You've got to be kidding me.  Seriously, someone pinch me, cause it has to be a mistake.  What, you ask ...1st that Paranormal Activity actually has a sequal, and 2nd that it's getting good reviews.  OH GAH!!  Where on earth do you people read your ficition, or, watch horror films.

First of all, Paranormal Activity SUCKED!  Badly.  I bought it, because I thought "cool ...curl up with my husband and watch a scary movie."  He fell asleep, I was SO bored that I did my nails ...and I don't do my nails ...ever ...until now.  Here's the thing, the beginning ...great with the banging doors and stuff, super, started so well ...was it scary?  No.  Not at all, and that coming from somone who does not like nor watch horror. 

At first, I thought, this may actually be a cool film.  And ...then the end happened.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???  How cliche do you have to get for a film to be labeled STUPID???  She gets taken over by the evil spirit and kills ....uhm ...whatever the hell her boyfriends name was.  Cliche, dumb, ridiculious, BORING. 

It reminded me, AGAIN, of my idea for the shortest horror film ever ...

FADE IN:

A dark, shadow hovers against the light coming through the door.  A woman in a nightgown with a hold up a double-barrel shotgun.

WOMAN

Oh, bitch ...please.

The woman pulls the trigger and blows the head off dark shadow.

THE END

FADE OUT

I know, brilliant, right?  This would have served the purpose for Paranormal Activity without all the other crap.

Okay, so, am I EVER, for any reason, as in WHY would I do that ever? going to see part 2.  No.  Never.  In a million years even when I'm the last human alive surrounded by vampires and the only thing that drowns out their moans is THAT film, I still won't watch it.  I will, instead, cut up beef and chum the vampires until they all tear one another apart, so endeth the vampire plague of 2012.

And here we have one of those British actors you've probably never heard of but MY GOD where has he been???

I watched this show on my Ipod, at work, after a free download of the pilot and was completely hooked. I thought ...a detective wizard named Harry ...right, that's not a rip off on Harry Potter AT ALL, but it was free so I went for it.

What I found was an outstanding cast, Paul Blackthorne heads it up along with Terrence Mann (Bob) and Valerie Cruz (Murphy). Wow. And ...wow ...again. It's difficult 1. to have a television series about x-files type genre without trampling into Fox Mulder's turf and ruining it, 2. to have a lead actor good enough to hold the attention of the viewers and 3. a supporting cast good enough to stand with someone good enough to keep the viewers attention and 4. to have a writing staff that can actually write the series about a detective wizard named Harry and not make it stupid.

It's not a comedy, if that's what you were thinking, because that's what I thought. It's a drama, and a well thought out, well acted, exciting drama with interesting story arcs going on from said pilot until now (I think we're in episode 12 or 13 now).

You have Harry Dresden, who is a wizard and does not hide this fact. He carry's a hockey stick or a drumstick as a wand depending on the situation and advertises in the yellow pages. And STILL it's not as dumb as it sounds. He manages to work well with Murphy, a LT in the police department who doesn's believe he has "powers" but lets it go because he's a damn fine detective either way. You have Bob, a several thousand year old ghost who lives in a skull. Kind of like a geine in a lamp without the wishes, Harry got him from his uncle whom he killed (in self defense apparently, though we dont know that story yet). So far we've done lycanthropes, vampires, black magic etc ...etc ..and it's still been great.

It's Charmed mixed with a touch of Supernatural and the X-Files.

You'd never guess Blackthorne is British, I had to look it up. Keep on trucking Paul. And everyone else, if you've not seen it, check it out on Sci-Fi, Sundays at 9:00 pm central time.

Okay, I have a popup blocker that I can't shut off ...go figure. I'd probaby give this movie a 4. It's not a bad film. Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannsen and Woody Allen (who wrote and directed). Naturally, when talking about anything by Allen, one tends to get the word "odd" stuck in their head, as it is now stuck in mine.

Johannsen is a journalist student, Jackman is a wealthy British socialite, Allen is a weird magician. Basically, a well known reporter escapes the Land of the Dead to give Johannsen's character a tip about Jackman, that he is the Tarot Card Killer ...and off we go.

They, inevitably, fall in love ...and Allen acts kind of like "back up" for Johannsen. Frankly, Woody Allen's character (who's name escapes me) has far too much screen time and WAY too many stupid jokes.

That's about all the plot your going to get. Hugh does make a wonderful upper class British guy and he's certainly not hard on the eyes, however, the relationship between Johannsen and him is not fully realized, and happens too fast. Probably to give Woody Allen some MORE screentime he doesn't need.

I harp on it, but as I said, it's not a bad movie. Its interesting enough to keep you watching, and funny enough that you'll actually laugh from time to time. Do I highly recommend it? No. Wait for it to come out on cable.

So, even though I'm feeling moldy, given my stopped up nose and ears (cough, cough) it gives me the time to read "A Matter of Honor" by Amy McWilliams.

I'd post the link but my computer is being odd, so just type it into the Google search, it comes up ...why? Well, because technically it's not a book, it's a fan fiction, but then again, it's not really simply a fan fiction since when Amy says "this fic is novel length" she is NOT joking.

I would say it's a good 400 pages of novel, based in and around the Harry Potter series, apparently set after Goblet of Fire (in fact, after Half-Blood Prince too) but without all the deaths from the real Harry Potter series.

I bring this up, because I remember the challenge set forth one spring day. There are three relationships that seem to hover on the edges of fan fiction in the HP world, relationships that everyone seems to find fascinating (and could be believable, were they to suddenly appear in JK Rowlings world).

They are, 1. Harry and Draco (yeah, yeah, and even these two have more chemistry than Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall), 2. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and 3. Hermione Granger and Severus Snape.

Given that I am not gay, I find it difficult to write from a point of view where two men are romantically in love ...that they love one another, okay, but romance is just beyond my ability ...I understand what men see in one another, I see it too, but then ..I'm female. It's hard to explain, but the challenge being, write something about Hermione and Snape that is 1. believable within the Harry Potter world, and 2. not completely disgusting through gratituitiious sex scenes, let's go for romance.

And so, I did two things, I went on a search for just such a story ...and I started writing my own. Fortunatley, Hermione and Snape are not nearly as difficult to write as one might think, although I came upon so much NC-17 slash, I thought I was doomed to be the only person willing to write romance for these two.

Enter Amy McWilliams and her beautifully written novel "A Matter of Honor." A Snape and Hermione fiction that takes us from point a to point z with grace and ease. It is exceptionally well written, the characters always remain constant (ie, they are the same people we've read in the books), and the romance between the professor and his student (kind-of) is completely romantic and believable. Indeed, you spend nearly 1/3rd of the story just working up to the first kiss.

Anyway, so if you're actually in to Harry Potter fiction and have already read Half-blood Prince for the 92nd time, check this one out. You won't regret it.