NEWS! – Heroes and Heartbreakers.com Release & A Few Words on The "Book Bloggers Don't Sell Books" Debacle!

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2011 Countdown {Day 5} – The Orange Handcuffs Awards 2010!

 

This is the last day on 2010 and it’s time for me to look back on this crazy year and tally up the Good, the bad and the unmentionable… I started the Orange Handcuffs Awards  back in 2007 and this is how I introduced it then:

…I need to recap a bit on 2007 in it's entirety... And for that, I come to you with the review of the 2007 season of "Welcome to larissa's life" (something I have never done before...). I have decided to come about this subject in two ways... The first will be the "Larissa's life award" or "The Orange Handcuffs" (Orange, cause I love that color and handcuffs cause it kind of represents well a bit of my personality...) to the best and worst moments of my life this year... and the second will be an "Inventory" with the total numbers of 2007...

Original Post HERE.

I didn’t do the awards for 2008 and then in 2009 my personal blog had become a book one and at the time my blog design was of the Pink category LOL, so I changed the awards to The Pink Disco Ball Awards.

I went back to my origins at the beginning of 2010 and got a very Orange design for the blog and I LOVE it! So, this year I’m bringing back the Orange Handcuffs, be warned LOL Hope you’ll all enjoy them:

- Best Song of the Year:

"Just a Dream" – Nelly

There were many songs I really enjoyed this year, but I don’t why I just love this one.

- Worst Song of the Year:

hmm Any by Ke$ha!

No comments... o_O {I might dance to her songs in a club, but I won’t chose to listen to them}

- Best on TV:

Glee, How I met you mother, The Office, The big bang theory, Conan, Mike & Molly.

I still can’t choose only one =)

- Worst on TV:

Skating with The Stars

- Best Movie:

Inception

- Worst Movie:

Resident Evil – Afterlife

- My Best Idea:

My Top 5 Sundays meme =D I love it!

- My Worst Idea:

Starting other memes that were a bust =/

- Best Meal!

Xmas Dinner made by Mom!

- Worst Meal!

Fast Food

- Best Book Read in 2010!

Alien Tango by Gini Koch

There were many books that stole my heart this year, but Alien Tango stole it and made it its own! I am IN LOVE with this series!

- Worst Book Read in 2010!

Burned by PC & Kristen Cast

My lowest rating to date =/ 1 & 1/2 Loveys…

- Best Book Cover!

- Worst Book Cover!

LOVED the book, but I do NOT like this cover =/

- Best Plane ride of 2010:

None too great this year, but the one from Rio to NY was pretty cool =) 

- Worst Plane ride of 2010:

From Rio to Lisbon – Horrible seat and a lot of pain =/ 

- Best re-union of 2010:

It is a tie between: Seeing mom in Rome after 3 years, seeing BFF #1 in Rio after the same 3 years or seeing BFF #2 after 6 years in NY!

AMAZING! 

- Worst re-union of 2010:

Runing into old acquaintaces that were never really friends… It was just weird seeing the again… 

- Best new people I met in 2010:

All the amazing Bloggers and Authors I met ONLINE or in Person at the AAD and ComicCon…

- Worst new people I met in 2010:

hmmmm no one really…

- Best moments of 2010:

So many! Seeing the Coliseum in Rome, Reunion with BFFs and family after years apart, Going to NYC, Going to the AAD and NY ComicCon…

- Worst moments of 2010:

hmmm anything that involved pain =/

 

2010 in Numb3rs!

3 Years of blogging

198 Book Read {until Dec 28th}

27 years celebrated

147 Review Posted

455 Blog Posts

1283 New Blog Followers

1851 New Twitter Followers

64 Author Interview or Guest Posts

73 Giveaways Hosted

6 Countries Visited

7 Plane Rides

1 mom visited

1 stepdad visited

1 New Laptop *Sholto

2 New Blackberrys *Martini {Lost one hehe}

4 Months of freezing cold

1 New Kindle *Zsadist

Tons of books bought

A lot of new pictures

Too many friends far away

 

 

I wish you all an AMAZING NEW YEAR!

Thanks you SO much for all the Bloggy love you have shown me in 2010, May 2011 be even sweeter!

HAPPY 2011!

 

 

Don’t Forget to Vote for Next Week’s {Jan, 2nd} Theme for

The TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the left sidebar!

Don’t Forget to check out My Giveaways:

 

~~~~~~~~~~

&

Sign Up for…

 

Thanks so much for tuning in and I’ll see you soon!

xoxo,

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Top 5 Reasons 2010 Rocked! X Top 5 Reasons 2010 Sucked!

 

To start off this last week of 2010, I’m going to look back at this past year and ponder on the things that made me *Squee with joy and the things that made me swear like a sailor {not that I don’t usually LOL}.

Let’s she the 5 reasons I loved 2010 and the 5 reasons I didn’t love it so much, side by side, shall we?

*in no particular order

 

AAD X Leaving Israel

X 

Getting to go to The AAD and the NY Comic Con back in September were definitely highlights for me!

I had tons of fun and am really looking forward to going again in 2011.

X

Moving back to Rio, Brazil from Tel Aviv, Israel definitely Sucked =/

I do like Rio, but I loved Tel Aviv and I never felt so much at home like I did there.

Moving back wasn’t my choice and I would have rather stayed and finished my University there.

 

Acknowledgement in “Sin Undone” X The End

X 

Being mentioned in Larissa Ione’s acknowledgement in her Sin Undone book was a freak out moment for me.

Larissa is one of my favorite authors, not to mention that she has a great name, and she remembering me that way was nothing short of amazing to me!

I’m really happy I’ll get to meet her at AAD next year!

X

This year a lot of my fave series ended and that Sucked!

The Vampire Academy series, The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Demonica series and Rachel Vincent’s Werecats series  are just a few that left me wanting more and more!

 

All The Traveling I did X All The Traveling I did

X  

Ok, so I LOVE to travel and come midnight on December 31st, I will have visited 6 countries and many more cities in 2010.

I had a BLAST and loved every minute of it…

X

But, I am tired of traveling… I want my bed, my room, my things.

Living out of your luggage can be fun but it gets annoying, not to mention how uncomfortable economic class on planes is =/

I won;t complain much though, I did have an amazing traveling year in 2010!

 

Blogging X Pain

X 

I LOVE blogging and this year was really amazing in large part because of this blog.

I’ve had a lot of fun and have been honored to meet some of my favorite authors ever, being in person or through online interviews and all because of you all!

Thank you!

X

Pain! I don;t know if any of you know, my tweeps might, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis Juvenile since I was 11 years old and I have suffered from pains in ALL my joints since then. The disease has been stationary for a long time, but I still have pain…

laying down in one position or spending hours sitting in front of my computer like I have done this year can be a killer…

So the pain has definitely Sucked!

 

Living Close to one BFF X Leaving Far from other BFFs

X 

Even though I wasn’t particularly happy with moving back to Rio, the best thing was that me and my BFF now live closer and we get to hang out almost every weekend =D

X

I have friends living in Israel, Canada, US… I miss them all! =/

 

 

Hope you enjoyed my special Top 5!

How about you? What made 2010 Suck or Rock for you??

Leave your answer in the comments, I’d love to know!

 

 

Stay tuned for the rest of the the 2011 Countdown Week:

Tuesday, December 28th

Interview w/ Beth Ravis & ARC Giveaway of “Across The Universe”!

Wednesday, December 29th

2011 Resolutions!

Thursday, December 30th

Happy 2025!

Friday, December 31st

The Orange Handcuffs Awards!

 

Don’t Forget to Vote for Next Week’s {Jan, 2nd} Theme for

The TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the left sidebar!

Don’t Forget to check out My Giveaways:

~~~~~~~~~~

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Sign Up for…

 

Thanks so much for tuning in and I’ll see you soon!

xoxo,

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It Might Be An Honor Just To Be Nominated, But...

Winning is a hell lot better hehe =) Thanks to my sweet friend Brooke from "That's QUEEN Bitch To You!" I have now received The Honest Scrap Award!

To be honest (already? hehe!) I have been seeing this award around for a while and I thought it was pretty cool. However, nobody ever tagged me for it, so I never got to share some of my secrets. Now, I advise you all to be afraid, very afraid Mwahahaha! (That was my evil laugh. No good? Damn! =/)

Well, the Honest Scrap works like this. I will list 10 true things about myself and then tag 10 more blogs to go through the process. So, let's get started.

1 - I started college back in Brazil when I was 17 years old. Studied English Language for 4 years, never graduated though, because of one class. Started teaching at 17 and taught English as a Second Language for 7 years.

2 - I drank my first beer at 14 and got really drunk and sick for the first time at 17. Worse scenario with alcohol was with Tequila. Drank 21 shots in 40min (lost count after that) and ended up at the hospital taking glucose. I can only remember the next morning, waking up with my mom saying: "Do you have a hangover?" me: "No" mom: "That's a shame" LOL

3 - I am the queen of falling down. I have fallen in a movie theater, at school, at the school I taught 7 times, at least 11 times on nights out, 3 at restaurants (including last week), at a supermarket, on the street a few times and probably more that I can't recall hehe.

4 - I love drawing. I draw women's clothes and some abstract. I have been drawing for a long time, thought I haven't drawn in a while.

5 - I had my biggest Smex Fantasy realized on my second time. Being tied up and blindfolded. There were clothespins, whipped cream, ice and candle wax involved as well. Best night EVER!

6 - I lost the big V at 23. No regrets. Perfect timing and it was with the right person. I was not in love and it didn't last. However, it was absolutely worth it. Refer to "truth" #5 =)))

7 - My first Paranormal Book was "Narcisisus in Chains" by Laurel K. Hamilton. I got it as a gift. I bought 2 more after thatm but then couldn't find anymore back in Brazil. Years later (around Oct. last year) I heard of the Vampire Diaries series. I read them all, then all the other LJ Smith books. Followed that with The Twilight Series (read it 5 times) and the rest is history. 335 Books Later you can find me Reviewing Books here =)

8 - I Have Poli-Arthritis Rheumatoid Juvenile since I was 11. It is an inflammation of the articulations. In my case in all of them. I am in constant pain because of it, but I have been through a lot of treatments and it has been stationary for a while now. I am thankful for this disease though. It has made me grow is way I never thought I would. I was supposed to be in a wheel chair by now. I was supposed to not be able to work or drive. I have never let this disease take the best of me and I have always tried to keep a positive attitude about it.

9 - I love playing pool and Drinking beer. I am pretty good at both. I've been better in beer drinking, but I haven't drank much lately =)

10 - I love to dance. Never did it seriously, but love it. I can samba pretty well, since I have been doing it since I was 6 years - old. Oh and I learned how to read at 5 years old, mostly by myself. Always reading Billboards and everything around. It was a pain for my school to place me. Too young for 1st grade and I knew too much for needing to be alphabetized.

Oh well, that's it. I think I might have been too honest. Though there is nothing there I am ashamed of. I live with no regrets. Every experience I have been through has its own value and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Time to tag some bloggers... Hmmmmm lets see:

Sagi @ Sagi's Randomness

Rex @ Rex Robot Reviews

Tigris @ Blood Moon

Pat @ Peace Love and Pat

Marissa @ Marissa's Book Lair

Heather @ Book Obsessed Girl

I seriously can't think of anyone else right now. I think most that I can think, have already done it... so... I am sorry if I forgot anyone, it's almost 11am here and I have not slept yet, since yesterday...

Thanks for tuning in to this extraordinary showing of Larissa's Life.

Now back to our Regular Programming!

I'll see you soon!

xoxo

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Gimme More?!?

It's no secret that everyone has an addiction... Whatever it may be, some addictions are definitely more serious than others...

Being addicted to Drugs, Alcohol, Sex, Work and so on... Usually lead to awful consequences and the fight against them is far from easy...

I feel sometimes that people (me included) can throw around the word "addiction" too much and there is a huge danger to that... the danger of minimizing what it is to be an addict...

I have more than one occasion called myself a TV show addict... and as I was writing my next sentence just now, where I stated that I could go on not watching my favorite shows... I just realized that I can't... I mean... if for some reason I wasn't able to download them, I would hunt down some way to get them... That is sort of a scary realization to me... they are just TV shows and even though right now, I am following over 20 of them... There are a few that I couldn't stop watching for anything in this world...

Recently, while talking to a friend... He stated that addiction is not a disease... and to be quite honest, that statement pissed me off horribly... and it offended me personally, since my grandfather was an alcoholic... we went on this discussion that gradually just made me more and more irritated, specially when he said addiction is a choice...

I believe we chose to indulge ourselves... but we become addicts when we just can't control it anymore... I usually describe the difference between and addict and someone that is not one, by saying that and addict needs the object of his/her addiction... whilst a non addict, doesn't have that need...

I think I had more to say but I'm not even sure anymore... the realization I just made while writing this post is freaking me out... I mean, I'm not going to stop downloading the shows I love... but I don't stop my life for it... I go out, have fun... when I'm home and doing nothing I sit and watch my shows... Should I be worried?? I am actually questioning that as I write here...

Well, since I came to realize this I will be sure to not let it rule me and keep my eye open I guess... I am honestly confused right now lol... I don't even know how to end the post...

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Doing your part...

There is a new PSA going around the web to urge people to register and vote in the next US elections... Granted, I have nothing to do with the US elections... but this Sunday is also elections in Brazil...

Voting is a part of being a citizen and should not be taken for granted... sometimes we think: "one vote is not going to make a difference"... but if everyone thought like that it would be terrible...

Don't vote just for the sake of it... Vote because you care what happens to you country, your society... be a citizen and show you care...

The PSA is really cool... full of celebrities... they use humor to get their message across...
Pay attention to the "FRIENDS" joke... it's AWESOME...



Celebrities on the video:

Amy Adams, will.i.am, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Connolly, Courteney Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Kiedis, Ashton Kutcher, Adam Levine, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Kyra Sedgwick, Michelle Trachtenberg, Usher, Forest Whitaker and Djimon Hounsou.

Another cool election related video is a scene from the new season of The Simpsons... Where Homer tries to vote for Barack Obama and the machine only computes votes for John McCain...

Hilarious:

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There is nothing to fear...?!?!

I remember the last time I walked around the streets of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro... It was my last visit to the Sochnut (Jewish Agency) before my alyiah... I was born in Rio and I was supposed to be used to it... but I wasn't... I felt so self conscious walking around there, so scared... it was such an awful feeling...

A little while later I realized it wasn't just there... even in the small city I had been living, I felt too uncomfortable walking around the streets on my own... granted that it was not as bad as in Copacabana, but even so...

Now, I am here... I'm in Tel Aviv, such an European city... but still here, in the middle east... I am not scared... I can walk alone at 4am and I am not scared... I feel safe here and I appreciate that feeling... That is one of the many reasons I love living in Israel...

Don't get me wrong, I have had a couple creepy situations involving cab drivers that could have scared me a lot... once a driver simply asked for a kiss when we got to my house, another kept asking me out during the whole ride... during the most recent experience, the driver kept asking me to come over to his house to cook for him... lol... I laugh at those stories now... but while they were happening, they were quite scary...

Fear is an amazing thing; it can keep us from living... I could say I’m traumatized and never get into a cab alone again... but, so what??? Life is supposed to be scary... I can get out of my house tomorrow and get hit by a car, can't I??? What's the point of living if you don't take chances???

Of course, getting back on a horse after a fall is terrifying... but being on that horse once more, and succeeding at it... Is amazing... you can never know that feeling if you don't try...

Post Soundtrack:

Katy Perry - I kissed a girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKPi8xtyjA

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The "Last Lecture"...

It amazes me the fact that I never need to go after inspiration to write here... and it is also great that it comes fom a series of different places... It can be from something I read, something I see, something that happens to me, a conversation with a friend... It really does not matter, all it matters is that it does come and I get to do one of my favorite things... Write here...

We all complain about a lot of little things in life... lack of money, lack of things, we have to walk too much, to drive too much, I have to study a lot, I'm bored, I don't have anything to do and so on... Granted that any of those complaints can be valid within a certain context... However, once in a while something happens that makes us put it all in perspecive and simply appreciate all we have...

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, is dying from pancreatic cancer, He gave his last lecture at the university in Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his amazingly moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and helped people look at their own lives differently.
(More info on: www.cmu.edu/randyslecture)

His outcome in life is inspiring and even though he is dying and is gonna leave behind his wife and three kids, he has taken upon himself to leave behind his view of life...

I watched his appearence on Oprah (Thanks to Jacob... :D), which was a small part of his full lecture... That was what inspired me to come here and write...

He gave his "last lecture", which is some sort of tradition amonsgt professors... It's the last lecture they would give if they knew they didn't have much more time to live... In Randy's case, that is actually the reality...

It made me think about my "last lecture"... granted that I have never given a lecture, but it made me think about what lessons I have learned in life and what would be my legacy...

I don't compare my life to his of course... but, I have learned in first hand about a lot of things he talks about... never give up, live life with a smile, have fun...

I was diagnosed with Poli arthritis Reumatoid when i was 11... It is an inflamation of the joints, in my case ALL joints (I know I know... old people's disease... what can I do lol)...
I went from practicing pratically any sport out there, to not being able to simply ride a bike... It was hard and the pain was tough to deal with... However, I never let it get me down, I never let it take over me, I was always a happy kid... Despite the other kids, who were not very helpful... always making fun of me for limping and stuff like that... I got through it... and had a few other obstacles as well... There was a time no one believed I was gonna be able to work, drive... I was supposed to be in wheelchair... None of that took charge of my life... I did it all... I was a teacher for 6 years, I can drive (and love it) and no, Im not in a wheel chair... I have limitations, but they dont make me who I am... I own the disease, not the other way around...

Don't feel sorry for me... I am thankful to the disease nowdays, it helpped me become the person I am today... an I really like that person... :)

Life is supposed to be lived with a smile... Sometimes there are some not so great moments, but a good attitude can go the distance... Friends and family make all the difference and I am forever grateful to mine... I live life as fully as I can... everyday is a new adventure and there are no obstacles I can't surpass...

Take a look at Randy's lecture... It is life changing at the least:



Ps: no music today... The lecture sings enough :)

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Stop and Think about it...

I had heard about this day when I was in Jewish school, I had heard how it was here in Israel... However, to experience it... is definitely completely different

Today is The Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yom Ha’Shoah (in Hebrew). The day all Jewish people in the world stop and remember what we lost in the Second World War… It is a day that is meant to help the new generations remember what so many people went through and avoid letting it die as a distant memory… It hurts to think that 11 million people died, 6 of which were of my own people… It huts to remember what, for me, was the lowest low human beings can get… coming to Israel was the best thing I have ever done in my life, stopping being a minority, becoming part of whole and feeling at home…

During the day sirens ring at two different hours of the day… when that happens EVERYONE stops whatever they are doing (yes, even driving) and keeps a moment of silence until the siren stops…

At school we had a ceremonial, that included speeches, a survivor told her history and we sang the national anthem… I am not ashamed to admit that it brought tears to my eyes, the feeling of being amongst so many Jewish people in such an important day, was amazing… and besides, I simply love the Israeli national anthem…. It's just beautiful…

I would like to take this moment and express what this day means to me and what it should mean to the world…

1945 sounds so long ago… but it is not as it seems… we can find innumerous neo-Nazi websites online and a lot of people that say the Holocaust never happened…
I worry for the day there are no survivors left to tell their stories… I am afraid their experiences will be only pages in a school History books… and that is what this day is for me… The opportunity to stop, remember and ponder on dark days… The world lost 11 million people… and that should NEVER happen again…

It is up to us the bearers of the future generations to not let it happen…

Song of the moment:

Israel's National Anthem - Hatikva (The Hope)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biQtrQpyJGo

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Taking charge...

After more than a decade surfing the World Wide Web (Ouch! Im getting old lol) it still amazes me the thing we can find online. Last night I was doing my daily run through of my favorite blogs, and I came across a list on http://www.lista10.org/ (Its in portuguese :P - Original List: http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-incredible-recordings/) the list was of the top 10 incredible recordings of all time... Number 9 is a 44:30 minute recording of the Jonestown massacre... A bit of the background:

"Jim Jones was the American founder of the People’s Temple group. The group became infamous after the November 18 1978 mass suicide/murder in Guyana where the group had moved after rising tensions in the USA. Nine-hundred-and-nine people drank cyanide after Jim Jones ordered his men to kill visiting Congressman Leo Ryan and numerous members of his entourage. In this horrifying recording you hear the last 30-45 minutes of Jones directing his followers to poison their children and then themselves. At one point one of the female voices on the tape is heard to say “It’s okay - they aren’t crying because of pain - it is just because of the bitter taste). Some of the bodies found had died of forced cyanide injection or gunshots. Jones was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head."

I heard the whole recording last night, and it left me in shock... It was one the most horrid things I have ever heard... by the end you can hear babies crying and Jim Jones telling the mothers present to keep them quiet... one of the babies cry gave me a chill down my spine... The end of the recording is the loudest silence you'll ever hear...

Now, you aske me why have I brought this up...

That recording made me think, made me think why would 909 people do something like this? why would you let yourself be manipulated into "laying down your life", as jim Jones put it on the tape?

He states that death is preferable to living in this inhumane world, is that so? This tape in from 1978, we can say that world is worse than it was then, cant we? Is it time for a world mass suicide? Should we give up hope of making this a better world and "lay down" our lives???

I don't know about you, but my answer is a resounding NO WAY!!!!
Yes, the world is far from perfect, people are suffering in a lot of places, peace is practically a curse word in the middle east... But, there is still a lot to live for, isnt there?

The birth of a new child... Sunsets, sunrises... Nature... Love...

It might look like there really isnt much hope and that there is nothing to be done about it... But, that is exactly why we got to where we are... It's our job to not sit idle and watch it all go down... It's our job to something, even a small something... We usually think, "what can i do, Im only one person"... If we ALL think like that, we ARE doomed...

You are ONE person, but if every ONE person out there do at least a little something... There is hope for us yet... Recycle, Use biodegradable bags when going to the store... something small can go a long way... I want to leave the best world I can to my children... and so should you...

I know this post was a bit off my usual... But I felt I needed to say it...

:D

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