Yep, I'm a staunch Democrat.
Nope, I won't be voting for John McCain.
But, from my viewpoint as a shameless pop culture fan, I like Sarah Palin. She is the most entertaining politician we've had since Bill Clinton. Yeah Bill screwed us over with NAFTA and welfare reform. But damn he was entertaining! I mean you couldn't have made that stuff up. (How you doin' Monica?)
We could say the same thing about Sarah.
I mean, love or hate her ideology, this chick's life is screaming out for a TV movie. (Come on, Lifetime, you know you wanna!). She's a former beauty pageant contestant who became a small town mayor in Alaska (what is this, Men in Trees meets She's the Sheriff?) before vaulting into the governor's office. Wow. If I had written something like that I would have laughed myself out of town. Her interview with Katie Couric, of which I only saw excerpts, has become a political pop culture classic. We'll be seeing that on You Tube for years. Schweet. And last Thursday's debate with Joe Biden...What can I say? I only saw the last half hour and you know, it looked the Senator and the Avon Lady.
But then I'm a Democrat. I would say that...
Oh yeah, this is gonna be a fun ride.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
I Want the REAL Superman to Return!
What has Warner Brothers been smoking?
Or maybe what I should be asking is what the heck is wrong with the American movie-going audience?
Superman Returns was a fantastic film. Okay, full disclosure: I saw it on DVD rather than in the theater. However I REALLY regret that because I loved the film after I saw it. And I loved Brandon Routh. The request for a darker Superman is really short-sighted. It tells me people don't really have faith in goodness anymore. It also tells me that Warner Brothers didn't do their homework. There was plenty of darkness in Superman Returns. And if they thought about it long enough, they'd realize there's plenty of darkness in Superman period.
You want a dark Superman? I'll give you a dark Superman.
Read my Superman fan fiction, Love's Divine, at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4315080/1/Loves_Divine.
Let me know what you think.
Or maybe what I should be asking is what the heck is wrong with the American movie-going audience?
Superman Returns was a fantastic film. Okay, full disclosure: I saw it on DVD rather than in the theater. However I REALLY regret that because I loved the film after I saw it. And I loved Brandon Routh. The request for a darker Superman is really short-sighted. It tells me people don't really have faith in goodness anymore. It also tells me that Warner Brothers didn't do their homework. There was plenty of darkness in Superman Returns. And if they thought about it long enough, they'd realize there's plenty of darkness in Superman period.
You want a dark Superman? I'll give you a dark Superman.
Read my Superman fan fiction, Love's Divine, at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4315080/1/Loves_Divine.
Let me know what you think.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Now Where Was I...
...Oh yeah that was a long nap! It's been more than a year since I've posted anything on this blog. I thought it might have been deactivated by the powers that be. But God bless 'em they kept it up. Many thanks :^)
What have I been doing in the interim? I've started a novel, This Could Be Heaven, and put it on hold because the project was overwhelming. Then I started another fiction project as a dress rehearsal/work out before going back to my novel. This project is a Superman fan fiction called Love's Divine. You can find it online at www.fanfiction.net in the Movie section. More on that another time...
Meanwhile, I don't want to make any promises because we know how promises go. But now that I've been laid off (that's right!) it looks like I'll have more time to post.
So watch this space.
See you 'round the 'net!
What have I been doing in the interim? I've started a novel, This Could Be Heaven, and put it on hold because the project was overwhelming. Then I started another fiction project as a dress rehearsal/work out before going back to my novel. This project is a Superman fan fiction called Love's Divine. You can find it online at www.fanfiction.net in the Movie section. More on that another time...
Meanwhile, I don't want to make any promises because we know how promises go. But now that I've been laid off (that's right!) it looks like I'll have more time to post.
So watch this space.
See you 'round the 'net!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Murder of Princess Diana
Day 2 of Diana-watch.
Here's another hard truth that people aren't willing to hear: Diana was not as significant as people want to believe. The Lifetime movie, The Murder of Princess Diana, strives to say she was. It adapts the non-fiction book of the same name by Neil Botham into a fictional tale of a female journalist cottoning onto the "conspiracy" surrounding Diana's death. The movie seems to want to say that Diana was a female version of Kennedy.
While the production values are fine, the basic premise is not. While Diana had matured professionally and brought much to the institution of monarchy, there simply wasn't enough time for her to gain the kind of stature this movie asserts she had. Diana remained mostly a pop cultural figure, not a state figure, not even as solidly a humanitarian figure as Mother Theresa was. If she had had enough to time form a relationship with an organization similar to what the Princess Royal has with Save the Children, she might have reached that status. Unfortunately there was no time. Moreover, Diana's reckless disregard for the monarchy as an institution embodied by her in-laws showed that she still had more professional maturing to do.
More tomorrow.
Here's another hard truth that people aren't willing to hear: Diana was not as significant as people want to believe. The Lifetime movie, The Murder of Princess Diana, strives to say she was. It adapts the non-fiction book of the same name by Neil Botham into a fictional tale of a female journalist cottoning onto the "conspiracy" surrounding Diana's death. The movie seems to want to say that Diana was a female version of Kennedy.
While the production values are fine, the basic premise is not. While Diana had matured professionally and brought much to the institution of monarchy, there simply wasn't enough time for her to gain the kind of stature this movie asserts she had. Diana remained mostly a pop cultural figure, not a state figure, not even as solidly a humanitarian figure as Mother Theresa was. If she had had enough to time form a relationship with an organization similar to what the Princess Royal has with Save the Children, she might have reached that status. Unfortunately there was no time. Moreover, Diana's reckless disregard for the monarchy as an institution embodied by her in-laws showed that she still had more professional maturing to do.
More tomorrow.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Princess Diana
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death.
It's an odd sort of anniversary for me. Although I was a huge fan of hers from the time she burst onto the scene wearing (figuratively) the glass slippers, my feelings had undergone a complete reversal by the time of her death. Well I guess a lot changes between 13 and 38.
I want to post at length later in the week, but here are some random thoughts:
1. I knew Diana's fate was sealed when, during the Panorama interview, she intimated that the succession should bypass Charles and go directly to William.
2. The paparazzi have been blamed. Henri Paul has been blamed. But the truth is, as other authors have written, Diana would never have died in Paris if she had kept her British security detail with her because they never would have allowed her driver to go at that speed.
3. Charles has been unfairly blamed for Diana's psychological problems. It is one of the toughest things in the world to live with a mentally ill spouse who refuses to get help or admit they have a problem. A look at the fault lines in the Spencer family architecture provides ample evidence of where the cause of Diana's troubles really lay. The Spencers created the problem. Charles got stuck cleaning it up.
4. I was appalled at Earl Spencer's funeral address and remain appalled. A man who could not treat his own, now ex-, wife with dignity and kindness has the nerve to lecture the Royal Family on how to behave? And in public? Please.
5. The memory of the real Diana remains obscured behind the glare of the public's projections. In general people can't handle difficult truths. The public doesn't want to believe that Diana was genuinely mentally ill and required serious treatment.
6. I can't respect the fact that she tried to tear down the institution that she wanted her son to head one day. That is colossally irresponsible.
7. No matter how you spin it or what motives you assign, they way Frances Shand-Kydd left Diana's father -- to be with another man -- was a catastrophic mistake. It was something Frances could never admit when she was alive, apparently and a point most writers, whether pro- or anti-Diana, seem to gloss over. But this one action, which kicked off all the consequences that followed, seems to have forever destroyed Diana's ability to be whole. Please don't believe I'm saying Frances should have stayed with an abusive husband. I've known women who had abusive husbands. They didn't wait around for a man to rescue them. They left. The scooped up their babies, left their belongings, and left. Maybe they would get their belongings later. Maybe not. But they knew what their priorities were. Their children. Everything else was just stuff. I don't understand why a woman, who allegedly had her own money, didn't just grab her children and run. And even if you say she was afraid to do it alone, then I say fine, find a friend or find a man who isn't married. When Frances became involved with Peter Shand-Kydd she made herself vulnerable to being branded an adulteress and losing custody of her children. Which is what happened. While I hope she and Diana are both at peace now let's not let sentiment blind us to the truth.
But that's enough for one night.
More later in this anniversary week...
It's an odd sort of anniversary for me. Although I was a huge fan of hers from the time she burst onto the scene wearing (figuratively) the glass slippers, my feelings had undergone a complete reversal by the time of her death. Well I guess a lot changes between 13 and 38.
I want to post at length later in the week, but here are some random thoughts:
1. I knew Diana's fate was sealed when, during the Panorama interview, she intimated that the succession should bypass Charles and go directly to William.
2. The paparazzi have been blamed. Henri Paul has been blamed. But the truth is, as other authors have written, Diana would never have died in Paris if she had kept her British security detail with her because they never would have allowed her driver to go at that speed.
3. Charles has been unfairly blamed for Diana's psychological problems. It is one of the toughest things in the world to live with a mentally ill spouse who refuses to get help or admit they have a problem. A look at the fault lines in the Spencer family architecture provides ample evidence of where the cause of Diana's troubles really lay. The Spencers created the problem. Charles got stuck cleaning it up.
4. I was appalled at Earl Spencer's funeral address and remain appalled. A man who could not treat his own, now ex-, wife with dignity and kindness has the nerve to lecture the Royal Family on how to behave? And in public? Please.
5. The memory of the real Diana remains obscured behind the glare of the public's projections. In general people can't handle difficult truths. The public doesn't want to believe that Diana was genuinely mentally ill and required serious treatment.
6. I can't respect the fact that she tried to tear down the institution that she wanted her son to head one day. That is colossally irresponsible.
7. No matter how you spin it or what motives you assign, they way Frances Shand-Kydd left Diana's father -- to be with another man -- was a catastrophic mistake. It was something Frances could never admit when she was alive, apparently and a point most writers, whether pro- or anti-Diana, seem to gloss over. But this one action, which kicked off all the consequences that followed, seems to have forever destroyed Diana's ability to be whole. Please don't believe I'm saying Frances should have stayed with an abusive husband. I've known women who had abusive husbands. They didn't wait around for a man to rescue them. They left. The scooped up their babies, left their belongings, and left. Maybe they would get their belongings later. Maybe not. But they knew what their priorities were. Their children. Everything else was just stuff. I don't understand why a woman, who allegedly had her own money, didn't just grab her children and run. And even if you say she was afraid to do it alone, then I say fine, find a friend or find a man who isn't married. When Frances became involved with Peter Shand-Kydd she made herself vulnerable to being branded an adulteress and losing custody of her children. Which is what happened. While I hope she and Diana are both at peace now let's not let sentiment blind us to the truth.
But that's enough for one night.
More later in this anniversary week...
Friday, August 24, 2007
Happy Friday!
Is there no better day of the week? Of course not.
So in honor of Friday, I'm taking the weekend off.
P.S. Thanks for posting SagBoy!
And keep watching this space.
So in honor of Friday, I'm taking the weekend off.
P.S. Thanks for posting SagBoy!
And keep watching this space.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Running on Empty
I'm running on empty tonight. Don't have much to say.
One note: I've made some progress on my novel. Yes, I'm one of those--I'm a wannabe novelist. I've been nationally published as an entertainment writer but not as a fiction writer. My goal is to finish my manuscript in the next year. Currently I'm struggling over chapter 1. The book is called "This Could Be Heaven" after the title of the song by Seal. Perhaps I'll post some scenes at some point. Not yet though.
Not as if it matters to anyone but me -- yet.
As always, watch this space!
One note: I've made some progress on my novel. Yes, I'm one of those--I'm a wannabe novelist. I've been nationally published as an entertainment writer but not as a fiction writer. My goal is to finish my manuscript in the next year. Currently I'm struggling over chapter 1. The book is called "This Could Be Heaven" after the title of the song by Seal. Perhaps I'll post some scenes at some point. Not yet though.
Not as if it matters to anyone but me -- yet.
As always, watch this space!
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