King Arthur Movie Tristan

The inevitable just happened, Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis has been let go. This comes as no surprise and both parties knew this was coming. At such a storied program like ND you have to win, and Weis did not do that enough in South Bend.

title: Arabella

author: Georgette Heyer

published: 1949

pages: 312

genre: historical fiction/regency romance

first line: The schoolroom in the Parsonage at Heythram was not a large apartment, but on a bleak January day, in a household where the consumption of coals was a consideration, this was not felt by its occupants to be a disadvantage.

rated: 4 out of 5





Arabella Tallant is the eldest daughter of a humble vicar and his wife, and she is expected to marry well. She is sent to London to stay with her godmother in hopes of finding a suitable husband.
On her way to London, Arabella's carriage breaks down and she and her companion end up staying at the nearest home. It is the home of rich, eligible bachelor, Robert Beaumaris. Beaumaris is used to females trying to catch his attention, so he thinks that Arabella faked her carriage trouble in order to stay at his home and catch his eye. Arabella dislikes Beaumaris from the start, thinking he is conceited and arrogant. At dinner, while drinking wine and feeling a bit 'toasty', she decides to lie to him. She tells Beaumaris that she herself is rich and heir to the Tallant fortune and is going to London to escape all her would be suitors. Beaumaris believes her story and soon enough the whole town is buzzing with rumors about the new heiress.


When her godmother throws a ball, and Beaumaris shows up, the party is considered an instant success. Beaumaris is known for being a confirmed bachelor and a flirt, and he does gives Arabella his attention at the ball. Soon enough, she has many would be suitors after her as well as a few marriage proposals. These men think that if Beaumaris is after Arabella, she must be quite the catch. Beaumaris figures he'll just flirt with her, but Arabella is already onto him, she knows what he is up to and she decides to use his attentions to her advantage. She wants to stay one step ahead of him, and refuses to take him seriously or fall in love with him. When Beaumaris realizes that Arabella is smarter than he first took her for, he decides to really charm her and make her fall for him. Before they know it, what started out as just a game, turns into something more serious for these two.









I'm a fan of Georgette Heyer and found Arabella to be sweet, funny and entertaining.
The characters were great and the storyline was fun. I liked Arabella and Beaumaris's characters. It was cute how they flirted with each other, yet each played hard to get.




As always, I liked Heyer's style of writing, here's a few of my favorite passages.

They presented a charming picture, as they sat poring over thier book, thier dark ringlets intermingled, and thier arms around each other's waists. They were very plainly dressed, in gowns of blue kersemere, made high to the throat, and with long tight sleeves; and they wore no other ornaments than a knot or two of ribbons; but the Vicar's numerous offspring were all remarkable for thier good looks and had very little need of embellishment.

She now perceived that she had much mistaken the matter. No one she had ever seen approached the elegance of Mr. Beaumaris.

Lord Fleetwood, or any of his cronies, could have recognized the tailoring of that coat of olive-green superfine at a glance; Arabella, to whom the magic name of Weston was unknown, was merely aware of a garment so exquisitely cut that it presented all the appearance of having been moulded to its wearer's form. A very good form too, she noted, with approval. No need of buckram wadding, such as that Knaresborough tailor had inserted into Bertram's new coat, to fill out those shoulders! And how envious Bertram would have been of Mr. Beaumaris's fine legs, sheathed in tight pantaloons, with gleaming Hessian boots pulled over them!

It was impossible to fathom the intricacies of his mind, but one thing was certain; the great Mr. Beaumaris and the Vicar of Heythram's daughter could have nothing to do with one another, so that the less the Vicar's daughter thought about him the better it would be for her. One could not deny his adress, or his handsome face, but one could-and one did-dwell on the many imperfections of his character. He was demonstrably indolent, a spoilt darling of society, with no thought for anything but his fleeting pleasure: a heartless, heedless leader of fashion, given over to selfishness, and every other vice which Papa's daughter had been thought to think reprehensible.

Nothing he wore was designed to attract attention, but he made every other man in the room look either a trifle overdressed or a trifle shabby.

About the author:


http://www.georgette-heyer.com/

Author of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, who made the Regency period her own. Her first novel, The Black Moth, published in 1921, was written at the age of fifteen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.

Special thanks to Danielle over at Sourcebooks for sending me this book to read and review.

So, USC was up big late in the fourth and decided to kneel the ball. UCLA had other thoughts and decided to call a timeout. Bad idea...



RECAP COMING TOMORROW!!!

BCS BOWL BREAKDOWN COMING TOMORROW!!!

Happy Sunday Salon everyone. Wow, it's hard to believe November is nearly over! It all goes too fast.

It's been a slow reading month for me, I read 5 books in November. I had hoped to read more, but just really had no time for it.

I just finished reading Arabella by
Georgette Heyer. My review will be up tomorrow. I'm a fan of Heyer's and I enjoyed this one.





Next I'm reading Corrigans' Pool by Dot Ryan as part of her Pump Up Your Book Promotion tour for December.






We took the children to see Disney On Ice last week. It was a nice show. I'll leave you with some photos. Enjoy your Sunday everyone!




They did a fun Halloween theme, and Mickey was announcing some 'friends' were arriving...




Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas....




Then the Disney villains showed up.




Later on they did a Valentine theme and the Disney couples came out....

Ariel & Eric









How cute are they? My fav Disney movie is The Little Mermaid.







Cinderella & her Prince Charming




Belle & her Prince




They ended off the show with Mickey & Minnie on a sled surrounded by all the characters. It was really cute, and it was *snowing*.

I found a new challenge over @ Historical Tapestry that was too good to pass up.

Each fortnight you have to write a blog post about an historical fiction book of your choice (it might even be something you already read before), but it MUST be related to the letter of the week.




You have several possibilities:


- the first letter of the title

- the first letter of the author's first name or surname

- the first letter of a character's first name or surname

- the first letter of a place where an historical event took place

Now presenting the first letter of this challenge:





The book I am choosing for the letter A is The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.



Anne and Mary Boleyn are sisters and rivals in this fantastic book. I loved everything about The Other Boleyn Girl . It is one of my favorite reads. This book had a bit of everything in it, drama, backstabbing and romance. Once I began reading, I could not put it down. The relationship between these two sisters was really interesting, they had a love/hate relationship. You wonder how these two can even stand to be near each other, yet you also get the feeling they can never truly be apart.
Philippa Gregory's writing really takes you there, while reading I was totally emersed in this book. I love a book that can hold my attention like that.

You can see my full review here.

There was nothing I could do but take second place and smile. The king might bed me at night, but all the day he was Anne's. For the first time in all the long while that I had been his lover I felt like a whore indeed, and it was my own sister who shamed me.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for so many things, including your friendship. Enjoy your day, may it be full of family, friends, many blessings and happy memories.




Nature XXVII, Autumn



The morns are meeker than they were,



The nuts are getting brown;



The berry's cheek is plumper,



The rose is out of town.




The maple wears a gayer scarf,



The field a scarlet gown.



Lest I should be old-fashioned,



I'll put a trinket on.



~Emily Dickinson

Gone - flitted away,

Taken the stars from the night and the sun

From the day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart.

~Alfred Tennyson

art by john william godward

I'm always surfing the web looking for crazy hits, and I found another...

From this weeks OSU vs Michigan game...

Enjoy



Don't forget to check out the daily tweets Username: 2ndnShort....follow!!!

WILLOUGHBY’S RETURN by Jane Odiwe
—IN STORES NOVEMBER 2009


And the lucky winner is.......


Haleyknitz


Congratulations!




Thank you all for entering!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Here are three more stories that all seem like the could of happened....we might not ever know how Clausen got that black eye

Yea, you read that right. Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen was punched in the face this weekend at a bar, by a fan.

So the story goes, Clausen and family were out to eat after the Irish lost to UConn. The bar was called CJ's, and at this bar was a man who didn't really like Mr. Clausen. So he did the logical thing and punched the QB in the face. The punch is being called a sucker punch and Clausen has a swollen face.

This guy was also apparently yelling at Clausens GF or just some girl he was with, but were gonna say GF, classy guy.

Things are not looking good for Notre Dame right now...Weis is about to get fired...and their QB has a black eye...

Miles spoke after the game saying that he has no idea who told Jordan Jefferson to spike the ball aka lose the game. But in the video you can clearly see Miles signaling for the spike...oops

They should of run a play here, or kick a FG, but definitely not spike the ball..

If you missed any action, or just want to make sure you caught it all, check out the POD!!!

title: The Wildest Heart

author: Rosemary Rogers

genre: historical romance

pages: 739

published: 1974, republished sept. 2009

first line: Wild blood!

rated: 4 out of 5







Miss Rowena Dangerfield is raised in India by her grandfather. Her father Guy, brought her to India when she was just a baby. Rowena's mother, Fanny, divorces Guy and leaves to London. When she is 18, Rowena is sent to live in London with her mother, whom she is not close to and her stepfather. Once in London, Rowena's stepfather, Sir Edgar, takes advantage of Rowena and she winds up being his mistress.
Rowena winds up going to the New Mexico to claim the inheritance her father left for her. While there, she reads her fathers journal and realizes many things about the past and family rivalries. Among the many interesting characters in New Mexico is a man named Todd Shannon who is much older than her, but insists on marrying her. Todd's nephew Mark, falls in love with Rowena, but she doesn't share the same feelings for him. Rowena also meets a man named Lucas Cord, an outlaw with a sordid past.



This was a really good read. It's the kind of book you can really sink your teeth into. There's alot of plot twists and interesting characters. The story has plenty of drama, adventure and romance in it as well. I always enjoy a story that just keeps on going from page one. I like Rowena's character, she's smart and sassy. I like that she dresses herself 'down' when she first makes aqquaintances in order to get people to be thier true selves around her, instead of dressing flashy and getting the wrong kind of attention.




I can imagine this book being made into a mini-series.


The dialogue was great, several scenes reminded of the interaction between Rhett and Scarlett in Gone With the Wind. Here are a few of my favorites:

"It might benefit you to exercise some self-control occasionally," I said sharply, for her eyes had filled with tears of rage and frustration. "And to try to understand that other people, too, might have thier share of unhappiness and bitter memories locked inside them, even though they may not wear thier emotions on their sleeve!"

"You're the most conceited, arrogant man I've yet had the misfortune to encounter! If you think that I...."

"At least I don't play games, little girl. Ain't the type to go pussyfootin' around, wastin' time on long courtships. When I find what I want, I go out and get it."

He took me in his arms, ruthlessly holding me still in spite of my furious protests. "When are you gonna face up to facts, little gal? I want you. Have done even before I saw you all dolled up. You turned Mark down, didn't you? An' you've been needlin' me all evening. Better learn to pay up when your bluffs been called."


He bent his head to mine and I saw his thin, cruel lips curve in a smile of triumph. "We're two of a kind, and you know it," he said, before his lips claimed mine.

Special thanks to Danielle over at Sourcebooks for sending me this book to read and review.

The New Orleans Saints are 10-0, the longest string of victories in the history of the franchise. Even better, the Saints pounded the Buccaneers today 38-7 to get back in championship form while their biggest challenge of the season -- hell, their biggest challenge since playing the Bears in Chicago three seasons ago for the NFC championship -- looms on Monday Night Football after Thanksgiving against the Patriots.

To hell with Golden Boy and Vader's Chick and the Pattycakes. The Saints will stomp 'em on national TV like we did Dallas in 2006. Believe!

Up top Robert Meachem drags linebacker Geno Hayes into the end zone for a first quarter touchdown. Meachem scored twice today. In three seasons he had never scored more than one touchdown in a game as a Saint. But now he's helping us load up the arsenal.

Drew Brees was not sacked today. Here he gets rid of the ball in the second quarter.

Anyone else loving the fact Brees threw for less than 200 yards today but we still score 38 points? Last season, when he nearly broke Dan Marino's single season passing-yardage record, Brees would have to throw more than 400 yards to give us a chance to win. I'm digging the balance.

Hell, even David Thomas outshined jshox at the tight end position today.

Thomas had four receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown.

Not too shabby.

That touchdown catch for Thomas came when he was in the fullback position. That's what I saw in a highlight. I can't tell you how or where he caught other balls because the National Fascists League kept kept cutting streaming video of the game from the internets.

Jshox had two catches,

Pierre Thomas ran hard: 11 carries, 92 yards. 
Mike Bell ran hard: 13 carries, 75 yards, two TDs.

Reggie Bush and Lance Moore were out today. But New England, do you see how our weapons will destroy you?
We had, what, four cornerbacks out today? And the defense still smothered Tampa Bay. Here's Roman Harper and Leigh Torrence sacking quarterback Josh Freeman in the first half.

Hoo doggies, we're gonna be better on defense against the Pattycakes when tackle Sedrick Ellis and cornerback Jabari Greer get back in the lineup.

At the same time, here's a huge congratulations to rookie cornerback Malcolm Jenkins who stepped up big time in Greer's and Tracy Porter's absence. He had one interception and led the team with seven tackles. 





Brees is victorious again.

Here's a three-and-a-half minute highlight reel of the game set to some old skool Metallica.

And here's vlogumnist Deezzy with a different tune after last week.