Movie Review - Sherlock Holmes

I was eager to catch this flick!

Robert Downey Jr. chews up scenery left and right. Not to be outdone, Jude Law offers numerous funny tidbits as well. It's not an extreme love-hate relationship between Holmes and Watson, but they do know how to banter and poke fun at one another. Neither is perfect - each has hangups. And it's these two characters who make the film memorable.

I won't give away too much, but there's witchcraft going down in London, a criminal back from the dead, and a plot to change the course of history. Sounds like a job for Sherlock Holmes!

Guy Ritchie is an odd director, but his style fits well here. There's something for everyone in this film!

Hmm, do I sense a sequel coming soon??

And as a bonus, the previews were pretty good, too. Clash of the Titans looks amazing!

Torchlight Review

One of my Christmas gifts was the video game, Torchlight.

Available from Runic Games, Torchlight is available only as a download at the moment. However, they are currently running a special and it's only $9.95 from now until January 4th at their site.

After playing Torchlight for the past two days (okay, pretty much non-stop) it is a total blast! This is one of the better action RPG games on the market right now. The skills tree is a lot of fun. The backgrounds are very detailed and the characters are cartoony but fun. One's 'pet' is very helpful and can be sent into town to do one's trading.

The most noteable thing about Torchlight - it is a Diablo clone. Really, Blizzard could sue! The makers of Torchlight have stolen all the best aspects of Diablo and Diablo II. However, the result is a great game. So, all similarities are forgiven in my book!

Highly recommend you visit the Torchlight site and download a copy today!

Christmas is almost here

Looking forward to some time with the family. Hope to catch the new Shelock Holmes movie, too.

I'm going to work on some new ideas for this blog, too. Bring a focus to this mess! Probably a little bit of books, movies, and tech stuff. Always helps to stick with what I know!

I'll be traveling so catch everyone next week. Merry Christmas!

Avatar Totally Rocks!

Saw Avatar last night with friends and it blew me away!

Cameron is the master of great action scenes, upping the ante with every shot. The two big battles at the end were just incredible.

Pandora itself is amazing. It's a fully realized world - a complex ecosystem.

And then there's the aliens. Neytiri was hot! Saw an interview with Cameron and he told the artists the females had to look "blankable" - too funny.

The story is simple and nothing new, but it's the way Cameron tells it that makes all the difference in the world. And bottom line, the whole movie is a stunning achievement in film making. Using groundbreaking technology, Cameron has created a movie that uses the 3D technology to immerse viewers in the movie completely.

The best movie I've seen all year!

Golden Globes

The Golden Globes nominee list came out recently. Always funny to see movies on the list that aren't even out yet.

Some interesting nominations-

James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are both nominated for Best Director. They used to be married! She produced The Terminator I believe...

Christopher Waltz is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He really was the best part of Inglorious Basterds, too.

"Nine" has received several nominations. Ironically, it's at 26% at Rotton Tomatoes...

Sandra Bullock is nominated as Best Actress in both drama and comedy.

30 Rock is set to clean up in most of the television categories.

The Critics Choice Awards are a little more interesing, as they include Zombieland as a nominee for Best Comedy. (Wouldn't it be a hoot if it won?)

We'll know mid-January!

Video Awards and Avatar

Spike TV created an awards sh0w just for video games and I believe this was the first year for the event.

I watched about thirty minutes of it. Long enough to see Jack Black and Samuel L. Jackson. Long enough to realize it was more commercials than anything else!

And I don't mean the commercials in between segments - I mean during the show. The show claimed it was unveiling new footage of up & coming releases, but really - it was all just advertisement. At one point, viewers went almost fifteen minutes without seeing an actual award given.

In Avatar news...
(Which is much more exciting!)

Fox Studios won't give the bottom line price tag, but it's estimated this movie cost over $300 million to make - which makes it the most expensive film ever. (Beating out Pirates: At World's End, although I'm not sure where THEY spent that kind of money! Should've been on the script...)

Rotten Tomatoes just posted six new trailers for Avatar, all of which look amazing.

Five days and counting!

Lights Over Norway

It's been pretty wild reading about this story. Even more wild to see the photos.

They've now confirmed that the spiraling light is indeed a failed Russian rocket.

The theories were even more imaginative though. Everything from a UFO to Santa! My favorite was that Obama's visit to Norway ripped a hole in the time/space continuum!

If you haven't seen the whole story or want to check out the photos, CNN's article is here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/10/norway.ufo.light/index.html

Tech Stuff

Well, not really tech stuff - more like tech news.

Apple just purchased LaLa.com. It's a 'cloud-based' site and users pay ten cents a song. Thing is, one never actually downloads or owns anything. It's like renting. Not fond of that concept. I like to own my music!

And just saw on "Attack of the Show" that Best Buy has one heck of a deal going on - a 42inch Panasonic Viera TV, an X-Box Elite, and the game Avatar - all for only $700! Now that's a deal.

Wonder where I could put another large TV in this house...?

The really crappy news today is that they are making another Terminator movie. No, make that TWO more Terminator movies! Augh! WHY???

Sci-Fi TV

Is rather lacking at the moment with so many on hiatus. Can't wait until Warehouse 13 and Eureka return!

Fringe was really great this week. Loved the ending. Walter is such a hoot!

Was about to give up on Stargate Universe, but last night's show was actually intriguing. I prefer the episodes where they don't visit earth. Judging from the comments on SyFy's forum, most of the fans agree with me. Maybe the series will improve during the second half.

Looking forward to Avatar! Cameron is best when he does sci-fi.

Final Edits

I'm doing some final edits on my novel and I'm quite pleased with how well it's come together. I need to have it back to the editor right after New Year's, and then we'll see what else my publisher wants done. I think the cover art will be completed in January. Can't wait to see it!

Saw a new trailer for Avatar last week, and it looks awesome. Seventeen more days and counting!

Holidays & Shopping

Family and the holidays took precedence this week. That and a really great meal on Thursday.

I know Friday was the big shopping day, but there was no way this guy was venturing out of the house at 6am. I did good to get out of bed by 10am! Fighting crowds just didn't sound appealing. I plan to shop online again this year. Probably request gift wrapping as well so I don't have to mess with that either. Or I could just go for gift cards.

Cyber Monday is coming. Guess I know what I'll be doing during my lunch hour...

New Book & TV Show Updates

I picked up a new book the other day - "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb. It's the first book in a three part series. I really should be doing more writing than reading, but it came highly recommended. Might post a review when I finish.

The current sci-fi TV shows are disappointing. "Fringe" was really good last Thursday, but it's the only one holding my interest at the moment. Gave up on "V" - to vanilla. One more week and I'll probably give up on "Stargate: Universe" as well. It's nothing like the other two shows! They are trying to follow the "Battlestar Galactica" formula and the result is rather boring. It really lacks in humor, too, other than the character of Eli. The forums at SyFy Channel are filled with other disappointed fans, so hopefully someone is paying attention...

Cool Cover Art

I saw this the other day on another site and thought it was just the most amazing cover art!

Sadly, I could only find the hardcover on Amazon, and the cover was different. Might have to do some sleuthing...

I think that's part of why I dig sci-fi so much. No other genre possess so many amazing covers!

NaNoWriMo

I've been participating in NaNo this month, although I hope revisions count! Rewriting, editing, fine-tuning...

Of course, while I am doing all of this with my novel, ideas are coming at me fast and furious! I've jotted a few down and will tackle them once CassaStar is complete and out of my hands. Wonder if this happens to all writers? Simply not enough time in the day to do it all.

Favorites

I admit I am a bit of a sci-fi geek, and my tastes in books, movies, etc. tend to follow suit.

So here's some of my favorites:

Authors - right now, I really dig Neil Gaiman and Preston & Child. I also like Dan Simmons and Michael Crichton.

Movies - I really dug Equilibrium! Thought it was pure genius and a shame so few people saw it. I like the Hellboy and Matrix movies, too. Guillermo del Toro is an amazing director - he really knows how to create atmosphere. I'm eagerly awaiting The Hobbit.

TV - Warehouse 13 and Eureka are my favorites. Really miss Stargate: Atlantis - not too sure about the latest in the series, Universe. Firefly was a great series while it lasted, too.

Once in a while I read graphic novels. I've read Watchmen, Hellboy, and Those Left Behind.

That's about it!

Guess I need to get back to editing now...

Blogging Day One

This is officially the first post of one Alex J. Cavanaugh!

I've been writing for many years, mostly science fiction, horror, and some fantasy.

My first book comes out from Dancing Lemur Press next fall - "CassaStar!"

I will be updating this blog a couple times a week and hope to be blogging full time by the end of the year. I'm not involved on any other sites yet, but I'm working on it.

I hope to look back at this in a couple years and really see how I developed as an author and writer!