Thirteen going on thirty

[cleolinda]

Oh, wow--someone sent me a book, but I'm not sure who it's from? There wasn't any name or card or information with it. It's something I had really wanted to read for Black Ribbon research, though, so--thank you so much, whoever it's from!

By the way, if you were working the upstairs register at the Brookwood Mall Books-a-Million on Wednesday night, and you sold a copy of Dead Until Dark to two women, the older of which kept saying "SHE WRITES ABOUT THE SHOW" really loudly over and over again, and the younger of which looked like she kind of wanted to die... I need to apologize to you about that.

("Mom, you really don't need to go announcing to people that you've heard how terrible the Twilight books are. You have to scope people out! You have to find out whether they like them or not first!" "No, see, you need to do that. I don't actually care if people get mad at me." "WELL, CLEARLY WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT.")

("I still can't believe you thought EDWARD imprinted on the baby. How long did you think that?" "Ever since you told me! When the book first came out!" "In August? Damn, no wonder you had such a weird look whenever you talked about the movie, if you thought that." "I'M SAYING! He's the love of her life!? And he was going to run off with THEIR BABY?!" "And it didn't strike you as weird that no one in the media raised holy hell about that?" "Look, I don't know. People are crazy. That's all I know.")

Also, I feel like I should say a bit more about The Gift of Fear, since several people raised this concern--it actually doesn't make you feel paranoid at all, or at least I've never talked to anyone who had that problem. (In fact, one of his subsequent books is called Fear Less.) What it actually does is tell you to trust your own gut feelings and how to recognize a true warning signal; it actually made me feel less paranoid, because I knew I could rely on my instincts to tell me if something was wrong. I mean, in addition to normal prudence (locking your doors at night, using the buddy system, not taking candy from strangers, whatever). I haven't read it in a while so I can't cite chapter and verse, but I actually found it comforting and kind of empowering.

And no, it's not culty (even though people like to give the book out to others a lot). It's not some kind of complicated self-help crock. There aren't "steps" or anything. It's just security expert extraordinaire Gavin de Becker (who is awesome, and understands violence against women in a way that so many people don't: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them") saying (and this is a gigantic paraphrase), "If you feel uncomfortable or anxious or scared in a situation and you feel like you want to leave or disengage, do that, and don't worry about being 'polite' or what other people will think of you. Trust yourself and put your own safety first." It's not about feeling more scared; it's about listening to the times you already feel scared, and giving yourself permission to act on that.

Linkspam!

helpvera was a complete success.

Rare snowfall hits New Orleans. None here yet, although schools actually closed in terrified anticipation of an inch of snow that wouldn't stick anyway.

Dakota Culkin Killed By Car.

Scientists extract images directly from brain.

8 Truly Strange Christmas Customs. I particularly like the German pickle ornament that no one in Germany's actually heard of.

From krazycat: Nine Inch Noëls.

Tennant Ruled Out Of Hamlet Until 2009.

Malkovich To Play Serial Killer In Austrian Play.

Entertainment Weekly Considering Going Online-Only? This would not surprise me at all, given how flimsy the print copies are now. It's the end of an era and yet... I can't link to print articles and I don't read the hard copy anyway.

The Hater: How Lost Can Get A Golden Globe Nomination Next Year. SERIOUSLY.

OSCAR NEWS: Host Won't Do Stand-Up; Protests Over Honor For Jerry Lewis ("The controversy is over his recent repeated and public anti-gay slurs"); Paramount Awards Site Hacked Just in Time For Golden Globe Noms.

Images: 'Duplicity' Poster is a Glitterati Equal Sign; 'Knowing' Images And Onesheet; Pair of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ Pictures Feature Pitt and Kruger; 'Madea Goes to Jail' Poster Makes Great 'Dove Grudge' Poster or Tattoo; Uma Thurman looks a lot like Sarah Palin in 'Motherhood'?; 'Unborn' Poster(ior) Looks Strangely Familiar. OH LIKE THE GAP BETWEEN HER THIGHS IS IN ANY WAY REAL.

Trailers and clips: 2009 Sundance Film Fest Trailers; The 'Watchmen' International Trailer Is Here!; Worth Watching: Natasha Arthy's 'Fighter' Trailer; EXCLUSIVE: New ‘Notorious’ Clip Features Biggie In Concert; 'Hit and Run' or 'I Know What You Did Driving Home Last Weekend' Trailer.

Sherlock Holmes: First look at Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler; More pics of RDJ and Rachel McAdams. Yes, I find this important enough to be THE LEAD MOVIE ITEM.

WGA Hopes You Won't Remember Who Directed 'The Dark Knight'; Heath Ledger’s Family Responds To Golden Globe Nomination; 'The Dark Knight' Breaks Blu-ray Disc Sales Record; Is Rachel Weisz Catwoman in Dark Knight Sequel!?? OH WHATEVER! THEY DON'T HAVE A SCRIPT YET! (That said... I endorse this product and/or service.)

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio: EW's Exclusive Reunion Q&A! And they are ADORABLE. I really didn't buy into the whole Kate & Leo thing until right now. Also: DiCaprio Warns Young Stars To Keep Acting. It cracks me up that they specifically asked him about RPattz and Zefron, particularly having seen this picture of Efron nattering away while DiCaprio looks like he wants to die.

And for my birthday, I will get 'New Moon' wank: The Weitzening to be official on Sunday? I have pre-emptively begun feeling sorry for Chris Weitz just in case. I don't know--maybe I'm crazy, but I really liked The Golden Compass; I'm not saying it was perfect or even close to ideal, but I loved the look and I loved the casting, and I was pretty sure that the story wasn't going to survive uncut or unaltered no matter who directed it. So he's okay by me. Which is, again, why I am adding him to the List of People Involved with Twilight Who I Feel So Incredibly Sorry For (Please Upgrade Your Riot Gear, You're Going to Need It). Also: TwiMoms are already trying to get parts on 'New Moon,' find sets, avoid freaking the mundanes; the Twilight DVD will be loaded and giggly, basically including the commentary of my dreams.

BREAKING NEWS: Do we have a new Jacob?

(Related: Robert Pattinson Teams With Rosario Dawson For ‘Parts Per Billion,’ for certain values of "teams": "I don’t have a relationship to him in the film. So we never meet.")

(Hmm. Austenbook begets Meyerbook. Definitely read the former.)

Major Hints For Iron Man 2, Dragonball, T4, And Clone Wars [Morning Spoilers]

Film review: 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'; Don Draper Solves the Alien Problem With Scotch [Exclusive]; No Laughing Matter: We Give Keanu His SF Due.

Heyman to Kloves on Deathly Hallows: "There are times I think we could have done three movies" (I will skip the one about camping, thanks); Harry Potter: the Exhibition premiere announced; Book review: 'The Tales Of Beedle The Bard.'

'Terminator: Salvation' Update: New Image and Set Reports.

Hugh Jackman dishes on Gambit and Deadpool.

Del Toro says he won't make another film in Mexico.

Aronofsky's Plans for 'Noah' and 'The Fountain' Redo; Aronofsky Aims For Hardcore 'RoboCop.'

Benjamin Button Writer Heads Into Space With New Project.

Fincher's 'Torso' greenlit after all?

GI Joe Trailer Description.

Stiller Steps in for Ruffalo after Russian Roulette Tragedy; 'Us Weekly' Unable to Determine Mark Ruffalo's Problem ("MAYBE THAT'S WHY, Us Weekly ").

'Doubt': It's certainly one of the year's best; Review: Overly theatrical beyond a ‘Doubt.’

Review: Soderbergh’s ‘Che’ is quietly revolutionary.

'What Doesn't Kill You' makes a strong movie.

'Delgo': A fantasy world not worth entering.

Joby Harold Adapting 'Atlantis Rising.'

Oliver Stone Making Hugo Chavez Documentary.

'Brothers' Now to Bloom in May '09.

Duchovny Still Believes In X-Files. Yeah... you keep on keepin' on there.

The Suckiest SF Movie of the Last Twelve Months.

'Dragonball: Evolution' Movie Stills. So long as this movie is around, the Slot will never go empty.



ETA: Bettie Page passed away this evening.

Comments

German Pickle

[katchin.livejournal.com]

I was home for lunch the other day and caught a few minutes of Days of our Lives. This German pickle thing was actually mentioned on the show (after Sami found a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree and asked WTH).

[mumford519.livejournal.com]

It snowed here (Lafayette, LA) and pretty much everywhere in south LA. It never snows here esp. this early in December. My 2 year old was unimpressed (he had Fruit Loops to worry about) but I enjoyed it.

[dachelle.livejournal.com]

I had a dream last night and you were in it! Well, probably not you exactly, as I don't know what you look like, but I knew it was you.

Anyway, we were at a high school that looked more like a giant airplane hanger, and we were going to be in a play, and the big news was that Robert Pattinson was coming to guest star in the play that night, and everyone was so excited. People were making banners to welcome him and fainting and stuff. You pulled me aside and told me "WE HAVE TO PROTECT HIM" and I was all "???" and then you shushed me and pointed up into the rafters, and there were TwiMoms up there, waiting to pounce.

And so we made this plan to stop them, only I can't remember what it was, and then RPattz came to the school and he was really lovely and a sweetheart, but suddenly he was overwhelmed by TwiMoms who were wielding scissors to cut off pieces of his hair, and you started yelling that we had to put the plan in action, because RPattz's power is in The Hair, and RPattz was screaming, but then I got a text on my phone and said that I wasn't going to be able to help because I had to fly to England to buy tickets for Peter's Christmas show with Chas and Dave. So then I went on to another part of the dream, and left you to defend RPattz alone. Erm, sorry?

[mogumogu.livejournal.com]

Let's see... We need some people to be Asian... but not the main character. He should be totally white, 'cause white people can do anything. Oh, no. Nobody will like a cute Bulma, especially not Dragonball fans. She has to be badass and black-clad.


Well... New!Jacob looks good, but I still miss old Jacob. *cry* It'll be pretty hilarious to see him suddenly become a new actor though (especially if his acting skills leave something to be desired). I know he's supposed to age, but it's not like he started out 6 and shot up to 27. *stubborn* I mean, movies always fudge things around to get them to work.

But it's probably a good thing for Sharkboy Taylor Lautner, because the series really only goes downhill.


From last night:

"Look, The Day the Earth Stood Still is on. It's a movie made during the Cold War where the aliens are actually good but we turn on them because we don't trust them. See, that guy's one of the aliens. There's a remake of it coming out."

Me: ...Wait, so this is the movie about aliens landing and disintegrating everybody in a big flash of light?

".... What?"

Twilight Edward Body Shimmer @ Hot Topic

[kels.livejournal.com]

http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/store/product.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302028384&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442193019&bmUID=1229042985652

[snowwhite2421.livejournal.com]

Okay, I would just like to take a moment to bitch about the use of the word "STAR" in entertainment coverage.

TAYLOR LAUTNER DID NOT STAR IN TWILIGHT. Neither did Kellan Lutz, or Nikki Reed, or any of the other people who had LESS THAN 20 MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME! GAAAAAAH! There are EXTRAS that were on camera longer than them! Just because the character has a name doesn't make them a star. All it means is they get paid more. I understand it from reporting agencies outside the entertainment industry, but when we're talking MTV or Hollywood Reporter or whatever, THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

And further, Sparklepants and Rosario Dawson do not "partner," "team," or any other verb that implies collaboration in the upcoming project Parts Per Billion. In fact, the odds are good they will only see each other at the first table read and the wrap party.

*hyperventilate*

Stupid MTV. They started this crap, I bet. MIKE WELCH, STAR OF TWILIGHT... OMGSTFU

kthxsrybai

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you say regarding The Gift of Fear . I read it for the first time this summer, and it really is about empowerment and trusting your own warning signals and intuition, which ultimately makes you feel much stronger. It alleviated my own fears in given circumstances, and certainly didn't add to them. It's got a lot of really honest, good points in it - many of which are common sense, but we don't allow ourselves to fully realize (like the intuition thing). Everyone - but women in particular - ought to read it at some point.

That interview with Kate and Leo is absolutely every reason why I adore them.

[jjrogueangel.livejournal.com]

Wow the pickle ornament... though we're not German, my mom has gotten a kick out of "hiding the pickle" - yes we tease her about that - for years.

[aranel13.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know the snow made it all the way to NO. I'm in Houston and the snowfall was freakin awesome here. Over four inches and my cat was having a meltdown, followed by hiding in the back of my work room just in case I decided to throw him back out in it. Because I'm a good cat mommy that way.

[edda.livejournal.com]

By the way, if you were working the upstairs register at the Brookwood Mall Books-a-Million on Wednesday night, and you sold a copy of Dead Until Dark to two women, the older of which kept saying "SHE WRITES ABOUT THE SHOW" really loudly over and over again, and the younger of which looked like she kind of wanted to die... I need to apologize to you about that.

("Mom, you really don't need to go announcing to people that you've heard how terrible the Twilight books are. You have to scope people out! You have to find out whether they like them or not first!" "No, see, you need to do that. I don't actually care if people get mad at me." "WELL, CLEARLY WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT.")

I want to be your mom when I grow up. Seriously.

the new jacob!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nymphette_/]

finally, jacob hawtness I won't feel old and skeevy for lusting after!

*friends him on facebook immediately*

[shadowqueen28.livejournal.com]

"None here yet, although schools actually closed in terrified anticipation of an inch of snow that wouldn't stick anyway."

My brain just broke in five different places trying to process that. I live in Florida right now (where I would give anything to see it snow), but I just have to say that when I went to high school in northeastern Illinois a few years ago, we wouldn't have a snowday unless the snow was piled too high to walk out the front door. We had school in snowstorms.

[rahrahmah.livejournal.com]

DAVID DUCHOVNY! You shut your mouth! He sits there and blah blah blahs for like, three paragraph answers to simple questions, all of which are full of hopeful, teary-eyed nostalgia for the show HE KILLED. SINGLE HANDEDLY. First he moved it from Vancouver to Hollywood, ruining the look of the sets and the guest stars which went from gloomy and natural to slick and irritating. Then he left entirely. Which completely ruined everything. And as if destroying the quality and getting the show cancelled wasn't enough, they could have made a few movies earlier when there was still some interest, they had been talking about a second movie for years, but it was Duchovny who wouldn't commit, thinking his movie career was going to catch fire any day now, I guess. UG. UG UG UG. You can't kill a thing, bury it and dance on the grave then go dig it up when you're lonely hoping it will keep you company.

...sorry. Bit of a rant there. But man, I loved that show as a kid. Really loved it.

Dead Until Dark

[sassysouth.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you bought a copy of DEAD UNTIL DARK! I was seriously toying with the idea of just sending you a copy... ;)

Like we've said, we're big fans of yours over at Charlaine's site!

SassySouth
aka - AtlantaSassyBelle

[arby-m.livejournal.com]

I am re-reading the Gift of Fear - I read it in manuscript form, some 12 years ago in my post-college job search when I was interviewing for the publisher, and I did not get the job because my report was quite grammar-nazish about the ESL nature of the writing. But the editors actually did a really good job and now I love it. I also think I was too immature at the time to really get the message. I find now that it's amazing how GdB really does understand and unreservedly supports the American female experience to a remarkable degree - to the point that it's quite a feminist book, actually. It's amazing and should be required reading by everyone except the very young. The statistics alone are completely overwhelming and proof that a lot of men really do literally want to kill us. And a lot of women stay with the men that end up killing them.

I'd like to hand out a copy to every girl who buys any of the Twilight books. It's totally the counteractive agent they need.

[flaxenescapee.livejournal.com]

That actor who might play Jacob is a fucking douche. Excusez-moi.

[sunni-sideup.livejournal.com]

I will be highly agitated if they do indeed decide to replace Taylor Lautner for New Moon. I really liked him as Jacob, and I think replacing actors just completely cheapens movies, no matter the reason. I don't believe this rumor yet. I can't tell you how many people swore they were Edward Cullen before Rob was cast.