Musical Review (1)

Summary: Just in time to usher in the dawning of a new age in America, The Public Theater’s joyous production of HAIR comes to Broadway. A celebration of life, a love letter to freedom, and a passionate cry for hope and change, HAIR features some of the greatest songs ever written for the stage. Welcome to the curly, shaggy, gleaming, streaming, wonderful world of HAIR.


Review: It will be a rare thing when I review a musical or a show, but I was in NYC recently and saw an amazing show so I had to review it. 
Hair is a musical about kids growing up in the 60's. The age of drugs and the draft. Most of the show they are "high" and are seeing things. One of the members of "the tribe" Claude gets called up to the Draft and we see that it changes his way of thinking. The majority of the original Cast was in the performance that I saw, and they were absolutely incredible! 
The music is upbeat and fun, and the acting is amazing, the lighting was bright, and colorful and the ending moved me to tears. I have never felt this way about a show, and was surprised when my eyes were overwhelmed with tears. If you enjoy musicals, and any coming-of-age story you will love Hair. I give this a rating of 9/10!!

Book Review #10

Eclipse

By: Stephenie Meyer

Summary: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger.

In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Review: Once again Stephenie Meyer, has a hit. Eclipse, though not my favorite of the saga, was still captivating. I loved every minute of reading it and it kept me captured in the story, turning page after page, wanting to know what would happen next. Bella and Edward's love is a story unlike any other in the sense that, there love seems to just keep going no matter the obstacles being thrown at them. 

Eclipse is a great addition, however I felt a little let down by it's ending. I think I just expected so much more, I mean with how New Moon, and Twilight end, I think that Eclipse's ending is the weakest out of all of them. This one just doesn't stand out to me as much as the others, but if you like the series you'll more than likely like this one as well. Lots of Bella, Edward, and Jacob so no matter which fan-base you are, there's something for everyone! I give it a 7/10 Stars.

Movie Review #3

Taking Woodstock


Taking Woodstock is about just that, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Elliot is a local boy in the town of White Lake, NY and he brings the festival to this small town and disrupts the lives of everyone in it.
I had wanted to see Taking Woodstock because I thought it was interesting and the way people lived in the 60's has always interested me. I had also just seen the Broadway Play Hair so I was in that frame of mind.
The story of Taking Woodstock was interesting. It felt more like a documentary than anything. There weren't big name actors in it, the three biggest names were Paul Dano who had maybe 10 minutes of screen time, Eugene Levy who only had about 20 minutes, and Liev Schreiber  who I won't give away but he had an amazing role! The main character Elliot, was played by Demetri Martin, and he was ok but honestly nothing special, I just wasn't very impressed with him.
Something that really disappointed me was the lack of "footage" from the music festival. I was hoping to see some people in the crowd singing along or even a glimpse of the stage up  close, but for a movie about a music festival, there was a serious lack of music.
On a better note one thing that I liked about the film was some of the camera work. They incorporated a few clips (about 15 seconds long) that were shot with an old camera that helped give it a more personal feel, but because of some of the issues I had with the movie, I'm only giving it a 6/10 Stars.

Movie Review #2

UP


Up is a cute animaged film about an older man, and a younger child. The older gentleman, Carl Frederickson, has promised his late wife that they would move to a secluded area next to a waterfall, and after she dies he decides to make her dream a reality.
Mr. Frederickson is a cranky, old man, who just wants to be left alone. He decides to blow up a whole bunch of balloons and begins and adventure of a lifetime. In mid-air he hears a knock on the door, and Russell, one of the neighborhood kids is also taking the journey with him.
Up contains touching elements that could bring anyone to tears. We see Mr. Frederickson and his late wife grow up and grow old together, and we see how much they love one another, and when she dies you can tell just how much it hurts him. I can only imagine what would happen if the love of my life was ripped away from me. I would be a mess too.
The story of Up is cute, and wonderful in the sense that it was new, however it did seem to loose it's essence when they brought in the robotic dog pack. One was ok because it was interesting, but a whole bunch of them was a little odd, and made me roll my eyes.
The animation was incredible, but Pixar's animation never fails to impress me. All in all I believe taht Up will be enjoyed by people of all ages. I'm not going to say it's a perfect date movie, but it's got a little romance in it, but be warned it is a bit sad. I give this a 7/10 stars.

Book Review #9

Tricks
By Ellen Hopkins

Review: Tricks is a story of 5 teenagers, Eden, Cody, Seth, Ginger, and Whitney,  whose lives have caused them to start working some sort of prostitution setting. Each individual has their own story to tell, and sometimes their paths cross which I thought was really interesting. Something I noticed was a common spelling mistake throughout the book. When they would spell shirt, it would come out shift. I don’t know if it was supposed to be meant to say shift and it’s just another word for shirt, but it was odd and in places made no sense. I noticed a few small errors here and there but for the most part it wasn’t too bad.

We see their lives go from not so perfect, to complete and utter disaster. Hopkins Knows how to tell a story and keep people entertained. The book had me constantly wanting to read it. I would read for short bursts and have to put it down because of class, and I wouldn’t want to put it down, just keep reading to find out what’s going to happen next.

This book is a fast read, and it does leave me wanting more to find out how their lives all turned out after and what happened, but with any book I’m always left to wonder. I love when that happens that way I can just make it up in my head, sometimes it’s better to not know and leave things alone. That way the story will remain the same no matter what and it won’t loose its luster.

Tricks is a great story, however a bit graphic in it’s sexual description to be a young adult novel. That was something I noticed in especially Cody’s story. Not that I’m saying sex in a young adult novel is bad, I just think it could have been a little more subtle than what it was. Regardless of that, Tricks was still fantastic, and I can’t wait for the next Ellen Hopkins novel!

Book Review #8

Cut

By: Patricia McCormick

            Cut is a story about a young girl that was recently sent to an institution to deal with just that, her self-harm issues. For much of the story, Callie doesn’t speak very much. It’s not that she’s mute, more that she doesn’t want to make friends, because she knows that she won’t be there long; however the doctor’s won’t let her go until she makes progress and speaks up in group and admitting she has a problem.

            In a society where self-harm is such a common thing, reading a story about it makes you realize just how harmful it is. It does make me wonder, because she self-harms why the put her in an instituition and not just in therapy. It if were me in that situation I would have much rather done one-on-one therapy than stay with a bunch of strangers, and have to confess my deepest darkest secrets to them. But of course it wouldn’t be my decision to make, now would it?

            I would have liked a little more back story as to why she started cutting, not just the first time, and a few scattered times after that. It’s a short book, but it doesn’t need to be long to get the message across. Kids are cutting, somre for attention, some just to do it, and some because they don’t know any other way to cope, and they like to have some sort of control over the pain they feel. Some stop after a while, somce can’t stop at all, then there are those that can easily be triggered to do it after not doing it for so long.

            Self harm is an issue amoung our generation. Many people around us are cutters, reading a book that shows us that you can cope brings hope to many people. I rate this a 7/10 Stars.

           

**I don’t encourage cutting in any way, but if you or someone you know is cutting get them help. Go to this website for more information http://self-injury.net/.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer S1 EP5

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 1 Episode 5

"Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"

Original Airdate: March 31, 1997

Summary: Yearning for a normal life, Buffy agrees to a date with the mysterious and brooding Owen. Giles discovers a prophecy of coming danger which would interfere with her plans, but she chooses Owen over battling the forces of darkness. When Giles goes out on his own and is trapped by a group of vampires, Buffy must figure out a way to balance dating and Slaying.

Review: Vampires are all the rage in Sunnydale, and the series takes even more form with “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.” Buffy’s slayer/watcher relationship with Giles grows more, and the awkwardness seems to have completely disappeared. Buffy has settled in to the swing of things with friends, a new school, and her slaying duties.

Buffy’s gone boy-crazy over this boy Owen! But of course at that age what else should she have on her mind, Hm… Let’s see vampires, saving the world, the anointed. One thing that I’ve noticed about the season so far is Buffy’s fashion sense. She usually wears sleeveless dresses with some sort of strange design on them, and are also the same cut.

This episode also has color issues. Again it’s very dark like some of the previous ones. A lot of it has to do with the clothes that the actors wear. Most of them are in dark, almost black outfits, and that mixed with what appears to be very low lighting makes the picture extremely dark.

The story line follows Buffy trying to be an average everyday girl, and also the slayer, however being average doesn’t work so well when you live on the Hellmouth. She ends up having to leave her date just so she can save Giles who is trapped in the Sunnydale Funeral home, and vampires are trying to get at him. Buffy has to save the day, and nearly kills her date in the process. At the very end of the episode we find that the Annointed has risen, and the vampire they killed was not the anointed but what appeared to have been a decoy.

It’s a good episode, with only a few flaws. We get to see some new aspects of the show, which is great. I’m pretty content with the episode, so I give it a 7/10.

Quote of the Episode:

Buffy: We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Buffy, and you're history!