While the siren-call still lingers to do some coding, I finally managed to get going on the writing today 🙂

Got 2k words written on the third chapter of my book on Flutter development aimed at kids. I wonder if I'd rather be writing fiction, but this is something I enjoy too.

#Writing #Flutter

Is it just me or are the re-works of old movies just crap?

Just tried to watch "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and they were both so inane and boring that we gave up after a little while on both.

#Movies #English #Hollywood #MovieUpdates

@crcollins I don't get it either 🙂But maybe some people see Bluesky as easier to use since they can see numbers for interaction since likes etc. are a single figure instead of spread across multiple servers?

I have been subscribing to QI and Engadget across a bridging service but that spews a bunch of posts on to my timeline every week or so and that annoys me. So I do prefer accessing those accounts directly on Bluesky but other than that, I have not found that much engagement on Bluesky ...

I've been using Bluesky for a couple of days now and it's rather interesting that some accounts that I really liked on Twitter (like QI and Engadget) are either not present on the Fediverse or tried to create a presence but became inactive after a bit.

But on Bluesky, they are very much active.

So why the difference? Is it a lack of interaction? Or the percieved fragmentation due to how Mastodon works?

#Mastodon #Fediverse #Bluesky

So ... based on feedback about the Flutter book, pivoted from an adult/programmer oriented approach to be more kid/beginner friendly and re-wrote the first two chapters to fit the new approach.

I was set to start on the third chapter when yak-shaving struck again 😛

I started thinking about a BlueSky client because apparently BlueSky engineers are overloaded and can't add the ability to filter out reposts. And I wanted it ....

So that's where I am today — coding. Hopefully, will get back to writing later today?

#Writing

So, I suddenly have the time to write, but have three different books clamoring for attention 😛

1. A Flutter programming book with 2 chapters written
2. A completed novella that needs to be totally re-written
3. A new novel in a new genre that's suddenly very interesting

What to do?

#Writing

The audio book for my second novel, "Sir Lanka Files" is now available! It's about the humorous misadventures of a private detective in a future island city ruled by a guild of thieves. More details here: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DQ63PSMR/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-424788&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_424788_rh_us

Shout out to Brad Derry (https://bradderryvo.com/) for the great voice work! If you need somebody to voice your audio book, he's the one! Check out the book sample (at the link above) for Brad's excellent work!

#ScienceFiction #Humour #AudioBook #Writing #FediBooks #Bookstodon

If you like scam/con movies, you might enjoy "Mechanic Rocky" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27191250).

Most movies have one or two layers. I generally look for a second layer in any movie since I'm just that kind of person 😛This one had three layers and I almost missed the third one because I kind of relaxed after figuring out what the second layer was. So if you like that kind of mental acrobatics, this one will definitely appeal.

#Movies #Telugu #Tollywood

"Kanguva" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22036406) is such a horrible, pointless movie. There's so much lack of logic and pointless scenes just supposed to evoke some emotion that I don't know where to start.

I read the bad reviews and thought "There has to be something in the movie which redeems it" and watched it. But I was wrong. There is nothing to redeem this one and I probably should have saved myself some time by not watching it 😛

Only reason you might want to watch it is if the laughter caused by the absurd situations, the bad creature effects, and the bad graphics is something you'd enjoy.

#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood

@davemark Apparently it was Ashton who was the parrot, not Tate 😛

@davemark It's something I read a long time ago when I first read the Oz books. And like the fact that Tate in Ashton-Tate is a parrot, it has stuck with me through the years 🙂

@davemark I assume you know that L. Frank Baum created the name Oz by looking at his filing cabinet which had drawers for "A - N" and "O - Z", right? 🙂

@ceciliatan Only thing I can think of is that the default encoding for TextEdit changed for some reason — maybe an OS update?

So what I was pointing to was the second option on the page which lets you set the default encoding for TextEdit. I was hoping that playing around with it might help you find an encoding where any pasted in text just works.

But on the other hand, it might not be the encoding at all. Unfortunately, it's a little difficult to say without being able to try things out in person ... at least for me 🙂

The other option would be to switch to a plain text editor. Theoretically, when you paste into that, all text should show up as normal but that might not suit your needs.

@ceciliatan This might (possibly) be what you're looking for?

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/textedit/txted1028/mac

I have availability coming up in January. If anyone is looking for an iOS developer, please let me know. #getfedihired

"A Man on the Inside" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26670955) is one of the better US comedies to come out this year. Ted Danson is brilliant in the show and the show itself is funny, insightful, and often very poignant. I loved the whole show but I loved the final episode the most — it just had so much feeling and emotion.

I really hope that there's a season 2.

#TV #US #English #Comedy #Netflix

Check out my audiobook about a man on the run from his wife's wrath after selling her dog to a Martian: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DL7S8Q24/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-418986&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_418986_rh_us

Shout out to Brad Derry (https://bradderryvo.com/) for the great voice work! If you need somebody to voice your audiobook, he's the man! Check out the book sample (at the link above) for Brad's excellent work!

#ScienceFiction #Humour #AudioBook #Writing #FediBooks #Bookstodon

@thegiddystitcher I write humorous science fiction (and PTerry was a huge influence when I was first getting started writing my first novel 🙂)

I only have two novels out at the moment since I took a 20 year break after my first one, but I'm hoping to write more now that I've started writing again ...

https://books2read.com/b/4E9lME
https://books2read.com/b/mgw00v

"Bagheera" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15380608) was interesting up to a point. The start was good, and the evolution of the character was engaging. But then there is a point towards the end (the last 15 - 20 minutes or so) where it felt as if the writer went into auto-pilot mode. Everything just felt kind of forced. It didn't resonate as much and it felt just so rushed and kind of by-the-numbers and ended rather unsatisfactorily in a bloody mess.

#Movies #Kannada #Sandalwood

I started out thinking that "Brother" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23549436) was going to turn out to be like other Jayam Ravi movies from the recent past. And it looked that way for the first half hour or so. But then things got better 🙂

Maybe it's just the subject matter — about somebody who's constantly asked to live the way others do and to look away from what is right. Somebody who's asked to conform just because "this is how things are". And he doesn't. He never conforms. And I liked that.

Being told that people who don't follow the rules or don't do their jobs is because they know better, being told that the "system" works differently and that you'll only know if you are in the "system" — this kind of stupid attitudes (and platitudes) that are present in society and the sheer absurdity of it all resonated with me.

Then came the melodrama as usual. Most of the people in the movie don't seem to care about what is right and what is wrong. It's all about how people perceive you. They will take abuse from somebody to get a job done, but will also blame people who don't take the abuse from others. So all sorts of foolishness and hypocrisy where right does not matter and all that matters is that you conform and do what everybody else does.

And the emotional manipulation. Oh, the emotional manipulation that everybody seems to indulge in as part of daily life. I won't even go into the painful school skit that no school would have allowed.

At this point, there's a subtle (or very obvious, depending on your point of view) track change — instead of the movie being about Jayam Ravi fighting the whole world and how they think/behave, it becomes about Rao Ramesh's character and overcoming his ego. One thing I'll say though — Rao Ramesh is well suited for this kind of role, and he excels at it. Speaking of roles, I really loved Saranya's role in this movie too 🙂

But overall, this change in tracks was too jarring for me and the movie just feels as if it's directionless. They try to salvage this a bit at the very end but I'm not sure if it works or not.

#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood #ReverseDirection