Showing posts with label Unwind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unwind. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A to Z - Ultimate Marvel Zombies and U-No-Poo

Later on today I will be Unveiling an Upcoming Blogfest a friend and I are doing this summer. If you have been here and won't be back until tomorrow... don't fret... I will repost about it everyday during the A to Z Challenge! Happy U day!


Ultimate Fantastic Four - Frightful Four

The Frightful Four are Zombie counterparts of the Fantastic Four.
Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories. The story begins with a virus reaching Earth, turning most of Earth's superheroes (and some civilians) into zombies. In the Marvel Multiverse is an alternate Earth designated Earth 2149, which contains alternate versions of Marvel superheroes. The story begins as a zombified Sentry infects the Avengers, after he crashlands in New York. The infection spreads via contact with the blood of the victim, usually through a bite by an infected individual. The zombified superbeings largely retain their intellect and personality, although they are constantly driven by the hunger for fresh meat.
I have never read any of these but if Robert Kirkman has his hands in it, then I’m dying to read them! Has anyone read these?

Underworld(s)

Underworld tells the story of Selene, a Death Dealer, bent on destroying the Lycans who allegedly killed her family. She discovers that the Lycans are pursuing a human, Michael Corvin, for experimentation; Selene captures Michael herself to find out what the Lycans are up to. Along the way, Selene not only discovers a mutinous plot to destroy the Vampire Elders, but also a shocking revelation about her father-like Elder, Viktor.
In Underworld: Evolution, Selene takes Michael to a Vampire safe house and plans to return to Viktor's estate to awaken Marcus, the last Vampire Elder. Marcus confronts her, after being wakened by Lycan blood. While on the run from Marcus, Selene and Michael discover that Marcus is the first Vampire, and that he plans to free his imprisoned brother, William, the first and most savage Werewolf. It is revealed Alexander Corvinus is the first of the Vampire and Lycan lines. He was the only survivor of a plague that wiped out his village. Somehow, his body was able to mutate the virus, mold it to his own benefit. He had three sons, two of whom inherited their father's immortality and were bitten, one by bat and one by wolf, creating the Vampire and Lycan lines. Corvinus' third son, who did not inherit immortality, also carried the Corvinus Strain, hidden away in his genetic code .
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Primarily focuses on the origins of some people and events leading to the Vampire-Lycan war. The original werewolves were uncontrollable beasts, unable to retake human form once bitten. However, there was a single werewolf who gave birth to a human-looking child. This child carried a mutation of the original virus, permitting him to alternate between human and werewolf form. He was Lucian, dubbed by Viktor as "the first of the Lycans." The Vampires used the Lycans as slaves to be the guardians of their lairs during the daylight hours and labor during the night. However, Viktor's daughter Sonja and Lucian fell in love and she became pregnant. Lucian, the Lycan leader, led a revolt after Viktor killed Sonja to prevent the blending of the species.
A fourth film, Underworld: Awakening, "Kate Beckinsale, star of the first two films, returns in her lead role as the vampire warrioress Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species."

Unwind

by Neal Shusterman
After a civil war—known as the Second Civil War or the Heartland War—is fought over abortion, a compromise was reached, allowing parents to sign an order for their children between the ages of 13 and 18 years old to be unwound—taken to "harvest camps" and having their body parts harvested for later use. The reasoning was that, since 100% (actually 99.44% taking into account the appendix and "useless" organs) was required to be used, unwinds did not technically "die", because their individual body parts lived on. In addition to unwinding, parents who are unable to raise their children to age thirteen for retroactive abortion have the option to "stork" their child by leaving it on another family's porch. If they don't get caught, the "storked" baby then becomes the other family's responsibility.
This book gave me chills. Being present at an actual Unwinding process almost brought me to my knees. This book was wonderful and surreal. Can’t wait for Unwholly.


U-No-Poo


U-No-Poo is a product of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes that causes constipation in the unknowing taker. The pills can be mashed up and mixed with food or drink. The product was advertised in the main window of the shop in the summer of 1996 in yellow writing and on a purple background. Mrs. Weasley was less than impressed with the slogan, fearing that her sons would be "murdered in their beds" for making fun of the Dark Lord. Ron, however, found the name to be "Brilliant".
Harry Potter once noticed that it seemed as if his classmates had overdosed on U-No-Poo as they practiced trying to cast spells without saying an incantation, as they were purple in the face and straining as they tried to make magic without speaking.


Ullr


Not much is known about Ull or Ullr. He appears to have been a major god, or an epithet of an important god, in prehistoric times. Possibly in reference to the god, is attested on the 3rd century Thorsberg chape  but medieval Icelandic sources have only sparse material on Old Norse Ullr. Ullr's name appears in several important Norwegian and Swedish place names (but not in Denmark or in Iceland). This indicates that Ullr had at some point a religious importance in Scandinavia that is greater than what is immediately apparent from the scant surviving textual references.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

My Top 10 Books of 2011

This year I have read roughly 60 novels and these are my FAVORITES; not in any particular order:


The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell aka Joshua Gaylord
I have read some great zombie books but this one has to be the best thus far. Pick a cover, any cover


Toys by James Patterson


Heartstopper by Joy Felding
It's killer being beautiful.


House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti
You want a mind f@*# of a book? This is your kind of twisted novel.


Hunger Games (series)
I read all three in a week and instantly fell in love. Can't wait for the movie in 2012.


City of Fallen Angels
This is the 4th install of the Mortal Instruments Series. I love the characters and how the several different worlds she has going on, all live magically together. There is talk of a movie deal!


Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
I know I'm behind on the series seeing how the third installment (Silence) is out, by what can I say... I have too many series going at the same time.


Everfound by Neal Shusterman
I LOVE this series. Everfound is the last book of the Skinjackers series. MUST READ!


Torment by Lauren Kate
Sencond novel in the Fallen series

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
After reading Everlost (first book in Skinjackers series) I fell in love with this author and cannot stop reading his material. He is currently working on Unwholly; a follow-up to Unwind.


BONUS READ:
World War Z by Max Brooks
You might start getting the hint that I love the-end-of-the-world reads... this book takes patience to get through, but over-all, it's a great read and tells great stories about individual uprise in an undead world. It really makes you think about "What would I do in that situation?"

Friday, August 12, 2011

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind – A society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion, he’s a tithe, but he soon finds his place amongst the rogues. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, each other’s selfishness, and Roland, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, except for those that fight against the system, eighteen seems far, far away.
In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.
2008 ALA Top Ten Picks for Reluctant Readers
2008 ALA Best Young Adult Book list
2010 Japanese Sakura Medal
2008 Bank Street Best Books of the Year
Nevada Young Reader Award WINNER
2010 Washington Evergreen YA Book award List WINNER
WINNER OF 2010 Oklahoma Intermediate Sequoyah Award List
 Nominee for 2010 Oklahoma High School Sequoyah Award List
2009/2010 Texas Lonestar Award List
2009 Texas Tayshas Award List
2009/2010 Virginia Readers Choice Award WINNER2009/2010 Indiana Rosewater High School Book Award WINNER2010 Utah Beehive Award Nominee
2009/2010 Missouri Gateway Readers Award WINNER
2010 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award List
2009/2010 Vermont Green Mountain Book Award
2010 Rhode Island Teen Book Award List
2010 Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award List
2009/2010 Georgia Peach Award List
2009/2010 Florida Teens Read Award List
2009/2010 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award List WINNER
2010-2011 One Book for Nebraska Teens WINNER
2010-2011 California Young Reader Medal Nomination
The United Kingdom Coventry Inspiration "Simply the Book" Award WINNER
2009/2010 Kentucky Bluegrass Award List
2010 South Dakota YARP Award List
2011 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award WINNER2010-2011 New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Reads Award List
NY Public Library “Books for the Teen Age”
2010 New Jersey Garden State Children's Book Award Nominee
2010 Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award List
2011 Nutmeg Book Award Nominee WINNER
Vermont’s Green Mountain Book Award

This book is unique in its own right and makes your wonder about the possibilities if this was to ever to happen. What would the world really be like if being Unwound was the “normal” thing to do when you’ve had enough of your children? What if you were Storked; would you keep the baby? Could you fight against society and keep them safe or would you follow suit? It would be an easy choice for me, what about you?