Check this Series Out!

© 2011 DheTemplate.com & Main Blogger.

So a lot of big things are in the works, both for the blog and for me personally. Check back later for news about the blog!! As for me, first of all I’ve decided to be an English major in college. My world felt at peace right after I came to that conclusion, and I am thankful that I am not worrying about what I will do with my degree after I graduate. Also, I love English. So it works and I am happy with my decision. Secondly I am enrolling in school which means that I won’t have nearly as much free time. Unfortunately this means my writing may be put on hold, but in the greater scheme of things it will all work out. So in the meantime my post will be about books that I have found. They could be current reads like this week, books that I want to read, or books that I really didn’t care for. I often find myself looking for good suggestions, and I’d like to be the source that our readers turn to.

Greywalker Series

As of late I have been reading a series of books written by Kat Richardson. She’s a very interesting woman, and I like the world she’s created. The series is about a private investigator named Harper Blaine who died, but miraculously lived and gained the ability to see ghosts and supernatural beings. She gains access to a whole different world which is known as The Grey.  Being able to interact with ghosts widens her client base for investigating, and her new ability leads her to meet some new friends. The series is based around her adventures and journey coping with her new ability. To find out more check out the books!

1.   Greywalker 

2.  Poltergeist 

3. Underground

4..Vanished 

5.  Labyrinth

6. Downpour

You can check out the author’s page by following the links below!

http://katrichardson.com/?page_id=114

http://katrichardson.com/?page_id=5

Happy Reading!

Terra

Review

Lately I have found myself with a new addiction. The addiction is being absorbed with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, both the book and the movie. The whole thing started last Tuesday when I went to see the movie in theaters. Yes, I went to see the movie before I read the book, and I believe I have very sound reasons for doing so. Since I had not read the book, I was able to watch the movie and judge whether I liked it on its own. I did not spend the whole two hours and forty minutes comparing the movie to the book, and obsessing over the things that the movie didn’t include. Nor was I mad because the characters looked different from my mental image I created while reading the book. If you’ve never tried watching a movie and then reading the novel it is based off of, I would suggest you try it. You could find that both the movie and the book are enjoyable that way. So this post is a response on my opinions  of the book and the movie, together.

In my opinion filmmakers did a wonderful job on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The story line was easy to catch on to, and quickly caught my attention.  The movie also held my attention, which is a very important quality to me. The mystery was well thought out, and I was able to keep guessing how it would be solved until close to the end. Another quality that appeals to me, I get tired of mysteries that are easy to figure out. The feel of the movie was a cold kind of suspense (I suspect that the cold environment depicted in the movie had a lot to do with the cold feeling for me). The movie had some scenes that were very graphic and when I looked up the rating at home I wasn’t surprised that the film was rated “R”.  If you haven’t read the book I strongly suggest looking up the rating, so that you know what you are getting into. If you have read the book, then you know what to expect.

The novel The Girl with the Dragon tattoo was a different experience from the movie. It was a much longer experience for me since the book has 644 pages. I admit that at times the book seemed to drag on or be a little too descriptive, but I was able to complete it in six days with a work schedule. The book had a lot more for me to think about. It gave very detailed descriptions of each character and allowed me to get inside the characters’ minds better than the movie. While reading the book I was able to set aside what I knew and get wrapped up in the story line. This book was a compelling book for me, and  when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it and wishing I were reading it. My favorite character in the story is Lisbeth Salander. I like that she is unique and in a few ways I was able to relate to the way that she thinks. I would recommend this book because it is a really good suspenseful mystery.

So there it is. I really enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I feel confident that many of our readers would as well. If you have read the book prior to reading this post, comment and let me know what you thought of it. If you’ve seen the movie, I would love to get comments telling me how it was for our readers. Until next time…

Terra

~Edited by Quinton

Comic Reviews: Static Shock

Konnichiwa!

SO I would like to thank Terra for her awesome post yesterday! It made my day :) It was a great birthday and tonight I will be offering a great gift for you guys; The first ever Comic Book Review for the blog!!! Here are the categories: Artwork, Plot, and Character Development. A combination of the categories will be used to determine an overall score based on the 5 point system. Today I'll only be doing Static, then Spider-man on Saturday and Teen Titans and justice League on Sunday. So shall we get things started?

Static Shock #1

Marketed as DC's version of Spider-man, will Static finally reach ceiling that he's capable of?

Virgil Hawkins, the superhero otherwise known as Static Shock, is one of the many heroes that DC Comics acquired from Milestone years ago. Unfortunately, Static is the character they have done the most with, yet the best attention he has recieved was a modest role in the Teen Titans. Luckily, DC realized this and gave him his own place in the new 52 reboot. Now it's going to take a little while before Static can ttruly get off to the races, but a solid beginning is instrumental to the series success.

Now for starters, they have messed around with Static's origins and location from the old days. Virgil and his family have left Dakota City to go to The Big Apple and even has gained an extra sister. However, many things have remained the same for the series. The plot is currently playing it safe, basically just setting key pieces up for the next issue, which seems to be setting up for an epic battle between Static and the Slate gang. The biggest issue though is that writers Scott McDaniel and John Rozum have immediately dumped to the side the issues that Static brought to life during his brief stint with Milestone. Topics like racial problems, homophobia, inside look at gang violence in lesser valued states, and so on and so forth. This being said, McDaniel and Rozum have kept my interest.

Now as for character development Static is the only character to get enough limelight to be accurately judged at the moment, and shows hid trademark wittiness, vast intelligence in combat, and inability to win the public despite saving their lives multiple times. This also sounds similar to a certain marvel wall-crawler we all know. Wells Static has been doing this for quite sometime and has a completely different flare to his own predicament, he is growing closer and closer to other characters when he needs to be seperating himself from the crowd. 

Lastly, the artwork in this issue left much to be desired. McDaniel did a fantastic job when action took over the scenes, but afterwards got very lazy. Background images lose definition when not the scenery to action, characters show very little emotional contrast outside our hero, and the females all share the same smiling expression. Overall, the series was thought to be DC Comics answer to Spider-man, but Rozum and McDaniel need to stay away from copying the hero and focus and making something we have never seen before like Milestone was doing.

Artwork: 3/5

Plot: 3.5/5

Character Development: 4/5

Overall Score: 3/5

~APLIW~