My Favorite Things - Video Game Edition

I've spent about 120 hours so far playing Tales of Symphonia Chronicles. I haven't spent nearly this much time of a game since early last year and it got me thinking about my favorite video games.

My favorite type of video game is the JRPG. I also like a few other kinds and some of them will also be represented. And I'm sorry in advance for talking about some games that are old and possibly hard to find.

And now, in no particular order....

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Boys Before Friends Episode Six

Boys Before Friends Episode Six

Summary: Zoey is a scholarship student at the exclusive Ellison University. There she meets the F4, a group of guys that rule the school with their money and power.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Suteara Vaughn, Jackie Averia, Erik Thomas, Jason S. Mordeno, Alexia Quinn, Rose Guess, Kevin Markovic

Language: English

Additional Info: Available on Viki.com and their official site.

See my reviews of episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the special

GBF

GBF 

Summary: When Tanner is outed at school, the three most popular girls fight for the chance to have a GBF, or Gay Best Friend- a status symbol that will ensure a prom queen win. Tanner's new-found popularity strains his own friendships and he has to decide what's more important.

Stars: Sasha Pieterse, Xosha Roquemore, Andrea Bowen, Paul Iacono, Michael J. Willett

Language: English

Buy GBF on Amazon  

Boys Before Friends Episode Five

Boys Before Friends Episode Five

Summary: Zoey is a scholarship student at the exclusive Ellison University. There she meets the F4, a group of guys that rule the school with their money and power.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Suteara Vaughn, Jackie Averia, Erik Thomas, Jason S. Mordeno, Alexia Quinn, Rose Guess, Kevin Markovic

Language: English

Additional Info: Available on Viki.com and their official site. As of now (2/9 am) it's not yet up on Viki.com.

See my reviews of episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, and the special

Waking Up Married Review

Waking Up Married by Mira Lyn Kelly

Her first thought: "Who are you?"

It's the morning after her cousin's bachelorette party in Vegas and Megan Scott wakes up with the mother of all hangovers. Even worse, she's in a stranger's penthouse having woken up with something else as well - a funny, arrogant, sexy...husband!
Up until now, finding even a boyfriend had seemed impossible - been there, got the broken heart, sworn off men for good. Then a few martinis with Carter...no, Connor Reed and she's gone from first meet to marriage in one night!
Megan wants a lawyer. But Connor's shocking bombshell?

"I don't want a divorce."

Get on the Kindle

3 out of 5 stars

Boys Before Friends Special Episode

Boys Before Friends Special Episode

Summary: A behind the scenes look at Boys Before Friends

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Suteara Vaughn, Jackie Averia, Erik Thomas, Trenton L. Culkin, Jason S. Mordeno, Tiffany Daniels, Alexia Quinn

Language: English

Additional Info: Available on Viki.com

See my reviews of episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4

January Mini Reviews

While I would love to have a lot to say about everything that I read or watch, sometimes I just don't have enough to do a whole post. It could be because it's a series book, several seasons into a show, it's short, or I just like or dislike it but can't really explain why. For those things, I'm going to do mini reviews.

Boys Before Friends Episode Four

Boys Before Friends Episode Four

Summary: Zoey is accepted into Ellison University, a college for the super rich, as a scholarship student. There she encounters the F4, a group of guys who use their power and money to intimidate other students.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Joseph Almani, Trenton L. Culkin, Dawn Morrow

Language: English

Additional Info: Loosely based on Hana Yori Dango. It's available on Viki.com, Youtube, and the official website.

Reviews of episode 1, episode 2, & episode 3

Boys Before Friends Episode Three

Boys Before Friends Episode Three

Summary: Zoey is accepted into Ellison University, a college for the super rich, as a scholarship student. There she encounters the F4, a group of guys who use their power and money to intimidate other students.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Joseph Almani, Trenton L. Culkin, Dawn Morrow

Language: English

Additional Info: Loosely based on Hana Yori Dango. It's available on Viki.com, Youtube, and the official website.

Check out my review of episode 1 & episode 2.

My Favorites of 2013 - Television

I got rid of cable at the beginning of 2013 and have since relied on an over-the-air signal and Hulu and Netflix for all my shows. Still, I probably watch more TV than anything else. For that reason, I couldn't just pick one or even two favorite TV shows. There are so many favorites for different reasons that I just couldn't narrow it down, so I have a few categories.

Favorite New Show

My Favorites of 2013 - Books, Movies, Music, and Games

Initially, I wasn't going to do a "best of" post. I haven't been very active this year and didn't begin including anything other than books until the end of the year. Still, I thought it'd be fun to share the things that I did really like in 2013. Most of it I've never mentioned before.

My Favorite Book/Series

Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones

Boys Before Friends Episode Two

Boys Before Friends Episode Two

Summary: Zoey is accepted into Ellison University, a college for the super rich, as a scholarship student. There she encounters the F4, a group of guys who use their power and money to intimidate other students.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Joseph Almani, Trenton L. Culkin, Dawn Morrow

Language: English

Additional Info: Loosely based on Hana Yori Dango. It's available on Viki.com, Youtube, and the official website.

Check out my review of episode one.

Side Effects

Side Effects

Summary: When Whitney's father abandons her family, she begins taking medication that causes musical hallucinations.

Number of Episodes: Unknown

Stars: Meg DeLacy, Lulu Antariksa, Cade Canon Ball

                                                                               Language: English

                                                                               Additional Info: It's available on Youtube.
                                                                           

                                         Buy the Side Effects: The Music, Episode 1 OST on Amazon

Death, Doom and Detention Review

Death, Doom and Detention by Darynda Jones

The normal part of Lorelei MacAlister’s life didn’t just slip away quietly the day Jared Kovach came to town. Nope. The normal part of her life shattered. It exploded. It burst into a gazillion shards of fleeting light.

It went out with a bang.

Goodbye normal.

Hello dark and eerie.

While her best friend, Brooklyn, is focusing all of her energy on helping Lorelei hone her abilities, Lorelei is dealing with the reality that Satan’s second in command has taken up residence inside her body. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on the Angel of Death. But what a beautiful death it is. If those weren’t bad enough, something sinister has come to town and it wants nothing more than to hear Lorelei’s dying breath as it strangles it out of her. Thank goodness the gang has a supernatural champion. But what happens when the only being who can save them switches sides midstream? How can a group of misfits capture one of the most powerful beings ever created? And will they find out how to bring Jared back to them before it’s too late?

3.5 out of 5 stars

Death, Doom and Detention is the second book in the Darklight series. 
Buy on Amazon | Buy on Kindle

Boys Before Friends Episode One

Boys Before Friends Episode One

Summary: Zoey is accepted into Ellison University, a college for the super rich, as a scholarship student. There she encounters the F4, a group of guys who use their power and money to intimidate other students.

Number of Episodes: 16

Stars: Joseph Almani, Trenton L. Culkin, Claude Racine(for episode one)

Language: English

Additional Info: Loosely based on Hana Yori Dango. It's available on Viki.com, Youtube, and the official website.

The Heirs

The Heirs

Wikipedia Summary: "The Heirs" depicts the friendships, rivalries and love lives of young, rich heirs led by Kim Tan and a girl named Cha Eun-Sang. Unlike the others, Cha Eun-Sang is considered ordinary and comes from a poor background.

Number of Episodes: 20

Stars: Lee Min-Ho, Park Shin-Hye, Kim Woo-Bin

Language: Korean

Additional Info: It's also called 'The Inheritors.' It's available on Dramafever and on Hulu.

Split Season One - Episodes 1-15

Split

Summary: The series is about a 15-year-old girl named Ella Rozen, who begins high school along with her best friend, Omer Teneh. Green high school is managed by Amnon Green, a cold and stone-hearted person, who is secretly the head of "The Order of Blood" - An order which was founded 1000 years ago, and its purpose is to cleanse the world of vampires.

Number of Episodes: 45

Stars: Amit Farkash, Yon Tumarkin, Yedidya Vital

Language: Hebrew

Additional Info: Split, also called Hatsuya, is a half-hour Israeli teen series that ran for 3 seasons from 2009-2012.

My Favorite Book Things #2

I'm going to stick to the horror thing... but I'm going to go much younger this time.

I never really got into Goosebumps. When they were published in 1992, I was more into Christopher Pike, LJ Smith and similarly middle-grade level books. However, I did like Phantom Valley books by Lynn Beach. Lynn Beach is a pseudonym for Kathryn Lance, an author, ghostwriter and editor.

Phantom Valley consisted of 9 books published between 1991 and 1993. They were similar in length to Goosebumps- about 130 pages. Each book involves a different student at Chilleen Academy and the creepy supernatural things that happen to them.

The Naturals Review

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

4 out of 5 stars
Buy on Amazon | Buy on Kindle

America's Next Top Model Cycle 20 - The Finale

The finale of America's Next Top Model Cycle 20 was on Friday.

To be honest, I wasn't all that excited to watch it. There has always been talk of the show being rigged and, over the years, there have been cycles that felt rigged- either for the winner or just to keep up the drama. This was one of those seasons.

The final three found out last week that one of them would be eliminated before the fashion show. As I predicted, Cory was the eliminated contestant... despite the fact that his picture was infinitely better than Marvin's. Of course, he still had to walk in the show with the other two as part of the fashion video. The other contestants and Laura James, the cycle 19 winner, also walked in the show.

The video was kind of cheesy. Jourdan has the love of a good man, Marvin, but is lured into the dark and abusive underbelly of modeling by Cory. She becomes famous but miserable and wants to break free, but Cory has such a hold on her. She has to choose between good and evil- Marvin and Cory. The story ends there on the video and picks back up on the runway where Jourdan obviously picks good over evil.