This weekend, we watched Take Me Home Tonight. How 80s-alicious was that flick? The answer is v-e-r-y.
The movie takes place in the late 80s. Matt (Topher Grace) hears that the girl he crushed on in high school is coming back to town. His twin sister, Wendy (Anna Farris), and his friend Barry (Dan Fogler) convince him that he should ask her out at a Labor Day Party. He starts lying about his job, etc. to impress her and manages to get her attention. Hijinks ensue.
There was nothing exceptional about Take Me Home Tonight. There were a lot of 80s movie clichés, which was probably intentional. It was a bit chick-flick-y and predictable, but it was funny in parts. The soundtrack is rad to the max with 80s hits.
Take Me Home Tonight is ok. It gets a C+ with extra points for having a bangin’ soundtrack.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
making things move
I've been watching a lot of book trailers lately for the work I do on Journey Reader. Some stand out. Others don't.
I have created one book trailer. It was basically some illustrations and words put to music. Nothing dynamic, really. Nothing special about it. Well, maybe the illustrations were special enough to count for something.
I tried my best to keep it from being too powerpointy, but it could have been better. I don't find slideshows all that compelling. Don’t get me wrong, using a slideshow set to music is better than no trailer, for sure.
However, the fact that the trailer has almost no movement to it bothers me. All trailers I do from here on out will probably have some kind of animation to them. I don't mean like Disney style animation, of course, but some movement on the screen is far more preferable to none.
The next book trailer project will be for the annabeth series.
Here's what I'm thinking.
There are some gardens and flowers in the first book so I'm using that. I may also include Poe the crow and maybe Dorian, AB's gray tabby as well.
At the end of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (genius, truly), the credits roll in this frame of flora. As a song is playing, flowers and toadstools and vines are appearing and blooming around the credits. It's very cool. I want to do something like that with the AnnaBeth trailer, but with, you know, my stuff. Mine probably won't be quite that cool because I'm not a professional animator, but one has to try, at least.
You may be asking - didn't she just say she WASN'T doing Disney-style animation? Yes I did. You are right. Technically Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was a Disney production. Award yourself 6 points and eat a cookie. I meant like Cinderella or Lion King kind of animation.
I have never animated anything before, so this should be an interesting learning process. Flash and I will be getting to know eachother better very soon. If I get any preliminary animations going, I will post them, unless they look like crap, in which case you'll never know they existed.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I have created one book trailer. It was basically some illustrations and words put to music. Nothing dynamic, really. Nothing special about it. Well, maybe the illustrations were special enough to count for something.
I tried my best to keep it from being too powerpointy, but it could have been better. I don't find slideshows all that compelling. Don’t get me wrong, using a slideshow set to music is better than no trailer, for sure.
However, the fact that the trailer has almost no movement to it bothers me. All trailers I do from here on out will probably have some kind of animation to them. I don't mean like Disney style animation, of course, but some movement on the screen is far more preferable to none.
The next book trailer project will be for the annabeth series.
Here's what I'm thinking.
There are some gardens and flowers in the first book so I'm using that. I may also include Poe the crow and maybe Dorian, AB's gray tabby as well.
At the end of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (genius, truly), the credits roll in this frame of flora. As a song is playing, flowers and toadstools and vines are appearing and blooming around the credits. It's very cool. I want to do something like that with the AnnaBeth trailer, but with, you know, my stuff. Mine probably won't be quite that cool because I'm not a professional animator, but one has to try, at least.
You may be asking - didn't she just say she WASN'T doing Disney-style animation? Yes I did. You are right. Technically Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was a Disney production. Award yourself 6 points and eat a cookie. I meant like Cinderella or Lion King kind of animation.
I have never animated anything before, so this should be an interesting learning process. Flash and I will be getting to know eachother better very soon. If I get any preliminary animations going, I will post them, unless they look like crap, in which case you'll never know they existed.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, September 19, 2011
movie: Thor
Thor is a movie about a space Viking who is banished to Earth by his father. That’s right. Space. Viking.
So, King Viking Daddy (played by Anthony Hopkins) sends Thor and his hammer off separately. He also strips his son of all his powers. Thor meets an adorable but plain scientist name Jane (Natalie Portman). She is in charge of her own space research team.
While Thor is away, his brother Loki starts causing some trouble back home, as characters named Loki tend to do.
So. There was action. There were many special effects, especially in the scenes depicting Thor’s home planet.
Thor’s character was a little cheesy (really, how could he not be?) and Portman’s character was probably a bit weak, but the movie was good. I will say that it probably could have been shorter. It was almost two hours. A longer movie format is justified for say, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Thor? Maybe not so much.
I would like to see a sequel. Thor gets a B+.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
So, King Viking Daddy (played by Anthony Hopkins) sends Thor and his hammer off separately. He also strips his son of all his powers. Thor meets an adorable but plain scientist name Jane (Natalie Portman). She is in charge of her own space research team.
While Thor is away, his brother Loki starts causing some trouble back home, as characters named Loki tend to do.
So. There was action. There were many special effects, especially in the scenes depicting Thor’s home planet.
Thor’s character was a little cheesy (really, how could he not be?) and Portman’s character was probably a bit weak, but the movie was good. I will say that it probably could have been shorter. It was almost two hours. A longer movie format is justified for say, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Thor? Maybe not so much.
I would like to see a sequel. Thor gets a B+.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Friday, September 16, 2011
Star Trek vs Star Wars
Today I read about William Shatner comparing Star Trek to Star Wars. Of course, Star Trek wins out in his mind because, well, Star Trek is pretty much most of his life. I understand.
I grew up on both Star Wars and Star Trek. I really can’t say that I prefer one over the other. I know there are people out there who feel like they can only like one, like they’ve sworn some kind of nerd allegiance. But I could never choose.
The two series are very, very different. Star Wars is flash and art. Star Trek is/was some flash and art, but it was more human and character driven in my opinion.
Shatner makes some really good points in this article, especially about the female characters in Star Trek. There wasn’t a lot of girl power going on in Star Wars. That situation is a little better now with the Clone Wars animated series but it is still very much a male dominated world.
Here is the article if you would like to give it a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2037981/Star-Trek-supersedes-Star-Wars-level-Captain-Kirk-actor-William-Shatner-weighs-debate-sci-fi-fans.html
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I grew up on both Star Wars and Star Trek. I really can’t say that I prefer one over the other. I know there are people out there who feel like they can only like one, like they’ve sworn some kind of nerd allegiance. But I could never choose.
The two series are very, very different. Star Wars is flash and art. Star Trek is/was some flash and art, but it was more human and character driven in my opinion.
Shatner makes some really good points in this article, especially about the female characters in Star Trek. There wasn’t a lot of girl power going on in Star Wars. That situation is a little better now with the Clone Wars animated series but it is still very much a male dominated world.
Here is the article if you would like to give it a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2037981/Star-Trek-supersedes-Star-Wars-level-Captain-Kirk-actor-William-Shatner-weighs-debate-sci-fi-fans.html
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Thursday, September 15, 2011
thinkin', readin' stuff
I'm on a sort of writing break at the moment. I say sort of because I am writing, I'm just having a bit of trouble deciding which direction I want the story in AnnaBeth2 to go. It took a turn that I hadn't anticipated but totally makes sense. It's a part of the story that will carry over to the final part of the trilogy.
I'm figuring out how to integrate certain details while ratcheting up tension to move toward the end of the book. Basically, I'm spending a lot of time working through various scenarios in my head to decide which will serve the story and AnnaBeth3 the best.
While I'm on semi-hiatus, I started reading two books - Bossypants, by Tina Fey and Empire State of Mind, which is about Jay-Z but not actually written by him. The latter is like an “unauthorized” biography.
I know. Celebrity books. Gag. I can't help it. Even though I prefer not to interact with the majority of the people around me, I still find the lives of others (strangers?) interesting. It might be a writer thing.
Reading these books (at the speed of light because I have stuff to do) has made me realize that memoirs and biographies are excellent ways to learn about creating realistic characters, especially if the goal is to give aforementioned characters a lot of depth. And memoirs are really helpful for learning about people who are nothing like you too.
For instance, let's say I want one of my characters to be an opera singer. What the hell do I know about the motivations of such a person or their obstacles? I don't even like opera. But if I read a Luciano Pavarotti biography or memoir, I bet I will have picked up quite a bit about both him and the opera thing by the end.
Aside from personality traits and career stuff, the reader also gets information about people around them, the culture, the time period, etc.
I'm not saying one should copy all the family and life experiences from memoirs, but spending 300+ pages in someone else's world/head/time can be enlightening.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
I'm figuring out how to integrate certain details while ratcheting up tension to move toward the end of the book. Basically, I'm spending a lot of time working through various scenarios in my head to decide which will serve the story and AnnaBeth3 the best.
While I'm on semi-hiatus, I started reading two books - Bossypants, by Tina Fey and Empire State of Mind, which is about Jay-Z but not actually written by him. The latter is like an “unauthorized” biography.
I know. Celebrity books. Gag. I can't help it. Even though I prefer not to interact with the majority of the people around me, I still find the lives of others (strangers?) interesting. It might be a writer thing.
Reading these books (at the speed of light because I have stuff to do) has made me realize that memoirs and biographies are excellent ways to learn about creating realistic characters, especially if the goal is to give aforementioned characters a lot of depth. And memoirs are really helpful for learning about people who are nothing like you too.
For instance, let's say I want one of my characters to be an opera singer. What the hell do I know about the motivations of such a person or their obstacles? I don't even like opera. But if I read a Luciano Pavarotti biography or memoir, I bet I will have picked up quite a bit about both him and the opera thing by the end.
Aside from personality traits and career stuff, the reader also gets information about people around them, the culture, the time period, etc.
I'm not saying one should copy all the family and life experiences from memoirs, but spending 300+ pages in someone else's world/head/time can be enlightening.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
in which there was Tuesday
Oh my gosh. We have been insanely busy latey. The fact that I have gotten any writing done at all is frigging amazing, seriously.
The boy has boy scouts about one day a week and soccer three days a week.
The girl has cross country and guard, one or the other or sometimes both 5-6 days a week. And the occasional orthodonist or eye doctor appointment.
Plus they both have homework and everything else associated with attending school.
Crazy times. I love to watch the kids compete and perform, etc but getting everywhere we need to be is hectic. The husband keeps track of most of the scheduling and picks up the girl most of the time, which is very helpful. I can't wait until the schedules slow down a bit. That should occur some time in October, I believe.
So I grab writing time where I can. I'm also trying to read 2 books that libraries will expect back at some point. Does anyone have a time machine I can borrow? That wouldhelpsomuch, thank you.
Tomorrow is the one-month anniversary of the Journey Reader launch. I am really pleased with it so far. I can't believe it's only been up and running a month! So far, JR has over 20 authors either already on or plugged into the scheduler for the near future.
Sometimes I worry about running out of people who are willing to promo books there, which is completely silly. I'm currently scheduling November posts because I'm out that far. I've delayed some blog-to-author marketing activities because I know if my inbox gets out of hand, I'm done for. While I love JR, I don't want it to consume my whole life, which it hasn't done, yet.
Anyway, that's all I have for now.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
The boy has boy scouts about one day a week and soccer three days a week.
The girl has cross country and guard, one or the other or sometimes both 5-6 days a week. And the occasional orthodonist or eye doctor appointment.
Plus they both have homework and everything else associated with attending school.
Crazy times. I love to watch the kids compete and perform, etc but getting everywhere we need to be is hectic. The husband keeps track of most of the scheduling and picks up the girl most of the time, which is very helpful. I can't wait until the schedules slow down a bit. That should occur some time in October, I believe.
So I grab writing time where I can. I'm also trying to read 2 books that libraries will expect back at some point. Does anyone have a time machine I can borrow? That wouldhelpsomuch, thank you.
Tomorrow is the one-month anniversary of the Journey Reader launch. I am really pleased with it so far. I can't believe it's only been up and running a month! So far, JR has over 20 authors either already on or plugged into the scheduler for the near future.
Sometimes I worry about running out of people who are willing to promo books there, which is completely silly. I'm currently scheduling November posts because I'm out that far. I've delayed some blog-to-author marketing activities because I know if my inbox gets out of hand, I'm done for. While I love JR, I don't want it to consume my whole life, which it hasn't done, yet.
Anyway, that's all I have for now.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Monday, September 12, 2011
movie: The Gathering
The Gathering stars Christina Ricci as Cassie. A woman driving her car hits Cassie and ends up taking her home, because that’s what you do with strangers who might have negative feelings about the fact that you struck them with your vehicle.
Luckily for the rich lady, Cassie is not a psychopath. She suffers from amnesia and ends up staying with them for a while.
Cassie starts hearing things and having nightmares. The little boy who lives in the house has nightmares and hears things as well and she comforts him while she tries to figure out the deeper meaning behind the mysterious happenings.
Meanwhile, the rich husband is involved with some archaeological work for the church. They’ve unearthed that they believe is a church in a hillside. The statues and some reliefs on a wall depict a scene that they determine is an account of the crucifixion by people who witnessed it firsthand.
Sounds exciting, right?
The Gathering has a really interesting concept. Unfortunately the story moves agonizingly slow. What could have been fascinating and action packed ends up dragging. There is something about it that feels undeveloped or…something. The Gathering gets a C.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Luckily for the rich lady, Cassie is not a psychopath. She suffers from amnesia and ends up staying with them for a while.
Cassie starts hearing things and having nightmares. The little boy who lives in the house has nightmares and hears things as well and she comforts him while she tries to figure out the deeper meaning behind the mysterious happenings.
Meanwhile, the rich husband is involved with some archaeological work for the church. They’ve unearthed that they believe is a church in a hillside. The statues and some reliefs on a wall depict a scene that they determine is an account of the crucifixion by people who witnessed it firsthand.
Sounds exciting, right?
The Gathering has a really interesting concept. Unfortunately the story moves agonizingly slow. What could have been fascinating and action packed ends up dragging. There is something about it that feels undeveloped or…something. The Gathering gets a C.
_________________________
Hey, want some free reading? Check out the fiction freebie page on this very blog!
There you shall find links to two free ebooks on Smashwords and novel excerpts on Scribd.
Other places to find me:
http://www.LeaRyan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeaRyan1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)