Monday, September 19, 2011

Eyes Like Stars By Lisa Mantchev

Synopsis: Enter Stage Right.
             All her world's a stage.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but has no lines of her own. Until now.
            Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.
Open Curtain.

My thoughts: Love it! Very creative and unique reading, and we can’t forget funny and lovely! We are presented to Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, a girl that has lived her entire life inside the Théâtre Illuminata, a magical place were the Players have the names of famous characters – like Nate, a HOT, protective and sweet pirate from The Little Mermaid; Ariel, an air spirit that wants more than anything to get outside the theater, and will try everything, even seduce Bertie, to get what he wants and her best friends: Peaseblossom, Moth, Cobweb and Mustardseed, the four fairies from A Midsummer ight’s Dream – and where all of them are bound to The Book, which have all the plays ever written and presented.
            What I liked most of the book – besides the cover, that is simply gorgeous! – are the characters. Bertie is a determinate girl and when she finds out that she is about to lose her only home because of her rebel behavior, everything gets out of control: Nate disappears into sea water, Ariel stoles The Book and Bertie has to do something before the whole Théâtre crumbles on top of her.
            I highly recommend it to people who like theater, romantic and funny stories. The good about this book is that after you read it, you get really interested in other books, like Shakespeare’s works, which means that is a very stimulating book, in the reading section.  The four little fairies are hilarious and you fall completely for Bertie.

Rate:

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Movie Friends with benefits

Plot: Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) think it's going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. They soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications.
My thoughts: Very funny movie and hot too! Here we are presented to Dylan and Jamie, two people from different American states – he is from California and she is from New York – that suffered the same thing: got dumped by their partners. Because of that, they promise to themselves not to fall in love again. When they meet each other at JFK airport, he goes there because of a job offer at GQ magazine and she receives the order to go get him. Resented because of their broken relationships, all they want is to have sex without get involved and then Dylan has the craziest idea: let’s just get physical and not emotional. After that, there are a lot of hot scenes between the sheets, but of course never explicit – damn it! Hihihi Just kidding. But they’ll find out that getting physical may lead to other things too, even if you don’t want them. But is it worth it to ruin a friendship and an awesome contract just because of mere feelings? Justin Timberlake is hotter than ever and his role with Mila Kunis’s character really does the trick – she is beautiful and a really good actress.
Genre: Comedy
Rate:

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Wicked By Gregory Maguire

Synopsis:  When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked?
            Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class citizens, and the tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West – a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

My thoughts:  One of the most amazing books I’ve ever read! We are presented to Elphaba, or as we know the Wicked Witch of the West, from her birth to her death and as we keep reading, we got to meet many characters that have an essential role in the original The Wizard of Oz as much as in Elphie’s story, like Glinda, the sorceress that helps Dorothy when her house falls from the sky.
            In this book, we are able to realize that Elphaba became wicked not by choice, but by consequence: hated by her mother because of her skin color, ignored by her father, slaved by her sister, mocked by her school colleagues – including Glinda. Everything goes around her skin and because she was green, she suffered intense prejudice, for been the only green girl of all Oz. This prejudice can be even related to what happens today at school with some children because of their appearances or income.
            When Elphaba gets to the University, she becomes the joke because of her ways and dressing, so she learns to take care of herself and have attitude for self-protection. The saddest of the tale is that every time that she finds a little bit of happiness – (SPOILER) like her love affair with handsome prince Fiyero, who owned the lands that one day the Witch would live in – she gets into an ocean of sadness.

            Concerning the Broadway Show, only the characters were maintained and most of the story was changed – in my opinion. It’s good as entertainment, but not very truthful to the book.

Rate: Book-
           Play-

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Grace Kelly: from peasant to princess

Full name:                              Grace Patricia Kelly
Birth:                                       November 12th 1929
Place of birth:                         Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Death:                                    September 14th 1982
Place of death:                       Monaco, France
            Grace Kelly is one of the most admired women in the world. Even today, she is upheld as a standard of beauty, grace, and style. At a young age, Grace decided she wanted to become an actress, and studied acting (primarily theater) at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Art and worked as a stage actress and model before moving to Hollywood.
            Grace appeared in Mogambo, which won her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Her work in High Noon and a screen test for the film Taxi piqued the interest of director Alfred Hitchcock, who, with the aid of Edith Head, pruned Grace into his ideal of the elegant, beautiful blonde. She gave Hitchcock wonderful performances in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. Grace went against Hitchcock's glamorized vision of her for the film The Country Girl, which won her the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role of 1954. In 1956, she was voted the Golden Globe's World Film Favorite Actor, Female.
            Later that year, she married Prince Rainier Grimaldi III of Monaco to become Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco. As a princess, she gave up her successful acting career. She had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Grace died on 14 September 1982 after her car went off a road in the cliffs of Monaco.