I really liked this movie. It's one of those that really catches you off guard, you know? I expected it to be entertaining enough, but it turned out to be surprisingly good.
Cliff and Cydney are on their honeymoon in Hawaii when they learn that another couple (also newlyweds) have been brutally murdered on another island.
And they think the killers may be their new hiking buddies, Gina and Nick.
*cue spooky music*
I've decided that I'm going to donate $1 for every book I read and movie I watch and 25 cents for every TV show I watch to a different charity every month. In case you're curious, this is what I'm reading/watching and who's benefitting from my pop culture edition. :)
January (for BARCS):
Books:
1) Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
Movies:
TV Shows:
February (for First Book):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
March (for Coastal Hospice):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
April (for Hoops of Hope):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
May (for Blood:Water):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
June (for Human Rights Campaign):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
July (for Susan G. Komen for the Cure):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
August (for Big Brothers, Big Sisters):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
September (for Liquid Water):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
October (for Autism Speaks):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
November (for International Justice Mission):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
December (for Alzheimer's Association):
Books:
Movies:
TV Shows:
Finished Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins.
Really fun book (very hard not to read in one sitting) about a demon who possesses (sort of) someone after he decides to see what life is like as a human.
He notices a teenage boy is about to die after being hit by a car, so he pops in and prevents the boy (Shaun) from stepping off the curb. Voila--Shaun's gone and the demon's in control.
You may think that the demon (or Fallen, as he prefers to be called) would be wreaking all sorts of havoc, but really, not so much. He wants to make a difference and sets out a plan for how to do that.
Fun, oddly sweet book.
So here's my list of the best books I read in 2009. I'm not going to do the best movies I watched or songs I heard or TV shows I like, because I really didn't do enough of those to be able to have a good list. And really, do you need to be TOLD that 30 Rock is awesome? (If you do, you shouldn't. You REALLY shouldn't. Just start watching; you'll be sad you waited until now to start.)
But before we get started, here are some meaningless stats:
Books Read: 261
Best Month for Reading: October (37)
Worst Month for Reading: May (12)
Fiction: 227
Nonfiction: 34
Mysteries: 17
YA: 124
New-to-me Authors: 154
Books I Read That I Should Have Read Years Ago: 6 (Little Women, The Westing Game, Lolita, The Secret Garden A Christmas Carol and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
And the lists:
Best New-to-Me Fiction:
1) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2) The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
3) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4) A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
5) March by Geraldine Brooks
6) Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb
7) Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay
8) Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
9) The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
10) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (yes, everyone HAS already read this. But I still loved it.)
Best Fiction by Authors I Already Love:
1) Life Sentences by Laura Lippman
2) Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
3) The Amateurs by Marcus Sakey
4) Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
5) Under the Dome by Stephen King
6) Hardball by Sara Paretsky
7) U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
8) Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
9) Say When by Elizabeth Berg
10) The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Best YA (non-series):
1) Unwind by Neal Shusterman
2) Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
3) Hate List by Jennifer Brown
4) The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
5) Pure by Terra Elan McVoy
6) Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
7) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
8) The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
9) If I Stay by Gayle Forman
10) How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
Best YA (series):
1) The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
2) Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore
3) The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong
4) The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen
5) The City of... series by Cassandra Clare
6) The Ever series by Alyson Noel
7) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (reportedly the first in a series)
8) Life as We Know it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
9) The Gone series by Michael Grant
10) The Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz
Best Nonfiction:
1) Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick
2) The Guinea Pig Diaries by AJ Jacobs
3) Good Book by Dave Plotz
4) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5) Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
6) PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death & God
7) Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies
8) Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
9) Izzy & Lenore by Jon Katz
10) The Dreaded Feast
Best Christian books (fiction and non):
1) Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
2) Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner
3) Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin
4) Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell
5) Plain Promise by Beth Wiseman
6) Jesus in the Margins by Rick McKinley
7) Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris
8) The Silent Gift by Michael Landon, Jr.
9) Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner
10) The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans
So here's my list of the best books I read in 2009. I'm not going to do the best movies I watched or songs I heard or TV shows I like, because I really didn't do enough of those to be able to have a good list. And really, do you need to be TOLD that 30 Rock is awesome? (If you do, you shouldn't. You REALLY shouldn't. Just start watching; you'll be sad you waited until now to start.)
But before we get started, here are some meaningless stats:
Books Read: 261
Best Month for Reading: October (37)
Worst Month for Reading: May (12)
Fiction: 227
Nonfiction: 34
Mysteries: 17
YA: 124
New-to-me Authors: 154
Books I Read That I Should Have Read Years Ago: 6 (Little Women, The Westing Game, Lolita, The Secret Garden A Christmas Carol and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
And the lists:
Best New-to-Me Fiction:
1) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2) The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
3) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4) A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
5) March by Geraldine Brooks
6) Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb
7) Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay
8) Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
9) The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
10) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (yes, everyone HAS already read this. But I still loved it.)
Best Fiction by Authors I Already Love:
1) Life Sentences by Laura Lippman
2) Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
3) The Amateurs by Marcus Sakey
4) Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
5) Under the Dome by Stephen King
6) Hardball by Sara Paretsky
7) U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
8) Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
9) Say When by Elizabeth Berg
10) The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Best YA (non-series):
1) Unwind by Neal Shusterman
2) Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
3) Hate List by Jennifer Brown
4) The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
5) Pure by Terra Elan McVoy
6) Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
7) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
8) The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
9) If I Stay by Gayle Forman
10) How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
Best YA (series):
1) The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
2) Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore
3) The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong
4) The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen
5) The City of... series by Cassandra Clare
6) The Ever series by Alyson Noel
7) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (reportedly the first in a series)
8) Life as We Know it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
9) The Gone series by Michael Grant
10) The Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz
Best Nonfiction:
1) Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick
2) The Guinea Pig Diaries by AJ Jacobs
3) Good Book by Dave Plotz
4) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5) Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
6) PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death & God
7) Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies
8) Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
9) Izzy & Lenore by Jon Katz
10) The Dreaded Feast
Best Christian books (fiction and non):
1) Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
2) Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner
3) Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin
4) Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell
5) Plain Promise by Beth Wiseman
6) Jesus in the Margins by Rick McKinley
7) Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris
8) The Silent Gift by Michael Landon, Jr.
9) Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner
10) The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans
Remembering my mom: http://ping.fm/yBTQT
|
In 1999, the doomsayers predicted the end of the world as we know it - in the form of computers all over the world crashing because of the so-called millennium bug. It never made sense to me, I mean if it were a problem, couldn't you just change the date ?
I spent the New Year's eve in Vietnam, away from civilization. The next day, nothing changed. Not even an incident. All that scare were for thing. But it wasn't all for nothing, the Y2K bug inspired quite a few things - among them, music, televisions, and books.
WHO'S AFRAID OF Y2K?
geometrid.co.uk ♥ myspace.com
There was a period when I tracked down all the projects that were related to Belle & Sebastian, including The Gentle Waves/Isobel Campbell and Looper. Looper was was basically B&S's Stuart David and his wife, Karn, who actually met via penpalism (as told by their song, Impossible Things).
They did garner a bit of fame through "Mondo '77", a really great catchy "binary"-video gamey song (it's been featured in Vanilla Sky, video games, and anti-drugs commercials). But unfortunately, their third (and final?) album, The Snare did not have any really catchy songs. The ruder and darker themed album was due to David's book The Peacock Manifesto (whos character also appears on the cover and songs of The Snare).
Anyway, in 1999, Looper released a double A-Side called Who's Afraid of Y2K? and Up A Tree Again, which I picked up, among other singles, at a Flaming Lips show (Looper was opening up for the band).
Both are excellent songs, although there were two remixes of "Up A Tree Again". I normally don't like remixes, but these were pretty different from the original album (which actually sounds pretty stale compared to these upbeat mixes). The "singles mix" of "Up a Tree Again" was interesting to say the least, focusing mostly on the "la-na-na-na" section and DJ-scratches, while the Chocolate Layers remix was pretty much only the "la-na-na-na" section.
Looking back, I suppose "Who's Afraid of Y2K?" song was a bit of novelty. Ironically enough, the song was awashed in electronic quirks and beats - all the things that Y2K would've destroyed supposedly.
Currently, Looper's on hiatus. I haven't heard much in terms of a new David novel or Looper release. Most of the recent releases were made free on their website, geometrid.co.uk.
BRAVE OLD WORLD
dccomics.com/vertigo
I thought the concept behind this William Messner-Loebs-written Vertigo mini-series was interesting enough: a group of computer hackers working on a solution to the Y2K bug at the end of 1999 - only to find themselves in 1900.
The series explored some interesting concept, like what would you do, if you had all this computer/understanding of technology, only to be trapped in a world that still operated via candlelight? The women in the comics had it worst, let's face it, women didn't exactly have freedom back then. And if you were doing something strange, you're a witch and killed, etc.
So what's the group to do to try and back to 2000? They had to build a computer, by "inventing" their own technology.
Like I said, a very interesting concept. It sort of got a bit boring towards the end (by the last issue, I didn't really care for the characters so much).
Vertigo comics has yet to collect this in a trade, I suppose after the Y2K fiasco, it probably wouldn't be worth reading. I mean, we all know as fantastic as going back in 1900 would be, it didn't happen - just like the Y2K didn't happen. Still, if you want to re-live what it was like, or what Messner-Loebs was thinking back in 1999.
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR Y10K
Chances are, I'll be dead, so I wouldn't care so much what would happen. Wikipedia thinks it's a problem, but I suspect by the year 10,000, that our computing technology would be so advance, it wouldn't amount to anything.
Until then, have a great New Year. Take care of each other. I'll see you in 2010.
12/31/2009 22:29:36 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
$500K fund raising campaign target for @creativecommons hit today. THANK YOU! http://ping.fm/QubJD
Dear reader(s),
Looks like I'm going to leave Vox (at least for the time being) since I've moved my blog to http://coryrobertsintokyo.net -- which is hosted by Go Daddy/powered by WordPress. I'll keep this blog for archival purposes, but this blog will not be updated.
I'm telling you: it's really bad about violating social networking sites' policies and guidelines (and being violent), you know. That's mean. They can ban your IP address permanently. And you could get in trouble. Really. If you want to know more about my "Chuck Taylor" incident, you can click here.
First off, I made the decision to be with God since it's really bad about being a violent person (and violating social networking sites' policies and guidelines, as described above), you know, from video game titles that have the ESRB's "M" rating, the DVDs/movies that have the "R"/"NC-17" rating, some TV shows (Family Guy, American Dad, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, South Park, etc.) have the "TV-14"/"TV-MA" rating (actually, I don't watch these anymore since that incident - see above). This includes the music CDs that have the "Parental Advisory" label. Also, too much time on computer/video gaming/TV can rot your brain, so I took the chance, and had to live with my trusted father before graduation, then I had to agree with him about getting a part-time job before graduation if I want to save money for my Tokyo trip.
Secondly, my father has a strict "no rated-M game" policy (the retail stores that sells video games, such as Wal-mart, has that policy about selling any video games that have the "M" rating, also the rated-R DVDs/Parental Advisory CDs to anyone under 17 without their parents' authorization) because of the violence issues. And they must stick to reading the bible (or reading any kind of book or exercising). So I chose not to be a violent person anymore.
Anyway, you can still find me on these social networking sites under the coryroberts or coryrobertsintokyo handle (except Flickr URL -- "coryroberts" was taken) -- Twitter, Flickr, Last.fm, Amazon wishlist, Tumblr.
Take care - and thanks for reading.
Cory
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