Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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Anne wrote: "It's the same for me, my guilty pleasures are reading. For many years I "comforted" myself by pretending I at least became better in English since I usually buy and read English books unless the author is Norwegian (much cheaper), but I guess that kind of justification only go so far."The first time I became aware that I didn't mention certain books I read to anybody and that, yes, they qualified as "guilty pleasure" was when I read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. There was a scene when Claire explaines that she learned to read romance novels for comfort from a doctor-colleague. They gave very similar reasons like you did, Anne. ;-)
I was very glad and relieved when I read that and happy to accept those reasons as legit. :-D
Calathea wrote: "Johanna wrote: "By the way, have any of you ever walked out of the movie theatre in the middle of the movie?"No, I haven't done this. Yet. I once left the opera in intermission. They had to subst..."
I have never walked out of anything, probably far too polite for that. The only legitime reason for leaving in the middle of a lecture would for me be as a protest, if the lecturer somehow went against all I believe in, and staying would be construed as agreeing. This has not happened yet, though.
Karen wrote: "Wider GR for m/m referrals is a very mixed bag, way too many flashing pictures, capital letters, and exclamation points for my taste...."YES! To this! I hate those stupid gifs. It makes everybody look like a jr high school student. I hope they are not considering the content they are reading but sometimes I really wonder.
Johanna wrote: "By the way, have any of you ever walked out of the movie theatre in the middle of the movie? I haven't. But once I wanted to. Not because the movie was bad, it wasn't. But because it was so damn scary. Anyway, it was a date, so I couldn't just leave even though I would have LOVED to. Who takes a girl to see the movie Pet Sematary on a first date? Jeez. ..."Mom and I walked out of the Frank Langella version of Dracula. I was about 13 or 14 and terrified by the creepiness of it all. I can sit through it now but I've always been a horror movie wimp. I thoroughly dislike horror. However, Frank Langella in that movie is sex on a stick. That was the reason Mom and I went in the first place.
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I do too, which is why I don't think any of the less of a reader who loves a book that confounds me with its schmoopy moopy stupidity.
Because I like stupid books too! I have my favorite stupid books. Stupid books can be inspirational as well as entertaining. There is nothing like reading a stupid book to get me energized. :-)
And I will not deny that I share choice passages from stupid books with the SO and with a few online friends. Privately. Not where anyone's feelings are going to be injured.
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I don't think being harsh is admirable. If I did, I'd review a lot more than I do. I think I have often, too often, reviewed out of exasperation and frustration, and that is not the reason to review.
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Oh same here! I absolutely love certain dumb books. There are dumb books that I've held onto since my teens. They have made every move with me, and will probably be on my bookshelf the day they come to clear out my belongings. :-)
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There's probably a lot of truth to that. And it probably has more to do with how busy and preoccupied we become later in life. I view stupid books with less patience and amusement now days. Time is limited, so I am more likely to simply click off and move to my NO folder.
I have several favorite authors who pretty much write brain candy. In other words, the story is fun, entertaining, but they are not going to engage the little gray cells much. But when I'm in the mood for that type of book, they are perfect.
Josh wrote: "I don't think being harsh is admirable. If I did, I'd review a lot more than I do. I think I have often too often reviewed out of exasperation and frustration, and that is not the reason to review. ..."I don't like harsh at all. I lived with it for 25 years growing up, and now I avoid it as much as possible. I'm no delicate flower, and if attacked I can blast back if need be (mostly I don't respond at all), but I don't engage.
The porn star dialogue book I'm reading now will get 3 stars and no comment, heh.
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..."
Of course.
Here's what I think. Because this is how the human animal operates. I think there are those who enjoy reviewing for whatever various reasons, and they do not want to believe that it could have any negative ramifications on their own writing careers. I completely get that.
But if you know anything at all about humans (which, granted, most writers don't) you know enough to know that they don't forget slights and hurts and injuries. We still remember cruel things said to us on the playground. We remember our rejections far more clearly than we remember our acceptances.
Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is not simply about good manners. It is also about wisdom and discretion and, yes, strategy.
And there are those who are smart enough to grasp that and there are those who will argue with their dying breath that blue is not blue.
Johanna wrote: "By the way, have any of you ever walked out of the movie theatre in the middle of the movie?"I walked out at the intermission at the show of a comic actor: it wasn't funny! I knew him from several short sketches and I found him good, but apparently to keep a whole show going was too much for him.
This reminds me of the feeling of elation I felt leaving each time earlier a terrible workshop at the university of Zürich. I was doing a postgraduate course. They hadn't recognize completely my Italian degree, so I had to take this extra workshop in ''Historical grammar of the Italian language'' (bleah!).
I had explained to the professor that I had to miss the last 15' of the two hours lessons, if not I would come home very late.
The elation must have been written on my face because once a photograph took a picture of me running out of the university to go and catch the train and took it to illustrate an article about Swiss universities! People who knew me recognized me. When I wrote to this well known magazine to ask at least for a copy of the nice pic, they never answered!
Josh wrote: "Karen wrote: "In general there's a tendency to want our likes to be appreciated by others, at least by others we have chosen to associate with (virtually or otherwise). So it makes me kind of not w..."As far as I have seen, the best writers know a lot about humans, how else do you write books that speak to our hearts?
Granted, there are many who don't as well, I am sure, but the good ones, like you, oh yes, you know the human heart very well.
Anne wrote: "I have never walked out of anything, probably far too polite for that. The only legitime reason for leaving in the middle of a lecture would for me be as a protest, if the lecturer somehow went against all I believe in, and staying would be construed as agreeing. This has not happened yet, though. . ..."I agree with you, Clathea and Anne. It's rude to walk out just because you're bored, and I wouldn't do it. (Except with prior warning and for good reasons, like Antonella!)
Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "I have never walked out of anything, probably far too polite for that. The only legitime reason for leaving in the middle of a lecture would for me be as a protest, if the lecturer som..."I have never walked out from a movie theater. I have this thing where I have to know what happens, even if I don’t care for the story. If it’s a book I don’t like, I will skip to the middle and then the end just so I know what happens. I do the same with DVD or streaming movies, I just have to know what happens… I have been in some awfully boring lectures and meetings, and again I don’t leave (I think that has to do with I don’t want anyone to get mad at me), though I do start watching the clock and made marks on my paper as each minute passes- but I don’t leave.
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I agree! A good writer does understand human nature. But one of the initial mistakes you see from so many beginning writers are characters who behave because the author needs them to behave a certain way, not because real people would behave that way.
That's what I'm thinking of.
Also even talented writers are not always insightful about human nature. That's not to say they can't tell a good story, but it's not necessarily a "real" story. And this is due to the fact that so many authors do not get out and about in the world, do not interact broadly with a range of people. Many -- maybe even most -- writers live in their own heads way too much.
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After all, I did put my "train wreck" book aside — at the point in the story where the MCs finally begin to have sex — not because of that, but because I began reading one of the guiltiest guilty pleasure books ever. Mega-angst and more sex per page than countable. Read in a breathless rush, and loved it!
There are some DNF books on my list. I tend to be better off making that choice. One book I reluctantly finished recently has become even more irritating with distance.
I haven't been watching many movies these days. A decade ago I'd often watch six videos or movies a week. When we do watch something I'm pretty sure in advance it's one I want to see. I find certain "arty" comedies very unfunny and opt out since my lack of enthusiasm disappoints family members who love them.
True story: I never saw the last ten or fifteen minutes of Cameron's Avatar. We were forced to "walk out" because some idiot who was carrying a gun in his pocket accidentally fired it in the theater and shot another viewer in the foot. The whole cineplex was evacuated. We were credited passes, but realized we didn't really care enough to sit through it again. : )
Oh, and the gun went off right when one of the on-screen characters picked up a gun. We thought it was part of the film at first.
Karen wrote: "Johanna wrote: "But the thing is that the more I read (and watch movies) the more I seem get impatient about that. Or maybe it's an aging thing? It definitely has to do with the fact that there is ..."Why would someone need to bring a gun to a movie?
Anne wrote: "Why would someone need to bring a gun to a movie? ..."It's hard to understand in the UK, where someone with a gun results in a major police incident. But my understanding is that in the US (or at least in some states?) carrying a gun is not uncommon. I must say I didn't think they usually carried them concealed, and that they're generally in holsters of some type rather than in pockets!
Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Why would someone need to bring a gun to a movie? ..."It's hard to understand in the UK, where someone with a gun results in a major police incident. But my understanding is that i..."
Carrying a loaded gun in one's pocket seems beyond idiotic and far into criminal behaviour. It would definitely create a major police incident here as well.
Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Why would someone need to bring a gun to a movie? ..."It's hard to understand in the UK, where someone with a gun results in a major police incident. "
Yes, that. Why would anyone on any given time need to bring a gun with them? Um.
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Ahem... this sounds a lot like Capture & Surrender By Voinov and Witt that I started reading last night when I couldn't sleep because of all the coughing. I enjoyed it hugely! (The book, not the coughing.) Now there is a series that has tons of sex in it, but is no means boring. (Did I just annul some things I wrote in my earlier post — damn.)
Karen wrote: "True story: I never saw the last ten or fifteen minutes of Cameron's Avatar. We were forced to "walk out" because some idiot who was carrying a gun in his pocket accidentally fired it in the theater and shot another viewer in the foot. The whole cineplex was evacuated. We were credited passes, but realized we didn't really care enough to sit through it again. : )
Oh, and the gun went off right when one of the on-screen characters picked up a gun. We thought it was part of the film at first."
OMG. I don't know what to say. That's... horrid.
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My God. What is it with you running and trains?! ;-) Have you always done that, dear? LOL.
Johanna wrote: "My God. What is it with you running and trains?! ;-) Have you always done that, dear? LOL."Once I was much worse. Now I usually take my time to go to the station.
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Once I was much worse. Now I usually take my time to go to the station."
Because I just had vivid flash backs of you running outside the train last summer. :-D
Josh interviews LB Gregg!http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/2013/1...
If you can't see his questions, highlight the blank areas with your mouse. The text appears to be white on white.
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And while paralyzed you sincerely hope that a miracle happens..."
I've wanted to, but I was with friends. I took the time to nap. And it bugged me that my friend kept trying to make sure I was awake to see whatever Star Wars movie we were watching. I was there for the second feature (we were at a drive-in where they showed two movies in a row.). And the second time I went with friends the movie was just too damn long and boring. I think it was Troy.
Going to see Troy, made me not want to go see Alexander for fear it would turn out to be the same. Ha. Now I love Alexander, the final cut edition, which is the longest of them all.
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In general there's a tendency to wan..."
I didn't get through the entire Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity just because of it's sheer size, but I loved the introduction and the chapter on transgender kids. Those kids, being as tough and open about who they were at those young ages, made me cry, and made me wish I could have been like that in kindergarten.
It's definitely not a light read!
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Well, now you've got us all curious, Josh. Which books do you consider stupid but love to pieces anyway? I know you'll never give us titles, but we all want to know. We promise not to tell anyone else!
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It's hard to understand in the UK, where someone with a gun results in a major police incident. But my understanding is that i..."
In Massachusetts apparently we have a concealed carry law, so you can get a permit to carry concealed here.
A lot of people in the states carry guns. Don't know about all the states, and I doubt most wouldn't carry to a theater, but some obviously do. And cops will carry guns when off duty. Sometimes it's required by their department, sometimes not, depends on where they live and the department they work for.
Jordan wrote: "Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Why would someone need to bring a gun to a movie? ..."It's hard to understand in the UK, where someone with a gun results in a major police incident. But my understandin..."
For some reason, you'd think we were still in the Old West in Montana at times.. I was taking my daughters to a birthday party once.. they lived in a remote area out in the woods, so I pulled into a driveway and got out to ask for directions...well, the lady pulled out her shotgun and 'locked and loaded' on me (my daughters were in the car), and her husband was in the doorway of the house pointing a rifle at me as well...
Needless to say, I got back in my car and took my chances looking for another house that had birthday balloons!!
My goodness! What did they fear from you?And to think I felt really nervous on the two occasions when I knew armed police/the army had me in their sights... Both because of the IRA, once in London when the police were stopping cars in the City of London, and once in Northern Ireland when I was driving near the border. Both decades ago, yet very clear in my memory.
Hj wrote: And to think I felt really nervous on the two occasions when I knew armed police/the army had me in their sights... Both because of the IRA, once in London when the police were stopping cars in the City of London, and once in Northern Ireland when I was driving near the border. Both decades ago, yet very clear in my memory. That happened to me also when we were visiting Northern Ireland decades ago because of the IRA, it’s the only time I have ever had a gun (let alone what looked like 6 machine guns) pointed at me. It does stay with you that’s for sure. But at least it was police\military and I was pretty sure they weren’t going to open fire on us, at least not before talking to us.
Yes, I agree. We were stopped at an army checkpoint, and I was talking to the soldier though my window when I looked over to my passenger and noticed another soldier in the ditch with his gun pointing at me! I knew there wouldn't be a problem but I still felt shaken - I'd hate to be in a situation like Mtsnow13, when the guns are pointed at you by strangers with who knows what intent.
Hj wrote: "My goodness! What did they fear from you?And to think I felt really nervous on the two occasions when I knew armed police/the army had me in their sights... Both because of the IRA, once in Lon..."
Well, we happen to live very close to the Canadian Border (the Yaak), and we are surrounded by dense forest, so we get many 'isolationist' (think The Montana-Freeman) and anarchist-type people that move up here, and just plain want to be left alone. I forget this at times, and am so used to being friendly and easy-going, that it took a shock like that to make me aware that just because everything is all pretty, and the people in town mostly approachable and friendly, that the remote areas can have 'not-so-friendlies'... :)
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http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/2013/1...
If you can't see his questions, highlight the blank areas with your mouse. The text appears to be whit..."
I got the most of the technical goofiness worked out, thank heavens!
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DeniseE wrote: "But at least it was police\military and I was pretty sure they weren’t going to open fire on us, at least not before talking to us."From all the incidents I hear, in the US this is not always the case...
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Gun carrying laws vary in the U.S. I kind of doubt this was legitimate, just stupid. The foot wound might have been a ricochet (scarier yet) and I think it hit one of the guy's friends. Not OK in any way. It made me wonder about public safety that's for sure. I kind of wish the theater would have been able to sue the guy for loss of income.
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http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/2013/1......"
Great interview and interesting comments. I enjoyed How I Met Your Father, the Smithfields and of course Romano and Albright. Looking forward to the new ones.
Josh wrote: "I don't think I've ever left a movie in a theater, but it was a wonderful day when I realized I was not obligated to watch every rental movie to its conclusion. Talk about freeing."Or reading a bad book to its end :).
Great interview :). Looking forward to both new books!
The Kick Start blog tour began today with an interview with David Bradley, here:http://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre...
KC wrote: "The Kick Start blog tour began today with an interview with David Bradley, here:http://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre..."
That was fun :)
KC wrote: "The Kick Start blog tour began today with an interview with David Bradley, here:http://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre..."
Ghnnnfuuuuuuuuu. Now I really want to read DG 5...
Tharayn wrote: "KC wrote: "The Kick Start blog tour began today with an interview with David Bradley, here:http://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre..."
Ghnnnf..."
David really comes alive on those few pages, doesn't he. I believe he is in for a disappointment, let's hope life has someone in store for him down the road. :)
Anne wrote: "Tharayn wrote: "KC wrote: "The Kick Start blog tour began today with an interview with David Bradley, here:http://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre......"
Although I like Will and Taylor together, I feel sorry for David. I like him as well and he and Will would be a great couple too (although I think that Taylor spices the relationship up. He is sometimes like a wild cat, you don't know what comes and goes through his mind, but afterwards it is a big mess, lol).
Anne wrote: "David really comes alive on those few pages, doesn't he. I believe he is in for a disappointment, let's hope life has someone in store for him down the road. :) "He does! I now feel like i know him better. I agree that he's in for a disappointment even though he did raise some...uncomfortably good points there. Though it is difficult to go by the what-ifs, isn't it, and even if it was an iffy set of circumstances that brought Will and Taylor together, it doesn't really mean what David thinks it means. Sometimes a little push in a certain direction is just a push in the right direction :-)
Tharayn wrote: "Although I like Will and Taylor together, I feel sorry for David. I like him as well and he and Will would be a great couple too (although I think that Taylor spices the relationshop up. He is sometimes like a wild cat, you don't know what comes and goes through his mind, but afterwards it is a big mess, lol)."Lol, yes, exactly :-)
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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No, I haven't done this. Yet. I once left the opera in intermission. They had to substitute the one I wanted to see due to illness of some of the lead singers and half the choir. The substitute, though, was not something I would have wanted to see but took a chance on. It turned out I didn't like the way it was staged at all...
The other thing is... I think I wrote somewhere here that I was caught in this boring lecture on Tuesday (it was one of several and the last of the day). I sat through it and tried to make the best of it. But... most of the other guest left in advance and several left during the lecture. That's something that doesn't sit well with me. Maybe I'm oldfashioned that way. Hm.