Brunner's Bar

Happy New Year!!! After a year filled with ups and downs I am ready to start fresh. I have big hopes for what lies ahead for me and my family in the new year. Each new year I take some time to reflect on what has happened and try to move past some of the rougher moments. This past year has had a lot of change for me, and I am usually not very good with change. The biggest change for me was the birth of my beautiful daughter. I have a son who is 4 and an absolute joy, but when I heard my wife was going to have a girl I was terrified. I don't know anything about girls. I'm still shocked I landed my wife and that she has been with me for 8 amazing years of marriage, let alone the 11 years total. The other change for me, that took a lot of courage for me, was to become a blogger. I have followed several blogs for years such as  Angela's Anxious Life  and  Read and Reviewed . I have always wanted to be a writer, but I have been terrified of any form of social networking. Yo

Doctor Sleep I started this book right when it came out. I was waiting a long time because Doctor Sleep was originaly set to come out in January 2013, but then it was pushed back to September. I made it a little over half way through the book when I had to take quite a break from reading due to life changing events. It always bothered me not having time to pick up this book because the story was really good and I was hooked. Plus I hate leaving things unfinished. I was so glad when things calmed down, and I was able to jump back into this. I couldn't put it down. That break gave me new excitement to find out which road King would lead me down next. Once it was finished I decided I needed to take some time and really think over what I wanted to say about this book. After a few days of thinking about it I am still at a loss for words.  I loved this book, and I wasn't sure I was going to. Sequels can be a let down sometimes. I have only been reading King for a few years now

Ghoul Goblin A little over a year ago I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try the Dresden Files series. I am not a fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy other than The Lord of the Rings. A bunch of my friends on Goodreads kept raving about how great this series was, and I was intrigued by the description of the first book. I love detective stories, and these are written like a noir detective novel but with magic, vampires, and faeries. The writing was great, and the one liners Harry Dresden kept throwing out where hilarious. I was hooked from book one. When I found out there were comics based off the books, I couldn't get to my library fast enough to get them. There are more I need to read, but a little while ago I was on Netgalley and saw the new Dresden Files graphic novel available. I downloaded it and couldn't wait to loose myself in the world Jim Butcher builds. Thank you Netgalley and Dynamite publishing for allowing me to read this. There are a bunch of books in the Dres

Thumbprint I love comics. If you have ever read my blog you would know that at times there are more graphic novel reviews posted than actual books. One series that I have been a big fan of is Joe Hill's Locke and Key. I really enjoyed the writing in the series. I am not a fan of his novels much, because I keep comparing him to his dad StephenKing. Every time I do, Hill comes up short, and I just can't get into the book. His graphic novel series was different for me and I really liked it. When I saw this Kindle single adapted into a graphic novel I jumped on the chance to read it. Again I would have to admit that I was disappointed. The whole story is about soldiers behaving badly and the consequences of coming home with secrets. The idea sounded interesting. A soldier arrives home to find a mysterious thumbprint left on a card. The mystery drew me in at first, but I just couldn't get past the soldiers and their actions. I have read new articles, and this type of stuf

The Houdini Box My wife and I took turns reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret to our son as a bedtime story. We all really liked it, and I wanted to read more by Brian Selznick. On a regular trip to the library I decided to see what they had in for Selznick. Honestly I was really hoping they had his newer one Wonderstruck, but I saw this and figured my son would love anything having to do with magic. This is a lot shorter than it looks. Like Invention of Hugo Cabret there are words and pictures throughout the book, and I do enjoy his illustrations. The story takes up a little over half of the book. The other half of the book is a brief history of Houdini and how this book came to be published. Both were very interesting, and I enjoyed them, but my 4 year old couldn't care less. The story is a good one. Victor is a young boy who hero worships Houdini. In a brief moment  in a train station he meets his idol and asks as many questions as he can. If I elaborate any more I w

Anyone who reads my blog fairly regularly must have noticed that it has been pretty quiet around here lately. For that I am sorry. I really miss writing these posts, and I miss reading even more. I haven't been able to pick up a book in awhile. There is big news in my life these days!!! After years of looking for a new job I have finally landed a good one. I have hated working in a retail setting and I have been desperately trying to get a big boy job. I have been in retail for 14 years now and actively looking for something else for a little over six years now. Last Monday I started my new job, but it has taken a lot of my time. I will not have health benefits until January, so I am working my old job part time until then so I can keep my family insured. From now to January I am studying for two certification exams that I will take to keep my new job. This means I am studying like crazy and have yet to actually do what I was hired for. I am so overwhelmed by it all, and

Despicable Me 2 Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill over at  Breaking the Spine.   This day allows us to  share news on upcoming releases that have us on the edge of our seats in anticipation Well it's movie time again. Recently I have been really excited for a bunch of movies to come to Blu-Ray. This is definitely one of those. I wanted to take my son to go see this movie in the theater so bad because we all loved the first. When this movie came out we just didn't have the money to risk on a 3 year old sitting through it. We still have a dollar show here and I wanted to take him when it finally arrived there. Well it seemed like we just never had the time in our busy lives to go. My heart breaks thinking about not getting to take my son to see it at the theater. Now I 'm very excited that this is finally coming out.  December 9th is when this will be available to own but of course you can pre-order it now. I was planning on getting this for m

Star Trek Vol 6: After Darkness  I really wish I had read the earlier volumes first. I loved both of the recent Star Trek movies and recently I found that they have a comic book series based off of them. When I saw this was going to follow the movie I thought it would be a lot of fun to continue the story after Into Darkness ended. What I didn't expect was how much would be referenced from previous volumes. A little part of the story revolved around a secret army that Admiral Marcus was creating, but then there was an encounter with Gorn that I missed. Even thought the synopsis says this is a continuation of the movie, there was very little that had to do with the Klingons and repercussions from events that happened in the movie. Instead this revolves around Spock and his delayed puberty or Pon Far as the Vulcans call it. Even though it wasn't what I expected I enjoyed this story a lot. Even though this wasn't at all what I expected the action of the story line made

Divergent Normally I am not a big fan of YA. I read the Hunger games and really liked it so I try to keep an open mind and trust in my wife's judgement when picking up a YA title. I also like Dystopian style books so I was curious as to what this one was about and figured it would be worth try. Tons of people I know have read it and loved this series so it has sat on my to-read list for a long time. Just recently the reserve my wife set up at the library came in and  we decided this was as good a time as any to read this together. I have thought a lot about what I was going to say in this review and here it is; I liked it, but I am not really sure why. Has this ever happened to you? I really liked the book once it got to the ending and I am anxious to read the next, but other than that I am just lost as to what all I should say. Here are some thoughts I had while reading this and I hope I can get a decent review from these. First of all, I'm surprised that I ended up l

The Halloween Hangover; t his isn't because of having to much to drink the night before and now suffering from bad decisions. I mean the day after Trick-or-Treating, binge candy eating, and lack of sleep. When I was a kid I can remember trying to stay out as late as I could and fill my pillowcase with as much free candy as possible. By the end of the night my knees hurt, I was usually cold and wet (since it usually is cold and rainy here in Missouri on Halloween), and my tummy hurt from an over eating of candy. These days the feeling is a little different. Now that I have kids of my own I am so excited to chase my son from house to house as his excitement flows out of him. Watching him run in his costume and laugh like a crazy person is intoxicating. After Trick-Or-Treating we dug through the candy to throw away any open or damaged candy, and all enjoyed a piece (or two) and then it was off to bed. Today I'm tired, my knees hurt and I really shouldn't have had that sec

Halloween (2007) Since today is Halloween I figured this would be the perfect movie to end Halloween week.  Last night we carved our pumpkin and today my son is anxiously waiting to put on his costume and rush out to see how much candy he can get before he tires out. He is three so he tires pretty fast, but all that matters is that he has a great time.It is a lot of fun to go out with him and see how happy he is to get candy. My son is always a little shy at first but after about two houses he is running to the next house. Come back next year when I do Halloween week again and review the original versions of the movies I did here. For those of you that celebrate Halloween, I wish you a Happy Halloween and hope you have half as much fun as I hope to today.  I'm a big fan of Rob Zombie and when he started to make movies I was excited to see what he would come up with. I really liked House of a 1000 Corpses, and Devils Rejects. When I saw he was going to be doing the remake of

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) This movie seemed to start the big horror remake craze. Before this movie we hadn't had a remake of the big contemporary horror movie monsters like there are now. There have been plenty of continuations of Freddy, Jason, and Micheal Myers but no one had tackled redoing the movie that had started the franchise yet. I may be wrong and if I am please let me know in the comments. I might need to try to expand my rental list if I have missed a good horror movie remake. I need to be honest and admit that I hadn't seen the original Chainsaw Massacre when my wife and I went to see this at the theaters. I had heard about Leatherface and knew what he looked like but I hadn't taken the time to watch it. Back in 2003 when my wife and I were just dating we went to the movies every week. We also loved horror movies and this was a must see. The trailer looked awesome and it was one we couldn't pass up. I knew nothing else about this m

Friday the 13th (2009) When this movie came out I was a little leery about another Friday the 13th movie. Sure the original ones were cheesy and ridiculous but that was the appeal. Later movies like Jason goes to Hell and Jason X were just bad movies. Needless to say I was afraid this was going to be another stupid movie that just capitalizes on the fact Jason Voorhees was in it. At first I had heard this was going to be a remake of the original, and then I heard this was going to be just Friday the 13th part 11. It turns out this movie is kind of both. The movie opens with a rainy night and a camp counselor running from Jason's mother. The first movie doesn't even have Jason Voorhees in it till the very end. The first movie revolves around the mother getting revenge on camp counselors because she is crazy. Flash forward to today and the legend of Camp Chrystal Lake is known by all. The reason I would say this is partially a remake of the originals is simply because we

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Welcome to Elm Street where the population continues to drop. I love this movie and the original because nothing is scarier than something that can get you in your dreams. When we sleep we can feel safe and relaxed, but what happens when your dreams turn against you? The concept is really cool and I have to thank Wes Craven for coming up with it. As a child his movies had me sleeping with a flashlight under my pillow. This remake was, in my opinion, very well done. It keeps a lot of the things that made the original movie great while still allowing it to stand on it's own. The original movie was scary when I was a kid and I was watching it on late night TV when my parents thought I was sleeping. Now it has lost it's ability to scare me. As an adult I can see all the cheesy scenes and campy dialog, and I enjoy it for a whole different set of reasons. In the new movie director Samuel Bayer takes this classic and gives it his own twist.

It's that time of year again. The leaves are turning and falling to the ground. Finally we got a little frost on our pumpkin, and hordes of children are obsessing over what to wear for that one night of Trick or Treating. For those of you unaware of what Halloween is, it is a night where kids get to dress up in costumes and go house to house begging for free candy. There is a lot more history of the holiday and stuff but this is the important thing to know, FREE CANDY!!! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I look forward to it every year. Before my wife and I had our two wonderful children we used to have Halloween parties. They were always a lot of fun, and something we all looked forward to every year. We always made lots of great food and everyone would dress up. Half way through the night we would usually end up getting Guitar Hero out and we would play till our fingers hurt. This was mainly the guys of course, the ladies cheered us on or rolled their eyes. We will get

Feature Follow is the day of the week that we get to know each other and make some new friends. This is graciously put on by our hosts  Parajunkee  and  Alison Can Read . Each week there is one blog featured by each host and a question to help us break the ice and open discussion. Since I am new to blogging I don't currently have a preference as to how you follow me. Feel free to follow through bloglovin, email, or GFC. I'm not picky just happy to have the company.   This weeks question is:  This week is an activity: Bookagram: Photograph your fave read in a funny place. I have to admit that I was so lost as to what type of picture I should take. Yes, I know it was supposed to be funny but I was still at a loss. I asked my wife what I should do and she asked me if I still knew how to tie a noose. Don't judge me I was a weird teen. Anyway she said I should hang my favorite book in homage to Halloween. I decided to take this a step further. 

Zombies & Demons Let me put this out there first.  I didn't choose this because of the cover art.  This was not the cover that was on Netgalley when I requested this title. All I really wanted was a good zombie book since the Walking Dead came back on TV. I was first introduced to the Grimm Fairy Tales graphic novels with their version of Sleepy Hollow. That book was amazing, and I really liked it, so when I saw that they did a Zombies and Demons book I figured I would give it a try. I like zombies, I even like demon tales from time to time. This book for me was kind of a let down. Since this is broken down into two separate stories I will review each section starting with the Zombies portion.  This wasn't so bad, but I wanted more than a Romeo and Juliet meet George Romero. A slave falls in love with the plantation owner's daughter, and all hell breaks loose. The plantation owner hunts them down by raising the dead to find them. I wont spoil the rest of the stor

Man of Steel  Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill over at  Breaking the Spine.   This day allows us to  share news on upcoming releases that have us on the edge of our seats in anticipation. This week my Waiting on Wednesday is for the Blu-Ray release of Man of steel . I have already reviewed this movie so I wont bore you with how awesome it is. However, if you would like to read my review just click the second link and it will take you there. This is the best movie I have seen this year and I can't wait to watch it again. My wife and I don'tget to see movies in the theater very often so when we do it has to be a one we both really want to see. This one we saw in 3D and it was worth the extra cost. The 3D effects on this movie were really good and I am going to get this in the 3D Blu-Ray so when I finally get my 3D TV this will be one of the first I watch on it. This release has some cool special features listed and I really enjoy watching all

Green Lantern Vol 3: The end All good things must come to an end and all questions I had have been answered. When I started on the Green lantern books after the New 52 started I was hooked. I just read Green Lantern: Rise of the Third Army. That book compiled all of the Green Lantern books into one story, but it ended in the midst of a huge battle. This doesn’t pick up during that battle so I’m anxious to see how that ends, but this book does bring an end to a lot of question I had. Who was the first Lantern, why are the Guardians out to destroy all they have built, and where is Hal Jordan? The story line does come to an end, but it made me wish I knew what all happened in the background. This book revolves around Hal Jordan, Simon Baz, and Sinestro. I do hope they make a volume 2 to The Rise of the Third Army. If not I will wait anxiously for the graphic novel release of Green Lantern Corps and other books to fill in the gaps. Simon Baz is new to being a Green Lantern. H

Aquaman Vol 2: The Others  I have been very impressed with the reboot of Aquaman. Geoff Johns has made him less of a joke and more of a hero that can hold his own with the Justice League. That being said, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in this particular book. The gripes I have are just minor, but I was hoping to get more in depth with the Atlantean artifacts. In Auquaman Vol 1: The Trench , Aquaman finds a relic from Atlantis, and we know very little about it. I was hoping to get more info on these relics and continue the story that I loved in book one. There is some story about the relics, but for the most part this is about Aquaman Vs Black Manta. Not that this was a bad story at all, but I expected something else with how Volume 1 ended. This story is about the Others. This team is kind of like a third string Justice League. They have been looking for relics from Atlantis to protect them. Aquaman joined with them early on in his career when he was brought

Feature Follow is the day of the week that we get to know each other and make some new friends. This is graciously put on by our hosts  Parajunkee  and  Alison Can Read . Each week there is one blog featured by each host and a question to help us break the ice and open discussion. Since I am new to blogging I don't currently have a preference as to how you follow me. Feel free to follow through bloglovin, email, or GFC. I'm not picky just happy to have the company.   This weeks question is:  What are some of your favorite magazines??? There really is only one magazine that I subscribe to and that is: I have been a fan of mysteries since I became a young adult. Sherlock Holmes is just one of my favorites. This magazine showcases different mystery authors and their short stories. Along with these short pieces there are book reviews and all kinds of interesting articles.I have been interested in this magazine for years but never subscribed. Last year w

Invention of Hugo Cabret  I am a little late to the party with this one. I must be honest and say that I had not heard about this book until well after the movie had come out. I loved the trailer, and the idea of this mechanical man drawing a secret note once fixed seemed intriguing. I still haven't seen the movie yet, but it has been on my to watch list for along time. Here is the trailer that captured my attention so well: It wasn't until a year or two ago that I found out Hugo was based off of this book. I had to put this on my to-read list but it sadly rested at the bottom. There were a lot of other grown up reads I wanted to get to first. The last time we all went to the library as a family my lovely wife had the idea that we should just get The Invention of Hugo Cabret and read it as a family. My son is almost 4 and my wife and I have both read books to him individually but this was the first time we read as a family. I was very excited for this to be our first

Aquaman Vol 3: Throne of Atlantis  Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill over at  Breaking the Spine.   This day allows us to  share news on upcoming releases that have us on the edge of our seats in anticipation. I never thought I would see the day where I would be excited about an Aquaman book. Aquaman has always been the joke of the DC Universe. He has been ridiculed in tons of television shows such as Saturday Night Live and Big Bang Theory. Even when Smallville introduced Aquaman, the guy was kind of lame. Geoff Johns has changed that. When the New 52 launched, DC looked at it as a way to redo their beloved heroes. Some of the reboots were not what I wanted to see, but others were amazing stories. Aquaman is one of those stories that has done well with a fresh relaunch. Here is the Goodreads description for this book.   Aquaman, who long ago lost contact with his people, must watch as armies emerge from the sea to attack the surface world. The Just

Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (The New 52)  Absolutely Amazing!!!! Scott Snyder has done an amazing job with the Batman comics since the New 52 began. Several of the reboots have not lived up to my expectations, but the Batman series has been the best I have seen. DC Comics was kind enough to let me read this collection early for an honest review care of Net Galley. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see this. I have been a Batman fan all my life and he is by far my favorite superhero. My love for Batman has rubbed of on my 3 year old son and he loves running around in his mask and homemade cap shouting “I’m Batman”. It will be many years before I let him read my comics, but I still get a kick out of seeing what I must have been like as a child. It is also nice to have an excuse to watch my Batman Animated series DVDs because he loves those. This book starts off after the Court of Owls story line, the Joker has been missing for a year and now he is back. A