748

acrylic on paper 8x12" sold

Michele Mouton,Fabrizia Pons

Audi Quattro

Rally Portugal

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Title: Siren
Author: Tricia Rayburn
Series: Siren Trilogy
Book #: 1
Pages: 377
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: .7
Published July 13th 2010
by EgmontUSA

Vacationing in Winter Harbor, Maine, is a tradition for Vanessa and Justine Sands, and that means spending time with the Carmichael boys. This summer, Vanessa is determined to channel some of her older sister’s boldness, get over her fear of the ocean, and maybe turn her friendship with Simon Carmichael into something much more.

But when Justine goes cliff-diving after a big family argument, and her body washes ashore the next day, Vanessa is sure that it was more than an accident. She is more certain of this, when she discovers that her sister was keeping some big secrets and Caleb Carmichael’s gone missing. Suddenly, the entire oceanfront town is abuzz when a series of grim, water-related accidents occur, with the male victims washed ashore grinning from ear to ear.

Vanessa and Simon team up to figure out if these creepy deaths have anything to do with Justine and Caleb. But will what Vanessa discovers mean the end of her summer romance, or even life as she knows it?

Taschima's POV:

Ive read many mixed reviews on this book. 3 stars seem to be the medium for this series, and I even saw a one star around Goodreads. All I got to say to this is, why?

I mean, it isn't the BEST YA book out there, but I found it enjoyable and entertaining. And oh so haunting. The book has to do with Vanessa and her sister Justine, who dies at the beginning of their summer vacation. We go through the book with Vanessa as she is trying to search for answers not only to her sister's death, but about her sister's life and choices. Along the way other strange deaths keep occurring, deaths were the people who are killed don't seem to mind being dead at all since when they are found they always have this big creepy smile on their face. As if whatever killed them was worth every second of it.

I don't know if other people's expectations were too high, and mine too low, and that's why I enjoyed it more than most. It might be. I mean I looked at that cover and it didn't really inspire much reading giddiness inside me, even if the story was about mermaids. I mean, I like the Little Mermaid, but other than that what can you really do with mermaids? Aren't they suppose to be bound to the sea? In this book they aren't. But they need large amounts of salt water to keep their strength.

I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. I liked the characters. I liked how the author handled the grief of the surviving sister, and the couple of twists I wasn't really expecting. It also left me at the end with a BUNCH of questions, which must be answered in the next couple of books. The sister kept talking to Vanessa even beyond the grave, how? What will Vanessa do with her life from now on? How will the author manage the next book in the series? Well, I'm waiting for Undercurrent for those answers.

One of the things that bothered me was that at times I was a bit lost as to what exactly was happening. But I think that the emotion of the book and the story make up for it. Maybe I'm not as picky as other people. Nah, that's a lie. If I don't like something I'll say it and to hell with it, but I did enjoy this book and I think that before you kick it to the curb (as I did at the beginning) you should at least give it a chance. It may not be for everybody, but it might just be for you. And if you have my taste in books at all, the you surely will enjoy this haunting mermaid tale.

Books In the Series:

 

Siren - Undercurrent

*The links lead to their respective amazon page online. Recently I became an amazon associate. This means that if you buy something and you came from my site I get a small percent compensation for your buy (because I referred you). This does not in any way affect any opinions/views/anything at all I say in this blog.

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747

 acrylic on paper 7x10"

1-0 for Herr Vettl

nobody can touch
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull

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I love the idea of the movie and its intriguing development. The situation is unsual, perfect for 1st and 2nd conditional practice.




A. Read the passage below and complete the blanks with the verbs in parentheses, using with the first conditional. You have just received the visit of a total stranger who gives you a mysterious box with a button and makes the following offer to you:



If you _________ (push) the button, two things ________ (happen). First, someone, somewhere in the world, whom you don't know, __________ (die). Second, you ____________ (receive) a payment of one million dollars. Tax free. The payment ___________ (be) delivered by me in cash to you.


There are three restrictions:

1. You are not permitted to know any information about who's making the offer.

2. You are not permitted to discuss the details of this offer to anyone except your husband (wife).

3. You have 24 hours to make your decision.

4. Otherwise, the box will be reprogrammed and the offer will be made to someone else.

B. Now watch the first part of the segment (until the visitor leaves her house) and check your answers.

C. Now discuss the following questions with a partner. Remember that you are talking about an unreal situation, so you must use the second conditional. Then write down your answers. Start them with If...

1. What would you do if you were in her shoes?

If ...

2. How would you feel if you pushed the button?

If ...

3. How would you feel if you didn't push the button?

If ...

4. Would you push the button if you needed that money to save your son/daughter's life? Explain it.

If ...

D. Watch the second part of the segment and answer the following questions:

1. What were some of the things they considered before deciding whether to push the button?

2. What did they decide to do?

3. According to her, why did she do it?

WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE BOX - PART 1

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE BOX - PART 2

Answer key:

A. push / will happen / will die / will receive / will be

B. Answers will vary

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Expected publication: October 4th 2011 

by Hyperion

It's beautiful. Did you notice how the characters have a little bit of color in their skin? I love this covers, it's so sexy and pretty at the same time!! Do you love it? Is it your favorite?

There's also a video with the Lost In Time cover shoot!

The guy looks just a tiny bit stiff, work with the girl model you stick!! Being hot isn't your entire job!

I also got more stuff for you, a lot of info coming out. I got this information from Melissa's Newsletter:

•Blue Bloods News * Seventh & Final Novel Announced * New Cycle To Begin•

News of the seventh and final Blue Bloods novel was just announced by my publisher, Disney-Hyperion. The seventh book will be published Fall 2012. Hyperion also bought two new novels in the next Blue Bloods "cycle".  

As I was writing the fifth book, I realized that the first cycle would be seven books, and that I wanted to mark it with a grand announcement of the finale. However, I couldn't share the news since at that time, I still hadn't even sold the books to my publisher yet.   

After the seventh novel is published, a new chapter with new characters (and some old ones!) will begin a new Blue Bloods series. I don't know how many will be in the second series yet, but will let you know when I do. 

When I conceived of Blue Bloods back in the day (of yonder) I thought I'd do three mini-trilogies, but as I began to write the books, I decided I didn't want to do a prequel trilogy like I had planned, (since most prequels kind of suck since you already know how it ends right?) and so I incorporated my prequel trilogy into the "forward" stories and well… that is a long winded explanation to say: SEVEN IS THE MAGIC NUMBER. And after seven, we will start a new story, which I've already sketched in my head and I'm already so so so excited about it.

... so, want a sneak peak of Lost in Time? You got it!

"Maybe Schuyler was crazy to think it would last, that any of it—their love, their joy together would hold, given the darkness that had been part of their union from the beginning—and later she would wish she had enjoyed it more, that she had spent less time poring through books, less time at the library alone, less time removing his arms from her waist, telling him to wait, or missing dinner so that she could go over the papers again and again, she would wish for one more night spent in a roadside café, holding hands under the table, one more night when they would sit side by side in bed, reading, as he rested a hand on her knee."

So much drama! I can't wait!!

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746

 acrylic on paper 8x12"

the wrong Peugeot won

still looked good to me

and a good excuse to listen

to Charles Aznavour 

while painting

salut!

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And I LOVE IT!!! My absolute favorite by far! It's so dark and awesome. Reminds me a little of Hallowen to tell you the truth. And the cat! Herro mister Hellsing, how do you do?

But there is one critical character missing from this cover... WHERE IS BONES!?

Maybe on the inside flap? ...

There he is!!!!!

Gosh, that's hot.

Pre-Order One Grave at a Time: A Night Huntress Novel NOW! Comes out in August ;)

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Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3)

by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

Hardcover, 528 pages

Expected publication: October 18th 2011 

by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

"Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected – and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What – or who – will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin? 

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He’s being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn’t by Lena – and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself – forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn’t know why, and most days he’s too afraid to ask.  

Sometimes there isn’t just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there’s no going back. And this time there won’t be a happy ending."

I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT. I WANT IT...

I think that covers it pretty nicely, don't you? ;)

Pre-Order Beautiful Chaos NOW!!

PS; I recently became an Amazon Associate so if you click that little box on top and buy the book I would get a percentage out of the buy. I just wanted to let you know so you would know =] Besides, so much cheaper when you get it through amazon. Doesn't mean I just write whatever in order to get a buy, just that whenever I write about a certain book I give you the option at the bottom to buy it through amazon.

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745

 acrylic on paper 8x12" sold

burned the midnight oil for this one
a 911 Turbo fires towards

Eau Rouge

lucky Gijs!

an nice little write up on

 PJ Tierney 

design related blog

check out his event posters

so sharp!

cheers PJ!

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It's amazing, it's exciting, it's Harry Potter!!

When I first saw this video I screaming in joy!!! I can't believe the end is near, I still remember the first movie!! You guys remember how small they were right? I'm not imgining things now am I?! I can't wait to see this damn movie, It will be a night to remember.

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744

 acrylic on paper 8x12"

YES!

it is almost here,

the start of the 2011 F1 season
i'm going mad with anticipation!

 can you see?
.
and to make things even more exciting,
you can enter
the F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship
to win great prices,
like tickets for the Silverstone Grand prix

or a painting of your choice...

from car-a-day
it is free to enter here

And there’s F1 DVDs and highly-coveted

 ultra-desirable F1 Fanatic mugs 

to be won at every race weekend.

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Title: Across the Universe

Author: Beth Revis

Series: Across The Universe Trilogy

Book #: 1

Pages: 416

Reading Level: Young Adult

Published Date: Jan 11, 2011.

Publisher:  Razorbill

Book Rating: .4

Cover Rating: 

A love out of time. 

A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Taschima's POV:

Across the Universe wasn't what I thought it would be. I was a bit surprised by the time I finished the story, it was weird. I thought it was going to be so much more but at the end of the tale I felt a little disappointed to tell you the truth. It was a good read, and it had it's 'Wow!' and great moments, but I was expecting a little more than great; I was expecting unforgettable and got good. It still is a good read, I guess I just set my sights too high.

The book is all set in this spaceship named Godspeed. But the book begins centuries before on Earth. Amy, one of our main characters, is making the decision of either getting frozen or not while watching her parents get frozen themselves. Then we jump to centuries later and we meet Elder, a young leader to be. Through Elder we get to find out about Godspeed's social structure and different rules. For a ship who is self sustaining and everybody is the "same" there seems to be a heck of a lot of underlying issues. Later on due to outside forces Amy gets unfrozen ahead of time and all hell breaks loose. Soon enough people start dying and secrets that have been kept quiet for centuries start boiling into the surface and what once seem to be a quiet peaceful ship turns into a thing of nightmares.

This book is complicated. It raises many questions that you just don't know how to answer. I loved how it made me think! As far as the characters I like Amy, she is a bit of a rebel in this story. Elder on the other hand was a much more passive character. He was a bit brainwashed and we get to see how little by little he gets out from under the claws of the ruler. The characters balanced each other but at times I was so frustrated with Elder. I mean his inside chatter was a lot more interesting than what he actually did on the story. What I really loved about this story is how it makes you feel. I could feel the despair of Amy as if it was my own, the sadness and fury. The emotions were solid and seem to radiate from the pages. I wanted to eat up every single second of it.

As to the story line, well, I wasn't surprised as much as I wish I had been. I caught most twists pretty quickly, it wasn't very exciting because of this. The end though I didn't expect. I would have expected the author to prolongate the story line, instead she surprised me. Bravo! This makes me want to read the second book of this story so much more!

So yes it was a good read, but not out of this world (get it?). It shined on certain parts and it lacked in others. It's worth the buy. I mean you want to have this cover on your collection! Is beautiful! It's a different story, totally original in its content!

What did you think about Across the Universe? You can leave a link to your own review if you'd like in a comment =]

PS; I recently became an Amazon Associate so if you click that little box on top and buy the book I would get a percentage out of the buy. I just wanted to let you know so you would know =] Besides, so much cheaper when you get it through amazon.

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This movie is really nice and the scene is perfect to contrast the uses of the simple present and simple past tenses.


I. Work in small groups. Make a list of activities you do every time you travel by plane. Think about what you do during the day until the plane takes off. Make sure you mention the steps you take at home and at the airport too.

Ex:

I make my bags.
I shave.

II. Watch the movie segment and check which of the activities you listed in Exercise I George Clooney's character did that day.


III. Now write 5 sentences saying what he did in the segment that you did not list in exercise II.


Ex: He took off his shoes at the airport.


IV. Now write sentences saying 5 things from your list that he didn't do before traveling.

Ex: He didn't shave.

PLAY THE SEGMENT TWICE.







WORKSHEET

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The TESOL Convention in New Orleans has just ended and I attended very interesting sessions. My presentation was Saturday and I everything worked out. If you attended the convention, please tell us what you thought about it and if you enjoyed it.

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So according to The Wrap (click and read the entire article) the actress from Winter's Bone has been cast for the role of Katniss. Her name is Jennifer Lawrence and here is a picture of the girl in question:

The first thing that came to my mind when I read the news was "what the hell is Winter's Bone?", after that I went looking for information and found the actress. After that I Googled her images and instantly thought "too pretty". She is too pretty! She is blond! CAN SEE PULL IT OFF? Has anybody watched Winter's Bone? Is she a good actress? Can she be a rebel? Can she be brunette? I DON'T KNOW! I will have to rent the freaking movie just to see if she is good, and if not to cry for the future death of my Katniss.

So I guess for now it is a rumor, but it WAS published in a Hollywood magazine, so I don't know. Wasn't she casted as the new Mystique for the X Men movie? I thought as much.

What do you think? Yay or nay? Scream if you must, god knows I did.

Also, WHERE IS PEETA?!

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743

acrylic on panel 16x20" sold

seen these?

Bedelia cycle cars from 1930

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Hardcover, 320 pages

Expected publication: September 27th 2011 by HarperTeen

Skye never questioned the story of her life. Her Aunt Jo adopted her after the death of her parents when she was just a child, and together they flip through memories the way some people flip through photo albums. 

She never questioned if the stories were true. 

Expected publication: September 5th 2011 by Bloomsburry

There is a river spirit tormenting a town in Maine. Two teens named Amie and Alan, battle it when it tries to possess Alan’s cousin and Amie’s best friend.

Expected publication: August 11th 2011 by Revolution Publishing

Drastic changes in Callie's life aren't unusual, but this time it's different. Now she's fighting to save her family while she adjusts to her new, supernatural reality. Life will never be the same. . . .

Published 2011 by Simon Pulse

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. Two weeks before the most important violin competition of her career, she has bigger things to worry about—like growing out of that suffocating “child prodigy” label, and not disappointing her mother. But it isn’t just the wrong time. It’s the wrong guy. Jeremy is Carmen’s most talented rival, and according to her mother, he’s only interested in one thing: winning...

They all have their head back, coincidence? I don't think so O.o Did anybody else notice? Was it just me?

They all are beautiful covers though. My favorite is Elemental Reality and After Obsession. If you clock on the pictures it will take you to their GoodReads page so you can start adding them into your list!!!

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742

acrylic on paper 8x12"

madness in Monza

Clay Regazzoni has just won

the 1970 italian Gran Prix

and the tifosi go wild!

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Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Author: J. K. Rowling

Series: Harry Potter

Book #: 1

Pages: 309

Reading Level: Middle Grade?

Book Rating: 

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. 

All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley--a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. 

But all of that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry--and anyone who reads about him--will find unforgettable. 

For it's there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter.

Taschima's POV:

This is not going to be a normal review. I mean, who doesn't know about Harry Potter? It's a classic!

You know Harry Potter was the first book I ever read? My first. Only I didn't begin the series with the first book, I read the second book first. I had already watched the first movie, so my mother (who had read the first few books) recommended I skip the first book and just read the second one (she was trying to get me to read, have I ever thanked you mom?). So I read the second book (in Spanish mind you), fell in love and then read the first book.

So Ive grown up obviously, and things that went unnoticed before I notice now. Like for example, the writing. I guess I always just thought of Harry Potter as something aimed at a more mature readership because when I started reading it now I was just like "oh gosh, was the writing always like this?". It certainly has its middle grade reader touches; the way J. K. Rowling paints a picture, the way she describes, etc. Its not bad by any means, it's just funny how I noticed this now and how it blew me away. 

Oh and the first movie is by far one of the best, if not the very best, Harry Potter movie ever released! It sticks to the book so closely!! Which I love <3 Some things were changed but I think it was for the best =] No complaints here!

Harry Potter, oh how much I loves you. My favorite series ever! It's just one of those reads you cannot not read. If I ever have children you KNOW they are reading these books. Whether they like it or not. It's going to be a rite of passage of sorts.

What about you? What are your feelings toward HP? Have you re-read it like I did and found changes? Let me know!! I will be reading the second book as soon as I get it in English (I jave it in Spanish; I don't like reading in Spanish)

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