Again with the disappointment

Disappointment.
That's really about the size of how I feel about movies these days.
It's more about the money than the story these days, and, lately, directors and producers are ruining what used to be well loved movie franchises by offering a steaming heap of crap as new 2hr installments in their series.
None of the new offerings have any of the feel or the fun of the old ones, and everything seems forced.
Need some examples? Look around. We have Rambo IV, wittily titled "Rambo", where, instead of furthering any of the story put down in the first three movies, I think the point was to see how much wooden acting and over-exposed bloodshed we could take.
And then, my favorite two film franchises of all time decided to get into the act as well.
Lucas and Spielberg reunited with Harrison Ford to create the craptacular waste of time known as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, wherein I think the writers watched an X-Files marathon before writing. Whereas the first three films dealt with the location and recovery of mystical religious artifacts, ostensibly to be displayed in a museum and used for the presumed betterment of all peoples, this installment deals with aliens and their past and present manipulations of the human race and influences on it's history. AND they had wooden acting, horrid dialogue, and some terrible CGI work. Terrible because CGI has no place in an Indiana Jones movie, and Indy's survival of impossible situations in this one leaves me flabbergasted and pissed off. Seriously, surviving a nuclear bomb by locking yourself in a refrigerator? This ISN'T the Mummy series, after all. The only part DID enjoy was the nods to two of the other Indy films scattered throughout the movie. Lastly, and perhaps the largest disappointment of all, is George Lucas' monster flophouse destruction of the Star Wars series. The original trilogy was amazing. The Prequels I was able to force myself to stomach, but this latest embarrassment, The Clone Wars, is horrid. It starts out with a re-worked version of the classic theme made famous by John Williams, but this one sounds like the Meco version.....except worse. The entire plot is iffy, the dialogue is slanted toward those viewers under 10, the graphics on the mechanicals are amazing, I'll grant you, but the CHARACTERS look terrible. The music through this "movie" doesn't match anything else in the series, and then, the actors trying to voice the main characters try to hard, and end up sounding like Monty Python's Flying Circus attempting "Evita".
I want me money and those hours of my life back, but, more realistically, or maybe not, I want Hollywood to give us more originality. The art is dying, long live the dollar, is all they seem to say these days.

Thought of the week

When you are at the mercy of pain and pleasure, your life is not you own. In order to succeed, nay, to survive, you need to control, to master, the emotions in your life.

I own my pain, I know it, it's something I have known and become comfortable with for years.

When do I finally get to feel pleasure...because, ya know...I think I need to learn how to master that.....but might I be a slow learner. ;)

(Above: An example of pain, probably the second worse loss in my life after Scott)

El Typey Typey

Holy Laptops Batman!

As if I weren't nocturnal enough to begin with, my new schedule will soon have me hanging from the ceiling like a freaking bat.

But.....I have gotten up to page 137 edited in The Phoenix from the Ashes, the second ETF novel. And, with the new materials I have written and YET to edit (You know, spellchecking, tense consistency, character story lines, and overall flow and making sense), the story is up to 548 pages in Microsoft Word, which, from my prior experience of publishing The Metamorphosis, will end up being around 800 standard mass market paperback pages.

And the stand-alone story about the making of Top Gun II (Fictional, of course) is at about 25 pages right now. Hmm.

So, one could say this new schedule is already showing dividends.

I have to tell you though, it's not all roses. I mentioned how I am working on getting my ass (and the rest of me) back in shape the last time I posted. Yeah. It hurts. A lot. But I'm going to stick to it, because, although I may be suffering now, I'm going to be A-OK by the time I start making my trips.

And THAT thought kicks ass.

Off to my nap!

Love to the two or three of you who actually read these!
P.S. Napkins, the Party is On.

And, As I leave you, I am humming Monty Python's classic ode to deviancy and recreation, "Sit on my Face." We all know you know it, too, so sing along in honor of my having just picked up the Monty Python Instant CD Collection!

Also, hit up my Facebook for some amusing photos from my cell phone.

That is all!

0230hrs

I Think el Rockhead has the right idea.

Via con Dios Jose ;)

Updates Early August

Hello, Hola, Previet, Was ist los? That should cover the opening for everyone, lol.
Just wanted to let you al know a few things have been changing around here. Most of you know I have been doing a lot of job searching, had a bunch of nibbles, some online and phone interviews, but no face-to-faces and no solid job offers yet. I also left the Sales department with GEICO as I could not stomach some of the practices that went on there, and could not continue to respect myself AND do that job. So, starting this week I am now in the Internet division for GEICO. My new hours will be 1330-0000hrs Wed-Sat, which means I am off Sun-Tues now. This can be seen as both good and bad, but I'm preferring to see it in th light that I now have more consecutive time to work on writing and on myself.
About that last, some of you know I have been working with a 22yr old to get them ready to enter the Marines basic training later in August. Hell, some of you I worked out with for similar reasons before :). That being said, I'm now a bit older, and...doughy than I had been before, and that has been brought to my attention in no uncertain way while I was coaching this future Marine into shape. Ergo, I've committed myself to getting back into "trim" as they say, and bringing myself back to the 4.5% body fat i was at while in ROTC myself. I know just how rough it is going to be, and my body is letting me know it does not appreciate the extra effort, but I've committed myself to get back there by the time I turn 33. Realistic? Maybe not. But you all know me...I'm like a damn bulldog once I sink my teeth into something. So, in addition to the biking, I'm back at the batting cages (Bre knows how I roll there, lol...oh, and we WILL be putting on a display when we meet up again, JCB), hitting the streets running, and working more weights for tone. I know what a few of you are thinking...But Bri, you're not fat! True...not yet..but the spare tire was expanding and I was about to have to increase pant size again...and..I could just FEEL out of shape. Many of you are athletes or former athletes...so you know what I mean. You also know how rough it is for a person that was once in great shape to get it back. It is worse than if you had never been in shape before. That covers that.

As for trips, I'm going to be in New England the first few days, 11 to be precise, of October, and plan to spend some of it in NYC, that portion is still awaiting confirmation. I might be driving that trip, so Shawn, you might want to keep your ears open ;)
One trip I WON'T be driving to is Ohio in late August. I plan to fly for that one. It's looking like 23-26 August on that one. I still need to hammer out details with Chris, Perry and possibly Sharon on that.
Also, I still want to hit San Antonio this year, but we will see on that one.
Anyways, that's my update for now.
Hope all is well, and hope to hear from you.
I Love and Miss all of you.