Reviews

Post Malone Concert: Day in My Life & Review

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

This is long overdue because of my Seattle trip and my sickness the week before that, but I’ve been wanting to write about it since it happened. On November 16th, 2019, I saw Post Malone in concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick at the time; I hadn’t even been blogging that week, and I had a low fever the days leading up to the concert. The actual day of the concert my fever broke, so my mom said we could still go.

I spent the first portion of the day resting up since I still was pretty stuffy and I had a sore throat and cough. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to go, but it was too late to attempt to resell the tickets and it would’ve been a major waste to just not go. I got the tickets for my birthday in August as my main present from my parents; my mom loves Post Malone and I do too, so she thought it would be fun for us to go together.

I live about two hours away from Anaheim so we knew we would have to leave pretty early, plus we wanted to have dinner near the concert venue. I got ready in a very casual outfit; I previously planned to dress cute, but I was sick and not feeling it- I wore leggings and a hoodie with a t-shirt underneath. My mom and I grabbed snacks and water and set out on the two hour car ride at 3:00pm. We got into Anaheim just before 5:00 and parked in the Honda Center’s parking lot.

There was a casual bar/restaurant across the street from the Honda Center (apologies that I can’t remember the name), so we walked there and got burgers. It was actually pretty good, but I lost my appetite and couldn’t finish. This should’ve been my first sign that I wasn’t in the best shape to be going to a huge concert, but oh well. After dinner, we walked back across the street to the venue. There were a couple places for taking photos set up, so my mom basically forced me to pose. We waited in line and got let into the venue around 6:00.

My mom and I bought waters and then pretty much settled into our seats immediately. They were actually really close up- they weren’t on the floor because my mom knows I don’t love crowds and being super close-up, but we had a great view. The first opener (a guy I didn’t know…sorry!) came on and sang for quite a while, then Swae Lee started his set. I actually really enjoyed Swae Lee…I forgot how many of his songs I knew and liked from a few years ago.

Post Malone finally came on at 10:15 (a lot later than I was expecting, to be honest), and the lights were going crazy and there was a whole display as he started out with Hollywood’s Bleeding. He definitely sounded like he was warming up for the first song, but he sounded great after that. Frankly, I was not feeling too good. It was getting difficult for me to breathe, especially with all the smoke in the air, and I kept coughing.

My mom agreed we could leave after about ten songs, so we ended up leaving close to 11:00. I felt horrible physically, but I also felt really bad about leaving the concert early. I fell asleep in the car ride home, and we got back around 1:00am, when I stumbled into bed and fell straight asleep after brushing my teeth. I had never been to a rap concert so I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t realize it would go so late. Overall, I’m lucky that I got to see him and experience the concert at all, and I’m thankful that my sickness went away before Seattle!

-Brooke

Books I Read in 9th Grade: Ranked Worst to Best

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

I love to read, but I don’t have time to read for pleasure as much as I would like to. Luckily, I’ve actually really enjoyed most of the books I’ve read in my English classes throughout high school so far. Since we’ve only read two books so far this year, I figured I would only rank the ones from ninth grade. I know it’s not a lot, but ninth grade is the only year without summer reading, and we also read a lot of short stories (my favorite was A Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe).

5. The Odyssey by Homer – We didn’t read the full thing in class, we only read excerpts from our textbook. I think that’s why I didn’t really enjoy it; if I read the piece as a whole and in order, I could probably connect to it more and make more sense of it. I usually enjoy Greek mythology, but I’d never read a formal work like this. It was also the first thing we read at the beginning of freshman year, so I don’t particularly remember it.

4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – This book just made me sad. That’s pretty much it; I felt for the characters and I thought it was interesting insight into the harsh realities of a working man’s life during those times, but it was too short for me to get really invested. That being said, I can’t imagine writing a meaningful/classic story in so few pages, so I’m in awe of Steinbeck for that.

3. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare – I know it’s a play, but we read it in book form. It’s obviously a classic that everyone knows and I personally enjoy Shakespeare, so this was pretty enjoyable for me. It just didn’t excite me that much since I already had the basic plot points outlined in my head. It was an easy read at the end of the year after we finished A Tale of Two Cities.

2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – This was extremely difficult to understand (shoutout to the Spark Notes line by line translation that I would read alongside my book) but one of the most exciting books I’ve ever read. I wasn’t expecting to like it since it was the most challenging book of the year and there was a lot to keep track of, but I came to love every twist and turn. The ending saddened me a bit, but I think it tied the many plot lines up well.

1.To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – I loved this book. It was the first “classic” I’d read that I actually understood (it was towards the beginning of the year too), and I think it’s important for everyone to read it. I grew close to the characters while reading, and I liked the emphasis on law and the court process since one of my (possible) dream jobs is being a lawyer.

I feel silly ranking these books since they’re all extremely famous classics that you guys probably know and have read as well, but I figured I would give my input in case any freshmen are curious as to what you might read this year, or any middle schoolers are looking ahead. I might make one of these ranking books I’ve read in middle school, as my middle school English teachers actually picked some great books for us to read.

-Brooke

5 Teen Book Reviews in 5 Sentences

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

For today’s post I had a random burst of inspiration; I was rereading one of my old favorite book trilogies last night and this morning, and I knew I wanted to do something related to books. I used to constantly devour new books but in the past couple years I’ve rarely gotten the chance to read anything that’s not required for school. However, in summer I have the free time to explore and revisit some comforting favorites! I stayed up until 2 am reading the first book in the previously mentioned trilogy last night, and I finished the other two before getting out of bed this morning.

Clearly, I read in long and intense spurts. I will admit most of my favorite books and the ones I’ll mention today are more YA fiction and not necessarily “mature” picks or classic works, but I’ve always looked at reading as an escape and I am a teenager; therefore, I can easily get sucked into any interesting world portrayed in a story, and I do get attached to the characters found in these novels. Also, all of the books I’ll discuss are nicely lined up on my bookshelf right across from me at the moment and have been held dear to me for a while, so they’re definitely not new!

I wanted to talk about some of the books I’ve loved for quite a few years, but not have to go too in-depth or explain the plots. I actually read a lot of these for the first time in late elementary school or middle school so they’re not the most advanced, but I was an avid reader and had a slightly higher-than-average reading level back then so do with that what you will. I will review each book with one sentence summing up my favorite thing about it/the overall enjoyment I got from it. That’s why I came up with this idea; I can suggest a few books to you guys and explain why I liked them/how they made me feel, but it will be (VERY) short and sweet. Now that I’ve given you some background on my reading style and preferences, here are the reviews:

  1. The Selection Trilogy by Kiera Cass (the aforementioned trilogy): These books made me long for a prince of my own (stereotypical, I know), the characters annoyed me at times but I overall became very invested in the protagonist’s love life.
  2. Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie: My main introduction to dystopian novels, the classic plotline of breaking free intertwined with a love triangle was enough to keep me intrigued throughout the main character’s journey.
  3. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass: The ending (aka the reveal of the meaning of life) disappointed me at first but at the same time was the perfect conclusion to a touching story, it really did make me think about the meaning of life and how we find it in ourselves.
  4. A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin: I read this a longggg time ago, but it was one of the first books to make me genuinely cry at the end; the setting of an old-timey boarding house and carnival was portrayed so well and the beautiful yet tragic ending broke my heart.
  5. The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch: This series was different than most of the ones I read in that it was just randomly adventurous, but I enjoyed the narrator’s sarcastic tone and all the twists and turns through the books; a bunch of unlikely events led to a couple young kids making insane discoveries (I often wished I was in their exciting positions!).

I hope you guys enjoyed this new idea (I may do it again in the future or something similar but still changing it up) and learning a bit more about me and what I like to read! Definitely check out some of these books if you’re interested, or at least just take this as a sign to find something new to read. 🙂 Let me know if you’ve read and enjoyed any of these books and if you have any other book-related content ideas!

-Brooke

Review- Spider-Man: Far From Home

BrookeLeave a comment

Happy 4th of July everyone!

I wasn’t planning on posting today, but I had some free time and I knew I wanted to write a review of Far From Home eventually. In fact, today I saw it for the second time! I saw it opening night with my friends and (spoiler!) enjoyed it so much that when my family went to see it I tagged along again. I don’t keep up with all of the Marvel movies and storylines, but I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming on the plane ride home from Italy. Prior to that I hadn’t seen any of the recent Marvel movies; I had seen glimpses of Homecoming and it looked funny, so I downloaded it to watch on the plane on a whim since it recently came to Netflix. You don’t have to be super into superheroes to enjoy it, so I highly recommend going to see it no matter what you’re interested in!

The movie focuses on Peter Parker and his struggles to balance his superhero responsibilities and his desire to just enjoy being a kid. It’s set in Europe (it starts in Venice so that was fun for me to see after just being there!) on his science class trip, coincidentally also at the locations of a bunch of attacks by “elemental” monsters that seemingly come out of nowhere. Nick Fury needs Peter to help fight them, but Peter just wants to tell MJ that he likes her and spend time with his friends. I thought the movie perfectly balanced both of these issues while incorporating humor, even in the more serious scenes.

All of the characters have their hilarious moments and witty one-liners, which I greatly appreciated. Tom Holland does an amazing job playing the role of a reluctant teenage superhero, and I adore Zendaya’s character just because she’s so funny. The chemistry between Peter and MJ was great and I really was rooting for them to get together throughout the movie. I also thought the relationship between Ned and Betty was cute as well, but it was definitely unexpected. There was a decent amount of romance-related drama in this movie, but that makes sense since it’s definitely geared a bit more towards teenagers than some other Marvel movies.

As far as the plot, no spoilers here! There’s definitely a turning point in the movie where it seems that the main problems are resolved and the story will come to an end, just as the plot thickens. The first time I saw the movie I definitely didn’t see the plot twist coming, but after seeing it today there were a couple clues I picked up; I’m just not very good at predicting those types of things.

Ultimately, I would rate the movie a 10/10! My little brother said a 9/10, but he’s extremely picky with movies, so I’d still say that’s a win. I know this review is a bit short (especially considering it’s a pretty long movie at over 2 hours, and there’s lots to talk about) but discussing most of it would give spoilers anyways and I’m trying not to give away anything! You HAVE to go see it if you meet any of the following criteria: you love Tom Holland and/or Zendaya, you love Marvel movies, you’re a teenager, you love movies in general. If none of those are you, I still highly recommend seeing it anyway!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July (even though it’s almost over), and go see Spider-Man: Far From Home!

-Brooke

Review: Riverdale Season 3

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

Today I am going to share my thoughts on the latest season of Riverdale- I know it was airing a while ago on actual TV, but I always wait to binge watch it on Netflix and it only came on there recently. I actually mentioned a couple times in my daily posts from my trip that whenever we were on a flight or train I was watching Riverdale, and I ended up finishing the entire season towards the end of the trip.

Just for some background, I LOVED the first season of the show. I thought by the end of the season it answered just enough questions to leave viewers satisfied but also waiting for the next season. However, I found the second season disappointing. It seemed much cheesier (sometimes I literally thought it was a joke) with the random sub-plots, and the whole Black Hood storyline wasn’t my favorite. It just reminded me of A from Pretty Little Liars but with more violence rather than creepiness. Overall, I would say the third season is kind of in the middle of the spectrum for me. I still enjoyed the first season the most, but this most recent one was definitely better than its predecessor.

Don’t get me wrong, it was still quite cheesy and ridiculous in some ways (an obvious play on the Breakfast Club, a musical episode…) and some of the plot lines seemed a little outrageous at first, but at least they were entertaining. The season was also much darker than the others, but that was the component that kept me on the edge of my seat while watching.

Here’s a short overview of some of the focuses and events in this season in no particular order:

  • everyone starts playing a dangerous board game called Gryphons and Gargoyles, causing lots of problems due to its dangerous missions that often end in death/sacrifice
  • some of the hardcore G&G players form a Gargoyle gang that overtakes the Serpents and Ghoulies
  • Toni and Cheryl break away from the Serpents and form an all girl gang called the Pretty Poisons
  • The Farm grows more popular and gains more members through recruitment at Riverdale High
  • Betty is convinced the Farm is a cult and that there’s something deeper going on so she continues to investigate
  • Hiram Lodge continues to wreak havoc on Riverdale and gets involved in the trade of a drug that causes seizures
  • Veronica opens a speak-easy within Pop’s called La Bonne Nuit
  • Archie gets put in juvie by Hiram and ends up in an illegal fight club there
  • Archie does boxing after getting out of juvie and eventually opens up his own gym
  • Jughead’s mom and sister move back to Riverdale so they are kind of like a family again
  • and much more, plus various side issues that spring up from these plot points above!

I would definitely recommend catching up on the show on Netflix if you didn’t already keep up with the season as it aired. I think you can also watch episodes on the CW app if you have an account or something; I know some of my friends did that during the year. It was definitely an action-packed season and every character had a lot going on in almost every episode. I was always looking forward to getting to watch it and figure out what was going on with the various mysteries, and it was satisfying that almost everything connected and made sense in the end. Speaking of the end- I won’t spoil anything, but it was crazy and of course, action packed! I enjoyed part of it, but part of it I thought was a little unnecessary.

Besides the cheesiness factor that I mentioned before, the other thing I didn’t like about the season were the random efforts made to try and make the characters’ high school lives seem relatable. In the middle of all the cult and gang craziness, there was an episode where studying for the SATs was mentioned and the characters were focusing on that. I know they have to have some high school background-type events since the characters are teenagers, but it just seemed out of place. There was another portion of an episode related to college admissions, where Cheryl’s mother was trying to prevent her from getting into her dream school. That part was a little bit more cohesive since it added more depth to Cheryl’s personal plotline at the moment, but it still came a little out of nowhere.

The last thing I’ll talk about in this review are the characters more specifically. I liked that the parents had all their storylines going on and their own secrets, especially since they ended up intertwined with that of their children. The relationships were a bit predictable; Veronica and Archie broke up but still had feelings for each other, Betty and Jughead stayed together, etc. I liked the dynamic between Cheryl and Toni a lot, I thought they made an interesting couple. All of the characters from the Farm were quite creepy, but that was obviously intentional. Hiram Lodge continues to be very evil and cause tons of problems for Archie (he reallllly hates Archie), and everything else you would imagine.

Hopefully you guys found this informative and will go check the show out if you haven’t already! I know I was a little critical of it but I overall really enjoyed the new season and hey, it IS a show targeted for a younger audience- it just needs to be entertaining. I’ll be doing more reviews on TV/movies whenever I get the chance, and I’ll have more content to update you guys with soon!

-Brooke