A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Image Credit: © 2014 Lenovo via Amazon  Hi there, Dear Reader. I know, I know; I haven't posted here in a while, but I have been busy on the WordPress version of this blog, and I don't always have either the time or the energy to work on both blogs. But, hey, I'm back to writing the 1,389th post for A Certain Point of View. As you can guess from the headline, this is a quick update to inform you that the computer I used to write most of the posts on this blog from April 2016 to January of this year is, sadly, no longer operational. It was working fine on Saturday morning when I booted it up, and it was running without any issues when I closed it down for a bit so I could watch a few episodes of 2019's Chernobyl.  However, when I tried to boot my Lenovo C560 "all-in-one" so I could game for a bit, it did not power up. At all. It was deathly still, with not a flicker from the monitor or a whir from its cooling fan.   I already wrote a more complete account of th...

 Hey, there, Dear Reader. I know, I know. I don’t write too many posts here anymore. I regret that, but once a bunch of conservatives – or maybe it was only one or two conservatives, I don’t know for sure – complained to Facebook that I was posting politically-themed stuff that they didn’t like, the Powers That Be in Meta’s corporate HQ decided to block A Certain Point of View from the “Social Network.” I had no way to appeal that decision; Facebook/Meta makes it so hard to get a punitive decision regarding what you post on Facebook that it was just easier to go over to WordPress and create A Certain Point of View, Too. I did not want to, nor did I love the idea of paying a yearly fee to have my own domain name and other benefits from a premium account, but if I wanted to share my blog on Facebook – which was one of this blog’s biggest sources of readers – I had to do the “WordPress” thing. As I’ve said in previous posts on this topic, I thought I’d be able to either write tw...

An enemy ship sinks in Cold Waters.  Game elements © 2017 Killerfish Games  Hi, there, Dear Reader. It's Monday, January 10, 2022, and finally, after two months of not posting anything in A Certain Point of View, I am back with a new - if perhaps brief - post.  I am happy to report that I got my Moderna (Spikevax) vaccine. I received my first shot in mid-November, and I got my second one just a few days before Christmas, I have not gone out anywhere since the second Fauci Ouchie, mainly because I don't go out much anyway, and the woman who used to take me places - doesn't do it anymore. I missed seeing Steven Spielberg's West Side Story because of this, and since there's no easy way for me to go to the nearest theater on my own, I'm resigned to having to wait till the film hits the home media market.  Anyway, I've been busy over on WordPress with our sister blog A Certain Point of View, Too. I write at least one post a day there, and currently, I am on a str...

Image by  John Hain  from  Pixabay  Hello, Dear Reader. As I start writing this, it's almost 9 AM Eastern in what I'll call New Hometown, Florida (as opposed to Miami, which is where I lived when I started this blog a decade ago). Right now the temperature is 77℉ (25℃) under mostly sunny skies. With a south-southwesterly breeze blowing at 5 MPH (9 KM/H) and humidity at 93%, the feels-like temperature is also 77℉ (25℃). Today's forecast calls for a high of 87℉ (30℃) and scattered showers throughout the day.  I'm sorry that I have not written here since September 29, but as you know, there are several reasons why I have been relatively slow in creating content for A Certain Point of View. First, as you know, Facebook blocked this blog in late March because some Trump supporter (or supporters) didn't like what I was writing about their beloved Donald Trump (aka Mango Mussolini or Orange Caligula). This forced me to create a "sister blog" over on WordPress — A...

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...

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...

Hello, there, Gentle Reader, and welcome to the 1,000th post of A Certain Point of View.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we began this journey on July 4, 2011, which is when I wrote the first post on this blog. On that occasion, I wanted to introduce myself to...well... you, explain why I named the blog A Certain Point of View, and to share the story of how and why I became a Star Wars fan.  The famous Star Wars logo designed in 1976 by Dan Perri. ™ Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  In First Things First... , I wrote: Welcome to A Certain Point of View, my new blog here at Blogger.com. My name is Alex Diaz-Granados and I'm a (a) writer, (b) budding screenwriter, (c) single guy, (d) online reviewer and (e) die-hard  Star Wars  fan of the "1977 Generation" who still remembers when the first movie was simply titled  Star Wars  and not, as it has been known since 1981,  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. ...

© 2016 MGM-UA, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; 007 logo and related James Bond Tradeworks © 1962, 2015 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation  Well, gang , it's Sunday afternoon here in my nook of Florida, and the weather outside is nice and spring-like. It's 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and the skies above are mostly cloudy. Perfect day for lazing about with a good book and a cool drink! I was going to write a review of my latest Blu-ray find, The James Bond Collection, a 2016 box set from MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment that has all of the existing official James Bond films, starting with 1962's Dr. No  and ending with 2015's Spectre. That's 24 feature films in one set, which for me is a record-setting purchase, at least when sheer number of movies is concerned. (Cost-wise it was on par with buying the 2011 Star Wars: The Complete Saga;  I paid $86.60 - $79.96 plus Florida sales taxes - for the James Bond Blu-ray set, which is pretty mu...

Hi, there, Dear Reader! Well, last time we talked, I told you what my plans were for this week regarding "A Certain Point of View." They were, you'll recall, modest in scope; I'm not working on any big literally projects at the moment, so I've pretty much decided to focus on the blog until I can get my shit together as a writer and crank out a story I can be proud of no matter what the format is; ideally I'd like to do a novel, but every time I've started working on one, I either listen to bad advice from well-meaning people or I become intimidated by the prospect. And, yes, I know; novels, short stories, and screenplays don't write themselves. Either I write one, or I should stop calling myself a writer and give up. I'd rather write one - even if it's bad - than admit defeat. But until I can figure out what story I want to tell, I'll stick to the blog and see if I can get it to the 1000-posts mark. Anyway, about those plans I announc...