Gloria Oliver's Blog, page 31

March 21, 2016

Mind Sieve 3/21/16

Going to be a short post today! 


X-men Apocalypse Official Trailer - should be a ton of fun!


Ben-Hur Official Trailer #1 - bringing back and old sucker for a remake. Could be good!


Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Official Trailer #1 - okay, this looks fun!
Okay, have a great week!
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Published on March 21, 2016 05:21

March 20, 2016

Virtual Tourist - Final Fantasy XIV 3/20/16

Morning! Running late! Rush rush rush!Final Fantasy XIV Chocobo Farm outside of New Gridania. Lovely building! Love how they built the fortified gates into the side of the stone mountain/cliff. Such lovely architecture! So many lovely little touches. Swoon! Inside the same building. Really lovely. All the stone carvings and metal brackets. Squee! Are these not the cutest things EVER?! :)
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Published on March 20, 2016 07:30

March 16, 2016

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/16/16

Morning!Going to be a quick post today. :)
ChibiChains - super small earrings My daughter does chainmail jewelry. She created these two pairs this week. She's upped her game. These are made with super tiny rings! Aren't they gorgeous? Blows my mind. :)
IMG_2941We have a red leafed tree in our yard. It goes through a transition very fast once it flowers. It's so quick, I've missed it before. :P Thought I would share three different moments from 2016 so you can see what it does. I LOVE the cute little blossoms. :)IMG_2953The in between stage - half flowers half leaves.
IMG_2956The final stage - mostly leaves. :) And all this before spring is even officially here! 
Have an awesome day!
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Published on March 16, 2016 05:18

March 15, 2016

AllCon 3/17-3/20/16

This upcoming Thursday through Sunday ChibiChains and I will be at AllCon! AllCon Dallas Here's a little info on what AllCon is about:
Imagine a 4-day festival where a person could sample and participate in the finest content that many different communities and conventions have to offer. All-Con fills the entire venue with exhibits, workshops, discussions, game shows, performances, and competitions. The selection of activities changes every hour from the start of the day until 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.All-Con offers the core structure expected of most conventions. The vendor room and exhibit halls have 80 booths and tables.With over 300 different choices to offer in one weekend, All-Con has a set of headlining features around which the convention is constructed each year. Thursday is our free day, open to the public. The traditional Cosplay competition and Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow casting performance are Friday. Saturday has a ball jointed doll mini-con, Ms. Star Wars pageant, Maid contest, Texas Hold'em poker tournament, Costume contest, professional burlesque performance, and a themed dance. Sunday's signature is an overall super hero theme, ending with the Super Hero Sunday competition.The rest of the two hundred and ninety-plus events are a combination of All-Con supplied content (like our many game shows throughout the weekend), performances hired by the convention, and a recipe of the best community run features that change year-to-year.
Featured guests this year are:Brian Muir (created Darth Vader's original armor from Ralph McQuarrie's concept sketches)
Gigi Edgley (Chiana from Farscape)
Paul Blake (Greedo from Star Wars: A New Hope)
Chuck Huber (Dr. McCoy on Star Trek Continues and voice actor for SyFy and Cartoon Network)
Tim Lawrence (Ghostbusters I & II; puppeteer and modeler; Academy Awarded team member)
Russ Adams (Jim Henson's Creature Shop)
Neil Kaplan (Optimus Prime and hundreds more animated characters)
Michael H. Price (Founding President of Fort Worth Film Festival and owner and lead author of the longest-running film-study franchise in commercial publishing)
Marshall Barnes (global leader in time transverse technology application and currently speaking on real world mechanics for a functioning warp drive)
Payton Schmall (Cosplay Guest of honor)
Jessica Van Braun (Artist Guest of Honor)
Damsels of Dorkington (Performance Guests celebrating their 2016 reunion!)You can get the full scoop at All-Con.org.Hope to see you all there!
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Published on March 15, 2016 05:00

March 14, 2016

Mind Sieve 3/14/16

Another MONDAY!



Fan Fun
Captain America: Civil War Official Trailer #2 - huh, not especially excited as to where this seems to be going. *pout*  (And no, it has nothing to do with Spidey. Ironman calling him Underoos? Priceless! lmao)
Hardcore Henry Official Trailer - love the concept, but probably will have to skip it. Looks like a motion sickness nightmare for me. :P

Black Road Official Trailer - Sci-Fi thriller. Looks bizarre!



Social Media/Author Platform Pinterest Promoted Pins Open For All: This Week in Social Media by Grace Duffy at the SocialMediaExaminer. The bit about Pinterest was weird to me. The stuff has been available to me for a long time. There are bonuses for signing up for stuff early! :) Still, there's so much out there! 
 



Writing Advice How to Weave Story Elements and Avoid Info Dumps by Jami Gold. Great post!
 
 Self-Care for Writers by Jami Gold. (Yeppers! Double the Jami today! She's been on a roll!) :) Lots of great advice here. :)



 Good luck this week! (and every week.) :)
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Published on March 14, 2016 04:00

March 13, 2016

Virtual Tourist - TERA 3/13/16

Morning!
Haven't had a chance to play more Grim Fandango and wanted to give you a break from FF XIV, so here's pics I still hadn't shared from the TERA MMO. :)TERA
Southerns Arun
Ostgarath
Fyrmount Not a happy looking place, is it? :P Neat bridge! Our white tiger mounts, Love them fuzzy wuzzies! Crystal flowers! That's one scary looking rock formation! This NPC has class! Love her outfit!  Let the lava flow! So many mouths! So many teeth! She looks nasty too! Closeup on the lava. Not a friendly looking place. Bad things have happened here. Doh!

Castanica Some nice looking player clothing and armor. :)
Have a great day!
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Published on March 13, 2016 08:29

March 11, 2016

Movie Review - London Has Fallen

London Has Fallen



Starring: Gerard Butler, Alon Aboutboul, Waleed Zuaiter, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Morgan Freeman, Mehdi Dehbi, Colin Salmon, Jackie Earle Haley, Charlotte Riley, and many more.Directed by: Babak Najafi Screenplay by: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast, and Chad St. John Story by: Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt Cinematography by: Ed Wild Music by: Trevor MorrisPremise: With his wife pregnant and the baby almost due, Mike Banning is seriously considering leaving the secret service. Before he can send his resignation, he's called back from vacation when the unexpected death of the Prime Minister forces the White House to make hasty plans to attend the funeral. Unfortunately, someone circuitously arranged the death in order to get the world's top leaders in the same city to enact their revenge for a drone strike two years before. Once again, Mike must do his utmost to keep the President of the United States alive and in one piece even as London falls around them. (Rated R)Review:1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Gerard Butler reprises his role as tough secret service agent Mike Banning. It is lots of fun watching him go from easy going, worried parent to be, to cold and efficient secret service agent. Alon Aboutboul treads the line nicely between monster and wronged parent. Waleed Zuaiter also gives a good performance as the spearhead of his father's revenge. Aaron Eckhart has some lovely repartee with Gerard Butler and eloquently shows his civilian, father, and president faces, even digging deep to emulate the calm of those trying to protect him. Wished they'd done a little more with Colin Salmon though - have been loving his work on the TV series Limitless. :)2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: There are a ton of special effects in the film. London has explosions at multiple locations - so they get to destroy several historical parts of the city (and it's not even Dr. Who or Christmas!). :P Most of the explosions were nicely done. A lot of the collateral damage from the concussions blasts was very well done.  Showing us several of the locations at the end undergoing "repairs" was a nice touch and added to the believability factor.A ton of bullets fly in all manner of places. Grenades, rocket launches, stinger missiles, and more make an appearance. There are chase scenes on foot, in vehicles, with motorcycles - and close up fights inside buildings - all of them with bullets flying everywhere!The helicopter scenes were also quite nice. Can't say too much though. Wouldn't want to spoil the fun. :)3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: This is an action and shoot 'em up film so you shouldn't expect too much from the plot. They did set it up nicely - giving some backstory on the bad guys to justify the extremes taken (even if it was rather cliche). (Amazing how it's okay to do things to others, but suddenly it's bad when it happens to you!) They gave us a look at Mike's normal life and his relationship with the president so we got a feel for them as people (and also eliminates the need to have seen the first film to enjoy this one). They even put Mike at a crossroads as he's trying to figure out what he should do now that he's about to become a parent for the first time. (This makes for a lovely and touching scene with the president deep in the film.) Family, parenting, and choices are big themes in the film.The setup and execution of the Big Plan seemed well thought out. You have to love it when the mastermind is surprised when things actually go his way on almost all counts. :) (Most real plans hardly ever go off without a hitch.) :P There were other little details that were subtle but well thought out and gave some heft to the story (like the French President purposely delaying his arrival as a small political slight to the Brits - not that it helped him any!) And some actually funny moments - as the characters attempt to defuse the seriousness of their situation.The only hang ups for me were the population and possibly the depth of the infiltration. Some of the cops and other service people could have been easily inserted with the proper uniforms and fake IDs (something the mole had access to) especially as an occasion such as this would have brought many precincts together that would not necessarily know each other. But the infiltration of men into the Queen's Guard was harder to swallow.The city of London is a super crowded metropolis - one which would have had tens of thousands of people crowding the streets for blocks around for the funeral.  Yet they seemed to disappear rather quickly, despite the fact rapid transit had no power and most would have been stuck there with no place to go except the subway stations or a pub. (Would have made for a lot more trouble and collateral damage, so I can see why they fidged there - especially for the subway scenes!)Oh and one other big cliche/warning sign - if the characters are in a vehicle and think they got through something bad and start congratulating themselves for surviving, this is a screaming clue a car/truck/bus is about to hit them from the side. lol. Mike Banning would know better. :P4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Stunts, stunts, and more stunts! The chase scenes were great. Some new ways to get rid of pursuers on motorcycles. Heh heh. Loads of lovely hand to hand combat scenes and shooting scenes. Loved the detail given to what gun Mike used when making his way in the final building - switching from an AK-47 to his .45 and back again depending on where he was and how much room he had. Nicely done!Another lovely scene was Mike and the cavalry making their way down the street towards the building full of bad guys: shots, rockets, burning cars galore yet the group moved in smooth precision, shooting, taking cover, crisscrossing each other, moving ever forward. Loved it!5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The film had several unusual and neat shots here and there. Air Force One gliding over a long field of clouds, the gorgeous location for Aamir Barkawi's compound, the long shot of the park after the helicopter has come down, aerial shots of different parts of London and many of its landmarks. Locations for the film were in the UK, Bulgaria, and Romania. Conclusion: London Has Fallen sets up the scene and then dives into the action like a rollercoaster down a steep hill. Lots of great chase scenes and close quarter combat. Even tries to rouse some American pride! :PRating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)
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Published on March 11, 2016 19:22

March 9, 2016

Picture Kaleidoscope 3/9/16

Morning!
A Yosemite Night by Alan W. at Earthshots.org. Brighter than you'd expect, no? Lots of lovely nature pics at his Flicker site.  Ice Age by Wilson Ng at Eathshots.org. More cool stuff at his site as well. Nice!
 These Mesmerizing Photos Show Tall Buildings Framing the Sky by Michael Zhang from Petapixel. Photography by Andy Yeung. (Looks like they've locked the image urls so I can only point you over there, not give a sneak peek. But these are fun! So well worth going to look!)
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Published on March 09, 2016 05:34

March 7, 2016

Mind Sieve 3/7/16

Hello Monday!




Fan Fun
Ghostbusters Official Trailer #1 - I'm scared and excited all at once! lol. The special effects look awesome! And Slimer is BACK!

400 Days Official Trailer 2016 - psychological thriller? Could be fun!


Fantastic Beasts (and where to find them) Trailer (Harry Potter Prequel) - oh, this looks fun!

Star Trek 3 Official Trailer - after the last one, not going to get excited...but of course I'll be there. I'm a sucker. :P (Hope springs eternal?) Plot and good science do count!!!!!!




Social Media/Author PlatformFacebook Live Video Gets Top News Feed Exposure: This Week in Social Media by Grace Duffy at the Social Media Examiner.



Writing AdviceEmotional Wound Entry: Telling The Truth But Not Being Believed by Angela Ackerman at Writers Helping Writers. Good stuff!

How Much Should Writer's Pay to be Published by Chuck (NSFW) Wendig. (What a lot of younger authors have not heard of - VANITY publishing. Still out there - still a TRAP!) :P


Zooming to the finish! Have a great week!
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Published on March 07, 2016 04:00

March 6, 2016

Virtual Tourist - Final Fantasy XIV 3/6/16

Morning!Final Fantasy XIV Shroud The main object of this test has arrived. He looks small from here - but wait! My unwanted companion got his buns kicked. Looked way surprised when I stepped in on his behalf. :P Now you can see the true size of this guy. That's little old me by his left nostril. Eek!Ul'dah Outside the walls of the City of Ul'dah. Look at the size of those bees! Train tunnel outside the city of Ul'dah It's like Texas! Everything is bigger here. :PShroud Cutest little lookout tower ever!Limsa Lominsa And speaking of cute! Isn't she adorable? :) View of Limsa Lominsa from outside the city. Honestly I love all three so much I could never pick a favorite. Which is good because you travel back and forth a lot! Heh heh.Ul'dah Refugee camp outside of Ul'dah in Thanalan. I do try to put the pictures in order, so you can see how we do travel back and forth from zone to zone a lot! :P Quaint train station outpost outside the city if Ul'dah. Secluded church and cemetery in Thanalan. Was so surprised to see this I forgot to take off the IU (Again!) These weird rock formations are here and there. And they all glow at night!Hope you have a fabulous Sunday!
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Published on March 06, 2016 07:52