Category: Reviews

Master parent category for all my reviews: books, movies, television shows, restaurants, products.

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure Wrap-Up

My weekend got away from me and I didn’t make my final post of how I voted for the remainder of the 2014 Hugo Award categories I hadn’t previously discussed.  I did carve out two hours on Sunday afternoon to watch the live streaming of the Hugo Awards ceremony (which streaming went off with hardly a hitch, especially as compared to the Retro Hugo Awards ceremony from last Thursday night).

Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure Wrap-Up”

Venus Overtakes Jupiter

I thought I’d use the European racing term more commonly known in the States as ‘passing’ to refer to the progress Venus has made in the predawn sky this past week.

Saturday morning I woke up way too early for a weekend, but remembered reading something about Venus and Jupiter getting closer together.  Without reminding myself by actually looking the information up via Facebook or Twitter or Google, I threw on some clothes, grabbed the keys to one of the vehicles (didn’t care which one) and rushed outside.  It was still very dark, just after five o’clock (Central time zone).  I drove a block up a slight hill to my favorite eastern horizon viewing site (just to the east of Lansing City Hall) and waited … and waited … and waited.  I finally used my smartphone (which I never leave home without) to check when Venus and Jupiter were supposed to rise (using Astronomy.com’s Tonight’s Sky mobile web page).  Continue reading “Venus Overtakes Jupiter”

Watching (but not Hearing) the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony

Technical difficulties again plagued the Ustream live video of a Hugo Awards ceremony.  Beautiful video, but no audio. Those of us in the audience were left with Tweet breadcrumbs from @LonCon3 on the hashtag #RetroHugos:

46 minutes into the ‘broadcast’ and still no sound . . .

Continue reading “Watching (but not Hearing) the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos

Tomorrow the winners will be announced for the 1939 Retro Hugo Awards.

The 1939 Retro Hugo Awards can be watched online via ustream. The stream will be located at http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards. The Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony starts at 8PM BST (or 2PM Central) on Thursday 14 August.

Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony, LonCon3

I’ve covered the main ‘big’ categories in previous posts.  Today, I’ll summarize the remaining ones that are less, ‘sexy’, for lack of a better term. Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) aka Movies

After books, movies are my next ‘go to’ source for hours of uninterrupted entertainment.  If I’m not happy with the book I’m currently reading, I will take an afternoon or evening off from reading to enjoy a good movie.  New or old … it doesn’t matter.  If the story is good, and the acting convincing, and the directing sublime … all else is irrelevant.  Special effects may be indistinguishable from reality today, but if you don’t have a great story, you’re just a flash in a pan that fizzled, smoked and went boom.
Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) aka Movies”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novelette 2014 and 1939

I’d dropped the blog ball over the weekend. I’ve got less than a week before the Hugo Awards Ceremony announces the winners and about three days before the 1939 Retro Hugo Award winners are revealed.  No use crying over spilled milk, though, so on to the novelette category: Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novelette 2014 and 1939”

Article: Google Just Added Maps For Mars And The Moon, And The Level Of Detail Is Stunning

Google Just Added Maps For Mars And The Moon, And The Level Of Detail Is Stunning

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-just-added-maps-for-mars-and-the-moon-and-the-level-of-detail-is-stunning-2014-8

I wonder how long before Mercury will be added to the list?  Or perhaps the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novellas 2014 and 1939

Last week I posted about my adventures in reading the books nominated for the Best Novel award (2014 and 1939).  I had hoped to write my second and subsequent posts on the other categories on a daily or every other day pattern so that I could wrap up before the Hugo Award ceremonies on the 14th and 17th of this month.  A distraction arrived over the weekend and then work returned on Monday and Tuesday.  Here I am halfway to the next weekend and just now getting around to this post. Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novellas 2014 and 1939”