Book Review - Horns

I'm current on vacation in Maine, staying near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I just finished a book that was simply amazing, a beautiful piece of fiction. I had planned to wait until I got home next week to write a review of it but felt I needed to do it before it left my mind completely. Since I'm doing this from my phone, please excuse any weird spelling mistakes as I have been hit by autocorrect many times.

Joe Hill is a writer I specifically got into due to my huge enjoyment of Stephen King. I read Hill's Heart-Shaped Box a few years ago and automatically loved it, noticing the similarities but still extreme differences than King's work. I later got into Hill's comic series, Locke & Key, which is also pretty amazing as it's not like any other comic out there. His short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, was great from the stories I read (I tend to read short story collections piecemeal, bit by bit). It was inevitable that I'd enjoy his latest novel, Horns, but I didn't expect it this much.

The story of Horns is really intriguing. Ignatius "Iggy/Ig" Perrish wakes up one day to find horns growing out of his head. it has been a year since his girlfriend, Merrin, was mysteriously murdered, a crime Iggy was blamed for but was never declared guilty due to a fire destroying all key evidence. After waking up with the horns, he finds out that anyone he talks to doesn't pay much attention to the fact that he has horns, but instead com into a type of trance and want to declare their deepest desire to sin, asking Iggy if it would be ok to do it. Examples are his current girlfriend waning to literally pig out on a box of donuts, a reception wanting to tell off a mother with a rowdy daughter, and a cop wanting to cause Iggy pain just be size he doesn't like him. If Ig somehow touches someone, he experiences parts of their life, mainly sins they have done. Talking to his family shows him just how much they do not like him. His powers eventually lead to him finding out who murdered his girlfriend, and the rest of the novel follows Ig as he tries to bring about revenge.

I found the style of exposition to be incredibly unique. After the first part of the book, we have a section that is a flashback to the summer 11 years before where Ig's life changed when he met Merrin and his best friend Lee. The reader is torn at this point, wanting to know more of present Ig's powers and quest for revenge yet also intrigued to see more of younger Ig's adventures. Hill does a great job of keeping the reader interested in the younger Ig, making you almost forget about the present Ig.

Several times throughout the novel, the narrator also changes, during Ig's power of touch where we experience the sin of Others first hand. A real interesting section of the book, right after a very climatic scene that leaves us wondering about Ig's fate, switches gears and tells us the life story of Merrin's murderer, about how they got to be the way they are and all the bad things they had done. Included is the exac point everything changed, which was never explicitly blamed but the reader just knows that's where it all went wrong. Once again, Hill gets you emotionally invested in someone, where you don't mind not reading about Ig and wondering what had just happened to him.

The final narrative direction that cemented my love for the book was towards the end, in a beautifully written scene that con currently tells a life-or-death scene and a flashback to the night before Ig started growing horns, showing the reader exactly what occured that unknown night. The style of writing throws you straight into the scene, you fall even more in love with the Ig and his well-being. I'm not going to lie, at that scene in the book my eyes began to get misty. Then, during the last 3 chapters of the book, the tears began uncontrollably streaming down my face.

Now, I don't normally cry with books. I do with great movies and tv shows (most recent was during the Doctor Who episode that took place on Devil's Run). The last time I remember crying this hard over the ending to a book? Stephen King's Insomnia. You can get so emotionally invested in these characters and the writer just knows the exact way to put you emotionally over the edge. Those are the times when I know what I just read was a great piece of literature. Horns fits that bill beautifully!

Now, Horns is not for everyone. I tried to describe the book to my mom yet when I started talking about how a central plot point was when Ig realises that the Devil was actually a hero and not a villain, she just did not want to hear anymore. She's very religious (she doesn't think so, but this just proves my point) so putting the Devil in a good light means she could be never be emotionally invested in a character that has turned into s literal Devil. You get to the point where you're rooting for Ig as he begins his baptism of fire and ascension to revenge.

If you are not extremely religious, or are at least open minded enough to be able to read a book about a literal Devil, then I highly suggest this book. I had been in a rut with books recently and glad I picked Horns up. This book has definitely climbed into my Top 10 favorite books.

Movie Review - The Puffy Chair

I'm not going to lie, I'm a big fan of Mark Duplass. The first movie of his that I saw was Humpday, which was an incredibly odd, Indie movie that was just a lot of fun. I was lucky to catch it at my local indie movie theatre and went in not knowing any of the actors/actresses. Even though I saw him in a couple other movies, it wasn't until earlier this year that I actually read up on him in an issue of EW magazine. After that he was suddenly in 3 things that I saw in quick success (People Like Us, Safety Not Guaranteed, and The League). After seeing his brilliance in those, it made me want to see other things he's done. Thus, tonight I watched The Puffy Chair.

This movie seems to be his first full-length movie he (and his brother, Jay Duplass) worked on. There were short movies before, but nothing like this. The first thing you can automatically tell is that it is indeed an Indie film. Yet that's not a bad thing, it's just something you need to acknowledge to better enjoy the film.

The basic plot is Josh (Mark Duplass) plans a trip to get a puffy chair for his dad's birthday. Originally planned to only be himself, yet soon his girlfriend Emily (Katie Aselton) and brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins) join in on the road trip. Obviously they run into several problems and have difficulty over coming them in a real world way (none of the usual Hollywood "I'm going to snap my fingers and everything is right in the world again" BS). Cheating the system, lust at first sight, broken expectations, etc. It's not a movie where everything works out in the end, it had a surprise ending that fit perfectly.


It has some of the usual problems with an Indie film: not the best lighting, sound could occasionally be muffled, and very limited equipment so there is likely only 1 camera. And as with most Indie films, the plot is that of human fault that isn't tainted by a usual "my life is somehow better than everyone else's and just enjoy all the crazy coincidences that occur." Nah, this movie is all real world type stuff, things anyone can easily get into themselves.

For a bunch of amateur actors, everyone did a great job! Mark Duplass seems to have not changed his style of acting at all in the 6 years since this movie came out, I guess he found his niche and knows what the audience wants him to do. I didn't recognize Katie Aselton at all, just had a hint of "she looks familiar" going on and was incredibly surprised to see she's also on The League (and is married to Mark Duplass in real life). Rhett Wilkins played his character as a free spirit, quick to lust and will tell it like it is, no avoiding the subject even when it's in his best interest.

The dialogue has a feeling that everything is said exactly as it should, nothing forced and nothing sounding out of character. It's everyday speech, so sometimes it calls for stumbling as they arrange their thoughts. The cussing that makes this an R-rated movie fits when used, no feeling of the writers inserting it just to insert it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, but then again I absolutely LOVE Indie movies so it fit in my taste. This won't be a movie for everyone, that's for sure. There are many scenes with little dialogue, just the cameraman running around and catching the movement of the actors with just enough talking to get by. Some may find it boring (as shown in the IMDb forums), so if you want a movie to be top quality with no perspective moments then you likely won't enjoy this. If you're open to Indie comedies, or like Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton, check it out!

Movie Review - House at the End of the Street

The midnight showing this week as House at the End of the Street. It was...ok. Overall good but with a lot of plot-holes. I felt the movie left you with more questions than answers, and not in a good way. It's not a bad movie, just a movie that has some problems here and there.

House at the End of the Street is about Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother (Elizabeth Shue) who just moved from Chicago to a small town somewhere in or near Penn State, not sure if they specified besides that it was 2 days worth of driving from Chicago. They got their house for dirt cheap because their empty house next door was the scene of a double homicide, where a young girl killed her parents and fled. The young girl evidently drowned in a nearby lake yet no body was ever found, and 4 years late that's still the hugest thing the town can talk about. We soon find out that the house actually isn't empty, instead the son of the murdered family, Ryan (Max Thieriot), lives there by himself. Elissa, finding herself at a distance from the "popular" kids, has a chance meeting with Ryan and develops a liking to him, soon hanging out with him any chance she got; even after her mother declares she doesn't like Elissa hanging out with Ryan (at an awkward dinner between the three of them), Elissa still won't give up. The big secret is that Max's sister actually isn't dead, instead he is keeping her in his basement locked away due to her mental instability. I can't really tell you much more at this point without going into spoilers, which I'll do in a separate section.

There really isn't any problems with the acting. Elizabeth Shue does a good job, but at times she appears distant and it leads me to wonder if they're trying to make her character a hidden layer that is never explained. Jennifer Lawrence does a great job as a quasi-outsider, her only friends being another group of quasi-outsiders that form a band (which we definitely do not see enough of!). Max Thieriot was creepy creepy creepy, which perfectly fit his character. He exudes the dark and stormy personality that his character needs, a sense of mystery surrounding him.

I did have a problem with the directing and cinematography. It felt like the movie was directed by two different people with the first half being filled with a lot experimental shots whereas the second half is more of a horror feel. The first half features a lot of random scenes where the camera is at a strange angle yet the same scene just a different shot has it level. One time in particular we had Elizabeth Shue at at a 25 degree angle yet when we switched back to Jennifer Lawrence she was level. And they were each standing in the same room, facing each other. No need for that at all. There were also many shots that were intentionally blurry yet for no reason at all.

Now in the second half, I didn't have any problems. In fact, they had a perfect first-person shot scene where someone is using a faulty flashlight. It has a feel like the game Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, where you only see through a flashlight in first person mode. Very similar feel, and with it flickering on and off it brought on a great sense of suspense.

I did enjoy the plot of the movie, despite the plot holes. Usually I can tell when a twist is about to come up, yet this time around they did a great job of not really dropping any major hints. They did a great thing with the big reveal and left the pieces for you to assemble instead of telling the ABCs of everything.

I would suggest this a matinee showing. With so many other movies out this weekend that all appear better, save this for a cheaper time. It is a fun movie with just some hiccups here and there.

SPOILERS

Ok, here are some of the things that lowered the quality of the film. A couple are plot holes, others are just things that make no sense. I won't spoil everything as there are still plenty of surprised that I don't touch on.

Throughout the whole movie, almost everyone in town trash talks Ryan for no reason. According to the story, he wasn't even living at the house when his sister went crazy and killed their parents. Yet he instead moved home a year before the start of the movie and refused to sell his house, and suddenly now he's the villain to everyone. One scene we have him going to hear Elissa's band play, and all the popular kids randomly decide to trash his car! No warning, just BANG with the bat breaking a window. When Ryan runs out to stop them, 6 of the kids gang up on and him start giving him a serious beat down. And again, for no real reason! He wasn't living in the area when his parents were murdered so he should not be turned into the town villain, instead he should be the town sob-story.

As for the twist I mentioned earlier, it is revealed that Ryan's sister that he kept in the basement was actually not related to him. Instead he captures girls, forces blue-colored contact lenses on them, and chains them in the basement. There are a few things that don't fully make sense. Earlier in the movie, his "sister" escaped and tried grab a knife to seemingly kill Elissa yet Ryan luckily thwarted her without revealing to Elissa anyone was there. Why would Ryan's sister want to kill Elissa when she doesn't even know who she is? Only explanation I can think of is that she was actually wanting to kill Ryan instead, yet they definitely made it appear she was planning to go after Elissa instead.

Another plot hole with her being locked in the basement is that Ryan constantly drugs her with something that makes her lucid and put to sleep. Where is he getting these kinds of drugs? This type of stuff is not over the counter type of things, it's an injection of some sort.

One of the biggest plot holes, in my opinion, is when the cop Weaver (Gil Bellows) goes to Ryan's house in search of the missing Elissa. He begins searching the house, knowing that Elissa must be there. Ryan kills him, and soon afterwards we have Elissa's mother coming to search for Elissa. The big problem is, what about Weaver's cop car? Ryan didn't have any time to move it as he didn't even have time to move the body of Weaver, instead having to take care of an escaping Elissa. Weaver's car was in the front driveway and Elissa's mom should have seen it and known something was up, yet we see her drive her car to the same spot the cop car was only it's not there anymore.


One goof that annoyed me was that there were several Mason jars in the tunnel to his "sister's" room that kept disappearing and reappearing, sometimes in the same scene at different angles. That's just poor continuity which I always get annoyed at.

Movie Review - Stonehenge Apocalypse

There's no easy way to say this: the movie Stonehenge Apocalypse was bad. Really really bad. It felt like one of the usual made-for-TV SyFy movies where the graphics are distinguishable and the dialogue is painful to listen to, such as a dumb character talking scientifically "it looks like a giant proboscis!" and the look on the actor's face tells you that he doesn't even understand what he's saying.

The worst thing about the movie is the graphics. Now I'm not going to lie, these are better graphics than I could make. I'm definitely not saying that I could do better, cause mine would totally blow. Yet it seems they went with CGI for places that didn't need to use it. The movie is about Stonehenge and it's shown extensively, yet it appears they never actually shot any real footage of Stonehenge. Instead, almost all shots appear to be CGI. So when people are walking around Stonehenge in the beginning, everything just looks off. They likely would have saved a lot of money by creating Styrofoam cutouts of blocks and colored to look like Stonehenge, that way it would have looked real and at least made the movie somewhat enjoyable.

The best thing about the movie is Misha Collins, aka Castiel from Supernatural. He does his best in such a bad situation. It is nice to see him out of Supernatural and the role seemed right for him, hopefully he can get in some better movies soon so he can show how much he can shine. I really thought the beginning sequence with him as a radio host was pretty great besides the incredibly fakey accents from the "British" characters calling in which were baaaaaad.

There are also loads of various types of goofs. Sounds like the continuity editor didn't check some stuff while doing the movie. To read them, check out IMDb's Goofs page for the movie.

I looked into the Writer/Director, Paul Ziller. Evidently he's done a lot of other movies, most of them also made-for-TV movies. Guessing the quality will be similar to these so I'm not sure if I'll ever give them a chance. I'm reading some of the descriptions (Ghost Storm, Iron Invader, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, and Beyond Loch Ness) and they all sound promising. Just like Stonehenge Apocalypse sounded promising, so it's a crapshot on whether you'll find a good movie or a bad movie. Looking at the user-submitted reviews for the other movies, sounds like they will all be just like Stonehenge Apocalypse. Maybe if I ever want to do have a "Bad Movie Night" then these will be considerations, lol!

Recipe - Dalek Cupcakes

I'm big Doctor Who fan even though it was only a year ago I found the show on Netflix and quickly devoured all episodes. Every Whovian knows that Daleks are evil. They're so evil they deserve their own effigy, thus Dalek Cupcakes! Then, you're able to EXTERMINATE by devouring them! 

I would like to acknowledge the awesome Tofu Guru who was my inspiration for my version. She creates her version as vegan and...well...I wasn't willing to go to that much effort (aka didn't want to spend money on vegan materials I may never use again) which forced me to create my own. Check out her video, even if it's just to enjoy the music from Chameleon Circuit (a Whovian band that is amazing) or if you just want to look at a cute girl bake, lol.

Each Dalek is assembled with 3 cupcakes, 1 regular and 2 minis. I chose to use Devil's Food Cake since, you know, Daleks are full of hate and evil and all that. I actually decided to model my creation off of Dalek Caan, so instead of 2 mini-cupcakes I instead used 1 mini-cupcake and 1 mini-cheesecake. The cheesecake can be from a simple recipe (8 ounces cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 egg with a splash of vanilla, mixed in that order and not all at once) and represents Caan inside the armored chassis. If you wish to keep it simple, just stick with the 2 mini-cupcakes. 

 One thing to also keep in mind is what type of Dalek you want to create and get an idea of that first. I went with a generic dark colored Dalek so I went with Dark Chocolate Frosting. If you wish to use other colors, you can always go with a Cream Cheese or Vanilla Frosting and use a coloring on it (artificial food colors, icing colors, natural flavors, etc). I wish now that I had used another color so my picture would end up looking clearer, having all dark colors makes the layers difficult to tell.

To assemble, use a dollop of frosting to hold each layer together. An alternative is to go with a single pretzel stick and impale it through the center of all layers, thus ensuring all layers will not move easily. After you have the basic layers, frost the rest of the creation all over except for the very bottom. Now to pimp out your Dalek, starting from top to bottom:
 
-For the dome lights on top, I cut a white Good & Plenty in half and attach each at an angle on either side.
 
-For the eye stalk, I used half a pretzel stick covered in chocolate with a candy button at the end (attach automatically after dipping the stick in chocolate).
 
-For the neck rings, I used licorice strings. Daleks can have different numbers of rings between 3 and 4.
 
-For the Blast Gun, just half a pretzel stick dipped in chocolate and situate it on the left side.
 
-For the Sucker Cup or Plunger, just half a pretzel stick dipped in chocolate with a chocolate chip at the end (attach automatically after dipping the stick in chocolate) and situate it on the right side.
 
-For the hemispheres or sense globes (or, according to Rory, "eggs"), I used Sixlets. I went with 6 columns of 3 each but you can use any combination you want or can fit. Since Sixlets are pretty large, you can go with something smaller instead by using edible pearls/dragees.
 
After that's done, EXTERMINATE the Dalek and enjoy the sugar filled rush that will hit you from eating one of these. You'll act just like 11, giddy and excited ^_^

Movie Review - Resident Evil: Retribution

 I'm going to preface this review by saying that I'm not really a gamer. I play every once in awhile, but I mostly stick with old school games involving Mario or Zelda. I think I have only played the first Resident Evil game and found it fun but not my schtick so I don't even know if I got through the first level. Definitely not trying to talk down the games, I know they're popular and a lot of people enjoy them. They're just not the genre I'm big on.

Now with that said, I really did enjoy this movie. I went in with only seeing Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Resident Evil: Extinction, missing out on Resident Evil: Rebirth (thank the fates for Wikipedia summaries to bring me up to speed!). So I sort of kinda knew what was going on with the movie series, but obviously was still at a disadvantage. Luckily this movie was prepared for people like me.

The movie begins beautifully! The first few minutes are all in slow motion and being shown backwards, so we start with Alice (Milla Jovovich ) looking lifeless in the water until suddenly her body floats up onto the ship Arcadia as explosions occur all over it. Bullets zoom out of dead people, nets untangle the tangled, Jill Valentine floats up a zip-line. It's a combo of melodic violence, where even though the destruction is obviously destruction, the slow motion backwards style keeps you at ease.

Once we get back to the beginning, the filmmakers decide to help out newcomers to the films as well as people who can't remember what happened in the previous four films with bits on pieces as Alice describes what is being shown on various video feeds. Once she's done with that, we go back to what was shown at the start of the film but the exact opposite, fast motion forwards taking the couple of minutes down to a minute.

What you see is what you get in the movie, everything is basically at face value. It's not really a movie you must use your brain to understand, instead it's the opposite. Sit back and turn your brain off, just enjoy what you see. The plot can be summed up as Alice is being held hostage by Umbrella so Wesker sends operatives to rescue her and get out of the maze of this Umbrella facility while trying not to get everyone killed (huh, that doesn't quite work out). There are loads of various enemies faced, from the regular zombies to Umbrella operatives to Axemen to zombie Russians to finally a licker.

The action is very well done, it makes me wish I had seen it in 3D. Regular glasses don't work well with 3D glasses, sadly. Throughout the movie in 2D, you just keep muttering things like "whoa, that would be awesome in 3D" and "this looks cheesy in 2D but likely amazing in 3D". There were a few hiccups in the graphics where events and creatures ended up looking a bit too cartoonish, but again if seen in 3D you likely wouldn't notice it. Explosions are the backbone of the movie, from a simple car crash to an aircraft being destroyed. As usual in the series, you get to follow the flight path of bullets from time to time, usually in slow motion to increase the impact. This is a popcorn movie so they definitely insure that you get you money's worth of action.

The only real complaint is that majority of action scenes can end up being a blender to the brain if you try to think about it. Physics gets defied many, many times in the movie. One scene in particular I cannot discuss as it would be a spoiler and I try my best to not spoil. At times the movie felt like I was watching the Matrix all over again, with overexaggerated jumping scenes and being able to twist around in the air four times completely before you land, after a normal jump. Definitely means that it's best if you just don't try to think about how some of the action can occur in the real life. Just don't, save yourself the confused looks that will automatically pop up. Just sit back and enjoy.

Overall I thought the acting was good...except for Leon (Johann Urb), that is. Some of his lines needed more emotion yet instead he mainly deadpans everything (if only Jensen Ackles had gotten the role, he would have been a hundred times better). Leon was perfectly fine with everything non-dialogue related, unlike how ridiculous Wesker looked as he tried to look stick as a board while walking but instead achieved a my-arms-are-metal look. Luckily we have everyone else who can shine much brighter than him to help out.

The filmmakers did a smart thing and shoved Alice into unfamiliar territory: motherhood! Milla Jovovich is able show a side of herself that is rare in this saga, that of pure compassion. She is forced to look concerned for her "daughter" Becky (newcomer Aryana Engineer, who only past stared in Orphan) and do anything necessary to protect her, even though she doesn't really know who she is. It works and it was a very good subplot as one sequence involves Alice having to rescue Becky.

As stated before, this is a fun movie to see. You get an added bonus if you're a gamer as you'll be extremely entertained and feel as if you're playing a game on the big screen. Now if you go into all movies looking for the plot to make 100% sense and for everything to be as it is in real life, you're going to have a hard time. Learn to turn the brain back and watch the pretty explosions unfold.

Movie Review - Drones

Just finished watching the movie Drones on Netflix. I had been eagerly waiting to watch this since it first came was announced as being in production.

I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and I try to follow some of the alumni in their current work. Amber Benson, to me, is in the top five most successful people to come out of the show. She has written and directed two movies (Chance and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics) yet I've sadly only seen Chance (still hoping to be able to catch Lovers, Liars & Lunatics somehow, especially for James Leary (Clem on Buffy) and Michael Muhney (Sheriff Lamb on Veronica Mars). Chance was amazing, showing a different side to James Marsters (Spike on Buffy/Angel) than we've seen before. Amber Benson has also muddled her hands in the literary world, collaborating with Christopher Golden on Ghosts of Albion; yet to me, I love her Calliope Reaper-Jones novels. Four have been produced so far, one a year. I find her incredibly talent and from what I hear, very nice to fans.

While she didn't write Drones (that credit goes to Ben Acker and Ben Blacker) yet she does direct it along with fellow Buffy alumnus Adam Busch (Warren on Buffy). For some unknown reason there is not a Wikipedia page on the movie, yet there is one on IMDb. 

The movie stars Jonathan M. Woodward (a three-time Joss Whedon almnus, having guest-roles in Firefly, Buffy, and Angel), Samm Levine (Neil Schweiber on Freaks and Geeks), Angela Bettis (May in the movie May), Tangi Miller (Elena Tyler from Felicity), and Dave "Gruber" Allen (Jeff Rosso on Freaks and Geeks). Great cast, in my opinion!

The movie revolves around Brian (Jonathan M. Woodward) as he encounters new and unexpected problems in the workplace. The whole film takes place in a small office but surprisingly it all works perfectly; there are no scenes that make you go, "hmmm, I really wish this would have taken place outside the office." Brian inadvertently finds out his best friend (Samm Levine portraying Clark), a fellow coworker, is an alien. Then, after starting an office relationship with Amy (Angela Bettis), she reveals to Brian that she is also an alien. We then find out that neither aliens are of the same species, with each species going towards a different goal: Clark's species wishes to just enslave humanity while Amy's species wishes to destroy Earth for fuel. Both act nonchalantly about it while telling Brian, who spends parts of the movie looking as if he had just been slapped across the face with a 2x4.

It was obviously a dark comedy with a dry sense of humor, how else could destruction and enslavement be thrown around in conversations as simply as what they planned for an evening at home. Clark even jokes, "eh, not much will change except I'll be your boss now." If you're looking for a slapstick comedy, you're going to have a bad time. While this isn't exactly a sophisticated comedy, you still laugh a lot throughout the movie if this humor is what you understand.

Overall I was very happy with the acting. Samm Levine was great as a "play it cool" type character, someone who can be annoying but not over the top annoying while still being slightly amusing without being over the top funny. Angela Bettis portrays an emotion-stunted character who has ups and downs while experiencing emotions for the first time. Dave "Gruber" Allen...well, he plays the same character as always which is a fantastic role that seemed to be written specifically for him. I will admit, while I do really like Jonathan M. Woodward, a few of his scenes just came across a bit stale. His acting was fine, it just felt when you compared his character to Samm Levine's and Angela Betttis' that his seems less human than their alien characters does. He over-exaggerates a few scenes, going more for dumbstruck than confused which is truly only a subtle different but one I did notice. He did great, don't get me wrong!

One final little bonus to the movie is finally getting to hear music from Common Rotation, which Adam Busch is a part of. I've heard all about the band but never actually got to hear any of their music. I was pleasantly surprised by the band, it wasn't what I was expecting yet that's not a bad thing. They're a folk rock band and very well done. I just found out the band's music is up on Spotify so I plan to start checking out more songs.

Ok, so I won't spoil anything else about the movie (and granted, those really aren't spoilers are they're discussed within the first 15 minutes of the movie). I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys crazy circumstances where the end of the world is casually discussed near the water cooler. The acting is superb, the writing is brilliant, and the directing was spot-on!

Book Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I'll start things off with a review of one of my favorite novels, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

After reading this book for the first time shortly after it came out (and while I was still in high school), I put it on a pedestal. I was reluctant to read it again after 10+ years of holding it in such esteem. Yet due to the moving coming out soon, I took the plunge and broke it out again. Surprisingly, I found it to be even better the second time around! Then again, several life experiences had occurred that made me relate to the protagonist, Charlie, even more than before.

When I first read the novel, I automatically fell in love with it. It was so different from what I usually read at the time. I wasn't familiar with epistolary novels (I hadn't tried reading Dracula) so the style really struck me as being incredibly unique. For those of you who don't know, epistolary novels are novels that are primarily written in the form of documents. In this novel, it's in the form of letters written by Charlie to someone he has never met. The letters are only written by Charlie as he never gives a return address, and the letters are days and sometimes weeks apart. Thus, the writing starts as a "this is what I did" and slowly evolves into something much better but still that simple.

The story follows Charlie as he enters his Freshman year of high school after his best friend passes away. He's an introvert, staying in the background as much as possible. That is, until he meets Sam and Patrick. Soon his introvert ways are swallowed up by these extreme extroverts and he is folded into their style of life. He miraculously fits in with them, not quite blossoming into an extrovert but at least out of his previous introvert ways.

The things that truly gets me excited about the book are the subtle mysteries included. Who exactly is the main character? You can tell that something is "off" with him just by the way he writes and Chbosky slowly tells it from time to time. He has deep, mental scars and an instability brought on by anything, which usually leaves him crying for no reason or turning into a ball of rage he wishes to avoid. Whenever a new part of his past is written, it's never made to be a big revelation but more of a common knowledge. Since the style is only in the form of letters written by Charlie, we can only find out about himself from what he lets out. He is a surprisingly honest writer, just saying whatever comes to mind, letting it flow from his fingers to the page without extra thought put into it.You can tell that Charlie does get better at writing but not by much; it's more a subtle change, something Chbosky doesn't really make into a big deal.

Occasionally while reading this book, you may want to scream at Charlie for being so oblivious and almost simple-minded. He sees so many things but sometimes they just don't click for him. The good thing about that feeling is that it lets you know that you truly care for the character. There are times you can tell something horrible is going to happen and the dread builds up to a point where you won't want to read it. Yet you will obviously keep reading, why wouldn't you?

This was one of the rare books where I absolutely cannot put it down. It took me only a day and a half to read the whole novel, which is very unusual. The last time I was this enthralled by a novel was Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. This is a book I highly recommend.

Quotes

"Sometimes people use thought to not participate in life."

If you're too busy thinking about life, how can you experience life? I relate to this as I sadly do this. I overthink everything, talking myself out of doing simple stuff that shouldn't really be even thought of.

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

This is an incredibly powerful quote, especially for people with low self-esteem and issues with their body image. When you convince yourself that a person won't like you, you don't give yourself a window to even try. It relates to the above quote, how you can think yourself out of participating in life. This also falls into the category of people who settle for someone that is beneath them simply because they don't believe they can do better, they feel that what they got is what they deserve.

"You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." 

The epitome of being a wallflower. He keeps to himself, but at the same time he absorbs everything around him. In the novel, he uses this unknowingly to his advantage in gift giving by getting things he hears people talking about yet they truly don't realize how often they bring it up. This is also good in keeping secrets, which can fall more into "minding my own business" type of category. He knows things about everyone but most of the time doesn't think twice about them. 

"I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you."

That's my ultimate desire, and I know it's sort of an archaic type of thinking but it's such a beautiful concept. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it, just thinking how powerful this statement truly is. A first kiss to some is a casual event, whereas to others it is an achievement. So many people take it for granted.

Introductions

Hello there, hopefully soon-to-be faithful reader. Welcome to my blog!

<<crowd groans>>

Yeah, that sounded cheesy. Occasionally that happens, whether I intend to or not. I am usually a "write now, think later" type of person, always gets me into trouble ;)

So who am I, you must be asking? Simply put, I'm a guy trying something new. I'm big into baking as well as enjoying various types of media. I enjoy sharing my opinions about various things, from new food to books to movies to music.

My primary intention with this website is to write reviews as well as post recipes. My specialty in baking is cheesecakes but I also dabble with anything that sounds tasty to me. Sometimes I'm influenced by what I read or watch, yet I'm always willing to take requests.

 Occasionally, when reading, I will copy down quotes that really speak to me. Ones that I feel I have a connection to. In those cases, I'll list them at the end of each review along with a little description of why they're so important to me.

I'm new at this and it may take some time for me to find my niche, so be patient and understanding. I would love to eventually get requests from people, be it a type of recipe or book/movie/tv show to review.