The 39 Clues Vol.1: The Maze of Bones

Haven’t posted here in a while, sorry.

Anyways, got to reading this book since I discovered that HACCAN did the really, really spectacular artwork+cover illustrations for the JPN version, which made me want to read it so much I settled for the English version.

Fortunately, it exceed all of my expectations and turned out to be a very entertaining and fast-paced read, even though it is actually a book aimed at elementary school kids. Having not read an easy-to-read book in about a year, this was immensely refreshing and I plan to read all the books in this series.

It’s also super awesome that all the books in the series are written by different bestselling authors, such as Gordon Korman and Rick Riordan. It’s like a collaboration of 1337 people, seriously. I love collaborations. Now if only the English version had HACCAN’s illustrations too..

As for the book, it’s about a pair of siblings, Amy and Dan Cahill, searching for the 39 clues to lead them to the Cahill family superlarge and powerful secret. There are other family members participating in this “treasure hunt” too, which makes it have all the more tension. Not to mention that the other family members are really, extremely varied characters too, and they’re all memorable and impressionable. I love them, and the characters are probably my favourite part of the books. My favourite character so far is Dan because he makes really silly and childish comments that seem exactly like a kid his age in real life would make.

The writing is colourful and simple, with some silly references to like Wham! and all that, which I immensely enjoyed. Riordan (author of Vol.1) really brought life to this treasure hunt, and I was almost addicted to the book in the process. He doesn’t waste any time describing little annoying details, and just gets right to the important parts. That’s probably why I love children’s books - They’re easy and not pretentious. I love it!!

Also worth mentioning is that each book in the whole 39 Clues series focuses on one famous historical figure and their accomplishments as an ongoing theme, which is kind of like spotlighting, and you know I like spotlighting. Top notch!

I give Volume 1 of The 39 Clues an 88/100. Points taken off because it’s really, really fictional. Kid with photographic memory? How handy is that!

Chicago

Finally watched this despite the fact that the movie was from 2002. It is very good, but it was totally different from what I expected.

I thought that the story would be about Roxie Hart (Reneé Zellweger’s character) actually being in a caberet and dancing and stuff, but almost all the dancing/singing was from her imagination. I was a little disappointed that the film wasn’t about actually being in a cabaret, but it was still good, and seemed a LITTLE more plausible than most musical movies. I also loved all the exaggerated lines and random use of big words ending in -ous.

My favourite character was DEFINITELY Velma Kelly, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character. She doesn’t take up most of the movie, but I think that she is EXTREMELY slick and cool. I loooooove her haircut. It’s awesome beyond belief. I didn’t like Richard Gere because I am biased against him, but he did a pretty good job of acting. I felt the most sympathy for Amos (played by John C. Reilly), because he is the most abused character ever. I weep for him…(okay not really, but what a POOR, NICE GUY)

This movie won the oscar for Best Picture and beat out The Pianist, but I think that I enjoyed The Pianist more, even though Chicago has extremely addictive music and really really nice choreography. 88/100!

Borat

Also known as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Heard about this movie long long ago but didn’t want to watch it because I have had bad experiences with comedy movies. However, after hearing that this movie was TRULY funny and offensive, I gave it a chance and expected to laugh my head off. I didn’t.

Even though I didn’t roll on the floor laughing like mad, it was still a very funny movie, and not in the typical “so stupid it’s funny” kind of way because Borat makes lots of (offensive?) cultural references and stuff in society (ie. feminism, gay people). I was also expecting to be offended by at least one thing, but I wasn’t, which was disappointing. Surprisingly though, my (religious) mother watched this with me and actually enjoyed it and laughed, so I have concluded that this movie is great for entertaining people who do not offend easily.

My favourite things/parts include: Kazakhstan anthem song lyrics, the wife sack, and the mockumentary style filming. I give this movie a 68/100 because while it entertained, I forgot most of what really happened, and I expect to forget that I watched this movie until someone talks to me about it.

Fight Club

Ah, Fight Club. That movie lots of people have watched and liked, and when they say that it is a good movie, they are correct. For the most part.

As usual, I watched the movie without knowing what the story was about, except that 1) Fight Club has rules and 2) It’s based on a novel. Since that was all I knew, I was pleasantly surprised and didn’t expect any of the crazy-ish twists in the story. At first I was wondering why there was no fighting at the beginning of the movie and why some guy with a mostly monotone voice was talking about his boring life, then after that I enjoyed every minute of it.

At least, until the 2nd hour rolled in. I found that second hour extremely long. It wasn’t as funny or witty as the first for some reason, and I felt it was a little too much talking/seriousness and not enough “lol where did that randomly funny remark come from?!”. Nevertheless I was still surprised at the final revelation/turn of events despite seeing it used in WAY TOO MANY FILMS AND BOOKS OKAY.

I give this movie a 83/100. Good, but could be truly awesome if the second half was more exciting.

RockaRolla

Hi, long time no post! Forgot how handy Tumblr is for blurbs.

Anyways, yet ANOTHER Guy Ritchie movie, this time his most recent work. As usual, extremely slick, funny, and cool. Very very nice opening sequence too. (HD @ Youtube)

As in the (classic?) Ritchie style, the seemingly random characters which were introduced in the beginning all come together and make the audience go “ohhhh” at the end, but this time the movie (again centered around money, crime, drugs in London) actually has another theme, which is to showcase the crazy changes London has gone through after really rich immigrants (such as those from Eastern Europe, or so they say) arrived and started building all sorts of stuff for crazy prices. (I found this out from the special feature included in the DVD).

Unlike his other ones this one also had a prominent female character, who was sooooooo sleek. Reminded me of Victoria Beckham but way classier and smart. (Meaning a better impression than Beckham haha)

I think my favourite characters were either Uri or Lenny, though. Love those Russians and corrupt businessmen.

I found the dialogue and overall wittiness of this funnier than Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (oh my god Archy slap is THE BEST. I want to learn it!!), so ima give it a 88/100. Looking foward to Ritchie’s direction in Sherlock Holmes!!! (Unfortunately he didn’t write or produce it but oh well..?!)