Top Ten Tuesday- Bookish Bucket List

It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the wonderful blog at The Broke and the Bookish! This week's topic is Top Ten Bookish Bucket List.

Honestly I have been meaning to do this for a while now. In case you didn't know, Love at First Book has 50 Bookish Things You Want to Do Before You Die and I have been meaning to fill out my list for that for a while now.  So this will start that list out for me!!

1.  Meet/ Go to book signings for 20 Authors (so far I have Stephen King, Charlaine Harris, and George RR Martin).

2. Host a Blogging Event (I have yet to think of one that I think people would be interested in participating in). 

3.  Finish reading ALL of Stephen King's books. 

4.  Someday I would like to go to BEA (Book Expo America in New York).  While there.. I would really love to see the New York Public Library.

5.  Find a book club in real life. 

6.  I would still like to participate in World Book Night but I am a little intimidated since year 1 I wasn't approved and then after that I started to wonder where I would donate the books that would actually make a difference so I didn't apply again.  Next time though I want to apply and really find a place the books would make a difference. 

7. Get a literary tattoo.  Yea I this probably won't happen.. but I sure can pin on pinterest all the ones I love!

8.  Read all my TBR books, especially the ones on my Nexus 7!

9. Learn how to make all those fun graphics I see on other blogs.. maybe learn Photoshop? We do own the program so I should use it.

10.  Continue to have fun blogging and chatting about books.  I hope that I don't lose the passion for it.

What is on your list?  Seriously I spent all evening trying to get this into a cute little list like I see on other blogs but I give up!!

What I like about your blog!!

Lately I feel like I really only see posts about what bloggers don't like about other blogs.  Parajunkie actually just did an amazing post on this topic (yes you need to read it.. like now). These posts make me hurry over to my blog and look around and check it.  How are the colors of my template.  Do I have too much on my sidebars???  Too many GIFs???  What am I doing wrong???  It is so stressful!  I thought I would do a post about what I LIKE about your blogs!

1. Commenting.  Yes commenting.  I love the blogs that comment on my comments... and not only do that but come and visit my blog back too!  WHAT!!  I try to always do this.  It is time consuming.  But to me... I don't like to just write up a post... publish it for the world and then leave it at that.  Let the comments go and move onto my next post.  NO.  I want to talk about what I just spend an hour typing up.  I want to see what people think.. did they agree? Disagree?

2. People who use twitter and tweet other blogger's posts.  Now I admit, I am not the best at this.  In fact... I am not the best tweeter in the world. I usually only get on in the evening and binge tweet and then I am off.  I need to practice tweeting posts I love from other bloggers.  I really appreciate it when bloggers do this for my posts.

3.  I love bloggers who do how-to posts for Blogger.  I see Wordpress how-to posts everywhere!  I did find a blog that was doing it.. but they jumped ship and moved to Wordpress too. I can tell you I will probably never move to Wordpress.  I don't want to spend the money.  My blog doesn't even bring in any kind of income whatsoever so really I just will stick with free Blogger. I looked into moving, I would have to hire someone and there's more money. There must be someone out there who wants to show Blogger some html love. Anyone??

4.  I love bloggers who have layouts that have neat themes through the whole blog.  I have been looking for a new blog template for a while now but just haven't found anything.  Ransom Reads is an extremely neat blog to me.  I love how it is all about ships and pirates.  Clever!  There are a few other blogs set up like this and I just think it's fabulous!

5.  I love creative blog posts.  I wish I could think of cool features.  I do Project Disney (not my idea) and I do review Comics every other week... but no cool features. Rinn Reads does a post Museum of Literary Wonders where she acts like we are at a museum and posts pictures of the artifacts that are from different books.   Bravo!!!  Now if only I could think of something like this!

6. I like blogs that share links to other blogs!!  YES.. I discover so many blogs this way.  A lot of bloggers do this in their Sunday Posts.  I used to not ever participate in Stacking the Shelves and what not on Sundays because they were boring to me.  But I noticed that the ones that didn't just post I got this book or that book.. but that linked up interesting posts intrigued me! So finally I did join in and add links into my Sunday Posts hoping that my blog readers will find something interesting.

7. I like events to participate in (this includes memes).  While I don't think your blog needs to participate in every WOW (Waiting on Wednesday), and TTT (Top Ten Tuesday) I do appreciate them. And sometimes my feed is just cluttered with them on the weeks where I don't participate so I just skim past those. I love Bout of Books, Bloggiesta, readathons, Follow Me Friday, Book Blog Walkers, Sunday Post and so on.  These things can be hard to manage so thank you to the hosts. I have met tons of bloggers through these and even had a little fun.

8. I like blogs that aren't afraid to follow other blogs that don't post the genres you normally read. New Genres!  I actually follow some blogs that read books I don't read.. but their other posts are interesting.  Perhaps you post about cooking, or movies.  Honestly I love variety and I love reading blogs that will introduce me to topics I don't know much about.

Well that is what I love about blogs! Now yes... we all need to work on our blogs a little, me included. ( By the way Parajunkie has another post about having a great blog that you should check out). But remember that you should like your blog.  You should like the blogs you follow... add something about yourself in your blog.  Don't be afraid to do Cat Thursdays, or a post about what you cooked for dinner.  What do you LOVE in a blog????

Bloggiesta Spring 2014

 

The idea behind Bloggiesta is to spend these next four days working on perfecting your blog and connecting with other bloggers who are doing the same thing. Spread the word and get all your friends to come and fiesta with us!  If you haven’t heard about Bloggiesta before, it’s a weekend (March 27-30) where we all sit down to work on our blogs, do those things we keep putting off, as well as network and meet new bloggers and participate in challenges and giveaways. Definitely check it out, it’s a lot of fun! 

I will update just this one post here so people don't keep seeing the same post over and over again.  So head here if you want to see my updates!  Here are my goals: 

1.  I do this every time.  I moderate two book clubs on goodreads (Stephen King Fans and the Young Adult Book Club) and I need to moderate all the posts that happen on there.  I need to read through each and every thread/topic and use this weekend to do it since it takes so long and I have to stay caught up on it. 

Yes!! All caught up again. This is something I had to do every three months or so. Updated the books and lists on each group too.

2.  Comment on blogs participating in Bloggiesta

3.  Participate in Challenges -&nbsp ; Well I looked at the Facebook one.. and of course my blog is blocked from there sooooo I can't do that one. I read through the Pinterest challenge and I actually already have some boards for the blog on there. Be sure to follow me! I went through all the challenges tonight! So fun and I always learn something new.

4. Go through blogs I follow and stop following the ones that no longer blog, or that I don't stop by and visit.  Has anyone else noticed that every now and then Bloglovin throws in blogs for you to follow that you never followed before??? 

5. Back up Blog.

6. Add a social icon button for Instagram.  I have been having fun lately following book blogs on Instagram and should try to get more to follow me. 

7. Add an author footer?  Last bloggiesta I asked around for help with the one I previously had.. I worked hours trying to get the code back in and it never happened.  This bloggiesta I'll just add a new one that is completely different then the previous one since it just doesn't work. 

8.  Add share buttons under my posts (shareaholic). DONE! I took off the Sharing is Caring words because I thought they looked like clutter. Also... I didn't add the f icon for facebook because facebook blocked my blog as spam many moons ago.  I did email them again though to try to see if they would unblock me.

9.   Jump into some Twitter chats: - I keep missing these!

 Chat: Sunday March 30 @ 8 p.m. E
10.  Fill out the 50 Bookish Things I want to Do Before I Die
11.  Set up a blogging event with a co-blogger. Sign ups will start April 1st!!
12.  Make a Once Upon a Time readathon blog post this weekend.
13.  Roll over effect on social icons?
14.  Figure out what everyone is talking about when they talk about broken links on their blogs from google? ?? ? ?   Working on this... and found a link to a website that explains how to do it: http://blogtimenow.com/seo/find-fix-redirect-broken-links-blogger/  Luckily I only have 8 broken links and need to redirect them.  I went in to do this but when I tried to hit save nothing happens in the blogger dashboard.  It is odd!

Trust me.. this list will get longer as the weekend goes on.  It always does!!! Usually I am quite successful during Bloggiesta.  Good luck everyone!!

Divergent- Movie Review

Divergent the Movie

Ok so let's be honest.  I was not going to see this movie.  The campaign for it really didn't blow me away.  I thought.. eh... another teen movie.  Then I had some friends come to town for spring break and their teen daughter wanted to go and see it.  So we headed off to the IMAX theater to check it out.. and I am sooo glad that I did!!

I really didn't think it was bad.  The movie follows the book quite well. I have noticed though that the movie hasn't brought in much money this weekend.  I read on Forbes that "domestic gross of Beautiful Creatures ($19.4m), The Host ($26.6m), The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ($31.1m), and Vampire Academy ($7.7m)." Divergent made 22.8 million so compared to these other films it did OK.  I think one of the major problems with this becoming a successful movie is the market is saturated right now with these teen movies.  We have Hunger Games still in the theaters and Maze Runner coming out this fall.  I think those that have read the books will enjoy this film, those who haven't I'm not so sure.  We have characters living in a dystopian world.. where these teens must survive.

I see that right now on Rotten Tomatoes this movie as a score of 41%!!  Wow!  But of course the critics never feel the same as the audience which has given the film 80%!  I never try to pay attention to what critics think only the fans/audience.   I hope that by word of mouth this film gets more of an audience so that there is more of a chance of a second movie being made.

The film is left up in the air at the end for a second movie.. but I think it also ended well if this does turn out to be the last movie in the series.  I do think this movie is worth going to the theater.  Skip the IMAX prices... we only went to IMAX to see it since we had some friends from out of town here who had never been to one of those theaters before.  I give this movie a B.

Check out my book reviews:
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Sunday Post

Let's chat about what's going on this week... on my blog.. on other blogs... on the internet... and just everywhere!    I link up my post to Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves.

On the Blog:
-Comic Adventures  issue # 7 talks about Guardians of the Galaxy (soon to be a movie), Jack of Fables volume 3, Batman volume 3, and Joker Death of the Family.
-A new Project Disney about the Lion King!  I compare it to Hamlet by Shakespeare... speaking of Hamlet.. I review that too!!

Around the Blogospere:
I am a little behind this week on other blogger's posts since it was Spring Break and I was really busy.  I am trying to catch up this weekend on the blog's I follow.  Here are a few posts that I did catch: 
-Bloggiesta is this week.  If you haven't joined in before you should.  It is a lot of fun and I have met quite a few bloggers joining in!
-Have you ever checked out JC's Book Haven's sidekick series???  It's fun and there is some great artwork going on too!
-Because Reading is better then Real Life talks about the nonsense that is Facebook.. the fact that you might have 1000 likes but only 15 see the post!
- The Once Upon a Time readathon at Stainless Steel Droppings is starting!!  Super fun everyone so check it out!!
-Bookish Whimsy talks about Circulating Libraries.  I love this so much! 

Internet:
The Maze Runner movie has been pushed back... so I was not sure about it. Then I saw the trailer and it looks decent!
 

Might as well put in TWO movie trailers based off books this week... The Giver trailer was also released:


Books Books Books:

I didn't get too many books this week.  It has been a busy week with friends visiting for spring break so I didn't get a lot of reading done or blogging done.  But I will be back strong next week. I do have a ton of comics to catch up on.  While on Spring Break I visited a GINORMOUS comic book store called Mile High Comics.  It's in a huge warehouse and when I say it's full I mean it's FULL!! OH and yes... that comic is $17,010.00!!! 

How was your week????? 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare- Review

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I finally read my first Shakespeare. Yeah!  I read it for my Project Disney The Lion King (the movie is based off this play).  Here is the goodreads description:

In this quintessential Shakespearean drama, Hamlet's halting pursuit of revenge for his father's death unfolds in a series of highly charged confrontations that climax in tragedy. Probing the depths of human feeling like few other works of art, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative British edition complete with illuminating footnotes. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative  

Honestly... this was a hard book to read.  It took me a little while to get in the grove of reading.  Once I picked up how the conversations were going I got a long much better.  I watched the 1996 film Hamlet (4 hours) after reading and now I wish I had read along with the film.  It uses the exact text and helps one understand more of what they are reading.  I was able though to figure out what the main plot was.   I find that it was interesting and what made it even more perfect is that it wasn't too long.  I suppose that is because I was reading a play so I am only going to read what people are going to sit there and actually watch.

I didn't go and study the story and the meanings behind it.  I simply just read it for enjoyment. I like the love... the drama... the witty text.  To finally read "to be or not to be".  Since I haven't really paid too much attention to Shakespeare novels before (except Romeo and Juliet of course) the ending was a complete surprise to me!  Shakespeare actually wasn't spoiled!  Shocker I know. I believe that (well from this play) that Hamlet should be read in one sitting.  I feel that putting it down and coming back to it later just takes away from the play feeling.  I love plays/broadway, so while reading this I was trying to read it as if I was listening to a play.

I enjoyed this even though... well let's be honest I really needed a dictionary for every sentence. I do plan on reading more Shakespeare.   

The crystal ball says:

Fog is coming.....  in the middle of the road on this book!

Project Disney- The Lion King

Project Disney: The plan is to tackle all of the Disney films, re-reading the classic stories and tales that inspired many of them and to look at how the changes the filmmakers made, the new elements they introduced and the essential elements they kept. We will, of course, be talking about the films as movies as well, saying why we enjoy them and what some of our favorite moments are, but our focus will be on looking at them as adaptations. For the films that are not drawn from any one work we’ll be looking at some of the possible literary influences that we see in the stories. I am participating in Project Disney inspired by Picture Me Reading!  

This week's Project Disney is The Lion King based off of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. You may have seen The Lion King but you may not have been aware that it is based off a play by Shakespeare.  For this Project Disney, Hamlet is actually the first time I have read Shakespeare.  Of course there are many differences.  We have animals VS humans. But.. if you think about it the two have a lot of comparisons.  A jealous brother (Claudius) kills the king, and then the son (Hamlet) finds out and wants to get revenge on his uncle.  There are two characters in the play named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who distract Hamlet.  In the movie this is  Timon and Pumba who distract Simba.  The Lion King has many inspirations including the Bible (Joesph and Moses' stories), King Author, and other Shakespeare plays but the one I chose to go with is Hamlet.  Of course the biggest difference between Hamlet and The Lion King is that everyone dies in Hamlet.

Scar holding up skull, tribute to Hamlet?

While looking through the internet there is extensive research on comparing The Lion King and Hamlet. So let's talk about the Lion King plot first. I won't give too much because... well hopefully you have seen this movie. Africa's savannah is very excited because of the birth of a new lion cub. This lion cub, Simba is the son of the King of the jungle, Mufasa which makes Simba next in line to the throne.  Scar, the uncle, is displeased with this and decides to murder both Simba and Mufasa. Scar lets Mufasa fall off a cliff (such a tearjerker!!) and tells Simba it's all his fault. One of the differences between Bambii and The Lion King is that Bambii never actually sees the body of his mother.  Simba actually does find his father's body which is so sad to watch. So Simba runs away and luckily makes friend with meerkat and warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa.  He grows up and then Nala a childhood friend comes and finds him and tells Simba to come back to the herd to get rid of Scar.  Which they do and Simba and Nala have a little baby of their own to continue the Circle of Life.

I think another reason this is such a loved movie is because Disney does such a good job of even the side characters.   There is aside from Timon and Pumbaa, Rafiki the mandrill, Zazu the hornbill, and the hyenas (does anyone know their names???).   In both Hamlet and the Lion King there are ghosts.  Simba and Hamlet both speak to their father's as ghosts.   Rafiki and Zazu provide Simba with guidance while Hamlet really has no one to guide him.  By the way.. Rafiki and Zazu are pretty hilarious on screen.  And the voice actors in the film!! YES!!!  James Earl Jones, Whoopie Goldberg, Jeremy Irons, just to name a few.

The music in the film is also another reason it is so successful.  I love singing to the songs.  I have even been to the Broadway Show of the Lion King which is absolutely fabulous. If you ever have a chance to see it, go! Songs like "I Just Can't Wait to be King" and the "Circle of Life" are masterpieces, not only in the film by also on the radio version performed but Elton John. 

When I was younger I didn't LOVE this film.  But the more I watch it and the more I really listen and try to understand the story the more I love it.  I appreciate it more and more. Especially after reading Hamlet and relating that book to the film.  This is actually a really deep Disney film.  It really shows to me how important good friends and family really are.  It is also one of Disney's darkest villains, Scar.  Honestly I think this film does a fantastic job of showing how one goes through grief and has to go on with life.  It's beautiful when Mufasa tells Simba that anytime he feels alone to look up in the stars and he will always be there for him.

Hakuna Matata!!

Check out my other Project Disney:

Snow White
Cinderella
Peter Pan
Treasure Planet
Sleeping Beauty
The Great Mouse Detective 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Princess and the Frog
Pinocchio 
Fantasia 
Beauty and the Beast
Lady and the Tramp
Alice in Wonderland
The Rescuers
The Rescuers Down Under
Tangled
Oliver and Company
Mulan
The Little Mermaid
Bambi
101 Dalmatians
Frozen
Fantasia 2000
The Jungle Book
The Emperor's New Groove
The Sword in the Stone
Aladdin
Atlantis
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh (2011)
Robin Hood
Hercules
Pocahontas
Dumbo
The Black Cauldron 
Mary Poppins
Lilo and Stitch 
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Make Mine Music
Tarzan
Fox and the Hound 
Melody Time