Books I Read
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
4/5
It's so hard to be critical of Becky Albertalli in general because she's got that indescribable writing quality that makes all of her stories deliciously addictive. Her books scream summertime and are a joy to go back to because her characters feel like my friends. She has a gift. That being said, I loved
Leah, but it felt like a 4-star read for me instead of 5. I can't put my finger on why exactly, and I wish I could, but there was something missing that didn't allow me to rave about it as much as I did for
Simon and
Upside. Maybe because I didn't connect with Leah as much as I connected with Simon and Molly. Leah is definitely more abrasive and tends to overreact to more minor situations.
Final Draft by Riley Redgate
3/5
I loved the first half of the book, but after finishing it
and the more I've let it sit with me, my conclusion is . . . meh? It was
all right. I can't say I hated anything, but I didn't have strong
feelings about much of anything, one way or the other. Things I liked included a heavy focus on writing, talking about the positives of being a part of a fandom, the diversity, and a plot twist in the middle of the book. Some of things I disliked were the romance that I just didn't buy, the dark turn the story takes that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book, the unfortunate tropes the book promotes about introverts needing to "take risks" in order to live life to the fullest, and the dissatisfying ending.
Read my review
HERE.
The Shining by Stephen King
3.5/5
It took a while to get into, but once I got past the setup, it was delightfully creepy. For a book that's centered around three or four characters in a single setting, it definitely kept my interest. I didn't think a book could scare me in the way a TV show or movie could, but it did. (Reading it in a strange house while babysitting the neighbors' kids and their dog was probably not my best idea . . . the dog barked at a noise outside around 10:30 at night and I totally jumped.) I did see the ending coming from a mile away because of some heavy-handed foreshadowing and there were entire chunks of text that could have gone and it wouldn't have affected the plot at all, but overall, I enjoyed it.
Movies I Watched
"Miss Congeniality"
4/5
Though the movie was very predictable in many ways and the identity of the villain was given away way too early in my opinion (most of the tension vanishes when you know who the enemy is way before the protagonist does), I really liked it. It was funny, quirky, and had some great characters. Gracie Hart is a wonderful heroine and I totally respect her intense love of doughnuts.
Quotes I Wrote
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| I was pretty amused with myself when I wrote this since not having enough guys in musicals is a running joke at just about every school's theatre program. |
Obsessions I Acquired
No time to be obsessed with anything new since pretty much the entire month of May was dedicated to preparing for "Peter Pan Jr." performances.
Pictures of the Month
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| Teens from our homeschool group out on the town. |
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| My brother and I auditioned for "Lion King Jr." and landed some pretty awesome parts! He's playing Zazu and I'm playing Banzai the hyena. I do enjoy playing villains . . . |
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| Cue Scout pictures! |
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| She was very happy to get a new toy. |
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| Max filled in for Smee at a rehearsal since both of them were missing and one of our directors snapped this photo. |
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| Cast photo! |
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| And a silly cast photo! |
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| The promotional posters turned out awesome. |
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| Dress rehearsal photos! |
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| The two on the right played Hook and Smee on my off nights, and on the left is my Smee. |
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| With Tiger Lily and Mrs. Darling. |
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| With the other Tiger Lily and a photo bomb from the other Hook. |
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| Bill Jukes the pirate. "What tempo, Captain?" |
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| Max got a picture with a bunch of pirates in the boys' dressing room and it looks like they're about to drop a killer album. |
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| Starkey the pirate. |
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| My off-night pirate costume. |
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| The other cast's Peter Pan. |
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| Wendy and Noodler jumped in for a picture. |
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| The other cast's Wendy. |
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| Max and I got pictures in our pirate gear. |
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| Dandelion the Brave Girl. |
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| Savannah played Wendy in my cast, but here we're both in our off-night costumes. |
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| This was taken on opening night after a very successful performance! |
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| Captain Hook! |
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| Our stage manager snuck a photo during dress rehearsal when Max and I were both dancing during "Hook's Tango." |
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| This was my promotional photo on Instagram . . . |
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| . . . and this was TJ's (very comforting) response. He didn't, however, drop me during performances, thank goodness. |
You can definitely expect way more "Peter Pan Jr." pictures, but since most of them were taken during the beginning of June, they'll be posted with June's wrap-up. ;)
How was your May?
6 comments:
You know I love these posts so much. This is no exception. I smile reading through the whole thing. I love to hear about what you're doing. What you wrote (the quote) is hilariously ironic. And one movie?? That's it?? Why on earth didn't we watch more? Heheheh. Love, love, love all of this! And those Instagram promos are hilarious. I like how you said he didn't drop you "during performances." :P Also, it DOES look like they're about to drop a killer album!! LOL! LOVED Peter Pan and seeing you both in it!
As always, I love these posts. How did all of that happen in one month?! The pictures of Scout are fantastic, and a little scary. Also, the Peter Pan pictures are great. What a fun end to May and Start to June.
Miss Congeniality is a glorious film. XD Have a great June!
Looks like you guys had a great time with the Peter Pan play! And Scout is still winning the award for most loved dog in PA.
One of my favorite childhood memories involves The Shining. When I was much younger, for some reason my cousins and I got infatuated with the commercial/movie trailer for the original The Shining movie with Jack Nicholson. We loved it so much that when we were away from the house for an extended length of time, we'd jump out of the car, rush back inside the house, and turn on the tv in the hopes that The Shining commercial was playing. We loved that commercial that much! So anyway, one night when all my cousins were sleeping at the same house, we invented The Shining game. It was so stupid. The person that was The Shining had a blanket thrown over his head so he couldn't see, we turned off any source of light, and he'd walk around kind of hunchback-like and chant, "I'm the Shining" over and over. The rest of us would have to tackle whoever The Shining was. Not the most sophisticated game, I know. But we laugh about it even now. And BTW, to this day I have never seen the movie or read the book. I'm afraid it will ruin my love of the commercial.
And I just waisted however many minutes of your life it took to read this that you'll never get back. Sorry.
I reallyyyy want to read Leah's book! She wasn't my favourite character in Simon Vs. The Homosapien Agenda (I definitely preferred her in the film,) but I'm super-duper hoping this book tells us more about her and maybe makes me like her a little more :)
Lovely post hun!
Grace Louise || www.gracelouiseofficial.blogspot.co.uk/
@Boquinha
I'm pretty sure I wrote that quote soon after having a conversation with TJ and Tyler about their theatre program and how it's basically guaranteed they get parts in any play they audition for because they're guys.
Gee, I wonder why we didn't have time to watch more than one movie? :P
Promo pics for any show are always super fun to take. I mean, technically he did drop me once during rehearsals, but that was also when we were first practicing it, so he has an excuse there.
@Dr. Mark
May already feels like it was a million years ago. I love the pictures from that month, though! Scout was more than happy to cooperate for pictures for once.
@Ivy
I'm so glad I finally watched it so I can get all the references now. xD Thanks, you too!
@Jimmy
So much fun! And yes, Scout is definitely very pampered.
Bahaha, that hilarious! It's always those kinds of quirky memories that stand out in my mind when I try to think back several years. Reading the book (or watching the movie, I imagine) might take away a little bit of the innocence of that game and your love of the commercial. It's definitely creepier than I thought it'd be.
@Grace Louise
Same! I liked her way better in the movie. I felt like I could sympathize with her more. I definitely enjoyed reading a story from her point of view. It helped to flesh out her character more, even if she said something I didn't agree with. I'm curious to hear what you think!
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