When I watch TV, I often do silly little drawings like this one. I forget when I drew this one, but it’s probably one of the latest ones. I’d left the drawing on my scanner, which is what makes me think that. Hah.
Anyway, I love the idea of being able to detach yourself from a base and float away. :P This character’s name is N0rks-k0n3ntz and yes, I created it like that just to be obnoxious.
This has been added to my flickr drawing album.
I listened to the audio version of this book because they opted to print the mass market as a premium size this time around. That extra inch to the height is annoying to me. I don’t like the feel of it in my hands. Worse, I hate the look of it on my standard mass market friendly bookshelf. Why they do that in the middle of a series is beyond me. Grr.
But, this is the first Dresden audiobook I’ve listened too and OMG, wow! James Marsters is the best reader I’ve ever heard. I used to listen to audiobooks all the time because I drove a lot. I’ve never heard someone change their voice in such extreme ways to create the variety of characters so well. From Toot Toot, to Mab, to all the various Denarians…WOW! Freaking amazing. It was a truly awesome experience and I must listen to more Dresden audiobooks now!
Small Favor is the tenth book in the Dresden series. I’ve never stuck with a series this long before. There’s no lag in the quality of these stories. In fact, they get better as they go. Book 7, Dead Beat, is still my favorite. It might be the undead T-rex, Sue, that puts that one over the top. Just maybe. :P
I guess at this point I should say spoilers abound. So, be forewarned.
In Small Favor, the Denarians return. We haven’t seen them since book 5, Death Mask. I’m not counting Lasciel since she was really just a shadow. The Denarians are the scariest characters in these books. True evil. I mean, they are the arch nemeses of the Knights of the Cross, eh? That speaks wonders. And the way they manipulate Dresden in this book only shows just how scary they can be.
Add to that craziness, Dresden is being hunted by none other than the Billy Goats Gruff. The absurdity of that still makes me laugh. And I loved how Dresden outmaneuvered that situation in the third encounter by requesting a donut. Freshly baked cake donut with white frosting and sprinkles. Of course.
I could yammer on and on. Total fangirl thing. The pace, the humor, the outlandish ways Dresden gets out of situations…it’s all brilliantly done. :D
My biggest frustration with this story though comes with what Mr. Butcher did to Michael. For the love of…talk about a sadistic DM. He went for the overkill. I mean, really, Michael gets hurt. Fine. There were signs that he wanted to lead a normal life and not be a knight anymore as is. You needed a way to get him there. But to pummel him in every which way possible? WTF? You wanna go that nuts on someone, go for one of the NPCs, man, not a PC. That. Was. Wrong. I’ll say it again. That. Was. Wrong.
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Oh! And in case you missed it. Wallpapers are available for this book here.
For those itchin’ for a Breaking Bad fix before season 2 premieres on March 8, AMCtv site has a few minsodes you can check out.
From the AMC blog:
Watch Hank and Marie as they celebrate Valentine’s Day in the bedroom in “Good Cop, Bad Cop.” View a flashback to Hank and Marie’s wedding as the groom discusses with Walt his last wild night as a bachelor in “Wedding Day.” Go inside Jesse’s band TwaughtHammer as he and Badger make a behind-the-music documentary, and sing along to the full music video for their song “Fallacies.” Finally, watch Marie discuss politics and patriotism in her personal video diary, “Marie’s Confession.”
My favorite one, which they don’t even mention above, is “The Break-In“:
Man, I love this show! :D
Awe, poor Ruki. I’ve been working at my computer a lot today, catching up on all sorts of stuff. I have music cranked and the lights on. I turned around and saw her in the middle of my bed like that. Awe. She has that go away and leave me alone so I can sleep pose going on. She looks more pathetic having her little froggy next to her I think. As sad as that scene looks, I think it might be payback for screaming in my face at o’dark-thirty this morning for food. Heh. Just maybe. :P
I just finished listening to the audiobook of Speak. I’d seen the movie a few times before and wondered how the book would compare. I opted to listen to it because I wanted to see if the reader would capture Kristen Stewart’s haunted voice from the movie. The reader didn’t hit that mark, but I still found it enjoyable to listen to.
Spoilers abound so if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, be forewarned.
This is the story of a girl, Melinda, who was raped and discovers that after the trauma, she can’t find the voice to tell anyone what happened. It happened at a party and she called the cops. The party was broken up but by then she’d already lost her will to speak so she left and never spoke to the cops. She was ridiculed by her classmates for having called them at all.
She enters ninth grade to find herself an outcast. We see her world through skewed, pain-filled eyes. And it’s her journey to finding that voice that I find remarkable to see. I also loved how her pursuit to draw a tree that projects emotion a fitting parallel to her own personal struggle and growth.
As a story itself though, my opinion may be skewed. I’ve seen the movie a few times and I thought it was great. As I listened to the book, I imagined it as the characters from the movie. Many of the differences between the two seemed better executed in the movie than the book too. So, all in all, I like the movie best. But the story itself and the character’s voice tend to haunt me. I’ll probably have to read the book eventually too. :P
On a side note, I have seen some reviews online where readers complain that they can’t relate to the character. That she was flat and dull. And that the high school was a bit stereotypical. Plus, rapists don’t tend to get what’s coming to them in real life.
I think these reviewers are missing the point of the story. Melinda is in a state of depression and shock. Of course she appears flat and dull. She’s trying to meld into the background, despite her head screaming, “Pay attention to me!” As she works through her pain and finds her voice, she gets a more developed personality. That’s how depression works, folks.
As for the high school, we are seeing it through her eyes. She’s presented it to us as a stereotype because that’s how she’s classified it. I took it only to be her perspective and not necessarily what really was. I could be wrong though.
And yes, sadly rapists do not always get what’s coming to them. It’s a sad fact of life. But, this is fiction. Yes, fiction. And, in my humble opinion, hope in fiction can be better created when they do. It’s that wonderful sense of justice, I guess.
Posting that “Wrong” video made me think of Coldplay‘s “Viva La Vida” homage to to Depeche Mode and Anton Corgijn. So, I thought I’d check and see what their latest video is too. Oy! WTF? Really? Why did they have to use puppets? Their latest video is for the track “Life in Technicolor ii” which is the second version of the song, the difference being that version two has lyrics. And, the video is chock full of freaky puppets. Lovely. This video is more fitting for nightmares than something fun to watch.
Sheesh. Yeah, I really don’t like puppety types. Anyway, it was directed by Dougal Wilson. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any of his work before. But, I am a Hype Williams fan and I do like “Viva La Vida” so I’ll post that here too:
And, be sure to check out that homage to Depeche Mode and Anton Corgijn version here. It’s awesome. Of course. :) It doesn’t appear to be available to embed else I would have posted that here too.
Depeche Mode has a a new video up. The song is titled “Wrong” and is from the album “Sounds Of The Universe” (Releases April 21 in the US).
Video has a nice creepy feel to it. It was directed by Patrick Daughters, who may be best known for directing Feist‘s “1234.” He also directed “Phantom Limbs” for The Shins which shows a rather dramatic school play. Anyway, on to the Depeche Mode video:
I read this book back in the bound manuscript stage and am realizing now that I probably should have written down notes to use in this post. It would have made it more detailed. Oh well. :P
When the editor presented this book, she referred to it as CSI Medieval. Seriously? Enough said. I’m sold. I wrote this comment about the book over on the Goodreads account I have for work and figured I’d share it here too:
CSI Medieval. What’s not to love? That description is why I picked the book up. Malgwyn is why I kept going. He’s a great character. The Saxons took his wife’s life, then he lost his arm in battle. There he waited to die the good death. Arthur (yes that Arthur) saved him and Malgwyn hates him for it. He became a drunk. After all that, Arthur asks him to lead a murder investigation. That’s where the CSI Medieval comes into play.
I enjoyed Malgwyn’s incites into people as well as his own struggle with facing life outside a tavern again. And, I found it fun to see how crude an investigation it would be without all the fancy equipment we have today.
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So, there you have it. All in all, one enjoyable read. I know, I didn’t write much. Like I said, I should have taken notes or even written this long ago. :P
The Siege of Macindaw is the sixth book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series. It releases in the US on August 11. I went into happy fangirl mode on Friday when I got home and discovered a galley on my doorstep. I won it off of Goodreads. Awesome. :)
I think I was even more excited for this one because book 5, The Sorcerer in the North, ended in a cliffhanger. ARGH. I hate that. Book’s 5 and 6 combine to create Will’s first adventure as a full-fledged ranger. In book 5, Will is asked to head north to investigate supposed use of sorcery. Not only that, he has to go in disguise as a jongleur, which leaves him without the comforts of his favorite weapon and other ranger niceties.
Once there, he finds out that the king has been poisoned. Castle Mackinaw gets taken over by a renegade knight, Keren, who is in an alignment with the Scotti prepping for invasion. Will must flee to the forest with the king’s son, who is now also exhibiting signs of being poisoned. He seeks refuge with the “sorcerer” Malcolm. Then he finds out that his friend Alyss has been taken hostage and fails at his attempt to rescue her. End of book 5. ARGH. You see how frustrating that is?
Book 6 picks up right where we left off. Alyss is still a captive and Will must find a way to take over the castle with no army. He spends a lot of time thinking things through in this book and trying to understand the consequences of his actions more. He’s grown up and relying less on what Halt would do and more on his own assessment of the situation.
Horace too steps up in this book. He really has some of the best lines when defending his friends too. I often found myself grinning ear to ear during his scenes. He leads the small ragtag group of Skandians with ease and gains their respect in seconds. His perspective on everything is so straight forward too. And that I just adore really.
I also liked the balance between Will and Horace. They play well off of each other. Their friendship has matured as well but retains that wonderful kid-like teasing too.
Will and Alyss are adorable throughout this with how they don’t seem to understand their feelings for each other. :P
Really, truly wonderful read. My only complaint with the story would be that there wasn’t enough Halt. Hah. I know, I know, books 5 and 6 were meant to be Will’s first mission. Still, I missed seeing him.
I do have side note complaint though. The cover! I don’t know what they are thinking but the covers for books 1-4 were gorgeous. See?
Then in book 5 they came up with this gray block:
What the? It cuts off the artwork. It looks like they are trying to create some sort of branding nonsense and what they are doing is failing miserably. That block closes off the picture and just creates a top heavy look to the cover. Why ruin the artwork with that? I’m disappointed to see in on book 6 now too. *pout*
Whew. Had to be said. The story though is awesome! I can’t wait for more! :)
Related link: I set up a Ranger’s Apprentice Facebook fan page. If you are a fan, stop by and say hi. :D
Awe. How cute! You can make your own paper octopus. I saw this on Ectoplasmosis and you can download the octopus here. And check out the designer’s Etsy shop too. Lots of super cute plushies in there. :)
