The Amazing Spider-Man II Movie Review, A to Z Challenge Reflections, and Ninja News!

a to z challenge reflections, dean k miller, iwsg, river fairchild, tara tyler, the amazing spider-man ii movie review

Movie Review – The Amazing Spider-Man II


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Caught it Friday in 3D. The plot follows an Oscorp employee’s transformation into Electro and Peter and Gwen’s on again, off again relationship.
The action scenes are great and there is a lot of snarky humor. There is a lot of slow-motion, bullet-time style action, which the 3D takes advantage of.
There are three villains, but the main focus is on Electro, and you see far more of Harry than you do the Green Goblin.
This film isn’t as good as the first one. For one thing, it’s too long. Filmmakers seem so determined these days to make long movies. Had they trimmed the extra stuff, the action would’ve flowed faster and they would’ve had a leaner, more dynamic film.
Ironically, the best parts of this film involve the interaction of Peter and Gwen.
It’s not a film I’ll probably watch again. Not because it wasn’t good, but because – (SPOILER it was dark and very sad.)
Cool in theaters for the 3D, but better as a rental.

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Ninja News


Don’t forget the Insecure Writer’s Support Group posts this Wednesday!

Someone posted a link to this site last week. Hopefully you never see your book here – Lousy Book Covers

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Dean K Miller is part of a special Mother’s Day Sale!

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Cover Reveal –

BROKEN BRANCH FALLS (MG Fantasy)
By Tara Tyler
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Publisher: Curiosity Quills

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Available today!

A Dragon’s Lament, book 2 of the Jewels of Chandra series by River Fairchild

Magic is real. So is betrayal.

Purchase it here - Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, and iBookstore. Also available in paperback.

A to Z Reflections

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Between today and Friday, the A to Z Challenge hosts invite everyone to post their thoughts on this year’s event. What you liked, what you didn’t, and what we can do to make next year even better. Once you have posted, visit the A to Z Challenge Blog and enter your post’s direct link on the Linky List.

My thoughts on this year’s Challenge…

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As always, overwhelming! This was my fifth Challenge and fourth as a co-host, and it’s been amazing to watch it grow from a hundred of us that first year to over two thousand this year. As a co-host, I have a section of the list that I monitor (HUGE thanks to my awesome Minions, Joy, Michelle, SL, Susan, Rhonda, Madeline, LG, Cathy. Diane, and Melanie) and I am the Linky List Master, responsible for cleaning the list of bad sites, non-participants, and broken links. Plus the IWSG participated, so there were posts for that site. Add all of my blogger buddies, who I TRIED to visit every day, and the Challenge was pretty much my life for the month of April. (But that’s cool – it’s worth it!)

My next thought – some of you guys are so YOUNG!!! (My theme was retro and featured a different year for each letter, and comments were what others remembered that year.) Dear, Lord! David, LG – I could be your father. Wow, I feel so old…

I didn’t gain a lot of new followers. (That’s all right – I can barely keep up with everyone now!) But I did make some new friends and reconnected with some followers I didn’t visit often in the past.

Some people didn’t return comments or follows. That was rather sad. Maybe some people just didn’t get the following thing?

The only real bummer is that as a co-host, and one with so many followers and commenters, I don’t get a chance to meet as many new bloggers as I would like to meet. Some of my best blogger buddy friends I met during previous Challenges. I miss that.

Finally, I hope that everyone who visited enjoyed my Retro-Blogger Buddy Feature theme. It was a lot of fun to put together.

How did I do it? Yes, there was some snooping involved. And some emails. But earlier this year, I had a post that asked everyone what was their best year and why. Then I narrowed it down to twenty-six years and started my search for a movie or album that came out with a certain letter that year. (I knocked out X and Z right away!) I also found a couple sites that listed major events, sporting events, and time capsule information. Then I scoured the web for movies, music, and games that were released that year. Finally, I snagged all the images I needed. The basics of my Challenge posts were html formatted and ready to go by early February – everything else I added the night before.
Total time per post – four to five hours.

Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. But I wanted to do something unique and as always, feature a blogger buddy or two.

And big thanks to the Challenge Team, Tina at Life is Good, Jeremy at Being Retro, Damyanti at Amlokiblogs, Nicole Ayers at The Madlab Post, Stephen Tremp, M. J. Joachim, Heather M. Gardner, AJ at Naturally Sweet, Pam at An Unconventional Librarian, and the founder of the Challenge, Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out!

Visit the A to Z Blog for a list of other Reflection posts and to add your own.

Anyone else see Spider-Man this weekend? Ready for some new books? Ready for the IWSG post? Did you enjoy my Challenge theme? And what are your thoughts about the Challenge this year…?