5 posts tagged “book”
Or as I like to call it:
Eat Fiber! Or your colon could generate pustules that, if popped and enter your bloodstream, CAN KILL YOU. Seriously, can you imagine someone telling your family that you died of ASS PUS?
or
Did you know you could get neck and throat tumors from BLOW JOBS?! Everyone, get the HPV vaccine. Damn.
She does a very good job linking the advice from your doctor ("Eat more fiber! Don't drink so much! Stop smoking!) with the real life consequences of these actions. There are some points where it feels like she's reaching (the section on accidents come to mind since even she admits that there isn't a way to prevent accidents) but otherwise, it is a fun and fairly informative read.
She tends to be a little too "me me me" focused (I'm fairly certain we don't need to relate everything to her family) and I find her recommendation of fat-reducing pills to be a little on the unwise side (look at me! I'm being polite!). She also seems hellbent on proving that she is more compassionate and more dedicated to her work than others.
Of course, it's not a huge detriment to the book until nearer the end when I felt the need to roll my eyes while I was reading. That may have been when I started reading the "FAT WILL KILL YOU" section. Considering she outlined with the chapters previous how regular, "fit" people can still die from heart disease and whatnot, linking fatness only to the risk of heart disease is... well, I'm going to guess she's never heard of "Healthy At Every Size" which is unfortunate for those around her and those reading her book.
Overall though, I highly recommend this. It gives you a good outline how your lifestyle could be stealing years from you. And seriously, how would you like your family knowing you died of ass pus?
What never fails to make you laugh?
Submitted by BeautifullyBroken.
Maybe I'm mellowing but I rather like this question. I mean, it could mean so many things, like what kind of books make you laugh? What jokes make you laugh? What situations make you laugh? It's just a nice way of looking at things.
Of course, as a cynic and a possible pessimist, it could also be used as "What makes you laugh with cynicism? What causes you to give a mocking laugh?"
Though, I'm not typically a one who will give a mocking laugh or a poo-poo-ing laugh. I think it's passive aggressive. If I think something you're doing is stupid, I'll cut you a side-eye or make a "Who farted?" face. There will never be a question as to how I feel.
What makes me laugh? Let's start a list:
Movies:
Beerfest - yes, I know. No, seriously, I know. It's a movie about a beer competition. But it makes me happy, stop judging me)
Blazing Saddles - LOVE this movie. Absolutely love it. I lent it to a friend who's husband had fond memories of it from his youth and so she sat while he watched the movie, watching to see if he laughed. That's so much pressure! Would it surprise you to hear he wasn't able to laugh at any of it?)
Ghostbusters - I'm sorry but if you don't like Ghostbusters, we need to have a serious conversation. I'm not going to judge you for not liking Ghostbusters 2, though I thought it was quite good, but Ghostbusters! Come on! It's a work of genius!)
The Addams Family 1 & 2 - Whatever you think about the second one, Joan Cusack is genius and I love her. Plus her attempts to kill Fester make me laugh like a donkey.)
Team America - What can I say? Besides "Matt Damon!"?
I'm sure there are some I'm missing (though I mostly watch action movies) but those are off the top of my head.
Books:
Dave Berry's Guide to Guys - irreverent and it plays off of stereotypes but it's so good-humoured with this strain of cynicism, it's almost like me, distilled as a comedy book.
... okay, that seems to be it. I mostly read romances and suspense fiction. Some of those are laughs but it's mostly because the writing or situations are really bad.
TV
How I Met Your Mother - I just did a marathon of Season 1 and 2 and it is so funny, mixed with sweet, mixed with booze and topped with whipped cream and cherry. Love.
Big Bang Theory - I wasn't wild about this show when it first came out. I thought all the jokes would be grotesque stereotypes (Oh look! Nerds can't get laid!) but it's not. It's a lot sweeter than that. It feels like the writers like the characters and aren't willing to be vicious or cruel, just for an easy joke.
And... huh. I don't seem to watch a lot of comedy shows either. Mostly action or sci-fi which contain humour but aren't the "traditional" sitcom.
Is this the point where I have to assure you all that I am actually a girl?
And will I have to assure you again when I tell you I also like Family Guy?
As for jokes and things, I prefer jokes that aren't at someone's expense, in the sense that, while I may joke around, I don't like jokes where the heart of the joke is vicious.
How many times can I fit "joke" in a sentence? Damn, no wonder I never cut it as a writer.
I'm not a fan of practical jokes since it seems the basis of those are to make the person look ridiculous. I don't mind a crass joke if it's properly funny, that is, if it's funny in it's own right, regardless of crassness. Though I'll take the occasional poop joke. I like those.
I like word play jokes because it lets me use my brain sometimes.
But mostly, I just like to laugh. I like the weird witch's cackle I get when I'm feeling particularly evil, the weird deep throated laugh that I have no idea when I developed.
Mmm, funny things. I like funny things.
Clothing, dinners, make-up, or gadgets... We all have things we like to splurge on. What do you think you buy too much of?
DVDs and books. I don't buy a lot of clothes (the ones I really like are way too expensive to just randomly buy) and while I like gadgets, I don't like how quickly they become obsolete. Like how I bought my laptop and 3 months later, a newer model came out that was better, faster and about the same price.
But DVDs and books? I am STUPID about buying those. I'm doing my best to stop the flow, I go to the library first and I joined a Netflix-style dvd rental thing so I'm not spending money on items I'm not completely sure about or books I know I'll only read once.
It's hard though. I love to have things just around me so that they're within reach whenever I want them.
My first dual book review. I was going to do each book as I finished but... well, they're fairly linked in my mind and Valiant is... well, it's kind of the sequal to Tithe, though I've been told Ironside is the true sequel. The books are modern faerie tales and are meant for a young adult audience but, as a full-on adult who's heading towards middle age, I still loved them. So... let's get this part over with:
Recommendation: I loved them. I actually prefer Valiant over Tithe but... well, I'll explain why in a little bit. However, this is not for people who prefer lighter fare or are expecting the Disney-fied version of fairies. The tone of the books are dark, like the original faerie tales. And none of these fairies are looking to save your human ass; they'd rather put golden chains on you with a crown of thorns, strip you naked then set you in a pen for their amusement.
Tithe follows a young girl who finds out... and crap. I can't tell you any more than that without giving away the entire storyline.
And I can't remember her name. ::sigh::
But the thing is, you'll like her. Hell, *I* liked her and I'm not that fond of teenagers who are listless and just wandering. But she's not just that; she's rebellious and she's seeking and she's lost. She doesn't know a life outside of the nomadic one her mom has dragged her along in but she still holds on to old friends, keeping an identity in the one place she keeps returning.
For me, I found Tithe rather ... difficult to start. It's a little too... for me, it dragged until she meets Roiben (and yes, I remember his name because it's really unusual), hurt, on the verge of death and she risks her life to save him. At that point, the book just grabs you and starts you on a race to the end.
I didn't have that problem with Valiant. I couldn't stop reading it. I think it's because I loved the character from the very beginning. When we first meet her, she's in a locker room, talking to her friend, getting ready to go to hockey practice. Then some bitchy princess comes, calls her friend names and instead of sitting back, she (like me) couldn't think of what to say back and instead punches the princess in the nose.
Awesome.
As I kept reading, I fell more and more in love with her. Even with all the bad choices she makes, I loved her. Because she's me. She's me if I was raised now. She's lost and she's trying to find her place and she's a little more comfortable fighting with her fists than she is fighting with her words. She's not emo; she's directionless, partly because she's not sure what she's supposed to be aiming for, where she's supposed to go. She wants to be someone else because she's trying to hide from who she is and what's happened.
Okay, this is going to sound stupid but seeing her go through ... it feels so melodramatic to call it hell so I'll just call it "bad time", but seeing her go through it all and emerge more confident and more sure of herself... well, it gives me hope and I'm going to stop being so soppy now.
Read it. It's dark and it's violent and I hope that when they make a movie out of either book, they find a director and screenplay writer who has enough respect and love for the original story to not strip it of everything I love.
The long review? Here it goes (beware of spoilers):
I love the In Death series. A lot. A LOT. I can read them over and over again and rarely get bored, even when I know the story backwards and forwards. But I have some serious nitpicks with how JD Robb (or Nora Roberts, if you want to refer to her properly) writes her stories.
Yes, yes, I know. She's a bestselling novelist and I'm an anonymous blog writer who hasn't been able to finish a novel in all her years of writing. Doesn't mean I'm not right.
NR has a tendency to twee names, twee to the point of just being outrageously annoying. I mean, Bick Byson? Really? Seriously, if you know someone who's parents legally named him Bick, please write to me. I mean, Bick doesn't sound like a real name; it sounds like a nickname you'd give someone who might be a little too in love with setting things on fire.
Do I mind that the names she uses are a little odd? Of course not. I've been held hostage by a character who didn't like his/her name before. I can understand something like that. It's that she gives them these twee names that don't mean anything, that don't even follow what the character is like. THAT bothers me.
But it's a minor nitpick and I have many more.
I love Eve Dallas (though my favourite character is and will forever be Peabody) but when did she get so self-righteous? Even when faced with people who are dealing with a horrendous situation that they've never had to deal with before, she brings an attitude that's completely unnecessary and really only makes her seem like a bitch. Beyond her normal bitchiness, of course. And verbose! Dear God, the verbosity.
Sorry "verbosity" just makes me laugh.
Anyway, in the scene where Dallas is speaking to Grandpa Sloan (no, she didn't name him "Grandpa," but there are 3 Sloans and I can't remember any of their names), he says to her (basically), "You're an unpleasant woman." Does she just say, "Yes. I am." to show her mastery over their situation? Oh no, there aren't enough words in those 2 short sentences to show how morally superior she is to them. Dallas has to say (paraphrased, of course), "Well, having two bodies tortured and murdered and thrown at my feet doesn't give me a sunny disposition."
Really? Cause I smile all day when that happens. Or, I don't know, I feel like smacking you because you've spent the entire conversation on offensive for no real reason, attacking other people for doing their job and not just lying down so that you can trample over other people's right to confidentiality when it comes to their financial records.
Sorry, too logical?
But I don't even really mind that Dallas is willing to run over whatever and whomever is in her way in order to bring justice. I just don't think she should talk so much.
And when did Dallas become Temperance Brennan from Kathy Reichs's stories? Am I a little tired of the "I don't know what that means"? Yes, I am VERY tired of it. Really, charades? She doesn't know what charades is. All righty. And the phrase "needle in a haystack"? Really? REALLY? I don't expect Dallas to know who the popular model/actor/musical acts are for the day. I can't see her caring about any of those things but there are some things that have become ingrained in society's vernacular and just... for God's sake, how does she not know what charades is? I don't even freaking play it but I know what it is because all my stupid teachers seemed to think it was the best way to teach us something at times and my schools? Pretty ghetto for my area, in the sense that most of them really didn't care too much if we learned anything.
Sorry, ranting and not really reviewing the story: the novel opens up at a birthing class, during the movie. I have to agree with Dallas at the yuk of those videos and I wanted to be a midwife. It's gross watching a woman's hooha open up like that and spew out a baby and I'm going to stop now before I either get hate mail from women about how birth is a miraculous process or I gross out everyone else.
Birthing class with Mavis and Leonardo, take them out for dinner and introduce a new character, Tandy (see rant on twee names). Tandy is so sweet and so guileless that I wonder why her forehead doesn't just have VICTIM stamp on it. She's so obviously going to be screwed over somehow in this story line that ... I was surprised it took so long, actually. I think nothing happened to her until about halfway to about 2/3 of the way through the story.
The story follows the murder and torture of a young woman and her fiance. It seems, as an accountant, she found some discrepancies in a company's books and decided to Nancy Drew it with her fiance. For someone so smart, that is probably the stupidest thing ever.
