The Good The Bad and The Ugly Wednesday

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This week, The Good The Bad and The Ugly is going to highlight new bloggers and in addition to introducing you to these three great new 2009 blogs, I’m awarding each of these bloggers The Quest Award, which celebrates those blogs that may still be in their infancy but are growing. The three I’ve chosen today are not just growing but leaping into adolescence. And while this post usually ranks from The Good- ‘you should check it out if you get a chance’ to The Ugly- ‘you must visit this site’, all of today’s sites are equally compelling. So go check out these wonderful blogs and be sure to leave some comment love.

The Good- The Quiddity of Delusion was started in July. The title alone made me want to check it out. His blog is mostly short stories and flash fiction with some book reviews thrown in. His post are unique and as his profile hopes, “vicariously diverting’. His blog would not be classified as mainstream or his stories typical. His view is slightly askew of that and that is what makes his blog so refreshing and a little bit addicting. Make sure you stop by and read some of his work. While I can’t tell you what emotions will be invoked, I can almost guarantee an emotion will be.

The Bad- Writing Mommies was started in May and is written by four blogging moms. Here what you’ll find in addition to writing tips, links to writing contest/paying jobs/resources/opportunities, marketing and networking advice, you’ll find interviews and amusing anecdotes. In their side bar, they have some great gadgets such as an Autocrit Editing Wizard, The Writer’s Idea Bank and a Writer’s Quote of the Day. I discovered them through Linked-In and their post ‘The Best Writing Advice I Ever Received’ and was shocked and amused at the picture that greeted me with that post. Of course, I love that they have an email subscriber box. Being super busy, I love to follow my fellow bloggers but often don’t have time to visit, however, being able to get the latest post in my inbox is a guarantee that I’ll read every post.

The Ugly- Confessions of a Watery Tart, Hart Johnson or as her bloggers know her, Watery Tart, started her blog in June. Her ‘confessions’ are a wonderfully colorful hodge-podge of writing/publishing insights, random news & thoughts, and often humorous bits that flow from the enigmatic mind of hers. Ok, I’ll admit, I also love that she was one of the brave bloggers who took on part of Ember’s journey. And let me tell you, it was a somewhat hedonistic delight! The only negative is she doesn’t have an email subscribe button, please I beg you, I need this option. Ok, enough of my whining… but seriously, get one. This blog is one you must check out. It’s my guilty pleasure and when go there make sure you check out her Monday, Nov 2nd post ‘Dear Blog’.

Book Review - The Code of Destiny by Sara Enochs

What if we could have the events of our lives play out the way we want by reliving our past while remaining in the present. In Sara Enochs’ The Code of Destiny, Ava Ballantyne has learned how to do just that.

Ava comes from a long line of strong Ballantyne women. Women who revel in being mothers and taking care of their large families while never uttering a single complaint. They sound supernatural, don’t they? Oh, sure the mothering and taking care of large families we can believe, but never complaining? Not even once? Yeah right. This is what Ava is thinking also as she struggles to adjust to becoming a new mother and live up to this legacy.

Ava is your typical type ‘A’ modern woman. She always has a plan, everything in it’s place and according to a well thought out schedule. Motherhood has just thrown a monkey wrench into all of that. She is struggling to adjust to the new changes the arrival of her son, Eli, has brought. Feeling she is losing herself, she embarks on a journey across the country with her mother and son. Throughout the journey, Ava takes side journeys into her daydreams. While most of us daydream about the future. Our daydreams filled with our hopes for that future. Ava’s daydreams are mostly of the past, of the way she wishes things had played out as well as of the present as she puts herself in the center of a conspiracy. Don’t misunderstand, she is not one of those neurotic ‘the world is out to get me’ types. She has a mysterious gift, that the author teases us with, without ever telling us what it is. It is infuriating! And at the same time brilliant. She has insured that we will read the next book, if only to find out what is the darn ‘gift’. Well, we will also read the next one to see where Ava’s daydreams are headed and if she has the courage to pursue her dreams. This book gets three out of five daydreams.

Book Review - Prodigal Sons by Sheldon Greene

Today is the anniversary of a monumental day. Twenty years ago, On November 9, 1989, The East German government announced that all German Democratic Republic citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, and so began the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin wall was the symbol of the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc that began after World War II ended. The fall actually began months earlier, on August 23, 1989 when Hungary removed its physical border defenses with Austria. This led to thousands of East German ‘tourist’ visiting Hungary making their way to the West German Embassy and refusing to return to East Berlin. They must have believed their freedom and a better way of life could be found on this other side, or maybe they were looking for family that had been taken away from them when the wall went up. It makes one question, what would you do to find lost a lost family member or to stand up for what you believe? When World War II ended it left many confused, conflicted, grieving, angry, lost; trying to pick up the pieces of their lives and build a new one.


Sheldon Greene has given us a fictional glimpse into the lives of a few of the Germans who survived the war and how they began a new life in the wake of Hitler’s devastation. In Prodigal Sons, Horst Vogle must come to terms with the events he lives through during the war. Greene does a wonderful job of putting the reader inside Horst skin. While for me this book had a slow start, once I got into the mind of Horst, I was hooked and found it hard to put the book down. Greene’s Prodigal Sons has a slower pace than similar books and it works beautiful because it forces you to focus on the players, see their world through their eyes and feel what they feel. When Horst is torn, we too are torn. It is a rare gift for an author to invoke such empathy from a reader. As the reader we feel the emptiness in our chest that Horst feels as he watches his family being taken by the Nazi’s, we feel his rage at the atrocities his fellows Jews are suffering, we feel his loneness as he struggles to find himself in a world where he is now alone even when surrounded by others, we understand his feeling of contentment when he reaches Israel and for the first time in years feels apart of something again, and we are with him when he decides to become a hired gun for Israel and give up that contentment to go back to Germany and avenge his roots. We are charmed when he meets the enchanting Greta who lightens his step and we struggle with him when he must chose between love and country. Prodigal Sons is a novel that takes you through every emotion. It’s more than a thriller, a romance, a historical novel, a spy thriller, heist…it’s a novel about the human condition, life and our ability to endure.

So on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should celebrate freedom and the human spirit and learn from those who have gone before us what it means to stand up for your beliefs and to live. Horst may be a character born in the mind of Sheldon Greene, but he is a also a symbol of humanity and how we can prevail. I give this book 4 Torah pointers out of 5.

This book was provided by the author.

Come back on Friday, November 20th, to learn more about Sheldon Greene.

This Review is part of Cym Lowell's Book Review Party. Click here to go to his site and read other great reviews.

And the Winner is.....

Congratulations to Zia and Crystal for winning the Great 80's Movie Lines Contest. I'll be sending you an email to get your mailing info.

Great 80's Movie Lines - Day 5

Today's is the last day in the great 80's movie lines contest. You have until tomorrow at midnight to post your answers. Winners will be announced in Monday's post.

Today's movies include are all comedies. .. a romantic fantasy, and two murder mysteries.

"A" - This movie is a swashbuckling romance told by a grandfather (also with a great cast).

" When I was your ag, television was called books."

""That day she was amazed to discover that whe he was saying "As you wish", what he meant was, "I love you." And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back."

" I just want you to feel you're doing well. I hate for people to die embarrassed.'

"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while."

"You rsuh a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."

"And you: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed in Greenland!"

"I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting to kill you." "That does put a damper on our relationship."

"You be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted."

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right... and who is dead."

"There's a shortage of perfect breast in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours."

"you're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen,"

"There's not a lot of money in revenge."

"Please consider me as an alternative to suicide."

"B" - This movie was the first of it's kind and features great animation along with live action.

"Yeah. Check the probate. Why my uncle thumper has a problem with HIS probate and he had to take these big pills and drink lots of water.'

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

"Is that a rabbit in your pocket or are youjust happy to see me."

"Is he always this funny or only on days when he's wanted for murder?"

"I would have been here right after you called but I had to shake the weasela."

"You need a heart, before you can have an attack."

"Thith ith the latht time I work with thomeone with a th-peach impediment."

"Is there nothing that can permeate that impervious puss?"

"C" - This is a classic who-done -it, that any mystery lover should know and of course stars one of my favorite actors, Tim Curry.

""Well, it's a matter of life and death. Now that he's dead, I have a life."

"I am willing to believe you. I, too, am being blackmailed for something I didn't do."

"I was a victim too. At least my wife was. She had friends who were..... socialist."

"You seem to suffer from what we call "Pressure of Speech"."

"It's a free country, don't you know that?" " I didn't know it was "that" free."

"He was expendable like all of you. I'm grateful to you all for disposing of my network of spies and informers. saved me a lot of trouble. Now there's no evidence against me."

"Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die."

"Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage!"

"Who would want to kill the cook?" "Dinner wasn't that bad."

How many husbands have you had?"  " Mine or other women's?"

"Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft strong and disposable."

"Communism was just a red herring."

"But is the FBI in the habit of cleaning up after a multiple murder?" "Yes. Why do you think it's run by a man called Hoover?"

"Well, he's certainly dead now. Why would anyone want to kill him twice?"

"No meaning yes? Look, I want a straight answer, is there someone else, or isn't there, yes or no?" "No" ""No there is or no there isn't?" " Yes."

Great 80's Movie Lines - Day 4

The movies today are dramas about college students and adults with moments of humor.

"A" - Before Nicolette Sheridan was a Desperate housewife she was introduced in this film as a bikini clad catch.

" How would you like to have a sexual experience so explosive it would change your political views?"

"Life is the ultimate experience."

" 8 o'clock?.... I don't know, that's when I rearrange my sock drawer."

"Yes, I can. This is America. I can go anywhere."

"I'm not going to bed with you. I'm going to bed in a bed you happen to be in also."

"This is called shotgunning beer, an ancient tribal custom."

"Tonight is the 1st night of the rest of your sex life, Walter Gibson."

"B" - This movie has a frosty title and happens to be Kevin Costner's first film. Too bad he played a corpse the whole time.

"They're either married or gay. And if they're not gay, they've just broken up with the most wonderful woman in the world, or they've just broken up with a bitch who looks exactly like me. They're in transition from a monogamous relationship and they need more space. Or they're tired of space, but they just can't commit. Or they want to commit, but they're afraid to get close. they want to get close, you don't want to get near them."

"Amazing tradition. They throw a great party for you on the day they know you can't come."

"It's a cold world out there. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting a little frosty myself.

"He went out with a bang, not a whimper."

"You're so analytical! Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you."

"Eventually he was hospitalized for being such a nerd."

"I haven't met that many happy people in my life. How do they act?"

"There's some asshole at work you have to kowtow to, and you find yourself doing things you thought you'd never do. But you try and minimize that stuff; be the best person you can be. But you set your priorities. And that's the way life is."

"C" - This movie gave us the Brat pack in all their glory.

"I always thought we'd be friends forever." "Yeah, well forever got a lot shorter all of a sudden."

"You're being arrested for drunk driving." "Drunk definitely, I don't know if you could call it driving."

"Why do you think God created credit?"

"I'm obsessed! Thank you very much!"

"I wouldn't strike a match near his blood."

"4 months after graduation and you're still acting like every night's a frat party."

"You break my heart, but then again you break everyone's heart."

"Is that a coffin?" "Yeah, I got it to impress the ladies"

"No Springstein is leaving this house!"

"Do not hand that man a blowtorch."

"You know this smells to me like a little bit of self created drama."

"I never thought I'd be so tired at 22. I just don't know who to be anymore."

"And all this time I was afraid you'd find out I wasn't fabulous."

"Go get out of hand."

"She is the only evidence of God I've seen with the exception of the mysterious force that removes one sock from the dryer every time I do my laundry."

"There is the brink of insanity and then there is the abyss, which obviously you have fallen into!"

"Never trsut a woman who says she isn't angry"

"Love, love, you know what love is? Love is an illusion created by lawyer types like yourself to perpetuate another illusion called marriage to create the reality of divorce and then the illusionary need for divorce lawyers."

"There are several quintessential moments in a man's life: losing his virginity, getting married, becoming a father, and having the right girl smile at you."

Great 80's Movie Lines - Day 3

Todays movies are all about the teen years.

"A" - This movie will have your toes tapping.

"He's testing us! He's testing us!"

"If you ask me, Ren is a total fox."

"Ren- "You like Men at Work?" Willard- "Where they work?"

"Either you got jumbo coconut balls or you're stupid."

"Yes and I'm not the first one that's noticed it. I mean we're not stuck in the goddamn middle ages here. I mean we've got TV. We've got Family Feud. We're not stuck in Leave It To Beaver land here."

"He's from out of town and don't tell me that doesn't curl your toes because I know it does."

"You won't get any dancing here, it's illegal."

"Did you ever get busted for boppin’?"

"What do you mean, I have to fight city hall?"

"Ecclesiastes assures us... that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh... and a time to weep. A time to mourn... and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of celebrating life. It's the way it was in the beginning. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it should be now."


"B" - Teen angst at it's best. This movie shows we aren't all that different.

"We're all pretty bizarre.Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all"

"Remember how you said your parents use you to get back at each other? Wouldn't I be outstanding in that capacity?"

"You do everything everyone tells you to do and that is a problem."

"That man.... is a brownie hound."

"Why do you have to insult everybody?"  "I'm being honest, asshole. I would expect you to know the difference."

"Do you think I'd speak for you? I don'y even know your language."

"Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?"

"Obviously she's crazy if she's screwing a shrink."

"If he gets up, we'll all get up,it'll be anarchy.'

"I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need is a lobotomy and some tights."

"When you grow up, your heart dies."

"Obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl."

"Well if you say you haven't you're a prude. If you say you have you're a slut. It's a trap. You want to but you can't and when you do you wish you didn't, right?"

"C" - Another great teen angst movie where love is a confusing thing.

"Donger's here five hours and he's got somebody. I live here my whole life and I'm like a disease.

"Would you stop feeling sorry for yourself? It's bad for your complexion."

"I mean not many girls in contemporary American society today would give their underwear to help a geek like me."

"You wanna know what happened? Buy the book!"

"It's real human of you to listen to all my bullshit."

"You know, I'm getting input here that I'm reading as relatively hostile."

"That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd call them something else."

"Why do you think you're a dork? I don't think you're a dork. I don't think mom thinks you're a dork."

"Relax, would you. We have seventy dollars and a pair of girls underpants. We're safe as kittens."

"Ha Ha Ha! Now we're both on the pill." "You gave me a birth control pill? Do you know what that can do to a guy my age?"

"I want a serious girlfriend. Somebody I can love, that's gonna love me back. Is that psycho?"

"What's happening, hotstuff?"

Great 80's Movie Lines - Day 2

Today's movies are all fantasies.

"A" - In this movie an unlikely band of characters must rescue a princess and save their planet.

"Good fighters make bad husbands."

"I am Ergo the magnificent. Short in stature,tall in power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision. And I do not travel with peasants and beggars."

"Only the right man can retrieve the Glaive."

"Freedom? We have it! And fame? Nah. It's an empty purse. Count it, go broke. Eat it, go hungry. Seek it, go mad!"

"My name is no jest, beanpole. It's all very well to have a short name when you're twenty feet tall, but small people need large names to give them weight."

"Each to his fate."

"He marches us toward a solid face of rock. The man has raisins in his braincase."

"Would you follow a king to the black fortress?" " Now I know you're a lunatic. I wouldn't follow my own father to the black fortress."


"B" - This movie starred an unrecognizable Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness.

"Every wolf suffers fleas. 'Tis easy enough to scratch!"

"The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity."

"Look! Ugly one-horned mule!"

"This place holds more magic for me than any palace in the world."

"Mortal world turned to ice... Here be goblin paradise!"

"What care I for human hearts? Soft and spiritless as porridge! A faerie's heart beats fierce and free!"

"I require the solace of the shadows and the dark of the night. Sunshine is my destroyer."

"neither country proverb nor King's command could keep me from the woods today."

"C" -This movie starred a rocker who loved Stardust.

"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."

"So, young woman, the way forward is sometimes the way back."

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, and wanted everything to himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew is that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers. so one night, when the baby had been particularly druel to her, she called upon the goblins for help!"

"You have thriteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes one of us... forever."

"It's a crystal. Nothing more, but if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. but this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby."

"EVERYTHING! Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me. I was frightening.I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for YOU! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"

Great 80's Movie Lines Week - Day 1

I've decided to do something a little different this week. As most of you know I love movies. What you may not know is I was a teenager in the 80's and it's my favorite decade. In no other decade could we have gotten away with the clothes, the hair, the make-up and the all around zaniness that the 80's represents. So I have visited the past, re-watched some of my favorite 80's movies and made lists of some of the fabulous lines. All this week I'm going to be posting them and giving you a chance to win some DVD's. I have Special Editions of The Princess Bride and The Breakfast Club to give away. Each day between now and Friday, I will post quotes from three different movies, all you have to do is leave a comment with your guess as to which movie the lines came from. You have until midnight on Saturday, Nov 7th to post and then on Sunday I will put the names of all the commenters who guessed all the movies correctly in The Hat and draw two winners. If no one guesses them all then I will go with the names of those who guess the most correctly. And one final rule, you have to be a follower or a subscriber.

I'll list the movies as A, B, C so it will be easier for you to post your guess. And I will tell you what type of movie it is, since some are a little more obscure than others.

"A" - This slimy movie gave the world a new view of marshmallows. ( It's a comedy)

"Ray, When someone ask you if you're a god, you say "YES"!"

"Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown....THROW IT!"

"Human sacrifica, dogs and cats living togeher.... mass hysteria!"

"This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions."

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

"I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me."

"Well, this is great. If the ionization-rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we can really bust some heads... in a spiritual sense, of course."

"Generally you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance."

"Myth? Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we've been so busy lately is 'cause the dead HAVE been rising from the dead?"

"Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your supernaturalelimination needs."

As they say on TV. I'm sure there's one big question on everybody's mind, and I imagine you are the man to answer that. How is Elvis, and have you seen him lately?"


"B" - This movie showed a family that knew how to stick together. It's a horror movie.

" There is no death. It is only a transition to a different sphere of consciousness."

"This house is clean."

"They're here"

"I AM addressing the living." " I was trying to answer her with my mind."

"I don't know what hovers over this house but it was strong enough to punch a hole in this world."

"There is peace and Serenity in the light."

"So what side of the rainbow are working tonight, dr. Lesh."

"We own all the land. We've already made arrangements to relocate the cemetery."

" You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you?"


"C" - This movie kept millions awake all night and was one of Johnny Depp's first films.. It's a horror movie.

" He's dead honey, because mommy killed him."

" Oh, I feel like a million bucks. They say you've bottomed out when you can't remember the night before."

"Guys can have nightmares too ya know. Ya ain't got a corner on the market or somethin'..."

"You dreamed about the same creep I did."

"I just asked you to do one thing, to stay awake and watch me and to wake me up if it looked like I was having a bad dream, and what did you do, you shit?"

"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams."