Reading Before Bed Can Help You Sleep Better!

Originally posted September 23rd, 2015-
It's scientifically proven that reading a good book before you go to bed helps you get a better night's sleep.  A lot of the time, people have trouble falling asleep and getting good, quality sleep because they are stressed.  Whether it's stress from school, jobs, family issues, or just the stress of a long, busy day—stress is stress, and it will affect you and your sleep.  According to a study done in 2009 at the University of Sussex, reading lowers stress levels by 68%.  That's far more efficient in relieving stress than that of video games, taking a walk, drinking a cup of tea, or even listening to music.  And not only does reading reduce the most stress, it reduces stress the fastest.  Reading for just six minutes de-stresses your entire body.  The faster you relax, the faster you fall asleep.

Percent of Stress Relief
Video games	21%
Taking a walk	42%
Drinking tea	54%
Listening to music	61%
Reading	68%

Now, aside from all the statistics, reading before bed is a great stress reliever.  Reading helps take your mind off your life and gives you a chance to focus on someone else's.  According to cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis, reading a book "stimulate(s) your creativity and cause(s) you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness."  Reading alleviates stress fast and effectively by getting you to take the focus (and the stressing) away from your own life, putting you in the perfect state of mind to fall asleep and get good, quality sleep all night long. 

Colin O'Donoghue Gives The Hollywood Reporter the Inside Scoop

Originally posted December 3, 2015-
When The Hollywood Reporter talked with Colin O'Donoghue, Captain Hook on ABC's Once Upon a Time, he told them what they should expect in Sunday's mid-season finale, as well as a look into Dark Hook's plans and motivations.

At this point in the show Hook has already "embraced the darkness," says O'Donoghue, "he knew he didn't have the willpower" to overcome it like Emma has.  He's become very angry with Emma for making him dark because of this.  It was the one thing he had asked of her.  There has been rampant speculation of fans that Hook might want to kill Emma for betraying him, but O'Donoghue says "he's more of a pissed off boyfriend than wanting Emma to die in any kind of way," but if she's going to get in his way it might be something he's willing to do "so long as he gets his revenge on Rumplestiltskin."  As for Emma and Hook's relationship (#CaptainSwan), O'Donoghue says it's a difficult thing for him to see happening, "...it's complicated," he laughs.  "Much like most of their relationship, to be honest.  It's a complicated thing."

In the mid-season finale we can expect to find out what kind of relationship Hook had with his father before he left him as a child.  We will get "a bit more of Hook's backstory in fairytale land," including Hook's previous relationship with the Evil Queen.  Hook's plan to go to the underworld turns out to be "one that all of the Dark Ones wanted to enact," which is why he gets all of the previous Dark Ones together at the end of last Sunday's episode.  Since he has embraced the darkness he really doesn't have a choice in following through with this plan, especially since he thinks it will, also, get his revenge on Rumplestiltskin.  It's what all the Dark Ones have ever wanted and that's "who he is now."

Don't miss Once Upon a Time's mid-season finale Sunday at 8pm on ABC.

Get the full interview with The Hollywood Reporter here!

The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials Movie vs. Book Review

Originally posted October 14th, 2015-
Having not read the book myself, I turned to the internet and its plethora of critics and reviews to find out how close the movie adaption of The Scorch Trials was to the original book.

+20th Century Fox says that the movie is "is action-packed, but doesn’t stay close to the plot of the novel." 

According to Los Angeles Times HS Insider, the movie strays from the book from the very beginning, completely changing the main plot.  Originally, after escaping from the maze at the end of the first book WCKD puts Thomas and the Gladers in the Scorch, on purpose, as another test to see if they can withstand the harsh conditions.  It was another way for WCKD to try to find a cure.  But the movie has them "rescued" and taken to WCKD headquarters, that they don't know at first, where they are harvesting kids' brains to try to find a cure, so Thomas and the Gladers escape from the head quarters and go into Scorch.  They aren't trying to survive the Scorch like the book intended, but rather running away from WCKD.

The Cranks are people that have been infected by "the Flare", the deadly virus that Thomas and the Gladers are somehow immune to.  They play a much bigger role in the movie than in the book and are portrayed differently as well.  In the movie, the Cranks are portrayed as zombies, which wasn't the original intent of the book, making The Scorch Trials seeming to be a post-apocalyptic zombie movie.  This difference was particularly disappointing for some fans, as Aliskinner writes on Fandango, "They're not zombies, it doesn't really spread through biting, it's all in the brain. We don't need another zombie movie."

Wm54joyce says if she didn't read the book she probably would've liked the movie, but since she did read the book "the story just seemed boring in comparison to what it could have been."

Overall, the consensus of critics and book fans is that the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, with lots of action and great special effects; a must-see for action-movie buffs and an amazing film for those of us who haven't read The Maze Runner series.  But in comparison to book, the movie fell flat, leaving fans of the book disappointed as they left the theatre.

Author Quote # 8

RIP Alan Rickman

Beloved actor, well-known for his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, Alan Rickman passed away earlier today due to cancer.

RIP Alan Rickman

Author Quote # 7

 

~ Bel Castro Agency

Bookworm Socks!!



Let's all just appreciate these bookworm socks that Ms. McSorley wore today for Wacky Sock Day.

 

I want them..

Author Quote # 6

Happy 388th Birthday Charles Perrault!

While the Brothers Grimm have been widely credited with all of our classic fairytales, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood, Charles Perrault wrote the original stories over 200 years earlier.  The French writer wrote Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, a series of stories with the intent of getting the reader to reflect on the problems faced by the protagonist.  Perrault's original fairytales were, also, much more direct and explicit than what they have become today.

Sleeping Beauty- Today's 1959 Disney version of Sleeping Beauty is actually a combination of Perrault's version and the Grimm Brothers's Briar Rose.  But, the Disney version did away with a lot of the darkness in the two stories, which were very dark.

Cinderella- Disney's 1950 version was pretty spot on to Perrault's original story as far as plot goes.

Little Red Riding Hood- This classic fairytale has become much more implicit than Perrault's orginal.  He had clearly showed that the wolf was a man preying on innocent girls in the woods, rather than an actual wolf.  

Happy Birthday Charles Perrault, father of fairytales!

For more information on Charles Perrault click here!

The Fifth Wave Movie Releases Soon

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey has been made into a movie, set to release January 22!

Author Quote # 5

Author Quote # 4

Gaston on Once Upon A Time

We all remember Gaston, the "suave", narcissistic man who tried to win Belle's heart in Beauty and the Beast.  Well, we get the chance to love, or rather love to hate him once again on this upcoming season of Once Upon a Time.  

Wes Brown of True Blood has been cast as Gaston.

Tune in to the season 5B premiere Sunday, March 6th at 8 to see if Gaston is able to win Belle over this time!

Author Quote # 3

Author Quote # 2

 



Author Quote #1

I'm starting a new series of quotes by famous and popular authors, most likely one per day.
Happy Reading!

Booklovers, Bibliophiles, and Bibliomaniacs- Oh My!

I found out today that "booklover" is actually in the dictionary.

According to Merriam-Webster "booklover" is defined as:

One fond of books - compare to bibliophile 

So naturally I decided to look up "bibliophile":

A person who loves or collects books

Then, curiosity got the best of me and I wondered if there was a name for some kind of obsession with books and I found:

bibliomania- craze for books or reading

Once I realized that I went through all this trouble for my love of books I concluded that I am proudly all 3!

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author of Purple Hibiscus and Americanah, talks about why it is so dangerous to only hear and believe one side of someone's story along with personal experiences she uses to back her idea.  Honestly, the video speaks for itself, this is a must-watch video especially for anyone who aspires to be a writer.

Once Upon a Time Season 5B Hook Key Art

Oncers know that at the end of season 5's winter finale, Hook (SPOILER ALERT!) was killed by Emma Swan to get the darkness out of him with escalaber.  And he momentarily changed back to the goodhearted Hook we all know and love before he died and was sent to the Underworld, where Emma plans to retrieve him from in Season 5's Spring Premiere. 

The Key Art for Hook's season 5B return has recently been released.

 

 

 

Some things that I immediately notice about his picture is that Hook's face is very soft contoured, his eyes are bright blue (instead of the dark brown they were when he was the Dark One), and his hair/ facial hair is neatly done and trimmed.  He never looked like this when he was still controlled by the darkness, so that leads me to take a guess that this look of goodness and innocence means that he will go back to being the goodhearted Killian Jones he worked so hard to become. 

 

But there is only one way to find out!

 

Watch Once Upon a Time returns on ABC for the Season 5 Spring Premiere on Sunday, March 6 at 8pm.



24 Things People Slightly Obsessed With Reading Know To Be True

Buzz Feed has come up with what I can only describe as a brilliantly accurate list of things all book lovers and avid readers will know and be able to relate to.  Let's take a look...

 

 

1. You know nothing beats the smell of a brand-new book…

                     

 

2. …except maybe the smell of an old one.

    

 

 

3. Sometimes you wonder whether it’s normal to like books more than people.

                  

 

4. You are never, ever without a book.

                     

     

5. The Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last” is your actual worst fear.

                     

 

6. There are books you associate with certain points of your life, and re-reading them takes you back.

                     

      

7. You begin to think of fictional characters as real people…

                     

8. …and talk about them accordingly.

                     

9. The thought of moving scares you because you’re going to have to haul about 127 boxes of books.

                     

     

10. And, of course, there’s the matter of deciding which twenty (-five hundred) books you’ll take with you on a trip!

      

    

 

11. You feel a secret thrill when a book teaches you a new word.

        

 

12. Sometimes you become so immersed in a book that you begin thinking and speaking like its characters.

                     

      

13. Nothing and no one can keep you away from a book you’ve become invested in.

 

 

14. You’ve caught yourself sneaking time to read while you’re supposed to be working or studying.

                     

      

15. And you’ve started a book only to look up and discover that an entire day has gone by.

                     

      

    

16. You were probably raised by LeVar Burton.

                     

 

17. You distinctly remember the day you got your first library card.

                     

 

18. You’ve dreamed of living in a mansion just so you could have one of those giant, crazy, rich-people libraries all to yourself.

                     

   

19. For you, going on a trip means a chance to visit a new bookstore.

      

    

 

20. And you can’t just “visit a bookstore.” Oh no — you practically move in.

                     

 

21. Plus, you can’t just ~casually~ peruse a book. You get ALL THE WAY INTO IT.

                     

 

22. You’ve put a book aside because you can’t bear the thought of finishing it and having it all be over.

                     

  

23. But you’ve also made the extremely difficult decision to keep reading instead of going to sleep.

 

24. You know there’s no feeling quite like that foggy dreaminess that sits with you right after you finish a book.

                     

    

Guess the only thing to do is…START ANOTHER!

                     

 

 

To see Buzz Feed's list with all of their clever comments click here!