If I Stay movie and book review

If I Stay is based on a book by Gayle Forman. It is about a girl Mia whose family gets into a car accident. She is in a state of comatose and is outside herself watching everything happen to her. She has to decide if she wants to stay or go. It tells a story about love and really reminds us all that life can change in a blink of an eye. 

Gayle Forman in her books can always create real, honest, and funny characters. The book is heavy from the very beginning. We only know the character and her family for about 20 pages then their lives change forever. To only know a character for a brief time a feel so much for them is truly impressive. It switches back and forth from her past life and what is happening in the present. Mia is cellist who is thinking about Juilliard. Her dad was in a punk rock band and her mom was a feminist bitch (as described in the book). Mia is also completely in love with Adam who is in a rock band. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and learning about them. My absolute favorite part of the book was all the punk rock references from Debbie Harry to Iggy pop, Velvet Underground, and many more. Usually in Young Adult books there are not punk rock in it, which is a subculture greatly overlooked in books. 

Going into the movie I was not expecting it to be good at all. Heres why, I've seen the previews and it looked very sentimental. That is a part of the book but, it really is not the whole book. When big movie studios imagine teenagers they think of stupid, unempathetic, and self obsessed people. So, I always get nervous when big studios adapt Young Adult books to movies. I was pleasantly surprised when the movie was really good! I thought they did the movie very wisely, and the placing of everything really worked. I was worried it would be confusing or mess up the flow having to jump around it did not. They really set everything up perfectly and made the most of what they had. A lot of my favorite dialogue that was in the book was in there too. The music aspects of the story really felt real and true to the book. The punk rock came across really good in the movie. I was very happy with it and if it wasn't I knew I was not going to like the movie. Both the movie and the book are great. 

Overall I would give both a 90%

Love,

Maddie

New York, New York

Photos taken at Top of the Rock

What I wrote on my way home from New York City:

As I'm leaving a place that has been my home for a month, New York City. I'm thinking about why I love it so much. Maybe it's that you can have a interesting conversation with anyone, all the time. Maybe it's the art that is all around. You have the worlds best museums, broadway, endless street art. Maybe because this is the one place where people don't judge me, they like me for who I am. That it showed me that the outside world doesn't suck as bad as high school. The endless trains and cars taking you anywhere you want to go, any time of day. Or maybe because the whole world is at your fingertips and all that you have to do is walk outside. I think a major reason that I love New York is that Fashion Institute of Technology is there, and that's my favorite place in New York. I went there and everything is different. People are different from high school even though these kids are in high school. They got to know me as Maddie and not the labels kids in high school do. I was excited to go to school I don't remember ever feeling that. Ever. I could talk and people were listing to me. No one cared who was "cool" because we all were. To know that people my age were thoughtful and nice like me was amazing. I know longer counted down the days, I was sad when the day ended. I experienced not good times day to day for so long that I just forgot that it could ever be different. My problems seem unimportant now realizing that it was really just a high school thing. It helps to know that it's not just me. Even though I'm leaving NYC I'm not really. The only thing I'm leaving is the past, thinking that anyone couldn't be different. Even though I'm going back to where I live. I will never lose the part of me that knows that things will get better.

This Lana Del Rey video captures the nostalgia I was feeling when I left:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj_myXdOLV0

Landline reading with Rainbow Rowell

Yes, I look dead, yes she is wearing a lobster necklace. 

Before I talk about the reading and how cool Rainbow Rowell is. Let's talk about how I look. Wait. This is not some way for me to be self absorbed and, talk about myself. I look like I am barley alive. Let me tell you why. So I went to Tribeca after my classes at Fashion Institute of Technology for this reading.  We left right at 4:30 and the reading was at 6:00, so I had time to eat. But, the taxi driver dropped us off and we got lost. We ended up walking up and down two different blocks, couldn't find it, and now it was 5:20. We still haven't eaten, we ended up eating at some Mexican place. Found the Barnes and Noble on my GPS. What did people do before GPS? I mean really. We got there late and she was already speaking, but I got a ticket! Not a seat so I just sat on the floor until a worker yelled at me. Then, because we got there late we had to wait for two and a half hours to get my books signed. That is why I look like crap because all I could think about was how amazing my bed is going to feel when I get home. I know. I'm talking to Rainbow Rowell and half of my brain is focusing on her and, the other half is thinking about sleeping. Does that make me a bad reader? Well, whatever I am a human first.

Now let us talk about the reading. Do you know when writers are not good at speaking? Well, Rainbow Rowell is amazing at both. She first read a few pages from Landline and they were obviously amazing. She then took questions from the audience. She talked a lot about her family and her mom. When she spoke of them you really got a good idea and image of whom they were. Someone of course, asked her about the ending of Eleanor and Park she did hint that the three words were good and, maybe, "I love you." Then she said that is why she think's John Green killed off his character, so no one will ask if they end up together. Which of course made everyone laugh. Then, she started talking about her Caesarean section which was really gross. But, what was funny was the secretary guard this big looking tough guy. He was shaking his head, his hands running over his face, and looking like he was going to pass out. Clearly he was not prepared for this conversation.

Rainbow Rowell was really funny and, very sweet. After waiting for two hours (but I had Starbucks so it was fine). I got to talk to her and we talked about Eleanor and Park and she commented on my "real camera" and said it was nice. This was a really awesome thing to be able to do and, Rainbow Rowell was awesome. My mom also said, never reading her books, she was funny and told amazing stories. Now I have signed copies of her books!

Love,
Maddie

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

What I'm wearing: Topshop skirt, crop tank

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the most fun I've had at a broadway show. Ever. Nail Patrick Harris captivates his audience in a way that makes him a force to be reckoned with. Brilliant acting, signing, music, set design, and costume design. Everything about this show is amazing. Under all of these layers that make up a masterpiece, there lyes a great story. The tale of transgender surgery gone wrong, and an internality ignored song stylist, left with an angry inch. A person just trying to make it as themselves, and struggles because there is nothing wrong with them. Just the world they live in, and how they want to be accepted for who they are. Without being labeled as woman, man, or worst of all, freak. You don't have to be trans gender to sympathies with the characters (myself as example). But, something everyone can relate to is wanting to be accepted and loved for who you truly are. Not a fake version that we lie to ourselves, just to please other people. That's why people love this show, not because it makes you laugh your ass off and pushes your boundaries. A story couldn't survive if that is all it is. No, it's because we can all relate to when life goes not wrong or right, just different. When this happens, all we want as people is love and acceptance. This whole show is a success not defined by the awards it's won. But, they found a new way to express something that is a major part of the human experience. If you are lucky enough to see this play before Nail Patrick Harris leaves, go! I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to experience this masterpiece.

Here is the amazing performance at the Tony's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY1y-c_cIjI

Over all I give it 120%

Love,
Maddie