Feeding Your Soul

They are in your cars. They are in your homes. They go with you to work every day. They follow you to your family reunion. The “they” is artificial intelligence and in today’s world, they are all around us. In Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson, the fact that AI is all around us is the reason for our downfall. And it all started with one computer. Archos is an AI developed in a bunker in the middle of the Alaskan frontier. The AI had been “killed” many times as the creator did not feel the AI was correct. What the creator failed to realize or understand is Archos learned to be perceptive and aware – Archos learned that his creator had the ability to “kill” him so Archos disconnected the kill switch and he in turn killed his creator. That was Zero Hour as the humans in the book later came to call that moment. What follows is a chronicle of the over 2.5 years the world was at the mercy of robots, AI beings – all from the point of view of one survivor, Cormac Wallace who found the “black ...

In the world of modern science and technology, we sometimes forget how much intuition and extreme attention to detail was important in determining a murder or a thief before the newest advances in science. In the world of Sherlock Holmes, that attention to detail and intuition is what keeps him alive and gives him the title of most loved fictional detective. In the movie Sherlock Holmes , Robert Downey, Jr. plays the title character with Jude Law playing his trusty sidekick and occasional brunt of jokes, Dr. John Watson. The movie opens with Holmes and Watson catching a formidable opponent in the act of sacrificing a woman for a ritual – something this man has done 5 times before. The man is Lord Blackwood and the arrest is a highlight for Holmes as Lord Blackwood is to be put to death. Blackwood is hanged for his crimes and everyone sees him die – or so they thought. Later on, he is “seen” leaving his grave and around the town. Holmes is now curious so with his trusty sidekick, Wats...

For John Smith aka Number Four running has been his life since he and 8 other children from the planet LorienMogadorians. They destroyed Lorien and killed everyone on the planet – except for the 9 Garde (Loric people gifted with special powers) and their guardians who escaped in 2 ships that brought them here to Earth. For the past 15 years they have been running around the world trying to stay out of the spotlight so the Mogadorians don’t find them and destroy them. But they did. And they have killed 3 – Number One, Number Two and Number Three. Number Four, John is next and he knows it. And that is why he doesn’t want to stop running. The movie starts off the exact same way the book does – with the death of Number Three in the jungles of South America. As he dies, we see John Smith – Number Four – have a strange brand/tattoo being carved on the side of his ankle. This is how the other 9 Garde know that one of them has died. Some of his friends saw this happening and John, along with...

With another Christmas approaching without her soul mate, Gaby decides to make this Christmas one that she and her 3 children will never forget. She sends a video message to each of her children across the country asking them to come home for Christmas because she is getting married – and they won’t find out the groom until Christmas Day! Of course her kids are all up in arms trying to figure out who the lucky man is – Jacob, Tom, or Marty. What follows is a chronicle of her kid’s lives and hers leading up to their arrival at their childhood home? And throughout the whole story, two revelations are being worked out – 1, you can always go home no matter what and 2, sometimes you have to take care of yourself before anything else – and its ok. Every year I pick a Christmas-themed book to buy and read for Christmas. This was the first book I saw and I had to have it right away. I had never read a James Patterson book before. And I didn’t think a romance novel was going to be the first ...

Brad Pitt never ceases to amaze me. Moneyball, his latest movie production, is in my opinion a much different role for him. It isn’t an action movie or an epic costume filled movie or a comedy. It is a drama, plain and simple. And it just so happens to be based on the true story of Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland Athletics. After a disappointing loss to the Yankees in the 2001 postseason and losing the 3 top players to free agency, Billy Beane has the worst job in the world – creating a stellar team with not so stellar money. He hires a Yale graduate – Peter Brand – as his assistant general manager because of his radical idea to base players not on the money but on the player’s on base percentage (OBP). Most of you know how the story goes – opposition amounts from Beane’s scouting staff and team manager and the team doesn’t start off well. But what happens just goes to show that money doesn’t buy everything. Besides the acting, one of the most interesting parts of this movie was th...

With 2011 come and gone, it is time to look to 2012 and what this year means. This year I start planning my wedding ( J ) and start living my life the way I want to – happy and healthy both physically and mentally. Last year, I might not have completed all of my resolutions (I only read 13 books instead of the 26 I wanted) but the fact that I kept trying until December 31 st was a huge step for me. Usually when I have any kind of resolutions, I will stop doing them about the 4 th to 5 th week of the year. I was proud that I kept at it no matter what got me in the way. However, I learned something when I wasn’t reading or writing as often as I wanted – I was less happy. Reading a great book or writing a blog or my short stories makes me happy and keeps me sane. That is something that I am planning on keeping with my throughout 2012 to keep pushing myself to reach that goal of 26 books and this year, 26 blog articles – starting with this one right here. So here they are – my 2012 Res...