Sampler 15: The Young Elites, by Marie Lu

Here we go again, a teenager discovers she has powers she hasn't tapped because she didn't know she had them. There was a twist though, in that the threat that caused them to appear was not an external one, but one from within her household. Her Dad was a piece of work, but not so bad considering the society in which he lived. He didn't kill her or throw her out on the street after she became a pariah, he did try to find her some kind of place in their world. Can't blame her for running away though. I liked she stole the silver when she left.

Naturally everyone is afraid of the folks who have powers, so there's an Inquisition. (Everyone's afraid of the Spanish Inquisiton.) And a rebellion against it.

Since I liked the main character I want to read more. Thankfully one of us acquired the whole book at Comic-Con and is willing to lend it to me. If it's any good I might read the sequel, though I long to read a standalone book again.

Black Sails and Treasure Island-Both Glitter and Gleam Like the Urca Treasure

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum.
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest.
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum.
                       Treasure Island

We at GHPALS are great fans of the pirate show on Starz. Several of our members attended the showing of the first showing at Comic-Con three years ago and proudly show off the great bags they cherish with the beautiful ships on them.


Last season was fabulous. We cheered when the pirates demolished Charlestown, though we were momentarily chagrinned when one of our kids pointed out we were cheering the murder of innocent women and children. Then we came back to reality. It's a TV show!

Season Three has been terrific. It started with a horrific storm and ended with a great battle. We cheered again as the pirates demolished representations of the mighty British empire. Seeing those soldiers standing in a line on the beach while the pirates fought from barricades was like watching the Battle of Bunker Hill.

One of our members is a graduate student in history, doing his dissertation on the illicit trade between the American Colonies and Jamaica and Cuba. Not piracy mind you, but trading on the black market. Like the trading done by the merchants who buy the cargo shipped out of Nassau in Black Sails. He loved the scene where the pirate captain was told to repackage his goods because merchants in Boston didn't like to see barrels covered in blood. The buyers know where the cargo comes from, but they don't want their noses rubbed in it.

After last week's episode where (spoiler alert) a principle player was hung, for real, we mourned his passing even as we cheered his refusal of rescue and the visible defiance of the men who finished the job when his neck didn't break. We hope that blonde gets hers cause she deserves it, the B^%&**.

We've decided to reread Treasure Island since we're watching Long John Silver mature into the one-legged smarter-than-anyone-else-around-him character in the book.

We've now discussed the chapters up to the sailing of the Hispaniola. The Black Spot figures prominently in the Season Three finale like it did in the book. Striking terror with a piece of paper!

Treasure Island is a masterpiece. Long John Silver is one of the great characters in English literature. He's unforgettable. While you're reading the book you feel like you are right there in the midst of it all. 

If kids read Treasure Island in school they'd learn reading is fun, not a drag. And they'd all be singing Fifteen Men on a Deadman's Chest, making up their own verses, instead of that lame Disney pirate song.

Supernatural's Terrific Season 11

We here at GHPALS are great fans of The CW's Supernatural. The scribe has been watching it live since Season One, when her then 14-year old daughter wanted to watch it. The daughter moved on to other shows a few years ago, but I've stayed an avid fan.

The PALS all agree it's a crime to watch Season One on Netflix because so much of the original music was replaced with lesser songs. By Season Two the music rights contracts applied to digital versions, so it's OK to watch all the other seasons on Netflix. Of course we're all terribly grateful to the streaming service because the fans who found Supernatural on it are helping keep the show on the air.

But the scribe is rambling. At our last meeting we agreed Season Eleven is AWESOME (to quote Dean Winchester). This last episode with Bobby and Rufus was outstanding. We love those guys.

Once we talked about the ranking we'd assign to the seasons. After much fruitless debate and heated discussion, we gave up. We realized each has its mix of weak and strong episodes. Instead we talked about favorite episodes, and the heat died down.

Since I'm the official recorder, I'm listing my  "go-to" episodes, ones I watch over and over again whenever I want a break from reality.

• Dead in the Water (Season 1)
• Scarecrow (Season 1)
• Hollywood Babylon (Season 2)
• The Usual Suspects (Season 2)–Sam at his smartest and Dean at his snarkiest.
• Hell House (Season 1) and Ghostfacers (Seaon 3)–you have to watch them together.
• The Monster at the End of This Book (Season 4)
• The Real Ghostbusters (Season 5)
• Weekend at Bobby's (Season 6)
• Clap Your Hands if You Believe (Season 6)
• The French Mistake (Season 6)
• The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo (Season 7)
• LARP and the Single GIrl (Season 8)
• Everybody Hates Hitler (Season 8)
• Fan Fiction (Season 10)
• Hibbing 911 (Season 10)
• Baby (Season 11)

If you study my list you'd think Season 6 would be my favorite season because 3 of my favorite shows are from it. That's not the case. I don't have a favorite season, just favorite shows.

Here's to Season Twelve!!!

Sampler 14: Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard

We bet you thought we'd forgotten our goal to read all the chapter samplers we acquired at last year's Comic-Con. Well we didn't forget the goal and we didn't forget the sampler. We just forgot to publish the write ups.

The sequel to this Young Adult book has already been published, so if our reader liked it she could indulge in the second book. She did like the sampler because it presented an interesting character, an aging teen who expects to be conscripted upon reaching the age of 18. You don't know she's a girl until many pages in because she talks about her brothers being conscripted and her sister becoming a seamstress. This sets up the expectation that her community has gender norms to most societies. It comes as a bit of a surprise when it doesn't.

This sampler leads one to believe the book will be about a girl running away to escape something, but from the reviews on Amazon, that isn't the case. Thus this sampler is a bit misleading.

It accomplishes its objective though, which is to make our reader want to finish the book. She reserved it at the library so she can.

Myth Understood by DR072: Must Buy Items

We here at Goat Hill PALS are great supporters of free enterprise. From time to time we come across items that are too good not to recommend to our readers.

Here's one: Myth Understood, a design by DRO72 for sale on Threadless.

We've bought T-shirts and pillows because the sentiment expressed by it is so pertinent to the many people in our lives who suffer from depression or a lack of belief in themselves.

Of course it will appeal to the Nessie fans among us. As for me, I'm going to wear it proudly at the next Supernatural convention. It fits right into the Always Keep Fighting campaign.

Buy it here: Threadless Myth Understood Items

Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2016

We're an eclectic group, as we continually remind our readers. One of us is a passionate genealogist who volunteers for the Southern California Genealogical Society in Burbank. She helps publicize their annual conference, Jamboree, which is always held the first weekend in June at the Burbank Marriott and Convention Center, across the street from Bob Hope Airport (which they should not rename.)


This year Jamboree is June 3-5, 2016. DNA and genealogy will be the subject of a special symposium on June 2. With the OJ Simpson miniseries, it's timely. There's lots of free sessions on Friday morning (June 3) for beginners, and some of us are going.
SCGS Jamboree 2016

We love conferences and conventions of all types because they bring together people who have a common interest. We report on Comic-Con and Wonder-Con, book and movie festivals and any where else our members feel like discussing and sharing, so Jamboree is a natural fit. Our member reports she has as much fun in Burbank as she does in San Diego–maybe more because it's not a mob scene. Unlike Comic-Con, things start early in the morning so early risers can get right to it.

From her we discovered genealogists and geek/nerds have something in common. Something most of us would never in a million years have guessed.

COSPLAY! Genealogists actually do cosplay too. 

They even have their own Masquerade. With prizes. 

There are differences. Jamboree's competition is open to everyone and has a theme every year.

One year they honored the 60s (1960s). The winner dressed up like a dancer right out of Hullabaloo. (Kids, if you don't know what that is, ask your elders). Last year it was Dress Like Your Ancestor. Our member dressed like the ancestor who floated down the Ohio River on a flatboat loaded with casks of corn liquor (she still has the walnut chest that held the barrels).

This year the theme is Home Town Pride. Not quite your favorite action hero or comic book character, but there's lots of fun to be had with it. Our member is an Army brat, so she doesn't have a home town. Like the Winchester brothers, home to her was her parents' car, but it's too hard to dress up like a 1954 Ford station wagon with cattle brand upholstery.


We're encouraging her to dress up like a goat and show her pride in her current home town–the one right here on Goat Hill. Or at least wear a T-shirt with our logo on it.

We promised her we'd post a link to the Jamboree site so anyone who's interested can easily find it and register. We owe her a lot, so we're putting it on the top and the bottom of this post.

Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2016

Time to Volunteer for the Newport Beach Film Festival

The Newport Beach Film Festival is coming and it will be awesome!

One of our members has been watching films for months now, rating them for the Festival.

The rest of us are creeped out by the logo, a giant eye. The volunteer T-shirts carry out that creepy theme since they say on the back "We Are Watched."

This year volunteers who work two shifts can buy one ticket to an unlimited number of movies at 30% off the ticket price (except for the opening & closing films and the parties). That's a good deal.

Shifts are 6 hours long this year, so you earn that discount.

We like to help, so many of us have signed up. We always have a good time.

If you haven't, and want to, click on this link to the volunteer page Newport Beach Film Festival Volunteer Sign-Up or go to one of the volunteer meetings:

Saturday, April 2 @ 2:30pm - 4:30pm
Sunday, April 10 @ 1:30pm - 3:30pm
Saturday, April 16 @ 2:30pm - 4:30pm

All meetings will be held at the Gray Matter Museum of Art (GMMA), 485 E 17th St #101, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. If you haven't been to the Gray yet, this is a good reason to see it.