Remember, Remember the 5th of November...

Today we celebrate Guy Fawkes' Day...a holiday that gets a lot less attention in the US than it does in the UK, where tonight fireworks and bonfires are being lit across the land...

My mom is British, so I grew up knowing about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, although for 5, 6 and 7-year-old Sarah, it was more about lighting a bonfire and watching fireworks than about a history lesson.

I pretty much forgot about Guy Fawkes day as I aged into high school, college and beyond, but a few months back Eric and I rented V for Vendetta...and it all came flooding back. Ok...for those of you who haven't seen the movie, here's all I'll say about it: It is NOTHING like what you think it will be. The trailer is atrocious and captures about 1/30th of the actual plot. Hugo Weaving is astounding, considering he spends the entire film behind a Guy Fawkes mask, and the story is really really compelling. I know, I know...you're saying "But in the previews she's bald! and wearing a burlap sack!" Yes. Yes she is. And I honestly have no idea why that is what they picked for the preview...because it's so not what the movie is.

Anyway, Guy Fawkes wasn't just a crazy guy with a wheelbarrow full of explosives...he's a pervasive part of our culture today-- According to Richard Metzger's blog at the LA Times, Guy Fawkes was the model for Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost...and his "Guy" is the origin of our slang, "guy."

Don't believe us? Well, believe the Online Etymology Dictionary!: Guy: n. "fellow," 1847, originally Amer.Eng.; earlier (1836) "grotesquely or poorly dressed person," originally (1806) "effigy of Guy Fawkes," leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up British king and Parliament (Nov. 5, 1605), paraded through the streets by children on the anniversary of the conspiracy.

Anyway...Happy Guy Fawkes Day, y'all...in honor of this most auspicious holiday, for your viewing pleasure, V.

Twists. And why we love them.

Last night, I had a fantastic dinner with the lovely and talented Lisa Ann Sandell. Lisa and I have been friends for ages and, whether it's the author in us or the reader in us, we always end up talking about books (and not always our own)!

After a long and winding discussion last night, we landed on the subject of twists in novels. We chatted for a while about them...and I marveled at the skill it takes for an author to really pull one off. I mean...really really pull one off. Like, gasping for breath, OMG, shock the pants off you kind of twists.

Here's the part where I confess a super-duper respect for mystery authors. There's nothing like a great red herring.

As part of this post, I was going to list the five best twists I've ever read or seen. I wasn't going to explain them...obviously, that would ruin the fun. But...now I'm realizing that maybe the best part of a twist is that there is a twist at all. The ones where you audibly gasp are always the ones you REALLY weren't expecting. Right?

Hmm...ok...so...here's my list... but Beware: TWISTS AHEAD! Highlight at your own risk!

1. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (First on the list for a reason)
2. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
3. The Usual Suspects (film)
4. The Game (film)
5. The Others (film)

So...What did I miss?

Bourne or Bond?

In the realm of existential questions, there are a few to which I believe that everyone should have an answer. These challenging mental inquiries include: Who would win in a fight: Batman or Spiderman? Best Harrison Ford character: Indiana Jones or Han Solo? Most irritating Tom: Cruise or Hanks?

Well, I'm adding one to the list. After a girl's night in last week during which I watched Quantum of Solace, I wondered, who is better? Handsome, dapper, charming James Bond? Or extraordinarily skilled, physically remarkable, dark-historied Jason Bourne?

So, I did what people do in 2009 when they are in a conundrum. I put it to Twitter. and Facebook. Bourne? Or Bond?

NB: Ok. I used Daniel Craig above, but for the purposes of this existential question, please replace Mr. Craig with the Bond of your choosing.

Now, look. I know this appears, at first blush, to be a deceptively easy question. Bond is dapper, charming and just plain awesome. He has a steady job. He's a spy, but that doesn't seem to stop him from showing his face everywhere. If you were his chosen Bond Girl, you'd go to the Opera, you'd eat at all the fanciest restaurants, you'd gamble in Monte Carlo and you'd have sickeningly awesome clothes. Plus...there are SIX OF HIM. Soft spot for Connery or a longing to be Mrs. Remington Steele...Bond accommodates. And, for the men in the crowd...you'd be JAMES BOND for God's sake. He wins. Hands down.

But, wait. Let's look behind door number two. Specimen: Jason Bourne. This man gives dark and brooding a brand new look. I mean, seriously. He makes Heathcliff look like he could star in Hairspray, for goodness sake. Dead wife, dead kids, dead parents, totally reprogrammed by the CIA (or whatever organization he works for) and made into a Killing. Machine. Good looking? Sure! Handsome as they come! Skilled? My word. This guy does his job WELL. He can kill a Russian (or an American, for that matter) 16 different ways before breakfast. And, for the record, no one crashes through a window like Bourne. In a dark alley, you want Bourne on your side.

And, if you're a woman...well...if you've ever wanted to save a guy--THIS is the guy you want to save. I mean, if you can get him to settle down and have a catch with the kids--you are one heckuva woman.

And so here we are again, which one do we pick? Let's consider some of the scenarios in which one might need a Bourne. or a Bond.

* On the Lam -- Bourne. Bond might bring his gorgeous Tux and you might get to tool off in a cigarette boat, but when you're trying to hide--or run--you want a full-on professional by your side.

* Traveling -- Bond. He lives the high life. And the bill goes to Her Majesty. Yes. You can afford that D&G gown. Get two.

* On Date Night -- Bond. He's clever. He's fun. He knows his way around a Baccarat table. And if you get yourself in a bind, he's got the gadgets to get you home. (Well, maybe...maybe not. An alarming number of Bond Girls die. And not in pleasant, she-didn't-feel-a-thing kind of ways)

* At home on a Sunday afternoon -- Bourne. Bond may have all those fantastic toys...but my bet is on Bourne for the handy stuff. I mean, really. Can you see this guy at the Home Depot? (But consider, Dear Reader, what I've said before: Bourne is a wounded hawk. He needs years of therapy. The expensive kind. I'm not thinking he's going to star in a Kevin Costner movie any time soon.)

Hmmm. I'm still stuck.

What do you think?

Oh. My. Holmes. Yes, Please!

All i want for Christmas is Robert Downey Jr. in period costume. And...oh look! Santa is bringing him!



Are you kidding me? I cannot WAIT!!!
What are the odds my parents would forgive me for leaving the house on Christmas Day to see this?

OMG! Carrie Ryan goes HOLLYWOOD!!

This is late to the party, slightly...I meant to post last week when the news went public, but life got away from me...so apologies...but as you all know, I *heart* Carrie Ryan and her incredible book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth which is all zombies and romance and yes, please.

So...imagine my incredible SQUEE when I heard from Publishers Weekly that:

Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent has just closed film rights on Carrie Ryan's YA novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Nevins, who brokered the deal on behalf of Jim McCarthy at Dystel Literary, sold the book, which Delacorte Books for Young Readers published in March, to Seven Star Pictures (K-11, forthcoming). Nevins said the book, a zombie thriller set in colonial times about a girl who lives in a religious community in the woods and is equally worried about a zombie invasion and her planned marriage, is in line to "do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires." Supposedly Seven Star is developing the project for an-as-yet-unnamed A-list starlet, and fast-tracking the project with a first draft of the screenplay already in the works.

Uhm...I think it's worth repeating that FHT will "Do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires."

That's my girl Carrie, yo.

Let the Wild Rumpus START!!!!

I am totes wearing my wolf suit. :)

uhm...hello, sparkly edward.

have you seen this?



wow. i renew my desire for RP to play Gavin in the movie of The Season. :)
That said...isn't New Moon the one without Edward?

Arrested Development The Movie

I woke up to this, which assures my day will be awesome.

So when we had the chance to speak with executive producer Ron Howard on the red carpet at the Oscars, we asked him to kick us some truth. He did, and now MTV News can exclusively confirm that the “Arrested Development” is happening.

“It’s going ahead,” Howard confirmed.

YAY RON HOWARD! And yay Michael Cera for not making a terrible mistake!

Top 10 Sigh-Inducing Moments...

In honor of the day, I give you my top ten list of sigh-inducing romantic moments from literature and film.

10. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." --Johnny, Dirty Dancing

9. "Aaaaaassss Yoooouuuuuu Wiiiiiiiissssshhhhh!" --Wesley, The Princess Bride

8. "Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die." --Ronny, Moonstruck

7. *sigh*



6. From Breakfast at Tiffany's:

Paul: "I love you."
Holly: "So what."
Paul: "So what?! So plenty! I love you! You belong to me!"

5. Have you ever loved a man, then lost him, then learned he lives on Fiji with a new lover? Is Fiji still Fiji? Coconuts and palm trees? --Tomcat in Love by Tim O'Brien

4. "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." --Harry, When Harry Met Sally

3. Meet Lloyd Dobler:



2. From The Odyssey:

Then with a burst of tears she ran straight toward him, and
flung her arms about the neck of Odysseus, and kissed his head, and spoke:
“Lo, thou dost convince my heart, unbending as it is.”
And in his heart aroused yet more the desire for lamentation;
and he wept, holding in his arms his dear and true-hearted wife.

1. "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." -Fitzwilliam Darcy, Pride & Prejudice

Ok...so what have I missed???

RIP Paul Newman

I'm so very sad to say goodbye to Paul Newman today...a king among men, who loved and lived with passion and gusto and reminded us all that the world is only as good as we make it.  

Rest In Peace, you handsome devil.

Bizarre Fact of the Day...

Michael Madsen's wife used to be married to Brian Setzer. Yes. That Brian Setzer. Huh.

Sir Ian McKellen Rocks My Socks

It's time for fun video clip of the day! This time...from Extras. LOVE IT.

"How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play."
"Yeah."
"You're confused."

Via dogorwizard.com hehe. yes. you read that right.

in which the author is distracted by patent leather

I woke up this morning completely committed to the goal of writing 5000 words today. I know, I know...it sounds like a lot, but it's not an impossible feat for me if 1) I'm totally focused on the writing and 2) don't immediately move to the couch and watch a movie.

Unfortunately, this morning I blew it. I took the dog for a walk, came home with an iced coffee and a bagel and watched Kinky Boots. I'm a complete and utter sucker for any movie revolving around British working class characters (see Full Monty, Waking Ned Divine and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), so I knew I'd love it, and I did.  It was sweet and charming and funny and utterly predictable in a wonderful, heartfelt way.  Eric, of course, moaned and groaned at the start, but ended up liking it too. Bottom line? If it comes on the cable, watch it.

Now, I'm 4 hours late in starting, but I'm hoping to make up for lost time. Leave me alone, Internet...and maybe, if you're good, I'll post a little teaser of the project I'm working on later today.

the neverending story

The NeverEnding Story is on tv right now...and I can't help but watch it. I don't think I've seen it since the mid 80s, when it was originally released, and I remember it being really sad and scary...and now I see why I remember it that way. It is sad! It is scary! But what a wonderful story...

Bastian, a human boy who has lost his mother, finds an antique book and, in reading it, has a chance to save a fantasy world from the nothing--the emptiness that's left when people lose hope and lose track of their dreams. Through the story of Atreyu, a young boy hero, Bastian becomes connected to Fantasia, a world filled with wonderful characters and charming creatures. Over the course of the movie, it becomes clear that Bastian's imagination is the key to saving the fantasy world.

The best part? To save the world, Bastian must read a book all the way to the end.

What an awesome concept!

Yeah, the movie is cheaply made, with some ridiculously bad sound editing and laughable special effects...but, just like I did when I was six and watched it for the first time, I find myself overlooking all that in favor of believing that the imagination...and books...can conquer all.

rufus sewell-prince of evil

i'm watching a knight's tale (it seems that every channel is playing heath ledger movies in honor of the dark night), and i can't help but realize that rufus sewell never ever gets a chance to play the hero.  my word. is he the evilest of evil?  true wicked personified? hatred and loathing and fury all wrapped into one swarthy, olive-skinned man? quoth eric: "with a name like that, could he be anything else?" 

poor rufus.  and here's the thing...he's an extremely handsome man, empirically. but i look at him...and shudder.  and not in a good way.

but paul bettany is totally dreamy, right? ;) 

Spirit Fingers!

A confession. I am a true sucker for cheesy teen movies, which probably isn't such a surprise to those of you who saw my altogether too serious critique of How to Deal.

This weekend, my in laws are in town from Fresno, California and, thanks to my Seattle mishap, I'm locked in my apartment, foot elevated and icing while my hubby and his rents are tooling around Brooklyn. In a few hours, I have to get up and start working on dinner, because we're having our bffs over to introduce his fam into our world (I'll let you imagine how that goes). But I'm in my own little heaven watching a Bring It On marathon. Yes. Marathon. That's 4 movies, three of which went straight to video. Even worse--watching it on ABC Family, so every even remotely bad word is replaced. Which makes it particularly bad...but I don't care. Because when Sparky Polaski comes on screen with his spirit fingers, I just can't resist.



Does this make me less of a person? You can tell me the truth. I can take it.

on film movie adaptations

so...i'm blogging while watching "how to deal"...the mandy moore adaptation of sarah dessen's books "that summer" and "someone like you." if you saw my twitter or my plurk, you know that i'm watching this movie on lifetime. which makes me, like, eleven and a half times as lame as i would be if i were watching it via netflix...or the apple tv.

in the interest of full disclosure, i admit that i haven't finished it...although it may be over by the time i post this. but i've got to say that if anyone ever buys the screen rights to the season (and, let's be honest, every author wants that, right?) i'm going to hope and pray that they buy the rights to one book at a time. because, even though sarah seems to like this movie, frankly it just does not do the books justice.

i am an ENORMOUS sarah dessen fan. truly. i've read all of her books and i think she's fantastic. her voice is incredible. her heroines are charming in their confusion, in how they struggle to find themselves, in their strength and courage and general awesomeness. While my favorite of her books is just listen...mainly because I married a 32 year old Owen...I was a big fan of both of the books on which "how to deal" is based.

in the last few weeks i've been struggling a lot to reconcile myself to the way the wide world perceives the two genres in which i write--romance and ya. You see, I have a two-fer in the lack of respect department. romance has been, continues to be and likely always will be the bastard stepchild of fiction--and i completely embrace my place in that world (i've never resisted the mantle of romance).  on the other hand, ya literature is starting to get a modicum of regard as "edgy."  

look, everyone knows that the movie is never as good as the book. here's the thing, though...i'm guessing this movie smooshed two books together because of the all too common perception that a single book for teens can't be deep and thoughtful enough to be really good on its own. and sarah dessen's books are deep. and thoughtful (see my descriptions above). on its own, someone like you tells deals with parent/child dynamics; the importance of real, long-lasting friendship; teen pregnancy; loss of grandparents; and unhealthy romantic relationships. similarly, that summer explores the challenges of divorce and remarriage...as well as the difficulty so many of we youngest daughters have getting out from under our big sisters' shadows.  i promise you, there are much fluffier movies in this world than the ones that would have come from a true adaptation of either of these books.

station break:  uhmmmm...scarlett goes into labor during ashley's wedding?  really?  oy.  my point is proven.  two books should never be smooshed together. i had more to say, but really...REALLY.

further station break: macon and halley get together?  doesn't that go against the whole point of someone like you? why are they dancing in the hallway while scarlett is having the baby?  shouldn't halley be in there? isn't the book about the power of friendship?  again, I say, REALLY. 

oh, hollywood lifetime. how you will be the death of me.

my celluloid saint

there are rare moments when i believe that god is visible in film...it's uncommon--sure there are films that entertain me...ones that engage me...ones that make me chuckle...and I don't often ask much of the movies I watch. I'm thrilled with the mindless joy of a silly teeny-bopper movie or romantic comedy...in the past few days there have been three that, while not the best in the world, have been just what I was looking for, one after the next after the next...i'm embarassed to admit.

but there is one director who constantly keeps me in awe...who seems to consistently entertain, intrigue, and engage me....who makes me envy his skill to the point of greenness...and who provides me with immeasurable quantities of those rare moments when i forget to breathe because the film is so incredible. he occupies that space just inside the front hall of household name-dom...and he deserves a place at the dining room table as far as I'm concerned.

paul thomas anderson, catapulted to the heights of my consciousness when I saw the film that has become my personal jesus--magnolia. Magnolia is a complicated story that leaves the viewer constantly in awe of the art and craft that went into both writing it and making it. It is a constant reminder of the power of our personal demons, and the reality that life, however strange and inconsistant, will go on. It is the film that changed my life. if you haven't seen it, you should. (not to mention the fantastic soundtrack from Aimee Mann). Summed up in one line, Magnolia: 

There are stories of coincidence and chance, of intersections and strange things told, and which is which and who only knows?

But the genius of anderson is in all of his films--from Hard Eight, a fantastic first film that is, on the surface, about gambling, and at its core about the realities of life; to Boogie Nights, which proves that no world is perfect; to Punch Drunk Love, which leaves us all with the valuable lesson that, no matter how we have limited ourselves in the past...the future can always exist with hope.

The joy of watching any Paul Thomas Anderson film, however, is his ability to demand and draw out the most amazing performances from any actor--Magnolia proves this 100 fold with remarkable performances by Philip Seymor Hoffman, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards (in his final film) and others...but the cake topper here is the completely uncharacteristic performance from Tom Cruise--as insane as Cruise has proved himself to be recently...he has never been more talented and less egocentric in his acting than he was here, under Anderson's tutelage.

If he could do it for Cruise, is it any wonder that Marky Mark turned Mark Wahlberg under the same mastery? That Adam Sandler proved his own acting skill with Anderson behind the camera in Punch Drunk Love? It shouldn't be...but it is always amazing to see the performances that PTA pulls from the actors he works with. But don't take my word for it...check out this article from Esquire...and believe what you read.In all of his films, however, he has demonstrated a natural filmmaking flair, a bent for risk taking, and a predilection for taking actors where they might otherwise never get to go. But what further distinguishes him is a skill much rarer among modern young filmmakers—his ability as a dramatist.

PTA has made a name for himself as an ensemble director--a young Robert Altman (and, actually, the director Altman selected to complete his last film on the event of his death prior to the end of production). But, this year, he stretched his skill, his limits and showed himself the greatest director of his generation--blowing Quentin Tarantino and others who were vying for the title clear back to film school with There Will Be Blood. Based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! and starring Daniel Day Lewis--a man who I think is one of the best actors in film, ever--There Will Be Blood is the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century...a movie that is so darkly allegorical and telling and just...true...that I can't imagine our children and our children's children looking back at it as proof that film, as art, was alive and well during our time.

I leave you with the quote from Magnolia that I think speaks volumes about what art means...and how life imitates it so very well.  

And we generally say, "Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn't believe it." Someone's so-and-so met someone else's so-and-so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that strange things happen all the time. And so it goes, and so it goes. And the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."

movie sunday...

some friends and i went to a midnight showing of Cloverfield last night...and i have to say, i found it really boring. i know, i know...this is not something you should say about a movie written and directed by the team from LOST, that is, essentially, the biggest monster movie of our time. and, frankly, the monster part of it is terrifying and totally awesome...in the true sense of the word.

now...i should preface what i'm about to say with this: i am crazy about movies that are completely unbelievable. i like trashy, epic, cheesy movies where i can suspend all disbelief and buy, thoroughly, that what's happening on the screen is actually happening. so this movie should have been a slam dunk for me. but here's my problem...i am find it absolutely unable to suspend that disbelief when filmmakers attempt to put their characters and these ridiculous plots into some kind of legitimate framework. in this case, Cloverfield is supposed to take place during a 6 hour span in New York City. In order, the characters go from the financial district to halfway across the brooklyn bridge then back to spring street and lafayette to 59th street and lexington avenue to columbus circle to 42nd street to 40th and park. in the middle of this, they climb up and back down 50 flights of stairs in an apartment building and wait for a good hour in a subway station. For those of you who are not New Yorkers, this might seem totally feasible. but it's really totally not. REALLY TOTALLY NOT.

And i know what you're thinking, "Sarah...it's a MONSTER movie. No giant monster is going to attach the city either...but you don't seem to struggle with that piece of it." You're right. I don't...and if they'd set this movie somewhere fake, like Metropolis, or Gotham City, I'd be so fine with the running all over the city thing...but it was SUPPOSED to feel as if this was ACTUALLY happening in New York...and it just isn't possible that they did all that stuff in 6 hours. it's just not. and i couldn't shake my knowledge of NYC geography for the hour and a half i was watching this movie (partially because i was thoroughly bored by the plot and HATED the characters)...so...there it is. I'm terribly unforgiving.

i don't want to say much else about the movie, because i don't want to ruin it for you...but i will say this...if you do decide to see it...don't wait to rent it or see it on the cable. go see it in the movie theater. it's worth it that way. the other way, you'll be disappointed.