Category Archives: Writing

Cinequest 2018: Little Women

Posted on March 5, 2018 by ricbret

Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women 150 years ago, and [amazon asin=0147514010&text=the classic novel] has been made into several movies since. This year the newest version is showing at Cinequest! First-time Director Claire Niederpruem retells this ageless story in a modern setting. Continue reading →

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Cinequest 2018:
Charlie and Hannah’s Grand Night Out

Posted on March 2, 2018 by ricbret

This is one of those cases where you’re best prepared when you’re unprepared. 
Trust me. This film is what film festivals are for. Continue reading →

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Cinequest 2018: Hunting Lands

Posted on March 1, 2018 by ricbret

The Hunting Lands invites us along for a hunter’s pursuit, stalking a killer of a different kind. Continue reading →

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Cinequest 2018: How to Cinequest!

Posted on February 28, 2018 by ricbret

As regular listeners to the Fanboy Planet Podcast know, San Jose’s award-winning Cinequest film festival opened last night.  Opening night at Cinequest typically features an independent film that has or is expected to shortly gain general distribution, and last night’s … Continue reading →

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What does Bill Gates read?

Posted on December 7, 2015 by ricbret

I find Bill Gates fascinating because he’s always surprising me with some new way to think about something we all think we already know. Continue reading →

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The Fibonacci Method of Dealing with Difficult Clients

Posted on September 21, 2015 by ricbret

I love a good Fibonacci sequence, especially one with humor. And a friend (thanks, Rob) recently shared a priceless pricelist that did just that. We’ve all dealt with those folks who want to be much more involved in the process than is good for them or you. These are typically the ones who want you… Continue reading →

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Design vs. Fashion vs. User

Posted on October 24, 2014 by ricbret

I found myself rereading parts of Richard Saul Wurman’s Information Anxiety this afternoon. Last week at Presentation Summit I gave a talk on the Pecha Kucha format. Pecha Kucha is a form of presentation using exactly 20 slides, with each slide advancing automatically after 20 … Continue reading →

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The Beauty of Books

Posted on October 3, 2014 by ricbret

In 1981 an Italian artist, architect, and industrial designer named Luigi Serafini worked for three years crafting an alien artifact that pushed the concepts of beauty, alienation, and book craft to new dimensions. Serafini created a tome, thick and large, embellished with impenetrable glyphs and symbols that by style and repetition of forms can be nothing but a language, but one no human has ever spoken.
Continue reading →

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Did I say there was confusion…?

Posted on September 22, 2014 by ricbret

New prank to get people to destroy their own brand new iPhones is apparently working, reinforcing my prior column about how marketing needs to better explain what wireless charging is really all about. Continue reading →

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Considering the Blue Pill…

Posted on September 19, 2014 by ricbret

Sure, and there’s stuff you can do with digital that you could never do with physical media. I travel with hundreds of books in my backpack. I can choose what movie I want to watch on the plane. Mix tape from 100’s of albums when and where I want? Sure, I’m future boy!

It’s all upside, right? What could be wrong? But about this time in any SyFy movie, you know the foreboding music is about to rise and everything you’ve been enjoying is about to turn on you. Continue reading →

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Just checking in…

Posted on August 19, 2014 by ricbret

Why wear two watches? And why don’t they tell the same time? A bit of a puzzle of course.

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Warning Wunderlist Users!

Posted on August 9, 2014 by ricbret

          UPDATE: Apparently @WunderlistHelp just tweeted the following. Wunderlist Support‏@WunderlistHelp If you’re missing lists, they are safe. Please sign out and back in again. So sorry for the trouble! I have not tried this, will check … Continue reading →

Posted in Geeking around, Personal, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized, Writing | 3 Comments

Swallow the red pill…

Posted on August 7, 2014 by ricbret

As you may already know from prior posts, as well as producing the weekly podcast, I often write for a website called Fanboy Planet. Fanboy Planet reports on all the silly and serious aspects of being a fan in this … Continue reading →

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Take the Red Pill…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by ricbret

As well as producing the weekly podcast, I often write for a web site called Fanboy Planet. Fanboy Planet reports on all the silly and serious aspects of being a fan in this modern day. Being involved in fannish media is … Continue reading →

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And another new blog… Book Judgement

Posted on July 10, 2014 by ricbret

Have I mentioned Book Judgement? It’s a project I’ve wanted to do for years, but never figured out exactly what it was and how I would do it.  Together those are pretty inhibiting factors. Simply put, I love books.  Not … Continue reading →

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The Shiny New Blog

Posted on July 8, 2014 by ricbret

Hey! You either followed the breadcrumbs or somehow just got lucky and stumbled into the new blog location.  Congratulations either way. I’m really happy you made it here. For years I’ve used the free WordPress-hosted blogging, and I was happy. … Continue reading →

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She’s Giving It Away…

Posted on November 7, 2013 by ricbret

No secret to anyone about my love of this book. So why is it news today? This morning Nancy Duarte announced that “the multimedia version of Resonate is now available on HTML5 and iTunes for FREE! You can read, learn, … Continue reading →

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Rotten Bitter Apple

Posted on April 10, 2013 by ricbret

Update: Word from comiXology now after many hand-wringing updates overnight is that Apple didn’t prevent comiXology from pushing to iOS apps, but comiXology made the call.  In a letter on their blog page, comiXology CEO David Steinberger noted: After hearing … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Entertainment, Geeking around, Media, Organizations, Personal, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts, Writing | 2 Comments

Love of Books – An Unboxing of “The Fifty Year Sword”

Posted on December 10, 2012 by ricbret

I’m a big fan of books. Not just the stories, but the book construction as well. From bindings, paper choice, typeset, typography, layout, it’s all interesting to me. Mark Z. Danielewski is most famous for House of Leaves, an inventive … Continue reading →

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The Facebook Face Flip

Posted on November 13, 2012 by ricbret

This is not a political post, although a quick reading without comprehension will surely give some that impression. Trust me, and read on. I was reading this evening about how you can actually see people “unliking” Mitt Romney’s Facebook page … Continue reading →

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