He is the DJ, he is what he plays?

He's not "DJ" as in David Jones, aka David Bowie, singing about a disc jockey (track 6) from the 1979 album Lodger. This guy is almost six foot tall and rocking the turn tables for a scary Halloween Party. Yes, he's a hooded skeleton lit up by control knobs and stationary channels. Maybe he's one of the old drum n bass dudes trying to relive some youth, given the outfit and the newer electronics.. 

Okay, let me back track.

Hehe.. I said "back track".. as in "rewind". Just push play???  Haha.

We were in Lowe's last night because our microwave finally died. It's been having issues the past several months and when we were reheating something, the machine failed. After looking at a few different websites, we walked in to Lowes, purchased a basic GE model, and out we went.

Of course I got squirreled, because the Lowe's specific holiday items happen to be at the exit and I saw all the movement.

Man, are these things huge - all animatronics of various shapes and sizes. 

There was the aforementioned 5 foot 7 DJ skeleton, a regular / naked 6.5 foot skeleton, a 12 foot "immortal nightwalker" in a dark robe holding a lantern, a 5 foot witch, a 6 foot scarecrow, a 3 foot happy ghost, and a trio of 3 foot people that looked fresh out of the Haunted Mansion franchise. I'm guessing on the heights of these things, even though for sure, the DJ was listed as 5'7" and I was able to zoom in on the nightwalker to see a tag stating he's twelve feet tall.

Sadly, my mother was in such a rush, I couldn't get great pictures of everything. I am lucky I got a video of the skeleton DJ. I did get a skewed picture of the entire group, so excuse the rush job on them. I didn't have opportunity to get better close ups /videos. 

The only thing I got multiple pictures of, was the DJ because that's what I focused on before I had to run outside and leave. Again, I wish I got everything on video, but there was no time, it was getting late. 

The video for it is here:

All of the items on the stage are specific ("Exclusive") to Lowe's, so I could not find them exactly on Amazon. 

Although, searching "Halloween skeleton dj animatronic" I found a varying degree of skeletons, none of which is the music playing one I saw last night. I also searched "6 foot animatronic skeleton" and came up with similar information. They're all between thirty odd dollars and over 200 dollars, depending on what you're looking at. There is what looks "Georgie" from Stephen King's "IT" on Amazon, and I think I saw him somewhere in another store. There are also some forms of the "nightwalker" and they aren't the same as the one in Lowe's. A little more digging and I found some things listed under "Haunted Living 12-ft Immortal Nightwalker Motion Activated Lighted Animatronic" (which is what the box calls the big guy) including the same "Haunted Hill Farm Haunted TV by Tekky" that the same box store has on its website. 

Unfortunately, in order to purchase the skeleton that I filmed, you'd have to buy him for $299 (before tax) at the home improvement store. He seems a little pricey, but I think it's because he is listed "as a premium animatronic prop — with LED lighted eyes, turntable, mixing board, headphones and speaker". There really isn't a "what's in the box" set of information, so it's one of those "WYSIWYG" type of situations. Allegedly, there is an electrical cable for power and both a foot pedal and motion sensor to make him move, plus there is a need for four AA batteries somewhere. Otherwise the manual is not available. 

There are so many things being made now for holidays. More outside stuff that can be brought indoors for bad weather, things that are larger than life / in your face / caught you by surprise?! and items that make you wonder what it does before it springs something crazy at you. Gone are the days when you took a piece of cardboard, cut it into the shape of a gravestone and spray painted "RIP" on it before taping it to a tree. Now you can buy a realistic looking headstone and bury it in your backyard for the beginning or end of a haunted tour. No wonder why kids these days have no fear. They're growing up with violent / ominous looking toys that their parents are reliving their own nightmares with. We should be glad the parents are showing the kids a "good time" at the random expense for a few pieces of candy, I suppose. *Shrugs*

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I remember growing up and going to a family friend's house for Halloween and he would turn his whole place into a haunted tour. From the inside to the outside, everywhere in between, there was no stone untouched where we couldn't walk through and get the tar scared out of us. There was a core group of parents who would join in at various points in this group scare and if you (as a kid) didn't do the walk through, you were shamed for a minute before being dragged in. It was all in good fun and we left somewhat amused, although I don't know if anyone had happy tears or scared tears because sometimes it was too crazy to tell (even though we knew better; it was all faked).

Life is strange that way, and it's not even September yet.

Fall is here, y'all!

Winter will be coming soon. Another week or two and Thanksgiving items will be posted. A week after that, Christmas, I bet you. Just wait for it. 😒

Cheers;

It's again one of those mornings...

... where the humidity is rising and it looks like snow.

As of the start of this post, it is 83° and a feel of 91.

Going outside to run some trash to the bin, it certainly feels like a ton of moisture is in the air. Hence the notification on that screen cap. 

Rain is allegedly coming. 

However, they've been saying it every day and we have only gotten rain once so far. 

The area must be gearing up to pummel us soon, as tomorrow is officially the first day of hurricane season. 

This morning's "why does it look like it should be colder than it is, and when will the flakes start" pictures don't do the sky justice. 

As I sit here, I keep looking out my window because I'm expecting a slow roll of tiny little ice crystals to fall from the sky. I swear I'm not crazy but this makes me feel like I've lost whatever brain cells I have left. I obviously have been out of New England for too long, if grey weather makes me automatically think of snow instead of rain. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. 

Every time the heat picks up and the skies turn dark, I pray and wish we don't get flooded because this area likes to retain water quicker than a sponge in a new backyard pool. I know rain is coming, but my mind tells me "snow clouds!! OOOOOOOOooooooerrrrrrr". 

It's disgusting knowing how you just need to open the window and you feel a whisk of warm air instead of a shot of cold. I don't think I'll ever be able to change my mind about this. It's such a mental block and an odd mental trip to keep looking outside and knowing it should be different. 

After all, "what's the definition of 'insanity'?".

(outside of "Insanity laughs, under pressure we're cracking")

On a different note, I'm slowly getting through all of Criminal Minds. What a throwback! They were all such babies - so young!! I forgot about some of the guest stars and original actors in this show. You lose track of characters some days and re-watching this series made me remember how intense this was. Especially after needing something to watch after Buffy went off wait (even years later). 

The things we start with and sometimes end with.. wild! 

At the rate I'm going, Paramount will be 11 seasons into Evolution though, so I suppose I should continue on with my profiling the baddies.

Until the weather cools off and we don't need a boat outside, stay safe.

Cheers;

See Also

* Outside photos taken on an iPhone 11 and edited in Photoshop

* Weather screencap is the Weather Channel App

* "Insanity laughs" quote is from "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie.(track 19 under the streaming version of The Platinum Collection (Greatest Hits I II & III - 2011 Remaster) by Queen)

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer series

Dam... Tzfardeiya... Kinim... Arov...

 No; stop with the ten plagues. Rosh Hashonah is coming up in a couple weeks; not Pesach. 

I haven't seen the tree frogs yet on the shutters, so I'm hoping that's a good sign that whatever we are getting won't be so bad. 

That's not to say I wasn't woken up a few times in the night for "URGENT!" "CRITICAL!" alerts on my phone via the Weather app. During the day today, my watch kept tasing my wrist because the storm surge warnings and watches / tropical storm warnings and watches / tornados and every other thing in between was coming in. 

The storm hasn't even gotten to the Keys yet, and the electronic devices were going bonkers. 

I had my little handy dandy speaker plugged into my computer at work and we listened to the local live streams of various news stations in my office, until it started to be on repeat. There was too much office drama happening to really invest anything into the background noise of the news. So off the speaker went at 2. 

As of right now, we're just going to get the dirty side of things - lots of heavy wind, rain, flooding. But not the damage of a hurricane. Just the residuals. 

Which may explain why the animals are still around.

Then again, whatever part of the storm we're getting, won't come knocking on our door (Come and knock on our door / We've been waiting for you) (sorry; squirrel) until sometime around 8am tomorrow morning. Which means I most likely won't be going to work. There's no way in hell I'm going to attempt to drive across town without knowing how bad it's going to be. I also don't want to be stuck down there and the storm start later in the morning, as they're predicting could happen. The area my work is in, floods on a dime during normal rainy season, and my driving a Hyundai Accent, all I have to say is "nope". I've got caught in too many messes down there already. I'm not risking my life during a tropical storm. I risk it enough in the summer during a normal rain. 

So I'll stay home and work on reading A Taint in the Blood: A Novel of the Shadowspawn by S.M. Stirling and hope to finish it soon. I had read the first chapter before I got Rachael's book out of the library, so now I'm trying to finish this one. 

I've totally been out of the loop for vampire history, because this book I'm reading now is about vamps and privilege. When I was watching Young Dracula, they had a butler named Renfield. I didn't think anything of it. Now that I'm reading A Taint in the Blood, they mention Renfields a lot. Like I said, I'm not current anymore on lore, so I had to do some digging (sometimes I'm not the brightest and I forget things). A Renfield is Dracula's (or any vampire's) human servant (familiar) that the V can manipulate to their advantage (promised immortality). Because Renfield can do things in the light, they are responsible for upkeep of things - acquiring specific items that the vampire needs (victims, etc). But, they aren't like normal humans. They don't survive on typical food; usually it's bugs and insects (as Bram Stoker wrote about) but in the case of S.M Stirling, it seems like the human in this story eats like everyone else does - normal food. 

I don't want to delve into too much spoiler details, but I am actually enjoying this novel. I should try to put the other books in the series on my library list, so I can read them when I'm done, much like I did when I had the Lilith Saintcrow / Dante Valentine oopsie (I had bought book three by mistake and didn't realize it was book three). So it's better to read things in order!! 

But yeah, I might be reading a lot tomorrow, depending on how the weather turns (not the world) and how my back makes out because I've been sitting a lot lately. Some people are saying we'll be fine, some are saying not. If we can make it through the entire day with out the power going out, that will be excellent as it's been still humid as all get up. There will be no air circulation if we could open the windows since the shutters are blocking the screen. 

With my tub filled and a pot of water filled "just in case", we're going to play it by ear tonight and tomorrow. My car is hidden in a garage and our garage will have the carabineers put on in the morning. We're as ready as we will be and really are putting it out there that we get nothing. 

If anything, a couple people I work with (and myself) would love for some things to happen to specific people, but I can only allude to it, as it can be read as I'm starting trouble, and I'm not. Karma can come reverse and bite me in the ass. So I'll just say "I hope some people get salty cake and some people get sweet cake. You won't know until you eat it" and I'll try to update when I can.

Stay safe

Cheers

See Also:

* I quoted the "Three's Company" theme song from the 1977 television show of the same name.

Finished!

 Friday night I finished Young Dracula. Because I'm using a Roku (3) streaming device, I ended up watching the last two seasons on The Roku Channel app. FilmRise's Classic TV only has up to season 4, so I wanted to make sure some other app had the fifth season before I got into season 3. 

Sure enough, the Roku channel had all five seasons. 

I do have to say, as cheesy as the series got to be, it ended nicely. 

I mean, sure, in some alternate reality, maybe a spinoff could happen or a season six could have been made, but they really tied all the seasons together with five seasons. There are a couple loose ends that really could have been a 16 episode series ender, but honestly, that would have been too much. 13 episodes per season is plenty. 

Yeah, there were parts overall where it was so stupid you rolled your eyes (Count Dracula over tried as a parent to Vlad in some scenes) and the Ingrid vs Vlad sibling rivalry was spot on for some families. Although the whole "girls suck" / "girls can't amount for anything" was over bearing. I understand the concept and then Ingrid trying to be a boss bitch, but there was just something off putting about that characterization. 

Plus the "mum's run off with a werewolf" ran it's course too harshly when they announced a puppy in the picture during one of the seasons. Said puppy was in and out of 2 seasons and forgotten about by the end of the series. Which was odd. 

Look at me, creating spoilers. Oops.

The series is made for kids with adult humor in mind, for sure. It's also 13 thirty minute episodes per season, so it's mindless if you want some background comedy. 

I'd probably watch the series again if I had time to kill and wanted to find some Easter Eggs or pick things out even further. But until that happens, I wanted to make an update saying I finished watching it all.

Cheers;

Slayed season 1 & put it in its coffin

I finished season 1 of Young Dracula. It had the type of ending you knew would happen, but I'm not going to create any spoilers on it, in case any one wants to see it. It just set itself up for another season that you know will be just as questionable. 

The crazy thing is, like I said in my last post, the more I am watching this show, the more it has a 1990s appeal to it. It doesn't help that the actor playing Count Dracula (Keith-Lee Castle) has a total 70s rock band vibe (okay, spoiler - there is a scene in one of the episodes where some kids even ask him what famous musician he is). Yet, he looks like he belongs in the 90s. It's so weird; I guess he ages well? 

A struggle with this show is that the Van Helsing characters don't seem to fit in completely with the story. I know that seems like a contradiction as what's a vampire without a slayer, but the fact the dad and son live in a camper van is an odd living arrangement. 

For context, Van Helsing in this story is a woodshop teacher and he has a son he's trying to teach the ways of the slay to, and the son doesn't believe in vampires. Yes, it makes sense to have a slayer be a woodshop teacher, but they're slightly over reaching with it. It's comical the way they're writing this character because his fang obsession is too over powering. I'm not giving more spoilers, except to say "let's pretend he's not as adequate in the kill department as we know the name to be, yet he's trying to teach his son". 

But yeah, they live in a "I go where I'm towed" camper van. Just because you're attempting to follow the undead, doesn't mean you can sleep in an RV. At least get a one bedroom apartment or something when you roll into town and know there is "activity". Make it a little more realistic. Although, if you're constantly on the go, it does make sense to be on wheels because constantly putting rent down and not being there for a year is a little troublesome. 

I have to say, Vlad's friend Robin is too "white bread posh" to try to pretend to be goth and into vampires. Yes, Vlad makes a friend when the Draculas first move to their new city, but Robin and his family seem too "normie" to have one of the kids be into the darkness. 

True, most "normal looking" families have a goth kid (sometimes), but Robin's attempt at being undead seems a little much. Like it's a total act or something (as if his older brothers are betting him to do it). It works but it doesn't work. It adds to the predictability of this show, I guess. 

The last thing is, Renfeld could use a slight makeover. They made him under too much. The whole Riff Raff meets Crazy doesn't completely jive. One or the other. That is all I want to say about it. 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking this show at all. I want to watch all 5 seasons because I want to sort it out. See where it goes because it's different, for sure. I do like it, honestly. It's mindless and it's a "fresh" / "new" take on the lore of the vampire. I guess we can thank Michael Lawrence for the inspiration?

Until I finish another chapter...

Cheers;

Why didn't I ever see this??

Put yourself back in 2006 for a minute. 

What were you watching? Where were you watching it?

If you didn't have access to any of the BBC channels (like me), odds are you missed a show on CBBC called Young Dracula (but if you had access to Saturday night TV on PBS... we're talking a totally different Brit comedy ballgame.. but in the same realm of odd laughs). 

Although the show is listed as a "comedy drama [that] follows the adventures of Vlad, the irrepressible son of Count Dracula, as he contends with life in English suburbia, his meddlesome family and the small matter of his destiny to lead the entire vampire race", imagine what Buffy could do if she traveled to Europe and went to high school with this kid... I keep expecting Giles to show up or something that didn't include Van Helsing as a woodshop teacher (creative, no?). 

I've been catching up on this show via the FilmRise Classic TV app on my Roku, but it seems like it's available for purchase and free with other streaming options on Amazon. 

I have to say, as of this writing, I'm "only on" the first season (and early on in it), it's definitely dated and I thought it was more from the early1990s rather than early 2000s. I'm not hating on it, as I don't know if they've done any type of upscaling to this (I can't tell). If they haven't, the film quality has kept up pretty good. I know there's been a lot of conversation about early shows trying to get on the 4K bus to appeal to new users, but sometimes, you just can't mess with old content. 

Yes, certain analog (color) shows haven't aged well for the digital sets (black and white is still classic but I don't understand the need to try to "hi-res" those things.. they're fine because they lack the digital color as it is), but I've read that sometimes it depends on what types of cameras and film were used to record the original episode with. Depending on generation, all it takes is a very minimal sweep in an edit bay these days, and you can't tell the thing you are watching was filmed 30 years ago. Then again, there are some things filmed 35 years ago that need a slight touch up. But who's complaining... I'll still watch it. 

Anyway, back to Vlad. 

From the episodes I've seen, the appeal is for the young kids, for sure. Like adults watching Disney movies, there's situational humor in the show that the children might not understand but their parents are literally giggling like the toddler in the next room. Don't get me wrong, it's not "laugh out loud" hysterical by any means. It's got it's canned moments and you can tell. It's thirty minutes of mindless entertainment and I'm enjoying it. It's a different take on the story of Dracula, that's for sure (and bonus points for Easter Eggs for finding Stoker related gems in the show!). 

I guess I should continue on watching the show... there are 5 seasons of this, after all... 

Cheers;

Someone drank the conspiracy kool aid?

July 12th is upon us! Amazon Prime Day has officially begun, with deals every few minutes to hours. Some are great, some are ok, and the rest that are in between, can be a hit or miss. Just depends on what you're looking for.

I happened to have found a book the other day, that I've started, called The President's Vampire. It's book two in a 3 book series* by Christopher Farnsworth. I happened to pick it up, not knowing it was the second title in the series (this is what happens when you shop after market stores). I am about halfway done with it, and truth be told, this book can stand out on its own. There are little hints from the first book, Blood Oath, but not enough to make you stop reading.

I just think it's funny, because the way this book is written, it feels like Mr. Farnsworth drank the conspiracy flavored kool aid. As in, he is on the same Reptilian Agenda road that a certain grey haired Brit and his pals want society believing in and against. Add a vampire that has a shred of President Lincoln's blood in him, and you have yourself over 300 pages of "this shit can't be real... can it?".

The "exact" synopsis (courtesy of Amazon):
For 140 years, vampire Nathaniel Cade has been bound to protect and serve the United States of America. When an ancient evil is resurrected, the President's Vampire and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. The prime suspect is a shady private defense contractor who may be dealing with powers far deadlier than any mortal weapon. So it's up to Cade and Zach to drag the forces of darkness into the light..

I like conspiracies, I like science fiction, I like vampire hunting. Who doesn't? Sometimes, there are some nutso theorem that are so outlandish, it falls right into the sci-fi lap and people eat it up. Based on all the reviews of this series, I can see why. Farnsworth writes well, and has made some great fictional accounts on how the American Government needs to continue handling their business with the War On Terror. Leave it to a bloodsucker to get the job done, and you got yourself a deal.

I may seriously be buying the other books by the end of the day, just to play it safe and be able to see what I'm missing.

The only problem becomes...  if Jimmy Hoffa gets found, we're all in trouble. We're going to Hell in a hand basket if he's found alive.

By the way: I've got some extra tin foil, for those who need new hats...



Cheers;



* Four books, as there's a 52 page shorty called The Burning Men.

Covering the (rock n roll) basics

The other day, I received a copy of the self titled debut album of Hollywood Vampires (by The Hollywood Vampires). It's one of those "coveted" "Super Groups", from the likes of Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry.

According to the official Facebook page, they consider themselves a less drunken rambunctious bunch that attempts to bring back the nostalgic zeitgeist of the partying 1970's. The lore states: "In 1972, on the Sunset Strip at a club called the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the Hollywood Vampires were born in the upstairs bar. It was a gathering place for the rock stars living in or passing through L.A. “To join the club, one simply had to out drink all of the members,” says Alice Cooper, a founding member of the Vampires. “I would walk in on a typical night” Alice says, “and John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon—who would usually be in a costume like a maid or a chauffeur—Bernie Taupin, Jim Morrison and Mickey Dolenz would be there. The next week might be Bernie Taupin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Mickey Dolenz.”

Three years ago, Alice and good friend Johnny Depp got together and decided the spirit of the Hollywood Vampires should live again (minus the drinking). An environment for great artists to hang, laugh and play together. The Hollywood Vampires live again with the release of the Hollywood Vampires new album. Alice and Johnny were joined by Joe Perry, who is an old friend of both of them, and the recording began: a tribute to the original Hollywood Vampires.". Thus, a plethora of artists have joined the trio (Macca, Dave Grohl, Slash.. to name a few), and dropped the 2015 cover album.

Of all the songs on all of the records, I have to admit, it was a job well done. Rather, a job well attempted. However, I feel they really can't go any further than this album as they have set themselves up to be a complete cover band. It seems like a lot of people are trying to recapture some heavy rock n roll these days. The Vampires have found, turned over, and replayed quite the similar tunes the kids have found themselves replaying. Yes,  Alice Cooper singing one of his own songs (School's Out), but one out of 14 (or 17 from the Deluxe album) surely doesn't make a full set, in my opinion. Their version of The Who's "My Generation" is on par with the original, but the album is another excuse for Cooper and Perry to put something out. This is their version of all the "songbook" albums that have appeared recently from aging artists. At least the two have gotten together to make a single record instead of making two separate CDs.

From the look of their website, they're doing a smallish tour circuit. It's not the stadium and amphitheaters that people are accustomed to see the players in, as this sounds like the typical promotional kick off concert before something else comes and better suits their fancy. Again, I get the feeling that this is it for them; it's a "I'm bored. Let's do something" album. When I first heard the tracks, I couldn't help but think that it's a garage band that should have stayed in the garage. Yes, other bands have made it out to the curb and did their thing, becoming big names, but these guys are already big names. Hell, Johnny Depp is notorious for getting on stage with a group, because he happens to be in the area and has nothing to do (allegedly). What's stopping the theory from becoming fact with the rest of the "band mates"?

All I can say, is when the Wilburys got together, it was more on a lark. They wrote all original music for their albums (sans one or two tracks). And it was cohesively fun. I hate to say it, but I love the Wilburys (even as solo artists) more than I can try to like the Vampires. I like Alice Cooper by himself. I like Johnny Depp by himself (as an actor). I like Joe Perry by himself (but Earl Slick is a better guitarist, IMO. No, that's not a biased statement, so don't think about it).Together, these three really don't suit my fancy to want to root for more sounds.

I guess, all in all, I can try to listen longer to the album and make a better judgement call on it. Although it's a year and change after the original release, it'll probably take me longer to get accustomed to it.

Cheers;

Halloween...

...is apparently fast approaching and it's only the end of September. Most stores have by passed fright night and are putting up Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving?? What happened to enjoying one day at a time and not rushing through the work week?

However, I got an email about 2 weeks ago from Pinterest, suggesting I should make a Halloween pin board because "people like that". It's kitschy, it's funky, it's the one time of year where you get the shit scared out of you for fun.

While trying to figure out what to pin, what not to pin, what looks cool, I was reminded of years ago when a friend would do a yearly haunted house.

I want her to say "uhm", "you know" one more time

I happened to stumble upon the Huffington Post article / video of "Anna Paquin Brilliantly Schools Larry King On Bisexuality".

Someone knows Paquin from somewhere .. as early as 1993's The Piano or 1996's Fly Away Home (Special Edition). Even Marvel comic nerds and geeks will know her as Rogue in the X-Men (Widescreen Edition) series. HBO now whores her as Sookie, in the True Blood series, based on the Charlaine Harris "Southern Vampire Mysteries Series" (aka Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood).

Larry King has been around long enough, that even a simple Google search will tell you who he is. Great interviewer by all means, and knows how to keep guests talking.

The HuffPost's headline happened to get my attention. I'm not a frequent reader of the site, nor do I really say I am in the know about the things they share, but the fact someone "schooled" Larry King about sexuality, got me watching. There's no meat of an article, but for an excerpt of the interview:

During a lengthy interview this week, King seemed a bit confused by Paquin's self-identification as bisexual despite her monogamous, opposite-sex marriage.

King: "Are you a non-practicing bisexual?"
Paquin: "Well, I am married to my husband and we are happily monogamously married."
King: "But you were bisexual?"
Paquin: "Well, I don’t think it’s a past-tense thing."
Larry King: "No?"
Paquin: "No. Are you still straight if you are with somebody -- if you were to break up with them or if they were to die, it doesn’t prevent your sexuality from existing. It doesn’t really work like that."

                                          Source here

She does raise a good point - you break up or divorce someone, maybe your partner dies, are you still straight? What makes you un-straight? It's actually a common question I've heard through out the years, but to hear someone ask that to Larry King is kind of funny. Almost like she's being a bit naive, but in the most serious sense.

Aside from that, I seriously had a hard time staying on the webpage. Getting to that point, and then continuing made me squirm. She definitely was acting her hair color and kept doing a subconscious Valley Girl type of movement. Hence the reason I just want her to say "uhm" and "you know" one more time, because she obviously couldn't say it enough. How can someone school her, on proper interview techniques?

Cheers;

Ah yoo a nahc?

No... erm... I nicked that line from The Heat. But it's really Ayuamarca.

Having just read book one of "The City" trilogy by Darren Shan, Procession of the Dead: 1 (The City trilogy) I felt like I needed an update into my blog. The story brings you quickly in to a fictitious underbelly of gangster ruling. Just like any other mob books. But this has "history"....not of New York or Jersey. Shan built this adult novel around Inca ideas and thoughts. Having stated in the beginning, he uses months and names as the titles for his chapters. Some of his characters also deal with their pre Columbia American roots (aka parts of modern day South America).

The focus is a new underling, Capac Raimi. The story starts by Raimi stepping off a train to meet his uncle Theo, and as his time progresses in The City, the story finishes in a whirlwind of sex, questions (both answered and unanswered), drugs, booze, killings, and a quick rise to the top of an elevator shaft. Not ruining it for those who like to delve deep into suspense, murder and mob rules, Shan did the adult fans justice by writing this novel.

I was already a fan of him, as it was, because he happened to write a book series for young adults. The series was of vampires who don't sparkle. Instead, they joined a tent show (among other things). I've yet to read the other YA books he writes, but I do have to give Mr. Shan credit. His stories are addicting and very well thought out. Number one best sellers for quite the few of them. I look forward to snagging other editions.

Therefore, I'm about to start volume two, Hell's Horizon (The City), so I'll let you know in a few days how great this is (then it's off to the last of the series, City of the Snakes).



Cheers;



See more:
Darren Shan's Amazon page with Bio