All Good Things Must End

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. How's that new year treating you so far? Mine has been great, but now I have to go back to work. Yeah, my two week vacation is over. Sorry if that title made you think I was finally quitting this crazy writing business. One day I might, but I'm not done just yet. I still have some stories to tell.

If you have been here a while, you may recall that I was ill for the entire two weeks last year at this time. I had plans to get all sorts of writing done that year, only to find myself wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, watching movies. Thankfully, I didn't get sick this time, not from lack of trying on the part of my family. Poor things. All three of them were sick. How I got off so easy, I don't know, but am very grateful. How about you? I saw on Facebook and Twitter that a great many of you succumbed to illness, too. For those of you who were ill, I'm sorry. I hope you're better now.

Now, it would have been very easy for me to plug myself into my trusty laptop for the entire two weeks and busy myself with writing and social networks. I did do some writing. I completed an editing project and began working on draft two of my WIP; however, many of you who know me well will be shocked to hear that I turned off my computer a lot more than you might have thought...and went to the movies.

My wife and I went several times, sometimes I went with the teenagers and more often than not we curled up on the couch and plugged into the latest releases on Xfinity. I saw The Hobbit, Lincoln, and Jack Reacher (No swearing! Some of you are pretty pissed over Cruise in this role. For my part, I still have yet to read Lee Child, so please forgive me my ignorance. *smiles*). Of all the films we saw, the one that sticks with me is Les Miserables. I knew next to nothing of the story, only knowing there was a book and Broadway production. Little did I know! I'm more of a West Side Story fan, you see. I have been to Jesus Christ Superstar a few times, and did attend The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway during our trip to New York City two years ago. If you have yet to see it, you really must do so. Why filmmakers had yet to attempt allowing the actors to sing on camera, rather than lip syncing a previously recorded playback, I guess had to do with the amount of work and technology involved. But I bet they never go back. These performances are brilliant!

At home, I watched a handful of Christmas films, of course, but also got caught up on things I had missed. We saw Trouble with the Curve, Hope Springs and...(do I really want to admit this?)...okay, but only for the sake of equal time: My wife and I watched Magic Mike. *hides embarrassment* Not really. I'm not so prudish. Actually, my only complaint was language. I would have liked it better without the prolific swearing going on. I don't mind swearing. Sometimes it's just a bit much or out of character. Anyway, you ladies might not mind a bit of language as long as some of your other senses are being stimulated. *winks*

Well, my vacay is over, and it's time to get back to the day job. It's also time to climb back onto my treadmill. There was too much to do, too much good food, too much drink, way too many goodies sitting around the house, and too much sitting down. I've got an extra ten pounds that I didn't have mid-December that I need to shed. *sigh*

We'll talk soon.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. How was the week? Mine was rough, but that's what I get for only working three days the previous week and then attempting to get back in the swing of a five-day week, after having taking off on vacation. Right? It was great, though, and I really appreciate all of your comments. Thanks.

This week I had an article about a new local restaurant which is situated along our river here in the Central Valley of California. The problem was that I had my deadline and I had my subject; however, I could not get a hold of them. Thankfully, just as my editor and I were preparing to punt and do something else at the last minute, I finally heard from them and everything came together quickly. I'm glad it did, not only because I had the deadline, but because it's a great restaurant and really nice people behind it. If you are curious about this magazine, feel free to check it out. It is called Kings River Life Magazine and it's a free on-line mag.

Other than that, I'd like to tell you a little bit about a real good film that my wife and I saw this past Saturday. As you have already guessed, it is called Crazy, Stupid, Love. If you don't like chick-flicks, don't worry. This isn't one! It has so much more going for it than just the run-of-the-mill Rom-Com.

Steve Carell is a husband and father who finds out at dinner that his wife has cheated on him and she wants a divorce. That was pretty much how he got the news, too. His wife, Julianne Moore, doesn't love the coworker that she slept with, but she doesn't love her husband either.

Carell moves into his own place and then begins to pick up the pieces, except he's not doing very well at that. He meets a ladies man, Ryan Gosling, who decides to take him under his wing and shape him up.

The film is loaded with twists and turns and, were it in the hands of lesser filmmakers, might have turned out very badly, Instead, I think it is a hit.

Kevin Bacon is the coworker who wants to be the new man in Moore's life. Emma Stone is the woman who meets Gosling, but spurns his interest, instead choosing to wait for her boyfriend's proposal (a surprising appearance from singer Josh Groban). Carell's son is not-so-secretly in love with the family babysitter, who in turn secretly loves Carell. You can see how this could have gone badly, but I promise you that it all works. I have purposely left spoilers out. I'm usually great at anticipating those, but was floored at some of the things that take place.

Do yourself a favor, if you have not yet already done so, and see this film.

We'll talk soon.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. For me and my crazy schedule it is a time to catch up on some much needed sleep, attempt to take care of some stuff around the house, spend a little extra time with the family (hello, dear. *waves*) and, of course, to catch up on some extra stuff on my trusty laptop.

I'm currently waiting for my edits on Dance on Fire: Flashpoint to return to me. The talented Sue Midlock has created the cover art. I was involved with this one which was a pretty cool experience. I have a few other things that we can talk about in the near future, too.

In the meantime, however, I would simply like to tell/remind you about another blog that I occasionally write for: Something Wicked This Way Comes. You might remember the Ray Bradbury novel or perhaps the quote from Shakespeare's MacBeth. This blog is operated by Vamplit Published Authors and it is the home for dark and twisted book and film reviews, and also a place to showcase whatever we've got cooking at any particular moment.

Recently, I have managed to find some time to get some reading in. I read two fantastic novels and reviewed both of them there. One was Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker and the second was Seed by Ania Ahlborn. If you like that sort of thing, you really should investigate further by surfing on over and checking out my reviews. As a teaser, I can tell you that I will next be reviewing the 1980 classic, The Changeling. If you're like me and had yet to see this incredible film, then I hope you'll join me later this week where we'll be discussing it.

We'd really appreciate it if you came by. Many of you already have and we thank you.

We'll talk soon.

My Take on a Couple of Newer Films

Greetings, Fire Enthusiasts. I hope everyone is doing well these days. I hope you are happily reading, writing and living.

My wife and I spent part of last weekend’s three glorious days off watching a pair of films, and I thought I would tell you about them.

The first film was Thor. We saw this one in the theater. We were looking for something to see as a family and we ended up choosing this one. Now, I must tell you that I grew up with Marvel Comics, so I was well acquainted with the mythology. However, considering the subject matter, I was not all that convinced that the filmmakers would be able to pull it off.

Thankfully, I can report that the film was pretty good. Even my wife thought it was okay, which surprised me. At first the film was too serious, but once the action turned toward Earth, we began to get some humor in the story which made it a good experience. If you like the Marvel films then I would recommend this one. It is definitely better than the terrible Hulk films.

This brings me to what I would call a disappointing film, Love and Other Drugs. Everyone and their mother knew that both Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway were going to be very naked in this film, but I guess I didn’t expect them to be completely naked most of the time. On top of that was the storyline of his brother who had no redeeming social qualities whatsoever. Also, seemingly every dirty word in the dirty-word handbook was used, and used frequently.

My hope going in was that although the film was R-rated, the payoff would be well worth it. Unfortunately, though it is interesting to see Hathaway’s character deal with her affliction and sweet to see her and Gyllenhaal’s character together, I found most of the film difficult to watch with my wife in the room. We've seen some things and heard some language in our twenty-plus years of movie-watching together, obviously. I just didn’t feel that this one was worth it.

Please don’t misunderstand, I’m no angel. My eyes like to see eye candy like the next guy. However, as a body of work, I did not feel as if the story (which was a good premise) warranted the huge amounts of profanity and nudity that ended up in the final version of the film. I expected more from Edward Zwick. He’s the director who gave us Glory, Legends of the Fall and The Last Samurai.

Okay, I’ve said my peace. What do you folks think? Have you seen either film yet? If so, do you agree or disagree with me? How so? Am I making too much of Love’s nudity? As an amusing aside, a day later I caught a commercial for a showing on television of Hathaway’s film, The Princess Diaries. She looked so innocent and sweet in that, but I was suddenly picturing her naked. I almost jabbed out my eyes! Lol!

We’ll talk soon.

The Adjustment Bureau

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I just wanted to share with you the film that my wife and I saw this past weekend: The Adjustment Bureau.

Last year, over on the Something Wicked This Way Comes blog, we were asked to submit what film we were eagerly anticipating for the coming year. I know I should picked out some horror film, intriguing drama or Marvel film, being that I was such a comic book nerd when I was a kid. I still have a shelf full of X-Men, Daredevil, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, to name a few. with all of the Marvel Studios films that have been coming out these past few years, you would have thought that I would have been stoked for one or more of those for sure.

Instead, it was this film that caught my attention. It had little to do with Matt Damon starring in it, although I do like his work. Though I am enamored with Emily Blunt, she wasn't necessarily the reason either. I'm not a huge Science Fiction guy, so the fact that the film was based on the writing of Phillip K. Dick, the great writer whose work eventually brought us the films, Blade Runner and Minority Report also wasn't the big factor. So what was it exactly?

I'm about to tell you...

The Adjustment Bureau, for those who are unfamiliar, is the story of a secret group whose sole purpose and responsibility is to keep tabs on human kind and make sure that they do not destroy the world. Okay, that might be overstating things a bit, but one of those chasing Damon's character and Senate hopeful, David Norris, told him exactly this as they revealed themselves to him.

The man, played by Mad Men's, John Slattery, tells him that when their group stepped back and allowed humankind to govern themselves, it led to the dark ages. Stepping back once again much later led to wars, the great depression, etc. Had they not stepped in that last time, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, mankind might have finally done themselves in.

You see, David Norris, is four elections away from the white House. He was directed to bump into Emily Blunt's character, Elise, only to give him the necessary push to help him deliver a great speech on the eve of an election loss, thus propelling his career. He was never supposed to see her again.

When he does bump into her again, it supposedly causes ripple affects which the bureau cannot allow. They reveal themselves to him, and warn David never to reveal their group to anyone, lest they wipe his mind. Not only this, but promise that seeing Elise will ruin her "plan" as well as his own.



The reason that I loved this film was because it had a perfect balance of drama, humor, intrigue, science fiction and romance. I love that! It had good direction and quality, but not overdone special effects. It also had a great supporting cast which also included Terrence Stamp, and a scene-stealing Anthony Mackie, as well as some cameos from well-known personalities from the world of politics and the news.



If you like stories with a great combination of everything like I do, then I think you should plan to see this film. It has been out for nearly a month now in the US, so don't take too long.

We'll talk soon.