Monthly Archives: July 2012


The Vampire Diaries (2009-) (Season 1-3)

Starring

Nina Dobrev – Elena Gilbert
Kat Graham – Bonnie Bennett
Candice Accola – Caroline Forbes
Paul Wesley – Stefan Salvatore
Ian Somerhalder – Damon Salvatore
Steven R. McQueen – Jeremy Gilbert

Review

Definitely an interesting and entertaining show to watch. It really brings back memories of Twilight, except that Jacob in this case is a vampire (played by Damon XD). There are some similarities between the Twilight series and this tv show, but still it is a great watch and so much fun.

The acting is really superb in this. The tv show is about Elena who is a doppelgänger and it keeps referring back to Katherine who looks exactly like her. So Nina has to play two different personalities, the evil vampire and the charming girl from Mystic Falls, Virginia. Ian has to have two sides as well due to the fact that he enjoys killing and in the beginning was really evil. He has this softer caring side and then this heartless killer side. Paul has a double-sided character as well. In the beginning he was all good and in the later seasons he started to go all evil, and I mean really evil.

The filming is really interesting too. When there are flash backs it is done in this kind of washed out, white-tint and it has blurred edges…etherial quality. And in the modern-day, it has this kind of softness to it. None of the colors are extremely vivid.

Also this is not like your average vampire story. The vampires don’t turn to dust in the sunlight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) they just burn and they have to move out of the sun as if they do stay in the sun too long they can die. The sun is just extremely painful as they have extremely amazing healing capabilities. They also don’t sparkle in the sun (Twilight.) They can be reflected in mirrors. They can die by having a stake driven through their heart or ripping their heart out.

This is ‘CW’s most smoldering cast’ and this is a definite draw to the tv show. But also there is a really entertaining story line of Elena being a doppelgänger and how people want to have her killed while other’s want her blood as certain spells or things can only happen with her blood.

This tv show is kind of violent as many people do get killed, mostly vampires, and hearts are sometimes ripped out but not much is shown. Many people are hurt and put in the hospital but normally there is nothing too graphic. There is some sexual ‘activity’ in the tv show. Nothing inappropriate as such. Just some kissing and talking about having sex but nothing ever happens. There is also some drinking and drugs during the tv show. Jeremy, Elena’s brother, turns to drugs and smoking after their parents die. There are also some parties in the woods where there is drinking and many of the main characters do drink even through they are under age and do not get in trouble.

Overall this is a show for older viewers, probably 14 and up but it is a really interesting and entertaining show. You have to watch the episodes in order as there is a storyline and missing one episode means you miss a lot of really important stuff.

So go and get this one from your library and enjoy!


HAWAII FIVE-0 (2010-) (SEASON 1 AND 2)

Hawaii Five-0

Hawaii Five-0 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starring

Daniel Dae Kim – Chin Ho Kelly
Alex O’Loughlin – Steve McGarrett
Grace Park – Kono Kalakaua
Scott Caan – Danny ‘Danno’ Williams
Masi Oka – Dr. Max Bergman
Taylor Wily – Kamekona

Review

With all of the action, romance, ‘bro-mance’, comedy, amazing actors,and great shots, you just cannot like this show, you have to LOVE it. Hawaii Five-0, based off the 1968 Hawaii Five-O, is the new tv detective drama. It has everything which a tv show must have now a days to stay afloat. But the added bonus is that it is set in Hawaii (thus the title) and the luscious shots of the Hawaiian islands really add to the effect.

After a commercial segment, it will usually start with the camera panning over the island, showing people surfing, or just showing different parts of he island and since it is filmed in HD, you really feel like you are there. The shots are amazing and each episode you don’t know what to expect. Some times they will be by the water, other times they will be in the grassy jungle, and other time they will be in the city or the small towns. There is a lot of variety as to where each episode is shot.

I find that the acting is really great in this show. The fight scenes are realistic (many hours of training), the deaths are realistic and the actors really portray how they feel when certain things happen. They also have a great cast of characters all of whom, in my opinion, work together really well and act like a team. You sometimes see tv shows where the cast doesn’t seem to blend, but this show, they are really close, on and off the set (or so I can tell from the interviews with the cast).

I really like how they have Grace Park as part of the team. It is nice to see a woman there kicking some real butt. She knows how to fire a gun, is good with computers, is smart, and knows how to be part of the team and really is good at dealing with people when they go bad🙂. When time comes, she can really throw a punch or negotiate and stall time to save those around her.

Alex O’Loughlin plays Steve McGarrett who is a naval intelligence officer. He has a strong will and will stop at nothing to get the killer of his father and solve the mysteries surrounding his mother and fathers death. He has an unethical way of dealing with people by hanging them off a building, or throwing them into a shark cage. They may not be by the book, but it does have an effect and it gets the answers which are needed. This then pools over to Danny.

Danny, or Danno as his daughter likes to call him, is played by Scott Caan. Danny is the go by the books person but after a while Steves methods start rubbing off on him. He decides to tie a guy to the front of the car and go for a ‘little’ drive. This then sparks a conversation of how Danny would not let Steve do anything like that. Thus this new type of relationship kind of begins. Danny has a daughter Grace and wants to do everything to protect her but wants to be able to go and see her and stay alive. He is divorced but still has a amiable relationship with his ex, Rachel.

Daniel Dae Kim plays Chin Ho Kelly. Chin had some issues with the police that he had taken some money, which he claimed he had not. Even though he had some rough patches he was always trusted by the team and did everything which he could to help out and protect his cousin Kono.

There are many threads through this tv show. Some are about Chin and Kono and their family, some of it is about Danny and his family issues, but it all started with Steve and his father, the mystery and the name ‘Shelburn’ runs through most of the tv show.

The team is like a small family and they protect each other every step of the way.

The story line is really interesting and each season ends with a question or with a huge cliff hanger. Season 2, which just finished, ended with a HUGE cliff hanger and I am flipping out as one of the characters life is in jeopardy.

So go out to your local library and get season one and we have to wait for Season 2 to come out on DVD in September and Season 3 will begin on tv then as well.

This really is an amazing show and a definite watch.

Enjoy.


Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa

cuba 15 cover

From amazon.com

Summary

Violet Paz has just turned 15, a pivotal birthday in the eyes of her Cuban grandmother. Fifteen is the age when a girl enters womanhood, traditionally celebrating the occasion with a quinceañero. But while Violet is half Cuban, she’s also half Polish, and more importantly, she feels 100% American. Except for her zany family’s passion for playing dominoes, smoking cigars, and dancing to Latin music, Violet knows little about Cuban culture, nada about quinces, and only tidbits about the history of Cuba. So when Violet begrudgingly accepts Abuela’s plans for a quinceañero–and as she begins to ask questions about her Cuban roots–cultures and feelings collide. The mere mention of Cuba and Fidel Castro elicits her grandparents’sadness and her father’s anger. Only Violet’s aunt Luz remains open-minded. With so many divergent views, it’s not easy to know what to believe. All Violet knows is that she’s got to form her own opinions, even if this jolts her family into unwanted confrontations. After all, a quince girl is supposed to embrace responsibility–and to Violet that includes understanding the Cuban heritage that binds her to a homeland she’s never seen. This is Nancy Osa’s first novel.

-From the hard cover edition

Review

Such a sweet little book. This was definitely a coming of age novel and just overall a really great book to read.

This was one of the books on my summer reading list for my Spanish course. This book does have many Spanish phrases, some of which you have to have the basic knowledge of Spanish to understand. But if you do not speak Spanish, you can still read this book because most of the words are really similar to the english word. I liked this effect because it made it really feel like you were really there and part of what was happening. It just added this effect to the book.

The story was really sweet too about a girl, Violet, and how she thinks she is different. She has all of these “half talents” and she doesn’t have a boyfriend and is a Sophomore in high school. Later she meets a boy who you have to assume later becomes her boyfriend. It follows her process before her quince party and what is happening in her life and how she is maturing.

There was also quite a lot of humor in this book. I had many laughs while reading it and I throughly enjoyed it. It is a shorter book which is nice as many books now are so large, a small one is a pleasant relief. But it does not have to be long to get the point across and for there to be a really nice story.

This is a really lovely book and I definitely recommend it and I hope that you enjoy.


The Flame Of Olympus (Pegasus) by Kate O’Hearn

Summary

A young girl, a winged horse, and a war of epic proportions make for an adventurous start to an exciting new trilogy.

When Pegasus crashes onto a Manhattan roof during a terrible storm, Emily’s life changes forever. Suddenly allied with a winged horse she’d always thought was mythical, Emily is thrust into the center of a fierce battle between the Roman gods and a terrifying race of multiarmed stone warriors called the Nirads. Emily must team up with a thief named Paelen, the goddess Diana, and a boy named Joel in order to return Pegasus to Olympus and rescue the gods from a certain death.

Along the way, Emily and her companions will fight monsters, run from a government agency that is prepared to dissect Pegasus, and even fly above the Manhattan skyline—all as part of a quest to save Olympus before time runs out.

-Amazon.com

Review

Definitely one of the easier books I have read for quite a while. It’s nice to have a shorter, big print book once it a while because always reading a bigger and challenging book gets old. Having something new and refreshing is nice and I thought that it was a nice break.

This story did have a nice mix of this world and the Olympian world but if you want to learn about mythology this is definitely not the book, but it is still a really interesting read.

I felt that the characters were not described well though. You kind of had to imagine what they looked like. The little girl and Pegasus were on the cover of the book so that was the only mental picture that you had. In other books about Olympus, they describe the grandeur of the God and of their home, but in this book they were talked about like they were more human. I felt that detracted from the story a little, but this is to be expected as it is a book for younger readers (Amazon says 8 and up) so they can’t have too many large words.

The storyline was an interesting with the secret organization that was evil and the different people that they met. So it was an interesting story line. The ending was a little weak though – really weak actually. There are other books (it’s a Trilogy) but I just felt it ended too suddenly. That was one of my complaints.

Overall this is a book for younger readers. If you want something challenging and to have good descriptions it’s not a great book for that, but it is still an interesting read.

Enjoy.


Kill Switch by Chris Lynch

Summary

Daniel wants to spend one final summer with his beloved grandfather, before Daniel leaves for college and his grandfather succumbs to dementia. But when Da, a former systems analyst for the Department of Agriculture, starts to let things slip about people he’s killed and countries he’s overthrown, his old “friends” come back to make sure he stays quiet. Was Daniel’s grandfather really involved in a world of assassinations and coups, or is all this just the delusion of a crumbling mind? Daniel and Da take to the road, fleeing rom threats seen and unseen. Daneil doesn’t know if he can save his grandfather, or if Da even needs to be saved. Or what the transation might cost Daneil Himself.

Printz Honor author and National Book Award Finalist Christ Lynch explores two remarkable characters in this stunning teen novel.

-From Inside Flap of Book

Review

I do not have much to say on this book. I only got like 15-25 pages into this book. I really disliked it for one reason. The person view kept changing. It was in first person, then third person, then second person. I was just so confused as to what was going on.

I really just did not like the book. The summary made the book to be really interesting, but from the first sentence, I just could not stand it.

I am someone who really likes the entire book to just stay in one point of view. It is a creative idea, I will give the author credit for that, but my grammar/english teacher always corrected me on the person view changing so I find this to always bug me now.

I personally did not enjoy it but if you would like to give it a try, tell me how you liked it.

Kill Switch cover

From goodreads.com