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And the Oscar Goes to…

February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Like many writers, my two favorite things to do when I’m not writing (or taking care of kids, doing laundry, packing lunches, volunteering with the scouts, helping with homework, working, grocery shopping, vacuuming or driving someone somewhere) are reading and watching movies. Since the Oscars, the Super Bowl for movie fans, are on Sunday, I have been in a movie mood lately.

Here are some thoughts on some of the Oscar-nominated movies I saw this year:

Moneyball—I like baseball and everybody loves and underdog, so this one worked for me. It had just the right balance of baseball and life and Brad Pitt was really, really good in it. The biggest surprise for me was Jonah Hill. His character was the total opposite of the raunchy loud mouths he usually plays. I’m not surprised he got a supporting actor nod (though I don’t think he’ll win). Hubby liked this one, too.

The Help—funny, poignant, educational, this movie was all that and more. I think Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer will win their categories for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Jessica Chastain was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but I thought Bryce Dallas Howard was as good or better as the snotty Southern socialite bully whose main goal in life seemed to be passing a law requiring separate toilets for the help. I liked the movie and would watch it again, but I think there was a lot of superfluous stuff that could have been left out so that we could concentrate on the main themes of the movie—the injustice of Jim Crowe era South and how various characters operate in that environment. That’s the danger in adapting a book into a movie, I think. You have time in a book to go off on tangents. That’s tougher to pull off in a movie.

Hugo— If you thought this movie was about a robot who can draw, you’d be wrong. Though this starts out as a children’s mystery/adventure type movie, it ends up being an ode to film itself. I saw this with my kids and they loved it. I thought it was a beautiful movie with many fine performances, (Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley) but it felt disjointed to me. The first half was about loss and broken dreams, the second half a complete and unrealistic happy ending and extremely self-indulgent. Don’t get me wrong—I’m a romance writer. I love a happy ending. But I felt it was a little contrived and that the characters didn’t do much to bring it about themselves. There wasn’t a real situation or challenge that made the characters change. This may be again a casualty of the book to film adaptation, although Hugo did receive a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.  

The Descendants—This is hands-down the best movie I saw this year. It was a great story, a great adaptation of the book and had some great acting. And George Clooney. And Hawaii. It’s about family, about secrets and about disconnection—from other people, from oneself, from one’s environment. The story is complete, it flows, it’s balanced. It’s funny and sad and thoughtful. Shailene Woodley was fabulous as the daughter and deserved a nomination. I will definitely be rooting for this one, though I suspect it will not win Best Picture. See this movie anyway. You won’t be sorry.

Midnight in Paris—This one was a head-scratcher for me…until the closing credits when I realized it was a Woody Allen movie. Would it have been nominated if it had a different director’s name attached? Uh, no. Some of the reviews I’ve read talk about how unique and innovative it is, but we in the romance world have been doing time travel for a long, long time. One really fun thing about this movie, though, was seeing all well-known actors playing famous artists and writers (Adrian Brody as Salvadore Dali was hilarious).

The Artist—I would have loved to see this movie, especially since I suspect it will win Best Picture. But unfortunately the only place that plays (artsy) movies in Nashville is across the city in an area I avoid if at all possible because of the traffic and parking situation. The Artist has gotten a ton of good reviews and nominations and there’s a buzz about it that makes me think it will win. Also, it’s a silent film and is black and white—those off beat aspects seem to attract awards. Guess I’ll have to catch it on DVD.

OK, so here are my predictions:

Best Picture: The Artist (though The Descendants deserves it; Hugo has a shot, too)

Actor: George Clooney (or Jean Dujardin from The Artist. I think it’s 50/50)

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer

Actress: Viola Davis

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer

Animated Film: Chico and Rita

Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Adapted Screenplay : Hugo (though the Descendants deserves it)

Original Screenplay: The Artist

How about you? What was the best movie you saw this year and why did you liKe it?

Bethany

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Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

February 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

I’ve always been afraid of things that go “bump” in the night.

I’ve never liked dark rooms, shadowy corners or scary movies. Just the mere thought of ghosts, or spirits or specters or disembodied voices was enough to set my pulse racing from the time I was a kid up until a few years ago.  It sounds ridiculous, like a kid being afraid of the monster under the bed, but I just could not get a grip on this phobia (phasmaphobia, if you wondered).  I would not go into our basement alone. I would not sleep without the hall or bathroom light on. I certainly wouldn’t get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom if I was in a strange place, and just flipping channels and coming upon the advertisement for a show about ghosts would have me up all night with the covers pulled over my head. Every noise, every shadow, every cool breeze had my crazy writer’s brain imagining all kinds of demons and spirits coming to get me.

And then a few years ago, I decided I was tired of being afraid. I had kids by that time and what was I going to do? Have my three year could scope out my close to make sure there were no ghosts hiding in there every night before I went to bed?  I’d seen enough daytime talk shows to know that the only way to overcome a fear is to face it.

So I did.

First I enrolled in Ghost Hunting 101 offered by a local paranormal society. That was an interesting group of people, let me tell you. But the end result was that the conversation was opened for me. I didn’t say a lot during the discussion, but it made me feel less crazy and marginally safer. I mean, a lot of these people had had paranormal experiences (or believed they had) and had lived to tell about it. They talked about spirits as real things, not something that was just in my imagination. For some reason, that made me feel better.

Then I started watching Ghost Hunters on A&E. I liked that show as opposed to some others because they were skeptics at heart and explained everything in logical terms—there was no sensationalism to be had. After a while I was able to watch these shows and look at it as a scientific phenomenon, not fully understood or explained, but nothing to spend my days worrying over, either.

And then I decided I would write a ghost story. “Hart & SOuls”, which releases later this month, was the result. I wrote about a ghost hunter (actually a ghost relocator)—someone who knows spirits exist, interacts with them on a daily basis and then finds herself in the unique position of falling in love with one of her projects (and getting it on with him—it is erotic romance, afterall  J).

I can’t say that I never get the heebie-jeebies. And I would never intentionally seek out spirits like real ghost hunters do. I still prefer the light on when I sleep, too, but overall, I’m a lot calmer and spend a lot less time worrying about bodiless people. I even attend a retreat each year with some RWA chapter sisters at a very old house in the woods that is reportedly haunted. I’m not saying I sleep well, but I do manage to get to sleep. That’s a lot more than I would be able to tolerate just a few years ago.

I’m really happy that fear doesn’t have the power over me it used to and even more happy that “Hart & Souls” came out of it—it’s always been one of my favorites and I’m excited Whispers is publishing it for the first time as a stand-alone short.

So what are you afraid of or what phobias have you been able to overcome?

Bethany

Filed Under: Author's Blog, Paranormal, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Santa and Reindeer and Elves, Oh My!!

December 16, 2011 By 8 Comments

This time of year is one of religious significance for a lot of people, whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Pagan, celebrate Kwanza or just like to reflect and give thanks for the blessings the old year has brought.

But it’s also a time to P-A-R-T-Y!  I love it when there’s a humorous bent to serious things. The holidays bring a lot of joy and fun but also a lot of stress, and laughter is a proven stress reliever.

Funny Christmas commercials on TV just crack me up. Like Ancestry.com Santa. (the second one regarding elf death records and polar bears is my favorite).
I also really enjoy those All State Mayhem Guy ads. Did you know the Mayhem guy has his own Facebook page? I like this one the best about snow on the roof.

I think that’s why I usually go for a lighter, funnier take when I’m writing Christmas stories. In Naughty, which coincidentally releases today (wink), a real life Christmas elf arrives on the scene to fulfill the heroine’s Christmas wish–here’s a hint: she ain’t wishing for Tiddly Winks, especially when Mr. tall, dark and sexy walks in on her bath!
So go ahead–have a look at the videos and giggle away some of that holiday stress. Let me know which of these you like, or tell me what your favorite humorous commercial is so I can have a giggle, too :)

And don’t forget that Naughty is available today for a very merry $1.95. And I’m taking over the Whispers Facebook page tomorrow. Games, trivia, videos, excerpts, prizes and eye candy will abound.

Have a great day!

Bethany

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I’ve Been a Naughty, Naughty Girl

December 2, 2011 By 38 Comments

So right now, Santa’s sitting in front of a crackling fire somewhere near the North Pole with his boots up, hot cocoa at his side, maybe munching on some reindeer jerky (so wrong, I know) making his list and checking it twice. I have to admit, I was pretty ornery as a kid and probably ended up on the “naughty” list more often than the “nice” one.

In fact, I was afraid that Santa would have to make up a new list just for me, since “naughty” didn’t really fit the things I would do to my poor younger brothers to get them in trouble. Things like tickling the one with the weak bladder expressly to make him wet on the carpet, or having them ring the doorbell of one of our neighbors and run away over and over until the neighbor called my Mom to rat him out. I also got a kick out of drawing pictures in my brothers’ little kid “style” on walls with markers so they’d get in trouble for it and then for lying about it too, since the stick figure was obviously the work of a second grade artist, not a grown up sixth grader like me who wouldn’t dream of writing on the walls. Often I’d be the one who told on them, too. Good times, good times.

Now that I’m significantly older than 12, I’ve left most of my naughty behavior behind. I rarely pick on my “little” brothers (since they’re all over 6 feet tall and I’m only 5’4). I don’t lie, cheat or steal, I don’t smoke, take recreational drugs or drink and drive and I do my best to follow through on promises I make to my kids. But I’m no paragon of virtue, either. Sometimes my ornery side comes out to play and I’m afraid that once again this year I’ve probably landed on the naughty side of Santa’s list. Here’s why:

Deceptive emails. I used to send my husband emails asking him to bring home milk or bread or whatever on his way home from work, but he would often tell me he didn’t see the email. Yeah, right. That’s when I started titling my emails more creatively. It’s amazing how much faster a man will open an email titled “Hot Naked Lesbians” versus “Please Stop for Milk”.

Abuse of the US Postal System. The PTO at my kids’ elementary school are fundraising whores. Seriously. Every month they have some sort of sale or fundraiser or product they want you to schlep around selling. They even charge parents admission to the Christmas program in which our own kids are performing!!  After the first one or two campaigns, I decided we just were not going to participate any more. I mean, that’s why I pay property taxes, right? Last spring, after no less than TEN such fundraisers, the kids each brought home a book of 10 postcards that we were supposed to fill out with all of our friends’ and family members’ names so that the school could spam them with catalogs full of junk they wanted to guilt them into buying. I informed the kids that we would not be participating and some of the kids started to cry because they had been so pumped up at school with the promise of a fabulous prize if they returned the postcards the next day.

It made me really angry that the PTO would use emotional blackmail to make a buck, so I sat down and filled out all 40 post cards. I don’t know if Bruce Wayne, Homer Simpson, Peter Parker or Elvis Presley ordered anything once they received their catalogs in the mail, but my kids got their “fabulous” prizes (a bouncy ball) the following day and I didn’t feel bad at all.

I write naughty books. Sedate, conservative Bible-belt, Cub Scout Leader by day, naughty erotic romance writer by night. I can’t help it. I’ve always had a dirty mind and have loved reading romance since I was a teen, so erotic romance is the perfect fit for me. I love my family and love being a mom, but sometimes it’s nice to remember just how naughty I can be…on the page, of course :)

I had a fantastic time writing about a sexy Christmas elf making one woman’s naughty Christmas wish come true in my upcoming Whispers release, titled, strangely enough, “Naughty” (Look for it on December 16th). Seriously, a tall dark and handsome not-quite-a-man with a bit of magic and the will to make all of your wishes come true? Oh, yeah. I’ll take two.

So those are my naughty bits for the year. How about you? Are you on Santa’s “naughty” list this year or the “nice” list?

Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered in our Coffee and Cream extravaganza and the chance to win fabulous prizes! At the end of the contest, I’ll be sending the winner a “Naughty” prize basket containing all sorts of deliciously naughty items! Plus, I’m taking over the Whispers Facebook page on December 17th and will have lots of fun things to share there. You can also visit me online at www.bethanymichaels.com.  See you then!

Bethany

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