Hot List 4 - July 31st

Books

1. The Shadow of the Wind! It's kind of a mystery-fiction that takes place in 1940's Barcelona. Daniel comes across a book by Julian Carax and instantly falls in love with it. However, every single copy of Carax's books have been burned and no one knows why. As Daniel searches for an expanation, he gets a visit from a mysterious man warning him that only bad can come from his quest. Regardless, Daniel visits people who are connected to Carax's past and he learns important things about the man via interviews and flashbacks. However, as Daniel starts to solve the puzzle, bad things start to happen to Daniel's friends and the people he talks to.
2. The Weight of Silence! One morning, 7-year old Callie and her best friend Petra go missing. The book revolves around the girls' abduction and is told from 5 different view points: one from Callie, her mom, her brother, the local deputy sherrif, and Petra's dad. Oh, and Callie is a selective mute, meaning she could talk, but for some reason, she hasn't said a word in 5 years. As the book progresses, we learn why Callie has decided to silence herself and what it takes to make her speak again.
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians! It's a 5-book series and is being touted as the next Harry Potter. I'll let you figure how some people may feel this series will be as successful as HP...

• Percy is a half-blood: his mom is mortal, his dad is Poseidon
• There is a prophesy about Percy, the series' huge enemy, and what it will take to kill him
• Percy's sidekick is a very smart girl
• Percy's best friend is silly, bumbling, and always good for a laugh, but surprisingly loyal in the end
• Crazy magical creatures run rampant
• There's an old, wise man Percy goes to for advice and help when the goings get tough
• The first book, "The Lightning Thief" is already a movie and will come out in January. Some movie theaters showed a preview before the HP movie.

MOVIES

1. Milk. Yes, I finally saw it! I almost kinda made me cry. I hate mean people.
2. Religulous. This is the Bill Maher documentary about how rediculous religion can be. It made me laugh at how crazy some of these people are, especially the person who believed that both Presidents Bush and Tony Blair are lizzard-aliens from space.

MUSIC

1. "Percussion Gun" by White Rabbits
2. "Love Drunk" by Boys Like Girls
3. "On My Way" by Billy Boy on Poison (the day after I bought this song on iTunes, it became the Free-music-Tuesday song! Grrrrr...)
4. "Signs" by Bloc Party

I've decided to donate $5 a month to a different charity. Whenever I'm shopping and the cashier asks if I want to donate a dollar to (fill in the blank with various charity) I say yes, so I figured, "Why should I wait until someone asks me to donate money? Why can't I just go online each month, find a organization, and donate money on my own freewill?". I'll rotate among human charities (cancer, disease, Make-A-Wish) and nature charities (ASPCA, Humane Society, Nature Conservancy). For July, I donated my $5 to Doctors Without Borders. I think for August, I'll do World Wildlife Fund. If you guys know of any cool organizations, let me know and I'll add them to my list!!