My True Grit Ending

Last night, DH and I went to see the movie True Grit. Let me preface by saying that this was a pity movie date. I could tell that he REALLY wanted to see it. I've been dying to see The Green Hornet, but I offered to see True Grit. DH, who falls asleep in 99% of the movies we attend, was somehow EXCITED to go out for dinner and a movie.

I was wondering if DH would notice if I played Words with Friends on my iphone during the show. Heck, if he could sleep during my movies, I could play phone games during his.

The movie started with the very traditional western setting. The camera angles looked familiar. Authentic costuming, dirty cowboys, bad teeth. I half expected to see Clint Eastwood ride into town.

Then the movie got interesting. Young girl, Mattie, travels to town to avenge her father's death. Mattie is no ordinary fourteen-year-old. Her verbal skills and confidence immediately put her in a league of her own. Add Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn and Matt Damon as LeBeouf and you have a dynamic cast. The dialogue and acting astounded me.

I happily forgot about my phone game. I usually hate westerns...but did this one really qualify? I guess so. The only thing that disappointed me was the ending. But, it's my fault- not theirs.

I don't want to ruin in for you if you haven't seen it, so SPOILER ALERT.

In the car, I looked at DH and said, "I was kind of hoping that Mattie would end up with LaBeouf."

DH: Umm, she was fourteen.

Me: Yes, I know, but back then that was common, right? And she didn't act fourteen. She was mature for her age.

DH: That's not how these stories end. **silence and eye rolling**

Me: Oh, well. I am a romantic and can't help it. It was still awesome.

**image of movie poster from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/

My Favorite Reads of 2010

Some people keep a running list of all the books that they've read during the year. I think there are even some good websites to help you keep up with your list and ratings. I can tell you that I've enjoyed the fiction from my 2010 list. I listen to at least a couple of books a month during my commute. When not working or writing, you can find a book in my hand. Here are my favorites from 2010:

Best YA: Beautiful Creatures

Best Audible Contemp. Fiction: The Help

Best Non-Fiction: Super Freakonomics

North Point iBand

I watched this video this morning and thought..."Hey, I have an iphone!" Now if only I had some musical talent...

I'm going to Write a Novel...

An author, Rebecca Zanetti, shared this on her blog and I couldn't stop laughing.

On the Subject of Sisters and Pranks

I have an irrational fear of birds. Don't know when it started exactly or why, but it overrules sensibility when it comes to certain outdoor activities where the fowl animals like to hang out. Granted, I have many friends who acknowledge this fact about me, but none use it so well as my sister. Just this month, she sent me a lovely email with a horrifying photo of a crow or raven....just an evil, deadly, vicious, beady-eyed black bird.

You might ask, why would a sibling do this? It's what they do. I returned the favor by sending a lovely blog URL to her that was filled with mice (fabricated, artificial ones) in various poses emulating human activity. Mice reading, mice doing dishes, mice catching butterflies in nets. You guessed it. She has a mouse phobia. I was delighted and couldn't wait for her to open her email. Keep in mind that if I thought this would send her into a traumatic state, I would never do it in a million years. It was just enough to make her groan, shield her eyes, and wonder what she could find to send me in revenge.

Sisters. They know our fears, secrets, and joys. The bird email didn't say, "I want to cause you nightmares over this thing you fear so much." To me, it said, "Thought of you today and thought we could laugh together at your expense." (That is right, isn't is sis?) Pranks at a safe email distance, I can certainly handle. But don't you come near me with a real bird.

NaNoWriMo Novel: Nine

Just thought I would give an update on my writing project for November. I logged in at 13,900 words a few moments ago, so I am behind. The friendly NaNo site gives me a status update chart that shows a bar graph depicting my failure to meet word count goals. Joy, joy. My excuse? A trip to Orlando for StemTech and another to the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at Petit Jean Mountain took me a little off-track. Oh well, that's life---trying to stay on the right tracks. I will proudly say that I am writing at a much faster speed under the pressure of NaNoWriMo. Not only am I writing faster, but I'm discovering the joy of writing online with others. I've tried writing sprints this month and am so glad I did. It's a great way to stay focused.

Here are the details of my current work in progress:

Title of my NaNoWriMo challenge novel: Nine

Summary: You might call Abby a very lucky person. Even though her heart has stopped beating two times, she's been brought back to life. First, the man in the well-tailored grey suit rescued Abby from the rubble of 9/11 and left her with a gift- a nested box. Then, JT, Abby's mysterious guardian, gave her the key to decipher her destiny from the cryptic messages printed on each the nine boxes. She's escaped death twice. Why doesn't she feel so lucky?

Déjà vu

I'm ready to outline a story for my NaNoWriMo novel. New ideas are practically bursting forth by the minute. I had lunch with my son on Saturday and thought I'd throw some out there for an honest opinion. He is the brutal critic in my life.

I began...."What about a story where the heroine keeps dreaming and having this mystery unravel. In the dreams, she meets someone that she needs and wants more than anything else in life. AND then it begins to confuse her because some items are bleeding over into her waking hours. She can choose to live in the dream world or find a way to bring him to her world. AND...." I look into my son's face as he stays silent. The déjà vu hits me. It all sounds very familiar.

I had been thinking about this storyline for a couple of days. It all seemed very original at the time. Looking into my son's eyes told me why it suddenly sounded very much like another story. He and I had seen the movie Inception together. We had both loved it and talked about it at length. If I hadn't been looking into my son's eyes, I'm not sure I would have made the connection. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that I would have just had that freaky déjà vu feeling while telling anyone else.

"It's too much like Inception, isn't it?"

"Not exactly. Well, yes a little," he says.

I frown. He smiles broadly.

"Don't feel bad," he says. "Did you know that the guy who wrote Inception originally wrote ten years ago? Then he kept fine-tuning it. He had time to watch The Matrix and a lot of other movies that I'm sure influenced him..."

Anna Quindlen said, "Every story has already been told. Once you've read Anna Karenina, Bleak House, The Sound and the Fury, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Wrinkle in Time, you understand that there is really no reason to ever write another novel. Except that each writer brings to the table, if she will let herself, something that no one else in the history of time has ever had."

Maybe I'll hang onto that that plot.