Re-educate yourself on Summer Reading with some Old School Beach Books

Like Jane Austen's own Emma Woodhouse,I get very fond of making reading lists for myself but don't always follow thru on them. I am working on Robin Brande's 50 Book Reading Challenge but that's a year long project that lets me write down my selections after they're read,not before(a distinct difference,in my opinion).

Nonetheless,I am attempting to organize my reading for the summer and have decided to add some fun by including what I call Old School Beach Books to the mix(I love creating little catagories for these lists). You remember what those are,I'm sure. The kind of glossy covered paperback that would just slip right into a straw bag,next to the suntan lotion and extra pair of shades. Sometimes,it would be a hardcover that not only was current but gave you some more blockage from the sun's harmful rays.

I have only three on that list,mainly due to one of them being over a thousand pages long(challenging,but then again,it is a reread). One of these books is new to me,the other two are repeats but one of them is a rediscovery. Enough of the "re" words,let's get on with it,shall we?




PEYTON PLACE

I found an old hardcover copy of Grace Metalious' scandalous novel in a thrift store recently(the jacket was a mess,but I managed to salvage it)and felt that it was the one for me. PP has been reprinted several times over,but I like trying it out for the first time in it's original form. This story of small town secrets and lies is the great grandma of Jacqueline Susann,Harper Valley PTA and today's Desparate Housewives.

You know how people always talk about how morals back in the day were better than they are now? Just read the books of the time period,particularly the popular ones,and you'll see the real deal,folks. Usually,the only difference between then and now is that some things weren't talked about in public. Plenty of action behind closed doors,yeah baby,yeah!

I just hope that Peyton Place lives up to the hype;I'm not expecting Pulitzer Prize material here,just some fun and interesting characters. I've even added the film version to my Netflix list for a compare and contrast. Speaking of film and book versions to equally enjoy.....


VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

I not only have an old mass market edition of VOTD,I also have ancient paperback copies of The Love Machine and Once is Not Enough(haven't read the other two yet but they're too good in a bad way to get rid of or upgrade with reprints). I got them all at the same funky old secondhand shop that was like a junk store library. The woman who ran the place had a bit of a hippie vibe(very friendly and seemed to be in her own groove)and she had a ton of great knickknacks and books all shoved together in this crowded but never really cramped space. Too bad that that store is no longer,it was a real treasure trove.

VOTD still holds up as a good Hollywood Insider type of book,and now that I have the movie version on DVD,it's an even greater excuse to dive back into the pages. Also, would the likes of Neely,Anne and Jennifer be able to hold their own against the likes of Lindsay Lohan,Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie,or kick their butts? Food for thought,people!



MAIA

Here's the deal with Maia; many years ago,I saw this gorgeous paperback in a rack at one of the local drugstores and was drawn to it like a bee to honey. Turns out that the book is just as seductive as the artwork. Alas,during one of my many much needed for space purges to my home library,Maia had to be sent to the Land of Donations to make way for other volumes of lore. There was,however,still a place in my heart for this weighty tome of delights and behold,the literary fates took pity upon me.

I went to a church rummage sale,during it's usual spring cleaning time,and found a hardcover edition of Maia,which I snatched up quick before some stingy old lady could nickel and dime her way into getting it(I'm all for bargaining,but at a church rummage sale? Come on,now,seriously! You have to have limits there.)



So,what is Maia all about? First off,yes,this is written by the same Richard Adams who wrote Watership Down(the book is sort of a prequel to Shardik,which I didn't read) and there are no talking bunnies in it. Maia is a simple country girl,living in a mythical Ye Olde type of country,who is sold into slavery after her mom sees her getting way too helpful with her stepfather's fishing business. She becomes a "bed girl" to a rich lord who makes Jabba the Hutt look like a Before picture in a Jenny Craig ad,along with Occula,a savvy and streetsmart gal who is more than what she seems to be.

There's some political intrigue and some hidden agendas revealed but this is pretty much the kind of book that would've made a great epic soap opera,back when Hollywood was cranking out the likes of Cleopatra and The Ten Commandments. Of course,there's alot of sex(both straight and gay)that would've irked the censors but Maia is a good natured girl at heart and a compelling heroine,which smoothes over some of those steamy spots of bother. It's a huge book and one that should be a blast to revisit.

So,if you're hard up for any good books to take with you on vacation,or just to tide you over until the new TV season starts,go back to the old school and see what guilty pleasures you can find. Feel free to share your choices here,it's all good. Reading is fundamental and should be fun as well.

Goodbye Gilmore Girls,No more Mindy Doo on Idol and Shear Genius' battle of the brides

Shear Genius tried some teamwork this week,as the remaining stylists broke off into three teams of two for the Shortcut Challenge,which was to get as many paying customers as they could in a mall. The team with the most cash profit would be the winner. Ben,for some odd reason,decided to dress up like a ninja(the guy looks weird enough without having to do that)and was teamed up with Dr. Boogie.



Tyson had first pick of partners and he chose Tabatha,which worked out well since they won the challenge. I thought that they were doomed,not only due to their tight lipped rivalry but that they were charging much higher prices than the other two teams. Turns out that was a good thing-the two of them cut less hair but made more money. I know that if someone came up to me in a mall and wanted sixty bucks to cut my hair on the spot,I'd say no. Then again,you get what you pay for.



The Elimination Challenge was a tripleplay,as the three teams had to create hairstyles for a bride,maid of honor and the mother of the bride. Anthony and Daisy really pulled it off,surprisingly. Anthony wasn't crazy about having Daisy for a partner(she talks too much for his liking)but wound up respecting her skills. They not only made the bride's hair look incredibly artistic but did a great makeover do for her mom. They were the winners and are going up on that accursed Allure wall of fame next week.



Tabatha paid the price for Tyson's Allure wall curse,as the two of them were sent packing after making the bridal party feel the misery of the partnership. The hairstyles suffered as well,especially the bridesmaid that recieved a halfhearted french twist. Tabatha was not happy about that but cheered herself up by enjoying the fact that Tyson wouldn't be able to win either. Some people just do not work well with others. Wonder if it will be Anthony or Daisy's turn next week? I hope not,they're both really good stylists.



Gilmore Girls had its series finale this week and it was a proper goodbye all around; Christine Amanpour met Rory,Rory finally got a job(Barack Obama campaign coverage,very nice!),Stars Hollow got to give their favorite gal a big party send-off and Luke kissed Lorelai(yes! I knew they would get back together,knew it!). Can I just say how glad I am that Rory turned down Logan's marriage proposal? Don't get me wrong,the guy had some good points but way too much baggage. Guys named Logan are trouble,in my book.

I found this YouTube clip,which doesn't have any scenes from the finale but I think sums up the show perfectly:



For some insane reason,Melinda Doolittle has been voted off of American Idol. Blake and Jordin will now fight it out next week and if Blake wins,I may never watch this show again. A Jordin and Melinda showdown would've been great,in my opinion-those two are worthy adversaries in the singing arena,not the Beatbox Boy! Grrr...ARGH!!!!

MELINDA GETS HER TINA TURNER ON



SHE'S A WOMAN,NOT A PUNK KID!



WISH ON JORDIN TO BE A STAR



SOMEONE WAS WATCHING SOME SHIRLEY BASSEY CLIPS,THERE!



Random Notes:

Heroes: It's really getting down to the wire here,as characters are being killed off,right and left. I really hope Mr. Bennet doesn't shoot that poor little girl;it's not her fault that she can track superpowered folks! Speaking of superpowered people who need to be found in a hurry,our boy Sylar is extra dangerous,now that he has popped Ted's top and may decide to turn NYC into toast:



Pretty scary,isn't it folks? I just know that I won't be the only one on pins and needles during the finale next week.



America's Next Top Model: Jaslene was declared the winner,after facing off Natasha on the Evolution of Woman runaway challenge. I was really rooting for Natasha,she seemed to be more mature than the other girls and showed vast improvements from week to week. Atleast Renee got knocked out of the running,which makes up for it alittle. She was such a bitch,especially with her convincing the other girls to gang up on Natasha last week,which failed miserably!

Smallville: Clark and company wrap another season tonight and it looks like Lex will have to add another divorce to his belt as Lana gets tired of game playing. There's also a strong chance of the Martian Manhunter stopping by,to pump up the Clark Vs. Lex storyline even further:

Veronica Mars fans can dive into Neptune Noir

Benbella Books has a series called Smart Pop,where pop culture junkies like myself come to chat about our favorite shows,films and cartoons in essay collections. One of the latest is Neptune Noir: Unauthorized investigations into Veronica Mars. Rob Thomas,the creator of VM himself,is the editor who not only writes an interesting introduction into how and why the show got started,but adds thoughtful intros to each essay as well as helpful notes when needed.


A good number of the articles cover topics you would expect about a teen girl detective,like father-daughter relationships and class struggles in both high school and society. Some go into the techiques of the noir genre used and reinvented for the show,such as Evelyn Vaughn's "Veronica Mars. Girl. Detective." which discusses how voiceovers morphed from a male to a female strong point of view:



Others get into the moral aspects of the show,as in John Ramos'(aka Couch Baron at Television Without Pity)"I Cannot Tell a Lie and if you believe that..." that talks about constant lying by Veronica and others is sometimes justified and a handy tool of the detective trade. Jesse Hassenger writes about "Reality on Mars and Neptune",going into some of the creative liberties and surprising truths that make Neptune both believable and TV land only plausible.

A couple of the essays look into the similarities between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars(Samantha Bornemann adds in My So-Called Life into the mix with "Innocence Lost"). I really related to "On the Down Low",Lynne Edwards' take on how a former Buffy addict slowly warmed up to appreciating Veronica and partaking in the Pirate love:



There were some unusual topics that cropped up,such as in "The Duck and the Detective",where Chris McCubbin notices the conservative comic strip,Mallard Fillmore,praising VM and looks into what a conservative crowd might find favor with on a show with seemingly liberal values. "The United States of Veronica" by Deanna Carlyle focues on the state of current events that influence the show and also why VM is a product of its time. And yes,folks,we have a car essay by Lawrence Watt-Evans on how each mode of transportation reflects upon the characters.

All in all,I can safely say that this is a pretty clever book for the discerning Veronica Mars fan that would look well next to your VM DVD sets and shrine to LoVe. While there are not alot of insights into season three(the book was being put together as the latest season of VM was underway),there is plenty of food for thought that should sate the most eager of palates as they await the next set of DVDs and hopefully,another season of the show. Also,one of the essays happens to have one of the best dialogue bits from this season as it's title:

More Movie Poster Madness

With Spiderman 3 knocking the socks off of the folks in Accounting,techically the Summer Movie season is now underway. However,there are still plenty of other movies out there battling for the big bucks and even the sure bets are hedging theirs. So,let's take another look at more movie posters that are begging for your attention as you hang out in the theater lobby:

KNOCKED UP



We have two takes on this movie shown here,one that clearly mimics the early ads for the 40 Year Old Virgin(the same fellas who put that together worked on this one) and the other seems to be aimed at the date movie crowd. Personally,I'm not that interested in Knocked Up,it really looks like it's trying way too hard to be as cool as it's Virgin big brother.



If I had to pick one over the other,I'd go with the close-up of Seth Rogan's face. It may be a knock-off but that waiting room picture is so generic that it would fit right in a doctor's office. Also, Katherine Heigl airbrushed expression suggests that she's really waiting to audition for a Grey Anatomy's spin-off rather than to find out how her baby's doing.





I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY

This is another summer comedy that I have no major desire to see onscreen and apparently Adam Sandler could care less,by the bored look splattered across his puss! What is it with the dull faces,people? If I want to see tired and weary expressions,I can go wait on line at the DMV. Kevin James' screaming mimi isn't any better-he looks like it just dawned on him that if this movie flops,there's no more King of Queens to fall back on.




HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

This poster has become abit controversal,due to some of the prints that enhanced Hermoine's bosom in a Wonder Bra like fashion. *Sigh* Why do they have to do that for? Bad enough that there are all sorts of slash fiction putting the poor girl thru all of sorts of sexual manuevers that would make Jenna Jamison blush,now some joker thinks Hermoine needs to get all tarted up this time around?! Good thing I don't have access to magical powers,otherwise there would be many more rats running around Hollywood that there are now!





UNDERDOG

Yep, the cartoon canine has been given the greenlight and CGI treatment for his feature film debut. Another quiant childhood memory gets stomped on,folks. They must've known this was a bad idea since it's coming out in August(Bad Movie Month). The poster doesn't give me much hope...no need to fear? Oh,there's plenty to shudder at. This might make those recent Scooby-Doo flicks look like Fellini films.



EVAN ALMIGHTY

I've had a bad feeling about this movie ever since I saw the trailer,and this poster further boosts my ill tidings. W.C. Fields' line about working with kids and animals is alive and well here-talk about being upstaged! Can you even recognize Steve Carell in this picture? For all you know,that could be a Charlton Heston impersonator perched up on that elephant there! I'm definately going to pass on seeing this one in theaters.



HAIRSPRAY

Now this is nice...cute,colorful and a clever way to put all of the major players togther without looking overcrowded. The design is a tad Brady Bunch but in a good way. I liked the original Hairspray with Divine and am not sure about John Travolta filling out those shoes with a fat suit. In the plus column,John Waters himself approves of this and if Justin from Ugly Betty can sing all of the songs by heart,who am I to rain on this parade?



MR. BROOKS

Kevin Costner's new movie has him playing a serial killer trying to cut back on his slaughter spree,only to have Dane Cook blackmail him into being his mentor in Murder That You Can Get Away With. I don't know if this will slide Costner further down in his career slump or give him a much needed revival,but the poster is not bad. Not bad at all. It does look a bit stiff,in a marionette sort of way but the cut-out piece being removed from his eye has that "breaking out of the box" motiff which is not insulting in it's obviousness. Might be worth a shot.


Okay,folks,that is all for now. Keep an eye for these films and let's see what they will do when it's their time to shine,or in some cases,stink up the place.

Bonding with Blood Ties

I am ,pun intended,a sucker for most vampire shows and can fully recognize the signs of being addicted to any TV program bigtime. Symptoms include constant thoughts about the characters,wondering what plot points will turn up next and wanting to know more. Blood Ties is high on that list at the moment,neck in neck with Heroes at this point(and that's no easy climb,I assure you). Never thought that I would get hooked on any show on the Lifetime channel but they say never say never for a reason,folks.



So,what is Blood Ties all about? It's about Vicki Nelson(Christina Cox),a former homicide detective turned P.I.,who left the force due to a degenerative eye condition that is slowly blinding her. Vicki is a tough,take charge kind of gal who winds up in over her head in supernatural cases,like demons trying to release their more powerful masters,thanks to the greed of a nerd,people raising up zombies for revenge or pay-per-view fights and seductive gorgons turning men to stone.



Fortunately,Vicki has plenty of help on hand,including not only former client turned assistant Coreen and former partner on the force Mike Celucci(Dylan Neal) but Henry Fitzroy,debonair vampire and graphic novelist. Henry is the bastard son of Henry the VIII,who at first reluctantly and then later eagerly joins in to give Vicki some supernatural back-up. Naturally,he and Mike get along in a mature and mutually respectful fashion...not!:




While Vicki is not in an out and out romantic relationship(yet)with either of them,the tension is there. It's one of the strong points of the show that the love triangle is not totally dominating every single storyline. We get to focus on other things,like Vicki's coping with the fact that she's not a active policewoman,Henry's past lives and Coreen's growing knowledge of otherworldy lore. Plus,there's some nifty dialogue riffs and interesting takes on mythological monsters. Blood Ties is not quite Buffy material but certainly not kitschy Charmed antics by any means.



Blood Ties is based on Tanya Huff's series of Blood Books and the author herself is very involved with the TV version. She even has a blog on the Lifetime website(which you can check out by clicking the title link above),where she talks about each episode and gives her thoughts about the direction of the show.

I've just started reading Blood Price(which was made into a two hour pilot for the Lifetime series)and it's a really great book so far. You know how you watch a movie or a TV show and then measure it against the original book it's based on,checking for this off detail and that? It doesn't matter in this case. One form of the story makes you truly appreciate the other. I am glad that Blood Ties made me discover Tanya's books. As much as I enjoy Kim Harrison,Charlaine Harris and MaryJanice Davidson,it's always good to seek out new horizons in the paranormal fiction realm.


The season finale of Blood Ties will be airing next Sunday and hopefully,this is not the last we'll see of Vicki and her men. It's nice to have a strong female lead who has two capable and challenging fellas fight for the right to be her main man in her life and it is a right that has to be granted by the lady herself. If it was my choice,I'ld go with Henry but that's just me and my fancy for bloodsucking sweeties. Who ever and what ever Vicki choses to do,I would be happy to follow her along. Let us all keep our fingers crossed that Lifetime gives us that chance next year.

Check out these real bad mothers!

Mother's Day Weekend is here,and while many of us will be treating our moms in style,are we really appreciating the sheer luck of having a good woman to nuture and guide us to adulthood? Perhaps the best way to truly cherish our mothers is by seeing what we could've been given instead. Let's look at some pop culture takes on bad motherhood and count our many blessings:

JOAN CRAWFORD: THE BIGGEST MOTHER OF THEM ALL

Christina Crawford's memoir on her life as Joan Crawford's daughter(and the film version) has become a dysfunctional family classic. Whatever you think of her account,you had to admit that Christina blew the lid off of the Happy Hollywood Home fantasy that many dreamed of. Gee,wouldn't be great if my mother was a movie star? Not if you had to eat raw meat on a daily basis and fear wire hangers! This SNL skit nicely highlights the whole Mommie Dearest madness:



MRS. PETRELLI'S SUPER POWER IS CLEARLY NOT COMPASSION

There are quite a few moms on Heroes but the hands down winner for coldheartedness is Mother Petrelli,who makes no secret in favoring Nathan's political career over everything else,including the fate of her youngest son,Peter. Her calm and collected approach in hiding such things as Claire's true identity and in convincing Nathan into accepting the Linderman plan for destroying NYC in order to take control of the country,certainly gives the Manchurian Candidate's mother a run for her money. Here we see how well she takes the apparent death of Peter and her idea about how to handle it:



NO VEGETABLES, NO DESSERT!

In Psycho,we saw how a boy having his mother as his best friend can lead to trouble. Stephen King one-uped that notion with his written for the big screen only family fear feast,Sleepwalkers,in which Alice Krige needed her darling boy to supply her appetite for the lifeforce of young girls and provide a little romance. Their relationship was not all one sided,as we see here where Alice has to make the nice policeman move out of her way to get to her ailing son and give a little mealtime discipline before leaving:



DON'T MESS WITH HER GREENS!

One of the most memorable characters in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's fractured fairytale musical was The Witch Next Door,(brilliantly first portraited by Bernedette Peters),whose idea of raising a daughter involved locking her in a tower and letting her hair grow long enough to make a ladder. Her twisted devotions and open selfishness makes her a delightfully evil person to watch but one horror of a mother. In this prolouge bit,she tells the tale of how her offspring was bought and sold to her not-so tender clutches:



SERIAL MOM SHINES ALL AROUND THE WORLD

John Waters' take on the celeb status of multiple murderers,Serial Mom, gives you a real good reason to mind your manners. It also gives you a good reason not to complain too much about folks who cause you slight inconviences during the day. Some moms would simply console you if your teacher gives you a bad grade,or your boyfriend is a user but Serial Mom's solution is to maim and massacre. Take a gander at this tribute to a dementedly devoted mother,set to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Daybreak":



See,now don't you feel extra special about the mom you have? Thank your lucky stars that she's not in this gruesome gallery! Happy Mother's Day to all and please share a good laugh together.

The Hard Part for Heroes,Lakisha leaves Idol and Shear Genius goes back in time

Shear Genius' shortcut challenge this week was to do a makeover on men,with Christophe himself as the judge. The stylists were nervous,due to not knowing who their clients were at first and by the word "trim" mentioned in the set-up note left for them. Tabatha was convinced that they were going to have to trim dogs and swore she would walk out if that was the case(and I believe she would've,too)but since her client was just a young guy wanting his Hanson hair made into something that would get him a girlfriend,she was spared.



Tabatha wound up winning the challenge and was given first pick of style for the elimination challenge,which was to create a hairstyle from a specific time period. Tabatha chose 80's punk rock for herself and then got to assign the other looks to the rest of the group. Everyone was given a hatbox with hairpieces that matched their era and internet time to do a little online research. Tyson was given Elizabethan on purpose,since Tabatha and her cohorts noticed how much trouble he has doing up sweeps(she really has it in for him). It surprised me that some of the stylists had no clue about their eras. Maybe it's just me,but some things just should be common knowledge. I'm not a big hairstyling person but even I know about hairbobs from the twenties.



Tabatha's plot against Tyson backfired,as he managed to make a decent Elizabethan hairstyle and was declared the winner. I was more of a fan of Daisy's Victorian look and Dr. Boogie's Medieval braids seemed very Excalibur to me,but that's the way the judges went. Tabatha's multi-color mohawk was impressive and very much in the mode of the period,but the guest judge thought it was boring and predictable.



Danna's 1940s look was unpredictable and amazingly boring,which is why she was sent home. She said that she"blanked" when it came to figuring out a style for that decade. Are you kidding me?! Just name a few of the actresses of that time-Joan Crawford,Bette Davis,Veronica Lake,Lauren Bacall-and you have several different looks right there! Eerily enough,Dr. Boogie predicted her loss,by mentioning before the judging that everyone who wound up on the Nexxus Wall of Fame has,so far,been eliminated. Dr. Boogie knows,people,he knows!




Heroes is getting down to the wire,as folks are gathering in NYC for the big showdown. I can understand why Hiro hesitated to take Sylar out,especially at his mother's house(Ellen Greene was awesome). However,it soon became obvious that someone had to stop Sylar who even when trying to innocently dazzle mom with his indoor snowglobe trick,couldn't help but turn nasty:



One thing I don't get is why Peter felt the need to find Ted and have Claire be ready to pop Peter in the head,in case he couldn't handle absorbing Ted's radioactive powers. Wouldn't it be sensible to eliminate Ted,before either Peter or Sylar(who has a clue about that now,after chewing on Isaac's painter prophet brain)can get ahold of his glow in the dark abilities? I know that sounds mean and yes,Ted's been thru alot but come on,he's pretty much a hairtrigger away from nuking the planet there,with that temper of his! That's just my two cents on that.


Lakisha had to sing the Song of Shame this week on American Idol and the real shame of it is that she lost out to Blake,who turned both of the BeeGees songs that he picked into small slices of audio torture. Blake truly earned the Sanjaya award and I guess he now shares the Teflon shield of protection against being voted off at the moment. Since it was two-for-one night on Idol,I'm just posting what I consider to be the best(or in Blake's case,worst)performance for each contestant. Jordin was the strongest singer that night,despite Simon ragging on her for being "old fashioned" in her rendition of "Woman in Love". That's how the song is supposed to sound,Simon!

BLAKE SHOULDN"T BE SINGING THIS



THE BEEGEES AND TRAVOLTA HAVE THE FEVER



MELINDA MENDS A BROKEN HEART



EVERYBODY LOVES JORDIN



LAKISHA HAD A GOOD RUN




Random Notes:



TAR/All Stars: Eric and Danielle were the winners of The Race,which was disappointing for those of us who were rooting for Charla and Mirna,but atleast it wasn't the Beauty Queens,so it's all good. Charla and Mirna did have a great lead going there for awhile,by lucking out on finding a good airline flight and getting to the early clues quickly. However,the daunting physical task of rowing out to the shipwreck in Hawaii and the later breaking the code bit took the wind out of their sails. Oh,well,they did win some prizes along the way.

Veronica Mars: This week's episode was much better,partly due to Paul Rudd's guest appearance as a former rock star of a band called My Pretty Pony(sounds very Music and Lyrics there,doesn't it?). It was also great having goofy archrival Vinnie Van Lowe show up and with that doofus throwing his hat in the ring against Keith for Sheriff,we should be in for some fun. Phiz got alot of facetime this week,not only due to his maybe,maybe not romance with Veronica(come on,girl-give him a chance!) but to escorting Paul Rudd around Neptune as well:



Ugly Betty: The Medieval Times-esque restaurant was pretty cool and how sweet was it of Henry to defend her honor? Not to mention that he declared his love before passing out? I know Christine is right about him thinking that being with Charlie is the right thing to do,but Betty is his true soulmate. Darn this need to stretch out plot points,darn!

On the Shelf with Min Jin Lee

One of the best new books of the year is Free Food For Millionaires,a first novel about how more than one generation deals with the pressures of ambition and money in New York City during the 1990's. She's no stranger to writing,having had her work showcased on NPR's Selected Shorts and included in such short story collections as To Be Real(1995)and Breeder(2001).

Min Jin received both the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Prize for Fiction while attending Yale. She then went on to Georgetown University and was a lawyer practicing in New York for several years before devoting herself to writing full time. Min Jin has also been awarded the NYFA Fellowship for Fiction,the Missouri Review's Peden Prize and the Narrative Prize for New and Emerging Writer. Min Jin is a true lady and I was thrilled to be able to have a lovely Q and A with her,as her book is about to be released this month:




1. Free Food for Millionaires is structured like a 19th Century novel. What is it about that style of writing that appeals to you?

Nearly all of my favorite 19th century novels are written in an omniscient style—the mode of storytelling where the narrator expresses the consciousness of the central characters and the narrator may switch instantly among the characters in a scene. I also favor a realistic and traditional mode of story telling found in 19th century novels, including aspects of Aristotelian reversals, symmetries, and a unity in each plot. That sounds awfully elevated stated in that way, but simply put, I am interested in stories with a clear beginning, middle and an end where each story line is developed and completed, and where the central characters change in response to conflicts. This kind of narrative is not always popular with contemporary literary fiction writers, and I can see many reasons why, however, within the narrow prescriptions in this sort of story telling, I believe there are enormous freedoms and pleasures.

By comparison, I take comfort in the rules of a sonnet—the number of lines, the kinds of rhyme, the type of sonnets (Petrachan, Spenserian...) and the infinite variety of poems that can be written within the narrow rules of a form. I have studied the techniques of traditional story telling in the hopes of making the story almost easy to read. I worry obsessively about technique and tools and demand a great deal from each placement and change of word or idea, but I think when a reader picks up my book, she should never have to think about any of this. It’s sort of like learning recipes versus eating a cake. It is my hope that the reader can immerse herself in the story and be engaged in the narrative, characterization and plot—and enter what John Gardner calls the “dream”—and not think about this author’s self-consciousness and anxieties. Also, the 19th century novel adheres to realism in both plot and character psychology, and I admire its expansive sense of community, complex morality and its meditation and critique of politics and the economy.


2. You’ve had several short stories published; do you believe that short story writing naturally leads to novel writing?

I wrote a novel in 1996, and it was roundly rejected by very fine publishers. I wrote two other novel manuscripts in pieces, and they were never sent out, because I didn’t know how to complete them. I started Free Food for Millionaires in 2001. Throughout this time, I wrote a handful of stories which I wrote and rewrote endlessly. It’s rather embarrassing how few short stories I’ve written in twelve years, but each was rewritten in full drafts no less than a dozen times each. The drafts of one story are unrecognizable from each other, because I would re-key the entire story with each draft. Having said that, I wrote the short stories, because I was interested in learning how to write different points of view (first person as a minor character, first person as a major character, second, third limited, third omniscient...) and in learning more about plot, theme, characterization and diction. These stories and the fragmented novel manuscripts were my private M.F.A. program. I’m not a quick study, and certainly by the number of rejections I have received, it is quite clear that I am not a natural at this. But perhaps that is just as well, because I know now that I am a very stubborn person, and I have learned just how much I have wanted to learn how to write good fiction.

I’ve heard writers claim that you have to face the blank page again and again, and I think this is very true. However, you can face it with better tools, and you can face it with greater ease and recall your love of the word and the sentence and the paragraph. Sometimes, when I’m rewriting, I feel like I’m a child with a small puzzle—nothing like a box of a 1000 piece jigsaw, but something elementary like the peg puzzles of a preschooler. I try to approach rewriting with that kind of innocence, because I am hopeful that somehow the pieces have to fit—that it is do-able—and the image will emerge, and at the risk of sounding overly earnest, I find it very gratifying when I recover something I felt was lost, like the missing yet critical piece of myself.



I do not believe that short stories naturally lead to novel writing or certainly vice-a-versa if anyone wanted to make that argument. I guess I am of the opinion that they are two forms of fiction that speak to each other. There are many people who hold the view that you are one or the other (short story writer or the novelist) and somehow it is a fish or fowl dichotomy. I guess that sort of strictness makes me nervous. And the other camp which argues that stories or novels come to you in one form or the other makes me anxious as well. So much of story telling has to do with personal stamina and the interplay of idea and image, and the length bit is sort of a mystery to me. I guess I am taking a long time to say that I think you can do either if you like. Perhaps my thinking is the most conceited of all, because you can choose whichever format you want to flog yourself with, and secretly adore your misery/ecstasy. Fiction is so difficult (I don’t know anyone who says it isn’t), yet it is the only vocation I want to continue learning how to do well. The argument I am making in part with FFFM is that you need to find work in your life that is somehow worthy of your abilities. That’s painfully lofty, but I believe it. Very much.

3. Which one of the female leads in FFFM do you think is most like you, Casey or Ella?

This is a tough question, and I admire you for asking it, because no one has. I think I have Casey’s emotional roughness inside, yet my outward life resembles Ella’s more. I am married now for almost fourteen years. I met my husband when I was 22 and married at 24. I have a nine year old son who will be ten in January. I love to cook like Ella does, yet I cuss like Casey. I have such enormous sympathy for Casey’s anger and wish for autonomy. The violence of her emotional life is something I like about her. You so rarely see angry female characters, and I find that to be dishonest, because I think women are very angry, but deny it or repress it, because women’s anger is punished across cultures, classes and ages. I am 38 years old, almost 39, and I find life more amusing and sad than anything else now, and this is a surprise, because I remember being upset, angry, and hurt in my twenties, and I wanted to give that expression through fiction.

There are aspects of my biography that I gave to each of my characters male and female. I gave Casey, my childhood neighborhood and my ivy league education, but I gave Ella, my love of the domestic arts and her conventional early marriage. I don’t have Ella’s qualities of passivity and piety, yet I admire her kindness, her wish to do good in spite of having been rejected, injured and insulted. I have always believed that kindness is not just inborn, but an act of reason and will—a kind of practice or discipline. I think I am like both girls, and I am glad you gave me the opportunity to state that, because the natural assumption is that the main character is the author’s primary alterity, and I think that is rather simplistic. To be honest, I have a great deal of love and sympathy for the obvious anti-heroes, Ted and Sabine, and I think my wish to give their humanity full expression in the plot line tells on me quite a lot.




4. What are your favorite books and authors?

George Eliot: Middlemarch
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
Sinclair Lewis: Mainstreet
Honore de Balzac: Cousin Bette, Lost Illusions
Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie
Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth
Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary


5. Now that Oprah’s into reading current fiction again, how would you feel is she selected your book for her club?

I would be honored.

6. Do you have any ideas for your next novel?

My third novel manuscript prior to Free Food for Millionaires is called Pachinko. It is about ethnic Koreans who live in Tokyo. An excerpt of this work appeared as a short story called “Motherland” in The Missouri Review and received the Peden Prize. I was unable to finish this novel because I couldn’t do the necessary research in Japan, but I will be moving to Tokyo at the end of August, so I will begin working on it again. It is a novel I have wanted to write since I was twenty, so I have great hopes for it, and naturally, great fears.

My thanks to Min Jin Lee,for giving me her time and thoughts for this interview. Free Food For Millionaires will be available everywhere and if you would like to know more about Min Jin and her work,please visit her official website by clicking the title link above.

Are Book Reviews An Endangered or An Evolving Species?

The latest hot topic on the literary scene is the current state of book reviews. Many newspapers across the country are either cutting down on their book sections or, as with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,eliminating staff members such as AJ-C's book editor,Teresa Weaver. A petition has been started up to save her job and other folks are encouraging newspapers not to give up on book coverage just yet.


It's a shame,when books are not seen to be as important as,let's say,a baseball game but what really saddens me is that a number of people are blaming blogs for this cutdown on reviews. Author Richard Ford was qouted in an article about this in the New York Times,saying that he doesn't trust the opinions of a blogger(he claims not to read litblogs,btw) and that"“Newspapers, by having institutional backing, have a responsible relationship not only to their publisher but to their readership,... “in a way that some guy sitting in his basement in Terre Haute maybe doesn’t.”




First off,what do you have against Terre Haute? Second,newspapers are a corporate industry and are ultimately responsible to their shareholders,like it or not. Ford also said that newspapers should run book reviews"“as a public service, and the fact of the matter is that they are unwilling to,”-hello,reality check,please!

Newspapers are a business and in business,cuts in departments are all about money. It's like funding for public schools,everytime they feel the need to trim the budget,the arts are the first to put up on the chopping block while the football team gets new uniforms. Does that make it fair or right? No,but it is the reality of the situation.

I hate to see anyone lose their job,or have it chopped down into little tidbits but shouldn't the focus on this probelm be dealt with by trying to find ways to increase interest in book reviewing,instead of tearing down litbloggers? Take a gander at what Michael Dirda,Washington Post book columnist had to say about this subject in a recent post at the NBCC blog,Critical Mass:

"Every blogger wants to write a book. In fact, the dirty little secret of the internet is"Littera scripta manet"--the written word survives. A book is real, whereas cyberspace is just keystrokes--quickly scribbled and quickly forgotten. But to publish a book isn't enough: It has to be noticed. And this is where book sections matter. If you were an author, would you want your book reviewed in The Washington Post and The New York Review of Books--or on a website written by someone who uses the moniker NovelGobbler or Biografiend?(note: two new blogs with these titles have been started up,in response to Dirda's comments)


The book review section, whether of a newspaper or a magazine,remains the forum where new titles are taken seriously as works of art and argument, and not merely as opportunities for shallow grandstanding and overblown ranting, all too often by kids hoping to be noticed for their sass and vulgarity. Should we allow our culture to descend to this playground level of discourse? Newspapers sift, filter, and evaluate; they are responsible and strive to be trustworthy. So, too, do their book review sections. To curtail such coverage is to abandon an intellectual forum for a childish free-for-all. We would be shortchanging not only readers, but also the art, culture and scholarship of our time.Playgrounds, as we all remember, are ruled by bullies, loud-mouths and prima-donnas."

You'd think a journalist would know better than to make broad,sweeping statements dripping with elitism like that. Why is it that when disagreements spring up in the literary community,folks react like Jerry Springer guests,turning on each other instead of teaming up to help one another? With attitudes like this,is it any wonder that more and more people prefer to get their book reviews online? It's hard to listen to the concerns of the newspaper writers,when folks like Dirda are making them all sound like this:



Listen up,guys-litbloggers are not the enemy. They care as much about books as you do and most of them aren't lucky enough to be paid to do it. No one wants there to be less coverage of literature and as readers,being open minded to new possibilities comes with the territory. Not everyone blogging is a punk kid,out for fame and believe it or not,a good number of them are just as well educated as you are. Some may be snarky or snippy but so are many print journalists out there. As for newspapers be more "discerning" about who and what gets published,does the name Jayson Blair mean anything to you? Nobody's perfect,folks.




PW editor-in-chief Sara Nelson took up this topic in her recent weekly column(which you can read in full by clicking the title link above)and her view of the whole situation is a healthy one:

"I admit that on some days, I have a very Pollyannaish approach to all this, and can even believe—okay, make that wish—that traditional, learned book reviews won't be dead forever and that the Web is no graveyard, in any case. I also hope that the remaining book reviews will pay attention to people like the guy who spoke up at a an L.A. panel about how “boring” and “exclusionary” traditional book reviews are—and change.

So let's stop breast-beating and begin brainstorming."

Sounds right to me,Sara. Maybe we should all examine the current state of mainstream book reviewing and discuss why it isn't working. Why genre titles get overlooked,why certain nonfiction gets plenty of coverage while many first,second or fourth novels are begging for attention and ways to liven things up alittle. Maybe we could all learn something from each other,as well as talk about some good books. That is the reason we're all having this hullabaloo in the first place.

The Top Ten Things I Learned from Spiderman 3

The big box office sensation this weekend was,of course,Spiderman 3(hey,I'm sure Disturbia is a good little thriller but against the Spidey juggernaut,it's lucky to hold second place there),which made $148 million and set a record with it's opening day take of $59 million. Pretty sweet,but the burning question remains...was the movie worth it?

Well,I was very entertained,along with the matinee audience my sister and I hunkered down with. The plot wasn't as firmly structured as the first two films(plenty of storyline balls were being juggled in the air)but there were some fun and funny moments,plus amazing F/X that gives you plenty of bang for your buck. So,I would recommend it,if you're in an amusement park ride mood at the movies. Just hope and pray that the studio holds off on making any more Spiderman movies,especially if Tobey,Kristen and Sam Raimi truly want to jump ship. Three is enough,guys!

Anyway,here are the life lessons that Spiderman 3 has to offer:




10) A man has to be able to put his wife above himself.





9) It's not a good idea to reinact a special kiss with your girlfriend right in front of her with someone else.

8) Revenge is like a poison,it can take you over and turn you into something ugly.



7) You want forgiveness? Try religion!

6) A sure sign of giving into your dark side is the need for one sided bangs.

5)If you buy a camera off of a kid in the crowd,of course the film's extra!

4) Prolonged exposure to an alien symbiote can make you do strange things,like demand phoneside cookie service and perform impromptu dance numbers in public:

Exhibit A



Exhibit B



3)No point in trying to convert a bad guy into giving up his wicked ways when he tells you "I like being bad-it makes me happy!"

2) Bruce Campbell cameos are great,Stan Lee cameos are supergreat. Having both Bruce and Stan do cameos in the same film? Priceless!

Just Bruce here,guys,sorry!



1) More villians,more probelms.

Gilmore Girls:where they lead,we followed.

Gilmore Girls is officially no more. The CW announced that this would be the last season of the show,due to not being able to strike a deal with Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel for a 13 episode run for an eighth season. The final episode will be shown on May 15th. In some ways,I really can't blame them. Both ladies have been together for seven years now and naturally want to move to other things.



I came to this show late,after catching the Gilmore vibe from ABC Family reruns. Even with American Idol competing in their time slot,I still managed to keep abreast on the happenings in Stars Hollow(thank you,YouTube and TWOP). Perhaps it was best that I discovered GG when I did,it really helped me get thru a low point in my life and while things are still sorting themselves out,Lorelai and Rory have had me keep the faith that even if life is tossing lemons at you hard enough to bruise your skin,it'll be just than much easier to whip up some killer lemonade,with them already being squished.

To honor their passing,let's look at some of my favorite GG people and places:

RICHARD AND EMILY

If you going to have wealthy but interfering grandparents,Richard and Emily Gilmore are the best. A more suited couple is difficult to find,with their balance of wit,taste and determination to see the world thru a very different set of eyes than their daughter or granddaughter. It's also very sweet to see them in flirty mode,as in this clip from Season Three,where on a trip to Yale,many romantic memories are revealed:


LANE

Rory's Best Friend #1(I'll get to number two next)who shares with Lorelai a love-fear relationship with her mother,the formidable Mrs. Kim. I know there's supposed to be a Mr. Kim but since we never see or hear from him,for all intents and purposes Lane has been raised by a single parent. Despite her mom issues,Lane has managed to become her own person and followed her own path towards the music she so loves. Even when she's on the outs with someone she cares about,Lane remains loyal and territoral as in this clip when she confronts her mom's new boarder:




PARIS

Rory's Best Friend the Second(to avoid any bad bathroom jokes),Paris Geller is one gal that's hard to like but after awhile,she grows on you. Even with her rapid fire verbal attacks and rigid agressiveness,she can come thru in a pinch. Here's a good exmaple of her unexpected friendliness,as she covers for Rory after Dean spots her with Jess. Rory may not be able to truly define their relationship but she knows a pal when she sees one:






TOWN MEETINGS

One of the charms of Stars Hollow life are the town meetings,run by the living-in-the 1950's town selectman,Taylor Doosie. Everyone gets a chance to showcase the wacky at these get togethers and a good example came about this season,with the Hay Bale Maze episode. Kirk is present as part of the presentation:



FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER

A major league staple of the show is the Friday Night Dinner,always held at the elder Gilmores' home,where maids are rountinely fired and some of the most memorable quip fests take place. Lorelai and Emily always sparred best at Friday Night Dinner and here in this clip,Emily defends the origin of her friend's nickname:




SOOKIE

One of my favorite characters on GG is Sookie,the sweet but slightly insane about her cooking prowess BFF of Lorelai. Her sunny nature belies a fiery temper,which flares up delightful in this bit where Sookie takes on Norman Mailer himself,who insists on only ordering iced tea from the Dragonfly Inn's kitchen:



LUKE AND LORELAI

The big love story in the making,and the one that I hope gets resolved by the end of the series. The two of them have been a long time coming and after the forced separation they went thru this season and part of last,we gotta see those two crazy kids make it work. This week on the show,Lorelai got a chance to reveal her devotation to Luke,in an impromptu karaoke number:





Coming out this month is a collection of GG essays called Coffee at Luke's,which I will be reviewing as soon as my copy arrives in the mail. The book was scheduled for May and now I think it will be even more timely,with the cancellation of Gilmore Girls. Even tho my time in Stars Hollow was brief,it was well worth the trip. Gilmore Girls will still be in syndication and some day,I'll treat myself to the DVDs.

In the meantime,I hope to join the chorus of GG fans in song as we all wish the cast and crew of this wondeful show well in whatever path they take now. Where they lead,we followed anywhere that they told us to:

Opening Credits seasons one to six:



Season Seven Opening credits:

Heroes goes back to the future,Veronica Mars returns and Shear Genius rolls out the red carpet

On Shear Genius this week,the shortcut challenge was to create a hairstyle that would easily go from day to night,with the clients demonstrating the changeover them selves. They had about five minutes to switch up their day look,after the stylists did the cut and showed them how to get ready for the night. Danna won and got the right of first pick of model for the elimination round,along with in what order the others got to select their models. Tyson wound up getting last pick,a reverse of what happened to Tabatha on the weird tools challenge.



Speaking of weird,Evangelin hung on to those hedge clippers that earned her a win and insisted that she was going to keep using them from now on. This determined wackiness lead to the first real fight on the show,where both Danna and Tabatha told her that it was nuts and unprofessional. Tabatha went into swear mode after a minute and the Bravo bleep machine got a nice workout there. I swear I'm beginning to like her;she is not afraid to get in someone's face and knows that Tyson is just waiting for her to fail. Fortunately,Tabatha has allies in Anthony and Danna.



Meanwhile,the elimination challenge was to create a red carpet hairdesign suitable for Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams,who was the guest judge and selector of the winner. The dress that Vanessa planned to wear was displayed,along with photos of her at each hairdresser station,to help the stylists create the right look.



Danna had a very good week at SG,since she won this challenge,too. When I first saw her hairstyle for Vanessa,my thoughts were"That's Wilhemina hair!" Daisy recieved second place,for doing something a little different than most of the group. I do agree with the judges,however,that her look really was "wedding hair"



Evangelin's love of hedge clipping did her in,as she was sent packing after her combo of straight and curly hair tanked. The finished project had sort of a geisha look to it,which didn't go at all with the dress Vanessa Williams was going to wear. Ben was also on the chopping block,for his messy hairdon't that would work for the likes of professional party girls(paging Lindsey Lohan!)but not a classy lady like
Vanessa,no way. Looking ahead,Bravo's starting to show promo ads for Top Chef,which should be heating up the airwaves this summer. Mmmm,my mouth is watering already!

Heroes went into the future,as Hiro and Ando encountered a world where superpowered folks were being hunted down,after the NYC explosion,where Peter is an outlaw,Hiro is considered a "terrorist",Parkman is head of the secret police and Nathan is the president of the United States....or is he???


I so did not see that plot twist coming! Talk about your cliffhanging moments there! Ok,fangirl swooning over...I am happy to see that Isaac may not have died in vain after all(and how cool is it that a comic book is the key to saving the world?)and that Ando is more important than he may seem. Some special abilities are not always the flashy kind,being able to inspire hope and support for others is quite a power indeed. The next three episodes should be very rock n' roll.

Veronica Mars returned this week,and while it was great to have her back,I must admit that the hate crimes mystery was handled in a very Afterschool Special way. Nonetheless,there were some good moments such as Phiz kissing Veronica(finally!) and this tribute to Pulp Fiction:



Random Notes:

American Idol: It was Bon Jovi week on Idol and I'm starting to think that having the contestants sing songs from the guest mentor's playlist is not a great idea. It was a close call for the Sanjaya award,as both Blake and Chris Richardson tested my senses with their takes on "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Wanted,Dead or Alive." I had to pick Chris as the worst and so the voters,who sent him home along with Funeral Home Phil(Phil was actually decent this week,too):

CHRIS IS NOT WANTED,DEAD OR ALIVE



BON JOVI ROCKED THEM ALL



I was worried about Jordin this time around,she had alot of trouble with "Living on a Prayer". Thank goodness folks saw how hard she tried to do it right and spared her. Lakisha came back in full force and both she and Melinda were smart to choose later Bon Jovi tunes,than any of the hair band trademark ones:

JORDIN LIVED ON A PRAYER



LAKISHA'S LOVE SONG FOR SIMON



MELINDA GAVE US A NICE DAY






The Amazing Race/All Stars: We're now down to the Final Three,as Danny and Oswald were eliminated,leaving the Beauty Queens,Eric and Danielle and Charla and Mirna to duke it out. Danny and Oswald both said they hope Charla and Mirna win,and out of this bunch,I have to agree with them. The BQ are nasty and sneaky,plus Eric throws too many fits and Danielle wimpers too much for my taste. Charla and Mirna fight quite abit,but you can see that they really do care about each other. Go for it,girls!

Smallville: Tonight,Jimmy gets knocked on the head and wakes up in a B&W film noir version of the show. Cool beans or goofy gimmick? You decide:

Are any of these spoofs worthy of a Golden Popcorn?

The MTV Movie Awards show is one that I always look forward to,not just for the cool hosts(this year,Sarah Silverman will be rocking the mike)and the fun catagories like Best Villian,Best Kiss and Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet,but the movie parodies,which have waxed and waned over time.


MTV decided to have a Movie Spoof Contest,this time around,to give aspiring filmmakers and regular folk a shot at bringing the laughs. You can vote for your favorites when you click the title link above. Before you do that,here's a few of the many nominees to keep in mind:

DEVIL WEARS PRADA FIGHT

This look at a "deleted scene" from DWP takes one of my favorite moments of the film and gives it a Kill Bill spin. Pretty low tech,but not bad. Not bad at all:



TENACIOUS CHAINSAW

As much as I dig Jack Black,I think even he would laugh like hell at this Texas Chainsaw Massacre spoof that casts him as Leatherface. Whoever made this did a nice job with the editing:



AN INCONVENIENT BORAT

I find the whole global warming thing to be as dull as dishwater but perhaps Borat(or this rather decent inpersonator)could liven up the topic quite a bit. Very nice!:



There are more at the offical website,of varying degrees. However,will any of them stand up to skits like this,which has the Golden Girls doing their own version of Clueless? Let's take a look back:



The best parody skits usually are done as intros to the show,like this nifty Spiderman riff with Jack Black as the Webhead and Sarah Michelle Geller doing an excellant Lynda Carter spin:



Well,guess we will have to just wait and see. The MTV Movie Awards will be on Sunday,June 3 and should be alot of fun,especially with Sarah Silverman at the helm. If her appearances at the Independant Spirit Awards are any indication,folks should fasten their seat belts,because this will be a bumpy ride,indeed:

2006



2007

YouTube:The Musical

With the Broadway debut of the musical version of the hit film Legally Blonde and the impending arrival of Xanadu on stage,it's becoming more and more clear that producers will make anything into a big Broadway show. At some point,they'll turn to the biggest mass audience sensation around for inspiration. I'm speaking, of course,about YouTube.

What kind of song and dance extravaganza can we expect from such rich resources? Let's take a look at the future of Broadway:

KELLY'S SHOES

Many aspiring actors/comedians like to put video clips up of performance pieces to gather some much needed attention and Liam Kyle Sullivan's character Kelly is already gaining popularity. As you can see from his infamous "Shoes",he clearly has a theaterical flair:



Kelly even has a great act two,with the rad "Text Message Break-up":



MOVIE TRAILER REMIX

Another fun thing to do on YouTube is to watch movie trailers,and some of the more creative folks there like to do a spin on the original concept of the film. Just add a few tunes and you have something old,something new! For example,take the old school Bible drama,The Ten Commandments and toss in some teen movie hijinks and see what you get-a generational crossover entertainment!:



Or take one of the scariest films of all time and lighten up the mood with some family comedy vibes:



RIFFTRAX: THE MUSICAL

Plenty of websites hawk their wares on YouTube and Mike Nelson's RiffTrax takes full advantage of it by offering up audio/video samples of his group's film soundtrack mockery. Actors could either sing the specially rewritten dialogue for such movies as The Departed,with some product placement subtly slipped in:



Another way to go would be having the actors perform the scenes as written,with the humourous commentary sung in a Greek chorus fashion. Hey,if they can turn Hairspray from a movie to a musical to a movie musical remake,why not?:



FANVID ON BROADWAY!

Who doesn't love a fan video,with someone else's montage of clips of their favorite show,actor,obsession set to whatever trendy song is at the top of their Ipod playlist? Okay,maybe not some of you fine folk out there,but interactive entertainment seems to be the wave of the future. Check out this Metalocalypse take on Heroes:



Here's a slice of metamedia for you,a Veronica Mars fanvid set to a song from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer musical episode,Once More With Feeling:



FANBOY FANTASTICKS

For the grand finale,I think that since fanboys and girls are not shy about showing the world their sincere devotion to whatever pop culture icon keeps him/her going thru the daily routines of life,why not a musical? Listen to the song stylings of this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan and tell me that she couldn't atleast do well in an American Idol audition: