Sci-fi movie fest! #RRSciFiMonth

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

Movie Freebie

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Given that November is Sci Fi Month (organised by Rinn Reads and Over the Effing Rainbow this is a fun event that celebrates sci fi) I’m going with science fiction movies and here are ten that I always enjoy:

1. Alien – I love this film.  It’s dark and downright scary.  I recall years ago watching a documentary about the making of the film and one story stood out to me – which was about the shooting of the ‘chest burster’ scene where the alien breaks out of Kane’s chest.  Apparently the other actors – although they knew that the alien would be, literally, bursting out, they weren’t aware of all the special effects in terms of the blood and viscera.  The scene was a one take effort and the stunned surprise that you witness was real as opposed to actual acting!  I think that’s a great story.  I have no idea if it’s true but the scene is brilliant!

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2. Star Wars – and I’m talking about the first film now (as I refuse to call it No4).  No funny story as such but a whole bunch of quotes – guess the character:

“You don’t need to see his identification … These aren’t the droids you’re looking for … He can go about his business … Move along.”

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

“Boring conversation anyway. Luke, we’re gonna have company!”

“Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”

“What a piece of junk!”

3. Jurassic Park.  I thought maybe a little bit of useless (or incredibly useful depending on your pov) info about the main star – the T-rex.  One of the largest built animatronics.  20 feet tall and weighing 17,500 pounds (which, wow!)  The roar was a combination of a baby elephant, tiger and alligator.  The breath was a whale’s blow and the sounds of the T-rex tearing apart a Gallimimus were created by recording a dog attacking a rope toy!

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4. Avatar.  Production originally began in 1994 and yet the film didn’t premiere until 2009!  This film may have cost A LOT to produce but it surely must be one of the most visually stunning pieces of work ever and here’s the original trailer if you want to have a gander:

avatar

5. Matrix – maybe not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved this and it certainly set the bar for action scenes with the invention of Bullet Time (not to mention a lot of spoofs)!  I love all the references in the film, e.g. Morpheus (Greek God of dreams).  But I particularly like the Alice in Wonderland reference.  ‘follow the white rabbit’.

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6. Terminator 2 – great film – and surely has some of the best quotes ever!  Well, you might not really ever have need of them but I like them – here are a few:

‘I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.’ 

‘Come with me if you want to live!’

‘Say… That’s a nice bike…’

‘Did you call *moi* a dipshit?’

7. 12 Monkeys – time travelling, post apocalyptic, neo noir – what’s not to love?  In fairness though, I didn’t love this the first time I saw it!  But then it just grew on me – like a mutated fungus!!!

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8. The Fifth Element – funnily enough this is another Bruce Willis film (see above) and was also another film that took a little while to grow on me (yet more fungus – just call me a truffle!).

Leeloo: Leeloo Dallas mul-ti-pass. 

Korben Dallas: Yeah. 

Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass. 

Korben Dallas: Yeah, multipass, she knows it's a multipass. Leeloo Dallas. This is my wife. 

Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass. 

Korben Dallas: We're newlyweds. Just met. You know how it is. We bumped  into each other, sparks happen... 

Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass. 

Korben Dallas: Yes, she knows it's a multipass. Anyway, we're in love.

And here:  ‘Big Bada Boom!’

9. Interstellar – I think this film is fantastic.  I definitely needed to watch it more than once though I will admit!  Very clever and some mind bending scenes!

interstellar

10.  Finally, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  The movie trailer (plus bonus points for spotting the Potter character):

https://youtu.be/f8D2NIGEJW8

 

Ode to bloggers..

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

Ten Books I’ve Read Because Of Another  Blogger

One of the beauties of blogging is the number of amazing books that I’ve picked up as a result of great recommendations.  This list barely scratches the surface of course – not to mention I can’t in fairness always remember who recommended a book.  Of course a lot of books I’ve stumbled on purely by good fortune (or dumb luck)  but here are a few examples of books that I probably would have overlooked (at least for a while):

  1. I am Legend by Richard Matheson – this is one of many titles that I came to read courtesy of Jenny at Wondrous Reads.
  2. The Troupe by Robert J Bennett – recommended to me by Andrea at The Little Red Reviewer – again, one of many titles that I’ve picked up from this excellent blog!
  3. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – I first read about this on Carl’s Stainless Steel Droppings blog – I can also credit Sanderson’s Way of Kings and Butcher’s Dresden files to my early exploration of this blog.
  4. The Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey.  To be honest I had already read Kushiel’s Dart but hadn’t continued with the series.  Thanks to Susan at Dab of Darkness and a number of readalongs involving a host of other bloggers I’m now in the process of reading my sixth book from this series (Kushiel’s Mercy).
  5. My favourite UF of the moment – the Toby Daye series by Seanan McGuire.  Currently reading book six as part of a readalong.  I wouldn’t have picked up this series without the readalongs organised by Lisa at Over The Effing Rainbow.
  6. Danya at Fine Print recommended to me Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews which was a rather sizzling first in series that I really look forward to continuing with!
  7. Mogsy at the Bibliosanctum first drew my attention to Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier which I loved.
  8. Lisa at Tenacious Reader recently wrote a review for Rae Carson’s Walk on Earth a Stranger.  Now, I had seen this around the blogosphere a number of times and I like the look of it already but this review I think really pushed me over the edge with this one.  I haven’t yet picked it up but it’s on the top of my list now.
  9. The next two are slightly different.  The Classics Club blog is a blog where people come together to talk about classic literature and to set themselves up with a list of books that they would like to way.  It’s a way of encouraging us all to pick up some of the older books that we might otherwise not get to.  I’ve read some good books so far – my last one was the very dark and spooky House of Usher by Poe.
  10. Finally, three different sci fi events hosted by Rinn Reads, Stainless Steel Droppings and Little Red Reviewer that have increased my sci reading enormously.  For example, I never would have read Flowers for Algernon or Fahrenheit 451 without these events and that would have been a crying shame.

And now, a little buffet of covers:

I love you, I love you not!

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed

I think this is a tough one and required a lot of thought.  Of course ‘feeling differently’ I suddenly realised doesn’t have to be a negative!  Anyway, for differing reasons here are my books – some that I think I would like more and some maybe not so much.

  1. The Hobbit by JRRTolkien – this was a school book and so I never really had good associations with it – until I reread it later on in life and was able to take in the detail and enjoy it more.
  2. The Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien – this is a book that I read years ago and really enjoyed it, I then reread it years later, after all three films, and loved it even more!
  3. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.  This is a book that I read after my own personal discovery of Neil Gaiman and before I really had a proper appreciation for Terry Pratchett.  As it is I feel I could probably reread this as at the time I didn’t really give it proper attention.
  4. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe – I read this when I was in my ‘romantic’ years.  I’m not sure I would enjoy this now, I did at the time because it had this gothic feel – I think I would probably find it a bit tedious now.
  5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – not my favourite Bronte novel to be honest as the two main protagonists are so selfish.  I sometimes wonder if I should give it another go though – just purely because I think my view on this was coloured by the film which isn’t quite as bleak.
  6. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs – this is the first of the Mercedes Thompson stories – and to be honest, though I love this series now – I didn’t enjoy the first book and in fact only kept reading because I bought all three at the same time and so was determined to finish.  I think it could be interesting to revisit this and see how I feel about it now given that I know Mercy a little better.
  7. The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine – I read this entire series out of sheer ‘I will not be beaten’ syndrome.  Would I particularly recommend them – not really.  That being said there’s nothing wrong with the series and I did have fun with it but these are very much YA books.
  8. The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks – I love this book, except the ending, which felt almost tacked on.  I quite often feel like I should go back and revisit it – maybe I just raced to the end in my eagerness to find out how things would conclude.
  9. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier – I’ve read this book a few times and I always love it – in fact I think each reading just makes me like it more.  I can’t pin down why it’s just one of my ‘go to’ books.
  10. The Twilight series  by Stephenie Meyer- this is a series that seems to take a lot of ‘beating’ nowadays.  In fairness, I read all the books and at the time I enjoyed them.  I can’t and won’t try to deny it and I was certainly swept up like a lot of others!  However, on reflection, would I still read them.  No. Probably not.  I think I would be annoyed with both main characters if I was to read this series now.  I can’t be sure of course but I don’t feel inclined to try.

Not at all bookish!

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Websites I Love That Aren’t About Books’

Wow – I found this one a toughie to be honest.  I don’t think I check out too many websites or blogs that aren’t book-centric but here are mine:

  1. Genkinahito – a great site mostly about movies that I’ve been following and enjoying for years: Taken from the about page: ‘I work in an art gallery but I love films, anime, gaming and Japan. I am also learning Japanese. I sometimes write for magazines and film festivals and other websites and I have been known to interview/talk to the odd director and actor’
  2. Carmen’s books and movies – although this does include some book reviews as well I really enjoy Carmen’s thoughts on films.
  3. @pabkins – on twitter and instagram.  Also a book review blog called Not Yet Read – but, I’m focusing here on the twitter and instagram.  All sorts of arts and crafts.  Lots of fun events.  Great personality and very talented.
  4. Bayou Quilts – a blog belonging to Jenclair – a very creative blogger with lots of ideas for arts and crafts
  5. imdb – i love movie sites!
  6. Rotten Tomatoes – ditto the above
  7. Wikipedia – just because I use it for all sorts!
  8. Any number of foodie websites – for example BBCGoodFood
  9. Amazon – and, yes, I know this is a source for books – but I use it for Prime which allows me to watch certain series – such as Outlander or Vikings – because, VIKINGS!
  10. This is a blank space for you to give me some ideas

Where are they now??

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Childhood Characters You’d Love To Revisit As Adults’

Now, it’s quite possible that some of these already have follow on novels – but I’ve either not read them or I’m not aware so here are mine for this week:

  1. Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – just what did happen to Alice?
  2. Harry, Hermione and Ron – I know that J K Rowling wrote them grown up with their own children – but I’d like to see maybe a few of the years in-between.
  3. Merry, Pippin and Sam from JRR Tolkien’s LotR – I mean, we know that Sam married his young lady from the Inn but what happened to Merry and Pippin.
  4. Nobody, Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book.  To be honest I really thought we might hear more about what happened to Bod.
  5. Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book.
  6. Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon – it would be interesting to read another tale from Christopher and gain a little more of his perspective.
  7. Melanie from the Girl With all the Gifts by M R Carey – I am curious.  Or maybe I just want to read more from this particular alternative world.
  8. Katsa from Kristin Cashore’s Graceline – I really enjoyed this world and the character of Katsa.
  9. Judith from All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry.  I loved this book and would gladly return.
  10. I have to go here – Kvothe, Patrick Rothfuss – yes, I so want to read more about what happens to Kvothe.  If any one wants to throw me a line and let me know when the third book will be out then please do so!

 

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