Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking

Social Media Venn Diagram from DespairWesr

From the good folks at DespairWear comes an appropriate shirt for those caught up in Social Networking media. Here's what they say about this design:

A gorgeous, 8-color masterpiece which captures ever so brilliantly the three behavioral disorders propelling the continued phenomenal growth of today’s most widely-trafficked social media sites. And at the intersection of the dysfunctional forces of Narcissism, ADHD, and Stalking resides today’s fastest growing social media experiment of all—Twitter.

So glad that I'm only on Facebook now and therefore only the narcissism and stalking are issues to be addressed. Those on Twitter, which I gave up recently, have ADHD thrown into the mix as well. Poor folks.

LOL!!! What's your behavioral disorder?

~robin

United Breaks Guitars

These songs are great and so is the story behind them. Here it is in the words of the songwriter/performer:

In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didnt deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise.

Now sit back and enjoy the videos.

LOL!!! Love, love, love it.
~robin

9th season competitors on Dancing with the Stars

DWTS has announced its "stars" for the upcoming new season. Are you ready?

• Tom DeLay: Former House Majority Leader known as “The Hammer”
• Donny Osmond: Singer, brother of DWTS Season 5 contestant Marie Osmond, and choreographer of his own freestyle moves in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “White & Nerdy” video
• Macy Gray: Baby-voiced singer and performer on DWTS Season 4 (who famously commented on Apolo Anton Ohno’s “huge bulge” to reporters)
• Kelly Osbourne: Reality star/”singer”
• Debi Mazar: Actress (Entourage) and friend of Madonna
• Mya: Singer best known for the “Lady Marmalade” cover also featuring DWTS Season 8 contestant Lil’ Kim and appearing in the film Chicago
• Melissa Joan Hart: actress (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clarissa Explains it All, Drive Me Crazy) and candy store owner
• Michael Irvin: NFL Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboys teammate of DWTS Season 3 winner Emmitt Smith
• Ashley Hamilton: Comedian/actor best known for being the son of DWTS Season 2 contestant George Hamilton and the ex-husband of Shannen Doherty
• Aaron Carter: Singer and brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter
• Kathy Ireland: Model/entrepreneur featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for 13 consecutive years
• Natalie Coughlin: U.S. swimmer with 11 Olympic medals, became the first female athlete to win six medals in a single Games at Beijing
• Louie Vito: Pro snowboarder
• Chuck Liddell: UFC Hall of Fame fighter known as The Iceman
• Mark Dacascos: Actor and martial artist best known as the Chairman of Iron Chef America’s Kitchen Stadium
• Joanna Krupa: Swimsuit model most recently partnered with Terrell Owens on ABC’s The Superstars

You can follow the link to the ABC web page to see more about the stars. Sixteen in all. And the show will be here before we know it. September 21st is barely a month away. Yikes!
~robin

Julie & Julia

I'm really looking forward to seeing Julie & Julia, and the following review from Leigh DeVore at Charismamag.com makes me want to see it even more.

Columbia Pictures | Starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina | Rated PG-13

I've been to a lot of movies, but I experienced something new when I sat down to watch Julie & Julia. A good 30 minutes or more into watching the film, I realized I'd been smiling the entire time—and I didn't stop. Sure, this isn't a rip-roaring comedy, but Julia Child's personality, her (lemon) zest and enthusiasm for life made me grin like a Cheshire cat.

Julie & Julia is based on two true stories. Julia Child and Julie Powell are separated by decades, but their lives become intertwined with a common love for food and cooking.

The film briefly chronicles Julia's life before she becomes the person we know: the chef, cookbook author and television personality. Her story unfolds as she and husband Paul (played by the brilliant actor Stanley Tucci) live in France. Not satisfied to just sit around like the other wives in their circle of friends, Julia is antsy to find something to do. She tries a variety of hobbies, but they leave her unsatisfied. It's not until she starts cooking school that she finds her life calling.

Flash-forward several decades to Julie Powell. She has a loving husband, but feels restless and unfulfilled as she nears 30. She hates her secretarial job and has almost lost hope of ever fulfilling her dream of being a writer (her unpublished novel haunts her). Julie escapes her dreary reality with cooking (and from what we see onscreen, it looks like she's a pretty good cook). When a friend of hers starts a blog, Julie decides she can write one too. Her mission: cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook and blog about it—365 days, 524 recipes. Julie's journey gives her a sense of accomplishment as she rediscovers a joy and passion for life.

Julie & Julia is both entertaining and inspiring. Though her life onscreen isn't perfect, Julia embraces everything and everyone around her with gusto. In fact, her zeal for living challenged me—in a sense, I want to be like her when I "grow up." I also took note of hers and Paul's marriage; they adore and love each other deeply. He is Julia's biggest supporter and fan. Watching him care for and encourage his wife was especially moving. I have a high standard of what I'm looking for in a future husband; Paul Child just raised that bar even higher.

This film is rated PG-13 for sexuality and language. The romantic gestures in Julie & Julia are tame by comparison to other movies with a similar rating. Plus, keep in mind that the couples portrayed onscreen are actually married—which, unfortunately, we don't see too often these days. I will warn you about a few instances of harsh language (including at least one f-bomb)—though many viewers will find these sporadic enough to not detract from the movie's overall quality.

When I tell others about the movies I see, I usually try to not reveal too much of the plot or overhype to the point of disappointment. But I'm convinced I can brag about Julie & Julia until I'm blue in the face—or my typing fingers fall off. This is an excellent movie, and one I wholeheartedly recommend to guys and dolls. Bon appétit!

Me, I'm making a date with myself to see Julie & Julia ASAP.

~robin

Streaming Netflix Movies

Great news for fans of LOST who are also subscribers on Netflix. The first four seasons are now available via streaming to your computer or to your TV via an Internet connected device (Xbox and LG Blu-Ray players are two such devices, plus Netflix's own movie device).

Are you a Netflix subscriber who hasn't used their streaming movie service? Give it a try. You'll be glad you did. Since December of 2008 when Instant Movies became available for the Mac computers, I've watched some excellent movies via this service (free to subscribers), and I've been really pleased with it.

Okay, back to LOST. We fans have a bit over five months until the start of Season 6, the final season. These coming months are a great time to refresh our memories of all that has happened to the survivors of Oceanic 815 since it crashed onto our TV screens in fall 2003. (Season 5 will be available on DVD or Blu-Ray in December of this year.) Many fans already own the complete series available to date, but if you aren't one of them, jump at this chance to see the show via Netflix without it costing you a single penny AND without the discs taking up all those spots in your Netflix queue.

And if you haven't become a fan of this terrific show yet, well, here is your chance to be sucked into the mysteries surrounding the survivors of Oceanic 815 as well as The Others.

Here's how I rank the seasons thus far:

Season 1: 5 stars Season 2: 5 stars

Season 3: 3 stars Season 4: 5 stars

Season 5: 5 stars

~robin

Susan Boyle wows the judges

What a voice!!!

A chuckle for your Wednesday

Here's a Non Sequitur comic that all writers can relate to (click strip for full size):

LOL!!

big honkin' chicken club -- pay attention

Calling all of my fellow Big Honkin' Chicken Club members and friends. According to a study, it turns out that there may be a genetic reason for our scaredy-cattedness. (How's that for a word?)

This news makes me feel so much better. I remember about five or six years ago being at Universal in LA and we were going through the Mummy. It wasn't a ride but more or less a high tech haunted house. There was music and sounds and things that could go bump in the night. Well, I was screaming and squealing and grabbing the person in front of me about every 2 seconds, even when nothing scary was happening. I made so much noise that a crowd gathered outside the exit door to see who that frightened woman was. (Such a proud moment for me, BTW.)

Here's what the piece about the study says:

Variations in a gene may help explain why horror movies shock some people and entertain others, say German scientists. People with one version of the COMT gene startled more dramatically to unpleasant images than others, the researchers found. The work in Behavioural Neuroscience suggest inborn differences make some prone to extreme anxiety and stress. Anxiety treatments could be tailored to fit these genes, the authors suggest.

The COMT gene weakens the effect of a signaling chemical (dopamine) in the brain linked to emotion. Dr Martin Reuter and his colleagues at the University of Bonn measured the "startle response" of 96 women with different variations of the gene by attaching electrodes to their eye muscles. When a person is startled upon emotional arousal the eyes automatically blink.

The women were shown sets of pictures that were emotionally pleasant (such as animals or babies), neutral (such as an electric plug or hair dryer) or aversive (such as weapons or injured victims at a crime scene). A loud noise was made at random while they watched to startle the volunteers.

Read the rest of the study here.

Vindicated! Do you hear me, Brandilyn Collins? I am vindicated!

-rlh-

funny catz

For a lot of years, I owned cats. Cats are great pets to have if you travel because they can manage awhile without anyone looking in on them. Cat boxes, on the other hand, can get very old. So when my last cat had to be put to sleep at the age of 16 1/2, I decided dogs would be the only pets in my future. Daughter #1 and her family have two cats, so if I need a cat fix, I can always go to their house. It was Granddaughter #1 who showed me this funny cat video. The beginning is slow and the music a tad obnoxious, but hang in there. It is worth watching.

So did you laugh?
-rlh-

clean your computer screen

Is your computer screen dirty? Well here is a surefire way to get it sparkling clean. NOT!

LOL! Do not miss this. My brother sent it to me.

-rlh-

a sad knight's tale

Oh, my heart hurts. Heath Ledger, star of one of my most favorite movies, A Knight's Tale, is dead at age 28 of an apparent drug overdose. Whether an accident or suicide (they say no note was found), this is sad, sad, sad. Ledger was a fine actor with lots of potential for many great years of acting to come.

-rlh-

Update 1/23/08: Reports say that even accidental overdose is speculative at this time and that it is possible HL died of natural causes. I don't want to add to the speculation so apologize for the "apparent drug overdose" comment. No matter the cause, there is a hurting family, and I pray that they will know God's comfort in the days to come.

the tempest

I saw the most wonderful production of Shakespeare's The Tempest on Tuesday night at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. At the close, I was on my feet, applauding and shouting, "Bravo!" This isn't one of Shakespeare's plays that I have seen numerous times, so I didn't always know what was about to happen next. I could simply sit and be transported into the story. The acting was superb as were the costumes and the staging. It was just a perfect night.

With me were my good Shakespeare buddy (we've been going together to the Festival for over a decade) and my #1 daughter and her husband who were celebrating their anniversary. We all walked out of the amphitheater saying how great it was.

As a kid, I wanted to be an actress. I did a little bit of theater and seven years of dance, and I must confess, I do love being on the stage. But when writing came along, acting went out the window. There just wasn't time to write, work my day job, and be a mom to my kids plus participate in the theater. Ah, but there is always time to attend the theater, especially when we are privileged in Boise to have one of the best theater companies around.

My heroine in Speak to Me of Love (Tyndale, August 2003) is a Shakespearean actress in the late 1800's. Throughout the book, she thinks of lines from various Shakespeare plays when they are applicable to the situation. I had great fun creating that book but especially that character.

Our English language is littered with phrases from Shakespeare, and most of us never know it unless we study his plays. I remember when I went to see Mel Gibson's Hamlet, and I was amazed at how many phrases from that play that people use every day. I told my writer friend that Shakespeare wrote a lot of clichés. (That was tongue in cheek, of course. Our usage has made them clichés.)

Well, I'd best get to work, hopefully writing something that doesn't contain clichés.

-rlh-

THE NATIVITY STORY on DVD

Hitting stores just in time for Easter, The Nativity Story is an inspirational tale of extraordinary faith and love that chronicles the arduous journey of Mary and Joseph, a divine pregnancy and the miraculous birth of Jesus. The Nativity Story, arriving on DVD on March 20, 2007, from New Line Home Entertainment.

Write Thinking is delighted to bring the US and Canadian readers of this blog a chance to win their own copy of The Nativity Story on DVD.

If you didn't see this wonderful movie while it was in theaters, you won't want to miss it on DVD. And if you haven't seen it (or even if you have), take a moment to catch a glimpse of its beauty by watching the trailer of The Nativity Story here.

Beginning today (March 16, 2007) and ending on Good Friday, April 6, 2007, simply send an email to me at dvdcontest@robinleehatcher.com. (One entry per email address.) To be considered eligible, your email must include:

• How you learned of this contest (regular reader of Write Thinking, a referral from another blog, from Robin's e-newsletter to subscribers, from a friend, etc.)
• Your email address
• Your full name**
• Your physical mailing address (no PO Boxes)**
• Your telephone number including area code**

A drawing will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2007. Five lucky entrants (one winner per household/mailing address) will receive their own copy of this beautiful movie. Winners will be announced on this blog (first name, last initial, city/state only). The DVDs will be shipped to the winners via FedEx Ground by Big Honcho Media who is handling the promotion for New Line Home Entertainment.

Blessings!

-rlh-

** This information is necessary for FedEx shipments.

Julian Beever

Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Beever gives to his drawings an amazing 3D illusion. My brother sent me these, and I just had to share a few.

Note the artist atop of beer bottle. He is actually probably about 40 feet away from the girl.

Note people walking around the "hole" in the sidewalk.

The artist is actually standing on a level surface, but it's hard to believe it.

This shot of the girl in the swimming pool gives you an idea of how the optical illusion works.

An artist on top of the world.

Side view of the world.

This is so lifelike it is scary.

-rlh-

Technorati Tags: chalk artist, Julian Beever

beauty departs broadway

Here's a sad bit of news I got from Popwatch:

Disney Theatrical has just announced it is shuttering its production of Beauty and the Beast on July 29 to make room for a stage production of The Little Mermaid. Amazingly, Beauty -- which was slaughtered by critics but adored by tourists -- will have played 5,464 performances, making it the sixth-longest-running show in Broadway history. (It's also given Broadway exposure to such performers as Toni Braxton, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Deborah Gibson, and Donny Osmond -- that's him as Gaston, in the center.)

I saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway three times in the mid-1990's, and I saw it when the company came to Boise as well. Bought my kids and grandkids tickets to that one. I can't help but find it sad that should I get to return to NYC, it won't be one of my play options.

And I never would have guessed it was over 12 years ago when I saw it for the first time. Good grief!

-rlh-

they look like me!

Hat tip to From the Morning for this gem. Must admit that I rather like the 71% match with Parker and 61% match with Underwood. But do I really look like Rock Hudson? Hmm.

Okay, now I really must get back to my WIP. Maddie has a broken ankle, and she is much too attracted to Tony than she thinks is good for her. Robin to the rescue.

-rlh-

under the stars

Last night was my first play of the season at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival ("Shakespeare and Others Under the Stars"), celebrating its 30th season. Its my 17th summer as a season ticket holder, but the first production I attended was in the Festival's third season; I went with Daughter #2 who was 8 years old at the time, and we were both hooked. The plays were produced in three "borrowed" locations in the Festival's first 21 years. They moved into their own wonderful amphitheater 9 years ago (note the foothills as a backdrop).

I and my Shakespeare going friends like to sit on the lawn, center section, three or four rows back from the stage. We have our low-riding, low-backed chairs and our picnic dinners. I take along a blanket and a sweatshirt as it can get very cool by the river after the sun sets. I definitely didn't need either last night. It was hot and sultry when we arrived at the theater. When I was driving home at 10:30, it was still 81 degrees. We don't do sultry well around here. Our normal humidity is about 15% in the summer.

The Festival has a wonderful repertoire of plays by both Shakespeare and "others." They do the most plays in repertory than any other festival, I've been told. This year, as it turns out, I will only see one of the Shakespeare plays, Love's Labor's Lost. Last night I saw the musical comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This was a repeat from last summer's repertoire (they always bring back the smash hit from the previous summer to open in June). It was just as funny last night as last year. Next month, George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara is in store for me.

If you're ever in Boise in the summer, treat yourself to a visit to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. You won't regret it. And if you can't come here, find your local group of thespians and support their productions.

-rlh-