Monthly Book Picks: The Month of April 2018

Hey, if you've ventured past my usual movies post and found this book blog post, welcome. It's a new series that I've started: Monthly Book Picks where I select my favourite reads of the past month. Interesting coincidence: both my April picks' protagonist is named Allison.

“Hunger flickered, always there, but I pushed it down. I was a vampire. Nothing would change that. But I didn't have to be a monster."

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa (2012)
The Gist: In a post apocalyptic dystopian future that takes place years after a terrible virus, the vampires are now living out in the open and ruling the cities (hence the title). A human girl living in the fringe of the city and society gets turned into a vampire. Forced to flee the only home she's ever known and passing herself as human she tags along with a group of humans on a journey to Eden, a place that may have a possible cure for the virus. It's been a few years since I've read anything vampire related and I miss the genre. So I finally picked up this one that has been on my to-be-read list for years. I really enjoyed it. It's a little slow at first but the action scenes in the later parts makes up for all that. Also, great protagonist. Kicks ass and has agency. I would say it is sort of a mix of Daybreakers and Underworld with a dash of Children of Men and The Walking Dead.

“It didn't even feel like lying anymore. It felt like forgiveness, leaving the past in the past. It felt like mercy. It felt like moving on...And what was one more secret in this house packed to the attic with secrets? ”  

The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz
The Gist: Allison had been one of several children fostered or adopted by a philanthropist / brain surgeon. She led a happy life in the doctor's home with the other kids until she almost died. Due to the suspicion that someone in the family may have tried to kill her, she is whisked away into the care of an elderly aunt. Thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter that the good doctor is dying and she decides to visit her foster family and perhaps finally find out what happened to her those years ago. Really like the book and I did not expect the places it went (in a good way) because the synopsis on the book (which is little longer than my gist) gave little indication. I found it quite scary too, and it's not with the whole she-once-almost-died mystery, but the deeper story of her foster family and the why and how they came to be.

Thursday Movie Picks #199: Characters Making a New Start

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Characters Making a New Start

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Boy A (2007)

Of my three picks, I like this the best. Andrew Garfield plays Jack, newly released from a prison sentence for a violent crime he committed as a child. He is given a new identity in a new town to start his life again but his past soon catches up to him.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

After her marriage fails, Frances buys a villa in Tuscany to start her new life. It has been a long time since I've seen this, so I don't remember much other than I enjoyed it.

Passengers (2016)

This one has characters trying to make a new start on a distant planet colony but a malfunction of their sleep chambers awaken them 90 years early. I didn't really like this. While it looked cool, I was bored and felt the story was too thin and a little dumb. With so many passengers on board and with help so far away, why would there be no crew and engineers on shift duty? Like sleep 115 years and work 5 years.

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Thursday Movie Picks #198: TMP Television Edition - Failed to get a Second Season

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five titles and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Failed to get a Second Season (excluding mini-series/limited series where it was meant to be just one season)

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Hey, it's my favorite Thursday of the month: the TV edition! This week it's TV shows that unfortunately did not get renewed which always sucks when the first season ended with a cliffhanger. Most of my picks today are series that are more than 15 years old, so my memory of them is very poor, but I did like them and had wanted to see a second season.

American Gothic (1995-1996)
I remember this as being very creepy. Most of the plot escapes me now just that it had a scary sheriff, a sort of devil-like character with supernatural powers, trying to control a young orphan boy who has a very thick southern accent.

Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
I re-watched this recently and I think it has aged very well. Still found it very funny. What sets it apart from most teen shows is its focus on the "freaks and geeks", none of the main characters are the popular kids. Such a pity it did not get a second season.

Undeclared (2001-2002)
This was the other Judd Apatow series that got cancelled after one season, this time a college series that was just as funny and had some of the cast of Freaks and Geeks.

Pasadena (2001) 
A teen girl discovers her wealthy family may be hiding some terrible secrets. The thing I remember most is that there was something that was left unresolved in the last episode and I had so wanted to see a new season only to learn that it had been cancelled.

The Returned (2015)
A remake of the French series, which I heard was better, about deceased locals returning. However, I had not seen the original so I can't compare. I thought this remake was a decent series, much better than the other series with a similar premise that had aired about the same period - Resurrection. The Returned ended with things starting to go wrong and with no explanation yet why the deceased have returned, so I was very disappointed when it was not renewed.

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Thursday Movie Picks #197: Meltdowns

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Meltdowns

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I tend to love meltdown scenes in movies. They usually have some great lines and showcases a great performance. Here are some of my favorites:

"I just ran out of bullshit. Am I still on the air? I really don't know any other way to say it other than I just ran out of bullshit."

Network (1976)
When a news anchorman is fired, he begins the first of many rants about his unhappiness on the air. This movie is so good, it's over 40 years old and still feels relevant.

"...please hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's... I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you. Try and make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness."

Michael Clayton (2007)
A lawyer has a meltdown during a deposition meeting and later rants and rambles in an attempt to explain what happened to a colleague.

"I understand. Junior high must've been kind of tough, but it doesn't give you the right to treat your workers like horseshit, Janice. ...I want you to know, if you weren't such a bitch, we'd feel sorry for you. I do feel sorry for you. But as it stands, the way you behave - I feel I can speak for the entire office when I tell you... go fuck yourself."

Wanted (2008)
It's that scene where Wesley finally has had enough of his boss.

"You better lawyer up asshole, because I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for EVERYTHING."

The Social Network (2010)
It's that scene where Eduardo Saverin found out that only his ownership share and none of the others were diluted. He confronts Zuckerberg and loses it in the office.

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Thursday Movie Picks #196: Movies about Movies

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies about Movies

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Ahh...no wonder this theme seemed familiar, it's because we had one way back in 2014. Oh well, it has been almost 4 years since then so I'm sure there are enough movies out there for another round.

Scream 3 (2000)
Of my three picks today, this is probably the one I like best. The Scream movies have all been about paying homage to horror films before it, and Scream 3 finally took the characters to a film set based on their own story.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)
The movie follows video store employees reshooting films to replace the tapes they had accidentally erased. The scenes of the characters acting out all the scenes of famous movies are charming, but that is about all the movie has going for it.

Hugo (2011)
Hugo was pretty to look at, but ultimately it felt too long and didn't quite charm me.

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Thursday Movie Picks #195: Underground

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Underground

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P2 (2007)
After a late night at the office, a woman is locked in the garage by the crazy garage attendant. I don't remember much of it now, so I suppose it was neither bad or good enough to be memorable.

City of Ember (2008)
I remember thinking the premise of this sounded so interesting, but ultimately the movie was boring and perhaps a little too juvenile for me. Like I know it's a kids movie, but there are those that transcend age.

The Divide (2011)
A group of people survive a nuclear blast in a basement shelter. But things eventually get worse when personalities clash, resources dwindle and so on. I've picked this before previously and of the three today, is the only one I like. 

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Monthly Book Picks: The Month of March 2018

Hey, if you've ventured past my usual movies post and found this book blog post, welcome. It's a new series that I've started: Monthly Book Picks where I select my favourite reads of the past month. Last month turned out to be a solitary endeavour but if you want to join in this month do leave a link using the inlinkz gadget below. Monthly Book Picks will go up every first Monday of the month.

 

“Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom."

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)
The Gist: Back on the job after a brief stay at psych hospital, a journalist is assigned to return to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. There's something about the women in a Gillian Flynn novel. They're never simply one thing. They are often messy and most likely very messed up. In Sharp Objects even the children are too. They are so creepy; some are drinking and taking drugs at such a young age and others are wild in an almost feral like way. As a mystery, I think it is better than Gone Girl; Sharp Objects certainly has a lot more stuff to unpack and to sieve through to the truth.

“No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace.”  

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (2016)
The Gist: After being abducted and knocked unconscious, Jason wakes up surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. He soon learns that in the world he has woken up to, he did not marry the woman who was his wife and his son was never born. I remember seeing Dark Matter on a lot of top book lists in 2016 and finally read it last March. Wow, what a mind fuck of a book. This was such a fun thrilling fast paced read that was also nightmarish and horrifying with the infinite possibilities it presents.

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