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.

Battle of the Blades - Week 5

We're down to the final four pairs tonight, and I think it's pretty clear that Tie Domi has to go. He's clearly the worst skater of the group. He excels at lifting his partner, Toughy Hough, and swinging her around, but he lacks the ability to actually skate. The other skater in the bottom two with Tie tomorrow night will either be Stephane Richer or Claude Lemieux. Both of them skated well but not spectacularly.

Craig Simpson is the guy who is head and shoulders above the rest. He and Jamie Sale skated to the Austin Powers theme and they clearly had a lot of fun taking on the movie personas for this performance. He blew me away with a three waltz jump combo - and it was done in unison with Jamie. I look forward to watching them skate every week. The judges gave them 5.9s, but it was most obviously a 6.0 performance.

For Monday night's skate off, Domi really got turned around during the middle of his performance and then couldn't seem to get himself back together for the rest of his program. He ended up getting the boot.

Book and Movie Reviews

I just finished reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward. I loved these books about a secret underworld of vampires that's slowly crumbling under archaic, oppressive traditions. The Brotherhood are a small group of men fighting the lessers, a cadre of undead scum created by the Omega (the devil). The vampire society is lead by a king, also the leader of the Brotherhood, who is trying desperately to stabilize society while the lessers wreak havoc. Each book in the series delves into the background and issues of specific characters while pushing the overall story forward. Many people in the on-line book club I belong to have a favorite character, but I couldn't possibly pick just one. I love them all!

I can't wait to read more in this series. The next book in this series is due out in April. Her latest book, Covet, is the first in a companion series. I will be reading it in the near future (once I straighten out my massive tbr list). I really liked these books and recommend them if Urban Fantasy is your reading genre of choice.

I also saw a couple movies this weekend. Law Abiding Citizen, starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, was pretty good. Butler plays a man whose wife and daughter were murdered during a robbery. One of the bad guys gets the death penalty, but the other bad guy gets free after a few years in prison because he made a plea deal and ratted on the other guy. Butler spends the rest of the movie getting back at all the people who essentially let this second felon walk. It's very well made. If you don't get to the theaters to see this one, put it in your rental queue.

The other movie I saw was Good Hair, a documentary by Chris Rock about African-American women's hair. It was informative, funny (no surprise there with Chris Rock at the helm), and very well made. He explores all aspects of hair products and styles while interviewing many people ranging from common everyday people to celebrities. The most revealing aspect for me was what a HUGE business this is just because women don't like their hair! And this statement applies to white women as well, even though this movie specifically focuses on black hair. Definitely see this movie, no matter what race you are. After watching this, I swear I won't complain about my hair as much. (If I said "never" you'd know I was lying.)

Battle of the Blades - Week 4

This is still my most favorite show on TV right now. This week's musical theme was R&B, and the guest judge was Lanny McDonald. Lanny still has his giant 'stash, it's just white now instead of red.

Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale TOTALLY BLEW ME AWAY! I was screaming 6.0! 6.0! at the TV. Craig is skating really, really well (in spite of a back injury), they both have a great feel for the music, AND he was the first guy to do an actual jump!! A waltz jump, if you've never done a jump in figure skates, can be difficult. The judges only gave them 5.9's. I thought Dick Button might cave and give them a 6.0 but he didn't. He's probably saving it for the last episode or two.

Claude Lemieux looked great too. I still predict Lemieux and Simpson in the final two. Tie Domi got stuck with some crappy slow song I've never heard before, but he skated pretty darn well to the music with his partner (even if he is still in hockey skates). Daneyko and Richer were OK, but not fantastic. I'm guessing these are the two that will be in the skate-off tonight. We shall see!

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Daneyko and Domi were in the bottom two tonight. Domi skated very well. Daneyko did pretty good too, but not as good as Domi. Daneyko had a little bit of a flub on one of the lifts, but even discounting that his program didn't measure up to Domi's and he was booted off.

Battle of the Blades - Week 3

Week three and the pressure is ON! Tonight they skated to Latin music, and for the first time we're starting to see who's got the skating chops to make it. Most pairs skated well. Stephane Richer turned in a solid performance, while Tie Domi was fun to watch (as usual) and probably remains the crowd favorite.

Ken Daneyko was a little klutzy and he dumped his partner on her butt. Ron Duguay and Barb Underhill were a bit lackluster in their performance. I'm guessing those are the two that will be in the skate off tomorrow night.

After tonight I'm predict that the final two skaters will be Craig Simpson and *cough gag choke* Claude Lemieux. They both are skating exceptionally well, and they don't look like clumsy lumbering hockey players. I'm seriously impressed with their skating. The only thing either of them lack is the training to do spins and jumps, otherwise you'd never guess that weren't trained figure skaters.

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I was half wrong. The two players skating off on Monday night were Ron Duguay and Tie Domi. Tie's performance maybe wasn't technically advanced but he sold his "Rico Suave" performance to the judges. Ron Duguay's performance was similar to last nights: underwhelming. Ron was sent home. No more looking at his fake tans or perfectly coiffed hair (or his bad disco shirts).

Battle of the Blades - Week 2

Ho-lee-KOW! Last week when they announced that everyone would be skating to Frank Sinatra music on their second week, I thought it was a dirty trick to play on all the hockey players who are still getting used to figure skates. But they all looked really great this week. All the men wore figure skates except for Tie Domi, who did great anyway. I was especially surprised at how well Mr. Clean look-alike Ken Daneyko did.

My favorite was Craig Simpson who skated an honest-to-God pairs program with his partner Jamie Sale. He even did a few spirals as well as some lifts. I think they had the best performance, but the judges liked Claude Lemieux and Shae-Lynn Bourne the best. But again, they all turned in really great performances. I'm so impressed.

We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see which two pairs get the least amount of votes before we find out who'll get booted off next. Based on tonight's performance I'd go with Glenn Anderson who tripped on his toe pick and fell, then tripped on his toe pick again getting up. Shortly after that there was a very shaky lift that had me yelling "oh $hi+" because I thought he was going to drop his partner, Isabelle Brasseur. In spite of these mistakes, it was still a pretty good performance. If he can turn in a stellar performance tomorrow night, the judges might save him.

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As predicted, Glenn Anderson was in the bottom two, as well as Stephan Richer for the second week in a row (not quite sure why he keeps ending up in the bottom). Glenn skated much better in the elimination round. His lift toward the end of the program was solid, and led to a little bit of a different ending than what we saw on Sunday night (the correct ending, I'm assuming). But the judges voted him out.

The best part about this elimination round was Don Cherry calling out Dick Button for being excessively mean toward Glenn Anderson. Having followed figure skating for a couple decades, I'm used to Dick Button ripping apart the skaters. I don't think Don Cherry expected his harsh criticism since this show is just for fun and they're all skating for charity. It just goes to show you that the bitchiness of the figure skating world permeates everything it touches. Too bad.

Battle of the Blades - Week 1

OMG! Battle of the Blades is my new favorite show! It's on CBC every Sunday and Monday for the next six weeks. This show pairs hockey players with figure skaters to see how well the hockey players adapt to figure skating. It's hosted by Ron MacLean and Kurt Browning, and the judges are Dick Button and Sandra Bezic with a guest judge each week. This week's judge was Kelly Hrudey who you could tell had a lot of fun watching the big brawny hockey players skate a little routine with their partners.

The pairs are Bob Probert and Kristina Lenko (see photo), Claude Lemieux and Shae-Lynn Bourne, Glenn Anderson and Isabelle Brasseur, Stephane Richer and Marie-France Dubreuil, Ken Daneyko and Jodeyne Higgins, Tie Domi and Christine (Tuffy) Hough-Sweeney, Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale, and Ron Duguay and Barbara Underhill.

It's a lot better than you might think because the hockey players already know how to skate. Most of them have adjusted pretty well to the toe picks on the figure skates, but a few of them obviously didn't because they ended up wearing their hockey skates. Probert, Domi and Duguay all wore their hockey skates, but then Barbara Underhill sported a pair herself for this first round.

The judges gave the highest marks to Duguay who clearly visited Studio 54 a time or two when he played for New York. It kills kills kills me to say this, but if I had voted it would have been for Claude Lemieux. *choke choke, gag gag* Seriously, Lemieux and Bourne had the most elements in their program, including a full overhead lift, AND Lemieux did the whole thing on figure skates! I was really impressed. Actually I was impressed with all of the guys who all did a lot better than I had expected....except for Probert. *sigh*

I wish I could say my Red Wing skated figure eights around Domi, but he clearly had the hardest time adjusting to the fluidity of movement needed for figure skating. And after the skate-off on Monday between Probert and Richer (who had the two lowest vote tallys), the judges voted off Probert.

Next week the remaining seven pairs will be skating to music by Frank Sinatra, and the guest judge is going to be........drum roll........Don Cherry! YES! Grapes himself will be critiquing Tie Domi's ability to adapt a lovely skating routine to a lilting Frank Sinatra melody. (No, pigs aren't flying and hell hasn't frozen over.) If that's not enough to get you tune in then I don't know what is.

Pandorum

Pandorum was a good action /sci-fi flick reminiscent of the Alien movies. It was a little predictable but well made and fun to watch. It did have a nice little twist at the end, and God knows I love those!

My friend had a question about a key plot point, and when I pointed out the scene where we got that information she grumbled something about having someone else give us the information instead of the guy who's hard to understand. My one complaint was that at the end of every scene someone had to say "We've got to get out of here." It was obvious by everything that was going on in the plot that it was crucial for them to keep moving. I don't think they had to remind us quite so often. But hey, if you can roll with that and focus your listening on the mumbly guy's big scene, you're sure to enjoy this thriller.

Movie and Book Reviews

The Informant starring Matt Damon is hilarious. It's based on a true story about a VP at a company who turns informant for the FBI and provides evidence of price fixing in the industry. But the way it's made has you laughing throughout the entire film. It's unbelievable to watch all the events unfold. If you don't catch this one at the theater then definitely put it in your rental pile.

I rented Race to Witch Mountain. I'll admit it: I only rented it because to look at The Rock. You can skip this movie.

Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol is a fun read. I would say it's not as far-fetched as Angels & Demons or The Da Vinci Code, which I liked but I'm guessing most other people won't like this one as much. It's set in Washington, DC and focuses on the secrets and symbols of the Masons.

Last but definitely not least is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I adored this book! It's a murder mystery told from the first person perspective of an 11 year old chemistry enthusiast named Flavia. The thing I loved the most about this book is the distinction between the world everyone else lives in, and Flavia's world. This book is charming and funny, and you have to put it in your to-be-read pile.

Movie Reviews: Inglourious Basterds, etc.

I finally got to see Inglourious Basterds this weekend and loved it. It's set in Nazi occupied France in WWII and focuses on an elite group of Jewish American soldiers called the Basterds (led by Brad Pitt's character) who brutally kill and scalp Nazis. They eventually cross paths one fateful evening with a Jewish woman (hiding her identity) who runs a movie theater in Paris that is frequented by German soldiers. Together they change the course of history (if only!!). This is classic Tarantino and I highly recommend it to his fans. However, don't go see this movie if you don't like his other movies.

I also rented a bunch of stinkers lately. I highly do not recommend Employee of the Month (not funny), The Watchmen (WAY too long), Dream Girls (well made but boring), or Laddder 49 (predictable and boring).

Gamer and Stranger in a Strange Land

It was a cloudy day here in Michigan so I went to see Gamer starring Gerard Butler. It takes place in the not-too-distant future where nanochips are implanted into the brain cells of convicts and are then controlled like a video game character by real people in a real life combat scenario. Ultimately it explores technology taken to far by greedy, obsessive humans. It's a decent movie if you're into action/sci-fi films, but if you're a chick-flick type movie goer don't see this one.

Also, at the urging of a friend of mine I read Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein...eventually...after setting a reading schedule and forcing myself to stick to it. My main problem is that it was written in the '60s for a '60s mentality. Had I read it then I probably would have loved it. But, with my modern sci-fi mentality, I struggled to make it through. It wasn't a bad book or a poorly written book, it was just very laborious for me to read. But I'm glad I did, though, because it's a sci-fi classic and I've always wanted to read it.

It's about a man from Mars who comes to live on Earth. I would have enjoyed it more if the book focused on the man from Mars. As it is, less than a third of the book is about him. The main portion of the book focuses on our human reactions to him, told primarily through a blow-hard named Jubal who talks just to hear himself talk. If I ran the universe, I would make a "good parts" version like they did for Princess Bride. But I don't, and therefore it's hard for me to recommend this to anyone else.