text:
Best books of 2014

>> Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 was a really good reading year for me. I read almost 170 books and found some I really loved.

It wasn't a great year for romance, though. I've been finding myself less and less interested in what's out there in the romance genre, so much so that for the first time since I started tracking my reading, over half of what I read was non-romance.

And also, while finding truly excellent non-romance books to include in this post was really easy (so much so that I've included a top 13, rather than a top 10, and there were several that narrowly missed out being there), I struggled to get enough romance novels I thought were good enough. I've ended up doing only a top 6!

Preparing this, I realised there are quite a few of these books I haven't yet reviewed. I find it hardest to review books I loved.... to write something that does these books justice, I guess! I've got half-written reviews for all of those, and I'll try to finish and post them early in the new year.

Best romance read in 2014

The Kraken King, by Meljean Brook

Of course there will be a Meljean Brook on this list. The Kraken King is a wonderful adventure romance. Fantastic world-building and great characters. It was a serial, so I've linked here to my review of part 8, which includes links to all the other parts. The serial format didn't quite work for me, but the story was more than strong enough to overcome that.

Mark of Cain, by Kate Sherwood

A romance between an ex-con and the brother of the man he killed, so very angsty. Sherwood develops it slowly, so it works. And in addition to the great romance, there is a real exploration of themes of redemption and forgiveness, as well as a hero who's an Anglican minister and is struggling with how his church deals with gay priests like him. Loved it.

The Countess Conspiracy, by Courtney Milan

This is about women being suppressed, all those who wanted to do things that society didn't approve of for women and had to hide behind a male someone else to be able to do them. The heroine is a scientist, and the hero her friend, who's providing the male front. Beautifully satisfying, even if I had some doubts about the believability of the ending.

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

This was a charming comedy romance, hilarious but also affecting. It's about a man who has some issues with social interaction and who comes up with a plan to find himself a wife. He ends up co-operating with a woman called Rosie, who's exactly wrong according to everything on his list.

Unbound, by Cara McKenna

Cara McKenna can make me like anything. This one includes BDSM, which I usually avoid, but managed to make me feel completely engaged in the relationship. I couldn't stop reading.

The Luckiest Lady In London, by Sherry Thomas

I really loved the story of two people seen as perfectly proper by all of society, but who immediately recognise hidden, darker depths in each other. Thomas is one of the few historical romance authors I've got left.

Best non-romance read in 2014

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

My first A+ in a very long time. It's the story of a young half-goblin who unexpectedly comes to the throne of the kingdom of the elves and is completely unprepared. The way he comes into his role and becomes an excellent Emperor is just beautiful. It's a long, dense read, and I adored every second of it.

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah follows a young Nigerian woman as she moves to the US and then, a few years later, back to Nigeria, where she again encounters her old boyfriend. I don't often feel the visceral recognition I felt when reading this book. Ifemelu's experiences echoed mine in many ways... things like discovering the completely different implications of your race when you move to a new country and how it all interacts with class and privilege. I read this one for my book club, and it generated the best discussion we've had in the 5 years we've been running.

The Wake, by Paul Kingsnorth

The Wake tells the story of the resistance after the Norman invasion of 1066, written in what the author describes as a shadow version of Old English. This was a book that completely wowed me on all fronts. Its use of language is incredible. I wondered when I started it whether the whole shadow 'Old English' thing would be a bit of a stunt, but it really wasn't. It was essential to achieve a great recreation of a time and place and a fascinating character who felt completely of his time.

The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell

The Bone Clocks was a fabulous read. Mitchell does his usual thing here of having a book composed of a group of novellas, six here. There is a strong narrative thread, though, as we have Holly Sykes in whose point of view we are in the first and last stories, and who's very present in the middle four. There's also a big fantasy Good vs. Evil-type element which is mostly in the background but pops up periodically in the different sections. I'm not describing it very well here, but it's great storytelling, with really interesting characters I cared about intensely and done with Mitchell's gift for mimicking different genres. I didn't want to leave this world when the book finished, and it will definitely be one I'll reread, probably soon.

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

There's been a bit of a backlash against The Goldfinch, but I still really enjoyed it. It's a big, fat book about a young man whose life is blown apart when his mother is killed in a terrorist attack in a museum. The effects of that continue to be felt in his life, not least through a painting he takes with him after the explosion and neglects to return. The protagonist is really not a nice character, but he was interesting, as were all the supporting characters. I was absorbed, and even liked the final, controversial 30 pages.

And All The Stars, by Andrea K Höst

This excellent sci-fi young adult novel has an ensemble cast fighting off an alien invasion. The characters are wonderful and diverse and the plot unfolds in ways that feel fresh and different. My first novel by this author was a DNF, so I'm really glad I decided to give her another chance.

The Circle, by Dave Eggers

A satire about a scarily believable Google-like company that is taking over the world. Eggers sometimes hits you over the head with his metaphors, but on the whole, I thought this was great. Familiar and surprising at the same time, and it made me think about debates that are actually going on (e.g. would requiring real identities on-line solve the problem of trolling?) in different ways.

Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King

A burned-out retired detective teams up with some unlikely people to hunt down a mass murderer. Great, tense storytelling and characters I really cared about. I hadn't read King for quite a while, and I'd only read some of his classic horror, so this surprised me, in a very good way.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, by Karen Joy Fowler

This is about a woman who grew up in a family that was unique in a very interesting way. When we meet her we know that the family has pretty much disintegrated, and we explore why. The book looks at themes like how families work, the nature of sisterhood, the treachery of memory, animal rights, and activism, but it does this by telling a wonderfully engaging story and doing so in a way that was really interesting structurally. I really enjoyed it.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

A post-apocalyptic novel that manages to be positive and optimistic about humanity and the value of our current lives. It was a huge surprise, and I loved it. The characters were great, and the structure of it was wonderfully handled. Just fantastic.

The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber

This is about a missionary selected to go to a remote planet and preach for the people there, who have been demanding someone is sent to tell them all about this "Book of Strange New Things", i.e. the Bible. This was a very unexpected book, full of fascinating characters who emotionally engaged me.

The Martian, by Andy Weir

An astronaut is accidentally left behind in Mars when his team suddenly need to evacuate their camp in an emergency, and he must apply all his considerable knowledge to survive. Brilliant, gripping stuff.

The Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold

I'd cheat by nominating the entire chunk of the Vorkosigan series that I've read this year, but I wouldn't know which cover to put up *g*. This is probably the most perfectly formed and put together entry. It's a novella featuring Miles being sent into a Cetagandan prison camp for a mysterious mission. This is Miles at his most Miles-ish, and it's great. I should mention I'm currently listening to Mirror Dance and so far it's even better, but I'm only about 50% in.

On holiday

>> Saturday, December 13, 2014

It's that time of the year again, so this evening I'll be boarding a flight to Uruguay for a month of family, old friends and sitting by the pool doing nothing but reading.

Plaza Independencia all decorated for Christmas... my office used to be in a building right behind where this photograph was taken
I might pop back in nearer the end of the year for a quick round-up of my 2014 favourites, but in case I don't, I'd like to wish you all a lovely Christmas and a great end to 2014 and even better start to 2015. Bye bye, and thanks so much for visiting! x

The Secret Heart, by Erin Satie

>> Wednesday, December 10, 2014

TITLE: The Secret Heart
AUTHOR: Erin Satie

PAGES: 308
PUBLISHER: Self-published

SETTING: 19th century England
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: It's supposed to be first in a series called No Better Angels. I'm not quite sure from reading the blurb how the next book is related to this one, but I've bought it :)

She’s a fortune-hunter. He’s nobody’s prey.

Adam, Earl of Bexley, lives to work. His only relief is the sordid savagery of bare-knuckle boxing. Not women, and definitely not a disreputable, scheming woman who dances in secret with such passion…

Caro Small is desperate to escape her selfish family. Her only chance is a good marriage, and she intends to marry Adam—whether he likes it or not. But the more she schemes to entrap him, the more she risks trapping her own heart.

Adam won’t be caught by a fortune-hunter’s ambitious schemes. But the vulnerable, passionate woman underneath the plots might just bring him to his knees.

I'm one of those who are not too happy about the state of historical romance. I've got a few authors on my autobuy (Courtney Milan, Sherry Thomas, Cecilia Grant, a few old favourites like Connie Brockway and Mary Balogh), but it's been at least a couple of years since I've discovered a new author I could add to my autobuy list. All this year, several of us on twitter have informally agreed to read and review at least one historical a month, but none of the new authors that has spurred me to try have really worked out. Until now.

The Secret Heart is exactly the kind of historical romance I have found difficult to find. It features complex and challenging (some might even say 'unlikeable') characters who have passions in their lives outside of their romance, which is something I find lacking in so many books.

Caroline Small's passion is ballet. She fell in love with it when her disreputable father installed his ballerina mistress as her governess. Caro doesn't aspire to perform; it's the dancing itself that fulfils her. And to keep her craft at the level she needs it to be, she must practice every day, even when visiting her friend Daphne at her uncle the Duke of Hastings' country estate.

It is when returning from her clandestine practice session that she runs into Adam, who's Earl of Bexley and heir to the dukedom. Adam is out in the middle of the night because he was doing something a bit clandestine himself. He boxes. Boxing was quite common amongst gentlemen (if you've read historical romance for any length of time, you'll have read about countless heroes who box at Gentleman Jackson's), but what Adam does is way beyond that. He trains like a proper athlete (to the point of observing a strict diet to keep his weight down) and he fights incognito in meetings frequented by the navvies building the nearby railway.

As they start getting to know each other (including sharing what it was they were each doing out at night quite early in the relationship, which I found refreshing) Caro sees her chance. See, her father and two older brothers gamble away any money that comes into the house and are slowly but surely destroying any chance of Caroline being considered respectable and making a good match. Worse, her younger brother's schooling keeps getting put off whenever money runs low. Caro needs to marry well, and she needs to marry soon. Bexley is the perfect candidate. He's well-off, aristocratic, clearly attracted to Caro and Caro is attracted to him. She coolly decides she will target him. And she does.

I really enjoyed this. There is a lot to these characters. They have real lives and personalities, and I could understand perfectly how and why they connected as they did. They're not perfect; they have their flaws, and they are self-aware enough to recognise them. I also loved the depth of the writing, especially in the world-building. Where so many historical romance authors just gloss over what they assume is hyper-familiar territory for their readers, Satie really digs in. She clearly has thought about how things would feel and look and smell, and she conveys this perfectly. The book felt incredibly fresh.

So what keeps this from an A grade? Well, I felt some of the secondary characters were a bit cartoonishly and unremittingly nasty, particularly (but not exclusively) Adam's cousin and the cousin's step-mother, who are having an affair. It would have been nice at least some of the subtlety Satie used to create her main characters there. Also, for all that I loved the writing and characterisation, some of it occasionally felt a bit self-conscious. It's hard to explain, but at times I could clearly see the author trying to do X, rather than just seeing X. These were the only instances when I was reminded this is a début, and really, there weren't that many of them. Other than that, the book flowed beautifully.

If you're looking for something new and different from the usual romances set in Regency-land, I highly recommend this.

Indexing, by Seanan McGuire

>> Tuesday, December 09, 2014

TITLE: Indexing
AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire

PAGES: 404

SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Urban Fantasy
SERIES: None that I know of!

“Never underestimate the power of a good story.”

Good advice…especially when a story can kill you.

For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected—perhaps infected is a better word—by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results.

That's where the ATI Management Bureau steps in, an organization tasked with protecting the world from fairy tales, even while most of their agents are struggling to keep their own fantastic archetypes from taking over their lives. When you're dealing with storybook narratives in the real world, it doesn't matter if you're Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or the Wicked Queen: no one gets a happily ever after.

Indexing is New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire’s new urban fantasy where everything you thought you knew about fairy tales gets turned on its head.

Hearing about the premise of this book was enough for me to buy it. It's set in a version of our world where an unseen force, the "narrative" keeps trying to reenact fairy tales in real people's lives. This can have really horrific consequences for those involved, so the ATI Management Bureau secretly works to deactivate situations where it looks like the narrative has taken over.

Our narrator, Henrietta 'Henry' Marchen, is a Snow White who was brought up by Bureau agents after her mother's death (her mother was a Sleeping Beauty). Through constant vigilance she has managed to keep her narrative from really manifesting (the bluebirds splatting against her windows trying to get close to her and the wildflowers growing on her carpet every morning don't really count), and now she's a team leader at the Bureau herself.

Indexing was originally a serial, with episodes coming out every two weeks, and at first, I felt it showed. The first two or three episodes each cover a case Henry and her team are called out to handle. The first case, for instance, is a Sleeping Beauty who manifests as a woman infected by an airborn virus. As soon as she gets to the hospital and collapses, the virus spreads through the air conditioning vents and puts everyone around her to sleep. So I thought that was going to be what the book was like... stand-alone mini cases. It felt a bit disjointed and episodic (with a fair bit of repetition, to remind readers of details they might have forgot in the previous fortnight), but the cases were clever enough that I would have happily read on.

However, after McGuire establishes her world a bit, an overall plot starts to emerge. Something is going wrong with the narrative, with cases suddenly coming fast and furious, and some of them being a bit wonky. Henry and her team begin to suspect someone might be behind that, and before long they're in an all out fight to save the world as they know it.

This was really great fun. The cases the team encounter were really interesting and the use of fairy tales was great. I loved how McGuire turned well known fairy tales on their heads, often following the logic implicit in them and pointing out the inevitable consequences if they happened in the real world. I also loved the clever ways Henry and her team found to turn things around. They were always unexpected, and yet they made perfect sense. Finally, I enjoyed how this all developed an idea about the role and importance of storytelling in the world. There were great little details, like the danger of urban myths achieving enough status that the narrative would start incorporating them into its stock of stories.

I also liked the characters McGuire created for Henry's team and how they grow and develop throughout the book, both individually and as a team. Sloane was probably my favourite. She didn't start that way. I hate people who are rude and mean for no reason, but the thing is, Sloan has a reason. She's an evil stepsister, so she has major anger management issues. The episode which showed us exactly how it feels to be inside her was really touching, but in a way that didn't defang her.

There's even a bit of romance. There's the team archivist (who specialises in identifying how a particular situation fits in in the canon, and what routes are open to it, at least, based on past experience), who might just have a thing for Henry. And even better, there's a transgender character who's dealt with sensitively and who gets his own HEA.

It wasn't a perfect book, though. Some of the writing didn't completely work for me. I think it might have something to do with this being urban fantasy, which too often means authors feel the need to create 'snarky' characters. McGuire doesn't quite succeed, especially at the beginning. Some of the snarky reactions felt off. Here's Henry thinking about transporting a victim's cat back to the Bureau:

"The idea of sharing a car with her overly amorous cat, which was now rolling on its back and trying to entice me to rub its belly, made me feel faintly ill."

'Faintly ill', really? She's not allergic to cats or disgusted by them, just tired of always having animals adore her (e.g. those bluebirds!) because of her Snow White nature. 'Faintly ill' feels wrong. There were loads of little details like this. It messes with making the characters feel like real people. I think this worked best when the characters were being realistic emotionally when dealing with really fantastical stuff, and these off reactions messed with the emotional believability.

Also (and sorry, this won't make much sense if you haven't read the book), the scenes where Henry is in the whiteout world were a bit too much for me. I didn't quite get them or their significance in the book. I think the story would have worked much better without this element.

Still, this was really enjoyable.

AUDIOBOOK NOTES: This was narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal, which surprised me, as I had no idea she did narration in addition to writing. It wasn't great; tolerable, but just barely. In keeping with the whole snarky thing of urban fantasy, she kept doing 'uptalk' in her narration, which I can take only in very small doses. I think for the next one (if there is one), I'll read the ebook.

The Janus Stone, by Elly Griffiths

>> Sunday, December 07, 2014

TITLE: The Janus Stone
AUTHOR: Elly Griffiths

PAGES: 337

SETTING: Contemporary England
TYPE: Mystery
SERIES: 2nd in the Ruth Galloway series, following The Crossing Places

Forensics expert Ruth Galloway is called in to investigate when builders, demolishing a large old house in Norwich to make way for a new development, uncover the skeleton of a child - minus the skull - beneath a doorway. Is it some ritual sacrifice or just plain straightforward murder? DCI Harry Nelson must find out.

The house was once a children's home. Nelson meets the Catholic priest who used to run the home. He tells him that two children did go missing forty years before - a boy and a girl. They were never found.

When carbon dating proves that the child's bones predate the children's home, Ruth is drawn more deeply into the case. But as spring turns to summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the scent by frightening her half to death...

In this second book in the Ruth Galloway series, Ruth is again brought into what turns out to be a police case. She's a forensic archeologist at the local university in Norwich, so she's the obvious person to call when builders find a headless skeleton of a child under the doorway of a house they're working on. Since the house was once a children's home, and one from which two children disappeared some 40 years earlier, the police also gets involved. And wouldn't you know it, the policeman in charge of that investigation is DCI Harry Nelson, whose relationship with Ruth developed into something quite interesting in book 1.

It was an intriguing set-up, but I'm afraid it was much too easy to figure out the whodunnit, and even something which should have been a surprise about the identity of a particular character. It was all a bit too obvious, really. Now, that's not necessarily an issue if the process through which the police investigate is particularly good, but it wasn't really in this case. The investigation felt like it went in the directions the plot needed, rather than in those an investigation would naturally have gone. As for the explanations behind it all, they were disappointing as well. There's basically two cases related to the house, one of the inital skeleton discovered (which turns out to predate the dates during which the house was a children's home) and the disappearance of the two kids. We know a lot of what happened in the earlier case through diary entries that are interspersed throughout the story, and which were just icky, rather than interesting. The modern disappearance is a bit more interesting, although some of it is easy to guess. And then there's trying to understand why someone is harassing Ruth and trying to hinder her work. The explanation behind that was just a bit silly and nonsensical. A "'cause he's a nutter" sort of thing, which is not at all satisfying.

A lot of space is devoted to the personal lives of the characters, and I like that in a mystery series. Ruth and DCI Nelson are really not one-note, and Griffiths takes some risks with them. This is a bit of a spoiler for book 1, so don't read on if you're planning to start at the beginning with the series, but at the start of this book, we find out that Ruth and Nelson's one-night-stand, which took place after particularly traumatic events in book 1, has resulted in Ruth becoming pregnant. Nelson is married, so this is an issue. Not that Ruth is asking anything of him (a bit stupidly, really. She's so concerned with not being demanding that she doesn't even think that it won't be easy to bring up a child on an academic salary and without any family around to help her. Of course you should demand Harry financially support his own child, you idiot!).

I couldn't stop myself from comparing this with the Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne series, by Julia Spencer-Fleming. The situation is similar, in that the male characters in both series are happily married to beautiful women they love at the start of the series, and then they start feeling a connection to women who are on the sensible, non-glamorous side. The difference is that Russ would not cheat on his wife. He doesn't immediately leave her when he realises he feels something for Clare, but the conflict is centred on whether he and Clare can still be friends when those feelings are there, or do they just need to cut off contact because those very feelings are cheating. With Harry, his whole conflict was more along the lines of "I screwed up, how do I keep this from my wife", which I found very sordid.

I found myself not liking these characters at all, and not really in a way that I think was intended. The narrative itself feels a bit misogynistic. Women seem to all be in competition and are all really catty. Ruth, in particular, is bitchy and resentful and envious about any woman who's younger than her and traditionally attractive. But it's not that Ruth is a flawed character who tells herself she's beyond caring if men find her attractive, but actually isn't (this would actually be interesting). The narrative actually portrays any woman younger than Ruth and more traditionally attractive than her as shallow and stupid and unlikeable, and that really annoyed me.

Also, it all feels a bit cartoonish. Characters' reactions don't ring true. They often don't behave like real humans. It's the little things that drove me crazy, because I kept going WTF every page. It's things like this: we're at a particularly tense moment, close to the end, as the case is unravelling. One of his officers is telling Nelson about a crucial finding she's made, and she's telling him that what gave her the clue was a piece of knowledge that's quite obscure. And in the middle of this tense development, he finds the time for a bit of anti-intellectual bitching: "Classical scholar, are you now?" Oh, seriously!

So, not a huge success, this one. I like the setting, which has a very vivid sense of place, and the bare bones of the cases very much, but I'm not sure I'll be continuing with this series. I might give the next one a shot, but I might not.

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, by Connie Willis

>> Friday, December 05, 2014

TITLE: Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
AUTHOR: Connie Willis

PAGES: 336

TYPE: Short story collection

The winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Connie Willis capture the timeless essence of generosity and goodwill in this magical collection if Christmas stories. These eight tales-two of which have never before been published-boldly reimagine the stories of Christmas while celebrating the power of love and compassion..

My first Christmas read of the season wasn't a success, but this one really hit the spot. I read it for my book club, where we have a tradition of reading something Christmas-related for our December meeting.

This collection had a nice variety of stories.

The first story is Miracle, where we get the crazy preparations for a completely over-the-top office party. This one is about how you sometimes don't know what you want, even when what you need is right in front of you. It's themed around the contrast between It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street (liking the latter over the former is a sign of being a great person). The crazy office politics reminded me quite a bit of Bellwhether, and there are other stories in the collection where Willis' satirical view of office life plays a part. I enjoyed that, but on the whole the story was just ok, not very subtle and a bit predictable. Also, I think I would have enjoyed the story more if I'd watched the two movies in question!

In Inn, a choir singer sneaks around her priest to shelter a young, foreign homeless couple who are clearly about to become parents (it might be snowing outside, but homeless people steal stuff, and it's more important to get the Christmas service just right than to help them). Obviously, there's more to the homeless couple than meets the eye. This one wasn't my favourite. The message was a bit heavy-handed, and the farce element (lots of going out one door right before someone comes in the other) was a bit much.

In Coppelius's Toy Shop features a selfish young man who grudgingly agrees to do a favour for a young mum (he wants to get into her pants), and ends up in a crowded toy shop right before Christmas. This one was really well done, and pretty creepy. I think I might have identified with the (objectively pretty horrid) protagonist more than I was intended to, because this toy shop felt like my version of hell as well. Maybe it's because I had to go into Hamley's when I was in London last week. I really, really couldn't wait to get out!

The Pony is the shortest one in the book and one of my favourites. On the surface it's quite a mundane situation: a young girl opening presents with her mum and aunt, and a present unexpectedly arriving for the aunt. There's nothing overtly wrong, but the sense of threat and creepiness grows and grows until it was really screaming at me in the end. I'm not sure how Willis did it, but it was great.

The main character in Adaptation is a bookshop employee whose ex-wife is determined to sabotage his plans for Christmas with their daughter. Into the mix come the Ghosts of Christmas, who are not as effective these days as in the 19th century. I was underwhelmed by this one, particularly because I found the ex-wife character much too cartoonish.

Cat's Paw was probably my favourite. It's a Golden Age-type mystery, with a Poirot-like detective and his Hastings-equivalent narrator, but set in the near future. Touffét is invited by an aristocrat to solve a mystery in her manor right before Christmas-time. Before long it becomes clear there's no mystery: she's an apes' rights activist who was just looking for some publicity, but an unforeseen event means there's a mystery to solve after all. I had lots of fun with this one. It's a knowing and funny parody of Agatha Christie's mysteries (complete with the big reveal scene, in which the detective points out in turn how every single character had a motive), made surreal by the setting and the talking, intelligent apes. And then there's the neat little twist at the end. I loved it.

Newsletter was my second favourite, very closely behind Cat's Paw. It's a hilarious story featuring a protagonist who suspects people are being taken over by aliens who make them unfeasibly polite and nice (which, this being set right before Christmas, is NOT the usual behaviour). Again, there's a really good twist at the end.

Finally, Epiphany follows a priest who has an epiphany and feels compelled to drive east for the second coming. He's joined on the road by others, and the reader suspects that the Bible story he thinks he's in is not the one that's actually being reenacted. It was an interesting story, but the ending felt a bit abrupt.

All in all, this was a good collection. No real duds here at all, and some really good stories.

About the Baby, by Tracy Wolff

>> Wednesday, December 03, 2014

TITLE: About the Baby
AUTHOR: Tracy Wolff

PAGES: 288
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Superromance

SETTING: Contemporary US and Eritrea
TYPE: Category Romance
SERIES: Seems to be related to a couple of other books, dealing with Lucas' friends in the clinic

Kara Steward and Lucas Montgomery have always been the best of friends. As doctors, they're too busy saving the world to commit to anything more. Still, Kara knows exactly who to go to when she needs a little support. But one night she turns to Lucas and…everything changes. And once they've crossed that line to more than friends, it's impossible to go back.

Their situation is even more tangled when Kara's job calls her away for several weeks. How can they talk about the new "them" when she's half a world away? She can't put off this discussion too long, however. Not after she discovers there's a baby to consider...

Lucas and Kara met at university, when they were starting on their way to becoming doctors. They became best friends and have kept up that friendship all through their eventful careers. Lucas is in a good place in his, as he's started a clinic with two good friends in inner-city Atalanta, but Kara's career is in more of a flux.

Kara is an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and is constantly travelling to troubled spots to trace the origins of disease outbreaks. The work itself is satisfying, but she's getting more and more frustrated with the politics around it. Her last deployment has been almost the last drop, as her team was pulled out of the country halfway through their work when its government and Washington got into a spat.

Lucas can tell there's something wrong with Kara, and he manages to get her to talk about how disheartened she's feeling and share her doubts about whether she wants to continue working with the CDC. It's a difficult, emotional exchange, and things end up with them giving in to an attraction neither had believed was there and sleeping together.

But the very same night a call comes for Kara from her boss. Even though she's just arrived back home that very day, she'll need to leave for Eritrea the next morning. There's an outbreak of Ebola (I know, I know, but I've had this in my TBR for ages and if I ever knew about it I didn't remember), potentially a mutated strain, and the CDC need their best people out there. However close to a breakdown Kara is feeling, she must go.

And while she's out there, she discovers there were consequences from that night with Lucas.

There were good things here, some real, fully-earned angst. It was surprising, because I was pretty sure when I started this that any angst would come from Kara. There's the way she's really torn about her job, believing in it and wanting to do what she signed up for but frustrated about the politics of it all. Then there's her pregnancy, which ends up being a really high-risk one, because of a disease she contracts in Eritrea in the very early stages of her pregnancy. There's also her family history, which has left her reluctant to rely on anyone, especially not someone like Lucas, whose family rely on him way too much already.

Lucas, in contrast, seemed like he was going to be the one in the stable place, balancing Kara. His job is challenging but he enjoys it as it is, and his family drama seemed more garden-variety: his mother and sisters got used to unlimited money and no responsibilities thanks to his indulgent father, and now that he's dead they can't really cope with the real world. They're burning through their inheritance (already have done, in his mother's case), and expect Lucas to pick up the slack.

And yet, once Lucas and Kara reunite after her return from Eritrea and he finds out about her pregnancy, most of the drama comes from his family, who really are jaw-dropping. Lucas' first instinct when finding out the full-extent of the risk to Kara's pregnancy is an automatic assumption that this is another woman he'll be taking care of. He doesn't resent it, just assumes it. But nope, when some distressing news come through about one of Lucas' sisters, Kara ends up taking care of him just as much as he takes care of her. I thought that showed quite well that this was going to be a relationship amongst equals, and I liked it.

The romance itself, however, is a bit sketchy. These two really don't spend that much time together, and I didn't quite get a love vibe from them. They clearly care about each other, but love? I wasn't completely convinced.

I was also conflicted about the sections dealing with Kara's work. There seems to have been quite a bit of research here, and some of the setup was interesting, but things didn't really come alive, even in the sections that were set in the field. I was also disturbed by how when Kara speaks of 'Africa' at the beginning of the book it's as if she thinks of it as one homogenous, hellish place. Africa is not a country, it's a huge, diverse continent, and a doctor who's spent a lot of time in different parts of it would know that, even if she's tended to go to the bits having trouble. All in all, this aspect of the book felt like a missed opportunity. Other than making Kara's pregnancy a risky one and keeping her out of reach of Lucas for a few months, it didn't really have much impact on the story.

MY GRADE: I guess a C+? The book was readable and there was enough good stuff there, but it was far from perfect.

November 2014 reads

>> Monday, December 01, 2014

It feels like I'm really enjoying fewer and fewer romances these days, but this was a pretty good month for them!

1 - Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel: A-
review here

It's 20 years after a flu pandemic killed a huge proportion of the world's population and made civilisation collapse. Our protagonists are in a travelling theatre company specialising in Shakespeare plays, which they perform in the tiny settlements that have developed over the years. An excellent book. It made me feel quite sad, but at the same time, positive about humanity.

2 - The Fall, by Kate Sherwood: B+
review here

Small-town m/m romance with a lot of really interesting family dynamics and personal growth. Sherwood is a newish author to me, and I'm liking her books very much.

3 - Gentle On My Mind, by Susan Fox: B+
review here

Another small-town romance, one with a great heroine. Brooke is in her 40s, a recovering alcoholic and has only recently got successful treatment for bipolar disorder. Into her ordered life comes an undercover cop looking for a murderer in her town. Really good.

4 - Indexing, by Seanan Maguire: B+
review coming soon

This is set in a version of reality where fairy tale narratives are determined to manifest in people's lives (usually with horrendous results). It's about a police team that specialises in keeping the narrative under control. I liked it, it was clever. It even had a couple of quite nice romances!

5 - Blackout, by Tim Curran: C+
review here

Novella about an alien invasion. I liked the very creepy start, but it didn't have characters who were developed enough for me to care what happened.

6 - About The Baby, by Tracy Wolff: C+
review coming soon

Hero and heroine are both doctors: he works in an inner-city clinic, she's an epidemiologist tracing outbreaks in far-flung places. They're best friends, and a one-night stand when the heroine is in a difficult place emotionally leads to the baby in the title. I found the romance pretty meh, but I liked some of the external drama.

7 - Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick: D
review here

A series of 7 linked vignettes, all taking place in a mysterious Nordic island and going back further and further in time with each vignette. I never really got what the point of the whole thing was, I'm afraid.

8 - Playing Dirty, by Susan Anderson: DNF
review coming soon

The hero did a very bad thing to the heroine in high school and publicly humiliated her. Now he's hired her house and her services to film a documentary, which throws them together. The writing wasn't working for me, plus I felt the hero wasn't trying to make amends, but to make himself feel better when he badgered the heroine with his apologies.

9 - Christmas With Her Boss, by Marion Lennox: DNF
review here

The heroine is the hero's PA and invites him to her family home for Christmas when he's stranded in Australia (her responsibility, they both think, which I didn't get). It felt very old hat, and it annoys me when not wanting to participate in Christmas cheer is portrayed as something that must be fixed.

10 - Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, by Connie Willis: still reading
review coming soon

Does what it says on the tin. It's my book club's pick for December. I liked Willis' take on the traditional stories and her weird angles. I'm forcing myself to read only one a day.

11 - The Secret Heart, by Erin Satie: still reading
review coming soon

Historical with a heroine who is a ballerina and a hero who is a boxer. It's a dense, angsty historical, and I'm enjoying it.

12 - The Shape of Desire, by Sharon Shinn: still reading
review coming soon

Urban fantasy, about a woman who's been in a relationship with a shape-shifter for many years. I'm having trouble rooting for this relationship (he spends most of his time in animal form and just shows up at her house when he becomes human again, very occasionally), but we'll see.

Blog template by

Back to TOP


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Monday, June 6, 2011

the white shabby table

I am so excited to share with you all the finished result of this old table we found on the curbside.
My partner in this project as with almost all of my projects would be my hubby and I absolutely love how well we work together. He also understands the need for shabbiness around here so we make a great team. ;)
I spotted this stack of old fence panels in a back lane just waiting to be picked up. We got the OK to help ourselves to them and grabbed what we needed. The length of the boards were perfect, so no cutting involved there.

Two coats of white paint on the table legs seem to do the trick. After the table top was in place, I simply took some sandpaper to the table for a more aged look.

To finish off the look I made a very quick dreamy table runner and a little cake which I placed under a simple chicken wire cloche.
I couldn't be happier with how it turned out and waiting to use the table soon for a Birthday party! My oldest son will be turning 5 this month and I've never thrown him an organized party, so this year I plan on it.

Linking up to these parties:
Faded Charm
Nothing but country

Friday, June 3, 2011

Mini tool box

The plan was to make a tool box. It's so small, I am not sure if it counts as one?

When I saw the tutorial post on how to make a tool box over at FJI, I had to give it a try. I found some fabulously worn boards from what looked like an old crate, and used them for the mini toolbox.

My dad was an incredibly awesome carpenter...maybe that's why I enjoy working with wood. He made ALL the furniture for our home and that furniture were meant to last. Sadly when they moved from one country to another, a lot of the furniture was sold.

The hardware to attach the handle came from an old window.
We brought out the nail gun to whip up the sides. It seemed to be our best option because the boards were really quite thin. I simply used wire to secure the handle. Perfect! I’m sure my dad would approve of my wood work attempts, but probably not my style. :)

Now what to put into the box? I tried my handmade roses...

...and muffins? Tied up in a strip of fabric. I guess It could be a little gift basket/box!

I'll linking up to Funky Junk Interiors

Giveaway Winner Announced

Thank you all for participating in this fun give away!

Since one of the entries in the give away post was a repeat, the total entries came to 29 instead of 30.

Using the True Random Number Generator, the winner is #27, rose_n_thorns!!
Please email me your address so I can get your shabby pillow cover in the mail:)

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-45-104-224.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-51
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for December 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Monday, June 30, 2008

Marines train Iraqi police in Fallujah

by Cpl. Chris Mann

FALLUJAH (June 23, 2008) — Marines geared for war walk in tactical columns through the once mean streets of Fallujah, ready for what may lie around the next corner. “Mister, mister shokalata! Shokalata!”shout exuberant children from a crowded neighborhood as Marines and Iraqi police pass out candy. Marines with Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, have been working diligently over the past few months to help train Iraqi police to take over their respective areas and become self-supportive in day-to-day operations in the city.

A U.S. Marine gives an Iraqi child a high-five during a patrol through Fallujah.Recent increases in the number of Iraqi police have drastically subdued the violence in the city. According to the Fallujah headquarters Chief of Police Col. Faisal, the number of Iraqi policemen has increased this year by more than 1,000 officers, and that is why security is better than it has been in four years. “These guys are going out on a daily basis by themselves and coming back with suspect arrests,” said Lance Cpl. Andrew L. Walker, a 20-year-old police transition team member from Crane Hill, Ala. “For the most part, they are doing a really good job with many of the issues going on here.”

Marines with the transition team spend time mentoring Iraqi police and work with them to control the Mauallimeen area. Joint patrols in the city work to strengthen relationships with the IPs and Marines, and offer Marines a chance to evaluate how the police operate in various situations. Team members work with the IPs and teach them specific weapons skills and how to handle their issued pistols and AK-47 assault rifles safely. Lessons are given on a weekly basis inside classrooms at police headquarters, which teach IPs fundamentals of marksmanship and how to function together as a team. “The IPs are well trained in individual actions and capable of planning and conducting their own operations,” said Sgt. Stan C. Theisen, a 28-year-old platoon sergeant from Warren, Mich. “When we go on patrol, the IPs function the same a way a Marine Corps rifleman would.”

Iraqi Police are now fully functional 24-hours a day and remain alert for any situation that could arise in the city. The communication between local citizens and the IPs have allowed the IPs to regain control of many neighborhoods in the Fallujah area. Many areas have bulletins posted on buildings and street corners that have the contact numbers for IP stations. Phones at Fallujah stations remain busy, as locals report suspicious activities to officials.

“We have made significant progress over the past few years, but there is still a lot of room for improvement to be made,” said Theisen. “The IPs still need work on learning that they have a chain of command and how to use small unit leadership.”Police facilities at headquarters district now have commodities such as air-conditioning and electricity, as well as newly-built structural amendments that have given IPs a safer place to work. Police use their own vehicles to patrol streets and check for unusual activities reported by civilians on a nearly daily basis. This month, 23 more vehicles have been put into operations to help strengthen security on the streets.

“We hope to one day see the Iraqis training themselves, instead of them relying on us for their training,” said Maj. Eric P. Dominijanni, police transition team leader, 35, and native to Forest Hills, N.Y. Every day, new steps are being taken towards progress in the city. With the coalition forces’ guidance, the Iraq police are ensuring the safety of its community, and in hopes of one day becoming stand-alone, bringing Fallujah back to a state of normalcy.

A U.S. Marine gives an Iraqi child a high-five during a patrol through Fallujah..

Source: CENTCOM.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please be respectful of others, so they may be respectful to you. Have a blessed day.


text:
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Founders' Daily Quote, Tue. 8 July 2008

"As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary, their collective knowledge, wisdom, and virtue are not precarious. For by these qualities alone are they to obtain their offices, and they will have none of the peculiar qualities and vices of those men who possess power merely because their father held it before them."

--Tench Coxe (An American Citizen, No.2, 28 September 1787); Reference: Independent Gazeteer.

Oh, if they could only see the Senate now! Not to mention the connections between sons and fathers in the Congress, Senate and presidency. They not only have the arrogance of ruling OVER us, they choose to try to do it in the dark of the night! Ah, but we are watching. Maybe not all of us, maybe not as many as should, but we are watching your ever step and ever bill passed and every penny spent and every trip taken while you complain to us that you have no money. HA! You do not pay for your car, you do not pay for your housing, you do not pay for your food. Might I ask a simple question? What the heck are we paying for if you have no need of money? You want to go after the robbers of our money? Start with yourselves!

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can.

Cross-posted @ Rosemary's News and Ideas.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please be respectful of others, so they may be respectful to you. Have a blessed day.


text:
Thursday, April 10, 2014

A - Z Blog Challenge: H

A-Z Blog Challenge: H

Actually this post was supposed to happen last night but thanks to a power outage it is happening today instead - such is life, right...
A Vegetarian Hamburger that is super delicious and easy to make - actually it is the quickest 'Hamburger' ever created. I hate the term Vegeburger - somehow it implies an inferior product and a gourmet Vegetarian Burger is far from it! This burger has the Substance (decent size to sink your teeth in) of a meaty burger and the rich decadence of a true gourmet meal.

  • 1 Hamburger Bun
  • Lettuce - Whole leaf, any type
  • Tomato - Sliced thinly
  • 1 tablespoon Onion marmalade/chutney - Available at most supermarkets
  • 1 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
  • 125gm Camembert or Brie Cheese
  • Seasoning - Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Slice Hamburger bun and lightly toast the inner sides
  • Smear Tomato Sauce and Onion Marmalade on both sides of toasted hamburger bun
  • Add Lettuce and Tomato slices to Hamburger bun Bottom and season with salt and Pepper
  • Place Cheese into the Microwave for 10 - 15 seconds ( do this in stages - start with 10 seconds then lightly squeeze the cheese - if it feels Soft and slightly gooey - that is Perfect!  If it still feels firm give it another 5 seconds then check again. You DON'T want the cheese RUNNY Inside
  • Place Warm Cheese on top of the Lettuce and Tomato
  • Add more tomato sauce / onion chutney if desired
  • Finish with hamburger top, press down lightly, and ENJOY!


text:
Saturday, September 24, 2011

Some people have asked me if there would be another entry today, and beyond. In truth, the thought of stopping this nightly ritual feels impossible and scary. I thought I was maintaining a link between Mom and the outside world, a place that existed so I wouldn't have to field questions and where people could come to our story on their own terms, in their own time. I now realize how selfishly motivated I am, how I've used this blog as a way to connect Mom and me and that maybe the audience is tertiary at best. In any case, losing the blog on top of losing Mom is too much loss for me this week.

Today was a lot of running around: to the cemetery, the funeral home, the grocery store (I bought milk, eggs and bread today for the first time all year) and spending time with family and friends. I felt very busy doing nothing-lots of time in the car, lots of time sitting around, lots of time listening to stories; I am exhausted. We all slept fitfully last night, but are hoping to ease into sleeping full nights in the coming days and weeks. Today was the first foray into normalcy: Dad made a latte, we ate breakfast at home and ventured into the world beyond work, airports, the Kline, Urgent Care and home for a ten minute shower. It will be an adjustment.

We have been inundated with emails, phone calls, blog comments and texts-thank you so much to everyone for their love and support through everything. If we don't get back to you right away, please don't be offended; we are wading our way through all of the communication at a pace that we can manage. But everything is so appreciated. Just a reminder that if you leave a blog comment, it would be great if you could sign your name at the bottom if you want us to know who wrote them-as of now, there are about four anonymous postings that we have no idea who they're from. That's okay if you want it that way, but if not, you can edit and add your name.

As a reminder, if you're interested in making a donation, the causes that Mom felt most passionately about are:

Solomike Early Childhood Center
To donate, please mail your contribution to:
Temple B'nai Torah, Solomike ECC
15727 NE 4th Street
Bellevue WA 98008

Metropolitan Seattle Sickle Cell Task Force
To donate, please mail your contribution to:
Metropolitan Seattle Sickle Cell Task Force
P.O. Box 20194
Seattle, WA 98102

Mom's Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Group:
This is a group that meets once a month with a rotating host. The host chooses a charity that they'd like to support and presents their information to the entire group, educating them on what the charity does, how their money will help them and why they chose them. The group then makes an anonymous donation to that charity.
To donate, please mail your contribution to:
RAK c/o Eileen Putter
14011 SE 49th PL
Bellevue WA 98006

  1. We were so sad to hear of Flynne's passing and we are so very sorry for your loss. I am so glad that I was able to visit Flynne when I was in Seattle only 6 weeks ago. She was a wonderful lady who fought her illness with such spirit and dignity. Thinking of you all at this very difficult time and sending you all our love.
    Maddie & Simon Stern(Ellen's cousins from England)

  2. Please do keep blogging. We have a connection with you and it has worked well. My memory of your Mom is still of a rambunctious high school friend. Somehow being able to follow the battle of the last 9 months in real time has made it seem less scary, less disconnected.

    Don't let people bully you into thinking of a grieving "process" etc. It's your life, not a schematic. The [good] memories will be close for a really long time - don't worry about that.

    Bill Palmer, Crystal Lake IL

  3. Dearest Aynsley, Ross and Bob,
    As so many have said so beautifully, amongst us all is a groundswell of sadness at the loss of Flynne. Yet too, there is a relief in knowing that her decline allowed each of you the opportunity for those last days to be filled with so much love and Flynne's awareness of your presence.

    When one thinks of the term "A Woman of Valor" it is Flynne who comes to mind. Throughout her life, but most especially since learning of the cancer, Flynne has given even deeper meaning to the saying. Surely strengthened by your commitment to buoy her body and spirit, her capacity to have endeavored through these many months is testimony.

    Around all of you have been an amazing core of tender, loving & caring family and friends. May they continue to be a source of strength and support. It seems impossible to express our gratitude for this incredible blog you have created and maintained. It has allowed so many to be a part of your family's courageous journey. We are indebted to you, Aynsley and Ross. And our hearts go out to each of you.

    With love, Dana Levy, Joey & Anna

  4. Adrian and Larry LustigSeptember 25, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    Bob, Ross, Aynsley and Gary,

    May Flynne's memory always be a blessing.

    What wonderful gifts you gave Flynne and she gave you. Over the last nine months, she was able to totally concentrate on and appreciate her family, attend Aynsley's wedding, know her granddaughter was on the way and feel her kick, Flynne will live on through all of you.

    Thank you so much for the blog and us to go along on this journey.

    With much love,
    Adrian and Larry Lustig

  5. Dear family: we were so sorry to hear of Flynn's passing. As so many did, we followed your blog and prayed along with you. My father (Irv Herman) and brother and sister in-law (Bruce & Vicki) remember the dinners we used to have when your parents were in town visiting your grandmother. Hard to believe they are both gone. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. Sherri & Gary Snobel (Irv's daughter).

  6. Aynsley, Ross, And Bob,

    When I think about Flynn, I can’t help but feel a deep sadness at the thought of not being able to see her, hug her or talk to her. At the same time, I also feel an overwhelming appreciation to have known Flynn for almost my entire life. I remember last year visiting all the Moms in Laguna Beach for the masters of the pageants, and particularly having lunch with Flynn. We caught up on life and what sticks out in my mind so clearly is her nurturing spirit and non-judgmental/worry-free attitude. I have always felt that Flynn had an amazing ability to make people feel at ease. While I shared my personal struggles and worry about life, she transformed those worries into a feeling of FAITH, that everything would be ok. This feeling of transformation will remain in my heart until the day I pass, and will radiate to every person I encounter. This is truly an incredible gift. Her faith in life and in others has expanded my life, and as result I will expand other’s lives, which will expand the lives of future generations, making her spirit eternal. I believe the root of happiness is to feel this sense of connectedness-Connectedness to yourself, others, and the planet. Flynn has touched the lives of so many people and we will all be happier and more resilient trees because of her. Thank you for all your thoughtful blog entries. I love you all.

    Josh Levy


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Fantasy Sports League in Cassadaga, Florida

Daily Fantasy Sports
Fantasy Sports Leagues
Fantasy Sports Meetups
  • Fantasy Sports League
Fantasy Sports League - Cassadaga

Fantasy Sports League - Cassadaga, Florida

Roto Rebel is your one stop shop for all of your Fantasy Sports and Daily Fantasy Sports needs. Find the leagues, meetups, groups and more that are in your area. Get pro tips, picks and advice from other locals and professionals in the daily fantasy realm. If you're interested in learning more, fill out the form below. We'll find you a Fantasy Sports League to best fit your schedule for the Cassadaga, Florida area. Simply fill out the contact form and we will send you the info to get signed up for the fantasy league today!

Contact Us

If you can read this, don't touch the following text fields.

Simply fill out the form, and we will get back to you right away with your best Fantasy Sports League options in Cassadaga.

Daily Fantasy Sports is growing exponentially, and we here at Roto Rebel are doing our part to give back to the local fans and find you the best leagues, and meetups for other fans just like you.
Fantasy Sports
Daily Fantasy Sports
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Baseball
Fantasy Soccer
Fantasy Golf
And So Much More


text:
About Me

My photo
Live. Love. Learn. Life is short, it's time to do the things you love! My friends are my heart, my family is my rock. I just turned 30 and i'm trying not to panic! I have a fabulous apartment in the city, and some crazy dating stories! Read, interact and enjoy xx

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

how can a girl NOT want this lingerie? WOW she's hot.

Agent Provocateur - "Love Me Tender" in HD from Greg Williams on Vimeo.

1 comment:


text:
Occasional quotations or snippets of information about the royalties are are also included.
Where the Christian name begins with Marie or Maria, the person is often listed under the second part of her name (e.g. Marie Antoinette - had she lived in this period - would be listed under 'A' with 'Marie' written in brackets after Antoinette).
As the information is gathered from numerous sources, there might be irregularity of spelling the name according to the Anglicised, Germanic, French etc. etc. spelling. All the Karls/Carls/Charles for example are listed together.
As this is a work in progress, some of the dates etc. will be filled in later.

As well as the list of names etc. various other lists will be included. Please use the search function to find specific people.

Search This Blog

Thursday, 29 November 2012

The Betrayal

Now available on Kindle, soon to be released in paperback,  THE BETRAYAL the final part of the 'Shattered Crowns' trilogy, following the royalties of Europe through the First World War, featuring Emperors Franz Josef and Karl of Austria, Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas and Queen Marie of Roumania.

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
RSIS Seminar on “The Future of Food Security in Asia: Emerging Issues and Challenges”

Lecture Abstract:

By 2050, the task of feeding nine billion people will be made harder by the 20 per cent decline in arable land per person, and climate change impacts. This could impact food production considerably. These challenges are very real to Asia. Changing consumption patterns, competing land use and decreasing labour supply in the agriculture sector present further challenges to food production. The RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies examines the nature of these challenges to establishing food security in the region. Through innovative and vanguard research we examine the downscaled impacts on climate change on select food commodities in regions of interest, observe stockpiling behaviour in key food items and introduce new and cutting edge ways of examining food availability through dynamic systems modelling. The outcome of these studies allow for novel ways to examine the availability of food and ensure its availability to all.

Water Scarcity and Food Security: Challenges, Scenarios, and Policy Responses by Dr. Mark Rosegrant, Director, Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). They key challenges for water and food security, as well as alternative scenarios that take into account production, demand, prices and levels of poverty and hunger will be discussed. Dr Rosegrant will conclude with the global policy recommendations for water and food security.


text:
SkatePal project May

Rauno and Julia are headed to Palestine to be part of a non-profit project that is run by SkatePal. The movement of SkatePal started in 2013 and ever since skateboarders from around the world meet up in Palestine to teach and empower local youngsters through a piece of wood called skateboard.

I heard about this project somewhere around end of January or early February. Julia came up to me at the skatepark and she was like, “dude, do u wanna go to Palesetine with me and teach skate..”. Before she finished the sentence I was already all in.

Time is passing quickly and on the 8th of April we are running a skateboarding competition in Tartu indoor skatepark to fundraise money for the project.  Big supporters for the cause are Eesti Tänavaspordi LiitHouse of Marsten (Vans Estonia),  Tartu Skatehall & Tartu Rulakool.

How can you help?

We are also starting fundraisers at Indiegogo and Hooandja, where you can show your support for the cause and send donations.

Donations can also be made to Rulakool MTÜ bank account, details as follows:

explanation: “SkatePal May”

All the best,


text:
Yong Vui Kong

The story of Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian, is like a story out of a Hong Kong’s gangster movie. Left home at the age of 12, he first followed a gambler before eking out a living on the streets. He eventually left for the big town and ended up working for a syndicate. Unlike the movie though, he did not become the trusted lieutenant or usurps the big boss. Instead he ended in death row in Singapore and all this before even turning 21!

Seems like his boss made use of him as a mule to smuggle drugs into Singapore. Of course inevitably he got arrested and under our law, the judge had no choice but to pass the mandatory death sentence (MDR). He has been in jail since 2007 when he was arrested at the age of 18. Supposed to be put to death in December 2009, he has had 2 temporary reprieve as his lawyer tries and pulls out all stops to get the death sentence set aside.

The local and even the Malaysian media has been relatively low key on their coverage of this. Malaysia too has a similar death penalty law so I guess another death of a Malaysian isn’t worth reading. But, very vocal in their criticism of the sentence is of course the various Western NGO like Amnesty International, and back here, The Online Citizen (TOC) for short. There was also a petition that was circulated petitioning the President to commute the sentence to a life sentence.

The gists of the appeals are that the MDP is barbaric and draconic and it does not give the Judges any option of sentencing. Some argued that Yong was young, got misled and fell into bad company, didn’t know what he was doing and on compassionate ground, deserve a second chance. Some people talked about the family of Yong who are left to pick up the pieces. Others talked about Yong’s life – that it is a waste of a young life. But did they consider the number of lives and families lost as a result of Yong’s action. If we do not have the MDR, how many more runners will there be in Singapore and consequently how many more innocent lives will be lost?

While I am saddened that a young life has to be snuffed out, and while I agreed that the death penalty is a very barbaric tool of punishment, somehow I am not convinced of the merits of the appeal. Sure, it will be great to save a life but at what cost to society? As the Law Minister rightfully pointed out, if we give weight to his age and background, would that not encourage the syndicate to use younger people? Already, the trend by oversea syndicate seems to be to use ladies as mule and it will be a nightmare of unimaginable proportion if they start using teenagers to do their drug running!

Yong has been running drugs since the age of 17. I doubted his argument that he did not know it was drug. He went in with his eyes wide open. There is a price to be paid for everything and in his case, he has to pay the ultimate price.

Yes, some argue that come what may, there will be drug traffickers and the problem will never be eradicate even with the MDR. So we might as well follow the example of the other countries that has outlawed the death penalty since it is of not much use. I beg to differ. It is sad but if his death can deter just 1 more person from trafficking in drug, it will be worth it. Do we want to be like Amsterdam where there are legalized drug taking and all social ills associated with it are swept under the carpet? Do we want to be like Mexico where drug barons slug it out openly in the streets killing innocent bystanders? No ~ until some people can come up with a better solution, the MDR should stay and all those, whether young, old, female or gay or whatever, be warned!

One Reply to “Yong Vui Kong”

Comments are closed.


text:
Wednesday, July 20, 2011

When running is like a part-time job

Team Sparkle Completes the Huntington Beach Surf City Marathon
Also: Should I get a Sparkle Skirt?
I spend a lot of time thinking about and planning for running. Probably as much if not more (probably more) than I actually spend running. (I like spread sheets and charts ... )

I know I'm not the only one because I talk to and follow a few other runners. I know there are thousands of runners who spend a lot more time (and money) than I do planning and running. And they have full-time jobs too.

Anyway, this is not about them. This is about me. Back to me.

Running is starting to feel like a part-time job. Or just a really involved hobby.

Scheduling running can be really difficult. Right now especially. I work normal business hours (8am - 5pm). My commute is about 45 minutes each way. I have other hobbies/activities (right now = burlesque class at my sister-in-law's studio and Pilates at the gym). It's really hot out right now. (Highs in the 90s until Monday.) We're trying to move. I'm going out of town this weekend (but the husband is not, so you can't rob us). When am I supposed to run? (Yeah, I know, I need to wake up early, but it's hard when I can't get to bed early some nights and whine whine whine.)

I wanted to start focusing on getting more freelance work, and that hasn't happened. But running has.

I'm not complaining ... I'm ... observing. This is something I chose to do, so I can't really complain about it. And honestly I do enjoy it. I feel healthier. I feel powerful. I like reaching goals. It helps me clear my mind. And it's making me like my body again.

But seriously, whoever said running is "easy" or "cheap" because all you need is a pair of shoes ... missed out on a lot of great marketing opportunities. Clearly many other businesses have filled that marketing gap.

When it comes to stuff, I "need":
When it comes to non-stuff, I "need":
  • Time to figure out my training plan (around my normal schedule)
  • Time to actually run
  • Time to get enough sleep
  • Comfortable temperatures
  • Shady routes that pass by drinking fountains
  • Motivation
And there's so much more I could do - pay for training plans, pay for a running coach, join a running club (yeah I keep meaning to ...), buy compression socks (seriously, do I need those? I'm starting to think I do, at least for long runs), enter more races ...

Many people have hobbies that take up a lot of their time. That's kind of the point of a hobby, isn't it?

Anyway, like I said, I'm not complaining, because I do like running and I want to do more of it. I think what I am complaining about is growing older and having more demands on my time that take away from the things I want to do. Just imagine when I have kids! Can I just invest in a jogging stroller and it'll be like nothing has changed? Yes? Please?

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
When women runners take over Paris

Late Sunday morning & we get on the metro in Paris.

On the platform is a young woman in running gear, pink T-shirt & a garland of (artificial) flowers round her neck – like one of those Hawaiian “leis”.

Then another girl.

Then another woman.

Then another.

And another.

Then a whole group in turquoise Ts and garlands.

And when we got on the train, we couldn’t move for women in running gear.

And so I asked.

Sunday was, we learned, the day of La Parisienne – a 5km race for women, around some of the most iconic monuments in Paris.

One young girl told me there were 40,000 women running.

What fun! Most of th women had garlands, most had a rose as well, plus their medals.

Another runner tod me that it wasnt specifically a breast-cancer awareness event, like the Pinkathon in India, but was more aimed at getting women to exercise and start running.

All I can say is, the metro was a sea of colour and flowers 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Uganda travels

Robin’s return to Rwanda in early August brought a sad end to my teaching duties. In addition, I had cataloged every paper-clip and pipe-cleaner donated to the Rwanda School Project and the absence of library books left me restless and itching for adventure. So Maria and I decided to take a trip to Rwanda’s northern neighbor to check on an ailing friend, visit Maria’s sister, Jenny, and travel to the source of the mighty Nile River.

On Friday, August 3rd, we packed our bags and caught a bus to Kigali. After purchasing tickets for the 7:30 am bus to Kampala, we took motorcycle taxis to the home of our host for the evening—a cousin of Pastor John’s. Her four children had all been raised in Canada, but had returned to Rwanda last year to spend time in their native country. Although they knew and loved Maria, the children grew shy at the arrival of a stranger in their home. Determined to break the ice, I pulled out my camcorder which was wrapped in a kitenge and announced a game of 20 Questions to see what was inside. They began timidly, but soon shed their inhibitions.

Is it blue? “NO!” Is it hard? “YES!” Can you eat it? “NO!”

It took about 30 questions, but no one was counting. At the winning guess, I revealed the camera and began taking footage of the giddy little actors cart-wheeling and somersaulting all over the house, pausing to play back the clips to the tangle of eager bodies. It’s a fail-safe tactic and by the time we settled down to watch a sing-along movie for the three youngest, I had children crawling all over me.

At dinner, I was introduced to another Rwandan staple food which I soon came to love—ugali. It’s a sticky mound made from slowly stirring cassava flour into boiling water. You pull pieces off with your hands, roll it in flavorful sauce, and pop it into your mouth. After dinner, Maria and I headed to bed because we had to be up early for the bus. As I settled down to read my book, I permitted one of the small boys to play with my hair because he assured me that he was an experienced braider. After fifteen minutes of strange tugging, I put my hand up to feel his handiwork and discovered that he had tied most of my hair into tight knots. I winced in pain as Maria ripped them out with a comb, but I had to laugh at my gullibility that a boy of six years could braid hair. We shared a bedroom with the three eldest children, and soon discovered their secret habit of staying up all night. Maria and I spent a sleepless night grunting and turning from their attempts to wake us by shining flashlights in our eyes. In the morning, we groggily caught a taxi to the bus station and climbed aboard for the 12-hour ride to Kampala.

I’d been warned that these long-haul bus rides were dangerous, but I felt conditioned after five weeks of crazy mini-bus drivers. The trip was decent enough to the Rwandan border, but once across, the driver took off like a bat out of hell. Maria and I gripped the seat backs as we steamed through towns and skidded around bends. The driver laid on the horn incessantly and children and goats scattered before us. A woman seated in front of me opened her window and vomited outside. She hadn’t bothered to check if our window was also open (thank goodness it wasn’t) and as the throw-up streaked horizontally across the glass, I concluded that she had never been instructed of the laws of physics—another reason why a good education is critical for everyone. We slowed only once…to observe the chaos surrounding an overturned cattle truck. Farmers were slaughtering the cows too injured to walk, and I turned away as they began to slit their bellowing throats.

From the fast-forwarded screen of my window, Rwanda’s rolling hills gave way to gentle ripples of land. The Ugandan county side displayed a brilliant spectrum of green flora—from the dark patches of bean plants to the light neon of tea plantations. Mud and stick houses dotted the land and an abundance of small children teetered around, always barefoot and sometimes naked. At fuel stops, Uganda’s teaming entrepreneurial spirit showed itself as young boys and girls rushed to the bus windows holding up goat meat kabobs—skewered on strong reeds, baskets of roasted bananas and corn, and folded hot chapatti (like fluffy flour crepes). I abandoned my traveler’s instinct and bought us two cobs of maize and two steaming bananas for the equivalent of five cents.

An hour from Kampala, Maria and I stepped off the bus in a town called Nsangi. It didn’t look like much, but this was where Jenny (Maria’s sister) attended boarding school, and we trudged down the dirt road with our packs to the school gate. In addition to seeing Jenny, our plan was to save money by convincing the head master to let us spend the night. While Maria lobbied the administration on our behalf, Jenny offered me a tour of the school grounds. After observing and working in some decrepit public schools in Africa, this private school was a breath of fresh air. The grounds were clean and pleasantly landscaped, the classrooms roomy and decently-equipped, and there was even an outdoor swimming pool and a soccer pitch with grass! Maria returned with our permission to stay, and we washed up and headed over to the cafeteria for dinner. A rumor had spread that there was a new muzungo student, and all 500 sets of eyes were on me as we passed through the serving line of rice, ugali, and beans. As curious boys and girls came up to greet us, we played along with the rumor for a while before confessing that we were just weekend visitors.

After dinner, a projector was brought out for a movie and we pulled our plastic chairs up to watch. The chosen film was a horror flick about an American college spring break gone wrong. Seated in the center of a cluster of girls—I sucked on a Blow Pop someone had handed me and mused over my situation. I once watched Schindler’s List with two German friends. I knew that they probably had no more sympathy for the Nazi regime than I did myself, but still it was an agonizing experience for me. What were they thinking? What were they thinking I was thinking? The incident helped me realize that nothing can be fully understood in isolation—just as a word, a symbol, or even a blog can take on different meanings for different people. Enjoying an American horror flick isn’t exactly like rocking a confederate flag or a swastika, but I found that something that I could view with careless abandon in the States with my friends suddenly demanded a heightened awareness. What were they wearing? What cars were they driving? Why the over-exuberance for the “f” word? How did the African students watching this feel? Minus the gore and killing, I felt I was watching a version of my own social life in America through the eyes of an African teenager, and the new perspective distressed me a little.

Following the movie, we headed off to the dormitory. Jenny’s dorm was a giant concrete room with 38 sets of bunk beds and consequently, zero privacy. Maria and I shared Jenny’s twin-sized top bunk, and some of the girls were afraid of the dark, so the electric light directly above us remained lit all night. I had my fifth consecutive asthma attack and needless to say, Maria and I didn’t get much sleep.

The next morning, we hugged Jenny and other new friends goodbye and caught a crowded taxi to Kampala. The city both excited and disgusted me. It was enormous with a zillion smells, sounds, shops, and people milling about, but the streets were filthy. Heaps of trash, veritable streams of sewage, and clouds of exhaust fumes made navigating the city on foot a complicated dance of leaps, side-steps, and nose-plugged rushes. We decided to continue east to the town of Jinja at the source of the Nile, so we fought through a sea of honking taxis and insistent drivers at the park till we found one headed in our direction.

In Jinja, we found a guest house based on messy notes I had jotted down from the travel guide of a Korean tourist I had schmoozed on the bus from Kigali. Maria and I had made no reservations or even concrete plans for our travels in Uganda, and were pretty much making decisions by whim. [This, by the way, is not the best idea in Africa, but we are young, penniless, and easily amused.] After heaving our packs onto the bed and checking under it and in the closets for hiding mass murderers, we set out to explore Jinja on foot. It was a spirit-soaring day with just enough breeze to temper the heat of the African sun and an exciting tease of grey clouds on the horizon like the rains might come right when you were least prepared. From our hill-top hotel, the Nile glittered like a melting icicle in the green valley beyond the city limits. It was impossible to tell how far away it really was, but I suggested we walk to the banks and touch its hallowed waters. Dear Maria was game, as always.

Jinja was a bustling little town where just about everyone seemed to have something to sell. Some of the buildings looked recent, but most were shells from the colonial days—crumbling yet picturesque. It reminded me a bit of the Portuguese influence I observed in Mozambique, although Uganda was formerly a British colony. There was an obvious Indian presence in the town reflected in the wafting curry smells and the ethnicity of many of the merchants. Maria and I walked down the streets, shaking our heads at the hissing motorcycle drivers (hissing isn’t rude here but is a means of getting one’s attention) and the begging children who had spotted a possible benefactor in the paleness of my arm. Gradually, quant shops fell away to hollow factories and we found ourselves in the industrial outskirts of the town. We were walking through what seemed to be a junkyard of cars, still following the straight road that promised to take us to the banks of the Nile. All around us were men—elbow-deep in greasy engines like male mid-wives delivering baby machinery. One by one, they picked their heads up and stared at us—cat-calling and making kissing sounds as we passed. Like peacocks unwillingly on display, our bright clothing accentuated us against the black and brown and gray of the stock yard, and a quick visual assessment revealed that what I thought was a vast field of green grass on the banks of the Nile was actually a green swamp we would have to wade through to get to the river. Maria and I held a conference through clenched teeth, and then turned confidently into a side street like we’d seen what we came to see and quickened our pace until we could no longer feel the stares boring into our skin.

We found a motorcycle driver who agreed to take us to the source of the Nile for 2,000 shillings, or roughly a dollar, and we both climbed on the back his bike for the six kilometer ride. The source was breath-taking. In the distance, the waters of Lake Victoria glimmered calmly before surging into the mouth of the Nile to begin the 4,000 mile ascent to the Mediterranean Sea—a journey that takes three months to complete. We hired a motor boat to take us out to the seam where the still lake waters swirl into motion like a great tub being drained. Of the seven passengers on the boat, Maria and I were the only ones given life jackets, and as I later observed—the only ones charged money. I passed around a bag of potato chips and gave an impromptu lecture on the importance of love to a young Ugandan who asked me to help him get a muzungo wife. Some traditional dancers were performing on the bank when we docked, and Maria and I left the Nile to the pounding of cow-skin drums.

It was a pleasant evening, so we walked back to Jinja instead of hailing a motorcycle. Along the way, we heard extremely loud music so we followed the sound until we came across the album release concert of a popular Ugandan singer. There were hundreds of people lining up to buy tickets and at my beseeching , Maria agreed to join the queue with me. I was the only muzungo there among a crowd of a couple thousand and we rocked out for a couple of songs before leaving to beat the setting sun. We ate a dinner of vegetable curry and naan at a posh-looking Indian restaurant in town and then fell asleep at the guest house watching a Nigerian detective movie.

The next day’s journey took us to the roaring Nile waterfalls. Instead of deserting Maria and spending ninety dollars to go rafting down the chute, I opted to sip a Nile Special on the banks of the beer’s name-sake and watch the locals tempt death by body surfing down the class-six rapids on empty, yellow jerricans—their bodies like black polka-dots in the frothy white swells. The raft of muzungos I surely would have been on passed in a blur of yellow rubber and I silently thanked my stars for my dwindling money supply and Maria’s unshakable common sense. The next day, we were shocked to read in the Kampala paper that an 11-year-old girl from Ethiopia had been killed rafting that same stretch of river.

After leaving the falls, we caught various modes of transportation to reach the secondary school of a friend about an hour away. She had been suffering from a double bout of malaria and typhoid and our main purpose of the trip to Uganda was to check on her and take her back home to Rwanda with us, if need be. Maria and I sat in the stuffy waiting room of the principal’s office for about an hour before being admitted to speak with him. It took less than ten seconds to peg him as a scummy guy, and we listened in disbelief as he asked us for $150 in “extra school fees” but failed to come up with sensible reasons for the additional expenses. It was the middle of the exam week, but we managed to get permission for our friend to leave three days later. On the taxi bus back to Kampala that evening, we met two Ugandan journalists who struck up a lively conversation about democratic presidential candidates in the U.S. and our mutual admiration of the actor, Denzel Washington. They explained why they thought the recent Last King of Scotland movie did an unfair portrayal of Idi Amin and what exactly was going on with the sporadic fighting over Sudanese oil in the north of Uganda.

The next day we explored Uganda on foot—purposefully avoiding the richer, cleaner part of downtown in favor of the crowded mayhem of the city center. I bought a couple bootlegged CDs of popular African songs, savored my first ice cream in weeks, and visited the home of a former school-mate of Maria’s. The next day, we boarded the crowded bus back to Rwanda feeling a little wiser and quite weary.

No comments:


text:
Gogol Bordello confirmed for Oppikoppi 2015

On Friday a message popped up on the Oppikoppi Facebook page and simply stated “Start Wearing Purple”. Gogol Bordello fans started freaking out and not long after this the official announcement was posted: Gogol Bordello were confirmed for Oppikoppi The Fantastic Mr. Vos Vos.

Gogol-Bordello-600x222 Gogol Bordello confirmed for Oppikoppi 2015

The response was mostly positive, but a few people were in the dark asking things like “Who is Gogol Bordello?”. Well, let me tell you one thing my in-the-dark music loving friends, this Gypsy Punk band from New York City in the USA is one of the hardest working and coolest live acts around and they’ve at it since 1999, so you better put on your dancing shows (or start wearing purple) and prepare yourself for their set at Oppikoppi 2015.

Gogol-Bordello-Live-600x399 Gogol Bordello confirmed for Oppikoppi 2015

The current members of the band are Eugene Hütz, Sergey Ryabtsev, Pasha Newmer, Thomas Gobena, Boris Pelekh, Oliver Charles, Elizabeth Sun and Pedro Erazo. They’re well know for their theatrical live performances and have performed at many of the major music festivals around the world like Rock Am Ring (in Germany) and Coachella (in the USA).

Check out this live version of “Start Wearing Purple”, which was recorded at Coachella in 2008:

Oppikoppi also recently announced that auditions are now open for what will probably become one of South Africa’s most internationally acclaimed more or less traditional choirs. Hailing from Northam (and actually many other frontier townlets), the Northam Uitgewasde Seunskoor vir Mans en Vrouens (NUSMV), will be a fiercely independent, very low level amateur choir of sub-international standing.

Launching in 2015 and performing only domestically (for now), as close to Northam as possible (for now), this choir offers non-professional-but-very-willing-singers (and harmonizers) their only chance to perform in front of 20,000 of the most clued up music critics in Southern Africa. Apart from doing a few of their own rock ‘n roll anthems, the NUSMV has also been confirmed as the official backing choir for one song with Francois van Coke during his set at OppiKoppi The Fantastic Mr. Vos Vos.

Northam-Choir-600x414 Gogol Bordello confirmed for Oppikoppi 2015

The NUSMV is looking for 20 – 30 key founding members. Judges will be looking for reasonable voices, but more importantly: conviction and verve. And of course, you must know a few rock ‘n roll (and especially South African rock ‘n roll) anthems. You will need to be in harmony with the founding values of the NUSMV: tolerance, abundance, joy, rock ‘n roll, beer and respect.

If you think you have what it takes, submit an audition video of you singing your heart out to any song by these artists: Johnny Clegg, Shortstraw, PH fat, Tweak, aKING or Toya Delazy. Film yourself, upload your video to Instagram or Facebook and tag @oppikoppi and add the #uitgewas hashtag. Entries will be open from the 22nd of May through until the 14th of June. The Top 30 will go through to the next round of live auditions.

Successful singers will, of course, be given free entry to the festival, and will be required to join the choir for a few random performances, as well as the climactic performance with Francois van Coke. A few impromptu members will also be added at the festival itself. You can’t always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes you get what you need. And right now that is a blue waistcoat, madam.

The organizers also added the following artists to the line-up today: The Curious Incident (UK), SA’s rising hip hop queen Yugen Blakrok, Money For Cats, Lil Red, Made For Broadway, LA COBRA , Savage Lucy and Manny Walters.

To recap, the following artists have also been confirmed: Greedy Greg, Cazz, Naming James, Ruby Gill, Bitches Brew, Kyle Watson, AKA, The Slashdogs, Michael Plaxton-Harrison, Pop Art Live, Lost & Found, Black Math, Float Parade, Jazzuelle, Planet Lindela, Blazin Gooch, Go Barefoot, Die See, Bombs and Issues, Adventure Man, Cortina Whiplash, Bye Beneco, Crimson House, The Nomadic Orchestra, Atom, Scarlotte Will, CMR, Boxer, State Society, Kabaal klankbaan, Facing The Gallows, aKING, Gerald Clark and Luna Paige, Konrad Küchenmeister (Germany), Albert Frost & Robin Auld, Desmond & the Tutus, Sannie Fox, Poverty Of Ideals, Nonku Phiri, Frank Freeman, Kings Down South, Tweak, Anton Goosen, Johnny Clegg, Twin Atlantic (Scotland), Hyphen, Okmalumkoolkat, Guy Collins, The Foolish Braves, After Robot, Satanic Dagga Orgy, Card on Spokes, Francois van Coke, Shortstraw, P.H. Fat, BCUC, New Academics, The Bearded Ladies, Southern Wild, Meth Breath, Crystal Park, FILTH, Bark, Steadyrock-Nation, Rude One, Livingston (UK), The Ts & Cs, Red Helen, Hokum, Trancemicsoul, The Black Cat Bones, a colab featuring Albert Frost, Toya Delazy and Lee Thomson (from Hog Hoggidy Hog) and The Parlotones.

I’m wondering who else is going to be confirmed for Oppikoppi 2015 in the coming weeks… Tickets are available @ R750 on the Oppikoppi Facebook Page or Plankton.Mobi. Make sure that you get yours ASAP, it’s going to be AWESOME.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.

Do you like what you're reading on Running Wolf's Rant? Join Our Cub House on Facebook!

If you're a fan of SA Music, join the All Things SA Music group on Facebook!

Want to write for this blog? Click here to find how you can become part of the Wolf Pack!


text:
Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Latest Footballcardsforum News
****Welcome to Footballcardsforum, the biggest and best Soccer Trading Card Forum on the Net!! ****
Last Activity Aug 12 2013, 09:25 AM
Average Posts Per Day 0
Member's Local Time Dec 12 2017, 11:03 PM
Contact Information
Email Address: Click Here
Personal Messenger PM
Profile Information
Location manchester
Website http://www.mattsautographs.fpic.co.uk
Account Information Signature