He does!! Really! It’s why he so damned hard to photograph, and why he’s always conspicuously absent from my thought provoking Kitten-Pic Posts!
Anyway, if you look very closely, you can see that he has beautiful dark blue eyes.
Tag Archives: Eric Robert Nolan
Peanut Butter and Jelly is Shanty Irish Caviar.
This skinny Mick approves.
It’s priced for plebeians, but its taste is divine.
“Mmmmmmm. This foot tastes GOOD.”
Or, at least, that’s what this Tinycat appears to be thinking. Seriously. The Twerp went at his paw in much the same manner as I go at a Big Mac.
Actually, in the second picture, he appears to be blowing you a kiss. Because you’re just that special.
Anyway, speaking of what kittens like to eat, at what age should they be moving to solid food instead of suckling at MamaCat? Advice will be appreciated. Thanks!!
So I extemporized my first children’s story the other night, for the child of a friend.
Of COURSE it involved a little red-haired girl with a unique ability, science vs. magic, medicines, a special mission, a powerful man-eating animal, and certain colors signifying good or evil. (If anyone wants to get all shrinky-psychy about this, please reference Jung and not Freud; I am not on board with the latter.)
I’m planning on jotting it down just as soon as I get the chance. (I’ve been crazy busy lately.) If it’s any good, I’ll probably share it here.
What if SkyNet arose from the mind of just one guy? Would it be GuyNet?
I can’t understand why “Transcendence” (2014) got such a lukewarm reception — it was a cool, fun, decent science fiction movie. It could have been a great movie, were it not for an ending that I wouldn’t have chosen. It actually IS a creative and thought-provoking ending, but I would have preferred a more standard boilerplate sci-fi climax … I can’t really say much more while avoiding spoilers.
It’s a thoughtful, high-concept sci-fi story that still manages to move along at a nice, fast pace, thanks to good directing and the introduction of conflict and danger very early on. The screenwriters handled exposition beautifully — all the characterization and tech-talk exposition that we need is there, but there’s still action and end-of-the-world scenarios served right up front. I thought that was really well done.
And there’s some dark fun to be had. Parts of this were nice and creepy — especially when various aspects of GuyNet parallel past film bot-baddies like HAL 9000 or the T-1000. If you get absorbed in the movie, those things can get under your skin a little. These elements hold the viewer’s interest against a backdrop of major philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness, the existence of the soul, the nature of love, etc.
Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, and Johnny Depp all handed in great performances. (At this point, I’m pretty sure that Depp is the actor with the greatest range in Hollywood; Hall, for me, will always be that nice girl in Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige.”) If you’re a Cillian Murphy fan, as I am, don’t see this movie on his account — he’s underused, with little to do.
Josh Stewart, in a smaller role, is a surprise standout — that guy does great work, and deserves more leading roles. And did anyone else realize that the outspoken, creepy Luddite audience member is Lukas Haas, the little Amish boy rescued by Harrison Ford in “Witness” (1985)? I thought that was pretty funny.
A few things were slightly off about the movie:
1) It’s potentially the end of the world. The United States government sends 10 commandos to stop it? Did this movie spend so much money on CGI that they couldn’t afford extras?
2) Exactly what agency does Agent Buchanan work for? Again … he’s the only one assigned to all this? Shouldn’t this matter be swarming with Homeland Security, NSA, FBI and DARPA?
3) Given what GuyNet can do, one of its countermeasures against its human assailants is easily predicted. They didn’t see that coming toward the end?
4) Given what GuyNet can do, there’s another interesting (and truly frightening) way it could have infiltrated the team working against it. But this is never even suggested. (I am trying to keep this review spoiler free.)
I recommend this; check it out.
Jelly Bean Rescue.
MamaCat needs to be SLIGHTLY more vigilant. One of the Jelly Beans wandered off and somehow wound up buried WAY down in the folds of the blankets in the cat-house that we constructed. Uncle Eric had to retrieve him after hearing him complain. (They sound a hell of a lot like chirping birds at one day old.)
The little Fur Nugget actually does have a set of pipes on him — it’s surprising how loud such a little animal can be.
As lovable as they are, this entire experience hasn’t been without the occasional yuck factor. Today’s addition was the discovery that one of the newborns actually has the remains of its umbilical cord trailing its tummy like a piece of string.
Little Ninja hasn’t learned deportment just yet. He shamelessly wacks his siblings away when he wants to nurse.
What’s funny is that MamaCat appears to allow me to “babysit.” When I come over to visit, she takes the opportunity to get out and walk around and stretch her legs while I am with the kittens. It’s cute.
Anyway, babysitting today gave me the chance for portraiture of a couple of the Jelly Beans. Whaddya think?
“It gets in your blood.”
— my old friend and managing editor, Jeff Dute, about the news business. He told me that just before I left Virginia for New York, leaving newspapers behind for a job in public relations. I believe it was around 1997.
I was chatting with a friend with a journalism background today, and I realized how much I miss the news world. I even feel a little of what seems like homesickness when I read the Facebook posts of my old colleagues, even though their “beats” (sports and hunting) are very different from what I used to cover.
News taught me so much about working quickly, multi-tasking, researching a topic quickly, and speaking with people.
It also taught me a lot about authority, local government, the range of beliefs and ideologies in America, neighbors’ kindness toward one another, strangers’ violence against the innocent, and how easy it is to get lost on country roads.
It taught me to smoke cigarettes, to consider my sources’ motivations, and to be loyal to those who confided in me.
There were lessons in mortality too. Rookie reporters are routinely assigned to the traffic accidents that occur at all hours.
All in all, it was a hell of an education — and not an easy job, but a rewarding one.
“Magic potion,” sent by mail.
This arrived yesterday from my Connecticut Muse — a “magic potion” for a writer’s productivity.
People close to me know I can be a bit skeptical where paranormal claims are concerned, but I can vouch for this, at least.
It’s some damned fine “dark” sorcery, and tasty too. Thanks, Amanda. 🙂
“A lot of sports happened.”
Found on VectorBelly.com and Imgur.com.
This reminds me of my news reporter days at the Culpeper Star-Exponent, when I would endlessly kid the sports staff about their beats.
Of course, I was just being an obnoxious twerp. My more experienced colleagues, David Utnik and Michael Hicks, were tremendously capable journalists who handled people and information with skills that I hadn’t learned yet.
But … to someone who is NOT a sports fan … this IS rather what sports interviews sound like!
Thanks to my great friend Carrie Schor for passing this along. 🙂
A frightening future, skillfully envisioned — God help “The Pustoy.”
“The Pustoy” is a frightening and effective set of vignettes detailing the rise of a genocidal dictator in a dystopian future Britain. When scientists ostensibly discover “the soul,” a scapegoated underclass, accused of being without souls, are executed on sight. They are “The Pustoy” (Russian for “empty”), and their government sanctioned murder is painted cheerfully by the government as a needed national public service.
Philippe Blenkiron’s creation is an epic political poem with depth and detail, but it is still quite easy to read. Fans of “1984”and “Brave New World” will doubtlessly find it a dark and satisfying bedtime story.
I think what surprised me the most is that this poetry collection will please fans of horror and thrillers as well. Blenkiron has a terribly nice knack for rendering fearful images – be sure to take a close look at his various descriptions of the Staffhounds. Yeesh. If Blenkiron so masterfully creates such scary bad guys, it makes me wonder whether he might write horror stories. I’d happily read them if he does.
He has a wonderfully unique voice. And his ability to juggle of various points of view – each of which has a distinct, character- specific voice – is admirable.
This is a compelling set of poems. Pick it up here at Amazon.com:
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 