TV Recap

    Hey guys, sorry about not posting yesterday.  I totally forgot:(  I'm going to try to keep myself on track by putting reminders in my phone so that I can keep up with things.  I very rarely sit at my computer these days and with everything else going on in my life at the moment I've found it difficult to stay on track.  I am planning a little mini vacation for myself when the holidays come around, so that'll be nice.  ANYWAY, I meant to do a recap yesterday of the TV shows I've been keeping up with lately, so here we go.  Beyond this point are SPOILERS, so if you're not caught up, don't read!

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    Arrow was big last week because of Constantine making a cameo appearance.  My husband loved that show and when it was cancelled, he wasn't too happy.  Needless to say he's been given a second chance and it did not disappoint.  We left off with Team Arrow trying to figure out the best way to approach the now loose Sarah after attempts to talk her down failed.  Thea realized that her blood-lust was directed towards her, because Thea was the one who killed her under Merlin's influence.  Thea decided she wanted to let Sarah kill her in order to cure her blood-lust because Thea felt that she was the only one who understood what Sarah was going through.  Thea's blood-lust cannot be cured because the person who killed her is already dead and she can't avenge herself.  Obviously the rest of the team didn't like this idea, so Oliver called in some back-up in the form of an old friend.
    They showed flashbacks to when Oliver was back on his old friend The Island and Constantine happened to be held at gunpoint by his commanding officer.  Constantine took Oliver hostage and drove him to a location where he knew there was a magical artifact that he needed.  Oliver saved his life Indiana Jones style, which meant Constantine owed him a favor.  Back in the present, Constantine devised a plan that would allow Oliver and Laurel to go inside Sarah's mind to retrieve her soul.  In the end, everyone is successful and Sarah is returned to her normal state.  Diggle receives closure about his dead brother and Felicity discovers that Ray is still alive.  A lot happened this past week, so I can't wait to see where this goes.  I believe Constantine will be a crucial part of defeating Dahrk, but we'll see.

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    Agents of SHIELD was also full of surprising revelations last week.  We see Agent May return to the team under circumstances beyond her control.  Andrew, her ex husband, was involved in an explosion that killed several members of the newly-formed Hydra group, sent by Ward.  May and Bobbi team up in this episode and it was awesome!  This was the first time Bobbi had returned to the field since last season, so she was still unsure of herself in the beginning.  May and Bobbi make a great team and May was able to talk Bobbi into relinquishing her fear.  Meanwhile, Skye, (I still can't call her Daisy...it's too weird), and the rest of the gang are trailing Coulson as he meets up with the leader of the ATCU.  They discover that she's putting the Inhumans she captures into a sort of stasis in order to bide time for finding a cure.  We also find out that she lost her husband to cancer and refuses to let the Inhumans deal with their troubling abilities without at least trying to help them.  Noble, but is she really doing the right thing?
    The real shocker in this episode, which I kind of saw coming, is the reveal of the human identity of Lash.  After Skye saw Lash turn back into a human a few episodes ago, she didn't want to let it go.  As they search for the answers, May is actually the one to find out the truth from a dying Von Strucker.  We see in a flashback to the explosion that Andrew is actually Lash and caused the explosion that killed everyone inside the store.  This also explains how he could have survived such an explosion.  We're probably going to be dealing with this revelation when May and Bobbi return from their mission.  May is currently the only one who knows about Andrew, so it's unlikely that she will tell anyone until she has a chance to talk to him herself, knowing the truth will set everyone into a panic.  Inhumans everywhere!

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    Flash was interesting last week.  I've been waiting for Barry to ask Patty out for awhile now, so I'm glad they finally worked that in.  Unfortunately, the poor bastard was blind for most of the date, thanks to a run-in with our newest Inhuman bad person, who looks identical to Linda Park, one of Barry's ex-girlfriends from last season and Iris's friend in the newsroom.  While they deal with Linda's doppelganger, everyone is dealing with working alongside the Earth 2 Harrison Wells.  Although this version of Dr. Wells is identical to the one Barry defeated last season, they have very different personalities.  No one is comfortable, but they have to learn to work together in order to defeat this season's villain, Zoom.  Dr. Wells even helps Cisco, (albeit not kindly), reveal his new powers to the rest of the team, shocking everyone, including Cisco.  In the end, Dr. Light is captured with Cisco's psychic help before she can kill Linda, Barry gets the girl after regaining his eye sight and Cisco introduces himself to an attractive barista, who will turn out to become Hawkgirl this season and continue on to the spin-off Legends of Tomorrow with The Atom and the White Canary from Arrow.  When every episode of Flash introduces a new character, you have to learn how to keep track of the ones who aren't temporary.

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    Lastly, Once threw us for a loop last weekend as well, introducing us to the original Dark One, aka Nimue, who was Merlin's lost love.  As Merlin and Emma search for the last ember of Prometheus in order to reforge the sword, (I will never get tired of saying that), to wipe out Emma's darkness.  While on their quest, Merlin recounts his past, including the day he discovered the Holy Grail and inadvertently created Arthur's future kingdom.  He also discovers he has magic and eternal life, which he uses to help the people in his ever-growing village.  There he meets Nimue, who has fled her town after a murderous lunatic set fire to everything and killed everyone in order to find the grail.  Merlin falls for her and they devise a plan to turn the cup into a sword in order to wipe out Merlin's magic so they can be together for one life.  Nimue ends up betraying Merlin for revenge against the man who destroyed her village and becomes the first Dark One, having taken the man's heart and crushed it.  The rest of the gang stage a break in of Arthur's castle in order to get the sword.  As usual, they're betrayed by Zelena and sent away before completing their task.  As we move back to present day in Storybrooke, we see that Emma has both pieces of the sword and is able to put them together.  She encounters all her past Dark Ones, including Nimue, who watch her put the sword back together.  Emma briefly recalls when Merlin told her as a child to "leave the sword alone," which she doesn't end up doing anyway.  We'll see what happens in the two-hour show this weekend, but I have a feeling Emma knows what she's doing.  Merlin and Emma talked about whether or not a dark force can overcome itself in the right circumstances and Merlin hints that maybe someday there will be someone strong enough to break the darkness for good.  I have a feeling it'll be Emma, but we'll see.

    So that's all I have for recaps this week.  For someone who doesn't watch a lot of TV, I'm finding that the TV I am watching is sufficient and engaging enough to keep my interest.  I've also been adjusting my November TBR to accommodate my new obsession, which is The Mortal Instruments series.  I read the first book in a day, so I'm hoping to finish the series by the end of this month.  I plan on doing an author spotlight tomorrow on Cassandra Clare, so more on that then.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Nerdy Recap

    Hey everyone!  I apologize, (again), for not posting on Tuesday.  I've had a lot going on and I've gotten back to working on my unfinished colloquium, which is supposed to be done at the beginning of December.  That being said, I'm going to try to make an effort to remember to post on the days I've set aside, if not for your sake, then for mine, just to have some sort of distraction at least.  I'll be moving my Nerd Alert to next Tuesday and in the meantime I thought that today could be a recap of the TV I've been catching up on.  We're talking Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Arrow.

    Although I don't have cable, I do have a Hulu and a Netflix account, (like any normal person would), but that means I have to watch my shows the day after they air, which puts me at a slight disadvantage.  Regardless, my husband and I try to get caught up as soon as possible and we just caught up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D last night.  Oh my Lord has it gotten complicated!  For those of you who aren't aware, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D follows a team of people from the Marvel universe who work closely with the Marvel superheroes and tie in directly with The Avengers, etc.  We're entering season three now and things have gone haywire from where they started in season one.  Season two's finale tied in directly with the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was awesome!  Marvel is working to connect the cinematic and television universes together and they are doing a great job so far.  Beyond this point are SPOILERS galore, so aver your eyes, unless you're an Inhuman!

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    Anyway, season two also ended with Simmons getting sucked into an inter-dimensional alien portal monolith, (otherwise known as a giant, black rock which can liquefy at random).  At the beginning of this season, we see Fitz attempting to discover the mysteries of the alien stone and try to get his true love out of her prison.  We find out that she's actually alive at the end of the first episode of this season, which aroused more questions, like where the hell is she?  We also get introduced to the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, (ATCU), created by the government to fill the empty hole left by the destruction of the old S.H.I.E.L.D.  Episode two saw more of Fitz scrambling to get into the portal, breaking an old Asgardian ally out of prison to travel to a remote English castle to experiment with ancient technology.  Needless to say it was risky business, but Fitz was willing to do anything to get Simmons back.  Meanwhile, Skye/Daisy, (I'm never going to get used to her name change), is still searching for Lincoln, who's now on the run from everybody, thanks to this new agency attempting to flush him out with press coverage.  We see Simmons and Fitz finally reunited after a harrowing rescue ordeal with the help of Daisy's quake abilities.  Episode three saw Simmons in recovery mode, trying to fight off the horror of surviving that hell hole mystery planet.  Fitz tries to show her that he's kept everything as she left it, but Bobbi mentions that maybe she needs some change, something different to make her feel more comfortable and move on from her ordeal.  So, naturally, Fitz uses his long-standing reservation at a nice restaurant to clear the air, only she spends the evening crying on his shoulder.  The ATCU is still on the hunt for Lincoln and that poor bastard can't trust anybody but Daisy now, so he ends up giving in and finally asking for help, but not before he accidentally kills a friend of his.  And kisses Daisy, which I've wanted to happen for awhile now and I'm SO GLAD it did!  But now they have to find him again... Also, Ward is back in the picture, trying to reform Hydra with the son of von Strucker.  This should be a very interesting season indeed.

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  Arrow has only had two episodes so far and I've only seen the first one, (we'll be catching up tonight with Flash and Arrow).  Season three saw the disengagement of the team Oliver led with him fleeing into suburbia to a life of quiet and quiche.  That didn't last long.  Season four begins with the gang disarming a truck full of vagrants, with Speedy, aka Thea, joining their task force in a nice red getup.  Soon they discover this goes far over their heads and the city is now in danger, thanks to Damien Dahrk, the villain of season four.  I've heard he's a force to be reckoned with in the comics, so we'll see if that plays out in the show, but so far, I fear him completely.  He has some modifications to the comic version of himself, including mystic powers far beyond those of most professional human beings, which incapacitate his victims easily, including Oliver.  We see Oliver attempt to propose to Felicity before being interrupted by Laurel and Diggle, asking for his help.  I really hope it doesn't take him the whole season to propose to her or I'm literally going to scream.  We've been waiting for this for FOUR SEASONS NOW GUYS.  Also, what concerns me is the end scene, with Oliver at a grave site in the near future, six months from the present.  We don't see whose grave it is, but Oliver swears painful vengeance on whoever is responsible for the death.  WHO COULD IT BE?!?  I can't even begin to discuss the theories I have for this cliff hanger.  For one, it could be Felicity, just because the CW people are cruel and refuse to satisfy the fan shipping we all want to happen and to destroy Oliver once and for all.  Another option would be Diggle, since his warrior outfit is literally the worst and he still has to forgive Oliver for what he did to his family last season, so there's obvious tension there.  Then there's Thea, an obvious choice because it's his only remaining family and it would devastate him to lose his beloved sister.  Those are my three choices for who ends up dying, probably by the end of the season, so we'll have a lot of time to think about it before they actually show us who it is.  I'm excited and frustrated at the same time.

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    So there you have it, my recap and slight reviews of Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D so far.  I'm looking forward to following these series this season because I feel like they've both reached their apex.  It can only get better from here.  I've also reached season three in The Vampire Diaries after only a week of excessive late-night Netflix binge-watching.  I've even hooked my husband into watching it with me, (against his better judgement).  I'm addicted now, so if I keep going like this I should be able to catch up before the newer seventh season is over.  Fingers crossed!  What about you guys?  Do you watch Arrow or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D?  Vampire Diaries?  Thoughts on any and all of these shows can be left down in the comments!  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Recaps and Chill

    Hey guys!  Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I got side tracked after work.  I'll be cramming two blog posts into one this week because I have my internship tomorrow and I need to work on preparing myself for a second job interview on Friday.  Next week should be back to normal.  Today, I thought I would recap my weekend, which included the Powderkeg Beer and Chili Festival in my hometown of Exeter, NH and the second episode of Once Upon a Time, because I promised do some TV recaps.

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    My husband and I attend the Beer and Chili festival every year and it's a really great time!  This year was the fourth year of the festival and it has grown leaps and bounds since it started back in 2011.  The festival brings craft beer brewers and local restaurants together to create the perfect fall atmosphere.  Local restaurants will compete to see who's chili reigns supreme in the area while beers from all over New England service the milling public.  I really enjoy getting to taste not only the chili from some of my favorite places, but also beers and ciders that I would normally not have access to.  Two words: FREE PRETZELS.  I highly recommend attending any local fall festivals in your area.  It's a great chance to celebrate the season and sample some local fare with friends.

    So, as you know, I'm a huge OUAT fan and this season is starting off incredibly Dark Swan.  For those of you who haven't caught up with the current season yet, SPOILERS AHEAD.
    At this point, Emma is struggling to balance her light and darkness with her new-found power while her poor family is stuck trying to figure out a way to save her.  We were introduced to Merida in the very first episode as she runs into Emma and eventually agrees to help her find her way to Merlin.  The Storybrooke gang is still blissfully unaware where Emma is and Hook deceives his way into accidentally helping Zelena get out of her imprisonment.  At the end of the first episode, the gang rides a tornado into the Enchanted Forest in the hopes of finding Emma and Merlin, but end up running into the Camelot Crew.  Flash forward to a few weeks later and they're all back in Storeybrooke, at Granny's, with Emma in full Dark Swan mode, turning dwarfs to stone.  What the hell happened?

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    Last weekend's episode revealed a little more about the gang's missing memories.  This episode included a lot of back and forth between present day evil Dark Swan Emma and when they were back in Camelot adjusting to court life yet again.  Regina has claimed herself to be the new Savior, unsure of whether or not she can actually do the job like Emma had.  Henry believes in her, (obviously), but how much influence does he really have?  Robin is taken by a random Fury who shows up to claim a debt owed to it by Regina, (supposedly), and she spends most of the episode trying to figure out a way around it.  Belle sheds some light on the situation because book smarts and Regina finds out she must trade a life for Robins if he's to be saved.  Instead of trying to sacrifice herself again, Snow, Charming and Hook all contribute to the Fury's sacrifice in order to free Robin.  In another area of the woods, Hook is still trying to get Emma back to normal, to no avail, and Emma happens to have the sword AND the dagger in order to reforge the blade that was broken, (see what I did there?).  Needless to say, it's not as easy as it looks and the spirit of Evil Rumple is still trying to help her turn over to the dark side and do what no other Dark One has ever accomplished: free themselves of everyone they've ever loved so they can become completely submerged in the darkness.  Scary, right?  I don't think that will happen to Emma, but I bet she gets really close.  We'll have to see what happens next.
    My favorite part of last week's episode was actually Henry, my precious cinnamon roll, and his NEW LADY FRIEND VIOLET.  I keep forgetting Henry is actually probably like 15 by now and so ready to have a love interest in this show.  I still see him like I did in the first season when he was ADORABLE so I'm not sure if this was just for this episode to break up the tension or a recurring plot line, but whatever it is I'm totally shipping Violenry/Henlet (?).  Help me out here with a ship name please.

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    While we're talking about shows we're obsessed with, I'll mention that I've been perusing Netflix for a show to binge watch this month, something relatively scary, maybe supernatural in nature and nothing that will give me nightmares.  I started watching Supernatural, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, however I've found that Vampire Diaries is my new favorite guilty pleasure show to Netflix and chill to and I'm ashamed to say that I am hopelessly addicted after only 6 episodes.  You would think that it would scream Twilight TV, but it doesn't.  In fact, there are points in the show so far that have blatantly made fun of Twilight, so I approve of that wholeheartedly.  I have no idea what's going to happen to my free time now, but I'm willing to run with it.  TVD is entering it's 7th season, as opposed to Supernatural, which is entering it's 11th season, (SO MANY EPISODES TO WATCH).  I don't think I mentioned either of these shows in my frequently watched series post a few days ago, but I'm going with it!  Which one would you watch?  Are you team Vampire Diaries or Team Supernatural?  Let's discuss.

    That's all I have for this week.  I'm putting most of my energy into Netflix and preparing for my interview tomorrow, so wish me luck!  Next week I'll have a new Nerd Alert and an Author Spotlight for you.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Reviews Galore!

    Hey all!  I promise I'm not rushing this time, (even though it seems like Tuesday's post did pretty well for itself, all things considered).  I start my last set of classes on Tuesday, so this may very well be the last random post for the winter vacation.  We'll see how much work I have next week.

    The first thing I'd like to address is that it's my Nana's birthday today.  She would've been 71 today if she hadn't passed away three years ago tomorrow.  I miss her a lot and sometimes I wish she was still here so I could ask her questions and get her opinion on things.  I know I'm an adult and I should be able to think for myself, but sometimes everyone needs a second opinion.  I was her oldest grandchild and shouldered a lot of responsibility.  I took today off because I wanted to celebrate her life rather than her death and so that I could go see her because I haven't in awhile.  I usually bring her flowers because she loved them so much and I hope the little pop of color will help her think of spring and of all the gardening we used to do together.  I'm still somewhat bitter about the amount of time we got to spend together before we were rudely interrupted, however I am grateful I at least got to say goodbye.  I love you now and forever always Nana<3

    So to keep myself happy and in good spirits today, I will start out with my review of the latest Bachelor, as promised on Tuesday.  I would like to take a moment and recognize a select few ladies for their potential and their utter embarrassment on public television.  SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

•   Claire- I like Claire, really I do, but I feel like she's just way too into this.  Everything excites her and she seems to be impervious to any negativity whatsoever.  This could be a good thing in the long run, but I found her to be very annoying for her first one-on-one with Juan Pablo.  She seems to have it set in her mind that he's already perfect for her and that he could be "the Juan" she's been longing for after only about a week, so we'll see if she lasts.
• Renee and Cassandra- I like these two because they are "the moms" of the group and they have that in common with Juan Pablo.  He treats them differently because they have children and he understands where they are coming from on a deeper level than any of the other ladies can understand, so for that I commend them for taking the risk.  I know that he can't chose both of them and although Cassandra has shown remarkable maturity for a 21-year-old, I think that Renee would be a better fit for him and his little girl.  We'll see if I'm right.
• Nikki- She is a little ball of sunshine, (not in the almost fake way that Claire demonstrates), but it's manageable and controlled.  Juan seems to like her a lot and she's obviously great with children being a pediatric nurse, so I feel like she'll go far if he doesn't get too attached to some of the other ladies.
• Lucy- What a gem this one is.  I'm all for being comfortable with your body, but unfortunately we don't live in a world where public displays of nudity are acceptable, (outside of nude beaches and certain European countries).  I like her attitude thus far; she seems nice, genuine and relaxed, not at all caddy or anxious about dates and what-not.  But I honestly don't see her as proper mom material for Camila, so I think that's the ultimate deal-breaker for me with her.  That and the fact that her job as a "free spirit" probably won't go over very well with him either.
• Victoria- I AM SO GLAD SHE'S GONE.  I actually had high hopes for her, being 24 and from Brazil she seemed to have at least something in common with Juan Pablo.  Alas, I was terribly wrong...who would've known she was an adult?  Her behavior at the group date was appalling to say the least and reminded me of something you might have seen in The Real World house, rather than The Bachelor.  Definitely not mommy material and the self-inflicted dramatic rampage was completely unnecessary.  Have a nice flight back home to Miami.

    Those are my immediate thoughts so far after seeing the last episode.  If you want to read a great and thorough recap, check it out here at Entertainment Weekly.  Literally made me laugh out loud reading it.  Can't get enough of that satire!

    Another review I wanted to do was for the new Pokemon Y game for the Nintendo 3DS, which I purchased yesterday, (after almost no deliberation).  Yes, I am an adult and yes, it's awesome.  After about 24 hours I've accumulated 84 Pokemon in my Pokedex, one gym badge and a new fossilized Pokemon that I am very excited about, (he's called a Tyrunt and he will eventually evolve into a Tyrannosaurus Rex-type thing).  I've logged about 9 hours of game play so far and I'm very impressed with the graphics and overall layout of the game.  I am currently in Ambrette Town getting ready to move onto the next coastal city.

    If you're curious, the three starter Pokemon you are given to chose from are Chespin, (grass-type rodent thing), Froakie, (water-type frog thing), and Fennekin, (fire-type fox thing).  As opposed to the Professor of this region giving you the choice of one of these three Pokemon, your characters meets with his or her friends to decide amongst themselves.  It's a weird concept, but I understood why after we met with the Professor and he gave us three more Pokemon to choose from: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle.  To say that I was excited would've been an understatement.  After having a coronary, I chose Charmander, (obviously).  I have always chosen fire-type or water-type Pokemon from each game, so I got to choose both this time.  For my main Pokemon I chose Froakie, solely because it was a frog and it was adorable.

    I used to nickname all my Pokemon, but I now find that to be tiring because there are about 12,000 more Pokemon now than when I started back in 1998, so I stuck to nicknaming just a few so far.  My Froakie's name is Remy, (something French, so I used Remy LeBeau as inspiration because it's a ninja frog).  I named my Charmander Drogon because it'll eventually become a fearsome dragon lord due to Mega Evolution, which is also new to this series.  Only certain Pokemon can mega evolve and you have to possess a certain stone to make it happen.  For example, in each game, Pokemon X or Y, Charizard mega-evolves differently, (see picture above).  Depending on which game you get, the mega evolutions vary.  I'm excited to see what other special secrets there are in the game as I go along.

    Another thing I like about the game is that you can connect wirelessly with anyone else who has either game to trade, battle, etc.  I remember the good old days of linking up with cords and you had to sit right across from someone to battle them on a tiny screen.  Now you can be worlds away with the right Internet connection and battle in 3D.  Pretty neat, huh?  I haven't met anyone else who has this game, so let me know in the comments if you do so we can play together!  I'm still figuring out how all this new technology works, so bare with me, (I haven't used a Gameboy since they were still called Gameboys...).

    So that's my post for today.  Now I'm going to grab some lunch and see how much farther I can get within a reasonable hour; I ended up losing track of time last night and played until 3am...not good.  If you have any comments, tips or predictions about The Bachelor or Pokemon X or Y, let me know in the comments!  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.