Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Review - All Hail King Julien


Fans of DreamWorks' animated Madagascar franchise will have to wait until 2018 for next fourth feature film, but in the meantime they look forward to seeing five brand-new episodes from DreamWorks Animation's Netflix original series All Hail King Julien that will premiere on April 3rd.

Set prior to the original Madagascar film, All Hail King Julien centers on the selfish, party-loving ring-tailed lemur named King Julien XIII (voiced by Danny Jacobs), whom doesn't take the leadership of a kingdom very seriously. Even his big-boned Aye Aye adviser Maurice (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) and his new bodyguard Clover (voiced by India de Beaufort) can't stop his crazy antics.

These five new episodes are:

Eat Pray Love
He Blinded Me With Science
Viva Mort
The Really Really Big Lie
One More Cup

King Julien is ready to rule with an iron fist … waving in the air, like he just doesn’t care! Photo: DreamWorks Animation All Hail King Julien © 2014 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Writing Tips Wednesdays: 5 Common Grammar Mistakes You're Probably Making


If you’re a writer (and today, everyone is a writer to some extent), you probably know at least the very basics of grammar. All sentences should have a subject and a verb, for example.

However, did you also know that even the best of writers often fall into these grammar traps? Find out 5 common grammar mistakes everyone makes and how to fix them below:

“There Are” Sentences

There are 14 cows in the field. There are 12 birds. There are eight ways to tie your shoe.

All of these sentences start with “there are” and all of the sentences are boring. Sure, “there are” is an accurate statement in many cases, but too much use of the phrase sounds lazy and boring. Even if there are 14 cows in the field, try to make the sentence a little more exciting. “14 cows stood in a single line in farmer Jo’s field” is a more interesting sentence.

Neglecting Commas

Some writers are not sure when to use commas, so they avoid them altogether. This becomes a problem when you have a sentence like: before the students arrived the teacher cleaned the desks washed the windows and straightened the chairs. Your brain doesn’t know how to arrange the sentence, so you feel weird while reading it. Put the commas where they belong. Before the students arrived, the teacher cleaned the desks, washed the windows, and straightened the chairs.

Lose/Loose

Did you lose your loose change? Go find it then. I find this is normally a typo error, but it still is important to remember. Lose means to misplace, loose means not tight.


Parallel Errors

When you make a list, all of the verbs should agree. The kids washed the windows, drove to the store, to eat candy in the parking lot. This makes your brain hurt a bit, which should be avoided, if possible. Change that to eat to ate, and you’re good. Try to end all words with the same modifier, such as by using all “ing” words, or “ed” words.


Passive Voice Only

Passive voice is the use of “to be” verbs. Instead of the subject doing the action, the subject is being acted upon by something else.

This is passive: The paper was signed by all the children.
This is active: All the children signed the paper.

 Passive writing sounds sluggish and boring. You can’t always avoid passive voice, but try to keep it to a minimum.



What common grammar mistakes do you make most often? 

Didn't see your grammar error here? Find 10 more common grammar errors here.

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.

Spring Reads: Strong Is The New Skinny



Strong Is The New Skinny
by Jennifer Cohen & Stacey Colino
Publisher: Harmony Books
Pub. Date: September 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-0804140515
Pages: 240
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Wow! I can hardly believe that it is already April 1st today! I guess time flew by while I've been busy with life. I recall receiving the book Strong Is The New Skinny by Jennifer Cohen & Stacey Colino back in December, but it got shoved aside and I'm just now writing the review for it.

Yes, I'm well aware that there are a slew of fitness books on the market that all claim to help you lose weight. I tend to avoid these types of books, but since I'm in a fitness kick this year, I decided to give this book a try.

While this books is intended for woman, there is plenty of great fitness information and exercises that men (like me) can also benefit from. There is a great diet plan that focuses on the best food that will give you the correct amount of nutrients and protein. The book features over 100-pages of exercise routines with pictures and descriptions, which mixes in light-weight lifting, aerobics, yoga and Pilates.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Spring Reads: You Can't Sit With Us


You Can't Sit Wth Us
Mean Girl Makeover Series
by Nancy Rue
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: December 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1400323715
Pages: 224
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Bullying is definitely an epidemic in our schools around the country. During my JH and HS years during the 90s, I was bullied on a daily basis. I can't imagine what kids go through with the added use of social media.

I don't keep track of all the new middle grade books are being released, so I missed out reading the first entry in the Mean Girl Makeover series from author Nancy Rue. However, I did receive a review copy of the second book, titled You Can't Sit With Us, a few months ago. My first intent was to read this book as soon I received it, but life happened and I just got around to it yesterday.

The book centers on a sixth grader, Ginger Hollingberry, whom just started school at Gold Country Middle School. Due to her hand-me-down clothes and greasy red hair, she is targeted by the school bullies, including Kylie Steppe; despite the fact the GCMS student body all, except for Kylie, signed an anti-bullying pledge.

Professional Teeth Whitening Kit Review



Everybody wants to have a Hollywood smile, but not everyone can afford or has the time to visit the dentist. There are many so-called whitening kits and strips on the market that are affordable, but finding one that actually works can be a bit of a challenge.

Over the last six months, I have tried several different kits and the latest was the Professional Teeth Whitening Kit from Green-Heart. This kit includes a tray, a storage container, 2 whitening gel syringes, a syringe tip and a LED Light.

Unlike other kits that I have tried, the mouth tray is only one piece, which is a softer, gel-like tray. You don't need an applicator for the product either. It's pretty easy to use. Just push out a small bead of the whitening gel within the tray, slip the tray over your teeth and leave it in your mouth for 15 to 20 minutes. You can also place the LED Light in front of the tray to help the whitening activate faster. It's recommended to wear the tray for 15 minutes twice a day for 4 weeks.

Get the Perfect Supplies For Easter!


Easter Day is less than a week away and I'm sure many people will be busy this week picking up last minute things for the Easter dinner with your family or for the Easter Parties with your friends. While I'm sure chocolate bunnies and food coloring for the Easter eggs are at the top of your shopping list, you shouldn't forget to buy the essentials for any party - paper plates, napkins and plastic cutlery!

Last week, I was sent the Easter Patchwork Kit to review from Birthday In A Box. My family's Easter gathering is relatively small, so this 8 serving kit is perfect. It features 10 Patchwork Cake Plates, 24 Assorted Plastic Cutlery (8 forks, 8 knives, 8 spoons), 20 Patchwork Luncheon Napkins, 54 in. x 85 in. Patchwork Plastic Tablecover, 12 Birthday Candles and 2 - 81 ft. x 1.75 in Streamer (pink & yellow).


Monday, March 30, 2015

Harlock: Space Pirate DVD Review & Giveaway



Harlock: Space Pirate
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Voice Cast: Shun Oguri, Haruma Miura, Yu Aoi
Studio: Ketchup Entertainment
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Retail: $20.99
ASIN: B00RDEISAA
Running Time: 111 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on DVD tomorrow from Ketchup Entertainment for the first time in United States is the 2003 Japanese 3D CG anime Harlock: Space Pirate. Directed by Shinji Aramaki (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Halo Legends, Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina), the film features the voices of Shun Oguri, Haruma Miura and Yo Aoi. The movie can be played with the original Japanese voices, an English subtitles version or with English dubbed voices. There are no special features or bonus extras on the disc.

Based on the manga series Space Pirate Captain Harlock by Leiji Matsumoto, the film centers on a young soldier, Yama, of the Gaia Coalition, whom is ordered to volunteer as a new member of Captain Harlock's renegade crew aboard the pirate spaceship Arcadia. Once he is trusted by them, he is to take out the Captain.


While his orders seem to be simple at first, Yama quickly realizes that Captain Harlock might not be the bad guy that the Gaia Coalition claims, especially after the Captain saves his life. He quickly learns that the startling truth of what really happened to Earth and he goes on a quest with the crew of the Arcadia to seek out justice.