Jellicoe Road, 17 Again, and Lemurs

Here we go, readers: This'll be a book review, a movie review, and a journal post! Since my poll said that the majority of people who read this blog (which, I'll admit, is very few) enjoy a variety of topics, I'm going to try to give more variety from now on.

Jellicoe Road was recommended to me by every single member of my bookclub that had read the book. I'm just going to say this now: If you are capable of reading, then I don't care what type of books you like, you have to read this book.

No matter who you are, what you're into reading, or how old you are (actually, scratch that, any kids reading this should be warned. Maybe ages 12+ or something) you'd get pulled into this book and sucked into the plot. It's impossible not to.

This book is set in Australia, and it is told from the view point of Taylor Markham. Taylor is about 17 years old, and her mom abandoned her a long time ago (I think she was 9) at a 7 Eleven on Jellicoe Road. She goes to this boarding school-ish place there for kids with issues (mostly kids without parents) and is the leader of her school when it comes to the territory wars. Taylor's school, the townies, and the cadets all fight over territory with each other, and there are many rules and regulations to follow about these territory wars found in what they call the Little Purple Book.

One day, the only person in Taylor's life that she really cares about, Hannah (she's the one who found Taylor at the Seven Eleven, and is not really a mother figure to Taylor- more like an older sister), disappears. Hannah's left behind this manuscript that she's written over the years, and this manuscript contains many secrets about five people who met on the Jellicoe Road a long time ago. Their names are Narnie, Jude, Webb, Tate, and Fitz. Taylor doesn't know anything about this seemingly fictional manuscript, but soon its secrets transform her life forever.

To say that this book is well written would be an understatement. The author did a remarkable, fantastic job with weaving an intricate and mysterious story. Words cannot describe how powerful this book was. Every emotion that Taylor felt hit me as hard as if I were the one experiencing it.

What really made this book a winner for me was the story, though. Everything part of it works together marvelously to help you figure out Taylor's past, and it all comes to you in little pieces throughout the book that make you extremely curious about how it all fits in together. Please, if you're reading this, give Jellicoe Road a chance. Go check it out at your closest library and I promise that you will not be disappointed.
Me, I hate High School Musical. I complain about it almost everyday with my friends 'cause we are forced to sing a song from the 3rd movie in my chorus class (we're doing a fun end-of-the-year Disney themed concert). Having said that, my brain associated Zac Efron with Disney because of High School Musical. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched 17 Again with my friends yesterday.

It was a very teen-ish movie with lots of teen humor in it. My friends and I all liked it, we were all laughing a lot (and crying a little at one part). It was a very fun movie, but not one that I'd recommend seeing with parents (GOS, I'm saying that for you're benefit).

Anyway, this story's plot is a bit done (very similar to Back To The Future in several parts) but it was still very good. Overall, I thought it was quite fun, and very appropriate for our mini Girl's Night Out : )

I don't think I really need to give much of a plot overview for it, though. Here's a short one: A man named Mike O'Donnell is getting divorced with his wife, Scarlett. He loves his children, but he doesn't really know them. When he meets a mysterious old man, he gets a second chance at being 17 years old. He tries to fix things with his family as a 17 year old that they don't know, and he gets into some hilarious situations along the way (with his friend Ned, who's played by Thomas Lennon. He's hysterical).

I thought it was great, so if you're in the mood to watch something fun with your friends, think about 17 Again. And for you boys out there: It is not a chickflick, so don't try that excuse if your girlfriend asks you to see it with her : P

Now, my Lemurs topic. I don't want to reveal where I live on this blog, so I'm just going to say that I spent the day with my family at my brother's college. I recently decided to support a lemur at this program that they run, so I sponsor a Slow Loris named Doodlebug with about $50 a year. Today I visited Doodlebug and all of his lemur friends : ) He looks something like this:

It was dark in there, though (he's nocturnal) so all I could see was a general view of him running through the branches. He's about as small as a squirrel, and very quick! The diurnal lemurs I got a better look at, and they were very interesting as well.

Here's a fun little video of a slow loris (not Doodlebug) getting tickled. My friend Alanna saw this on youtube and sent it to me after I told her about Doodlebug:


After our lemur tour, my family and I went to visit the school's gardens, which were lovely. There were many ponds, flowers, bridges, ducks, geese, etc. It was like a gorgeous park but with tons of college students studying everywhere/hanging out ^_^ It was very relaxing strolling through the gardens on such a sunny day, everything about it was picturesque. There was even a wedding going on, so there was nice music playing by one of the ponds. My brother says that there are always weddings in the gardens because they're so beautiful.

After the fun activities, we started to help my brother move some of his stuff from his dorm room back to our house. School's almost over for him, so he's not moving out of his dorm yet, but we decided that it's going to take us two trips to get all his crud out of there (it still boggles my mind that such a tiny, cramped dorm can hold two boys and all of that crap they have). I helped without complaint, but that's mostly because we had the door open as we cleaned/packed with my brother, and several hot guys tend walk through my brother's dorm halls shirtless. Also, one of his friends dropped by to help us, and he was really nice and funny so that also made the dull (and slightly disgusting, when we got to the closet) work go by faster.

So for me, this weekend has been really fun so far. I had a great time yesterday watching 17 Again with my friends (who I don't get to see nearly as much as I'd like to) and today I was outdoors enjoying the nice weather with my family. The icing on the cake would be if NHC and I get together tomorrow, but he didn't call me today to set anything up. Actually, he hasn't called me in a while. *Sigh* It takes a lot of effort to make a relationship work if you don't go to the same school as the person you're dating, maybe I'll call him tomorrow... Wish me luck.

~Comments are appreciated!

Gattaca, The Lake House, and My Busy Week

I've watched two movies recently, I'll be reviewing Gattaca and then The Lake House.

I liked Gattaca, but it's quite sci-fi. If you're one of those people that can't get into science fiction, then I don't recommend this movie. However, if you're interested in science/genetics, then WATCH GATTACA!

The acting was pretty good in my opinion, and the story was fascinating. The movie was made in 1997, and I'd already seen it once before, but I liked it so much that I watched it again : P I'm lying, they made us watch it in class last week, but I still enjoyed it a second time!!

The main character, Vincent Freeman, is a natural born person. See, in his future time, all parents ask geneticists to make their children genetically perfect. These super people are the upper class of their futuristic society, and the natural born people like Vincent are only allowed simple and boring jobs like being a janitor.

Being a janitor isn't good enough for Vincent, though. He wants to travel into space, specifically through the space station/research center called Gattaca. He teams up with a genetically perfect man, Jerome Marrow, who is paralyzed from the waist down. Jerome, who's paralyzation lost him his dream of being a top swimmer, decides to help Vincent achieve his dream of going into space. Using blood, urine, and hair samples from Jerome, Vincent successfully fools Gattaca by pretending to be Jerome. Soon, he'll be in outer space, following his dream.

Unfortunately, a murder is committed in Gattaca before Vincent's launch into space. This delay brings swarms of investigators into Gattaca, and soon Vincent is suspected of being an "invalid" (naturally born) man. Will Vincent and Jerome keep their ruse up long enough for Vincent to reach his dreams of space travel? Or will Vincent be convicted for a murder that he didn't commit, just because he's an "invalid"?

My mother wanted me to watch this movie. Basically, the two main characters fall in love as they write letters to each other because she sold him this lake house (which led to them getting to know each other through these letters). They live in the same area, but they have to write letters because she lives in the year 2006 and he lives in the year 2004. Odd, huh? I thought it was.

The movie held my interest, the acting was good, and I liked the ending. Overall, I don't have much to say about it. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. *Shrug* If I was really pressed, I guess I'd lean more towards the "I liked it okay" end of the spectrum. There are better movies out there to watch, though (like Gattaca).

So, I've had quite the busy week. There hasn't been a single day after school so far that I haven't had something going on! Between my volleyball practice and then game, chorus rehearsal then chorus concert, and book club I've had a lot to occupy my time. I love to stay busy (idleness is the devil's playground), but this week was just go, go, go from the start. The weekend is pleasantly calm (so far).

In my speech class, we've had to tell scary story speeches as our latest speech topic. I thought mine went well considering that my audience seemed to be paying attention, I got a lot of applause at the end, and my teacher even complimented me before I left class that day. Sorry, I'm a bit smug about that speech 'cause I was worried that I wouldn't remember certain parts of it but it worked out well in the end. Anyway, I enjoyed listening to my classmates' stories, but some of them REALLY freaked me out! *Shudder* I won't be watching any horror movies for a while, I can tell you that! I've had my fair share of frightening stories for now.

I saw Synfan for the first time in about six months or so. She came to my chorus concert (which went well) and we've been catching up over the phone. It was great to see her, I really wish that she would come back to my school! *Sob* I've actually been talking to several people over the phone today, but I managed to take a nice long bike ride around my neighborhood, too : ) It was a beautiful day outside, and the combination of sunlight, green leaves, and lovely flowers was incredibly relaxing. I hope the weather stays like this, it's been too cold for too long...

I have a biology study group tomorrow at the library, which I'm actually (being nerdy to the core) kind of excited about. That's mostly because Bubbles and Merrickle will be there, though, not just because of biology. We always end up having fun when we hang out, no matter what our topic for meeting is.

Oh, and I have so many good books to read that I'm doing something that I almost NEVER do: I'm reading more than one book at once! *Cue Loud Chorus of Gasps* I know, it's very exciting stuff : P Seriously, though, I typically pick one book to focus on at a time, but I have so many amazing books at the moment that I can't choose just one! It'll be interesting to see which one I finish first, and which one I like the best.

~I'm thinking of changing my blog template again, should I stay green or choose a different color?

Rumors, My Most Excellent Year, and Les Misérables

I'll be talking about two books and one movie in this post. It's odd, because the one book that I read entirely by choice, Rumors, I wasn't as impressed with. However, the two things I was kind of forced to endure (My Most Excellent Year for bookclub and Les Misérables for history class) I absolutely loved. *Shrug* I guess the world works in mysterious ways. . . . . Well, I'll start with Rumors. This book was the sequel to The Luxe, which I already raved about in a past post. Er, this is hard-ish to describe. . . . I liked this book, but that's about all I can say for it. It just wasn't as consuming and fascinating as The Luxe was. I'm not really sure what it was that made it worse, either. I suppose it was a bit slower, and DEFINITELY sadder. It wasn't bad, though, just a bit of a letdown for me. Honestly, I don't have much to say about this book, so I'll just leave it at this: Read The Luxe. It's fantastic, but if you do read The Luxe, you'll have to read Rumors, which isn't as fantastic, but you have to read it to find out what happens. There's one book in the series left, and it's called Envy. I'll let you guys know what I think of Envy once I get it, which shouldn't be too long (I have it reserved at the library). This book was AMAZING!! Loved it, LOVED IT, couldn't get enough of it, WONDERFUL book!! *Deep Breath* Sorry, I get excited : D This book isn't written like a traditional story is written, it's a bunch of e-mails, IM's, text messages, and journal entries of three main characters (they're all 14 years old): T.C. Keller: Lives with his dad, he lost his mom at a young age : ( He follows his dreams closely, and has a very big heart. T.C. is one of those characters that you can't help but love, he's just a great kid! His dad is very encouraging, one of those, "you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it," cool dads. It is with this can-do-it attitude that T.C. walks into his 9th grade year with. . . . . and then he meets Alejandra, and suddenly he learns that some things just don't work out as planned. Also, a mysterious 6-year-old boy teaches T.C. several things about himself that he might never have figured out on his own. Alejandra Perez: She is the daughter of some ambassador (can't remember which) and has been dragged through extremely boring, political gatherings her entire life. It's been assumed for a long time that she would get a degree in government at Harvard, and she hasn't exactly fought it, even though her interests lie elsewhere. Going into 9th grade, she considers herself FAR too smart to fall for the gray T-shirt wearing T.C. Keller. He's not even worth giving a chance, and neither is their school talent show. Such things are below Alejandra. Augie Hwong: Is fabulous, and he's not afraid of showing it! ^_^ He hates football, but pursues other sports, even though musicals are his passion!! With a great brother like T.C. with him, 9th grade is looking great for Augie. But when Andy Wexler catches Augie's eye, things suddenly get a heck of a lot more complicated... where SHOULD he look exactly when he's in the locker room? Was life ALWAYS this confusing?! My Most Excellent Year also happens to be hilarious along with heartwarming, so I highly recommend it to anybody who wants a light, simple book to enjoy. I was sure that this movie would be another boring history movie that I would just have to suffer through while trying to ignore the comments of Allie G. (he wants me to call him that, but his name is Aleks), but it actually held my interest the entire time. Not only that, but I found myself sitting on the edge of my chair, dying to know what would happen next. Don't get me wrong, this movie is NOT for everybody. It's sad, there's a lot of violence, and the ending isn't exactly a feel-good ending. . . . . In fact, it's odd that I liked the movie so much. It's such a downer, but I was glued to the screen from start to finish. In this case, I'm not really sure if it's a good movie, I could just be weird. Anyway, it's set in France around the start of the French Revolution. The story follows Jean Val Jean, a convict who was only guilty of stealing a loaf of bread when he was starving during a harsh time of his life. He even did his time in prison for it! However, that one event haunts him for his entire life because one man, Javert is determined to prove that Lafitte (the name that Jean Val Jean claims for the majority of the movie) is really the convict Jean Val Jean. Love does find Jean Val Jean, but of course (this movie really is horribly depressing, I have no clue why I liked it so much) tragedy strikes and he's left with almost nothing to live for. However, one little girl named Cosette gives Jean Val Jean hope, and then the story pretty much follows her. Does she find love? If so, will tragedy strike them again?? You'll have to watch the movie if you want to find out. Be warned, I'm not necessarily recommending the movie. Here's the trailer if you're interested: ~I'm on Spring Break, and loving it : )