Ok, ok, I hope the new Doctor Who is a guy...

...and, here's why.

I'll be using the article The Good Doctor: Four Arguments For Why Doctor Who Should Get A Female Doctor to create my counter argument.

A little background
My sister turned me on to the good doctor. She doesn't geek out much, but when she does it's usually for a classy reason. I borrowed Series One from a friend, bought Series Two and Three and then watched Netflix, until I'd seen every show for doctors 9-11. I've watched a few of the specials of doctors 1-8, I've read a few Doctor books, but I'm pretty sure I'll never catch-up to 50 years of The Doctor. I'm truly not at all competent enough to give you a run down of the show save the last three doctors. There's too much for me to be truly obsessed, but I do LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the show.

So, here are the four arguments that Bitch magazine presents and then argues against. I'll be telling you why I agree with them.

1.  “It doesn’t fit the logic of the series to have a woman Doctor.”
We're looking at the logic of the series not the logic of the universe. As a Time Lord who travels through time and space in a SciFi show we all get that there really isn't much logic of the universe, but each SciFi show follows its only specific tenants. Here are the tenants of Doctor Who:

1] When Doctor Who is fatally wounded instead of dying he regenerates into a different person. He said at one time that he could regenerate up to 13 times...I'm guessing this isn't literally.
2] With each regeneration he retains the memories, experiences and personality of the doctors before him.
3] The first regeneration happened because the first doctor passed away and needed to be replaced.

So, the logic of the series dictates that the doctor will regenerate and that this regeneration, caused by Matt Smith leaving the show, will retain the memories, experiences and personality of the other doctors. This includes his marriage to River Song, who never once recalls him being a girl, his love of Rose, K-9, Sara Jane and so on...

It isn't that a female Doctor is unbelievable, it's just that it doesn't follow with the lore, legacy...the logic of the series. A series that has been on so long has so much history that must be adhere to, or that history must be rewritten. I'm not going to deny the fact that writers can do anything with a show, but I'm not sure I can do more rewrites (I'm onboard with Star Trek, I'm excited about Star Wars, but...please don't make me relearn Doctor Who).

2. “But he always has been played by a white British/Scottish actor, so he always will be.”
Hmmmm...in this case gender is more important than race. I can't believe I just wrote that, but it is a fact. An actor who isn't white, but still British/Scottish can still be written into the lore/legacy/logic of the story. Again, I go back to The Doctors I know, when we first meet River Song, she's calling herself by a different name and she's definitely black. She isn't, however, a boy. We learn along with everyone else that she is Rory and Amy's daughter. She doesn't regenerate into a boy and tell us that the doctor is her husband. She is Melody Pond from beginning to end. Now, I understand that the doctor doesn't have to always be a girl, just as he doesn't have to always be black. I understand that it's time for The Doctor to reflect the culture in which he lives. He can do that by being whatever race at all and still be the male outlined in the series.

If anything The Doctor can turn into an American. It would just make sense since every American comic superhero nowadays seems to be played by a British person, but I digress.

3. “As long as Steven Moffat is the Executive Producer, the Doctor will never be a woman.”
And, why does it matter if we change that? He is the Executive Producer after all. Why does The Doctor have to be a woman for us to say that Moffat is a lover of women. I enjoyed and miss Amy Pond as she is more like me than Rose will ever be. And, while I like my female characters to kick butt, I also like my female characters to do more than that.

4. “He’s the constant while everything around him changes.”
Because the Good Doctor is based on 50 years of tradition. He is the only constant in a world that changes. New writers can come in, new actors can give the doctor different bits of flair, but he still has that collective consciousness that makes him who he is. When we want a female character in a show we create a female character (think Batgirl, Supergirl etc.), sometimes we create a whole new show for that character, why are we trying to turn a male character into a female? If someone can answer that question with something other than 'It's time' or 'Why not?'...I'm ready to listen.

Finally, I have to agree with this comment, also in the article:

“As a big Doctor Who fan, I am highly resistant to anyone other than a male from the UK playing the Doctor because of history and tradition.   Change for the sake of change is not always the way to go.”

And, until you can prove to me that we won't have a girl doctor just for the sake of having a girl doctor, I'm giving two thumbs up for history and tradition.

Well, except for that American thing...who says The Doctor can't be American, I'm thinking he could be a guy much like guys from the Midwest, surely the TARDIS can fit a horse and other Midwestern stereotypical accoutrements.

Hmmmm, then again, maybe not.

Star Trek: Into Darkness...I'm rather fond of the colon

SPOILERS of everything Star Trek abound below!!!

A little history into my life as a Trekkie of the mild variety (no, I don't find the word 'trekkie' offensive and neither should you!)
I remember watching "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" at the drive-in at Ava, Missouri. I was six and my mother, uncles, aunts and the three of us piled into a couple cars to head out. I remember sitting in the hatch-back and looking up at the guy from "Fantasy Island". Surprisingly, I didn't notice how much of Ricardo's muscled chest we get to see (I'm not sure I like his warrior look!). We are a SciFi family and I remember watching "Star Trek" reruns after school. I remember loving Captain Pike played by Jeffrey Hunter. I love the Q and the Borg. I don't even know what ST movie is my favorite as I can talk about one and think it's the answer ("Insurrection" comes to mind) and then see one of my favorite scenes from another (the last 20 minutes of "Wrath of Khan" are so powerful) and waffle buckling under the pressure of a clever turn of phrase or plot line. I used to have ST: TNG stickers from cereal boxes stuck to my closet door. I love Commander Riker. I wanted hair like Troy. When I first went to Las Vegas I had to ride the "Star Trek Experience" at the Hilton. I bought gold-pressed Latinum chocolate bars. Um, I want to make an original Star Trek girl uniform out of a t-shirt. I want a phaser. I will watch every ST movie in the theatre. When she is old enough, I will start bringing my kiddo along.

OK, so now we've got that out of the way...whew...I'd like to talk about this latest reason to watch Benedict Cumberbatch...er I mean the latest Star Trek movie. We watched Into Darkness for my birthday, thank-you husband for the lovely present and thanks friends for the lovely day of used bookstore shopping and awesome dinnertime fun after the movie.

Spock versus Spock, Or How I Stopped Gasping and Learned to Love the Melding of Timelines
Going into the 2009 ST I wondered how Abrams was going to pull off rebooting the story while keeping the franchise intact. Literally the whole audience cheered when Leonard Nemoy appeared and I began to understand that making a 'what-if' timeline allowed everyone to have the best of both worlds. AND...there are two perfectly multifaceted Spocks...yes, the best darned reason of all! I don't think I need to mention that new timeline Spock dates a black girl (don't think I didn't notice that one)...actually, that little argument as they headed to Kronos seemed a little too familiar. Hmmm...It's nice to think I'm married to Spock. Seriously, "The Wrath of Khan" and "The Search for Spock" made me cry buckets and still would if I let them. I love that we get the bitter (so many death scenes) with the sweet in this timelines. I do wonder, though, who else are they going to bring back and what does that mean for both timelines and while my husband says that things go downhill when you add alternate universes and people coming back from the dead JJ Abrams, cinema god that he is, makes it all work so beautifully. I also love the humor that we see in these films. And, if you want to see the dueling Spocks check this out. Thank-you lovely Barkers for showing it to us the other evening.

Khhhhaaaaannn!
Holy wow! so my friends and I all hung out the other day so I could watch "The Wrath of Khan" with "Into Darkness" in my mind and my friends could watch "Khan" for the first time--I know, I know, I'm such a bad friend--I didn't know they'd never seen it. Ricardo Montalban's Khan seemed a wee bit one-sided...you killed my wife blah, blah, blah, revenge, blah, blah, blah, the more I suffer the more you suffer blah, blah, blah. I never felt any type of positive feeling for him. I was never on his side and I never wanted him to win to prove a point. Benedict Cumberbatch, however, plays Khan with so many facets that at one point I thought that we were going to be joining sides and I was thinking about how amazingly fun it would be on the Enterprise with Khan as we fought the Borg (pre-Hugh, of course) or tongue-twisted with Q. I was beginning to like him, and I didn't care that he killed Marcus and I was sad that he was so upset at being reanimated (or, whatever it is that you do when you unthaw someone whose been cryogenically frozen). Poor Khan. I'm glad that Spock got to beat the dickens out of him. I'm glad he isn't dead in the end.

Oh my gosh, that ending! *SPOILERS*
So, we've already talked about the timelines, but let's talk about what that means. It means that really nerdy/geeky Trek fans can compare the bifurcations against one another. And, it's in these branches that we see what great care Abrams and crew have taken to preserve the Roddenberry universe while creating a new universe. I love watching these movies taking what I know from the previous movies and seeing where things are going to change and what that means for the rest of the storyline. Throughout we are reminded of the "Kobayashi Maru"; we are reminded that every choice, even the right one has consequences. I can't wait to see what refreezing Khan and using his blood to save Kirk does to this new universe.

Favorite Quotes
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do."

"Attention John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long-range torpedoes currently lock on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. And, if you test me, you will fail."

"Tell me, are you feeling homicidal, power mad, despotic?"

And, because I have a friend from Iowa and I need more ways to tease her about her Iowegianess
"Are you out of your corn fed mind?"

To wrap up: love the reboot, love that we've got Star Trek with TNG wittiness, I may be in love with JJ Abrams, love Spock, more Uhura/Spock liplocking please, can't wait for the next one.

Oh, and I really want to see it again...any takers?

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 28

Last year I found this book challenge (since then I have seen many variations of it, but I like this one best!), and have been intrigued about how I would answer the questions posed. Feel free to comment with your own answer or post the challenge to your own blog.

First favorite book or series obsession

OK, so when I read these books in the early 80s...there were only, um...4. Frankly, I didn't know there was a 5th book until, um...college. I have never read it. I don't really understand how this could be part of two series, but I digress.

The Time Quartet was the first series of books I was totally obsessed about and it's first book A Wrinkle in Time was the first book I read more than once. There for awhile I read it every year.

I love, love, love, love this series and all I have to do to be propelled to a simpler time is open up the pages of any one of these books. I can remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom, radio on, contemplating the fifth dimension and thinking about what I would do if I had a brother like Charles Wallace.

My husband and I watched the movie sometime last summer. It didn't really hold as much magic as the book.

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11– A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever 
Day 24 – Best Quote from a Novel 
Day 25 – Any five books from your "to be read" stack 
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

Infinite Summer #12: Should this book be considered science fiction?

OK, so we've read enough of this book to argue the point.

Here are some interesting view points

1] Infinite Summer #7: Is Infinite Jest Science Fiction?
2] Is Infinite Jest Science Fiction?
3] Why IJ Doesn't Really Count as Science Fiction

This is a hand-out that I give the students when we talk about SF.
No, we don't even begin to talk about all the sub-genres only those we will come across throughout the school year.

Here's what I say
I suppose it does fall under some sort of alternate or futuristic type of SF. And, it does thoroughly follow the definition...I don't know where I found that definition:

1. Takes a scientific hypothesis (there are several for this book...I'm focusing on one for this exercise)
Our need for technology really doesn't plug us in and help us to communicate. It just gives us one more piece of entertainment to be addicted to and this addiction alienates us even more from our fellow man.

2. Vision of what life would be like if the hypothesis were true
People would be selfish and narrow minded. Even those that had feelings, even those that bothered to think would be squashed by society and by 'the machine' (cue Pink Floyd). To beat 'the machine' we have to join it? It hurts me that I am part of 'the machine'...and, yet, I don't want to be like Thoreau and live in the woods either.

                                                         "Welcome To The Machine"

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been? It's alright we know where you've been.
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,
provided with toys and Scouting for Boys.
You bought a guitar to punish your ma,
And you didn't like school, and you know you're nobody's fool,
So welcome to the machine.
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
What did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream.
You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,
He always ate in the Steak Bar. He loved to drive in his Jaguar.
So welcome to the machine.

3. Uses scientific imagination to tell a story about consequences and holds a mirror up to tomorrow in order to examine contemporary life
The world of this novel is so similar to our own that I find myself questioning basic idioms I've always believed to be true. You know "It's no longer recreational if you have to do it to survive. It's an addiction."...it seems that DFW would argue if it ever was recreational at all. We just allowed ourselves to think that. I also wonder about television addiction and Facebook and even blogging. Am I communicating or am I just glorifying myself. What aspects of new technology help us to become more global and what aspects hinder our growth.

Hmmm...so Infinite Jest is Science Fiction.

What do you all think?

30 Book Challenge: Day 27

Last year I found this book challenge (since then I have seen many variations of it, but I like this one best!), and have been intrigued about how I would answer the questions posed. Feel free to comment with your own answer or post the challenge to your own blog.

[Source]

If a book contains __________, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

If a book contains SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY, I will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

This includes all of the subgenres...fantasy, epic fantasy, court intrigue, speculative fiction, dystopian, cyperpunk, steampunk, paranormal, urban, historical, contemporary, hard, space opera, parallel/alternate universe, apocalyptic, comic, colonization, alternate timeline, near-future, ESP, exploration, ET, other world, political, post-apocalyptic, SpyFy, time travel, soft, romance, fairy tale, superhero...click here, just in case I missed one or two!

I like my SF to have aliens or parallel Earths or robots or unicorns or mermaids or vampires and battles for good and life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I like time travel and Victorian England and the Wild, Wild West. I like animals that talks and houses that talk and people who only talk with their minds. I like relics and history and space.

I love Star Trek and Star Wars and The Last Starfighter.

I love science fiction.

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11– A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever 
Day 24 – Best Quote from a Novel 
Day 25 – Any five books from your "to be read" stack 
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

55 Books in a Year: Book #34 Kiss Me I'm Irish

Through one of my friends I Goodreads I found and joined a group titled The Knights of the Round Table. This book has been created to give people books to read in exchange for honest reviews. If you want to know more information check it out.

There were two books up for grabs for review and the minute I researched this one I knew that I wanted to review it. A strong-willed Cornish girl, Emily, is propelled into the future when she accidentally stumbles upon a time portal. She is glad to have escaped being sent to a convent, but is perplexed by modern America (Tennessee to be exact), its scantly dressed women and its convenient amenities (there's a scene with a toilet and a shower that is just hilarious). Of course, all of that changes when she gets to know Liam a dobro playing (I'm not sure why there isn't a dobro on the cover) Irish boy and Emily has a thing for Irish boys just ask the stable boy or the footman or her pompous great-aunt.

So, Emily gets propelled to the modern day South were things aren't at all what they seem to be and Liam isn't at all like all the other Irish boys. First of all, he runs hot and then cold and then hotter than hot and when he plays the dobro she can't help but think if him inapproriately. Add to this the pixie that got her there in the first place, Liam's sister, a band in need of a big break and scary coin dealer in need of gold and you've got all the fun and adventure for this story.

I enjoyed all three main characters (Liam, Emily and Tinker), and frankly I enjoyed the story of magic and schmoopiness and lovely music.

Adorable light summer read, perfect for a lazy Saturday when one should be doing productive things like cleaning the living room or doing laundry. I still feel all smiley.

If you really want to get in it go to Bella Street's website and go to the Kiss Me, I'm Irish page, she's got a playlist and everything.

55 Books in a Year: Book #29 Cycles

The author of Cycles, Lois Brown, sent my other blog, Teen Text Talk, her book to review. There was a contest for however many reviews she received by a certain date. There was no way that I was going to get this book read in such a short amount of time, so I didn't bother with the contest, but told her that when I got to the book I'd give it an honest review. A month later, on my birthday no less, I read it in one sitting...seriously, it's that entertaining.

Renee Beaumont is a typical 13 year-old girl, she loves horses, her best friend who is an older boy science genius, Sam, and her neighbor, Dr. Dawson, a man who let's her come over whenever she wants and who takes care of her when her rich overly busy parents aren't around, which is a lot. One day Renee gallops away trying to save the doctor's prized horse from thieves, the horse trips and down goes Renee on a rock. At the hospital they can't figure out what is wrong, she's losing loads of blood, but they can't find out her blood-type. In walks her neighbor to save the day, he has some of her blood saved from a time he helped her with a science fair project...the only thing is this is all a lie and things only get weirder for Renee and her Sam as they try to find out the truth.

At first, this book seemed a bit confusing, it intersperses Renee stories with that of an older woman who is telling the story of her daughter's disappearance through diary entries. I spent the first 40 or so pages trying to figure out what exactly was going on, which I think will compel curious readers forward. And, although I know a bit about science and love science fiction, I did not see where this book was going. I'm guessing it's because this book begins so easily and subtly. The ending, WOW, so looking forward to the 2nd book!

Frankly, I need someone else to read this book so I can talk about it with them. I've never read a book like this before.

My YA SF TBR is getting out of control!

[Source]

I love Science Fiction! You can read all about that love here.

I'm typing this while watching Battlestar Galactica, not the new one, the old one from 1978 with Lorne Greene, and Robert Hatch and Dirk Benedict. Side note: I didn't know that Rick Springfield was in the Pilot, that's what I get for waiting so long to watch this show again!

Anyway, Jill Hathaway is having a giveaway for her upcoming debut novel Slide.

About Slide from Goodreads:

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered. 
Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body. 
Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane. 
Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

Go over and enter to win (blogging about it gets you 10 pts. towards the giveaway!) and then come back and read my list of Young Adult Science Fiction, I'm just itching to read...

The List
(alpha by title)

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Cinder by Marissa Meyers
Cycles by Lois D. Brown (reading right now)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Slide by Jill Hathaway
Supernaturally by Kiersten White
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

There are more...these are just the books I can think of at the moment...

Where shall I begin?

55 Books in a Year: Book #3 Geek Girls Unite, How Fangirls, Bookworms, Indie Chicks, and Other Misfits are Taking Over the World

I am a geek. I've embraced that fact from the first day I went to visit my grandfather and he told me stories about WWII and his early life in PA. While other kids were reading Amelia Bedelia (and, I read her too!), I was reading about fighter jets and pilots and Tuskegee Airmen...collecting WWII stories was my first foray into geekdom.

Fast forward to a few years later, which you can read all about here, I began an adventure in SF. I've collected books, movies and actors (yes, if you keep stats on actors on paper like IMBD, in 1985, before said website was even thought up and before the interwebs were created for mass use, you are, in fact, collecting actors), I collected dolls...er action figures (I still have my Yoda action figure, no you may not buy it from me) and I still have my Mulder and Scully Barbies (no you may not have those either!), rocks and posters. Starting my adult years I began to collect recipes and glassware. I think that it is being a collector that makes any person a geek. I don't think that Leslie Simon, author of Geek Girls Unite, disagrees at all.

The book is broken up into chapters focusing on various types of 'geeks’ (fangirl, literary, film, music, funny girl, domestic and miscellaneous) and each of those sections follows the same format: a quiz (where the answers are always 'C'...don't know why that is), a character sketch, descriptions of famous geeks of that ‘genre’, ‘frenemies’ (which is an hilarious look at those in that particular community that give the rest a bad name...) and concludes with ‘the perfect match for’ section. It's this last part that cracks me up the most, it's like Geek girls meet Cosmo mag and my friends and I had such a fun time checking off the list and then adding our own.

I like how Simon uses the introduction to make sure that we understand that while she may poke fun at this or that and that while we may do that too, we are all in this together. She says

It's time for us to reclaim the connotations of being a "geek" and hold tight to the term as a source of pride and distinction. In other words, embrace your quirkiness! Celebrate your idiosyncrasies! There is power in your geekiness! Trust.

And...

Here's the most important thing, though: just because our passions aren't the same," that doesn't mean we aren't united in our geeky affection for what ever it is that makes us happy--even if it feels like society sometimes pits us against one another. ...being a geek should unite--not divide--us. If one good thing comes out of this book, it will be that you get to know your geeky sisters (and cousins) so you can recognize these fabulous ladies when you see them, start a conversation, and realize that our differences are actually what bring us closer together.

I remembered the above when she defined, with a little bit of sass, but all truisms, the terms that I have used to refer to myself (geek, nerd, dork, dweeb, weirdo) and when, on more than one occasion, I found myself falling into the 'frenemies' category. We, even those of us who only scratch the surface of someone else's obsession, must love each other and unite in order to conquer the world.

Geek Girls Unite is just informative enough that teenager girls, who feel their inner geek, but can't find an outlet, can learn more and identify with others and those of us who already know what we are can laugh in delight. I mean I have at one time or another been totally in love with David Tennant (my Fangirl Geek Girlness), James Franco (my Literary Geek Girlness), Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mark Ruffalo (my Film Geek Girlness), Jack White (my Music Geek Girlness), Andy Samberg (my Funny-Girl Geek Girlness)...and, I've crushed on Hungry Girl, Anthony Bourdain, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and John Stewart. I liked that Simon talks about Athletic Geek Girl as a person who doesn't necessarily play or want to play sports (it goes back to that collecting thing I mentioned earlier) so I felt comfortable about falling into this category as well. 

This book is part encyclopedia, part humor, part commentary, part major to-do list (as in I must now watch _____ or create a mix-CD of ________, why haven't I done that before?) and definitely a call to arms to all geek girls out there.

It is, after all, "a geek's world; everyone else is just living in it."

5 Stars

This book isn't really 280 pages on the Nook...seriously like 70 pages are footnotes. Each footnote gets its own page so you can click back and forth effortlessly. I'd like to also note that this book is glitchy moving from the last page of a chapter to the first page of the next one...not really sure what that's about, but I'm sure it can be fixed and I will wait to go to B&N before archiving and unarchiving et cetera, I have an irrational fear of deleting things that I shouldn't!

50 Books in a Year: Book #48 Cowboys and Aliens

So, I bought Cowboys and Aliens because I need to read a graphic novel for Geek Girls and didn't want to start the Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman, they sound more like a summer project to me...

I was not disappointed in this story, but it isn't my favorite one out there....first of all...it's pretty darned short, I mean I read it in about 30 minutes, that short. I'm not sure who the target audience is, but surely graphic novel readers, myself aside, were unhappy that this book didn't take very long to read.

I do like the story though even if it is the usual Us vs. Them with a little romance. I like the melding of 1800s Wild West and the new frontier. When we all band together the United States can kick butt no matter what time period. I'm pretty sure I'll like the movie loads more (if the graphics are as fun as they were in the book), it's gotta be longer than 30 minutes.

50 Books in a Year: Book #38 Mockingjay

I stumbled upon this series totally by accident. Er...sorta. I was planning on reading the series...really, just closer to the movie after THE REST OF THE WORLD had read them and I could read them alone...sorta.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
How I fell into this one: I had asked my friend Kay, via Facebook, if I could borrow her copies while visiting her in Colorado. The day we were to leave, she commented that she had the books on her Kindle and wondered why I didn't borrow it earlier in the week. I said that I didn't know and borrowed the Kindle immediately, as I had to read two books in less than 24 hrs. not counting, sleeping, packing and watching the child time. Just incase you were wondering, I did it.

Reaction:
Just incase you don't know the plot, here it is from Goodreads:
Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.
Likes
*May contain spoilers* I'm sayin this just incase you've been in a cave for the last few years and have no idea what's going on in the world. This is one of those books that doesn't end perfectly, one of those books that feel like everyone dies and yet, it is real and beautiful and propels the plot along.
As Sherman said, "War is hell" and Collins does not let you forget that. In this book there are no winner, just survivors and people who learn to cope with the losses. Finally...Katniss gets a BACKBONE!!!
Dislikes
*Again there may be spoilers* Some of my favorite characters die and there's this scene with genetically altered lizard snake creatures that is just disturbing. I'm not sure how I feel about Gale.

5 Stars

What I thought about the series as a whole?!
I am in love with this series and look forward to talking about it with my students.

5 Stars

50 Books in a Year: Book #32 American Gods

OK, so trying to explain this book is like trying to explain The Fountainhead...usually what I say about that book goes a little something like this: It's a book about this guy Howard Roark, who wants to build buildings his own way and people don't want him to and he's all for helping people, but not at the sake of himself and supposedly there's a rape scene and he gives a 40ish page speech. I love this book so much that I can't talk about it properly. This is not the book at all, but when I try to talk about it, I get all jumbled about and just can't sell it. And, I sooo want to sell it!

I want to sell this book as well! Here's my botched attempt at telling you what it's about: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, is about this guy named Shadow who gets out of prison early because of the death of his wife and gets hired by a man named Wednesday, who is more than he seems and they go all around America recruiting Old Gods to fight the New Gods of today.

But, it's so much more than that!

This book is about one of my favorite subjects: What it means to be an American and to live in The United States of America. It's about what I talk to my students about all year--American culture, Pop Culture and reverence and Faith/faith. It's about the journey we all take to figure out who we are.

It starts out with Shadow having a fight with a leprechaun and receiving a gold coin that inadvertently stops his wife from being totally dead, she assist him through-out the whole book and saves him from death more than once. There are some gods, like this kobold, who wish they'd never been brought over from the Old World and two Old Gods (Loki and Odin--who Shadow finds out is his father) who want to live so badly, they almost pull off the greatest con ever. There's an excellent conversation between Johnny Appleseed and some other tall tale heroes about why Paul Bunyan (who is a manufactured tall-tale) isn't as cool as those that are based on real people. The God Media is a beautiful newscaster and Technology is a fat kid full of computer parts. And, it seems the more we (as Americans) 'worship' our gods the stronger they are...Jesus in America is not as strong as He used to be, but He can't even get someone to give him a ride in the Middle East. And, who are the stronger gods, the New Gods, of course, and while a god can die (they have feelings and can hurt like the rest of us), if you believe in that god he/she can reappear. The thing is that most gods seem to not have enough people believing in them to reappear as healthy active beings. For instance, Wednesday is this old wisened man and Easter is a beautiful middle-aged blonde because people still celebrate her, even if they do for the wrong reasons.

To understand this book it's important understand world religions, American tourism (I want to visit the House on the Rock so bad now), culture and counter-culture, Native American mysticism and your own beliefs and how they play into what decisions you make and who you are.

And, there's this lovely strong female character, Sam Black Crow, who has the best monologue ever:

"I can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not.

I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen - I believe that people are perfectable, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women.

I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state.

I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste.

I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like martians in War of the Worlds.

I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman.

I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself.

I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.

I believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.

I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system.

I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

The lady at Border's said that she loved it and hoped I would to, I do! If you read this book because you like Stardust you will be surprised as this book is deeper and longer and will make you question, if even you don't like it!

Did I sell it? If not, go out and read it anyway...you won't be sorry!

5 Stars

Six Word Saturday #6

My life in six words
MOTW X-File episodes over Aliens, anytime!

Top 10 Monster of the Week (MOTW) Episodes
(not in any order)

Arcadia
Season 6 Episode 15
Scully and Mulder go undercover as husband and wife in a high-class planned community where several couples have gone missing.

Bad Blood
Season 5 Episode 12
While investigating bizarre exsanguinations in Texas, Mulder kills a teenage boy whom he mistakes for a vampire. Awaiting a meeting with Skinner, Mulder and Scully attempt to get their stories "straight" by relating to each other their differing versions of what happened during their investigation.

3
Season 2 Episode 7
Whilst Agent Scully is still missing, Agent Mulder embarks upon an investigation involving vampires in Los Angeles, subsequently becoming involved with a sultry female vampire who yearns to escape her lifestyle.

Sunshine Days
Season 9 Episode 18
Reyes and Doggett investigate two murders revolving around a house that is, at some points in time, identical to the Brady Bunch house.

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas

Season 6 Episode 6
On Christmas Eve, Mulder and Scully stakeout a house that is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of two lovers who killed each other in a lovers' pact 81 years before. Inside, the agents find two apparitions who are more than willing to give insight into the relationship and personalities of Mulder and Scully.

The Unnatural
Season 6 Episode 19
Mulder uncovers a story involving a Negro baseball player in the 1940s who played for a minor league team in Roswell. When in a photograph he sees the Alien Bounty Hunter it is assumed that Josh Exley, the baseball player in question, might just be alien himself.

Redrum
Season 8 Episode 6
A man lives the most recent 5 days of his life backwards and finds out that he is the main suspect in the murder of his wife.

Je Souhaite
Season 7 Episode 21
Two brothers have a less than helpful genie who grants their wishes with disastrous consequences. Mulder comes into possession of the same genie, and his wishes garner similar results.

Small Potatoes
Season 4 Episode 20
Five unrelated women in a small town give birth to babies with small tails. The prime suspect is a man who can shape shift into whomever he wants.

Home
Season 4 Episode 20
The remains of an infant suffering from an uncharted amount of birth disabilities are uncovered in a field in rural Home, Pennsylvania. The only suspicious residents are three brothers who have lived on their family farm for twenty-some years. They live there alone. Or do they?

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. The full list and linky can be found here. And, here's where I found it.

50 Books in a Year: Book #22 (S)mythology

fairy tale

n.

1. A fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children.

2. A fictitious, highly fanciful story or explanation.

          From the very beginning (S)mythology would like you to know that it believes itself to be a fairy tale. To make sure that we know that, it even starts of as all good fairy tales do, for it would be "sacrilege" not to do so, it starts off with "Once upon a time..." and, so that's how I shall begin my review.

     Once upon a time there was a girl who didn't realize that she was lonely. She was content to live at "Number Four Danube Street Flat Four, London SW3" and she was content to be alone for she knew that, having been cursed by the Gorgons, she would turn anyone who loved her into stone.
     Sophie, no last name, enjoyed being lonely until she met the man of her dreams, the surname to her Christian name, Smyth, and although Smyth was strong and artistic and beautiful, he could not resist falling in love with Sophie. Sophie, because she loved him, could not help but go through Heaven and Hell and all that's in between to save him, although being saved may not have been the answer to their Love but all romantics have to learn the hard way that "Love is a myth and we all live in fairy tales". When she loves again she will be more adult, she will be more careful.

          This book, Jeremy Tarr's first, is delightful and enchanting. Mr. Viceroy is an excellent multi-jowled villian, the Gorgons (think Medusa and her sisters) have converted to Kabbulah (think Madonna), there's a minotaur, Posideon and Hades, a mermaid, the creator of Stonehenge (by the way, did you know it's the house a guru built, complete with a gym?), Jesus and the angels, evil nuns, a Yeti, Buddha, talking fish souls, pygmies and, of course, apparitions in the form of Smyth, his parents and Sophie (who has been swallowed whole by the Angel of Death). Let me go on, there are contracts and deeds and orphans, there's communication with a Fountain that actual knows what you desire, there's all things Cat Stevens, and a Beatles quoting secretary to Cupid. Through Sophie's journey, there are questions that compel us to delve into our Faith and what we believe is Eternity and there are questions about family and commitment and undying devotion. And, you'll ask yourself these questions while experiencing a book that will make you laugh your socks off at the wit and humor of it all. Yes, this books is funny and whimsical and full of Life.
          Like all good fairy tales we learn valuable lessons about what it means to live ("'Happiness often comes from the search for Happiness'" and "And, she lived happily ever after") and what it means to die ("There's no true definition of beauty. Except for maybe Heaven." and "'Had I not had the experiences that I had so long ago with the Afterlife, I still don't think I would fear death. However, I will hold nostalgia for Life. and I'll certainly hold nostalgia for the people in my Life.'"). And, while we can argue forever about whether this is a true fairy tale, following the definition, (and, I did with myself and am doing so now as I type this, as the narrator will argue as you read) we can't argue that Jeremy Tarr has given us a book about the most important of all virtues; Love. He has shown us what it is (there are three important types), how to give it, how to receive it and most importantly how to cherish it so it grows and is remembered. One added feature is all the beautiful drawings by Katy Smail, they kept my tiny tot entertained while I read and are full of the same whimsy and enchantment as the words on the page.
          If you are like me, this seemingly simple novel with leave you with questions about its ending, your own life and its ending, and it will make you look at "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) a little differently. It will make you laugh a little about the glorious absurdity of all that it means to be alive.

Morning Has Broken Lyrics
(A Traditional Song, Lyrics by *Eleanor Farjeon)

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

4 1/2 Stars

Act II kind of lags for me, but that's probably because I'm a romantic and was mourning my losses, both figuratively and literally and spent some time drowning in my melancholy.

For More Information:

Tarrology more clever wordsmithing with pictures

(S)mythology all about the book, ever so pretty

Oh, and I won this book on Good Reads and, while I didn't have to write a review, it said I could if I wanted to, and, boy did I want to, this book is so much more than fun!

Philip K. Dick-itis...it's a disease, I swear!

          Ok, so here's the deal, I read a ton of science fiction and yet...I am always surprised that another Philip K. Dick story/movie has been turned into a film. Case in point that little film over there The Adjustment Bureau. My friends and I went to watch it one Friday and pow, at the very beginning the screen reads something like "based on the story 'The Adjustment Team' by Philip K. Dick" and, as in previous years, I go back home rummage through the books I have, and, no I don't own "The Adjustment Team" (it seems that the stories used for movies are in different Dick volumes spread across the Earth, nay the Universe), so, I began my search on the interwebs...found the story, read it and thought what I always think when I read a Philip K. Dick or watch the movie of a story I've already read (this has only happened one time with Minority Report)..."What the deuce? Some of the themes match and the premise is the same, but this story is very, very, oh my dear, different." And, I come to the same conclusions I always come to, "The story is changed because it is addressing a modern era and must be changed." And, then, because the itch has been scratched, down the Philip K. Dick spiral I go...I buy another book, I research and I talk about and I write about all that I know about the master of Science Fiction. I stop only when I feel satiated once again, I stop only when I feel I have read what must be the next movie or book by him, and everytime...I fail. Philip K. Dick-itis has no cure. I mean he wrote over 100 short stories alone and then you have to add in the novels...what mere mortal has the kind of time to find, buy and read them all? I do have to admit though, I'm getting pretty close.

Films and the stories that go with them:

(Links to stories where available, otherwise links to B&N)

Blade Runner

Movie: 5 Stars

I remember watching this movie when I was a kid and being mesmerized by Daryl Hannah. Her character, Pris, still haunts my dreams. Add in Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young (in her 1st of 2 roles worth watching) and others directed by Ridley Scott and you have yourself a cult classic that I didn't realize, until watching the extras on the anniversary edition, took so much out of everyone.

Story: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

4 Stars

 
Because I read the story about 8 years after watching the movie, I don't really feel the same connection and well, the story is different enough that I was disappointed...I tried not to be, but, well...um...

A Scanner Darkly

Movie: Never seen it, it's in my Netflix queque

Novel: A Scanner Darkly

Never read it, I suppose I should put it on my TBR...

Total Recall

Movie: 4 Stars

This movie genuinely rocks my socks off, I remember how high-tech it was at the time. My husband and I watch it often, we have it on Blueray for some reason, I think we've also made all of our friends watch it. They don't seem to feel as passionate about it as we do, maybe they, too, should have seen it when it first came out.

Story: We Can Remember It For You Whole Sale 

4 Stars

I enjoy this story VERY much, although it is still different than the movie. To me, it isn't so different that the essence is lost...the movie just modernizes it.

Minority Report

Movie: 4 Stars

This really is the perfect SF cop thriller. I'm out of breath just thinking about the lovely ride it puts you on. Strung-out cop realizes that he has to forget the past to save an unknown. I love the scene with the umbrella.
Story: Minority Report 
3 1/2 Stars

The cop and the ending are very different, but this story is a fun ride that you can definitely tell was written Mid-20th Century, and I like Mid-century.

Next

Movie: Never seen it, it's in my Netflix queque

Story: The Golden Man

Never read it, I do own the book in which it lives...now...

Paycheck

Movie: 4 Stars

Ok, so if you read about a movie and hear that it's bad because it doesn't hold true to the original concept in any way, you watch the movie first, and, frankly, I like it a lot. The idea that no matter how hard we try we can't stop the inevitable is always interesting to me, and it's brought to you with a lot of action and, well, Ben Affleck.

Story: Paycheck

4 Stars

I like that this story still has the themes and I like that it is very different the movie. The movie would not have read well. I'm pretty sure I would not have thought this if I'd read it first. So good this story is.

The Adjustment Bureau

Movie: 5 Stars

Romance in a Dick story, what???? But, I love it! It's so pretty and, well romantic.

Story: The Adjustment Team

4 Stars

No, romance, but other than that the story is the same. Really! In thinking...I may even give this story 4 1/2 stars...

Check out more stories and films...here.