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This comment from Rachel on
my post of the other day:
This is a big issue in the Urban Fantasy genre too. I’ve started more than one series where the MC, despite being thirty-something with a job and developed asskicking abilities, has zero friends and no previous relationships. (Teacher of asskicking? No, conveniently dead just like other parental figures? What about cowor- no there too? Not even other independent psychic investigators? Okay, then. Friends? Okay, okay. Just asking.)
Rachel put her finger on something that drives me nuts in many movies/tv shows/books etc. The mighty arse-kicking protag who is the master of many martial arts but no longer studies any of them. They've had their training montage and now ...
Posted by Justine at 8:00, September 24th, 2012 under Ranting, Sport, Viewing, Whingeing, Writing process |
All my favourite fiction, whether novels or television, features strong relationships. I've started to think that for me the hallmark of good writing is, in fact, the strength of the relationships. So many books/movies/tv fail for me because the protag either doesn't have any relationships or because those relationships are constructed out of cardboard.
And, no, I'm not solely talking about the lerve and the shipping. I'm talking all relationships: with mother, father, siblings, uncles, aunts, children, nieces, nephews, cousins, colleagues, neighbours, teachers, coaches, and most especially, friends.
One of the things that attracted me to YA as a genre is that so much of it is about friendship and family relationships. It's why every time I read a YA book that ...
Posted by Justine at 8:17, September 18th, 2012 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
We've all seen A Star is Born, right?
Aspiring actress meets established alcoholic actor whose career is on the downward turn. He helps her get her break. They fall in love and get married. She gets more famous as he gets drunker and less famous. She tries to help him unalcoholify. ((Yes, that's a real word. Oh, hush.)) He fears that he is holding her back and goes for swim in the Pacific Ocean. A very long swim.
Moral: there can only be one! No marriage can support two actors or two writers or two artists or two anything that can lead to fame. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE FAMOUS ONE IN A RELATIONSHIP! Otherwise there will be long non-returning swims ...
Posted by Justine at 7:31, August 22nd, 2012 under Ironical (This is Writ), Ranting, Viewing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Me and Scott took the day off last week to go to the movies. I cannot remember the last time we did that. Sat down in an actual cinema with actual other people and watched a movie. It was a great audience. We mocked the Australian-Mining-Will-Save-the-Environment ad together. Then we laughed and cried and cheered our way through
The Sapphires.
The Sapphires restored my faith in movies. I was on the verge of sticking to TV and never bothering with movies again. The Sapphires pulled me back from that brink. I walked out of that cinema elated and happy and almost a week later the feeing hasn't worn off yet.
For those not in Australia, The Sapphires is a ...
Posted by Justine at 16:27, August 13th, 2012 under Praising, Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Yesterday I listed some of my favourite recent US TV shows. It got me wondering what your favourite shows are and why? Because I'm just about to finish the first season of Legend of Korra and will have to find something else to watch that's every bit as wonderful.
I only noticed that I watch completely different kinds of TV in Australia than I do in the US. Here in Australia I watch lots of non-fiction: Australian Story, Four Corners, pretty much all the cooking shows, lots of sport, Rockwiz. Stuff like that. My US shows as listed yesterday are mostly fiction, genius shows like The Wire and Deadwood.
So what are you watching wherever in the world you are? Yes, ...
Posted by Justine at 8:10, July 25th, 2012 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
But I would sell my soul for any one of my books to be turned into a Hollywood TV show.
US TV is in a golden age. How many shows are there on right now that I enjoy? Let me see: Legend of Korra, Scandal, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Revenge, Louis, Bunheads, Justified, Nurse Jackie, Community and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of. Do I think they are all perfect? As diverse as I would like them to be? Not hardly. But they are a million times better than any recent Hollywood movie. Frankly, even formulaic TV like Drop Dead Diva ((My secret vice or it would be if I kept it secret. What? I love Margaret ...
Posted by Justine at 8:57, July 24th, 2012 under New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Scott's books, Viewing |
So yesterday I came across
this tumblr, Underground New York Public Library. And, fellow readers, it is marvellous! Glory in the gazillions of photos of people reading books on the subway. Complete with the names of the books. It is a truly glorious portrait of New York City. Of what I love about that city.
I am sure if you read this blog you are like me: when you are on public transport you cannot stop yourself from trying to figure out what people are reading.
I have been known to accidentally on purpose drop things so I can bend down to pick them up and thus read the title of the book that's being held too low for me to ...
Posted by Justine at 8:25, July 19th, 2012 under New York City/USA, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Since a few of you expressed mild interest in the speech I gave at
Sirens in October last year I thought I would share it with you. The theme was monsters and my speech involved me showing many monstrous images. Yes, that's my disclaimer, I wrote this to be spoken to a real life audience with funny pictures and the funny may not work so well without the kind and appreciative live audience. Or something. *cough*
Here it is:
Monsters I Have Loved
Ideas = Brain Monkeys According to Maureen Johnson
Like every other writer ever I get asked “where do you get your ideas” a lot. Today I thought instead of answering that question in the ...
Posted by Justine at 7:02, May 31st, 2012 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Feminism, Ideas, Ironical (This is Writ), Listening, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing, Writing life, Writing process |
You're unlikely to get anything sensible out of me for awhile. This will be brief. First, thanks for all
the responses yesterday. That was truly fascinating.
Second, we recently finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist and Read or Die and LOVED them both with a fiery burning passion. Thanks everyone who recommended them. What should we watch next? And why do you recommend it?
Third, without googling how many have you heard of Joel Chandler Harris? And what do you know about him? And where are you from? (I suspect how old you are is pertinent also.)
Thank you!
If you're in NYC you can see me and Scott reading this Saturday:
Justine Larbalestier,
Bennett Madison,
Scott Westerfeld, &
Cecily von Ziegesar
Reading and ...
Posted by Justine at 15:21, April 7th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, New York City/USA, Viewing |
For those of you who've been asking ((And for me to gaze at longingly when I'm far from here.)) here's
more photos of the
garden.
First up here's one of our lovely
Eucalyptus ficifolia or flowering gum. They're incredibly common here in Sydney. I swear almost every street in Surry Hills is lined with ficifolia. I miss them like crazy when I'm in NYC. Hence the need to have some on the deck:
Isn't that adorable? Baby ficifolia reminds me of a puppy dog whose feet are way bigger than the rest of it. Only it's the leaves that are outsized compared to the currently spindly trunk and ...
Posted by Justine at 17:36, March 24th, 2010 under Garden, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
As some of you know Alexander McQueen committed suicide earlier this year. He was one of my
favourite living designers. I own a shirt, two jackets and a skirt of his. I have gotten a great deal of wear out of them and yet they still look new. They're gorgeous, exquisitely cut, not to mention comfortable. When I wear them I feel taller and stronger and more stylish. They make me happy.
It's hard to explain to people with zero interest in fashion why designers like McQueen have such loyal followers. Why his death made me cry. It's even harder to explain it to people who actively hate fashion. But I want to try.
Clothes like the ones Alexander McQueen made ...
Posted by Justine at 17:56, March 21st, 2010 under Fashion, Praising, Viewing |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Doret Canton loves sport as much as I do. In fact, I
interviewed her about that very subject right here on this blog and she said many smart and sensible things. (Except about American Football not being boring.) The reviews on
her blog are amongst my ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, February 15th, 2010 under Guest post, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
*********
Sarah Cross is the author of Dull Boy, a YA superhero novel. She
blogs intermittently, posts random videos on
tumblr, and is hiding in a unicorn-and-zombie-proof bunker until this whole mess is over.
Sarah says:
You may be wondering where Justine is.
And I am sorry to tell ...
Posted by Justine at 19:59, February 12th, 2010 under Excuses, Frippery, Guest post, Toilets, Unicorns, Viewing, Zombies, Zombies v Unicorns |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for the next week or so. Fortunately I've been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today we have Sarah Rees Brennan, who is quite mad, which is often quite an advantage for the writing of fine fiction, as you will discover if you read any of SRB's books. She was last here for
an interview where she revealed ...
Posted by Justine at 6:04, February 5th, 2010 under Feminism, Guest post, Ranting, Viewing |
The first thing that's making me laugh is that Scott is currently making me breakfast. A very happy breakfast:
The next thing is that last night Scott was told about
this gadget and now it is all he wants in the entire world:
The Dyson fan with NO BLADES! But how does it work? Because of AIR MULTIPLIER TECHNOLOGY.
Air multiplier technology. Hahahahaha.
This skit is making me laugh even harder. Via
the fabulous Snazzydee I was introduced to
The Armstrong & Miller Show. Here they are RAF airmen chatting up some fetching gels in Chav speak:
I'm sorry ...
Posted by Justine at 19:37, December 29th, 2009 under Frippery, Viewing |
Sarah Rees Brennan pointed me to
this article about Gone with the Wind by Elizabeth Meryment. It annoyed me. So prepare yourself for a rant. Basically Meryment argues that all criticism of
Gone with the Wind (book and film) over the last few decades has been dreadfully unfair, especially from feminists, and why can't we all just enjoy such a women-centric book with its array of fabulous strong female characters. Now, I happen to agree that Gone with the Wind features many wonderful strong women. However, that being true does not contradict any of the criticisms made of both book and film.
Why do people find it so hard to love something and accept that it's flawed?
Gone with ...
Posted by Justine at 12:50, December 1st, 2009 under Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Viewing |
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/Internetty Stuff, 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 |
