Book Review: The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales

The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales
Release Date: 21st May 2013

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 259
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY

Summary from Goodreads:

"Meet the Bling Ring: six club-hopping LA teenagers accused of stealing more than $3 million in clothing and jewelry from the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and other young members of the Hollywood elite-allegedly the most audacious burglary gang in recent history.

Driven by celebrity worship, vanity, and the desire to look and dress like the rich and famous, the Bling Ring made headlines in 2009 for using readily available sources-like Google maps, Facebook and TMZ, to track the comings and goings of their targets. Seven teens were arrested for the crimes, and instantly became tabloid fodder. The world asked-how did the American obsession with celebrity get so out of hand? And why did a band of ostensibly privileged LA teens take such a risk?

Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo Sales found the answer: they did it because they could. And because it was just that easy.

Author of the acclaimed Vanity Fair story on the Bling Ring "The Suspect Wore Louboutins," Sales gained unprecedented access to the Hollywood thieves, and in the process uncovered a dark world of teenage arrogance, greed, obsession, and delusion. Now, for the first time in a full book length work, Sales details the Bling Ring crimes up close and in depth, and reveals the key players' stories in a shocking look at the seedy world of the real young Hollywood."

Review:

What with The Bling Ring movie being released this year, when I saw this little book on a book stand for only $10, I thought I'd give it a go. And this was indeed a good read. 

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, because most of the time I find that it bores me. But, thankfully, I didn't encounter this problem here. The topic of interest is just so interesting - a bunch of teenagers burgled the homes of some of the highest profile celebrities, and didn't get caught, all because they were obsessed by celebrity culture. It really was fascinating to read about the reasons why they did it - it wasn't because they were poor, or they were criminal masterminds who sold everything they stole. Quite the opposite actually - these were relatively well off teenagers who stole from these celebs because they wanted to look like them, be like them, live their life. It's really fascinating to read about how affected these kids were by celebrity culture. It wasn't enough for them to read about their fave celebs, or see them on the TV - they wanted to be them. 

Being non-fiction, I would only suggest picking this one up if the story surrounding The Bling Ring interests you. Me, being quite interested by celebrity and pop culture, found this one really interesting. And it makes me just a little more interested to see how well the movie pulls this version of the story off. 

Movie News: MORE Divergent!!

Can you guys tell that I'm really excited for this? More footage from the Divergent set has surfaced - a behind the scenes look and cast interview. Enjoy :)

Movie News: Divergent Teaser Trailer

The first teaser trailer for Divergent was just shown at the VMAs - how exciting! What do you think?

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Movie News: Catching Fire Theatrical Trailer

Guys. GUYS. Guess what I just saw.

HOW AWESOME DOES IT LOOK! Everything looks brilliant - the arena, all the tributes, all those city shots of Panem, and that Mockingjay dress - it just looks so good! And you can tell that we've got a bigger budget (did you see those special effects!?!) = AWESOME.

Here's hoping that the movie is as awesome as the trailer makes it look - I'm really excited for this one, since Catching Fire was my fave novel in the trilogy - let's hope it lives up to expectations! (I'm sure it will)

Is it just me, or is everyone else just as excited as I am?!?

Catching Fire Movie Poster Revealed

Just the other day, Lionsgate unveiled the Catching Fire movie poster on Instagram

How cool does it look! Katniss, her bow and arrow, the cloud shaped as a mockingjay - it all looks so good! And the tagline, taken straight from the book itself: "The sun persists in rising, so I make myself stand". Just perfect. 

Anyone else eagerly awaiting it's release, because I know that I sure am!

Movie News: Kate Winslet has a role in Divergent

So, I managed to miss something big that was annouced a month ago - Kate Winslet's role in Divergent. I don't know about you, but for Divergent fans, Winslet's role has been a big ol' mystery. Since it was announced that Winslet was joining the cast, her character has been kept on the downlow, but we all theorised that she would either play Jeanine or Tris' mother Natalie. Well, half of you were right...

SHE'S JEANINE!!! I am sooo excited for this, because I can just see Winslet doing an amazing job in this role. Granted, Kate Winslet would do an amazing job in any role - but I think she is going to smash it as Jeanine.



For those of you now wondering who will play Tris' mother Natalie, that role has gone to Ashley Judd. I personally haven't seen much that Judd has been in, but I know she's a good actor, and I can already see her as Natalie Prior.


So, what do you think of this casting? Excited like I am?

Movie News: Catching Fire Teaser Trailer

The Catching Fire Trailer premiered at the MTV movie award today and it. is. brilliant. Catching Fire was my favourite of the three novels, and the first film was brilliant, so here's hoping the second will be even better!

Movie News - Tris and Four are cast, DOSAB has a screenwright, and Mockingjay is split

It's been a while since I wrote a post concerning movie adaptations, because it's not often that I read a book before it's translated to the big screen. More often than not, movies actually introduce me to new books - The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments and The Caster Chronicles were all brought to my attention when I heard about the films or saw the trailers. BUT, I actually have some thoughts on some upcoming films which are based on books that I've already read - for once I'm ahead!

1. Divergent Casting
If you've been reading my book reviews, you guys would know that I absolutely loved Divergent when I read it earlier this year (my review here). And no sooner had I finished the book that news came out that it was being adapted for film. What with the success of The Hunger Games, dystopian films are all the rage right now. The film's currently in pre-production and will be released sometime next year, and only a little information about the casting has been made public - but we do have our two leads! 

Shailene Woodley was cast a little while ago as our female lead Tris. To be honest, I'm still not sure on this casting. Woodley didn't jump out to me as the perfect choice, not the way Jennifer Lawrence did with Katniss. But, Woodley can act - she's proven herself in Secret Life of an American Teenager and The Descendants. I'll be interested to see how Woodley goes - I'm still not convinced she's the absolute perfect choice for Tris, but she could prove me wrong. 




More recently we were told who has been cast as our male lead Four - Theo James. You might recognise him from The Inbetweeners Movie or Downton Abbey, where he had a small part yonkers ago playing Kemal Pamuk. Personally, James is an unknown to me, so I have no idea what his acting abilities are like. Again, I'll be interested to see how James goes.


Alongside Woodley and James, Kate Winslet is set to appear in the film, but what role she will play is still under wraps. It's been theorised that she'll either play Jeanine or  Tris' mother, both roles that Winslet could easily rock. Also, Zoe Kravitz - is it just me who thinks she is the perfect fit for Christina?!?



2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
I was super excited when I heard that Daughter of Smoke and Bone is being turned into a movie. It's very early days yet, but we do have a screenwright - Stuart Beattie, who is responsible for Pirates of the Caribbean. I really hope Beattie is able to translate DOSAB well - I think it could be a bit tricky, but if it's done right, I've no doubt this movie will be amazing.



3. Mockingjay will be 2 films
The 3rd installment of The Hunger Games film franchise will be split into two films. Whether or not this is the right decision, I'm not 100% sure. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split into two films and that worked out, but I think everyone can agree that one Breaking Dawn film would have sufficed. I think, if done right, splitting Mokingjay in half could work - I think there is just enough material in the book to fit into two films. Finding a place to stop the first film and start the second is probably going to be tricky, but I think that's always going to be the tricky part of splitting a story into 2 sections. The Hunger Games was an amazing film, so I think it's safe to assume that the sequels are going to be amazing too (at least I really hope so). And, one of my main gripes with the first film was that it cut out some important plot points - splitting Mockingjay into two films is sure to solve tihs problem!

What about you? Have you read Divergent? What about Daughter of Smoke and Bone? Are you excited for their upcoming movies?

Page to Screen: The Hunger Games

Last night, I went to a midnight screening for The Hunger Games (what with being a harcore fan of the series and all). And, with the excitement surrounding the movie, I just thought I'd let everyone know exactly what they're in for. So, here's the breakdown:

The Pros:

The Set: The set for this movie was perfect in every single way. District 12, the Capitol, the Arena - everything looked exactly as I had imagined it. And for a movie to achieve this is a massive, massive pro in my book

The Actors: When the cast for this movie was announced, I don't think anyone had any doubts about how suited the actors were for their characters. Jennifer Lawrence perfectly balances strength and vulnerability in Katniss and Josh Hutcherson perfectly plays the sweet and charismatic Peeta. Shout outs also have to go to Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, who literally brought their characters to life. 

The Atmosphere and Underlying Message: the one thing that made this movie amazing was that it felt so real. This movie was so down-to-earth, that it didn't feel like a scifi, dystopian, out of this world movie. Pair this with the underlying messages about humanity and morality, and the movie has a profound impact. 

The Cons:

The Plot: With every book that is translated onto the big screen, there are bound to be plot points that don't make the final cut. I expected this when I went in, but I have to say that I have some serious problems with some of the plot points that were missed in the movie. One major problem for me involved the mutts, and if you've read the books, you'll know what I mean. 

The Budget: The Hunger Games was made on a budget of $78mn, and I hate to say it, but the movie fell short in the special effects department because of this. 

The Overall Verdict: The Hunger Games movie has managed to be very true to the novel whilst also establishing itself as a separate entity. Was it amazing, yes, but could it have been better. The answer: probably. 

What about you? What did you think of The Hunger Games movies?

Introducing a new segment - Page to Screen

So its been a little while since I last posted on the blog. As it turns out, not only am I really lazy, but it takes me longer than I thought to get my way through a book. So, I came up with an idea for a new segment on the blog - Page to Screen. Since I happen to watch a lot of TV and movies, I thought that I could add this to the blog, by talking about how successfully I think a book was transferred to the small or big screen. So, in the first post, here is a success story, and a tragedy. 

*Note - clicking on the pictures will lead you to some fun external websites, links will lead you to various places...

The Success Story - Harry Potter

No one can deny that Harry Potter is one of both literature's and Hollywood's success stories. The books have sparked a worldwide following, and the movies have earned almost $8 billion at the global box office. And whilst the movies and books have come to an end, Harry Potter continues to live on, with the online world of Pottermore and the exhibition traveling the world (currently in Sydney). And, honestly, we're not going to forget the likes of Harry, Ron and Hermione anytime soon.

 

 The Tragedy - Confessions of a Shopaholic

I read this book around the time the movie came out and I absolutely loved it! But, the story didn't translate very well onto the screen. For a start, the character of Rebecca Bloomwood seemed a bit too whimsical on screen, when she was so perfect on paper. And what was with the moving  mannequins? They were on their own level of creepy... COAS had potential, but the movie didn't do the book justice, garnering only a 25% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The book, however, has gone on to bigger and greater things, spawning a series of around 7 books and counting.







And there you have it - my first Page to Screen post (I'm sure they'll get better the more I do)! This will be my last post for about a week since I'm going away on holiday tomorrow!!! I'm extremely excited about it :)  Happy Reading