As a person of mixed racial descent, I have this to say:  Don’t let ignorant race baiting prevent you from going to see The Last Airbender or overshadow your enjoyment of the film.  It’s a magical fable of balance and imbalance, harmony and disharmony, action and consequence, power and loss, innocence and character growth.  It transcends racial and gender stereotypes, but only if you let it.  If you can’t recapture your youth and suspend your disbelief, borrow a kid and see it through new eyes.
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From the Cover…

For years the Jackson family has vacationed at Rowena Wandigaux Lee’s old Victorian house on Gull Island, a place of superstition and legend off the southern coast of the U.S. One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a hidden shack in the woods-and christens this new clubhouse “Neverland.”

Neverland has a secret history, unknown to the children…

The rundown shack in the woods is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. But Sumter and his cousins gather in it’s dusty shadows to escape the tensions at their grandmother’s house. Neverland becomes the place where children begin to worship a creature of shadows, which Sumter calls “Lucy”

<SNIP!>

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Once upon a time, Chattacon was held at the Read House in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a good-sized regional convention with attendance in the 1500 range.  I don’ t know what their numbers were this year, but it seemed sparse.  Chattacon now makes its home in the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.

Chattanooga Choo Choo Locomotive

The Choo Choo is a converted railway station on 24 acres, with a decommissioned wood-burning locomotive on display.  (I’m told the train was built in 1880, and last used by the Smoky Mountain Railroad in 1940s)  There are passenger cars that have been converted into sleeping rooms.  The accommodations are spread out, but the staff is helpful and cheery.  We were in “Hotel III”, and aside from having a wait for the bell cart and attendant, it was a painless check-in.

We had a mutual brain TILT moment when we first entered the hallway of Hotel III.   The long, narrow corridor was brightly decorated, and strangely reminiscent of The Shining.  Fortunately for us, there were no Twins in that corridor.  They only appeared in our imagination, and our fingers remained mute and still.  The secure wireless connection sucked wind, but other unsecured connections were available. Read more

The vampire book, and movie, that’s causing a sensation throughout the country. I decided to read the entire series before writing a review. I wanted to make sure that I had all the info I needed to form a solid opinion of the books. Now there is only one question to ask.

Is Twilight sensational or does it just bite?

Read on to find out what I think.

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Jaime Waterman was part of the first mission to Mars. During his exploration of the barren surface he found signs of life, structures built for some unknown purpose. Thanks to a celestial claims law, and Jaime’s Native American heritage, the Navaho Nation is in charge of Mars.
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The third season of Heroes started off with some surprising twists last night. Several are going to take a lot of explaining. While others may only need to be viewed from a different angle for their secrets to be laid bare.

I’m going to take a little time and look at a few of the questions that were raised, at least in my mind, by the 2 episodes last night. I’ll try to go into what I think of it now, and where I think it might lead. I doubt I’ll come up with anything on par with the Kensei Prediction, but we can have a little bit of fun talking about what might happen. Let’s get started.
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