Hump Day Classic Movie: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

I am currently raiding my mom's epic stash of monster movies for Halloween movie marathons. Here is one that we watched this week. One that I had, surprisingly, never seen.

While absolutely silly, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is an important one in the history of special effects and science fiction. It is an adaptation of a Ray Bradbury work (the first film made from his work according to the back blurb) AND it has a Ray Harryhausen monster.

The picture at left is a little blurry, so here's what all of those words say:

"The sea's master-beast of the ages—raging up from the bottom of time!"

"They couldn't believe their eyes! They couldn't escape the terror! AND NEITHER WILL YOU!"

"You'll see it tear a city apart!"

Amazon has it in a double movie set, along with THEM! The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

TBR Challenge Review: Under Her Skin by Jeaniene Frost, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook

Format: ebook
Pub Date: October 2010
Publisher: Stories originally published by Running Press in the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance.
Length: 101 pages
FTC: Purchased myself during a sale of some kind

This month's TBR Challenge theme is paranormal or romantic suspense. And, since I spaced the challenge again until exactly two days ago, I decided to scope out my digital TBR for a quick read. I picked this up during a promotional sale some time ago, and promptly forgot about it. Basically, here are three short stories, repackaged from another book. I normally love all three authors, but two out of three of these stories were decidedly underwhelming.

Banned Books Week Sept 30-Oct 6, 2012

Celebrate Your Freedom to Read: September 30-October 6, 2012


Every year, the ALA, the ABA, and book lovers everywhere dedicate a week to highlighting the never ending struggle between intellectual freedom and those who try to curtail that freedom via censorship and book challenges.

Although the US does not have outright bans in the same way found in other countries, there are frequent attempts to limit access to material in public libraries, school libraries, and classrooms. Most often, these are well meaning, if misguided, attempts to "protect" children from potentially disturbing ideas or language.

Many of our most celebrated classics have been challenged and removed from school and classroom libraries based upon their content. This happens every year and all over the country. Some of the states where challenges and removals have occurred may surprise you.

Celebrate your freedom to read this week by spreading the word, writing a letter to the editor to your local paper, or reading a banned book.

Firing of the Anvils

I know I tend to go on (and on) about where I live, but I love it here. The idiosyncrasies that make this area home for me are immeasurable. And the firing of the anvils is one of those quirky, WTF?! things that make this area so awesome.

If you've never heard of anvil firing, you're not alone. Before I moved up here, I hadn't either. It's a Southern thing, apparently. Which makes it extremely unusual to find out west.  And here, instead of replacing fireworks, we use it to signal the start of our annual County Fair Parade. I've blogged about this before, but this year, I GOT VIDEO!

This is a scaled down, "safer" version of the process, but it gives you an idea of what it would be like when people aren't gathered close to the anvils.

My favorite part of the process is when you get tourists. And they have this confuzzled look on their face.  It closely resembles the WTF you see at Heather Graham RT events. Old men haul these heavy anvils into the middle of the road. O...K... Then they do something you can't see, stack them on top of each other, and approach the anvils with a very long stick.

These same tourists are looking around, wondering what is going on, as the locals are plugging their ears.

Because this is what it sounds like when those things go off:



And even though I know the noise is coming, I still jump like a big sissy. (You'll see the camera shake. Feel free to mock me as my family did).

TBR Challenge Review: No Mercy by Lori Armstrong

Format: Mass market paperback
Pub Date: Dec 2010
Publisher: Pocket (Simon and Schuster)
Length: 379
FTC: picked up for free at RT 12

This month's theme is "something other than romance." And since I originally started the blog as a romance AND MYSTERY blog, I thought it was time to review a mystery. Most of my TBR pile is still in boxes from some room switching we did this spring, but I had my RT Convention books handy. And in that pile was No Mercy by Lori Armstrong.

I've read Lori Armstrong in her Lorelei James persona, but wasn't really sure what to expect of her writing as a mystery author. For starters, the styles are nothing at all alike. There are those authors whose books you would recognize regardless of who they are writing as or in whatever genre: Armstrong is not one of them. If I didn't *know* these were written by the same person, I'd never connect the two. Honestly? I prefer the James stories. And not just because they're filled with sexy cowboys and happily ever after.

Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I discovered this recipe via the lovely food blog, Full Fork Ahead. They have adapted it from a Kitchen Aid recipe. My only change is to use a combination of milk chocolate chips and Nestlé semi sweet chunks. These cookies are soft, chewy, don't spread everywhere, and you can't bite into one without getting some chocolate! Imagine kick-ass Keebler Soft Batch without that chemical preservative taste. Mmmm...

You really need a sturdy stand mixer to make these. If you don't have one, you'll have to do these as you normally would,  adding the last of the flour by hand.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use 1 teaspoon to cut down on saltiness)
4 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks (about 1 cup)
6 ounces milk chocolate chips (about 1 cup)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 (just above "stir") and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl with spatula. Turn to speed four (about medium) and beat about 30 seconds more. Stop and scrape bowl with spatula.

Turn to Stir (low) Speed. Gradually add in baking soda, salt and flour to sugar mixture and mix about 2 minutes. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds more. Stop mixer, scrape bowl again. Add in chocolate chips and mix on Stir Speed for 15 seconds.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, or roll into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookie have just started to turn golden brown. Leave on baking sheet for about a minute after removing from oven, then put them on wire cooling racks.

Keep an eagle eye on the cookies because they'll lose their chewy, soft texture if you overbake them.

Review: Howl for It by Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden

Format: Trade Paperback, ebook
Pub Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Kensington Brava
Length: 315 pages
FTC: ARC courtesy of the publisher

I'm weird, but anything with less than 3 stories in one book does not qualify as an anthology for me. It's a two-in-one book (duology?). The first story is the one that really piqued my interest, having become what can only be described as a squeeing fangirl of Shelly Laurenston's books. Her humor just does it for me, but I was curious how she could turn the scariest, most violent character in her series into a hero. We find out in this prequel novella, Like a Wolf with a Bone.

Egbert Ray Smith is one scary guy. Even his own family is leery of him and the ease with which he takes life. But he is also very protective, and those protective instincts take center stage when he saves the youngest Lewis sister, Darla Mae, from an attack. And once he has her in his care, he's reluctant to let her go. Darla, a pastry chef for a ritzy shifter restaurant, is intrigued by this taciturn wolf who is at ease with violence.

The Most Stubborn Fire in the Known Universe

 (Smoke plume, taken by me last week.)

For those who haven't been following the incessant tweets, retweets, links I've been posting on Twitter, here's what's going on: We have one gigantic fire in our area. I am safe, aside from the horrific air quality that has forced everyone to stay indoors since the fire began at the end of last month.

Firefighters are having a heck of a time stopping the north-eastern spread of the fire. And that means it's burned up to the shores of a very popular reservoir camping area and is headed towards some small (I mean tiny) towns. If you are in Northern Nevada or Northern California, you're likely being impacted by the smoke from this fire. It has now burned more than 70 square miles.

Review: Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pub Date: May 2011
Publisher: Avon (Harper Collins)
Length: 374 pages
FTC: Purchased myself

I haven't really loved a Julia Quinn book since somewhere in the middle of the Bridgerton series.  I detested Eloise, Francesca, and Gregory's stories, and was apathetic about most of those novels that came after the series' end. At best, they were fun but forgettable.

Then came Ten Things I Love About You. It is what I consider a turning point for Julia Quinn's writing. Where she gave up any pretense of writing with depth and just churned out cutesy, polished writing with superficial characters and superficial emotion. Deciding to give her one last try, I picked up Just Like Heaven after letting it linger in the TBR for a year. The lingering was on purpose, because I suspected I would be disappointed. Sadly, I was correct.

Recipe: Lemon Yogurt Cake

This is my favorite pick-me-up recipe that doesn't involve chocolate. It has a bright, strong lemon flavor, a spongy, firm texture, and slices beautifully.  This cake received a Best of Division at the county fair least week (I'm totally bragging).  It is that good.

Recipe by Ina Garten. My commentary and adjustments are in italics. Photo is my own.

Lemon Yogurt Cake by Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons) (Microplanes are a godsend!)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Summer in the Mountains

We've been really lucky this year that the fire season has held off. Winter was short and dry, with no snow pack and very little rain.

Our luck ran out  last week, with not one, but TWO fires in our National Forest. One was to the east and quickly contained. The other, with the smoke plume shown here, is currently out of control and burning in a steep, windy canyon about 20 miles west of our little town.

The smoke is so bad that it is affecting the Central Valley of California and Northern Nevada, too.

We have some terrific wildland firefighters out west. And already, we're seeing crews from Nevada and all over California heading in to fight this fire. I'm hoping they get a handle on this quickly, because when the smoke settles in the valleys at night, it's like breathing mud. *fingers crossed*

Goodreads Steps in It

Much of the drama of the last year between authors and reviewers has centered around the Goodreads site. It has been likened to the Wild West or a walk through the bad part of town. There are rules, of a sort, but they are rarely enforced. To date, Goodreads has taken a hands-off approach to both authors commenting, harassing or spamming readers and to reviewers writing snarky reviews, putting misbehaving authors on do-not-buy shelves or otherwise not being nice.

That hands-off approach ended today when Goodreads admitted to hiding reviews and announced "new guidelines" for why they would be hidden.

In the thread started by Ridley titled, Why Has My Review Been Hidden, Community Manager Patrick explains in detail about new changes to a (supposedly) existing policy.

"Our philosophy is that your review is yours to write as you see fit and we're happy to have you express whatever opinions you like in those reviews. They'll always be shown on your profile and be on your shelves, but the book page is ours to curate, and that's something we've been doing since the start of Goodreads. We want to make sure that we're showing the most relevant and most useful reviews on that page. "

I don't know of other reviews being hidden before. It's possible. But call me skeptical given Goodreads' previous hands-off approach.

He also states

"We'll be posting our review guidelines, which clearly spell out what is likely to get a review hidden, in a couple of days."

Nice that they've been working on these guidelines but are enforcing them before making them public.

My favorite one is perhaps this one:

'One of the points in our guidelines will be "review the book and not the author."'

This one gets my goat probably more than anything else in his response. And the reason is because this is the "be professional" mantra of the poor authors complaining about bad reviews. It's straight out of their playbook and gives me a clear indication of where these new rules are headed. And it's not in the direction of open, sincere communication among readers.

If Goodreads wants to sanitize their book pages in order to monetize them, that's their business, obviously. But it seriously undermines my trust in the site. I want to see ALL of the comments about a book on the book page. Not those that Goodreads deems "relevant and useful." Without that openness, the site loses much of its value for me. 

I admit to being disappointed. Goodreads has started a practice that will only grow more cumbersome, more fraught with drama, more irritating as time goes on.

TBR Challenge Review: Wild & Steamy by Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, Carolyn Crane

Format: ebook
Pub Date: August 2011
Publisher: Self published
Length: 48K words
FTC: Purchased myself

Since I tend to know where or how I acquired my print books, I retreated to my digital TBR for help with his month's theme, "How did this get here?"  I'm pretty sure I picked this one up around DABWAHA time, but I honestly can't remember. Close enough!

Anthologies are a fun way to try new authors or to read shorter works by a favorite one. I'm always curious to see how well short stories and novellas fit together both with the theme and with the other authors included. In Wild & Steamy, I have to say not so well. Each author's story was well crafted, but as a whole, it just didn't fit together.

Quickie Review: Wolf Line by Vivian Arend

Format: Ebook
Pub Date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Samhain
Length: novella
FTC: review copy courtesy of the author (via publicist)

I've only read one previous Granite Lake Wolves story by Vivian Arend, but I liked it. And she's a hoot to talk to in person (which I was lucky enough to do at this year's RT convention.)  But this book just didn't click with me.


Jared is running away from a nasty confrontation with the family of an ex-lover. He hitches a ride on a cruise ship, masquerading as a member of the crew. Keri has promised her best friend that she'll help keep this shifter-only cruise running smoothly, but her insane attraction to Jared is just the beginning of problems that crop up. The biggest? There's a thief on board, and evidence seems to point to Jared being the one responsible.

Coming in mid-series is always a problem in the paranormal romance genre, but this one seemed particularly troublesome. I felt like I should already know Jared based on other books, because his character was so thinly drawn in this one. His "disability" was somewhat awkwardly explained, and left me as confused as Keri was. There was humor, but it seemed buried under that 'insta-mate' compulsion that just overwhelmed the rest of the story.

Wolf Line was a steamy, short read, but I never really ended up invested in the characters or their romance. Maybe it's the novella length, maybe it's the lack of tension, but I found the book fun but forgettable. Fans of the series will like it anyway.


My Grade: C

The Blurb:

Into the best-laid plans a little chaos must fall.

Jared’s not sure how his quiet morning coffee near the harbour ended with him on a cruise ship impersonating one of his pack mates. Well, it might have something to do with a woman, but who can blame him? The female of the species was made to love, and he’s more than willing to share his considerable skills in that area. Especially since he figures the chances of meeting his own one-and-only are slim.

Keri Smith is positive the last-minute recruit sneaking aboard the Arctic Wolf Cruise Lines tour is her mate. Ix-nay on confirming that, though, at least for the next ten days. She’s promised her best friend to be overall troubleshooter for the shifter-only cruise. Getting tangled up in mating lust would reduce her skills to nil. Avoidance of the sexy wolf for the duration of the cruise, followed by jumping his bones, seems the logical solution.

But when libidos are on the line, “logic” and “wolves” don’t go together. Throw in suspicions of wrongdoing, and these two virtual strangers will need a lot more than luck to find their way through to forever.

Hump Day Movie: Stand by Me (1986)

While I normally love happy movies, I occasionally like revisiting movies that MOVED me. A movie that stuck with me, even if only parts, will sometimes demand a rewatching. Stand by Me is one of those films.

I never understood quite why this film bothered me until I found out it was based on a Stephen King story. Stephen King freaks me the hell out. Even his works that aren't supposed to. He makes me squirm in an uncomfortable way with his ability to delve deep into human behavior. *creepy*

On the film history angle, the sheer number of future stars contained in this film is astounding. And not just "stars" but TALENTS. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell. I dare you to watch this film and not have some kind of visceral reaction to it. Good or bad.

Hump Day Movie: Flatliners (1990)

This is the movie that makes the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon so easy. Not only does it have Bacon, it has Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, William Baldwin AND Oliver Platt.

This is a relatively tame horror movie despite its R rating, but the sheer number of BIG NAMES in it made it a must-see for me when I was in high school. I think I've seen it maybe once since then. Luckily for us all, it's free to stream for Prime members on Amazon. Woohoo! And it's fairly cheap to purchase, too.

Here's the synopsis:

Are you afraid to die? Kiefer Sutherland isn't. He's an ambitious, charismatic medical student who persuades classmates Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon to take part in a reckless experiment. To see if there is life after death, they will kill themselves: temporarily shut down ("flatline") their heart and brain functions to briefly experience clinical death. After Sutherland survives the first experiment, the others flatline for increasingly longer intervals. But their horror begins when they realize that although they've come back alive... they haven't come back alone. Flatliners is a chilling suspense thriller of obsession, fear and redemption that will take you across the line to a place where terror lives forever. 
 
Oh, and while researching the whole Six Degrees thing I found this little gem on Wikipedia:

According to the Oracle of Bacon website approximately 12% of all actors cannot be linked to Bacon using its criteria (ie. cannot be linked to Bacon no matter how many steps)

Those poor souls...

Summer Vacation!!

Summer if finally here, and the boys are out of school. Surprisingly, this means I might actually get some reading done in between the road trips and plane trips, and jaunts down to the local pool.

So far, we've traveled to New Mexico...

(Camel Rock between Santa Fe and Los Alamos)

And we've taken a road trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park...

Sadly, no time for baking, but I do plan on trying a few recipes before our fair in August.

What is everyone else doing this summer?

TBR Challenge: Saddled and Spurred by Lorelei James

Format: Trade paperback
Pub Date: March 2011
Publisher: Signet
Length: 328 pages
FTC: received at a signing at RT

Late again... but I have an excuse this time. I was on vacation with no access to the internet.

The theme this month was western, and since historical westerns are my least favorite genre, I picked a contemporary that I received at this year's RT Convention. I figured that it's better to whittle from the top, considering how many books I brought home from that trip that ended up languishing in the TBR.

I normally love Lorelei James. Her books are spicy, but always seem to have some excellent characters with real emotion, real problems... Despite what can often be wall to wall sex scenes, I'm never really tempted to skim.  Unfortunately, that was not the case with Saddled and Spurred.

I can't quite figure out what's wrong with this book, except to say that after reading 150 pages of it, I didn't care to read further. It's just completely uninteresting to me. No memorable characters, no real humor or emotion. Nothing to keep me reading further. Very unusual for this author. It could also be the different publisher, because all of the other ones I've read have been published with Samhain.

I'm not sure if that counts as having "read" the book, but I made it about halfway through before throwing in the DNF towel. But at least it's no longer hanging around the old TBR.

Recipe: Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I've only made one previous pound cake, the Blackberry Swirl Poundcake from Martha Stewart. This one is a more traditional one, and I must say makes THE BEST strawberry shortcake ever. But...the ingredients are fat, fat, and more fat, so save this one for when you want to distribute most of it to the neighbors, family, friends...anything to get most of this cake out of the house because it is addicting and way too easy to make.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
dash of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla

Heat over to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour bottom, side and tube of a 10 x 4 inch angel food cake pan or a 12 cup fluted tube cake pan (Bundt®--this is what I used.)

In large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with electrix mixer on medium speed until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended.

Mix flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into pan.

Bake 1 hr 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack*; cook completely, about 1 hr.

*This is a crucial step that I messed up on. I set mine out to cool on a regular pan and the bottom got a little soggy. There is a lot of residual moisture in the cake, so a wire rack is important!

Hump Day Movie: Man From Snowy River (1982)

[Photo: ©1982 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]

 This is one movie from the 1980s that I think those of us born in  the late 1970s and early 80s got heartily sick of. It was on TV every time you turned around for decades. But I haven't seen it in a long time, and since it's a Disney movie, thought it might work for something to watch with the boys.

The good news: the makeup screams 1980s, but other than that, it's still very watchable.

My favorite part of The Man from Snowy River, besides the lovely scenery, is Kirk Douglas. I just loved him in anything he ever did. Especially when they gave him a quirky role (or two) in a movie that let him have a bit of fun.

This is a WESTERN. It's set in Australia, but has every genre convention found in just about every western movie ever made. Coming of age, overcoming adversity, falling in love with the boss's daughter...you name it, it's here. The Man From Snowy River is worth revisiting. If only to get that famous film score stuck in your head for weeks.