A couple of interesting pop culture events are cropping up on this coming weekend,both of which on Sunday,usually not a big time to do anything other than reading an overstuffed newspaper in your jammies and watch a good movie or two. Both of these events had two things in common;they're being targeted at readers and you don't have to dress up to attend either one.
First off,Philippa Gregory,best known for historical novels like The Other Boleyn Girl and most recently The Boleyn Inheritance,will be having a live web broadcast that will allow registered attendees to ask her questions as well as interact with other folks online. Gregory will discussing such topics as her personal method of writing,the upcoming film version of Other Boleyn Girl(due to be released in the US in 2008)and her upcoming '08 novel,The Other Queen(which is about Mary,Queen of Scots).
I've enjoyed Gregory's novels for quite some time now,and even got the chance to briefly meet her during an author signing at the second BEA I attended. She was autographing ARCs of The Constant Princess(a limited-for-BEA-only edition)and was flanked by two young ladies in period costumes that highlighted their uppermost assets,if you know what I mean. I made a politely amused(I hope)joke about her attendants and she joshed right back with me. No doubt that she had probaly heard similar remarks for most of that day but she didn't make me feel foolish at all.
There's still time to sign up for the web event and hopefully,there will be no technical difficulties. Yes,I've signed up already and if my server functions the way it should,I'll give everyone my account of how things went. In the meantime,do yourself a favor and pick up one of Philippa Gregory's books for your Fall Reading List. One that I can heartly recommend is A Respectable Trade,one of her non British nobility titles.
Also this Sunday,Daniel Clowes' new serial comic strip,"Mister Wonderful" will be debuting in the New York Times Magazine section as part of their new Funny Pages series. Many folks know Clowes from his graphic novel Ghost World,which is due to be rereleased in a tenth anniversary edition in 2008,and the film Art School Confidential. Ghost World was turned into a great movie starring Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch,which captures the everyday angst of offbeat people from teens to adults in a humorous but totally non condescending way. If you haven't seen this movie yet,or read the book,do one or the other by all means. For bonus points,check out both!
Here's a couple of GW samples to whet your appetite:
WHAT WORKING BEHIND A CASH REGISTER IS REALLY LIKE
DEVIL GOT HIS WOMAN
Clowes has been a busy bee lately,with an appearance on The Simpsons last week along side fellow comic innovators Art Spiegalman and Alan Moore in a Comic Book Guy plotline,a story for The Book Of Other People(edited by Zadie Smith)due out in December and a spanking new cover for the Penquin Classics edition of Frankenstein that looks pulp-tastic. It's inspiring to see one of the truly talented people in this world get the attention that they deserve.
So,don't just have your usual Lazy Sunday,folks-feed your mind and the rest will follow.
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