Music Monday: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

I don't listen to the radio very often. I get annoyed by the chatter, commercials and over playing of popular songs. Because of that sometimes I'm slow to discover songs. Last week I left my ipod at my office so on a trip to Salt Lake and back I had to listen to the radio. During that trip I heard My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy. It's been on repeat in my brain since then. I guess I need to listen to the radio a little more often.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

When they announced that they were making Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I was pretty sure I would be watching. Superheros, Agent Coulson and Joss Whedon- how could they go wrong? Now that I've seen the trailer I can see that they didn't go wrong. I've reserved a spot on my couch for Tuesday nights at 8 pm starting this Fall!

Music Monday: The Piano Guys Concert

For Mother's Day I bought my mom The Piano Guys concert tickets. I'll be honest, part of the reason I bought them for her was because I wanted to go as well. Yeah, I'm sneaky like that ;) 

Anyway... what an phenomenal show!!!! I knew these guys were talented because I've seen all their videos but they blew me away. There's something so amazing about live music. I can't put it into words. It's just good for the soul. My favorite part of the entire show was how much fun these two seem to have together. The joy they get from performing was obvious on their faces. 

(sorry about the lousy phone pic- I didn't take my regular camera in with me)

One of the cool things was that Alex Boyé was able to join them for their version of Paradise (Peponi). Because of their crazy schedules, that doesn't happen often. It was a beautiful moment that brought me to tears.

(Once again, sorry about the awful phone picture.)

All in all, it was an incredible night. I laughed, I cried and I cheered. This concert was outstanding!! 

The highlights of the show also happen to be the moments that moved me to tears. These are the videos of those songs, each for different reasons-

Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts

 

Paradise (Peponi)

 

Bring Him Home

 

The Piano Guys have a bunch of concert dates coming up. If they are anywhere near you I would highly recommend going to see them. Do it!! 

Being a Nerd is Awesome!

Recently at a convention Wil Wheaton was asked by an audience member to record a message for her newborn daughter about why being a nerd is awesome. His reply is fabulous and possibly made me cry. It is definitely worth four minutes of your day!

This is my favorite part:

"It's now about what you love, it's about how you love it. There's going to be a thing in your life that you will love. I don't know what it's going to be- it might be sports, it might be reading, it might be science... it doesn't matter what it is. The way love it, the way you find other people who love it the way you do is what makes being a nerd awesome."

I found this great graphic by Hank Green that sums up the whole speech- 

(image source)

I love being a nerd and I love finding other people that understand that. 

Music Monday: Ready, Aim, Fire by Imagine Dragons

In an attempt to blog more often I'm going to try and revive Music Mondays. I don't have the best of luck at sticking with things like this so we'll see how it goes.

Anyway... the song that's on repeat in my brain right now is Ready, Aim, Fire by Imagine Dragons. It is from the album Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall. I love Imagine Dragons so when I saw the news they were on the IM3 soundtrack I was thrilled. Of course, the song is amazing! I bought the whole album but haven't listened to the rest of it yet because I've been focused on this song. It's perfect for the movie!! (Which I loved and will try and write a review for. I think I need to see it again before I can do that though.)

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.


The Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa series is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite series. I've tried to write this review for several weeks. Every time I open this blog post my brain goes blank and I go into fangirl mode. I just want to force a copy of this book into everyone's hands.

This book is the perfect combination of non-stop action, swoon, unpredictably and creepiness. Because I can't seem to form a coherent review about the book here are a few of the highlights-

• Allie is, hands down, one of the most badass characters out there. There aren't many I can think of that could hold a candle to her. 
• I only have two words to describe the Rabids/Bleeders/Mole Men- Morbid and Creepifying* (*If you get that reference you're awesome!!)
• Sarren takes Bat Shit Crazy to a whole new level.  
• Zeke...*sigh* Yeah, that's all I've got on him. 
• There is one character that I'm still not sure where he stands and what his motives are. The fact that he is so well written is reason enough to read the book. 

In true Julie fashion this book will leave you broken and in tears. I've seen Julie state several times on twitter that the tears of her readers feed her muse. Well, after The Eternity Cure, her muse will be very well fed. But trust me, the tears are so worth it. If you haven't started this series yet you need to move it to the top of your to-be-read list!

The Evolution of Music by Pentatonix

This. is. awesome.

Ryan Innes on The Voice

A few years ago I went to a concert for a local group that I've been a fan of for years. The opening act for that concert was a singer named Ryan Innes. I was instantly blown away by Ryan's voice. I bought his CD after the show and have listened to it regularly since then.

I follow Ryan on Facebook and Twitter so I knew he was going to be on The Voice last night. What I didn't know was that he was going to get all four coaches to turn their chairs around. I was so happy for him! I can't wait to see what he and Usher do together!!

Here are a couple other performances that show how amazing he is- 

My Thoughts on The Host

*sigh*

I've been trying to compose this post since I  saw The Host on Friday. Most of the time when I don't love something I just don't post about it. I prefer to only post good reviews here. But I've had multiple people ask me for my thoughts on the movie so I thought I'd better post here.

Here's my review in a nutshell- I'll get more detailed below but if you only want a summary here it is- I didn't hate The Host. The problem is that I didn't love it. It came close to being what I wanted it to be but didn't quite make it. If I were to grade it, I would give it a solid C.

Here's a breakdown of how I felt about the movie-

Things I loved:

• Max Irons was perfection as Jared. 
• Saoirse Ronan was really good, especially with what she had to work with. (more on that later)
• The score was gorgeous. I've got to get a copy!
• The CGI on the souls was beautiful. It was almost exactly as I imagined it. 
• William Hurt was the perfect Uncle Jeb. He wasn't who I pictured when I read the book but he fit the role very well. 
• Chandler Canterbury was adorable as Jamie. 
• Frances Fisher was wonderfully nasty as Maggie. 

Things I didn't love:

• Jake Abel just wasn't Ian. He tried, he really did but he just didn't get there. I know I'm biased because Ian is one of my top fictional crushes but even my friends that were with me said he wasn't right for the part. He is adorable and I'm sure in other roles he's great. He just was not Ian. 
• When they first announced they were making a movie my biggest concern was how they would portray the conversations that happen between Melanie and Wanderer. I'm not sure how else they could have done it but it came across as cheesy and silly. Like I said earlier, Saoirse did a great job with what she was given but it just didn't work. 
• While I enjoyed Diane Kruger's performance as The Seeker, I felt they focused too much on how out of control she was. There were several things (which I'll list next) that were not focused on because they were wasting time with The Seeker. One other thing about her- I really wanted to see how nasty she is when her Soul is removed. We didn't get that in the movie. 
• Kyle never got redemption. In the book we see Kyle's character redeem himself for his horrific actions when he learns to love Sunny. In the movie he is only a bad guy. I missed seeing that change in him. 
• I felt like the acceptance of Wanda by the others in the cave was too fast. I know that they didn't have a lot of time to devote to that but I think that it should have been show somehow. Even if it had just been a montage of people slowly joining them at the dinner table night after night. 
• I felt like they didn't convey the message of love, acceptance and compassion that the book has. Those moments like the human child playing with its Soul parents, Ian holding Wanderer in his hands, Kyle sitting by Jodi but holding Sunny in her cryotank, the soccer game, Kyle's trial... they weren't there and I felt like a huge chunk of the story was missing. 

I feel really bad posting a not-glowing review of anything. I didn't hate The Host, I promise. I'll probably even see it again after I'm done re-reading the book.

Book-to-movie adaptations are hard. It's impossible to get everything that everyone wants into a movie. I try to go into a book adaptation with an open mind. All I really want is for the spirit of a book to be there. I'm not sure if that makes any sense or not, that's the only way I can think to put it. Sadly, with The Host, it just wasn't there. 

This Fangirl believes in Equality

It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion

Gender to skin color

Complexion of your pigment

The same fight that led people to walk-outs and sit-ins

Human rights for everybody

There is no difference

I might not be the same

But that's not important

No freedom til we're equal

Damn right, I support it