Like getting a makeover

Hopefully, you found your way here easily enough today. Things have changed a bit, as you can see. ๐Ÿ™‚ My website and blog went to the salon rather frumpy and out of date and came back sleek and gorgeous. Oh if only it were that easy to do the same for me! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Reminds me of another rather frumpy person who today, one week after she became a YouTube sensation, is a global star. Not that my website — or I — can claim to be mega-stars.

The web is abuzz, of course, with many many articles about Susan Boyle. About her appearance, our expectations, the hope and triumph, etc. I won't bother adding links because unless you've been in a cave, you've seen this stuff out there. I do like the articles that take us to task as a society, however, for not expecting this kind of pure beauty in such a rather ordinary, even — alas — mockable, appearance.

With that in mind, I offer this song of Susan's that is the only recorded song she's ever done. Made for a charity CD, of which only 1000 copies were made. Click the link, close your eyes, and tell me this isn't the voice of a sultry chanteuse. Gorgeous, gorgeous. I will most definitely be buying this woman's first album when it comes out.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8r9lRJ6yHY]

Sometimes, getting a makeover is about perception. In Susan's case, it was the judges, the audience, and now the world who got the makeover.

And now back to MY makeover. Well, my site makeover. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Leave a comment to win a copy of one of my absolute favorite makeover romances of all time: Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Book music

I'm hitting the video heavy on the blog lately since I'm finishing revisions. ๐Ÿ™‚ No time for much else!

But I think I've mentioned that I always listen to specific music for different books. I don't necessarily pick it; it picks me. And I've discovered that the next book is an Amy Winehouse book. Don't know why, but that's the music that moves me most when I'm working on it.

I hope I can write with half as much emotion as she conveys in this version of Love is a Losing Game. What do you think? Is she talented or what? I hope she gets it together. It's a shame to see someone squander such immense gifts with self-destructive behavior.

Do you have favorite writing music? Or, if you can't write with music playing, do you have something you like to listen to before or after writing in order to get you in the right frame of mind?

Oops

It's no longer Friday, is it? Lots of busyness here, including some revisions and a new proposal.

How did you like the Oscars? Wasn't Hugh just to die for? Oh that man is gorgeous! And he can sing and dance. Gracious. I haven't watched the Oscars in years — but, well, it was Hugh. And he didn't disappoint.

Here's Hugh preparing for the big night. OMG, look at those ARMS! Big, big sigh. ๐Ÿ™‚

Fun Heroines

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? ๐Ÿ™‚

Retro Friday

Remember this guy? I'm admitting my age here, but I remember him on General Hospital (Dr. Noah Drake). And I saw him in concert. Yeah, I really did.

I still enjoy the song, though I'm thinking that Jessie's girl isn't all that hot after all. Rick could do better. ๐Ÿ™‚

I didn't have MTV when it premiered (1981 for you youngsters), but I got it a couple of years later when my family moved to town. My brother and I would stay up all night watching videos. There were so many cheesy ones, now that I think back on it, but you know I didn't think so then. They were mini-stories, and I just ate them up.

What songs do you remember from your teenage years? Any favorite videos you can remember?