A Past in the Theater

So I was shamelessly googleing myself last night, and I came across the blog of this guy. He has an entry about a little play I did a few years that he happened to write. I've actually seen this before but had forgotten about it. For those of you just getting to know me, here are some pictures of me in heavy theater make-up. I played an old, old man. And got to play opposite my LPFL, the wonderful Joselyne Simonson.

These are actually the few pictures I even have. Anyway, I got a kick out of it. I thought I might share.

"Thief of Hearts" by Christopher Golden

So I finally started biting the bullet and reading "Thief of Hearts" by Christopher Golden. It's part of the Jenna Blake "Body of Evidence" series. Jenna is a college student who works as a kind of pathology assistant, basically helping people do all the Dana Scully work on dead bodies. I've only ever read "Skin Deep" before, but now own "Thief of Hearts" and "Meets the Eye" due to my Bookmooch-ing, back in the day. I got "Meets the Eye" first and realized I was reading them out of order- basically, someone really close to Jenna dies in "Thief of Hears" and it ripples through the rest of the series. Now that I'm trying to establish some series order, which is something teens coming into my library insist upon (and rightly so!) hopefully I will enjoy all the books much more. "Thief of Hearts" gets REAL good in the death scenes, which are a better read than watching the first "Scream" movie. Golden gives his victims the chance of escape, only to take it away, make them loose all hope, finally give them a chance, then kill them. REAL good, even when you know it's coming.

I'm already halfway through the book, so I'll probably post a full review on Random Buzzers and LibraryThing soon. I might stick with the series for awhile, mainly because I would like to eventually booktalk one or two of them and give an overview of a series of books when I'm doing my presentations. My only complaint is the dialogue- when Golden is writing a YA novel like this, or his Buffy work, sometimes the dialogue seems a little forced- humor is often inappropriate (the characters were making jokes in the next chapter after the major death in chapter 5, which just... didn't go with the tone). Golden should get snaps for delivering plot through the dialogue, but he's at his strongest when he's describing the truly horrific- which I would like more of in the future Jenna Blake novels, so hopefully he gets a little darker. In "Skin Deep" - he definitely does, so maybe it just took him awhile to find his rhythm. Check out the "Body of Evidence" series. It's seriously making me want to take long subway rides and read the ENTIRE time. Check them out from your local library.

Watchmen: Graphic Novel vs. Movie

Watchmen is one of the few graphic novels where the movie has done a better job. Nothing against Alan Moore, who wrote a pretty good story, but the movie does a better job at giving the readers the proper cliff notes to what the story is about. It also has a much better reason for our ultimate villain allowing humanity to unite- he really makes Doctor Manhattan the villain. That element wasn't in the graphic novel, and the gigantic-cloned-psychic-brain-alien thing that is used as the villain in the graphic novel is just... well, silly. Silk Spectre is a lot more likable in the movie version; in the novel, she was just sort of crazy yelling and complaining all the time. Her costume adaptation, which is only loosely based on the original design from the comic, is also just much nicer. Her comic costume is very dated. The movie was cast well, and giving us extended fight scenes upped the ante. I don't usually say "see the movie and read the book" but this is a good example of one time I probably should. Recommended. Go see it.

Sometimes I Wonder What the World is Coming To...

I feel like I should be doing something. Taking advantage of NYC in 44 degree weather. Going downtown. Getting dangerous. Dancing the night away.

I don't think I'm going to do any of that.

I think I'm going to put on some pants, take out the trash, smoke (don't do it at home, kids), then probably collapse into a deep, restless sleep.

I have tomorrow off. Honestly, I was so on the ball and productive this week, I have nothing to do. It's truly a day off. I don't even have enough laundry to do laundry. My NYC taxes are all done. I actually might work on some... well, work. Which is sad. RE: day off.

Who knows? Maybe I won't stick to the plan. My advice? Don't.

My Sister, the Felon

Some reading updates- I've given up on the Maisie Dobbs novel, but I'm hopefully going to have my review up on LJ and Random Buzzers this week. I bet you can't wait to see how I close since I don't know how the novel actually ends; I'll probably leave that part out. I did spend an amazing evening until 3:00 AM reading "The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy" by Robert Leleux. I saw that someone was a fan of it on The Book so I decided to check it out from the Parker Russo Library. Which I shouldn't have, because I haven't been there in almost a month at this point. The book is an amazing story of a boy's dysfunctional relationship with his mother. I read the whole thing really fast. It made my life seem a lot better by comparison, despite having a pretty crazy mother myself. I've also started reading "Seedfolks" by Paul F. I bet not a lot of books are named "Seedfolks" so it should be easy for you to look up, people. It's short, and I'm halfway through it after a short subway ride. It's all about how a local community band together to plant in an abandoned lot/trash dump after seeing a little girl do it first. The novel is written to reflect each character's voice chapter to chapter, so it's kind of fun to read if you have no attention span. I have to do a presentation at a high school (a 'Booktalk' if you will) on some YA Lit I've read, so I wanted to read a bit more before Thursday. I just don't know if that will happen.

Books, Books, and More Books

So I am continuing along in reading Jacqueline Winspear's "An Incomplete Revenge." For the record, I'm currently on chapter 11. I was hoping my trip to NH would help me finish the book up, but sadly... the 1930's old english dialogue is forcing me to reread everything the characters say. I have to say, now that I'm halfway through the book, I'm kind of finally getting excited about the novel. The book is a mystery novel following a private investigator named Maisie Dobbs. She is investigating a land purchase deal for a rich dude, but she's finding out there's something off about the town. Someone loves setting fires every year, and she's starting to close in on who it is and why. It's keeping me in suspense, and I kind of like it. This was a LibraryThing EarlyReviewer win, and for last month, I think I won two more books. It's back to nonfiction, though. I know one is about strokes. That should be fun.

I also have an elevated status within the Random Buzzer community as a 'Book Blogger'. I'll be talking a lot more about Random Buzzers now than I have in the past (although, I've kind of talked a lot about them here and on my work blog already...). They are also sending me books to review, so I will be a busy little beaver when it comes to my reading duties. I am thinking about officially applying for some of my reviews, or shorter cliff note versions, to be published in School Library Journal. If they like me, they will send me a book or two to review. Then my name could be in print, in all it's School Library Journal glory. I haven't decided if I really want more reading responsibilities, especially since I still haven't complete "An Incomplete Revenge" ... which I've had for over a month. I just need to bite the bullet and start reading a lot faster.

If that wasn't enough, I have applied also for a continuing education scholarship from Beta Phi Mu. Remember? I was inducted into a library science honor society! Now I'm trying to get something out of it. I know one year they didn't even award the scholarship 'cause no one applied. The address I was supposed to send the application to was a little suspect (there was no street address, just 'Florida State University'). I want to eventually go back to school. I've decided that since my full-time work credentials are not impressive enough, I need to amp up my academic background. I want to go back to school, and I want to do it at the Pratt Institute. I have an informational meeting Thursday evening to at Pratt to see how I could integrate one class a semester into my schedule. I probably won't go back until the fall, maybe even later. Without school, I feel like a brainless loser. Plus, I could probably get a break on my many loans if I take out even more. That's probably not very financially saavy, but it's the best I've got.

Also, thanks to Scott, my YouTube career had temporarily resumed. I'm returning his FlipV next time I see him (true story! and also sad...), so they video well will soon dry up. I've had a lot of weirdo problems uploading them lately, so I keep trying to fix them and reupload them. I have one more to put up, so updates haven't finished yet, people. Remember to comment, rate, and subscribe. The link is in the sidebar on the left. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next time in the funny pages.

Book Review: The Survivor's Club

The first rule of the Survivor's Club: everyone is a survivor. After reading this title, you may well believe that. Ben Sherwood takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of near death tales ranging from a pilot ejecting at supersonic speed to a woman that nearly died after tripping on knitting needles that pierced her heart. Each chapter includes a theme along with two or three examples of real life survivors to back up the overarching idea introduced. The book is interesting in taking many stories and preserving how fantastic they are, but bringing the narrative back to the same idea. While you may scoff at the idea of people finding religion in near death experiences, it's hard to refute Mr. Sherwood's research after interviewing so many people.

The title approaches the subject sociologically; interviewing people and tallying statistics. While the footnotes are informative, I think the hardcore readers will want some of the statistical information backed up more credibly without having to thumb through the extensive bibliography. I read the book not as someone looking to increase my survivor mindset; I think if you go into reading the title this way, you will enjoy it. It may work for the reader looking to increase their chances of survival in everyday life, too. The book has some great suggestions. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the online code it comes with on the inside cover; if you go to the website listed in the book, you can determine your 'survivor personality' after taking a 15 minute online quiz. Definitely worth your time, and a great addition for your library as well. Recommended.

Book Review: Any Given Doomsday

I really tried with this book. I read, I cringed, I put it down for awhile, I picked it back up, and then I read some more. I’ve gotten about halfway through at this point, and I really think it’s about time to throw in the towel. It's amazing how a bad book can become even worse. The only impending apocalypse that "Any Given Doomsday" prophesizes is the hopeful end of Lori Handeland's writing career. Toted on the cover as a New York Times bestselling author... I think they may have to make that print bigger if they expect to sell more copies. Then, of course, is the problem of people actually reading it and realizing the book is so poorly written it will give you a migraine.

Let me give you just one amazing example of this literary masterpiece. Note my sarcasm. On page 104, "Jimmy stood in the doorway and surveyed what appeared to be a mass murder. I got a pretty good idea what Jonestown had looked like. Except that there were no remnants of poison Flavor-Aid, just blood on blood and then, hey, more blood." That is not made up. It's an actual excerpt from the book. The premise is a true “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” knockoff which doesn’t even attempt to hide the fact that it’s… well, just plain bad. The main character, who in 150 pages I’ve come not to care about at all, is a psychic orphan who became a police officer who… I guess she got fired? Her partner died? She has an ex-boyfriend named Jimmy who cheated on her who is half vampire. He is also a DK, which stands for Demon Killer. Yeah. Not making this up people. Even though calling him a DK is clearly… well, just plain bad… she keeps doing it. She’s called him a DK or referenced DKs at least two dozen times. It’s almost caused me to throw the book out the window. I also don’t believe this woman was a police officer at all. Read the book and you’ll see. On second thought, don’t. Spare yourself the migraine.

I’m a little shocked and severely disappointed by the reviews I’ve read on LibraryThing commenting that the book is “not that bad” and is an overall good book but “lacks character development.” Guys, seriously. That was your biggest problem with this title? How about the fact that none of the characters react realistically to these situations at all. Granted, they are dealing with monsters and the like, but that’s no excuse for creating characters who have never dealt with anything that fantastic shrugging off the situations like they were no big deal. The book also does mention sexuality way too much. That has been brought up in the reviews, but really not enough. At times, it reads like a trashy romance novel. Emphasis on the trashy. I don’t care that the main character is horny. I guess you're supposed to because it's brought up in nearly every chapter. I don’t want to read about how she can feel a man’s junk rubbing up against her thigh. Sadly, these parts aren’t even well written. As a librarian, knowing books like this exist just make me plain sad.