The Week-End Wrap & Review: I'm Going on Vacation Edition

Well, it's been a while since I have posted, so here it is the Vacation Edition of the Week-End Wrap & Review for Christmas week!

What I Saw: I have actually had the time (in between the hours long baking sessions and cooking sessions) to watch a few things this week! Yay for me! First, I got to watch Waitress, which was plain and simply delightful! Keri Russell is fantastic and it was just a fun movie. I have also been watching Dexter, Season 2, which is just as wickedly delicious as the first season! I also watched Georgia Rule which was not the Gary Marshall movie I was expecting. Instead it is a heavy movie! Lots of drama and difficult situations.

What I Heard: More Alicia Keys, even though the new Josh Groban Christmas CD Noel made it in the CD player quite a bit. Besides that, some Carrie Underwood, but nothing new.

What I Read: So I finally finished The Book of Lost Things. Review to come in a seperate post shortly! All in all, I enjoyed it a lot and will now begin to read other John Connolly works. Does that ever happen to you, you read a book by an author you have never heard of and liked it so much you HAVE to read their other books? I also read the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles series. It is an easy read and plan to read the other five books while on vacation!

Anyways, I will add links to all these references shortly, but for now, you can google anything that interests you!

I will be on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, so I will try to update, but cannot promise anything.

To everyone out in the blogging world:

Happy New Year!
May your 2008 be filled with
good health, good love, and good living.

Merry Christmas to All...

Just wanted to send out Seasons Greetings to all those out in the blogosphere! So, on this the 25th day of December:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

The Week-End Wrap & Review: Constructions Almost Over Edition

Well, the construction in my room is almost finished! It looks like it will be done by tomorrow, and since I have work tomorrow my own little fantasy world has decided that it will be done by the time I get home from work so I can essentially continue to work by moving back into the room! I am really excited about this! In other news, the interview I had a few weeks ago went really well. I have been asked back for a second interview, however Downtown, may have screwed up my chances for the job, but only time will tell with that!

Anyways, here it is everyone, the Week End Wrap & Review!

What I Heard: Still been listening to the new Alicia Keys album, but now added some Christmas music into the mix! Mostly it's been James Taylor At Christmas or Wynonna's A Classic Christmas. The only new CD I have been listening to is Blake Lewis's album, Audio Day Dream. He is the runner up from this past season of American Idol (the beat boxer) who actually does NO beat boxing on this album. So far it reminds me of Jason Mraz and Maroon 5! So it is fairly surprising! I am guessing he is actually going to do better than the winner!

What I Saw: I have not watched any movies this week, but next week might be full of them! I am planning on going to go and see The Golden Compass. And then the week after that, I want to see Sweeney Todd! I still have movies at home to watch, maybe when I'm back in my room with my new TV mounted on the wall! Then I will get into movie mode!

What I Read: Well, still reading The Book of Lost Things...will get farther into it tomorrow at work, since Saturday's tend to be slow days! I have decided on the next couple of books I think I am going to read, one of them being The Four Agreements! Any comments on this book, please let me know!

Well, thats about all that is going on here at the Scribbler's Nook!

You Like Me...You Really Like Me

So, have you ever gotten a chain mail and thought pahshaw and just deleted it...well this is better! I recieved my very first Blogging Award! It came from Troyboy over at Pheasantly Fascinating, so thank you Troyboy for this nice honor...as I said in the title of this post, You Like Me...You Really Like Me! So without further ado I present to you:


Now comes the part where I have to present this award to five other bloggers who I deem interesting to read.

Here's the fine print as found over at The Mind Wobbles (Those people given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honor, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc., etc. Let's send a roar through the blogsphere! The image at the top right can be [apparently] copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.)

So the three things I think makes a blog work well:

(1) Entertainment - What is written has to be somewhat entertaining, however, at the same time everything is entertaining to someone, somewhere!

(2) Honesty & Sincerity - Just like in real life, these blog friendships and loyalty are based on the reader believing what the writer is saying, and by portraying Sincerity you build honest and a re pore with the reader.

(3) Just have fun! If the writer is having fun, the reader will have fun!

So here it goes, my five blogs to give this award to...in no particular order:

• The Naptime Blogger - One of my best friends sister, who just writes impeccably well and very entertainingly!

• Observations of a Librarian - A great place that I go to when looking for the next book to read! Great reviews and fun little additives!

• The Geek Inside - A fun place to visit and read about the going ons of a Mom and her kids and Mr. Geek...of course!

• The Area 1 Blog - A local Toastmasters blog that I go to to get all my information from!

• Rocks In My Dryer - This is a blog I picked up Troyboy, but it is just a lot of fun to visit and read about the various goings on! Very entertaining!

The Monday Morning Mix-Up: The Wednesday Evening Edition

Sorry for the delay everybody, construction has been hectic on the schedule...but it is almost over! We are confident that everything should be done by Friday (minus the Shower Door, only because every Home Depot in Dade County is out of stock!)

Anyways, here it is, The Wednesday Evening Edition of the Monday Morning Mix-Up:

• LeAnn Rimes - The Trouble With Good-Bye: A good LeAnn song, only it was during her "pop" phase. A fun upbeat song though!
  
• Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All: A very pretty song (sung much better by Alison Krauss) but this version is also quite nice! It was featured in the movie Notting Hill!
  
• Jill Scott - Exclusively: What a fun song and a great voice! One soulful up and coming!
  
• Gloria Estefan - Reach: Ehhh....so iTunes has it's moments of falter. I love Gloria...I do not love this song. In fact, the only reason I tolerate it is that it reminds me of the 96 Olympics, and I just love the Olympics!
  
• David Bowie - Changes: Ahh! A much better choice! A great Bowie classic....for all times!
  
• Queen Latifah - I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl: Again the Queen has done it! From her second CD of standards, this is just a gorgeous voice singing a cute song!
  
• Third Eye Blind - Jumper: A great 90's rock song that is sad when you listen to the lyrics, but just a fun song.
  
• Eric Clapton - Sunshine Of Your Love: A classic guitar inro! One of those songs you hear and instantly love!
  
• The Beatles - Lady Madonna: A classic! And just in time for the bra's 100 birthday! (Had to get some Madonna reference in there)
  
• Kelly Clarkson - My Grown Up Christmas List: Possibly one of my all time favorite contemporary Christmas songs. It just seems to go so well with the way of the world and how everything around seems to be in constant disaray!

Anyways, thats the list! Please feel free to comment, etc.!

The Week-End Wrap & Review : Monday Morning Edition

Well, it has definately been one busy, crazy, displaced week! I am still out of my room (crossing my fingers to move in in the next couple of days!). I worked Friday-Saturday-Sunday, which is why this has become the Monday Edition for this week. Anyways, here's the run down for last week:

What I Saw: Well, not too many movies were played this week over here at the Scribbler's Nook. I did watch Hairspray, which is just a fun and entertaining movie. All of the cast seem to fit their part nicely (even John Travolta). Right now at home I have waiting to be watched: Skin Walkers, Waitress, and Live Free or Die Hard, so look in next weeks Wrap Up to hear about those!

What I Heard: Two words...Alicia Keys! I have been listening to her new album, As I Am, for days now and it is fantastic! She never stops evolving and creating something new and better! This time around she still has her R&B and Soul roots, but adds rock into it, and the result is just amazing! I have also been listening to some Christmas music around the house and in the car, mostly Jo Dee Messina's A Joyful Noise.

What I Read: Well, I am still reading The Book of Lost Things. Being displaced temporarily from room has not given me a good reading area, so it got put on the back burner, but I got to read some of it while I was at work over the weekend! So far, it is a great book.

The Monday Morning Mix-Up: The Ha Ha Ha Edition

Well welcome to the Scribbler's Nook for this very festive and fun edition of the Monday Morning Mix-Up! I recently read an article that Santa, when he is in Australia can no longer use the phrase "Ho, Ho, Ho" for risk that he might offend someone. Instead, he is to say "Ha, Ha, Ha!" So for the big man in red and white, I present the Ha, Ha, Ha Edition!

• Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Nights in Blue : It's Joe Cocker meets New Orleans blues and Ray Charles soul.
• LeAnn Rimes - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas : A great voice who has only improved with age singing a classic song.
• Kelly Clarkson - Oh Holy Night : One of the must's for any Christmas CD, and sung a capella with such a powerful voice
• Brian Setzer Orchestra - Dig That Crazy Santa Claus : A fun song to listen to, dance to, whatever you please
• Chris Botti - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town : Great trumpeteer and a great rendition of this classic!
• Bette Midler & Johnny Mathis - Winter Wonderland : A fun version of this song that is sassy, brassy and everything else that Bette is!
• Jo Dee Messina - A Joyful Noise : I'm usually not a fan of "new Christmas" songs that artists create, but this song is just magical, and Jo Dee's voice just soars on this song!
• Mariah Carey - Joy To The World : One of those definitive Christmas albums is Mariah's and this song is just fantastic!
• Spice Girls - Christmas Wrapping : I know it sounds odd to have the Spice Girls doing a Christmas Song, but it is actually a cover of an older song, but very catchy!
• Jewel - Silent Night : A very nice and subtle yet folksy cover of another perennial favorite.

Well that is it for this "Ha, Ha, Ha Edition." Look for many more Christmas themed lists over the holidays!

All's Not So Quiet

Well hello all Scribbler Fans in the realms of the blogiverse! It has been far too long since I have posted, but it was all for a reason. Right now, literally, my bathroom and bedroom are being renovated. Thats right...the project is finally getting done. (Folks, this is 2 years in the making...if not more!)

Well, most everything for the rooms are purchased and the workers began on Monday and they said it should take 2-3 weeks to complete! So the breakdown of what they are doing:
- Tile all 4 walls in the bathroom
- New tile on the shower floor
- New tile on the floor of the bathroom as well as into my bedroom
- New shower & sink fixtures
- New shower doors
- Pocket door to replace door into bathroom
- New commode
- New vanity & counter top
- Baseboards in bedroom removed, sanded, re-stained, and clear coated
- All 4 bedroom walls re-plastered, smoothed, primed, and painted
- New electrical wires run so that all my equipment works properly
- Possibly, the removal of all popcorn from the ceilings.

So while all of this is going on...I am sharing an office with my mother, and my temporary bedroom is my fathers office, and, oh yeah...currently all three of us are sharing a bathroom (not all at the same time) while my parents have their fixed.

It is only day 3 and I want my room back!

On another note, some new events over the past 2 weeks! I have purchased a nice new television for my nice new room. It is a 32" LG LCD HDTV (man, that is a lot of letters). It will look very nice up on the wall once it is mounted! I have yet to name it so I will take all suggestions.

Also, yesterday I went and interviewed for a temporary position at Killian High School, taking over a Language Arts class for a teacher who is going on maternity leave around the end of January.

Besides that, everything else is Quiet in the Scribbler's Nook.

The Week-End Wrap-Up & Review

Well everyone in blogworld...it has been a very productive week here at The Scribbler's Nook...and now, let's review:

What I Saw: This week actually gave me the chance to catch up on some television that has been sitting on my TIVO for what seems the past month. (Even though, now with the writers strike, maybe I should of waited to watch all those episodes of Bionic Woman!) So, I've watched Bionic Woman and Moonlight and I am all caught up. Both shows are okay, but they are more of something to have on in the background while I get other work done!

What I Heard: I have actually had a mixture of CD's or songs playing on the iTunes here at home. Much of what I have been listening to is Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' CD Raising Sand. Alison Krauss is probably one of my top two or three female voices, and now to hear her singing with a legend...it really is amazing! I have also been listening to Carrie Underwood's new CD Carnival Ride, which is really a delight to listen to!

What I Read: Well, if you have read my blog earlier in the week, you would of noticed that I have started a new book, John Conolly's The Book of Lost Things. I am only a chapter into it, but I am completely enthralled by it. The idea behind it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland or Pan's Labyrinth. A full review will come when finished!

That's it for this week...got a busy weekend ahead of me. I really want to go to the book fair, but my normal book fair buddy is out of town, so trying to convince mother to go. Besides that I have to get a new TV as mine is fading fast! Hope everyone out there in blogworld has a happy and safe weekend, and a Happy Veterans Day to all the Vets out there, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

106 Books...Oh My!

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users, as of I don't know what day -- the original said "today" but I got this a week or so ago. As usual, bold what you have read, italicize that you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: a novel
The name of the rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The historian : a novel
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
The once and future king
The grapes of wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & demons
The inferno
The satanic verses
Sense and sensibility
The picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s travels
Les misérables
The corrections
The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The prince
The sound and the fury
Angela’s ashes : a memoir
The god of small things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A short history of nearly everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an Inquiry into Values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The three musketeers

What Makes Me Different Meme

So I found this meme over at The Mind Wobbles and decided to "borrow" it for my blog! If you want to use it, feel free, just let me know or The Mind Wobbles....

1. Name a CD you own that none of your friends do - I have a very eclectic collection of CD's! So, something that I have that no one else I know has...the 2 CDs that Minnie Driver has put out...both are very good...folksy!
2. Name a book you own that none of your friends do - "Without You" by Anthony Rapp ... I am a huge RENThead...a person who loves the musical RENT, and this book is written by the original Mark, about his life and how RENT had changed it
   
3. Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that none of your friends do -"Tideland" directed by Terry Gilliam...I think Terry Gilliam is a genius, in both comedy and not...the former Python, creates a great magical drama about a girl who loses people around her and enters her own "realm"
   
4. Name a tourist attraction in the US that you have visited that none of your friends have - Hmm...The National Buffalo Museum outside of Tulsa,Oklahoma. I think it was the buffalo museum, all I remember was that there were a lot of buffaloes as well as a bunch of Native American artifacts
   

The Decision Has Been Made

I have chosen the next book that I will be reading, and it is...

It's That Time Again...The Monday Morning Mix-Up!

Well, here it is folks, the new, time-shifted (one week late thanks to Mr. Monkey in the White House) Monday Morning Mix-Up!

• Evanescense - Lithium : Amy Lee has a great voice and makes even a harder rock band sound angelic (which I am sure is not what they were going for!)
  
• Luke Bryan - Country Man : A fun song, drinking and doing the things a city boy can't!
  
• Meatloaf - It's All Coming Back To Me Now : Finally a Celine Dion song that is enjoyable to listen to (because it's not sung by Celine Dion!)
  
• Chicago - Stay The Night
  
• Rockapella - Dancin' In The Street : This is a great band! If anyone remembers the PBS show Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? This is the band that did the theme song! They do not use instruments at all...it is all beat-boxed and it sounds great!
  
• David Bowie - Blackout
  
• No Doubt - New
  
• Duran Duran - Skin Trade : A very interesting song, to say the least!
  
• Big & Rich - Drinkin' 'Bout You
  
• Jewel - Deep Water
  

The Week-End Wrap & Review

What I Saw: Well, since I was in bed a lot of the week, or just hanging around the house, I did get to watch some movies. I saw The Reaping, which I thought was a really good religious suspense movie! It has Hilary Swank as a woman who de-bunks miracles and religious phenomenon, but cannot in a town where the 10 Plagues are occurring! Very Good! I also watched Mr.Brooks, which I enjoyed, but wasn't overly impressed with. It had a good story, and a good idea, I just wish it would of had more suspense or action.

What I Heard: Been listening to a bunch of country this past week. Mostly it has been LeAnn Rimes newest disc Family. It really is a great CD! Also, been listening to Reba's Duets CD and Faith Hill's Hits CD. All of these are great...especially in a week filled with Britney buzz!

What I Read: Still reading the Ellen book, got about thirty or forty pages left. Trying to decide what book to start next. Thinking about finally reading The Lovely Bones or another Chuck Palahnuik book.

Just An Update

Hello all in the blogging world! Here's a quick update:
- Just been hanging around with friends and family
- Got real sick last Friday, thought it was just a stomach bug, but after an entire weekend of mild abdominal pains and nausea I decided to go to see the doctor. The doctor prescribed 3 medicines - one for pain, one for nausea, and one just in case it is an infection. He also requested that I have a CT scan done. Well I got the results of the CT scan this morning and it was negative for apendicitis, which was one main thought. Now comes the time to try and diagnose what exactly this might be! Fun fun fun!
- Have to work on Saturday, but shouldn't be too bad...home by 5!

The Monday Morning Mix-Up

Alright everyone out there in the Wonderful World of Blogs, here it is again, the Monday Morning Mix-Up! Enjoy!

• Duran Duran - All She Wants Is
• Pink - Tonight's The Night
• Elton John - Daniel
• John Corbett - Best Move
• Mary J. Blige - Baggage
• Mana - Tengo Muchas Alas
• U2 - Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
• Billy Joel - Code of Silence
• Chely Wright - Feelin' Single and Seein' Double
• James Taylor - Country Road
  

The Monday Morning Mix-Up

So here it is, the party shuffle of the week:

• Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic
  
• Rihanna - Pon de Replay
• Faith Hill - If My Heart Had Wings
• Janis Joplin - Cry Baby
  
• Olivia Newton John - Heart Attack
• Jo Dee Messina - Delicious Surprise (I Believe It)
  
• Foo Fighters - Statues
• Vertical Horizon - The Unchosen One
• Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
• Duran Duran - Girls on Film

The Week-End Wrap and Review

Another weekly post begins right here with the first weekly installment of The Week-End Wrap and Review for the Week of September 30!

What I Saw: Watched a couple movies this week. First was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie was okay, but the Silver Surfer was amazing, always one of my favorite superheroes! Also started to watch Vacancy but got bored with it fairly quickly and never continued! On the movie front I watched the regulars, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Heroes, Bionic Woman, and the premiere of Pushing Daisies, a new favorite!

What I Heard: On the iPod and in the car CD player most of this week has been the soundtrack from Across The Universe, which was fantastic! I saw the movie a couple weeks ago and it was a visual acid trip, but in a good way!

What I Am Reading: I have gone back to begin re-reading Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, which has always been a favorite book of mine. It was one of those books that makes you love a genre, in this case non-fiction. I've also began to read Ellen's first book, My Point...And I Do Have One, which is just funny

So, that's the basics for this week.

The Monday Morning Mix-Up on Thursday

So while two of the blogs that I read regularly, Pheasantly Fascinating and The Mind Wobbles, have their Friday Shuffle compliments of their computers (or in The Mind's case, a little iPod Shuffle affectionately (I'm assuming) named Lola!) So instead, I have deviated from the norm a tad (insert snarly comment from peanut gallery here) and created the Monday Morning Mix-Up.

The Monday Morning Mix-Up will be my computer's random selection of ten songs...now before I continue I must explain one thing, my music selection is eclectic...and by eclectic I actually mean, anything under the sun! Now, I have endless days of music, so I don't get to listen to it much and some of the songs I might not know, so they will get their first listen!

Without further ado, I present the inaugural Monday Morning Mix-Up, presented without commercial interruptions, on a Thursday evening:

• Pussycat Dolls : Don't Cha - A song that is pure fluff and has no real substance, but is catchy and fun to listen to!
  
• Green Day : All The Time - I actually have never gotten to the point in the Nimrod album to listen to this song...but it is a good song! Before the band decided to leave the punk realm behind for the pop world.
• Willie Nelson : Someone To Watch Over Me - This has to be one of my favorite Willie songs, it is definitely from my favorite Willie album, Stardust. It is a great standard and Willie Nelson adds his unique vocals to this song, making it one that stands out.
• The Wallflowers : Health and Happiness - A very interesting song, kinda down and dark, not quite sold on it yet, even though it is Bob Dylan's son who is the lead singer. Wallflowers were one of those groups that had an amazing first album then just faded.
• Fleetwood Mac : Everywhere - At first I thought the song was something by Electric Light Orchestra from Xanadu, but then the intro ended, and it has begun to sound like a mix of ELO and Men Down Under. It's a good song, but just not Fleetwood Mac to me for some reason.
  
• The Beatles : Her Majesty - All twenty-three seconds of this song are nice, pleasant, and about not being able to tell Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl. In fact it probably took you longer to read this than it did for my computer to play it!
• Bad Company : Feel Like Makin' Love - A CD that is in my computer that I have never listened to. It was one that was imported via a friends CD and now I get to hear a song. Not bad, not what I was expecting either (in a good way)!
• Dolly Parton : Will He Be Waiting For Me - I love me some Dolly, especially the bluegrass years! This is a great little ditty, uptempo, fun, yet not necessarily a positive song. Still, lots of fun!
• Pat Benatar : Ooh Ooh Song - A very fun song, very 80's sound which is great.
  
• 10,000 Maniacs : These Are The Days - My third favorite 10,000 Maniacs song and a great way to end this weeks songs! Natalie Merchant has such a great voice, but for me it only works with the rest of the band!

So that does it for the very first Monday Morning Mix-Up! Let me know your thoughts on these songs, artists, etc!

Welcome to the Scribbler's Nook

Hello all and welcome to the Scribbler's Nook, a place to chat, a place to rant, and place to convey new information, and of course, a place to write! I look forward to hearing from all of you in blogging land!