Gloria Oliver's Blog, page 100

Mind Sieve 8/27/12

Welcome back!
Good to see you. :)







Red Dawn Official Trailer - looks like they're doing a remake of the 1984 Classic! (For SPN fans - Both Jessica and Papa Winchester are in this one.:P)

Judge Dredd Preview - this is going to be fun!


And speaking of fun - The Man With The Iron Fists trailer.


Silver Linings Playbook Trailer. Looks too cute! And weird! Yay!
Spy Ships - Behind The USS Liberty Incident from Jay Holmes at Piper Bayard's Blog.






Reviewing Reviewing: What Do Authors Want? by Elizabeth K Burton.

Bookstores vs Backlist: A New Decision from Jamie Gold.






When Writing Is A Juggling Act by Stephanie Nickle.

Ask A Writer: "How Do I Write What The Audience Wants To Read?" from Chuck (NSFW) Wendig. Tell it, Brother!


May your week be filled with awesomeness!

Virtual Tourist - Star Wars The Old Republic 8/26/12

Life has taken a major chaotic leap this week, but let's see what I have to torture you with. :P

The Republic
My Jedi Consular
Belsavis



If you click for the larger version you can see how nasty this horned beast looks. Eek!

Aha! Looks like we've finally discovered the source of heat for the tropical areas.

Some small, but nifty, waterfalls


Why yes, there were things inside these we now have to deal with. Heh

The tunnel just had a cool look.

A hopefully closer look at the horned beasts.

Nasty robot in our way to one of our goals.

The conversation with the fellow at this section was bizarre! lol. Really had to think to make out what he was saying. Heh heh

Doh! Forgot to take off the UI
The EmpireImperial SpyNar Shadaa - Got sent back here again. Some bonus quests and main story line. I'm about to become a double agent. Hee!

Weird looking lamp.

The look and feel of this area gave me a sense of a jungle though there were no plants here. 

These light frisbees were popping up here and there. I've no idea what they are for. They said Point Of Interest but had nothing to click on or do. 

I adore the neon in this place. 


New pet! He's adorable! (And a little creepy) :)


Ah yes, a touch of home there in the back. 

The Holocron we'd picked up when playing Republic side now picked up by my Imp. YES! Cunning +3 (Though I did get cooked the first time. Have to pick the right code. Doh!) X 1956 Y 3271 Z -1591


New side mission for all levels. Alien race wanting volunteers to do a scavenger hunt for artifacts. 


Did I mention I really like the neon? Heh

Police car. Lights flashing and everything. lol.
Hope we get to play today to have some pics for next week pre-scheduled since next week is Animefest. Wish me luck! :)

Movie Review - ParaNorman

ParaNorman




Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elain Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodele Ferland, Tempest Bledssoe, John Goodman, Alex Borstein, and more...

Directed by: Chris Butler and Same Fell Written by: Chris Butler Cinematography by: Tristan Oliver Original Music by: Jon Brion

Premise: Norman can see and talk to ghosts, but his family doesn't believe him and the kids at school think he's a freak. Then he meets his reclusive uncle, who tells Norman he has a duty he has to take on - keeping the witch asleep so she won't raise the dead. Except the instructions Norman gets from him aren't complete and he's not able to figure out what to do before the dead rise from their graves! (Rated PG)

Review:

1) Voice Acting - Total Thumbs Up: All the voice actors were great. Kudos to Kodi Smit-McPhee and Tucker Albrizi for their portrayals of Norman and Neal. Yet the most fun came from some of the side actors, like Tempestt Bledsoe. Her character, Sheriff Hooper, was quite funny.


2) Artwork/Animation - Total Thumbs Up: "ParaNorman" is the work of Laika Entertainment. I'd originally thought the film was purely CGI art, but it was more than that. "ParaNorman" is actually a work of stop motion photography! Each of the puppets has an inner metal skeleton to help pose the puppet for each frame. The official website stated that just the zombies rising from the grave scene took a year to film. Dang.

Add to the great puppetry some beautifully and super detailed sets as well as added special effects, and the results are quite amazing. There were many, very well done, visual gags that added a lot of flavor to the film.


3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: While the main gist of the story was predictable, there were still several surprises in the plot. These surprises made for nice plot twists and take the story in a direction at several places that the audience will not anticipate but totally appreciate.

There was a lot of subtle humor sprinkled throughout the film. The scene with the man waiting for his chips to come out of the vending machine then seeing the zombies coming for him and his reaction to the situation was hilarious. There were also several in-jokes to give more fun to the adults. The Scooby Doo reference made me laugh out loud it was so unexpected. Homage was even given to the old black and white monster movies, the lettering styles and posters very much like those in that era. One of the sneakiest jokes was about the Puritan zombies and their seeing a poster for a witch casino, advertising all the vices they'd come to the new world to get away from. By seeing such a thing in the middle of their town, I am sure they felt cursed indeed.

Conclusion: A fun movie with plenty of fodder for the adults as well as the kids. The few gross moments will definitely give the kids a nice thrill.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Matinee Price)

Picture Kaleidoscope 8/22/12

Got a new phone and the skies were talking to me again. Heh heh.


Looks sharper than the old phone's pics. No? Heh heh

Hm, the pic didn't quite show what I was seeing.

A field of fluffy clouds! So cottony. :)

Professional Wedding Photos from PoetRafoto. From Indonesia! 
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Amazing Photos of Large Scale Snow Art Created by One Man's Feet from PetaPixel. Dang. Just dang!
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The Vital Link Between Emotions and Creativity in Photography by Ross Jukes at PetaPixel.
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This Photo Won The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2012 from PetaPixel.



Till next time!

Mind Sieve 8/20/12

Another Monday!!!! Will we survive?!







The Colors of Evil - and adorable short film by Phillip Simon and Alyse Miller. What fun!


One Direction - One Thing Parody from The Key of Awesome


The Citadel Trailer - looks like a super creepy horror film. Eek!


The Moth Diaries Trailer - more horror spooky stuff.


"Partysaurus Rex" Toy Story Toon Preview. Old bubble bath time! Woot!


Hit And Run Official Trailer - car chases and comedy! 







"I Tried FaceBook, It Didn't Work" and Other Ways Authors Mistake Social Media For Publicity from We Grow Media.

An Author Platform Built On SPAM is Doomed to Fail from Kristen Lamb.






The Importance Of Reading The Fine Print from The Writer's Guide To E Publishing.

From Chuck (NSFW) Wendig - 25 Things You Should Know About Metaphor



As always, I hope ya'll have an awesome week!

Virtual Tourist - Secret World and Star Wars The Old Republic 8/19/12

Morning!
Let's do this thing!

Secret World

You have to enlarge it to see it, but something really weird seems to be going on in room 13. o.O


I have to say this games seems to do creepy rather well. No?

I think she gave me a pic of this thing once before. Impressive, isn't he?



I smell a trap...

Mr. Creepy is in front of that tree. Eek!

Dilapidated mansion at the end of the lane...yeah, that can't be good.

Creepy bird on a creepy bridge. Uh huh.



Love the chairs!! And is she Yoda's cousin? Heh heh


Yeah, a full moon, ruins, and a glowing mystic looking person - can't be good news. :P

Beware of Dog

Dead bodies. Never a good sign

Weird windmill.

Okay, downright creepy windmill. Heh heh


Star Wars The Old Republic

Republic Side - Jedi Consular

Belsavis


Still in Belsavis. Still freaks me out how parts are jungle and other are frozen wastelands. 

Getting into the areas with the older architecture that's thousands of years old.


That's one huge and impressive room, no?



Just look at those pillars!

One of the ancient alien race I've been looking for. 

He's been helping me from behind the scenes to find those I am looking for. There are different factions running around though.

Love the look of these room. The chambers kept those of the super old race in stasis, but their minds remained active. Evil way to incarcerate people. Brrrrr.





I have more but didn't want to flood the blog. Lol. Will be sure to post next time. :P

Movie Review - The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy



Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weiz, Edward Norton, Zeljko Ivanek, Stacy Keach, Scott, Glenn, Rachel Black, and more.

Directed by: Tony Gilroy Story by: Tony Gilroy Screenplay by: Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy Inspired by: Robert Ludlum's Bourne Series Cinematography by: Robert Elswit Original Music by: James Newton Howard

Premise: As several government agencies try to cut off all possible connections with several other agencies due to exposure of their underhanded dealings by Jason Bourne, Aaron Cross finds himself being targeted for termination along with all the other agents who've undergone special training and DNA modification. Escaping with the use of the very skills they want to kill him for having, he needs to find help as the drugs keeping him who he is today slowly work out of his system. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: I first became aware of Jeremy Renner in the short lived series "The Unusuals", so I was quite eager to see what he would make of Aaron Cross. He did not disappoint. Rachel Weiz was a great foil for Mr. Renner's character as Dr. Marta Shearing. Her reactions were believable and her shock at events and trying to deal with them very vivid when creating a contrast against Aaron Cross's calm demeanor to such life changing events. With Edward Norton, and his awesome portrayal of the unscrupulous Eric Byer, a great dynamic, three dimensional story arises.

2) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: Since this film is a side story born of the Bourne Series, concurrent events precipitating the cause for the troubles of Aaron Cross and Marta Shearing get shown in glimpses throughout different parts of the film. If you've watched the series, you'll feel an immediate connection as these scenes are shown. For those who've not watched any of the previous Bourne films, it might be a little difficult since some of the context is lost, but shouldn't impact the enjoyment of the film overall.

While there were no real big surprises in the plot, there were a lot of minor bits that were. Dr. Shearing's realistic reactions to the stressful and unusual situations she finds herself in covered several of these surprising bits. Also the real reason Aaron Cross loves the program so much, and what he will lose if he can't get more the medications that are part of the special agents's regimen. Plus a few others.

And with the addition of seeing behind the scenes through Mr. Norton's character, the film had more depth and a greater dynamic, that complimented the film overall.


3) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Since Jeremy Renner proves quite capable of pulling off the physical part of his role, the use of the shaky cam, which has increased in usage over each of the Bourne films, was kept mostly to a minimum. I was very happy about this, as too much shaky cam usage tends to dilute the action scenes, plus it also make it difficult for some people to watch. (On the last Bourne film, "The Bourne Ultimatum", I probably watched a whole ten to fifteen minutes of content out of the two hours because it made me ill to look at it.)

The film is full of great chases - some with vehicles and some without. My favorite was the long chase in Manila. There was a very cool, multi-dimensional aspect to the foot chase, which was inspired. Really well done.

4) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Several long camera sweeps proved incredible in setting the tone and utter bleakness of a couple of locations. While a lot of the camera work pulled back on the training area for Cross, this was turned the other way during their stay in Manila. There the camera work was very close, weaving with the characters through the narrow streets, only at times pulling back and showing the vast amount of people in the very active city for the second, concurrent chase occurring over the rooftops. Very nice!

Conclusion: A well executed film with loads, and loads of action. Make sure your bladder is empty because in the film's last twenty minutes you will not want or be able to leave your seat.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Picture Kaleidoscope 8/15/12

Howdy!


Burning Inspirations 2011 from FirebirdImages.com New photographer site for Bobby Hitt. I adore his logo! So if you need a photographer in the Dallas/Ft Worth Area...
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Curious Photos of Headless People from Lee Materazzi at PetaPixel.

City Point by JZA Photography

The Schmalouse by Alex Noriega at Earthshots.org.

Disappearing People Pictures by Wilma Hurskainen at Trend Hunter

Running so very late today! Eek!

Mind Sieve 8/13/12

Welcome!







New Simon's Cat! Ready, Steady, Slow! (You might need to watch it more than once just to see what all the characters do. lol)


Droidfriend - Justin Bieber Parody from Teddie Films. Too cute!

First Photos From Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing from Tor.com

Too CUTE!!!!! Dr Whooves - If the 10th Doctor was a My Little Pony. How evil! lol


Sight - a short film by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo. Make sure to watch all the way to the end. You won't be sorry. Gave me chills.

Premium Rush Trailer 2 - looks insane! lol. 


Deadfall Trailer - looks mighty weird.


The Awakening Official Trailer 2012 - Hmmm this could be fun.







How To Legally Use Your Own Photos In Your Blog from Marcy Kennedy. (The big hot button topic lately!)

Author Platform Lessons From #1 New York Best Seller Rebecca Skloot from We Grown Media.






25 Ways To Survive As A Creative Person from Chuck (NSFW) Wending.

Pros And Cons Of Small Presses by Jessica Knauss at Rachelle Gardner's Blog. (From my personal experience, good small publishers pay better rates than NY. But you do have to work more for it.) :P


May you have an awesome week!

Virtual Tourist - Star Wars The Old Republic 8/12/12

This one will be short and brutal. No pics from the daughter for Secret World and the SWTOR launcher went buggy on me. Tried all the ways to fix it as recommended on the help pages, which didn't work, and now have to wait for customer support. Wah!


Imperial Spy - ship above Artus


This part of the Imperial Spy chapters was brutal. This Sith would not die. After I did finally wear him down once, I found out you had to do it multiple times as your backup tried to take over internal shielding to eventually trap him like this. I hate to think about the number of times I died. But now it's DONE! Bwahahahaha!

This seemed like an awfully dangerous thing to have running on the bridge. 

Part of the Artus's ship reactor.

Messing this up blew up the ship, but the Sith still escape. (He'd faked his death, enslaved survivors, and planted terrorist cells to try get rid of the Dark Council. He had his own ideas about things, this guy. Tsl tsk.)

Felt so very good to be back among the faithful and true!

Had to go back to the home planet to report. What a sight for sore eyes. 
Wish me luck with getting my launcher fixed! (Also just heard the MMO is going free to play. Hmmm)
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