Picture Kaleidoscope 11/30/11

Eye feasting time! (No, no, the other way! :P)

The Castle Art Department shared this pic of the painting in Castle's study. He was even hinting they could share places to get it! 

From Petapixel - Photographs recreating paintings of the old masters. This one is my favorite!

Gloss Overload by xKimJoanne. Something captivating about this one. 

Pics of the Top 10 Volcanoes To Visit in the World from Cool Story.com

Not your typical NASA pic! Heh heh. Expedition 29 Crew Lands. Something just grabbed me about this one.

Sneak peek of John Picasio's cover for Hyperion. So cool! 

From actor Jim Beaver - Jack Daniel's in a Can (In Japan!)

Peaceful Peppermint by girltripped. Great for Christmas! heh heh.

From Lucienne Diver - Beautiful Moments. 

Way cool time lapse video of earth from orbit. 

Last but not least - Waterfall, Moonbow, and Aurora from Iceland by Stephane Vetter. A MOONBOW! Who knew there was such a thing?!?!?!

Enjoy!

Balance - The 11th Commandment!

(Sorry, since I have ArmadilloCon this week there won't be a movie review. Instead, I give you...)

I read a post last week by Nathan Bransford called 10 Commandments for a Happy Writer. (If you've yet to read it GO NOW! This can apply to more than just writer types. :P) And while I pondered away at the awesome wisdom in this list, I realized something else that is needed to be a Happy Writer - Balance.

Writers have to wear many hats.  We're authors first, but we've no choice but to also be marketing gurus, website experts, social media moguls, public speakers, and more.

For authors who have the luxury of being able to write full time, juggling these things is a little easier than for those who have to work to make the money to sustain them so they can write. And if either kind have spouses or children... It can be very frustrating to read about all the things we should be doing to get our websites noticed, how we must blog multiple times a week, read other blogs and comment on them, build a brand by interacting with others on Facebook and Twitter, let alone the writing and editing, doing query letters, synopsis, hobnobbing at conventions and all the other myriad things we need to do to get out there and be noticed.

It can very overwhelming. It can also be extremely frustrating. We want to succeed but we also want to spend time with family, have time to relax, make time to enjoy some of life while we can.

This leads to an unending struggle to come to some sort of balance. And we must! We can't do it all. Yes, sacrifices must be made, but sacrificing all is not healthy, and not sacrificing won't get us anywhere. And they won't make anyone happy. As Word Warriors we must pick our battles. Weed out what we can and can't do with regards to all the advice and wisdom we find out there. We must make things work for each of our unique circumstances as best we're able and reach a middle ground.

If internet use is allowed at work, then you can occasionally peek at what's going on in Twitter/FB/Google + and comment here and there. If not, set a half hour or an hour in the evening to see what everyone's up to or leave it as something to do on the weekends. Can't do three blog posts a week? Or don't think you have topics? Think outside the box. What you do for pleasure you might be able to share, like book reviews, photos, jokes, mashups. Blog posts don't have to be long, but please make sure they have substance.

Need time to write? How about shifting your schedule slightly so you get to work early and can type away for a half hour or more. Take part of your lunch hour to write. Or maybe even go to bed a little later, after the kids have gone to bed.

Have trouble producing? Set small goals and also rewards for reaching those goals. If I write for a half hour I get to read for a half hour. 

In the end you might not be 100% satisfied with what you can do (I know I'm not), but it's better than doing nothing. Every little bit helps. And your family will get to see you and do activities with you, which will make it easier for them to respect when you do write. Being a writer is a lot of work! But a little balance in your life, can definitely go a long way toward achieving your dreams.

What tricks do you use to balance your life?

Movie Review - Captain America (YES!)

(Uhm, yeah, I was bad. I went to the movies today. I was feeling good enough after being released from the hospital. Went early so no crowds. Now relaxing, resting at home. I am! Really! I need to get super well!)

Captain America

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Richard Armitage, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, and more

Directed by: Joe Johnston Screen Play by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely Based on the Comic Books by: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Original Music by: Alan Silvestri

Review:  This movie was so much fun! Thoroughly enjoyed it. A nice current day teaser for the beginning and then we go back to the 1940s for the Captain's origin and more.

Loved, loved, loved several things about the film. One was several nicely sneaked in items that tie the movie to the Iron Man and Thor films, coalescing the movie universe of the three - the World Expo, Howard Stark, the origin of where Stark got the idea of the energy project which he abandoned but yet became so important to Tony Stark's survival and future, and even a tie in to the gods, which connects to Thor. Nicely done!  And you're not hit over the head with any of it. It's there to catch if you can, otherwise it is just part of the Captain's story.  Kudos!

The second thing I loved was that though Steven Rogers is successful as the experiment (as expected), due to things that happen, he's not actually used for anything! He ends up going on a totally different direction to help America during the war, a none fighting direction. I loved this! He had to go out there and do what there was to do, and eventually when an opportunity does arise, he lives to the truth of himself and shows what he can truly do as a one man army.

The acting from everyone involved was excellent. Even a bit shown in the previews takes a whole other tone when see in context. Lovely! You'll see a ton of familiar faces. Great work from everyone.

Great special effects, tons of explosions, shoot outs, and best of all, flying shield action! Oh yeah! And Red Skull, woohoo! And Hydra has such cool toys!  Red Skull's personal car is like a German Batmobile. Hee hee. Loved it! It was great seeing the characters from the early Captain America comics as well as the original uniform. And of course, the Stan Lee cameo. What Marvel movie would be right without one? Heh.

A fun, fast moving, great film! Make sure to sit through the credits!!!!  There's a preview to the Avengers movie at the very end to wet our appetites for the summer of 2012!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating - Would Pay Full Price of Admission Again!)

Movie Review - Source Code

Source Code

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden, Scott Bakula (voice only) and more... Directed by: Duncan Jones Written by: Ben Ripley Original Music by: Chris Bacon

Premise: Captain Colter Stevens has eight minutes to find the bomb and bomber which will destroy a Chicago Commuter Train. If he doesn't succeed, he can try again and again, whether he wants to or not.

Review: This movie was fab! There's the main story and then there's a secondary story that slowly develops as time passes, which in turn becomes more important that the original.

Totally awesome acting by all concerned especially Jake Gyllenhaal. His reactions to a number of things happening were excellent. Good CGI and other special effects. The soundtrack rocked as well.

Several questions of consciousness, reality, alternate reality, humanity and more are touched upon. Repetition was used just enough to get the scenes established and then speeded through so it didn't get in the way. There's even hints of things I cannot mention as it might ruin it for you. :P

Good pacing, good effects, good writing, good acting, good background music. Can't ask for much more. I'm easy, but just in case, take a hanky. You might need it. :) A totally satisfying experience. Great conversation piece after the fact as well.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating - worth paying full price of admission again!)

Picture Kaleidoscope 4/20/11

This weekend was rather exciting, which also means I got a bunch of pics! Figured I'd share the best or most bothersome of the lot with you.

First off is one proving that the Addam's Family is still alive and kicking! Though they're now using cheerier colors? Heh heh


The place is actually in the roundabout in Weatherford. Yes, we were out on a driving bit on Saturday. (Actually a driving nightmare! Between getting lost going and coming back, closed roads, fires, and more! Woo!)


This was on the way Possum Kingdom Lake after Weatherford. If you look at the skyline you can see a dark swath across the sky. No, those aren't mountains, that's smoke from the fires in West Texas and (much to our surprise later) up by the lake itself.




The area had been ravaged by fires just the night before. You can see the burned bald spot on the top of the hill in this picture, with green to either side. And as we found out as we were leaving after a beautiful day up there, the fires weren't out, they were just bidding their time for a wind direction change.




This one you have to look at carefully in several places. Side of the road to the right is black, burned grass. In a lot of places the grass fire burned so fast it only took out the grass and not the bush trees. Others the green bushes were lightly smoking like burning coals in a fireplace, slow but sure. You could see places and how the grass fires had jumped across the road with the help of the wind.

Straight ahead you can see a cloud of smoke. We ended up driving through it and there were actual flames just beside the road. Made our pulse jump that's for sure!

On the left were the remains of a church that burned down the day before. Two more buildings next to it were spared. Though I heard more news about Sunday and it's possible those are now gone as well.



To lighten up the mood, here is a cliff side on the ritzier end of Possum Kingdom Lake. Some really cool houses in that direction.



That's Lola, my bro's little sweetie as we go around the bend to Hell's Gate. The wind had changed that morning and blown all the smoke from the night before away and it was a gorgeous day at the lake. Just as we were leaving, around four is when the wind changed and the smoke came back and things got bad.

Last I heard, there's a possibility the cabin is now gone. The fires got big enough again they were threatening the places on the non-cliff side of the lake. Hopefully the fire brake they got last year when there were other fires did the trick, but with the wind to push the fire across roads and over walls, who knows! Feel really weird to have finally seen the place and it may now be gone.

Ack! Happiness! Happiness! Prayers and good thoughts to all the people in West Texas. Stay safe ya'll!

Mind Sieve 4/18/11

Grab onto your hats as this is going to be a whirlwind this week. Also thinking of trying something a little different to give you more of a taste for the posts. Let's see how that works out...


Fan Fun

SoonerCon via Youtube shared a link to a Japanese Anime preview for the X-Men! Looks somewhat rad!

Mo Tanchareon shared a link from ComingSoon.net for a preview of the digital series Mortal Combat: Legacy. The fighting didn't look bad, but not enough there for me to form an opinion yet. :)

SooneCon forwarded a link from TechGoblin.com of an article that says starting in July all Star Trek episodes of all series will be available from NetFlix. (DS9 has a later release date of October.) Sweet news!

Donate and help to reality an AT-AT for America. No, you read right. Peeps are getting together to try to make a fully functioning AT-AT from Empire Strikes Back. Wonderful weirdness! My inner geek is giggling like mad! Hee hee hee!

Electric44 via Ziteapp shared an article and video about T3 Motion's revelation of an electric vehicle prototype. Very stylish interior!

For those of you who watch ABC's show Castle, you might recall he mentioned having a website. Well, he does for reals! And actually has FAQ's and writing advice. Check it out! www.richardcastle.net

Barbara Hambly finally has a WEBSITE! Woot! She's had a Live Journal account for a long time, but she finally has an actual website! Yay!


Author Platform/Social Media

Leyl Master Black has a list of the Top 5 Facebook Marketing Mistakes. Shared by Collen Lindsay and GoldBugGroup.

Chuck Wendig had guest bloggers last week. Here is Karina Cooper's post - How Not To Be A Dickface As A Writer. (NSFW) Great points in this one.

Here's a taste:

"May I have your attention, please? Hi. My name is Karina Cooper. I am a writer. Are you all paying attention? Yes? Good. Ready?
"Charlie Sheen.
"You know that thing you just did? That tic? That, right there, is why you want to hear me." (Continued at blog)

Pam Moore tells us Social Media: A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action.
Here's a Taste:
"Listen up folks! It’s time for conversations, relationships, Twitter chats, and Facebook parties. Social media is one big relationship! You must tweet, post, like and talk all day. As long as you’re talkin’ you’re being social. Since you’re so social, you’ll do great in social media as long as you keep making friends, chattin’ and raising your Klout score doing such." (Cont...)

Pumpyourbook shared a blog post from John Ames over at Beyond the Books Blog where he explains in detail How to Create A Facebook Welcome Page. (I have one, but need to make others.) This is a nice step by step walk through, even if you have minimal tech savvy. Quite nice.

Fondalo shared a post over at Bundle Post by Robert M Caruso on Mind Your Content - Social Media Sharing Opportunities That Fail.
Here's a Taste:
"As a Social Media guy, I am constantly posting, connecting, engaging and building relationships online. For those of you that know me at all, you know a large part of that for me is helping others. A component of that is showing #Gratitude to others in various ways. Thanking, retweeting and sharing other peoples content are a few of the ways I do that. But some of you unintentionally make that extremely difficult for me. If you make it tough for me to help you, then you are making it tough for others as well." (Cont...)

MKelly007 wrote a post about 11 Rules of Social Media. Basically she tells us to be friendly, be nice! Both of which are great rules to live by!
Here's a Taste:
"Since social media is, well, a social medium, it’s important that users understand the proper ways to behave online. No, just because you’re behind a computer monitor in your mom’s basement doesn’t mean all social etiquette goes out the window. It’s quite the opposite—following proper social media etiquette is a key to being successful online (and to making sure you don’t make a complete idiot out of yourself.)" (Cont...)

Kristen Lamb asks - Are You a Twitter Tyrant or a Twitter Activist. The next of her Twitter Tuesday features.
Here's a Taste:
"This Week’s Fail Whale–The Twitter Tyrant.
"All of us have passions, and that is wonderful. Being passionate makes us feel alive and gives our lives purpose. But, when we are building a platform, especially in the beginning stages, we must be mindful to always express our passions in a positive way. Ranting on Twitter is never acceptable. I have had people I had to unfollow simply because every time they tweeted, I needed an antacid. Life is stressful enough without volunteering for an ulcer." (Cont...)

Peter Shankman argues that Facebook and Email are NOT Distractions But Necessities.
Taste:
"My original title of this post was going to be “Disagreeing with Julia Morgenstern.” Then I figured, why give her the SEO juice? No, seriously, I figured the above title would be more beneficial to what I wanted to say today." (Cont...)


Writing Advice

KeikoMushi shared her discovery of a blog post by Savannah J Foley - Mistaken Newbie Writer Beliefs. Lots of truth here folks! WORD!
Taste:
"I have been a noob. Or, as I have often seen it called, a ‘huge, flailing noob.’ Now, I’m still pretty new to the writing business in general, despite having written over six complete manuscripts, having an agent for two years, and of course being a part of this blog." (Cont...)

A Lee Martinez talks to us about Emotional Resonance, Writing, and Other Complicated Stuff - Worlds Apart.

S Blackmoore tells us to Go Ahead, Shoot the Baby on a guest blog over at Terribleminds. (Don't pull your punches! Maybe? Hee hee.)
Taste:
"I’ve been watching a lot of film noir from the forties and fifties over at Noir City, the noir film festival going on this month at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and I’ve noticed something that’s been bothering me.
"There are a lot of happy endings." (Cont...)

Nathan Bradford tells us Everyone will have a Chance but not all of them are equal! (Too true!)
Taste:
"This is indeed a great time to be an author. No longer must manuscripts disappear into the drawer, never to be heard from again, lacking only a publisher's best guess. Now, no matter what people think of a book, it can be published and try and find its audience." (Cont...)

From Roni Loren - Top 5 Mistakes Writers make at Conferences (Some good points, peeps!) :P
Taste:
"So, I've mentioned before that I'm a conference whore. I think part of it is that I've always loved learning. I have nerd DNA that can't be escaped. But the other part is that I have so much fun being around other writers. It's like finding your home planet after feeling like you were the only weird one all these years." (Cont...)

From Chuck Wendig (NSFW) How Not To Bug The F*** Out When Writing A Novel. Great advice as always!
Taste:
"There comes a point during the writing of a novel when, in the thick of it, some 30 or 40,000 words deep, you look down and wonder, how did you get naked, exactly? Where are your clothes? Why are you covered in grass-stains, your flesh marked by thorn-scratches? Why in your hair do you smell boar’s blood and the mating fluids of forest nymphs? Time is lost in clips and stretches. You feel disconnected from your body." (Cont...)

Chuck also discussed this week - The iPad for Writers. Apps to use, how to use the iPad in general to be more productive writing, etc.



And a new category this week...

Scams

DirtyWhiteCandy shared The Dark Side of the New Age of Self-Publishing by Larry at the StoryFix.com blog.
Taste:
"On Thursday I got the email that all writers dream about. It was from a major television network, inviting me to appear on their morning talk show as part of their regular “author’s corner” segment." (Cont...)

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware wrote a blog post entitled Atlanta Nights The Movie: From Hoax to Film. Quite enlightening and shows how truly weird life is.

Okay, that's it for this week. Let me know if you like the "taste" segments or not.

Happy reading!

Mind Sieve 4/11/11

Another week of fun and helpful stuff!

Fan Fun

Comediva suggested we all check out PMS Adventures. Girl Superheroes where PMS is what gives them POWER! Bwahahahahaha!

George Takei shares with us his autition tape for Broadway's Spiderman! It's pretty funny. Love the Indiana Jones move at the end. Heh heh.

Freshmen, a Super Hero comic book project from Seth Green and Top Cow, is now avialable for download.

Author Platform/Social Media

PamMktNut shared a post from YourCustomer about 3 Ways Facebook Questions can help your brand. (A new doohikey tab in FB. (Now if only I could come UP with some good questions and answers. lol)

From Kristen Lamb and Twitter Tuesdays come - Use Twitter Like a Pro, Not a Bot.

CidTyer shares Twitter Pet Peeves.

Be A Shark in the Waters of Social Media - guest post by Fred Hicks over at Terribleminds. Great stuff!

Brianne Villano talks to us about The Simplification of Facebook Pages for Authors and Newbies. Good tips!

From Writer's Digest - Elements of a Sucessful Fiction Platform. I swear the work of an author is never done...

Writing Advice

Roni Loren gives us The Ten Commandments of the Successful Author. Many great points!

Character Development from Rosemary Clement-Moore.

Karen Dionne tells us that For Career Authors, Staying Published is the Real Challenge.

How Dungeons and Dragons can help us be great novelists! (All genres!) By Kristen Lamb. (As long as you don't try to publish your D&D adventure.) :P

The Writer Who Is Also A Parent - Advice on time and life and more! From Chuck Wendig.

Jami Gold asks Can Karma Help You Become a Better Writer?

Enjoy, ya'll!

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/30/11

With the time change, sunrises and sunsets are wonky with my drive to and from work, but still was able to catch this beauty from the fourth floor. What's truly amazing is that the sun is not only rising but moving slightly sideways. There is one point where the sun will be exactly behind the building. I'm hoping to catch a picture of that soon. (By the time I realized it was happening and hurried to get the phone, it was too late.) :(

NASA shared some very cool pics this week.

1st one up comes from WISE - Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. It is the last picture taken by it back in Feb 2011. A gorgeous field of stars and gases.

2nd is an infrared image of the North American Nebula. I love all that RED!

3rd is a super cool image of Saturn. Not only can you see the rings, but more fun is the fact you can see its auroras. Take a look at the north and south poles. Sweet!

And just when you thought it was safe, winter is BACK!
Inkyelbows got a great picture of an unhappy bird and added a cute caption to it. Heh heh.

That's it for this week! Have a good one!