October 2012 "Wrap-Up"

Happy Halloween to everyone out there in Blogger-Land...!

Rather than give you a "Best-Book of the Month" this month, I am just going to mention two books that I read this month, where the purchase of the book goes to a good cause:

The first book is written by an older gentleman from my church.
Remembering Redbank by Jack Coleman
This is Jack's 1st novel, and the reason that I bought it (other than that it sounded good) was the fact that all purchases go directly to his upcoming mission trip to India.
So, for anyone wanting to take a nostalgic trip back to the 1940's, where times were much simpler, grab this book (available on Amazon) and help support Jack's mission trip.
It is a great, fast read with a 'Stand by Me' kind-of feel to it.

The other book that I want to mention is an anthology of 14 short-stories called 'Scare Package' (edited by Franklin E Wales) 
All proceeds of this book go directly to the Rockcastle Regional Hospital & Respiratory Care Center's "Miracle-Fund".
This is 100% charity (the authors of these stories don't get a dime)
So, for only $3 (available on Amazon's Kindle) you get some great stories by authors that I've mentioned on this blog before (such as Billie Sue Mosiman, Joseph M. Monks, Eric S. Brown, etc - a win/win situation!)

Other books that I read this month:
*A book that should be read by everyone, before voting, next month:
'The Greatest Threat to American Freedom' - by Dr. James B. Richards
(a short 40+ page book available to read, for free, on-line)

I then read 'Almost Home' and 'Life After Death' both by Damien Echols (of "West Memphis Three" fame)
Life after Death just came out this month, and I have owned Almost Home for a while, but had never gotten around to reading it, so I read that one 1st.
There is no need to bother with Almost Home, as the majority of it is re-hashed in Life After Death (pretty much only recommended if you had any interest or followed the case of the aforementioned "West Memphis Three)

In the Tall Grass - by Stephen King & Joe Hill
(another father & son novella - not as good as their prior collaboration 'Throttle' but still a great/gruesome read!)

Extraction - by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
(a short story about the Tooth Fairy)

Best Movie of the Month:
Silent Hill 2: Revelation 
(I am sure that I will get flak for this one, as every review I read on it, prior to seeing it, was horrendous!)
I don't care and I enjoyed it, even better than the 1st one!
Basically it was an hour-and-a-half long 3-D ride through a fantastic haunted house!
This is a movie that you watch specifically for the audio & visual effects.
(the story, which I will admit is somewhat muddled, is based on a video game after all...)

Runner-Up:
This month's runner-up is a toss-up between Excision (a movie definitely not for everyone!) and Brake (which had the potential to be great, but fell short due to the ending...)

Other movies that I watched this month:
(in the order that I viewed them)

Kill List
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter
Bait (a unique shark flick)
Scalene
Hick
Get the Gringo
American Horror House
Barricade
Resident Evil: Damnation
The Victim (I really liked this one, even though it had a somewhat predictable twist)
Chained
Dragon Eyes
Rise of the Zombies

Best iPhone App of the Month:
You will recall, last month, that I stated I am making the switch to Android...
The 24th was the announcement that Samsung made regarding their Galaxy Note II (which I so cannot wait to buy!) - it is already available on US Cellular, T-Mobile, and Sprint, however it's not hitting AT&T until Nov. 9th, so you will have to wait until next month to read my thoughts on it.

In the meantime, I did come across an addicting little game that I've been playing throughout the month, called Tread of the Dead

Until next month - everyone have a safe/happy Halloween!

Jason