Untamed
P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
YA fiction; fantasy
338 pages

Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you.
Just ask Zoey Redbird – she’s become an undisputed expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a tight-knit group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. And the worst part is, she knows it’s her own fault. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead, unMarked, and unable to stop bickering with each other. So who can blame her for befriending the House of Night’s newest transfer student, the majorly hot Olympic archer, James Stark?
Meanwhile, Neferet has declared a war on humans after it appears that the People of the Faith have murdered two vampyres. But Aphrodite’s latest visions show a world completely different from the High Priestess’s promises, a world full of violence, hatred, and darkness, all because of Zoey’s death—and the only way it seems she can prevent it from happening is to make things right with her friends. Zoey knows in her heart that fighting with humans is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in PC and Kristin Cast's spellbinding fourth House of Night novel.

This is probably my least favorite book in the House of Night series so far. It still is a captivating story but I didn't care for the plot line in this one quite as much as the other three. However, it it still very entertaining and I cannot wait t o read the rest of the series! I also just found out that there is going to be a new book released in May! They write these so fast haha!
Books read this year: 50/50--I finally made my GOAL!!!!!!! :)

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/21/death-eater-actor-donates-first-edition-potter-books

Keighley News reports that the British Heart Foundation has received a charitable donation of a full set of first edition Harry Potter novels from Michael Thompson, an actor set to play a Death Eater in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film.  Mr. Thompson donated the set books from his personal collection of sixty Potter novels to the British Heart Foundation after his mother w...

http://www.animevice.com/news/happy-holiday-giveaway-1218-20-winner/3304/

I confess I've been waiting for a while to give this user a prize! Foxxfireart-- regular commenter, contributor to the forums, occasional guest blogger and fantastic artist to boot --put up a new Code Geass 4koma on Sunday, earning him a Code Geass prize pack with two clearfiles and a notebook!

I love all the hard work everyone's been doing. Christmas is almost here, so I'm going to try to put together a reeeeeally nice gift pack for Christmas Day. But that doesn't mean you should try to save everything for Christmas Eve Day, because a) you shouldn't neglect your family, and b) I have lots of other stuff to give away too! So keep at it!

Okay, so hey.
Here's my conundrum. I have a Playstation 2, a Wii, a DS and access to a PS3.
I want a PSP, but only to play 2 games on. Once I'm done with them, I'll probably never pick the thing up again. If I were to get a PSP it'd have to be a worthwhile investment (I'd have to use it more than for just those two games).
Can anyone recommend some good games for the PSP? Or am I just gonna waste my money on it if I don't end up using is aside from these two (Dissidia Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep), and it'll just sit and gather dust and be of use to no one?

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/21/photographer-tim-hailand-talks-one-day-in-the-life-of-dan-radcliffe-book

Video featuring photographer Tim Hailand discussing his One Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe photographic book has been posted to the photographer's YouTube, and contains the first look at the newly released publication.  Order Partners DanRadcliffe.com report that the four minute video features the photographer speaking about concept for the photographs of Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter), whic...

The daily_snitch/dailysnitch is looking for additional editor to cover our Friday edition.

If you are interested, please email us at the Daily Snitch.

I am looking for any stories centered around Draco and Hermione, as long they are written well. Its been a few months since I read any and there are just so many to go through. Old stories or short ones will be welcomed too.
Preferably NC-17
thanks

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/21/happy-birthday-chris-dotson

We are lucky today, because this person just joined senior staff at Leaky and we haven't even had time yet to mark his birthday in our "to post on Leaky" calendars before it was upon us. Nevertheless we hope you'll join us in wishing Chris Dotson, who runs the super-fantastic video galleries here at Leaky with endless enthusiasm and efficiency, the most super-fantastic birthday yet! Happy birth...

Anyone know of any other fics similar to yesterday4's The Gentle Strains? That made my heart ache but, goodness, did I ever want more. Any recs at all? I don't mind if it's straight up angst where Draco stays with Astoria or something else. Even if it's just the idea of DHr beginning to have a relationship but Draco knows their time is short due to the arranged marriage.

*shrug* Guess I'm in the mood for some good angst :)

The OC - 401: The Avengers - 405: The Sleeping Beauty.
Screencaps: 600-700 each.
Resolution: 1600 x 9000
File type: jpg

Galleries and Download Links here @ rawr_caps .

I have a problem.

I have an older (3 years maybe? Online its warranty says it expired two years ago on the 17th) Xbox 360 that does not play game discs. I'm not sure that it could ever play original Xbox games anyway since I believe it's an "Arcade" model (I got the thing used as a gift) but it doesn't play the 360 games I've tried either.

Anyway, I really want to start getting some used 360 games and such and make use of this thing, but I don't know what I should do. Microsoft lets you send consoles in for repair but it costs $100 (I'm guessing they pay shipping since there's an option to print the shipping label). On the other hand, a brand new Arcade would be $200 (getting an Elite is right out of the question). There are people on Craigslist who offer to do repairs for $80, but that's a good chunk of money for no guarantee and I don't know about their reliability or honesty. Also, since I already have two controllers and perfectly good cables and the HDD and everything I really don't want to buy an entire new system . . . I just want a working console!

Does anyone have any advice? What would you do in my situation? 

http://www.animevice.com/news/required-reading-early-eisner-thoughts/3303/

Honestly, I'm still familiarizing myself with the Comic-Con International's Eisner awards-- its process, how it tends to turn out each year, etc --so I don't know how equipped I would be to write up a plea for what manga should get nods for this year's awards.

Luckily for me, and you, the much more qualified David Welsh has done all the work for us, going through some of the biggest-- and not-so-big --names in manga and suggesting not only that they be nominated but also often what categories they might work in.

I absolutely agree with him that Kaoru Mori's gorgeous period drama Emma should be recognized this year (its last, since the final volume is out), and I'd really like to see Junko Mizuno get more attention as well. While there's no risk that Naoki Urasawa will go completely unrecognized, I think it would be awesome to see him score a nod in the Best Writer/Artist - Drama category as well, right up there with the US bigs. He's a one-in-a-million creator, if you ask me.

Most importantly, though, I'd like to see manga appear in a few categories OTHER than "Best US Edition of Foreign Material - Japan" this year. Last year was a little depressing in not recognizing some materials that really deserved it. I understand that it can be hard to decide between a really great American comic and a really great Japanese comic, and I would never suggest putting a good Japanese comic out in favor of a better American comic...but it seems like considering how much of a part in the US comics industry manga has these days, that it's appropriate for it to share in a bit more of the glory than it did last year.

http://www.animevice.com/news/viz-streams-at-vizanimecom/3302/

Big news! VIZ has just launched the beta of VIZAnime.com, their up-and-coming streaming video hub. The site currently features big-name titles like Naruto, Honey and Clover, InuYasha (including The Final Act, also streaming on ShonenSunday.com), Bleach, Death Note, and Nana.

Some slightly less top-tier titles are there too, and they're no less enjoyable: Hikaru no Go has eight episodes up so far, and Buso Renkin has three. You can also hit up a few episodes of Prince of Tennis for some wacky sports fun.

It's good to see another anime company really diving into the mix here-- FUNimation has been upping series for some time, and while The Anime Network is a bit more limited on how much you can watch for free, their online video site does feature a lot to its premium members.

Of course, judging from the introductory post on the site's news page, VIZAnime is more geared towards a relatively new anime fan. Still, with titles like Honey and Clover and Death Note, I imagine it won't be hard for hardcore older fans to find some good times as well.

I just hope we get a few of the more mature titles (cough, cough, MONSTER!) eventually, too.
 
One more thing, and it's a big'un for many of you: as far as I can tell via a quick check on a proxy, the site is U.S. only. Since VIZ owners Shueisha and Shogakukan have similar companies set up in Europe and a few other locations, this isn't too surprising, but...sorry to those of you outside the U.S. (especially Canadians!)

http://www.animevice.com/news/tekken-hollywood-movie-only-gets-jp-site/3301/

I've heard bits and pieces about the upcoming live-action Tekken movie from Warner Bros. in Japan for a while now, but I've never had it all put together for me before. It's a pretty interesting production: Halloween 4 and Murder at 1600 director Dwight Little (of Cleveland, Ohio) is directing, and it was written by another Ohio native, Alan B. McElroy.

But lead Jin Kazuma is being played by Irish-Chinese actor Jon Foo, while Minnesota-born (and part-Japanese) actor Ian Anthony Dale joins him as Kazuya Mishima. Also in the film is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Japanese-American actor best known as Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat flicks.

While a movie starring primarily people of Asian descent (Vietnamese-American Cung Le, Japanese-American Tamlyn Tomita, and South Korean actor Jae Hee are also on the roster) is a little odd, the really weird part is that Warner Bros. has so far only opened up a Japanese site for the film. Surely with its Hollywood background they intend it for a North American release as well, but...well, where's the word?

Well, hope you enjoy the new Japanese poster, anyway. ( Via Twitch Film)

http://www.animevice.com/news/fourzan-update-reimer-sentenced-to-15-years/3300/

I don't know how many of you guys remember this story, but back in February a young woman-- 14-year-old Deborah Fourzan --disappeared from her school. Word from her friends was that she was joining 41-year-old James Joseph Reimer at an unknown California anime convention. The two were caught during a traffic stop over a month later. Fourzan was unharmed and returned to her family while Reimer was arrested.

Why the trip down memory lane? The Seattle Times reports that Reimer pled guilty on Friday to "soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology" and "maliciously enticing a child," felony charges on both counts. He also has just been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

You know...hopefully it's not even worth it for me to say this because you all know better, but: to those of you who are young, don't go running off with older people you meet on the 'net. If they're the good people you think they are, they shouldn't encourage something like that. And those of you who are older: it is NOT okay to try and pick up kids from the 'net as convention roomies. Even if you think you have good intentions, use some common sense and realize it'll just get you into trouble.

Title: Paper Towns by John Green
Pages: 305
Rating: 5/5
Summary: (from Goodreads) When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

Review: ( Ummm... yeah it spoils. Sorry. )

You can read this review and all others on my Goodreads account.
Books so far this year: 51/50
Currently reading: Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre LaClos

Last BMW caps from me:

S1 Boy Meets Girl
S1 She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
S3 Stormy Weather
S3 Brother Brother