Most of my blog and twitter entries lately have been about the book of essays I’m involved with:  Write for the Fight:  A Collection of Seasonal Essays.  But tonight I’m taking a break from that project.   I’m not even going to mention the shiny new link on the right hand side of the page.  The one that will take you to Barnes & Noble where you can buy the book for $4.99.  And where all author royalties are being donated to breast cancer charities. 

Yup.  Not going to mention it at all.

Tonight I’m just going to throw out some random thoughts to get back into the habit of blogging.  I find that when I don’t blog, I’m not inspired to write in other mediums either.  When I don’t write, the voices in my head don’t have an escape hatch, so I start working out dialogue by talking to myself while driving alone in the car.  That’s not a problem in the winter, but the weather is getting nicer and I’m starting to open the windows and get some very strange looks at the traffic lights. 

Besides, writing is way cheaper than therapy.

• Movie Thoughts:  I am never going to see the movie War Horse.  I’m sure it’s a terrific movie, but as a general rule I don’t watch movies with animals in them.  They rarely end well.  (And that’s not a spoiler, because I have no idea what happens to the lovely War Horse.)  Marley & Me tops the list of animal movies I’ll never see because I DO know how that one ends.  I’ve never seen Babe, Old Yeller, Free Willy or Beethoven.  I’m not sure if rats count as animals, but I’m never seeing Willard either.  (For a whole lot of reasons.  It’s about a rat for God’s sake.)

 

• TV Thoughts:  I feel very out of sync with the rest of the world who seem to be watching Mad Men, The Killing and Game of Thrones this week.

 

• I’ve never been a fan of Mad Men.  It strikes me as all style and far-too-pretentious substance.  That’s pretty much the same opinion I hold of Jon Hamm.
• The Killing was well-acted, but a bit too slow and dour.  I spent my college years wondering who killed Laura Palmer, only to realize that I didn’t really care in the end.  At least Twin Peaks had a Log Lady and cross-dressing David Duchovny going for it.   
• I’d love to see Game of Thrones, but don’t have HBO.  Netflix here I come.

 

• Book Thoughts:  I finished three novels while I was on vacation last month:  Fall of Giants by Ken Follett; Hunger Games (…you may have heard of it…) and Doubletake by Rob Thurman.  I highly recommend all of them.  I do find it interesting that all three books are part of a series.  The follow-up by Follett is due in September, Hunger Games was the first in a trilogy and Doubletake is the seventh in a series.  When I get attached to characters, I hate to have our journeys together end and seek out authors who write multiple stories within the same snow globe.

 

• Music Thoughts:  While I was on vacation, my friend forced me to watch an episode of The Voice.  I rebelled due to my boycott of Cee-Lo Green since he butchered “Imagine” on New Years Eve, and also because… well, it’s The Voice.  But, she had the remote, so here is my review:  Adam Levine is talented.  Blake Shelton is talented and adorable.  Christina Aguilera is a wingnut diva.  Oh, and I think there were also some people singing.