Love, Simon– JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2018 film Love, Simon.

Story

A modern take on a letter writing romance with some very heavy themes. I get how important and intense coming out can be, but this movie seemed to have trouble deciding if it was a tragic coming out movie, teen angst movie, or romance.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Pretentious wealthy teen suburban hipsters. The characters are mostly likeable but extremely judgemental. Lots of emphasis on how people look and equating that to their moral characters. Not a fan of the nerd bashing or fatphobia.

That being said; the parents were great, the vice principal super cringe, and the friendships touching.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

When emotions are high and characters actually talk to each other, the dialogue is spot on. The coming out to his parents is heart wrenching to watch as a parent. I also loved the speech Simon gives to his blackmailer.

The rest of the time, the dialogue feels like all other YA intellectually pretentious films. (Someone should take dialogue from this, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and anything John Green; and make an internet quiz to guess who said it.)

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography is dated and looks like bad knock off of John Hughes. The use of text and email is clunky and awkward. The camera work is simultaneously too slow and too jerky.

The music is not good enough for a film with a main character who’s a music snob, but isn’t bad.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The amount of angst in this movie was palpable and the amount of cringe was painful. The letters were fun and I liked the pacing of the movie. Coming out isn’t easy and I feel like this film puts all the blame for that on the main character and not enough on society.

Score: 0.5

Overall

A coming of age pseudo-romance populated by pretentious teens making bad choices. The movie does a great job of showing the emotional difficulties of coming out, but makes it feel like it’s mostly the gay man’s fault for complicating it.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Vote JenEric for the Aurora Awards

Hello friends, family, and fans!

The voting round is NOW OPEN!!!

Thanks to all who nominated. You really made a difference.

In case you missed it, the Voters package is available for download! Make sure you’re logged in!

The four categories in which Jen, Éric, and family are nominated:

  • Category 2 – Best YA Novel
    • Black Hole Radio – Ka’Azula by Ann Birdgenaw
  • Category 7 – Best Related Work
    • Nothing Without Us Too by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson (Jen has a short story Semper Ubi Sub Ubi in this one!)
  • Category 9 – Best Fan Writing/Publication (these will not be included in the voters package, as they are available online)

Something to remember this time around; order matters. In order to concentrate our voting power, Éric and I have agreed to focus on The Travelling TARDIS, as it is more well-known in the community. Therefore, please vote for it first, and the JenEric Movie Reviews second.

Voting is June 17 – July 29, 2023. We’ll write a reminder post before it ends. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Thank you all so much for your time, attention, and support. It means the world to us!

JenEric

Health Update June 2023

Hello family, friends, and fans,

A lot and very little has happened since my April update.

Let’s start with good news. I have a date for my MRI on July 14th. I also have a date to go with (Jen will be driving me. With two kids you must take whatever you can as a date.)

What’s Going on with Treatment

It looks like my time with the OWN treatment team will be ending in mid July. I’ve been doing exercises to strengthen the muscles, physiotherapy to loosen the muscles, and some therapy to think about muscles.

The therapy has been helping the most, stress relief and permission to be selfish and self care are good. I’ve also been given some techniques to control my emotional spirals and overreactions.

The exercises and physio have been maybe helping. I have better control of my fine motor skills and my physio says my muscles are looser. They’re going to give me a home routine.

We’re also working towards getting me back to full time work instead of my old schedule of 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off.

How am I Feeling

My pain is steady. That sounds bad, but it’s actually a good thing. I’m not experiencing any massive flares. I’m still at a 6-7 pain level, but no more jumping to 8 and feeling sick.

The numbness in my arms, hands, and face are still there and haven’t changed. The vision problems I’m having with my left eye are still there. I’ve had a couple of really scary vertigo episodes where it felt like the entire planet shifted 90 degrees. Not fun.

My mysterious illness where I have bowel cramps, fever, aches and pains, and weakness; came back again. I think it might be allergy and / or overdoing it related. I’m not sure. I went to the ER in 2018 for it and they found nothing, I saw my family doctor and he did blood and feces testing and he found nothing, I saw a virtual doctor and he told me I was fat. My family doctor said we’d deal with it if it happens often, but I’m not sure what that can be defined as. It only happens once or twice a year.

Now we wait and see what the MRI says. WSIB will be washing their hands of me in July and I’ll be doing what I can to manage the pain. They say that my body is reacting well and that the pain will reduce over time. I hope they’re right.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Catch Up on the Baker City Mysteries

@ericdesmaraisauthor

The Mystery of the Dancing Lights book four of The Baker City Mysteries is coming out early September 2023. Yay! #bakercity #Elizabeth #mystery #ya #book #booktok #fantasy

♬ original sound – Éric Desmarais
Book Four of A Baker City Mysteries is coming out this September. Now is the perfect time to catch up on the other books.

The Mystery of the Dancing Lights by Éric Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2018 film To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Story

A very simple twist on “fake dating”, the story isn’t all that exciting or interesting on it’s own and follows the usual YA romance beats.

Score: 0

Characters

The characters and actors in this are extremely compelling. Especially the secondary characters and family. Interesting and make you want more of their story.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue vacillates between the usual precociousness of YA characters and some outright hilarious lines. The heart to heart moments are by far the strongest and hold the movie together with a lot of emotion.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are the usual Netflix stylised shots. Nothing special.

The music is unmemorable but not bad.

Score: 0.5

Fun

There’s a lot of cringe but love wins out once the characters communicate and there’s some fun scenes in between. It’s not great but it’s not bad.

Score: 0.5

Overall

A perfectly average YA romance with the always fun “fake dating” trope. The humdrum story, visuals, and music are elevated by the sheer charisma of the characters and some excellent dialogue.

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Alas, Fourteen Years is Far too Short a Time…

Dear family, friends, and fans;

Roughly seventeen and a half years ago I met a geeky girl online ,and after chatting for a few weeks we decided to go on a date. It was awkward. I was late and talking about a girl I liked in my classes. She disappeared in the bookstore we started in. I asked her to help me pick a grad photo. She talked about her exes and how she wasn’t sure it was over.

Despite all that, we talked about everything and anything. We shared banana cake and I walked her home. We kissed in the cold outside her house for way longer than was appropriate and a few weeks later we decided to be exclusive.

It wasn’t an easy start and I’m surprised we survived that first year. I’m very insecure (I have RSD) and it felt like we came from two very different worlds. The only thing that really saved us was that we talked about everything.

We’ve been married now fourteen years and we’ve both been through a lot, both good and bad. I really think it’s our quantity of communication that has saved our relationship. We might not have always been talking about the things we should have, but we were still talking. Sometimes until way too late at night

Jen is my wife, my best friend, and the best business/writing partner I could ask for.

To paraphrase Bilbo Baggins, (in words not spirit) “Alas, fourteen years is far too short a time to live among such an excellent and admirable wife.”

I know that if we keep talking, we’ll be able to enjoy each other for a long time to come. Even if we don’t get much sleep.

I love you Jen!

Introducing Secondary Characters Part 2/2

Crushing It

These are a few of the secondary characters in Crushing It.

This is the Oldtown High School team

Elyse Garrido

Appearance inspired by Meesha Garbett

Age: 14

Appearance: Wavy brown hair, blue eyes, short, tan skin

Grade: 9

Favourite class: Math

Siblings: Older sister Rachel (seen here)

Lauryn

Appearance inspired by Jadah Marie

Age: 15

Appearance: Black hair, brown eyes, medium height, Black

Grade: 10

Favourite class: Science

Alicia

Appearance inspired by Navia Robinson

Age: 16

Appearance: Long wavy black hair, brown eyes, medium height, brown skin

Grade: 11

Favourite class: Music

George

Appearance inspired by Caleel Harris

Age: 17

Appearance: Black hair (in corn rows in this book), brown eyes, tall, muscled, Black

Grade: 12

Favourite class: Computer Science

Adrien

Appearance inspired by Jack Dylan Grazer

Age: 18

Appearance: Light brown hair, blue eyes, tall, white, Jewish

Grade: 13

Favourite class: Chemistry

Siblings: Older sister Gabrielle (Jason’s sister-in-law)

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!

Physical from Canadian indie bookstoresphysical from Indigo, electronic version

Tropes of Crushing It

Crushing It
@jendesmaraisauthor

“Crushing It” is a queer YA cosy romance with low stakes. Do you like music, STEM, and queer YA romance? This book has a competitive edge. Pre-order now! YouTube: https://youtu.be/6meOWdt9Mi4 Physical: https://49thshelf.com/Books/C/Crushing-It3 Ebook: coming soon #CrushingIt #original #pinkpiggy93 #flowerraven93 #artist #book #YA 2SLGBTQ+ #LowStakes #queer #romance #STEM #music #JenDesmarais #author #PressesRenaissancePress #Canadian #booktok

♬ Get to Know You (From the Book “Crushing It: Lucky in Love, Book 1”) – Jen Desmarais
Every book utilizes tropes, even if it’s to subvert them, and Crushing It is no exception. This book covers: Queer, Young Adult, STEM & music, Cozy romance, Hidden magical world, Partial dual POV, No angst romance, and Detailed worldbuilding.
Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!

Physical from Canadian indie bookstoresphysical from Indigo, electronic version