[Brain Candy] - The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

"You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are." - Augustus to Hazel




How does one even begin a review of a John Green novel? There is absolutely nothing that can be said about the beauty of a John Green novel that could compare in depth or breadth to the beauty of the John Green novel itself. Particularly this one.

For me, reading The Fault In Our Stars was a religious experience. From beginning to end, this book was a flawless masterpiece. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that.

Though The Fault In Our Stars is not really a new story - love tainted by the painful inevitability of terminal illness - I can honestly say that what Mr. Green has created here is one of the most beautiful, poignant, true and heartbreaking novels I've ever read.

Green's prose is perfectly executed and his characters so realistic and lovably 'real'. Every word, every thought, every second of interaction with the story, speeds you along to the next on a rollercoaster of emotion that leaves you gasping for breath.

You will cry, and you will laugh.
You will wonder how it is already 1am.

Seriously. I read this in one sitting, in one evening. After being particularly engrossed, for what I would later find was several hours, I found that it was very early morning. It didn't matter. I could not even consider putting it down. That is truly all that needs to be said. Read this book. Your life will be better for it.

John Green is THE man.

[Brain Candy] - Across The Universe & A Million Suns by Beth Revis

This past weekend, I stumbled onto a goldmine of amazingness. Beth Revis's Across the Universe series. Of which, two books have been released (the second one only just). I believe a third is planned and I absolutely cannot wait.

The plot: A teenage girl named Amy joins her parents as part of a cryogenics experiment on a cargo ship bound for a new planet. She awakens expecting to be on a new planet three hundred years from when she was placed in stasis. What she doesn't expect is that she has been awoken too soon and that in the two hundred-fifty years she has been asleep, the ships inhabitants have become very different than the people she knew in her time. She meets - and is immediately fascinated by - Elder, who was bred to be the future leader of the ship and what unfolds is an adventure and a love she could never have imagined.

The Verdict: Excellent. Obviously. I ingested these books (some 900 pages) back-to-back in one weekend. They are absolutely fantastic. The plot has a million twists and turns, the suspense is high throughout the entire book and Amy is a wonderfully accessible, normal teenage girl who takes on extraordinary circumstances. I particularly love this series (as it is told from her POV) because she is not the typical, weak-willed teen girl archetype. Yes, there's a romance element to this series, but it is about far, far more than that - and Amy struggles constantly with being her own woman in a world completely alien to her.

Sci-Fi setting, mystery/suspense, romance AND a strong female POV voice. This series has it all. As I said, I absolutely cannot wait for the third and I recommend these books to teens and adults alike.

[Film Review] - Winter's Bone

I've always been a big supporter of Hollywood films. They tend to get a bad reputation for being stupid, full of flash but no substance. I think it'd be hard to make a case against that claim, but that doesn't mean major Hollywood films aren't enjoyable. In fact, I have loved many major Hollywood films.

Having said this, I do think the Indie market is where films that have a chance to make a difference are being made - the kind of movie that moves you to something other than fantasizing about making out with Hollywood's latest beefcake. My love of a good Rom-Com aside, I do think that film should be used as a medium to tell a real story. Not necessarily to make a political or moral statement, but to help the audience to understand the story of someone else's life.

I recently watched Winter's Bone which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in January, and was released on DVD in late October. It is based on the novel of the same name. It is a beautiful, subtle, heartbreaking, heroic story of a 17 year-old Missouri girl named Ree Dolly who is the acting matriarch of her family. Her father - who got tangled up in meth cooking a long time ago - is gone and left Ree's two younger siblings and ill mother in Ree's care. When the sheriff arrives and tells Ree that her daddy used their house as bail, Ree seeks out her father to make ensure her family gets to keep their home; which is about the only thing they have in the world.

In a recent interview, Jennifer Lawrence (who you might recognize from TBS's The Bill Engvall Show) spoke about how it's hard for a young woman, particularly a blond, to find a role with any substance in movies. Jennifer Lawrence has surely made a name for herself with this role. She gives a riveting, silent performance. Ree is a modern day heroine, less a teenager and more a strong, independent woman who will do anything necessary to protect the people she loves.

Winter's Bone is absolutely a must-see movie. The performance's are stunning (particularly Jennifer Lawrence as Ree) and the score is haunting. There are few movies of this caliber our there today.

View the trailer:

[Ear Candy] Green River Ordinance - Best New Band in Years!

It doesn't get much better than this.

I got introduced to Green River Ordinance on Kris Allen's Summer 2010 tour. GRO was the opening act and they were amazing. I immediately got their album and fell in love. GRO just recently split with their label and released not one but two new EP's on their own. The first, Wait a Minute More, is a re-release of some of their older material (pre-major label). The second is The Morning Passengers, an entirely acoustic EP. It's pure heaven. "Dancing Shoes" (from above) is from TMP.

For a mere 6 dollars, run don't walk to the nearest computer and buy this EP on iTunes...and their full length album if you don't already own it!

Don't know if you'll like acoustic? Watch this video I took at the Kris Allen/GRO concert in Minneapolis earlier this summer. The lead singer hushed us all and played totally acoustically. We were all mesmerized.

[Ear Candy] What I'm Listening To - August 2010

The Rescues - Break Me Out

A 45-mile daily commute is a good excuse to listen to music. The other day I just set my radio to scan through available stations and after a few searches, I heard a station playing this song. It usually takes me at least five listens to a song to like it, but I liked this song immediately. It's so bouncy and catchy!

Break me out tonight/I wanna see the sun rising anywhere but here
Come with me/Oh, this could be/The only chance we get/We gotta take it

Maroon 5 - Misery

Maroon 5's latest single - Misery - also falls into the bouncy and fun category. Quite antithetical to it's lyrics, Misery's melodic line is pop-y with a great hook -- exactly what I love about Maroon 5's music. I've heard some criticism in regard to this song being nothing more than stereotypical Maroon 5, but why fix something that works? A new song to groove to in the car is always appreciated.

I am in misery/There ain't no other/Who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me/Your silence is slowly killing me

Doves - There Goes the Fear 

Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams

The first time I saw 500 Days of Summer, I didn't like it. After seeing Inception twice, I decided that my love for Joseph Gordon Levitt was great enough to warrant a second chance. I'm really glad I did because not only is the movie excellent, it is full of great music! 

I heard Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams come true on the radio and I couldn't suppress the image of JGL doing that happy dance through the park after he "gets" the girl. I love how music can do that; how it can be so linked to a memory or an important moment in life.