A Tale of Two Cities

So a good friend of mine turned me onto this album, and I say "thank you friend, thank you". This band is AMAZING! I highly recommend this one! Head on over to amazon for a preview of tunes on this album. It's about $.50 cheaper than itunes.


Check out his website here...

www.mrhudson.com

or visit his myspace here...

www.myspace.com/mrhudson


Since this album Mr. Hudson has actually went solo and has a new album out called Straight No Chaser unfortunately is currently only available as import. The first single which is available for download on itunes is titled Supernova---->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlWuaqJ_APE and features one of my favorite artists, Kanya West. Their voices compliment each other perfectly. Mr. Hudson also accompanied Kanye on his 808's and Heartbreaks album on the the song Paranoid. You can listen to it here-----> www.kanyeuniversecity.com

Check it out, no really check it out.

Talent

I found this kid while surfing around the net for photographers. He is self taught and a phenomenal artist. I urge you to have a look at his site, and if like me, your a photographer, you will appreciate his extraordinary talent.


www.joeyl.com

Another image

In April of this year I visited Chicago to see my favorite band. My best friend and I took a drive downtown and around Navy Pier. I took this while driving and holding my camera out of the sunroof. I know, I'm a really safe driver!

My 50 books for 2009

I took on a 50 book challenge this year on my book club website, Shelfari. I managed to accomplish my goal and am starting a new one already. Here are the 50 books that I read along with a short review of sorts and whether or not it is still on my shelf to be red again.


1. Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins~ I absolutely loved this book. So many good lessons about life and love in this one. On my keeper shelf

2. Old Yeller by Fred Gibson~ I always meant to read this when I was younger but just got around to it. Great story about loyalty, between a boy and his dog, a sad but worthwhile book.

3. The Object of My Affection by Steven McCauley~ WOW I didn't think when my best friend suggested this one that I would actually enjoy it, but everything he's ever suggested has been good so I don't know why this would have been any different. Fun read. On my keeper shelf

4. Planet of The Apes by Pierre Boulle~ One of the best books I have read to date. I finished it in one day. On my keeper shelf.

5. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury~ This was my first experience at science fiction and my oh my I'm hooked! A lot about societies and taking things for granted. I love Ray Bradbury!! On my keeper shelf.

6. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury~ This book was very different from anything I have ever read, but I loved it. The way Ray B. details the scenes and characters in his writing amazes me. You can almost hear and smell the places. On my keeper shelf.

7. Mama Day by Gloria Naylor~ Good book. Not what I was expecting and I was pleased. On my keeper shelf.

8. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk~ What can I say? I love this author:0) On my keeper shelf.

9. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk~ Refer to the last review:0)

10. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho~ A philosophical book full of inspiration. On my keeper shelf.

11.Duma Key by Stephen King~One of the best from this author. Creepy just like a King book is expected to be. On my keeper shelf.

12. Cujo by Stephen King~ A psychological mind trip. Keeper shelf.

13. Pet Semetary by Stephen King~ Disturbing in all the right ways. Keeper shelf.

14. The Green Mile in 6 Parts by Stephen King~ I enjoyed reading this in the six different parts. They did a good job adapting it to the big screen.

15. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown~ Amazing, kept me in suspense the whole time. Couldn't put this one down. Keeper shelf.

16. The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin~ Hilarious! Love his writing:) Keeper shelf.

17. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory~ My first historical read. Very much enjoyed it, and have since acquired more books by the author. Keeper shelf.

18. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossini~ One of my top 10 books I've ever read! Love love love this book! Keeper shelf.

19. 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossini~ Disappointing. Was expecting more after reading his first book.

20. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding~ Bleh! Hated it. Struggled to get through it. I did however learn a new word that I kind of enjoy...F**KWITTAGE!

21. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach~ A feelgood, inspirational story. Keeper shelf.

22. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan~ What? Torture getting through this. This book caused me to set a new rule of "if I don't like it within 50 pages, I put it down.

23. Sphere by Michael Crichton~Disappointing because he's one of my favorite authors.

24. IT by Stephen King~Fantastically and thoroughly Steven King!

25.Interview With The Vampire by Ann Rice~Huge Louis fan~Keeper

26. Snow Flower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See~ absolutely loved it. On my keeper shelf:)

27. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman~ I wasn't prepared for how good this book would be. I had read conflicting reviews, but enjoyed the movie and was delighted at the differences in the book. So score another for the "book better than the movie list". On my keeper shelf.


28. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer~ Good book

29. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer~ Not as good as Twilight but still worth the time to read.

30. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove~ Hilariously written! I laughed all the way through it:o) Love love loved it!~ On my keeper shelf.

31 Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix~ Of course I loved it!!~ Keeper shelf

32.Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince~Refer to #31 review~Keeper

33. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows~ Ditto.

34. The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories~Tim Burton~ What can I say about this book, except that it couldn't have been written by anyone else:o)

35. Bloodsucking Fiends ~ Christopher Moore~ Fun story with some great offbeat characters. A comical story of a vampire, love CM.~keeper.

36. The Constant Princess~by Philippa Gregory~ This book was just o.k. Definitely not as good as The Other Boleyn Girl.

37. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery~ Lovely lovely book! Brilliantly written and full of eye opening lessons about us as "grown ups".~ Keeper shelf~:o)

38. Bag of Bones by~Stephen King~Good book, but not my favorite SK, and it took me too long to read it.

39. You Suck~ Christopher Moore~ Funny funny funny! I laughed my a** off. Vampires have never been so funny:o) Great characters, he's so right on!~Keeper shelf:o)

40. Siddhartha~Hermann Hesse~ Heavy read but good stuff~ Keeper shelf

41. Dandelion Wine~Ray Bradbury~Amazing book! [3 Ray Bradbury~ Keeper

42. The Wizard of Oz~ L. Frank Baum~ Wonderful book, and I wasn't expecting to find it vastly different than the movie. A delightful read~Keeper

43. First They Killed My Father~Loung Ung~ Heart wrenching! Well written story that resurrects the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and the suffering of millions of Cambodians.~ Keeper

44. Survivor~Chuck Palahniuk~ Good book, but not quite my favorite by this author. I did like the cult storyline though.

45. The Stand~Stephen King~ AMAZING book, excellent story with great characters!~ Keeper

46. Lamb~Christopher Moore~Funny! Not my favorite C.M. book, but definitely worth reading

47. Harry Potter & the Sorcerers Stone~J.K. Rowling~re-read.~keeper of course

48. The Stupidest Angel~Christopher Moore~Hilarious, weird, and fantastically written. Just the way I like my CM books!~keeper

49. Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets~Re-read~keeper

50. Flaming Iguanas~Erika Lopez~I laughed from beginning to end! Uniquely written, loved it!~Keeper

I will miss you Patrick Swayze

The Wizard of Oz

So I have always assumed that the movie closely followed the book. I mean ever since I was a child I have known and loved this story, so I was surprised at the differences between book and movie. Now don't get me wrong, I adored the movie, how could I not? It's like a right of passage, a tradition. Every child knows about and has seen The Wizard of Oz. Starting this book I thought I knew what to expect, the story, characters ect. ect. ,but the further I got the more I kept saying " whoa, now just wait a gosh darn minute here". The base story was the same of course, little Dorothy, with Toto...yes, yes that's right, but there was no old cranky woman trying to take Toto, or Dorothy running away. No traveling fortune teller?...hmmm. The story in the beginning was much simpler than that, which was refreshing actually. Of course further down the yellow brick road I traveled, right about the point where she meets the Tin Man, whoa!!! I had a quite the shock! The story of how he became the Tin man really threw me. I wasn't prepared for his story to be so, shall I say, gruesome. In fact, the Tin Man was continually violent throughout the story, all for good reason of course, but it still shocked me. Of course I don't hold it against him hehe. The trip down the yellow brick road was so much better in the book too. The town made completely of china with the dainty china people, the Quadlings, whose heads were flat and could crush your body. I mean come on, how fun is that? I loved loved loved this book. Just a little FYI, the Wicked Witch of the West doesn't have a huge role in this story. Not compared to the movie of course. Highly recommend this one:o)

Dandelion Wine

I recently found myself in a place that "we readers" find ourselves from time to time..."what to read next?" I can say with complete acceptance of the fact that I have a book addiction or fetish, or obsession, or maybe it's just that I am actually a true lover of books. The smell, the feel of the pages in my fingers, the anticipation of a new adventure, or any number of other metaphors to describe the things about books that make me go all nilly willy inside my belly. As I saying, I recently found myself sitting by my bookshelf pulling a book off and reading the first few pages and thinking "nah, it's not the right time for this one". I decided to walk away from the shelf (even though it called my name over and over) and give myself a break from what could have been a "forced read". You know that feeling of reading something just because it's there and it's something you have been meaning to read, even though you aren't really 'feeling it'? So I decided to get online and do some browsing when I found myself on favorite blog site (Padfoot and Prongs) which is really no surprise. I check for daily updates, new posts, reviews ect. ect. On this particular day Prongs had posted a Happy Birthday post to one of my most favorite authors Ray Bradbury. Of course it was a lovely post and by the time I had finished reading it my mind was set on what book to venture into. Thank you Prongs!

DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury is about a boy who has a magical summer, after he realizes, "I'm alive, I'm really alive!" He starts to notice things in a much different way, including his family, friends, and the people in his neighborhood. The story goes into events that took place that summer with Doug, his brother Tom, his family and the surrounding town. He experiences joy, fright, loss, and adventure. This book was amazing to say the least and I found myself caught completely up in this story, as I always tend to do with a RB book. I haven't read a "bad" book by this author. Each one is beautiful, and mysterious, and full of sights, sounds and smells. It's true! The writing style of Ray Bradbury is so completely...well you just need to read him for yourself. Why take my word for it?

Wake up by Arcade Fire

Somethin’ filled up
my heart with nothin’,
someone told me not to cry.

But now that I’m older,
my heart’s colder,
and I can see that it’s a lie.

Children wake up,
hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust.

If the children don’t grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We’re just a million little god’s causin rain storms turnin’ every good thing to rust.

I guess we’ll just have to adjust.

With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am goin’ to be
when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am goin’
With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am go-goin’

You better look out below!

Where The Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer #2

Another image

I love photography! I was going through some of the images I have taken in the past few months and came across this one. It's from a project that my best friend and I did in which we had to shoot things that were blue, green, and orange, or the combo and any of the three. I took this with my Nikon D300 with the macro attachment. I think it's a fun photo.

Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King

Lyrics to Funny The Way It Is :
Lying in the park
On a beautiful day
Sunshine in the grass
And the children play
Sirens pass and fire engine red
Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this

The evening comes and we’re hanging out
On the front step and a car goes by
With the windows rolled down
And that war song is playing ‘Why can’t we be friends?’
Someone is screaming and crying in the apartment upstairs

Funny the way it is
If you think about it
Somebody’s going hungry and someone else is eating out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
Somebody’s heart is broken and it becomes your favorite song

The way your mouth feels in a lover’s kiss
Like a pretty bird on a breeze
Or water to a fish
A bomb blast brings the building crashing to the floor
Hear the laughter while the children play war

Funny the way it is
If you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school
And another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
A soldier’s last breath and a baby’s being born

Standing on a bridge
Watch the water passing under me
It must have been much harder
When there was no bridge, just water
Now the world is small
‘Member how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and stars

Watch the sky and jetplanes
So far out of my reach
Is there someone up there looking down on me
Boy it takes a bird so close but every time
They never catch her
But they can’t stop trying

Funny the way it is
If you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school
Another is dropping out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
A soldier’s last breath and a baby’s being born

Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
Somebody’s broken heart becomes your favorite song
Funny they way it is
If you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school
And other is dropping out

Standing on a bridge
Watch the water passing under me
It must have been much harder
When there was no bridge, just water
Now the world is small
‘Member how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and stars.


AWESOMENESS!

Film and Art

So here is the teaser trailer for the new Alice in Wonderland movie due out early next year. I'm super excited about it and am looking forward to being one of the first in line to see it:o)





On another note I will be adding a new subject to my posts...PHOTOGRAPHY. Being that I'm one myself and photography seems to be in every corner of my world, why not share some of it with the world. Here is one of my recent images:o)

Thoughts about Harry Potter

Yes Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was amazing!!! The best HP movie by far, and the fact that it was funny was a pleasant surprise. I went with four of my friends to see it and had to stand in line to get in. That was a new experience for me. I don't remember ever having to stand in line to see a movie, but of course this is Harry Potter we're talking about here, so it seemed fitting. First of all, wow the kids are all grown up and the professors have all grown old. It so weird to watch each movie and see how much the characters have changed. The introduction of a few new characters was refreshing too. Especially Ron's "snogging" buddy. She was a riot, and I laughed until I thought I might piss myself. "Won Won" or "has he been asking for me?"...all I could say was WOW! She was awesome! Also Professor Slughorn was funny, and an aloof sort of way. All I could think was "he's an airhead, and shouldn't he be larger?" and the character who played Tom Riddle as a child was great. He really played that part to a T. Bravo! Of course my favorite part was when Ron ate Harry's chocolate's with the love potion in them. Haha he was brilliant! Only reinforcing my favoritism for Rupert Grint:o) The addition of the new locations in the movie were a grand addition too. The cave, and the sky lab, and of course the opening sequence in the muggle world. Fabulous! All in all it was a fantastic movie going experience and a feast for the eyes, with awesome special effects. It's also kind of bittersweet to know that there is only 1 book left to bring to the big screen, but I did hear that they are splitting the last book into two movies. I think that's a brilliant idea being that there is so much to the last book. At any rate I look forward to it, and in the meantime I am going to see the movie again tomorrow and will re-read the series.

This and That

First I want to express my profound sadness over the passing of Michael Jackson. I grew up listening to him and remained a loyal fan to this day. I have to say, I'm ashamed of the media for turning his death into such a fiasco. I feel that the media circus has taken away the the "realness" of it. It seems like it's just something else to watch on tv and that's truly sad. Anyway I will miss him as an artist and an icon. RIP Michael:o(





Now on to other things...

7 days!!! If you don't know what I mean by 7 days then you must not be a Harry Potter fan. I am anxiously awaiting the release of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, and have planned to go with my best friends to see it and I seriously can't wait! Here is a little something that one of my friends posted on his blog. It made me smile:o)





Admit it, you laughed.


Ok so a quick word or two about The Golden Compass. I was pleasantly surprised at the differences between movie and book. Score one more for "book better than the movie". Although I enjoyed the movie very much, the book has more "meat" to it so to speak. Not to mention the ending is completely different which answered the questions that the movie left me with. Although this is geared towards young readers, it was actually a little complex in my opinion for readers under the teen years. I thought maybe my son would like to read it too, but after reading it myself, I decided to put it back on the shelf for when he's older. He is only 10 after all, and although he is reading the Harry Potter series, he is only just starting book two, which is still within his comprehension. In the end, it was a fantastic adventure, that left me anxious to move on to The Subtle Knife. But as series go, a break in between books is generally a good idea. So now Im reading The Lust Lizard Of Melancholy Cove, and look forward to posting a review:o) Peace!

My son and I went yesterday to see the new Transformers movie. I was excited because I loved the first one and was anxious to see how they were going to top it. Oh my! They far surpassed the first movie with Revenge of The Fallen. It was an excellent movie with amazing special effects, new characters, and a good storyline. We enjoyed 2 hours and 45 minutes of Transformer greatness! If you haven't seen it yet, or weren't a fan of the first movie, let me suggest you go see this one. It was action packed with a little romance thrown in. I didn't particularly like the girl who played the part of Sam's girlfriend, but meh, it's all good. She was just way better in the first one. Anyway, huge props for this movie:)

Ooooo Tim Burton is doing a re-make of Alice In Wonderland starring none other than my favorite actor Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter,along with Helena Bonham Carter as The Queen of Hearts and Ann Hathaway as The White Queen. Alice will be played by Mia Wasikowska if that means anything to you. She has done some previous films, the most popular of the list would be Amelie. I can honestly say I didn't know who she was until I looked her up, but that is a good thing. I would rather see a little known actress play this part simply because there are already three major actors/actresses in the movie so I think it will balance it out some. In any case I'm just super stoked about the whole thing.

I have loved Tim Burton since The Nightmare Before Christmas. My favs have been Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. He is an FABULOUS director and brings to life such memorable stories and characters. I will be in line on the day of release, although that's not until March 5 2010! Bleh:( But I'm sure it will be no less than AMAZING!

Musicology

As much as I'm in love with reading, I'm equally in love with music and really felt the need to share. Just like books, when it comes to music we really can't afford to be so snobby and just "stick with what we like". Trust me. How are you ever going to discover new books, and authors? Same goes for music. In the past year alone I have been exposed to so much new music and found myself wanting more more more!! Confession...I used to be a music snob. I was stuck in a quagmire of music that kept me from growing and kept my mind closed to new musical experiences. Wow I was just silly! Now don't think differently of me because I have since broadened my horizons and opened my mind to all genres of music. I give any style of music it's fair chance to be heard and absorbed. I have learned that listening to the album as a whole is usually the best way to introduce myself to new artists. Of course not every album works, there are still flops, or albums with just one or two great songs, but that doesn't stop me from exploring. For instance, someone recently suggested the Kanye West album 808's and Heartbreaks to me. So ok... he's someone I never really listened much to, but I knew his most popular radio hits and liked some of those. So I picked the album up and proceeded to listen to each song in turn. Wow, I was a little taken aback at how great this album was. I mean the songs just flowed so well form one to the next. I'm still not convinced that he can actually sing without the help of a voice synthesizer, but he has come right out and said that he uses it and is proud of his work. So anyway this album is my first recommendation for you. If your not already a fan, just be open minded and I think you will be surprised and pleased. If not then at least you know your not music snob and are willing to be open minded. PEACE!

Interview With the Vampire REVIEW

It took me months of owning this book to finally get around to reading it. So many books, so little open bookshelf;) So taking into consideration that this book has gotten mostly good reviews, not to mention I need to make room for more books, I chose this as my latest read. So without further ado...

An elegantly written book about vampire? As strange or silly as that sounds, my answer is a resounding YES! I was pleasantly surprised by the many different directions this book could or would go. When you think of a story about vampires what do you think? Fangs, black capes, bloodsucking and not much more. Oh my dear reader let me assure you that these are only minute details compared to the depth of this 'interview'. Let me elaborate a bit.
O.k. so I expected death. Violence in death? Yes. Passion in death? Now that I didn't expect at all, but found myself mesmerized by the eloquence of it. It left me breathless at times. Of course there are many violent and gruesome killings also, fear not horror story fans. You get the best of both worlds with this book.
I also found it easy to relate to the main character Louis. His inner struggle between right and wrong, love and hate, life and death, want and need made him more authentic, and therefore more human, even though he was of the undead. A vampire with human emotions. Oh Louis how I love thee!;)
Ann Rice did her homework on this book when it comes the setting for this story. From New Orleans to Paris it's one hell of a ride.

I give this book ****.

Latest read

I am in the process of reading Interview With The Vampire by Ann Rice. I have wanted to read this book for sometime but always found myself immersed in a different book. So finally I picked it out of my library and decided it was time. Review to follow.