Monday, October 31, 2022

October '22 Roundup & Rambling

Raw Data:

Novels – 23 ↑

Graphic Novels – 6 ⭤

Average Rating – 3.02 ↓

Pages – 6498 ↑

Words – 2175K ↑

The Bad:

Forgotten Ruin – 2.5stars of Rangers rangering this book right into the ground.

The Good:

Kill Shot – 4.5stars of Mitch Rapp at his best.

Movie:

The Muppets Haunted Mansion was the final muppet movie in my journey. I’d say it was for either kids who know nothing about the Muppets or for fans like myself who need to watch everything Muppet. Everyone else, probably not really worth your time.

Miscellaneous Posts:

Personal:

What a month. I was sick near the beginning that threw me out of work for a week and then took another 2 weeks to fully recover. Bronchitis is awful! 🙁 But it is one reason I read so much. Of course, feeling so bad I rated things a bit harder and so my average rating was down.

Not writing reviews was just what I needed. It gave me a chance to realize that a book review site is a second job while blogging is a hobby. Over the last year I have turned into a book reviewing site and I want to be a blogger again. I want to write for fun, not because I feel like I have to. With my personality, that is going to be a hard line to balance, as I just want to go all-out in whatever I am doing. But I can’t. I would also like to thank all of you for your patience as I posted essentially book ratings. Several of you commented mightily and made it a fun time in spite of nothing going on. Aonghus, I was proud of you for jumping in too. Even if you aren’t a regular 🙂

Reading my old journals made me realize how I’ve changed and stayed the same and blogging is integral to that part of me that is fun and spontaneous (it’s about the only spontaneous part of my life). I am not a spontaneous person and so I have to take it when I can. I’ll never call out of work sick and just go to the beach (especially not in November in New England, brrrrrrrr!) but maybe I can blow off a book review and write about how laundry has changed my life 😉

Cover Love:

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Shadow Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Shadow Claus is coming to town”
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Shadow Claus is coming to town
Shadow Claus is coming to town

Plans for Next Month:

November is going to be a return to having some words and pictures to go along with the ratings. I am also going to be cutting WAY down on the number of books read (I am NOT going to have 29 entries for books, that is for sure!) and I’m going to be leaving Tuesdays open. Not as a space to post something last minute but just have a day to not worry about the blog and to concentrate on those I am following.

I am going to follow Matt’s path and make my reviews very simple affairs, like they used to be. Trying to become a blogger again and not exclusively a book reviewer. I LIKE connecting with people on their blogs and if all they did was reviews with no personality, it wouldn’t be much fun. So I’m going to add personality here, or at least try.

I am also going to be stopping my manga reading until January. Once the new year rolls around I’m going to start up One Piece again as well as Full Metal Alchemist. But I just need a break so this is one place I can easily make that happen. Sorry, Misaki, you’ll have to continue being patient with me.

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021 Movie)

In 2021 Disney released another pseudopod of the Muppet Franchise out into the world of streaming. At just under 50 minutes, Haunted Mansion had the unenviable job of trying to get and keep people’s attention AND tell a good Muppet story.

Gonzo and Pepe the king prawn visit the Haunted Mansion (based on Disney’s ride in Disneyworld) and they have to survive the night or be stuck forever in the mansion. Gonzo powers through with the power of friendship, blah, blah, blah, happy ending. The rest of the Muppets are sidelined at a halloween party, so while a few muppets make appearances as ghosts, this was no where near filled to the brim with Muppet Goodness like the original movie.

Thankfully, this was MUCH better than Muppets from Space, where Gonzo was the main character too. I laughed out loud several times and overall had a fun filled time. Besides Will Arnett, I didn’t recognize a single actor making a cameo though. I’m guessing they all were tied to Disney’s apron strings in one way or another though. Which would explain why I didn’t recognize them.

When I saw it was going to be only 50minutes I wondered if it was going to be too short. It was just the right length for the story they had though. Any more and the holes and thinness would have shown. Once again though, it is very evident that Disney just doesn’t know how to handle the Muppets. Some things really stuck their landing while other bits fell completely flat.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with this and if it ever comes out on disc I’ll probably buy it before Disney disappears it like they tend to do. But first, they have to actually release it on disc. That’s by no means a given here. Definitely more kid oriented than the previous 2 movies (The Muppets and The Muppets Most Wanted) but still good enough for a dedicated Muppet fan.

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Author Index: My Next Big Project

After finishing up The Hotel Bookstooge Project, it was evident that I needed another blogging project to keep me busy in the background. But something that wouldn’t disturb everyone quite so much. Bormgans gave a good suggestion that should help anyone searching the site, ie, an Author Index.

While I never use an index if a site has one (I always use the search bar), I’ve heard that other people DO use them, to good effect too. So instead of alienating these good folk of the internet and impeding their unquenchable thirst for all things Bookstooge, I have decided to begin work on an Author Index.

I’ve created a new page and posted the link to it at the top of my home page along with all of my other Important Things. It will slowly fill in over the upcoming year/s. If you are that kind of person, I hope this helps you out a lot. If you are not that kind of person, it will be going on completely in the background so you won’t be bothered or notice a thing. You’re welcome 😉

So Stay Calm & Index On

The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire #1) ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Stars, Like Dust
Series: Galactic Empire #1
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 165
Words: 70K

★★✬☆☆

Friday, October 28, 2022

Leave It To Psmith (Blandings Castle #2)

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Leave It To Psmith
Series: Blandings Castle #2
Authors: PG Wodehouse
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humor
Pages: 225
Words: 97K

★★★✬☆

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10 ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10
Authors: Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 39
Words: 2K

★★★✬☆

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Stories for Late at Night ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Stories for Late at Night
Series: ———-
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 436
Words: 184K

★★★☆☆

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Love Song (One Piece #32) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Love Song
Series: One Piece #32
Arc: Skypiea #9 & Water Seven #1
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 211
Words: 10K

★★★☆☆

Sunday, October 23, 2022

The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes #7) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Valley of Fear
Series: Sherlock Holmes #7
Author: Arthur Doyle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 200
Words: 58K

★★★✬☆

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Need More Space? Bookstooge Has You Covered Part II

Two years ago I wrote a post (Part I) detailing how to utilize Dropbox as a picture hosting site so you didn’t have to eat into your free space here at WordPress. I’ve been using it on any picture over 100KB and it seems to work well for me. But just because something is working well doesn’t mean I am content to sit on my lees and let WordPress continue to work against me behind my back. It would be just like them at some point to disallow outside hosted pictures on free sites, so I decided to investigate what I could do for picture compression. Just in case you can’t tell, I have an extremely adversarial relationship with WP.com.

What I found was the Caesium Image Compressor. Here is the website and the download for various OS’s is part way down the page: Caesium Website.

I have been very pleased so far. Once I installed it, it took a while of playing around to get all the various options set up how I wanted. What I didn’t realize, and was very pleasantly surprised with, is that Caesium can also resize your photos along with compressing them. This is wonderful for me as I use the high quality pictures from my Calibre Library for my book reviews. Instead of having to use a separate resizer tool and then Caesium to compress that, I can do it all in one step. I even have it save the picture where I want so everything is conveniently stored for upload.

I use it on the little pictures for the book reviews (which are 194px wide) and I regularly get 30-60% compression. Going from 30KB down to 18KB isn’t a world breaking but if I want to continue blogging for years and years, every little bit adds up. I also use Caesium on any files I upload to Dropbox as well. Saving space any way I can means I don’t have to worry about hitting that 3gb limit (or 1gb if you’re a poor new user to WordPress. You newbs really have my sympathies in that regards!) It is another step in the blogging process however. So you have to decide if that is worth it to you or not. For me, it totally is. It is free, it is small and once you set it up to your taste, it is almost just 3 clicks of the mouse and you’re done.

I hope this post has been helpful even if just to inform you of options that you have. Because knowing is half the battle!

GI Bookstooge is the REAL American Hero, but we all knew that anyway

The Domino Pattern (Quadrail #4) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Domino Pattern
Series: Quadrail #4
Authors: Timothy Zahn
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 268
Words: 103K

★★★☆☆

Friday, October 21, 2022

Mapp and Lucia (Mapp & Lucia #4) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mapp and Lucia
Series: Mapp & Lucia #4
Authors: E.F. Benson
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Pages: 292
Words: 84K

★★★☆☆

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Asterix in Spain (Asterix #14) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Asterix in Spain
Series: Asterix #14
Authors: Goscinny & Uderzo
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 53
Words: 3K

★★★☆☆

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Gangdom's Doom (The Shadow #5) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Gangdom’s Doom
Series: The Shadow #5
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 166
Words: 54K

★★★☆☆

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Death or Glory (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #4) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Death or Glory
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #4
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 289
Words: 96K

★★★✬☆

Monday, October 17, 2022

Danny, Champion of the World ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Danny, Champion of the World
Series: ———-
Authors: Roald Dahl
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Childrens Fiction
Pages: 137
Words: 40.5K

★★★✬☆

Ball Lightning - MTG 4th Edition

Sunday, October 16, 2022

The Enemy (Victor the Assassin #2) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Enemy
Series: Victor the Assassin #2
Authors: Tom Wood
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 403
Words: 134K

★★★☆☆

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Forgotten Ruin (Forgotten Ruin #1) ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Forgotten Ruin
Series: Forgotten Ruin #1
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military Fantasy
Pages: 477
Words: 171K

★★✬☆☆

Friday, October 14, 2022

Conan and the Amazon (Conan the Barbarian) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Conan and the Amazon
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Authors: John Maddox Roberts
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 226
Words: 88.5K

★★★✬☆

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Wordpress Forums: Banned Again!

After my post celebrating my Unbanning from the WordPress Forums (Out of WordPress Jail!) I wondered when I would get banned again and what would set it off. I figured WordPress would do something ultra-boneheaded and I’d say something in response and get ye olde ban hammer.

Well, it happened but I’m not sure exactly why. I have an idea and I’ll walk you through it. But first, Evidence of me being banned yet again from the forums:

When the WP Reader Changed on Me! last week and I posted about it, I went first to the forums to see if anyone else had noticed this change or complained about it. Nobody had and so I asked all of you in the post to confirm that my eyes hadn’t gone crazy. Enough of you confirmed the sudden change so I knew I was on firm ground. I have one of the paid plans (to get rid of the atrocious ads wordpress puts on the free sites) and that entitles me to email support. But I didn’t want email support. I wanted to post in the forum to get a public reaction. But I couldn’t find any way to start a new post. I could reply to other posts but I could not start one. So I caved and sent an email to the Great and Powerful Oz, or those shysters known ironically as “Happiness Engineers”.

I stated that the reader had become very narrow like the app and why had they changed it and why hadn’t they announced it. The Happiness Engineer replied back along the lines of “I understand you have a question about the reader, what can I help you with?”. Oh man, it was like they hadn’t read the email and were replying to some random keyword. I wrote back telling that person to read the initial email. They then asked me to take a screen shot to show the problem. At no point so far had this person acknowledged in ANY WAY that they were aware the Reader had been changed. I took a screen capture and gave it to them but told them since they didn’t seem to be aware of the issue that I figured they (wordpress) were lying to me and obfuscating the issue hoping I’d give up.

THAT is what I think got me banned from the forums. But what I don’t understand is why. How did what I wrote in the email translate over to the forums? And I made sure in the email NOT to claim the jerk engineer was lying or obfuscating, but WordPress as a whole. That way I was not attacking or “disrespecting” staff * epic eye roll *

So another Jerk Engineer replies back that he took a look at the screen shot and couldn’t see a problem. I replied calmly and outlined exactly what was different and that all I was looking for was the WHY of the changes, which were detrimental to all viewers who used a computer instead of a phone. I am so incredibly frustrated with WordPress right now.

I am looking into other RSS feeder options and come the New Year will be abandoning the WP Reader. I’ll still be using wordpress but I’ll access all the notifications via my own website instead of going to the reader. I’ll visit all of your sites via whatever rss feed reader I end up with. The problem is, one person’s site I regularly regurgitate upon (Aye laddie, your trossachs are totally pants’d! Begorrah!) has a problem where I can ONLY comment through the reader. As I am an avid commenter (not just on his site but most everywhere), this presents a problem to be solved. It just can’t be simple can it?

So the incredible Saga of The Bookstooge versus the Evil WordPress continues.

Groo Meets the Hero (Groo the Wanderer #10) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Groo Meets the Hero
Series: Groo the Wanderer #10
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 26
Words: 2K

★★★✬☆

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp #12) ★★★★✬

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Kill Shot
Series: Mitch Rapp #12
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 336
Words: 116.5K

★★★★✬

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

We'll Be Here (One Piece #31) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: We’ll Be Here
Series: One Piece #31
Arc: Skypiea #8
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 207
Words: 9K

★★★☆☆

Monday, October 10, 2022

New Tales of the Yellow Sign (The King in Yellow Anthology #5) ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: New Tales of the Yellow Sign
Series: The King in Yellow Anthology #5
Editor: Robin Laws
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 143
Words: 51K

★★✬☆☆

Balance - MTG 4th Edition

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Starship Troopers ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Starship Troopers
Series: ———-
Authors: Robert Heinlein
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 215
Words: 86K

★★★☆☆

Saturday, October 08, 2022

The Bookstooge Chronicles: The Midlife Crisis

25 years since I started Bible School. And maaaaaan, I think I am having a midlife crisis here. So instead of breaking down, buying a red porsche, throwing over Mrs B for a space hooker and burning down my work place, I’ve decided to read my old journals. Yeah, when I have a midlife crisis, I don’t take the easy route!

This little journal is 25 years old. It’s older than some of the people I know at church for goodness sake!

Holy smokes folks, what a trip. I was going to share some of them, but after reading several months worth, yeah, that ain’t happening. It has shown me several things though.

25 years has allowed me to have a completely different perspective of time. Every day was a new adventure, filled to the brim with new and exciting things. Now, life is a routine that I glide through on a weekly basis and sometimes I wonder where the entire month has gone. Back then, my emotions went through the whole cycle on a weekly basis. Now, if I’m lucky, that’ll only happen on an annual basis. Getting married has also changed me immensely. Back then I had a different crush every week.. Now I’ve been happily married to one woman for 14 years and she knows me and still loves me and when I wake up each morning I don’t have to wonder what I’m going to feel that day. Oh my goodness, that is such a burden off of my shoulders, that was an exhausting way to live, let me tell you.

I was also the most naive person I have ever known. Reading some of those entries I wonder how I made it through life. I also felt bad for the people around me at that time, oy vey. Which makes me laugh because in about 20 years I bet you a hill of jellybeans that I’ll be saying the same exact thing about the present me. Bet you didn’t see THAT coming, eh? Hahahahaa 😀

While Bookstooge was no Jedi Master by the time he was 23, he also hadn’t french kissed his own sister. You decide which is the greater achievement.

I remember one time a professor told a story about how he found an old journal, read it and then razor bladed it because he was so embarrassed by it. I understand that feeling now but unlike my professor, being reminded of that embarrassing time helps me to remember what it is like being that age. And hence to have a bit of mercy to those young punks who are pretty worthless in every imaginable way 😉 Believe it or not, I have learned some empathy and mercy in the last 25 years. I’m just REALLY good at hiding it, hahahahaaa.

Another thing, confidence. I was worried about working out 5 times a week, running every day, if I was too skinny, etc, etc, etc. Everything I did was through the lens of what others would think of it. Now I just don’t care. There are a few specific people whose opinion DOES matter to me but outside of them, everyone else can go hang 😀 (on a side note, my biceps are an inch bigger now. So don’t mess with me or I’ll knock your block off, then slit your throat with my kbar and then double tap you with my sig). But don’t worry, I’d never actually do that, because I’m so peaceful now and I love everyone so much 😉 See, mercy in action!

The Whammomatic 3000. It punches, it slices, it shoots, all in ONE convenient and easy to use package.

So anyway, this was good for me. I just needed to get that all out. If this is as much of a “crisis” as I’ll have to deal with, I’m totally ok with that. Only start to worry if I start putting up pictures of red porsches. Or posting How To’s on arson..

ps,
As I read more of my old journals, I might find some amusing entries that are fit for public consumption. If I do, I’ll probably be posting them and talking about them. Just wanted to warn you, you know?

The Ball and the Cross DNF@10% ★★☆☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Ball and the Cross DNF@10%
Series: ———-
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Christian Allegory/Mysticism
Pages: DNF @29
Words: DNF @8K

★★☆☆☆

Friday, October 07, 2022

Fireside Book of Suspense ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Fireside Book of Suspense
Series: ———-
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 343
Words: 138K

★★✬☆☆