I'm A Little Obsessed - A Random Ramble

Yup, I'm obsessed with the Hunger Games trilogy. My obsession has recently been rekindled because I watched Mockingjay Part 2 just the other day for the first time. THEY DID SO WELL converting the book to the movie!! I was amazed. It made me want to re-read all the books, and in the span of just under 2 weeks I read all 3 books. Haha!

 Here's a few of my thoughts on both the books and the movies *spoilers*:

Hunger Games

I enjoy the book quite a bit. I have read it so many times! And I still cry when Rue dies, still get squirmish at the part with the tracker jackers (because I HATE wasps!!), and still feel a bit bad for Peeta because Katniss is misleading him. Course she thinks he is acting too, but still. Peeta is probably one of my 2 favorite characters, and not just because he decorates cakes. ;) He is a genuinely good person. It's interesting because I don't particularly like Katniss, but the books are all in her perspective and I still really like reading them. Ha! What I would be interested in is a version of the first book from Peeta's perspective! I don't care about the other 2 books being in his mind, but the first one would definitely be a cool thing to read! 

How was the movie?

I enjoy the movie, just not as much as the book. Obviously it's hard to recreate a book accurately enough to satisfy die hard fans. Most of my issues with the movie are just knit-picky. Like the costumes for the chariot ride, I think they were silly. I found some fan art that looks pretty cool and is basically what it was in the book.

 If only they could have done a little better in the movie. But really I think everything else was done as well as it could have been. The acting was all very good, I like Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as actors but they are not what I pictured I suppose. Well, you can't satisfy everyone. But it is definitely a good start to a great movie series!

Catching Fire

This is my FAVORITE book of the series! I can't really think exactly why this is my favorite, I think it may be because there is so much that happens in it and you don't focus too much on back story or anything. And you get introduced to all these awesome new charactes, LIKE FINNICK! He is my 2nd favorite character :) He is so fun! I like the arena for the quarter quell also, I think it's very clever even though its quite brutal. I mean almost everyone dies by the 2nd day! And I remember I was quite surprised the first time I read it that it was all planned and the rebels were going to get them all out in the end. It's just a good story, it really keeps you reading! Which explains why I finished reading it in 3 days, cuz you just couldn't put it down!

How was the movie?

I REALLY LIKE the movie!! It was a very good re imagining! I was very very impressed. It's possible that it's my favorite movie of the series too. Can't decide tho cuz I've only seen Mockingjay Part 2 once. All the new actors they had to bring in fit the characters very well. Of course, Finnick being my favorite character, I was a bit worried about their choice of Sam Claflin. But he did wonderfully! Buuut, I pictured him a bit different.

 This is Armie Hammer. He is basically exactly what I pictured while reading the book. I had never seen him before until I watched Mirror Mirror, which was after I read Catching Fire, and I was like HOLY CRAP!!! THAT'S FINNICK!! A lot of people actually thought of him, but as it happens so often they didn't cast any fan picks. Back to the movie, all the outfits for Katniss were really great! I loved her wedding dress that turned into the mockingjay. It was gorgeous! And the chariot costumes were excellent, not quite like the book but really cool all the same! All the arena scenes were fun to watch, cuz that was my favorite part of the book, even tho some of my favorite scenes weren't in it, what can you do. It was ALL GREAT!

Mockingjay

This book... this book is heartbreaking... I don't enjoy it very much. Haha! While Peeta is being destroyed by the capital, everyone else is left going mad in the stinking hole of District 13. And just when you think you get Peeta back, THEY CHANGED HIM!! Exactly what he said in the first book that he didn't want to have happen, and it happens... :( I was sooo so mad. And then EVERYONE DIES!!! And if they aren't dead, they are ridiculously damaged. It's basically a war book, and I don't like war. But, it gets somewhat better at the end so it has a somewhat happy ending. It's hard to read, I've only read it a couple times. 

How were the movies?

The movies were done really really well! I find it much easier to watch them than reading the book. I ship Katniss and Peeta, so Part 2 made me very happy when he started coming out of his tracker jacker induced attitude towards Katniss. 

I like Part 2 better than Part 1 I think. There are some parts of the first movie that I like, but it's mostly just kinda slow to me. But when you hit the 2nd part, it really takes off! There's so much action you can't hardly keep up, but it's super good. It's still depressing when you get to know and like all these great characters only to watch them get killed tho... I was very put out, but it's what was in the book so at least they stayed true to it. That's the big thing with the movies; they stayed extremely, brutally, and agonizingly accurate to the book.

 Haha! Katniss and Peeta's relationship name. This is basically your emotions through the entire Mockingjay book and movies if you ship them. I know it was me for sure. Haha! But it gets better by the end, I swear! 

Anyways, it is one of my favorite book series and has become a favorite movie series as well! I am happy tho that when I read the books I still picture all the characters as I pictured them before the movies came out :) That's one reason I'm glad I read them before I saw the movies. 

Well, I'm done ranting and raving now. I will probably read a few chapters of Mockingjay before I go to bed. Hope you have a wonderful evening, whatevers left of it! :)

Taylor Kay

 

Birthday Cakes and Game of Thrones

Well, there's not much like getting pelted in the face with snow and ice. We are getting hit by a snow storm, though who knows how bad it's actually going to be. I'm hoping its not going to be as terrible as everyone thinks. But we'll see.

Anyways, yesterday I actually got internet in my apartment! I am all moved in to my new place in Marshfield, and I knew once I was here I would definitely want internet. So, here I sit comfortably on my own couch posting on my own laptop! Feels good. ;)

Now, to the point of my post, it was recently Bri's 25th birthday! The family put together a nice little get together party for her. And, of course, I made a cake!

I practiced how to make hibiscus flowers, because Bri likes Hawaiian flowers so I felt it fitting to put them on a cake! :) I was very happy with how it turned out! The cake flavor is special too! It's a tropical mango cake with tropical mango frosting filling, frosted with my buttercream. Well, the whole family thought it was delicious! There was a lot of people, and had I known so many would be there I would have made it bigger. Haha! But it was a good size, just no leftovers ;)

So, now to decide what to do with the rest of my evening while I'm snowed in. Honestly what I should do is start one of my knitting projects, cuz I'm super far behind. With that in mind, I put in a TV show that I've already seen a bunch so there's some background noise. GAME OF THRONES SEASON 1! I recently finished re-watching season 5 in preparation for season 6 start. 

*CAUTION COULD BE SPOILERS!!*

It's so interesting going back to watching season 1 after just finishing season 5... cuz everyone I like is ALIVE! It's refreshing!.. And kind of sad... cuz I know what's going to happen.. :( And then there's the characters who are rather unpleasant who have died but they are alive right now and you are reminded of just how much you really don't like them and are glad they died. HAHA! Hmm, yeah. And for the characters who are alive thru the whole thing, it's interesting to see how they've changed. For example, some of them started out a bit unlikable but now they are cool. 

Or vice versa

Game of Thrones has become one of my favorite TV shows. It is a very unique story. And the show is only 10 episodes per season, which is nice because they don't overkill. It's not a show for the faint of heart tho. There's quite a few "adult" scenes, especially in the first few seasons, and there's gore and violence. Watch at your own risk.

Anyways, this post wasn't supposed to turn into a Random Ramble about a TV show. Haha! Just kinda happened that way. But now I will actually go pick up my knitting bag and try to start that project now. 

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Taylor Kay

Random Ramblings of a Movie Lover - Reign

Hello All!

So, I've caught the sickness that has been going around. I've been not feeling well for about a week now... I'm ready to be healthy again... 

But anyways, for today I wanted to talk about a "new-to-me" show that I've started watching. I'm sure plenty have heard of it, it's called Reign

I will try not to give any spoilers in this post in case you decide you want to watch it. But basically its about Mary Queen of Scotland, and all the politics of royalty such as being engaged to the future king of France, Francis, and all that drama. Usually I don't like drama shows, but I really do enjoy this one! I am only about half way thru the first season, there are 2 on Netflix and season 3 I believe is on TV right now.

Funny thing, I was trying to figure out why I recognized Queen Catherine (the lady on the right), turns out she is the actress who played Anne of Green Gables in those movies made in the 90's-ish. I LOVED THOSE MOVIES!!! :)

Anyways, I think another reason I like the show is cuz of all the neat dresses they wear and stuff. It's set in the 1800s I believe.

I am totally #Team Frary!

Of course, being a drama, there are 2 guys for the girl to choose (so far, who knows, there could be more). But I totally ship Mary and Francis!! :) It's not going to be much of a spoiler saying she spent some time with another person cuz honestly it's to be expected. And he was nice, I like him as a character, but not for her. 

So yes, there's the show I'm watching! Caution, there are some scenes that are not suitable for children. It takes place in France, so keep that in mind. Haha! They all love each other. ;) Give the show a try if you would like! I give it about 3.5 stars :)

Well, enjoy the rest of your evening!

Taylor Kay

Must Love Cakes!

Hello All!

So, it has been a crazy crazy couple of weeks. I have been preparing to make my first 2 tier cake. One of my very good friends is getting married and they've asked Bri and I to make their wedding cake! It's very exciting! :) I've decided that this would be a good opportunity to post some of my recent cakes. 

Back in October, Bri and Ben found out the gender of their baby! It was pretty cool because they weren't actually told, they just had the nurse put the gender in an envelope. Then I came that night and they gave it to me. So, basically I was the only one who knew and I made a cake with a colored frosting filling (pink for girl, blue for boy).

  Bri made her ever famous and delicious white cake and I frosted with my homemade buttercream. The sides are a basket weave design with pink and blue colored frosting. Bri found the design for the top online, and I'm very happy with how it turned out! :)

Up next is a cake I made for mom's birthday in November.

It was a coconut supreme cake (coconut cake with coconut pudding added in with some other stuff), with a coconut pudding filling and frosted with my homemade buttercream. I pressed shaved coconut onto the sides as well. It was delicious by the way! :) I LOVE COCONUT!!

And the final cake was for Ben's birthday at the end of December.

 It's a STAR WARS Cake!! That's right! Ben is obsessed with Star Wars, especially now that the new movie is out. I made BB-8 out of a cupcake and a cake pop. It was pretty fun actually, but pretty complicated. The cake itself is just a white cake with my buttercream. I wanted to try something new and used Color Mist to color it black. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, so I dabbed some off the top. It ended up being a pretty neat effect, dad said it was like a planet he was on or something, so it worked!

 We ate the cake up in Door County. Here is Leila girl! She likes cake. A Lot. Haha!

Anyways, there's my recent cakes! I will be doing a post once the wedding cake is done! Hopefully it turns out as good as the picture I have in my head for how I want to decorate it. :)

Well, enjoy your evening! 

I will continue watching the new Sherlock special "The Abominable Bride".

Taylor Kay 

My 2015 Review

Hello All!

Yes, I know, I'm a bit late but HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

I've been crazy busy the last week or so with family stuff and finally found a day where I can reflect on 2015 and look forward to 2016!

Is it terrible that I can't really think of anything that really happened during 2015? I moved to a new apartment and got a new job in April, so that's... exciting..? HA! Well, Leila was just born at the end of 2014 so a lot of my time was spent with her so I think she would be the highlight of the year. 

 

Here is the first picture I posted in 2015:

We were up in Door County last January and we were watching a football game. Leila was laying like this while watching. HAHA! She's such a cutie :)

In the fall my church had a fundraiser and Bri and I made cupcakes and cake pops to sell in the bake sale. THEY WERE A HIT!! Super fun to make too, but a tiny bit tedious.

 

Here is a picture that I drew in November. Of all the pictures I drew in 2015 (and there were a few), this is the one I'm most proud of! It's Colin Morgan, an Irish actor who I mentioned in a previous post. 

 
 

But on another note, LOTS of good movies came out in 2015! I know you've probably heard of most of these, but maybe some you haven't. Here are some of my favorite movies released in 2015 (Beware, there's Lots):

You can click on the pictures to be taken to the IMDB site for each movie

  WOW! That took a lot of maneuvering trying to get all those pictures to look half decent. HAHA!

Anyways, even tho that's a lot of movies there are still some that I haven't seen yet and definitely want to! Such as: Southpaw, Everest, The Martian, Pan, Crimson Peak, Suffragette, Brooklyn, Spectre, Mockingjay Part 2, Macbeth, Joy, and The Revenant. (Click on the movie titles to be taken to its IMDB page.) I know, that's a bunch more! Haha! It was a good year for movies! :)

 

So there was my review of 2015! 

BRING ON 2016! 

 Hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening!

 

Taylor Kay

Christmas Time Is Here!... Almost.

It's only ONE WEEK until Christmas Eve!

So we are watching our Christmas classic! The Muppet Christmas Carol has been a holiday favorite for as long as I can remember. We had a VHS copy of it all through my childhood and I bought the DVD for my mom a few Christmases ago. I know a lot of people watch It's A Wonderful Life each year, but to be honest (and I'm not too proud to say it) I have never seen that movie in my life... I probably should sometime. But I think the Muppets will continue to be the film I am sure to watch each year! :) That and Jim Carrey's The Grinch

Last week I started baking Christmas cookies!

Look at this mess... good thing mom was at work and I had most of it cleaned by the time she got home. Haha! Yes, I baked at my parents house because I didn't have the recipes... or the pans... or the room in my apartment for such a big project.

First on the list was Sugar Cookies! When done correctly, they will melt in your mouth. I think the batch I made turned out great!... Until you ate from the second pan I used... So, to really drive home the fact that I am a terrible baker, the pan I assumed was clean really wasn't. UGH! And of course it had a bunch of chopped onions on it that had been frozen and then thawed... All my cookies tasted like onions... :( 

So, half of them got tossed. RAWR!

But my next batch of cookies turned out great! Russian Tea Cakes, which happen to be my dad's favorite cookies. Lovely little cookies filled with walnuts and covered in 

powdered sugar.

They are kind of a chore, because you have to roll them twice in powdered sugar. First when they come out of the oven, which isn't fun cuz they are hot, and then again once they are fully cooled.

On Sunday Bri, Ben, and Leila came to town because Ben went to the Packer game. We made even more Christmas cookies that day! But I didn't get any pictures of that, only video. We made Candy Cane cookies and Cut Outs! We also attempted to make what we thought were Cherry Thumbprints... but they were NOT! They didn't turn out at all... they basically turned into dust in your mouth, you could barely even pick them up because they would just crumble. :/ Hmph.

Bri is the professional Candy Cane cookie maker! They are so tedious and she has perfected the art as you can witness in the video above. :)

 

Anyways, while I've been writing this post the Muppets has been playing, AND THEY CUT OUT A SONG FROM THE DVD!!! >:( NO! I hate it when they do that!!! Why do they cut things out when they switch VHS to DVD?!? It makes no sense to me... Then dad reminds me that usually the VHS copy is better than the DVD. Ugh... Oh well.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening!

 

Taylor Kay

Random Ramblings Of A Movie Lover - Testament Of Youth

Hello All!

So the movie I am going to ramble about tonight is 

Testament of Youth. 

This is a movie that is based off of a World War I memoir by Vera Brittain. Her book is widely known in Europe (so I'm told), and I would have to believe that because everyone I have mentioned it to here has not known what I was talking about. Which is kind of unfortunate because it is a very good memoir, or at least the movie that it is based on is very good. Ha! I don't read much... So whether it is a good rendition of a book to movie, well you will have to ask someone else. This is just a movie ramble. Haha!

Anyways, this movie became known to me because I follow one of the actors who is in it. And that actor would be Colin Morgan. I've basically been waiting for this movie to come out for about a year now, because the U.S. isn't cool enough to get movies at the same time as Europe so I had to wait an extra 9-10 months... Yeah, it came out in January overseas but only just came to the U.S. maybe like 2 weeks ago or something. I totally was not expecting to see it at the Family Video and just about flipped out when I did. Haha! I was very very excited. 

So, I hadn't done too much digging into who else was in the movie besides Colin Morgan and I was very surprised that there were actually quite a few people who I do enjoy watching!

Here you have the 3 men of the film (from left to right):

Kit Harington as Roland Leighton

Colin Morgan as Victor Richardson

and Taron Egerton as Edward Brittain

Vera Brittain is played by Alicia Vikander 

I think she is a really good actress. I haven't seen her in too much but what I have seen I've liked. (Ex. Anna Karenina and Seventh Son) 

I believe she did a splendid job in this movie! In my opinion, this probably wasn't the easiest role and she passed with flying colors!

And we got a surprise visit from Hayley Atwell! 

I was definitely not expecting to see her. Haha! I love her as Agent Carter :)

This movie starts before World War I. These 4 friends are about to go back to school, their whole lives are ahead of them, they see a wide future, everything looks good. Vera and Roland even develop a serious relationship. Then the war breaks out. All the men join the army and Vera decides that instead of studying she would rather help. She volunteers as a nurse and deals with some pretty heavy things. (Yes, I know I'm being vague but I don't want to give anything away.) She is at the hospital when Victor is taken there, injured and blinded. She does end up going to France, near the front, where she finds Edward nearly dead but helps bring him back. She eventually gets called home because her mother was not well. She did not go back to the front, the war ended while she was back at the hospital at home. She does go back to school, but has a hard time with it. Even though others may want to forget, she vows to remember everyone and everything that happened. 

Thus, she wrote her memoir.
  
I think what I have taken away from this movie is what you have to do to move on after dealing with difficult situations. How do you go back to the way things were before? Basically, there is no going back. There is only learning to live and accept that these things have happened and to learn from them.

I like that this movie took the perspective of a young woman during the war. It's not something you see too often. I very much enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone, but it's probably not everyone's cup of tea. It is a bit heartbreaking, a tear-jerker (I cried like 6 times), but what can you expect from a memoir about WWI. 

So there is my ramble. It has put me in the mood to watch it again, so that's what I'll probably do when I get home. Haha!

Hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening! 

Taylor Kay

Random Ramblings Of A Movie Lover - Hunger Games

Hey Everybody!

So today's ramble is about

The Hunger Games!

Wooo! It was bound to happen eventually. Haha!

 I watched it tonight while I was knitting. 

The more times I see it, the more I appreciate it. It is actually a very very good movie in my opinion! And I'm not just saying that because I am a huge fan of the book. This is one book to movie rendition that was pretty much as close as you can get, granted it still had its issues (which I cared more about when I first saw it). Like this:

 "Oh God What Is That?" - Charlie The Unicorn
"It's The Magical Leopluradon! It Will Show Us The Waaay..." 
But seriously... really?... Uuugh. Pretty sure the whole theater laughed when they saw this. I think they could have done better than that. :P

But anyways, I think the music was AAAAAAMAZING! I have the official soundtrack :) I also have that cd called From District 12 And Beyond which is basically a cd of a bunch of artists who did songs for the movie. It's super good, if you haven't listened to it do it now! And there's another cd from the Hunger Games Music Project, which was a group of people who made their own music to go with the book. It is seriously awesome!!! 

CLICK --> HERE <-- TO LISTEN

So, my favorite character from the first book was probably Rue

 SHE'S SO WONDERFUL! I cried so much when I was reading the book when she **SPOILER** died... :( I guess I should have seen it coming... but it was just so SAAAAAAAAAAAD!!! And oh my goodness, her death scene in the movie.... oh my gosh... I can't... *tears* And the music that goes with it??

 ;oiagbnaefiuhvs;oiem...........

:(

But to finish off, the movie was amazing in my opinion. There's just a lot of things that are really neat about it and that are truly accurate to the book. 

I am super excited for the second movie tho!!! Catching Fire was my favorite of the 3 books! AHHH!!! And look at the new poster that was just released!

So beyond excited for this it's crazy.

Me and my friend Liz (who I went to the midnight showing of Hunger Games with) already have it planned to go to the midnight showing of Catching Fire too! YAY!!! November 22nd can't come fast enough!!! :D

Happy Hunger Games

And May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor 

Have a great night! :)

Taylor Kay

Random Ramblings Of A Movie Lover - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Hi Everybody!

So I decided I'm going to start a kind of themed post. (We will see how long this lasts)

Anyways, what it's going to be is anytime I feel like rambling about a movie, I'm going to ramble about it... Uh... Yeah. So, I'm going to call it Random Ramblings Of A Movie Lover! Cuz I sure am a great lover of movies!

 

Today I am going to ramble about Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief!

I guess the reason why I'm going to ramble about this particular movie is because I am currently almost finished reading the book!

So, as you may have guessed, I saw the movie before I read the book... long before I read the book... Like 3 whole years the movie was out before I read the book. Haha! Anyways, I like the movie! I have nothing bad at all to say about the movie. I like the acting and I thought the story was good, had a good pace and kept you interested! But... there's just one thing... it's not really anything like the book. Haha!

As I was reading it, I kept thinking back to the movie and was like "Huh... that didn't happen... oh they are on that team?... oh so that whole scene didn't actually take place... wait... Annabeth has blonde hair?... Percy doesn't have eyes as blue as some Greek sea?... Grover has long shaggy hair?..." etc etc etc. Basically it felt like 2 completely different things but the people in them have the same names. Haha!

I can't imagine what the people who were hardcore fans of the book thought of the movie. It was probably the same way I felt about the Eragon movie. Haha! But they are making the second book, Sea of Monsters, and it's supposed to come out this year! So people must have liked it enough to keep going with the series... unlike Eragon... Ha!

Basically, to end my random rambling,

I very much enjoy the movie (I just watched it a couple days ago), and I am very much enjoying the book! Only 4 chapters left then its on to Book 2! :)

 

So ends my first Random Ramblings Of A Movie Lover!

We shall see if I can keep it up! ;)

 

AND DON'T FORGET TO JOIN MY GIVEAWAY!!!

Its Day 4 and there's still bunches of time left!

CLICK --> HERE <--

to be taken to the post where you can read the rules, see the hat, and join in the fun! :D

 

Have a super wonderful night!

 

Taylor Kay