Friday, May 9, 2014

Book Blogger Hop: May 9th - 15th

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

When you enter a contest or request a book, how do you keep track of what the books are? or perhaps you don't keep track and just remember what you entered or requested? (submitted by Elizabeth)

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
  

My Answer: 

I should keep tracking of all my requests by writing them in a notebook, but I don't. If I can't remember a specific request, I go back and check my email 'sent' file/box to see what I have requested to review.


Linky List:

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Writing Tips Wednesday: 1 Simple Tip for Better Online Writing


Hello everyone, it’s Brenda from Daily Mayo, back for another Writing Tips Wednesdays!

Writing is pretty much my life- and how I make my living, which is super cool.

I’ve written online for many years now, and I’ve picked up a few tricks for how to write for an online audience. It turns out, it’s not the same method used for writing, say, for your high school English teacher.

I’m going to show you the easiest way to improve your online writing without even changing any words.

The wrong way:

This is my post. I am going to talk about fish. Fish are the best thing ever. I think fish are the best thing ever because they have fins, gills, scales, and can breathe underwater. Some fish don’t have teeth, while others do. My favorite fish are the fish that have bug-out eyes, because it is hilarious. Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, and more fish. Seriously, fish are the best. I have a pet fish named Sammy, and it has been alive for 14 years. Crazy. In conclusion, I love fish and so should you.

Ok, so, let’s talk about this fish paragraph for a minute. What is wrong with it?

The biggest problem with the above paragraph is that it is long. Guess what doesn’t work well for online writing? Large, clunky paragraphs. People get intimidated if they think a page will take ages to read, and large chunky paragraphs look like they would take a long time to read.

So, the easiest thing to do is break up the paragraph. Watch how much easier it is to read if we break it up some:

The right way:

This is my post. I am going to talk about fish.

Fish are the best thing ever. I think fish are the best thing ever because they have fins, gills, scales, and can breathe underwater. Some fish don’t have teeth, while others do.

My favorite fish are the fish that have bug-out eyes, because it is hilarious. Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, and more fish. Seriously, fish are the best.

I have a pet fish named Sammy, and it has been alive for 14 years. Crazy.

In conclusion, I love fish and so should you.

See? It’s easier to read in smaller chunks. In fact, you can make any of your online writing more reader-friendly simply by breaking it into smaller chunks. Imagine you are writing a picture book (adding pictures also keeps people interested), and each paragraph needs to be small enough to fit under a picture. That will keep you from making paragraphs that are too long.

Another benefit of this style of formatting is it allows readers to read every word of your post and discourages skimming. You don’t want anyone to skip the words you spend so long writing, do you?


How do you make your writing online-friendly? 

Brenda is a fellow book-lover and coffee-addict. She is a freelance writer, punctuation nerd, and grammar enthusiast. Her favorite book genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy with a Twist, and Dystopian. Brenda blogs about books, writing and more at Daily Mayo. Find her here on CaW for Writing Tips Wednesdays the first Wednesday of every month.

Follow Brenda on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to updates from Daily Mayo to keep up with all the exciting things in her life; ranging from drinking coffee to get through the day to drinking coffee just for fun.

A Beginners Guide to the Wonderful World of Subtitled Film and Television

It may seem like a controversial statement, but in my ever so humble opinion the most interesting films released in the past decade have not been produced by the Hollywood big wigs or even the esteemed UK indie filmmakers, but further afield in Korea, Japan and continental Europe. And yet for so many, the world of subtitled entertainment remains closed off due primarily to sheer, old fashioned stubbornness. A common argument is that watching a subtitled film or show feels “A little like reading a book,” but this argument is completely void, as minutes into any good film, a strong reader will cease to notice that they're even watching the subtitles and will simply fall into the story and the characters. In fact, if you are still actively aware of the fact that you're reading the subtitles, then it's either a bad film or a bad translation.

Western audiences have not always been so hesitant to the idea of foreign cinema of course. In the 60's, cinema was still very much in its infancy and as such, there wasn't the sheer choice we have today. There was none of the reverse snobbery you might find today, so great cinematic masters like Fellini and Kurosawa ruled the screen and the Oscars were rife with films 'not in the English language'. It's only really in the last few decades that subtitled films have fallen out of favour with the masses and it's a real shame. What with the global box office success of the 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' films, however, that trend appears to be reversing. Below I'll take you through some of the films and shows that introduced me to subtitled entertainment; hopefully they can do the same for you.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Review - A Promise In Pieces by Emily T. Wierenga

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.


As many of my blog readers already know, I not the biggest fan of books set during WWII, as I prefer books set in the 1800s. Nevertheless, I still signed up to review A Promise in Pieces by Emily T. Wierenga, which is the latest entry in the Quilts of Love Series. I have read a few of the other books in the series, which a few have been set during WWII, and I have enjoyed reading each one.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Blu-ray Review - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty


 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller,  Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Sean Penn
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Retail: $39.99
ASIN: B00H7KJTCG
Running Time: 114 minutes
Rating: PG

Review:

Available to own on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The DVD bonus features include Behind-the-Scenes of The Secret of Walter Mitty and a Still Gallery. The special features on the Blu-ray include Pre-viz, The Look of Life, deleted scenes, extended scenes, alternate scenes and the music video "Stay Alive" by Jose Gonzalez.


The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is loosely based on the 1939 short story of the same name written by James Thurber and is a remake of the1947 classic starring Danny Kaye in the lead role. In the 2013 version, Ben Stiller directs and stars as the main character, Walter Mitty, a negative assets manager for Life magazine.

Walter hasn't done much with his life, besides for being a good son to Edna (played by Shirley MacLaine) and a big-brother to wannabe-actress, Odessa (played by Kathryn Hahn). He spends most of his time daydreaming, which in reality to everyone else, he is actually "zoning out" or staring into space. He has a bit of a crush on a fellow employee, Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig). He even creates a profile on eHarmony, as he had overheard that Cheryl had a profile on there, but he has never gotten around to sending her a "wink."

Life magazine is downsizing and will become an online magazine, so the soon-to-be-released issue will be its last. Photojournalist Sean O'Connell (played by Sean Penn) had sent his latest reel of film for the magazine to Walter, with the negative 25 going to be the cover for the final issue, but there is one little problem - the negative is missing.

Blu-ray Review - Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds
Director: Jeff Kanew
Starring: Timothy Busfield, Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong, Andrew Cassese, Anthony Edwards
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Retail: $14.99
ASIN: B00IXD2MMU
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating:  R

Review:

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is releasing the 1984 box-office smash comedy Revenge of the Nerds on Blu-ray for the first time on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.

Special Features include I'm a Nerd, and I'm Pretty Proud Of It; deleted scenes; Revenge of the Nerds TV Pilot; commentary by Director Jeff Kanew and actors Robert Carradine, Timothy Busfield and Curtis Armstrong; and the original theatrical trailer.

Before there was the American Pie teen comedy and its countless sequels, there were many teen/college rated R comedies being released in the 1980s, including the 1984 Revenge of the Nerds starring Robert Carradine as  Lewis Skolnick and Anthony Edwards as Gilbert Lowe, best-friends, nerds, who have just arrived at Adams College. The start of the freshman year hits a snag when the fraternity, The Alpha Betas, take over their dorm and tosses them, along with a few other freshman,o out.

The Alpha Betas' frat house had burned to the ground, which is reason why they took over the dorm, leading the college no other choice, but to allow fraternities to take in the freshman, but Lewis and Gilbert have a slight problem - no fraternity will accept nerds.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Book Blogger Hop: May 2nd - 8th

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

When you receive a book in the mail or from UPS, do you immediately catalog it or leave the books stacked up until the week is up and then catalog them?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
  

My Answer: 

Typically, I stack the books in order that they need to be read in or by the blog tour date. When I receive DVDs/Blu-rays, I stack them by their release dates. I never catalog anything; though I do set up a post draft with the basic stuff (cover image, title, author bio, buy link, etc.) before I start my review.


Linky List: