Looking Forward to a Happy New Year

Let's feed my list addiction. Here's what I'm excited about in 2009:


BOOKS!




Forever Princess, the tenth and final book in Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series, will be released this Tuesday, in addition to a special bonus novel, Ransom My Heart.

EEK!!!

I'm a HUGE Meg Cabot fan. HUUUUUGE. Seven years ago, I discovered The Princess Diaries, and it's been all young adult for me ever since. Basically, Meg is the reason why I read what I read, and I write what I write.

And as you know, I'm pretty much all about the reading and the writing. It's kind of what I do.

The series has had its ups and downs, but the last two entries have been her strongest, and the newest promises to be a stellar ending. How can it not be at FOUR HUNDRED pages? That's nearly twice as long as the others! My mind spins at all the wondrous Michael Moscovitz goodness headed my way.

Because OF COURSE Mia is going to end up with Michael.

OF COURSE.

Ransom My Heart is a romance novel (written by Mia, during her senior year) being released the same day. It was printed on recycled paper and all of the proceeds go to -- where else?! -- Mia's favorite charity, Greenpeace.


TELEVISION!

JD + Turk = Guy Love

HIP HIP HUZZAH! Thank you ABC for saving my favorite television show! How often does that happen? Um, practically never. But ABC acknowledged the perfection that is Chocolate Bear and Vanilla Bear (and their lovable stuffed dog, Rowdy). Not to mention Dr. Cox's rants, Eliot's freak-outs, Ted's barber shop quartet, Dr. Kelso's addiction to muffins, Janitor's aversion to pennies, and the most rocking soundtrack on television.

Fingers crossed the new network treats Scrubs with the respect it deserves. It starts next Tuesday the sixth. Which is the same day Meg Cabot's books come out.

Clearly there is something magical about January 6th.

I suggest you buy a lottery ticket.


MOVIES!

I can't wait for two films, both of which were supposed to have been released THIS year. Sucky studios.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (obviously)




And Rudo y Cursi.




Rudo y Cursi was directed by Carlos Cuarón, brother of Alfonso (loooove Alfonso), and co-writer of Alfonso's film Y tu mamá también (one of my top ten favorite movies EVER). Which starred Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, who are also the stars of Rudo y Cursi.

See why I'm excited? This movie will be GOLDEN. Upon exiting the theater, I will probably be crying rainbow tears of joy and dancing the Roger Rabbit.

Because it's either the Roger Rabbit, the Running Man, or the Davy Jones. I don't know any others, sorry.


PEOPLE!

And finally . . . I'm thrilled about the arrival of my first niece or nephew.

Our first picture.

I will totally be the cool aunt who rents them R-rated movies, drives them to get their first tattoo, and rots their teeth with extra sugar-infused bubblegum.

The mystery baby (BOY OR GIRL? Only the ultrasound technician knows!) is due mid-January, and currently goes by the name Jack Jack.

(Jack Jack)

Since my sister's uterus was exposed to thermonuclear radiation during a Martian mission gone awry, we are expecting Great Things from Jack Jack, such as the ability to fly, voluntary invisibility, or -- at the very least -- earlobes large enough to break a Guinness world record.


What are you looking forward to this year?


Coming soon:

Two more lists! HA! My best books and best films of 2008 (see 2007's book list here and 2006's here). The book list will be hard -- I read many incredible novels, how to choose?? -- as will the film list, but for totally different reasons.

Cinema kind of sucked this year.

Don't get me wrong. I saw plenty of GOOD movies, just not many GREAT ones. Whereas last year, I couldn't even narrow my list to ten. And I had to blog it in three parts! (One, two, three.)

And though the order has changed (Once and Sweeney Todd would be higher up, and Across the Universe would be first), I stand by them all. In fact, I like them so much I own ten of the thirteen! How many films would I buy from this year? Answer: Not many.

So stay tuned, put on your party hat, and drive safely. See you in 2009.

Fun with Lights + My Tree Gets Nerd-eh

Blogland has slowed down this month for the holidays, and my humble abode is no exception. This week, I've been busy with the usual Christmas trappings -- wrapping gifts, cookie baking, and singing along (loudly) to corny music on radio stations that normally I wouldn't be caught DEAD listening to.

You know what stations I'm talking about. Admit it, your car dial is totally tuned to them too.

So Jarrod and I waited until it was raining before picking up our tree -- because we are idiots -- but had a lovely time putting it up.

After the tree dried off, of course.

Many of my friends scratch their heads when they hear I buy a REAL LIVE tree. I have a wee reputation as a hippie . . . minus the Grateful Dead t-shirts and sandalwood incense. (Incense makes me sneeze, and I have a 87% allergy rate to jam bands.)

And for a few years, I felt guilty for this yearly arbor-icide. But THE SMELL, people! I require real-tree smell for survival. Every Christmas I spend hours underneath its skirt, refilling my sniffer tankard to "full" with its glorious piney scent, so that by the time Fourth of July rolls around and I'm sick sick sick of the humidity and barbecues and American flags, I can tap into my reserves and remember better things are coming.

Or something like that.

Anyway, I felt guilty until a very helpful issue of Vegetarian Times pointed out that at least while they're being farmed, Christmas trees provide a valuable service to our environment -- purifying the air and all that good stuff -- and once they die, they decompose quickly. Meanwhile, our landfills are up to the wazoo in fake trees, which are not exactly compost-friendly.

So if you feel guilty for your real-tree love, I hereby give you permission to sigh in relief. A real green tree IS the real green solution.

Anywho. After we put up our tree, we had fun playing with the lights:












Are those neat-o? Totally easy (and addictive) too. All you have to do is set a low shutter speed on your camera and wiggle it around while it takes the pictures, like the classic Picasso pen light trick. Whee!!!

So like a lot of couples, we celebrate every Christmas with a new ornament. This year, we picked up this handmade, knitted one on eBay. Check it out:




IT'S THE JAYNE HAT!!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love being a nerd. It's so much easier (and more fun) than being cool.

Jayne, modeling my ornament.

Speaking of ornaments, this daytime picture might help you spot something peculiar about our tree:




What's that, you say? We only have (non-breakable, plastic) ornaments on the top third of our tree? Noooo! How did that happen? And where are the pretty vintage glass balls???

Well.

I am not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there is this THING living in my house now. This THING that finds little dangly doodads irresistible.

It's called a cat.

And because I am annoyed with him right now -- for the ornament situation, for which I am told Mr. Tumnus might grow out of. Maybe. -- I am posting an embarrassing picture of him, in hopes that the calico next door he's been crushing on reads this blog and never meows at him again.




HA! Take that Mr. T.

(The dogs never give me half this much trouble.)

And look! Cookie proof!




So far we've made these gingerbread men (half with Red Hot buttons for me, half without for Jarrod who is WEIRD and doesn't like them even though they are CANDY and CANDY IS DELICIOUS), lemon bars, and these yummy pink peppermint meltaways, one of Laini's finds.

Next up: Chex Mix (you knows you loves it) and something chocolaty and peanut buttery. Jarrod lives for chocolate and peanut butter like I live for real-tree smell. In fact, he loves it so much I'm convinced he'd smoke Reese's in a crack pipe if, you know, we had one.

Which we don't.

Though sometimes I wonder if the cat does.

Happy Chanukah & Winter Solstice, everyone! And if I don't get back here in the next few days -- Merry Christmas too!

Cue Maniacal Laughter (MWAHAHAHA!)

Dude.

I am so awesome, I can hardly stand it.

I wrote TEN THOUSAND words today for NaNoWriMo!

Please let me repeat that, because chances are slimbo that I'll ever get to say it again: I wrote ten thousand words today. Yippee!

Except . . . I never would have done it without Jolie's best-ever sticky note advice and Laini's "Once upon a time" strategy. And Jarrod's bargaining chip -- that if I reached my 10k goal before 10:30, we could watch an episode of Firefly tonight. ("Also, I can kill you with my brain.")

Love this.

So thank you Jolie, Laini, and Jarrod. I raise my glass of crazy delirious happy to you tonight.

In other news -- yes! Of course I saw Twilight this weekend!




I went with my fab pals Sumner and Paula, and it was cheesy and melodramatic (and WHAT were they thinking casting Jasper? SERIOUSLY?) but I totally loved it anyway.

The I-want-to-kiss-you-but-I'd-kill-you was yummy and romantic, and I adored Edward's fwoopy (as I keep hearing it described) hair, and GUESS WHAT??? Bella wore my shirt in two scenes! Very exciting to see a tiny piece of me -- in clothing form -- interacting with the dreamy Edward Cullen.

That is SO my shirt! I got it at H&M last Christmas. Which is NOT in Phoenix, so I don't know where Bella is shopping.

Also cute:

-- The protective dad scenes involving Charlie and Edward.
-- Stephenie Meyer hanging out in the cafe.
-- How they slipped the cover image from the novel into the cafeteria scene.
-- Radiohead during the credits. Totally unexpected.
-- Edward hanging out in Bella's bedroom. (Sorry, Paula!) Totally hot.
-- Edward in sunglasses. TOTALLY hot.

(Hot.)

But yeah. Let's hope New Moon gets a bigger makeup budget. And that ballet studio? So not in Phoenix either! And there's a future drinking game to be had with the all of those Steely Vampire Looks.

And Jasper.

HONESTLY.

What. Were. They. Thinking?

I'm back! (And behind) + Fiiiiirefly!

This is my parents' dog, Maggie:




This is Maggie wondering why my computer was turned off when I am so far behind in NaNoWriMo:




And THIS . . .




is Maggie saying, "Oh, screw it. Rub my belly."

(I rubbed a lot of belly last weekend.)

Well, I'm back in town. And -- OF COURSE -- I forgot my camera at The Big Event (my friend Jamey's wedding reception) and took pictures of the dog instead.

So you will just have to believe me that the bride was beautiful (and wearing this adorable dress I thought was vintage but she made) and her husband was super-sweet and everyone had a fabulous time.

And while it snowed here in Asheville, it was eighty degrees in Phoenix, which allowed Jamey's party to be a GARDEN PARTY.

Yes. A garden party in November.

Only in Arizona.

Sooo, yeah. I'm a little behind in NaNo this year. How about you? Is it sucking for you too? Please assure me yours is sucking, because (insert obscenities here), my novel (insert obscenities here) blows.

(Insert obscenities here) blows hard.

I'm ten thousand words behind, which isn't impossible to overcome, but isn't a walk in the park either. Even if the park is a REALLY REALLY BIG PARK, like Golden Gate Park. In fact, I'm (insert obscenities here) mad at myself for letting the situation get this bad. But what are you gonna do? Sit behind a lousy laptop and write the dullest characters and dialogue you've ever typed in your entire life . . .

Almost Real Example:

"Hi, Joe."
"Hi."
"Let's do something."
"Like what?"
"I dunno."

Or go to a GARDEN PARTY in sunny Arizona?

That's what I thought.

And . . . okay . . . the garden party was only one day. What about the other sixteen days so far this month? I blame it on Joss Whedon. Joss and his INCREDIBLE AWESOME LOVE LOVE LOVE IT SHOW, Firefly.

FIREFLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So to all of my friends who've tried to get me to watch it for the last year (Staci, Laini, Jim): Um. You were right. It's awesome.

Like painfully awesome.

And I realize I abuse the word "awesome" (along with "dude" and the phrase "it's my favorite thing EVER"), but seriously. It's awesome. For those of you who missed it the first time around, like myself:

(A) Yes, it's set in space.
(B) No. There are no weird prosthetic makeup jobs or techno babble.

It's just a good solid . . . space western drama.

Which sounds awful -- BELIEVE ME, I KNOW! -- but wowie wow wow. Unlike my (cough cough) NaNo novel (cough cough), the characters and the dialogue sparkle and burst and are so wonderful that you just can't possibly imagine how much fun you're going to have when you start.

And Jarrod and I still have five episodes left, plus Serenity (the film that tied up the loose ends after the show got canceled because Fox is an evil butt bag), so NO SPOILERS IN MY COMMENTS!

For reals. I will hunt you down and sit on your head and make you eat one of my husband's famous egg foo young and leftover fish burritos.

You will not like the burrito.

And for fans of the show, here's my favorite moment so far:



I totally want this for my front yard. Anyone want to papier mache me a giant Jayne statue? He'd make an excellent Christmas gift.

What?? I'm stalling????? Nooo. You're crazy! I'm not stall--

Okay. I'm stalling.

Goodbye, then. Back to my regularly scheduled NaNo.

The Return of Good Television: Pushing Daisies + Ugly Betty

I took the advice of a friend today.

I took the day off. Well, not the whole day -- the afternoon and evening. Let's not get crazy here.

For the last week, I've suffered from a titchy wee bit of COMPLETE AND TOTAL burnout. Revisions aren't progressing, the novel will never be done, I'm going to miss my new deadline, and blah blah blah, poor sad pitiful me.

I'm kind of a wreck.

I've been spending my days at work (the one that pays, that is) fantasizing about being kidnapped and taken to a remote location with no writing equipment and being forced to watch BBC period romances for an entire week. Or two.

Or how about this one? The daydream where I quit BOTH jobs and run off to South America to live in a treehouse community. All I'll do is order books off Amazon (to be delivered TO the Amazon) and sit in my tree and read. Giant fantasy tomes, classic romances, swashbuckling adventures, graphic novels, and, of course, tons of young adult literature. And when I need to stretch my legs, I'll walk through the rain forest and discover new species of orchids and name them after characters in the books I'm reading.

Edmond dantesum

My friend suggested perhaps it was time for a break. She was right.

So this afternoon, I put on my sock monkey pajamas and watched the new Sense and Sensibility, which I had taped last spring. It's a CRIME that it has taken me so long to get to it, but there you go. That pesky novel thing getting in the way of my fun again.

It was wonderful, of course. But more on it later.

After S&S, I took a nap. A delicious two-hour nap. And when I woke up, I discovered Jarrod had baked a chicken pot pie (Yes. He baked while I slept. How amazing is that?) which we then devoured in front of the television set.

I KNOW! I sat in front of the TV twice today! Oh, how I've missed you, television.

And then . . . I finally saw the first episode of Pushing Daisies.




I had pre-ordered the DVDs and -- in a moment where everything aligned in the universe -- they arrived today. Last fall, I heard such great things about it, but before I had the chance to tune in, BLAMO! Writer's strike. (Which, you know, I supported. But it still sucked.)

So it was exciting to finally be able to watch it, nearly a year later.

I loved it, of course. LOVED. IT. I can't wait for more! We're going to watch an episode every night, so we'll be ready for the premiere October 1st.

I will find time for it.

After Lee Pace & cherry pies & technicolor tile floors, we took the dogs on a walk. The temperature was perfect and the moon was plump and have I mentioned autumn is in the air? I love the smell of autumn. The only slight frowny face was when we had to cut it short due to a Strange Moving Shape on the street ahead of us.

Because that was the moment we remembered that last night my neighborhood had another BEAR sighting.

I mean it was probably just a large cat or a dog or a beaver or something. But better to be safe than sorry.




So . . . when I was researching the new season of Pushing Daisies, I realized Ugly Betty starts next Thursday. Yay!

It's such a fabulous guilty pleasure. What an amazing cast. I love America Ferrara, and the supporting characters are some of the best on television. Justin! Hilda! Marc! Amanda! (Becki Newton - Amanda - has the best comedic timing.)

I can't wait to dive back into this lovely sparkly telenovela, and find out if Betty has gone to Tuscon with Henry or to Italy with Gio.

The first season, I was smitten with the adorably nerdy Henry, but last year, he turned really . . . eh. Such a disappointment. Anyone else feel this way? Thank goodness for Freddy Rodriguez! As far as I'm concerned, he was the highlight of television last year. Gio is such a funny, charming, charismatic character. My screen explodes with joy every time he pops up.

Or maybe it's just me. Exploding.




So my vote? Gio all the way, Betty.

(Not that we'll get any real answers in a season-opening episode.)

-------

I was going to write a special Sense and Sensibility Smackdown (1995 vs. 2008), but I'm sleepy so I'm headed to bed EARLY for once.

Yes. Two a.m. is early now.

Hurrah for Me (and BBC's North & South!)

My new boyfriend. He is very moody. I'll get to him later.

Monday was a Very Important Day. Not only was it Tanabata, one of my favorite holidays (any excuse to make a wish!), but it was also the self-imposed due date for my latest novel. Just a new draft, mind you, but still a reaaaally big deal. I used to say, "Oh, I'm a WRITER. You can't push CREATIVITY. No deadlines for me, thank you vurry much."

This, of course, is total hooey.

Who was I kidding? In school, I did every project at the very last moment. Why did I ever think I could write a novel without deadlines? And why did it take me so long to realize this?

And here is the scariest bit. Because I have the scarlet "U" upon my chest ("unpublished"), the only person in the world who will assign a deadline to me is . . . me. And the only person who will ensure that deadline is reached is . . . me.

Can I tell you that is a lot of pressure on . . . me?

Yikes!

So reaching this goal was a huge, huge wonderful thing. It's hard to describe how amazing it was to print out my novel and feel the weight of it in my hands and be able to TOUCH this thing that's been in my head for so long. I had a reaaally rough draft completed several months ago, but now it's BIG and REAL and NOVEL-SHAPED.

And now I have two lovely weeks of vacation from it, until I have to dive in again with revisions. So I'm starting my new novel (yay!), and drafting a query and synopsis, and spending many many hours . . . sitting in front of my television.

Which is -- sadly -- not that unusual for me. The difference? Now I don't have to feel guilty about it! For two weeks! WOO HOO!

This is what I've been watching:




Did you know Keira Knightley made a Robin Hood movie? Well, she did. It was a made-for-tv Disney production called Princess of Thieves, and it was her first starring role. And yes, it's cheesy. And no, this was NOT the first time I've seen it. I have a life-long love affair with the Robin Hood legend, and I love Keira, and it's always fun to indulge one's guilty pleasures, no?

And it really is good, all Disney/made-for-tv-things considered.




The Ruby in the Smoke, based on Philip Pullman's novel. My main motivation in viewing this was MORE MR. TILNEY. Did it deliver? Ah, most excellently. A fun film with Victorian murders and shipwrecks and stolen jewels.

And Mr. Tilney.

The big surprise was Julie Walters AKA Molly Weasley, who made a fantastic, terrifying villain. They're airing it again on PBS this September, along with the second offering in the series, The Shadow in the North. Yippee!




Missed a few episodes of The Office this year, due to that pesky novel thing I've been working on. All caught up now! Sooooo hilarious, as always. And, seriously, if NBC does anything to mess with Jim and Pam's relationship, I will be CRUSHED. I'm terrified they'll make things rocky and unstable for them when there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON.

They are PERFECT for each other, you hear me NBC? Resist the temptation! Let them be!

I am so scared.




And lastly -- THE GREATEST THING OF ALL -- North & South.

Have you seen this yet??? I'd heard about it, but silly me, assumed it had something to do with the American Civil War. Only last week was it brought to my attention that it's actually a BRITISH PERIOD ROMANCE!

EEK! North & South is SO. FREAKING. AWESOME!!!

It has all of the right elements -- a handsome, brooding gentleman, a feisty heroine, and TONS of passionate "oh I hate him/oh I love him" scenes. I don't want to spoil the plot here, so I'll just say the script was fantastic and made me kick and squeal and rewind many, many times.

It was an instant I MUST GO BUY THIS MOVIE kind of movie.

Mr. Thornton, brooding passionately, as per usual

And let's face it. It had, like, one of the greatest kissing scenes EVER.




And you know how I feel about kissing.

The other amazing thing was that not only was it one of the greatest love stories I've run across, it was also this incredibly complex, fascinating look at mill towns and unions and the class system. And the supporting cast was SO talented, and all of the characters were full and multi-faceted and interesting. I got so much more from this than I would have imagined, and now I can't WAIT to read Elizabeth Gaskell's novel.

So if you haven't seen it, rent it!

And if you HAVE seen it . . . let's talk about Mr. Thornton, shall we?

You've Been Warned: The One-Panels

Strange and happy news. A colleague of mine enjoyed my James Patterson You've Been Warned first sentences-thingy and posted about it recently on her (considerably wittier and more popular) blog. And it seems that people are getting a kick out of it! I found out today that super-talented Linda Causey is working on a series of one-panel cartoons based on each sentence. Here are my favorites so far:






Hurrah! This makes me so happy!

And speaking of, here are two more reasons why I have the tingly stomach jitters:




So how much am I LOVING Masterpiece right now? (Apparently they have dropped the "Theatre," as if that actually makes a difference - it's like Lil' Bow Wow dropping the Lil'. Whoopity-freaking-do, says I.)

But back to the question at hand - just exactly how much am I LOVING the Jane Austen-athon?

SO MUCH, people. SO MUCH.

GASP!

Tonight at 9:00 ET, Masterpiece Theatre is starting the Greatest Thing Ever Aired On Television:

THE COMPLETE JANE AUSTEN

I know, right?

If I were a Yorkshire terrier, I'd totally be piddling the floor right now.

PBS is airing an adaptation of all six novels, plus a new movie called Miss Austen Regrets ("Courtship she knew well; only the last act eluded her. A film biography that dramatizes Jane Austen's lost loves."). Frankly, the Austen biopic sounds de-press-ing (I'd much, much, much rather see this), but it's all very exciting nonetheless.

Tonight they're showing the 2007 version of Persuasion. I'm especially excited because I've never seen an adaption of this novel before, nor one of next week's Northanger Abbey. Hurrah!

Here is the complete schedule:


January 13: Persuasion
January 20: Northanger Abbey
January 27: Mansfield Park
February 3: Miss Austen Regrets
February 10, 17, 24: Pride and Prejudice
March 23: Emma
March 30, April 6: Sense and Sensibility


Naturally, P&P is the Colin Firth version, which is As It Should Be. After all, it is the definitive Jane Austen adaptation.

Although . . . I have a confession.

While it's quite true that I love (and own) the Colin Firth version - and have seen it way too many times to be considered healthy - I prefer the Matthew Macfadyen version. Which I know admitting this in a JASNA conference would get me stoned, but there it is.

I prefer this wet Darcy:




To this one:




So sue me. (Except don't.)

Ah hem. Well, now that I've managed to post TWO pictures of wet Mr. Darcy, I think it's safe to say this blog entry can get no better. So without further ado - on your mark, get set, TIVO!

Or if you kick it old school like me - on your mark, get set . . . VCR!

Woo Hoo + Boo Hoo

WOO HOO:

• Piano lessons. Thanks to my super-rad, super-sweet, super-super new teacher (Hi, Sara!) I am re-embracing music in a way that I have missed very much.

• America Ferrara winning a Golden Globe for Ugly Betty. I love her. America can make me go from laughter-in-the-belly to choking-back-tears like THAT. She's been one of my favorites since she made me bawl in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (good movie, even better books). Also exciting at the Golden Globes . . . Babel winning best drama! Mexico rocks my cinema world. If only Adrianna Barraza had won best supporting actress!

• Winter is here. For now. Lots of Ash-villains have been praising the unseasonably warm weather (60s, 70s), but to me it means one thing — DOOOOOM! GLOBAL WARMING! I'm totally picturing Greenland falling into the sea à la An Inconvenient Truth. So when the weather dropped into the 30s today and snow flurries began to fall, my heart heaved a humungoid sigh of relief.

• The only sports team I follow is on a ten-game winning streak. Huzzah!

• Cornmeal mush for breakfast. It's delightfully warm and bland in my tum-meh (as the atheist sea ot-tahs from South Park would pronounce it).

• This clip of a formerly abused circus lion hugging his rescuer. Animals never cease to surprise and amaze me.


BOO HOO:

• Now that it actually feels like winter, the heater in my house has broken (it makes these click click click click noises), and the temperature inside is 50 degrees and dropping. Hellooo, long underwear. If I owned any.

• Only having fifteen minutes to get ready for work this morning, because my bed was so beautiful and cozy, and I couldn't possibly have given it up any sooner.

Two Looks For Two Sexes

Two looks I dig on both men & women:

(1) Chunky Glasses — as modeled here by Elvis Costello & Lisa Loeb

(2) Tall Hair — as modeled here by Zach Braff & Gwen Stefani

Two things I learned while putting this together:

(1) Tall hair pictures are hard to find. Poor Gwen. I liked her hair best in the drunk picture. And there's a sad, sad lack of Scrubs pictures online, so I had to settle for this so-so one. Where's the J.D. love? His hair rocks so much that he has a hairmet, for crying out loud.

(2) It always takes longer to post something than you think it will. I was supposed to get the laundry started two hours ago.