Sunday 29 November 2015

Saturday Snippet: Movie Night


Hello everyone!

This post is a little late - and a little short, but I'm short on time - but I figured I should probably put something up, right? Right.


Last night was movie night! We went to see Mockingjay, pt. 2, and let me tell you guys.

IT WAS AWESOME.

Not to mention, FINALLY someone decided to actually follow the source material (aka the books), because too often nowadays I get to see movie adaptations that look like people haven't even sniffed at a book.

More on the movie this Tuesday!

xx
*image not mine

Thursday 26 November 2015

Tome Thursday: Valor on the Move


Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

I think I keep getting asked whether we have this too, and I repeatedly have to explain that, while it's a lovely tradition (and certainly better than some others I could name!) alas, we do not.

So you Americans have a grand ol' time for me too, 'kay?

'Kay.

Back to the intro for my review tonight.

I will admit, I would never have thought, a couple of years back, that I'd be reading books like these, and not because they're bad or scandalous. Far from it! I actually think most of them are much better than the lot of regular, YA and your usual 'guy-and-girl-fall-in-love' type of deal. And I also didn't even know these kind of things existed, if I'm being perfectly and completely honest with you here.

Yes, yes, I live under a rock in a medieval village.

In any event, on to the absolutely fantastic Valor on the Move!

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Talkie Tuesday: Insurgent

"I'm factionless because I don't fit in any one faction. And you're Divergent because you belong to too many."


Hello everyone!

So, I have a confession to make.

Well, it shouldn't be too weird to some of you who know me, because sometimes, this is just how I get. I wanted to see Insurgent as soon as was humanly possible once it was released, because, well, I love the Divergent series and I am definitely a big fan. Also, the first movie was quite amazing as far as everything goes. 

But then I'm not exactly sure what happened.

Friends kept asking me if I'd seen Insurgent already or what, and all the time, my answer would be 'No, not yet', 'Working on it' or 'I'm getting there'.

What happened?

I really have no idea.

For some odd reason, once I got the chance to actually see the movie, I was hesitant. Maybe it was a sixth sense telling me all about it.

Saturday 21 November 2015

Saturday Snippet: Snow!


Hello everyone!

So okay, okay, I was going to post something else today again - but it started snowing here and my plans got derailed!


I don't necessarily love snow in the sense that I'm crazy about it; in fact, I'm sure the second I have to drive somewhere in the snow, I'll be as unhappy as I can possibly be. But the first snowfall of the year is ALWAYS something magical, no matter what!

Aside 1: I've been translating so much this past week I think my brain is constantly hardwired to two languages, so sorry if I seem ... disjointed? Is that a good use for the word?

Aside 2: Our stores here may already have The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition. If this is actually true, I think Christmas just came early for me.

xx
*image not mine

Thursday 19 November 2015

Tome Thursday: The Inheritance Cycle


Hello everyone!

Back to books, since it's Thursday and all, I would have gone to my trust little notepad where I keep my notes on reviews and the like, but then I had a different idea. 

Sometimes, when I feel like it, I can read just about anything, and then at other times my brain is pointing me to a specific book or series. In this case, it just so happened to be one I'd already finished a couple of years ago (and even so it took a freaking DECADE to get to its final point, which is probably less complicated than with GRRM's books, but, you know). But hey, my head didn't want me to read anything else, so I couldn't argue much about it and I just went with the flow I guess.

I first bought Paolini's Eragon book on a whim waaaaaay back when, I think I was still in grade school at the time actually, and the hardcover was really, really cheap. I didn't even know much about it, the blurb on the back sounded interesting, and it had a blue dragon up front.

Yeah, I know, pretty superficial.

But hey, it got me started with the Inheritance Cycle!

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Talkie Tuesday: Mr. Holmes

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains - however improbable - must be the truth."


Hello everyone!

Back again with another movie review and I have to say I had a different one waiting, as I still have quite a list of those I watched during my time spent in Croatia, but I postponed that in favour of a more recent watch. And with recent I mean I actually saw the movie this week. 

I was invited to have a bit of a get-together and a movie night with two good friends of mine, and even though it was a weeknight which means that mostly everyone has to either get up early the next day or there's a lot to be done and you'd do well to be well rested, we spent quite a few hours just chatting and catching up before actually plunging into the movie itself. Once we did though, it was easy to see why it's so much better, sometimes, to watch movies at home rather than in the cinema, as it's a lot more comfortable and discussion-prompting.

The movie we watched was Mr. Holmes.

Saturday 14 November 2015

Saturday Snippet: Paris


Hello everyone,

I was going to post something else today, but cannot, in good conscience, ignore what has happened.

I stayed up pretty late yesterday, November 13th, and I remember before going to bed refreshing my Google News page; there was mention in a title of an 'explosion' in Paris, with an unknown number of casualties, but at the time, it was as yet undetermined what had exactly caused this.

I woke up this morning at 7 am to find my parents and sister watching the BBC news in an eerie reenactment of what happened earlier this year during another French situation, and I saw to my horror that the death toll was now around 120 people, and rising ...

Not to mention everything ELSE that seems to be happening in the world right now.

I have no words. 

Thursday 12 November 2015

Tome Thursday: The Duke of Shadows


Hello everyone!

So I've realized it's been a while since the last book that I read out of the so-called 'beach reads', or as I like to call them 'doctor novels' after a saying in my language. Basically, the point of these books is not to make much of a point in the long run, the premise is the love story and it doesn't force you to think deep thoughts while the hero and heroine are acting like Bollywood lovers ("I love you! I want to marry you!" "No, I can't!" "Come back, now I want you!" "I can't now!").

I wish I could remember precisely how or why I got to this book, because I know I realized later that there's a physical copy of it in the house, but how I got to it is a mystery. I might have seen it advertised or it popped up on Goodreads ... I'm pretty sure it wasn't recommended.

In any event, what happened was that I needed a bit of a break from my usual reading material, and this means that whenever I do this, I pick up a cheesy romance novel.

This time I went for a sort of my thing, as it was a historical romance, Meredith Duran's Duke of Shadows.

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Talkie Tuesday: Pitch Perfect 2


Hello everyone!

I seem to have a tendency to sort of type these blog posts really late at night here in my timezone, or maybe that's just because I tend to get distracted by other things during the day. Who knows? In any event, it's 10 pm here and I'm thinking I should probably get this done BEFORE I nod off and fall asleep without finishing it. Sounds like a plan, no? 

It's been a while since I've seen this movie, though I don't think it was actually one of the ones I took to summer vacation with me. I think I just left this one for a later date and didn't worry too much.

To be honest, I was excited when they announced the sequel to Pitch Perfect as I loved the first movie. I'm just into this accapella singing thing, because Glee was totally my style and I watched it from start to finish, so PP was also something that was right up my alley.

So then when they said movie number TWO was coming out, and obviously Anna Kendrick is pretty much awesome, I wanted to do nothing more than sit down and watch.

Saturday 7 November 2015

Saturday Snippet: Lipgloss


Hello everyone!

Okay so, I've said this before and I will say it again.

I'm no make-up person.

It's the truth; I own a total of one mascara and one concealer, both of which have only found their way into my routine recently because I'm naturally pre-disposed to shadows under my eyes, and the mascara was more or less something my friends foisted on me. They say I have long eyelashes and have to show them, or something.

Back to the topic at hand, which are lipglosses!

Because, for some reason, I have a lipgloss addiction. I can barely walk by those cosmetic stands without at least looking at them, and I usually end up taking at least one home or something.


Those are the ones I currently own, as listed below. The first one is actually so old ... but this is where the fact that it's from a high-quality brand comes into play, because it's still perfect as the day I wore it first, which was at prom. I know the silvery one will be perfect through Christmas time, and while I'm not too sure about the matt I'm sort of going to test it and see. And the Cinderella one ... well, I HAD TO. The last one is the recent purchase from Maybeline though because it's the closest I can come to the first, Max Factor Silk Gloss in tone. I just love the first one and I'm hoping I'll see it again soon. No such luck yet!

Max Factor Silk Gloss Crystal Dew
Max Factor Silk Gloss Silver Frost
UMA cosmetics Matt Gloss Vanilla Flash
Essence Cinderella special edition So This Is Love
Maybeline Crystal Nockout Pearl

xx
*image is mine

Thursday 5 November 2015

Tome Thursday: The Autobiography of Henry VIII


Hello everyone!

OKAY.

I will admit. This one took me forever. I actually checked on Goodreads and I started reading it in September.

IT'S NOVEMBER NOW, GUYS.

Yeah, I was bad with this. Really, really bad. My only excuse? I kept getting distracted. It's not that the book wasn't interesting or that I was forcing myself to crunch through it. That wasn't the case at all. The problem was that every hundred or two hundred pages, my brain literally wanted to fritz out with all the information and personality complex.

Which was why I always needed a break in between the reading sections, and that was why it took FOREVER to finish this, but I actually made a gameplan and sat down, expressively, to finish reading so that Maegan wouldn't send me over to kingdom come.

She can be a little impatient with her Tudor stuff, so let's get on with the Autobiography of Henry VIII!

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Talkie Tuesday: Age of Adaline

"Let go."


Hello everyone!

Back with another movie review this week, although I do have to say all the shows are absolutely living up to their potential for the time being. Monday are totally crowded for me while Dancing with the Stars still lasts, they don't have that much longer to go though so then it should get a whole lot easier! But Blindspot killed it this week, and Supergirl is still adorable. 

Back to movies.

THIS one I've wanted to watch from the moment I saw the trailer. Why? Because it looked magical, and I needed something of the kind. 

Also, because Blake Lively is absolutely gorgeous in it, and I mean GORGEOUS.

It's Age of Adaline, of course.