Because reasons.

I feel like I ought to have a reason for not posting.

It was a stressful week and I just didn't feel like it.

But hey, I'm here now!

(You may applaud.)

Le Five Random Facts: (because I like lists almost as much as Cait does.)

1.) I got new boots because reasons. (Reasons being: a.) They were like... adorable. b.) I needed black boots this winter. c.) REASONS.)

2.) Kat and I went to Hobby Lobby and Barnes&Noble on Saturday, because reasons. (But like, do you really need reasons to go there? Those stores are the bomb diggety.) I found the art sections in both and about died.

All the fabulousness!

myyyyy precccioooouuussss.

I found this book by Mark Crilley... I'm subscribed to him on youtube. His art is really awesome. 

And I bought myself a portfolio book!!! I HAVE A PORTFOLIO. 

3.) Amy and I made little bead spiders at the florist yesterday, because reasons. (Halloween, that's why.) Took for freaking ever, and I can't decide if I like them or not.

4.) Speaking of which, the florist got broken into because reasons! They stole a laptop. Cops came. I unabashedly thought the whole thing was really cool.

5.) It is officially time to count down to Christmas! I am like so ridiculously excited! Because reasons! I mean for real! I love Christmas. Christmas is the best. I AM COUNTING DOWN. Who's with me?

.....
And that's all I have. Wait for iiiit: Because REASONS.

Here's a picture of a gerberra daisy for you.

Cheers!

“Fate is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast.”

UPDATE: After reading The Raven King, I take back everything I have said about these books. I disapprove of how she ended it. I kind of hate the series, and no, I no longer recommend them because I was horrifically disappointed in the last book. 

So I figured... I ought to review Raven Boys.

Because Raven Boys is not a series I would typically read, and, while it makes me very happy, (who am I kidding, it stresses me out and makes me aggressively worry about *cough* certain characters.) it definitely has some stuff I feel like I should warn people about.

What Is Raven Boys?

(Because I'm rubbish at summaries, especially book summaries, I'm going to steal part of the one from the author's website.)

"There are only two reason a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve," Neeve said."Either you're his true love. . . . or you killed him."

For as long as she can remember, Blue Sargent has been told by her psychic family that she will kill her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But when she-- a non psychic, sees the ghost of a young man who will be dead within a year, her unfortunate predicament becomes suddenly very real.

To make matters worse, she quickly realizes that the ghost she saw belongs to Richard Gansey, a young man attending The Aglionby Academy. (an elite, rich person school, with a raven for its crest, where spoiled, wealthy boys go to be educated before they set out to ruin the world.)

Blue does not like Raven Boys.

But Gansey and his friends are different from the rest. They're searching for the sleeping Welsh king, Glendower, because, legend has it, whoever finds Owen Glendower and wakes him, will be granted a favor. Blue is pulled into their friendship, and things start to get complicated: she doesn't want Gansey to be her true love, and she does not want to kill him. 

Just when it looks like stuff might be going well for Blue and her Raven Boys, it comes to light that there are others seeking Glendower, for reasons sinister, and disturbing.

The race is on, characters develop, and WOW, I AM REALLY WORRIED ABOUT GANSEY.

 source

THINGS I LOVED

So, Maggie Stiefvater is a really awesome author. She writes so freaking well! And after reading Scorpio Races, I was on a Maggie kick, and wanted to devour something else of hers, which is why I borrowed Raven Boys from Kat.

Raven Boys is really nothing like Scorpio Races, even though it's just as good.

I LOVE THE CHARACTERS

Even the ones who drive me crazy.

She doesn't have a single flat character in her books. They're all interesting and have these hidden characteristics, and layers that make you go, "Whooaaahhh,"

I JUST REALLY LIKE REAL CHARACTERS, OKAY?!

Blue is actually a likeable female book lead. (I have a problem, where I tend to find females in books so incredibly annoying.) Blue is awesome though. She's short (yay, I love short people! I'm short! Short people will rule the world one day.), she's spunky, and eccentric. She has her faults but she's not obnoxious. She's a little spitfire, is what she is, I like like her.

Gansey is so nice. He is such a good friend, and he tries hard to be normal. He doesn't treat people differently because they have less money than he does, he's just a good sort, all round.
People Are Not Nice To Gansey And It Bothers Me.
He's obsessed with finding Glendower, but it's not really selfish, it's more like he needs to find it because it's important to him. He's smart, and honest, and does his best to look out for everyone he cares about. HE JUST WANTS TO HELP, OKAY??

Ronan is a brat, I won't lie. But I love him and I can't help it because he's had a hard life, and he's damaged, and I like damaged characters. He's a fighter, and a hothead, and he has a problem with making bad decisions. If it wasn't for Gansey, he probably would have dropped out of Aglionby and run off to be a street fighter by now.
But for all that, he's incredibly loyal, when he's loyal. He's fiercely protective of his friends, especially Gansey. (They are like brothers and I am infatuated with their friendship.) He has a soft spot for animals, and I think with the right people around him, he could grow up to be a really good guy.

Adam frustrates me because I loved him in book one, and he went downhill in book two. I want to like him more, but he's got this persecution complex. (Which makes sense, considering his family life.) He's a scholarship student at Aglionby, but he resents wealth of any kind. He won't accept any financial help from his friends because he doesn't want them to own him. He's NOT NICE to Gansey, and he has plans for Glendower that worry me a little. I wish he would be kinder again, because he makes me sad how dark he's getting.

Noah is hard to talk about because he's not a loud character. He's quiet and sort of fades into the background when you're not looking. He is a sweetie and a gentle kind of person, and he adds a sense of calm to the group. He's also really sad.
I want to hug him, because he's sad.

Besides the main characters, you also have Blue's mother who is so odd, but I really like her anyway.

The Gray Man, that I was unsure about and won't say anything else concerning him, so I shan't give any spoilers. (I won't even say if I like him or not, because that's kind of a spoiler in itself.)

Blue's weird, psychic aunts who do things like Aerial Silk in their living room, and threaten hit men.

Gansey's sister who I vary between liking and finding her annoying.

Ronan's brothers who I can't decide if I like or not.

Adam's messed up parents.

Noah's past.

It's all very intriguing, and I am quite absurdly fond of everyone in a general book hug of love.

THE PLOT

It thrills and freaks me out a little, and that's okay. It's clever, and has all these intertwining threads, which make this particular reader go "whaaaaaaat?!" in true minion fashion. (A have a theory about Gansey, and how it's going to end, and it worries me. I worry. I am worried.)

THE WAY THE PSYCHICS ARE HANDLED

I don't really like psychics. I mean, I guess it's possible for people to have a higher sense of the supernatural, but seriously, let's not get carried away. I like the way Maggie Stiefvater explains the psychics, and doesn't make them witchy or satanic. (unless they're evil, but that's okay, because witchy and satanic are evil.)

ALL THE RELATIONSHIPS ARE FABULOUS 

Whether it's between Blue and the boys, between just the boys, between Blue and her mother, or between Gansey and Blue, the relationships feel real and not forced. They grow well, they're not like, "and all of the sudden I love you."

Let me reiterate my fandom war cry: I love friendships, and brother stories. (I like the occasional romance, if it's handled well.) I love family stories, and conversion stories, and mysteries, and Raven Boys has ALL OF THEM. It's a friggen miracle.

I ship Gansey and Blue. So hard. But I don't want to ship them, because if Blue kisses her true love she'll kill him! *sobs* I don't want my ship to be sunk with a kiss, okay? It will be sad and I am really, really worried about Gansey's fate, OKAY?

MAGGIE STIEFVATER'S WRITING STYLE MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY 

It's not typical young adult style. It doesn't patronize or talk down to the reader, it's beautiful without being flowery. Her descriptions are some of the best I've ever read, and yeah. I am a fan.

She sucks you in and you read voraciously and aggressively turn pages.


So okay, there we go. Stuff I liked.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE. 

So, they're teenage boys. Teenage boys curse. A lot. And I'm not talking mild words damn and hell.... (though they're included) I'm talking F Bombs and every variation of the S word, and all manner of bad words in between.

I have this talent where I just breeze over them and forget about them. Until I recommend it to someone and I'm like, oh yeah. Um. Awkward.

I know people swear, and swearing doesn't really bother me personally. I don't, but if you swear, I'm not going to shun you. But I wish there was less of it in this book, because there are a lot of F Bombs.

There was a really weird, kind of dark and uncomfortable scene involving pills and boys getting high. It was handled well, but yeah. It was creepy. I read it sort of squinty eyed and felt somewhat disturbed.

There was an awkward scene with kissing. It never got dirty, and I never felt like it went too far, but neither had kissed before and they were figuring it out, and it was awkward.

AWKWARD.

SO BASICALLY

Yes, I do adore this series. Yes, I do absolutely recommend it. But I'd say wait until you're at least sixteen.

If it were a movie I'd rate it PG-13 for swearing alone.

And if you don't like kind of dark fairytales, don't try it. (Well it's not dark. It's.... it's dim.... yeah, okay, it's a little dark.)

My sister preordered Blue Lily, Lily Blue, which is book three in the series, and if I'm really nice, she might let me read it when she's done.

I WOULD LOVE THIS.

Did I mention I have a theory about Gansey and I hope I'm wrong?

I hate waiting to read books.

It is stressful.

Go find the books. Read them. And let me know what you think.

Cheers!

 (PS, real quick. Do you guys like my reviews or are they annoying, and you wish I would stop?)

Picture Saturday: Better late than never?

Yeah, I know. It's barely Saturday still, and for some of you, it's Sunday... so... I'm sorry.

It's just been a day, you feel me?

Guess what we're doing tonight. We're rewatching some Grimms because... much as we like Sleepy Hollow. It is not. Grimm. 

I love rewatching episodes with people who haven't seen them. I literally sit there and watch them like this.

And it drives them crazy, but hey, I like it.

That being said, we're also watching the first two episodes of Supernatural s10.

I do not want to watch my Dean be a demon. It will not be fabulous. 

It's gonna be a fun night. 

So anyway, here, Picture Saturday. 

1.) Le 100 Cupboards fanart of Henry and Henrietta. (Shhh. She does not look like Pippi Longstocking, how dare you.)

 2.) Le Frank from 100 Cupboards, because Frank is aaaaaaaawesome. 

 3.) Le Henry carving his last words into the wall. I really like how Henry's turning out. He's a cool kid. 

 4.) Le guitarist. (No, contrary to popular believe, I did not draw it because Jensen Ackles sang Will Ye Go, Lassie Go. BUT JENSEN ACTUALLY SANG WILL YOU GO LASSIE GO AND I HAVEN'T FREAKED OUT SO MUCH IN AGES. I've been wanting to draw a guitarist for a while, but watching Jensen put me in the mood. Because... he's awesome, and plays guitar and sings and yeah, and I'm going to shut up now because this is getting awkward.)

 5.) Le Other Guitarist, whom I am also quite absurdly fond of. (again, I deny it being in any way caused by Jensen Ackles being Jensen Freaking Ackles.) The writing is a quote from Leverage, when Eliot sings for one of their cons. 

6.) And the grand finale! (though, it might not be grand so much as just the finale) The drawing I did of Little Fall of Rain. You know, from Les Mis when yet another character dies on the barricade. 

Ba dum bum. 

I am a little out of it right now, so this post isn't going to have a good ending. (It didn't have much of a beginning either, but hey ho cheerio.)

Ba dum diddle um dum. 

I'm done. 

We’re supposed to pull out his eye with a spoon?

Let's talk Grimm!

Just.... Grimm.

It is fabulous. It has become one of my top favorite TV shows. It's up there with Doctor Who, and Psych, and Leverage, and Crossing Lines and Supernatural. LIKE SERIOUSLY! It makes me flail in fangirlish glee. 

Fangirlish glee is a thing, okay, people?!

Summary

Nick Burkhardt is a police detective in Portland, who thinks he's seen it all. Until the day that he starts seeing regular people transforming into monsters. Come to find out he's a descendent of the Brothers Grimm, and has inherited their ability to see mythical creatures, and he has a responsibility to keep the balance between mankind and the mythological. With the help of an unexpected werewolf ally, he discovers that there's a lot more going on in Portland than he originally thought.

Ehehe.

So, like always, we have the bad.

1.) There first season was the cleanest, I think there were two awkward episodes.
2.) The second and third had several intense kissing scenes (people are very in love.) And then there's this girl who is pregnant in season three, who has a fetish for finding a full length mirror and examining her stomach in nothing but her underclothes.
3.) Some sweary words.
4.) People live together and they're not married, but it's not in your face, and it's handled really well.
5.) Adalind is SO ANNOYING.

And then we have the good!

I'm going to start this with kind of an explanation of the show.

1.) It's based off Grimm's Fairytales, so it's darkish.
2.) Almost every episode is a twisted fairytale, based off a quote from the books. Like so:

3.) The monsters aren't referred to as monsters, they're called Wesen. (pronounced vessen, because German.)
4.) Calling Wesen regular names is too mainstream, so everything is German. Wooo! So say... you have a werewolf. It's not a werewolf, it's a Blutbod. Or a witch? Not a witch. Hexenbiest. It's complicated sometimes. Like what the freak is a Königschlange?

Oh, it's that.

5.) Wesen and Grimms are mortal enemies. So... yeah. 
6.) And most importantly, Wesen look just like humans, unless they want you to see them. A Grimm is someone who has the ability to see through their human disguise.

Okay, so why should you watch it?

1.) Nick Freaking Burkhardt.

Nick is such a good guy! He's brave, and sweet, and old fashioned, and clever. He's funny. He's a detective. He's loyal. He's just an all-round good sort of person, the kind you'd want to be friends with. He's nice, and I find it very tragic that all the bad people are out to get him.

And to top it all off, he is quite easy to look at, and he's really athletic, so his fight scenes are just.... so beautiful.

The sad thing was, I went into this show prepared for an attractive male, and I told myself I wouldn't become obsessed.

Le Me: "I will not become infatuated, I will not become infatuated, I will not become infatuated."
*Nick shows up in all his Nickish awesomeness.*
Le me: "I'm am so infatuated, I am so infatuated, I am so infatuated, I am so infatuated."

I think I'm just really shallow.

Or it could be that I just really like his character and his looks are just a bonus? (haaaa, stop laughing at me.) His character is really good though. I promise.

2.) Monroe. Because Monroe is awesome, and hilarious. I just like him a lot.

Monroe is a reformed Blutbad, who somewhat reluctantly joins forces with Nick and they become best buds and I LOVE best bud stories.

But seriously though. Monroe is so odd, and he's a really good friend.

3.) I actually liked all the side characters. (You know... except the ones you're supposed to hate, and man, I hate those characters.)

It's rare that I find a show that I like all the side characters. Usually there's at least one that drives me up a wall and over the side, but this one, I like all of them. Even the girls. Please note: MORE THAN ONE GIRL. And I like them all.

Captain Sean Renard I didn't want to like, and then I wasn't sure if I ought to, and I've just come to the conclusion that I LIKE WHO I WANT. He's really super awesome.

Nick's partner Hank grew on me a lot. He's also cool and funny, and he and Nick have a good friendship based on mutual trust and appreciation.

Juliette is Nick's girlfriend, and she is so cute. Just SO FREAKING CUTE. And she's not obnoxious, and I love that.

And Wu is hilarious. I like Wu.

Rosalee I wasn't sure about because she was odd and talked funny. (Okay, so yeah. I'm shallow and make snap judgements.) But she's awfully sweet and she knows everything about Wesen. Almost.)

4.) The friendships. Anyone who's read my blog knows that I am a fan of friendships. I adore them. And this has several.

5.) Cute romances. It takes something special for me to go, "Ooh yeah, I SHIP IT!" But this show has two couples that make me do that. They're not forced, they're just sweet. And when I say sweet, I mean like I-smack-my-sister-because-of-the-adorableness sweet.

I MEAN, DANCING!!! I LOVE DANCING.

AND THEY'RE COOKING. WAAAAAA!

6.) It's funny.

7.) It has really cool fight scenes with ninja kicks and general epicness.

8.) IT HAS THE COOL TRAILER WITH BOOKS AND WEAPONS AND POISONS AND SECRETS. 

9.) It apologizes for it's cliffhangers. It almost makes cliffhangers funny.

 

10.) It has everything that I like about Supernatural, minus all the religious problems. So, no warped version of God, no terrible angels. (No Cas. YAY!) Just good storytelling, fantastic characters, and good VS evil.

So yes, this is a show I recommend wholeheartedly, (though, maybe not for kids under 14.) It's just scary enough that it makes me nervous sometimes, it's fun, it's mostly clean, it has Nick......

YOU SHOULD ALL WATCH GRIMM.

Good bye.