Movie Review/Fangirling: Summer Wars

Title: Summer Wars

Running time: 120 min

Distributor: FUNimation Productions

Release date: 02-15-2011

Rated: PG

Summary taken from Anime News Network:

Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He's good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has - until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiance at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there. A late-night email containing a cryptic mathematic riddle leads to the unleashing of a rogue AI intent on using the virtual word of OZ to destroy the real world, literarily. As Armageddon looms on the horizon, Kenji and his new "family" set aside their differences and band together to save the worlds they inhabit.

5 STARS - IT WAS AMAZING! WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS ITS AWESOMENESS.

My review/fangirling:

I don't even know where to begin. This is my attempt at reviewing one of the greatest anime movies [or any movie in general] that I have seen in ages whilst trying not to fangirl too much after having finish watching it only a few minutes ago.

I had already read some reviews for this movie a while ago which were all praise, so I had some high expectations. The reviews were right; this movie completely blew me away with its awesomeness.

Summer Wars is the epitome of a perfect movie. It has everything that contributes together into making it one of the greatest movies in created in ages. It has a solid plot, bits of romance and drama, action, plenty of suspense, moments of sorrow, complimenting background music, amazing art and CG work, and the most endearing characters that makes you cheer and empathize with.

When Kenji goes to Natsuki's family gathering, he doesn't expect for his life to change so drastically. What starts out like a beginning to a romantic comedy is really the beginning of an adventure that Kenji and Natsuki's family must embark to save the world. Sorta. I can't tell you everything or else it'll spoil the plot. :P

I loved watching the character growth that Kenji goes throughout the movie. While he was still shy and timid like he was in the beginning of the movie, he really grew a backbone and did everything that he could to help out as the movie went on, thus becoming the hero in the end.

The rest of the characters also showed a lot of growth throughout the movie. While the characters were all already well developed and with unique personalities, they all grew, learned, forgave, and worked together to help stop the bad guy as the movie progressed. I haven't felt such a strong connection to a family as Natsuki's in a long time; I'd love to have a family such as hers.

I can't even talk about the plot without giving it away. It's just amazing, especially in the second half of the movie when the plot really picks up.

You go through so many emotions throughout the movie: amusement, confusion, amazement, impatience, sadness, hope, pride, anticipation, and joy. Summer Wars is one rollercoaster of a movie that's great to watch with family and/or friends.

My only complaint about the movie is that the FUNimation subtitle team didn't bother to translate the kanji on the messages and some of the word bubbles in the movie when they were in the game, so I couldn't understand what the in-game characters were saying. However, it only happened a few times, and I could use context clues to figure out what they were saying, so it wasn't too much of a trouble.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. It's amazing. I need to go and buy me a copy of it right away and then re-watch it because it's so great. Then, I'm going to force my friends and family to watch it and make them jump on the fangirl bandwagon. :)

Check out the trailer! Although it shows some of the best scenes in the movie if you want a little spoiler...

My Lazy Day

Surprisingly, I didn't have to babysit today which meant a whole day for me to be lazy and do whatever at home. :D

Unfortunately, I didn't throw a wild party or go out. That's just too much effort. :P I had other plans.

Have you ever heard of "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars? It's awesome. I'd totally like to spend a whole day like the lyrics say. Except for the naked part, lol.

My day was kind of like the song although I also did some other productive things, too.

After staying in bed and reading Going Bovine til around 2 in the afternoon [I don't even know if I can write a review on it once I'm finished--the journey's so long and crazy!], I called the interweb company since our interweb hasn't been working since last night. I fixed the problem within 15-20 minutes.

I started working on cleaning my room after checking all of my blog subscriptions and looking at some books over at goodreads. I really need to stop doing that; my wishlist increases every time I get on goodreads.

Anyway, back to cleaning my room which was felt like it was the first time I had done it since the beginning of the year from the amount of dust I found covering everything. There was so much on the bottom shelves of my bookshelves and on top of my desk!

After that, I vacuumed my room. You'd think that it was an easy enough task. Well, it's not. Not when you have piles of TBR books lining a wall of your room and even more stacks elsewhere in your room.

I had to pick all of those stacks of books up and put them on my bed to vacuum. Looking at my bed, I honestly can't believe that I bought so many books. What's worse is that I have even more piles of TBR books in my closet [I'll save those pictures for another day, don't want you to see just how big my problem is, lol].

Hopefully, looking at all of those books will stop me from buying anymore books so that I can finally save up money to get me a new laptop.

Actually, I'm not sure what happened to the rest of my day...time just flew by without my notice. -__-"

So yeah, that's what's been up today. :D

Catch ya later~

pointy.star

Book Review: Promise (Soul Savers #1) by Kristi Cook

Title: Promise (Soul Savers #1)
Author: Kristi Cook

Pages: 368

Publication: July 30, 2010

Publisher: Ang'dora Productions

Summary taken from goodreads:

Alexis Ames decides to learn who she really is, with or without the help of her mother, who guards their secrets closely. After meeting Tristan Knight and discovering that he's not normal either, the secrets begin to unravel. Their union brings promise to the future of mankind. But it also incites a dangerous pursuit by the enemy. Because they are a match made in Heaven and in Hell.

2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

My Review:

This book just...didn't really hold my interest.

The main reason why I even finished the book was because I initially kept on telling myself that the book would get better if I just got a little farther in the story, but then I was more than half way through with it, and I still didn't care if I ever finished the book. It became an obligation by then for me to finish reading Promise because of the fact that I was almost done with the book anyway, so I might as well finish it.

There were a couple of reasons why I did not enjoy Promise so much. While there were some good scenes and interesting action sequences, the cons outweighed the pros. For one, there were so many cheesy romantic scenes in the book that had me groaning almost every time; I'm just glad that most of them were only one- or two-liners. Alexis kind of pissed me off at the climax and the whole time afterwords -- her attitude and actions just made her suddenly seem like this weak, needy girl who didn't want to understand what was going on. And the way that the story was told just didn't interest me enough to want to read it immediately, which is why it took me so long to finish Promise (other than the fact that I had a very busy life for the past few weeks).

Anyway, I'm sure that many people will enjoy this first book of the Soul Saver series. I, however, did not.

serious insanity's Creation and Renovations

I originally started this blog as an extension of my journals that I kept because it was easier to post pictures and embed videos on a blog than it was to print millions of pictures and describe videos in my journal.

While I obviously kept my journals private, I kept my blog public because I'm a dreamer who's read too many books, even when I was in middle school. After reading a couple of books about people becoming great friends online, I hoped to have the same thing happen to me. It still hasn't happened, and even though I don't particularly care if it never does happen now, I definitely wouldn't mind if it ever did. :)

As the years passed, I became more focused on my blog than my journal. I still write in my journal a few times a year, but I've been posting on here much more regularly just because everything that I talk about is usually connected to some external links or pictures that is easier to post about than hand writing it all.

But what was the purpose of my blog and journal? I kept them to write down important events and interests that occurred to me because I wanted to be able to look back and remember them all. I have a pretty bad memory so I knew that writing everything down would make sure that I wouldn't totally forget everything that has ever happened to me.

Plus, I always liked looking back and seeing how much my handwriting and writing style has changed over the years which is one of the main reasons why I still write in my journal a few times a year.

So, since this blog was created for me to post about whatever happened to me or whatever has caught my interest, I figured that I might as well incorporate everything that I do online on here. What I'm talking about is: I'm going to start posting reviews on here as well as keeping up with my regular updates as well.

I write reviews for some advanced reader's copies that I get and also review books that I have read whenever I have something to say about them whether it be good or bad, and I post them all up on my goodread's account.

Now, I'm going to post my reviews up on serious insanity, too. My blog isn't going to become a book blog, though, especially since I usually don't write full, proper reviews on many of the books that I read, so the reviews are most likely going to be sporadic. I'll prolly write reviews for movies and other stuff on here, too. I don't know yet, since this is all spur of the moment.

So far, I have already planned to post some of my more recent reviews on here, to start putting tags on those posts and the other posts that are memes [only for those cuz I have no idea how to categorize any of my other posts, lol], and plan to write plenty of mini reviews [on some of the recent books that I've read and on future books] just because I usually write short reviews for half of the books that I read anyway.

All of these reviews and changes aren't going to happen too quickly; that's just too much work for someone as lazy as me. They'll prolly be spread out from the rest of this week all the way til the end of April if I have that many old reviews to work with.

Fair warning to those who actually stumble upon my blog, my reviews are usually unprofessional and ramble-y. :P

So! I'm going to go get started on all of these changes!

Ta!

pointy.star

In My Mailbox (24)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

So many books! And my Spring Break has officially started so I'm totally ready to get my read on! :D

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman

The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart

Meridian by Amber Kizer

The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter

Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

A Brief History of Montmarary by Michelle Cooper

Seeing Red by Frank Beddor

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar

Vampire Academy Signature Edition by Richelle Mead

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

ArchEnemy by Frank Beddor

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

That Summer by Sarah Dessen [for my sis]

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Wither by Lauren DeStefano [I am in coverlust with this book. O__O]

Hey guys. It's Friday, Friday, Friday...

Lol, you'll have to watch this music video to understand.

Everybody at my school has been talking about Rebecca Black's song, "Friday", for the past week. And if you actually stopped and watch her mv, you'll understand why.

The song sucks. The lyrics are stupid, she sounds nasally whenever she sings the chorus, kids that young shouldn't even be driving a car, and a whole bunch of other stuff are the main complaints that everyone I've talked to has said about "Friday".

Anyway, that isn't the main topic of today's post. Actually, I've got some random things to talk about. Like always. :P

First of all, Spring Break has officially started! That means lots of time to read and catch up on movies and dramas! :D

I'm so glad that the week's finally over! I stayed up til one in the morning Wednesday night to finish writing my research paper and woke up an hour early to check it over one more time before printing out the final copy. Actually, I was surprised to realize that I finished writing it so early. I was expecting to stay up til four in the morning, so I was doing a happy dance in between proofreading at one.

And you can't even imagine the bliss I felt knowing that I was finally done with the whole thing the next day in first period when I turned it in. It was indescribable. Also probably from the fact that I had been getting 3-5 hours of sleep for the past few days which made me feel daze half of the time I was awake. -__-"

So yeah, it felt great to half that pressure finally gone. Plus the fact that I found out that I made a 100 on the math quiz I took on the same day the paper was due. :D

The other day, I realized that I totally forgot that it was serious insanity's 3rd anniversary waayyy back in January. And while checking my older posts, I found out that I did have a post up on that day, it was for a IMM post, lol.

I'm such a lousy blogger. :P

So here's my super belated shout out to my blog: HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY/BIRTHDAY! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I'VE BEEN BLOGGING FOR SO LONG. :c

It seems like I'm always catching up with everything these days. The other day, I was on youtube (which was how I found out about Rebecca Black's song over the weekend), catching up with all of my subscriptions, and I saw a new video that Ryan Higa posted two weeks ago. This video is just another reason why I love that guy. He's amazingly kind and funny.

Also, it was revealed a couple of weeks/last week, that Jennifer Lawrence is going to play Katniss in the Hunger Games movie!

Like most people, I had never heard of her before, so I was pretty skeptical on her acting chops. Plus, I wasn't too sure about her physical appearance either since Katniss has dark hair and an olive skin tone.

But...I watched Winter's Bone, which I think is her first lead role in a movie, and I think she'll make a decent Katniss. She can act, and she can be tough. I'm just wondering what movie magic they'll use in the end to better portray her as Katniss. That, and who's going to play Peeta and Cinna. :D

And that's all for now, folks!

Later!

pointy.star

This is What Happens When You Take Drugs

While working on my research paper, I came across this video, which is like what the title of the video says: it's really freaky. Definitely don't want to take drugs for sure. :P

Watch it~

Anyway, I have to go study my butt off for my AP Bio test tomorrow and try to work on my research paper that's due on Thursday. Fun! [NOT! :P]

How is it that it's only Tuesday?! This week already feels like forever! D:

On the plus side, I came home and found two packages~ can't wait to show you what I got IMM on Sunday! Especially since I'm expecting another package later on in the week! :D

Later guys~

pointy.star

In My Mailbox (23)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Hetalia Axis Powers vol. 2 by Hidekaz Himaruya

Scott Pilgrim vol. 1 by Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim vol. 2 by Lee O'Malley

Pandora Hearts vol. 4 by Jun Mochizuki

Alice in the Country of Hearts vol. 2 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino

Alice in the Country of Hearts vol. 5 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

Revelations by  Melissa de la Cruz

The Van Alan Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz 

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Tumblr Pics 8

Pretty truths and unexpected moments. :3

The Good and the Bad

Lol, I first typed The Good and The Abd as the title. Abd...Abbed...get it? XD

 

Or am I the only one who noticed that...? o__O

Anyway, recently, Japan has been going through some really tough times. First, an 8.9 earthquake struck, causing a whole bunch of fires, and the country was hit by an unexpected tsunami. Now its citizens are in a panic about their nuclear power reactors possibly exploding.

I haven't really had the time to read all of the articles, so I'm not totally sure exactly what's going on with the nuclear reactors part, but yeah, Japan's still going through some rough times, and I feel awful about it.

For the past few weeks, I've been busy worrying about my own life, which seems very insignificant compared to the thousands of people who have lost their lives or are missing in Japan.

I really hope that things will get better. Japan's been hit so hard and so suddenly, and it's just not right. Japan shouldn't be suffering so much.

Here's some pictures that really speaks for everything I can't seem to articulate.

You can see the rest of the pics from this site here.

So here's some good news to counter that somber bit of reality: I'm finally done with my graduation tests!

Testing was from Monday through Thursday this week, lasting for three class periods each day. Although I was kind of iffy on some of the answers for every section, I'm pretty sure that I passed, so I'm not too worried about not graduating anymore. :D

Actually, all of my major tests are finally over! I took the National Latin Exam last Friday and completely guessed on almost all of the questions, which is okay, if I bombed it since it doesn't count as a grade at all.

On Saturday, I took the SATs running on three hours of sleep. Needless to say, I zombied through the second half of the thing. It lasted from 8-1 in the afternoon! My brain was completely fried by the end of the day, especially since I hadn't had any caffeine at all.

If only it really was like this. XD

Lol, I just found out that there's a controversy going on about the essay part of the SATs.

Here's the topic that we had:

Reality television programs, which feature real people engaged in real activities rather than professional actors performing scripted scenes, are increasingly popular. These shows depict ordinary people competing in everything from singing and dancing to losing weight, or just living their everyday lives. Most people believe that the reality these shows portray is authentic, but they are being misled. How authentic can these shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?

Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?

Since I don't watch tv, I didn't really know what to write about although Jersey Shore immediately popped into my mind as I was reading the topic [I've never watched the show, but everyone's talked about how stupid everyone on there is, so I got the basics :P].

In the end, I didn't even write about Jersey Shore. I wrote about how reality shows help its viewers by showing an example of what could happen to people and the consequences that they would have to go through. Basically, you don't have to experience the stupidity that people on tv go through. :P

Back to my earlier topic... so yeah, I finished all of my major tests since I only had to worry about my graduation tests this week, and I was officially finished with that Thursday afternoon. Hallelujah~ XD

Now I only have to worry about my AP Bio test next Wednesday, my research paper that's due next Thursday, and my US History test on Friday. And I'm pretty sure I have some other quizzes thrown in there, too, since it's the last week before Spring Break.

I'm going to be so stressed out until Spring Break finally starts. ;__;

Anyway, that's it for now. 

Cya laters~

pointy.star

In My Mailbox (22)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Bought from Right Stuf: 

Alice the 101st vol. 1 by Chigusa Kawai

Mikansei No. 1 vol. 1 by Majikoi

Bought from my local indie:
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
The Golden Ass by Apulieus, Translated by Jack Lindsay
The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
Wake by Lisa McMann [read this a few years ago; it rocked]
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Ebooks bought from Smashwords:

Princess Electra by Dory Lee Maske

Promise by Kristie Cook

Beautiful Sins: Olivia Lowery by Jennifer Hampton

 Jason Willow by Gareth Mottram

The Forest of Adventure by Katie M. John

The Other Sides of Life by Jess C. Scott

 Warriors of the Cross by T.R. Graves