Look At Me! I'm A Blogger!

Current Status: Ashamed of absence

Twitter Status: Active

Current Music: Chameleon Circuit (Doctor Who music, yes, I'm a nerd)

I realize that it's been almost three months since my last post. I also realize that nobody really cares...we'll call it even.

I have recently discovered the incredible community that exists on YouTube. I know! You'd never guess from the amount of crap comments that there happens to be a large amount of incredibly made of awesome people. Hoo! Ha! Nerdfighters! If that confuses you, check out the vlogbrothers, who are made of awesome, despite my political views clashing with theirs from time to time. Also check out Charlie Mcdonnell and Alex Day, a couple of British youtubers who are really awesome too.

Guess what comes out in thirty days! The next Brandon Sanderson book! It's been no secret on this blog that I adore this guy, but this book, titled The Way of Kings, is shaping up to be his best yet. If you need evidence, I recommend you click here and start reading.

I have Twitter. Just thought you might wanna know. Username's Flame_Soul is you're interested in following me. I also have Facebook, but I don't want you guys finding me there, thanks. I also have a YouTube account, but you might want to hold off on that until it doesn't suck.

I have an interesting with my local library. I will go for long stretches of time without anything checked out. Then I'll get a half dozen plus books at a time, kind of like a negligent boyfriend who makes up for his absence with lots of expensive gifts. I'm currently in the "lots of books" phase of this cycle. Here's my current reading list:

Oathbreaker: Assassin's Apprentice - S.R. Vaught and J.B. Redmond - spontaneous pick up (first in a fantasy trilogy and I'm liking it a lot so far, I'm about half way through)

Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want - Obert Skye - reread (I've been slowing making my way through this series again so I can finish it, about 1/4 of the way through)

Spells - Aprilynne Pike - sequel, recommendation (second in a YA romance series that was recommended on Writing Excuses, let me put it this way, it's everything Twilight tried to be in about a third of the pages, but better, and with fairies instead of vampires, a great read, haven't started this one yet)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan - reread (same sitch as Leven Thumps, but for this I'm wanting to compare it to the movie, which I saw recently, haven't started)

Hero.com: Virus Attack - Andy Briggs - sequel, spontaneous pick up (second in a middle grade series about a website that lets people download superpowers, has a parallel series called Villain.net that's from a bad guy perspective, very interesting and likes to mess with some typical comic book tropes while embracing others, haven't started)

The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters - James Dashner - recommendation (another Writing Excuses recommendation, I've read the first chapter and it seems quirkily fantastic, can't wait to read it)

Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra - Obert Skye - sequel (waiting to finish rereading Eyes of the Want to start this one, eagerly anticipating)

In addition to all that, I'm picking up a couple MORE books at the library tonight. Yeah, I'm kind of a maniac.

I've also found myself totally enamored with Doctor Who, if I haven't metioned it already. But in June I saw the finale of series 5, the first under the control of Steven Moffat, who wrote the best episodes up to that point. And he did NOT disappoint. It was so awesome. You should watch it.

One that that DW has done differently this year is the inclusion of the Doctor Who Adventure Game. Which are fully canon Doctor Who episodes, but in downloadable game format. You don't need them to have the full arc of the season, but they're still awesome. The thing is, though, that the developers seem to be about a generation behind the times when it comes to game design. It looks and plays like a game from 2004. And while it may feature voice talents of the actual actors of the show, this only minimally enhances the experience. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, while great screen actors, don't measure up when it comes to voice only. You don't get the same character dynamic present in the show. Also, the voice bites to match up with the lip syncing in-game, which isn't really noticeable most of the time, but sometimes the audio clip will finish a full five seconds or more before the on-screen model finishes its lip flapping. Apart from some severe technical difficulties, the game plays pretty well. It's stealth and puzzle mechanics, which make up the majority of the gameplay, aren't exactly original, but the backdrop they're presented against, meaning plot and setting, really work well. Plus, dodging right behind a Dalek or Cyberman makes you feel more than a little smug.

Dating And Driving, NOT The Same As Drinking And Driving

CURRENT STATUS: Anticipatory
CURRENT MUSIC: Believe ~ The All-American Rejects
CURRENT TYPE STYLE: GIANT
The Prom is tomorrow, I'm going and not throwing a prom rejects party like last year...this is going to be SO much more fun. :P The date and pictures are being done uber-cheap, and the ticket the actual dance was only 25 bucks, with a mug and flute glass thrown in for free! Yeah, I don't know either.
And I've FINALLY gotten my Learner's Permit! My friends and family have given me considerable flak about not getting it sooner, but, being a senior in high school, I've gotten mostly used to it. Now I'm getting closer to being a licensed men- I mean driver! Yes!
Auditions for Drama Rama, a collection of student directed one act plays that our school does every year, were today, and I think I have a good chance at getting a decent part. Which would be much improved over my non-speaking role from last year. Oh so very much. Not that I particularly minded as a junior, but not getting a speaking role as a senior AGAIN would be a serious sting to my actor self esteem, which is already kind of in the toilet.
Webcomic recommendation!
I have a couple of webcomics that I frequent, but my favorite so far is a hilarious space opera (which has nothing to do with overweight people in viking helmets, you uncultured swine) called Schlock Mercenary. Starring Tagon's Toughs, a mercenary company with quirky characters, including the goatee boasting resident mad scientist, Kevin Andreyasn, his sister the admiral, Breya Andreyasn, paycheck chasing founder of the company, Captain Kaff Tagon, sarcastic ex-boy band AI, Ennesby, and the titular crap pile resembling, highly omnivorous, gun-loving, psychopathic alien, Sergeant Schlock. It has TEN YEARS of back comics and is quite hilarious. The author is Howard Tayler, who runs the Writing Excuses podcast alongside my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson.
Now I just have to wait for my library to get I Am Not A Serial Killer, and I'll have read the stuff from all of those authors.

Absolutely Brilliant

Sometimes you have those days when you don't want to do, you want to simply enjoy. Today's one of those.
Okay, but I just have to ramble about how much I adore the book I'm reading right now. It's called The Hero of Ages, and is the last in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. I've loved just about every bit of these books, the characters are so real, the world is intricately crafted, from its cities to to its trio of magic systems which are just about my favorite part. The plot takes most fantasy tropes and turns them upside and inside out...and that's when you find out the sky is backwards. Now you think, "how can the sky be backwards?" EXACTLY
The one gripe I have with these books (well, the first one) is that I felt that the main romance was a tad forced or overdone. But that was before I saw the depth to it later on. The big problem was that the street kid with access to awesome mystical power masquerading as a noble falls for the unsatisfied aristocratic heir. Sound familiar at all?
But I do heartily recommend this book. I think I have a contender for my new favorite book series, just let me finish the book before I make any final judgments.