I wish I was a fast reader... My summer reading list.

I've got a vacation coming up in a week... 2 weeks at our cabin in the Black Hills, nothing but time to read, watch movies, relax, and watch deer cross the meadow. I've got a lot of great books that have been sitting around, calling my name. I hope to get a lot of reading done, even though there's no way I will read all of these by the end of summer. These are just plain fun and I have heard great things about them. In no particular order:


Spells by Aprilynn Pike. It's the sequel to Wings, which I looooved. Simple, pretty prose... fun and adventurous faerie story. I've never really read faerie books, so this series has my interest peaked.


The Dark: New Ghost Stories, edited by Ellen Datlow. I bought this anthology over a year ago, read a couple of stories, then put it down for some reason. Gotta finish it. The cover alone is reason enough.


The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle, by L.J. Smith. I absolutely love the show, so I want to know how the books compare. Interestingly, the copyright date on this 2-in-1 book is 1991. Took them a while to make the show, eh?


Marked (A House of Night Novel) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. I always see these books while hanging out in the YA section of the bookstore. My friends love them, so I bought the 1st in this series.


The Host, by Stephenie Meyer. I'm such a big Twilight fan and yet haven't read this adult novel by Stephenie. I think it's time, don't you?


Now, those books I have in my little hands. There are a few books I want to read that I haven't bought yet, including The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Water for Elephants, and Catching Fire.

Better get reading!

God Bless Pandora radio.

I just love Pandora. I listen to it at home and work and it introduces me to great songs and artists that I either forgot about or had never heard of before. I have one station--based on A Fine Frenzy's music--and two songs came on today. Just very chill songs.

The first song was "Cut" by Plumb. I knew I had heard this song before and it was killing me that I couldn't remember. Where have I heard this before?!? Then it hit me: This song played during a romantic scene in The Vampire Diaries. Ah. Click here to watch the scene with the song, or just listen to the full song below:




The second song was "Claustrophobe" by Katie Todd. I'd never heard of this girl before. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the exact song anywhere online to show you... but click here for her website and a list of her releases.


I love it when I find good music... I'll have to download both of these albums on Rhapsody when I get home today! :)

Sia

Can't get this song out of my head. "Don't Bring Me Down" by Sia

Alice in Wonderland was...weird.

I'm not sure what I think about Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland. Let's see... I loved the music. Johnny Depp's eyes freaked me out. The Red Queen was excellent. Other than that... it was a bit too much and hard to follow at times. I understand the story and all, but some of the dialogue was fast and hard to understand.

Overall... Kinda trippy.

Emotional Rollercoaster: Remember Me

I've been meaning to watch Remember Me (starring Twilight's Robert Pattinson) for a while now. Motivation struck the other night and I took a trip to my local Redbox. 2 hours later I'm wiped out from everything that I saw in this film. (Don't worry, no major spoilers)

Remember Me really got under my skin and had me thinking about certain scenes for some time afterwards. The movie is sad, but funny and compelling. There is death, passionate romance, school bullies, sex, smoking, drinking, bar fights, grieving, and laughing. I was surprised by the emotional depth of this film. Was there too much? I don't know. Maybe. It was a lot to process, but I was pretty riveted. I was actually surprised it was only rated PG-13.

Robert Pattinson was really exceptional in this film. He plays Tyler--a real guy with real problems. And he's believable. He's got anger issues that land him in jail on more than one occasion. He falls in love with a girl who shares a similar tragic past. Here's a clip from the movie:




The ending didn't surprise me because I knew it was coming. I had accidentally read something online about it, so I had a feeling. But, I probably would not have been prepared for that ending. Despite it, I understand now the purpose of the ending.

Oh, and by the way, the guy who plays his roommate, Aiden, is quite annoying. I don't know if it was the character or the actor, but he was loud and obnoxious. LOL

Looking forward to watching it again with some friends!

Paranormal Activity 2? Yes, please!

Yes, they have made another one! *claps in excitement*

I was pleasantly shocked when I saw the trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 at the theater recently. Scary movies are my faaaaaaaavorite types of movies, and the first Paranormal Activity scared the holy hell out of me. Probably the most scared I've been watching a film since The Blair Witch Project.

Now, these types of movies (scary amateur/documentary types made to look authentic) are not everyone's cup of tea. You either love 'em or hate 'em. I have seen a tremendous amount of scary films over the years. Paranormal Activity brought me to the point of covering my eyes and ears, which I NEVER do. I thought I was just about desensitized because of all the blood, guts, ghosts, and devils I've seen in film. Paranormal Activity shocked me and the only thing I kept thinking while sitting through it was, "When is this going to end??!?"

Being scared in a movie is fun for me. You have to admit, Paranormal Activity was a pretty unique film. I loved reading about how it was made and the experience the actors had making it.

Now, here is the trailer for Paranormal Activity 2. Prepare yourselves:



Crazy!!! Watchers of this trailer have debated whether or not the girl standing in the bathroon doorway at the end of the trailer is Katie from the first film. I think it's unlikely. My opinion is that the powers-that-be have probably created a whole new story line for this sequel.

Did you notice that both the baby and the dog are missing in that very last shot? So scary!

New music I'm loving...

Thanks to the Eclipse soundtrack, I got introduced to an artist who is really wonderful. Florence + The Machine has a haunting quality to her music, which is laced with beating drums and a smooth, smoky voice. Her song on the Eclipse soundtrack is called "Heavy in Your Arms" and it's really powerful. But, what I love most is that her lyrics are very poetic and use lots of metaphor. Love that!

Here is one of my favorites from her album, Lungs. It's called "Cosmic Love"



:o)

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Of course, how can I make a blog without posting something Twilight-related? I'm a HUGE Twi-hard, and I recently saw the newest film. It really brought back all those old "I feel like I'm a 16-year-old teeny bopper" feelings again. This movie was really good. I have already seen it twice and it's only been out a day. Can Robert Pattinson be any more pretty? Seriously, Rob, you are killing me! More on this movie later...

Here we go, people.

Hello, world!

I am new to this blog thing, but I think I can handle it. After all, I am a professional. :) My name's Sarah, I'm a married 26-year-old chick who lives outside of Omaha, Nebraska in a suburb called Papillion. (That's Pah-PILL-ee-yun, not the French butterfly thing) I'm proud to say Papio (as we call it) was rated one of the top 5 best places to live. :)

I have a full life: a wonderful husband, a full-time overnight job in a psychiatric hospital, incredible friends and family, and graduate school. Still, I am constantly watching movies, listening to music, and reading amazing books. Hell, it's what I do in my free time. I read and watch to anything I want. I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog for a long time, but I didn't know what to make it "about". I'm passionate about a lot of things in life, and many of them seem to center around incredible stories--whether they be in movies, books, or music. Gotta share the love!

I hope to have fun with this. Check back soon for fun stuff!