Changes and reviews

So, I'm changing this blog once again. I think I'm going to focus on reviews and opinion pieces and less on poetry and fiction. I'm going to do my best to commit to a post a week and hope I can manage more. This week's review is going to be on movies. There will be spoilers, so if you don't want that please skip the reviews.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
I rented this a little bit ago and found it to be as good as the others in the series. The new productions of the Planet of the Apes movies have been really well done and surprisingly thought provoking. The third movie in the series, Dawn shows the aftermath of the second movie and fast-forwards through a brief record of the Simian Flu that has killed off a significant portion of the human race. It then picks up with the ape society who have been living in a forest in California with no contact with humans in years.Of course, this can't last and a group of humans find themselves running in to the apes.
 Things slowly fall apart from there. Although Caesar and a few of the humans try to keep the piece, it is not possible. One of Caesar's closet friends, Koba, betrays his ideals and arranges the escalating situation to paint the humans as the aggressors. Koba leads the apes against the humans, starting the violence that will eventually lead to the society in the first Planet of the Apes movies.
 The effects are incredible and the story line is solid. You really feel for the apes and the humans both. The humans are try to stay alive in a world without most of the basics of society. The apes haven't forgot the experiments that the humans subjected them to and some are not willing  to have the humans live anywhere near them. The inevitable fight at the end was fraught with emotion on all sides. And I enjoyed the quieter story lines between Caesar and his son and the human family interacting with the apes. On the whole, a well-balanced movie and worth watching.

Writer's Digest POD: Day Three

Day three's prompt was a message poem.

UNKNOWN

The letter was old;
paper yellowed and creased
like my grandmother's hands,
worked and reworked
year after year.

Abandoned by its envelope,
lost some time ago,
set adrift in the box
of old family photos
waiting to belong.
If we could only determine
pedigree.

Many attempts had been made
to decipher dates or names.
But the words hid too well
leaving few clues
of authorship.

My darling S--
Sarah? Stephanie?
Samuel? Sean?

Without you
no light
Days dark
endless
see you
be together
Happy
Love
Yours,
T--
Tessa? Tracey?
Trevor? Thomas?

The message remains unsolvable
though perfectly clear.
S and T are caught
forever
anonymously -- in love.

Poem A Day: Day Two

The prompt for today was Voyages. I didn't really get to the voyage in the poem; it was more about the leaving than the journey. But I guess that is part of the voyage too.

LAST VOYAGE

The time came for departure
and one by one
goodbyes were said.
There were smiles and well wishes,
but also tears.

The sky was the kind of blue-gray
you only ever saw in watercolor paintings.
The streaky, uncertain color
blended almost out of existence;
signifying the dampness of the air
too light to be rain
too heavy to be mist.
Atmosphere muddled with emotion.

Finally the voyagers must away to their ship.
They can tarry no longer.
They must catch the tide, the wind,
the sea.
The lines are cast
and sails unfurled.
The waves beckon them west.
To new places and adventures;
to wonders unseen.
To quiet morns and moonlit nights
And hours of joy between.

National Poetry Month: Day One

This year I'm participating in Writer's Digest's Poem A Day for National Poetry Month. That is exactly what it sounds like; writing a poem a day. I'm sharing them on the Writer's Digest Blog; Poetic Asides and here. So day one's poem is The Morning. The prompt for today was beginnings.

The Morning

Sunlight slants through half-closed blinds.
Pale light, barely there,
struggling past the clouds.
It creeps across the carpet;
an ugly green, she insisted
was jade.

The light climbs slowly
up her arm,
flickering over freckles.
And gaining intensity as it
reaches her shoulder.

Muffled protests precede
a great wave of motion.
Turning away from the window,
she pulls cast off covers
over tangled hair;
and hides from the cheery sun.

Her clock tic, tic, ticks
marking minutes until her alarm
will yank her from slumber.
But right now she hoards
every second of sleep.

The sun doesn't care
for her dreams.
It shines all the brighter
sending tendrils to the far corners
of her room.
Illuminating "robin egg blue"
walls
and a white dress
waiting to be worn.

Writing Prompt: Most Vivid Dream

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The writing prompt for today comes from this website: http://www.carrieelle.com/2013/01/writing-prompts.html. She writes, "Describe your most vivid dream." The most vivid dream that I can remember was when I was about eight or nine. It was not a happy dream, but I guess that makes sense. I think you do tend to remember things that frighten you more than happy things. When your adrenaline is high, your senses are heightened and everything is in clear focused detail. I had this dream right before we left for a trip to Colorado.

My brother's soccer team was playing in a tournament out in Colorado Springs. We were driving out there early so we could stop along the way and vacation. My parents were big on the driving family vacation. Every summer we piled into the car and spent a week or two in some location or locations having fun together. Most of the time it revolved around my older brother's soccer tournaments. The trip out to Colorado would be the farthest West we had ever gone.

The dream began innocently enough. I was with my parents and brother on a bus full of the other boys  on Derek's team and their parents. We were driving up a mountain, nothing too strange about that since we were in Colorado. All the kids were excited and talking over each other, making it really noisy. I was looking out the window and the scenery reminded me of the Sound of Music. The bus driver was talking, but I couldn't really hear or understand him. We finally arrived at the top of the mountain and everyone piled out. There was some sort of wooden building and lots of signs. The boys were all running around and yelling, like boys do. My mother called me over and she was standing near the edge looking over the side of the peak. I walked up to her and followed her gaze, looking down. It was a very high mountain and a long way down. And then it happen; one minute I was looking over the edge, then next I was falling over it. In the dream, I fell forward over the edge, but then turned somehow in midair and was looking back up at the mountain as I fell. I could feel the wind rushing by me and the cool air and the incredible speed. I woke up before I hit the ground.

When we drove up Pikes Peak in a loaded school bus a few days later, I did not go anywhere near the edge.

Gen Con and Peter Davison the Fifth Doctor

Once every couple of years we make the trek up to Indy for Gen Con. That's at least four hours there and another four hours back; sometimes all in one day if people can't schedule to be off work. Now Gen Con is a pretty cool convention and has tons of things to do, but you had better come prepared to spend money. Most events cost money, on top of the $50 per day that you spend to get into the convention. However, if you are not there to play in every tournament you can get off without breaking the bank. If you are like me and my friends, then you spend most of your time in the exhibition hall. That's where the selling is going on. Companies from all over bring their best games to Gen Con. one of the nicest things that they do is let people demo the games right there. Mostly the brand new stuff and the very popular. It's really cool to test something like that before you shell over the $50-$75 for the game.

Aside from the games on sale, you will find sci-fi, fantasy, and anime dealers there with their wares. Collectibles, dvds, cds, costumes, and more are all on sale for your buying pleasure. It's a rare person that makes it through all the booths without buying something. I never make it. This year I was lucky enough to find several gifts that are stored away for Christmas. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets Christmas shopping done at the con.

Gen Con also boasts media and insider guests of honor. This year the big names for the media were Peter Davison (the fifth doctor) and Walter Koenig (Star Trek). I will admit that the draw for me was Davison. I love Doctor Who and Peter Davison was one of my favorite doctors. I actually stood in line and got an autograph and picture with him. It was very exciting. The only problem was I was too shy to really talk to him at all. Besides he had a pretty long line of people waiting for their turn. I decided I would use this post to say some of the things I wanted to say to him.

A lot of people are kind of indifferent to Davison's doctor which I think is a real shame. To me he was one of the most memorable doctors. He's often ranked under Tom Baker with fans, but I liked him just as much and maybe even a little better. He was a slightly more serious Doctor, despite the celery on his lapel. While Baker talked his way out of situations by confusing his enemies and then out-thinking them; Davison often talked his way out of situations with honesty and heart. He was the best Doctor at being really good. I always felt like his Doctor really cared about and looked after his companions. He seemed like such a dad, always trying his best to keep tabs on the companions and keep them out of harm's way. He was very human and relatable. He was less crazy and funny than Tom Baker and that's what worked really well for him. I liked him because he was so different from Baker.

He has had a very nice career before and after Doctor Who. The two other shows he is probably best known for are All Things Great and Small and lately Law & Order: UK. Having spent just a few moments in his presence; he seemed to be a genuine, nice guy. Someone who really is thankful that he has played the roles he has and still has fans who want to come out and see him. He was unfailingly polite to everyone and was kind and smiled throughout his signing session. I was so thankful that I had a chance to see him in person. It was an absolute pleasure.

Gamer Girl

I'm starting this blog back up because I'm trying to practice my writing. I haven't been very active in the writing world lately. I've been doing some freelance editing and I've come to realize that I miss writing. I'm going to try and post once or twice a week and see how that goes. I  may increase if I get properly motivated.I bought some writing prompt books for my kindle and I'm going to be using some of those I think. But today I'm going to start with something that's been on my mind recently; gaming.

I am a gamer girl. I'm not sure when that happened exactly. I was not really one when I was younger. I was a book girl. I never went anywhere without a book. I brought books to school, books in the car, books on trips, and books to read during commercials in front of the TV. I was never without a good book. Now, it's not that I stopped reading, I still have full bookshelves, but video games have taken over more of my free time. When I have a few free hours in an evening, I go and play my Xbox rather than sit down with a good book.

I played games in grade school, but it was mostly board games with the family. I was always very competitive. There were not a whole lot out there yet for video games. My family did not invest in a video game system like Atari or Nintendo. We had computers. In fact we had one of the first home computers, the Commodore 64. It was mostly for my Dad, but my brother and I both had a couple of games for it. As the computers progressed, so did our systems. My Dad tried to keep up with the latest technology that we could afford. However, even when I finally had my own computer, I still didn't have too many games. I used it mostly for school. My brother used his mostly for games. And it was Derek that bought the first game system, a Super Nintendo. I didn't really get to play that much, because it was his. Even so, we both still played computer games more often than games for the Super Nintendo.

Derek finally bought a Playstation 2 and we both spent more time playing on that system. By then I was out of high school and in my first year of college. In college I didn't really have time for games. But I did meet a few people that pulled me into gaming; video and tabletop. I spent a summer playing D&D with a group of friends. We played at David's house and he was as much into video games as he was into D&D. He had every gaming system I had ever heard of; plus several I didn't know even existed. We tried them all. He even gave me his old Xbox when her upgraded to the Xbox 360. It wasn't too long before I was playing more games than I had ever played before. After college, I even upgraded myself to the Xbox 360. I can  now spend several hours playing games. And, though occasionally I think I may be losing some of my literature chops, it hasn't stopped me from questing through Skyrim or beating up bad guys as Batman. I suppose as an escape, video games offer something unique. You can immerse yourself in a good book and feel for the characters and the world of the book. In a video game, you don't have to be emotionally invested in the characters to go out and kill things or find treasure. You can follow a storyline, or just beat people up, or play a sport, and you can succeed or fail on your own merit. That's a level of control that you can't really get from a book.