Lookalikes 2

UPDATE: 7/7/09 Thanks for finding this one Khy!

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Two sisters, a servant girl, a best friend, and a hot mess of a boy. Throw in two-ish love triangles and you've got The Luxe. I kept reading and reading about this book, just like I had done with Twilight and then decided I just better read the darn book. I'm sure glad I did. What a fun book. It's set in 1899 New York City and alternates the five main characters points of view. I think the alternating viewpoints really made this book for me. I just can't get enough of that. The book ends not unlike a movie with a sequel in the makings already. It basically ends with a taunting, "you won't know how this ends until you read the next book!" If you even half liked this book you'll want to know what happens next in the sequel Rumors, out the beginning of June. I know I'm ready to find out what happens next.

On a side note, I think I'd really enjoy a movie version of this book if only to see these outfits brought to life, is it just me or does anyone else sometimes have trouble visualizing an outfit that's being described in a book. I think it's half I'm not so interested in people's clothes as the story itself and half I'm not really sure what they are talking about. That becomes somewhat of a problem in some chick lit novels.... I really liked the clothes in Marie Antoinette the movie, I think I'm just the type of person that has to actually see the outfit being described to fully grasp it. Does that make any sense?

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Love Marriage

Love Marriage is the story of Yalini, an American born daughter of a Sri Lankan family. She and her family care for her dying uncle she had never met and through this she learns and keeps a record of the past generations of her family and the turmoil in Sri Lanka.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At first these little stories almost stand alone and then towards the end the whole story starts to come together as one.

At times it became hard to remember who was who and what we had learned about them so far. I also wish we got to learn more about Yalini herself, I felt I knew her family better than her.

All in all I was very pleased with this book, I found it easy to read because of the quick little vignettes, the broke the story up very nicely.

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Twilight Trailer

Speak of the devil!

Twilight in HD


Via Maw Books Blog

Twilight

The hype roped me in. I always believe there is some magic behind hype so I finally went out and bought Twilight. I loved the Harry Potter books and their addicting nature, I heard the same about this series and it did not disappoint. It's a love story between a teen human girl, and a vampire, that appears to be a teen as well. The only aspect of this book I was hesitant about was the vampire element, but the end of the book I was actually wishing there had been more vampire elements. Maybe we will see that in the rest of the series? At points the romance got a little too over the top for my taste, maybe I would have eaten it up a little more if I was a young adult, the targeted reading group. None the less it was pretty enjoyable, especially the first half of the book when Edward and Bella were getting to know each other. I know one thing for sure, it's going to make one hot movie.

5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club follows the lives of four friends in Hollywood. Each chapter is told from an alternating viewpoint but their storylines always cross paths. At first I suspected it may be similar to all the other chick lit I had read and in a way it was, but at the same time it was much more fun that I remember other chick lit books being. Maybe because it was set around the movie business which is something I'm really interested in. I also felt the alternating viewpoints was a great strength of keeping the story interesting. I feel chick lit stories told from one perspective always turn into "poor me stories" where the main character is always feeling sorry for herself about something. I didn't feel that so much with this story. I also loved the bit of mystery to the story, it helped me keep reading because I wanted to know what happened. I also enjoyed the characters of Kiki and Boom Boom, some people not directly in the circle of the four main characters. I do feel it would have been best if I had read the first book first (didn't realize there was one until I started reading the book) it would have been nice to get the background on the main characters families and so forth, in the second book they are just mentioned in the background mostly. This was a fun book that I really enjoyed!

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Gossip of Starlings

The back cover says it all. Prep school, drugs, friendship, tragedy. Already knowing that, there was nothing left for me to be engaged by.

Gossip of the Starlings is the story of two girls (Catherine and Skye) and their friendship while attending an all girls boarding school. Catherine is a new student leaving her old school for her "bad girl" ways and Skye is the daughter of a senator with a constant spotlight on her.

I thought I was in for a shocking tragic read, it was more sad and not totally unexpected based on the premise. I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters or really caring what happened to them. I would have enjoyed more of the prep school atmosphere, with more teachers and students and their interactions. I felt the story was pretty simple and almost quiet in a way. It would have been nice to see Catherine and Skye framed by a few more characters.

Overall it was a ok read, I did enjoy the writing, it was beautiful, just would have liked more character development and characters.

Out June 10th. ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewers program.
2.5/5 Stars

Top 106 Unread Books on Librarything

The rules:
Bold what you have read, italicize books you’ve started but couldn’t finish, and strike through books you hated. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. ( )those on your tbr list. I'm considering my tbr list books I own that I haven't read. (I can't figure out how to underline!)

(Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell)
(Anna Karenina)
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
(Life of Pi: a novel)
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick And I have the certificate to prove it.
Ulysses
(Madame Bovary)
The Odyssey
(Pride and Prejudice)
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
(Mrs. Dalloway)
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
(Reading Lolita in Tehran)
(Memoirs of a Geisha)
Middlesex
Quicksilver
(Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West)
The Canterbury tales
The Historian
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
(The Poisonwood Bible)
1984
(Angels & Demons)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
(One flew over the cuckoo’s nest)
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
(The Corrections)
(The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
(The God of Small Things)
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics - Had to return to the library, really enjoyed it
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
(White teeth)
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

This Year In Movies: April

Extras Extra Special Series Finale -more serious than the rest of the show
I Could Never Be Your Woman -fun but something was a little off
Fever Pitch -a typical chick flick
How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - i couldn't fully appreciate the show until i watched all the episodes
Things We Lost In the Fire -pretty good
How I Met Your Mother Season 2 -and now i love love love it
Dan In Real Life -rather enjoyable, felt bad for dan like i did for ben stiller in meet the parents
Lust, Caution -eh ok
Chalte Chalte -not my favorite bollywood, a little too serious
The Kite Runner -pretty good, sad
Lars and the Real Girl -really liked this one
Forgetting Sarah Marshall-theatre -hilarious
Michael Clayton - didn't really like
La Fine del Mar- Intl Film Festival -quiet and slow
Ca Brule- Intl Film Festival -pretty not good
Namastey London -fun, a more modern bollywood
Om Shanti Om - love this one
Salaam-e-Ishq -a rewatch, had to watch this again right away, love it
Hannah Takes the Stairs - typical of these people, it's better than some of the others
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - pretty dumb, in a bad way
Bee Movie -pretty good in an animated way
27 Dresses - not bad for a chick flick, still too predictable

Read in 2008: A Beginning

Ice Haven
Tales of Woodsman Pete
Mother, Come Home
Robot Dreams
Ghost World
Best American Comics 2007
20th Century Eightball
Caricature
The Acme Novelty Library #18
The Fart Party
When You Were Small
Gossip of Starlings
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Mome 9
The Polysyllabic Spree
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt
Bloom
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club
20 Times A Lady

Twilight

Read in 2007

Good In Bed
Big Stone Gap
Mortified
Summer Blonde
Best American Comics 2006
Stolen Sharpie Revolution
The Guy Not Taken
PS I Love You
Forever In Blue-The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Wrongboy's History of the Earth
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Plain Janes
Gifted
Prep
American Born Chinese
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
Blankets
Goodbye, Chunky Rice
Veil of Roses
An Abundance of Katherines
Invincible Summer: an anthology
The Constant Rider Omnibus
Make Something: an anthology of portland zinesters
Atonement
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow
Drawn and Quarterly Showcase Three
Missouri Boy
Let Us Be Perfectly Clear
Never Ending Summer

Read In 2006

Holiday On Ice
Ice Haven
The Time Traveler's Wife
Black Hole
My Sister's Keeper
The Cheese Monkeys
44 Scotland Street
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
Persepolis
Scrapbook
Bitter Is The New Black
Persepolis 2
Paul Has A Summer Job
Breakfast With Tiffany
Goodnight Nobody
Running With Scissors
Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn
Charmed Thirds
Little Earthquakes
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Love, Rosie

Read in 2005

In Her Shoes
Kissing in Manhattan
The Da Vinci Code
The Grim Grotto
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002
Understanding Comics
The Prince
Cat's Cradle
American Girls About Town
Girls In Pants-The Third Summer of the Sisterhood
The Tipping Point
Sloppy Firsts
Second Helpings
Bergdorf Blondes
The Pleasure of My Company
The Know It All
Lucia, Lucia
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Nickel and Dimed
Thumbsucker
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Blink
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Clube
The Namesake
In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
Meno

Read in 2004

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
The Summons
Firestarter
The Lovely Bones
Prey
Rage of Angels
Brunelleschi's Dome
Shopgirl
The Devil Wears Prada
Fishbowl
Tears of the Giraffe
The Nanny Diaries
Morality for Beautiful Girls
A House Called Awful End: The Eddie Dickens Trilogy
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
The Slippery Slope
The Catcher in the Rye
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Kalahari Typing School for Men

Read In 2003

The Logic of Failure
The Beast In the Jungle
The Birth of Tragedy
Confessions
Candide
Crime and Punishment
A Room of One's Own
The Trial
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
The Schreuderspitze
The Lady With the Pet Dog
A Small Good Thing
Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Catch Me If You Can
The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
Girl With A Pearl Earring
Walden Two
A Woman's Book of Life
The Perks of Being A Wallflower

This Year In Movies

I decided at the end of this year last year that I wanted to keep track of all the movies I watched this year. I saw someone else's breakdown on their blog of how their movie watching habits had changed over the years and thought it was pretty cool. I always knew I watched a lot but never really kept track of it before. I already keep a list of the books I read so I figured why not do the same for movies. Man do I watch a lot of movies... I've included tv shows as well, when I've watched the whole season. Thank you netflix! Maybe I'll go back and make some specific comments later.


January (22)
Juno-theatre - great way to start the year!
Shoot em Up -stupid even for an action movie
10 Items or less - a quiet gem
Happenstance -a rewatch, now i can't even remember it again!
Starter for 10 -cute movie
Sweeny Todd- theatre -didn't really like
Funny Ha Ha -very low budget
Eagle vs. Shark - love this movie
Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party -not exactly what i expected but still interesting
Juno-theatre again -awesome again
The Lives of Others -sad
Factory Girl -sad
Rushmore -a favorite
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price -frightening
The Hoax -ok
Nine Lives - like a collection of short stories
Idiocracy -pretty dumb but better than i thought it would be
Black Snake Moan -pretty much what i expected
Good Luck Chuck -good for a laugh
Wedding Daze -not so good for a laugh
Rocket Science -similar to thumbsucker
Stranger Than Fiction -a rewatch, funny movie

February (16)
Ira and Abby -kinda cute
Tideland -the worst movie i have seen in a long time
Sicko -what you would expect, didn't watch the gross parts
The Nanny Diaries -cute, maybe better than the book
Blind Dating -ok
Paris Je T'aime -a rewatch, i love this movie
Great Expectations -a rewatch, i also love this movie
Veronica Mars Season 3 -a rewatch, a love this show
The Tudors Season 1 -wow jonathan rhys meyers is intense
Feast of Love - sad but nice
The King of California -goofy but good
Be Kind Rewind-theatre - not as good as I'd hoped for
Fierce People - good until something happens and then i was pretty disgusted
A Citizen, A Detective, and A Thief -kinda long
The Jane Austen Book Club - really liked this one
Margot at the Wedding -did not like this one

March (31)
The Other Boleyn Girl-theatre -pretty good, want to finish the book now
Sydney White -cute for this type of movie
Jumper-theatre -fun, but not so much plot
Reign Over Me -sad but good
Guru -long and sad
My Kid Could Paint That -interesting
Goya's Ghosts -ok
Full Frontal -interesting idea
You Can Count On Me -ok
Penelope-theatre -love this movie
Blade Runner - didn't really see what all the hype was about
Undiscovered -better than i thought it would be
No Country For Old Men -esh, why do these kind of movies always win the awards
50 Pills -fun
The Martian Child -sweet
Rent -pretty good
No Day But Today (Rent Documentary) -really interesting
Raising Victor Vargas -sweet quiet movie
Southland Tales -dumb as was expected
Love In the Time of Cholera -sad but ended nice
Enchanted -so very hilarious
Possession -romantic
Horton Hears A Who!- theatre -really good
Death At A Funeral -funny and awkward
Suburban Girl -not half bad
Broken English -really enjoyed
The Hottest State -ok
Smiley Face -had to watch because it looked crazy and it was was
Salaam-E-Ishq -one of my new favorites
Extras Season 2 -so funny
Hitman - pretty bad

Did anyone else notice this?

Anne Boleyn and Ugly Betty share the same taste in necklaces.

How is this a secret?

The multi-talented Jason Schwartzman released this record "Nighttiming" under the name Coconut Records last Spring I believe. I just heard about it two weeks ago. It's amazing! Fans of Phantom Planet and Rooney will certainly enjoy.

The Best In A Long Time

I've enjoyed Juno twice so far and the soundtrack multiple times. See it now!

Lookalikes

Best Issue of Bust Ever!

I gasped when I saw this. I was so excited. And then a week later it came. In my mailbox was the new Oct/Nov issue of Bust featuring a cover interview with Miranda July! Ever since I discovered Bust about a year ago (late on the bandwagon) it's been blowing every other woman's magazine out of the water. And now this. Holy crap! And then it got better, I started reading the interview and heard about Learning to Love You More, which I had somehow missed even though the project had been going on for years! (Goodness I feel out of the loop it started in 2002) Loved her movie, loving her short story collection, so I had to preorder the new Learning to Love You More book. (It was supposed to come out last week but I don't think it's out yet) Anyone know more about this project than I do?

All I know is Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher started the project where they volunteered tasks for others to accept and complete and all the responses are posted on the website. It's such a great idea, I cannot tell if the tasks are still active or if they have stopped creating new ones. Definitely would like to give one a try. What a great idea!

Ali's Free Paintings

Several months back I heard about Ali Spagnola's free paintings project. She wants you to have her art and she wants you to have it for free. I really admire what she is doing and was overjoyed when I got an email awhile back saying she had done a painting for me (right), of my favorite animal, the tapir! You can track the paintings she is doing via her blog. Good luck Ali!

Hotel Chevalier

Being a HUGE Wes Anderson fan I scanned ITunes all morning in hopes of finding the free download for Hotel Chevalier. Finally I found it via a link posted on an imdb message board. Check it out!

Royal Tenebaums is my favorite film and my favorite of Wes's films, then Rushmore and then the Life Aquatic. This short has added to my high hopes for the Darjeeling Limited. It looks like it's going to be great possibly greater than the Life Aquatic?

I was somewhat startled (in a good way) to see an ipod in the short. Wes's films have always had the feeling of being set in a different era. It was rather exciting seeing the short being set in what was obviously this time period.

So excited!

Atonement:Trailers

Here's the trailers for the movie version of Atonement. Looks very promising!

Adrian Tomine interview in the new Giant Robot magazine

I've always been curious about Giant Robot magazine. Just picked this up today. If any of you are fans of him like I am you are going to love this. It's a six page interview!

It's been awhile

I have posted here or on the Ink Engine blog for some time now. I think it was a mix of laziness/feeling I didn't have anything to say/ and being busy reading other blogs! But now I have a list of things I'd like to post about!

Just started reading Atonement by Ian McEwan and Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton (very close to each other on the Borders shelf!)

My friend lists Atonement as one of her favorite books so I had always wanted to read it. Then I watched some behind the scenes features on the movie version that's due to come out soon and knew now was my chance to read it. Books are always better before you see the movie versions. It's somehow become a personal goal to try and read books before seeing the movie version. I can say that that was not the case with the first few Harry Potter movies/books.

Pretty Little Mistakes is called a "Do-Over Novel" much like the children's Choose Your Own Adventure books. It's rather fun! It starts the day you graduate from high school and your first choice is to go to college or travel. It boasts 150 endings.

Some good movies to check out, described in two words or less:
Year of the Dog (Comedy/Drama)
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (Heartbreaking)
Cashback (Time stops)
Mirrormask (Sci-Fi/Artsy)
Little Manhattan (Adorable)

Booking Through Thursday

Came across this cute blog called Booking Through Thursday. Every Thursday a new question about books or reading is posted and the reader's post their responses. Very fun.

This Thursday's question: Are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?
Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

My answer: I would say I am a Goldilocks kind of reader. I've realized I try not to be but always end up paying attention to the distractions around me while reading the same page over and over again because I'm unable to pay attention long enough to read more than a sentence at a time.

I also don't like to read for under say 5 minutes. I prefer to read for periods of time closer to 15-30 minutes at a time.

Slightly off subject, once I start a novel (this doesn't count for short stories) I like to finish it in under a few weeks or continuously read it until I'm done. If i put down a book and pick it back up months later I start from the beginning not from where I left off. I also find with most books when I have about 150-100 pages left I'm ready to be done and just read and read and read until I am. I'm not so sure if it's about wanting to know how to book ends or feeling that I'm ready to move on to the next book, I guess it depends on the book.

Gifted: A Review

I recently got the chance to participate in Librarything.com's Early Reviewer's program and was selected to read and review Gifted by Nikita Lalwani. I'd suggest if you aren't doing so already, the join librarything and join their Early Reviewer's program. It's great fun. This book is scheduled for release September 11th.

The story of young Rumi Vasi, math genius, and her family explores many themes including adolescence, the nature of genius, and an Indian family living in England. At a young age it is discovered the Rumi is gifted in mathematics and her father takes it upon himself to nurture those skills and help her get into Oxford at the age of 15.

Immediately the book “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri and the movie, “Bend it Like Beckham” written and directed by Gurinder Chadha came to mind, both sharing some storylines of Indian family’s displaced. While these two stories memorized me, “Gifted” did not.

I tried desperately to connect to Rumi, succeeding only a few times. I felt bad for her mother, and did not like her father. The parents both seemed confused in their parenting abilities and I wished for them to have more compassion and realize that things were not as they seemed with Rumi.

Three parts of the story were specifically enjoyable for me, Rumi interacting with her little brother Nibu, Rumi’s two trips to India, and Rumi living away from home while attending Oxford. Maybe I enjoyed these small sections because I was in someway able to relate to them, unlike other parts of the story.

I connected to the idea of the story but not the execution. I am sure some people will enjoy this book, it just wasn’t for me and that happens.

1 and 1/2 stars of 5
Manuscript from LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Recently In Movies

Netflix has greatly decreased my need to see movies in the theatre but somehow this past week I went and saw two movies.

When to Hairspray expecting to somewhat enjoy it and man was it fantastic. The whole time I just kept thinking about how much better it was than Dreamgirls. Sometimes musicals get on my nerves but this one was a grand slam. I've also been enjoying the director, Adam Shankman as a guest judge on "So You Think You Can Dance" recently. Fun stuff.

Also went to the Bourne Ultimatum, which I also enjoyed more than I thought i would. It was non-stop action except for a few scenes involving peole sitting at desks and/or computer. I really liked the casting of the two assasins, they weren't boring and I actually was hoping they wouldn't die, but they were not allowed to kill Bourne in the process. I won't spoil too much for you so I'll stop there.

New In Trailers

I'm a big fan of trailers so I thought I'd do some of the work for you and let you know what I've discovered recently.

The Darjeeling Limited -Wes Anderson. That's all I need to say.

August Rush- Some of my favorite actors in a heartbreakingly beautiful fairytale

The Ten- 10 vignettes of the 10 commandments, hilarious, especially the listing of the cast.

Lions for Lambs-very relevant, reminds me of the storytelling interweaving of Babel.

Rocket Science- looks promising!

Oh lord

Poor Jason Behr first an alien and now a "skinwalker" why can't the poor dude ever play a human!

If you didn't know already...

I'm also posting over on the Ink Engine Blog. Ink Engine is a zine some friends and I created and are pretty excited about. So if you get bored over here go check it out!

Couldn't be more excited!

This weekends Entertainment Weekly's cover story is all about Harry Potter the book series! Two weeks ago the cover story was about the Order of the Phoenix movie no mention of the book. Now I see why... they were saving it all for this sweet issue. Cannot wait! Sure to be helpful in mourning the end of the series and remembering it in the years to come! Pick up your copy Harry fans! Mine should be coming in the mail tomorrow!

UPDATE: got my issue and it was fantastic! pretty good overview of all the books, a yearbook, history of harry potter in popular culture and many other things!

Currently Enjoying

The Movie The Host








The Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack










The Plain Janes Graphic Novel










August/September Issue of Bust Magazine




What are you enjoying? I really would love to hear!!!!

I went, I recorded, I read, I knew!

Like a lot of you I went out last friday night and got my copy of the final installment of Harry Potter. Read two chapters before I passed out and proceeded to finished at 9:30 pm on Sunday. Great great stuff. That's all I'll say no spoilers here. Anyways, I captured some footage during the countdown to the book release. Thought it might be a fun thing to do. Enjoy!

"Snape" passing out the final Harry Potter book


Countdown to the final Harry Potter book Midnight release

Animals. The Zine

After selling our zine this weekend at the Zine Fest I've tried to stay inspired and create something. Apparently it's worked. In the past two days I put together this little cutie. I'm hoping to go print some out soon!

Book Meme

Via Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Dragon

If you end up doing it let me know. I'll love to see your answers

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? Fantasy, is that what Harry Potter would fit under?

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback? Trade Paperback, hardcovers are alright just hard to hold for long periods of time. Pretty much hate Mass Market paperbacks.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? Amazon for expensive design books, Brick and Mortar for used books and books I really want right now with a coupon of course!

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Borders! Love the Borders Rewards program

Hitchhiker or Discworld? Not following this question

Bookmark or Dogear? Bookmark always

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? Right now, by genre
Keep, Throw Away or Sell? Keep it unless I hate the book, usually something I was forced to buy for school, I sell those

Keep dust-jacket or toss it? Keep

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove it

Short story or novel? I started off on novels but I definitely like short stories as well

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket is great though too

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Half and half, depending
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time?" Once upon a time

Buy or Borrow? Both depending on how much I want the book, what type of book it is, if I can borrow it or not

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? Browse

Lewis or Tolkien? Lewis, I rather don't like anything having to do with the Lord of the Rings

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? Both, I own more anthologies though

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? Two tidy endings for every cliffhanger

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?Mostly nighttime, sometimes afternoon, and when I'm really hardcore, morning as well

Standalone or Series? Both, probably read more standalone though

New or used? Either as long as there isn't too much water damage or strange sticky substances

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler

Top 5 favorite genre books of all time? Genre books? My favorite book is the Great Gatsby, also like The Namesake, The Tipping Point, lots of stuff

Favorite genre series? Genre series? I guess my favorite series would be Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Harry Potter, and Megan McCafferty's books

Currently Reading? Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld and No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

A Word on Younger Women's Magazines

With the almost confirmed rumor that Jane magazine has folded, i've been thinking about the state of younger women's magazines. I had just recently begun reading Jane magazine and was very much enjoying it. I had not realized that according to most it was going downhill. So what are we left with in my opinion? Nylon magazine which is continually putting tabloid celebrities on their covers in between the rare more interesting cover stories. I find it strange that month after month they publish readers letters protesting that they do away with the celebrities we hear about everyday and go for someone else (Zooey Deschanel for example) Kinda funny she's on the cover of the last issue of Jane. What I like even more than Nylon is Bust magazine. Love their cover stories and range of articles. The only problem is it only comes out once every two months and is very very small. So I subscribed to Nylon to try and supplement the in between time. When I originally subscribed to Nylon they were featuring people such as Kirsten Dunst and Amber Tamblyn. Wish they would bring that back! So yes, any of you magazine readers out there. Comments, thoughts, suggestions?

Podcast Interview with Miranda July!

She's amazing! Listen

Clever Advertising

Watch me

don't click anything, it will go ahead and reveal it's self for you, just gotta wait a bit, not too long a promise.

Flight of the Concords!

Check out this clip from the hilarious new show Flight of the Concords!

Four Eyed Monsters

Check out this great little film. It will only be online for one week.


Check out Four Eyed Monsters!

Video Podcast | Film Trailer | Shirts | Stickers

Reaedy Made Magazine project archive

Check out this video and the mentioned Readymade magazine project archive. Awesome!

Camille Rose Garcia

I happened across a great in depth series of videos on Camille Rose Garcia's body of work. It was put together for the exhibit Tragic Kingdom: The Art of Camille Rose Garcia at the San Jose Museum of Art. So far there are 12 videos but apparently there will be more. It's really exciting that a museum has embraced the technology You Tube has created. Yay!

To see all the videos visit the link for Tragic Kingdom.

Cool video/ad

Looks like someone is channeling Marie Antoinette

and i like it!

I say yes!

Nylon Magazine May Issue

Check out the new issue of Nylon Magazine. Not for the Lindsay Lohan cover article cause that's just strange. But for the 21 stars of tomorrow article. I recognized about 4 of the people so it's pretty sweet. Not like your normal "new young stars" article when you know all of the people but one. Definately worth the 4 dollar cover price.

Some new stuff

(based on a photo of my sister)

(just some silliness with some chickens i found at harry and david)

Now this is the funniest thing i've ever seen

Thanks Laura!

We Need Girlfriends

This is a cute little webshow I found the other day. Pretty darn good for internet television!

SNL Digital Short: Body Fusion

One of the funniest things I've probably seen on SNL in probably 5 or so years.

Grindhouse Fake Trailers Documentary

Though short this documentary gives some great insight and behind the scenes looks at the fake trailers of grindhouse.

umm what!?!? part two

apparently happenstance prefered the picture of audrey tautou from another one of her movies, venus beauty institute for their american release. that is really strange...

Colorful Rainbow of Shoes

I just had to share the wonderful colors of this spring's shoes. Beautiful! Go get yourself some! Celebrate the season! Celebrate the polka dots!

Found Magazine

I'm not sure that anyone actually looks at this anymore so this is a test i suppose... are you reading this. As some of you know I've recently been reading my way through the Found books and magazines. Picked up 3 issues of the magazine this week. Though there is some overlap between the books and the magazines most of the content is not repeated. I would definately suggest checking out their website. Basically it's a collection of things that people find on the ground or in the trash that provide a tidbit of information about the person that wrote it. It's pretty fascinating if you ask me. Take a look.

umm what?!

Back in the dorms

I'm back in the dorms for my final semester at school. It turned out to be the easiest solution. I really enjoyed that whole living on your own thing we did while in the apartment but I guess all good things must come to an end. I do feel rather old here seeing as some of my floormates are still undecided and my hall director is my age.

On the plus side I have a nice view of the dumpster, totally a joke. Truthfully though, I am much closer to some friends now than I was last year so that will be fun.

How are your own living arrangements for this year?

www.librarything.com

I just joined librarything.com where you can catalog your books, write reviews, rate the books, join groups, and even see who has the most books in common with you. It is free up to 200 books. My sidebar is also provided by the site. Up there I have some of the stuff I've read in this past year. Don't actually own all of them. So if you're a reader like me this is a nice site for you!

One more thing

Please visit my photography portfolio at studentweb.uwstout.edu/adoua/portfolio

and albino squirrels are very cute!

Haven't written in awhile is anyone reading this? If you are please tell me!

I haven't written in awhile but yeah is anyone reading this? Please tell me if you are.

What I've read lately:
The Chesse Monkeys- about the art/design department of a school in the 50s
44 Scotland Street- originally serialized for a newspaper, it's about the going ons of an apartment building
Hypocrite in a pouffy white dress- stories from a lady's life growing up in NY as a hippie child
Persepolis- graphic novel
Scrapbook- collection of work by Adrian Tomine
Bitter is the New Black- memoir of a women losing her job, and taking her prada bag to the unemployment office
Persepolis 2- graphic novel
Paul has a summer job- graphic novel
Breakfast with Tiffany- man taking in his niece to live with him in NYC, memoir

Check this guy out...

googled Adrian Tomine and you will be amazed.

Need a reading suggestion?

Visit my new mini-website to see a cute little animation and 3 reading lists :)

Again

What movie am I??

Leave a comment if you think you know the answer:

Let's Play a game

Inspired by Entertainment Weekly's blog and a random movie quiz online I'd like to play a game. Basically guess the movie... all you with blogs are very welcome to join the fun and post some too.. if anyone responses to this ... i'll put up more! Let me know what you think!

Funny and partly true

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch

Digital Photography work 2

Digital Photography class some of the work

More Editions to my library

books:

Dry
Good In Bed
The Namesake

Wicked

movies:

Love me if you dare
He loves me he loves me not
Pretty dirty things
The Terminal
In America
My big fat greek wedding
Igby goes down
Sky captain and the world of tomorrow

wedding crashers