52 Review - June Edition

In the busy summer months, I never find that there is enough time for reading. June was a super busy month for me, but I still managed to read 4 books. This usually meant staying up way past my bedtime to be able to get any reading in.
I felt like I really mixed up my usual reading routine by reading all different kinds of books. They're all fiction, of course, but different genres within that.

The Bees
by Laline Paull

338 Pages

Born into the lowest class of an ancient hierarchical society, Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, an Untouchable, whose labour is at her ancient orchard hive's command. As part of the collective, she is taught to accept, obey and serve. Altruism is the highest virtue, and worship of her beloved Queen, the only religion. Her society is governed by the priestess class, questions are forbidden and all thoughts belong to the Hive Mind.
But Flora is not like other bees. Her curiosity is a dangerous flaw, especially once she is exposed to the mysteries of the Queen's Library. But her courage and strength are assets, and Flora finds herself promoted up the social echelons. From sanitation to feeding the newborns in the royal nursery to becoming an elite forager, Flora revels in service to her hive.
When Flora breaks the most sacred law of all-daring to challenge the Queen's fertility-enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses who are jealously wed to power. Her deepest instinct to serve and sacrifice is now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart and her society, and lead her to commit unthinkable deeds

This description, while very accurate, makes this book seem as if it's going to be full of intrigue and politics, but it's not really at all. The story itself isn't all that fulfilling, but the workings of the hive fascinates me. I love bees, so it was really neat to read about them. I found that I enjoyed that much more than anything else. In the beginning, it was hard for me to picture them as actual bees, since she writes about them as if they were human. As the book progressed, I started to picture them as bee/human hybrids. By the end they were bees and I was very happy with that.


Endgame (Sirantha Jax #6)
by Ann Aguirre

337 Pages

Sirantha Jax has the J-gene, which permits her to “jump” faster-than-light ships through grimspace. She loves nothing more than that rush, but the star roads have to wait…
Her final mission takes her to La’heng, a planet subjugated during first contact. Since then, the La’hengrin homeworld has been occupied by foreign conquerors.
All that’s about to change.
Now, as part of a grassroots resistance, Jax means to liberate the La’hengrin. But political intrigue and guerrilla warfare are new to her, and this will be the most dangerous game she’s ever played—spies and conspiracies, a war of weapons and hearts, and not everyone is guaranteed to make it out alive...

I'm finally finished this series.  I was a bit worried at the beginning of the book, when a few of the relationships take a bit of a weird turn, but they work themselves out by the end and I'm happy with them. It's also not how I thought it would end, but I'm happy with that too. I'm so sad that it's over, but I understand why she ended it where she did.
It's kind of hard to say anything without giving it away.
I've already picked up the first book to another series by this author. I hope it's just as good.

Throne of Jade (Temeraire #2)

by Naomi Novik

397 Pages

When Britain intercepted a French ship and its precious cargo–an unhatched dragon’s egg–Capt. Will Laurence of HMS Reliant unexpectedly became master and commander of the noble dragon he named Temeraire. As new recruits in Britain’s Aerial Corps, man and dragon soon proved their mettle in daring combat against Bonaparte’s invading forces. 

Now China has discovered that its rare gift, intended for Napoleon, has fallen into British hands–and an angry Chinese delegation vows to reclaim the remarkable beast. But Laurence refuses to cooperate. Facing the gallows for his defiance, Laurence has no choice but to accompany Temeraire back to the Far East–a long voyage fraught with peril, intrigue, and the untold terrors of the deep. Yet once the pair reaches the court of the Chinese emperor, even more shocking discoveries and darker dangers await.

 Soooo much traveling....

Now I understand that life is the journey, not the destination, but when a book that doesn't really get to any plot until at least 300 pages when they actually reach their destination, the journey is not very exciting to read about. One of the only interesting plot points during the journey was a section where there was worry about there being a ghost on the ship, which (plot spoiler) there wasn't.

Once they actually got to China, it was really quite interesting and I loved reading about it. It made the traveling worthwhile. I've been told that this was one of the slowest books in the series, so I'm optimistic about reading the rest of them.

The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)

by Thomas Harris

367 Pages

A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a psychopath's mind --- in the deadly search for a serial killer ...

I'll start this off by saying that I have never seen the movie of this. I've always wanted to, but I've always been leery about it, too. I don't know why, since I've seen Hannibal, Red Dragon and I'm now just starting season 2 of the TV series.

I picked this book up last year and it's been sitting on my shelf, tempting me all this time. Since my last TBR book got upchucked on, I have replaced it on my list with this.

  It was really good, although the story almost seemed like it could be split into 2 different ones. In my head, most of the characters look as they do in the TV series, except for Hannibal, how looks more like Anthoney Hopkins than Mads Mikkelsen.

It was a very good read and had me on the edge of my seat. for most of it. So much so, I might actually pick up the rest of the books and read them.

Books that I am currently reading

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft

Page 16 of 360

(I'm sure one of these days I'll pick this back up)

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3)

by George R.R. Martin

Page 420 of 1128

Movies R Fun!

Are you even bored by reading the same stories to the children in your life? Do you wish there was something out there that you would find entertaining to read as well?
Introducing Movies R Fun!

Entertain the entire family with such classics as Alien

Pulp Fiction

Die Hard

The Graduate

The Godfather

Silence of the Lambs

Jaws

Psycho

And many, many more! Guaranteed to give your little one sweet dreams all night long.

Buy your own copy of Movies R Fun!

Already own a copy and are looking for more fun? Try these cuddly creature books by Joey Spiotto

Show your kids that alien encounters can be educational as well as fun!

buy Facehugs For Everone!

buy Hungry Little Hunter

Don't settle for anything less than R rated entertainment!

Thanks to Nerd Approved and Geeks are sexy who know how to entertain all of the children.

Honest Trailers (AKA Why I haven't gone to see The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug)

The Hobbit, oh where do I begin? 

Lets start with this picture. I find it to be accurate for most things, but especially for this one.

Ok, it's not just that, it's a lot more than that.

Let's go back and I'll take you on a journey. Maybe not an Unexpected Journey, but stay with me, if you will.

My Parents are avid readers, so I was always encouraged to read, even from a very early age.

It started with picture books and big hard cover adaptations of Disney Movies.

When I no longer needed pictures, I started reading little novels written for my age group. I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid novels about Ariel and her sisters and moral-of-the-story Berenstain Bears novels.

Yup, these are books that I still own.

I only owned a few of each, since our small town book store didn't carry them, so it was only on special trips to bigger towns and cities where I was allowed to pick a few books out for myself. (A tradition my Dad I still uphold when we go to book stores together)

When I out grew those, I had a really hard time find anything to read. All the novels that I could find were about regular girls doing stuff like babysitting or having fights with their friends and even more after-school-specially stuff. It was so boring. I was a girl that dealt with that kind of stuff every day in real life, I didn't want to read about it. So I gave up on reading. 

It was very sad.

One day, I came across my father reading an old dilapidated book that was barley holding together. Curious as to what it was, I asked him. It was his old copy of  Lord Of The Rings. He had read it about 5 or 6 times at that point. When asked why, he started telling me about Frodo and his epic journey to Mordor. I lost the next hour or so listening to him. I never knew that there were stories full of adventure and other worlds written for grown-ups! What a discovery!

Before my sister and I were born, my father actually read The Lord Of The Rings to my Mom every night before they went to bed. He suggested that we should do the same thing, except that if I wanted the whole story, we should start with The Hobbit.

And that's exactly what we did. I fell head over heels with Tolkein's world and happily spent the next few months getting lost in it. After The Hobbit was finished, we tried to read Lord Of The Rings, but didn't get too far, due to my Dad getting new glasses and needing time to get use to bifocals. We never did get back to it and I moved on to other books. R.L Stine to be exact.

Years later, when I had plowed through ever Fear Street book that I could get my hands on and was looking for something new, my Parents bought me a beautiful set The Lord Of The Rings. White spines with a golden elvish border all framed beautifully in a red box. To this day, it's still the only box set that I own and nothing that I've ever seen has compared to it.

Needless to say, I devoured the entire series in no time. I didn't think anything could ever be better than The Lord Of The Rings and argued that point with whomever would listen. That is, until a friend of mine called me on it. He then brought me the first book of The Wheel Of Time and thus my love of fantasy was established. 

I've though of re-reading the Rings multiple times though out the years, especially when the movies were released. It had only been about 3 years since I'd read them when the Fellowship came out. 

When I found out a few years ago that they were making The Hobbit, I really couldn't remember much about it. I decided that a re-read was in order. 

I even managed to find a copy of the book that matched my book set!

I discovered a few things while re-reading it.

1) It's a lot shorter than I remembered.

2) It's not as well written as I remembered.

3) There's a lot more singing than I remembered.

4) I still hear my Father's voice in my head while reading it. It makes me smile.

When I discovered that they were making 3 movies instead of one, I was caught off guard. It's a very short book, after all. I put that doubt behind me and shuffled to the theatre to throw my money at it.

I've never been so appalled at a movie in my entire life! 

Middle-Earth is not my fandom and I don't fangirl accordingly, so the fact that I screamed internally the entire movie says something. 

And I'm not the only one.

Thank you Honest Trailers, for expressing into words what I couldn't without frothing at the mouth in rage.

say the characters that aren't even in the book, despite the fact that they really do have a point...

So yes, this is why I haven't gone to see the new movie, despite the fact that I keep hearing that it's much better and less nerd-enraging than the first one. I may yet go and see it before it's gone from theatres. 

One thing is for certain, I will not make the mistake of re-reading a book before the movie comes out. 

end rant....

Hope - An Old Republic Fan Film

Remember this guy from the Old Republic game cinematic? I still haven't played the game, but I still really want to. this is one of the cinematics that made me want to play

Yes, it's still awesome. But you know what's even more awesome? A group of guys decided to make a live action version of this, and they did a really amazing job! 

It is in French, but there are subtitles.

They even got people who looked similar, well, except the jedi girl. Maybe they just didn't know as many female Star Wars fans as I do. Still an awesome job though.

Thanks to Distracted By Star Wars and G33kpron for the info

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill Audition Taps

Aren't you glad that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were cast in Star Wars? I know I am. I just can't imagine anyone else playing these iconic roles as well as they did.

Who knows, perhaps if they had been played by other actors the movie might not have done as well as it did. 

Thank goodness they did well in their auditions.

I love this video! I wish they had kept this part of the scrip for the movie. It really does explain a lot, like why Leia lead the Imperials to Yavin 4.

Again, you get a neat perspective on both Luke and Han that wasn't in the movie. I like that Organa-Major was blown up and not Alderaan (which nobody dares go near), as well as the fact that Mark calls his Hans.

There are only a few short clips of Harrison Ford auditioning, but really you get more from him in these 2 tapes than from anything else I saw.

Auditioning is hard, but these 3 are as cool as cucumbers through it. Yay for them and an even bigger yay for us to see them together.

Thanks to The Mary Sue for loving Star Wars as much as us

Ralph McQuarrie RIP

Sad news hit the Star Wars Universe yesterday with the passing of Ralph McQuarrie.

1929-2012

Best known for his conceptual art for the original saga of Star Wars, McQuarrie was also noted for his design work on Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Back to the Future, and many other amazing films.

"I am deeply saddened by the passing of such a visionary artist and such a humble man. Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'Do it like this.'
"Beyond the movies, his artwork has inspired at least two generations of younger artists—all of whom learned through Ralph that movies are designed. Like me, they were thrilled by his keen eye and creative imagination, which always brought concepts to their most ideal plateau. In many ways, he was a generous father to a conceptual art revolution that was born of his artwork, and which seized the imaginations of thousands and propelled them into the film industry. In that way, we will all be benefiting from his oeuvre for generations to come. Beyond that, I will always remember him as a kind and patient, and wonderfully talented, friend and collaborator."
—George Lucas on StarWars.com

Let's take a look back at some of his amazing art and appreciate what Star Wars became because of his conceptual designs.

Yes, Star Wars wouldn't be the movie that we know and love without this amazing man. We own him Darth Vader and Stormtrooper armor and so many other amazing things. He will truly be missed.

Thanks to The Mary Sue, StarWars.com and Signalnoise for sahring in our sorrow and taking time to honor a wonderful man.

Frankenweenie Remake?

Does anyone remember Frankenweenie? Of course you don't. No one does. 

Well, except maybe hardcore Tim Burton fans and, of course, maybe me.

Now don't think I'm a crazy fan, at least not in this case; the only reason I know about this movie was because it was in the extra features of my Nightmare Before Christmas VHS. I discovered it one day when I let the movie run through the credits instead of just turning it off and rewinding it. It also came with an amazing short called Vincent, about a boy who thought he was Vincent Price.

Frankenweenie wasn't a very good short film, but maybe that was because it was live action. Anyway, Mr. Burton has decided to remake the movie using his ever so loved stop motion animation style.

One of Burton’s first projects, Frankenweenie is a black and white short film about young Vincent, whose dog Sparky dies after being hit by a car. Vincent is, of course, saddened by the death of his dear pet, but luckily, soon after, his science class is shown how to reanimate a dead frog with the use of a battery and some wires. Vincent digs up Sparky, and applies the principles learned in science class to bring Sparky back to life.
If you are fortunate enough to own the 2000 Special Edition DVD set of The Nightmare Before Christmas, then you’ll likely have seen Frankenweenie in the Bonus Features section. If you haven’t, or if you don’t have the DVD, I highly recommend checking out the short. It’s a half hour of typical Burton, featuring such talents as Shelley Duvall (a.k.a. the mom in The Shining) and a thirteen-year-old Sofia Coppola.
It has been 25 years since Tim Burton made Frankenweenie, but the ever-intriguing writer/director/producer has decided the time has come to revisit his early project. While the original Frankenweenie was a live-action short film, Burton’s vision for the update is a full-length stop-motion film.  - atomic popcorn

 The child in this (incidentally name Vincent) looks almost the exact same as the one in the short Vincent. But then again, they both look like they are going to grow up and look like Victor from Corpse Bride.

What is it with Tim Burton and his characters all looking the same? All his animated characters look the same and all of his live action characters all look the same... oh wait.. that's because they're all played by Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter...

Which, on a surprising note, neither of them are doing voices in this movie! Hooray!!!

Don't get me wrong, I love both of them as actors, but it is getting boring to watch them play weird, eccentric characters. Hopefully this will start a new, non-Johnny/Helen reign of awesomeness, but I think at this point, it's still too early to tell.

If you're interested in checking out the original movie, here you go!

and for those that want to see some truly wonderful Tim Burton work, here is Vincent. 

Enjoy.

Thanks to The Mary Sue for this teeny-weenie bit of info :P

New Trailers For The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-man!!

I mentioned in an earlier post that 2012 is going to be an awesome year for movies!

Here are some new trailers for awesome looking movies, to give us more of an idea of what we can expect to see come movie time.

The Amazing Spider-man

I've always been a huge Spider-man fan, that is until the last 3 movies came out. Although I kind of enjoyed the movies, the Spider-man that I knew and loved slowly slipped away. It wasn't until I re-read Marvel Civil War, that I remembered how much I loved him. I'm really hoping that this new movie does him justice. I am super stoked that Gwen Stacy is the love interest and not Mary Jane, for once. I'm also excited that the villain is The Lizard! Not someone you see very often. (I always mix him up with Killer Croc)

The Avengers

This trailer fills my heart with school girl glee! I've been waiting since Civil War to see Steve and Tony interact on screen! Their chemistry is amazing!

Squee!

Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Thor look amazing, but don't say anything, so it's hard to grasp what they'll be like and as far as I'm concerned, Nick Fury aka Samuel L. Jackson as himself talks too much. But that's a rant for another day.

Here's hoping that this movie is amazing and they decide to make a Civil War movie. I would love that sooo much!

Captain Planet Wants You To Be Green... Or Else...

Captain Planet, he's our hero,
Gonna take pollution down to zero,
He's our powers magnified,
And he's fighting on the planet side

That's right, the planet's side... not humans

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet from Don Cheadle

Oh, Don Cheadle... You make the best Captain Planet ever! If you had played Captain Planet when I was younger, I would've been a life long fan

Thanks to Fashionably Geek for making me want to be more green.

Thor Trailer!

I so want to see this! I mean, not only is it Thor, but damn, they did a good job on casting him!

I mean, just look at him

It makes these superhero movies even better in my books when they cast hot men. Even if the movie is bad, the eye candy will be well worth it!

Plus, Natalie Portman! YAY!

Cowboys Vs. Aliens

I don't know why, but I really want to see this!

Captain America: The First Avenger

Being the Canadian that I am, I always thought that Captain America was stupid. Why would I want to read a comic about some stupid, flag waving, American?

I thought this way for years, or at least until I picked up Marvel Civil War and absolutely fell in love with the Cap.

So when I found out that they were going to be making a Captain America movie, I got excited. When I found out that hottie, Chris Evans of Human Torch fame, was going to be playing the Cap, I got really excited! I don't know how Chris can be both the Human Torch and Captain America, but you won't hear me complaining.

Not one bit...

For fans of superhero movies, the most patriotic holiday on next year’s calendar won’t fall on July 4th, but exactly 18 days later. That’s when Paramount Pictures will release Captain America: The First Avenger, a big budget adaptation of the Marvel Comics shield-bearing super-soldier. The new issue of Entertainment Weekly offers your first look at star Chris Evans in the hero’s red, white and blue threads — but you can get a peek at the man in uniform right here, right now.

Our story also brings you to the set of the London-based production, directed by Joe Johnston (The Wolfman, October Sky). During a break in shooting, Evans — on his second tour of Marvel duty, having played the Human Torch in Fox’s Fantastic Four films — explained he was reluctant to accept the call of Captain America, in part because he had already portrayed a Marvel-ous mystery man. Of course, he also worried about the potential cost of failure, but he also worried the potential cost of fame should the movie be a hit.

“At the time, I remember telling a buddy of mine, ‘If the movie bombs, I’m f—-ed. If the movie hits, I’m f—-ed!’” After declining the part three times, Evans took a meeting with Marvel execs and Johnston and was dazzled by their plans for the movie. He still felt wary about suiting up for Captain America — but then he had an epiphany. “I was just scared,” he says. “I realized my whole decision making process was fear based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear.’” Evans signed a six-picture deal with Marvel to play the character, and he has no regrets: “I can’t believe was almost too chicken to play Captain America.”

The movie — which also serves to set up Marvel’s 2012 superhero team-up, The Avengers -- hews closely to Captain America’s WWII-era origins. The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha. There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played Haley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube). “The interesting thing about this character is that he’s an everyman who in the course of a few minutes become a perfect human specimen. That has to create some interesting personal issues,” says Johnston. “I saw it as an opportunity to make a superhero movie that felt real, that didn’t have to rely on an overabundance of fantasy elements.”
 

Hell, I don't even care if the movie sucks (like so many other superhero movies have) as long as I get eye candy like this through the whole thing.

Actually, from the shots that I've seen of this movie, it could be pretty good. Marvel has really stepped up their game in the last few years too and with the Cap being a part of the Avengers, they're bound to try and do their best.

I do love a man in uniform.

I'm excited that they got to Hugo Weaving to play the Red Skull. Having him there makes me feel more confident that it'll be a great movie.

There does seem to be some confusion going around as to what version of Cap they'd be doing. As you can see from the pictures above, they seem to have gone with the WWII era, but on the cover of Entertainment Weekly he adorns a more modern version of the suit and shield. 

Will we see Cap in both eras? Or will the suit only show it's self in the other Avengers' movies? I guess we'll have to wait and see.