March Themes

Here are the themes for the MAD Book Challenge this March:

1. (Mar. 2-Mar.8) Vampire Novel
   Defined as a novel where, if the vampires were removed from the plot, it would no longer make sense. Bonus Points for all you creative people who don't read Twilight.
2. (Mar.9-Mar.15) Movie Book
   Meaning a book that has a movie based off of it (not the other way around). Bonus Points if you read the book first and then watch the movie (only applicable if you have not watched the movie before.)
3. (Mar.16-Mar.22) Horror
   No debating this one: you must be able to find it in the horror section of a library. Bonus Points if you read all of it during the nighttime (I'm choosing to define this is after nine o'clock).
4. (Mar. 23-Mar.29) Title Contains Food
   Means exactly what it sounds like. Examples include "Just Desserts" by Mary Daheim and "Just Plain Pickled to Death" by Tamar Myers. (In other words, names of meals and food words used to mean other things--in this case, 'pickled'--work as well). Bonus Points, however, if you read one with an actual food item in the title--an example would be "War and Peas" by Jill Churchill.

By March 29th you're due to have 12 books read (assuming you started the Challenge with us at the beginning of the year). If not, welcome to the Challenge--and for everybody, Good Luck!

Happy reading!

Clearly, Thursdays don't count

Heeey. *Shifty eyes*.

So. It totally doesn't count as me missing my vlog if I miss it on a Thursday, right? That's my extra day!

Sigh, I know, I know. Here's the thing. I do have some video footage to put up but it's only a couple minutes, and it's already really late so it wouldn't upload until like eleven anyway. And I can't film any more for it because I've missed my window of filming time and there is now NO GOOD LIGHTING ANYWHERE IN MY HOUSE.

I'm also missing out on this vlog because of something very, very amazing and crazy and insane which is taking up a lot of my time and which I'll tell you all about on Monday. And plus I'm the only one to have vlogged at all lately and I have two days, so I think I've earned a pass.

So for now I'm doing this written post. While I'm here, let's talk about books. And more specifically, the Book Challenge.

I hope you all are doing all right and keeping on schedule with the challenge. (I'd appreciate feedback if anybody wants to. Just email themadpodcast@gmail.com with the subject line "mad book challenge"). I'm currently on my fourteenth book. I believe Sarah has read about that many books, too. (I'm not sure how many the others have read).

Anyway, best book I've read so far? The Truth by Terry Pratchett. This is also the only re-read I've done so far, and it's written by my favorite author. I'd read it once before and loved it; I didn't realize how much I love it until the second time around, at which point I discovered that it is officially my favorite book in the world. So, if you're looking for a good book to read, definitely check it out.

Heads up for next week's theme, (Romance novel): I'm reading Fulk the Reluctant by Elaine Knighton (and yes, I know exactly how funny that title is). It is officially classified as "historical romance" and one of the most hilarious things I've ever read, although I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be. If they say "methinks" one more time... Agh. However, as I did with Anonymous Rex, I'm going to have to issue a warning on this one. Younger readers and anyone who thinks their parents might disapprove, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I will NOT be held responsible for recommending it to you. (And I'm not really recommending it seriously. It's fun to make fun of, but that's about it. Let us say that there is a scene where they literally leap across a field of sheep, jumping from back to back)

And since I don't think Marshall is blogging today, I'll add this on her behalf: go listen to The Bills, an awesome folk band (and for those of you who just immediately shook your heads, shame on you for being closed minded--they're excellent). They have an album called Let Em Run on iTunes which you should definitely check out--Marshall recommended it to me a couple days ago and it's fantastic. We may or may not be mishearing the words, but we're pretty sure that in one of the songs he says "I've got four illegal chickens in my backyard".

Aha! Now I have written a sufficiently long post, so I shall get back to my homework. Make sure to email in about how you're doing in the Challenge!

Ciao

February Themes

In just three days, Week Five of the MAD Book Challenge will begin--which means it's time to release the next batch of themes. Here they are:

Week 4: (Feb. 2-Feb. 8): Winner of a Printz Award
. No trying to sneak around this one. There better be a Printz sticker on that book!

Week 5: (Feb. 9-Feb. 15): Romance Novel
. In honor of Valentine's Day, which takes place during this week. As far as this theme goes, I mean that the book should have a sticker saying "romance" on the side. However, if you really, really don't think you can stomach it, I'll let you read any book that has the word "romance" in the description on the back cover, no matter what the genre.

Week 6: (Feb. 16-Feb. 22): Old Favorite
. Remember that you're only allowed 26 re-reads during the Challenge.

Week 7: (Feb. 23-Mar. 1): Classical Fantasy Book
. There are many different types of fantasy novels, and scattered throughout the Challenge I'll post themes of the different kinds. This week it's the classical variety--that means in the style of JRR Tolkien. I want to see elves and dragons galore. And before you ask: no, Harry Potter does not count (although HP readers should keep their eyes open for a very special theme sometime in the future!) Break out your LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia.



We're almost done with the first month of the Challenge! If you've been with us since the beginning: Only 11 months and 48 books to go! If you're a newcomer: Welcome, and good luck! Either way, I hope you're staying on schedule. If not, don't get stressed: there's still time, and you can't be that far behind. Now get back to reading!

Acccckkkkkkkk

It's Wednesday.
Which is my day to vlog.
I don't think there could be a worse Wednesday for me to start vlogging.

First, I got home around 3:50, feeling ridiculously sick. However, I sucked it up and recorded. Then, RIGHT when I was almost done recording, my camera fell. And turned off. And did not save my recording. So I had to do it over again. Right as I began editing, the power went out. Cue the incredibly windy storm! It stayed off for about 15 or 20 minutes, then came back on, and then continued to turn off and off for about 2 hours.

My editing system is incredibly stupid and only allows you to pick the start and stopping points of the video, meaning it takes me forever to cut stuff out. I also have two tests on Friday, meaning I need to start studying tonight.

So, I apologize, but my video will be out tomorrow. Not tonight.

On the plus side, you'll get a double-dose of MADers tomorrow!

-Deborah

Warning

Today is my day for the vlog (link in sidebar). I recorded the video on Saturday and it's all ready to go, but I'm having difficulty getting it onto YouTube for some reason - it's been uploading now for over forty five minutes and I've restarted it several times. This is just a warning that my video might not be up today; if so, know that I tried!

Awesome

Our YouTube account has officially been updated with our first ever video! Just click on the link in the sidebar, or here to go to our channel.

Remember that our daily vlogs will begin on January 5th.

We're BACK

Today Sarita, Deborah and I recorded Episode Nine (we've decided to consider the Twilight movie episode as a full episode). The show was about the musical 1776.

Unfortunately, Marshall wasn't with us due to technical difficulties, and Sarah had a scheduling conflict. Deborah, Sarita and I were all exhausted from partying on New Year's Eve (I got three hours of sleep. Ugh), so if we're repetitive on this one, just know our brains were NOT functioning normally. That being said, I think it went pretty well; we tried to be as energetic as we could, and there's an extended outro involving a lot of off-topic discussion (oops).

Look for Episode Nine on iTunes (and our official website, link in the sidebar) soon!