I have been reading a book called Weird U.S. It's a compilation of snippets about strange places and happenings in the United States. I tried to read it straight through but I think I'm getting tired of it. In some spots, there are several 'witness accounts' about basically the same thing, like albino cannibals. How many stories do I really need to read about albino cannibals? Pale people don't hurt nobody no how.
Anywayz, on to the point. Round about 1990 something, (94, 95?) in Carmel, IN, I was sitting on the roof of a car port in our apartment complex and I saw 3 glowing, green balls in the sky. For about 3 minutes, they did this weird, flying formation, weaving around each other, and then they took off. The next day at school, I talked to some of the other kids about what I saw. One of my friends who was across town saw it too! But the validation doesn't stop there.
On p. 98 of Weird U.S. there is a bit about green fireballs floating in the sky. People witnessed the same type of objects doing similar weird things from 1948 to 1951. They were even the same color as what I saw - GREEN! How flipping crazy is that?!?!?! So, at minimum, these glowing, flare-like balls have been putting on shows for 53 years. What the heck are those things?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
delightfully lovely
listening to at the moment - Adele, 19
What a lovely weekend. Weather was awesome. There was shopping and movie watching and sipping of green lanterns (absinthe, ginger ale, lime juice, midori).
My husband and I watched Halloween 2, the Rob Zombie version, on Saturday night. I love Rob Zombie movies. That is one brilliantly demented dude. I can't really say that I enjoyed Halloween 2 as much as his previous movies. There were some parts that were a little too realistic for my taste, like when Michael Myers is sawing a guy's head off and we get an extreme closeup and extra special sound effects. It makes me want to stop eating nachos while watching the movie and I like eating nachos.
I did like some parts of the movie. Sherrie Moon (Mrs. Zombie) was in it and that's always a plus. She is very cool.
Michael Myers runs around for most of the movie not wearing the freaky mask. You can see that he's actually a 'real' (real in the movie, of course) guy. Various flashbacks to Myers' childhood in an asylum show him as a vulnerable human being, which adds to the whole 'real' guy thing.
The connection between Michael Myers and his mother is an intense one. His sister shares this bond with them, sort of. The siblings have visions of their mother. The final scene, which involves those visions, left us (my husband and I) asking what the heck was that? I don't want to sound slow, but I think the point could have been clearer. I guess I needed someone to spell it out for me.
What a lovely weekend. Weather was awesome. There was shopping and movie watching and sipping of green lanterns (absinthe, ginger ale, lime juice, midori).
My husband and I watched Halloween 2, the Rob Zombie version, on Saturday night. I love Rob Zombie movies. That is one brilliantly demented dude. I can't really say that I enjoyed Halloween 2 as much as his previous movies. There were some parts that were a little too realistic for my taste, like when Michael Myers is sawing a guy's head off and we get an extreme closeup and extra special sound effects. It makes me want to stop eating nachos while watching the movie and I like eating nachos.
I did like some parts of the movie. Sherrie Moon (Mrs. Zombie) was in it and that's always a plus. She is very cool.
Michael Myers runs around for most of the movie not wearing the freaky mask. You can see that he's actually a 'real' (real in the movie, of course) guy. Various flashbacks to Myers' childhood in an asylum show him as a vulnerable human being, which adds to the whole 'real' guy thing.
The connection between Michael Myers and his mother is an intense one. His sister shares this bond with them, sort of. The siblings have visions of their mother. The final scene, which involves those visions, left us (my husband and I) asking what the heck was that? I don't want to sound slow, but I think the point could have been clearer. I guess I needed someone to spell it out for me.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
what is a book trailer?
I have been so busy lately! I go through these phases where all I want to do is work. Unless you are in my immediate vicinity (ie, up in my face), chances are that I will forget to communicate with you for at least a short period of time.
Sooo, what have I been doing. I researched book trailers because I think the concept is interesting. A book trailer is like a movie trailer only, you know, for a book.
Before I started reading up on publishing, I had never heard of a book trailer. I sure as heck had never watched one. I asked around and no one I knew had heard of them either.
I looked them up on youtube the other night. Apparently, not only are there lots of book trailers, people actually watch them! The trailers that popped up first on the search had been viewed anywhere between 1400 and 64000+ times. I wonder who is watching them. Are they people like me who just want to know about book trailers or are they actually watching them because they are deciding whether to read a book?
I watched three of them. A trailer for Stephen King's Duma Key had some beach scenes and brief flashes of things from the book, like a paintbrush moving over a canvas and a creepy doll. Then there were some words about how awesome Stephen King is (because he is awesome) and a teaser bit about the plot for the book. The second trailer I watched was for Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. This trailer consisted of animations using some of the illustrations for the book and Neil was reading from the book. Very awesome. I've read these first two books and I thought they conveyed the feel of the stories pretty well. I liked Neil's better because it actually had his voice in it.
The third trailer I watched was for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I haven't read this book but I thought the trailer was pretty funny and well done. A scene from the book is acted by people in costume and there are special effects and everything. They really put a lot into it. Here is the video in case you are interested in watching it.
Bottom line. I was trying to figure out if the book trailer was something I would like to attempt. Not this time. Not with my debut novel. If some day, my name generates the kind of interest that would garner 64,000+ hits, then yes, I might consider paying someone to make one.
Sooo, what have I been doing. I researched book trailers because I think the concept is interesting. A book trailer is like a movie trailer only, you know, for a book.
Before I started reading up on publishing, I had never heard of a book trailer. I sure as heck had never watched one. I asked around and no one I knew had heard of them either.
I looked them up on youtube the other night. Apparently, not only are there lots of book trailers, people actually watch them! The trailers that popped up first on the search had been viewed anywhere between 1400 and 64000+ times. I wonder who is watching them. Are they people like me who just want to know about book trailers or are they actually watching them because they are deciding whether to read a book?
I watched three of them. A trailer for Stephen King's Duma Key had some beach scenes and brief flashes of things from the book, like a paintbrush moving over a canvas and a creepy doll. Then there were some words about how awesome Stephen King is (because he is awesome) and a teaser bit about the plot for the book. The second trailer I watched was for Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. This trailer consisted of animations using some of the illustrations for the book and Neil was reading from the book. Very awesome. I've read these first two books and I thought they conveyed the feel of the stories pretty well. I liked Neil's better because it actually had his voice in it.
The third trailer I watched was for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I haven't read this book but I thought the trailer was pretty funny and well done. A scene from the book is acted by people in costume and there are special effects and everything. They really put a lot into it. Here is the video in case you are interested in watching it.
Bottom line. I was trying to figure out if the book trailer was something I would like to attempt. Not this time. Not with my debut novel. If some day, my name generates the kind of interest that would garner 64,000+ hits, then yes, I might consider paying someone to make one.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
dude, netflix is psychic
Ok, I realize that I am starting to sound like a walking advertisement for netflix but I am mentioning it again anyway. They are not paying me. I wish they would though.
So I saw this movie one day at Best Buy. I picked up the DVD because I thought it looked interesting. I thought, I need to rent that movie. Well, I forgot the name.
I remembered it was Asian and it had the word 'moon' in the title. I didn't remember the right name of the star in it. My husband diligently searched the blockbuster for like half an hour looking for it because he was feeling nice that day. He even asked the employees for help and they didn't know what he was talking about. Let's face it, I didn't give him much to go on. They didn't find it. I couldn't find the thing online. I decided it was a lost cause and gave up. This was about 3 weeks ago.
Cue the creepy somethings-coming music.
Then, the other day my husband asked me if I requested a movie on our netflix account called Seventh Moon. I had not done anything to our Netflix account. It was the movie I was looking for! Somehow, the mysterious movie with the title I could only remember one word of ended up in our movie queue. the insanity!!!
I am a little creeped out.
So I saw this movie one day at Best Buy. I picked up the DVD because I thought it looked interesting. I thought, I need to rent that movie. Well, I forgot the name.
I remembered it was Asian and it had the word 'moon' in the title. I didn't remember the right name of the star in it. My husband diligently searched the blockbuster for like half an hour looking for it because he was feeling nice that day. He even asked the employees for help and they didn't know what he was talking about. Let's face it, I didn't give him much to go on. They didn't find it. I couldn't find the thing online. I decided it was a lost cause and gave up. This was about 3 weeks ago.
Cue the creepy somethings-coming music.
Then, the other day my husband asked me if I requested a movie on our netflix account called Seventh Moon. I had not done anything to our Netflix account. It was the movie I was looking for! Somehow, the mysterious movie with the title I could only remember one word of ended up in our movie queue. the insanity!!!
I am a little creeped out.
Monday, January 11, 2010
the tale of the movie I will never see
ugh, despite my best efforts, monday is upon me. it sits on my soul like a chubby guy in a velvet jogging suit. LOL, ok bad comparison. Writing can't always be brilliant, otherwise we wouldn't have any frame of reference when we read something good.
The Life Aquatic is a movie that came out in 2004, and it stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Anjelica Houston among others. Despite the fact that I really wanted to see it, I didn't think about the movie when it first came out on DVD. I have no idea why. Maybe I didn't realize it was released, whatever. A couple of years later, I remembered the movie and I began to hunt around for it. I searched at Blockbuster and my library. I couldn't find the darn thing.
Then came the Netflix account.
I thought, this is my chance. I will get to see the elusive Life Aquatic. The disc came in the mail last week! We watched about an hour of the movie and it is very weird. The scenery is very spongebob kitsch with bright colors and a sort of retro feel. Also, there is claymation sea life. weird. The actors do well, but the script is meh. Anyway, so we were watching the movie and it stopped playing about an hour into it. Our DVD player is junky, so we assumed that was the problem. It was not. My husband removed the disc from the DVD. There was a dent under the clear plastic. The frigging DVD is defective. We sent it back to Netflix with a note.
So again, the movie eludes. What I saw of it wasn't particularly great but it was worth finishing at least. My desire to watch this movie and subsequent failure to do so is turning into somewhat of a joke for me. And so my week begins with disappointment.
aaawwwww....
The Life Aquatic is a movie that came out in 2004, and it stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Anjelica Houston among others. Despite the fact that I really wanted to see it, I didn't think about the movie when it first came out on DVD. I have no idea why. Maybe I didn't realize it was released, whatever. A couple of years later, I remembered the movie and I began to hunt around for it. I searched at Blockbuster and my library. I couldn't find the darn thing.
Then came the Netflix account.
I thought, this is my chance. I will get to see the elusive Life Aquatic. The disc came in the mail last week! We watched about an hour of the movie and it is very weird. The scenery is very spongebob kitsch with bright colors and a sort of retro feel. Also, there is claymation sea life. weird. The actors do well, but the script is meh. Anyway, so we were watching the movie and it stopped playing about an hour into it. Our DVD player is junky, so we assumed that was the problem. It was not. My husband removed the disc from the DVD. There was a dent under the clear plastic. The frigging DVD is defective. We sent it back to Netflix with a note.
So again, the movie eludes. What I saw of it wasn't particularly great but it was worth finishing at least. My desire to watch this movie and subsequent failure to do so is turning into somewhat of a joke for me. And so my week begins with disappointment.
aaawwwww....
Friday, January 8, 2010
random friday thoughts
I am really tired of reading about e-book readers. I am boycotting articles about ebook readers for at least the next 10.25 days.
I wish I could bring the young Harrison Ford to current times. Hottest...guy...ever.
I wish I could bring the young Harrison Ford to current times. Hottest...guy...ever.
I think caffeine should be considered a vitamin.
People with no real passion or empathy (or an overly left brain) should probably stick with writing nonfiction.
Jay-Z's video for On To The Next One rocks out loud.
as does Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. I don't know why I think that weird gold mask on the guy in Gaga's video is hot, but I do.
have a delightful weekend. I will be reading manuscript pages and drinking, hopefully not at the same time, but probably.
People with no real passion or empathy (or an overly left brain) should probably stick with writing nonfiction.
Jay-Z's video for On To The Next One rocks out loud.
as does Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. I don't know why I think that weird gold mask on the guy in Gaga's video is hot, but I do.
have a delightful weekend. I will be reading manuscript pages and drinking, hopefully not at the same time, but probably.
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