Thursday Ramblings - April 7, 2011

I hate the weather here in Missouri, one day it is warm and next day it is in the 40s, and when the weather goes cuckoo, so does my sinuses. I've been taking things easy over the last few days, but I have planned out a steampunk plot that I hope to get started on this weekend. I hope to have my time-traveling story finished in a few days, and I plan on editing the Trick-or-Spells story.

I received Tron and Tron Legacy in the mail on Monday, one day before the release date. I have seen the classic Tron only one when I was a teenager. It was a Saturday afternoon, it was raining, the channel was fuzzy, and the movie contained many commercials. I didn't care for the movie, but I became interested in seeing it again after watching the constant advertisements for the sequel. I have to say that Tron classic looks better on DVD. The movie came out in 1982, I was one-years-old! The special effects are cheap looking, but in 1982 the effects were ahead of its time. The popular video games out around then were Pong and Space Invaders, so the special effects fit into that time period. Overall, I enjoyed re-watching Tron; it was cheesy, but fun. I was more impressed with the sequel, Tron Legacy, despite the mixed reviews from critics. I read bad things about the plot and dialogue. In my opinion, there wasn't much of a plot in the first one either, the sequel was much better. The special effects are amazing, plus I love watching Olivia Wilde.

In the mail this week: The Adventures of Joe-Joe Nuts & Biscuit Bill: Case #2: Mineral Mischief by Renee Hand; Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal; Courting Miss Amsel by Kim Vogel Sawyer; and Another Dawn by Kathryn Cushman. I'm on chapter four of Sweet Valley Confidential. I hesitated about starting it after I read some mixed reviews from fans and reviewers. I think people need to remember that Francine Pascal created the Sweet Valley franchise, as far as I know, SVC is the first she has actually written by herself. Her style of writing is different than then ghostwriters, and the book is set ten years later. Within that time, things have changed, and so has the characters. They grew up and became adults, and they have problems just like us.

The other night I was surfing the net, and found out that there is a new Thundercats series airing in July on the Cartoon Network. After watching the disappointing sneak-peek of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that is set to air in 2012, I had no expectations for the new incarnation of Thundercats, but I became excited after watching the preview.

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