I watched the Dark Knight with my family... what I want to say is that it's predictable. A lot of people say it's good, and yes, it is, but the thing with it is, it has no rewatchable value for me. Good graphics, good action scenes and handsome men only last for one last eye candy stopping moment and then ends there. And there is the factor that The Dark Knight is extremely predictable, you could say what Joker, or what any of the other players would do before they actually did it. For a three hour (yes... it's a three hour movie) thatwold make it bordering on boring. *sigh*. But yes, the graphics was good. And Heath Ledger portrayed the Joker so very well. So... why do you think he got that scar on his face ;p


Wanted, another one of those losers turned vigilantes/cool guys movies. Another extremely good movie with no rewatchable value. Yes the action scenes were good, however it borders on look a like of a similar movie (albiet a different plot), Equilibrium, with Christian Bale. And yes, Angeline Jolie is always perfect for action movies. But no matter how cool it is that Angelina Jolie is shooting half naked on top of a car while driving with her feet, it has a barely passable plot on closer inspection. Because beyond the supposed assassination attempts, a secret organization believing to kill anyone that a loom weaves just sounds too preposterous. It works the first time while you oooh and ahh over the action scenes and the way they manipulate their guns with all the supposed adrenaline rush, but afterwards, doesn't feel close to reality anymore.

I've always wanted to write an amnesia story... unfortunately, I haven't actually encountered an amnesia case yet. Ever. That being beside the point, when I read about Remember Me, I was curious enough to pick it up. Even if I haven't read chick lit in a while, I absolutely adore Sophie Kinsella's books anyway and give them to all of my friends (sometimes I wish she would write a doctor story next, so I could give one to my doctor friends, the law one was a hit... no one writes doctor stories...)

But anyway... I adored Lexi a lot, she was a character who was in the pits one day, sort of like what I would feel after I lost my job (something which in internship wants you to QUIT your job), has been dumped by her boyfriend, and has to attend her father's funeral the next day. She falls down and suddenly wakes up in a hospital three years later. She learns that the got amnesia and lost memory of three years of her life to find out she has the perfect car, the perfect job and everything seems to be going well.

It sort of makes you realize that "perfect" isn't all what it's cut out to be and that settling for what you think you want instead of settling what your heart's wish is, won't make you happy. That you can't pretend to be someone you're not.

There's nothing much to say about the book that won't give it away (just as most chick lit reads). It's a fast and fun read, and you need to get it if you're a fan of Kinsella's.

The Little Lady Agency was also one of those fast read books. As with most chick lits, it was about a lady losing her job and picking up the pieces. She then works freelance as someone who does 'makeovers' and pretend girlfriends for people who want to stay single but couldn't. I like Sophie Kinsella's writing better but it's also one of those feel good reads. Now if I can get my hands on the next two sequels, I'd be perfectly happy.

Probably one of the better Riley Jensen books out there primarily because of the fact that there were no weird repetitive issues. Riley was amenable to Quinn without large rehashes of age old conversations. The only irritating thing was the overly lewd conversations, but I guess with Riley you learn to accept that. The mystery was all right. With some weird conversation about "It's not a vampire." "So what is it?" "It's a class of vampire that...".... ooops blooper in the worst sense.

Nothing much to say, it's same old same old.

AKA things I did not finish and threw into the trashbin:

The Becoming by Jeanne C. Stein

Beg for Mercy by Toni Andrews

*sigh* I have a thing against paranormal romances when they read like they were written by 12 year olds. I tried reading up to the second chapter but the descriptions and the way that the characters felt too dry and too scripted was an immediate turn off.

I am wondering if I should get Kresley Cole's books since I keep hearing so much about her. I have Playing Hard to get, which is an anthology with Cole and Kenyon, but I haven't decided if I should pick up her books based on that. As I have said before, I'm starting to grow tired of Kenyon's writing style and maybe that affected my want to pursue Cole in the first place.

I'm going to try Fairyville by Emma Holly and if that's a dud I'm hanging myself to read for the USMLE instead :c BOOO!

After one month sans books and 36 hour duties I finally settled down to read something from the paranormal genre. I picked up One Foot in the Grave because I liked the lead characters Cat and Bones... and yes the Spike undertones in Bones character was all right.

Spoilers...



However, I think I was mostly disappointed with the second book of the Night Huntress series. It mostly revolved around the sex that Cat and Bones missed out on the first book. I feel like most of the plot progression, finding Cat's father, solving the mystery in this particular book (mostly, it was just murder close to home) and challenging Ian for separation of loyalties, leadership to a house took a back seat to Cat and Bones' relationship... mostly a non-issue because I always knew she had hang ups when she left Bones, and we all knew that Bones, being the character that he was made out to be was never going to be a homicidal maniac nor would he betray Cat. And with the number of issues they actually finished in this one book, it was kind of surprising that they didn't spend more time with it (they found Cat's other side of the family, they tried to challenge and defeat her father, she found the man she loves etc etc... you kind of wonder at what else they could do in the next few books)

The way they resolved the entire issue ... marriage was something which was so EXPECTED I didn't expect it to come out. (Well look at it this way, I always knew they were ending up together, I just didn't think that they'd marry since most non-romance urban fantasies end up with 'mutual understandings' anyway... I don't know in that track it made it look more like a romance novel with paranormal stints rather than urban fantasy with some romance hitns.) Well, I'd buy the next book, but the next book would be the deciding factor for me. Most of the loose ends in book 1 were already tied up in book 2, hence me not knowing what a book 3 could accomplish... okay finding Cat's way in the middle of a vampire society for one, but how many ways could that go. She's married to the head of the house, and there's no divorce.

I would like to see how Bones adopts to the Cat's world, although I kind of know that it's going to be Cat's team adapting to his rather than the other way around. The sex was all over the place... so I was wondering half of the time if I was reading erotica or urban fantasy... I do applaud Ms. Frost in the way that she actually varies the sex at least, and the sex kind of fits Crispin's background as an ex-whore in London, sometimes some people forget the characteristics that they build into their characters.

But since there are only a few threads left to this book, I'd probably wish for one final book to tie the last few loose ends left in the plot before hoping Ms. Frost starts on another series all together.

Finally picked up Rob Thurman's series (if not the latest, Madhouse, then his first two books) because it was backed by majecki and shartyrant.

Cal Leandros is half-human and half-Grendal, (later on we'd find out what they were truly called in the paranormal circles, but hey Grendal it is). He was made in a demonic deal by his mother to his father so that his father could have a half-human child for reasons unknown. He had been watched over by Grendals all his life and had been taken when he was fourteen. Since then, he and his brother had been on the run from the Grendals moving from city to city to avoid any more paternal visists.

Cal isn't like most of the other heroes you managed to share POV's with. Not that he's amoral exactly, not the way that he's an anti-hero, because he isn't. He's more a mercenary, and I guess, prey... but being half-Grendal doesn't lend to that.

Unlike most female urban fantasies, male written urban fantasies don't lend into a male training a female what's happening. It's more of a brother-brother camaraderie. Haha imagine watching Supernatural with no bad acting and no overprotective father, and you have a similar version of Cal and Niko. They're close brothers, and they're trying to survive. Cal is the half-paranormal brother, but Niko is more dangerous. Cal is lazy while Niko is diligent... and the brains of the operation. I rather like their interaction (I don't have two brothers, and I'm really happy with the glimpse this is giving me on how two brothers would go with life when they're locked close together).

The references to classic literature and pop-culture in the book seems to be my downfall. Fortunately for me, google is my friend. I never actually read/watched Beowulf and it's a good thing I read some Shakespeare, way on the forced education here ;p

As for the supporting characters, I like Robin (what's not to like about Robin?) I could care less about Promise, and I really liked the way Cal handled George. (Niko is a given in the solid I like him department, there's something about unfailing family loyalty that gets me everytime... haha)

It took me three days to read the two books, not because it was a difficult read, and surely not because it was a bad read, but simply because the style was different from what I was used to, it exhausted me. Really exhausted me to read it.


No romance, fair action, and some really weird skips in the narration because of sudden fastforwarding in Cal's POV which gave me some huh, what was that again, but a must read in my book. Being female, I miss all the romantic interludes (am I giving my gender a bad name?), but what the heck... I'd still read it.

Okay. Enrollement tomorrow, I have to sleep. It will be the last day of my life to read tomorrow. I have to spend it on something fun.

After years of waiting for the next book, anther book in the Jewels series has come out. I was so ecstatic. Really.

As a standalone story it was great. It was in keeping with the mysteries set up by Surreal and Ranier's brief stint in a short story Anne Bishop made in Powers of Detection titled The Price. Although Ranier was already introduced as a dancer, as a member of the Third Circle and as a Purple Dusk Warlord Prince in Daemon & Jeannelle's short story in Dream's Made Flesh

The premise here is that Jeannelle and Marian are making a spooky house for landen (read: people who do not have magic for the Bishop uninitiated) children. At the same time, someone else had made a house but of more sinister intents than fun and games and trapped Surreal and Ranier in it.

The plot is pretty straightforward, and you know EXACTLY who's to blame for the entire incident, and what is going on in both camps (also in keeping with Bishop's books where it's only character blind and not reader blind), but the book was still a wonderful read.

Unlike Invisible Ring, a prequel for the Dark Jewels released before Dreams Made Flesh, Tangled Webs is as unpredictable as walking into a haunted house in a fair. You don't know what surprises are waiting for you and you don't know what's going to happen next. Not a thriller really, since it wasn't really meant to scare you, and not a mystery exacltly. I guess it's still solidly in the realm of fantasy with some hints of suspense.

What was strong in this book was the sense of family. Of how the High Lord of Hell understands his two sons, and how his sons love him and the people in their (admittedly extremely extended) family. I was teary eyed in lots of ways. (Especially in part one, part one was NOTHING BUT family ties) You also get to see a lot of Lucivar's insecurities in this book (much like we all saw Daemon's own flaws and weaknesses in Queen of the Darkness and Dreams Made Flesh.

And just like in the rest of Ms. Bishop's books, though there is admittedly one main character, they all have equally important parts in it. Saetan, Lucivar, Daemon and Jeanelle all share in the movement of the story (I mean, I was FRUSTRATED without end when in Heir to the Shadows, Daemon had a what... ten page coverage.). I guess this was also a way to show that though an entire war was won and lost, that life goes on for the main characters too. Of the lives they lived after the entire War with Terille (sp?). I was curious after all, and though Dreams Made Flesh did quench some of that thirst, it hadn't showed me entirely enough of what a married Daemon and Jeannelle would have been like, especially since they were dealing with their own internal problems (although I guess Dreams Made Flesh was entirely for their internal problems).

I think this book also managed to build in the world more, if that was possible. There are some things that I didn't understand about the blood, that I understood more in this book, or rather there were more details in this book that didn't find a place in the previous books (like the concept of a Dark House, and wow even the genetics of the blood hehe and how Keeler Territories work) that type of thing.

I think the only thing that wasn't fulfilled here was my craving for more Saetan. I miss Seatan in the stories, although I must admit that his short in Dreams Made Flesh Zuulaman (sp?) was abundant in Saetan enough for me to know how he managed to stay with Hekatah that long and how he lived before becoming Demon Dead. I wonder if there are going to be more Saetan stories in the future, but it's highly doubtful since as the story said, Saetan was already becoming old. Although haha -_- age boggles the mind in Blood terms.

After reading this, it has reminded me that though Jeanelle is Witch and has been shaped by many dreamers, Jeannelle was born into a short lived race. If I remember correctly, Hyallians and Eryiens and all of the long lived races have dark hair and dark eyes, none of which Jeanelle has. There are three long lived races, but I only know of Hyallians and Eryiens... or maybe I'm forgetting something?

Haha, what I'd love to see if the author would indulge the fans in another book? A baby off Jeannelle and Daemon. Nothing is better than a big strong male brought to his knees by a swaddle of infant. Haha, and there's too little High Lord-grandson interaction! We all know the High Lord is extremely fond of children (He really was too cute when he dealt with Memphis and Pro...ugh can't remember his other son's name...), but there's really not enough of it. More Tersa too, I like her a lot... but it's really difficult to have Tersa involved too much, I think writing her must be difficult because in order to write her, you'd have to think like her, and the way she thinks isn't the easiest to understand.

Hopefully, there will be more Dark Jewels in the future,(but since the main story arc is finished, it would be difficult to keep coming up with short plots) but whether or not there will be, I am extremely happy with this particular book.

Lee sidestory for Ephemera? Anyone?

The good and the bad in my birthday:

the good:

a) I finally got Tangled Webs... can't wait to read it
b) Went out with med friends for an eat out drink out in Tagaytay... just a drive in

the bad:

a) I have to WAIT to read tangled webs. I have it, but errands are driving me crazy
b) I got separated from my groups in Medicine. T_T I want to cry *cries* *cries*

My sister has been watching Gundam the entire vacation and wanted me to share watching mechas with her. Since I wasn't much of a Gundam ANYTHING fan, we changed the mecha anime into Code Geas.

Code Geass was written by Sunrise (also makers of Gundam, but a different division I guess) and the character design was done by CLAMP (makers of Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth etc etc) which brings no end to doubles in the series. Suzaku Kururugi, the son of the late prime minister of Japan and now a Knightmare (name of the mechas) pilot looks like a grown up ShaoRan from the Card Captor Sakura series. Lalouch himself looks like Kamui or some permutation of from the X series. I'm not entirely a CLAMP fan so I can't say who looks like whom in the entire series but there are a lot.

Code Geass is set in a time after Britannia conquers 1/3 of the world (centuries after the EU was formed anda demolished). And they set up areas of responsibility around the world assimilating countries within their empire. The story takes place in Japan, (well it is Japanese Anime you know) renamed Area 11 after its conquest. And therefore, people are called Elevens (half of the time I called them elven, honestly, me and my dyslexia... until I heard the voice actor saying Eleven), and that there is discrimination between Britannians and "numbers".

Lalouch is the eleventh prince of Britannia, thought to be dead from the initial invasion of Japan and is in hiding with his sister under the protection of the Duke of Ashford. In a freak accident (isn't it always like that) he found C.C. (once rumoured to be a witch) and entered a "promise" with her (a geas haha) which is entirely unclear at the moment, which manifests in Lalouch as an ability to make any person do anything he wills them to do. With the geas he starts a methodical revoloution against his home country Britannia with two goals in mind: primarily, find happiness with his sister Nanally and find out the killer of his mother, Empress Marianne. The establishment of Japan as a nation is just a side dish (haha).

What's good about the series is that it's never boring and is completely funny at times (okay, sometimes only... comic relief comes from school friends) and the history of each character unfolds just as you watch it. What you do know is why Lalouch is motivated to start a rebellion. A good thing about Lalouch is, although he has a brilliant mind, he has his character flaws. He's not athletic, and he's definitely more than a touch arrogant. What I like about Lalouch is that he is extremely brilliant, other than the tactical mind, you can see just HOW brilliant he is, when faced with enough facts about an opponent (in one instance Mao) he came up immidiately with 17 different ideas on who Mao was, one of which was correct. What you do see is that he and Suzaku are mirror images of each other. They both believe in change, but they have different ways of achieving it. Sometimes the way Suzaku is noble is the reason you want to bash him in the head. (But my sister and I agree that for government to change, there are going to be some hard choices, and there's never going to be a radical enough change if there is no war, no rebellion and no faction to start anything.

Also, you never forget that the main characters are 17 year olds. They do make mistakes that 17 year olds do. You know, never think about consequences until something strikes close to home, think that the world revolves around them etc etc.

Politically, and strategically, I think the anime is brilliant. Well, in my humble opinion anyway. And I'm not really much of a strategist. Lalouch makes an extremely good strategist and his sister Cornelia, a good counter-strategist to him. But the story itself is dark and full of heartache. Any war is. There are a lot of things that you wish, ahh war could have ended here, but destiny, in the form of the scriptwriters, didn't really plan for it to end that way ;p

The mecha design is also pretty cool. Apparently a lot of the people are saying that it is one of the more realistic mecha designs out there.

Watched it through Shisen Subs, (the acronym Shisen subs Quality control SHS QC had me laughing because I took high school in School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City which is exactly SHS QC) anyway...

There is a manga adaptation to the series which I also want to see. But then since the anime is the original, I like to watch that more. I already finished the first season and am waiting for the second season to end haha. (It just started this month)

The series is going to be played in Adult Swim in Cartoon Network with English Dubs (urg)... but I would really recommend watching it.

Because of the large amount of fans and awards the first season generated there's going to be a season two starting this month Lalouch Rebellion R2. ;p Anyway... wait did I write about DC 11? the movie? hated the subs taht were released so I wasn't really satisfied with what happened but still... I'm waiting for better subs and the new movie 12 is going to be released in Japan next month :) *excited* I completely forgot to check trailers.

I played Zelda the entire day. That's why I could only read one book. That snow mountain? It's annoyingly easy to get lost in.

But enough of Zelda since I don't really write about what I play. (I should actually start writing that Epilogue 2 of rend soon, or actually end it, but inspiration hasn't been pouring lately. I do know how it ends, how it begins, it's all the connecting parts that are driving me woozy.)

But enough of that...

Read Sazi 03, was surprised that it was not in the first person POV (1&2 were) so it kind of threw me off balance. Again, firmly not in the urban fantasy genre and more on paranormal romance.

Antione Moniere representative of the cats stumbled upon Tahira sister to his equivalent in a ghost tribe of shapeshifters. He finds her in the middle of German police and was about to be sent to the zoo. He saves her (duh) discover a hidden power in her while he tries to figure out how he could get out of accusations of him not being a good leader to the weres and have a strong family enemy and rival underneath his roof. All in wintry Germany in the middle of christmas shopping.

The beginning of the book was extremely slow. I mean... really slow. But I did get to laugh at Councilman Ahmed again even if he's really .. you know the type to want to be misunderstood instead of explain (I really want that attitude, you know to hell with what everyone thinks? Unfortunately I have more pride than I have finesse).

I also loved the entire performing show thing. I learned a lot about training cats. ( I read about training cats once before in SEP's Angel... something but that's neither here or there). And we did get to see brief glimpses of Tony while Antoine calls him long distance and e-mails him.

I loved the way that the ceremonies in this book goes. It keeps surprising me. There was a cheesy part about choosing, but I guess it can't be helped. Sometimes, some things can only be accomplished with a whole lot of cheese. Some authors pull it off, some don't. SOmetimes I just don't buy the entire love solves everything bandwagon. They could have put it in less explicit terms and it would have gotten the point accross, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, would have been less cheezy but who am I to judge?

I am happy to say though that I am entirely extremely curious now about Antoine's sister Josette especially since a) she's the one who froze the snake people in the ceiling without effort and b) after the background given of the Moniere family in this book and c) the blurb at the back of the book of book 6. Let me just say that my EQ is apparently still working and 6 is soooo far off from 3.