Archive for August 2015

5 Word Summary: ZOMBIES, BLOGGING, HEART & POLITICAL INTRIGUE

Hey guys! Haven't done a book post in a while- have been reading regularly but didn't have anything much to say about stuff I read. (Maybe I'm just really lazy, or I think you guys may honestly not be interested in the stuff I read. Either way, I didn't get around compartmentalising the Marilyn Monroe biography...nor the Aung San one...and so there. / shrugs)

Today Imma be sharing the book Feed by Mira Grant.

What's it about: Two non-blood related siblings Georgia and Shaun live in a post-zombie world. They take blood tests everywhere- it's the standard procedure to limit contamination and infection. They are bloggers. Georgia's a Newsie- she reports fact. Shaun is an Irwin (yep, inspired by Steve Irwin)- a kinda of daredevil stunt type blogger. In a world where people try to stay indoors forever and a crowd is '15' people, these daredevils go out, get field footage and basically ' live'.

Add in Buffy, their tech-head and Fictional- people who write fic and poetry. The gang gets the gig of their live- reporting on the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman. Throw in politcal mystery and intrigue, action, zombies, danger, heart wrenching moments and ta da! You get a solid book.

Was honestly quite surprised by how I much I enjoyed this book. It's a little more thick and drawn out than necessary, but ah well. It drew me into its world and kept me engaged. And left me inspired. I believe the writer did her work.

WHAT I LOVED:
-How blogging is a legit thing. How traditional media ain't trusted anymore. This shit was written in 2010, and in 2015 the concept is still holding strong.

Okay, some context here: George was telling us about how the traditional news outlet dismissed early reports of the zombie infection very casually- supplying TV screens with 'teenagers horsing around with latex and bad stage makeup', while the blogosphere was already dishing out tips on self-defense and tips on how to survive. People felt immensely betrayed- millions of lives were lost. All because they didn't BELIEVE to spread the message. Oh my god.

"There was a war on, and the ones whose responsibility was to inform us wouldn't even admit that we were fighting it."

How haunting is this statement? When you are brought up to believe everything you're told, and never question the 'official stance'? I shudder at this thought. This is why people think there are govt conspiracies all the time.

I mean, I hate red tape and protocol (who doesn't?) but yes, they are put there for a reason. Who's gonna be held accountable at the end of the day if you fk up the checks just cuz you were lazy? What if you let low level employees who reall didn't think hard enough before releasing your statement to the press? Sometimes in a big corporation or organisation things like that are just not very feasible. You have to run through things with someone on top before you get an all clear.

"People don't fear truth. They fear that a part of it is being withdrawn."

Epic food for thought huh.

"In another time, they were anti-Semitic, antiblack, anti-women's liberation, anti-gay, or all of the above. Now, they're antizombie in the most extreme ways possible, and they use their extremity to claim that the rest of us are somehow supporting the 'undead agenda."

This. This is going to happen everywhere, anywhere, and always, no matter what era you live in. Someone just hates the guts of things like that, and no matter how unfair it is, they'll always find a way to hate.

I also liked the ideas of how religion came into play? Religion, politics, people blogging on the ground. Interesting mix. The religious fanatics also reminded me of Wall Maria and basically everything in Attack on Titan. Which I hesitate to watch due to the lack of Levi. How and seriously why is not in the movie? So puzzling.

I also liked how the some of the journo's jobs were to moderate the forums and websites- life would be hell when there is just spam and hate messages everywhere, without actual discussion of any sort. Fking respect la people who devote their lives to their work/passion/ one main thing.

NOPE:

Unbelievable 'parents'... meh.
Didn't like the starting chapter either, but glad I stayed on. In hindsight I lowered my expectations a lot and I found that I enjoyed the book more as I went along. The world builds on its own.
Repetitive sequences
Chasing ratings. I don't hate this idea, but I find it kind of depressing to be chasing ratings, though it is a realistic goal. Dumb thing is I'm trying to fix one of these such ideas in my own new writing project, Top Ten. Wonder if I will even get this story out.

Fun drinking game:
Take a shot each time someone says stuff like:

Shaun poking at dead things
George's retinal KA condition
Whenever someone takes a blood test

PROPS

To all journos with all the integrity and oath to report the truth
And also to all security men- the people who will die to keep you safe.
I also liked the Extras section where the author talks a little about herself and the book. It's always heartwarming to see what they're inspired by. Many of them knew they wanted to be writers a long way before- for Mira she knew when she was 6. For others, they worked in copywriting before they wrote and published a novel. When someone mentions an experience that you had, you feel an instant bond and am super inspired too. At least for me. Maybe that's why like when the first women who held high positions in traditionally male dominated workplaces, it's really, really an encouraging thing. You're basically saying, "You can do it too." It really galvanises people who never saw themselves ever achieving things like that- our societies really train us to think in such square boxes.

Also I was reading a review by another Goodreads user and discovered the term 'Mary Sue'. A Mary Sue character is usually described as an ideal character that is too perfect and therefore lacking in realism. They are thought to be poorly developed and uninteresting. In other words, FLAT. (Sidenote: this term arose from a Star Trek thing!)

I realised then, that I have been writing Mary Sue main characters. That's why I can flesh out my supporting kids, my sidekicks, but when you make me write my main character, they're flat like a chopping board. Grr.

Yep. Go check it out. For other books, check out World War Z (made into a movie, I also had an epic dream of stabbing a zombie, building and holding a safe fort against zombies them- wow I'm so badass even in my dreams HAHA).

I haven't watched the Walking Dead, but SHOULD I?! Haha.

Also after another zombie book I totally really wanted to own a baseball bat just so I had a weapon that I can hit them with. (But of course, baseball bats mean short range attacks where you just die more easily.)

First up, we have Ondeh Ondeh Pancakes from the cafe Collective Brewers (near Eunos MRT).

This stuff is rather pricey ($14), but it's quite shiok la. Haha. Just nice for two people, great for sweet tooths. The gula melaka coconut shavings GAO GAO I really liked that. The ice cream was just plain enough to set off the sweetness too. That's Kai Lin's cold drip coffee in the background- I sadly can't really appreciate coffee so I won't comment. Haha.

I keep seeing Ondeh Ondeh cupcakes/pastry etc around so I'm definitely gonna go try them out. Much love to ondeh ondeh <3 Just the other day I spotted a Durian Liu Sha Bao- stay tuned for that bros.

Next up, we have the Strawberry & Chocolate Shibuya Toast from Loaves Me. This Thai restaurant/cafe is located at SMU/Bras Basah Exit B).

This Shibuya Toast may not be the most authentic, but it might be one of the cheapest in SG so far?! The usual price is $15 ~~~ $20 siols (but their cubes are bigger, + more ice cream). But at a more reasonable $6.50, the size is just nice for two. There's a cheese flavour & some hazelnut chocolate/banana one too.

Lee lee taking a better photo of the cube, I'm sure :) I enjoyed this! Pop by this cafe for a quick bite. We didn't bother trying the Thai dishes though haha.

Lastly! I finally got to try macarons from Sinfulcakes! I follow quite a lot of food/pastry Instagrams and I think this was recommended to me by Instagram's Explore or something like that? But anyway Raimy makes these halal macarons that are HELLA CUTE:

(Pictures from sinfulcake's instagram)

I think Raimy doesn't really take orders anymore due to overwhelming demand, but he's sometimes at fleas or has some kinda bake sale promo going on! I've been following him for a while so when he posted a $14 for 20 macarons 9 Aug deal, IM LIKE ONZZZZ.

Been craving for home made macarons ever since I got to eat MCM's matcha macarons & also my tutee's macarons. The ones that I eat outside always seem very stale, but these homemade ones always taste yummy~~~!

SO HOLLAAA! Much love for sugar.

Paper Towns! AKA the new John Green book-to-movie.

What's it about: Young Quentin falls in love with his neighbour, the mysterious and cool rebel Margo. They drift apart. Fast forward to the end of high school, when Margo suddenly enters his life again. Cue adventure and teen romance. Ba dump ba dump.

What I liked:

Quentin's trio friendship with Bloody Ben and Radar. The whole thing about ending school and not being able to hang out with your friends can definitely hit you in the feels (especially if you just graduated).

Seriously? It must suck x1000 when everyone leaves the hometown and scatter across the country (US, not a tiny country like ours.)

Quentin reminds me of Zachary Levi x Michael Cera, both actors whom I like. Haha.

Quentin, aka 'Q'

Meanwhile, I'm divided on whether I find Margo (ie model slash actress slash etc etc etc multi-talented young lady Cara Delevigne homg she is a 1992 baby) pretty or not. She's definitely not the run of the mill pretty girl type, but I can't decide if I like looking at her face?!?!?! /CONFUSED

I swear it's the eyebrows. But that is like her trademark look.

At some angles she felt like Emma Watson (red dress scene), while the younger self and at some angles she felt like Lindsay Lohan to me (I miss your movies, Lindsay!!!)

Young Margo, already fierce. Haha.

But that said I think she's a great choice for playing Margo, who is an unconventional person in the story. She does has a special 'something'.

The night scenes/ie. the revenge plots remind me of my youth and havoc nights. Such. Fun. Times. X) I miss the feeling of having the world at our fingertips. I miss when the world was asleep and it was just us.

Wut:

Rather different from the book, but lol ok movie adaptation with an ending that I am somewhat... okay with. I don't feel very cheated or whatever. And though Margo is a hella selfish character, the rest of the bunch are great friends and such loyal buddies. Quentin's steadfast love is also very mindblowing, but I enjoyed watching his starry eyes when he's dumbstruck in love. Haha.

Out of all the John Greens I've read (Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns), Paper Towns is probably my favourite, so not much complains la. Haha. This is not a sob sob emo type of movie like FIOS so you can save your tissues.

Soundtrack: I didn't recognise a thing, but it was very indie folk. Yanling heard Vance Joy.

Haha. I just googled and found that Vampire Weekend, HAIM and Grouplove are part of this chillax summer soundtrack.

To watch or not?: If you liked FIOS I guess you might like this. The John Green style of narrative will probably still appeal to you, even if you did not read the book. P.S. There's a surprising and fun cameo in between :D

It's an okay? okay? OKAY-ish movie. Not especially ARGH ARGH SO DAMN AWESOME (ie. maybe... Kingsman) but more of like an "awwwh okay" kind of movie, ya get me?!?! (Such coherence. Much understand.)

I made you a meme, cuz, lol.

Looking forward to other teen indie films like Me & Earl & The Dying Girl (trailer I just saw today at the cinema).

(Gifs & Pics ripped from Google and Tumblr.)

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