One butterbeer frappuccino, please

As many of you are already aware, recently it was "announced" that Starbucks was offering Butterbeer lattes and frappuccinos. Sorta. It's part of their "secret menu" that isn't really secret as much as it's one of many drinks that you can order as long as you remember the recipe for it when you go up to order.

(My reaction upon reading about this.)

I haven't had the ability to try this yet, but next time I wander into a Starbucks I'll have to give this a try. I'll probably go for the cold version, as the hot one sounds a little too sweet for my tastes. I'll never get to try the "official" version since I'm allergic to milk and can't have anything with a very heavy cream base, but I'll try the soy milk equivalent thereof.

(Still an accurate depiction.)

If you want to try this out, make sure to do it during the holiday season, as not every Starbucks offers toffee nut syrup year-round.

So without much more ado, on with the recipes!

(Why yes I have been watching Adventure Time lately!)

 Cold recipe:

• Creme frappuccino base with whole milk (this is supposedly for the consistency more than flavor)
• 3 pumps caramel syrup
• 3 pumps toffee nut syrup
• Top with caramel syrup and whipped cream

Hot recipe:

• Whole milk steamer
• Add caramel syrup (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
• Add toffee nut syrup (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
• Add cinnamon dolce syrup (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
• Whipped cream and salted caramel bits on top
• Optional: Add a shot of espresso (2 for a grande or venti)

So there you have it. According to a Syracuse reporter, this was overly sweet and didn't taste like what she was expecting it to.

(Not really related, but figured why not? Although it's probably pronounced "Te-AH-tAH-may" in some circles.)

Further reading:

• How to get 'Harry Potter'-inspired Butterbeer at Starbucks this holiday season

The ponies are coming! Ponified book characters

If you've ever been on the internet for a minute, you've heard of them. The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show and its fandom. If you've been on there for a few minutes longer, you've probably seen some of the inevitable ponification of various book characters. Maybe you've even seen custom figures that have been altered. Either way, it's usually a blast to look at.

For fun, I'm linking to some of the stuff I've found through my travels:

(Note: I did not create any of these images or figures. When possible, I'm linking to the accounts for the artists via their names so you can shower them with praise and/or money. I've heard that artists like money and praise.)

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter

These images comes to you from the Deviant Art account of Eris Chaos Goddess.  If you've ever wondered what Jean Claude and Nathaniel (bottom image) look like as ponies, here you are! I have to say, part of me wishes that she'd included Nathaniel's pearl necklace in this one...

This custom figure of Asher comes from marienoire, who did a pretty awesome job. (It looks like she does a lot of custom figures.)


The Last Unicorn

This one I found via a Google image search, but the image name has the artist as "shockowaffel". I know that this seems to have been more taken from the movie version of the book and that Amalthea is already in pony shape, but this is a gorgeous picture.


Harry Potter

All  of these ponified characters come to you courtesy of asdflove on Deviant Art, who has a load of other great pony images!




TinTin

Here we have an image from the Tin Tin books, brought to you by sutakaibagirl!


The Hunger Games

Now we have an image from The Hunger Games, drawn for your viewing pleasure by ToxicKittyCat!



Twilight

Finally we have the Twilight ponies. Here's one brought to you by maikoforev5674 of Bella.

This is a custom of Edward Cullen by trillions. I have to say, it's pretty awesome!

I can't help but link to more of the custom Twilight ponies because well... they're gorgeous! This one is by jupiternwndrlnd. Please someone- throw money at her!! This is incredibly well done on the cutie mark artwork!

For my last image I have a quartet of custom ponies by eponyart, with each pony representing one of the books of the series.




Again, I want to emphasize that I own none of the above images and had no factor in their creation. I just saw them and couldn't help but want to post them on my blog because they were so cool and so the above artists could get some more well-deserved recognition!

Pottermore: Cool or disappointing?

I'll admit that I was just as eager as most to find out what the mysterious Pottermore website was about. Was it new information? New books? Maybe a series of short stories set in the world? The possibilities were endless. The wait & anticipation only made the speculation in the Harry Potter communities grow even more.

And then we found out what it was.



Don't get me wrong. The idea of official ebooks of the series is nice (although bootleg ebook versions abound on the internet) & having interactive content is cool as well. All that additional info on the series that JK claimed she had is cool as well.

It's just that all the site will basically contain are the ebooks & the equivalent of a Harry Potter encyclopedia. It's a little disappointing, to be honest. I will admit that I'm going to check out the website when it opens but probably not in the day or even the month (October, if you're curious) that it opens unless I hear it's really cool.

I don't have anything against the idea of it. It's just that I don't understand all the fanfare. It's like someone constantly telling you "Oh man, this is going to be THE best dinner ever- you wait & see" for a whole week, then you get home on the day in question & it's just a microwaved Hot Pocket. It's still delicious but you were expecting something a little bit bigger & fancier.

New Harry Potter? OK, I'm intrigued

There's been a buzz lately that J.K. Rowling will put out another Harry Potter book. This isn't really anything new, since she's been saying that she might for years. It's still exciting to see the random news story pop up, though.

The buzz started up again when Rowling told Oprah that she wouldn't mind going back to the Potterverse again & that finishing the last book really left her mourning the entire experience & that "They're all in my head still. I could definitely write an eighth, a ninth book".

I wouldn't mind seeing another book, I have to admit.

Happy Banned Book Week!

Officially starting today & lasting until October 2nd is Banned Books Week, a week where we celebrate the books that some would have us never read. Maybe it's because they have witchcraft in them or other elements that someone might think makes for an "indecent" read.

Now when most of us think banned books, we think about the titles such as Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, or Lady Chatterly's Lover. We assume that the titles banned were older books & that it all happened years ago, that we wouldn't dare ban books now.

You'd be surprised at what some areas still tries to keep off their bookshelves. Would you believe that some people have tried to ban Blood & Chocolate, The Face on the Milk Carton, Harry Potter, & Twilight? Some of the groups trying to remove these books have actually succeeded, although it wasn't long before many of these books were returned to the public shelves they'd been snatched from.

That's why it's so incredibly important for us to remember Banned Book Week & to try to combat censorship by promoting our freedom to read. It's all too easy to assume that we'll never lose that right & all too easy for us to eventually lose it if we aren't careful.