IWSG News, Movie Remakes and Box Office, Ninja News, Super Blogger, and Thunderstruck on Bagpipes!

A lot happening today!!

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Many of you participate in the IWSG every month, but there may be some things you don’t know about it. Or you might wonder what the IWSG is all about. Well, I’ve taken over Lee’s Tossing it Out today and you can find your answers there!

Does the IWSG really matter to writers? Livia had Celeste Holloway as a guest last week and her whole post was about the IWSG. You can read it HERE. Celeste, thanks – you are the reason why I started this group.

Don’t forget – we post this Wednesday!

Ninja News

Today at the A to Z Blog is an interview with a very special blogger - Father Dragon Al. It’s the Challenge Participant Feature, and Al had one of the coolest themes for the Challenge. We cover everything from dwarf tossing to X-Files to Angry Birds and learn a lot about the heart of one awesome dragon. Visit the A to Z Blog HERE

Laura at My Baffling Brain announced that the anthology she helped create with her Creative Writing Masters friends has now been published. Congratulations, Laura! You can check it out HERE.

And Wednesday I hope to reveal the book trailer for CassaStorm!! Yes, the suspense is killing me. I also have some big news about my third book as well, so be sure to stop by.

Super Blogger Award

The ever-awesome Mark at Left and Write created the Super Blogger Award – and honored me with being the first recipient. Mark, you rock!

I am passing this on to another man who is a super blogger, Mark Koopmans! What he lacks in hair he makes up for in heart and dedication. You’re the man, Mort!

This award also stipulates that the recipient is to reveal one secret. I really couldn’t think of anything interesting though, and of course Ninja Secrets cannot be revealed. However, this might make you chuckle – the first album this metal head ever owned was by Peter Frampton. Of course, back in the day, the man could jam. And he’s still an excellent guitar player. Sorry, best I could do! Maybe Mark will offer something better.

Entertainment News

September 24 will be a big release day – Iron Man III on DVD and Dream Theater’s next album. (One week after CassaStorm’s release – awesome!)

Hollywood just can’t stop remaking films. Here are some of the remakes scheduled:
Jacob’s Ladder
Robocop
Suspiria
Ghost in the Shell
Jumanji
Point Break
Dirty Dancing
Time Bandits
Heavy Metal
West World

On the World Wide Box Office Chart:
Fast and Furious 6 passed Fast Five and has made $682 million dollars.
Star Trek Into Darkness is #147 with $438 million.
Man of Steel has already made $520 million plus.
And out of the 527 movies on that list, I’ve seen 471 of them. I really am nearing the end of NetFlix…

And if you haven’t seen the Australian bagpiper playing AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, you are in for a treat!

Flames and everything! Now that is just wild.

Ready for July’s IWSG? Want to learn more about dwarf tossing at the A to Z Blog? Know someone who is a Super Blogger? What did you think of the bagpiper? And which of those movie remakes annoys you the most…?

Don’t forget to visit Tossing it Out!

And be sure to come back her Wednesday for CassaStorm’s trailer and some cool news!

Time Management Ninja Style; Movie News – Iron Man III, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and After Earth; Major Book Releases; Small Things; and the Ninja News!

Want to know how this Ninja manages his time? Then visit the awesome Rachna Chhabria at Rachna's Scriptorium today to learn a trick or two. (None of which involves clones, I promise!)

Ninja News

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Get Healthy Bloghop! There were some really good tips and ideas. Thanks to Stephen for inviting me and thanks to my fellow co-hosts, Diane and Michael.

Father Dragon Al gave me the Semper Fidelis Award. “I think Semper Fidelis is the motto of the navy in the US but also Mexican navy uses it. In my own life "Always faithful" means a lot to me. I'm faithful to my beliefs, my principles and to my friends.” In the interest of space (and being a rebel) I will just pass it on to last week’s YOU ROCK Award recipients, as I’ve already described why they are awesome friends.

MJ Joachim started the Blog Hopper Marathon this week. She tosses the challenges out and you have a small window of opportunity in which to respond. I won the first one: “Alex J. Cavanaugh for visiting and commenting on 25 blogs in 30 minutes in our very first Blog Hopper Marathon! Congratulations, Alex! Your prize includes being listed as the very first award recipient in our Blog Hopper Marathon Hall of Fame and being featured in a future post right here on this blog.”
Thanks, MJ! I think I hurt myself doing that…

Book Releases!!!!

Some awesome new books today and this past week:

Forged by Magic by Angela Orlowski Peart
Young Adult Fantasy
Available today!

“Forged by Magic: Origins is a collection of short stories, featuring the characters from the Forged series. This is the first of two prequels to the series. Each story is told from a different character’s point-of-view.
Find out how the Amulet and the Dasht-e Kavir have been created, and how the powers of the Universe opened the gates to other dimensions, inadvertently releasing unworldly supernatural creatures into the Human World.”

Immaterial Evidence by Milo James Fowler
Novella
Available today from Musa Publishing!

“A detective with a price on his head. An invisible criminal with nothing to lose...”

The vault door never opened. The bank went into lockdown in less than a minute. Yet the security footage was unmistakable: a hundred silver bars had simply vanished.

Ever since the city’s most dangerous crime boss put a price on his head, private investigator Charlie Madison has lived as an exile in Little Tokyo. But now an old friend and police sergeant has lured Madison back into the city to hunt down an invisible criminal—if he can.

As Madison makes his clandestine return, high-profile people start disappearing. And when federal agents swoop onto the scene to take matters into their own hands, they offer Madison a deal he can't refuse—as long as he agrees to work with them. With Japanese freedom fighters and refurbished killing machines threatening to take the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust, the United World government needs all the help it can get.

Embroiled in an unimaginable mystery, one private eye must rely on his wits to solve a case where the evidence is immaterial, and the odds are stacked high against him at every turn.

Moonsongs Anthology I by EJ Wesley

It collects the first three Moonsongs books (Blood Fugue, Witch's Nocturne, & Dark Prelude) in one volume.

Secondary Characters by Rachel Schieffelbein

“When Mabel's best friend, Amber, drags her along on a double date she finds herself falling for Lance, the obnoxious class clown whom she swore she'd have no interest in…”

Uprising (Children of the Gods #2) by Jessica Therrien

“The Descendants have waited long enough for freedom…”

And Jessica will be visiting the Ninja Army soon on her tour!

The Spirit of Nimue by Donna Hosie
Available today!

“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…”

Going Home by Rusty Webb

The tale of one of the last human soldiers left after an alien invasion.

From Rusty:
“Every dime I make in book sales this month goes towards helping young Ben Wolverton, the teenage child of Author David Wolverton that had a skateboarding accident that left him with about $1,000,000 in medical bills.”

Celebrating the Small Things

VikLit’s “Celebrating the Small Things” is today. I’m celebrating a successful bloghop, nailing a recent band performance, and some time away from the Internet this week.

Movie News

Iron Man III is fifth on the All-Time World-Wide Box Office chart with 1.15 billion dollars. It’s supposed to surpass Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows II but not The Avengers.

There are now sixteen films that have made over a billion dollars.




From JoBlo’s Site, one of the first images of Sebastian Stan in his Winter Soldier costume:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier picks up where The Avengers left off, as Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, and Robert Redford, it hits theaters on April 4, 2014.

The reviews are in for After Earth:

“Had the ad mentioned him, it probably would have said, ‘An M. Night Shyamalan film. Sorry.’” – Matt Pais, RedEye

“After Earth is no Titan AE.” – William Bibbiani, CraveOnline

“They set out to make a sci-fi film with the power to change the way you look at your fellow man. And they made one that just made me want to leave this planet that much sooner.” – Brian Tallerico, HollywoodChicago

Yeah, I think we’ll be skipping that one this weekend…

Did you gather some healthy tips on Wednesday? Picking up any of the new books this week? Excited for the next Captain America or contribute to Iron Man III’s box office? And are you watching a movie this weekend? (Presumably not After Earth…)

Don’t forget to visit Rachna's Scriptorium for time management Ninja tricks!

Iron Man III Review, Rush Clockwork Angels Concert, Ninja News, Wednesday Movie Quote, and Bloglovin’ Question

Iron Man III Review

Another great entry in the series.
It’s less of an Iron Man movie and more of a Tony Stark film. Downey reprises his role with ease, firing off witty and hilarious comments left and right.
The special effects are great. What really shines are the action sequences, especially the ending. (The director wrote the Lethal Weapon series, so he knows his action.) We get multiple Iron Man suits this time as well. (Although the constant breaking down of the prototype began to grow old.)
Die hard fans of the Marvel comics will be disappointed with the villain, The Mandarin. I’m a DC guy so I had no history with the character.
It doesn’t pack the same emotional punch as the first two, but as a superhero action film, it delivers. Highly recommended.

Rush Concert Review

Last Friday night – and well worth missing Iron Man’s opening!
Rush is probably the oldest band that is still relevant, producing albums, and touring. They have twenty-four gold and fourteen platinum albums, for an estimated forty million albums sold worldwide. And they still put on an amazing show.
This was the second leg of their Clockwork Angels tour. For those of you who are steampunk fans, you’d dig the album – and you’d really like the stage setup and animation. They performed nine songs from the album, complete with a small accompanying orchestra. They also played a unique set of old favorites.
What continues to amaze me about this band is quality of both the music and the performance. Geddy, Alex, and Neil are three of the best musicians in the world and are truly a sight to behold in concert.
And I won’t even scare you with how many times I have seen this band in concert….

Mini-Alex didn’t get to go, but he did get a cool t-shirt!

Ninja News

First, I have to say thanks to you guys! Author CM Brown featured a poll during the A-Z Challenge, asking people to vote to Appreciate a Fellow Blogger – and I won! Thanks, everyone. That really means a lot, because I’m sure during the month there were many bloggers nominated.

Michael Pierce’s next book is now available – Susy Asylum.

In SUSY Asylum, there is no release. There is no escape. No hope…

This is the sequel to Provex City, which is receiving a new cover – second edition should be available soon.

Congratulations, Michael!

The Post A to Z Road Trip kicks off today, hosted by Tina Downey, Shannon Lawrence, and Nicole. If you’d like to join them as they continue visiting those on the Challenge list, sign up at the A to Z Blog.

Talli Roland has a new book coming out November 2013 – The No-Kids Club.

Almost-forty Clare Donahue is living child-free and loving it – except for her shrinking social circle…

Congratulations, Tallie! And funny, since you no longer belong to that club.

And Katherine at Katherine’s Corner had her photo selected for the cover of Ruby For Women Magazine.

Congratulations, Katherine!

Wednesday Movie Quote

Post your favorite here or play along on your own blog.

Today’s genre is psychological thriller.

My choice is from Manhunter:

Will Graham: I know that I'm not smarter than you.
Doctor Hannibal Lecktor: Then how did you catch me?
Will Graham: You had disadvantages.
Doctor Hannibal Lecktor: What disadvantages?
Will Graham: You're insane.

Next week’s genre – monster movies!

Bloglovin’

I was waiting until after the Challenge to start using a new reader. Bloglovin’ seems more user friendly than Feedly and will likely be my preferred reader. It doesn’t update quite as fast as Google Reader, but it does update all blogs and not hours later. (Or in poor Robyn’s case, not at all!) Following and unfollowing is easy, as are adjusting the various folders.

I did discover one drawback though. Bloggers who have their comment box on a separate page, such as Jay Noel and Medeia Sharif, I’m unable to comment because Bloglovin’ won’t pull up that second page. It’s just a blank screen. I had to hop over to Google Reader to find them there and leave a comment. Has anyone else noticed this and is there a setting I can adjust?

What did you think of Iron Man III? Any Rush fans out there? Excited about Michael and Talli’s books? Taking the A to Z Road Trip? What’s your favorite psychological thriller quote? And anyone else using Bloglovin’?