Ladies and Gents, meet Gale and Peeta!

When the folks over at Lionsgate want to release a new promotional photo for The Hunger Games, they do it in style.

“Guardian of the Gate” by Michelle Zink

 
Title: Guardian of the Gate
Series: Prophecy of the Sisters, #2/3
Author: Michelle Zink
Read Date: 7 January 2011
Goodreads Status Updates: Click here.
Review in a nutshell: A solid mythology will get you anywhere… like magical islands, for example.

LUCID

My friend Karen Kunawicz was lucky enough to have attended the 2011 San Diego Comic Con. I asked her if she can pass by the Archaia Comics booth to pick up a copy of Michael McMillian’s LUCID for me when she has the time.

Hey, George, are you feeling murderous today?

 

And in the “Game of Thrones” panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, George R.R. Martin said: “I just tell myself it’s not me killing them, it’s the other characters.”

“White Cat” by Holly Black

Title:  White Cat
Series:  The Curse Workers, #1
Author:  Holly Black
Read Date:  7 February 2011
Goodreads Status Updates:  Click here.
Review in a nutshell:  “Clever as the devil and twice as pretty,” but not Sharpe enough.

“Harry Potter, The Boy Who Will Live Forever”

Here’s the link to my new article at GMA News Online – Lifestyle: Harry Potter, the boy who will live forever.

Wizarding Geometry

If I didn’t know the answer, I’d probably write the same thing.

Note: Someone on Google+ shared this, but with no attribution. The image originated from Tumblr.

Time-out for TV: Exercising the Constitutional Right to ‘Thon

True Blood Season 4 Episode 1:  Look who became the King of Louisiana!  Haha! I knew it!  I called it just days after the season 3 finale.  But what the hell was that Faerie thing about?!

Leave them to exercise their constitutional right to behave like idiots.  -Pam

True Blood Season 4 Episode 2:  Aunt Petunia as Marnie Stonebrook is just surreal (in a good way).  But although the story is now very far from Dead To The World, the new twists are rather interesting.  No matter where Alan Ball decides to take this, I’m just happy they still pursued Amnesia!Eric.  I can’t wait to see the next episode!  Will ASkars be sporting the infamous red underwear?  I’m definitely staying tuned.

Who would you rather trust: a vampire or a politician? -Eric

In other news:  I shouldn’t have started the Game of Thrones pilot at 1:30 in the morning.  The urge to continue watching the rest of the episodes was almost overwhelming.  Now I can feel a migraine coming on.

Meme: My Life According To Books I’ve Read

I answered this meme over at my old Livejournal two years ago, and I thought it would be fun to revisit it and post my updated contribution here.

Using only books you have read this year (I shall cheat and include my 2010 books to increase the odds of providing a better answer), cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title.

• Describe Yourself:  A Great and Terrible Beauty (humor me. )
• How do you feel:  Geektastic
• Describe where you currently live:  The Final Empire
• If you could go anywhere, where would you go:  The Red Pyramid
• Your favorite form of transport:  Leviathan
• Your best friend is:  Emma
• You and your friends are:  Rebel Angels
• What’s the weather like:  Shiver
• Favourite time of day:  The Secret Hour
• If your life was a:   State of Fear  (I don’t really get this question.)
• What is life to you:  The Little Endless Storybook
• Your fear:  Dead To The World
• What is the best advice you have to give:  Linger (the best choice considering my list!)
• Thought for the Day:  Pride and Prejudice (it’s a stretch.)
• How I would like to die:  The Lost Hero (well, not quite lost…)
• My soul’s present condition:  Passion

Feel free to answer it yourself and pass it on!

Sam and Grace Versus The Seasons

 
My first thought after reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater was: I was glad the book isn’t trying to be something other than what it really is, which is a teenage romance.  Yes, there is a fantasy element, but that is more of a backdrop and a source of conflict.  There is no huge, detailed fantasy world the protagonists had to play in, and that is refreshing for something from the teen paranormal romance genre.

Shiver is the first book in Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.  It introduces Grace, a girl with a fascination for the wolves that appear in the woods near her house every winter, and Sam, a boy who is fascinated with Grace, but who has to live the challenging double life of a werewolf.  Don’t worry, that last part isn’t a spoiler, as it’s something that is revealed in the first few pages of the novel.

Elven Name Game

I’ve been using the name “Almeldiel” around cyberspace since 2002.  It is currently my username on Twitter and here on WordPress.

For those who have been wondering where it came from (or even if you’re not, I will force this story on you ):  One of the members of The Philippine Tolkien Society studies Quenya, or High-Elven, one of the languages of J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves.  Rashbold’s knowledge is truly impressive, and he is widely regarded as an expert in it.

Once, when we were talking about name translations in the message group, he offered to derive Elven names from our real names, and this is what he made of mine:

“The Hunger Games”: 23 March 2012

They made a Motion Poster version of it too. WordPress unfortunately won’t let me embed it here, but here’s the link:

http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/motionPoster/THG_MoPo.swf

I gotta admit that Motion Poster is worthy of The Hunger Games Opening Ceremonies; it’s like Cinna designed it himself!