Under the Skin

"You can go feel this way for yourself as long as you want, kid. But knowing where you're from, that's half of knowing who you are - that's more than what most of us here will ever know! At least you know where you've come from. Born to a warrior, heir to a prince, does that mean you're the One? I don't know. I don't know if there is a One. I do know that if you aren't the guy, and you're just you, maybe that's enough." As I've always said, I'm not really much of a movie-goer.  However, my aunt and I wanted to go to a movie, and this was the only one that we both wanted to see.  So, we went to Pan .  Should you go see it? Pan is a fantasy-adventure Peter Pan prequel.   That's kind of all the summary you need. So, here's the scoop:  this would have been a pretty solid fantasy-adventure movie, had one thing happened.  The one thing? They acknowledged it had absolutely nothing to do with Peter Pan.  The story...

First there was 39 Clues--the "Dream Team Middle Grade Collab."  That was so successful that they created "Spirit Animals," another in the same vein.  Now, while also continuing on with more 39 Clues spin-off series, and now Spirit Animals spin-off series, they have Infinity Ring, the same idea.  I haven't read Infinity Ring yet, but I did read Spirit Animals. First, what is a Dream Team Collab?  Well, it's when a publishing company enlists already successful writers to write a manufactured series.  Complete with online tie-ins..  It's very commercialized.  The 39 Clues team consisted of writers like Margaret Peterson Haddix, of Shadow Children fame, Rick Riordan ( Percy Jackson and such), Jude Watson (of Star Wars tie in fame), Gordon Korman (of I have writer-ADHD-and-cannot-pin-myself-down-to-one-series-at-a-time fame), and others.  Spirit Animals is similar and draws from writers such as Brandon Mull ( Fablehaven series ) , Shannon Hale (...

Another book review!  I know that I read too much.  Get over it.  It relaxes me.  Molly, a scullery maid, has a tendency to see things.  So did her mother.  But they usually turn out true.  When she realizes that this is a gift, not a curse, she must set out to save the Prince, the sole survivor of a family curse meant to destroy his dynasty.  These books were purely meh.  That's all I can say about them.  Meh plots.  Meh characters.  Meh writing.  I did get frustrated when the love triangle--ridiculous to start with--morphed directly into a love square, all the while, the female wasn't even likable.  Then, we needed to resolve said square (which eventually kind of turned into a pentagon with another girl involved--then a hexagon when another character got introduced into the mix to get the other girl out of the love polygon), so we just kind of dissolved it.  And why can Molly save it? Because she's...

A few weeks ago, I was on facebook, and saw someone post another meme of a life hack.  Someone's comment, "How did we ever live without life hacks?"  I thought about that for a second.  What did we do before tumblr and Pinterest were so kind as to make life hack pages for us?  How did we live? Then, I thought back to all the times that I saw a "life hack," and thought, "Didn't your mom ever tell you that?"  Because life hacks, used to go under a different name:  Old Wives Tricks.  So, here are some "Life Hacks" that everyone is going nuts over, that my mother already taught me: 1) Put a piece of bright ribbon on your suitcase handle so you can find it on the baggage claim. 2) Put a magnet in a door to keep it from automatically locking 3) Flip button-up shirts inside out when ironing so that the buttons don't get in the way 4) Keep the boxes for Christmas ornament bulbs to put them away 5) Keep batteries in the fridge to kee...

It’s been awhile since I did a list post.   So, I decided to make one.   I enjoy books, I enjoy movies.   I tend not to get into TV series quite as much.   There are some I watch, but…it seems I like a show and it gets cancelled!   Some shows, far too soon.   Some because they don’t have good enough marketing, some because it seems like I like them, but no one else does.    Of course, these are my opinions, and obviously, and shows which I haven’t seen wouldn’t be on the list (so no My So-Called Life , even though I hear it was awesome…perhaps someday I’ll watch it).      Also note that shows that were great, but ran their course are not included. Most things on here will have run only one or two seasons.   So, as much as I loved Chuck , it had its life, and we moved on. 1. Forever   This show was on last year, and was cancelled after just one season.   I was devastated!   Following the life of a New York C...

“Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscious.” Oh boy oh boy...I have been very nervous about this book since its announcement.  And for a long time, I went back and forth in the should-I-shouldn't-I-read it.  Because on the one hand, it's the friggin' sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird!  On the other hand, her family published a book she expressly asked them not to, for money.  And I don't feel comfortable with that. I had this same internal battle about Emily Dickinson at one point.  At least with Emily Dickinson they didn't do it for money, and at least any Emily Dickinson poems I buy at this point don't benefit anyone but the printers. In the end, I rationalized and said that if I read a library copy, I was not contributing money to the exploitative scheme.  And I read it.  Here it is. Two summaries.  What the publishing company will summarize it as, and wha...