Summing It Up: July 2016

Hi, friends! July was a pretty fantastic month even though I had to work a lot in the beginning half. But, hey, work can sometimes be fun and I’m thankful to at least have a job. Because we all probably know by now that I spend way too much money on books and bookmarks to not have one. Aside from going to work and meeting up with a few of my friends, I had a pretty boring and uneventful July.

So let’s get right into what happened with the blog, shall we?

July Blog Posts*

*in publication order, not by favoritism

• Summing It Up: June 2016 [Wrap Up/Favorites]
• Book Haul: June 2016 [Book Haul]
• The Art of Being Normal [Book Review] 3.5 Stars
• The Wrath and the Dawn [Book Review] 4 Stars
• The Summer Reader Book Tag [Award/Tag]
• More Happy Than Not [Book Review] 4.5 Stars

Favorites

It’s unbelievable that I only have a little over two weeks left before I return to school. Anyway, what I want to share in this photo is my Pusheen pencil pouch. I bought it at my local bookstore, and it’s unbelievably soft!

Omg, LOL. So I’ve changed my Instagram theme once again! I think I’m finally satisfied with the way it looks. It’s still bright and I don’t have to commit to only posting pictures on my bed, with my curtains, or my bookshelves/outdoors as the background. Also, it incorporates a backlay of my favorite color: blue!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Renee Ahdieh (@reneeahdieh)

So I buddy read The Wrath and the Dawn duology with Lois at My Midnight Musings, and we had such a fab time fangirling together. Gah, I’m still not over all the feels just yet. Also, Renée Ahdieh noticed my Instagram post of the two books and reposted it. The funny thing is I actually met her at Yallfest last November, but I didn’t really have a chance to gush about her characters seeing as I hadn’t read The Wrath and the Dawn by then… But, now that I have, her noticing my existence via the internet world made me insanely happy. I know, I’m such a fangirl. XD

Video Favorites

It really wasn’t my intention to start making a whole entire section for videos but I started to accept the fact that I like sharing what I enjoy via Youtube videos. Anyway, feel free to fangirl/fanboy with me if you’ve been into the same stuff I have!

So in my free time when I wasn’t working I watched quite a few films that Takeru Satoh were in. (He’s so charming, omg!) And I highly recommend the Rurouni Kenshin series (there are three films total). I actually watched the anime many, many years ago and loved it. It wasn’t until recently when I saw The Liar and His Lover, which Satoh starred in, did I know these films existed. Anyway, they are so EPIC. The action scenes are really well done and the romance actually takes the backseat (even more so than it did in the anime). Seriously, this is the best anime/manga adaptation out there. I can’t recommend the films enough!

I know I share a lot of K-pop in these monthly wrap up and favorite posts, but I honestly don’t listen to it that much.  My go-to default genre of music would actually have to be rock and alternative, mainly because I sort of had an emo phase when I was younger and listened to this type of music all of the time…. XD Anyway, this live performance is so MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME. I’ve watched it at least 3 times this month-one of them being with my dad, lol. And I’m certain that I’ve become a hardcore fan of One Ok Rock now. I originally discovered them because of Rurouni Kenshin; the films use One Ok Rock’s songs in their endings. But I also learned that I had previously been exposed to the band before back in 2013. I was looking at my Youtube “liked” playlist and iTunes library, and that’s when I discovered that. >.< Anyway, I’ve been so obsessed.

I know that many of you are busy and since this video is way too long to listen as a whole… here are the songs in the performance I’d suggest listening to if you have the time:
26:49 – C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h.
44:00 – 69
54:42 – Mighty Long Fall
1:34:04 – Heartache
2:13:33 – The Beginning

^GUYS, THIS VIDEO IS A MUST WATCH. The thumbnail doesn’t do it justice in the slightest. The concept of heaven/hell and the state in between is really interesting. Everything about it is so well produced. In fact, the producer of Final Fantasy was behind this. Also, the music is so beautiful; I believe it’s Taemin’s best work yet. The “sayonara kirari” part at 1:08 gives me chills literally every time I hear it playing. I love that Taemin got to collaborate with Koharu Sugawara; she’s such a talented choreographer and her dancing is always so charismatic and powerful. And apparently it took 16 hours of dancing in front of green screen to capture all these shots. Anyway, I’m super excited for their upcoming Hit the Stage performance together.

Along with SHINee, the group Taemin is in, Beast was the group that got me into K-pop in 2011. It’s sad that with this comeback, Hyunseung, one of their members, isn’t part of the group anymore but I’m happy for him if that’s what he wanted. Anyway, it was nice seeing these guys in the K-pop scene again after so long. Oh and the song was written by the guy that first sings, Junhyung. It’s a song about how a relationship is like a “ribbon,” easily tied but untied as well.

Along with Sistar’s I Like That, this totally has been my summer jam for the season.

I don’t really care for Girls’ Generation but I really love Taeyeon and her solo stages. She’s such a gifted singer, and the music she releases tends to be the type of style I enjoy in K-pop. Also, it makes me so happy to see a 1 Million Dance Studio guest choreographer as a backup dancer. I’m not surprised it’s Kasper though, he works with the SM artists a lot I’ve noticed.

The stage for this live performance is to die for. It’s so beautiful! I’ve also been listening to this song quite a lot. It’s a shame that the singer, Fei, has received so much backlash for her solo debut because of her political views though.

I have no idea how I got to the Bollywood part of Youtube this month… but I ended up really loving this song… like a lot. LOL.

Earlier this month, I learned that YG is finally coming out with a new girl group. And I like their tough concept already. Also, is it funny that I recognized this choreography almost immediately because I saw it in this video last year? (I watch way to many dance videos, LOL.) Parris Goebel is such a genius. Anyway, I don’t think YG artists are that talented in terms of dance to be honest… But I have high hopes for this group in the future!

This song is so annoying but addicting at the same time. Like that part where one of the members is singing but not really isn’t that pleasant, to be honest. Yet I don’t even know why but I’ve been listening to this almost everyday just to hear Taeyong say “firetruck.” Smh, I think I’ve fallen into the K-pop abyss with this month. XD

Surprised that this isn’t a 1 Million Dance Studio video? Me too! My favorite choreo of the month was JoJo Gomez’s Me Too. XD It fits the song so well!

Kyle is one of my favorite pianists of our time. I’ve been following him for years, and I enjoy hearing the Chopin influences in his improvs with his other videos. This video particularly was really fun to listen to since there are a lot of familiar tunes. He also included Time Travel in this, which I can’t complain. (Secret is still one of my favorite movies to date…) It’s too bad that the piano had a few nonfunctioning keys though. >.>

Edit 5/20/17: I was taking a look at old posts and noticed the original link to the trailer for ReLife got taken down. So here’s a replacement video that actually works. It still has English subtitles, of course.

And the last video is the trailer of an anime that I’ve recently finished binge watching. It was actually really good and the motifs it decides to focus on goes beyond what is normally expected of a comedy. I definitely plan to give it an 8/10 on Myanimelist. The story is basically about a NEET that gets a second chance at life via a program called ReLife. Romance is definitely a slowburn since it mostly focuses on the friendship dynamics. Also, it’s really interesting that all the endings are different per episode; that’s really unheard of for anime!

---

So how were your Julys? Did you all do anything fun? Do let me know. 🙂 As always, thank you for reading and until next time!