Rather quick-like, I'm new to the board today. I'm going to flat-out admit that I'm not a HUGE Ben Jelen fan because sometimes I'm out of the loop where music is concerned. Basically, anyone that replies to this please share with me your top 10 favorite Ben songs (including his covers) and I'll build a Ben Jelen folder on my MyPod! If you don't mind...
Also, I am a self-proclaimed "book whore". So any book recs in general, do share!
That's what caught my attention on the home page to Ben's site, a wee stack of books. I actually tried to figure out the titles on them. Yes, I'm afraid a geek girl has invaded the messageboard.
Have a lovely day.
Astrid

Hey there Astrid!! Welcome to the boards...all geeks welcome!

My top 10 Ben songs would have to be (in no particular order):
1. Pulse
2. Wicked Little Town
3. Just A Little
4. Slow Down
5. Driver
6. Ex-Sensitive
7. Wreckage
8. Counting down
9. Baby Girl
10. Woman

whew...hard to narrow down to just 10 even. LOL

There's a couple of us avid readers on here...Bella and myself read a lot. I'm a fan of anything Anne Rice...and one of my fave series of books is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Just a couple suggestions to start you off.

Again, welcome! nice to see someone new!

Astrid: Welcome to Ben Jelen's Message Boards! Geek or no geek, you're welcome here.

Top ten favorite songs by Ben, eh? That's a tough one because I love 'em all. But if I must and in no particular order:

1 Just A Little
2 Not My Plan
3 She'll Hear You
4 Counting Down
5 Criminal
6 Wreckage
7 Vulnerable
8 Pulse
9 Slow Down
10 Come On

Basically I'd listen to anything Ben sings, including and preferabley the phone book. His voice is that AWESOME!

Hope to see you around!!!

oh ****e...forgot Criminal. damn..it's too hard to pick. LOL

I knew as soon as I posted requesting 10 songs that all of the people that really admire Ben's music would struggle with a mere 10 song list. However, it would have overwhelmed me to ask for a 20 song list. So I grabbed my handy dandy notebook just like Steve on Blue's Clues and wrote the songs down to look for on the morrow.
Funny little story about the Outlander series. Several years back someone I knew had suggested it to me. I went to the library and puttle the first book off of the shelf and thought, "Why on earth would I like this?" It looked like a romance novel. Nothing against that genre, it just isn't my cup of tea. So I slipped it back onto the shelf and about a year later a woman mentioned the series to me. I held my tongue but then she told me how her father-in-alw a World War 2 vet had lost his sight and missed reading. She would go to the library and check out audiobooks for him. I live in a very small town, we don't even have a bookstore. So the library is just as small. Pickings are slim still in the audiobook section. She ended up getting Outlander on audio and brought it home for him to listen to and he loved it. I thought, if a crusty old vet loves these books, there's something to them. I checked out the first book...hands down easily one of the most addictive books! I finished all 4 of the books that were out at the time within a week. These are not romance novels in the least. I'm a big history buff (Especially Scotland and Ireland), and these books for bein novels are some of the most historically accurate novels that my eyes have feasted on. I noticed reprints of the books don't imply "heaving breasts" on the covers. I own them all! Even the Lord John trilogy (he's my favorite character).
That was not a short story! I am so sorry to have nattered on! My friend asks me to write customer reviews of books in her shop, I guess out of habit I make my stories about books a bit longish....gah!

Welcome aboard Friend

My Top 10 are...
1 Just A Little
3 Counting Down
4 Pulse
5 Wreckage
6 Setting of the Sun
7 Women (****ing awesome cover, holla holla 4 Ben)
8 Wrong Way Out ( old sko song not recorded 4 public)
9 Balance
10 Not My Plan
11 Tonight ( old sko song not recorded 4 public)
12 Where Do We Go
13 Mr. Philosopher

They really don’t have an order, I love all of his songs but I had to add a little…..

I had to add an 11 and a 12 and a 13 sorry you cant hear the old sko songs but I heard them in the beginning of the making of this new cd exsenstive and they never got added but there amazing songs and the lyrics mean so much to me! Ben next show me and B are at PLEASE PLAY.....Wrong way out, Tonight

Hope to meet ya someday and come to some shows

where are you from by the way?

uh oh, 10 songs. . .

1. wreckage
2. not my plan
3. wicked little town
4. vulnerable
5. revolution
6. she'll hear you
7. falling down
8. setting of the sun
9. where do we go
10. short of the world


and BOOKS! fellow 'book whore' here. i prefer vixen though. ha. sounds more dangerous.

anything older by poppy z. brite. she's my hero. seriously. lost souls, drawing blood, wormwood, are you loathsome tonight...

the twilight series by stephenie meyer -twilight, new moon, eclipse, and breaking dawn comes out in august. the movie is going to murder it though, i fear for the series *shudders*

then the good old smutty stuff. . . the vampire queen's servant - joey w. hill. . .

i'm a lil obsessed with blood suckers, if you couldn't tell. lol.

Lucky #13! I was born on the 13th, but I digress. Essentially I'll have to do some butt kissing to find the more obscure material...I have plenty of lip salve and I'm up to the task.
I live in a small town approx. 2 hours north of Atlanta.I'd say the name but then people would wonder how it's pronounced much as I've been wondering how Jelen is pronounced.

just a lil sidenote since you're new to the boards. . . i'm the questionable jelenbean due to
http://benjelen.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/450601526...101050641#6101050641

nice to meet you!

hahaha. if you look through, he actually answered them. woo!

and i read all 3 of the stephenie meyer books in one weekend. that's how enthralled i was. . .

yeah. i'm really random.

Okay, that link has to be one of the best I've ever seen on a messageboard. And I have a terrific rapport with "random", I embrace it.
My friend and I were recently discussing the Meyer's series, so you've managed to intrigue me.
So what's the corralation between Ben Jelen and the vampire books? Kind of interesting to see these popping up on here.
So if Ben reads the messageboard, he really should share what his favorite books are...

Well, I gave Ben a book on Earth Day called American Earth that is an anthology of writings from environmentalist writers from history to current day. My mind likes to believe he is enjoying that right now. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Astrid:

So what's the corralation between Ben Jelen and the vampire books? Kind of interesting to see these popping up on here.
...

no correlation, that's just the beauty of me. ha. in my own little world he was zillah, one of the characters in lost souls. . .but zillah's been replaced. *cough*

Welcome Astrid! I'm Bella and I'm from Australia.
I don't know if I could pick just ten songs but I have to add my ultimate favourite to your list -
Setting of the Sun. I named my website after it - check it out if you get a chance! In The Setting Sun.net

As for books - I love James Patterson, John Grisham and Terry Pratchett novels.

Again, welcome to the boards - we're kinda crazy here!

Astrid welcome to the boards always nice to have new people join up. Glad to have you here. Here are my top 10 Ben songs (these are not in any particular order - these are just how I wrote them down):
1. Just A Little
2. Wreckage
3. Rocks
4. She'll Hear You
5. The Other Side
6. Slow Down
7. Counting Down
8. Pulse
9. Setting Of The Sun
10. Ex-Sensitive

As far as books I am currently reading the books by James Patterson - that the tv show Women's Murder Club is based on. I like mystery stories and scary stories. I am a big fan of ghost stories and also like to go on ghost walking tours. Never seen a ghost but think the house I live in is haunted because we hear footsteps all the time. We recently found out that back in the time of the revolutionary war there was a cemetary built where our house now stands. They moved the cemetary and then built houses. The footsteps sound like soldiers boots and you cannot miss when they walk across the floor. Makes sense since they buried soldiers in the cemetary - have not seen one just heard them. I also have read a few books from Dean Koontz - one that I read was The Husband and that was pretty good. I also started to read the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy but it is taking a long time - there are a lot of pages in those books. If I think of more I will share them but that is all I can think of at the moment. Once again welcome to the boards we are glad to have you here!!

^^i tried to read the lord of the rings trilogy, but i only got half way through the two towers. it's a good plot and such, great characters, but it just seems a bit dull to me. i dunno.

i did like the hobbit.

I'm on the verge of checking out Ben's music. First, I wanted to reply to all of the posts. Thank you for the warm greetings!
I read LOTR and The Hobbit wayyyyy back in middle school. We're talking 1983, most of you may not have been born and if you were, you spent your days playing with your Strawberry Shortcakes and spent Saturday mornings watching The Smurfs. Unless you're boy then I assume it was Tonka trucks or whatever. But The Smurfs were still vital to you. I think what stands out in the LOTR books would be the vivid detailed writing. I seem to recall entire pages devoted to the description of a tree. I did watch the movies (and own them) and I loved that Peter Jackson conveyed his clear love of the book onto film.
Does James Patterson write a series of books for young adults? You may have to suggest a couple of books of his for me to start with.
I believe I read a Koontz novel with a dog that had telepathic powers. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
Terry Pratchett..I LOVE his books! I even own a book of Discworld art and a children's book that Terry wrote based on some of the Discworld characters. I love that he almost seems to write with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
I used to read Grisham, enjoyed his earlier works but often wondered why he always seemed to have the main characters run away in the end. Other then The Client and possibly A Painted House, I didn't see why they had to flee. Unless he was merely writing about his own desire to flee from his job as a lawyer.
I read American Earth- splendid collection of stories. And Ben would be a bit of a fool to pass up reading it!
Bella, I plan to look at your site ASAP!
Side note about ghosts: I don't disbelieve in them,but I am a skeptic. The town in which I live is well-known by people that study ghosts etc. because of the local theater. It's said that it's haunted. People describe a mist that appears. I've witnessed the mist. Again, I'm not denying the existence of ghosts however, I believe said mist is called condensation. Seriously, it gets really hot and humid here. You gather a large group of people within the confides of a room with air conditioning...a mist will appear! A local cemetary is said to have ghosts as well. There's even a photo at our welcome center that was taken in the 1950's with said ghosts. I think there's a link to it online. I'll have to look for it and share.Theere's also a book by a local author about local hauntings.
I know my posts are to the sheer giddiness of my shiny new messageboard!
Finally, I love that Ben seems to shimmer in the photos with his fans. A big gracious smile.Lovely.

only on the verge?? jump! jump I tell you!! LOL

No worries on the 1983 thing...i was in middle school also at that time, so was mary (njhitz) and Bebe was probably in highschool by then. You are among good company. LOL

Love how you describe Ben as shimmering in his fan pics. He is truly an artist that appreciates and loves his fans.

Current status: I've made the jump, free-falling...I'll get back to you as to whether or not I crash and burn or if Ben's music has given me wings to take flight and soar...

waiting in anticipation....