Tag: entertainment

Button Sunday

I am immersed in all things Beatles right now–especially the music–as I write the final chapters of A COVENTRY WEDDING. (Did you already know that title? Or is this the first time I’ve mentioned it? It’s my editor’s choice, and I didn’t find out until recently. It’s a good thing he told me, as it made me realize I needed to put a wedding in the book. Good to know, right?)

The above button, when I spotted it online, reminded me of when I bought this album.

When I was in college, I became aware that there was a gap in my familiarity with Beatles music. I knew all the early songs–not that I was born then, of course, my being only 35 now, and all–and I knew all The Breakup Approacheth music (which remains as wonderful to me as it was the first time I heard it–probably also before I was even born, ahem). I was writing a paper one afternoon, alone in our old house on Twelfth Avenue in Tuscaloosa, when a song came on the radio. I fell instantly in love with the song and its singer, so I called the radio station and asked about it.

“You’re kidding me, right?” the DJ asked. “You don’t know whose song that was?”

“No,” I said.

“It’s a BEATLES SONG. It’s ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’ How can you not know that?”

Grateful that my friend Riley would never, ever know that I didn’t know that, I said, “Okay, so who was singing it? Because that wasn’t the Beatles. I’d have recognized the Beatles. And there were no female Beatles.”

“That was Emmylou Harris.”

“Who’s Emmylou Harris?”

DJ: (longsuffering sigh)

So the first time I could scrape together some money, I bought this album:

thereby beginning my decades-long admiration for Emmylou Harris. And later, when I was no longer an impoverished college student but an impoverished teacher, I bought the Beatles’ Love Songs album so I could have both versions. “Here, There and Everywhere” remains one of my favorite songs, and you can bet it will be mentioned in A COVENTRY WEDDING.

You can make me (and Riley) happy and listen to the original on YouTube.

Previous posts about Riley:

October 14, 2007
December 27, 2006
June 24, 2006
December 8, 2005
September 30, 2005

For Anglophiles (like me)

I was just reading about the launch of an officially sanctioned YouTube site for Queen Elizabeth II. Her first televised Christmas address was in 1957, and it, along with other video footage, is available at this site. More historic footage will be added over time, and her 2007 Christmas address will be located there as well. According to the article, this is one speech which she has traditionally never allowed anyone else to write for her.

I enjoy it when these glimpses of history become more accessible.

For Greg

A little Project Runway chat. I like this season and think it includes more experienced designers than any of the other seasons. Though there are a few quirky people, right now, there are no standout talents to me. I know that will change.

I was talking to Tom after last night’s episode about something that surprised me and why I think all the designers were so freaked out. Not one of the designers–at least after the “you’re in” group was moved off the runway–had applied his or her individual vision to the challenge. They were all freaked about doing menswear and freaked about Tiki Barber instead of figuring out how to put their particular spin on it. As my example, I talked about what Uli would have done last season. She’d have played to her strength and done a design she might have described as:

I pictured Tiki doing a pre-season interview on location with several Miami Dolphins players. Because he’s out of the studio and in south Florida, I wanted to put him in softer colors but with classic cuts that (blah blah blah), and I made this tie to add a little tropical element (blah blah blah).

None of last night’s designers really combined their strengths with Tiki’s profession and barely even took into account the things HE told them about what he liked or how he liked to conceal his flaws. While they were working, they barely mentioned Tiki at all.

They did, however, like those male models. So did I!

Tagged

List the 25 most played songs on your iPod or from your iTunes library. No cheating.


Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)–Pet Shop Boys–27
It’s a Sin–Pet Shop Boys–26
Happiness Is an Option–Pet Shop Boys–26
A New Life–Pet Shop Boys– 25
Only The Wind–Pet Shop Boys–25
One (live)– U2 & REM–25
It Always Comes As A Surprise–Pet Shop Boys–24
Force In Your House I–Bossdrum–23
Crazy–Patsy Cline–22
It Couldn’t Happen Here–Pet Shop Boys–22
Bet She’s Not Your Girlfriend–Pet Shop Boys–22
I Will–The Beatles–21
Been Too Long on the Road– Bread–21
March of the Celts –Enya–21
Only Time –Enya–21
Rhiannon–Fleetwood Mac–21
Midnight Confessions–Grass Roots–21
Prologue–Loreena McKennitt –21
Bluebird–Paul McCartney & Wings–21
Tonight Is Forever–Pet Shop Boys–21
Young Offender–Pet Shop Boys–21
Put Your Lights On –Santana Feat. Everlast–21
Theme From Rawhide –The Blues Brothers–20
Superstar –The Carpenters–20
The Chain –Fleetwood Mac–20

Tagged if you feel like it.

Monday morning

Monday morning stream of consciousness, or: Why I Finally Got Out of Bed

We were expecting Joe.My.Contractor. bright and early with people to start hammering and otherwise destroying the sanctity of my home. But I couldn’t bear to get out of bed. Why is it that when you have to get up, the bed is at its most comfortable? I’m sure there’s some physics law to explain it. So even though I knew I should get up, I couldn’t. And this is how my stream of consciousness went:

…want to sleep… could get coffee… steaming cup of coffee… steam… Adam’s steam room fantasy in He’s the One… steam room on Queer as Folk with Brian Kinney… same guys did the TV show Sisters, with those women always in the steam room… Sisters… what were their names? All boys’ names… Swoosie was Georgie… No, Georgie was the strong sister that everybody confided in… wonder whatever happened to that actress… So who was Swoosie? Freddie? Frankie? Or am I thinking of Frankie from Another World? Damn… Okay, think… Sela Ward was Teddy, the drunk designer who was divorced from the hot guy and later dated George Clooney’s character… Damn Sela Ward, who would ever believe she’s fifty. She looks amazing… someone should hold her down and make her eat donuts… Didn’t Tim say he bought donuts last night? mmmmm, donuts… Homer Simpson… Concentrate! Sela was Teddy… And Ashley Judd, who kind of looks like Sela, was Swoosie’s daughter… But what the hell was Swoosie’s name… And that mother of theirs. Did she ever smile? Sort of like Tyne Daley on Judging Amy… Tyne Daley was also grumpy on Cagney and Lacey with Sharon Gless, who was Debbie on Queer as Folk… Is that how this started? Queer as Folk? No, no… I’m trying to think of the sisters’ names! Focus! Sela was Teddy and whateverhernameis–wasn’t she a bitch on Thirtysomething? was Georgie… Okay, so Teddy’s ex married the youngest sister, who was Bruce Springsteen’s dumped wife… er, Jennilee? No, that’s Jenilee Harrison, Three’s Company’s replacement for Suzanne Somers… Actually, Jenilee Harrison sort of looks like Bruce’s dumped wife, whose name is… Julianne! Like Julianne Moore, who played twins on Another World, the show with a character named Frankie… No, wait. Crazy-assed Anne Heche played those twins. Julianne Moore played twins on As the World Turns. I can’t believe Tim’s watching As the World Turns. Why am I thinking about Julianne Moore? Oh, yeah. Springsteen’s ex, Julianne played… not Charlie. None of the sisters was named Charlie… There’s a fragrance that’s here to stay and they call it: CHARLIE!… Funny that Shelley Hack was the Charlie girl and ended up playing Kate Jackson’s replacement on Charlie’s Angels… I wonder where Shelley Hack is today… or for that matter, Bruce Springsteen’s first wife… whose name on the show was WHAT??? Was there a Frankie after all? Yeah, Julianne played Frankie… and wasn’t there a Charlie? Didn’t Frankie/Julianne leave the show… to go where, who knows, was she ever seen again? It would suck to be dumped by Bruce for another woman… Frankie left the show and an illegitimate daughter showed up… did she belong to the sour-faced mother or the dead father… maybe her name was Charlie… So recap… Strong sister played by ex-Thirtysomething was named Georgie… Freaking gorgeous Sela Ward played always-in-trouble sister Teddy… Workaholic Frankie was played by Bruce’s ex-Julianne… so what was the name of the ditzy sister that Swoosie Kurtz played?

The need to know that answer drove me from the bed before nine so I could google. What I learned: Swoosie played ALEX. Charlie-the-illegitimate-daughter-of-the-dead-father was spelled Charley. And television seems to dominate the waking thoughts of someone who says she doesn’t watch it.

It’s almost 1:30 now. Joe.My.Contractor. never came. I could have slept!

To console myself, I think I’ll go get a donut from Tim to go with my steaming coffee. I hope I don’t interrupt As the World Turns. I wonder if the Hughes twins are still on there…

We face to the north and real sudden like, turn left.

Sunday night at dinner, when discussing the hotness quotient of actor Daniel Day Lewis, I discovered that Tim had never seen the entire movie The Last of the Mohicans. Could there be a better opportunity for me to see that movie again? I think not. So I went on a quest. I had to go three places before I could find a DVD for sale or rent (sale, I’m happy to say, so it’s now in the collection). And yep. Daniel Day Lewis: still hot.

Sugar tried to play with Rex while the movie was on, but Rex went in his room and snubbed us all. I think maybe he’s read Mark Twain’s searing criticism of the work of James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote the book The Last of the Mohicans. I kind of understand Rex’s dilemma, because I can never watch the movie without waiting for a twig to snap, and it’s all Mark Twain’s fault because he said:

Another stage-property that [Cooper] pulled out of his box pretty frequently was the broken twig. He prized his broken twig above all the rest of his effects, and worked it the hardest. It is a restful chapter in any book of his when somebody doesn’t step on a dry twig and alarm all the reds and whites for two hundred yards around. Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred other handier things to step on, but that wouldn’t satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can’t do it, go and borrow one. In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig Series.

If you were ever forced to read James Fenimore Cooper, you might enjoy Twain’s titled “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses.” Fortunately, Cooper had been dead forty-some years by the time Twain made his witty attack, an interval a lot of writers would do well to emulate. I do try for the most part not to publicly express criticism of other writers’ work. I generally live by the rule that every book has an audience. Just because something’s not to my taste doesn’t mean there aren’t tons of people who’d enjoy it, broken twigs notwithstanding.

Recently I inadvertently broke my rule. I can only try to do better. I don’t want to be like another author (who I know only online) who frequently slams some of my favorite writers then turns around and preaches, “If you can’t say something nice about people’s work, say nothing.” Um, exactly.

As I’ve mentioned before right here on this LJ, writers are not competing with other writers so there’s no need for pettiness, vindictiveness, jealousy, and resentment. One writer’s success takes nothing from another writer. The more books there are for people to enjoy, the more they’ll want. Someone I knew a long time ago said this about cocaine: As soon as you finish, you want more. I think that’s true when we read books we love. We immediately want more when we finish one, and fortunately, books are legal, cheaper, and you won’t end up having to get your nose rebuilt because of them. I’m all for people writing, reading, and recommending more books to feed people’s reading addiction.

One book that has been frequently recommended to me lately is Andrew Beierle’s First Person Plural. I picked it up when I was out searching for Daniel Day Lewis The Last of the Mohicans. Last week, it was gratifying to see a number of authors offer their support and encouragement to Andrew when he was caught in the middle of a dispute between a bookseller and his publisher, not a happy place to be.

I’m reserving the right to talk about booksellers and writers another day. Right now, I need to curl up with a book until I fall asleep.

Out of the Blue

A reviewer (almost all positive) who scolds us for too much Pet Shop Boy-ness in WHEN YOU DON’T SEE ME cracks me up. One of the good things about being a little further down the writing road and having Tim for a writing partner is that most criticism no longer wigs me out and if it does, he snaps me back to sanity. This time, however, I laughed even without Tim’s rational perspective. I can’t complain. The first reviews are for the most part very good (thank you, reviewers), and the reader mail that’s coming in ROCKS. Thank you to everyone who reads our books and writes us about them.

As you may have gathered from other posts, the Beatles are the theme band for my second Coventry book. I’m not only saturating my environment with Beatles music when I write, but the Beatles mean something to my character, too. (I wonder if I’ll get Beatle-bashed in a review some day?) Back when thirty-five was only some vague, meaningless number in the far-distant future, my friend Riley gave me George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, but I have been turntable-free for several years so I haven’t been able to listen to it.

Today, while writing, I really needed to hear a song from it, so I splurged and bought/downloaded the whole freaking album (all the original stuff plus whatever was added upon its thirtieth anniversary re-release) online. I am in GEORGE HARRISON HEAVEN. I only wish Riley were hanging out with me right now so we could listen to all these songs together, like the old days, while sandalwood and nag champa scent the air.

These flower child moments are ephemeral, however, as I was reminded when I had to divide up chicken necks for the dogs and EW, Rhonda, it happened to me, too. Tom tried to get me to take a photo, and I hope the Interwebs thank me for restraining myself. Rex’ll be enjoying chicken head sometime next week…

Previous posts about Riley:

December 27, 2006
June 24, 2006
December 8, 2005
September 30, 2005

Top Ten Songs Meme

I was tagged, so….

I don’t think my top two favorite songs ever change.

1. The Boxer–Simon and Garfunkel
2. Thunder Road–Bruce Springsteen

As soon as I try to come up with the other eight, I’m tormented by songs I love from Fleetwood Mac, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, R.E.M., Prince, Stevie Nicks, George Harrison, John Mellencamp, Carly Simon, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Elvis, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix. Ultimately, I think the list changes depending on whether I’m thinking of music, lyrics, or personal associations.

And I’m afraid the eight I’m choosing from many favorites all give lie to the assertion that I’m thirty-five. Dammit.

3. Hey Jude–The Beatles
4. Good Vibrations–The Beach Boys
5. Boys of Summer–Don Henley
6. Sympathy for the Devil–The Rolling Stones
7. Subterranean Homesick Blues–Bob Dylan
8. Imagine–John Lennon
9. Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)–Neil Young
10. Guilty–Randy Newman

Thinking about creativity

Does anyone remember as a kid collecting money at Halloween to give to UNICEF? Do kids still do that: find ways to raise money and awareness of the plight of children all over the world?

The United Nations Children Fund began in 1946 as a way to help children impacted by World War II, and over the decades, it’s grown into an organization that provides humanitarian relief that helps children globally, focusing on child survival and development; basic education and gender equality (including girls’ education); child protection from violence, exploitation, and abuse; HIV/AIDS and children; and policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights.

Here’s how my journey to thinking about UNICEF began.

thanks for reading on