Sunday, August 28, 2011

What a Hurricane Can Make You Accomplished.

So this weekend, we, the people of the northeast cost, had to deal with the passing of hurricane Irene. Though there wasn't much damaged at all around my area (NYC) asside from hours and hours of heavy rain and wind, I was most concern with losing power, so I stayed up, burning the midnight oil to finished my final revision of my next novel.  And I'm very happy to say that the mission was accomplished!!

Granted, we did not, in fact, lost power for a second, but the important thing is that I feared we would, so it made me sit down and not moved until this revision was done, otherwise, I can bet I would still be working on it for another week or so.  So even though Irene did cause a lot of damages and some lives were lost, for which I'm very saddened, in some weird selfish way, I have to say thanks to it for pushing me to do what I should have been done with weeks ago.

Next up: working on the cover/backcover design, the pages layout, and overall look of the novel, before my late October/early November publishing deadline.

Wish me luck.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Work in Progress Update

So I'm about half-way through doing the last editing of my next novel. I'm aiming for a late October, early November release.  Pretty exciting!

Movies Review Round-Up

I've seen a few pics in the last couple of weeks and this is my brief thoughts on them:

THE HELP: it isn't history, it's a work of fiction, so I don't know why so many people are hating on it. For what it is, it's a very well acted film, poignant, heartfelt, and enjoyable. Grade: A.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: I can't remember the old ones, I think I've only seen the original as a child, and the Marky Mark one, I erased it off my memory. This one is pretty good for a summer movie trying to be a bit more food for thought than your usual fare, and everyone is pretty solid, including Draco Malfoy!  Andy Serkis, once again, makes motion capture tech amazingly vivid and convincing. Grade: B+

COWBOYS & ALIENS: a total rental. It should have been more fun than serious. Grade: C.

THE GUARD: a bit random, off kilter, but typically quirky from ireland, funny, though not as much as I was expecting, but overall, enjoyable. Grade: B

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE: hands down, the romantic comedy of the year, and the best comedy of the summer. Yes, even better than BRIDESMAIDS. Grade: A.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Pretty solid, and actually center around it's namesake unlike the disappointment that was THOR. Chris Evans does himself proud. Grade: B