From the Desk of J.M. Poole

Disneyland certainly lives up to its tagline, doesn’t it?   And yes, I’m sure that some of you are now asking yourselves why, as a fully grown adult, am I such a fan of Disneyland?   My wife and I don’t have any kids.  This place is absolutely swarming with screaming children and exasperated parents.   Scents from every conceivable form of junk food assail the senses from all directions, from the moment you step foot in the park to the instant you leave.  So why, then, is it so appealing to me?  The answer to that is simply one word:  nostalgia.

I have visited Disneyland every couple of years or so since I was old enough to walk.  And, based on the photos my mother has shown me, even before then.    I count my lucky stars that Giliane is just as much a Disney fan than I am.  Walking around the parks (Disneyland & California Adventures) at our leisure, perusing through the plethora of shops, and riding our favorite rides.  Over and over, of course.  What does this tell you?  Yep, you guessed it.  You now know what my wife has known ever since she said I do:  I’m a big kid at heart.

Several months ago we discovered/subscribed to a YouTube channel from a group of people that call themselves “Fresh Baked Disney“.  This guy walks around the park, oftentimes with a friend or two, and documents the rides, the food he eats, the merchandise he sees, and so on.  The vast majority of the times he doesn’t have his kid with him, so this is taken from the perspective of an adult who is simply enjoying his experiences at the park.  He typically visits the park every Saturday, so did we find them yesterday?

So, with that said, who out there has been to Disneyland?  What are your favorite rides?  What are your favorite things to do here?  Here’s mine, in no particular order:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Soaring over California
3. Lunch at Blue Bayou
4. New Orleans Square (my favorite “land”)
5. Haunted Mansion
6. Splash Mountain

I hope you have a fantastic week!  Rest assured my wife and I will be.  Hmmm, I think another ride is calling my name!  Time to see if I can convince/bribe my wife into riding Grizzly River Run.  We can see it from our balcony at the Grand Californian Hotel!  You’ve never experienced the parks until you actually stay at a hotel in the MIDDLE of the park.  We have our own separate entrance to DCA!  How cool is that?   So, I will bid adieu.  We’re off to have some more fun!

J.

Ok, this next batch of questions could come from any of the 700+ movies on the bookshelves behind me.  So put on ye olde thinking caps!  Let’s see how good you people really are!

Question 1:
What was the name of Lt. John Dunbar’s love interest in the movie Dances With Wolves?

Question 2:
What is the name of the boat Lt. Cmdr Tom Dodge is given in Up Periscoope?

Question 3:
In the Hunt for Red October, what was the name of the nearly silent propulsion unit that allowed the Russian sub to run virtually undectable?

Get this one right and you’ll seriously impress me.  Here’s the uber-hard question:
How did Quigley respond for an advertisement for sharpshooters in Australia and why was Elliot Marston interested?   Extra credit:  how much was Quigley paid for just showing up?

Good luck to all!  Have a great weekend!

Ok, is there anyone out there who hasn’t seen the movies?  I think it’s safe to say that there are more than likely quite a few fans out there.  I count myself as one of ’em!   As with the other questions I’ve asked in the past, the first question is easy and then gets more difficult as we go!  Now, let’s see what kind of trivia questions we can come up with…

1. In the original theatrical release, who shot first?  Han Solo or Greedo?
2. What species is Yoda?
3. What’s the name of the creatures that attach themselves to the Millenium Falcon when they were inside that beast on the asteroid in Empire Strikes Back?

Good luck!  Remember, no Googling if you don’t know!

Extra credit…  Stump the author.  Ask a question I don’t know (based on the movies and not the books) and see if you can stump me!  Let all us nerds and geeks show our true colors!!!

Hi all!

This post comes to you from northern CA where my wife & I are spending a few days with her family.  Everyone got their thinking caps on?  Here’s the next round of trivia questions!

1. In The Abyss, what is the name of the liquid Bud breathes in at the end of the movie so that he can descend to great depths to disarm the nuke?  Extra credit:  what’s the name of the rat who demos it first?
2. According to Avatar, what is the name of the mineral the humans are after and how much is it worth?
3. According to the T800 series terminator, what is the type of metal comprising the T1000?   Anyone who has seen the movie knows what I’m looking for!

Good luck!  I hope everyone is having a great week!

J.

TGIF, people!  Who’s looking forward to a fun  & relaxin’ weekend?  Anyone have any plans?  Gonna see any movies?  There are a few good ones out there that I wouldn’t mind seeing.  I’d love to see the new Transformers movie.  Now that Mr. Sourpuss, aka Shia whats-his-face isn’t it in, I might be tempted to see it!

Ready for the next round of trivia questions?  I’m going to use some Jim Cameron movies so put on ye olde thinking cap!  Ready?

1. When the terminator takes the phone in Terminator 2 to speak with the T-1000, what incorrect dog name does he give to verify that John’s foster parents have been killed?   Extra credit:  what should the name be?
2. What’s the name of the organization that Harry told his wife he works for in True Lies?  Extra credit:  what is the secret organization he really works for?
3. According to the movie The Abyss, how many nukes was the USS Montana carrying when it crashed?  Extra credit:  how many warheads per nuke?

Good luck, everyone!  I hope you all have a great weekend!

J.

Hello, everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m starting up a trivia contest which will be hosted here on the blog.  What’s the contest for?  Signed paperback copies of my books.  Which books?  Well, that’ll vary depending on the quantity of each title I have on hand.  How does it work?   Read on!

I want to encourage people to play and participate, so the rules aren’t going to be too tough.  Simply put, I’m going to post some movie trivia questions several times a week. Active participants (who answer correctly!) will be automatically entered.   I’ll gather the names of those who are playing and write each name on a slip of paper.  It’ll then be presented to Keeley (AKA Peanut from the stories!) to see which name she chooses.  The winner will receive a signed print copy of whichever book I have the most copies of.  Scientific, huh?

Now, you may be curious as to why type of trivia will be asked.  It could be anything from who said the first spoken line in a movie to random bits of trivia I’ve heard over the years.   And let me tell you I’ve picked up quite a bit!  I have well over 700 titles to choose from and know quite a bit more about many others.  My specialty, of course, is the fantasy/sci-fi genre.

The official rules:

1. To be entered, all you have to do is play!  Well, play and guess correctly.
2. You don’t have to guess correctly to win.  I made that last part up.  I want people to have fun, so feel free to guess, even if you don’t have a clue!
3. Be respectful.  No gloating allowed.
4. No spamming allowed.

I’m a die-hard movie buff.  Feel free to fire back with your own trivia questions!  Ok, without further ado, let’s get on with the trivia!

Questions – June 23rd, 2014

• What clan does Jake Sully tell the Na’vi people he’s a part of during their first meeting?  (Avatar)
• What’s the name of the little boy whose father died saving a marine’s life after they all had to exit the bus on the freeway?  (Battle Los Angeles)
• After Jack and Wang were gassed in the elevator and awaken when they were tossed into a room filled with water, which Chinese Hell does he say they are in?  (Big Trouble in Little China)

Avast all ye lovers of useless bits of movie trivia!  Wilst thou be stumped upon reading mine questions?  Continue on if ye dare!

Today’s questions, from easy to hard so everyone can play!

1. How nuch money does Fezzik have to pay Miracle Max for a miracle in Princess Bride?
2. Why did Steven Spielberg allow Harrison Ford to simply shoot the sword-wielding bad guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark instead of having a longer drawn out  fight?
3. At what speed was the NTI traveling when it passed by the American sub at the beginning of the Abyss?

Good luck!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend!  In case you’re wondering, I’m close to finalizing the rules for the movie trivia contest.    Stay tuned!!

Ok, you guys did well with the first round.   Let’s see how you do with this set of questions!

1. In The Hunt for Red October, before first contact is made with the Russian sub, the Americans determine they need to tell the Red October to go “somewhere deep”.  What was the name of the underwater locale Ryan sends to Capt Ramius?
2. In Jurassic Park which two dinosaurs were deliberately portrayed incorrectly with regards to their size?  Hint:  one wasn’t nearly as big and the other wasn’t nearly as small.
3. In The Abyss what three letter acronym was given to the underwater aliens?  There’s only one correct answer but there is a 2nd answer that I will accept.  I will need the acronym and what it stands for!  

Remember, the same rules from yesterday apply!  No Googling the answers!  If you don’t know it, just say so!  And try to avoid looking at other people’s answers!!

Ok all you fans of Lentari!  I’m looking to create a new contest for some signed copies of my books and thought this would be the perfect way to do it.  Now, seeing how I fancy myself a connoisseur of virtually all types of movies, you can see where I came up with the idea of a movie trivia contest!

Now, to be fair, I will admit that I haven’t watched many horror movies as I haven’t found that many that I really like.  I think Aliens is my favorite, and not just because I became friends with one of the actors.  So I think I need to see if you guys have just as much useless movie trivia in your head as I do mine.   Therefore this one will be a trial run!

The rules:

1. No using Google if you don’t know the answer.
2. Try to avoid looking at what everyone else has answered.
3. If you know the answer and it’s clear that others don’t, no gloating!
4. Be respectful.
5. No spamming allowed.  Spammers will be deleted and their IPs will be added to my Troll list (it effectively blocks you from accessing all aspects of the blog)

So what movies am I going to draw from?  Well, here in my office/man cave, I have several bookshelves FULL of movies and anything is fair game.  Chances are it’ll be fantasy/sci-fi related but anything sitting on one of those shelves could be used!   Mwahahaha!   Let’s see how you do with these.  We’ll start with an easy one then each question gets a little harder!

Question #1:   What’s the name of the creatures in Tremors?

Question #2:  What type of ship did Boss Nass give the jedi when they left the Gungan city in SW:  Phantom Menace?

Question #3:  Which Star Trek movie did Christian Slater have a cameo in?

Good luck!  Again, this is a trial run so I can get a feel for how good you guys are!

While I don’t necessarily appreciate getting another year older I do appreciate, however, when my wife tells me she’s taking a couple of days off to spend some time with me for my birthday weekend.  It’s actually Tuesday, but since it falls on such a lousy time of the week, we’re celebrating this weekend.

Besides, it’s Friday the 13th!  And there’s a full moon tonight!  How cool is that??

I’m figuring we’ll probably try to catch a movie or two.  Not sure which ones.  She wants to see 22 Jump Street.  Me, not so much.  Since it’s my birthday I’m really glad I get to choose!

Is everyone having a great summer so far?  It’s pretty much winter here, with no one (of sane mind) going outside during this weather so I’m getting plenty of writing done.  Progress is going great in the 3rd Tales of Lentari story.  As I mentioned earlier, on Facebook, this one seems to be stretching out quite a bit, and I’m reluctant to scale anything back in the story, so this just may turn out to be a 2 parter.  You guys alright with that?

I’m rapidly exhausting my list of names so if you have any other suggestions I”d be more than happy to hear them!  Let me know which gender they are as well as which species.  Or, if you prefer, I can just use the name where I think they would fit best.

Anyone else think it is time to hold some type of contest?  Yeah, me too!  So what should I have you guys do?  Answer trivia questions?  Perform some type of task?  Hmmm.  I’ll start thinking about it.

Hope everyone has a great week!  Stay safe and read lots!

J.