I HAZ BOOKS

So a few weeks ago I won a book competition (well sort of the original winner already had the prize) and just this week the prize finally arrived. Almost at the same time through happenstance I was contacted through Goodreads and offered the chance to read and review a detective novel because they found my blog. First off it is pretty cool that authors are coming to look at my blog even though book reviews aren't the sole subject of my blog and even with so many great book blogs out there for all to see. I don't know yet when I will get to the book from the new author except that it will be after finishing Ranger's Apprentice: The Lost Stories my current read. I will discuss the book from the new author in a later post.

In other news I am still preparing for Mists of Pandaria (World of Warcraft) and I am rapidly levelling alts so I can get more professions to maximum level. Along with that I am also rereading and checking a lot of Gold Making Blogs in a bid to improve my bank roll before MOP hits. I honestly don't know how it will go as current money troubles IRL seem to be getting worse and worse so there is a real chance that my access to the Internet let alone to the subscription services of WoW might come to an end.

If that is to be the case, and things are not settled on that score with me applying for jobs left, right and centre and also trying to reduce my costs as much as possible. So hope for good things for me, all I would like is a chance to prove I work well and I hope for good things for you fine readers.

MAY THE FORCE BEND TO YOUR WILL.

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.