Movie Review: Star Wars The Last Jedi

Movie: Star Wars The Last Jedi
Genre: science fiction/fantasy
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega
Rating: Two thumbs up

I've been hyped about Star Wars since I was 12 years old and the first one was making news everywhere because of its uniqueness.  It's been fun to be a fan all these years and to be always looking forward to new movies. If my 12 year old self knew that my old 50 plus year old self was still getting to see new Star Wars movie all these years later she would DIE!

That being said, I feel like something is different. I don't know if it's me. If it's just being older. If it's the change in the leadership/direction of the movies. Or what. But my excitement level for these movies isn't what it used to be. Makes me sad.

THAT being said, I still love and enjoy them. The music is still amazing. The effects are still amazing. The excitement and edge-of-your-seatness is still amazing.

So I just saw this new movie for the second time the other day. The first time I saw it maybe I wasn't able to just relax and enjoy like I wanted.. but I went out thinking..... I don't know what to think. And there were a lot of weird things. And I just... couldn't put a finger on my reactions.

It was much better the second time around. (Maybe it was simply that I got to see it in the IMAX the second time? LOL... but it was awesome with the bigger screen and sound!) And I understood stuff a bit better and caught many things I didn't catch the first time. So I think that helped a lot.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm invested in these characters. I know many people can't stand Kylo Ren, but he fascinates me as do many vulnerable tortured villains do. He totally fits in that category for me. I'm not sure what I hope for his future, but for that moment when he seemed human in this movie...it made me happy.

Rey is...cool. I like her. But I still want to know, as she does herself... what she has to do with anything. Like why is she suddenly a part of this story? There must be more!

I loved seeing Luke in this one again. He was never my favorite, even as as 12 year old (I was always about Han... sob.) But it was fun to see him you know... do his thing there at the end.

I loved the new character Rose. I hope she is still apart of things next time. And I continued to love Finn as I did the first go around. It will be interesting to see what happens with these two characters who have now bonded pretty heavily.

Now stuff that is a bit more spoilery so stop if you haven't seen it yet and care about that sort of thing:

• Princess Leia and the whole not instantly freezing and dying in space. I mean that was a really big big BIG thing she suddenly managed to do with the force. I just... yeah. That was too much. 
• Not learning who Rey's parents are and where she comes from... I totally thought that was going to be answered this time around. And I don't believe Kylo Ren that they are nobody. It doesn't make sense.
• I loved the laser fight that Kylo and Rey have together. That was awesome.
• All the strange creatures...eh. I don't get it. (The bird things, the big dinosaur things, the crystal things, etc.) Probably this is my oldness coming out.
• I still find it strange that they use some many familiar scenes and... I don't know... just a lot of the same stuff from the original. Even some dialogue. Why? I think we'd all still like it if they didn't. Know what I mean?
• I love the nod to the kid at at the end. I'm intrigued. The future of the rebels!
• The absence of sound there at the end when that one thing happened. Awesome. I love that theaters had to have disclaimers saying that was supposed to happen and was part of the movie. Sheesh, some people!
• I loved learning a little more of the back story regarding Luke and Kylo Ren. Intense.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now

Have you seen it? What were your impressions?

Here's the trailer for those are still pondering it. And just for fun for those who have already seen it!

Favorite Songs from 2017

I loved some songs this year. I loved a lot of songs. I loved way too many songs to count. But I will share some of those songs with you here. Even though it stresses me out in more ways than one.



1. My favorite song of the year is probably Mic Drop by BTS.  First they came out with their own version of it in September with the rest of their new album. But then they did a remix with Steve Aoki and did a music video for it and that remix is now getting played all over the place, including radio here in America and it's high in all the charts and lists and such. So, you could say this is a "mainstream" popular song even, not just in my kpop world/fandom. Have you  heard or seen it yet? If not, please click and enjoy:





2. Monsta X with their Beautiful song, with beautiful singing and beautiful dancing is up next.




3. Then we have Taemin (from SHINee) doing his solo song, Move. It kills me. Here's a live version.





4. I really loved this B side song by EXO. It's called Sweet Lies and the vocals in it are amazing to me. There's no video for it so just turn it up loud and enjoy their beautiful voices.




5. Super Junior came out with new stuff this year. And while I loved their upbeat title song Black Suit.. it's their more ballad-y song that really got to me emotionally after waiting these two years for them. One More Chance it's called. And I love it.





6. There were many SEVENTEEN songs I loved from this year. Several of them duets by different members. But this one that they did altogether remains one of my favorites. It's called Don't Wanna Cry.





7. Yes, okay. Another BTS. They've pretty much taken over the kpop world and it's hard to deny how many amazing songs they have going on right now. The year started with this one that I still can't get enough of. NOT TODAY! I love this fighting song. Taken from Lord of the Rings for those paying attention. Maybe someday I'll give up, maybe someday I'll stop loving kpop and kdramas, but that day is NOT TODAY! Ready aim fire... BAM! :)






8. Here's one we stumbled upon accidently and then ended up loving. For those of you with more of a rock love, you might like this one. And my guess you'll all understand the story of the video even without understanding the lyrics. Try it. It's very funny. This one is called The Real by N. Flying.



9. This one I can't help but dance too. (Well, they are all that way but this one especially.) Does it make you want to dance too?  Block B Shall We Dance. (Purple dreads? My favorite!)





10. Well and so I thought there must be a current song from this past year that was popular here on the radio or something that I liked/loved. I couldn't think of any. I looked at the popular chart even to see if I even knew any. Most of them are explicit songs. Nice. I remember hearing Shape of You a lot. But I didn't ever like it. Despacito, yes. I liked that one, but the Spanish version of course, not the Justin Bieber remix necessarily. Imagine Dragons... I just realized they have new stuff... I bet I'd like it if I listen. :) But I'll end with a song from a musical that has been popular this past week. And features music I truly do love. But now to pick one song from it... This Is Me from The Greatest Showman. Here's hoping we can all live by and believe these words and brave enough to be ourselves.




If you are interested in a little longer list with very short clips, here's what The Kpop Konverters loved from the past year:




What songs were on your favorite list? Let me know what I missed from the world of western/American music this year!!!

Top Ten Books Read in 2017

Here are my favorite books of the year, quoting myself from my reviews. I read a lot I loved toward the end, but there's several from the very beginning of last year too. Interesting. The top two I would say sort of tied for my favorite. Maybe even the top three. I loved these books.

1. Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher: It's such an awesome friendship book. And relationship book, with Deacon and his grandma at the heart of it. Lots of funny moments. And sad moments. And romance moments. It has it all. I loved it.

2. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia: So yeah. Read this book. Especially if you've ever been made to feel weird because you are part of a fandom that people think is stupid or silly. My guess is you will relate to the feelings in this book too, no matter how old you are.


3. Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: Why do I love this so much? I don't know. But, these characters were awesome. So real and so lovely. The writing was just my style, whatever that means. So engaging. Deep without trying too hard.


4. Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: It's so very complicated and much much more intense than I can articulate. But let me just say, whew, these are violent books. Let that be a warning to those with queasy and/or weak stomachs. Violent I'm telling you! So once again, I was sucked in and loved this story. I'm anxious to read more and see how it all ends, because of course, there is so much  more of this story to tell!

5. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch: I thought it was a great page turning and twisty story. And it made you really think about all the different decisions you make in life and how things would be if you chose other things. And how we should love and appreciate the life we're in at the moment. Because what if you woke up one and it was all gone. 

6. What Alice Forgot by Lian Moriarty: I found the premise really fascinating because the first thing it does is make you think about your own life and would you recognize yourself ten years from now. Or would your younger self recognize the you you are today? Have you made good changes or bad ones? Have you done anything with your life? Have you alienated all the people around you? Are the things that were important ten years ago still important? It's an interesting thing to think about!

7. The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough: A fascinating story about Love and Death who have a competition to see who can win the souls of these two characters. Death's player is the girl, and Love's player is the boy. The idea is if they fall in love, then Love wins. And if they don't then Death wins.

8. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: Well, it's kind of a simple story, but then we start getting all the back stories and then you realize things aren't quite as simple as it seems. There's this strange sort of feeling going all, with all of the characters, and I started wondering, what's going to drop. SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN! I loved that feeling.

9. Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner: I ended up really enjoying it after all and loving yet another main boy character. I'm a sucker for the guy points of views these days! And it ended up hopeful and sweet and happy, despite the downer of a subject.

10. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum: Guys. I love this kind of stuff. I have no idea why. But it's just... fun! This one was a little gritty in parts, and sad in parts. But overall, an uplifting... I got this! sort of attitude. I really enjoyed it.


Here's to 2018 and new books to discover and love!! I look forward to it!

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Book: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


Another book I random picked up from the Beehive Award long list, not knowing anything about. And BAM, it whacked me over the head with so many things I related to that it was a bit spine tingly. I know I am teenager-ish at heart, but it's still a bit weird when a YA book like this can feel so personal to me an old grandma. You know?

I wish I would have marked all the passages I loved, but alas, I didn't.

So, this book is about a girl who started a webcomic several years prior to the opening of the book. She is extremely famous online. She has millions of followers.... tons of forums and fanboards where people go and discuss her story. Where she joins under her alias and discusses with them. Every Friday, the world waits for her to upload the next chapter. And she hasn't missed once... ever.

In her real life she is a recluse who spends all her time on the computer. She comes and goes to school, trying to hide from everyone. She rarely talks, mostly because she has no friends. Everyone thinks she is weird. She gets made fun of, but she just ignores people. She is just dealing with it all for the last few months of high school before she can go to art school and then truly concentrate on making money with her comic.

She has a great family. Loving parents, crazy younger brothers. But she tends to just ignore them too and brush off any attempts on their part to get her to do things.

They know she does this comic thing, but they don't know how big it is.

And no one online knows who she really is except a couple of good online friends who live in various parts of the world.

One day, a new boy arrives at school! (AH... ALWAYS WITH THE NEW BOY!!!) And after an incident, she learns that he writes fanfiction for her stuff, and that he is a huge fun. This is both scary and thrilling for her. Then she finds out more about him and realizes he is the leader (mastermind) of one of her hugest online fan groups. And he is extremely popular too. Online.

In real life, he also doesn't talk. And even though he looks like he should be a popular football player. He is not. He is a nerd just like her.

So they connect. And it's awesome. And then she finds out more about his deepest darkest secrets. But he still has no clue who she is. And she is scared to death he will find out. And she wants to tell him though, but hasn't figured out how or when.

And so of course you can probably guess what happens. And then more stuff happens and everything falls apart. It's a mess and all must be fixed.

I loved it.

Why did I relate you might ask...

• being part of a fandom (fandoms?) that most people don't get
• having an online persona that is a bit different than your offline one 
• being addicted to what's happening online, needing to check in with stuff all time
• making friends from all over the world and connecting in a way that's hard to explain
• having people think that that the thing that consumes you is just a hobby
• having the need to create be overwhelming
• having people think you are weird because of stuff you like

There is one quote I remember found at the very beginning of the book when our character has to stand up for the new boy. She says: "One thing I can't do is stand idly by while a fan, [a fan of anything] gets ridiculed for what he likes." I was like... yes. YES! Sigh. Why do people do this?

Anyway. Yes. I loved it. It hits on many of the hot topics of the day like depression, anxiety and suicide too. Stuff that more and more people are dealing with these days.

So yeah. Read this book. Especially if you've ever been made to feel weird because you are part of a fandom that people think is stupid or silly. My guess is you will relate to the feelings in this book too, no matter how old you are.

2017 Year End Number Crunch

I find it still a little depressing to crunch the numbers when they still feel so small to me compared to past years. But, I was just looking at last year's stats and even if it's not like it used to be, the numbers are still interesting for me to look back on, so... here's yet another number crunch and look back on both my reading and youtubing year.

READING STATS

TOTAL BOOKS: 27
Total pages: 9216
Total Re-reads: 0 (I started a re-read but never finished it.)

Authors
Men: 8
Women: 20
(one book was both)

For:
ARCS for Review: 0
Supporting Utah Authors: 6
Book Club: 6
Read Alongs: 1
Beehive Award Long List: 8

From:
Library: 10
On my Kindle: 4
Bought/Owned: 13
Borrowed: 0

Genres:
YA: 21
Adult: 5
Middle Grade: 1

From the YA Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 14
Fantasy: 5
Science Fiction: 1
Historical Fiction: 1

From the MG Category:
Fantasy: 1

From the Adult Category:
Non Fiction/Memoir: 1
Science Fiction: 1
Fantasy: 1
Literary Fiction: 1
Mystery/Thriller: 1

Star Ratings:
5 stars: 4
4 stars: 10
3 stars: 13
2 stars: 0

Observations:

• The reading was very similar to last year. I guess this is my new normal. Shall I shoot for 30 books next year?
• I really really love the contemporary YA fiction right now. What recs do you have for me this year?
• I love reading books for the Beehive Award long list. Some awesome books end of on that list!
• I bought a lot of new books and acquired a lot of new books this year, even though I can't keep up with reading them. I will keep trying next year!

KPOP/KDRAMA YOUTUBE STATS

Total Kdramas consumed: 20
5 hearts: 10
4 hearts: 7
3 hearts: 3

Total Videos Uploaded on The Kpop Konverters: 501
Total Uploaded in 2017:  339
Over 100,000 views:  8
50,000 to 100,000 views: 6
10,000 to 50,000 views: 58
5,000 to 10,000 views:  37

Subscribers at year end: 14,518
View count at year end: 4,521,990


Observations:

• Yeah, the channel grew some! Here's to the same sort of growth for next year! Maybe get to 25,000 subs and 10 million views???  Get one or two videos past the 1,000,000 view mark?
• If you count Kdramas as books, then that puts my book number more to normal... yes? LOL.
• I really love doing the channel. And I really love reading. The struggle is still to figure out how to do both. But I think I'm getting there. Now to just fit in writing! And exercising. 
• We have many many goals for the channel, but I won't bore you with them here. If some of them come true though, I may have to shout about it here...

Here's to a great and awesome and wonderful 2018!!!

Reading Recap July through December 2017

With Jenni at Erin Summerill's book launch for Ever the Brave

With husband, son and his friend at the Oathbringer launch.

Here's what I read the second half of the year. Better than the first but not by much. I felt like it was tons better, but most of these books were in the just the last few months, so I was deceived. The summer was pretty scarce with the reading.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick: A girl finds out that the boy who lives with a crazy big family next to her is just exactly perfect for her.

The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg: A girl is apprenticed to the paper magician and she is at first disappointed, but in the end, she is okay with it, especially after she saves his life.

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer Smith: A couple who's been dating for a good long while need to decide whether or not they are breaking up or staying together when they leave for college. The book is their last day/night spend together as they approach that decision.

Our Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows: An alternate look at the Lady Jane Grey story.

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson: A book filled with funny crazy essays about what it's like to live with a mental illness. (Or two or three.)

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch: A guy finds himself kidnapped and sent to another reality where his life is completely different and all he wants to do is get back to is regular boring beautiful life.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo: A girl uses the formula found in Kdramas to help her get the guy.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green: A girl suffers from terrible anxiety but despite that, she falls in love with the guy who's dad has gone missing and she is helping to find him.

Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr: Gem is sick of her parents not taking care of her or her sister so she takes matters into her own hands.

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: A boy and girl come together through writing letters to each other.

Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen: A girl gets sent to a wilderness survival program for troubled teens and learns how to change her life.

A Taste for Monsters by Matthew Kirby: A girl with a disfigured face finds refuge in a London hospital and befriends the guy there known as the Elephant Man.

Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher: Deacon Locke takes his grandma to prom and becomes an internet sensation.

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner: A boy has lost all his friends to a car accident and has to deal with the guilt he feels that it was his text who caused it.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: Through strange and magical circumstances, a young woman finally comes out of herself to start her life.

The Memory Thief by Bryce Moore: A 12 year old boy ends up getting mixed up with a couple of strange people who give and take memories.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia: A girl who is famous online, but a recluse in her real life is faced with the problem of what to do when when she is discovered.


Favorites of the bunch:

I gave five stars to Deacon Locke Went to Prom, Letters to the Lost and Eliza and Her Monsters. They were all wonderful thought provoking complicated amazing stories.

Goals for 2017:

• Read more.
• Continue working on my huge overwhelming stack of books accumulated recently.
• Read Oathbringer.
• Read another Wheel of Time book with my son who is suddenly obsessed. 

Kdrama Review: Revolutionary Love

Drama: Revolutionary Love
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Starring: Choi Siwon, Kang So Ra, Gong Myung
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


So I watched this one soley for the reason that Siwon was in it. His first project since coming back from the military. We loved him as the second lead in She Was Pretty, but what would he be like as the main lead?

Pretty awesome I'd say! It did start out a bit weird for me. He was over the top silly, but that's because his character was. And it was somewhat cringy. But then, as the character developed, Siwon's acting refined too. Yeah. Of course he can act in a "normal" way!

In fact by the end, he was back to his swoon worthy self in a big way! Sheesh. Boy.

So this one it about the son of a rich family who owns a food company. But the son is a good for nothing playboy type who doesn't seem even a little bit smart at all. And because of all his escapades, he sort of gets kicked out.

And that's when he runs into this girl who is just working like crazy at a gazillion different jobs just to have enough to live on. He is fascinated by this. And it's actaully refreshing to him. And he falls for her fast. And now he wants to please her. Make her proud of him.

This leads to him doing all sorts of crazy things that actually start to benefit the big food company. And his dad gets mad about it, because he's pretty much a crook. But his older brother is even worse. And now they want to stop him. Especially since he's trying to uncover all the crap they've been doing all these years.

But instead, he ends up as an intern at his own company.

And there is a the second lead, who has been his reluctant friend through it all and bales him out of everything. And this friend has also been in love with the girl for years. But never has said anything. And it's so so heart wrenching! Ah, I loved this guy! (Well, and are you surprised? Always the second male lead guys. Always. Even when Siwon is the main lead!!!)

Gong Myung as the second lead who doesn't get the girl.

Anyway. It's supposed to be a funny show and it is over the top silly at times. But there are some dark disturbing moments too. Child abuse for one. And Siwon, even though he's older now, still gets beat up by his dad. Like, all he time. It's terrible.

So, yeah. You never can tell what you are going to get with these things! In the end, I totaly enjoyed it, but there were parts that made me either roll my eyes or cringe, or look away. A strange little drama indeed.

Here's a trailer that hardly gives you a feel for it at all:




And here's the song. It's English again! What's up with that!???