Posts for category ‘TV’

(“Occasional” is one of those words I never spell correctly on the first try. And often not on the second try, neitha.)

A tiny break from the deep thoughts! Gotta save ‘em up for some other writing today and tomorrow. It’s Friday, after all, and people in publishing are only working half the day, Matt de la Pena is writing shirtless, and there’s a good chance an ice cream truck will drive by your house any second now. So let’s lighten things up a bit.

1. I was very pleased with the outcomes of MasterChef and So You Think You Can Dance. Yeah, I bet you thought that the Sara who wrote those last three posts wasn’t the type to spend six hours a week watching reality shows. Think again! As for MC, I know it’s popular to hate on Christian, but of all the contestants I found Suzy most odious. And: what do professional, working dancers think of SYTYCD? This NYT piece reveals all. (Or at least a few opinions.)

2. A German YA video blogger reviewed Zicke–the German version of Story of a Girl. Although I can’t understand what she’s saying (though I learned by commenting that she likes it!) this is one of my favorite videos of all time, because it makes real the amazing fact that PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE READING MY BOOKS. IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE. That is just cool, and I hope I’m never jaded enough to think otherwise.

3. If you missed it: a couple of weeks ago the NYT had a great piece by Tom Gilbert, on Madelyn Pugh Davis, one of the few female TV writers of ’50s. If you’re an I Love Lucy fan, especially, you must read it.

4. Speaking of inspiring female writers, my Aunt Betty Lou has always been an inspiration to me. It was at her farmhouse in rural North Carolina where I first sat at a typewriter and felt a strange restlessness I’d never felt before. Like, “I don’t just want to type something. I want to write something.” I knew that she did something mysterious at that typewriter. She wrote a number of children’s books, but dedicated her life to supporting my Uncle Ed and the work of the farm, raising a bunch of Rhodes Scholars, and being a wonderful aunt and grandmother. Now, a few of those books are available through Amazon’s Kindle publishing program. Congratulations, Aunt Betty Lou!

5. Randomly: I saw three popcorn movies this summer: Super 8, Cowboys & Aliens, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Though there were things I liked about all of them, APES WIN. One of the most satisfying H-wood movies I’ve seen in awhile. What was your favorite summer flick (big or small)?

My last couple of posts have been long and somewhat serious. I’m ready to loosen up, y’all! And shorten’ up! And so, loosely and succinctly:

- Thank you for your many and wonderful comments on the interview with Sara Bennett Wealer, and congrats to our winner, Lara D. If you did not win, please remember that this book is available for sale. Want awesome books to continue to be published? Buy awesome books. Realism, especially, can always use your vote. And by your vote I mean your money.

- My latest post at Good Letters is about re-reading Madeleine L’Engle’s House Like a Lotus, a hugely important read to me in my adolescence. Polly/Poly O’Keefe + older man! Was it a coincidence that not long after reading it I started dating a 25-year-old? Perhaps, perhaps not.

- I’ve started watching this neat little TV show called Lost. You probably haven’t heard of it. I’m kinda indie that way. Anyway, there was one day last week that sucked prettttty bad, and friend Mike said watching this show might help. Mike=genius.

- Have you seen Fish Tank? I’m not recommending watching it on a sucky day, unless you like to go all the way down the hatch while you’re at it, but for me it was one of the most compelling movies about a teen character I’ve seen in a long, long time. Hard to watch. You’ve been warned. (It reminded me a tiny tiny bit of Girls Town, this odd movie from long-ish ago that is not yet on DVD…)

- Some music I’ve been loving: Ivan & Alyosha, Say Hi, Girl Talk, and still Junip. Fun iTunes game! Broken Bells’ “The High Road” is listed as number one in my Top 25 Most Played at 116 plays. I don’t know if that’s for all time, or what, and that it probably doesn’t include iPod plays. I do know I listened to that song and album incessantly while writing How to Save a Life. It’s a great song, and part of what I loved was the lyric at the end (accompanied by gorgeous harmonies), “It’s too late to change your mind / you let loss be your guide.” But guess what? THOSE MIGHT NOT BE THE ACTUAL LYRICS. Many web sites insist they are saying “laws” not “loss.” I do not care. “Loss” goes with my book. “Laws” does not. It’s not the most exciting video in the world but there you go.

What’s your #1 most played song right now?

NBC’s relentless flogging of Parenthood during the Olympics totally worked on us; we watched from episode one and never missed seeing it in real time. It’s not a flawless show, but between the phenomenal cast and great writing and the fact that it does not feature police or medical procedure, and is actually sincere and not all winky-winky ironic and is on regular free broadcast TV, I’m a happy camper. The showrunner, Jason Katims, is also a force behind Friday Night Lights and you know how I feel about that. (Jason! I love your work! Have your people call my people!) The season finale aired last night, but if you want to catch up before fall you can watch online. (I just found out on IMDB that Maura Tierney was originally cast in Lauren Graham’s role, and then her breast cancer treatment forced her to quit. Which makes me sad, because as much as I love Graham, I also adore Tierney and think she would have been great.) (P.S. according to Wikipedia, her treatment is going well.)

Last night’s episode especially made me think of a book I recently read—Paula Huston’s Forgiveness: Following Jesus into Radical Loving. I picked it up because I’ve been a fan of Huston, not for the topic, though I figured there’s always something new to learn. Despite the subtitle (which reminds me of every Christian book I read in college—everything was “radical”…hospitality, evangelism, quiet times, worship, time management, you name it), it was a powerful read. It’s published by Paraclete Press, whose “what are doing” info includes this statement: “Although Benedictine spirituality is at the heart of all that we do, we publish books that reflect the Christian experience across many cultures, time periods, and houses of worship.”

Huston is very, very thorough in her look at this topic, which is discussed incessantly in churches but rarely grasped by any of us. She starts with the wide-angle “the problem of evil” (oh, that), gradually narrowing focus throughout the book with sections like the need for truth before reconciliation can begin, how to tell a real hurt from a wounded ego, and spiritual disciplines of the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) that help prepare you for forgiveness, until finally on page 150 of 288 we get into the forgiving of other actual people. If I’m making it sound long, dense, or dry, it’s not. At a small trim size—about the size of a prayer book—the pages are not long, and I read it more or less in one afternoon. My point is there’s a careful foundation laid in the book so that when the rubber meets the hard road of reconciliation, we’re ready. A little bit ready.

The very first actual people Huston writes about are our parents, who we often find ourselves needing to forgive even if they haven’t done anything overtly wrong to us. Simply by virtue of being our parents, they rack up a lot of offenses, perceived or actual. Huston sums it up pretty well and universally, I think, when she writes about her own parents:

“What had they done that was so hurtful? The answer is easy: with all their efforts, they had not managed to produce a perfect person—and I found ways to resent that.”

In the final sections of the book, we get to how to receive forgiveness, which may be hardest of all. The book deals with demanding material, but Huston’s humility and honesty and gentleness—along with the intellectual and theological rigor she applies—make it all seem possible. (That said, if you’re not already of the Jesusy persuasion, this book may not be for you. It is written firmly from a Christian worldview in which one’s ability to give and receive forgiveness is directly tied to and dependent on the Christian gospel.)

But, even if you don’t read Huston’s book, you can watch Parenthood. The whole season has basically been a stew of intertwined people—parents, children, cousins, friends, spouses, siblings—needing forgiveness, grace, and compassion from each other. There are real hurts, wounded egos, the necessity of truth and the difficulty of that, of making even small turns by degree toward each other when there is History. If you’ve read any of my books, you know this is all stuff in my writer DNA, and any piece of art or culture probing the same soft spots of life is speaking my language.

Watch Parenthood online
Order Forgiveness straight from Paraclete (available in all kinds of formats and on sale until May 31).

Or:

Shop Indie Bookstores

Thanks for all the virtual high-fives regarding the National Book Award stuff. I’m excited.

I also want to give a shout-out to Bullitt Central High in Shepherdsville, KY, who had me visit the Spring Reading Fling via Skype to talk to a group that read Story of a Girl. Thanks so much for all your great questions and thoughts!

Around the o’sphere…

- Team Babymouse at Provo Children’s Book Festival tomorrow (plus Ann Dee Ellis and me on blogging panel, many other great local authors).

- Caroline Langston writes a beautiful post at the Image blog about her adolescent crush on a teacher that was both truly sexy and truly innocent.

- The schedule for the Summer Blog Blast Tour is up at Chasing Ray. Looks like a good one, as usual.

- The Quo Vadis blog comments on Virginia Heffernan’s Demise of Datebooks column (I have a Quo Vadis planner – a Minister – love it. I also use Google calendar synced to my iPhone. Are you a paper calendar person, or strictly high-tech?)

- 21 Jump Street, the awesomely, awesomely bad series from the late 80s, is now available on Netflix Watch Instantly. You are so welcome! I have to say that before I re-watched the pilot, I would have only called the series “awesome” without the “bad,” but…wow. TV has come a long way since 1987.

(Note Johnny's headpiece - a forerunner to Captain Jack Sparrow's 'do?)

- Man am I glad I got out of Facebook when I did. Though Twitter attempted to explain Diaspora to me, I’m not quite there yet.

Have a great weekend!

1. If you are in the Salt Lake area, come out to the King’s English tomorrow (Saturday), at 2 p.m., where a bunch of local SCBWI members with books out will be signing. Like Sydney Salter, Emily Wing Smith, Anne Bowen, and more! I’ll be there, too. And I (and my doctor) promise you I am not infectious. In fact, somewhat miraculously I feel nearly fully recovered. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is exercise, and I’ll be waiting until Monday for that. Anyway – tomorrow, TKE, 15th & 15th from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. There will be cookies.

2. Hustle on over to the Teen Fiction Cafe for Good News Friday, and read some good news about Story of a Girl and Once Was Lost, as well as good news from other TFCers.

3. Sweethearts/Truth month at Readergirlz continues, with a nonfiction companion recommendation of Cylin and John Busby’s The Year We Disappeared. Sounds fascinating!

4. I am so glad it’s So You Think You Can Dance season again. Man I love that show. There was some heartbreak last night, as there always is. I haven’t seen two brothers cry and say “I love you” so much since Biggest Loser 5′s Jay and Mark. (By the way, have you seen the trailer for the remake of Fame? Kherington from last season is totally in that. Check out her high kick.)

5. The one and only ARC I brought back from BEA was The Unnamed by Josh Ferris, which I read on the plane on the way home. It’s very compelling and super interesting—a good choice for a book club discussion, because there is lots to discuss (and argue about, which I think makes good book club fun). Marriage, the human body, the soul, sanity, salvation. It comes out in January. As you may recall, Ferris’s first novel, And Then We Came to the End was a National Book Award finalist in what I think of as my year. So me and Josh are practically, like, siblings. Even though I walked about 3 inches from him at BEA and didn’t realize it until it was past the correct moment to say hello without being totally awkward. Still. We’re tight. Tight!

Now go and have yourselves a great weekend, and congratulations to all you graduates! Be safe, okay? There is no rush to experience all of your adulthood in one night.