In Princess Power, Barbie’s latest animated movie, she plays Princess Kara who is kissed by a magical bug and gains all kinds of super powers and becomes SUPER SPARKLE! Being Barbie, she uses her powers for all kinds of good, from rescuing stranded sailors, to stopping time, to fixing bad hair cuts. Barbie invites young girls to join…
Girl the Hell Up: Carmilla
There’s a classic novel renaissance taking over YouTube. With the breakout success of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, independent writers and actors alike have gravitated to literary adaptations, and Canadian magazine VerveGirl has seen Carmilla Karnstein leading the pack. Joseph Sheridan le Fanu’s gothic antagonist from 1871 is reimagined as a university student in 2014, whose…
Cool Movies of February!
Jupiter Ascending The Wachowskis Warner Bros. Pictures/Roadshow Entertainment (Australia & New Zealand) February 6, 2015 Ancient aliens being the precursors to our entire species, an outside challenger to a newly empty throne, royal intrigue and backstabbing politics being heirs, facing one’s destiny against all odds in a thrilling adventure throughout the galaxy. It all sounds…
Let’s Do the Joseon Warp Again: A KDrama Time-Travel Introspective
It was a chance encounter…a strange meeting that began by chance at a gap in time. – Queen In Hyun’s Man There is an undeniable fascination with the Joseon era in dramas, and as it was the last dynasty in Korea, it’s not surprising. Twenty-seven kings reigned during this period, with lots of court intrigue…
The Ten Must Read YA Novels of 2014
This was a big year for Young Adult novels. Some big series came to and end and some new ones exploded onto the scene. Scandals broke out, articles were written. Dystopian stories finally began to fade away and stand alone contemporaries were all the rage. So it’s no wonder that it took three Women Write…
Flavors of Heartbreak: Shitsuren Chocolatier
You never forget your first. Manga, that is. My introduction to the art form was Sailor Moon in all its shoujo glory, and as a teen and young adult, I consumed the story and artwork with glee. Many manga readers do get their start with shoujo and shounen manga, which are aimed towards younger audiences, and…
Movies that Shaped Me: Pan’s Labyrinth
“It’s a fairy tale,” you say, as you watch the trailer. And to an extent, you would be right. Pan’s Labyrinth is a fairy tale shaped by Guillermo del Toro’s hands, one that doesn’t shy away from the blood that inevitably spills before the story comes to a close. In 2007, it was a free…
Reading Diaries: Hannibal Re-Imagined and Fantasy Lands
Welcome back to our reading diaries! Once a month the WWAC crew chats about their reading lives. This month we’re reading YA, romance and post-apocalyptic everything. Sarah: I can not look at my to-read pile without feeling guilty. And that doesn’t count the stuff on my Kindle, nicely tucked away so I can’t see the…
Making the Season Bright: Twelve Holiday YA Stories
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories Edited by Stephanie Perkins St. Martin’s Griffin October 2014 Though I don’t believe in listening to Christmas music before U.S. Thanksgiving, I was hard pressed to resist picking up My True Love Gave to Me (hereafter abbreviated as MTLGTM) when it was released in October. Stephanie…
Life Geek! 11/13/14-11/26/14
Life Geek! is our bi-weekly lifestyle feature where we offer readers a glimpse into our geeky lives. Desiree Rodriguez I’ve recently been working on a new comic resources site, and I’m almost finished! Decided the site needed some ‘me’ in there so I took some selfies of my favorite t-shirt, Nightwing. Got this baby at…
The Scariest Movie of My Life: Ringu
“It can’t be that scary,” I told myself as I slid the DVD into my beat-up player and turned on the TV. I was 14, we’d just moved to a new country, and with the school year still a few days from officially starting, I was desperate for something to do that didn’t involve unpacking…
Review: The Maze Runner Film
For a story that relies heavily on the unknown, The Maze Runner is built solidly on familiar and easily recognizable tropes. But while those tropes are engaging during the course of the movie, neither the characters nor the plot hold up to further scrutiny. I watched it without having read the series, and I left…