Category: Reviews

Book Review: God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible

Tabz Leave a comment

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Buy God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible: Bible Storybook on Amazon

What little girl doesn’t love being a princess? If your child enjoys the stories of Cinderella and Snow White, this is the devotional for her. Written with ages 4-7 in mind Shelia Walsh brings Bible stories to life — highlighting women of faith, virtue and character from the Bible and letting girls know that their worth is not in how they look on the outside, but who they are on the inside.

But there’s more than just Bible stories retold in ways that a child can understand. Shelia weaves in activities, songs, tiny skits and ethical lessons as the book progresses. Since kids learn best through using all of their senses, this is a huge plus for this book. I’ve read other devotionals aimed for kids and (to be honest) they were pretty bland. Especially for kids who grow up in a Christian home and know all of the stories by heart, but not so with Shelia’s delightful book.

My favorite part is the design. From the front cover (which features sparkly jewels for the tiara and glitter for the small heart and the word Bible) to the inside where each page is gorgeous decorated and colored with cute graphics and girl-friendly colors. This makes the book playful and fun to read.

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Movie/DVD Review: Splinter

John Pavlich Leave a comment

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Over the years, the Horror genre has been dismissed by film snobs as nothing more than an indulgence in excessive, shallow pleasures by violence and gore obsessed individuals who feed on screams, despair and bloodshed. Admittedly, so much of it is often derivative, cheap and uninspired. However, innovation and care can still occasionally be found within the dark recesses of this mostly misunderstood form of storytelling. Case in point, Splinter.
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Book Review: The Dresden Files #4 – Summer Knight

AthenaMuze Leave a comment

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Buy Summer Knight: A Novel of the Dresden Files on Amazon || Buy Summer Knight Audio Book on Amazon || Watch the Dresden Files on Hulu

The fantastic thing about the summertime is that there is ample opportunity to read. Whether you are sitting around by the pool on a sunny day or snuggled at home watching the rainstorms, it’s a great time to catch up on all those books you’ve been meaning to read but just didn’t get around to. For anyone who is actually looking for something to read, I’d like to recommend an amazing and interesting series called the Dresden Files.

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Why You Should be Watching the Guild (Season 1)

AthenaMuze 1 Comment

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Buy The Guild – Season One on Amazon || Buy The Guild – Season Two on Amazon

The Guild is a show that’s taken the internet by storm. Created, written by, and starring Felicia Day (some of you may know her as Vi from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), this show is everything the at-risk-tech-savvy-youth could ask for. The show centers around Cyd Shermann, Codex in her online world, and it opens to a confession from Cyd to her webcam.

From there the show hooks you and then continues to propel you through all ten episodes (each averaging 5 to 7 minutes), as Cyd copes with the head on collision of her internet world and real life. The show is quickly fleshed out with several other characters from Codex’s On-Line Guild, including Clara, the neglectful mom, Tinkerballa, the tech addicted teen, Bladez, the rebel, and Zaboo, the love-smitten mama’s boy.

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10 Reasons Why You Should Buy J.C. Hutchin’s Personal Effects: Dark Art

Tabz 1 Comment

BUY Personal Effects: Dark Art NOW.

51wkbnkhjwl_sl160_My good friend, podcasting and social media innovator and cheery ball of sunshine – J.C. Hutchins has just launched his latest psychological thriller/awesome novel – Personal Effects: Dark Art. Now, if you haven’t already heard J.C. Hutchins’ amazing podcast novel trilogy –  7th Son and have been living under a rock the past couple years, you may not know why YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK. So I, as one of those people you can trust to tell you why you should always make the right decision (like switching from your PC to a Mac), will give you the top ten reasons you should buy Personal Effects: Dark Art.

bunnies#10. J.C. Hutchins loves baby bunnies.

Despite the nail-biting, page turning, grip you by the throat and drag you off into the darkest parts of the human mind story that IS Personal Effects: Dark Art, J.C. Hutchins is a lovable, fluffy, sweet soul of a man who gives freely of his time, energy and creative spirit. Even though his characters may do terrible, horrible, unspeakable things – J.C. Hutchins is a man who bathes daily in the sweet aroma of life itself. He tried being evil once, but then he was awesome instead. True story.

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Review of Bones S1 Ep 1 – “Pilot”

Crystal Smalling 8 Comments

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Buy Bones: The Complete First Season on Amazon. || Watch Pilot on Amazon On Demand Video || Watch Episodes of Bones on Hulu

Fave Quote:

Dr. Temperance Brennan: What, exactly, am I supposed to be *squinting* at?
Special Agent Seeley Booth: It’s like pornography – you’ll know when you see it.

Do you like smart TV? Do you like sexy actors? Do you enjoy witty dialogue? Mystery? Danger? Comedy?

If the answer to the above questions is “Yes!”, then you will love the Fox Network TV show “Bones”. Starring Emily Deschanel as a forensic anthropologist and David Boreanaz as an FBI agent, Bones is a fantastic character drama with crime procedural mixed in. The show is based on the life of real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, a first in TV dramedies. Click below for a spoilery recap and review of the first episode.

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So You Think You Can Dance – Auditions

Naomi Starsiak Leave a comment
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So You Think You Can Dance image courtesy of Fox Broadcasting

Have a So You Think You Can Dance party at your own house: So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit: Tone and Groove

I know it’s summer by the return of my favorite TV contest – So You Think You Can Dance.

The last two weeks we’ve slogged through the open audition rounds. The producers have given us the usual mix of amazing, mediocre, funny and what-were-they-thinking.

My favorite moment of the auditions was judge Adam Shankman’s impromptu swing dance. Adam has become world famous for his choreography in movies like Hairspray, The Wedding Planner, She’s All That and Blast From the Past, but it’s still a treat to see the man himself in motion.

This week is Vegas Week, where the dancing talent is brought up to the next level and the top 20 is selected . I know my DVR is set so I won’t miss a moment of it.

So You Think You Can Dance airs this week on Wednesday at 8:00pm and Thursday at 9:00pm.

Review of Arrested Development S1 Ep1: Pilot

Tabz 1 Comment

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Watch on Hulu || Pilot on Amazon Video on Demand || Buy on iTunes
 
My [rating:3.5]

Quote of the Episode:

Lindsay: You’ve had $80,000 worth of cartography lessons. Get us a channel to the ocean.
Buster: Okay, okay, okay.
(Pauses)
Buster: Obviously this blue part here is the land.

Non-Spoilery Review:

Arrested Development is one of those shows you either extremely love or extremely hate. The style of the show seemed to be one that I’d truly hate, but after some convincing from my friend Emma, I watched and fell in love. A well written pilot is no small task for creators of a show, you have to include elements that set the tone and story line for an entire season of television before those episodes are even written. Some of my all-time favorite shows have fairly week pilots, so I’m always fascinated when I find a show that has a very well written one. Arrested Development is one of those shows. Spoilers below the jump.

 

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