Ode to Sharktopus, Ninja News, CassaStorm Update, and October Movie Preview!

Two years ago, Sharktopus escaped the deluded minds at the SyFy Channel and attacked the viewing public with a vengeance. I braved this Saturday night Craptastic film and brought to you a play-by-play of the disaster. To celebrate this most auspicious occasion, I am guest posting at Lee’s blog, Tossing it Out, with a tribute called Sharktopus: A Love Story, as well as the original play-by-play in its entirety. If you’re in need of a good laugh today, go pay Tossing it Out a visit!

Ninja News!

Thanks to everyone who visited Karen at Write Now earlier this week for my take on what makes a blog successful. Really appreciated the awesome comments!

Jeffrey Beesler is hosting a giveaway for his latest book, Speed Demons, through September 27 – visit his site for details!

In case you missed it, Ciara Knight and I are hosting the Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest on October 17. Join us in highlighting a special book you’ve noticed lately.

Special cover reaveal!

The Big Smoke by Cally Jackson Coming in October 2012

Ceara’s desperate for love; Seb’s desperate to get laid. Two strangers, both moving from small country towns to Brisbane for uni. Will they survive life in the big smoke or crumble under the pressure?

Find the book on Goodreads

And find Cally at: Blog, Twitter, and Goodreads.

CassaStorm Progress!

Monday night I finished revisions and sent CassaStorm off to my awesome critique partners, Rusty, Jeffrey, and Cassie Mae! I let one of my test readers (who rocks with dialogue) attack it first and he also had some good suggestions for slight plot changes. So four months to create the outline, two months to write the first draft, and two months of editing and mutilating. At the moment it’s clocking in at 82,000 words, which is a record for me. Now it’s in my critique partners’ hands. Let the carnage begin…

October Movie Preview!

Here are the upcoming releases for October. Not a great selection, but I did the best I could with the list. As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me.

5 -

Taken 2
In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.
Director: Olivier Megaton
Stars: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Serbedzija
The only that could make this better if it was called Taken 2: Electric Boogaloo!

Frankenweenie
Young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.
Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Christopher Lee
Didn’t we already see this?




12 -

Sinister
Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.
Director: Scott Derrickson
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Vincent D'Onofrio
The preview isn’t scary, but every reviewer says this is terrifying. Not sure who to believe…


19 -

Alex Cross
A detective is told that a member of his family has been murdered. He vows to track down the killer.
Director: Rob Cohen
Stars: Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Rachel Nichols, Edward Burns
Terry Perry IS Alex Ninja! Wait, that’s not right…




26 –

Cloud Atlas
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directors: Tom Tykwer | Andy Wachowski | Lana Wachowski
Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving
Directed by the former Wachowski Brothers. Now the Wachowski Brother and Sister. Don’t make me explain…

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D
When her father disappears, Heather Mason is drawn into a strange and terrifying alternate reality that holds answers to the horrific nightmares that have plagued her since childhood.
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Stars: Sean Bean, Radha Mitchell, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kit Harington
First one had great atmosphere and creepy visuals. Let’s hope this one also has a good story.


Ready for a good laugh this morning? (Hopefully not from my critique partners – that would be bad.) Excited about the news and new books? Signed up for the blogfest? Did you pick up The Avengers on Tuesday? I got my 3D copy! And what movies are you excited about next month?

Don’t forget to visit Tossing it Out for my sendoff to Sharktopus!

And the Ninja will be gone this weekend, so no post on Friday. Wife and I are both playing hooky. I will be lurking…

October Movie Preview!

It’s that time again!
Don’t forget, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil comes out this Friday, although those with Direct TV’s HDNet can see it tonight, Wednesday! (Rusty, don’t forget to set the DVR…)

Rather sparse for October, so threw in some DVD releases. As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me.

4 –

DVD Release – Fast Five
One of the best movies this year!


7 –

Real Steel
Director: Shawn Levy
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly
The Plot: A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he's found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father.
Sounds goofy. Every time I see the commercial, all I can think about are Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots…

The Ides of March
Director: George Clooney
Stars: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling
The Plot: An idealistic staff member (Gosling) for presidential hopeful (Clooney) gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.
Excellent cast.


14 –

The Thing
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen
The Plot: At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd (Winstead) and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson (Thomsen). While Dr. Halvorson keeps to his research, Kate partners with Sam Carter (Edgerton), a helicopter pilot, to pursue the alien life form.
This is a prequel to Carpenter’s master, The Thing, so we all know how it ends…

Footloose
Director: Craig Brewer
Stars: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid
The Plot: City kid Ren McCormack (Wormald) moves to a small town where rock 'n' roll and dancing have been banned, and his rebellious spirit shakes up the populace.
Absolutely no need for a remake. Not a chance I’ll give money to this film. It’s more than six degrees from Kevin Bacon!

DVD Release – Green Lantern
Hey, I enjoyed it! So sue me.


18 –

DVD Release – Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
It was fun. Better than the last two!


21 –

The Three Musketeers
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson
The Plot: D'Artagnan (Lerman) and his musketeer comrades Athos (Macfadyen), Porthos (Stevenson) and Aramis (Evans) thwart the plans of Royal Prime Minister Richelieu to usurp the King's power.
Could be fun. Could be average.


28 –

In Time
Stars: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde
The Plot: Set in a world where people stop aging at 25, but are genetically-engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, a young man (Timberlake) accused of murder goes on the run with a hostage (Seyfried), though their eventual connection becomes an important part of the way against the system.
This one sounds intriguing. Wonder if Olivia Wilde will be naked again?

The Rum Diary
Director: Bruce Robinson
Stars: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart
The Plot: American journalist Paul Kemp (Depp) takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the ex-patriots who live there.
Not sure why, but the preview amuses me.

Any strike your fancy?

Special announcement this Friday! Want to know what it is? Well, I’m not telling…

October Movie Preview

Time for a rundown of some interesting flicks hitting the big screen this month!

1 –

The Social Network
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake
Synopsis: A story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook.
You always wanted to know, didn’t you?

Let Me In
Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins
Synopsis: A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.
Based on the foreign film, Let The Right One In, this remake appears identical to the original. Other than the fact Americans are too lazy to read subtitles, there’s no reason to remake this film - the original was brilliant!

8 –

Secretariat
Directed By: Randall Wallace
Staring: Diane Lane, John Malkovich,
Synopsis: Based on the remarkable true story, "Secretariat" chronicles the spectacular journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner.
Likely to be formulaic, at least you know it has a happy ending.

15 –

RED
Directed By: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich
Synopsis: Based on the cult D.C. Comics graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, RED is an explosive action-comedy…
Helen Mirren shooting an automatic weapon - need I say more?

22 -

Hereafter
Director: Clint Eastwood
Staring: Matt Damon, Cecile De France
Synopsis: Tells the story of three people who are touched by death in different ways.
Eastwood is an outstanding director, but I predict this movie will be incredibly depressing.

29 -

Monsters (limited)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able
Synopsis: Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and grow.
Judging from the trailer, this one looks creepy and atmospheric! Really looking forward to this film.

Today is also the first day of NaBloWriMo – blogging every day for the month of October. I’ll be taking Arlee Bird’s A-Z approach and only post once on the weekends. And since my virtual tour starts in two weeks, there’s a lot happening this month!