Quote of the week

"All our dreams can come true; if we have the courage to pursue them" - Walt Disney

Saturday 14 December 2013

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award!

Hey guys!

Some of you might have heard of this unofficial award going around the blogosphere recently, and that is the Liebster Award! Liebster, in German, means my beloved or my dearest <3

The award is given to nominees with less than 200 followers and it helps to give them some exposure!

Without further ado, let me begin by thanking Bayan Basri from The Booklicker, Andrea Geist from Andrea Reads and Reviews and Kelli Wheelright from Bobbins and Books for nominating me for this award! I cannot thank you all enough for it! :))

Here are the rules!

1. Link back the blogger who tagged you. (DONE!)
2. Nominate 10 others and answer the questions of the blogger who tagged you.
3. Ask 10 questions for the bloggers you nominate
4.Let the nominees know of their award.

WOW okay it seems like quite a lot to do! :O

Since I was nominated thrice, I will be picking 10 out of Kelli's, Andrea's and Bayan's 30 questions to answer!

Q1: Which do you prefer, Paper copy or ebook?
Paper copy, hands down! I dont have the habit of buying/ reading E-books because of my upbringing and influences from my friends and family! More importantly, I love the papery touch and musty smell of a physically bound book and ebooks can never replace that feeling. 

Q2: Who's your first fictional crush?
Haku from Spirited Away. When I watched Spirited Away for the first time at the tender age of 7, I was simply swept off my feet by his heroic deeds and lovely personality.

Have you fallen in love as well?

Q3: What's your opinion on fanfiction?
Hmm, I read a fair bit of fan fiction, but I am rarely walk away feeling impressed. Perhaps this is due to my innate bias against e-fiction...

Q4: Young Adult or New Adult?
Young Adult! :))

Q5: Favorite reading snack?
Seedless Grapes! They are healthy, juicy, plump, sweet and bursting with flavour! They complement my reading experience perfectly :)

Q6: Do you have an animal companion? What type of animal and name?
A great white wolf named Shira

Take a leap of faith into the twisting eternity of time and space.

Q7: What do you want for Christmas?
A good book, my happy family and lots of merry and cheer in the house

Q8: What is your all time favorite book?
The Giver

Q9: What are the next three books in your TBR pile?

This collation of photographs teaches me that there is more than meets the eye
(and that homeless vagrants are the wisest and most talented people).
"Believe the Unbelievable" 

555048
The movie, Lore (2012), was a moving masterpiece so
I'm really looking forward to the book!

Q10: What is your favorite genre?
Dystopian- Fantasy reads FTW! (For The Win!) Nothing captures my attention like complex world building and subtle dystopian elements.

For this Liebster Award, I will be nominating the following amazing blogs!

1. Andrienne Reiter from http://adriennereiter.blogspot.sg/
2. Anastacia Zittel from http://anastaciareviews.blogspot.com/
3. Julie Whitely from http://www.cluereview.blogspot.sg/
4. J. Woods from http://jwoodsauthor.wordpress.com/
5. Egbuline Wisdom from http://egbulineblog.wordpress.com/
6. Mary Maddox from http://www.ancientchildren.com/
7. Megan Nicole from http://booksiview.com/
8. Laura from http://a-reader-lives-a-thousand-lives.blogspot.co.uk/
9. Laura Agnella from http://www.thebooknerd2013.blogspot.sg/
10. Sakinah D. Rasheed from http://sdrasheed.blogspot.com/

Whewww... =.= now I'm half way through! 

My questions for my dear nominees!
1. What is your favourite genre and why?
2. Who is your favourite author?
3. How would you describe your writing style?
4. What is one book that you would ask from Santa for Christmas?
5. Coffee, tea, beer or wine with your books?
6. Do you have an animal reading companion?
7. Is your family supportive of your blogging and writing lifestyle?
8. In 5 years time, where do you envision your blog to be?
9. Do you prefer ebooks or paperback copies?
10. What is your favourite book series?

Fortunately for me (and you!), this long blogpost has drawn to a close. :P

Remember to check back for updates!

Love, 
Crystal

Saturday 7 December 2013

Japanese Movies and their Equivalent Books: Part 3

Hello again! :)

This is Part 3, to my blog post named: Japanese Movies and their Equivalent Books! Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2, be sure to check them out! :)

Okay! So to jazz things up a little, I have decided that the final book and Japanese movie pair will be from a genre that I have (almost!) never posted about before on this blog... and that is, horror.

This time, the book-movie pair is: BREATHE (A GHOST STORY) and The Ring (2002)

Movie: The Ring (1998)
 That's a tall glass of nope.nope.nope.

Plot:
In this psychological horror story from Japan, a legend circulates among teenagers that if one watches a certain video at a certain time of the night, the telephone will ring right afterward, and one week later, you will die. When Masami tells her friend Imako this story, she scoffs -- but a week later, Imako dies.

Imako's aunt, a television journalist named Reiko, hears that not long before she died, Imako was watching a strange video with her friends -- all of whom have turned up dead. Reiko tracks down a copy of the video, and as she watches its strange, spectral images, the telephone begins to ring....The next morning, Reiko begins a desperate search to solve the mystery of the video, convinced she has only seven days to live; assisting her is Ryuji, a mathematics expert and her former husband.

And here's the trailer... if you dare >< I could only find the American version (2002), but the plot is roughly the same as the original Japanese movie,



Book: BREATHE (A GHOST STORY) by Neal Shusterman

Looks a lot like the movie poster for the
Woman in Black (2012), don't you think?

Plot:
Jack and his mom Sarah move to a new house after his father's death. Jack starts seeing ghosts that only he can hear or talk to. There is mother ghost and four child ghosts. The children warn him about mother ghost and he starts to worry....

Similarities

OKAY. The most obvious similarity is the fact that both the movie and the book involve hauntings and unrest spirits.

In the case of the Ring, the ghostly main antagonist, Samara, is a spirit with a complicated human past involving demon possessions, hermaphroditism and adoptions. As a human, she had been thrown into a well to drown  but her vengeful spirit lived on in a video tape long after her body rotted away.

Similarly, in BREATHE (A GHOST STORY), "Mother" is a vengeful ghost that also has unresolved issues and emotions that bind her spirit to the human world. Feeding off the spirit energy of the younger child-ghosts, she uses them as a form of sustenance to haunt humans.

In addition, the tense atmosphere for both The Ring and BREATHE is palpable, but admittedly the atmosphere for the movie is more intense and moving. Some parts of the movie really got me screaming desperately and shutting my eyes tightly! >.<

Well then, that's all folks! Remember to read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't and check back for Part 4!

Love,
Crystal