Medeia Senka

Look at this.

2009-03-25T20:50:00.003-04:00

This my friends is Reason Number.... (uhm, well I don't actually know which number I've gotten to but be assured it is quite high) Why I Want to Live in the UK. I have a very short list of things that I get ridiculously fangirl-y about and Chris Wooding is hanging out near the top with Death Cab for Cutie. Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay comes out in JUNE.

Fangirlishly screaming,

Medeia

P.S. I would gladly sell my soul for an ARC...so if you happened to get your hands on one...

is speechless

2009-03-07T08:36:00.002-05:00

Cry of the Icemark and Blade of Fire were speechless-making, it's true. The ohmygodthisissofreakinAMAZINGhowhaveIlivedwithoutthis? kind of speechless. So I wasn't planning on reviewing The Last Battle of the Icemark because this is one of those series that you just expect to be 100% made of awesome. So I got through the first chapter... and was disconcerted....and then I read the second... and the third... and it was AWFUL. This is legitimately terrible. After a while I just put it down (as one would a rabid kitten) and moved my mouth but no words came out. All I can say is: WHAT HAPPENED?!

oh dear...

2009-03-03T15:32:00.004-05:00

I've decided that in order to do everything I need to do, I'm going to start lurking around the library during my free time (hah, free time... that's a good one) and kill-- I mean, wait patiently for a free spot in the computer room.

I logged into blogger for the first time in a forever and saw that there are many many posts for me to read and so if I don't right at this second (13 minutes until they'll yell at me to start shelving some books) I will at some point.

On another (completely random) note, there are a lot of series that need to die. Like, they were great when there were, oh, say 3 books (or even in some cases, a single novel) and now it's just kind of *yawn* "What, there's a new {insert series name here} book out? Really? I'll probably mean to read that, get halfway through, decide it's really not as good as the first and leave it on that conveniently placed table for Q weeks until the library calls and asks why I'm holding it hostage."

Only bringing this up because the other day (which was... three weeks ago...) Aella and I trekked to the bookstore... okay no. We trekked to the movie theater to see Coraline and just happened to stop in at the bookstore. The movie was GREAT... the failbat displays in the store, not so much. I mean come on! Twilight on one side and Eragon on the other... ugh...*hunts for matches*. And also, we found an entire floor-to-ceiling shrine to the Goddesses of Agressive Vapidity... who I'm sure are vampires... since everyone else seems to be these days. Even in the CAFE we couldn't escape the vampire-ness.

*Aella and I wait in line for scrumptious looking Reeses cookies*
Woman at nearby table: "No no. Robert's not a vampire... he just doesn't like the sun..."
*We glance at each other, knowing that we both heard the same thing, and burst into gales of laughter*
*Woman gives us a strange look*

We really need to go there more often. P'raps help them out with some of their display choices *mischievous smile*

Don't expect much from me for a while

2009-02-18T17:12:00.004-05:00

My computer, faithful (if frustrating) piece of technology, has handed in its resignation letter. Turns out, it didn't like when I tried to run Word, Photoshop, iTunes, and the internet all at the same time. I mistakenly thought that it made the "I'm chewing on screwdrivers" noise because it was happy ...like a cat purring.

~Medeia

Dilemma

2009-02-08T00:14:00.003-05:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you know something from somewhere but you don't know what it is?

Wow, I'm articulate. NOT.

It's kind of like when you're watching a movie and you see an actor and you're like "Oh, what movie do I know him from?" That sort of thing happens to me a lot (and I've gotten really good at the name-another-character-played-by-that-actor-whose-name-I-don't-know game). Today for example.

We just got in a copy of The Fetch by.... *lacks Aella's uncanny ability to name the author of any book she's ever read* .... you know, the one that wrote A Certain Slant of Light... ugh. Fine. *Googles* Laura Whitcomb, that's it. And I know I've read a book which mentions fetches before. I've been google-ing and wikipedia-ing for about an hour now, trying to find out what it is.

I think it could be from:

- one of the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan (but not really, I'm pretty sure those are Fades....)
- Foundling by... that guy... who draws and writes.... *sighs and googles* D. M. Cornish. But it's probably just one of those technical terms that abound in that book and isn't really what I'm talking about at all.

So if anyone knows of any books with Fetches in them, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd share. And also, I'll probably read The Fetch and review it because it looks interesting. I hope it's not like a Certain Slant of Light which I liked in the beginning but then didn't at the end.

Something I love

2009-01-21T18:46:00.004-05:00

is when there's a book, and it's great (maybe even amazing), but then you read something else and finally get one of the parallels that were totally invisible before.

So we're reading Frankenstein in my english class and I'm finally getting more out of Storm Thief. I loved the book before, but now it's like there's a whole 'nother level that I never even noticed. I was spacing out about it through the entire class just thinking "that's so COOL". And I finally read the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and understand the significance of the Vago's seagull necklace.

Also, Frankenstein is pretty fantastic. I freakin' love British lit.

~Medeia

And the bookmoviefail CONTINUES

2009-01-18T16:38:00.005-05:00

Oh you thought it was over. That we wouldn't get together again and watch yet ANOTHER horribleawful book movie. Well you were wrong. *evil/insane laughter ensues* What is it this time? The Golden Compass!!

So first off, daemons. I never realized just how many animals would be terribly awkward to have as a daemon. Most animals actually. Having a flamingo? Or a giraffe? Or a spider?! What if someone stepped on it? That would be the WORST. Imagine it, people would just be dying all over the place because they steppped on an ant or something that was someone's daemon. And don't they find it weird that it's all "OHMYGOD that boy doesn't have a daemon!!" but in every scene with the witches, you don't see a single one and it's totally normal.

Also, we noticed that there was a slight imbalance in the budget for this movie. They spent a ton on the gorgeous three-second scenery shots but then remembered that they had to pay for actors... enter Dakota Blue Richards. And I love how they completely screwed up the ending. Everything was shuffled around so I kept getting confused. And then at the end Roger definitely isn't dead and they fly off into the sunset. *headdesk*

Off to watch the Neverending Story 2 (which I believe Aella will post about on her blog soon),

Medeia

PS My favorite part from the book actually made it into the movie. I was incredibly happy.

Epic bookmoviefailcakes

2009-01-02T17:30:00.005-05:00

Scary, isn't it?

I stayed at Aella's for New Year's Eve... and New Year's Day... and most of the day after that, actually... aanyways, on January 1st, 2009 (still getting used to the whole '09 thing):

Me: *is on computer... blogging or something*
Aella: "Oooh, I know what we should do!" *pulls out Stormbreaker DVD*
Me: "Isn't that....as in...--"
Aella: "The Alex Rider series, yes"
Me: "Hmmm..." *looks at cover...* "Okay"
[note: Alex Pettyfer is on the cover.]

Unsurprisingly, there were some (well, quite a few) moments where Aella and I just had to say, with puzzled expressions, "What?" and pause and rewind to see it again. We also did it because some of those fight scenes look incredibly funny (and awkward) backwards.

Some of those moments:

Ian Rider's car (super spy BMW) has a license plate with R1D3R on it. Yeah sure, Agent 00Fail, I'm sure no one will notice that it's your last name.
Alex Rider teleporting back to get his bike and then chasing down a creepy white van. During the chase, every cliche thing you can do with a bike (like sliding under things all dramatic-like) happens. And then once he gets to the junkyard where they've taken his uncle's things (including his BMW) he crouches behind his bike as though it's going to hide him from the scary junkyard workers as he follows the van.
The junkyard workers ambush him and they're all scary men with shaved heads wiping old car parts with rags. Every single one.
Alan Blunt (see above picture) randomly, suddenly, and disturbingly popping up when you least expect it and making weird dramatic hand gestures.
Alex is inside the Stormbreaker computer (when they don't know he's a secret agent or anything, mind you) and strikes up a random conversation with a scary Swedish woman. "My father was murdered, and I'm going to find out who killed him" She responds, "Not today you won't."

And this isn't even all of it. If you ever have nothing to do and just want to laugh at the awfulness of a movie, watch Stormbreaker. It just takes it past awful and into hilarious. Especially because Alex Pettyfer only got the role for his looks, not his acting ability.

Hugging her copy of The Dark Knight,

Medeia

In other, other news:

2008-12-21T17:06:00.003-05:00

It's really really ridiculously snowy. If I had a nickel for every snowflake that fell in my eyes today... wait, that would hurt... and in nickels that wouldn't actually amount to much.
This week I've been having a Jim Carrey movie marathon. He's just sooooo funny.
I bought the fedora de awesome that we're going to put everyone's name in when the Fiercely Fawesome First Contest ends. *cough*youshouldenterifyouhaventalready*cough*
Psht. Jacob? Please. I've resold my soul to Thaniel Fox.... and Seth... and Shevraeth... and Drizzt... I should just stop here. *sobs and wishes they were real... and points out that they pwn Jacob*
Malice comes out in 2009! *shrieks fangirlishly, realizing that she's probably the only one who cares*

Speaking of which, what books of 2009 are earning your fangirlish shrieks? Or, you know, not... if you're the type that doesn't shriek... Aella, I know you must be looking forward to Envy and Death by Denim *winkwink*.

And I know Little Brother and Hero-Type are on the top of my list, but what were your favorite novels of 2008?

~Medeia~

I wanted to paper-cut myself with it until I BLED TO DEATH

2008-12-19T20:09:00.006-05:00

So, Aella called me up the other day.

Aella: "Medeeeeeeeeiiiiiaaaaa. We got a book in the mail today and I don't have time to read it.... soooooo...."

Me: "Sure sure, I've got this one. What book is it?"

Aella: "Uhm, it's the fifth book in that Vampire Kisses series. [note: Here is where my natural mistrust of all vampire books kicked in. And also note the fact that it is the FIFTH book]"

Me: *looooooong sigh* "Does that mean I have to read the whole series first?"

Aella: "Well you don't have to."

Me: *thinking: it'sgoingtobeawfulit'sgoingtobeawfulit'sgoingtobeawful* "Okaaaaay"

And so the next day, at the library, I checked all of the books in that series out. I got home and started reading the first, Vampire Kisses.

W O R S T E V E R

The main character's this "Gothic"chick (yes, every time an instance where the word goth could be used, "Gothic" with a capital G is used) who is an outcast and no one understaaaands her *insert whiney teen stereotype here*. And this "Gothic girl" (not even Goth Girl, so I could be reminded of the awesome book by Barry Lyga) lives in "Dullsville" with her mother and father (former hippies) and her younger brother, "Nerd Boy". And somehow, though everyone hates her, the head jock keeps wanting to drag her off for make-out sessions. Oh what is poor Raven (named after the Poe poem, of course) to do?

Meet a "sexy Gothic guy", a "knight of night", a "Gothic Dream Mate" who also happens to be a vampire, evidently. And not only am I quoting from the book word for word, but everything in quotes is used a million times (the phrase "totally out of this world!" is used twice. On the same page.) Oh the redundancy.

And the best part? It was the wrong series. *slightly crazed giggle* Hehehe, there go several hours of my life I'll never get back.

Moral of the story: If you value your sanity, don't go near Vampire Kisses with a ten-foot cattle prod. Though, it is pretty hilarious. I was laughing at the awfulness when I didn't want to beat myself over the head with it.

Pulling Crown Duel, the Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, and Wicked Lovely off her bookshelves in the hopes that they will help her rehabilitate from the mental torture she has been subjected to,

Medeia

P.S. Aella: You. Owe. Me.

P.S.S. Oh and also, we don't have the series that I was supposed to be reading. Great.

P.S.S. No, I didn't make the second half of the post in a larger font on purpose. Blogger apparently loved Vampire Kisses and wants to punish me for slamming it. Well, you know what Blogger? *mutters stream of (thankfully) unintelligible suggestions*

aaaand we're back!

2008-12-06T15:41:00.003-05:00

So, we've been gone from the good ol' Mael for a while now, and coming back has instilled me with a sense of nostalgia, but seems to have instilled in others a sense of frustration. One question we've been asked since we came back was from Cassandra who said in comments "eek! why do you guys keep switching blogs? *grumbles to self while changing bookmarks AGAIN* actually, that's a good question. why do you change blogs? isn't one just the same as the other? except, you know, the color scheme and stuff..." and I'm not sure if we've ever actually answered that question thoroughly. I mean, we know why we switched, but you might not.

We switched from the Maelstrom to Charybdis Reviewz because 1.) there were legal issues with us having the same name as a publishing company that impeded us from some of the things we plan on doing and 2.) because blogger was frustrating. It was hard to manipulate everything that we wanted and Wordpress offers some things that Blogger doesn't, like multiple pages for one blog (instead of multiple linked blogs) and more detailed statistics about which posts are popular, incoming links, etc.

We came back because 1.) the legal issues were cleared up and 2.) we just missed the Mael too much. We did enjoy our stay in the realm of Wordpress, but unlike on blogger, you have pay to change the HTML code and make other, more advanced, changes in the layout and this was something we had not anticipated. I'm not saying that Blogger is better than Wordpress or anything, only that the format of Blogger is better suited to our tastes.

Again, we apologize for switching blogs, but we do also hope that the opportunity to win some fawesome prizes makes up for any inconvenience.

As You Can Plainly See...

2008-08-08T00:05:00.004-04:00

I've deleted everything irrelevant. I'll continue to do Links to the Art (among other brand new exciting things) on Charybdis Reviewz.

~Medeia Senka~

Link to the Arts #2 - D. M. Cornish

2008-07-13T10:33:00.003-04:00

Yes, it is time again to delve into that strange and wondrous realm of the arts. This time I have chosen an illustrator of varied talents, for you see, D. M. Cornish illustrates his own books. You have heard of the Monster Blood Tattoo books, haven't you? (note: if you have not, I implore you to plunder the first, Foundling, from ye olde library).

D. M. Cornish is the father of a fantastic world called the Half-Continent, which is where the various adventurings in Foundling and Lamplighter take place. It is a world filled with monstrous beasts and the monstrous individuals who hunt them. They are frequently portrayed throughout the books in a splendid style which suggests that the images have been taken from the sketchbook of an observer. The illustrations are vital to the novels because they contain so many unique creatures. Though the descriptions of said creatures are excellent and would suffice alone, the opportunity to peek at what the author imagines exactly is a rare treat which I find quite enjoyable.

An online portfolio of D.M. Cornish's can be found here: http://www.daviddraws.com/
It contains a few of the Half-Continent beings that we have read about so far in the book, as well as many whose future roles I can only guess at (the green-skinned archer intrigues me greatly).

Also, this author/illustrator is a fellow blogger *cheers and applause*. His blog can be found here : http://monsterbloodtattoo.blogspot.com/

From the Shadows,

Link to the Arts #1- Mark Tucker

2008-05-18T12:29:00.010-04:00

As a book reviewing site, we often (sometimes fangirlishly) applaud the various fantastic authors whose books we have the privilege of reading and reviewing. However, there are others that we never really acknowledge. We only mention their work in passing, though it is often their work that distinguishes one book from another on the long shelf of teen literature at the local bookstore. I am speaking of course, of the wonderful artists that create excellent and gorgeous covers for the books we all adore. As of late, I have been pondering this and come to a decision. When I see a particularly jump-out-and-grab-your-eyes-and-don't-let-go-until-the-work-has-been-shown-proper-respect kind of cover of a book that Aella or I review, I shall quest across the vast expanse that is the Internet and hopefully bring back some background and pictures of other works that that artist has brought into existence.

So for the first artist I have chosen Mark Tucker, the photographer for the US covers of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr.

Unfortunately, I could not get hold of Mr. Tucker to answer my questions (he's probably shooting another fawesome cover or something), but here's a little background info for you (note: The Wikipedia gods have granted me this knowledge)

"Mark Tucker is a commercial photographer based in Nashville, Tennesseewhose work has been featured in Communication Arts, Print, Photo Design, Photo Insider, and PhotoMarket magazines."

*sigh* Apparently he's one of those elusive types. Oh well, I suppose to make up for the lack of information I shall have to supply you with a link to all sorts of wonderful pictures. Mr. Tucker is really very talented and his work merits a look, I assure you.

Well, this was quite enjoyable. I shall to bring you another (hopefully more extensive) post like this as soon as my captors release me *glances shiftily at unfinished art project and half-written English paper*

From the Shadows,