Blogs

Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey excels at telling stories of the coming of age of characters blessed... and cursed... with special powers. Lavan is an interesting young man with a tragic story. This story truly pulls at your heartstrings, which is one of the things Mercedes Lackey really excels at. If you like reading fantasy stories, this story is well worth the read!

Myr in Books

March 2, 2018

Phillips Hue

What can I say about Hue? Man, do I love these lights. They are powerful and handy. The fact that there are apps you can use to play around just adds to the fun. They also tied into Alexa easily. As I mentioned in the post on Echo a few weeks ago, I use Alexa with my Hue lights constantly. I have programmed different scenes so that if I want to watch a movie, it'll just the lights very low and turn them red so as to not distract from the screen. I mentioned playing... here's an app t

February 28, 2018

Beautiful Thing

So this week, I wanted to break into my extensive collection of gay movies. This is a good movie. The British accent can be a bit much at times if you are in the USA. It sounds sexy though, even if you can't figure out what the hell they are saying. That really is only a few scenes. It is a good movie. Well worth having in the collection. What are you waiting for? Go get it

Myr in Movies

February 26, 2018

Glimpses by Lynn Flewelling

If you like the Nighrunner series, this anthology of short stories gives more insights to the histories of the characters. And the cover is cute too! Definitely worth the read!

Myr in Books

February 23, 2018

Nest Protect

One of the things I was interested in for protecting my mancave was a smoke detector that connected to the Smart Home. Nest Protect is one that does. It is tied into my Wink Home Automation system, in addition to having the Nest App itself. If the smoke detector goes off, it triggers alerts to my phone as well as setting off the alarm in the house. (since my mancave is in the barn, not in the house) This thing works well and doesn't suffer from issues the first generation of smart smoke

February 21, 2018

X-Men First Class

I loved the eyecandy on screen. Special effects and good looking actors. It was a good movie. Plenty of action and it tied logically into the existing X-men movies. This is definitely in my collection and staying there.

Myr in Movies

February 19, 2018

Sprout by Dale Peck

I was going back through my list of books that I had bought over the years and this one sprang to mind. I think it is the cover that got me to read it. Teenager with greenhair just begs the question why. This is definitely a layered story. It has great character development and is interesting. I definitely found it worth the read.

Myr in Books

February 16, 2018

Nest Learning Thermostat

So, I installed a Nest at my mother's last May. Let me tell you, this thing has been really good at lowering costs. It has also solved so many of my tech problems with mom. Now she just texts me and I can adjust her thermostat from my phone when I'm anywhere. Since I have to do all of her technical support, this makes my life so much easier. The funny thing is I have it tied into Alexa as well. That means I can sit in my living room and adjust the temperature in her house just by telling

February 14, 2018

Spider-Man: Homecoming

So I finally got around to watching this. I shouldn't have waited so long. Oh... mmmm. Tom Holland. What an adorable Spider-Man he makes. What a great selling feature too, showing him in boxers. More than once. lol. Eye candy aside, both male and special effects, I also enjoyed the movie in general. It's really good to see Micheal Keaton back to acting again. He did a good job with a complex character. I'd definitely say this is worth having in your library. The 4k ver

Myr in Movies

February 12, 2018

Stalking Darkness and Traitor's Moon (Nightrunners 2 & 3)

Stalking Darkness is the conclusion of most of the threads set up in Luck in the Shadows. It picks up where the last book left off. Traitor's Moon moves in time a bit and covers the consequences of the first two books. If you liked the first book, you'll definitely want to complete these two books. Both of these books are good and have a nice emotional connection to them. (And the slow burn on the romance final pays off). There are further books in this series, but I found my in

Myr in Books

February 9, 2018

Wonder Woman

This is the best DC movie I've seen in awhile. Probably the best since the Dark Knight. It is way better than the Superman movie, and Batman V. Superman. I also enjoyed Chris Pine in this movie. Though, to be truthful, I seem to like the job Chris Pine does in all the movies I see him in. For the movie itself, it has a good solid plot. It explains the picture from Batman Vs. Superman very well. The movie has action and character. It's good to see a kick-ass woman kicking ass b

Myr in Movies

February 5, 2018

Luck in the Shadows Book 1 of the Nightrunner Series

This week I want to bring up the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. All of her books seem to touch on one LBGTQ issue or another. Nightrunner though stars the adorable, naive Alec. From Amazon: I really enjoyed this book. It is a slow burn on the Alec thing. This is a pretty long series and I don't think I've even read the last two yet. I think the first one is my favorite though. If you like fantasy stories, this is absolutely one that is worth checking out.

Myr in Books

February 2, 2018

Echo and Echo Dot

So, I picked these up on sale over the Christmas season this year. I've really gotten into the habit of using them. I have Hue lights in my living room and in my mancave and it is so nice to say "Alexa, turn on the lights," when I have my hands full. Or to turn them off. Or, since they are Hue, change them to any color as the mood hits. I'll do a separate post on Hue soon. I also get my weather now from Alexa, usually a couple times a day. It's really handy. She can

January 31, 2018

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Well, this movie is a bit different. So, right up front, let me say that I liked this movie a lot more than the critiques. Sci-fi and fantasy are definitely in my wheelhouse. I also enjoying watching Dane DeHaan. Kris Wu is also a nice in the eye-candy category too. The movie's special effects are outstanding. The plot, which those critiques complained about, requires you to pay attention. Not Inception levels of attention, but not casual watching either. I enjoyed the movie

Myr in Movies

January 29, 2018

Writing

Survival Handbooks and Writing

For those of you that haven't figured it out by now, I'm a compulsive researcher in far too many ways. I end up all too often with far more research than writing what I was supposed to write. Having said that I picked up these two books a number of years ago to give a story I was working on more accurate flavor. It didn't get posted, but it is in the backlog of things that I'm sure I'll polish up, complete and post some day. Anyway, I found both of these books interesting and informative. T

Myr in Writing

January 26, 2018

Anker USB Cables and Charge Pad

These days, so many of our devices are charged and powered by USB chargers. I've gotten to the point now that pretty much everywhere I sit, has a wireless charger pad or a charge cable. And I mean everywhere. I have a ton of these things. Well worth it. I shopped around with a lot of different options and I'm really hooked on the quality of the Anker stuff. Be really careful with the wall chargers out there. Some of them overheat really easily. The Anker has been the only one so far

January 24, 2018

The Hitman's Bodyguard

I really enjoyed this movie. I got a few really good laughs out of it. I'm a big fan of Samuel L. Jackson as long as he's acting and not yapping about politics. He plays a really great BAMF. (Bad Ass Mother F....). This is true in most things he shows up in. This movie has both action and comedy. It is definitely adult targetted. If you are into action romps with comedy, this fits well. Ryan Reynolds does come across a bit as his Deadpool character at times. That's not a bad

Myr in Movies

January 22, 2018

Life

Things to do - Isn't there always?

So, I use Wunderlist to keep track of my To Do lists. I have a lot of them. Stuff for the site, stuff for the business, stuff for home, stuff for mom's home, stuff for the mancave, stuff for writing, and even entertainment. There are more too. As of this moment, I have 69 things on my To Do list flagged for Today. After 50 hours sucked up by the work week, I'm a bit grouchy that I've got more stuff to do. My nerdy nature doesn't help. I like doing research on stuff. (like reading boo

Myr in Life

January 20, 2018

The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

The first book in this trilogy, Magic's Pawn, is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I've reread it a few times over the years and it makes me cry every single time I read it. It's really emotionally moving. Mercedes Lackey has stated that her formula is simple: Make the reader love the character and then drop a mountain on the character. The first novel is deeply touching and heart-wrenching. The full trilogy is powerful as well. The second and third novels are not as powerf

Myr in Books

January 19, 2018

Headset

There are many occasions where I find myself wanting a headset. Almost always while I'm working on something. This goes directly against the fact that I hate things on my head, especially things that touch my ears. So I went trolling over at Best Buy to see if I could find something that felt good on my head while meeting the needs of a good sounding headset. This thing does the job! It has microfiber mesh around memory foam for the padding. They sound great and the mic works as it should

January 17, 2018

American Assassin

I really enjoyed this movie. It was good to see Micheal Keaton back in the game. I'll admit that I also like staring at Dylan O'Brien. I've heard really good things about the books as well. There is a series of them. This is one of those rare cases where I've seen the movie before reading the books. I think this might be a new pattern for me, actually. By watching the movie before reading the book, I can enjoy the movie for what it is and then read the book and enjoy that too.

Myr in Movies

January 15, 2018