Random Previews: Jan 2010

It's the new year and here's my first installment of Random Previews. :D

- Our Family Wedding (12 Mar 2010) -
This looks hilarious. It's not as stupid looking as the movie poster made it out to be. It's not the type of movie I go to the theaters for but it still looks like one I want to see.

- Bass Ackwards (01 Feb 2010) -
Sundance Film Festival... enough said. Moving on.

- Blood Into Wine (19 Feb 2010) -
It looks like a documentary with a star-studded cast about making wine in Arizona. Interesting. Not going to go see it but interesting. Oh yeah, limited release.

- Season of the Witch (19 Mar 2010) -
Interesting looking. Set in the crusades, Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman are taking a witch to be burned. Both are actors I like. While I'm no enthused about it, I may just go see it because those two are in it. At least the special effects look good.

- Robin Hood (14 May 2010) -
Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe (director and star of Gladitor) join up to give us Robin Hood... the more violent version. This I very much want to see. It looks great.

- The Warlords (02 Apr 2010) -
I love Jet Li. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are just icing on his cake. :D I want to see this movie and I hope it comes to a theater near me.

Not that many this month. We'll see what happens after the big game reveals the blockbusters for this summer.

Movie Review: Legion

Legion


Basic Premise:
God has lost faith in man. Instead of sending a flood, he has sent a horde to wipe out mankind's last hope, an unborn child. Only Michael, an angel who has cast himself out of God's favor, stands in the way of that goal.

Dream Sharing (I Had To)

Normally I'm not one who is big on telling people about my dreams. I mean, who cares, right? But ever so often I have a dream that bears telling for whatever reason. This dream was sprinkled in awesome so I'm torturing you all with it (if you read this post).

So here goes...

The beginning of the dream is unimportant and completely unrelated to the meat-and-potatoes part of the dream. I think it was just a means to get to the end. *shrug*

So I'm walking down this hall. It's like in a mall but it's dark like the mall is closed and/or closing. There are people with me and my dream self registers that but I can't remember who they are now. They were important at the time though (don't you hate that? Stuff that only makes sense in dreams).

Anywho, I'm walking down this hall. Ahead of me there are four people. On my right side is Justin Timberlake (I kid you not!) and he's walking with one of his former N'Sync-ers. I can't remember which one but I knew during the dream. On my left, across the hall from Justin, is Salt and Pepa from Salt N' Pepa. (I told you this dream was sprinkled in awesome :P).

We're all walking along, not together just walking. I didn't even realize who was walking ahead of me until Justin spoke. *big grin* Justin looks over and Salt and Pepa and he said something along the lines of (can't really remember it), "I always like to know the names of pretty girls I meet. What's yours?"

Here I am looking at him like, he didn't really just say that. My and my big mouth blurt out, "They are Salt and Pepa. Duh!"

Justin looks back at me with this surprised and embarrassed look on his face. "For real!?" And I'm nodding at him and said, "You didn't know?". Meanwhile Salt and Pepa are laughing and I started laughing. Justin runs off and hides in the bathroom, which conveniently shows up (love dreams for that reason).

I called after him, "I'm so writing about this in my blog!" (and I am). I'm all anxious to get home just so I can write about it. I mean no one would believe that I saw these people and not only that but I saw one of them make a major goof. It was too funny.

So I keep walking and Salt and Pepa disappear. They reappear a moment (dream moment, no telling how long it really was) later walking back from where ever they had gone. I get the impression (in the dream) that they had gone to the ladies' room.

They come out and then Salt does something that is just as embarrassing as what Justin did earlier. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was. Like I forgot the second I woke up but it was another thing I had planned to write about in my blog and she was saying I was naughty (her word) for doing it. I really wish I could remember what she did because it was hilarious at the time.

Back to the dream, Pepa said to Salt, "Someone's going to think I hit you in the eye." She looks at me because I'm watching them with curious interest. She said, "There's this thing on the side."

I look at Pepa and don't see anything and she like, "On Salt not me." So I go over to Salt and she pulls down her sunglasses and there's this star-burst-looking kind of thing at the corner of her left eye. I said, "It looks like a rash. You should go to the doctor and get it checked out. You probably had an allergic reaction to something." I'm thinking it was her sunglasses but I didn't say it.

Salt said, "I don't like going to doctors. They always want to treat it right then. It's a pain."

And I said, "Duh. That's why people go to doctors, to get treated. And you should before what that is gets worse."

Salt doesn't look like she's planning to go and changes the subject. "Oh hey, I almost forgot. I need to give you your pictures. They earned some money so you get that too."

(dream logic, wait for it). I get all happy. Great. She got the pictures. I'd wanted to see them. I want to ask how much money they made but don't want to sound greedy so I keep my mouth shut even though whatever amount would really help with my bills. So I go to my purse, which is on the ground next to some of my other stuff that miraculously appears (I would NEVER put my purse on the ground). I dig out a business card and hand it to her.

I'm about to tell her to just email me for my address and then I'm like 'duh, stupid, just give her your address'. So she gives me a notebook where I can write down my address. While I'm writing I ask her if she plans to go to RT (Romantic Times Convention) again this year. Oh by the way, in dream time, I "remember" that last RT is where we took the pictures and Salt was going to publish them someplace that would pay her and she said she would give me a cut of that. She says she wasn't that impressed with RT and it seemed like more hassle than it was worth so she was going to pass but she did have fun at the parties.

Meanwhile, I'm writing my address in handwriting I don't normally use and it's taking up waaaaay too much room and has too many lines (it's a dream, what do you want?). So I have to put the city, state, and zip on another page with an arrow pointing to it so she knows that's the last part. The weird thing was that I put Richmond, VA. I don't currently live in Richmond but I used to. As I'm writing it, I think it looks wrong but I shrug and go with it.

That's where the dream ends. How weird is that?

This is the second time I've had a dream featuring celebrities who sort of know me. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something or is it wishful thinking? Or maybe even a mini-ego boost. :D

The other dream I had was back before I moved. It featured Bono from U2. In a nutshell, he invites me to this super secret birthday party he's having (have to know a password to get in) because his wife loves my books. In fact, she made him read one and he loves them now too. So much so that he wants me to hand out promo at his birthday party because he knows that the people there will love my stuff and buy tons. I was freaking out because I didn't have enough promo for the amount of people he mentioned were coming and I didn't want to hand out just business cards. That dream ended before the party got started but I was there.

I was so totally psyched after having that dream. I even told Flash about it. We're both hoping it's prophetic. :P

Chugging Right Along

81% yesterday, 87% today. Chapters seven and eight are complete.

Woot!

I have no clue how many chapters this book will be once I'm finished but it feels good to finally get them numbered. Did I mention I write in chunks? Some people write sequentially and I don't. :P I have scenes just floating around that need to be connected in a manner that makes sense to someone who isn't me. And then I throw in some chapter breaks.

Tomorrow is my Friday. I plan to get a whole lot more done over the next few days. I also plan to send out my first newsletter of the year too. :D It would suck to be late.

Writing Update

Soooooo... I upped the word count estimation for "Baby" to 60k. You may ask why. Well... the thing is...

Okay, it was supposed to be a nice little, uncomplicated novella. SUPPOSED TO BE. As we already know, me and "uncomplicated" don't get along very well. Every time we try to get along badness happens. :P

Gosh darn it. This plot just came out of nowhere and jumped me. I swear. I was almost done. Sure it would have been over the original 30k goal but an extra 10k words wasn't that bad. But nooooo. That dopey plot came out of nowhere and now it looks like I have a category length novel on my hands. *sigh*

Oh well. Still good. Still fun. And still almost done. :D I'm chugging right along and having a good time doing it.

Movie Review: Book Of Eli

The Book of Eli


Basic Premise:
It's post-apocalyptic Earth. One lone man is making his way west. In his possession is a book. A book that holds a great deal of power and one man is willing to kill to get it.

Movie Review: Daybreakers

Daybreakers


Basic Premise:
It's 2019 and 99% of the population are vampires... starving vampires. The last 1% of humans are dwindling into extinction. Ed Norton, a vampire hematologist, needs to find a substitute for human blood, but the last remaining humans offer him a cure instead. But, will he be in time?

Manga Review: Unsophisticated And Rude

Unsophisticated and Rude by Momoko Tenzen

Publisher: DMP June
Price: $12.95
Genre: Boy's Love, Drama, Romance
Themes: High School, College, Old Friends Reunited
Rating: Mature 18+
Volumes: 1
ISBNs: 978-1-56970-060-0



Basic Premise:
One-shot manga with multiple stories:
- Unsophisticated and Rude (title story) - When Hiroto's best friend Satoshi confesses to liking Nao (their sempai), Hiroto is floored... only because he likes Nao too.
- Pretender - Manaka loves Katase and tells him so. Katase isn't put off but he is hesitant. Manaka suggests they pretend-date for a week. If it works out then they can stay together. If not, then Manaka will never talk about his love again.
- Midori Vivid In My Eyes - Takamiya has just met Sonoda, the weirdest man he'll probably ever meet. But, it's Sonoda's weird outlook on life that endears him to Takamiya.
- Second Love - Haruno has just met Uenaga... again. They knew each other in elementary school but Haruno can't remember Uenaga despite everyone telling him that they used to be very close. There's something important about their past together and Haruno needs to know what that is before there can be a future.
- I Want to Be Your Number One - Tomo has always loved Yukihiro, since they were children, in fact and Tomo has told Yukihiro this everyday without fail. Yukihiro feels that Tomo's words are just echoes of their childhood so it hurts him to hear them because he really loves Tomo and thinks confessing could ruin their friendship.


Sex Shown:
Kissing, hugging and pressed naked bodies in sexual positions with implied movement.

Review:
OMG! I didn't even realize this was Momoko-sensei again until I started writing this review. I just happened to pick two manga at random to read on two totally separate days (few weeks apart actually). I don't normally pay attention to authors since I pretty much buy whatever DMP puts out. That's just funny to me that I would pick up two books by the same author and not even realize. Huh.

Okay, on to the review.

Momoko-sensei is fond of lack-of-communication, it seems, but that works in her stories and reveals a lot about her characters while they try to get at the truth.

My favorite story was Second Love. Haruno is so desperate to remember Uenaga and even admits that he doesn't remember him, which is something most people wouldn't do when faced with someone they were supposed to be really close with. Most would play it off (and Momoko-sensei even mentions that in the manga) but Haruno is up-front even if that hurts Uenaga's feelings. It was awkward and funny and that's what made Haruno and Uenaga my favorites.

Midori Vivid in My Eyes is definitely a close second. Takamiya doesn't even realize he's falling in love with Sonoda until he's too far gone to actually turn back. Watching him come to terms with his feelings was a treat that I love to re-read.

Surprisingly enough, my least favorite story was the title story, Unsophisticated and Rude. It should have been called "Underhanded and Backstabbing". If this story had had a second chapter, Momoko-sensei could have had some sort of closure (can't go into too much detail without spoilers, though my title suggestion is somewhat of a spoiler) but it didn't. As it stands, I'm not too fond of Nao or Hiroto. I'm glad that I didn't stop reading after that story. I was tempted, don't get me wrong, but I kept going in the hopes that it would get better... and it did.

I like Momoko-sensei's style. This is a fun manga, even with the addition of the title story. If you like misunderstandings born from lack of communication and boys stumbling through the beginnings of an unknown relationship with other boys, then this is the manga for you.

Manga Review: Ciao Ciao Bambino

Ciao Ciao Bambino by Momoko Tenzen


Publisher: DMP June
Price: $12.95
Genre: Shounen-Ai (Boy's Love), Romance, Drama
Themes: High School, Teacher-Student Relations, Misunderstandings
Rating: Older Teen 16+
Volumes: 1
ISBNs: 978-1-56970-077-8


Basic Premise:
One-shot manga with multiple stories:
- Ciao Ciao Bambino (title story) - Kaname Imai is a cram school teacher who has fallen for Yuuta Fujimoto, one his students. Yuuta feels the same. Now they just have to find a way to tell each other.
- Honey Citron - Yuuta's two cram school friends Nishio and Mako seem to start having issues when they realize they may want to be more than just friends.
- Going Steady & Swing On Over - Yuuta and Kaname are back. Yuuta is older and bolder and Kaname has to find a way to indulge without getting caught.
- Brand New Wednesday 1 & 2 - Nakahara is Kana's home tutor. Kana has a crush on Nakahara but it seems like Nakahara is just using Kana as a gap-fill for the one he truly loves.


Sex Shown:
Hugging, kissing and naked chest pressing. Very tame.


Review:
Yuuta and Kaname's story had me worried for a bit there since it starts off with Yuuta in middle school. Whoa, hold up there DMP, you guys publish the underage stuff??? Well, that wasn't the case. Kaname and Yuuta's relationship doesn't go past a kiss until Yuuta is in high school. So that was a good thing. :P

Yuuta and Kaname are so cute together. Their story made the book for me. This whole manga was a toe-in-to-check-the-water type of manga. Just enough to tease but not to satisfy... and I don't mean the sex. It gave you a glimpse of each couples's lives but not a full look. Each couple could have floated an entire manga all on their own.

That is especially true for Nishio and Mako. Momoko-sensei barely scrapped the surface with those two. They were something like an after thought. Or maybe, she wasn't quite sure what to do with them so she left it where it was.

The last story in the manga about Nakahara and Kana was completely unrelated to the first few stories, which threw me for a little while. I kept trying to figure out how the characters were related but they weren't, but that didn't detract from the story.

Brand New Wednesday was the most fleshed out of all the stories though it still could have been longer. Nakahara and Kana are cute together simply because they both don't know how to sit down and listen. They would rather jump to conclusions and make assumptions based on flimsy evidence. But, that's the whole drama of the story.

For a cute quick read that isn't too deep, this is the perfect read.

WIP Meter Update

For those keeping up with my WIP meter (on the right), you'll notice that "Baby" is over 30k words now, which was the goal. Don't get excited. I'm not finished with it yet. :P I still have some chapters to add and descriptions of the main characters and two sex scenes and... well, you get the picture.

Sorry, sorry. I kind of figured it would go over 30k words but I left the meter at 30k as a nice goal. It looks like it may be more like 40k or 50k but I'll see when I'm done, which I hope will be soon. I'm leaving the meter at 30k just as a little pick-me-up whenever I look at it. :D

Anime Review: Dragonaut The Resonance

Dragonaut: The Resonance


Company: Gonzo (Japan), FUNimation (USA)
Episodes: 25
Genre: Shounen, Fantasy/SciFi, Action, Romance
Themes: Dragons, Semi-Mech, T&A, World-Ending Battles
Manga: Not that I found


Basic Premise:
The ISDA is working on the D-Project a means to save Earth from an impending threat known as Thanatos. D-Project has created dragons that are bound to humans and fight alongside them. In order to make these Earth-born dragons stronger, ISDA needs Toa an original dragon from Thanatos. She is the key to stopping Thanatos and the only way to find and control her is to get Jin Kamishina on ISDA's side. There's a lot more going on than even Jin knows and the future of the Earth is in his hands.


Review:
If you can get past the obscenely large boobs... no really, these things were HUGE. I mean "Blue Eyes" huge (if you don't know what that is, then keep it that way). The only saving grace was that the women had the hips to match so they weren't disgustingly thin with huge knockers but those things were too big. It was very distracting in a bad way.

But anyway, back to the review... if you can ignore the large (even a boob man would be put off by those things) breasts of most of the female characters and the transparent plot and the annoying characters (most of them)... if you can ignore all that and make it through all 25 episodes, then you're about as dumb as I am.

I kept waiting for it to get good. I kept waiting for something to happen that would justify all the crap that came before. I'm still waiting. OMG! I want my life back. That isn't fair. Even the fan-subbers were glad that it ended and I completely agree with the sentiment they left in the end credits -- for once, I wish love had lost the battle.

The title of this anime should have been "Dragonaut: The Angst". Everyone in the entire series had severe mental issues that they needed therapy for. The only one with justification was the main character, Jin... well Jin and the leader of the D-Project team -- both of whom had lost loved ones in a horrific shuttle accident at the beginning of the series.

The whole mental break down of Kazuki (you took my dragon. I'll kill you) was a complete waste of a plot device and animation cels. They could have axed his character and I wouldn't have missed him in the least. Every time he appeared I was hoping something would kill him off. He always popped up at the stupidest times to enact his vendetta against Jin. It's like, gee Kazuki, I'd love to fight with you right now but the Earth is about to be blown up. Maybe we should raincheck this fight for a later date... if we LIVE.

Or a better name would have been "Dragonaut: Finding Out Too Late". That was a recurring theme throughout the ENTIRE series. Everyone finding out everything too late to actually do anything worth while about it. I can't go too much into detail without giving away plot to people who may actually decide to watch this (WHY?!!).

The other issue this anime had was too many characters. Waaaaaay too many characters. And what's worse, half way through the series, the writers decided to give them all backstories that I could have cared less about. I think it was meant to endear us to someone else besides the main characters.

The only thing I found that kept me coming back was the situation between Jin, Toa, and Gio. It looked like they were going to have a nice little threesome thing going. *sigh*

I don't think I liked anything about this anime, which is saying a lot coming from me. The plot was predictable, the characters were annoying, and over half the battles were superfluous time-wasters. The coolest dragon design was Gio... barely. The stupidest dragon design is a tie between Amadeus and Widow (What the hell was Amadeus supposed to be because a dragon wasn't it? Maybe a dog?).

If, after reading all of that, you still want to watch it, then have at it. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!!

It's a little late in coming but there it is. This is the first post of the new year. I've got reviews to post. No book news yet but I'm hoping that changes soon. :D

Let's hear it for 2010 and here's hoping this year is everything it should be.