Ayreon Universe, Judas Priest Firepower, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Animated Movie Trivia, New Releases, and More!

Some music, movies, and books news and reviews for you today - plus a little movie trivia! And today I'm at the IWSG site with an article on lessons I learned from really bad movies.

Music

Ayreon - Universe

Ayreon Universe is Ayreon live in concert for the first time ever, organized and arranged by Arjen A. Lucassen and Joost van den Broek. The Ayreon Universe set list features selected songs from all Ayreon albums plus a selection of Star One songs.

Vocalists include Floor Jansen – Nightwish, Damian Wilson – Threshold, Hansi Kürsch - Blind Guardian, Tommy Karevik – Kamelot, Anneke van Giersbergen - The Gentle Storm, Marco Hietala – Nightwish, Jonas Renkse – Katatonia, Mike Mills – Toehider, Marcela Bovio - Stream of Passion, Robert Soeterboek - Star One, John Jaycee Cuijpers - Praying Mantis, Edward Reekers – Kayak, Maggy Luyten – Nightmare, Lisette van den Berg - Scarlet Stories, and Jay van Feggelen and Irene Jansen - Ayreon

This concert is available in many different boxed sets (audio, video, t-shirts, signed, etc.) and comes out on March 30. I will definitely be picking up the pack with all of the CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays!

And just to whet your appetite:

Judas Priest – Firepower review

The metal gods are back with their umpteenth latest album!
First of all, it’s so refreshing to see people rocking out who are much older than me.
Secondly, don’t think these are a bunch of has-beens churning out crap for a quick buck. One thing I’ve always admired about this band is that they put their heart into doing the best they can. They are absolutely a fan-centered band.
I’m pleased to report this is an excellent album. It’s probably their best since Painkiller. While there isn’t a signature track, every song is solid without a dud in the bunch.
If you’re a fan of the band or old-school metal, you won’t be disappointed. Halford’s vocals sound amazing and relatively young Richie Faulkner tears it up on the guitar.
Highly recommended!

Movies

Some news from JoBlo:

Aerial footage of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park.

The latest addition to the Disney theme park arena is the upcoming Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction, which will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Star Wars. The park is still under construction and won’t be open until 2019, but you can take a look at the foundations and sheer scope of the park in this new video released by Disney. Here, there is some aerial drone footage of the park, showing off the massive soon-to-be-completed structures.

Watch Tommy Wiseau (from The Room) get inserted into a bunch of disaster movies.

The video posted by Screen Junkies arrives just a few days before THE DISASTER ARTIST, a film based on Wiseau's unique experiences while making "the Citizen Kane of bad movies," THE ROOM, makes its Blu-Ray and DVD debut. When making the parody video, Screen Junkies invited Wiseau to stand in front of a green screen while reacting to each of the films selected. Once Tommy was done being Tommy, the outlet cut it all together to hilarious effect.

Denis Villeneuve plans to remake Dune.

Over the years, Frank Herbert's "Dune" has proven to be a notoriously difficult project to adapt. As the novel is quite dense, it's been almost impossible to whittle down the story in order to get it to fit into a single film, but it seems that Denis Villeneuve may have found a way around that. The BLADE RUNNER 2049 director will be the next to tackle DUNE, and he offered a quick update (via The Playlist) while speaking to a packed house in Montreal’s Place des Arts’ Théâtre Maisonneuve for the Rendez-Vous du Cinema Quebecois this week.
Dune will probably take two years to make. The goal is to make two films, maybe more.

Books

Available March 15 –

Blue Sludge Blues by Shannon Lawrence
A collection of frights, from the psychological to the monstrous. These tales are a reminder of how much we have to fear…
Find it at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo

Last Call by Tara Watson
Newly-single attorney Gwen Cooper’s list of things that make her happy is pretty simple:
1. her teenage sons
2. her stilettos
3. finally taking control of her own life
Find it on Amazon




Available March 16 –

The Thick of Things by J.L. Campbell
When love takes you by storm, hang on for the ride of your life.
Find it on Amazon

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

Computer Animated Movie Trivia

Since Coco just came out on DVD, let’s do a little movie trivia on computer animated films. Name the movie from the actors and year.

1 – Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, 2002
2 – Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, 2012
3 - Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, 2001
4 - Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, 2011
5 - Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, 1998
6 - Patton Oswalt, Brad Garrett, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, 2007
7 - Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, 2016
8 – Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, 2006

Answers on March 26!

Impressed by the Ayeron concert footage? Fan of Judas Priest? Ready to explore the new area of Star Wars at Disney World? Think Dune needs another remake? Picking up any new books this week? And can you guess the trivia?

I will be visiting family the third full week of March and won’t be online. However, I will have a really unique post March 19 at the IWSG site on lessons learned from really bad movies.

Retro A to Z Challenge: W – Whitesnake 1984 (plus R.I.P.D. Movie Review and Ninja News)

Whitesnake – Slide It In 1984

Greatest Whitesnake album ever! People tend to gravitate toward the over-commercialized album that followed, but the infectious groove of this bluesy rock album is superior. And yes, every song title is a dirty double entendre.

1984 fun facts –
*Cost of a new home - $86,730.
*Average income - $21,600.
*Cost of a movie ticket - $2.50
*Cost of a new Corvette - $23,392.
*The first commercial CD players became available
*The MTV Music Awards debuted
*Dan Marino passed for 5,084 yards, a record that would stand until Drew Brees broke it in 2011 with 5,476 yards. (Which was topped in 2013 by Payton Manning with 5,477 yards.)

Movies released –
The Terminator
Ghostbusters
Gremlins
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
This is Spinal Tap
Beverly Hills Cop
Nightmare on Elm Street
Sixteen Candles
Starman

Music released –
Rush – Grace Under Pressure
Y & T – In Rock We Trust
Iron Maiden – Powerslave
Ratt – Out of the Cellar

Games released –
Pitfall II
Paperboy
Duck Hunter

And why is 1984 special?
It was the year Hart Johnson started college and she loved it!

Hart is the author of numerous mystery novels and serials. She hails from Ann Arbor, MI, and is the mother of two. Hart writes in her bathtub and is aiming for naked world domination. One of my first blogger buddies, Hart is a true friend and the master of snark. She blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart.

Ninja News!

Tara Watson’s Hands-On Therapy is free April 26 - today! Download it at Amazon.

Thanks to everyone who visited me at Ellie Garratt’s site on Friday for her new Where I Write feature! I know everyone is busy with the Challenge, so I appreciate you adding one more stop.

Don’t forget - the final installment of Lord of the Clones, a video masterpiece courtesy of Father Dragon Al, is going down next Tuesday. And you will be asked to vote for your favorite! The awesome Ninja Cloner (me!) or Lord Baldernot (Mark Koopmans.)

Our fate will be in your hands…

Movie Review – R.I.P.D.

Finally caught this on NetFlix. This time, it’s the opposite of The Lone Ranger – it wasn’t as horrible as the critics claimed.

Now, it was completely derivative of movies such as Ghostbusters and Men in Black. And it was completely forgettable.
However – it was very entertaining!
Reynolds and Bridges worked well together. They had some funny lines.
It’s the proto-typical leave-your-brain-at-the-door popcorn film. And sometimes that’s all right.
Good for a rental from NetFlix.

Fan of Whitesnake? Following naked-advocate, Hart Johnson? Going to vote for me next Tuesday? Have you seen R.I.P.D.? (Think I watch too many movies?) And what do you remember about 1984…?

Three more days to go!!

Third Time’s a Charm, Mini-Alex, Gratitude, Wormfest, Movie Trivia Answers, and Ninja News

All of the Challenge Co-Hosts are to do an ‘About Me’ post at the A to Z Blog.
I decided to pass the job to Mini-Alex and let him post instead.
I really hope he did a good job.

Mini-Alex wouldn’t turn on me, would he…?

Third Time's A Charm

By the awesome Hart Johnson (aka: Alyse Carlson)

So you know how the first time you are nervous and excited and you worry that you don't know what you're doing, but you're also in a rush and want to just do it already, so you go for it. You fumble a bit because you don't quite have this skill set, but people are helpful if you ask... Though some of THEM don't know what they're doing, either...

And it goes okay, but mostly you are just stunned to have gotten through it. You are a little wiser now, if a little bruised around the ego.

So you get another chance to give it a go and you think... yeah, I've done this before... I can do it again! I know what I'm doing! I've got nimble fingers and moxy... Dare I say it? I'm sexy! And you give it a try... and somehow you realize you have forgotten some things... and there were things you maybe we excused on the first time as a newbie that this time you should have gotten right... and it's just... AWKWARD. In fact you have to give it a couple attempts before everyone is even satisfied, which is not very satisfying...

But see the THIRD TIME... you know how to do it and you even feel the confidence to try a few new things... break a couple rules... get a little kinky!

So I am releasing my third book tomorrow... What? You thought this was TMI Hour? *cough* Seriously, folks... and it was a BLAST to write, because I neither had the 'I don't know what the heck I'm doings' OR the 'Yeah, I got this... wait, WHAT?'s when I was writing it. I knew my characters well and knew my genre well enough to follow all the necessary rules, while adding some twists to shake things up from typical Cozy fare. My two most reliable beta readers BOTH said it is their favorite of the set, so I think it comes across how much fun I was having.

Keeping Mum is the third Cozy Mystery in the Garden Society Mysteries by Alyse Carlson (pen name for Hart Johnson).

Cam and her best friend, Annie, are planning a gala for a local Senate candidate—a murder mystery themed silent auction where the guests bid on who will be the night’s “victim.”
Murder mystery dinner. What could go wrong?

Hart/Alyse writes books from her bathtub and can be found at Confessions of a Watery Tart and multiple places on Facebook (Hart Johnson personal, Hart Johnson Author, Alyse Carlson Author). On rare occasions she Tweets, but she's sort of a Twit about it.

Ninja News

Jeremy Hawkins is back today! He broke his ankle several weeks ago and has not been online, but he rejoins us today.

Jamie Ayers posted about a boy in her class (she’s a teacher) who died last week. She came to know him better because he read and enjoyed her books, and her touching post is about how we as authors can make a difference. God really can use us to change lives!

Tara Watson is hosting the Self-Lovin’ Bloghop. Between March 17-21, writers are to share what they are good at. (I signed up – anyone care to tell me what I’m good at?)

Steven Symes is looking for critique partners!
“…my paranormal writing crosses genre lines many times. It's not really horror, my current book touches on some low fantasy and science fiction as well as thriller, and I have interests in writing for pretty much all age groups as well as fiction and nonfiction. The big common thread is the paranormal slant on my stories.”

Nigel Mitchell posted a list of links to some really good writing articles, especially if you write in our genre, science fiction.

Cover reveal –
Sidelined (Game On Book 3) by Kyra Lennon
Release Date: March 31st 2014
At the age of twenty-one, Bree Collinson has more than she ever dreamed of. A handsome husband, a fancy house, and more shoes than Carrie Bradshaw and Imelda Marcos combined. But having everything handed to her isn’t the way Bree wants to live the rest of her life. When an idea to better herself pops into her head, she doesn’t expect her husband to question her, and keep her tied by her apron strings to the kitchen.

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

Movie Trivia Answers

1 – Title character from The Iron Giant, 1999 – Vin Diesel
2 – Z from Antz, 1998 – Woody Allen
3 – Title character from Puss in Boots, 2011 – Antonio Banderas
4 – Moses from Prince of Egypt, 1998 – Val Kilmer
5 – Sulley from Monsters, Inc., 2001 – John Goodman
6 – Rocky from Chicken Run, 2000 – Mel Gibson
7 – Fozzie Bear from Muppets From Space, 1999 – Frank Oz
8 – Emperor Kuzco from The Emperor’s New Groove, 2000 – David Spade

Wormfest Potluck Party!

On Monday March14th, Stephen Tremp will be kicking off his Escalation Blog Tour right here! He thought the best way to launch his tour is have one big party for the inhabitants of Blogdom. And you’re all invited. Just bring a dish cleverly named as a pun. Example. Stephen Tremp is bringing Square pies (pi) and Interstellar Cookies. They’re out of this world.

You can choose a food inspired by science, sci-fi, a book, movie, or music. But it’s open to any and all food puns. You can leave the food you’re bringing in my comments. Examples of dishes you could bring: Harry Potter jelly beans, Motley Crutons, Souper Salad, You should get married if you cantaloupe, A salt and battery Fish and Chips, Tequila Mockingbird, Locks Stocks and Bagels, Lettuce enjoy this salad, Iggy Popsicles, etc.

Use your imagination or Google food puns, then stop by Stephen’s blog Monday March 10th and leave what you bring in the comments. (This is separate from the actual 2014 Wormfest Bloghop, although both events kick off the same day.)

It’s All About Gratitude Bloghop

Hosted by SA Larsen

There are so many things I am grateful for – my beautiful wife, my church family, my Lord and Savior, my job and home, the talents God has given me… I’m really grateful for this amazing community. You guys have always been there for me.

Gratitude keeps me humble. None of this is a given. I didn’t earn it. It’s a gift from God.

All I can do is to attempt to pass on the blessings.

What has gratitude done for you?

Is the third time a charm? (I know my best writing is in my third book, even if it’s not sold as many as the other two.) Did you read Jamie’s post? Can you critique for Steven? Ready for IWSG day? Get any of the trivia correct? What can you bring to the Wormfest potluck party? And what has gratitude done for you…?

Be sure to visit Mini-Alex at the A to Z Blog!

Epic 2000 Follower Giveaway! Plus Genre News, 18 Truths, and Ninja News

Genre News

Blastr posted photos of a wall in London covered with Alien graffiti.

The cast of Godzilla recently talked about the film. It’s been confirmed that part of the 2014 Godzilla movie will take place in 1954, the same year the very first Godzilla movie was released. You can read more at KpopStarz.

And on JoBlo, they confirmed that Amazon Studios will be making a Barbarella television series.

18 Truths

In celebration of her upcoming release, 18 Truths, Jamie Ayres is hosting a special blogfest this week and it includes prizes:
Players tell two truths and one lie. The object of the game is to hop around the blogs and determine which statement that each blogger posted is the false one. Anyone who posts for the Can You Handle The TRUTH? blogfest between January 22nd-28th can enter to win a number of prizes donated by 18 terrific people.

My two truths and one lie:
1 – I saw Rush five times on one tour alone.
2 – I partied with the band Night Ranger at a bar.
3 – I got to jam with Rik Emmett of Triumph once.

Which is the truth and which is the lie? Answer on Monday.

Ninja News

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Online Marketing Symposium on Monday. There were some awesome ideas. All links lead directly to the symposium posts, so check them out. Special thanks to my fellow co-hosts, Arlee Bird, Yolanda Renee, and Jeremy Hawkins.

Juliana Haygert’s latest is out - Cup of Life. This novella takes place between book 2 and book 3 of The Everlast Trilogy. Congratulations, Juliana!

Cherie Reich revealed the cover for her upcoming novel, Reborn, Book One of The Fate Challenges.

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

Is that not a stunning cover? Congratulations, Cherie.






 

C. Lee McKenzie is participating in a contest and if she wins, she’ll sell one hundred copies of Alligators Overhead. She just needs a few more votes at Linked In

Tara at Feel of Something New just released a new book - Hands-on Therapy. Congratulations, Tara!

The Epic 2000 Followers Giveaway!! 

This blog is nearing 2000 GFC followers and to celebrate, I’m hosting a giveaway!

Here’s the rules: 

Must be a GFC follower. (If you’re following in another manner, time to click that GFC button!)
Open to everyone.
Open until the magic number 2000 is hit and holds for one day.

To enter:

Leave a comment. Current followers get five entries, followers after 1962 get ten entries, and follower number 2000 gets twenty entries. (One comment per person.)

Tweet about it – five entries.(@alexjcavanaugh)

Blog about it – ten entries. (Leave a link here. Bonus five entries for creativity!)

Prizes:

First place – Signed copy of one book, $10 iTunes card, and one book donated to the library (middle school, high school, public) of your choice.

Grand prize – Signed copy of all three books, $10 iTunes card, t-shirt of your choice from Neat-O-Rama, designed by Retro Jeremy Hawkins, and three books donated to the library of your choice.

There you have it! Bribing allowed – Hot Tamales always welcome.

Think the Graffiti is cool? Can you guess the lie? Learn a lot from the symposium? And are you feeling lucky…?