Alyssa Brandon's Blog, page 2

The First Book Comes…First!?!

I spend a serious amount of time trying to find books to read. I mean I sometimes spend more time looking for something to read than actually reading it. One of the things I hate most about lists (mostly on blogs and forums) is that people sometimes list their favorite book in a series instead of the first one – like if this for example:

My favorite fantasy books

1. Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

2. The Good, the Bad and the Undead

3. River Marked.

And so on.

All of these are some other number rather than the first in the series. And I so wish people would post the first in a series. At least with book series where you need to read the first few books to “get” the world. (That would make the list – 1. HP & Philosopher’s stone 2. Dead Witch Walking 3. Moon Called)

I get that some people might just love one of the books super duper much. But frankly it makes it a lot hard to figure out if you read book# 1 of the series and hated it or if you might want to read book 1 before reading  the suggested book which nr #X in the series. So when not referring to a spec topic, why not just put the first book in a series first? If you love some books of the series more you can mentioned that in your “read why” section maybe?

It might sound be weird and a little wonky of me but I want to read a book, I don’t want to start with nr. 5 in the series. I want the one first and then the rest. Especially with books that are a SERIES. Which a lot of Urban Fantasy and Fantasy books are and what I read most.

At the same time I get that if you’re searching for ‘hunky millionaire’ books, you might just want books with hunky millionaires and not all books might feature that (even in the same series.) This is more common with more stand alone romance novels with a new couple in every book. Then I think it’s totally fine.. I mean sometimes you just want to read about a hunky rich dude, right?

But you gotta admit it’s kind of weird when you got to ‘best young adult novels’ and get Catching Fire instead of the Hunger Games as number one. As Goodreads thankfully these days always have the series along with the title in a (parenthesis) this is less of a problem than it used to be back in the “good old days of yore” when you looked up lists on blogs and forums more often than not. But still for me the first book still comes, well, first.

 

Inside the head of a boy…(How to write from a guy’s POV)

Writing from a guy’s POV is something I find kind of hard. It’s interesting but it also requires some different things than writing from a girl’s POV. Since I am a girl, girly things come easier to be than boy things. Heck I’m mostly clueless what my heroes do when they aren’t saving the world with my heroine. Okay – they play x-box and guitar hero because that’s what my guy friends do. Ohh and they build stuff and drink beer. Some like bowling too!

So to make things easier for all the gals trying to write like a guy – I put together a list of things I found helpful to think about when writing a male character. This is from reading male authors, talking to some guy friends and reading about writing guys as a girl. There are apparently a few things guys do differently than women – these are not fact or anything just some things that seem to be true.

What Do Yous Think About?

1) Sex: It’s not a myth there all lots of studies that proves boys think about sex between two and three times more often than girls. This dose not mean all guys go around just thinking about boobs and other girl parts all the time. Just that sex is slightly more in the front part of their brain than for us ladies. Guys are a lot about things they can see rather than things they can feel. They’ll probably be all “wow she’s totally hot and I love it when she reaches for things so I can see some of her belly – and she’s kind of cool to talk to too! What a catch.”

2) Gossip is stupid. This might be hard to comprehend but most of the time men (apparently) think it’s completely waste of time to talk about whether Lisa and Lucas hocked up at Mark’s party. Sure John might find it interesting but that’s only because he has a crush on Lisa or something. Otherwise they don’t really care.

3) Like to think about one thing at a time: their not all out there. When it’s time to do write they write. They don’t check their email and chat while writing about how Chuck is about to kill the gigantic squid. The stick to talking about how great the football game was until they talked it through a hundred times. When they’re playing x-box they’re playing x-box and can’t be expected to talk about how unfair the world is at the same time.

What Do Guys Do?

1) They do things: Unlike females who like to talk about what we’re going to do guys actually do things not just sit around thinking or talking about it. It’s do or die for them – something some ladies could learn a thing or two by copying. (me included – gotta get back to writing when I’m done here!)

2) Don’t talk around things – most of the time guys are blunt. If they don’t want to do something they just say “That sounds boring. I don’t want to do it.” most women go “yeah sure that’s a pretty nice idea but maybe we could do this other thing instead.” Your male character might be shy or timid and not want to offend the character he’s talking to but if that’s the case he’ll probably just shut up and go along with it. No matter how boring he thinks it sounds.

3) Care about their hair and clothes. Even if you are a guy (or writing from the POV of one) you’re not going to be like “I picked up whatever was on the floor and didn’t brush my hair or teeth before leaving the house” unless your character is a complete slob. Your guy character might not pick up a pair of jeans and go “wow my butt would look so great in these” but they probably have favorite clothes they think make them look more muscular, thinner or taller too. Don’t go overboard but remember it’s not just girls that want to look hot!

Now this is very general. All guys aren’t this way – because we are all people before we’re men/women. I think what’s really most important to remember when writing male (or female character for men). All your characters are human (well unless they’re werewolves or wizard but you get my point). I really like what G.G.R. Martin said about writing women “You know, I’ve always considered women to be people.” I think that’s one of the key aspects of writing a character, be it a he or a she, is that s/he is an individual with dreams, desires and demons. So when you’re having trouble with writing a male character just remember, we’re more similar than we’re different; so focus on the character as an individual and you’ll do just fine!

[image error]

Random funniness bonus: Why men are never depressed!

ARC copies + Preorder Time!

I’ve been trying to write up this little post since I got my books a few weeks back! Well my ARC copies – Advance Reader Copies! But at first I was just so excited and then once that lessened a bit I wasn’t quite able to put the excitement down on ‘paper’, so to speak.

The book is so pretty and it’s so weird to have an actual book. It’s been so long in the making it’s almost hard to believe. After all the editing and re-writing and just general stuff that takes way longer than one would think – it’s an actual book! And this isn’t even the hard cover  which I’m thinking is going to be even more awesome!

Here are some photos of the books! Just because![image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

Don’t you just love them? They’re even prettier for reals neither my camera nor my photographing skills really dosen’t do them justice!

Can’t wait for April 10th!

If you want to pre-order a copy (or two, books make great gifts) you can do that at any of these retailers!

Amazon

BAM

Powell’s

Indiebound

Ebooks

Google Books

Apple iTunes

Kobo

[image error] [image error]

Review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Five second review of this review: I enjoyed Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets a lot. But my like for it, just like a lot of the movie itself, dosen’t really make a whole lot of sense.

[image error]

So a few of my favorite TV shows are SF (Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Dark Matter) so when there is a interesting looking SyFy movie coming out I usually at least try to check it out. Especially when it’s an adaption of a cult classic like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is.

I meant to watch this in theater but I just never got around to it. I’m not sure if it was the box office fail or the somewhat lackluster reviews or maybe the fact that the trailer didn’t really give me a clear idea of what the film was really about that stopped me. But with its release to DVD I decided it was time to give it a watch.

And I’m glad I did. Because it’s a occasionally funny, cool but most of all visual stunning film. Lots of reviewers complain about the lead actors, the script and the plot and even claim it was the worst movie of the year. Which I think is totally unfair. For while there might something to all of those complaints the movie still has something. Something that made me really like it, even though some (*cough* lots) of stuff isn’t quite up to snuff.

I mean for one Valerian and Laureline both look like should be heading off for spring break (in  1975) rather than top secret missions in space. I know the actors are 31/25 but they look like teenagers. Not at all like the comics or the cartoon where they’re both very much adults.

[image error]

Duuuude, where’s the party?

Secondly – what’s with the weird ass marriage proposal? And why do I sort of like it while thinking it totally lame? Seriously don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it’s the spirit of it I like (V getting the pearl – and you just know it’s because he’s thinking engagement ring – it turning out to be majorly important, the whole commitment/ play-list thing at the end), but the dialogue is…well more often than not, a bit awkward. Like borderline stupid awkward. But you only start to really notice that on the second watch (yes, I did watch it two times. I’m nerdy like that.)

I know some reviewers complained V/ L didn’t have chemistry but I think they did. Kind of. At least enough to make it work. But maybe that was just what happens when you have too very pretty, young main characters in a movie. We decide to find a “love story” because that’s just what we expect/ want. Just a thought. I find Cara Delevingne to be the more interesting and well acted one of the duo and despite some people claiming she should stick to modeling. So kudos to Cara.

Anyways, what’s really cool about this movie is the world. We don’t get the whole time police vibe from the comics and there is no mention of time travel, but there is still plenty of cool and beautiful stuff going on, from awesome jelly fish mind reading, to gigantic crashing space ships, cute magic animals, Rihanna as a shape shifting stripper, alternate realities, the Pearls and just the Alpha station itself. It’s just straight up cool.

[image error]

Um, yeah, so that’s a poster and not in the movie. Still very cool!

 

[image error]

When you level up a strip tease

[image error]

It’s not Avatar… really!

[image error]

We’re pretty, the light is cool and violets are blue! (yeah I know it makes no sense)

 

[image error]

It’s even cuter in the movie!

[image error]

This would either be awesome or make you throw up in IMAX.

Okay so those pics don’t really do it justice, but just trust me (or watch the movie) it’s very visually pleasing. But of course you can’t see a movie (or give it a good review) just because of the prettiness of the special effects. Because these days special effects are a dime a dozen. We see them all over, in almost every new movie that comes out. And that’s not what I doing either- I’m not redeeming or forgiving or telling you Valerian and the city of a thousand planets is awesome because it looks good, really.

[image error]

Hi, we’re quirky!

I’m doing it because it’s not the special effects, it’s not the plot or the characters. (Or maybe it’s a little bit the characters, because I do love me a mismatched duo with UST. But also not.) It’s not anything I can really put my finger on. I can’t point to any one thing and say this is why I love it. If I had to pick a I think it would be the quirkiness of all of it.

It’s the fact that our heroes look like kids, are so weirdly dressed, the wacky minor characters and almost game like side quests, the obvious bad guy, the “pigeons”, the unreal proposal and love situation, the drink that dosen’t spill, Rihanna’s sexy dance and her awesome pimp,

[image error]

this!

the unbelievable intelligence of the Pearls, the monster dog thingie on the buss, the call back to the comics about how V is always later (despite piloting a time machine). It’s all of those things together. Because looking at them as singlar / separate things often just make them bad – but together they’re weird and just somehow totally work for me.

The movie also just different somehow from the normal action SF stuff. Maybe it’s the French director / the fact that it’s not a Hollywood flick. It’s both very now and makes me think of my favorite SF from the 90s and at times Buffy (maybe that’s just kick ass girl with blonde hair.) It’s not my new favorite movie of all times but it’s cool/ interesting enough that I want a sequel (scrips for 2&3 are supposedly already written!) and even if we don’t get one I will probably still watch this one again just because.

Is there things I would change? Yes, quite a bit of dialogue, probably having a more boy-scout-y more grown up Valerian and maybe done something different with the whole proposal/ “romance” bit. But also no. Because this movie might be cringe worthy at times but it’s still somehow totally awesome. Just like how maybe The Fifth Element was back when it first came out. So totally weird (it’s still is) and totally failing at the box office. But now it’s a big time classic. Maybe that’s what’s going to happen with Valerian. It could probably also go the other way with it fading into the void of interesting movies that didn’t quite get enough of a following to be remembered.

Time will tell I guess! Now I give you some cute things in the hopes that if nothing else has convinced you to go give it a watch, these little guys will!

[image error]

 

 

Once Upon a Time + Lucifer and not much else

So usually in the fall sometime I tend to write up a little collection of reviews of all the shows I’ve just started watching and some of the oldie good ones I’m coming back too.

This year there really haven’t been many new shows I’ve been interested in. I’ve half halfheartedly started watching The Good Doctor which is interesting but I’m not super duper hooked. I have some hopes for Fox’s Ghosted but haven’t gotten around to checking the first few episodes out – but it looks pretty funny, right?

There are a few other new shows I’m mildly interested in, but so far I’m not super excited about any of them. Maybe 2017 is a bad TV year for me or perhaps I’m growing up and getting too busy to nerding out (naaww, you never get too old for nerding).

Also I’m not sure if if the “new” Once Upon a Time should be considered a new show or an old one. All but four characters/ three actors are gone, totally new setting, and while the premises is the same as season 1 of OUAT it’s also different somehow.  After three episodes I’m kind of liking it enough to keep watching even though I was kind of prepared to not like it at all. I think a lot of why I like it is because in episode 2 (SPOILER) we did learn that Emma/RealHook along with all our other favorites in Storybrooke are living happily ever after. So that whole story haven’t been erased and re-set, which I knew wasn’t going to happen but I was still worried. And hopefully we’ll have Captain Swan’s kid meet Lucy (who thanks to the weirdness of the OUAT timeline will be about the same age as her). Can’t say that’s not a big part why I kind of want to keep watching!

So the gang in Seattle we got Regina who deserves a happy ending, AlterHook who is looking for his daughter and Henry just trying to figure out his place in the world/ hook up with Cinderella (the new version) from the Storybrook cast. These three I understand why no one is missing (especially since we learned that they teamed up to go look for Ella in ep. 2).

But what about Rumple? Didn’t he and Belle get their evil kid returned to baby shape and were off to live happily ever after?

[image error]

Did this new curse make Belle and everyone else forget about Rumple in Storybrooke? Or is CopRumple a dubble of Rumple just like Hook? I’m thinking/hoping we’re going to get the answers before soon.

Also Fiona from Burn Notice is the bad guy! (gal)! I loved Burn Notice and it’s so fun too see a familiar face. OUAT have a pretty decent record of making their villans have decent motives and backstory and redeeming them (occasionally) and I hope we get something more Regina like from Lady Tremaine(?spelling?). I mean dead kid is a pretty good excuse to go a little evil, right? Almost better than dead stable boy BF!

[image error]

I do feel motives are a bit fussy, which might just be me, but normally I know what’s going on with everyone. We got Hook/ Henry / Regina plotting against Evil!Fiona because…because? I get they each had some little motive but I’m not sure. Same with Rumple – is he on GoodTeam or BadTeam (or TeamRumple as always) – does her remember?

I Regina totally awesome as a bartender?

[image error]

The answer is so totally and completely YES! And the scene with her and Henry meeting and the whole ‘imagine if I walked in here and told you I was your kid’! Totally awesomesoup!

Anyways, OUAT without Emma and the Charmings feels a little weird but at the same time their stories are over. This season is something totally new, which I’m just going to attempt to enjoy. But I will admit part of why I’m watching is just because of the familiar faces and the hope of re-visiting Storybrooke to see how everyone’s happy endings turned out!

Now on to another favorite of mine – I was going to say old time favorite because it feels like I’ve been fan girling over Lucifer for years and years but this is only the shows third season

More Game of Thrones – Season 7 Ending Thoughts!

Okay so second GoT post in a row. Still kind of obsessing over it and need to vent a little about the end of season 7 and everything that’s been going down and change some predictions.

I’m still pretty sure about Jon staying alive but with all the talk of Dany not being able to have babies (which means she can) I’m starting to worry Game of Thrones is going to turn into Babies Ever After.  Okay, that probably won’t happen since it is GoT after all, but it does seem like the chances of Dany having a bun in the oven from the boat sex is likely.

[image error]

So I feel like I should correct my earlier ‘no-no that’s not going to happen’ thing. I guess something like it is going to happen. In the show. I really hope/ don’t think it will in the books. But what do I know! Anyway a possibly Jon-Dany pregnancy is going to cause quite a bit of trouble (if there is enough time to have actual thoughts about it. It might end up being a ‘I’m knocked up-oh no- I’m dead‘ situation).

We have a few issues and depending on what order the character get the info it will change how they handle it.

Let’s say Jon and Dany learn about Jon being the ‘true’ (at this point does it even matter whose the throne is by inheritance?) heir to the Iron Throne before Dany learns she’s up the duff.  Her reaction might range from murderous to miffed to Dany suggesting they marry to strengthen both their claims (she thought she’d marry her brother for most of her life so she won’t have a problem with the incest) or Jon might denounce his ‘claim’ and that will be end of it. Or she could be all super hormonal pissed about it. But it seems they’re making Dany more heroic and stuff, so she’ll probably be okay with it.

If Dany tells him she’s pregnant, even before any of that Jon will probably insist they marry  because of his whole bastard issue and they’ll probably be happy about it. (Until Jon learns she’s his aunt, but then it will be too late and he’ll be like ‘whatever’ after a minute).

Their marriage, from either baby-issues or Tag Iron Throne claim might fuck things up even more with the northers for Jon (more bending the knee) or not. They might be all, right, we have a norther as King of all of the seven kingdoms Go Team! They seem pretty fickle, first not following Jon, then following him, then wanting to make Sansa their Queen.

Sansa will probably not like the Jon/Dany thing, no matter what form it takes. She was all annoyed about him bending the knee, actually putting a ring on it might really piss her off. At this point maybe Arya and Sansa are on the same “team” and will both be Anti-Dany, which along with the Tagaryan revelation might put some distance between them and Jon. They won’t like being expected to ‘kneel’ to the south again, now that they have reclaimed the their home and the north and killed off Little Finger. Not sure.

Over all though I liked 7×07. It was a lot more enjoyably than episode 6, which made no sense time-wise or motivation-wise. It was just for the Dany saving them/ Jon being stupidly heroic thing + so the WW would get a dragon. 7×06 was my least favorite episode of the WHOLE series. Seriously I’d rather do the Red Wedding again. All of season 7 and some of 6 have been a bit less awesome though, probably because that’s where the source material ends and GRRM haven’t been involved.

Anyways ep. 7 had lots of things happen and it felt like we made some progress. Dany showed off her dragon. Cerci was being her Cerci self – saying one thing and doing another and always having a devious plan. The Starks took down Little Finger, is a rather unsatisfying way, but whatever. Jon got to be honorable which fucked things up. As Always.

 

[image error]

Starks and their honor

I got a little bit of a ‘aww cute’ for the Dany/ Jon moment at the dragon pit but I’m still not feeling the pairing. It’s like when you have those two friends you thought would be great together and you set them up and they’re like “okay we’re supposed to like each other, we’re both hot and stuff so let’s sleep together” because people expect it. That’s where I’m at with the Dany/Jon thing right now. For me it’s more of a “we’re both pretty and young and have power so lets hook up” than true love vibe going on.

Despite it being a little convenient I liked how we got Bran and Sam figuring out Jon’s parentage parallel to him and Dany sleeping together. Thumbs up for that. I’m just not really sure what they’re going to do with Jon being the true heir, the Dany relationship or the Great War. Is Dany going to be the “Princess that was Promised” via her and Jons baby and die (along with her dragons) in early season 8 while defeating the WW and the “Final Battle” will then be Jon leading her armies to destroy Cerci?

[image error]

Is Jon vs. Cerci going to be the last war?

I still refuse to believe the war with the WWs is the final battle. But maybe it will be. It won’t in the books but in the show it might…still I hope it will be something else and I really would have liked a Jon vs Dany conflict. I feel like that would really fit in with the whole show. Having the story’s two “heroes” got to war against each other for reason we understand and agree with (on both sides) and us not knowing not quite who to route for.

Not sure, but for now I’m going to (try to) put Game Of Thrones out of my mind since it’s going to be more than a year (some say spring 19) until we get the last season. It’s going to be really interesting to see how D&D will wrap everything up and I really hope it’s at least going to be moderately satisfying.

I’m wish they’d throw in a little more politics and shades of gray but with most power hungry families blown up (or poisoned or set on fire and) Little Finger gone and pretty much everyone but Cerci and Euron on the same team it’s beginning to look like ‘white-ish team’ (Dany & Jon), ‘dark-gray’ (Cerci & Euron) and ‘black’ team (the White Walkers) instead of lots of shades of gray.

Speaking of gray, right now Jamie really is the most interesting of the bunch (he’s always been).  By their relationship to him Brienne, Cerci, Brom and Tyrion are also interesting. Jamie got his past, his present with Cerci and their possible baby as well as what his conscious, honor and heart tells him.  He is also the one character I don’t feel like I got pegged right now. Is he off to join the Starks/ Dany – how will that go? Or what? What’s his plan? What’s his next step? Will he find redemption? Will he return to Cerci? Will he fight against her?

The rest of the cast I feel I got pretty well pegged.

Team Dany + Jon are off to fight the WW. Team Stark and the north will be joining up with them. They’ll go off and fight the walkers and win but with lots of casualties.

Maybe Dany and Jon will get married, maybe Jon will denounce his claim to the throne and end things because Dany is his aunt, but then with her probably ending up pregers change his mind? Whatever personal drama, I can’t really invest since I’m pretty sure she will die and I don’t feel like Jon knows/ loves her enough for her death to be emotionally devastating. It’s also like on one hand – zombies are coming to kill everyone – other hand these people just hooked up and might be into each other. I mean you don’t watch Game of Thrones for the romance. So it’s like whatever. I’m more interested in how the Starks / Jon dynamic will be affected by his Dany relationship.

Team Cerci will be all ‘power, power, me want’ and she might go full Mad Queen if/when she loses her baby (and hears Jamie is dead). I’m thinking things will end tragically, but Cerci as Queen and actually ruling and commanding armies isn’t as interesting as it was when there was actual political maneuvering. And her costumes suck these days. And why isn’t her hair growing?

Those are our two teams. Jon and Dany will be off defeating the WW. Cerci will be conquering the seven kingdoms. I feel like that’s all rather predictable (but with GoT something totally unexpected could happen, but as of late it’s been pretty lacking in the OMG I didn’t see that coming). At least one more dragon + ice dragon will probably die. I’m thinking Dany and Jamie too. After that it will finish off with some sort of big battle between actual human armies.

Weather it ends up being Cerci vs. the Starks/ Tag (which seems more likely than my original Tagarayn vs. Tagaryan theory), or something else remains to be seen. Maybe Dany will go Mad Queen instead of Cerci. Maybe Jon’s death causes it (even though I still don’t think he’ll die, but it would be interesting if he did). Or Dany will lose another baby but live herself and that will cause some Mad Queen stuff. Maybe we’ll have two pregnant Queens fighting the last battle and it will end up being called the ‘Battle of the Bellies’!

As for the absolute end predictions, I’m still thinking Sansa (possibly Jon) in Winterfell. The Iron Throne either melted to nothing or a bunch of new families struggling to get power. Dany + the dragons dead, but maybe she will get to sit on the throne first. I don’t think Jon will take the Iron Throne, but with how they’re playing things it seems more and more possible. Before I didn’t think Jon on the throne was possible, but now with him legit, I’m upgrading it to a possibly-maybe. Just because this for reals would be awesome!

[image error]

My death predictions are quite similar to my previous post. I still think Jon will live. Even if the whole The Lone Wolf Dies Sansa speech (lone-wolf has been Jon/ Arya for most of the show and now Arya is home but Jon is not) but then again he’s not a Stark. But he is, because he said Ned was Theon’s dad no matter what, which clearly applies to him. And him dying might be a trigger for Dany somehow. So not as 100% sure he’ll survive but still pretty sure.

I’m still thinking Dany is the one who will die. Ghost and Sansa will live, Arya and Cerci will die. Tyrion will live. Brom too. Thing I really changed my mind about is I now believe Jamie will dies for a Stark, completing his redemption ark. Maybe Bran. Or Sansa since she has a connection with the tower Bran was pushed out from; it was where she lit a light for help when escaping from Ramsey. (Brienne would remember and maybe they’d use the system again? And if she and Jamie meet up, he’d go with her and they’d save Sansa together and Jamie would die – I’m just not sure from what since there isn’t a whole lot enemies left in Winterfell with LF gone.) I also think Brienne will live which I was a little iffy on in my first post.

As predicted / spoiled Little Finger died in episode 7, in a quite unsatisfying way. I mean all the Starks did was throw some accusations out there and execute him on the spot. Not cool. Balish not having a clue or a trick up his sleeve + him begging for his life felt kind of out of character.

It seems Tormund died at the Wall. We didn’t get a hound/ mountain show down which I thought was going to happen so that was a little disappointing. And it seems Gendry has been put back on a boat – maybe he died as the Wall fell too? We didn’t see him so let’s hope not. Maybe he’s just been hiding on Dany’s boat, chilling out. I really hope so because I want a Arya / Gendry reunion. Not sure what I’d want (I don’t ship them as a couple) from their meet but I do know I want them to reunite. Same for Arya and Sansa both meeting the Hound again.

[image error]

Game of Thrones – Why Jon Won’t Die and Other Predictions!

So I’ve recently become an obsessive Game of Thrones fan. I mean I usually marathon-ed each season after it was done airing, hating the week long wait between each ep, but last year I was just like ‘mmm no, I don’t have time and I just get annoyed because there is still so long until the end’ so I skipped it. So instead I watched some of season 5 and all of season 6 right before the start of  season 7. And now I can’t stop obsessing over it. It’s really very annoying.

Anyway, on to the whole “Jon Snow Won’t Die” theory. Martin has said the ending will be bittersweet (or as Ramsey put it “if you thought this had a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention”). Lots of people think that means Jon will die or the Starks will die or Jon and Dany will hook up and fall in love and then one of them will die and leave the other with their magic perfect Stark/ Targaryen baby to rule the seven kingdoms with Tyrion as his hand.

Um. No. Sorry to break it to you. That’s not going to happen. Nuhu. No. Nope. Not a chance.

[image error]

Best ending ever: All the characters die along with the WW. Pod will get the Iron Throne and together with all the whores in Kings Landing repopulate the world. LOL. No. Let’s be serious.

Sure, people will die. They’ll be dropping like flies this season most likely and in season 8 even more people will bite the dust. Before the end Little Finger, Cerci, possibly Arya and most definitively Dany will be gone (along with lots of other minor characters).

But Jon Snow/ Stark/ Targaryen will not die.

The reasons why: he has already died once, he asked the Red Lady not to bring him back if he died again and finally because we kind of expect it.

A) Having him die once and then die again… I’m not sure if that makes sense. Especially since he died to bring the Free Folk and NW men together. I think Jon is going to somehow broker a peace between the WW and the Seven Kingdoms in season 8, and having him die for the ‘same’ reason (ie bringing two peoples peace) is not Martin’s style. I don’t think so any way.

B) He asked Melisandre not to bring him back if he died during the Battle of Bastards, meaning he was sort of ready to die. I mean he was in a pretty bad head space at that point but still. I think Jon has always been ready to sacrifice himself, and it’s almost something he wants. I’m not saying he’s suicidal, just that he’s ready and willing to die for the right cause/ the people he loves. So he won’t. Simple Martin logic

Move Review: Descendants 2

So maybe I’m technically is getting too old for Disney movies and it is kind of dorky and way more kid friendly than I normally go for, but I still freaking love Descendants!

The Nr. 2 one more than the first one actually!

Why?

(Spoilers! duh!)

Mal turns into a dragon. So seriously awesome!

[image error]

Through out the movie(s) her eyes turn green when she’s getting annoyed…first I was just like; magic vibes or whateves! Then WHAM dragon!

[image error]

Totally cool! But the dragon bit isn’t the only reason why I like this movie more than the first one (normally I love book/movie/season 1 but with this one it’s different).  Probably because in this one it’s so much easier to relate to what Mel (and everyone else) really wants.

Movie one was all – we’re “bad”, but we kind of want to be “good”, our parents want us to be “bad”, life here is pretty cool, let’s spell a prince and be “bad” and then let’s just be “good”.

Kind of a lot of back and forth and all through it. And that was the point I guess. But we all knew they were going to end up being “good”. Maybe the whole problem lay in the whole either “bad” or “good” even though it was dressed some in the sense that some of the supposedly “good” students weren’t always all that nice. I felt the bad and good was a lot more blurred in movie 2.

In the first one Mal spelling Ben was also wacky. Or maybe the  unbelievable fact that  he forgave her and was into her after that. I mean, daughter of evil dragon/fairy (originally Maleficent is a fairy isn’t she?) spells you and makes you break up with your real girlfriend (and sing a rather silly song in front of the whole school) and your reaction is to think she was so into you that she used the spell and forgive her? I guess he did kind of like her before, but I’d still be weirded out.

[image error]

In movie 2 we have Mal and Ben having some sort of realistic trouble with her faking being the perfect lady/princess and that’s what kicks everything off. Through out Mal is unsure  if Ben likes her for her or for the fake princess act she’s put on and in the end it’s realizing he does love her for her that ‘saves the day’. Much better love story.

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the first one because it was more fun and light somehow (even though it had lots more worrying parent/ child borderline abuse going on in it.) But the second one just flowed better and the theme was smoother.

Movie 2 “theme”:Mal is insecure about trying to be something she’s not – she breaks up with Ben and goes back to the “Evil Island” – he follows and tries to convince her to come back, she turns him down, he gets kidnapped – she has to save him and in the fight she no choice but to go back – talks to friends about insecurities and decides to give being her a shot – Ben dumps Mal for fishy girl (because he’s been spelled) but upon realizing he does love her for her Mal breaks the curse with true love’s kiss!

Movie one message was more of a; you can be good even if your parents weren’t; you have a choice. Plus awesome songs.

Movie two: insecurities leads to trouble and you should just be yourself and people will like you for you. Plus awesome dragon.

That’s how I remember it anyway. I have’t watched movie one since it came out so it’s not as fresh in my memory.

The songs in nr. 1 were more enjoyable and catchy though (seriously sometimes I’ll suddenly go “rotten to the core, rotten to the core” for no reason). Can barely remember the songs in this one,  the girls duet and the very last one were OK but there rest I could have done without.

Kind of disappointed in Hook’s son, but that’s because OUAT messed with my head about Killian Jones! Now I expect all versions of Hook (even his kids) to be super hotties that can sing!

If they’d had this song (and this hook :P) I would have been one happy girl!

But even with the songs being a little boring at times I totally enjoyed this movie.  I love the twist with Ben being the kidnapped “king in distress” and that he’s saved by Mal… a dragon. It twists the damsel in distress as well as the princess kidnapped by a dragon  cliches awesomely.

[image error]

Review: Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #10)

[image error]

I died first so I made cookies. 

I just love Briggs’ openings. And ending. And pretty much everything in between. So you’ve been warned – this is a totally bias review from a big time Mercy Thompson fan!

Mercy is just the most amazing character – she’s clever, sassy and strong but without being “too much”. Briggs’ world is fantastic and have so many interesting magic creatures and phenomena and the politics are just so…smart! The only thing that could have made me love this book more would have been to see more of Warren and Jesse! But you can’t have everything and there are a more books in the series – it just suck that it’s probably going to be another two years until we get it.

So the story starts of with a bang. Basically two pages in Mercy gets kidnapped by a bunch of vampires and shipped off to Europe. Adam and a rag tag band of supernaturals go on a diplomatic mission to Italy (only 2 deaths occur during it!) to get her back – except of course Mercy being Mercy, has already escaped and is getting into trouble in Prague.

Silence Fallen is different from most Mercy books in that a large portion of it is told form Adam’s POV. We had a few chapters with Adam in earlier books but not as much as in Silence Fallen. I liked it. Being inside Adam’s head is fun and different from Mercy. There was also the slightly off timeline – Mercy being ahead of Adam by a day for a lot of it. I understand why – so we wouldn’t already know how things were going to turn out for her as it Adam learned of it and to prevent too much switching back and forth. The fun little quirky Mercy chapter headings helps keep it straight though.

You know all those – I want someone to love me like Snape loves Lily – and others along those veins. Well I want someone to love me like Adam loves Mercy. Seriously.

[image error]

I love this relationship. I mean how can you not when Adam is like “she can take care of herself but it’s my privilege to do it”. And he lets her do her thing and is like “I do my best to help her out even though I really wan’t to protect her from the whole world. But I know that would never work and I love her because of it and stuff.” It’s just hard to explain how great of a partner Adam is and how perfect Mercy is for him and how he’s made her feel part of something when she’s never fit in her whole life.

It’s the kind of relationship I love in fiction. Mostly because most fictional relationships are about so much annoying Drama. Drama in the form of jealousy, misunderstanding and just generally stupid things sometimes. Like I read the sequel to one of my favorite books Tangled (Emma Chase) – Twisted.  The whole book’s drama is built on one tiny lie and a hug – I mean it’s a fun book but I spend half of it being annoyed at them for not just talking to each other. I mean one sentences would have prevented the whole big mess. Compared to Mercy and Adam…well let’s just say there is a reason I love Mercy and Adam’s relationship more. They are together, they love each other, they talk to each other. Like normal adult people in a relationship. I’m a sucker for boring things like having actual conversations.

 

I mean my favorite fictional fantasy couples are all a lot like that; Mercy/Adam, Richard/ Kahlan, Percy/ Annabeth, Xhex/ John, Rose/ Dmitri, Lily/ Sailor (A Witchcraft Mystery), Adrian/ Sydney (Bloodlines). They’re together (okay some of them took a while to get there, but once they did they’re all in and I’m not worried about them breaking up.) I guess I just really like Battle Couples, which is what Mercy and Adam really are even if they don’t actually battle next to each other all that often. They’re actually not always together-together all that much in the books even.

In fact in Silence Fallen we don’t even get more than a couple of scenes with Mercy and Adam in the same room…the longest of which Mercy spends locked in a magical silver cage. Still, this is one of the one books I feel have a more romance-y feel in the series. Probably because of the split POV in which we get Adam’s feelings, which normally aren’t accessible to us. I mean River Marked was the one with most Adam/ Mercy love (I mean it is their wedding and honeymoon, what you expect!) but Silence Fallen made my little shipper heart pretty happy too.

Now enough with my gushing over Adam / Mercy, because even though their relationship is a big draw what really makes Mercy Thompson so awesome is the mix of everything Briggs’ manages to fit into these books. There is mystery, politics, action, magic, romance and humor. I mean it’s categorized as Urban Fantasy and while I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Urban Fantasy (quite the opposite; I love Urban Fantasy) Mercy Thompson is More. Smart, magical and romantic in a effortless and so enjoyable way. I finished it in less than a day and I’ll probably read it a few more times before the next installment in the series is released. It’s just that good and Mercy just that awesome of a character.

[image error]

 

Inferno vs Inferno (Book&Movie Review)

I read Dan Brown’s Inferno a while back and last night I watched the movie. And I don’t get why they changed the ending? I mean the movie and book were basically the same until the end when Sienna ends up being the bad guy and dying and the virus is never released. And the WHO lady is suddenly Langdon’s ex!

First of all, this ending it made the whole movie feel sort of pointless. I mean we have this big threat of over population and how bad it’s all going to get (it’s not really as horrible as the movie makes it out to be – I looked it up and we’ll probably be okay and maybe even see the population level out within a hundred years) and in the book that is nicely dealt with. Fertility virus is released. World is saved. Sienna is redeemed and Langdon smooches her – not WHO lady (not that he did in the movie but it looked close at a few points). Not that I’d really wanted to see totally hot and adorable Felicity Jones, 33, smooch butt-face Tom Hanks, 60. But would have liked her to not have gotten her face blown up!

I mean seriously, when you have this cuteness you don’t just blow it up. You have someone ride off into the sunset with it to live HEA. Come on Hollywood, you know how this works!

Anyways, I could have lived with Sienna going all ‘I’m going to die for my cause’ if it had actually worked and the infertility plague was released. I don’t know. It just didn’t do it for me. I guess it tends to be that way when you read a book first. But usually the books that don’t change everything stick relatively closely to the end. Or maybe they don’t. But this just bothered me. It wasn’t like either the book or the movie were the most qualitative things I’ve ever read or watched. Still. The book was OK. I was expecting a good movie, not great, but decent. It shouldn’t have made me want to write this post about being annoyed!