I just noticed, again, that it's so much more fun to write a review about a bad book than a good book ...what does this say about my character? Or good books? Or reviews? Or, you know, life the universe and everything?

Also on the fun side - someone took a picture of me at a fashion week event I attended with a friend!!
You've probably seen the dressed up sideshow that is the audience at these events and in jeans, a button down with cut off sleeves and another button down around the waist you're planning to use as a jacket on the way home you just don't look the part. And I'm really really bad at recognizing z-list celebrities (you know, the "he was on X-factor two years ago" or "she's the ex-ex-girlfriend of ... " type ...)


*Marco has finally watched Tron Legacy and finally gets my "I'm only watching this for the soundtrack" thing.

I just had a conversation at the public bookshelves with a lady of about 70, in which I tried to explain the concept of steampunk. Although I have read quite a bit of steampunk I find it really hard to come up with a proper definition ... and the fact that steampunk is a lot about visuals doesn' help either when talking about written words.

Talking about free books - I got 8 today. I said I wouldn't get more than 3 because that's how many I donated, but I have no self control at all. I'm like one of these people at an all you can eat buffet who will pile as much food as possible on their plates. But at least my habit is better for my health.

how can I be expected to stick to my six books rule when you donate books with hilarious titles like this one to the public bookshelves?



This sounds like really cracky fanfiction, doesn't it? :D
Can't wait ...

In case you're owning a cinema in Germany and wonder why no one is showing up ... here's one of many reasons why:

I was just ordering Sherlock on play.com and came across an ad for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. This will be out on the 30th, which is BEFORE German cinemas even bother showing it. Now ... I want to see it, Marco wants to see it, my mum wants to see it, my grandparents want to see it ... doing the maths, I get a pretty steelbook edition plus popcorn and drinks for the money we would otherwise spend on tickets and we won't have trouble finding a showing of an undubbed version either.

Now I'm off to the public bookshelves. I have packed six books I want to donate, so the plan is to not return with more than six books, excluding books I already own (if I find a pretty edition of a book I already own in a less pretty edition I exchange them and take the less pretty edition back ... so this doesn't really count as a new book). It probably won't work, because it never works and because I can't resist the lure of a free book, but I'll try ;-)

Here's something weird ... I got the "Girl with the dragon tattoo" soundtrack (because! Trent Reznor!) and before that I had no intentions to watch the movie ... I read the book, I saw the Swedish movie, I don't like to support Hollywood's lack or original ideas ...

But now I'm wondering how the music will work in the movie and I might end up watching it after all. There aren't a lot of movies I'm looking forward to anyway (see comment above, the one about the lack of original ideas ...). We're going to watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie on Saturday though. I can't quite take it seriously (as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, that is) but it will be fun. Talking about fun .. fun fact - whoever translated the movie title to German turned "A game of shadows" into "Game in the shadows" ... apparently, language skills are not required for the job.

Also, I have yet another YA literature burnout. I started quite a few books and then decided that none of them is worth my time. With authors trying to rewrite Twilight for the xth time this can hardly be blamed on me though, can it? I need to rearrange my "to read" pile and put everything with a female main character, supernatural elements and relationships in geometrical shapes to the very bottom.

For some odd reason I am not tired of my LJ header yet, but I did get an autumn themed one for my DW.

I ordered a book like 3 weeks ago from buecher.de and despite having like 100 unread books I'm still annoyed that it hasn't been delivered yet. Guess there is a reason why I usually order from Amazon after all. I didn't this time because I had a voucher and I can't resist a free book calling my name ...

I finished True Blood after all and it wasn't that bad ... I painted bottles and branches for Halloween though, while I was watching. Maybe that helped. But I have to say, Jessica has almost reached a Sophie-Anne hotness level in that Red Riding Hood costume. Yummy!

Also, I watched Fright Night. 2D. Ha! Pretty old school let's-kill-a-vampire movie, but it has David Tennant in tight leather. Also very yummy!

Now, on to watching Warehouse 13.

This is my third attempt at writing something about Torchwood and I have just decided that I can't be bothered. It wasn't bad enough to rant (although the whole blood thing made no sense at all) and it wasn't good enough to praise it and it wasn't shocking or anything either. It just was and now it's over. And that's that. Kind of like this summer.


Reading: Spies and Zombies ... not together though. But now that I'm think about it, it's actually not such a bad idea. Has a "Cowboys and Aliens" ring to it, doesn't it? It could be called "You only live twice" ... ehem, before I start to imagine a Zombie Bond, let's get back on track.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ... the movie trailer looks awesome. It has this bleak cold war atmosphere that makes "Das Leben der Anderen" (Can't remember the English title ... The life of others? Something like that) so intense. The book is very slow though. I keep glancing at my pile of Agatha Christies, thinking "she would have killed off at least one character by now".
Warm Bodies is written from a zombie's POV and I'm not sure where this is going but I'm enjoying it a lot.


I really need to learn how to sew because I just came across an instruction for bow ties!!!! I would love to have some in different colours and patterns, but they are quite expensive and don't feel like spending 50 to 100 Euros for something I'll only wear once or twice. It doesn't look too complicated to make one, but I think you have to sew very straight to make it look good, especially since it will be very visible when I'm wearing it.

This is my entry for a weird book meme (not on LJ or DW but on a book forum ... I'm just sharing it here for fun):

( Random ramblings ... )

Did I mention I managed to get through Game of Thrones without too much confusion? I eventually remembered the names and nicknames of the important people and then some were killed off, which also helps. I have now moved on to the second book, since my box set arrived on Saturday. I usually hate incomplete box sets (in this case, it contains the first 4 books but not the fifth), but this was the cheapest option and I really want to know how the story progresses. Favourite characters: Tyrion and Arya. They are better not killed off!

Thoughts on Doctor Who: WTF?! No, wait ... let's spell that out. What The Fuck?! And can I just say that I would really appreciate it if we could get one episode with no one dying and undying a minute later every once in a while ...?!

I just checked something on Amazon and saw a book recommendation for a book called "Glühende Dunkelheit" (glowing darkness), which looked quite similar to "Soulless". Turned out it IS in fact the German translation of that very book.

Now, nothing wrong with translating books, however, totally abandoning the original title is. If you know the book (if not, I highly recommend it, if you are in need of something fun that doesn't take itself too seriously) you'll know why it's called "Soulless". While "glowing darkness" ... well ... besides the fact that darkness can not glow and that the title sounds like it's nicked from the bad poetry of a teenage wanna be goth ... doesn't refer to anything in the story.

And this isn't the first case of a totally random title I came across. A friend on goodreads pointed out something similar recently too ... so it's not just a problem with translated books either. The conclusion, the only one that makes sense, is, that there's a program (available in at least two languages) out there somewhere, that randomly creates titles that look good on book covers.



*it's not just used on romance novels, but I like to call it that ... has a certain ring to it.

I saw a guy with a "No merci" tattoo today ... I wonder if it was meant to mean "no mercy" or "non, merci" ... or maybe it's not a spelling error at all but shows his dislike for a certain chocolate called "Merci"?

The dislike for the chocolate would be hard to understand though, since the packages come with different types of chocolate and you can always sort out the ones you hate and graciously offer them to your guests. Not that I would ever do that of course. I always share all kinds with guests ... I just eat my way around the bad ones while I'm at it :p


Also - I finished City of Bones and found it kind of insignificant and now I'm reading two vampire books and they aren't really five star material either ... and ... I just wonder if I have become too picky with my reading. Didn't a friend on here say something very similar recently? Maybe, when you're reading a lot you have higher expectations and get more easily bored because there are only so many ways a plot can go and you are more likely to guess them?

I've been looking for a totally different book list and came across this one. So, let's be honest - did you read any of these?

Books we pretend we have read:

1. 1984, by George Orwell (twice! really)
2. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy (read the summary and know that it is not my type of story at all)
3. Ulysses, by James Joyce (read some of it and found it dreafully boring)
4. The Bible (only the parts that are used for horror movies)
5. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert (-)
6. A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking (reading isn't the hard part here, since it is brief, understanding is ... )
7. Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie (-)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust (mmmh ... rings a bell ... )
9. Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama (-)
10. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (read enough to know it doesn't have a your god is dead and no one cares theme, like his other books.)

So, let's see ... I read two out of ten from front to back, but only understood one. Not the best score ... but now - your turn :D


Btw, I don't quite understand the whole pretending thing. I always read a lot and was more likely to pretend I didn't read as much, because I thought others might think I'm odd or tease me ...

Also, while we're talking books, I've been looking forward to reading a certain Doctor Who book and now I'm finding it simply awful. Biggest disappointment in books for me this year (so far). But more about that later, or on goodreads.

I finished reading The Hunger Games last night and can't remember who recommended it to me ... I must be getting old.

Usually Dystopia feels as realistic or unrealistic as any other type of Science Fiction to me, but this book was a bit different. Because I can see our entertainment industry going that way under similar circumstances.

If you look at the shows we have now - mostly the stuff that has a "reality" or "casting" somewhere in the description - well, it does seem to have become quite normal to see real people suffering and feel entertained by it. Like, that show where they put has-been-celebrities in a jungle and have the audience vote which ones gets to do something really disgusting to win food? Or all the casting shows that have talent free people who are made fun of after their failed audition?

If people are entertained by that, and apparently they are, a show that has people getting injured and killed would be a natural step or two up. Just taking the suffering a bit further, so to say. Of course this is Science Fiction and we have laws against such things, but it does make me wonder what entertains people and what you could sell as entertainment, how far you could push the limits before it isn't considered entertainment anymore.

I remember when they aired the first Big Brother season in Germany, how there have been discussions and protests and people worried about human rights and all that ... well, for all I know they are still showing Big Brother every now and then and no one cares anymore. So that's a limit that has been pushed already.

- Thanks a lot for the V-gifts, messages and cards :D

- I'm now the proud owner of The Last Unicorn in book form. That's one thing I won't read in public though. It's not because of the unmanly unicorn on the cover, but because the film always makes me cry and if the book has to same odd effect on me it would be quite embarrassing ... especially paired with the unmanly unicorn on the cover.

- Talking books - I find myself unexpectedly liking Memoirs of a Geisha. It was one of these books that I got because someone suggested it and then it sat in my to-read pile for ages and I was never in the mood for it. Now I dug it up, because I'm trying to get this pile back to reasonable proportions by taking the really old books, giving them a couple of chapters to convince me and then giving them away if they don't. Anyway, this book did convince and I'm getting quite interested in the whole Geisha culture.

- And talking some more books - I'm on goodreads *click*
Yes, it's total chaos, yes, it's missing most of my stuff and at the moment I'm just adding the books that I'm currently reading or that randomly pop up in my mind. But, someone please add me, I'm feeling a little pathetic with just one friend *lol* ... also, I do plan to make a clean start next year with a 2011 folder.

- Also, WTF facebook?
Some weeks ago I got an account because it was needed for something connected to a cat charity I'm supporting. Now I went on there to see if I can delete my account and I had 5 friends requests and two messages. And there's nothing on that account other than my location and my first name, which isn't exactly a rare name either.

- I thought last winter had brought an end to my love for snow. I was so fed up with it.

But last weekend, the first snow of the season was just as magical as ever. Somehow, snow seems to appeal strongly to my inner 5 year old boy that still believes in Santa and can't wait till Christmas and that thinks snow is a clear sign of both being near. I do wonder when my adult self will take over again though and I also wonder when the winter poetry on top of Marco's readings will be replaced by something with sun and beaches on the cover.

- I'm currently reading the much hyped Millennium trilogy ... not bad, I went through the first book in less than two days. Not sure why it got all the praise though, it doesn't seem to be that different from other thrillers or crime novels. Well, with the exception of Lisbeth maybe, it's still rare that the resident genius (and it's the law that there has to be one) is a girl ... but anyway, the voices in my head have started talking in Swedish accents :p

- I'm mildly amused by the lasted wikileaks scandal, or however you want to call it. I mean, when has it ever been a good idea to talk about someone behind their back when your not prepared to say the same stuff in front of them? Shit like that always comes back to haunt you ... I thought that's a lesson one learns fairly early in life ... but, apparently not.


Note to self: Dig out old snow icons and upload them, or make new ones.

Question for bibliophiles: Damaged dust jacket or none at all?

Not an issue if you only buy new books, but with used books or books that are on discount for visible damage a not-so-pretty-anymore dust jacket can occur. What's the best way to deal with this? Keep it or throw it away and put the "naked" book on the shelf? Yes, "serious" collectors get them re-printed, but that's way too obsessive and reading-with-gloves-on for my taste.

I have removed three badly damaged ones today and think it might be a fun idea to turn them into bookmarks. The middle parts are fine and big enough for bookmarks ...


Also, it has apparently been confirmed by the Moff, that there will be more fez in the next Doctor Who series. I wonder if that's a case of "on popular demand" or Matt Smith insisting on getting a new one ...

Aaaand, no Harry Potter spoilers, but let's just say, I'm not sure they picked the right book to suddenly decide to make two films out of one.

Can someone maybe explain to me what's the point of drawing some film or tv characters as cats, dogs, hedgehogs, fruitflies ... ? These things tend to pop up every now and then in various fandoms and I never get it. I mean, the Doctor with whiskers and a tail ... a cat with a bow tie or a scarf ...? Why?

Reading The Fall at the moment and ... well ... it doesn't live up to The Strain. It's not a bad book, but it has the typical "part two of a trilogy" problem. First book sets the scene and defines the problem, third book comes up with a solution of some sorts and the second one is often a bit dull, just drawing out the story.

Now, back to searching for my house scarf for the Harry Potter premier tonight.

Recent adventures in free book hunting: More coffeetable art books. We should really consider getting a coffeetable to properly show them off.

Well, we do have a coffeetable, but it is more of a clutter table and I have no idea why. It's not the only table we have and not the flat surface closest to the entrance either, however, everything always seems to end up on it. At one point I noticed a mug shortage and went to investigate and found nine used mugs on that table. And we're only a two guys household and didn't have any guests and it's not that we live in chaos or anything ... so yeah, new coffee table that isn't a clutter magnet is in order.

On other news: I've been invited to an ugly Christmas sweater party. Guess that's the price I have to pay for having creative friends. Or is this an American tradition maybe? Because the friend hosting it is originally from the US. I know some people in the UK, who actually own Christmas jumpers, but they don't throw parties in them. Not that I know of anyway.

So, I need to do some shopping to be properly dressed. It shouldn't be too expensive to find something seriously ugly in a second hand shop ... on the other hand, Christmas sweaters might be too ugly to even bother stocking them. Mmmh ...maybe I could find something semi-ugly and ugly it up a bit, sew some bells on or add some glittery snowflakes? Oooor ... build in a flashing light (like in the Santa hats) or a button that plays music when you press it? I'm really starting to like that party idea, it has so much potential for bad taste.

And now, time for some Ostfriesentee with Kluntje and cream, I've been looking forward to some all day. Oh, and more Lost Girl. Hot succubus goes well with tea, me thinks.

My days of being slightly embarrassed whenever I have to switch on my laptop at a security check are so over. I have a Torchwood log in screen ... but seeing a guy with some cheap looking porn on his earlier this week and apparently being cool with it makes me think that my little geeky number is in fact very classy.

Also, my vampire hunter career is so not going well, I cut my finger while making a wood stake ...

And talking about vampires, I saw some book from a series called "Vampire Academy" and when I was reading the back to see if it's really what I think it is (nothing good) a shop girl came over and was like "they are really popular for Twilight fans ..." ... I probably put the book back a bit too quickly, because she was all "wasn't the right thing to say, mmh?"

Yes, very wrong thing to say, not because of the Twilight thing but in general. See, once upon a time, when I was a new LOTR fanboy, I came across a book that was advertised with something like "LOTR fans will love it" ... well, I hated it. Worst rip-off ever. And I had very similare experiences with books with similare recomendations written on their backs. So, I now shy away from pretty much everything that is advertised in this way.

Which leads me to the question - does this kind of advertising work for you? Like, if you are a LOTR fan, are you more likely to buy a random fantasy book when it is advertised especially for LOTR fans? Or is it maybe something that is directed at people who are looking for a present?

This week in free books hunting: 10 (TEN!!!) books about how to stop smoking. Seriously. Makes me wonder if they all came from the same person, why they decided to donate the books and why they owned so many in the first place ... I mean, if you want to stop smoking and use a book for that, wouldn't you give up on the whole book thing long before you own ten of them? Or maybe, they were all presents from "well meaning" people ... mmh ...

Another book I didn't take home with me is probably the biggest book I've ever seen. A bible with illustrations, about the size of a big coffee table book and like 4 times as thick as one. I was wondering if that qualifies as a weapon and was really tempted for a second to take it home with me and see what happens when I try to board a plane with it.

The books I did take included some more Agatha Christie and Nobokov's Lolita. I've never read the book and probably won't like it, since a lot of people I know don't ... but I'll give it a try one of these days.

So far, this week has been terribly uneventful, I can't think of anything worth writing about ... so anyway, other stuff:

Goodreads account - yes or no?
Since I've recently sorted out quite a few books I'm wondering if I should get an account to keep track of books. More precisely, keeping track of the books I don't own anymore, the books I didn't find worth keeping, the books that sucked big time and that I want to forget ... because I might have forgotten them in a few years and pick them up again ...
However, I do wonder if I'll keep up with that account and keep updating it.

Also - congratulations Vampire Diaries! Nice werewolf. Bad CGI werewolves are one of my big pet peeves. I always cringe at the prospect of a werewolf on screen ... they always look better in my mind.

And I really really need to get back in the photoshop mood, because I'm bored of my icons ... even with just 6 icon spots on LJ it gets boring.