Getting to know me…11 questions asked and answered.

I know I’ve done something similar to this before however a fellow blogger posted this question on their blog.  The rules from what I understand are as follows and I’ve made some adjustments:

1.       Answer the questions the person before asked (I’ll be answering those from commutinggirl).

2.       Then come up with 11 questions of your own for others to answer.

3.       I’ve skipped the 11 things about myself as I’ve done that part once before and sadly I can’t think of 11 more interesting things about myself.

So here are commutinggirl’s questions.

1. What was your favorite cartoon as a child?

                I was a sucker for most but let’s go with Doug.

2. Did you have an imaginary friend?

                Oh yeah!  I had a whole community of them growing up it was like a little town in my      head.

3. Favorite drink?

                Some wonderful hot cocoa with little marshmallows in it.  Perfect.

4. If you could tell one thing to your first love what would it be?

                Haven’t had a first love yet so I have no idea.

5. If you could have dinner with one character from your favorite novels, where would you go?

                This is a hard one.  Given where  I live there are slim options so I’d have to say my place.  I like to cook and could have some quite cozy atmosphere to just talk.

6. Name one thing your parents taught you.

                To be stubborn.

7. Do you have a pet?  If yes, what is it?  If no, why not?

                I do.  My bebe is Keira my very headstrong cat who is now 7 years old.  She is a handful sometimes for sure.

8. Where would you love to travel to?

          Oh wow that is a loaded question.  I want to travel all over.  I started a list last year of all the places I want to go and have over 20 places and those are just general areas there’s no way to name them all. 

9. Your favorite memory from high school?

                Okay let’s start with I wasn’t the popular mean girl in school or head of everything by     any means but I loved all of high school.  I had great and amazing friends, I was really       good at 95% of the class work and yes I’m a nerd I liked it, and things were so much easier then.  The biggest problem was figuring out what to do with your weekend or passing a test. 

10. What song makes you want to smile as soon as you heart it?

                Semi Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind

11. Why did you start blogging?

                I’m working on a book of my very own and in a conference was advised I should start a blog and develop a base.  I also had been wanting too for a long time because of something I had read years ago and it all came into this.  And it’s been a blast.

Now for my questions for any brave enough to answer.  Please do I want to learn more about you all but leave me a link to the answers!

                If you could be any animal what would it be and why?

                What is your favorite TV show and character(old or current)?

                Name one thing you miss about being a kid.

                Do you collect anything?  If so what?  If not why?

                Do you play any musical instruments?

                What super power would you want to have?

                If you won the lottery today, what would be the first thing you did?       

                What is the most played song on your MP3 player?

                If you were invisible for a day where would you go and what would you do?

                What was the last TV show, Movie, or Book that made you cry/tear up?

                What is your favorite dessert?

Okay so there we go.  I can’t wait to see some answers…that means you reading this.  I’m off to go write but thought this was just too much fun to pass up.  Enjoy!

Dark Swan Pt. 1

               It has been a while since I’ve posted much and that is very bad of me but I have found myself stuck in a rut so to speak.  Not much happening or inspiring me to write so I was bad and watched the wonderfully funny and witty show White Collar from start to current in the last week.

                Aside from my TV marathon I have also in the last couple of days read the first 2 of the Dark Swan books, Storm Born and Thorn Queen.  They are a break from the YA books I normally read however I enjoyed Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series and the current Bloodlines series I had to check these out. 

                I am only half way through as I still have 2 more books to read in my kindle but I also have some other stories to read first.  I have enjoyed the world of Eugenie Markham.  She is a tough as nails heroine who has shamanic powers and works to keep her section of the world safe from creatures of the Otherworld by banishing them away.  Eugenie has been raised by her mother and step father Roland, who is a retired shaman, and trained in the family business.  The gentry, creatures of the Otherworld, are evil and need to be banished, simple as that. 

                Throughout the story she finds herself spending time in the Otherworld with gentry and seeing not all of them are like the evil creatures she thought.  Conflicting sides of her mind spin as she comes to terms with what she knows and who she is in a way that as a reader I felt drawn in by. 

                Now this story isn’t for the faint of heart there is quite a bit of steamy love scene and adult scenes with lots of language, talk of death in graphic imagery, and even talk of rape.  Still the first book is wonderful to me in that it took me into the world of Tucson or the Otherworld itself.  The different types of gentry and their magic as well as the characters.  From King Dorian who is dark, devious, yet sexy; to Kiyo mysterious and sexy but also something more, to her roommate Tim who always has something to say and the demon minions who have a mind of their own and even in talk of death made me giggle.  I found the first book a quick read unable to put down for too long and ready to pick up the second.

                Not much can be said about the 2^nd book without giving away the end of the first book so I’ll keep it simple in that I enjoyed it just as much and am eager to finish reading books 3 and 4.  However as before same thing still applies, there is the bad stuff in this however more so.  Not for the faint of heart.  I never have a hard time reading things but even I felt myself react to this, the horrible nature of a couple of chapters I couldn’t believe but couldn’t stop reading all the same.  Very powerful.

                So that is all I have for now.  I will post more reviews as I continue to read.  So to any readers out there I’ll end this with a question to you.  I realize these books aren’t considered YA, but in that respect what do you think is too far or too much in YA?  What crosses the line from YA to Adult?  Is it the age of the character or the detail and graphic nature of the material?  Can’t wait to read your thoughts.

RTW: Character Mix/Mash

This week’s Road Trip Wednesday Question is:

Write a dialogue between two of your favorite YA characters.

                Now this is a really hard challenge.  There are so many wonderful characters to choose from and the authors have done such an amazing job creating their own world and place for these characters it’s hard to see them anywhere else but here is my attempt.  This is my little exert should Gale from The Hunger Games trilogy have met with Minho from The Maze Runner trilogy.  Side note know I’m a total Katniss/Petta shipper but I did like Gale as a character.  There are some spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read the books but I shall try to keep them minor.

                Gale begins to wake and feels the pain in his head.  He fights through the fog trying to remember what happened last.  An explosion.  There had been an attack.  He stands as quickly as he can, swaying as his head fills with dizziness.  There is darkness all around him and he takes careful steps to find something to hold onto.

                With just a couple steps he reaches a wall.  Before he can explore further light comes from the ceiling and he feels the ground beneath him begin to move.  Before he can fully understand what is happening he is looking up at the sky, the same yet somehow different from what he knew, and more importantly a figure.

                “Get me out of here?”  He called up to the figure.

                A rope came down next and Gale used it to climb out.  He stumbled at first but was quickly regaining himself.  He didn’t know which District he was in but it wasn’t anywhere he recognized.

                When he stood up on the green grass he looked back at the hole then to the person who had helped him out.  “Who are you?  What District is this?”

                “District?  We thought they weren’t sending anymore.  The alarm didn’t sound.  Who are you Shank?”

                “Where am I?”  Gale asked again more insistant.

                “The Glade.  What do you remember?”

                “I don’t remember anything about a Glade district.  Which District is this?”

                “Look shank my names Minho.  What’s your name?  Your brain might be clunk but normally we remember that.”

                “My name is Gale Hawthorn.  I’m from District 12…well I used to be before the war.  Anyways there was an attack on our headquarters.  That’s all I remember.”

                Minho stared at him amazed.  He seemed to have a memory from before the box.  All be it crazy and unreal it was more than any of the rest knew.  “Now look we have to get you looked at by the med-jack and call a meeting.”

                “Where is Katniss?  What did you do to everyone?”

                “Hold up Greenbeen you really need to slow your roll.  I have no idea what you’re talking about.  This is the Glade as far as we know and you came up like the rest of us.  No idea about your Districts or catnip.”

                “Katniss.  She’s my…best friend.”

                “She?  Huh well we got a girl too earlier.  Strange.  This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

                Gale grew angry and unsure of everything.  Nothing looked familiar and his head was still throbbing.  “Take me back.”  He demanded clenching his fists.

                Minho stood back and held up his hands and pointed to the walls, “Look wherever you want.  We are trapped here.  Now if you want to go out and get eaten by Grievers then be my guest.  I’m not the enemy.”

                “Then who is?”

                “Beats me.”

                Gale felt his head began to throb harder and his vision went as he colappsed to his knees.  Everything around him was dark and silent.  When he opened his eyes again he saw familiar faces around him.

                “What happened?”

                A nurse came over and checked him out, “You hit your head pretty bad.  You were out for a little while though.  How do you feel now?”

                His head hurt but he was back in familiar reality.  “Good that,” he said as he sat up and stood from the bed.  He had no idea what he had been imagining in his sleep but it sure didn’t seem like a much better place than he had.

The End

                So I know it’s nothing special but come on two completely different realities.  Gale being out and finding out that there was another world where people were trapped in a maze.  It just seemed kinda interesting maybe the way and their situation wouldn’t seem as bleak and bad if he knew what else could have happened. 

                What are your thoughts?

Time for more Movie Reviews...

              Okay it’s been a little while since I’ve done a movie day but here it is.  Only three this time as well my partner in crime had to work the next morning early so had to call it an early night.  Anyways here are my thoughts on the movies we saw.

                First we saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Now this movie is rated R for a whole lot of reasons and not a movie for children.  I have not read the book trilogy that this series is based on but a friend of mine has and talked about the Swedish movie trilogy a year ago or so.  I found them on Netflix and watched them, apart from having to read the whole thing (as they were in Swedish go figure) I found them shocking, sadistic, and very dark.  The new version (American) is still all those things but they did turn down some things which I am perfectly okay with.

                The story is intriguing.  A journalist, Mikael, is shamed for publishing unsubstantiated truths about a very powerful man and is tried and loses.  He has nothing going for him at the moment and is approached by a wealthy man, Henrik.  Henrik wishes Mikael to use his skills at finding clues to solve a mystery decades old.  What happened to Harriet?

                Meanwhile we have Lisbeth who is a ward of the state, mentally incompetent and insane.  She is a hacker.  She can find anything and did the background on Mikael.  She has her own circumstances and issues that make you cringe and wonder how she survives but she keeps pushing and she gets even.  I’m not going to lie there is a part I can’t really discuss without giving it away but when you see it you’ll know it, and I just have to say I admire her tactic.

                Anyways aside from the emergency alarm going off with 20 minutes left of the movie and them stopping it.  False alarm.  In case you were curious no one in my theatre got up when it happened we all were waiting for the movie to come back.  Yes I know that’s bad.  Aside from that hiccup and then re-watching five minutes of an already lengthy movie it was good.  I give it 4 stars.  Don’t go see this movie to give you an uplifting spirit, it’s dark in so many ways but very well done. 

Rating: 4 Stars

                Next we saw what we really went to see.  Beauty & the Beast in 3D.  Yes my favorite movie to this day.  I’m a huge Disney fan and that was my first movie I ever fell completely in love with as a child and to this day still love it.  Everyone knows this movie…if you don’t then I have no idea what to do with you.

                We say the movie in 3D which was kinda nifty.  It wasn’t amazing 3D but I was more enthralled with the movie itself than the 3D effects.  We sang to every song, don’t worry it was in tune and quietly enough we didn’t disturb any of the other viewers.  Which was a surprise in and of itself.  We expected a bunch of kids but the audience was full of grown adults with a handful of kids.  Anyways not much to say accept seeing my favorite movie on a huge screen was amazing.  I give it 5 stars, of course.  It really is a tale as old as time.

                                                                       Rating: 5 Stars

                Last we say Joyful Noise.  Now this wasn’t the intended movie but given unforeseen complications it was the backup plan.  You may not know readers but I’m non-religious, I won’t go into much religious debates with anyone so don’t worry but saying that I also don’t care much for county or gospel music.  Yes a movie about the south with country star Dolly Parton and about a choir…yes.

                That aside I did want to see it.  It looked cute in the previews and worth seeing.  The summary is a Georgia choir always makes it to regionals but never to nationals.  The town is struggling to stay above water, with the economy hitting the town hard.  It’s uplifting.  It has young love, music, accepting change, accepting who you are, and lots of other little light hearted things. 

                The movie was good.  I found it a bit long.  Part of it, musical numbers I found could have been cut or at least started then blended into another scene so as to move the story along at the same time rather than hold a long scene for a single song with nothing else happening in the scene.  A filler scene I would call it.  Aside from that I had no problems with the movie.  It made me laugh and smile.  I give it 4 stars, I’d call it a one time see.  Personally won’t be looking for it on DVD.

Rating: 4 Stars

RTW: Pseudonym

This week’s Road Trip Wednesday Question is:

If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?

                I have read some amazing answers so far on this and let me say I to have thought about this.  Mine is for a multitude of reasons.  So my name is Eve Langell.  Eve is okay but come on I hated it growing up, I’m a little more accepting of it now, but a blonde child named Eve.  Yes I got tons of dumb blond jokes (funny at one point I had a 4.0) and Where’s Adam…even at one point some ‘why don’t you rap for us?’ ones which as I’m as white as a sheet and musically untalented was slightly more annoying.  My landlord to this day still calls me ‘The Mother  of All Living’ whenever he sees me and even says M.O.A.L. in texts.  Yeah that’s fun, he’s nice but it gets oh so old.

                Then you move onto my last name, Langell.  Pronounced Lang-gull.  It’s German and I’ve only met a handful of people who’ve said it right on the first try and guess what they were German exchange students back in high school.  So anyways the name is hard to pronounce and when I become a published author it’d be great if they knew my name but using a pseudonym could make it easier.  Plus that way if no one really knows me then I don’t have to worry about protecting the guilty…I mean innocent.

                So if I had to pick a name.  I could spend all day picking first names to use, I have a fascination with them really.  It’s horrible.  Probably my top two picks would be Kayla or Chloe.  As for the last name even though my mother and I aren’t particularly close her maiden name of Blair has a nice ring to it.  So how does that sound?  Kayla Blair?  Chloe Blair?  Or maybe I’d keep my first name and starve off some of the confusion Eve M. Blair?  I through in my middle initial for POW (*wink *wink*).

                I have lots of time to consider as I haven’t finished my first draft yet but it’s fun to thinking ahead and to the future.  So tell me what is your pseudonym?  What do you think of mine?  Let me know.

New Year’s Resolutions

                It’s now 2012, can you believe it?  It feels like 2011 just flew by I know I don’t know where the time went.  So the reason I wanted to do this blog is I was thinking about my own resolutions and thought it’d make a good entry.

                I know everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, an actual list, verbal, or just in your head.  Mine last year was written in my journal and I know I didn’t manage most of the things on my list before I even looked but I had to know if I accomplished any. 

                Truth is I was doing pretty good on a couple of them but then after losing my job well the ‘De-stress’ and ‘save more money’ went out the window pretty quickly.  Funny thing though in my save more money resolution I planned it out, set aside certain money don’t spend frivolously and such which I’ve been working on more since unemployment than before but now it’s not to save it’s to get by.  Now I have that skill down packed.

                I also had planned to finish my first draft of my book.  To be far I did scrap the book I was working on when I wrote this and started a new book in July, which isn’t finished or even close to finished but I did in a way ‘finish’ the book I was talking about right.  LOL I also wrote a couple of short stories that I submitted to a contest and still awaiting back to see if they will get any feedback.  Either way if I hear nothing that was still a big step for me, submitting something that was edited and revised a million times.  Okay maybe not quite a million times but it sure felt that way.

                What is the point of all this?  To wallow in myself pity for not accomplishing those or my other goals (personal sorry).  No…  Okay maybe just a tiny bit but then to help spring board me into my new list and help tailor it to be more feasible.  Let’s face it some of my list items weren’t very realistic; certainly not all together it’s insane as some cancel the others out.

                So this year I have made my own personal resolutions list and I think this one is much more manageable.  I have made more resolutions but some are the kind you reach for the stars and aim for but if in 2013 you look back and you didn’t accomplish it that’s okay you tried.  I also have lots of easier more manageable one peppered in on the list. 

                So this is both a list and an experiment.  I want to see how well I do during the year.  What about you?  Tell me about your resolutions and your plan to tackle them?  I can say I accomplished one thing from last year and it was a random ‘might do’, I started my blog.  Everyone can reach their goals and dreams they just have to believe they can.  I will do better this year.  I will finish my book.  I will read more.  I will find a job I love.  I will get out more and have more fun. 

                You can do it!  Happy New Year’s!

Oh and as a side note a new one of mine is manage to go 1 year without having some freak accident that burns the hell out of my hand.  On second thought maybe I should just start small and aim for 6 months.

Maggie Stiefvater Book Cleaning Giveaway

This post is in response to Maggie Stiefvater’s stack of books cleaning giveaway posted on her blog.  Basically to enter you must pick your favorite blog update from here, which is a difficult task, then post about it and why it’s your favorite and such.  So here is my entry.

My favorite blog post has to be the one with the recipe for the November Cakes.  This was so hard to choose because I love so many of your posts, the different photos of places I want to go to, the funny commentary on everything that makes me laugh but in the end my sweet tooth won.

I love to bake almost as much as I love to read and write.  So when I was reading The Scorpio Races and they talked so much about the sweet November cakes I have to say my mouth was watering.  I spent countless amount of time Googling them and alas Google failed me.  I was so sad that I couldn’t find a recipe to try them.

Then when I found your update with the recipe…well let’s just say that Keira, my faithful and fickle kitty, jumped up from her peaceful rest at the high pitch of my squeal.  That’s when I learned that the original recipe had been posted before the book came out, before I knew what a November cake was.  All I can say is YUM!

So yes that is going to be my pick simply because of the deliciousness. 

Always,

Eve