Blog Info and Extra-Mini Movie Review

This blog has MOVED to www.MariaZanniniHome.com
 
I was hoping to introduce the new blog this week, but the weather has been too perfect. How's that for an excuse? Ha!

The weather has been gorgeous (sorry, northern friends) so we've been trying to make ready for spring by doing all those outside chores that have been left undone over winter.

The new blog will debut this month for sure though. I finally got most of the picayune stuff squared away. The blog template seems to have a 'comment plugin' in place but I don't see where you can be emailed to get future comments so I'll have to find a plugin for that.

I like to read other comments on the blogs I follow which is why that feature is important to me.

Speaking of blogs, did you notice Blogger removed some of our 'followers' from our blogs? Google discontinued Google Friend Connect for non-Blogger sites in 2011. As of January 11, Google removed any non-Google account profiles. You can read the whole announcement here.

I'm wondering if something else is going on with Google too. For the past couple of weeks I've noticed the Google search engine has been offline. Not for long, but at inconvenient times (for me).

PS  I have to apologize to friends who had a post up last week. I was saving them to read and comment on over the weekend, but I accidentally hit delete on my blog feed and lost them all. Sorry, guys.

Extra-mini movie review: Usually I post something longer, but I don't have much to say about  Kingsman. It was part James Bond (from the schlocky years) and part intense spy story. It's about a spy organization with serious suit acumen that is recruiting the next replacement for their 'Round Table' of knights.



You can't go wrong with Colin Firth and Mark Strong, but I thought Samuel L. Jackson was miscast. The lisp was annoying and I can't see Jackson as a wuss when it comes to violence.

There was a scene that crossed the line for me, but in the end it was all a ruse. No harm, no foul, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Still it was good escapist fare so I can recommend it.

We still have not seen the new Star Wars. Any time there is too much hoopla over a film or book, I prefer to wait to see if people are still crazy about it a year later. I already know the spoilers so it's no big rush now.

***
So many celebrities have died in January. I'll especially miss Alan Rickman. He left us too soon.


Is there anyone you'll especially miss now that he's gone? 

Have you seen Kingsman? What did you think of it?

And have you noticed anything odd about Google/Blogger lately?


Comments

I noticed I lost Followers, too. First I thought it was people deciding to un-follow for their own reasons (perfectly fine, of course!) but I was glad to find out it (most likely!) wasn't me or my blog. :)
betty said…
I had read that about losing followers on blogs so when I saw the numbers going down, it didn't concern me too much; I'm not much into numbers of followers anyway because a blog can have a lot of followers but not many comments, know what I mean? I rather have few followers and faithful readers if that makes sense.

Glad the weather is being nice for you to enjoy some outside work. Right now it is snowing here, LOL, with a snow day for the kids.

I heard Kingsman was a lot of violence; not sure I am eager to see it. Hubby usually likes movies like this but for some reason hasn't found the need to rent it yet. We saw Burnt over the weekend; it was good.

betty
Maria Zannini said…
Madeline: Strictly a Blogger thing. I've never been a big fan of Google Friend Connect but I know some people find it helpful to follow blogs.
Maria Zannini said…
Betty: I love comments. It's a good indication of how people feel about the post. Regardless, as long as people come to read, I'll be happy. Don't want to write just for myself. :)
Sarah Ahiers said…
I will say that Star Wars is a film that is worth seeing in theaters for the screen size and the speakers. And if you like the original star wars, you'll like this one a lot.

I love Kingsman. The Colin Firth massive fight scene at the church was amazingly done (also, Freebird is a great song) But, also, I really love Kick Ass, too, so it didn't surprise me when I liked Kingsman.
I wondered what happened to my followers. It was about forty less when I noticed. I went to see Kingsmen at the theater with my son. It wasn't at all what we expected. We just kept looking at each other and laughing. It was beyond silly and a waste of money.
Unknown said…
I think Google is premature about a lot of things they do. They seem to get a lot of fallout after big decisions, somewhat like Microsoft about a decade ago. :)
Stacy McKitrick said…
Blogger always seems to be fiddling with something, but I haven't noticed the number of my followers dwindling. Then again, I don't have that many. I bet most of them don't even visit anymore.

Never watched Kingsmen. Barely remember when it was released. Probably because it didn't interest me so I forgot about it.

As for movies I want to see, "Hail, Caesar!" releases Friday. I figure Hubby and I can go see it on Tuesday, when it's only $5.75. Unless they raised the price again. I wouldn't put that past them. Movies are getting so gosh darn expensive.
Angela Brown said…
I am probably terrible when it comes to keeping an eye on the analytics for things unrelated to my paying gig. I should really do better.

As for Star Wars, I wish I could see it again but will have to wait. Got a little busy here with edits again.
Jenny Schwartz said…
Good weather is a great excuse! Glad you got out there and enjoyed it :)
Unknown said…
I loved Kingsman. I heard they're officially making a second movie, and I can't wait!
Maria Zannini said…
Sarah: We almost always see the big spectacles on the big screen first, so we'll probably catch it before it goes to dvd.

re: Kingsman
Those fight scenes were awesome. The exploding heads, not so much.
Maria Zannini said…
Susan:
re: Blogger
It's not you. It's them. I get the feeling Google is trying to expand into other areas so it's getting rid of anything that might be a time suck for its people. I never cared much about GFC so it was no great loss to me, but I know other people depended on it.

re: Kingsman
I just thought it needed to focus on what it wanted to be. The trailer made me think it was a serious spy movie which is why I was disappointed.
Maria Zannini said…
Diane: Google likes to close ranks. That's why it upsets me when it won't let me comment on your blog since I don't belong to Google+.

I'm surprised it hung on to Google+ for this long. I know they've taken some flak for it.

I try to catch you on Facebook anyway, and try to comment there.
Maria Zannini said…
Stacy: Blogger likes to do a lot of tweaking. I still like it though. It's been with me a long time.

You might not have noticed a down tick to your numbers if your followers are all on Blogger. They're only deleting the accounts of non-Blogger people.

re: Hail, Caesar. Greg said he was interested in that one. It looked funny.
Maria Zannini said…
Angela: Aside from letting people who read us directly from their GFC list, it won't affect us much.

It's probably only a matter of time before Google decides to remove it entirely, I guess.

Maria Zannini said…
Jenny: I think I seriously overdid it yesterday. By the time I finished working, I was sick to my gills. I couldn't even eat dinner.

Thankfully I feel better today.
Maria Zannini said…
Anna: Hubby liked it more than me. It had some good bits. Their action scenes were phenomenal.
I don't use blogger a lot, so I haven't noticed any weirdness. I did like Kingsman except for a part that made me feel icky, maybe the same one as you. And I will miss Alan Rickman as well. A very talented actor. Let's hope all the rest of the British celebrities in their late sixties stay safe!
Maria Zannini said…
Barbara: I'm sure we're thinking of the same scene.
Mark said…
Good post. I wondered why some of my blogger pals went missing. I'm glad you explained it to me, thanks:)
Maria Zannini said…
Mark: It's not you. It's them. :)
Mike Keyton said…
Our daughter recommends The Revenant, and I'm looking forward to Bridge of Spies. I may wait until they're on TV.

And yes, ref blogger, I've mislaid four followers, or they've had the good sense to call it quits.

Ref Alan Rickman, I strongly recommend you to check You tube for Alan Rickman and Barchester Towers. He plays the wonderfully slimy Obadiah Slope. It was his first major television role. You tube offer compilations and snippets of Slope in action. Fascinating to see the potential manifest in the young Alan Rickman. Series showed in the eighties i think.
Maria Zannini said…
Mike: Bridge of Spies just came on Amazon Prime. It's on our queue.

re: Alan Rickman
I will look it up. He will be sorely missed. He was a most singular talent.