It’s Friday, folks, time for a new Hottie of the Week! This week’s Hottie comes from a movie I saw last night – Hot Fuzz. My gawd, if you like Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead, and the British comedy Spaced, you HAVE to see this movie. It was so damned funny. Of course, I love their geeky humor, because I get just about every pop culture reference they make. In this movie, they made a reference to “Point Break”, as we all know is a movie with surfer dudes on patrol. LOL And, of course, it stars this man, Mr. Keanu Reeves.

I must admit, the first time I saw Keanu in Bill & Ted’s, I wasn’t that impressed. Of course, I was like 13 years old and I didn’t know a damn thing about life. LOL Now that I’m older and wiser, I must admit Keanu is a Hottie with a capital “H”.

Granted, some of his movie choices are eccentric, and at times you wonder if the man ever really *stopped* channeling the infamous “Ted” on his infamous “Adventure”, as people make fun of his acting chops all the time. But you know what? I don’t care if Mr. Reeves can act or not. Just stand there. Look Sexy. Thank you, Keanu. LOL

He seems like a down-to-earth kinda guy, not at all like the weirdos of Hollywood nowadays (was Hollywood *always* so…weird?) One of my favorite movies of his is “A Walk in the Clouds”. That movie always makes me sigh and smile like a goofy idiot. I have to admit, I like Keanu better in the chick flicks rather than the shoot-em-up action flicks. Don’t get me wrong, “Speed” was a great movie. But I like seeing the tender side of Keanu more often than not. Probably because the man has a smile that lights up the room, and whenever you see it, you just want to give him a great big hug. **dreamy sigh**

Congratulations, Keanu Reeves. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

Thirteen things I cannot live without. (In no particular order)

1. Diet Coke. I prefer the caffeine free, but only because I got used to drinking that while pregnant.

2. Coffee. When the hell did I turn into a fogie?

3. My iPod. I have been assimilated. Whether I’m late or I’ve already left the house, I WILL turn the car around if I forget it.

4. My computer. Let’s face it. Without my computer attached to the Internet, I feel like Helen Keller.

5. My hubby. He’s good for a few things. ;P

6. My children. They light up my life.

7. My notebook. Because I have to find ways to write when I’m not in front of the computer.

8. The radio in my kitchen. I have to listen to music at all times, even when cooking dinner and/or cleaning the house.

9. Good friends. Because there’s nothing better than hanging out, barbeque-ing with the people who know you best, and shooting the breeze. (and maybe a good game of Nertz to get the adrenaline pumping. lol)

10. Family. Because they give you gifties on holidays and birthdays.

11. GOD. Because let’s face it. I can’t go through life alone, and He’s the Best Friend I’ve ever had.

12. Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser. Obvious.

13. Phazyme. As I get older, I find my body isn’t quite as forgiving as it used to be… lol

And there you have it. Thirteen things Becka cannot live without.

~~Becka

I’m sitting here wondering what the heck to post when I glance up at my Maleficent plushy sitting on my computer. Yes, I have a Maleficent plushy. Be jealous. I thought I’d find a picture of her for my Random Pic of the Day, but Maleficent is just too darn bad ass for “just” a picture.

She’s the BEST Disney villain ever, and there’s nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. From Wikipedia: She possesses a range of magical powers and artifacts, which allow her to–for example–use the crystal ball on her staff to taunt Prince Philip with images of a bleak future. She also casts spells, such as inflicting Aurora with a curse of death (weakened to a curse of sleep by the good fairy, Merryweather), creating thunderstorms, sending frosts, projecting lightning, teleporting, and changing shapes. Some of Maleficent’s forms in the film were that of a spinning wheel, a Will o’ the wisp, and a dragon. Maleficent was often surrounded by eerie green flames; in the final battle she cries “Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of Hell!” implying that she had phenomenal powers of evil at her disposal, even providing viewers with a demonstration by subsequently transforming into a tremendous black-and-purple dragon.

Yup, she’s so awesome, she’s the finale in Disney’s Fantasmic show, which of course, you MUST see if you’re any fan of Disney. They show it at Disneyland on the Rivers of America and at Disney World, at the MGM Studios. She’s so cool, she literally LIGHTS THE RIVER ON FIRE. In honor of the Best. Disney. Villain. Evar, here is a clip from Sleeping Beauty.

Maleficent, the original dragon-shifter.

~~Becka

Yesterday, we traversed to the Portland Military Air Base right next door to PDX (our local airport), for “Young American Day”, where families and friends of those in the armed forces can come and check out some sweet aircraft. DH works with a man who’s in the service, and he invited us. It was a BLAST. Literally.

First, we got to see 6 (count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6) gate climbs. Six different pilots took up six F-15 Eagles (not at the same time, but at different times of the day). A gate climb is where the plane takes off at full augmentation (akin to the afterburner), hugs the ground while they pass the crowd, then rocket STRAIGHT UP into the air. We’re talkin’ vertical here, folks. It was fricken’ AWESOME. And loud. But I love the rumbly feeling inside when the jets streak by. Here’s some pictures my hubby snapped of one of the gate climbs. Very impressive these pics weren’t a blurry mess, since these planes were bookin’ FAST.

~*~

The cool thing was they had an F-15 on the ground and you could sit in it. (Well, not me or DH because they don’t make F-15′s in Super Size lol) but the kidlets got to sit in it. Very sweet. We did, however, get a picture of us under the wing right next to the landing gear. Can’t see much of the plane in this pic, but I think it’s a good one of my family.

I think my son enjoyed the Blackhawk helicopters they had better than the F-15, as he keeps saying he wants to be a helicopter pilot when he grows up. The kids got to sit in a Blackhawk as well, the Oregon Coast Guard Rescue Chopper. Too cool. Unfortunately, it was cold, windy, and rainy this day, and we’d only brought light jackets, so we didn’t stay too long. But we had fun none the less.

Oh, and one more thing, lest you forget who’s kicking your ass:

~~Becka

Posting my Hottie just after midnight on Saturday morning. I remembered I hadn’t done it yet. Sorry folks. But I shall make it up to you for who I’ve picked this week. For whatever reason, I’ve “bumped” into this man in the last few days, and therefore, I knew it was a sign to pick him for my Hottie. No, I did not literally bump into him, although I wouldn’t complain if I did. LOL Who did I pick? Mr. Matthew McConaughey.

Mr. McConaughey is a man who is so dang hot he makes you shiver with antici…………pation. He never ceases to make me swoon in each movie he stars in, even the really cheesy chick-flicks, of which I happen to really like. LOL

However, if there’s one thing I’ve noticed about this man… He’s a player. He’s a man who knows he’s HAWT and he flaunts it. He flaunts it well, mind. But he flaunts it nonetheless.

I’ve always been turned off by a man who knows he’s God’s gift. However, irony of ironies, that’s usually the plot of some of our most beloved romance novels. Perhaps Mr. McConaughey is merely comfortable in his sexuality and isn’t ashamed to acknowledge that he’s aware women drool after him like he’s “Grade-A Top Choice Meat.” Heheheh…

I gotta wonder, too, if a man that good looking ever curses his good looks. Honestly. I know I would be constantly wondering if someone genuinely liked me for ME, or for the eye candy on their arm. Do they love me for the person I am, or do they like me only for my body (and/or face?) Seriously, I wonder if beautiful people think like this, and I don’t mean they’re conceited. In a way, being beautiful would be a burden, with people staring all the time, tripping over their words, blushing, etc. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff?

Well I certainly don’t know all the answers. I just know that regardless of the way Matthew views himself and his sexuality, he’s a very attractive man, and he knows it. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen–I’d have to meet the man in order to make that decision. So for now, I’ll sit back and admire.

Congratulations, Matthew McConaughey. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

I recently sat down with Leigh Collett, publisher and owner of Resplendence Publishing (http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/ ), a brand new publisher to the business. She was willing to answer a few questions I had for her, and I thought I would share them with all of my friends!

RG: Leigh, I had not heard of your publishing company until just recently, but I must say I went to your website and I love it. I have many author friends who would be interested in learning about a new publishing house, and I thought I might ask you some questions to share with them, as I know they’d be interested.

LC: Hello Rebecca! Thank you so much for the lovely compliments. We are very excited to begin our publishing endeavor, and plan to be around for a very long time. I would be delighted to answer any questions that you and your friends may have.

RG: When did you open your doors?

LC: We conceptualized Resplendence Publishing in January of this year (2007), and opened our doors for submissions in February. The response was spectacular, and we’ve been receiving regular submissions ever since. We will begin releasing titles October 1st, and will have weekly releases thereafter.

RG: Will your books be available in stores other than your own store on your website? (ie, Fictionwise, MobiPocket, etc.)

LC: We will be offering e-titles on Fictionwise and Mobipocket after a minimum amount of time in the Resplendence store. We will also be offering most titles in print, after having met the minimum e-book sales requirements. We realize the importance of having print copies for signings and convention promotion, but first and foremost Resplendence Publishing is an e-book publisher. We will make print overstock available for sale on Amazon.com.

RG: You mention you’ll be doing print books as well. What is your print policy? Will your books be going to brick and mortar bookstore shelves?

LC: We realize the importance of having print copies for signings and convention promotion, but first and foremost Resplendence Publishing is an e-book publisher. We will make print overstock available for sale on Amazon.com.

***Addendum: Resplendence is a Lightning Source partner (ie. Ingram’s) so our titles will be made available to all brick and mortar stores.

RG: How do you pay royalties? Every month? Every three months? Every six?

LC: Per our current contract we pay royalties on a monthly basis. We know that certain publishers have added addendums to their contracts changing royalty payouts, but we have no plans to make any such changes to ours.

RG: You mention doing some promo for your authors. What can an author with your house expect in the way of Publisher Promo?

LC: Resplendence Publishing has designed a Six-Point marketing strategy for their authors. As we only present the marketing package to contracted authors, I will reveal that we do purchase some promotional materials (ie. pens, postcards, bookmarks, etc.), print and e-advertisements, and aid our authors in setting up a strong internet presence. I feel certain that Resplendence is the only e-pub with this sort of marketing strategy.

RG: Do you accept partial submissions and/or proposals or only finished manuscripts?

LC: We prefer finished manuscripts to partials, unless the author has been previously published. We do accept proposals from our in-house authors, and they get first dibs in specialty lines such as WICKED, Shivers, and Handcuffs and Lace.

RG: Do you have a list of authors currently contracted?

LC: Our authors are listed on our website, please check out the Authors page (you’ll find the link on the Home page).

RG: Thank you, Leigh, for taking time out of your day to answer my curious questions. Your website is VERY professional, and with Trace Edward Zaber as your cover artist, I’m sure you’ll be making waves in NO TIME.

LC: Thank you for your interest! And if you have further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Regards,
Leigh Collett
CEO, Submissions Editor
http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/
www.myspace.com/resplendencepublishing

Have you ever been so damn angry at yourself that you wanted to kick your own ass? Kept telling yourself over and over to do something and it slips your mind? Why is it that when you’re pissed off, every little minor infraction becomes magnified until it turns into some Major Drama Beast with 10 ugly heads? It’s like your anger is refracting the…infraction into tiny stinging barbs, which might not hurt too badly on it’s own, but combined with the thousands of other barbs pricking you… Gah. Forget it. Fricken’ cheesy-ass analogy.

Today, I was royally pissed at myself. Why? Well, because I attended a loop chat, and spent the afternoon posting excerpts of which no one replied to. Which is fine, there are lurkers, I’m so not complaining. But it did eat some time. So when I’m finally ready to emerge from my cave and take my kids to Karate, I realize the kitchen isn’t clean. Crap! I thought I’d DONE that already! Nope, all I did was empty the dang dishwasher, I didn’t actually LOAD it.

So there I am, trying to load the thing at light speed while my kids are wrestling with their Gi’s (Gee?) I don’t know how to spell it. It’s got a hard “G”. It’s the black (or white) (or red) uniform you wear in Karate. Anyhow, they don’t know how to tie bows yet, and each Gi has two of them. One on the inside of the shirt (because it wraps around the belly) and one on the outside of it (because it wraps around the other way). Then, each kid has a belt I gotta tie.

So after tying 8 bows (two per kid) and 4 belts, I look up and holy crap, it’s 10 after 5pm! Class is at 5:30, and I still gotta drive in work traffic. I jet out the door and realize in the driveway – I forgot my ***damn notebook.

For those of you who read this blog, you’ll know that sometimes, writing long-hand in my kids’ Karate class is the only time I can write without other issues pressing on me. But there’s literally NO time to get it, because it’s downstairs in our daylight basement and we have a big house, it would take too long to go get without being even more late, like don’t even bother going to the class you’re going to be so damned late.

So I’m cussing up a blue streak and my kids are gasping. “Mommy, you said a bad word!”

“You’re @$#&!*$# right I did!”

At this point, my kids are scared. I’ve grown horns. (See pic above)

So I’m driving like a madman, er, woman, and I’m literally stuck behind this ONE FRICKEN’ PERSON who apparently seems to be going the same ****ing way I am – the whole entire way. Now, this person isn’t slow, they’re not a maniac. They’re driving just above speedlimit, but it’s the fact that it seems like I’m “following” them that’s pissing me off all the more. What are the **** odds they’d be going the same exact way as me? I mean, my route takes me on some twisty streets. Turn here, turn there, go here, go there. From almost my front door, people, I followed this one black SUV. If the lady driving could hear me yelling at her, I think there would have been some serious road rage.

Dear God, I was so pissed off today. Needless to say because of my ding-dang blunder, I didn’t get ANY writing done today, I just sat in Karate class staring at the clock. Joy of ****ing joys. If I could have kicked my own ass, I would have.

Ugh.

~~Becka

This one was good for a chuckle. I stumbled upon this when I was looking for pics for a hot biker dude for last week’s Hottie. LOL If you don’t “get it”, right-click on the picture to see the file name. I wonder how long it took to get that chick to sit there quietly. LOL

~~Becka

No, I didn’t forget to post my Hottie on Friday. I was just too damn busy. Then yesterday, I spent the entire day doing yardwork with the family. So today, instead of wracking my brain trying to think of someone cool for my Hottie, I’m going to give myself a break and give you the generic “every man”. What am I talking about? Why Mr. Motorcycle Dude.

I have no idea what makes this man sexy, but I’m sure you’ve seen him, blasting his way down the freeway, weaving in and out of traffic, or perhaps riding serenely on the Interstate. He doesn’t ride a “chopper”, but rather a “motorcycle”, and in some cases, he rides what’s affectionately known as… The Crotch Rocket.

Honestly, folks, I don’t make this stuff up. If you’re not driving a chopper (think Hell’s Angel’s or American Chopper here) or a “motorcycle”, then chances are, you have a crotch rocket. LOL Funny, I know. But my God. Every single solitary time these men shoot by me on the road, my heart palpitates. Is it the thrill of it? The speed? The fact that most of the men who ride these things are in good shape?

I think for me, it’s the thrill, thinking about clutching onto this man for dear life while he weaves down the road… And the helmet, for me, is what makes this man sexy. Why? Because I can’t see the “real” man’s face. LOL I can “imagine” him to look exactly the way I want him and hot damn, that’s the true thrill. For all I know, he could be old and ugly under there, but he’s still fricken’ sexy to me.

So the next time you see a man on a motorcycle barreling down the roadway, think of this post and remember that man, whoever he may be, is sexy as all hell. But only in our imaginations.

Congratulations, Mr. Motorcycle Dude. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka