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Just posted Review: Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié - Part 2: Curse

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Long haired Taec? Yes please. :D

For my writing class, I have to do an analysis of the work of a literary fiction author and write a creative piece imitating their style. Genre-based fiction is pretty much all I read, so I have no idea who to choose. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

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I haven't posted in forever! October was so busy!! And now Christmas is upon us! Yeeee....

I'll make a theme post later...haha.

Anyways...here are a few photos (2 outfits and some makeup etc)...
 

( click meh )

I've  been extremely tempted to read The Zombie Survival Guide since I'm a zombie lover, but I've been hestitant to go out and buy it. I normally wouldn't have a such a disinclination but I read World War Z by the same author and it was a huge disappointment. So for people who have read them, how do the two compare?

A Japanese singer-actress famous in Asia for her sweet, girl-next-door image was given a suspended jail sentence on Monday for using illegal stimulants in the latest celebrity drugs case in Japan.

The court handed down an 18-month jail term, suspended for three years, to 38-year-old Noriko Sakai, who shot to fame in the late 1980s with pop songs and later turned to acting.

Prosecutors had demanded 18 months in prison.

 

 

( Read more... )

 

 

Source

 

Masako Ohara of the Kuwabata Ohara comedy duo has revealed in her official blog on Monday that Takashi Tajima and Takahiro Kochi's Tokujō Kabachi!! Kabachitare! 2 workplace manga will be adapted into a live-action drama series next January. The story centers around the employees of a legal document firm.

Ohara herself will appear in the first episode, while the main cast consists of Sho Sakurai (Honey and Clover, Yatterman) of the Arashi musical group and Maki Horikita (Always: Sunset on Third Street, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva).

Tokujō Kabachi!! Kabachitare! 2 has been running in Kodansha's Weekly Morning magazine since 1999, and there are now 18 compiled book volumes published. Both the Tokujō Kabachi!! Kabachitare! 2 manga and the original Kabachitare! manga are the creations of Naniwa Kin'yudo creator Yuuji Aoki. The original Kabachitare! manga has already been adapted into a live-action television drama series in 2001 with a different cast and an average 19.3% rating. Naniwa Kin'yudo was adapted into two live-action television drama series in 1996 and 2007.

The Tokujō Kabachi!! Kabachitare! 2 television series will premiere in January on Japan's TBS network.

Ugh, sounds lame, I'll definitely be passing on this one.
Source & DramaWiki

A story of love and looming apocalypse set in the aisles of an office supply superstore.

Meet Roger, a divorced, middle-aged "aisles associate" at a Staples outlet, condemned to restocking reams of 20-lb. bond paper for the rest of his life, and his co-worker Bethany, who's at the end of her Goth phase and realizing she's facing fifty more years of shelving Post-it notes and replenishing the Crayola boutique in Aisle 6.

One day, Bethany comes across Roger's notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she discovers that this old guy who she's never considered quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her - and spookily, he's getting her right. She also learns he has a tragedy in his past, and suddenly he no longer seems like just a paper-stocking robot in a red shirt and name tag.

These two retail workers strike up an unlikely yet touching secret correspondence. As their lives unfold, so do the characters in Roger's work-in-progress, the oddly titled Glove Pond, a Cheever-era novella gone horribly, horribly wrong.

On every page of this wise, witty, and unforgettable novel, Coupland reminds us that love, death, and eternal friendship can all occur where we least expect them. And that even after tragedy seems to have wiped your human slate clean, stories can slowly rebuild you.
(From the publisher)

020 bb$a9780307356284
100 bb$a Coupland, Douglas, $d1961-
245 b4$aThe gum thief / $cDouglas Coupland.
260 bb$a[S.I.] : $bRandom House Canada, $cc2007.
300 bb$a275 p. ; $c23 cm.

I'm trying something new here. Since I've decided to write at least a bit about every book I read lately, I thought I'd combine that with my studies and practice cataloguing at the same time. I'll probably never have a complete MARC record, but it's original cataloguing from someone with only two months of descriptive cataloguing under her belt. :P I'll be using only the tags that I've learned so far and that are applicable. The indicators are mostly blank because either they are supposed to be, or it's something I've not yet covered. If you catalogue as well, any tips are appreciated!

( Thoughts )

trying out the livejournal app on Mary Jane! :)

This guide should be a help for everybody who is not familiar with installing a S2 layout.

( The Guide )

Title: Skulduggery Pleasant
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #1
Genre: YA fantasy
Reason for Reading: It was loaned and recommended to me by my roommate.
Pages: 392, plus an interview with the main character and a bonus short story.
Copyright Date: 2007
Cover: A skeleton wearing sunglasses, a festive raspberry scarf, and a fedora. A young girl with curly hair and freckles is looking at him with a smile on her face.
First line: "Gordon Edgley's sudden death came as a shock to everyone - not least himself."
Best part: I really liked the characters.
Worst part: Does it have one? I'm not convinced.
Imaginary Theme Song: "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down"
Grade: A-
Recommended for: Wow. Anyone between ten and fifteen, for sure, and adults that like YA.
Related Reads: Children of the Lamp: The Ahkenaten Adventure by PB Kerr, Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Changeling by Delia Sherman.

Stephanie Edgley's uncle has just died. He has left her an unexpected legacy - a house, a mysterious new world, and a strange friend named Skulduggery Pleasant. Will his gifts be enough to guide her through the challenges that lie ahead?

This book is a really fun ride. The worldbuilding is very interesting. But it's the characters that will stay with you. I think this is a very fresh offering to the genre and I definitely recommend it.

Pop group SHANADOO have announced the release of their so-called "re-debut album" Launch Party for November 25th.

Launch Party is SHANADOO's first release in almost two years and will mark a new start for the group. Their last album The Symbol came out in December 2007 and was a European only release. The CD will come with 14 tracks, including Next Life, Love Space Ship and World's End Supernova. The limited edition of the release will also come with a DVD, which will feature the PVs to the three aforementioned songs. You can find samples of the group's songs, as well as the PV for Next Life, on SHANADOO's official MySpace. It is currently unknown if this album will be released in Europe as well.

Furthermore, the group is participating in two events in the upcoming weeks. On November 13th they are performing at X"202" presents HOUSE NATION Fiesta alongside Ami Suzuki, May J and many more at ageha. One day later, they will perform at X"202" presents HOUSE NATION Terminal Disco with several other artists at Club Camelot.

Source


Finally!  I love their eurobeat cheesiness. XD

Title: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 372
Summary: Iris and her sister Ruth are taken to Holland by their mother after having to flee England. There, Iris is hired to teach English to Clara, a little girl that hasn't been outside for most of her life and is the talk of the town. She is also the most beautiful girl that anyone has seen and is the daughter of a wealthy family. Iris seems to find all sorts of magical beings in this house but is it magic or just her imagination? What happens when the plants that makes her family rich are the same ones that bring them to ruin?

Review: ( MAJOR spoils. If you're going to read this book, don't read this review. No, I'm completely serious. )

I love this book and recommend it to everyone who likes fairy-tale like stories. Maguire manages to take a classic fairy tale and turn it into a real life situation. He melds the magical and real in the most interesting ways and instills a little magic in each of his characters. It was very different from Wicked and much more enjoyable. I know a lot of people read Wicked first and then are turned off to Maguire and refuse to read anything else he writes. However, I couldn't stand Wicked and loved this book so give it a chance.

You can read this review and all my others at my Goodreads account.
Books read this year: 47
Currently reading: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

PV for Miliyah's new single "WHY"!



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Back in April, 2009, former female employees of Lehman Brothers were being made to serve tea after their company was taken over by Nomura Holdings of Japan.

Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Holdings Inc. kicked off a training session for new hires in April by separating the men and women. The women, including Harvard graduates hired by Lehman Brothers before it collapsed, were taught how to wear their hair, serve tea and choose their wardrobes according to the season, say executives who fielded a complaint about the session.

Now it seems two women in London are suing the Nomura for sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal:

In legal papers, Miss Murphy claims that during a business meeting one male client said to her female colleague “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today I see”.

The documents say: “Miss Murphy was initially not sure what he was referring to but [the colleague] clarified honkers referred to her breasts.

“She went on to say there was no point in standing up to him as he would smear your reputation in the entire market and that ultimately it was better just to accept it.”

Miss Murphy also claimed that when she was chatting to a trader about hiring a cleaner he allegedly said “Well, you’re a woman. That’s where you belong – at home cleaning the floors”.

At a team dinner, another male colleague allegedly said “Everyone knows the key to cheating on your wife is not getting caught”.

Miss Murphy says that she was excluded from clients and marginalised before being made redundant in March this year. She also claims that she was ridiculed for her American accent, with traders allegedly making remarks like “Go for it” in a mock accent.

She said that clients were also described in “unusual and unacceptable ways”, such as one Dutch trader, who was labelled a “weirdo Euro client”.

[...]

Miss Francis, who is originally from New Zealand but speaks fluent Japanese, said that during a conference call with up to 1,000 of her global peers, a male colleague humiliated her by saying “Don’t listen to her. She is just a Kiwi”.

She said that her new Japanese bosses showed “remarkable disregard” for her clients wishing to retain her as their primary sales contact.

“I believe that I would not have been treated in this way if I was a male employee and especially if I was a Japanese male employee,” Miss Francis said.

She was made redundant because she was “too outspoken and female”, her former boss allegedly told Miss Murphy.

He also allegedly said that “the Japanese hate women, especially if they are too loud”.

An official spokesman for Nomura has denied the charges of racism and sexism and has stated that the two were dismissed “by reason of redundancy as part of a wider reorganisation following the Lehman Brothers acquisition.”

Source: www.japanprobe.com/

AKEU2U343293UWEJKDEWS~SD~WS~~;3EÇLE3OL334E 2PM's first album is FUCKING FINALLY OUT, HELL YEAH. This will make my life so much better. I already freaking love "Heartbeat" (even though "I Was Crazy For You" still remains as my favorite track by now).

I'll upload a mirror with right tags, properly edited info and stuff asap. SOREY, my connection is a motherfucking bitch. IT'S UP NOW! And I'm not sure who I should credit for this album so please tell me if you are the original uploader of this.

2PM: 1:59PM

▪ release date: 2009.11.10 ▪ genre: pop, r&b, dance ▪ similar: super junior, b2st ▪ rating: 1:59 out of 2:00 01 My Heart 02 Heartbeat 03 기다리다 지친다 (Tired of Waiting) 04 너에게 미쳤었다 (I Was Crazy About You) 05 Gimme The Light 06 Back 2U 07 All Night Long 08 Heartbeat (Red Light Mix) 09 10점 만점에 10점 (10/10) 10 Only you (Acoustic Mix) 11 Again & Again 12 니가밉다 (Hate You) (Lounge mix) 13 돌아올지도 몰라 (Don't Know If She Might Come Back) (Bossa nova mix) ( DOWNLOAD )

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