currently reading? Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore

i've started the second book in the Graceling Realm series.

i'm actually really excited about this book. i loved the first book Graceling, and how couldn't you love a kick-ass girl fighter in a fantasy old-fashioned kind of world? so i thought after having read or having tried to read The Host, i might as well read something that i might like. xoxo.

a book report: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

i couldn't help it.
i need to write a review of this book, or what i thought of this book in the short amount of pages i read.
good lord, what was i thinking?

"Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time."

quote taken from Goodreads.com

ugh. again, what was i thinking?
i have a lot of problems with that statement Goodreads.com. a lot!

first off, i should state that i wasn't able to finish this book. i only made it 93 pages in. i really wanted to make at least 100 pages, but i couldn't do it. and i am not going to waste my time reading something that is this dull when i have so many other books i want to read. this book is unfinishable, and i was able to make it through all 3 of the Fifty Shades of Grey books. i can only think of one other book that i couldn't finish, only one!

*spoilers of the first 93 pages. be warned!

going in i thought this book would be a very easy read. boy was i wrong. i've read all her books in the Twilight series and even though i didn't think the books were particularly good, i was slightly addicted to them. i hate to say it, but i fell in love with Edward. ick, what was i thinking? (the statement of this post.) and the Twilight series really didn't have an exciting plot (replace "exciting" with "very weak" and you've got a good starting point), but the story had something in the pages that kept me reading.

The Host had nothing, it was just boring.

i really thought this book had potential. i liked that is was science-fiction, spicing up my reading list. i liked that this book was considered "adult," so i didn't have to deal with the whole typical 16/17-year-old girl character and her virginity that is in a lot of YA books. but in the 93 pages i read, we have a 17-year-old girl throwing herself at a older boy, wanting to have sex, and the older boy not wanting to have sex with the girl (sounds familiar, right?). why does Meyer think girls are throwing themselves at boys and begging them to have sex with them? have a little self respect please. and the really stupid thing is that i liked that about Twilight, the girl wanting the sex and the boy fending her off. but by the third book it got old, boring, and just pathetic. but i digress.

i think the thing i hated the most, was all the memories that Melanie was showing Wanderer. ugh. it just didn't work. i could see how it could translate to film, the flashbacks to Melanie's life. but it just didn't work in the book. it was choppy and irksome. i could also go on and on about how uncreative Meyers is with all the sci-fiction in the book, or how she bit off more than she could chew, but again, i only made it 93 pages. so do i really have a leg to stand on, and more importantly is it worth my time?

i felt like Meyer was trying to prove something with this book. like she, too, could be a "compelling writer of our time," (whatever, boo!). i know that she is an avid reader and loves the classics like Austen and the Bronte sisters, and it felt like she is trying to be a great literary author with this book. she isn't that. sometimes people just need to know their strengths and weaknesses and go from there. that's what Meyer needs to do.

and please, someone, get this women an editor. my kindle has the page count at 620, and Goodreads has the page count at 809. really? bigger is not always better--and i'm from Texas y'all, i should know! all the over the top descriptions does not equal poetic prose. it felt like she had carte blanche to do whatever she wanted, and that she did.

i do believe that this book will make a great movie. the idea of the book is great. i think putting this into the hands of a screenwriter who can clean it up and produce something that i actually can't wait to see on the big screen. enjoy. xoxo.

a film review: Killing Them Softly

or more astutely, salivating at the greatness that is Brad Pitt. (i bet you thought i would have a Brad Pitt picture right at the beginning of this post. boy, were you wrong.)

good lord, is Brad Pitt not gorgeous in this film or what? when i left the theater i couldn't stop thinking about him. he is not my typical crush when it comes to the hollywood leading man. first and foremost he is a blonde, and i do not find blondes attractive. i could go on and on about why i dislike blondes, but in short they are just creepy-looking to me. think flesh-colored beards (thank you, Joel McHale). ick. the funny thing is, of course, that i'm a blonde. talk about self-hate. but i digress. give me tall dark-and-handsome any day of the week. Pitt in this film also reminded me a bit of Jax Teller (portrayed by Charlie Hunnam) from Sons of Anarchy. but if you ask me Pitt is an adult and Teller is just a boy with ill-fitting clothes.

*spoilers, beware!

now how about the film, because this is a review, right?
the title of this post is telling me so, right?

this is a film that takes its time. directed by the same man that brought us The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (that was a mouth full), Andrew Dominik, brought us an American crime drama that was visually impressive. just like that aforementioned film, Killing Them Softly was like watching a lyric poem. it did have moments where i almost fell asleep, but i do wake up at an ungodly hour for work, so most evenings i have a hard time keeping my eyes open.

James Gandolfini was disgusting, but of course it's his character. Ben Mendelsohn was gross and fantastic, i could totally smell his repugnance. and Brad Pitt's speech at the end of the film was amazing:

Everybody is alone in America. America's not a country. It's a business. Now fucking pay me. 

he had me the moment he walked into the wood paneled bar. there, i'm done. this was very analytical.

side note to all directors out there: when you film a movie in New Orleans make sure it's set in New Orleans. even though this story is supposed to take place in Boston we all knew it was filmed in New Orleans. it is one city that can only be itself.

but Brad Pitt, oh boy. the entire film he wore black and smoked Parliament cigarettes. he had a confidence about him that made me melt. he didn't say much, but does a man who looks like him and has a strut that makes me weak in the knees need to say much? no, i don't think so. he just oozed manliness and control that was intoxicating. i could go on and get more explicit about how he affected me, but we would be moving into ratings that wouldn't be suitable for the more sensitive viewer.

but come on. he donned a black dress shirt with a black vest that hugged him ever so tightly. i tremble. sigh.

so with this riveting review, i hope you go out and enjoy this film. i know i did. xoxo.

currently reading? The Host by Stephenie Meyer

yes, you read that right. i am reading The Host by author extraordinaire, Stephenie Meyer. the same author that brought us the Twilight saga (thank you very much for that).

what am i thinking?

actually i'm thinking that the novel will be a very easy read and that the film is coming out early next year, so i'm kind of curious and thought i should read it. why not?

we'll see if i write a review of this book when i'm done. i hear that this is going to be the first book in a trilogy (really?), so i might just wait to write something after i read all three. but if this novel rubs me the same way that the Twilight saga did, i might not be able to help myself (good lord, Twilight and company was bad, but it did produce some amazing films and i do have to say that the books were hard to put down, damn you Stephenie Meyer). i am a glutton for punishment. xoxo.

a film review: Anna Karenina

i don't think this will really be a review, but more of me gushing about how beautiful this film was. and i cannot compare this film to the novel because i have not read Anna Karenina. it's an 800+ page Russian novel. are you kidding me? the names and numbers of characters alone would get me all mixed up. you lost me before i even started, Tolstoy. but i do know the gist of the novel. and the film has Keira Knightley (whom i adore), and it's a costume drama (hells yes).

*spoiler alert! spoiler alert!

okay i lied. i did have issues. here we go with a review:

i had a problem with the setting of the film. not that it was set in Russia because you cannot have Anna Karenina without Russia, but how the film takes place in a theater. yes i get that we are being "artistic" here, but i felt that if the film is set in a theater then it should be in a theater. all or nothing. like during the big horse race scene, it's in the theater. but when we are out working in the hay fields we are actually in the hay fields. why can't the hay fields be in the theater too? at the end when we see Anna's children playing in the field of flowers, it's on the stage in the theater. maybe he is trying to tell us that "true love" takes place outside in the real world, and that everything in the theater is artificial.

i didn't believe in Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Vronsky. this is not the man who could seduce Anna and make her his mistress. he looked like a boy playing dress up (it's Kick-Ass with a really bad mustache).

i'm not sure how we are supposed to feel with the ending. i felt that the novel might want us to feel sorry for Anna and upset that she killed herself. but in the film i was all like, "when is this crazy bitch gonna throw herself under the train because she be all cray-cray and annoying."

i did love the scene where Anna and her husband would go to bed. she would be in bed waiting for him and he would walk in and go to his dresser and pull out a box that had his condom in it. ick! and also amazing. can you imagine condom's before they were disposable and latex. thank goodness for the advances of condoms.

but let's move on.

i have to say that the film was gorgeous! something Joe Wright and company is very good at. every film i've seen of his is just beautiful.

the costumes and jewelry were breathtaking and i'm not a jewelry kind of person. coming home after seeing this film i found myself scouring the internets for the jewelry Keira wore in this film, particularly her rings. just amazing.  

i really wish i could find pictures of just the rings Keira wore in the film, but i can't (and i'm not looking very hard, but oh well). so hear are some pictures of some of the costumes that i just adored.

and that pearl necklace. i love it. no longer the necklace for stay-at-home wasp women. where their string of pearls is tucked nicely under their collared oxford shirt. no sir. this is the necklace of a sexual being who takes on a lover. this necklace is that of Russian affluent society (okay, i've been reading a bit too much of my Bared to You book right now. just bear with me).

so sit back, have a glass of wine and enjoy this beautiful film. xoxo.

a book report: The Iron Fey series, books 1 & 2, by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King & The Iron Daughter
and where i will stop reading for i cannot finish this series.

"Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined."

i was totally hooked with this catch line.
secret destinies? check.
faeries? double check.
fates of all hang in the balance of just one girl? triple check.

i really wanted to like these books. i haven't read a lot of faery fiction, and i really wanted to get into them. but i'm thinking i might have to go elsewhere to satisfy my faery lust.

*spoilers will be brandished, be warned

the series starts with The Iron King, where in typical YA fashion, a young girl who just turned 16 finds out she is not who she thought to be (i am hooked). she has her best friend by her side and an adorable little brother, who ends up being kidnapped thrusting Meghan into a world she never knew existed. oh boy!

the story ends up being a bit of Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland (but i liked it and didn't mind). Kagawa is a good writer and her descriptions of the Nevernever (the faery land) is great because i can really picture what she is writing about.

we find out that Meghan's best friend is that of Puck, made famous by A Midsummer Night's Dream (which i liked). and we can't forget the love interest, Prince Ash (because the best friend can never be the love interest). so of course there will be a love triangle. ugh. okay, i can handle a love triangle, i can.

but as the story goes on, Meghan who stared out as a strong teenager with a brain turns into Bella Swan. ugh again! Meghan and Ash spend time trying to defeat the Iron King so Meghan can save her little brother and bring him back home and in doing so i am told they fall in love. but i really didn't see it. i felt no love, but Ash is super hot and a Prince, so i'm supposed to fall in love with him, right?

and the story ends with a nice little cliffhanger. and i'm like, "okay, this first book was alright. i can see it going somewhere. i want to know what happens with Meghan because i can see some dark things happening with her, and i like that." (i said all that out loud, really i did.)  


now onto book two, The Iron Daughter, which i had a hard time finishing.

what happened to Meghan? there was potential for a strong, fiery teenager who needs to take on the world to save what she loves. instead she turned into a whiny teen who cries all the time. like all the time.

it goes something like this:
Meghan becomes obsessed with Ash, because i am told she is in love with him. please show me, don't tell me. then Ash treats her like crap, telling her that she shouldn't trust him, that he will kill her if his Queen asks him to and he insults her in front of his brothers and his court. at this point i would be like "oh hell no!" f this s! but Meghan doesn't react this way and loses my respect.

so she cries and cries and falls into a coma (what?) and pines for him. he continues to tell her they can't be together, and then she turns to her best friend (poor Puck). ugh! then at the end Ash tells Meghan that he loves her. this after he tried killing her and her family. he was choking her to death for pete's sake (i know, i know, he was under the control of Virus, but still i just couldn't go with it). so at the end she leaves everything and goes off with Ash.

ugh!

up until the epilogue i was done with this series. but what Kagawa is really good at is leaving an opening where i'm all like "maybe i should read the other two books in the series". but no, i am stopping here. i'll just read others' reviews of The Iron Queen and The Iron Knight on Goodreads to get the gist of what happens (my CliffNotes if you will).

some thoughts:

• i really liked Puck. i guess i am team Puck, if you will. i didn't like that sometimes Puck would act all emo and teenagery. isn't he supposed to be extremely old? his angsty teenage years should be beyond him, right?
• i didn't see anything to make me want Ash and Meghan together. hell, he's still in love with his dead ex-girlfriend. i totally forgot about that. what is Meghan thinking? 
• i really enjoyed the talking cat, Grim. his dialog, along with Puck's was needed.
• the action scenes were good. i liked that the books were filled with action, but they got predictable because they always defeated the bad guy.

i really wanted more from this series. but i kept on seeing Bella Swan in Meghan and i was over it.
i hope you enjoyed this report. xoxo.

third, or fourth, or fifth time's a charm. right?

so... i'm going to give this ago, again. write some things and whatnot.

stick around and we'll see if this goes anywhere. let's keep our fingers crossed. i think i can get my shit together and produce some musings on things. i can do this, i can. can i?

i guess one of the main items i would like to bring to this blog is reviews of books, television shows and films (or more like movies because "films" implies that i watch classy shit, and most of the time i don't). since i spend a majority of my time doing all three of those things, i'll write about it. because i know y'all are dying to know what i think, i just know it.

so now that i have a platform to write down my every thought and whim (and that i am really going to use it this time around), consider yourself welcome. xoxo.

thirsty thursday: the champagne coupe

i tend to be obsessive. right now i have a slight obsession with the champagne coupe. every time i go to the antique mall, i stare at all the pretty little coupe glasses, all the different colors and styles. i think to myself, i really don't need them, but i really really want them. as i tend to get buyer's remorse, i usually don't buy the first time. if i really want something, i will go back a second or third time to make sure i really want it. it's called shopping stalking.

the champagne coupe has been around for a while. usually they are present at wedding receptions, the plastic little coupe glasses that more than likely are stacked in a pyramid waiting for the champagne fountain to pour. but that's typically the only place they have been from the 1960's on. recently they've been popping up on tv shows that take place in the past. with shows like mad men, pan am, the playboy club (which didn't last very long), and boardwalk empire. everything old is new again. i love it.

legend has it (via wikipedia) that the champagne coupe was modeled on the breast of marie antoinette or one of several other french aristocrats, but the coupe came about way before that. the large bowl of the glass allows the champagne to loose its carbonation faster, making it more suitable for sweeter champagnes.

the more and more i think about it i need to buy an array of champagne coupe glasses. they aren't the best for making champagne cocktails (see my previous post on making this delicious drink), but they do have a vintage air to them that makes them timeless. they are adorable and are like little handheld time machines. xoxo.

thirsty thursday: the decanter

so far the common thread here has been drinking. and if anyone knows me they know how much i love to drink. i, however, am saving my alcoholic years for my 60s and on. everyone should have goals, and mine is to be that overweight chico's-wearing gray-haired lady who has too much purfume on and will have a cocktail in hand and at some point will make you uncomfortable. i can't wait.

that being said, i am not a professional. i am not a sommelier or spirits expert; i just enjoy drinking.

i've seen decanters around, mainly on tv shows. the chandler household on all my children always had an array of decanters step up nicely in their grand living room and on the latest episode of downton abbey anna the housemaid was showing molesley the butler all the wines that needed to be decanted before diner was served. it was an amazing display of wines and decanters, and i thought to myself that i need to get a decanter.

the decanter is mainly used for serving wine. some people use it to let the wine "breathe" or as a serving vessel other than the bottle that it came it. it just looks fancy and sophisticated, giving one's drink a bit of class. it seems that the main use is for older bottles of wine where a wine is full of sediment. one would pour the bottle of wine into a decanter, and the sediment should collect in the shoulder of the bottle leaving the decanter full of wine without the grit. but with modern wine making sediment isn't as big a problem anymore.

the decanter can also be used for such liquor as a cognac or a single malt scotch. their decanter would have a stopper so the liquor can be stored in the fancy vessel.

i found some decanters online that look amazing. i like the simple modern lines of each of the decanters, very classy. all three are by ravenscroft crystal, a lead-free crystal company. they are just beautiful. a little mad menesque. i just love them. i would use the third decanter for the oban scotch that my gentleman friend has his eye on.

 let's get our drink on. enjoy. xoxo.