What’s up buttercup?

0 comments on "So Famous You Transcend Fame"

Johnny Depp is the kind of famous where he could stop acting in movies, have lost all his money, and could be residing in a dumpster – and people would still recognize his name and face. He’s just got this legendary kind of fame, and he also happens to be an incredibly attractive man.

He is probably one of the most beautiful men in the world, and he’s only gotten better with age. I look at his “21 Jump Street” day photos and he’s a pretty boy, but he grew up into a beautiful man.  And on top of that he’s an excellent actor and always seems charming.

There are just some movies that are made better just by having a particular actor or actress in it. Johnny Depp makes every movie he’s in better. That’s being a star.

And that’s what I’ve been thinking about: Being a star. Being incredibly famous. Being the kind of person that thousands of people completely obsess about.

I’ve been writing “Idlewile,” my band story. In it, Idlewile is Johnny Depp, Rain, Big Bang level famous. First from his boy band days, then now as a soloist. It has really made me think about fame and what it would be like to deal with being so famous that literally EVERYONE in the world knows your name and what you look like.

Which brings me back to Johnny Depp.

He has always kept it classy, or if there’s been any slips he has a good PR sense. Some people have questioned his fashion, but I think it ties in to his need for some semblance of privacy. Those hats and glasses and even the flashy things he likes to wear – they draw the eye and that’s all anyone sees: Johnny Depp wearing eyeliner or channeling Jack Sparrow.

Everyone needs a place to hide sometimes. Even if that “place” happens to just be the mask you wear in public.

 

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good at Amazon
0 comments on "Where are all of the book remixes at? The Book Remix Project?"

My brain just totally popped with an idea that I feel like I should immediately share with the world:

Book Remixes

I’ve admitted my secret “shame” before – my fondness for reading fanfiction – and one of the things fanfic authors like to do is a story remix.

It’s basically when someone writes a really awesome story that lots of people love. A fanfiction story so great, that someone writes a fanfiction for it. A fanfiction of a fanfiction. It’s like some kind of unintended mindsuck, like the movie “Inception” (which has a very hearty fandom behind it.)

In fanfiction, one author asks the other for permission, then rewrites their story in a different way. Like a lighthearted comedy story could be taken to a very different extreme, or the whole story could be basically the same, except the very end. Sometimes there are remix contests where all kinds of fanfic authors throw their stories into a hat, then other authors rewrite the stories in their own way. It’s just one of those stupid fun things people like to do.

So what stops indie authors from doing the same thing? Like each one of the remixed books could have REMIX in the title and an explanation of what they are on their description pages, or maybe there could be a story collection. It could be like a fun contest for authors to enter – either to exchange books amongst themselves, or to rewrite classic literature in the common domain.

I just think it would be a really fun thing to read.

Imagine: CJ Cherryh rewriting “Brave New World.” And Aldous Huxley rewriting “Fortress In the Eye of Time.”
Mark Twain rewriting “Pride & Prejudice.” And Jane Austen rewriting “Huckleberry Finn.”
Joss Whedon rewriting “Twilight.” And Stephanie Meyer rewriting “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (or even better, what if she rewrote “Angel?”)

Witch King at Amazon
3 comments on "Me-date. As in, what’s up in the world of me"

Kdrama: Found a ton of Korean movies on YouTube (no, I’m not going to list the links. They’re just on there and I didn’t have to do any work to find them.) I was really pleased and I caught some movies I haven’t otherwise had a chance to watch, so that’s pretty cool.

Anyways, because of some of the shows I’ve seen, I’ve been struck by some amazing inspiration 🙂  Just general concepts I’ve been putting together in my brain. That’s what happens when you see a whole bunch of eye candy working together in one TV show or movie.

Personal Woes: I need to stop obsessively checking my Twitter and Facebook. Why? Because every time I do, I get my feelings hurt when I find out someone’s de-followed me ;9_9;

It’s kind of crazy just how sensitive I am to something I really should be able to just shrug off. But I guess I’m more delicate than I like to pretend.

What I’m Working On: I’m putting “Pomegranate 01” together and I’m hopeful it will be available for purchase soon *fingers crossed* Right now it’s comprised of “The Hand of Ares,” “And A Single Petal Fell,” “Daisy,” “LeNoir,” and I’m deciding whether I want to include “Icarus.” When it’s all ready, it should be a pretty mean mix of fiction 🙂 I just have to get a cover on it (sounds like that Beyonce song, doesn’t it?)

Working on the story I’m publicly calling “Band!Fic” which should be a nice mm piece. Thinking about whether I want to pub it myself, or send it out. My only problem is that I’m mildly incompetent at talking to new people or being judged, which makes submitting my stuff near to impossible (I’m thinking about taking up Xanex or something, though all the side effects scare the crap out of me hardcore.)

Still, Band!Fic is coming along crazy fast. I literally wrote 5000 words in an hour and I’ve developed a ton of back story that I can sprinkle throughout. I still haven’t made up my mind about whether I want it to be by me, Harper Kingsley, or if it’s going to be “Sol Crafter.” The problem is that I honestly have a hard time writing any kind of sex stuff — I’ll write a scene and it always just seems to awkward and semi-awful to me that I want to hide the story away. So I kind of want Band!Fic to be a Sol Crafter piece, but I worry about how people are going to take the lack of overt sex. There’s hints so far and sweet romance, but it’s pretty PG right now and I’m thinking it’s probably going to stay that way — which should make it a good choice for a gay YA read.

Round Up: Writing, writing, hanging out, reading, writing. That’s basically it.

I’m not going to give anyone a set date for publications, mostly because I’m so bad at keeping to deadlines. I’m terrible about it, in fact. It’s one of the greatest shames of my life. But I will say that these will all be coming out in 2012, so follow the blog to get the heads up or Like my Facebook page because stuff usually shows up there.

“Vedran’s Hand” – The Duel is approaching, Dragon is being stupid, Vedran is the Emperor, and someone is staging a coup. And, btw, I’m kind of falling hard for Kameris, who was only supposed to be a secondary character, but is quickly becoming a favorite. mm fantasy, novel.
“The Brand” – Tensions are rising between Pen, Wrath, and Ilis. Plus, the assassination attempts are starting to get pretty serious. Yeah, it’s totally that harem thing, and I might be biased, but I think it’s getting pretty good. mm fantasy, novel.
“Fiends” – The fiend Teablossom is a jerk, but a very charming one. And it’s always kind of beautiful when someone finds out they really do have a heart, even if it’s small and black like a coal. mm romance, novella.
“Allies & Enemies” – Book two of “Heroes & Villains.” The continuation of Vereint’s adventures as a superhero turned supervillain turned regular Joe turned… well. Starts with a BANG! ends with a whim… BANG! And I would just like to note that Vereint is a total BAMF in this, like scarily so. superhero adventure, mm, novel.

Let's Make Dumplings at Amazon
0 comments on "Let’s start going back to movie theaters again."

I really like going to the movies. There’s something kind of awesome about finding a seat in the darkness and watching a movie with a bunch of strangers WHILE munching on popcorn and slurping down the biggest Coke ever made.

The fun part about going to the movies is the decadence, I think. Because, come on, you might occasionally gorge yourself at home, but it’s only at the movie theater that you buy that gigantic popcorn and the largest drink. Your self-motivator? The thought that you might finish your popcorn or your drink and need to get up to get more, thereby missing a portion of the movie and not being able to rewind. Why is that great? Because when you’re at home there’s no way you’d eat that much popcorn or drink that much soda. So you’ve basically talked yourself into being a pig, and there’s some secret part of you that loves that.

Sure, it would be bad if you practiced those kinds of eating habits all the time, but to do it just every once and a while gives it that much more purpose and meaning. It also makes the memories of those trips more precious to both adults and children.

And that strange mix of nostalgia and euphoria makes whatever movie you’re watching ten times better. So even if you were watching what should have been just an “okay movie,” that euphoria makes it into something so fantabulous you have to gush about it later. It just blows up and you’re totally in that moment.

Sitting in a movie theater is one of those great experiences that simply should not be missed. Yet the prices are so prohibitive that more and more people aren’t going to the movies anymore. And so people get mad at movie theater owners for being greedy and charging so much money.

But it’s not the movie theaters’ fault.

The whole reason why movies are so expensive is because movie studios are charging so much. Because when’s the time a movie mostly seen? In its first week. And that’s when the studios expect to be paid the most money. Each time the movie is shown, they get up to 90% of the ticket price, if not more, leaving the theaters to try and get the most money out of concessions. Which is why so many theaters are disappearing.

People do not want to pay so much money for snack foods. “$5 for popcorn? I wouldn’t pay that much for a gallon of gas, yet I’m expected to pay it for frakking popcorn? Are you insane?” is the first response most people have. “$10 for a matinee ticket, $5 for popcorn, $5 for a drink? I’m not going to pay that much just for me to see a movie by myself! And if I brought someone else, that would be $40 if she didn’t want anything more. We could go out to dinner and watch a movie at home for less than that. And I’d be more likely to score… hm.” And thus, another theater goer is gone.

Which is why I think the future of theaters is going to see more success in showing Independent films. Because making a movie yourself is a lot easier to do now, and with theaters being unable to stay in business on studio movies, there will be more of them willing to show independent movies “just until I stay afloat.” Especially if they’re the ones being paid to show the movie – or at least, if that’s how they perceive the situation.

Theaters could be showing different homegrown movies every week and making money while doing it. So if you’re making tons of money showing some high school kids’ sci-fi movie, but you’re losing money on studio movies, then why not just go completely independent? Only show good movies chosen from those submitted by their makers, and basically be your own small distributor.

Besides, MOVIE MAKERS, going independent could actually see you making much more money. Amazon lets you make your own DVDs and sell them at their store through their subsidy, CreateSpace. Which is cool, because nowadays, everyone knows DVDs and digital content is where all the money is.