with so many people, shouting and whooping at a film I thought about how no one could see this coming. Who could have predicted this? Hollywood doesn't make films about sick people and let that not be the defining aspect of their characters, things like this don't happen. But TFIOS gives a great big, middle finger to fate and demands it will do what it wants.

They say that all films are destined to let the book down, but FUCK FATE! The book is still better, but I have not seen a more faithful and touching adaption than I did yesterday.

Seriously, go see the movie. It is so good.

#feelitfirst

review

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Louise Wilkes 01:12:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.

Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.

How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

Image from Paper Fury

I admittedly, did not expect much from this book. I had never read Patrick Ness and only bought the book due to the John Green review on the cover. That being said, with that being said I was both surprised and disappointed.

Much like the book this review will be in 4 parts!

Part 1! (about Part 1)

Part 1 was dull, Seth wakes up in a strange place and this is all exciting and mind blowing and I am dying to start knowing about what's going on in this world. But instead we get 200 pages of Seth walking around and getting out of breath. The highlight to this was every time Seth passed out we got a glimpse at his past life, particularly his friends and secret boyfriend Gudmund. I thought they were really cute and the dialogue between them was so lovely and the story arc of them so tragic. I found myself dying for Seth to go to sleep. I wanted more Gudmund but I never really got it. I started to assume Seth was in some purgatory type coma state but alas no. We also start to get information on his brother Owen and at this point I had no idea what happened, which is a strong theme of this book, just being on the cusp of knowing but not being told for ages.

Part 2! BANG BANG BOOM!

Part 2 definitely stepped up the pace. The first 200 pages got tedious and suddenly with the introduction of new characters and danger (The Driver) everything got super exciting. In this part Tommy and Regine tell us about the whole Sci-Fi world they are living in , everyone was packed up and there consciousness uploaded to the internet without them even knowing. It blew my mind, I didn't see that coming and a part of me didn't believe that's really what was happening because Seth kept talking me out of it.

Part 3! YOU SHOT HIM IN THE CHEST AND HE GOT UP! WTFFFFF!

There's awesome battles with the driver, evidence that the sci-fi internet mystery is true and suddenly Seth starts to remember everything, his entire virtual life and beyond that, Gudmund, and the murder of his brother that he has been unknowingly punishing himself for. So many kind of shocks in this part and I just blaazed through it. But then it all went down hill.

Part 4...and ending is an ending is an ending?

I got bored at the end, we'd had so many "battles" with The Driver until finally he dies, really randomly as well. We have a few epiphany revelations that don't mean anything because we've already had all the shocks and its the lessons everyone was telling Seth from the off. Theres also no closure, it's a very open ending and almost too open ended. I feel annoyed. There needed to be More Than This (excuse the pun) to satisfy me as a reader.

All in all, it was not a bad book. The 2nd and 3rd part were incredible and it was insightful and smart and blew my mind. It makes you look at the world, what you have, differently. I'd recommend this if you read The Shock of The Fall by Nathan Filer and enjoyed it. It was a lot like that in themes and tone and style. What did you think?