Over and over and over again.

amongster.

So that was may, yay. I'm gonna throw you some sentences to sum up the events that highlighted my days and nights in the merry month of may.  Some flattering scoldings were showered at me. A weird guy from Los Angeles shook my hand for what felt an eternity. I finally bought a new bookshelf for the  countless books that flew around my bedroom, and I made my first Facebook-Page. It already counts an outrageous number of fans (that would be 5, so much for the loyalty of your friends, pah!)!! So be quick and like it if you, too, want Ryan Gosling to play the part of the irresistible Johnny Castle in the remake of Dirty Dancy, which will be released in 2013, I guess. And I know, you want it. And because you might not be able to picture him as Johnny, foresightful as I am, I made a little photo-manip for you, so you will be convinced, immediately. (Oh gawd, did I really name that URL goslinggoesdirty?)

Ok, enough of the shenanigans. I didn't really consume much media this month, at least not many movies lighted my homescreen, nor did I set foot in a cinema, this month. But let's start with the books I read this month. I read a lot in my mother tongue, since I hauled some german books from a second-hand book store at the end of last month. 

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

SE RÉSOUDRE AUX ADIUEX (Ein Abschied) by PHILIPPE BESSON

This book was actually a very spontaneous purchase. It tells the story of a woman who is left by her lover, and devastated as she is, she starts writing letters to him while she travels the world trying to escape the city in which they spent so much time together. And what can I say, this book literally spoke    from my heart with all it's allegations and self-doubts, the more astounded I am, that this book actually wasn't even written by a woman, but I am probably just to swayed by stereotypes. But I enjoyed this read a lot. (4/5)

UND IM ZWEIFEL FÜR DICH SELBST by ELISABETH RANK

A book by a native german author, so no english title here. I planned to read this one for a while now. I thought I could identify myself pretty well with the story she tells, since the author and I share the year of our birth. But I had my troubles to really sense the emotion here. Reading a book about a fatal accident of a loved one, might make you think, it shouldn't be to hard to get emotionally involved. But  I guess it was just the style of writing that made it somewhat hard for me. (3/5)

THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS by PAOLO GIORDANO

Ugh, italians..haha. Sorry. But I recently saw the screen adaption of this book, and it was...I really don't know, but I felt like all the important details were put aside and the filmmakers just made a completely new story. But back to the book. The storyline sounded pretty interesting. The lives of two teenagers who suffered major strokes in their childhoods, get mixed together and both of them, as much as they need each other, just can't find their way together, both rather preferring solitude than to risk something. Anyways, I wish the author wouldn't have skipped so much through the years, so I felt like some important things happening in between were missing (almost like in the movie, haha...well actually not THAT disastrous). (3/5) 

INSURGENT by VERONICA ROTH

The follow-up to the first book of the DIVERGENT book trilogy. I think I didn't write about the first one, but I would say this is a pretty satisfying quality dystopian book series comparable to THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy, but yet a totally different and unique world. INSURGENT is in no way inferior to DIVERGENT and just as exciting and suspenseful. (4/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

 

HELL

Hell as in hell like the german word for bright. But it might as well be an allegory to the devil's hell, since the sun is burning so bright, that it is almost impossible to stay in the sunlight during the day,  and also the hell that people might face, in a post-apocalyptic world where the phrase "an eye for an eye" applies. But why am I actually putting so much effort in this short review. The movie was shite.  There you go. Haha. (3/10)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Well, this movie certainly was something for the eyes. Even the opening credits were a little movie themselves, haha. I think, James Bond and Ms. Mara made a good team on this american movie adaption. Of course it had much more suspense than the swedish original, but I was constantly asking my friends, with whom I watched this movie together and didn't read the book, if they were actually able to follow the movie. Even I had my problems to recall everything from the books I read one and a half years ago. I can't imagine how confusing it must be for a person who didn't already know all the secondary characters and their relevance. I think, this could have been done much better, and already has been done better in the swedish version. Nevertheless I like the movie quite much. (7/10)

INTO THE WILD

Ugh, THAT GUY. If it wasn't so sad, because it's based on a true story, I would have laughed all the time. Just go out in the wild with NO experience at all and get yourself...in trouble. I also might not share the same desire for adventures and freedom, because I like it safe and sound, so I didn't enjoy the movie as much as a kindred soul probably would have. (7/10)

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

Say what you want but this movie was so full of AWESOME. I lol'd a lot. (10/10)

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

Another guilty pleasure which actually wasn't really a pleasure since I found out during watching the movie, that I don't really like Anne Hathaway. Jake Gyllenhaal was quite charming yes, but I still like him the best as the awesome Donnie Darko. (6/10)

okay.

Oopsie, already a little late, am I? So what happened in the month of showers, besides...uhm..showers?

In a city, or rather a whole country of precaution, mistrust and paranoia (and unfortunately all these characteristics are a big part of my own personality) I was recognized and approached by a stranger, and not a drunken idiot mistaking me for a boy (oh, yes that happened) or a lusty old man...but by a like-minded individual!

But April also was a month of mobile phone apps. Next to instagram - which, after one and a half years of its apple exclusive existense, finally got released for the Android world - I was literally drawn to Drawsomething. Chances are good I might do an extra post about my favourite drawings!

Alright let's get right to the consumed goods of April 2012:

MUSIC DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH:

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

COLLISION by STEFNE MILLER

This one was a present by a dear friend, and I was a bit confused in the beginning, because of the mention of that shady organisation called The Invisible Children. Part of the book also takes place in Uganda, but as I continued reading, I was relieved, that this was not a missionary book at all, but  a story about two very different characters whose personalities first collide and then grow slowly towards something big and special. What I really liked about this book, and what made me rate it with the highest score was the narration style of the author and the way she put so much life into a story, I didn't at all think, I would be interested in. Well done. (5/5)

THE SCORCH TRIALS by JAMES DASHNER

The second book of the Maze Runner trilogy (I wrote about the first part in the March review) is packed full of tension and cliffhangers as the first one was. Until the last pages of the book you are not sure wether to trust this certain person that is literally mentioned as "the betrayer". And that kept me  just as riveted like it was with the first book. Nevertheless, all the why and who and what for questions still stay unanswered and I keep thinking, the third book better comes up with a conceivable explanation.  (4/5)

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by JOHN GREEN

There should be only one sentence about this one. Best book ever. But as hyperbolical as it may sound, this wouldn't even make the grade. Oh, all the praise I think I am not even able to put into words. I already mentioned it some place else: I'd love to buy a dozen copies of this book and give it to every single one of my friends, so they won't miss this magnificent experience. I absolutely loved the sense of humor among these tragic figures. Two weeks passed after reading this book and I still miss Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters like they were my own friends. Perfect, perfect, perfect! 

(6/5 just because..)

WITHER by LAUREN DeSTEFANO

I must admit, it's probably not very easy for a follow up, after having read an amazing book as TFIOS. I thought about waiting for a week to start with the next book, but I had so many books I wanted to check out and the list isn't getting shorter. So I picked Wither right away and it was an easy read, dystopian themed again, but I just didn't find a way to sympathize with the main character, and the quite undeveloped storyline of humans not growing older than a quarter century, because of nasty genetical experiments committed their ancestors, was well...nothing really new and spectacular. (2/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND

A norwegian movie about a reformatory school in that existed in the 19th century. A very congenial main character who has a big influence on his fellow inmates who unlike him, seemed to have already accepted their fate with abusive and relentless wardens. (7/10)

TOMBOY

A story about a girl who wants to be a boy. Sensitively realized. I was especially impressed by the role of Laure's little sister.  (7.5/10)

UN PROPHÈTE

A very raw and rough impression about a young kid that seems to be born into a life that can only be delinquent and still he is trying to find his way out of it. Very intense, but worth watching. (8.5/10)

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE

An interesting storyline about escapism and brainwash, I thought, but I believe the filmmakers could have made more out of it. And yes, the end was a little confusing. (6.5/10)

LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES

I was stunned to hear, that, Xavier Dolan, playing the main character in this movie, also directed it. Friggin' 23 years old, he is! Say whaaat? I had my difficulties in the beginning, but liked it more and more towards the end. This movie is giving me the feeling that I am not alone with my doubts. (8.5/10)

RESTLESS

Once again a very good job by Mia Wasikowska, reminded me a lot to the story of John Greens "The Fault in Our Stars" but didn't touch me as much. (7/10)

CRACKS

A story about stubborn boarding school girls that envy their new classmate from spain, who seemed to have much more life experience than they could collect while being locked behind the borders of their school. Oh yeah, and Eva Green plays a role, too. (6.5/10)

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

Ugh, I dunno, I thought this one was just reeeally ridiculous. Why do filmmakers always add the  character of the evil Nazi-villain to their stories? And Kevin Bacon talking german..being a native speaker, I didn't understand half of what he said. And Michael Fassbender...uhm bending that huge satellite receiver..? ughh.. (6.0/10)

AMERICAN BEAUTY

So apparantly I missed this classic. Very good acting by Kevin Spacey. But I have to admit, the main reason why I decided to watch the movie, was Wes Bentley...yeaahh..I know.. (8/10)

EASY A

Well..you just gotta like Emma Stone and her quirkiness. Cute movie, and her parents were just as adorable. (6.5/10)

deep in the meadow.

Boys. Girls. I have seen the movie. Yes, this is going to be the third blog post in a row, related or directly about the books and movie THE HUNGER GAMES and if you aren't already annoyed by it, keep on reading. Otherwise just skip ahead and hope for the next entries to be completely unrelated. Though I'm not sure if I can promise that. Sorry. 

So the movie. Perfect. I have no words. k, thanks, bye...

...is what I probably would have said, right after seeing it on thursday. I felt utterly satisfied about what Gary Ross, together with the autor Suzanne Collins and the amazing cast have conjured here. I realized, out of the few adaptions I have seen so far and actually read the book in advance (I only recall recent adaptions like "The Road" or "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (swedish version)) this was the closest a director ever got to the original. They could have messed it up, big time. But they included so many details I was really happy about seeing them reappear on screen. Of course they also took out some stuff, but none of it really important enough to make me go, "Nooo, why would you do that, that was so substantial?" And knowing this, I think, the filmmakers had a really hard job, putting all this in 2 hours and 20 minutes. It sounds really long but at no part I had the feeling that this or that scene was too much. More like the opposite. I wished some things could have been prolonged and in some parts it appeared a little bit rushed. But then again, they couldn't have made a four hours long movie, right? Although, I would have been in for it! ;) 

So what else can I do but wait for the 22nd of November 2013, when Catching Fire will be released?

Exactly. I'm going to do what I urgently felt to do right after getting out of the theatre on thursday. I am going to rewatch the movie. A lot. 

Along these lines "thank you, for your consideration".