|
|
Olga tagged me, so as I wish you all your favorite things in 2007, here's a few of my "oldies but goodies."
1. Favorite book(s): It's unfortunate how little I've read this year. Also a bit embarrassing, since I used to read at least a book a week. Right now, I'm into The Rising Tide, by Jeff Shaara, and as usual, I love his work. But I also read The Secrets of Jin Shei, by Alma Alexander, who does an amazing job weaving history and fantasy into a whole new world.
2. Favorite movie - love story: The Holiday - See my review!
Favorite movie-action: Apocalypto - See my review!
Favorite movie-sci-fi: X-men III. Hugh Jackman in tight leather pants.
Movie I want to see: The Good Shepherd - seeing it tonight!
3. Favorite news: I loved the news that I was going to be able to teach this year. What a learning experience for me, and I hope for them as well. Any publishing news involving my friends was also great--and I love being a part of a new house, The Wild Rose Press.
4. Favorite show: Prison Break - for the character of Michael Scofield. Lost - for the overall storyline. Nip/Tuck because I can't look away.
5. Favorite song: "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera. It's so catchy. I can't help it.
Who to tag...who visits my blog? Um, Bailey, Jerri, and Melissa Marsh. If you want. NO pressure!
"New" is a relative term, at least for me, at least for this year, and at least as far as writing goes. There's an idea in fashion and design that "everything old is new again." THAT's more what I have in mind for this coming year.
Let's talk vintage. On January 2, I'll start revising the story I completed around Thanksgiving. The working title's been changed to All in Good Time. I want to add about 15 pages and comb through it. Needs to be submitted end of February, maybe a little after. I guess I can also talk about my other upcoming project--a novella with The Wild Rose Press as part of a series (one story from each line). More details to come on the whole series, but my story looks to be 8 chapters long, and I'm into chapter two. It's due to my editor by March 1, and tentatively titled Bootlegger's Bride.
Since I also bill myself as a writer of paranormal/urban fantasy, my BIG project this year is to rewrite the first in a series of three urban fantasies. As it is, the story is good, it's won contests, but I've learned so much since writing it (and gotten some agent/editor feedback) that I know I can do it bigger and better. If I keep talking about it, maybe I'll work the time to do it.
So, Jerri, I lied, I guess I do actually have some milestones in my writing life for 2007! What about you?
So, it's girl's night out, and while this wouldn't be my first pick, hey. It's a holiday movie, and guess what? It's the holidays! Starring Jude Law, Careron Diaz, Jack Black, and Kate Winslet. Two women with similar relationship issues meet online and decide to swap houses for two weeks (including Christmas). Mayhem and romance ensue.
I thought "cliche"! I thought "dull"! I was wrong.
I loved this movie. I loved that it was not a cliche. I loved that they portrayed people with real life issues, dating and otherwise. I loved that they built all the relationships, not just the romantic ones. I loved that on one level or another, I could relate to each and every character.
Loved it!
And shout out to my brother, who brought the site back to the land of the viewable (if not living). Kinda nice to have a vacation, but really sick of talking to myself!
I wouldn't exactly call either of these "holiday flicks." In fact, aside from the idea that people have the time to see movies over the holidays, I have to wonder about the timing of the releases for Bobby and Apocalypto. Which didn't stop me from seeing either of them.
Bobby
It's tough to watch movies like this, simply because you already know how it ends. The movie, written and directed by Emilio Esteves, has a great cast, from Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Helen Hunt, Lindsay Lohan, and Elijah Wood (big breath) Harry Bellefonte, Ashton Kutcher, Christian Slater, Laurence Fishbourne, Joshua Jackson, and Anthony Hopkins. It's not so much about Bobby Kennedy, per se, as these 20 or so people who were present at his assassination. Why they were there and how they were affected.
I've always been interested in the Kennedys (like any average American, lol), but more interested in Bobby because he *seemed* to me to be the "right man" to be president. Joe died in the war, Jack was in it for ambition's sake, and well, we all know about Ted. But Bobby had very profound messages--highly idealistic. Of all the assassinations that took place in the 1960's, this seems to have been the one that finally broke American political spirit. Hell, it gave us Richard Nixon.
Having said that, this movie does have an agenda, whether you agree with it or not. It says a lot about Iraq, race relations, and politics, and not in a subtle way. Be warned--you'll come out thinking so much your head hurts, and possibly mildly depressed about the state of our nation.
Apocalypto
Say what you want about Mel Gibson. The man can make a movie. The storytelling, characterization, etc., made you care about this particular tribe, then narrowed it down to this particular man and his family. I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning of the film. Warning: there's quite a bit of blood and gore (some rather campy). Personally, I can defend it because the Mayan civilization was strictly built on conquest and blood sacrifice. As far as historical detail, well, the Aztecs were really the ones in power when the Spanish rowed ashore, not the Mayans. Same story, different empire.
It's made fairly clear that the Mayan civilization was decadent and wasteful--in fact, that's to what most historians attribute their downfall. They used up the forest, the soil, and killed nearly everyone they could find as a sacrifice to appease their gods so they could have better crops. Superimpose that mentality onto the modern Western world and draw your own conclusions.