The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

Because I know you all care, I figured I'd get on this here blog to report that tomorrow I'm back up north to cat-sit. My parents are going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic for about a week and we all figured poor Susie would be happier not only having someone there full-time instead of just dropping by once a day but someone she knows and loves. This is where I come in... I hope to use this time to finish Spring Thaw ; as is the tentative title of my current novella. (I bet none of you can guess what it's a sequel to...) I figure I have only forty or fifty more pages in me while keeping the door to the plot bunny hutch tightly shut. Though the main plot of the third book in the series, unoriginally titled Summer Heat at this time, has so far eluded me, scenes that didn't make the cut for this book will surely be in it... Back to Spring Thaw , is there precedence, if you signed only a one book deal as I did, for finding a different publisher for a sequel? U...

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo .

The main point I want to get across here is the finale of Stargate: Atlantis was much better than the one for SG-1 . For one, they finished the storyline. I thought it was both touching and predictable they killed off Hammond given that Don S. Davis had recently passed. Oh, I would be remiss not to point this out, when Major Davis was introduced, Carter was only a captain and now is a "full bird" colonel hence outranking him. Yet, no tension. The consummate professional he is... (I will point out here that my cousin and I agree Helen Magnus is a much more interesting character than Sam Carter...) I'll be curious to see where the Atlantis writers go with this new development presented at the end of the show; which actually was tres cool... Other than Ronon, and especially Teyla, wanting to go home someday, what would be the point? Sure that alliance that recently put them on trial would be pissed they left the Wraith free to prey on them but other than that... Nit Pic...

I wonder if that's significant for a Hot Stove talk... I think it's time to talk a little Red Sox. I have no problem disposing of Coco Crisp for a relief pitcher because he really isn't needed and pitching always is. The signing of Rocco Baldelli is an interesting one. I think, though am not really sure, he'll be able to play all the outfield positions where as they only used Crisp for center. (I was pretty sure Crisp played more positions for the Indians but maybe I made this up because he didn't for the Sox...) If this is true we can give all three positions days off including Jason Bay who hardly ever got one. If the Sox are able to resign Mark Kotsay, who can play first as well, things may be more complicated. The return of Josh Bard in some ways is an even more interesting development. Bard stunk catching Wakefield meaning he ain't doing that again. At least that's my thought... Not having convinced Jason Varitek to retire and take a coaching position...

As some of you know, the book group I am part of at my church, decided my book would be a good one to read over the holidays. We discussed it yesterday afternoon. It went much better than I thought it would, honestly. The format of our monthly meetings is to just discuss the book of the month but, since I the author was there, it turned into a Q & A with moi. I'd have to re-read the interview I did for the paper for instance but this may have been the first time anyone asked me why I picked a female protagonist. The answer simply is I wanted the challenge. (The consensus was I handled this fairly well.) This was definitely the first time I was asked about what a neutron bomb actually was. This was probably the first time I discussed Winter Storm with a fan of the political thriller genre so I was pleased she was engrossed by the plot. I conclude this section with a couple humorous exchanges; at least to me: Woman: The airport scene in [Geneva] was quite accurate. Me: Really? ...

Fred Claus : This is the story of Santa's older brother Fred (Vince Vaughn). The plot is about an evil efficiency expert played by Kevin Spacey trying to end Christmas because he didn't get the present he wanted as a child; a Superman cape no less. Spacey's character reminded me a lot of Lex Luthor but somehow it worked quite well...Nick Claus was played by Paul Giamatti and his was a combination of Tim Allen and George Wendt. (What? You still have not seen Santa Baby ?) Kathy Bates as their mother was da bomb... I do have a couple nit picks. One: the female elf was much taller than the other elves. Was she only half-elf? Two: If Santa's whole family is immortal, why did the whole family age enough to be gray-haired but not Fred?

X-Files: I Want to Believe : I wanted to like this movie. Admittedly, I was never a fan of the series (I do love Fringe oddly enough...) and still have not seen the first movie. This didn't suck but but it was underwhelming. Billy Connolly was great as the psychic priest. (I won't go into how priests are always either psychics or pedophiles and he was both here...) Amanda Peet was great and still think Studio 60 was a great show but I digress...Xzibit was not convincing as an FBI agent. He had the stereotypical ass part down but... Though they really didn't go far enough relationship-wise, the best scenes were between Mulder and Scully when she'd try to get Mulder listen to reason and accept the fact his sister was dead. Cannery Row : This movie was great if a bit long. It's story actually comes from the Steinbeck novel and a short story known as "Sweet Thursday." I haven't read either but the main story may actually come from the latter than the fo...