Hunger Games Trilogy : Hunger Games

I know this book has been out for over a year now, but I never did like it when people tell me to do something and people kept telling me to read this.

Then Josh Hutcherson happened. I love Josh Hutcherson, not an outstanding actor but he has been pretty fun to watch since I remember him as the boy who cried “Rosamary!!!” in “Little Manhattan” That was absolutely adorable.

Anyway, not gonna go into the movie since that’s not until early next year. But Hutcherson did get me reading it.

I enjoyed the first book, thoroughly. I honestly could not put it down. Maybe because a bulk of the book was about the games itself which is filled with suspense and conflict.

The story is told from Katniss Everdeen’s POV, a girl driven by hunger  and poverty in general, from an apocalyptic future. Set in what will be North America, now called Panem. I kinda liked how the made the whole story seem like a wheel in motion, a domino effect of the lived of people. They made it seem like it could’ve happened to anyone but that task was specifically for her.

Katniss Everdeen, like all other female protagonist, she also has internal conflicts. To put it simply she’s a girl who grew up taking care of her family from a very young age. Also, like all other adolescent kid, she struggles from other problems, likes boys and such, other than their run-of-the-mill everyday problem which is hunger.

Peeta Mellark is my favorite character, but that would seem biased since I’ve expressed my fondness for Josh Hutcherson who will be playing Peeta in the film. But besides that I like Peeta because his character is lighter than the rest. He was the only who made me laugh in the series.

Gale Hawthorne could be my least favorite since in the first book, he didn’t do much. I don’t know how they’ll make his character more exciting in the movie but I can’t take him seriously. He felt more like a distraction than a conflict.

So if I would rate Hunger Games book 1, I’d give it 4 stars. It was pretty good. I guess the only real thing I disliked about it was the romance bit. Never really liked love stories plus there was a whole bunch of unneeded kissing scenes there. Still good though if I cut all those mushy parts. LOL

Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Sorry New Directions, but I’m a Warblers fan.

It doesn’t help that front man Darren Criss is one talented little hottie. Although I was a little (just a teeny weeny) bit disappointed that the Warblers weren’t really the ones singing (except for Blaine, of course). So for those of you other die-hard Warbler fans, who think ignorance is bliss, don’t read on. But then again, if you are a true Warbler’s fan, I couldn’t stop you if I could.

The voice behind the amazing a cappella group belongs to ‘Beelzebubs’ or more commonly known as “the Bubs” who are, in a way, the Warblers secret identity.

Kinda makes me wish they played the real Warblers instead, or might as well maintained the group; made it a little more realistic but then again that would’ve been confusing.

Anyway, the Warblers (the Bubs) have gotten so much attention that a full soundtrack album of their songs on Glee have been released.

You can just imagine me squealing for joy.

My favorite cover of the Warblers would be “Bills Bills Bills” originally by Destiny’s Child. I don’t care what people say about them being gay, but the fact that they can sing girl songs just show how much range they have and how talented they really are.

I am just amazed at the variety of genres that this group can perform.

I feel like it is my duty as a fan of this amazing a cappella group that I should let their talent be known to the world (even if it is already on wikipedia).

The Warblers wouldn’t be famous without The Bubs.

Tangled

Whatever people say, I love animated movies, light and fun and they basically make me feel good like a, well like a kid. 

There’s something in fairy tales that sort of makes us happy. It maybe sugar-coated a lot, but it does gives a person a sense of optimism. Like they’re always a happy ending.

I love stories by the Grimm Brothers. I used to read them all the time when I was kid. I’m kinda bummed that my mom might’ve donated it or worse sold it to someone. Well if she did, then some other soul is enjoying my Grimm’s Fairy Tales and I guess that’s alright.

I have always loved the story of Rapunzel but now that I have seen Tangled, well let’s just say, I kind of like that her hair, which is the main feature of the story, had a purpose.

Gabe Bondoc

Gabe Bondoc is a Filipino residing somewhere in the US (I'm no stalker, so don't ask me where exactly lol) I've come to know him through an introduction of a friend. I don't personally know him, I mean I knew of him because of a friend. He's somewhat of a Youtube star.

He does amazing and unique covers of popular songs; also he writes and performs his originals. He has this smooth dreamy voice, that kind of makes you (if you're a girl, but if you're a guy then good for you too!) melt. His antics and the way he performs even if it is only on Youtube is mesmerizing. He has that kind of charisma that can win a girl's heart through serenade, and makes men furious with envy that they had his voice. I can't say that his super good, only that he has knack for this kind of thing, and its as if he was born to perform.

A few of my favorite covers, seen on his youtube channel would be Rihanna's "Take a Bow", Taylor Swift's "Love Story" which even got kudos tweet from Taylor Swift herself, saying that it was the best cover of "Love Story" she'd heard. Those two are particularly great covers because though they were sung by women, he kind of gave them the other POV; the POV of the guy.

Other great covers that I love are those from his Disney songs (especially "A Whole New World" can't stop singing to it), "The Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, "Forever" by Chris Brown, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay, "Chasing Pavements" by Adele.

My favorite originals are "Gentlemen Don't", "Lion" a Harry Potter inspired song, "Now I Know" and lol "The Twitter Song".

Gabe Bondoc has a way with words, or shall I say lyrics, accompanied by an amazing voice. So from all the songs I have listed, there's no way I'm going to post all of them here, besides, I think Gabe Bondoc deserves a visit.

So here are his..links?

Youtube

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

My Space

BlogTV

Music Store

He can also be booked, and if I could just book him here in the Philippines I would.

So in the words of Gabe Bondoc "Peace, Love and Lol..."

Here's "Gentlemen Don't" by Gabe Bondoc

Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum (from left to right): Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley

Ok, I'm a little freaked out that Lady Antebellum's following me on twitter! I don't know if I should be flattered by it, since they're following like 23k people. LOL I think it's just perfect timing, I've been going country crazy this past few days. My playlist these days are like mostly from Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum.

So this is kinda surreal. Of course, I didn't expect a verified account to be following me, so I'm a li'l freaked out. lol

Ok. So I started recognizing Lady Antebellum when they topped the Billboard Charts last year, I immediately got their 2 albums and fell in love with them. Although I have to admit I love the latest one more. Favorite song? "Perfect Day". Need I say more?

Lady Antebellum is a band from Nashville, Tennessee. Just from that, you'd know that it's a great band. The trio consists of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley (Josh Kelley's brother) and Dave Haywood.

I think their first album was more solemn and though that was fine, I kinda like it more upbeat. I did love the songs "All We'd Ever Need", "I Run To You" "One Day You Will"; those are my top picks from their first self-titled album.

From the "Need You Now" album, as I've said, it seemed more upbeat with songs such as "American Honey" "Our Kind of Love" and "Perfect Day" which is like one of my happy songs. Of course, I can never stop singing along to "Need You Now". There are a lot of good stuff there.

Oh the other thing I love Lady Antebellum, is that their songs are duets. I don't get to sing duets that often, and finding good duets is kinda hard, especially ones that are near my range. I know I could always change the key, but I kind of have this habit of singing it from the original key; and Hillary Scott's range is just perfect. I'm not saying I sing as good as Hillary Scott, just that I can reach it.

So if you're looking for great country music, I highly suggest listening to Lady Antebellum. But I kinda doubt you haven't heard of them yet.

Lady Antebellum Twitter, Facebook and the Website

The Tourist

I have to admit, I’m slightly disappointed, I guess this just proves that just because a movie has 2 A-list actors doesn’t mean it’ll be amazing. I mean sure, maybe I was a little star-studded, who wouldn’t be? It was Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, for crying out loud.

So “The Tourist” revolves around a man(Johnny Depp), a tourist (who would’ve guessed?) being framed for something, and it all started when he met a woman(Angelina Jolie) on a train on his way to Venice.

This movie is so deceiving, Depp and Jolie are experts at playing double characters, so you would’ve expected this to be the same. Like you can never really know if Jack Sparrow’s intentions are pure, or who Salt really is.

So based on their previous films, I thought this would be the same case.

It wasn’t.

It was nice seeing Johnny Depp playing a seemingly normal character, an awkward one, even. Angelina played the sensuous leading lady, who seem to turn heads wherever she goes. But the whole movie seemed absurd, for me. It was predictable, too predictable. Whatever you’re thinking when you’re watching this movie, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And if you think what you’re thinking is absurd and couldn’t possibly happen, you’re on the right track.

It was so predictable, you wouldn’t predict it would be THAT predictable. I was like, “What? I was right?”

So it was kind of disappointing since I always look forward to a good twist, not the twist I figured out 20 minutes into the movie.

So it was funny, a bit touching, nice to see Jolie in a romantic film, she actually acted all girly here. And many people say they couldn’t see the chemistry between then, I beg to differ. Even the pajama scene was nice. So I’m disappointed because I expected a lot more from this movie (I’ve been waiting for this to come out since its trailer was out about half a year ago). It was good, not great. I still love Depp and Jolie though. And let’s not forget about beautiful Venice. I love Venice, it’s one of the most fascinating city to me. No streets, just alleys, garages for boats it boats everywhere, I imagine the traffic to be a little heavy but whatever. Anyway, “The Tourist” is still a good watch.

Cast includes Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton and an unexpected performance by Rufus Sewell (that’s a giveaway).