Today I am inspired by this image of Batgirl, swinging through the rain with a look of determination in her eyes. I don’t know what’s going on here since I never read this comic, but I like to imagine that she’s just spotted whoever she’s after.
Your writing prompt: create your own comic character. Does your character have a tragic past? What is his/her motive for what he/she does? Hone your description skills by writing the character’s first entrance into a scene. What is he/she wearing? What are his/her physical characteristics. You get the idea. Have fun with it.
Sweet and Deadly is a basic whodunit mystery. The main character is pretty simple. She lost her parents six months before discovering the body of her father’s nurse. Most of her time is spent in solitude, wishing people would just leave her alone so she can sit back, smoke, and read.
The overall pace of the story is slow. Things happen around Catherine. She doesn’t seek them out. She sits back and watches and thinks about what it is that occurs. I found this pace fitting…slow, steady, things working itself out when the time is right. It somehow seemed appropriate for a story set in the heat of the South. It also seemed perfect timing to me since it’s been pretty hot and hazy in the North these days too. The story moved at about as fast a pace as I can move lately.
I did find the segregation of the races in this town (Lowfield) to be uncomfortable, sending me backwards in time. However, I believe the author meant for the reader to be uncomfortable, which is why she wrote about the community being backwards in such a way. It added well to setting us up for when the killer is finally revealed and why it is he killed. His own secret was from backward times and based on a simple, uneducated mind, caring more about his own standing in society than anything else.
Oh happy day! This is the one Ravenloft book that I’ve been missing and wanting so very much. Sure, there are others on the list I don’t yet have, but this is the only one I’ve actually been hunting for. Mostly I’ve been finding it as an ebook or for gobs of money. Bleh. This is what happens when a book has a limited print run. It’s so frustrating.
But there I was in a gaming store on Thursday night. From the bottom shelf, the Ravenloft logo caught my eye. I glanced down and froze. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sitting right there, all by itself, was this very book. Woo-hoo! Even better…it only paid about $12 for it. Snoopy dance time indeed!
Between finding this and picking up the Fables #60 I was missing…yep, excellent finds all around and a great ending to an otherwise dreadful day. Huzzah! :)
I’d never seen this one from Pixar before. Truly an amusing short film. :)
“when an overconfident teen alien gets behind the controls of a spaceship, he must attempt to abduct a slumbering farmer under the watchful eye of a critical instructor. But abducting humans requires precision and a gentle touch, and within a few missteps it’s painfully clear why more humans don’t go missing every year.”
This is a movie based on a Stephen King story. I never read the story, but I imagine it to be better than the movie, as is the case of most written word. I think that now, I need to read it. :)
John Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a paranormal writer who has yet to find any evidence of true paranormals…until he stays in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel. Sounds pretty must of a cliché, doesn’t it? It’s pretty typical on the ghostly front. Psychologically, it taps into Enslin’s personal horrors to wig him out. The movie has it’s typical am I free, am I not moments as well.
Personally, I think it would have been a tenser read than visual story. Movies like this don’t do much for me in the ooooh…scary…type stuff. However, I still found it to be an interesting story. You take an evil room, play with the psychology of its guest/victim/prisoner, rattle things up a bit, and somewhere it the mix it becomes fascinating to just observe the play. I enjoyed the moments where the alarm clock would taunt him. Mwahaha. And I liked when phone would ring, a receptionist’s voice would come on just to provoke the character in that oh so sweet voice.
Mike Enslin: “Why don’t you just kill me?”
Room 1408: “Because everyone of our guests has free will, Mr. Enslin.”
Yep. Free will to take the express checkout if you like….
Overall, it was intriguing to watch. I enjoyed watching Cusack in this. Watching him slowing come unhinged…yes, he did an excellent job with all of that.
Wow. I’ll just start there. It was wonderful to go back and revisit these characters. Dragons of Dwarven Depths takes place between Dragons Of Autumn Twilight and Dragons Of Winter Night. This fills in some of the gaps in the overall story. We follow the companions as they rescue the refugees and search for the Hammer of Khara.
What I liked about the story was getting to visit with my favorite character, Sturm Brightblade again. However, the authors were off with writing his character in this one. Sturm is in prayer quite a bit and that is not something his character ever did. He’s no paladin, guys. Sheesh. If he was, no way would Raistlin still be around.
Speaking of Raistlin…much of this book alludes to things that happen in the abomination of a trilogy that is called Legends. I only hope for those who haven’t yet read those, that this book doesn’t temp them to do so. Pretty much the only parts I like reading with Raistlin or Caramon in them is when Tas gets on their nerves and is totally oblivious about it.
Aah, Tas. Now that is my other favorite. He keeps the story going and makes it all the more enjoyable. Every single scene he is in is a show stealer. And that’s just wonderful to read!
Overall, I thought the writing was better than Chronicles. The journey of the story I found fun to read, so much so that I can forgive the hiccups in the way characters behaved or spoke in ways that were just a wee bit off target. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. And that’s that. Huzzah! :)
I’ve been waiting for this book to come out in paperback, but am only now realizing just how long it was between the last book, The Queen of Attolia (2002) and this one. That leaves me kind of annoyed since this book leaves a character missing with no sign of another book to even follow. This is why I usually don’t really series books. I didn’t realize this wasn’t a trilogy.
Anyway, I was left baffled by the last book so much that I had to read this one to see if I could alleviate the confusion. The end of the previous story left us with our favorite thief having just finagled a deal where he will marry the queen of Attolia. He supposedly loves her. I continue to be baffled by this since she is the one that had his hand cut off in the previous book.
After reading this book, the only theory I can come up with is that his God wanted him to love her, so he did. There is nothing in this book that states that. I’ve just come to that conclusion based on a few other things. The God of Thieves wants him to be king of Attolia. He never would have been king had he not lost his hand. Well, that’s the logic Eugenides seem to wrestle with anyway. But then there was the fact that he married the queen for love and didn’t/doesn’t want to be king. See why it stands to reason that his love too is the will of the God? His God wanted him to be king, yet losing his hand alone wouldn’t have made him king. It only made it so he couldn’t do his normal thieving ways so easily. But love is what brought him to Attolia. However, had he kept his hand, he may have remained in Eddis working for his Queen. Hmm. I don’t know. I guess I was just looking for a rationale since none of this made sense to me as I read it.
I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the latter. The first half was intriguing. Eugenides is no fool and we know this from the previous books. We are watching him play people and we know he is up to something, but don’t yet know what. Fascinating play. Yet, the outcome came up too short since the rest of the book focused on his adjustment and eventual acceptance with his position. As in the previous book, the dronings of politics and history carried on a wee bit too much. I think I nodded off during some of that. :P
Overall, I still find myself haunted by Eugenides. His stealth and wit added to his tantrums and childish pouts, plus the grief that lingers too…it all makes for a complex character I still can’t seem to figure out. If ever there is another Eugenides tale, I will have to read it to see if I can ever become less confused by him.
And I really want to know that Sophos is okay. Sheesh. Loose ends like that annoy the hell out of me!
I just started reading the graphic novel series, Fables. I’ve read the first two now and just put an order in with Amazon for a few more. Hmm. May have to get all 9 that are out there. Yep, I’m sure of it. This series is a lot of fun.
The characters are all from fairy tales and they’ve been forced to leave their homeland to live in hiding in New York City. Those that are animals or not completely human live on a farm in upstate New York. I like the overall mystery feel to the stories, as well as watching to see just how exactly they weave the characters into this world together.
So far, it’s Bigby Wolf that’s my favorite character. He’s the sheriff of Fabletown and from the fairy tale part of things, he’s the big bad wolf form the story, “The Three Little Pigs.” :) And although Shere Khan only has a bit part in volume 2, I did cherish what time he was in there. Naturally, I spoke his words with a rather snobbish dignified tone in my head. :P
Now I anxiously await the arrival of more from the series to read….
I’m not really sure yet what to make of this show. I’m still bitter that David Milch is working on this instead of giving me more Deadwood! But once I learned that I could see some of the cast from Deadwood on this show (especially the actor (Dayton Callie) who played Charlie Utter), I thought, well? I guess I’ll take a peek. :P
After the first two episodes I was thoroughly confused. It’s about a surfer family that’s a tad messed up to say the least. Some guy (John) shows up in the middle of nowhere and gets carted to town by Ellsworth (Jim Beaver)…er…I mean Vietnam Joe. Right… John pretty much comes across as an idiot, but you have to pay attention to him. He often seems to say things that are aptly poignant to the story at that moment in time.
Even though I understood little, I kept watching. Butchie fascinated me and I kept thinking that I’d seen that guy before. Turns out it’s the actor (Brian Van Holt) that played Sean Cavennaugh in Threshold. *sigh* Threshold. Man, that could have been the next X-Files for me. I really believe it could have been just that. Stupid CBS morons…anyway I digress again.
I was also happy to see Charlie Utter…Steady Freddy Lopez I mean…speaking in a style that was fitting for Charlie in Deadwood too.
By the third episode I understood a little better about the quirkiness of the family. But what I liked most was seeing Charlie and hearing him mumbling and talking to himself (since that’s typical Charlie). Hah!
Like I said though, I’m so not sure what to make of this show. The characters are odd and story is all over the place, yet I find myself intrigued by it as well. Guess I’ll keep watching and seeing where it goes.
Oh and being the music junkie that I am, I did a little searching to find out what music was featured in these first few episodes:
Episode 1
Opening credits: “Johnny Appleseed” by Joe Strummer
In VJ’s van: “Goin’ Up The Country” by Canned Heat
Today I am inspired by this image of Batgirl, swinging through the rain with a look of determination in her eyes. I don’t know what’s going on here since I never read this comic, but I like to imagine that she’s just spotted whoever she’s after.
