Archive for May, 2009

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Back, and Better than Ever

May 22nd, 2009 by Manda | No Comments | Filed in Online

Well, “better than ever” is probably a little too ambitious, but I can always hope, right? ;)

I’m back from my short hiatus! I did a lot of thinking about the formatting of this blog and I’ve decided on a few things:

  • I’m changing the format of my reviews. The current format of summary, initial reaction, final reaction, and overall rating isn’t doing it for me anymore. Frankly, there are far better and comprehensive reviews of popular movies and TV shows out there, and they weren’t fun to write anymore. Instead, I’m going to have a short summary, five adjectives I would use to describe my reaction, most and least impressive (no more than a sentence or two), and then overall rating. It’ll be shorter, far more concise, and most likely spoiler-free.
  • Interviews will be put on an indefinite hiatus. I have loved conducting all of the interviews that have been posted, but lately, my heart just hasn’t been into coming up with questions for each interviewee. I figure that for now, I’ll put interviews on hold. In the future, if I am interested in doing interviews again, I will contact the remaining people who have expressed interest in being interviewed but have yet to receive questions. If there is still interest in the interviews then, I will start them up again. For now, though, there aren’t going to be any interviews anytime soon.
  • Wednesdays will now be used to talk about all things related to my personal ventures into arts and crafts. Since the opening of my Etsy shop, I’ve been spending most of my free time either making crafts or looking into new crafting ideas I can try my hand at. I’ll essentially be using Wednesdays to promote my Etsy shop and getting the word out about its existence, as well as showcasing individual crafting projects I’m working on, both personal projects and those related to the shop.

Things will go back to normal around here with these new changes starting tomorrow!

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Taking a Break

May 16th, 2009 by Manda | 1 Comment | Filed in Online

Since moving back home for the summer, I’ve found myself wanting to spend less and less time online. That, combined with some new developments in a few real life/personal situations, has led me to decide to take a break from blogging. I’m not giving it up permanently or anything, but I don’t see the point in continuing to blog when my heart isn’t in it, as that only results in dry, uninteresting posts.

So, with all that in mind, I’m taking a break from blogging. It should only be a few weeks or so, but I think it’ll be good.

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Summer Reading

May 15th, 2009 by Manda | 7 Comments | Filed in Entertainment

In high school, I complained every summer about my summer reading books. It’s not that I don’t like to read, it’s just that I never really liked any of the summer reading books I was assigned, like The Natural by Bernard Malamund, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson1, The Odyssey by Homer, or A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez2, and The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. This summer, I have no assigned readings, so I’m going to do the crazy thing and assign myself some reading in order to maximize the free time I have to read whatever I like!

  • All of Sarah Dessen‘s books
    I am a huge Sarah Dessen fan; I think she’s an amazing YA author. Having recently finished her book Lock and Key, and with her newest book, Along for the Ride, due for release next month, I think now is the perfect time to reacquaint myself with Sarah’s books and some of my favorite characters, such as Halley from Someone Like You and Dexter in This Lullaby!
  • The entire Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
    I’ve read the first six books countless times, but I’ve only read Deathly Hallows once. I can barely remember what happened in the Deathly Hallows other than the major plot points, so I’m going to start from the very beginning and reread the Harry Potter series, and then finally read The Tales of Beedle the Bard once I’ve finished rereading all seven of the Harry Potter books.
  • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares
    Like the Harry Potter series, I’ve read the first three Traveling Pants books many times, but I’ve only read the fourth one once. Watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 movie made me realize that it is high time for me to reread this series again! Out of the four girls, Bee is my absolute favorite, closely followed by Lena.
  • The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
    I love Jasper Fforde, I think he is a very, very clever author and I love his writing style, and how he plays with literature and words with Thursday Next. I especially love how he included the Red Queen as one of the characters in the BookWorld! This series is definitely one of my favorites, so a reread is a must.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
    I loved this series, but I haven’t even read the 13th book, The End! However, I can’t really remember what exactly happens later on in the series, particularly with the little details, so before I read the last, and final, book in the series, I want to start from the beginning and be able to recall each and every one of the Baudelaire’s adventures (or misadventures, as it may be) before I read the final book in the series.
  1. I quite liked this one, but it wasn’t a traditional summer reading book. Still good, though. [↩]
  2. I didn’t like A Hundred Years at all, but I know I am in the minority since almost everyone I know that’s read the book loves it! [↩]

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