Once Upon a Bookshelf

I was sent this book a few weeks ago, and I have to say that I loved it. I don’t think anyone who is interested in vampires couldn’t like this book. (And I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s already looking for books for the R.I.P. Challenge next year.) Paul Bibeau, a journalist who has written for numerous reputable publications, explores how vampires (and specifically Dracula) went from a Wallachian prince to what we think of vampires today. He takes us through Romania, explores numerous subcultures, and talks about various movie-vamps, all the while keeping it not only informative but entertaining as well.

This was definitely a thought-provoking read. He brings up numerous things that one probably never thought of, as well as going more in depth into things that may have crossed your mind. When Bibeau mentioned a few times how people these days tend to take a bit of the historical as well as a bit of the literary when they form their ideas about Dracula, I was reminded of how well-researched Kostova’s The Historian was - she had put so much history into her book. Contrary to popular belief, it appears that Stoker did not actually base Dracula on Vlad Tepes - which begs the question, why do people think they (Vlad the Impaler and Dracula) are the same person? After thinking on this for a bit, you can certainly see how some modern-day vampire stories and the such are based partially on Stoker’s Dracula and partially on Vlad. (Again, The Historian.)

I think the parts I enjoyed reading about the most were the chapters that explored various subcultures - ranging from the Goth scene to RPGers to people who believe they really are vampires. There were a couple of bits that I couldn’t comprehend and made me a bit squicky (take the chapter about politician Jonathan Sharkey for example, who wanted to impale criminals) but for the most part Bibeau helps you to understand why some people enjoy and believe the things that they do, and how those beliefs help to form them into the people they are.

What Marshall McLuhan said about our tools applies to our beliefs as well: We shape them and afterward they shape us. Some beliefs help us treat each other well. Some force us to engage in rituals that many people don’t accept or understand. And some beliefs make us do terrible things. But when do beliefs become delusions, and when do delusions become dangerous? If we are all essentially living in our heads, how do we figure out who’s crazy and who isn’t?

Good thought to ponder, and applicable to how we view everyone, not just the people Bibeau was writing about.

As I said previously, I definitely recommend this book - not just to anyone who has a thing for vampires, but also for those who would like to understand vampire subcultures in our society. An amusing and educational read.

It’s been long overdue, but my portfolio, MoonSoar Designs has gotten a much-needed facelift. And we might be willing to say that this facelift was spurned on by the fact that Paul got me a mention on phpdeveloper.com… Slightly daunting, and yet exciting at the same time.

Anyway, I’m quite pleased with it; it’s very different than what I’ve done previously, and I’ve been able to put a couple of new (for me) techniques to work on it. I’ve also added new pieces which I should’ve added ages ago. Bah. Hopefully I can keep this more up to date than I had previously.

Take a look at it if you have the chance; I’d love to hear any feedback you have.

Working on a couple of projects at the moment to, which will get plugs when they get to the appropriate stages of completeness.

On a totally unrelated note, Nymeth is hosting a Blogger Secret Santa. I’m just about to join. You should too.

Fourteen years before the beginning of this story, there was an earthquake in Port Royal that unleashed some magic into the world. This magic manifested itself by giving all existing babies in the Port Royal area the ability to walk on water. Fourteen years later, only two polliwiggles (people who can walk on water) are left - Monk and Jolly.

These two teens meet up after Jolly’s ship is sunk, and her crew is killed by poisonous spiders - she’s the only one able to escape, and washes up on the island where Monk’s family is now living in hiding. After Monk’s parents get killed by the Acherus (a creature of the Mare Tenebrosum, a sea that exists in a world beyond our own), Monk and Jolly set off on an adventure on a ship manned by ghosts, in order to learn how to stop the evil stuff that’s treatening to enter our world.

I wish this book had been written, published and translated about 15 years ago - I would have loved to read this book then! Not that I didn’t completely love it now, but kids always have a different perspective on stories, you know? It is, in my opinion, the perfect adventure novel. It’s got everything you could possibly want - pirates, gold, a pirate princess, magic, ghost pirates, , the potential for a little bit of romance and sailing the high seas in order to stop evil other-wordly beings from destroying our world.

This was a non-stop adventure from the moment the book starts in the middle of a sea battle. There’s never a dull moment, and I really really really want to get my hands on the other two books in the trilogy asap so I can find out what is going to happen.

This book is called Pirate Curse in the USA, and was tranlsated by Elizabeth D. Crawford. I’m not sure how different the translations would be, but the one translated by Bell was fabulous. From the reviews on amazon.com, the biggest difference seems to be that Jolly and Monk are called polliwogs instead of polliwiggles.

I tend to steer clear of books based on TV shows or movies, because, really - are they anything more than glorified fanfic? And if I wanted to read fanfic on any subject, there is generally at least one LJ community devoted to it, as well as fanfiction.net and various other sites around the web. But dude … it’s Doctor Who. And I have a soft spot for this show. Really. So I’ve been debating reading some Doctor Who books for a while now.

When Beka mentioned the audio book with David Tennant narrating… well, I knew this would be perfect for a first attempt into books in the Whoverse. Not normally something I would want to listen to - I’ve tried audio books numerous times but find that my attention always wanders and I’ve no idea what’s going on about five minutes after I start listening. But the fact that David Tennant is narrating? Well, it was another reason why I thought I ought to give it a try. (Because that man is brilliant.)

The book starts with the Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey on a trip to the museum, where they discover a stone statue of Rose as the goddess Fortuna. The Doctor and Rose head off to ancient Rome in order to find this artist who is going to sculpt Rose. Typical to Doctor Who, however, there are crazy things afoot! Crazy things in the form of people disappearing after modeling for a certain sculptor - the same one that Rose is going to be modelling for.

Many fun things happen, including our dear Doctor gladiating! (Is that a word?) Why yes, the sonic screwdriver can stop all sorts of animals from killing and eating you. Handy thing, it is.

The story was cheesy. So cheesy. I expected that. But it was also a lot of fun. David Tennant is so talented, and it made listening to the book worth it. I would definitely listen to the other books that he narrates, though after listening to those I don’t really think I’ll read or listen to any others.

Every year I buy myself a new album of Christmas music. I’m rather obsessed with Christmas music, and may very well listen to certain songs all year round (but shh, don’t tell anyone). Last night I loaded all of my Christmas music onto my iPod, and it has made a very has made my iPod very happy. However, I’m starting to think that my iPod is like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors, only instead of crying out for human blood, it’s crying out for more Christmas music.

So, now I need to decide which one new Christmas album I’m going to get this year.

I’ve already got John Denver & The Muppets, City on a Hill, the Happy Christmas CDs, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Michael Buble’s Christmas album, plus many others. I feel like I have all the ones worth getting; the past few years have been really hard deciding what was worth getting. This year, however, there seem to be so many to choose from that I don’t know what I want most.

It could be ‘nsync’s Christmas album. I used to have it and then lost it, and it has the best version of O Holy Night on it. The best. I could get the Jingle Spells album - but will I really want to listen to Christmas songs about Harry Potter in another couple of years? Maybe I should get Relient K’s new Christmas album - but it’s basically a repackage of their older Christmas CD with a few new songs on it. Or, Jars of Clay has a new Christmas album - and the Drummer Boy album is awesome (even if it was only 4 songs) as are all their other Christmas songs that they have done.

I only wish there were more Maybe This Christmas CDs. They are my all-time favourite Christmas albums; how can you beat a series of albums that has one song sung by the singer of one’s favourite band? I mean, yes, Brett Detar (of The Juliana Theory fame) only sings one song on one of the albums, and there are three whole albums, but it’s gotta count for something eh? Plus, all proceeds go to Toys For Tots. I’d pick up another one of those CDs in a second, but there aren’t any more, alas.

Anyone else have their eyes on any specific Christmas albums this year?