Indiana Jones and the Aliens

Okay, so it's been out a week, so I figure it's safe to post a blog about this film. BUT, if you haven't seen it and still want to STOP READING.

I wasn't sure of my reaction to this new Indiana Jones movie, because I'd had plans to meet up with some friends before hand and our wires got crossed, so I wasn't in a great mood going in. But after a week of thinking about it, this film didn't work for me.

Many things felt really indulgent. Like the filmmakers were including unnecessary elements--like the greaser vs the preppy kids fight in the diner--just because they're nostalgic for the 50's. And I'm sorry. Putting animatronic gophers into the scene, doesn't make an atomic bomb blast funny.

And while it's not a storytelling problem, per se, I think the over the top stunts in this film made my eyes roll just a little too often and a little to wildly. Thinking back to the first Indiana Jones film--it's been a while since I saw it--sure, the stunts were over-the-top. But while they would have taken super-strength or super-speed and timing and luck, you could understand what he'd done in each of the stunts and almost believe it was possible.

Starting with the second film and that absurd being-tossed-out-of-an-airplane-and-getting-into-an-inflatable-raft
-mid-air stunt... This franchise started to lose me a bit. And there were so many stunts like that in this film. My favorite (least favorite) was the refrigerator in the atomic bomb test thing. Even if you believe he'd survive the heat and radiation because of the "lead lining" they made sure you'd notice, ridiculous in itself, even if you believe the blast blew the fridge miles away, while no other debris seemed to have gone that far, tell me every bone in his body wouldn't have broken when that fridge hit down.

But on a storytelling level, I think the problem with this film is that we never ever understood what the heck he was trying to prevent the evil Russian chick from getting her hands on, or what she hoped to do with it if she got it. I mean... Once they did have it, no one got any great power from it. I do get that the stories around it were "just a legend", but I don't think you can build a compelling story around preventing something that's really not that dangerous or terrible to begin with. In the end, it was just ET wanting to go home. And how come ET only took the bad people with him into the portal or spaceship or whatever it was, and let all the good people be?

I wanted to love this film, I really did. But in the end, I'm not sure I even liked it.

Am I just a big Indy Grinch?

They got it right. Wow

So half-watching Idol tonight and half-working on the judges training for my local RWA chapter's contest, I was struck by just how much freaking better David Cook was than the little hobbit boy he was up against.

It's not just a matter of taste (or sexual attraction on my part) he's just better. When they sang together, C overpowered A so much it was crazy. And when they sang with the bands, it was so clear that David Cook belonged up on a stage with professional musicians and wasn't intimidated, while David A was barely visible singing with his group.

But I was convinced after the final performance show that David Archeletta was going to win. The judges clearly wanted him to win. David C was great but not goose-bump worthy for me, so I was sure David A. would win.

But the right guy won. Yea.

Funny story. I was watched the results on my DVR and it cut off the recording just as Ryan was about to announce the winner. I couldn't stop laughing. Thank goodness for the web or I'd have had to watch the Vancouver version to find out who won--and it just started.

I gots a pimp!

Did that get your attention?

Check out buddy Cindy Procter-King's blog today to understand. :-)

May Two-Four

It's a long weekend up here in Canada and it's raining. I'd feel worse for the people camping or opening their cottages if I weren't sitting in a coffee shop determined to finish the first draft of my latest WIP today, (and instead blogging).

The muscles in my lower back seized up on the drive home from Boston nearly two weeks ago and they won't let go. The pain has erased my ability to put coherent sentences together. Certainly the ability to figure out the last three or four scenes of my book.

Got close to nothing done the last two days. Sigh.

But I have gone to some movies this week. They don't need much brain power and I can stretch my back while I sit.

I will try to blog more about these films, but enjoyed them all for different reasons...

Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. Too funny. Too cute for his own good. Ten thousand names in the credits.
Someone told me to stay for the credits and here's my tip. Unless you're seriously into comics. Don't bother. The little post credits easter egg was not worth sitting through ten thousand names going by. (I'm not exaggerating. Might have been closer to a hundred thousand people who worked on this movie. But the result was highly entertaining.)

My Blueberry Nights. Nora Jones' acting debut, surrounded by many stellar established actors: Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn. This film's not for everyone. In spite of the overall story being a romance it's really an "art film", certainly doesn't have the pacing or clear storytelling arc of a commercial film. But I really enjoyed it. She was kind of the weak link. A bit blank. But the others made up for it. And it's a story I keep thinking about... Someone go see it so we can tawk.


Son of Rambow I'd recommend this one to just about anyone. Really well done. It was "one that got away" for me at the TIFF last fall. Didn't see it then, but glad it got released so I could see it now. Very sweet kid as the protagonist. Very sweet story. Very funny. That cute guy who plays Chuck on Gossip Girls in a minor role. Set in the 1980's. What more could you want? Oh, and this one had a tiny easter egg after the much shorter credits. The one kid telling the other:
"You spelled it wrong."
"Really?"
"There's not supposed to be a "w" at the end."
"Oh, sorry." (or something to that effect.)

Ooops. I was going to just list the films and then blog about the long weekend and why Canada still celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday even though she's been dead for, what, 107 years? But you got movies instead. :-) (See what I mean about my brain not being able to hold onto thoughts????)

Death by Bikini

Fellow TKA client and Backspacer, Linda Gerber, is having a party to celebrate the release of her new book, DEATH BY BIKINI.

Stop on by and join the fun. (Even if you can't stay to party, stop by just to check out her cover. Tres cool.)

Tag Week part Uno

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger AND I've had at least 3 tags in the past ten days (that I know about).

Time to get down to business. My apologies to my taggers.

I decided to tackle the most recent one first, because it doesn't require much (any) thought. :-)

The wonderful Sara Hantz (author of THE SECOND VIRGINITY OF SUZY GREEN) passed me this tag. Here are the rules:


1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you’ve posted your three sentences.

Okay, so I guess the instructions imply fiction, but I'm in my office and the closest books on hand are writing books, so I randomly grabbed THE WRITER'S JOURNEY, by Christopher Vogler. The three sentence block straddles a mid-chapter subtitle (the perils of choosing non-fiction for this tag) so I'm not counting the subtitle as a sentence. :-) Such a rebel I am.

The young man's learning is so complete that when the movie ends, he is ready to take Barbarossa's place as a larger-than-life folk hero.

MENTOR AS EVOLVED HERO

Mentors can be regarded as heroes who have become experienced enough to teach others. They have been down the Road of Heroes one or more times, and they have acquired knowledge and skill which can be passed on.

Wow. Riveting stuff, eh? ;-)

Okay, so now I have to think of some people to tag, and I guess it would be pretty rude to tag anyone who's tagged me recently where I have yet to take up the tag... (This week, Kwana and Bev. I promise.)

I tag:

Mel Francis
Christine D'Abo
Bonnie Staring
Marilyn Brandt
Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Best Season Ever

Okay, so I should be responding to a couple of recent tags from Kwana Minatee-Jackson and Bev Katz Rosenbaum, or even tidying my house because my sister and her family will be arriving at any moment and it's a total disaster. But I can't resist blogging about the episode of Survivor I just watched. (Nor could I resist watching it as soon as I got home, even though it was safely saved on my DVR.)

Wow. This is my favourite season ever. It's been such a lesson in manipulation and gullibility and how young men will believe just about anything a pretty woman tells them.

The women this season are proving to be masters of this game. I'm not even sure who I want to win anymore. I think I'd be happy with any of the four who are left (although Cirie is my fav).

I haven't been a big fan of the skeleton with silicone bags hanging off her chest, but I realize that's prejudiced. I shouldn't be a hater, just 'cause she's a skeleton with silicone bags hanging off her chest, but really, Nathalie is a warning for young girls everywhere. Skeleton-skinny chicks do not have boobs. Not big ones like that. If you're that skinny, fake boobs will look like silicone bags hanging off your chest. Don't do it!

But putting my fake-boob-prejudice aside, now I'm even rooting for the silicone bag toting skeleton. Any of the four can win in my mind. Wow. I can't believe what they pulled off tonight. Masterful. Men everywhere are quaking in their boots. (Or they should be.) Like Cirie said at the end, her mama always told her you can't always beat them with these (she points to her biceps) but you can always beat them with these (points to her head).

Brilliant.

Marley Gibson's Book Release Day!

Not only is it May Day, it's the day my good friend Marley Gibson's first two novels are being released under the pen name Kate Harmon.

The books are aimed at teens and are called: SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA? and SORORITY 101: THE NEW SISTERS

Cute covers, eh?

Huge congratulations to Marley!!! (I'm actually about to get in my car (after having a late breakfast/early lunch with Molly, and then heading to Boston for her release party tomorrow night! Can't wait.)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bookbitesforkids

She'll be on at 3 p.m. ET and people can call in. Cool!

Smart and Stupid

I did a movie night this week and saw two very different films: Smart People and Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I liked both films, but for very different reasons.

First, H&K. Well, what can I say about a film that includes some seriously base toilet humor even before the opening credits, but then goes on to have tons of smart political satire. I suppose the clearest thing I can say is: I laughed embarrassingly loudly a few times. Hard to argue with that. I feel like I can't say much about this film without spoilers... but just wait until George Bush comes onto the scene. Killed me. And Neil Patrick Harris on the unicorn. Too funny.

Smart People I liked, too, but didn't work quite as well, even though it's probably the "better" film. It's a story of a decidedly dysfunctional family and a woman who comes into their lives, and in spite of some occasional dark humor, it was so not a comedy. Not at all. Once again, I think the ads and trailers for this film have been misleading. They were hoping, I'll bet, to get some of the audience from Juno to come out, just because Ellen Page is in it.

And Ellen Page was fabulous. And in a character very different from Juno, but just as believable. Thomas Hayden Church was great, too, and well cast. And I think the film was well written. There were four distinct character arcs and an overall storyline linking them (the lead character's arc), and it fit well, together. My problem was in the casting of the two other main characters. And I'd be willing to guess the filmmaker had pressure to cast "names" in these parts whether or not they were right for the parts. (Anyone watch Project Greenlight?)

Sarah Jessica Parker was fine, but too old for her part. Something didn't make sense about that and it kept bugging me. She was supposed to be 10 years past her undergrad days... no, ten years past being a freshman. And sorry, Jessica, it's more like 20.

But the bigger problem for me was Dennis Quaid. And I LOVE Dennis Quaid. But I just couldn't believe him playing an intellectual.

Some actors can pull off portraying characters who regularly use words the actor doesn't know the meaning of... but Dennis isn't one of them. He was supposed to be pompous and highly intelligent. And he flipped between sloppy and lethargic, to channeling his performance as Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire. Maybe that's the only pompous he can do. Talented pompous. He sure didn't pull off academic pompous.

This would have been an entirely different film if Jeff Daniels had been cast in that role. At least he's the first actor who popped into my mind, probably because of his role in The Squid and the Whale, which you should see if you haven't. Rent it. Or perhaps even if the two males were reversed. Yes, sure, Hayden Church does an amazing slacker. We know that. And he was good in this film. But I expect he could have played the professor, too, and lord knows Quaid would have done a good slacker. But the professor part was the "lead" so they cast Quaid and I think that's what made this film less than stellar. Oh, now that I wrote that, I am CONVINCED that reversing the male casting would have made a better film. I don't want to post a huge spoiler... warning... but the Ellen Page character hits on her uncle (played by Hayden Church) and this, too, would've been even more believable if it had been Quaid playing the part. What girl (even a seventeen year old) could resist his devilish (even in his fifties) grin.

Plus, as I said... Sarah Jessica Parker was supposed to be way too young for Quaid and, yes, she's at least 10 years younger than him in real life, but I expect the screenwriter wrote a film intending there to be more like 20 years between those two characters. Casting just didn't work.

At least not for me. Your mileage may vary. But I sound like I didn't enjoy it. I did, mostly.

Card counting and eyelashes

Well, I went to see the film 21 tonight. I actually wanted to see SMART PEOPLE, but got drawn in by the promise of looking at Jim Sturgess' eyelashes for 90 minutes. The eyelashes did not disappoint.

The film, on the other hand, did.

I feel like I've seen this exact story before, I'd even guess the film I'm thinking of was based on the same book, but I can't seem to remember the name of the film. It might have been a made for TV thing just shown in Canada. Ah, I finally found it on IMDB. The Last Casino. It did have virtually the same plot. And was a made for TV Canadian movie.

But my point... is the overall plot didn't fascinate me. And I had trouble with the motivation for the Kevin Spacey character, and perhaps the Larry Fishburne one, too, and the so-called romantic sub-plot was extremely poorly developed. Why even freaking bother?

The other thing was I just couldn't stop thinking about the entire card-counting phenomenon and this idea that people who do it get beaten up. Okay, I am fully aware that I am completely ignorant of how things work in Vegas, and I am not completely ignorant of the fact that organized crime is or at least has been involved in Vegas... But I also know that the gaming commission or whatever they are called are fairly strict... And not all the cops in Vegas can be corrupt. So that's where I take issue with these stories. Card counting isn't against the law. It isn't even cheating. It's just playing the game of blackjack extremely well, at a level most of us could never hope to. (And at a level where the player has an advantage over the casino.) So... if someone gets beaten for counting cards... wouldn't they just go to the cops? They didn't do anything wrong. The people who assaulted them did. It just doesn't make sense to me.

And even Jim Sturgess' eyelashes couldn't distract me from this.

Speaking of eyelashes... I'm in the middle of watching tonight's episode of LOST (have the DVR on pause) and looking at the actor who plays Ben, I am so glad I'm a girl. Why you ask? Because I can wear mascara and eyeliner to help disguise the fact I have transparent eyelashes. He can't. Too bad. He might look less freaky with eyelashes, and stronger eyebrows, too. But I guess while playing this Ben character, freaky is kind of the point.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Okay, I'm so not a cat person, but I must be an engineer geek person because this really cracked me up. It's kind a long.. But very funny.

I think I'm a bit in love with the one named Paul. Do you think he's single? Of course he's single. **Maureen slaps head** He's an engineer who owns 3 cats. Paul, if you can lose the cats, call me.

Stop-Loss and In the Valley of Elah

I saw Stop-Loss last week and what it really got me thinking about (in addition to the obvious political questions) was why In the Valley of Elah didn't 100% work.

I am a huge fan of Paul Haggis, was so excited to see this film in the program book for the TIFF last year, and was thrilled to get a ticket to the premiere.

But the film didn't thrill me like I'd hoped it would. It's not that I didn't like it. It's not like the performances weren't excellent. It's not like it didn't have a powerful message, and it's not like the film didn't make me think afterwards...

But, something just didn't gel for me, like it had with Crash, a film of Haggis's that I love, love, loved.

And watching Stop-Loss that has a different but similar topic, I think I might have figured it out. The main characters in Stop-Loss are soldiers. The ones things are happening to. The ones who have served proudly, are ready to get out, and are dragged back in via a back-door draft. The ones who come home from Iraq violent and addicted to drugs or alcohol and generally messed up. War does that.

In In the Valley of Elah, the film was seen through the eyes of Tommy Lee Jones' character and secondarily through the Charlize Theron's. Tommy Lee Jones plays the father of a returned vet killed after returning home, and Theron a cop who helps him investigate the crime when the army ignores him and writes it off as a drug deal gone bad (which, of course, it so wasn't). Looking at the story through the eyes of a parent was an interesting way to take a look at the syndrome of young men turning into monsters when they return from war. (Certainly nothing new to this particular war.) But while it was an interesting way to do it, I'm not sure it was the most compelling way, the best storytelling choice.

Stop-Loss, on the other hand, is told from the soldiers' points of view. In the Valley of Elah was based on a true story and I think Haggis might have done better to pick one of the soldiers involved, (or even create a fictional character to add to the group if none of the actual boys were sympathetic enough), and to tell the story through those eyes.
Not that the heartbreak of a father learning what his son has done and seen and gone through isn't heart wrenching... But I think it was more emotionally engaging to actually put ourselves in the soldiers' shoes.

Don't know... One way or another, both films are worth seeing. But I think Stop-Loss was the stronger of the two. Good performances. A subject all Americans, for sure, should know about. And it's not unpatriotic or even anti-war... It simply comes out against forcing people to do something -- particularly something dangerous and traumatic -- against their wills.

Fallen out of love

Okay, so my David Cook infatuation may have come to an end. I'm fickle that way. One bad performance -- he's out.

I hated his performance. The beginning was way too low for his voice... And I hated what he was wearing... Simon said he looked pretentious. I just thought he looked femme. And not in a good way. Yuck.

I also don't understand what the judges see in David Archuleta. Except maybe for the last fifteen seconds of the song... he sounded like what he is -- a little kid trying to do a Robbie Williams impression and sounding like a total amateur.

Why the hell do the judges want him to win? (which they so seem to) Do they really think people will buy the records he makes? I don't get it. Not at all. Then again, I'm not a 12-year-old girl... Perhaps his target audience. But even 12-year-old girls like their music to be more poppy and less schmaltzy, don't they? Maybe his target audience is actually eighty-year-old women. I'm not one of those, either.

Anyone a fan of his? What am I not getting? (And why am I watching American Idol anyway...)

Spring has sprung

Critique partner and very good buddy Molly O'Keefe guest blogged about Spring Fever over on The Debutante Ball yesterday, well, today... but it's late in the day, now. But it wasn't only her funny blog post that got me thinking about spring. It was the weather. :-)

It's been in the double digits (Celsius) since Friday or Saturday in Toronto and boy is it welcome this year. What a crappy winter. While we had very few super-cold days, we had so, so, so much snow... I didn't hear in the end if we broke the previous record held by the infamous winter of 1938-39 (everyone remember that one? LOL), but we came close.

So temps in the teens were very, very welcome. And I took advantage. In addition to raking the 4 inches of oak leaves off my garden over the weekend, tonight I started an outdoor exercise class. A week or so ago, when I realized my bootcamp started in April I figured they'd have to cancel or move it inside, because, well, outside was still buried in snow. How quickly things change.

Today was a warm day... I was walking around in short sleeves midafternoon, but once the sun started to get low in the sky, the clouds came in, and it got really chilly. And yes, that was just in time for my "bootcamp" class to start at 7:00 pm. (An aside: very surreal to be doing crunches at the base of the CN Tower... I wonder what our doggie leg-lifts looked like from the observation decks in the tower?)

But I survived. I just hope it doesn't get really nasty again. Not sure I'm up for bootcamp in temps closer to freezing... (Fingers crossed.)

Here's hoping it's spring where you are -- which, unless you live in the southern hemisphere and it's fall -- or maybe in parts of the northern US midwest or in Northern Canada, or Alaska, or Siberia... I'm sure it is.

Happy spring, everyone!

Does this giraffe print make me look taller?

I've never been a huge fan of animal prints for clothing or decor. Can't really explain why. I know lots of people who can pull them off, but for me they either look really retro and cool or really trashy... and it's a fine line I've never felt brave enough to walk. Thinking about it, my aversion makes no sense. Why is making a print inspired by the coats of animals any stranger than say flowers or fruit or paisley?

But shopping a while ago I was desperate for a new top that was not too casual but not too dressy and tried on this bright blue and black top in a haphazard kind of polka dot silk. It fit (miracle). The colour was good on me. I liked it. It was on sale. I knew it looked animal printy, but couldn't pinpoint which animal so I decided it didn't fall within the parameters of my personal animal print boycott.

Then a day or two later, I spotted a giraffe on TV.

It's a giraffe print. I bought a giraffe print top. I'll bet most three year olds could have spotted it (no pun intended). I didn't. LOL.

But seriously, does it make me look taller? (I could really use a longer neck.)

Married Life

One of my WIP's that's more of a WFIP (formerly in progress) is/was a series of interconnected stories about single people. And I was planning to have the audacity to to suggest that some of my characters were very happy about their marital/relationship status. I have nothing against marriage or other forms of domestic partnerships and I'm sure many people are extremely happy in their marriages. But what irks me is the assumption that many/most married people have that people who are not married are defacto unhappy or missing something in their lives. That they'd be happier if only they were married. This assumption really offends me and that's the theme I was hoping to bring out in my book. That happiness comes in all kinds of packages. It's not one-size-fits-all kind of thing. And without turning this in to a way-too-personal post when it was supposed to be a movie review... I'm not anti relationship. If the right man came along. Sure. But I so love the freedom I have now to do whatever I want whenever I want.

Now, my book never got off the ground for a variety of reasons... I may still write it some day... but watching the film Married Life made me think about it again, because it made me a little bit happier about my single status.

The Globe and Mail reviewer, Kamal Al-Solaylee suggested in his review that the film Married Life poses two questions. One: can you build your happiness on the unhappiness of others; and two: can attempted murder spice up a marriage.

All I can say to that second question is, "HUH?" Did we see the same film? Just shows how different two people's perceptions of the same film can be. I'm really curious to know if Mr. Al-Solaylee is married and my guess would be yes. And that his marriage needs some serious spicing up. For me, the second very obvious question asked in the film was: Can you ever really know what's going on in the heart and mind of the person sleeping next to you.

In fact, that question was not just implied, it was specifically asked. And to me, that's what the film was about. It was a pretty depressing take on marriage if you ask me. Now, not to get too biased the other way, at the end of the film all the characters seemed outwardly happy. Like I said before, happiness comes in all kinds of packages. But by the end of the film there were a lot of secrets never shared between all the couples. Big secrets (including an attempted murder) brushed under the rug, never to be discussed in order to save relationships.
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Hmmm... Now that I think of it, perhaps it wasn't meant to be an entirely negative look at marriage, merely a realistic one but brought to an extreme to make a point.

Interesting film, anyway. Not amazing. Didn't entirely work for me, I think mostly because of the Chris Cooper character. I normally love him in just about anything... but I found his character's motivations too much of a stretch to be believable in this story. But obviously the film got me thinking.

I'd recommend it as a rental, unless if you suspect (or know) there's a big secret between you and your significant other. Warning. Watching this film together might bring secrets to the surface, and this film certainly suggests that some things are best left buried.

Odd characters

A few years ago, I started making notes whenever I noticed odd characters or events in public, thinking some day I might use them in a book.

Haven't done that for a while.

But I just had to share something. I'm sitting across from a man at Starbucks. I'd guess he's about seventy, but might be younger. He's wearing eighties style big glasses and a paper-boy type navy cap. He's tucked a paper napkin into the buttoned except for the very top button plaid shirt that he's wearing over navy slacks. He came in wearing a decent, clean looking, Columbia sportswear ski jacket over top.
He has one of those metal framed grocery carriers with him. He bought a venti size of some kind of tea. To doctor it, he took his own liter of Silk soy milk out of his carrier and something else that looks like pepper, but I'm not sure. Must be a sweetener of some kind stored in an spice jar? Then... he took out an entire pumpkin pie and has proceeded to eat almost half of it -- straight from the pie tin with a plastic fork. Did I point out that he might weigh a hundred pounds? Tiny man. And he's not eating quickly. Just taking casual bites of pie in between looking at his paper and sipping his tea.

What's his story? I should run a contest. :-)

I should get back to my WIP, that's what I should do.

Definitely, Definitely

I went to see Definitely, Maybe one night last week. The film had already been open for about five weeks and I my expectations weren't that high.

I like Ryan Reynolds but the fact he was in it, plus the way it was advertised and the fact it opened on Valentine's Day made me expect something a bit cheesy and silly and I was okay with that.

Wow, was I wrong. I loved this movie. The characters were real. The dialogue rang true. And the writer really pulled off the mystery love story thing. As many times as I tried to guess who he'd end up with and the few times I thought I was right, the writer flipped it again and again. Nice to see Reynolds in a more serious role. His boyish charm and wit still showed through, but his character was a devoted single dad and deeply romantic and responsible, as opposed to the perpetual boy type characters he usually tends to play.

And the other performances were really good, too. The only one I wasn't sure about was Elizabeth Banks... but Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher were both great--you could really understand why he fell in love with both women--as were all the supporting characters. Kevin Kline does an amazing small part in this movie. Really great. But he's almost always great. Another minor character of note was played by Liane Balaban. Her part in this was tiny and not all that interesting, I guess... but so nice to see her in a bigger film. Her debut, in a film called New Waterford Girl was nothing short of astounding to me. Love that movie. If you want a quirky cool rental, try it. Probably won't find it at your corner video store in the US, (it was an independent Canadian film), but at a specialty video store or netflicks should have it. And in case I haven't talked you into seeing New Waterford Girl, yet... Andrew McCarthy is in it. :-) And it's set in the 70's -- so great music... But I'm showing my age with both of those arguments, I guess.

Looking through the writer/director Adam Brooks' list of screenplay credits... I think I have a new hero. And, he's from Toronto. How cool is that? I had no idea going in. He did the second Bridget Jones movie, which was pretty good considering how silly the second book was, and Wimbledon which I thought was so smart for a rom com staring Kirsten Dunst (another low expectations, nice surprise film for me) and The Invisible Circus, (a little seen movie, in spite of Cameron Diaz being in it, but I really liked having read the book), and French Kiss (which might explain how he got Kevin Kline to do a small part in this new movie) and Practical Magic and Beloved.

Very interesting list of screenplay writing credits. All smart films that rose above genre -- or in the case of Beloved, defied genre.

Has anyone else seen Definitely, Maybe? Did it work for you?

Urban fantasy romance

I'm blogging about Urban Fantasy over on DWT today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Since my blog is green and my website is green and I have a very Irish name... I figured I'd better wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day.

I'm actually about 5/8 Irish... but it's funny, because I think the other parts of my heritage were stronger influences in my life growing up. Scottish and Welsh and a little Dutch/Flemish.

About 10 years ago (was it really 10 years???) I went on a cycling trip in Ireland. Fabulous time. I had tacked it on at the tail end of a business trip, so I had too much luggage and a few business suits mixed in with my bike shorts.

Anyway... One night, about 3 days into the trip (and 4 drinks into the evening) I was enjoying the Irish music in a pub and told our tour guide I was really feeling my Irish roots that night.
She turned to me and said, "When I saw your name on the list, I thought you'd be an Irish girl. Then I saw your hair and skin and I assumed you were, but then I saw your luggage and knew you weren't." She nudged me. "But you do drink like an Irish girl."

Never have I been so proud.