Fish and Cherries Productions

Family comes first, as we all know, so I’m taking the week to spend with them. Rest assured, I’ll still be viewing and reading things so I’ll come back swinging from vacation. In the meantime, everyone can rest easy and enjoy themselves this Thanksgiving. Don’t forget what I posted last Wednesday.

Well, this has been a hell of a week, hasn’t it? There have been horrible attacks in France, Beirut, and Nigeria, disasters in Mexico and Japan, people are coldly closing their boarders to Syrian refugees, Anonymous has declared war on ISIS (who I’ll call Daesh from now on, because that’s what they are), and Salt Lake City, the Mormon capitol on the U.S., just elected its first openly gay mayor. So yeah, lots of upsets, both good and bad (mostly bad, given the amount of lives lost). It’s certainly a lot to think about around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, which are associated with peace and harmony, which we’re definitely in short supply of.

Something else these holidays are associated with? Giving to those in need. Now more than ever, there are people who have less than what people are able to live on. So this season, I implore all who are reading to give anything they can. Invite someone you know can’t afford food to Thanksgiving, even if they’re homeless. Donate canned food to food drives or volunteer at soup kitchens or the like. Donate gifts to Toys For Tots or any other type of charity or white elephant. If you see someone shivering in the cold, invite them in and help them warm up. And yes, this applies even if the recipients are Syrian refugees. The day we start picking and choosing who deserves our charity and kindness is the day we have truly lost the spirit of the holidays.

Leaves from the vine

Falling so slow

Like fragile, tiny shells

Drifting in the foam

Little soldier boy

Come marching home

Brave soldier boy

Come marching home

Listen to the song here.

All right, so two things for today’s update. First of all, I’m done with the first draft of my next Expanded Universe article. Writing it just makes me feel good and nostalgic. Second, I’m sure you guys have noticed that my Snippets have pictures on the pages now, which will hopefully drive up traffic. However, there are also a lot of reviews that have neither pictures nor comments enabled, which creates a bit of a contrast and a problem. Since I’ve got a large backlog of reviews that fit this description, I’m going to go through each one in my spare time and add the appropriate pictures to each one, as well as enabling comments. So many reviews… so many pictures… ain’t we having some fun now?

Did you know that an eyeball can have a muscle spasm?

Now I know that.

And let me tell you right now, it hurts like a beast. Like ALL the beasts. And it’s about that time that you curse the fact that all your work is vision-based. Ain’t we having some fun now?

You waited. You hoped. And now, you shall receive. Ladies and gentlemen, I present my first article looking at the old Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Star Wars Expanded Universe: The Early Days

But that’s not all. I’m adding a new short story to my fiction section called “The Badlands.” I’ve actually been sitting on this one for a while and I think now’s the best time to release it. After all, I’m working on getting an expansion of it published. Enjoy.

The Badlands

Hey, you know what part of my website hasn’t been touched in a while? The stories section. That’s right, I’m going to be posting a short story I wrote in the near future, seeing as it’s late and I’m going to have to reformat the entire thing to work with the website. So tune in later for a story that’s sort of a prototype of a… future project.

Well, this is a big deal. Remember my day one review of The Aeronaut’s Windlass? Well, I sent that to Jim Butcher and his peeps and they loved it! So much so, that I’m officially on the list to get more review copies from Jim Butcher! So check back for more day one looks at your upcoming Dresden Files, Cinder Spires, and Codex Alera… wait, that series already concluded. All right, anything new that comes out of his brilliant mind. This is a huge step forward for myself and Fish and Cherries as a whole, so as you can imagine I’m super excited. Hope to share more of this with you soon!

And to end this, a photo of me with the man himself.

Yes, I gained weight. I’m working on that.

Yes, as you may have guessed, my trip to Mars that I mentioned yesterday was preparing me for my viewing of The Martian this weekend. What can I say? I’m a stickler for accuracy. The flight wasn’t… too bad. I mean, sure, I was stuck on a rocket for about a month and the food was recycled paste, but at least I had wifi and cable. Good thing too, because I’d hate to miss Minority Report (which all of you should be watching, by the way). Tomorrow, the Road to Genysis continues with the movie that allegedly started the downhill trend. It has a 6.4 rating on IMDB, but that doesn’t mean much considering that this site rates The Last Airbender as a 4.3. Ugh… still trying to repress those memories. Anyway, I’ll leave you to your day and I’ll tell you more about Mars next week.

Keep watching the skies this coming Tuesday.