Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Living As Bachelor: First Moment
Friday, October 30, 2009
Harry Potter: OK, so the journey continues
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Corn Maze!
I'm reading about a teddy bear that's mistaken for a terrorist
Harry Potter: The Journey is Over
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey VI
A Spookily Wookily
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bella and Tara
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey V
Monday, September 28, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey IV
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Birthday Par-tay
My Design Savvy
Sometimes, I like to pretend that I'm a designer. I'm come from a family that has artistic roots, for the most part. They aren't beatnik types that smoke pipes, wear weird clothes, or protest against crazy, right wing Republicans. Nah, that's not them. They don't really create, create, create and hold shows at the local art gallery, either. Basically, Dad has an eye for photography, brother does graphic design work on the side and Mom, well, Mom works at the vet -- OK, she sews.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey III
"What? Harry, you need to shut your mouth because Professor Umbridge can and will do anything to get to you!"
Or.
"My blood pressure is rising!"
My actual outbursts are usually yelling outloud at it and going, "No way!" or "I knew it!" or "Aaaaarrgh!"
This morning, while listening to my current book of "The Order of the Phoenix," even though I didn't say it outloud, I really did feel my blood pressure rising. I don't when I got angry at a character in a book like this before. Usually, I know that the author has a plan and so I don't blow up and get all invested, but listening to it is a completely different experience.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Latest Sewing Project: Reversable Bag
Monday, September 14, 2009
Evan Potter and the Goblet of Audio
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The New Singer
My great-grandfather was a tailor. I learned that when I realized sewing came very naturally to me. Granted, with the help of a machine, it's easy, but not anyone "gets" it, I'm sure. Although some of my first projects are rejects, it doesn't take me long to figure out how to correct them, so by the second time, the process looks improved. You can see it in the product.
I haven't made any new bags to sell on Etsy, lately, but I think with the addition of my very own Singer, that will change. Stay tuned for those bags to be posted.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Listening to the "Harry Potter" Series, Part I
The other times I've sat down to listen to audio books were random stories I've picked up that had promise. One was the "Devil and Miss Prym" by the guy that wrote "The Alchemist." I also listened to "To Kill a Mocking Bird" which I never read in high school -- I need to pick up more "classics" on my own, really.
I've never sat down with something that I've been so involved in as a reader, though. Listening to a series is nice because you already know the story and visualize a lot of the characters, so it's just a matter of listening to it. I'm already on Chapter Eight, which is 80 pages into the book. I think I'm also getting a lot more detail by listening to it. I'm forced to hear all the details. When I read, I tend to skim through parts sometimes, or get caught up in a section and reread it over and over again.
Luckily, the guy that's reading it, Jim Dale, does a good job. It's not corny and weird to listen to him. He's also British, so I'm repeating half the things he says. He won a Grammy award for the "Deathly Hallows," if that gives you anything to compare it to.
Could this post have been anymore boring?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Gas Station in Sheridan
On the way there, we stopped at a gas station in Sheridan and waited for Kendra to get gas. During, a giant truck pulled up. Inside was a little boy in the front (don't worry, folks, he was strapped in a car seat) and a big dog that was wearing a giant plastic cone around his head.
The little boy was sobbing, and constantly covering his face with his hands, while the giant dog, cone included, was very excitedly bounced back and forth in the small space he had. The little boy kept crying, and the dog tried to move. A man in a neighboring truck came and led the little boy to his truck, probably to get away from Cone Dog.
It was just a mess. Then, Steph's phone rang. Apparently, we were so engrossed in the scene, wondering what was happening next, that we missed Kendra's departure.
Oops.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey II
Friday, August 07, 2009
"The Vampire Diaries" by L.J. Smith
Long before Edward and Bella's love story made young people swoon from the "Twilight" series, there was an author making love to the page with horror-romance eons before: L.J. Smith.
I have owned these books for a while, and I still have all the L.J. Smith books I bought as a teenager, but I hadn't read the "The Vampire Diaries." I'm not sure why not. Last summer's marathon event of "Twilight" made me realize that it would be fun to read more horror-romance.
And even better, they're from the 90's, so the characters have narrowly escaped feathered hair, tight-rolled jeans, and poofy bangs. They're still wearing blouses with jeans, however. I'm sure their jeans snap, too, instead of button. I'm also thinking the characters like to rendezvous with their high top sneakers, and their tapered jeans, when no one is looking.
So, yes, these books were published in the early 90's, long before Stephenie Meyer had her dream about vampires and started writing them down.
We've got Elena, who's a heinous b-- , at the beginning of the series, but she has her loyal friends, Bonnie and Meredith, and she becomes drawn to the new boy. Always the new boy, isn't it? Someone is always new in these vampire-romance books, right?
"Ooh, he seems to be European!"
The Awakening. The first book in The Vampire Diaries started out a little slow, but picked up. Lucky enough, it's such a fast read, that before my first night of reading was over, I was already on page 165.
I read Night World and The Dark Visions Trilogy when I was in high school, and I enjoyed the romance + horror aspect. The love they feel in these stories is just so intense and it's all or nothing and totally unrealistic. Now that I teach middle school kids, that's just how it is with them. It is all or nothing with that age group. Throw in the supernatural, tough choices, and things you can't tell adults and then you've got a whole reasoning behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Of course I'm going to keep coming back to stories like this!
I think my favorite part about this series so far is that Smith is going where Meyer did not. There's tons of blood in places. There's a really mean vampire out there that's not afraid to be mean (unlike the PC Volturi). It takes place in a town called Fells Church, where the ghosts of the Civil War haunt. There's a cemetery that's visited often in the first book. There's ominous fall weather. There's a big Halloween sequence. Sure, some of those places are very cliche, but isn't that why we go back to certain stories over and over again? That's why the romance genre lives on -- the formula works.
It's the same thing with certain horror pieces -- it's spooky, it's a little bit cliche, but it's a formula that works and that's why we return to it.
The Struggle. "The Vampire Diaries" continues on in the second book to create the guilty pleasure it is. It's like L.J. Smith threw the contents of the first book in a blender and put it on high! By the end of the book, it's such a fast whirl wind that you can't help but fly through it, wondering where it's going.
The brothers, Damon and Stefan, continue to act like a-holes to each other. Elena is still dreamily and unrealistically in love with Stefan. Smith continues to force Damon on Elena. This part is even more unrealistic because Damon comes out of nowhere and just decides he'll have Elena because Stefan wants her. This is a little brash, isn't it? The only pull is their attraction to each other. Why turn some girl into a vampire when you hardly know her? Just based on hormones? That's sooo high school. Damon could've totally found Elena to be annoying. Just to "get back" at your brother, whom you're not even sure why you hate him in the first place?
Whatev.
The minor characters of Bonnie, Meredith and Matt continue to shine. They wag their tongues in the direction of Elena, doing anything for her. And they continue to trust Stefan, but they're not sure why... We all need friends that would do our bidding, regardless.
But, I'm not reading these books because they're seeped in realism. I'm reading them because cheesy vampire novels are my guilty pleasure. They're also a lot more gorier and scarier than the Twilight series. And the romance parts last only a paragraph or so, not ten pages a piece.
Technically this is a trilogy, but I'll be looking for the fourth book. That's what you get when you (can't say it and spoil the book), and then make rabid fans mad.
Reading this book was like pushing fast-forward. The minute you open it, you can't put it down until you know what happens and it's finished.
The Fury. There's something bigger, badder and more eviler haunting the small town of Fell's Church, VA. What is it? The Undead and Alive join forces together to figure out what's actually giving the town a run for it's money. Is it the Vampire Brothers?
People aren't what they seem in this book, and major explanations happen tying up any loose ends Smith created. Just like any trilogy should have -- it ends in a neatly tied bow.
Which doesn't explain book four: Dark Reunion...
I hope I don't pick up the fourth book later and have it completely RUIN the story.
Friday, July 31, 2009
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime" by Mark Haddon
Steph suggested that I read this, once I finished a previous book. I was sitting on the couch, with a load of books surrounding me and I couldn't choose one. I'm trying to be daring and actually read the books I have bought that are currently sitting on my bookshelf. Instead, she offered a book from her bookshelf.It was also short, and my goal during the summer is to read a butt-load. I also want to read literature and "thinking" books, but when I sit down with them, I'm not as pleased as I thought I would be. During the summer, I want quick reads and good stories. If the writing is well-done, then that's an added bonus.
Lucky with this book, I had both.
One of my all-time favorite things an author can do is create a first-person account that a reader cannot fully trust.
Christopher, the narrator of the novel and also a 15-year-old with autism, is writing a book (which is what we're reading) about his detective work of a murdered dog.
Do not think you are going to be reading an interesting take on a mystery. A mystery, it is not. Half-way through the novel, everything is given away in one fell swoop, which leaves you a bit dazed. Instead, you grow to love Christopher as a character and how he sees the world. He enjoys his maths and physics, and also gives you equations, drawings and maps to look at. But his thinking, although he may see it as logical, isn't always so -- and that's what gets him into trouble. You've read it elsewhere, and you'll read it here, it's a dangereously fast read. So fast, you might miss things if you aren't careful.
I enjoy a book that I can get through in no-time-flat. I wish I could soar through all my books that way.
"A Lion Among Men" by Gregory Maguire
It's been a while since I've sat down to write a review of a book I've read. I've got about seven to catch up on. Gregory Maguire returns to Oz with his third installment of what is now going to be known as "The Wicked Years."
I'm a fan, so it's not hard to please me. Looking back, now, however, I think I like this book the best out of all three. It tied the other two books together to make them "fit" with each other. I think Maguire felt the need to do this, instead of them just being mere sequels, because if he's going to call this series "The Wicked Years" they should fit together, right? I think that was his thinking... I've got a feeling he's got more up his sleeve, but in order to do so, he wants the books to feel more series-like and less sequel-like, if that makes sense.
In a series, you know there will be more books, and they're comfortable to get back into, but with sequels, who knows what the other has up his sleeve. I think Maguire would like these books to fit seamlessly together, now, and I think this book was written, with some repetition from the past books, to do just that.
"A Lion Among Men" actually follows two characters, however, and not just one. We have Brrr, who's the lion, and then we have an oracle named Yackle. We learn about both and why they were important to either Elpheba's history or the history of Oz.
I enjoyed Maguire's take on the cowardly lion because, just like Elpheba, it was a misconception. He kept being at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and chose poorly, therefore labeled a coward.
I read many pedestrian reviews of this book, because I'm always curious to what others think, and many were annoyed that Maguire used such complicated language in this book. There are many sentences in there that threw out three words that I had never seen before, but I loved that. I sat with my iPod Touch Dictionary App handy so I could type in the word and see what it meant. You don't have to dumb down your language, as a writer. People need to up their vocabulary. There are hundreds of great words out there and we're all stuck using the like, totally, you know and littering the English language with unneeded garbage.
*steps off soap box*
It's a shorter read, reaching a little over 300 pages, but Maguire leaves it open in the end to continue his journey down the yellow brick road, but who knows through whose eyes we'll be seeing Oz next time.
Total Eclipse of the Heart, For Shame!
Original
I want to say that the guy that directed Meatloaf's video "I would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" directed this one, but I'm just not sure. The video is a train wreck, and I think that's why I love it. It's trying to be epic, but it has shortcomings. Now, I wanted to show you the literal meaning of the video:
Literal
Which one do you like better?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Harry Potter: The Journey
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Can I Be Obsessed For a Moment?
Which, by the way, can I become obsessed for a moment?
An aside: Whaat was I thinking for not reading good ole HP? Here I was like, "I'm not going to jump on the band wagon, because it's just sooo everybody else." But, what did I do with that "Twilight" series? I jumped on the bandwagon, and it was nice to know what everyone was talking about and understanding what my students were obsessing about. It was a pop-culture phenomenon that I was a part of and it was so great to be a part of something larger than myself. With Harry Potter, I know it was exactly that. 12 years of THAT, and I missed out on it. The good thing is that I can swim through all 7 books without a pause, if I want. I don't have to wait for it to be sold out and checked out and on and on, just to read it. So, there's that. And, with the recent release of The Half-Blood Prince, as well as two more Potter films to come, I will be all caught up and still a part of the fan-base. I just enjoy LONG stories and books that have the same characters, so they're really easy to get into. That's one of the hardest things about picking up a book -- it's getting INTO it. Reading a series is nice because it's familiar, in a sense. There's obviously new places to go and ways for characters to grow, but you journey with them. I could go on and on, if I wanted, but it was exciting to jump into something else that I knew was bigger than me.














