King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Coraline


author: Neil Gaiman



pages: 162


first line: Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.



rated: 5 out of 5 stars





I have finally read a Neil Gaiman book. Wow!

I kept hearing great things about this book and about Neil Gaiman. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.

Okay, let me say, I loved this book. I began reading one evening, and finished it that same night. I literally couldn't put this book down and was sad to see it end.




It was entertaining, magical, and very creepy.


Little Coraline lives with her parents both of whom don't pay much attention to her because they are too busy. Coraline is on break from school as is always looking for something fun to do. She wonderes what's behind the locked door in the drawing room, and her when her mother opens the door, it opens to a brick wall. One day when Coraline's mother is out shopping, Coraline opens the door. This time a passageway mysteriously appears. She walks through and finds an apartment same as her own, only oddly different.

There she finds her "other" parents, creepy people with big buttons for eyes.

'It sounded like her mother. Coraline went into the kitchen, where the voice had come from. A woman stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline. She looked a little like Coraline's mother. Only...

Only her skin was white as paper.'

Once Coraline leaves this alternate world, she comes back through the door and into her own apartment to find her real parents missing. She knows the 'other mother' must have taken them and she needs to go back through the door and bring them home. All throughout the story she faces terrifying creatures and scary situations and keeps telling herself she is not afraid.

'Coraline took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness, where strange voices whispered and distant winds howled. She became certain that there was something in the dark behind her: something very old and very slow. Her heart beat so hard and so loudly she was scared it would burst out of her chest. She closed her eyes against the dark.'

Another very creepy thing about this book is the illustrations.

Images show up every once in a while throughout the book, and this is the kind of book that really hooks you, so I was really into reading, then an unexpected image like this would show up:






This book was cute and creepy all mixed up together. You can't help but like Coraline and hope she makes it out ok.





'Coraline' is being made into a film, due in theaters February of 2009.

click here for details on the film

Dakota Fanning is Coraline (voice) &
Teri Hatcher as Coraline's Mother/Other Mother


here is a sneak preview:








this read was part of the following reading challenges:

once upon a time

triple 8


twisted fairy tales


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this book has also been reviewed by:

dewey

finding wonderland

1 more chapter

nymeth

Here's a few books I am looking forward to reading soon:




Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

Coming May 20, 2008!! *yes!* can't wait to get my hands on the next Odd Thomas book. The books in this series are wonderful, and I'm very curious to see where the next book goes. Odd Thomas is such a likeable character.

The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas's gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world--not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas.



http://www.oddthomas.tv/

The Host
by Stephenie Meyer available May 6


I am a big fan of Stephenie Meyer since reading her "Twilight" series.

I'm running to the bookstore for this one next week...it sounds great! I've been wanting to read a good sci-fi novel.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.


Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer available August 2!!

Oh my goodness...*taking a deep breath*.....must calm down....sooo excited for this one!

I'm a big fan of the Twilight series, I fell in love with Edward right away and cannot wait for the next installment. I predict losing sleep at night while staying up late reading this one.

Twilight tempted the imagination. New Moon made readers thirsty for more. Eclipse turned the saga into a worldwide phenomenon. And now, the book that everyone has been waiting for...


Breaking Dawn, the final book in the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga, will take your breath away.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

any books you are looking forward to reading?

Oskar Schindler was born in Svitavy, Moravia, in Austria-Hungary, (now the Czech Republic) on this day in 1908.

A member of the Nazi party, in 1939 he took ownership of a Jewish owned factory in Kraków, Poland. He became friendly with many high ranking SS officers, and made a pile of money by using cheap (virtually free) Jewish labour. After a 1942 round-up of ghetto Jews for transport to the concentration camp at Płaszów, Schindler was appalled by the death of many of his workers. He then became an advocate for those Jews who worked for him, doing all he could to protect them from deportation/death.

Schindler saved 1,200 Jews from sure death and today there are more than 6,000 dependants of "Schindlerjews." As one article stated it, "Oscar Schindler rose to the highest level of humanity."

Schindler's story was told in the 1993 Steven Spielberg film Schindler's List.

Below is the letter written in 1945 by Oscar Schindler’s former workers.

"Brothers!
We, the undersigned Jews from Krakow, inmates of Plaszow concentration camp, have, since 1942, worked in Director Schindler’s business. Since Schindler took over management of the business, it was his exclusive goal to protect us from resettlement, which would have meant our ultimate liquidation. During the entire period in which we worked for Director Schindler he did everything possible to save the lives of the greatest possible number of Jews, in spite of the tremendous difficulties; especially during a time when receiving Jewish workers caused great difficulties with the authorities. Director Schindler took care of our sustenance, and as a result, during the whole period of our employment by him there was not a single case of unnatural death. All in all he employed more than 1,000 Jews in Krakow. As the Russian frontline approached and it became necessary to transfer us to a different concentration camp, Director Schindler relocated his business to Bruennlitz near Zwittau.

There were huge difficulties connected with the implementation of Director Schindler’s business, and he took great pains to introduce this plan. The fact that he attained permission to create a camp, in which not only women and men, but also families could stay together, is unique within the territory of the Reich. Special mention must be given to the fact that our resettlement to Bruennlitz was carried out by way of a list of names, put together in Krakow and approved by the Central Administration of all concentration camps in Oranienburg (a unique case). After the men had been interned in Gross-Rosen concentration camp for no more than a couple of days and the women for 3 weeks in Auschwitz concentration camp, we may claim with assertiveness that with our arrival in Bruennlitz we owe our lives solely to the efforts of Director Schindler and his humane treatment of his workers. Director Schindler took care of the improvement of our living standards by providing us with extra food and clothing. No money was spared and his one and only goal was the humanistic ideal of saving our lives from inevitable death.

It is only thanks to the ceaseless efforts and interventions of Director Schindler with the authorities in question, that we stayed in Bruennlitz, in spite of the existing danger, as, with the approaching frontline we would all have been moved away by the leaders of the camp, which would have meant our ultimate end. This we declare today, on this day of the declaration of the end of the war, as we await our official liberation and the opportunity to return to our destroyed families and homes. Here we are, a gathering of 1100 people, 800 men and 300 women.

All Jewish workers, that were inmates in the Gross-Rosen and Auschwitz concentration camps respectively declare wholeheartedly their gratitude towards Director Schindler, and we herewith state that it is exclusively due to his efforts, that we were permitted to witness this moment, the end of the war.

Concerning Director Schindler's treatment of the Jews, one event that took place during our internment in Bruennlitz in January of this year which deserves special mention was coincidentally a transport of Jewish inmates, that had been evacuated from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Goleschow outpost, and ended up near us. This transport consisted exclusively of more than 100 sick people from a hospital which had been cleared during the liquidation of the camp. These people reached us frozen and almost unable to carry on living after having wandered for weeks. No other camp was willing to accept this transport and it was Director Schindler alone who personally took care of these people, while giving them shelter on his factory premises; even though there was not the slightest chance of them ever being employed. He gave considerable sums out of his own private funds, to enable their recovery as quick as possible. He organized medical aid and established a special hospital room for those people who were bedridden. It was only because of his personal care that it was possible to save 80 of these people from their inevitable death and to restore them to life.

We sincerely plead with you to help Director Schindler in any way possible, and especially to enable him to establish a new life, because of all he did for us both in Krakow and in Bruennlitz he sacrificed his entire fortune.

Bruennlitz, May 8, 1945."

Oskar Schindler had a tough go of things after the war, passing away in October 1974 at the age of 66. His many pot-war ventures failed, and he was supported throughout his remaining days by Jewish organizations.

May he rest in peace.

Schindlerlinks

Oscar Schindler.com
Oscar Schindler.net
Jewish Virtual Library
Wilkopedia
Schindler's List

Well, I'm very happy to have joined The Sunday Salon. This is my first post.

This week I read:



It's a short, good old fashioned mystery set in Maine of course.

title: The Colorado Kid

author: Stephen King

pages: 178

genre: mystery

rated: 3 out of 5






On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. There’s no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues, and it’s more than a year before the man is identified.


And that’s just the beginning of the mystery. Because the more they learn about the man and the baffling circumstances of his death, the less they understand. Was it an impossible crime? Or something stranger still...?


Stephanie McCann arrives at 'Moose-Lookit Island' to do an internship on the island's paper 'The Weekly Islander'. She works for Dave and Vince, they write for the paper and are good friends. They tell Stephanie about 'The Colorado Kid', one of the islands old unsolved mysteries.



'For a woman a man will do many things that he'd turn his back on in an instant when alone; things he'd back away from nine times out of ten, even when drunk and with a bunch of his friends egging him on. Johnny said the closer he got to that many lying in the sand-only lying there with his knees up, like he was sitting in an invisible chair-the more sure he was that those closed eyes were going to open and the man was going to make a snatch at him.'



This was a quick read, it was ok. Kind of reminds me of Agatha Christie stories. A 'who done it?' type of story.



I like the afterword S.K. writes:

'...before I leave you, I ask you to consider the fact that we live in a web of mystery, and have simply gotten so used to the fact that we have crossed out the word and replaced it with one we like better, that one being reality. Where do we come from? Where were we before we were here? Don't know. Where are we going? Don't know."

What are your favorite mystery books? Authors? Do share...

I like visiting other bloggers and chatting books! Leave me a message, and I'll return the visit :)


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Another thing I did this week was take the kiddies to the zoo.
It was lots of fun, great weather and we got to see some cool stuff.

*yuck* these are giant cockroaches...a.k.a. my worst nightmare... from someplace in Central America.






this nasty...I mean 'cute' lizard took a liking to my kids and was 'high-fiving' them from the glass.







somebody doesn't look so happy:






enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

Weekly Geeks #1


It’s the very first Weekly Geeks theme!

This week is Discover New Blogs Week!



five blogs I've never visited before:

1. Page After Page: a fun blog, and she likes reading challenges...don't we all? :)

2.Reader Rabbit: visit this interesting blog, and read her great reviews.

3.Bookworms and Tea Lovers: I'm a bookworm, and I love tea...so it's only natural to visit this pretty blog.

4.Sprite: very pretty blog, and she's a knitter.

5.Valentina: visit valentina's room and read her wonderful reviews.

Wild Nights! Wild Nights!

Were I with thee,

Wild Nights should be

Our luxury!



Futile the winds

To a heart in port, --

Done with the compass,

Done with the chart!



Rowing in Eden!

Ah! the sea!

Might I but moor

To-night in Thee!

-Emily Dickinson



beautiful artwork by j.wall

The nutty stories from the fluffy world of celebrities.

Trouble on the James Bond "Quantum of Solace set. In the last movie, Daniel Craig's first as the British spy, the one car chase lasts all of ten seconds before rolling. It appears the Craig/Bond hasn't improved as a driver. This week saw two crashes on the set, the last one sending a stunt man to hospital. The first accident saw an Aston Martin DBS, the only one available for shooting, into Lake Garda in Northern Italy last Saturday.

Doesn't "high-class call girl" imply a level of class anymore?



Since I started doing the Saturday Fluffernutter, this may be my favourite quote. Rupert Grint, who plays Harry Potter's sidekick Ron Weasly, was allegedly discussing moving to Los Angeles, and decided he didn't really want to as he would end up bumping into people like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan:

"I haven’t met Paris and don’t want to either. She and Lindsay are the type of girls you need to stay away from. I met Lindsay last summer and she talked about herself a lot. She said she was going to win an Oscar before she turns 25. I just kept thinking, ‘But you can’t act’."

The pity of the thing is, it appears to not be true:

In response to articles published this week, Rupert Grint wishes it to be known that he has never met Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton and has not nor would he make any negative comment about them as has been stated. He has also never made any negative comment about Los Angeles. He will be taking action against those parties spreading these falsehoods.

He may hit like Mays and run like Hayes, but actor Wesley Snipes pays taxes like s*%t. He was sentenced to three years prison this week for failing to file a tax return between 1999 and 2001. Judge William Terrell Hodges gave snipes the maximum sentence saying it was important to create a deterrent.

Somehow I fail to see how society is better off with Wesley Snipes sitting in prison.

If you have ever picked up a nylon string guitar, slapped it on your riased left knee and tried to sort out the difference between apoyando and tirando, you have probably used an Aaron Shearer book: His instructional books "Classic Guitar Technique" are the most widely used in the past 40 years. Shearer, was director of the guitar program at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory and North Carolina School of the Arts. His former students include some of the finest guitarists in the world today, including Manuel Barrueco, David Tanenbaum, and David Starobin. This past Monday Aaron Shearer passed away, aged 88.

It is being reported tonight that 65% of Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) members have rejected the contract reached last weekend between the TTC and their union. The TTC will, surprisingly shut down operations at midnight tonight: anybody who went into Toronto for the night will be be out of luck for getting home after midnight:

"We have assessed the situation and decided that we will not expose our members to the dangers of assaults from angry and irrational members of the public," said Bob Kinnear, ATU Local 113 President.

The big issue seems to be that maintenance staff did not receive the infamous highest paid in the GTA clause that front line TTC staff received.

Question for Bob Kinnear: who is going to protect the public from the irrational members of your union?

*************

UPDATE: A "visibly angered' David Miller, mayor of Toronto, called the strike "unacceptable and irresponsible." He asked Bob Kinnear to give 48 hours notice but was refused. Miller has already talked to Premier Dalton McGuinty about back to work legislation, and is now "reconsidering his opposition to the idea of having the province declare the TTC an essential service, like police or firefighters, to take away the union's right to strike permanently."

As I suggested earlier, it sounds as though many people got caught downtown, with rumours of the strike circulating in the club district, and others arriving at locked subway stations after their night out.

If Pine Beetles were ruining Ontario's forests, dooming Canada's Kyoto efforts and releasing "five times the annual emissions from all the cars, trucks, trains and planes in Canada," we'd just ban the little buggers.

Problem solved!

Hey, B.C. give Dalton a call, I'm sure he's got extra copies of the paperwork all ready to go.

title: The Secret Scroll

author: Ronald Cutler


pages: 337


genre: Fiction/Action Adventure



first sentence: Josh Cohan was feeling spiritually heightened.



rated: 4 out of 5 stars









'The Secret Scroll' is a book I received for review from publicist Lisa Roe.







Archaeologist Josh Cohan has recurring dreams about finding a cave in Israel and a secret within. After having some trouble at work over being given proper credit for a discovery he made, Josh decides to branch out on his own and goes to Jersualem in search of the cave and the secret. He does find the cave, goes inside and finds a jar, containing a scroll. The writing on the scroll is in Aramaic, thought to be the language of Christ.



'I am Yehoshua ben Yosef. In the next two weeks, I will meet my fate. I write this scroll so you will know the truth of who I am and what I preach and believe. I am a prophet with visions of the future and I will write this scroll to prevent my worst fear-that my teachings will be forgotten or worse, that I will be misinterpreted and my message subverted by the teller of lies.

I taught in parables, but even my closest companions had trouble understanding thier true meaning. I write now in a way that the simplest of men and women may understand, yet will touch the hearts of even the brightest minds.

I was born in Nazareth in Galilee during the last year of the reign of Herod the Great.'


Josh believes this scroll to be written by Christ. He takes photos of the scroll then calls the IAA (Israel Antiquities Authority) to report his find. He comes in contact with a man who works at the IAA, Moshe, and from there they begin to try to date the scroll and see if it is authentic. Josh also meets Moshe's daughter, a fellow archaeologist, Danielle.



'He felt an urge to loop his arm in hers. Where was this coming from? Though his heart told him he could trust her, his head told him to stay on guard....Yet he didn't want to stay on guard with Danielle. Every instinct suggested that he cherish this moment, rejoice in her prescence, bathe himself in her light.'




Josh tells no one else about the scroll, but soon after, his room is ransacked and he receives a threatening phone call, the caller demands the scroll. Josh knows his life is in danger over his find. Moshe gives him a bodyguard named Dov, and they learn Josh is also being followed wherever he goes. When Danielle goes missing and Josh's good friend is found murdered, Josh knows this is a life threatening situation, he doesn't know who he can trust.



He learns of a religious cult named the 'Guardians'. This cult claims to be the only true Christians, according to them, everyone else is wrong. And they want the scroll, to destroy it.

Josh figures someone from the IAA is part of this cult, but he doesn't know who it is.



'Josh had asked himself many times over the past few days what he had brought into the world when he discovered the scroll. The consequences had already been more horrible than he could have imagined. But there was no doubt in Josh's mind that the scroll was real.'





This book was great, full of excitement. It is reminiscent of 'Da Vinci Code' and 'Indiana Jones'. You like Josh from the start and the book takes off right away.
It's definitely a page-turner, very entertaining. This is the kind of book that if done correctly, would be great on the big screen. It deals with religion and different peoples beliefs and is very well written.




'The existence of evil in the world can be attributed to mankind alone. As long as he wages war, man is a savage, for war is a savage act and is a blockade to enlightement. The day will come when there will be justice in this unjust world. When all people realize their potential, the impossible will happen.'

A small fuss is being raised in Paris as a photographic exhibit of "the only major collection of colour pictures taken during the 1940 to 1944 occupation of Paris." The pictures, by French photographer Andre Zucca, who worked for the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal, are of Parisians enjoying life in the French capital during the German occupation of Paris.

Controversy has been ongoing as many want the pictures banned. The Parisian government has ordered that city historians provide additional information on the images to visitors:

Visitors are now handed an information sheet, written in French, English and Spanish, explaining that Zucca "has opted for a vision that doesn't show -- or hardly shows -- the reality of occupation and its tragic aspects."

While on the subject of World War II and Nazi's, next Monday marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who is credited with saving the lives of almost 1,200 Jews during the German occupation of Poland, and the subject of the 1993 movie Schindler's List.

I think it would be a good weekend for a Steven Spielberg movie.

Well, I'm currently reading Dan Brown's "Angels & Demon's" & Ronald Cutler's "The Secret Scroll". Both of these novels have religious themes involved. Angel's & Demon's deals with religion & science and a vendetta against the Catholic Church. The Secret Scroll is about the discovery of an ancient piece of writing presumed to be written by Christ. I'm enjoying both books and will have reviews up soon.

After I'm done with these novels....I'll be wanting to read something a bit 'lighter'. Read on and let me know if you have any suggestions for my next reading selection....which I hope to be a fairy tale, preferably one with a bit of romance.







I recently watched Enchanted.

The movie begins in the animated world of Andalasia. Prince Edward and Giselle fall in love and plan to marry the following day.


Giselle is thrown out of her magic kingdom by a curse from her evil potential mother-in-law on her wedding day. She ends up in real-life New York City where Robert and his young daughter come to her aid. Throughout the film, Giselle spontaneously bursts into song and dance, and goes on and on about 'happily ever after'. All the while waiting for her Prince Charming, Edward to come and rescue her.





This movie has magic, humor, romance, an evil queen and a poison apple in it...all the makings for a great fairy tale.






This is one of the cutest movies I've ever seen, and I am a sucker for a good love story so of course I enjoyed this one.

Another thing I loved about the film was that it has so many other references to Disney movies in it. Like 'The Little Mermaid', 'Snow White' and 'Cinderella'.







So, I'm definitely in the mood to read a fairy tale type book...any suggestions?
I'm wanting to get started on the Once Upon a Time reading challenge.
I'm thinking Ella Enchanted and The Princess Bride for starters...does anyone know of any other good ones?