Something Borrowed

Picture from wikipedia

Just saw the new movie "Something Borrowed" that recently came out.  The movie's based on the fantastic book of the same name by the author Emily Giffin.  I absolutely adored the book, devouring it in only a weekend.  So needless to say I was delighted and apprehensive when I found out they were making it into a movie...

Quick Summary: Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Darcy (Kate Hudson) have been friends since they were little.  Darcy ever the center of attention, always overshadows Rachel, who is usually more than willing to comply with her best friend's demands.  This willingness even goes as far as not saying that she is in love with Darcy's fiance, Dex (Colin Egglesfield), whom Rachel has liked since law school and who she introduced to Darcy.  Then comes the night when Rachel sleeps with Dex...

Review: Overall, I enjoyed this film.  It was fluff, but still fun, largely due to the character Ethan (played by the adorable John Krasinski).  The film I felt deviated the most from the book with Ethan and Marco's characters.  While Ethan was largely a secondary character in Giffin's book he played a large role in the film.  Marco's character in the book was portrayed as a sort of goofy, but lovable guy.  While in the movie, Marco (played by Steve Howey) came across as a womanizing idiot.  The acting was ok, though it is worth mentioning that I felt Goodwin was particularly good at portraying the confused good-girl Rachel. In my opinion Krasinski stole the show.  His comedic timing and facial expressions were absolutely hilarious, and helped to lift a plot that felt at times somewhat dragging.  Hudson was also good at playing Darcy, the girl everyone wants to hate. 

Final Take on "Something Borrowed": For those who loved Giffin's book(s), I think this is worth seeing in the theatre (if they already haven't).  As for everyone else, I'd say this movie is more of a rent/Netflix flick. 

Psychology on TV - Dr. Will Zimmerman

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Image via Wikipedia

Robin Dunn (far right) plays Dr. Will Zimmerman on SyFy's Sanctuary



One of my favorite shows right now is SyFy's Sanctuary.  Its about a place called, funny enough, the Sanctuary where a team of individuals led by Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) help to protect the world's "abnormals" (warewolves, vampires, etc.).  As a lover of all things fantasy and science fiction I absolutely adore this show.  Another draw for me is that one of the main characters, Dr. Will Zimmerman played by Robin Dunn, just happens to be a psychiatrist (yes not technically a psychologist, but that can be overlooked...).  Will's character serves largely as a way for the viewer to become acquainted with the Sanctuary world, as his is introduced to the Sanctuary in the opening season.  Not only does Dr. Zimmerman serve as resident psychiatrist of the Sanctuary, he is also a very adept profiler - a skill which is often showcased through rapid flashes of a scene.  A big draw is that despits his intelligence, he is not cocky.  Rather Will often comes across as just a good natured guy, who happens to bag and tag "abnormals" for a living. 

Still not convinced that Dr. Zimmerman's character deserves rank on great psychologists on tv?  Here's episode 2 of the first season where Will show's off some nice psychology skills on a kid with a "unique" problem...

Shakespeare Quote

Image by Tangent~Artifact, here sometimes :) via Flickr

Every fairy take his gait;

And each several chamber bless,

Through this palace, with sweet peace;

And the owner of it blest

Ever shall in safety rest.

Trip away; make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day. 

- Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Picture from Lauren DeStefano's website

I have a horrible habit of reading entirely way too many books at once.  At any given moment I am "currently reading" around 5-6 books, and end up finishing about 1-2 of those books. Needless to say getting the kindle has only served to help foster this embarrassingly bad habit, but I digress...

While browsing through books on Amazon's kindle website I came across Lauren DeStefano's "Wither."  I'd be lying if I said part of the reason for my hitting the *buy* button wasn't due to the beautiful cover art. 

Summary: Rhine Ellery is a sixteen year old girl growing up in a world that's been brought to its knees by a virus that kills girls at age 20 and boys at age 25.  As a result girls are frequently kidnapped to become wives of rich husband in order to bear children in the hopes of coming up with a cure.  The book opens quite graphically with Rhine's kidnapping and subsequent selling to Linden along with two other girls.  Rhine becomes determined to leave the country-sizeed estate that Linden (and his creepy father) own, in order to return to her twin brother.  Along the way she starts to unravel some of the secrets of Linden's world while falling in love with Gabriel, a servant boy whose clearly off limits...

Review: Despite this book having some obvious flaws, I found myself compelled to read on hoping for some sort of conclusion to everything that was going on.  Unfortunately what I failed to read when I purchased this book was that in addition to being part of a new trend (Young Adult Dystopian Genre - google it I swear), its also part of a trilogy thus those hoping for a conclusion are not in luck.  While the story started out strong, I soon found myself growing bored.  Rhine's big moral dilemma between either staying and living out her short years  in luxury vs. leaving and being destitute felt extremely drawn out after awhile.  I found myself being more fascinated with Linden's creepy father and his attempts at trying to cure the virus.  The reader is led to believe that Rhine and Gabriel's romance is something worth risking their lives for.  Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to care about their romance.  It felt too random, especially when compared to everything else that was going on in the book. 

Overall I found the book enjoyable, though the second half felt like a let down.  Obviously as this is part of a trilogy some of the questions I felt were left open in this book may be answered in the preceding ones.  I'm not entirely sure if I was captivated enough to purchase the next few in the Chemical Garden Trilogy (apparently what the entire series is called).  We shall see, this is just one of many YA books that I've bought on my kindle ad will be reviewing in the next few weeks.  I've found I enjoy the ease at which I can read these books, as well as the escape they provide from some of my more textbook reading for class.  Next up is Charlaine Harris's "Dead Reckoning" which is scheduled to be delivered to my kindle tomorrow *sigh* this might be love...

Weekend Goals

Picture from Photos8

After what seemed like an eternity I have finally managed to finish all my finals for the semester.  Needless to say I am more than ready for the next three weeks off from classes.  In lieu of having to write papers, read endless articles, and fret over studying for a test I have decided to make a "to do" list of relaxing things for this weekend (totally inspired by one of my favorite blogs)...

Drink a cup of tea while reading a good trashy book

Watch this documentary

Paint my toe nails a ridiculous shade

Be inspired by blogs like this and this and this

Re-watch Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, if only for her dress *sigh*

Use one of the many new masks that I just got

Kindle Part II

So I got it...the Amazon Kindle WI-FI ($139), so here are my initial impressions/thoughts:

The Good

• I love that with my wireless connection I can simply click and download a book in a matter of seconds
• Amazon isn't joking when they advertise about the screen, it really is easy to read off of and looks precisely like a book
• The Kindle is very light, which makes holding it for long periods of time easy
• The ease of getting a book is a double edged sword as I have to be careful not to spend a ton of money on books.  Luckily there are great free books on Amazon's store as well as on a variety of other websites

The So - So

• The PDF reader with the zoom features is a bit cumbersome, and overall I do feel that I'll likely just continue to read my PDF in paper form unless I can't help it
• I did find it frustrating at first that I was unable to increase the light intensity behind the text, luckily a cover (which I highly recommend) was also gifted to me and included a light that derives its power from the Kindle itself, you can buy it from here

Overall I am completely in love with my Kindle.  I quickly downloaded the first 3 Percy Jackson books as I've been wanting to check them out for awhile.  Via the Kindle I was able to get them at a significantly reduced price, which made me even happier.  I can't wait to start reading and reviewing a ton of new books!

Cover via Amazon

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes!

I am loving this youtube video tutorial on the many ways to wear/tie a scarf.  I can't wait to try out so of these ideas!