Friday, March 28, 2014

Poppin' Off- Divergent (The Movie)


Oh, Divergent. I wanted to like this movie so much. I really did. But I really didn't. 

*There are big time spoilers in the post. So if you don't want to know, I suggest not reading this right now.*

In anticipation of the movie, I read the first two books in the trilogy (lagging on that last book, it kinda sucks). I really think that I did myself a disservice by reading it before I saw the movie. The movie left out a lot of pivotal moments from the book, and threw Jeanine Matthews into parts that she didn't even belong. But let me back it up.

Visually, the movie got Chicago very much how the book described it, minus the Dauntless Pit (it was dark and had water in the chasm in the book, in the movie it was light and lacked the water). Regarding the faction dress code, they didn't stick to it exactly, and I didn't really like that either (that's how each faction was identified to others in the book). The plot, I felt, didn't stick to the book very much. There was a lot that was changed, and I wonder how that will affect the other movies. For instance, they did not introduce the character of Edward. Edward becomes very important in the second and third book, because he is a big part of the Factionless movement. He is also the boy that Peter stabs in the eye with a butter knife to get the number one spot. But they don't show that scene in the movie. They don't identify that Peter is one of the boys that tried to rape and kill Tris. You get to see Al in that scene, and you get to see that he killed himself later, but you don't get to see any of the back story with Al. You don't get to see how much he likes Tris, how terribly he was doing in training- all the reasons that those negative actions meant so much. They tried to make Peter rude in a funny way, and that wasn't him in the book at all. You don't get to see any of the Dauntless born initiates, so there's no Uriah (another fairly important character later on). And in Tris' final fear landscape, they felt the need to have it like Four was trying to rape her, when in the book, she was afraid of being close to him. And like I said before, they put Jeanine Matthews in a lot of scenes that she wasn't in in the book. The scene that was most ruined by her presence was the control room. That fight was supposed to be just between Tris and Four, not them and a ton of Erudite. In a way, they used the character of Jeanine as a narrator, filling in information that you need to know and wouldn't know if you hadn't read the book. I think if they wanted to do that though, they could've just stayed truer to the book and the information would've come out organically, but whatever. There were a lot of differences in the way the family conducted themselves too, and some scenes were changed where you lose very important hints about their background.

Casting-wise, I liked most of the people they chose. Shailene Woodley made a really good Tris. Ashley Judd made the perfect mom. If they had done the mother's back story the right way, it would've been even better. I thought Peter and Caleb were miscast though. I think Miles Teller would've made the better Caleb, and Ansel Elgort would've made the better Peter. I felt that Shailene and Ansel had no chemistry whatsoever as brother and sister, so it will be interesting to see if they make better lovers in this summer's The Fault in Our Stars (they are Hazel and Augustus after all). I also thought Christina was a little miscast. When I read the book, I pictured Naya Rivera in that role, not Zoe Kravitz. Its not that she did a bad job, I just pictured someone different. Jai Courtney did Eric very well, although he did look a little like Macklemore. 

The movie wasn't horrible, even though I'm venting a lot. It was still suspenseful, even without all the ultra violence that was in the book. And there's a part where Theo James takes his shirt off, that's visually pleasing (so much so that a group of girls in the front of the theater clapped and cheered when he did it). Overall, I would give the movie 3/5 stars. I'm hoping that the directors of the movie will realize that they pulled a Hunger Games and correct in time for the second movie. 

Have you seen the movie? What did you think of it?



Thursday, March 27, 2014

Krystelle's Book Club- Divergent by Veronica Roth


Last year I did a lot of book purchasing, but not a lot of book reading. One of the things I bought was the Divergent series. I'd heard it was set to be the next Hunger Games, and I like that style of story, but I kept putting off starting the series. So fast forward to  the week before the movie was set to come out. I finally sat down and read it. And wow. I'm glad I did. 

The book follows sixteen year old Beatrice Prior, an Abnegation girl who doesn't feel right in her faction's skin. The world as she knows it, is split into five factions that are based on character traits. The Candor are all about the truth, they were black and white only, and say everything that comes to mind. They are the lawyers and judges. The Erudite are the smart ones. Always on the quest for knowledge, they research constantly. They were blue and are the teachers and scientists. The Dauntless are the wild, fearless ones. They jump off trains daily as a way to get around. They wear all black and are the protectors of the city. The Amity are the hippies of the group. Always happy, never negative. They are the farmers and where red and yellow. The Abnegation are basically the Amish. They are selfless, never having much, in favor of giving it to the factionless. They are the public servants, volunteers and the government. They only wear gray and aren't even allowed to look in the mirror except every once in a while, for only a few seconds. When the children hit age sixteen, they are forced to take an aptitude test, which determines which faction they are supposed to belong to. Its faction before blood, and you aren't always guaranteed your family's faction.

Beatrice and her brother Caleb both take the test (and no, they are not twins), and Beatrice's tests results come back inconclusive. The Dauntless lady named Tori that administers her test tells her that she's Divergent, and that she has to keep it to herself or that she could end up dead. Tori doesn't elaborate much more than that, and Beatrice is left to wonder what that means. At the Choosing Ceremony the next day, Beatrice is forced to make the decision of which faction she wants on her own, and she chooses Dauntless. Her brother chose Erudite, much to Beatrice's shock. Caleb was the perfect Abnegation boy.

After the Choosing Ceremony, they go back to their new potential factions, and that's when things get crazy for Tris (she decided that Beatrice didn't fit the Dauntless scene). I can't really go into too much more without a ton of spoilers, and I already plan on dumping a ton of those tomorrow when I review the movie. But the book is very good. There really isn't a slow moment in it, and you get to see what lengths some people will go to to get what they want. It does get very violent in the training compound, and *I think these may constitute spoilers* I will say that if things like suicide, child abuse and rape are triggers for you, please be warned that those issues are in this book. 

Overall, it was a strong book and a great way to start the trilogy. I do wonder why the author thought some of the things she wrote about were appropriate for a YA audience though. While not written in an explicit, adult way, some of the stuff I don't think is suitable for younger readers. They couldn't even put it in the movie in order to keep their PG-13 rating so they could reach that target audience.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Liebster Award

Super excited to say that Amanda from Geekphoria has nominated me for a Liebster Award! I know that part of this is to nominate five or eleven other blogs, but most all the other blogs I read have already been nominated, so I am not nominating anyone at this time. 


And what is a Liebster?
“Well, it is only an AWESOME award given to up and coming bloggers. Given by other up and coming bloggers. It’s a cool way to find other blogs and feel like you are getting into the blogging stratosphere. It is simple, you get nominated by someone else, mention their page and a link to their blog in your Liebster Award Post, answer the 11 questions they give you, then tag 11 other nominees and give them a new set of 11 questions to answer.”

So here are the questions that Amanda gave me to answer:
If you were trapped inside a video game for the rest of your life, which game would you want it to be?

That's a tough one, but I think I would choose World of Warcraft. The areas are pretty, there are professions to support yourself and with the upcoming expansion, we'll finally have houses lol. 
Which spaceship would you like to explore the universe in?
Captain Picard's Enterprise. 
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started your blog?
I wish I knew how time consuming it would be lol. No, I wish I had started my blog with more knowledge of HTML/code and things like that. I still don't know how to do that stuff. I think it would make my blog look a thousand percent better if I could do those things.
If you could have any mythical animal as a friend/pet/companion, what would it be and why?
I always wanted him when I was younger. I loved The Neverending Story.
What fictional world is your home away from home?
Forks! Lol, that's a joke....kind of. I love watching the Twilight movies as a way to kill some time. My second is Azeroth. What can I say, WoW rules my life sometimes!
If you could be any fictional character for a day, who would it be?
I think I would want to be Katniss or Tris for a day. To be that badass...that'd be awesome.
What daily (or semi-daily) activity/chore do you wish you could get by without doing?
Clutter cleaning. I have kids, they leave things everywhere! 
What is your number one pet peeve?
Having to repeat myself more than once. I despise when I'm talking to someone and they just keep saying "what?! what?!" over and over. How about you hush up and listen to me the first time!
If you had to pick an apocalypse, which one would you pick?
Hmm....zombie maybe. Seems like there'd be less rioting, looters, and general bad people, even though there seems to be a steady supply of them on The Walking Dead.
What job did you want as a kid? What job would you want if you didn’t have to worry about making a living?
It changed year to year. Being decisive has never been my strong suit. In kindergarten, I wanted to be a cheerleader. In first grade, a Disney animator. Second grade, teacher. Third grade, military police(wo)man. Fourth grade until the end of high school, lawyer. If I didn't have to worry about making a living, I'd want to be able to just art journal for a living. Maybe own a scrapbook/Smashbook supply store. That would be awesome.
What is your favorite color, and what is your favorite nerdy thing corresponding to that color?
Blue and purple are my favorite colors, and my favorite nerdy things are my blue Alliance hoodie (I'm wearing it in this post ) and my Epic Purple Lanyard from Blizzard's booth at SDCC last year.

Just a Little Update..

Things have been so crazy lately! But I have published and replied to every comment that was left, so if you left one, thank you and sorry it took forever to get back to you. Also, I have a few blog posts that will be going up this week, so everything should be getting back on track. This month has been absolutely busy, and I didn't prepare for it at all. Also, congratulations to Shannon and Joie for winning the GlaDOS and Stickers giveaways respectively and thank you to everyone that entered both of those giveaways. Its my hope to have another giveaway in April, probably after WonderCon.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Congratulations and Reminders

Congratulations to Jackie for winning the Pokemon DVD giveaway! The package has been sent, so hopefully it finds you soon :) Thank you to everyone who entered! I'd also like to remind everyone that the Portal themed giveaway ends in just a few hours, and the sticker giveaway ends in a day. And to add a little pizzazz to the stickers giveaway, I'm adding a set of Espionage Cosmetics nail wraps to the giveaway! Its the Cunning design, which I think is Doctor Who related (I don't know, I think I'm the only person who doesn't watch that show lol).

Monday, March 17, 2014

Monday Mix Up #19

Hello Monday! I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a great rest of this week :) Also, don't forget to enter my giveaways (Portal themed and stickers) if you haven't already! Both giveaways end on Thursday at midnight PST.

Hey Monday- Homecoming
*DIY desk mat by Geekphoria
*Geek Time, for photos like these:
Skylar Astin on Glee, singing one of my favorite songs. All the love (and I'm not a huge Glee fan).

Friday, March 14, 2014

Poppin' Off- Mr. Peabody and Sherman

My children were super excited to see Mr Peabody and Sherman. They had a countdown going, along with their birthday countdowns, that's how excited they were. So when it opened last Friday, my husband and I took them to see it. My kids loved it, and I thought it was pretty good too.

There are some history and science references in the movie, which I think is really good for children to see. Not enough to make the movie boring though, and definitely not enough for anyone to consider it an educational movie. The movie is also full of puns, which just made me think of that Spongebob episode...
The puns in the movie weren't horrible, but there were enough of them that I rolled my eyes a few times at the end. The graphics were pretty good, not up to Pixar standards, but pretty close. The character that annoyed me the most was Penny. She obviously needed to start out a brat to make the movie plot happen, but they could've toned it down way before they did. Overall,  I would recommend seeing this movie. It has a lot of humor and the story doesn't drag along too much. 

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Stickers Giveaway! (CLOSED)

Since I did a giveaway in honor of my son on his birthday, its only fair that I do a small giveaway in honor of my daughter on her birthday! So here it is- stickers!! She loves stickers so much, so I'm giving away some extras we have.

Here is a picture of some of the stickers up for grabs.

Now for the rules: This is open to US addresses only. Once the giveaway is over, a winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received within that time frame a new winner will be chosen. No giveaway accounts can be used for entries in this contest. That means, if you do what the widget says and one of your entries is chosen, and I can very obviously tell that you use that FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/BlogLovin account for contests only, your winner status will be thrown out and a new winner will be chosen. This is not a sponsored giveaway. It is not affiliated with Jinx, Disney, so-so, or any other brand of sticker I may send to you.


Good luck!




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Personally...30

Thirty, flirty and thriving. Jennifer Gardner's character in 13 Going on 30 sees that tagline in a magazine, and that's all she wants for her thirteenth birthday. In a Big like twist, shes get what she wishes for, then finds out that she maybe doesn't want that after all. End the movie with her and Mark Ruffalo living a happily ordinary life.

Today is my thirtieth birthday. In terms of birthdays, this is one of those big ones. Celebrities say that thirty is great. All the insecurities of their twenties just fluttered away, and thirty is awesome. I'll be honest. These past few years have been rough for me. I guess its the depression or whatever, but things have been hard. I have also found that navigating these years without friends has been harder than I thought. It was easier in my earlier twenties. I had a job and no kids, so I could spend all my money on distractions like books, movies, and clothes. But once I lost my job and started to have kids, the ability to spend on distractions vanished. And while concentrating on them has been good (and I love them to pieces), I miss doing my own things. They've also noticed that mommy doesn't have any friends, and the comments are hard to take sometimes. They are little, so they don't say it to be mean. But when my husband is constantly going out to do his hobbies and see his friends and they see me staying at home all the time, they say things. I feel like I am setting a bad example for them, and I don't want that. I want my children to have very happy, fulfilled, and social lives. But at the same time, I feel like its too late for me to make any friends anymore. Everyone pretty much has their set of lifers, and then every once in a while they add to the acquaintance pool. I feel awkward trying to meet people and make friends. I feel like they notice how insecure and friendless I am. Is all this really supposed to go away now that I'm thirty?

Of course it won't. I am not a celebrity. I don't have access to all the things and people they do that make their lives easier. I still have a lot of personal work to do. I think being alone for so many years has made me unacceptable as a friend. I wouldn't even know where to start anymore. Living in your head is no way to live, and that's pretty much where I am right now. I still need to lose weight. Feeling fat hasn't done me any favors in the self esteem department, which hinders all kinds of other areas in my life. And with all the health issues I've had lately...it really scared me...and all this extra weight isn't helping with those.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't bemoan this birthday, even though it sounds like I am. I am using it as a reflecting period. I am grateful for the thirty years I've been given so far, but I do have a lot of regrets. A lot of missed life experiences because I was afraid to say yes to things, afraid to let people in. And look where that's gotten me. Maybe if I can finally get all my feelings out in the open and not stuck in my head, I can get started on what needs to get done. No more excuses. There's no more time for those. I've already lived thirty years, and they've gone by way too fast. If I'm lucky, I'll get thirty or forty more. It sounds like a long time, but its not. And I've got too much left to do to keep on wasting it.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

WoW Wednesday...Its Actually More About Hearthstone...

I think I need to make a new section just for Hearthstone, I have been playing it more than WoW lately. If you're interested in Blizzard's World of Warcraft themed card game, it is now out of beta and very live! You can download it for free at playhearthstone.com. Also, if you are a WoW player trying out Hearthstone, you might be interested in the mount that they're giving away if you get three wins in Play or Arena mode. The mount also gives you an achievement called Hearthstoned.


I took a picture of my mount as soon as I won it yesterday. It took forever to get it once I logged into WoW though. It was supposed to be there as soon as you logged in, but I guess their system was overloaded by everyone trying to get it. The mount is very impressive and I've heard rumors that there is a red version of this horse, although I have only seen people getting blue ones.

Now for some WoW news. The time has come to pre-purchase Warlords of Draenor. If you pre-order the standard ($49.99) or deluxe ($69.99) digital version of the expansion, you get a free level 90 boost. You will then also have the option of purchasing addition level 90 boosts for $60 a boost. There was a lot of trash talking in Trade last night about the level boosts, but I bet most of those guys pre-ordered as well! They were talking equal amounts of trash about the Hearthsteed too, but that's just Trade, full of hating trolls. Anyway, the digital deluxe also comes with some in-game goodies; like a Dread Raven Mount and Dread hatchling pet for WoW, Battle.net portraits for Starcraft II and a Warsong Pennant for Diablo III. The mount and pet sound most appealing to me. I haven't played Diablo in forever and I have never played Starcraft. Are any of you going to pre-purchase the game for the level 90 boosts or the in-game goodies?

Happy Birthday IGGPPC! An Interview and a Giveaway! (CLOSED)

If you've been reading along these past few months, I'm sure you've seen me talk about International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club on more than one occasion. So imagine my great surprise to find out that they are celebrating their first birthday just a few days after my 30th! March is a great month for birthdays, what can I say? Emily Farquharson, co-founder of IGGPPC, recently took the time to answer some questions about the group- where they started, where they want to go, and do guys really sign up for pen pals? Read on to find out!

1.This has been a busy time for IGGPPC! A new site, a first birthday...When you started IGGPPC, what did you hope would come from it?
It's crazy busy at HQ, we are nonstop with the planning for the birthday and beyond! When we very first started Leslie and I really just wanted candy! We never thought it would become this amazing, versatile community that it has become at the time. The best things are those you aren't expecting to happen! -F

2. Do you feel like the response from geeky girls/guys has been largely positive, or have there been some Negative Nellies in regard to IGGPPC and its community? 
You know, we are so lucky, the response to the project has been resoundingly positive and there has been no negativity within our ranks. We've nurtured an environment of support and acceptance that is universally embraced across our members, which just makes IGGPPC a fantastic community to be involved with. There have been a few people who have tried to goad us into petty arguments on twitter but we don't rise to the bait. Internet survival 101: don't feed the trolls! 

3. And speaking of guys... are there any that actually sign up for pen pals?
Yes! They are definitely in the minority but their numbers are steadily growing!

4. Is there anything you'd like to achieve with IGGPPC that you have yet to?
So much! We joke a lot about one day being able to have a proper IGGPPC convention with all the trimmings; like comic con but with more stationery and Lisa Frank stickers. 

5. There are so many fun things going on to celebrate your birthday; a week of giveaways, a birthday video and a House competition. Regarding the House competition, I am stuck between two Houses. I will be House GlaDOS until March 13th, then its onto House Organa. Should I post my awesomeness to both houses or how does that work?
Hot damn that is tricky, as leader of house GlaDOS I am inclined to say stay with us until after the comp because switching teams half way a game is just not cricket. The amount of people who are so generously giving their time and products to help us celebrate our first year has blown us all away. A lot of the prizes for the week of giveaways have come from shops owned by our members which just makes it even more special! 

6. Anything else you'd like to say about the community that we didn't touch on?
I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to express my love for all aspects of IGGPPC. Where would I even start? The beautiful friendships that have blossomed; the candies, mix tapes and postcards swapped; the healthy twitter debates about everything and anything; the generous nature of our staff and members who give up chunks of time to organise, plan and promote the club; the list goes on and on. If I dwell on it too much it kicks me right in the feels because I cannot wrap my wee pea brain around the fact that a project we started on a whim has turned into this magnificent beast! 

If you have never signed up to get a pen pal, do it! You never know you might be a top 5 geek love away from meeting your new best friend!

For those of you that are not IGGPPC members, Iggles and Miggles are broken up into Houses by their age. House GlaDOS houses the twenties basically, and the House Organa is for the 30+. Currently, House GlaDOS is winning the competition. The House competition started March 3rd and is running through April 3rd, 2014. The giveaways are happening March 13th (Happy Birthday to me!)- March 19th (Happy Birthday IGGPPC), 2014. Every day is a new prize, and they're all pretty awesome.

Now for my giveaway! As my way of saying goodbye to House GlaDOS, I am giving away some Portal gear. If you subscribe to Loot Crate, it may look familiar to you. And it should, as this came from September's (I think) crate :) Also, I am giving away a super cool measuring cup that looks like a beaker and an ice cube tray that resemble a tiny elements chart. Now for the rules:

This is open to US addresses only. Once the giveaway is over, a winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received within that time frame a new winner will be chosen. No giveaway accounts can be used for entries in this contest. That means, if you do what the widget says and one of your entries is chosen, and I can very obviously tell that you use that FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/BlogLovin account for contests only, your winner status will be thrown out and a new winner will be chosen. This contest is not sponsored, and is not affiliated with Loot Crate, Portal, IGGPPC or Target. I purchased everything for this contest.

Good luck!!





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Pokemon DVD Giveaway! (CLOSED)

In honor of my son's birthday today, I'm doing a small giveaway. Pokemon is his favorite thing right now, so I am giving away Pokemon Collector's Set: Pokemon Heroes / Pokemon 4Ever / Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys / Pokemon Jirachi: Wish Maker.

This giveaway is not sponsored and is not afflilitated with Miramax or the Pokemon franchise in any way. This is for US addresses only. Winner will be contacted by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email, and if no response is received by that time, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, March 3, 2014

Monday Mix Up #17

Happy March Everyone! Its birthday month here (my children and I are all March babies), so I happen to like this month quite a bit :) My grandma was also born in March (her birthday is the day after mine), so this month is also really hard for me because it just highlights how much I miss her. I also found out that the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club will be celebrating their first birthday this month as well, so its birthdays all around!


*Loving this California tee from Stately Type.

*I need this notebook from Denik up in here, up in here.

*Ladies Against Humanity (not for the faint of heart or politically correct)

*Speaking of Tumblr.....KMT is now on it! Follow along if you like :)

*Hot chocolate sounds so good right now. Looks good too.

*A fun St. Patrick's Day care package to be sure you or your loved ones don't get pinched!

*Any excuse to show my age and use a disposable camera.......

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Recently/Currently

Today's post is a combination of recent and current things, and its not very exciting.

Happenings:

A trip to Urgent Care and a trip to the Emergency Room and still, nobody seems to know whats wrong with me. Its very scary. As I type this now, I have a huge headache, my hands are shaking out of control, my face is twitching, I have limited use of my hands and my back is still hurting me really bad. The Urgent Care doctor said I had a muscular skeletal issue and that was that. Gave me some meds that didn't help at all. I went to see my regular doctor and he thinks its stress related. Made an appointment for  me to see a neurologist for the end of this month and told me to suck it up until then. The ER doctor said I just hurt my back, and that I might still have some Zoloft in me, which is why I'm shaking and having headaches. I don't buy it. These are some of the worse headaches I've ever had in my life. And there was no reasoning for the weirdo rapid heartbeats or my face twitching. Have any of you ever had any of these problems before? Are there any remedies that can help me? I seriously feel like I'm dying.

On the sunny side of things, I have been planning the birthday parties of  my son and daughter, and trying to decide if I should ignore my impending 3-0 or celebrate it. With all the health issues I'm having, I think that if I make it to the 13th of this month, I should celebrate, but I have really taken to giving it up for the sake of my daughter. A week or two ago, I  bought our badges for Wondercon. Since its Easter weekend and the Easter Bunny doesn't feel like hauling her goods all the way to Anaheim, I will be there Saturday only. I also bought tickets to see Aziz Ansari. Hes going to be in my town, and I managed to get seats in the third row. What sold my husband on getting tickets so close was two words : heckling distance. Last time we went to see a comedian (Doug Stanhope), we were right next to the stage. And he heckled the crap out of me over this dumb piece of cheesecake that wasn't even mine (it was my husband's). So my husband is hoping for something similar from Aziz.

Its also been raining like crazy here the past few days, which is such a relief! While everyone else has been having the most epic of winters this year, California has not. In fact, our lack of winter has brought on a serious drought for the state. It has caused our water rates to rise, prices of bottled water to rise, finding bottled water to become more difficult and its had a huge impact on our agriculture production. And again, while most people don't care about that, you should. California (especially the area in which I live) produces most of the produce for the US. Lack of product means you won't get all the yummy foods you want, and it will drive your food prices higher. Sorry. Here's an article on Mother Jones that breaks it all down.

Reading: Still not much reading book-wise, but I have been reading Livy Loves to Run lately and I love it. I will be doing a post on my health very soon, and her blog/Instagram is a big part in my trying to get with it and change my health for the better.


Listening:
                                        
Afraid- The Neighbourhood

Watching: Nothing new! Just my usual Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Atlanta, King of the Nerds and Pretty Little Liars.