Nicole MacDonald's Blog, page 26
February 12, 2011
You know when everyone RAVES about something?
And you finally get around to it.. and..
You're a tad dumbstruck...
I just watched Burlesque - which as anyone who follows my blog will know has ALL the ingredients to make me a very happy girl. Sequins, gorgeous girls, incredible dancing and WOW singing. Topped off with costumes to die for and supposedly strong female leads.
*sigh*
How did they get it so WRONG?? A badly scripted overwrought drama/musical that practically plagiarised half a dozen movies, it was just so so bad. And Cher!?! I loved her in The Witches of Eastwick, it was and always will be a favourite of mine. In this?! She was an over made up porcelain doll with NO EXPRESSION. The botex works a treat that's for sure - if she was happy or sad the only way you knew was when her face was damp and even then she looked happy!
A hint for any casting directors out there - audiences like CHARACTER! Pretty faces are all well and good but the utter lack of emotion on her face in ever single scene was insane.
Christina? Well she was incredible. Every time she opens her mouth you can't help but stare at the voice that comes belting out. She really did a great job but the crappy script completely let her down.
So I can't recommend it, not even just for the costumes. I'd watch the music video clips on you-tube and that'd be it for me.
You're a tad dumbstruck...
I just watched Burlesque - which as anyone who follows my blog will know has ALL the ingredients to make me a very happy girl. Sequins, gorgeous girls, incredible dancing and WOW singing. Topped off with costumes to die for and supposedly strong female leads.
*sigh*
How did they get it so WRONG?? A badly scripted overwrought drama/musical that practically plagiarised half a dozen movies, it was just so so bad. And Cher!?! I loved her in The Witches of Eastwick, it was and always will be a favourite of mine. In this?! She was an over made up porcelain doll with NO EXPRESSION. The botex works a treat that's for sure - if she was happy or sad the only way you knew was when her face was damp and even then she looked happy!
A hint for any casting directors out there - audiences like CHARACTER! Pretty faces are all well and good but the utter lack of emotion on her face in ever single scene was insane.
Christina? Well she was incredible. Every time she opens her mouth you can't help but stare at the voice that comes belting out. She really did a great job but the crappy script completely let her down.
So I can't recommend it, not even just for the costumes. I'd watch the music video clips on you-tube and that'd be it for me.
February 10, 2011
I got to guest blog (and raid the virtual refrigerator)
The lovely Sharon at Random Thoughts invited me to guest blog while she's off gadding about in the Dominion Republic - nice for some huh? So pop on over and check out my post gabbing about me, New Zealand and my book. I know, I know you've heard it all before but there is a photo you haven't seen before! Me and the lazy dogs sprawled on my bunk up the bush - Glenn got up to light the fire and they both stole his spot *lol* Have a great weekend everyone and if anyone asks for a book recommendation *grin* steer them my way!
February 9, 2011
Whew! Is it hot in here or what? Sex scene and A surprise
I did it. I wrote the first intimate scene. And OMG is it hot! It's also almost 3 pages long, so is going to require some creative chopping come the first re-write (*giggle* did that make any boys wince?). It is such a relief to have it done and be pleased with it and now I'm itching to zoom through the rest of the story. I'm just trying to keep all the twists and turns in my mind as I run through the plot on the 'movie screen' in my head. There are so many things that need to happen! Some are tiny, just suggestions, so to lay the foundation for book three and others are big important plot points that I have to reach. Ooo which reminds me.
If you have bought a copy of The Arrival ( and by the way, I LOVE YOU) and you do notice any errors like the gentleman in the other post mentioned, can you let me know? Either via this site or the comment form on www.thebirthrighttrilogy.comI can't begin to say how much I would appreciate this! After re-writing/editing/proofing as many times as I did I just know I'm skimming over some simple mistakes *rollseyes* and it's very frustrating when people tell me they've noticed some but not what/where. Not that it's a reader's job to do this but seriously I would appreciate it heaps J Because then I can correct and re-upload it.
I also received another 5 star review today! This time from a 19yr old male and I have to say I loved it *grin* His enthusiasm for my book had me dancing, all the more so because a 19yr old male would probably be one of the last people I'd expect to enjoy it. I guess it's small minded of me but I tend to assume that if it's written by a woman with female leads then guys won't be so inclined toward it. Finding out another guy really enjoyed it, just made my day *grin*. Here it is below - and excuse the spelling, as he himself says it's not his forte (nor apparently mine *lol*).
5.0 out of 5 stars A surprise, February 8, 2011By And then just cause it made me giggle
If you have bought a copy of The Arrival ( and by the way, I LOVE YOU) and you do notice any errors like the gentleman in the other post mentioned, can you let me know? Either via this site or the comment form on www.thebirthrighttrilogy.comI can't begin to say how much I would appreciate this! After re-writing/editing/proofing as many times as I did I just know I'm skimming over some simple mistakes *rollseyes* and it's very frustrating when people tell me they've noticed some but not what/where. Not that it's a reader's job to do this but seriously I would appreciate it heaps J Because then I can correct and re-upload it.
I also received another 5 star review today! This time from a 19yr old male and I have to say I loved it *grin* His enthusiasm for my book had me dancing, all the more so because a 19yr old male would probably be one of the last people I'd expect to enjoy it. I guess it's small minded of me but I tend to assume that if it's written by a woman with female leads then guys won't be so inclined toward it. Finding out another guy really enjoyed it, just made my day *grin*. Here it is below - and excuse the spelling, as he himself says it's not his forte (nor apparently mine *lol*).
5.0 out of 5 stars A surprise, February 8, 2011By And then just cause it made me giggle
February 8, 2011
Join the Crusade!
And I'm not even religious ;p
No this is a crusade to expand your blogging platform! Join on Rachel Writes and meet heaps of new friends : )
Go and join now!
No this is a crusade to expand your blogging platform! Join on Rachel Writes and meet heaps of new friends : )
Go and join now!
February 7, 2011
Maybe not so scary
I'm working through the first intimate scene for Cat and Alek (wasn't my idea! They got there all by themselves!) and it's, well it's making me all teary ;p It's so sweet! (and a tad raunchy ;p) I won't deny that trying to get the words right without looking too bodice ripper or erotic might be tricky. But this is the first draft so I may go all out and work it out in the first re-write (and NO ONE will be privy to the first draft..). It's nice when you start to get the hang of something you were worried about! Of course I still have to do it for the other characters too but all in time *grin*
Along with the post theme I learnt two important things today.
1. Sensei is both the singular and plural2. Amazons should never have an apostropheSo how did I learn that? Well someone responded to a thread I put on the UK Amazon asking for reviews with this.
M. Hepworth says: Honest review of the free sample: basic grammatical errors put me off from taking a risk on a new author. (First two examples I met: incorrect use of apostrophes. The plural of Amazon doesn't need an apostrophe, and the plural of Sensei is still Sensei). Sorry, you could be a genius at plot for all I know, but first impressions sell.
And that smarted. I didn't know both those were mistakes (though as I go over the Amazon one in my mind it clicks more) and I responded with a not so great answer.. which I did amend later..
Nicole MacDonald says: That's okay it's a fun read and not meant to be a literary masterpiece. Wouldn't be your thing. But thanks for pointing those out. I'll be sure to correct them.
The underline is the amended bit ; p For the record - I DESPISE being nice to people who are intentionally being snarky. I guess it's just me and my blogger mates (all you lovely peoples) who believe in manners.
Okay rant over… now off to fix those two mistakes and reload book *grin*
February 5, 2011
Fiction Fierce: Author Interview with Nicole MacDonald
Fiction Fierce: Author Interview with Nicole MacDonald: "You guys know me – head always stuck in a story – so my latest resolution to interview fellow Indie Authors shouldn't come as much of a surp..."
An interview with me by the author of 'The Demon Girl' . Seriously 'excited' doesn't begin to describe me right now!! Have a read : ) and if you've got a few moments spare I would SO APPRECIATE it if you can use the tweet/facebook etc buttons at the bottom of her page to let everyone know about this!
Adding it to my every growing list of 'OMG' moments : )
An interview with me by the author of 'The Demon Girl' . Seriously 'excited' doesn't begin to describe me right now!! Have a read : ) and if you've got a few moments spare I would SO APPRECIATE it if you can use the tweet/facebook etc buttons at the bottom of her page to let everyone know about this!
Adding it to my every growing list of 'OMG' moments : )
Inner monologue
What if you didn't have it? What if you spoke everything you thought?
When Glenn and I did our 'mini-break' in Auckland we caught a bus with a man who didn't have an inner monologue and it was fascinating to watch/listen to him. Now this man had obviously abused alcohol (and still was if the pauses and slurps were anything to go by) hence he'd lost the ability to keep it in. And literally everything he thought passed his lips!! From mumbling about the colour of a building that had changed to dissecting a female passenger who'd caught his eye, 'rich Asian lady, should hit her up for change' (which he did..) this man kept up a running commentary of everything he saw. More interesting was when he conversed with someone he recognized. Listening to the mix of conversation and then thoughts was incredible.
It made me realize that in some senses writers are very like this. Our inner monologue is frequently written down for the world to see.
More and more I find myself 'editing' thoughts and running over phrases while conversing with others i.e 'the regular courier ducks in, tossing a parcel on the desk and flees before the lifts close. Must be busy today'. I've gone from simply thinking without really being conscious of it to listening to most thoughts. It makes conversing with the different voices in my mind even more entertaining, which is why when I saw this man the other week I thought how incredible it'd be to listen to an author's inner monologue.
Which author would you want to listen to? I think I'd go for Michael Crichton (a little tricky now I know ;p) because I've always been so impressed with his writing. Philippa Gregory is another, her writing both intrigues and scares me. Ooo and maybe Diana Gabaldon.
Who would you like to listen in to, if you ever could?
When Glenn and I did our 'mini-break' in Auckland we caught a bus with a man who didn't have an inner monologue and it was fascinating to watch/listen to him. Now this man had obviously abused alcohol (and still was if the pauses and slurps were anything to go by) hence he'd lost the ability to keep it in. And literally everything he thought passed his lips!! From mumbling about the colour of a building that had changed to dissecting a female passenger who'd caught his eye, 'rich Asian lady, should hit her up for change' (which he did..) this man kept up a running commentary of everything he saw. More interesting was when he conversed with someone he recognized. Listening to the mix of conversation and then thoughts was incredible.
It made me realize that in some senses writers are very like this. Our inner monologue is frequently written down for the world to see.
More and more I find myself 'editing' thoughts and running over phrases while conversing with others i.e 'the regular courier ducks in, tossing a parcel on the desk and flees before the lifts close. Must be busy today'. I've gone from simply thinking without really being conscious of it to listening to most thoughts. It makes conversing with the different voices in my mind even more entertaining, which is why when I saw this man the other week I thought how incredible it'd be to listen to an author's inner monologue.
Which author would you want to listen to? I think I'd go for Michael Crichton (a little tricky now I know ;p) because I've always been so impressed with his writing. Philippa Gregory is another, her writing both intrigues and scares me. Ooo and maybe Diana Gabaldon.
Who would you like to listen in to, if you ever could?
February 4, 2011
Dissing Twilight
Nobody shoot!! I'm not advocating dissing Twilight, I'm questioning it.
Twilight as you all know (unless you've been living in a bunker in fear of Armageddon/Zombie attack) is a rather popular book. Phenomenally popular actually. And now that the initial glitzing and glamourising of it is over I'm seeing more and more opinions weighted against it.
With statements such as 'an appalling attempt at literature', 'I weep for literature',' I've read better fan fiction on Livejournal' being flung about you get the idea there are some rather hostile anit-twilighters out there!
Actually reading the 1 star reviews (research - naturally) had me in fits of giggles.
What I'm questioning is the number of people who describe it as badly written. I get that they hate the characters and heck I'd be one of the first to say that Bella annoyed the sh#t out of me and Edward would have been staked rather early on.
But then when I was a teen Buffy reigned supreme (and forever will in my opinion!! ;p) and the only vampire who was remotely hot was Angel (sorry to all the Spike lovers out there).
Back to the topic. Do you think it was badly written? I mean as much as the characters annoyed me I did get completely caught up in the story right down to the disappointedly quick finale (super vamp Bella really deserved more than 1/4 book… c'mon!). But at no point did I ever think 'gee this writing is appalling what's wrong with the editor?', and I have though it about books before. Now to emphasize - I'm not talking about the book's themes I'm talking about it's writing. And I'm genuinely curious and would love your thoughts.
Do you have a line from Twilight you think is abysmal and why? And here's my least favourite line - it has ruined the word 'irrevocably' for me.
' and third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him'
This would be due to the last 18 months where I have been trained that adverbs are EVIL (except in very small doses..). So two words in one line when neither were necessary *sighs and shakes head* really what is the world coming to? ;p
Twilight as you all know (unless you've been living in a bunker in fear of Armageddon/Zombie attack) is a rather popular book. Phenomenally popular actually. And now that the initial glitzing and glamourising of it is over I'm seeing more and more opinions weighted against it.
With statements such as 'an appalling attempt at literature', 'I weep for literature',' I've read better fan fiction on Livejournal' being flung about you get the idea there are some rather hostile anit-twilighters out there!
Actually reading the 1 star reviews (research - naturally) had me in fits of giggles.
What I'm questioning is the number of people who describe it as badly written. I get that they hate the characters and heck I'd be one of the first to say that Bella annoyed the sh#t out of me and Edward would have been staked rather early on.
But then when I was a teen Buffy reigned supreme (and forever will in my opinion!! ;p) and the only vampire who was remotely hot was Angel (sorry to all the Spike lovers out there).
Back to the topic. Do you think it was badly written? I mean as much as the characters annoyed me I did get completely caught up in the story right down to the disappointedly quick finale (super vamp Bella really deserved more than 1/4 book… c'mon!). But at no point did I ever think 'gee this writing is appalling what's wrong with the editor?', and I have though it about books before. Now to emphasize - I'm not talking about the book's themes I'm talking about it's writing. And I'm genuinely curious and would love your thoughts.
Do you have a line from Twilight you think is abysmal and why? And here's my least favourite line - it has ruined the word 'irrevocably' for me.
' and third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him'
This would be due to the last 18 months where I have been trained that adverbs are EVIL (except in very small doses..). So two words in one line when neither were necessary *sighs and shakes head* really what is the world coming to? ;p
February 3, 2011
Sex scenes
*gulp* Yes book two contains them. No not copious amounts because A. I hate reading heaps of them, they can get rather dreary and B. I don't know if I'd survive that many…. With a face as red as I have at the moment I might possibly burn down the house..It's kinda silly I know but these characters are my 'friends' and what they get up to in the bedroom, I feel, is entirely up to them and theirs! It really is times likes these when I have to go back over the 'character sheets' so to make them seem more like characters and not people I know *grin*.At the moment I'm thinking 4 scenes one per main character and that seems enough to me! Well that and I figure I can just make 'suggestions' of them disappearing for fun ;p
Oh who knows - I might enjoy them *hee*
Oh who knows - I might enjoy them *hee*
February 2, 2011
The wall-flowers..
This is another photo I found the other night. This was a paint we did for Te Papa's 10th anniversary - Te Papa is Wellington's Museum. Sian and I were painted 'into' the wall at the marae at the museum. It was probably the most bizarre paint I've done as I have to be honest you feel like a dork leaning against a wall going 'I'm invisible!' It was also the longest paint and took close to 5 hours (may have been longer... can't exactly remember). It was surprisingly hard on us, the models, because you really did have to stay still for most that time and for someone with naturally low blood pressure I had a few woozy moments *lol*. The best part of the day was when we were finally done and a concert was about to begin so people began to come in. Most looked amused and smiled at us then a couple came and stood close but the wife pointedly ignored us. Sian and I exchanged a glance and inwardly shrugged it off (no moving allowed ;p). The funny thing with bodypainting is that if anyone is going to have an issue with it, it's always women. Men are hilarious about it as they either cast sneaky sideway glances and blush like little boys when you catch them, or, they march up to you while maintaining STRONG eye contact and talk to you as though you are deaf... Why being semi-clothed makes me hard of hearing is completely beyond me *grin*
Anyway! The husband of the couple had given us an amused glance but the wife continued to ignore us. I just continued to observe her (she was directly in front of me - I couldn't turn my head) when I noticed her stiffen through the shoulders. Weird, I thought. Then she did that slow head turn, like in a horror movie when the victim clicks that there's something beside her and she met my eyes.
Then shrieked!
The whole room erupted into laughter (not Siany and me, we kept our game faces on!!) as everyone realised she hadn't been disapproving, she just hadn't realised she was standing right next to a painted person. It certainly made the long strenuous paint feel worthwhile *grin*
So it's Sian, Afassa (no idea how to spell that - sorry!) and me. Note to self - never stand next to the tinsy 45kg female when getting body-painted ;p. This paint was done by the BodyFX team in Wellington. And as mentioned this was for Te Papa's 10th Anniversary so a few years ago : ) And obviously this isn't quite the right 'angle' to view us on. But I don't have a front view picture.
Anyway! The husband of the couple had given us an amused glance but the wife continued to ignore us. I just continued to observe her (she was directly in front of me - I couldn't turn my head) when I noticed her stiffen through the shoulders. Weird, I thought. Then she did that slow head turn, like in a horror movie when the victim clicks that there's something beside her and she met my eyes.
Then shrieked!
The whole room erupted into laughter (not Siany and me, we kept our game faces on!!) as everyone realised she hadn't been disapproving, she just hadn't realised she was standing right next to a painted person. It certainly made the long strenuous paint feel worthwhile *grin*
So it's Sian, Afassa (no idea how to spell that - sorry!) and me. Note to self - never stand next to the tinsy 45kg female when getting body-painted ;p. This paint was done by the BodyFX team in Wellington. And as mentioned this was for Te Papa's 10th Anniversary so a few years ago : ) And obviously this isn't quite the right 'angle' to view us on. But I don't have a front view picture.
