Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Treasure Hunters by James Patterson




Treasure Hunters
An Illustrated Novel
By James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein with Mark Shulman
Illustrator: Juliana Neufeld
Publisher: Little, Brown And Company
Pub. Date: September 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-0316207560
Pages: 480


Purchase Links:



Book Description from Amazon.com:

The Kidd siblings have grown up diving down to shipwrecks and traveling the world, helping their famous parents recover everything from swords to gold doubloons from the bottom of the ocean. But after their parents disappear n the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. They'll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure hunting rival, all while following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really happened to their parents--and find out if they're still alive.


Billy's Review:

Monday, December 2, 2013

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Despicable Me 2








Despicable Me 2

Blu-Ray + DVD Combo
Director: Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin
Voice Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong
Studio: Universal Home Entertainment
Release Date: December 10, 2013
Retail: $34.98
ASIN: B008JFUQ3O
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rating: PG

Purchase Links:



Move Description (taken from back cover):

Gru, his adorable girls, and the mischievous Minions are back with a cast of unforgettable new characters in the blockbuster sequel to the worldwide phenomenon. Just as Gru has given up being super-bad to be super-dad, the Anti-Villain League recruits him to track down a new criminal mastermind and save the world. Partnered with secret agent Lucy Wilde, Gru, along with the wildly unpredictable Minions, must figure out how to keep his cover while also keeping up with his duties as a father. Assemble the Minions for laugh-out-loud comedy in "one of the funniest, most enjoyable movies every!" (MovieGuide)


Billy's Review:

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: CLEVERFIT Collar Stays





CLEVERFIT
The Adjustable Collar Stay
Retail: $49.95 (Ambassador Set)

Product Description:
CLEVERFIT is the world's first precision fit adjustable collar stays for business, casual and formal shirts. For years men has been frustrated with the average collar stays made from metal, plastic, brass and sterling silver, which are rounded at one end and pointed at the other ends to help stabilize a collar.

Over time, regular collar stays can become warped, broken or even missing, but CLEVERFIT Collar Stays have been created to solve these problems by using a collar stabilizer mode. The CLEVERFIT uses the science of leverage and is able become a collar stabilizer in an extended positions. 

Purchase Link:

The CLEVERFIT is only available at www.CLEVERFITSTAY.com.

For a limited time for the Holidays you can get 10% off when you spend at least $99 or more.





Billy's Review: 

The World's Biggest Fancy Dress Events

When it comes to fancy dress events, there are enough of them to choose from. There are festivals designed to celebrate fancy dress while other events are held that people simply choose to dress up for. It might be a music festival or it could be a kids’ fancy dress party. Here are just a few of the biggest events around the world.

Benidorm

This Spanish town plays host to a huge fancy dress festival every year. Claiming to be one of the biggest in Europe, the party has tacked itself onto the end of the Benidorm fiestas, taking place on the first Thursday after the events. While it started off from quite small beginnings, the party has since expanded and is now thought to be a very popular event each year.

Snowbombing

This annual snow festival is held in Mayrhofen, Austria every year and visitors spend the days skiing, snowboarding, going to gigs, relaxing in the spa hotel and dressing up. The fancy dress element to this festival has become quite a big deal with different themes being held on different nights. Everything from carnivals to Disney films are recreated through the outfits of the partygoers for a week that they'll never forget.

Monday Morning Madness #35: The Black Friday Madness

The madness of Thanksgiving is finally over. In the madness, I mean the cleaning, cooking and putting up with the relatives you can only tolerate for once a year. For me, I like all my relatives that where at Thanksgiving dinner, but I couldn't stand my three young cousins (the youngest is five) jumping up and down, running around the house and screaming for three hours. I disappeared briefly to take a break from everything, thankfully everyone left a few minutes before I went to the big Black Friday (well, Thursday night) sale at Walmart.

The sales were supposed to start at 6pm, but all the 1-hour In-Stock Guarantee $98 32" Funai TV wristbands were already given out, which really isn't fair since the sale was to start at 6pm and I arrived an hour earlier. Nevertheless, I still got one of the 1 hour guarantee gift cards and an access code when I checked out. I had to get on the internet when I got home and wait on the Walmart site for over 2 and half hours to redeem the gift card. I did however get the TV ordered, which is supposed to be delivered at my local Walmart before Christmas.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Review - The Library At Night



The Library At Night
By
Alberto Manguel
Publisher: Yale University Press
Pub. Date: 2006
ISBN: 0300139144
Pages:  373
Genre: Nonfiction/book on books and libraries
Source: Public Library
Literary Award: Bronze medal winner of the 2008 Book of the Year Award in the category of Architecture,
presented by ForeWord magazine.

Review:
If you read this page, it means there are lots of chances you love books, and probably books on books and libraries.
In this category, I had meant to read Manguel’s The  Library at Night for a while. And I was not disappointed when I finally did.
First, I had a real surprise when I found myself back in France: I had no idea that Manguel had bought a property in the Loire Valley; that’s where he decided to build his own personal library (of 35,000 books!) , in an old barn.
The book is divided in 15 chapters, 15 different ways of considering libraries form different points of view. Each chapter is entitled “The Library as…”.  Each begins with Manguel’s ideas on his own library, about each facet, and then he widens the topic by looking at this point in libraries throughout history and countries.
To be clearer, I will give the example of the 2nd chapter, entitled “The Library As Order”. 

Saturday, November 30, 2013

DVD Review - Doctor Who: The Doctor's Revisited - Ninth-Eleventh

Doctor Who: The Doctor's Revisited Ninth-Eleventh
Starring: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith
Studio: BBC America
Release Date: December 3, 2013
Retail: $39.98
ASIN: B00EZQH11G
Running Time: 339 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review:

Doctor Who turned the big 50 last weekend and BBC is continuing the celebration by releasing Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited - Ninth-Eleventh featuring a 2-part story for each actor's (Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith) tenure as the Doctor. Each story is presented in its original 2-part version, a feature film version with an introduction by Steven Moffat and a 25-minute documentary on each Doctor. Additionally, there are four magnets included with the set.

Christopher Eccleston's stay as the ninth Doctor may have been short, but he did help reboot the franchise for a new generation of fans. His final two episodes, Bad Wolf & The Parting of Ways) are presented in this set. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack Harkness suddenly find themselves separated on various game shows (The Weakest Link, Big Brother and What Not To Wear), only for a few minor changes - the losers are exterminated. As the Doctor escapes the game show, he soon learns his enemy - Daleks are responsible. The Parting of Ways finds The Doctor sending Rose in the TARDIS back to Earth while he tries to stop a Dalek invasion, all leading to his regeneration.

The Stolen Earth and Journey's End are the two final episodes of the tenth Doctor's (David Tennant) third season (series) which brings former companions Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith, to help him stop another Dalek invasion (created and led by Davros and the red supreme Dalek), but this time the Daleks are a step ahead the Doctor, as the Daleks have literally stolen Earth and have relocated it. It almost seems the Doctor will finally be defeated by his nemesis, but everyone's fate lies in the hands of Donna Noble.