Monday Movie Mania - Rocket Man

DH and I went to see this a month ago. If it's still in your theaters, I highly recommend catching it before it leaves.


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) First of all, the format is not a straight biography like Bohemian Rhapsody. It's more of a psychedelic musical. The framework is Elton John reminiscing during group therapy when he enters rehab.

2) Taron Egerton was positively delightful as Elton. He flashed from genius to vulnerability smoothly, making you understand why Elton some of the mistakes and life choices he did.

3) Taron's actually singing in the movie, and his covers of Elton's songs were fucking incredible!

4) The movie ends with Taron recreating the music video of "I'm Still Standing" as a supposedly sober Elton. It's my favorite Elton John song, but in a twist reminiscent of Bohemian Rhapsody playing with the artists' timeline, Elton did not get sober until 1991.


CONS
1) If Taron doesn't get an Oscar nod for this flick, I'm going to be even more disappointed in the Academy than I already am.

2) I wish there was a little more about Elton's relationship with Bernie.


Overall, if you love Elton John and a beautiful musicals, go see this one! Definitely 10 stars out of 10!

Music I've Been Listening To

The Boss seems appropriate for this weekend.

Still Proofing

One last check through the paperback copy of A Matter of Death. The rest of you have a marvelous holiday weekend!

Time Crunches and Writer Stupidity

I've had my head down for the last couple of weeks in order to get A Matter of Death finalized and proofed before my formatter is out of the office for the rest of this month. DH and I went to see Rocket Man a month ago, and I haven't even had a chance to write up my review. So I haven't blogged much either.

So I'm doing my meerkat pose to see what's going on in the world.

And overall, it's pretty much a typical July in the publishing world.

Trad pub is slowing down as acquiring editors vacation on Mummy and Daddy's estate in the Hamptons. Smashwords is having their semi-annual sale. And Amazon does shit to their store.

Why Amazon updates right before their super-spectacular Prime Day is beyond me, but July's the month for all software roll-outs, and by gum, they're sticking to that schedule!

The other thing that happens right before Prime Day is scammer clean-up. So a bunch of top-selling authors had the ban hammer dropped on them.

Folks, piece of advice. It's Amazon's store and they can do whatever they want. Their rules are posted and/or easily found. Acting dumb when you're clearly violating the TOC doesn't become you.

And if you're a writer who's worried about your account, here's the rules. Simply stated:

1) Back/extraneous matter must be 10% or less of the total e-book file.

2) Don't have banned subjects in your books, which includes, but is not limited to, incest, rape, necrophilia, dubcon, etc.

3) Don't use trigger words in your title or description, which includes, but is not limited to, virgin, rape, daddy, etc.

4) Don't bookstuff.

5) Don't use click farms to increase your rank.

6) Don't buy thousands of your books to increase your rank, hit a bestseller list, etc. Also, don't giveaway cash or a cash equivalent in order for people to buy your books for you.

7) Don't use your books to promote contests or giveaways. They are illegal or have serious restrictions in many countries where Amazon sells books. Amazon ain't getting fined for your shit.


This isn't a complete list by any means. However, I have my own rule: don't do any of this shit, then whine when your Amazon account is terminated. You ain't getting any sympathy from this corner of the multiverse.

A Month of Elton John

And finally, my favorite Sir Elton anthem!

Hero De Facto Is on Sale!!

This will be the last time Hero De Facto will be discounted on Amazon US this year.

If you didn't pick up an e-book copy of Hero De Facto when it was free, it is currently $0.99 for the next 33 hours starting with this post at 11 AM EDT. After that, the price will increase by $1.00 each 33 hours until the e-book is back to its regular price.

Buy Hero De Facto at Amazon US

I'm Still Alive...

...but today's the first deadline, and I have to have files to my formatter before the end of the day. See you all on the other side!

Still Chugging

As I said Friday, I have two books to finish in roughly seven days. I've got my Pepsi Max, my ice tea, a bag of potato chips, and a box of Little Debbie Peanut Butter Pies. Screw the calories, and full speed ahead!

A Month of Elton John

One of the most delightful tunes in Sir Elton's repertoire.

Power Writing!

I've got to have A Matter of Death finished and edited before June 26th. Yep, in five days. Because the gal who does my formatting will be out of the office from the 4th of July through the rest of the month.

Hey, at least she warned me.

So this is a little note saying I'm writing my butt off! Have a great weekend!