Kickass movie: Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz

We went to see it for my birthday and it was great! Laughed. Our. Asses. Off. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were both excellent. And Timothy Dalton was ohso smarmy. We'll definitely be buying this one when it comes out on DVD.

foto from: imdb

Book Review: Minx - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Minx is the third novel in a regency romance trilogy by Julia Quinn. In this book, Dunford finally gets his story. The somewhat rakish and rather dissipated friend of the characters we met in the first two books finds that he has inherited a title as well as an estate in distant Cornwall. What he doesn't realize until he arrives to look over his new property, is that he has also been named guardian of the tomboyish hoyden Henrietta (aka: Henry). Henry has lived virtually her whole life on the Cornish estate, managing it herself for years under the less-than-watchful eyes of her uncle. When the old man dies and a stranger from London inherits the estate, Henry is terrified that she will be turned out of the only home she has ever known. She sets out to frighten off the new owner (our Dunford) so that he will want to remain as far away from Cornwall as possible. Dunford, on the other hand, sees through her ruse and finds himself drawn to Henry in spite of himself.

The plot in this book is again a rather typical romance novel plot. It centers around two people who are unexpectedly thrown together and experience a number of misunderstandings, but ultimately find love. But again, it is the characters who make this book so enjoyable.

Dunford is a great character. We've seen him in the first two books being his charming self. If he is one thing, it is honorable. He demonstrates a steadfast loyalty to his friends in both Splendid and in Dancing at Midnight. He also doesn't just make snap judgements about people and dismiss them. He really tries to understand Henry and what motivates her feelings and actions. He struggles to reconcile his responsibilities to her as her guardian with his feelings for her as a woman.

Henry also has many facets to her character. She is tomboyish, to be sure, but Quinn doesn't let that trait completely rule her character. She doesn't wear dresses because they are impractical for her lifestyle; however, that doesn't prevent her from enjoying her femininity when given the opportunity to explore it. And she's really quite funny sometimes as she makes her way through the complicated rules of London high society.

LibraryThing rating: 4 stars

Book Review: Dancing at Midnight - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Dancing at Midnight is the second novel in a regency romance trilogy by Julia Quinn. It tells the story of the lovely, yet bookish, Belle Blydon (whom we met previously in Splendid) and the dark and brooding John Blackwood. Blackwood is a veteran of the Napoleonic wars who earned, as a result of his service, both the title of Baron and a terrible leg injury that left him with a permanent limp. Belle meets John while visiting her cousin, Emma, who is married to the Duke of Ashbourne. Ashbourne's land borders John's and Belle encounters the hero while relaxing in a meadow on his property. The two don't exactly hit it off right away; John is grouchy and sardonic, offending Belle's tender sensibilities. Unused to the idea of being disliked by anyone, Belle sets out to make the man like her. She succeeds.

What is great about Julia Quinn is that she can take a relatively average, bare-bones story and make it into a good read using great character development and snappy dialogue. Belle is a sweet girl, with a good deal of determination in her. John is tortured not only by the horrors he experienced during the war, but also by the memory of a tragedy for which he blames himself. Belle helps John to triumph over his self-inflicted guilt and come to terms with it. There are a couple of truly great scenes in this novel, one incredibly funny and the other incredibly exciting. The supporting characters are also charming: We see Emma and Alex from Splendid, of course, as well as Dunford (who returns for his own story in Minx) and the hilarious aunt Persephone.

I gave this book 4 stars in my LibraryThing catalog

favorite word #4: cherries

Blackle - the energy saving search engine

Blackle is like Google, but the screen's all black instead of white. That's pretty much it, really. Why should we care? Because it takes less energy to display a black screen on your monitor than it does to display a white screen. Hey, it's all about saving the planet, baby.

From their About page: "In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages. We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy."

I ran a test search on Blackle using the term "praying mantis" and the results were not identical to those retrieved by Google, but pretty darn close. The top 4 or 5 hits were really the same, just in a different order; after that, it varied only a little. On the whole, though, looks like an eco-friendly option for those casual searches. An added benefit: If you use your computer in the dark a lot (say, at night with the lights off), it spares you from the horrid, eye-raping brightness of a white homepage...

thanks to: LibrarianInBlack

Happy mantis

This foto nearly made me spew my dr. pepper this morning when I saw it. The little guy looks so darn triumphant.

found via boingboing

foto credit: Lawraa

Bearaphim ipod covers

Why, oh, WHY do I not have an ipod yet??? Check out these supercool bear-themed ipod covers from Boomwave. Their paws even hold your earbud cords for you. My favorite is the sleek black Ursa Miner.

Thanks to popgadget for this one!

Dilbert's performance review generator

For the middle-manager in all of us, Dilbert provides this handy performance review generator. It's great, if for no other reason than for coming up with those proactive, progressive-sounding, flowery (yet innocuous) terms that we find it necessary to use when describing ourselves for the ol' annual review.

Book Review: Splendid - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Splendid is the first in a trilogy of regency romances by Julia Quinn. The heroine, Emma, is an American gal visiting her aunt's family in London for the Season. Bored with stuffy society rules, Emma longs to free herself from the confines of her role as a proper young lady and decides to dress up as a maid and take a brief shopping trip to the local market (a la the movie Aladdin). There, she meets Alex, the handsome Duke of Ashbourne when she unexpectedly saves the life of his young nephew. Alex is taken with the pretty maid and finds himself fixating on her, only to discover her true identity later that night. What follows is a nice little courtship, where the couple form a sort of friendship and then eventually admit their deeper feelings for one another.

This book was a nice little love story. It is one of Quinn's earlier novels, and you can kind of tell. The language is a bit flowery like you see in romances written the 1970's and 80's; and the story itself is also not quite as enthralling as her later works. However, I liked the main characters quite a lot - especially Emma, her cousin Belle, and their friend Lord Dunston. Emma is a fun character who's game for anything. She doesn't back down from a challenge and is a loyal friend. One thing that kind of bothered me, though, is that Emma's cousin Ned (and as a result, Emma herself) does some rather questionable things. I'm not sure that the interpretation of what was honorable for gentlemen that is offered in the novel is particularly accurate. Ned does some gambling and loses an obscene amount of money to a man and then decides not to honor his bet (based on the grounds that the other guy was cheating) and then he and Emma actually plot to steal the promissory note away from the guy. Sure, the guy was cheating, but I'm not sure that the solution the characters arrive at is the best one either.

On the whole, though, it was ok. I liked the secondary characters well enough that I still want to read their stories. Besides, I loved the author's Bridgertons series, so I think the next couple of books have the potential to be really good.

I gave this one 3 stars in LibraryThing

Favorite word #3: swashbuckling

YARRRRR!!

Favorite word #2: nautical

Favorite word #1: barnacle

I just love nautical words. Huh. I like the word nautical also... hmmm...

Favorite words

Since nobody reads this anyway, I thought I'd use it to keep track of my favorite words. I'll be listing them as I think of them.

Oh, and I guess I should add that, yes, I know I AM SUCH A GEEK.

Book Review: The Wedding - by Julie Garwood

Synopsis: The Wedding is the second novel in a 2-part series of medieval romances by Julie Garwood. Connor MacAlister, Highland laird of the MacAlister clan, has vowed revenge for his father's death at the hands of rival clan MacNare. When he learns of Laird MacNare's plans to marry an English bride, Connor steals the girl away before they can wed and marries her himself. His new bride, Brenna, is none too pleased to be marrying him, but decides to give the marriage a fair chance. Poor Brenna faces a lot of challenges in making the marriage work, including an EXTREMELY bossy husband, mean and lecherous in-laws, and her own confusing emotions.

This is the sequel to The Bride, which was a GREAT book. This novel, however, was not nearly as enchanting as its predecessor. The story kind of winds along, nothing spectacular, but then the last 50 pages or so are pretty intense. The ending was very satisfying and I did get quite caught up in it. I guess my real hangup was Connor's character. He is so very stubborn and callous. He is constantly saying and doing things that are so unbelievably inconsiderate and sometimes downright cruel to Brenna, that it's difficult to like him very much. Of course, part of his character is that he has vowed never to fall in love, because his father's dying words were that a broken heart is the worst thing ever (way to go, dad). He does eventually come to accept his love for his wife, but lordy it takes a lot to get him there.

Brenna's really pretty nice, though. She's pretty funny at times and has some endearing quirks, but she's not as spirited or engaging as Jaimie was in The Bride. I found myself liking the secondary characters (Connor's two best friends) almost more than the main characters. Quinlan and Crispin are funny and often insightful in the way they show loyalty to Brenna while teasing Connor about his feelings for her. I was also pleased to see Alec and Jaimie from The Bride make extended appearances in this story.

My LibraryThing rating: 3 stars

Book Review: The Bride - by Julie Garwood

Synopsis: The Bride is the first in a two-part series of medieval romances by Julie Garwood. Jamie (aka: the Bride), a young Englishwoman, is forced into an arranged marriage to Highland laird Alec Kincaid. Alec has little use for a wife, but is honor-bound by his king to marry the girl. He's a stubborn lord used to giving orders and not getting any lip; she's an independent woman used to managing a household and thinking for herself. They spend 3/4 of the book arguing (and making up afterward), until the end when the real conflict surfaces.

When I write it out like that, it doesn't sound like much of a book, but honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The interaction between Jaimie and Alec is engaging and I found myself hanging on their every conversation and waiting to see what they would do next. Garwood's style is easy to follow and the dialogue is downright hilarious at times. I didn't really care all that much about the "plot" of the story, and I don't think the author does either. The romance and the interaction between the hero and heroine are what drives this story.

I mostly read historical regency romance, but I've read a number of medieval romances as well. I'm not such a big fan of medieval romances, though. It seems like so many medieval romances have a lot of scenes where the hero dominates the heroine in most every aspect of their relationship. Even if the heroine is depicted as "spirited" and strong-willed, it seems like she's always having to "learn a lesson" in respecting the hero's dominance. Sometimes, there are even a few quasi-rape scenes in these novels, which TOTALLY puts me off. I know that it was totally a male-dominated society back then, but I still like my romances with a little more give and take on BOTH sides - and a respect for each other's bodies.

The Bride didn't fall into that pitfall though. Alec doesn't ever try to dominate Jaimie physically (although he does occasionally want to throttle her for her outrageous behavior). Both the hero and the heroine spend a good deal of time overcoming their difficulties in communicating and their assumptions about what the other is feeling/thinking. I hope that the second book in this series, The Wedding, will be just as good.

My LibraryThing rating: 4 stars

Dallas Public Central Library celebrates 25th Anniversary

Happy Birthday to the Dallas Public Library's J. Erik Jonsson central library!!! The big ol' downtown library turns 25 this year and they've got lots of cool events planned to celebrate the occasion. Of particular note are the Lone Star Comics gaming tables, which will be open on Friday April 20th from 10pm till dawn AND the children's storytime/puppet show events. What a great way to get the community involved in the library!

Goodbye, Blue Monday

(I'm late in posting about this, I fear, but I've been out of town, etc.)

The great Kurt Vonnegut has passed.

Book Review: Blow Me Down - by Katie MacAlister

Synopsis: Blow Me Down is the first novel I have read by Katie MacAlister. It's about a single mama (hooray for mamas in romance!) whose teenage daughter, in an effort to get her wound-up mother to have a little fun for once, cons her into beta testing a new virtual reality computer game set in a world of pirates. Amy (that's the mama) actually finds herself enjoying the game, especially when she's matching wits and crossing swords with rival pirate (and game designer) Black Corbin. However, things take a bit of a nasty turn when she discovers that she and Corbin have been trapped inside the game by one of Corbin's former business partners bent on destroying him.

I don't usually read much contemporary romance, but this one had two things I just couldn't resist: pirates and computer gaming. Alone, those 2 things are great, but together... well, it just doesn't get much better than that. I liked the book as a whole pretty well. Corbin is a charming hero, and it was touching to see the way the author handled the physical attraction between the two main characters. Corbin is not the typical muscle-laden bronzed sungod/warrior type you see in so many romances. And MacAlister goes out of her way to explain that her heroine really prefers him just as he is in real life, not as he assumes she would like him to be.

The heroine had me pretty cracked up the entire time, although I could have probably done with a little less humor in the love scenes (I like them steamy, not so silly). Their interaction is crisp and entertaining throughout. At one point, the hero and heroine end up on opposite sides of the conflict, and I liked that Amy stayed true to her word and herself, not letting her personal relationship with Corbin sway her from her own code of honor. I also liked that he respected her for that.

Now I have to go rummage out my copy of Sid Meier's Pirates! and load it up.....

This one came in at 4 stars in my LibraryThing catalog

Book Review: Something Sinful - by Suzanne Enoch

Synopsis: Something Sinful is the 3rd book in the Griffin family series by Suzanne Enoch. This is the story of Charlemagne (Shay) Griffin and Sarala Carlisle, a young Englishwoman who was raised in India and then suddenly moved to England when her father unexpectedly assumes a title. Shay is first attracted by her exotic beauty, but underestimates her intelligence when she manages to outwit him in a deal for some rare Chinese silks. They play games for a few days, flirting and bargaining over the silks, until Shay discovers that the silks were not what they seemed and now someone wants him dead.

It's hard to talk too much about this one without giving any important plot twists away, but I really enjoyed it. We were watching a lot of the Firefly tv show when I read this, so I kept picturing the actress who plays Inara in my head as Sarala. I liked seeing the characters from the first 2 books in this series reappear in this story. I can't wait to read Sebastian Griffin's story in the upcoming Sins of a Duke, but it's not due out till June, I believe...

My LibraryThing rating: 4 stars!

Book Review: An Invitation to Sin - by Suzanne Enoch

Synopsis: An Invitation to Sin is the 2nd book in Suzanne Enoch's Griffin family series. Zachary Griffin, the youngest of the Griffin brothers, has spent his entire life flitting from one "career" to another. He can't ever seem to find an occupation that really suits him for more than a few weeks. His kind nature and sense of humor make his friends and family fond of him, but no one takes him very seriously. When he decides to join the army in an attempt to give his life some direction, his oldest brother, the Duke of Melbourne, sends him into the heart of rural England on the pretense of escorting his elderly aunt to Bath. The Duke hopes young Zach will do a little soul-searching and finally decide to take life seriously for a change. Our hero ends up trapped in the household of a gentleman farmer and his 7 unmarried daughters, friends of his aunt's. Caroline Witfeld, the eldest of the girls, is a dedicated painter whose one ambition is to be accepted into an art academy. After many rejections, she is given one last chance at a school in Vienna. In order to be accepted, she must paint a portrait of a nobleman and submit it for approval. When the handsome Lord Zachary Griffin shows up on her doorstep, Caroline thinks she's found the perfect subject for her portrait.

I enjoyed this story almost as much as Sin and Sensibility. It's very easy to identify with Zach's character. A lot of people are not fortunate enough to be born knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Many of us have to work very hard to discover a passion for a particular pursuit (and some people never find it). Caroline, on the other hand, has always known what her dream is and has devoted her life to realizing it. Yet, she doesn't realize that her art alone is not going to give her everything her heart desires. Again, Enoch presents us with characters who are far from perfect, who have real problems, and shows us how they discover themselves through one another. It makes for great romance. You really see why her heroes and heroines belong together.

LibraryThing rating: 4 stars

Book Review: Sin and Sensibility - by Suzanne Enoch

Synopsis: Sin and Sensibility is the first novel in a series by Suzanne Enoch about the Griffin family. Set in Regency England (the war is still on), this story is about Eleanor Griffin, a young woman who wants to have a taste of adventure before she settles into the mold of being a society wife. With 3 overbearing, overprotective older brothers (one of whom is a rather despotic Duke), she has her work cut out for her. In a bid for some independence, she makes a bargain with them: She gets the freedom to do and say what she pleases, so long as she doesn't cause a scandal of any kind. Her brothers agree, but (unbeknownst to Eleanor) secretly ask their good friend (and handsome ladykiller), Valentine Corbett, to keep an eye on her and see that she doesn't get into any real trouble.

This was a great book. I REALLY didn't like the first book I read by this author (Flirting With Danger), but I'm very glad I gave her another try. I was really impressed with Enoch's ability to create complex characters and so thoroughly describe the changes that they go through as they find each other. He's an *extremely* hardened rake and she's desperate for a bit of independence. The author is careful to demonstrate that Eleanor is not merely just looking to rebel against her brothers. Her quest for adventure is more about finding something special to have just for herself - the idea of doing something because it pleases her without regard for whether it is proper or virtuous or whatever - and NOT about whether it will piss off her family. Valentine's entrenched cynicism is also very believably turned on its ear by Eleanor's open and genuine nature. He finds that he really can care for someone - and that there are people really worth caring for. I will definitely be reading this entire series!

This one got 5 stars in my LibraryThing.