Movies 2013: My Expectations (Part 2 of 2)

Hello back again for the second half of the upcoming movie year. This time I have a bit less actually material but a lot of big names and much more excitement for each of them. If you see this post for the first time then I can only recommend to look into PART 1, for all the others. Have fun with my list and be sure to tell me your opinions about my selections...

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Movies 2013: My Expectations (Part 1 of 2)

The year nears its ending and I use the chance to look forward, to a point we will never reach but hopefully will come. The next year of movies looks as exciting as every year and most of them will disappoint the audience with their brilliantly made trailer and marketing efforts for obvious facts like a actual storyline and bad acting. But what movies are worth to keep an eye on? Here is the first half of my list for the next year...

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Review

The Hobbit: An Unexpected is now in cinemas after  several years of yearning for it. It’s the prequel to the glorious LOTR Trilogy, which had a lot of problems on the way of production. Peter Jackson got ill through stressing himself, Guillermo del Toro dropped the position as regisseur, overcame a boycott of actors who demanded more, got a big budget for whole three long time running movie at a near bankrupt firm and a lot more...

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Wreck-It Ralph - Movie Review

Wreck-It Ralph is a movie about an 8-bit antagonist who is tired of being the bad guy. He wants to be the praised hero that the kids love. To achieve that he needs to travel to other arcade games, like a sugar coated racetrack and a bug contaminated gritty world. The movie is Disney's try to create a similar experience to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the "Toy Story-Films" for the rich world of Gaming. I'm a gamer myself and was quite skeptical...

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Ted - Importance and risk to reach both genders

Seth MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy and several other cartoon series, recognized for his immature and vulgar jokes. Ted is not that different in this regard, but a lot better at it than his other works. Looking at the box office results shows clearly that he made a lot of money out of it, which success many never expected to be as high as they got with strong competition like The Dark Knight Rises. The question is, how he could get...

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Writing Tip: Keep the Words Flowing

[A Guestpost by T. S. Bazelli] Help, I don't know what happens next!!  This is a problem for both pansters and plotters, and trust me, I've been both. No matter how you write, it's likely you'll discover gaps in the plot while you're in the middle of writing. I'm not talking about writing block, but story blocks, when suddenly you've run out of plot, or don't quite know how to get to the next part.  [Image by BeastArteest87...

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Cloud Atlas: Movie Review

Germany is known for its cars, beers and movies... the last one actually not at all, but we have a few "famous ones". Recent examples are Inglourious Basterds, Anonymous, Unknown Identity and The Three Musketeers. All of them have two things in common. They were produced in the film studio Barbelsberg and weren't directed/produced by Germans at all. The latest fact isn't bad, because there is only one genre that German filmmaker can capture well...

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Writing Tip: 5 signs to recognize that you are a writer

There are several signs for hidden talents that slumber within us. Many of them are awoken since the beginning, like artistic child's that draw pictures since they are born. Some of them build sand castles and become architectures. But there are some signs the need time to develop bit for bit. Not each of them is recognizable as clear as day. Some need to be discovered by careful observation, but these 5 ones are the most common signs to watch...

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James Bond 007: Skyfall - Movie Review

A lot of  big budget movies get a big budget marketing plan. Avengers had one, but it became mostly popular through mouth to mouth propaganda till it was everywhere. The Lord of the Rings was pretty famous with several TV-Clips and documentation about it. But Skyfall is different. It has such a big marketing budget that it is nearly everywhere. There are so many posters and billboard that you could believe Germans would decorate their houses...

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Writing Tip: Deus Ex Machina

How many books did you read in which the situation looked as worse as it possible could be for the hero and even then he manages to escape in a ridiculous way by the help of a unknown powers? Certainly you read that at least a hundreds times and that only in this year. These moments are not only bad for the credibly of the story but that situation also bury the chance of develop the character through a dramatic scene or kill of unneeded characters....

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Looper - Movie Review

Looper was besides "The Dark Knight Rises" and the upcoming "The Hobbit" the one i wanted to see the most this year. I love Bruce Willis. I love Joseph Gordon Levitt. I love movies where you need to think to grasp it fully and this could be such one since Inception. What could go wrong? Actually not that much, but the few things added up to a bitter taste in this otherwise super delicious sweet cake. Why the movie has such a small bitter...

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Taken 2 - Movie Review

Taken became a hit later on a box office hit with its dvd sales. The first one was great in regard of the well thought through story and a different reason for his fight. Getting back his innocent daughter from slave traders was a refreshing and different approach then the usually vengeance plot. The main character was a nearly perfect soldier but sometimes even he made mistakes or got knocked over. Besides his paranoiac thoughts and the resulting...

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Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter: Movie Review

   Timur Bekmambetov directed and produced a lot of films since Wanted, but none of them got popular. Now he is back at the big screen with a great anticipated movie and teams up with the Tim Burton, although he name is the only thing that left a remark on the movie. Short Conclusion: The movie is like the will-never-be-created wanted 2. More about the reason for the vast similarity despite its different time and setting will be answered...

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A Thematic Approach to Science Fiction-Workshop Review

A guestpost by Katherine Hajer about the Writer Workshop "A Thematic Approach to Science Fiction". Twitter / Blog. I’m fortunate enough to live in a city with a nigh-legendary science fiction bookshop (Bakka Phoenix), several great indie publishers, and a number of respected, well-established authors. When all three of these forces come together, it creates an event legitimately billed as A Very Cool Thing  The plan is for these writing...

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Author Interview with Fatima Lacoba

Hi Fatima, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself.   Well, I originally began my career as an archaeologist. I worked in the Middle East, southern Europe and Britain, before taking on teaching. I’ve always loved writing, although it was almost impossible for me to dedicate my time to it while working in a busy secondary school. Only four years ago I took the massive leap into the unknown by resigning and taking up the pen....

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Expendables 2 - 5 Rules to improve your story

I guess you ask yourself, how a action movie with a poorly storyline like Expendables 2 could help improve your nearly perfect book story? The story is so old and clichee that no one will ever write a eassay about it. So how could it help yours? Its easy, because it does great what it does and you should do that too! Its isn't such a problem to execute my rules. I listed 5 Points and a Bonus one for you to check. If you follow these simple rules,...

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Making up nomenclature for a fantasy story

A guest post by Heidi C. Vlach In our modern Earth lives, we have words for concepts that we don't actually consider to exist. Stuff like dragons, magic and demons. Those familiar words can make us feel like we already understand things we've never seen. But sometimes a fantasy writer wants to create something new -- an animal, a metal, a scholarly subject, a type of energy. That new thing will need a name. And, of course, the new name should...

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Author Interview with James Tenedero

Hi James, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks, Patrick; I’d be happy to. I’m currently a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal, where I’m studying processes of organizational learning and innovation in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. I’m in the final stages of the doctoral program, so my research generally keeps me fairly busy these days, but I still devote a substantial amount of time to...

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Author Interview with Robert Chazz Chute

Hi Robert, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks so much for interviewing me, Patrick. About me: I have a fairly useless journalism/philosophy degree and neither of those things pay anymore. I’m the author of Self-help for Stoners and several short story collections and now the crime novel Bigger Than Jesus. Everything I write falls under the umbrella of suspense. I’ve won awards for my writing, mostly of little significance,...

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Dark Knight Rises - Movie Review (Spoilers Marked)

This year comes the conclusion the Nolan-Saga that the fans have long awaited. Who expects a better film than the brilliant predecessor, will be disappointed. The last part of this series can not reach its heights. Why this is the case, you can read in this review. The story begins eight years after the second part. The peace returned to Gotham City and Batman retired, but a villain again begins to threaten the city. Now is more...

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Author Interview with T. Michelle Nelson + Giveaway

Hi Michelle, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself.   Hi Patrick, thanks for having me.  I’m the author of Life and Death of Lily Drake, a mom, a wife and I work full-time.  What do you think makes your genre special?   What I love about paranormal romance is typically the novels are set in a normal world with these fantastic supernatural elements.  They also tend to cross genres...

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Q&A with Rosalind Smith-Nazilli

Hi Rosalind, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself. Hello Patrick and thank you for interviewing me. I have always been a writer in one way or another but until I moved out to live in Turkey I didn't have the time to pursue it fully. I am originally from the UK. Since retiring from nursing and taking on an almost completely stress free lifestyle, I am free to give my ideas the attention they have been craving. I am approaching...

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Author Interview with Charles Sutherland

Hi Charles, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself. I am the son of a coal-miner's son, who escaped a life in the dark Appalachian mines by joining the U.S. military. Like most military-families, we moved around a bit. Eventually we settled in a small Virginia town called Hopewell, noted for its myriad chemical factories. After high school, having no desire to work in those factories, I choose to join the Air Force,...

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Snow White and the Huntsman - Review

Snow White and The Huntsman is after Mirror Mirror and Grim's Snow White the third Snow White movie this year. The trailer with the dark fairy tale forest, in which all these wonderful creatures live, drew me into its spell immediately. Naturally that this movie was one i really anticipated. To make it short, the movie doesn't fulfill anything i hoped it would and that the trailer suggested to me. In fact, it was one of the worst movies i saw in...

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Author Interview with Liz Long and Giveaway

Hi Liz, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself? Hi Patrick! *waves frantically* I'm 27 and an indie author living in Roanoke, VA with my husband and dog. I've had all sorts of interesting jobs (newspaper, radio, book stores, publishing) and am now happy to say being a writer is one of them!  Why do you write fantasy books and what do you think makes them special? I always read fantasy books as a kid. Other books were fine, of...

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Liebster Blog Award

 I'm happy to receive the "Liebster Blog"-Award from Mary Lou Dickson.  The award is not a highclass award with several rounds of selection, but more like a nice idea to connect with other blogs and to show people what you like. So how can you participate...

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Men in Black 3 - Review

After ten years the dynamic duo Agent J. and K. Returns back to the big screen, this time in 3D.   (Quick Note: There are some very impressive 3D scenes which don’t feel as forced as in so many other films. MIB3 is one of the films in which the 3D effect is better implemented, but don’t justifies the higher ticket price.) Again, it's their job to protect the Earth from strangely designed aliens and not just in the present. This time...

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Author Interview with Christopher Waltz

Hi Christopher, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself? Well, I’m twenty-four-years-old and have been writing since I was about eight. For some reason, it never really occurred to me that I could be an author someday until after I had graduated from college. I got my degree in secondary education, but wasn’t sure teaching was for me, so I currently work with a non-profit organization, training and placing new volunteers. It’s something...

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Battleship, Movie - Boardgame Comparison

This comparison is only intended for people who have already played the boardgame and want to know how the film deviates from it. Possible spoilers for the story are clearly marked as spoilers. Despite the fact that there was no such thing as "story". The film begins with the introduction of the shallow and humorous main character, Alex Hopper. A no-good, as it appears in the book and could not be stereotyped. Within a time jump, full of wonder...

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Hunger Games, Movie - Book Comparison [Contains Spoilers]

This comparison is only intended for people who have already read the book and want to know how the film deviates from it. Basically, the film follows the story of the books exactly and contains no surprises, so I will not use spoiler warnings. I hope I got all the names right, because I watched the german version and there could be minimal changes in the names. In general: The film was good, but far below its possibilities. At first I thought...

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