L.M. Pruitt's Blog, page 6

Media Monday--Review of TED

First off, let me say I have never seen a single episode of Family Guy. It just didn't appeal to me. Plus there's the fact that I get asked repeatedly if I was named after the character in the show. Because clearly, even though the show is less than ten years old and I just turned thirty, this is a valid question.

Anyway, after seeing the previews for Ted, I was totally on board. I mean, really, a talking teddy bear? A drug using, hard drinking, even harder partying teddy bear? How can I not be excited about that?

Let me tell you, the reality is even more than my imagination could have hoped for.

Simply put, Ted (the bear) is the result of a little boy's magical wish and a promise to always be best friends. Instead of just leaving it at that, the story actually takes you past where most happily ever after stories would end. Because really, who hasn't wondered what happened after Cinderella and the Prince got married? Or after Sleeping Beauty and the Prince hooked up? Along the way there's murder, a kidnapping, foul jokes, and general mayhem. Everything a lovely fairytale should have.

Like I said, this is the story of what happens when man and bear grow up and man falls in love. Mila Kunis, who I adore, had the thankless job of the girlfriend who is "coming between" man and friend. She did a wonderful job of portraying the woman who just wants the person she loves to live up their full potential--which can include being frustrated and hurt when they seemingly choose not to do so. In the end, she's the reason that man and bear can continue to be, well, man and bear. And no, I'm not going to explain that statement because I'm not spoiling the movie.

Mark Wahlberg absolutely sells the role of John Bennet, the little boy who finally has a friend of his very own, one who will never leave him. One of the funniest scenes in the movie (something that you can see in the preview) is where John and Ted deal with a thunderstorm. It's the kind of silliness that you totally expect of young boys and yet at the same time is mildly embarrassing in a thirty-five year old man. This dependency between man and bear is something that gets addressed repeatedly in the movie and something, I'm happy to say, that's resolved in a heartwarming and realistic manner.

Finally, Ted himself (voiced by Seth McFarlane) is just...funny as fucking hell. I really don't have any other way to describe him. I'm not sure if it's because the character is a teddy bear or if it's the voice or what, but the damn bear absolutely dominates the show. Even in the scenes he's not in, there's still this undercurrent of Ted-ness that keeps you keyed up and ready for the next bit of Ted.

All in all, this movie rocked. Shout-outs to Giovinni Ribisi as the creepiest single dad ever and to Ryan Reynolds as the creepiest hook-up ever. I'm still not sure if he was putting in a cameo or if he was a named character, but he was still creepy as hell. Ted is definitely a movie worth seeing.

Food Friday--What I Love About Summer

Let's face it, there are certain foods you can eat during the summer that just taste better because it IS summer. Maybe it's childhood memories, maybe it's the heat, maybe it's the increase in fresh fruit and vegetables. Who knows--seriously, who knows? I don't.

What I do know is the following foods are things that just make me three thousand times happier when I'm eating them and it's summer.

Ice Cream--I'm one of those people who will eat ice cream year round. But to be honest, there's nothing more amazing than standing in front of a freezer eating ice cream straight out of the container with the air conditioner running at the perfect temperature.

Popsicles--The only time I really love popsicles is from about April to October. That's when it's hot in Florida. If I'm trying to get to sleep and I just can't cool down, two sugar free popsicles and I'm pleasantly chilled. I can slip between the covers and conk out.

Corn on the Cob--I love corn year round. But I've found that in order to truly appreciate corn on the cob it needs to be summer. And the corn is much better when grilled. Just sayin'.

Fried Chicken--I like to experiment with different marinades and breadings with fried chicken and supper is the ideal time to do that. I've done buttermilk cajun, spicy sweet tea, honeyed BBQ...I pretty much just let my mind go nuts. It's pretty fun and usually tasty.

Those are the big four, at least for me. What about you guys?

Happy Anniversery to Me!!

Yes, that's a double exclamation point up there. I just checked and it's been right at a year since Food, Fun and Urban Fantasy was launched into the blogosphere. You know what that means.

GIVEAWAY!!!!

(Okay, I'll stop with the exclamation marks, I promise)

To celebrate, I'm going to give away my entire book catalog. That's right. Every book, even the shorts, will go to one lucky person. Every book, including the latest release, Shades of Blood. And if you play your cards right and I get a swift kick in the ass, said person will be among the first to read Winged in its entirety. Actually, we'll just make that part of the deal anyway--the winner will probably just have to be patient for a month or so.

Okay, now that you're all hyped up, you probably want to know how to get this amazing gift, right?

All you have to do is comment.

That's it. Comment.

The winner will be selected randomly in one week, so spread the word fast and spread it far. (God, that sounds weird and yet so familiar). Only one comment per person, please. Multiple entrants will be disqualified--so play nice and fair, folks.

Let the celebration begin!

Media Monday--Not What I Planned

Orginially, I planned to give everyone my review of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (the movie, not the book, although I've read it). But then my Blogger went nuts and I had other shit to do, so, no longer feeling the urge to go all ALVH on ya'll.

Instead, let's talk horror.

I've been spending the past few days watching various DVDs I own, because, well, there really isn't anything on the damn TV right now. Whenever I have one of these movie marathons so to speak, I tend to stick with a theme. I don't like to jump genres.

This time, I've been doing horror.

In the past few days, I've gone through Darkness Falls, The Reaping, House on Haunted Hill, Constantine (not really horror but close enough), and maybe one or two more, I can't remember. Before I hit the hay tonight, I'm going to be watching Sorority Row and trying for The Skeleton Key. If I really want to be depressed, I'd watch The Mist, but it's Monday. That's depressing enough.

I have no idea why I love horror movies. My mom and sister both hate them. Most of my friends do. I've been told my biological father loved them, but I'm not sure that's the kind of thing that gets passed on by genetics. Since I'm also one of those people who will cover their eyes and hyperventilate during intense horror movies, I really have no idea.

I'm serious on the hyperventilating thing. I did it with The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, and The Ring. I'm also one of those people who have very vivid dreams about things I watch. I woke up in cold sweats and panics after watching Blair Witch 2, Paranormal Activity, and one other movie. God knows what it was, I've apparently supressed it. Maybe it was the original Boogeyman. (The sequels were pretty laugh-out-loud-tastic.)

So, despite all this, I'm a horror fan. God knows why. Maybe it helps with writing crime fiction. Maybe it helps with writing some of the darker parts of the paranormal romance books. Whatever it is, I've got a wide range of materials to choose from.

Hey, it's the first of the month. FEARNET should have new movies. Hmmm....

Food Friday!--The 50 Shades of Grey Drinking Game

I would have posted this earlier today, but, well, I fell asleep. Apparently I was really fucking tired. Whatever.

So, there are two different levels/phases to this thing. Because when there's something huge like this, you need to break it down. Otherwise you're just going to get fucked up twice as fast.

So, Level One--The Drink Level

Take a sip any time one of the following occurs:

Ana
--stammers, stutters, or is otherwise incapable of normal speech
--is clumsy beyond words
--refers to someone by their full name
--uses more than two descriptors for anything
--flushes, reddnes, or otherwise can't control the flow of blood to her face
--says anything along the lines of golly/gosh/oh my/jeez

Level Two--The Shot Level

Do a shot anytime one of the following occurs

--there's an obvious relationship red flag
--there's an obvious attitude of hatred toward a woman
--there's an obvious Twilight similarity
     (by this I mean even someone who has only seen the movies could spot the similarities)

Okay, that's it for now. There may be additions or deletions at some point once I figure out how fucked up this is going to make people. Anybody who tries it, let me know.

Random Thursday!

Randomness coming your way starting....NOW!

Today, I have to go renew my tag and stuff. I've never had to do this, because I've never own a car in my name, so this is new and interesting. And possibly expensive. Yuck.

I'm also actually looking at a car for me.The current car is like a family, all purpose car. I want something for me, so life can be a little easier all around. And what do I want? A Mustang. Yes, I know, so cliched and obvious and so on, but I'm pretty much at the point in my life where I'm only going to get something if it's something I really, really want, so there you go.

What else? I'm working on a drinking game for 50 Shades of Grey. Not because I have an overwhelming desire to read it, but because we're reading it as a "book club" thing at work. Which means we meet once a week and read aloud for a few hours because most of the people I work with don't read. Yes, my heart breaks as well. Since I refuse to read the book without alcohol, a drinking game is required. That way everybody can be schonkered.

Oh--you know how some people are drunk dialers or drunk texters? I'm more of a drunk Tweet-er. I just use the damn thing to say anything and everything when I'm sitting at the bar. So if you're following me on Twitter and see random nonsense on a Wednesday--that would be why.

Tomorrow--I post the rules for the drinking game! How's that for a food post?
(I know, I've been horribly negligent in that area. Someone slap me now.)

Tuesday Buildup--We're Almost There!

That's right, folks! We're almost at the release date for Shades of Blood! Right now, I'm just waiting for the ISBN from the head of my publishing company, who is off being her fabulous author self on the Vamps at Sea event offered by Holland America. I'm jealous, because it's a cruise and unless I'm mistaken she gets to meet Nelsan Ellis of True Blood. Yes, you can be jealous, too.

So, I'll keep everyone posted via Facebook, Twitter, and of course, here. Like all the other previous Jude books, Shades of Blood will be only $0.99! Should I raise the prices? Probably, at some point. But right now, I really want people to experience the books. I'll ask some input at a different point.

In the meantime, get ready for Tuesdays to be devoted to the Russian Mafia, money laundering, the Fae, and other seemingly random things. That's right--I'm working on BORROWED, the next Frankie Post novel. And it's off to a (haha) bang already. While Jude and company have a special place in my heart, and Cari and company are more of a from the soul thing, Frankie and company are where I can really play. My degree is in criminal justice and criminology and my family has been in law enforcement for generations, so I'm very at home with crime fiction.

And I love, really, really love, the idea of a character with the characteristics of both the hard-boiled detective and the femme fatale.

In other news, I'm going to squeeze some work out on Winged. I think I'm finally where I need to be in order to get it done. I know some people like to say that you don't need to be in a mood or a place and I'd like to agree with them, but I think that if  you try and force something out, you usually just end up going back and scraping it. So I'd rather wait patiently for the right moment so when the words come they're what's needed and not just something to put a "daily word count". And since I usually wind up spending that time plotting in my head, it's not a total waste.

So there you go! A look at the immediate and kind of distant future. Tomorrow, I should have the first guest post for Writer Wednesday, this one from the lovely Shea MacLeod. And Friday, I'm sharing my 50 Shades of Grey drinking game. Oh, yes. I'm going there. I'm pretty sure my liver can handle it.

Media Monday--THE NEWSROOM

Originally, I was going to review True Blood again since it was even more awesome than last week (I think I'm developing a serious crush on Christopher Meloni). And then I remembered it was being followed by the premiere of a new series, The Newsroom, and I said to myself, "Self, hold on. Let's take a look at it, because you like things like this."

As usual, I--or Self, it's hard to keep the talking to yourself things straight--was right.

I was hooked from the get-go. Jeff Bridges reminds me of Bill Mahr which can be both good and bad depending on whether or not you care for Mahr. I don't mind him, so I was onboard. But really, and if this doesn't draw a ton of response from reviewers I'll be shocked, what instantly put me on the side of Will McAvoy was his response to a question about America being the greatest country in the world.

America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. But it could be.

I love this, and the preceeding rant, because I think McAvoy says what so many people feel and are scared to say. We hold on to the nostalgic view of a country that could and would conquer anything to prove we could but because we believed it to be the right thing to do. Now this viewpoint has gotten us in trouble more often than not (anybody thinking Vietnam War right now?) and it can also be considered just an excuse to go and be all big brother and condescending toward other nations. But I've always been a person who believes that the attitude or intent behind an action is just as important as an action itself. Or maybe that's just my criminal justice degree sprouting it's ugly head.

I digress. As usual.

The series is actually set in the not-too distant past, most likely to take advantage of the numerous stories to be rehashed and exploited. Case in point--the first episode deals with the BP explosion in the Gulf, which happened in April 2010. It was amazing, honestly, to find out all these things that, I'll be honest, I didn't have a damn clue about before. This is shameful, considering I live in Florida only about an hour from the coast of the Gulf. Most of the blame falls on my hand, but one of the things I took away from the show last night keeps going through and through my head.

I'm paraphrasing, so I may not have it down correctly, but McAvoy's new executive producer says something close to--"The point of the news is to inform so people can partcipate in the debates that shape the world."

Like I said, paraphrasing, but the sentiment is essentially the same.

I'll admit, I don't watch the news. I read the paper for headlines, the crossword, and the Limelight section. Why? Because I know my local paper is biased as hell. The reporting on the local channels is a joke at the best of times and throw-a-remote-at-the-television inanae at the worst. I don't have any respect for the industry anymore.

But I remember growing up, watching the News with Peter Jennings Monday through Friday because my grandfather did. Even if I had no clue what was going on, I still watched. For one, it was the only thing on the television and for two, I believed if my grandfather thought it was important, than obviously it had to be. Ah, youth.

The disintegration of the news industry into an arena more prone to rattling on about which star wore it best on the red carpet or the drug problems of some starlet to absolute sensationalistic crap has turned me off just as much as the overly biased opinions of commentators and reporters. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. I care about how you present the picture, if you can look beyond your own personal biases to the facts of a story.

All this being said (and good Lord, where the hell did that come from?), The Newsroom will make you think. Since I love shows that make me think (and yes, I'm aware I also love shows that don't--whatever), this is a go for me.

Ranty Thursday: What's Wrong With Us?

Men say quite often they could never be women. And funnily enough, the reason they usually list has nothing to do with physical properties (although it should be noted that, obviously, we'd have to reconstruct our notion of "sex" in order to make that kind of switch).

Nine out of ten random guys will say they couldn't be female because of the drama. The seemingly never-ending, pointless, useless drama.

Sadly, they have a point.

It's a horrible cliche that women are loaded down with drama. The problem with a cliche is it tends to have a root in truth, which makes it easy for people to accept said cliche. Take a minute and think about some of the conversations you've had concerning women, their emotions, and how said emotions get played out. The word "drama" most likely comes up in the conversation.

This isn't to say there isn't male drama. Because there is. It just seems, at least to me, that men seem better able to work through their personal issues--which also seems to be the opposite of what society likes to tell us. Women, or at least those I know or have known, will go out of their way to escalate a situation, especially if they're in the wrong.

(Note: This doesn't apply to all women. I'm absolutely sure there are women in the world who lead either minimal drama or drama free lives. And I really wish I could meet them and ask them their secret and beg them to let me learn at their feet. But I digress. And I've already done that a lot.)

I work with a lot of women. I've worked with lots of women. It's part of the nature of my half of the service industry--front of the house tends to be loaded down with females. Everybody tries to get along and usually we do. But there will always be a situation where people disagree. There's nothing wrong with a difference of opinion--it can provide for healthy debate and discussion.

It can also provide for people getting offended very easily. This is what I have a problem with.

Maybe it's a by-product of also working in what could be called "entertainment", but I expect anything I put out to be a possible topic of discussion. As a result, I don't say or do anything that I have a problem with other people criticizing, whether that's in my personal or public life. I'll be the first to admit that I can be fairly bitchy. Consequently, when people call me a bitch, I'm not offended. I know it's the truth. I know I presented them the opportunity and reason to make that statement. If I talk about my sex life (or at the moment the lack thereof), then people are free to comment. I just made a personal topic public.

Some of the people I work with (and probably at this point could be considered ex-friends with) don't feel the same. They labor under the idea that while they're allowed to say and act any which way, no one is allowed to comment on it. No one is allowed to express an opinion that differs in any way, shape or form.

And God forbid if you do.

So this is my question--what is wrong with us? Why is it seemingly impossible for women to be able to disagree and still be respectful about it? Don't hand me the crap about hormones, because that's all it is--crap. Is it societal expectations? Have we simply fallen into the habit of letting exchanges with fellow women become potential landmines of disaster?

I really don't have a single damn clue. I do know it needs to stop.

Media Monday--TRUE BLOOD

Last night's episode of True Blood was not nearly as dramatic and all over the place as the premeire. Which was both good and a little bad. Unlike some people, I don't have a problem with the storylines going all over the place--maybe that's a holdover from my misspent teenage summers watching soap operas such as Passions. Whatever the reason, I actually like all the different view points going on.

What elso do I like? Not Christopher Meloni as Roman. Oh, no--I LOVE HIM. Back when I had the time to watch more than a few hours of tv a week (oh, youth), I ate up Law & Order SVU like it was freakin' candy. As responsibilities, which include waking up at the butt crack of dawn, mounted and grew, I had to give up on Law & Order but still love Meloni. And Meloni as Roman? Oh. My. God. I could not have imagined a better Authority--cold, violent...authoritative. I am not going to lie, that shit was downright fucking sexy.

What was creepy? The little boy vampire. Tara on her first night as a vampire. Terry and his flashback moments (PTSD is just as big of a bitch as I've always imagined)...and Luna. Okay, okay, I might get some flack for this, but what the hell? Really? A man you, I'm assuming anyway, have feelings for, just got the shit beat out of him protecting you and a child he has no blood tie to, and you get pissy because he's trying to NOT fly off the handle and is attempting to be an adult about a situation? Wow, way to be thankful and understanding. Really, nice job there, sweetcheeks.

The Pam flashbacks are proving to be interesting. I'm actually very curious to see the rest of her story and how she wound up tied to Eric. It's a little different from how the books portray things, but it's not neccessarily a bad one. It actually makes her a bit more intriguing. Although the accent is still a little nuts. I'm not sure what's going on with that.

Sookie took a back seat this week, which is something I didn't have a problem with. The moments between her and Lafayette were real and touching. Just like the one moment with the newly awakened, newly aware Tara facing down her cousin and her best friend over something that amounted to a massive betrayal. As much as I agree with the desire to keep someone you love around, I also agree with Tara's viewpoint. They turned her into the thing that she hates the most, and it was for an entirely selfish reason. I'd be pretty pissed, too.

Eric and Bill. Oh, it's like the new version of Cheech and Chong without the drugs. Or Starsky and Hutch without the cop parts. Or The Dukes of Hazard without the car and the moonshine. You get the point. They've set up the partnership for the rest of the season, which should be extraordinarily entertaining.

All in all, a great episode. Definitely looking forward to next week.