Well, after another lovely book-shopping Friday evening with fellow bloggers Wendy @ A Cupcake and a Latte, Nicole @ All I Ever Read…, Christa @ Hooked on Books and Evie @ Bookish… my (fairly light) shopping haul is down below!

And there’s just 3 days left to enter my 2011 accomplishments party & giveaway to win your choice of 2 books from my 2011 #50bookpledge read list! (2 international winners to be chosen)

The Litigators by John Grisham <– I had won this on a Twitter contest before the holidays and for a while I couldn’t remember if that actually happened.. lol.. It hadn’t shown up yet, and I couldn’t find the tweet or DM that confirmed my winning, even tho I was sure of it. Well – guess I wasn’t crazy at least!

The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau <– Won from Penguin Canada via Twitter. Premise sounds REALLY good!

Hearts that Survive: A Novel of the Titanic by Yvonne Lehman <– For read & review from Abingdon Press via Netgalley. I’ve always been fascinated by the Titanic, and this sounded interesting to check out!

The Taming by Teresa Toten <– For read & review from Random House via Netgalley. I actually think I preordered this for SUPER cheap off Book Depository when Wendy @ A Cupcake and a Latte had mentioned it.. Oh well!

The Start-Up (The Start-Up, #1), The Anti-Social Network (The Start-Up, #2) & The Beautiful Code (The Start-Up, #3) by Sadie Hayes <– Bought on Kobo for their Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal! (Buy book 1 & 2 of The Start-Up series and get the 3rd book free! Amazing deal – on till Feb 26!)

Starters by Lissa Price <– For read & review from Random House via Netgalley

And then… my book shopping haul! It was fairly light, and mostly on sale or from BMV (used book store)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling <– A gorgeous leatherbound, gold-trimmed page copy purchased at BMV for only $8.99! (Yes, I do realize I have this first book 3 times now, but the other two are “Philosopher’s Stone”.. so now I have a pretty first-book copy of the American title version!)

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill <– Bought at World’s Biggest Bookstore. I gotta read it before seeing the movie! (and of course had to get the Dan Radcliffe version!)

The Poison Diaries (Poison Diaries, #1) by Maryrose Wood <– Bought at Indigo, on sale for $4.99!

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons <– ARC leant to me by Wendy! Been excited to read this one!

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) by Patrick Ness <– Bought at BMV for $4.99. Highly recommended by Evie (after getting me to read just the -hilarious- first sentence!)

See! Didn’t go too crazy!

What did you guys get this week? Leave your link and I’ll be sure to check it out!

I chose this photo because of the famous Thousand Origami Cranes story. The ancient Japanese legend says that whoever can fold 1000 cranes, will have their wish granted. That hope is what this tree of cranes reminded me of when I took this photo at Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Hope | Photo Credit: Michele//Just a Lil Lost

My initial thought on Penney’s book was that it was just another detective mystery, but almost right off the bat it proves to be so much more. All the characters are so well developed, allowing you to really get a feel for who these people are. The altering viewpoints allow for additional insight, yet maintaining the mystery as both Ray and JJ try to find some answers to their questions. While the “main” character may be Ray, JJ really shines through and shows some growth and depth in his character. While the timing in Part 2 felt a bit confusing, the overall pacing & layout of the story is well done. Just when you think you have the story all figured out, the ending will leave your jaw hanging open.

As one character mentions to “let sleeping dogs lie“,  this old adage seems to be a very appropriate theme for the entire novel. Once you start pulling and pulling at that string, digging deeper and deeper, you better be prepared for what you uncover. A fantastic read that keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat till the very end!

The Invisible Ones is currently available in stores.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4.5/5 stars)

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher for this blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads | Book Depository

Other stops on The Invisible Ones blog tour!

Jan 23  http://libraryofcleanreads.blogspot.com/
Jan 24  http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com/
Jan 25  http://www.thriftymommastips.com/
Jan 26  http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
Jan 27  http://justalillost.com/
Jan 30  http://jennifersstory.squarespace.com/
Jan 31  http://theliteraryword.blogspot.com/
Feb 1  http://goodbooksandacupoftea.blogspot.com/
Feb 2   http://bibliomama2.blogspot.com/

Stef Penny discusses her novel: The Invisible Ones

Tom @ Much | Photo Credit: Michele//Just a Lil Lost

I was reminded of this story when I was on my way to work this morning and heard on the radio that Daniel Radcliffe was in Toronto today to promote The Woman in Black. So I thought I would share with everyone my experience of going to see Tom Felton at Much On Demand, and my first (and only) encounter with the Biebs.

It was one afternoon in the summer of 2009, I think. I wasn’t at work that day for some reason (probably random day off) and was hanging out at home when I heard that Tom Felton was going to be at Much On Demand that afternoon. (For the non-Canadians, M.O.D. is like an interview segment at Much Music, and the side doors are open for the fans that are waiting out on the street to see the celebs. I had previously gone to one taping with Alien Ant Farm, many years prior to this.)

Anyway, I contemplated whether to go or not. I didn’t really want to go on my own and be crushed by fellow Potter fans, but I felt like I couldn’t pass this up, especially since he’s my favourite character! So I trekked out on my own, and upon getting to the corner of Queen & John, I saw a line-up had already formed down the block and around the corner. Figuring that was, I guess, a typical showing of fans, I didn’t think too much about it until I saw people with signs and talking about someone else – not Tom Felton.

I turned to the two girls behind me, who WERE there to see Tom, and asked them “Who the hell is Justin Bieber?” (To be fair, they didn’t really know either) Wow. Who would’ve thought that all those years ago, not knowing who this kid was, I was actually there in the crowd to see him as he was really getting more popular.

So, obviously with the majority of the crowd being there to see Biebs, there was no way of getting inside the studio, so us (surprisingly) few Potter fans hung near each other as we’re corralled into the fenced in area outside the side garage-door wall. But MAN do Bieber fans push! The security had to tell all the squealing girls to stop pushing SO many times or else they wouldn’t bring him outside, and yet they kept pushing. I’m recalling many incidences of this happening at his appearances (just look at this Google search result!)

Because of all this pushing & shoving, me & fellow Potter fans got relegated further and further back. To be honest, I’m actually quite surprised that there weren’t more people there that were to see Tom. Don’t get me wrong, there were other fans that I ended up seeing, holding the books and other Potter paraphernalia but it surprised me that the majority were there to see a then-shrimpy short kid, who nobody could see over the heads of everyone standing around, even WITH the raised stage platform by the window. (I’ll do some searching and see if I managed to get any shots of Biebs, over the heads of everyone!)

All I gotta say is thank goodness for the zoom on my ol’ point-and-shoot camera!

Close-up of Tom | Photo Credit: Michele//Just a Lil Lost

And I even managed to get a screen-shot of the TV airing.. (That’s me in the red rectangle) Let’s just say, I was originally a LOT closer than where I ended up getting pushed back to!

Me @ Much on Demand, alllllllll the way in the back

Image credit: Oscars.org

The announcement yesterday morning of the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards yesterday were apparently met with some “controversy” along with the excitement. I heard about the outrage that Ryan Gosling was snubbed, and the shock that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close would be nominated for Best Picture, when it didn’t do so well with critics and movie-goers.

As I’ve done with past awards shows, I’ll share the nominees list with my pick of who I want to win vs think will win (and who actually wins, once the awards air)

What are you thoughts on the nominees? Which are you excited for and which are you upset at the snub?

UNDERLINE = who I WANT to win | ITALICS = who I THINK will win

I didn’t select who I wanted to win for some, as I might not have seen any of the movies and therefore have no opinion on who I want to win.

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role <– I picked two that I wanted to win in this category. Loved ‘em both.
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

 Ooh, that’s a tough one.. all are artistically phenomenal –> Art Direction
“The Artist”
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
I’m hoping they finally reward the whole franchise with this last movie! –> “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo”
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris”
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse”
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature) <– No idea on this.. will have to revisit it later…
“Hell and Back Again”
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
“Pina”
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated”
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”
James Spione
“Saving Face”
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
“The Iron Lady”
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio”
Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo”
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball”
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse”
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo”
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel”
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week’s was a freebie, so I decided to pick……..

 Top Ten Shows/Movies I Thought Did the Book Justice

(not saying that all were necessarily done perfectly, but I was satisfied with the adaptation)

1. Harry Potter films <– Really don’t need to say any more about this, for those who know me and that this series somehow always makes its way into my Top 10 Tuesdays
2. Lord of the Rings trilogy <– Phenomenal. Though, this might be one of the few instances that actually breaks my self-made rule that I always read the book first.. the first movie I definitely saw before reading the book.
3. The Notebook <– The only movie I’ve ever cried through. I actually can’t stand to read Sparks’ books, but I’ve enjoyed a few of his movies
4. V For Vendetta <– FANTASTIC graphic novel & movie. Great message.
5. The Help <– Loved both, and went with a friend who hadn’t read the book and she still enjoyed the movie individually
6. True Blood <– Such a fun series that’s been made to TV
7. Gossip Girl <– I’ve probably only read up to book 7, but what a guilty pleasure of a show!
8. Scott Pilgrim <– Great 6-book graphic novel set in Toronto, and one of the first movies in recent memory that film & set the movie in Toronto – and embraces the love of the city.
9. A Walk To Remember <– Another Nicholas Sparks book that I preferred the movie to.
10. Angels & Demons <– I loved this book by Dan Brown, more than Da Vinci Code. I thought the movie was pretty well done.

I’m sure there are more I would put on this list, but as my personal rule of thumb, I won’t see the movie unless I’ve read the book first.. So often I read the book and havent gotten around to the movie yet.

What’s your freebie-topic Top 10 this week? Share your link and I’ll check it out too!

Now, though, there are other genres of reality: the “celebreality” and the more REALity.

To me, celebreality are the shows like the Kardashians, Jersey Shore. Those revolve around not-so-famous “celebs” and turn them into a household name by following them around and seeing their skewed “reality”. While I don’t watch the show myself, my colleague mentioned that she noticed some parts of Kourtney & Kim Take New York, revolving around the break-up of Kim & Kris’ marriage, looked obviously dubbed over and reshot after the fact – thereby skewing the “reality” that they want to portray to their audience. Perhaps people watch these train-wreck shows to feel better about their own lives, but I honestly can’t think of a single celebreality show I have ever tried to watch (I might be one of the few who have never seen an episode of a Kardashian show or Jersey Shore).

The other trend, which I admittedly enjoy more of, are the REALity shows that are about real people doing their own thing. Be it hunting ghosts, bidding on storage lockers, pawning items or cleaning jam-packed houses, this trend seems to be the latest thing. There’s even a show about people who collect coupons! At least these ones have more semblance of reality than the scripted ones that try to pass themselves off as real.

I once joked about how one show can lead to another, so the network will always have people for their shows. Hence the logo-gram below

My silly theory on how they all interconnect

There are fewer and fewer decent scripted comedies and drama shows on the air now. Flicking through the TV guide, the majority of them are some form of “reality”, otherwise it’ll be reruns or a handful of decent scripted shows.

What about you? Are you reality-TV junkies? Do you devour all of it, or are there certain ones you prefer and ones you stay away from?

Another bookish week has come and gone! This week’s IMM might actually be the first time I’ve had more adult books than YA ones, now that I’m posting ‘em here…

A bit of a frustrating one mid-week. I had participated in a book swap with Ruby’s Reads – and of the 3 books she sent, only 1 got delivered. The envelope had clearly been opened, badly taped back up and 2 of the books gone. I cannot believe someone would tamper with the mail (uh, crime!) and take books! (Not like it was money or jewelry.. why go to all that trouble for reading material…) Nonetheless, that was a bummer because I was excited to receive Descended by Blood and Possession … but alas, it’s lost somewhere in the US postal system…

And there’s just over a week left to enter my 2011 accomplishments party & giveaway to win your choice of 2 books from my 2011 #50bookpledge read list! (2 international winners to be chosen)

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman <– Received for read & review from Random House Canada. Sounds really interesting.. can’t wait to get to it!

Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love edited by Trisha Telep <– From Ruby’s Reads’ swap! The 1 out of 3 that made it past the book thieves! Tons of authors have stories in this anthology! Maggie Stiefvater, Becca Fitzpatrick, Rachel Vincent, Karen Mahoney, Diana Peterfreund, Daniel Waters, Carrie Ryan, Justine Musk, Daniel Marks, Sarah Rees Brennan, Michelle Rowen, Michelle Zink and Caitlin Kittredge!

CHIC PARIS by Gerald Poirot <– Leant to me by a colleague for my trip to Paris.. cute Moleskine-type guidebook of all the chic things to check out

ARTISTIK PARIS by Natasha Edwards <– Another book in the series, leant to me by my colleague.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green <– Signed copy, purchased last week after hearing about it ALL week and seeing it on everyone’s IMMs. Definitely piqued my interested! #mobmentality

The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge <– For read and review from Open Road Media via Netgalley. Saw it featured in the NG newsletter and sounded really interesting.

The Whipping Club by Deborah Henry <– For read and review from AuthorBuzz/T.S. Poetry Press via Netgalley. Also saw featured in NG email and sounded really interesting.

I also received some AMAZING swag from Leanna Renee Hieber, author of Darker Still (which, you’ll remember, I absolutely loved!)

AND in that same envelope of goodies from Leanna, was also a smaller envelope (curiouser and curiouser…) of book swag from her fellow Apocalypsies 2012 Debut YA crew! (including signed bookmarks from Katherine Longshore, author of the upcoming Gilt, and Hilary Weisman Graham, author of Reunited!!)

My mom’s also been in Hong Kong for the last 2.5 months, and got back on Friday. She brought back the one souvenir that I really wanted… a Starbucks mug to add to my collection!

What did you guys get this week? Leave your link and I’ll be sure to check it out!

Thanks to Christa @ Bibliophile’s Guide to the Galaxy for inspiring me to write about my own Postcrossing experience thus far, and Jenn @ Writer’s Block for introducing it to me in the first place.

Postcrossing is “The Postcard Crossing Project”, where users can sign up and request 5 addresses at a time to send postcards to other users. Once you send your 5, your address becomes available in the “pool” for other members to send you a postcard. Each address request includes an alpha-numeric code that the sender must include on the postcard. Once the person receives it, they “register” it into the site and it shows how far and how long it’s been travelling.

You can put on your profile what types of postcards you like – but it’s not mandatory for the sender to hold to that. (I once received an address where the person only wanted “cute cat postcards” from my country and no touristy landscape ones… couldn’t really find any so she had to settle for a lovely Toronto skyline one.

I’ve always loved collecting postcards from all over the world. It was my way of “travelling” to places that I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to go to. After only participating for about 3 months, I’ve already received 13 postcards from all over the world. Everywhere as close as New York to as far as Brazil, Germany and China. The photos of landscapes and architecture is exactly what I love about getting to see other countries. Usually the senders will include on the postcard a bit about their city, what it’s like there, and what they like to do.

I love the stats that are available on the site as well. It lets you upload a picture of the postcard you received, to add to your postcard wall (or the sender might have uploaded it for you already). There’s also a map that shows you where you’ve sent to (red) and where you’ve received from (blue). This is mine as of today!

My Postcrossing Map as of Jan 21, 2012

It’s a fun, inexpensive way to see a bit of culture and get mail (that isn’t electronic, or bill payments!)

I took this photo while waiting for the PATH train to leave Hoboken station, to head back to New York City while I was there over the holidays. The door was still open, my friend and I both looked out the door and saw this shot. It looked like such a a purposely set-up shot but wasn’t, and with such a simple prop of a champagne bottle sitting on a bare bench.

Simple | Photo Credit: Michele // Just a Lil Lost