I am typing this in the middle of an ice storm! Seriously, right at this very moment, I hear a sound like rice krispies are raining down on my house. Everything is receiving a coat of ice. I will take try to take some pictures tomorrow if my door isn’t frozen shut.
This weekend movie selection was Devil. It's a Shyamalan flick about five people who become trapped in an elevator and bad things happen.
The story begins with a suicide that coincides of the devil's arrival in town. There is a narrator in the first few minutes who informs us of that fun fact and also that the devil walks as one of us during these little visits.
Three men and two women get on an elevator in an office building, and the elevator stops. They’re confined to a small space with strangers and annoying music. Sounds fun, right? Then the lights go out, and very bad things happen.
The movie doesn't all take place in the elevator. I worried that the movie would consist of only elevator shots but it didn't.
The characters working to free the trapped people were just as compelling as the others. We have security guards, a maintenance man and the primary cop, Detective Bowden, who is called in after the devil takes out his first victim. Bowden has trouble dealing with the fact that the business in the elevator is supernatural in origin.
Devil has just the right amount of quiet tension to be scary but not boring. This movie had a good pace and was really entertaining. It keeps you guessing as to which person the devil is posing as. I guessed wrong, in case you wondered. The husband guessed correctly.
Devil gets an A.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
TGIFreeday!
Let us rejoice, for it is a most glorious Friday.
It would be even better if my landscape didn't look like this.
I have a lot on the weekend to-do list. There are a couple of illustrations and a book trailer to work on. I finally started tranferring the text from my storyboards onto an actual computer file last night. I really took a while to even create the file because I'm somewhat intimidated by the trailer project. I've never presented my writing or my illustrations in that type of medium. Have I said that before? I'm pretty sure that repeating yourself is a sign that you may be senile and also a sign that you might blog too much.
Today I started what was supposed to be the final read-thru for the novella. Now that I have a LOT of distance, I see parts that need more detail. With these smaller projects, like the short stories, I tend to rush myself. Maybe I'm trying to fit the effort into some subconsciously predetermined idea of what the completion time should be. That's a bad thing.
I'm in love with ninety percent of it. I'm not doing a major rewrite because my editor has already read over it. I'm also not pushing out release time. What I am going to do is hang out with the words for a while, add some things, tweak setting details.
So I ride off into Friday night with much to do in the next couple of days. Hopefully I will be more productive than I was last weekend. That shouldn’t be too difficult, seeing as I really didn’t do anything I planned.
The movie for this weekend is Devil, and if Shyamalamadingdong messed this movie up too, I may give up on him. I will probably post about it on Monday.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
It would be even better if my landscape didn't look like this.
I have a lot on the weekend to-do list. There are a couple of illustrations and a book trailer to work on. I finally started tranferring the text from my storyboards onto an actual computer file last night. I really took a while to even create the file because I'm somewhat intimidated by the trailer project. I've never presented my writing or my illustrations in that type of medium. Have I said that before? I'm pretty sure that repeating yourself is a sign that you may be senile and also a sign that you might blog too much.
Today I started what was supposed to be the final read-thru for the novella. Now that I have a LOT of distance, I see parts that need more detail. With these smaller projects, like the short stories, I tend to rush myself. Maybe I'm trying to fit the effort into some subconsciously predetermined idea of what the completion time should be. That's a bad thing.
I'm in love with ninety percent of it. I'm not doing a major rewrite because my editor has already read over it. I'm also not pushing out release time. What I am going to do is hang out with the words for a while, add some things, tweak setting details.
So I ride off into Friday night with much to do in the next couple of days. Hopefully I will be more productive than I was last weekend. That shouldn’t be too difficult, seeing as I really didn’t do anything I planned.
The movie for this weekend is Devil, and if Shyamalamadingdong messed this movie up too, I may give up on him. I will probably post about it on Monday.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Thursday, January 27, 2011
book: Gunn's Golden Rules
Gunn’s Golden Rules, Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work
By Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun
This is weird book selection for me. I don't usually read books like this, and by 'this' I mean popular culture books written by celebrities. I picked it up at the library and thought it looked entertaining.
The book has advice on how to use what you have to live life to the fullest and have good manners.
I’m not sure if I really gained anything by reading the book. There were some entertaining stories, like one about Vogue editor Anna Wintour being carried on stairs by her bodyguards.
The writing is fine, but a little attention deficient. For example, at one point, really out of nowhere, Gunn launches into a list of movie recommendations. He told some dog stories in another part.
Gunn’s Golden Rules is fun but not life altering.
The indie reviews are on hold again this month and probably next month. I swear I haven’t abandoned them completely.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
By Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun
This is weird book selection for me. I don't usually read books like this, and by 'this' I mean popular culture books written by celebrities. I picked it up at the library and thought it looked entertaining.
The book has advice on how to use what you have to live life to the fullest and have good manners.
I’m not sure if I really gained anything by reading the book. There were some entertaining stories, like one about Vogue editor Anna Wintour being carried on stairs by her bodyguards.
The writing is fine, but a little attention deficient. For example, at one point, really out of nowhere, Gunn launches into a list of movie recommendations. He told some dog stories in another part.
Gunn’s Golden Rules is fun but not life altering.
The indie reviews are on hold again this month and probably next month. I swear I haven’t abandoned them completely.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
technical issues resolved
The technical issues from yesterday have been resolved. Woo! Sometimes, tasks that should take ten minutes turn into much longer periods of frustration. But the past is the past and now we can all move forward.
Today I'm revealing the title and some artwork for the novella.
The bookmark is free for printing on my website.
http://www.LeaRyan.com
Now you can know the title, mark your place in a book, and be reminded of approximately when the novella is coming out. Yay multifunctional!
The exact release date is forthcoming. I have a final read-thru, which I've scheduled for next week. I will probably write a few blog posts about it in the near future. I will drop the release date into one of those once I have a better idea of when I’ll be ready.
Don't fret if you have no e-reader. Like the short story collection, this piece shouldn't be too annoying if you want to print it out or read it on the computer screen.
Oh, I do want to add that if I release it on the Amazon Kindle store, I have to price it at 99 cents. I'm not allowed to offer free books on there. I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to stick it to them because of where they shop.
The End.
Until tomorrow...or maybe the next day.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Today I'm revealing the title and some artwork for the novella.
The title is What the Dead Fear.
I drew up this bookmark as a fun way to announce the release.
I drew up this bookmark as a fun way to announce the release.
The bookmark is free for printing on my website.
http://www.LeaRyan.com
Now you can know the title, mark your place in a book, and be reminded of approximately when the novella is coming out. Yay multifunctional!
The exact release date is forthcoming. I have a final read-thru, which I've scheduled for next week. I will probably write a few blog posts about it in the near future. I will drop the release date into one of those once I have a better idea of when I’ll be ready.
Don't fret if you have no e-reader. Like the short story collection, this piece shouldn't be too annoying if you want to print it out or read it on the computer screen.
Oh, I do want to add that if I release it on the Amazon Kindle store, I have to price it at 99 cents. I'm not allowed to offer free books on there. I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to stick it to them because of where they shop.
The End.
Until tomorrow...or maybe the next day.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
only part of what I had to say
I've been reading over the first 40 pages of the second AnnaBeth book. That's my current lunch break project. I can tell already that I don't have enough distance (time away from the book) to do any really significant rewrites or edits. I'm still entirely too close to it, despite the fact that I started writing last October. I can't believe it's been so long.
I wrote the rough draft of the first book in three months. I can't do that this time because I have other projects going on. Basically, I'm not balls out writing right now. Part of me misses the less attention deficient times, but I know I'll get back to that by the end of next month, so, no big deal. Then I can bury my head in words again like a good book nerd.
What I have been able to do in this round of reading was get my bearings a bit and fill in some gaps. In a first draft, I have a tendency to skip parts of the story. Sometimes I do it intentionally because I'm eager to get to a different part. Other times, I really have no idea it happened until I go back and read through. It's sort of odd, like a brain hiccup.
I had planned to make an annoucement about the novella today, but I'm having some technical difficulties. I will try to resolve them by tomorrow.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I wrote the rough draft of the first book in three months. I can't do that this time because I have other projects going on. Basically, I'm not balls out writing right now. Part of me misses the less attention deficient times, but I know I'll get back to that by the end of next month, so, no big deal. Then I can bury my head in words again like a good book nerd.
What I have been able to do in this round of reading was get my bearings a bit and fill in some gaps. In a first draft, I have a tendency to skip parts of the story. Sometimes I do it intentionally because I'm eager to get to a different part. Other times, I really have no idea it happened until I go back and read through. It's sort of odd, like a brain hiccup.
I had planned to make an annoucement about the novella today, but I'm having some technical difficulties. I will try to resolve them by tomorrow.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, January 24, 2011
movie: The A-Team
Damn I love guy movies.
The A-Team is awesome in the same way The Expendables is awesome. It has humor and action and various levels of comradery.
I used to watch the A-Team TV show when I was a kid. It was one of my favorites. The recent movie was everything I hoped it would be.
The A-Team offers some back story. We learn why BA is afraid to fly and how he met the rest of the team in Mexico. They extract Murdock from a hospital, also in Mexico. We also see them expelled from their official military positions as rangers.
Liam Neison played a somewhat odd looking Hannibal. Bradley Cooper was Faceman and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was BA Baracus. They were all wonderful.
The guy who played Murdock seemed to have some sort of issue with his accent. There were times he sounded southern and other times he sounded like a Brit. Maybe that was part of the whole playing an insane person thing.
Jessica Biel was in this too. Her character, Charissa Sosa, was bent on reclaiming her rank after she is disgraced (and demoted - is there a better word for that?) in the same incident Hannibal, Face, BA, and Murdock are convicted for. She and Face have a romantic history together, yadda yadda. Her character was pretty rigid, but the personality made sense in the context of the story.
Patrick Wilson plays Lynch, a naughty CIA man, and does a good job pulling off crazy.
The movie was really good. I was glad the movie people didn't butcher one of my favorite childhood shows. That would have been mighty lame. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel. B+
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
The A-Team is awesome in the same way The Expendables is awesome. It has humor and action and various levels of comradery.
I used to watch the A-Team TV show when I was a kid. It was one of my favorites. The recent movie was everything I hoped it would be.
The A-Team offers some back story. We learn why BA is afraid to fly and how he met the rest of the team in Mexico. They extract Murdock from a hospital, also in Mexico. We also see them expelled from their official military positions as rangers.
Liam Neison played a somewhat odd looking Hannibal. Bradley Cooper was Faceman and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was BA Baracus. They were all wonderful.
The guy who played Murdock seemed to have some sort of issue with his accent. There were times he sounded southern and other times he sounded like a Brit. Maybe that was part of the whole playing an insane person thing.
Jessica Biel was in this too. Her character, Charissa Sosa, was bent on reclaiming her rank after she is disgraced (and demoted - is there a better word for that?) in the same incident Hannibal, Face, BA, and Murdock are convicted for. She and Face have a romantic history together, yadda yadda. Her character was pretty rigid, but the personality made sense in the context of the story.
Patrick Wilson plays Lynch, a naughty CIA man, and does a good job pulling off crazy.
The movie was really good. I was glad the movie people didn't butcher one of my favorite childhood shows. That would have been mighty lame. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel. B+
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Don't do it, Netflix. and snow.
I talk about Netflix sometimes. We signed up for the service about a year ago and have been really happy with it so far. We pay them ten bucks a month and they send us DVDs we request one at a time. We also get a less than stellar selection of movies to stream through a computer or the PS3.
Yesterday I read that they're attempting to move away from DVDs to completely online streaming. I would be okay with that if 1. The selection of streaming movies was decent, ie the same movies offered on DVD and 2. If internet service providers weren't discussing a shift to cap/charge for data usage.
Should Netflix go completely streaming with no title selection improvement and my cable internet provider caps my data or charges extra, I will drop Netflix like a bad habit. I still have Blockbuster, my library, and two Redboxes down the street.
From a business standpoint, I completely understand why they want to eliminate the DVD mailing service. Honestly, I don't know how they made a profit between the cost of the movie, packaging, and postage. But I don't have to stick with a company who elects to use a less than customer-centric approach.
I'm not going to pay for a selection of movies I don't really want to watch. That's just not going to happen. And I'm not going to pay a bunch of data usage charges to my internet provider either.
My loyalty isn't blind.
Get it together, Netflix.
Here’s a link to the other blog I read on the subject, in case you’re interested.
http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/432-netflix-is-abandoning-dvds-customers-who-prefer-dvds
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Yesterday I read that they're attempting to move away from DVDs to completely online streaming. I would be okay with that if 1. The selection of streaming movies was decent, ie the same movies offered on DVD and 2. If internet service providers weren't discussing a shift to cap/charge for data usage.
Should Netflix go completely streaming with no title selection improvement and my cable internet provider caps my data or charges extra, I will drop Netflix like a bad habit. I still have Blockbuster, my library, and two Redboxes down the street.
From a business standpoint, I completely understand why they want to eliminate the DVD mailing service. Honestly, I don't know how they made a profit between the cost of the movie, packaging, and postage. But I don't have to stick with a company who elects to use a less than customer-centric approach.
I'm not going to pay for a selection of movies I don't really want to watch. That's just not going to happen. And I'm not going to pay a bunch of data usage charges to my internet provider either.
My loyalty isn't blind.
Get it together, Netflix.
Here’s a link to the other blog I read on the subject, in case you’re interested.
http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/432-netflix-is-abandoning-dvds-customers-who-prefer-dvds
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
typo, drawing, music and crayons
Snowpocalypse! A snow storm is supposedly moving in. Imagine my utter delight! Ah well, at least I will probably get to sleep in.
What is up? The husband found a typo in MacDowell Sisters and AnnaBeth. These things happen. I've found typos in traditionally published books too. Wrangling 70,000+ words is tough.
I’ll probably update the ebook version but wait until he finishes reading in case he finds anything else wrong with it. As far as the print version goes, if there are several errors, I would go to the trouble of unpublishing the initial release and and putting out a revised, second edtion. Otherwise, no. I won't go through all that effort to fix one very minor error.
Regarding the novella cover art, I'm rethinking the design. I did finish it. I like the way the illustration looks, but I don't think it's right as a book cover.
I'm releasing the novella as a digital ebook only, which really limits my design area. It needs to look good as a thumbnail image, and what I've drawn is too detailed for that. I had that worry from the beginning but I plowed on for the sake of finishing what I started.
I will still use the illustration for the book trailer, so anyone who watches that will still get to see my handiwork.
This experience has definitely encouraged me to push myself harder when it comes to illustration. I'm capable of more than I sometimes think I am. I still have more to learn, but I'm progressing. That's the important thing.
As for the book trailer itself, I believe the music issue is solved! I put the question out to my people in Twitterland (my tweeps) and they came back with some great ideas. The best one came from @happarose197 with this website.
http://incompetech.com
I finally finished my storyboards. That took me several days. I had trouble figuring out what sorts of images to use. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life creating graphics for a trailer for a free ebook. That doesn't sound like the best possible use of my free time.
Ooh, you have to checkout this cool thing I found. I saw the name of a color I didn't know, so I looked it up in the wikipedia. I clicked a few links and ended up on this page with Crayola crayon colors, their red-green-blue values and the hexadecimal codes for use in HTML! geekerific! There's also some history on the colors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
What is up? The husband found a typo in MacDowell Sisters and AnnaBeth. These things happen. I've found typos in traditionally published books too. Wrangling 70,000+ words is tough.
I’ll probably update the ebook version but wait until he finishes reading in case he finds anything else wrong with it. As far as the print version goes, if there are several errors, I would go to the trouble of unpublishing the initial release and and putting out a revised, second edtion. Otherwise, no. I won't go through all that effort to fix one very minor error.
Regarding the novella cover art, I'm rethinking the design. I did finish it. I like the way the illustration looks, but I don't think it's right as a book cover.
I'm releasing the novella as a digital ebook only, which really limits my design area. It needs to look good as a thumbnail image, and what I've drawn is too detailed for that. I had that worry from the beginning but I plowed on for the sake of finishing what I started.
I will still use the illustration for the book trailer, so anyone who watches that will still get to see my handiwork.
This experience has definitely encouraged me to push myself harder when it comes to illustration. I'm capable of more than I sometimes think I am. I still have more to learn, but I'm progressing. That's the important thing.
As for the book trailer itself, I believe the music issue is solved! I put the question out to my people in Twitterland (my tweeps) and they came back with some great ideas. The best one came from @happarose197 with this website.
http://incompetech.com
I finally finished my storyboards. That took me several days. I had trouble figuring out what sorts of images to use. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life creating graphics for a trailer for a free ebook. That doesn't sound like the best possible use of my free time.
Ooh, you have to checkout this cool thing I found. I saw the name of a color I didn't know, so I looked it up in the wikipedia. I clicked a few links and ended up on this page with Crayola crayon colors, their red-green-blue values and the hexadecimal codes for use in HTML! geekerific! There's also some history on the colors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, January 17, 2011
stuff done did and stuff am doin'
LOL, that is probably the worst blog post title of all time.
What a totally kick ass weekend. The stars aligned in just the right way and I got even more quiet time than I imagined possible. The kids were gone for a while. The husband wasn't bugging me too awfully much.
I got to do things like organize my thoughts, my recliner office and my closet! And I spent quality time with Moo (Max).
I also played some video games and drew some things.
I wouldn't want so much me time every weekend, of course, but I really needed it. I don't think I realized that before the weekend started.
Anyway, one of the projects was working out the logistics of book trailer creation.
I started by looking for music. There are plenty of websites that offer free music for download. You won't find the top 40 stuff, but the selection seems to be pretty good.
Here is one that I found in case you want some free music.
http://freemusicarchive.org
Most of them don't allow for commercial use of their music. That's a problem because I am pretty sure that a book trailer is considered commercial use.
I am looking for some software that might enable me to create my own music. That's sort of a scary thought because I'm not musically inclined...at all. The book trailer may be a silent film.
I also looked at Windows Movie Maker because I previously read somewhere that you can use it to create book trailers. Holy crap that program looks complicated. I guess I expected it to be sort of like Power Point, where you can just type stuff in and make words and images pop up wherever or whenever.
From what I can tell, that's not how Movie Maker works. It seems to want me to import premade video and audio, which I don't have right now, unless you count videos of my children. I love my babies dearly, but the novella has nothing to do with them.
Next I remembered the shiny, new version of Office we recently acquired, and I wondered if I could slap together a little something on that.
Lo and behold, if you have Office 7, you can use Power Point to create a WMV file, which should be compatible with youtube.
Cue creative commons commercially licensed epiphany music.
So now I'm working on storyboards and figuring out what the hell to do about the music problem.
Please let me know if anyone out there has any musical sorts of ideas. I'm looking for instrumental, probably about 45 seconds to maybe a minute, somewhat dramatic (but not overly) either piano music or electronica, or possible alternative sort of rock. I would be happy to give music credit at the end of the trailer. Lea-Ryan at hotmail.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
What a totally kick ass weekend. The stars aligned in just the right way and I got even more quiet time than I imagined possible. The kids were gone for a while. The husband wasn't bugging me too awfully much.
I got to do things like organize my thoughts, my recliner office and my closet! And I spent quality time with Moo (Max).
I also played some video games and drew some things.
I wouldn't want so much me time every weekend, of course, but I really needed it. I don't think I realized that before the weekend started.
Anyway, one of the projects was working out the logistics of book trailer creation.
I started by looking for music. There are plenty of websites that offer free music for download. You won't find the top 40 stuff, but the selection seems to be pretty good.
Here is one that I found in case you want some free music.
http://freemusicarchive.org
Most of them don't allow for commercial use of their music. That's a problem because I am pretty sure that a book trailer is considered commercial use.
I am looking for some software that might enable me to create my own music. That's sort of a scary thought because I'm not musically inclined...at all. The book trailer may be a silent film.
I also looked at Windows Movie Maker because I previously read somewhere that you can use it to create book trailers. Holy crap that program looks complicated. I guess I expected it to be sort of like Power Point, where you can just type stuff in and make words and images pop up wherever or whenever.
From what I can tell, that's not how Movie Maker works. It seems to want me to import premade video and audio, which I don't have right now, unless you count videos of my children. I love my babies dearly, but the novella has nothing to do with them.
Next I remembered the shiny, new version of Office we recently acquired, and I wondered if I could slap together a little something on that.
Lo and behold, if you have Office 7, you can use Power Point to create a WMV file, which should be compatible with youtube.
Cue creative commons commercially licensed epiphany music.
So now I'm working on storyboards and figuring out what the hell to do about the music problem.
Please let me know if anyone out there has any musical sorts of ideas. I'm looking for instrumental, probably about 45 seconds to maybe a minute, somewhat dramatic (but not overly) either piano music or electronica, or possible alternative sort of rock. I would be happy to give music credit at the end of the trailer. Lea-Ryan at hotmail.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Friday, January 14, 2011
I got quiet time today! YAY!!!
I took vacation time from the day job. I used it to draw things. There was a little gaming too, but mostly, I was drawing.
Special things for today included –
Seeing the froth on my cappuccino. Usually there is a plastic lid between me and the froth.
mmm…visible froth.
I also got to
see daylight through a window. Ah, the winter wasteland, I mean wonderland.
I did accomplish a lot in the way of drawing. I’m getting faster.
The project for tonight is playing around with Windows Movie Maker to see if I can get it to do something, such as a book trailer.
I never found my missing writing. I searched everywhere. I ended up just writing it again. I will never know what I left out. That makes me sad.
That’s all I have for now. Damn. That wasn’t much of a post, was it? Well it is Friday, after all.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Thursday, January 13, 2011
book: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
American Gods is about a guy named Shadow who is released from prison to find his life is pretty much destroyed. His wife was killed in a car accident. The guy who was supposed to give him a job upon his release was killed in the same car crash. They were having an affair.
Shadow meets many strange characters beginning with a man named Wednesday who offers him a job as a bodyguard. As Shadow becomes more involved with Wednesday's dealings, he discovers that the people around him aren't human. They're old gods from various countries: Odin, Anansi, Kali, Easter, Anubis, etc. They were created by the energy of worship and survive by trying to get humans to worship them and make sacrifices.
The old gods believe that new world gods like Media, Town, and World are starting a war to get rid of them.
Wednesday travels around the US in an effort to unite the old gods against the new gods.
This book is quite amazing. The primary story, Shadow's, in itself is detailed and emotional. Shadow is a courageous and somewhat intelligent character. He is fiercely loyal even to people who don't really deserve his loyalty.
Stories about the old gods are woven into the book as well, both ancient and more modern. Gaiman brings the ancients to current times and gives them character. He creates bonds between them and conflict.
What I really liked about this book was the strangeness of it. Gaiman paints alternate realities with such ease. No matter how surreal the setting becomes, it always makes sense.
I don't have a favorite book, but if I were to somehow rank this on the favorite list, it would definitely hit the top 5, probably even the top 3.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Shadow meets many strange characters beginning with a man named Wednesday who offers him a job as a bodyguard. As Shadow becomes more involved with Wednesday's dealings, he discovers that the people around him aren't human. They're old gods from various countries: Odin, Anansi, Kali, Easter, Anubis, etc. They were created by the energy of worship and survive by trying to get humans to worship them and make sacrifices.
The old gods believe that new world gods like Media, Town, and World are starting a war to get rid of them.
Wednesday travels around the US in an effort to unite the old gods against the new gods.
This book is quite amazing. The primary story, Shadow's, in itself is detailed and emotional. Shadow is a courageous and somewhat intelligent character. He is fiercely loyal even to people who don't really deserve his loyalty.
Stories about the old gods are woven into the book as well, both ancient and more modern. Gaiman brings the ancients to current times and gives them character. He creates bonds between them and conflict.
What I really liked about this book was the strangeness of it. Gaiman paints alternate realities with such ease. No matter how surreal the setting becomes, it always makes sense.
I don't have a favorite book, but if I were to somehow rank this on the favorite list, it would definitely hit the top 5, probably even the top 3.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I really piss myself off sometimes
What is up.
Let us talk about the importance of keeping files in order and backed up.
I lost some of my writing, part of the second AnnaBeth book. It was a section near the beginning that included a conversation that helped to launch a primary part of the plot and another short scene that wasn't as important but still meaningful to the story.
I sometimes write on a pda (personal digital assistant, not public display of affection), an Ipaq, for portability reasons and then later I transfer to the files to my laptop. At some point, I missed one. I can't imagine that I would have deleted it (I try to keep everything), so I'm still searching folders and usb backup drives, etc.
I really hope I find it. I can't really write the same thing twice. I mean, I can go back and try to work through it again, but it will never be exactly the same as the first time I wrote it and that is a very frustrating thought for me. Now I'm all nervous and bothered and generally irritated with myself.
So here's the moral of the story, which I knew from the beginning.
Always pay attention and back up files like an OCD computer nerd.
Apparently the universe thought I needed a reminder.
Also, I read about this website – tweetpsych.com
It gives a psychological profile based on your tweets.
Here is a link to mine - http://tweetpsych.com/?q=@learyan1
I’m not sure if that link will work for you all out there in internetland, so here are some highlights.
I tweet about learning 202% more than the average tweeter, which means I really like to learn stuff.
I tweet Self References 120% more than the average user. Hmmm…that means I’m sort of self-centered. LOL! In my defense, I’m not a social creature, so really, who else am I talking about? People I don’t know?
I tweet negative thoughts 88% more than the average user. Sounds about right.
There’s a whole list of stuff on there. I won’t go through it all. However there is one more stat that I will share.
I tweet about money -59% less than the average user.
That's all for now. I will probably post something about American Gods tomorrow.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Let us talk about the importance of keeping files in order and backed up.
I lost some of my writing, part of the second AnnaBeth book. It was a section near the beginning that included a conversation that helped to launch a primary part of the plot and another short scene that wasn't as important but still meaningful to the story.
I sometimes write on a pda (personal digital assistant, not public display of affection), an Ipaq, for portability reasons and then later I transfer to the files to my laptop. At some point, I missed one. I can't imagine that I would have deleted it (I try to keep everything), so I'm still searching folders and usb backup drives, etc.
I really hope I find it. I can't really write the same thing twice. I mean, I can go back and try to work through it again, but it will never be exactly the same as the first time I wrote it and that is a very frustrating thought for me. Now I'm all nervous and bothered and generally irritated with myself.
So here's the moral of the story, which I knew from the beginning.
Always pay attention and back up files like an OCD computer nerd.
Apparently the universe thought I needed a reminder.
Also, I read about this website – tweetpsych.com
It gives a psychological profile based on your tweets.
Here is a link to mine - http://tweetpsych.com/?q=@learyan1
I’m not sure if that link will work for you all out there in internetland, so here are some highlights.
I tweet about learning 202% more than the average tweeter, which means I really like to learn stuff.
I tweet Self References 120% more than the average user. Hmmm…that means I’m sort of self-centered. LOL! In my defense, I’m not a social creature, so really, who else am I talking about? People I don’t know?
I tweet negative thoughts 88% more than the average user. Sounds about right.
There’s a whole list of stuff on there. I won’t go through it all. However there is one more stat that I will share.
I tweet about money -59% less than the average user.
That's all for now. I will probably post something about American Gods tomorrow.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
tuesday freebie shoppin'
Happy Tuesday, weblings. We were hit with another round of snow. Delightful! My SUV tried to fishtail twice on slick spots UNDER bridges. It was pretty crazy. Luckily I did not fly off the road.
I should get the novella back from Lady Editor this weekend as long as I’m not trapped in my house by a blizzard. I feel like I’ve been working on that thing forever.
The cover art is nearly complete. I keep placing it aside and coming back to it. That system seems to work for me. I take time to digest any changes I make and then sort of plan where to go next with it. I swear it usually doesn’t take me two months to finish one picture. I’ve been working on other things.
All the drawing time has made me think about changing my software. Right now, I use Fireworks MX, which is an oldie but very goody. I’m not sure that I want to replace it completely, but a change of scenery would be fun.
If I could choose whatever program I wanted, I would probably go with Adboe PhotoShop. That’s the graphic design industry standard from what I’ve read. For the current version, CS5, they are charging about $700. Insane, right? Yeah, I don’t exactly have royalty checks falling out of my butt, so that is not in the budget.
There’s a cheaper version called PhotoShop Elements for $100, but that looks more for photographs. I do stuff with photographs too but I need major drawing tools. Plus, I don’t want to spend $100 either, especially for something I don’t think will work for me.
So I started looking at the freebies.
I used a program called Pixia before I had Fireworks. It wasn’t bad. It's a Japanese program that was cute and reasonably functional. I don’t think there are any recent versions in English.
This one is the runner-up choice so far. GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/
It has brush heads that can do tapered lines, which is good. I don’t think that’s possible with Fireworks. If it is, I haven’t figured out how to do it. One drawback –
I don’t know if it’s compatible with Windows 7. I use Windows XP on ye olde laptop but I might want to upgrade sometime soon. I don’t want to get used to one program and then have to switch again.
GIMP is not to be confused with the Pulp Fiction gimp.
They are not the same thing. I checked.
This one is first choice. Paint.NET
http://www.getpaint.net/
It seems to have some really great features. I will probably give it a go in the next week or two.
Now for something completely different.
I saw this how-to article about how to make people believe you’re immortal. I found it amusing, so I’m sharing. I’m not sure what would possess a person to want to make those around him or her think they’re immortal. Everyone is crazy in their own special way, I suppose.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-People-Think-You%27re-Immortal
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I should get the novella back from Lady Editor this weekend as long as I’m not trapped in my house by a blizzard. I feel like I’ve been working on that thing forever.
The cover art is nearly complete. I keep placing it aside and coming back to it. That system seems to work for me. I take time to digest any changes I make and then sort of plan where to go next with it. I swear it usually doesn’t take me two months to finish one picture. I’ve been working on other things.
All the drawing time has made me think about changing my software. Right now, I use Fireworks MX, which is an oldie but very goody. I’m not sure that I want to replace it completely, but a change of scenery would be fun.
If I could choose whatever program I wanted, I would probably go with Adboe PhotoShop. That’s the graphic design industry standard from what I’ve read. For the current version, CS5, they are charging about $700. Insane, right? Yeah, I don’t exactly have royalty checks falling out of my butt, so that is not in the budget.
There’s a cheaper version called PhotoShop Elements for $100, but that looks more for photographs. I do stuff with photographs too but I need major drawing tools. Plus, I don’t want to spend $100 either, especially for something I don’t think will work for me.
So I started looking at the freebies.
I used a program called Pixia before I had Fireworks. It wasn’t bad. It's a Japanese program that was cute and reasonably functional. I don’t think there are any recent versions in English.
This one is the runner-up choice so far. GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/
It has brush heads that can do tapered lines, which is good. I don’t think that’s possible with Fireworks. If it is, I haven’t figured out how to do it. One drawback –
I don’t know if it’s compatible with Windows 7. I use Windows XP on ye olde laptop but I might want to upgrade sometime soon. I don’t want to get used to one program and then have to switch again.
GIMP is not to be confused with the Pulp Fiction gimp.
They are not the same thing. I checked.
This one is first choice. Paint.NET
http://www.getpaint.net/
It seems to have some really great features. I will probably give it a go in the next week or two.
Now for something completely different.
I saw this how-to article about how to make people believe you’re immortal. I found it amusing, so I’m sharing. I’m not sure what would possess a person to want to make those around him or her think they’re immortal. Everyone is crazy in their own special way, I suppose.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-People-Think-You%27re-Immortal
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, January 10, 2011
things I sincerely need
Well here we are again. Another Monday. I think winter boredom has officially settled in. In an effort to combat the boredom, I have compiled a short list of things I wish to acquire.
First, PLAYSTATION PHONE!!! AAAAAAA!!!!! I have been a playstation girl since the days of PS1. Here is a link to pictures of a yet unreleased Playstation phone.
http://www.engadget.com/photos/the-playstation-phone/#3511129
I would hate to give up the productivity capability of the crackberry but damn, this is a temptation. I have questions like – can it play PSP games or a download equivalent? I cannot wait to see what this thing can do.
On the list of things I probably will never have - the Jackal Hyde Nike Dunk .
First, PLAYSTATION PHONE!!! AAAAAAA!!!!! I have been a playstation girl since the days of PS1. Here is a link to pictures of a yet unreleased Playstation phone.
http://www.engadget.com/photos/the-playstation-phone/#3511129
I would hate to give up the productivity capability of the crackberry but damn, this is a temptation. I have questions like – can it play PSP games or a download equivalent? I cannot wait to see what this thing can do.
On the list of things I probably will never have - the Jackal Hyde Nike Dunk .
Those are some bad ass bitches right there!! If only they made them in my size! Alas.
I know they're men's shoes. I do not care.
And finally, the theremin. The theremin is the musical instrument that was featured in last week’s Big Bang Theory. It is (was) used primarily for creepy movie sounds per the Wikipedia. I totally need one of these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theramin
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Friday, January 7, 2011
In which I unintentionally emasculated a male model
The snow has returned. Seeing the ground, if only for a short while, was quite nice. But now the branches are icy and the grass is covered yet again. Such is life.
On to other things.
Zazzle is a website that I have a few t-shirt designs and such on. It lets you choose which model your design is displayed on.
Apparently, at some point, I put a very feminine hummingbird t-shirt on a manly man. LOL!!
Here's a screenshot for your viewing enjoyment.
So sorry, model man. I will fix that once I stop being amused by it.
This apparently happened with a couple other designs too. I’m not sure what the deal is. I distinctly remember choosing female models and shirt types.
I'm working on a spring/summer 2011 collection, and that site will get a complete makeover, probably in March. I thought the collection thing would be a fun project and it is, so far.
I still have the illustration gallery on DeviantArt. I plan to keep the illustrations there and the apparel on Zazzle. Fear not. There is method to the madness.
Today I was looking at an ebook site - www.kobo.com as a potential place to sell some writing. I searched my name and I was already there! They must pull from the Smashwords catalog. My freebies aren't listed though, which I thought was strange. I am guessing they are on the Amazon big publisher favortism plan.
But I do love Amazon. Smooches!
Anywayz, I head into the weekend with multiple drawing projects, as per usual and as per usual, I'll probably only finish 1/3 of what I would like to.
Catch ya on the flip side
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
On to other things.
Zazzle is a website that I have a few t-shirt designs and such on. It lets you choose which model your design is displayed on.
Apparently, at some point, I put a very feminine hummingbird t-shirt on a manly man. LOL!!
Here's a screenshot for your viewing enjoyment.
So sorry, model man. I will fix that once I stop being amused by it.
This apparently happened with a couple other designs too. I’m not sure what the deal is. I distinctly remember choosing female models and shirt types.
I'm working on a spring/summer 2011 collection, and that site will get a complete makeover, probably in March. I thought the collection thing would be a fun project and it is, so far.
I still have the illustration gallery on DeviantArt. I plan to keep the illustrations there and the apparel on Zazzle. Fear not. There is method to the madness.
Today I was looking at an ebook site - www.kobo.com as a potential place to sell some writing. I searched my name and I was already there! They must pull from the Smashwords catalog. My freebies aren't listed though, which I thought was strange. I am guessing they are on the Amazon big publisher favortism plan.
But I do love Amazon. Smooches!
Anywayz, I head into the weekend with multiple drawing projects, as per usual and as per usual, I'll probably only finish 1/3 of what I would like to.
Catch ya on the flip side
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Designing Imaginary Places and Other Rambling
I was away from the blog yesterday to do a minor website redesign. Each of the novels now has its very own page with summary and various buy links.
I actually mimicked another author's website that I saw and liked. He had more content on his site like audio readings, reviews and a book trailer. It was a pretty awesome book page.
Anyway, here's a link to my site if you want to check out the minor makeover.
http://www.LeaRyan.com
One of the other projects I worked on this week was a map of Fosters Branch. That's the town in the AnnaBeth series. Can you call it a series if it consists of 1.25 books? I didn't have a map of the town when I wrote the first book. I did see the various settings vividly in my mind but as far a a definitive street layout (aside from Havens Path in relation to Java Haus, Reau House, and Perpetual Gardens), well, there wasn't one.
I should have made the map before I wrote the first book. However, I think one could go even further than just creating a map.
Writers sometimes use character worksheets to line up all the traits and such for the people in the story before the writing starts. I've used them before. All the stats are there: height, weight, parents, education, beliefs, etc. The same principle could be applied to a setting.
Maybe like this:
Date or time period founded (for town or country or whatever)
Primary ethnicity
Primary religion
General mood (I believe a place can have a mood)
Weather
Local traditions
Points of interest - bars, museums, churches, meeting places, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc.
* Side note: Hmmm, I listed bars first. What does that say about me?
Prominent local figures and heroes
People who are the subject of gossip and/or scorn
Landscape: hills or flat, farmland or concrete jungle?
Law enforcement presence
I'm not sure what else to add to right now. You probably get the point, regardless.
In other news, I'm still reading American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. It may be one of my most favoritest (yes that was intentional) books ever.
I noticed that he uses imagery that is weirdly similar to mine. I'm not comparing my writing to that of an award-winning world famous author. If all goes as planned, my ego will never spin that far out of control.
But the level of the surrealism reminded me a lot of Babylon Dragon. It's almost like Gaiman is my long lost imagination brother or something. I hope people who read my work don't think I was attempting to emulate him, not that emulating him would be the worst thing in the world. I swear this is the first adult book of his that I've read. I promise.
I think I've gone on long enough, don't you?
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I actually mimicked another author's website that I saw and liked. He had more content on his site like audio readings, reviews and a book trailer. It was a pretty awesome book page.
Anyway, here's a link to my site if you want to check out the minor makeover.
http://www.LeaRyan.com
One of the other projects I worked on this week was a map of Fosters Branch. That's the town in the AnnaBeth series. Can you call it a series if it consists of 1.25 books? I didn't have a map of the town when I wrote the first book. I did see the various settings vividly in my mind but as far a a definitive street layout (aside from Havens Path in relation to Java Haus, Reau House, and Perpetual Gardens), well, there wasn't one.
I should have made the map before I wrote the first book. However, I think one could go even further than just creating a map.
Writers sometimes use character worksheets to line up all the traits and such for the people in the story before the writing starts. I've used them before. All the stats are there: height, weight, parents, education, beliefs, etc. The same principle could be applied to a setting.
Maybe like this:
Date or time period founded (for town or country or whatever)
Primary ethnicity
Primary religion
General mood (I believe a place can have a mood)
Weather
Local traditions
Points of interest - bars, museums, churches, meeting places, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc.
* Side note: Hmmm, I listed bars first. What does that say about me?
Prominent local figures and heroes
People who are the subject of gossip and/or scorn
Landscape: hills or flat, farmland or concrete jungle?
Law enforcement presence
I'm not sure what else to add to right now. You probably get the point, regardless.
In other news, I'm still reading American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. It may be one of my most favoritest (yes that was intentional) books ever.
I noticed that he uses imagery that is weirdly similar to mine. I'm not comparing my writing to that of an award-winning world famous author. If all goes as planned, my ego will never spin that far out of control.
But the level of the surrealism reminded me a lot of Babylon Dragon. It's almost like Gaiman is my long lost imagination brother or something. I hope people who read my work don't think I was attempting to emulate him, not that emulating him would be the worst thing in the world. I swear this is the first adult book of his that I've read. I promise.
I think I've gone on long enough, don't you?
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories (free ebook) and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
movies: The Last Airbender
I'm not doing a full review of the movie.
But I do have complaints.
I watched the television show on Nickelodeon from beginning to end. My kids and I love it. The story is interesting; the animation is beautiful; and the characters are well-developed.
We watched the recent movie and I have complaints.
The first thing I noticed was that the children were not Asian. The characters in the cartoon series looked more Asian. I knew the actor playing Aang wasn't going to be Asian before I saw the movie. However, I didn't know they would strip almost every last shred of diversity from the main characters. That was disappointing.
They pronounced the air bender's name differently from the cartoon. His name was pronounced Aang as in 'rang' on the TV show. They kept calling him Aang, as in 'bong'. That bugged the shit out of me. I mean, did Shyamalan even watch one episode of the cartoon series? He should have known better.
The movie was a rehash of part of the cartoon series. I can't tell you how many episodes the movie covered, but I'm going to guess it covered the first half of the series. Anyone who watched the cartoon knew what was going to happen. Why the hell would you make a rerun movie? Really? What a waste of time and money. At least make a prequel. Bring some new material to the table. Add value. Don't just show old stuff in fast forward.
Those are my complaints. I'm not calling this a review but I will give the movie a grade. D-
Bad form.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download (free ebook) of three short stories and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
But I do have complaints.
I watched the television show on Nickelodeon from beginning to end. My kids and I love it. The story is interesting; the animation is beautiful; and the characters are well-developed.
We watched the recent movie and I have complaints.
The first thing I noticed was that the children were not Asian. The characters in the cartoon series looked more Asian. I knew the actor playing Aang wasn't going to be Asian before I saw the movie. However, I didn't know they would strip almost every last shred of diversity from the main characters. That was disappointing.
They pronounced the air bender's name differently from the cartoon. His name was pronounced Aang as in 'rang' on the TV show. They kept calling him Aang, as in 'bong'. That bugged the shit out of me. I mean, did Shyamalan even watch one episode of the cartoon series? He should have known better.
The movie was a rehash of part of the cartoon series. I can't tell you how many episodes the movie covered, but I'm going to guess it covered the first half of the series. Anyone who watched the cartoon knew what was going to happen. Why the hell would you make a rerun movie? Really? What a waste of time and money. At least make a prequel. Bring some new material to the table. Add value. Don't just show old stuff in fast forward.
Those are my complaints. I'm not calling this a review but I will give the movie a grade. D-
Bad form.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download (free ebook) of three short stories and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, January 3, 2011
new years resolution
That time of year is upon us. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s resolution time.
I’m going to try to be a more social creature this year, maybe not avoid conversations or be such a hermit. That's going to be difficult because sometimes, I really just don't want people all up in my grill, especially if they're crazy.
In the last few months especially, I just didn't want people to talk to me. Life is easier that way, when others aren't dumping their insecurities and their drama all over me. I have a low tolerance for nonsense.
Anyway, so I was thinking I could view it as a study in human nature. I write books. I might be able to write characters with even more depth if I have more experience interacting with my fellow man. Like research.
I also plan to eat more vegetables. I suspect that will be easier.
Coming soon to the blog: return of the guest posts and possibly some author interviews. Movie post tomorrow.
_________________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I’m going to try to be a more social creature this year, maybe not avoid conversations or be such a hermit. That's going to be difficult because sometimes, I really just don't want people all up in my grill, especially if they're crazy.
In the last few months especially, I just didn't want people to talk to me. Life is easier that way, when others aren't dumping their insecurities and their drama all over me. I have a low tolerance for nonsense.
Anyway, so I was thinking I could view it as a study in human nature. I write books. I might be able to write characters with even more depth if I have more experience interacting with my fellow man. Like research.
I also plan to eat more vegetables. I suspect that will be easier.
Coming soon to the blog: return of the guest posts and possibly some author interviews. Movie post tomorrow.
_________________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find a download of three short stories and links to my novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)