My Sunday

Hey, everyone 🙂  I just got back from a pretty fun day out and about, and I’ll tell you guys about what I did.  How was your Sunday?  Did you do anything exciting?  😀

So, to begin my day, I took a trip to the library, where I found three of my most recent orders:

You’re probably wondering why I have a book about the 80s, lol.  I’ll tell you about that in a minute.

I also got The Giver by Lois Lowry, which has a movie that’s coming out!  I remember really enjoying The Giver, so hopefully I can see it in the theaters.  (I also heard Taylor Swift was in it…?)

And then I got the movie, Trading Places.  A friend of mine told me it was really good, so I wanted to check it out for myself.

As for the 80s, book, I’ve recently been very obsessed with that decade.  Don’t ask why.  I’ve been obsessed with the trends, the toys, the music—everything.  I know Wikipedia isn’t the most reliable source for information, but I’ve practically sucked this page dry.  Because of this new interest, I decided to get a book about the 80s from the library.

Before the library opened, however, I went out to lunch with my mom and we got this:

Tangerine chicken and chow mein on the left, and fried rice and barbecue pork on the right. Good stuff!

I also walked around a little and discovered a RECORD STORE.  You don’t even know how delighted I was.  asdfghjkl;  I discovered it at the perfect time, since I was getting into that kind of stuff.  I seriously could not have found this place at a better time.

So I go in, and it’s just ginormous.  There are records and CDs and CASSETTES!  They had cassettes!  (Used cassettes, but cassettes :D)

I walked up and down all of the aisles in complete awe.

This is where all their cassettes were.  I felt like I was walking on clouds, man XD It was so amazing.  They were at great prices, too!  I couldn’t resist purchasing one, though I don’t know if I’ll ever get to listen to it.  I don’t even know the condition the cassette’s in, or how long it’s been around—but it’s all part of its charm 😀

It was so hard to choose what I wanted, because surprisingly, I recognized quite a few of the artists, but I ended up getting a Men at Work cassette.  I’m a newbie fan 😀

I might have a cassette player somewhere around here… darn.  I might have thrown it away ._.  I recently threw a lot of items away, things I would have loved to have at this moment.  An old black radio of mine that I’ve had for more than a decade.  Lots of stuff.  Ugh, I’m so mad at myself >.<  But, who knows?  Maybe I’ll find another cassette player around.

Oh!  The record store also sold record players:

Unfortunately, they were pretty expensive.  But that’s so cool, right?!  (I’m totally geeking out over record players… *awkward*…)

When I left the store, I was so overjoyed!  I probably fangirled over the cassette for a good half hour.  No, wait—I’m still fangirling 😀

Today was a great Sunday!  I look forward to visiting the record store again, and learning more about the 80s, which fascinate me to no end.

More next time!  I’m getting so behind on my posts, lol.  I’ll catch up… eventually 😀

-littleonion

200+ Followers!/Updates Post

Hey, everyone!  A couple of weeks ago, I hit 200 followers!!!  That’s so amazing!  Thank you, readers and fellow bloggers, for reading my posts.  Thank you for every single like, comment, and follow—each one is greatly appreciated, and I love responding to your comments 😀  I love hearing your thoughts!  And even if you’re not a follower, thanks for reading!  Y’all are awesome 😀

When I went to see Divergent, I really wanted to save my ticket.  Because I was handling a huge cup of Coke and bucket of popcorn, I decided I’d put my ticket in the pocket of my jeans for safekeeping rather than in my bag (that was dumb -.-).  Well, when I put up my Divergent movie review, I realized that I’d never pulled the ticket out of my pocket.  So I frantically dug through my bag to see if the ticket was in there, but no such luck.  Then I found the jeans I’d worn to the movie when I realized that… I’d washed them.  With the ticket.  In my pocket.  So I pulled the pockets out and discovered a bunch of white stuff in one pocket.  I was so upset.

Which is why on Saturday, I went to see Divergent again.  No, I’m not crazy.  Just an extreme fangirl 😀

Because I went to a later showing (when I first saw Divergent, I went at around 10 a.m.), the theater was more packed than it was last week.  I was actually kind of surprised to see what looked like young children at this movie.  I saw some pretty young kids seeing TMI last summer, and I was like, whaaaat?  But, yeah.

**Divergent spoilers down below if you’ve not read the book or seen the movie!**

Anyway, there was this guy sitting behind me who was amusing me at first/getting on my nerves.  When Caleb switched factions, the guy was all, “Ohh!  Oh, no!  Ohh, that’s not good.”  And throughout the movie, he was making remarks like this, and stuff similar to that.  At first, I thought it was funny, because obviously he hadn’t read the book.  But for the entire movie.  It was just putting me on edge for some reason.

**End of Divergent spoilers** Meet my Kindle, Mr. Kindle (I call it a Kind-lee).  I finally got him a case and a screen saver from Amazon.  It actually was delivered really, really fast.  Like, a day after I ordered it, which pleased me to no end.  The only thing that bugged me is the screen saver.  You know how there are two tabs to peel, the one you peel before application and the one you peel after application?  Well, for the after application tab, I tried to peel it, but it didn’t come off cleanly, leaving adhesive with the potential to collect dirt and hair and stuff >.<  I tried scrubbing off the adhesive, but no such luck.  To prevent it from collecting yucky stuff, I just put a piece of tape over it.  Luckily it’s in the corner and not smack dab in the center of the screen or something.

Right now, I’m reading The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken and Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder (y’all will never believe how long I’ve been reading this.  It’ll knock your socks off.)  The Darkest Minds is really good so far.  I read the first 134 pages in one sitting, at night, which is awesome.  I’m now somewhere in the two hundreds with this book, and I’m lovin’ it.  Half of me LOVES Liam, but the other half is wondering if there will be more character development for him.

My new favorite songs at the moment are:

• The Balcony Scene by Pierce The Veil
• Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch

I don’t know why.  I’m just super obsessed with these songs.

Oh!  Another thing—what do you think of this:

Yeah. You’re staring at a boom box.

Do you SEE that thing?!

We’ve had this thing for such a long time.  I’d actually forgotten about it, and when I pulled it out, I was like, OMG.

It’s not mine, but it used to belong to a family member.  Unfortunately, it’s broken (it broke years ago.  It’s so old, I found an old Paula Abdul CASSETTE in it.  I’m not even kidding), so we threw it out.  But, it was like taking a dip into the past before everyone had iPods and mp3 players and stuff.

Actually, I probably prefer the time when people listened to music with their CD players and with cassettes.  Don’t get me wrong—I love iPods, but I think it’d be cool to go back to that time.  What’s your opinion?

Speaking of iPods, a few days ago, my apps started crashing consistently.  I’d open YouTube, and a few minutes later, it would crash.  Or, I’d open the WordPress app, and a few seconds later, it would crash.  Pandora crashes whenever I try to skip a song, and the Goodreads app crashes so much, too.  It’s still happening.  Any suggestions?  Or is my iPod just dying?

That’s all for now!!!  Oh!  I’m almost done rereading the first ebook I ever read, which shall be revealed soon.

-littleonion

Divergent Movie Review

**Warning: Spoilers for the book and movie!**

Saturday, I had the pleasure of seeing Divergent!  I had really wanted to see it on opening weekend, but didn’t have the chance to.  I’m glad I got to see it on the big screen, though—it was definitely worth it.  Firstly, going to the theater was WAAAYYYYY cheaper than usual, because I went to a different theater (usually, I go to AMC).  I got a huge thing of popcorn and the biggest cup of Coke I’ve ever had in my life for a really decent price 😀

Divergent was so incredibly awesome!  I was very pleased with it.  I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.  It was epic, intense, action-packed—basically everything I’d hoped for.  There were some minor problems I had with a few things they changed (why couldn’t Christina have gotten the flag?), but the movie was so well-done that it outweighed all of my small complaints.

The acting was incredible, and all of my doubts I harbored about the actors vanished when I saw the movie.  Shailene Woodley was perfection (I’m going to keep mentioning that throughout this review), as were Theo James (who definitely grew on me during the movie :D), Zoë Kravitz, and all the others who I was unsure about.  That scene when Tris’ mom died got me teary-eyed.  The fight scenes were awesome, too.

When I first heard that they’d cast Shailene Woodley as Tris, I was familiar with her, but I’d never seen anything she was in.  Her acting skills in Divergent blew me away.  I also love her voice—she sounded very innocent, but curious.

Theo James was one obstacle I had trouble overcoming until I saw the movie.  I’d never heard of him (though I recently found out that he was on Downton Abbey), so I was skeptical.  But OMG THEO JAMES IS, LIKE, TOTALLY AMAZING AND SO IS ANSEL ELGORT AND OMG I LOVE THEM they’re so handsome and amazing ^.*

I was super surprised to find out that he was in his late twenties.

… They’re good actors, too.

Ahem.  Sorry about that.  My fangirl was showing, wasn’t it?  (And, yes, I wore my Divergent shirt to the movie.  In fact, after the movie, I was like, “I should have worn my boots!  I would have looked more Dauntless!!!”)

When I saw Veronica Roth’s cameo, I literally jumped in my seat and whispered to my friend, “Oh my gosh, it’s her!  It’s Veronica Roth!!!”

I’m very fidgety when it comes to watching movies, especially action movies.  I was on the edge of my seat watching Divergent, even though I just reread the book a few weeks ago   I had many sitting positions while watching:

Except, my eyes were open. Der—I was watching the movie!

The guy in the red wearing the watch with his fingers in his mouth would be the most accurate of all…

I was grinning at all the wrong times XD

 

For most of the really intense scenes (except for the one with Tris and her dying mom), I was grinning like a maniac.  It made me laugh when I realized it, but it also got me thinking that I probably shouldn’t have been grinning.  Divergent, when you think about it, is a very chilling and disturbing story.  Maybe I was just SO DANG EXCITED that I couldn’t help but grin in anticipation.  Heheh.

Overall, I really, really (really 100x) loved this movie.  Like, a lot.  Go see it if you haven’t, because I think you’ll like it, too!  If you have seen Divergent, what were your initial thoughts?  Did you love it?  Not so much?  I think I made clear what I thought of it 😀  Can’t wait for Insurgent, peeps!

*P.S. I own none of these pictures.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Title: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Summary: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem. -IMDb

Review:

AHHH!!!  Catching Fire is here, and lemme tell ya, this movie was so amazing, so close to the book, so intense, and a huge improvement from the last movie!  Not that THG wasn’t good, ’cause y’all know I loved that one.  Read my Hunger Games movie review here.

Obviously, I saw Catching Fire in the theaters, because it’s not out on DVD yet… right?  I got to see it the day after, which was pretty cool.  It’s the closest I’ve been to seeing something on its release date.

So we get to the theater on November 23 and we went to a morning showing and… one of the showings was already sold out!  So my friend and I rushed to buy our tickets.  And yes, I bought the Coke from the theater.  Last time I went to the movies, I was being cheap and got a large Coke from McDonald’s and smuggled it in.  Heheheh…

We walked into the theater and it was so packed!  The last time I was at the theater (back in August to see The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), I was the first person in there, so it was pretty odd to walk into a crowded theater, if you know what I mean.  We were able to find two seats way in back and I spilled some Coke >.<  But!  Luckily, because we were all the way in back, I got to take notes on my iPod without worrying about disturbing other people in the theater with the backlight.

We arrived about half an hour before the movie was due to start, and the commercials ran for forever!  The Divergent trailer ran and it was great!  There were a few things that I didn’t like about it, and I’m still not sold on Shailene and Theo, but hopefully they’ll be great!

The movie started twenty-two minutes after it was supposed to, which was kind of annoying, but seriously?  It was worth the (long) wait.

I couldn’t remember anything from Catching Fire, but as I watched the movie, information came back to me.

So, in the beginning, we saw that Katniss had PTSD.  She was out hunting with Gale and when she shot the turkey, she saw one of the tributes from the 74th Hunger Games.  She was freaked.

Haymitch was SO funny when Katniss went to wake him up.  It was just like I’d imagined it, and so was the Victors’ Village, come to think of it.

I love all of the actors in this movie.  They were great and their acting was so real.  When Primrose was like, “We have visitors,” she sounded so alarmed, and she made me feel alarmed.

President Snow was creepy as ever, maybe even more so in this movie.

Katniss’ speech in District 11 was so sad.  I was tearing up and it was just… So sad.  And I was like, “You go, dude!” when Peeta put down his card that Effie had given him.

Okay, the Peace Keepers raiding 12?  THAT WAS SO SCARY!  And Gale’s whipping!  That was crazy.  And when Haymitch stepped in, I felt relieved, man.  That Peace Keeper dude was scary!!!

At the reaping, when Effie was calling out Katniss’ name, she seemed so grim and hesitant and sad.  Just… the look on her face.  She seriously looked like she was going to cry.

Joanna… Let’s talk about Joanna.

I LOVED JOANNA, DUDES!!!  My only minor complaint is that I imagined her to be blonde for some reason.  Was that just my imagination, or was her hair color specified in the book?  Anyway, she was hilarious.  When she was undressing in the elevator, everyone in the theater was just cracking up.  The look Katniss gave Peeta was priceless.  And her F-bomb filled interview… BWAHAHA!!!

Joanna looked crazy when Finnick, Katniss, and Peeta found them after the blood rain.

After all the tributes’ interviews when they all joined hands, we all caught a glimpse of the real Caesar Flickerman, when he was frantically gesturing for the crew to cut.

I think I seriously froze when I saw Rue painted on the floor when Katniss went in for her evaluation.  And when Katniss painted Senca Crane’s name on the dummy… haha.  And her bow?  Even funnier.

Cinna’s death was so scary, and Katniss had to watch and she was just trapped in that tube-y thingy…

I loved the innocence and purity of President Snow’s granddaughter.  I think I vaguely remember her from the book…

Did you notice how the patterns on their suits when they were in the arena were like the pattern of the dome force field?  Like hexagons fitted together.

I really liked Mags and was sad that she didn’t play more of a part in the movie.  Her death was quick, final, sad.

Throughout the whole movie I was clutching my bag for dear life and mentally chanting, “Just keep breathing, breathing, breathing.  What do we do?  We breathe, breathe.”  No joke.  The movie was very breathtaking.

Just one question: Why did Peeta have a necklace with pictures of Katniss’ family in it?

At the end of the movie, at the very end, Katniss looked so mad.  It was scary.

This movie is a 5/5 star film.  It was fantastic and scarily realistic, and was very, very close to the book.  I look forward to Mockingjay (I think they’re splitting that movie into two parts) next year!

Upcoming Movies

Hey, everyone!  As I said in my last post, I’m writing a post about upcoming movies… but you already knew that!  So here’s my list of upcoming movies that have got me hyped.  Hope you enjoy!

Divergent

AHHH!!!  This is it–the movie we’ve all been waiting for!  “Divergent,” which is based on Veronica Roth’s stunning book, Divergent, which is the first book in her Divergent trilogy.  It is going to be released on March 21, 2013!  Eeeeeek!!!  Aren’t you excited?!  I’m too excited–for a movie that’s coming out in five months from now.  I’m going to be bouncing off the walls, especially when the release date is coming up.

I wasn’t expecting Shailene Woodley to be cast as Tris, but that’s cool!  I think she and Kate Winslet are the only people who were cast that I recognized, though.

Though, I think Kate Winslet is going to give an awesome performance as Jeanine.  I can feel it in my bones!  I saw a picture of her when she was on set, and she looked like a total Jeanine.  What do you think of the casting?

I don’t think “Divergent” is rated yet…

But mark your calendars, people!

Here’s the trailer… I think it’s pretty cool:

I think there are other trailers out, too, but you can find them on YouTube!

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Catching Fire

As we all know, “Catching Fire” is based on Suzanne Collins’ book, Catching Fire, the second book in her amazing Hunger Games trilogy.

“Catching Fire” will be released on November 22, 2013.  I actually just recently saw “The Hunger Games” in July (I know!  I’m late!) and it was incredible and so real!  You can find my review for the movie here.

“Catching Fire” is rated PG-13, as was “The Hunger Games” because, if you didn’t know, this series is pretty violent and graphic.

I’m allowed to be excited for this movie because it’s coming out so soon, haha!

And now, for the trailer…

Oh, what fun!  Not that I’d want to participate in the Hunger Games or live in Tris’ dystopian Chicago… *shakes head vigorously* Nope, not for me!  I don’t do well in stress!  XD

So those are the movies I’m looking forward to.  Am I missing any?

Oh!  Have you heard anything about a City of Ashes movie?  According to IMDb, it’s in progress.  This is so exciting!!!

-littleonion

“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” MOVIE?!

Fantastic Beasts and Where To
Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Please, please, PLEASE tell me this isn’t some kind of cruel joke!  I heard about this a few hours ago, but earlier this week, I’d already fallen for a Harry Potter prank, and I was so sad!

Anyway, I was on YouTube earlier and was scrolling through comments when I saw someone else talking about there being a movie made out of this book, so I HAD to look into it… and I found this article.

I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I’m a bit more hesitant to believe this article as I was to believe the last one, but OMGOMGOMG!!!  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!  IT’S FREAKING AWESOME!!!!  😀

I can’t.  I can’t believe it, it’s too good to be true!  I just want to scream and shout and let it all out, y’know?  (And, yes, that was a “Scream and Shout” reference. >.<))

OKAY.  Now I can officially believe that this is happening.  I found this article on J.K.R.’s website.

I feel like jumping for joy!  I’d never expected for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them to come out as a movie.

So… what are your thoughts on this?  Are you excited?  I’m definitely going to have to pull out my copy and refresh the brain!

-littleonion

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

On August 24, I went to see The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones!  It was pretty good!  I actually had a unique experience, which I’m going to share… now!

I actually jotted down notes in my iPod while I was at the movies.

Okay.  I get to the theater and realize that when I went online, I’d gotten the movie times wrong!  So I paid for IMAX instead of waiting for the next showing, which would’ve forced me to wait another two hours.

I get my popcorn, but no soda, ’cause I snuck a McDonald’s Coke in my bag. 😀  I walk into the theater to find it both empty and quiet.  The screen was showing commercials and stuff, but there was absolutely NO sound.  AND I was the only–literally–the only person there.  Uh… creepy!  But I got first choice of seat.  Yes!

About ten minutes later, the theater started filling up, thank God.  Then, all of the sudden (I’d been afraid of this happening), the sound just BLARED on!  I think I jumped in my seat!

The movie was great!  The music did swell a lot, though.  I think the casting was fabulous!  I loved Simon and Alec especially.  And the scene with Magnus was… you just have to see it, teeheehee.

So I’m watchin’ and watchin’ and watchin’ and then Demi Lovato just comes on.  I was like, “What the heck?!”

Valentine… he didn’t… he… GAH.  He needed the pale hair, he needs the pale hair!!!  THE PALE HAIR MADE HIM!!!  He grew on me after a while, but still.  You tell me what you thought of him.

My favorite scene was the fight scene between Jace and Valentine.  It was epic!

I did notice that the characters didn’t seem to have all their… sass.  Especially Jace.  I mean, everything rude he said, he sounded really flat.  Is that what they were going for?  *Shrugs*

Isabelle was also SO incredibly awesome!  The actress who played her did a marvelous job. 😀

Funny Stuff:

So there was this couple (I think) sitting in front of us and I thought it was like, oh the lady dragged her boyfriend to see this movie, but he was laughing more than me!  Seriously, I think half the time I was laughing, it was because I was so amused that he was enjoying it!  So yeah, that was pretty funny.

Also, everyone like, crammed in right next to me when there were a squillion empty seats!  That was funny, but not haha funny.  >.<  But whatever!

**********

The movie, overall, was great and I really enjoyed it.  I can’t wait to read the fourth installment of TMI and hope that City of Ashes is taken to the big screen.  : )

 

 

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters: The Movie

On August 14 I went to see Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters!  I was so happy with it!  The movie was definitely better than Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which was, er, kinda horrible.

THEY BLEACHED ALEXANDRA DADDARIO’S HAIR BLONDE!!!  Finally!  In the last movie, she was a brunette.  I was like, “Uh, which character is that?”  And then I realized it was a brown-haired Annabeth.

I actually hadn’t seen the first movie in the theater, but a few years after it had come out, so I was super excited to see SoM!

Clarisse… hmm… I think she was good.  The actress who played her was actually in the Hunger Games!  Except they dyed her hair brown for SoM…

Okay, so Kronos?  I don’t know… he looked like a robot.  What?!  It’s just not how I imagined him… I actually don’t really know how I imagined him, but it wasn’t like that.

OMG, Luke?!  BWAHAHA!!!  He was pretty funny in this movie!  There was the part where Percy was on the roof of the ship, and Luke was all, “Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing?  Get off my roof!”  PRICELESSNESS!!!

So, yeah, I really did enjoy the movie.  I think I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars 😀