May 11, 2009 | Contests, Heroes, Movies |
This weekend, I took a mini-break from the deadline and went to a movie with my hubby. We both wanted to see Star Trek. I remember the original series, in reruns of course, when I was a kid. It came on late at night, and I just loved it. Then came TNG. That was also a great series, and I'll just bet the producers thought that Will Ryker was going to be their Kirk equivalent (handsome, tall, alpha) instead of Picard. And yet it was Picard that often got the sexy storyline and the girl.
Fast forward (or backward, LOL, if you're serious about your canon) to the new Star Trek movie. Without giving away spoilers, I just have to say that while Kirk is indeed the womanizing sexy guy he always was, the show-stopping majorly sexy guy upon whom I now have a major crush: Spock. OMG, Spock. Who the heck knew?
It's not because the actor, Zachary Quinto, is all that. (He is good looking, yes, but it's not that.) It's the emotion he puts into Spock. And the fight with that emotion. Spock is not the unfeeling intellect we've known and loved. He's still the supreme logical guy — and yet he's fighting with himself, warring with his emotions, and it's the most incredibly sexy thing imaginable.
There is so much more, and I just don't want to say because if you haven't seen it then I don't want to ruin it. But oh my. Kirk is over the top alpha, as always, but it's Spock's tormented alpha that strikes a chord for me and reminds me so much of why I love Harlequin Presents.
Presents heroes are always Captain Kirk in many ways. They are large and in charge. They take a backseat to no one. But they are also at war with themselves once they've met the heroine (if not before). They are brave, strong men trying really damn hard not to show or feel emotion. They battle like hell to keep a lid on it. But when they lose? When they cave in to the heroine and admit they're in love? I am so weak at the knees by then.
I'm writing a hero now who is battling emotion. He's battling some dark stuff, and yet he won't be able to keep it in ultimately. The heroine will know that while he's strong and capable of battling the world, he can't battle her. She is the one who gets inside, who is able to help him accept that emotion is fine and good and not at all contrary to strength and power. Ooooh, shiver, I love this kind of stuff.
And I totally love Spock. Can't wait for the sequel!
Have you seen Star Trek? What did you think? Are you crazy for Spock? Or does Kirk's swaggering alpha do it for you? (Don't get me wrong, I love a swaggering alpha too! And Kirk is also tortured, but his torment isn't as bad as Spock's.)
I'm so sure that Spock is a tortured Harlequin Presents type hero that I'm giving away a copy of my book today to one lucky commenter. See if Alejandro de Ramirez isn't holding something in and fighting it with all his might! (Be aware you will have to wait about a month or so before I get copies, but soon as I do, I'll send it over!)
Feb 16, 2009 | Movies, Video |
Last night, I wanted to watch Romancing the Stone. I haven't seen it in years, so I was good and ready to watch it again. Plus, the hubby has a movie screen and I'd never seen RTS at the movies.
OMG, was it fun. And I realized something while watching it, something that's obvious but that I'd forgotten because I hadn't seen it in so long. The heroines save themselves. First, when Joan Wilder is typing her masterpiece in the beginning, her heroine knifes the bad guy before the hero ever shows up.
And then, though Jack saves Joan from Zolo when they first meet, Joan is quite capable of saving herself and does so in the movie's climactic scene when Zolo is trying to kill her. RTS was released in 1984, so kick ass heroines aren't just a current fad.
Seems as if Hollywood is planning a remake, too. It has the potential to be good — but only if they don't go crazy with the special effects and spend too much time concentrating on those to the detriment of characterization.
Here's the original movie trailer. If you're a fan, what's your favorite scene? (I'm torn between her finishing the book in the beginning and “Joan Wilder? The Joan Wilder? I read your books!”) If you've never seen it, what are you waiting for? 🙂
Oct 2, 2008 | General, Movies, Television |
Here is Hubby's new media room. I was a bit wary about black on the ceiling. Okay, seriously wary. But he insisted that a theater needed a dark ceiling to absorb light (this is also why the screen wall is black). And then of course there was the complimentary color because no way is the whole room going to be black.
Enter Eddie from Sherwin Williams, who definitely saved the day with his recommendation of “Red Bay.”
I love it. I think it turned out wonderfully. We still have decorating to do, and there's a pool table and bar in the future, but watching television in here is awesome. The sound is amazing, the colors really make it seem like a theater, and the popcorn machine is fun.
So, after 22 years of moving around in the military, the man finally has his cave. He deserves it. 🙂 But, uh, honey, can I have the girls over for a chick flick…?
Oct 1, 2008 | Inspiration, Movies, Writing |
I've wanted to see The Rookie for a long time — six years, in fact, since it came out in 2002. Dennis Quaid plays Jim Morris, the real life guy who tried out for major league baseball at the age of 35, long after he should have been through and long after he'd bombed out in baseball in his 20s due to injuries. But the guy threw a mean fastball as he got older; in fact, it was even better than when he was younger. And the high school baseball team he coached made a bet with him:
In 1999, Coach Morris made a fateful bet with his perpetually losing team. If they won the district championship, Morris — who threw a 98 mph fastball — would try out for the majors. The team went from worst to first, and Jim, living up to his end of the bargain, threw caution to the wind and was on the road to becoming the oldest rookie in the major leagues.
I love stories like this, because that's what writing is about too. Not giving up. We don't have to contend with aging bodies making our dreams physically impossible. We have only to contend with the doubt demons in our heads, the rotten contest scores, the rejections from our dream agent, or the editor who loved our concept but hated the execution. It's tough and it can be brutal.
But you have to keep trying. That's why I love movies like this. Because they remind me that someone had a dream and suffered to make it happen. That someone took all the hard knocks and managed to make it anyway.
What are your favorite inspirational movies? Do you like baseball movies? I don't care for the actual sport, but I love baseball movies. (Bull Durham is my all time FAVORITE baseball movie — Kevin Costner and the “long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last for three days” speech — how can you go wrong?)
