by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 13, 2016 | TV & Movies
I went over to the Cinépolis last night for a second watch of The Force Awakens, and I’m ready to discuss the movie. There are going to be a SPOILERS so if you hate SPOILERS and if for some reason you haven’t managed to see this film yet don’t read anymore because there are going to be SPOILERS!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! I had seen the film on opening day with Len Wein and Chris Valada. As with the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek film I liked the “feel” of the movie. What I hadn’t expected...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 28, 2015 | General
I thought I would give a report on my impressions about the Tesla. First, I’m a car person. I’ve loved them since I was a kid. The faster the better. I want them sleek and fierce. I want them to look like they’re going 100 miles an hour when they’re parked. My first car was a Dodge Charger with a 400 horsepower engine. (Yeah, my dad was car crazy too, but wouldn’t admit it so he lived vicariously through his 16 year old daughter.) Next up was a Fiat...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 17, 2015 | Blog
There are going to be spoilers in this post so if you haven’t watched the winter finales of either Gotham or Agents of SHIELD stop reading. **********************SPOILERS************************SPOILERS**************************SPOILERS****************** There has been a lot of good boys going bad on television during these winter finales. I had pretty much given up on GOTHAM after the bone stupid legal errors that were being made — “No Bruce, you whiny little shit, you can’t fire me. ...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 2, 2015 | About Writing
Yesterday I completely rewrote a chapter because I had decided that a major event that had been the climax of the second novel in the space opera series was in the wrong place. What this involved was me walking away from the carefully and painfully plotted outline sitting on 3×5 cards on the cork board. But I did it anyway and spent a day of work redrafting an entire chapter. Then I came wide awake at 5:00 in the morning because I realized that I had just blown the end of this book. It...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 26, 2015 | Blog
Tuesday night I was at dinner with Connie Willis, Daniel Abraham and a number of folks from the science fiction community in New Mexico. Connie had been given a sack of wrapping paper because she collects wrapping paper. She gave us the fascinating background on why it existed. Prior to 1920 packages were just wrapped in brown paper or tissue with a ribbon. It was the crash and resultant depression that led to the creation of wrapping paper. People didn’t have money for expensive...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 23, 2015 | Blog
I try very hard to obey the Godwin rule. You don’t bring up Nazis unless you are talking about actual Nazis, but the current Republican field and in particular Donald Trump is making that incredibly difficult. His race baiting has been with us from the beginning, but when he remained silent in the face of suggestions that all Muslims in the United State should register and carry ID identifying them as Muslim, and continued to stay silent when it was pointed out that this was perilously...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 17, 2015 | TV & Movies
I have really enjoyed the first two Hunger Games films. Jennifer Lawrence proves forever lays to rest the argument that women can’t be action heroes. Her portrayal of Katniss Everdeen is fierce and powerful. I wanted to be ready for the final installment of the franchise so I streamed Mockingjay Part 1 to the XBox and gave it a watch. They should have made one really long movie rather then break it up. I understand why they did — the financial incentives to milk this for all...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 10, 2015 | General
I am linking to this article and I urge you to watch the video. Kill The Gays Rally. Not because of this ranting nutball religious head case and the 17oo deluded and hateful followers who attended, but because three republican presidential candidates showed up at this event. I know people are going to say — “Oh Melinda, why are you getting upset over these bigoted fools? They have no power, no way to actually enforce their murderous agenda. Let me reiterate — Because...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 8, 2015 | TV & Movies
Otherwise known as the-Bond-franchise-takes-a-trip-down-memory-lane-and-we-remember-that-road-was-pretty-damn-silly. This film was a real disappointment for me. I’d been looking forward to it for months and last night I headed over for the 9:30 showing at the Cinepolis. Thank god I was at the sybaritic theater with the big leather reclining seats with footrests and waiters ready to bring you food and alcohol. I should have gone with the alcohol. I almost ordered a margarita about...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 30, 2015 | TV & Movies
Oh, dear. Where to start. First the good. Tom Hiddleston is so handsome and so charming and such a good actor. He can do more with a look then many actors can manage with a half page soliloquy. He also dances beautifully. yes, Tom I’ll waltz with you anytime and he’s in this film a lot. Then there’s the rest — ********SPOILERS*************SPOILERS************SPOILERS************SPOILERS**********SPOILERS You have been warned. I said to a friend this...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 29, 2015 | Blog
I had recorded the premier episode of this show and I had high hopes. It’s produced by Berlanti who is doing ARROW and THE FLASH, but this one didn’t work so well for me. The young actress playing Kara is appealing though for those of us devoted Arrow watchers she seemed like a version of Felicity. Perky, talkative, a bit insecure. I liked the changes to Jimmy… James Olsen. I was glad they’re not spending a lot of energy on trying to keep her identity secret....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 28, 2015 | TV & Movies
Okay, so now I can talk about the work I’ll be doing for Star Trek: Renegades. As many of you probably know there has been a tradition of fans of the show making their own episodes and putting them up on-line. They range in quality, but some are produced by people in “the Industry” as we call it. Renegades is one of those. I was approached by executive producer Sky Conway and asked if I would come on board. I said I would have to look at the pilot they had produced and also...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 24, 2015 | General
I don’t normally link to editorials, particularly ones about politics, but this one is amazingly insightful and gives a historical context to all the crazy that currently surrounds us. Benghazi, Joe McCarthy and the Witch Trials
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 23, 2015 | TV & Movies
I love this show. Yeah, the first 3/4 of the first season were shaky, but I liked the people enough — especially Coulson to hang in there. I was also fascinated with Grant Ward and not just because he’s pretty (though that helped). I just knew there was more to that guy then just being the pretty boy. Then the whole Hydra thing hit, and yeah, I was totally there. Now we’ve got inhumans and other planets, and wow. What we also have is really interesting analysis of human...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 22, 2015 | About Writing
I like movies. I like to go out to the movies. So today I went to the movies. A lightning strike had fried my old modem so I headed out to Best Buy to buy a replacement. The Best Buy is just a few short blocks from the movie theater here in Santa Fe so I decided to run by and see what might be playing at around 1:00 p.m. Turned out THE INTERN starring Robert de Niro and Ann Hathaway had a 1:10 showing. I had wanted to see this film so I went in bought a ticket and a hot dog and settled...
