Listed as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, House of Many Ways seems to be more of a companion novel (like Castle in the Air) since it features an all-new heroine who, like Abdullah in Castle in the Air, was pulled into a plot that centered around Howl, Sophie and theirs. While they do play a significantly large part in the story, in the end everything is in Charmain's perspective and some of the antics are left to dramatic irony.
Charmain Baker leads an extraordinarily ordinary and "respectable" life, being all prim and proper and never really learning to do anything for herself. One day, her great aunt blows in saying her great uncle William, a powerful wizard, has become ill and his house needs sitting. Charmaine is sent over and she simultaneously gains the freedom to finally do things for herself, as well as knowledge of her own magical powers that've always been suppressed at home. She meets a few friends on the way, like hapless wizard apprentice Peter and a magical dog called Waif, then eventually the main heroes who started these stories at all.
[And, we're back! I was a bit busy last week so I ended up skipping this, but we are now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Now it's also the long weekend, so we've got plenty awesome-ness to look forward to. Need to kill some time at home while vegging out? Look no further than here.]
On Travel:
The Golden Gate Bridge is turning 75, so Chris Christensen wrote up a list with 75 facts about the structure.
Here are some tips on how to save your dough on airfare. It's a good read, and there are plenty of resources online that can help your wallet.
On Comics and Happy Endings:
A four year old child didn't want to wear a hearing aid any more, saying superheros don't wear them. His mother then contacted Marvel for help, and here's what happened.
This Iron Man costume is pretty awesome. It's made entirely of cardboard, but definitely doesn't seem like it.
Mark Ruffalo had it a little "ruff" when he was cast as the Hulk for The Avengers, and you can read about his thoughts here. He also says "thank you." (via TheMarySue)
On Writers, Books and those involved:
It's a Little Free Library! Click here to learn a bit about them and how you might help get one installed near you.
Neil Gaiman gave a speech at University of the Arts this year to the class of 2012, and therein lies some very good advice. I'm pretty sure "Make Good Art" will be a mantra for years to come.
On Geek Accessories:
It's another day that ends with "y," so I'm sharing yet another geek charm bracelet that I think is adorable. This time around we are looking at Legend of Zelda. (via Fasionably Geek. Purchase via Torres Designs)
[That's what I've got for you today. Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!]
Chomp is one of those surprise reads that I picked up mainly because of the attention it received when it was released and the eye-catching cover that just draws the passerby in to at least have a look. I had never read any of Carl Hiaasen's work, though now I've learned that he not only writes for my local paper, but his books take place right here in Florida. I've also learned that he can make me laugh out loud while reading, which means I'll be picking up more of his books quite soon.
Chomp is about Wahoo Cray and his father Mickey, pro wildlife wranglers that get hired on to work with a survivalist TV show. As it turns out, though, the star of the show is a total sham and not only rejects using the safe, tame animals in Mickey's backyard, but wants to go out to the Everglades for a show out in the wild. Against their better judgement, they trek out to the Everglades.
[Friday Things came after the weekend due to my being a bit preoccupied and thus unable to get all these things up on time. Of course, it'll still be all the same stuff]
On Cool Covers:
This guy (Nick McKaig) really does a great job covering the Star Wars theme! Upon further inspection, he's got several great ones, including a cover of the original Pokémon opening. All with his voice. (found via Neatorama)
Recently, I had a chance to look at a cover album for Japanator called Vivid Covers, a 20th anniversary tribute to L'Arc~en~Ciel. It's pretty good stuff! Here's the Amazon link.
On Photography:
Like seascape photography? Get your fill here with Jose Pombo's work. Some of these images look truly surreal, but it's all natural.
"Waiting Sucks!" Here's the first actual trailer for upcoming season five of True Blood, which will begin airing June 10. I was kind of iffy for it before, especially with the big mess that season four ended in, but I like what I see here. Once it begins to air, I'll be writing recaps/summaries along with my thoughts here on GeekeryDo, so look forward to that!
On Book/Author News:
Some of the biggest news on the internet last week was about Maurice Sendak. To be completely honest, I didn't grow up attached to Where The Wild Things Are. I actually didn't know what it was until maybe two years ago, but it seems that a lot of folks around me and in general hold it dear, including Neil Gaimanwho wrote this article for the Guardian.
Why, yes, I would certainly love to own such a nifty and cute item as this book rest! I'm so glad you asked.
Other:
In honor of Mother's Day this past weekend, Mental Floss posted a fun list of the nine worst mothers in the animal kingdom. I was surprised by the list when I saw pandas and rabbits and the like included in it!
[That's it for this week! As for other stuff, I've finished reading Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) and begun reading Chomp (Carl Hiaasen). I'm also going to start playing Dead Space, a four year old horror shooter while all the cool kids play Diablo III. So... yeah. Hurray?]
Spanish rock band Maná made waves when they released their single "Lluvia al Corazón" from the recent Drama y Luz album, particularly because it'd been a few years since their last album was released (Amar es Combatir in 2006). I was fortunate to catch them in concert for their last tour and last night I saw them take the stage again for Drama y Luz.
Pretty much everything they played was a hit that everyone could sing along to. Most of the tracks have graced the air waves enough times that even folks who don't buy the albums would be able to keep up throughout the show. Combine that with excellent visuals and a Latino crowd, and you basically had an almost three-hour dance party.
Physics-based puzzler/adventure game Trine is one I've been meaning to play for a while since it's got beautiful art, a simple premise, and of course, is playable on my favorite gaming platform: the PC. I didn't know too much about it going in except I'd have to work with several characters in one body, but I ended up having a great time.
Trine isn't too long, definitely around seven hours of play time (more or less) depending on things, and there isn't too much going on, nothing getting in your face and nothing overly fancy. You get three characters, who somehow become enchanted and bound to just one body and must collect three artifacts to restore balance to the world and hopefully get their own bodies back. No pressure, right?
As the 12th and penultimate book in its series, Deadlocked had a pretty hefty role to fill: beginning to tie up all the loose ends in Sookie's story and give everyone a bit of closure. It isn't easy, and of course it won't please everyone, but all good things must come to an end, right?
Deadlocked takes place over just a few days in which Sookie attempts to resolve her romantic issues with Eric, but instead gets caught up in yet another elaborate plot that put her life in danger. Nothing new for Sookie, right? In what felt more like weeks than days, some very important pieces of her seemingly stable life come crashing down.
Seeing as how it's a rather special time of year, what with graduations and Mothers' Day and things like that, I thought I'd point out that I'm teamed up with rather awesome affiliates that could solve all your gifting problems.
First up is GIANTmicrobes, who sell awesome plush toys for all ages. They have some seasonal stuff available for grads and moms to check out, too. You could click on my little banner on the sidebar to access their store and view all the goodies!
Books-a-Million is a new one for Geekery Do and they've updated me with links to some cool deals you could take advantage of, too. You could generally just click on the new banner in the sidebar, but here are some specials to keep in mind:
And, as always, there's my banner on the side there for Amazon. They've got plenty of great deals to take advantage of all the time and, best of all, you could pretty much count on them shipping your things when you want 'em.
[May the Fourth be with you all! Today is one of my favorite days, simply because a lot of Star Wars parody stuff comes out for the day. It's also the day before Cinco de Mayo, and the U.S. release of The Avengers. There's a lot to love about today.]
On the most ridiculous political garbage of the week:
I thought I'd just get this one out first before we got to the more pleasant stuff. Apparently, some perverts in the legislation have decided that hugging and hand holding are "gateway sexual activities" and totally not allowed. It's so bad that teachers/schools could get in trouble for "condoning" such activity. I forgot that hugging is somehow a big factor in teen pregnancy, rather than the continued belief of delusional "adults" that by not educating their teenagers on the real factors, they'll just pretend sex doesn't exist or they'll find out about it without knowing the consequences of being ignorant.
Now, on to the nice things.
On Schools Doing the Right Thing:
By contrast to the previous linkage to schools being steered wrong, Neil Gaiman shared this link to a story about a school that is tackling discipline in a different way which fosters personal growth and overall educational improvement rather than just dumping the kid to the wayside. This new method was tested in a school for problem kids, and they're doing great. Expulsions, suspensions and more have gone down. As Neil mentioned on Twitter, this is a must read for all teachers/educators and parents!
Ben Huber creates wonderful vector art, and the latest is this Legend of Zelda poster. You can buy it. Own it. You should also check out the rest of his online corner here and see the other awesome artwork he's got for sale.
On Photography:
I recently discovered this awesome website called Underground New York Public Library. A photographer takes pictures of reading commuters. Each image entry also has the relevant book title.
On Books and Writing:
My boyfriend sent along this link to "10 Books Every Copywriter Should Read." Honestly it's a good list for any writer in general, so I thought I'd mention it. (warning: some random things pop up at the bottom of the screen)
The Mary Sue shared this hilarious video of Ellen DeGeneres reading 50 Shades of Grey. As usual, I think she's hilarious.
Tomorrow (Saturday) is Free Comic Book Day. The point is generally to get kids to read more comics, but you should all check out your local comic shop and try out something new anyway. It's a good day to share your love of comics or get into them if you aren't.
On Disney:
This guy covered the DuckTales theme song and it sounds rad. (via Neatorama)
Thanks to some sort of divine intervention, I learned that Charlaine Harris (author of Sookie Stackhouse novels turned HBO series True Blood) would be visiting Miami to kick off her Deadlocked tour this year at my local Books & Books. Ever since I've gotten into this book blogging business I've paid more attention to author appearances and book events around town, and the amount of cool stuff going on is pretty amazing.
About Deadlocked
We've learned that this is the penultimate book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse series. When asked about it at tonight's event, Charlaine Harris said her "heart just isn't in it any more." Basically, she's done what she can for the series, she's fulfilling what is demanded of her by contract to the best of her abilities and then Sookie is going to be put to rest.
This is both a good and a bad thing. Of course, the good part is that Harris isn't taking the money-milking route and possibly derailing the whole story. She wants to end the series in a dignified manner in what she believes will be the best ending for Sookie - the kind that she believes would leave her the happiest. Does it have anything to do with romance with vampires? Apparently, Harris herself doesn't even know it yet, and the final book is going to be titled Dead Ever After, so make of that what you will.
(click through to read more about the event with Charlaine Harris in Miami)
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