Netflix vs. Hulu

Book review of BONE will be postponed until tomorrow for reasons of moving our entire existence of stuff into a new apartment.  So for today:

FIGHT!

Netflix unveiled today that they will be offering a lower streaming-only price of $7.99.  They also announced that they will be increasing the price of their DVD customers.  This is great news for people who have this problem:

Happens Every Time (via Shoebox)

This comes just days after Hulu's announcement of their price drop to - you guessed it: $7.99.

Frankly, I am tempted to drop my cable and do both - that's a slick deal!  I can have Netflix for all my movies and some already released seasons of TV shows, and I can have Hulu for some movies and a bunch of current TV shows.  One problem - they don't have all my current shows.

How in the H-E-double hockey sticks am I supposed to watch my stories which is not on there?!

(Yes I know that is not proper grammar, but it was in the voice of the characters.)

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"Don't Try."

"Too many writers write for the wrong reasons. They want to get famous or they want to get rich or they want to get laid by the girls with bluebells in their hair. (Maybe that last ain't a bad idea).

When everything works best it's not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It's when you're mad with it, it's when it's stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It's when there's no hope but that.

Once in Atlanta, starving in a tar paper shack, freezing. There were only newspapers for a floor. And I found a pencil stub and I wrote on the white margins of the edges of those newspapers with the pencil stub, knowing that nobody would ever see it. It was a cancer madness. And it was never work or planned or part of a school. It was. That's all."

- Charles Bukowski (via Letters of Note)

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Book Review: THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Purchase Here

Synopsis:
When Rod Blaine is promoted to captain of the spaceship MacArthur, the last thing he expects is to be asked by central command to investigate an alien ship from deep space.  Rod commands his crew with great skill in retrieving the alien vessel and makes history for the human race as the first to ever come in contact with alien life forms.

Thoughts:
To be honest, it took me a good 50-60 pages to get into the story.  Mostly because I started to get lost in the technical verbage and complicated authority chains.  Also, the history was a bit much to cram into one book (maybe they have more of the history in other books, I'll have to check into that.)

Once I did get into the story, I was completely hooked.  One thing you'll probably figure out about me is that I loooove sci-fi, especially deep-space/alien sci-fi.  So once they approached the alien ship, I began to get a lot more interested.

This book has given me the second most frightening potty break of my life.  Let me set that up for you:

While reading late at night, the book went into great detail about [minor spoiler] the alien they encounter.  Well, just as I was finishing the chapter, I felt the need to urinate.  I got up and was in the middle of attending to my business when I started dwelling on the description of the alien.  I instantly got a chill down my back.  Everything was spooky.  The vacuum in our living room gave me the creeps.

Anyway, I hurried to the bed and snuggled up to Tiffany and held the covers tight.

This was only the second most frightening experience because the movie Paranormal Activity gave me the uber willies for weeks, I didn't even bother going pee at night after seeing that movie.

What I Learned: 
When setting up your world, you need to be quick about it.  Also it's important to not get too detailed in your technicalities (although some people really like that - nerds!)

Another great thing I learned - you can build suspense by setting up something that we expect and then completely turning a different direction.  The authors here do this on many occasions.  You think they are going to lead the characters down a road, but then a completely surprising twist will lead them down a more interesting path.  Surprise is the reward for suspense.


Up next: BONE by Jeff Smith

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Errors Courtesy of My Brain

Believe it or not dear readers, but I am not in fact infallible.

While creating my earlier post about the books I will be reading for a year, I used a great site called GoodReads.com for the information.  I did this so I could simultaneously update my GoodReads profile with the 52 books I will be reading.

It also created a tremendous problem - GoodReads only shows the name of one author on the list page (they should probably figure out how to change that).  So what resulted was I only put one author's name down on my list.

On Tuesday I received this note in my email (the one I don't check as often, that's why it's taken me until now to post about it):

Dear Eric,

My name is Paul Robert Herman. I'm the co-author of "Tales from the Script." We appreciate you posting the book on your list of good reads (#18) at this link: http://www.splanderson.com/2010/11/year-of-books-day-one.html.

Quick correction: You only have my co-author listed. It should say, "Tales from the Script by Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman." See here: www.TalesfromtheScript.com.

Thanks in advance for making this correction. If you have any questions, let me know.

Sincerely,

Paul Robert Herman

TalesfromtheScript.com

It's pretty gosh-darn cool that he would email me personally about it, and I really appreciate his kind way of telling me I screwed up.  (Hope he doesn't mind that I reprinted the email, I should have asked permission - shoot!)  Look at that folks!  A real legit author emailed me!

Needless to say, the original post has been updated.  My sincerest apologies to Mr. Herman (and anyone else's info I might have messed up).

I've been inspired to go back through my list and update the information.  I'll also add links to the GoodReads page for each book.  This might take some time, so I'll do it when I'm not so busy.

Phew, making mistakes is hard work.

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Immediate Blu-ray Purchase Advisory

Why have we not purchased this yet?  We should all leave work/home and buy immediately.

Or if you're unable, buy online: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

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