Hollye Knits

Song of the Day: Down - Jason Walker

2011-05-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

Song of the Day: Sara Bareilles - King of Anything

2011-05-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

As per usual, the song of the day comes from whatever shuffled on iPod this morning. Enjoy!

Vampire Diaries 2.22 "As I Lay Dying"

2011-05-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

I don't even know where to begin on this episode, so I think I'll do things the Holly-way, which is step by step, in order, from Scene One.

In Which Damon asks for Forgiveness: We open in the Gilbert House (I guess the Mystic Falls gang thinks they are now safe from Klaus? I know he got what he wants, but still, dude is nuts. I'd move everyone into Casa Salvatore, just to be safe). Elena looks in on a sleeping Jeremy and sadly into Jenna's empty bed before running into Damon in the hallway. He's there to ask her forgiveness for forcing his blood on her. She tells him she needs time.

I thought this scene was just beautiful and simple. The audience knows that Damon (theoretically since we also know Somerhalder is going nowhere) has no time to wait for her forgiveness, and its very telling of his feelings for Elena that he doesn't tell her about his bite in order to get what he wants from her. I think that shows the growth of his character over time. Damon's demeanor here is also very different than pretty much anything we've seen before. He's so gentle and calm with her, no biting comments at all.

In Which Stefan Sows the Seeds of his own Destruction: Damon heads back to the mansion, where he has his priorities in order: Elena and then a stiff drink. After fixing that drink, he wanders over to the window, opens the curtains to let the sun in and takes off his ring. Of course, Stefan speeds in, tackles him, and manhandles him down to the cellar where he locks him up, promising that he'll find a cure and that he has Bonnie looking for something.

I'm not all together certain that Damon intended to kill himself right that minute. I tend to think he was taking the whole 'burning to death' thing for a test drive before he really had to do it. I would hope he'd have a few more goodbyes to say before he really kicked the bucket. Surely he'd at least tell Stefan goodbye first?

In Which Klaus and Elijah have Incestuous Sexual Tension in the Woods: We cut to Klaus, naked in the forest, awakening after what Elijah tells him was two days. Klaus can change at will and remembers all his kills, which Elijah has been cleaning up. There's some slashfic tension going on as Elijah helps Klaus dress. They reaffirm their bargain of Klaus reuniting Elijah with their family.

At this point, I think Elijah had to be realizing that he might not have made the best decision in letting Klaus live, but he's kind of stuck with it, as Klaus reminds him that he's pretty much unkillable now. I'm curious though, about the plausibility of simply containing Klaus in someway, bricking him up somewhere perhaps.

In Which Alaric feels the pull of The Bromance: Over at the Grill, Alaric is drunkenly getting the bartender to just give him the bottle. His phone rings, and he tells Stefan "I'm sorry, you've reached someone who is currently not operating." He is clearly agitated at being locked up last week, as his response to Stefan's plea for help is met with snark. However, he quickly asks what Stefan needs when he hears that Damon is dying from a wolf bite.

I love that they gave Alaric some bitterness over being kept out of everything while Jenna died. He's got to be tired of being in the background and I hope that this shakeup with Jenna means more action for Alaric. Also, the Alaric/Damon bromance is one of my favorite things ever, so my heart just melted when Alaric totally wanted to step up to help Damon, despite how much helping these people has screwed up his life.

In Which Caroline Is Her Caroline Self: In the town square, girls are dressed as Scarlett as the Falls gears up for a showing of Gone With the Wind. Elena and Jeremy walk up, with Jer bitching about attending the movie, but Elena is having none of it, insisting that they have to just keep living their lives until doing so becomes normal again. Caroline arrives and gives Jeremy a fantastic little speech on how they've made it through the war and will persevere like Scarlett.

I love Candice Accola so much and her portrayal Caroline is just a breath of fresh air on this show. Despite all the bad stuff they just went through, including finding out her mother knows about her fangy problem, she's able to remain positive and hope that the three of them can have a normal day watching a movie. Of course, they don't know what we know, sadly.

In Which Damon's Cure is Predictable: Over at the Witchy Juju House of Burning, Stefan and Bonnie do a seance to ask Emily and the other witches about a cure for Damon's bite. Emily, because she hates Damon, refuses to answer, but Bonnie pulls a name out of the witches whispering: Klaus.

This was predictable but at least I was assured that we weren't done with the Klaus/Elijah part of the storyline for this season. At some point though, we're going to have to lose this witchy resource, though, otherwise its just going to always provide the easy resolution to the gang's problems.

In Which I Really Don't Care about Mama Lockwood: The mayor confronts the Sheriff about her lack of progress in the vampire arena and the Sheriff is noticeably defensive.

I'll be honest, I've no idea what the motivation for this scene was beyond giving the Sheriff motivation for the actions she takes later on. I mean, what "results" is the mayor referring to? Are there dead bodies in the Falls that we've not heard about? Other than the one girl that Damon killed, we've not seen any victims. I had assumed that the Sheriff hadn't told anyone about Damon, Stefan, and Caroline being vamps, so I'm just confused about where the mayor's dissatisfaction is coming from (other than the fact that she's widowed, has no boyfriend and one working arm).

In Which Stefan does the Right, Difficult Thing: Stefan pulls Elena away from the picnic to tell her what's happened with Damon. Her first thought is about how she refused him forgiveness earlier that day. Stefan tells her that he thought she should know what is happening and that she should go see Damon if she wanted. He also tells her Klaus has the cure, and that he owes Damon because its his fault that he became a vampire in the first place.

Oh, if we'd only known that this was our last scene with Lightside Stefan and Elena. It says so much about Stefan's understanding of Elena's feelings for Damon (even if he wishes they weren't there) that he would specifically send her to his brother. It couldn't have been easy for him. And I don't think it was a coincidence that Stefan's last act with Elena present was to send her to his brother. I think that will be an important part of the narrative at the beginning of next season.

In Which Reality Has begun to fade: Damon's delusions have started and he's sucked into a memory of a saucy encounter with Katherine in 1864 where she asked him to help her with her corset strings. Delusion!Elena appears to him, telling him that he could have chosen to walk away from Katherine.

We didn't really learn anything new here, but I liked the interaction between Damon and Katherine. The floozy really does want it all.

In Which We Say Goodbye for Now to The Hair: Stefan shows up at Alaric's apartment, hoping Katherine can give him some intel on how to find Klaus. There's no need, as Klaus and Elijah turn up seconds after he arrives. Stefan asks Klaus' help curing Damon's wolf bite. Klaus says his first obligation is to fulfill his bargain with Elijah, which he does by stabbing Elijah in the heart with the ash dagger. Then he turns back to Stefan, verbally wondering, as we are, what he's going to do with him. Klaus then stakes Stefan, but doesn't pierce his heart. Then Stefan says the magic words: I'll do whatever you want, just give me the cure. Klaus drags it out by teasing that Stefan is just shy of useless to him, as he is.

Elijah really should have thought more carefully about how he worded his bargain with Klaus, who technically didn't lie about reuniting Elijah with his family. Now they're *all* corpsified together with no Originals wandering around to corral their psychopath brother. I'm sad to see Elijah go (for now) but I'm certain he'll be back next season.

In Which Alaric Continues to be Awesome: Damon is still stuck in the cellar, and the favor Stefan called in from Alaric was for him to babysit Damon while Stefan pursued the cure. Alaric pushes a glass of booze through the bars in the door. Damon tries to rile Alaric up by bringing up how much Alaric should hate him for Jenna and Isobel, but Alaric doesn't bite. Damon even grabs Alaric by the throat in an attempt to get Alaric to do him in, but it doesn't work. Damon apparently falls back into imagining Elena.

Seriously, "Neither one of us is drunk enough for this conversation" was probably the best line of the night. I love the friendship that has developed between these two, even though, yes, Alaric should hate Damon for the very things Damon mentions. I think its easy to say that their relationship is based on their mutual love of the drink, but I think it sincerely goes beyond them being drinking buddies, though I love that they are that.

In Which The Sheriff Continues to Be a Complete Idiot: Elena is pulling up outside the manse to see Damon when the Sheriff and her deputies arrive on the scene and detain her, obviously gearing up to storm the castle looking for the monster. Inside, Alaric goes to get Damon some blood and the Sheriff makes the mistake of forcing her way into the cellar with Damon, despite Alaric's warning. She gets thrown against the wall for her trouble, and lets the delusional vampire escape from his cage.

I have no opinion on this scene other than that Liz is an idiot.

In Which Jeremy Grows a Pair: Night has fallen and the movie has started in the square. Alaric calls Jeremy to warn him, Care, and Bonnie that Damon is on the loose and that Elena should be watched, since that's probably who Damon will go after. No one knows where Elena is, but Jeremy insists that he's going to find and protect his sister. Bonnie tries to keep him behind like last week, but Jeremy digs in, pointing out that last time he got left out, Jenna still died.

Good for Jeremy for standing up for himself and his remaining family. He's got his ring and Elena is basically all he has left. He is totally right in insisting that he be included in protecting her.

In Which Something I Didn't Expect Occurs: Back at the Apartment Formally Known as Alaric's, Klaus begins waxing poetic about Darkside Stefan from the old days. He tells Stefan that that's the vampire he's willing to make a deal with, that he can use that vampire. Then he demonstrates the cure by biting Katherine, then feeding her his blood to cure the bite.

I have to say, I have been predicting for a few weeks that Stefan would be the Salvatore in most danger at the end of the season, and it seems I was correct. Once Damon got bit, I assumed that somehow, Stefan would wind up sacrificing himself to save him. However, it didn't even occur to me that the sacrifice would be to go back on the people juice hardcore and team up with Klaus. That's so twisted. Show, never stop surprising me, k?

In Which The Scene is so short I have no clever title: Delusional Damon wanders up to the square, still confused between the present day and 1864. Jeremy finds him, and Damon insists he needs to see Elena. Jeremy insists they need to get Damon out of the public and shoulders him off screen.

In Which I want to punch Liz in the Face: Turns out that Liz has Elena in her office, where she berates Elena for associating with the murderers. Elena tries to change her mind, but a deputy comes in and tells Liz that Damon was spotted going into the Grill. Elena insists that Damon is sick and that she should come with Liz, but the sheriff locks her up in her office. Jeremy has just gotten Damon into the Grill when Liz appears, gun drawn. Damon stealths out of the way, and Liz's shot hits Jeremy square in the chest. Bonnie and Caroline arrive on the scene, as Liz is horrified by what she's done. After Bonnie points out that the ring won't work in this scenario, Caroline tries to save Jeremy by giving him her blood, but he won't drink. Alaric comes in to see the women crying over Jeremy's body, but Bonnie seems to know what to do, telling Alaric to get Jeremy and bring him with them. The sheriff tries to stop them, but Caroline orders her to let them go.

I hope that this marks a turning point in Liz's opinions about vampires. Because she wasn't willing to listen to Alaric or Elena or her own daughter, she killed Jeremy Gilbert. I hope that Caroline's actions here also showed her that her daughter is good and powerful and not evil. Caroline didn't hesitate to try to save Jeremy.

In Which Elena is a clever girl: In the sheriff's office, Elena is pacing. She finally escapes by throwing a chair through the window. Girl, sometimes you are my favorite.

In Which Klaus Reveals that he wants Stefan as his BFF: Here's what Klaus wants: Stefan to become his wingman and go on a decade long bender with him, away from Mystic Falls. He forces Stefan to drink two blood bags then and there, under threat of pouring out the bottle of Klaus' blood that he's prepared to cure Damon. Stefan gets progressively more intense the more he drinks.

I'm so so interested in Darkside Stefan, but I'm dubious of this deal. Basically, Klaus wants Stefan to be his partner in crime in exchange for Damon's cure. I see how he's got Stefan under his thumb until Klaus hands over the cure for Damon, but what then? Does Klaus think Stefan will grow to love and care for him the same way Klaus obviously pines after Stefan? Or does he assume, and perhaps rightly so, that Stefan will continue with the deal simply out of fear of what Klaus will do if Stefan backs out? Maybe, but it seems to me that there's no way out for Stefan ever, not even 10 years down the road, when his "deal" is up unless Klaus is neutralized.
In Which The Witches Come Through Again: Bonnie and Alaric have taken Jeremy to the Witchy Juju House of Burning, where Bonnie begs the witches to help Jeremy. They don't want to, insisting there will be consequences. Alaric: "He's just a kid. Tell them to shut up." Bonnie continues to beg and then the seance is over. It appears for a minute that it wasn't successful but then Jeremy opens his eyes.

I'm really glad that Jeremy is alive, but I just feel nothing about his and Bonnie's relationship. I don't hate it, but I have no attachment to it. I much preferred the chemistry he had with Anna or even Vicki to this blandness (heh).

In Which Sweaty Damon Makes a Choice: Elena finds Damon in the square and tries to get him out of there, but he is stuck in a delusion that she is Katherine and he is chasing her through the woods in 1864. In this memory, we see that Damon drank Katherine's blood by choice. In reality, he noms on Elena's neck a little, only coming back to the present day when Elena struggles and tells him that he's hurting her. He realizes what he's done and falls to the ground in despair, but Elena is mostly okay, cradling his head to her chest and soothing him.

Was this the first time Damon has drank from Elena? Maybe its because the book series, but this felt like a very important occurrence to me and, yes, I thought it was pretty sexy. What can I say, I may be a sane Delena shipper, but I still am one. I want to see this pairing happen, even if its not endgame (I'm content with Stefan/Elena being endgame or even any other pairing).

In Which the Sheriff Gets off the Hook too Easily: At the Grill, Caroline lets Liz know that Jeremy is alive. She also tells Liz that she is tired of being afraid of her and that Liz shouldn't be afraid of her either, that's she's still her little girl. She's still Caroline. They hug and cry.

This scene was mildly touching but I feel like there's still a ways to before I personally forgive Liz for her behavior this season. I want her to truly see how much these kids go through, and that not all supernatural creatures are evil.

In Which Alaric Lightens the Mood a Bit: Jeremy apparently feels "different" now that he's back from the dead, or so he tells Bonnie while video chatting with her. He does thank her, though, for bringing him back. She tells him that he can thank her tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. Then Alaric comes to Jer's doorway to see if he needs anything before Ric heads out. Jeremy says he's fine, but Alaric changes his mind and decides to crash at Gilbert Gables. Jeremy thanks him for everything. Alaric's response: "You can thank me tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that." Jeremy throws a pillow at him.

This scene felt a little out of place considering all the serious business going on, but it was still a great scene between Jeremy and Alaric. The two Gilbert kids are going to need someone to help look after them and Alaric is really the only one around. It should be interesting next season to see how this plays out.

In Which Elena ends up in Damon's Bed: Elena has somehow gotten Damon back to his bed at the mansion. He tries to get her to leave the room because he could hurt her, but she assures him he won't. She tells him she's staying with him til the end, then climbs into bed to cradle him as his pain increases. He confesses to her that he chose to love Katherine and it was the wrong choice. He wants Elena to tell Stefan he's sorry for blaming him all those years.

In Which Stefan is a Real Messy Drinker: Klaus is enjoying watching Stefan down a copious amount of blood. Stefan refuses to drink more until Klaus gives him the cure. Klaus counters that he needs a deal with Stefan first for Stefan to embrace his darkside and leave town with Klaus. When Klaus holds out another blood bag, Stefan can't refuse. Klaus then gives Kat the cure to take to Damon, finally freeing her from her confinement in Alaric's apartment. Stefan is upset that his consumption will have been for nothing, as Kat probably won't take Damon the cure now that she is free. Klaus is unmoved.

In Which The Kiss finally happens: Elena insists that there is still hope for Damon. He says that he deserves to die for the choices he's made. Elena disagrees, but Damon counters that he wouldn't change his choices, as they led him to meeting her. He apologizes for all that he's done to hurt her and she forgives him. As Damon tells her that he understands that its Stefan she loves, Elena lays next to him with her head on his shoulder. Damon tells her that he loves her, and that he wants her to know it. She assures him that she does. He tells her that she should have met him in 1864, that she would have liked him. Her response is that she likes him now, just the way he is. He conveniently turns his face towards her, and she kisses him softly. He thanks her, and she replies with "your welcome." Then Katherine walks in with the cure. She gives it to Damon, telling him that she owed him one. When Elena asks after Stefan, Katherine tells them that Stefan gave himself over to Klaus in exchange for the cure, that he sacrificed everything including Elena to save Damon. Her parting gift to Elena was "Its okay to love them both. I did."

I loved this scene so much, as a person who thinks there's so much potential in a Damon/Elena relationship. I do think this scene was something of a turning point in their relationship, though not as much of a game changer as the more rabid shippers would like. I think that Elena recognizes that Damon has real feelings for her and she is probably more aware of what her own feelings for him could be. Still, there's a long way to go to them becoming anything like a real couple. Elena still obviously loves Stefan (as well she should) and Damon needs some more time to atone. The kiss was sweet, and there was some real affection there, but ultimately I think that Elena was doing something nice for Damon (and herself) that she wouldn't have done if she knew he was going to live. It wasn't a declaration of her undying love or anything. And Katherine: perfect. Love that bitch.

In Which Stefan becomes Damon: In some sort of warehouse, Klaus is having Elijah boxed up and put with the rest of the family, as they are leaving town tonight. Stefan gets a text that Damon made it, and Klaus reveals that he knew that Kat was on vervain. Stefan counters that Klaus will never see Kat again, but Klaus hints that perhaps his and Stefan's new crime spree may involve hunting her down. Stefan demands to know what Klaus wants with him, but Klaus deflects and distracts Stefan by offering him a real live girl to snack on as one last test of Stefan's new loyalty to him. Stefan hesitates, but then kills the girl as ordered.

I don't think it was a coincidence at all that Stefan biting into the girl was reminiscent of the times we've seen Damon do the same. I just re-watched the first 7 episodes of season 1 and they even used the same shaky cam effects we saw then when Damon was being so naughty. We're definitely getting Darkside Stefan next season, and I hope it lasts a while. We need something to shake up the nice little Stefan/Elena plot and this is just the thing. I don't think that it will immediately mean Elena defects to Team Damon, but its certainly going to add an interesting dynamic as Damon will, at least temporarily, be the Salvatore she can trust.

In Which I Don't Even Know: Jeremy is awakened by something and wonders downstairs to find Alaric. Only the viewer can see Vicki as she walks behind him. When he gets downstairs, he turns when Vicki says "Jer." When he sees nothing, he turns to see Anna standing in front him, then back to see Vicki behind him.

And scene. I've no idea what this means about Jeremy, but I won't complain about having Malese Jow back. Vicki wasn't my favorite, really, but I think that she'll bring something interesting back to the show and perhaps give Matt and Tyler something to do.

Overall, this was more of a setup episode for next season, with "The Sun Also Rises" being more of a season finale. We've got a completely new dynamic between the main love triangle, and Bonnie and Jeremy now have a major storyline to tackle. Here's hoping the writers give Matt, Caroline, and Tyler something equally as juicy when hiatus is over. I certainly can't wait til its back in the fall!

In Defense of John Gilbert (RIP)

2011-05-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'm accustomed to holding unpopular opinions. I'm a liberal Democrat living in Arkansas after all. So it doesn't bother me that I'm the only person I know in my little TVD circle of real life friends and Twitter peeps who cared about John Gilbert at all.

Here's the thing: John Gilbert was us. He's a real life character living in a land of fictional beings. He's the reason that parents are always dead or unavailable in YA paranormals.

Obviously, The Vampire Diaries is a fantasy world. There's vampires and werewolves and witches, oh my. It being a fantasy is the only reason Elena and Stefan's relationship is romantic instead of vaguely pedophiliac. Its the reason that Damon can be a romantic leading man and a psychopath, all at the same time.

But John Gilbert isn't a fantasy. He's not a perfect man, and could be an asshole at times. He is, however, a shining example of how a real life parent could behave, were this fantasy world somehow magically transferred to our reality.

A real parent wants their kid nowhere near a vampire, "good" or not. Of course, we all love Stefan and Damon and think that Elena's got two hot vampires to choose from. But if she were my daughter? Not bloody likely. She'd have been on the first plane to boarding school. John might be bigoted towards vampires, but he's not wrong that they bring danger to everyone. Without Stefan's interference, Elena would still have been the doppelganger, but we've no idea what the story would have been like if she'd stayed away from the vampires. Her life might have been better, it might have been worse, and I'm not so sure that a quick death in the Klaus ritual wouldn't have been preferable to all the stress and worry she's had to deal with over the past 2 seasons, at least from John's perspective.

This obviously isn't as simple as I make it sound. John's interference is made more problematic by the fact that he was so absent from Elena's life, so therefore has less right to tell her what to do. There's also the argument that Elena has her own agency and should be able to make her own choices (we'll call this the Stefan Corollary) but just like any other parent, John sees Elena's continued relationships with vampires to be something like drug addiction: its his job as a parent to protect this 17 year old from herself.

In the end, John gave his life to ensure his daughter got to keep her human existence, and I wouldn't be surprised if Elena isn't all the more aware after the great losses suffered in "The Sun Also Rises" that John wasn't entirely crazy in claiming that her involvement with vampires was dangerous for her and everyone she knows. I hope that the writers introduce another character that serves as the same foil John did for all the romantic vampire ideas.

RIP, John Gilbert. You'll be missed, at least by this viewer.

Tuesday Ten: Heroes and Historicals

2011-05-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

Current events have had me torn between reading military romances and historical romances (specifically those set in Britain in the 18th & 19th Centuries), so I wanted to share my favorite books from these two genres!

Historical British Romance:

1. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase - This is pretty well recognized as one of the best ever in this genre. The dialogue is some of the best I've ever read in a romance, bar none, and the hero, Dain, is just the right amount of broken. The heroine, Jessica, is just flat out awesome.

2. Once and Always by Judith McNaught - Another classic of the genre, with another broken hero who I just love.

3. The Lion's Lady by Julie Garwood - This is the first in Garwood's Crown's Spies series, and they are all worth reading.

4. A Loving Scoundrel by Johanna Lindsey - This book is the 7th in a series, but I only read a couple of them, and this one was my favorite, perhaps because we are introduced to the hero, Jeremy, in an earlier book, when he is a young and reckless teenager.

5. The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook - I'm kind of cheating by putting this book on this list, because it probably falls more into the steampunk category than in historical romance, but it *is* set in Victorian London, and there are Dukes and Duchesses and Marquesses. There are also zombies and automatons and nanotechnology. Its a thoroughly original book, with such an interesting mythology, that I can't recommend it enough.

Military Romance:

1. Shadow Game by Christine Feehan - This is the only non-Brockmann book on my list, but I really enjoy Feehan's paranormal/military Ghostwalker series about a group of special forces soldiers who go into a program designed to boost their paranormal abilities. I like the later books better than this first one, but the first one is still good and is vital to understanding the plot lines of the later books.

2. The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann - Brockmann's Troubleshooter Navy Seals series is pretty much the epitome of military romance, and this is the first book. The author is fantastic at introducing characters in earlier books, giving them character development, and letting that pay off in later books, and it all starts here.

3. Out of Control by Suzanne Brockmann - This is book 4 in the Troubleshooters series, and it makes the list because I just adore the hero, Wild Card. He's not only a badass Navy Seal, but also a complete geek underneath the ripped exterior.

4. Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann - Though I'd rather never choose, if you made me pick my favorite romance novel ever, this would probably be it. Sam Starrett and Alyssa Locke are introduced early in the TS series and Brockmann spends 5 books giving them an emotional history together that makes this book payoff in such a satisfying way. Added to the Sam and Alyssa story is one of Brockmann's signatures, a secondary story about a couple who had a great influence on Sam, Walter and Dorothy.

5. Taylor's Temptation by Suzanne Brockmann - This is from a different Brockmann Navy Seals series, one with much less interlocking stories, but I've always loved this one because the heroine, Colleen, is so relatable and Bobby Taylor is such a good guy, not broken like so many of Brockmann's heroines, just a normal guy trying to do the right thing.

Kindle 3 with Ads

2011-05-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

I received my ad-supported Kindle on Friday, and due to the Beale Street Music Fest, I haven't had a ton of time to play with it. Since its just like the regular K3 besides the ads, I won't elaborate on all those features, but I do have some initial thoughts about the ad-support features.

I really don't mind the ads so far. The screensavers are something that I rarely pay attention to, so I'm not at all concerned about those. When the Kindle is awake, you see the ads on the bottom of the home screen (both the main home page and when you are inside a collection). You *don't* see the ads when you are in a book or when you are adding/deleting books from collections. A few pictures:

The ad you see on the home page of the Kindle when you wake it up coordinates with the current screensaver ad, like so:

I've already seen one offer I wanted to take advantage of:

When I woke the Kindle up, I toggled down to the ad at the bottom for the gift card and selected it. It took me to a screen where I had the option to have the offer emailed to me (it goes to the email associated with that Amazon account):

Pretty nifty, I think. If they frequently offer deals like this gift card one, I don't think I'll regret getting the ad-supported version.

BSMF Video: Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

2011-05-02T10:36:00.002-05:00

I got some very shaky video during the amazing Mumford & Sons set at the Beale Street Music Fest. If you haven't heard these guys, rectify that immediately!

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Trailer

2011-04-28T08:56:00.000-05:00

So much epic, I can't even describe it. Molly & Bellatrix! Tonks & Lupin! Ron & Hermione! The only thing I'm not sure about is Voldemort and Harry falling from the tower, which isn't canon, but I'll wait and see how it plays out on screen.

TWO AND A HALF MONTHS TO GO!

#Vilonia + Song of the Day

2011-04-26T10:24:00.000-05:00

You can't have missed it if you follow me on Twitter, but storms and tornadoes have devastated my state this week, with more on the way. Right here in Faulkner County, 4 people are dead at last count, in the town of Vilonia, just down the road, after a tornado swept through last night. If you'd like to help, consider a donation to the Arkansas Red Cross. The folks at Rock City Outfitters are donating all proceeds from their fantastic Arkansas themed tees to the AR Red Cross, so check them out.

I'm dedicating the Song of the Day to all those affected by the storms: "I Shall Not Walk Alone" by Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama.

Vampire Diaries 2.19 "Klaus"

2011-04-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

*spoilers*

Here's where I make a few confessions. I don't care for flashback episodes of TVD. In general, I giggle at the clothes instead of enjoying them. I giggle at the accents. And the hair. Oh, the hair. I also don't tend to enjoy overly-talkie episodes. Like this one, where everyone talks endlessly about Klaus, his past, and how to kill him.

So really, what I'm saying is that I didn't enjoy this episode the way that a lot of people seemed to. But those people like flashbacks and mythology moments. I found it to be pretty meh, but obviously, it sets up some great action to come for the rest of the season.

Things I did like:

The Salvatore Brother showdown over Damon's feeling for Elena and their differing approaches to saving Elena.
I like that Jenna knows about vampires now. Curious to see how that plays out.
I like that Elena was so adamant about having a plan to save herself and that Stefan recognized her right to call the shots, even if he wanted to do it differently.
I like that we saw Damon unravel a little bit. I don't always like Damon, but I'm nearly always fascinated by him.

This is a short entry, because I really just have such ambivalent feelings about the episode. For the most part, I shrugged off the major revelations. The fact that Klaus and Elijah are brothers didn't surprise me, but I didn't really expect the whole Klaus-is-a-werevamp thing. I just happen to have no strong feelings on the new mythology for the moment. Here's hoping I regain my enthusiasm next week.

Song of the Day

2011-04-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

Song of the Day

2011-04-15T19:51:00.000-05:00

This came up yesterday on my iPod while I was shuffling through my library, and I hadn't heard it in a long time. One of my favorite JM tunes:

Vampire Diaries 2.18 "The Last Dance"

2011-04-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

*spoilers*

Holly's Alternate title: DAMN, DAMON DANCES. Hey, Ian Somerhalder, will you marry me? Or at least go out dancing with me? I could settle for that.

Quick and Dirty Recap: Klaus is in Alaric's body, going to school and trying to teach class while taunting Team Salvatore with hints of his presence. Everyone goes to the 60s Dance, Alaric's possession is revealed after he discovers the plan for Bonnie to kill him, and Damon and Bonnie team up to make Klaus think Bonnie is dead and no longer a threat. Also, Damon makes many good arguments and Elena takes action at the end, pulling the dagger out of Elijah, in her desperation to find a different way to kill Klaus.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE EPISODE, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM

I didn't love this episode as much as last week's, but I think that upon further viewing that may change. Last week's was such a twisty ride and this week's had some great action, but also some more subtle moments that you really have to absorb to realize their import.

As far as Klaus possessed Alaric, I really enjoyed getting to see Matt Davis flex his acting muscles and bring a new character to life. His scene where Klaus tries to teach Alaric's class was hilarious, as was his dancing at the 60s Dance. They're making Klaus very creepy (the kiss to Katherine's forehead) and terrifying (making Kat stab herself was unsettling, to say the least). However, I think they're also displaying how arrogant he is. I theorized while watching the episode that his ego might be his downfall, as he seemed to lose his temper a bit when people didn't recognize how powerful he is. It's possible that could be used against him in the in. Also, could be why so many people want to kill him.

Here's where I make a confession: Bonnie and Jeremy together isn't my cup of tea. In fact, I recoil every time I see them together. I just DO NOT see any chemistry there. I'd love to see them introduce a kickass non-Luka witch boyfriend for Bonnie and bring back Anna for Jeremy instead. It just feels like they put them together because they were both there and not related, and so every scene where Jeremy is angsty over what will happen to Bonnie falls flat for me.

Another confession: I didn't get upset at all when Bonnie "died." I was mostly convinced that it was a ruse anyway, after Damon's asking her if she was willing to do whatever it took. Also, as I said above, I just plain don't love the Bonnie character and if I had to pick someone to vote off the island, it'd be her. Hell, I'd rather keep Uncle Daddy. I'm okay with being in the minority on this, and its not a knock on Katerina Graham, who I think does an excellent job with what she's given. Every fan just isn't going to love every character. I will say that the final fight between Kalaric and Bonnie with the sparks flying was pretty badass, though, even if I figured Bonnie would make it out alive.

The best parts of the episode for me were the scenes where the show explored the contrast between Stefan & Damon and their approach to saving Elena. At the dance, we see clearly that Damon will sacrifice Bonnie if need be, while Stefan leans towards trying to save everyone. This leads to a confrontation on the stairs between the Brothers Salvatore over their differing strategies. Damon lays it out for Stefan with no remorse: Damon is the one who will do whatever it takes to save Elena and won't be deterred by collateral damage, and in the end, this means he'll be the one to save her life. Stefan obviously didn't enjoy having this pointed out and I'm certain that this will cause some brother angst as we head into the season finale.

Then there was the Damon & Elena scene that surely caused all the Delena shippers to implode. I'm not even a hardcore shipper and I was touched by Damon passionately telling Elena that he would let Bonnie die if he had to, because he "will always choose" Elena. Now, I don't necessarily think that Damon is truly in love with Elena, not yet anyway, but I think that he cares about her in a way that is different from the past women in his life, and I'm beyond excited to see where they are taking the Damon/Elena dynamic in the future. I don't have a preference for who Elena ends up with at the end of the show, if anyone, but I am in favor of the writers exploring the potential for love between these two when the time is right. I think Elena has a lot of reticence, for good reason, when it comes to Damon, but I also think that the kind of single-minded focus Damon displays when it comes to her can be alluring, as well as frightening. Its hard to ignore that kind of passion and not be somewhat drawn to it.

Stray Observations:

I forgot the notebook that I made notes on after the episode, so if I forgot anything important, I'll post a follow up later today.
Elena picked a fine time to care about going to school.
I'm a little confused about the possession thing and which vampire powers Klaus' got to keep. He could compel vampires and people but didn't need an invitation to get in anywhere. Seemed too convenient.
I didn't touch on the Matt/Caroline stuff, because honestly, there was little movement there and it only served as a distraction from the other scenes. Still, they rocked those outfits and we did find out that Matt and the Sheriff know about Stefan and Damon being vampires, Tyler being a werewolf, and that the Gilberts are in the loop on it all.
Damon's dancing was my favorite thing, maybe ever. In my whole life. He had outrageous chemistry with both Elena and Bonnie and the random girls he was dancing with. I especially loved when Stefan smoothly twirled Elena towards Damon. Maybe I do have an OTP and its really a polyamorous Salvatore-Elena sandwich.
Not. Now. Dana.
Elena glanced between Damon & Damon's bed before she left his room. Yes, honey, that's where the magic happens. Glad to see you're not immune.
"I will always choose you." *swoon*

Song of the Day

2011-04-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

Is All American Rejects one of those bands I'm supposed to be ashamed of liking? I don't know, but they put on a great show at the Beale Street Music Fest in 2009. The lead singer is so obviously cracked out, but he's magnetic anyway. This is one of my favorite songs they performed at that show.

Tuesday Morning Linkage

2011-04-12T09:51:00.002-05:00

Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) tears into GOP homophobes

Vampire Diaries' Julie Plec talks to EW about the Alaric/Klaus twist

The track listing is revealed for the NKOTBSB album

Ken Burns on the 150th anniversary of Fort Sumter & the start of the Civil War

Amazon offers Wi-fi Kindle 3 for $114 if you're willing to deal with some ads (I've pre-ordered mine)

The Glee Kids are trolling your tumblr:

Song of the Day: Electric Feel - MGMT

2011-04-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

Love this song, perfect for the nice weather this afternoon.

The Vampire Diaries 2.17 "Know Thy Enemy"

2011-04-11T10:09:00.000-05:00

*spoilers*

Alternate title for this episode - the one where everyone double crosses Team Salvatore. Except Uncle Daddy John. *mind boggles*

Recap, Quick and Dirty: Isobel blows back into town, gets Jenna pissed at Alaric & Elena, double crosses everyone, turns Katherine, the moonstone & Alaric over to Klaus' warlock. She also makes sure Klaus knows where Elena is, before committing suicide by sunshine in front of her horrified daughter. Presumably, she was under compulsion for the majority of these acts. Bonnie, Damon, and Jeremy go to the site of the witches fiery demise so that Bonnie can harness her power. Its revealed that the power it will take for her to kill Klaus will likely kill her. Caroline searches everywhere for Matt, and when she finally tells him the truth about what's been happening, he demands she compel him to forget everything. Only then do we find out he's working with Sheriff!Mom and told her everything Caroline told him. The final twist was that Alaric was kidnapped by Isobel & the (white!) warlock in order to be possessed by Klaus. We leave off with Klaus-in-Alaric having custody of the moonstone and Kat.

Best Quotes:
Damon: Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust.

Damon: I'll be super pissed if you lock me out.

Observations, Theories, and Questions:
Why was there a house built on top of where the witches were burned? Surely the house wasn't there when they burned them.

The soap dish, Damon, really? That was either really smart or really freaking dumb, I'm not sure.

How much did Caroline tell Matt? Just about her vampire experience or about Damon, Stefan, etc? If the sheriff does know about Stefan and Damon, will the council now come after them or will they manage to get Liz & Matt on Team Salvatore?

I think a lot of people probably liked Angry Matt but I was just really frustrated with his betrayal of Caroline. Intellectually, I can understand his motivation, but my love for Caroline colors my view of his and the sheriff's alliance.

Will killing Klaus kill Bonnie? Obviously in her mind, the havoc that would be wreaked by Klaus & other vamps being able to walk in the day is worth giving her life.

Isobel's death was kind of heartbreaking, even though she wasn't a good guy. We may never know if she would have betrayed Elena and Katherine on her own or if she was a victim of Klaus more than her own evil.

I don't want to like Uncle John but David Anders forces me to some times. His telling Elena why he wanted to believe in Isobel and volunteering to do whatever Elena wanted was such a genuine moment for him. I'm guessing they'll make us like him just in time for him to sacrifice himself for his daughter.

I didn't see the whole Alaric possession thing coming AT ALL. However, it makes sense if Klaus is looking to get close to Team Salvatore and figure out how to get Elena. From the preview for next week though, the possession doesn't remain a secret for long. I'm terribly afraid that getting Klaus out of Alaric will kill him, and I'd hate to lose Matt Davis, but all signs point to Alaric checking out by end of season.

Weird theory: we know that an actor was cast for Klaus and we've seen an episode still of him, in period garb, obviously a flashback, so now I wonder if the actor will ever play Klaus in the modern time or if its possible that will be the flashback Klaus only and Alaric/Klaus will be around for a while. Also, is the possession of Alaric a recent idea from Team Klaus or does Alaric have a past with them that we (and perhaps he) doesn't know about?

Friday Morning Links

2011-04-08T10:07:00.000-05:00

A little vampires, a little politics:

AV Club's review of last night's all new Vampire Diaries "Know Thy Enemy"

Cindy's Weecap of TVD over at Television Without Pity

NYT Editorial on the government shutdown: "It's Not Really About Spending"

It's got nothing to do with vampires or politics, but the latest John Green vlogbrothers video made me laugh a lot:

Stay tuned, my TVD review will be up later today.

Thursday Morning Links

2011-04-07T09:32:00.000-05:00

Just a few links to things interesting to me this morning:

The AV Club's Gateways to Geekery: Sunshine Pop

Zap2it asks who you think will die in the upcoming episodes of The Vampire Diaries

My Baseball!Boyfriend Tim Lincecum struck out 13 batters last night in a win over the Padres*

Arkansas Supreme Court Upholds Reversal of Adoption Ban

*Obviously, Timmy isn't really my boyfriend. I just like his hair. Some day, I'll do a post on my different sports boyfriends.

When Shippers Lose Their Shit

2011-04-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

So this article with Vampire Diaries writer Julie Plec was posted today on the LA Times site.

And then Plec's Twitter timeline exploded with hatred.

Anyone with a modicum of reading comprehension skills can read that article and realize that Plec was specifically commenting on Stefan's state of mind when she referred to Damon as an obstacle. Stefan wants to be with Elena, Damon wants to be with Elena, this means that Damon is in Stefan's way to an extent (see the definition of obstacle). Plec didn't say she hated Damon/Elena or that it wouldn't happen, just that it would obviously not be in Stefan's game plan. However, shippers don't really do the whole 'take things in context' thing.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from the Twitter explosion for your viewing pleasure.

Happy New Book Day!

2011-04-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

Two new books out today that I've been eagerly anticipating: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare and Red Glove by Holly Black.

City of Fallen Angels is the fourth book in Clare's massively popular The Mortal Instruments Series. I devoured the first three books in the series late last year, along with the first book in Clare's companion series (The Infernal Devices), Clockwork Angel. I love, love Clare's sarcastic hero, Jace, and her dialogue. Basic premise of the series: Shadowhunters are part angel, part human warriors who protect the world from demons. They exist along side vampires, werewolves and warlocks. The series centers on teen Clarissa "Clary" Fray as she discovers the world of Shadowhunters and her place within it.

Red Glove is the sequel to Black's White Cat, both part of her Curse Worker's series. White Cat was by far the most original and riveting book I read this year so far. Its dark and twisty and its hero, Cassel, is basically what I imagine Rusty from Ocean's 11 was like as a teen. Basic premise: Hero (or anti-hero, which might be more fitting) Cassel comes from a family of curse workers, people who can influence your emotions, your luck, your body by touching you. His family and their friends are all basically in the mafia, and he's a con artist.

If you're interested in either of these series, pick up City of Bones by Clare and White Cat by Black, the first books in these series.

Song of the Day: Break the Chain - Lupe Fiasco

2011-04-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today is the NCAA Men's National Championship Game, where No. 3 UConn will battle it out against No. 8 Butler. I'll be rooting for Butler, just as I did last year when they so very nearly beat Duke. I got Lupe Fiasco's album, Lasers, last week and immediately recognized the song "Break the Chain" from being played on Sportscenter. Its a perfect song for March Madness highlights and a great song of the day for the National Championship. Enjoy!

New Single from NKOTBSB: Don't Turn Out the Lights

2011-03-31T13:33:00.001-05:00

Let's get this out of the way: I'm in no way capable of being objective about NKOTBSB. Its pretty much my teenage dream come true, minus Justin Timberlake. I've already bought tickets to see them in Detroit and have pre-ordered their May album. This is HAPPENING.

That said, I won't pretend that this is deep, meaningful music. However, its great 90s throwback pop! It makes me feel a little old that there is such a concept as 90s throwback pop, though it's possible I made it up just now. Enjoy!

Bad Movie Rant: Legion

2011-03-31T10:41:00.003-05:00

If you follow me on Twitter or know me in 3D, you know that I *love* bad movies. And I don't have very high standards for movies I consider good. I unironically own both Transformers movies and The Covenant. I like pretty boys, explosions, and fights, especially if they involve superheroes or robots. I generally have the same movie taste as a 17 year old boy. If I can't genuinely like a movie, then I can usually have a good time making fun of it.

Its a rare movie that falls in between enjoyable and so bad its good for me. Past offenders: Miss Congeniality 2, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Battle: Los Angeles, most recently. We can add Legion to that list. It takes itself way to seriously to be so bad its good, but its not even anywhere close to good.

Legion is kind of an action/horror movie, but its not really scary enough to be true horror and the action isn't all that exciting either. As has become a sad trend in movies, you see all the cool parts in the trailer above. Seeing those scenes in context takes away from whatever cool factor they had in the trailer.

The story is spare and trite. Its the end of the world! And this baby will save us! Somehow, he will. We're not sure how. But we believe Paul Bettany when he says it. The acting is hamstrung by horrible dialogue and the idiotic plot, which is sad, considering that I have enjoyed almost everyone in this movie in other roles. I mean, Dennis Quaid is Remy McSwain, for God's sake. I worship at the altar of Adrianne Palicki on Friday Night Lights and Supernatural. Tyrese, though one dimensional, is serviceable in the Transformers films. I adore Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale. Not a single one of them is good in this movie. Shameful.

And then there's Lucas Black. Look, I know that people loved Sling Blade. I didn't see it, but I know that it was a well-received movie. It's time to move on, people. Lucas Black is just not a good actor. I watched F &F: Tokyo Drift (shut up, I like cars). I don't understand at all why he was cast in this movie, and the movie suffers for his presence. When I can look at both of the movies I've seen you star in and think how much better they'd be with Channing Tatum in your role, then you have a problem. I hate to be so harsh on poor Lucas, but I've seen no evidence that he's earned these parts on the screen.

I was at least hoping that Legion would be fodder for bad movie nights. Instead, its just bad and unfunny. The director of Legion, Scott Stewart, is attached to direct the adaptation of the first Mortal Instruments book by Cassandra Clare, City of Bones. I'm a little less excited to see that movie today than I was yesterday. Hoping that his movie, Priest, out this summer gets better reviews.

Grade: D-

Song of the Day

2011-03-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

Mostly I'm posting to see if the feedburner link I set up to push my posts to Twitter is working. But! I did buy Number Ones by Sir Elton John today and have been listening to it this afternoon, so Sir Elton and George Michael get to be the Song of the Day. BTW, I bought the album from Amazon for $3.99 and if you haven't looked into their new Cloud Music Player then you really should. It stores your music purchases for you to listen to anywhere you have a web browser. It also offers affordable storage space for documents and files you want to be able to access anywhere. You get 5 gb storage for free, plus 20 gb when you buy your first mp3 album!

Road Trip Wednesday: The Books of My Childhood

2011-03-30T11:38:00.000-05:00

The folks over at YA Highway ask a reading/writing question every Wednesday and invite people to blog their responses. Today's question is: What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

Here's the list I came up with off the top of my head, though I'm certain that I'm leaving out something important. I refrained from including the romances that I started reading at the age of 12 and included only those non-romance books that I read up to early teen years. The late teen years were basically exclusively dedicated to Harlequin.

Baby Sitters Club Series by Ann M. Martin - Pretty much the series that made me love reading. When I was in elementary school, my mom worked for the local Wal-mart, one that didn't open until 9 am (gasp!), stocking shelves in the early mornings before the doors opened. Since she was a single mom and I was too young to stay alone, she often woke me up at the crack of dawn to go to work with her. Small town, Arkansas FTW. An empty Wal-mart is pretty much a 7 year olds dream, or nightmare, depending on how many lights were turned on on a given day. I did like to wander around the toys, but inevitably, I would wind up in the book aisle, sitting on the floor, reading the BSC books that I loved but couldn't afford to buy. Then they'd go back on the shelf. As an adult, I can only hope that I didn't damage them too much.

The Giver by Lois Lowry - I think I found this in the middle school library, and its the first book that I can remember which made me really think about the message it was putting forth. I was a really type A kid, and part of me was really attracted to the way that Lowry's dystopian society was so organized and regimented. It was an interesting exercise to get to the end and have to evaluate Jonah's actions and what they meant about my own attraction to the system he was escaping.

The Graduation by Christopher Pike - This was the 3rd book in a series, and I'm not really sure if I ever read the other two books that precede it. I include it because it's the first book that I was truly crazy about because I had a crush on a character, Michael Olson, and I wanted him to get the girl in the end. It was also probably the first book I read that included reference to teens having sex, though it was fade-to-black. There was even discussion of condoms! Heady discussion for a pre-teen. Can you tell my mother didn't screen what I read at all?

Others I loved:

The Hardy Boys (I loved the ones set in the 80s)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (school assigned book that I loved)
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (the main characters were Jewish girls in NYC in the early 1900s, and I was fascinated by the culture differences)
Sweet Valley High Series by Francine Pascal (Duh.)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Also duh.)
Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene (I loved the 50s set ones best)
Bad News Ballet Series by Jahnna M. Malcolm (Thanks to The Mighty Ducks, I loved these books because one of the characters was a hockey player)
Palm Beach Prep Series by Elle Wolfe (Again, blame a movie, but I got into this series because one of the characters was a soccer player and I had just seen The Big Green)

If you're curious about other answers to YA Highway's question, check out the comments on Road Trip Wednesday.

New Layout, Another Pledge to Actually Blog

2011-03-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking for a while that the old layout/theme was a hindrance to me posting more often. For some reason, short posts looked awful with that layout, so I was reluctant to just dash off a post about whatever is interesting to me that day. I felt like I needed multiple paragraphs and pictures or videos for it to look aesthetically pleasing. I think this new layout will fix that issue.

So here's to blog re-launch 1535. May it go better than the last 1534 relaunches.*

*Does this thing have a sarcasm font?

On Love Triangles

2011-03-02T11:05:00.000-06:00

Oh love triangles...how I love and loathe you all. I've been thinking about love triangles today thanks to author Rachel K Vincent's blog post on what constitutes a love triangle and why she thinks her characters aren't in one (caution, mildly spoilery for those not caught up to the current book in her Soul Screamers series).

Vincent lays out a few ground rules for what she thinks constitutes a simple love triangle:

The person in the center of the love triangle has to be aware of the feelings of both of the other sides.
The person in the center must be asked to choose between the two sides.
The person in the center must love both of the two choices to the point where choosing between them is difficult.

I agree with these points, at least as far as a generic love triangle can be defined. Of course, they're always more complicated than this, but this is the general gist of a true love triangle.

Now, maybe I'm not reading the right books or the right genres, but based on these rules, I'd argue that there are very few true love triangles in any of the series that I've been reading the past couple years. Most of the time, the person, usually a girl, knows exactly who she wants to be with, but circumstances might point her towards someone else for a while, because all books need conflict.

Case in point, Twilight. The Team Edward vs. Team Jacob "conflict" sold a lot of t-shirts and generated a lot of page views as people debated. However, I'd argue that this was not a true love triangle. Rules 1 and 2 were certainly met, but rule 3, not so much. Bella is clear with Jacob that it was always going to be Edward, as long as circumstances allowed them to be together. She genuinely cared about Jacob, but he was never going to be her first choice.

But obviously, there were plenty of people out there, those Team Jacob people, who would disagree with me. And why is that? Its because people project their own feelings onto the characters. I just did it in the paragraph above. Only Stephenie Meyer could tell you if she intended for Jacob to be a genuine contender for Bella's love (and I think she's made it clear that she had a different plan for him all along, as evidenced by the events of Breaking Dawn). Because I preferred Edward over Jacob, I never viewed Jacob as a legitimate threat or believed that Bella would choose him in the end.

This sort of reader projection results in a lot of "love triangle" debates when there might not even be a triangle in the first place. I think that its in rule 3 that the reader's feelings are brought most strongly into play. Rules 1 and 2 are pretty cut and dry, but the reader's feelings about whichever side of the triangle they prefer certainly color their interpretation of the center person's difficulty in choosing.

Another good example, and one that's caused lots of drama within the fandom, is the Stefan/Elena/Damon "triangle" on The Vampire Diaries, the tv show. Let's look at our rules again. For rule 1, I don't think that we can comfortably say that Elena is "aware" of how Damon feels about her. She must know that Damon cares about her, but I wouldn't go so far as to say she knows he's in love with her. In fact, he's tried to make sure she doesn't know by compelling her to forget he confessed his love (and thoroughly breaking my heart in the process). As for rule 2, I don't think Elena has to choose between the two Salvatores if we accept the idea that she doesn't know that she's in a love triangle. Rule 3 is irrelevant if the center is both unaware of one of the sides' feelings and isn't being forced to make a choice. However, its the rule that creates the best drama when both rules 1 and 2 have been fulfilled.

There are, of course, Damon/Elena shippers who would argue with me on every point, and that's their right to do so. However, as a person who is immensely interested in seeing a Damon/Elena relationship at some point on the show, I don't think that I'm projecting some sort of Stefan/Elena agenda onto my argument. I just think that some shippers are incapable of being objective when they have a passion to see a certain thing happen. And then they rant about it on Twitter.

The last example I'll cite is the Jace/Clary/Simon "triangle" from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series (spoilery):

The first rule here would be met, Clary is aware that both Jace and Simon care about her in a romantic way.
Yes, Clary had to make a choice between the two, though it was complicated by the uncertainty of her and Jace's familial status.
Here's where the projection of the reader comes into play. In my interpretation of the book, Clary only thinks to pursue any sort of romantic relationship with Simon when she thinks that a relationship with Jace can't happen. And she realizes that its not fair to keep stringing Simon along when its really Jace she wants. So, in my opinion, Rule 3 is not satisfied.

So what's my point, here? Even I'm not entirely sure, but I think its that love triangles aren't as common as we think and some of the most famous ones right now aren't really love triangles. However, with the degree that readers' feelings play into Rule 3, then perhaps love triangles exist wherever the reader believes they exist. At least fandom discussions won't be boring!

Ingram Hill - "Hey Girl" Live at Juanita's 10/2

2010-10-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

Check out the video I took Saturday night at Juanita's in Little Rock of my favorite band, Ingram Hill, performing "Hey Girl," off their new album Look Your Best!

Premiere Week Impressions: Monday Night

2010-09-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

I haven't gotten a chance to watch Lone Star yet, so it's missing from this rundown. Apparently, it tanked in the ratings anyway, so I'm not sure if I'll watch now or just hold on to it until I see if it picks up better ratings next week.

The Event (NBC, 8 pm CST) - I tuned into this mainly because I missed the whole phenomenon of watching Lost as it aired and I didn't want that to happen again. NBC has played fast and loose (and for good reason) with what the titular event actually is, but I was happy to see that we actually found out what it is in the pilot. The show had the tone of something like 24 or that one episode of Flashforward I managed to catch. Lots of moving parts in the pilot, with very little time devoted to fleshing out the characters, other than who I assume is the main character, Jason Ritter's Sean. I was kind of 'meh' on the whole thing until the last 5 or 10 minutes when several things (including "the event") really piqued my interest. I will definitely give this one a few more episodes, at the very least.

Hawaii Five-0 (CBS, 9 pm CST) - I really loved this pilot. For one, I adore Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. For another, James Marsters, Spike himself, is in it! It wasn't deep, it wasn't all that meaningful, but it was pretty and entertaining. The pilot sets up a nice continuing plot line involving the murder of Steve McGarrett's (Alex) father (briefly seen to be Jim Sadler, my dear Sheriff Valenti from Roswell), along with the potential for Case of the Week hijinks to be tackled by McGarrett's task force. The best part of the show was the banter between McGarrett and Caan's Danny "Dano" Williams. Scott Caan is best when he's allowed to be the sarcastic smartass, and hopefully the show will continue to let him exercise that skill. Season pass is already set up, so I'm in for the year, unless something really drastic happens.

Castle (ABC, 9 pm CST) - This was a returning favorite, and I have no complaints about the episode, but it didn't really wow me. I feel like we've made no progress from last season. I know that will-they-or-wont-they is a timeless tv trope, but getting stuck in a rut is no fun either. Here's hoping they're going somewhere interesting with Beckett and Castle this season. I'm actually looking forward more to what happens when Alexis gets a boyfriend than anything else on the show. Oh, and Ryan and Esposito. They make this show for me.

Other new shows I'm watching so far: Nikita (mainly due to my love of the Peta Wilson show), which I may review eventually, and Terriers, a fantastic new little drama on FX starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. The characters are fantastic and the dialogue is some of the best I've seen in a while.

TV Review: The Vampire Diaries 2.2 "Brave New World"

2010-09-21T11:28:00.000-05:00

Spoilers, as always!

Oh, Caroline. I'm not sure how I feel about your transformation into a vampire. On the one hand, it'll be interesting to see a vamp besides the Salvatores in Mystic Falls and the hijinks that will ensue on everyone's parts to keep Matt and Liz in the dark should be entertaining.

Observations in order as I watched:

Why in the world does Vamp!Caroline not question the fact that she wants to drink blood? Does she already remember some of her Damon-repressed memories? I'd have run screaming to the nurse if I had a craving to drink blood out of a bag.
What the hell is a goldfish toss?
Damon heading up the Anti-Vampire Council of Mystic Falls? Fantastic.
Also fantastic: the Lockwood boys in very little clothing while they discuss Tyler's anger issues. Obviously, Uncle Hottie is digging for info to see if Tyler inherited the wolfiness.
Again, why the hell isn't Caroline questioning what the hell is happening to her? Is it new vampire instinct to hide what's happening to them?
Poor Pudding Pop. I'm certain he's in for a rough season.
"Aren't you worried that one day the forest animals are going to band together and fight back? I mean, surely they talk." Heh.
Candice Accola is really knocking her material out of the park.
Oh, Uncle Hottie, no one believes that the moonstone you're looking for is useless. Family heirlooms on this show always have super special powers.
Jeremy, threatening Damon is even more stupid than your usual stupid behavior. Loved that Damon threw the ring back at his head.
"Get him, Stef!" Hee. Damon, I love you so.
"Maybe they're Ninja Turtles." Stefan, you can stay, I suppose.
Ambiguous Supernatural Mystery Uncle is Uncle Hottie's new nickname, at least until next week when we find out he's Jacob Black.
So Caroline obviously has contempt for Damon now that she remembers everything he did to her. Will she align herself with Katherine to get back at him? In the books, even though she's not a vamp, Caroline is more of adversary to Elena and Stefan than an ally. It will be interesting if her becoming a vampire moves her more in that direction. Still, I'm sure Stefan helping her puts some marks in the good guys' favor.
I heard a few rumblings since the episode first aired about Elena seeming to be more okay with Damon than she should have been after the end of 2.1. I disagree, however. She's not being nice to him, but she also recognizes that there is much supernatural hijinks afoot in Mystic Falls and that she needs to know what is happening in order to help her friends and family. Besides, she knows (as do we) that she is safe with Damon, at least physically, so going with him to find out what's going on wasn't a huge risk.
Though I have high hopes for Vamp!Caroline, Damon makes some good points about the difficulties of keeping her alive.
Ambiguous Supernatural Mystery Uncle is not very good at diverting attention from his wolfy traits. Tyler wasn't fooled for even a millisecond.
I don't know about anyone else, but I thought how sweet Damon was to Caroline before he tried to stake her was genuine. I think he really didn't want her to suffer and genuinely felt bad that she'd been put in this position.
How much do I dislike Bonnie right now? That would be a lot. Its not Caroline's fault that she got turned into a vampire. And you know what? Its not Damon's either, at least not any more so than it is Bonnie's or Elena's or Stefan's. The blame lies on the shoulders of Katherine "Bitch Incarnate" Pierce. Deal with that, Bonnie. Damon is a bad, bad man for many reasons, but he is not to blame for everything that ever happens in the history of the world. There are other bad people too. If I'd been Elena, I'd have slapped her ass for being a bitch instead of hugging her.
I see some really intriguing possibilities in a Damon/Jeremy alliance. Better yet, Damon, Alaric and Jeremy can be the three amigos, cracking wise and fighting the forces of evil in Mystic Falls.
"It was 1864...people knew how to whittle."
The Edward Cullen Spider-monkey jump was the low point of the episode, which sucks, cause that's how the show ended. I love me some Twilight, but I watch TVD because its not that.

Next week: It's all about the Ambiguous Supernatural Mystery Uncle. And Alaric is back!

TV Review: The Vampire Diaries 2.1 "The Return"

2010-09-10T10:45:00.001-05:00

Spoilers ahead!

Oh, Damon. Its a good thing I like my fictional characters really freaking broken. Otherwise, I'd hate your guts right now. Instead, I'll hate Katherine (and maybe Stefan?) for making you into the person we saw in last night's season premiere of The Vampire Diaries.

We left off last season with Katherine cutting off Uncle John's fingers while pretending to be Elena, Jeremy lying motionless after ingesting Anna's blood and a bunch of pills, and Caroline critically injured in the hospital. This episode picked up right where that left off and, as Damon put it, "doppelganger hijinks ensued." Elena finds John, but not Katherine, and gets him an ambulance, then she and Stefan discover that Jeremy is not a vampire, just an idiot. I'm hoping that Jeremy isn't whining about becoming a vampire all season.

Damon was the first to put the pieces together and realize that Katherine was back in town. The look on his face when he realized it was Kat he kissed and not Elena was typical Somerhalder awesomeness. Stefan, on the other hand, recognized Katherine right off the bat. He was such a badass in this episode, in his interactions with Katherine and when he threatened John Gilbert. I like Forceful!Stefan. I was a little frustrated when he was focusing so much on Damon trying to kiss "Elena" since I thought he was missing the forest for the trees, but Stefan had come to the same conclusion by episode's end. That's the beauty of this show: no waiting!

With the CW promoting this season as "The Year of the Kat," you have to think that Katherine will be sticking around all season. Props to Nina Dobrev for making Elena and Katherine so distinct from one another. And really, she's playing 3 characters right now: Elena, Katherine, and Katherine-pretending-to-be-Elena. I'd hazard a guess that eventually we may add Elena-pretending-to-be-Katherine to the list.

Then there were the two screaming-at-the-tv moments. First, Damon, heartbroken after both Katherine and Elena tell him that they don't love him, that its always going to be Stefan, snaps Jeremy's neck. I was horrified for Elena, wondering if Jeremy was really dead or going to become a vampire. Turned out, it was not really either: John Gilbert had given Jeremy his Ring of Imperviousness. Elena now claims to hate Damon, since he just killed Jeremy, but Stefan insists that Damon must have noticed the ring. I'm not real clear on how the ring works, since John told Jeremy that it only protects from "supernatural" death and not accidental. I'm going to assume he wasn't referring to being killed by Dean Winchester. I'm actually wondering how if John was telling Jeremy the truth about why the ring didn't protect his dad, or if there's more to that story.

Meanwhile, over at the Mystic Falls hospital, Katherine tells Caroline, who is magically healed thanks to Damon's blood, to give the Brothers Salvatore a message: Game. On. Then she smothers her with a pillow. Presumably, next week, Caroline will feed and turn, unless she dies. I think the preview for next week gave the answer to that one away.

I don't even think turning Caroline was Katherine's opening gambit. I think that came when she told Damon that she'd never loved him. I'm not saying she actually does, but I'm certain that her telling him was a purposeful act to drive a wedge between him and Stefan. Whether Katherine still cares or ever cared about either brother remains to be seen. Damon's heartbreak at the end when he was alone in mansion was palpable, and I'm certain that we'll be seeing the effects of the premiere on his behavior all season.

The most powerful scene in the whole episode, in my opinion, was when Damon confronted Elena about her feelings for him. I actually wondered for a minute if Damon was going to rape her, and kudos to Somerhalder for displaying that kind of desperation, though I'm not sure how I reconcile my love of Damon as a character with my willingness to believe he could actually do that. In the end, I don't think that Elena loves Damon. I think they definitely have a connection that she won't admit to, but its not love, at least not the romantic kind for now. Poor Damon, he's just so desperate to be someone's first choice.

Looks like Williamson and Plec are going to keep the hits coming this season. Overall grade: A- (The minus is due to lack of Alaric. More Matt Davis, stat.)

Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy: 1.11 & 1.12

2010-07-30T13:36:00.000-05:00

1.11 All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues - Hey, its another 'Jack's Dad is a douchecanoe' episode! Really, the episode dealt with the search for Claire and Charlie, who have been kidnapped by Tom Cruise's Creepy Brother (turns out William Mapother is Tom's cousin, but just go with it). Peppered throughout though, we get flashbacks to a situation where Jack intervened in a surgery because his father was drunk and the woman died. Now, the writers obviously tried to make these two plotlines fit together because the woman was pregnant and Jack couldn't save her. Claire is pregnant and in danger, so Jack makes with the crazy in order to find her. Instead, all he finds is a mostly dead Hobbit. Grade: B

Michael's whining about being included is annoying. If I were him, I'd be thrilled to hang out at the caves and not go off to be fodder for The Thing in the Jungle.
I laughed out loud when Boone explained the concept of a Red Shirt. How does Locke not know that?
Walt had another dad named Brian, so I guess we'll be getting that flashback at some point.
I was curious about how long Charlie had been dead when Kate and Jack found him. I know brain damage is present after a few scant minutes without oxygen, but I guess this is tv, people die and are brought back perfectly healthy all the time.
Charlie hanging in the tree was creepy as hell, though, and I'm curious as to why he was blindfolded. I'm guessing there had to be someone other than Ethan around to prompt that.
I've heard talk of the infamous hatch, so I'm guessing that's what Boone and Locke found. Time will tell.

1.12 Whatever the Case May Be - Boring Kate helped a bank robber, Sawyer took off his shirt, and I don't remember much after that. Except Kate wanted the case cause there was a toy in it she needed. I'm guessing so that at some point in the future, she can take her toys and go home. Grade: C

Sawyer: I was protecting you! Kate: From what? Southern perverts? Hee.
The dead bodies in the swimming hole were creeptastic! Still, it made no sense to me how the marshal checked his case and then it somehow wound up underneath these dead people's seat. Must have been because the script said so.
I was annoyed by Kate telling Sawyer he was disgusting for scavenging the bodies. For one thing, it wasn't like she didn't know Sawyer's MO, and for another, I can't say I blame him. If I'm stranded on a frakking deserted island, I'm going to do what I have to to survive. The dead guy can't use what he's got on him, so its fair game, as far as I'm concerned.
I love Sawyer, and despite his asshole tendencies, he's too awesome for Boring Kate. I got the impression that his whole determination to get open the case was to impress her and figure out what she wanted out of there.
Witness my not surprise that Kate dated a bank robber.
Sun overheard Kate and Jack talking about the guns, so I wonder if that will come up later.
Kate trying to take the case from between sleeping Sawyer's knees was one of the most idiotic things she's done. No idea how she thought he'd sleep through that, but then again, I'm beginning to realize that I can't apply logic to anything Kate does. Boring and Badly Written Kate.

I decided to start grading the episodes too, so look for that. More next week!

Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy: Solitary & Raised By Another

2010-07-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Solitary continues the line of 'lets give each character a background through flashbacks' episodes, this time focusing on Sayid. Though I'm a little exhausted with every episode focusing on a different character, I was really drawn into the story of Sayid and Nadia. I'm pretty curious about what happened to Sayid after he freed Nadia, since he hasn't found her and somehow wound up in Australia.

Tom Cruise's Creepy Brother (aka William Mapother, but who the hell actually calls him anything besides Tom Cruise's Creepy Brother?) is playing Ethan Rom, therefore I know Ethan is probably evil and creepy (see how being Tom Cruise's Creepy Brother works?).
Favorite Exchange - Michael: Polar bears? Charlie: You didn't hear about the polar bear?
I loved Hurley building the golf course. I'd heard via various interwebz things that Hurley is pretty much the Everyman character, the normal guy who represents the audience, needs explanations, etc and I thought this was a great moment for him.
I liked Sawyer making an effort to be part of the group, even if it was a little bit at Jack's expense. Jack didn't seem to care until he wondered (as I did) whether Sawyer's effort was simply about Kate. I want to like Sawyer in spite of his behavior. Josh Holloway is so ridiculously good looking and charismatic that its hard work to remember his asshole behavior.
I haven't mentioned the subplot with Sayid and the French woman, but that's cause it was just so vague that I didn't care about it much. So she's been there for years, and there are "Others" out there.

Raised by Another is the Very Special Claire Flashback episode, but I found that it raised some interesting questions about what may actually happen on the island, unlike Sayid's or Sawyer's. The first few flashback scenes were predictable, but it really picked up when she went to the psychic.

Creepy Locke eyes in Claire's nightmare! I couldn't help but think this was foreshadowing, sense I've always found Locke fairly creepy (though not as much so as Tom Cruise's Creepy Brother).
Claire's Baby Daddy is a douchecanoe and I hope we never see him again. Unless its for Sawyer to beat him up. Or Jack can, I'm not really picky.
So Psychic Wonder clearly wanted Claire to be on the flight that crashed. My question at the end was: did he want her on that flight because he knew it would crash and thought that it would kill the child or did he know that Claire and the baby would end up on the island? Which was his goal in putting her on that particular flight?
My first inkling that something was up with Ethan was when Hurley failed to ask him as many questions as he did the others. Then when Charlie sent him to get Jack, my spidey sense was majorly tingling. The episode ended with Ethan there with Charlie and Claire and Hurley saying that one of the island's inhabitants was not on the manifest. I'm guessing we're supposed to wonder if that person is Ethan, but I think it could be more interesting if it weren't.
I totally wanted to keep going after this episode with the cliffhanger, but I thought it might be more interesting to get all my theories blogged about before the next episode answered any of my questions.

More later in the week!

Take Another Shot of Courage...

2010-07-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

I finally finished my first pair of toe up socks!

Ravelry project here. The pattern is a combination of Gusset Heel Basic Sock and Dead Simple Lace Socks from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. Yarn is Red Heart Ltd. Heart & Sole in Tequila Sunrise. Needles: KP Harmony fixed 0 circs.

I cast these socks on back in December in the LR airport as I was heading to Indianapolis for the annual SKT Extravaganza, but they kept getting put on the back-burner in favor of other, more exciting projects. However, when the circular for my Gabriel's Wings shawl got confiscated in the Cancun airport recently, I decided to try to finish up some WIPs while I waited on a new needle to come in from KnitPicks. These socks were all done except a couple lace rounds and the 1x1 ribbing cuff.

Now I really suck at photographing my knitting, so imagine that these socks are really pretty. My circ has come in from KP (along with the kit for the Fall/Winter Seasons shawl), so I'm back to working on Gabriel's Wings.

Tomorrow: More Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy!

Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy: 1.5 - 1.8

2010-07-16T10:02:00.000-05:00

I didn't take detailed notes for these episodes of Lost like I did for the first four, so this entry might be shorter than expected. I intend to return to the geeky note-taking for subsequent eps.

Episode 5, "White Rabbit," focuses on our intrepidly bland hero, Jack, and the circumstances that led to him being on the doomed plane. We learn about his asshole father who died in Australia and whose body Jack was transporting back to the US.

The first scene with his father, when Little Jack is telling his father about the fight he got into made pretty much no sense to me, and I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.
Please, please give Ian Somerhalder something to do besides be the guy who tries to save everything and constantly fails.
We again harp on the concept of leadership and how Jack may or may not be one and people may or may not see him as one. Enough already, Abrams.
Locke: "This place is different...special." Really, dude? I couldn't have guessed. He also says he looked into the "eye of this island and what I saw was beautiful." I'm guessing at some point we'll be revisiting the fact that Locke probably saw The Thing in the Jungle.
Charlie's tattoo says "Living is easy with eyes closed." Wonder if that is some sort of portent?
The dolls at the waterfall were damn creepy. Also creepy: the empty coffin. Since the coffin lid was not dislodged, I have to theorize that either Jack's Dead Dad got up and walked away or someone removed the body and put the lid back.

Episode 6, "House of the Rising Sun," focuses on our cute Asian couple, Sun and Jin. They're angsty and in love and from two different social spheres. He was abusive and might have killed someone. She's secretly known how to speak English this whole time.

Sawyer had the handcuffs in his pocket? I'm for it.
When Kate found the corpse in the cave, I thought for a split second that we'd discovered where Jack's Dead Dad went before I realized he wouldn't be that decomposed yet. Well, not unless the writers of Bones had somehow been on the island.
Kate: Where'd they come from? Jack: Didn't you guys shoot a polar bear last week? Where'd that come from? Heh.
How long are the batteries on Hurley's Walkman going to last? Who still uses a Walkman with CDs?
I wonder if the 2 camps will continue to be a thing? Could make for some interesting drama.

Episode 7, "The Moth," is about Charlie and his sad rock star life and his silly little heroine addiction. I found it to be fairly boring, despite my epic love for Dominic Monaghan.

I couldn't help but wonder what the castaways would have done if Jack had actually died in the cave-in. Would they have turned to Locke for leadership? Or Kate, Sawyer or Sayid? My money is on Locke, but he's just creepy enough that they may have turned to one of the others instead.
Really, Boone, asking Shannon to do something important? Though she actually did what she was supposed to, it seemed a silly move.
First shots of Shirtless Sawyer. Yes, please, and thank you. But his not telling Kate about Jack was a big ol' douche-canoe moment. Bad Sawyer! I'll be happy to properly punish you for your behavior.
I don't know if I ship Kate/Jack. I know that Kate/Sawyer is gonna be a thing, and I'm cool with that, at least temporarily. Still firming up my romantic allegiances.

Episode 8, "Confidence Man," in which we learn more about Pretty Pretty Sawyer. He's a con-man, but he secretly has a heart buried in that sculpted chest, refusing to steal from a family with a young son. Also, he must have a metric fuck-ton of guilt, cause he's masochistic enough to let himself get tortured as punishment for something he didn't do.

I now need to read Watership Down. Thanks, Sawyer.
I'm incapable of taking Michael Deluise seriously in a dramatic show. He'll always be Idiot TJ from Gilmore Girls to me.
I really and truly almost had an asthma attack watching Shannon struggle to breath. That's good acting, yo.
There's no way it was Sawyer who attacked Sayid last ep, and this episode made me think it was Locke. Or one of the many, many cast members we haven't met yet. My money is on Michelle Rodriguez.
Sayid on mapping the shore: "I can't think of a better person to do it than the only one I trust." I really liked this line, and I identify with it immensely, as someone who generally will just do something myself before trusting someone else to do it right. You've got my attention, Sayid!

More next week!

Glee: The Journey to Regionals

2010-06-14T09:26:00.000-05:00

I've watched this episode 4 times now, and I still can't watch it without crying. Maybe I'm just a big ol' sap, but I blame Cory Monteith. His work as Finn is my favorite thing about the whole series in this first season, and he sold the hell out of his scenes in this season finale. And really, its not just because I find him incredibly pretty to look at. I liked other things about the finale too!

Finn & Rachel: I really liked how Finn was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Rachel in the sequence with the club at Will's house. Even though I feel like the writer's have dropped the ball the past few episodes where the couple is concerned, that little bit of body language helped draw me back into the tension between the two. I loved that Rachel just kissed him in the hallway, though I had to laugh at how it had to be staged on the stairs so that little Lea could plant one on Frankenteen. Finn's "I love you" was perfect and the expressions on both of their faces before they began "Faithfully" were just breathtaking to me. The sweet moment of her head on his shoulder at the end was just the icing on a delicious cake for this Finn/Rachel shipper.

Puck & Quinn & Baby Drizzle: I almost wish they hadn't shown us the scene of Drizzle's conception, cause Puck just came across as a douche. I know I should expect that after his past behavior, but it was still not fun. I wonder if the audience was supposed to be convinced by his line about it not being a random hookup, but if so, Mark Salling didn't sell it for me. I'm pretty much ambivalent about the rest of this storyline, including Quinn's mom and Baby Drizzle being adopted by Shelby.

Will & Emma: Whatev, I just don't care any more. Emma has been gone so much that I'm no longer invested. Bring on Dentist!Stamos.

Regionals: "Faithfully" was just beautiful and made good use of Finn and Rachel's outrageous chemistry when they sing together. "Anyway You Want It/Lovin Touchin Squeezin" was joyous, and "Don't Stop Believing" was a perfect parallel to the pilot, though I prefer the pilot arrangement more. The New Directions girls' dresses were just gorgeous, as were the Vocal Adrenaline ladies'. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was a perfect companion piece to the birth scene and the editing was phenomenal. I liked Quinn echoing the lines of the songs, though I did cringe a bit during "let me go." Jonathan Groff just oozes charisma from his pores and I wanted to kiss him and slap him for his obvious arrogance all at the same time. Perfect delivery from him. Vocal Adrenaline deserved to win and I'm glad that they left New Directions something to work towards next season.

To Sir with Love: *sobs* Finn's "And I didn't have a father" line just killed me dead. Brought on the big ugly cry. Everyone looked so sad, but Cory's face gets me every time I watch it. Such a cheesy song, but it worked for me.

Sue Sylvester: I thought the issue of Sue helping New Directions was deftly handled. Sue being made fun of by Josh Groban and Olivia Newton John worked very well. I even bought Sue's tears as she watched "To Sir With Love." Kudos to Jane Lynch for selling the hell out of that, when it so easily could have been hard to convince the audience that Sue was capable of such a thing. I just hope we still get plenty of Evil!Sue next season.

Favorite lines:
"Are they a poor person's school?" - ONJ
"We have something the other groups don't have....Finn's dancing." - Will
"Break a leg" "I love you" - Rachel and Finn *sigh*

See you gleeks next season!

Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy: "Tabula Rasa" & "Walkabout"

2010-06-09T17:27:00.000-05:00

When I first saw the title to the 3rd episode (if you count the pilot as 2, which Netflix streaming does), all I could think about was the Buffy episode of the same title, "Tabula Rasa." The concept of Tabula Rasa, promoted by John Locke (hee.) basically argues that the mind is a clean slate to be influenced by experiences and perceptions. In Buffy, that took the form of the gang having their memories erased and trying to figure out who they were based on the things around them.

In this episode of Lost, the concept is applied to Kate mostly, to her clean slate after whatever crime she committed which led to her being chased down in Australia by the YED!Marshal. Jack says that it doesn't matter who they were before the crash, that they all have a clean slate now. Its a nice sentiment, but I'm not sure Jack believed it fully and neither do I. As Buffy and the gang found out, our pasts catch up with us, and I'm sure that's true of everyone on the island. I kind of felt like Jack was sticking his head in the sand a little by not letting Kate tell him what she did. If he doesn't know, then he doesn't have to feel as guilty about keeping it from everyone. Hurley knowing she's the fugitive will probably be an issue, I'm guessing.

Sawyer was also very interesting in this episode. I knew I was predisposed to like him, because I've always pictured Josh Holloway in my head as one of my favorite book characters ever, Sam Starrett. And boy are the characters of Sawyer and Sam similar. They're sarcastic and macho and sexist, but you kind of like them anyway. I actually felt bad for Sawyer when he shot the marshal and the guy didn't die, but dude, if you're looking to help someone die and all you've got is one bullet, a headshot seems much more efficient.

I was very suspicious of Locke being the one who found the dog and brought him back. Seems to convenient, but then I think I'm just permanently suspicious of Locke cause I know I kept reading his name over the years and he's quite plot-important. Also, was it me or was there a growling noise on the last shot when Locke was watching Walt's reunion with Vincent?

The second episode I watched was "Walkabout" which could have just as easily been titled "Tabula Rasa 2: Electric Locke Boogaloo." I found Locke to be pretty disturbingly nutso pre-crash and his calm after his confrontation with the thing raises some questions about whether Locke is still Locke. I'm also sure that it wasn't coincidence that Black Suit!Man disappeared into the woods in the approximately the same spot that Locke emerged with the boar.

I thought this episode did some interesting things with Jack and the concept of leadership, as he continually asserted that he didn't want to be in charge of things. Once you prove your ability to lead, its often expected of you, and I anticipate that this will continue to be the case with Jack. I'm not altogether certain that Jack is really a natural leader, and I'm curious to see his backstory for more detail.

Stray observations from these two episodes:

I didn't buy Boone's explanation for why he took the gun. There's something going on there.
Do Charlie's fingers still say "fate" or did they say "late" in Tabula Rasa?
"Any bodies we bury won't stay buried for long." Jack, I have a feeling that truer words have ne'er been spoken.
Jack sitting with Rose? Heh.
Shannon still sucks and I hope she dies.
Favorite Line of these eps: "Was it a dinosaur?" - Hurley

Awkward Polar Bears & Awesome Mancandy: Adventures of a Lost Virgin

2010-06-03T17:51:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm six years behind, but I'm finally getting around to watching the pop culture phenomenon that is Lost. I've always been interested, but knew that it was a mythology heavy show (much like my beloved Supernatural) and that I'd need to be able to pay close attention to it when I decided to take the plunge. It was also attractive to wait until the show was off the air, so I didn't have to wait for new episodes. Thanks to my handy Netflix Instant Watch capable Blu-Ray player, I have access to the first five seasons to stream, and the summer seemed to perfect time to start since most all of my shows are on hellatus til the fall.

Somehow, I've remained fairly unspoiled about the show. I know that: its a scifi mystery type show, people were stranded on a island after a plane crash, there's a huge cast, some of them seem to have a problem not driving while intoxicated, and I know most of the actors who are regulars. I know that some of those actors have left the show over the course of the years, but I have no idea how or when that would fall in the show, so it keeps me from anticipating exits. I even managed to avoid hearing anything about how it ended, beyond the fact that some people liked the finale and some didn't (go figure!).

I intend to blog regularly about the show as I watch, covering every episode. I may watch several episodes in a single night or weekend, so I'll probably lump those together in one post. I'll probably do mostly review and speculation and not much recapping (I'm too long winded to recap, see my Glee posts).

Without further ado, my take on the pilot:

The Lost pilot is probably one of the best I've ever watched, ranked up there with Justified, Glee, and The West Wing. I was afraid that there would be too many characters for me to keep up with, but that wasn't a problem. My only issue was that I caught myself watching for actors I knew appeared on the show like Michelle Rodriguez. I thought it did a great job with the exposition of the immediate plot: plane crash survivors marooned on a island, rescue is hampered by being off course, and there's a mysterious something in the jungle that likes to eat Greg Grunberg.

I know Matthew Fox is basically the lead, but I found him to be pretty bland. I hope this changes as we go forward, but I found Sawyer, Sayid, and Kate to be far more compelling right away. Ian Somerhalder brought the pretty as always, but I'm not sure what I think of his character. I keep waiting for him to be quippy and evil like Damon Salvatore, so I've got to learn to turn that off. I also found myself incredibly frustrated and angry with Jin, though my Twitter peeps assure me I'll change my mind eventually. I also didn't like Boone's sister Shannon, and was kinda disappointed that Sawyer didn't let the polar bear (WTF?) eat her. Overall, the mancandy quotient is off the charts, and I'd probably keep watching just to moon over Somerhalder's eyes.

Its hard to draw a lot of speculation from the pilot, other than "the island isn't what it seems and the polar bear probably wasn't the thing in the jungle" but stray speculations include:

Charlie is either a psychic who sees the future or a time traveler
The labrador is plot-important and may or may not actually be a real dog anymore
Orange Mouth guy (who I know from the interwebz is Locke) is creepy and might be evil
The marshal was played by Frederic Lane, probably my favorite incarnation of Supernatural's Yellow Eyed Demon, so obviously it was demon hoodoo that brought down the plane. Somebody get Jack and Kate some salt and a Zippo, stat.

Tune in sometime this weekend for more!

Glee: "Dream On"

2010-05-19T14:45:00.000-05:00

I've been looking forward to the Joss Whedon directed, Neil Patrick Harris guesting episode since it was announced. As a longtime Buffy fanatic, I was excited to see what Whedon would bring to the show, and true to form, it was dark, funny, and awesome.

Harris' Bryan Ryan, Wills' high school nemesis is at McKinley on a crusade to cut the glee club program, and Will tries to help him get over his grudge against Glee. Meanwhile, Rachel wants to find her birth mother and Tina helps Artie as he struggles with his dream of being a dancer.

The Will/Bryan storyline really worked for me, and Harris was funny, ego-maniacal and a little evil, all at once. Will can be a little cheesy at times, but I thought his tone was perfect in this episode. "Dream On" rocked my world, and both guys were all kinds of sexy performing it. I kind of wish we'd gotten a little Teri appearance in this episode, because it would have been great to see Bryan and Will interact with her. I loved Bryan's scene with Sue, and the "anger sex" bit really made me laugh.

"Safety Dance" battles with "Dream On" for me as the highlight of the episode. I'm so glad that they used a dream sequence to give us a chance to see Kevin McHale dance. He's got some great moves, and I liked the flash mob style performance. I also liked that all the Glee kids made an appearance (except Finn, Santana, and Quinn, though the interwebz tell me Finn was there somewhere, I didn't catch a glimpse of my awesome Frankenteen). I know it could get overused, but I want to see more of McHale dancing so lets do this again. I also liked Tina's tap number with Mike Chang, but Artie totally stole it with his great singing and heartbroken face.

The Rachel storyline with Jesse and Shelby was the weakest part of the episode for me, probably because it included no Finn. Still, I'm loving what Johnathan Groff is doing with the character of Jesse. I already anticipated that they'd have him genuinely like Rachel even though he started out dating her on Shelby's orders. What I haven't figured out yet is whether Shelby is truly Rachel's birth mom or if she's fooling Jesse and this is an elaborate plot to bring down New Directions. I know Idina Menzel is only on the show as a temporary guest star, so it would kind of be weird if she really were Rachel's birth mother and she just went away after Rachel finds out.

Great lines of this episode:
"Was Mandy Patinkin in on this?" - Jesse
"I have a box of playbills hidden away in my basement, Will, like porn!" - Bryan
"Then something amazing happened: I was introduced to Jesus… he was my Honduran social worker." - Bryan
"Any of the guys in there could dance my part better than me without rehearsing...well, except Finn." - Artie

Next week: Kiss! Lady Gaga! I've gotten to listen to the songs on the new CD and I have to say, I'm really excited!

Supernatural: Swan Song

2010-05-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

*Spoilers OMG Spoilers*

Season 5 of Supernatural went out with a whimper, not a bang. But what a whimper! I know most people were expecting something on a more epic scale, but this Apocalypse wrapped up the way it began, way back when: focused on Sam and Dean and their '67 Impala. It was a love letter from creator Eric Kripke to his show as he steps down from being the showrunner, handing the reins over to Sera Gamble. Other than the last 10 seconds, it easily could have functioned as the show's series finale. We can only hope that the real series finale next spring packs as much of an emotional punch as this one.

There weren't really any big surprises in this episode, at least not to anyone who's been a regular watcher. Sam and Dean go with the plan of Sam saying yes to Lucifer and then Sam (eventually) takes his body back and throws himself (and Michael!Adam) into the trap he let Lucifer out of. Dean did what he could to help Sam succeed and then he did what Sam made him promise he'd do: he went back to Lisa and presumably lived the normal life for a little while. Cas and Bobby were killed by Lucifer!Sam, but Cas was resurrected with increased powers, presumably by God, and he then brought back Bobby, good as new.

None of these were surprises, but there was such a sense of satisfaction in things playing out the way that they did. It was right that Sam sacrifice himself to trap Lucifer, since his bad choices led to Lucifer's release in the first place, though I think this episode might have demonstrated that he'd not been given much choice due the enormous influence Azazel and the demons had on his life. After 5 years, Dean Winchester finally learned to stop sacrificing himself for everyone around him. Yes, it was partly because Sam made him promise, but the Dean of yore would have thrown himself into that pit right alongside Sam and Adam, just to have a chance to get Sam out. Instead, the mature Dean knew that Sam was doing what he must and that Dean had to try to move on with his life.

We didn't get to meet God directly in this episode, but I think its safe to say He was around. Partway through the episode, I theorized via Twitter that God was the Impala, and while I don't know if that's true, I think its safe to say that God used the Impala to remind Sam of who he was and gave him to opportunity to take control back from Lucifer long enough to spring the trap.

The whole episode was really about the car, from the scenes depicting the brothers living in it, stuffing Legos and army men in the crannies, to Dean using it to roll into the middle of the Lucifer and Michael showdown. I loved the little bits about the car that Chuck narrated, setting up the bit where Sam regained control of his body.

Bonus points to Show for Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages" being the song Dean chose to play when he rolled into the graveyard. One of the first lines: Better to burn out than fade away. Such a perfect choice for Dean Winchester. As always the show opened with "Carry On, Wayward Son" by Kansas, and I'll never be able to separate the song from the show in my mind.

While it was slightly anti-climactic that the final confrontation between Lucifer and Michael took place via Sam and Adam instead of Sam and Dean, I think Dean had to be himself in order for Sam to have any chance of taking his body back. My heart just broke (and tears flowed) when Lucifer is beating Dean to a pulp and Dean is telling Sam that he's there for him and he's not going to leave him. It was quite possibly the most heartbreaking scene the show's ever had. With very little hope left, Dean just wanted to be there for his brother.

This episode also left plenty of open questions:

Will we ever actually meet God? Some people think Chuck was God after his disappearing act, but after some discussion, I think he was a prophet like we'd been told, he just ascended after his job of writing the Winchester Gospel was done.
What is Sam, now that we know he's somehow made it back? I've read many people who still think that Lucifer is possessing him, but that would mean the Apocalypse would still be going on around Dean, and I doubt that he's just chilling at Lisa's if that's the case. I don't think he's fully human normal Sam after we saw the light post go out when he got near it, but I'm not sure what's happened to him. Also, I'm guessing if Sam got out of the trap, its possible that my dear Baby Winchester is out there somewhere as well. I hope so.
Where was Crowley and does he still have Bobby's soul? I'm hoping we'll tackle this one next season, cause I love Crowley and think he makes a great reoccurring character.

I hope we get more a return to the old days for next season. I think the show did some great things with the Apocalypse storyline, though I thought the execution of Season 4 was better than 5. Still, I think it would be great to see the last season be the brothers back to traveling the country, fighting off spirits and creatures. Here's hoping Sam isn't one of those creatures!

Supernatural: Countdown to "Swan Song"

2010-05-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

I finally got caught up on Supernatural on Monday night, and now I'm counting down the hours to tonight's season finale "Swan Song." The two episodes I watched have run together in my mind, but I definitely remember that Pestilence was disgusting and Death was wicked cool. I loved the twist where Death handed over his ring because he thinks Satan is a spoiled child throwing a tantrum and wants to be free of him. These two episodes left so many questions about how the finale may play out. The stage is set for the Winchesters to execute Sam's 'take his body back from Lucifer long enough to jump in the trap' plan, but this is Supernatural, and things never go as planned.

Open Questions:

Is Crowley working with Lucifer? Seems too much like a re-run of the Ruby situation for it to have the exact same outcome (yes, Ruby was technically working for Lilith, but its still pretty much the same since Lilith was trying to free Lucifer). Is Crowley God? If not, I hope that the Kripkeeper managed to do some backdoor crap to get Jeffrey Dean Morgan as God and they've somehow kept that info from leaking.
Will Bobby get his soul back? If he does, will he also be stuck in the wheelchair again? I predict we may witness the death of Bobby Singer in this episode, but hopefully they'll bring him back next season.
What happens to Adam Winchester, since we now know that he's Michael's temporary vessel? I like the kid and would love to see him become a series regular, but I'm guessing he's going to bite it too.
What happens to Mostly-Human-Castiel? He proved that he had a little Angel Mojo left, but he probably can't function as deus ex machina as he has in the past, unless its to sacrifice himself.
Will God show up at all? I hope so, otherwise the setup with Dean's amulet (which I'm assuming Sam retrieved from the trash) was for naught. I'm guessing the amulet will show up unexpectedly and reveal who God is (Bobby? Cas? Crowley? Please Please Please Daddy Winchester?).
We know that the writers have said they will wrap up the Apocalypse storyline this season, but that still leaves many possible endings. Lucifer could be locked back up, but at the expense of one or more dead Winchesters. I've no idea how they'd write it, but its also possible that the Apocalypse is averted somehow without locking up Lucifer. Who knows who could be possessed at the end? So many possibilities!

9 hours to go!

Glee : Laryngitis

2010-05-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

I think Glee finally got its groove back after the Madonna episode, at least as far as I'm concerned. I liked this episode much better than the last two episodes that I recapped yesterday.

The plot: Puck has to shave his mohawk for a dermatologist, and it causes his to lose his popularity, so he dates Mercedes to get it back. She knows he's playing with her, but enjoys the arm candy, so she plays along until he reverts to his jerk ways and she dumps his ass and quits the Cheerios, but not before they do a kickin' rendition of "Lady Is a Tramp."

Rachel loses her voice due to tonsillitis and has an identity crisis over who she is if she can't sing. Finn teaches her a lesson in a very 'after school special' fashion that still worked for me by taking her to visit a football friend who is now a paraplegic. It should have been too sappy, but Lea Michele and Cory Monteith (still my favorite) sold the hell out of it.

Kurt is still struggling with his sexuality and relationship with his ulra-manly father (who is still spending time with Finn). In an attempt to be what he thinks his father wants, he starts dressing in plaid shirts and trucker hats, then makes out with Britney. He even sings "Pink Houses" as his glee club assignment, but because Burt Hummel is the best dad on tv, he finally confronts Kurt and reminds him that Kurt should be who he is and let Burt be the one to adjust.

Other songs:

Jessie's Girl - Finn. I saw the writing on the wall for this one back when Jesse was first introduced, but it was still all kinds of awesome. I've made no secret of my love for Cory Monteith, so maybe that's why I loved it so much, but its the only song from this episode that I've downloaded so far. Also, he plays the drums and you know how much I like it when he does that.
The Boy is Mine - Mercedes and Santana. This one fell flat for me, mainly because it was so similar to the original. Its odd how I like it when some of the Glee covers sound similar to the original and for some, I love how they mix it up. This time, it didn't work for me, but I did enjoy Mercedes and Santana getting a little physical with each other when it was over. I like Santana-the-villain.
Rose's Turn - Kurt. I'm an uncultured heathen, and I know I saw Gypsy a long time ago, but I've no memory of this song, but I don't think you needed to be a fan of the original to enjoy the masterful performance Chris Colfer gave here. No background singers, no elaborate staging, just him belting it out and being himself, which is what Burt "Please Adopt Me" Hummel wanted him to do.
One - Ensemble. I liked the idea of Rachel and Sean (the paralyzed football player) singing this, but found the group section to be oddly uninspired. I'm not a huge U2 fan, so its not that I feel the song is uncoverable, but this just didn't work for me. Maybe that will change with a few listens.

Next week: Joss Whedon directs Neil Patrick Harris as Will's high school rival. Epicness ensues and perhaps the Apocalypse too, although Sam and Dean should have taken care of that by then.

One Book, One Twitter: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2010-05-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

Jeff Howe over at Crowdsourcing had an idea for a gigantic book club: what if everyone on Twitter read one book together? He held a vote for the book and the winner was American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Check out the Crowdsourcing link above for the schedule as well as some guidelines on how to tweet your thoughts and discussion on the book.

I've been wanting to read Gaiman for a while now, and even bought Stardust after seeing the movie, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The fabulous Julie from Shinyshiny gave me a copy of American Gods for Christmas a couple years ago, and its languished on the shelf. I made a halfhearted attempt to start reading it after I heard Eric Kripke list it as one of the most important influences on his show, Supernatural, but I couldn't get into it.

Here's hoping that One Book, One Twitter gives me the motivation to keep reading. I bought the audiobook for those times when I need to multitask and read while knitting, but I'm also reading the paperback. Perhaps Lewzilla and I can help each other stay on task! The first three chapters were very interesting, so its looking good. I'll try to blog at least a couple times while reading!

Glee: "Home" & "Bad Reputation"

2010-05-10T13:59:00.001-05:00

I finally got a chance to catch up on the last two episodes of Glee yesterday....and I have some concerns over the future of the show. Both of these episodes were wildly uneven, though I found they balanced each other well: in "Home," I mostly liked the story but hated the music, in "Bad Reputation," I hated the story but liked the music. I wish I could squish the two of them together like one of the ubiquitous Glee mashups.

"Home" had a plot I'd been looking forward to - Mr. Hummel hooking up with Mrs. Hudson. I thought it would be hilarious to see Kurt trying to use it to get closer to his crush Finn. However, I think the showed played this storyline for too much sap and not enough humor. I did like what they did with Finn not wanting his dad to be replaced and with Kurt feeling like his dad was getting the son he really wanted, but they missed opportunity to do some really funny stuff with Finn and Kurt.

I also liked the 'Mercedes has to lose weight to please Sue' storyline, but more in the abstract than in execution. It was another storyline that was shoehorned in and then resolved, all in one episode. Usually, I give Glee a pass on those cause they can be so entertaining (Puckleberry, for example), but this one just felt like an after school special.

My biggest problem with this episode was the music though. I nearly had to prop my eyes open with sticks. Maybe I've got adult ADD or something, but I fastforwarded through every musical number but "Fire" and "Beautiful." And that's saying something, because Kristen Chenoweth has a FANTASTIC voice, as does Chris Colfer, but I didn't know any of the three 'Home'-themed songs and the tempo of them lost me. I actually tried to watch this episode live but got so bored (and sympathetically uncomfortable with the looks Kurt was giving Finn) that I had to stop and was just able to pick it back up this weekend. Boring!

"Bad Reputation" had a mediocre story but I enjoyed the music better. I still have no idea what the hell the "glist" was (ranking Glee club members on how promiscuous they are?) or why it was causing such an uproar among the faculty, but at least I've got "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to listen to in the car. Artie, Tina, Kurt, Mercedes, and Britney doing "Can't Touch This" was funny as hell, and I can't be mad at anything that gives Heather Morrison a chance to show off what a dance goddess she is.

I actually liked the "Will has a bad rep" storyline, if only to see Sue call him a manwhore so many times. I liked that Emma stood up for herself, but I wish she'd actually have meant it. It seemed like she was just going through the motions because she thought that's how she should react.

I'd never heard the "Run, Joey, Run" song, but I thought it was hilarious, and a nice way to pull in all of Rachel's guy troubles. Though I'm not a Rachel/Puck shipper, I think Lea and Mark have great chemistry and it was great to see them interact again. I'm still not sure what Jesse St. James is up to, but his voice is amazing, so I'm looking forward to finding out!

Next week: Rachel gets laryngitis! Oh noes!

Book Review: Lover Mine by JR Ward

2010-05-04T09:27:00.013-05:00

The first part of the review will be spoiler free, then there will be a spoiler warning prior to the spoilerific section.

JR Ward's books are like crack. You know they're not good for you, but you can't stop. The writing is sometimes fantastic and sometimes it makes me want to stab myself in the eye. She writes emotions well, but all the slang (some of it made up by her) gets annoying fast.

Still, Lover Mine is certainly the best BDB book since Lover Revealed. Its got one too many plotlines for me, but they all flow along nicely and there is a payoff for all of them in the end. John and Xhex are the focus of the book, which is nice since I felt like the last two books didn't focus enough on the hero and heroine's story. John and Xhex both have such tragic backgrounds and they deserved to have their fair share of the story.

As always, I found the lesser related sections to be my least favorite. I just can't care about what's going on with them other than to get a general idea of what their evil plans are. When I re-read a BDB book, I skip those parts entirely. Lash has been more entertaining than the usual lessers, but I still hated him, wanted him to die, and had no interest in his thoughts or feelings.

Ward also gave us some great moments with past characters and put some major focus on my two favorite boys, Qhuinn and Blay. I can't speak more about their storyline without getting specific, so see below for more.

Spoilers past this point!

Random plot specific observations:

John & Xhex - This story was very well done. I have to applaud Ward for making me like Xhex in Lover Avenged when I hadn't cared for her previously. I particularly loved the scene where she sees her name tattooed on John's back. Also, I adored the scene where John and the Brotherhood find the room where Xhex is being held but she is invisible to them due to Lash's magic. It broke my heart to see John so sad and Xhex reacting but not being able to touch him. Both characters sexual abuse was well handled, and it part of what makes these two work so well together.
Lash - He sucks and I'm glad he died. I hope he doesn't come back.
Trez & iAm - They were much needed comic relief in this book, glad we got to see what they are up to.
Darius & Tohr - The flashback scenes weren't really my favorites, but I see why they were necessary to set up not only Xhex's backstory but also give us some setup for Tohr's future book.
Payne - I haven't decided if I like her just yet, but I love V, so I'm glad Payne's book will give us some more story with him.
Layla - You try to mate Qhuinn and I'm gonna have to bend reality to smack some sense into your head, girl.
The "ghost" storyline - Found it to be pretty boring, and I thought it was featured too much when its only real purpose was to let us know Muhrder is alive and living in South Carolina.

Now, lets talk about the real point of this book (at least for this Qhuay fangirl), Qhuinn and Blay!

They. Broke. My. Fucking. Heart. Y'all.

Really, I went into the book realizing that they wouldn't be getting together permanently in LM and that it was very likely Ward would have to totally break their relationship in order to right it in a future book (or their own novella, plz). Still, the heartbreak both of them suffered in this book was difficult to read. Blay has it all but spelled out to him that if he'd be just a little more aggressive in getting Qhuinn to admit his feelings, he'd get his man. Qhuinn is still hung up on his 'I have a defect and aren't good enough for him' childhood trauma. Its frustrating to know that Qhuinn admits that one time with Blay and he'd never be able to leave the guy, and then have Blay give up on him.

I like Saxton alright, though I can't decide how I feel about him pursuing a man that his cousin is obviously in love with. Qhuinn's behavior when Sax and Blay met made it obvious that Qhuinn didn't want Sax anywhere near Blay. Still, Blay deserves to try to find his happiness where he can get it, if Qhuinn can't get his head straight. The kiss they shared when Qhuinn found out Blay was going out with Saxton was beyond hot, way hotter than any chemistry between Sax and Blay, so its disappointing that Qhuinn pulled away again. The scene on the balcony where Qhuinn basically says goodbye to Blay after Blay sleeps with Saxton brought me to tears. I hope Ward gives these two some closure soon, but I've got a feeling that the drama is just beginning with Saxton and now Layla being thrown into the mix.

I'm working on re-reading the book, and writing down my favorite quotes, so look for a future post with those!

Next up on my reading list is Burned, the new House of Night novel, by PC and Kristin Cast, so a review is forthcoming!

Beale Street Weekend

2010-04-29T10:51:00.002-05:00

Well, I've sucked at blogging this week, as I haven't watched any tv to blog about and I've been focused on getting ready to head to Memphis for this years Beale Street Music Festival. Hoping to enjoy the fest this year, even if the lineup isn't as awesome as it has been in years past (to me at least).

We're driving down tomorrow for three days of bands, hopefully some beer and lots of good food. I'm looking forward to seeing Mutemath, 3 Doors Down, and Seether, among others. Mainly, I'm just hoping we have some fun and don't get struck by lightning, as yet again, rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast.

I'll try to blog some pictures from the festival! Have a great weekend!

Music Monday: Book Playlist - Qhuinn and Blay, Part II

2010-04-26T12:39:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite things that my friends and I do all the time is put together playlists for books, individual characters and tv shows. We trade them back and forth and have fun figuring out which songs suit relationships and characters.

In honor of the release of Lover Mine tomorrow, the 8th book in JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I wanted to share my Qhuinn and Blay playlist. Qhuinn and Blay are two young warriors who have been best friends their whole lives and are now struggling with their feelings for one another. I'm eager to see how their relationship develops in this newest book.

Its always a struggle to match up relationships to songs, and I usually try not to limit myself too severely by making my focus too narrow. Sometimes its just the attitude of a song that I think suits and sometimes is the actual lyrics. I also try to play around with different viewpoints. "You are Mine" is totally a love letter from Blay to Qhuinn (thanks to Charlote for suggesting that song and helping with the playlist!), while "Not Meant to Be" is a Qhuinn to Blay song for me. The beauty of the whole thing is that another fan of the series might interpret the songs in a totally different manner than I did.

Hope my BDB peeps like the playlist!

Qhuinn & Blay 2

Sexual Violence in The Black Dagger Brotherhood

2010-04-26T11:25:00.009-05:00

Warning: The following post talks a great deal about rape and other sexual violence.

Jane L. from Dear Author commented yesterday on Twitter that it had been pointed out to her that JR Ward seems obsessed with sexual violence. I had always thought that Ward's books weren't for the faint of heart or those not into explicit sex that borders on violent, but I'd never really thought about the series in the context of how many characters had committed or been affected by sexual violence. When I started making a list, it was rather startling how long it was (spoilers!):

Beth (heroine of Dark Lover) is attacked and very nearly raped
Zsadist (hero of Lover Awakened) is held as a sex slave for years
Bella (heroine of Lover Awakened) is held against her will by a lesser and forced to shower in front of him and he carves his name in her stomach, though she is not sexually assaulted
John Matthew (hero of Lover Mine) was raped as a teenager
Butch (hero of Lover Revealed) had a sister who was raped and murdered
Lash (villain) almost rapes John Matthew, rapes another villain (The Princess) and its probable that he has been raping Xhex since he kidnapped her at the end of Lover Avenged
Vishous (hero of Lover Unbound) rapes another warrior in the camp (hundreds of years ago), as was the tradition of the warriors in his camp
Rehvenge (hero of Lover Avenged) is blackmailed into sex against his will for many years
Cormia (heroine of Lover Enshrined) is tied down by her fellow Chosen to be given sexually to Phury, though he releases her and condemns the practice.

There are only 8 books in the series (counting today's release of Lover Mine), which means that there are more entries on my list than books. I think this means that we can easily claim that sexual violence is not just prevalent in the series, but also that it is a major theme. I am in no way saying that there is something horrible about these books since they contain sexual violence, but I think that its interesting, nonetheless, that these bestsellers have such a theme.

I don't know JR Ward's personal background, but one has to wonder if she or someone close to her was affected by sexual violence and part of the way she deals with it is to write characters who overcome their experiences to have healthy attitudes about relationships. Zsadist may always be partly broken due to his years of abuse (which is realistic, as someone would always be affected by that level of trauma), but he can still have a wife and child he loves and takes care of. John Matthew can still find a woman he loves and wants to have a life with. Butch will never forget about his sister, but he learns to move past the guilt he felt and live a relatively normal life. I think this might also be the reason readers tolerate such a level of sexual violence in these books. A lot of fans list Lover Awakened as their favorite book of the series and I've no doubt one of the biggest draws of the book is that Zsadist overcomes so much to be with Bella. His story is heartbreaking and inspiring.

The part I struggle with in all this is with Vishous. His book was controversial in the fandom and not just because of the scene where he rapes another warrior in the camp, but that's the part that bothered me the most. Ward, love her though I do, has this whole schtick of "the characters tell me the story and I just write it down." Most of the time, I find that entertaining, just because its funny to imagine these imaginary badass vampires telling these stories to her. However, in cases like this, I almost find it to be a cop out from taking responsibility for what you write. "I didn't make my hero a rapist, he told me that's what happened." Now I know that Ward explains that this was a cultural tradition of the camp Vishous lived in, but I still find this as uncomfortable as those romance novels in the 80s where women were raped and it was explained away as being a part of the time period. Just because something was culturally acceptable doesn't make it right.

To give Ward credit, she does depict Vishous as remorseful for what he'd done, and I don't necessarily believe that all book heroes and heroines have to be perfect. Still, I think being a fan of something, and I am a huge fan of Ward's, doesn't mean that you have to love absolutely everything that she does, and I didn't love that. More Qhuinn and Blay please, Ms. Ward, less rape.

Fun Friday: Toby Eats a Salad

2010-04-23T13:39:00.001-05:00

I love this scene from West Wing, mostly because Toby and I feel the same way about salads:

Happy Friday!

Glee: The Power of Madonna

2010-04-22T17:39:00.002-05:00

I took 3 pages (!) of notes on this episode and instead of putting them into a paragraph form and have it come out to be forever long, I went with bullet points. I'll also spare you the recap. If you need to know what happened, check out the EW recap. Spoilers below!

I didn't buy the scene where Artie was being a jerk to Tina. We've seen no evidence that he was a misogynistic jerk before. It didn't ring true and just felt like they needed some guy to be a prick so they could shoehorn in this 'girl power' theme for the episode. It was clumsy and awkward. I know we're used to Puck being a dick, but it still would have made more sense coming from him.
"Express Yourself" - The girls looked beautiful in this number with the costumes and hair. Loved the Madonna style choreography, Kurt pumping his arms in his seat, and the crotch grab at the end.
Santana was fabulously mean in this episode: "Finnocence," "You're about as sexy as a Cabbage Patch Kid. Its exhausting to look at you."
"Borderline/Open Your Heart" mashup - It was great to see the return of the Finn/Rachel chemistry that I love so much. Cory Monteith is at his hottest when playing the drums, so more of this please. I loved the awkward end too, where they both realize how into each other they are despite the fact that they just agreed to be friends.
I liked that Will got a dig in at Sue since he's usually just so "aww shucks" when she picks on him. "How's the Florence Henderson look working out for you?"
I wish the show would stop trying to make me and any characters sympathetic towards Sue. The beauty of her is how mean she is, but this makes it impossible for me to buy that Mercedes and Kurt felt bad for her and wanted to make her feel better. To that end, "Vogue" was more fun out of context at the end of last week's episode than it was during this ep. I did like Sue's story about her childhood though, if only because Jane Lynch does a great job of making us always wonder what Sue is telling the truth about and what she's lying about: "My parent's were famous Nazi Hunters."
"Like a Virgin" - Brilliantly edited. Santana was hot and the girl has pipes! All three couples had great chemistry in the number.
I loved Finn's reaction to losing his virginity to Santana: "I didn't feel anything because it didn't mean anything." It was heartbreaking to watch, but oh so realistic.
Jessie joining New Directions is obviously suspicious and I'm curious to see exactly where this is going. Loved Finn's reaction - "What the hell? Now it seems like everyone's doing things just to hurt my feelings."
Also curious to see how the Finn/Rachel thing continues to play out since she pretended that she did sleep with Jessie and he pretends that he didn't sleep with Santana.
"4 Minutes" - Chris Colfer was just hot during this performance, and of course I thought so cause its my curse to fall in love with the gay ones (doesn't bode well for Jessie St. James!).
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" - This was cheesy but the song is catchy. I hate the way Cory Monteith says 'boy' for some reason and its hurting my ability to listen to this song on the CD.
Tina's tirade towards Artie is hilarious. Glad they gave her a little screentime! "My eyes are up here!" Yay for them getting together, that kiss was adorable.
"Like a Prayer" - Beautiful vocals here, but I wish they'd left more of it in the episode, since you hear more members of the club on the soundtrack version. Loved the choir, the red shirts with jeans, and Kurt's falsetto.

So many good lines in this episode:

"The last guy I liked was the mayor of Gaytown." - Mercedes
"I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves who live in your hair." - Sue
"When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a misogynist." - Brittany
"No chick intimidates Puckzilla." - Puck
"You have all the sexuality of one of those pandas down at the zoo who refuse to mate." - Sue on Emma
"Its gonna be Madge-ical" - Kurt
"Mercedes is black. I'm gay. We make culture." - Kurt
"Foreplay shall began at 7:30 sharp." - Emma
"Mr. Shue, is he your son?" - Brittany on Jessie

I love you, I hate you

2010-04-20T16:35:00.003-05:00

Some poor soul on Ravelry asked people to post their favorite breakup songs recently, to help her while she was feeling down. I didn't get any tv watched last night and was at a loss for what to post when I remembered that thread and thought I'd share my own personal breakup playlist. Not only was it cathartic to make, I think its fun for any time, not just during a breakup, since I tried to strike a balance between sappy-woe-is-me, angry, and fun. I'd like to do a second installment soon, to incorporate some great music I've gotten since this mix was made. The Script's "Break Even" might be the best breakup song I've ever heard, second only to the legendary "I Will Survive" on the playlist below.

The only song Lala didn't have is "Why Did You Mess with Forever" by John Mayer, which I'm embedding via YouTube below. I adore the song, but I've never found an official recording, so I'm still listening to an old bootleg version I got years ago on Napster (that statement makes me feel old, btw).

Enjoy!

Breakup Mix

Music Monday: Hanson

2010-04-19T10:36:00.002-05:00

I know what you're thinking, I've heard nearly every Hanson joke under the sun. They look like girls, they're nothing but bubblegum pop, etc. The latter might be true, but I'd argue that bubblegum pop has its place in music, and a large place in my music collection.

It might have been my teenage hormones that drew me to the band in the first place, I'll certainly cop to that. But it was the music that has kept me a fan into adulthood, when the other boy bands I listened to have fallen by the wayside. Sure, I'll still listen to some Nsync, but its mostly for nostalgia's sake.

I won't go on and on about how awesome they are (and they are!), but if you like piano driven pop rock and you've never given Hanson a chance because of their boy band reputation, check out the playlist below. The first three songs are off their debut album, but those are probably the most teeny-bop songs on the playlist. The rest are from their more mature later releases.

Enjoy!

Best of Hanson

Supernatural: Point of No Return

2010-04-16T13:20:00.004-05:00

Spoilers below!

Supernatural's 100th episode was a doozy! Thankfully, it was in a good way. Last week ended with Dean running off, presumably to say yes to Michael, with me yelling at the screen and tweeting "Oh for fucks sake Dean. You're so fucking broken, even I'm beginning to get tired of it." That's a big step for a Dean Girl such as myself, but my faith in Dean Winchester was restored and validated by Kripke and Company this week.

Dean might have run off and left Sam, but he underestimated his brother's ability to find him. Sam enlisted Castiel to spirit Dean away to Bobby's before he could do anything stupid, but before they could really get into it, we were faced with Surprise!Winchester, Adam, brought back from the dead by the angels to be Dean's backup plan.

Dean is tired of fighting the angels and doesn't want to see Adam get hurt because of him. He also confesses in a hearth wrenching scene that the reason he's going to say yes is that he has no faith in Sam and doesn't believe that Sam will be able to refuse Lucifer. And since he believes that, he sees saying yes to Michael to save some people as the only thing he can do.

Then Castiel beats his ass like a red-headed stepchild, since Dean is the reason he rebelled from Heaven in the first place.

Sam: What happened to him?
Castiel: Me.

Sam gives Dean quite the pep talk, and the Brothers and Cas go off to rescue Adam from Zachariah (who has revealed that Adam is essentially bait to get to Dean). Cas sacrifices himself (as far as we know, though I'm sure Misha Collins isn't going anywhere), so there's no telling what shape he'll be in when we get him back. Zachariah tries the 'hurt Sam' routine (and Adam too) to get Dean to say yes. Dean plays along convincingly but at the last minute, kills Zachariah. The episode ends with Dean's faith again restored and ready to fight to the end with Sammy.

I liked pretty much all of this episode, but my favorite part was that Kripke and Co. restored a lot of my faith in Sam, and Dean's too apparently. It was nice to see Sam admit that he'd made a lot of wrong decisions, and also great to see that he still has confidence in his big brother. I also loved Baby Winchester. He's basically a mini-Dean, attitude and all, and I'd love to see him as a recurring character. I'm assuming that Michael got him at the end, so there's a chance we'll see him again.

Best lines:

"Did you get to third base?" Dean to Adam, like to see Dean still being Dean in the middle of the Apocalypse

"Cas, not for nothing, but the last time someone looked at me like that, I got laid." Dean, making Dean/Cas shippers everywhere hyperventilate.

"Don't mess with the nerd angels." Dean, after Cas delivers his beatdown

Next week: Looks like a MotW episode involving a hotel. Also, perhaps I'll pay attention to funny lines from characters other than Dean.

Supernatural Turns 100: My Favorite 13 Episodes

2010-04-15T09:32:00.004-05:00

I tried to make a top 10 list, but that proved to be harder than I thought. I just started listing them from earliest on and got to 13, which seemed like a fitting number for a Supernatural list.

1. 1-1 Pilot: As pilots go, I'm certain there are better one's out there. However, I had to include it because its Genesis, the way we met the Winchesters and in a lot of ways, it tells us everything we ever needed to know. Dean is a smartass, but deeply messed up. Sam is striving to be normal, but deeply messed up. Daddy Winchester, though absent in this episode is just deeply messed up.

2. 2-1 In My Time of Dying: Season one had some good moments, but this is when the show comes into its own. Great performances here from Ackles, Padalecki, and Morgan as Daddy Winchester sacrifices himself to bring Dean back. The concept of selling your soul would also become a cornerstone of the show.

3. 2-22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part II: I still cry every time Dean is talking to Sam's dead body and I still cheer every time Dean shoots the Yellow Eyed Demon after an assist from briefly corporeal Daddy Winchester. Also, its the episode I always remember when I hear 'Carry On, My Wayward Son' by Kansas.

4. 3-8 A Very Supernatural Christmas: This episode is both hilarious and heartbreaking, as well as more than a little gory. Its the first time that we glimpse the brothers' childhood, and it hurts my heart, y'all. Also, I just love a good Christmas episode, no matter the show.

5. 3-11 Mystery Spot: The trickster is at it again, as Sam experiences a macabre groundhogs day, watching Dean die over and over again in a myriad of ways. Its funny all the way through, but the ending isn't, as we see how Sam reacts to Dean being really dead, a portent of things to come.

6. 4-1 Lazarus Rising: This episode sets the tone for what'll be two seasons of Apocalypse, and it introduces Castiel, angel extraordinaire.

7. 4-6 Yellow Fever: Wussy Dean is the most hysterical thing ever: running from the Yorkie, screaming like a girl, manning the flashlight. Also, before the credits, the video of Jensen Ackles lip-syncing 'Eye of the Tiger' is my most epic video ever.

8. 4-13 After School Special: Dean as a gym coach in tiny, tiny shorts? Yes, please, and thank you. Plus we get an insight into the school days of the Winchester boys.

9. 4-17 Its a Terrible Life: Sam and Dean caught in an angel induced illusion where they are strangers who work in the same corporation, banding together to defeat an angry spirit. The many jokes that long time fans will get are what makes this episode great.

10. 4-18 The Monster at the End of this Book: The Winchesters find out that there's a book series chronicling the last couple years. I love the prophet Chuck and the brothers learning about the crazy fandom, including Wincest!

11. 4-22 Lucifer Rising: The shot at the end of Dean grabbing onto Sam when they realize Lucifer is coming makes this whole episode worth it. Poor, poor Winchesters.

12. 5-8 Changing Channels: Hilarity from beginning to end as the brothers are trapped in different television universes. My favorite is the crime procedural with both brothers doing their best Caruso. Also love Sam as the Impala.

13. 5-10 Abandon All Hope: *sob* That's really all I can do or say here. Sad, but beautiful.

Hanson: Thinking 'Bout Somethin'

2010-04-15T08:56:00.003-05:00

My favorite band of brothers, Hanson, just released the music video for "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'," the first single off their upcoming album, Shout it Out (June 8).

Thinking 'Bout Somethin'

HANSON | MySpace Music Videos

The video is sunny and fun, just right for a spring/summer single, I think. And the cameo by Weird Al doesn't hurt either!

Enjoy!

All New Glee: Hell-O

2010-04-14T13:38:00.006-05:00

Spoilers below!

We're finally done with the Glee hiatus! And the show was back with a bang as far as I'm concerned, though the first few minutes were a little rough.

The show picks up shortly after "Sectionals" ended. Glee club are still social outcasts but Will gives them the assignment of finding a song with "Hello" in the title to symbolize a new beginning after Sectionals. Sue has to get herself re-instated by giving Figgins roofies and taking compromising photos of them together as blackmail. Other people liked this bit, but I didn't find it all that funny, which is why the beginning of the episode was rough for me.

Finn and Rachel are now a couple, with Finn not sure this is what he wanted. He's casting looks at Quinn, who is now with Puck (I guess? They didn't say for sure.) Rachel is bringing her usual over-enthusiastic crazy: Team Finn t-shirt (I want!), relationship calendar, etc. He finally admits that he's not sure he wants to be in a relationship as he needs to get his head on straight after the whole Quinn debacle. He's helped along by Santana and Brittany trying to date him on Sue's orders (she wants Rachel humiliated so she leaves glee club). His realization comes during a performance of "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors that rocked my socks off. Please let Cory Monteith sing in a lower key all the time! He was fantastic and sexy and cocky.

Rachel is heartbroken, and she performs a blistering rendition of All American Rejects "Gives You Hell" aimed at Finn. She's not heartbroken for long though, as she meets the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline, Jesse St. James (guest star Jonathan Groff). I wasn't into Jesse until he opened his mouth and began to sing "Hello" with Lea, but then I was totally sold. Since I'm now shipping them, at least for now, I'm sure we're going to find out that he's romancing her for nefarious reasons related to VA beating New Directions at Regionals.

When Finn tries to reconcile with Rachel, she shuns him for her new man, thought I can't blame her because he goes about it the wrong way and is motivated by not wanting to be alone. Finn is suspicious of Jesse, and tells the rest of the club, who try to force Rachel to break up with him. Rachel is prompted by a scheming Sue (who gathers a lonely hearts club of school outcasts to convince Rachel she shouldn't give in to the club's demand) to go to Jesse, and she ultimately decides to stay with him in secret so the club doesn't kick her out. He assures her that he's on the level but shares a look with Shelby that could mean differently. Groff and Lea Michele have smokin' chemistry, at any rate.

Somewhere along the way, probably when he realizes Rachel wants someone else, Finn decides that he truly wants to be with Rachel, all in. You could tell a part of Rachel really wants to take him up on it, but she's secretly with Jesse, so she tells Finn they can't risk the drama of a relationship in the club and wind up with another debacle like Sectionals. Finn has a new swagger though and assures her that he's not giving up, which leads into the final musical number: the whole club doing "Hello, Goodbye." The tables have turned from the first part of the season, with Finn openly pursuing Rachel and her backing away visibly during the number.

Will and Emma try to date, but hit the breaks when Emma admits she's a virgin. Will meets Vocal Adrenaline's coach, Shelby (Idina Menzel) and makes out with her (Bad Shue!). Emma has a run in with Terri at the Schuster house, leading up to them deciding to cool their relationship so Will can get to know himself since he's been with Terri since he was 15 (and the show continues to push the Will/Finn parallels). Can you tell I don't really care as much about the adults in this show?

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the episode, though I would have liked more from the other glee club kids. All their stories took a backseat to Rachel/Finn/Jesse and Emma/Will. I think this episode showcased some of the best work we've seen so far from Cory Monteith, especially his performance while Rachel was singing "Gives You Hell." I'm interested to see where the Jesse/Rachel relationship goes, and if he's going to be good, bad, or somewhere in between. I'm also looking forward to seeing how Finn Hudson pursues a girl, and how that might affect the 'Kurt likes Finn' storyline.

Fox aired Sue Sylvester's "Vogue" music video (featuring Kurt and Mercedes) after the episode and it was so much win you have to see it for yourself, as I can't adequately describe it.

Lines of the night:

"Dolphins are just gay sharks." - Brittany
"No, she's dead. This is her son." - Kurt
"I'm engorged with venom and triumph." - Sue

Next week: "The Power of Madonna" and hopefully less gratuitous use of parentheses (maybe)

Trying Out Hipstamatic for iPhone

2010-04-13T14:04:00.003-05:00

I downloaded a new photo app for the iPhone this morning, and its a lot of fun: Hipstamatic. Its meant to emulate an old plastic toy camera. You get a choice of three lenses, three film types (affects the frame of the picture) and two flashes for the 1.99 app download. You can also buy more lenses, films, and flashes from the Hipstamatic Mart. I haven't bought anything from the mart yet, but I probably will in the future. Its very easy to take pics straight from the app and upload to Flickr (as I have with the ones below) or to post to Facebook. My only complaint is that there's no option to tweet your photos, or if there is, they've made the option too difficult to find.

I had some fun switching lenses and photographing the same Coke bottle on my desk:

Kaimal Mark II Lens

Jimmy Lens

John S Lens (my fave so far)

And just for kicks, here's my new Kindle skin:

Kaimal Mark II Lens

Music Monday: Wherein Holly is a Lounge Singer

2010-04-12T10:57:00.003-05:00

I often have elaborate daydreams while on road trips. I've driven the roads between my house here in Conway and my hometown of Jonesboro so many times that its a great time to let my mind wander (not too far, no wrecks!).

One of my favorite things to do is to put the shuffle on my iPod and look for songs that suit my mood. Then I pretend that I'm belting them out in front of an adoring crowd. I have a fantastic singing voice in my day dreams, it never cracks or can't hit a high note.

Last night, the setting for my performance was an intimate club, just me and a piano. Today, I made a playlist with many of the songs I chose and some that I didn't get to on the trip that would have worked well. It turns out, lounge singer me is kinda depressing and whiney, but hey, we all get in that mood sometimes. For a giggle, picture me singing these songs in my car by myself at the top of my lungs.

Enjoy my playlist!

If I were a Lounge Singer

Fun Friday: The Mysterious Ticking Noise

2010-04-09T14:49:00.003-05:00

Today's Fun Friday video is The Potter Puppet Pals' "The Mysterious Ticking Noise." Love this video and its catchy little song that is so easy to get stuck in your head. Also fun for assigning out parts to your friends and trying to recreate it!

When One Door Closes, a Window Opens

2010-04-08T21:14:00.005-05:00

April 8th is the day TOMS Shoes sponsors "One Day Without Shoes" to raise awareness of the number of children in developing countries who go barefoot every day. People all over the world go barefoot for the day or just a few minutes to experience what its like to live without shoes.

A few facts from One Day Without Shoes:

* In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
* Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
* Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
* In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
* Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

After hearing about this event on Facebook, I really wanted to participate, mainly by going barefoot at my job so that I could raise awareness there. Let's face it, that's my main avenue for contact with people, a consequence of living alone. However, I made the mistake of actually asking for permission from my bosses to do so, and was refused (they're good guys, but HR has to be lawsuit conscious).

Then something awesome happened. Kris Allen, the American Idol winner from here in Conway, is involved with One Day Without Shoes, and it just so happens that I work with his Uncle Kenny. God bless him, when he heard that I'd been denied permission to go barefoot for this good cause, he wanted to do something about it.

Thanks to Kenny, I got pretty much the whole day off to go be barefoot. He also made sure I (along with my friend Sarah) got put on the VIP list for Kris' UCA show, where we got to sit in the friends and family section. Thanks to him, I got to spend the afternoon participating in the Barefoot Walk at UCA and seeing a fantastic little concert.

Tonight, my feet are sore and skinned, but I have the luxury of antibiotic cream and comfy socks tomorrow. My heart goes out to those who don't. This is a cause worth contributing to!

Check out the links above if you're interested in what you can do to help kids without shoes. I will be buying myself a pair of TOMS shoes very soon. I think its a win/win situation. I get a cute pair of shoes (there's a pair that sparkles!) and a child gets a new pair too! Also, I'll have pictures of today's walk and concert very soon!

This was such an inspiring day, and its amazing that I had no idea that any of this would happen when I got up this morning. In fact, I was convinced that I'd be going barefoot to get the mail instead of being out there, walking for the cause.

Thanks for being a window, Kenny.

TV Tuesday: NCAA Men's Basketball Championship

2010-04-06T08:54:00.007-05:00

Close games raise my blood pressure. The closer the score, the lower the time clock goes, the more tense I get. By the last minute of the NCAA Championship game between the Butler University Bulldogs and the Duke Blue Devils, I couldn't even be in the room with the television. Instead, I was standing in my bedroom, peeking around the corner every minute or so to check the score.

I didn't have any particular loyalties going into this game. My only traditional loyalty is to the Razorbacks, then after that to the SEC. When those two rules aren't in play, I usually root for the underdog. This meant I was rooting for Butler, like a lot of other people. Duke came into the tournament as the first seed in their bracket, while Butler was 5th.

Butler also got my vote for having the cutest coach:

And Butler has this guy:

His name is Gordon. How do you not root for a guy named Gordon with big ears?

Anyway, Butler wasn't expected to give Duke much trouble, but it was a close game from beginning to end, making last year's North Carolina win seem boring in comparison, even though it was my beloved Psycho T's last college game. I never saw Duke get ahead by more than 5 points. Butler was down by 2 at the last second and poor Gordon's half court shot didn't fall.

Cinderella didn't win the game, but I don't think they really lost it either. There's no shame in being a 5 seed that lost by 2 points to a 1 seed. They fought hard and should be proud. As for Duke, I harbor no ill will towards them, but I'm pretty unmoved by their win. I'm sure the players are ecstatic, but I can't get too excited when a traditionally winning program wins some more, unless they've had a bad couple of years (which Duke hasn't).

Sorry, Gordon, maybe next year.

Music Monday: Lil Wayne

2010-04-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

I love hip hop and I'm not sure how that happened. I'm a white girl who mostly grew up in redneck country, but from the time that hip hop started infiltrating my radio, I've been enamored. Though I wouldn't necessarily listen to it today, I think it started with the Will Smith songs that were played on pop radio when I was a teen, then Eminem blew up right around the same time we got MTV for the first time.

Over the past couple years, Lil Wayne has solidified himself as my favorite rapper. I won't claim to be in touch with the rap underground or to be a fan of gangsta rappers most people have never heard of. My tastes run to the mainstream stuff that gets played on top 40 radio, so my first exposure to Weezy was probably Lollipop, even though I vaguely remember him as part of the Cash Money crew from years ago.

Though I love his style, my affection for Lil Wayne is also about his personality. If you get the chance, check out his Behind the Music. The man is outrageously intelligent and loves his home city of New Orleans. He's in prison in New York right now and his people are posting letters from him at Weezythanxyou.com. The first letter is humble and poetic, so check it out if you're curious about him as a person.

Just a few songs on the playlist, but there's some good stuff in there. "A Milli" is probably the best rap song I've heard in the past 5 years, and "Forever" is a fantastic collaboration, as is "Swagga Like Us". Enjoy!

Music Monday: Lil Wayne

Fun Friday: The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality

2010-04-02T10:25:00.002-05:00

This is probably my favorite West Wing scene ever. Its not unusual for me to quote it randomly, even if no one knows what the hell I'm referencing. Enjoy!

TV Thursday: Justified

2010-04-01T10:00:00.005-05:00

I'm loving FX's new show Justified! The show, based on an Elmore Leonard character, follows US Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) as he's re-assigned to his home state Kentucky after he shoots a suspect under slightly suspicious circumstances. The supporting cast includes Raylan's boss, his fellow US Marshals, his ex-wife, and assorted people from his past.

The first villain introduced in the pilot is Boyd Crowder (such a great Southern name, and I'm pretty sure I've known several Crowders and a couple of Boyds), and I hope he's the one that sticks around. He's played brilliantly by Walton Goggins as a Neo-Nazi hellraiser. Olyphant is just as brilliant as Raylan, and I think the show would work just as well for me if every episode spent half the time just watching these two interact. Olyphant (who I've always liked, even in cheesy movies like Live Free or Die Hard) is hugely charismatic, playing Raylan with a simmering intensity that's hitting all the right notes for this viewer.

The writing on the show so far seems to balance drama with some hilarious one liners that keep the show from being too heavy. I've watched the pilot and episode two, "Riverbrook," and those two episodes seem to suggest that we'll be getting a mix of overarching plot and stand alone procedural type episodes. That's a difficult line to walk, but I'm impressed with what I've seen so far.

I think my favorite part of the show, besides Olyphant and Goggins, is the way the show has captured the atmosphere of a small Southern town. I know there's a lot of miles between Arkansas and Kentucky, but the show still feels like it could be taking place in one of the small towns I grew up in. The music is a huge part of that, and I'm loving the rap-bluegrass-country tone of it.

Its also worth noting that the accents on this show don't get on my nerves, which is quite an accomplishment. I'm usually driven up the wall by fake Southern accents, but that hasn't happened here. Fingers crossed that remains the case.

Justified airs Tuesdays at 9 central on FX!

What's On the Needles Wednesday

2010-03-31T13:45:00.003-05:00

A knitting post on my knitting blog, imagine that! Sharing my projects will be much easier now that Ravelry has enabled us members to share our projects with non-members. Clicking the links below should actually allow you to view my project page on Ravelry.

Right now, I'm knitting on the second sock of my Twin socks. When I'm done, they'll match a pair knitted by my fabulous Twin, Lewzilla. I'm knitting one at a time, using magic loop with KnitPicks Harmony 40" circular size 1.

I also wanted to show off my last finished project, my Ravelympics success story, Citron:

It still needs to have the ends woven in and blocked, but I'm very proud of it!

Happy Wednesday!

Its a Very Special Post: Twilight Fan writes to Advice Column

2010-03-29T14:14:00.003-05:00

I saw this article on Twilight Examiner about a Twilight fan who wrote into the LA Times advice columnist seeking some direction on her Twilight obsession. You can read the whole letter here.

I think there is some outrage going on around Twitter that feel like the advice columnist was way off base in advising this woman to seek counseling. On the surface, it may seem like Amy is saying that any obsession with Twilight is unhealthy.

I'll confess that after reading through the letter carefully, though, I have to side with the advice columnist. And this quote is why:

I'm so sorry I don't have the same type of love that this character has for the female character. I have been depressed about this.

To me, this is where it goes from fairly harmless fandom into something more intense. I love Twilight, and there was a time when I was certainly obsessed with it. I'm still fairly involved in the fandom, and have made some fantastic and lasting friendships because of it.

However, when your obsession of choice (and most people have them, whether its doll collecting or sports or growing your own herbs) begins to make you feel depressed, then I say professional counseling is in order. True depression is nothing to trifle with. I think the Twilight fans see this as an attack on Twilight, but I think, in reality, it has nothing to do with Twilight specifically, but with this woman being confused about her life.

As the daughter of a manic depressive and the friend of several people who have battled depression, I urge anyone who thinks they may be suffering from depression to seek help, regardless of what made them think so. Its the words that this woman uses that's important, not the fact that she's a Twilight fan.

Music Monday: Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

2010-03-29T11:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I'm not all indie and cool, so I wasn't a KoL fan before hearing this album, and I haven't gone back and listened to their earlier stuff. However, that doesn't change the fact that I consider this album the best album of the past 3 or 4 years that I've listened to. Nearly every song has a catchy hook and the songs go together wonderfully to create a unified tone for the whole album.

If you haven't heard "Use Somebody" in the past year, its possible you've been living under a rock, and I'd argue that it might be the best song on the album, but they're all great. There aren't a ton of albums where I can push play and listen to them all the way through, but this is one of them. My faves (besides "Use Somebody")are: Closer, Revelry, and Cold Desert.

Enjoy!

Kings of Leon

Fun Friday: Sue's Corner

2010-03-26T14:39:00.001-05:00

This week's Fun Friday clip is Sue's Corner: Sneaky Gays. Glee returns from hiatus next month.

Enjoy!

Booking Through Thursday: Break

2010-03-25T11:18:00.004-05:00

Do you take breaks while reading a book? Or read it straight through? (And, by breaks, I don’t mean sleeping, eating and going to work; I mean putting it aside for a time while you read something else.)

I definitely take breaks with most books. If its a long book that's requires me to pay strict attention, like with Lord of the Rings, I usually have another book I'm reading to take breaks from the intense book. The other book is generally a YA or romance that is an easy read.

For example, my currently reading list from GoodReads looks like this:

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo, and Vampires by Kalila Katherina Smith

Each of these books serving a different purpose. Two Towers is my intense read, Twilight is my fluffy YA re-read, The Killer Angels is my current audiobook, and the New Orleans books is spooky, so I can't read it all the way through without taking a break so I don't start seeing ghosts in my apartment.

Which book I pick depends on what mood I'm in and what I want to do with my evening. LotR and Twilight are on the Kindle, so I might go with one of those if I want to knit while I read. Killer Angels is also good for when I want to knit or if I'm in the car for a while. The Ghosts book is great if I'm watching tv, since the television will distract me just enough to keep me from getting too spooked.

The usual exceptions to the "multiple books at one time" thing is a new release by a favorite author. If Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jr Ward or Richelle Mead have a new book out, chances are that I'll read nothing else til I've finished it. Usually, these are series books where I'm anxious to see what happens next!

All in all, having multiple books going works for me! Its also one of the things I love about having a Kindle: multiple books, one device, no losing my place!

The Big Easy Adventure

2010-03-24T10:28:00.006-05:00

Our road trip to New Orleans didn't begin well. Courtney and I had barely made it out of Little Rock when I got a text saying Charlote had lost her wallet and was having to get a new drivers license and new debit card before she and Zach could leave Conway.

This led to the realization that my purse wasn't in the car. It was back at Courtney's, on the chair where I'd set it when I came in. 40 minutes later, I had my purse back.

Then a rock hit my windshield. The crack is still spreading across the bottom.

This was not going well.

I should also apologize in advance for not having many pictures. I forgot my digital camera at home and the iPhone camera isn't the best. Perhaps in the future, Courtney will share her photos and I can post some here.

Despite the start, we had a great time in The Big Easy. Mainly, we spent a lot of time eating: red beans and rice, beignets, boudin, and more. Great places we ate at that I recommend:

The Gumbo Shop - The red beans and rice here is phenomenal and affordable. I got the boudin as an appetizer and it was delicious, but spicy, so be aware.
Port of Call - This hole in the wall burger joint was recommended by a friend from Louisiana. Its menu is tiny, no appetizers, just a couple salads, a couple steaks and your choice of a regular hamburger, a cheeseburger or a mushroom burger. What they lack in variety, they make up for in making one hell of a hamburger, maybe the best one I've ever had.
Acme Oyster House - We had to go here because the restaurant plays an important part in one of mine, Charlote, Courtney, and Shelby's favorite book series, The Dark Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The atmosphere was great, the food tasty, and our waitress had a fantastic accent. I had the roast beef po boy, served debris style and the bananas foster cheesecake. It was also fun to check out the wall where they list the winners of their oyster challenge and see the name of Adam Richman, host of Man Vs. Food.
Stanley - We picked this place kind of randomly after looking up places that served brunch and mimosas and I'm so glad we did. The mimosas were fantastic (and strong, meaning we were all buzzing before 2 pm) and the bananas foster french toast was heaven on a plate. Seriously, it even came with ice cream.
Mona Lisa - Our last night, we were craving Italian food and found this restaurant on Urbanspoon. We had to go have a drink at a quaint neighborhood bar while we waited for a table(Hi Bartender Steve, we love you!), but it was worth the wait. Great garlic bread, tasty chicken parm, and lovely atmosphere.
Cafe Du Monde - Its a New Orleans tradition and it shouldn't be missed. The beignets are to die for and its open 24 hours a day, so its great to pop in whenever for a snack and a cup of chicory coffee.

Okay, enough with the food porn, we did do a few things besides eat. Mostly we shopped. And we might have had a few drinks.

Those are Hand Grenades. Get one on Bourbon! The great thing about New Orleans is that you can walk around with your drink, and most restaurants and shops don't care if you bring them in. I was thrilled to discover, as well, that most places in New Orleans serve Abita beer, and I'm enamored of Abita Amber, so Holly was a happy beer drinker on this trip.

Shelby, Char, and I had a tarot reading at Reverend Zombie's Voodoo Shop. It was an interesting experience, more akin to therapy in my opinion, than anything Supernatural. And I found out I can communicate with the dead, which is useful information to have. Call me Haley Joel from here on out.

We took Haunted History Tour's Vampire Tour on Friday Night, and had the same tour guide as the last New Orleans trip, Jonathan. I highly recommend this tour and tour guide. Jonathan is a fantastic story teller and the tour content is both spooky and interesting.

My favorite shop was probably Wicked Orleans, a clothing boutique featuring mainly goth/punk merchandise. I also liked Boutique Du Vampyre, which features all manner of vampire related things. I'm in love with this skeleton t-shirt I picked up there. Another great shop was The Voluptuous Vixen, which caters to sizes 12 to 28. Great clothes, friendly staff. We were even greeted with cups of champagne!

I've got one more post with a story I wanted to share on the way in the next couple days, but I'll leave you with one more picture I managed to take:

This is where I slept 3 out of the 4 nights we were there. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but kudos to us for being so creative and finding a way to keep me out of the floor.

Until next time, New Orleans, laissez les bons temps rouler!

TV Tuesday: The Big Bang Theory

2010-03-23T22:47:00.002-05:00

Beware: Spoilers!

Last night's episode of the Big Bang Theory had some very funny moments, but it wound up as the type of comedy that I just can't take. More on that at the end, but it wasn't the only problem I had with the episode. Basic plot: Sheldon is receiving an award from the university, has horrible stage fright which makes him not want to accept it, and the guys and Penny try to help him overcome it.

First off, I felt like Sheldon's stage fright was merely a convenient plot device. He's shown no indication in the past that he had any trouble in the spotlight, not when he and Leonard fought over who would present their joint paper or when he was jealous of the child prodigy at the university. So the whole premise didn't jive for me.

My favorite bit was Penny helping Sheldon buy a suit, but the rest of the segments with his friends "helping" him were only moderately funny. I generally love Leonard but this episode insisted on hitting us over the head with the fact that his mother didn't hug him enough and he's bitter about it, contrasted with Sheldon's crazy, but loving mother. The bit where Raj tried to help Sheldon through visualization was humorous, but forgettable.

The climax of the episode was the worst bit for me. Penny gives Sheldon a couple drinks before he accepts his award, which leads to a drunk Sheldon doing a standup routine with math and science jokes and songs about the elements. I'm sure some people loved this and I can admit that its funny in theory, but I'm one of these people who gets embarrassed for characters when they humiliate themselves and so I spent the whole time with my hand on the mute button, fighting the urge to hit it.

The end, though, when Leonard and Penny show hungover Sheldon the video of his performance, complete with him taking off his pants and mooning the crowd, was the best part of the entire episode. I love Sheldon, but something's gotta keep him humble, even if its shameful Youtube videos of his naked rear end.

I'm planning a post on my New Orleans trip, so look for that soon!

Booking Through Thursday: Sensual

2010-03-18T09:24:00.002-05:00

Today's Booking Through Thursday question:

Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?

I think my preference here depends on the kind of book I'm reading. Oddly, in romances, I often prefer more straight-forward language. I think its that the plots are mostly about things that can very easily be written as syrupy sweet, so I prefer to keep the language simple. I mean, I want there to be some imagery, but lets not overload with too many details.

Sex scenes should be sensuous, yes. They should have imagery, yes. But its also true that less can be more where a sex scene is concerned. The best authors can find a good balance balance there.

Even in non-romances, I think I like a good balance between the two options above. I'm reading Tolkien's The Two Towers right now, and just finished The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien is a master at imagery and using language to the best of his ability. However, for me, its sometimes a bit too much, and I have to skim. This isn't to say there's a problem with Tolkien's writing, just that its not always to my personal preference.

A short post today, as I'm off to the Big Easy for a long weekend. I'll blog some pictures when I'm back online Tuesday!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T10:07:00.006-05:00

In honor of the holiday, I thought I'd share a few of my pictures from my study abroad experience in Ireland!

Here's the pub where I spent most of my time when I wasn't in class. The English translation is The Kitchen.

This is the National University of Ireland at Galway, the first place I went to after the airport. Beautiful introduction to the country.

The beach at Spiddal:

Kylemore Abbey:

Killary, site of the only fjord in Ireland. I thought it was such a quintessential little village:

I had the pleasure of getting to go to Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday, an annual pilgrimage up the mountain. The number of people climbing the mountain was staggering, and many of them were climbing barefoot. I didn't make it all the way up, but I had a great time people watching.

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday!

TV Tuesday: Greek

2010-03-15T22:13:00.004-05:00

*Spoiler Alert*

Damn this show for making me cry! I knew about halfway through that I wouldn't like where it was going and that it would make me sad. I'm not sure if that means the writing was too heavy handed or if I just watch too much TV.

However, there was some great stuff before the crying! Rusty can't decide who he wants to date, Dana or Katherine. I'm not sure if he made the right choice in the end, but this is Greek, so I doubt its set in stone anyway.

Calvin helping Evan get over Rebecca was great, especially their interaction with Dale. Dale is always fantastic comic relief ("I'm not a lovey dovey Christian!). If you'd have told me during 1st season that I'd one day root for Evan Chambers, I wouldn't have believed you, but I am. As long as he doesn't try to break up Casey and Cappie anymore.

And now that I've mentioned Casey and Cappie, we can talk about the crying part. Greek has been leading us to this episode for a while now, probably the whole season. Casey and Cappie are back together, but this doesn't mean they don't have problems. Cappie is still the class clown who wants to stay in college and party with the KTs forever. Casey is still the practical girl who wants to have a real adult life after college.

It all comes to a head in this episode with the arrival of Cappie's parents (his mother is played brilliantly by Lea Thompson). Casey finally gets a glimpse into the nomadic lifestyle that has made Cappie who he is. His parents encourage him to stay in school as long as he likes, as long as he's happy there since they believe in doing what you want regardless of the path society tells you you should take. Its also apparent that the Kappa Tau house is the place Cappie has called home the longest in his life, and he doesn't want to leave it.

When Cappie's mother tells Casey that she and Cappie's father are splitting up, she tells Casey "some love stories are short stories." At the end of the episode, Casey tells Cappie she's through trying to change him and they'll just tackle the future when May arrives. We see Casey's real decision though when she gets home to the ZBZ house and Ashley: she's come to the realization that she and Cappie's love story is just a short story and they have no future past college. She hugs Ashley and cries and so do I. Kudos to Spencer Grammer and Amber Stevens for playing this scene so well.

I have to applaud the writers for taking a couple that we rooted for so long and have you convinced that they won't last forever. They've done a great job of enforcing it over this season. I don't know how its going to end, especially since the show got picked up for one more 10 episode run, and the writers are intentionally writing towards the end they want. There's still a huge part of me that wants it to end like a fairy tale, with Casey and Cappie riding off into the sunset, but I now think I could be comfortable if that doesn't happen.

All I know is, we better find out Cappie's real name!

Music Monday: Marc Broussard

2010-03-15T09:53:00.003-05:00

When I was thinking last night about what to write for Music Monday, I put in my earbuds, went to 'All Songs' on my iPod and hit shuffle. The second song that came on was Marc Broussard's "The Wanderer" and I knew I had my topic for the post. For me, some artists I love just for their music. Someone like Marc is a little different, in that I love his music, but there are also some pretty great life experiences I associate with his music and his live appearances.

Freshman year of college, Shelby and I discovered Maroon 5 through a girl in our dorm who did promotion for a record label. These were the days when pirating was easy as all get out thanks to UCA's open network, so we grabbed everything we could find on them and waited anxiously for their show in LR that February. The show just happened to fall on the one day a rare Arkansas snowstorm came and we had to turn around after getting just a few miles down the interstate. The show got rescheduled due to the bad weather and the lineup changed a bit. Instead of the other opening acts (for some reason, I think Ingram Hill might have been in there somewhere), the new show would be opened by some guys named Marc Broussard and Gavin DeGraw, who we'd never heard of.

Just before the rescheduled show, "Harder to Breathe" blew up on the radio, so we knew to get there early. Turns out that was a great idea, as we got spots in the front row against the stage, and this show would influence our musical tastes and concert going for years to come. First up was Marc Broussard, who turned out to be a Cajun soul singer. He hit the stage barefoot, in blue jeans, and knocked our socks off, to put it lightly. His style is a mix of R&B, soul and traditional Louisiana Cajun music.

After that concert, we were sold on Broussard and kept up with his new music, as well as trying to find an opportunity to see him live again. We got that chance when he scheduled a show in Dallas on my friend Ashley's birthday. Its a 5 hour drive at least, but it was a Friday night, so we decided to skip class and make the road trip. We had a great time at the show (and heard Citizen Cope for the first time) and enjoyed a great trip to IHOP afterward in preparation for the drive back to Texarkana to sleep.

Then it turned out we'd locked the keys in the car.

It was 3 in the morning.

It was raining.

And we were broke.

So we pooled all the cash in our pockets to come up with the $40 to pay the locksmith who graciously gave Courtney (the owner of our locked vehicle) a discount because she had a John Kerry sticker on her car. Democrats in Texas have to stick together. Once the car was unlocked it was early morning, and we all tried and failed to stay awake on the drive. How Courtney stayed awake when we were all asleep, I'll never know. But we made it, stumbling in at 8 am and falling wherever we could find room to sleep. It was crazy and stressful and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

So whenever I listen to Marc, I don't just hear his songs, but I also remember the experiences I've had because of him. And he'll always be special for that reason.

Enjoy a few of his songs on my playlist below!

Music Monday - Marc Broussard

Friday Fun: Jimmy Kimmel's Handsome Men's Club

2010-03-12T16:08:00.001-06:00

It's Friday and I don't have anything deep or witty to say, so instead, enjoy this funny video from Jimmy Kimmel:

Booking Through Thursdays: Illustrious

2010-03-11T14:47:00.003-06:00

Today's Booking Through Thursdays question is: How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

This is an interesting question, since I'm both a reader of mostly books that don't have illustrations and a Kindle owner, where images are limited to shades of gray.

The biggest collection of books I own that have pictures are knitting and crochet books. Pictures and charts and illustrations are essential in demonstrating techniques and showing what a knitted or crocheted object is supposed to look like when you follow the book's instructions. Nowadays, a lot of patterns are available online in pdf format or on blogs like this one, but I still enjoy actually owning pattern books so that I can sit down on the couch and page through them, looking for inspiration for that next project.

Now that I have a Kindle, its easy to take pdfs of patterns I've found and transfer them to the Kindle, but I doubt I'll ever use it for more than a reference. Its great for looking at the pattern instructions but not for looking at the pictures. I also probably won't ever spend much money on pattern books for Kindle, because I love those color photos that you get from a real book.

As for my regular fiction reading, most of those books don't have any pictures beyond the cover, and for good reason. Most readers make up what the characters look like in their heads. I'm a little strange in that I usually can visualize a character's body, clothes and hair, but I rarely visualize a defined face. This works for me and its never really bothered me that I don't have a specific picture in my head of what the characters look like. For some of my books, like Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, there are manga illustrations that have been put out and I enjoy those, but I don't let the illustration necessarily define how I picture that character in my head.

Its been an interesting experience getting involved in fan message boards for some of the series that I read, where fans and authors both sometimes post pictures of models or actors that they feel are matches for the characters. Its amazing how there is a set description for that character, a list of everything we know about them physically, and yet you get such a diverse set of opinions on what that person looks like. I've seen people say that they picture a blond when the character is canonically brunette, even people who picture someone of a totally different race than the character is known to be. This is the beauty of books without illustrations. It gives the reader freedom to visualize it in their own way.

I'm not entirely sure I've answered the BTT question, since I've mainly talked about not having pictures in my books, but still, its an important thing to talk about why illustrations aren't always needed and or wanted.

Happy Thursday!

Why I'm Loving lala.com

2010-03-10T14:01:00.005-06:00

As I posted on Monday, I've been playing around with the music site lala.com the past couple days, exploring it in hopes to use it to link music on the blog. And its frakking awesome. Here's why:

You can add your entire music collection to your lala collection for free. With a free lala account, you can download their Music Mover utility. It scans your music, matches your songs to ones in their database and adds your music to your lala collection. This means that when I'm signed in at work, I can listen to the music that I own on my home pc, absolutely free. I only got a couple errors when it scanned my music, mainly due to improper metatagging on my songs. The Music Mover also imports your playlists from iTunes. It got most of mine, but not all. The software obviously isn't perfect at matching, but I'm still happy to have most of my music available to listen to in the office without having to transfer via portable hard drive or having to listen to my iPod with earbuds in.

Its easy to share your music. For any song in your collection, you can embed the song in a blog post, tweet it, facebook it, or even email or IM a link. Your friends get to listen to the whole song once for free. After they've listened to it once, they can only hear a 30 second sample when they push the play button again. lala also enables you to share playlists in addition to individual songs.

Listen to whole songs and albums for free. Most all of the music on lala can be played once for free. This means you can queue up that new Gorillaz album like I did yesterday and listen to the whole thing for free before you buy. This pwns Amazon and iTunes and their 30 second samples. You even have a queue where you can add all the songs (there's a button to add a whole album to your queue as well) you want to listen to and they'll play uninterrupted. As with the sharing, you get one listen for free, then its a 30 second sample when you push the play button.

Adding a song to your collection for unlimited listens costs you 10 cents. You don't own the mp3, but its a cheap way to experience a song/album if you're not ready to buy it or it you just want to be able to blog about it or something. lala also offers mp3 downloads, and if you've already spent the 10 cents to add the song to your web collection, the 10 cents is taken off of the mp3 price if you decide to buy it later. The mp3s seem to run at 89 cents, but I haven't explored that much since I primarily buy from Amazon and iTunes. I've no idea what the DRM situation is on mp3s you buy from lala.

I'm sure lala has many other features that I haven't mentioned here, but I'm still trying it out and these are just the ones that have pleased me thus far. And just for fun, here's one of my playlists:

Supernatural

TV Tuesday: The Big Bang Theory

2010-03-09T09:45:00.006-06:00

Spoilers below!

Last night's Big Bang Theory, "The Precious Fragmentation," might be my favorite episode of the current third season. As you can see from the promo, the boys buy a box of unknown junk from a garage sale and find some really cool stuff, including a ring used as the One Ring on the set of the LotR films. The really funny stuff happens as the guys try to determine what to do with the ring and which one of them should get possession of it.

I actually had a revelation at the beginning of this episode as the guys were discussing their roles in the group. Sheldon called Howard the "funny one." Last season, I would have recoiled from the idea of Howard being the comic relief from within their group (as opposed to how the audience sees them). Though I've loved the show from the beginning, I've always found Howard to be slimy and barely tolerable some episodes. However, the writers have managed to make me like the little slimeball this season. Maybe its that the whole Bernadette storyline has softened him a little, made him less of a creep.

I think my favorite part of the whole episode was when Penny punched Sheldon in the face when he tried to steal the ring from around her neck while she was sleeping (Leonard gave it to her for safekeeping while the boys debated what to do with it). It was unexpected and oddly satisfying. Not that I don't love Sheldon, but it was kind of appropriate considering he was snooping into Leonard's room in the middle of the night. Part of the show's hilarity stems from Sheldon not understanding social boundaries, but every now and then, its nice to see him suffer the consequences for doing something highly inappropriate like creeping into someone's room while they're asleep.

The gag where the boys tried to determine who got the ring by seeing who could hold on to it the longest was fantastic, though I could have done without the conversation where Raj and Howard tried to get Sheldon to let go by talking about his Meemaw having sex. Todd over at the AV Club loved this bit, so I think its just one of those things that you either find it hilarious or it turns you off completely.

This show has a habit of totally dropping storylines after one episode, so I don't anticipate any resolution to the conflict, since the episode ended with Leonard and Sheldon wrestling over the ring. I'd really love if we saw it in the background later or even around one of their necks.

Best line of the night: "I pity the fool who is illogical." - Leonard, after finding a doll with Spock's body and Mr. T's head

Music Monday

2010-03-08T14:04:00.002-06:00

I'm going to make another attempt to revive the blog, try #55, it seems.

I thought perhaps if I made myself blog about certain things on certain days of the week, then that would give me the structure I need to keep up. So here goes nothing!

Thanks to the Twitter tradition of Music Mondays, I knew immediately that I wanted to blog about music on Mondays, what I'm listening to now, reviews of new records I've bought, etc. I also realized that I'd need to find some way to embed this music (or at least a sample of it) in the blog entry. Since a lot of the stuff on YouTube is not legal, I'm going to try lala.com to embed with.

So consider this a test post. Here's the song I can't stop listening to right now, "Rock N Roll Razorblade" by Hanson (we'll talk about the merits of Hanson at another time I suppose, but if you know me at all, you know that I'm unapologetic about listening to music that some find untenable.)

Rock N Roll Razorblade - Hanso...

January Mini-Reviews

2010-02-02T11:05:00.002-06:00

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson: This a YA tale of a teen girl who works in her parents' hotel. For the first time, she is in charge of a room and the wacky guest staying there, all the while trying to help her older brother fulfill his dream of becoming a working actor and possibly falling in love for the first time. Johnson's writing style is witty and wonderfully vivid in its imagery. Her characters are snarky and sarcastic in the way a lot of teens (and some adults) wish they were. I also enjoyed how realistic Johnson's characters are. So many books gloss over subjects like sex and drinking, when those are the realities of a lot of teens' lives. Nice to see that Johnson handles them with humor and realism without seeming to encourage irresponsible behavior. A quick read, highly recommended if you enjoy YA lit, even if there are no vampires or creepy crawlies.
The Outsider & The Wild One by Melinda Metz: These are the first two books in the Roswell High series, which inspired the television show Roswell, one of my favorites. The first book was a good read, in my opinion, though it could have been due to my nostalgia for the show I loved so much in high school. The show's pilot followed much the same path as the first book: Liz gets shot, Max heals her, Sheriff Valenti is suspicious, etc. I haven't read past the second book, but from reading it, it would seem the show and books divert from each other past the first book. The second book is mostly about Isabel hooking up with the alien Nicholas (who was in the show but was much different), who uses his powers without regard to being tracked by alien hunters or hurting humans. I spent most of the book wanting to slap Isabel and didn't enjoy the novel nearly as much as I did the first. I already own book 3, so I may continue this series later.
My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent (Soul Screamers Book 2): Vincent continues to write quality YA with the second in her Soul Screamers urban fantasy series. In Book 2 of the series, Kaylee tries to help a young pop star who sold her soul for fame and fortune, all the while trying to learn about life as a bean sidhe. Along for the ride again are her boyfriend Nash and Tod the Reaper. This was a quick read, and the plot was well developed. My only complaint might be that I felt the characterization was lacking some. Nash, especially, was one dimensional, though I liked the new facets of Tod the readers got to see. In the next book, I'd like to see a little more growth as people for Kaylee and Nash, not just plot point after plot point.

Its Napster All Over Again

2010-01-07T13:38:00.002-06:00

MSNBC is reporting that Netflix has agreed to Warner Brother's demands that they hold off renting WB movies for 30 days after the DVDs release in hopes that it will drive up DVD sales. This comes a month or so after we heard that studios were negotiating just such a deal with Netflix. This news is the first definite confirmation that a deal has been struck. This also comes on the heels of rumors that the publishing industry is considering a similar strategy with ebooks to try and drive up sales of hardbacks.

There are several things wrong with this strategy and I'm pretty much mad as hell about it all the way around. First off, both industries are misunderstanding their consumers if they truly believe that this is going to work. On the movie side, despite the fact that instant gratification is ingrained in the American culture, I can't see too many people deciding to buy a movie unseen simply because they don't want to wait 30 days to get it from Netflix. If a consumer saw the movie in the theater and still doesn't want to buy it, I doubt they're unwilling to wait 30 days either. They may sell a few more dvds, but I wonder if it will even offset the money they lose when Netflix doesn't buy as many of their DVDs since the demand isn't as high for a movie that's been out for a month already.

The publishing industry is even more idiotic than the movie industry. Ebook readers are owners of e-readers because they consume a larger number of books than the average person. They're looking to get more books for their dollar and to save space in their houses because they read so much. They're also generally concerned about saving paper. Would any of these things indicate that the owner of a e-reader would go out and buy a hardback (for more money than they will eventually pay for the ebook) instead of waiting a month or two to get it on their Kindle or Nook?

Both of these strategies are going to drive up piracy. If someone can't get a movie from Netflix, they'll pirate it and watch it for free instead of spending $20 (or more!) on a DVD they don't know if they'll like (even non tech savvy people know a guy/gal who can get these things for them in this era). If the movie industry is lucky, they might still buy the DVD after that, but its certainly not guaranteed. If someone can't get an ebook on the actual release date of the book, there are plenty of sites out there for them to pirate it. Again, the industry would be extremely lucky (even luckier than the movie industry, since at least there are usually some advantages to owning the DVD over a pirated file) if that consumer then decided to legally buy the ebook whenever the publisher decided to put it out.

These are especially bad moves in a recession economy. When people are losing their jobs left and right, Netflix is, in my opinion, a lot of bang for your buck. You get lots of movies for not a lot of money. E-readers too, even though they require a significant investment upfront. Like the music industry did (kicking and screaming), they need to embrace the new consumer and find a way to capitalize instead of clinging to the business models that are obviously not working.

I wish I had some easy solutions for the growing pains of these two industries, but I do have some advice: Put out better books and movies. Movies so good that I'll pay $10 to see them in the theater. And so good that I'll go buy the DVD without a Netflix scheme. And for gods sake, make it available on Netflix right away, cause one thing that I and others do is to rent a movie then go buy it because I liked it. Same to the publishers, put out books so good that I want to buy every book that author writes. And if you can't do that in a capitalist society, then survival of the fittest demands that you get what you deserve.

Book Review: Covet

2009-12-16T14:34:00.005-06:00

Book 95 for the year was the latest JR Ward book, Covet. Its the story of a former special ops solider who is drafted to be the deciding factor in the war between Heaven's Angels and Hell's Demons and the first person he has to help in his quest to settle the score. If that makes no sense, I'm not surprised, because I was unclear on what exactly the concept meant at first too. Apparently, the prologue explains it, but me and my college education were confused anyway.

Basically, over the course of the series, Jim is supposed to come into contact with 7 people who are at a crossroads in their lives and help them make a decision, one way is the way Hell wants them to go and one way is the way Heaven wants them to go. Whichever side gets the most people to go their way is the winner and the other side has to get out of Dodge for good. Got it? Good, you're ahead of where I was halfway through the book.

Now, lets tackle that cover and in doing so, expose my biggest problem with this book. This is a romance novel. Generally, they have a male protagonist and a female protagonist and those two are the focus of the story. Ward, to be fair, has set precedent in her other series for having multiple protagonists and telling multiple stories, which is fine. However, as with Lover Enshrined, she doesn't, in my opinion, pull it off here, as the romance takes quite a backseat to the drama with Jim and his Angels and Demons issues.

The reason this is relevant to the cover is that the man on the cover is certainly intended to be Jim. Who rides a motorcycle like once in the whole book. And to me, if a character is so important to go on the cover, they ought to be the one getting a damn HEA in the book. Maybe I'm a romance novel purist, but this just didn't work for me in this book. Perhaps the problem is that this is the first book in a series and Ward had to do a lot of plot heavy lifting to establish the rules of the Demon/Angel agreement and establish Jim and what his journey is supposed to be.

I can't help but compare this book to the other first book in a series Ward wrote, Dark Lover, the first BDB book. In that book, Ward used the female protagonist's introduction to the vampire world to also introduce the reader, and it worked remarkably well. However, in Covet, Ward is introducing the world through a character outside the couple (Jim) and also trying to depict a believable romance for two people who often seem on the edges of the story due to the time she's spending on Jim. There's really just too much going on.

I know it sounds like I hated the book, but really, I enjoyed it for the most part, though certainly not as much as I have other Ward books. As usual, Ward's tone is quick and dirty and she pulls no punches, having her heroine be a prostitute and her hero (Vin, not Jim) be a businessman who is greedy and reckless with the environment. This book isn't as littered with street slang as her BDB series is and nobody has any extra H's in their names, so its got that going for it. I've kind of gotten used to the H's though, so what I do I know.

In short, it was alright, but I'll still pick up the second book when it comes out, as I find the concept interesting and hopefully, now that Ward has fleshed out the universe, the sequel will be easier to follow.

Schizo Status Update

2009-12-11T10:17:00.003-06:00

So I promised to revive the blog, but of course, I haven't taken any pictures of what I'm currently knitting and I'm trying to finish a dang book, so I can't review it yet, so that leaves me spouting off nonsense about whatever is occupying the space between my ears this week, so here's my current hot topics, in no particular order:

Glee: My current pop culture obsession. If you haven't heard of it, please to be removing the rock from above your head. Its a show, with music numbers and a little character named Sue Sylvester, who is scary and awesome. The fall finale was this week, thanks to that damned American Idol crap, and we don't get any new episodes til April. So I'll just have to content myself with rewatching the first half of the season and dancing like an idiot to the two (yes two!) soundtracks. You can watch it on Hulu here.

Covet: The JR Ward book I'm currently reading. Its the first book in a new series about fallen angels that's set in the same universe as her vampire crack series, the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I'm halfway through, and though its honestly not her best work, I have no resistance when it comes to Ward. I'll review it when I finish, but its got a muddled plot and way too much going on. Here's hoping it gets tighter in the second half.

Themed Playlists: What I've been making with my free time not spent knitting or reading. I spent way too much time compiling all the best classic rock songs featured in Supernatural episodes. I won't tell you how much time, cause that's embarrassing, but I have to say I dig the results. AC/DC, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Metallica. Its great stuff. I made an abbreviated version of the playlist on YouTube here. Now that the SPN playlist is done, I'm working on a new Qhuinn and Blay playlist with Charlote (more JR Ward BDB crack). Expect Epicness.

LotR: What I've been watching. I got on a LotR kick over the last week and watched all three extended editions with the Cast commentary. I now need to marry one of the hobbits which isn't Sean Astin, STAT. I've also started knitting the Arwen cardigan as a KAL with my friend V, and its been consuming a lot of my time, even though I'm only a few rows in. The original construction of the pattern was very confusing (and it needn't be, IMO) so we spent some time trying to figure out modifications to make it easier. We finally found instructions from a very nice knitter who modified it into a one piece bottom up raglan, and we saw that it was good.

See, I told you it was schizo, but hey, such is the mind of Holly. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, and Festivus!

Book Review: Ill Wind

2009-12-04T15:47:00.004-06:00

I'm well past 52 books read for this year, but I just love the graphic that my friend Julie made that I'm going to keep using it. Instead of recounting every book I've read this year, I just wanted to review the ones I found to be memorable or interesting. I love romance novels as much as anyone, but some of them fade from memory as soon as I close the book.

*slight spoilers ahead*

I read Rachel Caine's Ill Wind during Thanksgiving week, while I was trying to finish up my first attempt at writing a novel. Its an interesting experience to be simultaneously trying to read a book and write one. It makes you hyper aware not only of the flaws in your writing, but also ones you might find in the published work. I found both of these things to be true while reading Ill Wind, the first in Rachel Caine's Weather Wardens series.

The basic plot involves the protagonist, Joanne, who is a Weather Warden (they work secretly to control Earth's weather) on the run from both the other wardens who think she murdered someone and a mysterious antagonist who is trying to kill her. Joanne has received a Demon Mark from another warden (who everyone thinks she murdered) and is trying to stay alive while tracking down the one person she thinks is powerful enough to help her, a rogue Weather Warden named Lewis.

One thing that I loved about this book was how clearly developed the mythology of Caine's world is. She sets very transparent rules for how the powers of the wardens work and manages to make the intricacies of meteorology interesting and fairly easy to understand, which is quite a feat. I didn't anticipate being so engrossed by how characters used weather against each other when the writer includes detailed descriptions of how its being done scientifically.

The part I didn't like about this book ventures deeply into the area of personal preference. This book is very well reviewed on Amazon and most of the reviews seem to adore the character of David and his romance with Joanne. However, for me, it fell flat. I just didn't find him interesting and couldn't make myself believe in their attraction to one another. I spent most of the book hoping that Joanne would hook up with Lewis Levander Orwell (great name!). The flashback scene where Joanne hooks up with Lewis in college had more spark than the entirety of the time she spent with David for me. And because the series seems to continue with Joanne and David as a couple, I'm not sure when or if I'll continue with it, unless someone promises me more Lewis.

Blog Revival

2009-12-02T15:55:00.002-06:00

Really, I'm gonna try to do this blogging thing on a more regular basis. Now that I've finished National Novel Writing Month, I suddenly feel like I've got more free time! I'd really like to review more books (I'm up to 90+ read for the year) and I want to do some posts on my current knitting projects.

Coming soon (if I don't flake again)!

Books 31 & 32

2009-03-23T19:40:00.003-05:00

Book 31 was the third Black Dagger Brotherhood Book by JR Ward, Lover Awakened. This is definitely my favorite of the series; the tale of the former blood slave Zsadist and the aristocratic Bella. This story really begins in the second book of the series when the character of Bella is introduced and is immediately smitten with Zsadist, though she rebuffs her because he thinks she is only attracted to him because he's so mean and twisted. Book 2 ends with Bella kidnapped by the evil lessers, though Zsadist vows to keep looking for her until they know what happened.

At the beginning of Lover Awakened, Zsadist rescues Bella from the lessers and the plot unfolds as she clings to him following her captivity, while both Zsadist and his twin Phury fall in love with her. One of the most important plot points of the book is Zsadist's sexual abuse at the hands of the woman who enslaved him. It causes alot of pain for he and Bella as Zsadist tries to shed his fear of intimacy and sex. I find it interesting that such a thing is included because of how taboo sexual abuse still is for people to talk about and I'm glad Ward is willing to tackle such a thing.

Book 32 was A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands, the first book in her Argeneau Vampire series. I found it to be pretty generic and hard to get into for the first half, but I bought the first four in the series, so here's hoping the others are better. I found the secondary characters more interesting than the leads, so hopefully the other books are about them.

Books 28-30: The Morganville Vampires

2009-03-23T19:33:00.002-05:00

Books 28-30 were the first three books in Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampire series. The basic plot is that 16 year old Claire moves to Morganville, Texas to attend college. When she is terrorized in the dorm, she rents a room with some locals, and then discovers that the town is run by vampires. The first three books were very engrossing, as Claire gets into one bad situation after another with the town's vampires and falls in love with roommate Shane. Eventually, Claire becomes something of a pet to the town's founding vampire, and is working to discover a cure to whatever illness is slowly killing the vampire population.

I was so engrossed that I had to make myself stop and read other things so that I could get some distance. I went a head and started the fourth book, which was pretty much necessary. Caine ends all of these books on a cliffhanger, so its near impossible to not pick up the next book and see what happens. I'll probably whine a lot when I finish the 5th and have to wait for the 6th to be released.

Books 26 & 27

2009-03-23T19:26:00.003-05:00

Book 25 was Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris, the fifth book in the Southern Vampire series. I liked the plot of this one in which a sniper is stalking the shapeshifters around Bon Temps and Sookie is being hunted as well. However, I swear Sookie had six men panting after her and the whole romance part was just too much. It just takes it too far that this many men are obsessed with this one small town waitress. I hope the next few books stick to a love triangle or at least a quadrangle.

Book 26 was Hunted by PC and Kristin Cast, the fifth book in the Marked series. Like Dead as a Doornail, the plot of this book was really good. Zoey and her crew have escaped the House of Night following the rise of Kalona, and they're now in the tunnels under Tulsa deciding what to do about him and his children, the Raven Mockers. Again, like Doornail, the romance aspect was a bit too much for me to believe. Zoey has three guys, four if you count Kalona, pursuing her. I know its a series and they have to draw out the drama to leave the reader guessing, but the same guys constantly fighting over the same girl with the same arguments is getting old. Still, that was the only downside to this book, other than its lack of an ending. It really seems to be the setup for the next few books, where I presume there will be a showdown with Kalona and Neferet.

Books 24 & 25

2009-03-12T22:36:00.004-05:00

Book 24 was Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris, the fourth book in her Southern Vampire series. I started this book last year, but put it down when I couldn't really get into it. I picked it back up last week and started over since I couldn't remember anything that had happened. It was like pulling teeth to get me to pick it up and read the first half of the book. Unlike a lot of fans of the series, I'm not a fan of the character of Eric. After book 3, I'm not a huge fan of Bill either, but I still like him better than Eric and Bill was only in this book for 2 scenes.

The second half of the book was much better, once all the action started and Alcide came into the plot, which is basically that some evil witches have come to town, stolen Eric's memory and are trying to take over the area. The action at the end was good, and I really got caught up in the story then. I'm excited to start book 5, since the cover art looks like Bill and Sookie, which gives me hope that Bill is in this one a lot more.

Book 25 was Lover Eternal, the second Black Dagger Brotherhood book by JR Ward. Again, Ward is an interesting author, hitting the reader over the head with how badass and cool her characters are, but Rhage and Mary's story is really sweet and it remains probably my second favorite book in the series behind the third book, Lover Awakened.

Books 20 - 23

2009-03-07T17:42:00.004-06:00

I'm re-reading JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series in preparation for the newest in the series, Love Avenged, to come out at the end of April, so Book 20 was the first BDB book, Dark Lover. This is one of my favorites in the series, and I enjoyed re-reading it, although I've read it enough times to skim over the boring parts with the bad guys. I'm hoping Ward cuts out some of the time she spends in each book focusing on the bad guys. I kind of like to be surprised by what the baddies are planning, and Ward lets the reader in on their plans a little too much to suit me.

Books 21 - 23 were the 3 stories in LJ Smith's Night World 2 anthology: Dark Angel, The Chosen, and Soulmate. Dark Angel was fairly boring, and I never really felt connected to the heroine, Gillian, or her soulmate David. I wish the back of the book hadn't given away that Gillian's so-called "guardian angel" wasn't what he seemed and let the reader figure that out on their own.

The Chosen was better, since I was excited to see human-hating Quinn again after his appearance in a couple earlier Night World books. He's another one of Smith's ambiguous heroes, who's done bad things but in the end decides on a new path of good. Smith does this with lots of her guys (Damon, Ash, etc), and it might get old after a while, but I still liked Quinn a lot.

My fave in this anthology was Soulmate, the story of the oldest "made" vampire and his soulmate Hannah. I believe this story begins the setup for the apocolypse that seemed to be going on in the short story on Smith's website that carries on the plot of Ash Redfern and his mate, Mary-Lynette from Night World 1. I'm guessing all hell breaks loose in Night World 3! Nobody writes crazyness like LJ Smith.

Books 17 - 19

2009-03-01T22:22:00.003-06:00

My latest reads for the 52 Book Challenge were quick, but fun books.

Book 17 was Dream Warrior by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Its technically one of her Dream Hunter novels, but its events are part of the ongoing plot of her Dream Hunter series. This book was probably the best of Kenyon's Dream Hunter books, mainly because the characters were in the real world through most of the book and not in the dream realm. It was fast-paced and mythology heavy, acting as a set up book, along with the last Dark Hunter book, One Silent Night, for the next story arc of Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. I liked the two main characters alot, the Titan Cratus and the Dream Hunter Delphine, but it was also nice to see some old favorites like Acheron, Tori, and Zarek. Overall, a fun book that left me excited to see what Kenyon has in store next.

Book 18 was Untamed, the fourth book in PC and Kristin Cast's House of Night series. I enjoyed this one much better than the last book, Chosen, mostly because I didn't spend most of the book pissed at the main character. Zoey got into lots of scrapes in the last book because of her own bad choices, and I was happy to see that she seems to have learned a few lessons because of it in this book. She is able to reunite with her friends, and though all hell breaks loose otherwise, I feel much better about the ending of this book as opposed to the last one. The newest book Hunted, comes out on March 10th, and I'm uber excited to see what happens.

Book 19 was Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris. I picked this book out a pile of books that my friend V was giving away at Christmas, mainly because the book (the first in a series) takes place in a fictional little town in Arkansas. It's a straightforward mystery, which hasn't really interested me in the past, but I found it entertaining nonetheless. The heroine, Lily Bard, is a woman just trying to get by, cleaning houses in small town, when she witnesses someone dumping a body. The plot unfolds as Lily tries to figure out who the culprit is. This one piqued my interest enough for me to probably pick up the next in the series to see what happens in Shakespeare next.

Book 16: The VD Craziness Continues

2009-02-24T18:53:00.004-06:00

*Spoilers Ahead!*
The latest book in LJ Smith's Vampire Diaries series is Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall. Yes, that's actually the full title. Smith has decided to continue the series with a new trilogy which picks up 7 days after the older books left off, with Elena back from the dead.

This book was pure, undiluted batshit insanity. Really.

The book is confusing right off the bat for anyone who read the old series. When Elena returned from the dead at the end of Dark Reunion, she was human and seemingly had all her faculties. At the beginning of the new book, Elena is mute and childlike, having woke up that way the day after she came back from the dead. This is never explained, just that she was fine when she came back, but woke up a "spirit child" the next day.

Elena is doing the vampire version of getting it on with Stefan, despite the fact that she seems to be lacking some mental faculties, which is not very honorable of St. Stefan. She also floats around, glowing like a life-size lightning bug. Really, she even bumps into windows while she floats around. And she has powerful magical powers. And she has trouble remembering people so she gives them a big kiss (yes, girls too) to get to know them.

Suddenly, all the characters are using all this technology. They all have internet capable, video cell phones, and they know all about computers. This would make sense in the context of the current time period, but it throws the reader off since none of this technology existed in the other books, but suddenly it appears here.

The plot of the book starts when Damon is approached by a mystical fox thingymajig, who offers to get Stefan out of the way so that Damon can pursue Elena, but the fox has ulterior motives. Fox thingy gets his minions, the malach, to possess Damon. Stefan is kidnapped, with possessed Damon's help. Elena finally snaps out of her mute "spirit child" ways (but not before Stefan tows her behind his car with a clothesline). It becomes clear that something is possessing the young women of Fell's church. Much hijinx ensues while Elena tries to figure out what is wrong with Damon, and the fox and his sister (also a fox) try to destroy the town with their malach (bug like creatures who possess people). Really, there's more than that, but its all very nonsensical.

Elena and her friends, with Damon's help, eventually drive the foxes away from Fell's Church, but the foxes refuse to give them the keys to free Stefan, only giving Elena some cryptic clues about where to find the keys. The book ends with Damon, Elena, and Matt as fugitives (a pregnant Caroline has accused Matt of raping her to cover up her out of wedlock conception with the crazed werewolf Tyler from the original books) determined to figure out how to free Stefan, despite Damon still pursuing Elena to be his princess of Darkness. Really. That's how it ends.

This book was completely insane to the point that I couldn't read more than a few chapters at a time. I rationed out the Crazy over about a week. It was confusing and outrageous, but in the end that's kind of the point of reading LJ Smith. Its all about the insanity. And the mocking. Definitely the mocking.

Books 12 - 15: Vampire Diaries I-IV

2009-02-16T18:50:00.003-06:00

I re-read all four books in LJ Smith's Vampire Diaries series in preparation for reading the new addition to the series, Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall. Does that title have enough colons for you?

Anyway, the series was just as wonderful and ridiculous as ever. Smith tells an interesting story with engaging characters, but her writing has some huge flaws. I think my biggest pet peeve is that plot points are picked up then abandoned too quickly. Elena wakes up as a vampire, but she thinks that Damon is her soulmate. Then a few pages later, instead of really delving into the implications of that, Elena suddenly remembers that she loves Stefan. Then there's something suspicious about Aunt Judith's fiance, but then he's fine and its never mentioned again.

Still, the story is engrossing, although sometimes its simply because you want to see what insane plot point Smith will introduce next. I've started reading the new one already, and its craziness, y'all, pure craziness.

Book 11: The Host

2009-02-10T19:58:00.003-06:00

The latest book in my quest to read 52 books this year is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Its Meyer's only non-Twilight Saga novel, an adult science fiction tale of Earth occupied by an alien race.

I first bought this book when it hit the shelves last year, but could not get into it after reading 4 or 5 chapters. I put it down and made a note to pick it up again, and this challenge seemed like a good reason. Always better for the checkbook to read something I already own.

I'm not sure what the problem was last time, perhaps I was so into the Twilightverse that I could not get into anything that was not that, but this time I had no trouble getting into the story. The basic plot is that a race of peaceful aliens has invaded Earth, implanting themselves into human bodies and supressing their "host" beings. However, a strong human who has been on the run from the aliens, Melanie Styder, refuses to be completely surpressed by the alien being in her body, Wanderer. Hijinks ensues as Wanderer gets to know and love Melanie and sets off to find those that Melanie cares about.

From a writing standpoint, The Host is a much stronger book than any of the Twilight series, with the possible exception of Breaking Dawn. The characters are all wonderfully written, with their own voices and eccentricities. The plot is more intricate and better paced, with plenty of action thrown in to temper the romance. Overall, a fun read that makes me want more. Meyer has hinted that this may turn into a trilogy, which would be wonderful.

Book 10: Chosen

2009-02-02T20:18:00.004-06:00

Book 10 in the challenge was the third book in the House of Night series, Chosen by PC and Kristin Cast. In my experience, in a series that is supposed to be fairly lengthy, you have to have a couple of books where everything goes all to hell to keep the story going.

This was one of those 'it all went to hell' books.

Zoey continues to navigate her path as an extraordinarily powerful fledgling, dealing with the undead, an enemy that everyone believes is a good guy, and not one, but three boyfriends.

I was pretty horrified at some of the choices that Zoey makes in this one, but I also have to remember that Zoey is 17 and isn't always going to make what seems like the obvious right choice to the reader.

I was a little squicked out by the fact that an adult man sleeps with a student in this book. I'm not sure if any book with that in it should be placed in the YA section of the bookstore. The book doesn't necessarily glorify the act, and there are grave consequences, but I'm still iffy on it.

Looking forward to reading book four in the series, Untamed, before the new one, Hunted, comes out in March.

First Sweater Finished!

2009-02-02T10:56:00.003-06:00

I finished my first sweater last night, weaving in the ends during the Super Bowl. It was part of a KAL with some Twilight knitting pals:
The pattern is the Cozy V Neck Pullover with Deep Ribbing from the book Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. The pattern was very simple, requiring the knitter to know how to kfb, knit in the round, and pick up stitches. I can definitely see myself making this again, perhaps a short-sleeved version, or changing up the ribbing for some variety. I'll try to get a good picture of me wearing soon!

Book 9: Vampire Academy

2009-01-26T09:51:00.002-06:00

This book was the first one I've ever listened to completely on audiobook (I've read the actual book before), and I really enjoyed the experience. The reader had a nice voice, even if her voices for a couple characters were slightly annoying.

I found myself really engrossed in the story while listening, especially near the end. I credit some of this to the narrator, but mostly to Mead's great storytelling ability. The vampire mythology of the VA series is very well developed, and Mead writes great characters. I fell in love all over again with my favorite character in this series, Christian. He's got black hair, blue eyes, biting sarcasm, and creates fire in his hands (yeah, I had a thing for Pyro too).

Anyway, it was a great way to enjoy a book I've read before. I'm not sure how well I'll follow the story for a book I haven't read on audio, but we'll find out as I plan to start Outlander on audio next!

Book 8: I <3 Vane Kattalakis

2009-01-26T09:35:00.003-06:00

Book 8 in my book challenge was Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Its a re-read, one of my favorites in her Dark Hunter series. This book actually features a Were-hunter, and I think her Were-hunters are the most awesome. Her other full length Were-hunter book, Unleash the Night, is another one I can read over and over again. Maybe I like the idea of a mate who is also a pet.

Anyway, a lot of Kenyon fans like this book because the heroine is a real woman. She's a size 18, she owns a small business, and she freaks out about the supernatural (which is kind of refreshing in this series where most of the women seem almost superhuman in their ability to learn all this freakish stuff and take it in stride).

I like this book because Vane Kattalakis is a complete badass. He's a sorcerer whose powers probably are trumped only by the gods and he's just hawt. He can teleport himself wherever, create clothes out of thin air and time travel. I wants one!

The plot and writing style is typical Kenyon, but that's not a knock. Her talent is obvious and she's got me completely hooked!