Seven Things

01 - I have changed my blog's header and background colors to a warmer palette. It's not a big change but maybe it gives off a different vibe. Before, it was a cool, mostly blue palette. Am I the only one who thinks about colors and feelings when it comes to blog templates? 

02 - For some odd reason, I no longer get email notifications for some readers when they leave comments on my blog even though I had notifications before. I still get notifications for others so this makes no sense. It was like a sudden thing. I didn't change any setting or anything. Recently, pop-up comments now have reply function but I doubt that change anything with email notification functions but who knows. I still get comments marked as spam, even my own comments. There's a glitch somewhere, right? I swear google does not like blogger users at all.

03 - The 12th annual Tolkien Blog Party 2024 starts on September 22. It's hosted by Rachel at The Edge of the Precipice. I only participated once but I had enjoyed it. I admit the only books I read of Tolkien is the three Lord of the Rings books and The Hobbit and I have seen the Lord of the Rings movies. More about this blog party over here.

04 - I don't like it how some videos are now HDR (High Dynamic Range) videos on youtube. They are so bright, probably 40 times brighter than any normal screen, it hurts to watch them and there's no option to turn it off anywhere, not at youtube, not on my computer. Whose brilliant idea that we needed HDR to "make images look more realistic and true-to-life?" HD (high definition) is already far too clear than normal screens so why do we need this HDR? I prefer not to watch anything that is "more realistic and true-to-life" because that takes away the charm of fictional reality. Plus do you really want to see the pores on an actor's face ten times as clearly as before?

05 - Movies I had watched recently on youtube free with ads:

- Scales: Mermaids are real - It was a pretty good movie until the end. I don't want to spoil it but SPOILER: a girl mermaid turns a man into water, basically murders him and everyone's okay with it. So yes, that's a good solution but they could have just turn one of his hands into water, just to show what they could do, scare the bastard or maybe the girl's mother should have done the killing so then a 12-year-old wouldn't be responsible for killing a human. But there seems to be no consequence for what she had done so I don't know what the writers were thinking. Plus, a boy with brittle bones who can barely walk could easy ride a bike with no issues is dumb. Other than the ending, it's a good movie about a girl becoming a mermaid with some minor jokes.

- Persuasion (1995) - I've not watched this version because I didn't like the lead actor and actress but I thought I should give it a try after I saw someone's review of this adaptation. This was okay. I had read the book, seen the other 2007 adaptation, knew what was going to happen so it's sort of like watching a repeat with different actors and a slightly different ending but still kind of the same but I think the 2007 version is better but maybe because it looked more modern somehow even though both of them are period dramas.

- Another man's poison (1951) - SPOILER: I thought they should have ended with Bette Davis' character getting away with it all but no. All the men here seemed so awful even the doctor, he's like a busybody who really should have minded his own business. It's not a movie that solves anything or offer any type of happy ending, just a movie to show how cruel fate could be.

- Taken 3 - It's was fun to watch even though you sort of know it's a bit unbelievable the things Bryan Mills (played by Liam Neeson) did but that's why it's fun and entertaining. Forget logic or loose ends because we want to root for Mills no matter how many men he kills in the process.
 
06 - Do book titles have to keep their promise? There's a book with a boy in the title but the boy turned out to be a girl. Do readers have a right to be mad about this? I would. I think it makes the story harder to accept or like. The author promised a boy character and then it's revealed as some twist and said he's really a girl. If they said the boy had a sex change operation and became a girl, then that's fine with me. To pretend she was a boy right from the start is just wrong. But mostly because she, being a girl, is supposed to be a surprise twist to the story which I don't think it's a surprise or a twist, more like a dumb move to make a book exciting when it's not.

07 - I've been reading epilogues that just ruined books for me. I can accept any ending as long as they makes sense but epilogues is another thing. I had read one too many endings with epilogues that basically ruined the ending that I'm now incline not to read them. Epilogues are to give a farther view of future events instead of trying to alter the thinking of the ending or the story, right? But that's not what authors are doing, at least, in the books I read. When an epilogue alters my thinking of a character or an event, I think it's not an epilogue, it's a story-changing, alternative reality kind of information or message. I'm not even sure what I'm actually trying to say but only that I think it's better not to use epilogues unless you know it won't piss off readers.

What's on your mind these days?