This Week’s Final Cut In Movies show (05/30/08): The Destruction of Indiana Jones

On this week’s show, I'll be discussing how George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg successfully destroyed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and my new list of: The Top Ten Ways to Ruin the Sequel to Your Successful Trilogy. Should be fun!

The show will air from 2:00-3:00am & pm and re-air throughout the week at the same times on http://www.adastraradio.com/. To listen to tonight's show:

• Click here to listen via streaming audio on AdAstraRadio.com.
• Click here to download this show’s podcast from M. B. Weston's Podcasts.
• Click here to download this show off iTunes.

Missed Saturday's edition of The Final Cut? Don’t worry, you can catch the re-runs each day from 2:00-3:00am & pm at http://www.adastraradio.com/, or you can download the podcast at M. B. Weston's Podcasts site or by following this link on iTunes.

The Top Ten Things I Learned in Texas

I visited both Austin and Dallas this weekend (well, from last Thursday until today when I came home) to watch my husband's cousin graduate from the University of Texas. Rather than bore you with the details, I figured it would be fun to give you a little Top Ten list.

The Top Ten Things I Learned in Texas

1. 90 degrees in Texas feels cooler than 90 degrees in South Florida. It's a humidity thing. I don't think I broke a sweat in Texas, and I actually had to wear a little hoody jacket on occasion.
2. There is a reason American Airlines is having financial trouble. Mainly, they stink. Aside from our planes taking off late both times, they are now charging passengers $25 a bag for more than one bag checked. And don't even give you a little bag of pretzels during the flight! But you can buy a cookie for $3 if you're really that hungry. (You'll have to excuse my sarcasm. I've spent A LOT of time in the airport today!)
3. I can't bowl worth a darn in real life, but I've got a nasty hook when I play Wii! And my shoes still look pretty!
4. Austin food ROCKS! The rumors are true. And I ate way too much!
5. I really do think the horizon is bigger in Texas. I don't know why this is, but it made me feel really small.
6. Texas is one of the only states that can fly the state flag at the same height as the American Flag. I think it has to do with Texas once being another country. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this because I'm very pro-America, but I personally would like the Texans fighting on my side during a battle, so I'm not going to say anything.
7. Going to bed at 3:00am and waking up at 6:00am on consecutive days is exhausting... But I didn't have a choice. I had to get the radio show recorded, uploaded, and converted to an MP3 so I could podcast it on Friday.
8. Texas hailstorms can cause some damage. A massive storm went through Austin and broke all the western windows in my cousin's apartment. $120,000 worth of damage to the city. Or was that million? I don't remember. It was kind of funny listening to everyone go, "Wow! Look at all the leaves on the ground." Or, "Look at that tree branch that snapped." I was thinking, "I remember back during Hurricane Wilma...or was that Charlie... Wait it could have been Ivan. Or, no, it could have been Andrew..." Of course, I rarely see hail in Florida. (I can hear my friends from Louisiana, saying, "Um, we've got you beat when it comes to hurricanes, sister.")
9. It's pretty cool to watch the UT Tower light up in orange for graduation.
10. Don't forget to pack a pair of flats when you go on vacation. I forgot my flip flops and had two pairs of shoes: brown heels and black heels. walking across the UT campus in heels was no picnic--especially with less than 6 hours of sleep in two days. Still, I can walk without pain in my foot right now, so it wasn't as bad as wearing heels the whole weekend at OmegaCon...

Guess Which Superhero I Am!

I tend to get really frustrated when I'm doing something I have to do but don't want to do. (Such tasks include but are not limited to: bookkeeping, tax returns, researching publicity, writing anything non-fiction that isn't funny or political satire, and dishes.) When this happens, I try to find any and all excuses to walk away from my desk or do something different. (Such excuses include but are not limited to: Spider Solitaire, Sudoku (evil levels or higher only), and rearranging my blog templates.)

During one such time of forced boredom, I discovered the Superhero Personality Test on the web. (I think I found it on someone's MySpace layout.)

Admit it!

All of you want to know which superhero your personality matches! You can understand my temptation. When offered a choice of organizing my bills or finding out which superhero lies inside me just waiting to comes out... What do you think I'm going to do? So I took the test, hoping for a Supergirl or Wonder Woman--or even Jean Grey from X-Men. (I think that's her name.) You know, someone feminine and classy--like me, of course.

Here were my test results:

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 95% Superman 65% Hulk 60% Iron Man 55% Supergirl 52% Wonder Woman 52% Robin 42% The Flash 35% Green Lantern 20% Batman 15% Catwoman 5%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

95% percent Spider-Man?

And I'm geeky? (Well, yeah, I can see that...)

But I don't even look good in Royal Blue! And I can't jump!

But it gets worse. Other people took the test as me, filling in the answers that they thought described me the best (ignoring my input, of course), and guess what!

You guessed it: I'm still 95% Spider-Man.

A couple notes:

• I am 52% Supergirl and 52% Wonder Woman! (I've got at least some femininity in me!)
• I really must protest the 55% Tony Clark/Iron Man and the 60% Hulk. I'm not anything like a playboy, and I don't have much of a temper.
• I'm happy with the 65% Superman, though. I mean, who can't like being 65% Superman...
• If you're interested, I've tested as King Peter on the Narnia websites, and a Dumbledore/Hermione tie on the Harry Potter websites. (I've gotten frustrated with administrative stuff more than once...) And they always put me in Griffindor--along with Spider-man, I'm sure.

Okay, so I've bared my web-encrusted soul to the world. Now it's your turn. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test, and let me know who you turn out to be!

This Week’s Final Cut In Movies show (05/16/08): Speed Racer

On this week’s show, I'll be discussing Speed Racer, corruption in sports, steroids, disagreeing with movie reviewers, and other science fiction & fantasy news.

The show will air from 2:00-3:00am & pm and re-air throughout the week at the same times on http://www.adastraradio.com/. To listen to tonight's show:

• Click here to listen via streaming audio on AdAstraRadio.com.
• Click here to download this show’s podcast from M. B. Weston's Podcasts.
• Click here to download this show off iTunes.

Missed Saturday's edition of The Final Cut? Don’t worry, you can catch the re-runs each day from 2:00-3:00am & pm at http://www.adastraradio.com/, or you can download the podcast at M. B. Weston's Podcasts site or by following this link on iTunes.

M. B. Weston’s Events for the Week: 05/12/08 to 05/18/08

Here are my author and radio events this week:

• Saturday, May 17, 2:00pm-3:00pm (and throughout the week at the same times): The Final Cut in Movies radio program on Ad Astra Radio. This week, we'll be discussing Speed Racer. Click here to listen, and then click the blinking "Listen Live" button on the top right, or download the podcast at M. B. Weston's Podcasts site.

This morning, we went to breakfast at First Watch, and after the meal our server handed me a box of chocolate and said, "I wasn't sure. We're handing them out to all the mothers."

BAM!

I honestly wasn't expecting Mother's Day to hit me that hard. See, if I hadn't miscarried in December (Christmas Eve was when it finally happened), I would be 5 1/2 months pregnant right now. When my dad said the prayer at dinner tonight, thanking God for all the mothers in the family, my name should finally have been one of them. I haven't really thought about the miscarriage since it happened until today.

So many feelings and thoughts rushed through my mind from wondering what was wrong with my body to knowing that my husband wishes we had kids. Dwelling on that stuff can really mess you up if you let it.

But after some more thinking, I realized a few things:

• If I had remained pregnant, I would have had to cut back on a lot of my promotion for The Elysian Chronicles. Yes, I was willing to do it. I had reorganized my entire marketing strategy in my mind in order to stay home and be a mom.
• If I had remained pregnant, I may not have gone to MegaCon, which is where I met the guys at Ad Astra Radio, thus beginning my radio program.
• Nor would I have gone to OmegaCon in March. (Can you imagine the drive from South Florida to Alabama, constantly having to stop to go to the bathroom and puking every morning?)
• If I had not gone to OmegaCon, I would not have met some key people, including the president of a company that I can't talk about yet (keep checking the blog for breaking news), an invaluable contact and friend who is helping me with some research for Out of the Shadows and Book III of the Elysian Chronicles, and other really great people who have become friends. (OmegaCon was one of those things that I knew I needed to be there, but I didn't know why.)
• I would not have lost a total of 10 pounds. I would be gaining, actually.
• With this economy, a baby would be difficult--especially now that I have to help clean, and the chemicals I'm breathing in would not be good for a developing baby.

I can see how everything has worked out for the better. Because I am not pregnant, my audience will grow. Out of the Shadows will be even more phenomenal than it was just a month ago. Book III will be even more amazing than what it was in my mind when I started. My life has been enriched with new friendships. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about the direction my life is headed.

Knowing those things doesn't take away those nasty feelings when they decide to hit, but reminding myself of them reminds me how amazing God is.

This Week’s Final Cut In Movies show (05/09/08): Ironman

On this week’s show, I'll be discussing Iron Man, rules to follow if you ever find yourself caught in a science fiction or fantasy movie, the question of whether making weapons is a good idea, why you need to pay careful attention to every Marvel Comics movie coming out, and other science fiction & fantasy news.

The show will air from 2:00-3:00am & pm and re-air throughout the week at the same times on http://www.adastraradio.com/. To listen to tonight's show:

• Click here to listen via streaming audio on AdAstraRadio.com.
• Click here to download this show’s podcast from M. B. Weston's Podcasts.
• Click here to download this show off iTunes.

Missed Saturday's edition of The Final Cut? Don’t worry, you can catch the re-runs each day from 2:00-3:00am & pm at www.adastraradio.com, or you can download the podcast at M. B. Weston's Podcasts site or by following this link on iTunes.