Changeless and other Book & Movie Reviews

Changeless, the second book in the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, was everything I hoped it would be: very humorous with a twisty mystery and dash of absurdity for good measure. In this story our heroine, Alexia, is trying to figure out why areas of paranormal creatures turn into mortals. I definitely recommend this book, but be forewarned about a big cliffhanger of an ending.

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley was just as wonderful as his first novel The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Once again, our intrepid little 11 year old heroine, Flavia de Luce, is determined to solve the mystery of a puppeteer's murder. Charming, funny and well written. I definitely recommend both of these books.

Vampire A Go Go by Victor Gischler was a fun romp that I also recommend. Various factions and individuals are all chasing after the philosopher's stone for one reason or another. It's an action packed mystery adventure.

I picked up Dog Days by John Levitt for one of my book challenges, which was to pick a book based solely on its cover. It had a guy and a dog that glowed blue, and at the bottom is said Magic is a Man's Best friend. It was actually a pretty good book so I lucked out. What's not to love about a magic dog?

Date Night was funnier than I thought it would be. The previews definitely don't do it justice. Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are spot on. The funniest part may have been the outtakes when the credits were rolling.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a good movie, which surprised me because the book was slow and tedious and I couldn't make it past chapter 10. It was made in Sweden. If you can stand reading subtitles I definitely recommend this movie.

Deadtown, Heroin Diaries, and other reviews

I just finished Deadtown by Nancy Holzner and I really enjoyed reading it. Set in Massachusetts, it takes place in a current time when a virus had mutated around Boston and caused some unfortunate people in the vicinity to become zombies. They're quarantined in the area now known as Deadtown. Our heroine, Vicky, is a shifter who comes from a long line of demon slayers. She lives in Deadtown with her vampire roommate and dates a werewolf lawyer. It's an action-packed, entertaining urban fantasy novel that I recommend to readers of the genre.

I also read The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx, bass player for Motley Crue. He kept journals during 1987 when he was into some of his heaviest heroin use. It's fascinating/terrifying/heartbreaking to read what he was thinking during that time. He supplements his diary entries with his own reflections, as well as the reflections of others who were around him at that time. I usually don't read these types of books, but I definitely recommend this one to anyone who's even remotely interested. It'll blow you away.

I also made it through Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell. I read a couple of her other books and absolutely loved them, but not this one. It was tedious to read and boring. The only reason I finished it is because it was only 300 pages long with big print. I just forced myself through it. If you're looking for a good mystery, pick up Thirteen Steps Down or The Water's Lovely instead. Those are well worth your time; this one is not.

I went to see Clash of the Titans yesterday. It was OK but not great. Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neesan are always wonderful to watch, but their screen time is short. Being a sci-fi/action film fan, I'm glad I saw it. If you're planning to watch it DON'T waste your money on the 3D version. Many scenes weren't in 3D. This is one of those movies they never intended to make in 3D but threw a 3D version together anyway.

Bite Me, How to Train Your Dragon, and Other Reviews

I've been slacking in my blogging so these reviews are going to be short. I'll start with Bite Me by Christopher Moore. I don't know how he gets funnier with every book but he does. I lost count of how many times I laughed out loud in the first chapter alone, not to mention the rest of the book. The third and last book in his vampire trilogy (Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck are the other two) this book primarily focuses on the adventures of Abby Normal, self-appointed goth minion to the vampire couple she discovered. I don't want to say too much to ruin any of the laughs for anyone. I recommend all of Moore's books to everyone. Read them.

I also read the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I know this is a very popular PNR/UF series, but I didn't really like Hamilton's writing style. It wasn't until the last three books that anything of any substance actually happened in the overall story. I know these are very popular books, but I can't really recommend them.

A couple Kindle freebies also made into my reading: Murder Takes the Cake by Gayle Trent and Moonstone by Marilee Brothers. The former is a nice little cozy mystery placed in a small town involving cakes, pets, murder, and old town secrets. It was a nice little book but I'm glad it was free because I would never pay for this. Moonstone was a nice Young Adult book. Again, I'm glad it was free because I would never pay for this. If you happen to have downloaded either of these when Kindle was offering them for free then read them, but I don't recommend buying them.

Today I went to see How to Tame Your Dragon. I WANT A DRAGON!! They're so awesomely cute! This was a really good animated movie. I highly recommend it to everyone. Last week I went to see The Bounty Hunter with my mom. Gerard Butler is nice eye candy but you can otherwise skip this one. And I rented The Marine only to look at Manu Bennett who plays Crixus in the Spartacus series on Showtime. Nice eye candy, truly horrible movie.

Alice in Wonderland and The Green Zone

Alice in Wonderland was visually stunning but the story was slow. This type of story lends itself well to Tim Burton's movie-making style. My favorite character was the Cheshire Cat; the animation and voice were absolutely perfect. I also like that Burton worked in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem into the main story line. However, it would have been a better movie overall if it had faster pacing and possibly a more exciting Alice. I recommend this movie to any Lewis Carroll fan.

The Green Zone is about the first few weeks of the Bush administration's disastrous invasion of Iraq. It's a well made movie with great actors. I definitely recommend it as a good movie, but it made me so angry all over again that I came home from the theater pissed off and bitchy. If you don't want to drudge up those emotions again, you may want to skip this one.

Kim Harrison

Last weekend I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison, at a book signing in Lansing, MI. She was really funny and nice. She started by reading a short passage from her newest book Black Magic Sanction, the latest in the Hollows series, and then spent a good 20 minutes answering all kinds of questions.



I thought it was interesting that she doesn't have much input on her book titles or her covers. She started the series with modified Clint Eastwood films for her titles, then when she started gaining popularity her publishers took over the naming of her books. But they still stay with the Clint Eastwood theme. For book covers, they always ask her what she would like to see, she always says Jenks, they always say no, but they always end up with a cool cover anyway.



Then when it was time to sign the books, she would sign as many books as you had - no limit, which was very cool of her. And she posed for pictures with anyone who wanted one. She was just very accessible and down to earth, which makes her very easy to like. It's always a treat when someone you idolize for their talent turns out to be a good person too. What a treat to have met her.

Black Magic Sanction Review

I was so excited on Tuesday when Black Magic Sanction was finally released. I think Kim Harrison is a very talented writer, and the latest book in her Hollows series doesn't disappoint. In this book, both the demons and the witches are hunting Rachel. Being neither quite a witch nor quite a demon, her unique genetic make-up would allow demons to start repopulating. Demons want to use her, and so-called white witches want to destroy her. And, as always, helping her out of sticky situations are her close band of friends Ivy the vampire, Jenks the Pixie and Pierce the witch, among others. Floating in and out of the story is Trent Kalamack, a billionaire whose history with Rachel goes back to childhood, and who isn't really on Rachel's side but isn't necessarily against her either. And Al! Al! Al! There's lots of Al the demon in this one so I was very happy to explore his teacher/student relationship with Rachel in more detail. Al is such a unique and interesting character so I was glad that he featured prominently in this book. If you like the urban fantasy genre of books, I recommend you pick up the first in this Hollows series, Dead Witch Walking. This is one of the best series out there, in my opinion.

I also managed to read the Demonica series by Larissa Ione. I loved this series, but I'm a huge fan of urban fantasy books. These books center on demon (obviously) brothers who run a hospital hidden under New York somewhere for other demons, vampires, weres, shifters, fallen angels, and other supernatural creatures. It's a fun series if you're into this genre.

Shutter Island Review

I've been lazy about keeping up with my blogging lately. I blame the Olympics which has me completely captivated. I did manage to tear myself away from the Olympics long enough to watch Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow. Scorsese makes amazing movies and this was no exception. DiCaprio plays a US Marshall sent to the island to find a patient who escaped and is presumably hiding on the island. What he discovers is so much more and it's a fun ride to take with DiCaprio as he uncovers clues and information. Definitely go see this movie. You will not be disappointed.

A few movies you can skip are The Ugly Truth, Year One, and Knowing. These movies are slow and boring. If they're in your movie rental queue you should consider removing them.

Olympic Ladies' Figure Skating

Ok, WOW! The women's figure skating last night was incredible. The three medalists are mind blowing! Gold medalist Yu Na Kim broke a record with the highest score ever awarded to a female skater. She was over 23 points ahead of the second place girl. And she's from South Korea of all places! She trains in Canada with Brian Orser, but it's incredible that her talent for figure skating was recognized in a country not known for its figure skating and cultivated. Her performance was absolute beauty.

Silver medalist Mao Asada also made history by being the first woman to land three triple axels in one competition, one in her short program and two in her long. Most women can't even do triple axels. Axels are the most difficult jump because they're the only jump that takes off forward, and they're a half a rotation more than every other jump. When she was setting up for her second triple axel last night I was chanting at the TV "do it do it do it do it" trying to will my energy and positive thoughts to her. The rest of her program was great too. {On a side note, this is another example (*cough* Evgeny Plushenko *cough*) as to why having a bigger jump won't guarantee you a gold medal. You need the complete package to get one of those.}

And Joannie...the person everyone on the planet was rooting for. How do you pull off an excellent program like that under those conditions? I knew she was going to do it, though, when she smacked her coach's hands with two hard fives and took two hard fives back right before her skate. The crowd erupted and so did I. Such a wonderful performance. It wasn't a "sympathy" vote to put her on the podium. She earned that medal fair and square. Only a true world-class Olympic athlete could have accomplished what she did.

I also want to take a moment to explain why the American skater didn't belong on the podium. Mirai Nagasu did very, very well but she was generally less polished than the top three. The area where Joannie edged her out was the Program Components which includes choreography, interpretation, etc. Joannie was 8 points higher than Marai in this area, and Marai was only 3 points higher than Joannie in the executed elements. You also have to remember that they factor in the short program as well. Joannie was almost 8 points higher than Marai in the short program score. Watch out in the next Olympics though. Marai Nagasu will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

I hope you all got a chance to watch this. It was truly an amazing night for figure skating.

Wolfman, The Graduate, Clockwork Orange

Wolfman is a solid representation of the classic wolfman story. The acting is superb with a cast that includes Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt. It was also visually stunning with the setting and the wolfman effects, which weren't overdone. There's nothing particularly amazing about this movie, but it was well made and I recommend it to anyone who likes these kinds of movies.

I finally got around to watching The Graduate. It's one of the few older movies I've watched that actually holds up over time. It's about a guy who doesn't know what he wants to do with his life after he graduates college. He has an affair with a friend of his parents (the Anne Bancroft character), but ends up falling in love with her daughter.

It's soundtrack is famous for its use of several Simon & Garfunkel songs. My only complaint is the use of the same ones over and over. I really didn't need to hear Scarborough Fair four times in a row. S&G have an extensive music catalogue and I wish we got to hear more of it.

A Clockwork Orange is a product of its time. I'm sure it was cutting edge back when it was made, but it doesn't really hold up today. Kubrick tried too hard to make a weird movie.

Reviews for Legion, Temple Grandin, and How to Wash a Cat

I was so disappointed in Legion. I love action/sci-fi movies so I was kind of excited to see this one. I know the reviews weren't good, but I don't listen to movie critics because they don't tend to appreciate the action/sci-fi genre like I do. First the good points: Paul Bettany is nice to look at; and the best scene in the whole movie was when the fry cook ninja chucked a cast iron frying pan at the head of a freaky old lady. Bad points: a whole lotta nothing happened; it was never really explained why this baby of all the babies waiting to be born was the one that could save the world; Dennis Quaid (whose acting gets worse as he ages); and the thing I hated the most was the stupid, moron guy who was supposed to be the protector of the girl and her baby. He was borderline mentally handicapped. Very irritating. I'm sorry to say that I don't recommend this movie at all.

HBO's Temple Grandin biopic was fabulous. I read one of her books on animal behavior several years ago so I was very interested in watching this movie of the story of her life. She was born with Autism, but because of the way her brain processed information she was able to excel at the science animal behavior for which she has a PhD. She single handedly revolutionized the cattle industry. By noticing behavior in cattle that no one else was able to, she redesigned the way in which cattle are treated at ranches and at processing plants. Her design plans are currently used in over half the facilities in the US and she is considered the foremost expert in her field. This is an incredible movie. You should really try to catch it on HBO this month.

My dad picked up a mystery book for me called How to Wash a Cat by Rebecca M. Hale. It's a "cozy" mystery (as opposed to a forensic analysis) about a woman with two cats in San Francisco whose uncle dies. While investigating some mysterious clues her uncle leaves behind, we get involved in the history of San Francisco during the days of the gold rush. It's a fun story that's a little too slow in the middle, but picks up at the end. If you're owned by a cat and you're looking for a fun little read pick this one up.

The Queen Betsy series by Mary Janice Davidson

The Queen Betsy series by Mary Janice Davidson is chick-lit meets the paranormal. These books are laugh-out-loud hilarious and very fun to read. The first book, Undead and Unwed, opens with Betsy as a newly unemployed secretary who gets plowed over by an SUV. She wakes up shortly after in a coffin in a funeral home dressed in a cheap suit and tacky shoes (by her horrible step mother). She soon discovers that she's a vampire, but not an ordinary one because she can walk into a church, is immune to holy water and sunlight, and even a wooden stake in the heart doesn't take her out. This means that she is the queen of the vampires as prophesied in the Book of the Dead, the creepy vampire equivalent of the bible that's bound in human skin and written in blood.

These books follow Betsy, a shallow shoe whore, through her reluctant transformation into the vampire queen. Her unorthodox approach to solving problems both threatens other vampires and endears them to her. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a book on the lighter side of urban fantasy.

Immortals After Dark

OK, I'm hooked on the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. The overall story arc revolves around the coming Accession, occurring naturally every 500 years, in which various factions of immortals kill each other off (essentially controlling the immortal population). However, we can tell that this Accession is going to be a doozy. Nix, the prognosticating Valkyrie, works in the background throughout the books to align the Valkyrie, werewolves, certain vampires, witches, various demonarchies, and others against the bad guys (yes, those were the good guys). Nucking Futs Nix, as she is not-so-affectionately known by most characters, is a minor character, but if she's working this hard she obviously sees a real possibility of the bad guys winning this time around. If you're looking for a UF/PNR series with hot vampires and werewolves you might want to check this one out.

Extraordinary Measures

Based on a true story, Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser is about a father's quest to help his children born with a rare genetic defect. Fraser plays the father who quits his job when he finds a scientist (Ford) who has a plausible theory on which to formulate a drug that could save his children's lives.

The movie isn't bad, but it's drippy and predictable. It's sweetened up in all the right spots so it can get maximum leverage from pulling on your heartstrings. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you're dying to see it you can wait to rent it.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Shades of Grey, the first book in a new series by Jasper Fforde, takes place in an alternate reality some time in the future after the "Something That Happened." People now live in an over-simplified world where strict adherence to the Rules are required (no matter how silly or harsh they are) and people can only see one color. The social hierarchy, the Colortocracy, is based on what color you see; greys are the very bottom, reds just above the greys, and purples at the top.

Our main character, Eddie Russet, is a young man who is sent to East Carmine to take a chair census because he needs to learn humility for the egregious offense of trying to improve the system in which people stand in line. He ends up learning humility, but from the secret subculture of the greys where he discovers there's much more going on in the world than he ever realized. He comes to learn that the Rules are meant to keep people ignorant and subservient, and that people sent to Reboot for breaking the Rules aren't rehabilitated like everyone is meant to believe.

This is a less playful book than the ones he wrote for his Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series' but it's just as clever and thoughtful. I continue to be amazed at the ideas Fforde comes up with. I'm interested in seeing how he unfolds the story in future books. I definitely recommend this one, but if you've never picked up one of his books before I suggest you start with The Eyre Affair, the first book in his Thursday Next series.

Movie Review for Daybreakers

I just went to see Daybreakers and was pleasantly surprised. The movie critics beat it up, but they're just movie snobs who would rather die than give a vampire movie any respect. The plot was original: in the not-too-distant future the world is mostly populated by vampires, and humans are on their way to becoming extinct. What does the vampire world do to feed? Where do they draw the lines of morality? What if someone found a way to turn vampires human again?

In addition to the interesting plot, it had more gore than I was expecting which was fine with me because I haven't watched a good gory movie in a long time. Sam Neill plays a great bad guy, and Willem Defoe and Ethan Hawke are really good in their roles. The ending had a few little twists that I didn't see coming, which I always enjoy. I hate movies where the entire plot is predictable and therefore boring (like Avatar).

I definitely recommend this movie. If you don't get a chance to see it in the theaters put it in your rental queue.

God, I love True Blood!

Book Review for the Glory St. Clair Series

I just finished the the Glory St. Clair series by Gerry Bartlett, which includes Real Vampires Have Curves, Real Vampires Live Large, Real Vampires Get Lucky, and Real Vampires Don't Diet. I really enjoyed reading this series. Glory is a full-figured vampire who moves to Austin after working a Las Vegas showgirl and fighting off a gambling addiction. She opens a vintage clothing store (why not, she's got a stockpile of clothes, shoes, and handbags from living over 400 years) so she can make a success of her life on her own. Her on-again-off-again lover, Jeremy Blade, is also her over-protective sire who tries to keep her safe from a high-tech billionaire vampire hunter. She also has a guard dog, Valdez, (who is much more than what he seems) and many other zany vampire friends. It's a light, fun, and very humorous series. The next book comes out on February 2nd, Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs. I'm definitely going to read it, and I recommend that you do too.

Reviews for An Echo in the Bone and Avatar

An Echo in the Bone, the latest in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, is my favorite in the series since the first book. It was nonstop action from start to finish. She has a lot of characters all over the place (and all over time) but she does a great job at keeping all of them engaged in the story, which somehow remains quite cohesive.

In previous books she didn't leave us with cliffhanger endings, but she certainly did in this one! Most of the story lines left us dangling; some because of the arc of the plot, and some because things happen that you never would have thought would ever happen. I'm not dangling on that cliff, I went way over and I'm in a free fall while I wait for the next (possibly last?) installment in this series.

Avatar. *sigh* I liked it, but I didn't love it like everyone else seems to. The animation was spectacular. I especially liked the little floating puffy things that looked like jellyfish. I wish they would have put as much effort into the script as they did in the animation. The plot was trite and completely predictable. It was a half-assed Dances With Wolves wannabe that lacked any subtlety.

My main issue with the plot was that I know it didn't have to be that bad; someone was just lazy to care about it. I would like to point to Up and Wall-E as examples of how high tech movies ought to be. The animation in these two were spectacular, of course. But beyond that, they had me captivated in a riveting story with characters I really care about. In my mind I was trying to justify Avatar's plot by telling myself that they were aiming for a broad audience that encompassed kids (unlike Dances With Wolves which was clearly for adults only). But that argument just doesn't hold. Up and Wall-E were aimed directly at children but bewitched and enchanted people of all ages.

So I know it can be done: there can be a successful marriage between CGI technology and meaningful scripts. It's just up to the producers to care enough about making a quality movie and not just a flashy one.

Book & Movie Reviews

I have a lot to cover so these will be brief. I'll start with book reviews. Under the Dome by Stephen King was, of course, fabulous. A mysterious force field appears over a small town in Maine (I'm never going to Maine - bad stuff always happens to those poor people) and no existing technology or weapons can remove it. This creates the perfect environment for the shady people trapped under the dome to create chaos and take control. This isn't the first time King's told us story of what bad things can happen to a microcosm of people, but the point of this book is very clear: together we are responsible for horrible atrocities and it's only when we're alone and thinking independently that we put an end to these things. He's not even talking about taking pity on someone much less showing kindness; he's talking about tapping into the base humanity we all have to stop what we know it wrong. It's over 1,000 pages but well worth the read.

The Dude Abides by Cathleen Falsani explores the gospel of the Cohen brothers by analyzing each of their movies. This is a very interesting book for anyone who's a fan of their movies.

I really loved On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. Between the world we know and the magical world is a place called The Edge where people have very individualized magical ability. Rose and her two young brothers live here. Their parents are gone and Rose is trying to keep the family going by herself when a mysterious man shows up one day and demands that Rose become his bride. Around the same time a large group of vicious hounds invade The Edge and try to destroy everything in it, leaving Rose no choice but to join forces with the stranger. This complex plot kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in urban fantasy.

Now for the movies. Pirate Radio is a great movie that was fun to watch, and when you left the theater you were whistling the tunes. Definitely rent this one when it comes out on DVD.

Sherlock Holmes was a fun movie and I enjoyed watching it, but it could have used about 20 minutes of editing in the middle of the movie. I would have liked to have seen more of Holmes' deductive powers of reasoning in action throughout the movie instead of saving it all up for the end. But I definitely recommend it.

Up in the Air starring George Clooney is about a man who lives most of his life traveling the country for his work. He avoids getting close with anyone, including his family, until he meets a woman who lives the same kind of lifestyle. It's a great movie that explores why we need to have connections with people to give our lives meaning. Definitely see this one as soon as you can.

Movie & Book Reviews

As grim as the post-apocalyptic The Road is, it's incredibly well made and well acted. The point of this movie is about keeping your humanity. The father of a 10 year old boy loses his along his journey. He knows he's dying and his determination to do everything he can to ensure his son's survival is the only thing he can focus on. The son, even after seeing all the same horrors as his father, has kept an open heart and continuously fights with his father to do the right thing instead of the thing that will only benefit themselves. Always there is hope in the next generation, and hope is the theme of this movie. Definitely see this movie, but brace yourself for a bumpy ride.

I'll do a quick summary of the recent books I've read. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson didn't do it for me. I ditched it after 10 chapters. Other people love this book but I can't recommend it.

The Brass Bed by Jennifer Stevenson was a funny tale about a demon trapped in a brass bed due to a curse put on him hundreds of years ago. Paradox I was two short stories by Rosemary Laurie and JC Wilder. Both of these books were free Kindle downloads, and they were better than I thought they would be. Bloodlust was a free short story by Larissa Ione. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books in the future. And last, I read A Highlander Christmas, a collection of short stories by Dawn Halliday, Cindy Miles and Sophie Renwick. I bought it as a prize for my on-line book club but had to read it before I gave it away.

New Moon Movie Review

New Moon, the second installment in the Twilight saga, is a fairly decent movie. It his all the high points in the book and told the overall story pretty well. It was fun to see the Cullens again, and I'm glad Jasper got a line in the movie so we could hear his southern accent (he was a confederate soldier, after all). I liked that Rosalie got a couple lines to explain why she doesn't want Bella to turn into a vampire. But I'm sure the back stories of Jasper and Rosalie will never make it into the movies, nor will those of Esme, Emmet or Alice. At least Carlisle's was hinted at in this one.

The best thing about this whole movie was the Volturi, the ancient and powerful governing body for all vampires. The Volturi are led by Aro, expertly played by Michael Sheen. Sheen stands out as a seasoned professional among an entire cast of amateurs. He is deliciously evil and power hungry, and I'm bummed that the Volturi aren't part of the third story.

The second book was all about the wolf pack so I was a little disappointed that they didn't go into more detail about it. They could have spared a minute or two to explain the pack mentality and how they're all connected all the time (and they all hate it). They very briefly mentioned that a pack member has to (i.e., physically cannot do otherwise even if they want to) follow the Alpha's orders. I was most surprised they left out the imprinting since it has such a huge impact on the end of the last book. But I guess they're going to follow the pattern of the Harry Potter movies and just chunk it all into the last movie.

My complaint about the special effects is that when the sun hits Edward he radiates light like a light bulb is in inside of him and shooting out of his pores. The effect is worse than a disco ball. I much prefer the low budget effect of the first movie which matched perfectly how I imagined Edward in the sun.

Overall the movie was decent. It's a must-see for Twihards, but for the mere Twi-curious you might want to skip the chaos of the movie theater and wait for the DVD.

Movie & Book Reviews

I'll start with the movie reviews. 2012 rocked! Great special effects drive this movie starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. The editors of this movie did a great job at balancing the special effects with the human interest stories. If the world were to experience something this huge in such a short amount of time, this is probably very close to what would happen. Great movie, great story. Go see this one.

The Damned United is a British movie starring Michael Sheen as soccer coach Brian Clough. It's a true story about Clough and his drive to be a better coach than his rival Don Revie. I like that it's not the typical story arc where the guy starts as nothing and ends up on top and everybody lives happily ever after. The movie is filled with fantastic British actors such as Colm Meaney, James Broadbent, and Timothy Spall. If you don't catch this one in the theater, make sure you put it in your rental queue.

Now on to books. The Magicians by Lev Grossman was a very interesting read. It sounds like it would be Harry Potter all over again because our protagonist, Quentin, finds out that he can do real magic and goes off to magic school instead of college. However, this book is absolutely nothing like Harry Potter. HP is the typical hero's story. This book is about the elite students at an elite school who are insufferable snobs who excel at what they do. When they graduate from school they have the capability to do almost anything, and they're given vast amounts of money to do it with. But with no focus in their lives they become overly self-indulgent and grow bored with themselves. The author holds degrees from Harvard and Yale, so we can see that he has plopped his Ivy League experience into a story about magicians. This is very well done and, as I said before, it's very interesting to read. I definitely recommend this one.

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris, the latest book in her Harper Connelly mystery series, is probably the best story in this series so far. After getting struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper can sense dead bodies. While discovering the reason for her client's father's passing, Harper uncovers secrets about that family's past which end up tying into her own family secrets. If you're looking for something easy and entertaining to read, give this one a shot.

Battle of the Blades - Week 6

We're down to the final three: Simpson, Lemieux and Richer. I think that these are the top three guys so I'm pleased with the voting and judging so far. Tonight, though, the judges were highly praising Lemieux and Richer, and sort of dissed Simpson for his edges. I disagree completely. All three of the them are good at tossing their partners around in various lifts, but only Craig Simpson has truly embraced figure skating. He's learned how to do a waltz jump (and, in fact, did three of them in a row last week), today he did a spiral, he's done some tricky footwork, and he's the only guy to actually skate on one foot! I don't understand why the judges don't appreciate his hard work as much as I do.

On a side note, Katerina Witt was the guest judge and she's just a little weird. She kept making remarks about wanting to be in a threesome with the skaters. o.O Her comments were just a little odd. Maybe her thoughts didn't quite translate well from the German in her head to the English out of her mouth. However she was handing out 6.0's like they were going out of style. It's about time. For a few weeks I've been screaming six-point-oh! at the TV every time Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale skate and she gave them one.

For the Monday night skate off, Richer's partner had hurt her back and couldn't skate. The judges decided, and the skaters agreed, that all three pairs will remain in the competition and all will skate in next Sunday's competition. So Canada, make sure you watch and vote next week!

Book Reviews

Covet, the latest book by JR Ward, is the first of a new series in which the world hangs in the balance between angels and demons with one guy who can save us all. There will be seven books in this series, one for each of the deadly sins. This book really appealed to my inner sci-fi/fantasy/action geek. There were a few scenes that could have been tightened up a little, but overall I really enjoyed this book. I recommend it to anyone who loves the Urban Fantasy sub-genre of books.

Soulless by Gail Carriger is cute and funny. It's set in Victorian England, which is usually a big "ugh" for me. But the whole book was filled with such silliness that I couldn't help but enjoy it. I guess I'd classify it as a historical vampire/werewolf mystery adventure. (Does that even make sense?!) Our spunky heroine is a parasol-carrying soulless spinster (at the ripe old age of 25) who is determined to solve the mysterious disappearances and murders of all the supernatural beings. If you have any interest in something light and a little off the wall I recommend giving this a try.

Tempted is the latest in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristen Cast. It's the continuing story of teenager Zoey Redbird, favored priestess of the vampyre goddess Nyx, who tries to lead a group of her friends against the forces of evil that erupt in her life. This is series just OK. If I were a teenager I'm sure I'd like it more, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to my adult friends unless they were specifically looking to read something like this.

This Is It - Movie Review

It was truly stunning to watch Michael Jackson's concert rehearsal footage for his never-realized This Is It concert. This footage was taped over the course of a few different rehearsals each at different stages of completion. Michael Jackson was involved in every part of this production from the instrumental music, vocals, dancing, staging, lighting, special effects and everything in between. I found it interesting to see how he inspired everyone to achieve excellence through his passion, commitment and, most refreshingly, his genuine kindness. And in an age where many singer's voices are dubbed and digitally corrected due to (extreme) lack of talent, it was awesome to hear him sing and sound just like he does on his albums. And, of course, his dancing is phenomenal.

I loved some of the phrases he used while giving directions during rehearsals. In one scene he was trying to get the tempo right on The Way You Make Me Feel. He wanted the beginning slower and with a specific overall "tone" (for lack of a better word on my part). He told the keyboardist that he wanted the musical feeling of "just getting out of bed" - which, when you listened to it, was an accurate description of how it sounded. Then the keyboardist started adding more music too quickly, and Michael Jackson corrected him by telling him that he wanted the music to "simmer" for awhile before it kicked in.

I was enthralled with this whole movie. I want to see him perform this concert live. It's clear why the 50 shows he had scheduled sold out almost instantly. I wish we could turn back time and somehow prevent his untimely and UNNECESSARY death. It's clear that he was physically healthy and excited about performing these shows. I am both inspired and heartbroken. *sigh* Anyone who has even the slightest interest in Michael Jackson should go see this movie. You will not be disappointed.