![]() (8) c (Jonathan Franzen: “A masterpiece of sorts.” Brunswick Laboratories, MA: ORAC Unit analysis, presented as bar chart) (7) d (This is against policy at Cimitière de Clarens.) (6) c (~bloods plotline disappear halfway through ~berries have 61 fewer ORAC units than açaí) (5) c (“A Cadillac-sized smile drove away with his face as if I’d just agreed to pay him ‘in cayash,’ as Dad would say, for a Sedona Beige Metallic Pontiac Grand Prix, fully loaded, two grand over sticker price, driving it off the lot right then and there.” “Stop the radicals! Join the antioxidant revolution!”) (12) _ “Post-BBC Office is anyone allowed to be named Gareth? Really? Really?” (11) _ “Maybe I don’t need this many antioxidants and/or self-indulgence.” (10) _ “I’m confused about what editors, like, do?” (9) _ Handy pronunciation key for difficult-to-pronounce words like “açaí” or “pessl” (8) _ Authoritative blurb raises questions about agenda of blurber (5) _ Contains metaphors that go down like a junebug having lion sex in a bourbon mood (4) _ It seemed sort of good in the beginning, but by the end I was like, “Blaahahhgajh. (3) _ If feeling extremely charitable, I might call it “frothy” (b) The bottle of açaí juice I bought for lunch ![]() ![]() Reviews of “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” and the Bottle of Açaí Juice I Bought for Lunch Cleverly Masked as SAT Test Questions ![]()
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![]() ![]() But as inventive as his stories are and as horrifying as I would find these tales had they been committed to film, they come off rather sterile in screentones. He’s created several works that have been lauded for their depiction of strange horror. ![]() Junji Ito is, so I read, considered to be a master of Japanese horror. To prevent confusion for American readers. These images have been reversed from their originals And Ito seemed the perfect guide if anyone was. Not so much because I like being frightened but simply because I love experiencing the expanding boundaries of what the medium is capable of. I hoped that his mind-bending work would bring me to see that the comics page could truly deliver terror. ![]() When I first approached Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, I hoped for my understanding of comics horror to undergo a dramatic shift. There seems little room for the supernatural to scare us from the immobile, two-dimensional page. Certainly a compelling story about the affects of war on a civilian population can horrify, but only because it is humanity who is the monster and not some lumbering creature of the imagination. Additionally, revulsion is increasingly difficult to elicit from static imagery-a gross drawing is merely that and draws forth none of that sense of fear or terror that aficionados of the genre tend to relish. Because the reader controls entirely the pace of a story’s execution, one of the primary tools of the horror genre is kept from authors in the comics medium. I’m skeptical of comics’ power to truly horrify using supernatural elements. ![]() ![]() ![]() Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey.With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family–and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself–while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. ![]() When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. After all, only brujas–humans who capture and control criaturas–consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family’s disapproval. The Cece Rios Series: Book 1 8.56 Hours 1 Format : Digital Download 4.99 or 1 Credit When a powerful desert spirit kidnaps her sister, Cece Rios must learn forbidden magic to get her back, in this own voices middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Storm Runner and Aru Shah and the End of Time. Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. When a powerful desert spirit kidnaps her sister, Cece Rios must learn forbidden magic to get her back, in this own voices middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Storm Runner and Aru Shah and the End of Time. ![]() ![]() ![]() Joseph’s coat was old and worn with patches overlapping patches all along the bottom. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat By Simms Taback ![]() The earthy tones mirrored the Scottish landscape, and, like tartans, could distinguish a particular estate or family based on the sheep providing the wool and the pattern. Tweed originated as a hand-woven fabric in Scotland. Instead most like to celebrate the natty, multi-hewed fabric embraced by professors and other fashionable folk world-wide. (“Boss”) Tweed, it’s not clear why commemorating that date would be desirable-expect perhaps as a timely cautionary tale. While Apwas the birthday of notoriously corrupt politician William M. Today is one of those holidays that is up to interpretation. ![]() ![]() When evil once again begins to stalk Arkadia, Connor is suddenly on a timeline to find his missing mate before a maniac kills the one person to give him the solace he desperately craves. ![]() The only problem is that the man he truly is, isn't what Arkadia knows him to be. When Madison dismisses him easily he knows he will have to take drastic measures for his mate to see the man he is. ![]() With his mind burdened with the terrible images of the killer's aftermath, he's not looking to find his mate. Will she let perception cloud her judgment to the point where she may lose her mate? Connor Arkadion is on the brink of exhaustion, helping to track a serial killer. No matter how downright sexy the man is, she has trouble seeing beyond his apron. Upon moving to Arkadia, Madison Claybourne, a high-powered New York lawyer, discovers that she is mated to the diner's busboy. ![]() ![]() ![]() But here’s the thing: Until I was in my sixties, I thought they had it right. What’s more, we can prove it from Scripture. But if it is not true, if they have gone beyond what is written, then dear folks, there will be serious consequences. ![]() If that is true, they have nothing to fear from Jehovah God. Of course, Witness leaders contend that they are merely doing what God has told them to do in his Word, the Bible. It has brought reproach on the name of the very God Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to represent. The shunning policy of Jehovah’s Witnesses is widely criticized as a violation of human rights and freedom of worship. If you haven’t seen that video, I’ll put a link to it at the end of this video. I had to take a breather from writing this series to address the truly outrageous claim made in a Morning Worship video on JW.org that listening to the voice of the Governing Body is like listening to the voice of Jesus Christ that submitting to the Governing Body was tantamount to submitting to Jesus. This is now the second video in this series on the shunning policies and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses. ![]() ![]() ![]() During the bombings and its aftermath, Hettie does all that she can to save her elephant, and survive the destruction and escalating sectarian unrest of the city. ![]() On April 15th, 1941, Belfast is attacked for five hours, with 674 bombs falling, and almost a thousand civilians being killed. At the same time, Hettie continues to experience the grief related to the recent loss of her beloved older sister, Anna, and the abandonment of her father, Thomas, who left her mother, Rose. Soon, she becomes Violet's dedicated zookeeper at the Bellevue Zoo. In October 1940, Hettie meets Violet, a three-year-old Asian elephant arriving at the Belfast docks from Ceylon. Through the lens of the Bellevue Zoo and one of its zookeepers, twenty-year-old Hettie Quin, the novel animates how the war irrevocably impacted-and shaped the lives of Belfast's citizens in broad and intimate ways. Summary "The Elephant of Belfast chronicles a seven-month period of time when the Germans unexpectedly bombed Belfast, Northern Ireland, also known as the Belfast Blitz. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He meets all sorts of people throughout the series including a vampire ex-terrorist/all female team who he works with from time to time. The main character, "Joe Ledger" is a cop recruited by the "DMS" (Department of Military Science). He had branched out into the Spec-Ops/Shadowy world of spies fighting terrorists or "James Bond" type villains with world altering objectives. Once I finished the entire series, I read about Jonathan Maberry in a forum, he's generally a horror writer (vampires, werewolves, zombies). I went on to "Bob Lee Swagger" novels next, then on to the author who should be the inspiration for all other authors in the spy/thriller/action/black-ops genre, the late Vince Flynn (he is greatly missed)! Vince Flynn writes about "Mitch Rapp" as most of you know. I'm not necessarily Tom Clancy fan but rather a "John Clark" fan. I prefer the present day /near future to past or far future (alien beings and space ships). I ran out of "Joe Ledger", "Mitch Rapp", "Court Gentry" and "John Clark" novels. ![]() Excellent multi genre story with plenty of action! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But Samuelsson’s career of chasing flavors had only just begun-in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs, and, most important, the opening of Red Rooster in Harlem. Yes, Chef chronicles Samuelsson’s journey, from his grandmother’s kitchen to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. ![]() It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. “One of the great culinary stories of our time.”-Dwight Garner, The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Written in a poetic yet factual style, Jekyll and Hyde depicts the horrifying violence of which man’s inner evil is capable when unleashed. ![]() The book gained international acclaim both for the excitement that the suspenseful tale offers and the moral message it contains it was even used in sermons of the day. Published in 1886, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde begins as an amateur detective novel but ends as a powerful critic on the dangers of repressing aspects of one’s personality. While you may not possess a mysterious potion that allows you to transform into another identity, most people compartmentalize aspects of their personality to some degree and must battle against their darker urges. In Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson presents a story both fantastical and familiar. ![]() |