Waiting on Wednesday: Just One Day

Waiting On Wednesday #16!  "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's pick is:

Just One Day by Gayle Forman Book #1 in Just One Day Series
Goodreads - Amazon - B&N
Synopsis: A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay
When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. 
After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. 
Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels.  Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

I just recently read If I Stay and Where She Went,  and I thought they were done amazingly. So I can't wait for Gayle's new series! I'm sure it will be wonderful in every way!
Also, Gayle Forman gave us a little sneak  peek of the first few chapters. You can go to this post here to read them. 
What are you waiting on?

Movie Review: Ken Park (18+ Review)

The Sex Is Real

[IMDB - Rotten Tomatoes - Amazon]

Releases:
Theaters: August 31, 2002
DVD: November 10, 2003

Cast:
-Adam Chubbuck
-James Ransone
-Tiffany Limos
-Maeve Quinlan
-Amanda Plummer
-Wade Williams
-James Bullard

Plot Summary:
An intense scrutiny of the lives of four teenagers, all childhood friends & their parents. Their unmasked lives are full of violence, sex, hatred & drugs.

My Thoughts:

There are not many non-pornographic films that show the amount of explicit real sex that the film Ken Park does. The films director Larry Clark, director of the film Kids (1995), and Bully (2001) has a knack for capturing the essence of teenage angst and culture. 

The film delves into the lives of several teenagers and their destructive home lives. It explores the unsettling themes of teen sex, drug abuse, alcoholism, incest, child abuse, and suicide. In the world of Ken Park, nothing is what it seems and there is little tangible reality besides sex. 

This film is very explicit. If viewing sex acts bothers you than you probably shouldn't watch the film because it can and does get easily pegged as a piece of pornography. However, Ken Park is not a pornographic film. It is not meant to be viewed for sexual purposes but rather the sex in the film is used to underscore the complete tragedy of these teens lives. 

The film is a piece of art. And it offers a real and gritty look into the psyche of the American teenager. It crosses gender and racial lines to show that life is not only fucked up for boys or girls, or for white or colored people, but life is hell for everyone. That theme I think offers a uniting thread for not only the characters in the film but the viewers of the film as well. 

So, I give this movie five stars for the subject matter and the audacity and bravery it took to show it without any censorship.