0 comments on "Digital Media of Choice (to the tune of “Weapon of Choice”)"

I got a Vudu account because we have a Smart TV and the Vudu app came pre-installed. Still, it’s easy to log in and it’s easy to use on my computer.

Netflix on the TV isn’t as hard to use as Hulu, but it’s a little bit janked for us. Still, it’s a must-have around our house. I enjoy watching Netflix on the TV or my Kindle Fire. I’m always using my computer and I worry about it breaking down from being overloaded, but I log in through my computer to arrange my queue.

Flixster works on my Kindle Fire, which is awesome. All the movies I saved on Vudu are cross-shared to Flixster so I can watch them. (There’s no Vudu app.) So I can actually watch all those movies we’ve bought whenever I want, as long as there’s wifi.

Crackle is free movies and TV shows and they allow a free app, unlike Hulu.

For my most used free services: Hulu and Dramafever are most comfortably watched on the computer. Viki works well on the Kindle, though it freezes up for me occasionally.

I watch a lot of my saved stuff and DVDs with the VLC Media Player, which makes me wish that all those services worked with it. I like being able to easily resize and move the player and tell it to stay a particular size.

TL;Dr, watch free stuff on Hulu, Dramafever, Crackle, and Viki. Netflix is an easy pay-service, as is Amazon Prime. And for all those digital copy codes that come with DVDs and Blu-Ray, I prefer inputting them into Vudu — it works for all kinds, and they’ll self-propagate to the Flixster app for android devices and to UltraViolet.

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Check out my newest masterwork “Allies & Enemies” at: All Romance Ebooks, Amazon, Goodreads, Less Than Three Press, Smashwords. — superhero, urban fantasy, mm, drama. Darkstar x Blue Ice.

Heroes & Villains at Amazon
2 comments on "“Allies & Enemies,” by Harper Kingsley is live! [superhero, mm, novel]"

Allies & EnemiesTitle: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
Series: Heroes & Villains (Book Two)
Cover art: Aisha Akeju
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Genre: mm, superhero, urban fantasy, sci-fi
Word count: 129,000

Summary: In the wake of the death of the Fabulous Kims, Vereint cannot forget Melissa, the little girl they left behind, a girl that now has no family. Certain he and Warrick can be the family she needs, he pushes to adopt her. That she proves to have superpowers only confirms he’s right. Melissa is their darling daughter by day, and by night she trains to become Blue Devil, sidekick to Blue Ice.

Then the unthinkable happens, destroying the happiness Vereint and Warrick worked so hard to build—a tragedy so great that the long-vanished Darkstar returns with murderous intent …

It’s here! Allies & Enemies is currently live at Less Than Three and at Smashwords.

Are you excited? I’m excited.

And if you feel like you need to catch up on the series, here’s the links for Heroes & Villains at Less Than Three and at Smashwords.

EXCERPT of Allies & Enemies:

The sun struggled to shine through the clouds, and it was one of those days destined to be miserable. Not just because of the weather, but because of the girl sobbing out her heartbreak on a sterile hospital bed, the sheets pulled up around her shoulders as she buried her face in the flat and lumpy pillow.

Vereint clenched his hands together on the handles of the two shopping bags he held. It took all of his willpower to keep from running into the room and scooping her into his arms. Instead, he stood in the hallway and watched through the window as she mourned the loss of her parents. Behind and to the left of him, he could hear Warrick talking to the nurse and the social worker, and Vereint was sure everything was just about worked out.

They were going to take that little girl home and give her a family and make sure she grew up knowing that she was loved. He didn’t think they could ever erase the loss of her parents, but they would try their best to make her realize she still had a whole life to live and they would be there for her.

Vereint heard the slight scuff of dress shoes on the linoleum floor, and then Warrick’s arm settled across his shoulders. He didn’t hesitate to hug Warrick’s wrist against his chest. He breathed in the scent that his brain uniquely identified as Warrick Reidenger Tobias and something screaming and tight in his chest released. “Do we get to take her now?”

“I talked them around,” Warrick said. “There will be social service visits and we’ll have a social worker assigned. They’ll still be looking for any family she has, but she gets to go home with us tonight. They say she’s all right, just shaken up, so it’ll be better for her if she doesn’t spend another night in the hospital.”

“Good.” Vereint had never been fond of hospitals. Just the smell and the sounds were enough to make him uncomfortable; he couldn’t imagine how miserable it must be for a grieving twelve-year-old who had watched her parents die. “The guest room will be fine for tonight, and tomorrow I can go and get things to make it more comfortable.”

He’d get her a few things to make her feel welcome, then later after her grief had a chance to settle he would take her to pick out things she wanted for herself. It would give them a chance to bond. He wondered what she looked like when she smiled.

“Here comes the social worker,” Warrick said.

There was the clack-clack of sensible pumps attached to a tall, thin woman with a pair of no-nonsense glasses perched on her nose. She looked like she might be kind, but also as though she didn’t suffer fools. The subdued floral print of her purple and black blouse showed she had a softer side that they would be able to appeal to.

“Mr. Georges-Tobias, Mr. Tobias, I’m Nancy Daniels and I’ve been assigned to Melissa’s case.” Her handshake was brusque and businesslike. She wasn’t ready to be friends, not until she was sure of them, but Vereint knew she was the kind of ally they were going to need. He’d done a bit of research about child services, and while money could take them far, they would need her help to smooth away the minor irritations of the legal system.

He smiled at her, trying to pour on the charm without going too far over the top. “Thank you. I’m just glad you’re letting us take her home with us.”

She sighed. “It will be nice for her to be out of here. From what the nurses have said, last night was not a good night for her.” She walked toward the door. “Come along and I’ll introduce you.”

Warrick reached the door first and held it open with easy grace. He brushed his hand against the small of Vereint’s back as Vereint passed by him. Vereint gave him a smile before his attention was caught by the girl on the bed.

Melissa was a cute Korean-American girl with long black hair and a triangular-shaped face. She was short, her body so tiny that her head looked large in comparison. With the opening of the door, she hastily sat up, raking her hands through the tangled mess of her hair and scrubbing at her eyes with the corner of the sheet. Her face was still blotchy and red, but her chin firmed as she pretended she hadn’t been crying.

“What do you want?” she asked, her lips twitching as she tried to maintain her control. She blinked rapidly to clear the gleam of tears from her eyes.

“Hello, Melissa,” Nancy said, her voice gentle and soothing. “I know you said you want to leave the hospital, and that’s why I’ve brought these two gentlemen with me. This is Vereint Georges-Tobias and his husband Warrick Tobias. They want you to stay with them until everything gets figured out.”

Melissa gave them a suspicious glare. “I don’t know them. I don’t want to go anywhere with them.”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Nancy said, “but Vereint and Warrick are offering you a safe place to stay.”

Vereint stepped forward, shifting the bags until they hung from his left wrist, and held up his hands, palms out so she could see that they were empty. He gave Melissa a tentative smile. “Hi. I can tell you want to get out of here. I don’t much like hospitals myself, and it must be pretty cold here at night, huh?”

Her black eyes were still suspicious, but she gave a nod of grudging agreement. “The blankets are thin and you can hear everything that goes on at night. I think the man in the next room died last night; there was a big ruckus and people were running in and out.” Her chin was a hard nob that she refused to let tremble.

Vereint pressed his lips together. He’d pushed for her to be put in a different unit of the hospital, but her brush with the freeze ray that had shot her parents meant she needed close observation. At least, that had been the line the doctor had given when Vereint had asked if she could be discharged two days ago. Vereint didn’t think a lonely and sterile hospital room was a healthy environment for a traumatized child. He didn’t want to see her spirit damaged.

The fact that she was defensive made him like her more. He’d felt as though something had stabbed him in the chest the first time he’d seen her after her parents’ death. He’d never believed in fate, but it was obvious to him that he and Warrick had to take her home and raise her as their daughter. There had been so much hurt in her eyes when they’d met his and so much spirit beyond that, it had been no effort at all to nudge Warrick into grudging action.

/EXCERPT

Heroes & Villains at Amazon
0 comments on "Silk Leaf seems amazing to me. Have you heard of this? I can’t even"

“Julian Melchiorri on the first synthetic biological leaf” — http://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/25/movie-silk-leaf-first-man-made-synthetic-biological-leaf-space-travel/. This is completely and mind-blowingly amazing. I am surprised more people aren’t shouting this from the rooftop.

RCA graduate Julian Melchiorri says the synthetic biological leaf he developed, which absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant, could enable long-distance space travel.

We would finally be able to travel to Mars and further without having to pack so much oxygen. The weight limits would be bypassed, and more equipment could be carried. Along with the Tesla/(Elon Musk) Space X rocket, which can land and liftoff for multiple journeys, it would be an easy endeavor to have people travel back and forth from the “colonies.”

Melchiorri’s Silk Leaf project, which he developed as part of the Royal College of Art’s Innovation Design Engineering course in collaboration with Tufts University silk lab, consists of chloroplasts suspended in a matrix made out of silk protein.

These pieces of silk leaf fabric are able to photosynthesize oxygen. Just shine some light through the leaves, and there’s oxygen creation.

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The article is getting a lot of negative response, but it’s really quite a remarkable idea.

At some point in the future, we could have oxygen producing drapes on our windows, wall hangings that literally breathe, and the assurance that whatever happens, we’ve got clean air in our home.

I believe there are going to be many technological marvels discovered in the coming years. The world will be terrible ecologically, but I hope that will only be in some areas. Places like China and Texas will have terrible air and bad stuff, but most of the rest of the world will be better off. Still, it would be worth the cost to purchase an air conditioner that also cleans and creates oxygen, or clothing that literally breathes.

A filter of silk leaf could be part of a person’s breathing mask. If its able to be kept alive, it could last for decades.

An outfit made of breathable material. Flip up the hood and keep from suffocating while in a place packed with people. The perfect party suit. (Translucent bubble suit of silk leaf. Bicycle shorts-wearing grinding body, twisting and bending, cami top clinging, dancing within the safety of her private world. Holland watched her for a moment, tracing the curves and bends, admiring the nubile young beauty; his admiration was abstract but honest.)

Apartment complexes would offer the luxury of a silk leaf shell that produces clean oxygen for the occupants. That would be something people would want available.

I don’t know. I am really enthusiastic about some of the newest technologies coming out.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good at Amazon
0 comments on "Mixed Thoughts"

This all began after trying to watch The Taking of Pelham 123 while intoxicated. Sometimes I let my thoughts wander. They decide to go to strange places.

RE The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

I attempted to watch this movie, and it felt like I was waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen. But nothing ever happens and the action seemed forced. It’s a story with a potential that never appears. The wrong actors were chosen for the roles; the dialogue isn’t very enthralling, but there’s a lot of it; and it felt like a character piece, but they were playing it as an ensemble. There’s the pieces of a good story, if only things had been taken in a different direction.

Seriously, movie dudes, if you’re going to redo a badly done movie, put some work into it. Correct the mistakes of the past and make a better story. Change the setting and the scenario. Make a frickin’ TV movie to create the backdrop of your universe. I mean, that doesn’t really apply to Pelham 123, but for other reboots it seems like a much better idea than destroying everything and not giving people a chance to adapt.

Take Star Trek for instance: I might have appreciated the rebooted movies more if JJ Abrahms had run a TV mini-series explaining all the ginormous changes taking place in the universe. I need a meta to build on in my imagination so I have some idea of what’s going on; it’s the way I enjoy things. I also need a fanbase to fall back on, because when I really like something I immediately search for the fanfiction and the fanart.

Star Trek is a giant franchise. Sure, the reruns of the TV show and the movies were beginning to lose money, but that’s because they’re not syndicated anywhere. Or if they are, they’re not being played in the right way. (Pick a time and stick to it. Nobody needs an episode marathon every night; it burns out the interest quick. Just one episode a night, every night at the same time, maybe two episodes if the show is only a half-hour long. Make sure the episodes run in order, then build your programming around it. The show will begin to pick up interest, as most humans like patterns and stability.

Remember being a kid and racing home to watch your favorite show? It was on every single day at exactly the same time. And even when your life was crazy and stressful and your parents were fighting, your show would always be there for you. Life was falling down, but there was Sailor Moon, there were The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there were The Tiny Toon Adventures.

Well, dudes, life has gotten hard lately. The economy stinks, war is about to break out all over the place, there’s stress piling up everything; the world seems like it’s about to fall apart and there’s no hope in sight — and I blame all of that on American television programming.

1. We’re showing way too many infomercials, people. It’s beginning to warp the perspectives of the world. We need to start showing the good stuff again. I mean, when someone in the Middle East pays to get American TV, I don’t think they were paying to get our worst crap. It makes people a little testy and it makes us look bad. We need to be more like BBC-America. They seriously put some work behind their programming, and they’re really getting popular. Meanwhile, all the basic cable channels have turned into garbage and I have no idea why. They don’t even bother trying to syndicate shows anymore, and I don’t know if it’s because the copyright holders are charging too much money or if the network owners just don’t care or something.

People still watch TV! People want to watch TV. There’s something soothing about clicking the remote, tuning to a station, and just knowing I’m going to be entertained, no extra thought required. And I haven’t felt like that in a long time. The stability I love and need is gone. And it’s been replaced by some guy trying to sell me Magic Beauty Wonder Cream and softcore pornography commercials starring not very attractive people doing stuff I don’t like.

I want to tune to a station for 2-4 hours and know that there’s going to be something I want to watch. Since there’s never anything good on, I end up watching a lot of American Dad. It can be entertaining and I like the self-contained stories, but I want other stuff to watch too.

Don’t networks ever ask the opinions of their viewers? The big companies keep gobbling up different channels, then they sell out their customers by getting rid of everything that people liked. I get that they’re trying to force people to buy the pricier cable packages, but maybe they’d make more money if they showed a little consideration.

Not everyone has a ton of money to spend on entertainment. $20 a month is a lot of money to some people. They still should have something good to watch on TV.

Shows that rock:
Almost Human [partner cops, sci-fi, action],
American Dad [animated, humor],
Angel [paranormal, drama, action, angst, feelings],
Being Human [paranormal, drama, angst],
Better Off Ted [humor, office, Evil Corporation],
Bones [FBI, crime-solving partners, ],
Buffy the Vampire Slayer [action, drama, girl power, great ensemble],
Charmed [paranormal, action, girl power, sibling unity],
Dead Like Me [reapers, drama, angst, feelings],
Dollhouse [action, sci-fi, drama],
Earth: Final Conflict [sci-fi, aliens come to Earth],
Firefly [sci-fi, spaceship in the future, cargo hauling and thieving],
Futurama [animated, humor, sci-fi, ensemble],
Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda [sci-fi, spaceship in the far future, post-apocalyptic],
Hannibal [psychological, serial killer, angst, drama, lots of blood and awful],
Hercules: the Legendary Journeys [action, humor, gods and goddesses],
Highlander [action, a fight to the death every episode, Methos, dated material],
Lost Girl [paranormal, action, girl power, lots of sex and violence],
Metalocalypse [animated, brutal humor],
Pushing Daisies [crime solving partners, humor, romance, paranormal],
Rick and Morty [animated, sci-fi, sharp humor],
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [action, sci-fi, drama],
The Tribe [post-apocalypse, Lord of the Flies-ish kids battling each other],
Xena: Warrior Princess [action, humor, romance, redemption, gods and goddesses],
The Venture Brothers [animated, superscience, sharp humor]

For a lighter crowd:
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy [animated, humor, reaper]
Hikaru no Go [anime, ghost friend, championship board game],
Invader Zim [animated, sci-fi, humor]
Ouran High School Host Club [anime, high school romance, crossdressing],
Princess Jellyfish [anime, adult humor],
Sailor Moon [anime, action, girl power],
Tiny Toon Adventures [humor, talking animals],
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [action, talking animals hiding from the human world]

2. What is with all of the reality television? We get it, it’s cheap to make and the returns can be gigantic and blah blah. Those shows have actually been proven to make children stupider. Look it up; there’s scientific evidence. Where are all the concerned “Don’t vaccinate my kid!” parents at when their kids are watching that crap? Instead of sitting back letting that kind of lazy and exploitive programming run, why aren’t parents petitioning for actual shows?

When I was a kid some of the shows were pretty stupid, but at least they were actual family programming, as in, anyone could watch the show no matter there age. There was no surprise graphic sex. The language didn’t try to be edgy. And there were actual non-dysfunctional families getting along and enjoying spending time together.

But reality TV shows a life that most people can’t afford to live or wouldn’t want to live. The people seem so fake, the story lines are improv, and there’s no real point to anything. It’s a fishbowl glimpse into someone’s life, a chance to ogle and snark freely.

At least a story with a moral to it imparts some beneficial bit of knowledge. Reality television is people making money by pretending that their lives are more interesting than they really are.

“Watch me I’m rich and spoiled!”

“Watch me do my job, it’s exciting!”

“I used to be famous, pay attention to me!”

No thank you. I’ll be watching the rerun of a rerun, the same episode of The Cleveland Show that played four hours ago on the sister channel.)

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I wish I could turn on the TV and be entertained again. But there’s no longer a channel I can trust to give me what I want.