Have you guys seen this? HILARIOUS.
Girlfriend is really "dropping it." I'm not totally sold on the hot part but A+ for effort. I'm not sure there's anything I get THAT excited about. Then again, maybe I should just drink more Sundrop...
And even though the woman is hard to take serious, it's well done: I remember the product, it's funny and unexpected...and now I'm talking about it. That's what we want as writers no matter what kind of writing we're pursuing. We want to have something unexpected in a good way, that's worth remembering, that's worth recommending (and even thinking about long after it's over).
What funny or unexpected thing have you seen this week?
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Perspective
My post this morning is on perspective. I was with one of my best friends and she heard me recounting a story of us from our youth in great detail and to which she remembered very little. Likewise there were some stories in her arsenal that sounded faintly familiar but only after quite some prodding and filling in blanks. Even some of the identifiers we used for supporting characters ("you know, the girl with big hair in math class") were altogether different.
How is it that two people can experience the same thing and what catches their eye and, thus, what they remember most, are completely different? The answer, of course, is perspective. It also made me wonder, for people who don't know me very well, what are my identifiers? "You know that girl who ______, _______, and ______." (Fill in three awesome adjectives.)
I was pondering all this when the debate on the debt ceiling popped back up on the radar and made me want to run down the House aisle bitch slapping everyone as I go. But then this happened:
Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made her first return since being shot and received a full bipartisan standing ovation. She put an emphasis on the vote that others could not, she's become not only a congresswoman but a character of sorts: a victim and a courageous hero--a fighter.
Seeing her immediately brought me back to that moment when she was shot. I was decorating my Christmas tree and had CNN playing in the background (yes, very holiday spirit mood-setting of me) and the breaking news came in. I sat down on the couch, watched my husband begin dialing some friends to make sure they weren't there at the shooting, and then we waited. I cried.
There are some moments where the event itself is so overpowering that there's no forgetting. The details are burned in our mind, our perspectives seem as one because we're all focusing on the exact same thing. For my parents generation everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated, we all remember the same with 9/11, the first hurricane Katrina images we saw, and for me, Gabbie Giffords too. I suppose when something is shocking enough it grabs your attention, chokes the breath out of you, and demands to be remembered, even the bad things. I suppose that's why after 9/11 there were so many news outlets searching desperately for those stories of near misses, of the man whose car broke down and didn't get to the Towers in time for work, etc. but those aren't the stories we recall en mass.
Seeing Giffords on the House floor is an amazing chapter in that story, a footnote to the memory of that tragic day. A sign that not all shocking stories need to be bad for us to remember, the good ones stay around too.
How is it that two people can experience the same thing and what catches their eye and, thus, what they remember most, are completely different? The answer, of course, is perspective. It also made me wonder, for people who don't know me very well, what are my identifiers? "You know that girl who ______, _______, and ______." (Fill in three awesome adjectives.)
I was pondering all this when the debate on the debt ceiling popped back up on the radar and made me want to run down the House aisle bitch slapping everyone as I go. But then this happened:
Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made her first return since being shot and received a full bipartisan standing ovation. She put an emphasis on the vote that others could not, she's become not only a congresswoman but a character of sorts: a victim and a courageous hero--a fighter.
Seeing her immediately brought me back to that moment when she was shot. I was decorating my Christmas tree and had CNN playing in the background (yes, very holiday spirit mood-setting of me) and the breaking news came in. I sat down on the couch, watched my husband begin dialing some friends to make sure they weren't there at the shooting, and then we waited. I cried.
There are some moments where the event itself is so overpowering that there's no forgetting. The details are burned in our mind, our perspectives seem as one because we're all focusing on the exact same thing. For my parents generation everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated, we all remember the same with 9/11, the first hurricane Katrina images we saw, and for me, Gabbie Giffords too. I suppose when something is shocking enough it grabs your attention, chokes the breath out of you, and demands to be remembered, even the bad things. I suppose that's why after 9/11 there were so many news outlets searching desperately for those stories of near misses, of the man whose car broke down and didn't get to the Towers in time for work, etc. but those aren't the stories we recall en mass.
Seeing Giffords on the House floor is an amazing chapter in that story, a footnote to the memory of that tragic day. A sign that not all shocking stories need to be bad for us to remember, the good ones stay around too.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Hunger Games Stills Released!
Have you guys seen these? I'm sooooo excited. EW released them and seems to be pretty on top of reporting on the movie. Speaking of which, a friend of mine actually saw Jennifer Lawrence (actress playing Katniss) in the Charlotte, NC airport the other day, as the movie is being filmed down there. Life isn't fair *shakes fist.*
The more I look at these and follow the movie production I have to admit the boys are growing on me. Jennifer Lawrence still isn't quite how I envisioned Katniss. I read an article the other day, not by Suzanne Collins but YA author Veronica Roth, whose book Divergent was optioned for film and she discussed how it's more important for the actor or actress to convey the personality of your main character than necessarily every specific physical feature. And, in the end, I agree with her. Lawrence is a fabulous actress and if Collins helped pick her then I'm sure she'll bring to the screen what we all loved about Katniss so much in the book: that fearless, self sufficient girl with an occasional soft streak.
What do you guys think, how important are looks when casting an actress based on a book character and where have you seen this best?
The more I look at these and follow the movie production I have to admit the boys are growing on me. Jennifer Lawrence still isn't quite how I envisioned Katniss. I read an article the other day, not by Suzanne Collins but YA author Veronica Roth, whose book Divergent was optioned for film and she discussed how it's more important for the actor or actress to convey the personality of your main character than necessarily every specific physical feature. And, in the end, I agree with her. Lawrence is a fabulous actress and if Collins helped pick her then I'm sure she'll bring to the screen what we all loved about Katniss so much in the book: that fearless, self sufficient girl with an occasional soft streak.
What do you guys think, how important are looks when casting an actress based on a book character and where have you seen this best?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
LOVE this!
I know the Women's World Cup is over *sobs* but I had to take the opportunity for one last post on it, so I interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you a great interview with U.S. Women's Soccer teammates Abby Wambach and Hope Solo and a hilarious ending complements of David Letterman:
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Chance to Win The Help
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a must read! I'm in the midst of it right now and can't read it fast enough. She paints such a vivid picture and is pitch perfect in her dialogue. If you want to read a book that nails voice, this is it!
And if you haven't heard Stockett, now a New York Times #1 bestselling novelist, was rejected 60 times for the manuscript of The Help. Lucky agent #61 took her on and took a chance and boy has it paid off. Here's the article as well as a post about it from agent Jill Corcoran (note, not Stockett's agent but reflecting on rejection and finding the right agent).
Now that it's being made into a major motion picture there's a second cover released for the novel:
Here's the original which I LOVE as it's so simple and yet ties in so nicely with the storyline, as it plays on the saying, "a little birdie told me" and, of course, there's three main characters.
Here's the description and if this doesn't sell you then take my word for it. YOU. MUST. READ. THIS. BOOK. *yells from soapbox*
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
The movie opens August 12 and I am sooooo excited about it. I adore Emma Stone and especially loved her in Easy A where she was charismatic and witty and completely likeable and I can't wait to see her now as Skeeter. I've also heard this is going to have a killer soundtrack with greats like Mary J. Blige lending their talent. If you haven't checked out the trailer yet, here you go:
To celebrate I'm hosting a contest to win a softcover book of The Help. Contest officially starts now and runs until 6 pm on August 4. Winner will be announced August 5. Rules include:
1. You must be a follower of the blog (2 entries if you're a long time follower)
2. To enter you must email me at scookraymond@gmail.com with "The Help contest entry" in the subject line.
3. Extra entry for any of the following: refer a friend, post a comment, Facebook this, follow me on Twitter (2 entries if you're a long time follower), or tweet, "Enter @SCookRay contest at www.sarahcookraymond.blogspot.com to win THE HELP"
That's it! And if you have any questions you can email me too.
Confession: I temporarily thought about pulling a Skeeter and making the entries about cleaning advice just for a book tie-in but let's be honest, I wouldn't know if "use a raw potato to pull out a broken light" was made up or sheer genius. I'm still trying to figure out where Stockett found all that advice. Was there really a Miss Myrna advice column she researched? If you know, please spill. And, of course, good luck!
And if you haven't heard Stockett, now a New York Times #1 bestselling novelist, was rejected 60 times for the manuscript of The Help. Lucky agent #61 took her on and took a chance and boy has it paid off. Here's the article as well as a post about it from agent Jill Corcoran (note, not Stockett's agent but reflecting on rejection and finding the right agent).
Now that it's being made into a major motion picture there's a second cover released for the novel:
Here's the original which I LOVE as it's so simple and yet ties in so nicely with the storyline, as it plays on the saying, "a little birdie told me" and, of course, there's three main characters.
Here's the description and if this doesn't sell you then take my word for it. YOU. MUST. READ. THIS. BOOK. *yells from soapbox*
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
The movie opens August 12 and I am sooooo excited about it. I adore Emma Stone and especially loved her in Easy A where she was charismatic and witty and completely likeable and I can't wait to see her now as Skeeter. I've also heard this is going to have a killer soundtrack with greats like Mary J. Blige lending their talent. If you haven't checked out the trailer yet, here you go:
To celebrate I'm hosting a contest to win a softcover book of The Help. Contest officially starts now and runs until 6 pm on August 4. Winner will be announced August 5. Rules include:
1. You must be a follower of the blog (2 entries if you're a long time follower)
2. To enter you must email me at scookraymond@gmail.com with "The Help contest entry" in the subject line.
3. Extra entry for any of the following: refer a friend, post a comment, Facebook this, follow me on Twitter (2 entries if you're a long time follower), or tweet, "Enter @SCookRay contest at www.sarahcookraymond.blogspot.com to win THE HELP"
That's it! And if you have any questions you can email me too.
Confession: I temporarily thought about pulling a Skeeter and making the entries about cleaning advice just for a book tie-in but let's be honest, I wouldn't know if "use a raw potato to pull out a broken light" was made up or sheer genius. I'm still trying to figure out where Stockett found all that advice. Was there really a Miss Myrna advice column she researched? If you know, please spill. And, of course, good luck!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Cover Love
I know I did a post on cover love last week but I had to add a couple others. It seems my TBR list is never shrinking. I read one book only to add two more I want to read. Looking at these covers and synopses, it's hard to say no!
Sisterhood Everlasting: A Novel by Ann Brashares
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.
Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.
Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.
As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.
The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block
"The Storm at the Door is one of the bravest and most beautiful books I have ever read. It's a wholly original hybrid --by turns a fictional account of the love story of Frederick and Katharine Merrill, a terrifying tour of the "horrorland" of the Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill, a lucid translation of madness, and a grandson's quest to understand "the blank page" of his family's past. Stefan Merrill Block's language soars--he's got a wingspan that covers three generations. Refusing to be "paralyzed by fact," Block moves nimbly between fact and fiction, history and the imagination, to get at truths that are almost unbearable: that love can fail, that a mind can immolate, and that language can sometimes leave us lonelier than our original silence. This is a powerful, enthralling and unforgettable book."
Have you seen any interesting books lately?
Sisterhood Everlasting: A Novel by Ann Brashares
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.
Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.
Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.
As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.
The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block
"The Storm at the Door is one of the bravest and most beautiful books I have ever read. It's a wholly original hybrid --by turns a fictional account of the love story of Frederick and Katharine Merrill, a terrifying tour of the "horrorland" of the Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill, a lucid translation of madness, and a grandson's quest to understand "the blank page" of his family's past. Stefan Merrill Block's language soars--he's got a wingspan that covers three generations. Refusing to be "paralyzed by fact," Block moves nimbly between fact and fiction, history and the imagination, to get at truths that are almost unbearable: that love can fail, that a mind can immolate, and that language can sometimes leave us lonelier than our original silence. This is a powerful, enthralling and unforgettable book."
Have you seen any interesting books lately?
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