I think it should be pretty obvious why I chose Metallic Wings as the fractal for my review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It's all about the metal and the fact that some of the transformers fly.-Two years ago I wrote a review of the first Transformers movie--and called it Transformers Turns Into The Perfect Summer Movie. (You can read the review by checking out my post of July 9, 2007 if you want to refresh your memory.) The sequel is pretty much the same song, second verse. As a result this review will be rather short since there just isn't much I can add.-If you liked Transformers you'll probably like the sequel. I LOVED Transformers but I found I only liked the newest incarnation. Pretty much all the cast is back. Shia LeBueuf isn't as funny or charming in this outing and poor Megan Fox isn't given much to do other than look good in tight jeans. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson barely register. You have to check your brain at the door because the plot doesn't bear close scrutiny: still, the movie clicks along nicely so the plot points really don't matter. The FX are MUCH better but I found there were too many battle scenes (that went way too long), Likewise the negro stereotypes of Sideswipe and Mudflap grew really tiresome, really quickly. Even so, the movie is a fun, popcorn no-brainer that is a nice summertime diversion for fans of such things. "Serious" movie fans should (and no doubt WILL) avoid Transformers 2.-FINAL GRADE: B+
Today's post was inspired by The Superstars a "trash" sports TV show that pairs athletes and celebrities. Hence, Double Star 2 seemed like a reasonable choice for today's fractal NOW--on with the commentary!-As you may have guessed from my "Go Lakers" post I'm not much for Professional Sports (if you haven't read it, scroll down a few posts and check it out). That being said, I'm quite a fan of "trash sports: and what are "trash" sports I hear your cry? Basically, trash sports are made-up competitions for television. ABC started them back in the early 1970s as part of their Wide World Of Sports show back in the early 1970s I think. Professional Athletes of all disciplines competed in games like swimming, hurdles and the infamous "Obstacle Course". (I remember being surprised at the quality of talent they signed up for the humiliation.) It was a real hoot watching these "fish out of water" guys make complete fools of themselves as they tried things they never trained for. (I still remember Johnny Bench--before he got himself banned from baseball--just giving up and WALKING in a swim race. Good stuff that!)-Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery (and since ABC was willing to rip ITSELF off) it wasn't long before Battle Of The Network Stars made it to the boob tube (with emphasis on the boob). They didn't get too many "A" List TV stars but a lot of "B" listers did the show: dunno how they got all those folks into those silly little bathing suits either but I found it strangely titillating. Yes, critics reviled these shows and, yes, there was ABSOLUTELY NO REDEEMING SOCIAL VALUE in these programs AT ALL but I loved them--the gravitas of Howard Cosell who seemed to take every assignment, no matter how silly, completely seriously and the way everybody seemed to have a good time and showed good sportsmanship. It was a simply, happier time back then...-Dunno why Battle Of The Network Stars quit airing (guess it was because of low ratings) but TV Trash Sports eventually involved into things like the never ending steroid-fest that was American Gladiators (both versions) and many other similar shows. Still, like any fads, TV Trash Sports faded into nostalgic kitsch--at least for a while...-In Television Land everything old eventually becomes new again--even "Trash" Sports . . . As network and cable TV fortunes waned and Reality TV came to the foreground: buoyed by successes like Wipeout and I Survived A Japanese Game Show, I suppose it was only a matter of time until ABC resurrected celebrity trash sports. On Tuesday June 23, The Superstars invaded our television screens. -I really wanted to like the show. Still, from "Jump Street" I knew I was going to be disappointed. First there was the "Z" List cast of celebrities--half of whom I couldn't recognize (and I have a pretty good grasp on pop culture). When did Maksim Chmirkovski of Dancing With The Stars become a celebrity? And who the hell are David Charvet, Joanna Kruppa and Estella Warren anyway? About the biggest "get" of the celebrities is former "Doritos Girl" Ali Landry. Terrell Owens is the biggest "name" athlete but at least I could recognize all the athletes (surprise!) Host Jim Saunders can barely string two words together and "Color Commentator" Warren Sapp is no Howard Cosell. At least Jenn Brown looks better in a bikini than Frank Gifford ever did--of this I am sure (but she's got nothing on him in the interviewing department).-Running an hour and a half, The Superstars could easily be trimmed by a third and lose nothing, The endless repeats and limited camera angles make the visuals seem stunted. Worse, both celebrities and athletes come of as completely dumb: the way these guys 'n' gals are portrayed I'm afraid if I said "hello" to one they'd be lost for an answer. Worse, I was surprised to see what poor sports so many of the cast seemed to be--particularly the team of Terrell Owens and Joanna Krupa. (I was SO glad when they got kicked off and the end of Episode One.) Still, there isn't much else on TV so I guess I'll keep watching...-'nuff said.
I'll be reviewing The Proposal so I chose Crazylove as today's fractal. It's a romantic comedy--what more needs to be said?-You can just about guess the plot from hearing the title of The Proposal. And if the title wasn't enough to give the story away the previews do: Sandra Bullock plays hard-as-nails executive Margaret Tate and Ryan Reynolds is her much put-upon Editor's Assistant Andrew Paxon. Margaret is the classic "boss from Hell" but she's also Canadian--and has been too busy with work to jump through all the immigration hoops. In order to save herself from being deported Margaret concocts a scheme to save her job by arranging a quickie marriage to handy Andrew (who just happens to be making a visit to his family in Sitka Alaska) and the plot is in motion. Will wackiness ensue? Will it all turn out OK in the end? I'm sure you already know--but that's where the fun is. Ah if only the movie had been a little more fun...-Sandra Bullock excels at playing hard-ass women with a soft, sweet center but even she can't turn the chicken scratch the script gives her into chicken salad. Ryan Reynolds looks good playing his role but the writers turn his character into a gigantic mess of contradictions and unexplained story that make the whole thing a muddy mess. I'm not sure I believed Betty White as Andrew's "gammie" Anne but I enjoyed her time on screen (even though look like something out of a sitcom). I surely didn't believe Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenbugen as Andrew's parents with characters that came off as 100% writer contrivance. Dennis O' Hare is a strangely driven Immigration Agent (who pursues Andrew and Margaret from NYC to the wilds of Alaska). Malin Ackerman (late of Watchmen) goes platinum blonde as Gertrude--the girl Andrew left behind in Sitka: her character is nothing BUT unanswered questions. (Was she supposed to be a villain? Andrew's true love? The one his parents wanted him to marry? We never learn--she barely makes an impression in the movie.) Oscar Nunez is saddled with the thankless role of Ramone (who has a thing for Margaret--and just about every job in Sitka.) His bits get really old, really quickly.-Any romantic comedy requires a certain suspension of disbelief. In The Proposal mine lasted until the closing credits started rolling: then the whole thing just fell apart for me. I know you have to take a few things on faith but one implausibility piled atop another eventually causes the whole movie to collapse in on itself (for me at least). Robyn liked the movie better than I did but even she had to agree that there was a lot of plot points that simply COULD NOT have happened in this world or any other. (Here's one: flying from New York City to Sitka Alaska and back in three days via commercial airliner simply couldn't have happened.) The writing is just lazy and it ends up sinking what might have otherwise been a charming diversion. Rent it if you have nothing better to do but don't bother rushing to the theater unless you are a madly-devoted Sandra Bullock fan.-FINAL GRADE: C-
I picked Color Spray as today's fractal because every time I hear my new "hate" word I want to let out a "technicolor yawn" (which for those of you who not in the know is "Ozzie" slang for vomiting--'cause that's what I want to do every time I hear this word). What's the word that has my knickers in a twist? Read on!-There's a newly-coined word that is somehow gaining currency in our language and, like I said in the title--I hate this word! I hate this word!! I hate this word!!! And what word is it that I hate with such vehemence I hear you cry (Surely someone, somewhere wants to know--or you wouldn't be reading this blog, would you?) The new word that has my "knickers in a twist" is EFFORTING. I've heard it used a few times here and there before but I've heard it now fewer than four times in the past week. Newscasters (who really should know better--or at least their writers should) here in L.A. at least have coopted it as the word du jour: still, each time I hear it the word just annoys me more with each passing utterance.-Dictionary.com defines effort as a NOUN which can mean one of several things: 1) exertion of physical or mental power 2) an earnest or strenuous attempt 3) something done by exertion or hard work. (There are four additional definitions listed but none of them relate to the way "efforting" is currently being used as in--city officials are EFFORTING to organize the parade.) Nowhere in the dictionary is there a definition for "effort" as a verb. -"Efforting" is one of the growing number of words where lazy speakers try to turn passive nouns into active verbs simply by adding a suffix ("ing" and "ed" among others.) Why this is necessary (or particularly desirable) is beyond me: still, this word has begun to creep into our conversation and if its not stopped the word will one day become completely acceptable. Part of me realizes that adaptation and change is the very nature of the English language (and that characteristic has helped the language flourish) but another (much larger part ) chafes against the inelegance and downright awkwardness of the word. Worse yet--what's the point of even inventing a word like "efforting" when we already have words like "trying" and "attempting" which fill the definition quite nicely? Honestly, I don't get it...-Who's responsible for this? Honestly I don't know but if I had to point fingers I'd say it started with Academics who decided to pump up their feelings of self-aggrandisement by dropping in three fifty dollar words where a single five dollar (or even a two-dollar) word would suffice. (My favorite example was a Professor at S.D.S.U. (whose name I have thankfully forgotten) who said "A is NOT UNLIKE B." I responded "so A is LIKE B" only to be told that no the correct terminology was "not unlike" since the difference was in the gradation... What that difference is I still don't know to this day.) From here it spread to bureaucrats who turned City Dumps into "refuse storage facilities" and marketing professionals who made "used cars" and "used clothes" into "pre-owned autos" and "vintage collectibles." among other linguistic crimes. Come on people! What's wrong with calling a thing what it is in simple terms?-It's actually kind of funny that I'd be writing this post at all: I hated "sentence diagramming" in Language classes in school: I thought it was pointless since I had a pretty good vocabulary and instinctively knew how to use it. (It's a gift you get from reading a lot.) I never really understood the purpose of studying language structure and why all those "parts of speech" and the many different "linguistic cases" are important. Without a basic foundation in these things words like "efforting" creep into our vocabulary--and that's just sad.-'nuff said.
As soon as I saw the first preview for Up I knew I had the title for my review. (If it was good I'd call it something like Up Rises To New Heights: if it was bad the title would be something like Up Never Gets Off The Ground. Either way I knew I'd be using 99 Luftbalons as the fractal for the post. (There simply isn't a better image for a story about a man who uses balloons to fly his house off on a truly epic adventure.)-Pixar has raised the bar yet again for animated movies with their latest offering Up. No, it wasn't the fact that this was the first 3D film from the company (Robyn and I weren't willing to pay an additional ten bucks for the privilege of wearing those uncomfortable plastic glasses for two hours) it was simply the overall quality of everything that made up the whole show. -Top-flight animation is a given with a Pixar release and this movie didn't disappoint. Somehow the artists managed to avoid the walking wax-doll human figures common in most computer-animated efforts (an achievement that makes the movie almost worth seeing for its own sake) but the whole movie is so wonderfully drawn that it's a constant delight to the eye. First class acting talent like Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer lend their voices to the movie and it simply wouldn't be a Pixar release without John Ratzenberger (playing a rather small role this time). What raises this movie to the next level is the direction and writing.-I saw an interview with co-Director Pete Docter who said writing the movie took over three years and it shows. Elements of the fantastic and mundane blend seamlessly: the tone alternates from sweet sadness to high comedy and neither seems the least bit forced. The wild ramblings of "dog" (voiced by Writer and co-Director Bob Petersen) are a hoot (and about what you'd imagine you'd hear if dogs really could talk!) The directing is subtle and never overdone: there's a wordless sequence (running over five minutes) telling the life and love story of "Carl" and "Ellie" that's not simply one of the best montages in animated film but in ANY film. (Even a hard-bitten old critic lime me got a bit misty-eyed: you'd have to be totally heartless or under ten NOT to be affected!)-You don't have to see this movie on a big screen to appreciate it's qualities (but it wouldn't hurt). Being under the Disney flag you know it'll be family friendly (and safe for even the youngest viewers) but adults will find plenty to enjoy here as well. Take your kids AND your parents to see this: you'll all have a good time.-FINAL GRADE: A+
I picked today's fractal Squared Arabic 129 for one reason only--the color scheme was purple and gold (well kindasorta purple at least) like the team colors of the L.A. Lakers. If you can't see why that would be relevant from the blog title you probably shouldn't read any further. That being said--on with the rant!-So the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic Sunday night to claim a 15th NBA title. Hoop-la! Try to imagine how completely underwhelmed I am by the news. The awful truth is this--I just don't get professional sports. (I want to, but I can't fathom it no matter how hard I try.) I want to feel proud of my city (by extension) since "our" team won something major but somehow I just can't work up the enthusiasm--especially now.-Professional Athletes of (almost) every sport (at least the men) get paid HUGE salaries for the privilege of being allowed to play a game. In return these athletes treat fans with little to no respect. The Players replay fan loyalty with with antics that are, at best, questionable and behavior that ranges from the idiotic to downright thuggish. We hold these men up as role models to our children when we should be holding them up as the "don't do this" example. The Owners aren't much better: they PAY those astronomical salaries and don't seem to want to control the bad behavior of their Players. (Of course, when you throw checks with lots of zeroes on the ends at poor kids barely out of High School it's a sure recipe for disaster.) Worse, the Owners (and those connected with them) milk fans like Cash Cows. (Parking at the Staples Center for the Lakers' celebration today was $60 PER CAR.) They lock city governments into stadium agreements that will never pay off--no matter how many years they run. (The Anaheim Ducks have such an agreement the city can't hope to recoup--even when you figure the added Sales Tax generated by the Pond (or whatever they're calling the Arena these days). The ultimate gesture of disrespect is for the Players to up and take their team to another city as soon as a better deal pops up: so much for loyalty eh what?-For me, the Lakers' "Championship Celebration" was a complete waste: yes, the Lakers and their supporters picked up half the tab but the city of Los Angeles still paid millions of dollars in overtime and other expenses--millions the budget simply didn't have to spare. If the Lakers and their friends wanted a parade so badly why didn't they pay for all of it themselves? (I heard more than one local Commentator say Los Angeles needed the celebration: me--I think the city needs more fire and police protection, more libraries and such--not a party for a bunch of rich jocks.)-Worse still, the "need to win" mentality has even corrupted college athletic programs. Tim Ffloyd, head Basketball Coach at USC recently resigned after being caught delivering an envelope of cash to one of his star players (and has been accused of many more violations). Still, word-on-the-street has it that Ffloyd didn't do anything else any other Head Coach of a major University does to keep up with everyone else. That is truly sad.-Fans have to take some of the blame for this: fans (understandably) wants their team to WIN (and they don't seem to care what lengths the team to which the teams/Players go to achieve that end.) I could write a whole post on "Man Ram" and his fellow "steroid stallions" but I think my feelings would be pretty obvious. I just don't get why parents hold these guys up as an example to follow (unless you want to teach your kids to win at any cost!)-Then of course you have the knuckleheads who like to "celebrate" by trashing entire city blocks. What are these fools thinking? (I know--they AREN'T thinking!) Are the perpetrators caught and forced to pay for the damage they cause? (Some are but I'd bet most aren't...) I know there will be arguments that a few "bad apples" shouldn't spoil it for everyone else but considering this destruction happens EVERY TIME a championship rolls around it makes me think that maybe there shouldn't be a venue for these fools to act out.-All that taken together is why I say yet again....-GO LAKERS!!! And take the Dodgers, Angels, Clippers, Kings, Ducks, the Sparks and even the L.A. Galaxy with you...-'nuff said.
I picked Spinz as today's fractal mostly because the psychedelic quality of the image reminded me of the band we saw last night. (They all wore tie-dye T-shirts) The pretty rainbow colors and bright blue background reminds me -Summer may not "officially" begin until Sunday but for Robyn and I the season started last evening. Frankly I didn't expect the season to kick off so soon (or in such a pleasant way) but sometimes serendipitous events just happen to fall into place. Here's a story of how it happened for me...-There's something magical about a community concert: doesn't matter if it's a brass band, a rock combo or even a kids choir. You've got a group playing simply for the love of music. Add a nice setting and a pleasant weather and you have a true winner. Robyn and I missed the first of the "Summer Concerts" at the Corona Crossings but we finally made it out yesterday. (Actually we didn't know there were concerts out there to be had--y'all need better publicity people!) The evening sky was the color of bleached denim as we arrived and we watched puffy clouds first fatten then flatten on the northern horizon. Just as we arrived the "Sundowner" winds danced in from the Santa Ana Mountains cooling us with gentle butterfly kisses. The westering sun dusted buildings and trees with an antique gold patina while the large fountain in the courtyard provided a soothing white-noise background and ever-changing yet always-the-same display of dancing water.-The band was The Hypnotics--a group who played (mostly) rock music from the 60s and 70s was fun to hear: yes, their musicians and harmony vocals were better than their lead singers but that didn't matter to us. They played music we grew up with (and I recognized all but one song--which made me happy.) Robyn and I enjoyed seeing people close to our age still doing something they loved (no doubt knowing they'd never get rich at their craft but pursuing the music just for love). We also enjoyed the band's low-key approach: there wasn't any hocking of CDs or T-shirts--and they only mentioned their web site once (and that but briefly).-What I enjoyed more than anything else was the people watching: there was quite the mix--oldsters who walking with canes, a pair of east Indian ladies in full native garb (who were still groovin' to the music) younger folks who were "too hip for the crowd" yet somehow deciding to hang around and random folk who simply got drawn into the scene as they passed by. I couldn't help but notice the young families with children who unabashedly danced to the music as if nobody was watching (even they we were.) I found myself wondering if I'd ever had that much boundless energy and complete lack of inhibition (and I was a bit envious wishing I'd been brave enough to take Robyn out and dance with her--and not worry what people watching might say or think.)-Sunset neared and the breeze grew colder so Robyn and I left the concert before the second half. (Our old bones aren't much accustomed to sitting on iron benches for long periods.) Still, as we drove home through a sere landscape painted in shades of ochre, sienna and umber back by blue-violet mountains in the distance, Robyn and I were both well-satisfied. After 24 mostly-cloudy days with temps five to ten degrees below seasonal it seemed the summer had started in a nice way.-'nuff said.
Whenever I touch on matters-religious (even tangentially) I always choose a "stained glass" fractal. Knowing that, I think the reason I chose Stained Glass 13 should be fairly obvious. That being said--on with the post!-I've been composing this list in my head for quite some time and finally decided to take allegorical pen to metaphorical paper to publish the list (for which I will probably catch holy hell from certain quarters). The relationships are arbitrary for the most part and, needless to say, the names have been omitted (to protect me from the guilty). Read on at your own risk--YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!-And here we go...-10) THE POLITICAL COUSIN: s/he has the power to turn any situation into a political confrontation no matter how inappropriate. (Of course this one only really bothers you if you're of a different political party or have delicate social sensibilities.)-09) THE DRUNKEN COUSIN; every family has that member who tends to assuage their grief with alcohol (and it's all downhill from here). Drunks come in several varieties (and the drunkard may change types in the middle of the episode) but generally you can expect something like this. The Maudlin Drunk gets sentimental, even weepy: this just ends up being embarrassing for everybody. The Happy Drunk is the life of the party--until s/he does something stupid and a fight erupts. The Confrontational Drunk is, well, confrontational: what more need be said? The most desirable drunk is The Sleepy Drunk who generally ends up nodding off in a corner--which is fine until you have to clear the place out and deal with him or her.-08) THE TWO-FACED NIECE: she simply oozes concern while she's scoping out the deceased possessions to make sure she gets the good stuff from the estate. She makes a lot of empty promises that never quite come to pass down the line--all the while stressing family loyalty. She's dangerous so watch out for her.-07) THE LEGALISTIC NEPHEW: this guy somehow manages to come up with "verbal agreements" regarding the good stuff in the estate. You've never heard any of this but he'll look you in the eye and swear it's the truth on a stack of Bibles. Everything is fine until you tell him you've never heard of any of these--then things get ugly...-06) THE GREEDY IN-LAWS: you can tell them by their screech of "mine! mine! mine!" They want to make sure they get their piece of the pie and, one way or another, they're going to get it--sooner rather than later. These folks are going to be trouble for a long, long time...-05) THE GRUDGE-BEARING BROTHER: he won't let go of his anger for anything so he just adds more stress to the gathering than there already is. Like Levon, he wears his war wound like a crown. (Calling his child Jesus--"because he likes the name" is purely optional) Even in this time of sorrow he's unwilling to put aside the hurt for anything or anyone. He's not fun to be around...-04) THE DRAMA QUEEN SISTER: this girl manages to make it all about her--how much she musses the deceased, how devoted she is to the survivors... You name it, she's right there in the middle of everything--and it's all completely over the top. Her antics are fun for a while but eventually the schtick just gets tiresome and you wish she'd learn to control herself (or better yet, go away.)-03) THE HEN-PECKED HUSBAND: this poor schmuck can't do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) without first consulting with his wife and getting her permision (often in writing.) You wanna feel sorry for the guy but after a while dealing with him (and the little woman pulling the strings) gets completely tiresome and you want to start screaming or knocking some sense into the guy. Sadly, neither is a productive strategy so you're just gonna have to suck it up and just deal with the wife. It's so much easier...-02) THE JUDGEMENTAL MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sister Bertha Better-Than-You, fresh from the "Amen Pew" at the First Self-Righteous Chucho has come down from her seat at the left hand of the Heavenly Father to render her opinion of you (to anyone but you) and, sadly, you failed miserably. You will never meet her standards (and if by some miracle you manage to cut the mustard in one area you'll soon find yourself lacking in another area). You can win with this woman, you can't break even and she won't let you get out of the game--so avoid her if you can. Leave as quickly as possible if you can't.-And the NUMBER ONE person you'd least live to have at the Funeral is...-01) THE UNPREPARED DECEASED: no, most of these good people didn't plan to die. Chances are they didn't want to think about their demise so they didn't plan ahead. This leaves the survivors in a muddled mess that only starts with the funeral. From there it just keeps getting worse: the headaches start with funeral panning and don't end any time soon. The only way to prevent this is to take control of your own destiny and plan ahead so your survivors won't have the problems when you take your final bow.-That's the list. Let the kicking begin...-'nuff said.
I picked Scarlet Blaze 4 mainly because the predominant color in the image is a deep, bloody red--and that seemed apropos for a post of this kind. (Hopefully you've guessed the subject matter from the title and hint in this paragraph. (If not, you'll just have to wait a bit until I tip my hand...)-I blame Anne Rice and Ronald Reagan for this. (OK, I blame Reagan for almost everything but that's another story for another post...) Dracula was written in the 1800s and become fodder for a lot of movies from the sublime to the ridiculous. The venerable old vampire had been played for shock and laughs, been an object of horror and ridicule and the butt of jokes on both the big and small screen but until Anne Rice unleashed Interview With The Vampire on an unsuspecting public the vampire went from a creepy villain to a crazy/sexy/cool leading man. (It happened while Reagan was President so I blame him.) Several sequels and related novels (and for all I know Miz Annie could still be churning out more volumes of undead fiction today.)-It wasn't until 1993 that Laurel K. Hamilton unleashed Anita Blake Vampire Hunter on the reading public. It took three or four books but Anita Blake eventually quit hunting Vamps and started humping them! I could be wrong (and I'm sure some rabid fan will be quick to correct me) but I think Anita has gone through several boyfriends (vampire and werewolves) in her seventeen book saga. (Who can write seventeen books about ANYTHING???)-Still, it seems that these successes didn't go unnoticed by other authors (and Publishers). I don't know how many different series have come out since these first two I don't know how many of different variations have come out. They all seem to share a common theme: vampires, werewolves (and God knows how many other mythical monster-types are living among us in a present-day world not dissimilar from our own. The novels are usually written in first person and the protagonist is usually a female human in love with a vampire. (They are irresistibly drawn to the dark, menacing power and brooding sexiness.) Sometimes the heroines have real power of her own (being a witch, mind reader or some such) but usually they are just ordinary girls swept up in the passion.-Honestly, I just don't get it. But, then again, I'm not the target audience of these books. (The primary readership of these books is teenage girls and middle-aged women: I'm still not sure how the market can stand so much of such similar fiction. You'd think that so much of the same stuff would dilute the pool until the point that it just stops selling. Still, that probably won't be happening any time soon...-Here's my take on (at least some of) what's out there in "Vamp Fic". Not being a big fan of vampires and this ilk maybe you should take my comments with a grain of salt (a couple of aspirin or a good stiff Scotch...)-I haven't been keeping up with the Anita Blake series. (I didn't discover the series until four or five books in and by then I just didn't have enough interest to keep up with the series.) I remember the books as being nicely plotted and interesting characters. The violence is graphic as is the sex so beware if you're looking for something in this line and have a sensitive nature. (Of course, if you're looking for something in this line you're probably not that sensitive...)-I picked up the first four books in the Sookie Stackhouse series from the Science Fiction Book Club mainly for one reason--they are set in Northwestern Louisiana, My Mother's family is from the region and I've visited the area enough to be somewhat familiar with the region so I was curious. (The fact that the lead was a telepath also attracted me: I'm a sucker for all things psionic you know.) Charlaine Harris (who live just over the border in Arkansas) got the details right: a lot of the characters reminded me of people I'd met on visits to the region. I really enjoyed the characters and the attention to detail Ms. Harris provides and the mystery was pretty good too. (I liked these books so much I've actually gone to the bookstores to purchase hardback copies of the novels when they first come out rather than waiting for the book club to publish.) The HBO series True Blood (well worth watching--even on line) somewhat follows the books but doesn't stick too closely to the written word. Needless to say this is my favorite of the vampire fiction series.-Tate Hallaway has written three books in her Garnet Lacey series--of which I've read only one (Romancing The Dead). I'm not a fan (but this is "vampire chick lit" at in the extreme). Didn't care for the characters and it annoyed me that the lead character (a witch) didn't know who the bad guy was. (I'm not into mysticism but it only took me a couple of chapters to figure out the entire plot.) The sex scene is brief and chaste and there isn't a lot of strong language--or anything else, Needless to say I won't be seeking out anything else in the series.-(I'm going to catch Hell for this next bit I'm sure--but I need to get it out there...) The Twilight novels by Stephanie Miller have a truly massive following with some of the most fanatical fans out there. (Please don't tar and feather me Twilight fans!) I tried to read the first novel and found I couldn't get through it (a real rarity for me: I can usually plow through to the end of a novel eventually--no matter how bad it may be). The first novel is an endless crapfest of recycled romanticism, gooey romance and teen angst that I just couldn't connect with no matter how hard I tried. My lady-wife Robyn also read the book: she didn't hate it as much as I did but feels no need to check out later novels. I didn't even like the movie (which was pretty bad in its own way.)-Kim Harrison began her Rachel Morgan series in 2004 and has since written seven books in five years. The lead character is a witch who lives in a Cleveland populated by vampires, werecreatures and tons of other supernatural critters. I haven't read them yet but Robyn enjoys the series and thinks I'll probably like it when I finally dig myself out from under the mound of unread novels piled up on the shelves. (Blogging and Facebook have consumed a lot of my time lately.)-The Paige Winterbourne books by Kelly Alexander are a poor man's version of the Rachel Morgan books. I struggled through the first couple of books but haven't felt the need to read any further. The title character is entirely too "put upon" for my taste. (I like my heroes to actually have a clear win once in a while--but that's just me.) This book reminds me a lot of the Tate Hallaway novels although this gal has even less power and status. Read it at your own risk.-I'd have expected more raunch from novels with titles like X-Rated Bloodsuckers, The Npmphos of Rocky Flats and The Undead Kama Sutra but they're actually pretty tame. Yes, there's a bit of raw language but not much sex. Author Mario Acevedo has departed from the standard formula by creating a male lead--vampire P.I. Felix Gomez (an army vet who was turned while serving in Iraq). I liked his version of vampires. (He actually gives them some unique abilities and limitations that make sense to me.) There's a real "pulp fiction" quality (the genre, not the Quentin Tarrantino movie) that I found fun and interesting. I'm thinking men are more likely to enjoy these than women: Robyn read one of the novels and liked it but didn't feel the need to run out and find more--unlike me.)-I hadn't even heard of the "Kitty Norville" novels until my e-Friend Mike Vivian mentioned htem in his blog SciFi Talk. (Check it out at www.isstomahawk@blogger.com if you have the time and inclination.) Since they sort of relate to the topic at hand I thought Id give it a mention though. Kitty is a werewolf (although a werewolf named "Kitty" somehow seems a contradiction in terms to me). Vampires feature in the series (being hereditary enemies of the werewolves) which is why I included them a lot. Mike really likes them books and "highly recommends" them; we often have different tastes so you have to take that for what its worth.-These are just the series I know about off the top of my head without making an exhaustive search. I'm sure there are tons of others out there. Check 'em out at your local library or bookstore if you've a mind. Meantime...-'nuff said.
I think I've used the Venus fractal as a "cookie" before. It's kindasorta vaguely related I suppose (Venus being the Goddess of Love and the associations with venereal diseases and all) Come one people! Picking abstract images that relate to the posts can be difficult! I'm trying my best here. Ah well--on with the confession...-I came late to the cyberworld: we didn't even have a personal computer in our house until September of 2000 (and I still don't fully utilize the damn thing). I posted a few fractals on My Space and Live Journal but it's been so long that I've forgotten my user IDs in both places (and I may have changed e-Mail addresses since I last looked at either of these. My real life friend Bill Fugard incited me to be his Facebook friend so I signed up for that. And that's where the trouble started...-Having nothing to do I started poking around Facebook and started finding other "RL" friends there--and they have A LOT of friends! My "real" life isn't exciting enough for Facebook though (although I do poke around lists of friends of friends so I can add them to my list). Still, I have so few friends that I often feel like a complete nobody. I, like of so many others in the cyberworld have gotten myself sucked into an imaginary competition as to who can have to most friends. Worse--this has spread to my blog...-I'm actually rather proud of my blog: I've been writing posts since Valentine's Day 2007 and manage to get at least a few posts a month. The blog is Robyn's fault: she got tired of me ranting about stuff I saw on TV and read in our local paper. "Why are you constantly complaining?" she asked me. "Why don't you DO something constructive! That's when I got the idea to start the blog. First was my news and political commentary and then I decided to add the movie and theater reviews (because I wanted to share my thoughts with the world). Here and there I sprinkled in a few "random" things because it was my blog and I could.-I even got some "e-Friends" to start blogs: Mike Vivian and Teresa Kuhl started blogs and they both have more followers than I do! I've been writing this thing for three years and don't have ANY followers! Is it my breath? My political views? Is it not focused enough? What? Inquiring minds want to know! I have now come to realize that I am truly a shameless whore. I am reduced to begging for readership and the crumb of a comment now and then. Yes, I am a truly sad individual...-Hello?-Is anyone out there?-Hello... Hello?-(more than) 'nuff said
Today I chose A Regal Image as the fractal for this post--which is about life in the town of Corona. Corona means "crown" in Latin"--thus A Regal Image! So--on with today's commentary...-Ten months ago--to the day--Robyn and I left Orange County for the bucolic wilds of the Inland Empire. At the time gas was nearly five bucks a gallon and the daily drive through the Santa Ana Canyon (even though Robyn would be going the "other" way) was a prospect to be feared. I won't lie to you: I didn't want to go. I tried to figure any and every angle that would allow us to stay in the OC but eventually had to come to the realization that it just wasn't going to happen...-Turns out moving to Corona didn't completely suck! We have pretty much the same shopping and chain-dining we had in Orange County--only out here the places aren't usually as crowded and the service tends to be better. Yes, we have hotter and cooler temperatures (and A LOT more wind) but we make up for a lot of that with the "Sundowners"--winds that come in late in the afternoon to cool us down. We don't nearly have the traffic nightmares to deal with as we did in our old home: yeah, we've had the occasional back-up but nothing like what we used to deal with on a regular basis. Robyn traded a half-hour commute (under optimum conditions) to a ten-minute ride on rural roads. We get more "bang" for our housing buck and our utility bills have actually gone DOWN (because we live in a newer, more energy-efficient structure.) We haven't yet found a really good Mexican Restaurant or a "good but inexpensive" Chinese" place but we have three pretty good Barbecue places close to us so it pretty much balances out.-By and large the move to the I.E. has been very good for us. Still, every "Eden" has its snake--and we just found it. Yesterday Robyn and I were cruising South on I-15 on our way to Church when our car simply began to SLOW DOWN. Didn't matter what we tried we just kept going slower and slower until Robyn decided to pull over to the shoulder. A quick call to the Auto Club got a tow out to us in less than fifteen minutes but then we discovered NOTHING was open in the way of auto shops. Mind you, I know we'd have had problems finding something in Orange County but we could have gotten in somewhere: not here though... We ended up getting towed home and then we discovered the other problem where we live. Nothing is close and there's no mass transit. Things could have been worse but it was still frustrating. (Of course, the places we called all returned our calls today so I'm guessing they wanted our business. I wonder how many shops in Orange County would have done that?)-Ah well--maybe it wasn't really that bad.-'nuff said.
I think it should be pretty obvious why I chose Metallic Wings as the fractal for my review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It's all about the metal and the fact that some of the transformers fly.
