Updating and Connecting

Hello World,

Keeping it short and Sweet....

It's been a busy day. To begin with, I've begun proofreading a novel for a friend. It'll take a while to complete, but I got a good start in today. Once I managed that, I had to get rid of a pile of bills and a list of chores. This included an earlier blog that had been knocking around my head for a while. But I finally got it all done. Yeah !

Then I had to update several pieces of my internet footprint. My Fanfiction.net profile, my Twitter account, this Blog and even my YouTube page/channel got an update. 

And yes, I have a YouTube page. I've been trying to build it up. But because I don't have time - or the nerve - to make videos, its pretty bare bones. Still, I'm trying it to give it some substance. I've added several playlists and managed to fill in some of the sections.

And that's all for today. Back to proofreading.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Serious Science Vol. 1

#1 Why you should never date American girls/Women

Well, it is simply a matter of biology. You see, behind every American girl, is an American Dad, the Abba Americanus And as their female off-spring grow, American Dads develop a sixth sense. This sense is known at the Mate Detector. 

This new sense allows the Dad to detect a potential Boy/Girlfriend a mile away. At the same time, the development of this sense affects the subjects' visual cortex. This makes it impossible for the father to see his off-spring as anything other then "Daddy's perfect little princess."

Upon detection of the potential mate, the American dad will immediately proceeded to 'Communicate' with the potential mate. 

Should you survive this stage of the process, you might end up saying the dreaded "I do." In which case, the American Dad and the Mom will immediately mutate into a pair of inhuman, blood thirsty creatures known only as 'In-laws." This raise the question of... 

American Procreation

....how do Americans procreate ? This is the true mystery of the 21st century. One that will likely not be solved for a considerable amount of time. It should be noted that this 'communication' is one of the reasons why Americans as so fond of their guns. Finally, it should be noted that there is one exception to this mystery. Namely, the Americanus Conspiracy Nuttus. 

This subspecies of American had been known to be created by the means of Black Magic. The mamma of the potential ACN burns a pile of old comic books, sacrificing them to the comic book gods Stanicus Lee'us and Jackus Kirbus. This causes the ACN to coalesce fully grown in the middle of their basement. 

And thus ends today's episode.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

NCIS Hawai'i Review

Hi World,

Okay, four episodes in, I am not very impressed with this show. So far, the show feels like filler. Filling the hole left by NCIS: New Orleans - in the franchise - and by Hawaii Five-0, in the studio facility. And frankly, I'm not that invested in the characters either. I liked the New Orleans team, I cared about them and wanted them to be survive. Taking a closer look....

• Tennant: Somebody on the staff is a closeted Doctor Who Fan.
  
• Brooks: Sigh. Waiting for the reason why he left Washington DC. Feels like it's going to be a Grover clone. Some horrible mistake, some horrible disaster.
• Kai: The whole "I don't want to be here, but I have to be for my family." motivation is cloned straight from Danny Williams. Mix in Junior Reigns family problems and you are done.
• Ernie: Cliche, techno guy. Box ticked (To keep the social justice crowd happy.)
  
• Lucy: Mandatory lesbian character. Box ticked. I have no zero issue with lesbian characters. As long as the writers don't use the lesbian part as a get-out-jail free card for sloppy and one-dimensional writing. (For a well written lesbian character, see Tammy G. from NCIS: New Orleans.)

It also doesn't help that the show is trying very hard to deny that it is part of the larger Lenkov/NCIS-verse. It's like a child sitting at an embarrassing Thanksgiving dinner, with it's fingers in it's ears, going "La, la,la, I'm not part of this family, I'm not part of this family, I'm not part of this family !!!" And not fooling anybody. 

How To Fix it

1. Character Development, character development, character development ! If by the end the of Season 1, these characters have not gone from their current raw state to more fleshed out, this show is o...v...e...r. (It'll go the CSI: Cyber route and burn after two seasons. At most.)
   
2. Embrace the fact it is set in the Lenkov/NCIS-verse. Do cameos and guest appearances. And not just from the NCIS shows. Do that Magnum PI crossover. Have Five-0 characters appear. Maybe score some point with MacGyver fans - who are still pissed that their show was cancelled - and have the Phoenix Foundation team appear. 
3. Compensate for the lack of a backdoor pilot by doing a flashback episode to show Tennant arriving/taking charge. And explain what happened to that NCIS Agent Emma Warren. (From Hawaii Five-0 episode 9x06.)
   

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers

Curve Ball / Hollywood Strike

Hello World, 

Okay, starting this one with a bit of a wind-up here, people. So, here we go...

About six months ago, something happened. I wrote my first letter to Robert Meyer Burnett, who has a YouTube channel. And she read it on his show. In the months that passed after that, I wrote in more and more letters were read. And - over time - I collected the shows where RMB read my letters into a YouTube playlist.

But recently, I did a review and I was not that happy with my playlist. This is not a reflection on Mister Burnett's replies to my letters. In my opinion, it's the quality of the letters that I think is not up to snuff. Too much silliness, too much filler and not enough philosophy. Only the first one made my cut. 

So I deleted the rest from the list, before sending Mr. Burnett a message that I would not be writing in for a while. Because that was the plan. But then life threw me a curve ball. Namely, the possible Hollywood strike. So here we go. *Crosses fingers and hopes this one will get read*

My Letter for Robservations

Hello Rob and Members of the PGS,

I wasn't expecting to write this letter, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball. I was planning to take a break from letters, because I was not happy with the quality of my letters. Too much silliness, too much filler, not enough philosophy. (Ruben rule's #1: Always be your own harshest critic. Maybe its a dutch-slash-Calvinistic thing, maybe it's just me.) But then the potential IATSE strike appeared on my radar, and I just couldn't help myself.

So, let's move on to the million dollar question....what's your opinion on this potential strike, Rob ?

As for my two cents.....The short version is a sentence Dr. Phil uses whenever he is dealing with a pair of parents in a ugly divorce. The kind with mudslinging and trying to make the children chose sides. "I'm on the side of the children." 

What made me pick this stance is that one of the union members said that she hadn't seen her children in five days. FIVE.....frakking....days !

And as if The Powers That Be wanted to remind me just how important quality time is, I just spend the weekend with three of my sister's bouncing balls of joy. We went to a bookstore, we played games and visited some local dunes. (Just give 'em a ball and a place to kick it around and you have an afternoon of quality entertainment.) 

Which made me wonder......Are the children of that union member getting these kind of experiences ? Nope ! Books ? Sorry, can't afford them. And even if they could somehow scrape together the money, they can forget about mom and dad going along to the bookstore. Because they'll be either be at work or asleep. And should they be awake, they're probably busy recharging for the next insanely long workday.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that these Hollywood jackasses are not just abusing the parents. They're abusing the children. Robbing them of quality time with the most important people in their lives. Once your childhood is gone, it'll never come again. 

And for those stakes, I say....shut it down. Shut it all down. Let Hollywood burn in a Hell of its own making.

Best Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers

Chess Games in Cairo

A small update on my third novel. I still have to write the Blurb and find an editor. But the good news is that I have found the picture that will grace the front. And here it is. 

And that is all I have for today,

Regards, 

Ruben A. Hilbers

New Chapters....

 ...Ready to Go

Yeah ! So....it took several months, but I've finally finished my update to Stargate: Dark Empire. 

Six months after the return of the Destiny Expedition, Stargate Command finds itself facing a new enemy...

And its a whopper. Five chapters, good for over ten-thousands words. As for why it took so long...well, I've been suffering from dry spell. That, and my computer game spree. Fortunately, now it's over. 

And that's all for today,

Ruben A. Hilbers

How does he do it ? (@Barondestructo)

Hi World,

It's me - Ruben - again. And this week, I realized that we were quickly approaching the end of September. (Or the start of October, if you want to get technical.) And that - once again - my blog had been gathering dust in it's dark, forgotten corner of the internet. (One of these days, I'll figure out it's physical location. But with my luck, it's probably a haunted castle in Romania or something equally spooky.)

As a Stargate fan, I often read Joseph Mallozzi's Blog and he posts every day, which makes me wonder...~How does he do it ?~ Because if I manage to write five entries per month, it's a miracle. And this blog is not the only part of my internet footprint to be often neglected. My Twitter account and YouTube page often go long stretches without attention. 

My Twitter only gets love when I blog or add an new chapter to one Fanfiction.net stories. And seeing an update to my YouTube account is like looking for snow in the Sahara. So, mark the date, people. Because....

A New YouTube Playlist

I had three playlist:  Shameless Self-Promotion, Working Music and Research. But they were all kind of serious. So, today, I added:

Silliness 

Right now, it's only six videos. Some are in Dutch, some are in English. But - who knows - maybe more videos (and languages) will follow. Speaking of follow, was there anything I need to squeeze into this blog. Oh, yes.....

Dark Empire Update

The latest Stargate: Dark Empire chapter you can currently read is number 10. The good news is that Chapters 11 through 14 are ready to go. The bad news is that they have to wait until Chapter 15 is done before I can launch them into the dark bowels of the interweb. So, back to work it is....

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Post 100 !!!!

 Hello World !

So...this is my 100th post. But....euhm....well, not really. You see, this blog is used to be bigger. I used to rant and rave about...well, a lot of stuff. And then I forgot about this blog for a couple of years, before rebooting it as something a LOT more professional. And as part of that reboot, I threw out a dozens of old posts. So it would be fairer to say that this is me getting back to 100. Anyway....

Silence 

My old PC - and when I say old, I mean OLD - has been replaced. After a whopping seven years, it is gone. And with a new computer came new games. So I have been busy playing through The Outer Worlds - which two expansions - and the Mass Effect Trilogy (Legendary Edition). I've also replayed Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and Wolfenstein: Youngblood . So that's why haven't blogged for a while. But now I'm getting back to it. Which brings me to....

Other Stuff I'm Up To

Besides dusting off my blog, I've also written a letter to Robservations. Presented by Robert Meyer Burnett, Robservations is a show about popular culture on YouTube. And one of the features on the show is reading (and responding to) fan letters. So fingers crossed.

And by sharing this blog entry on Twitter, I can begin dusting off my Twitter feed as well. As for Facebook....well.....I tried that for a week once. It drove me nuts, so I quit and I'm never - ever - going back. I also don't have any other social media. Twitter is it for me. I also didn't install it on my phone, on purpose. Only having it on my PC make it easier to ignore.

Finally, I want to get back to writing Stargate: Dark Empire. I'll have to check my notes and read the last few chapters to get back into the zone. But the plan is to get back to it. 

That's it for now, folks,

Ruben A. Hilbers