Movies watched in 2009

I'm going to create a new widget of movies I have seen in 2009 using Flixster. I haven't seen many but I will be having a widget on this blog (on the right hand side).

So here it is for now:

Are we movie
compatible?

My Flixster
profile

And the link to this list on Flixster is here.

I do find it hard to rate books and movies. I have rated the movies but really it all depends on my mood. Maybe because I know how hard it is to create a story that I am less critical.

Happy watching!

Battlestar Galactica Widget

What a great first episode of BG's 4.5 series. I'm not going to spoil anything but there were surprises there I hadn't been expecting. When I grow up, I wanna write like that....

To celebrate its return, here's a widget featuring cast and creators at the ComiCon:

(for those seeing this through a newsfeed, you will probably need to go to the blog to have a look)

Yia!

Back to our regular scheduled programming...

Well I'm hopefully back to a normal routine starting today. More editing, writing etc.

We were blessed to be involved in a wonderful family Christening. Greek Orthodox Baptisms are a sight to see if you haven't ever seen one. Actually if you've seen 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', you get the picture but with babies being immersed in a basin. If you are interested, you can learn more here and here.

It's been hot in Adelaide for the last couple of days, luckily we had beautiful weather on Saturday - there was a jumping castle much to the delight of all the kids. A fantastic idea really because they get bored easily. A few adults, including myself, had a go too (only to reinforce I have never really had any co-ordination!). Then there was a pinball machine, racing car game, and a jukebox. Need a good workout? - dance to Nutbush City Limits by Tina Turner. And  of course there was the glorious food. The sweets were my downfall. I don't have a huge sweet tooth (well other than chocolate) but I couldn't resist the assortment available. I think I needed the sugar rush after the preparations during the week.

So back to routine. I hope you have enjoyed the blogs I had prepared earlier. I like finding interesting things to share. Things that make me laugh especially. We all need laughter in our lives.

Yia!

Links of the day....

(Still not here....)

Here's a link to Whatever, John Scalzi's blog....

And here's news that Barrack Obama will be in a Spiderman comic.

And then there's the Heineken ad:

Love it! 

You tube

Yia!

Bringing peace by Playing for Change

(Still not here....)

Artists around the world playing for change.

Here's Stand by Me.....

You Tube

Official site of Playing for Change

Yia!

Busy, busy, busy...3D tattoos

I have a really busy week (editing and family christening), so here's a post I prepared earlier....

I came across this blog entry with 3D tattoos. Absolutely fantastic artwork, though a couple have abit of an icky factor (ie they look so realistic). Here's a tame one:

A stone arm - looks great and especially fantasy-esque.

Yia!

How Embarrassment!!

Anyone who used to watch 'Acropolis Now' in the 1990s would know that is Effie's (Mary Coustas' character) catch phrase. And it describes Saturday's forgetfulness to a tea....

I mistook the dates. I thought the 10th was on Sunday. 

Wrong, wrong, wrong! 

I was running errands when I realised that I was meant to be at a lunch with the SARA crew (South Australian Romance Authors). It started at 12 and it was 1. 

Well to cut a long story short, I did manage to make it - one and half hours later!! And the ladies were amused... as a Greek I had to make a late appearance!

I'm one who admits her mistakes...yep and here I am telling the world, but how could I pass up the opportunity to say 'How Embarrassment'? *snicker* 

While I couldn't find the classic line, here's a little bit of Effie:

You tube

Yia!

TBR Challenges

I've complained about my increasing TBR piles. Well I'm hoping with the help of Challenges set on the Harlequin e-community boards, I will be able to dwindle these down.

The TBR challenges are for those books lingering on the TBR pile more than 6 months. Have plenty there!! So have created blog entries for this on my Harlequin profile.

• There's the Mini-series challenge - basically books in a series that you haven't read yet (aim 24 in the year) 
  
• The A-Z Title challenge - using first letter from Titles of books (aim 26 in the year)
  
• The A-Z Author challenge (aim 26 in the year)
  

I'm also going to try and to do the monthly challenges. These ones are for current books as well as those on the TBR pile longer than 6 months.

• January - All About Desire - reading the Silhouette Desire line or finding books that have a desire aspect in them. There will be a summary of this at the end of the month.
• There's also a test run we are doing where an author's name is chosen and we get points (not sure how that works completely yet) for matching First letters of author and titles to the chosen author's name. 

I can duplicate in these challenges so it will seem that I've read more than having separate books for each challenge.

Anyhow, happy reading.

Yia!

Linkity Link

I'll start of with the sad news of the passing of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. She played the Nurse in the original series, Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation, and was the computer's voice too. She also bought other Gene Roddenberry projects to life, such as Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda. Here's a post about the memorial service. RIP.

Now onto feel good stuff: :)

I loved this entry by Janet Woods.  She has twenty writerly definitions - and they're a hoot.

Suzanne Brandyn celebrates the release of her first book. Congrats Suz!

Of course Monique Wood continues with the Hugh fix pictures. 

Anna Campbell's latest book Tempt The Devil has been released in the US this week and should be out early February in Australia. I'm currently reading Anna's first book, Claiming the Courtesan as my 'reward' book. That is I don't allow myself to read a chapter until I have edited a chapter in my work. So wanting to read this fantastic book has made me work that little bit harder and it's also inspirational.

Anna Jacobs has her latest book out which has an Australian edition, which looks so lovely. See it here. 

At Smart Bitches, they had a post with a You Tube clip of Smoke on the Water with a Japanese twist. Awesome! I've got it below:

From You Tube

New clip from the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica found on SciFiWire.

I have no life...or do I?

Well according to this Movie Meme, seen both on CE Murphy's blog and Mel Scott's , you have no life if you have seen more than 85 movies on this list. I see it as I have a life enriched with stories. If you want do do this, just copy the list and place an (x) next to the ones you have seen. 

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show

(x) Grease

(x) Pirates of the Caribbean

(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest

() Boondock Saints

() Fight Club

() Starsky and Hutch

(x) Neverending Story

(x)Blazing Saddles

(x) Airplane (called Flying High in Australia)

Total: 7

 

(x) The Princess Bride

() Anchorman

() Napoleon Dynamite

() Labyrinth

(x) Saw

(x) Saw II

() White Noise

() White Oleander

(x) Anger Management

(x) 50 First Dates

(x) The Princess Diaries

(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 14

 

(x) Scream

(x) Scream 2

() Scream 3

() Scary Movie

() Scary Movie 2

() Scary Movie 3

() Scary Movie 4

(x) American Pie

(x) American Pie 2

() American Wedding

() American Pie Band Camp

Total so far: 18

 

(x) Harry Potter 1

(x) Harry Potter 2

(x) Harry Potter 3

(x) Harry Potter 4

(x) Resident Evil 1

() Resident Evil 2

(x) The Wedding Singer

() Little Black Book

() The Village

() Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 24

 

(x) Finding Nemo

(x) Finding Neverland

(x) Signs

() The Grinch

(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre

() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

(x) White Chicks

(x) Butterfly Effect

(x) 13 Going on 30 (Called Suddenly 30 in Australia)

(x) I, Robot

(x) Robots

Total so far: 33

 

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

(x) Universal Soldier

() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

() Along Came Polly

(x) Deep Impact

() KingPin

(x) Never Been Kissed

(x) Meet The Parents

(x) Meet the Fockers

() Eight Crazy Nights

(x) Joe Dirt

(x) KING KONG

Total so far: 41

 

() A Cinderella Story

(x) The Terminal

(x) The Lizzie McGuire Movie

() Passport to Paris

(x) Dumb & Dumber

() Dumber & Dumberer

() Final Destination

() Final Destination 2

() Final Destination 3

(x) Halloween

() The Ring

() The Ring 2

() Surviving X-MAS

() Flubber

Total so far: 45

 

() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

(x) Practical Magic

() Chicago

() Ghost Ship

() From Hell

(x) Hellboy

() Secret Window

(x) I Am Sam

() The Whole Nine Yards

() The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 48

 

(x) The Day After Tomorrow

(x) Child’s Play  

() Seed of Chucky

() Bride of Chucky

(x) Ten Things I Hate About You

(x) Just Married

(x) Gothika

(x) Nightmare on Elm Street

(x) Sixteen Candles

(x) Remember the Titans

() Coach Carter

() The Grudge

() The Grudge 2

(x) The Mask

() Son Of The Mask

Total so far: 57

 

(x) Bad Boys

(x) Bad Boys 2

() Joy Ride

() Lucky Number Slevin

(x) Ocean’s Eleven

(x) Ocean’s Twelve

(x) Bourne Identity

(x) Bourne Supremecy

() Lone Star

() Bedazzled

(x) Predator I

(x) Predator II

() The Fog

(x) Ice Age

() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

() Curious George

Total so far: 65

 

(x) Cujo

() A Bronx Tale

() Darkness Falls

(x) Christine

(x) ET

() Children of the Corn

() My Bosses Daughter

(x) Maid in Manhattan

(x) War of the Worlds

(x) Rush Hour

() Rush Hour 2

Total so far: 71

 

() Best Bet

(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

() She’s All That

() Calendar Girls

(x) Sideways

() Mars Attacks

(x) Event Horizon 

(x) Ever After

(x) Wizard of Oz

(x) Forrest Gump

(x) Big Trouble in Little China

(x) The Terminator

(x) The Terminator 2

(x) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 81

 

(x) X-Men

(x) X-2

(x) X-3

(x) Spider-Man

(x) Spider-Man 2

() Sky High

() Jeepers Creepers

() Jeepers Creepers 2

(x) Catch Me If You Can

(x) The Little Mermaid

() Freaky Friday

(x) Reign of Fire

() The Skulls

() Cruel Intentions

() Cruel Intentions 2

() The Hot Chick

(x) Shrek

(x) Shrek 2

Total so far: 91

 

() Swimfan

(x) Miracle on 34th street - original

() Old School

(x) The Notebook

() K-Pax

() Krippendorf’s Tribe

() A Walk to Remember

() Ice Castles

() Boogeyman

() The 40-year-old Virgin

Total so far: 93

 

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King

(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 99

 

() Basketball

() Hostel

() Waiting for Guffman

() House of 1000 Corpses

() Devils Rejects

(x) Elf

(x) Highlander

() Mothman Prophecies

(x) American History X

() Three

Total so Far: 102

 

(x) Titanic

(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

(x) Shaun Of the Dead

() Willard

Total so far: 104

 

() High Tension

() Club Dread

() Hulk

(x) Dawn Of the Dead

(x) Hook

(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

(x) 28 days later

() Orgazmo

() Phantasm

(x) Waterworld

Total so far: 109

 

(x) Kill Bill vol 1

(x) Kill Bill vol 2

() Mortal Kombat

() Wolf Creek

(x) Kingdom of Heaven

() the Hills Have Eyes

() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman

() The Last House on the Left

() Re-Animator

() Army of Darkness

Total so far: 112

 

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones

(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith

(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope

(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back

(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi

() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage

() Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total so far: 118

 

(x) The Matrix

(x) The Matrix Reloaded

(x) The Matrix Revolutions

() Animatrix

(x) Evil Dead

() Evil Dead 2

(x) Team America: World Police

() Red Dragon

(x) Silence of the Lambs

() Hannibal

 

My grand total: 124!!!!

So my score means I have no life - or I that love movies.  I prefer the latter. I love stories - be it film, tv, books, plays - I just do. Or is it because these films are mainly popular films, that they consider it not having a life? I really don't care.

So I DO have a life thank you very much. I just like spending some of that time watching a story.  

Hmm I wonder if they have an equivalent meme with books - sacrilege. 

Happy movie watching!!

Yia....

Year in Review and Forecasting

Everyone has been blogging about the achievements they achieved in 2008 and I felt tired reading all their achievements... a little bit deflated until I thought back to what I did do.

- Started my blog

- continued working on my craft with HD, still polishing but at least it's up to that stage now.

- went to the Roadshow in Adelaide

- wrote a piece about the Roadshow for Hearts Talk

- completed over 50K words for the June 50Ks In 30Days challenge on a new MS.

- participated in a Bootcamper plotting day

- started the Bootcampers blog

- became part of the Hearts Talk editing team as well as the web team

- participated in the Clayton's Conference (though not as much as I wanted to be because of flu)

- I got my Mac!!!!!!

- I launched my website

- I got the 'I LOVE your blog' award twice

- I entered 7 competitions.  2 I don't know the results yet - the others eh-eh. 

- I submitted a short story to an online magazine on the 31st December (one of my goals was to submit something!)

- read more than I had for a couple of years.

So it's not all too bad at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now to think on my targets for 2009.

 

- finish off HD polishing

- submission to agents and publishers

- read Margie Lawson tutorial notes I had obtained - basically keep developing craft

- maintain blog and website

- finish of drafts of two manuscripts - L&D, and DT. If really ambitious, polish.

- notes for BW and start first draft.

- submit short stories to relevant markets - say 4.

- enter relevant competitions - I'll decide as I go along.

- continue with Team Hearts Talk and the Web team.

AND of course, the main goal be to get a contract or two ;)

I hope your year brings you wonderful news and happiness. Good luck with writing, reading, or whatever is the positive aspiration in your life.

Yia!

Books read in 2008

The final list is:

• The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman (Children's) 
• Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - The First Death by Laurrel K Hamilton (Graphic Novel) - prequel to Guilty Pleasures 
• Hearts in Darkness by Keri Arthur (Book 2 of the Nikki and Michael series) (reread)
• Desert Doctor, Secret Sheikh by Meredith Webber (HM&B Medical)
• Sin City: Vol 1: the Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller (Graphic Novel)
• Gift of the Goddess by Denise Rossetti
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman (Childrens) 
• Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gliman (Book one of the Retrievers Novels)
• Lover Enshrined by JR Ward (Book 6 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series)
• The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K Hamilton (Book 2 of Anita Blake series)
• Night's Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon (A Dark-Hunter Novel)
• Killer Instinct by Cindy Dees (Silhoutte Bombshell)
• Dancing with the Devil (Book 1 of Nikki & Michael series) by Keri Arthur (reread)
• Gossamyr by Michele Hauf (Luna)
• The Host by Stephenie Myer
• Seven seasons of Buffy: Science fiction and fantasy authors discuss their favourite television show (Non-fiction)
• The Midwive's Miracle Baby by Amy Andrews (HM&B Medical)
• Lover Unbound by JR Ward (Book 5 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series)
• An Unexpected Proposal by Amy Andrews (HM&B Medical)
• Night Pleasures by Sherilynn Kenyon (Book 2 of the Dark Hunter series)
• Guilty Pleasures (Book One of Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series) by Laurell K Hamilton
• Lover Revealed by JR Ward (Book 4 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series)
• The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur (Book 6 of The Riley Jenson Guardian series)
• Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer (YA)
• Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series)
• The Lost-and-found family by Marion Lennox (HM&B Medical romance)
• Lover Awakened by JR Ward (Book 3 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series)
• Kiss of the Blue Dragon by Julie Beard (HM&B Romantic Suspense - Bombshell)
• Forbidden Frontier by Zana Bell
• Sin City: Family Values by Frank Miller (Graphic Novel) 
• Twilight by Stephenie Myer (Young Adult)
• Racing the Moon by Michele Hauf (Nocturne Bites - novella) 
• A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K Hamilton (Merry Gentry Book 4)
• The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner
• The Great Ghost Escape by Eva Ibboston (childrens) 
• Coyote Dreams by C.E Murphy (Book 3 of The Walker Papers)
• Lover Eternal by JR Ward (Book 2 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series)
• Vows of Silence by Debra Webb (Intriuge)
• 100 days in photographs : pivotal events that changed the world by Nicholas Yapp (Non-fiction)
• Wonder Woman: Beauty and Beasts by George Perez et al
• Embraced by Darkness by Keri Arthur (Book 5 of The Riley Jensen Guardian Series)
• Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Rescue at Cradle Lake by Marion Lennox (HM&B Medical)
• Full Speed by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes
• Death Da Jour by Kathy Reichs
• Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Book 1 of The Dresden Files)
• Falcon's Revenge by Rita Herron (Intrigue novella)
• To the Nines by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series)
• Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• The Surgeon's Courageous Bride by Lucy Clark (HM&B Medical)
• Christmas Gift: A Family by Barbara Hannay (HM&B Sweet)
• Sin City - A Dame to Kill For by Frank Miller (Graphic Novel)
• Moon Glow by Catherine Asaro (in Charmed Destinies)
• Full Tilt by Janet Evanovich & Charlotte Hughes
• In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron (Intrigue)
• Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K Hamilton
• Dream Job, Hot Boss! by Robyn Grady (HM&B Sexy Sensation)
• Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich
• Druisilla's Dream by Rachel Lee (in Charmed Destinies)
• Return to Stony Ridge by Dani Sinclair (Intrigue)
• Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

which looks like this in book covers.....

Happy 2009!

MySpace Glitters

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement throughout 2008. I hope 2009 brings good things to you all. Take care.

Yia!