Latest book reviews

The first 2 books I finished before Christmas but never got around to reviewing them. I realized this when I finished the last one on Friday.

Born (Born #1) by Tara Brown

I enjoyed this book. It’s 10 years after the apocalypse and Emma has been on her own the whole time until someone comes knocking at her door. It was different then the typical virus plague books that I read, maybe because it takes place so long afterwards. I added the other 2 of the trilogy to my Amazon wishlist.

I gave it 4 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.

Brightest Kind of Darkness (Brightest Kind of Darkness #1) by PT Michelle

This book was pretty good as well. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nara dreams about her day every night until the mysterious Ethan comes into her life with his own secrets. Nara loses her dreams and fate starts taking shots at her after she’s interfered with it. Definitely interesting story and I enjoyed it. I added the rest of the series to my Amazon wishlist and even picked up a prequel novella for free while there.

I gave it 4 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.

The Dead Men (Zombie DOA #3) by JJ Zep

I hadn’t read the first 2 books yet but took a shot on it anyways. It hurt a little in some of the backstory comments but for the most part, you can figure it out. It wasn’t a bad read and I enjoyed it, but I took away a star for it’s length. It generally takes me a week to read an average book since I only read around 45 minutes a day and I read this one in 2 days.

I gave it 3 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.

(late) Movie reviews

I watched some these over Christmas break but I never got around to posting the reviews. We rented a few last night as well so I figured I better get this out before I watch the new ones.

It took me awhile to watch the first one because I thought it looked stupid but after catching the first one on TV, Cheri and I laughed at it quite a bit so we took a shot at the 2nd one as well. It was as good as the first one if you like that kind of humor, which we do.

I gave it 4 stars as did Cheri.

I wasn’t sure how much I would like this, stupid comedies can always go either way. I must admit though, I though it was pretty funny. It’s even funnier to see Liam Neeson in a stupid comedy after all the action movies he’s done lately.

I gave it 4 stars, it’s been too long since we watched it so Cheri can’t remember how good it was.

I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to see this either but was glad we did. It was better than I thought it would be. I wasn’t sure how funny it would be to watch an “everyday” couple trying to get back their tape but with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segal, it was pretty funny.

I gave it 4 stars as did Cheri.

I wasn’t too high on this one but the premise seemed to be like the kind of books that I enjoy. It was ok, wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed the book, it just seemed to have that feel to it.

I gave it 3 stars as did Cheri.

Took the kids to see this during Christmas break as well. It was really good. I haven’t see the others in awhile but I think this was the best one. That might be because it was really sad to see Robin Williams turn back into wax at the very end.

I gave it 4 stars, Cheri gave it 5.

Book and Movie reviews

I haven’t had too much going on lately. Mainly getting ready for Christmas. Gift giving wise, it isn’t the same we thought it would be since I haven’t received child support in almost 2 months. We’ve still managed to get gifts for the kids, just not much for anybody else. Other than that, it’s been a usual couple of months. There were a few incidents that I would have normally blogged about but as much as I enjoy blogging here, I just didn’t feel the need to put it all out there. I’m starting to keep stuff from the blog, which isn’t something I’ve always done, but for some reason, it doesn’t seem like I want to do it anymore so I’m not sure what’s going to come of this blog. For today though, I’m going to catch up on some reviews. Let’s start with the books I’ve finished the last couple of months.

 

The Witch with No Name (the Hollows #13) by Kim Harrison

If you’ve been on my blog awhile, then you know this is my all-time favorite series. I loved all these books and this one is just the same, except that I’m sad that it’s the last one of the series.

I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads and Amazon

 

 

 

 

Bottled Abyss by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

I enjoyed this because it was different then a lot of the other books that I’ve read. It was a little weird at the start, and stayed weird. By the time I got to the end, I just wanted it to be done so I could start something else that I would rather enjoy.

I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

 

 

Bitten by Dan O’Brien

I enjoyed this werewolf tale to a point, but the bitten individual just essentially is crazy, and I mean psycho which I guess made the story interesting, it’s just not as interesting as I would have hoped.

I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

 

 

the Ghost Files (Ghost Files #1) by Apryl Baker

I enjoyed this one. The love between the 2 main characters was a little odd at first but it didn’t lead where I thought it might which would have been a major turn off. It was a good story and enjoyed the characters.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

 

Disappearance by Ryan Wiley

This started off really good, then about 3/4 of the way through it all changed and went downhill. I was really into it until that change, when I got to the little twist at the end, it felt like the author was just trying to make up for getting me really into it, then pulling the rug out.

I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

Since there isn’t much on TV for the next few weeks, I’m not sure what we are going to watch because we generally watch a lot of TV.  Went to Redbox last night and rented 5 DVD’s.

 

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

I took the kids to see this in the theaters but Cheri hadn’t seen it yet, plus, I’m not above seeing a Marvel more than once. I loved the movie, I didn’t think it was the best movie of the year good but I did really enjoy it.  I might have been expecting more with all the reviews before I seen it which lead to higher expectations.

I give it 4 stars, Cheri gave it 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tammy

We both like Melissa McCarthy and are used to the humor of her movies so I knew what to expect going in. It was about what I expected. They story was ok but the humor was really good. It definitely had it’s hilarious moments. It’s worth seeing but I definitely wouldn’t pay theater prices for it.

I give it 3 stars, Cheri gave it 3 1/2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Purge: Anarchy

These movies are what they are. Thrillers with some action, which isn’t a bad thing. I might have even enjoyed this one more than the first one because it had people who were fighting back against the purge. Plus, it’s always good for a discussion with the wife on what we would do if there was a purge every year.

I give it 4 stars, Cheri gave it 4 as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Expendables 3

This is what it is as well. A huge action flick with a crap load of action stars. I do like these movies even just for all the action. It was also nice to see Mel Gibson doing a big budget movie again. I always liked his movies.

I give it 4 stars, Cheri was too tired to finish it so no review from her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Another good X-Men movie.  A little different since the majority of it takes place the year I was born,, but I still enjoyed it, like I usually do with this franchise.

I gave it 4 stars, Cheri didn’t watch it.

Quick book review

 

The End – A Post Apocalyptic novel by G. Michael Hope

I finished this earlier in the week.  I liked it and I look forward to picking up some more in this series.  I need to put it on my Amazon wish list.  It’s essentially what would happen if a nuclear attack happened.  It’s pretty realistic and that’s probably what I liked the most.

I gave it 4 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.

Reviews

I’ve been reading again so I’ll try to do some more quick book reviews, plus we rented some DVD’s this past weekend as well.

 

Collapse (New America #1) by Richard Stephenson

Between the natural disasters and the middle east launching an attack on the US, this seemed like a completely realistic book.  I like the characters and where the story went.  I’m going to have to put the rest of the series on my wish list on Amazon.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

Exit Reality by Robert S. Wilson

A new drug, so to speak, is killing people, but is it really a drug.  A digital world has got people addicted to the service and it’s all ran by a guy looking for immortality.  I liked this, mainly because it was a lot different than any other story I’ve read.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

 

 

Cinema of Shadows (Harmony, Indiana #2) by Michael West

I’ve read another one of his books from this series and enjoyed it just as much as I did this one.  One of the main things I like is the fact that I don’t necessarily have to read them in order as they can be stand alone books as well.  Cinema of Shadows is about a theater with a haunted past and what happens when it tries to take its last victims.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

As you can tell, I’m reading more again.  My new job has a 20 minute break with a 30 minute lunch that I read on compared to the 10 minute break and 20 minute lunch at my previous one where I barely had time to eat.  I’m getting about a book done a week, it’s nothing compared to the 3 or 4 I was getting done at the job before these 2 but at least I’m reading again.

 

the Other Woman

This comedy was just that, a comedy.  It was pretty funny which with Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz, you would expect that.  Leslie Mann is married to a guy, who is dating Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton.  When the 3 get together, it’s time for some payback.

Cheri and I both gave it 4 stars.

 

 

 

 

the Fault in our Stars

In the words of Cheri, who said this multiple times during this movie “Damn that Nicholas Sparks, why am I watching this, I knew I was going to cry.”  This was a great movie but so very sad.  You cry at the happy spots as much as you do the sad spots.  Being as both the main characters have cancer, it hits me at home.

We both gave it 5 stars but keep kleenex handy.

 

 

 

Blended

What’s not to love when you get Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore together.  This is their 3rd movie together and they are all pretty good.  I’m not a huge fan of Adam Sandler when he does his stupid movies but when he plays a more normal role, and not slapstick, he can be really good.

I give it 4 stars and Cheri gave it 5.

 

 

As you can tell, we had a pretty good evening with the Redbox DVD’s.  That’s probably because we hadn’t rented anything in awhile so there was some decent stuff that we hadn’t seen yet.  Usually we’ve seen everything that we really wanted to so we end up renting stuff that we might like but are just taking a chance with it.

Journal, September 7th

I never even picked up my laptop yesterday which is why you didn’t get a journal post or anything.  I woke up at 9, watched Kickass on TV all morning (we had never seen it) and then went to my brothers for an all day Michigan/Notre Dame festivity.  Basically we just grilled out and hung out together all day.  It was a good day, until the actual game in the evening.  I won’t even go there now, let’s just say Michigan forgot to show up for it.

I had GPS’d (not a word, but that’s how I would have said it) the kids to see where they were (with theEX) and they were at the movies (again, 3rd time in the last 2 weekends) but the theaters are only 10-15 minutes from my brother’s house so I told his daughter to text Samantha.  She ended up calling her after texting for a few and begged theEx to bring her by.  So she did, so Samantha stayed with us last night.

We woke up this morning and needed to do some grocery shopping so we headed over to Wally Hell and hit the McDonalds for breakfast, theEx showed up to get Samantha back, we grocery shopped and now I’m back home for most of the day until I meet theEx again to get the kids back tonight.  We rented some DVD’s from Redbox while we were out so we’ll probably do that for awhile.

9:00 pm

We ended up watching all 3 DVD’s so I took them back on the way to get the kids.  I had to stop and get gas anyways so I turned them in and grabbed Divergent for Samantha who has been begging for it.

What I clicked on to read today.  I read all kinds of things in my Feedly, but these I found in other places or a link in Feedly.

 

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr, My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• The only Tumblr account that still has stuff is MSO-Tumblr so it got posted to the last 2 days.
• I posted the usual Sunday posts to Random Thoughts From A Random Guy, My Sports Obsession and Too Many Manninghams.

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

• the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon (DVR)
• Utopia (DVR)
• Hell on Wheels (DVR)

• Kickass (TV) – We actually liked this movie, it was better than I thought it would be.
• Mom’s Night Out (Redbox DVD) – It was better than expected.  I figured it would have some funny parts but it was funnier than expected.
• Draft Day (Redbox DVD) – Great movie if you’re a football fan.  It was pretty insightful, I assume it was fairly accurate as the NFL allowed their logos and such in it.
• Oculus (Redbox DVD) – This wasn’t to bad.  I never expect much from horror movies so it doesn’t take much for me to say it’s decent.  It was a little tough to follow with all the flashbacks but as long as I paid attention it wasn’t too bad.

Journal, September 5th

Rumor has it that they are finally getting around to do the hiring in at work which is supposed to include me.  Right now, I’m working through a temporary service and was promised to get hired in at 90 days.  All that changed when the HR lady got fired, so now I’m closing in on 180 days (6 months) and I’m still not hired in.  Hopefully that will happen in the next week or so.  I was hoping they would have said something today but they didn’t.

We had Taco Bell for supper (I know my mom is shocked, not!).  Every so often I get the chicken supreme chalupas.  They are yummy and I can even take them to work the next day and eat them cold and they are still yummy, if not more yummy.  I feel like I used yummy a lot, but then again, I am talking about Taco Bell.  Back to what I was saying, about half the time that I order the chalupas, they screw up and give me ground beef instead of chicken.  They are nothing alike on their own, let one inside a chalupa.  They screwed it up tonight.  Bastards.  They are opening a new Taco Bell right next door, it looks really close to being done and I actually thought it would have opened by now.  Hopefully, when it does open, they can give me a better than 50% on getting the order right.

When I picked up the kids and met theEx, my phone said it was 93° with a realfeel of 99°.  That was around 4:30.  When I went to get our supper, around 6, it was down to 81° with a realfeel of 88° and dropping.  We had some thundershowers roll through and it definitely cooled it down.

 

I forgot to mention that I finished another book the other day.  I was close to finishing it at work and while I was waiting for Trevor to get home from school.

Ever Fall by Joe Hart

It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great.  It was definitely different which I don’t mind, but it was just a little weird.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.  I started my next book the next day, I want to say on Thursday.  It sucks that it takes me 2 or 3 weeks to finish a book now but I wouldn’t trade my job and go back to my old one.  Just a sacrifice I have to make I guess.

 

 

What I clicked on to read today.  I read all kinds of things in my Feedly, but these I found in other places or a link in Feedly.

• Supernatural Infographic: The Many Deaths of Sam and Dean (via Email)
• Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Deleted Scene Is Witty, Bright, And Should Have Been Left In (via Facebook)
• Local Police blotter (via Facebook)

That is a lot of freaking quarters.  Lol

• Supergirl TV Series in the Works From Arrow/Flash Co-Creator (via Feedly)
• Whispers (via Feedly)

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr, My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• I posted to all 4 Tumblr, although I am now out of posts for one of the blogs for tomorrow.
• I posted a Ryan Zimmerman card to My Sports Obsession.
• Most days I post the last song that I listened to off my Spotify playlist – Anything & Everything, to my Tumblr blog A Day in the Life of a Nobody, called Last Song of the Day.  Here’s the album cover, click it to find out what song it was and to play it so you can listen too

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

• Rush (DVR)
• Satisfaction (DVR)
• Married (DVR)
• @Midnight (DVR)

Journal, August 24th

8:00 pm

Got up at 9 this morning, yeah!  Didn’t go to bed until really late, or early though so I was still pretty tired.  We were up late last night watching some Redbox DVD’s.  We watched 2 last night and 1 this morning.

I picked up the kids this afternoon from the ER at the hospital because theEx was having back issues and drove herself in.  I picked them up to take them to my grandfather’s 82nd birthday.  We had a good time at the party, I always do because I enjoy hanging with the family even if we just sit around and chit chat.

11:30 pm

As per my usual Sunday night, I’m up too late for a work night.  That tends to happen because I stay up later and get up later on the weekends.  It doesn’t take me long to screw my body up out of my sleep schedule.  Up until this job, I pretty much always stayed up past midnight, even when I had to get up fairly early.  Guess I’ll have another tired Monday, I just hope both lines are running so it’s not so slow.

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr,  My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• I posted my usual Sunday post of This Week on … to My Sports Obsession, Too Many Manninghams and Random Thoughts From a Random Guy
• I posted 1 to MSO-Tumblr and MSO – Wolverines.

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

• Castle (Netflix – DVD) – We watched 4 of the 5 episodes on the disc.

• Lone Survivor (Redbox DVD) – Great movie.  The crap soldiers go through is just ridiculous.  The fact that this is based on a true story makes you respect them all the more.  I gave it 5 stars, as did Cheri.
• The Quiet Ones (Redbox DVD) – Also based on a true but no nearly as good.  It wasn’t really all that scary.  It had quicky, scary parts but other than that, wasn’t great.  I gave it 2 stars, as did Cheri.
• Noah (Redbox DVD) – If you don’t mind it really following the bible, it wasn’t a bad movie at all.  It was a little far fetched as far as the world before the flood but it still made for a good movie.  I give it 4 stars, Cheri didn’t really watch it, just pieces.

Journal, August 17th

Noon

I stayed in bed till 11 this morning because I didn’t sleep worth a crap last night.  I kept waking up, I don’t know if I kept rolling onto my back or what.  When I roll onto my back, Cheri says I stop breathing then I wake up gasping for air.  I know at one point when I woke up, my thought was that I was going to be tired at work, then I thought it out and remembered the kids weren’t here, so it was still the weekend.

8:00

About 6:00 I got a text from Samantha telling me to pick them up at the local theater, which is completely the opposite direction of where we meet and further.  So I responded to her and told her I will text her mom, because I get tired of them trying to do everything through her.  So I sent back, No, you have to go down 19 to go home.  Try again.  She responded that her and the JackAss were going to a movie at 7:30.  I responded with then we can meet a little earlier on their way.  She responded with just meet me at the McDonalds then.  The McDonalds that she is referring to, is probably less that 5 minutes from our apartment, and is on their way to the theaters, but she wanted me to drive 20 minutes to the theaters to pick them up.  Yeah, I don’t think so.

When I met them to pick the kids up, the JackAss yelled out the window that Trevor needed a shower, that he hadn’t showered since Thursday night, like he was proud of the fact.  I just said back, that doesn’t surprise me and they always shower on Sunday nights.  He said that thinking he’d get a rise out of me, I’m not sure why he even tries to bother, I never let what he says bother me.  He’s just an idiot, and apparently a great parent to be proud of the fact that he let a child go 3 days without a shower.  Douchebag.

We planned on watching another Castle:  season 5 disc but they sent us disc 4 instead of disc 3.  I probably wouldn’t have even noticed except they did a previously on because the first episode was the 2nd part to the last episode on the disc we didn’t get.  I called Netflix and asked them to send disc 3 while I keep disc 4 and they said they would, so they were cool about it.

11:00

Not really tired yet, and that’s not good news.  I did get all my cards logged in and put away today.  I forgot about doing my Tumblrs and ended up working on My Life so maybe I’ll get to the Tumblrs tomorrow.  Not sure how much longer I’ll be up but I’m not really that tired.  I’d rather be tired on Mondays then work 7 days a week so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  Although the 7 day paychecks were nice when I was getting them.

What I clicked on to read today.  I read all kinds of things in my Feedly, but these I found in other places or a link in Feedly.

• Missouri woman uses texting savvy to get stolen car back, giving her just the “miracle” that she needed (via Facebook) – Wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be.
• Inside the White Sox (via Twitter) – I wanted to read about Mark Buehrle’s return to Chicago.
• Smashfuse (via FuckingHomePage) – A website that combines trending topics all across the social media network.

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr,  My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• I ran out on all my Tumblrs, I never got around to posting more, maybe tomorrow.
• I did post my usual Sunday posts of This Week On… to Random Thoughts From A Random Guy, My Sports Obsession and Too Many Manninghams.
• I posted through June 15th, 2009 (15 posts) on My Life.

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

• Satisfaction (DVR) – Another character is going to start screwing with the main characters relationship.
• Hell on Wheels (DVR) – Mr. Bohanon is back with the railroad.
• the Last Ship (DVR) – They are giving the virus to shipmates to see if the vaccine works.
• the Strain (DVR) – More people are finding out about the creatures/virus while the government is trying to cover it all up.

• Dear Zachary (Netflix streaming) – This was recommended on the Tonight Show by Jimmy Fallon.  OMG!  He did not say enough about it.  It was a really good documentary but he should have said keep the tissues handy.  It will make you angry at the system, and sad for the family.  Cheri and I both gave it 5 stars.
• Frozen Ground (Netflix streaming) – This wasn’t too bad, it was kind of a thriller but more in the sense that you think they guy is going to get away with it.  Cheri gave it 4 stars, I gave it 3 on the account of it being so quiet and dark.
• the Iceman (Netflix streaming) – Not too bad either.  I always liked gangster type movies.  The Iceman was a hitman for the mob and this is based on his mob life.  Cheri got a phone call and talked through half of it so she can’t give a star count.  I, however, will give it 3 stars.