Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles is on Sale!

From 1/29 to 2/4/23, the ya magic school with dragons fantasy novel, Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles is on sale for $0.99! (Amazon and KU only.) 

A new girl in a magic school. A squire and his cross-eyed dragon. A secret that could save or doom them all…

 

Talia has no clue about her future. Unable to pick an apprenticeship in her beloved village, the uncertain fifteen-year-old is dismayed when her parents spend precious money sending her to a far-off magic school. Not knowing what to expect, she watches in horrified amazement as a young man and his dragon fall from the sky and claim they’re her transport.

 

As Talia arrives at the institution only to be left to figure things out on her own, she learns the squire and his scaly companion are infamous for failing to complete their bond. And as she grows closer to the strange duo, the inexperienced teen plunges into the middle of chaos, explosive misunderstandings, and a life-altering secret.

 

Will finally discovering her place lead to danger, or a home she never imagined?

 

Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles is a lively YA fantasy novel. If you like curious heroines, unlikely pairings, and magical mayhem, then you’ll love Gloria Oliver’s heartwarming adventure.

 

Buy Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles to soar into fate today!

Happy Reading!

The Price of Mercy - Giveaways!

To try to make as big a splash as I can, there will be several giveaways for my latest title The Price of Mercy.


First in the Running is Goodreads:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Price of Mercy

by Gloria Oliver

Giveaway ends July 06, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Also have a Giveaway at Face Book.

And another one over at LibraryThing. Though that one is still waiting for approval so only shows on the pending page at the moment.

If you don't mind, please help spread the word!

Mind Sieve 3/28/11

It's going to be a full load this week! Lots of stuff!


Fan Fun

From Seth Green twitter feed I got this link about Nathan Fillion who made it onto the cover of Entertainment Weekly! Nice little write up with the cover pic at EW.com

SoonerCon shared this link to a pseudo steampunk film by Luc Besson, the same man who brought us Nikita and the Fifth Element, called The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec. The preview is totally awesome!

Candance Haven linked the latest preview for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. More movies for my to be watched list!



Author Platform

Nathan Bradford has a great post on Face Book for Authors. Most of the steps are very easy. A few may have changed slightly as Facebook just did a major change with fan pages, but most should be viable.

Kristen Lamb's Twitter Tuesday #10 is right on the money this week. You'll note that I already follow her advice as from the get go I went with @GloriaOliver. :)

10 Ways to Increase You Likebility Quotient - another Kristen Lamb zinger for this week! I do some of these already but I really need to clone myself to be able to participate more. Ugh!



Writing Advice

Kristen Lamb talk about her kitchen junk drawers and at the same time shows us where we can get idea and even help ourselves with our writing.

Donna Newton asks the question "What's in a Log Line?" And taking some lessons learned we get a before and after picture of hers. Very good advice for pitches.

Log line and actual content get discussed in Hooking the Reader and Never Letting Go by Kristen Lamb.

This bit hits home for both writers and readers. Part of it stems for a current discussion on e-book pricing, but it's the bottom half that I want you to look at. It's something I've touted about in my blogs a time or two - The Care and Feeding of Your Favorite Authors - from the indomitable (if not safe for work) mind of Chuck Wendig.

Nathan Bradford talks about a problem all of us writer types face - How to Find Balance? (Cloning! I tell you, cloning is the answer! Bwahahahaha!)

Stalled on your novel? Need ways to jump start the old noggin' again? Chuck Wendig has made a list of ways for you.


Okay, I think I will stop there. lol. This should keep you busy for a bit. :P

Mind Sieve 3/21/11

Sickness and whatnot made me a slacker, but hope to make up for it this week! Let's see what goodies I can share with you.


Fan Fun

Dr Horrible has passed on the word that his blog will now be a book! ScifiMania has an article/review about it.


Social Media/Author Platforms

Kristen Lamb talk Twitter and how not to be a Tool!

Another zinger from Kristen Lamb on how to write blogs. Basically how to do it and remain sane. But even more so, the difference style/tone for blogs compared to our other writing!


Writing Advice

Kristen Lamb shares tips about dieting and exercising and actually makes them tie back to writing and author platforms! I kid you not! lol. So here is Opportunity Comes in Overalls.

The guys at YAFantasyGuide share a list of agents interested in the Fantasy genre.

Jenny Hansen has a great post on How To Build Your Writing Team. Some great advice and also lots of links to other info. You might be on this one a while. :P

Rachel Gardner has a great post on Publishing Myths. Some great truths in here, ya'll!

On the same vein I present Chuck Wendig's post called Lies Writer's Tell. More myth busting goodness!

And Candace Havens talks to us writer types about Desperation. It's all about the attitude!

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/16/11

Even though I was totally out of commission for most of last week, I did manage to get a few pictures before I succumbed to the evil cold.  (This is also the first time I'm doing this type of blog post from the new fandangled multi loader so should be exciting how much I have to fix before you all see it! Hah!)

The flowers from the red tree in the back yard last but maybe a week. Got lucky and actually got a couple of shots of them this year.

Hubby helped out a friend in clearing out a shed from an older lady who was about to go into an assited living facility. It seems they were big proponents back in the day of having extra food and stuff in case of the apocalypse. I got the friend to send me a couple of pics as these are not things you see everyday! Thought I'd share them with you.

Look at the size of that can! John said they weighed a ton. Six to a box. And they had a whole shed full. Perma-Pak, baby!

And while I huddled in my chair, hoping to sleep away or immobilize my cold, a beautiful and unexpected picture moment appeared! Matt, Drew, and their puppy child, Serenity. Adorable!!!! (Just don't tell them! I'll be killed! :P)

 

 

 

 

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/16/11

Even though I was totally out of commission for most of last week, I did manage to get a few pictures before I succumbed to the evil cold. (This is also the first time I'm doing this type of blog post from the new fandangled multi loader so should be exciting how much I have to fix before you all see it! Hah!)

The flowers from the red tree in the back yard last but maybe a week. Got lucky and actually got a couple of shots of them this year.

Hubby helped out a friend in clearing out a shed from an older lady who was about to go into an assited living facility. It seems they were big proponents back in the day of having extra food and stuff in case of the apocalypse. I got the friend to send me a couple of pics as these are not things you see everyday! Thought I'd share them with you.

Look at the size of that can! John said they weighed a ton. Six to a box. And they had a whole shed full. Perma-Pak, baby!

And while I huddled in my chair, hoping to sleep away or immobilize my cold, a beautiful and unexpected picture moment appeared! Matt, Drew, and their puppy child, Serenity. Adorable!!!! (Just don't tell them! I'll be killed! :P)

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/9/11

I was actually quite surprised by a couple of pics I took in the last two weeks. I'd figured the sky was done giving me fabulous views since the sun was rising earlier than before. I was wrong...

Case in point...



Crispin Freeman shared a gorgeous photo of the Japanese Gardens in Balboa Park in Los Angeles, CA. Look at the blue!

This one is another cool view, which he entitled Floating Like A Lily Pad.

His third is of a Sakura Tree in bloom. Very nice!


I got this one from one of the vendors at the DFW Writers Conference. A Tiara Cap! Makes me wish I wore hats! lol.




From the Cassini Saturn Mission comes this super cool pic - Beyond Southern Rhea Like a globe sitting on a table. WOW.









Beth Riesgraph shares this amazing pic of way too much snow and ice. Read the Warning Sign in the back. :P

And to wrap up this week's set of pics, I'll leave you with this colorful beauty!

Mind Sieve 3/7/11

Welcome to another installment of Mind Sieve. Some great stuff to share with you all this week!
Also stirring up the format. What I had before caused a problem, so let's see if this works better. :P

Fan Fun

New Thunder Cats series! Article by Marc Bernardin over at io9.com - There's a preview video here! Looks like it might be more serious/grown-up than the original. Looking forward to see what they do with it.

Shared by Rachel Caine is GameView - a fake gaming blog by her friend Glenn. The Half-Life's Gordon Freeman speaks out entry is pretty cute. :)

Rob Thurman has a Cal Leandros Series Book Trailer at her website. Pretty snazzi! She's even got a widget! Dang. I want one for mys stuff! lol.



Social Media

Kristen Lamb's Twitter Tuesday post #7 - where she covers the pros and cons of auto reply DM's.

Nathan Bradford talks about How to Get Started on Facebook for authors. I'd already done most of what he mentions, and like him, was very excited once I realized the power of a Book Page.


Writing Advice

Chuck Wendig shared a link to this post from the National Association of Writers in Education called New Skills For Writers where they explore how the jobs of writers may be expanding.

Shared by Kristen Lamb this blog post comes from Writer Unbox and was written by Donal Maas - What Are You Afraid Of explores why some novels don't go quite far enough.

Kristen Lamb shared a link to a post by Jody Hedlund - Enduring the Pain in the Quest for Publication. Some good tips to keep in mind on the long arduous journey!

Chuck Wendig dug deep and brought up the following - How Not To Starve And Die As A Writer. Some good questions and pointers here folks!

If you've ever been curious about the glamorous life of an intern at an agency, here's you chance to catch a glimpse. The Knight Agency's New Intern - how Whitney got there and the truths about slush piles.

Kristen Lamb talks about the beginning of your novel in her post "In The Beginning" Part One - Normal World.

That should keep you all busy for a bit. heh heh heh.

Have an awesome week!

Movie Review - The Adjustment Bureau

(Trying a multi site poster experiment. So let's see how this does...)

The Adjustment Bureau

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Terrence Stamp, Michael Kelly, and more...

Directed by: George Nolfi  Screenplay by: George Nolfi Based on the Short Story: "Adjustment Team" by Philip K Dick
(And though not credited at IMDB, Eric Kripke Creator of Supernatural is associated with it as well. Shocked me!)

Premise: David Norris, and up and coming politician in New York, becomes aware of the supernatural presence of the Adjustment Bureau. Not only that, they pointedly tell him that he is to cease and desist trying to find the woman he met by chance who he direly wants to see again. If he tells anyone of what he's seen, his brain will be erased. All must follow the plan.

Review: This movie was fab! For once the previews didn't give everything away so there were several surprises. The movie is also filled with beautiful, subtle moments.

Over a span of four years, we see David Norris push and get pushed. And though free will might be only something we're led falsely to believe in, all is not as perfect or as in control as the Bureau would like to believe. Chance and Fate can throw kinks in the system too.

Mr. Damon and Ms. Blunt have great chemistry. All their moments together are fresh and heartfelt. Elisa is in no way your standard girl, and that just made the movie so much more fun.

The concept of the travel doors and a multi dimensional convoluted travel system was awesome - even the supernatural beings complained about navigating downtown New York. LOL.  Loved the concept of the hats! All the special effects are very subtle and were made all the more awesome for it.  This could be happening to anyone, anywhere, right now. (The notebooks were so cool, too!)

Didn't realize until the credits rolled that it was based on a short story by Philip K Dick. No wonder it had a little bit of everything in it! Too cool. A lot of layers and subtext. Definitely worth seeing.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (hubby says totally worth full price of admission!)

-- Gloria Oliver Unveiling the Fantastic www.gloriaoliver.com

Moview Review - I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four

Staring: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron, Callan McAuliffe, Kevin Durand, Jake Abel, Kevin Durand, and more...

Director: DJ Caruso Screenplay: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Marti Noxon Novel: Jobie Hughes and James Frey

Premise: There are aliens amongst us. Young people with talents, being guarded by protectors, who try to blend in and not call attention to themselves. Hopefully able to elude their enemies long enough to develop their powers and protect those who are left. Except the Mogadorians don't want to let them get that far.

Review: This is a coming of age story on several levels. Not only is the protagonist having to deal with being a teenager, he also has to suffer through the changes coming as his alien gifts awaken.

Good special effects, good acting, even a nice, fast paced plot. Timothy Olyphant was great as usual as, Henri, John's protector. From him we catch glimpses of what went wrong, of the sacrifices the protectors have made to keep hope alive.

Kevin Durand as the Mogarian Commander was a total hoot. Menacing, but also quite funny. Not your usual venue for the comic relief, but he pulls it off masterfully. Almost sad to see him go.

The combat scenes at the climax were great. Even had monster against monster action. Oh yeah! (Though my daughter felt the guardian got a bad rap, since they didn't even check on him. Heh)

Nothing drastically original, but overall, a fun romp! Definitely worth catching.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby says worth the price of Matinee)

Lame Post USA!

Hi, all!

This will probably be a pretty lame post. Despite all my grand plans, life has contrived to do what it wants and not what I want! (Not that this is anything far from normal, mind you! Heh heh)

Work has been super busy, meaning I couldn't go look at blog posts or pictures, and the last two weekends have been full. Not that either is a bad thing. Just puts other things behind.

Two weekends ago it was ConDFW. I had a great time. Reconnected with a ton of friends. Was even lucky enough to have been on three panels with the Guest of Honor, Brandon Sanderson. (More books to possibly add to the already precariously tall TBR pile.)

This weekend, I went as an attendee to the DFW Writers Conference. There were some awesome classes and lots and lots of authors totally focused on doing pitches and networking with other writers. I had a mixed bag in that I had some not good things happen (left my suitcase at home, tried to go through the wrong toll-tag booth, set up the alarm clock at the hotel and it didn't go off so I was a half hour behind schedule, a friend got sick), and then some super awesome things (Candance let me join her and others for lunch, Pat grabbed me and dragged me to dinner, met and connected with some great peeps, met @KristenLambTX and @ColleenLindsay in person, got to tease Alex).

Meeting Kristen Lamb was a little surreal. I didn't even realize it was her when I showed up for the building a platform class. Then it was like POW! So I had to grab my iPhone and Tweet about it and threw in @ChuckWendig while I was at it. She and I talked for a minute about him and here I was holding a face-to-face and a virtual conversation with people who'd just been names and letters on Tweetdeck before. Very cool!

And for you writers out there, keep your eyes and ears open to find out about Colleen Lindsay's Sekrit Projekt. I'm trying to get into the beta of this very exciting project, which I think could be a great boon to aspiring authors and even published authors everywhere.

I did get to see a movie this past weekend on Friday, but had to get up so early on Saturday I didn't get to do a review. (Heck, I couldn't even watch the Supernatural episode for this week! And it looked like a doozy! Season 6 is better than Season 5 somewhat - yay!) But I will have this upcoming weekend to myself, so hopefully a lot of catching up will occur (despite the fact there's deadlines and unexpected projects looming! Eek!)

So wish me luck getting back on track. I've a feeling as close as several conventions fall this year, there might be more than one instance of lameness coming my way! Eek!

Have an awesome week, ya'll!

Picture Kaleidoscope 2/2/11

Welcome to another week of pics!

First I present to you a fiery sunset! (Sky is on fire! Run for yours lives!) :P




There are some cute little seasonal birds that show up around our house in winter. I put the word out on Twitter and Facebook to try to find out what kind they were. The verdict was Junco Birds. Here's a link to a nice pic of one. The one I tried to take with the phone was a major fail. Really need to learn to keep the camera charged.

And speaking of birds...
From @ChuckWendig - Titmouse - they do exist!

Shared by @ColleenLindsay - Hello Kitty Dalek. No joke! Too funny.

From by @HuffPostGreen - Artificial Reefs - cool looking stuff!

Another weird one this week...
Shared by @KimberlyRPauley - a car literally covered in grass instead of a paint job. And driving it around town!

I do these posts in advance and last week was hellish, so didn't get to troll or take as many as I would have liked. Hopefully will have plenty more next week.

I'll leave you with fiery sunset redux!

MInd Sieve 1/31/11

Life has hellish this week so not as much time to sift through links to pull out the good stuff. Hopefully will do better next week! (Wish me luck!)


Contests/Giveaways

Shared by @ColleenLindsay - Win a full edit from Del Rey/Spectra, maybe even get published! (Ooo sweet!)



Conventions

Shared by @ColleenLindsay - Comic Con Registration opens Feb 5th!



Health

From @KristenLambTX - Gluten - the evil assasin! (I am thinking I suffer from this. And maybe my daughter!)



Science

From @NASA - NASA has aSolar Sail currently working out in low orbit. This could be super cool!



Writing Advice

From @GloriaOliver - Let's Talk Dialect. My guest post over at Obscure YA Authors.

Shared by @KristenLambTX - Part Book ad but also has lots of TRUTHs about writing.

Shared by @inkyelbows - How do you know if your writing is improving? Some helpful tips.

From @inkyelbows - How to read like a writer. Why reading can prove so good for you.

From @NathanBransford - How to use Twitter.

From @CandaceHavens - There's always more to learn as a writer. Continuing your author education.

Shared by @inkyelbows - Critique Groups - be informed - what to look for!

From @ChuckWendig - Writer Reality Check from HELL! (You do have to REALLY want it, guys.) :P

From @gailcarriger - What is Steampunk. Nice explanation and tons of sources where you can see it in movies, books, and more!


Have an awesome week! And happy reading!

Picture Kaleidoscope 1/26/11

Some awesome sunrise and sunsets this past week. And a couple of oddball pics. Plus more stuff shared by others.



From @NASA - Hubble shows two dramatically different views of "the Whirlpool Galaxy" - definetly gorgeous!

At the anime store a week or more ago, I can across the weirdest bottles ever! Evangelion has gone to yet another level.






I was afraid to ask if they were selling well. :P


















From @NASA - Chandra views "starburst" galaxy M82, with stars forming at much higher rates than a normal galaxy



Baby blue and pink was the name of the game on this day!

Shared by @marthawells1 - Amazing Works of Art - talk about inventing new ways to make art. WOW

And for fun!
Shared by @torbooks - Map of the Star Wars Universe!

Let me leave you with one last sky shot. :) Look at those colors!

Movie Review - Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travel

Starring: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Catherine Tate, Billy Connolly, Chris O'Dowd, and more...

Directed by: Rob Letterman Screenplay by: Joe Stillman and Nicholas Stoller - based on the book by Jonathan Swift

Premise: Realizing his life is going nowhere, Gulliver tries to work himself up to asking out the girl he likes, but instead digs himself into a hole and ends up taking a writing assignment out in the Bermuda Triangle. While traveling to the spot for the article, he's swept away in a giant waterspout and ends up very far away from home.

Review: I'd seen the commercials for this film and seeing the kid humor displayed in them wasn't sure it was for me, despite the fact I like the tale and concept and that Catherine Tate (Donna Noble from Dr Who!)and other fun actors were in it.

While it did have some of the kid humor as shown in the commercials, however, I was glad I went to see it. The film had several things going for it that made it quite enjoyable above and beyond the gags.

The first major thing was that they played a short before the start of the film - Skrat's Continental Crack-up! Yes, Skrat from Ice Age did a short right before the movie! And it was one of the best ones yet. A wonderful explanation of the splitting of the original continent of Pangea :P Too funny. Poor little guy can never catch a break.

The second major thing was the awesome attention to detail in the film. When it begins they do a beautiful rendition of the city with overhead views and everything looks miniaturized. And not in the sense that things are far away and look small, but like made up models and toy cars even as real people walk about. It almost made the 'real' world seem fake, the fantasy, while the land of the Lilliputians the true world.

The costuming, the buildings, the mechanisms in Lilliput were very detailed. The tech all had a very awesome HG Wells feel about it. Pseudo steampunkish in a way. And though we didn't learn much about the society, there was enough there to make the Lilliputian way of life feel real and structured. In some ways their lives are too structured and strict, and here comes a strange visitor who drives all to loosen up a bit and have more fun, in a manner of speaking. The changes you see as the film progresses are interesting, some utterly fun, and a few a little sad.

Not everyone is happy about the changes Gulliver has brought about due to his presence though. Not happy at all!

I appreciated seeing how Gulliver brought with him the means to his own destruction - within himself and without. Of course in the end he comes through, but there were a couple of unexpected twists along the way I very much enjoyed.

Overall the film was entertaining and at times even humorous. And with Skrat doing the lead in, it was definitely worth seeing it.

Rating: 3.5 (4 with Skrat) out of 5 (Hubby: Matinee price w/o Skrat, Full Price with Skrat):P

Picture Kaleidoscope 1/19/11

Let's start this weeks picture-rama with super cute!


Ran across this scene by pure accident at my brother's home. It was too cute not to grab a pic and share. :)

Now for something scary. Shared by @marthawells1 - An ice covered lighthouse You'll catch a cold just looking at this thing! Brrrr

Then back to something awe inspiring! Shared by @BadAstronomer - Milky Way's (almost) identical Twin. (Real nice Galaxy pic!)



Tiny footprints in the snow! We had a White Christmas on 1/9/11 (Sickness, travel, and other issues forced my side of the family to have a late get together) and we found these little foot prints. Thought they might be the squirrels, but then saw these tiny black birds with white bellies actually moving by hopping around rather than flying. Too cute!






From @ChuckWendig - I swear his Chihuahua is saying "How chu doing?" Brows rising and falling. Hee!

From @Nasa - Green Glob Space Oddity! Or a Space Frog!

Shared by @torbooks - Ghost Busters Wedding Cake! For reals! So cool!



Subaki and Mythril sleeping and propping each others with their heads. Adorable!













And speaking of cats... Shared by @torbooks - How to Steampunk Your Cat! Steampunked kitty drawings and pics

Shared by @petapixel - Deep Space photos taken from a backyard. Totally awe inspiring!

And because we can NEVER have enough CUTE! Shared by @JaneLebak - It's so tiny! Cutest baby possum EVER!



The sunset looked like a rainbow. Not sure that the camera caught that though. :(



From @Nasa - Triungulum Galaxy! Pretty!

On a sadder note... Shared by @petapixel - Queensland, Australia flood pics. Way way too much water. Reminds me of the floods in New Orleans after Katrina. Brrrrr.

And last but not least...the train that got in my way after work. :P
















Have a great day! Feel free to share some of the pics you've taken or been impressed by in the comments section.

Movie Review - Green Hornet

Green Hornet


Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz, David Harbour, and more...


Directed by: Michael Gondry Written by: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg


Premise: After the death of his father, rich playboy, Britt Reid, meets his father's genius auto mechanic, Kato. While playing a trick on the statue of the man they both loved/hated and never truly understood, they find themselves helping a couple being mugged and are so pumped after the adventure, they decide to take it further.


Review: We went and saw the Green Hornet in IMAX 3D. While the 3D piece didn't have much to do with the film except for a couple of fun, key scenes and the end credits, seeing the fast paced action in the crisp IMAX was great.


If you're a fan of the original show with Bruce Lee and Van Williams you'll find plenty of fan service. But this isn't a cookie cutter of the original. Several things are shaken up and twisted on their ear. Though it did totally retain the two best parts of the original - Kato and Black Beauty. The film is totally worth it just to watch those two. (The green headlights so rock!) :)


The hero is definitely flawed and slowly learns his lessons even if it's the hard way. A lot of the bumbling when they first start out might jar but made it even more precious for being realistic. We see the true origins of their partnership before they became a suave and well oiled fighting pair.

Britt Reid is working through a lot of issues, some which he's been carrying for twenty years or more. In Kato he finds a confidant and someone to aspire to. For Kato, Britt is someone who sees and understands his potential and by doing so makes him push to be even more so, to be all that he can be.


Of course, they're both kids at heart, so egos start to get in the way when things get tough.


Christopher Waltz was a hoot, and disturbing. He's a bad guy that only wants to be bad. And feared. So he can't understand when he's not. His confusion is so child like it's kind of sad and you almost feel sorry for him. (Personally I thought his original coat was pimp!) Fun stuff from this guy!


Not a young kids movie. The violence is not extreme but you definitely see dead people. Bad guys get shot, crushed, or flung from high places. So be advised.


Action sequences are pretty good. The big battle showdown has car chases, gun battles, elevator fu, rockets, explosions, and more. Some cool effects. Lots of verbal jokes and double meanings.


Overall, it was a fun flick and well worth it. Even a mystery reveal!


Rating: 3.75 to a 4.0 out of 5. (Hubby rated it - worth full price of admission)

Picture Kaleidoscope 1/12/11

As threatened, here is the first of my picture blogs. Heh heh. Some I took others are links to awesome pics shared through different means I thought you might enjoy.

Took this one on the way home from work. The colors are amazing!




This is from earlier in the year. One of our rose buds. The wind was not letting the camera or flower cooperate.




















Yes, I have some ways to go before doing good pics on the phone. lol. Work in progress.

From @petapixel - First Solar Eclipse of 2011 - some truly awesome pics!

Cloud Tsunami! Texas is flat so when we get a cloud bank like this, it's really a little scary looking! :) (That is not a mountain range or hill, that gray background is all cloud!)




From @starwars - Rare backstage photo of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher

Fiery sunset...














From @JerryJDavis - Nice joke for a cold picture

This is a picture of some of the most fabulous bread EVER! It's called White Chocolate Orange Royale. It's sweet and super yummy! Found it at Whole Foods.





Looks at the trees on this one. Those are not leaves, they're mostly birds! Like something out of the old Hitchcock movie. Hee!
















And last but definitely not least...

From @Nasa comes the Andromeda Galaxy from Nasa's Image of the Day. (Totally Awesome!)


Enjoy!

Movie Review - Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Ulrich Thomsen, Claire Foy, Robert Sheehan, Christopher Lee and more...

Directed by: Dominic Sena Written by: Bragi F Schut

Premise: A veteran crusader and his fellow knight desert their duty after their latest skirmish sanctioned by the Church involves the massacre of women and children. They're found out during their travels and are given a choice: serve the Church one last time or be killed for desertion. Though at first Behmen refuses, despite the fact he will be killed, as he learns more about the mission and those involved, he changes his mind.

Review: I'd been looking forward to this film for a while. It didn't look like your typical fare. But what we ended up with didn't go far enough.

Most of the characters are minimally constructed. No real depth. (Which could have been resolved with a little more movie time - the film is short at only 95 min) Only the good acting skills of the cast actually drive it along despite the lack of character development. Cage and Perlman have a good rapport, even switching buddy roles as true buddies are bound to do. (One acts out while the other is calm, then vice versa.) Claire Foy looked to have fun in her multifaceted role, which came across well most of the time. Did disturb me though that the farther the movie went along the cleaner she got though it should have been the other way around.

Despite the fact we're in 1344 the language was very anachronistic. "Hello. Is anyone home?" just rang of glaring 20th Century. Overall it's not too noticeable, yet for the one scene with the above it glared and glared hard. :P

Beautiful scenery with some CGI enhancements. The sand dunes for the Crusades looked pretty fake though. The far off monastery (I believe it is a real place) was gorgeous! (Filming locations were Hungary and Austria).

The film is creepy in places. The special effects and makeup people did some outstanding work. The plot tries to keep you guessing about the girl, but not too hard. The opening sequence with the women accused of being witches was good. There's even a hint here of what will turn out to be the film's main mystery/shocker bit. That actually worked pretty well, until they had to do the physical flashbacks to show the audience (who'd be too stupid to put it together or remember, right...) the bits the characters are talking about as they reach the important conclusion.

The fight scenes were mediocre. They used a filming style for them which I think is sad, where they shimmy the action so you can't quite see what's going on. I'm sure they feel it ratchets up the tension, but to me it just comes across as lame. If you do a good fight, the action will ratchet its own tension up just fine! Heh.

Overall it was entertaining. The costumes and locations really added to the overall medieval feel.

Rating: 3.75

Movie Review - MOON

(Didn't go to the theater this week, but did catch a little known movie on STARZ. A total GEM I must share with you! So here I am.)

MOON (2009)

Starring: Sam Blackwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligot, Kaya Scodelario and more.

Directed/Written by: Duncan Jones. Screenplay: Nathan Parker

Premise: Sam Bell has been under contract to be on the Moon for the last 3 years maintaining equipment and sending shipments of H3 back to earth. His contract is almost up and he's about to go home when there's an accident. He wakes up in medical only to find out he's been restricted to base, despite the fact one of the machines is not functioning and he needs to go repair it. Feeling stubborn, Sam creates a problem so he's able to convince GERTY, his semi AI computer companion, to lift the restriction. Going out to the harvester, he finds a wrecked buggy and someone inside - and he's alive.

Review: This isn't your typical SF movie. But it is a more typical SF short story! And that's one of the things that makes this movie totally awesome. It doesn't try to be super exciting, or overwhelm you with special effects or action (though all that is there is very well done). What it is is a well told story, with great acting, great props, and an awesome starry sky.

Sam Blackwell did a great job, even more so when you consider that he's just about the only character in the movie (97% all him!). There is a lot of subtlety in the script and it is made of awesome. Human nature is shown in many levels and I loved the visible differences between Sam in 3 years. (I'm trying not to give too much away! It's so hard! You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it!)

Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY was a blast. Dead pan forte! I loved how they made the computer a unit with independent arms and how the main console and its arm pieces rolled on ceiling grid tracks. Even more fun was the small screen on the computer's front side. It would show different smiley faces for the emotions it was trying to emulate. At first it seemed a little silly, but the longer I watched the movie the more poignant those smiley faces became. Kudos for that!

Many significant moments were beautifully underplayed. They were the type of thing that on their own would mean nothing, but when placed in the context meant so much more than you'd ever imagine. When Sam pulls off the "kick me" sign off the back of GERTY's unit, I teared up. Such a simple sign of affection and new found respect. Yet something the computer itself would never be aware of and there for us to notice or miss on our own.

The movie might seem a little slow, but it is only to allow the watcher to digest each layer as the veil is slowly but inexorably peeled back. Well worth it. There are several things the characters never says but they are obvious in the showing. Even the ending you pick up from reports spoken but unseen, as if that result truly is nothing when compared to the realizations made on the Moon itself.

Make sure to look out at the sky whenever Sam goes out driving. It's gorgeous! And exactly what you'd see without atmosphere clouding out the stars. Movie is worth it for that view alone! Heh heh

If you love Science Fiction and the social aspects it brings into question, this movie is totally for you!

Rating: 4.25 out of 5!