The Canadian pointed me towards this extremely awesome Lord of the Rings flowchart. Excellent!

We recently watched Food, Inc - a very thought-provoking and interesting documentary that examines large-scale agricultural food production in the United States. It concludes that the meat and vegetables produced by this type of economic enterprise leads to inexpensive but unhealthy and environmentally harmful food.

So many documentaries of this sort make you either want to stop eating altogether or become a vegetarian. What I liked about the documentary is that it was very matter-of-fact, didn't paint an entirely bleak picture of things, made me feel like there were things I could about my own situation and also made it sound like the consumer DID have a voice and an ability to effect change. ( Read more... )

Blurb: When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade--a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they've closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up--the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

I bought The Maze Runner from amazon.com on Kindle a few weeks ago.

It's a good book and very exciting - I can imagine it would make a good movie, too. Interestingly though, when I read Garth Nix's books, I can't tell what gender the author is - with The Maze Runner, it's clearly written by a male author. It's very violent with gore and excitement and occasionally reads like a boy's own adventure. Brief non-spoilery discussion beneath the cut. ( Read more... )

Blurb: For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Now its sudden rediscovery by museum staff is both a major coup and an attention-grabbing mystery. Dubbed “Madam X,” the mummy–to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact–seems a ghoulish godsend for the financially struggling institution. But medical examiner Maura Isles soon discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old” relic is instead a modern-day murder victim.

To Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, the forensic evidence is unmistakable, its implications terrifying. And when the grisly remains of yet another woman are found in the hidden recesses of the museum, it becomes chillingly clear that a maniac is at large–and is now taunting them.

Archaeologist Josephine Pulcillo’s blood runs cold when the killer’s cryptic missives are discovered, and her darkest dread becomes real when the carefully preserved corpse of yet a third victim is left in her car like a gruesome offering–or perhaps a ghastly promise of what’s to come.

The twisted killer’s familiarity with post-mortem rituals suggests to Maura and Jane that he may have scientific expertise in common with Josephine. Only Josephine knows that her stalker shares a knowledge even more personally terrifying: details of a dark secret she had thought forever buried.

Now Maura must summon her own dusty knowledge of ancient death traditions to unravel his twisted endgame. And when Josephine vanishes, Maura and Jane have precious little time to derail the Archaeology Killer before he adds another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.

I rather like Tess Gerritsen's books. They're always interesting. Even the ones that aren't quite so good are still a good read. ( Read more... )

1. I've just made some lemon cream cheese puff/pastry things with big, juicy, delicious lemons given to us by our neighbour. Mmmmmm. I LOVE lemons

2. It's a gorgeous and sunny day so we had brunch with my bro at Beppe's Tuscan Kitchen, a cute little café at the Canberra Markets. I had a delicious chicken, mango, orange and mustard salad that was just right.

3. We're going to Sydney this weekend to see Tori Amos perform at the Sydney Opera House.



4. Our personal effects will finally arrive this Tuesday morning after what seem to be endless kerfuffles. :) Finally our books, dvds, television, clothes and a comfortable bed will be here! Also I'll have more than one mixing bowl and 2 saucepans. Yay! :)

5. I've always hated love triangles in my fiction - being why I have never liked the King Arthur story. These days though, I'm REALLY tired of love triangles, squares and hexagons that are hitting me in the eye every which way I look in young adult fiction and television. There ARE other devices that can be used to introduce tension and suspense into a fictional romantic relationship and really - is it THAT common that one has two equally suitable/unsuitable, totally hot and passionate guys (or gals) chasing after one at the same time? If you read young adult fiction it is - for every heroine, there must be at least 2 gorgeous guys who adore her, leading to Romantic Dilemma and Angst.

Carrie Ryan is releasing a companion novel to her first novel "The Forest of Hands and Teeth". I read it and it was interesting but I didn't really like it that much. I wrote about it here. It wasn't so much that it was badly written because the story was amazing and it was so eerie and atmospheric - it was that it was: (1) too bleak; (2) too scary; and (3) I didn't like any of the characters.

The next book by Ryan is called The Dead-Tossed Waves and like the first book, the cover is quite haunting. I'm a little bit tempted to read it.

Blurb: Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Some things I wonder though. Cut because they contain spoilers from the first novel. ( Read more... )

Criminal Minds is something of a guilty pleasure for me. It's kind of over the top sometimes. The script has a habit of constantly repeating the same thing: "The unsub is devolving", "that must have been the trigger" or "the unsub is injecting himself into the investigation" etc etc. For the benefit of the audience, they also frequently explain things that are REALLY OBVIOUS and should be especially obvious to people with their expertise.

There are also their really funny "explanation" sequences when they explain a profile to the police or a group of people and it's almost like the BSU team has scripted it because they all say one line before the camera skips onto the next team-member. Nonetheless, we watch it because it's not terrible and sometimes the storylines are very suspenseful. Anyway, the last episode of Criminal Minds called "The Eyes Have It" was rather traumatic for me because it addresses one of the many things that scare the crap out of me. My brother doesn't like clowns, talking vegetables and the like. Me, I'm a wuss and can't bear impalings, beheadings and even noisy bullets so you can imagine how I felt when this episode dealt with ... ( Read more... )

Current writing theme: Demon Hunter-The Tide Began to Rise


Warning: This chapter has not seen a beta read yet

Title: TOUCHED

Summary: Leah has always known she was different, it was hard not too when you see things that people normally don't. Not to mention, her family has a knack for disappearing...and ending up in the crazy house. When her mother disappeared from her locked bedroom on her ninth birthday, Leah knew whoever was after them meant business. After almost nine years of keeping her head down, one new student threatens her silence.

TOUCHED-12Down the Rabbit Hole

This was it.

This was the moment I’ve been waiting for since I was nine years old. A chance to get the answers to the questions that had haunted me night and day for more than half my life.

The moment that I had prepared for, had agonized over and had nightmares of.

Finally, almost to the day, I came face to face with someone that could answer all of my questions. And then some.

So I planted my feet, looked him in the eye…

…and hit him square in the face with everything I’ve got. And everything I've got was considerable.

As I was watering my baby boy this morning, I was musing about the weird things that I have pet names for. XD;; I guess I tend to give a lot of things diminutive names... is that weird? XD; But seriously, the list is kind of strange:
My baby= Prissy, my car
My baby boy= Katsuou, my plant
My baby/My little girl = Mabby, my cat
"baby" generically= any Myu actor who begins to get sentimental at graduation XD;

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them at the moment. I'm officially a weirdie.

Also, I officially hate parents weekend. I DID NOT NEED TO WAKE UP TO LOUD MUSIC FROM THE FUCKING DINING HALL AT 9:30. IT IS THE WEEKEND.

I wrote back in May that I was reading Kristin Cashore's debut novel Graceling (young adult fiction) and was enjoying it. In July, I confirmed that I enjoyed it. Thus I was very much looking forward to Cashore's second novel in the 'verse called "Fire". I was very impatient for it to come out in Kindle format but as I was tired of waiting, when the Canadian put in an order to amazon.com, I threw my order in as well. I finished "Fire" today and thought it was an excellent read.

Official Blurb #1: She is the last of her kind…

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her.

Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save for one person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don’t need to have read Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven’t, you’ll be dying to read it next.

Official Blurb #2: Fire, Graceling's stand-alone prequel-ish companion book, takes place across the mountains to the east of the seven kingdoms, in a rocky, war-torn land called the Dells.

Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain lions, dragonflies, horses, fish. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously colored-- fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green-- and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans.

Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in the Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story.

Wondering what makes it a companion book/prequel? Fire takes place 30-some years before Graceling and has one cross-over character with Graceling, a small boy with strange two-colored eyes who comes from no-one-knows-where, and who has a peculiar ability that Graceling readers will find familiar and disturbing...

*

Cashore's writing is very vivid - very reminiscent of my favourite young adult writers like Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce and Garth Nix. She has a writing style that's very easy to read, doesn't over-describe and you don't feel overwhelmed by stupid names that are stupidly long and complex for the sake of being exotic. She isn't depressingly Get Down and Stay Down like Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth), she isn't fatuous and Mary Sue in her heroines like Stephenie Meyer. Best of all, her characters don't speak forsoothly.

Comments on the book - some mild spoilers. ( Read more... )

Title: Resources for Writiers
Summary: A listing of my favorite software and books directed towards writers on the internet; click and see what you might find!

Down the Rabbit Hole, Alice

Title: Perfect
Fandom/Pairing: Sky High/Layla/Warren
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Because he has a really hot power sex.
Disclaimer: Sky High, its characters, actors, etc do not belong to me.

Perfect

I need to start actually posting again @_____@;;; lion_crest seriously has eaten my life.

So, currently, my life is rather hectic, but that's okay! ♥ I'm going to talk about the good things here, because no one needs yet another bitchy, whiny lj post, right? XD

Firstly, Caitlin's having my piece close the show for Fall Student Dance Concert! I'm really touched. It's an honour to get to close the show, so I hope the piece turns out well. It's done, but far, far, far from clean. We're really mada mada...

wtf how did I not know that there was a version of "Birthday" by Aozu as well as the one by Ryoma, Fuji, and Oishi for Tezuka? XD;; Somehow, it sounds really weird with Tezuka also in it, because his voice is like 7 octaves deeper than the others', and I like the background version for the new one a lot better. BECAUSE IT IS FILLED WITH RYOMA'S LOVE FOR TEZUKA, OBVIOUSLY. Seriously, the way Ryoma says the line "Mada tarinain'da your dreams" in the version for Tezuka is seriously the sweetest thing ever. ...Actually, honestly, I really don't like the old version. :/ Huh.

*rolls around* Did I have something say in this post? XD;

Blurb: Upon the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Charlotte struggles to keep the family's woollen mill running in the face of an overwhelming mortgage and what the local villagers believe is a curse, but when a man capable of spinning straw into gold appears on the scene she must decide if his help is worth the price.

I've always been a little ambivalent about how I feel about the Rumpelstiltsken. Stupid miller inexplicably brags to the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold, poor daughter's locked up with straw and is 'rescued' by a mysterious man who agrees to spin the straw into gold in exchange for payment - at first a ring, then a necklace. Finally, her first born child. As she doesn't even have a child at that point, she agrees. The king's ecstatic so marries the daughter although why she'd want to marry a man who locked her up in a room full of straw is beyond me. When she eventually has a child, the man returns to collect his payment and the daughter (understandably) tries to renege. There's a happy ending for the miller's daughter and a less happy ending for Rumpelstiltsken. Rumpelstiltsken is rather evil and exploitative in his bargaining but even as a wee koala, I guess I always felt a bit uncomfortable that miller's daughter broke her promise :P

Anyway, set in England at the start of the Industrial Revolution, "A Curse As Dark As Gold" is very loosely based on the originally Grimm fairy tale and I read it because there had been quite a number of fairly positive reviews about it. I thought it was an interesting read but didn't love it. ( Read more... )

Title: Making Clay
Genre: Writers on Writing
Summary: "...a great man once told me that writers write. Raw material won't come to you in a flash of inspiration and no-one will make it for you."

Down the Rabbit Hole, Alice

Dying 6-year-old girl leaves love notes behind by Andrea Gordon (thestar.com)

Elena Desserich left hundreds of pictures and messages that continue to comfort her family.



Six-year-old Elena Desserich is shown in February 2007 in an unfinished playhouse built by her father, Keith. Elena died of brain cancer later that year but left notes and pictures for her family all over their Cincinnati home, hiding them in bookshelves and drawers. “That’s my favourite picture of her,” her father told the Star. ( Read more... )

I've been reading that the Glee version of the Journey song "Don't Stop Believin'" (that we saw in the pilot), has been certified Gold for digital sales in excess of 500,000 downloads. In addition, over two million Glee songs have been purchased online and seven songs from Glee occupy spots in the top 200 of iTunes Top Songs chart. Very impressive - shows that when people really like music, they DO buy it and providing DRM-free music online doesn't mean people won't buy it.

What I've also seen is that even though people have bought the tracks separately online, they still went out and bought the album even though they probably could have just supplemented existing tracks from online sources. Very interesting!

I also just realised that Scrubs has also used "Don't Stop Believin'". :)



My favourite version is still the Glee version - it really is very catchy, cheerful and uplifting. I hadn't realised it was the 'theme song' for Glee as such, but it probably is the song that best sums up the series thusfar :)

Title: The Streets
Author: Elyse LaCroix
Genre: Drama/Romance
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: References to Narcotics in this chapter
Critique: Yes, I love comments and critique
Summary: Alexis is a young woman living in New York City and her world gets turned completely upside down
( The Streets - Chapter One )