Tuesday 9 December 2014

Black Butler FB

After a looong time I managed to make an fb! I am excited. I do hope that I will make another one soon, but for the time being, let's stick to what we have. Here is what I made. The heroes on the cover are from the popular manga and anime series Black Butler. 

Here is the front:

 
And the back:


The inside was kept simple this time. I hope you will like it! :)

By the way, this fb contains material by the following people: Katherine Krystallis, Joy Rodrigues, Martina Gierth, Rachael Moonlight, Crina Doltu, Jasmina Rojko, Kate Denton and Vanessa Nijs! Thank you all very much!

Monday 18 August 2014

 

 

T.S. Eliot: Circe's Palace

Around her fountain which flows
With the voice of men in pain,
Are flowers that no man knows.
Their petals are fanged and red
With hideous streak and stain.
They sprang from the limbs of the dead.--
We shall not come here again.
Panthers rise from their lairs
In the forest which thickens below,
Along the garden stairs
The sluggish python lies;
The peacock's walk, stately and slow
And they look at us with the eyes
Of men whom we knew long ago.

Sunday 20 July 2014

I have a soft spot for handsome fruitcakes.

It's been a very long time since I crafted. So, here is a High Quality friendship book with Khan from Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013). A very good movie, with an excellent Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of Khan, the antagonist.


Here is the front:


And here is the back:


The inside was simple, so I took no photos. :) Enjoy.
I may make another one soon.

Saturday 17 May 2014

A hunger like no other? More like a headache like no other.



It was just impossible to get into this one. Everything about the book is two dimensional and cliché, and a badly formulated one for that matter. J. R. Ward also writes in clichés, but manages to often marry them to a fresh, unexpected point of view. I wish I could say the same for Kresley Cole. The characters are cliché, the story line is cliché, the sex is cliché (or disturbing). The heroine (see: the-gorgeous-limp-wristed-maiden with the mysterious lineage) is trapped in a hotel room by the brute, creepy hero who keeps pawing her at every given chance, because he is certain she is his life mate. Never mind what she wants or says, and she does say no loud and clear. Then, contrary to her own words, she jerks him off in the shower, while he is a total stranger who has just kidnapped her and she has never seen male genitalia in her life. Right you are. A six foot something hairy growling menace kidnaps me, I’ll jerk him off because I can’t resist his manly charms. Hello? Brain, are you there? Hellooo? Someone has to tell those women writers that if the rape fantasy was a horse, it has been flogged to death already, and they just keep flogging the carcass of the damn thing like there is no tomorrow. There are so many other possibilities they can explore. And as a general observation, after reading a few of the paranormal romance genre novels, I strongly believe women writers should stop using demeaning and stupid stereotypes, like the “no means yes” stereotype, regardless of the hero having an irresistible Scottish accent or not. What kind of message does this give? Press the lass enough and talk like you have a sock in your mouth and sooner or later you’ll score? Hmmm? I am actually grateful such books aren’t read by men, as they seem to verify and empower every negative stereotype on female behaviour I have come across, including the “read my mind and you’ll know what’s wrong with me, because I sure as hell won’t tell you. I’ll just sit here and pout” drill. Ladies, you can and should write better than this.

Back to the book. The characters… Another fantastic innovation. Oh, the distressed, mousy heroine, she is so weak, poor thing, with her baby fangs and everything. How cute it is to be a doormat and a spineless squeamish little porcelain beauty who is perpetually bossed around by others. Of course, halfway through the book she transforms into super woman, super heroine, super-you-name-it, because the mystery of her lineage is revealed. Duh. Then there is the mad male protagonist who has all the behavioural traits of a violent, overbearing spouse (regularly destroys furniture and clothes, does not understand the meaning of the word no, nearly strangles her, gives her baths against her will, uses her credit card without permission to buy whatever he wants including a car, blah, blah). Later on he becomes the perfect, loving, caring lover and of course, hold on tight, he is a king rightfully restored to his power. A huh. Of course he is. From that aspect, the book is a complete lunatic park with Valkyries who squeal and behave like school girls and various other unrelated, random occurrences and shenanigans. I do understand that the use of mythological beings is arbitrary to begin with, but Valkyries who talk and behave like 12-year-olds and love nail polish and pop-corn are something that made my hairs stand on end. If Wagner knew, he would probably rise from his grave and bring down the entire Norse pantheon armed to the teeth to deal with it. 

The writing style and the plot crafting of the book are letdowns too. The style is unclear, confusing, halting, often falls short. I had to re-read whole paragraphs in some cases. Characters appear and disappear before the reader has any idea who they are or what they want. The story line is messy, often inexplicable, there is no chemistry between the protagonists, and I could not find anything believable about it. There is even the mother of all ‘plot twists’ we come across in romance books (see: another cliché, preferably narrated with a deep, ominous voice, hinting of impeding doom:) “I won’t tell you the truth about who I am, so inevitably there will be a huge and potentially lethal misunderstanding”. Whoa, now I can barely contain my excitement. I almost fell off my chair by the sheer force of unpredictability. I wonder what’s next? Let me guess, this will ONLY mean that the two protagonists will bond DEEPER when that is finally settled through TRIALS and AGONY because TRUE LOVE, YEAH BABY? Wow, just… wow. Never saw that coming. I swear.

I never managed to finish it. I flipped through and finally tossed it aside and gave it away via bookmooch.com. On a more positive note, I have been told that the third book of the series is much better. The brief excerpt from it does seem better, but I am not going to take the risk after the disappointment of the first.

Monday 21 April 2014

Α blast from my past

Gackt again? Yep. (Gackt is a very famous Japanese singer/ performer/ actor). I haven't made any fbs with him in a long time, mostly because I've outgrown my interest in him. Nevertheless, here is one I finished yesterday.


I decorated the inside instead of the back.


I wasn't in the mood for decorating the back, so I kept it as simple as possible.

Now I want to make some more, but smaller ones... I don't want to make them as huge as the two previous. It will all depend on time and inspiration. :)

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Did you miss me?

I probably sound like Moriarty. ;) But I am relatively harmless. Kinda.
I have been bellyaching around this one for a full month now. Finished the front, then got a severe case of dragging my feet. The reason I pressed myself to get it over with is that two of my friends are Atsushi fans (the guy on the cover) and wanted to see it. Well. Here it is.

The front, with Atsushi Sakurai, singer of the Japanese rock band Buck-Tick:


This is the inside, nice and simple:


The back, kept simple too (as the cover is overkill)


If you open it it looks like this:


I like it, especially the front part. I hope to get it back one day. :)