Friday, October 7, 2016

Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition: Oct. 7th - 13th




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Welcome Ghouls and Goblins
to the
Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition!
  
If you want schedule next week's thrilling question, click here to find the next prompt fright-fest. 
To submit a question, fill out this form.

How to participate in this week's creepy meme:


1. Post on your blog answering this haunt:

  Name one book that scared you so badly that you couldn't finish reading it.

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting 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 a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  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.
 

Billy's Answer!


Stephen King's It! I always tell people that I had read the novel, but I only read a few pages of it. The 1990 "It" television mini-series scared me to death when I was a kid. At the time I only watched part 1 as I was too scared to watch the part 2. Later, during my teenager years I did finish watching it. The book is being remade into two feature films, so maybe I'll be attempt to the read the novel again.



Linky List:

Review: X-Men: Apocalypse Blu-ray

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.
PG-13; 144 minutes; Retail - $39.99; Best Buy
Back in July 2000, less than two months after my high school graduation, the X-Men, based on the Marvel comic books arrived in theaters. I didn't see the film until I received a the VHS (Remember those?) for Christmas that year. While I had never watched the old animated series or even read one single issue of the comic books, I became an instant of the fan of the movie franchise.

Now sixteen-years later, there have been nine feature films, with a tenth film, Logan, coming out next March, and a spinoff television series, Legion, debuting on FX next year.

The latest film in the franchise X-Men: Apocalypse is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD. Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past), the film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn and Lucas Till.

Inspired by Ultimate X-Men's Apocalypse arc and X-Factor storyline Fall of the Mutants, X-Men: Apocalypse is set in 1983, where CIA agent Moira MacTaggert accidentally awakens En Sabah Nur, otherwise known as Apocalypse, the first mutant, from his tomb in Egypt. Believing the world has lost it's way, Apocalypse enlists four horseman to help him rebuild the world. The four horsemen are: Ororo Munroe, aka Storm; Psylocke; Angel; and Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto).

Professor Charles Xavier had reopened his school for mutant kids since the events that took place in X-Men Days of Future Past. His most recent students are Scott Summers, who has a mutation that gives him the ability to shot optic beams out of his eyes, and, Kurt Wagner, who has the ability to teleport.

Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), the original and most powerful mutant, embark.

While using the mutant-locating computer known as Cerebro, Professor Xavier's mind is taken hostage by Apocalypse, who uses his powers to release mayhem upon the world. This brings in Colonel William Stryker and his soldiers to lead an assault upon the school and in the process kidnapping some of the students. Luckily, Quicksilver happens to arrive in the nick of time to save a few of the kids. However, he couldn't save Professor Xavier from being taken by Apocalypse.

All of this leads to Raven, aka Mystique, and Beast taking command of the X-Men by rescuing the students from Strykers facility, and confronting Apocalypse in the hopes of saving Professor Xavier and the entire world.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

31 Days of Halloween: Goosebumps Most Wanted: The Lizard of Oz




Scholastic; 154 pages; $6.99; Amazon
I couldn't have a Halloween event on my blog without at least featuring one "Goosebumps" title. R.L. Stine has been scaring kids to death since the early 1990s with his Twilight Zone inspired book series. Each book is written from the point-of-view of a kid between the age 10-13, where he or she would have some sort of scary adventure. Typically, the books would have shocking endings.

The newest entry is titled Goosebumps Most Wanted: The Lizard of Oz (book 10 in the "Most Wanted" series). It begins with a quick introduction by R.L. Stine, who is showing the readers the Most Wanted poster of a lizard in the Goosebumps office. Then the story jumps to point-of-view of Kate Lipton, a twelve-year-old, with a very odd family, and, no, she isn't taking about her little brother, Freddy.

Out of nowhere, Kate's parents had decided to quit their jobs and start a miniature pony farm in Middle Village, Pennsylvania. After that plan failed, they tried to start a miniature pony petting farm, and you can probably guess that that idea didn't work either.

After borrowing money from relatives, the Lipton family travels to Australia. It seems her parents have always been obsessed with lizards, and that's exactly why they are in Australia - so they can get a rare lizard. After meeting a strange man named Dr. Gregg, her parents convinced him to let them buy a Tasmanian Cobra lizard egg to take back home.

Product Review: ARIMA-XD




The ARIMA-XD is a 30-Day Cycle anti-estrogen/cortisol inhibitor, so basically it's meant to lower estrodial levels for men.

For us males, as we get older, our estrogen levels increase, which will cause or testosterone levels to drop. This will cause weight gain, loss of muscle, decrease in energy, and a decrease in libido.

The label recommends taking 1 to 2 tablets per day, so I took one tablet for the first week and then I started taking two tablets last week. It's supposed to increase libido, lower cortisol and inhibit Aromatase enzymes.

Does it work?

It's always difficult to see if a supplement is actually working or not. Sometimes it takes several weeks for it to kick into your system, while others may or may not be working at all, but you're just not seeing any physical results.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

31 Days of Halloween: Cradle and All by James Patterson


Jimmy Patterson; 336; $18.99; Amazon
If a book is a bestseller, then eventually it will get a reprint, and some of those titles will also get a brand new cover art. Well, that was what was I thinking when I saw the cover to Cradle and All by James Patterson on Barnes & Nobles a few months ago. The original Cradle and All was published in 2000, and it was actually a rewritten novel called Virgin that was published in 1980. This year's release of Cradle and All with the baby stroller on the cover is in fact another rewritten version of Virgin, but this time Mr. Patterson has written the story for young adults under his children book label "Jimmy Patterson."

Cradle and All centers on a pregnant seventeen-year-old, Kathleen Beavier, in Boston who claims she's a virgin. During her pregnancy, the world is turned upside down with droughts, epidemics, floods, and epidemics.

The young girl's claim gets the attention of the Catholic Church, leading Cardinal Rooney to ask Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun who is now a private detective, to investigate the situation. Also sent in to help out in the case is Father Justin O'Carroll, who has had past relationship with Anne.

On the other side of the world, Father Nicholas Rosetti travels from Rome to Ireland in search of Colleen Deirdre Galaher, a sixteen-year-old pregnant virgin.

Are Kathleen and Colleen telling the truth? If so, is one of them carrying in The Second Coming? Or is one of the carrying Satan's child?

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Popcorn & Coffee: Banshee: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray



TV-MA; 480 minutes; $27.99; Best Buy

Available today on Blu-ray +Digital HD from HBO Home Entertainment is Banshee: The Complete Fourth Season, featuring all 8 episodes from the final season.

Created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler, Banshee aired on CINEMAX from January 2014 to May 2016. The series centered an unnamed man (played by Antony Starr)who was recently released from prison after being incarcerated for fifteen years for stealing $15 million dollars worth of diamonds for his Ukrainian mob boss, Rabbit (played by Ben Cross). With the help of his computer hacker friend Job (played by Hoon Lee), the man tracks down his partner in crime and former lover Anastasia Rabitov (played by Ivana Miličević), who is also Rabbit's daughter. For the last fifteen years, Anastasia has been living in Banshee, Pennsylvania under the name Carrie Hopewell, where she is now married with two children.

After witnessing the death of the soon-to-be sheriff, Lucas Hood, at the bar outside of town that is owned by Sugar Bates (played by Frankie Faison), the man takes the sheriff's identity.

Season Four takes place two years after the season three finale, where Hood has isolated himself from the world, well, that is until the new sheriff, Brock Lotus (played by Matt Servitto), locates and informs him that the Rebecca Bowman (played by Lili Simmons) had been murdered. The news brings Hood back to Banshee, where Kai Proctor (played by Ulrich Thomsen), Rebecca's uncle and the town's crime kingpin, is the now the mayor.

In episode three, Hood, along with Carrie, track down the location of Job (who was kidnapped at the end of season three) and rescue him from his captors. The rest of the season focus on Hood's quest to find Rebecca's murderer.

Bonus Features on the three-disc set are:

Dress Like "The Shape" For Halloween

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

Dressing up as your favorite princess, cartoon character, superhero or villain is an annual tradition for trick-or-treaters on Halloween Night. Even some adults dress up to take their kids their kids trick-or-treating. Others dress up in costumes for Halloween parties. Then there are some adults who wears a costume or mask while giving away candy on Halloween. Lastly, there are a few adults who just like to collect masks and costumes based on their favorite movie characters.

While store like Walmart and Target do carry costumes during the month of October, they are very limited, sometime forcing your kids to settle for a costume they don't really want to wear.

Thanks to online store, like Oriental Trading, you can browse through thousands of costumes, order your favorite one, and have it shipped directly to your doorsteps.

Oriental Trading's Halloween section has over 3,2000 costumes to choice from; costumes for boys and girls, and costumes for men and women. They even carry couple & group costumes, as well as costumes for dogs.

Oriental Trading nicely sent me a mask of my choice to review during my blog's Halloween event, and as I can see by the photos, I picked the Michael Myers Latex Mask (IN-13591484). I'm a big fan of the "Halloween" films, so naturally I picked this mask to review.

Made by Trick or Treat Studios and officially licensed by Universal Studios, the mask retails for $64, but it's currently on sale on Oriental Trading for $50.98.


Monday, October 3, 2016

Popcorn & Coffee: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates



Rated R; 99 minutes; $39.99; Amazon

Now available to purchase on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is the outrageous comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Directed by Jake Szymanski, the film stars Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam Devine, Aubrey Plaza, and Stephen Root.

The film centers on two hard-partying brothers, Mike (played by Adam Devine) and Dave (played by Zac Efron) Stangle, who are both told by their father (played by Stephen Root) to find "respectable" dates for their sister Jeanie's (played by Sugar Lyn Beard) wedding in Hawaii.

Since they had never dated "nice girls" before, they have no idea where to find any. So they post an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii ad on Craigslist. The ad goes viral quickly, leading the brothers to appear on n The Wendy Williams Show.

This is where best friends Tatiana (played Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (played by Anna Kendrick) comes into the picture. They see Mike and Dave on television, and the girls decided they are going to be their dates, though all they want is a free trip to Hawaii.

After a brief meeting, Mike and Dave pick Tatiana and Alice as their dates. However, once they arrive in Hawaii for the wedding, they start realize the girls are wilder than them.


Blu-ray Special Features includes:

Saturday, October 1, 2016

31 Days of Halloween: Ghostsitter by Shelly Brown



Future House Publishing; 262 pages; $14.98; Amazon
I've been a big fan of any film or novel that has a supernatural settings ever since I first saw the Ghostbusters on VHS when it originally came out in the mid 1980s. I might have been young (3 or 4 years old at time), but I clearly remembered watching the movie. Since then, any book or movie with the word "Ghost" in the title gets my automatic attention; which is one of the reasons why I wanted to read the newest middle-grade novel - "Ghostsitter" by Shelly Brown.

To be completely honest, I received an ARC copy several months ago (April or May), so I had to reread it before I wrote this review.

Ghostsitter centers on Tiffany Hart, a twelve-year-old who for some reason or another agreed to hop in a van with three of her classmates (Justin, Jessica, Mario) in the middle of the night. Oh, don't worry, Justin's older sister Kori is the one driving them.

Where are they going in the middle of the night?

Well, they're going to Gravity Hill to be ghost hunters. It seems there is a legend about an elementary school bus in the 1950s that slid off the road and overturned into the water. All the children on bus were supposedly killed. Over the years, people have claimed to have seen ghost children around the area.

Sadly, their night doesn't go as planned when Tiffany has a sudden asthma attack.

The Good News - Tiffany makes a quick a recovery and is able to return to Antioch Junior High School, where she is planning on running for student body president.

The Bad News - Three ghost children begin to haunt Tiffany!

Popcorn & Coffee: CLOWNTOWN



NOT RATED; 86 minutes; $14.99; Amazon
Now in theaters from ITN Distribution, Inc. is the horror-flick CLOWNTOWN. The film will also be available on DVD and VOD on October 4th!

Directed by Tom Nagel and co-produced by Robert Kurt, the film stars Brian Nagel, Lauren Elise, Andrew Staton, Katie Keene, Jeff Denton, Chris Hahn, David H. Greathouse, and Greg Violand.

Inspired by true event, CLOWNTOWN centers on four friends (Brad - played by Brian Nagel, Sarah - Lauren Elise Compton, Mike - Andrew Staton, and Jill - Katie Keene) who are on a road trip to a concert. They stop by a rural Ohio diner and get directions from the local sheriff.

They go back on the road, but are quickly sidetracked when they realize one of the girls had left her cell phone at the diner. They call her cell number hoping someone at the diner would answer it. However, a seemingly nice male answers the phones and agrees to give the phone back to her. The only catch is they have to meet him in an abandoned town.

Well, the town isn't exactly empty as there are several bloody thirsty clowns hanging around, looking for new victims.