'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'- Movie Review

Hi to all Shadowhunters and Mundies!

This is a movie review to *cue the dramatic music* the City of Bones! There's one thing that I don't understand, why is everyone calling the movie "The Mortal Instruments" when that's the series' name. But, whatever, I'm getting off-track.

This is NOT a spoiler-free review. Sorry.

The official movie poster!



The order from right to left is, Clary; Jace; Alec; Isabelle (Izzy), and Simon.

That's the Shadowhunters' symbol aka the Angelic Rune. How do you think it looks?















Here's the trailer. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4axPibsp4Ao

I think you've finished watching the trailer. It's a great experience.

Did you see Clary's mom, Jocelyn? Yes, very climactic, but I swear to all you Mundies that have never read the book, there is something that is even more shocking.

When I watched the movie there were so many things racing through my mind. The movie had great props, seriously; there is no need to deny it.

I personally think that Lily Collins made a perfect Clary. She acted so well to convey all the strong emotions in the movie. It was great.

To keep the tension away for a bit in the movie, you have Jace's jokes which are always the best.

The movie was terrific. All the stories are real, I'm just quoting Hodge.

The first shots of the movie was a view of New York and it goes to Clary's apartment. There's a lady that looks out of the apartment, she was very important, Dorothea the witch. (I'm pretty sure Dorothea needed the help of the witch, but that was when she was casted away by a tornado.)

Clary starts drawing the Angelic rune everywhere and that's a major part of the beginning. They make a big deal about it. It's all over the place, her coffee, drawings, literally all over her room.

(I'm borrowing a laptop at the party). So the movie goes onto say with Jocelyn that Simon doesn't feel the same way of being siblings with Clary. Meaning, Clary doesn't see a relationship with her best friend. This is so cliche! XD

As Clary goes out for her birthday, she and Simon go to a poetry reading about things that are I think supposed to be deadly? It has quite the opposite effect, making the people watching the movie laugh.

After getting their coffee, and once again seeing the Angelic rune, the friends go to Pandemonium a teen club in Manhattan (Clary lives in Brooklyn).  That is where Clary first sees the trio of Shadowhunters.

The next day, Clary sees Jace and she asks him why can she see things that others can't see. This also means others can't see Jace. Mundanes see Clary holding up a picture of the rune and she's screaming at a somewhat "invisible" Jace. I found this quite funny.

Later on in the movie, they visit the City of Bones, the literal one, not the movie that you can go see. Clary finds herself writing "BANE" onto the ground when the Silent Brothers try to release the block that was placed on her mind. At this point, she had fell down and Jace, being super-caring about Clary, rushes over to her.

The Shadowhunters then realize that they have to go to the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane's party. Izzy dresses Clary up. All the while, Izzy asks Clary how it was obvious it was that Alec liked Jace. When they make it to the party, Jace puts Clary's hair down and we have a very uncomfortable Simon. He stares at the two and then looks away and then looks away again.

When Magnus enters the party, he isn't wearing any pants. (Damn, that felt so weird typing it out...) He strides up to the Shadowhunters and sees Alec and Clary. He says that he's letting them stay because of the hot one (Alec). This was which Clary, Jace, and Izzy say "thank you" to because you know Jace always thinks he's the hot one.

Simon is taken away. This time he isn't a mouse...  It was funnier in the book, no seriously, some vampire thought that it was one of the vampires and brought them back to the lair.

After they rescue him, there's an EPIC showdown between Shadowhunters and vampires. I thought all vampires were supposed to be perfect looking and very skinny, in the movie's case, they are ugly and make thuds as they hit the floor.

There are many Clace moments that satisfy the fans. During the greenhouse scene, you think they kiss for only a few seconds, turns out to be a short make-out session. Very awkward to look at the big screen.

Then after something, I forgot what, but Jace is playing the piano and as he sees Clary walk into the room, he starts slamming the keys.

You also have to remember that the Shadowhunters get the mortal cup from Dorothy. They do not have a portal in the place, but she turns into a monster as Jace plays a tune on the piano. Alec saves Jace as he rushes down from Clary's apartment and gets stabbed trying to get the mortal cup from not-really-Dorothy's hands.

Izzy blames Clary and Jace. There's Valentine who pops up in the Institute. Yada, yada. I'm too tired to write anymore.

I'll let Nick cover the rest.


Signed,
Ivy

P.S. Who do YOU ship with Clary? Simon or Jace?

Quote of the Day- August 31, 2013

"Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies

Since 1234"

- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

For all you fellow Shadowhunters out there, you'll get what it means. Even if you aren't, you'll get it.

So, I watched The Mortal Instruments with Nick and our friend. It was good. The adventure was enticing and I kept on holding onto my wrist. That's how it was.

I'll do a review on it later, if I get the chance to. I have a party to attend.

Ciao!

Signed,
A-Very-Much-Mundane-Blogger, Ivy

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones – Movie Review

Ivy, our friend, and I saw The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones today!! Here's what I thought:

The first half of the movie was exactly true to the book, which is always good. The second half varied a little from the book, but nothing huge that I have to rant about.

Lily Collins was very good as Clary. There wasn't any other standouts in the rest of the cast, but no one was absolutely horrible either.

The movie tried the best it could, but it couldn't fix the usual problems of converting books to movies: moving too fast due to limited time, inability to see inside the characters' heads, etc.

All in all, it was a pretty good movie.

Final score: 9.1 out of 10

Now, it's been confirmed that City of Ashes, the sequel, will be adapted into a movie. Production will start on September 23, and the movie will premiere somewhere in 2014. However, there may be a possiblity that the franchise will stop there. Why, you ask? Because City of Bones did awful in theaters. Awful.

It's common sense that hit movies get sequels. From what I know about the movie business (not a lot, but enough), you become a "hit" if you end up making double your budget in ticket sales. City of Bones's budget was $60 million. After a week in movie theaters, it's made just below $28 million worldwide. That's not good. It needs three more weeks exactly like that to be at hit status, and that's definitely not going to happen. Movies get nowhere near as much money in the weeks after the first week. So CoB probably will earn enough ticket sales to cover its budget, it most likely won't be a hit by movie terms. Basically, City of Ashes needs to do better than CoB for the future of the franchise to be safe.

A few random thoughts:

• The only thing we know about the City of Ashes movie is that Sigourney Weaver was cast in it. I don't know what role, and I don't care to know because it's taking forever for my library to get the book!!!!! Google it if you're interested.

• Did you know that critics hated the movie?? They thought it was awful! It's so weird; they didn't hate Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters as much and I thought this was better!!

• There's an app that has a game based on the movie. It's called "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" and I'm going to download it right now!

• Can you believe that when Cassandra Clare was first going to movie studios looking for someone to sell the rights to, she was told that no one wanted to see a young adult movie with a girl lead? I mean, seriously???

– Nick

Quote of the Day – August 30, 2013

• "'Reading one book is like eating one potato chip,' she said."

 – Mrs. Lesser, So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane

This quote is so true! You can't just read one book, and you can't just eat one potato chip. You'll always be hungry for more! :)

– Nick

Quote of the Day- August 29, 2013

"Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back."

-Colin Singleton, An Abundance of Katherines, written by John Green

There I was in bed reading this book and BAM! I run across this seriously correct statement. I don't think I need to say much more now do I?

Signed,
Ivy

Quote of the Day – August 28, 2013

• "When adults say, 'Teenagers think they are invincible' with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail."

 – Miles Halter, Looking for Alaska

This quote is so true. It doesn't even need explaining. ;-)

 – Nick

Book Review: What Happened to Goodbye

The title of  the book has got me tripped up. Take a look at the cover yourself, or at least the cover that I was reading.
 Look how the title isn't capitalized. I wasn't sure if I should leave it like that or to capitalize it. It was frustrating.

When things get complicated, that's why there's Google. Yes, the title was capitalized there. If I look at a Sarah Dessen book next time, I better not be upset about the title, because all of them are lowercased.

If you just take a glance at the cover, you'll just think: "Oh, it's just another sappy book."

Actually it's more about the changes people go through in their life. I'll get you the summary.

Summary: Since her parents' bitter divorce, Mclean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move - four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, Mclean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, Mclean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself - whoever that is. Perhaps her neighbor Dave, an academic superstar trying to be just a regular guy, can help her find out.

I found that off of Google. It still sounds like a stupid book, but I think it isn't about Mclean and Dave, but rather how Mclean thoughts make her decisions. I sound like a freak over decisions, but I'm not. I just seem to find these themes in books that I read.

Mclean went from Eliza in Montford Falls, Lizbet in Petree, Beth of Westcott, and her beginning of Liz in the newest place Lakeview. These were all different people that Mclean Sweet was impersonating. She chose what she wanted each person to be like. Liz never made it far because the girl that was Liz, was becoming Mclean again. 

She weighs out choices and what every move she made would do. Her mom was trying to be caring about her, too forcefully I might add. Mclean realized that her mom went from Katie Sweet to Katherine Hamilton after the marriage. That they were different people, that Katherine still showed signs of the Katie that she was. 

Her father Gus moved around for his boss, Chuckles -a very ironic name- to different places to check out different restaurants and how he should help them. The change that happened every time wasn't new to Mclean. She chose to be someone temporarily. That's where the title comes from. What about goodbye? She hated those messy goodbye, the tears, so she just left. Not a word. 

Dave then starts to fit in as the guy that she knocked over with an overthrow of a basketball that she hasn't had in her hand for two years since the divorce (basketball, is a very significant thing). The person that she could talk to at 2 a.m. 

Up until the end of the book, there is conflict. Just when you believe that everything had figured itself out, it isn't. There's a last minute change. But as all books try to end, they make everything alright again. That 3rd choice is there at the moment that you can finally see it. 

I totally enjoyed the book. It was a great read of 402 pages. Nothing that a reader can't manage. 


Signed,
Ivy ^-^

Quote of the Day- August 27, 2013

"Definitely there'd been a girl named Reyna. He wasn't sure what she'd meant to him, but the memory made him question what he felt about Piper-- and wonder if he was doing something wrong."
-Jason Grace, The Lost Hero, written by Rick Riordan

"Praetors work closely together. It's common for them to become romantically involved. But Jason was only praetor for a few months before he disappeared."
-Reyna (surname soon to be revealed in HoH), The Son of Neptune, written by Rick Riordan

Are you a Jasper person? Well, don't flame or continue because it's gonna be a Jeyna rant.

I chose these two quotes because I just need to say something here. Most of my friends are Jasper supporters, go figure. It's my blog; I need to talk, so I will.

Why the heck is Hera such a damn b****?!? It was only a matter of time.

Aphrodite is a major idiot. Encouraging her daughter to like the guy that she has FAKE memories for.

Uncle Rick, WHY ARE YOU SUCH A TROLL?!?!?

Why didn't you like a Roman with perhaps a "R" in the beginning of her name, Jason?

Okay, that's the end of it.

Signed,
Iz

Quote of the Day- August 26th, 2013

"I braced myself for all that was coming, and I made myself be brave. As for everything I was leaving behind, I decided I'd do just that: leave him behind. The palace would be my sanctuary. I'd never think or say his name again."

-America Singer, The Selection written by Kiera Cass

I think this quote means a whole lot to those heartbroken girls out there that think that he was perfect. This just goes to say that a girl can move on. Go girls!

America and Aspen. It's almost perfect isn't it. Without the rankings, everything would have been okay. Not everything is though. Braving through consequences that can make you cry can be nerve wracking, just hope that it'll be a better day.

I was kinda -okay, I'll admit it really late in writing this QOTD, I was just really tired and had a lot of work to do. No way, it's summer, but I'm really busy. I was in the city yesterday so I'll probably post some pictures I took in the car of the city tomorrow.

Signed,
Iz

DIVERGENT TRAILER!!!!!!!

ASDFGHJKL It's the divergent trailer!!! Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about it.

Wait - first you need to watch it again. :)

The first eight seconds show Jeanine Matthews addressing all the sixteen year-olds in all five factions in a giant auditorium. "The future," she says slooooooowly, "belongs to those who know where they belong." They show all five factions sitting together. You see the Abnegation in grey, the Amity in yellow, the Erudite in blue, the Candor in black & white, and the Dauntless in black. That's good; you can see they're following the book in that, at least. However, you also see the following shot of Beatrice staring dumbly:

I mean, seriously? What even is that expression? Whatever.

Then four seconds of Caleb & Beatrice chatting as they walk to school before the aptitude test. We get a one second shot of the Priors before they go to the ceremony. Then fourteen seconds of Tori--the only person in this trailer more overdramatic than Jeanine--explaining to Beatrice that she is Divergent. That ends what we see of Beatrice; now we enter Tris in Dauntless.

Now some Jeanine--she's in at the Dauntless training area for some reason and not in her own faction. She tells Tris that "the system removes the threst of anyone excersizing their independent will." She pauses for two seconds while we see a couple of shots of people hoilding guns, and then continues, "Divergents threaten that system. It won't be safe until they're removed." Meanwhile we see the scene where she jumps off the roof!! That looks cool.

Then we have a bunch of stuff that we already saw in the teaser, and it starts to get interesting at about 00:53. Tori tells Tris to "trust herself" and then we see her awesomely beat Peter up. We see a few shots from various scenes (jumping off the train, the ferris wheel, and Four showing Tris his tatoos) while Jeanine tells Tris that she's a "poor blend of impulses and impurities." Tris snaps back, "Don't try and define me," we cut to a shot of Tris and Four kissing (which i'm sure you guys will love--I personally never liked them together but that's a different story). And then the music starts to wind down and we get a full couple seconds of the knife-throwing scene, and the end.

So, really good trailer!! It is definitely better than what we saw in the teaser.

We still need more, though!!!!! I can't wait until March 21, and I'm sure you can't either!

 - Nick

Quote of the Day – August 25, 2013

• "The weird thing about houses is that they almost always look like nothing is happening inside of them, even though they contain most of our lives. I wondered if that was sort of the point of architecture."

 – Hazel, The Fault in Our Stars

Sorry this is so late; I thought Ivy would do it but she was busy. =P This quote is from John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. One of the reasons I love his books is shown in this quote: He points out obvious things that we don't even notice in life, and it's hilarious. ;)

 – Nick

The official Divergent trailer is coming!

The first official trailer for the Divergent movie (the one released a few days ago was just a teaser) will be released tonight!! It will be sixty seconds and will first air just before the MTV Video Music Awards. That's on the MTV channel at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central.

I'm just hoping we're going to get a glimpse of Beatrice's life in Abnegation, because that was left out of the teaser, and that's a big part of her life. Her life in Abnegation had a big effect on her, something I'm worried the movie will downplay in favor of action scenes in Dauntless. Okay, I'll stop ranting now.

What do you want to see in the trailer? Stay tuned to this blog today, where we'll post the video directly from YouTube and we'll discuss it!

 - Nick

Quote of the Day - August 24, 2013

• I mean Hank, the movie was great, but the thirty minutes before the movie started was what I love about being a nerd. Because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff. We don't have to be like, 'Oh yeah that purse is okay' or like, 'Yeah, I like that band's early stuff.' Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can't-control-yourself-love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they are saying is, 'You like stuff', which is just not a good insult at all, like 'You are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness'
 - John Green

Today's John Green's birthday, so I thought we should celebrate with one of my favorite quotes ever. This particular quote came from his YouTube video "Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life", one of many videos on his awesome Vlogbrothers channel. He is also the author of a bunch of great books (you can read my review of An Abundance of Katherines). The pure awesomeness of this quote means that I don't have to analyze it. As the title of the video says, nerds win at life. Period.

 - Nick

A Jasper Reference?

So today I was sitting outside of the classroom of my cram school and reading what happened to goodbye by Sarah Dessen.

Is anyone here a fan of Piper McLean and Jason Grace?

What does that have to do with anything?  You'll see. Really soon.

I came across the following page in the book.

Anyone notice anything? I'm sure I did.

"Hey. It's McLean, right? I'm Jason. Nice to meet you." Seriously! I am a Jeyna girl so I wasn't quite happy as to what happened here. Anywho, we all know from reading what happened to goodbye, that Dessen will not put McLean and Jason together.

Signed,
Iz

Quote of the Day- August 23, 2013

"Fear doesn't shut you shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating."

-Tobias Eaton, Divergent  written by Veronica Roth

I think that in this case of Tobias' and Tris' everything does wake you up. You're more alert of the things happening around you.

However, when I was scared, I wasn't prepared for the fear. I used to think that it was stupid in TV shows and everything when someone was "frozen" in fear. An object was coming towards them or it was falling from above as they saw it. It's true, people do just stand and stare the moment they get hit.

I was the same four days before my birthday walking to the bus stop from school last year. Do not send in any pitiful messages. I'm okay. Nothing big happened because the car had made a turn, but it still took some time away from school.

Watch out on the street. Try not to J-walk as much as possible!

End of this seriousness. Go and enjoy those 2 weeks you have before school starts.

Divergent: Movie Stills and Gifs

Like Nick posted yesterday, the movie teaser was a short mere 12 seconds. (Now that I think about it, how much speaking happened within 12 seconds?)

Anyways, in case you don't wanna go to the last post,  I'll put it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV5zpjpd5Og

I spent quite an amount of time just looking at movie stills and videos for the movie to be released in theaters March 20th of 2014.

Most  I found were from Entertainment Weekly. The cover of the magazine for June 28 is the one on the side.

Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) are on the front page.

You can see that Tris wearing a red shirt. I think that's up for discussion as well as her pants that are holding knives. Red is for Amity as the main colors go. As for Tris' pants, if I remember correctly, she wasn't doing so well with target training and even Four (let's not reveal his real name for the people that

 haven't read Divergent  yet) doesn't do that.

Now Four looks like a normal Dauntless.

Is Divergent the next Hunger Games? I wouldn't think so. I have read both of the books and loved them both. However, I can't say I like them equally. When I read The Hunger Games, it was totally amazing (as I expected it to) but the fallout began with the beginning of Mockingjay. There is the same adventure but I think without that much bloodiness. It focuses more on the things that Tris goes through. Enough for now.

Look at a parody of the cover I found:

So I found this off of Cinema Blend. (Thanks guys for getting the slowed down version of the trailer.) Like it's mentioned at Cinema Blend and because I kinda noticed this in the trailer, this is the actual proof. The ring of people around Four just fall as he punches one of the people around him. I don't what the point of this is because obviously, it's just a small punch not a round house.

Anywho, I also wanted to look at another fan analyzation from the peeps at www.cityofbonesmovie.com

We can all see what the message is here. Why did Neil Burger cast these three to be Tris, Four, and Jeanine Matthews, respectively?  It says that here Tris is supposed to be 16 but Shailene is already 21. Four, originally 18, is played by Theo, who is 28, acting 4 years below his own age (because the movie is making Four 24 years old—that's weird to read). Jeanine Matthews, I don't know what there is to say. I guess Kate's age should be around right since Tris' dad went to the same school as her, but we still never know Jeanine's age. Thus, making the question mark funny to question and look at.

Hi, this is Nick popping in to say that we can still guess how old Jeanine is. We know that Beatrice's father is the same age as Jeanine. At the beginning of the series, Mr. Prior's oldest child, Caleb, is almost seventeen. We can also gather that since Beatrice's parents are in Abnegation, they did not have their children before they became adults, and probably not before they were about 22/23. We can probably assume that they were not more than 28, as the Abnegation are very efficient people. This puts their probable age when they had Caleb at 23-25. Combine that with Caleb's almost 17 years of age and you have a Jeanine Matthews of 40-42.

Onto the Stills! (Remember, you can click on pictures to enlarge them.)

Everyone going crazy for the Ferris wheel and I've got to say, I was definitely ASDFGHJKL ing the whole time. I wonder how this scene is going to be in the movie.

You can clearly see the tattoos, three ravens, each one representing the family members that Tris left behind. I think that sounded more like a quote. 

This should be the scene where the initiates are training before their one-on-one matches. 

Take a moment to look at the punching bag. Quite the unusual shape, don't you think? Sorry for my immaturity; I just had to do that. 

The way that Four analyzes the punching bag is kinda strange isn't it. But that's minor. He's training the initiates so he's gotta be like that.

Tris' ponytail makes me feel relieved that it's not only my hair that get out of it's hair tie by the end of the day creating some pieces of hair that frame my face. I look at some people and their hair looks as if they fixed it up every single moment that they have! Oh, the horror. 

We didn't get to see much of Eric in the previews that we got either from following people (at least I hope they are people) on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. 

Here's a clear shot of what he looks like! Don't mind the guy on the left, he's just the director. It's totally because he's not important to the film. Of course he's important, he decides how well the movie is going to be and if we're gonna go crazy for it.

This was the first picture to be revealed and it shows where Tris replaced Al as a target for Four to throw knives at. Because you know, Four thinks the perfect way to make a girl fall for you is to throw knives at her and tell her that you'll only go to her funeral if there's cake.

This picture makes people's hearts pound. But there's not really anything to be afraid of as Shailene says at Comic Con, view it here. There was a glass to prevent her from any harm while this was being shot. Whatever didn't hit the target, made it to the glass. I would still say that's a freaky experience.

 "First jumper" Tris. Welcome to Dauntless. So this is where Beatrice Prior from Abnegation makes her jump into Tris Prior of Dauntless. 

All those expecting Dauntless people. Stop bullying! It's not nice! 

If you look closely at the picture, there's Eric (or Max from the book) on the side with one hand over the other.

Be brave. Everything changes from here.

 At this still, you see Tris given her aptitude test by Tori, who supposedly is to have a black blazer on.

Looking from this, I'm thinking that Beatrice's results will be put into a machine through that thing around her head. In the book, students have to drink a serum and have electrodes placed around their head. I guess it's too Sci-Fi  for them to do.

This is probably the part where Tris, Christina, and Al are going to play paintball (?) I see that in the pictures above when Tris and Four go to get the Ferris wheel, Tris' clothes are different. What are we supposed to think of this?

I think that it is safe to say that the Choosing Ceremony is what is pictured right now. I would have thought that maybe it was the aptitude test, but that's kinda ruled out with a) the lady in the picture b) it's an auditorium.

The gray everywhere shows that this is the Abnegation all put together as where other factions stay with their own during the Ceremony.

This still is obviously focused on Caleb and Tris, (I don't think I need to say left to right, now, do I?)

This is Jeanine Matthews, the genius but not the mastermind behind everything as later revealed in the next book.

This crazy lady that we hated is very professional and I would say fit's her role as Jeanine. In this picture Kate is doing well with a black blazer and a blue shirt under. There's that nice touch of Erudite so she's not just wearing Dauntless black.


Here is target practice again, without the knives and with a gun. Dauntless initiation for you. It's very much unlike Abnegation where everyone just does a couple hours of community service and whatnot.

Dauntless is also the faction which creates the most Factionless members. Back to the picture.

As always, Four is trying to look cunning at practice. In the last picture with the punching bags, same expression. Scroll up and look at it if you would like. I personally think that Four had an easier attitude than Theo here.

Tris has both of her eyes open as she aims to shoot the gun in her hand. I think I would have already closed one of my eyes. That's why I'd be dead before I ever made it into Dauntless and got accepted.

I have no freaking idea why Four's wearing a jacket in this. Everyone around him is a tank tops or short sleeves. Is her really that cold? Sorry, bad pun.

You can see two people fighting in the background and another just standing like a douche ready to be hit.

I wonder what the discussion is about. They both seem quite serious. Hey look, it's the signature scowl again!

Yes, leave the climax to the end, Iz. Of course you have to do that.

If anyone remembers that is Al on the right. Two ninja like people are holding Tris back as she's thrashing. What's happening in this still? I really want to see the movie because of this. (Okay, I know. I'm lying. I know what's going on and what will happen. It's still true that I want to see the movie though!)

Is it a betrayal? I think so. What do you people who haven't read the book think?

Signed,
Iz

P.S. This took so  long to write. No kidding. I spent like 4 hours doing the research and then posting all  the stills and links that especially funny gif you saw.

The Book Thief

I've heard a lot about the book The Book Thief. It's written by Marcus Zusak, and it's about a girl who lives in Europe during World War II. A lot of people have raved about it, so when I saw this trailer, I checked it out. You can check it out too!

http://youtu.be/92EBSmxinus

I really want to see this movie now!! What about you?

 – Nick

Divergent teaser trailer!

A teaser trailer for the Divergent movie was just released!!!!! You can see it here!!

Update (again): Here it is!!!

It's only twelve seconds, but a lot goes on in those twelve seconds!! Let's discuss.

The first four seconds have Tori telling Tris she is Divergent. She also says, "They can't control you." That's a little odd, as at that point in the book, there wasn't any mention of anyone controlling anyone. Also, the screen cuts to a shot of Jeanine walking (like a bad ass) during the "they", which is definitely an implication that Jeanine is the "they". Readers of the book know that Jeanine is not a big factor until the latter half of the book, well after Tris meets Tori. I guess we'll have to wait and see whether this was a huge plot change or just sloppy editing.

Then, for three seconds, we cut to an extremely confusing cut of a bunch of dark-clad people running towards Tris. (???) Tobias comes out of nowhere and says, "If you want to survive, come with me." Does anyone else remember a scene like that in the book?

We then have a two-second cut of a bunch of great-looking training scenes, but they flash by and we don't see enough.

The final three seconds are given to a cut of Beatrice and Christina jumping off a train; it's the same scene as this picture (although from a different angle). That scene definitely looks cool.

All in all, the teaser looks great, but it's really way too short to judge the movie by. What did you guys think?


- Nick

Quote of the Day- August 22, 2013

"Stupid people are dangerous."
-Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins

I would have to agree. Stupid people don't understand what they do. They don't realize that their stupidity can kill. Just replace "stupid" with "mental". It makes more sense doesn't it.

An Abundance of Katherines – Book Review

I recently read An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I didn't so much read it as I blew through it.

Let's take a moment and appreciate this cover. Just keep in mind that it was designed by a fan! A fan! Not a professional artist, not the author, a fan. They had a contest to see if a fan could come up with a better cover design for an updated printing and someone did. It's definitely a fantastic cover: it shows the extreme nerdiness of the book, and each object shown has more than one significance in the book, metaphorically or physically; it emphasizes the use of footnotes, something common throughout the book (more on that later); it's simple, which is actually good in cover-making; and it has a nice big blank space, perfect for them to slap a shiny award on.

I also want to point out two of Ivy's tips for choosing a book that could have helped here. I personally knew this book would be great because it's by John Green, author of the great Looking for Alaska, the fantastic Paper Towns, and the super-dee-duper mega-ASDFGHJKL The Fault in Our Stars. The other tip I could have used if I'd never heard of John Green was the fact that this is a New York Times bestseller.

Now to the premise of the series. Colin Singleton is a child prodigy—not a child genius, as he will repeatedly tell you. He's fantastic at memorizing irrelevant trivia and is fluent in eleven languages. However, he's clueless in a lot of more important ways. Metaphors and other types of subtlety are completely lost on him, and he's not very creative. He desperately wants to create something, something that makes him matter to the world. He's pretty much a complete nerd/loser in his social life, and girls don't go out with him—unless they're named Katherine. Colin has dated many Katherines, nineteen in total. Every one of these relationships ended with the Katherine breaking up with Colin. So, naturally, when Colin is dumped by Katherine XIX (aka K-19), his  friend Hassan decides Colin needs a break. They go on a road trip and end up in the tiny town of Gutshot, Tennessee. There, Colin get an idea: to use his crazy math skills to prove if there really is a reason that Colin has been dumped by all nineteen Katherines. And so, the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability is born.

John Green's style of writing includes a lot of dry humor. This book in particular uses footnotes, and it provides the author with a place to provide hilarious little side comments. I know a lot of people would skip over these at first sight, but please don't!! They're hilarious!

Frankly, the main character, Colin, is insufferable. He's a bit full of himself, and is selfish at times. But he's a good main character, and I will let the author himself explain why:

DFGHJKLÇASDFGHJKL!!! :P

With that said, Colin is relatable, especially to us nerds.

Minor spoilers in the next paragraph. I don't know if saying what doesn't happen is a spoiler or not so…

I didn't think could happen, but the book had a happy ending. No character deaths, no breakups, nothing really sad. There's a few things without loose ends, but still. It's the first John Green book I've read that has a happy ending. That's not bad, just different.

In conclusion, I loved this book. It was hilarious and kept my attention the whole time. I can't wait to see what John Green cooks up next.

Final score: 9.4 out of 10

 – Nick

The House of Hades

It's not very comfortable waiting for a book. Especially if the wait is in one-year intervals each time. You won't have to look at the back of the book to know when the next one will be published. However, you might want to know the name. That keeps you psyched.


The House of Hades by Rick Riordan is so close, yet so far. The release date is October 8th. I know. It feels so much closer than it did last Autumn when Mark of Athena was out. October 8, 2013 is a Tuesday so if you either head to the bookstore right away or had it pre-ordered, it probably won't be in your hands until the weekend.

John Rocco did great with the cover. I checked, the cover was revealed on March 31. That kept me very excited the whole time I was in school. The moment dismissal rang, I rummaged through my book bag for my phone and was totally freaking out. Unfortunately, the school still blocks connection so I had to get out of the damned building and then, finally see the picture.


Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, facing the doors of Death! Yay, at least they made it that far! From my conclusions (written below), Percabeth makes it through the their journey, so people: don't fret.


Ok for all our fretting PJO Percabeth shippers since the Mark of Athena ended in a cliffhanger, I want to say that both Percy and Annabeth get out of Tartarus alive.

For those that have read the Son of Sobek, Carter says Percy looks 17 and Percy talks about the Doors of Death and Annabeth. From that we can conclude, he made it out alive and Annabeth is mentioned happily, so happy ending, everyone.

Share if you think so too and spread the word.

Signed,

Iz

Quote of the Day – August 21, 2013

• "Seeing through glamour is easy. It's people that are hard."

 – Clary Fray, City of Bones

This quote is from the first book in the Mortal Instruments series. Clary is explaining to Simon how to see through the glamour that covers everything "magical" from mundane eyes. Seeing through the glamour is a simple trick, easy to master after you've done it a few times. Clary compares it to seeing people—what their thoughts, their words, their actions really mean. And, she's right. It's very hard to see what people are through  what they show you. This applies just as much in real life as it does in the world of the Shadowhunters.

 – Nick

The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones

I am uber excited for The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones  to come out tomorrow. I bet you all of the Shadowhunter fandom out there is too. Take a moment to appreciate the thought of buying a ticket for the movie beforehand and not waiting on the line.

The movie is surprisingly, and I say surprisingly because, the movie is exactly 2 hours long. Strange, right?

Cassandra Clare did a stunning job with the book. Hence, the huge numbers of readers. I have a good feeling about the movie. From the video clip I saw this morning and the movie trailer that I was crazed about before summer vacation, I think the actors and actresses did great. What's even better is that Lily Collins (Clary Fray) was very excited over the role of Clary because she read the book. Fangirls being casted, that doesn't happen a lot.  Books that go by the movie are good. What do you think of Jamie Campbell (Jace -last name unidentified- XD)'s accent?

To all those fellow Shadowhunters out there, the rune contest that was being held, is now over. The same goes for many of the once opened giveaways. Unfortunately, I did not notice these things on Google beforehand, so I didn't get a chance to enter. Side note: Remember to type in "_____ giveaways" on Google before the contests are all closed. Anyways, there were really cool prizes. 

However, giveaways weren't the main thing I wanted to talk about. It was the inspired jewelry, make up, posters and all the other fun stuff (I'm not being sarcastic). So, I was on Amazon a few seconds ago and I searched up The Mortal Instruments accessories. There are many things.

The necklaces and bracelets and what-nots are almost perfect. Guess what isn't? Yes, you got it! The price. But otherwise, the fashionistas have their own great things. From girly-girls that read with their makeup set, to the stylish dresses from the movie and replica steles and runes.

T-shirts are utterly, freaking amazing. Some of them look really comfortable. That isn't the best part; they let you express yourself. This is America, no?

Also as a girl in America, I love posters. I have four adorning my room at the moment (I like to switch them), I need a few more. The movie posters of books are one of the best because no matter how bad the movie was, the book will always be my support. Paper hanging on my wall remind me of the books. I have never tried pasting a poster to the ceiling. I need to try that once in my life, at least.

Pins for my book bag please! Yes, those are great too. I already have a few that It m deciding to use on a new book bag. 

I can't wait for the movie premiere tomorrow. I need to decide when I'll be able to go though. :( My cousin's gonna be coming over and all so, plans for this Sunday, goodbye. If there is any chance, I'll need to thank God.

Signed,

Iz

Nick's thoughts on Matched

Ivy recently did a book review of Matched. I have read Matched too, so I decided to post some of my thoughts.

1. The society

The dystopian society that Cassia and the other characters live in is called The Society. Apart from the lame name, it's pretty complex. It heavily incorporates advanced technology. A common theme is that machines are good for some things, but people are good for others. Paper is barely used, and what is used falls apart after a few days. Most information is stored in machines, but they are not used for information processing. The people who instead do that job are called sorters. Sorters have a very high place in the Society, and the best job a sorter can have is sorting the Matching Ceremony. The Matching is the Society's practice of pairing two young adults together to become spouses through a sorting. This, obviously, is one of the big things that make this a dystopia, with the other being that they have a hundred pieces of each kind of art. That's it. 100. No one knows how to write, draw, paint, or play instruments, so no one can make more art. There's a bunch of other personal freedoms taken away in the Society, but that's the gist of it. I can barely imagine living in a world where there were only a hundred books to read…

2. The love triangle

A love triangle is a very complicated thing, hard for an author to get right. The "options" have to both be likeable and relatable, it can't be over too fast, it can't get too boring, and on and on. But the most important thing is that the reader has to genuinely think that there is an near-equal chance that each couple ends up together. You can't basically give it away in the first chapter or you've got no suspense! Matched does a good job of getting all of these points (something I can't say about its sequels Crossed and Reached), but it doesn't go beyond that, you know? It just needs a little extra oomph and it would be fantastic.

3. The combination of the above two

This is where the book gets a little off. There is simply not enough time to delve into either aspect, so they both end up suffering a little. The book just needed to be longer!!

To sum it up, I liked Matched. It's a solid book, it hits all the right notes, and it definitely gets you excited for the sequels. It would just be so much better if it was longer.

I originally did not set out for this to become a full review, but it kinda did, so I'll give it a final score anyway.

Final score: 8.8 out of 10

If you liked this book, I strongly recommend reading The Selection by Kiera Cass. It is one of my favorite series in the history of ever. It's a lot like this (only better!!). Just go out and get this book!!

– Nick

Book Review: Matched

Unlike my movie review, I have written book reviews before.

So onto this book, Matched

What did I tell you? Under Ally Condie's name "A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER".

Anyways,  the color of the book, is eye catching: green; very much unlike most books out there.



Summary: Cassia has always trusted the society's choices. And when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia is certain he is the one... until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.  Now she is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one dares follow... between perfection and passion. 

This book was incredibly amazing. I probably waited for four months to get it since my brother's birthday party when a certain two friends of mine decided it was good to bring these books and share them with me.

When I started to read it, it was boring. I finished up reading about the Matched banquet and just put it down. As time started to pass, I began to pick up the book again.

It was a delightful read -minus a younger brother saying, "eww, it's a book about love". I will not say how much more I was ridiculed.- The adventure doesn't really begin in this book, but it's a thrill. The second book, Crossed is with the adventure.

The physical voyage isn't here, but it's what Cassia goes through that we feel. Impressions are being made every time Cassia  has a choice or in most cases, doesn't.

As teenagers, we experience the same decision making. What we are given a choice to do. What do we choose? Why can't we make our own decisions?

Ally Condie did a fantastic job in steering us the way that Cassia felt. In the beginning of the book, I thought that Cassia was supposed to be with Xander; that was how to Society wanted it to be. They were Matched to perfection, both guaranteed high spots for work.

As more of Ky's life and how he thinks is revealed to Cassia, to us, the more differently we think of him. At first Ky was an outsider, different and not "perfect" like Xander was. The more we knew, it was start of a revolt against the Society's once flawless ways.

Final Score: 9.3 out of 10

Go borrow it from your friend, put a hold on it in the library, buy it at the bookstore.

Signed,
Iz

Quote of the Day – August 20th, 2013

"Do not go gentle into that good night..."

-written by Dylan Thomas, mentioned in Matched by Allie Condie

It's a great quote and is often considered one of Thomas' best works. I think this is one of my favorite lines of poetry. I think that we read books not only to stop boredom, but because of our ideals.

Signed,
Iz

Iz's Tips for Choosing a Book

Many people want to know which books are good before they buy it. There are many ways to figure it out.

I know I wouldn't want to buy a book if, in the end, it turned out bad. I'm usually broke from spending all my money on books. I know, it's very sad, but at the same time, true. 

Let's get on with the tips. 

Iz's Tips for Choosing a Good Book

• Ask a friend that normally doesn't read if they have read a "really, really good book"

–If someone who isn't interested in reading decides to read something that they find amazing, it would have to be pretty interesting.

• Look at what's on the cover

–Teachers always say don't judge a book by it's cover, but covers are good enough judges when it comes to books. It shows whether or not the publisher wanted to spend enough time on it. If you think the cover looks good, chances are the summary is gonna lure you in too. 

• New York Times Bestsellers

–A New York Times bestseller is always the best. Somewhere on the cover, either under the book title or near the author's name tells you if it's a bestseller. These books already have critics raving over them. I think it's time for you to get immersed in them too. 

• New books that are on display at your local library or bookstore

–Those books on the stands that capture your eyes are those that the library or the bookstore want you to notice, as you did the moment that you walked in. 

• Choose a book from one of the authors that you've read a book from

–When you like something that an author has written, it's their writing style that you like. When you notice that, you realize the number of items that you buy or check out from them has increased. Stick with these writers. You might even start to pick up their style of writing and customize it into yours.

• Select your favorite genre

–Parents often think that the more diversity that their child reads, the better it is for the reader. I find that this not always true. Rather, most of the time, it's not true. You won't want to read something that bores you to death. It'll take you forever to read.

Instead, I'm proposing another method.  Choose a genre that you like. Expand from there (if you want to). How do you expand so that you're actually interested? Find something that you originally are fond of or fancy. In there should be a new subject that you learned about. Now, it's the time for you to expand into that something new. 

• Go to Goodreads or another critique website

–Here you can see what genre a book belongs too and read a little summary

• When you buy a book, check what other customers bought

-I constantly go to Barnes and Noble and Amazon to buy books. When I do that, there are advertisements that are targeted towards the intended audience, you. Here, they (the website) choose similar books or items that you might be interested in. Most of the time, they are.

That's my several ways to find a good book. If you followed some of them above, tell me if it worked for you or not. 

Signed,

Iz

Happy Birthday Veronica Roth

Today is Veronica Roth's birthday! Just a shout-out to the woman who wrote the awesome Divergent series!!

– Nick

Quote of the Day – August 19, 2013

I'm going to start doing a Quote of the Day on this blog. Let's begin with a Percy Jackson quote because Percy's birthday was yesterday!

• "Please, man," I said. "It would mean a lot. For old times' sake?"

He whimpered. "As I recall, in the old times we almost died a lot. But okay, here goes nothing."

– Percy and Grover, The Last Olympian

– Nick

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters – Movie Review

Ivy, a bunch of our friends, and I saw Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters this Saturday. She's already told you about it; here's my take.

Movie spoilers! Duh! Go to Ivy's post if you want a non-spoilery version. I need to rant, people. (If you just want to skip to my opinion, I'll write "Final opinion" and you can read the stuff below that without spoilers)

After 25 minutes of waiting around because Ivy was late, we went to have pizza. She's already told you that it took forever to cook, but she wasn't the one who went up and paid for it. It was far too expensive, and it wasn't that good pizza either. But it was fun to watch all the different ways everyone tried to choke down a slice of pizza in 2 minutes xD.

Getting to the movie… wait no I have to complain about how I got Slow Popcorn Lady and I didn't get into the movie theater in time to see the coming attractions. I was hoping to see a The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones trailer. Oh, well. 

Anyways, movie starts. I remember it starts with a monologue from Percy about Thalia. That's different from the first movie, when it started with a great scene with Zeus & Poseidon, and you didn't see Percy until later. I'm not sure which one I like better.

Percy is apparently staying year-round at camp, something that is actually pretty important in the book. It kinda changes a bunch of things (namely, Tyson's entrance) but it's not that bad.

In the first big scene, there's this really cool thing that the campers are using for their competition. I don't know how to explain it, but it wasn't in the books and is actually pretty creative. What's not cool is that they immediately go for a cliché. Percy and Clarisse (who is much more awesome in the movie then the books, btw) are both looking like they're going to win, when some dumb camper gets himself into a stupid situation where he's hanging off the structure. Hence the cliché where Percy goes and helps the poor guy up and Clarisse (smirk and all) climbs to the top and wins. Cue sad music and tedious scenes of Percy feeling sorry for himself. Thankfully, Tyson chooses that exact time to come into camp and Percy gets a half-brother, startling him out of his self-pity.

The next day, well, I'll let Clarisse tell you: "Barrier action!!" (You have to picture Clarisse with a huge excited smile :P ) All the campers rush towards the barrier, but the barrier action isn't barrier action anymore as the Colchis (probably spelled that wrong) bulls bust through the barrier and attack the camp. So, the campers—wait for it, wait for it—the campers scream at the top of their lungs and run away. These people are TRAINED WARRIORS, but they're running like little children. Seriously? How did these guys cope before Thalia's Pine came along?

So fight scene with a fire-breathing bull. You probably think it would be awesome, right? WRONG. imo, worst scene in the movie. Completely ridiculous fighting. Clarisse and Annabeth, the camp's two best fighters, can't do anything to the bulls. Tyson gets BBQ'd while Clarisse looks on dumbly. Percy gets cornered by a bull. He then throws Riptide into the bull's mouth and (in slow motion!) it expands into a sword and hits just the right spot to make the bull explode. Um. Cheesy much? Cue appearance by Luke, who's only real purpose is to inform Percy there's a prophecy about him.

Percy talks to (a recast) Chiron who tells him to go to the Oracle. There's a nice touch where Chiron says the line from the books about how they'll talk if he's still sane when he comes back. The Oracle provides a chance for the movie to insert some mythology, which is pretty fun, but then it starts spewing a nonsensical mash-up of the Great Prophecy and the prophecy for Clarisse's quest, which is just confusing and not helping with the "sticking to the story" idea.

Meanwhile, Annabeth is apparently searching WikiMagicalObjects on her iPad to find something to help Thalia, and she comes up with the Golden Fleece. There are a few fun scenes where Dionysus dismisses the idea and then presents the whole camp with the idea, telling them that he thought of it.

For a while, the story goes along kind of close to the book. It manages to switch the order of a the scenes but still pulls off showing all of them. The hydra was already used in the first movie, but there's still a coffee shop (not called Monster Donuts, unfortunately) with those multi-handed creatures. Also, Grover is kidnapped by Luke's cronies in the middle of the movie instead of being lost in the beginning. There's a scene with the Gray Sisters which is really fun, Nathan Fillion has an AWESOME cameo as Hermes (there's even a reference to one of his old shows, Firefly) and Luke has a great one-liner on the Princess Andromeda. (Clip: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7RMwl0-YVlM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7RMwl0-YVlM )

Differently from the book, they get swallowed up by the mouth in the water (I forgot what the name was). The mouth's stomach is surprisingly well-done when I was expecting horrible special effects. They meet Clarisse's boat of zombies, and in a scene that gave me extreme deja vú of a scene from The Chronices of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader they awesomely bust out of the stomach. 

Circe's spa isn't in the movie; it's replaced with an abandoned amusement park where Polyphemus hangs out, called Circeland. Grover is there, dressed as a female Cyclops, which looks as hilarious as you thought it would look like when you were picturing it as you were reading the book. The trio, Tyson, & Clarisse fight Polyphemus in a really really good scene.

Of course, Luke & his cronies are right outside of the cave. They steal the Golden Fleece, push Tyson off a cliff (?) and capture the trio and Clarisse. This is where it starts to be different from the book. In the book, Blackjack is on the Princess Andromeda and the questers use him to escape. In the movie, Kronos's remains are right there and the Golden Fleece manages to bring him back. Okay, it's not that far from the book, as Luke planned to use the Fleece on Kronos anyway. But the stupid thing is that the Lord of the freakin' Titans is ridiculously easy to beat. Percy uses Riptide (which is apparently the "cursed blade" from the prophecy) to whack Kronos to pieces.

After Kronos recedes to his coffin, Annabeth rushes forward in happiness. She then acheives her sole purpose for being in this movie at all—getting stabbed in the back by a giant scorpion. Percy is busy hugging Tyson who's magically come back from the dead. After he finishes with that, he goes to her side, says a bunch of corny, cheesy stuff, and then puts the Golden Fleece on her to heal her. So, the daughter of Athena (the goddes of battle) almost gets killed because she forgot that there was a giant scorpion next to her... Can someone explain this logic to me??

Anyway, happy ending. Clarisse puts the Fleece on the roots of Thalia's Pine, and the barrier goes back to full strength.

The final scene is in the morning, not the middle of the night, so Percy is eating —asdfghjkl— CEREAL!!!! (That's an inside joke :P ) Anyway, Percy is eating his CEREAL when Grover yells and brings him to the pine, and Thalia appears, and she says "My name is Thalia. I'm the daughter of Zeus.", and fade to black.

Some thoughts:

• No "Seaweed Brain", huh? :(

• A lot of critics said that Logan Lerman did a good job acting but I kind of disagree. None of the main trio is that great of an actor. Chris Colombus said that he didn't want to cast twelve year-olds because it would be too hard to find good ones. Um, you couldn't even find good 25 year-olds!!! Actually, I thought the standout actor/ess (other than Nathan Fillion =P ) was Levin Rambin as Clarisse (who, in case you didn't notice, was also Glimmer in The Hunger Games).

• Luke had all the good one-liners in this movie.

• Annabeth, did like nothing. That was a disappointment.

Final opinion:

The movie was definitely better than The Lightning Thief. It was a lot better if you count that it had to make up for the mess  that the first movie created. It stayed truer to the book, and the only hu-uge mistake was messing up the prophecy, but that's kinda better than having no prophecy!

Final score: 8.7 out of 10

Sorry, this was kinda longer than I expected. I'm going to do this again with books that I read, but I probably won't be as in depth as I just was. This was a special occasion.

– Nick