The Lone Wolf Book Review.

Title: The Lone Wolf.
Author: Louis Joseph Vance.
Genre: Action/Adventure, Turn-of-the-Century, Drama, Redemptive, Espionage, Romance, Classic.
Plot: A little known inn called Troyon's in 1893, one cold wet night, becomes the home of a five year old boy who is quite obviously English but beyond that, nothing is ever known about his origins. The owners of the inn, Madame and Papa Troyon, take the boy in and Madame immediately puts him to work. The boy rapidly grows up, under the name of Marcel {"which wasn't his name,"} and spends his nights wandering all over Paris and his days in school and when out of school dodging the servants, Madame's fists, and learning everything he could. He learned how to sneak about without making any sound, he learned to read and eventually learned to read English before he could speak it, and how to defend himself. By the age of fifteen he was quite the fighter and practiced petty thief. One day he crosses one of the inn's frequent {and eccentric} patrons; an Irishman by the name of Bourke who turns out to be a thief himself and whisks Marcel off with him to America where he teaches him the finer details of their common trade, illegal though it be. When they left, Marcel forsook the name of Marcel and became known to the world as Michael Lanyard.
One of the many lessons Bourke drilled into Lanyard was to never let a woman into his life. "To let love into your life you must open a door no mortal hand can close. And God only knows what'll follow in." These lessons stay with Lanyard and serve him well when he returns to Paris in 1910, around the age of twenty-two, with Scotland Yard and possibly British government agents tailing him. By chance, Lanyard finds himself at Troyon's which, he is astonished to find, has changed owners and vastly improved since last he was there. Lanyard has supper in the dining room where he spots Roddy, a Scotland Yard agent; a Frenchman with a nasty reputation with which Lanyard is familiar by the name of Comte Remy de Morbihan who is seated nearby with two Americans: an elderly man and a rather pretty young woman. Lanyard and Roddy both listen to the interesting conversation of the other three, during which Lanyard learns to his concern that his secret double-identity is known or suspected by the authorities.
But this is only the beginning of a very busy short span of time in which Lanyard quickly comes to the conclusion that he must flee Paris for his life. However, when the mysterious and quite obviously troubled American girl, Luchia Bannon, falls in with him, intent on getting out of Paris also, Lanyard is inspired by her purity to turn his life around and give up thieving for good. Lanyard opens his heart to love, unaware if he can withstand what follows in and survive the blow.
Likes/Dislikes: A very well written, delightfully well written if I may so, action adventure complete with a dashing hero, a car chase and a gun fight, all in 1910 Paris, France! The vocabulary and descriptions were wonderful and painted the picture so well without getting the reader sidetracked with unnecessary details. Lanyard does say "damn" a few times but I didn't find this objectable. The end leaves us still unaware of Lanyard's origins; perhaps these are explained in the sequel? J

Rating: PG-10 and up for the reading level. Highly recommended!
Date Report Written: April 22, 2011.

Psalm 62 KJV.

"Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation; H is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us.

Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are althogether lighter than vanity.

Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work."

Tower Challenge!

Having been inspired {as well as enchanted and thoroughly entertained!} by Disney's 50th animated film Tangled, I have a challenge for you all! And no, it's not a giveaway. ;)

Okay, first things first: the info. Let's backtrack a moment; I am a writer, always have been {though I didn't realize it until I was about thirteen :P} and always will be. We can get into my whole lifelong love affair with books, dead authors, and my writing policies later. For now, all you need to know is that I write. And you'd better enjoy writing to some degree also because this challenge is all about writing {more or less}. Now, the deal is this: write in fifty words or more {the minimal is 50 words} what your life would be like/what you would do if you *drum roll please* lived in a tower. :D

There, aren't I a genus?

Okay, okay, details. Using your imagination, picture to yourself {in as positive a manner as you are capable of please} what your life would be like if you lived in a tower your whole life and what you would do every day to while away the hours. Think about it, really think about it: what does your tower look like? How'd you get there? Does anyone live with you? Do you read/bake/paint/sing/practice the Force/etc. to while away the hours or do you just sit there and daydream about escaping the tower someday? Are you content with your situation or do you long for something else? Do you ever actually get to go outside? What happens if a terrible storm blows through and rips the roof off your tower? What would you do? Perhaps you've been out battling trolls/goblins/orcs/vampires/werewolves/nasty thugs and are only in your tower for a short time to recover and let things settle down a little?

Once you've got a general, naturally very rough idea of your tower experience figured out, grab some paper {or the nearest computer} and start writing! Don't worry too much about spelling and grammar while you're writing the first draft of your story, you can polish most of that up later before posting about it.

Now, the rules. What's a challenge without rules my dears? All right, that's enough; get back over here and listen to them, I promise I won't bite. ;) Rule 1: the minimal word count for your story is fifty {50} words but if you can and will go over that then go for it!!! :D Rule 2: in order to qualify and participate in this challenge you have to do the following: post a link back to this post at your blog/Facebook/Twitter {if you have it} pages and any other writing/book/movie sites where dwell people who might like to participate in this challenge with you, please leave your name and acceptance of the challenge in a comment to this post, and tell five {5} to ten {10} people about it {and do remind them to mention who told them about this challenge in their comments please}, and you have to be a follower of this blog {if you're not already a follower, feel free to scroll down and become one right now! :)}.

This is a free challenge and anyone is welcome to join in on the fun! :) Guys as well as girls are both warmly welcomed {it certainly would be interesting to find out what a guy would do if locked in a tower ;)}. The deadline {quick, get ready to mark your calenders!} is June 18th, 2011 to give you all plenty of time to think of something simple to write. You can join in on the fun at any time between now and June 17th; when you've finished writing your story {the majority of which MUST take place in a tower located somewhere in the Solar System}, you can either post it to your blog {sending me a link to it when you have done so please} or post it to your Facebook account as a note {also sending me a link please}, I don't have a Twitter account so I have no idea if one can even post a story to it so if Twitter is your only social network or if you have none of the above but would still like to participate, I suggest that either you contact a friend of yours with a blog/Facebook account or me and get them/I to post your story in your name for you.

At this point in time, I haven't decided if there will be prizes for anyone or not {I kinda tend to have bad ideas for prizes anyway} but I'll update you on that score later.

Okay, ready? Get set. Go start writing!!!! :)

Tangled Movie Review.

Title: Tangled.

Starring: Mandy Moore {Rapunzel}, Zachary Levi {Flynn Rider}, Donna Murphy {Mother Gothel}.

Year of Release: To theaters in November 2010, to DVD in March 2011.

Genre: Fairy Tale, Romance, Action/Adventure, Retelling, Humorous, Family, Animation, Instant Classic.

Plot: From the first opening line of "This is the story of how I died," this movie takes you on a whirlwind ride that rocks you with laughter and changes your view on the classic fairy tale Rapunzel. Opening with a quick, interesting and highly important rundown of Rapunzel's birth and kidnapping by the hag, the fast pace of the movie is immediately felt and we are then introduced to our heroine who, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, begins the day as any other in her secret tower. While she is fending off boredom and daydreaming of the mysterious "floating lights" that always appear on her birthday, the palace is being raided by a dashing thief named Flynn Rider and his two partners; making their escape with the precious crown of the long-lost princess of the kingdom, Flynn sizes the first opportunity to ditch his companions and vanishes deep into the forest with palace guards scrambling about looking for him. Seeing Rapunzel's tower, Flynn climbs it and is promptly hit over the head by the tower occupant who wields a frying pan with hilarious accuracy.

Reviving shortly afterwards, Flynn finds himself tied with locks of golden hair to a chair and is interrogated by the owner of the hair. Rapunzel, knowing her "mother" won't be back for three days' time and having a great wish to see the floating lights, makes a deal with Flynn: he takes her to see the lights and gets her back home safely in exchange for his satchel which she has "hidden where he will never find it." Reluctantly agreeing, Flynn first finds himself bored as Rapunzel runs around exploring the outdoor world that she is seeing for the first time up close and then he tries his best to twice get her to give up and go back to the tower. However, with the palace authorities {along with a very silly soldier horse}, Flynn's disgruntled associates and the angry hag after them, the two young people are forced to work together and slowly find themselves falling in love. But the struggle isn't over as they race to the unexpected but wonderfully dramatic climax!


Likes/Dislikes: There is, of course, an element of magic in the form of a magical sunflower and Rapunzel's fifty-foot train of golden hair {it's a wonderfully hilarious scene when Flynn learns the secret of her hair!} and the hag is a little strange but I'm glad she doesn't go around casting spells left and right on everyone. The end is quite exciting and different from the original story {which I enjoyed very much} and there are plenty of hilarious scenes throughout the movie. There are also about two or three scenes in which the characters are in peril so I don't recommend letting violence-sensitive seven and younger children watch this film.

Rating: PG and I agree with this rating. The film is highly recommended by the reviewer however!

Date Report Written: April 4th, 2011.

Tangled Movie Pictures.

Although I have been reading quite a bit lately {always am} I haven't come across an exceptionally well written or humorous scene {which also doesn't give the plot away} to post on Wednesdays like I'm trying to get into the habit of doing so instead I shall post a series of pictures I found yesterday from one of my newest favorite movies. Note: there will be a review on this movie popping up here on Saturday as I still haven't finished the delightful Tiphereth Trilogy by Miss Hepner due to being bogged down with school and books I have to read for school and which have library due dates fast approaching. :( Enjoy the pictures nonetheless! :)


P.S. I'm uploading and posting them today instead of tomorrow because tomorrow I have an eye doctor appointment so we're turning it into a shopping trip and will be busy running around for most of the day.

Only the Strong Movie Review.

Title: Only the Strong.

Starring: Mark Dacascos {Louis Stevens}, Stacey Travis {Dianna}, Geoffrey Lewis {Mr. Kerrigan}, Paco Christian Prieto {Silverio}, and Richard Coca {Orlando Aliveres}.

Year of Release: 1993.

Gene: Action/Adventure, Drama, Martial Arts.

Plot: When Louis Stevens, a Special Forces officer, returns from his time in the army training death squads on an island in the Caribbean, he pays a visit to his former high school in Miami and learns from his old teacher, Mr. Kerrigan that things aren't going so smoothly. A local gang runs the neighborhood and most of the students have a slim to none chance of graduating due to various reasons, which include family problems, drug usage, violence and a lack of interest in their studies. During his visit at the school, Louis gets the students' attention which the teachers have all tried and failed to do, and he makes a favorable impression on everyone there. Suddenly reanimated with the force of his new plan, Louis' former teacher talks the school principal into letting Louis teach some of the students how to defend themselves using Capoeira, a Brazilian musical form of Kung Fu in which Louis is efficient. They reluctantly agree and send Louis the twelve toughest and worst students in the school.

Undaunted, Louis begins instructing them and slowly, the people around them notice a significant change for the better in the students. One teenager, however, turns out to be more of a challenge for Louis and when he tries to get Orlando to come back to his class, he unintentionally confronts the youth's cousin, Silverio, who runs the local, troublemaking gang. At first, things seem fairly peaceful, but when Louis starts counseling Orlando to make his own decisions and not give in to his cousin's orders, trouble begins to brew and the school is ruthlessly vandalized and set on fire by Silverio and his gang members. Knowing that he is the cause of the tragic fire, Louis gets out his fatigues and takes the fight to the villains and battles them on their own turf for control of the neighborhood.

Likes/Dislikes: The villain, of course, has a foul mouth but since this is an older movie, the language isn't quite as bad as the modern stuff Hollywood is turning out. For instance, there is no F-word snuck in anywhere. This being a movie about fighting, there is some blood and Louis does get knocked around a bit but there is nothing graphic shown. There is one short kiss between Louis and the main girl but nothing beyond that and the best part of the movie is that there are no bikini clad females wandering around anywhere, even though it takes place in Miami! All in all, this is one of the best films of this category that I've seen in awhile and I certainly recommend it.

Rating: PG-13 and up, mainly for the fighting content. Wouldn't want to give any already energetic six year olds any bad ideas, now would we? I don't know what the original rating is.

Date Report Written: March 23, 2011.