2012!!

Spending these last few days of the holiday break with family. I hope you have the absolute BEST New Year's ever. Peace!

Countdown to Final Crisis

Countdown to Final Crisis was a weekly comic that was suppose to lead up to the event, Final Crisis. It was largely attempt to recreate the success of the critically acclaimed series 52. The comic started at issue 51, but counted down to issue 1. It was created on model where a single writer wrote every other issue in a rotating cycle. However, this caused the continuity between issues to alter. The main writers were Sean McKeever, Justin Gray, Tony Bedrad, Jimmy Palmiotti and Adam Beechen under Paul Dini, the head writer. However, editorial mandates on where the story would go took creative control out of the hands of writers. The story was panned for having tie-ins with important plot points (IE important plot points happening out of the comic), mischaracterization, pointless plot points and inconsistencies in art and story (most notably with the Trickester and Pied Piper's high tech handcuffs changing in each issues). Also since each issue touched on each of the story arches, so each only got a handful of panel. As such, the overall comic did not flow like a true narrative and excessively stretched out the story. So for example, Jimmy Olsen took 15 issues just to find out no knows why he has powers.

The story started with Darkseid playing with minifigures of various DC Comic heroes. Jason witnessed Duela Dent being killed by a rogue Monitor, named Solomon, who want to kill people in the "wrong" reality. Bob, another Monitor, went to the Source Wall, which tells him that a "Great Disaster" is coming and Ray Palmer (the former Atom) is needed to stop it. Jason and Donna Troy (former Wonder Girl) talked and Forerunner (an agent of the Monitors) tried (and fails) to kill them. Bob, Jason, Donna and the current Atom (who is leaves and is replaced by Kyle Rayner) looked for Ray Palmer, who in another reality. They hopped to reality to reality but basically get Ray Palmer is another reality. The Jokester, an good guy version of the Joker, joined, but died soon after. Solomon tried to kill them, but Monarch, who hates the Monitors, is gathering troops to fight the Monitors. Jason seemly shot Donna and turned evil. Mary Marvel was now powerless. Madame Xanadu tells her not to go to Gotham. Mary does so anyway and meets up with Black Adam, who gives her powers, which makes her evil. Mary meets a poop-eating demon (I'm not making this up) and defeats it. Mary meet various mystics to try to understand her powers. Eclipso was making Mary do random evil things. Trickster and Pied Piper tried to go undercover in the Rogues (enemies of the Flash) to take them down, but accidentally killed Bart Allen. The duo got tied together by high tech handcuffs and tried to avoid the capture by Suicide Squad. PP turned out to homosexual and the Trickester was homophobic. Jimmy, while investigating Dent's death, discovered he's gaining knowledge for no reason and the ability to gain super powers when in danger. Jimmy got sidetracked so he can investigate the death of the New Gods. Jimmy tried (and failed) to find out why he has his powers only to be kidnapped by Forager, a New God supporting character, so they can work together. Holly Robinson is invited to a woman shelter by Anthea (Granny Goodness in disguise) on the former Paradise Island. GG wants to make Earth women to Darkseid's army. Holly meets Harley Quinn. Karate Kid does random things in the present (he's from the future). He turns out to be infected by an unknown illness and cannot go back to the future. Triplicate Girl tries to aid him to find a cure for KK's illness. They meet Buddy Blank (the former OMAC), because he has a super computer called Brother Eye. They (including Blank and his son) end up in Bludhaven. Injected randomly in narrative are scenes with the Monitors debating if they should do something. This first half of the series was noted for major plot points happening outside of the comic like the death of the New Gods.

The second part is often seen as the better half of the series. This is mainly due to dropping the tie-ins and focused on the actual story. However, this part of the series was still critically panned. The Monitors (all 70 of them despite there suppose to be only 52 of them, including Bob) debated if they should do something. Karate Kid and his team meet Firestorm and they discovered there something under Bludhaven. Jimmy and Forager went to Apokolips (a planet ruled by Darkseid). Bob teleported his group away including Jason (who seemed to change sides). The Monitors decided to do something. Bob's group were teleported to wasteland. It turned out that Jason's killing Donna was fake out to distract the enemy long enough for them to flee. In a previous, "happy" reality, this reality's Lex Luthor and various other people were killed by adult, time and space-punching Superboy Prime (now called Superman Prime). He DESTROYS THE ENTIRE REALITY. He tortured Mr. Mxyzptlk (ignoring the latter's god-like reality warping). Bob's group went into the Batman Beyond universe and finally found Ray Palmer on Earth 51 (a paradise Earth). It turned out this universe's Ray Palmer was killed and the our reality's Ray Palmer replaced him. It turns out that Bob wanted (completely out of the nowhere) to KILL Ray Palmer. It turned out Solomon and Bob were working together and Bob was going to lead Solomon to Ray Palmer, who was the "key" to having the Monitors merge together (this creates a plethora of plot holes). It turned out killing Duela was just to start this plan. Monarch and his army came to Earth 51 and killed the passive heroes of this Earth and the reality itself. Ray Palmer revealed that it was the dead Ray Palmer who was suppose to stop the Great Disaster. This world's Batman made Jason into Red Robin (a reference to the much better than this Kingdom Come series). Superman Prime arrived on the Monitor's base and demanded to be taken to the "perfect" Earth. Its revealed that the Earth 51 Ray Palmer was immune all illness. This Earth's Justice League discovered a living germ called Morticoccus. This Ray Palmer, fearing there could be other Morticoccus(es), went to work in attempt to give every reality at least one person with his immunity. Superman Prime discovered the "perfect" Earth is the one being destroyed and flew off to it. When confronting Monarch, Superman Prime gave the most infamous line of this entire series: "I'll kill you! I'll kill you to DEATH!!!". Monarch and Superman Prime duked it out. The rest of Bob's group got a message to go "to Apokolips". A nameless Monitor took them there. Superman Prime accidentally broke open Monarch's armor unleashing energy destroying all of Earth 51, but Superman Prime survived. Karate Kid's health started to decline, but claimed he knew their was a bunker under Bludhaven. In said bunker, Professor Stein, a supporting character of Firestorm, was being tortured by Desaad. Desaad took over Firestorm's powers, but Karate Kid's gang managed to free his powers. Desaad fled to Apokolips. The gang accidentally activated Brother Eye (I have no idea how), which merged with Desaad's left over tech and send itself and our gang to Apokolips. Trickster and Pied Piper were stilled in the same situation as we last saw them. Trickster got shot and died. This causes the cuffs to active a 24 hour to exploding countdown. Piper used his flute to slow down the countdown. Piper (still cuffed to Trickster's dead body) went into the desert and hallucinated that the body was talking to him (complete with offensive gay jokes). Pied decided to cut off the arm of the Trickster so he wouldn't have to drag the body. Piper was teleported Apokolips (noticing a theme?). On Apokolips, Jimmy was still a slave. Eclipso handed Mary off to Darkseid, only for her to rebel and leave. Eclipso convinced her to give Darkseid's job a chance. But, the next issue had them fighting and Mary rejecting her offer. Jimmy used his powers to free Forger and himself. Forager's first reaction was to kill Jimmy for hitting on her, but she calmed down before she could so. Jimmy used his powers to escape (with Forager) to Earth, where they made out. Mary gave up her powers in regret for her misdeeds. Mary (who was in midair) fell into a sea outside where "Athena" is training the women. Holly and Harley discovered Hippolyta, former Queen of the Amazons. She teams up with the duo so they can defeat the false Athena. Forager revealed she think the soul of the New Gods are in Jimmy's body (hence his powers). Hippolyta's group gain Mary as a member. Jimmy discovered Forager left and left a message to go "to Apokolips". Its revealed Solomon and Darkseid manipulated the whole thing as part of a bet with the power of the "power of Multiverse" being the prize. Hippolyta exposed Athena as Granny Goodness. After GG used her powers to create a portal to Apokolips, Holly, Harley and Mary gave chase. Desaad revealed that Piper's mind-controlling music is actually a musical version of the Anti-Life Equation. Our female heroes freed the Greek gods, who Goodness imprisoned. The gods gave them powers and restored Mary's powers. Brother Eye started to merge with Apokolips. Morticoccus turned out to be Karate Kid's illness. Pied Piper somehow used his music to blow up Apokolips. While Darkseid and Solomon were gloating, Atom overheard their plot to unleash the Morticoccus virus so they can recreate the universe. The heroes had a debate over if they should kill Karate Kid. Solomon revealed Darkseid put the souls of the New Gods into Jimmy so he could have them for himself. Solomon accidentally teleported the heroes to the wrong reality when he got annoyed by their yelling. Despite the heroes' best effort, Morticoccus had mutated due being in Karate Kid's body thus making it impossible to cure. It started to spread and caused humans to become animal-like and vice versa; and caused full scale nuclear wall. This reality's Green Lantern accidentally spread the disease into space. So, the Great Disaster happened... and DC didn't have it guts to have it happen in the MAIN reality that the readers actually care about. This is basically an excuse for Planet of the Ape-style Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth to not be in continuity. Buddy hid his son in the bunker as Triplicate Girl was killed by rats. The remaining heroes returned to their home world... and this is NOT the end. The heroes spilt up to prevent their world from being effected by the Great Disaster and to get on with their life. Darkseid corrupts Mary with "evil" power of Black Adam. Mary kidnapped Jimmy. Donna and Kyle tried to explain what is going on to the Justice League. Superman (not Superman Prime) arrived to save Jimmy. Ray Palmer shrank into Jimmy's body and altered it to allow him access to all the powers. Jimmy use this to turn into a giant, turtle boy. Orion, Darkseid's son, comes out of nowhere and gets killed, but kills Darkseid with him. In the epilogue (the last issue), Pied Piper somehow is alive; Donna, Kyle and Forager decided to "monitor the Monitors"; and Holly and Harley look at an oversized moon.

My sources was the Atop The Fourth Wall Episodes "Countdown Prologue", "Countdown Part 1" and "Countdown Part 2"; and Wikipedia "Countdown to Final Crisis".

Hair Clip/Pin Organizer

One of the fun things I made as Christmas gifts this year was hair clip/pin organizers.

I got white frames from Home Goods, and removed the glass.  (I set it aside in a closet, in case I ever want to re-purpose this in the future).  Next, I cut two pieces of chipboard the size of the glass, and I glued them together to form a sturdy, thick sheet of chipboard.  Then, I began to apply random, colorful ribbons vertically down the chipboard, gluing them only at the ends (which wrapped around to the back.)

After completing all the vertical strips of ribbon, I started to then go horizontally.  I weaved the ribbons in and out, forming a weave.  I only went about half way (a few, I went a bit higher because it looked better.)  Feel free to do what works for you!

Then I added a bunch of hair accessories.  Many of them were made by my daughter and me, but a few were store bought as well.  Isn't it pretty? 

Enjoy your day!

National Pepper Pot Day ~ Dec. 29

National Pepper Pot Day is celebrated every year on December 29th.

Pepper Pot is a spicy, hot soup flavored with, you guessed it, pepper. On National Pepper Pot Day we celebrate Pepper Pot as, "the soup that won the [American Revolutionary] war".

The tale is told that during the cold, harsh winter of 1777, George Washington's troops, who had set up winter quarters at Valley Forge, were in a sorry state. They were sparsely clothed, cold, tired, and hungry. Food rations were meager due to farmers in the area opting to sell their goods to British Soldiers for cash rather than to the Continental soldiers for their weak currency.

On December 29, 1777, seeing that the troops' moral was low, General Washington instructed his cook, baker general Christopher Ludwick, to concoct something, "that will warm and strengthen the body of a soldier and inspire his flagging spirit". Ludwick gathered together whatever ingredients he could find including: tripe (cow's stomach), meat scraps, root vegetables, and peppercorns, threw them together in a pot and simmered it to a warm, hearty soup that did indeed strengthen the soldiers frail bodies and lifted their flagging spirits, aiding them in their conquest of the British soldiers.

Some sources suggest that Christopher Ludwick created Pepper Pot soup. What he did, in probability, was draw upon the knowledge he had of a hot pepper soup, called Callaloo, that had been introduced to that part of the country by immigrants from the West Indies. He changed it up, using the ingredients he had on hand, to create his own version of the peppery soup which is known as Philadelphia Pepper Pot soup. This is not at all to minimize the life saving influence his hearty creation had on the Continental soldiers and the impact it had on Philadelphia cuisine.

If you would like to try your hand at making this historic soup, here is an authentic Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup recipe from Allrecipes.com.

You may enjoy watching the following videos. The first is from The Food Network's, "Best Thing I Ever Ate". It features a version of Pepper Pot soup using beef rather than tripe. The second video features an authentic Caribbean Pepper Pot, or "Callaloo" soup.





Picture: allrecipes.com
Sources: theoldfoodie.com   wikipedia.org   wisegeek.com

Celebrate New Year's Eve at Home

I don't know about you, but I've outgrown the desire to go out on New Year's Eve. The thought of driving on the roads with all those over-indulged party-goers scares me, so I prefer to celebrate at home or at a friend's or family member's house where we can spend the night.

Here are some fun ideas I gathered from past New Year's Eves and from around the net:

Get Musical: Have a karaoke party and sign the night away. If you have the Wii and Rock Band, that's the perfect way to rock out on New Year's Eve. Or how about being a dancing fool. Turn on some disco or hip hop and shake your groove thing. You still have time to buy a disco ball. If you have a Spencer's Gifts at your local mall, they carry them.

Get Your Game On: Spend the evening laughing and having fun and playing games--board games, video games, card games. Some of my family's favorite games are Bananagrams (a totally addictive anagram game), Apples to Apples (also addictive, hard to describe, but leads to hilarious and often deep discussions), and Cranium (this has you singing, sculpting, drawing, acting, just plain old using your noggin to have fun).

Dress up Your Home: Choose a special room to heavily decorate so to make it appear quite fancy. Shop for streamers, stars, confetti, hats, ceiling decorations and much more. You do not have to spend a fortune to do this. Just stop by your neighborhood dollar store and get your basket full of decorations. Don't forget the balloons! You may all want to pop them when midnight strikes!

Get Cooking: Plan a culinary evening and get the whole gang involved. Lots of ideas here. Have a cooking contest around a theme. Plan a meal where everyone can make their own tailored meal, like building your own pizza by setting out the ingredients. Have a potluck with an international theme where everyone contributes, say, an Italian component to the meal. Splurge on something very fancy, like lobster or expensive cuts of meat that you wouldn't normally buy. After all, you're saving money by staying at home.

 

Movie Night: Pop some popcorn and buy some Raisinettes and rent some of your favorite old movies or some new ones you've been dying to see, and have a movie night marathon.

Get Gussied Up: Even though you're staying at home make the evening a really special occasion (and photo-worthy) by getting all dolled up in your fanciest threads and wear some sparkly makeup and nail polish. Who says you can't wear sequins at home?

Remembering and Looking Ahead: Pull out your scrapbooks from this past year and spend time talking and reminiscing. Ask: What were everyone's favorite memories of the year? What were the funniest moments? What were your proudest moments? What did you learn and discover this past year? Then spend time making plans for the coming year. What do you want to see in those scrapbooks when you look at them next New Year's Eve?

We're going to our sister's house to celebrate this year. We're still tossing ideas around about how to spend the evening. I'd love to hear some of your celebrate-at-home traditions.

Whatever you do this New Year's Eve. Have a happy, safe, fun one! I will leave you with a few New Year's Eve images I found on Pinterest...

 

 



2011 In Review

It has been a crazy, amazing year of change for me and Simply KellyB!  Thank you to all of you who have enjoyed the journey with me.  Since we are in the last week of 2011, I thought I would share a little recap of my favorite posts from this year. 

Gratitude Chain

Christmas Countdowns

Halloween Countdowns

Book Page Decor

I Love FRANKIE

Handmade Cake Toppers

Vintage Cowboys

Italy

A Delightful Bunch of Carrots

The Circus Comes to Town

Love Note Board

"Kleenex Caddies"

A Classic Valentine

Sticky Note Tutorial

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2012 to come!  Happy New Year!

2011 In Review

It has been a crazy, amazing year of change for me and Simply KellyB!  Thank you to all of you who have enjoyed the journey with me.  Since we are in the last week of 2011, I thought I would share a little recap of my favorite posts from this year. 

Gratitude Chain

Christmas Countdowns

Halloween Countdowns

Book Page Decor

I Love FRANKIE

Handmade Cake Toppers

Vintage Cowboys

Italy

A Delightful Bunch of Carrots

The Circus Comes to Town

Love Note Board

"Kleenex Caddies"

A Classic Valentine

Sticky Note Tutorial

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2012 to come!  Happy New Year!

Critic Corner: The New 52

I bought several of DC Comic's New 52 titles. So, here what I though.

For Justice League, see my previous review. Legion of Super Hero was good for Legion Fan, but it ignores the reboot. It gets 3 out of 5. Stormwatch was okay, but not anything special. It got 3 out of 5. Justice League Internation was fun. It gets 4 out of 5. Red Latern was one of the best of the bunch, but it focuses a bit too much on Atrocitus. It gets a 4 out of 5.

Free Printable Birthday Calendar

I found these over at Lemon Squeezy, and can't wait to print them out! You can download them both here.

Version 1

Version 2

Enjoy your day!

Christmas Special: Book Review: It Started With A Kiss

My gorgeous copy - on my bed-side table!

Book: It Started With A Kiss 

Genre: Chick Lit / Romantic Comedy/ Contemporary Fiction 

Author: Miranda Dickinson 

Cover Critique:

The cover looks fabulous, definitely one of my favourite covers of this year! With little twinkling stars on the pink and white background, the packaging has a magical feel to it, just like the story inside! I LOVE it!

Book Blurb:

From the author that gave you the Sunday Times top 10 selling title, “Fairytale of New York”, join our heroine Romily as she discovers how far she will go to find the man of her dreams.

As the singer in a wedding band, Romily Parker has seen her fair share of happy endings, even though her own love life isn't quite as simple.

On the last Saturday before Christmas, (shortly after disastrously declaring her love for best friend Charlie), Romily has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger whose heart-stopping kiss changes everything.

Determined to find him again, Romily embarks on a yearlong quest, helped (and sometimes hindered) by enthusiastic Uncle Dudley, cake-making Auntie Mags and flamboyant Wren. Will she find the man of her dreams? Or could true love be closer than she thinks?

Review:

While browsing for books to read in the wintry Christmas time, I saw this book in WHSmith, as the pretty cover and the title grabbed my attention, I picked it up to get a glance of what’s inside. There and then, ignoring the other shopkeepers looking at me, I found myself totally enveloped by the story as I read the first two chapters standing in front of the book shelf. Unfortunately, it was closing time and I could not get to the billing queue.

Anyways, I came home and desperate to read the rest, ordered it from Amazon. The moment it came, I curled up with the book and finished it in one sitting! Before you hear my final verdict, let me give you a glimpse of how it begins.

The story starts with Romily confessing love to her long time best friend, Charlie. To the heroine’s dismay, the guy does not take it the way she thought he would, when he tells her that he does not feel the same way. Feeling utterly embarrassed and humiliated, she runs away from him. While riding on this emotional “high tide”, she bumps into a Christmas Stall in the market area.


But something wonderful just happens; a mysterious passer-by (who happens to be a very handsome looking fella!) ends up kissing her in the next few moments. Shocked and surprised by this sudden acknowledgement of her “beauty” by a stranger, Romily finds herself “clean-bowled” by that guy’s charm! (Yes, we are talking about the same girl who had strong feelings for another guy only a few minutes ago! Strange, right?) But as they say, “love is blind”. So let’s not be so judgemental here and cut her some slack!

The book has got a superb storyline and I think that there could not have been a better beginning than the way Miranda (the author) wrote it. Her witty overtures and interesting narrative is brilliant! It made me want to know what will happen next? Will she long for Charlie or will she keep on going in her quest to find that “phantom kisser”?


The author throws in the rest of the cast to help Romily in her search for the “mystery man”. It includes her BFF, Wren, her Uncle Dudley and Aunt Mags, and the rest of her wedding band members, Jack, Tom and Soph.

I especially loved the character of Wren. She is always supportive, caring, makes fast decisions and most of all, cracked me up with her jokes and one-liners! She is like a “genie” from a bottle who knows how to get things done and solve problems. The author beautifully highlighted the importance of having great friends through Wren’s character.

All the supporting characters are well-sketched and brilliantly portrayed by the author. While I enjoyed the gigs and events by the band, “The Pinstripes”, I think that they covered a lot more space in the book than was required as they did not do much to progress the story. Some events were not of any significance to the main plot. The middle of the book could have benefited with some editing to save it from getting repetitive.

Other than that, I liked the idea of using blog posts, facebooking and getting an article published about her hunt, to give the story a modern and fresh approach. My favorite part in the book would be when Romily places an ad and a crazy guy named “Sebastian” responds. The situation gets so funny when he turns up at the meeting place and tries to convince her that he is the same guy she is looking for.


The ending took me by surprise and was a perfect way to finish the story. Overall, an enjoyable read for Christmas. Though, the book can be read any time of the year as it does not carry the theme of Christmas throughout the story. But nonetheless, it has lots of romance, comedy and magical moments to keep you entertained. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you loved movies like “While you were sleeping” and “Serendipity”, then you will definitely love this book!


Review Girl Rating: 9/10

To buy this book on Amazon, click here.

To know about the author, visit Miranda's website here.

Hope you enjoyed my "Christmas Special" book review. Please leave your comments to let me know which books you are loving this Christmas and which ones are on your "to-read" list for 2012.

To read my previous "Christmas Special" book review, click here. 

To take part in the third installment of "Holiday Season Giveaways", click here.

Happy Holidays everyone!