Trixi Thursday

Trixi Thursday

Trixi Thursday

Left-Handers’ Day 2008 – Celebrate your right to be left-handed

The right-hand sister wishes the left-hand sister a very Happy Left-Handers’ Day!

If you are left-handed or have left-handed pals, you can visit the official Left-Handers’ Day 2008 site to find out more on how to celebrate this special day and download free left-handed posters :) .

How To Be A Villain by Neil Zawacki

For all you wanna be Evil-Doers out there, this book is a must read. Neil Zawacki ‘s How To Be A Villain helps you discover and develop your inner talent of being malicious, power-hungry, and/or insane. His book starts off with a simple test to answer what those voices inside your head have been asking, “Am I Evil?” including questions such as:

How do you start your morning?
A. Rise at six, shower while humming chipper tune
B. Perform vigorous knee bends and enjoy bracing five-mile jog
C. Hit the snooze alarm until hopelessly late for work
D. Sip a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, plot the downfall of civilization

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A. Police Officer
B. Doctor
C. Ballerina
D. Supreme dark overlord of all mankind, or a lawyer

Once you have determined if you possess the qualities to be a villain, you are ready to begin your journey down the destructive path of darkness with Zawacki’s book to help guide you along the way. He covers how to determine your underlying evil motives (greed, revenge, insanity or evil by nature), the importance of evil branding (evil name, slogan, jingle, logo, etc.), developing your evil laugh, choosing your sinister lair, deciding on your method of mayhem, how to select your henchmen, thwarting the forces of good, and the right fashion for your particular bedlam. But it does not end there my disturbing friends, also included is The Evil Plan Generator. This simple fill-in the blank form will assist you in constructing your own diabolical plan to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world.

Once you have successfully become a Villain, I highly recommend Zawacki’s second book, The Villain’s Guide to Better Living, for better evil home design, evil health, evil work, evil social life, and evil travel.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

What book should one read when getting to go see the fantasico comedian Eddie Izzard? Well I am sure there are several, but I highly recommend the Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

It is a story about Armageddon, demons, angels, and prophecies. The world is going to end this Saturday; the Divine Plan has been set in motion. However, you know that old saying “The best-laid plans of mice and men/often go awry,” or in this case “The best-laid prophecies of the Almighty and the Prince of Darkness for the end of the world may not quite go as foretold.” Yes, it seems that a certain demon and his angel pal, who have been living amongst us humans, aren’t too keen on giving up their current life-style. Couple that with an aging sergeant of the Witchfinder Army and a spiritual guide on a motor scooter along with the four horsemen on Harleys, and of course, the end of the world would not be complete without at least one UFO encounter, you could see where perhaps things might not go as expected. Oh, then there is the small issue of misplacing the Antichrist, but hey, sometime these things happen.

Like the back of the cover says, “What’s so funny about Armageddon? More than you’d think....” Good Omens is a hard-to-put-down LOL read to the very end.

Trixi Thursday

Eddie Izzard

My sister and I treated ourselves to a night on the town last Wednesday night with dinner at the Paramount Cafe and then a EDDIE IZZARD show!! It was fantastico!

With bits on Noah's Arc and The Ten Commandments, he exceeded our expectations and added about 20 more laugh lines to our faces. I hope he will come back for future shows considering the record breaking heat here in Denver (going on 22+ days over 90 degrees, and a handful of those have been over 100). But despite the heat we had an awesome time and can't wait until the DVD comes out to relive the hysterical magic!

Trixi Thursday

The Sandman (Vol. 7): Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman

That’s right, two of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels in one week. In Vol. 7: Brief Lives, Delirium, the youngest of the Endless decides that she wants to find her older brother, Destruction, who left the family and his responsibilities 300 years ago. She first goes to her sisters Desire and Despair but they refuse to help her in her quest. She then goes to her brother Dream and to her surprise he agrees to accompany her on a journey through the waking world to locate their long lost brother. What starts out as a trip to bring things back to the way they were, ends up changing The Endless forever.

The last couple of volumes our tall dark dream man only had cameos where in this volume he was the leading man. It is a fast read for me as I was anxious to see what the final destination of their journey had in store for them...I was not disappointed.

Trixi Thursday

GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest

On the Monster Librarian blog they announced a contest from GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) magazine, who I had recently added as a friend on Goodreads. What a small cyber world we live in. GUD magazine is full of entertaining stories, art and poetry. The Issue 3 Pre-launch Buzz Contest is basically what I am doing here. You post about their contest with a link back to the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post, then leave a comment on the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post that you did in fact post on their the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, then you will be entered to win a full set of GUD, Hardcopy Issues 0-3.

They are also offering 2 bonuses. Bonus #1 is the first 10 entries win a PDF of Issue 3, and sorry, but my guess is that train has long since taxied and taken off the runway. However, Bonus #2 is if you create an account by signing up you get a freebie from Issue 3. Hopefully I will not get in trouble for this, but my freebie was a short story The Dragon’s Thorn, Sword of Kings [& Fred]. I am currently reading The Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and I thought this story had a bit of that Pratchett humor in it. The story was a fun and amusing quick read. But, here is where I let the cat out of the bag or should I say bat, and how they are going to lure you in. Oh yes, that cool looking cover you see above...is a diagram of a steam bat model! And they say they have instructions on page 205 of the magazine. If that doesn’t cry hours of electrifying entertainment I don’t know what does?

Please go take a look at their site, if you don’t want to take part in the Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, you can still sign-up for an account, read your free sample story, get hooked and then back for the full issue (which is also available in a PDF downloadable format).

Hmmm, wonder if there are any steam bat races? Because I am sure with a few minor tweaks, steam bat model could easily be turned into the super turbo steam bat model. Though I am sure liability waivers would have to be signed.

The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman

I am continuing in making my way through Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Volumes, not exactly in order mind you, but I have been able to follow along with out any issues. In fact that is the wonderful thing about Sandman, though all intertwined, the stories can also stand on their own.

In the A Game of You, we find Barbie, who we first met in the The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House, living in a grungy city apartment building with a colorful cast of eccentric neighbors. The story would have been interesting enough just following the lives of this motley crew, but it also moves us back and forth from the warped world of this urban apartment to a dream realm of talking animals, a mystical stone, and an the evil Cuckoo. A bird? Perhaps. We do see glimpses of the Dream Lord, Morpheus, through out the book, but the story centers mainly on Barbie and her two worlds. Neil Gaiman’s books are always filled with surprises and unexpected turns and this one is no different. And as I have found with all the Sandman Volumes I have read, the artwork and design is out of this world.

Trixi Thursday

More Coloring Sheets

At the Starbucks reading last week we had a few requests for coloring sheets with the dancing skeleton and alas we did not have any, BUT we do now! I just added to my web page, icatsnitram.com, not only the dancing skeleton, but the flying rat, circus tent and two puzzles. If there are any other Willow May characters that you would love to color, please let me know and I will see what I can do to also add them on my web page.

Starbucks KinderCare Reading

The illustrator and I did a reading to a group of KinderCare children at Starbucks last Thursday. It was kind of like a summer field trip for them and it was cute as they all wore shirts that had “Summer Adventure” across the front. Of course listening to Willow May is always an adventure. After the reading we handed out coloring sheets, crayon boxes with character stickers on them, buttons and temporary tattoos. Starbucks handed out a slushy lemonade drink with a snack. It was a great bunch of kids, so polite and well behaved. I want to thank Anna at Starbucks and KinderCare for giving us the opportunity to entertain them a beautiful summer morning. The day before we were having 100 mph wind gust (perhaps exaggerated), but just a light breeze Thursday morning, and we finished right before the 100-degree hotness set in for the day. There are more photos on the publisher’s website if you want to take a look.

Trixi Thursday

Castle Waiting By Linda Medley

I just finished another graphic novel from Fantagraphics Books, Castle Waiting written and illustrated by Linda Medley. What I thought was going to end up being a retelling of the classic fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty, in graphic novel form, turned out to be much more. Oh, it still had castles, magic, mystical creatures, and happily ever after's. But not how, where or who you were expecting. All through the book I kept thinking I knew where the story line was leading, but it kept taking engaging twist and turns. I was pleasantly surprised all the way to the end. Castle Waiting is full of colorful characters, humor, and intriguing storytelling. At 457 pages, the hardcover book looks like an old fashion novel that was misplaced on the shelf with the rest of the graphic novels. Medley’s entertaining illustrations are a perfect compliment to her stories. I must say not only was it a fun book to read, but also looked quite charming on the nightstand.

The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country consist of 4 stories plus a bonus treat at the end. The first story, Calliope, is about a novelist who has become void of ideas. Desperate to write again, he makes a bargain to enslave a muse to consume her for his own inspiration. In A Dream of a Thousand Cats, a broken-hearted but brave Siamese ventures to the land of dreaming seeking out the Cat of Dreams for revelation. Warning to cat lovers, the beginning of this story is harsh and intense, but if you can make it through that, I think you will enjoy the ending. Next the Sandman invites his friends from the world of Faerie to join him for an enchanted performance in the World Fantasy Award-wining A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The final story does not have our Dream Man, but instead his sister Death. Façade is about a lonely and isolated soul who is tired of living behind the masks. All four are fast-pace intriguing tales.

At the end they included Neil Gaiman’s script for Calliope with a few of his written comments. Since I am currently working on a graphic novel, I found the script both fascinating and highly amusing.

Trixi Thursday

The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett, illustrated by Paul Kidby

In my usual unintentional fashion of doing stuff, this is the first Terry Pratchett Discworld book I have read, which would be the last one in the series. But even not having an earlier introduction to the characters, I enjoyed it immensely.

Cohen the Barbarian gathers his "mature" friends to embark on one final quest. They are going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and return to the gods what the first hero stole. Only problem is that will mean the end of the world. Thus Lord Vetinari of Ankh-Morpork, a band of wizards, a soldier, an inventor/painter and an orangutan librarian must come up with a plan to stop Cohen before it is too late.

There were several LOL’s when I was reading this book, very tongue and cheek. Coming from the corporate world I loved the definition of workshop - "the means by which people who don't know anything get together to pool their ignorance." I also loved the Chair of Indefinite Studies Wizard, who once determined there was a definite problem dismissed himself because that was not his field.

Fun illustrations through out the book, including detail diagrams of the swamp dragons, which proved very interesting.

I will now have to go catch myself up with the first of the Discworld series.

New Lawn Boy

I will be honest about our new lawn boy. We never know when he is going to show up, and when he does we never know for how long or what work will get done (besides the digging up of our strawberry plants). However, he can work a weed trimmer.

Trixi Thursday

"The Pout"

Delphine #1

Just finished another graphic novel by Richard Sala from Fantagraphics Books. Delphine No. 1 is a retelling of the fairy tale Snow White from the perspective of the “prince” in a more modern, uh, unusual setting. A university student goes looking for the young co-ed, Delphine, who left to take care of her sick father. A vague address leads him to a rustic village surrounded by a dark and foreboding forest. He stops at an eerie wig shop to ask for directions that end up leading him deeper into the mystery. Several times during the book I would say to myself, “Oh, I would not do that if I was you.” But needless to say he does and finds himself in some frightening places with worrisome characters. A total cliffhanger at the end, and yes, I will now have to get Delphine No. 2 to find out what happens.

Mouse Guard Fall 1152

The Mouse Guard Fall 1152, an Eisner and Foreword Award Winner, written and illustrated by David Petersen, is a collection of the Series 1 Mouse Guard comic books. This graphic novel was written for children but also entertaining for adults. The Mouse Guard was formed to protect the mice against the world’s harsh conditions and predators, but who knew their greatest enemy would be from within. A traitor mouse threatens to bring down their villages and the Guard itself. The illustrations are bold and detailed giving life to the majestic territories of the mice. Though the premise of little warrior mice may seem cute, these mice are fierce fighters and their battles are intense. I found the book an entertaining adventure and quick read. I am looking forward to the sequel, The Mouse Guard Winter 1152, due out at the end of this year.