Jan. 2: Here's an article by Jonathan Goldstein in the National Post:
My own worst critic isn’t me — it's this woman who came to my reading
6:00 p.m.I’m giving a reading at the public library this evening, but before it begins, I meet up with a group of teens. They publish a literary journal out of the library and are an inquisitive bunch.
“How much money do you make?” a teenage girl asks.
When I was a kid, I was afraid to even talk to adults. I once jumped from a moving tram car because I was too shy to ask the driver to stop. And these kids won’t be satisfied until they see my tax returns.
“Not enough to get rich,” I say, “but enough to eat regular meals.”
“What was your big break?”
“I guess I’m still waiting for that. But I’ve gotten by on a few smaller breaks.”
“How’d you know you wanted to be a writer?”
“It was a process of elimination,” I say. “I wasn’t good at much else. And for years I didn’t even get any positive feedback. It was just that I couldn’t stop. Charles Bukowski compared his process to a spider with no choice but to spin webs. That’s how I felt, like I needed to do it whether I got paid or not.”
“How do you deal with someone not liking you?” a young man in a pork pie hat asks.
“I guess I try to enjoy it,” I say. “Enjoy that my existence upsets them. There can be great strength in that.”
7:45 p.m.
After the reading, there are more questions. This time from adults.
“Is it hard to share dark truths about yourself,” someone asks.
“I don’t think my truths are so dark,” I say. “Sure, I uncrate poisonous memories from the basement of my mind, but what the reader fails to grasp is that the elevator goes down to a sub-basement — a ‘B2,’ if you will. And that’s where I keep the Special Goldstein Reserves, those darker vintages only to be uncorked during death-bed confessionals.”
8:10 p.m.
Walking off the stage, a woman approaches wanting to know who the person on my poster is.
“That was me,” I say apologetically. “When I had hair. I guess I should update my publicity photo.”
“Yes,” she says. “You used to look good.”
It is at this point that a smarter man would just walk away. But when I am handed a shovel, not only do I willingly dig my own grave, but I really put my back into it. And so:
“Don’t I look good now?” I ask.
“You look wise,” the woman says. That she says it with a degree of gentleness makes it all the more hurtful.
We often think of ourselves as our own worst critics. But then one day we meet someone who makes us realize this is not at all the case. No, there are people out there who see us from unflattering vantage points we can only dream of.
Thank you, casually cruel lady, for unburdening me of the weight of my own perceived masochism. Thank you, too, for forcing me to live out my own advice. And so, with gritted teeth, I try to imagine how much I might upset this woman and I try, too, to enjoy it.
—Jonathan Goldstein is the host of WireTap on CBC Radio One, airing Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and Thursday at 11:30 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @J_Goldstein.
http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/11/17/my-week-my-own-worst-critic-isnt-me-its-this-woman-who-came-to-my-reading/
Jan. 3: I unintentionally seemed to ignite my passion for writing a little bit, with old TV shows and movies.
Veronica Mars movie: I was on Facebook and I see Ashley put up the trailer to this movie. I love this show and have all 3 seasons on DVD. I see the trailer, and it looks really good. It seems that Veronica is now a NYC lawyer and she finds out her ex-boyfriend Logan may have murdered his girlfriend. Veronica comes and helps him.
It looks like all the characters are back. I was kind of excited and happy to see the trailer. When I heard they were going to make a movie, I was like: “Okay. We’ll see if it actually gets produced.”
Even if you’re not a fan of the show and never seen it, I do recommend you watch the show. It does have a mass appeal because it’s good writing and mysteries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq1R93UMqlk
I clicked on Percy Daggs III, who played Veronica’s friend Wallace on the show. He seemed really happy and grateful that the movie is coming out. That’s nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-11PlBvUkc4
Alex Rider: Does anyone remember the 2006 movie called Alex Rider: Stormbreaker? The books are by Anthony Horowitz and I have read the first six of them back in 2005-2006. It stars Alex Pettyfer, and he was in I am Number Four and In Time.
The books are really good about a 14 yr old boy named Alex who is recruited into being a spy for MI6. However, the movie wasn’t really good. I was 21 when I saw the movie and I was really excited about it. When I did some checking about it on the internet, I see that Horowitz also wrote the movie.
I also see there were some changes in it like how Alex’s love interest Sabina is in it. She wasn’t in it until the later books. I read that Alex’s housekeeper Jack is going to get into a fight scene with Nadia. That wasn’t in the book either.
It was on TV last night, so I decided to have it on in the background as I’m on the computer. I will only watch it for the action scenes.
I went to Wikipedia, and it says:
“Hopes and expectations for a box office-busting franchise were so high that Horowitz was commissioned to start writing the screenplay for the adaption of the second novel, Point Blanc, even before Stormbreaker was released. Pettyfer was signed to play Alex Rider in all the sequels and Horowitz gave several interviews where he confidently stated that Alex Rider would become the next iconic movie character. However the film's poor box office performance meant that plans for a franchise were dropped.
The film was a rather embarrassing failure for Horowitz, who later admitted the film was a "mistake". In an interview in 2009, Horowitz disclosed that there are no plans for any more Alex Rider films as the books "do not translate well to the big screen" and had scrapped the idea to make Point Blanc.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormbreaker_%28film%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457495/
I feel like kids and people who are up to 15 yrs old would like this movie.
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