You Can’t Keep a Fangirl Down

Here we go again! I have been having a short break from posting these, but I am dedicated to finish them at last.

Jules Verne

Jules Verne is an incredible author of science fiction. I have loved everything I have read of his work. Besides being an excellent story teller, Verne was just miles ahead with his ideas and inventions. My favorite books are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days. I think they have the best characters and action of all his books. And if you are interested, I reviewed them in December as part of my 30 Day Challenge.

If you haven’t picked up one of his books, you should today.

For more Jules Verne, go to The Great Depths of the Ocean are Entirely Unknown to Us: Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Longmire

Who loves westerns?

ME!!!

Yep, I do. So when I hear of a Western TV show, I immediately want to check it out and see if it something I would love. Like this show.

I started watching this show with my sister and fell in love with the characters and the setting. I had lived in Wyoming for four months and thought it was beautiful, so seeing it here; not only do I understand the culture and people but where they go in the show.

The TV show is based off a book series in which Walt Longmire is sheriff of Absoroka County. In the first season he is trying to work through the grief of his wife and fight to keep his job as Sheriff as a deputy is campaigning against him. Walt loves to read and is every observant, a Western Sherlock Holmes.

Besides that, he has to deal with a tribal chief that hates him (since he was the one who put away the previous chief, a dirty cop) and a corrupt and clever buisnessman who would like to remove him.

Besides the character of Longmire, we have his best friend Henry Standing Bear played by Lou Diamond Phillips. I love Phillips/Henry! The way he talks, his manners…oh just everything about his, he is fantastic! He often helps Longmire out whenever a case involes the reservation or has something to do with Native American cultures.

Besides them you have the adorable Deputy Ferg, who is just a cute, cuddly, bear of a guy. Then there is Deputy Branch Connelly, who is the son of the most powerful man, but does his best to forge his own path and fight against the control of his father. Then there is Deputy Victoria “Vic” Moreitti, ugh I hate her. She is a horrible person and I wish she was the deputy that was written out.

A great show that you should definitely check out.

Raising Hope

My ex-boyfriend showed me this show when we were dating, but he picked the episode near the end of the series, so I was confused and didn’t get it. I kind of decided not to keep watching it as I thought it made no sense.

However, one of my very good friends was really into the show and would put it on every time we would hang out.

So the show is about James Bon Jovi “Jimmy” Chance is in his early twenties and a slacker. He left school before graduating, works for his dad, and spends most of his time getting drunk with his friends.

About life.

His mom and dad, Burt and Virginia, had him when they were in high school and have made a lot of mistakes over the years in raising him as they have no clue in what they are doing. All live with Virginia’s grandmother, Maw Maw, in her house. Maw Maw suffers from dementia and they have to care for her as she swings in and out.

Everything changes when Jimmy has a one night stand that turns out to be a serial killer. Before they give her the death penalty, she gives birth to a daughter, this little girl being given to Jimmy to raise.

What?!

So now they all band together to try and raise this girl, when three of the adults have no clue and one is not in her right mind.

Throw in some other great characters: Sabrina, rich girl trying to “make it on her own” grocery cleck; Barney, the dorky but heart of gold store manager; Frank, a strange coworker; an evil cousin, Delilah; and more.

Will Jimmy be able to raise her right? Or will he make the same mistakes as his parents?

It is hilarious, and the best thing of all: the relationship between Burt and Virginia. They are just the cutest couple ever.

For more on Raising Hope, go to I Only Care That You Succeed: How I Met Your Mullet, Raising Hope (2014)

V

I first became aware of V when they remade the show in 2009. My mother wasn’t pleased as she had been a fan of the original. Well in honor of it, the channel SciFi, now SyFy, decided to show the original V for a whole week. That week it played an endless loop of V.

I was out of school and watched it, continuing with every episode to remain rooted in the couch as I had to watch more. It was that good.

So the show is about these visitors from space who arrive and want to be our friends; assisting us in anything that is needed. However, that proves to be false as we are not their friends, but their prey. Eventually the visitors take over, but there is a collection of people who form the resistance, and fight against the Fascists.

It was a great show and I highly recommend it for any SciFi fan.

Veronica Mars

I started watching this TV show when I spotted it on a list of shows everyone should watch. I saw one episode and was sucked in, finding it hard to stop watching.

Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) used to be one of the popular crowd as she was daughter of the sheriff and dated the most popular guy in school, the town’s hero and millionaire, Duncan Kane. She is also best friends with his sister, Lily Kane. Everything started going wrong when Duncan just seemed to dump her with no explanation.

Lily sets out to try and find out what is happening, but doesn’t get back to her on why. She ends up being murdered. Veronica’s dad, Keith Mars, starts searching into what happened, and when he arrests Lily’s father for the crime: he is ousted from his office, his wife leaves him, and both he & Veronica become pariahs.

Instead of leaving town, the two stay and her father starts a private detective business. Veronica helps, even though her father doesn’t really want her to. With every episode she solves a crime, while the whole season she searches for who the real killer is, not believing the guy they arrested is the real guy.

I loved the first season, as the second and third were sadly just not as good. But that first one was fantastic!

The Veronica Mars Movie was also great as it was just what the fans wanted. It tied everything up just perfectly.

While I started watching for mysteries and great characters, I continued to fall in love with them and the Veronica Mars + Logan.

At first Logan has been cruel with his anger and hurt over everything that happened with Lily-her cheating on him, her death, Veronica’s father not solving the crime. However, the two become friends again when Veronica helps Logan look for his mom. We see Logan becoming the person he was before again. Things come to a head when Logan saves her from gunpoint, with them making out, and later dating. They keep their dating a secret at first, but when the secret is out we see that Logan has decided that the things he cared about before; popularity and status, aren’t nearly as important as the girl he loves. She’s his girl and if anyone has issues with her, they need to get out the door. I just love the two of them! So cute!

For more on Veronica Mars, go to I Don’t Care What You Think, She’s My Girl: A Trip to the Dentist, Veronica Mars (2005)

For the previous post, go to The FANtom Menance

And Stay tuned for part 27

 

The Great Depths of the Ocean are Entirely Unknown to Us: Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Day 15) O is for Ocean: Choose a book that takes place on or in the Ocean

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

This is one of my top favorite books.

I started reading this book the same way I started reading all the classics, The Great Illustrated Classics collection at my local library.

And this is one of my all-time favorite stories. Just like Doc Brown

Doc Brown: So do I. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, my absolute favorite.

As I mentioned before I love Jules Verne. I’ve read almost everything by him.

My favorite thing about this novel is everything they see and all the adventures they go on.

Another amazing thing was how Verne was so ahead of his time. In his novel Captain Nemo has electric lights on his submarine, it wasn’t until more than thirty years that was possible. He just had all these ideas or improvements that inspired people to create and copy them.

This book also has some solid math and science, based on current inventions of the time and what was known. It is just a fantastic book!

The book takes place in 1866. All the countries are agog as something seems to be destroying ships. Something…or some monster!

They call in the top people to launch an expedition to destroy whatever it is that is doing this to them. One of the people called in is Professor Pierre Aronnax, a marine biologist. He believes that the creature is something from the very depths of the oceans, as it would need incredible strength to survive that and destroy the ships the way it does.

Maybe a giant sea monster or narwhale?

He takes along his valet, Conseil, and the two meet and become good friends with Canadian Whaler, Ned Land, as they sail the sea searching for the creature.

They eventually find the creature, which rips apart the ships set after it. The only crew members to survive are Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned. They try to find something to grab onto and drift on, when they grasp the monster and discover it is not a sea creature after all…

It is a super advanced submarine.

They are taken inside and saved by the captain, Captain Nemo. He decides to let them live because he greatly appreciates the intellect and things that Professor Aronnax has written.

But they are forced to remain on the ship forevermore, as they can not be returned to the surface. Saved but not free.

Conseil enjoys being underwater at first, but begins to wish for home. Ned has never liked being under the water, and from the beginning has been trying to figure out a way to escape their imprisonment. The only one who is thrilled with this arrangement is Professor Aronnax, as being a marine biologist this is the opportunity of a lifetime to learn about what really happens in the deep blue.

What is under the water?

They travel 20,000 leagues around the world; being the firsts to look upon Antarctica (as it wasn’t officially visited until 1911), battle a squad of sperm whales, visit shipwrecks, walk along the ocean floor, witness all kinds of marine life, fight off cannibal islanders, and are attacked by a giant squid in one of the most harrowing battles in literature.

As they journey they discover that their Captain has a lot of bitterness and rage; attacking ships because of an old pain.

For one who is so stone faced and set in his ways, will they ever be able to convince him to set them free? Or will they be stuck under the sea forever?

Yep just one fantastic read you need to check out for yourself.

No matter how many times I read this book it is still one wild ride! What can I say?

To start the 30 Day Challenge from beginning, go to It Was a Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451

For the previous post, go to I’d Spent Some Time As a Kid Wishing My Name Were Ashley or Katherine, if Only Because It Would Have Made Life Simpler, But My Mom Liked to Tell Me That My Name Was a Litmus Test: Along for the Ride

For more on 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, go to Heaven on Earth

For more Jules Verne, go to I Think I Have Found a Means of Conveyance…An Elephant: Around the World in 80 Days

For more ocean adventures, go to I Finally Read Moby-Dick

For more marine biologists, go to  You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: Jaws (1975)

Today’s pick is Carol of the Bells. This song was composed by Mykola Leontovych, and written by Peter J. Wilhousky in 1914.

For more Christmas Carols, go to Maybe Christmas, He Thought, Doesn’t Come from a Store. Maybe Christmas…Perhaps…Means a Little Bit More: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Heaven on Earth: 13 of the Best Fictional Libraries

So if you’ve been following me, you are pretty aware of my love of libraries.

And I decided to do a post on my favorite fictional libraries. After all:

So here we go, my top 13 Favorite Fictional Libraries.

13) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a fireman in the future, and as a fireman his job is to burn books. Books are now illegal, and it is up to firemen to root out the secret libraries and destroy them. After witnessing a woman willingly burn alive with her library, it gets Guy thinking about what the books contain. It begins with one book, but ends with Guy questioning everything he has ever known.

Why the library is awesome!: So we don’t actually know what is in this library, but if a person is willing to die with it you know it has to hold some amazing things. Even if the books are only valuable to the owner.

For more on Ray Bradbury, go to Friday Night Fun

12) The Music Man

A conman salesman, “Professor” Harold Hill (Robert Preston),  visits the town of River City, Iowa; and convinces the townspeople that the only way to save their children from becoming bad eggs, is to create a boys’ band. But where to get the instruments? From Professor Harold Hill of course! Marian, the town librarian, is a piano teacher, and the only one who could expose Professor Hill as a fraud, so Professor Hill sets out to seduce her. Along the way Professor Hill changes as he starts to care for the people he plans to con.

Why the library is awesome!: One of the musical numbers is Marian the Librarian in which Professor Hill attempts to seduce Marian by singing and dancing with her around the library. A library in which the librarian and town dance around singing? You get two in one—items to read and a show.

11) The Cat Who… Series

The Cat Who…Series is about amazing reporter  Jim “Qwill” Qwilleran who solves murders with the help of his cats. Qwill was a nationally-acclaimed reporter, until he became an alcoholic and lost everything. The first book, The Cat Who Read Backwards, Qwill is trying to put his life back in order and is searching for a job as a reporter. He joins the staff of the Daily Fluxion as a feature writer. After his landlord, the art critic, is killed, Qwill starts investigating with little clues pointed out by his landlord’s cat, Kao K’o Kung (Koko for short). As Qwill continues his investigations he ends up picking up another cat, Yum Yum. In The Cat Who Played Bhrams, Qwill journeys up north to the small town of Mooseville, and visits an old family friend. He ends up inheriting millions, but in order to get them, he has to remain in Moose County. This changes his life forever.

Why the library is awesome!: Qwill is an avid reader and collects as many as he can afford. When he inherits the money, he also receives a stone mansion with a giant library. It holds thousands of books from rare pieces that are worth millions to secondhand and beloved buys.

For more on The Cat Who… Series, go to The Cat Who Wrote A Blog

10) The Breakfast Club

So the movie begins one Saturday morning when five very different students have been sentenced with detention and are stuck with each other. We have Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “the basket case” who just came for fun; Andrew Clark (Emilio Esteevez), “the athlete”, who recieved detention for bullying a kid; John Bender (Judd Nelson), “the criminal”, sent there because of his acting up in class;  Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), “the princess”, caught skipping school to go shopping; Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “the brain”, who brought a flare gun to school. At first everyone abides by their cliques, but through the course of the day they all bond together sharing their most personal secrets and working out their dysfunctions.

Why the library is awesome!: A gigantic library with multiple levels and a great sound system! Who wouldn’t want to spend their Saturdays there?

For more on The Breakfast Club, go to The Anniversary of Its Formation

9) My Fair Lady

Based on the play Pygmalion, this musical has Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is disgusted with how the English butcher their English. As he is complaining, he runs into a cockney-accented, flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn). He makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering, that he will be able to teach Eliza how to speak so well that people will mistake her for a duchess. Eliza agrees to the bet as she wants to own a high class flower shop. However, they have their work cut out for them, as Professor Higgins methods are helpful, but extremely rude and harsh.

Why the library is awesome!: Henry Higgins may be rude and a jerk, but this professor has one of the best libraries. Why can’t all libraries be like this?

8) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

In the late 19th century, something is destroying ships as they are navigating the seas, cutting huge holes in the sides and completely ruining them. Professor Aronnax, a leading marine biologist, theories that the creature destroying the ships may come from the deepest depths of the ocean, which would give it incredible strength. He joins a crew who has set out to destroy it, taking along his assistant. The ship is destroyed; but Professor Aronnax, his assistant, and whaler Ned Land survive. They find themselves on a giant submarine, the Nautilus, joining its creator Captain Nemo on a journey under the sea.

Why the library is awesome!: This library is a masterpiece as Captain Nemo had thousands of books by the greatest minds. His collection covered science, morals, philosophy, and literature-in every language.

Professor Aronnax: “I thank you for having placed this library at my disposal. It contains treasures…and I shall profit by them.”

For more on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, go to Episode VI: Return of the Favorite Movie Lines List

7) The Mummy (1999)

In 1290 B.C. Egypt, a high priest Imhotep is caught having an affair with the Pharaoh’s woman. He is put through all the death rites, while still alive, and buried in Hamunaptra. Fast forward to 1932, a French Foreign Legion officer, Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser), finds himself in Hamunaptra, but lost in the desert. Three years later, librarian Evie (Rachel Weisz) is approached by her treasure-hunter brother Jonathan, with an artifact that he thinks will lead him to Hamunaptra. They pick up Rick O’Connell as a guide, and find the city. As they search for treasure they discover the mummy, and accidentally awaken him.

Why the library is awesome!: Even though Evie makes a mess, most of us book lovers wouldn’t mind putting the library she worked at back together as it would allow us to check out all those books. Plus it holds a map to a lost city that holds the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead.

For more on The Mummy (1999), go to Part X: The Movie List That Would NOT Die!

6) Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

In this Indiana Jones adventure, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is on the search for his dad (Sean Connery) and the Holy Grail. His father had been searching for the artifact and disappeared, causing Indy to pick up the trail. He picks up where his dad left off in Venice with Dr. Elsa Schneider, discovering a clue to the Grail. He continues from there to save his dad on the Austria-Hungary border, and discovers a betrayal stemming all the way from the Nazis

Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that has spiral staircases, stain glass windows, and secret treasure underneath. How cool is that? It does rest over the graves of dead bodies…BUT you hold a key to finding the Holy Grail! That’s a great tradeoff.

For more on Indiana Jones, go to And Away We Go

5) The Swan Princess

Derek and Odette were arranged to be married when they were babies. Every summer Odette and her father would visit Derek and his mother in order to get the two to become friends and hopefully, fall in love. The two dislike each other as they don’t like playing with each other. They reach the marriageable age, but Derek messes up with Odette as he tells her that beauty is the only thing that matters. As he runs after them to make up for his stupidity, Odette is captured by an evil wizard and her father killed. The wizard wants Odette to marry him so he can have her kingdom, but Odette says she will never marry the wizard and is turned into a swan, only to become human when the moon touches the pond. Derek searches for Odette and trains himself to be able to handle it. When Derek discovers Odette, the two have to find a way to save her and change her to human.

Why the library is awesome!: So we only see this library for one scene in the film and it rivals that of Beauty and the Beast. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and incredibly tall ladders to reach everything.

For more on The Swan Princess, go to You Should Write a Book

4) Harry Potter Series

Harry Potter discovers that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts School, learning magic spells, potions, and having to fight all kinds of creatures.

Why the library is awesome!: Think of all the magical knowledge within in this place? How awesome would it be to roam these stacks and unlock that. Really explains why Hermione likes to spend so much time there.

For more on Harry Potter, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy is a teenage girl that discovers she is a slayer. She’s equipped with certain abilities that allow her to take down all kinds of monsters-demons, vampires, etc.

Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that holds tons of books for school along with almost anything on the supernatural. Not to mention it doubles as a training area that holds all kinds of weapons. What else do you need?

For more on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, go to Simply Fantastic

2) The Sandman Chronicles

The Sandman Chronicles follows the story of the sandman, or Dream. He was captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape after years, and then has to right his dominion and the rest of the world. These series combines Christianity, mythology, Shakespeare, and more.

Why the library is awesome!: The library in Dreaming holds every book ever dreamt of, even those that were never written. How awesome would it be to roam those stacks?

For more on The Sandman Chronicles, go to Dreaming of the Sandman 

1) Beauty and the Beast

Belle loves to read and finds it hard to relate to anyone in her town. Her father goes out of town on business and gets lost, staying over at a castle he finds. He upsets the owner and is kept prisoner, that is until Belle offers herself in her father’s place.

Why the library is awesome!: Do I really need to explain how awesome this library is? I’m sure every book lover has fallen in love with it. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and comfy chairs in front of the fireplace-it’s a dream come true.

Yep:

For more on Beauty and the Beast, go to You’re Doing It Wrong

Yep these are some of the greatest libraries ever, and I hope the one I create is even a fraction of these.

For more on libraries, go to When in Doubt

For more book filled posts, go to Taking in Strays

For more of my favorite quotes, go to Perfectly Imperfect

For more quizzes, go to Fandom Love