Sunday links

Happy Sunday Readers!

I've decided to step back from reviews for a bit because I felt like things were getting a bit dry.

Here are some links and things that have kept me entertained this week- enjoy!

Have you heard of 8tracks? I like it way better than Pandora which has been disappointing me lately.

-This month is zero month for DC. I've read Batman's, Wonder Woman's, and Justice League's. This is a good review on the #0 issue of the Justice League. Shazam's grown on me, not going to lie, I was pretty annoyed at first.

-This is the first positive article I've read on the girl geek community and now I'm following Rachael Berkey's twitter. I needed some positive girl geeks on there.

-Amanda Palmer talking about crowd sourcing and touring. I would love to see her in NYC on New Year's Eve. Sigh, a girl can dream.

-Legally Blonde tops Clueless for me, but I still love that movie and I still think Elle and Cher are pinnacles of fabulous for their time(s). Here's a guide on how to be fab on a budget. 

Hope this has entertained you this Sunday.

Have a great week!

Comic Review: Marvel Classics Pride and Prejudice

This is the second classic novel adaption that I've read in graphic novel form and it really was phenomenal.
Nancy Butler was able to condense the story of Pride and Prejudice without losing any of the good Austen-ness of it. She still showed the tension and evolution between Lizzie and Darcy and still kept the dialogue spot on.
My favorite part of the series was the covers of the five issues. They were designed like a teen girl magazine with tips on the cover.
The only thing that I wasn't ecstatic about was the art. The style didn't do anything for me, but it was well done nonetheless.

The story itself is phenomenal. I tried to read Jane Austen in middle school but wasn't ready for the types of story she presents. I was in my action phase I guess. Now, that I'm older I appreciate the story she weaves about this family and the decisions and follies these young women made and the effects it had on the rest of their family. Talk about endearing characters. The father was my favorite, the mother running a close second even though she's super silly.

Overall, Jane Austen creates a timeless tale and Nancy Butler does her justice and makes it less daunting at the same time.

Anna Karenina: An Update

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm having the hardest time with this book.

I thought it wouldn't be too bad listening to it on audiobook, and most of the time it isn't

but I'm in part three. Part three of six, the middle of the book.

It's clear that Tolstoy is using this section as a set up for Levin and Anna and Vronsky, but it just gets going. A part of me really enjoys the social commentary, the provoking philosophy, and the descriptions of things. The other part of me is just so bored! Even when things are happening they take so long and everyones thoughts are drug out for ages. 

The group I'm reading this with is at least two sections ahead/ almost done and I need to just deal and get it over with, but it's on the bottom on my listen list.

Thanks for letting me rant about that.

Comic Review: 1602

As you know by this post I love Neil Gaiman. His novels are awesome and I've read several of them twice. I read The Sandman series last year and I enjoyed it overall, but there were some repeating themes that I got tired of toward the end. I expected some of the same themes in this series, but was pleasantly surprised that he reached outside that scope. 

In this series Neil Gaiman explores a "what if" situation. What if the Marvel universe started 300 years before it did. I went into to this expecting a mirror of the Marvel characters, but what I got was characters with similar qualities but essentially different people.

Nick Fury working for the Queen and having that crazy English loyalty. When Scottish James takes the throne Fury flees out of necessity to save the universe, but nothing less would make him betray England. He struggles with that fact for the rest of the series.

Magneto, the Grand Inquisitor, was my favorite character in the series. It was interesting that he was known for burning mutants at the stake. At first I didn't think it was true to form, but when it was stated that he only burned the ones who were physically identified and hid the passable ones away it was a lot like the modern Magneto. He would do anything for the superiority of the mutant race including sacrificing his own kind.

The way Gaiman incorporated so many characters into this story was artfully done, and the explanation for the storyline was interesting and a little over my head. 

There wasn't much of a main character in the series which was how it should have been, but Gaiman did focus on Dr. Strange more than I was expecting. I don't know anything at all about Dr. Strange so all I can say is I liked the character for the story, but I definitely liked his wife the best. 

My only complaint for this series was the limited exposure (and life) of Jean Grey, it was interesting that Gaiman incorporated the Phoenix aspect in her death she is my favorite X-Men though, so I am biased.

Overall, this was an enjoyable series, an interesting look at an alternate timeline beautifully written and expertly illustrated.

Have you read 1602?

Hello from my sickbed.

Hello from Mr. Caine and me!

I've been knocked down by some random cold that's run through Ben and jump onto me.

It's not cool. I haven't be able to do much except sleep, read, eat and check Tumblr.

I'm feeling more substantial today though.

On Saturday we went up to a town called New Harmony that's been very well preserved and has tons of old churches and buildings. New Harmony hosts a lot of little galleries and a lot of events take place there. We went for a "gallery stroll." It was fun except it had to be crazy hot of course. We took a break in their coffee shop/used bookstore/gallery. 

The gallery was hosting some truly atrocious painting selling for unbelievably high prices, but the coffee shop was air conditioned so we stopped to rest there for awhile. Looking at the books for sale was way more interesting than those paintings!

The rest of the week I've spent a lot of time of at dccomics.com. It seems that my brain can only process a little information at a time so I've slowly caught up on the New 52 Wonder Woman series. So far I'm pretty impressed.

What have you been up to this week?

Happy reading!

Comic Review: A Study in Scarlet

I've always told myself that I'd read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and it hasn't happened yet.

I keep saying to myself "Oh, I'll get to it...after I read this."

Ben and I did listen to some of the stories on audiobook while packing up the apartment.

They seemed to be towards the end of the series.

A Study in Scarlet is the start of Sherlock Holmes series. It introduces Dr. Watson and Holmes.

The mystery deals with poison and Mormons. It was really entertaining but also a little odd (Mormons? Who knew they were so vicious).

This graphic novel was listed as an Illustrated Classic which means it was safe for children. Considering the time period that the story was original written I doubt it needed to be censored for content. 

I liked the graphic novel version it was still text heavy but it was split up enough that it was a fairly quick read. 

I was weary about the art at first-it's very caricature like- but the coloring was very detailed and it all work well together.

I would like to read the others in this series as well.

I also watched the first episode of the first season of the BBC series Sherlock.

A Study in Pink

It was extremely well done and I can see why the fandom is fierce.

So fierce it's a little off putting...

Happy reading!

The joy of pens

I've been journalling since I was nine. My first journal was a composition notebook like Amelia from Amelia's Notebooks. I used to love writing with pencils. I remember carrying this notebook and pencils with me everywhere, documenting every happening. I loved the act of writing itself. I loved to feel the lead dragging across the page. I never liked pens much because I could never get the ink to come out evenly and I always ended up scratching the pages. A couple years ago a discovered PaperMate Flair pens. I was doing a journalling challenge and the host talk about these as her favorite pens so I tried them out. They remind me of markers but don't bleed and they have a similar drag quality as pencils do. I now have tons of these pens everywhere. My favorite colors are purple and green.
The other night I saw a commercial for a new PaperMate pen. (which I thought was weird, but I also think commercials for books are weird)

These are new journals from 08-10. My childhood journals are buried somewhere.

Well, whilst wandering around a drug store I came across these new pens, the InkJoy pens, and decided to buy some. We have a myriad of cheap pens around the house that drive Ben crazy because he can never make them work (he doesn't like my Flair pens, he classifies them as markers) so I got these for him and I hopefully will slowly start purging the house of the old ones; he feels bad about getting rid of these cheap pens because he thinks it's a waste, God bless him.
All this talk of writing makes me want to find my journal, where ever I misplaced it.

Happy Writing!