A Year of Mockumentaries? Err, I Mean Documentaries?

For years I’ve been padding my non-fiction reading lists with books from Zandria’s year end “This is what I read” list. (She reads non-fiction almost exclusively.) Non-fiction can be so hit or miss that it’s always nice to have someone you know and trust read one first and tell you what she thought. (She’s also been very nice and elaborated on some of your opinions on books via email so that I was sure I was getting what I thought I’d be getting.)

This year, she also posted a “This is what I watched” post full of documentaries. Ohhhh boy! One of my personal favorite things about having the ROKU has been watching the occasional documentary, just because I felt like it. Unfortunately, the girls tend to monopolize the ROKU on the weekends and I haven’t watched as many as I’d like. I also was never sure what I should watch — there are so darn many, after all.

I sat down on Sunday and added a ton of documentaries from her list to my Netflix queue and in the process added some more that she hadn’t watched but caught my eye.

I figured this would be a good way to force myself to work on JMP’s Christmas stocking — watch some documentaries and work on this thing at the same time. Win/win! So on Sunday, I picked a short one that I wasn’t sure TW would be interested in, since she was working in the bedroom but before a few minutes had passed, she wandered out to join me in watching. Prince J watched along for awhile too.

We watched “Between the Folds” — super interesting! The art, the history, the science of paper folding. (Oh, I actually watched this on Amazon Instant because Netflix was grouchy. Too many kids in the house watching other things on MY Netflix account, probably, lol.)

Then, because we enjoyed that so much, we moved over to Netflix and watched Vegucated. A vegan in NY recruited (via Craigslist) three people to go vegan. Pretty much what you’d expect. They watched videos about animal farming/meat production, wandered into a farm and saw things they didn’t want to see, struggled with friends/family who don’t understand the vegan thing, missed cheese (mmm cheese) and they all lost weight, improved cholesterol and blood pressure — as expected.

While we were watching these, alienbody was watching documentaries from Zan’s list too, heh. (Zandria is becoming a legend!) Alienbody coined the phrase “mockumentary” and oh how I look forward to mocking some documentaries this year. It’s gonna be funnnnnnnn. And interesting.

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Cleaning House

One of my favorite book blogs is… books I done read. I’m giggling just typing that. Totally not your average book blog. (Go look, it’s fine. I can wait.)

Anytime I see a book (that I haven’t read) reviewed there, I feel the urge to read it. Doesn’t matter whether she liked the book or not. I want to read it simply because of the post on this blog. Hell, when she writes about books I have read, I want to read them again. Every. Single. Time.

So, it won’t surprise you that I had to read Cleaning House: One Woman’s 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement after seeing the post about it on books i done read.

That’s one hell of a title, isn’t it?

And, here’s where I just say go over to books i done read and read what she says because that’s pretty much what I have to say, too. I don’t do animated gifts so you’re really better off going over there and laughing your way through her review. Really. Go on. It’s fine. It’s also fun.

The entitlement – it is huge. And, it’s a problem. Even when your kids do know how to mow the lawn or clean the bathroom or get jobs when they’re teenagers…

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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The Last Dragonslayer

Jasper Fforde! For Kids! The Last Dragonslayer is listed on the Cybils (and at the library) as YA but it seemed a little young to me. Not that older teens won’t like it, I think some would – but I can think of a lot more 10 year olds who would really get into it than I can 17 year olds.

Jennifer Strange is a great character. Tiger Prawns is also excellent. I loved the Quarkbeast (and it looks like the next book is Quarkbeast related, so yay!). I’d like to get to know more of the magician people in future books.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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The Woman Who Died A Lot

I really loved the first few Thursday Next books  and then they got a little old, possibly because I also read the Nursery Crimes books, which I didn’t like nearly as much as Thursday Next and it all just ended up being a little too much Fforde-fun for me. But, I did keep reading the Thursday Next books – just not as quickly as I had in those early days.

When I noticed Fforde had a kids fantasy novel, I knew I’d be reading that and when I went to reserve it, I noticed the new Thursday Next: The Woman Who Died A Lot, and figured what the heck. I’ll get it and at the very least it will be another book to keep TW reading (there are not enough books in the entire Book World to keep her in books. She probably needs to head to the DRM…. which will make no sense unless you read The Woman Who Died A Lot.)

Anyway, I read it and I’m glad. It was the best Thursday Next book since… I don’t know since when. The Well of Lost Plots? The fake Thursday thing did get a little old (ok a lot old) and I hope to goodness we’ve seen the end of that (except the next book will probably rif off of the very last duplicate Thursday… last that we know about. Sigh. But it will be ok because it just will. Trust me. )  

I’m not sure I like what happens to Tuesday in this book. Or what happens to her for the rest of her life. This is where I get annoyed with Fforde, just in general. His characters live with crappy people and put up with it, like that’s how it should be. The bad relationships are get easy laughs, except I never really laugh.  Oops. I’d better stop analyzing it or I’ll find myself liking this book less than I did before I sat down to type this.

Let’s leave it at… best book in the series in a very long time and I do have hope for the next book. DRM and DoDos… at least I hope that’s what Thursday finds…. Next.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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Two Great Things That Work Great Together

I love Evernote. I use it every single day. On my laptop and on my iPhone. I don’t know how I’d survive without my Evernote.

I love Moleskine. I never use them. It’s a sentimental thing. Who needs Moleskines when you have blogs and Facebook and Twitter and every other possible content creation platform under the sun. I still love Moleskine, though.

TW gave me the Moleskine for Evernote for Christmas. Yay!

But what in the heck was I going to DO with it?

So it sat here on my desk, right next to my computer — unwrapped but not unloved.

When I needed to write notes during a meeting, I used an old notebook. When I needed to tally up some numbers, I used an old notebook. None of those things are right for my Moleskine for Evernote.

Hmm, hmm, hmmm.

Then, around noon today, I was feeling unreasonably grouchy about some stuff and an idea for a blog post popped into my head. But, this was not something I could actually BLOG about. (I know. You’re shocked that there might be something I wouldn’t say online.)

I told my work peoples that I was grouchy and taking a lunch break (not to eat lunch, of course) and ripped open my Moleskine, (not without angst, which I did Tweet/Chatter) and started to write (not without input from Skeeter who is not used to seeing me with a pen and paper in my hand.)

The Moleskine for Evernote is really kind of perfect for what I wrote about. It stemmed some other ideas and it was fun to write something big and important in my notebook.

Then, I had to figure out how to send it to Evernote. It helps to watch the getting started video because I was totally clueless and just took a photo, which I can do with any piece of paper. After about three attempts, I figured it out.

And it is really VERY, very cool.

I kind of wish I had something else big, and important to write about. But I don’t, not right now. I’m sure I will, though. I’m feeling all inspired and happy with myself.

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Packing Tape: How Much Is Too Much?

When I mail a box, I tend to use a lot of packing tape. I use some strips, all the way across the spot where the two flaps meet. Then, depending on how that looks, I probably add a couple more strips in the middle of each flap — all the way across the box.

Then, I will quite often print the to/from addresses on a half sheet of white printer paper, lay that down on the proper spot on the box, and use long strips of tape to tape it down. End to end or side to side, depending on the box itself.

I’ll pop a couple of strips of tape on the bottom of the box and call it done.

I used to think that was a lot of tape — until I started getting packages from The Fake Husband and Sassymonkey.

I’m guessing it’s The Fake Husband who is doing the packing of the packages but I don’t really know that for sure. Just a hunch.

Those wacky Canadians (or whichever wacky Canadian is packing those boxes) use a helluva lot of tape on their boxes.

The first time I really noticed it was when they sent me the Kotex machine. I figured the huge amount of tape was related to the weight of the box. More tape on a heavy box to help keep it all together and safe.

But no. It wasn’t the weight of the machine. I’ve received several more boxes from The Fake Husband and Sassymonkey and pretty much all of them have been LOADED with tape. So much tape that I can’t even get a steak knife through the tape on the first pass. I’ve got to SAW through the layers of tape. And I can’t just saw through in one place, I’ve got to saw through the tape in several places or the box WILL NOT OPEN.

It’s a fascinating thing to see and I wish I’d thought to take some photos or pictures when the last heavily taped box arrived. It would have been extra fun to watch Skeeter Bess watch me try to get the damn tape off of the box. She was fascinated and tried to help, without much success.

Which should tell you something.

If Skeeter Bess cannot get a box open… yea, that’s a lot of tape.

How do you tape up a box to ship? How much tape do you use?

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Post-Holiday Blues

It’s not me who has them. Not really. It’s the dog.

She doesn’t like it when we both work all day. She wants us both in the bedroom, preferably without our computers (most of the time), reading books — giving her belly rubs — giving her treats — just available to pay attention to her, should she choose to want it.

It’s bloody hard to get work done when you have a 45lb dog tugging on your sleeve while you type. Or barking at you when you’re at your desk because she wants you in the bedroom with her (and with TW.)

The first work day of 2013 has been… difficult. To say the least.

Tomorrow will be better, won’t it?

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Reading Challenges for 2013

It’s that time again, and I’m looking forward to some fun reading this year. I’m also looking forward (and thinking positively) about doing really well on the challenges I’m setting for myself.

First, of course, I’ll read the books on the Cybils Shortlist. I’ve just seen the list and am having a love/hate reaction to the list as a whole. Let’s see what happens when I start reading…

Next, I’m going to get back to the Nancy Drew Challenge. I swear!

I’m also going to read more from my own stacks this year. My goal is twelve (not added in 2013…) I really need to do this.

I’m going to play with the Book to Movie Challenge because we never watch movies and it would be fun to see some books brought to the big screen. Right? (I could use recommendations for this one!)

Some non-reading but book related challenges I’m also working on are:
– I’m going to start using GoodReads. Or try to. (Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.)
– I really want to get back in the habit of reviewing my reading every month. (Mostly because it helps me at the end of the year with my tallies but also because I think it helps me keep on track with my challenges. Wish me luck, again.)
– I’m going to donate $1 for every book I read, to charity — but which charity? If you’ve got suggestions, share them! I have all year to decide…

And that’s it. Happy reading in 2013 to you all.

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Cybils 2012 Shortlist (Challenge)

It’s that time again. Time for the Cybils Shortlist and time for me to start reading all of the books on the shortlist. (I’m not going to guarantee review of the apps, this year. But, if I do happen to download any of them, I will blog about them.)

Here’s the list (I’ve already read two, from the YA Fiction list.):

Easy Readers/Early Chapters
A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse (Toon)
Bink and Gollie, Two for One
Penny and Her Doll
Penny and Her Song
Pinch and Dash Make Soup (Pinch & Dash)
Ivy and Bean Make the Rules (Book 9)
Marty McGuire Digs Worms!
Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover
Sadie and Ratz
Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot

Fantasy and Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
Beswitched
Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities
The Cabinet of Earths
The False Prince: Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy
The Last Dragonslayer (The Chronicles of Kazam)
The One and Only Ivan
The Peculiar

Fantasy and Science Fiction (YA)
And All the Stars
Every Day
Planesrunner (Everness, Book One)
Seraphina
The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories
The Drowned Cities
Vessel

Fiction Picture Books
Black Dog
Chloe and the Lion
Creepy Carrots
Extra Yarn
A Home for Bird
Infinity and Me
One Special Day

Graphic Novels
Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller (Center for Cartoon Studies Presents)
Giants Beware!
Hilda and the Midnight Giant
Little White Duck: A Childhood in China (Single Titles)
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!
Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White
Drama
Friends with Boys
Ichiro
Marathon

Middle Grade Fiction
Almost Home
Chomp
Fourmile
Liar & Spy
The Adventures of Beanboy
The Lions of Little Rock
Wonder

Non-Fiction (YA and Middle Grade)
Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War
Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World
Titanic: Voices From the Disaster

Non-Fiction (Picture Books)
Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade
Dolphin Baby!
Eggs 1, 2, 3: Who Will the Babies Be?
Island: A Story of the Galapagos
Looking at Lincoln
Mrs. Harkness and the Panda
Nic Bishop Snakes

Poetry
BookSpeak! Poems About Books
In the Sea
Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs
Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses
National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings
Water Sings Blue

YA Fiction
Boy21
Code Name Verity (already read this one)
Endangered
I Hunt Killers (already read this one)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
The Storyteller
The Theory of Everything

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Libriomancer

I ran into the library really quickly a couple of weeks ago, to return almost late books and pick up some holds that had been waiting for me for ages. TW had also complained that she was running out of books to read so I made a quick run through the new releases stacks. One of the books I grabbed was Libriomancer – books,  librarians and magic, first in a series, seemed like it could be a winner.

 

It’s definitely a winner. I can’t wait for the next book. (Also a great book to finish 2012.)

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