For the Fun of It
It’s been a while since we had a fun Meme day.
Guess what…
Today is that day!
(And it does show…)
Jo Ann Schneider
Writer and Kung Fu Fighter
Author Archives: Jo Ann Schneider
- 29
Mar 23
0
(And it does show…)
- 22
Mar 23
0
Release Day for The Hunger Rises!
Check it out! The third book in my Girl and Her Cat series out out today!
I’ve had so much fun writing these books! I’m excited to launch this one out into the world 🙂
What to expect:
The snarky cat is back
The government using mindful language
As many silly apocalyptic tropes as could fit in there without going over the top
Wyatt thinking he’s a genius
A high-speed bicycle chase
The eBook is available at Amazon. Paperbacks should be up in a few days.
Excerpt:
Wyatt verified his address, then sat back. “You guys ready? We’re going to see burning buildings, rioting mobs, gang wars, and old women having fist fights.”
“Sorry, kid,” the driver spoke. “Most of the, uh, excitement has been centered around Grace Medical. Once we get clear of the grounds, things will be more normal.”
We’d emerged on the back side of the hospital and drove along a road that was likely for supply trucks. A chain link fence lined both sides of the path, and someone had draped tarps along them so I couldn’t see beyond.
“Trust me, you don’t want to look,” the driver said.
“We know,” Whitney said. “We were there.”
Wyatt folded his arms across his chest and let out a humph. “No riots? No zombie hoards? This is a lame apocalypse.”
“Because it’s not the apocalypse,” Whitney reminded him.
“Whatever. Don’t ruin my dreams.”
- 15
Mar 23
0
Wakanda Forever Movie Review
The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T’Challa.
Why did I come to this movie again?
I didn’t love the movie, Black Panther. There were too many instances of lazy writing, and because of that the theme (what there was of it) of the film suffered. I wasn’t any more excited to see the sequel, which is why I waited until it was streaming. My expectations weren’t high.
4 of 5
Characters
Queen Ramonda was the center of the story…until she wasn’t. Frankly, Angela Bassett was doing an amazing job, and killing her off (spoilers) disrupted the flow of the film. The writers could have left her as the main character. She had lost plenty and only had one thing left to lose. Her grief was palpable.
Until it wasn’t.
Although they needed a better set up to the queen betraying Okoye. The same clumsy handling of this kind of thing was in Black Panther, and I wish the writers had learned their lesson.
I might get some hate for this, but Princess Shuri isn’t main character material. She’s an awesome supporting character, and that’s where they should have left her. The actress did a great job, but once again, the writing wasn’t strong enough to carry her through. She could still have been Black Panther with her mom alive.
The bad guy was…flat. *whining voice* Bad men killed my people 500 years ago, and I’m still mad about it! Ugh.
The writers tried to mirror Shuri’s journey of familial grief with Namor’s, and while I give kudos for the attempt, the execution lacked.
3 of 5
Did I care what happened?
Somewhat. They brought Everett back, which I enjoyed. And until they killed the queen I was 100% invested in her. The plot itself was utterly predictable, so I didn’t even have that to keep me interested.
4 of 5
Plot Holes
It’s a Marvel movie with questionable writing. There were plenty of plot holes big enough to drive the Wakandan’s giant vibranium ship through.
My hubby pointed out a really good one…Namor’s people got snapped by Thanos. Did they not bother to figure out what had happened? If they were smart, they would have done some investigating, and when they found out there were beings and things MUCH more powerful than them, they should have come up to say hello to the rest of the world. Or at least make contact with Wakanda.
Also, in 500 years Namor has never had a teenager who wanted to be “part of this world?” Not likely.
3 of 5
How many times did I yawn?
I only got bored because the writing lacked. The action and pacing of the film itself was okay.
4 of 5
Cool Factor
Cinematography and special effects were top notch, as usual.
5 of 5
The End
Without a better setup between Shuri and Namor’s grief (it was there, but it wasn’t great) the end lacked.
I did love the very, very end when you find out about T’Challa’s son. I actually didn’t see that coming and was pleasantly surprised.
4 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
I gave Black Panther a second chance (it wasn’t better for me the second time) but I don’t think I’ll watch Wakanda Forever again. Is there some cool stuff in there? Yes. Do they deal with grief in an okay way? Yes. Was any of it good enough for me to kill almost 3 hours on it again? No.
3 of 5
Total: 30
That’s a Green Belt!
White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40
- 08
Mar 23
0
SaltCON Report
What’s SaltCON, you ask? This is what they say about themselves on the website:
The mission of SaltCON is “to bring people together with games.” Come play with your family and friends. We have exhibitors, prizes, game teachers, tournaments and a huge game library to try out new games. We have board games, card games, party games, role playing games, dexterity games, miniatures games and more!
My husband is the gaming geek. He’ll play almost anything, but he especially likes complicated board games, RPGs, and living card games.
Before we started dating I was only a party game girl. You know, Apples to Apples, Mad Gab, Battleship, any sort of rummy…stuff like that. It took the hubby a while to convert me to tabletop board games that had more strategy involved than Ticket to Ride.
He slowly won me over, starting with Lords of Waterdeep, and now I’m a fan of many (but not all–I’m looking at you, Mage Knight) tabletop board games.
I still don’t do RPGs (D&D style, for those of you who don’t know), and my patience for Magic style card games is limited. So not a total convert, but he’s pretty proud of his accomplishment.
This was our first trip to SaltCon, which is a local gaming convention. I expected a bunch of geeks, lots of games, and loads of stuff to buy.
I got all of that, but what I didn’t expect was the SCOPE of the convention.
There weren’t just a few tables to play games at, there were like a hundred .They were tucked into every nook and cranny of the conference center. I expected the vendor room to be much bigger than the gaming room. Boy was I wrong.
The hubby is always complaining that he wants more games. We have like two closets full of them, so I always wonder how many more there could be.
Apparently there literal are mountains of them.
I saw people dragging those wagons people take to their kid’s soccer tournaments full of games into the conference center looking for people to play with them. Others were being taught and played by fans or creators at tables. Still others simply sat down with a game, put up a sign saying they needed people to play with, and the people came.
It was INSANE.
I’ve been to FanX / ComiCon, writing conferences, and even Star Wars, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings conventions, and there are plenty of nerds and geeks at those gatherings, but this was on a whole different level. I saw probably ten people I knew from other places. Most of them seemed surprised to see me there. I guess I don’t ooze the gamer vibe. Which I’m fine with. 🙂
We played something like seven new games over two days. We also spent way too much money. Which isn’t unusual for the hubby and games.
The con itself was well run, although being first timers we were confused about how things worked at the gaming tables and had to ask for help a few times. Still, all in all it was a good experience. We’ll probably go back, but need to save some money beforehand. 🙂
