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From various sources, I see that a few people are a little freaked when the tips Scott and me have been sharing don't work for you. Please to relax. No writing tip works for everyone. And even if it does work for you now, it might not always. For instance, I no longer use
square brackets though once I found them extremely useful. My last novel had no
zero draft. Some novels I write without paying attention to
daily word counts, some novels I do. I've not used a
time line for most of my books. I've never
dialogue spined an entire novel.
I recently learned that in certain fandoms OTP stands for One True Pairing. ...
Posted by Justine at 21:57, November 9th, 2009 under Viewing, Writing process |
Certain things ((Like the people who responded to
Rihanna's moving interview about domestic violence by talking about her forehead being too big. WTF? 1) Her forehead is gorgeous 2) Way to attempt to change the subject. Talking about domestic violence makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? Poor baby.)) lately ((I'm not going to link to any of the horrific events that have taken place over the last few days. Too upsetting.)) have been making me just a tiny bit tetchy and upset so I thought I would work out my feelings by watching Michelle Rodriguez as Diana Guzman in
Girlfight.
I love this movie. Saw it first when it came out in 2000. Loved it even more on this ...
Posted by Justine at 20:22, November 7th, 2009 under State of the World, Viewing |
Today's
NaNoWriMo tip comes from Scott.
Go check it out.
Last night we watched Bong Joon-ho's
The Host again, which is probably my favourite giant monster movie ever. If you haven't seen it do so immediately! It more than stood up to a second viewing. We then watched the Making of The Host documentary, which was way better than those things normally are. For starters, they barely talked to the actors at all---always a very good sign. Pretty much every aspect of film making was covered: from the initial idea to the storyboards to sound design. Q: How did they create the monster's voice? A: Painstakingly.
A lot of time was spent on the logistics of filming on ...
Posted by Justine at 14:18, November 1st, 2009 under Viewing, Writing life |
Yesterday I shared the US trailer for Liar, today it's time for the Australian Liar trailer:
Whatcha reckon? It's difficult for me to say seeing as how that's my words and my voice, and me and Scott shot some of the footage. I can say that I think the team at
Allen & Unwin did an awesome job editing it all together. They've managed to make me sound smarter and more coherent than I actually am. Thank you.
Oh, and good news for those of you in Australia and New Zealand. I've been told that Liar's official release day is 28 September but it will probably start ...
Posted by Justine at 1:53, September 17th, 2009 under Liar, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Just found out that my US publisher,
Bloomsbury, together with
BookSpots has put together a trailer for Liar:
Pretty good, eh? It kind of reminds me of late 1950s/early 1960s film credits. Feel free to share the link far and wide.
Is it just me or is this the year when book trailers are everywhere? My favourites so far are
Scott's,
Libba's,
Robin's and
Diana's. I also love
Lauren's but it's not live yet. Keep your eyes peeled. ((Or maybe don't. Eyes peeled sounds so painful.))
What do you think about the whole book trailer thing?rty od
Posted by Justine at 0:15, September 16th, 2009 under Liar, Viewing |
Because I have been talking about my love of Avatar quite a bit lately people have been asking me if I'm excited about the forthcoming live action version.
I am not.
One of the many things I adore about Avatar is how incredibly rich and complex the world of Avatar is. This is largely because it was based on various Asian cultures. None of the characters in Avatar are white.
Here's what the show's creators have to say about it in an
interview from 2005:
1. How did you come up with the Avatar?
We came up for the concept for "Avatar" 3 years ago. Nickelodeon wanted to make a "legends & lore" type of show with a kid hero. That’s a genre we ...
Posted by Justine at 14:54, July 20th, 2009 under Ranting, Viewing |
Diana Peterfreund has a request:
Um, can someone help me with an anime rec? I watched one episode a long time ago and I can't remember what it was called but it was recommended to me.
It starts with a girl falling through the sky. then there are all these kids at a school --- they're angels, with little wings and halos. And they are cleaning up in a library that has what looks like a giant cocoon in it. And then you see inside the cocoon and the girl who was falling is inside of it.
Anyone know what series she's talking about?
And thanks everyone for all the
amazing anime recs. I can't wait to start watching. I'm particularly excited ...
Posted by Justine at 11:54, July 20th, 2009 under Bloggery, Praising, Viewing |
This year my favourite show is
Avatar . Scott and me watched all three seasons in a greedy one-week rush. Loved it, loved it, loved it. If you haven't seen it you really really should.
Ever since I've been wanting to watch something that hits the same spot. Thus far without a lot of success. Miyazake's films, which I adore, have some of the same feel, but I'm in the mood for a series, not a standalone movies. I want interesting world building, plots that make sense, strong female characters.
The last is particularly important to me. We've been watching
Death Note and while there's a lot I like about it, the main female character, Misa Amane, is absolutely ...
Posted by Justine at 13:43, July 18th, 2009 under Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:59, June 13th, 2009 under Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 15:35, May 5th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Listening, Research, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 2:02, May 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Listening, New York City/USA, Research, Viewing |
I was actually looking for "Brush Off Up Your Shakespeare" cause it's brilliant plus it's clearly inspired by
Damon Runyon who published many of his best stories in the 1930s and is thus within the period of my next novel, which makes it vaguely research-ish. Not to mention Runyon's stories are almost all set in NYC. A highly imaginary NYC, I grant you, but still.
(Er, for those who don't know my next novel is set in NYC in the 1930s. I'm only reading and watching and listening to 1930s stuff until the novel is written. I'm being extremely strict about it except for sometimes my interpretation of "1930s" gets a teeny tiny bit elastic.)
Sadly, I could not find ...
Posted by Justine at 0:45, April 29th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 8:48, April 26th, 2009 under Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 8:13, April 20th, 2009 under Reading, Viewing |
We've worked our way through the first season of Mad Men and I didn't enjoy it. I can see that it's well written and acted. The costumes and sets are remarkable. It has a very shiny kind of verisimilitude. I can see why it wins awards. But it leaves me cold.
Actually, worse than that---it make me uncomfortable and unhappy. I watch with pursed lips and my arms crossed tight.
I don't feel like they're exploring the sexism and racism of the period I feel that they're skirting a line towards reproducing it. Why are there no black characters? The black cleaner or lift operator could easily have been major characters. Instead they're rarely seen and less often heard. There are many ...
Posted by Justine at 0:50, March 23rd, 2009 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 15:43, February 22nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Ranting, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 7:15, February 19th, 2009 under Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 2:18, February 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Praising, Science, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 23:12, January 20th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 28th, 2008 under Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 11:01, November 29th, 2008 under Love is Hell, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 13:32, October 4th, 2008 under Praising, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 14:08, October 3rd, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 12th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 3:11, September 3rd, 2008 under State of the World, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 3:49, August 7th, 2008 under Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:56, August 6th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, July 27th, 2008 under Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 11:50, July 18th, 2008 under Praising, Reading, Viewing |
You know the homesickeness has gotten silly when you watch this lovely video what's been doing the rounds and making everyone smile and you burst into tears at the brief shot of Sydney . . .
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from
Matthew Harding on
Vimeo.
Posted by Justine at 20:18, July 7th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 1:43, July 5th, 2008 under Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:43, June 27th, 2008 under Viewing |
Seriously, I'm not sure I want to watch tellie any more now that
The Wire's gone. What's the point?
Posted by Justine at 1:50, March 15th, 2008 under Viewing, Whingeing |
In my new I-will-go-to-shows phase I has already been to three shows this year. Three! Manon Lescaut, South Pacific, and last night
Passing Strange. I know none of you recommended that one but I was taking Emily's advice that it's best to see a show that's still fresh and whose cast isn't jaded and cranky.
Passing Strange was definitely that show. I loved it.
Some brilliant music, some fabulous sendups of proper Broadway show tunes and dancing. The acting was wonderful and the writing sharp as. But what I loved most about Passing Strange was that I recognised so many of the characters. I don't think I've ever seen a musical about people so familiar to me. Twas eerie.
What kind ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, March 14th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Viewing |
I went and saw
South Pacific this week with the fabulous Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner. My head's been stuffed full of those songs ever since. It's definitely one of my favouritest musicals. I'd only seen the movie before and, well, "good" is not a word you can use to describe it. But the stage production at Lincoln Centre is wondrously good. I'd go see it again in a heartbeat.
I've seen so few musicals live. Kiss Me Kate is, I think, the only other one I've seen as an adult. Loved it! My resolution for this year is to see many, many more. I'm dying to see
Passing Strange. And I'm convinced that getting to see good productions ...
Posted by Justine at 12:41, March 7th, 2008 under Listening, New York City/USA, Viewing |
A friend of mine, Nick Stathopoulos, is a fabulous artist. So fabulous that two of his portraits have made the finals of two of the most prestigious art awards in Australia.
The
Archibald, which really is THE most prestigie:
David Stratton, a well-known film critic back home
Getting into the Archibald is the Holy Grail of portrait painting back home. More, actually, because it's the most famous art prize we have. Gets covered by all the media at home. Is very big deal. There's even a special packers's prize given by the people who unpack all the entries.
And the
Doug Moran:
Shaun Tan
While they're both brilliant, my fave is definitely the portrait of Shaun Tan. I ...
Posted by Justine at 20:51, February 28th, 2008 under Praising, Viewing |
The wonderful Kathleen T. Horning of
Worth The Trip ((Oh, and yeah, she's a
mover-and-shaker librarian in her spare time.)) sent me this fantastic art by Madison Hartup:
You can check out Madison's other work over at
DeviantArt.
And my apolgoies for posting this to
Maureen who's a little bit zombied out right now.
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 28th, 2008 under Viewing, Zombies |
Cause Anne Hathaway has on the WORST dress ever.
I promise I will stop being shallow some time in the future.
Posted by Justine at 20:53, February 24th, 2008 under Fashion, Viewing |
Imitation of Life by Fanny Hurst was published to great success in 1933, made into a film in 1934, and then again in 1959. All three are a fascinating window on race in the USA. Fascinating and deeply depressing.
The movies are kind of an
obsession of mine. Particularly the contrast between them. So much changed in those intervening 25 years, and so very little. David Kehr in today's New York Times
describes the films thus:
Douglas Sirk’s 1959 "Imitation of Life" is among the most closely analyzed films in the Hollywood canon, a Lana Turner soap opera turned into an exercise in metaphysical formalism by Sirk’s finely textured and densely layered images. Less well known ...
Posted by Justine at 11:47, February 5th, 2008 under New York City/USA, State of the World, Viewing |
Thanks to everyone for
all the photos. You are all the bestest and most wondrous people EVER! As Jeff Fenech would say, "I love youse all!"
It was kind of weird to see how many photos there are of me and Scott I never knew existed. Eerie even . . .
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologise to my sister,
Niki Bern, as well as my good friend,
Cat Sparks. I'm sorry I'm always so recalcitrant about having my photo taken. You were both right that some day I would be happy you both insist on documenting everything.
That said, I now no longer need to have my photo taken ever again. Hallelujah! I shall keep ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, January 31st, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing |
Me and Scott did not have a proper wedding on account of eloping but I'd like to think that if we had done the full-blown thing we'd've got our shit together to pull off the now traditional surprise wedding dance a la:
or
But I suspect not. I'd settle for attending a wedding where the couple pulled off something like it. How very fabulous.
I never get tired of these vids. I love youtube.
Posted by Justine at 10:58, January 27th, 2008 under Frippery, Viewing |
The death of Heath Ledger got me thinking about all my favourite teen movies seeing as how he was in one of my faves: Ten Things I Hate About You. And because thinking about fabby teen movies is more fun than thinking about talented people dying. I love 'em---almost as much as I love YA.
Here are my off-the-top-of-my-head favourites:
Bend It Like Beckham
Better Off Dead
Bring It On
Clueless
Dirty Dancing
Drumline
East of Eden
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Flirting
Ginger Snaps
Gregory's Girl
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
Looking For Alibrandi
The Lost Boys (added because of reminders in the comments)
Mean Girls
Rebel Without A Cause
Saved
Say Anything
She's All That (mostly for the dance sequence at the end)
The Sure Thing
Ten Things I Hate About You
The Warriors
The Year My Voice Broke
You ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, January 25th, 2008 under Praising, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
I will confess that I was nervous about going to
High Voltage ConFusion. There were several reasons for this:
I'm afraid of cold places. And Detroit in winter is COLD. ((How cold? Minus a million cold! That's how cold. So cold that I'm back in NYC and it's freezing and it seems warm in comparison.))
I'd never been a guest of honour before and was worried I'd be crappy at it.
I was aware that most of the people at the con would not have heard of me or Scott and was worried that they would feel dudded of a proper author guest of honour what wrote adult sf and fantasy.
I need not have had any concerns at all. I was right ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, January 24th, 2008 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport, Travelling, Vainglory, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:16, January 2nd, 2008 under Best of Blog, Reading, Scott's books, Viewing, Writing process |
This vid exactly expresses my current feelings. Be warned that it involves intemperate language and violence:
Do not ask me how many times Microsoft Word has crashed on me today. Let's just say I better not run into Bill Gates anytime soon.
The first person who tells me I can switch stupid Mr Clippy off gets punched. He is switched off. But when Word crashes it magically gets switched on again. Have I mentioned that I HATE Microsoft Word?
Oh and the first person who tells me to switch to
Scrivener gets yelled at. I have switched, but I'm doing final rewrites, and have to keep my doc in smelly ...
Posted by Justine at 11:29, December 17th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ranting, Viewing, Whingeing |
Cedarlibrarian, a major Harry Potter fan,
doesn't care about spoilers. Her arguments are smart and convincing.
And yet.
I'm really not a very evolved consumer of texts cause spoilers bug the crap out of me. I want my first experience of any narrative---be it book, manga, graphic novel, TV show, movie, play, whatever, to be untrammelled by knowing stuff about it. I don't read reviews unless there of something I've already read/seen or it's something I don't care about.
Frankly, I'd almost prefer not to know what genre it is.
I don't want to know if people liked it or not. All the spoilery grumbling about the latest series of TV shows I haven't seen yet drives me spare. ((And I almost ...
Posted by Justine at 22:51, October 21st, 2007 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing |
Libba Bray ((and since I'm mentioning Libba I should also mention that
Maureen Johnson is not the only one to have already read The Sweet Far Thing. That's right! Me too. It is deeply awesome. The best of the trilogy.)) is the best friend a girl could have. Look what she done gived me:
I screamed.
Do you notice the choking hazard warning? And that the evil uni***n is call "Destructicorn"?
Happy sigh.
Have any of you seen High School Musical? I think it may be the most conflict-free movie I've ever watched. Quite astonishing. I admit I was a tad disappointed by the choreography. The dance sequences were much better in She's the Man. Also how ...
Posted by Justine at 13:45, September 15th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Sport, Unicorns, Viewing |
A warning: this is one of those stumbly thinking out loud posts.
I just read a dead interesting essay by
Jim Huang reflecting on twenty years of selling books. Most of his comments have to do with mystery books but a lot of it applies to other genres. I've been thinking about this comment:
When I think about the center of gravity of the mystery genre, I still believe that it lies in series. Seventy percent of the titles on the bestsellers lists of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association in 2007 year to date are part of a series. Seventy percent of these series titles belong to long-running series of five or more books. Sales in IMBA member stores ...
Posted by Justine at 11:45, September 11th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
According to Scott these two didn't know each other---they were just grouped together by photographers:
Photo by Scott.
Posted by Justine at 19:02, September 2nd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Viewing |
The train trip was fun. Biggest difference between travelling by air in the US of A and travelling by train is that the staff are happy and relaxed and like to talk to you. We heard all sorts of stories about train life (includuing gruesome stuff about what happens when someone throws themself under one).
Although the cabins are kind of on the squalorous side---especially compared to first class sleepers in Europe---it was fun hanging with Holly and Theo and Cassie and Maureen while kudzu covered forests zipped by. We dissected the YA publishing world, described the plots of our next five books, and planned collaborations that will never ever happen but would be amazing if they did. I could live ...
Posted by Justine at 22:01, August 30th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing |
