Extra! Surprise for Me

I am probably the last kid on the block to know, but I came upon this trailer for Burlesque. I am a sucker for musicals, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, and Cher looks amahzing in this show. And, Stan Tucci! According to IMDB.com, the online entertainment bible, it is Christina Aguillera's first film role, but I have read it was a pet project. The clips are incredible, a bit like Nine. And, I am watching it, looking at the stills and I ask my DH who is that? Watch carefully:









I had a tough time recognizing him with out the malice and evil nature. There was something about those lips, that pout....

The rest of the cast is impressive; filled with NAMES, not unknowns. That means some serious budget. Kristen Bell, Stan Tucci, Alan Cumming, Julianne Hough, Peter Gallagher.
Opens November 24

Related articles

• Burlesque: Christina Aguilera and Cher Together on the Big Screen (blogcritics.org)
• First Burlesque Poster Is Hot Pink And Shiny (cinemablend.com)
• Christina Aguilera in Burlesque: I'm a Good Girl! (thehollywoodgossip.com)

Supernatural Summaries

This is a new meme I am starting for fun. Respond with your answers in a comment and check the answers on the Supernatural Summaries Page.  We'll see who gets them all right and list those winners as Summary Sovereign(s) for the week. 

Guess which book, movie, play or TV show each is.

1. From the 1960's:  When your uncle really isn't and is trying to get home.  Home is really far away.  Later in the nephew's actor's career, playing a different part, you get really ticked and turn the same color as your uncle. Add one letter to the uncles's name of his species.
   
2. Young man with a scar finds out he is really special, and goes to boarding school.
   
3. Lose your job to nepotism, go to a bar, get hit by a car, wake up with a different kind of thirst!
   
4. The after effects of being bitten by your boyfriend's foster family member take a long time to show up. When they do only another bite will set it right.Your parents are so wrapped up in their own lives they don't even notice they have taken on a boarder.
   
5. You get the one thing your husband's sister has always wanted but it kills you in the process.  Later you wake up different, say harder, colder, stronger and take up hunting.

 
 When you are done:
 Answers

Things Heat Up in This Smokin' Anthology

Burning Up

Meljean Brook, Virginia Kantra, Angela Knight, Nalini Singh

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

August 3, 2010

Level — Adult

Blood and Roses — Angela Knight pairs a vampire warrior and his seductive captor in a battle against demonic predators.
Whisper of Sin — Nalini Singh returns to the world of her Psy-Changeling series as a woman in lethal danger finds an unlikely protector-and lover.
Shifting Sea — Virginia Kantra continues the haunting tales of the Children of the Sea in her story of a wounded soldier rescued by an enigmatic young woman.
Here There Be Monsters — Meljean Brook launches a bold new steampunk series about a woman who strikes a provocative-and terrifying-bargain for freedom.

 When I won this book I was happy because winning is always fun.  But, I don’t usually like anthologies so for the book itself I felt ambivalent. I get very involved with the characters when I read, and shorts usually leave me unsatisfied. I also feel that often the plot is rushed. I hadn’t read any of the writers, so I didn’t know if the four stories would be fine fare or dreck.

I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed reading each of these stories. I’ve been trying to decide which is my favorite and it’s pretty close:

I loved the fairy tale fantasy nature of Blood Rose, although I found the ending a bit pat. But I loved the relationship between Amaris and Raniero as she learned she could trust him. There were some very hot moments, some intense fighting, and a very interesting vampire origin.

Whisper of Sin was interesting in that it involved a close-knit Chinese family in the Psy-changeling series.  Were-leopards are very cool, and Emmet is a very protective were indeed. I really enjoyed Nalini Singh’s writing and will definitely welcome her into my To-Be-Reads. I would have liked a wee bit more backstory as the reader of an anthology shouldn’t be expected to be up on the rules and terms of the author’s world.

Shifting Sea was a bit Jane Austen and a bit of a darker Gulliver’s travels. I liked the two beings attracted to each other in an enigmatic way. The marketing copy is a bit misleading. Morwenna does save Jack but it’s not the most important thing in the story. The writer does an excellent job projecting the period and the feel of the seashore.

I loved Meljean Brook’s Steampunk world in Here Be Dragons. It was a very complete world set so strangely in the mores of Britain’s past. But this also feels like a post-apocalyptic world still dystopian and seemingly without rule of law and with plenty of villains. The love story starts quite mysteriously, and doesn’t get off on a good footing. I loved the various mechanical attachments and the creatures that the “Horde,” the major bad guys in the story invented. Very hot from the first tease to the consummation Okay, maybe this was my favorite story.

So, this was a great anthology and I would recommend it without reservation and even try to persuade you to read it.

Blog Hop and Follow

DON"T FORGET MY 500 by 50 contest, use button in side bar or click 500 by 50. It has a domestic (US/Canad) side and an international side (everyone) 18 and over.



This week's question
What are your feelings on losing followers? Have you ever stopped following a blog?

Losing followers is why I no longer require follows in a contest.  I did the first time and many un-followed me about two minutes after I announced a winner. Just human nature, and I learned from that.  In my second contest I did not require follows it and actually got quite a few more followers than before. 

Image by J. Star via Flickr

But, initially a loss bugs me — did I do something wrong?  Why did they leave me? Then I get over it. Really, unless you are very personal in your blog and ask to have a very personal relationship with the followers you can't take it personally. I do try to think if I did anything outrageous recently. But normally I don't lose sleep over it. When I was in college and working in retail I had a boss who told me that you can't please everyone, and I have since figured out that it's not always about me.


One thing I try to remember is that people are visiting and following the blog not me.

And, I have to say I have unfollowed blogs myself. If I discover some agenda that the blog is promoting, or if it goes another way to or a genre that doesn't help me in my blogging. 

Visiting: I would like to say I visit each blog link every day.  I look through the new post list and pick what interests me that day and then I flip through the blogs somewhat randomly. I do have a few I visit daily or weekly.  

At Parajukee's View Follow My Book Blog Friday the featured blogger this week is Bibliophile Book Blog and today's question is

Who are your favorite authors?

 





My glib answer would be that my favorite was whoever I finished reading.  But, my faves are Patty Briggs, Charlaine Harris, Sharon Kay Penman, Diana Gabaldon, Laurell K. Hamilton, Chris Bohjalian, Julia Rachel Barrett.

Extra, extra Robert Pattinson = James Dean

‎

"Robert Pattinson is rebel cool incarnated -- the James Dean of the undead." - James Wolcott, Vanity Fair  

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=163512940346581&id=1656243899&ref=notif&notif_t=like#!/twilight

Thursday Thoughts - HELP!!!!!!!!! WHAT ABOUT A TRIVIA MEME. My contest.

 

Bon Jour Mes Amis,

Unless you have never read this blog before today you probably know that yesterday was my 50th birthday. So my Mom came up from FL and arrived late. I did not get as much done yesterday as I needed to.  In particular I have been reading an anthology, Burning Up with four stories, almost novellas really. THe stories are by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra and Meljean Brook.

I am on the last story so I should have something for you on this tomorrow. Right now I want to remind you about my contest. I don't require a follow.  I had been calling it 500 by 50 or 500 b4 50, meaning I wanted to get above 500 by my birthday. There are currently a domestic prize for the US and Canada only and an International contest for anyone, including US and Canada.

The main domestic prize is larger now that I have gone over 500 and am standing at 516 and in 34 followers, if it gets to 550 by 11/8 I add a second domestic prize (TBD). What have you got to lose? NUTTIN!

I thought of a fun game meme based on fairly current books/movies/TV shows.  I got the idea from Jeopardy.  It is to be called Supernatural Summary.  What form it will take is still gelling — if you have any ideas send them over.  If you have any summaries, send them over (with answer). Should it be a one off or contest over a period of time with the results cumulative, a  trivia quiz contest, a weekly hop with one or two summaries posed by changing  or the same host or some other format?

An example of a summary from Jeopardy was something like, "The search for a black sculpture leads to mayhem and violence. The sculpture is not the real item sought."  An alternate could be, The black bird they search for is not the item being sought." What is this movie? The answer was The Maltese Falcon.

I think the riddle idea is great. But they shouldn't be too hard or require we think ourselves into a state.


WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS!  I would really love to know! You guys are the important factor — what interests you interests me. If there is anything else you would like to see (printable) please let me know through this post's comment.

All, please let me thank you for the lovely wishes on my birthday.  You have made an old lady feel good!

So my mom is here and I have to hang out with her some. I will have shorter posts.

AND next week, right after this contest ends we will have a signed edition of Tyger, Tyger and a lovely hand crafted necklace. PLUS, and I am really excited about this: the author of this stupendous group by a major "new" talent, Kersten Hamilton will be guest posting!!!! Don't know exactly what dates. But look for it next week.

AND REMEMBER ONLY REALLY GREAT PEOPLE READ THIS BLOG SO YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

X-Men sans Wolverine? Extra Post!

Saw this sad bit o' news while doing something on Facebook. The X-Men is one of those Sci-Fi films that cross over into paranormal.  There is more magic than not in the metamorphosis from normal storm to angry storm.

    Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Wolverine Won't Be In 'X-Men: First Class' -- Is That a Mistake?

Monika Bartyzel (Subscribe to Monika Bartyzel's posts)

When 'X-Men' hit in 2000, mutton-chopped Wolverine strolled into the the public consciousness, and by 2003, his adamantium claws ripped through any remaining genre barriers, freeing him to rise to the top tiers of mainstream superheroes. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was the bee's knees cat's pajamas ... he was James Dean meets Sean Connery -- troubled, yet charismatically unstoppable.Read the rest of the article here  Wolverine Won't Be In 'X-Men: First Class' -- Is That a Mistake? - The

Image via Wikipedia

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moviefone Blog
Related articles

• 'X-Men: First Class' Doesn't Need A Wolverine Cameo (screenrant.com)

♪♬♩ Happy Birthday to me ha-a-appy birthday to me♩♫♪ & NIGHTSHADE

Howdy!

As you may have guessed from my maudlin meanderings I am now fifty, and I am not taking it well. I remember being sixteen and wishing so hard to be eighteen. Alas and alack it seems I was the fool. Now what do I have to look forward to? If you are over forty you know what to expect at you annual physical when you hit 50: a prescription for something we mostly try to avoid, and I don't care what Katie Couric says it isn't a piece of cake.

But anyway, I guess the alternative is worse than the simultaneous need for wrinkle cream and benzoyl peroxide.

On my recent trip to Vancouver and Seattle. We aren't big night people and usually spend the night reading.  I read a lot of books. One was Nightshade.I was attracted by that White and Ultraviolet hair. Then, after all the build up with the social media mystery, I was eager to read it.


 Nightshade
Andrea Cremer

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Philomel (October 19, 2010)

This was a Kindle edition I purchased as a preorder on 9/27, I began reading it the day it came out. It was about a one day read.

NIGHTSHADE (October 19, 2010, Philomel)
While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack's world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches' War that surrounds them all. http://www.andreacremer.com/books.html

Calla is a high-school student living in a werewolf world I found intriguing but unexplained until the middle of the book. I didn't get the actual secret about Shay, and why his guardian did what he did.  I found the degree of violence, and the ease with which Calla engaged in it  at first kind of "Yeah!," fist pump. But then I was just disturbed — the violence, betrayal, sexual abuse, arranged marriage. It was starting to remind me of Big Love.

But I do like a good love triangle.  I am pretty odd I guess, I thought Shay was trouble. Smart, disobedient, reckless for himself and others. I really wanted to have her go with Ren. Although I thought the whole arrangement was wicked creepy. But Ren was more mature, more steady,  and Shay wasn't the only guy who could bring Calla to a boil.


The aspect of the slavery without realizing you are slaves was interesting It is hard to imagine the pack learning this and staying complacent.
Not everything is explained, and in that way the story is like a painting. There is still some mystery.

This is a kind of sexy YA book. And, kids see so much violence on TV, movies and video games that this is probably not too violent. But I find the violence in Harry Potter hard to take so what the heck do I know! But my impulse would be 17 and up.

I want to know what happens next. There is much left unsolved, and I don't think I will be disappointed. It was a gripping tale and sometime were creatures are more human than we are. It give an author the ability to point out without pointing out. And, I am dying to know what happens next. 

Please do not take this review to mean I did not like the book. I enjoyed it immensely.

New Vamp in Town & Fall Challenge Progress

New Vamp in Town

As I was looking through Breaking Dawn for info on Garret, I came across this very romantic passage:

It was quiet for a long moment, just the thud of my heart hammering, the broken rhythm of our ragged breathing, and the whisper of our lips moving in synchronization. 


Sometimes it was so easy to forget that I was kissing a vampire.  Not because he seemed ordinary or human—I could never forget that I was holding someone more angel than man in my arms—but because he made it seem like nothing at all to have his lips against my lips, my face, my throat. (Breaking Dawn, Page 23)

It is hard to believe, isn't it, that we have to wait until next November to see the first installment of films based  on this book. Kristen Stewart seems quite excited when she talks about it. So, that has me wondering how it will turn out.



Lee Pace Talks About Preparing to Play Garrett

Posted on 30. Oct, 2010 by Amanda31 in News

NBC New York’s Niteside talked to Lee Wednesday night at GQ’s Gentlemen Ball about preparing to take on the role of Garrett in Breaking Dawn, and Lee reveals that he’s already tried on his red contacts.Via Twilight Moms http://www.twilightmoms.com/2010/10/lee-pace-talks-about-preparing-to-play-garrett/

In the Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, Garrett is a nomadic vampire who is described as:

—A tall, rangy vampire with eager ruby eyes and long, sandy hair he kept tied back with a leather thong —and it was apparent immediately that he was an adventurer. (Breaking Dawn, Page 610)

Fall Challenge

On Sept. 23 I set out to read up through the Fall Challenge.  I don't know quite when it is to end, but I have decided it should end at the Solstice. Here is where I am:

To Read

                Cover of Red-Headed Stepchild

Masked By Moonlight,  Nancy Gideon
Daughter's of Persephone, Julia Rachel Barrett(E)
Burning Up,  Anthology


The Blind Contessa's New Machine: A Novel,  Carey Wallace

Read

Visions Awake, ARC Dawn Hullender

Covers via Amazon

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble ,HP Mallory (E)
To Kill a Warlock, HP Mallory (E)

Changeless, Gail Carriger 
Blameless, Gail Carriger
My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent

Taken By Midnight, Lara Adrian (E)
Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare (E)
Nightshade, Andrea Cremer (E)
Red Headed Stepchild,  Jaye Wells
Succubus Blues,  Richelle Mead

Removed
Deadly Fear, Cynthia Eden Removed
Shadowfae, Erica Hayes (E) Removed not my cuppa. Felt like Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead only not as well written.

Added & Read
The Distant Hours, Kate Morton

Cover via Amazon

  

Related articles

• "Updates on Breaking Dawn Filming in Brazil" and related posts (twilightmoms.com)

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The Masque of the Red Death

Aubrey Beardsley 1895

Based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.


Summary and Cast and crew information from IMDB.com
A European prince  terrorizes the local peasantry while using his  castle as a refuge  against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.

       Director:  
Roger Corman
Writers:  
Charles Beaumont,  R. Wright Campbell

  Release Date:
24 June 1964 (USA)

Partial Cast listing 

Vincent Price as             Prince Prospero
Hazel Court as Juliana
Jane Asher as Francesca
Still acting in 2008
David Weston as Gino
Nigel Green as Ludovico, Francesca's father
Patrick Magee as Alfredo
Paul Whitsun-Jones as Scarlatti     

Synopsis from IMDB.com

Satan-worshiper Prince Prospero invites several dozen of the local  nobility to his castle for protection against an oncoming plague, the  Red Death. Prospero orders his guests to attend a masked ball and,  amidst a general atmosphere of debauchery and depravity, notices the  entry of a mysterious hooded stranger dressed all in red. Believing the  figure to be his master, Satan, Prospero is horrified at the revelation  of his true identity.  Written by Doug Sederberg   

High Camp in the middle ages.  Reminiscent of an episode of original Star Trek; half the time expected Kirk to pop out of the shadows. The dialogue was surprisingly good, without the overly dramatic posturing of the time. Stll the blocking or choreography was choppy, the costumes and set decoration were campier than a Mardis Gras float.

Jane Asher, playing the object of obsession by Price's character has credits today. She was extremely young looking and skinner than Kristen Stewart in the film (1964). Born in 1946 she would have been merely 18 at the time of filming. Patrick Magee was a Royal Shakespeare Company actor and starred in the  1967 production of  the Marat Sade along with Glenda Jackson.

Most definitely a product of the period. 


This was part of a Price/Poe/Corman marathon on HDMGM Sunday 10/31 — Halloween