Weekly Recap #4: Can you Keep a Secret? Jack Ryan. Game of Thrones. Grey's Anatomy

This post is linked to Stacking the Shelves (hosted by Tynga Reviews)  and The Sunday Post (hosted by Kimba @Caffeinated Book Reviewer).

---

Read

Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella 

I don't usually read chick lit (do people still call things chick lit?). I'm just not into cutesy comedies, but well you know there's only so much dystopian/apocalyptic tales I can read before all those depressing world gets tiring and old. So this book looked like fun. A book about secrets that isn't about a terrible soul crushing secret (We Were Liars...I'm talking to you)...perfect, since I didn't want anything bleak. Hat's off to this book too for pointing out that normal everyday secrets which can seem silly nothings but if they get out in the open they too can be horribly bad and embarrassing, although still totally survivable, and total entertainment for this reader. The main character, Emma's secrets were normal enough stupid things that we would all get embarrassed over. I do wish the romantic interest isn't rich, and was able to sweep Emma and us readers in a more humble way. Plus I wanted her to make it without someone powerful liking her romantically and who could possibly be attributed for her doing well at her job. Ultimately Can you Keep a Secret is a fun funny read and I liked Emma who seemed to be like the everyday girl struggling to find a job she likes and is good at doing, which I think all of us can relate to.

Watched

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

This movie was forgettable. The story is just boring. What is it about again? Oh yeah...the origin story of Jack Ryan when he was first recruited as a CIA analyst and him stopping some Russian from destroying the world and it's economy. A damsel in distress cliche was also thrown into the story which way just soo bad. And I can't believe that Kenneth Branagh played the bad guy...a Russian? In a movie that has a contemporary setting? I thought he only did period dramas save for that Wallander gig.

Game of Thrones Season Three

Awesome as always. What makes Game of Thrones are its characters so I'll go through the major ones:

• Sansa the silly little girl we saw in season one has come a long way and I like her more and more. Her enemies are literally down the hall and she plays the game well enough to still have her head. 
• Bran had some great scenes that showed great maturity in season 1 and 2. This seem to be lacking in season 3 so I hope to see more in later seasons as I get the sense that he is one of those characters that are destined for greatness. 
• Rob is well Rob...I never thought he was the smartest Stark kid (Bran is) but I get where he was coming from in this season and some of his strategy made some sense, unlike Edmure (who is a fool). Anyway I finally know what the red wedding is! 
• Jon Snow...I'm not finding his story strong enough. I don't get why the wildings (or issit wildlings?) trust him at all...I am questioning their poor judgement.
• Arya...the poor girl just had to witness the most awful things. I like that she is now on the road with the Hound, their banter would no doubt be awesome. 
• Daenerys...not liking her story this season. She used to be a gentle character, but she has grown to not only be smarter but pretty ruthless as well. Her freeing the slaves...I kinda expect there would be like a Francis Underwood (from House of Cards) moment where she would look at the camera and say "let's free them all and they be so grateful they will serve me for free willingly". Did Daenerys take Psychology 101 secretly? And that scene at the end when the Yunkai freed slaves went out to receive Daenerys...it was uncomfortably awful. 
• The Lannister's...oh I love them! I know they're suppose to be the bad guys but they're so awesome! And are they really the bad guys? Tywin and Jamie give some good points that just greys the lines between good and bad. Plus they all have such a wonderful love hate relationship...the "I hate you, but I hate everyone that's not our blood more". 
• Joffrey is of course as awful as always, and it's great to see him being scolded by Tywin.
• In season three, the Tyrells all have larger roles. I love Margaery, the only person I think other than Tywin who is able to control Joffrey. Her grandmother, Ollena is pretty badass too...equal to Tywin in the political game...I hope to see them more in the next season.

So this has become a long Game of Thrones recap. I'll stop with those characters even though there are still many more. What can I say...the series has lots of characters and most of them are incredible. Can't wait to see season 4. I saw season 3 on DVD and I do wish they had more special features on the DVD. I don't understand why they can't put the same features that are on the Blu-ray on the DVD too...arghh!!

Currently Watching

Grey's Anatomy Season 10  

I watch this on and off. Not exactly great television but something to watch when there's nothing else on TV. The perfect hair on this series have always bugged me, I mean do surgeons curl their hair before going to work? And still have that bouncy wavy hair still look perfect after a long shift? Seriously the characters in this show have some of the most perfect hair! I've also noticed that the make up on season 10 is just awful. Dr Edwards and Torres just have so much blusher and makeup overall and Dr Wilson has this smokey eye thing going on. I don't think the make up was this bad in the previous seasons, where it looked more natural looking. Does anyone else notice the change in make up?

---

Around the Blog

Was a little busy the past week, so not much updates.

Thursday was the third Thursday Movie Picks post and the topic was Movies set in a Mental Institution. My favourite was The Princess and the Warrior, hidden gem was It's Kind of a Funny Story and my pick for worst was Sucker Punch.

Sunday, today, I've updated/revised some of the Thursday Movie Picks future themes. Please see the meme page here to see all the future themes up till the end of the year. The whole of October now has a Halloween theme and the five topics for the five Thursdays in October are: Unstable Characters, Zombie Movies, Found Footage Movies, Vampire Movies and Haunted Buildings. 

---

Next Week

I'll be doing the usual Thursday Movie Picks and also Top Ten Tuesday since I like next week's topic.
Hoping to finish reading Vampire Academy soon.

I had wanted to do "a sequels you want to see" topic for my Thursday Movie Picks, but since there is already a similar blogathon (Attack of the Sequels) currently going on, I'll be participating that. So stay tune for my post on the 5 sequels I want to see.