Blogging Idiosyncrasies III and Final Awards

Final round with the blogging junk, I promise! Comments from the first two posts spurred new ideas though.

Blog-whoring
Dezz at HOLLYWOOD SPY coined this term. It refers to those who leave quick, short, meaningless comments just to get you to comment on their blog. It also puts me in mind of those who follow you, and you to follow back. but then no matter how many times you comment on that person’s blog, he or she never comments back. I have several of those right now. Now I admit, I’m not overly interesting and not every post appeals to every person, but did you follow just to get me to follow you? Do you have followers like that? Or ones who leave short or odd comments?

Mechanics of comment box
Judging from last week’s comments, this is a sore spot for many. Is the comment box embedded or separate? There appears to be numerous ways to set up one’s comment box – separate small box (like mine), entirely new page, or the main page reloads. Sometimes the latter occurs, only you don’t realize it also has word verification – and when it refreshes the page, it returns to the top of the page. I wonder how many comments never go through because the commenter doesn’t realize he needs to do the word verification? What are your thoughts on the placement of the comment box?

Okay, I’m officially done with that mess!

On to the awards! Of which there are many…

Yvonne at Welcome to my World of Poetry gave me the Creative Writing Award! Yvonne, I am truly honored. I shall pass this on to just one person:

Ted Cross - don’t you dare give up on The Shard, dude!



Powdered Toast Man at Just the Cheese gave me the Super Commenter Award! I pass this on to:

Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere





iZombie gave me the Zombie Rabbit Award! Okay, I have to pass this on to someone who will appreciate it…

Rogue at The Roads of Autumn Dusk

Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow gave me the Circle of Friends Award. Thanks, Jules! And Kate at The Scribbling Sea Serpent gave me the One Lovely Blog Award. Thanks, Kate! I’ve received both of these before, so won’t pass them on again.

Everything but the kitchen sink...

Because I am not about to take out our kitchen sink! Home repairs are not my specialty.

But as I cruise the world of blogs, I’ve noted some really cool things happening as of late…

Rogue at The Roads of Autumn Dusk was recently listed on the Horror Blogger Alliance He has an awesome site, so check it out.

Nebular’s site CineMarvellous just celebrated one year AND won the Top Movie Review Blog 2010 award!! Go check it out HERE

Powdered Toast Man at Just the Cheese decided to take my Movie Dirty Dozen one step further and posted an Actress and an Actor Dirty Dozen. His actor list is close to mine, but I need to come up with my own actress post!

Geof at Enter the Man-Cave is posting his very first book review on Monday!! So please show him some manly support.

My review of Fever Dreams by Preston and Child appeared this month in Prinkipria. If you’ve not seen this online fantasy/science fiction magazine, you need to check it out!

Yvonne at Welcome to my World of Poetry gave me a special Friday the 13th Award! Thanks again, Yvonne. For those who don’t know Yvonne, she posts poetry every single day, and while I am not a poetry person, there is something about the way she brings her words together that is really amazing.

I pass this special award to:
Clarissa at Listen to the voices – she posts the best writing tips ever!
Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time – she’s really cool!
Carol at Under the Tiki Hut – her Friday’s Top Ten posts are great!

RaShelle at a No. 2 Pencil Stat!
gave me the Creative Writer award – thanks, RaShelle! I’ve received it previously, so won’t bore you with facts & fluff.

Other than that, still playing Starcraft II and working on a sequel to my book. I have special guest on Tuesday you won’t want to miss. And some movie reviews are coming, too!

And snark! It was suggested that Simon at Constant Revision should have a nickname, and I think Snarktopus fits him very well.

More Sightings and Stuff

More sightings! Big thanks to SF Site, The Roads of Autumn Dusk, Booktionary, Coffee Rings Everywhere, and Only The Best SciFi for posting my book trailer! I can’t believe how many people have posted the video – wow! I received The Versatile Blogger Award from Geof at Enter the Man-Cave Thanks Dude! I received a variation of this one previously, but I’ll still hang this one on my wall with pride. And Geof just hit 300 followers! Go tell him congratulations - that is really awesome! I just realized I’ll hit 200 followers soon. Damn, I’ll need to celebrate when that happens. (Hope I notice when it occurs!) Any suggestions? And while Dezz at HOLLYWOOD SPY says he’s decided not to work with kids, he still likes elephants, so keep ‘em coming!

Not one but TWO flying cars!

Rogue Evolent featured this craft on Wednesday and it blew me away! (He posted a full description and the video, so visit Roads of Autumn Dusk for the low down and skinny on this flying car.) This is the Transition Roadable Aircraft by Terrafugia.  It received certification as a Light Sport Aircraft and will begin production soon. The plane will cost almost $200,000 and requires 20 hours of flight certification. Its function is a plane, but once on the ground, the wings fold up and it can be driven like a car. So basically, after you land, you just fold up and drive home! I want one. Think it comes with photon torpedoes? Then on the heels of this news came something from Sci-Fi Wire - “Looks like Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov's next project could be to out-Bay Michael Bay, because he's in talks with Universal to create an English-language blockbuster based on his Russian-language hit Black Lightning. Bekmambetov has described his original film as a "Slavic Transformers meets Batman," and based on the action-packed trailer below, we can see what he means. The Russian-language original was a hit, taking in nearly $10 million during its first weekend.” I’d like to see the Russian version!! And finally… No flying cars, but something really cool – the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Blogger award from Ted Cross Thanks Dude – this is awesome!! I’m passing it on to four bloggers – Jamie at Mithril Wisdom Bryan at SF Daddy Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs Hannah at Musings of a Palindrome

Movies, Music, and a Humbling Surprise

I was stunned yesterday when looking through the blogs I follow – my book was featured at The Roads of Autumn Dusk!!! Thanks so much, Rogue Evolent. That really made my day. The cover is up at Prinkipria's site as well. Guess I need to get used to that, but it's kinda humbling.

I was also stunned when I hit 100 followers on Friday! Thanks everyone. I will draw a name soon and contact the person to be featured.

Saw this over at Jo Blo’s site - JJ Abrams is up to tricks again with his mystery flick, Super 8. Scariest Thing I Ever Saw is the website for this movie and there’s speculation that a trailer will appear on May 15. He got us with Cloverfield – and now he’s doing it again!

Everybody’s getting a reboot – look for a new Godzilla flick in 2012 and a prequel to Planet of the Apes called Rise of the Apes in 2011.

Arlee at Tossing It Out is hosting a Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites blogfest. On Monday, May 17, we’ll be talking about our fifteen favorite albums. Arlee has a signup at his blog, so join in the fun.

For those of you looking for some interesting music with a science fiction twist – check out Star One.
One of Arjen A. Lucassen’s many projects, Star One was a tribute to some of the great science fiction movies of recent times. Some of the songs are a little goofy – “The Eye of Ra” a tribute to Stargate – and some are awesome – “Master of Darkness” a tribute to Empire Strikes Back. If you like progressive rock with a science fiction twist, check it out at Arjen’s site and have a listen.

Now, go enjoy your weekend!

Oh, and thanks to everyone who gave their input Thursday. I now have a rough outline for the sequel to CassaStar and will begin working on it soon.