Guardians 2 Review, Snowman Movies, #IWriteBecause, A to Z Challenge Reflections, Dunkirk Trailer, and StoryBundle

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Set to Awesome Mixtape 2, the Guardians are pursued by the Sovereign race and encounter Quill’s father in the process.
While not quite as good as the first, it’s still better than ninety-nine percent of the films out there.
In 3D, the special effects just pop off the screen. It is a colorful spectacle.
The humor is there in droves. Set to ELO’s Mr. Blue Sky, the first scene is priceless. Rocket and Drax have some great lines, although Baby Groot often steals the show.
The acting is great and the characters all share equal film time. Yondu has a major role, as does Gamora’s sister, Nebula. Kurt Russell rocks. (He and Vin Diesel are in two billion dollar grossing movies this spring. Furious 8 is already over a billion and no way this one won’t follow suit.) There’s a promise to come of more Sylvester Stallone, and Mantis now joins the Guardians.
This one goes a little deeper with the emotional heartstrings and surprises you along the way.
There are many teaser endings! Stay until the very, very end.

Highly recommended!

Snowman Movies!

It’s a pleasure to be participating in author Yolanda Renée’s The Snowman Blog Tour through MC Book Tours today.

Yolanda’s top ten snowman movies:

1. Frosty the Snowman – 1969 animation. Snowman comes to life via a magic hat and goes in search of Santa.
Snowmen with legs, creepy! Not to mention kidnapping.

2. Abominable Snowman – 1957 staring Peter Cushing. An English botanist and an American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti. They find him but…
There is no yeti! Oh, really????

3. The Falcon and the Snowman – 1985 with Sean Penn – A spy movie involving two friends and secrets fed to Russia.
Treason as a way to solve the problem of crooked politicians? Don’t see it!

4. Jack Frost - 1997 American horror comedy film – Jack Frost is headed for execution but runs into some genetic material that turns him into a Snowman! He goes on a killing spree.
Can you say yuck!!!! OMG, and there’s a sequel!!

5. Jack Frost – 1998 with Michael Keaton. A father dies and comes back as a Snowman.
Does not make up for killing Bambi’s mother. Creep factor – maximum!

6. Snowmen –2011 with Christopher Lloyd – Youngsters fight the bullies and try to make a name for themselves by building the most snowmen in one day.
News flash: snowmen don’t last forever.

7. The Snowman and the Snow Dog – 2012
Mourning the loss of his pet he creates a snowman and a snowdog.
Snowdog = cute. Flying snowmen, why?

8. Deadly Descent: The Abominable Snowman (2013) Skiing for your life to get away from the killer Snowmen!
Okay – how bad can it get? As bad as you imagine. 

 9. Harry & Snowman - 2016 An Amish plow horse is rescued from the glue factory and wins the Triple Crown.
This is a Snowman Story that won my heart! No snark!

10. The Snowman – 2017 Author Jo Nesbo beat me to the punch. His crime drama is now a movie hitting the big screen this October!
Damn!

Thanks, Alex, for allowing me to visit during The Snowman tour.


THE SNOWMAN by Yolanda Renée

It takes a true artist to pursue his victims in the art of seduction, and Stowy Jenkins is no exception, especially with blood as his medium.

There is a tour-wide giveaway HERE.
Find The Snowman at Amazon
Find Yolanda: Blog Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Dunkirk Trailer

The next film from director Christopher Nolan…

“Dunkirk opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.”

Dunkirk is set for release on July 21st 2017 and features a cast that includes Nolan regulars Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy alongside Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, Jack Lowden, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Tom Glynn-Carney and newcomer Fionn Whitehead.

#IWriteBecause

The IWSG is now partnering with Reedsy on some upcoming events, and today, May 8, is a big one!

Through the #IWriteBecause project, we want to raise awareness about the power of writing. Above all, writing is not just a vocation or a hobby; it’s one of the greatest ways to express our thoughts and get our message out.
At Reedsy, we believe that every child, regardless of geography, gender or economics, should have access to education and the freedom to raise their voice and share their message with the world. That’s why, for every writer who shares their story, Reedsy will donate $10 to Room to Read — a non-profit organization that seeks to provide girls in Africa and Asia with access to education.

The IWSG asks members to Tweet and re-Tweet #IWriteBecause Monday, May 8!

Story Bundle Deal

What is StoryBundle?

StoryBundle is a way for people who love to read to discover quality indie books written by indie authors. We take a handful of books—anywhere from six to nine—and group them together to offer as a bundle. Then you, the reader, can take a look at the titles we've chosen and decide how much you'd like to pay.
This month’s bundle includes books from Milo James Fowler and Catherine Stine. Visit StoryBundle to see all the books.

A to Z Challenge Reflections

The A to Z Challenge is now over and today is for posting reflections on last month’s event.

I participated in the first seven Challenges. But not number eight. I was on board as a consultant although no longer managing the Linky List, as there wasn’t one.

From comments on the main blog, it looks like around 500 blogs participated this year.
Last year, there were 1300.
The year before that, there were 2000.

With the changes in blogging, the participation has slowly declined. There was more emphasis on posting links on Facebook and Twitter this year, but it is still a blogging event.

The A to Z Challenge helped me grow my blog in the beginning and I will forever be grateful. Growth is hard to gauge now with GFC slowly dying and Google+ being a mixed bag. I can’t even follow blogs using GFC anymore – I get an error message. (So to those who have followed me in the past year, sorry I can’t reciprocate – I do try to add you to my Feedly reader or follow on Google+.)

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is now my focus and growing fast – our second anthology release, Hero Lost, Facebook group, Twitter, newsletter, Goodreads, #IWSGPit, and more. That is where I need to focus my attention.

Anyone else see Guardians 2? Think Snowman movies are creepy? (I do!) What do you think of Dunkirk? Can you Tweet #IWriteBecause? And what were your thoughts about this past Challenge?

Reviews - Captain America: Civil War, Rifftrax:Live Time Chaser, and Jungle Book! Plus A to Z Challenge Reflections and Writing Humor with Misha Gericke

Captain America: Civil War Review

The team is split by the Sokovia Accords, which grants the UN control of the Avengers. When the Captain’s pal Bucky is accused of bombing a UN building, the team is split further as Captain moves to protect Bucky and find the real villain.
The idea of accountability and control over powers is a fascinating conflict. (Also explored in Batman v Superman.) It raises a lot of moral and ethical questions on both sides. A lot of it comes down to standing for what you believe is right.
It’s tough to watch them fight, but you know they won’t really kill each other. (Except for Black Panther – he’s out for blood. And he is badass.)
The villain isn’t remarkable, but his cause is just there to drive the conflict between the characters.
The special effects are stunning. You do not want to miss this in 3D! Some of the best effects are the smaller stunts, like Bucky grabbing a moving motorcycle, spinning it in the air, and landing on it while still moving.
Like Winter Soldier, it does have a darker tone. This is offset by some great humor, especially from newcomer Spiderman (as chatty and dorky as the comic books) and of course Ant-Man, who steals almost every scene he’s in.
Visually stunning, this more character-driven story is a must see in the theaters. Highly recommended!

RiffTrax: Live – Time Chasers Review

Thursday, May 5 was RiffTrax night – and no way I’d miss it.

Time Chasers is not a memorable movie. It’s stupid and very bland. The guys did a good job with this sup-par offering of a film.

The film had an early 80’s vibe to it. Sadly, it was made in 1994.

And the time machine was a Cesna airplane. Yes, really! Made from a Commodore-64. No, I’m not making this up! Did I mention the film was done in 1994?

If you missed it, there’s a encore show on May 17 – get your tickets here.

Then prepare for June 28 and the RiffTrax:Live MST3K Reunion Show!

The Jungle Book Review

The animation in this film is beyond stunning. All of the animals and some of the jungle is CGI, but it all blends seamlessly with the real-life Mowgli. Oscar contender for sure. It remains faithful to the source and even manages to insert two songs into the retelling. Overall, I liked the story, but I didn’t love it. I just didn’t connect on that deeper level. However, for the special effects alone, especially in 3D, I highly recommend it.

Bringing the Humor by Misha Gericke

Thanks for having me over, Alex!

I love visiting Alex’s blog on my blog tours, but dang, I invariably find it hard to write a post for him. Why? Because of this little requirement that there has to be some kind of humor in the post.

Humor is a pain in the butt to write. Really. So I’m going to take this request for humor literally and just write about humor. (See what I did there? Huh? Huh? *shifty grin*)

My books usually have something dark in them, mostly because I don’t shy away from characters’ dark sides. Endless deals with two types of immortals, one of which is addicted to killing the other in order to be… well… uhm… more immortal. (Explaining will take up too many words and I only have 300, so read the book. Why yes, that is a shameless plug.)

At the same time, I didn’t want the book to be all doom and gloom. Humor is the perfect solution, except… I suck at writing humorous scenes.

So what’s a girl to do?

My recipe differs from book to book, but in Endless, my recipe went something like this.

Take one smart Alec main character. Add one snarky side-kick. Mix in scenes. Et voila.

The banter is endless. (Pun intentional? Totally. *Big wink.*) You know what else it is? Funny. There’s just something really amusing about having someone who always wants the last word in every conversation, combined with someone who has no limits to what he’s willing to say and when.

But enough about me. How do you bring humor into your writing? If you don’t write, what’s your favorite sort of humor? (Dark and bitter? Slapstick? Farcical?)

(Oh look! I came in at almost exactly three hundred words. These are the last five.)

Endless
“First, do no harm.” Blake Ryan swore that oath to become a doctor. Ironic, given that he spent most of his thousand year life sucking souls out of other immortals.
Find it at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Goodreads
Find Misha at blog, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr

Six Strings

The latest issues of Six Strings is available! You can download it for free.
The world of soundtracks, scores, films, books, and more.
Put together by our very own Jermey Hawkins.

A to Z Challenge Reflections

This was my seventh Challenge and sixth time as co-host.

I want to start by thanking the Challenge Team who are responsible for making it all happen.

I won’t thank everyone, but I do want to say a big thanks to my Ninja Minions. Because without these awesome people, I never wouldn’t kept up: Rhonda Albom, Nicola Burggraf, Nilanjana Bose, Susan Gourley, Mason Canyon, Stephanie Faris, Yolanda Renee, Ann Bennett, Patricia Lynne, Melanie Schultz, Donna McDine, and JA Scott.

I’m going to keep this short. Most want to know how it went with A to Z Lite. While it helped I wasn’t returning a ton of comments every day, there were other issues:

The point of the Challenge is daily posting. Lite is not daily.

I still had to come up with posts for all of the letters. I made them shorter this year, but putting six together for the week made the posts rather long.

Everyone else was still posting daily and I still felt compelled to visit as many as possible…

So, if you were hoping for A to Z Lite next year, it’s just not a feasible option.

Who else saw Civil War this past weekend? Did you see Jungle Book’s amazing animation last month? Catch RiffTrax: Live? Picking up Six Strings? How do you put humor in your writing? And what were your thoughts on the Challenge this year, whether you participated or not…?

And now you can follow the IWSG on Twitter! 

Follow us at TheIWSG

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review! Plus A to Z Challenge Reflections and Ninja News

Today I am visiting Teresa at Journaling Woman and discussing a writing schedule that works. Need help with your schedule? Then check it out!
Plus, Mini-Alex is also stalking Pat Hatt's cats today...

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

Tony Stark uses Loki’s scepter to create a higher level of artificial intelligence to protect the planet. The result is Ultron, an unbeatable villain determined to bring peace by purifying the Earth.
In a nutshell – the movie is chalk full of geeky goodness!
There are many great action scenes and the story moves at a rapid pace.
It contains a huge cast, even bigger than the first Avengers. There are several new characters and few returning from other films.
There is a bit more character development as past issues and current situations are revealed and relationships develop.
The banter between the characters is awesome. There were so many funny lines, it will take multiple viewings just to remember half of them.
The film continues to expand the Avengers and the Marvel universe.
(Slight spoiler! It sets up the Infinity Wars and the inclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy next time.)
And to address a few of the reviewer’s complaints – the plot does make sense in a comic book universe, Thor is not left out of the story, and Hawkeye doesn’t take over.
Ultimately – it’s a lot of fun and a worthy follow-up to the first Avengers film. Highly recommended!

https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2021/07/how-it-started-how-its-going.html

Ninja News 

Don’t forget Wednesday is Insecure Writer’s Support Group post day!


The Blood, Boobs, and Carnage Blogfest is May18 - movie/show/book that exemplifies the theme. (Or part of theme.) Hosted by me and Heather Gardner.

And Next Monday – the You Rock Awards!

A to Z Challenge Reflections

Between May 4 and May 8, post your thoughts on the Challenge – what you liked, didn’t like, your experience, etc. AFTER you have posted, go add the direct link to the Linky list at the A to Z Blog.

My theme this year was Movies-Music-Science Fiction Book-Bloggers-Dragon of the Stars Term. As always, it was a lot to research and put together, plus gathering of links and images. Choosing blogger buddies to feature was tough, as I know so many awesome bloggers, but I did my best to feature those I knew well and hadn’t featured in the past. Most of them found their feature, which was cool.

I’d like to thank all of my fellow co-hosts - Jeremy Hawkins, Nicole Ayers, Stephen Tremp, Heather M. Gardner, AJ, Pam, Matthew MacNish, Zalka Csenge Virág, S. L. Hennessy, C. Lee McKenzie, Joy Campbell, Susan Gourley, Lisa Buie-Collard, and John Holton. Special thanks to Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out for starting this back in 2010. And thanks to all of you for allowing me to skip a section of the List to monitor this year. I might’ve imploded otherwise.

And a big thanks to my Insecure Writer’s Support Group admins who kept the site rocking with inspiration throughout the Challenge.

As always, the main issue is time. The Challenge opened on Insecure Writer’s Support Group post day, which meant double-duty for me. Plus my book, Dragon of the Stars, came out on April 7. Add to the fact that I average over a hundred comments per post, and you can imagine I was really strapped for time to get it all done.

The only thing that saved me was switching tactics at the end of the second week. I started focusing on those who were leaving comments. I realized there were a lot of blogs I was visiting, blogger buddies even, who were not returning my visit. That was a sad realization, but it helped to lighten the load by sticking to those who did visit me.

Of course, this meant I didn’t get to visit a lot of new blogs. The past few years, that has really frustrated me. Fortunately, several new followers found me, and I did make some new friends. So, I welcome you, and hope I can continue to entertain you!

We always suggest posts of three hundred words or less. And of course, there are those who ignore that and write these long tomes. I did my best, but I’m a slow reader, and could only visit a few with long posts.

Some people never returned comments. Or follows. It’s easy to just drop a feed into Feedly or Bloglovin’, but unless there is a follow through Google Friends Connect or Google+, I have no way of knowing. (So if you are following but haven’t hit one of those two, please do, so I’ll know!)

There were some amazing themes this year. I’ve already started scheduling Themes That Rocked the Challenge posts for the A to Z Blog.

Ultimately, I’m beat. And I still have the IWSG post this Wednesday. Plus my tour continues every Monday through June. So Lord, just give me the strength to keep going…


And if you survived this year’s Challenge, be sure to pick up your survivor t-shirt, courtesy of Jeremy Hawkins, at the Neatoshop.


Did you see the new Avengers movie this weekend? What are your thoughts on the Challenge? Did you make a lot of new friends? Who had the coolest theme? Did you feel overwhelmed? (Or left out if you didn’t participate?) What was your favorite part of the Challenge?

Don’t forget to visit Teresa at Journaling Woman and Pat Hatt!

The Amazing Spider-Man II Movie Review, A to Z Challenge Reflections, and Ninja News!

Movie Review – The Amazing Spider-Man II

Caught it Friday in 3D. The plot follows an Oscorp employee’s transformation into Electro and Peter and Gwen’s on again, off again relationship.
The action scenes are great and there is a lot of snarky humor. There is a lot of slow-motion, bullet-time style action, which the 3D takes advantage of.
There are three villains, but the main focus is on Electro, and you see far more of Harry than you do the Green Goblin.
This film isn’t as good as the first one. For one thing, it’s too long. Filmmakers seem so determined these days to make long movies. Had they trimmed the extra stuff, the action would’ve flowed faster and they would’ve had a leaner, more dynamic film.
Ironically, the best parts of this film involve the interaction of Peter and Gwen.
It’s not a film I’ll probably watch again. Not because it wasn’t good, but because – (SPOILER – it was dark and very sad.)
Cool in theaters for the 3D, but better as a rental.

Ninja News

Don’t forget the Insecure Writer’s Support Group posts this Wednesday!

Someone posted a link to this site last week. Hopefully you never see your book here – Lousy Book Covers

Dean K Miller is part of a special Mother’s Day Sale!

Cover Reveal –

BROKEN BRANCH FALLS (MG Fantasy)
By Tara Tyler
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Publisher: Curiosity Quills

Available today!

A Dragon’s Lament, book 2 of the Jewels of Chandra series by River Fairchild

Magic is real. So is betrayal.

Purchase it here - Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, and iBookstore. Also available in paperback.

A to Z Reflections

Between today and Friday, the A to Z Challenge hosts invite everyone to post their thoughts on this year’s event. What you liked, what you didn’t, and what we can do to make next year even better. Once you have posted, visit the A to Z Challenge Blog and enter your post’s direct link on the Linky List.

My thoughts on this year’s Challenge…

As always, overwhelming! This was my fifth Challenge and fourth as a co-host, and it’s been amazing to watch it grow from a hundred of us that first year to over two thousand this year. As a co-host, I have a section of the list that I monitor (HUGE thanks to my awesome Minions, Joy, Michelle, SL, Susan, Rhonda, Madeline, LG, Cathy. Diane, and Melanie) and I am the Linky List Master, responsible for cleaning the list of bad sites, non-participants, and broken links. Plus the IWSG participated, so there were posts for that site. Add all of my blogger buddies, who I TRIED to visit every day, and the Challenge was pretty much my life for the month of April. (But that’s cool – it’s worth it!)

My next thought – some of you guys are so YOUNG!!! (My theme was retro and featured a different year for each letter, and comments were what others remembered that year.) Dear, Lord! David, LG – I could be your father. Wow, I feel so old…

I didn’t gain a lot of new followers. (That’s all right – I can barely keep up with everyone now!) But I did make some new friends and reconnected with some followers I didn’t visit often in the past.

Some people didn’t return comments or follows. That was rather sad. Maybe some people just didn’t get the following thing?

The only real bummer is that as a co-host, and one with so many followers and commenters, I don’t get a chance to meet as many new bloggers as I would like to meet. Some of my best blogger buddy friends I met during previous Challenges. I miss that.

Finally, I hope that everyone who visited enjoyed my Retro-Blogger Buddy Feature theme. It was a lot of fun to put together.

How did I do it? Yes, there was some snooping involved. And some emails. But earlier this year, I had a post that asked everyone what was their best year and why. Then I narrowed it down to twenty-six years and started my search for a movie or album that came out with a certain letter that year. (I knocked out X and Z right away!) I also found a couple sites that listed major events, sporting events, and time capsule information. Then I scoured the web for movies, music, and games that were released that year. Finally, I snagged all the images I needed. The basics of my Challenge posts were html formatted and ready to go by early February – everything else I added the night before.
Total time per post – four to five hours.

Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. But I wanted to do something unique and as always, feature a blogger buddy or two.

And big thanks to the Challenge Team, Tina at Life is Good, Jeremy at Being Retro, Damyanti at Amlokiblogs, Nicole Ayers at The Madlab Post, Stephen Tremp, M. J. Joachim, Heather M. Gardner, AJ at Naturally Sweet, Pam at An Unconventional Librarian, and the founder of the Challenge, Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out!

Visit the A to Z Blog for a list of other Reflection posts and to add your own.

Anyone else see Spider-Man this weekend? Ready for some new books? Ready for the IWSG post? Did you enjoy my Challenge theme? And what are your thoughts about the Challenge this year…?

A to Z Challenge Reflections, Ninja News, Celebrating Small Things

Congratulations to everyone who completed the Challenge! Be sure to grab your survivor badge.

Before I dive into my Reflections post…

Ninja News

Very special thanks to ML Swift for his IWSG post. Mike started a monthly spotlight feature, and Wednesday it was me. And I was completely blown away! I was truly humbled, Mike. I’m just a dude with a blog, a guitar, and a couple books trying to do his best…

THE RETURN TO CAMELOT trilogy concludes in THE SPIRIT OF NIMUE. 
By Donna Hosie

Natasha Roth and her older brother, Arthur, have removed the magical darkness that had fallen over the land of Logres.

But all actions have consequences….

Available May 31, 2013

My Challenge Reflections

This was my fourth Challenge and my third as co-host. That first year changed my blog forever, which is why I will always champion it.

Once again, this year was massive. We have an awesome team in place and worked hard to make it the best experience for everyone. The codes were something new this year and that seemed to work very well.

The introduction of minions was a Godsend. I thanked them Tuesday, but I can’t begin to express enough thanks. My Ninja Minions rocked. They really helped keep the list free of ad sites and non-participants. And helped this Ninja keep his sanity.

I was pleased so many liked my theme. It was a lot of work. Between selecting movies, characters, blogger buddies, song, trivia, not to mention finding links, images, and adding the Ninja News and formatting, each post took a minimum of four hours to put together.

But it was worth it to feature twenty-six of my blogger buddies, most of whom thanked me in an email or on their blog. I picked everyone and everything with care, making sure every post was special to that person.

My only regret is I had over sixty names on the original list and I wished I could’ve highlighted everyone. There’s always next year, although at this point, I have no idea how to top this year…

My thoughts, the good and the bad:

I did gain a big batch of new followers and found some cool new friends. I also became reacquainted with some older followers through the Challenge. (Yes, I need to update my blogroll soon…)

Some of the themes were really amazing. I intend to interview some bloggers for the A to Z Blog again this year, highlighting their awesome themes.

Some themes worked better than others. Many writers highlighted their books in a unique manner, such as Nancy Thompson, Julie Flanders, Carol Kilgore, L. Diane Wolfe, and Charity Bradford.

Others posted snippets of their work: Gwen Gardner, LG Keltner, and Christine Rains. Nick Wilford even wrote his day by day, using words suggested by commenters that corresponded to the letter of the day!

And some other cool themes included Mary Montague Sikes’ animal painting a day, Father Dragon Al’s dwarves preparing the Dragon Cave for the tour, Golden Eagle’s daily science, Clarissa Draper’s mind puzzles, and Elise Fallson’s “ology” series.

I confirmed my geek twin in Lynda Young - scary how similar our tastes and how much we have in common!

There were a few who had really long posts. We encourage short posts, but I wonder if we shouldn’t suggest a word count, such as 200-400?

I didn’t encounter word verification very often, which was great!

Comments and blog visits:

This deserves a section all by itself!

Many people see a surge in comments during the Challenge. I normally post every other day, so mine tend to dip a little, which is fine.

I knew I was in trouble when my A post garnered 263 comments. (And since I reply in batches, about 250 of those were unique.) I may have clones, but no way I could keep up with that.

And the comments didn’t dip below average until the end of the third week.

Whoa…

I told Lee, I think there may be such a thing as too popular.

Every day my Blogger Buddies folder in my reader would hold 150 or more posts. Add new followers and comments, plus my section of the Linky List, and you’ll start to get a feel for my daily experience. I’ll admit it was more than I could handle, and I had to skip a few blogger buddies now and then just to maintain.

So for anyone I missed or did not return your comment, I’m sorry! Next year I’ll make more clones…

Did anyone else drown in comments?

Overall, another amazing year! Lee, thanks again for your vision. 

As for VikLit’s Celebrating the Small Things – I’d say surviving the Challenge qualifies!!



What were you thoughts now that the Challenge has ended?

Do not sign up now! Wait until you have posted your Reflections and then come back to add the exact link to your post.




Enjoy May’s IWSG posts? What are your thoughts on this year’s Challenge? Did you make some new friends? Have any issues? What themes were cool to you? Ready for next year? Who else went into hiding on Thursday?

And who else is seeing Iron Man III this weekend? I won’t be seeing it until Saturday as I’m seeing something even better tonight. Will explain next week…

A to Z Challenge – Serenity and Stop the World, Plus Ninja News and Challenge Reflections Post

My theme for the A to Z Challenge is Favorite Movies, Bloggers, and Music! I’ll name a favorite movie that corresponds with the letter, and then select a character from the film. I will then name a favorite blogger who reminds me of that character, and then dedicate a song to him. (Also corresponding with the alphabet.) I’ll wrap it all up with trivia and/or fun facts about the movie, the blogger, or the music!

In addition, two lucky commenters this month will receive a review copy of CassaStorm! One comment per day and each is worth one entry except – the first and one hundredth comments on each day will receive ten entries!

Serenity

It brought closure to the series Firefly. (And yes I could go on a tirade about FOX cancelling the show way too soon.) This film stands on its own a great science fiction movie though. It has great characters and crackling dialogue. Long live Browncoats!

Kaylee is the engineer who keeps it all running. She is sassy, perky, and not afraid to say her peace. She’s also adorable, genuine, and funny. Kaylee is the heart and the spirit.

Who is Kaylee?

Heather Gardner at The Waiting is the Hardest Part!

She possesses pluck, sass, and a wicked sense of humor. Her spirit shines through in Stormy the Weather Gnome as he makes witty observations regarding his surroundings. Heather has such a great heart. If the ship goes down, I know I can count on her to still be there.

Heather is a writer, gnome wrangler, and one excellent Ninja Minion.

To you I dedicate Stop the World by Extreme. (Title leads to YouTube.)

I thought you would appreciate the humor of the song! “Stop the world, I wanna get off…”

Trivia and Facts:

Did you know DVDs of Serenity and Firefly were taken to the International Space Station?

What movies did Joss Whedon direct before Serenity?

R’s trivia answers – The Road Warrior was directed by George Miller and Extreme’s Play With Me appeared in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Ninja News

Randi Lee’s short story, 7 Miles, is going to be published in an anthology. Congratulations, Randi!

LG Keltner is hosting the Towel Day Blogfest from May 24-27, celebrating the late Douglas Adams. See her site for details.


The Goodreads giveaway ended this weekend with 620 entrants and my buddy David at Regarding Silexare was one of the winners. Congratulations, David! The giveaway here on my blog is open to the end of the month, so still two more chances to win a copy of CassaStorm.

A to Z Challenge Reflections Post

We will be doing a reflections post again this year and invite all participants of the Challenge to join us.

What did you enjoy about the Challenge?
What could we do better next year?
What issues did you encounter? (Word verification, unable to comment, long posts, etc.)
Did you encounter many non-participants? (With help from our minions, we tried really hard to clean the list this year.)
Theme or no theme – what seemed to work better? Did you find any great themes?
Did you have fun and will you participate again next year?

Your Reflections can be posted anytime from May 3 through May 10. The Linky List will go live May 3 and we ask you to add the link to your post, not your website, once you have posted. The Challenge hosts read every one so we know where to improve for next year.

Fan of Serenity and Firefly? Following Heather and Stormy? Do you want to Stop the World? Know the trivia? And are you ready to voice your reflections when the Challenge ends...?