MInd Sieve 6/13/11

Two conventions in two weeks means another rushed Mind Sieve. lol. (Thank goodness for pre-prepping!)

So cool! From Wizard World Got 10,000 Legos? Let's Build a Star Wars Sandcrawler.

AJ Walker speaks about Vampirism in Ancient Egypt. What fun!

This is totally cool! One less hurdle for long term space exploration and living. Rubbish-Dump Worms. Now they need to tackle bone density degradation. Woot!

FansOfMovies shared this article from Total Films on 50 Greatest Kung Fu Movies.

FanOfMovies shares the latest preview for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Looks fantastic!



Super 8 Clip for How To Be A Zombie.  She's really quite good! lol. Very much looking forward to this one as well!




Geek Furious not only gives us definitions for Nerd and Geek but also a Top 10 Geek Shows You Should Watch. (I don't agree with all these and some I've never heard of. But to each Geek his own!) :P

 Sacred Cow-Tipping: Why Writers Blogging About Writing is Bad by Kristen Lamb.

Tony Eldrige gives us 10 Truths About Self Marketing, Like It or Not. He's pretty much dead on the money as far as I can tell. This stuff is not for the faint of heart. :)

Jull Keremer shares 17 Simple Steps to Build a Fiction Platform.  Good stuff!

Kristem Lamb tackles the Power of Positive Tweeting on Twitter Tuesday!

Chuck Wendig talks about Why YA Rocks!  Which it does. :) (As always with Chuck - NSFW!)

25 Things You Should Know About Character by Chuck Wendig (NSFW - I think it might be a Chuck Sweep this week!)

Jenny Hansen shares a ton of books to help with writing on More Cowbell Monday! I've read two or three of these, but she way has me beat!

And Chuck Wendig puts it on the line when he spouts Six Signs It's High Time To Quit That Whole 'Writing' Thing. Big truths here, peeps - WORD.  (And still NSFW) :P

Till next time!
http://www.gloriaoliver.com/

Picture Kaleidoscope 6/8/11 - The SoonerCon Edition

sOh yeah. Con last weekend. Which means I am chuck full of pics to share. Strap yourselves in for a ride! (Hey, I didn't take the real camera, so it won't be THAT bad. Heh heh)

This was the unescapable breakfast of DOOM. Had been having a craving as I'd been seeing the bloody things everywhere. So being at the airport super early gave me no excuse not to indulge. Even after they weren't ready and I had to wait. (*shifty*)

Good thing though, because this helped keep me alert and from gnawing my arm off after we reached Oklahoma City and found out the airport was in the middle of a bomb scare. I did a quick (ipad - oh my the spelling issues!) write up that night you can read here.

Nifty art stuff outside of the OKC airport. Loved the glass pyramids.

The Doctor taking his leisure at the con. Taking a break from all that Time Traveling. :)

Theme of SoonerCon was Heroes and Villains. As Toastmaster, Selina Rosen took her role very seriously. In this photo you can see her Fat Ninja Persona disguise. Yes, those are Batman symbols on the short. *giggle*

The SoonerCon ConCom! Those to be thanked for setting up all the fun! Thanks ya'll - was a blast!!

Selina doing her Toastmaster bit as she regales us with tales of her Fat Ninja daring do! (The gentleman who's head I will keep photographing was also stuck at the airport and had to stay longer in his plane - ugh - Aaron Allston.)

A very bad picture of Mr. Tim Powers, the Guest of Honor. Got lucky and ended up on a panel with him on God, Faith, and Fantasy.

A not quite as bad picture of Darrell K Sweet, the Artist Guest of Honor. Got lucky enough that some Yard Doggies yanked me to eat dinner on Friday and then they yanked Darrell over to join us. Was a blast!

Jeffrey Turner and his super helper, Mary, starting to gear up to film a short for BOTA - Bubbas of the Apocalypse for Yard Dog Press. The Sheraton had a closed up mall area we got to use and it was also the site of the ConSuite and Green Room. (I was helping out as PA/Running Camera person - for Zombies!)

Just watch Mary concentrate. She was so cute!

Traci in her "acting" outfit. She did awesome.

Another look at the huge space Jeff was going to do all this in. Had to go to the opposite corner as the light plugs on this side did not work.

Props and more!

Setting up a scene. Traci will be seeing Yumbies (Yuppie Zombies) walking out in the street and try to alert the others there could be trouble.

Camera set up for scene as Traci practices.

El Director!

Scientist (Frank Summers) with a Clue and the Queen of the Flamingoes, waiting for their turn at movie magic!

Sherri Dean and Zombies! We were able to abscond with most of the Zombies from SoonerCon's Zombie walk to help out on part of the film. Great costumes!

The stage and those waiting as lighting is changed.

The indominable Sherri Dean! She does some mean gum chewing!

Bill Allen in costume or is he? I missed his part but he and I got to giggle a lot watching the others go at it.

There was music all over SoonerCon. Group set up in front of the Dealer's Room and also had several for lunch in the ConSuite. Quite nice!

Ryan the Zombie leader. He set up the Zombie Walk. Had really a kick ass costume. Wish the phone had done better on this one. Waaahhhh

Ms Tiddywump.  Oh yeah. She's hilarious. Need a profile picture next time to you can see how much more of her there is. Her telling of Jack and the Bean Stalk is hilarious! (Laura Underwood in disguise!)

The BORG! You shall be assimilated.

Resistance is futile!

Ah but then the Jedi's came! Woot!

And they were ready to boogie!

Yes, that's exactly what you think it looks like. Cracked me up. (Next to him is a Steampunk Leia Organa)

Han Solo ala Steampunk. So he has a blaster, you see. Heh

This cracked me up! An undead Scrat!

OKC's Jedi contingent peeps.

And last but not least, a cool sculpture at the airport.  Heh heh.

Until next time!

Mind Sieve 6/6/11

Have conventions two weekends in a row, but luckily I do prep these ahead of time. Let's see how much I can shove in here while still keeping myself sane. :P

FanofMovie found a clip talking about Jamie Campbell Bower lading the lead in "The Mortal Instruments" movies.

John Dep shared a link to Neatorama - 18 Seriously Cool Bookshelves. Some of these really are COOL!
John Picacio shares a sneak peek at the Hound from his 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar. He does gorgeous art, peeps!

TweetNewbie101 shared 5 Great Tips to Facebook Marketing Success! (Need to finish one of these now that the book is out!)

From Jami Gaold - Branding 101: Online Brand vs Author Brand. Really nice insights! And breaks it down if you've any confusion on the topic.

Reality Deficit Disorder - Is it you? Kristen Lamb speaks! (I have multiple blogs but they're all the same content so not sure I apply. Heh heh heh)

Chuck Wendig points out How to Tell if You're a Writer. (Mostly true, but definitely funny! I do not meet the alcohol requirement. Does that mean I am not one? Oh noes!!) (NSFW)

Discovering Your Characters - Kimberly Krey talks about a nice method to connect with your characters if it's not happening on its own.

Kristen Lamb uses the movie Finding Nemo to teach us about Scene Antagonists - The Making of a Hero.

In Defense of Keeping the Day Job by Jennifer Jabley. Makes a great case for why it might be better not to work full time.

3 Signs That You're Renovating A Condemned Novel (and how to try to fix it!) by WriteItSideways.

Rachelle Gardner encourages us to Write Your Truth. Very good points in here. The diversity she's talking about I've even seen in just a small crit group. Opinions can be varied and wide!

25 Things You Should Know About Story Telling from Chuck Wendig. Great list! (NSFW)

How to actually apply Write What You Know by Janice Hardy.

Nice back and forth on What's A Newbiew Novelist To Do by Randy Ingermanson. Covers traditional vs self -publishing if you're new. Excellent points and things to weigh on.

Laying It On The Lie: Commonly Misused Words by Janice Hardy.  Some nice ways to remember which is used with which too!

Okay, that should do some damage. :)  Until next time. Bwahahahahahaha!

Mind Sieve 5/30/11

Running late but hope I can get this up to show up on time.  Wheee!

From SoonerCon, new Batman video game announced - Gotham City Impostors. It'll be a downloadable 1st Person shooter. Sounds cool!

FansOfMovies shared all sorts of preview clips this week!
     Transformers 3 - Lt Colonel William Lennox
     Cars 2 Official Featurette - Back Into Cars
     Super 8 - Train Sequence 4 (I swear this yellow car with the black stripe is in everything! NCIS being the main place I recall. I know it's shown up elsewhere too?)
     TotalFilms shared - the first Batman Live trailer. (It's a stage show! How mental is that? lol)
     A new Muppets movie!!!!  Wow that's been like forever. (Preview starts out weird, but wait for it!!! Muppet Domination!!!) SQUEEE!
     X-Men: First Class movie clip "Be Normal"

Mark Dougherty shared a breaking story about lost pyramids and ancient Egyptian cities being found from Space! Totally cool!

GalaxyDallas shared a link to How a Solar Sail might work. Spiffy stuff! (My inner geek is showing! Heh heh

JAFurtado shared a link to a tutorial for HTML5. Dang it! More code to learn. lol. (I can see revisions to the website sometime in my future. lol)

Kristen Lamb's Twitter Tuesday #17 - Branding: There Can Be Only One!

Tony Eldridge shares a list of Free Toys and Downloads - List 3

Blog post by Kristen Lamb on the proper use of # on Twitter. Twitter Tuesday #18 (I am so guilty of this one! lol. But I have been changing #'s on RT'd Tweets so I am only partially bad? :P)

Parick Thunstrom did an article to explain many of the settings for TweetDeck. Might be useful for newbies.

Nathan Bradford shows the correct way to http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/05/how-to-use-twitter-reply.html. (Really is an easy thing to misunderstand.)

Natalie Sisson tells us How to Build a Thriving Blog by Being Yourself. (Hah! If it could only be this easy! Must work at this! lol)

Pam Moore list 3 Easy Steps to Increase Sharing of Your Blog Posts! (I am woefully behind on this... *sniff*)

Jami Gold tells us What Disneyland Can Teach Us About World Building. (My only caveat on this is to make sure not to get carried away! No info dumps. A bit at a time.)

Kristen Lamb's series on writing books - this week Structure Part 2.

Rosemary Clemment-Moore shares a Perfect Writing Day - NOT!

Kristen Lamb tells us What "Finding Nemo" Can Teach Can Teach Us About Story Action.

Pat Hauldren shares - Log Lines What Are They?  (I use these for my table toppers. So mine are super short. Publisher asked for one for The Price of Mercy (a very short one) "Which is worse...the monster withing or without?" Totally encapsulates the book. :)

From Marcy Kennedy's blog - 6 Grammar Mistakes That Will Cost You Readers. 

Storyfix.com (Larry) has a post Part 2: A Deeper Understanding of Craft. Some deep thinking here folks!

How to Read a Contract - What's Not There from PassiveVoice.

That's it. Brain is BURNED! Took way longer than normal this week for some reason, but then there was like a TON of stuff this past week! Dang!

Movie Review - Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2


Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Huffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogers, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Denis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber and more...

Directed by: Jennifer Yuh  Written by: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger  Music by: John Powell and Hans Zimmer

Premise: A prince who'd been outcast from the kingdom after an act of atrocity comes back years later to take his revenge, and destroy kung fu, with the use of a new and mighty weapon.

Review:  Loved the original, loved the Christmas special, and utterly loved the sequel!

As anyone with eyes could see, yet never say, Po couldn't have been the birth child of Mr. Ping. We will see some of Po's past and how it is that he came to be the son of a bird. What's really neat is how they chose to do the flashbacks, history intro, and nightmare sequences. For some it was still pictures and minimal movement. For others it was straight animation in a slightly different style than the rest of the film. This later plays into a beautiful sequence where the past meets memory and acceptance towards the end of the film.

Everything is super detailed and some of the city scape, villages, and backgrounds are utterly breathtaking. With the 3D even more so. The 3D was used more for effect and contrast than the usual "at ya" gimmicks and worked incredibly well to give the whole story more depth visually and even in the telling. This is one of the first uses of regular 3D that really packs a punch in my opinion.

Lots of great fight scenes. And some awesome ones. You will see Radish Fu. You will see Peacock Fu. Warring Rickshaws! You'll also see the most hilarious take on a Chinese Festival Dragon EVER! I was laughing all over the place and I'm a hard one to make laugh out loud. (Crying is something else altogether and I did some of that too!)

The soothsayer was HILARIOUS! And Shen was both menacing, cold, hot, and utterly beautiful to watch. The story also has some nice twists and turns, which were great.  

All our favorite characters are back as Po learns another lesson and sets off to save China. Definitely a must see! They will even leave you a tantalizing cliffhanger bit right before the credits.  (Though nothing else is shown after the credits, do sit through part of them - a reenactment of Po's baby journey. Too cute!)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5! (Hubby's Rating: Would pay 3D full price again! This is his highest rating, by the way! heh heh)

Price of Mercy will debut during SoonerCon! (And con schedule Listed as well)

Price of Mercy has been sent to the printers by the publisher. Below is the final cover for the book.

The novel's debut will occur during SoonerCon!


This is my current panel schedule:

Friday, 5PM —Supernatural:  What We Think

Friday, 6PM — Opening Ceremonies

Saturday, 9AM — Koffee Klatch

Saturday, 11AM —T he Art of Self-Promotion:  Marketing Tips From the Pros

Saturday, 3PM — Yard Dog Road Show

Sunday, 11AM — Faith and Fantasy:  God

Sunday, 12PM — Reading

Hope to see you all there!  Should be a BLAST!

Picture Kaleidoscope 5/25/11

Not too many of my own this week (Saturday's running around was curtailed) but did run across several good ones on the net!

For intance this fab picture from 19SIXTY3 called Sunrise Over Angkor Wat.  Gorgeous colors!

This was a cool little pic. Unitede Cloud States of America! You can clearly make out the Caribbean Sea and California and more. (Just go wit it! lol)

Galaxy_Dallas shared a pic for a (wait for it) Star Trek motorcycle. (If it turns up missing, he took it!) Heh heh.

Cool underwater sculpture photo by Jason deCaires Taylor.

This photo of the day over at the National Geographic site almost looks like a painting - Sea Grass.

On Earth As It Is In Heaven - totally gorgeous pic by Richard Bernabe. Look at the sky colors and those breathtaking waterfalls.  Mmmmmm.

I'll leave you with this one.  Pretty sunrise with encroaching storm!

Mind Sieve 5/23/11

Trying to shake up the look of the posts again. :P

 FansOfMovie shared a link to Kung Fu Panda 2 - Chinese Dragon Clip.

 From Electric44 we get a Leverage Season 4 Promo.

 SoonerCon leaked the info that Eliza Dushku is joining the Web series "Torchwood: Web of Lies".

 Tracy Morris has started a series of posts on blogging. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 .

 Kristen Lamb shares the The Right Way, The Wrong Way, and The Smart Way of Social Media.

 Tony Eldrige gives us 7 Weekly Book Marketing Goals You Can Adopt Today!

 Frank Ryan, guest over at Tony Eldrige's Maketing Tips blog lists 12 Places Authors Should Look To Develop a Strong Web Presence. (Some of these I'd not heard of before and I am all over the place! lol)

 Story brainstorming on the dead!  Gene Lempp's new post Plotting the Iceman.

 Kristen Lamd speaks on Little Darlings and why they must DIE! (Cue in Funeral Music!)

 Lisa Kilian spouts on what not to do as a writer - Mistake # 83: Apologize. (Good sentiments and wisdom here.)

 Chuck Wendig shares WORD KARATE: Ruminations on writing action scenes. (Great insights and food for thought.) (NSFW)

I think that's it for this round. Have an awesome week ya'll!

Movie Review - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Starring: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Stephen Graham, Keith Richards, and more... Directed by: Rob Marshall Screenplay by: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio Based on the novel: Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.

Premise: Jack Sparrow returns to London to help a friend and finds out someone is impersonating him and gathering a crew. He finds the culprit, but instead of fixing things, he finds himself shanghaied and in a whole heap of trouble.

Review: On Strager Tides is the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. And it gives us all we've come to expect from the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow. He even meet several old friends again as three groups race off to find the elusive Fountain of Youth.

The supernatural plays a hand again in this installment as Black Beard has some unexpected talents, including voodoo and zombie making. And what he can do with the rigging is pretty spiffy too! we also meet mermaids and they rule!  The whole sequence at White Cape was awesome. Add in the IMAX 3D for the underwater bits and it looked pretty darn cool! (Wait till you see their whip seaweed. Nasty!)

Loads of fun fight scenes - the one in the bar was the best as basically no surface was left untouched,  or got fought on or was used in the fight.  Good chase and escape scenes in London as well.  (The actual Hampton Court Palace for a couple of scenes!)

Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp have a great love/hate relationship thing going.  Ian McShane does his bad guy best as always. Geoffrey Rush was also a lot of fun. Sam Caflin's character Philip was an obvious replacement for Orlando Bloom's, but wasn't given enough screen time to develop his character to any great depth, which was a pity.

There were a couple of nice surprises, which I won't spoil.

The only weak areas were in the lore used to make the quest more complicated. Since a lot more people than you'd suspect seemed to know the basic location of the Fountain, they added in the need of a ritual. Yet part of the ritual itself didn't make sense. It's possible the bowls of the cups were made from stones that had been used in long ago times at the fountain, but if so, the information was not given and set the whole thing as suspect. The other bit that seemed to come from nowhere and was never touched on again was about Jack's Father, Captain Teague. He pops in, gives info, pops out and is never seen or heard from again.

Make sure to stay through the credits. There's just a bit more at the end and it is totally worth it!

So for fun, excitement, and daring do, this film is all that and more. Just don't look at things too closely - just ride along.  :)

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth full price of admission IMAX 3D)

Picture Kaleidoscope 5/18/11

Got several good ones this past week despite the allergies being on a warpath. :P

Signs of gathering possible rainfall. We'd had none for so long!  And even with the threatening weather it almost didn't happen!

My second photosynth photo. Tried to make it more square than the first one, but not sure it made it. Really should try to read some instructions on this. Still, you can see the weather moving into the area. :)

 The sun was doing a weird looking effect with the clouds so I had to take a pic.

Different angle.

Cool lamp we found at Taco Cabana in Addison. Should have done a close up of the star lamps hanging inside. :P

Serenity is growing, and growing, and growing. She totally adores the stuffed animals John's given me over the years for Valentine's Day. It's totally amusing.

 Ah! This beauty - The United Cloud States of America.  Looks like the North American Continent! Hee!

Have an awesome rest of the week!