Saturday 31 August 2013

Movie Review: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 2013

ZOMG FINALLY.
Where do I start?

Berore I go along with the review, keep in mind that I have read The Mortal Instrument series (the first 3 books). Though it was a long time ago. When I was in the eleventh grade or something. And I haven't reread it ever since. I don't know why, because to tell you the truth, I loved that series. It was very imaginative and fun and easy to read and a lot of things. I read it in the form of ebooks. Again, I live in this particular country that doesn't really care about the importance of books, I suppose. So, back then, I was the only one who read the whole freaking series and I had absolutely no one to talk about the book. People needs someone to share. And I just.. I was alone *sobs* it was pretty hard, having to not talk about the book. It was frustrating. I want to discuss! I want to talk about them! I want opinions! Hello, anyone there?! Anybody? Guess not. *fangirling all by myself then* how exciting.

Now on to the review. I can not say I do not like it. Because I pretty much enjoyed the movie. It was a 2 hrs something film which could be extremely boring if not handled well. BUT (uh-oh there's a big but here). I can't really say I'm satisfied either. So, this is basically my reaction after seeing the first trailer: shit. This is going to be huge. I know so. Gosh, glittery Magnus, that American version Moriarty guy, british accent, shadowhunter's badass moves.. I'm game. Bring it! *stares maniacally to the computer screen*

Turns out, obviously, they've made the trailer so good it managed to mess with my mind telling me this is going to be a great film. You did it guys.. *slow claps* I don't remember I'm having such high expectation on the movie.. I didn't. Film adaptations are mostly a disastrous bunch of scenes that the director had carelessly tried to cut and throw some and cut and throw some into the film without really understanding the main issue first. I mean.. Why did the authors let them do that?!?? Please be there for them 24/7 because I'm seriously sick of having them ruined some of it. Now wait a sec, just so we clear, I am NOT trying to whine about how the movie isn't faithful to the book. Because honestly, I know they were gonna left out some of the part that is not quite needed in the whole film. Believe me. I know that. It is absolutely necessary to have changed a little bit this and that here and there. I am fine with that AS LONG AS one, it really adds more on the interesting aspect on the story. And two. When it is really necessary. Didn't see it in the City of Bones. Sorry... I know it's a big book. And the first one is always the tricky one. I understand. But as a filmmaker, at least do not let your film to be covered up with plotholes like a freaking SWISS CHEESE. please!

To be honest with you, I don't exactly remember the whole story. I've just had glimpses of some scenes that really caught my attention when I first read the book. So I'm not here to distinguish between the book and the film. I'm just gonna talk about the movie and a little peek on the book that I found most annoying and interesting to talk about.

Here we go.

The Plot
It started nice. There wasn't any random narrated voice throughout the first opening scene, explaining what happened and blahblahblaahh because I personally hate it when movies start doing that. It's like they didn't really show us footage instead of just giving us explanations in words or narrated voice. That's for the beginning. And for the rest of the movie, I'd say that this was a FAST-paced movie, and when i say fast, it's fast to the point of annoying. It was a bombardment of scenes, emotions, visuals, sounds, soundtracks, stunts, altogether that continues to fill up the screen for the next 2hrs. I found myself, whoa whoa. Hold up a sec. WHA-- wait..... Hmm... Ehmm ? Okay. *brows knitting* *mouth gapping* *finger bitting*
It was like I haven't had any time to absorb the whole information and it already jumps up to a whole different scene. It was exhausting guys..... Or am I really that slow? I don't think so.. Because my sister did have trouble figuring out what the heck was happening. And she didn't read the book!! I already knew some of the information that they have failed to mention in the film and I don't have any problem with that because I should have known right? I've read the book. Maybe it's not the same for the people who haven't read it yet, I don't know. Or am I missing something? Maybe.

The Characters
Yay
Clary: I love her more in the film, so, good job Lily Collins. She's not as annoying, I guess.
Simon: Let's put this in a simple way. I hate him in the book. he's a burden for anyone and involves in a love triangle between Jace and Clary. I tend to hate the second boy. I just don't need another cliche of a love triangle in a storyline. I've had enough of that, thanks very much. I love him in the movie, well done Robert Sheehan. (and he's freaking british).
Hodge: yes. Moriarty. Need I say more? (he's freaking british too).
Isabelle: She's okay. I wasn't expecting anything from Jemima so, I was a bit surprised on how good it turn up.
Luke: He's Aiden Turner after all... (he's british).
Jocelyn: She played the Game of Thrones..(british..).
Alec: He's okay...

Nay
Jace: NO. just. NO. Jamie is not Jace. I freaking knew it. Though deep down I knew he's a good actor. but ehh, maybe the screenplay was to blame. The character seemed boring..Dull..underdeveloped.. whereas the Jace in the book is interesting, witty, has dry sense of humor.. It just wasn't working for me, sorry.
Valentine: seriously? what were you doing, King Henry? I mean.. come on. Valentine is a one good character in the book. he's composed, graceful, charming, sly.. What they did to him in the movie was the whole opposite he's like the sadistic bloodthirsty bastard that don't have a care in the world, typical villain.. I kept waiting for him to say "it's time for killing spree!!!" He's not that!! He loves Jocelyn and Clary.. Or so I recalled.
Magnus Bane: No. he's not good enough. Magnus is WITTY, COOL, GLITERRY, COLORFUL, GAY, and stuff. he's very interesting, he's attractive and frightening at the same time. I mean, you'll never know what's in his head. this Magnus played by Godfrey, is not interesting. AT ALL. he's a passer-by. he's obviously one of my favorite character in the book. and it pains me to see this version of Magnus. *curls up to a ball rolling on the floor*

You know what, I don't even remember most of the things happening in the book, so I might be wrong.. But this is how I pictured them in my head..

In conclusion.....
I think it could've been better. I'm just fairly disappointed about the characters. Jace, Valentine and Magnus were just the main characters that needs to be interesting, attractive, and profound. I guess, They've just ruined the most crucial issue. I'm pretty sure the fans of the series were looking forward to see how their favorite characters turn up.
and. I'm seriously pissed that they decided to not include the motorcycle runs by the demon power scene.

Let's hope for the best in City of Ashes. 

Thursday 29 August 2013

My hoLidAYyyyYy!!!!!!!!! xD is over. D:

Okay firstly, I'm going to tell you about the boring stuff I'm doing, chronologically from the moment I woke up for the past 2 months (approx.) 
so here's what happened during my holiday. Typical day for me, I woke up at 11 (sometimes 10), headed down for breakfast, pull out a bowl, poured down the milk and the Lucky Charms (sometimes CocoPops. FYI: Cereal in Indo SUCKS. so I'm glad I'm having Lucky Charms) into that bowl, scarfed it down, went to play piano lalala rehearshing a brilliant song from Muse, 2nd Law: Isolated System, you guys should check it out, it is amazeballs, went back upstairs to my bedroom, make the bed, switched on my laptop, launched iTunes, began singing like a lune, wandered around the floor, mopping, tidying the room up and then... I usually sat in front of my laptop watching Youtube, mostly vlogs from my favorite Youtubers, Danisnotonfire or Polaandbananas (I hope I spelled that right) go check them up, they're hilarious, one is a ridiculously attractive sarcastic british bloke (he's the KING of sarcasm, lemme tell ya), the other is a annoying but surprisingly funny typical American girl, or just trying to discover new songs I haven't downloaded yet, OR. I just went back downstairs, watching DVDs, sometimes when I was in the mood, I'll go for a treadmill, burning some calories (yay) 450-500 calories, though I didn't know why I bother to do that because I'm getting fatter and fatter anyway, once I... unleashed the beast to gobbled up everything that's on its way *growls* *evil stare* 
Burning 500 calories is like, burning NOTHING. You can't even maintain your shape, though I can't know for sure because I don't do it every freaking day. I didn't know why I keep doing that, maybe on the inside I'm just a big fan of a fit body? Hmph yea right. I'm quite done bitching about my body shape ever since I knew that your body shape was shaped like that from the very beginning, depending on your mum's body shape. So just suck it up and live on. There's nothing I can do about that. I hate being in the average weight and height, there's nothing special about that, but I daresay it's not as much as I hate being real fat or overweight. So. Here I am~

I don't quite know what's the main topic on this article. Ermm... *cricket jumps jumps jumps*

Hahaha. All I know is, TOMORROW. Is. The day. For ME. To. Go back to. COLLEGE. Yay...not.

Anyways, to conclude everything, I'd say that this holidays are the most productive holidays ever in my entire life since I've got my holidays. I remembered, when I was in High school I was DA REAL moviegeek (yes, I'm talkin' to you Harry Po-ah). I basically just watched 3-4 films a day. Yep, take your time to judge me. I know.. I know... You're lucky if you saw me holding a pencil with a piece of blank paper in front of me. Because that was one rare occassion, my friend.

On the contrary, this holiday.. I feel like I need to refresh my mind from college. All that design stuffs that was making me crazy, I need to reset my mindset, I need to re-brand myself, I mean, there's a lot to think about when you get older.... Right? And I did just that (and of course that includes desperately rolling on the floor, thinking, what am i doing with my lifeeeee oh noooo, my twenty years has gone by without me noticing i am nothing compared to her and him and her and him, i wanna be like Dan, i wanna be him i wanna be her she has the most perfect life ever i wanna do this and this and this and this and that and this but i cant i cant and i cant what am i WHO am i i'm nobody oh god just kill me). That kind of thing. Yep. When you've got nothing important to do like college, you'll seriously get this crazy tornados in your mind that intensely keeps on spinning and twisting tirelessly that makes your skull split into 2 piece you want to vomit. It's the truth, I kid you not. Been there, done that. Hahaha. 

But yeah anyway I call this is the most productive holiday BE-CAUSE:

1. I've read more than 10 books ;-D
2. I've watched some of the movies on my watchlist! (Though there are still like, 91 movies on there. But I'd say that was pretty productive).
3. I took some photos of me, the 'outfit of the day' thing. It's my love for fashion.
4. I took photos of my favorite stuffs (trying to make my instagram looked a bit more decent). Just a bit though. .-.
5. I've managed to re-arranged my bookshelf (yay).
6. At least, I've tried to improve my English by ranting, blogging, gushing, babbling, about anything in my blog here. It's got some updates lately, ain't it? Oh yeah~ uhuh~
7. I've managed to maintain my relationship with my so-called long lost friends. (I meant, my high school friends).
8. I cooked (nothing new. I love to cook. though, I want to learn to bake a cake but the condition right now isn't exactly the most perfect condition for baking so... Okay recently, the water supplies in my house just stopped coming from its pipe. I don't know what happened, me mum got so frustrated).
9. I drew some portraits of my favorite celebs, though I have to say it was a failure. It was a disgrace to humanity. *crawls to a hole and cries* Maybe it's just not my thing, I just keep on insisting that somehow miraculously I would get their faces right. In your dreams, Cin. In your goddamned dreams...
10. I learned the piano version of Isolated System by Muse (that was pretty cool :D)
11. Fixed my guitar. (Oh shit, I forgot to record some of my singing, I was thinking I'd give it a go, but well holiday's over *Boo*).

That's one hell of a list. Those are the things that I remembered doing at the moment. I'll post another if anything ever cross my mind.

SOOOOOO. Holiday's over. I've got a 7 O'clock class in the morning so I think it's time for me to prepare myself. Physically and mentally. I'm so excited I finally get to see MY FRIENDS (the lovely bitchy itchy BOOBISM) I miss you guys MWAH see you guys tomorrow, xoxo

Whoa this is one hell of a post.
TTFN ;-)

Monday 26 August 2013

World After Excerpt: Holy $&@# !!!!!!!!!!!

Asdfgghjkllllakkkldlfkshs

I just. I'm at loss of words. I seriously doubt whether I'm thinking straight right now. 

Just. Thank you Susan Ee. That is a wonderful, breathtaking, action-packed  piece of an excerpt. Even if it's just a freaking 3 pages. It was. Crazy...man. I practically squealed like a lunatic! I have never ever been this excited to read a book before. Not to mention it is not yet the whole book!! Just 3 pages as I've mentioned earlier. I'm not sure if I can wait until November comes. Goddamn it's a freaking 2 months away!!! Oh Lord I CANT! 

Can someone please make time go faster??? or invent a goddamned teleporter or time machine? Or is there a mutant with this particular ability? I need you now. 

I was hyperventilating
I was in shock
I was happy
I was squealing
I was nervous
I was swearing
(I wasn't crying though) 

I was so filled with emotions when I read the 3 pages. My sister was all like "goddamnit, what's with you?" And shaked her head. I heard that. I did. I was just so preoccupied, not wanting to miss a single word written at that moment that I had my eyes stay glued to my computer screen instead of replying my sister's remark. My apologies, sis. I feel bad, I really do. But as soon as she knew what made me squealed like a lune, understanding creeped to her and she was all like "hahaahahahaha you're faingirling" and return to her work, whatever she was doing back then.

Anyways. 
Highlights on the excerpt:
1. Airborne fighting (HOW COOL WAS THAT?!?!)
2. Raffe knows Penryn is alive (SQUEALED)
3. He was flying with her in his arms (I CANT I CANT I CANT)
4. Raffe holds on to Penryn and refuse to let her go (sigh......)
5. They're floating around above the sea
6. 3 other angels chasing them
7. Penryn is secured in Raffe's arms when he flies....
8. Raffe's arms hold tight to her waist...
9. Raffe knows she's freaking alive

Wait. Did I just repeat the same thing over and over again? 
Oh well, nevermind. I'm sorry my mind got scrambled. But then again, I'm not sorry.

This is just perfect. I didn't expect the whole airborne fighting!!! I mean that was a total awesomeness!!! And the whole scene that shows Penryn is a freaking badass omg I just CANT. This is too perfect. An it's only 3 pages, I know.

Oh, and, did I mention how beautiful the cover is? What I don't really like is the font. Why do they change the font?!??!! It's a series. You gotta have at least the same font to keep the whole series all together. O, well.




Oh and btw. Today is probably the best Monday of my entire life! Not that I only get the excerpt and cover for World After, I also get to see the first trailer of Divergent. Oh my. I don't even read the freaking book, in fact, I vowed to not read the book before I see the film. But the trailer really caught me by surprise! It looks pretty awesome. Damn I might reconsider to read Divergent because of the trailer. Is it that badass??????? I got a feeling it would turn out like the Hunger Games. Sort of. Though obviously, not as good. But we'll see!

AND, there's more!! can't you believe it?? This YA novel I've been following, the fourth installment of a Lux Novel series, entitled Origin by Jenifer Armentrout is going to be released real soon!! When I say soon, if I'm not mistaken, it will be released tomorrow!!!! (Or even today? I'm not exactly counting down the days for the release date, but still, the 3rd book was such a cliffhanger that I want to poke someone's eye). 

HOW GREAT IS IT?!!!?!?

#BESTMONDAYEVER

Sunday 25 August 2013

Sequel Update: World After by Susan Ee

(Quick post)
HOLY. MOLY. Sweet baby Jesus.

I didn't see that one coming, Ee. I really don't. 

Excerpt and cover revealed on Monday, as in, tomorrow?!??!! I CANT. I think I need a drink.

First sentence: Everyone thinks I'm dead.

Goddamn.
That is solid. 



I love you Susan, x

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Thoughts on Instagram: Follback. Really?!

I can't stand it anymore I'm just gonna say it. I don't know why did I get so pissed about this I JUST DO, OK?!

I just don't understand why do people ask to follow them back on instagram? It's INSTAGRAM for God's sake. Not the freaking Facebook. To me, this apps was made for us who enjoyed photography or being passionate about it and they are free to express their creativity and transform it into a form of photos. I don't know about you guys, but I want to follow who I want to follow. Is that so hard to digest? I mean, why would you ask someone to follow you back? You want me to stalk you? To like your photos? Or is it because you feel awesome with the number of followers you have? It just baffles me sometimes. It just doesn't make any sense! I mean, I'm totally fine if someone said to add them on facebook or to follow them on twitter or even Path because it is after all, a social network. To get you to connect with people and friends and whatnot. 

I know, you guys would probably told me, "so don't follow them, what's the big deal?" You know, that's the thing! Idk why I felt like I'm a cold-hearted bitch just because I don't follow them back. Does that makes me a bitch?! Beause I really don't give a shit about who follows or unfollows me. It's totally their problem, not mine. If you like my photos then follow me, if not, then feel free to unfollow me. Even if we're friends. I'm cool with it. We're cool. No grudges here, Gosh, it's a free world we lived in. I hate it that I'm always being the bad guy. Apparently, not all people thinks like I do. 

The thing is, I love photography. so, I'll only be following those whose photos meet my interest. Note this, I AM NOT saying that your photos are not great. Like I said, it is a free world. You are free to post whatever you want. And most of my friends just like to post the pieces of their daily life. I have no problem with that. I just follow, who I want to follow. And does this mean our friendship is over if I don't follow you back? Come on, there's plenty of social network out there. I just don't think that Instagram is a place for connecting with friends. I mean, I did follow some of my friends. But That's not even the point. I just can not fathom why would people ask to follow them back in the first place???

Thursday 15 August 2013

Teaser Trailer: Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters




Comment on the trailer ?

(on Danila) Well, hey, Comrade.

--end of comment--



HAHA.
Not saying I was disappointed or anything, it's just a teaser. Teaser can really be a good thing though, if they really know how to make one. this one didn't quite nailed it.

A great teaser that occur to me instantly, was the teaser trailer of PROMETHEUS. now THAT'S. how you make a teaser trailer.

Anyways, back to Blood Sisters. we just had a glimpse, glimpse and glimpse of everything, it really doesn't say much. I can't and won't judge anything by it. (realized I saw a lot of negative comments on other website and decided not going to be one of those who comment things to upset anyone).

I'll only be talking about my earlier expectation of how the movie might turn up, before I watched the trailer. SO. I read this series like, ages ago, when I was still in high school. Now I'm twenty, and of course as time passed, my interest on a storyline has surely changed. I used to love books with high school background and all the crap drama and stuff. Now I prefer more of a Dystopian setting in terms of my liking on picking a book to delved into.

When I re-read the Vampire Academy, I was all like, making funny faces and like 'whoa it's pretty cheesy. But you know what, I'm still OKAY with it. (unlike *cough*Twilight*cough* I just can't sweep my eyes through one page without cringing with disgust. DONTGETMEWRONG I don't like to be a hater. I really enjoyed Twilight, though, only Twilight, not the whole goddamned series. But after the movies I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF NOT TO GRIMACED whenever I tried to re-read the book, thanks to the cast.)
anyways.

Still love the series. There were many ass-kickin' scene and I love the relationship building between Rose and Dimitri. Idk why but I've always imagined a Vampire world to be dark, gloomy and bloody. I was kinda half hoping that maybe, just maybe, they would make the atmosphere a bit dark and 'gritty' <-- I'm not sure with my choice of word here, but that's the only thing that came to mind atm. When I saw the stills about the building they were filming for the Academy, i got this impression of the Gothic style buildings and I was practicaly squealing like crazy.
I love movies like Daybreakers or The Covenant or Let the Right One in or Underworld 1 & 2. Yeah, that. Daybreakers totally had some futuristic touch in it because it took place in the future, as I recall. The Covenant is not a movie about vampires, but it did give the dark and thrilling atmosphere in it that makes my skin crawls and giddy at the same time. Let the Right One in (the Swedish version) was TOTALLY AMAZING, nuff said. It doesn't have to be like that precisely, what I meant was, at least it has the similar dark, gloomy and gritty atmosphere, not visually, but just the ambience, you know what I mean?

I SO HOPE the film would be BLOODY and gory if possible, though I usually hate gory movies except it was really necessary.

What's a Vampire movie without blood?




Tuesday 13 August 2013

Stills: Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

Okay so. Here...we...go...


















*dies* 


This is. Perfection. 
Forget my previous post about Danila with a shoulder-length hair. He totally looks BADASS with it. Okay I'll stop complainin' I must apologize for my earlier judgement about everything. Anyways.

OHMYGODADDFFGHHJKLLL
where'sthefreakinyrailerimsoexcitedimgonna--

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Angelfall Sequel (World After)

I am now sitting in an airplane, I'm heading back to my hometown. Goodbye Bali!!!

Just want you guys to know, I've always got my iPhone with me the entire time (I guess I should give her a name because I got attached to it, like, the I-can't-live-without-you kind of thing) and one of the advantage on having an iPhone is that: I CAN READ EBOOKS. Yay.

Wherever and whenever I got bored, I'll just happily clicked on this genius apps called iBooks. I know I'm being dramatic (ha-ha. Thanks to Tumblr). But really guys, isn't it a great thing??!?!! I know, I too can not deny the pleasure of having to grasp and feel the physical books in my hands, but really, if you go somewhere, say, a little trip or a backpacker, you'll have to admit that carrying books around would cause trouble sometimes. And I was afraid to find my book dirty and broken and crumpled, oh, I just can't stand it to see my books getting all dirty and undesirable. 

Anyways. My love for Angelfall just don't seem to fade just yet. I always read Angelfall whenever possible. When I was on the beach, on the airplane, on breakfast, in the car, after dinner, in the hotel room before bedtime, all of the spare time you could think of. Raffe. Oh Raffe, lookwhatuvedonetome. No it's actually Ee's fault, haha.

BUT OHMYFREAKINGLORD. WHEN WILL THE SECOND BOOK COMES OUT?! Is it NOVEMBER???!?!!  I have to wait THAT long?!??! I can't. I just can't. I won't have any desire to live starting August until November. Oh shit. I've learnt my lesson though, to not read a series that takes too long for the writer to write the sequel. I mean it's just. Too long. There's too many FEELS. I can NOT wait that long. It's been so long since i read Angelfall for the first time. I guess it's in 2012. 

Hell, there's not even a cover yet!!!! Just a teaser though. Cover in progress.


Ohmygod. I just know, that this book is going to be epic. Maybe not as epic as Angelfall, but. 
I JUST WANT TO READ IT!!
Pretty please? *puppy eyes*

Anyways. I was on Goodreads and Tumblr, I was surprised at how many people speculate that there will be a love triangle between Raffe-Penryn-OBI. Ohmygosh it never occured to me before! Obi?! Seriously? Why would you guys think that?!?? I certainly hope NOT. And please, it's the End of Days people! Why would Penryn want to be caught in that kind of situation? That's just stupid. But then again. I gave my full support on Susan, even if she decided to make a love triangle, then I'm sure she could still brings up interesting ideas and details in her pretty little head than most of the authors out there that have failed to do so.

As for the conclusion, I JUST WANT TO SKIP AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER.. I just want to read. 


Tuesday 6 August 2013

Bali!!!!!!

Yellowww from Bali yea babyy!!! This is my first time going here. Now I'm officially an Indonesian (I mean, what kind of an Indonesian am I, to never set foot on Bali after all these years?). My Gosh the beach!!!! I used to hate the beach because of the heat! I can't stand hot weather though I live in a tropical country. Furthermore, my skin does this weird thing whenever I was in a hot weather. it gets blotchy red and scratchy as hell. After all, I've always loved the rain (as you can see, the title of my blog). It's been so long since I last stepped on a velvety sand. Though the sun has mercilessly showered upon us with its blinding light and It burns our skin, somehow I found it didn't feel very bad. It depends on the weather too I guess. If it's cloudy, then hallelujah! And, it's not as hot as I've imagined it would be because of the wind. Thank God for the wind. Thank you Australia, I guess.

And the other thing I hate about the beach, is that I can't really wear summer outfits on that huge amount of light. My skin is rather white. Whitish yellow? Not Caucassian white of course. I'm an Asian after all. But still, I was called names in high school like, snow white and bakpao (chinese steamed bun). I was the white-est girl in my class back then. Haha. Beause of that, I realized that the white skin thing can sometimes be a good thing and a bad thing. I'm not gonna talk about the good side right now. The bad thing is that I can't really go out in the sun and do anything as I please without getting my skin turned brownish. It was quite upsetting when you look in the mirror and found yourself all blackish because of sun burn. And don't even think of applying sunblocks. Believe me, it didn't help. Maybe a little, but you'll get burn anyway. 

So, I went to Bali and when I packed my luggage, I was faced with a dilemma, whether I'll bring the long sleeved shirt or just the light knitting short sleeved stuff that people usually wore with a bikini underneath when they were at the beach. And also a pair of trousers or a hot pants? And the answer is. Ugh. I went for the long sleeved shirt with the lightest material I have, and of course a pair of trousers. Remarkable. *eyes rolled* 

I'm into fashion, you know. Therefore, wearing the proper outfit for every occasion is definitely on my dictionary. I am concerned with these things and it makes me happy too, to mix and match the clothes, accessories etc. with these particular material, it's just not right. Well, whatevs, what's done is done. The great thing is I still can enjoy most of my time there without getting sun burn. 

With the great blows of wind, which i felt very grateful, when I took a stroll across the beach, staring at the beckoning sight of twilight, I felt nice. Like really nice. I've never thought on strolling at the beach could gave me such a wonderful calming feeling, considering the hot weather and summertime. Because I used to felt wonderful only when it's gloomy or raining at the time, with no sweat and the smell of salt. 

It finally dawns on me, that, interacting with nature is a really good thing to do. No matter the situation. It's good sometimes to not be ignorant of our beautiful nature, created by the Glorious God. We must appreciate this tiny beautiful moments we've been given. Staring at the bubbly current, the bluish crystal clear of the sea, the varied colors of sea shells or coral or the softness of the silky seaweed. It was all priceless. It was such a great experience, one that I want to experience it as often as I can. 

And of course, to stroll on a beach hand in hand with someone you hold dear, gazing to the horizon must be the greatest feeling ever ;) 

Have a great holiday guys!!!!!

Thursday 1 August 2013

Angelfall Sneak Peek

As I've mentioned earlier, every page in this book is just magnificent. There were so many witty conversation between Penryn and Raffe. I'll try to not giving away too much, though I want to so badly =p

I've got my Angelfall book with me right now. Shall we begin?



P 27
"If you help me find my sister, you can have these back. I saved them for you"
"Thanks", he croaks, surveying the wings. "They'll look great on my wall."

P 36
"Where did they take my sister?"
The briefest emotion flickers in his eyes, gone so fast that I can't identify it. "How the hell should I know?"
"Because you're one of the stinking bastards."
"Ooh. you cut me to the bone with that one." He sounds bored, and I'm almost embarrassed by my lack of stronger insult. "Didn't you notice I wasn't exactly chummy with the other fellas?"

P 54
"Rah-fie," I repeat slowly. "I like the sound of that."
I clear my throat to break the tension. "Raffe sounds like Raw Feet. Coincidence?" That gets a smile out of him. When he smiles, he really does look like someone you'd want to get to know. Some otherworldly handsome guy a girl could dream about.


And this is my most favorite lines

P 56
"If I was good at marketing I'd spin you an empty story that sounds profound. But the truth is that we're all just stumbling around in the dark. Sometimes we hit something terrible."
.
.
.
My hands stays out with the offering food long enough to make it awkward. "Don't you want it?" I ask.
"That depends on why you're giving it to me."
I shrug. "Sometimes, as we're stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good."

And this one is one of my favorite scene. This moment was just. Oh. *excuse me while I dance around for 5 mins* feel free to skip it if you don't want me to spoil youuuuu

“I’m coming.” I call out but only a croaked whisper comes out of my mouth. I try to swim toward her but my muscles are so cold that all I can do is flail. Flail and shiver in the path of my mother’s boat. 
“Hush. Shhh.” 
A soothing voice whispers in my ear. I feel the sofa cushions being pulled out from against my back. Then warmth envelopes me. Firm muscles embrace me from the space where the cushions used to be. I’m groggily aware of masculine arms wrapping themselves around me, their skin soft as a feather, their muscles steel velvet. Chasing away the ice in my veins and the nightmare “Shhh.”
A husky whisper in my ear. 
I relax into the cocoon of warmth and let the sound of the rain on the roof lull me back to sleep. 



I hope this little sneak peek I gave would encourage you to read it! Trust me, you won't regret it! =)

Book Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Sooooo, here we go! As promised, this is the book review of Angelfall!!! The one that contains Raffe in it, as I've mentioned in the last post =p

Angelfall is simply the BEST Dystopian book I've read so far!! It's written by the talented Susan Ee. This is her first book and it's a self-published book, which I have to say she's doing a  FANTASTIC job. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a page-turner, fast-paced, no-insta-love, kickass-heroine, it's everything good in one book. This book is just EPIC. I'd give it 6 stars out of 5 if I could (ok, this is me exaggerating. get used to it).

I finally got the physical book YAY. Thanks to Kinokuniya bookstore Singapore. See why I have to read ebooks the entire time? Yes, it's because, I have to go abroad to get a freaking book. Do you know just how much money I must spend to get a BOOK?! Of course, I went to Singapore not just to buy books. But it sure as hell my first priority when I stepped my foot on Changi airport. I went to Singapore to watch Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera theatre. I've always wanted to watch the show, and finally I watched it in 2013. I'll probably talk about it later. Anyway, this is crazy. I live in Indonesia by the way, in this particular city called Jakarta. We got a great Kinokuniya bookstore here, pretty huge for me, but unfortunately, sometimes the book you were looking for isn't the most famous book like The Twilight Saga or Harry Potter. So, when I set foot on the Kino bookstore at Ngee Ann City, I was like. WHOA. wow. eeksss. It was the most exciting feeling I've ever felt on entering a bookstore. it was FREAKING HUGE!!! I practically squealed. It's just a room full of books, and the smell of papers and books, just. *sigh* it is HEAVEN for me.




Isn't the cover beautiful?

I first read it in the form of ebook. and then when I got the physical book, I don't know exactly how many times I put it down, and pick it up, I just love to randomly opened a page and start reading that chapter. No matter what page I was in, I never get tired of reading it. It's THAT EPIC, guys. There's not a single page that I hate. I LOVE the entire book. every page was just THAT awesome. 

I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just give you some hints on what this book is about. So, It's a Dystopian Young Adult novel. It was set in the post-apocalyptic world after the Angels invasion. They have successfuly demolished the planet. Rubbles everywhere. The world is now filled with Angels, street gangs, and other dark creatures. The story focused on Penryn, the brave girl who is always looking out for her little family consist of three. Her mom and her little sister, Paige. So, The Mom is a little crazy. She's just weird. She said she can communicate with demons? and that she made a deal with one? and she carried these rotten eggs everywhere regardless the situation she was in. that's just weird. but interesting idea as well. I can not wait for the truth to unfold about the Mom in book 2 (YES, it's a Trilogy everybody). 

The second character is her little sister Paige. She's wheelchair bound. Pity little thing. We still didn't know what exactly happen to her legs, all we know was that it was the Mom who accidentally Broke it. And maybe Paige is one of the most tragic character in this book. Oh it's heartbreaking, what happened to her. 

One night, Penryn decided that it was the perfect time for her to flee their place. Not their home of course. They've been running ever since the invasion, and it's just another hiding place she chose to shelter her and her family.

That night, she stumbled upon 5 angels and 1 badly injured Angel. They seemed to be engaged in a 'dirty' fight. Five against one. Penryn didn't even dare to blink. She wanted to witness the whole scene perfectly. The badly injured Angel has a very magnificent pair of snowy wings. He was now crouched on the gravel, two Angels pinned him down, and the other one tried to cut off the poor angel's snowy wings. She still couldn't shut her eyes though the scene she's just witnessed was gory and unpleasant. The snowy winged Angel, now wingless, screamed in agony as the sword sliced through his wings. Blood splattered all over him and onto the asphalt.

Penryn felt the need to help the helpless Angel, so she grabbed the wingless Angel's sword that happens to be in front of her, it's surprisingly light weight, in spite of the shape, and threw it to the Angel's opened hand. Judging by the state he was in, there was no way in hell he could move. But he quickly jumps to his feet and slashed at his opponents, though he had a hard time catching his balance. This wingless Angel must have had a hell of a reputation before this whole mess.

The bad Angel turned sharply at her direction, his face full of hatred, and started to fly above her toward her little sister. Penryn froze and then ran toward her sister as fast as she can. The bad Angel scooped Paige up and started to fly away with her to the open sky, smug on his face. Penryn tried so hard to retrieve back her sister and fail to do so. 

Penryn finally made up her mind to search for her sister and she needs every help she can get, including making a deal with the enemy himself, the wingless Angel. They need each other to survive, the Angel needs to recover from all the blood loss and can't do a thing without his wings on his back anyway. and Penryn didn't know which way to go to reach the Aerie, the place where the Angels settled without the Angel's help. Things get interesting.

This book gripped me right from the very first page. I absolutely love the first scene. The way they met each other for the first time was a work of a genius! The visual was just depicted so beautifully, skillfully and so real, it makes you want to flip another and another pages until you've reached the back cover. I litteraly can't put the book down.

The Angels weren't the pretty things we have always imagined before or the way books like Hush Hush was trying to portray. It's more like the violent creature that won't hesitate to torture and kill you to get what they wanted. And here's the more interesting fact: They didn't even have a purpose on coming to earth. The world building was just so convincing and real! It really pulls me through and left me wanting for more. It's like I don't wanna go back to reality. 

I'm going to talk about Penryn and Raffe characters along with their relationship. They were simply. amazing. The character building was perfect. The whole romance thing was beautifully written. THERE IS NO INSTA-LOVE! It's nothing like you've ever read before. The whole thing was just make sense. It is not forced, it is not lust, it is not cheesy. It is pure love. You know it is. The way Susan wrote the whole thing was just right and so realistic! I completely understand why Penryn and Raffe acted the way they acted. I can relate to them pretty easily. The both of them really tried to not feel a thing toward each other. Raffe was just that charismatic and mature enough in that situation, while Penryn was just being realistic that it's a crazy world she's live in right now. How can she flirts with anyone? Not to mention the anyone here is in fact, the enemy itself.

The typical YA male lead character were all like, "I want to be with you but I can't because I'm not from around here but We can kiss a 'little' if you want" while Raffe at first he was just like, I'm an Archangel and a warrior, I must be the one who will be a good example to my followers and not breaking any Angel rules. But as the time grows, so does their relationship. There was adoration, yes the Archangel adores Penryn, not by her looks, she's not even the typical girl that needs saving all the time (yes, Raffe did save her life several times, but it was really necessary. she's not that helpless and she's not trying to act all tough luke typical YA heroines either! she's just. right) and she's not even that attractive, maybe she is in a normal world, I mean. I just love the details Susan gave the impression of Penryn. all greasy hair, skinny, chapped lips, sun-burned skin. She's tough and let me tell you she's freaking kickass because she literally took fighting classes before the apocalypse. This Daughter of Man really manage to steal Raffe's attention. He was impressed by her. The relationship building was just right to me. It's not that obvious at first. I didn't even think for a second that they would kiss in this book! It's right until the end of the book! Of course there were some hints that may lead to the whole romance thing but the amount of it is not plenty. I usually love YA books because of the balance between the romance and the actions and the world building of course. not too much kissings burns with passion and lust involved, you know. We didn't really get what was going on in Raffe's head until the very end when he finally broke down and reveal himself, because he really did put on a solid mask the entire time. There wasn't even the famous 3 words and 8 letters spoken in this book. And that's a good thing! 

Oh and their witty conversation! GOD I LOVE the two of them! They were made for each other. I'll randomly open some pages and I'll quote it for you in my next post, because otherwise this review might become too long! Hell it's too long already!!! These are some of the best words Closest to what I felt during reading it. Because there were just too many FEELS, i can't quite put it in a subtle way, so, I apologize for my lack of writing skill.

I just hoped that the sequel, World After, will keeps on getting better, though I doubt it since its predecessor was perfect in my opinion. But I believe in you, Susan Ee. I will respect all of the thoughts you put through this book, all of the decisions you've made, even if you decided it will ended in a bad way. I believe it would lift up to my expectation. And I believe I will enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed Angelfall. I'll always be your supporter!

Thank you for this amazing book, you have written a very engaging tale that I want to delve into and I will give my full support to this series. But please just don't take too long on writing and publishing the next two books because I'm seriously dying to know what's going to happen next :D