Kate Voegele's New Video : 99 Times!

Kate Voegele : Now Playing : 99 Times

Check this out! Great new music video by the wonderful Kate Voegele!

Shared via AddThis

Love ya, Kate!
xoxo,

My First Award!

Today I received my very own first award!
Diane from The Book Resort awarded me with the "Let's Be Friends" Award, and I couldn't be happier! Thanks Diane!

Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers.

I'm passing this award on to: (random order)

*Shesten from IHeartMonster
*Lauren from Lauren's Bite
*Nadine from First Draft
*Senfaye from A Maze Of Books
*Susanne from Chick With Books
*Kristi from The Story Siren
*Jo from Ink and Paper
*Wdebo from The Electrical Book Café... and More

Congrats and thank you for being such cool bloggers!
xo,

Spanish Magnolia Giveaway

EDIT: I'm postponing this giveaway due to lack of funds. I recently sent a book to a friend, and I need to save some money this month. If this book is still available by next month, then I'll resume the giveaway.
Thanks for understanding,

New Spanish Blog :)

Since my friends and family don't speak English, and since I've now Argentinian blogger friends who don't understand Eng either, I've decided to create a parallel blog to this one, only writing my posts in Spanish.
So, if you speak Spanish, you'll have another and more easy blog to read!
I'm starting to "move" (almost) all of my posts from here to this new blog, and once it's up, I'll let you all know :)

xoxox,


ps: have I told you how happy I am about winning TBS? Wdebo has already sent the info to the publisher, so I should be getting my copy of this wonderful book in, say, 2-3 weeks! I know, I have to wait, but in the meantime, I'll keep on reading and blogging!

EDIT: Here's the link to my Spanish Blog: El Mono Relojero !

I'm a WINNER! YAY!

I just opened my e-mail to check some mails I was waiting for, and there it was, the e-mail that said: CONGRATS!

I just won freakin' TWENTY BOY SUMMER!WHAT!???
YEAH, I DID, HOW AWESOME IS THAT?
SO THANKS TO WDEBO FOR HOSTING THAT WONDERFUL GIVEAWAY,
AND, OH, THIS WAS MY FIRST GIVEAWAY WIN EVER!
SO, I'M THINKING, WHY NOT CELEBRATE?
I DON'T KNOW YET WHAT I'M GOING TO DO, MIGHT BE A GIVEAWAY, MIGHT BE STH ELSE... I'LL LET YOU GUYS KNOW ;)

I know it'll take some time to get here, but I can't wait!

You have any good news too? Great! I'm really happy for you:)
Hope you are too!

Today's Book: The View From A One-Man World, The Way I See It by J.S. Buckingham (+ interview!)

In a world with too much political correctness, or complete lack thereof, J.S. Buckingham delivers a spicy, witty written book about today’s society. He explores almost every aspect of the US inhabitants: not just your average middle-class man/woman, but the country’s old people, teenagers and southerners, to name a few. He explains why the US have become such a poor country, culturally speaking.

I had the honour of having been given this book by J.S. himself, but not because of that did I have to love it. J.S. makes excellent points, which he cleverly disguises as jokes, trying not to give them too much importance. Underneath all of the fun layers of this book, lay very important real issues, like obesity, unemployment, teenagers’ lifestyles, racism, materialism, teen pregnancy, the degradation of modern music and illegal immigration, among other things.

Funny, well written, you’ll even laugh out loud while reading!

So open your mind, and go and get a copy of this book now! You won’t regret it.

Monkey Rating: 3 Monkeys: Not that bad, but... it wasn’t what I’m used to read, so it kind of threw me off balance. WARNING: If you’re thinking about reading this book, you must have an open mind, and read it imagining that you’re in a theatre watching a comedic act. Do NOT take any of the contents of this book personally.

INTERVIEW WITH "THE VIEW FROM A ONE MAN WORLD"'S AUTHOR: J.S. BUCKINGHAM!

• Basic Inquiries:

Ella: What's the title of your book?
J.S.: The View from a One-Man World; The Way I See It.

E: When did you start writing it? How did the idea for it come to your mind?
J.S.: I started actually writing it in book-form late last Spring. A lot of the ideas I had been carrying around in my head for a long time. Others I had written on sticky notes and hung all over my apartment so I wouldn't forget them.

E: Which are the main characters?
J.S.: There really are no "main characters" in this book, which I guess could be called a social commentary, unless you want to consider self-righteous church goers, rednecks, Beckys, Kipps, old people, fat people, cell phone abusers and others as "characters".

E: How many chapters does it have?
J.S.: The book really isn't broken down into chapters per se, but it has 98 pages. I know that much.

E: How long did it take you to write it? When did you finish writing it?
J.S.: It took me about 3-4 months on and off to put it together in book form, but as I said I had most of the ideas down already; they just weren't organized at all. I finished writing the book late last summer.

E: Does it have a sequel?
J.S.: The View volume two is currently in the works.

• Ella's Q's:

E: Did you ever think you'd be writing this book, or did it just happen?
J.S.: I always knew that I wanted to write, but I didn't think this would be my first published work. It just seemed to work out that way.

E: When you'd finished writing it, what did you think would be the readers' reaction to it? Because many people may understand and even relate to the book, but others could find it offensive.
J.S.: Being what many consider to be "controversial", I knew that a lot of people would probably be offended or even pissed off by it. I also knew that there would be people who could appreciate the sarcasm and understand the humor in it. I know some people will be offended by it, but I didn't really write the book to befriend everybody. If people disagree with what I've written and want to get angry, that's their business.

E: What's your favourite chapter of the book, and why?
J.S.: I couldn't really pick a favorite section of the book because each and every one of them is so near and dear to me. I'm passionate about every one of them. If I had to single any out, I guess the sections on music, rednecks, dope-smokers, and the UAW would be some of my best, I think.

E: Are you planning to write another book, separate from this one?
J.S.: I do have other writings in the works which have nothing to do with The View from a One-Man World.

• Monkeyshines:

*How long did it take Ella to read the book?
-5 hours in total. Read it through the course of 3 days.

*Did she like or relate to any of the characters?
-There aren’t distinct characters in this book.

*What was her favourite line/part of the book?
-Her favourite chapter was definitely “Word Play”, that explains the subject of the wrong usage of the English language, especially by young people.
From “Word Play”:
‘“Jumping up and down” is a stupid term. A person jumps up, and
gravity does the rest by pulling the person down. No one who jumps up
has to jump back down.’ LOL ;P

*Was this a good read for Ella? Did she get stuck at some point?
-This was definitely something completely different from what Ella usually reads, therefore, she did get stuck a couple of times, but managed to read on; she’s glad she did.

*Author's Website?
http://www.jsbuckingham.vpweb.com/
J.S.'s site on Book Blogs.
J.S.'s site on FiledBy.

Book Statistics:
• Paperback: 98 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica, Incorporated
• ISBN-10: 1607030640
• ISBN-13: 9781607030645

Get It!
-AtFiledBy
-At Target
-At Amazon

I had a wonderful time chatting with J.S., and organizing the interview! Read my review of this book on FiledBy, B&N, and Amazon.
Oh, one more thing: this was my 1st interview to an author! How awesome is that?!
Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Trilogy author, Nadine Laman :) (another brilliant author).

Hope you enjoyed your visit!
Before I go, I want to give a very big hug to J.S. for having been amazingly cool! (we Argentinians tend to hug and kiss people a lot, even if we've just met them!) THANK YOU!

I always say "I'm a proud Southern Gothic Street Team Member", well here's the proof!

That's me on the left corner! I'm on the Spanish Translating Team!!! YAY!

greetings from NC (I wish! My heart's there though:P)

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #2 (TTIC31)

Graduation's here!
Well, not really, it's seven months away for me :( (can't wait!)

Check out the Little Graduation Doll I made for this Challenge:

I even made its diploma! lol, it's way too funny!
My mum loved it!
But I told her: "You better not be thinking about me making these for your students this year!"
She always guilt-tricks me into making something for them!

Be sure I'll be using Little -what should I call him/her?- in another Challenge, I'll love to dress it up!
Maybe even create a scenario for it! ;)

What d'you think?
And, could you help me choose a name for it?
Thanks!

xo,


Go over to twilighttuesday.com for more info about these Challenges, and check out the awesome things crafters do over there!
Amazing!

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #1 (TTIC28)

... from here on called: TTIC.

I found this awesome site called twilighttuesday.com, where crafty people from all over get together to create amazing things, inspired by Twilight. So, as of today, I'll be joining their Challenges regularly, creating something any chance I get.
This Tuesday, the girls from TT decided to have a catch up week, which is great, cause it gives me the chance to go back through their previous challenges and start making things that I wasn’t able to do and create an item based on that!

This is my First Challenge: (I'm starting with #28) Edward and Bella's Wedding!

Look what I made!







Pearly Necklace

Pearly Bracelet

I liked how the bracelet turned out so much, that I'm wearing it!

D'you have any Twilight Inspired Craft? Then join twilighttuesday.com!

xoxo,

Midnight Sun, J.S. Buckingham and Nadine Laman

Going through some book blogs, I came across this one, that had a post about Midnight Sun.
<-- This is the pic I found. I have no idea who made it, or where it came from, but I think it's a really good representation of the book (from the partial draft I read). To me it signifies the caving to the temptation- Edward's, that is. It's like Bella was his forbidden fruit, but as hard as he tried to stay away from her for her own good, he just couldn't do it, and finally cave in. He "tasted" the fruit. But that's just what I see in this picture. What do you think about it? I've also found that "supposedly", the book release is set for 2010. I'm not so sure about this. SM wrote on her website that she'd get back to writing it if/when she felt that everyone wasn't pushing her to finish it. And I think she's right. Why should she finish it, just because her so-called fans are threatening her to do so? She should be left alone to finish it, without all the pressure from the public. If you really are her fan, then you should take a step back and think about what you're going to say/do about/to her, before it's too late. Patience is a virtue.

Stephenie I love you no matter what. Damned the one who leaked your partial draft of this amazing book! I can't wait to see the day when this book hits the stores.

And I don't know about you, but I'm more interested in what Edward has to say than Bella. Don't get me wrong, I do love her, it's just that, like SM said "There is so much more to his side of the story than there is to Bella's in that first chapter. After all, Bella only knows that an incredibly gorgeous boy is looking at her funny. Meanwhile, Edward is suffering through one of the most momentous days of his very long life!" stepheniemeyer.com

********

On another note, I recently became a member of Book Blogs, a community for us book bloggers out there. (If you still haven't checked it out, shame on you!).
Anyway, one day I saw that I had a new comment on my page, from a guy named J.S. Buckingham. We got to talking, and I found out that he was a published writer -he's the author of "The View From A One-Man World".
He was kind enough to send my a PDF file of his book, which I started reading as soon as I downloaded it onto my computer.
I've read the first 30 pages (of a 90-page book), and so far so good. I'm really liking his sarcastic style, and I'm not just saying this cause it's probable that he'll read this.

Visit his website here.

Be on the look out for a review of his book!

*****************

Last week, I started my very First Giveaway! One of the ways to get an extra entry was to become a follower of my blog. So, I realized that I'd gone from having a few followers to having 11. One of them was Nadine Laman, and she caught my attention because she hadn't entered my giveaway. So what was she doing here? Did she become a follower because she liked my blog?
I followed the link to her blog, and learned there that she was an author as well as J.S. The thing that surprised me most, was the fact that she told everyone she's dyslexic (google it if you don't know what that is). It amazed me that someone with this kind of disability was able to write books. So, I immediately went to her website, and there, found the excerpts from her three books -Kathryn's Beach, High Tide and Storm Surge. Let me tell you that they caught me. Just that little piece of writing made want to know more.
So, at the website's homepage, I found a button that said: TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
FREE paperback sample booklet of the first two chapters of Kathryn's Beach. No shipping fees. Totally 100% FREE! Includes a discount code for your next purchase. That's a good deal!

And of course, I set out to find out if I could have one of this sample books (living in Argentina is great most of the time, but not in times like these). Nadine contacted me almost instantly, and said that I could have the first book of her trilogy. This made me jump up and down on my seat!
Of course, I've promised her I would pay when my financial status isn't so daunting.

So, if everything goes well, I should be getting the book next week, or the one after.

When I'm done reading it, I'll post a review, and Nadine has kindly accepted to grant me an interview! Yay! She'll be my first :)

What have you been up to this weekend?

xoxo,

New Moon Full Official Trailer!!! (Trailer Oficial de Luna Nueva!)

OK, I really like it, but:
*the part where Laurent attacks Bella is supposed to happen in the meadow, so, please tell me that is NOT it! The grass was all brown, and where were the flowers?
*Jake is not supposed to phase in front of her, he's supposed to come along with the rest of the pack, but I guess I'll have to wait to see the whole thing to start judging it.

Other than that, it looks really good. The eyebrow raising, I was definitely waiting for it, and therefore, laughed when it happened :P

What did you think about it?

xo,

Camperas de 5to! / Graduate Jackets!

I had the greatest party ever last night! Finally our "graduate jackets" arrived! And they are awesome! Check them out! :

*******
Que zarpada noche la de anoche!!! jajaja



greetings from the dark road (and wearing my brand new jacket!),

Take a Bite Out Of This Book Giveaway

Suzanne over at Chick With Books is hosting a unique giveaway. "I just loved Twilight & New Moon by Stephanie Meyer! And I'm halfway thru Eclipse, but what happens after I'm done with all 4 books?! Where are all the other vampires out there?! I decided to check out some of the other popular vampire reads out there AND decided it would be fun to have a giveaway too so other people could read something new" she says on her blog.
If you'd like to join this cool giveaway, click here to visit Chick With Books.

For this giveaway, I'll be participating to win Charlaine Harris' Dead until Dark. I really like True Blood, so it'd be cool to read the books from which the TV series is based on.

Sunday Edition #1

*Thanks to I Heart Monster for introducing me to this new book, Give up the Ghost by Megan Crewe. Check out an excerpt from Chapter One here.

*I thought this chapter was: ;) GREAT!

*Storyline: (from Megan's website)
Cass McKenna much prefers the company of ghosts over "breathers." Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.
But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad--and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it's time to give the living another chance...

*Release date for this book's set for September 15th.
Preorder this book on Amazon.

*******

*Things are getting quite hectic for our SGP friends (if you haven't checked out their blog yet, follow this link). They keep up updated on their journey to create the coolest film production company the world has ever seen (and I'm not just saying). One Tree Hill's actress, Hilarie Burton; writer, Nick Gray; and producer Kelly Tenney, make us feel that we're part of their crew. SGP's Street Team (of which I'm a proud member) is a place where we share thoughts on how the Crew's doing, and with the upcoming website (that is supposedly going to be up this Wednesday!), we get the chance to put our little grain of sand by helping mighty Ali, help the Crew with some details for the new site. It makes me feel (and I think it's not just me) that they really want to know what their fans are saying. They are really down to earth people, and I just can't help to laugh out loud with their awesome vlogs!
So, to them, and all of those that are on this now getting-larger-little-engine-that-could, I say BRAVO!

p.s.: check out this cool video that KT shared with us yesterday, it's really nice, and like he said "it made me think of all our friends around the world helping SGP... Take 5 minutes and listen."

*******
Reading Challenges
*I've oficially given up on Hamlet. I just can't concentrate while reading it! I thought this book was :( COMPLETELY BORING!

*****

Random Section
Give Up the Ghost Character Quiz

You're most like Cass!

*Cass McKenna has had it pretty tough--first her best friend turned the whole school against her, then she started seeing ghosts everywhere she looked. It's no wonder she's isolated herself from everyone but the dead. But Cass has a strong sense of morality, stubbornness to spare, and plenty of compassion for those who deserve it. When the popular kids are taking advantage of their more clueless peers, Cass isn't afraid to fight back.

Right on! Now you take this quiz.

********

*I have oficially started writing my new story, and I'm loving how it's turning out! So, I thought I'd share a bit about it with you all.

It tells the story of Alma, young/old woman/lady (she doesn't quite know), after having been kicked out of Heaven (now, I'm not a believer, no offence to those who are, but the story line just came to me and I had to make the most of it, so I decided I wasn't going to change it) for stealing innocent people's souls. She's just a carefree (person?) who "took" the souls of those whom she thought didn't deserve to live. For instance, an unfaithful husband who cheeted on his wife. She took his soul, but without permission from her boss, who constantly told her "it wasn't (his) time to go".

And that's it for today, I don't want to ruin it!

*************

p.s.: I'm still waiting for Elise's copy of "The Pillowman" to arrive, I'll write a review as soon as I finish it.

Have a great Sunday night everyone!

greetings from the dark road,

YAY! finally my inspiration is back! welcome to the dark side!!!

the idea came to me today -this afternoon- and I couldn't be happier with it. i'm going to start writing a new fan fiction/story/or whatever this turns into, with this new idea. i won't tell you much about it, just that i've just finished writing the 1st chapter, and i'm loving it already! i am in love with my idea (yes i am!:P), and i'll be loving naming my characters, choosing a location (well this one not so much), and watching my story evolve. please join me in my new journey, at the Dark Road :)

stay tuned for more info...

xoxo,