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Your Mind is NC-17 Rated

You're mind is so filthy... you should should be washing every part of you out with soap. If your thoughts can go dirty, they do. Almost everything is NC-17 to you!

Labels: quiz

// posted by Darla @ 4/29/2008 09:47:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: about me, random memes

// posted by Darla @ 4/28/2008 09:43:00 AM 5 comments

Labels: 5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance

// posted by Darla @ 4/26/2008 08:12:00 PM 3 comments

Miranda of Miranda's Mistake is a respectable young widow. She's invited by friends to to a hunting party and to help prepare their marriageable daughter, Artemis, for a Season in London. Unfortunately, the man she jilted seven years earlier is one of the guests--and Artemis has decided he's the one she'll marry.

Definitely a prescription for sparks.

I'm not sure if Jenna Mindel will be writing a sequel to this, but I'd love to see how Artemis fares. I worried about her.

Labels: books, flashback, HistoricalRomance

// posted by Darla @ 4/25/2008 10:56:00 AM 0 comments

1. these first several vehicles are

2. obviously newer than most of

3. the rest of the village

4. Camden & a bus

5. Camden on a tractor

6.

7. Curran and a carved horse--it was apparently made from one solid log, something that's impressive here because due to small land area and centuries of logging, there are very few trees of any size

8. a horse-drawn fire engine

9. a horse-drawn ambulance

10. a horse-drawn hearse

11. Camden in a swinging basket

12. Camden & Carl

13. Curran, me, & Camden

1. Melody: Booking Through Thursday
2. Marcia: shoes
3. Angela/SciFiChick: X-Men costumes
4. what Lori would like to see
5. Tilly Greene: RT Convention
6. R. G. Alexander: Regina in the Sun
   
7. Janet: Massachesetts-ians
8. On a Limb with Claudia's man tool
9. Julia Smith: Bona Fide Liar
10. Julia: E
11. Storyteller: Photobucket meme
12. Susan Helene Gottfried: Jewish literature challenge
13. Dane Bramage: homage to Earth Day
14. Sassy Mama Bear loves her kids, but...
15. Puss Reboots: armchair traveling
16. Denise Patrick revisits her childhood
17. what's in Di's purse
18. Heather: tornadoes
19. Nicholas: movie quotes
20. TV shows Nap Warden would like to come back
21. Myrtle Beached Whale: sad country songs
22. things Robin L. Rotham has and hasn't done
23. Tempest Knight: paranormals from Cobblestone Press
24. places Chris has been on vacation
    
25. You're next!

Labels: about me, TT

// posted by Darla @ 4/24/2008 09:44:00 AM 25 comments

• "Angelus Populi" by Don DeBrandt is about... duh... Angelus, and equates him to a high school bully. Interesting concept, but I was a little bored by the author's personal high school reminiscences.

• "That Angel Doesn't Live Here Anymore" by Laura Resnick describes the differences between the Angel of Buffy and the Angel of Angel. I found some of it over-explained, but that's likely me--I always err on the side of brevity and assuming that some details are just understood.

• "Angel by the Numbers" by Dan Kerns is a cute, clever essay with a lot of fun behind-the-scenes tidbits by someone who worked on the set.

• "Welcome to Wolfram & Hart: The Semi-Complete Guide to Evil" by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad is a bit of a departure, in that it's a fictional file belonging to a hypothetical employee of Wolfram & Hart. It's clever and amusing, and believable.

• "Jasmine: Scariest Villain Ever" by Steven Harper explains why Jasmine is the scariest villain ever, and I have to agree.

• "A World Without Love: The Failure of Family in Angel" by Jean Lorrah is about something fans have realized about Joss Whedon's shows for a while: nobody has a nice happy family. The detailed references do get a bit in the way of the point.

• "It's Not Easy Being Green and Nonjudgmental" by Abbie Bernstein is about Lorne--and not just about his character, but about the character's purpose on the show. He was one of my favorite characters, and this is one of the essays that made me think.

• "Angel: An Identity Crisis" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is one of the essays I disagreed with. The premise seems to be that Angel isn't a "real" vampire, to which I shrug and say "who the heck cares?" There are a couple of points about inconsistencies in the worldbuilding, but they got overshadowed by the insistence that the only valid vampires are ones that have already been written about.

• "Parting Gifts" by Sherrilyn Kenyonis about Doyle. Since I didn't start watching Angel until season 2, when Doyle was long gone, and only saw him in reruns and on the DVDs, I never became as attached to Doyle as fans who'd watched from the beginning, and so I appreciated this essay because it filled that lack.

• "Why We Love Lindsey" by Michelle Sagara West explains why we love Lindsey. This was another thought-provoking essay, because while I really loved Lindsey, my reasons seemed to be a bit different, so it gave me a somewhat different perspective on a favorite character.

• "It's a Stupid Curse" by Marguerite Krause explains why the very premise of Angel is flawed. It's one of those essays that could just as well have been written in a sentence or two, but it does make a very good point.

• "The Good Vampire: Angel and Spike" by Peter S. Beagle compares the two vampires with souls. The essay loses track of itself in chronicling the characters' histories in the middle, but does have some interesting insights about both characters.

• "To All the Girls He Loved, Maimed and Banged Before" by Candace Havens is a report to Angel from a fictional love goddess consultant about the possibility of his finding true love. I didn't agree with a lot of the conclusions--several of which were just too facile. It was a cute concept, though.

• "Victim Triumphant" by Jacqueline Lichtenberg boils down the difference between Buffy and Angel to hero (Buffy) and victim (Angel). It's an interesting perspective, and possibly partially explains why I have a slight preference for Angel over Buffy.

• "Where Have All the Good Guys Gone?" by K. Stoddard Hayes is about the moral ambiguity in Angel. Another thought-provoking essay.

• "The Path of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce" by Amy Berner does a lot of describing (with episode citations) of Wesley, but doesn't draw any conclusions or offer explanations. And she really doesn't seem to get the appeal of Scruffy Wesley, which is just sad.

• "Death Becomes Him: Blondie Bear 5.0" by Nancy Holder is not unlike "The Path of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce" in that it's heavy on the description and references, but light on the conclusions and explanations. She does like Spike, though.

• "Angel or Devil" by Josepha Sherman describes, in fairly excruciating detail, some of the mythological underpinnings of the series. At least, unlike "Angel: An Identity Crisis", it allows that there can be variations in those myths.

• "True Shanshu" by Laura Anne Gilman posits that in a show about redemption, Cordelia Chase is one of the largest examples.

• "The Assassination of Cordelia Chase" by Jennifer Crusie takes the discussion of Cordy further by explaining how the later seasons of Angel violated the character as developed through Buffy and the first season of Angel. It goes a long way toward explaining why the character bothered me so much in the later seasons.

• "There's My Boy..." by Joy Davidson psychoanalyzes Angel. There's a lot of description, but there are also explanations and conclusions drawn--not only saying what Angel has done or felt, but why, and what effect this has on him later.
  

Labels: 4 stars, books, nonfiction

// posted by Darla @ 4/23/2008 10:34:00 AM 2 comments

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Labels: quiz

// posted by Darla @ 4/22/2008 09:42:00 AM 1 comments

Labels: about me, random memes

// posted by Darla @ 4/21/2008 09:57:00 AM 5 comments

http://www.picturesofwalls.com/

This is "a gallery of walls with stuff written on." Graffiti from all over the world. Profound, funny, disturbing, mundane. Kind of like life.

There are six albums, each with dozens of pictures. Pace yourself--it's easier than you might think to get caught up in the site, and before you know it, an hour (or more) has gone by.

Labels: cool links

// posted by Darla @ 4/20/2008 11:31:00 AM 0 comments

• This is going to be fairly short, since we didn't do much this week... and there are no pictures.

• Most of the week went by in a bit of a blur for me, as I spent it with a sinus headache. I haven't had one that severe, that lasted for several days, in years. I think the last time was when we lived in Heidelberg, about 13 years ago. Crossing my fingers that it's not the start of a trend. My mom's had debilitating sinus infections her whole life, and even had a couple of surgeries, so I'm a little nervous about them after watching her.

  The headache was so bad on Sunday that Carl and Camden did the grocery shopping. They got nothing. I've been scrambling to come up with meals this week because the cupboards are bare, and the toilet paper situation is becoming critical. *sigh* At least they got milk and fruit. And PopTarts. The boys have had a lot of PopTarts for breakfast this week.

• The new car saga: If you were here a couple of months ago, you know we ordered a new car: a 2008 Mercedes C300. It's a bit of what the Germans call a Papierkrieg (paper war--that is, serious bureaucracy) to order a U.S. spec European car in Germany. And understandably so, when I discovered that the comparable German model would cost literally twice as much--you don't want to make it too easy, to reduce the risk of cheating.

  Anyway. We had the loan all set up through USAA, but they needed the VIN. Mercedes wouldn't have the VIN until further along in the manufacturing process, so we waited. It arrived in Carl's email a week ago Monday--while we were gone on vacation--so he didn't get it until Friday when he went back to work. He called USAA and gave them the VIN, and paid extra for them to FedEx the check to the Canadian PX, which handles U.S. Military car sales.

  He called the Canadian PX on Monday to ensure that they received the check, only to discover that USAA hadn't included the $80 handling fee for the Canadian PX. So he had to get a money order--checks weren't accepted, and bank transfers would take 2 weeks (???)--and send it through the German post office.

  And the German post office went on strike. So they didn't get the money order until Thursday, and it takes them at least 2 weeks to process the paperwork.

  We'd scheduled picking up the car in Stuttgart on April 25, but the paperwork wouldn't be finished by then. And the week after that is the JCAHO inspection at the hospital, so Carl can't get away.

  So we'll probably be getting it 2 weeks later than planned... unless there's a problem with leaving it there for 2 extra weeks. Personally, I'm just shrugging. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Carl's a wee bit more upset about it. Which is putting it mildly.

• In Carl's defense, he's got a lot stressing him out--the aforementioned JCAHO inspection not the least of it. There's also the issue of our orders to Heidelberg. We can't do anything--househunting, signing Camden up for school, arranging our trip back to Texas--without orders. So he followed up on them this week. Turns out that a month ago, they asked for his requested reporting date (after someone else had told him it was unnecessary, so he removed it from the Request for Orders), and he gave it to them. But the person he gave it to never passed it on, and his orders have been sitting, "on hold," for a month. He personally gave the info to the person in charge at this point, and we'll see if they actually make it through the system this time.

• Thursday we took Camden with us to see 21. Fun movie! Curran didn't come along because it was the first time his friends were available to hang out with him all week. It's a little sad, but more reassuring that he's being more independent lately. It makes me feel that he'll handle the move better. He's also been getting along well with Dagny, at least on the phone, which is a huge relief, since they'll be living together in the house, and he'll need her help--and companionship--quite a lot initially. It was easier for Dagny in some ways because she didn't move, and she still had all her friends nearby, and she'd already been in college for a year. But it's going to all be new for Curran, so I feel better that Dagny'll be there to help, and that she seems inclined to do so. They used to fight like cats & dogs, so this is a big relief.

• I've also been feeling a little better about Camden re: the move. With Curran spending more time with his friends, Camden's been being a bit more independent, too. Until about 6 months ago, the two of them were joined at the hip. They're still very close, but I'm less worried about Camden feeling lost without his big brother around. Yesterday, Carl invited Camden to go on his run with him, and to everyone's surprise, Camden did. He kept up, too. I'm thinking Carl has a new running buddy. I hope they keep it up.

• Last night we started watching Hogfather--I'd bought the DVD as soon as the U.S. version was released. Unfortunately, we'd watched an episode of The Black Adder (one of Curran's Christmas presents) first, so after the first hour, I was nodding off, despite loving it. Tonight we're going to see Juno, but that'll be over at 9, so maybe we'll watch the rest tonight.
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 4/19/2008 11:58:00 AM 5 comments

Danger's Promise was a wonderful medieval adventure. I loved the premise of the heroine being sent to kill the hero. Pretty clever & risky of Clarise to pose as a wetnurse. I was on the edge of my seat as the story unfolded--wondering when & how her lies were going to trip her up. I always enjoy stories full of intrigue, and this one had plenty.

Clarise was a wonderful heroine--brave & independent, willing to do all she could to protect her family, but moral enough that she could not kill Christian once she realized he wasn't the monster he'd been portrayed as being.

Christian was very likeable as well---seemingly harsh & determined, but unaware of how to make his people love & respect him, and all too aware of his less-than-noble blood.

Labels: books, flashback, HistoricalRomance

// posted by Darla @ 4/18/2008 11:18:00 AM 2 comments

1. a kitchen

2. you can easily see the style from the outside of this one because of the open wall--the living quarters on one side, the barn on the other--all under one roof

3. me outside one of the houses

4. here's the barn side of one house

5. ...and the living quarters side

6.

7. this won't show up unless you enlarge the picture, but on the bench are musical instruments--a trumpet standing up, and Camden was interested in the antique clarinet lying next to it

8.

9.

10.

11. rooftops

12. a cupboard bed on the left, and that dark spot on the bed on the right is a cat.

13. me, Curran, & Camden

1. Harris Channing
2. Lori
3. Julia Smith
4. CajunVegan
5. Melody
6. Heather
7. Candy Minx
8. PussReboots
9. Danica
10. On a Limb with Claudia
11. Natalie
12. Frigga
13. She Became a Butterfly
14. R. G. Alexander
15. Brenda ND
16. Xakara
17. Janet
18. Grace
19. KC
20. Marcia
21. Dragonheart & Merlin
22. TAMY 3 Sides of Crazy
23. Di
24. Nap Warden
25. Susan Helene Gottfried
26. Julia
27. Nissa
    
28. You're next!

Labels: about me, TT

// posted by Darla @ 4/17/2008 10:33:00 AM 30 comments

• *** "Spellbound" by L. A. Banks.

  Literally, the Hatfields and the McCoys. Present day, throw in some magic and a Romeo/Juliet romance between Odelia Hatfield and Jefferson McCoy. The pair fall in love in college, and the old men of both families are vehemently against their wedding. The grandmothers are on their side, though.

  Some of the pranks that get played are pretty funny, but most of the adults acted like children, and I didn't really care about the characters.

• ***** "Something Borrowed" by Jim Butcher.

  Billy and Georgia's wedding. If you've read the Dresden Files, they're first introduced in Fool Moon. They're werewolves. Because they fought against her in Summer Knight, Jenny Greenteeth is out to get them, and has kidnapped Georgia. Can Harry save both Georgia and Billy and step in for Billy's injured best man? Without insulting Georgia's stepmother? Well, no--that last is a bit beyond him.

  Okay, I'm shutting up before I give away the entire story. It's a lot of fun, a nice visit with some favorite characters--the Alphas, Harry and Bob, of course, and Murphy. And there's even some sweet stuff in there about the power of true love's kiss.

• ****½ "Dead Man's Chest" by Rachel Caine.

  Ordinary Cecilia Welles is about to marry romance-cover-model Ian Taylor after a whirlwind 2-month courtship, and he has a surprise for her: the wedding/honeymoon is on a pirate ship. But the ship is just a wee bit more authentic than expected, the pirate captain Lockhart has a big secret, and Ian has another surprise in store for her--murder.

  I had a little trouble believing in the romance, but it was a wonderful story, and I loved the twists and turns.

• ****½ "All Shook Up" by P. N. Elrod.

  Caterer Frankie Foster meets "Elvis" (Tribute Artist Elvis) at a wedding she's catering for Santiago and Trinidad. Her grandmother has joined her, because she's a huge fan of Elvis, and Gramma's thrilled. Frankie isn't, though. She can read people, and she knows that Santiago and Trinidad are all wrong for each other. But this "Elvis" is uncanny in his likeness, and there's just something about him...

  I've never been an Elvis fan, though I've started developing an appreciation for him as I've gotten older. But even so, this story made me understand and believe the appeal. The touch of magic was wonderfully subtle, and had a romantic sweetness to it that's hard to pull off without being sappy--Elrod succeeded. If I were an Elvis fan, I'd have given this one 5 stars, too.

• ***½ "The Wedding of Wylda Serene" by Esther M. Friesner.

  Sweet, spoiled, innocent, pampered Wylda Serene is getting married, and she wants to have her wedding at The Club. Things tend to go wrong--badly, supernaturally, wrong--with events at The Club, and everyone's trying to convince her to change her mind, but Wylda stands her ground. And the result is pretty chaotic.

  I have to say, I really do not understand some of the raves this story got. It's first person, and pretty darn anonymous until near the end--maybe it belongs in a series, and I'd have recognized the narrator if I'd read the series, but it was a bit disconcerting to find that the narrator was male, after reading nearly the entire story thinking it was female. But that's actually fairly minor. My biggest complaint is the meandering style. It starts with the narrator's sister's wedding, and then Wylda Serene's birth, and childhood, and tells about things that happened at The Club--not in a nice tidy order, either, but with little bits here and there interspersed with the narrator's personal philosophies. The actual story was maybe 3 pages. What I did distill out of the jumble was clever and amusing, but I'm not remotely tempted to try this author again.

• ****½ "Charmed by the Moon" by Lori Handeland.

  Werewolf hunter Jessie McQuade is about to marry professor Will Cadotte, despite her reservations about the whole idea of marriage, when she discovers a love charm. Now she's really got cold feet--how can she tell if they're really in love, or if it's just the charm? And where did the charm come from?

  This is a very sweet story about the nature of true love. It's saved from becoming saccharine by the realistic and appealing characters. I particularly enjoyed Jessie's revelations about Will's feelings for her.

• **** "Tacky" by Charlaine Harris.

  There's a truce between the vampires and the werewolves, but that doesn't mean that everyone's happy about the upcoming wedding between vampire Taffy and werewolf Don, including Taffy's maid of honor, Dahlia. But Dahlia's determined to make sure things go well, including security, in which she's aided by Don's best man, Todd.

  This is a cute story about wedding traditions and the respective vampire and werewolf societies all filtered through Dahlia's concern for making sure everything's appropriate--that is, not "tacky." It's a cotton-candy read: fun, but not very filling.

• ****½ "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher" by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

  Jeff, the squire of Dark Hunter Rafael Santiago, has written a thinly-veiled story about the Dark Hunters, and now the council has sent straight-arrow squire Celena to collect him. Rafael hides his squire, and makes a deal with Celena: if he can't make her break one of the squires' rules in a week, he'll turn Jeff over to her. Otherwise, she lets Jeff go free. Of course, the deal's not entirely for Jeff's sake: Rafael's been interested in Celena for a long time.

  Again, I'm surprised at the reviews on this one--a lot of people seemed disappointed in it. Maybe it's because, while I've read several of Kenyon's books, I don't follow the series very closely, and so I didn't have expectations for it. Celena's almost fanatical devotion to duty is well-explained and she's painfully torn between duty and desire. There's a nice balance here between levity and emotional intensity.

• **** "...Or Forever Hold Your Peace" by Susan Krinard.

  In a Victorian England, where supernatural Talents are the norm, a strange man appears at the wedding of Lady Emma and Lord Edward, objects to the wedding, then falls dead. The next day, Lady Emma disappears. Lady Olivia Dowling and Christopher "Kit" Meredith investigate a case that's complicated by the various supernatural talents of those involved.

  This was an interesting paranormal mystery with plenty of twists and a sweet love story, but it tended to get bogged down in explanations of the world and its magics that were too complex for a story of this length. I was expecting it to be part of a series, and it is, sort of. There's one more story with Olivia and Kit solving a mystery in the anthology Murder by Magic. I admit I was disappointed--this pair and this world would make a very appealing mystery series.
  

Labels: 3 stars, 3.5 stars, 4 stars, 4.5 stars, 5 stars, books, ContemporaryFantasy

// posted by Darla @ 4/16/2008 10:08:00 AM 2 comments

You Are Cowboy Boots

This doesn't mean you're country, just funky. You've got a ton of attitude and confidence. You're unique, expressive, and even a little bit wacky. You wear whatever you feel like and you have your own sense of style. You are straight shooting and honest. You tell people how it is. Low maintenance and free wheeling, you're always up for an adventure. You should live: Where you can at least get to wide open spaces You should work: In a job that allows you to take charge

Labels: quiz

// posted by Darla @ 4/15/2008 09:58:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: about me, random memes

// posted by Darla @ 4/14/2008 10:52:00 AM 2 comments