Ubalblog

[  Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
This fourth novel in the Sothern Vampire series finds Sookie single and local vampire leader Eric running naked down a country road. It turns out that a witch cursed Eric causing him to lose his memory.

This leaves Sookie to babysit/protect Eric while trying to discover what happened to Eric and what happened to her brother Jason, who has also disappeared. Sookie has to do all that while dealing with the fall out of her break-up with Bill.

I like that author Charlaine Harris has not fallen into the one true love trap. She is also evolving Sookie into a heroine worthy of the love and attention of so many supernatural men. This makes the series far more interesting and worth sticking with.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
Full Metal Alchemist is a manga sensation that my students are forever telling me about. So I decided to borrow a volume from the biblio to see what all the fuss is about.

An interestng story of the Elric brothers, who are alchemists. Both dabbled in alchemy as young boys in an attempt to bring back their mother who had passed away several years before. Unfortunately. the is against the rules of alchemy. As punishment, Edward loses his arm, but Alphonse loses his whole body. Edward then sacrfices his leg to save Alphonse’s soul.

Alphonse’s soul comes to rest in a suit of armour. Edward’s arm and leg were replaced by very advanced metal protheses. Togther the boys travel as government alchemists looking for a way to restore themselves to their original bodies.

Interesting bit of work. I enjoyed it and will pick-up more, although reading from right to left takes a bit of training.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[ Currently: Listening to Husband Unit Try and Put Geeklet to Sleep ]
He is one of us.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[ Currently: Enjoying Naptime ]
So we Canadians are also in the middle of our Federal Election. Unlike the American one, it takes about five weeks. I know, so short!

Yet I am already bored.

I just want this to be over. I am so tired of elections. We have had three in five years.

Maybe part of the problem is that the Tories are going to win. We know that. The only question this election is settling is will majority or minority. (I personally hope for the second as the first would be scary.)

Tory leader (and our current PM) Stephen Harper is a smart George Bush. He’s policies are right wing for Canadians. I know to Americans, he looks like a hardcore democrat, but he is pretty hardcore up here. Take for example his proposal to try fourteen year-olds as adults if they commit serious crimes. I teach fourteen year-olds. Trust me. They are children. And they make stupid mistakes. Should they be in jail for twenty years if they make a mistake at fourteen? No.

And don’t toss the deterant argument at me. If you’ve been around fourteen year-olds, you know they don’t think to the end of the week. Trying to argue that a deterant would prevent a fourteen year-old from committing a crime is ridiculous.

So why are am I bored, you ask? Given my politics, you think I would be out on the streets. Well the left in Canada is split three ways right now. (Four ways in Quebec). The Liberals, the NDP and the Greens. Where does my vote go?

In my riding, David McGuinty will win. He is a Liberal, our current MP and a good MP. And I like the Liberal Green plan. But I also like the Greens. And the NDP might actually win enough seats to be the official opposition.

The key is, we have to stop the Tory majority. This has lead to vote splitting schemes on Facebook and strategic voting. I am still trying to figure out how to vote. And given my boredom, it is not easy.

And I am still trying to figure out how to vote for Obama.

[  Mood: Angelic ]
The Caldecott medal is given every year …

This year, the award was given to Brian Selznick for his incredible The Invention of Hugo Cabret. At 500 plus pages, this is not a traditional picture book. It tells the story of a young orphan boy who maintains the clocks in the Paris Train station and his discovery of an automaton left behind by his father.

This is not your father’s picture book. Nor is it yours. The story is told both through text and through pictures. There are pages and pages of pictures without words and then several pages of novel style text. It is far more of a silent film in style, which is cool cause the story references the silent film era.

I would encourage all of you to pick this book up. It is revolutionary and breathtaking. I loved it.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
Daniel H. Wilson looks at the technologies offered to us by Sci-Fi and wonders why some of them have yet to appear. In the case of others, he examines how we already have those technologies, but that they are different from those portrayed on Star Trek.

This book is funny. I mean laugh out loud funny. May even buy a copy funny. Each entry is about three pages long, so it is a perfect bathroom book. Go get it and make your calls of nature more enjoyable.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listinening to My Cat Snore ]
So I had never read the Watchmen until I borrowed a copy from the library.

Yes, I know, leave my geek card at the door on the way out.

The impact of this collection is different on me today then it would have been had I picked it up back in the day. Much of Moore’s innovations have been picked up by comics and the rest of mainstream media. Would we have a Heroes if the Watchmen had never been published? Probably not.

What I mean by this statement is that what was innovative and shocking when this first came out had so permeated our culture that it seems almost normal now. This might explain the reaction of some who see the trailer but have never read the comic.

So while I enjoyed the book and am glad I have read it, I did not find it as shocking or breathtaking as those who may have read it in 1986-87.

[  Mood: Confused ]
[  Currently: Listening to Husband Unit Put My Son to Bed ]
In my constant attempt to get decent service out of retailers, I present to you my letter of complaint to Canadian Tire.

Now you know why we call it Crappy Tire,

[  Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
Fearless Forteen is, as the title implies, the forteenth installment of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. This one is actually better than the last one.

Yes, Stephanie is still waffling between Joe and Ranger, but the humour is bang on in this book. Thedre were more laugh out loud moments here than the last three books combined.

Plot wise, Fearless Forteen has Stephanie working security with Ranger for a washed out singer and trying to track down a skip, whose son may or may not be Morelli’s. Stephaie has to look after until said son until the skip can be found. Given that he is a MMORG player and spray painter, hillarity ensues. Add to that Lula somehow getting Tank to agree to marry her and you have some very funny situations.

Still the book is short on character development, but that is a hallmark of Evanovitch’s writing. I stillfound the book enjoyable as it was a quick read that will left me smiling.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio One ]
Yup – it’s that time of year. Time to pull in the plants and kiss the tomatoes goodbye. Winter is heading my way.

See you in April.