April Showers

 To whoever might find this, I'm running at half mast.

This past year has been a mess of everything: Covid, losing my job, my housing, independence.

I just don't have it in me at the moment to write anything nice or inspiring.

If you find this, leave one of your favorite images from a film, or TV show. Brighten up the blog.

March Mayhem - The Ides

 I realize this week that it's been two since I added anything to this blog.

It's been a rough month.

A year since I was laid-off from my job and evicted. Since being home.

Working on this blog every week has given me something to do. The only problem is at this point it's just for me.

I'll probably keep updating it for fun.

Thanks for the journey.

O.M.D. What is your favorite film?

 I am currently out of ideas for the moment. Maybe next month I’ll have a film worth talking about. 

Any films you love that don’t get discussed? Let me know. 

W.I.P. A Little Late

 Happy Valentine's week!

I know I'm a few days late, being sick is the pits.

There are a few projects I've been trying to keep in the works. Today I'll post a snippet from NaNoWriMo 2020.

When they entered the house Katherine nearly gagged on the excess of dust hanging in the air.  They walked in further, and Rhys opened one of the windows. A breeze came in stirring up the dust in the unused building. Katherine sneezed.

“A bit dusty?”

Katherine looked over at her newly found brother. There was a sly smirk on his face. Casually putting her hands behind her back, she scooped up a bit of the dust. Walking over to him she gently blew it into his face, smiling. As he inhaled it, she stepped back, knowing what would come. As if on cue he sneezed.

“A bit dusty?” She asked scarcasticly.

Putting on his best fake smile he stepped forward, scooping up a handful of dust and walking towards her. The smile turned into a genuine grin when she moved away.

“No…” she started, backing away a memory flashed across her mind. “Rhys, don’t you dare . . .”

What have you been up to this week?

Book Nook: An Fans out There?

 I may have done this novel before, but I began rereading it again recently. (Nearly done once more.) It's a nice break from the other novels I've been reading. More light-hearted and what-not.

Here are a few of my favorite aspects of this novel

1. It was written during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) purely for fun

2. It plays with something every fan has encountered at least once.

3. It doesn't take itself seriously until it does

4. It covers more material than any book that size should (and does it well)

Rainbow Rowell's introduction is pure gold. She states how and why she wrote the book from the very beginning. At the end she then thanks everyone who's ever read or written FanFiction as well.

Ah, FanFiction. The art of taking something you love and writing a new character into the universe to meet the original characters. Taking the original characters and putting them into new circumstances. Slash.

WARNING PAST HERE BE SPOILERS!

This novel follows Cather through her first year of college and all of the awkward socialities that ensue.

We meet the following cast of characters in the regular narrative:

  Wren - her twin

  Regan - her upperclassman roommate

   Levi - The smiling guy who's always in their room

   Art - Cather's dad

   Nick - fellow student and story thief

Cather prefers to be alone. She goes to classes, engages when she has to, but people are not her cup of tea. (To which I can relate, hiding in my room and avoiding people in the safety of my book-filled bedroom.)

Her preferred method of coping is writing.

FanFiction.

Slash.

Simon Snow and Baz slash, to be precise.

She has been writing her fanfiction, Carry On for two years and has to have it finished before the final book in the series comes out. All while attending college and taking a writing course which wants a 10,000 short story as a final.

Between trying to focus on Simon and Baz and her courses is a bi-weekly meeting with Nick. He's in her Fiction Writing course and wants to "collaborate" *coughstealherstuffcough*. Then there's Levi who's constantly in their room because he's Reagan's boyfriend (or so we assume because Cather assumes).

This novel deals with new roommates, social anxiety, mental health, and abandonment.

I won't spoil it all completely, but the issues that it talks about definitely are not listed in the fun going title. This is an excellent read for anyone beginning college, moving away for the first time, and living with mental issues. It takes us through the steps from the point of view of someone who is coping with them firsthand.

I recommend reading this book. And fear not.

Carry On is next on my To-Read list....provided I don't get caught up in another Cozy Mystery.

What is your favorite novel to read? Any recommendations?

See you next week!

One Month In

Welcome to the shortest month of the year!

I hope all of you made it okay.

Expect a few new W.I.P.’s this month.

Stay safe and healthy, I'll catch you next week.

O.M.D. Time Travelling

 It's Obscure Movie Day!!

I realize that I've been doing mostly Disney films. I readily acknowledge that.

It's just that I'm particularly excellent at Disney films. That being stated I am on the lookout for lesser-known films you enjoy watching. I do ask any film recommended to be PG-13 and under.

Which leads me to find out something to do a quick write-up about this week. Getting back on track for this wayward blog.

For some of the entries, I've gone to the back of my DVD case (you read that right, case). Though now it's a bit more frustrating figuring out which to pick.

I suppose that for the sake of a new year, and a new time line . . . hmmm. . . .

Based on a novel of the same name by an author you're bound to recognize.

In 1999 Michael Crichton wrote a novel based on the science of time travel. He takes a group of archeologists from the modern era and twists their world up around.

In the midst of an unopened, unexplored site the group uncovers something unordinary. Something that looks centuries old, but couldn't possibly be.

A pair of glasses.

This leds them to a secret organization that's been making a time travelling machine.

The group travel back over six hundred years to confront a war between English and the French.

Check it out, it's a surprisingly fun film.

I'll catch you next week. Be safe and take joy in the little things.

W.I.P. My Goodness

Working on new projects, or even finishing them, should have been a slogan of some kind for 2020.

Yet I've seen to come across more projects than finishing the previous one. It's been a fun journey though. Beginning new tales, working on old writings. Getting canvas and paints from various locals, setting to making a personal masterpiece.

While finishing projects is the bane of my existence, or rather, it causes too much remorse to leave a project in which I've been immersed, beginning them is a sport I've mastered.

Here is a paragraph from something I began working on while re-watching "The Mandalorian". It sort of started out as one thing, then morphed into another, before realizing it wanted to be science fiction.

The theatre was relatively small. It was a front for other businesses that rented out the various rooms and boxes. It had been transformed into a market place. A boost for the local economy and smaller businesses.

She lived in the confines of the massive structure.

Hiding.

She operated a small business of her own from one of the enclosed boxes. It was easy to lock her wares up for the night, rather than bringing them back and forth each day. She kept a small bunk for easy use at the end of the day, making her "shop" into her home. She hid it as a pallet she sat on while selling her wares. Hiding it in plain sight from the overbearing managers.

Share what you've been up to, and I'll see you next week!

Book Nook: Undecided Title

 With the past year being what it was I finally got around to some decent reading. Meaning I got the chance to start and finish some work.

I like to change up the genres I read so as not to keep things stale. Though I would be lying if I said I didn't have a type.

Cozy Mysteries

Fantasy

Science Fiction

Mixtures of them all.

I am always on the lookout for a new book, a new genre, something different.

Today I'm just going to list some of the novels I finished last year, most of which were fun. The final one will not be listed as it is residing in the corner where it belongs. It knows what it did.

      Fudge Cupcake Murder - Joanne Fluke

      The Woman in Black - Susan Hill

      Undercover in High Heels - Gemma Halliday

      Caraval - Stephanie Garber

      The World Above - Cameron Dokey

      Dead Beat - Jim Butcher

      One Taste Too Many - Debrah Goldstein

      Hiddensee - Gregory McGuire

      Beauty and the Clockwork Beast - Nancy Campbell

      As Old As Time - Liz Braswell

      Tales From the Haunted Mansion - ??

Take a gander at any of these and they won't disappoint. Just check to see if they're part of a series first.

No one likes a spoiler

What are some books you love reading? Let me know and I'll see you next week!

2021 - New Year, Starting Again

 I find the irony of dropping this blog during a quarantine absolutely histarical.

Perhaps this year I can resume, or at least pick it up once more.

If there's anything you'd like to see from me, let me know. I'll try and get back on the regular schedule Tuesday!