On the Bookshelf

I have chosen to bring back What's On the Bookshelf which had disappeared since September. This had been partly been due to the fact that I had been trying to restrain myself from acquiring more books as my to-read pile is so big that it has overflowed off of my bedside table to form a tower on the ground beside it that eventually grew so large that it toppled. I am sure that if you dig deep enough into this sea of books you will eventually find my bedroom floor.

Anyway, I recently managed to grab a couple more books from the library, both of which I have been interested in for awhile.


In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Go here to find out more.

Terra

So, we have reached the half-way point of what is always marked as the craziest month on my calendar. I have to be perfectly honest and say that things are not going as well as I would like. My novel for NaNoWriMo is very behind on word count. I am not going to say what my word count is. In fact, I don't like saying anything about my nano at all. In a mix of superstition and low self-esteem I like to keep this novel between me and my writing program of choice lest anyone point out to me how absolutely tragic this writing attempt is. It has been a long time since I have done creative writing and it shows! But NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality so as long as I don't think too hard about the fact that it is absolute dribble I can keep going. My inner editor is really pissed off at me right now but no one should expect a first draft to be much good, anyway. Right?

As for NaBloPoMo, well, it has often been a struggle but I have managed to make a post every day so far. Very often, like tonight for example, I am writing these posts after eleven in the evening and trying to get it all typed out before the clock hits twelve. I have already realised that after November has ended I will most likely not be posting every single day. I do not really like forcing myself to sit and write out a blog entry when I have nothing to say. I do not like how it is impacting on the quality of my posts. For example, never before November have I borrowed summaries from the back covers and amazon.com instead of writing my own. I fully intend to replace these with something of my own wording but November so far has been a whirlwind of writing, reading, reviewing, and not to mention real life work commitments that sometimes writing those summaries calls upon precious minutes that I just do not have to spare. Some evenings I have also pushed myself to blog when I have been falling asleep at the laptop or have had major bad sinus headaches. Not to mention that being a book blog I cannot read fast enough to review a different book each day. I find myself falling back on popular culture addiction to fill the gaps because I am short of the time to do in-depth research on bookish topics. I even have a friend who, on occasion, jokingly calls me "TV Girl". Also, to be perfectly honest, some days I just plain don't want to blog or work on a fifty thousand word novel. Right now, what I really want to do is play the Sims 3. Really, truely. Good, mindless stuff.

So, why continue through all this? Because, while some days have been really crappy, others have also been really awesome. This is my first November as a blogger and posting every day has really given me some interesting insight in to my own attitude towards blogging, why I do this, and what direction I take this blog. Attempting to write my own novel provides a good dose of appreciation of authors and a good reminder as to why I love books so much to blog about them in the first place. Finally, there is the pleasure and self-satisfaction in persevering through to the end and knowing that I did my best given the circumstances and did not throw in the towel.

Terra

Jessica has discovered her Midnighter ability and can finally defend herself against the Darklings. However, as the Midnighters dig deeper into the history of the secret hour and Midnighters in Bixby, they realise that Jessica might be the only one that the Darklings are after. Even worse, Jessica and her friends can no longer count themselves as safe in normal time when they discover that the Darklings have daylight supporters seeking them out.
Touching Darkness is a bit darker than The Secret Hour was. The Secret Hour was more an adventure of discovery as you newly explore midnight with Jessica. In Touching Darkness you start to learn more about the nasty history of midnight in Bixby and why all the Midnighters disappeared nearly fifty years ago, not to mention the chilling concept of the Halfling along with the warped, manipulative nature of mindcasters.
Jessica is still the main character but the perspective does get passed on to the other Midnighters a lot more often in this second installment in the trilogy.Personally, I considered this to be a good thing. Dess is my favourite character so it was really good to see more of her and it was great to get more insight into the nature of Melissa and Rex's relationship. Now I look back, though, Jonathan may have been a little neglected.

One thing that bothered me, about the edition that I was reading at least (1904233848), is that there were a number of grammatical errors and typos. This isn't entirely Westerfeld's fault, of course, as his editor should have been more thorough. It really disrupts the flow of an otherwise excellent book when I have to stop and reread a line over several times to realise that the word "he" was supposed to be "if" or when my brain starts nagging me that there should have been a comma there and to wonder why exactly is a word is randomly capitalised.
Terra

The plan had been to post a book review today but there was unplanned for busy-ness today and it's not quite ready. Instead I have decided to follow up yesterdays review of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with a review of Horrible Turn, the fan made prequel to Joss Whedon's creation.

Horrible Turn, set sometime back in the early nineties, gives you an insight into the pasts of Billy and Hammer. Why did Billy go from thinking that "the world is a mess and I just need to fix it" to "have to rule it"? Where do Billy's issues with Australia stem from? What lead him to creating the persona of Dr. Horrible? Why is it that everyone cannot help but love the idiotic and obnoxious Captain Hammer? Why does Johnny Snow insist that he is Dr. Horrible's nemesis? And where did Bad Horse come from anyway?

Horrible Turn will answer all of these questions. Of course, it all starts with a girl. Billy has a crush on the Australian foreign exchange student, Katie. When he, Wade (presumably Moist), and Kennard "Kenny" Hammerstein (Captain Hammer) discover that the prize for winning the maths competition is a trip to Melbourne (which Americans never seem to pronounce correctly), Australia, Billy sees an opportunity to spend more time with Katie. There's just one problem - Billy is pretty sure that the Evil League of Evil has marked the maths competition for their next attack! Fortunately Billy has invented Potion 10! A formula derived from flowers that will make everyone love each other. But Billy's plan depends heavily on Hammer and Johhny Snow. Are they intelligent and trustworthy enough to follow through?

Horrible Turn doesn't quite manage to achieve the same level of wit and humour that we see from Joss but it is in it's own right a very funny, well filmed, and well thought out prequel to the Dr. Horrible story, complete with Whedonesque tragedy. The songs are catchy and the singing is pretty good. My favourite musical piece from Horrible Turn has to be Hammer's song about how handsome and perfect he is while pulling out some great dance moves, closely followed by Billy's final piece where he creates the Doctor Horrible persona. In place of the Bad Horse Chorus we now have the Outback Sirens and the early nineties setting makes way for the usual gags about brick sized mobile phones being described as being "so tiny!" I loved the sexy cougar librarian.

Much of the plot, particularly the songs follow in the same formula from Dr. Horrible, such as Katie's solo being their version of Penny's Song sing of past loneliness and new hope, Billy's final song being their version of Slipping/Everything You Ever and Everyone's a Hero becoming Everyone's a Winner as Kenny discovers his new charismatic hold over people to match his ego. However, the blogging aspect is completely non-existent in Horrible Turn. It might have been interesting to see how the could have corporated it into the nineties setting. In Dr. Horrible Billy likes creativity and I wondered if perhaps they could have had him keep a diary but such a plot would probably have been too messy to incorporate into the sixty minute run time.

If you enjoyed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you have to give Horrible Turn a try. For a fan made project it is of excellent quality and you will definitely get a few laughs out of it.

Follow this link to go to the Horrible Turn website and watch the show. Be sure to watch past the end of the credits for a song from Johnny Snow and bloopers!

Terra

My mind has been set on the creations of Joss Whedon seeing as just today it was announced that his television show Dollhouse has not been renewed for a third season. One thing lead to another and I found myself revisiting Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Dr. Horrible came into being thanks to the writer's strike in 2008. Joss, along with his brothers Jed and Zach, called on Neil Patrick Harris (squee!), Felicia Day (squee!), and Nathan Fillion (OMG! Squee!) to help bring their musical vision to the screen.

Your computer screen that is.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is an internet musical television show comprising of three segments, and coming in at just under forty-five minutes all together. It tells the story of Billy, or Dr. Horrible as he is better known, an aspiring super villain who blogs about his ambitions to join the Evil League of Evil, fix all the problems in the world by being the one who rules it, and winning the affections of the kind hearted and community minded Penny. Standing in Billy's way is Captain Tightpants, I mean, ahem, Captain Hammer (wrong Nathan Fillion show, sorry) who not only keeps thwarting Billy's criminal attempts to impress Bad Horse and earn a place within the ELE, but steals Billy's love interest!

The dialogue packs all of the usual Whedon humour and wit, which I love. The characters are just delightful with NPH as the not so horrible wannabe villain Dr. Horrible and Fillion as the obnoxious, cocky, and not always the brightest, self styled super hero, Captain Hammer.

The music is catchy and I always end up singing along and then later humming the tunes back to myself. I find it impossible to pick a favourite song. I'll be listening to one song and be thinking that song is the best but then the next will start and I am instantly in love with that one. Owner's of the DVD while be delighted to find that even the commentary is a musical. In Commentary! The Musical the actors sing about the show, their refusal to sing about the show, who is better, and games on their phones. Even the extras get to jump in and share in the spotlight and Moist (Simon Helberg) finally gets to sing his piece. Again, I find it hard to pick a favourite song but it did get me playing Ninja Ropes.

Funny, tragic, and entertaining all in one, Dr. Horribe's Sing-Along Blog is quite possibly the best thing that resulted from the writer's strike. Go to the Dr. Horrible website for more information on how you can view the show!

Terra

Or, as this post should be otherwise titled, Terra's Bad Attempt At Word-Play.

Following up on my post from a few days back regarding musical artists and lip syncing, I just had to share these videos of the band Muse who, when asked to lip sync for a television appearance instead of playing live, took offense to the suggestion and decided to play a prank. Look closely. The band members have all swapped instruments! Hilarity ensues.

This has happened with Muse on two separate occasions, most recently on an Italian show and previously one a British show. I think that it's great that they appreciate live music and will stand up for it. Not to mention having a sense of humour as well.

Just watch the keyboard playing in this one:


Terra

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From page 11 of Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld. This book is the second title in the Midnighters trilogy and sequel to The Secret Hour.

Terra

Jessica Day moves to the town of Bixby, Oklahoma where she finds things to be pretty strange. For starters, the water tastes really funny and time freezes at midnight. Only a small group of her fellow students are aware of the secret hour that occurs each night and each is gifted with an ability to help protect them from the dark creatures that haunt the secret hour. As long as the Midnighters never got in the way of the darkling creatures they were safe but Jessica's presence has the darklings riled up. She must discover her Midnighter ability before the darklings have a chance to stop her.

This one was a reread for me. I wanted to refresh my memory before going on to read the second book in tha Midnighters series, Touching Darkness. The book is very enjoyable. I would not have bothered to read it again or even bothered with the sequels if I did not like it the first time around. I am still going to stand behind my previous statement that Peeps is my favourite Westerfeld book so far. That said, I think that the thing that I like more about Peeps is that the characters are older than the characters in Midnighters. As a twenty year old, I find it easier to relate to the maturity levels of nineteen year old Cal than fifteen year old Jessica. Or maybe it is just that I am so very over high school.

I particularly liked all of the thirteen letter words Westerfeld slings at you and the funny combinations he comes up with: "Purposely Hyper-Inflated Individuality." I don't know about anyone else, but I got suspicious and often when I saw a long word I would wonder if he was sneaking in more thirteen letter words and pause reading to count. Focus! I really must learn to focus!

I really like the idea of the secret hour, a twenty fifth hour in every day that is rolled up so tight that only people born at the exact moment of midnight can experience it, and seeking the history behind it and Bixby. A similar concept of the moment in time that occurs between one day and the next, I hear, is explored in Persona 3, a video game released in 2006 (Japanese release date), but no one fires any gun like objects at their heads in the Midnighters series to invoke powers...

The Midnighters, aside from Jessica, are a bit stereotypical in the looks department with dyed black hair and Rex being a trench coat kind of guy, not to mention that they are a mite bit antisocial, but the stereotype contrasts with Jessica's normalcy and how very "11:59" she is. Their looks did not really bare too much impact either as Westerfeld spends the time to build their personalities. Their gifts are a major factor into their characterisation. I found myself particularly liking Dess. I wish that I could be a polymath! I suck at maths. Although, defying gravity would be pretty cool too.

Overall, it is a pretty entertaining read. You will also be seeing a review from me on the next book in the trilogy very soon, partially because I am looking forward to getting stuck into it and partially because it is due back at the library in a couple of days, so keep an eye out!

Terra