Guest Review at The Movie 411

Hey there Imaginarians I am over at my good friend Dempsey Sanders' blog The Movie411 with a review of Seth Rogan's The Green Hornet. Come on over and check it out.

Top Ten Horror and Sci Fi Quotes

A day late and a dollar short, I know. I wish I had been able to participate in yesterday's blog fest, but time had gotten away from me. I was so inspired by Jeremy at iZombieLover and Ellie at Ellie Garatt and all their amazing participants, that I decided to post mine anyway.

I've done ten for horror and ten for sci fi because there are so many films I love from each genre that it would be impossible to do just five from each. Even these were hard to come up with. These are quotes I say aloud with friends as we watch. Without further ado...

HORROR

10. "Stop it! You're ignorant." Night of the Living Dead (1968) Barbara chides her brother in the cemetery before the ghoul comes upon them.

9. "I will not be threatened by a walking meatloaf!" An American Werewolf In London (1981) David talking to Jack's ghost.

8. "I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye." Silence of the Lambs (1991) Hannibal's final words to Clarice.

7. "You've fooled them, haven't you Michael? But not me." Halloween (1978) Dr. Sam Loomis as he searches for Michael Myers.

6. "Have you checked the children?" When A Stranger Calls (1979) Voice on the phone to babysitter Carol Kane.

5. "No, you listen, you little bitch! You hang up on me again and I'll gut you like a fish, understand?" Scream (1996) Ghostface killer to Casey.

4. "I just want to cut off her head and take out her heart." Dracula (1992) Van Helsing to Jack Seward regarding the corpse of Lucy Westerna.

3. "Silver bullets or fire. That's the only way to kill the damn things. They're worse than cockroaches." The Howling (1981) Bookstore owner on how to kill werewolves.

2. "Your mother's in here Karras. Would you like to leave a message? I'll see that she gets it." The Exorcist (1973) Demon to Father Karras.

1. "Then let's head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch." Evil Dead II (1987) Ash on going after Henrietta.






SCI FI

10. "That can't be. That's inside the room." Aliens (1986) Ripley as Hudson reads out the range on the motion detector.

9. "I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain." Empire Strikes Back (1980) Princess Leia to Han Solo

8. "That's the only way. We'll move in pairs. We'll go step by step and cut off every bulkhead and every vent until we have it cornered. And then we'll blow it the fuck out into space! Is that acceptable to you?" Alien (1979) Ripley to Parker.

7. "We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill." The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Klaatu to the people of Earth.

6. "They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...! " Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Dr. Miles Bennell warning whoever will listen.

5. "You still don't understand, Dillon, do you? Whatever it is out there, it killed Hopper, and now it wants us." Predator (1987) Dutch to Dillon.

4. "We're not hosting an intergalactic kegger down here." Men In Black (1997) Zed to Jay and K.

3. "I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is." The Thing (1982) Clark

These last two are from Serenity (2005), one of my favorite sci fi films of all time.

2. "Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries! Kaylee Frye to Mal and Jayne.

1. "Love. You can learn all the math in the 'Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as a turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels. Makes her a home." Mal to River at the end as they head into space.

Random Laughs and Smiles

I really need a laugh and a smile today, so I am posting some vids that bring me a little joy no matter how bad I'm feeling. If you've seen them a million times already, sorry, but it's my blog and I'll post whatever I want. :)

This first is a 60 year old cartoon that still accurately describes some American drivers and we know who we are... Big Red Arrow pointing right at yours truly because when I get behind the wheel, look out. ;)



My next selection is a favorite because Buffy is my girl and sorry Twi fans, but I can't stand the sparkly Edward. He's creepy and stalkerish and did I mention he sparkles? Watching this always brings a smile to my face.



I love this one just because of the sentiment.



I love this mash-up a lot because I love Jane Austen and I love Fight Club. Makes me want to go out and grab my posse of bitches.



This last video makes me smile and get moving. I love to dance and one of my fave things in movies is dancing. Unfortunately, the embed code has been disabled with this one, but here's a link to a great vid that is so well-edited, it is unbelievable. The song is "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8

Valentine's Day and Author Tess MacKall

The Valentine’s Day Shuffle

Mary is a nice gal. Cute, sassy, sexy. But a little too trusting it seems.

Welcome to my UNValentine’s Day Blog Tour. And thank you so much to Melissa for hosting my inaugural post. So what’s this tour all about? Well, I have a new release on February 11th from Ellora’s Cave entitled Twelve Days of Love While the book is a fun and highly romantic read any time of year, it has a Valentine’s Day theme, and therefore talking about the big day is very appropriate.

I write happily ever after, but I’m also a realist. So in considering what I wanted my blog tour to focus on, I decided I’d like to take a look at the reality of Valentine’s Day and all the media hype surrounding it. Is it really all it’s cracked up to be? Everything the media tells us it is? I put out an all call for some Valentine’s Day fiasco stories and received several.

Listen in on Mary’s story.

I met John two weeks before Christmas and we were seeing each other three times a week. We spent two whole weekends together. One was the weekend before Valentine’s Day. He said and did all the right things. I thought I did too. I was in love. That last weekend he told me he loved me and the following week we talked on the phone daily several times. Each time we talked he went on and on about how much he loved me. I was floating. We had plans for Valentine’s Day weekend to have dinner out and then champagne and snuggling together all weekend. But on Thursday he called to tell me he had to go out of town with his boss. I understood. Sure I was disappointed but I did understand. I ended up going out on Valentine’s Day with a group of girlfriends. I’d told John I’d be staying home but my friends talked me into it. We stopped for drinks and then headed over to the restaurant for dinner. We had been there about an hour when one of my friends excused herself to go to the ladies room. She came back about half a minute later with the most horrible look on her face. She was pale. She sat down and took my hand. After she finished telling me that John was in a booth at the back of the restaurant snuggled up to another woman, I was probably pale too. But it didn’t take me long to recover. I grabbed the carafe of wine from the table and went looking for John. When I found him I just stood there for a few seconds watching his mouth drop open. Then I poured that almost full carafe of wine over his head. I don’t care how stupid I looked. It felt good. A year later I met the right man and we now have two beautiful children and Valentine’s Day is every day for us. We don’t have a lot of money but we know how to show our love and don’t use gimmicks to do it either. Last year for Valentine’s Day my sweetie bought some chocolate chip cookie dough and shaped each spoonful into a heart and baked them. He put them in a basket lined with red tissue paper and bought them to me in bed that night along with some milk and we ate every single one together as we talked about how happy we are.

Awww…nice happily ever after for Mary. But the first part? Where is John? I’d like to take a patch out of his head. Cupid’s aim was sure off with that dude. It’s a shame we women can’t put out some sort of alert on men like him.

So what is the point of all of this? The media hype has us all running around like crazy and spending a bunch of money in an effort to prove or find love. Mary found hers in a three-dollar-tube of Pillsbury cookie dough. Don’t worry about spending money on expensive flowers, chocolates, champagne and fancy dinners or lingerie. When you do something that comes straight from the heart—like baking heart-shaped cookies—you show that special someone just how loved they are.

Celebrate love all year long, not just on one day. And if you’re looking for a feel-good read, pick up a copy of Twelve Days of Love on February 11th. Just in time for Valentine’s Day reading. Hey…why not read it to your lover? It’s one I guarantee you’ll want to read again and again.

Thanks for stopping by. And thanks again to Melissa for having me as her guest here at The Imaginarium Blog.
http://tessmackall.com
Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/risquenewsletter
Blog: http://tessmackall.blogspot.com
Four Strong Women Blog: http://fourstrongwomen.blogspot.com
Three Wicked Writers Plus Two Blog: http://threewickedwriters.blogspot.com
Three Wicked Writers Plus Two Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/threewickedwriters

Author Peg Herring: He Said, She Panted

Imaginarians, I am very excited to welcome author Peg Herring in the house today. She is the wicked cool writer of MacBeth's Niece and Her Highness' First Murder. Today she is talking about the importance using the most effective dialogue tags. She has an awesome Blog Crawl going on as well as a cool contest.

Thanks, Melissa, for letting me stop at your site on my Blog Crawl.
Yesterday’s post, “Slowing Readers=Bad Policy”, is at http://candidcanine.blogspot.com.

Post 3- He Said, She Panted

“I love your new trousers!” she panted. A cartoonist named Edward Stratermeyer invented the Tom Swiftie in the 1920s, and people have been having “pun” with them ever since. (“I fought with Geronimo,” said Tom bravely.) However, a writer is in trouble if he strays unknowingly into the realm of the Swiftie. (“There's room for one more,” Tom admitted.)

Adverbs attached to a dialogue tag (“I presented my case to the judge,” Tom said briefly.) or verbs that replace said with a little too much oomph (“Use your own toothbrush!” Tom bristled.) easily become heavy, irritating, or downright silly. (“Let's all play an A, a C sharp, and an E,” cried Tom's band with one accord.)

Said is the most effective dialogue tag. It is so unobtrusive as to be almost invisible, but it gets the job done. Dialogue should cue the reader as to the speaker’s tone, volume, and mood. If the words spoken are not enough--and it is sometimes hard to put a lot of emotion into a “No” or an “I won’t”--there are ways to make it work. One of them is to add an adverb to the dialogue tag, but most editors require that this be done sparingly. Another way is to add a brief sentence. Rather than, “‘I won’t!’ Cyril shouted”, the lines might read, “Cyril’s face turned a deep red as he spoke. ‘I won’t!’”

Dialogue tags are often unnecessary. Nothing is worse than a page full of “he said” and “she said”, especially when there are only two people talking. A periodic reminder, a sentence that tells what the character is doing as he speaks, is preferable. Writing with overdone or repetitive dialogue tags runs the risk of sounding repetitive or Tom Swiftie-like, making a joke out of a serious situation.

Who would want to steal modern art?” asked Tom the detective abstractedly.

Poser #3-Name three authors who make good use of humor in their novels.

The Prizes-Weekly prizes (your choice of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY in e- or print format) drawn from the names of those who comment on the blogs as we go. Comment once/day, but the first commenter each day gets entered twice in the drawing on Saturday!

The Pitch: THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, First in The Dead Detective Mysteries, paranormal mystery. Tori Van Camp wakes in a stateroom on a cruise ship with no memory of booking a cruise, but she does have a vivid recollection of being shot in the chest. Determined to find out what happened and why, Tori enlists the help of an odd detective named Seamus. Together they embark on an investigation like nothing she’s ever experienced. Death is all around her, and unless they act quickly, two people she cares about are prime candidates for murder.

Read more or buy the book at http://www.ll-publications.com/deaddetectiveagency.htm or Peg’s website, http://pegherring.com.

The Perpetrator: Peg Herring writes historical and contemporary mysteries. She loves everything about publishing, even editing (most days). Peg’s historical series, The Simon and Elizabeth Mysteries, debuted in 2010 to wonderful reviews. The second in the series will be available in November from Five Star.

The Pathway: tomorrow’s site is http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com, and the topic is “The Dreaded Adverb”.

Awesome New Release: The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton

I want to bring to your attention to a really hot new release, The Mysterious Lady Law by one of my favorite authors, Robert Appleton. Enter a fantastical realm of grand airships and steam powered machines, of dashing gentlemen and adventuring ladies. Turn back the clock to 1899 and the dawning of the 20th century.

Just released from Carina Press, Lady Law tells the story of Julia Bairstow, part-time airship waitress and music hall dancer. Devastated by her sister's brutal murder, Julia doesn't know where to turn. When Lady Law,the most notorious private eye in all of England, offers to investigate the case free of charge, Julia can scarcely believe her great fortune. She immediately accepts against the advice of Constable Al Grant, the one law man who takes Julia's well being to heart.

He does not trust Lady Law and with good reason. The woman has built a fortune embarrassing Scotland Yard with her seemingly supernatural detecting abilities. She has solved the Jack the Ripper murders and many other renowned cold cases. The question is, does she have a natural talent for deduction or is it something else all together?

Steampunk, murder, airships, exciting characters, this one has it all. Go and get your copy this instant, I mean it. I'm going right now, too.

A Powerful Project

Domestic violence is an issue that is very close to my heart. Having known victims, I cannot think of anything more vile than to have the one place that should the safest in all the world, home, be a living hell. My friend, Natalie Dae over at Four Strong Women, is taking part in a project to help the victims of this terrible crime.

Freya's Bower Publishing has put together an anthology with the works of super-talented authors who have donated their work for this cause. The list includes Natalie, who also contributes as Sarah Masters, Adrianne Brennan, Zetta Brown, Teresa D'Amario, Moriah Jovan, Helen E.H. Madden, Jaime Samms and LaVerne Thompson.

Please take the time to go and read her post today and to consider purchasing the anthology, Dreams and Desires 4. All proceeds go to domestic violence shelters. All. If the anthology is not in your budget, each story is available for purchase. Every little bit helps.

Thank you so much my friends.