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Monday, December 14, 2009

Four Enormous - Eerie Hands

For many reasons there are hundreds if not thousands of large outdoor hand sculptures around the world, the majority of which seem to be reaching towards the sky in an attempt to escape life below ground. I'm a big fan of all things creepy so thought I'd show you 4 of the best examples. Here they are.

Mano del Desertio

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The 11 metre tall Mano del Desertio can be found protruding from the sand in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and has been standing alone since 1992 when it was inaugurated. Made from a combination of iron and cement, the huge hand was designed and built by Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal, the man also behind 'The Drowned', seen below. More after the break..

Holy Cow Born With White Cross On Forehead

A "Holy Cow" Moses was born last week at a dairy farm in Sterling, Connecticut. Moses was born with an unique "birthmark" that looks like a white cross on its forehead.

Why it is Healthier to Consume Raw Potatoes than Cooked One

Consuming raw potatoes has more health benefits than cooked one. Because of its high content of potassium, sulphur, phosphorus, and chlorine, undiluted raw potato juice is proven to be effective in clearing up skin blemishes. However, you can get this potato benefits only if you consume potato as raw food because these powerful minerals are converted to inorganic atoms when potatoes are cooked. And, the best way to consume it raw is by taking it as juice. Fresh raw undiluted potato-carrot juice is so nutritious. A cup or two of potato-carrot juice a day is a great help to health problems like skin blemishes and high blood pressure.

American Soldiers Back From war In Iraq

There are no heros in war, only victims. A look at some of the US soldiers that came back from the Iraq war and each of them definitely has their own story to tell. Their tragedy will only be life reminders of how ugly war really is.

Check out 8 more Images of US soldiers back from the war in Iraq after the jump.

The Mystery of Qin Shi Huangdis Mausoleum

1. The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi / Photo from Fraggle Rockstar

The tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China is loaded with historical significances. This mausoleum, which is seen as the epitome of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi’s boundless power and prestige is located 30 km to the outside of X’ian in the Shensi province of China. Qin Shi Huangdi was the only ruler who single-handedly unified the seven warring clans of the China of 221 BCE and commanded massive construction of several public infrastructures as well as the legendary Great Wall of China. More after the break...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

'Princess and the Frog' No. 1 at box office

From 'Princess and the Frog' No. 1 at box office by Nicole Sperling:

Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" dominated the pre-holiday weekend with a $25 million nationwide debut, pushing the frame up over the same weekend last year.

The 2-D animated flick introducing the first African-American princess Tiana proved to be a big hit with audiences, earning an A from exit pollster Cinemascore. It has now grossed close to $28 million including its $2 million from 2-week limited engagement and should be one of the highest-grossing movies of the upcoming holiday season.

I haven't seen it myself--I spent the weekend finishing my trip and then making the long, somewhat delayed journey home from the west coast back to home. I want to see it more out of curiosity than anything, so perhaps by the end of the year I will. I have yet to see a truly negative review, but I haven't had a chance to read most of them.

Stay tuned since I plan to discuss The Frog Prince all week here on the blog in addition to other newsy posts.

Romance: Fairy Tale Weddings by Debbie Macomber

Sometime soon I plan to write a few posts about fairy tales and romance novels, a big topic actually, but one that I'm rather weak at since I don't read much in the genre.

For now, I wanted to point out the current bestseller released a few weeks ago: Fairy Tale Weddings: Cindy and the Prince\Some Kind of Wonderful by Debbie Macomber. This is a paperback reprint of two of bestselling novelist Macomber's earlier novels that directly drew inspiration from Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, arguably the most popular tales used for inspiration in the romance genre.

Here's the publisher's description:

Fairy Tales Can Come True

Cindy and the Prince

Thorndike Prince—handsome, levelheaded, successful—is a high-ranking New York City executive. Cindy Territo is the janitor who cleans his office after hours. There's no reason they'd ever meet, no reason he'd even notice her—until, on a whim and a dare, Cindy crashes his company's Christmas ball. She dances with her Prince and then, like a proper Cinderella, flees at midnight, leaving her heart behind….

Some Kind of Wonderful

Beautiful inside and out, New York socialite Judy Lovin values family over fortune and fame. So when her father's business collapses and his most powerful enemy offers to help—in exchange for Judy's company—she agrees to join John McFarland on his remote Caribbean island. It isn't long before she discovers that John's far from the beast he seems to be!

SurLaLune has a page of Fairy Tale Romance Novels rather hidden on the site. I have a hard time keeping the page current thanks to the prolific nature of the genre as well as the difficulty in finding them unless they have overt references to the tales in their titles. After all, many romance novels arguably use similar themes to fairy tales, especially Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast with Ugly Duckling as another source of inspiration, too. The titles also go out of print quickly due to the nature of the romance genre, although ebook readers are changing that somewhat. I've noticed that Harlequin, Mills & Boon and others are taking advantage of ebook publishing which benefits their short print runs by keeping books "in print" longer. Even Macomber's book is available as an ebook although it isn't listed as an edition under the paper title for some reason.

But all of this is more relevant to future posts, not Macomber's book specifically. Still, I am always interested to see how many authors have gotten their start in the genre and used fairy tales during that start. Macomber is one of the many.