Monday Movie Review

It's time to review a couple movies I've seen in the last few weeks. First off, Breaking Dawn... it was good. I liked it. It is what it is. The acting was better, the affects were impressive and Bella's wedding dress was amazing. Do I want to take my 11 year old daughter to the movie?...not really. Maybe when she's sixteen, or at least 13 as the rating suggests. It definitely has more adult content. Still, the whole wedding thing made me smile and the nervous bride in the bathroom made me laugh. I really related! I give it a B+. I gave Twilight about a C+ so they've come a long way.

Second movie I saw was the Muppet movie. After seeing this movie I'm having some serious Amy Adams envy. When she sang in the diner about being alone, I wanted so much to be in her place. In fact I was envious of all the extras, dancers, singers, and muppets alike. I want to be in a movie like that! ( on floor throwing tantrum)

Oh wait. This was supposed to be a review of the movie, not about my Amy Adams envy. Sorry. Let's begin again.

Great movie! I laughed, cried, and felt nostalgic throughout. The songs were funny, the adult 80's throwback humor relate-able and relevant. In other words: I LOVED IT! Many, if not all of the songs were written by Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Concords fame, the New Zealand group of comedians and singers and actors. We are big fans of this group at our house and my sixteen year old son felt like the songs sounded like them so he looked it up and sure enough, they were. We walked away singing the songs and laughing about the funny moments in the movie while I secretly planned my trip to Hollywood. (I'm only half-kidding)

So a good week of movies. And Turkey day was great too. Next blog. "How I ate half my weight on turkey day" See ya later

Happy Breaking Dawn day!!!

It's The opening night of Breaking Dawn, everybody! How many of you are going tonight? Believe it or not, I am not. I didn't mean for this to happen. I am not trying to hold out or anything, but it just sort of worked out that way. To be understood, I am no less a fan of the book series. And in reverence of this day I should like to expound upon my gratitude for book four of the Twilight series. See, it was while I was highly anticipating Breaking Dawn that I decided to pick up a pen and write a story that popped into my head one sunny afternoon.

I have always enjoyed writing, but I was never any good at it. Not saying I am great now, but by not being good I mean, I sucked at it. When I was young I'd write stories that went in circles, and I was darn proud of them. I recently read two journal entries where I talked about becoming a writer when I grew up. (They were fifth grade, and seventh grade, respectfully) I used them as fodder for my kids by saying, "See, it was in me long before any of you came around."

But when I picked up a pen nothing came of it.

I'd watch Oprah's book club and get excited about non-writers instantaneously becoming published successful writers. I'd try to copy the way they wrote, trying to conjure up images of people without hope, living in the depths of poverty, their beaten and abused bodies cold from the incessant winds, yada, yada, yada. Problem was, I never got further than a page or two before giving up out of boredom or shear "I have no idea where this is supposed to go next-ness". I know now it's because I was trying to write something that wasn't me. And what I've learned is you've got to write from the heart, but smart. (Thanks, Micheal Neff)

Then, while waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out I got an idea for a story that three months later became my first finished novel titled Strange Tree. And three years later I still love that story and would love to see it published, but I don't know if it cuts the mustard. Anyway, I know this is a tired story, but here it is: I was inspired by the mom from Twilight (Thanks, Jack Black) but it's true. And I have discovered I have a passion for writing, telling stories that make you feel happy, sad, mad, frustrated, and just take you on a great journey.

Twilight took me on a great journey. Very few books have equaled it. I appreciated the ride, and wish dear Stephenie joy in her own journey. And I wish each of you headed to the wedding tonight an amazing time. I will be there in spirit!

This is amazing!

In my next life I'd like to be a science nerd, however, in this life I can't even qualify as a wannabe, but I do love space exploration and am saving up my pennies to be one of the first civillians to ever travel to Mork. So far I have about 20 cents. Really, though, all kidding aside, this is an amazing video. We really are so small, aren't we?

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

I'm having a contest!

Just to get the word out- I have decided to self-publish. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main ones go something like this: I hate querying. I don't think it is one of my stronger talents. (Querying is where you write a short blurp about your story and send it to agents. Think of the paragraph or two you read on the back that gives you the jest of the story) Second, I don't like the idea of losing control. I like input, but I hate, hate, hate being told what I can or can't do. It is a paralyzing feeling, like getting laughing gas at the dentist or being tickled. Don't like either one of those, either.

So three years and nearly five stories later, I have to ask myself, "Self, what are you writing for?" I write to entertain. One of the main reasons I read. I like to learn something too, but mostly I want to escape to a more interesting world for a few days. Call it giving back, but this time I want to do the entertaining. Here I go, jumping off into a pool of liquid that may be warm or may be very, very cold and murky. It is so scary.

Now here's the fun part. I'm having a contest for a book cover. My first book,"The Sand Bar" is based out of my hometown. I'm thinking, sand, river, a man,a woman, and maybe even a small child's feet, but no face. Or, a photo of a very fancy (expensive) shoe, with a broken heel stuck in a crack or something. Or a mysterious woman far off in the distance with a colorful Fuschia scarf wrapped around her neck, or waist, or whatever. She must have short bleached blonde hair. And the tinier the better. There is time travel, lost love and mysterious deaths in the book. The cover should capture that. But remember, successful covers have one shot. One image. Keep it simple.

Now my second book, "Escaping
Bubble Land" is all about hay fields, summer time, tractors, and love...oh yeah, and the girl is overcoming an alcohol addiction and dealing with the guilt she feels for her little brother's death, so it can be a little more on the serious side too. I will give fifty dollars for any photo I end up using for the book cover. If you're game, so am I!

Halloween Candy

We bought over two hundred pieces of candy. That is a ton in my book, but guess what? It wasn't quite enough. I'm sure it didn't help that I opened the bag two days before Halloween and snuck a candy bar or two. I know I shouldn't have, but those snickers were calling to me, and well, I caved. It also didn't help that my son had a party here Halloween night. He was left to "man" the door while we took our youngest out. I have a feeling he "manned" the candy too. Anyway, we ran out around eight o'clock, and we weren't sure what to do. Stop answering the door? That is impossible for me. I just can't ignore someone when I know I am totally available. I wish I could. Without that option I sent Dan to the store to buy more candy. He took a long time. The doorbell continued to ring. I started pulling from my little ones candy sacks. Something about robbing Peter to pay Paul kept echoing in my mind. I hated doing that. But I couldn't stop myself. Plus our five year old kept opening the door even when I had convinced myself that I would NOT open the door if it rang again.

My daughter decided she wanted to sit outside and wait for the trick or treaters. Our next door neighbors saw her and offered her the rest of their candy. They were going in and would NOT be answering their door for the rest of the night. Their tootsie rolls saved our bacon. By the time hubby came home the doorbell had long since ceased.

Now I have two new bags of butterfingers and an enormous bag of suckers to add to our stash that I must hide/eat/giveaway/be tempted with every single day until they are all gone or go bad.

It's not a good place for me as I am weak in things involving sugar and chocolate. I am beyond weak. I am hopeless. And it's not even Christmas yet.

What do you do when you run out of candy? I need ideas for next year.