TTT - Top Ten Books to Read if You Like Bitten

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

I spent a lot of time debating what to do for this week's "Books to read if you like [insert TV show/movie/video game here]" topic. For some, I couldn't find more than a couple of books that fit the bill. For others, the list ended up being way too similar to previous Top Ten Tuesday posts. I thought about doing Buffy from the vampire perspective, but I'm kind of over the whole vampire thing. So let's go with werewolves/shapeshifters instead, shall we? OKAY.

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Obviously, if you like Bitten the TV series, you should check out the original source material. It's pretty different to the series, and a lot of fans of the Women of the Otherworld books were (understandably) quite upset with certain events that happened in the show. But I think they're both worth reading/watching, even if they end up going in fairly different directions! 

2. Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

I talk about the Kate Daniels series a lot, and with good reason: it's awesome. Kate may not be a werewolf/shapeshifter, but Curran sure is (well, he's a werelion, anyway). Their relationship is quite similar to the tumultuous ups and downs of Elena and Clay's relationship in Bitten, but starting from the beginning rather than having an entire messed up history between them.

3. Soulless by Gail Carriger

Another one featuring a super-strong king of the werewolves type guy and the woman who rolls her eyes at him constantly. This one has the added bonus of steampunk, extreme amounts of sass, incredibly ugly hats, and truly fabulous characters. Which isn't to say that the others don't have fabulous characters. Oh, you know what I mean. 

4. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

Angua is a lot like Bitten's Elena Michaels. But Carrot couldn't be less like Clay if he tried. And sure, this book doesn't focus a lot on the fact that Angua's a werewolf or what that means. If that's what you're after, give The Fifth Elephant a go instead. But Men at Arms is Angua's first appearance in the Discworld books, and she's pretty awesome right from the get-go. 

5. Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

The Edge is a completely different world to that of the Kate Daniels series, and these books are a LOT more romance-y. But this one - which features a protagonist who shifts into a wolf - was my favourite of the series. 

6. Mr. Darcy's Bite by Mary Lydon Simonsen

Okay, this one's a total guilty pleasure. Even the author admits that it's basically cracked out fan fiction. But it was FUN cracked out fan fiction. Basically, Darcy is a werewolf and he's determined to tell Lizzy before he proposes to her. Go in with zero expectations and there's every chance you'll enjoy it. Totally silly, brainless fun. 

7. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Okay, so Wolf isn't exactly a were/shifter. He's a Lunar soldier with a few lupine tendencies. But this book is so great that I couldn't not include it on the list. I mean, a dystopian retelling of Little Red Riding Hood? How on earth could you pass up on that?! 

8. Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster

I giggled my way through the first book in this series, Kiss of Steel, because it was pretty ridiculous and the main love interest dude was a bleached blonde vampire with an East End accent named Spike Blade. I was uncertain going into Heart of Iron as a result. But I ended up really enjoying it. And not giggling every two pages. So...WIN.

9. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Armstrong's YA series, Darkest Powers, features teenage supernaturals, including a werewolf on the brink of his first turn. In this, the final instalment of the trilogy, Derek finally turns. But he's not sure of himself or his powers or his strength or how to handle the mutts that start coming after him and his friends. It's a great contrast from the werewolf characters that Armstrong gave us in Bitten and the other Women of the Otherworld books. 

10. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris 

Look, when you're talking about a paranormal urban fantasy book that got adapted into a TV series, you basically HAVE to have a Sookie Stackhouse book on the list somewhere. It's been years since I read this one, but if I remember correctly, this is where Harris adds werewolves to the equation. 

Honourable mention: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for giving us Remus Lupin. It doesn't QUITE fit the bill here, but it still deserves a mention because it contains werewolves and is excellent. 

K xx

Movie Monday - Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

I've talked about this movie in the past, mostly as part of my "OMG I LOVED THIS" rambles at the end of last year. But I've never properly covered it for Movie Monday. Having bought it on DVD last week and watched it again over the weekend, it seemed only appropriate to cover it properly!

Reasons why Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is awesome:
1. Jeremy Renner. Like you expected anything else.
2. Billowy coats. Y'all know I'm a sucker for a good billowy coat, and Hansel's is pretty freaking spectacular.
3. Matrix-style arrow avoidance.

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4. Gemma Arterton.
5. Hansel has diabetes and still kicks arse on a daily basis.
6. Ridiculous weapons.

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7. Exploding dudes.
8. Ben and his fanboy flailing.
9. The final scene in the desert.
10. Famke Janssen.

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11. The opening credits. They're pretty fabulous.
12. Ridiculous modernisations. I'm sure some people will find the inclusion of homemade tasers to be over-the-top stupid. But for me? It adds a note of steampunk-ness to the story.
13. Headbutting douchebags.

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14. Death by shovel.
15. The soundtrack.
16. The magic wands the witches use. They're pretty freaking cool.

Plus, the following quotes:
- "Whatever you do, don't eat the fuckin' candy."
- "I hate to break this to you, but this isn't gonna be an open casket."
- "Revenge doesn't change the past. It won't bring our parents back. But it sure as hell feels good."
- "We learned a couple of things while we were trapped in that house. One, never walk in to a house made of candy. And two, if you're gonna kill a witch, set her ass on fire."
- "The Curse of Hunger for Crawling Things. I fucking hate that one."

Have you seen it? What did you think? (Obviously, it's totally ridiculous. But it's so FUN.)

K xx

TTT - Top Ten Spring TBR List

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

Today's topic is the books that are on our TBR list for spring. Or, you know, autumn if you live all the way down here in the southern hemisphere like I do! I'm sticking with new releases, because if I included stuff that's already been published, there's no way I'd be able to keep it to just ten. (All cover images from Goodreads)

1. The Thousand Dollar Tan Line - Rob Thomas

I am SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK. I mean, Veronica Mars novels??? That follow on from the (wonderful) Veronica Mars movie??? What more could you want!! 

2. Fairwil - Alysia Gray Painter

While this isn't due for publication until June, Alysia's been dropping hints about having ARCs ready in late spring, so I'm totally counting it. And I am SO EXCITED OMG MORE FAIR AND MORE GOMERY AND MORE DIVING BOARD AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor

I can't wait to see how this series finishes, and I'm still sulking that I didn't get approved for an ARC.

4. We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

I've heard excellent things about this from friends who were lucky enough to get ARCs. I'm excited to finally get my hands on a copy! 

5. Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong

I love Kelley Armstrong's books, and I'm pretty intrigued by this new series.

6. The Girl with the Wind-up Heart - Kady Cross

I haven't always been the biggest fan of this series - I love steampunk but this sometimes seems like a modern novel set in the 19th century just for the sake of pretty dresses - but I'm still looking forward to reading the last book in the series to see how it all ends. 

7. Stolen Songbird - Danielle L. Jensen

One that was on my list of debuts for 2014. The world sounds AWESOME, and I'm really excited about reading it. 

8. What I Thought Was True - Huntley Fitzpatrick

I read My Life Next Door last week and absolutely loved it. So I'm really excited about another Huntley Fitzpatrick book being published so soon! 

9. Love Letters to the Dead - Ava Dellaira

A really interesting sounding concept. I can't wait to see if it's as good as it sounds! 

10. Pointe - Brandy Colbert

A thriller-y thing involving ballet? Uh, YES PLEASE.

What's on your autumn (spring) TBR list?

K xx

Top Ten Tuesday - Fall TBR List

I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish again for Top Ten Tuesday this week!

The theme this week is the ten books topping your TBR list this season (which, for me, is spring rather than autumn). I'm not great at keeping up with TBR lists, partly because I'm reliant on the library for most of my books and they rudely refuse to buy the books I want, or I go to get them on my Kindle, and they're like $15, which seems completely ridiculous for an e-book, so I wait around in the hopes that they'll go on sale and then forget all about their existence.

ANYWAY. That's a really long winded way of saying that I'm 10,000% sure that I will not read all ten of these books between now and the end of November (summer starts on 1 December here, so I'm using that as the cut off!). But I *do* have several of them on preorder, so I'll at least cross off a few!

Allegiant - Veronica Roth
OMG SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK. Especially now that the Divergent movie trailer has been released.

Curtsies and Conspiracies - Gail Carriger
I'd prefer if it were a new Parasol Protectorate book - the first book in the Finishing School series was good but not great - but I love Carriger's writing so much that I'll take whatever I can get!

Mad About the Boy - Helen Fielding
I adore the Bridget Jones books, perhaps because I relate a little too much to Bridget's special brand of crazy. So I was crazy excited to see that there was a new one coming out. Although given that it's been the better part of fifteen years since The Edge of Reason, it will be very interesting to see if Fielding can still deliver the same hilarity without making Bridget seem a wee bit pathetic...

Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett
Every Discworld book automatically gets added to my TBR list, and they've always delivered in spectacular fashion. I have high hopes that this will be no exception.

More Than This - Patrick Ness
I've adored every single Patrick Ness book that I've read, even when they've made me ugly cry like a lunatic. This one sounds completely intriguing.

Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosh
The minute Allie announced that she had a book coming out, I went and preordered it. I've missed her blog so much over the past year or so, so I'm insanely excited about her book.

Never Fade - Alexandra Bracken 
I had a few niggling problems with The Darkest Minds, but I'm still dying to know what happens next!

Wild Justice - Kelley Armstrong
I've been a little dubious in the past about the Nadia Stafford books. I've enjoyed them, but they've always lacked a little bit of the readability that I loved in Armstrong's other books. That said, it's been a long time since Armstrong's added to the series and I'm interested to see where she takes it.

A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway 
Steampunk and magic and a dose of Sherlock Holmes-y stuff? Um, YES PLEASE.

Two - LeighAnn Kopans
I really enjoyed One, despite having some initial hesitations about the insta-love-ness of the relationship between Mer and Elias, so I'm really looking forward to this coming out next month.

What new releases are you excited about over the next few months??

K xx

Best of 2012: Books edition

Now that we're rapidly heading for the pointy end of the year, I figured that I'd take the opportunity to do a couple of posts covering my favourite things from this year. As is to be expected with me, we'll start with the books!

To date, I've read 171 books this year, and I foresee passing 175 before the end of the year. Some of them REALLY sucked. Four of them I couldn't bring myself to finish, which shows just how terrible they truly were - leaving books unfinished makes me twitchy. But a decent chunk of them were made of awesome, and they deserve to be honoured accordingly.

NB. A good chunk of this list is going to be young adult books, because I've read a crapton of awesome YA this year. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Everything by John Green
2012 was the year that I discovered John Green. While his writing has kind of ripped out my heart and stomped on it, it's been worth every single second of it. He creates stories that stay with you well after you finish reading, and I can see most of them being regular rereads. Especially Paper Towns. Holy crap, I loved that book.

Everything by Gail Carriger
I mean, come on. How can you not love her books? They're equal parts paranormal and steampunk, with a good dose of hilarity. I'm just gonna sit here waiting for her next series to start, and hoping like hell that someone decides to make movie versions of the Parasol Protectorate series. Because THAT WOULD BE AMAZING.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett
This was so completely different to any of Pratchett's other work. It's a fantastic mix of fiction and actual historic characters, including Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, and Robert Peel. I particularly loved how lots of Dickens' titles were sneakily written into the story. It's a mixture of fantastic characters, humour, and incredibly serious issues, and I'm not sure anyone but Pratchett could pull it off quite as well.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
ALL THE UGLY CRYING. It's beautifully written, with fabulous illustrations. The plot comes to a fairly predictable ending, it's true. But the number of lines that I wanted to read over and over again was truly astonishing. So yeah. Heartbreaking, but a must-read nonetheless.

Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
These books, you guys. These books are so stinking cute that I can't even handle it. The teenage voice in both of them is perfect, and both of these books fell into the "I'll just read one more chapter HOLY CRAP IT'S 2AM" category. Sure, they're overly dramatic and kind of predictable. But I can't wait for the third book in the sort-of-series to be released next year. I may camp out at the library and fight a bunch of 16 year old girls to be the first to get my hands on it.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
This book is like Mean Girls and Groundhog Day had a baby. Except in a less creepy way than it sounds... The character development that the protagonist goes through in the course of the story is amazing. The ending was kind of inevitable, but I still wish it could have been different. SIGH.

The Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld
A steampunk alternate history of World War I with big secrets all around? YES PLEASE. I love the characters, the boffins, the beasties, and the illustrations. Sure, it's intended for 14 year olds, but pff. It's still made of win.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
OHMYGOD. On the surface, this book is completely and utterly hilarious. But then every so often, you come across a line that gives you a moment of "Huh. I hadn't thought about that before..." that you end up reflecting on for days afterwards. It's equal parts Miss Congeniality, Lost, and Lord of the Flies, and it's brilliant.

The Rogue Agent series by K.E. Mills
Oh my God, I love this series. If you like Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, you'll probably enjoy Gerald Dunwoody. It's a perfect combination of humour, excitement, fantasy and adventure. I'm VERY curious to know if the series is going to continue, and if so, where it's going to go from here! Also? The first book has the greatest dedication of EVER:

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
Must Be Thrifty gave me the first three books in this series for my birthday, describing them to me as "Hornblower, but with dragons." Basically? Napoleonic Wars rewritten with dragons = WIN. Things occasionally get a little insanely hilarious (teenage dragons, y'all...), which may have something to do with Novik's background as a fanfic writer. But the whole series is made of awesome. Although possibly don't read the entire series back to back - there's only so much dragon sexy times the brain can handle!

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
If you don't read The Bloggess, then you should go and rectify that situation right the hell now. And then you should track down this book. Because holy HELL, was it hilarious. Public service announcement: do not read on public transport, because you will probably bust an organ trying not to laugh hysterically in public.

Mr. Darcy's Bite by Mary Lydon Simonsen
Okay, so this one is fan fiction, pure and simple. The author acknowledges it in her In a kind of weird sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is a werewolf, and wants to tell Lizzie before he proposes to her. It was completely and utterly cheesy, and featured more bodice-ripping than I usually like in my books. But I loved every single second of it, and if I ever come across it in a bookstore, I *may* have to go ahead and buy it. BECAUSE OF REASONS.

So. What were the best books you read in 2012??

K xx

In which people are weird, part 2

Remember back in June when I vlogged about all the bizarro Google searches that have led people to my blog? I think it's about time I did another one. Except, you know, without the vlogging because I'll be vlogging my 500th post next week(!!), and two vlogs in two weeks is way too much like hard work!

So. What random crap has led people to my blog lately?

Jedward laptop. Dude, I have no idea what you were looking for. Is this a laptop used by Jedward? Or a Jedward THEMED laptop?!

Terrifying scarecrow. You mean like this?

Thanks for THOSE nightmares, Supernatural... Also, source.

Eagle fighting tiger. I've been wondering about this one for a while now. Is it an eagle fighting a tiger? Or is it a tiger that's capable of fighting eagles?? Jeez, people. Structure your searches.

John Barrowman emphasis on wrong syllable. I...have no idea what this means. Is it Barrowman putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable? Or mispronouncing his name - like John BarROWman??

IMDB storyline the boy see in his dream that his girlfriend will died in a taxi accident which is a cello player. Seriously??? I have no idea how this led you to my blog. And I have a similar lack of idea about what you're looking for.

Jedward costumes for kids. OH MY GOD. IF YOU HAVE LITTLE KIDS, PLEASE DO THIS FOR HALLOWEEN????? (I'm looking at you, Gina)

Pippa Middleton fingernails. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh????

In the movie Independence Day, what newspaper was the President (Bill Pullman) reading when he was told of the attacks? Dude. That is one hell of a specific search. I can't imagine why you'd ever need to know that. I don't know the answer, and it's probably a fake newspaper. You know, just FYI.

Steampunk Ned Kelly. I have to admit, I would read the crap out of a steampunk Ned Kelly book.

Two person llama costume. As far as I'm concerned, any two person costume is a pretty terrible idea. When it comes to this, I really want to know if the front person has to spit like a llama to make it seem authentic.

Pelvic thrust homestay gif. I have literally no idea how the 'homestay' part relates to the rest of it. And I don't really want to know what you'd use such a gif for anyway.

Velociraptor cheesecake. No idea what they were after, but any mention of velociraptors is okay by me.

Frozen peas for Congress. Are Congress in need of frozen peas?!

Pin the owie on the clown. As far as I'm concerned, this should read "cut the head off the clown", because in addition to teaching me that scarecrows are creepy, Supernatural taught me that clowns are creepy.

Jude Law Patrick Downey Jr. Oh, honey. No. Let's review. This is Patrick Dempsey, star of Grey's Anatomy and Sweet Home Alabama:

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THIS is Robert Downey Jr, total badass and star of The Avengers, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Sherlock Holmes (which co-starred Jude Law):

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Do not get them confused. Kim will probably kill you...

Ugly cake. Fuck you very much, my cakes are NOT ugly.

Terrible passport photo, look very depressed. Fuck you very much, my passport photo is NOT terrible, and the Australian government mandates that you have to look depressed, dammit!! >.<

Make a kneeling man out of fondant. I have no idea why you would want to do this, but it reminds me of the time in high school when we saved a bunch of wax from Mini Babybel cheeses over several weeks and used it to make a little sculpture of a man sitting on the toilet. Clearly, we had too much time on our hands...

David Tennant fashion icon for boxers. Do you mean because of the boxer shorts he wore in The Decoy Bride that were covered in quills and ink wells? Either way, I'm on board with this search.

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Famous Egypt building. Really????? *facepalm*

Good riddance you traitor cake. I kind of want an excuse to make one of these. Because LOL FOREVER.

Gandalf the Grey in Chamber of Secrets. Okay, you guys. I mentioned this in part 1, because apparently people have found my blog multiple times by searching this. Apparently there's a rumour that when Harry goes into Dumbledore's study at the end of Chamber of Secrets, and the camera pans around over all the portraits of past heads of Hogwarts, that one of them is Gandalf. WRONG. It's an old dude with a beard. So stop searching for pictures of this. Because it didn't happen. Mmmmkay??

So. What weird Google searches have you had recently??

K xx

Yeah, no...

So from time to time, I come across a truly spectacular movie that I feel the need to share with you guys pretty much immediately, rather than waiting for Monday to roll around. The last time this happened was waaaaaaay back here. This morning, I came across another one.

The Spanish Film Festival is on in Melbourne at the moment, and one of my uni peeps was desperate to go. And so this morning - at stupid o'clock for a Saturday - we went to see El Capitan Trueno y el Santo Grial, or Captain Thunder and the Holy Grail.

Here, watch the trailer.


Doesn't look that bad, right? Filled with action, and kind of funny? Yeah, no. It was... It was like Prince of Persia, Hocus Pocus, Princess Bride, Doctor Who and Eurovision had a baby. It's apparently based on a series of Spanish comic books from the 1950s, which kind of explains a lot. Let me see if I can try and give you an overview of the plot without my head exploding...

So. Captain Hammer Thunder is a twelfth century Crusader in the Holy Land. He attacks a fortress to save his...sidekicks? Minions??...and in doing so rescues a bunch of Christian prisoners. One of them recognises a scar on his neck, gives him the holy grail, and tells him to take it to Spain and give it to the mystical knights who protect it. Thunder's all "Uh huh, whatevs".

"Tell me the secret to life, Magic Cup?" Also, source.

He then rescues(?) a Viking princess named Sigrid, who seems to be doing pretty well at rescuing herself. #selfrescuingprincessFTW The prince of the fortress sees the scar on Thunder's neck (which is a pentacle with a lightning bolt through the middle of it. Take THAT, Harry Potter!), and is all "*gasp* He's the one who'll save us all!", and lets him escape.

Back at the crusader camp, King Richard (of Spain?!) tells Captain Hammer Thunder that he's being sent back to Spain to investigate a mysterious plague thing, and that as an added extra to this, he needs to take Princess Sigrid home. In order to this, he'll be accompanied by a company of six highly trained men from all over Christendom. They all have special skills with various weapons, and are entirely forgettable. Which is good, because they all end up dead. (Whoops, SPOILERS!)

Back in Spain, they find a bunch of people buried up to their necks, making a nice little path of heads sticking out of the ground. Turns out one is still alive. They rescue him and cart him back to his village, where he tells them that there are bad people from England living in a castle in the mountains, effectively using all the peasants as slaves and that there's no way out.

Captain Hammer Thunder and his band of merry men go ploughing into danger, only to have Captain Hammer Thunder captured by a bonkers witch. She tortures him, trying to find out where the ruby from the holy grail is, because without it, they can't complete some kind of weird arse ritual during an eclipse. Oh, and the bad guy's name is Jonathan Black.

Pretty much exactly a scene, but with different actors and more midriffs. Also, source.

Blah blah, a wizard breaks Captain Hammer Thunder out, Viking Princess Girl nurses him back to health, and then gets herself kidnapped. The fortress prince from back in the Holy Land turns up, and is all "Hey, bro. Need some help with getting your lady friend back and killing the bad guy? I'm here for you." The witch gives her a mind control potion, and then makes her kill the wizard and Captain Hammer Thunder. She steals the ruby, and hightails it back to the castle where the potion wears off and she's all "ZOMG WHAT DID I DO?!?!?!"

Unbeknownst to her, all she's done is stab the book the wizard was carrying around, and give Captain Hammer Thunder an upper body workout as he has to pull himself back up the cliff she tried to throw him off. Everyone gears up, and they head off to storm the castle in sneaky ways.

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The witch and Jonathon Black conduct a creepy ritual designed to bring Satan back to earth (I think?), which makes a pentagram appear on the moon when it passes in front of the sun, causing a beam of light to fire down into the holy grail (I think this was about the point where Doug and I lost our shit and started giggling hysterically). Captain Hammer Thunder turns up in the nick of time, unchains Viking Princess Girl (who kills the witch), and saves the holy grail from evil Jonathan Black, who gets eaten by a giant worm beast thing that comes up out of the ground.

What the Doctor said. Source

Then Captain Hammer Thunder, his sidekicks, and Viking Princess Girl fly off to Scandinavia in a steampunk looking hot air balloon, as Thunder and Viking Princess Girl do some face nomming and the words "To be continued" appear across the screen.

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Um. Let's look at a list of problems I had with this:
1. THE ACTING. Oh my God, was it terrible. ESPECIALLY from Viking Princess Girl.
2. Captain Thunder was like a cross between Captain Hammer (you may have picked up on that already...), Kelso from That 70s Show, and Kevin Sorbo as Hercules. He's meant to be this big, brave hero dude, but he just gave off the impression of being thick as a block of concrete.
3. Crispin, one of the sidekicks, sports a peroxide job worthy of Paris Hilton.
4. The other sidekick, Goliath, is basically the troll in the dungeon from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He just wanders around the place, eating and bashing people on the head with a club.
5. Good Lord, Viking Princess Girl, PUT YOUR BOOBS AWAY. I guess the comic book artists are really the ones responsible for this, but seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd hadn't had any feeling left in her boobs by the end of filming, thanks to her uber-corset. She also seemed to be channelling Angelina Jolie at this year's Oscars, as she had a hip-high slit in her dress, and kept sticking her leg out of it as often as possible.

Boobs Legsly, someone is challenging you.
Also, source.

6. The underground beastie. It's hinted at numerous times, including within the first five minutes, which are set in the Holy Land. But WHAT IS IT? WHY IS IT? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.
7. There seem to be a lot of animals from Central and South America involved - big ass pythons, chameleons etc. Nearly 300 years before the Americas were discovered. Uh, SURE.
8. The song that played over the end credits was truly worthy of Eurovision. I don't remember the exact lyrics (well, what the subtitles said the lyrics were, anyway), but they were HILARIOUSLY AWFUL.
9. Evil Witch Lady had three skank bot minions who danced around her, "helping" with spells. But in reality, they were just an excuse to dress some girls up in black leather with their midriffs showing. And they pretty much reminded me of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Also, Evil Witch Lady had this thing on her chin that looked like a goatee. So that was weird.
10. It was an epic cheese fest.
11. This one isn't really a problem, so much as the fact that 90% of the Spanish I've heard spoken is Latin American Spanish. So whenever they said gracias as "grathiath" or generally any word with an S sound in it, I sniggered. Lisping is funny, yo.

And of course, when I got home, I checked it out on IMDB to find that it has a whopping 3.3/10 rating. At least we're students and we got cheap tickets? 

So. Have you seen any truly terrible films recently (foreign or otherwise!)???

K xx

The Parasol Protectorate

It's been a while since I wrote about books, and considering I'm now spending four days a week sitting in classes about librarianship, I figured I should change that. One of the plus sides to going to uni in the city is the 40-ish minute tram trip. Because a 40-ish minute tram trip means 80-ish minutes of reading time a day. #YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS When I was in undergrad, I used to do my reading for class on the bus. But that was in the days when readings were supplied in paper format. Plus, the tram is much noisier and busier than the bus was, so academic reading on the tram is definitely not a great idea.

I've read five books since last Monday, and am - according to Goodreads - 58% of the way through a sixth. Four of these books were part of The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, which you should all go and read.

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I borrowed the first book in the series, Soulless, from the library in late January and absolutely adored it. But in typical fashion, my library didn't have book 2 (They seem to do this bizarre thing where they buy every book in a series EXCEPT book 2). So I went onto Book Depository, where the books were $8 each for the first four, and $6 to preorder the last, which was released last week. Uh, SCORE.

Anyway, the books arrived and I proceeded to read them back to back. And I'm now I'm stuck desperately wishing that there were more than five books in the series. Thankfully, it's been left open for a spin off in the future.

The books are based in Victorian London, but a London where vampires, werewolves and ghosts are common. They're hugely witty and filled with wonderful characters. So basically, if you want to read something that's kind of a cross between Charles Dickens and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a dose of steampunk thrown in for good measure, you should go and check out the Parasol Protectorate. Because they're brilliant.

Oh, and Gina has done fantasy casts of the first two books here and here, if you're curious. I hope like hell they turn them into movies some day, because THAT WOULD BE AMAZING.

K xx

PS. Sorry this isn't particularly exciting. I've had blogger's block for the past few days and just wanted to write SOMETHING in the hopes of pushing through it! Fingers crossed that's the end of it...