Reading Recap June and July 2016

I chased this sunset down but still didn't get a great shot.
Anyway, it says summer to me!

Whoa I almost forget or the second month in a row to list of ALL THE MANY books I've read this summer!

Here's what I read in June:

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: The girl who was shot by the Taliban and lived to tell about it.

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han: The continuing story of Lara Jean and her boy troubles... and I didn't like how things went down much.

Here's what I read in July:

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater: The conclusion of this fun series though it was a bit strange for me and some stuff happened that I was like... wait what?

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella: Audrey is suffering intense anxiety and this is the story of how she overcomes... and it's funny!

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky: In which four crazy fan girls kidnap one of the boy band members and then things get worse from there. 

Guys... something has to change! But life.. life is just TOO CRAZY right now! 

Plans for August:

• Finish Wish You Were Italian
• Read One Dead Spy for book club
• Read P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
• Read at least on Utah author for Utah Book Month that really isn't happening but maybe Utah Book Fortnight might, but maybe not, but even if not, I will still try to read some/one Utah author... besides Nathan Hale which is our book club book

So yeah, I'm not reading much, but I've uploaded 50 videos to the kpop channel. And driven across the country and back. So there's that.

Kdrama Review:Kill Me, Heal Me

Drama: Kill Me, Heal Me
Genre: Drama
Starring: Ji Sung, Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


So my sister Megs has been begging me all summer to watch this one. But first, we watched Healer and I thought nothing could compare to that one, and anyway, when it was over and I needed something to watch next, she convinced me this one was it.

And let me just say, it came close to or even maybe surpassed the intensity and drama that was Healer! Whoa, two in a row that good? This stuff is crazy!

This one is about a guy who is suffering multiple personality disorder. He hires this new doctor to help him get a rein on these personalities. Together, they investigate his past and before long, all is revealed. His memories he has been suppressing come back and whoa, they aren't quite what he expected!!!

And of course, in the process, they fall madly in love.  I mean of course they do! Ah, it's the best!

The subject matter of this one is pretty intense and sad and traumatic. And yet, with this guy having to act out several personalities, there's a lot of moments of some very funny stuff and comedy. It's a great mix of both.

If you've seen She Was Pretty, this one stars the same girl and the same guy, but in this drama they are brother and sister, so that's a little weird at first. She is a lot the same, but he plays a character that's completely different from She Was Pretty. (In fact, his character reminded quite a lot of Siwon's character in She Was Pretty... which meant.. I loved him completely! He is ten times cuter in this drama than he is in She Was Pretty! How can that be???)

Park Seo Joon is perfect in this one as the loving big brother.

But... let's talk about the main dude in this one... oh my goodness! He can jump from personality to personality with this most amazing acting ability that is just something you have to see. It's just... the best ever. And he has his "good" side personality... and his "bad" side (among many others) and that bad dude... wow. Just... how he can get you to be so so sympathetic to him so so fast. It's crazy!!

Ji Sung as sexy "bad" guy Shin Se Gi

Crazy good!

I loved it. I was sobbing through many scenes toward the end. And giggling so much during others. I just... I have no words.

And now I'm in a drama funk and think that there's nothing that can compare to these two... so... what's a drama addict to do?

Here's a tiny little trailer that introduces you to all the personalities:




Here's the most awesome theme song along with more clips from the show:



And for those of you who know this guy from She Was Pretty where he acted like he was a terrible singer, see for yourself how he was faking it big time! Here he is singing another song from this drama:



So... bottom line... WATCH IT! :)

Fancasting Prince/Emperor Kai Kpop Style

So we thought it would be fun to try do a "mash up" of our two fandoms... the booksish and the kpop....and thus the "which kpop idol would make a good Prince Kai"  video was born!

Yes, we are talking about THAT Kai, the one who features in the Lunar Chronicles books by Marissa Meyer. The prince that befriends and falls in love with Cinder. The leader of the Eastern Commonwealth. The guy who is being manipulated by the evil queen.

Since becoming fans of kpop music, it's only natural that we start fancasting certain music idols into the roll of Prince Kai. In fact, some of them would make a perfect Kai. And so we couldn't help but share our thoughts.

So, watch our latest video here where we present to you our suggestions... taken from various kpop groups... and let us know if we came close to how you envision this character:




We would love to know what you think! Let us know with a comment here... or there! And if you have your own ideas of who would make a good Prince Kai... let us know that too! Also, what other Asian characters should we fancast? This video was too much fun to make so we need to do it again!

Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

Movie: Star Trek Beyond
Genre: SciFi
Starring:  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban
Rating: PG13
My Rating: two thumbs up

Ah! Finally! A summer movie that was I actually looking forward to. So we went this week on $5 dollar Tuesday to the 3D IMAX showing... of course. Guys. I'm getting to the point where only IMAX movies are good. The "normal" theaters...ah that screen feels so tiny now! Anyway. Spoiled. Yes.

So, we haven't been to very many movie this summer so it was awesome to be there. And since it was Star Trek, pretty much we knew it was going to be good.

Here was the story this time: our fearless heroes have arrived to a big beautiful space city called... something York... now... Yorktown...and when they get there, a distress signal comes in an this alien girl needs help with her ship and crew. So Kirk and company goes off to investigate.

Well, they get  attacked BIG time and ended up all stranded on this planet with this bad guy who starts randomly killing them. He wants this artifact that is a powerful weapon and he plans to destroy... Yorktown.

He must be stopped!

Our fearless heroes!

It's great! There's an awesome new character, Jayla, who I loved. And they use music as a weapon, which is awesome. And there's some rad motorcycle riding bits, and Scotty shines, and Chekhov shines (sob sob... I couldn't stop thinking about what happened to this actor) and there's some confusing stuff with Spock (how can two Spock's exist at once? I think it was explained in a previous movie but I forgot. I would love an explanation!)

Scotty with Jayla

Bottom Line:  All great, as expected. I love the music twist... which I won't explain but you'll just need to go watch. And I love all the actors. So perfect for their parts.

Here's a trailer that uses the funky music (Beastie Boys I think) :







And then there's the opening theme music that never fails to give me chills:




Sigh. I love this stuff.

Concert Review: David Archuleta

I'm a little behind on this one since life was crazy for awhile after we saw this concert. But let's just say, it was really fun!

We went REALLY early and waited in line in the hot sun to ensure that we had a good seat. (We have reserved tickets, but only for a section... it's first come first serve for the best seats in your section.)

And then, just as they were about to let everyone in... I was nabbed out of line because I was wearing the 30th anniversary shirt for the venue and they let me in early because of it! (I knew it would be a possibility, but wasn't sure that was a perk anymore!) So I got our seats and then just a few minutes later, the rest of the group (most of them ) came in and we got settled.

Then we waited like another hour and a half while eating pizza and people watching.

Finally the show started only it was a warm up act and now I've forgotten who it was, but she was good.

And then "intermission" and then FINALLY David came! (After four hours of waiting for him!!) Going to concerts is a test in patience and stamina let me just say!

Here's a compilation of some video and pictures that I took and uploaded:






That gives you some idea, yes? He was as sweet and humble as expected. He stopped often to tell stories and uplifting thoughts. It felt a little like a fireside (LDS peeps will know what I mean by that) and I actually expected that a bit. But he was fun and energetic and just... really awesome.

So glad we got to go!

Movie Review: Eddie the Eagle

Movie: Eddie the Eagle
Genre: real life drama
Starring: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: two thumbs up


I know this movie is old news, but we just finally did the redbox thing and watched it! And it was all full of all the feel-goodness that everyone said it was.

Mostly I can't believe someone did this in real life, you know?

Anyway, if you don't know, it's about Eddie, who from the time he was little, dreamed of going to the Olympics, even though he really wasn't at all athletic. When he was cut from the ski team, he decided to form his one man ski jumping team. And so he went to learn... and ended up in the Olympics after only a year of jumping.

While there, everyone sort of made fun of him, so to make people take him serious, he decided to jump from the highest jump, even though he'd never done it before.

This guy was/is seriously crazy!

The real Eddie

It felt a lot like the movie Cool Runnings, which I absolutely love, and turns out, it happened during the same time period as that one. What an interesting time for the Olympics, yes?

Anyway. What an awesome inspirational movie about chasing and living your dreams no matter what things come in your way. It's perfect.

And the music really made it too. Loved it!

AND... there's Hugh Jackman. You know? Which is just the icing on the cake.

Here's the trailer:





And a taste of the music:

What Would You Do?

Here's  story that happened to us the other day that I wanted to tell because I'm really curious how you all would have handled this situation.

So we were exhausted after driving our second day of the five day driving trip. We had just checked into a hotel there in Illinois, in a small city in the middle of nowhere, way off from the freeway.

Just as we were parking the car and now empty trailer (having just unloaded all the stuff for my daughter and her husband) and were gathering our things to go collapse in our room, we were approached by a young family.. husband, wife and three little kids.

"Excuse me" they said. "We have a question."

Instantly we felt weird and wanted to run away.

"We just fixed our transmission in our van and have no money. We don't want money from you, but wondered if you could buy us a room. For the kids. We have no place to say the night."

Our response... "um."

"It's for the kids. We don't want any money. Just, if you could please help us with a room."

P.S. We just bought the last room at this particular hotel... and not a budget one either. A fairly nice Hilton run one actually.

"Um."

"Please, we are from Sacramento and we are just passing through. Please help us."

We pretty much just stared at them. Because, what can you even say? Finally, my husband said. "Let us talk about it."

So they retreated a ways and waited while we said things to each other like... "we can't buy them a room here... it's full, it's expensive. We have no cash. If we bought them a room, we'd have to go WITH them somewhere. Everything is probably full. We got the last room! I'm not going to search for a room NOW. IT's late! I'm tired! Do you think they are for real? Just passing through HERE? Who passes through HERE? Can we tell them we have no money? Cause we don't. But here we are at a nice hotel! Um. What should we do? Do we have ANY cash at all?  We can't buy them something on our card, we'd be liable. No way!"

Finally, I dug through my purse and found a ten dollar bill, truly the last of my cash. They wandered back over to us. We gave it to them and said, sorry, that's all we could do. We suggested finding some other help to go toward a room. And that perhaps there was a $50 room still available. Somewhere.

They thanked us and god blessed us and went on their way.

We felt both ripped off, charitable, relived, used and mad all at the same time.

Sheesh. I felt like there was NOTHING we could do in this situation to feel okay about the outcome!  And I mean, perhaps they were for real, you know? And in that case... .

What would you have done?