Fantastic Four

Movies

The Pros:  The characters were true individuals, with their own motivation.  The graphic portrayal of their powers worked, and the actors did a good job at looking like they really were using that ability just then.  It had some funny scenes that brought a laugh, and some witty lines.  The scene, near the end, showing the effort Susan Storm put

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Video Piracy is Suffering From Good PR

1 CommentRumblings

Before watching Fantastic Four last night (I’ll blog a review later), we were shown a little clip intending to discourage video/dvd piracy.  The clip flashed with scenes of someone’s purse being stolen, then another theft (a car?) and tables where bootlegged dvds were being sold. Now, let me quickly say that I have never knowingly used ripped-off or bootlegged copies of videos

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The Myth of Fingerprints

Speculative Science, Writing

Anybody else old enough to remember the Paul Simon song by that name?  I never did understand all the words, but it was fun to sing. Now I’ve come across some info that says some people don’t have fingerprints, and the people at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have found out what causes it.   Apparently it’s

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Links Page

Blogging

Anyone who’s noticed I had a very long blogroll with only a handful of actual blogs in it will now notice it has shrunk.  I’ve created a Links page, at the top, and moved all my potential publisher and sf happenings, etc., links over there.

Haunting the Mailbox

Writing

Of course I know that intelligent, repectable writers do not wear themselves out waiting for news of a submission.  ‘Send it out the door, then forget about it.’ ‘Make sure you’ve put your story in order than submit, and move on to the next piece.’ ‘When a submission has been postmarked, put it out of

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More Instincts than Intelligence

Martial Arts

Tonight at muay thai the instructor introduced us (or me, everyone else was familiar with it) to a new block.  The block is a defense against a hook punch, and involves wrapping the hand on the side being hit back and over so the elbow is out and the hand is resting on the back of

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A Cricket in the Night

Home in the Rookery

Last night, heading to bed, I was especially tired and grateful for sleep.  My husband was working on his laptop beside me, but the light was off and all was well. Then we heard it.  The dreaded crick crick crick of a cricket in our room.  It wasn’t too loud but had an echo-y sound

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Warning: Fresh paint. Hard hats required.

Blogging

I’m messing around with the blog’s look, and will be for a while.  It got a new background color yesterday, and today I may attempt to tile the sidebars.  I also want to do something cool with the header, and put in a raven picture, but that’s going to take longer. Please be patient if you

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The Screwtape Letters

The Bookshelf

C.S. Lewis has the tongue of an angel, albeit a demonic one, in his affectionately signed Screwtape Letters.  The book is written entirely as letters from a doting uncle to his junior tempter nephew, Wormwood, who is out in the world on his first assignment.  It is Wormwood’s goal to tempt his patient into paths of sin and worldliness, and his dear old

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Library Rant

Home in the Rookery

I have always been a great patron of the library.  More so than the average tax-payer because I always have a fine to pay.  Sometimes only a few cents, sometimes (especially during the summer) in the five, fifteen, or twenty dollar range. But no more. As of now, I will buy my books from book sellers, either brick-and-mortar or ebay

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