Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Ten New to Me Authors for 2013

I saw a post like this on Once Upon a Twilight and it looked interesting enough that I decided to due one for myself.

1. Shelly Adina - I got the first book in the series, Lady of Devices: A steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices Book 1), as a free kindle (it is still free), and I really liked the book. It isn't too long, 258 pages. It is steampunk, but more of a lite steampunk, so if you aren't sure if you would like the steampunk genre I think it is a good first steampunk book. I enjoyed the book so much that I bought the next three books, Her Own Devices, Magnificent Devices, and Brilliant Devices. There is a fifth book out, A Lady of Resources which is set in later years and deals with twins Lizzie and Maggie. I haven't bought it yet, but it is on my "to read" list.

2. Thomas K. Carpenter - Gamers was originally a free kindle too, but the price has gone to $3.99 right now. What if your whole life was just one big MMO, for everything you did all day you made points, some actions are worth more points than others and you need so many points to survive high school. It was a fun read, if you don't game there are some words that might need to be looked up. There are two other books in the series, Frags, and Coders (Gamers Book 3), I haven't read them let, they are however on my growing "to read" list.

3. Soman Chainani - The School for Good and Evil was such a great book! I really didn't want this book to end, the descriptions were fantastic and the characters were engaging. The second book in the series comes out in April next year, The School for Good and Evil 2: A World without Princes and of course it is on my "to read" list.

4. Janet Evanovich - Evanovich has been writing the Stephanie Plum series since 1994, but I only just started reading it with One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1): A Stephanie Plum Novel this month. The library was out of Two for the Dough when I went to go get it, which means I have to wait to read the next book! (*whine*) Anyway, I found the book to be highly entertaining, partly because the husband used to be a bounty hunter, but mostly from the humor of the main character Stephanie Plum.

5. Chandra Hahn - I read UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 1) with my book club, it is a free kindle, it is another retelling of the Grimm's fairy tales that are really popular right now. There is a bit of a racist part, the Chinese neighbors' accents are unnecessary and do not add anything to the story. I did buy the next book in the series, Fairest, but I haven't read it yet.

6. Kate Locke - I read God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire Book 1) earlier in the year. It was a really entertaining book. It is set in modern times, the story starts in 2012, when the first book came out, but is an alternate history. Queen Victoria never died and the world is full of vampires, who set the world's fashion, werewolves, halfies (half vampires), and goblins. I downloaded the second book, The Queen Is Dead, but haven't been able to read it yet, and the third book, Long Live the Queen is already out.

7. Daniel O'Malley - In the beginning The Rook: A Novel starts off like a typical James Bond style spy book, but it quickly changes over to something from the X-Men. I do hope the author plans on writing another book, either with the same characters or something new. (ETA: Here is his second book, Stiletto: A Novel (The Rook Files).)

8. James Patterson - I haven't read anything by Patterson before. Sure, I saw his books in the mystery, crime and young adult sections, and I had been intrigued by descriptions of the books, but I have always found it hard to figure out which books came in what order in his books. I found one stand alone book of his, Toys, it does just kind of jump into the middle of the plot without any back-story which can be a bit disconcerting. I also read a new series by him, only 'cause I knew it was the first book in the series, called Confessions of a Murder Suspect which I highly enjoyed, more than Toys, and I hope to be able to read the next book, Confessions: The Private School Murders, in the series soon.

9. Liz Schulte - I got Easy Bake Coven as a free kindle. There's no baking in the story and it is more about elves than about witches, but it is a quick, easy and light-hearted read. If you need some thing mindless to read from the romance comedy genre I would recommend this book. The second book, Hungry, Hungry Hoodoo and the third book, Pickup Styx are both on my "to read" list.

10. Stephen Sweeney - I just finished reading The Honour of the Knights (Second Edition) (Battle for the Solar System, 1), the best way that I can explain it is as David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but less technical. There are two other books in the trilogy so far, The Third Side, and The Attribute of the Strong.

As you can probably tell me "to read" list is fairly long.


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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Korean Christmas

How to say Merry Christmas in Korean by Talk to Me in Korean:



And more about Christmas in Korea by Learn Korean with KoreanClass101.com:




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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Top Five Modern Non-Animated Fantasy Movies

Modern as from 2000 to present, non-animated as in not completely CGI or traditional animation/claymation, and top five because they are favorites of mine.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001): Yes, Daniel Radcliff's acting maybe very stilted in this movie, but he does improve in the later movies, but it is the first one. The locations and settings, clothing and even all the little nick-knacks in the shops were fantastic. When you first see Diagon Alley it really is amazing.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002-2004): This maybe broken up into three parts, but really it is just one long nine hour movie, but it is great. The sceneries are stunning, the costume work is awesome, the metal work on the armor, weapons and jewelry is great. I would also include The Hobbit in with this.

Stardust (2007): This is definitely as story that I would consider calling a modern fairy tale (the book was great too!)

Sucker Punch (2011): I love this movie. I count it as fantasy since it really is a dream within a dream within a dream.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010): I haven't seen the new one yet, so it might be better than this one. I would have to say that there was a lot cut out or changed from the book, so it wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was enjoyable enough that I could watch it again.

Bonus:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (Includes Bonus Features)(2003): This one doesn't quite qualify, because whenever the pirates are in the moonlight they are CGI, yes, the others have special effects too, but a lot of the characters spend a signficant amount of time as CGI characters. Anyway, love the movie, the characters were great.

This list was harder to make that I thought it should have been. I read over other people's lists and there were a lot that I would consider science-fiction and not fantasy.

Currently watching: My Love from the Star

Currently reading:
The Honour of the Knights (Second Edition) (Battle for the Solar System, 1) by Stephen J. Sweeny
Good story so far. A bit like David Weber's writing.


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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

2PM One Point Hangul episodes 6-10

Sorry it has been so long since the last post for this. If you would like to see the previous episodes please see this post.

2PM is my favorite idol group from Korea. The guys are funny, so it makes watching almost everything they do enjoyable while I try to learn Korean.

This series is actually for Japanese people to learn Korean, but the guys speak Korean mostly during each episode, so it can be really useful if you are trying to learn Korean.

I have copied down the Korean that is to learn, but I did not translate these episodes, that was done by Wild2Day, I just wanted to make it easier to follow the lesson by not having to stop the video every few seconds. I didn't add any romanization because I just didn't know if I should, but I put the Korean in large font for easier reading. I am not an expert, I am learning Korean myself.

Edit: March 2, 2015 I was able to find all the videos for this page, except episode 1. I couldn't even find it without subs, so if you happen to find it please leave a comment with a link to the video, thanks. The translations on the new videos are from rikakotsu @JunkayStreet, my writing is from the original translations I got from Wild2Day, so they may not match rikakotsu's.

Episode 6:



머리 아파요.
My head hurts.

아파요.
My stomach hurts.

가슴 아파요.
My chest hurts.

You can easily replace body parts. Do you see the underlined 가 and 이 in the sentences above? These are subject markers, you can read more about them here. The short version is if the subject ends in a vowel (ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ, ㅣ, or one of the many diphthongs, ㅐ, ㅒ,ᅦ, ᅨ, ᅪ, ᅫ, ᅬ, ᅯ, ᅰ, ᅱ, ㅢ) you add 가 to indicate that is the subject. If the word ends in a consonant (ᄀ, ᄁ, ᄂ, ᄃ, ᄄ, ᄅ, ᄆ, ᄇ, ᄈ, ᄉ, ᄊ, ᄋ, ᄌ, ᄍ, ᄎ, ᄏ, ᄐ, ᄑ, ᄒ) you add 이. So, you can make new sentences like:

다리가 아파요.
My leg hurts. (But watch out because 다리 also means bridge.)

어깨가 아파요.
My shoulder hurts.

팔이 아파요.
My arm hurts.

Now you can add other words like:

Foot = 발

Hand = 손

Ear = 귀

Eye = 눈

Knee = 무릎

Other things to learn from this episode:

약 = medicine/drug

괜찮아요? = Are you okay?


Episode 7:


[W2D] 120521 One Point Korean Lesson #7 [Eng... by wild2day

신천 가 주세요.
Please take me to Sincheon.
The 가 in the sentence isn't the same as last episodes, it isn't a subject marker, but from the verb to go 가다

공항 가 주세요.?
Please take me to the airport.

호텔 가 주세요.?
Please take me to the hotel.

여기 가 주세요.?
Please take me here.

You can change it to ask a taxi driver to take you to different places, such as:
압구정 가 주세요.?
Please take me to Apgujeong.

명동 가 주세요.?
Please take me Myeondong.

홍대 가 주세요.?
Please take me Hongdae.

이태원 가 주세요.?
Please take me Itaewon.

You can find other places to visit in Seoul here.

Other words to learn in this episode:

City hall = 시청

taxi = 택시

there = 거기

there (farther away) = 저기

I understand = 알겠습니다


Episode 8:


[W2D] 120528 One Point Korean Lesson #8 [Eng... by wild2day

멋있어요..
Cool.

멋있네요..
This is cool too.

멋있다..
Informal, used with/between friends.

Other words to learn:
jacket = 재킷

hat = 모자

scarf = 목도리 or 스카프

bag = 가방

shoes = 신발

pants/trousers = 바지

shirt = 셔츠

clothes = 옷


Episode 9:


[W2D] 120604 NHK 2PM's One Point Korean Lesson... by wild2day

이가 얼마예요?.
How much is this?

좀 비싸요..
It is a little expensive.

좀 깎아 주세요.
Please lower the price a little bit.

Other words to learn:
customer = 손

won = 원

Koreans use two number systems, native Korean numbers and Chinese Korean numbers (also called Sino-Korean numbers.) You have to know both number systems to be able to count in Korean, because it depends on what you are counting as to which system you use. Telling time actually uses both systems, native Korean numbers for the 12 hour system, using Sino-Korean numbers for the minutes. It gets a bit more confusing if you the 24 hour system, you can read about it more here.

I will only put one through ten here for this lesson.

Arabic Korean Chinese
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10


Episode 10:


[W2D] 120611 2PM's One Point Korean Lesson #10... by wild2day


일본어 팜플렛 있어요지하철역 어디예요??
Where is the subway?

화장실 어디예요?
Where is the toilet?

2PM CD 어디예요??
Where are the 2PM CDs?

Other words from this episode:

Excuse me = 저기요

Right wards = 오른쪽

Left wards = 왼쪽

If you have any questions let me know, I might even be able to answer some of them!


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Sunday, December 1, 2013

5 December wants

Christmas is coming up, so I picked things that I would like to buy for Jasmine, but unless I get a job real quick it isn't going to happen.

1.
I would really like to get Jasmine an American Girl Doll, so she can have a doll that looks like herself, but the basic 18" doll is $110, without and clothes or anything. There is no way that I can afford that right now, so we'll be sticking with Build-a-Bear which is a fourth of the price, the clothes are even much cheaper than American Girl. So, a new dress for Emily, Jasmine's kitty.

2.
I can't believe the Octonauts are so expensive!

3.
Peppa is a bit expensive too.

4.
We weren't able to see this when it was in the theaters, and Jasmine really enjoyed the first movie.

5.
We just need it. And we'll have to watch over, and over, and over, and over again and again and again and again.

So yes, this month is all about Christmas shopping for Jasmine, and finding a job, still feel a bit guilty for all the things of her's that we had to throw away for the move here.

Currently watching: I am rewatching Faith on viki.com. It is one of the few K-dramas that is licensed in the UK on viki.com, most of the K-dramas are blocked for me right now.

Currently reading:
A Christmas Carol (AmazonClassics Edition) by Charles Dickens
To get in the Chistmas spirit, plus it is a free kindle!

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