Bits, Bobs and an Informal Poll

What a weekend!

We (as in the 'The Six Degrees of Sexies') had a fun chat over at the Delicious Naughties (I know, these names! Heee) and we'll be having another chat on December 16th at Ellora's Cave. Thanks to the Naughties for hosting us! I've got lots of new books on my 'to be acquired' list - next payday.

Rhian's having a HUGE ROCKIN' PAR-TAY to celebrate her one year blogoversary. There's prizes and silliness all over the place.

Happy Birthday Robin L. Rotham, author of that hotness Alien Overnight. Go over and wish her a happy 78th. That ought to piss her off :) :) :)

I'm so evil.

If you have a moment to kill, head over to the Redlines and Deadlines blog for a fun confernce adventure. Check it out HERE.

The weather in my neck of the woods was lovely enough to do outdoorsy stuff. Most of my neighbors got a jump-start on their Christmas lights, but the Kinsons? We goofed about, jumped in leaves, chased the kids on bikes and kicked balls. We'll also be the one stringing lights after a blizzard in a -10 chill, swearing our heads off.
Live and learn? Not us...

Informal Poll
How 'bout you? Christmas is coming. Are you:
A) decorated, shopped, and sipping eggnog
B) refusing to let commercialism trap you in the chaos until the calendar reads DECEMBER
C) looking forward to January
D) grateful that you're Jewish ;)

POST #300

THIS IS MY 300th POST! I feel compelled to make it a long one, so y'all might want to grab a coffee...

I feel like an obsessed 13 year old girl for even bringing this up, but ding-dang world, just leave the wretched Brit Brit alone already. It's insulting that her VMA debacle, which took place FIVE freaking days ago, should still be in the top news stories. Please, Paris, Lyndsay, do something stupid so the spotlight can continue to arc through the moral wasteland of Hollywood junior celebs. Columnist TV Stevie sums it up best: http://yahoo.rogers.com/yahoo/spotlight/tv_stevie.jsp?id=20070912
That's it. No more. Not wasting a single 'nother moment of my life on feeling sorry for stupid girl.

Red Garnier posted a link to alpha heroes that's worth a read.

Congrats to Amy for making it past the 50 mark in the 50 Book Challenge! Woot!!
I ALMOST made it, but I chose last week to reread a book that's already on the 50 book list, so didn't think it would qualify.
I'm sure you're asking, WHY? and WHAT BOOK? :O)
I reread Robin L Rotham's Alien Overnight because after taking the Margie Lawson writing workshop last week, I wanted to use Robin's book as a study; to try and understand WHY I liked it so much. (Robin, my autographed copy of AO now has five different colored highlighters and lots of sidebar notes. Oh, and some kitten poop, but that's a whole 'nuther story!)
Oh sure, the sex was hot, that's a given, but I liked it because her character development was excellent, the dialogue was brilliant, and she wove in the perfect amount of emotional depth without muddying the waters with an overload of backstory or narrative.
AND, I picked up so many little subtleties that I missed the first time around.
I can probably count on one hand the books I've actually REread. Once is usually enough for me. That's a compliment, Ms Rotham! If you haven't read Alien Overnight yet, DO IT. That's an order :)

And confession time...
I'm reading a Kathleen Woodiwiss and am having one hell of a time trying to stay awake. I haven't read her in about 15 years (maybe longer) and I LOVED her books. LOVED THEM! But left her behind when I started to move away from the romance genre.
So with great eagerness, I stole The Reluctant Suitor from my sister's bookshelf and dove in.
To know me is to know that I DEVOUR books. A full-length novel is easily a 2 evening read. But holy watching paint dry, Batman, The Reluctant Suitor's chapter one has taken me 3 evenings to get through. That's 38 pages, people! I keep falling asleep, and that NEVER happens. I'm usually reluctant to close a book and only do it if my clock is chiming 2am!!
Let me summarize what happens in those 38 pages: 3 couples, fresh from riding, race into the house and find a stranger standing there, expect it's really the brother who's been off fighting Napolean.
That's it! Nothing more. There are pages of dialogue (complete with inner thoughts that provide endless backstory) between two people while the other 5 people (and the butler and two dogs) are what? Standing around? Groping each other?? On pause???
I feel wretched bashing the writing of someone recently deceased, and wretcheder about bashing a writer who practically defined 'the modern romance novel' but um, Margie Lawson really opened my eyes about a few things... Or perhaps I'm just jaded now.

So, Amy, at this rate, my 50th book could quite possibly take me all the way through December!

Unrelated to anything: When I posted my TT last week, the one about what I did about my sister's visit, a few people asked why I mentioned the purchase of a tv and what did that have to do with sister.
Well,... that's because the tv was a surprise for my dh and I needed my brother-in-law's advice on what to get cause he's into all that techie big-screen-for-watching-sporting-events stuff.

Attendance will be spotty over the next week as I have house guests arriving tomorrow for the week. Hubby is taking father-in-law hot-air ballooning! Something I'd love to do myself one day, but oh yeah - I suffer from panic attacks and would probably jump out of the dang basket as soon as we were 3 feet in the air. Damn I've got issues...

Hope y'all have a GRRRRREAT weekend!

Books and Movies

I just finished Eve Silver's latest, Dark Prince, and she remains The Queen of Sexual Tension. It was a stay-up-'til-4-in-the-morning book. As soon as the budget allows, I'll be picking up her new Eve Kenin book, Driven. It will be interesting to see what she can do with an edgy urban fantasy...

Also devoured Robin Rotham's latest EC Quickie Seniorella. It was the first BSMD book (don't ask me what the stands for, except that it's tres kinky!!) I ever read. The story premise was wonderful -- a play on the old Cinderella-fairy-godmother theme -- with a kickin' twist. It was excellent, but I do have a confession...
I am TERRIBLY, NIGHMARISHLY claustrophobic, so the bondage scenes had me more panicky than hot -- which is a true testiment to Robin's ability because her descriptions were so detailed and damn realistic that I could feel my blood pressure rising to danger levels. So this may not sound like much of a compliment, but it is indeed!!

I caught two movies during my holiday:
The Bourne Ultimatum - AWESOME. My rating system for action-adventure movies is rather unique... I judge a movie by how many fingernails I chew and this movie was a NINE FINGER NAIL MOVIE. It would have been a ten but I purposely saved my index finger for emergency itches.
I sincerely hope that this won't be the last we see of this series, though I've heard a rumor that Matt Damon has no wish to continue. I wish he would.

No Reservations - with fellow Bermudian (well, technically she's just a resident) Catherine Zeta-Jones and devilishly handsome Aaron Eckhardt (who was terrific in Thank You For Smoking -- if you haven't seen it, do).

Nothing blew up, there was no bad language, no baring of breasts, no edge-of-your-seat drama. In short, the PERFECT movie to take my 87 year old mother to.
Don't misunderstand -- I liked the movie just fine. It was very touching, sweet, easy to watch, believable, and well acted (little Abigail Breslin had me in tears more than once). No, it won't win any awards, but I wish Hollywood would make more of these kinds of movies. They don't offend, don't shock, don't keep you up at night, and don't rock your world (and don't cost 200 million to make!!!) but they leave you feeling happy -- and I can't think of a nicer way to spend 2 hours. Sort of like reading a nice romance novel...

Aliens & Phantoms

...and speaking of good books, I managed to read Robin L. Rotham's Alien Overnight between water fights and bbq's over the weekend.

(ah - the pleasure of reading an ebook on a laptop -- it can be dragged from room to room)

I've said it before, I'm not a book review site, yada yada yada...

Ms Rotham, WOW! That story was the hotness. Futuristic/alien stories aren't normally my cuppa tea, only because I usually can't get my head around all of the world-building details, and I end up questioning the validity of it all (yes, I get that it's FICTION - I'm just hard to convince), but you did an AMAZING job creating a likable, believable, credible alien race. And did I mention HOT? This story had little elements of Moira Shine meets JR Ward (two of my faves), with fresh twists and turns, interesting complex characters (loved Shauss - is he getting his own book? Pretty please??) and did I mention burning HOT?!

Well done, Robin. I look forward to your next book.

More Phantom (Leah, you are free to skip this part :)

After seeing the stage production on Sunday, my mom and I sat down to watch the movie last night (ahhhh...), just for comparison sake. GB and ER are my faves in terms of cast & vocals. There voices blend beautifully, and imo, have more chemistry than even the originals -Crawford/Brightman - I have the London cast recording. Amy, any thoughts?

The new reality program 'On the Lot' premiers tonight. Can't wait!