Movies I Hate & Wish I'd Never Paid To See Part...Whatever

With all the hype surrounding David Fincher and his Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as well as all the press he's received for The Social Network, it's time to break my 20 year vow of silence on perhaps the worst movie ever made in my opinion, Fincher's Alien 3. Where do I begin to describe the utter WTFery that is this movie? This film ruined what had been a sensational franchise, detonating it in one huge mushroom cloud of artsy, fartsy misguided nonsense, leaving Ripley dead and we the fans in a smoking wreckage from which we have never recovered. Hello, Alien Resurrection.

Who the hell thought it would be an awesome idea to have Fincher make his big-budget debut with this movie? Because yeah, making 80's music vids so qualified him to succeed James Cameron on a sci fi epic. To be fair, there were more script changes than winning lottery combinations. Why? What the hell was so hard? It's a fucking sci fi horror. You have alien monsters, people getting killed and a kick ass woman who takes them down. A simple, in-your-face formula that worked.

And it was fucked with it seven ways to Katmandu. Morphed into a weird, unrecognizable mess of shaved heads and psychotropic drugs. I went into this on a high reserved heretofore only for the original Star Wars sequels and well, Aliens. From the first frame, I wanted to put the beat down on Fincher and his producers, put their collective manly bits in a spice grinder. This was not my Ripley and not my ass-kicking sci fi movie. It was betrayal at the highest levels. Kill Hicks and Newt? Are you fucking kidding me? Set it on a prison planet? All right, we could go with that. But kill off Ellen Ripley? What exactly were they smoking/shooting up? And to think I paid top dollar on a midnight opening for this. Talk about How To Kill A Multi-million Dollar Franchise In 10 Frames Or Less.

Deep breath...I was spewing as I wrote this and had to do some serious editing. 20 years is a long time to keep rage inside. Maybe I can channel it into a story...Anyway, at least I can look forward to the return of Ridley Scott with his Alien prequel, Prometheus. And maybe a franchise can be reborn.

It's the A to Z Challenge!!!!

Happy Friday!! It's good to reach another weekend. Maybe I can have total fun instead of worrying about computer problems this time. LOL Anyway, today I wanted to kick off the weekend with some really good stuff. First, the big A to Z Challenge is coming this April, Whoo Hoo!! Second, I want to get back to my You Should Know Fridays by talking about some cool peeps you will love like I do.

Okay Imaginarians, if you haven't, pretty please check out the A to Z Challenge. Seriously, this has to be one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had since I started blogging. I met so many new people through this and made a whole host of friends that I treasure. They are the best! If you really want to reach out and connect with great people, this is the way to do it.

I know what you're thinking, 26 posts in 26 days...No way, Mel. I can't post that much. Yes. You. Can. It sounds daunting,and it is, believe me, I know. Last year I started off with a bang, even had the Gashlycrumb Tinies kick off my posts each day, but I stumbled like a rookie runner mid-race. I did not finish on time. I think my last post came during the second week of May, but it was all good. Arlee and the gang were there to keep me encouraged as I chugged through to the finish. But that will not be you. With a little planning, doing all these posts will be easier than you think.

All right, Mel, but what about all those bloggers? There is no way I could possibly visit all these people. Okay, you got me there. Last year, there were over 1300 participants (Zoinks!) which made for one huge-ass obstacle in getting around to the all the bloggers. However, the organizers heard and made some changes to smooth this all out. Check out the A to Z site for helpful hints. I also encourage you just to pace yourself. Try to visit as many as you can and don't worry about the numbers. You're ultimately here to explore and make friends. This is fun, a challenge, a fest, not a timed gauntlet run. The list of participants was left up long after the Challenge ended last year to give people the opportunity to keep on checking out blogs.

And now for the organizers. This year's team of sponsors is a tremendous group whom I consider real pillars of the blogging community. They are extraordinarily supportive and do so much for all of us. They absolutely rock in my book. And they happen to be my You Should Know Friday selections. Go to their blogs, follow them, they really know their stuff and they are just the best. I love their blogs and you will, too.

Arlee Bird Tossing It Out
Damyanti Biswas Amlokiblogs
Tina Downey Life Is Good
Alex J. Cavanaugh Alex J. Cavanaugh
D.L. Hammons Cruising Altitude 2.0
Jeremy Hawkins Retro-Zombie
Karen Jones Gowen Coming Down The Mountain
Shannon Lawrence The Warrior Muse
Matthew MacNish The QQQE Blog
Elizabeth Mueller Author Elizabeth Mueller
Jenny Pearson Pearson Report
Konstanz Silverbow No Thought 2 Small
Stephen Tremp Breakthrough Blogs

Now to sign up for this, go to Blogging From A To Z April Challenge starting on Monday, January 30. The Imaginarium would not be what it is without the Challenge and I absolutely encourage you to do it. It's fun, it's amazing and one hellagood time.

Some Mid Week Inspiration

My sister shared this really incredible video with me and I wanted to share it with you. The young women in this video exemplify sportsmanship and honor. They are an absolute inspiration and reminder that there are great people and blessings everywhere. I certainly had that brought home to me these last months. I feel incredibly blessed in my circle of friends and cannot thank everyone enough for propping me up when I needed it.


Watch Christian Videos and Read the Online Bible at GodVine.com

I'm BAAAAACK (Well, mostly)

Whoo Hoo!!! Imaginarians, I am back. Let the chorus of Hallelujahs begin.

So what the eff happened?

Do not ever, EVER make the mistake of uninstalling Norton without their Uninstall Tool. It screws everything up. Big. Time. I could only operate in Safe Mode and I was panicked, well, freaking out, more like. Not good. I do not do well with tech. I called my friend, Dave and after he talked me down off the ledge, he picked me up, along with my PC and all its parts, then we decamped to his place. I have to say, he is truly one of the most incredible people I know.

Anyway, he set to work. A complete re-install was called for, which took like 5-6 hours, then we had to do all the updates for the system, which as it turned out, I needed like 457 of them. Thanks Windows Vista. I found out the hard way that if you have virus protection running, many of Vista's updates will fail, only it won't tell you they failed unless you are in the Window's Update screen. No, instead it'll go through the automatic updates, tell you stuff has been updated and let you move on.

We kept installing updates and 24 hours later, we were still finding them for my baby. What a nightmare! But, yesterday, after 48 hours, I finally, FINALLY, got the magical "There are no new updates." Now, it's just a matter of getting my software back and other programs as well as all the files that we copied to this external hard drive back onto my computer. It'll take some more time, but the hard stuff is done and I am operational.

The weekend wasn't a total loss, though. In between all of this, I did manage to catch the football games and have some good food and beer.

All of this taught me that on my dating profile, Must Be Computer Geek has replaced Sense of Humor as my Number 1 on What I Am Looking For In A Potential Mate.

So...I'm BAAAACK! And getting my groove on in a victory dance. I may film this, I'm so happy. LOL

Okay, One more thing before I go...

THANK YOU, DAVE!!! (standing on roof, shouting)

Another Short Post

I'm having my computer worked on today and I don't know what will happen. If I'm not back send a posse...lol, *fingers crossed, sick smile in place* Hopefully it will all work out, but if you need to get in touch with me, send a line to melbwrites@gmail.com, I will be able to check email from other computers as well as Facebook and Twitter which are on my side bar. Please be patient, I don't want to leave you all, but... *heaving sobs start* Until soon, to quote my favorite authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and their awesome Liaden Universe.

A Call For Help

Very short post today, but a very important one. Candace from The Misadventures In Candyland is in need of our help. You all have helped me so much with your kind words and in other ways this year, that when I found out about Candace's plight, I wanted to do something to help. I understand will be taken down in 24 hours.

I know times are tough and our various situations are less than ideal, but even if you just repost or spread the word. She's an awesome friend to the blogging community and I love her attitude. I only wish I had seen this sooner. Thank you guys. You are all amazing. And thank you for all of the incredible, heartwarming comment you left on my Insecure Writers Post. That made my week. Hugs! I'll be back soon with more fun, I promise. Hugs to you my Imaginarians, my friends. :)

Insecure Writers Support Group: It's A New Year & A New Beginning

It's time for the first IWSG post of this new year and I want to start off in a positive manner because I am trying to maintain mine. If you're new to the IWSG, please visit here and read all about this amazing group started by the always encouraging, Alex. J. Cavanaugh, friend and ardent supporter of writers and creative people everywhere. Plus, he's a sci fi and movie geek par excellence.

Being positive is difficult when it comes to writing, especially when we've gotten away from it because of overwhelming outside circumstances. It is hard as hell to be positive and keep the creative juices flowing then.

I admit, my friends, that I have not written a single syllable of fiction in six weeks. 6 weeks. Whew, writing it down here is like saying it out loud. I am relieved to come clean with you all. I let outside factors drag me down big time and once you go down that road, it is hard to turn around.

Now what do about that. Well, I'm starting by dedicating myself to writing some fiction every single day, whether it's a whole chapter or a few pages or even half a page. Some is better than none is my credo for now. I know there are those who will say you must do a specific page count if you want to get anywhere, but I just want to get back to it. Period. Even a paragraph is better than absolutely nothing.

I am also organizing my story ideas and projects. Thinking like an author with contracts to fulfill (I'm being positive!) helps to maintain that writing frame of mind. Cleaning my writing space is another. I have let other things creep into my authorial realm...bills, to do lists, etc. Even if you use your writing space for other paperwork, that stuff should have its own drawer so it's not visible as you try to write.

These small steps will hopefully start me on my road back to fiction writing. It's a new year and a new beginning!

And so ends my post for this first IWSG post for 2012. I wish you all good writing this year and may 2012 see our writing dreams come true.