NMF #18: The Warrior's Way

Title: The Warrior's Way

Year Released/Rating: 2010 R

Starring: Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush

Written By: Sngmoo Lee

Directed By: Sngmoo Lee

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Western

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia:

• The painting in the saloon is a parody of Edouard Manet's famous "Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe" (itself a copy of Raimondi's engraving "The Judgment of Paris"), with the setting changed to the prairies, and buffaloes and tepees in the background.

Summary: A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.

Review: A very strange movie, but I liked it.  A master swordsman in the Old West.  Cowboys versus ninjas, just an awesome, interesting idea.  The movie is just gorgeous.  I love the settings and the overall look of the movie.  It has a surreal quality.  The side characters are all way too fun, especially Eight-Ball.  There are some beautiful shots in this movie.  A definite must see.

Best Bits: 

• Lynne: [throwing knives blindfolded] You dead?   Yang: Not yet.
• Yang: We are called sad flutes because when you cut the throat, the last sound is like a sad flute.   Lynne: Dang! Skinny, you sure know how to throw a dang cat in a party room, don't cha.
• Lynne: By saving me we've ruined every new thing you've found here.   Yang: This new world without you, not so new.
• Ronald: You've done good on this garden - for a laundry man.  Yang: You do good shooting - for a drunken man.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Title: Garden Spells

Author: Sarah Addison Allen

Publisher: Bantam 2008

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 290

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Witches and Witchcraft; New Author; TBR Pile; 52 Books - Week 8

How I Got It: I own it!

The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.

I am including this book in my witches and witchcraft challenge, but it's a bit of a stretch.  The Waverleys are witch-like.  They know things and have very specific gifts, but they don't do spells or have unlimited powers.  I see them more as natural witches, in tune with nature and the rhythms of the earth.  That said, I absolutely loved this book.  It's a great story of two sisters finding their places in the world.  It reminded me a lot of Practical Magic, but a much better version.  I felt very connected to Sydney on an emotional level.  I desperately wanted her to find her way in the world and be content.  And Evanelle is a hoot!  Such a great character.  The only thing I didn't love: the quick ending.  You know someone is going to appear before the end of the book, but the appearance and then wrap-up seems a bit too convenient.  I would have liked a bit longer for the conclusion.  But overall, I adored this book.  I want to get to Allen's other books...

Music Monday -- 101 Faves Rock n Roll Edition

As part of my ongoing Day Zero Project, I've made a list of my favorite 101 songs of all time.  To help cut down on the possibilities, I took songs only from my iTunes account.  Each edition will include ~5 songs with a theme.  Enjoy! Rock out with these four great songs.

A Day to Remember "All I Want" -- A band that my former students got me into.  The video for this song is just way too fun with all the cameos.

All American Rejects "Move Along" -- Always my favorite song by them.

Yellowcard "Lights and Sounds" -- Listening to Yellowcard always makes me happy.

Muse "Starlight" -- Amazing band.  I thought of picking Knights of Cydonia, but I featured that song early on in my blog days.  So I went with another favorite.

Sunday Sunset #6

Book finished: Windfall, 300, The Forgotten Garden, Terror by Night, Firestorm

Reading: Garden Spells

On the Nightstand: Velveteen, Matched, Crossed, Stories of Hans Christian Anderson

MakingLists: I have stamp club in two weeks and I need to start thinking about my monthly order.  It's so hard trying to narrow down all my choices.  I'm sure I'll change my order at least three times before club.  That's just reality.

From the kitchen: On Monday I made faux egg mcmuffins and they are friggin' delicious!!!!! Other than that, I'm feeling really crappy this week so no more cooking or recipes.

Crafting: I had a bit of fun with my new butterfly punch this week.  I love the simplistic look of colored butterflies on a white background.  For the two polka dot cards, I wanted to play with repeating background images.  I stamped the same simple dot flair stamp in a yellow, light pink, and pink to match the designer paper (DSP stack from Stampin' Up).  In real life, the colors work much better.  Plus, I love the repeating colors.  I want to play around with the idea some more.  Lastly, I used another sheet of the DSP for the background of the "Bloom" card.  I tried to bring out the green of the paper with green ink, but it doesn't quite work right.  Maybe layering of stamps is a bit much.

Watching: As for television, we’ve been watching Star Trek: TNG S2-S3, Wonders of the Universe S1, Learning Town, Archer, and Raising Hope S2.

Movies watched for New Movie February

• Urbanized (NMF #10)
• Centurion (NMF #11)
• Life Happens (NMF #12)
• Angel (NMF #13)
• The Black Hole (NMF #14)
• Seven Samurai (NMF #15)
• Immortals (NMF #16)
• Aziz Ansari (NMF #17)

From Nature: Gorgeous.  If I wasn't feeling bad, I would have dove straight into the pool yesterday...

Picture: My pretty arrangement from J for Valentine's Day.  Every once in awhile, he really surprises me...

NMF #17: Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening

This isn't a movie per se, but I needed some comedy tonight and we couldn't easily find a comedy I hadn't seen.  So we turned to Netflix and I do like Ansari on Parks and Rec.

Title: Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening

Year Released/Rating: 2010

Starring: Aziz Ansari

Written By: Aziz Ansari

Directed By: Jason Woliner

Genre: Comedy special

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Review: Helped me momentarily forget how crappy I feel today.  Basically he is acting as Tom from Parks and Rec, but that's okay.  He's funny just the way he is.  Plus, the bit about sheet thread count left me breathless.

Best Bits: 

• Aziz Ansari: I like living in L.A. One thing I don't like about living here is driving. I always get bored when I'm driving, and when I get bored, I go on the Internet on my Blackberry. So I'm gonna die! And whenever they go through the wreckage, they'll find my phone and be like, whoa, that's what he looked up right before he died? Gonna be so sad. It'll be like: Comedian Aziz Ansari was killed in a car accident today. He was struck by another vehicle while using IMDb to see if Val Kilmer was, indeed, in the film "Willow." A representative for Mr. Kilmer confirmed he was, indeed, in the film and hopes this will prevent future tragedies of this nature. This is the third "Willow"-related death this year.

NMF #16: Immortals

Title: Immortals

Year Released/Rating: 2011 R

Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans,

Written By: Charley Parlapanides, Vias Parlapanides

Directed By: Tarsem Singh

Genre: Action Fantasy

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia:

• Director Tarsem Singh described the film as being "done in Renaissance painting style".
• Luke Evans plays Zeus - he appeared a year earlier as Zeus' son Apollo in Clash of the Titans.

Summary: Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.

Review: The story and characters aren't anything spectacular, but I must say it is pretty. Singh knows how to make a movie look real and unreal at the same time.  It's just beautiful.  The play of light and shadows set the right tone for the movie.  It was an entertaining two hours spent while job searching.  I guess that's really all I can ask for in a movie: it entertained me.

Best Bits: 

• Zeus: It's not living as such that's important, Theseus. It's living rightly.
• Phaedra: To those whom much is given, much is taken away.

Fire Storm by Rachel Caine

Title: Fire Storm (Weather Wardens #5)

Author: Rachel Caine

Publisher: Roc 2006

Genre: Paranormal action adventure

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: What's in a Name - Fire; Mount TBR; Seriously Series; Bingo -- 4 from series

How I Got It: I own it

Putting aside the personal chaos that has plagued her, rogue Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin must rally the remnants of the Weather Warden corps against a double threat-the Djinn who have broken free from Warden control, and a cranky Mother Earth who's about to unleash her full fury against the entire world.

Every time I get about halfway through one of these novels, I start to lose interest.  And then I really get back into it and race towards the end.  I love the twists and turns Caine infuses this series with.  Every time I think I know where the story is going, she throws in something new.  I love Joanne and her journey.  Plus, we get the reappearance of some other great characters: Rahel, Lewis, Cher, Kevin, etc.  This particular volume ends on such a huge cliffhanger, I can't wait to get to the next book.

Weather Warden:

1. Ill Wind
2. Heat Stroke
3. Chill Factor
4. Windfall
5. Fire Storm
6. Thin Air
7. Gale Force
8. Cape Storm
9. Total Eclipse

NMF #15: Seven Samurai

Title: Seven Samurai

Year Released/Rating: 1954

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

Written By: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Genre: Action, Drama

Star Rating:  5/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it

Trivia:

• Toho pulled the plug on the project several times when it ran over budget, forcing director Akira Kurosawa to go back and personally argue with the board of directors who were convinced they were making a flop.
• First use of a scene which is now commonplace in cinema: The approaching horde coming into view as they crest a hilltop, specifically when Kikuchiyo sees the mounted bandits approaching.
• Akira Kurosawa did not get along well with actor Yoshio Inaba, (Gorobei), deriding and yelling at him for most of the shoot. Although Inaba worked once more appeared in a minor role in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, Inaba apparently found the experience of shooting Seven Samurai so stressful that he limited the amount of film work he did after it.
• Akira Kurosawa's ancestors were samurai, roughly up to a hundred years before he made this film.
• Kurosawa designed a registry of all 101 residents of the village, creating a family tree to help his extras build their characters and relationships to each other.

Summary: A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Review: This movie is shot beautifully.  Every scene is stages exactly with lighting, scenery, and blocking.  Kurosawa even adds the quiet still shots to give us a scope of the film.  Each of the characters has a sense of history and purpose, even the village extras.  This isn't just a story of the seven samurai, but an entire culture.  We see the struggles and triumphs of the people.  I'm glad I finally watched this movie (J's been bugging me for ages).  It is truly a cinematic masterpieces.  Kurosawa was the Orson Welles of his day and place.

Best Bits: 

• Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.
• [on taking Katsushiro as a student] Kambei Shimada: You embarrass me. You're overestimating me. Listen, I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good.  Katsushiro: No Sir, my decision has been made. I'll follow you sir.  Kambei Shimada: I forbid it. I can't afford to take a kid with me.
• Kikuchiyo: You fool! Damn you! You call yourself a horse! For shame! Hey! Wait! Please! I apologize! Forgive me!
• Gisaku: What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?

Wicked Valentine's Readathon -- Finish Line

Pages read today: 199 (The Forgotten Garden) + 292 (Terror by Night) + 16 (Firestorm)

Pages read total: 2113

Time read today: 5 hours 41 minutes

Time read total: 22 hours 13 minutes

Comments: I'm so excited about my progress this week.  I finished some great books (The Forgotten Garden, Gone Girl) and knocked a few books off my list.  Plus, my total pages read and time read are huge!  Lots of fun!

Goals:

• Read 5 books √
• Review all books read √
• Read an average of 2 hours a day √
• Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress √

My TBR Pile:

• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
• 300 by Frank Miler
• Stories of Hans Christian Anderson
• Terror by Night by Ambrose Bierce
• Cowboys vs. Aliens (added)
• Windfall by Rachel Caine (added)
• Firetorm (added -- in progress)

NMF #14: The Black Hole

Title: The Black Hole

Year Released/Rating: 1979 PG

Starring: Maximillian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster

Written By: Jeb Rosebrook, Bob Barbash, Richard H. Landau, Gerry Day

Directed By: Gary Nelson

Genre: Action Adventure

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it

Trivia:

• To film the special effects, Disney originally wanted to rent the Dykstraflex camera system that was created for Star Wars (the first computer-controlled camera) from Industrial Light & Magic. However, the price and rental terms were unacceptable so Disney created its own version instead. What resulted was Disney's A.C.E.S. (Automated Camera Effects System), which was radically superior to the Dykstraflex system; the Mattescan system, which enabled the camera to move on a matte painting (that was previously impossible); and a computer-controlled modeling stand.
• Dr. Reinhardt's ship was originally called the Centaurus. It was renamed Cygnus after the constellation where the first known black hole was discovered in 1964.
• At the time of its release, the movie featured the longest computer graphics sequence that had ever appeared in a film: the "green grid" sequence that appears under the opening titles.
• Almost all of the dialog in the film was re-recorded by the cast during post-production looping (ADR) - with the exception of only a couple of lines.
• This was regarded as the last big special effect production to be made under the "old studio system." All of the elaborate special effects were created within the Disney studio and not farmed out to outside special effects companies.

Summary: A research vessel finds a missing ship, commanded by a mysterious scientist, on the edge of a black hole.

Review: This is one of those movies that J was amazed that I haven't seen.  Of course, we had to rectify that tonight.  This is a treasure.  I loved the story, the design, the effects, the actors.  For 1979, this just looks amazing.  Dr. Reinhardt is a mix between a James Bond villain and Captain Nemo.  In fact, the entire Nemo is a lot like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but in space.  The rest of the crew are fun and very logiacl in their behavior.  Plus the dialogue is a lot of fun.  And the sets look great for the year.  There is a great consistency to the universe.  I can't believe I've never seen this.

Best Bits: 

• Dr. Hans Reinhardt: Some cause must have created all this, but what caused that cause?
• Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Vincent, were you programmed to bug me?  V.I.N.CENT: No, sir, to educate you.
• Kate McCrae: If there's any justice at all, the black hole will be your grave!
• [after first seeing the black hole]  Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Every time I see one of those things I expect to spot some guy dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork. Dan Holland: It's a monster, all right. V.I.N.CENT: A rip in the very fabric of space and time.
• Lieutenant Charles Pizer: When I volunteered for this mission, I never thought I'd end up playing straight man to a tin can.
• Dan Holland: It's only dinner.  V.I.N.CENT: Said the spider to the fly.
• V.I.N.CENT: A wolf remains a wolf, even if it has not eaten your sheep.
• Dr. Hans Reinhardt: Maximilian, the time has come to liquidate our guests.

Terror by Night by Ambrose Bierce

Title: Terror by Night

Author: Ambrose Bierce

Genre: Horror

Pages: 292

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: T4MC - A Author; Genre - Horror; What's in a Name - Emotion; TBR Pile

How I Got It: I own it!

'Nothing is so improbable as what is true' Of all the writers of ghost and horror stories, Ambrose Bierce is perhaps the most colourful. He was a dark, cynical and pessimistic soul who had a grim vision of fate and the unfairness of life, which he channelled into his fiction. And in his death, or rather his disappearance, he created a mystery as strange and unresolved as any that he penned himself. But more of that later.

Previously I have read Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary (such fun) and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (for school), but never moved to his other short stories.  These stories remind me of a poor man's Poe.  They have the unexpected elements of supernaturalbut none of the psychological horror so present in Poe's work.  I did pass an enjoyable afternoon with Bierce's stories.  My favorites were the stories of an encounter with a ghost, but not knowing it was a ghost.  Good collection of stories.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Title: The Forgotten Garden

Author: Kate Morton

Publisher: Washington Square Press 2008

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 552

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: T4MC - About a family; Genre - Women's Fiction; Women Authors; TBR Pile

How I Got It: I own it

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled.

Our February book Club selection and I freaking loved it!  It's a gorgeous novel tracing the exposure of a huge mystery.  I love Morton's writing.  Even attempting to follow multiple narrators, I didn't have any problems.  Morton seamlessly transitions between times and narrators.  I was with each of the characters throughout.  Speaking of characters, I was in love with all of them.  Well, that's not exactly true.  Rose and Adeline were definitely the villains of the piece.  Of course, Rose is unintentionally a villain, but still her reversal towards Eliza makes her a suitable villain.  I felt very connected with Cassandra and Nell and Eliza.  There was something about those three characters that just pulled me straight in.  And the mystery kept me guessing for most of the book.  I admit that I figured it out before the big reveal, but Morton's storytelling kept me engaged throughout.  Amazing book.  Now I must add Morton's other books to my TBR list.

NMF #13: Angel

Title: Angel

Year Released/Rating: 2007

Starring: Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Michael Fassbender, Lucy Russell

Written By: Elizabeth Taylor, Francois Ozon, Martin Crimp

Directed By: Francois Ozon

Genre: Drama, Romance

Star Rating:  3/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia:

• The outdoor scenes were shot in bitterly cold weather. The camera would freeze after two minutes of shooting, and had to be taken inside and warmed up with hot towels before taken outside again. The actors did not mind this as they too could warm up between takes.
• First English-speaking movie of French director François Ozon.

Summary: The rise and fall of a young eccentric British writer, in the early 20th century.

Review: One of those fairly throw away historical romances.  I am reminded of Danielle Steele's novels.  Angel is thoroughly unlikable.  She's overbearing, egotistical.  I just couldn't like her at all.  At least the side characters are more interesting.  Michael Fassbender's Esme is an interesting rouge.  The world of Angel is almost garish in it's coloring, but for some reason that works for this story.

Quote Wednesday - Wiesel

Memory is a shield, the only shield we have. -- Elie Wiesel

Made me think today...

NMF #12: Life Happens

Title: Life Happens

Year Released/Rating: 2011 R

Starring: Krysten Ritter, Kate Bosworth, Rachel Bilson

Written By: Kat Coiro, Krysten Ritter

Directed By: Kat Coiro

Genre: Comedy

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Summary: A comedy centered on two best friends, Kim and Deena, who fight to maintain normalcy in their lives after Kim gets pregnant and has a baby.

Review: 

Another one of my random Netflix finds.  I love Krysten Ritter in basically anything.  She's just awesome.  And Justin Kirk is just way too awesome.  But I must say that I don't really like Kate Bosworth.  There's just something about her that I just can't like.  The movie is redeemed by a good storyline and fairly likable characters.  I found this movie to be a decent depiction of life and friendship while being a mom.

Best Bits: 

• Kim: I feel like a large chunk of hamburger that's been mooshed into a person.
• Francesca: It makes me crazy now-a-days that people have children when there's so many dogs that are in need of forever homes.
• Henri: Yeah! I can see you. Child on your hip, born to be a mom. Deena: And I see you. Mustache on your face, profiled on To Catch a Predator.

Wicked Valentine's Readathon #3

Pages read today: 342 (Windfall) + 88 (300) + 353 (The Forgotten Garden)

Pages read total: 1606

Time read today: 3 hours 7 minutes + 25 minutes + 4 hours 23 minutes

Time read total: 16 hours 32 minutes

Comments: One fun action adventure, one violent graphic novel, one amazingly intricate read.  I'd say my progress so far is very satisfactory.  I'm hoping to finish The Forgotten Garden before the end of the readathon.  Only 200 pages to go!

300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

Title: 300

Author: Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

Publisher: Dark Horse 1999

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 88

Rating:  3/5 stars     Movie  5/5

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel; Ebook; Book to Movie

How I Got It: I own it

300 is a story of war and defiance as only Frank Miller can tell. Featuring the watercolor talents of painter Lynn Varley, 300 marks the first collaboration for these two creators since 1990's Elektra Lives Again.

The paintings are just absolutely gorgeous.  I love the play of shadows and the use of a limited color palette.  In many ways the characters are not clear, but rather an approximation of themselves.  It's just so nice to look at.  As to the storyline, I'm a bit torn.  I like the historical angle, but the characters aren't very developed.

Movie

This movie is just absolutely gorgeous.  I love the play of shadows and the use of the a limited color palette.  Oh wait...  I already said that.  But it's the same for the movie as the graphic novel.  I love the look of this movie, the slightly dream-like quality.  The colors are to die for and the costumes have this fairy tale quality to them.  I was in awe of the cinematography.  I'm glad Snyder expanded the storyline to include a bit more backstory and scenes back in Sparta.  The rape scene almost made me take off a star, but it's such a short scene.  I could definitely have down without it...  But overall, I really enjoyed this movie.

Top Ten Tuesday -- Favorite Romances

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.  If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

1. Pick an Austen Pair --I love them all, but my favorite is Anne and Captain Wentworth.

2. Snow and Bigby from Fables -- I love this series and these two are just so cute!

3. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan -- Not a great romance, but there's something about these two that always wants the story to end up differently.

4. Emma and Dexter from One Day - This is a recent love.  I read the book and it destroyed me.  The back and forth between these two characters put me on the edge of my seat.  I just wanted them to get together and be happy.

5. Jamie and Claire from Outlander -- Duh!

6. Mary and Colin from The Secret Garden -- I always rooted for them in the end.  Reading the novel, you can see a great fiery romance brewing...

7. Shaun and Georgia from Newsflesh trilogy -- OMG!  I did not see this coming, but I loved where they took the series.  I was definitely rooting for them and cried with them.

8. Howl and Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle -- To be in love with a wizard...  the ultimate dream.  I love them both.

9. Percy and Annabeth from Percy Jackson series -- Another romance where they hated each other at first.  But how can they not be together.  I still need to read The Mark of Athena to see what happens to them...

10. Sunshine and Constantine from Sunshine -- Not a traditional romance.  Not even really a romance.  But an amazing connection.  I would have loved to read more about these two.

NMF #11: Centurion

Title: Centurion

Year Released/Rating: 2010 R

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko

Written By: Neil Marshall

Directed By: Neil Marshall

Genre: Action, adventure, drama

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia:

• German archaeologists have found evidence of the 9th Legion on the banks of the Rhine River and carbon-dated them long after these events took place, suggesting that rather than being wiped out, the reason that there is no evidence of the 9th Legion being in Scotland after these battles is that they moved to Germany.
• The Picts in the film are speaking Scots Gaelic. No written record of the Pictish language exists, but historians believe the modern language most similar to theirs is Welsh. However, director Neil Marshall thought viewers would be confused by a tribe in Scotland speaking Welsh.
• Neil Marshall shot the film in such hard conditions that some cast members suffered health problems. As written in the Independent: Noel Clarke recovered from frostbite.JJ Feild quit smoking because of hypothermia. Michael Fassbender survived shirtless sprinting in sub-zero temperatures to become the next Daniel Craig".
• The Picts were generally thought to not have worn any clothes. However, seeing as the film was being shot in the wilds of Scotland in the depths of winter, it was decided that they should wear something.

Summary: A splinter group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.

Review: 

I'm such a sucker for these pseudo historical movies.  I always like to see how filmmakers portray events in history.  Thankfully for Marshall, there is very little evidence of what happened to the Ninth Legion in Britain.  I enjoyed the movie.  I enjoyed the storyline.  I enjoyed the characters.  Nothing knocked my socks off, but it was a good afternoon's viewing.

Best Bits: 

• [first lines]  Centurion Quintus Dias: [narrating] My name is Quintus Dias. I am a soldier of Rome, and this is neither the beginning nor the end of my story.
• Carlisle Messenger: I have a message for your general. Now, point me in his direction before I have you flogged. General Titus Flavius Virilus: Who are you? Carlisle Messenger: I'm the personal envoy of Governor Agricola. General Titus Flavius Virilus: I suggest you get down off that horse and give me your message before I have you flogged!
• Arianne: [trying to fish downstream of Quintus as he urinates] Is that fer bait? Centurion Quintus Dias: [startled] Where I come from it's considered rude to interrupt a man mid-flow. Arianne: Where I come from it's considered only fair to warn a man when he's pissin' on his breakfast.
• Centurion Quintus Dias: Brick, put the fuckin' knife away.

Windfall by Rachel Caine

Title: Windfall (Weather Wardens #4)

Author: Rachel Caine

Publisher: Roc 2005

Genre: Paranormal action adventure

Pages: 342

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Genre - Paranormal; What's in a Name - Up/Down; Mount TBR; Seriously Series; 52 Books - W7

How I Got It: I own it

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin's stormy personal life is taking its toll on her patience-and her powers. But when the truce between the Wardens and the mystical Djinn starts to self-destruct, Joanne finds herself forced to choose between saving her Djinn lover, saving her Warden abilities-and saving humanity.

The fourth novel in the Weather Warden series and I'm still into it.  I was feeling a bit rocky after Chill Factor; not quite sure where the series was going, and not sure I want to stay with it.  Thankfully the fourth book has gotten back on track with new characters and new twists and turns.  The additions of Cherise and Sarah livened up the general storyline and setting.  Plus we get tons more mystery as to what is really going on with the weather.  I won't spoil the surprise, but I was intrigued.  I must definitely read the next book to see how this plays out...

Weather Warden:

1. Ill Wind
2. Heat Stroke
3. Chill Factor
4. Windfall
5. Fire Storm
6. Thin Air
7. Gale Force
8. Cape Storm
9. Total Eclipse