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"Really enjoyed this one."
I especially like stories where the authors mixes in some fact with the fiction and doing so in a way where the reader can't always tell where the line is between them.
Oliver North's books are ones to compare the fact mixed in with the fiction. The story of the covert operative compares with Mitch Rapp and John Wells.
This is my first time listening to John Lee and I was very pleased. I especially like listening to George Guidall and listened to the ones in this series that he read first. While I was hoping the Mr. Guidall would be the one narrating the entire series, I wanted to listen to this book because I like the authors story. I will end up starting the next book in the series tomorrow and look forward to listening to Mr. Lee again. When I first started the book I did a double take thinking that maybe Mr. Lee was really Sean Connery, whom I really like too. The Sean Connery voice is that of the story narrator, the voice telling the story in between the voices of the various characters.
"The Fallen Angel Was Great"
I have not read this book in print, so I couldn't compare.
I especially like listening to George Guidall perform. I agree with another reviewer who I recall wrote something to the effect that he could listen to George Guidall read the tax code. When I'm searching for the next book, I sometimes look through the list of books he's narrated to see which ones might be of interest.
I save my audio books for the bus ride to work and a few minutes before bed. If I had the time and unlimited funds I might enjoy this in one sitting, however, I need to make them last a little while.
I enjoy the story's inclusion of historical facts mixed in with the fiction. Especially for covert op type of stories, because it makes you wonder how much of the story really is true.
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I turned a corner in the shop forum of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to find Pete Rose signing autographs in a sports store. I took this from outside the store with my zoom lens. *My first celebrity photo*
I was really excited since I grew up watching him play baseball (my dad loved to watch baseball). Pete Rose was an amazing player!!
secretagent_man_007 added this photo to his favorites. (42 months ago)
Great catch! I recognized him immediately!
wow...great shot! I'm impressed that you got this from outside!
How awesome!
He is actually there several times a week if I understand right. He really is a great ball player...and dang it...he should be in the Hall Of Fame. Great Shot.
and what a surprise that he would hang out in Las Vegas! ;-)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Athletes, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

subset: commoncrawl


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Stitching for Jaxon
Jaxon was diagnosed with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) 5 days after his second birthday (Feb 2011). His mother told me that Jaxon is the seventh (7th) child in Canada to be diagnosed with this rare disease. I am his great-aunt Louise and I come up with the idea of this blog to keep people informed, and to use my passion for stitching to raise money for the FOP organizations.
Friday, January 2, 2015
To 2015 - hopefully a better year
Hi everyone, here we are in 2015, did you do anything exciting to help bring in the new year? I really had good intentions of posting more often in December but life as usual gets in the way. For a good portion of November and December, I was busy taking Dad to his doctors appointments, taking him for bloodwork, etc and to make a long story short, he was finally admitted to the hospital on Dec 22. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF). He was having trouble with his legs, he kept retaining fluid to the point where he was about 16-18 pounds over his normal body weight. The doctors kept increasing his diuretic but he still kept gaining weight. For those of you with elderly parents, please, please, please get involved with them when they go to see their doctors. I never knew that my father also suffered from chronic kidney failure, if I had known that I would have done things a bit differently. The day he was admitted to the hospital, they did an ultrasound of his legs and found a blood clot, how long had this been there, we're not sure but the point I want to make to all of you is to get involved. I was astonished at the answers that my Dad gave to the emergency room doctor, the admitting doctor and the cardiologist! He kept saying No, I don't think so and I kept answering the questions with the necessary information that the doctors needed....so all this time that he went into the doctors office by himself, how many times did he say No when he really should have said Yes, maybe he would have been admitted to the hospital earlier. We will never know but please, please, please for your new years resolution please get involved, you never know, I thought my Dad was still sharp but I should have realized when he started complaining that the easy crosswords were getting too difficult for him. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I do plan on being better at posting in 2015 than I was in 2014. And to end off on some good news, the total raised for the FOP for 2014 was $1000. Yahoo. Hugs and kisses, Louise
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Two Weeks to Christmas
Oh my goodness, 2 weeks until Christmas....where has time gone....in my last post I was telling you about the purging and cleaning that I was doing to get ready for my company. Well, they have been and now they are gone. Looking back I have to laugh, I was so looking forward to Roberta coming to visit and now she is back home already. We had a wonderful time, laughing and giggling like a couple of school girls, I'm sure that my neighbours must have been wondering what was going on at my place. We went out for breakfast or lunch, I took her to all the classy joints (lol)....the dollar store (she wanted to buy some containers that I have my Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid stored in) and also to a local store here, can't tell you what she bought (it's a Christmas present) and then we had a lovely time at a Christmas market in a town close by. It was lovely wandering around all the tables looking at everything, the leather belts, the wooden cribbage boards (they were gorgeous!!), the spiced nuts, the crocheted/knitted items and of course, the wonderful baked goods! All I will say on that subject is that there was a serious case of sugar overload in my house that night as Roberta and I sampled all the goodies. And of course some more laughter, it seems when Roberta and I get together, the laughter just flows. My friend Barb joined us on Friday for some stitching and more laughter, all of us had tears running down our faces, oh if the walls could talk (thank goodness they can't!). So she is back home with her family and friends, hopefully I will see her at the next stitching retreat, I say hopefully because of my Dad. Some days it appears as if a good strong wind will blow him away and yet other days he acts as if he is 10-15 years younger. This holiday season enjoy your family and friends, and remember that you are loved. Hugs Louise
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Life is back to normal
I normally live a quiet life, stitching, reading and going to cross-stitch retreats. Lately I have been busy doing some major cleaning and purging of some stuff (okay, call it junk) trying to get my house cleaned up. And of course getting things ready for the craft fair. In the midst of all this, I received a call from my brother asking if I would like some company for a few days...I was kinda of hesitant because my friend Roberta is coming to visit but then he told me it would only be for a few days. So I had some lovely company, my Dad got to see them and my brother and his wife got to visit the grandchildren a lot. We all had a lovely time and now they are back home and my life is quiet once more.....well relatively....I'm still trying to purge and organize. My neighbour who is quite handy built me some shelves that fit the plastic boxes that I have all my material in, so now my aida cloth is in one bin with another for the overdyed aida as well as a couple of other boxes for my evenweaves. They look awesome, he did a lovely job and now I have easy access to my fabrics. Now I need another shelving unit for the smaller boxes, lol. But I can wait for that one. That's it for today. Hugs Louise.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
A Very Successful Craft Fair
Hello, how are you today. I am simply chuffed (as my British sister-in-law) would say, in other words...I am very, very happy. We had a successful day at the craft fair, we raised .... drum roll please.... $800!!!! Wow, I was hoping that maybe, if we were lucky, we would get $500 but we surpassed that. When I say we, I mean Manon and myself, Manon is a wonderful lady that I had the pleasure of working with for many years and I am very fortunate that she wanted to keep in touch with me after I retired. It was Manon who suggested that I get a table at the craft fair (at work) and we could raise some money for the FOP as well as raise awareness of this rare disease. She loves to do some crafts and she made the cutest little bath mitts (shaped like a kitten, a whale and a snowman) this year and they were so successful that she took orders for several more. I cannot thank her enough for her help and her support in helping me with these craft fairs. To all the people who bought some goodies, thank you for supporting us. Big hugs, Louise
Saturday, November 1, 2014
November 1st - where has the time gone
I am definitely overdue in posting, my sister called me to ask if I was still alive....hmmmm, yup! So what have I been doing over the past couple of months, to be honest - not a heck of a lot. I visited my friends Roberta and Peggy in Massachusetts in August - the aim was to get a lot of quilting done. Welllll, hmmmm, I took lots of fabric down there with me.... and of course I did bring my stitching with me and did I get a lot done? - that would be an emphatic no. (Big sigh) However, I did enjoy the week spent visiting, we laughed and chuckled and laughed some more, I wish I lived closer than the 8 hour drive but hey that's life. So what else has happened, I have been busy with my Dad - some days more than others. I realize how fortunate I am to still have him here. He will be celebrating his 90th birthday in January but there was times this past year when I wondered if he would even make it to his 90th birthday. He has been so frail this past year and has started to develop some health problems and after much nagging (I do admit it, I was nagging him) he has finally started to use a cane or his walker when he goes out. And that only started 2 months ago (I won't tell you how long I was after him to use a cane). That said, I make sure that I talk to him every day just to make sure that he is doing okay. I have to laugh because some of the conversations are very short (less than a minute), while others we talk and laugh for at least 5 minutes!! I am enjoying the time that I have with him because I know that he won't be around forever. So if I might be so bold and suggest something to you, tell your loved ones that you love them because we never know how long we will live or how short our life may be. On that note, love you dearly, take care of yourselves. Big hugs, Louise
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Some pictures of the goodies from Barbara - Part 1
As promised, here are some pictures of the wonderful goodies that I received from Barbara. I know when you see them, you will realize how generous this lady was to the cause. I can only hope to do justice to her stitched pieces to get them ready for sale. I also made myself a promise that I would name the designer of the stitched pieces as well as the makers of the fabric and floss. I apologize to the various designers and manufacturers because I truly do not know who you are but I do thank you for allowing us to stitch your beautiful designs. Now that I have said that, I think the Santas are Prairie School designs, if you know the other designers, please, please, please leave me a comment and let us know who they are. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Remember that you are loved. Louise
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
A wonderful surprise
Hi there, I know, I know, it's been a long time between posts.... I must apologize again but there really has not been a lot to write about. My brother Robert and his girlfriend came down on Sunday for brunch and of course most important to visit my Dad. Had a lovely brunch at a local restaurant as we do every Sunday. So what surprise did I get - to be very honest, I am blown away by this persons generosity!! My friend Aury (designer AuryTM) had moved to Texas last year and she had joined a local stitching group. She was telling these ladies about me and my Stitching for Jaxon project and one lovely lady Barbara said she had a FEW things she could donate to the cause. Well, I don't know about you but to me a few means one or two, okay maybe 10 (if we were talking about buttons and small things like that) but holy cow, I sure as heck wouldn't think it meant over 40! When I was in Nashua, Aury sent me a picture of what was going to be in the box when she mailed it and there was 48 stitched pieces. Well, that was in May, I received this box last Wednesday, and it was STUFFED and I do mean stuffed! There has to be close to 100 pieces, some are small (bookmark size) and some are large as is 18x20...and yes, I will be posting some pictures soon. A huge, huge, huge, gigantic hug goes to Barbara. Words cannot express my thanks. Louise
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Ackee Tree Question
I planted my Ackee tree three years ago when it was about three feet tall. The tree seems healthy and has been growing well. Its now standing about 8-10 feet tall. I wonder if anyone can advise when it may start fruiting? Because so far its done nothing...Is it too late for it this season?
Here is what the tree looks like right now.
close up of its foliage.
Thanks for posting. I picked up an Ackee on a whim. It's about 4 feet tall and looks very similar to yours, minus a couple branches. I didn't realize there were special precautions until I got home with it. Hope to learn from all the experts here.
swrancher, timewise you are right on schedule, sizewise your tree still looks a little small. My tree fruited 2 1/2 years after planting and it was about 12-15 foot tall at the time. Give it a little fertilizer and hopefully it will shoot up some over the summer. The good news is that it can fruit 2-3 times per year, so if things go well, you might still get fruit by the end of the year.
pepperot, the most critical step in cleaning ackee fruit is to make sure that the fruit opens naturally. NEVER open a closed fruit. The reason is that there is a toxin (name escapes me at the moment - hypoglycin A or something) that is present in levels that in all likelihood will lead to your death!!! (Yes, that is supposed to scare you!) However, once the fruit opens naturally, typcially splitting into three segments, light reduces the toxin to a safe level. The next step is to remove the cream-colored arils that are attached to the seeds. Take care to make sure that they arils are still fresh and not discolored. Such discoloration starts about 2 days after the fruit opens. Sometimes the "less fresh" arils will become mushy. If you are not 100% sure what I mean by discolored or mushy, do not eat the fruit! Also there are small red "hairs" that are located on the inside surface of the arils. Make sure to remove these as well. Since there are folds or crevices on the aril, I was taught to spread the aril out to make sure that there are no surprises. BTW, NEVER eat the seed as it is always poisonous. If you eat the overripe aril or the little red hair you may become ill (possibly quite painfully so) but the odds are that you will survive. So I am told. I don't take any chances and if anything looks the slightest bit "off", out it goes. I would strongly encourage you (and everyone else) to get an experienced person to show you how it is done the first time. I've been cleaning the fruit now for a good 10 years, have given lots away, and never heard back about anyone having become sick. Come to think of it, I've never heard back from anyone of them! lol
Okay, hopefully you are still willing to eat the fruit. It is quite good and has a nutty flavor. Often it is eaten for breakfast and used as a replacement for scrambled eggs. The national dish of Jamaica is ackee and (salted) codfish. If you have never cleaned the fruit before, as a precaution I would advise that you invite over (practically) any Jamaican friend to help you clean the fruit the first time. They will happily do so in exchange for a portion of your harvest. Then in the future, you can either cook it up yourself or do as I do and deliver the cleaned fruit in exchange for a nice meal! :-)
Here's a "happy update" about my Ackee tree that appeared to not be fruiting this season,
I spoke too soon...it's now producing its first crop of Ackee. I noticed blossoms on it a few weeks ago, they set and are now growing very rapidly. The tree is putting out more and more blossoms on other branches as well. Thanks to all for the advice about preparing Ackee. I'm having an aunt from Jamaica come and walk me and my wife through preparing the first crop.
If anyone else is interested in growing ackee, I got an email announcing that the subject of this month's Broward Rare Fruit Council meeting will be growing Ackee. The meeting will begin at 7:45PM on Wednesday, 09/07/11 at the Broward County Extension Building, 3245 College Avenue, Davie.
Nice tree......very interesting horticulturally. I still scratch my head as to why Jamaicans like it so much. Its like getting excited over some scrambled eggs. Throw in that they are poisonous and can create quite a liability with the neighborhood kids and this was one tree that I did not ever have to have. Good job of growing though.
"Nice tree......very interesting horticulturally. I still scratch my head as to why Jamaicans like it so much. Its like getting excited over some scrambled eggs. Throw in that they are poisonous and can create quite a liability with the neighborhood kids and this was one tree that I did not ever have to have."
My sentiments EXACTLY, but I guess you could say the same thing for Carambola? If you had a kidney problem they could ruin your life. I guess sites like this keep us in the know.


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With Cincy having clinched the AFCN on Sunday, the Broncos' 2014 opponents have been set.
In addition to the customary home-and-away matchups with the AFCW teams, Denver will host Buffalo, Miami, Indy, Arizona, and San Francisco.
The most obvious effects of Von Miller's torn ACL are that it ends his 2013 season, and is a significant blow to Denver's Super Bowl chances.
While the injury has the potential to affect Miller's career for the long term, that would seem a lesser concern at this point, given how well players tend to recover from ACL injuries.
But as the Broncos' coaches and players continue to focus on locking down HFA and their playoff run, the front office will face a big decision on Miller as soon as their regular season ends.
Continue reading "Miller's ACL tear adds wrinkle to 2015 option, sabotages his chance at extension"
According to Mike Klis, Von Miller has been lost for the season with a torn ACL. Miller suffered the injury to his right knee during Denver's 37-13 win at Houston on Sunday.
Obviously, this is a huge blow to Denver's SB chances, but if anything can cover for such a loss, it's the presence of Peyton Manning.
While the AFC playoff field is mostly set, with only one spot available, and seeding yet to be determined, the NFC is almost completely up for grabs.
Only two NFC squads (Seattle and Carolina) have clinched playoff berths, but no division titles have been claimed.
Philly (9-6) annihilated Chicago (8-7) to the tune of a 54-11 embarrassment, while Dallas (8-7) pulled off a 24-23 victory over Washington (3-12), thanks to a late touchdown from the unclutch (especially in December!) Tony Romo.
After 16 weeks, five of the AFC's playoff spots have been claimed, and four teams have a chance at the last Wild Card berth.
The Broncos, Colts, Pats, and Bengals own the four division crowns, while the Chiefs have the first Wild Card. Only KC has its seed - the fifth - while only the Broncos have clinched a bye.
Denver (12-3) clinched the AFCW and a first-round bye on Sunday, and can nail down HFA with a win or tie at Oakland, or a New England (11-4) loss or tie against the visiting Bills.
According to CBS4's Vic Lombardi, Von Miller is believed to have suffered only a sprained knee, and not a torn ACL, as had been reported earlier..
If true, this would obviously be stellar news for the Broncos. Holding Miller out of the finale would provide him three weeks between games, with the Broncos having already clinched a first-round bye.
Continue reading "Lombardi: Von thought to have knee sprain"
Peyton Manning is the NFL's new single-season touchdown pass king.
With his fourth scoring throw of the Broncos' Week 16 game at Houston, and his 51st of the year - this a picturesque toss to Julius Thomas - Manning broke the record previously set by Tom Brady in 2007.
Continue reading "Manning breaks single-season NFL mark for touchdown passes"
On the Texans' sixth play from scrimmage, Von Miller went down awkwardly with an apparent knee injury, and the Broncos have already ruled him out for the rest of the game.
According to Mike Klis, the team fears it may be a torn ACL; Miller will undergo an MRI on Monday.
Commence hand-wringing, Broncos fans.
According to Jeff Legwold and Chris Mortensen, the Broncos are expected to rule Wes Welker out for Sunday's game at Houston, and then also rest him for the regular season finale at Oakland.
Welker had suffered two concussions in a span of 22 days (against Kansas City and Tennessee), so this would appear to be a sensible decision - that is, if he should return at all this season.
Continue reading "Report: Broncos to hold Welker out until playoffs"


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Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work the day he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said.
As it gets ready to open a new store in Alexandria, the grocery chain is looking at two other area locations. Find out where.
One sure sign spring is here: ants are starting to move. Here's a local entomologist's advice to prevent the critters from invading your house.
Vandals exposed a glaring vulnerability in the nation's Internet infrastructure: no backup systems in many places.
A photo taken at the Vietnam Veterans memorial has gone viral, with people weighing in on whether children today are taught respect.
Often patients with a brain tumor will present with a combination of several of the symptoms listed here.
CAMBRIDGE, Md. (AP) — Prosecutors say an Eastern Shore farmer has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a worker who disappeared in 2009. Dorchester County Circuit Court Judge Brett Wilson sentenced 67-year-old William…
Fairfax County Police's Reston District Station has a new commander. Capt. Ronald Manzo took over as the district's top cop on March 1. Manzo, a 47-year-old Fairfax County native, has been with FCPD for 22…
Todd Moore, inventor of the White Noise app and founder of app development company TMSoft, testified before Congress this week (his testimony begins at 1:06:40), advocating for a bill that would curb "patent trolling." Patent…
WASHINGTON — One sure sign spring is here: ants are starting to move. "Odorous house ants are one of the most common home invaders at this time of the year," says University of Maryland College Park Professor of Entomology…
New Democratic County Board Contender — A field of six has been finalized for the Democratic Arlington County Board primary. The candidates include all five who spoke before the Arlington County Democratic Committee earlier this…
We know its spring, even if nature doesn't seem to want to cave in quite yet! So what's a gardener to do? Buy a flat of pansies, says Mike McGrath.
Kites will soar Saturday during the fifth annual Blossom Kite Festival near the Washington Monument.
Data from Google Finance.


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***** Read My Reviews before you decide *****
From $161 / night
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Description from the owner
- 1 bedrooms
- 1 bathrooms
- Sleeps 4
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Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Sleeps: 4
Type: Apt. / Condo***** Read My Reviews before you decide *****
Description from the owner
ISLAND BEACH RESORT Condos, Shuckers Restaurant and Tiki Bar on the BEACH... GPS Map address is:: 9800 South Ocean Drive, Jensen Beach, Florida 34957 (on Hutchinson Island) I rent a beachfront condo that sleeps up to four people. Two full-size balconies, both with full glass sliding doors, give you a spectacular view of the sea. Enjoy miles of clean, uncrowded beaches on South Hutchinson Island Florida... The way it used to be! Surf fishing is a popular past time of my guests when they're not enjoying many of the other great things to do.
I offer a secure one bedroom condominium which can accommodate up to four people. There are two full size ...Read more
About the owner
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David O.
David O.
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***** Read My Reviews before you decide *****
Hutchinson Island, Florida
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Hutchinson Island, Jensen Beach, Island Beach Resort, Beach Front on the ocean... GPS Map address is: 9800 South Ocean Drive, Jensen beach, Florida 34957
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Beach or lakeside relaxation, Waterfront
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Nearest airport: PBI, 35 miles
Car is recommended
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Somerville, MA, United States | Member Since 2005
"Solid young adult sci-fi adventure"
I enjoyed Ian McDonald's Turkish-flavored sci-fi novel, The Dervish House, and was pleased to see this foray into Young Adult sci-fi come out in audio form. After 14-year-old Everett Singh's Punjabi-British quantum physicist dad is kidnapped, Everett receives a file containing what his father had discovered: a map of parallel universes dubbed the Infundibulum (I wish more authors would come up with such fun-to-say words). Currently, there are only ten that can be reached (or can reach each other), since connection requires the same technology on the other side, but the elder Singh's discovery may change that, and someone sinister wants the map. So, Everett must use his own capable intellect to escape into another plane, where a coal-driven world called E3 and a steampunky version of London await him.
The format here is good-old-fashioned juvenile adventure (compared to McDonald's more sophisticated adult books), but if you or a young family member enjoy those, there's plenty to recommend Planesrunner. It features female and non-white primary characters without making a big deal of it. There's a healthy sense of humor (I had a laugh at the website where kids share the pathetic behaviors of recently-divorced parents) and an awareness of things young people are interested in, from Facebook to Doctor Who. While none of McDonald's ideas are particularly original (steampunk and airships have been done to death by now), he combines them in an intelligent, creative way, and young readers won't notice the borrowings. The supporting characters, such the feisty, alterna-Cockney girl, Sen, and her strong-willed airship captain guardian, Anastasia Sixsmyth, who join Everett on his adventure in E3, are a lot of fun, though this book really only introduces them for the future.
The storytelling isn't without a few stumbles, though. My main issue is that Everett's abilities stretch the limits of believability. A 14-year-old prodigy who does normal preteen stuff, but can also think in more than three dimensions and solve quantum field equations? That might have been pushing the "it's okay to be a nerd" message into implausibility. There's a bit of filler as well, such as an airship battle in the second half that seems unnecessary to the main plot (and is the sort of thing handled more excitingly in Scott Westerfeld's steampunk adventure, Leviathan)
But, not huge flaws. The many-worlds concept is interesting, and there are intriguing hints at where the series might go in the future. I'm sure I would have thoroughly enjoyed Planesrunner at age 14. Speaking of, there wasn't anything that I'd consider inappropriate for young people, just some cheeky humor, some non-lethal fighting, and one or two minor swear words. However, the science references might go over the heads of pre-adolescent kids.
Audible narrator Tom Lawrence does a solid job, switching over to a credible American (and other) accents as the dialogue calls for. A good B/B+ YA novel.
"Even the monstrous among us..."
The Minotaur in Steven Sherrill's novel is a being I can relate to. He has a hulking frame that tends to bump into things, is quiet and introspective, feels like a bit of an outsider in the ordinary human world, and doesn't always know the best way to verbalize his thoughts, so he often just says "mmmmm".
Unlike me, though, he's the very same creature from ancient myth. He's lived so long, his monstrous past has mostly worn away, leaving only a few dim memories. The same is true of his ability to provoke a reaction from the humans around him. To the denizens of the North Carolina trailer park where he now lives, or the greasy spoon restaurant where he works as a short order cook at, he's a slight oddity, but, really, no more so than the girl who suffers from epilepsy or the gay waiter who's also a Civil War reenactor. The Minotaur leads a fairly unremarkable life. He worries about losing his job, feels uncomfortable around dogs and electronics, likes to repair cars, and has trouble making long-term plans.
There's not much that "happens" in this novel, which has the feel of one those subdued indie films in which the characters carry out their normal lives in a way meant to show the profundity of everyday existence. Conventional urban fantasy, this is not. The writing is quite good at capturing the feel and character of the South, though, and I enjoyed the character study of the Minotaur, called "M" by others, who yearns for connection, or at least a place in the world, but doesn't know how to fit in. He becomes, variously, an observer of human nature, a sounding board for other people's feelings and worries, an object of antagonism, and a lover.
Of course, the story isn't really "about" the Minotaur, but about the way the primal permeates life, sometimes getting lost underneath it, sometimes boiling to the surface at odd moments. Add someone a little more primal than everyone else to small, backwater town, and the dynamic shifts subtly. I enjoyed the nuance with which Sherrill weaves in myth, religion, humor, absurdity, sexuality, the innocent directness of children, and human pathos (e.g. the death and subsequent "unburial" of Sweeney's dog).
Admittedly, this is a slow, languid cloudy day book (though everything comes together in a tense conclusion) and not everyone will enjoy it. I actually quit at several points to listen to other books, but found myself drawn back again. Some credit surely goes to audiobook narrator Holter Graham's excellent reading. He grasps the text well, gives different inflections to different characters, and injects the right notes into the Minotaur's many "hmmms" and "mmmms". He even does rather well with the "dialogue" from an overheard porn movie.
Another win from the Neil Gaiman Presents project, though this one more for tone and writing than storytelling.
"Gritty medieval supernatural horror"
I got this one in a Halloween sale at audible, and it's fairly enjoyable. The setting is 14th century France, and the Black Death is ravishing a countryside already ravished by war. To the survivors, it looks like the End Times are coming and the devil's supernatural minions are loose upon the Earth. And perhaps they are...
The story feels like a mix of George R.R. Martin and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, with some Heironymus Bosch-ian freakiness thrown in (if you don't know who he is, do an image search on the internet -- it's worth your time). A hardbitten fallen knight is roaming the hellscape with some outlaws when his compatriots take an unwholesome interest in a strange girl, who claims to hear instructions from angels. The knight takes issue, swords are drawn, and soon the knight is the grudging companion of the girl, whom he intends to dump at the next village. But, after an encounter with a monster and a hallucinatory vision, he begins to think her angels might be real...
The plot takes a while to find its feet as the two protagonists go from town to town, encountering new scenes of devastation, various creatures of the underworld, and the usual demons of human nature, and picking up a wayward priest and a mule, but tightens up as it approaches the last act.
The story isn't without cliches, some dialogue of dubious authenticity, and few scenes or devices straight out of a B horror movie, but its more deliciously nightmarish moments make up for the weak patches. The monster/angel/demon battles are a little "Hollywood", but, otherwise, Buehlman does a fine job with creepy imagery and some of the more human-focused scenes.
I particularly enjoyed the mini-narratives that set the stage for each new act, describing an ongoing war between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell (with humanity caught in the middle) in appropriately medieval terms. I'm not sure how much of what transpires really represents Christian theology, but, then again, one could ask that about The Exorcist. The epilogue, though, seems to reach a more spiritual and less supernatural understanding of the religion.
Audiobook narrator, Steve West, does pretty well with male characters, though I wondered why he represented Frenchmen with an English accent. Maybe he can't do a French accent? His German accent might be the most Jamaican sounding one I've ever heard. And I wasn't a huge fan of his falsetto for Delphine.
Regardless, I think that fans of horror fantasy and/or gritty action set in the Middle Ages will enjoy this book. 3.5 stars overall.
"Gorgeously-written alternate history classic"
Keith Roberts's 1968 novel, Pavane, imagines an alternate 20th century in which England's 16th century split from the Catholic Church had never happened. As a result, all of the Western world is ruled from Rome, whose hierarchy has kept a jealous lid on science and technology. That which is permitted has taken on some pretty baroque forms, such as great steam-powered hauling vehicles and a communication system based on hilltop-mounted semaphors, run by a powerful paramilitary guild.
Such inventions might have been labeled "steampunk" had Pavane been published 30 years later, but that term is too hackneyed to do this book justice. While technology is part of Roberts's vision, it's also a window into a more mystical, pastoral England, where the ancient, primal religion of the past hasn't yet been supplanted by progress, and the supernatural world of Faerie still swirls around the edges of the Christianized one, playing its mischief on hearts and minds. For perhaps the old ways, both pagan and Christian, are meant to guide humanity, but in ways not fully revealed.
Pavane isn't a conventionally plotted novel, but consists of six loosely-connected "movements" that build on each other in layers. Each, centered around a different character, can be read as a self-contained story set in a shared world, but, together, they comprise a meditation on the way change can take hold of a person or society, the themes and actions of the earlier pieces taking on greater significance in the later ones.
A brief summary of the movements:
1. A young steam train driver suffers a broken heart, then is tested by bandits.
2. A semaphor operator in a lonely post is badly injured, but by who or what, we don't know at first. Flashbacks reveal his history and the nature of his guild.
3. An adolescent fisher-girl's transition to womanhood is associated with her encounters with a strange white boat, which the local folk aren't supposed to acknowledge.
4. An artistic monk is broken by a terrible assignment from his superiors, and leads a spiritual rebellion.
5. A significant death and a significant love affair lead to a vision.
6. A noblewoman faced with an unjust demand rebels against Rome. Maybe the most riveting piece.
Coda: the scientific revolution has begun at last, but with a significant difference from our own world.
While some of the stories, taken on their own, are more interesting than others, I loved seeing the connections between them unfold. I found Robert's prose to be lovely and sensory, and his storytelling quite good as well. It's not at all a surprise that Neil Gaiman used his influence to have this one brought into audio form. The major themes of the novel (discipline, change, awakening, the mystery of the unknowable) are more insinuated than spelled out, which might put off readers who require a strong, well-defined plot to hold their attention, but I'm not such a reader.
If, like me, you're drawn to the intersection between science fiction, fantasy, and literature, this book probably deserves a place on your shelf. For me, the wistful mood of Pavane, aided by Steven Crossley's fine, classically rich-voiced audiobook performance, secure it a place among my favorites. Kudos to Gaiman for calling attention to it.
"Entertaining slacker horror thriller"
14 is escapist slacker horror in roughly the same category as John Dies At the End, but with a less crass sense of humor. The setup is that Nate, a young guy with a dead-end temp job at a Los Angeles magazine publisher, moves into an apartment in an old building somewhere near Hollywood. The deal seems too good to be true, with cheap rent and a great roof deck.
Naturally, a few things are weird about the building. What's up with the green cockroaches with an extra leg? The permanently-closed elevator? The strangeness of the building layout? The cold spots? The tight-lipped, paranoid building manager? The padlocks on apartment fourteen?
As Nate investigates, he gradually meets his neighbors, including an exhibitionist artist who likes to sunbathe in the nude, a not-too-sharp movie crew guy, a female Indian computer hacker, a creepy religious guy, and an unusually fit older man whose backstory seems at odds with his skillset. Together, they form a mystery-solving gang, with lots of ironic Scooby Do wisecracks.
This really isn't heavyweight fiction, but I enjoyed watching the characters delve into the mysteries of the building and its basement, the constant banter between them, and Clines's imagination and humor. There's even a bit of sweetness, as romance blooms and we learn whom "Shaggy" really has the hots for (not Scooby). Audiobook narrator Ray Porter does a pretty good job of giving each significant character his or her own personality and accent.
The last act of the book takes us into some netherdimensional sci-fi/horror territory. The payoff isn't highly original or quite as much fun as everything leading up to it, but it's not bad, and that freaky tower towards the end is a great visual. Clines leaves a few threads unresolved and not everything makes complete logical sense, so perhaps there will be a sequel.
In sum, if you're looking for something deep, look elsewhere. If you want an audiobook that's fun to relax to, but has wit and a little creepiness, this is a great pick.
"Fantasy spy thriller, some world-building issues"
Lately, there's been a movement in fantasy away from the late medieval Western European milieu that predominates in the genre towards other kinds of settings. Why not a steampunk universe? Why not a Bronze Age universe, or a Russian-inspired one? Why not a universe where people travel in space and have "modern" sensibilities, as well as magic abilities? (See the popular "Saga" graphic novel series)
Robert Jackson Bennett is a young author who hops on that train in City of Stairs, and I took a chance on the book after it got a lot of praise online (I consider a plethora of gushy fans a cautionary sign). The novel reminds me a bit of China Mieville's The City & The City, in that the plot begins with a murder mystery and takes place in a city where there are two cultures with competing narratives, and a troubled, unspoken history behind everything.
But, where Mieville's novel was more metaphysical, this one leans more in the fantasy direction. As we learn, Shara, a foreign service agent from a country called Saypur, which has a roughly late-1800s level of technology, is one of the few people who knows much about the past history of Bulikov and the surrounding continent. This region used to be dominated by magic and a pantheon of gods, but Saypur invaded the Continent about seventy years prior, killed the gods and most of their creatures, locked up the magical artifacts, and suppressed all study of the divine. Except, of course, that being done by one prominent Saypuri scholar, whose murder begins the book. With the help of her secretary, Sigrud, a barbarian giant of few words, Shara begins a search for the culprit. And there are plenty to suspect of complicity, from an ultra-conservative Bulikov nationalist group, to an ex-boyfriend of Shara's, to her own government, to one of the gods (are they really all dead?). What was the murdered man looking for within a secret vault? And what of the legendary Saypuri leader who used a secret weapon of his own devising to slay the gods?
This was one of those novels that got off to a slow start, but gradually picked up steam towards the middle. I liked the characters, the smart but flawed Shara, the hard-headed female colonel, and the mysterious Sigrud, with his dark past. There are some great scenes involving battles with monsters, and some interesting ideas about the nature of the gods and their relationship to humanity.
The world-building, though, is a little muddled. Saypur feels like a vaguely Indian culture, but has some clearly modern and "western" attitudes. The Continent seems vaguely Russian, but is similar to "barbarian" societies we've seen in countless other fantasy and sci-fi novels. The technology and social attitudes are somewhat inconsistent -- on one hand, Saypur has cars and an advanced state of women's lib, but gunpowder and photography are relatively new inventions. And some of the magic gets a little silly, such as the final battle with the divinities. As a result, I had a hard time getting too engaged in the politics of the story -- the world never felt totally convincing.
Yet, in terms of plot, this is a pretty competent fantasy world spy/mystery thriller, and I think a lot of readers will enjoy it. The audiobook narration is good, and fits Shara well, but isn't spectacular. I had trouble distinguishing minor characters in places.
"Familiar but enjoyable youth-in-war-games SF"
If you've read The Hunger Games and other dystopian science fiction novels, the premise of Red Rising is a familiar one. The hero of the story, Darrow, is a tough-beyond-his-years teenager from the lowly "Red" mining caste, which spends its days drilling under the surface of Mars. Turns out, though, that Mars has been terraformed for centuries, and the Reds, like other color-coded castes, are dominated by the "Golds", who consider themselves to be superior to all other humans and therefore the natural rulers.
The first few chapters are a little rushed and clunky. Darrow gets on the wrong side of his masters and nearly pays for it with his life, except a rebel group rescues him at the last moment to recruit him for a special assignment. They remake him to look and act like a Gold, with the goal of having him rise up to a position of power in Gold society. This was the point at which I nearly stopped reading, because the tropes felt so overdone.
Luckily, the story becomes much more engaging once Darrow and a crop of young Golds are thrown into the trials of the Institute, which is designed to find those with the most leadership potential and weed out the least capable. The Golds, as we learn, fear decadence and have a Darwinistic philosophy to keep it in check. Accordingly, the Institute is a vast competitive proving ground that falls somewhere between the arena of The Hunger Games and the battle school in Ender's Game. Students are assigned a house (each named after a different Roman/Greek god) and placed in a large, open preserve where they must figure out how to defend a base, make use of resources, and conquer the other tribes. Fans of the aforementioned books will probably enjoy all the scheming, combat, alliances, double-crossing, and tests of character. It's not original stuff, but Brown makes good use of factions, symbols, and the personalities of his central characters to keep the wheels of the plot turning -- and to make some deeper points about the nature of governance and social order, as they evolve from law of the jungle.
If the characters are a little too crafty and mentally tough to be fully believable as teens, the taut storytelling and good sense of pacing kept me hooked until the end. The echoes of the Iliad, with interfering "gods" and warriors trying to build names for themselves, might strike some readers as cheesy, but I enjoyed them. At this point, the youths-forced-into-contrived-war-games subgenre of science fiction is rather crowded, but Red Rising will probably please fans of it. There's plenty of setup for the next book, which promises dangerous political games amongst the grownups.
I enjoyed the audiobook narration, which uses an Irish brogue to suggest the Reds, and an upper-class British accent for the Golds. Tim Gerard Reynolds does a good job of switching between the two, for Darrow's inner monologues and spoken dialogue. A few of the side characters might have been easier to distinguish.
"Ambitious, many-placed contemplation of mortality"
David Mitchell's sixth novel is a globe-and-time-hopping six-part meditation on the way death shapes human existence, though we may try to deny it beneath the trappings of modernity. As in Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten, there isn't a traditional narrative drivetrain, but a loose story thread that passes through multiple characters, all of whom seem like they might have come from different novels, but are pulled together by a shared degree of separation.
While Mitchell has always played with magic realism, here he goes for out-and-out fantasy, an indulgence that editors might would have talked a less-established writer out of. If you recall the ageless villain in The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Mitchell has expanded this mystery into an ongoing supernatural war between two factions of immortals, the Anchorites (who prolong their lives by sacrificing psychically-gifted victims) and the Horologists (who are reborn into new bodies each time they die, but also with a sacrifice of sorts).
For the first four acts of the novel (roughly 400 pages), this conflict remains mostly in the background, with bits of it spilling a la Murakami into the primary characters' lives, usually in the form of visions or encounters that they don't understand. The first act follows Holly Sykes, whom we meet through her own words as a teenager in 1984 England, when she runs away from home. In the second, she becomes an important figure in the life of a charming but manipulative young Cambridge University libertine, who has just schemed himself into a corner. In 2004, we see her through the eyes of her husband, a journalist covering the awful early days of the Iraq occupation, who has a glimpse into Holly's psychic gifts at a crucial moment. And later, she becomes friends with a cantankerous 50-ish author whose star is falling fast, and a vehicle for some good "literary" wit.
As always, Mitchell's ability to hop between tones, styles, places, and voices is impressive. The first four acts of the novel have to be read as separate stories, though the reader will notice shared elements, images, locations, characters, and ideas that ripple and reflect through them. And, of course, that each protagonist is older than the last, gradually shifting the perspective on mortality. However, several of the characters feel more like artfully crafted "types" than real people, and I wondered if so much time needed to be spent in the worlds of privileged students or famous novelists to make the point. (Maybe?)
The fifth act, where the paranormal Anchorite/Horologist war at last comes to the fore, dragging in Holly, may strike readers as a little silly, with its talk of "psychic voltages", "old souls", and "chakra eyes". There's an elaborate history here, and we take a trip back to Czarist Russia and 19th century Australia, but the essential struggle isn't complex. One side seeks eternal youth via a system that exploits others; the other seeks deeper continuity, but has limited power. Looked at one way, it's fantasy cosmology; looked at another, it's the very struggle in our souls.
So we arrive at the last act, told from an older Holly's perspective, set in a grim 2040s where the supernatural good guys have been unable to save humanity from the consequences of its own actions, though there's a ray of bittersweet hope. In trying to hide from our own individual mortality, do we collectively hasten it for civilization? Good question.
Probably more than Mitchell's other novels, this one is written in the security of a fanbase, and might frustrate the non-initiate who randomly pulls it off a shelf. But, I'm part of the club and I couldn't help but enjoy the ambition, ideas, craft, storytelling, connections, and resonant themes. I also had fun reviewing it in my mind afterwards, working out deeper meanings -- as one needs to with Mitchell.
The voice actors are mostly pretty capable, though Eddie's and Crispin's sound a little too old, and some accents might have been better.
"A little light but interesting"
I enjoyed Jon Ronson's 2011 foray into the world of psychopaths and special interest groups out to protect or demonize them, and this seemed like a good book of his to read next. Though published in 2001, just before 9/11 and the Bush and Obama presidencies drove conspiracy theory and anti-government groups to new levels of hysteria, it's an enlightening window into how fringe groups form around certain rallying ideas and code words.
As advertised, Ronson discovers that Islamic extremists in Britain, anti-government paranoids in the US, racist groups, anti-Catholic groups, and a man who claims that the world is ruled by secret alien lizard people all have something in common: fear that a shadowy cabal of bankers, businessmen, media elites, and politicians is scheming to impose some sort of Orwellian New World Order. In their own minds, these extremists are fighting a resistance against those who would turn them into, to use a well-worn internetism, weak and helpless "sheeple".
As in the Psychopath Test, Ronson carefully humors his subjects and lets them express themselves in their own words, which sometimes veer towards the Monty Python-esque. Hard not to find the bumbling Islamic activist, Omar Bakri Muhammad, somewhat ridiculous, as he makes over-the-top pronouncements, then furiously backpedals towards a more genial facade whenever challenged. Same with KKK leader, Thomas Robb, who is trying to rebrand his organization with a more friendly image after being inspired by some leadership books from the self-help section. Ronson's own self-deprecating wit is also amusing, if a little distracting at times.
Other people Ronson spends time with, though, seem like they might have a point, such as the survivors of the infamous Ruby Ridge Incident, in which the feds seemingly came down on a misunderstood survivalist family in Idaho with excessive force. His investigations into the claims of anti-Zionist groups raises a question: are Jewish film moguls really just acting out their own insecurities about being Jews in Hollywood... and giving some people the wrong idea? And when Ronson joins Alex Jones (of Infowars fame) and several others in investigating the Bilderberg Group, a publicity-shunning private conference of political, business, and academic elites, it's somewhat unclear where paranoia ends and dull reality begins. Is a bacchanalian gathering in the woods of Northern California about rich old men celebrating dark, perverse rites of power, or just harmless, fraternity-like fun? Is it scarier to think that these people might indeed have a lot of influence over the world's affairs... or that they don't?
Ultimately, this might be a little too light-hearted of a book on extremism -- Ronson, not surprisingly, doesn't spend much time in the company of the most hateful or militant types of groups, such as neo-Nazis, so his character studies tend more towards crackpots and self-promoters. And this *is* a pre-9/11 book. Still the character studies are interesting.
Audiobooks narrated by their own authors are a mixed bag, but Ronson's pleading voice adds a lot to the funnier parts, like when he talks about trying to "tone down" his Jewishness.
"Still powerful"
Though not a long book, All Quiet on the Western Front is the prototype for nearly every modern novel about going to war. Young men with their heads crammed full of patriotism and dreams of glory volunteer for the army. There is a strenuous boot camp with a martinet drill instructor. Then the horror and carnage of battle, which often amounts to hunkering down and hoping not to be hit by shells fired by a far-off enemy, while nearby comrades are randomly cut down by shrapnel, explosive, bullets, and poison gas, sometimes to die hideous, lingering deaths.
The story is told through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, an everyman character whom Remarque never defines in much depth -- though part of this is the conceit that Paul, at 19, sees himself as a person who was unformed before war claimed him. The novel, written in the immediate tense, reads more as a series of fragmentary scenes and impressions than an ordered narrative, which might put off some readers, but I think this adds to its effectiveness. Over the course of the novel, Paul and his companions experience all the usual responses to modern war. There's horror, disillusionment, shell shock, and alienation from the civilian world, with its self-satisfied values and artificial lives. To Paul, the ability to care about the things that his student self once cared about is lost, the only meaning now in small, primal acts of life and in his comrades-in-arms.
The prose is haunted by bleakness and despair, though there are some scenes that are quite beautiful in their melancholy humanity, such as Paul's visit to a camp of Russian POWs, or of his regrets after being trapped in a shell hole for a few hours with a dying enemy soldier, who, now disarmed, is little different from himself. There are a few moments of levity, such a scene where a pompous teacher gets his just desserts, but they're few. For their part, the sequences set in the trenches are rich in images of dull, hellish squalor, such as passing time by killing ever-present corpse-fed rats, or the cries of a wounded man slowly dying somewhere out in No Man's Land. Yes, no surprise that the Nazis banned this one for "defeatism" (and got to relive it all at Stalingrad).
Though the specific causes of World War One are now buried in the dustbin of history, the reader doesn't need to be familiar with them to grasp the essential themes. All Quiet on the Western Front still maintains its timeless message of youth pointlessly squandered by the impenetrable stupidity of politics. When Paul's companions discuss the reasons they've been sent to fight and die, they can only observe that they never had anything against the French, nor the average French soldier against Germany, but, as always, the few people who make and benefit from policy aren't the ones deemed young and physically fit enough to die for it. While no 21st century generation is likely to experience the kind of wholesale meat-grinder warfare that could wipe out thirty thousand lives in one battle, we shouldn't forget the naivete that led to it, or the callousness it inflicted. These are aspects of modernity that have hardly left the world, even a century later.
Audiobook narrator Frank Muller gives a restrained but haunted reading that fits the spirit of the text well.
"A good conclusion"
Fillory, the magical land in this series, is a flagrant riff on CS Lewis's Narnia. In Lewis's classic children's books, the young protagonists entered the world through a magic portal, had adventures, and got into trouble, but had Aslan the lion (and Christ figure) to set them on the right path again. Here, though, the heroes aren't children, but jaded young adults, and the gods are a lot more fallible. And magic is dangerous.
In the hands of other writers, such a premise might not have gone beyond parody, but Grossman's marvelous mix of creativity, snark, grimness, and squirmy truth shows that he had more serious things in mind. His story might be a metaphor for the messy process of growing up, for reaching that age where you've outgrown childish things, but haven't fully abandoned them. It's when you find out that the world doesn't always answer your dreams with wish fulfillment, but with sharp edges. So it happens with the mopey, self-absorbed Quentin Coldwater and his disaffected friends, who, after learning magic at a special university that recruits the smartest misfits, manage to open a gateway to Fillory, which they become rulers of after removing a monster. Though not without death and suffering, and not without quite a bit of angst.
In this novel, the nearly-thirty Quentin, who was banished from Fillory at the end of the last book, returns to Earth, while his friends continue on as rulers of the magic land or go on other missions (in the case of Julia, the hedge witch now turned demigod). There, he takes up a post as a professor at Brakebills, until something/someone from his past comes back to haunt him. Along with a new character named Plum, who has her own secret, he joins a team of renegade magicians to carry out a mission for a talking bird, who wishes them to recover a lost suitcase. This suitcase, well-guarded and kept closed by powerful magic, once belonged to one of the Chatwin children.
If this is meant to be the last adventure in the Magicians universe, it finds its way to a somewhat expected, but not unsatisfying conclusion. Yes, Quentin finally matures and embraces being an adult, and his friends have their own growth. The plot is a little more rushed than previous entries, as Grossman works his way towards tying up all the loose ends, sometimes at the expense of spending enough time with his more interesting or likable characters or fully addressing some of the series' outstanding questions (who's behind the Neitherlands?).
Still, he has talent as a writer, which stands out in more than a few moments. I especially liked a journal sequence that reveals, with fitting Britishness, more about the relationship between the Chatwins and Fillory. As in the previous books, there's plenty of snarky humor, with irreverent young adults talking back to monsters and one another, but Grossman can also do emotional honesty, existential doubt, and genuine wonder. There's poignancy to a few scenes, such as Quentin's emotional response to his father's death, or a surprisingly beautiful scene in which one world comes to an end and another is born. A creative duel between Quentin and a ghostly being has an otherworldly creepiness to it, as well as an extra layer of emotional tension.
Overall, I think that readers who enjoyed books one and two will like this one, even if it lacks many surprises in overall plot arc or character development. Grossman has created a world whose biting twists on traditional fantasy are as much of a pleasure to explore as the original thing was when we were kids. These books ain't for kids, and that's okay by me. Audiobook narrator for the series, Mark Bramhall, brings his usual droll style, though I felt he gave a little less personality to some of the characters than before.
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If you're handy with tools (or even if you're just learning), you'll love making any of these clever halloween pumpkins
Fall Bucket List - Carving Pumpkins & Decorating Pumpkins - @grooveshoes
How To Carve a Pumpkin ~ 13 Expert Tips for Carving a Perfect Pumpkin from Better Homes and Gardens. Deputy Art Director Scott Johnson gives us the scoop on how to carve the perfect pumpkin this Halloween. #SecurCare #pinyourpumpkin
Pumpkin Carving 101!
Curious about how to correctly carve a pumpkin? We have the answer here: http://www.bhg.com/halloween/pumpkin-carving/how-to/?socsrc=bhgpin100713howtocarveapumpkin - yep, tutorial desperately required!
Scary Pumpkin Carving Patterns | ... jackolantern pattern download free pumpkin carving patterns frugal
Carvings Ideas, Halloween Fun, Halloween Pumpkin, Jack O' Lanterns, Carvings Tattoo, Carvings Pumpkin, Easy Pumpkin, Halloween Ideas, Pumpkin Carvings Pattern
Furniture and Accessories. Scary Halloween pumpkin example sketch. Cool Easy Pumpkin Carvings for Perfect Halloween Day
For a classic half-friendly, half-scary jack-o'-lantern look, Grimace has you covered. A fairly easy pattern to carve, Grimace will have you smiling through the night. Grimace is part of the Family Collection Tattoo Party Pack from Pumpkin WoW and is also sold individually. Pumpkin Carving Tattoos allow you to transfer your pattern to a pumpkin within 2 minutes and start carving without having to tape the pattern down, poke dots or redraw the design.
jack+o'lantern+carving | grimace for a classic half friendly half scary jack o lantern look ...
70 Cool Easy Pumpkin Carving Ideas for Wonderful Halloween day | Family Holiday
Funny Pumpkin Carving Ideas 2014
Halloween Stuff, Autumn Halloween, Halloween Fun, Halloween Fall, Halloween Pumpkin, Halloween Fal Decor, Fun Halloween, Halloween Ideas, Halloween Diy
Pumpkin Carving Ideas 2014
Ideas 2014, Holiday Ideas, Halloween Stuff, Ian Bored, Pumpkin, Carvings Ideas, Holiday Fun, Girls Scouts, Halloween Ideas
No Carve Melted Crayon Pumpkin Craft for Kids to make! #Halloween #Fall art project | CraftyMorning.com
Melted Crayon Pumpkin, Decorating Pumpkin, Pumpkin Diy, Diy Pumpkin Carving, Halloween Activity, Decorate Pumpkin, Pumpkin Craft, Crayons Pumpkin, Halloween Diy
The PERFECT Halloween activity! No Carve Melted Crayon Pumpkin Craft for Kids to make! #Halloween #Fall #Art
No Carve Melted Crayon Pumpkin Craft [A new take on decorating pumpkins]
DIY Melted Crayon Pumpkin - no carving needed! #Pumpkin #Halloween #DIY
如何编织手链 3款手链编织其实好简单-╭★肉丁网
Halloween Parties, Halloween Decor, Halloween Crafts, Halloween Pumpkin, Pumpkin Carvings, Jack O' Lanterns, Toothpick, Halloween Ideas, Happy Halloween
~T~ Love these toothpick teeth, just one of 12 pumpkin carving ideas on this post. #halloween #pumpkin
tooth pick jack olatern halloween halloween party halloween decorations halloween crafts halloween ideas diy halloween halloween pumpkins halloween jack o lanterns #adamblockdesignhalloween
Pumpkin Carving Ideas and Patterns for Halloween 2014
Interiors Design, Halloween Pumpkin, Pumpkin Decor, Pumpkin Carvings, Jack O' Lanterns, Monsters, Halloween Decor Ideas, Carvings Pumpkin, Pumpkin Design
Fancy - Best Halloween Pumpkins Decorations Ideas - Modern Homes Interior Design and Decorating Ideas on Decodir
halloween tree decorating ideas | ... Halloween Decorating Ideas | Modern Interior Design and Decorating
UNIQUE PUMPKIN DESIGNS | ... Unique Halloween Pumpkin Carving Designs with Double Couple Ideas
Crazy Jack O Lantern Monster halloween halloween party halloween decorations halloween crafts halloween ideas diy halloween halloween pumpkins halloween jack o lanterns halloween party decor jack o lantern
carving pumpkins: Monsters inc
carved Halloween pumpkin with homemade braces- Pinterest inspired. Color-changing LED light shows green in this photo.
Halloween Pumpkin
Mummy Pumpkin Carving #halloween #mummy #spooky #scary
Halloween Decor, Carvings Halloween, Mummy Pumpkin, Carvings Ideas, Halloween Fun, Fall Halloween, Pumpkin Carvings, Jack O' Lanterns, Mummy Jack
Mummy jack o' lantern.
Mummy Pumpkin Carving Idea
Funny Pumpkin Carving
Holiday, Ideas, Dental Humor, Halloween Pumpkins, Funny, Pumpkin Carvings, Jack O' Lanterns, Braces Face, Carvings Pumpkin
Have a child (or husband) who's got a bit of a metal mouth? Celebrate their brace face with this great pumpkin carving idea!
Geek jack o lantern
Hey, brace face! #Halloween #pumpkins
Pumpkin with braces, so cute. Dental humor!
Brace face Pumpkin! Funny
I'm going to carve #pumpkins like this for my #office on #halloween! #braces #holidays #dentaloffice #huntingtonbeach
Pam Sani
I made one of these based on this picture for last Halloween. for the brackets on the teeth, I hot glued pop can tabs onto silver thumbtacks. I used a color-changing led light inside. Also, if you line the top portion of the pumkin with some aluminum foil, it will reflect and intensify the light.
Hotels Etc Travel Club
Oh! Really funny
Carine Servante
Hello Ms Pam. I would love to see your own creation! :)
Pam Sani
Here you go--it's on my board called Stuff I like. I made sure my pumpkin really needed braces!
Kitty Cat
Hello Pam Sani, I'm checking on you too! :)
Hello Kitty No Carving Pumpkin for Halloween
Holiday, Ideas, Painting Pumpkin, Kittypumpkin, Pink Pumpkin, Kitty Pumpkin, Hellokitty, Hello Kitty, Halloween Diy
adorable pumpkins - not crazy about hello kitty (althought its cute) - but i love the idea of pink pumpkins with small black ones for accent! :)
hello kittypumpkins
Hello Kitty Pumpkin... I think I need to paint pumpkins this weekend:)
Halloween Hello Kitty pumpkins!! #halloween #diy #crafts #decorations
DIY ideas: Hello Kitty Pumpkins! #hellokitty #pumpkins #kids #diy
Frozen Jackolantern, Frozen Halloween Birthday, Birthday Parties, Olaf Pumpkin Carving, Birthday Party Ideas, Frozen Birthday Party, Cute Pumpkins Carving
Frozen Olaf Pumpkin Carving
Frozen Birthday Party Ideas
Beth Scott
So cute
Kitty Cat
Olaf dear Olafffffff!!
Pumpkin Carving Ideas 2014
Decor Ideas, Halloween Decor, Zombies Pumpkin, Halloween Pumpkin, Googly Eye, Pumpkin Carvings, Martha Stewart, White Pumpkin, Halloween Ideas
Zombie Pumpkins Miniature saw Small pumpkin (For a petrifying pale complexion, look for a white pumpkin) Plastic eyeballs Thumbtack or pin For the eyes, hold saw at an angle and cut 2 cone-shaped holes into the pumpkin. The diameter of the holes should be slightly smaller than the eyeballs' diameter. Cut mouth Wedge eyeballs into holes.
Martha Stewart Googly Eye Zombie Pumpkins
Zombie Pumpkins & other Halloween ideas (Martha Stewart)
Halloween Decorating Decorations: Zombie Pumpkins. So easy to make from foam faux pumpkins or real ones. from Martha Stewart
Halloween: Pumpkin Carving and Decorating Ideas - Martha Stewart
debra baker
Really cool


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In over my head here...
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Metro West Massachusetts
Posts: 4,034
You think she should commit to being your primary partner after some online and phone chatting and a couple dates? I think you 2 have some good vibes and NRE happening, but she's also attracted to her female friend. What she and her gf do with that other guy is their business and shouldnt concern you overly much. You know Andrea likes you. You 2 haven't even had sex yet.
It sounds like you're letting jealousy about what Andrea and her gf might do with the other guy get in the way of what you and A have going. No need to rush into a 3way with a 2nd woman. I'd say just enjoy what you've got and see where it leads.
Love withers under constraint; its very essence is liberty. It is compatible neither with envy, jealousy or fear. It is there most pure, perfect and unlimited when its votaries live in confidence, equality and unreserve. -- Shelley
The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. --Shaw
me: Mags, female, pansexual, 59, loving and living with
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Nemo Equipment Tuo Cub
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Horror as man, 65, pictured in iconic Boston blast image may lose his sight and suffer from brain damage as his wife remains on a respirator
- Eric Whalley seen being wheeled from scene of carnage with blood covered face and screaming in pain
- His wife Ann, 65, remains on respirator
- Their son could immediately find them after the attack and posted message on Facebook asking for help
A 65-year-old man photographed following the terror attack at the Boston Marathon in a wheel chair, his face covered in blood and screaming in agony as a medical worker cares for his wounded leg, may lose his sight and suffer brain damage as his wife remains on a respirator.
Eric Whalley was at the race with his wife, Ann, when the two bombs went off near the finish line.
Their son, Richard, saw the now iconic picture of his father posted on the internet and frantically tried to find out whether his parents were alive.
Horror: Eric Whalley, 65, is treated by medics after being caught up in the Boston bombings
Childhood sweethearts: Eric and Ann Whalley, both 65, moved to the US with their two sons in 1989 after growing up in Cockermouth
'There was a possibility my mom was dead,' Whalley, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., told ABC News.
'I knew she was older and pretty close to the blast.'
Whalley turned to Facebook for answers.
'This is my dad in the picture in this link: I have no idea where my mum is. They were both bombed. I'm trying to figure out what hospital they are at. Can you help?
'They look pretty severely injured and I'm worried my Mum is dead.'
His friends began making calls to hospitals in the area and soon found his parents, who were taken to different locations.
'It was amazing,' said Whalley.
The Whalleys, who are hikers and like to walk around the city, have had nearly a dozen surgeries between them to remove multiple ball bearings and nails.
Eric Whalley was struck in the skull and eye and may lose his sight. There is also the chance he will suffer brain damage.
Ann Whalley has a badly mangled right foot.
His father had a blood clot on one side of his brain. He also had orthopedic surgery on his right leg. 'The feet are in especially bad shape,' said Whalley. 'Part of the right foot was blown off.'
His parents, who came from England to Colorado in 1990, eventually got U.S. citizenship.
This is the frantic Facebook message posted by Richard Whalley when he was unsure what had happened to his parents
Retirement: Mr Whalley is a retired pharmacologist while his wife Ann is an ex-teacher. The couple have two sons Richard, 25, and Chris, 34
Brutality of the bombings: Caked in dirt and debris and covered in blood, Mr Whalley is wheeled away into an ambulance after the terror attack
On Wednesday night, Whalley had a conversation with his father, who gained consciousness for the first time.
'He was just barely talking, but he was understanding what we said,' according to his son. 'I told him his photo was on the front page of the Daily Mail. He started laughing.'
Ann remains on a respirator with more damage to tissue than to bone.
'She is out of shock now,' he said.
'Most of the damage is to her foot. They had to do reconstruction and it's unclear whether or not she'll have mobility. She has to have another surgery.'
Richard Whalley and his brother have set up a website to help pay for their parents' medical expenses
Soon after the bombings, Whalley's friends from his alma mater, MIT, created a website to help his parents with their medical expenses.
They both will require at least two more weeks of hospitalization and extensive rehabilitation.
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Miracle's Boys
By Jacqueline Woodson
(G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, Hardcover, 9780399231131, 144pp.)
Publication Date: April 24, 2000
Other Editions of This Title: Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, , Prebound
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Winner of the 2001 Coretta Scott King award!
For Lafayette and his brothers, the challenges of growing up in New York City are compounded by the facts that they've lost their parents and it's up to eldest brother Ty'ree to support the boys, and middle brother Charlie has just returned home from a correctional facility.
Lafayette loves his brothers and would do anything if they could face the world as a team. But even though Ty'ree cares, he's just so busy with work and responsibility. And Charlie's changed so much that his former affection for his little brother has turned to open hostility.
Now, as Lafayette approaches 13, he needs the guidance and answers only his brothers can give him. The events of one dramatic weekend force the boys to make the choice to be there for each other--to really see each other--or to give in to the pain and problems of every day.
Jacqueline Woodson's most recent book for Putnam was praised by School Library Journal: "This fine author once again shows her gift for penning a novel that will ring true with young adults."
Born on February 12th in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline Woodson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She now writes full-time and has recently received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. Her other awards include a Newbery Honor, two Coretta Scott King awards, two National Book Award finalists, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Although she spends most of her time writing, Woodson also enjoys reading the works of emerging writers and encouraging young people to write, spending time with her friends and her family, and sewing. Jacqueline Woodson currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.


text:
LP-A School Board gives superintendent high marks
It's been a good year for the communities of Lake Park and Audubon.
The bond referendum for construction of the new high school and renovated elementary facilities was approved. Enrollment is up. Construction on the elementary school renovation and expansion is on schedule, and bids for the new high school came in slightly better than expected.
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James Brown Killed Dumb Biopics: Why the Messy Get On...
By Alan Scherstuhl
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By Stephanie Zacharek
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By Amy Nicholson
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By Simon Abrams
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By Kevin Dilmore
By New Times
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By Amy Nicholson
Shelton could be forgiven for his decision to revisit L.A.'s mean streets � or the mean corner of Florence and Normandie, where Reginald Denny was beaten by an angry mob, re-created here � had Dark Blue brought something new to its police ball. Shelton, maker of Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump, wants to make the setting mean something; he wants to make a statement about race and politics in a corrupt department protecting and serving a decaying city. (Everything here is viewed in black and white; the only thing gray is the concrete.) But in the end he uses the King riots as window dressing, not commentary or context: The city burns, but nothing's been learned, nothing's been gained, nothing's been said that hasn't been said a hundred times before.
Early on, it does suck you in and spit you out, but that has less to do with Shelton's filmmaking than his use of the unforgettable and unforgiving footage of officers Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon beating King in March 1991. From there, the director leaps forward a year later to scenes of disheveled Sergeant Eldon Perry Jr. (Kurt Russell), the swaggering head of LAPD's Special Investigations Squad, swigging back Crown Royal in a seedy motel room while waiting for the jury's verdict. Then, we jump back five days earlier: Two thugs, Orchard (rapper Kurupt) and Sidwell (Dash Mihok) sit in a car arguing over the verdict; they're about to swipe an Asian grocer's safe and gun down four innocents in the process � all in a day's grisly work. Orchard bets Sidwell, his white partner, that the jury will let the cops walk; "bet you some pussy," he says, confident of the verdict.
It's into this firecracker atmosphere � one small boom in the suburbs, and the whole city's ready to go off � that Shelton begins recounting an achingly familiar tale. As it turns out, Perry is boozing it up in the motel room not because he's concerned about the impending conflagration, but because he's gotten himself into a real mess, the result of years of doing the dirty work of Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), a crooked chief who might as well be the grandson of L.A. Confidential's Dudley Smith. Perry, a loud and proud racist and homophobe, has been carrying Van Meter's water for too long, and now he's about to drown in it. He doesn't own up to his wretched past -- killing the wrong man, say, to clear up Orchard and Sidwell's quadruple homicide at Van Meter's behest � until it gets him into trouble. He has no conscience, just an ass to cover. Unlike L.A. Confidential's Jack Vincennes, Perry has no interest in trying to remember why he became a cop.
Perry, we're told, is pretty much screwed from the get-go. Early in the film, he and his young partner Bobby Keough (Felicity's Scott Speedman, looking like a young Russell, before the rot has set in) sit before a shooting board. The chiefs are ready to clear Perry and Keough in the killing of a suspect, but the sole black officer on the board, Assistant Chief Holland (Ving Rhames), doesn't buy their story. He's ready to declare war on the pair, even if it means becoming an outcast in a racist department that would never stomach a black chief. If Speedman is the Ethan Hawke of this movie, the idealist whose partner destroys his romanticism about the nobility of police work, then Rhames is its Guy Pearce, the career officer who doesn't mind pissing down the ladder on the climb up.
We have heard this song before, know it by heart, sadly, as film still can't keep pace with real-life headlines about fake drug busts and a shady LAPD, and still filmmakers can't resist its rhythms. And so Shelton's movie degenerates into prolonged rooftop shoot-outs, a car chase through South Central and The Big Speech where all that's wrong is made right while the media's cameras roll. All that's missing is a voice-over announcing: "Tonight, on a very special episode of The Shield."
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text:
PlayStation Vita
Any reason why the Phoenix Wright Trilogy isn't coming to Vita?
BambooPandamo posted...
"Game X comes out on the PS3"
The Ace Attorney series was struggling in the west, hence why we got Dual Destinies as an eShop only release. If I wanted to make the series more successful, I'd come up with a rational solution and broaden my horizons. The cheapest way to do this is to port an excellent trilogy of already ported games to the other side and see how it goes from there. It has nothing to do with feeling entitled to something.
http://backloggery.com/main.php?user=yasume ~ PSN ID: Yasume90 ~ Steam ID: Yasume ~ 3DS FC: 0173-1277-5074
Just throwing this out there but monster hunter started on Sony platforms but found its way to Nintendo platforms and Final Fantasy started on Nintendo platforms but found its way to Sony platforms.
BambooPandamo posted...
Why is this common, why do you feel entitled to these games?
I think it's because Gyakuten Saiban / Phoenix Wright is already playable on the 3DS via the DS incarnations. Releasing it on a system where people can already play it seems pointless. I think that's why people are getting upset about it. Instead of offering it to people who can't play it, they're only offering it to people who already can.
Seems kind of odd.
You missed the whole point.
Why do you, in particular the Vita fanbase, feels the world owes them games? Why is it that people here seem to think they know more than the corporations they're port begging off?
The Ace Attorney has been on a downward spiral, yes. Capcom, like other publishers at the time, attributed the lower sales of the sequels on the rampant piracy going on. There's a WiiWare version of PW, an iOS version, and now a 3DS version. Yet despite how "easy" of a fit it would be on the PSP, PC, etc .... Capcom hasn't done it? Capcom who loves money above everything else hasn't felt the need to port the PW franchise to those platforms. Nobody loses their mind there.
Only Vita fans do, the question I bring forth is, why? Why so much entitlement?
BambooPandamo posted...
You missed the whole point.
Capcom DID bring it to the PC, at least in Japan. Don't believe me? Type Gyakuten Saiban PC into a search engine... Or even on this website. Phones, tablets, PC, every Nintendo handheld (despite backwards compatibility)... Almost everything... Except for Sony's handhelds. So I think people are sort of confused that they would go out of their way to release it on everything except Sony's systems.
Wasn't released on the Xbawx either so yeah. Not every game has to be on every system, besides, last thing vita needs is more ports at this point.
[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
With as strapped for cash as Capcom is why would they port it to vita? It already is a niche title, putting it on a struggling handheld is just a dumb idea. iOS makes sense because of the amount of people with Apple devices. I love my vita but why do people on this board have to ask dumb questions so much?
1.- Why not bringing Persona series to the 3DS? It can handle them.
2.- Why not bringing a port of Soul Sacrifice to 3DS?
3.- Why not bringing a port of Ys: Memories of Celceta?
<_< Bring me those and then we talk.
Now Playing: AC: New Leaf, God Eater 2, Fatal Frame 2 Wii Edition
Awaiting: Monster Hunter 4
suitup19 posted...
With as strapped for cash as Capcom is why would they port it to vita? It already is a niche title, putting it on a struggling handheld is just a dumb idea. iOS makes sense because of the amount of people with Apple devices. I love my vita but why do people on this board have to ask dumb questions so much?
You're kidding, right? The series has sold over 5 million copies worldwide without taking the sales of the iOS in account. These are results of a niche series to you?
It's huge in Japan. Vita is improving in Japan so it would be common sense for Capcom to bring them to the latest handheld. Besides, like I stated multiple times now, the games have barely been updated since 2004 and they aren't going to change much in the 3DS version either. You're talking like it would cost them a fortune to port them to the Vita.
http://backloggery.com/main.php?user=yasume ~ PSN ID: Yasume90 ~ Steam ID: Yasume ~ 3DS FC: 0173-1277-5074


text:
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The Tennessee men's basketball team heads to Lexington to battle bitter rival Kentucky on Saturday. The game will be on CBS at Noon ET. LISTEN LIVE | GAME TRACKER | LIVE BLOG | GAME NOTES | TICKETS
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