May 12, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Family Portrait, Life in General, Movie Queue, Revision Hell, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up, Writing Movements
I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day. Both mothers and non-mothers alike. Friday night, I went with my parents to see my niece’s 5 minute Film Shorts Festival. 100 scripts had been submitted, they’d narrowed it down to 20, and hers had won first place! I’m so proud of her and she did such a great job. As a writer, we’re constantly asked of any similarities between us and our characters. I can honestly say that when her play, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”, was being acted out, I could picture her saying some of those lines:
“I said sip it, not inhale it.”
It was very funny and I laughed hysterically during one play titled “My Son Johnny.” And my throat got tight during another, “45th Infantry.” That one hit close to home because I’m sure there were some people in the audience that had family members over in Iraq. All of the plays were written by the students and directed by the students. During the time my niece went to this school, I made sure that I caught all of her performances and it never ceases to amaze me how talented these teens are. She’s graduating next month and plans to spend the summer in California with one of her father’s cousins, who makes commercials. Maybe something will come up and she’ll get a break. I may be biased, but my niece is super talented.
Saturday, I “stimulated” the economy by spending my half of the check we got back from the IRS. I bought a couple of sundresses on sale at Old Navy, bought Mother’s Day gifts for my Mom ($25 Bucca di Beppo GC), sister (Prosperity Pie by SARK…which it turns out she already has a copy.) and co-worker ($20 Old navy GC). Bought a birthday gift (drawing pad and colored pencils) for said co-worker’s 8 yr old daughter. She celebrated her birthday yesterday. Ate breakfast at my favorite place, The Original Pancake House, and went to see a movie (Speed Racer). I’ll get to the little movie review in a minute, but I also did some research for the DA Book One.
A local resort spa was the inspiration behind the spa in the current story and I’m at a certain point in my revisions where I needed a visual of a home that can be rented. A really pricey rental home. I called down there the day before to see if I could take a tour and was given permission. Needless to say, the pictures on the website didn’t do it justice. Seeing it in person was pretty cool. I’m so glad I was able to see it because it was just what I needed. Normally, I would’ve post the link and let you guys have a look-see, too, but that will come later. I’m going to have a website created for the series some time in August and when I give a little back story about each book, I plan to include the local places that inspired me: mostly links, but hopefully some pictures, too.
So, the whole Speed Racer thing…
I was a big fan of the cartoon. I even have a Speed Racer magnet on my frig. I wanted to see the movie out of loyalty. Now, I’m wishing I’d waited until it hit Showtime or HBO. I was highly, highly, highly disappointed. They turned it into a futuristic video game! There was nothing futuristic about the cartoon except the look of his car, the Mach 5. I was hoping for more realistic driving scenes like in The Fast and The Furious, but instead got a remake of Tron. The only cool thing about this movie was the updated version of the theme song, which was pretty rockin’ (although I have no idea who sings it).
Saturday night was movie night in our house. My hubby’s best friend loaned us three of his favorite movies this year and one of them was Sweeney Todd. Interesting, to say the least, and Johnny Depp doesn’t have a half bad singing voice. He’s always been good at playing dark characters, and once you get past all the graphic throat-slitting scenes (which, in a way, remind me of some of Quentin Tarantino’s “overkill” blood spurting scenes), the story is quite tragic. The length he goes to to get revenge is crazy, and some of the English accents were so thick you couldn’t understand what was being said, but all in all is a good movie.
Sunday, we all had breakfast at Village Inn with some long-time family friends. It’s tradition. We’ve been doing it for years. After that, me, my sister and her hubby went back to my parents house to discuss family reunion stuff. Last year, it was in Houston and my Dad said, “When’s the next one? Why don’t we have it in Phoenix?” Since he asked the question, he basically got picked to plan it. LOL. Thanks Dad. But it’s okay. We got a lot planned already. The date’s been picked, the hotel chosen, our shirts are going to be royal and white, and the theme is “Wild, Wild, West”. I volunteered to get T-shirt pricing and photographer estimates. This should be fun. We’re inviting another branch of the family. I’m looking forward to seeing extended, extended family again. As well as meeting new ones.
That’s it for me. Hope you enjoy the next installment of Miss Snitch Mondays.
So, how was your weekend?
Technorati Tags: Old Navy, Bucca di Beppo, Prosperity Pie, SARK, The Original Pancake House, Speed Racer, Showtime, HBO, The Fast and The Furious, Tron, Sweeney Todd, Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino, Village Inn, Miss Snitch Mondays
ellie says:
Sounds fun..those sun dresses. Stay creative!
cate says:
LOL, i just read about your niece’s play on draven’s blog and now i’m reading about it again on yours ^^
well, about my weekend you already know, as you read my blog…
Celise says:
Ellie - It’s hard to find sundresses that don’t make me look pregnant. Or show major cleavage if I decide to put an elbow on the table. Unfortunately, these do both. LOL. Which is why I probably won’t wear them in public too often.
Cate - Draven loves plays too. She would take more Theater classes at her school if she could, but it would take too much time away from her “real job”.
draven says:
omgosh, i loved the my son johnny skit. up until the son and the girlfriend stepped in. that was a bit of a letdown. it had this momentum going with the commentary between the two characters and then it was like someone came in and farted. the appearance of “son johnny” was, like, not needed or something.
OH, and the two dudes dressed in period costume, talking with an english accent? yeah, they shouldve axed that. you couldn’t understand what that one dude was saying because he was talking so fast. i cant believe it was actually taken from a myspace commetary. lame. so lame.