Pat Griffith's Blog, page 10

Called It!

In my post from Feb 2nd I talked about my love for Grimlock and made a prediction about Transformers 4.

And quote:

"PREDICTION: Most likely Bay will use the Dinobots as a brute squad so there won't be much talking. Which is unfortunate. Will there be nod to Jurassic Park, Day of the Dinosaurs? Hmm..."

Admittedly, most Michael Bay movies are just one brute squad versus another but yes, the dinobots grunted, roared, spit fire, chomped things in half and not much more.

Part two, a JP nod, maybe. Kind of. Suspiciously similar.but probably now.

I will post my review of the movie next week so I can do spoilers. But I will say that Revenge of the Fallen is still the worst of them and Transformers: The Movie circa 1986 is still the best one.

Tell the FCC What You Think

Normally, I don't get involved in politics or activism of any kind but when President Obama appoints a former cable executive as the new head of the FCC I have to say something.

The internet is the one place that is a level playing field for everyone. If these laws get passed because Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T are throwing millions of dollars into lobbying, those glory days are over.

If you get angry or passionate about one this this week, let it be this.
http://www.fcc.gov/comments

Memorial Day Giveaway

THANK YOU
to the 1,800+ people who downloaded my book and all the people who posted it on their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

A special shout out to all 91 of my new readers in Germany!

If any you feel inclined to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads I would really appreciate it. Welcome to a great summer everyone!

Learn Something New Today

Once upon a time I had no TV so I listened to the radio instead. That is is when I found this American Life, A.K.A. my favorite radio show.
The episode was "Americans In Paris." And I have been hooked ever since. Ira Glass and his team have given the world some of the most inspiring and fascinating  stories. I tell their stories to other people all the time.

The world is such a fascinating place full of interesting people and TAL goes after it with zeal and compassion. I am not doing it justice. Just go check it out. If you get the chance to see it live, do it!

Some favorite episodes include, but not limited to:
~Fiasco
~10 Commandments
~Superpowers
~Secret Worlds
~24 Hours at the Golden Apple
~Three Kinds of Deception
~Poultry Slam (all of them) A close runner up, but only because it's newer, is Radiolab.
Radiolab is the first place I learned about the field of science called Emergence. Even you don't like science you will like this show. The hosts Jad and Robert are a lot of fun to listen to and the people that talk to are amazing.

Some favorite episodes include, but not limited to:
~Laughter
~Unraveling Ravel
~Color
~Yellow Fluff and Other Curious Encounters
~Apocalyptical - Live from the Paramount in Seattle Click on the pictures to be taken to their websites and start exploring.
Daily RNR

Let the Games Begin!

When writing a fight scene or battle sequence you have to make sure you know where everyone is. Hence all these game pieces have come together to help make sure my fight scene will make sense and work.

Since this is for Linchpin I had to keep things vague, don't want to give anything away. =D

Operation Don't Be a Fool - SUCCESS

Optimus Prime says, "Job well done." My recent giveaway resulted in 1200 downloads!

That is way more than I had hoped for so thank you to all my new readers and and followers on Twitter for the retweets.

If any of you who got a copy could leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads when you are done I would greatly appreciate it.

Check out my Linchpin page for a preview of the next book, in progress as we speak. My target release date is March 2015.

For more info on my aliens visit the government agency that protects them.
Department of Planetary Affairs

Thanks for an amazing two days interweb!

Don't Be a Fool

Don't let Optimus done. He's counting on you. For TWO DAYS only, Trespassing will be FREE on Kindle. Don't miss this opportunity to get your action/adventure scifi fix.

Underworld mobsters, nanobots, teleportation, and paintball.

For more on my aliens visit the government agency that protects them.
Department of Planetary Affairs.

Character Spotlight - Agent Ian Reynolds

This character spotlight is little different from the others. I break the fourth wall to talk about process a little bit.

This quote here, that I lifted from Writer.ly's Facebook page reminded me that in the beginning, Ian Reynolds was not the young, aspiring FBI agent we see in world of the DPA. When he first appeared in my mind he was a mechanic on an intergalactic space transport ship.

Ian was part of a crew of seven that transported cargo and people from planet to planet as a paid service. They also had a doctor and diplomat. If that somehow sounds familiar to you, don't get your brown coat all bunched, this was 1990, long before Firefly would come blazing into this world and burn up in the atmosphere we will call Fox.

These guys were a little different. First of all, they were totally legal and above board on everything. They wore matching uniforms. Their ship was more akin to the Enterprise than the Falcon in terms of cleanliness. They were not all the same species either. Suffice it to say the storyline never went anywhere. However, so far, three characters from that reality have found new life in my other stories.

Ian being one of them. [His fellow FBI agent, Miranda Grant is also from the same ship. They both live again in Book Zero of my series, Fallout. Ian will be returning in Book Two: Linchpin (currently under reconstruction.)] The name, Ian, I borrowed from a guy I knew at the time. Ian, the character, shared the same color and style of haircut as his namesake. Because of Ian's encounter with Elbie went bad, real bad, he has been stuck, mentally in that time period, so the haircut has remained unchanged this whole time.

Ian, the intergalactic mechanic, and Ian, the aspiring agent, have the same personality as well. Very talky, outgoing, a little bit flirty, freaks out under stress. The bummer is that in Trespassing we don't get to see this side of him. He has been damaged by his first encounter with the Elbie in Fallout. So while life at the DPA has been good from him, he gets a "life" it is a very different life than what he was originally created for. Despite the uniqieness of his situation with the DPA he has a happy and fulfilling existence.

As writer I sometimes think about my unused characters from stories that never went anywhere, or were ultimately edited out. I think they live their lives free and independent of me and they are there if I need them for something new. Sometimes when I do call upon them they have grown and changed just like long lost friends do too. A writer's life is full of wonder and strangeness.

Movie Reviews Circa 2005-2007

I keep all my movie tickets and use them as time stamps for my scrapbooks. In one scrapbook I decided to write reviews. Some of them are pretty funny so I decided to share them with the interweb. There are a lot so I have given you only the best ones, copied exactly as I wrote them.

    “War of the Worlds”
A good, modern adaption of a classic. It’s a little sappy on the family heartache blah, blah, blah. The scariest part is the horrid noise the machines make.  Even with crazy Cruise as the star, it’s stiall a great summer blackbuster. Go Steven Spielberg.

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    “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”
Star power could not save this movie. Unhappy people with guns should have never gotten married. It was a desperate hour that brought me to this theater.

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     “Brothers Grimm”
What starts as a good idea ends in a stupid screenplay (see Waterworld.) Oddly, I still have an unexplained interest in seeing it again. Those sneaky expectations win again.

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     “Wallace and Gromitt”
The land of our forefathers has mostly terrible food but this is made up for by their sense of humor. W & G deserve our fullest attention and all our devotion that could possibly be commanded by the extensive use of Playdo.

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    “Legend of Zorro”
“America’s first superhero.” Played by people who aren’t even citizens. As far as sequels go, not bad at all. It’s fun and has a good soundtrack. Sword fights and outrageous stunts, where’s the popcorn.

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    “Chicken Little”
How can you resist that over sized head? You can’t! Give in to the power of Disney just this one more time. No songs, so that’s a plus. The end took me by surprise and I like that. I wouldn’t buy it but it’s worth renting.

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    “King Kong”
Over advertised and over the op in the way Hollywood could do it. And three hours of your life. And yet...I love it. The dinosaur stampeded is one of the most amazing things I ever saw. If you have the chance to see it on the big screen, do.

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    “Aeon Flux”
BRILLANT is the light of the sun
ASTOUNDING is the diversity of life on Earth
OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET, any corporation about their customer base.
Duped again. I didn’t like the cartoon WHY would I like the movie. Damn you marketing department.

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    “X-Men 3”
Totally different from the previous two with the bonus of killing off the most annoying X-Man of the whole lot to boot. The total destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Awesome.

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    “Nacho Libre”
A crushing disappointment om the theater but as a DVD it outshines the competition. Like a good cheese that ages well, tastes better, and smells stronger.  Breathe it in! “Get that corn outta my face!”

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    “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”
What can I say about the year’s highest grossing sequel? If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. So...

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    “Children of Men”
Gently set this book down and go rent this movie. It makes you think and it’s really awesome. Great cast and amazing story line. When you’re done go read “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood.

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    “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”
Another victim of its own immensity. Somehow better than the second one. A few good twists, but some really unneeded antics. Johnny is awesome but do we really needs multiples of him? Not as Jack.

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    “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Also known as “The slightly better Four.” With all the introductions cut out, the second one tends to be more interesting. Or at least slightly more interesting.

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    “I Am Legend”
Intense!
I needed a good laugh after all of that, man. Weird God theme, but highly entertaining. Do not watch its predecessor “Omega Man.” This is the good one.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’ll write more about I Am Legend next time. There you go. I hope you enjoyed this little trip back to the past.

Just the Facts

Today I had the opportunity to share about my book on West Coast Live. The host, Sedge, has questions about how the Elibe work. Some of the most common questions I get from people are about the Elbie. So far it seems my readers fall into two camps, one group that is interested in the aliens and the other is interested in Lysandra & Esben. If there are any other groups out there I would love to hear from you.

So since these stories exist to show how Elbie interact with people I thought I would just give you a quick reference guide. If you have any follow up questions please send me an e-mail or find me on Twitter.
The Basics
Elbie=LB=lightning bug, for the light they emit. Elbie are a form of pure energy not native to Earth.

Elbie can transfer from human to human easily. An Elbie will switch hosts many times until they find a person that they can work with.

Elbie can inhabit any person but not every person is compatible.

Usually Elbie stay in the brain where there's the most electrical activity but they can stay in any part of the body.

Anyone can be a host, but the chances are slim. There are 89 designations in one collective and 6 billion+ humans. We know of 3 collectives.

Elbie do not have any religious beliefs of their own.

Elbie are not good or evil. They do not have morality.

Elbie do not have personalities. They conform to the disposition of their host and may carry residual traits from their last host.

Elbie do not have emotions. They can experience the emotions of their host and in some cases may influence emotions.

Elbie do not have personal names, they go by their designation in the hierarchy. Some choose to adopt the name of their host.

Elbie have no way of holding memory on their own. Only with a host can they recall impressions of their past.

Some Elbie have been on Earth for hundreds of years and have had many hosts.

Being A Good Host
As a host you would have better subconscious awareness.

As a host you can get deep restful sleep while still being fully aware of your surroundings.

Being a host would not increase your intelligence just the ability to use your brain to its highest potential.

When you're a host you may experience memories, cravings, or interests that you didn't have before, these are from your Elbie's prior host.

Hosts can experience increased physical strength, accelerated healing, and improved cognitive function. Effects will vary.

If their host is feeling tired an Elbie can give them a controlled boost of adrenaline for extra energy.

A host's body temperature is a few degrees higher than a non-host.

Elbie can help with your metabolism, thyroid, insulin, serotonin, anything related to the endocrine system. Increase white blood cells too.

To accelerate healing Elbie travel along the nervous system to the wound, speed up cellular growth while activating the proper chemical mix.

Elbie can signal to your body to create more white blood cells or antibodies to preempt sickness.

Most people can only handle 1 Elbie at a time. Some people can carry 2 but it is much more straining.

Elbie can also be like an internal health monitor that can make adjustments when needed to keep body temperature and chemicals in balance.

Being a host is like having a co-pilot in your head but since they don't get human behavior most of them make terrible wingmen.

Re: Elbie as wingman. Elbie can help a host out by producing extra pheromones that would make their host seem more attractive.

Code of Conduct
Elbie who work with the DPA agree to a strict code of conduct when dealing with their hosts and non-hosts.

Elbie under the COC will relinquish control if the host wants it at any time. Elbie are the guest, the host is doing the Elbie a favor.

Elbie under the COC agree to share control with their host. Decisions are mutually agreed upon between the person and the Elbie.

Elbie under the COC agree to stay with one host. They will not transfer to another person, even if temporarily, without notification to us.

The Elbie COC dictates an Eblie must have explicit permission to transfer to another human for any reason.

This Code of Conduct cannot be enforced outside of the DPA but we do ask all registered hosts to consider adopting it for their own safety.