by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 29, 2012 | TV & Movies
I decided that I really needed to do some homework about this new 48 frame film speed. Turns out the big theater in Albuquerque was showing the 48 frame, 3D Hobbit on the biggest screen in town. I had to be in Albuquerque anyway so I just decided to make a day of it, and go to the movie after I finished lunch with friends, and running a million errands. As I’ve said elsewhere I found the movie too long, and the battles too endless and too gratuitous, but I actually enjoyed the film...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 27, 2012 | Blog
Last night I met George, his wife, Parris, and some of our dear friends for dinner, and then we went off to see DJANGO. Overall critics have loved it, but there have been some reactions that it trivializes slavery, and reactions over the levels of violence. I was curious. Overall I like Tarantino’s work. I didn’t care for KILL BILL 1 & 2, and TRUE ROMANCE left me cold, but PULP FICTION, JACKIE BROWN, INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS — good stuff. Well add DJANGO to the list of...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 24, 2012 | General
I went to the health club this morning. They were going to close at noon, and I wanted to use the rowing machine. I figured the place would be dead at ten o’clock in the morning on Christmas Eve. Instead it was a zoo. Both rowing machines were taken, almost all the bikes and most of the elliptical machines. People were pumping iron and using the weight machines. I ended up doing a 30 minute run on the elliptical because it was clear the rowing machines were booked for the duration....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 21, 2012 | Blog
I’ve started replaying the Mass Effect trilogy, and I’m partway into the second game. Since game three is still fresh in my mind (and not for a good reason) I am now even more convinced that the first game is the best game of the three. That led me to try and analyze why, and I realized it was a change made in The Hobbit that answered the question. I have some problems with The Hobbit, the endless CGI battles became a bore, but the writers, and Jackson made one very smart...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 19, 2012 | TV & Movies
I caught most of the 2011 Three Musketeers on TV the other evening. OMG! Wow. Why did someone think this was a good idea? I kept watching for the same reason humans watch train wrecks. I’m not one of those people who demands strict fidelity to a book. I know changes have to be made, and I’m happy to make them, but this warping of technological advancement in order to have flying ships, and bigger explosions made me crazy. The men playing Athos, Prothos and Aramis were quite...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 19, 2012 | TV & Movies
I love HOMELAND dearly, and found the climax to be powerful and bitter sweet. But then I read an interview with Howard and Alex, and it seems they haven’t decided if Brody (Damien Lewis) will be in much of the third season. I admit that sours me a bit on the show. Carrie and Saul are great, but I think Lewis is one of the best actors working, and his performance as the tortured marine, and his chemistry with Claire Danes is amazing. On the plus side that leaves Lewis available to...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 18, 2012 | Uncategorized
Something has gone bonkers on my new website, and I am getting spammed with hundreds of messages. Which means it’s really had for me to filter through the hundreds of messages to find the actual messages from those of you who are real people. So apologies if your message hasn’t been approved yet. I’m drowning in spam right now. I’m sure the great people at Orphic will get it fixed quickly, but in the meantime bear with me. Also, somebody is sending trollish messages...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 17, 2012 | General
I used to love winter. Wild weather appealed to me, and sitting by a roaring fire while the snow came down outside seemed magical. I love it less now. Maybe because the cold bites deeper, and I worry more about my horse this time of year. Also, spending part of the afternoon pouring boiling water over the ice on the steps leading to my front door, and then chopping at said ice with the snow shovel wasn’t a lot of fun. Still, there are things that are beautiful. The fallen snow has...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 16, 2012 | The Craft of Writing
I’ve talked about this in the context of Mass Effect 3 and the ultimate massive failure of what should have been the greatest video game to date, but I have to bring it up again. I don’t tend to review books because if I’ve read a book to the end it means I liked it, and then I get accused of just saying nice things, and if I don’t like a book I stop reading. I only have so many years of life left so I don’t spend time on books I don’t like. I also offer...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
Strange things happen when you appear on movie screens all across the country. Odd connections are made. But let me wind back and put this story in context. I have quite a few Persian rugs. The one in the living room is an antique, blue and cream and gold and it’s huge, roughly twenty feet by eleven feet. It hasn’t been cleaned in six years, and it was definitely time. The damn cats will run off the stone floor and onto the nearest rug to barf. Gotta love cats, but I...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 15, 2012 | Uncategorized
So my anthropological investigation of on-line dates needs to come to and end. Partly because I suck at it, and partly because to do it well would require hours and hours of time going through profiles and I have books and scripts to write, a horse to ride, friends to see, books to read, a house to tend, etc. etc. In short I have a life, and this feels way more like work than anything else. I need to find a new technique.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 14, 2012 | Uncategorized
So before I get verbally assaulted by NRA types — for the record. I am a gun owner. I have a Beretta 9 millimeter pistol. I would like to get a .40 calibre, I like how they handle. I have been trained to use said weapon. I enjoy shooting. AND THIS IS FUCKING NUTS! Please people some rational limits on this please. Register the guns. Make people take a safety course before they can buy a gun. We make make people learn to try and pass a test before they get to drive because cars...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 13, 2012 | Uncategorized
It’s going to be a small protest on my part, and have utterly no effect, but at least I won’t have given my money to the new film Zero Dark Thirty. I really wanted to see this film. Bigelow is a terrific director, the subject matter dramatic — the hunt for Bin Laden, but the film creates the strong impression that he was found because of torture, and that is simply not true. In hearing after hearing it was clearly established that it was painstaking research and analysis...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
As I’m driving home from the barn today I saw a critter dart across the road in front of me. At first I thought it was a coyote, but it was too small. It paused under a stand of piñon trees, laid down, and regarded me. Then I realized it was a feline. I stopped the car, rolled down the window and called. It blinked at me. That when I realized it was too damn big to be a house cat. He/she watched and I talked to the big kitty. Then I got out of the car, and it started to flee....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
I’m pleased with the doing good page because I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of selling remaindered books from my website. I’m a terrible salesmen. Well, that’s not entirely true. I can deliver a pretty mean pitch in Hollywood, but selling to readers or viewers just makes me uncomfortable. So that’s the reason for the page. But… at some point I am going to run out of extra books, and then I’ll have to shut it down. I may try to buy a...
