The Woeful Tale of The Bad Blogger

I have been a bad bad blogger.

Writing is never easy but it's even worse when writer's block strikes.  It sucks.  Big time.  It's even worse when the ideas are there but the words were not.  My voice, metaphorically speaking, had gone.

It's been a new experience for me and to be honest it's been kind of nice to not have a constant noise in my head.

Nice but weird.  And totally not me. 

Thank God it is slowly returning.  A little bit stumbling, a little bit out of pace but still slowly coming back.

Hopefully you'll forgive me if this post  is not up to my usual standard.  It's almost like being back at the beginning and writing my first ever post.  Nerve wracking but exciting.

So what have I been up to during the The Great Silence.... well reading and listening and watching.  And as usual I just have to share.

The winter people by Jennifer McMahon

"In 1908 Sara Harrison Shea was found murdered, just a few short months after the death of her daughter. Now more than a hundred years later her ghost is said to haunt the fields surrounding her house.  But there is something far more frightening haunting the woods..."

I love a good spooky story and Jennifer McMahon's latest book is exactly that.  It is also the story of just how far a parent will go to save a child.  But is the price too high?

Fractured by Daniel Atkins

"What would you do if life gave you a second chance?  Five years after a terrible accident Rachel's life is falling apart. She would give anything to turn back the clock. But life doesn't work like that.  Does it?"

I don't want to give too much away but this is a great what-if story with an ending that will take you by surprise.

The Mindy project Season one

As usual I blame my online friends for getting me addicted to this show.  But if you're looking for a comedy then The Mindy Project is the perfect antidote to those wintry blues.

It's funny, it's romantic and just a little quirky and filled with weird and wonderful characters and it's also glorious.  Hint hint hint Season Two is even better.

It's Sex and the City for the 2010's.

Banshee The complete first season

Don't let the 1st episode of this show daunt you.  Carry on watching and you'll soon be completely hooked.

Trust me.

It's dark and disturbing and violent.  Like really really violent. Think decapitation by a truck no less.  And it has a Kiwi actor in the led.  And he is awesome!

So watch it.  Okay.

Old tyme religion by Hugo

A bluesy, rock mix with a touch of bluegrass and folk thrown in, this is a new discovery of an older CD  and one that I have to been listening to over and over again.

My favourites are 99 Problems and Bread & Butter.

I'm just a little disappointed that he hasn't done another album since this one.

This month I'm loving...

Well not the heat, that's for sure but even if the weather can sometimes be a bit much to handle there are plenty of things on offer at Auckland Libraries to take one's mind off it.

January is one of those lazy month's where we all ease ourselves slowly back into work after the madness of Christmas, eat bucket loads of cherries (well you do if you're me) and winter seems like a million days away.

For me there are always plenty of wonderful things coming across my desk.  At times it's hard to decide what to choose and what to start with first.

This month I've discovered new bands, new authors and indulged in a few fav's.  So what have you been enjoying this month?

The glorious dead / The Heavy.

I so love these guys but can't help wonder why I hadn't come across them before.  Still never mind, I've found them now and have been busy listening to all 3 of their cd's, courtesy of my bestest bud Youtube.

This, their latest album, is just brilliant.  It's bluesy and rocky and just a little bit indie with a touch of soul thrown in for good measure.

My favourite's are Same Ole' and What Makes A Good Man.

Best served cold / Joe Abercrombie.

"Monza Murcatto is one of the best mercenaries around but being the best can sometimes have a hefty price.  Only thing is Monza never thought that price would be her life..."

I've been meaning to read Joe Abercrombie for absolutely ages and I'm so glad that I finally did.

Bloody and violent and ruthless and that's just the female character, Murcatto could so kick Buffy's butt.

There's a lot to love. Betrayal and back-stabbing are so me. All I can say is... on with the sequel.

Pines : a novel / by Blake Crouch.

"FBI Ethan Burke wakes up near the town of Pines with virtually no memory of who he is.  Pines though is not the safe haven he would like it to be and there are things going on around him that make him wonder what exactly it is that the town is hiding."

The ending of this book will thrown you for a loop.  Trust me, you won't see it coming, or maybe you will and it was just me you went Oh My God.

Like the book above I'm now hanging out for the sequel.  Why do authors insist on teasing us so...

Wool / Hugh Howey.

"In a ruined and hostile landscape, a community exists in a giant underground silo. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last."

First published as an e-book Wool is now in print after the huge and I mean HUGE public demand.  Having recently read it myself, I can see why.

It's so good to see Sci-Fi books doing so well.  As with the others I am now waiting impatiently for the sequel Shift which is due this April and also for the film adaption, which rumour has it, Ridley Scott is interested in making.

Ghost planet / Sharon Lynn Fisher.

"Imagine an alien world where the alien's manifest themselves in the form of the dead.  What would it be like to be haunted by a loved one? Psychologist Elizabeth Cole is about to find out, only not in quite the way she'd imagined.  Living with a ghost should be relatively easy but what if you're the ghost..."

A book with a little bit of something for everyone, from romance to sci-fi to paranormal to adventure, Ghost Planet covers them all.  A genre mesh or should that be mess.  Either way it was enjoyable.

The essential Supernatural : on the road with Sam and Dean Winchester / Nicholas Knight

"Fill a flask with holy water and make sure your car is stocked with rock salt and shot guns, you're about to drive headfirst into the world of Sam and Dean Winchester, hunters of demons, ghouls, vampires, and all things supernatural."

Yeah, you just knew that I had to include something to do with Supernatural, but trust me, for fans of the show this book is a must.  Filled with glorious coloured photos, a history of the show and its characters plus interviews with the actors and behind-the-scenes-staff, this is the ultimate book.

In the words of the boys... Got salt?

Rock On Supernaturally

"Driver picks the music.  Shotgun shuts his cakehole."  Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

You just knew that I would get around to doing this eventually, a post dedicated to Supernatural or least one aspect of Supernatural. 

If you've read any of my previous posts then you know that I am a HUGE fan and one of the reasons (and there's alot of reasons...) is that it features some of the best classic rock music around. 

I have gotten almost every song from the show loaded onto my MP3 player.  From foot-tapping, head banging rock songs to power ballads to good old fashioned blues, it's all there.

Don't you just love shows like this.  Shows that have great music that you just have to have and listen to again and again.

With Supernatural, every fan (of course) has their favourites.  My current top 5 (in no particular order) are

• Thunderstuck by AC/DC
• Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas
• Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi
• Shambala by Three Dog Night
• Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull

Though if you were to ask me tomorrow this list would probably change, it's just so hard to pick just 5 as they are all so good. 

Strangely enough no one yet has thought to bring out an CD featuring music from the show.  I'm crossing my fingers that someday someone will.  After all if they can do soundtracks for Glee and Twilight surely a Supernatural soundtrack is a must.

Until that day comes why not try some of the following CD's to put you in that Supernaturally frame of mind and rock on.

Greatest hits / Journey

Never really that big here, in the US Journey along with lead singer Steve Perry were mega popular, despite the fact that they never had a No. 1 single.

Their popularity, even today, can be shown in the fact that Don't Stop Believin' was the greatest selling song in itunes history.

My personal favourite is Who's Crying Now

Iron Man 2 / AC/DC

Even though most of the band are nearing retirement age AC/DC are still considered one of the bands to see live. 

Hugely popular with rock fans around the world, their album Back in Black is the 2nd biggest selling album in music history, being beaten only by Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

Not bad for a group of Aussie boys.

Foreigner: the definitive collection

I've been a Foreigner fan for a long time and it's no wonder with such great rock songs as Juke Box Hero, Double Vision and Cold As Ice as part of their discography. 

Again like Journey they were never really that big here, yet in the US they had 9 songs that reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts.

The platinum collection / Deep Purple

Who hasn't heard of Smoke on the Water.

Considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time and a song that pretty much every wanna-be guitarist learns, this classic rock song is familiar to many, even those that aren't rock fans, which is pretty amazing for a song that never even got into the top 20 let alone the top 10 on the Billboard charts.

Rock of Ages: the definitive collection / Def Leppard

I mentioned my love of this band in my very first post which goes to show how much I enjoy their music.

Still performing and producing albums, they have lasted more than 30 years in the business, continuing on after the tragic death of their lead guitarist as well as surviving alcohol addiction and a drummer who had to adapt his drum kit so he could continue playing after he lost an arm in a car accident.

The essential Heart

Women can rock too and Heart have done this for almost 40 years.

The core of the band are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, Ann's the voice and Nancy the guitarist and together they have had 7 albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard charts and even had a No.1 hit song with These Dreams in 1985.

Music from the Sound FM

The Sound are one of the newest radio stations around.  

Dedicated to playing rock music from the 60's, 70's and 80's this compilation CD features such great rock songs as Don't Fear The Reaper by The Blue Oyster Cult, Dream Police by Cheap Trick and Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon.

Pure Hard Rock

Looking for some head banging rock?  Then look no further.  Pure Hard Rock is the CD for you.

Featuring classic rock and heavy metal songs by Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Ted Nugent and many more there is something here for every fan.

The greatest hits of mullet rock has never looked so good.

Double shot blues

Blues is the grand daddy of rock.  Pretty much every rock artist and band have gained their inspiration and style from blues music.

Its changed and adapted over the years but blues still rocks on and this CD has features the likes of Janis Joplin, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Robert Cray, The Allman Brothers and so many other great blues exponents.

If you've like some of the above you might also want to check out some (if not all) of the following bands: Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Styx. Joe Walsh, The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin.