My Favourite Authors Part 1: Two Authors Who Make Me Laugh Out-Loud

 








A series of posts about Authors who's stories have captivated me, and who I find inspiring.

1. John Flanagan. The Ranger's Apprentice series.
So yeah, if you've read my blog long enough you should know that I love his Ranger's Apprentice series to bits. I have yet to own all of them, I'll get them all eventually! One of the best book series ever! Humour, action, great characters! Most disappointing was however, his Brotherband series. The first was good. The second wasn't even needed and the third was just like he saw this plot-line that he re-used over and over again. And now we're just reduced to Brotherband, either he'll need to get some better story-lines otherwise I am going to be vastly annoyed. And one day a book signing, yep! Great idea that! Just need to go to Sydney, there is bound to be one there! My favourite characters are obviously: Will Treaty, Alyss Mainwaring, Halt, Selethen, Erak Starfollower and Gilan. And just so everyone knows I thought that Evanlyn and Horace were pretty pathetic parents in The Royal Ranger. My least favourite book out of the series is the Lost Stories as it was just a collection of short stories, with no main bad guy. The Royal Ranger was also a bit slow because you have to go through all the same training that Will undertakes in the first book. Also there wasn't as much Halt or humour. :)

2. Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson series and Heroes of Olympus
Just this year, we discovered the movie. Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, which though from a book to movie view is not the most loyal, was still a good movie. After that we discovered the books. The Percy Jackson series. Out of them all, I think my favourite would be the Battle of the Labyrinth. Strangely, I think that Percy Jackson and Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon, actually are very much alike. Especially in the first movie when Percy first sees Mrs. Dodds. Percy Jackson, Nico Di Angelo, Annabeth Chase, and Tyson. They are the best characters.
I pretty much died of boredom in the Lost Hero. Percy wasn't in it! The other main characters who you really like, aren't really in it either! The most interesting chapters were from Leo's point of view. I had guessed that Percy was at the other camp at the end of the Lost Hero, and I read the first chapter of Son of Neptune right away.
The Heroes of Olympus is very different from the Percy Jackson series. One is written in first person, (PJ) the other in third (HOO) but they both have the same flavour of adventure and fun. The best chapters are from Percy's point of view and Annabeth's. My least favourite characters have got to be Piper, Jason and Frank. Coach Hedge seems to be trying to be humorous but falls a little flat. The Mark of Athena is currently my favourite HOO book. I am currently reading House of Hades and getting a little worried as I think that Nico is going to die! Ahhh! Oh, and Camp Half-Blood beats Camp Jupiter


John Flanagan and Rick Riordan are two of the authors who make me laugh out loud the most!
For instance:
“Without thinking, Will spoke. 'Halt? Are you awake?'
'No.' The ill humor in the one-word reply was unmistakable.
'Oh. Sorry.'
'Shut up.' He pondered whether to apologise again and decided this would go against the instruction to shut up, so remained silent.
“Will'd barely been asleep a few minutes when Halt's voice woke him.
'Will? Are you asleep?'...
'I was,' he said, a little indignantly. 'I'm not now.'
 'Good,' Halt replied, a trifle smugly.
'Serves you right.”
-Rangers Apprentice: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja
""A Demigod!" one snarled. "Eat it!" yelled another. But that's as far as they got before I slashed a wide arc with Riptide and vaporized the entire front row of monsters."Back off!" I yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor--a six-foot tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at me. I did my best to stare him down."New lesson, class," I announced. "Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial bronze sword. This change is completely normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK OFF!"
To my surprise, it worked. The monsters backed off, but there was at least twenty of them. My fear factor wasn't going to last that long. I jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!" and ran for the exit. --Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth
I hope you enjoyed reading this! I certainly enjoyed writing it!

God Bless
 

Dear Mr. Flanagan

Sorry that some of the pictures off my sidebars are getting onto this post. I'll have to see if my Mum can help me fix it up. :)

Dear Mr. Flanagan I can't believe that today the final book in your Ranger's Apprentice series is being released.
Dear Mr. Flanagan, have I told you how I hate book series ending?
Dear Mr. Flanagan, The Royal Ranger had better be good otherwise I shall be very disappointed
Dear Mr. Flanagan, Everyone knows RA is better than Brotherband,
Dear Mr. Flanagan, Did I mention I might eventually get my books signed by you? Because that would be awesome
Dear Mr. Flanagan, Do you know how many times I've laughed out loud when reading funny bits out of RA? Like this for instance:

Dear Mr. Flanagan, Did you know that I tried to read The Ruins of Gorlan two or three times before I could actually as I was just learning to read bigger books?
Dear Mr. Flanagan, bows are the best,
Dear Mr. Flanagan, that movie is sure taking a long time to be made,
Dear. Mr. Flanagan, where on earth can I get a grey and green mottled cloak?
Dear Mr. Flanagan, your books are one of the first I recommend for people to read
Dear Mr. Flanagan, the Ranger's Apprentice series is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

It will not end pleasantly for you. :)

Today is the day that the FINAL book in the Ranger's Apprentice series is being released. There are now twelve books in all. Twelve is a good solid number. It's good to have such a nice collection of stories about characters that you can relate to, feel for, and care for.
Dear Mr. Flanagan I just thought I'd let you know that after finishing the Royal Ranger I'll probably feel really, really unhappy. I lost my heart to Will Treaty at the age of nine.
“You've known him how long?" Malcolm asked.
"Since he was a small boy. I first noticed him when he slipped into Master Chubb's kitchen to steal some pies.
"So, what did you have to say to Will when you caught him stealing these pies?
"Oh, I didn't let on I was there. We rangers can be very unobtrusive when we choose. I remained out of sight and watched him. I thought he might have potential to be a ranger." Halt said.
Horace joined in "Why?"
Halt answered carefully. "Because he was excellent at moving from cover to cover. Chubb entered three times and never noticed him. So I thought that if he could achieve that with no training, he would make a good ranger."
"No" Horace spoke. "That's not what I meant. Why were you hiding in the kitchen in the first place?"
"I told you. I was watching Will to see if he had the potential to be a ranger."
"That's not what you said. You said that was the first time you noticed Will." "
"Does it matter?"
"Not really. Were you hiding from Chubb yourself and Will just turned up by coincidence?"
"And why would I be hiding from master Chubb in his own kitchen?"
"Well, there were freshly made pies on the windowsill, and you like pies, don't you?"
"Are you accusing me of trying to steal those pies?!?!"
"No, of course not. I just thought I'd give you the opportunity to confess."
After a pause, Halt continued. "You know, Horace, you used to be a most agreeable young man. Whatever happened to you?"
"I've spent to much time around you, I suppose."
-Macolm, Halt and Horace, Book Nine: Halt's Peril

The fact that you managed to blend humour, action, things like good always triumphing over evil. That's good. You are one of the best writers out there, and maybe just maybe, someday I'll get you to sign all of my Ranger's Apprentice books. I'll say how awesome they are. I'll tell you that your writing style is the one that I tried to emulate in my Robin Hood story. I'll tell you that your books were amazing, that they'll become classics. Then I'll ask if it was all really a story or if it had just one small grain of truth in it....And I'll wonder.

Close to. :)

Because if you've read Ranger's Apprentice you've tried to walk as quietly and silently as possible, you've tried to have the same quick sharp wit that the characters have, you've gone and watched while other people are beating carpets and you've shouted continually 'Put some energy into it, boy!' or 'You missed a bit on the left side'. You'll use the term 'form of highway robbery' whenever you get the chance. You'll laugh outloud and people will ask you what you are laughing about, and you'll just say something like. "Halt said something funny." Or "Will was being impulsive, as usual." Or "Halt was breaking rules, and doing as he pleases."
You'll want a mottled grey and green cloak, but most of all, you'll want a silver oakleaf to go around you neck, to prove that you are what you say you are: A Royal Ranger.
And Mr. Flanagan, please do not disappoint me. I've been a fan of your books for the past six years or so. I am expecting nothing but the best......and well, I'm not going to be happy how it ends, good or not. Because its the end of something that I've loved for more than half my life. It's part of me. It's a series to go back to time and time again and realise how much you love them every single time.

God Bless

Our Ranger's Apprentice movie.

In the post where I mentioned that we had made a movie cast for the Ranger's Apprentice movies it was greeted with enthusiasm, and so I've decided to do this post, on what and how we would do our own Ranger's Apprentice movie.

The characters:
Will Treaty, will is the main character of the entire series, he's implusive, small for his age, and is known to ask more than one question all in one go. He's smart, and loyal and very protective. He also has a very nice sense of humour. Sometimes he even thinks it matches Halt's. (No luck there :P)

Played by Asa Butterfield. It is very difficult to find the perfect Will for us, mostly because there are not a lot of actors who could play him who are young enough and could do a good job. I've seen him in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, (it's hilarious) Hugo (never ever watch that movie! Complete waste of two hours of your life) and in Merlin, (which due to some of the stuff in Merlin we no longer watch). He could do a good job, just as long as he doesn't go gazing into the distance too much, plus, he needs to be energetic and implusive, as they are very big traits in Will's character.

Halt O'Carrick, mentor to Will as well as father figure, husband to Pauline and best friend to the Commandant of the Ranger's he's doing alright. The most notable things about Halt are his sense of humour, his cleverness at adapting situations to his favour, his faith in Will, and the fact that everyone thinks his six feet tall and a giant, with a massive longbow, which never hesitates to annoy him.

Played by Robert Downey jr. I know yes, he's the actor of Iron Man but it was him or Brad Pitt and seeing as he is a extremely sarcastic Tony Stark he could do a very good Halt as well. Plus, Halt is short which is why we ditched Liam Neeson for the role. :)

Horace Altman, the first worse enemy of Will and then best friend he is a knight, clumsy on his feet compared to Rangers but not your average 'bash and whacker' as Halt and Will term knights. He's loyal, brave, determined and would be a good guy to have around if you ever needed protection.

Played by James Franco, possibly, he's a little too old. But we thought he'd do excellently as Horace. The important thing about Horace is that he needs to be loyal, and though not seen as smart is a logical thinker. And I loved him as Harry out of Spiderman so it's a win for me.

Gilan, Halt's former apprentice, an expert of unseen movement, good friends with both Will and Horace, amusing, the only Ranger to carry a sword and cares deeply for Halt. Very sweet on Jenny, too. :)

Played by Christian Bale, this was the first character we nailed! And I think we are all very happy with who we chose for Gilan. I always sort of imagined him like Faramir from Lord of the Rings and Christian Bale would do an awesome job. Important things for Gilan, giving counsel and being extremly good with a sword and very sharp.

Pauline, head of the diplomatic service, mentor of Alyss, and wife of the legendary Halt. She is wise, kind and very smart. She is probably the only person who can make Halt scared. She is also a mother figure to Will.

Played by Meryl Streep we did consider Julie Andrews but she is getting a little old and we thought thast Meryl Streep would do a good job. I haven't actually seen her in anything but I think she'd do Pauline good.

Alyss Mainwaring, Will's childhood sweetheart, and finally wife in the Lost Stories. She is kind, gentle buisness-like at times and can be rather jealous at times. She is punky and fun and I prefer her over Evanlyn.

Played by Jennifer Lawrence, once again I haven't seen her in anything as I am not allowed to watch the Hunger Games, she could do a good job though.

Princess Casandraa/Evanlyn. Good friends with Halt, Will and Horace, a bit of a love triangle and jealousy between herself and Alyss, who finally reconcile themselves in book ten. Wife to Horace (in book eleven) Uses a sling as her primary defence, resouceful, strong, independent.

Played by Abigail Breslin, I've seen her in two movies. Nim's Island and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. She would do a fantastic job of Evanlyn!

Erak Starfollower, Jarl, becomes Oberjarl, very good friends with Halt, Will, Horace and Evanlyn. Anyone who does somehting he soen't like he threatens to brain with a battle-axe. A good navigator and loves his ship Wolfwind, has a good sense of duty when it comes to his crew and is not a someone who isn't interested in new ideas and ways of attack.

Played by Hugh Jackman, Erak is a hard character to find an actor for. Hugh Jackman could do him well as he is very big and Erak is suppose to be very big as well.

Morgarath, the evil lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night. Gets killed by Horace and is a very big irritation to Halt. He is described as tall and mad. But than most bad guys are mad aren't they?

Played by Jim Carrey. He could do a very convincing portryal of Morgarath especially the mad bit. :)

Crowley Meratyn, old comrade and best friend of Halt. Loves dogs and tells everyone contiunuesly in book eight what a genius he is. He's not modest obviously. He has a good sense of humour and is not as stern as Halt is.

Played by Michael Caine, perhaps he is too old but he's appearnaces in the books are brief and so he doesn't need to do a lot. He could do Crowley good. Hmm, maybe we need to find a replacement after all.

Selethen, the Arridi Wakir of the province of Al Shabah, becomes good friends with Halt, Will, Horace, Evanlyn, Gilan and Svengal when they come in book seven to see about Erak's release. He is very fond of coffee, cares about the men under his command and is very just. He is also in book ten, as a nice additon. :)

Played by Will Smith., he's not very serious but I'm sure he could do Selethen well if he tried. It is also very difficult to find a darker-skinned person as well. :)

Svengal, Erak's first mate more of a secondary character but good, nontheless. Likes to think that he is superb when it comes to joking and is rather kind to Will and Evanlyn when they are prisoners of the Skandians.

Played by Richard Armitage, I've seen him in several roles, Guy of Gisborne (Robin Hood) the first episode of North and South, a small appearance in Captain America and most recently as Thorin Oakenshield. He could do a good job as a big Skandian. And he has a great voice. :)


Slagor-traitor to the Skandians, rather annoying and always looks 'shifty' according to Erak. :P He also reveals Evanlyn's identity of being Princess of Araluen.

Played by Russel Crowe

Keren-Villain of the fifth and sixth books. Until almost the end of the fifth book everyone thinks that the real bad guy who has been poisoning Lord Syron and such is his own son, Lord Orman. Keren is a good bad guy. When I say good, I mean good at being bad. I do feel a bit sorry for him, but then he hurt Alyss, and anyone who hurst Alyss stinks

Played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Okay, so I wanted Benedict Cumberbatch in our cast because I love his part in BBC Sherlock. It's true that probably people could work out he's the bad guy but not maybe, if we make Orman someone who looks just as untrustworthy.

Orman, son of the castle lord. Looks to be the person behind the mysterious happenings at Macindaw and suspected of sorcery when Lord Syron's mysterious illness comes about. He isn't a too likable character, too. And it is really easy to suspect he's the bad guy. He's not of course and asks for Will's help to get out of the castle, he's also a bit more shrewd than people will give him credit for. :)

Played by Tom Hiddleston. See what I mean by untrustworthy, he does look untrustworthy, right? And also I think him and Cumberbatch being cousins could work very well.

Depauierux- The evil knight who imprisons Halt and Horace on their way to Skandia. He's Gallaican (French) and basically controls the area because of the aura of cruelty that he creates by killing all knights that might show a wee bit of skill with a sword. Which is why he decided to pop by and say hi to Horace.

Played by Sean Bean, he'll need to dye his hair or something, but seeing as he did such a good job of Boromir which required using a sword he could be an awesome villain!

Tennyson-villain of books eight and nine. A skilled speaker and everyone thinks he's really nice. But he's not. Basically he's the 'prophet' of the 'god' Alsias and the the only way people can save themselves from all the bad stuff that is going on is to give all the valuables and gold to the 'golden god' and he will save them. Basically he's a con artist people believe.

Played by Christopher Lee, okay well, maybe a bit old but he is a really good actor. He could do the role of Tennyson very well as it requires a rather deep and powerful voice as he a dresses lots of people at the same time. Plus, you didn't think that we would NOT have Christopher Lee in RA did you?


Sean O'Carrack-Halt's nephew appearing in book eight. A good man who is loyal to his king. He's not that much of a main character but I love him.
Played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Master Chubb- Official chief of castle Redmont, has a habit of hitting people on the head with a ladle.
Played by Jack Black


Malcolm- The 'bird-like' healer appearing in books five, six, nine and a very brief appearance in eleven. A good man gentle and not one for violence. Hates to see anyone be hurt, even enenmies. Great at illusions and a rather friednly guy all round.

Played by Dustin Hoffman

Gundar Hardstriker-Wolfship skirl of Wolfwill, good friend of Alyss, Will and Horace, likes his battleaxe as most Skandians do, and is a rather 'modern' Skandian as he adapts to the new sail whereas Erak does not apporve.

Played by Ewan McGregor


King Duncan- King of Araluen, good friends with Baron Arald and Halt. Father of Princess Cassandra, a good, stong man.

Played by Liam Neeson, after he didn't fit for Halt do you think we weren't going to put him in this.

Possible: Tom Cruise as Xander, Orman's rather annoying secretary. Dad actually hates Tom Cruise and he suggested him to play Borsa but he's not really the build.

Directed by: Vellvin, Saxon and Rogan O.
Music by: Howard Shore or Hans Zimmer, some disagreement on this point as of yet.

Undecided roles: Buttle, Ragnak, Yusal, Shigeru, Arisaka, Shukin, Genovesans.


And that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading this post. It's a dream, of course, but a good dream.

God Bless

Does that mean they are going to ruin it?

You know how you read this really good series of books and then you see what the summary on the back cover is and you think 'Please tell me they don't ruin it if they ruin it I will be so upset!' That was kind of my reaction when I saw this:

Okay, so this is the 12th and LAST book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. If you haven't read them then you're life is not complete. :P I've loved these books since like, I started to read and now they sound like they might completely tear the whole series and the things I love about it, apart. So traedgy strikes Will, does it? Halt's alive so it could only be Alyss, or maybe Horace or Evanlyn got knocked off, I hope it has Gilan in it. There was never enough Gilan in them.

This is from the 12th book. What have you been doing, Will?

And Halt is awesome, too. 

But let's look on the bright side, it's only about three months and then we'll find out, and its got Halt in it; Halt is hysterical and wise and awesome. But if they make it like at the end of Inheritance by Christopher Paolini.....well you get the idea.



God Bless
 

Different words for different things

Listening to Rangers Apprentice: Halt's Peril and loving how cool and calm Will can be and how Halt say he's a 'wonderful conversationalist.' :D

Wanting to watch Batman Begins after Saxon told me the ENTIRE story-line. And I don't mind that he did and he loved telling it too!
Reading The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff and really liking it.
Walking outside in the morning on an exercise walk
Plotting out more of my Robin Hood story titled 'Outlaw'

Being reminded of Samwise the Brave's words to Frodo Baggins: "That there's some good in this world; and its worth fighting for.
Enjoying doing some embroidery which I haven't done for a while
Missing my biggest sister at College and seeing that I need to also deepen the relationships with my Dad and Mum and siblings at home as well.

Regretting the fact that I missed wishing Pope Benedict Emeritus a happy birthday on his birthday. Happy late Birthday Emeritus, we love you!!! :)
Enjoying looking up the Battle of Trafalgar for school because I am doing a study on the British Navy for History. And just seeing how awesome the Royal British Navy was. Oh, yeah, and I want to see the Victory at Portsmouth one day. :)
Being sad because I realised that there is only going to be one more Rangers Apprentice book and thinking of a tribute post which I would like to do on October 1st when it comes out.

And the humour in them is awesome :)

 Also my day dream to have John Flanagan sign my books of his which would be just awesome. Yes, and I did mention Rangers Apprentice twice in this post but hey, who's counting?
Waiting, for the Hobbit:An Unexpected Journey to be released on DVD only about two more weeks! :D

Also I love this quote. :)

Planning blog posts like the best musuicals and stuff like but also because though I mean not to be offensive,

I am so sick of people misunderstanding the Catholic Faith and what it stands for that I am going to do a blog post (or a series of blog posts) on the Catholic Faith titled "An Introduction to Catholicism'

Finding things funny. Here is a funny story about Pope Francis and the Swiss Guard that was guarding his door:

The surprising greatness of this new Pope Francis is in the small things. For example, the ability to say, “Brothers and sisters, good evening,” instead of appealing to the centuries, the Scriptures or the universe to present himself to the world. To wear an iron cross of instead of a golden one. To wash the feet of the prisoners.

Or yet, to care for the Swiss Guard who guards the door of his apartment in Casa Santa Marta every night until dawn.

A few days ago, at dawn, the time the Pope wakes up, he came out to the corridor, and he found in front of his door the sentry, a Swiss Guard standing with his halberd at attention.

He asked him: “And what are you doing here? Have you been up all night?”
"Yes," replied the guard with deference and a bit surprised.
"On your feet?"
"Your Holiness, my duty since I took over from my companion."
 "And aren’t you tired?"
"It’s my duty Your Holiness; I should watch for your safety."
Pope Francis looked at him again with kindness, went back to his suite and after a minute he came out carrying a chair:
"At least sit down and rest." The guard rolled his eyes and answered: “Santo Padre, forgive me, but I cannot! The regulations do not allow that."
"The regulations?"
"Orders from my captain, Your Holiness."
The Pope smiled, "Oh, really? Well, I'm the Pope and I order you to sit down."
So, caught between the regulations and the Pope, the Swiss Guard (so much for the halberd) chose the chair.
The Pope returned to his apartment.
After a couple of minutes, the Pope came back to the Swiss Guard, still obediently seated on the chair, carrying “panino con marmellata” (Italian bread with jam) which he had prepared.
Before the soldier could say anything, the Holy Father, exhibiting his Argentinean smile, told the Swiss Guard, “With all the hours spent standing on guard you must be a bit hungry.”
The Swiss Guard had no time to object because the Pope right away wished him a good bite: "Bon appetit, brother."


 He is just such a nice Holy Father! :D

God Bless