The Famous People Tag!

Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy tagged me to do this Famous People Tag (like a million years ago, ha), created by  Naomi @ Wonderland Creek.

The Rules:

  • Put up the ‘famous people tag button’ and link back to the person who tagged you
  • Answer the questions
  • Tag the ten last people who commented on your blog (excluding anonymytes or the person who tagged you) (NOTE: I personally also excluded people who are not frequent readers of my blog or that don’t have their own blog. This was also the last 4 commenters who fit the above criteria as of 9 PM CST on Christmas night. Did I just say 4? Yes, because I’m lazy. But seriously, you can do this even if you aren’t “officially” tagged!)

famous-people-tag1. Who’s your favorite singer/group?

My all-time fave (meaning they’ve been my fave for YEARS) is Switchfoot. I’ve been listening to them since high school, and my husband and I go see them every chance we get (which is usually about once every other year). Their music really just speaks to me in a way I can’t fully express.

switchfootI also have a couple of newer favorites that I’m really into these days, particularly Needtobreathe and Phillip Phillips. The latter’s second album, which released back in May, gets so much play time in my car because I just love every single song so much. His songs make me want to go on road trips and write great books.

phillip-phillips22. If your favorite male actor was in the same room as you right now, what would your reaction be?

First, I’m trying to decide who my favorite male actor is… probably Christian Bale. So, it would probably take me several minutes to psych myself up to talk to him, freaking out silently to myself, “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, it’s Christian Bale, I have to speak to him, breathebreathebreathe.” Then I would hopefully have succeeded in psyching myself up enough to approach him, casually introduce myself (though I would probably be really shaky with nerves!), let him know how much I love him in Nolan’s films and Little Women (ha ha), and ask for a picture. And then I would probably die after it was all over.

Christian-Bale3. Is there a famous person you used to love but (due to something they have done in their life) you’ve suddenly changed your mind?

I do sometimes like celebrities a little less when I learn things about them, but I learned well over a decade ago to not put any human being on a pedestal, because they will disappoint you. So yes, there was a time when that happened, but not recently, and not with anyone super famous.

4. Name a famous person you like who’s name starts with a V.

Vin Diesel? First person to come to mind… don’t love him but I like him well enough.

vin-diesel-6a
He is Groot. (couldn’t resist)

5. What’s one of your favorite red-carpet dresses?

Like Charlene I had to do a search, and I rediscovered this classic beauty of a dress that Emma Watson wore that I remember seeing before. The back of the dress is my favorite part.

emmawatsondress6. Who’s your favorite Royal person?

Could it be anyone other than Kate? Maybe little George; he’s cute. But I love Kate. She’s like the epitome of every girl’s dream.

royal-fam7. Who’s your favorite child actor/actress?

This is a hard question because you think someone is a child, you blink, and suddenly they’re not a child anymore! As far as someone who was a child actress, I thought Dakota Fanning was always amazing as she was growing up on screen. For someone who is a child now, well, I don’t actually know, but I’ll go with Mackenzie Foy who played 10 year old Murph in Interstellar because she was great. Oh, or the little girl who played Cossette in Les Mis. Adorbs.

8. Are there any actors/actresses whose private lives you like?

I don’t think I know of any of their lives well enough to have much thoughts about them, though it looks like RDJ has fun with Tony Stark-esque cars.

rdj-car9. Do you think that the actors/actresses have improved these last 100 years?

I’m just going to quote Charlene’s answer because I think she said it well: “Like Maggie talked about in her post, I think our perception of the quality of acting has changed over the years as our perception of quality writing and production values have changed.  What was amazing back then, wouldn’t cut it now, but it was still quality at the time.  And actors are still wielding the same kind of skills, but it might come across differently now.  There is subtlety and nuance in performances regardless of time.”

10. What’s the weirdest famous-people name?

A lot of famous people give their kids weird names, but one of the weirdest names of a celebrity him/herself that stands out to be is Topher Grace. I mean, his name sounds like Gopher. Apparently his name is actually Christopher but he didn’t want to go by that or Chris so… there you go. Actually, now that I think about it, the weirdest is Ochocinco. Really, dude?

ocho-cinco11. Do you think you look like a famous person? Which one(s)?

Not really.

12. Share your favorite famous-person quote.

Does C.S. Lewis count? He said so many of my favorite things. I don’t think I can choose just one.

13. Who’s your favorite dancer?

I’m afraid I don’t have a favorite famous dancer…

14. Why is your favorite actress your favorite one? When did you decide that she was your favorite?

Looks like I’m deciding right now, because I’m not sure who to pick, HA. *Thinks* *Puts this post in drafts* *Opens post and thinks more* I stil l don’t know, honestly. It used to be Keira Knightley, largely because of Pride and Prejudice. I still like her pretty well, I just feel I don’t watch many of her newer movies these days. Lately I have been liking Hayley Atwell, or basically just Peggy Carter. 🙂

Hayley-Atwell15. Have you ever met/seen/been close to a famous person?

Did you see my Leigh Bardugo post?! That was exciting! I’ve been to some Star Trek conventions so I’ve met/seen/been close to some Star Trek actors, the most well-known being William Shatner (though I did not meet him). And I met a well-known Christian artist, Michael W. Smith, at a wedding once! That was a neat experience because it was so unexpected.

smitty&meThe last 4 people who have commented on my blog and met the above criteria, and thus are tagged, are Kayla @ The Thousand Lives, Kelley @ Oh the Books, Alise @ Picture Us Reading & Those Who Geek, and Val @ Innocent Smiley. And anyone who is interested! If you feel so inclined, fill this out and share it on your blog!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

I just wanted to take this chance wish all of my blog readers a…

homealone-merryxmashomealone-happynewyearAnd to say that…

holiday-lovelyAnd I hope you have a holiday filled with your favorite things…

pussinboots

belle-library

muppetxmascarol-foodAnd that may…

muppetxmascarol-godblessMERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

My Top 10 Movie Anticipations for 2015

Hopefully early next month I’ll be ready to reveal the rankings of the movies I saw this year (it looks like so far I’ve seen 10 2014 releases, but I want to squeeze in a few more before I make that post), but for now I want to continue my tradition of sharing my most anticipated films for the upcoming year. It’s interesting to go back and look at the lists; my most anticipated films do tend to be ones I see and enjoy, but sometimes I end up not seeing something, being disappointed, or end up enjoying a movie I was unaware of when I made the list. But based on what I know now, here’s what I look forward to seeing in 2015…

10. Tomorrowland, Coming May 2015

This one looks interesting and it’s directed by Brad Bird, and I love not only his work with Pixar but also Mission: Impossible 4, so I’m hoping it’ll be good!

9. Kingsman: The Secret Service, Coming February 2015

This movie just looks like fun to me, and feels like it could be the premise of a YA novel.

8. The Jungle Book, Coming October 2015

junglebook
Clearly not from the upcoming adaptation, but I couldn’t resist…

So I was gonna be all like… “OMG, this movie’s going to be awesome because Benedict Cumberbatch is voicing Shere Khan!” and then I checked the IMDB page and found out it’s actually Idris Elba. Don’t get me wrong, I like Idris Elba and I think he’ll do a great job, but where did that come from? Was the Benny (I have no idea why I just typed that as his name) thing a rumor? Did he drop out? Did I just make that up in my head? Well, whatever, I’m still looking forward to seeing more about this one. Jon Favreau is directing (he did the first two Iron Man films) so that’ll be interesting.

*EDIT* I have been informed there is a 2017 Jungle Book with Benedict Cumberbatch and Christian Bale and Andy Serkis and Cate Blanchett so now that is really the one I am looking forward to! But hopefully this one will still be good. Though why two Jungle Book movies in two years?

7. Ant-Man, Coming July 2015

Ant-Man-Comic-Con_612x380About all I know is that Paul Rudd is playing a character named Ant-Man and this is a Marvel movie so yeah… I’m hoping it will be great, but I would like more details! (Oh, and Peggy Carter’s in it! That’s always a win!)

6. Mission: Impossible 5, Coming December 2015

There is no revealed plot for this movie yet, but I really, really liked M:I 4, way more than the first three M:I movies (though I do like them fine, some more than others), and I’m hoping this one will be just as strong. At least Jeremy Renner’s character is back (and Luther and Benji!), yay!

5. Peanuts, Coming June 2015

As long as I can remember I have had a deep love for the Peanuts so yes, I will be watching this, and I will probably (hopefully) love it.

4. Inside Out, Coming June 2015

First off, thanks to Maggie @ Macaroons & Paperbacks to tipping me off on this film before I started seeing stuff about it on Facebook, but FINALLY we’re getting a Pixar film that isn’t a freaking sequel! I just hope it turns out better than Brave… not my favorite.

3. Mockingjay: Part Two, Coming November 2015

I will probably cry all the tears, but I need to see Peeta be OK and Katniss finally love him.

2. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Coming December 2015

Um, because it’s Star Wars. I think this will be good. Allow me to be nerdy here for a moment… I’m just a tiny bit mad at JJ for what he did with the Star Trek timeline, though it IS an alternate universe and the films have a very wide appeal, both which I am grateful for, but also I do think it was rude of him to kill the Star Wars extended universe because of this film. But really, do you think this will be worse than Jar Jar? No, it won’t. I think it looks interesting (hello fun droids and strange lightsabers and helmetless Stormtroopers!) I’m looking forward to it!

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron, Coming May 2015

I have no words for this. I need to see this movie now.

Honorable Mentions: Insurgent (does the trailer make anyone else question if this is actually based off the book or not?) and Cinderella. I’m also mildly curious about Minions, Jupiter AscendingPan, and Jurassic World. I know everyone’s freaking out about seeing Chris Pratt with dinosaurs but I’m not particularly in love with either. Besides, I’ve only seen about 85% of one of the Jurassic Park movies and I don’t even know which one it was.

What 2015 movies are you eagerly anticipating? 

Top Ten Books I Read In 2014

Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is Top Ten Books I Read In 2014, and this list is counting up to my favorite read of the year.

10. Code Name Verity

code-name-verityMy Review

9. The Screwtape Letters

screwtape-letters8. The 5th Wave

GR-the5thwave

7. The Leviathan Trilogy

leviathan

6. The Winner’s Curse

GR-thewinnerscurse

5. Harry Potter (Books 1-3)

gr-harrypotter3Review for The Sorcerer’s Stone/Review for The Chamber of Secrets

4. Seraphina

GR-seraphinaMy Review

3. The Grisha Trilogy

grisha-trilogy-coversMini Review for Shadow and Bone/Double Review for Siege and Storm & Ruin and Rising

2. Across a Star-Swept Sea

acrossastarsweptMy Review

1. Cress

cressMy Review

What were your favorite books of the year?

Mini Movie Reviews: Maleficent and Mockingjay Part 1

Maleficent

MaleficentI didn’t have a lot of interest in Maleficent, initially. It looked like one of those movies that could be good, but could also be pretty bad. After hearing a couple of co-workers praise it, I decided to check it, and to my relief it was pretty good. It has nice visuals, the acting is good (Angelina Jolie of course steal the shows in the title role, but Elle Fanning was also good), and the plot and writing aren’t lacking the way Snow White and The Huntsman was (though there is a pretty major plot hole that my husband and I basically facepalmed over). I think my favorite part was watching the various transformations of Maleficent. Also, you think there’s going to be insta-love in the movie, and then it actually ends up sort of poking fun at it and proving to be just insta-attraction, which is totally viable. The movie is definitely worth at least one watch.

3stars2Mockingjay Part 1

mockingjay-movie

I have to say that I have been really surprised to see a lot of mixed feelings about Mockingjay Part One among book bloggers. Before I dig into my thoughts on how the movie turned out, let me lay out my expectations…

– Mockingjay is my least favorite book of the trilogy because I think the pacing is weird and it’s just a lot of bad stuff happening. Plus Peeta is missing for a good chunk of it and if you read my blog regularly you know he’s my favorite.

– I have immense respect for how Francis Lawrence picked up where Gary Ross left off and was able to maintain the look and feel of the first movie while improving it as well as staying more true to the book than the predecessor. I thought Catching Fire the movie was so good that I might even like it more than the book, though it’s hard to say for sure without rereading it.

So in conclusion, while part of me wondered how Mockingjay could possible be made into two decent movies, I actually had a lot of faith in Francis Lawrence.

And personally, I think he nailed it.

I’m not going to get into a deep analysis of the movie, but what I will say is that the parts of the movie that were added and not from the book, everything with Effie, the portrayal of Katniss dealing with PTSD, all the propo stuff, and then that RESCUE OPERATION SCENE, were pretty close to perfect to me. Seriously. Given the source material, I don’t know if Francis Lawrence could have done much better. It is a slow-paced movie, and it’s not filled with the same sort of action, excitement, and romance as the first two, BUT IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. The third book is very different from the first two. It’s all about Katniss’s struggle and I think I felt closer to it in the movie than I did in the book. The only complaint I have is the omission of this conversation-

Haymitch takes the seat across from me. “We’re going to have to work together again. So, go ahead. Just say it.”

… All I can say is “I can’t believe you didn’t rescue Peeta.”

“I know,” he replies.

There’s a sense of incompleteness. And not because he hasn’t apologized. But because we were a team. We had a deal to keep Peeta safe. A drunken, unrealistic deal made in the dark of night, but a deal just the same. And in my heart of hearts, I know we both failed.

“Now you say it,” I tell him.

“I can’t believe you let him out of your sight that night,” says Haymitch.

I nod. That’s it.

It’s not necessarily an enjoyable watch, per se, because it is two hours of Katniss with PTSD, but there are some lighter moments and overall, I found it extremely worthwhile and a very worthy adaptation.

4-5stars-editWhat are your thoughts on these movies?