Movie Monday -- Winter's Bone

First off -- my review of The Rite is over at Para Posse right now!

So, when the 2011 Academy Award nominations were recently announced, Mom and I anxiously watched as the nominees were announced. We were happy that we'd seen many of the flicks mentioned (True Grit, Inception, The King's Speech, and Mom saw The Black Swan). But we'd never heard of one film that received a Best Actress and Best Picture nod, Winter's Bone.

Quick to remedy our ignorance, we rented it and watched it. Yes, we even missed the sure-to-be-Oscar-nominated-next-year SyFy flick featuring Debbie Gibson AND Tiffany -- Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (I know, I know -- epic fail on our part to have missed that gem!).

So, Winter's Bone, what can I say about it but OMG you NEED to see this movie.

And I usually don't watch movies like this. They feature real-life problems, very dark and gritty, and I prefer the escapism of comedy, fantasy, or horror in my flick

s. But this one -- I was riveted.

Winter's Bone is based upon the novel by Daniel Woodrell, an author who actually lived in the area in which the book is set. The story centers on a few weeks in the life of seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly. Ree lives in the Ozark mountains

with her mom and two younger siblings, a brother, Sonny, who's 8 or 10, and a 6-year-old little sister, Ashlee. Ree does not go to high school -- she's needed at home to take her siblings to school and perform the necessary chores for them all to live, like chop wood, hunt dinner (squirrels), and take care of their mom, who is near-catatonic from a nervous breakdown and medication she now takes.

Uhm, yeah -- this is not the teenagers on Glee, that's for sure. No, this is rural Missouri, where people are dirt poor, hunting for meat and making money illegally -- by making crystal meth. Ree's dad has been arrested and charged with this crime, and therein lies Ree's problem. His court date is next week, the Sheriff cannot locate him and -- if Jessup doesn't show for his court date, then the family house and timber lands go to the bail bondsman.

Ree, her mom, Ashlee and Sonny will all be left out in the woods.

So, in Mattie Ross fashion, Ree takes matters into her own hands and attempts to locate her daddy, going to her uncle, Teardrop, and then various cousins in her quest to save her family. Unlike True Grit, which has elements of tall tales and larger-than-life-characters (Rooster Cogburn and his reins-in-teeth-shoot-em-down approach), there are no Texas Rangers or US Marshalls who help and protect Ree. She soon learns that she is all on her own, and these people, even her cousins, don't take kindly to her prying into their money-making activities.

Aside from Jennifer Lawrence's performa

nce as Ree, which is spectacular -- it's really the life of these rural people that makes the story. This is a quiet film -- there is action, but most of it depends on the characters of the people in the story. This is a world where, whether or not you're a teenager -- people may call you "child", but they won't hesitate to curse at you or throw you around like you're an adult. There are no kid gloves used in this movie. The men rule the families (Ree has to ask permission from her friend's husband before she can enter her friend's house), and they say things like "I told you to shut up with my mouth already."

The women listen, but when it comes to other women, they won't hesitate to throw hot tea in your face and whack you so hard with the mug that you lose a tooth. It's brutal at times, and all the more so because these are not caricatures, but real people do live this way.

I can't really say more about the story without giving away spoilers, and trust me -- you don't want to be spoiled here. But suffice it to say Ree eventually does get help from a close relative, and the ending is surprisingly satisfying.

All in all -- if you've seen the other Oscar-nominated films, you need to see this one. It's quite worthy and definitely well-acted.

And now here's to hoping SyFy will re-run the Python-Gator/Tiffany-Debbie movie!!!

Fictional Friday -- Are There Different Rules For Different Genres?

Wow -- another Friday here at the Dandridge Estate! I keep saying that I'm going to start introducing characters to the Dandridge household -- I think I'll do that next Wednesday, on Writer's Wednesday ;-)

So, my dear friend and fellow author Suzanne Johnson gave me a startling revelation earlier this week -- you're not supposed to put backstory in a novel.

This had me pondering the whole "writing rules" thing. Is it different for each genre? Because the murder mysteries I grew up on (and still read -- Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Laura Joh Rowland, Anne Perry, Martha Grimes, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James), well -- the backstory is the motivation for murder. I've also seen in in the works of Wilkie Collins, Anne Rice (The Witching Hour has chapters dedicated to the history of the Mayfair Witches), and even Bram Stoker.

When I wrote Release, I was inspired to write a story I wanted to read. This was in part after I'd read Tasha Alexander's tale of how she penned And Only To Deceive. She wrote her Victorian tale of romance and suspense based on the same principle -- writing a book she'd like to read herself. And of course, we're all familiar with Stephenie Meyer's tale of how she wrote Twilight after she dreamed it.

Neither of these authors really talked about the rules of writing, show don't tell, backstory, alpha males etc. They just saw the story in their heads and wrote it. So, what about the rules?

Suzanne had a GREAT posting yesterday with her literary agent, Marlene Stringer. Ms. Stringer said something to the effect of: those who like to write, can write whatever they want, but those who want to write for a living need to focus on markets.

True, so true. Of course, the big breakouts can happen -- you can write the book you want, and maybe, just maybe, someone big will read it and you'll be rich and famous and on the cover of Vogue (yeah -- can you tell this is my dream? ;-)

Or you can analyze the markets and adapt your writing to them. This sounds easy but can actually be very hard, especially if you don't read alot in the genres that sell.

So what's a writer to do? The answer to this one, is the favorite answer of law school professors.

It depends. ;-)

James's latest novel, The Private Patient, delves into backstory in detail in the first few chapters. It's the reason why a patient is having surgery -- which ends up killing her. It reveals something about her -- what motivates her as a character, to do something that someone would want to kill her.

But for action-packed novels like Urban Fantasy and Romance, the rules are very different. I hate to admit that I'm not exactly sure what the rules are, because I really don't read in those genres. BUT, I can tell you that writing for those genres is equally as challenging as writing fiendish mystery plots or tales of suspense.

So in the end, it's whatever floats your boat. After all, we read because we want to, so we should write for the same reason, non? ;-)

Witches Wednesday!!!

Welcome back to Witches Wednesday everyone!!

Last time, we went way back and deep down into Shakespeare with the three witches from Macbeth. Today, it's another Power of Three we're discussing. As you can guess from the awesome pic, today I'm talking about The Charmed Ones (yeah, I know, it's a big leap. But fun! ;-). Three sisters whose powers combined to fight all kinds of evil, including, the Source of All Evil.

Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige -- yep, all P names -- had individual powers. Prue (then Paige, after Prue died), had the power to move objects with her mind; Piper could freeze (and later blow up) things; and last but certainly not least, Phoebe had the power of premonition (which later developed into empathy, the ability to tell what people were feeling as they felt it).

I fell in love with Charmed during its second season (like, when it was first run back on the WB somewhere around 2000!). I think season 2 still remains my favorite, with "The Painted World" being my favorite episode, although a close runner-up would be "They're Everywhere". Yes, that's Misha "Castiel from Supernatural" Collins there!

Why do I love Charmed? I can't quite describe it, other than to say it's definitely a guilty pleasure. The episodes didn't have deeper themes or the character development of Buffy, but week after week, I'd be drawn into the witchy world of the sisters -- always glamorous with their outfits and makeup, and boy troubles. It was just good supernatural fun.

Sure, Charmed wasn't Buffy, but you know what -- the series lasted an amazing 8 seasons. Way! And it survived the death of a main character, eldest sister Prue, in Season 3. So you have to give it props. Plus, it featured strong, sensitive women in the lead roles -- funny how Aaron Spelling did both Charmed and Charlie's Angels ;-)

So there you have it -- Witches Wednesday featuring The Charmed Ones! Who's next? Stay tuned... ;-)

Movie Monday -- it's a flashback to 1984 with Dreamscape

Okay, with all the buzz surrounding the mind-bending movie, Inception, I thought I'd revisit an old classic which was called to my mind as I recently watched the Leo DiCaprio flick.

Dreamscape was a 1984 film starring Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer. I remember it being a novel theme at the time, and cutting-edge special effects, which of course are so outdated that a 4-year-old might laugh at them today. But still, I stand by this movie as being good, mainly because the 1980's, IMHO, can do no wrong ;-)

What's the plot? Well, there is this institution which houses several psychics, of which Dennis Quaid is one, who can enter a person's mind through their dreams. Usually this is accomplished in a lab, with the dreamer and the psychic being hooked up to machines. The point of this? Say you're a kid whose having nightmares about the same snake monster over and over again. Dennis Quaid steps into the dream and helps the kid stand up for himself against the monster -- bingo! Self-esteem has been instilled, and the insomnia from nightmares goes away.

But here's where the bad guys use the technology for wrong. Unlike Inception, in Dreamscape, if you die in the dream, you die in real life. The bad guys intend to use this technology as a weapon to assassinate people in their dreams, making it look like they died in their sleep from heart failure.

How does it all turn out? It's just a fun movie to watch -- suspenseful, decent plot, good performances (who can resist Dennis Quaid when he smiles), and good, cheesy saxophone music during the love scenes. What could be better? ;-) So if you've seen Inception and liked it, or maybe even if you didn't, you might want to try Dreamscape (trust me, it's not as complicated a plot! ;-)

Can Historical Fiction Turn You Into Doctor Who?!

Hey guys -- I'm a guest over at Rachel Lynne's site today blogging about historical fiction -- please stop by and tell me if you feel like a time traveler when you read HF!

Goodness -- It's Gothic!

My take on Gothic Romance, it's heroes and heroines over at Write In the Shadows today.

And huge thanks to Rachel Lynne for the compliments on my novel (and writing in general) over at her blog! Looking forward to tomorrow, Rachel!

Don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to vote in the Savvy Writers Legends contest -- please stop by Kerri Nelson's site to see how you can become legendary for your vote!

And just because I love seeing Sting in all his Gothic glory (wish I had a better image, but this was the best I could find!)....

Writing Wednesday!!! Inside the Mind of a Male Vampire

BREAKING NEWS: My dear friend Kerri Nelson has an Irish legend story up in a contest, and I'd appreciate it if you guys went over and voted -- please visit her blog right here as she's offering things to sweeten the vote! Good luck Kerri!

I was inspired to write this post after a friend of mine read the first chapter of Release and commented, "I really liked Cray's point of view. I mean, he's cynical towards the human race, but I could see his point of view and I still liked him all the same."

Ah, yes, the bad boy vampire. Why are we so drawn to them? Of course, Cray started off as a Gary Stu to Miranda's Mary Sue-type character in my head, but as I wrote about him, he filled out and became more 3-dimensional.

Sure, he's cynical towards humans. They are God's favorite species, after all, yet so inferior to vampires in nearly every way, physically, anyway.

But emotionally, well, that's another matter. While Cray's been on the earth alot longer than humans, there's likely to be a 60-year-old mortal who's got more wisdom than the nearly-200-year-old vampire. Cray's been burned in love, and by a big mistake he made in the 1870's. He's also very, very jealous, deep down, but will not admit that to himself. Not yet, anyway.

Despite his harsh critiques and disdain for God's favorites, Cray is fiercely loyal to those underworldlings that he loves, namely, his sister, Miranda, and his best friend, Denny. He even might go out of his way for his sister's best friend, Vanessa (who's served as Cray's sex partner on more than one occasion).

Cray's attitude towards humans ends up being somewhat justified in Release, which sets the characters free of certain ideas. In Return, well, there is just that -- a return to what was. Cray's return, that's a bit more complicated, but suffice it to say, he doesn't stay cynical through the entire novel. Love does come through, and trust me -- everyone needs all that they can get in Return!

PS -- This song helped inspire Cray's character, way back when....

Terrific Tuesday -- I'm Introducing Myself At Para-Posse!

Jo-Anne Kenrick was kind enough to ask me to join the team at Para-Posse, and as I love blogging about the supernatural and paranormal with lovely and talented writers, I jumped at the chance! Today is just an introduction, you can read all about it right here!

Movie Monday -- Flawless

First off -- HUGE THANKS to Carole Gill, who donated her novel, The House On Blackstone Moore, and to Rachel Lynne and Taliesin who won e-copies! Thanks and congrats, guys!

Okay, so this movie is 4 years old (wow -- 2007 is now 4 years ago. How on earth is that happening??!!), but I happened to catch it over the weekend and, as I hadn't heard of it before, thought it should be talked about since it's a pretty neat flick.

Flawless stars Demi Moore and Michael Caine (I know, right? Who'd a thunk at putting those two together?). I remember seeing Half Light with Demi Moore (2006 flick); she must have hit the English studios to do some quality work and stay out of the Hollywood limelight for a bit, maybe?

Anyway, Flawless is set mainly in 1960 London. Moore stars as Laura Quinn, a 38-year-old, single, childless manager at the London Diamond Company. Laura is the only female manager in the company -- quite a feat back in those days. Yet, despite all her dedication to the company (first manager to sign in when she arrives at work, the last one to sign out as she leaves), Laura has been passed over for promotion to executive level 6 times within the last 3 years.

The latest passover leaves Laura disappointed, but she vows to keep pushing, convinced she will get her coveted executive position. Her drive and dedication are noticed by Mr. Hobbs, the janitor, who has the chance to interact with Laura when he cleans her office as she's so often at work late. Laura doesn't think too much of Mr. Hobbs being nice to her, but when he approaches her about her own job, saying that she's not going to be with the company too much longer, then Laura starts to think about forming the alliance that Hobbs has proposed to her.

Hobbs lost his wife 16 years ago to cancer. He's about to retire from his post as janitor at London Diamond, receive his pension, but it's not enough. He wants something more for all the years he's put in, and for the fact that while he worked hard to support him and his wife, the paychecks couldn't cover her cancer treatment, leading her her early death.

So he'd like to go out with a bang. And as Laura Quinn is about to receive a huge blow of injustice to the career she'd sacrificed her life for, Hobbs invites her to participate. Her part is easy -- she's to get the combination for the diamond vault, while Hobbs, during his cleaning shift at night, will steal a thermos-full of diamonds.

Ms. Quinn hems and haws, but finally agrees. The morning after the heist -- everyone is shocked, including Laura -- the entire diamond vault has been emptied!

This film is a very stylish (love the clothes and jazzy soundtrack featuring Take Five), but it's also not a straightforward heist. It's tense, with unexpected twists -- Laura even makes a connection with the private investigator hired by London Diamond to find the thief. Caine's character is particularly good -- he starts off seeming one way, but as the movie progresses, you realize there's alot more under the surface. And I'd never really gave much credence to Demi Moore as an actress, but her performance in this film is really quite good and fitting.

So, if you're looking for something a bit different, a stylish, tight, suspenseful flick, Flawless is worth checking out.

FreE-Book Friday-- The House On Blackstone Moore By Carole Gill!

Carole Gill has been a friend of mine for some time now; we met over on Vamplit Writers, and recently Carole's first novel, The House On Blackstone Moor, has been published to rave reviews.

Just the fact that she's got "Moor" in the title should tell people -- gothic. Yay! Think Jane Eyre with supernatural, devil worship, and of course, everyone's favorite -- vampires. Carole doesn't just tell a tale about characters interacting with vampires, she also explores some all-too-human, and upsetting, issues such as child abuse and madness.

So, what exactly is Blackstone Moor about? Here's the blurb:

They say my father was mad, so corrupted by evil and tainted by sin that he did what he did. I came home to find them all dead; their throats savagely cut. My sisters only five and eight were gone as well as my brother who was twelve. My mother too lay butchered in her marriage bed. The bed her children were born in.

I discovered him first, in the sitting room, floating on a sea of crimson, the bloody razor still clutched in his hand.

How pitiful I must have looked, bent down trying to wake him. Calling to him over and over: “Papa please, please wake up!”

He could not waken of course. No more was he to open his eyes, not in this world, had I not been struck mad I would have realized.

Yet madness is sometimes a mercy when shadows come to take the horror away. Please do not pull away in terror, please. I have much to confess. Just be patient, for I promise I will tell you everything. The only thing I ask in return is for you not to judge me until you hear my entire story…”

So begins a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship as Rose Baines, only survivor of her family’s carnage, tells her story.

Fragile and badly damaged by the tragedy, she obtains a position as governess at a desolate house on the haunted moors where demons dwell.

The house and the moors have hideous secrets and yet there is love too; deep, abiding and eternal…but it comes with a price, the loss of her soul.

Taught, suspenseful, and a sure to-be-edge-of-your-seat read, right? Interested in winning a free e-copy? Then please leave me a comment below telling me your favorite gothic novel!

For more information on Carole (who is planning a sequel to Blackstone Moor, please visit her blog here, and she's also blogging with several very talented writers right here!

Witches' Wednesday!!!!

Welcome to Witches' Wednesday everyone!!!

Who will be the lucky witch featured today? C.J. Ellisson? Erin Cole?? Marissa Farrar?? Kidding -- neither of those ladies have supernatural powers (at least, that's what they told me, but I have my own thoughts on that ;-). No, we're going a bit further back in time to Scotland to discuss, ever-so-briefly (because no doubt theses have been written on these three Weird Sisters): the witches in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth.

I wish more people would re-do Macbeth, as it's one of my favorite plays, moreso than Hamlet (which seems to have like 5,000 film versions out there). Maybe one of the reasons I'm fond of it is because it does feature supernatural elements like witchcraft. This serves as a plot device in and of itself -- witchcraft goes agains the natural order of things. And according to the world order view which Elizabethans held, when one thing gets knocked out of whack, then everything goes. "Fair is foul and foul is fair" and all that good stuff.

In the play Macbeth, the only "witch" who is named is actually a fourth witch, or more likely the queen of the witches herself, Hecate. Apparently, in Shakespeare's later works, he refers to the witches as Glenda, Ursula and Medea (and you thought the names of the evil witch in Disney's The Little Mermaid and the good witch in Wizard of Oz were original, did you? ;-).

Three witches, three being an important number in various mythologies and religions. No doubt the idea upon which Shakespeare in part based his vision of witches is actually the representation of the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, who has three forms: maiden, mother, and crone (three phases of womanhood), although I don't think the play ascribes any ages to the characters.

Macbeth, although repulsed by the witches, finds them intriguing and eventually pays them a visit in his obsession over their prediction that he will become king. Of course, this was the theme of the play -- how much of our lives is mapped out for us versus the free will to choose another path. Macbeth heard the witches' prophecy, but did he have to act on it and fulfill it?

Anyway, though the witches are likely to get a bad rap for their role in Macbeth's mischief, it's very fun to study and talk about them (and imagine them as pretty as the witches on Charmed!).

I'd be a bit remiss in this post if I didn't post some of the lines made famous by the Weird Sisters, like these:

Round about the couldron go:
In the poisones entrails throw.
Toad,that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweated venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first in the charmed pot.

Double,double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

TV Tuesday!!

Hey Gang,

Remember that TV series, Profiler?

I watched the re-runs of it back in 2000-01 (and I'm going to be completely honest here -- I watched it because Julian McMahon was in it -- he was, at that time (2000-01) playing Phoebe's hot demon-boyfriend, Cole, on Charmed). Anyway, what brought this tv gem out from the recesses of my mind? I saw former Fratelli Brother, Robert Davi, (OMG please tell me you know who the Fratelli brothers are?!?!) on a Criminal Minds (my mother is addicted to that show and cannot go one night without watching it. Help!) ep last night. And you know when things just hit you? It hit me then and there, "Hey Nick, remember that that tv show, Profiler?"

(I'm going to skip the whole lament my brain does when it realizes that 2001 was not just 2 years ago!).

Profiler centered on an FBI team who specialized in capturing serial killers. They were looking for one in particular, Jack-of-All-Trades, who was the nemesis of the FBI profiler Dr. Samantha Waters. Sam had the ability, as the Profiler, to look at things from Jack's point of view (I always thought this was a kind of second-sight thing, but I could be wrong there. Sometimes my imagination gets away from me and puts supernatural stuff everywhere ;-). In some ways it was a good precurser to Bones or Criminal Minds or even CSI -- you have a crime, and an FBI team who tries to catch the perp by the end of the episode or in some cases, series arc.

The only weird thing about Profiler is that its main character, Sam Waters, well -- she leaves after the first three seasons. Season 4 featured the same premise, but a new Profiler. Just weird to have a show centering on a Profiler who is then replaced, you know? Kind of like Hex, which started out with all the focus on Cassie, and then in the second season, we had a totally new protagonist. I mean, if you're going to make a show centering on a main character, and calling it after said main character... just sayin'

But overall, Profiler was a good show and the protagonist in it reminded me of the tough Vicki Nelson from the gone-but-not-forgotten TV show Blood Ties (sigh!).

Anyway, this was just a blast from the past of my memory banks and I thought, "What better place to talk about this than my blog?" Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow as it's not Writer's Wednesday, but Witches' Wednesday -- I'm inspired by Anne Rice's The Witching Hour that I'm currently reading to focus on the lovely ladies who've been so often misunderstood throughout time.

Which witch will be featured tomorrow? You'll have to stop by to find out!

Stylish Sunday!

So, I've been nominated for an award! Yes! Only about 2 months since this blog has been running -- I'm so tickled! And very thankful to Carole Gill, who nominated me for the Stylish Blogger Award.

Okay, so now I must nominate 10 people, and tell 7 things about myself. First, I'll start with the Seven:

1) I still watch episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess -- I have them downloaded from iTunes.

2) I can be a huge wine snob but find myself preferring Beringer White Zinfandel these days because it's sweet and doesn't give me headaches (old age!)

3) I've been lightening my hair since I was 16!

4) Still hold out hope that I'll have a horse of my own one day :-)

5) Wishes I could make the time to learn Italian

6) Visited Dublin for a week -- it rained the whole time but I had a blast, such a fun city!

7) Most beautiful thing I've ever seen -- the face of my daughter <3

AND NOW, for the moment you've all been waiting for -- 10 Bloggers I've nominated:

1) Taliesin Meets the Vampires

2) Jevron McCrory's Blog

3) Vampire News

4) Suburban Vampire

5) Erin Cole Writes

6) Preternatura

7) Rachel Lynne

8) The House of Basarab

9) Zahir Blue

10) David Barber's Fiction World

Whew!! There!! Huge thanks to Carole and congrats (and thanks) to all I've nominated -- couldn't be blogging without you ;-)

FreE-Book Friday Again!!!!!

This time, it's not on this blog, but hop on over to Suzanne Johnson's Preternatura Blog, which is beautiful and very popular -- over 200 followers (Rock on Suzanne! Or I should say, War Damn Eagle!!! ;-)

I am giving away 2 Free E-Copies (yes, paperback is coming soon, Julie S.! ;-) of Release. I know many of you have read it, and if you have, please feel free to pop on by and tell everyone on Preternatura how awesome it was ;-)

Also out in the blogosphere today, please stop by PIFF on CJ Ellisson's blog -- her first ever Pay It Forward Friday, and Carole Gill has nominated 10 bloggers for the Stylish Blog award (including moi!!! Who will I nominate? Stay tuned....;-).

Thanks and Happy Friday, everyone!!

Writing Wednesday!!!

I just don't think I'll ever make it through Return. I'm on page 191 out of 387, have to re-write a whole scene because it'll be better from someone else's viewpoint and I'm missing the motivation. I think it's because -- Release was so different and novel -- vampires out for a Greater Cause during WWII.

Return is far more personal. Miranda's getting married. Yes it's set during 9/11, and that does affect her wedding, but I'm not sure people will like it as much as they liked vampires who kill Nazis. (Who doesn't like vampires who kill Nazis?!). Wedding Woes vs. Vampires Who Kill Nazis.

Oh, okay, it's not quite that, and it's certainly not the angst of Twilight. Nor are there any half-breed children that erupt from Miranda a la Aliens. There are dark moments, and the infamous Anack Algothru finally makes an appearance. How bad is Anack? Well, half the victims attributed to the bubonic plague were actually probably his. What?! He's a vampire, and certainly no sparkly one!

Speaking of anti-Twilight, my good Aussie friend Gabriel has taken up blogging again -- yay!! He's here, at House of Basarab. It looks classy and dark and scary, so stop on by!

Also, since it's Writer's Wednesday, I need to feature my two good friends and fellow writers, Marissa and C.J. Ellisson. Marissa recently re-vamped her blog because her old format wasn't allowing for all the works she's got published (ahem -- mwror, yes, sorry, I couldn't help but bring the claws out because I'm a bit jealous that she's been so successful!). It's now called, Ramblings of an Unkempt Mind and it looks fantabulous, seriously! Marissa, you know I love you!!!

And C.J. Ellisson, who had a rough year last year to say the least, is turning the tide of Karma and doing something new each Friday -- PIFF. Pay It Forward Friday. I've known CJ for over a year now, and she's been very selfless and helpful to my own career, so I really want to encourage you guys to stop by for PIFF this Friday. What's it about? Read all about it right here!

That's all for today, folks -- edits are calling. Yes, I will finish Return, it will be as good as Release -- different, but good, and then it's on to writing Redeem (the final in the Miranda trilogy!!).

Movie Monday -- True Grit (2010)

Hey -- How cool was it that Richard Page's brother stopped by my blog on Saturday?!?!?! Wohoo!! New Year off to a great start so far -- yippee!!

Okay, so, over the Christmas/New Year's holidays, I got to take in a few movies. The King's Speech was one of them, which James Garcia, Jr. has blogged about today -- I don't know if I'll review it or not, but let me just say this -- GO.SEE.IT.

Was The King's Speech as good as Inception? Well, they're both very different movies, although they both contain personal struggles that we hope the heroes will overcome. Inception is over on Something Wicked This Way Comes -- Marissa and I did a joint review.

But back to the topic of this post, True Grit. I remember, a little over a year ago, when I visited Billy Bob's honky tonk joint in Forth Worth, Texas -- they were holding castings for Mattie Ross. I have to say I was a bit horrified that they were doing a re-make of True Grit, until someone pointed out somewhere that the John Wayne movie was based upon the book, True Grit by Charles Portis (1968). So, technically, it's not really a remake.

Okay, that was a bit of a long-winded way of saying that (1) I'm tired of remakes and (2) there is a novel, True Grit, which I recently read before I saw the 2010 movie and -- it's really good. The narrator, Mattie Ross, has quite a distinct voice, and much of the old-fashioned dialogue in the movie(s) was taken from the book -- nice to see them being authentic to the time period. It's also nice to see that there are books in which the "show don't tell" rule doesn't always apply -- whew! (I always have trouble with that rule!!).

Anyway, as the 2010 movie got closer to release and I saw the trailer, I was really very excited about it. Oscar winners galore -- Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, the Cohen Brothers and of course, former Goonie Josh Brolin (is being a Goonie better than being an Oscar winner -- hell yeah! ;-) -- what could be better?! Even newcomer Hailee Steinfeld looked good (and honestly, I'm glad that they didn't choose Abigail Breslin or Dakota Fanning for the role -- not that I dislike either of those actresses, but fresh faces, fresh faces, especially with all this older material).

So -- was True Grit, 2010, as awesome as I thought it would be? I have to be honest and say -- no. Was it terrible -- no. It was very good, but there were bits and pieces that were done differently from the book and the 1969 version which made it fall a bit short of my expectations.

Of course, I knew it would be vastly different from the 1969 version -- this is a Cohen brothers vehicle, and they're not known for cheery movies. Remember all the shots in the original in which the sun is shining? I don't think the sun came out once in this film! Not a bad thing, just different.

I guess the biggest difference was that they changed some things from the book. Like when Matt Damon's character, a Texas Ranger called LaBoeuf (pronounced "Labeef") leaves Mattie and Rooster twice in the movie -- he didn't in the book, and this made me like him less in the movie. There were some lines taken out that I thought should have been left in ("No grit? Rooster Cogburn? Not much!"), and a weird scene with a medicine man, Rooster, and Mattie that wasn't in the book and didn't really serve a purpose other than to show that there were weirdoes back in the Old West.

Things I liked:

Bridges did an excellent job as Cogburn. He had big shoes to fill, after all -- the original character was enhanced in the 1969 version as a vehicle for John Wayne to win an Oscar, which he did, so it would have been very difficult to take the role and make it one's own, but Bridges did that. The garbled way he spoke at times got on my nerves, but he made Cogburn into a three-dimensional person, a strong yet flawed human, a hero and a drunk, that couldn't have been very easy to do.

Hailee Steinfeld made Mattie Ross into a more three-dimensional character as well. Kim Darby in the original was all pluck and grit, whereas this Mattie, she does get scared a bit from time to time. It was nice to see the character as someone a bit more realistic and it made me like Mattie all the better.

As a matter of fact, all the performances were good -- Damon brings the right amount of humor to his role, and Brolin played Chaney as the dirty coward he really was. Even Ned Pepper and his friend Moon -- I didn't recognize the actors who played them (in the 1969 version, it was Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper) but that didn't stop them from doing really good jobs. And the Cohen brothers did a good job with the first part of the movie, when Mattie arrives in town and tries to convince Rooster to go after the outlaw Chaney -- in the book, that part was loooong and slow -- entertaining -- but still, it was good to see them get through it well on the big screen.

Finally, one of the things that thrills me about the 1969 version and this new version -- when Rooster takes the reins in his teeth, a six-shooter in each hand and charges at Ned Pepper's gang, four against his one. This is explained in the book and movie as "[y]ou go for a man hard enough and he don't have time to think about how many is with him, he thinks about himself and how he may get clear of the wrath that is about to set down on him."

I always thought the John Wayne scene was a bit cheesy, despite its awesomeness, and I have to say that the Cohen brothers and Bridges really took the cheesy out and turned it into something just full-on awesome!

So, True Grit 2010 -- best movie in 2010? Nope, but it's still a really really good rendition of "how [Mattie Ross] avenged Frank Ross's blood over in the Choctaw Nation when snow was on the ground."

Happy New Year!!!!

"A long December and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last..."

Okay, so December wasn't really very long for me, but as most of you know, this year hasbeen fraught with ups and downs -- major life changes for myself. Things were depressing and upsetting and downright crazy for a while, but honestly, right now, I'm been feeling better than I've felt in a long, long time. I rang in the New Year last night with some very fine, fun people, and we listened to 80's music (I know -- you're all jealous!! ;-)

This year is looking up already -- one of Vamplit's titles, Dance on Fire by James Garcia, Jr., is available in paperback, which means Release should soon follow (yay!!). Egypt, 1906 is now available on Kindle, and New Orleans, 1842 is still on Smashwords. I've got Return about halfway edited, and Brooklyn, 1830 in the works (it's done I just need to re-edit that short story. What's it about? Features Mirrie and Cray when they were

kids -- a cross between Let the Right One In and The Lovely Bones).

And of course, there's the music. My all-time favorite band ever, Mr. Mister, has a new album out. Yeah, remember them? "Hey soul sister, ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo..." -- They're back!! You're probably familiar with their smash hit album, Welcome To The Real World, from which Broken Wings, Kyrie, and Is It Love came, but let me tell you, their 3rd album, Go On... is awesome. Very underrated. Anyway, I just remember that their music meant so much to me when I was a teenager, growing up . Listening to their songs helped me find the strength to get through some of life's tougher teenage moments (and you all know how hard those are!). So, when I found out that Mr. Mister was releasing their 4th album, Pull -- I knew that my own personal struggles this summer and fall would turn out okay. Call it synchronicity, fate, karma -- just weird how the universe can work that way. And wonderful.

Pull was completed back in 1990, but the record company felt that it was too "progressive", and didn't really fall into any categories that they felt were easily marketable. So they didn't release it. Richard Page, the lead singer and bassist of Mr. Mister, recently started up his own record company, Little Dume Recordings. They bought the rights to Pull, and it's out now. AND IT'S AMAZING!!!! I can see how in 1990, the radio stations wouldn't have known what to do with it. Very atmospheric, sophisticated, and just plain awesome. I love music like Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, songs you can feel wrap around you and through you, and Pull's music definitely fits very well into that category. So, kudos to the Misters -- Richard Page, Steve George, and Pat Mastelotto, and thanks for providing me with an awesome 2011 soundtrack!!!

And on that note, here's to hoping that my readers and my blogosphere friends all have a rockin' 2011!! Yay!!