Book Embargo

I forgot to post my review of the Superbowl commercials!
A great website resource is http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads. You can watch all the ads, plus they list them all. Great site. That said, here are my picks of best, freakiest and notable mention.

My favorite was the Budweiser Rocky ad. Very nicely done!

Next up, the Planters Unibrow. Disturbing, but yeah, who can resist the smell of peanuts?

I also liked the FedEx pigeons commercial. Mostly for when the GeoMetro lands next to the two men and he beeps it, showing it is HIS and the Garmin Napoleon commercial. Especially when they lead out the pony, ha!
This one is pretty silly. There were a few in this line, where they used the website instead of a freaky alternative choice. The actor in this is from the TV show Bones, so this one, I prefer.

I am going to link to the Chunk of Love and Shaq commercial, because the idea of Shaq on a Thoroughbred is just too funny.

the Bridgestone Russell Simmons commercial, FUNNY. This is especially funny because of all the infomercials for his new DVD set of Sweatin’ to the oldies that are being re-released.

aw, i like this one!

I wish this one was higher up, what with all the party crap that is going on in Washington

Finally, the WORST and best is TOTALLY the amp commercial.

I hope you enjoyed my list of the most interesting and notables in this years Super Bowl line up! Congrats to the Giants!

Tags: commericals, football, fox, giants, new york giants, ny giants, super bowl, superbowl

Now, you all know how much I loved Dairy Queen. I labeled it my FAVORITE book of 2006. Well, it has a sequel. Off-Season is the name and GREATNESS is the game!

First, I still REALLY like DJ. The books are her diaries and Catherine Gilbert Murdock does a great job in using the diary format for DJ’s voice.

I liked DQ for its freshness for introducing me to DJ and her family, but comparing the two in my head and… I think that Off-Season was even better than DQ.

Off-Season deals with heavier topics than DQ. In Dairy Queen it was more self-realization for DJ. She helps train the rival-high school quarterback, ends up liking him, decides to join her school’s football team, all the while basically running her family’s dairy farm. Off-Season continues DJ and Brian’s relationship but it also shows the harsher injury side of football as well as the reality of how hard it is for small family farms. What DJ goes through, the decisions that have to be made, and the type of person DJ become are more intense and overall deeper than Dairy Queen.

The Schwenk family has issues with communication. Honestly, what family doesn’t? DJ’s family just chooses not to talk about things. Sometimes this is okay and the situation resolves on its own, and other times it ends up with an explosion. In Off-Season, these situations and their resulting explosions are just awesome.

Becky’s Book Review had this to say, and I wholeheartedly agree!

I hesitate to tell you any of the reasons why her world is falling apart. Just know this…it isn’t because she broke a nail…it isn’t because of something equally trivial or shallow. THE OFF SEASON is a serious novel; it’s well written. The characters are authentic and memorable. If you didn’t love D.J. before…you just might after reading THE OFF SEASON.

I liked Dairy Queen; I really liked it. But I loved The Off Season. It delves even deeper into the Schwenk family. You get to know even more about the family and how it works–how it functions: her relationship with her parents, her relationship with her brothers. Dairy Queen flirted with the idea of D.J. discovering who she is and what she’s worth…but she really and truly gets it in THE OFF SEASON.

Another review from the Columbus Dispatch, though don’t read the rest of the review before you read the book,

In The Off Season, Murdock spins a story that’s heart-wrenching and hilarious. She prods beneath the surface of the characters and leaves the ending a bit open. Readers will have to wonder — and probably expect another sequel — about what happens next to this dairy queen.

Dairy Queen is available in paperback and Off-Season is available in hardcover. Check them out, you WON’T regret it!

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Tags: catherine gilbert murdock, cows, dairy, dairy queen, diary, dq, football, football injuries, gilbert, high school, injury, moo, murdock, off season, queen

Okay fellows, RUN to your local independent bookshop and pick up, OFF SEASON, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. It is the sequel to Dairy Queen WHICH if you remember was my FAVORITE book of 2006.

From Powell’s Books,

Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She’s in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she’s reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She’s got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, who’s cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there’s the fact she’s starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you can’t predict the future. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she’s a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.
Synopsis:
This hilarious, heartbreaking, and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed “Dairy Queen” takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that readers will never forget.

Yeah and freaking A, be careful if you go to the Houghton Mifflin website because CRAZY spoilers…… grrrrr

Okay so stop reading, GO TO YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT AND BUY BUY BUY!!!!

(also, DQ is now out in paperback, so make sure you pick that up first!!)

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Tags: catherine gilbert murdock, cows, d.j. schwenk, dairy queen, football, girls playing football, hardcover, HM, houghton mifflin, murdock, off season, paperback, schwenk, the off-season