March 2018 Update!

What a month this has been! I don't know about anyone else, but I felt like March went by in the blink of an eye. So, in these last few days I want to go over some of the cool things I watched this month with you guys, and what I'm hoping to achieve over the next little while.

Started Watching:

bbcamerica.com

Merlin
This is one of those series that I meant to watch while it was actually on TV *cough* more than 6 years ago *cough*, but I just sort of kept forgetting about it. I started trolling around on Netflix to find something, and decided that this might be a fun one to start. I'm only about halfway through season 1, but I like it so far. I don't know if I will make it through all five seasons, but so far so good.

Finished Watching:

dramabeans.com

Scarlet Heart: Ryeo
My life is over. I will never be the same again. This was so amazing that right after finishing it, I wanted to re-watch it. Absolutely devastating though. What a fantastic introduction to K-dramas for me.

Bookish Pet Peeves

Everyone has something that drives them absolutely nuts when they pick up a book or series. Some of them are so irritating that they cause you to stop a book mid-way, refuse to continue a series, or avoid even starting the book in the first place. Here I want to share a few of those "hair-ripping out moments" of mine with you.

...no. Just no.

A Bad First Sentence
It is my belief that if you can't bother to have a good first sentence in your book, then you probably didn't take enough care with the rest of the piece for it to be worth my time.

Stereotypical Character Descriptions
Male has curly black hair and eyes like the ocean, is six feet tall with a broad chest and plays either piano or guitar.
Girl is plain, with mousy brown hair that never does what she wants it to, and the boy is instantly in love with her and thinks she is the most beautiful girl ever.
Just no.

The Last Pages are a Preview
I'm sorry, but I thought I had 30 pages of this book left and it just ended. I was not ready. I have been jolted out of a few books this way, and it was horrifying every time. I don't mind those short/few page previews after, or if the pages are a different colour on the side so that it is clear it is not part of the original book, but otherwise I often hate it.

Pillow Talk

Made in 1959, this movie stars Rock Hudson and Doris Day, and is one of their three films together.

eyeforfilm.co.uk

What It's About:

When womanizing songwriter Brad and serious interior decorator Jan share a phone line, each has trouble coordinating using the line to make their calls - business for her, personal for him. Fed up with Brad hogging the phone for his numerous (and nearly identical) conversations with different women, Jan complains to the phone company in hopes to get her private line sooner. Yet, this is the catalyst for Brad's revenge. Armed with a fake accent and phony name, he uses the full extent of his charm on Jan - but what he didn't count on was a shift from animosity to affection. 

Let's Take a Moment For Some Book Love...

As would be expected of a book and media blogger, I love to read. But I am also a book collector, and it is quite the obsession. I can't resist browsing through used book stores to find new favourites, or beautiful copies of those I already adore. The good, musty smell of a Penguin Classic will get me every time (you fellow page-sniffers will know what I'm talking about!). Here are some of the things I find super difficult to resist when perusing the shelves:

• Penguin Classics - As you have likely guessed, I love these. There is just something about the thin pages, the perfect size to fit in a purse or locker, and an easy, readable font. I own tons of them, and if I have the choice between a Penguin Classic edition of a book or a different copy, I am most likely to go for the Penguin.
• Gilded Pages - Those hardcover books with the gold leaf edges? Yeah, that is what I live for. I want to pick them up and touch them. They just look as though they have been made with so much love and care that I instantly connect with them.

Mr. Holmes

This movie is based off of the book "A Slight Trick of the Mind" by Mitch Cullin.

filmmakermagazine.com

What It's About:

Sherlock Holmes (that's Mr. Holmes to you)  retired from his crime solving ways thirty years ago and has settled down in a nice cottage with his housekeeper and her son. Yet when Holmes starts to lose his greatest treasure, the powers of his memory, his becomes obsessed with remembering the details of his final case. This case, which pushed him to retire, must not have had the happy ending that Dr. Watson chronicled...if only he could remember. With the trials of old age and the help of a boy, Mr. Holmes works to solve his most important case yet.

Top Ten Favourite Book Quotes

This week's Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is Top Ten Favourite Book Quotes. I love quotes. I love to memorize them and I have a small book where I write down some of my favourites. Needless to say, I found this really difficult to narrow it down to just a few when I feel like I am swimming in favourite quotes. So, after struggling for an excessive amount of time over which ones to pick, here is a itsy bitsy sampling of my favourite book quotes:

1) Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 

“I could fight with the living but I could not fight the dead. If there was some woman in London that Maxim loved, someone he wrote to, visited, dined with, slept with, I could fight her. We would stand on common ground. I should not be afraid. Anger and jealousy were things that could be conquered. One day the woman would grow old or tired or different, and Maxim would not love her anymore. But Rebecca would never grow old. Rebecca would always be the same. And she and I could not fight. She was too strong for me.”

2) The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco
"'Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.'”

3) The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
“I didn't go to the moon, I went much further—for time is the longest distance between two places.”

4) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
"'I'm claiming the right to be unhappy.'"

5) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
"'There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing.'"

6) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
"'When I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt. And I didn't. When I woke in the dark under that tree on the road to Leoch, with you sitting on my chest, cursing me for bleeding to death, I said to myself, 'Jamie Fraser, for all ye canna see what she looks like, and for all she weighs as much as a good draft horse, this is the woman.''"

February 2018 Update!

Well, it's been a month of TV for me it seems! I've started a few new series and finished up several. Things have been pretty busy with work and school, so I haven't been reading too much, but it's nice to take a break and wind down by watching an episode here and there. Unfortunately with all of that, I'm pretty behind on my TBR Challenge, but I expect that I will be able to catch up in the spring, so I'm not too worried yet. So, without further ado, here's what I've been up to in February:

Started Watching:

miraculousladybug.wikia.com

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir
Yes, I started watching a children's show...and I loved it. It's cheesy, repetitive and predictable, but it's basically a modern Sailor Moon in Paris. I quickly got hooked on it, and I can't wait until season 2 is translated and on Netflix.

mahouka-koukou-no-rettousei.wikia.com

The Irregular At Magic High School
I'll be honest, I don't know if I'm going to finish this series. There are some interesting things about it, but it can also be downright creepy. If sibling relationships that are uncomfortably close and intimate bother you, then don't even consider this one for a second. If you can get past that, it has some interesting plot points. I don't think it's overly well explained though, so you kind of have to get over a few things to watch this one.