The Fault in Our Stars (Review) [spoilers]

The Fault in Our Stars is probably my favourite book in the history of all books and I am so stoked that it is getting made into a movie so this review will be on the book but will include things about the film, for example the cast. Just to clarify, before I begin, there will be spoilers in this review.

The book is about a group of cancer survivors/patients, specifically Hazel and Augustus. Hazel has a type of cancer that affects her lungs meaning she has to carry around an air tank she named Phillip that is connected through a tube to her nose, Augustus is cancer clear through most of the book and has had his leg amputated. Another character from the support group is Isaac who is possibly my favourite character, well maybe tied for favourite because Hazel and Augustus are pretty good characters, he has cancer in his eyes and from the beginning he only has one eye and later has to get his second removed. One of the main arts of the book is the fact that Augustus uses his 'wish' (from the Genies or whatever) and takes Hazel to meet the author of her favourite book, An Imperial Affliction, Peter Van Houten. He takes her to Amsterdam where they later find out that Peter is not as much as they had made him out to be, he was an alcoholic who hadn't done anything substantial in a long time. Once they return back to America it is found out that Augustus isn't quite over his cancer, he uses the phrase "I lit up like a christmas tree" to describe his scan. By the end of the book Augustus dies after becoming completely dependent on other people which supplies a very sad ending as the next few chapters are about his funeral and how Hazel copes without him.

Initially I thought Hazel would have been the one to die but the twist supplied by John Green is amazing. I love John's work, I have read another of his books, 'Papertowns' and I am beginning to read 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson'. I also love John's youtube videos on the channel vlogbrothers.

In the movie Hazel is being played by Shailene Woodley who also stars in new movie Divergent. She had to have quite a significant hair cut to play the part of Hazel because Hazel's hair cut is described as a 'pageboy' hair cut. I don't think that they could have cast the part any better.

Playing Augustus in the movie will be Ansel Elgort who is also playing the brother of Shailene's character in Divergent which will be confusing when I see both movies. The character of Augustus is quite famous in the movie and book for having a pack of cigarettes, he balances one between his lips and says it's a metaphor as you use the killing thing but do not give it the ammunition to kill. I also think that Ansel was a great choice for the roll.

Finally, last but not least playing my favourite character Isaac is the very attractive Nat Wolff. During the filming Nat had to wear glasses that rendered him unable to see and also contact lenses that did the same. I feel Nat was the right choice for this roll and he got right into his part.

My favourite part of the whole book is when Isaac's girlfriend breaks up with him and Hazel and Augustus take him to throw eggs at her car.

I rate this book 5/5 and cannot wait for the movie to be released nearer the end of this year (at least for me, stupid American release date vs. British)

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Elsa inspired hair

Today I was with my friends and we decided to do some Elsa from Frozen inspired hair and since it is on many different hair types I thought I would make a blog post about it, even if this was meant to be my all about me post.

Here's Ailsa's hair (Long and Blonde)

 Here's Akiko's hair (Medium-long and ginger)

And here's Maisie's hair (short-medium and light brown)

The Elsa hair style is basically just a french braid that is relatively messy.

We also tried some Elsa inspired make up which wasn't too successful.

My hair wasn't quite long enough to do the Elsa braid but I did do this with my hair.

(The pictures don't do it justice)

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Night out to Wetherspoons

Outfit of the week

I have just been out for a diner at Wetherspoons with family ( I had a chicken burger and it was delicious) and this was the outfit I wore. It has to be one of my favourite outfits too.

Firstly there's my tights, quite simple, from Sainsburys they cost about £5 for a set of 3 about 60 denier or something.

Then there's my skater skirt, it's black with white bows all over, it has elastic at the back and came with a brown belt, that I am obviously not wearing. The bow printed fabric is translucent but it has an under coat. It was from Primark but I'm not sure how much it cost.

And then there's my top, it's also translucent so a vest must be worn underneath most of the time, it has a black collar, buttons and a piece of ribbon-y fabric that I like to tie at the front. It was from Sainsburys too I think and yet again I'm not sure how much it cost.

Then lastly there's my blue cardigan, I wear this to school from time to time actually, it was from Asda and was probably pretty cheap in the school section. It is slightly longer at the front than the back and has pockets that are too small to really carry things in.

That was my outfit and it seems that supermarket clothes are a recurring theme in this.

-Brodie

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Wicked (in London) Review

I saw Wicked in October of last year (2013) and it is one of the single most amazing musicals I have ever seen and by the end when one of the final numbers, 'Defying Gravity', began I even shed a tear. And today in this blog post will be reviewing the West End show. Just to clarify if you haven't yet seen the show and you still wish to and don't want to have the plot line or anything else spoiled for you I would not recommend reading on.

Let's begin with the props and set design. I don't think I would have enjoyed this musical as much if it weren't for the amazing set and props, I still would have enjoyed it none the less. To start with, above the stage there was a gigantic mechanical dragon of sorts that before, after and during the show moved and flapped it's wings, at first I was shocked because I hadn't expected it but it really was awesome. Along with that, the whole stage was beautifully set out, down both sides of the stage were two sets of stairs decorated with cogs as if they were part of a factory and the back wall, behind all of the back drops, is a map of the whole of the land, which I can't think of the name of. Then when it comes to props one of the main ones in the production was a green bottle which in the end became the second biggest plot twist in the whole story line, the rest of the props included things like beds in the dorms, a wheelchair and several other things simply used to set the scene. The set design and prop design team did a fantastic job on this musical and I would recommend going to see it just to see these features.

The music in the production is simply flawless, composed beautifully and sung and played almost effortlessly by the cast members. It includes songs like "Popular", "The Wizard and I" and the showstopping "Defying Gravity". Each of these songs are accompanied by an orchestra and I'm sure at some point there were soundtracks but they were virtually undetectable. Each song was such a spectacular part of the show with choreography performed wonderfully and they all contributed largely to why I love the show so much.

When it comes to the cast of the show they couldn't have chosen better. Firstly there's Louise Dearman who plays Elphaba (or Elphie) also known as the wicked witch of the west in the original 'The wizard of oz'. She is the key singer in the song "Defying Gravity". The actress is throughout the show painted green and first appears wearing glasses with a school style uniform on and as the plot line progresses she is given a hat in the style of a stereotypical 'witches hat'. It isn't until the character of Elphaba grows up that she is shown in the black gown associated with a witch. Another of the characters, Glinda also known as the good witch of the north, is played by Gina Beck. The main song sung by the character Glinda is "Popular" which has to be one of my favourite numbers, the character is first depicted in clothing that is more of a pretty and slightly eccentric fashion and she
continues to have that same style throughout the show, her hair always in a state o perfect curls. The final of the character that I would consider to be the main characters is Fiyero played by Ben Freeman, who is a tall well built man playing a character that begins as the jock type and ends as a more affectionate type. His main song include "Dancing through life" partly sung with Glinda I think and "As long as your mine" sung with Elphaba I think. Some of the slightly less main characters but still not minor character are the Wizard, played by Keith Bartlett, Madame Morrible, played by Harriet Thorpe, Doctor Dillamond, played by Christopher Howell, Boq, played by Sam Lupton and Nessarose,  played by Katie Rowley Jones.

Lastly here's a short outline of the plotline. The story begins with a couple who have a child, and when the child is born they are shocked to find that the child is green in colour, Elphaba. The child is later found out to have powers that she is taught not to use, but when she goes to school and the school finds out about them she is given special treatment and makes an enemy of a girl called Glinda. Glinda then gets a crush on Fiyero who doesn't seem to care about school and at one of the school dances Glinda, with a plan to humiliate Elphaba gives her the witches hat. At the dance Glinda and Elphaba somehow become friends and it turns out Fiyero is friends with Elphaba too as he helps her rescue a lion cub. Elphaba gets to meet the Wizard at one point and finds out that the Wizard has been turning talking animals back into their animal form and uses Elphaba's powers to turn a group of monkeys into flying monkeys. Strongly against this kind of cruelty she runs away with a magical spell book and Fiyero runs away with her. Long story short the wicked story joins onto the wizard of oz story as in the end the bucket of water is thrown onto the witch and she "melts" when actually all that happens is that she sinks into the ground. That is all I will say as the plotline is quite thick and complicated but still amazing.

To conclude, I would rate this show 5 stars as it is one of my favourite shows ever. 

Since this is my first blog post I'm going to take this small paragraph to talk about me, I'm Brodie, I'm 14 and I like Musicals, Books, TV shows, Youtubers and movies along with art and writing too. On Sunday (and every sunday for that matter) I will be posting my outfit of the week, which will be my favourite outfit from that week and on Tuesday I will be posting anything I like (this tuesday's will probably be an all about me) and then every Friday I will be posting a review.
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