Spotlight List: Superhero Movies

* Meme by Small Review *

Superhero Movies

The Incredibles (2004) picked by Silvestro

Electra (2005) picked by Nina

Kick Ass (2010) picked by Athanasia

Thor (2011) picked by Yiota (it's my 2nd choice. 1st was Kick Ass as well)

Batman Returns (1992) picked by Johnny

What's your favorite Superhero movie?

TV Series Review: Alphas (Season 1)

Alphas is an action-packed thriller from writers Zak Penn (The Avengers, X-Men: The Last Stand) and Michael Karnow. In the series, five ordinary people are brought together to form one extraordinary team of Alphas -- people with the unique power to stretch the capabilities of the human mind giving them superhuman physical and mental abilities.

REVIEW:
Imagine Alphas as Heroes combined with CSI-style-story. In those series instead of random people, we follow a doctor along with a team of Alphas (people with special abilities), working for the government and searching for other Alphas and later a team of terrorists Alphas, called Red Flag.

The series started with some interesting but slow episodes. Mostly doing an introduction to the most complicated main alphas. Well actually everyone except Nina who doesn't have something extremely special in here life. Later it goes on, with more info at the main story with the Red Flag organization (and immediately becoming more action pack and exciting) and some various episodes of simple Alphas hunting.

Now, i do liked Heroes. But Alphas is way better than it. The mystery, investigations, the action, the hunting, the plot, even then abilities are all better created. I liked how the people with abilities were no perfect and had drawbacks in their lives. Or as a result of their or a power negative thing. The acting is way better as well. Except David Strathairn, everyone else is pretty much a new to me but it was definitely one of the greatest acting in series this year. They have put so much effort in the series and you can see clearly the results of their job.

Another great surprise was the various guest stars at each episode like Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope), Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly), Alaina Huffman (Stargate Universe), Rebecca Mader (Lost), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) and Peter Wingfield (Caprica), etc.
There was also a crossover episode with Warehouse 13 where Lindsay Wagner appears in Alphas in her role as the doctor of Warehouse 13.


Alphas is for me one of the best series i watched this year. It started slowly but it literally exploded in the 2nd half of the season. Syfy has already re-new the show for a 2nd season and i do hope to keep it alive for a while or even give it more episodes as well. A show which i totally recommend to everyone who like that kind of style.


Cast: David Strathairn ( The Bourne Ultimatum & Emmy winner), Ryan Cartwright (Bones, Mad Men), Warren Christie (True Justice), Azita Ghanizasa (General Hospital: Night Shift), Laura Mennel (Watchmen), Malik Yoba (Cool Runnings), Mahershala Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Valerie Cruz (True Blood)

House of Night Series: Hunted, Review

What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil, and all he wanted is you? At the start of this haert-pounding new installement of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey's friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledginngs aren't Neferet's secret any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesn't want to hear and truths she can't face?


REVIEW:
This is the 5th book of the House of Night series. For once more we follow Zoey Redbird's point of view, as she struggles between being a powerful fledging vampire and being a teenager.

The story starts exactly were the previous book ends. Zoey and all her friends, including Stevie Rae, other red vampires, Afrodite and her Warrior boyfriend, Darius, are leaving the House of Night and head to the tunnels were the red vampires leave. They are living behind a mess, with Stark back from the dead and ready to fight on Neferet's side and Kalona outside his prison and seeking for revenge. Zoey doesn't only have to find out what to do and how she's going to fix this, but to keep her friends and family safe as well as her personal relationships in order.

Well, there are things in the book that are a little annoying and most of them seemed meaningless in all the chaos going on around the city. While Kalona is back and brainwashing all the remaining students in the House of Night, Zoey is worrying about the health of her best friend, which is normal, how she and her friends are going to settle down in the tunnels and how they are going to survive. In addition to that, there is Kalona, who somehow enters Zoey's dreams and tries to seduce her, because he believes she's A-ya, which is slightly disturbing, because there are already two other guys who want to be with her. How many guys can want one girl??

The whole book, even if it has the same amount of pages is staying put. Little things are happening, which you can count on the fingers of your one hand, but there are so many dialogues, which no matter how funny and easy and relaxing they made the book, were pointless. I was reading and reading and by the end of the day, there was no progress.

The good thing is that, at last, we meet some of the red vampires. Two of them stuck into my mind. The first is Kramisha. She has the power to see the future and code it into poems. Her name reminded me of Misha from My Love Affair With Books, one of the blogs I was visiting often to find inspiration. The second is Johnny B (Yeah, he has the same name as our blogger). Even though the fictional Johnny B looks nothing like the real one, I couldn't stop but think of him every time the fictional's name was mentioning in the book.

Bottom line, it wasn't the best of the series, but if you follow it, then consider it as a chapter to the whole story.

In My Mailbox - September 2011

Meme by The Story Siren

Okay..let's see if i remember what everyone bought :p

Anonymous Minion F:
A Feast For Crows by George Martin - gift
A Dance With The Dragons by George Martin - gift

Nina:
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia - gift

Johnny:
The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures Graphic Novel - gift
The King's Buccaneer by Raymond Feist - gift
Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud - gift
Bookmarks

Silvestro:
A Dragon necklace 
GetGlue Stickers

Athanasia:
Traveling Guide for Vienna - bought
Mechanics of the Mind by Colin Blakemore - bought
Swag of bookmarks

Yiota (i'm on a ban....:'( )
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake - won at vvb32
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick - bought (2nd hand)
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead - bought
Bartimeus: The Amulet of Samarkad by Jonathan Stroup - gift
Bookmarks & my getglue stickers

What did you get this week? Leave your links at the comments :)

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 24−October 1, 2011

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; and PEN American Center also signed on as sponsors.
For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events, Ideas and Resources, and the new Banned Books Week site. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.

Source: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

In the ALA site (link above), our facebook notes and tumblr page you can find list and reasons of banned or challenged books. In honor of this week, if you want to buy a book pick on of those and support them!

We Watch This Fall

Once again the "Watch This Fall" post is back. The post started a little different but it was too huge so had to change it again. I decided to put only the posters of the series we will watch this fall (not included series who start on January or March). I guess for 90% of them you will see reviews at the end of the season.

Which Series are you watching this fall? Any recommendations?

3 to 1 Movies' Reviews

Amber is a mean but popular girl who gets electrocuted and dies. She is not allowed to enter into heaven unless she helps the least popular girl in school become Prom Queen within a week, but things do not go as planned.

REVIEW:
Is it bad that i missed high school related movies? Now days we see only paranormal stuff, and i missed those cliche movies with popular and mean girls. Anyway, as you see Teen Spirit is that kind of a movie. It's actually really funny and i like the whole concept of the popular girl who dies and then tries to help the unpopular one. Through the movie you see how both learn things about life and they change and see what's more important to life. And the popular girl in the end, is not still a bitch.
The movie could easily be in the cinemas as well. It's really well done for a TV movie. Nice directing, nice acting, nice combination of music. It deserves more.
So yeah...it's something we have seen before but can you say you don't like that kind of films? I totally recommend it for a light evening with your girlfriends.

When spoiled brat rich kid Poppy (Emma Roberts) pushes her father (Aidan Quinn) too far with her reckless spending and outlandish behavior, he ships the Malibu princess off to a strict English all-girls boarding school. Under the watchful eye of a no-nonsense headmistress (Natasha Richardson), Poppy is forced to keep her attitude in check and live within a set of boundaries and limitations for the first time in her life.

REVIEW: This is an old movie but i was re-watching some days back so i though to review it as well. I don't count any more the times i've watched this movie. I just love it so much! Yes! It's another typical teenage story but i think it's one of the best.
1. Emma Roberts, a really great and amazing actress in the lead role 2.Alex Pettyfer
3.British mean girls can be as dangerous as the American ones 4.Awesome boarding school which looks like Hogwarts
5.Funny and cute
6.Respect to the headmistress
Pretty much i said everything about it. I have actually put all my friends to watch it. Girls and boys. And as i saw, the boys pretty much liked it too and laugh. After Mean Girls, it's my favorite teenage movie.

Barbie™ stars as Blair Willows, a kind-hearted girl who is chosen to attend Princess Charm School: a magical, modern place that teaches dancing, how to have tea parties, and proper princess manners. Blair™ loves her classes -- as well as the helpful magical sprites and her new friends, Princesses Hadley™ and Isla™. But when royal teacher Dame Devin discovers that Blair™ looks a lot like the kingdom’s missing princess, she turns Blair’s world upside down to stop her from claiming the throne. Now Blair™, Hadley™ and Delancy™ must find an enchanted crown to prove Blair’s true identity in this charming and magical princess story!

REVIEW: I think all the boys, they want to kill me by now :P Oh well...i promise i will review something more boyish soon.
And okay..yes i watch the Barbie movies. I like them. So colorful and fairytalish. Princess Charm School is the last one it came out and for me it's be far the best. Firstly, they did an amazing job with the animation. They might still move a little like robots, but oh my at the facial expressions!! Then we have the story itself, which maybe for first time it doesn't have a romance for more than 5%. Yes! No romance related. They are only two scenes that includes boys. And lastly, it's more adventurous and funny than any other. Ninja barbies, hacker barbies,clever barbies!! And a mean-good girl. Of course glitter and dresses are a big part of it too.
If you are into those, don't forget to check it out!

Vampire Diaries - The Return: Nightfall

Now much more than human, Elena returns with powers and gifts that were bestowed on her in the afterlife. What's more, her blood makes her irresistible to any vampire. Stefan struggles to keep Elena safe, but Damon's insatiable desire for power includes making Elena his princess of darkness. When Stefan is lured awat from Fell's Church, Elena is left to choose for herself.

REVIEW:
This is the 5th book of the Vampire Diaries or the first one from the new trilogy called The Return. In this book, the story begins only a week after the events of the previous one as Elena is back to life, so I now understand why the trilogy is called this way. Anyway.

The book is full of annoying things that, well, annoyed me.
Firstly, there's Elena. She came back from the dead and she was fine when we first show her in the previous book, but in this one, she has this childish form. She can't speak or write and she can't communicate with anyone, except Stefan, who can read her mind.
Her friends are not actually trying to help her, they only talk about it, a lot, and they are worrying too much.
Then, Elena wakes up a morning and she's back to normal, just like that. Also, she has new powers, and she can't understand the way they work. This I understand. But she doesn't even try to practice or do something.
Lastly, L.J.Smith decide to enter the bad guys in the book in the form of a kitsune, a fox-spirit, a legend that comes all the way from East, which is fine by me. However, this is something that scares me, when authors tend to tangle several mythical forms together as a favour of a nice story, because if kitsunes do exist in this, does this mean that gargoyles are true, too??

For the first time, I found the writing really attractive. I was pulled in the book by the descriptions and the words and I was feeling like I was watching a movie. Of course, there were the hysterical moments where girls were crying and thinking stuff in a moment that made no sense. Yet, there was the fight scene during the end of the book, where all the characters are united, and even though it was seperated by smaller paragraphs and you were jumping from an action scene to another, the final effect was really good. The end leaves you with couple questions and you have to wait till the next book to be answered.

Bottom line, although its annoying girly things, and my willing to finish it as fast as possible, so I can move on to something more interesting, I didn't had much of a problem at the end. I can't tell you if I recommend it to you, because it depends on how you liked the previous books, but I can tell you that Smith's writing changed little from 1991 to 2007.

Shazam: Phanee @ Funny Wool

Phanee @ Funny Wool

Twitter || Goodreads

>Where is the weirdest place you ever wrote a review?
Well, since I have to use my laptop to write them (and it doesn't work when it's not plugged in), the weirdest place I've written a review would have to be on the floor! Hey, don't look at me like that! It's quite comfortable when the carpets are down!

>Do you get nervous by the color red?
Ummmm... No??


>Do you believe that bananas would win in an epic siege against apples?
No, I am pretty sure the apples would kick the banana's butts! I don't know why, I just think they would!

>Does a demon fox who lives inside you guide your hand while typing ?
Nope, it's a demon otter.

>Does your pet visit you in you dreams to tell you which review to do next ?
No, but if I had one, it might.

>Dulmbedore VS Gandalf. Who wins?
Dumbledore, hands down. I love HP waaaay more than LOTR. But also, Dumbledore has the Elder Wand, so there!

>With which fictional character you have hooked up in your mind?
Leon Grey, from Birthmarked. I love him. And his name! And I hope he's ok, after what happened at the end of the book.
>Do you create stories out of books you read with your own endings and characters?
At the risk of sounding boring, no. Unfortunately, I am as unimaginative as you can get!

>Weapon of choice?
Bow and arrow! There is something so graceful about them! (Plus, they seem safer, because you're at a distance. I'd never survive in hand-on-hand combat).

>What are you most afraid of?
Ummm... Tough one... I'd have to say weird sounds. It doesn't matter if it's dark or light. If I hear a weird sound, I usually end up being absolutely terrified.

>What would you do if Voldemort hugged you?
Good question! I'd hug him back, to see how he'd react! Though I think he'd probably kill me...

>What would be your first thought if you transformed into a bird?
'Oh crap! How did that happen??'

>How often do you speak to yourself?
Not very, but I do when I'm alone in my house... There are way too many creepy noises and I like to feel a little less alone.

>If we look under your bed what we will find?
Drawers. With clothes in them. And dust. And probably a few cobwebs. Exciting stuff!

>What's inside your bag right now?
Purse, student ID, cinema tickets, receipts, sunglasses, normal glasses, a bottle of water, my phone and my iPod. Oh! And a few half finished packets of tissues! I'm pretty sure that's it.

>Favorite Element
Earth. Boring again, but there you have it! I think most people would go for air or water for some reason, but it's always been earth for me!

>What's your occupation?
I am a student! I got my bachelor's degree in Biology and I will be starting an MSc course in October on Molecular Biology and Biomedicine!

>Share a guilty pleasure of yours
Chocolate. In any form. (Except for white. I hate white.)

>Do you think that there is a wizard living inside the dvd slot?
Yes! And he's called Laser! :P


Thank you Phanee (a fellow greek blogger!) for answering the questions! ^^ Earth element is not boring! It can be awesome!

 

Want to be part of Weird Interviews too? Just click one of the pics to learn more.

Winners

So i have announced the winners of almost all our giveaways in Twitter and Facebook, so i though to made a sum up here as well.

Congrats to everyone who won! I will be sending out the prizes soon ;)
And thanks everyone who participated and promoted as well :D