Ubalblog

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching Coronation Street ]
I have been a fan of the Street since I was a little girl. I used to watch it with my Stepmother while waiting for Star Trek to come on Sunday mornings.

So it was with great excitement that I was watching the Doctor Who episode "The Lazerus Experiment" and I realized Thelma Barlow was playing the role of Lady Thaw. I got all excited.

The husband unit was less excited.

But you have to understand, ask any long term Corrie fan and they will tell you that Mavis was one of the best characters on the street. And she was well played by Barlow. Her best story line was when her garden gnome was kidnapped by another character. Mavis, and her equally nerdy and pompous husband Derek, received postcards from all over England from the gnome. The angst as they fretted about Arthur the gnome (who had a mate name Guinevere). At one point they even got a severed ear in the mail with a ransom demand for 50 chocolate doubloons. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

I had a similar reaction when I saw Georgia Taylor, who played "r Toyah" in Corrie as a Beauvoir Lady in Life on Mars.

[  Mood: Cool ]
[  Currently: Watching Dr. Phil ]
Good modern fairy tale. Tells the story of Kaye, a 16 year-old girl whose life is really mixed up. Her mom wants to be a rockstar, but after a boyfriend tries to stab het, Kaye’s mom hustles herself and Kaye back to grandma’s help.

Once there, Kaye tries to meet up with old friends. Janet, Janet’s brother and a group of three fairies that she used to play with. Kaye gets sucked into Fairie politics and a whole lot of intrigue. There is a romance possibility with Roibon, another faye. Also a same sex pairing for another character and a reference to naughty s/m gay manga.

A bit racy to be a YA novel, but who am I to say. Oh wait, I teach grade 8.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching Coronation Street ]
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE SEVENTH HARRY POTTER BOOK – You have been warned.

So I finished it last night, very late.

And I must say that this is a worthy end to this series. The deaths come fast and furious, but so do the scenes you have been waiting seven books for. The final battle scene is poignant and wonderful at the same time.

The loss of Remus and Tonks killed me. I loved those two fanfic faves, and the fact they don’t make it through is brutal.

New fave character? Molly Weasley. The "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" just rocked.

And Neville – love the resolution of his story. Now Rowling, throw me a bone and write about his and Luna’s wedding.

[  Mood: Scared ]
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE SEVENTH HARRY POTTER BOOK – You have been warned.

Okay – obviously I didn’t read far enough ahead. Someone else bites it that isn’t mentioned in the last few chapters, and it’s an emotionally draining one for me.

Tears rolling down my face, I told my husband that the slaughter is freaking biblical in this book.

Okay it wasn’t that melodramatic, but you get the picture.

[  Mood: Happy ]
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE SEVENTH HARRY POTTER BOOK – You have been warned.

So Harry has arrived at my house and I am working my way through it. But let me tell you one thing about me.

I am a spoiler fanatic.

I like to find out what is going to happen and when it is going to happen in my fave movies and books. I knew that Wash was going to bite it in Serenity. I have a bad tendency to read the last few pages of a book before I read the rest of it.

Where does this come from? I blame my tendency to get emotionally attached to characters. The last time I didn’t read the spoilers was when Buffy stabbed Angel to death with a really big sword. This lead to a hysterical phone call to my then boyfriend about Angel being dead. I was sobbing uncontrollably, he was confused, having not watched the show. He tried to comfort me the best he could, but I was a wreck.

Yet he still married me.

Anywho, fast forward to the seventh book. I made it five chapters in without knowing anything about what was going to happen. Five chapters. That is colossal.

Then I caved like a house of cards and read the last few chapters.

So now I know what happened and am working my way forward, comforted by the knowledge of who makes it through and who doesn’t. Not happy with some of the deaths, and believe me, it is a bloodbath (I have seen fewer bodies in horror movies), but at least I am coping.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[ Currently: Drinking Royal Begal Tiger Tea ]
This is another solid offering from Pierce and covers Kel’s second to fourth years of as a page.

Once again it is a tale of school as Kel learns the art of knighthood. There are also animals galore as Kel continues her relationships with the sparrows that live outside her dorm and her illtempered horse, Peachbloosm. Added to that mix is Jump, a terrier that has seen better days.

One of the things I really like about this series is that Kel is not a petite little flower. She is a girl who is big for her age and solidly built, up to the task of becoming a knight, yet she still manages to be the object of at least one crush.

But don’t worry, this isn’t a bodice ripper. There is action as Kel gets ambushed by bandits, starts fights and engages in training. She slowly wins many of her classmates and teachers over to the idea of her being a knight. Pierce has also given her some real human foibles, namely a crippling fear of heights.

Good work.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio One Podcast – Quirks and Quarks ]
This book is the sequel to Gregory Maguire’s hugely succesful Wicked.

This is the tale of Liir, the son of the Wicked Witch of the West. The tale follows Liir from just after Elphaba’s death to his eventual realization that he has powers and must do something to continue his mother’s legacy. Not as solid a book as Wicked, nor as gripping as Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, but still a good read.

[  Mood: Angelic ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Just finished Sandry’s Book, book one in Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic series. A very nice genre kids book. This one focuses on four children who posses elemental magic. They are brought to the Winding Circle temple where they begin to learn about their powers and teamwork.

Pierce is a very good author and her books get better as she goes along. Her world building is well crafted and thought out. And her characterization is well developed. Every girl is not petite and blond. The boys aren’t all strapping and handsome.

Neat piece about friendship.

[  Mood: Fed Up WIth Life ]
[  Currently: Reading Sandry’s Book ]
Just finished Twelve Sharp, by Janet Evanovich. (Blew my back out gardening so lying on my side with a book is about all I can do. And no, Harry Potter has not arrived yet.)

This series tells the story of Stephanie Plum, a not so good New Jersey bounty hunter. She tends to go after the lower level skips along with Lula, the former prostitute, turned file clerk, turned bounty hunter, turned back-up singer. Higher level skips are given to Ranger, a mysterious ex-marine who would like to get between the sheets with Stephanie. Her on-again/off-again bed partner is Morelli, a New Jersy cop.

Part Harlequin, part keystone cops this entry sees Stephanie learning more about the mysterious Ranger. There’s a woman who claims to be his wife and his daughter has been kidnapped. On top of it all, Ranger has disappeared and Stephanie is being stalked by a Ranger wanna be. Oh yeah, and with Ranger gone, she gets to go after the bigger fish. And bigger fish tend to be more dangerous.

A pretty good outing for Evanovich this time. We find out more about Ranger, but once again the Range/Morelli issue is not resolved. Which is getting frustrating for me.

She should just dump Morelli and go with the Ranger man. Who cares if he won’t marry you? He has a housekeeper!

A gripping autobiography of Ayan Hirsi Ali, the Somali woman who became a member of the Dutch Parliament. She later went to make on a film called Submission Part 1 with Theo Van Gogh, who was later murdered because of it. She provides a fascinating look at the clan culture of Somalia (where many of my students come from) and the modern Dutch society (my father was born in the Netherlands).