1 Year Anniversary

Today, March 22nd 2016, it's the first anniversary of the "Sleepless Blogger" blog!
I don't have much to say except thank you if you've stayed with me during this year and that hopefully I will keep making  more and better posts for another number of years!

-Maria

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Movie Review #1

As promised, I am going to start doing more regular movie reviews, and my first one will be of the movie adaptation of  the book series by Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

The movie starts off by having Lemony Snicket (who narrates the film) warn the viewer that this will not be a cheery film but quite a tragic one, and then goes on to tell the story of how the Baudelaire children become the Baudelaire orphans, lose their house in a fire, are almost-murdered several times by an evil Count chasing after their fortune and as soon as you think things are getting better and they're finally safe from the evil Count, an unfortunate event occurs.

I think this movie was a good mixture of funny and dark. Three reasons why I liked it are: the performances given by the cast (Timothy Spall, Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep as well as the "child actors" Emily Browning and Liam Aiken); the "message" of the film, which was that you should listen to children, which can be generalised to listen to everyone, because everyone is important and everyone matters; and finally the look of the film, the characterisationof the actors, the clothes, the sets and the animation was beautiful and really elevated the film.
Rating: 7/10

After watching this I will definetly try and find the books to read them, just to see if this was a good adaptation or not!

-Maria

100-ish Book List

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien*
 
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
 
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee*
 
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
 
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
 
Little Women, Louisa M Alcott*

Catch-22, Joseph Heller
 
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 

Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
 
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
 
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
 
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
 
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
 
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame*
 
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
 
The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis

Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
 
Animal Farm, George Orwell 

Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
 
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
 
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
 
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
 
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 

Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
 
Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Dracula, Bram Stoker

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Ulysses, James Joyce
 
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
 
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
 
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
 
The Color Purple, Alice Walker

The Help, Kathryn Stockett*
 
Charlotte’s Web, EB White
 
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
 
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
 
Les Misérebles, Victor Hugo.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan*

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, John Green*

Looking for Alaska, John Green*

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Landline, Rainbow Rowell

Carry On, Rainbow Rowell

The Kane Chronichles, Rick Riordan 

The Chronicles of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin

If I Stay, Gayle Forman*

Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas

The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare 

The Infernal Devices, Cassandra Clare

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snickett

Complete Works of Jane Austen*

Complete Works of Charles Dickens

Complete Works of William Shakespeare 

The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein

The Book Thief, Markus Zuzak

The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

The Princess Bride, William Goldman

Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak

The Odissey, Homer

My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Outlander, Diana Gabaldon

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead

Matilda, Roald Dahl 

The Oldman and The Sea, Ernest Hemingway

The Cat in The Hat, Dr Seuss  

The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne 

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka 

East of Eden, John Steinbeck 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S Thompson

Sophie's Choice, William Styron 

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert 

Marley & Me, John Grogan 

The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain

The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen

The Invisible Man, H G Wells

Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift 

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe 

Anna and the Girl Next Door, Stephanie Perkins 

All My Friends Are Superheroes, Andrew Kaufman 

Love, Love Me Do, Mark Haysom  

The Time Machine, H G Wells 

The War of the Worlds, H G Wells

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

Nothern Lights, Philip Pullman

-Maria

 *started reading
  read 

January And February Favourites | 2016

Hi! Today I am going to talk to you about a few things I loved in the months of January and February. I was going to do this last month but I really didn't have enough things to talk about so I am doing it now instead. Here we go!

• Beauty

Rimmel "Wake Me Up" Foundation - My first mention is of this foundation, if you follow beauty vloggers you have probably heard about it, it gives a dewy finish that makes my skin look very healthy. The only downside is that it's a bit light coverage. Other than that I think it's great.

Real Techniques Brushes + Beauty Blender - I finally have good brushes to apply stuff to my face! These are super soft and the beauty blender gives a beautiful finish because it applies the product evenly and obviously doesn't make any brush strokes.

Rimmel "Stay Matte Perfection" Powder - The best powder I have ever used! It completely gets rid of my oiliness and helps my foundation to stay all day.

• Music

Blondie - Finally got around to listening to the discography of this amazing band and I am completely hooked. There was no particular reason for me to go listen to them but I am really glad I did!

Halsey - I had listened to Halsey before and I had  liked her music but never really got into it but this January. I've heard her the album so many times, and I can't get enough! 

Marina and the Diamonds - Another kind of re-discover, I knew the most famous songs (like How to be a Heartbreaker and Primadonna) but I had never gone and listened to a full album. I listened to Electra Heart once and the other two immediately after, and I think you should as well.

Panic! At the Disco - Panic is an all year favourite but I had to tell you to go listen to their new album, "Death of a Bachelor", it's amazing and beautiful and everyone should listen to Brendon Urie's beautiful voice.

• Fashion

Doc Martens - I wanted these boots for so long and this Christmas my grandparents gifted them to me. I couldn't have been happier and, as was expected, I absolutely adore them!

• Tv Shows

That 70s Show - Back when Netflix still let me watch the american version and I could watch what, I can already say, even though I haven't watched it all, is one of my favourite shows. It's funny, it's set in the 70's and it's very amusing to watch, what more could you want!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Anther super fun show (I've got to get more adjectives) but set in a totally different environment. I have just started on  season 2 and I am really enjoying it (plus this one is available on portuguese Netflix).

Modern Family + Teen Wolf + Supernatural -Like Panic! At the Disco these are kind of honorable mentions because I am loving how the new seasons of these shows are doing. (If you watch Teen Wolf, did  you see the Beast reveal? Oh no)

• Movies

Across The Universe & One Day - I actually made a whole post about these movies and if you are interested in seeing that, here is the link: http://sleeeplessblogger.blogspot.pt/2016/02/the-movies-i-watched-on-valentines-day.html
(bit of self promo)

So this is the end of my favourites for the first two months of 2016, I hope you enjoyed hearing about them, let me know what you thought! I think I am going to try and do these monthly but I don't promise anything. Have a good rest of the year and I will hopefully talk to you soon!

-Maria

The Movies I Watched On Valentine's Day | 2016

Hello! Unfortunately a post I had planned of movie suggestions to watch on Valentine's day couldn't be uploaded because I didn't have WiFi all day yesterday (it was horrible).
So, I had this post planned for today and it is to tell you about the movies I watched this Valentine's day. I watched two movies, not because they were of that theme (they just happen to be), and I loved them so much I just have to talk about them.

• Across The Universe

This movie! It is like Mamma Mia but with Beatles songs. I love musicals, I love the Beatles so I was bound to love this movie, and I really did.

It's set in the 60's during the Vietnam War, Jude travels from his hometown, Liverpool, to America, to meet his father and ends up staying there once he befriends Max, who attends the university in which his dad works. Later he moves to New York with Max and meets Sadie, a wanna-be singer who owns the apartment they eventually stay in, Jojo, who uses music as an escape after his brother dies in a shooting, and Prudence who runs to New York to escape an abusive relationship. Max's sister comes to stay with them during a summer and that's when she and Jude fall in love.

That is just a snippet of everything that happens in this movie. Obviously it has an amazing soundtrack sung by the actors themselves. Very good casting and there's an interesting detail that most of the characters look like famous musicians (Jude looks like Paul McCartney, Max like Kurt Cobain, Jojo like Jimi Hendrix and Sadie like Janis Joplin) and are named after "characters" in Beatles songs (Hey Jude, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Dear Prudence).
I absolutely recommend this movie!

Rating: 9/10

• One Day

After watching that last movie I grew to like the lead actor aka Jim Sturgess so I just had to watch another of his films and because I'd heard of this one before I decided to watch.

This movie takes place in the same day, 15th of July (St. Swithun's Day), from 1988 to 2006 and shows the lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew. It shows the highs and downs of their lives and shows them since the they meet til they finally get together, but I must warn you, this movie did not have an happy ending.

Like I said, this movie will make you cry because you will care for the characters and the movie will break your heart, maybe not  as bad as it did mine (I am very weak when it comes to these things) but still.. all the same, it is very lovely so I definitely suggest it!
Rating: 8/10


So those were the movies, I plan to do more movie reviews in the future as well as books and tv shows and lots of other things (even though I'm not the best at them, I am aware)! If you happen to like this movie you tell how you  felt about them and definitely leave suggestions for more movies for me to watch! Bye for now!

-Maria

Farewell, Alan Rickman

I cannot believe this the second time this week that I find myself mourning.

 

Today the beloved actor Alan Rickman, passed way due to cancer. He was 69 years old.

Once more the world has lost an enormous amout of talent.
The news of Alan Rickman's death came as a huge shock. He was a fantastic actor and you can tell by the messages that former coleagues and friends are leaving in his honour that he was a fantastic person as well.

https://plus.google.com/+DanielRadcliffe/posts/SG1NZZvTKRt  

The reason why I am very familiered with his work is, of course, because of his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Even though there is a some controversy about the age of the character we can all agree that he played that part perfectly, and no one can imagine the movies with a different actor.

To me and to all the people who grew up with the Harry Potter movies today is a very sad day.

-Maria

Goodbye, David Bowie.

This was not the post I was expecting to write today...

If you didn't know, last Sunday, the 10th of january, the legendary David Bowie passed away due to cancer. He was said to die peacefully surounded by family, just 2 days after his 69th birthday and releasing what would be his final album"Blackstar".

I'm going to be completelly honest and say that I don't have a wide knowledge of Bowie's work, just some o the first albums like "David Bowie" and "Space Oddity", and of course his most famous singles like "Heroes" and "Let's Dance". But of course doesnt' mean anything, the love and respect I have for both the man and the work are the same as if I knew every song by heart.
David Bowie inspired and helped many people.
He thaught millions of lives to accept and love themselves, while making wonderful and powerful songs for the whole world to enjoy. Even if you aren't amazed bu his actions, you will be by his music.
He was such an iconic person that even after 5 decades there are still people discovering his work everyday.

The news of his death shocked and saddened the world today, but the amazing person that David Bowie was will always be remembered.

-Maria

New Year's Resolutions | 2016

So this is 2016...

2015 was quite the journey and it has now come to an end. I am determined to make 2016 much better than 2015 and so I'm making some resolutions or goals for the year. I hear some people say that resolutions are just excuses, that you can change your life whenever you want but what a better place to start then the new year?
Here they are:

• Post more on this blog, 2 post a month minimum

I I'm sure you've noticed that I am one of the worst blog keepers, and I don't that to happen anymore. This year I am going to really try an publish at least 2 posts a month, it may seam a little ambitious but if you I make an effort, I'll be able to do it.

• Read 20 books

For 2015 my goal was to read 10 books (not counting re-reads) so this year I am raising the bar! I have a long TBR list so finding books won't be a problem, just finding time.

• Exercise / Go outside more

Just so I'm ealthier. I spend a lot of time on my computer and my phone so I rarely get out of my house which I wish I didn't do so I'm setting myself this goal (plus getting in shape would be nice, ahah)

• Watch 2 TV Shows

This contradicts the last one quite a bit, but I have a very, very long list of TV shows to watch so to get through this year would be great. (I am talking about shows that are finished and that have quite a few episodes)

• Watch one decade of film

Let me explain. Some time ago I made a list of films that I want to see, put it in chronological order and divided them by decade, so I don't want to watch ALL the movies made in that decade, just the ones on my list, which I still quite a few. This goal is like the last one just with films instead of TV shows.

• Wear every item of clothing

 I am one of those people who has 3 or 4 shirts that they wear all the time and then more clothes that they rarely wear and that can't be so I am determined to wear every shirt/dress/pair of pants I own at least once.

• Learn a bit of Ukulele

As a Christmas gifted one of my uncles gave me a ukulele and I want to lear how to play at least one song on it. (I love the instrument so much!)

• Fill my Mason Jar

For the longest time I've wanted a Mason jar, but I couldn't find one anywhere. In the meantime I finished a candle and noticed that its pot looks exactley like a Mason jar. I cleaned it and now I plan to fill it with quotes and song lyrics!

So those are my New Year's Resolutions, of course I have other ones like work harder on school and talk more to people, but those are different.
I hope you enjoyed the post and that you have a great 2016. If you don't, we'll wait for 2017.


-Maria


PS: Do you like the new look of the blog?