Today, I'm interviewing the lovely, Anna Humphrey, author of RHYMES WITH CUPID and the upcoming MISSION (UN)POPULAR.
Anna Humphrey is the author of RHYMES WITH CUPID (currently available) and MISSION (UN)POPULAR (due out June 2011)—both books for teens. She lives in Toronto with her husband and kids.
I've been lucky enough to meet Anna in person through the fabulous @torkidlit tweet group. Follow our hashtag. :)
ABOUT THE BOOK
RHYMES WITH CUPID from HarperTeen is the story of a girl who finds romance despite her best efforts not to. After a terrible heartbreak last Valentine’s day, Elyse Ulrich has sworn off dating as well as celebrating the February 14th holiday. Both things are a problem, though, since: a) she works at a gift & stationery store, surrounded by annoying singing Cupid dolls, tacky heart-shaped balloons, and sappy cards with poems that don’t even really rhyme. b) she ends up meeting Patrick, who works in the same mall and is her new neighbor and her driving instructor and is really cute and incredibly charming… which might be okay except for the whole ‘sworn off dating’ thing… Elyse isn’t interested in putting her heart on the line. But with Valentine’s Day approaching, she finds out that avoiding Cupid’s arrow is a lot harder than she expected.
Drop by to read her great answers to my silly questions. If you comment on that post you'll get a chance to win her book, SMUDGE'S MARK!
Claudia Osmond is an only child, wife, and mother who loves caramel apples, hates snakes, stands for social justice, sits at the feet of her Muse, accepts the fact that she’s getting older, denies the idea that her best years are behind her, reads voraciously, writes passionately, sings only when no one’s listening, and admits that she wrote her very first novel in a closet ~ both literally and figuratively speaking.
SMUDGE'S MARK
“With a shaky hand, I laid the brass key on the paper flat side down, and slid it over top of the sketch. It fit the shape exactly. Then the line circling the key uncurled and reformed itself into two words: FIND IT.”
Simon is a fourteen-year-old Orphan with No Options: an O.W.N.O. And “Oh no” pretty much sums up his life. He’s stuck in Grimstown with his prank-pulling grampa and a housekeeper-slash-nanny from you-know-where. Worse, Simon can’t remember a thing about his childhood. Then one night a bizarre dream unlocks some of those forgotten memories, leaving Simon with half of a key in his pajama pocket and a growing awareness that he’s in the middle of a dangerous plot that threatens to destroy Emogen, a hidden realm connected to Earth. In order to save Emogen – and his best friend – from a deadly curse, Simon needs to find out who he really is. But can he discover his true identity before it’s too late?
Again, for a chance to win the book, leave a comment on the post at Get Lost in a Story! A blog for readers of all ages.
I interviewed Eileen Cook at Get Lost in a Story, and we talked about her new YA book THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK (and about Johnny Depp). Check it out. :)
Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer.
You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.
About the Book
Hailey Kendrick always does exactly what's expected of her. She has the right friends, dates the perfect boy, gets good grades, and follows all the rules. But one night, Hailey risks everything by breaking a very big rule in a very public way...and with a very unexpected partner in crime. Hailey gets caught, but her accomplice does not, and Hailey takes the fall for both of them. Suddenly, Hailey's perfect life--and her reputation--are blowing up in her face. Her friends are all avoiding her. Her teachers don't trust her. Her boyfriend won't even speak to her for long enough to tell her that she's been dumped. They say honesty is the best policy--but some secrets are worth keeping, no matter the cost. Or are they?
If you don't believe me, (and why wouldn't you?), here's what major reviewers have had to say about her latest release, THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK:
"Cook effectively builds both Hailey's (justified) feelings of rebellion and the social dynamics of her ostracism, especially in her growing friendship with a challenging townie, Drew, who supervises her punishment working with the janitorial staff....Cook coaxes considerable empathy for the otherwise privileged Hailey as she abandons the achievement treadmill to explore her independence."
--Publishers Weekly
* "Hailey may be an A student headed to the Ivy League, but when it comes to taking a chance on life, she’s clueless. She’s also enormously appealing and great company throughout this breezy read. Yes, it’s chick lit, but of the highest quality—like a gourmet truffle. Cook has whipped up a real treat.”
When I walked in the theatre to see True Grit last weekend I was expecting to see a Western. And given how many groups of men were in the audience, so did they. Little did they know, we were about to see one of the smartest, funniest, most tightly plotted, girl-driven young adult stories I've seen/read in a long time.
I've never been a big fan of Westerns as a genre, but I do vaguely remember seeing the 1969 version of True Grit on TV, (probably because I had a now-embarrassing crush on Glen Campbell). And I barely remembered that the story was about a young girl.
When the book was first published, I understand it was put out by as a "book for young readers", and having just seen the new Coen brothers movie (twice), which supposedly follows the original book more closely, I understand that. And really want to read the book. It is a YA story.
I did a (tiny) bit of research before composing this post, and now understand that the original film didn't stick to the material in the novel as well as the Coen brothers did. Plus, in the new version, the actress who plays fourteen-year-old Mattie was just thirteen during filming. The actress in the original was twenty-one. And that says a lot in itself. I was in my early teens when I saw the original on TV and likely could easily see through the adult pretending to be fourteen.
The old version also took out a lot of the comic elements and made it more about Rooster and LeBoeuf and Chaney -- more of a traditional western. I think the Coen's managed to marry the two genres. Or rather make a YA with cross-over appeal, rather than a western. :)
One of the first things that struck me after seeing this movie was what an excellent lesson in POV it is. Perhaps it was just because I'm preparing to teach a POV workshop this weekend and thinking a lot about the topic, but I couldn't help but notice that here's not one scene in this movie that's not from Mattie's POV. Even the scenes that aren't really about her, or that she's not directly part of, we only see through her eyes... Entirely seen through the eyes of a fourteen year old girl. How could that not be a YA?
The trailer makes it seem like an adult western, and I suppose that was smart on the studio/distributor's part, but how little Mattie is in this trailer is misleading. As I said above, she is in every scene in the movie, even if she's just observing a few times. Also, the trailer makes her look like a victim. They skip the important part of that scene in the river. The part where she's incredibly brave.
A good ten or fifteen minutes of the movie goes by before we ever see (or hear) Rooster. And the first time we hear Rooster, she's tracked him down to an outhouse. And the Coen's don't cheat and show Jeff Bridges's face, or go for the potential funny moment of seeing him inside the outhouse with his pants down. Or without his pants down and simply hiding from the girl. No. We're left to imagine what he's doing and just see her banging on the door, saying things like, "you've been about your business for an awful long time, Marshall" and we only see the scene from her side. Similarly, when Rooster is testifying in a court case a few scenes later, (the first time we see his character), we don't see or hear any part of the trial until she walks in the room. Another example is when someone approaches Rooster and Mattie in the forest, when she's high up in a tree, we don't hear the conversation between Rooster and the man, until she's down out of the tree and within hearing distance. Anyone who wants to understand POV should watch this movie.
Even more, anyone who wants an example of an active, decisive, perfectly motivated protagonist should see this movie. Yes, Jeff Bridges is getting a lot of attention for his performance and he was excellent. Yes, Matt Damon is HILARIOUS as the bombastic braggart LeBoeuf (pronounced "LaBeef" in this movie -- which I found hilarious in itself). Yes, Brolin is astoundingly good as Chaney and Barry Pepper is so great in the role of Ned Pepper, I can't even imagine that Robert Duvall did it better in 1969. But the real star of this film is its protagonist, Mattie Ross, played by Hailee Steinfeld. She never misses a beat.
Mostly, I love that this is a story about a brave young girl in grown up and dangerous situations, but instead of being overwhelmed, she holds her own and doesn't need to rely on the adults for everything. Yes, it's true that she does need the adults. She couldn't have gone after Chaney on her own. But she's smart enough to know this and smart enough not to let the men take advantage of her, and even smart enough to push for her own way even when they aren't really trying to take advantage -- but thinking that they know what's good for her better than she does. This girl doesn't take cr%p from anyone. I particularly loved the scenes of her haggling near the beginning and how much she knows about law and how incredibly well-educated and articulate she is. Her word choices cracked me up so many times.
I think she's one of the strongest female characters I've seen in a long time who didn't have unrealistic skills or superpowers. And she's fourteen!
I even think my twelve year old niece should see this movie. I actually went the second time mostly to remind myself of the content because I'd already told my sister that she should take my niece to see it and started to question my recommendation. Yes, men get shot. Men get hung. It is a western. And there is one scene that's pretty gruesome, but it's not gratuitous and (like everything) it's shown through Mattie's eyes, and we feel the horror of it with her. (And compared to the violence in many PG-13 movies, it's really not that bad.)
YA is taking over the entertainment world right now -- it's even claimed the gritty western.
I've joined a new group blog where our main aim is to put readers in touch with authors.
We launched this Wednesday, and today we're introducing ourselves if you'd like to stop by and meet the gang. You can suggest questions we should ask our visiting authors. You can suggest authors you'd like to see on the blog. Or you can just mock us. ;) Up to you.
I've seen this so many places now, I'm sure you've seen it already, but it so clearly represents the frustration I've felt talking to people since I started working toward writing in a serious way.
Thing is... nine years ago, I might have resembled annoying guy in this... Well, not that bad. But I really thought it was going to be so much easier. How foolish.
I had hoped to start a huge writing marathon today. Not officially nano, but during nano. I hope to finish my current WIP and revise it over the next 4-6 weeks.
Sadly, I'm still finishing off my revisions on another book, AND either I'm having the worst allergy attack, ever, or I'm coming down with a cold.
I'm still hoping it's allergies... We'll see how I feel in the morning. Le sigh.
Has anyone else seen this SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD? I LOVED it, and not just because it was set in Toronto. And REALLY set in Toronto, not like so many other movies and TV shows that are filmed here but not set here. There was even one part of the movie where they were on the set of another movie... and there's a bit where characters get thrown through a scrim that's a backdrop of New York. Maybe that's only funny if you live in Toronto and know how many films set in NY are actually shot here... but I thought it was funny.
An aside... but assuming it was shot last winter, they must have had to make a lot of snow... because it was set in a snowy, wintery Toronto, and we didn't get any snow last winter... Just saying. But the city looked great. Reminded me why I love living here. And shots inside places like Lee's Palace and at Casa Loma were really fun, too.
And these examples of tiny things that are almost like background laughs amongst the action. This movie was so funny on so many levels. Highly entertaining. It's shot like a video game, but in a natural way, as if it's perfectly normal for this ordinary guy to have powers and be able to pick up new tools to use or score points when something happens.
I got some really bad news in late April that I've been mostly sitting on, hoping I could put off telling people until it turned into good news... And it finally has.
What Blogo and I have in common is the bad news not the good news, and it doesn't have anything to do with fraud or corruption or bad hair...Both of us had our publisher close their doors on April 26, 2010.
Yes, after giving up my entire life this winter/spring, alienating friends and family, nearly driving myself insane to make a crazy deadline... the publisher unexpectedly shut down.
But, the good news is that I have a new publisher! Can't announce all the details, yet, but both Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer will be likely be released in 2011 (instead of October 5, 2010 as previously announced). And there will be new covers, etc. More details soon!
I've already seen a mock up of the kind of cover the new publisher is aiming for and let's just say: very pretty! Very classy! Love the look. Can't wait to see the final covers!!! :)
So, will announce more later, but finally my bad news has morphed into good news.
Plus, my critique partner Ann Lethbridge aka Michele Young won a huge award tonight!
The Daphne Du Maurier Award of Excellence for Published Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense.
I can't believe I'm posting this sort of ad for Old Spice, but I have to tell you, this viral campaign via twitter is the funniest thing I've ever seen.
Especially this one where he's supposedly saying a few words in support of libraries. For those of you not on twitter (why not??), basically people post questions or requests for this guy @oldspice and he responds via these funny clips on youtube.
"Book's are often composed of many, many words... I'm handsome. You're pretty. Let's eat peanut butter..."
I got a call this morning that my manuscript, SWITCHING SIDES, made the finals in RWA® 's Golden Heart® competition.
YAY.
My big lesson for this past year is to always give things a shot. It's relevant in this case because I almost pulled out of this contest. It's a contest for unpublished authors and I got my first book contract offer right around the time of the deadline to enter this competition. To be frank, I was hoping I'd be disqualified and get my money back. :)
But after talking to RWA® and telling them about my contract offer, they said I was still eligible to enter as long as the contract wasn't signed by November 1, 2009. (And in the end, it wasn't signed until Jan 2010.) Therefore, if I chose not to enter, I'd be forfeiting my already paid entry fee.
So, I decided to roll the dice and pay the shipping costs to get that puppy down to Houston. AND IT PAID OFF!!!
This marks the last time I can enter the Golden Heat®, and I'm a finalist again! (Last time was in 2007) Yippee!!! And with a book that I really love and believe in AND that's never been shopped!!! (The last time I finalled in this contest, my book had already made the rounds in NYC, so while the contest final gave it a bit of a second chance, that ship had basically already sailed.... Although I am still hoping that particular ship can find some wind again in the future...)
And in even more exciting news, my critique partner and very good friend Molly O'Keefe is nominated for a RITA®!!!
We're blogging about vampires all week at Drunk Writer Talk to celebrate the release of Eileen Rendahl's latest release -- her urban fantasy debut -- DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER. This book is getting AWESOME reviews all over the place.
Confidence is such a funny thing. For me, it waxes and wanes with speeds that defy nature and logic.
Today, this hour, this minute, I feel pretty great. Book one in this new series has been cleared by my editor. Yay. And while I'm terrifyingly behind on book 2 (don't tell my editor. Oops, she sometimes reads this blog...) I feel pretty good about the story and where it's going. Sure, it won't be as super polished as I'd like it to be when she gets it in less than 2 weeks, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a coherent (and damn good) story. And I'm also confident I'll be able to do that polishing after I get her revision letter, a few days later. (Yes, this timeline is hyper accelerated. I honestly expect to get my revision letter a week, or less, after turning in the ms.) So, confidence high right now.
Just a few days ago -- hell, this morning -- I'd been so confused about how to solve a few technical details that I wondered if I'd have to scrap the entire book and start over.
I totally let my confidence in my abilities to solve these problems fade and it left me in a panic. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
I ran into my sister in law this morning by accident, she asked if there was anything she could do to help (grocery runs, cutting off my internet access) and I told her confidence was my biggest barrier to meeting this deadline right now. LOVED her response. She said she believed in me and reminded me she'd been telling me that for nearly four years, ever since I let her read one of my manuscripts. She said if I lacked confidence she took it as a personal insult -- me suggesting that she was wrong about my talent. LOL.
Thanks K. And thanks too, to CP's Molly and Sinead for pulling me down off a yet another ledge this weekend. Not only did they talk me through my plot issues, Molly kept repeating, "It's going to be okay. It's going to work out." In a sincere way that made me believe her.
I've read a few articles lately about the "war" between people who use coffee shops as offices and those who think coffee shops should only be used for socializing/drinking coffee. According to the articles, some coffee shop owners have been covering up outlets with tape, to prevent (people like me) from plugging in laptops and staying for hours.
Clearly, since I often use coffee shops as my office, I can't side with the "social only" folks, especially the ones who want to ban laptops, but I think there's a balance.
I always try to spend enough money to compensate for how long I sit... It's not fair to the owner or other customers if you buy a small coffee at 10:00 am and stay all day. I've considered asking the owner of my local shop whether me sitting here for 3-4 hours some days pisses him off... But he almost always gives me free coffee when he's serving, so I assume not.
Second, I try to be considerate of the customers who are here to socialize and don't expect them to modify their behavior for me. That said, I have been guilty of a sneer or two at really loud talkers. I mean, seriously, some people talk loudly enough to be heard on another planet. But I always carry ear buds, and if a conversation near me is distracting, I plug them into my laptop and turn some music on low to buffer/dull the loud talker.
But another person who uses my local coffee shop as an office is here today... And he's pissing me off. Why? He's been on the phone. Constantly. I've been here for nearly 3 hours and he was here when I came in. Was on the phone then. Is on the phone now. And buddy, shielding your industrial strength headset with your hand doesn't keep me from hearing your very loud, very annoying voice beside me.
Maybe that's where I stand. If someone's distracting me being social, I assume it's my problem, not theirs. But if someone else who's using this public space as an office distracts me, I'm annoyed.
And don't get me started on the groups of 20 or more mommies who come in together with strollers and expect everyone else to move to accommodate them. At least my current fav office away from home is too small for those stroller groups.
Oh, and that Tobey Maguire was amazing in Brothers. If you didn't see this film when it was out for about a week... rent it for his amazing performance alone. Stunning. Thanks Golden Globes for reminding me about a great film.
Finally, Molly's blogging about my stress over at Drunk Writer Talk, I guess because I'm too stressed to do it myself. ;-)
I saw the first episode of Vampire Diaries when it aired back in the fall and kind of went, "M'eh."
Didn't hate it, but didn't like it enough to set my already way too busy DVR. But this week, while not much else was on, Much Music, up here in Canada has been showing back to back episodes all week and boy, have I got sucked in. (Pun intended.)
What I hadn't realized before was that Kevin Williamson was the writer. I didn't watch Dawson's Creek the first time around, either, but did catch a bunch of them in syndication and totally got the appeal of that show. Witty repartee and teen angst. What's not to love?
And now Vampire Diaries: witty repartee, teen angst and hot, hot vampires.
Not to mention Boone from Lost. Yowza. I know it's a little sick, but that Boone loves his sister subplot from the first season of Lost was one of my favourite subplots, although it might have had more to do with his eyes and the way he looked at her than the actual writing.
But regardless, it's great to see that actor on TV again and in such a great role. I totally feel like a cougar. A cougar who wants the hot bad-boy vampire. Wow. Sick.
So suddenly, all I'm blogging about is firsts. To be more accurate, I suppose, I haven't been blogging much at all lately, but that's mostly because of another first, my first real deadline that's looming over me like an overhanging cliff in an earthquake. Don't stand under the huge chunk of shaking rock, idiot! LOL
But today is the official release date of the anthology my short story, "Lost and Found" is in. Not quite the same as a debut novel, but it is the first time my fiction has been in print -- well, unless you count high school yearbooks and the like. And my yearbook didn't have such a hot guy on the cover.
Although it's officially available today, Amazon and other online booksellers have been shipping this book for more than a week now. In fact, it seems like they're running low on stock because the ship by date has stretched out. But still time to get it by Christmas. 20 authors for the price of, well, less than 20. ;-)
Can't wait to actually see a copy in a bookstore. Will be heading down to my local store this week to hound them into shelving it, if they still have it in the stockroom, or ordering it, if they haven't. They have stocked the previous "Mammoth" romance anthos, so I'm hoping they stock this one, too. If not, I'll beg and plead and promise to send people to the store to buy it.
If anyone out there sees this anthology on a shelf, let me know. Better yet, take a snap. Very exciting. And if you'd like a chance to win your very own copy, I'm also blogging on the 2007 Bond Girls blog today and giving away a book!
Okay, so I've been sitting on this news for a while now, waiting for various details to be hammered out. Sitting on it so long, in fact, that this announcement feels almost anticlimactic. But, really, how can there be anything anticlimactic about announcing MY FIRST BOOK DEAL.
Yes, I have been offered a two book deal! Someone is actually paying me to write! Someone is making a bet that readers will put down their hard earned cash to buy something I wrote! Wow. (Something more than a short story, that is. To read my first published short story, order here. ;-) Already shipping from Amazon in the US. Just saying....)
The offer was made based on a proposal :-) and it's for two YA novels, (young teen, really), a genre I've been flirting with for a long time, but had yet to tackle beyond the ideas stage.
The books will be released in Fall 2010 (yes, that soon **Maureen is writing very quickly**) by Phoenix Books, a Beverly Hills based publisher better known for celebrity non-fiction and audio books than for kids fiction. (But hey, they did publish Carl Reiner's children's picture book.)
And I'm super excited they chose my series to help launch them into this segment of the publishing world. (Not that they don't know the teen/tween market... One of their current titles is "I Heart Robert Pattinson".
The books are the first two in a planned series based on fairy tales, but with a few twists -- including a "make your own adventure" element where the reader gets to choose what the characters do next.
The first two books are:
CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR, wherein Cinderella is not that interested in going to a ball, and uses her martial arts and magic skills to defeat her evil stepmother and win the heart of the prince.
And...
SLEEPING BEAUTY: VAMPIRE SLAYER, wherein a princess is cursed to sleep during the day, and everyone else in her kingdom is cursed to sleep at night -- when the vampires attack. How's a girl to find true love and break a curse when all the non-bloodsucking-type boys are asleep?
We're already talking about books 3 and 4 and I'm excited about those ideas too, and the ones I have percolating for books 5 and 6 and... I'm getting away from myself.
I've always loved the magic, wonder and happy endings offered by fairy tales, but even as a kid was bothered by all the passive heroines in peril, waiting for their princes to save the day. I'm thrilled to be re-imagining these much-loved stories with tons of girl power, lots of action and danger, and yes, handsome, charming princes, too. But in my fairy tale world it'll take more than good looks for the heroines to win a happily-ever-after ending.
And I'm hoping these books will mark a happy beginning for me. After several other projects came so close to making it to the ball, but never quite got there, I feel a bit like Cinderella myself right now. Gotta run, pumpkin carriage outside... ;-)
Okay, so I've been sorely neglecting this blog of late, but today I'm blogging on both Drunk Writer Talk, (about Mad Men), and on Nobody Writes It Better, (about Remembrance Day).
About to embark on a rapid writing marathon a la Nano. (Okay, I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, but can't be an official "winner" because I'm already 4K into the book, and hope to be at least 15K in before the end of October and the official NaNo start. But definitely plan to get at LEAST 50K done in November, too.
If you're on NaNo, be my buddy. I'm on there as mmcgowan.
About 3 years ago, I sat across the aisle from a woman during a Donald Maass workshop at the Surrey Writers conference.
She was so strikingly attractive she was the kind of girl a girl like me almost wants to hate instantly, or at least make assumptions about (shame on me). ;-) But soon I noticed we were nodding at the same insights from Maass, smiling at the same things, rolling our eyes in the same places, and even making eye contact a few times. Writer flirting?
We talked during the first break, found out more about each other and each others writing, and became instant friends, staying in touch via e-mail since then.
So, I couldn't have been more thrilled to hear when she got her first publishing contract last year!!!!
Writing as Chevy Stevens, her thriller STILL MISSING will be released by St. Martin's Press in July, 2010, and is already generating a huge amount of buzz. (Bzzzzz....You hear it, don't you!)
Right now, bookreporter.com is giving away 60, yes 60, specially formatted early reader copies of STILL MISSING to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it.
Get yours while they're hot!
(I read an early draft of the opening of this book and all I can say is WOW.)
Also glad to have had a good movie going experience at Roy Thompson Hall, again, after not going to a gala for the past seven years.
The experience was good because of a smart gamble I took in line. I had a balcony ticket. And Roy Thompson Hall is a symphony hall. Built for acoustics, not for viewing movies, and I already knew that watching a movie from the top balcony, with it's pale grey walls bouncing all the light so that you can see everyone in the theatre, as well or better than you could see the movie, was distracting at best. But while standing in the ticket holders line, about an hour before the movie was to start, a TIFF volunteer came by with a stack of tickets for the main floor level and offered them to us in exchange for our tickets. Most people weren't taking them. And after going in, I can kind of see why. 99.9% of the main floor seating is taken up by reserved seats for the various sponsors of the gala. But if you're only looking for a single ticket (as I was) and are willing to sit either on the edges or up front, it turned out to be a really good deal. I landed a seat in the second row, on an aisle. Yes, the movie was close, but only felt too close a couple of times, and I was right down front for when they introduced the cast and director at the start.
Unfortunately, my photo op dreams were dashed when a gaggle of photographers rushed in about five minutes before the introductions to block what would've been an amazing view. C'est la vie. Here's a lovely photo of one of the jerkiest photographer's backs. Jerky, because he stood back about 4 feet from the stage, to block our view even more effectively... I could almost touch him he was so close. Should've kicked him in hindsight. (But then I likely would've been kicked out and missed the movie.) Anyway, I will post the photos I did manage to take.
And say something about the film... because it is about the film and not about photos of Keanu Reeves and Robin Wright. ;-) Really.
Loved it. The screenplay is based on a book by Rebecca Miller, who also wrote and directed the movie, and is also married to Daniel Day Lewis, so it's a little hard not to hate her, but her movie was so good, I can't. (She's beautiful, too... The next photo is of her.)
The story is about a middle-aged woman (I just had trouble typing that... because I think it's about a woman about my age) who's married to a much older man, and while the core of the story is anchored in the present, it makes heavy use of flashbacks showing Pippa growing up.
All the performances were outstanding. Even Blake Lively, one of the chicks from Gossip Girl, was good playing Pippa as a young adult. A stand out was Maria Bello as Pippa's mother. Wow. She's always good, but boy was she amazing in this.
Even all the small roles are played by great actors. Julianne Moore has a tiny, fun cameo. Winona Ryder was hilarious. A few of my laugh out loud moments came from her kind of pathetic character. And Keanu Reeves continues to impress me, now he's matured a bit. I thought he was terrific in that Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson movie, the name of which escapes me right now, and in some smaller films like Thumbsucker. I like that he's not afraid to play into the stereotypes about him as a person, and plays characters who suit him -- quiet, sensitive men -- instead of trying to be the alpha guy. (Like he did in a few ridiculous movies back in the 1990's. I mean really, even as Neo, Reeves was not an alpha.)
And what can I say about Robin Wright (sometimes Penn). Acting goddess. She was so believable in this movie, and I have to say one of the main reasons I love her these days is because she has wrinkles. It's been so long since we've seen the forehead or eyes of female actors (even some male actors) MOVE when they express emotion. I really hope this botox trend dies soon. But that's a blog for another day.
I know I haven't said much about the actual film, except to say I loved it, but I don't want to say too much. It is a "character study" kind of film... almost a coming of age film, even though it's set during a mid-life crisis of sorts, but it made me laugh out loud several times and it made me cry more than once (the mother-daughter stuff is very good). I'm not sure Pippa is someone I'd be friends with in real life, but boy did I feel like I understood her and how she got to be the way she was by the end. I predict award nominations for Robin Wright and possibly the screenwriter/director, Rebecca Miller, too.
Well, yesterday was my first "wow" day of the festival and I have a sneaking suspicion it might be my one wow day this year, but who knows.
First Balibo. This is a film I bought a ticket for at the last minute, after getting an alert from the TIFF late Monday night that there still were tickets available. And I'm so glad my will power was weak at that moment.
It's an Australian film, set in 1975, about events I admit I knew nothing about before this. I suppose I'd vaguely heard of East Timor, but barely, and really don't know much about Indonesia, either.
To sum up the (true) story very quickly... East Timor was a Portuguese colony for about 400 years. It declared it's independence and very soon after, neighbouring Indonesia invaded committing many atrocities, and the world not only sat by and did nothing, but purportedly helped Indonesia, since some felt the new government in Timor had communist leanings.
But the story focuses on Australian journalists. Five who went into east Timor to a small village named Balibo, near the Indonesian border, a few weeks before the main invasion, and then one older journalist (played by Anthony Lapaglia) who went 3 weeks later to try to find them, or find out what happened to them.
I found the story moving and engrossing and like other films of it's kind, like The Killing Fields, Shake Hands with the Devil and Hotel Rwanda, it exposes events where history can look back at decisions made by the UN, in particular the powerful countries of the world, and we have only to hang our collective heads in shame.
The exciting thing about this film coming out now, is that it's now East Timor's tenth anniversary of breaking free of Indonesian rule, and also largely because of the film, Australia is now persuing war crimes charges on those responsible.
In this photo of the principle cast members, the actor, next to Lapaglia is Oscar Isaac, who played Jose Ramos-Horta, who represented East Timor, in exile, for 24 years in the UN and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 and is now President of the country.
The film follows two timelines, interweaving them. Basically the route of the missing five journalists, and the route of Lapaglia's character, Roger East, and Jose Ramos-Horta following behind three weeks later. It all builds to a pretty horrific and moving conclusion.
This film got so much buzz during this year's festival, I kind of expect it will get some kind of distribution. I hope so.
First, who knew there was another Wilson brother? Not me.
Monday morning, (I know, Monday morning!) I saw WHIP IT, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut about Roller Derby.
I’m a little on the fence about this film, but mostly on the positive side -- just not on the jumping up and down raving about it side. Some of the performances were amazing. Marcia Gay Harden as the mom, Kristen Wiig, as usual stealing scenes with her dry delivery, andJuliette Lewis in a great performance in a made-for-her role. I mean, really, why hasn’t Juliette Lewis played a roller derby bully before now?
But back to my opening question... Through the whole film, I kept wondering, who does their coach remind me of? It wasn’t his appearance, it was his voice, his accent, his phrasing, his entire manner of speaking. And it finally hit me: he was doing a Luke Wilson impression. Or that’s what I thought, until we got to the credits and I saw the actor was named Andrew Wilson.
A quick peruse of imdb.com shows he’s been in quite a few films, but I don’t think I’ve noticed him before. Also turns out that it's actually Owen Wilson who does a pretty great Andrew Wilson impression, since according to their bios on imdb.com, Andrew is the oldest.
And, of course, I haven’t even mentioned the lead yet, Ellen Page. She was good, as always, but I thought the biggest stretch of the imagination for the audience was to believe tiny little Ellen Page as a roller derby player. But that’s why I’m glad I stayed for the Q&A.
I wasn’t at the first screening of this movie, and so neither Drew, nor any of the actors were at the screening I was at... :-( but who was there was the screenwriter. And I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I mean, we all know the writer’s the star, right? Here's a photo of the writer, Shauna Cross, during her Q&A.
Cross said a couple of interesting things about casting Ellen Page. First, that she pretty much wrote the part with Ellen in mind, after seeing her in Hard Candy. (A very disturbing little film, if you've never seen it.) Second, that she was attached to this project before Juno even happened (crushing my assumptions) and third, that there are lots of girls that tiny in roller derby. Who knew? The tiny girls are prized for being fast, getting through small holes in the pack, and bouncing back up when they fall. Hmmm... Shows how much I didn't know about roller derby. I mean, who even knew that roller derby had experienced a revival? I thought it had died a well-deserved death in the 70’s.
But while I’m still not sure I really developed an appreciation for this campy, showy sport, that has more in common with the WWE than speed skating, I do now understand the objective and how you score. :-)
And was very impressed that almost all of the skating and stunts were done by the actors, especially Ellen Page, who the screenwriter says could easily hold her own in a real roller derby league. There was actually a live demo of the sport in downtown Toronto Friday night featuring the cast and some local roller derby players... but I couldn't go.
So, I guess I haven’t really reviewed this film… It’s a tad predictable (but with a few choices that are less than cliché). I certainly could've done without a few things, like the food fight, but overall the performances and writing make it an enjoyable film to watch.
It opens in a couple of weeks. Here's the trailer if you haven't already seen it.
And so it begins. I saw the first films of my much abbreviated festival this year.
The first one was really interesting, if not amazing, and I have no idea whether or not it will ever see the inside of theaters in North America. It was a Spanish film called. V.O.S., which in Spanish basically stands for Original Version – Subtitled. And I’m still puzzling over that title, slightly, especially after the director explained that while the film was bilingual, the actors speaking in both in Basque and Catalan, it was actually dubbed for its theatrical release in Spain. (Whereas, we saw it with the original actor's voices, but subtitled.) I assume it had something to do with that? Or a joke on what's real and what's fake? (see storytelling structure, below.) I'm not sure.
There were two interesting storytelling choices made in this movie. First, it’s told out of order, with the actors directly addressing the audience (almost) at times. In addition to this out of order thing… one of the main characters is writing a screenplay based on the story that’s supposedly happening to the characters, so occasionally there are parts where other characters break out of the scene to argue with the screenwriter character, to say, “That’s not how it happened.”
And if all that weren’t enough, it’s quite obviously filmed on a sound stage, with the “crew” interacting with the actors at times and the actors walking from set to set and by the end almost seeming like they were actually living in the sets on the sound stage. Confused? Well, so was the audience, but I think we were supposed to be. One of the sections of dialogue was actually an argument about the storytelling structure being too complicated. But in the end (actually, by about 1/3 of the way in, it was all fairly clear.)
The movie was based on a stageplay and from what I understood during the Q&A, the only thing really added to the screenplay from the stage script was this idea of the film crew being part of the movie.
I know all that sounds really complicated… but it was actually quite entertaining and funny in parts and the lead actor was hot, which goes along way for me. ;-) Okay, he might not look super hot in the photo above, but trust me. He had a bit of a Gerard Butler thing going on.
More than four years ago, when I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law, who were living outside of London at the time, I must've inadvertently signed up for a newsletter that comes about 4 or 5 times a year, listing ticket deals for the latest West End plays. I'm sure I could unsubscribe... but figure, why?
And this a.m. I got a big answer to why not. Check out this photo of John Barrowman for a production of La Cage Aux Folles. I assume it's him. It kind of looks like him. He is very pretty.
I blame Amy Ruttan and Christine D'Abo and Wylie Kinson for getting me started on watching Torchwood. I admit it was a bit of a slow burn for me. Was ready to give up after first couple of episodes, but then I got totally and completely hooked. And a big part of that was getting past Barrowman's (for me) corny acting to focus on his overall hotness, especially the hot looks he often gives to the other actors, male and female. I want to go to London to see this play now. Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so? Please?
Totally caved and bought a few tickets for the TIFF today. Not even sure how many right now. Got so annoyed with the website...
Even bought a gala ticket by mistake... (To a film starring Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves that I think actually sounds pretty great. I'm a big fan of the on-again-off-again Mrs. Penn.) I knew it was a "premium" ticket, but thought it was one at the Elgin. Oh, well. I shall try Roy Thompson Hall again. I haven't seen a screening there since 2002.
The good news, for those of you mourning my lack of TIFF attendance, is I will be blogging about a few films!
The bad news is all for my finances... The tickets, bought individually, are either about $22 or $45 (all in with the taxes) depending on whether they are "premium" screenings. Still so angry about that premium thing that started last year with the Elgin screenings... See my posts from last year's festival for the rants. They so figured out how to ruin the good thing I had going with the festival, spending most evenings at the Elgin where I could hang at the VISA VIP lounge for gold card members and get into the theatre in front of the line on the street. Guess too many other people figured out the great scheme, too...
Based on these prices, the $600 for 50 films is starting to look like a good deal after all. Not that I have time for 50 films this year. Pushing it to go to the ten or so I chose. Just saying.
I was going to go to the midnight madness showing of Jennifer's Body tonight. I'm interested only because Diablo Coady wrote it, and it's the first night, which is fun... but the buzz is not good, so I don't see the point in standing in a line outside for 3-4 hours to possibly get the opportunity to pay $22 to see a horror movie, and get in at the last second to get a crappy seat and probably miss the introductions of the cast, when I really kind of hate horror movies.. But I do like the midnight madness screenings none-the-less. Fun crowds go to movies at midnight.
My good friend Louisa Edwards' first book has hit the shelves! Yippee!
Isn't it a gorgeous cover? I for one can't wait to dig into this tasty treat of a story about chefs and, um, food. And, to make things even better, she's running an amazing contest on her website.
Just check out the bag-o-books she's giving away!
Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards (signed!) Hunt Her Down by Roxanne St. Claire The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter Red Kiss by Deidre Knight Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore Vision in White by Nora Roberts Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione Julia & Julia by Julie Powell
The days are starting to shorten, the nighttime air is getting cooler... All signs t'is the season for the Toronto International Film Festival. Pout. I'm not going this year.
I know this will come as a shock to many, but I decided the combination of the cost, the time, the recovery and the timing this year, were all too prohibitive.
First, it's a lot of money to do the whole thing. Especially since they turned the Elgin into a "premium" venue, thereby screwing pass holders. Still annoyed about this. Sure, I could've just gone to a few movies, but I'm not good at doing things half-way and it likely would've ended up consuming too much of my attention anyway. See #2
All in, the festival takes up about 2-3 weeks of my life. Between standing in lines to pick up the selection book... and picking my films, and standing in line again to hand in my picks, then again to pick up my tickets, then again to exchange tickets because of inevitable screw ups... It takes at least a week of my life, before the films even start. Then the next 11 days are consumed, and I mean consumed, by seeing films. I'm typically out of my house for minimum 15 hours each of the 11 days of the festival. Typically out of the house before nine and rarely home before midnight... And that takes me to #3.
It always takes me at least a week to decompress from the festival and get back onto my writing schedule. It's so exhausting and so overwhelming and between going and trying to blog about it, it takes over.
The early September timing is often an issue. I invariably end up missing a couple of important meetings because of the festival. And both my sister's and her hubby's birthdays fall during the festival most years.... so I forget those and feel badly. But this year, my parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. (I know, crazy!) And since the party is right after the festival, there is no way I could justify going this year.
Tiff... Wait for me. I'll try to be back next year. Not sure I can quit you... (Quoting one of my fav films I saw the premiere of at the festival...)
For some bad habits, a lot, when it comes to me... But one thing that's really struck me these past months is how many Torontonians (including me) will alter their behavior for a nickel.
Yes, for years now, many environmentally conscious people have been bringing their own bags to grocery stores. I did when I thought of it... (my local market is basically a health food store, and they've always had really good, reusable bags... but I didn't always remember to bring them.)
But they passed a law in the Toronto, and since June 1, 2009, it's the law for retailers to charge at least 5 cents for a plastic bag. And I'm not sure I've spent a nickel yet. (Oh, yes I have. On delivery food. I mean, you can't take your own bag to the restaurant for the delivery guy to use. Would kind of defeat the purpose of delivery...)
I have a bag that's always in my purse... and when I go to get groceries, I never (rarely) forget my bigger bags anymore. If I do, I only buy enough to fit in the small one in my purse.
So, apparently, a nickel is enough to change my behavior. I guess it helps that it's a behavior I wanted to change... just needed the nickel push.
And it also helps that it's changed the behavior of the sales clerks. Now, they have to ask, "Do you want a bag?", whereas they used to just automatically start dumping your purchases into a bag and you'd have to stop them and say, "Hey, you know what? I've got a bag," or, "I can fit that into my tote bag, or backpack, or put it in with my sweaty gym clothes."
Apparently I'll do a lot for a nickel. How about you?
I was ecstatic this morning to read a small clip in the newspaper informing me that women who drink beer are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis. I knew I beer had more uses than keeping my weight up. ;-) Yay!
In other news, top secret footage from an attempted PSA about the dangers of unicorns has been released. Beware!
To learn more about the dangers of unicorns, check out www.killerunicorns.org. It might save your life!
So You Think You Can Dance, Canada starts tonight!!! No break for us up here. Back to back SYTYCD. This photo is last year's contestants.
And this year, it must be overlapping with the next US one, too, since that starts in early September...
Wow. So much dance to watch on TV. Tough job, but I think I can handle it.
Last year, the Canadian version of SYTYCD was AWESOME -- in spite of Jean Marc's strange word choices -- he might even be stranger than L'il C -- and everyone trying to coin a phrase like Mary's hot tamale train. Really, people. Give it up.
If this year, they can find even one dancer as hot and fabulous as last year's winner, Nico, I'll be happy.
And he wasn't just hot. Did I mention he was also talented? American viewers might recognize the choreographer from this one from Season One? or Two? of the US one.... Bad boy Blake...
Yes, he is talented... But here are some more photos :-) Strung together with music....
My pal Marilyn Brant, who's fabulous novel According to Jane will be released in October of this year, is running a taste test on the new Starbucks instant coffee, currently only available in Chicago, Seattle and London.
If you'd like to be among the first to try it, click here, and get information on free samples.
Don't worry, you didn't do anything to offend. :-)
I'm just excited about a book that's hitting the shelves tomorrow. Melissa Francis's BITE ME.
Melissa is one of the warmest, funniest women I've met since I started writing, and can't WAIT to read her book.
There's a contest going on the Fictionistas Blog to win a copy! Really, I shouldn't be telling people, because I WANT TO WIN. But then again, I'll buy a copy regardless, so all of you, go enter, now. And if you don't win, go buy her book. Even if you do win, go buy her book. It'd make a great gift.
I got some great news about a week ago. I sold my short story "Lost and Found" into the anthology, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE. Check out the hottie on the cover!
It's a quirky little story I pitched as a mash up of Groundhog Day, The Time Traveler's Wife and Life on Mars.
Clear, no?
You'll just have to buy the anthology and read the story to figure out how the heck I can combine elements of all those in one short story. ;-)
Although this isn't a big book deal, yet, here are the top five reasons I'm thrilled.
It's a publishing credit, however small. And one with a publisher I know can get books into stores.
The anthology includes some great authors and I was thrilled that the editor even considered reading my story, never mind deciding to include it.
The cover is hot.
It's going to be released in December, 2009. Soon. You don't normally get that kind of almost instant gratification in print publishing.
I've decided to overlook the fact they spelled my name "many more" on the cover. At least they got the initials correct. ;-)
The timing of hearing this news was both awesome and horrible, because I found out literally hours before I left for last week's RWA National Conference in DC. It was great, because I was able to tell a few friends I ran into there, and strangers, and basically anyone I spoke to. But horrible because I wasn't really able to "announce" this news to all my online friends since I had pretty spotty internet access last week.
So, a small start. But a start. Can't wait for this to come out.
After last week in DC, I'm watching a few of the shows I missed. And wow.
Just had to say that I never got why Jason was on SYTYCD. And Jeanine... I could see she was good, but again, didn't really get why the judges were so crazy about her.
Finally tonight. (Well, last Wednesday, but tonight for me.) Wow. Awesome. (almost put an f-related superlative in front of that awesome.)
Wow.
I didn't think Jason was that great before, but I have to say, I think that Kaitlyn was holding him back. Their lines didn't match and I now realize it wasn't him, it was her.
With Jeanine and Jason everything was perfect. Like they'd been dancing together for years. Fabulous.
Do you know a boy (or girl) age 10-14 who needs a good book to read at camp? Or to get them off their X-Box for a few hours? Then buy them a copy of Greg Logsted's new book ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH. Greg and his whole family (wife and daughter) are repped by the same agent as I, and I think that kind of makes me family as well. So, to steal a phrase from Nadine Dajani's (actual) brother: Buy my brother's book or die.
Here are the deets:
Thirteen-year-old Cody Saron has been home schooled his whole life by his father, an undercover agent for the CIA. Cody has never lived the same life as other kids his age. He never went to a regular school, never lived in one place longer than a few weeks, never had a friend or played on any sports teams. Cody’s a black belt in the arts of Tae Kwon Do and Ju Jitsu. He speaks five languages and has traveled to every corner of the globe. But what Cody isn't prepared for is . . . junior high.
When the danger surrounding Cody's dad heats up like never before, Cody is sent to stay with the aunt he's never known, Jenny Williams, in her small Connecticut suburb. Cody knows how to pick a lock or follow a trail, but he has no idea how to fit in with regular kids, how to handle his first crush, or how to make it through a day of classes. How will he ever fit in?
“I just finished reading Greg Logsted’s Alibi Junior High in a single sitting. Thankfully the family had other things to do for a while because the author nailed me to the pages with his premise and with the fantastic pacing of this young adult novel. I wasn’t tempted even once to get up and go do something else. Logsted starts his spell on page one, and readers will have to stay with him to see what ultimately happens to Cody Saron, the 13-year-old professional spy.” ~ Mel Odol, INDENVER TIMES
Greg Logsted currently lives in Danbury with his wife and fellow author, Lauren Baratz-Logsted and their daughter Jackie. He is the author of Something Happened and coauthor of The Sisters 8 series for young readers.
on Amazon.com
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