Random Comments About Movies Watched in 2012

Okay, so I've sort of gotten to the movies quite a bit in the last few years. I meant to put this list together before the new year, but you see how well that worked. So, here are my random comments about the 2012 releases I saw in the theaters.
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing about these movies. These are solely my opinions of them.
1. One for the Money - Rated PG 13. Based on the wildly popular, highly irreverent Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich, this is a largely forgettable movie. To form, I forgot I'd even seen it, but I've got the stub that says 1/18/12.
2. John Carter 3D - watched on 3/10/12. Rated PG 13. In a word: painful. In more words: poorly scripted, poorly acted, and boring.
3. Hunger Games - 3/23/12. Rated PG 13. I may be biased toward books in general, but there was a nice, long time in between when I heard the story and watched the movie. At the time, I didn't remember enough details to be offended by anything the movie makers did to change the story. I thought it was a decent movie, not destined to be my all time favorite yet entertaining.
4. Marvel's The Avengers - 5/11/12. Rated PG 13. Excellent. Worth seeing several times.
5. Snow White and The Huntsman - 6/2/12. Rated PG 13. Chris Hemsworth can't save this one. Mildly painful to watch. It sort of skips around plot-wise. Definitely goes in the regret pile. The movie poster is very pretty though.
6. Marvel's the Avengers - 5/19/12. Rated PG 13. See, told ya it was worth seeing a few times :-).
7. Madagascar 3, 3D - 6/13/12. Rated PG (I think). These movies just keep getting weirder and weirder.
8. Brave, 3D - 6/30/12. It was okay. I expected more, but overall, I'd put it in the neutral pile.
9. Dark Knight Rises - 7/21/12. Rated PG-13 (I think). Excellent movie. Sad what happened in the Colorado theater, but the movie itself was superb.
10. The Bourne Legacy - 8/11/12. Rated PG-13 (I think). Decent movie, though it suffers from reboot syndrome, striving so hard yet coming up short.
11. The Expendables 2 - 8/18/12. Rated R. A lot of things blow up, so it's good for mindless entertainment. If you're a fan of 80's action movies, you'll probably recognize most of the cast.
12. Dredd, 3D - 9/22/12. Rated R. I could have done without this one. It didn't have much plot, but then again, not much plot was required.
13.Taken 2 - 10/6/12. Rated PG-13. Definitely not as good as the first one, but it was okay.
14. Argo - 10/13/12. Rated R. Okay movie. I'm glad I saw it once, but I probably won't bother seeing it again.
15. Alex Cross 10/20/12. Rated PG-13. A little painful on an acting front, but it was okay. Worse than Taken 2, better or just about on par with Snow White and the Huntsman.
16. Wreck-It Ralph - 11/16/12. Rated PG. I absolutely loved this movie. It has enough appeal to entertain those who aren't especially gamers, but for those of us who grew up alongside gaming systems, it's an amazing treat filled with a load of references.
17. Wreck-It Ralph - 11/3/12 Yeah, I liked it enough to see it again.
18. Skyfall - 11/17/12. I'm not a huge James Bond fan, but this was typical James Bond fare. Chases, shooting, etc.
19. Red Dawn - 12/2/12. Rated PG-13. It goes in the neutral pile. Nothing about it thrilled or ticked me off. I didn't see the first one, so I couldn't have expectations to uphold or dash.
20. Hobbit - 12/15/12. Rated PG-13. Decent. It wasn't as great as I expected it to be, and I think it pales in comparison to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still, it was good.
21. Lincoln - 12/25/12. Rated PG-13. Good movie, though this was more about the 13th amendment than Lincoln. Seeing as that title wouldn't exactly draw the masses, I agree with the decision to focus on Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis put in a very solid acting job.
22. Les Miserables - 12/29/12. Rated PG-13. Although a fine presentation, the movie version can't live up to the legend of the Broadway play I saw ages ago. Russell Crowe's singing was a tad painful to listen to at times, but overall, the cast did a nice job.

Get Heartfelt Cases 1: The Collins Case Free

Today and tomorrow, January 15 and 16, 2013, I'm doing a free promotional on the kindle download of Heartfelt Cases 1: The Collins Case.

It's a Christian mystery novella about a pair of FBI agents tracking down a kidnapper.
Give it a go. Share your thoughts.

Once I get Ashlynn's Dreams edition 2 fitted with a new cover, I'll be releasing that via kindle as well. That's a completely different series that fits in the YA genre.

I am a terrible blogger

I do not know why I fail so much as a blogger, but it's a new year and once again, I shall try, try again.

I've started a new writing project. Oddly enough, it's sort of a parody of the whole paranormal romance genre. It should be intriguing for me to see where this project goes. 

As usual, I've done a general 20-ch outline, but these things rarely go as planned.

How Jillian Blairington Came to Be

I know I've told several friends this, but finally figured I may as well include it here. Jillian Marie Antel Blairington started with a writing group prompt: cereal surprise. I wrote a short story featuring this little girl who decides to aid her mother's boyfriend with his proposal. I loved the character and her voice so much that I wrote 9 more short stories.

Last summer, I decided to return to the character. I had been working on some science fiction projects and wanted a change of pace. I was going for "normal" ... honest, I was. What I got was Ashlynn's Dreams. While there are elements that make this a science fiction story, it's still mostly normal.

Writing Dialogue

Writing dialogue is a lot like talking to yourself. It's really rather easy if you're good at making small talk with you. Let's face it, for most of us, our favorite person is us, so this should not be hard. I've never had to practice writing dialogue, but it would be a fun exercise to see what different things people would say in response to a random situation.

Dialogue is vastly important because it defines the character.
For example, if one character (Jimmy) says, "I want ice cream."

There are very nearly endless possibilities of how someone else could respond.
A small child might say, "Me, too!"
An amorous creeper might say, "I want you."
An indulgent mother might say, "What flavor would you like? We'll get you some as soon as possible."
A frustrated mother might say, "Tough."
A frustrated teacher might say, "Please focus, Jimmy."
A friend might say, "What kind? I want mint chocolate chip with fudge and whipped cream."
A waitress might say, "Try the triple fudge sundae. They're fabulous."

Try it, what would you say?

Lousiest Blogger Ever

Well as you can see from the gross disparity in frequency, I'm a pretty lousy blogger.
That said, I hope to do better.

I'm kinda excited about the new book project I'm working on. I've got one month to get it basically in order before school starts up again and my life turns back into one gradefest after another. I had planned on writing 2 books this summer, but that idea is getting tossed. I'll be lucky to finish this one.

I dunno why it took me only three weeks to put the last book together (last summer, Ashlynn's Dreams) and this one is taking me 4 weeks and I'm a little over halfway through. There's a 25k difference in size, but that shouldn't speak for such a wide gap.

I would love to know how long it took certain authors to write their books.

First Class Trip Ever... well sort of

Took a class trip last Friday and it was interesting. Saw a lecture, nothing spectacular there. The big thing was that it was the first time I had taken a class trip as the one in charge rather than a happy spectator.

All in all, things went well. A few minor things like stress of not finding things made me slightly crazy, but I'd count it a success.