A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

A view of East Wind Lake, a man-made lake at the center of the condominium where I lived from February 1978 to April 2016.  Looking to the south on a midsummer afternoon circa 2013. Note the cumulonimbus cloud forming in the background. (Photo by the author.) Hello again and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, a recurring feature in A Certain Point of View where I step out of my usual review of product reviewer or budding screenwriter and just talk about "stuff." Don't get me wrong; I love writing reviews about music albums, books, movies (especially movies!), and the occasional computer game, but there are days when I wake up in the morning and I don't feel like doing the "same old, same old." Today, apparently, is one of those days. It's almost 3 PM in my corner of the Sunshine State; outside, the temperature is 88℉ (31℃) under partly sunny skies; with humidity at 63%, the "feels-like" temperature is 98℉ (36℃). It's ...

Photo Credit: Pixabay Hello again and welcome to another installment of Bloggin' On, the section of A Certain Point of View where I don't feel compelled to review movies, books, music, or computer games. I love reviewing; it's something that I have done since I was a 10th grader at South Miami High, and I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at it. But sometimes I wake up in the morning and I have no freakin' idea what I'm going to write about...and today is one of those days. As I write this, it's 3:21 PM Eastern Time, and it's a nice sunny afternoon. Outside, the temperature is 82℉ (31℃) under mostly sunny skies. I have not ventured outside today; I should, but going for walks and meeting the neighbors is a habit I eased out of once I left my hometown of Miami for another part of Florida in early 2016. Maybe I'll start walking around the block at some point in the future...just not today. My heart's not in it. I am, however, thinki...

Screenshot of Strategic Command WWII: World at War main menu screen. © Fury Software/Matrix Games/Slitherine Ltd.  On December 6, 2018, British PC game publisher Matrix Games released Strategic Command WWII: World at War, a turn-based grand strategy wargame that depicts the Second World War on every major front from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1939 to the end of the conflict in the summer of 1945. Developed by Toronto-based Fury Software for Matrix, Strategic Command WWII: World at War (or WAW) is part of the rebooted Strategic Command series that includes Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe, Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict, and this year's Strategic Command: World War I.  Fury created this long-running series in the late 1990s, publishing its original game, Strategic Command: European Theater in 2002 through Battlefront. WAW is the fifth game in the series and it was designed by Hubert Cater and Bill Runacre, Fury Software's president/lea...

Photo Credit: Pixabay Hi, there, Constant Reader, and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, my "random thoughts" corner of A Certain Point of View. It's Monday, October 28, 2019, and my morning is about to make the transition into noon here in my little bit of the Sunshine State. Currently, the weather here is still summery. Outside, it's hot; the temperature is 85℉ (29℃), but a limp easterly breeze and humidity levels at 80% makes it feel like it's 96℉ (35℃). With Halloween only three days away, these high temperatures certainly do not feel seasonal at all, not even for Florida. So, last night Donald Trump and his entourage, including his trophy wife Melania, attended Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Ordinarily, this would not be newsworthy since most modern Presidents often attend pro sports games if they take place in Washington or adjacent cities. What makes it worth mentioning here, folks, is that Trump rece...

Debris from a neighbor's house that landed on the patio of my former home in Miami during Hurricane Sandy's passage through South Florida, October 26, 2012. Photo Credit: Alex Diaz-Granados (own work)  Hello again and welcome to another installment of Bloggin' On, which is a feature on A Certain Point of View where I break away from the usual reviews and political commentary and just talk about everyday stuff or things that are on my mind that isn't the "usual fare" of this blog. Well, it's almost early evening here in my corner of Florida on Saturday, October 26. Right now it's partly sunny outside; the temperature is 81℉ (27℃) and the humidity is at 82%. It still doesn't feel like fall here, even though summer ended over a month ago. It's not as hot as, say, mid-July or August, but if memory serves, it used to start getting cooler in the Sunshine State by mid-October. Then again, I've only been living in this part of Florida fo...

Image by Lubos Houska, Pixabay Hello again and welcome to another installment of Bloggin' On, an occasional feature here in A Certain Point of View where I'll just prattle on about stuff that doesn't fall into the established categories of my blog (namely, reviews, political commentary, or updates about my literary or film projects). It's Friday, October 25, 2019, and it's a typically warm and muggy "fall" morning here in my corner of Florida. Currently, the temperature outside is 82℉ (28℃) under partly sunny skies. The humidity level is 85%, giving us an "endless summer" feels-like temperature of 91℉ (33℃). I' should try to get out and get fresh air and sunlight, but I'm not fond of humid heat, so I'll just stay indoors in the cool confines of my current domicile. So, what am I reading this month, you ask? Take a seat, relax, and enjoy your favorite beverage while I share my October reading list. Okay, so recently I finis...

Photo Credit: Pixabay What's wrong with the Republican Party in the 21st Century? I mean, seriously, people. I've been around long enough to see the GOP, the supposedly grown up and sober party that allegedly promotes civilized behavior and "upholding the rule of law" that elected Richard M. Nixon to the Presidency 51 years ago morph into the "winning at all costs" wild bunch that supports Donald J. Trump in 2019. Well, if one cares to examine the historical record, the Party of Lincoln has been taking the nation to oblivion for a long time, even though pinpointing the exact era of American history in which Republicanism lost its way is difficult. In my lifetime, though, I'd say that the madness that has led us to Trumpism and its bizarre, MAGA cap-wearing cult of personality began in the mid-1960s with the aforementioned 1968 Presidential race. That campaign season, which took place during a tumultuous year that included the Tet Offensive in V...

Photo: Pixabay Hello again and welcome to A Certain Point of View. It's a nice Wednesday afternoon here in my corner of Florida; currently, it's 79℉ (26℃) under sunny skies. We may see the temperatures rise a couple of degrees (81℉/27℃) by late afternoon, but it's definitely not a bad day to go out and get a bit of sun and fresh air. I had hoped to have that long-promised review of Strategic Command WWII: World at War at least half-way done by now, but I haven't played the game in a couple of days and I don't believe I could give you a decent review based on my experiences to date. So if anyone out there is eagerly waiting for my opinion about Strategic Command WWII: World at War (or WAW ), please be patient. I'll write a review as soon as possible. I also don't have anything to offer on the political commentary side of the blog. I used to find inspiration for my political "stuff" at Quora, but I stopped writing there last week and now co...

Book cover photo by NASA.  © 2019 HarperCollins “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”  - John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961 It's hard to believe that fifty years have passed since three manned missions (Apollo 10, 11, and 12) made the still-amazing voyage from the Earth to the Moon and fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's 1961 pledge that American astronauts would go to our closest celestial neighbor and return safely to the big, blue marble we call home before 1970. Of the three Apollos that flew between May and November of 1969, only two (11 and 12) landed on the Moon; Apollo 10 was a dress rehearsal that involved everything in a lunar mission except the landing itself. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing (July 20, 1969), many publishers have published new books about various aspects of Project Apollo, including the t...

© 1994, 2010 The Baseball Film Project, PBS Distribution Inning 8: A Whole New Ballgame (1960-1970 Directed by: Ken Burns Written by: Ken Burns & Geoffrey C. Ward The 1960s are a turbulent decade for America. There are race riots, anti-war protests, hippies, Woodstock. It is also a turbulent decade for baseball, as one by one the "sacred" institutions fail. It starts with Bill Mazeroski bringing down the mighty Yankees with one dramatic home run, the first ever to end a World Series.  Then, in 1961, Roger Maris pursues Babe Ruth's "untouchable" record. In 1962, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants are replaced by the New York Mets, who compile the worst single-season record of the century.  On Tuesday, September 27, 1994, the 300 member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service aired Inning 8: A Whole New Ballgame (1960-1970) , the penultimate (at the time) episode of Ken Burns' documentary miniseries Baseball.  ...

American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race  delves into the origins of Project Apollo and President John F. Kennedy's determination to land a man on the Moon before 1970. © 2019 HarperCollins Hello again and welcome to another installment of A Certain Point of View. It's a sunny autumn morning in my corner of the Sunshine State, with temperatures in the high 70s and no rain in the immediate forecast, although it is expected that it will be hot later today. Per the Weather app on my PC, today's high is estimated to reach 86℉ later this afternoon. Well, it looks like you're going to have to wait a little while longer for a new review; I went to sleep sometime after 2 AM, and even though I got close to six hours of sleep, I'm feeling a bit worn out now. So I think I'll take the rest of the day off from writing and relax with a good book or watch a few episodes of 24's Season Five on DVD. Looking forward to reading (and reviewing) Harr...

Main menu screen from Strategic Command WWII: World at War. © 2018 Fury Software/Slitherine Ltd. Hello again and welcome to another edition of A Certain Point of View. It's Saturday, October 19, 2019, and it's a cloudy afternoon here in my little corner of the Sunshine State. Well, I had hoped to have a new review of either  Strategic Command WWII: World at War, a World War II-themed turn-based strategy game that was released by Slitherine Ltd. last winter, or Douglas Brinkley's book  American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.  However, while I have played World at War in dribs and drabs, I still don't feel confident that I can write a review that will do the game justice. I've played a few rounds as Germany (letting the game's artificial intelligence play Italy and Japan for me) in the scenario titled 1939 World at War ; in one instance, I managed to play well into the summer of 1941 and the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Yet, even...

Cover art by Two Dots Studio. © 2019 Del Rey Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  On July 23, 2019, Random House's Del Rey Books imprint published Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason, the third volume of a three-book cycle featuring the Galactic Empire's most talented military figure: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Set shortly before the fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels, the television series that officially placed Thrawn in the Star Wars canon, Thrawn: Treason pits its titular protagonist, not against the ever-growing threat from the budding Rebel Alliance but against foes from within and without the Empire itself. Grand Admiral Thrawn faces the ultimate test of his loyalty to the Empire in this epic Star Wars novel from bestselling author Timothy Zahn. "If I were to serve the Empire, you would command my allegiance." Such was the promise Grand Admiral Thrawn made to Emperor Palpatine at their first meeting. Since then, Thrawn has been one of the ...