Let's start with why we go to the movies. For me, I go to escape, to live vicariously in another person's world. I want to be enthralled, whether by people or places and both if possible.

Jupiter Ascending does that. It's beautiful, full of inter planetary imagery. The world is huge and interesting. Intergalactic commerce and power plays. It reminded of the Roman Empire. 

And that is the problem with it. Try taking the entire history of the Roman Empire and cramming it to a two hour movie. There is a lot of good material to explore and work with but the ambition of trying to get it all in now makes the whole endeavor cumbersome.

There are plenty of articles and reviews going around about what went wrong with this one and about the Wachowskis story telling technique but I return to why go to a movie at all. If you want a philosophical mind bender like The Matrix, this is not the movie. Deep character development, nope, not here either. Distraction, absolutely. Immense mind blowing fight scenes, check. Aliens, costumes, and grandeur, you should go.

Set your expectations right and you'll get what you pay for.

Today I had the opportunity to share about my book on West Coast Live. The host, Sedge, has questions about how the Elibe work. Some of the most common questions I get from people are about the Elbie. So far it seems my readers fall into two camps, one group that is interested in the aliens and the other is interested in Lysandra & Esben. If there are any other groups out there I would love to hear from you.

So since these stories exist to show how Elbie interact with people I thought I would just give you a quick reference guide. If you have any follow up questions please send me an e-mail or find me on Twitter.

Elbie=LB=lightning bug, for the light they emit. Elbie are a form of pure energy not native to Earth.

Elbie can transfer from human to human easily. An Elbie will switch hosts many times until they find a person that they can work with.

Elbie can inhabit any person but not every person is compatible.

Usually Elbie stay in the brain where there's the most electrical activity but they can stay in any part of the body.

Anyone can be a host, but the chances are slim. There are 89 designations in one collective and 6 billion+ humans. We know of 3 collectives.

Elbie do not have any religious beliefs of their own.

Elbie are not good or evil. They do not have morality.

Elbie do not have personalities. They conform to the disposition of their host and may carry residual traits from their last host.

Elbie do not have emotions. They can experience the emotions of their host and in some cases may influence emotions.

Elbie do not have personal names, they go by their designation in the hierarchy. Some choose to adopt the name of their host.

Elbie have no way of holding memory on their own. Only with a host can they recall impressions of their past.

Some Elbie have been on Earth for hundreds of years and have had many hosts.

As a host you would have better subconscious awareness.

As a host you can get deep restful sleep while still being fully aware of your surroundings.

Being a host would not increase your intelligence just the ability to use your brain to its highest potential.

When you're a host you may experience memories, cravings, or interests that you didn't have before, these are from your Elbie's prior host.

Hosts can experience increased physical strength, accelerated healing, and improved cognitive function. Effects will vary.

If their host is feeling tired an Elbie can give them a controlled boost of adrenaline for extra energy.

A host's body temperature is a few degrees higher than a non-host.

Elbie can help with your metabolism, thyroid, insulin, serotonin, anything related to the endocrine system. Increase white blood cells too.

To accelerate healing Elbie travel along the nervous system to the wound, speed up cellular growth while activating the proper chemical mix.

Elbie can signal to your body to create more white blood cells or antibodies to preempt sickness.

Most people can only handle 1 Elbie at a time. Some people can carry 2 but it is much more straining.

Elbie can also be like an internal health monitor that can make adjustments when needed to keep body temperature and chemicals in balance.

Being a host is like having a co-pilot in your head but since they don't get human behavior most of them make terrible wingmen.

Re: Elbie as wingman. Elbie can help a host out by producing extra pheromones that would make their host seem more attractive.

Elbie who work with the DPA agree to a strict code of conduct when dealing with their hosts and non-hosts.

Elbie under the COC will relinquish control if the host wants it at any time. Elbie are the guest, the host is doing the Elbie a favor.

Elbie under the COC agree to share control with their host. Decisions are mutually agreed upon between the person and the Elbie.

Elbie under the COC agree to stay with one host. They will not transfer to another person, even if temporarily, without notification to us.

The Elbie COC dictates an Eblie must have explicit permission to transfer to another human for any reason.

This Code of Conduct cannot be enforced outside of the DPA but we do ask all registered hosts to consider adopting it for their own safety.

Maybe it's predictable what today's post would be about but I don't care. It was this or Ender's Game. One word....

He's grumpy. He's arrogant. And he thinks humans are dumb, but I love him anyways. I didn't always like him. His character has grown on me as he's evolved. It will be interesting to see how Michael Bay ruins him. While most of MB's designs lack uniqueness I do like what they've done with him. I know I shouldn't be excited but I can't help it.

PREDICTION: Most likely Bay will use the Dinobots as a brute squad so there won't be much talking. Which is unfortunate. Will there be nod to Jurassic Park, Day of the Dinosaurs? Hmm...