Music Monday/Movie Review – The Great Gatsby

Happy Music Monday. Since I didn’t love the soundtrack, here’s my stab at a Jazz Age ditty to listen to while you read my non-review review.
 
 
Okay, here is my take on the Great Gatsby.
But wait. I must preamble first:

I was beyond excited about this movie, but after seeing the first trailer, my heart tanked, and for the next 9 months, I put on an excited act when really, I was already heart-brokenly disappointed. I loved the book so much…it is visual enough, so why would we need all the flashy extravagance this director is known for? Again, ugh. (Obviously, all of this is IMO, so no hate mail, loves.) So yeah, I made plans with my girls to see it opening night, but not thrilled in the least. I love looking at Leo, so worst case scenario, I get to stare at him for 2.5 hours. Not too tragic. 

 But I digress…

Long story short–because I’m already bored with this non-review–I loved it. Almost like the book, it had me hook from the first page. Tobey was fine, a bit too tiny and pale for my personal vision of Nick Carroway, but I grew used to him quickly. Obviously, I was waiting for Leo. Not since The Third Man, had I looked so forward to a character making an appearance. And when Gatsby finally hit the screen, I was stunned. 

This is the point in the film when I actually whooped. I couldn’t help it! Sorry, other patrons of the 8:30 show at Tinseltown. I was at a Backstreet Boys concert, evidently
The over-the-top-visual scenes were fewer than expected and didn’t bother me as much as they could have. I know, I know, the Jazz Age was rather over-the-top, but you know what I mean. I didn’t care for the soundtrack either, and hoped there would be some updated Gershwin in there. But again, what did I expect knowing the director?

Visually, it was stunning. The colors and costumes and hair dos were wonderful. The special effects were lost on me, so I won’t go into how cool the (cartoon) house looked. I’d heard a few reviews saying the two leads had no chemistry. I must disagree. I think I would sell my own sweet granny to be pressed against that oak tree with Leo. So yeah, the acting was stellar.

ENDING SPOILER (if you haven’t read the novel, shame on you):
When Gatsby was sinking to the bottom of the pool, lifeless, my girl friend and I turned to each other. She muttered, “Titanic,” and I muttered, “Jack, I’ll never let go.” Also at the end, we see another flash of Gatsby, all pressed suit and gorgeous, also a bit too Titanic-y, like when we see Jack at the top of the stairs, all non-dead.

Anyway, blah-blah-blah, I was wrong, Leo. Your movie was greatness, and I know it took me a decade to forgive you for Romeo+Juliet, I hope it doesn’t take you a decade to forgive me. ❤ 

Music Monday/Movie Review – The Great Gatsby

Happy Music Monday. Since I didn’t love the soundtrack, here’s my stab at a Jazz Age ditty to listen to while you read my non-review review.
 
 
Okay, here is my take on the Great Gatsby.
But wait. I must preamble first:

I was beyond excited about this movie, but after seeing the first trailer, my heart tanked, and for the next 9 months, I put on an excited act when really, I was already heart-brokenly disappointed. I loved the book so much…it is visual enough, so why would we need all the flashy extravagance this director is known for? Again, ugh. (Obviously, all of this is IMO, so no hate mail, loves.) So yeah, I made plans with my girls to see it opening night, but not thrilled in the least. I love looking at Leo, so worst case scenario, I get to stare at him for 2.5 hours. Not too tragic. 

 But I digress…

Long story short–because I’m already bored with this non-review–I loved it. Almost like the book, it had me hook from the first page. Tobey was fine, a bit too tiny and pale for my personal vision of Nick Carroway, but I grew used to him quickly. Obviously, I was waiting for Leo. Not since The Third Man, had I looked so forward to a character making an appearance. And when Gatsby finally hit the screen, I was stunned. 

This is the point in the film when I actually whooped. I couldn’t help it! Sorry, other patrons of the 8:30 show at Tinseltown. I was at a Backstreet Boys concert, evidently
The over-the-top-visual scenes were fewer than expected and didn’t bother me as much as they could have. I know, I know, the Jazz Age was rather over-the-top, but you know what I mean. I didn’t care for the soundtrack either, and hoped there would be some updated Gershwin in there. But again, what did I expect knowing the director?

Visually, it was stunning. The colors and costumes and hair dos were wonderful. The special effects were lost on me, so I won’t go into how cool the (cartoon) house looked. I’d heard a few reviews saying the two leads had no chemistry. I must disagree. I think I would sell my own sweet granny to be pressed against that oak tree with Leo. So yeah, the acting was stellar.

ENDING SPOILER (if you haven’t read the novel, shame on you):
When Gatsby was sinking to the bottom of the pool, lifeless, my girl friend and I turned to each other. She muttered, “Titanic,” and I muttered, “Jack, I’ll never let go.” Also at the end, we see another flash of Gatsby, all pressed suit and gorgeous, also a bit too Titanic-y, like when we see Jack at the top of the stairs, all non-dead.

Anyway, blah-blah-blah, I was wrong, Leo. Your movie was greatness, and I know it took me a decade to forgive you for Romeo+Juliet, I hope it doesn’t take you a decade to forgive me. ❤ 

Greatness

Read the novel for the first time last year. Review(ish) here. Seeing the new movie tonight. Review to come.

I am seriously in love with this story and already know the film will be a disappointment, just because my expectations are sky-high. I’ve tried to shy away from hearing reviews, but walking around in pubic, some have seeped in. So far, the reviews haven’t been stellar, but I’m hopeful. At the very least, I get to stare at Leo for two and a half hours without feeling like an oogy stalker. So how bad is that, right?

Cover Reveal – Act Like You Love Me

I’m thrilled to take part in the cover reveal of the new novel by Cindi Madsen (my lovely author sister). Her first book in the Accidentally in Love series Falling For Her Fiancé was such a fun read. I’ve been dying to get my paws on the follow up. So, without further ado….




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music, dancing, and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children. She is the author of YA novelsAll the Broken Pieces and Demons of the Sun, bestselling short romance Falling for Her Fiancé and the women’s fiction novel Cinderella Screwed Me Over.
                                 
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME official Blurb:
What would you do for a second chance with your first crush? 

Brynn McAdams isn’t the awkward drama geek she was in high school—she’s grown up and confident, or at least she likes to think so. But when her old crush, the impossibly handsome and impossibly unattainable Sawyer Raines, comes back to town to direct her community play, Brynn finds herself determined to be someone other than the girl he doesn’t even recognize. Good thing she’s an excellent actress.
After his bad breakup in NYC, the last thing Sawyer wants is to get involved with another actress. But the glamorous and beautiful Brynn draws him in, even though as her director, he knows she’s off-limits. There’s just something about the woman that feels…familiar. Like home. 
As Brynn’s lies start to snowball, she struggles to stop acting and come clean. But what if Sawyer is already falling for the fake Brynn, not the Brynn she truly is?
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME excerpt:
“Cut, cut cut!” Sawyer stood. “Was that supposed to be more passionate? Because it sucked.”


“This is supposed to be the eighteen hundreds,” Brynn said. “It can’t be too passionate or it would seem inappropriate for the time.”


The next instant Sawyer was charging up the steps to the stage. “I’m not saying it’s got to be a kiss with tongue, I’m saying you’ve got to look at each other like you’re in love so the audience will want it to work out. Our modern audience.” Sawyer shook his head. “Take it again, from before the proposal.”


It was impossible to concentrate with Sawyer standing right there, so close she could hear every shift of his body and feel his gaze on her like a weight. All her lines were swimming together.


Leo knelt, told her she was an angel. She said her line, trying to peer into his soul like she wanted to be with him, and then Leo kissed her. And it was sloppier than usual.


She did her best to not jerk back, though it was her first instinct.


“Okay, that was just…” Sawyer moved in front of her. He looked at the playbook, then lowered it by his side and stared into her eyes. The air thickened around them and she could feel every thump of her heart. “What a perfect angel you are, Cecily.” He said it so tenderly, his smile close-lipped but full of joy.


“You dear romantic boy,” she said, all out of instinct because thoughts were getting fuzzy.


He leaned in and kissed her, a soft kiss with his lips barely parted. The pressure of his lips increased for a delicious moment, and then they were gone. A quick, simple kiss, but when his mouth left hers, she felt its absence so strongly that she couldn’t think about anything else for a couple seconds. Her breath was stuck somewhere in her lungs and her lips still tingled, living the sensation over and over again. Heat wound through her body, her hands itched to reach out and touch him. And then she remembered she was supposed to. She ran her fingers through his hair and felt the whisper of his breath on her wrist as he exhaled.


“Wow, that was good,” Wendy said from the front, breaking Brynn from her trance.


Brynn stepped back and swallowed, but her throat wasn’t working right. Sawyer’s eyes never left hers, and one corner of his mouth curved up in a smug, self-satisfied way.


“It was all right, I suppose,” Brynn said, working to keep her voice steady. She crossed her arms and shrugged. “For a first-timer, anyway.”


That only made Sawyer’s smile grow wider.


Brynn couldn’t help but watch Sawyer as he jumped off the stage. Funny how she’d dreamed of kissing him all the time in high school, but her fantasy wasn’t even close to the real thing. Her heart felt like it’d just been wrung out and shoved back in her


And her scene with Leo was better. She was sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she closed her eyes and pretended it was Sawyer kissing her again.


Nope. Nothing at all.
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME pre-buy links:
FALLING FOR HER FIANCE Links:
Additional links to Cindi’s pages:

Greatness

Read the novel for the first time last year. Review(ish) here. Seeing the new movie tonight. Review to come.

I am seriously in love with this story and already know the film will be a disappointment, just because my expectations are sky-high. I’ve tried to shy away from hearing reviews, but walking around in pubic, some have seeped in. So far, the reviews haven’t been stellar, but I’m hopeful. At the very least, I get to stare at Leo for two and a half hours without feeling like an oogy stalker. So how bad is that, right?

Cover Reveal – Act Like You Love Me

I’m thrilled to take part in the cover reveal of the new novel by Cindi Madsen (my lovely author sister). Her first book in the Accidentally in Love series Falling For Her Fiancé was such a fun read. I’ve been dying to get my paws on the follow up. So, without further ado….




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindi Madsen sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music, dancing, and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children. She is the author of YA novelsAll the Broken Pieces and Demons of the Sun, bestselling short romance Falling for Her Fiancé and the women’s fiction novel Cinderella Screwed Me Over.
                                 
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME official Blurb:
What would you do for a second chance with your first crush? 

Brynn McAdams isn’t the awkward drama geek she was in high school—she’s grown up and confident, or at least she likes to think so. But when her old crush, the impossibly handsome and impossibly unattainable Sawyer Raines, comes back to town to direct her community play, Brynn finds herself determined to be someone other than the girl he doesn’t even recognize. Good thing she’s an excellent actress.
After his bad breakup in NYC, the last thing Sawyer wants is to get involved with another actress. But the glamorous and beautiful Brynn draws him in, even though as her director, he knows she’s off-limits. There’s just something about the woman that feels…familiar. Like home. 
As Brynn’s lies start to snowball, she struggles to stop acting and come clean. But what if Sawyer is already falling for the fake Brynn, not the Brynn she truly is?
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME excerpt:
“Cut, cut cut!” Sawyer stood. “Was that supposed to be more passionate? Because it sucked.”


“This is supposed to be the eighteen hundreds,” Brynn said. “It can’t be too passionate or it would seem inappropriate for the time.”


The next instant Sawyer was charging up the steps to the stage. “I’m not saying it’s got to be a kiss with tongue, I’m saying you’ve got to look at each other like you’re in love so the audience will want it to work out. Our modern audience.” Sawyer shook his head. “Take it again, from before the proposal.”


It was impossible to concentrate with Sawyer standing right there, so close she could hear every shift of his body and feel his gaze on her like a weight. All her lines were swimming together.


Leo knelt, told her she was an angel. She said her line, trying to peer into his soul like she wanted to be with him, and then Leo kissed her. And it was sloppier than usual.


She did her best to not jerk back, though it was her first instinct.


“Okay, that was just…” Sawyer moved in front of her. He looked at the playbook, then lowered it by his side and stared into her eyes. The air thickened around them and she could feel every thump of her heart. “What a perfect angel you are, Cecily.” He said it so tenderly, his smile close-lipped but full of joy.


“You dear romantic boy,” she said, all out of instinct because thoughts were getting fuzzy.


He leaned in and kissed her, a soft kiss with his lips barely parted. The pressure of his lips increased for a delicious moment, and then they were gone. A quick, simple kiss, but when his mouth left hers, she felt its absence so strongly that she couldn’t think about anything else for a couple seconds. Her breath was stuck somewhere in her lungs and her lips still tingled, living the sensation over and over again. Heat wound through her body, her hands itched to reach out and touch him. And then she remembered she was supposed to. She ran her fingers through his hair and felt the whisper of his breath on her wrist as he exhaled.


“Wow, that was good,” Wendy said from the front, breaking Brynn from her trance.


Brynn stepped back and swallowed, but her throat wasn’t working right. Sawyer’s eyes never left hers, and one corner of his mouth curved up in a smug, self-satisfied way.


“It was all right, I suppose,” Brynn said, working to keep her voice steady. She crossed her arms and shrugged. “For a first-timer, anyway.”


That only made Sawyer’s smile grow wider.


Brynn couldn’t help but watch Sawyer as he jumped off the stage. Funny how she’d dreamed of kissing him all the time in high school, but her fantasy wasn’t even close to the real thing. Her heart felt like it’d just been wrung out and shoved back in her


And her scene with Leo was better. She was sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she closed her eyes and pretended it was Sawyer kissing her again.


Nope. Nothing at all.
ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME pre-buy links:
FALLING FOR HER FIANCE Links:
Additional links to Cindi’s pages:

Things I learned at DFWcon 2013

This marked my third year attending the DFW Writers’ Conference (DFWcon, for short, because we’ve known each other for three years now and I think we’re BFFs). It was two days of intense classes on both craft and business. For those that had the guts, we got to pitch to an agent and a few of us lucky souls took part in the first ever small group genre-specific workshops–which was pretty amazing and insightful. The two key notes were David Corbett (who also gave a class about building a character web and I’m now mildly in love with him) and Michael Capuzzo. I’m a huge fan of them both now. After the weekend was over, I walked away inspired, overwhelmed, excited and ready to write.
Here are my quicky take-aways:
I need to torture my mc more. (Boo!)
Make characters do more, not just think and feel. Actions can’t be taken back.
“Change or die”
The hero in the story succeeds at the end by failing throughout the rest of the book.
Write happy. When I’m happy, so is my story…and the whole process.
Write what you know, but also write what you want to research and write about.
Drink more Diet Cokes.
If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t take the class on taxes. But I would go to the improv seminar.
Be prepared to for the “judges” to hate your query letter. Again.
Wear sunscreen. That’s just a tip in general. 

Things I learned at DFWcon 2013

This marked my third year attending the DFW Writers’ Conference (DFWcon, for short, because we’ve known each other for three years now and I think we’re BFFs). It was two days of intense classes on both craft and business. For those that had the guts, we got to pitch to an agent and a few of us lucky souls took part in the first ever small group genre-specific workshops–which was pretty amazing and insightful. The two key notes were David Corbett (who also gave a class about building a character web and I’m now mildly in love with him) and Michael Capuzzo. I’m a huge fan of them both now. After the weekend was over, I walked away inspired, overwhelmed, excited and ready to write.
Here are my quicky take-aways:
I need to torture my mc more. (Boo!)
Make characters do more, not just think and feel. Actions can’t be taken back.
“Change or die”
The hero in the story succeeds at the end by failing throughout the rest of the book.
Write happy. When I’m happy, so is my story…and the whole process.
Write what you know, but also write what you want to research and write about.
Drink more Diet Cokes.
If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t take the class on taxes. But I would go to the improv seminar.
Be prepared to for the “judges” to hate your query letter. Again.
Wear sunscreen. That’s just a tip in general. 

Music Monday – and some pretties

Aloha! 

Just for you, here are a few pix from my tropical vacation. And since it’s Monday….a song. On the “Hawaiian music” radio station we had on in the car pretty constantly (100.3), this ditty played at least twice a day.
Some quicky highlights:
Pearl Harbor
ABC Stores
crepes
The Polynesian Cultural Center
North Shore
more crepes
not eating Spam (although I really wanted to)
snorkeling despite my fear 

And now for the pretties….
The start of a perfect day on Waikiki.
Snorkeling at the Hanauma Bay reef.
The view atop Diamond Head, post hike.

Surfers at North Shore. The waves were huge compared to Waikiki. Can’t image what they must be like in the winter. 

The sand up at North Shore is amazing. I wanted to roll around it.
What you don’t see is that after we made the hike to the falls (in our flip flops), we jumped in with our clothes on and swam to the falls. Other than shorts and a white tank top, I was otherwise commando. I’m so classy, I know. Embarrassing on the way out, but totally worth it. 
Lovely view of the east side of Oahu.


Sister/chauffeur striking a natural pose.

Bits of the sunken USS Arizona. Visiting Pearl Harbor was something I’ll never forget.

 

The Tahitian float as it passed by us at the PCC. Those chicks could shake it!
Because that’s how I roll.
Goodnight, Hawaii.

Not that this song is “tropical,” but it was played on the radio so often that it will forever remind me of my trip to paradise.

Music Monday – and some pretties

Aloha! 

Just for you, here are a few pix from my tropical vacation. And since it’s Monday….a song. On the “Hawaiian music” radio station we had on in the car pretty constantly (100.3), this ditty played at least twice a day.
Some quicky highlights:
Pearl Harbor
ABC Stores
crepes
The Polynesian Cultural Center
North Shore
more crepes
not eating Spam (although I really wanted to)
snorkeling despite my fear 

And now for the pretties….
The start of a perfect day on Waikiki.
Snorkeling at the Hanauma Bay reef.
The view atop Diamond Head, post hike.

Surfers at North Shore. The waves were huge compared to Waikiki. Can’t image what they must be like in the winter. 

The sand up at North Shore is amazing. I wanted to roll around it.
What you don’t see is that after we made the hike to the falls (in our flip flops), we jumped in with our clothes on and swam to the falls. Other than shorts and a white tank top, I was otherwise commando. I’m so classy, I know. Embarrassing on the way out, but totally worth it. 
Lovely view of the east side of Oahu.


Sister/chauffeur striking a natural pose.

Bits of the sunken USS Arizona. Visiting Pearl Harbor was something I’ll never forget.

 

The Tahitian float as it passed by us at the PCC. Those chicks could shake it!
Because that’s how I roll.
Goodnight, Hawaii.

Not that this song is “tropical,” but it was played on the radio so often that it will forever remind me of my trip to paradise.