Blaze: Reputation Up In Flames

Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Why did I read it?

I knew it was going to be chick lit (which I try to read every once in a while because its not what I normally read), but I figured I'd read this particular chick lit novel because it featured some geeky comic book stuff as well =D

What happened?

Blaze has been sacrificing her normal teenage life of going to the mall and having boyfriends since her Dad left her Mom, and she's ready for a change. Especially if that change came in the form of the nearly perfect, beautiful, and popular Mark (her younger brother's soccer coach), taking an interest in her. She might even consider changing her Super Virgin status...

And to Blaze's own turd-brown van driving, comic-book drawing self's amazement, Mark actually does go out with her. But, it isn't the happily-ever-after she imagined it would be. When  circumstances in and out of her control go completely sideways, Blaze finds her life turned completely upside-down, out of control, and her reputation smashed to smithereens.

Maybe what Blaze needs is a hero...or maybe she needs a chance to rise like a phoenix from the ashes...or maybe she just needs a chance to settle things with her Dad once and for all...or maybe she could just erase everything that happened (if only life was more like a comic book)...

What did I like or not like?

I was expecting chick lit, but I wasn't expecting to like the characters as much as I wound up liking them. Things do keep going from bad to worse, but Blaze is able to mostly keep her wits about her, and learns some interesting things along the way.

I also appreciated all the geeky, nerdy comic-book and fan-fiction references and conversations. Blaze has to deal with some intense stuff, but her juxtaposition of comic characters' problems and issues makes the novel lighter and easier to relate to.

P.S. This one has some cussing and sexual content.

OneTimeBox: Share Files with No Account

Sometimes I think that I am a terrible Web 2.0 user. In a feigned attempt to protect my privacy, I don't let my browsers remember my passwords, and I don't have a dedicated device to call my own. For those reasons, if I want to send something on Dropbox, I have to remember my login. Now, that really isn't that big of a deal. But it is that one step that makes me wonder, could I just email this instead?

Now, Dropbox is legit, amazing, and works really, really well. But, sometimes you'd rather not sign-in, sign-up, or sync to get your file where you want it. Say hello to OneTimeBox. It's the concept of Dropbox or any other cloud storage sharing application, minus the login and account.

Go onto OneTimeBox, put up to 1GB of information into the box, and a link is created that you can share with anyone. Anyone you send it to also has the option to put more stuff into the box (which doesn't change the link), and the box will stay active for 1 week. Now, should you use this to backup your photo collection? Probably not. But, if you want to share something in a hurry, with no worry, this might be the answer.

Another cool thing about OneTimeBox is that it is open source, and operating under the MIT license. Just in case the concept of dropping your files into a random box scared you =D