What a difference a beta makes, #2

(cross-posted to ohzeebooks)

I will confess that I don't usually have my drabbles beta'd, but I do try to have longer pieces beta read, and I have a really awesome beta-reader. I posted a similar account once before for a story called Heart and Soul (Cain/Glitch, not to be confused with the DG/Glitch story of the same name!), and wanted to do it again for a more recent story.

I thought it might be interesting/helpful/discussion-making to give an example of the beta-ing process, at least as it took place for this particular story.

( Pay some attention to the man behind the curtain )

Movies: Ratatouille and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D

We rented Ratatouille, which we'd always wanted to see. Very cute! I *loved* Peter O'Toole as the food critic!

We saw Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D in the theater with SIL and metherion. The latter prefers to watch movies on DVD, but we dragged him along to get him out of the house (it was the day he crashed the car and he was moping) and because he wasn't going to get the 3-D effect from the DVD.

The 3-D effects were great - sometimes a bit blurry, but when they worked they made us jump. The story was very simple and I think the movie might have been boring without the 3-D, but it was fun. Brendan Fraser was very likeable as usual and the others were good as well.

Absolute favorite moment (no spoilers): Very early in the movie, Trevor is unpacking a box of miscellany and comes across a stereopticon. He stares at if for a moment, says, "I have no idea what that is," and tosses it aside. We have a couple of those!!!! TODS collects stereopticon cards! They're an early 3-D medium! So quite a nice reference for a 3-D movie.

( mildly spoilery comment )

ETA: This is the SIXTH movie we've seen the theater this year! Last year I think we saw one (the 300). We probably hadn't seen six movies in the theater in the last three years combined! But it's been a great summer for movies and there are more coming - Dark Knight, the new Mummy - we saw an ad for a new animated film called Igor that looks great, too.