WEB COMIC REVIEWS

Hey people I thought it was about time to discuss one of my Top Three things to waste away my time on the Internet - Web Comics. Regular readers should know that my favourite webcomic is Questionable Content set in an alternate world with AIs and all sorts of fun stuff set mostly at a Cafe. You can check it out here, be prepared though to sit through a good 200 pages in one setting because it is that addictive.

Another one of my top web comics which unfortunately is no longer being regularly updated is UserFriendly.org the story of a small Internet provider and its crazy assortment of staff members. If you haven't already read it there is like 4 or 5 years worth of back issues to get through which are often hilarious and sometimes touching.

An up and coming web comic that I am nearly caught up on is Between Failures which is about the staff of a DVD, Book and game chain store. This seems to be a bit of a running theme in web comics centering them around a place of business which is understandable when it works out this well.

So there are some web comics you might want to check out thanks for reading.

So I have been checking out a couple of new shows recently one of which has received a fair amount of buzz. Fairly Legal is a new legal drama starring Sarah Shahi which is just coming around for its second season. I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this but after a few episodes it is definitely growing on me, in general terms it is a legal drama but it is based around a former lawyer turned mediator. This is a giant leap from her character on Life which is where I first saw her. The show also features Michael Trucco whom you may recognise from Battlestar Galactica. So if you want something a little more serious than Ally McBeal and have been missing your legal fix ever since then give this ago though I should warn you no one has sung so far.

The other show I have started is the Iron Man Anime which is part of a set of sorts including X-Men and Blade. I have watched the X-Men series and was very much underwhelmed by it but I thought given how different the two titles are perhaps there might be something worth checking out in it. I was right by my reckoning Iron Man Anime is a superior series to X-Men. Definitely worth checking out. Oh and one Senator Nathan Petrelli provides the voice of Tony Stark.

So those are two shows that you might like.

BOOK REVIEW - The Dead Girl's Dance

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

This review is part of the Morganville Vampires Reading Challenge of 2012 which you can learn all about here.

The Dead Girls’ Dance is the second book of the Morganville Vampires series and is written by Rachel Caine. The book is published by Allison & Busby and was released on the 7^th of April 2008.

PLOT

Claire, Michael, Shane and Eve just want a bit of peace and quiet around Glass House. They thought that when Amelie gave them protection, everything would be ok, but that was until Shane's Dad, Frank, turned up. Amelie's deal was that no more trouble would be caused but Frank is trouble with a capital T. He doesn't mess around with stating his intentions, he wants revenge on the vampires or anyone who looks remotely like one for the deaths of his daughter and wife. Unfortunately for Michael, being a ghost doesn't do him any favours. 

With Frank threatening Amelie's protection, Claire and her friends must figure out a way to stop Frank and his thug sidekicks before he ruins everything that they have worked for. They manage to stay out of trouble for a couple of days but then Brandon, a well known vampire is found dead and all fingers point to Shane and his Dad (who is no where to be seen) so Shane ends up taking the rap for the whole thing, being sentenced to death by fire. 

Claire, Michael and Eve need to think of a way to save Shane and fast. In two days he's going up in flames. Will they be able to do it?

WHAT I THOUGHT

It is hard to keep up the awesomeness that was Glass Houses I don’t know if I thought that the first time I read through because I just loved the world of Morganville and I knew I had the next three just waiting for me to my hands on them. One thing I really like about this series is that it is just one big book, a connected stream of narrative chronicling the adventures of Claire and the gang. The action is intense and we learn more about Morganville and how things work especially about the differences between Morganville residents and the TPU campus and students.

We knew from Glass Houses that Morganville is a dangerous place but I think The Dead Girls’ Dance takes that information and smacks us over the head with it. All through it you get the idea that one little mistake in that place is roughly equal to one little mistake while juggling chainsaws. This book has a lot more than you would think at first glance the political power struggle, the struggle to find a sense of belonging and a great buddy story theme running all the way through. You can see how the central cast relate to each other and you can see it is real friendship the stuff that rides the good and the bad and endures.

One more thing I would like to talk about is a little theory I came up with when I considered The Dead Girls’ Dance again and that is the idea of Good VS. Evil. I don’t consider the vampires to be the real Evil in the Morganville Vampires universe sure they do bad things but that is in their nature most of the time. They do things because otherwise they would starve, they do things because they have to keep the humans scared otherwise they would rebel and kill every last one of them.

Then we come to Monica Morrell, to me she is the real evil in these first few books, it takes a special kind of person to throw another down the stairs and then to order a rape on the same girl suggests that she might be a sociopath. It is one of the few books I have read recently that gave me the chills when I stop and think about it.

Still this book and this series combine a few horror moments with a lot of action and adventure and some of the snarkiest dialogue this side of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I recommend The Dead Girls’ Dance and Morganville Vampires.

World of Warcraft - How I Make MY Gold

Worth a post to quickly sketch out the things I have been doing recently to make money on my new server. First you should know that I only have one level 85 and the next highest character just got to 65 so in my case fun things like the obsidium shuffle are out.

1. Savage Leather. In my opinion the first character you get to 85 should be a skinner it jut makes dollars and sense, or silver and gold in this case. On my server prices of Savage Leather are pretty static with them going for 110-130 a stack most of the time which is easy money. I tend to farm in Tol Barad from the spiders or gators while waiting for LFR or a random dungeon to pop. You could also try questing in the underwater zone as so much there is skinnable and pretty fast to kill. 
2. Frostweave Cloth. Found this out as I was both collecting it for my tailor who is level 65 and about to burn through them and also because I am going for the Crusader title so spending a lot of time in Icecrown. If you're not using the cloth yourself I have been able to sell them for 80g a stack.
3. Enchant materials. I have a Tailor/Enchanter so levelling one makes for a lot of enchant materials, more than you will need just because of the utterly annoying way that enchanting requires the more rare of essences and random weird white items to level once you get past 150. I found illusion dust to be a good seller.

And that is pretty much it do to the lack of professions when I was levelling my first character on this server to 85. Still by the end of things I managed to get to 10k by the time I managed to make my character eligible for LFR and that was with a decent amount of investing into gear and enchants so I would not disgrace myself.

UPDATE

Comic Book Men the story of Kevin Smith's comic store in New Jersey, Jay and Silent Bob's Silent Stash. I've been checking this out and it is a lot of fun seemingly based on a podcast by the look of the pilot. It is just a bunch of guys sitting around talking about comics. Plus you get people coming in selling or trying to sell their comics. Definitely worth a watch.

Totally by chance I decided to take a chance on a movie called Triple Dog, great film the review should be up on the blog in the not too distance future. I noticed it through IMDB when I was looking up information on Janel Parrish who I had seen on Pretty Little Liars might no.1 guilty pleasure.

Other things currently on my mind are a lack of of full time jobs I am seeing a lot of jobs offering hours under 26 hours which for anyone living by themselves would be totally unworkable. It seems that is an effect of the current economic climate but it just doesn't seem fair to me, hard enough finding a job when you have to filter out nearly half of them because they don't pay enough.

Anyway I hope things are going well for my readers no one likes stress oh and before I forget I am trying my best to finish a new short story and really get back into writing again, yes outside of NANOWRIMO because I really want it to be a proper hobby and I want at the end of the year to be able to point to at least two five thousand word short stories that I think don't suck written by yours truly. Perhaps with a girl nom-de-plume if that is how you right it.

LATERS.

TV SHOWS - The L.A. Complex

The L.A. Complex is a Canadian drama series chronicling the lives of six sexy young performers living in an apartment block all trying their best to realise their dreams of stardom. We follow the ups and downs in their lives as things don’t work out as planned as they attend acting auditions, comedy gigs and work in the studio.


The show has been picked up by the CW in the US and is shown on MuchMusic in Canada. The first season consists of 6 episodes each lasting 45 minutes in duration.


WHAT I THOUGHT
How to describe the L.A. Complex? I will start by saying it was one of the best series I have seen, it is equal parts compelling and gritty. I hesitate to use the word gritty with its sometimes negative consequences but that is what it is, a lot of shows aimed at the teen/young adult market will show sometimes show the more negative aspects of life, drink drugs etc but the LA Complex pulls no punches and shows us exactly how dark things can be.

It just feels more realistic than other shows in the genre. The acting is incredible and the storylines excellent. I really wasn’t sure when I started that I would be a fan it was more a referral from one of the stars of the show combined with the fact that two of my favourite shows of the past couple years were Canadian made (Lost girl and Endgame if you were wondering). I was impressed by what I saw characters with depth, something which was apparent even in the first episode which is rare.


Another thing that this show doesn’t shy away from is controversy I think there is a fair amount in here that Hollywood wouldn’t be overly enamored with. The idea of a gay hip hop star was not something that I thought of but is definitely something that would cause a stir much like the fact that there has only been one professional footballer in the UK to come out as being gay. The spectre of mental health issues is interestingly handled but more alluded to than anything else.


So to sum up, should you watch The L.A. Complex? Yes I think you will find a lot more than you bargained for with a story that goes a lot deeper than most shows that you may be tempted to compare this with. Should it come back for a second series, hell yes if the networks on both sides of the border know what is good for them then we will see more of this engaging series.

BOOK REVIEW - My Soul To Save by Rachel Vincent

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

IT IS PART OF FITKSHUN'S SOUL SCREAMERS READING CHALLENGE

My Soul to Save is the second book in the Soul Screamers Series and was written by Rachel Vincent. It is published in the UK by Mira Books and was released on 18^th February 2011. My review for the first Soul Screamers novel can be read here.

PLOT

When teenager Kaylee screams, someone dies...So when teen pop star Eden dies onstage and Kaylee doesn't wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can't cry for someone who has no soul. The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad's ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend's loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls: a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld - a consequence they can't possibly understand. Kaylee can't let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting 

her own at risk.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I loved the previous two instalments of Soul Screamers (in addition to the first novel there is a free prequel novella) so I went into this book right after listening to the first two full of enthusiasm for the series and wondering what would happen next. The very first thing that grabbed me was it didn’t go where I expected bringing Tod to the fore which can only be a good thing after his cameo in the first book.

I really like Rachel Vincent’s writing as it feels very real to me and in that way I feel like you almost fall into the book and it leaves you caring about the characters and for the most part you understand their motivations.

I can’t review this book without talking about the things that irked me about the book and that is some of the decisions that Kaylee makes. The one that springs to mind is when they are trying to convince Addison’s sister of the utter foolishness of giving away her soul they try to talk her around instead of the obvious step of having Addison remove her magical contacts and scare the ever loving life out of her. To me there is no reason in the world why that shouldn’t have occurred to at least one of them after all there is no sense in sugar coating things.

One of the things that did keep me reading was Nash calling Kaylee on her Superman complex and the danger she places herself in when she doesn’t have to. You could call it honourable but she really puts herself out there for Todd and suffers the consequences. I don’t like Kaylee just some aspects of her personality irk me and her awe of Nash is never going to make for a truly healthy relationship.

Now we come to Tod our intrepid reaper. After this episode I am not entirely sure how I feel about him, while I can understand his intentions and the fact that Addison has awaken something in him that he was beginning to lose that is no excuse to sell one of your friends down the river especially in a way that you knew was potentially lethal. At the very least you could characterise him as manipulative at the most you could call into question whether he even care for Kaylee.

I can’t finish the review without mentioning the whole allusion lambasting of the extremely Disney like corporation at the centre of this conspiracy for selling soul. I don’t know if Rachel Vincent was beaten up by a Mickey Mouse actor at Disneyland but there are certainly some old scars there. I don’t know how anyone could hold a grudge against the company who brought us Ashley Tisdale.

So in the end I have to give a mixed review taking another step into Soul Screamers world is an enjoyable experience but there were just a few things here and there that niggled at me but nothing that would stop me making this series one of the ones to watch.