Michelle Miles: It's the Movies, Not Your House

It's become a rare occurrence when the husband and I go to the movies. I take full responsibility for that because I detest the general public.

But we needed some fun this past weekend, so I requested a movie date. We saw Arrival with Amy Adams and Jeremey Renner. Really good flick. I recommend it!

Anyway, we purchased the tickets online and then picked them up at the kiosk at the theater. Things are getting so impersonal these days, you don't even have to talk to anyone to buy tickets. It's kind of sad, actually.

BLOGGING: IS IT ON LIFE SUPPORT? By Kathy Ivan

I keep hearing blogging is dead. Can this be true? I read as many blogs as I used to, I just don't have the time. I rarely have time to write a comment, either. The number of blogs I read has gotten smaller, but I still read some. Especially ones by people who post things I enjoy reading about.

VARIETY: I like a variety of topics when I'm blog hopping. Yes, I want to know about your new book when you have a new release. But don't overdo it. Share it at couple of places, and I'll check it out. But not 20 or 30 or 40. There's only so much information I want to know about your book. If you give away too much, then what's the point of reading the story? I'll know most of it from seeing so many blog posts.

ENTERTAIN ME: I like to be entertained. If you tell me a little bit about yourself or something that you’ve been participating in, or someplace you've visited, chances are good I'll hop over to your blog and check it out. Tell me about your dog or your cat. Tell me about your closet full of handbags (Vicki). Give me a reason to keep coming back to your blog.

PICTURES: Definitely put up pictures on your blog. Break up all the paragraph after paragraph with pictures pertaining to your subject matter. If you've been on a trip, stick a couple of photos up. It makes what you've said come alive visually. After all, don't they say a picture is worth a thousand words?

1001 Movies to See Before You Die

With the Oscars right around the corner, I thought movies would be a great topic! As I glanced around my cluttered office wondering what to write about my gaze landed on the four-inch book standing at attention on my bookshelf-- 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

I’d ordered this book a while back. When it showed up on my doorstep, I tore open the box with glee and began a two-hour-long perusal. The book is Ginormous. It’s hard back with a dust jacket and 960 pages of Moviedom complete with a handy checklist at the front. This is the October 2008 edition, by the way.

It’s jam-packed with photos, a little synopsis of each movie and opinions by contributions, starting with a silent movie released in 1902: Le Voyage Dans La Lune (aka A Trip To The Moon). I can personally say I’ve never laid eyes on this movie but there are some iconic pictures that are widely recognizable. The Moon with the missile-like spaceship right in its eye, for example. According to the book, the movie “represents a revolution for the time” and clocks in at only fourteen minutes. But at the turn of the century there weren’t movie theaters with stadium seating and THX sound in every major town.