Email hoaxes -

Recently I got an all personnel email from a coworker warning of terrible insect issues and to be careful of getting bitten. Well, the first thing I do is to run to snopes.com and check it out. As is typical of most of these warnings, it was false. So I sent back a note saying it was and provided the link to snopes. A few minutes later a correction email was sent out with a pissy attitude stating that the info was false and that since snopes knows everything they just will never forward anything again. 

Really? I am sure that my email was probably 1 of 5 or 6 corrections to the sender but this type of response seems uncalled for. What's interesting is that I have seen this before. 

Obviously the original sender feels shame or feels stupid for getting caught, but to "take your toys and go home" seems to be an overreaction to me. Just admit you were wrong and check snopes before you send something out like this again. It's not hard. 

This got me thinking though- why do I send the correction emails to people? I could just delete it and ignore it. I think it is because I have a strong sense of doing what is right and as such I hate to see bad information or lies passed on to people as the truth. These hoaxes are exactly that- hoaxes. They need to stop being sent around and the only way to do that is to educate people on how to check for a hoax and to not pass them along. 

So the next time you get an email warning you about tigers wearing gang colors flashing lights in your face at Wal-mart to trick you into giving up your credit card numbers, please... check snopes or one of those sites first. Don't just send it on to everyone in your address book. 

Because if you do, I know I am going to have to correct my grandfather when he forwards me this stupid email from your co-workers cousin's best friend's aunt. 

Review: Dancing with Jesus

Review - Dancing with Jesus: Featuring a Host of Miraculous Moves [Board book]

When I first heard of this I thought it would just be a simple little joke book but no - they did a great job of making this tie into the story behind each move and to tell you exactly how and what you need to do.  I let about 10 of my friends from teens and up look at the book and they all thought it was hysterical!  The motion pictures (can't remember the name, you move the page and the image moves) are hysterical and I swear it looks like Jesus is Rickrolling you on the cover!

Go and get it for a friend or anyone you think needs some humor or some new dance moves - and be prepare to break them out at the Christmas party!

You can get it at bookstores and Amazon

The Horde (film)

The Horde (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183276/) is a french zombie movie that has 5 minutes of almost silence and then just runs like mad from there. The zombies are fast, semi smart and come back quick. We start with a small group of cops and gangsters and then we add in a French WW2 vet who is just crazy and it spirals into a fun movie. It is subtitled but that doesn't drag the movie as there is little talking during the action sequences and the conversations during the quiet times are interesting.

One of my favorite parts of the subtitles is the fact that there is a gangster who says something that is not subtitled - and another gangster says "I can't understand you - shut up!".

Overall a good film and a slightly different take on the theme.

Autumn : The Series by David Moody

I stumbled upon Autumn by David Moody by accident. I actually almost read the third book first.

It doesn't matter - go buy this series now!!!

One Autumn day 99% of the world falls down dead - or at least Britain. 48 hours later a third of the dead get up and stumble around. Then a few days later they start changing and noticing noises. And it just gets worse from there. A group of survivors, shell shocked at the sudden losses hide in a useless shed until things start happening outside. And then it gets even better.

Without ever saying Zombie (the people normally call them undead or more often, bodies) David Moody has created a world full of the undead - and we watch as the few survivors try to continue doing that.

Go - read it now!

I am partial to Barnes and Noble since I have a Nook so here is the link

Autumn : The City (Book 2)

We now see everything happening from book 1 but from a different group of survivors who are in the city. A city full of rotting corpses and wandering bodies. Holed up in a University building, they quickly attract a lot of attention. This book is a great center piece for the 3 books so far and really has a lot of action and depth. We see how people change and withdraw or give up, but we also see how some will do anything to survive.

Get it the second you finish book 1

Autumn : The Purification (Book 3)

This book is all go and really adds elements of things we have seen in other books while giving them a new perspective and some twists. The survivors are on the move again and they may have a place to finally settle, if they can get there - and if the bodies would stop changing.

Get it the second you finish book 2

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

Note - this was supposed to have posted during the review time - stupid internets!!!!
Posting it now...


I got a review copy of Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters and I must say I was immediately creeped out a little when I flipped through and the little black specks drawn on the title pages started to increase as you got further in to the book. Now, this is a spoiler free review, but I must say that Mr. Winter's voice in this, as seen through the main character is very light and makes this an easy read with a hint of that ominous overtone that you feel in the classic horror/suspense novels.

I really enjoyed the depictions of the city and the environs (being an ex-NY/NJ person) it made me miss the city.

This story has some great plot elements like the little room that smells occasionally, the ping noise and the odd, older landlady and repairman. There is so much built in to the story that keeps making you wonder, why did they say that - what is this leading too...

If you want a good book that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you read and if you love the classic horror novels that built the tension than this is the book for you.

You can get it pretty much anywhere... so go get it and read it in a darkened room....

Dreadfully Ever After!

I just got a review copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After (Quirk Classics) by Steve Hockensmith. This is the finale to the now trilogy of works. This book is a wonderful look at 4 years after Pride Prejudice and Zombies. Miss Bennet is now Mrs. Darcy and as a lady she can not carry her sword - which she does get to work around. However this book gives us a broader look at England under the Dreadfuls, London in detail and the way that the aristocracy lives in this time.

This book was just a blast to read and it moved very quickly and we got to meet (again) some old faces and a lot of new ones.

One of my favorite parts is the appearance and fight of the 'Fops'. It is a wonderful way to show how style can survive over substance even with zombies.

The book reads a lot faster than Dawn of the Dreadfuls and it has multiple viewpoints and a tricky plot that needs to be enacted in order to save Mr. Darcy. I couldn't put the book down and really enjoyed it.

Now we just need to know what happened in Scotland....

More zombies please Quirk!

Android Karenina

Once again I was lucky enough to be a part of the blogsplosion for Quirk Classics. This time it is for Android Karenina. Besides giving us copies to review they are also allowing, you the blog readers, the chance to win 1 of 25 Quirk Prize packs which have copies of Quirk books, an Android poster and more (seriously - it is cool... go win it! Click here to go to their forum.

Now - for the book. As with any major Russian novel, it has huge amounts of explanation and character building - which is what the first 100 pages are. Looking back I know I was a little frustrated because I wanted to see how the robots in the society really functioned but the story really needs these first pages to set the tone and to also make the inevitable action all the more exciting. Ben Winters has done a great job of recrafting Russia into a robot assisted society with its "Iron Laws" to protect the citizens. Anyone worth anything has their companion Type III robot always around and helping. The backdrop of the society and the changes that the robots have made to the world really paint a vivid picture of how different this world is, and the humans, with their love affairs and fights show us how we will never change - regardless of how society is created.

There are some fantastic ideas for a robot supported society and I love how so many of these little things sneak in as a tiny element, but if you stop and think about it you realize - why wouldn't there be a robot teapot? If you go all the way, then all the servants and the proletariat are replaced by menial robots that do not need pay, just repair.

This is a wonderful example of how you can take a classic, shift the world it is in and yet have it still hold true to the original while being a completely new book. Quirk has done it again!

Go buy it today!