Seressia Glass: Blog Me

Seressia December 30th, 2007

In The Name of the King

Okay, I know this is probably going to be a train wreck of a movie, but I’m going to see it anyway. It’s got a head-scratching cast combination Jason Statham, Will Sanderson, Burt Reynolds, and Kristianna Lokken and a plot you could drive a tank through, but I don’t go to the movies to learn, I go to be entertained.

Oops, now I know why it’s going to suck. Director/Producer Uwe Boll has “attracted worldwide attention in the gaming community for his film adaptations of popular video games.” These include Alone in the Dark (who can believe Tara Reid as a archaeologist?) and BloodRayne (which could have been a good movie, but even Meatloaf in a bad weave surrounded by naked prostitutes–to save on production costs– couldn’t save that trainwreck–and they rewarded Lokken for her open-mouthed performance by giving her a series on Scifi. Or maybe that’s punishment.)

It just goes to show you that a doctorate in literature doesn’t mean you know how to tell (or direct) a story.

Sigh. I think I just typed myself out of going to see this movie.

But I did see I am Legend yesterday, and I’m not really sure what I expected, but I was surprised. There were moments of laughter and moments of tears. It almost had a Pan’s Labyrinth feel in that the tearjerker moments kept on coming. Oh, and Wil Smith doing pull ups shirtless didn’t hurt either.

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Seressia December 29th, 2007

Santy Claus, I was really really good. I behaved politely in public, didn’t have meltdowns in the blogosphere, and generally behaved like writing is my business and I am a business person. So why didn’t I get rewarded with one of these?????

Though I think my Sven would start the morning as personal bed warmer…

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Seressia December 20th, 2007

Hhm, I was pulling for Rajko or Brad

More rajko

Yummy.

Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t eat testicle soup either, at least not the testicle portion.

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Seressia December 19th, 2007

Arthur C. Clarke celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday. At the bash, he said he had three wishes: a commitment to renewable resources, peace in Sri Lanka, his adopted home, and evidence of extraterrestrials.

But I really liked this quote:

“Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered,” Clarke said. “I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer.”

I find myself agreeing with him. No matter what I do in this life, I want to be remembered as a writer. Not as a Black writer, or a writer of black or interracial romance, or even a romance writer. Just a writer.

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Seressia December 19th, 2007

Local gal (she’s from GA) does good. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

From journals and notebooks of poetry written when she was growing up in Eatonton, Ga., to drafts of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker saved every scrap along her journey to becoming one of the leading literary figures of the 20th Century.

Her literary and personal archive contains many letters from such friends as Toni Morrison, Gloria Steinem, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey, as well as a remarkable volume — “Poems of a Childhood Poetess” — that she composed when she was 15.

By the end of this week, her entire archive — all 122 boxes — is expected to arrive at its new, permanent home at Emory University. Emory announced Tuesday it had acquired Walker’s archive for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition is a “major addition to Emory’s collection,” which will help students and scholars learn more about Walker’s commitment to social activism, literary and personal growth and spirituality, said provost Earl Lewis.

At Emory’s Manuscript, Archive and Rare Book Library, Walker’s papers will join those of author Salman Rushdie, the late British poet laureate Ted Hughes and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney as well as significant collections related to Harlem Renaissance novelists and poets Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson.

Walker is the author of eight novels, four major poetry collections and many works of nonfiction. She became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983 for “The Color Purple,” which was adapted into a critically acclaimed 1985 movie as well as a musical that had its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2004 and made its Broadway debut a year later.

“I can imagine in years to come that my papers and memorabilia, my journals and letters, will find themselves always in the company of people who care about many of the things I do: culture, community, spirituality, scholarship and the blessings of ancestors who want each of us to find joy and happiness in this life, by doing the very best we can to be worthy of it,” Walker said in a statement.

Walker said Emory’s relationship with the Dalai Lama also played a part in her decision. The Tibetan spiritual leader joined the university’s faculty in October as a presidential distinguished professor and plans to periodically visit Emory to give talks to students.

Emory is “a place where my archive can rest with joy in the company it keeps,” Walker said.

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Seressia December 15th, 2007

The Romance Slam Jam is roughly five months from now. I’m really looking forward to it, not the least because I get to return to Chicago for their hot dogs and pizza, but because I get to see the largest gathering of black romance readers and writers on the planet. If you want to join in the party, meet a bunch of romance writers, and take a bunch of workshops, register a group of 5 or more get a discount and pay just $175 per person, or individual for $200 until December 31st.

Isn’t that a bargain for a conference?

Anyway, author Dyanne Davis had an interview with Louise Snead, the owner of Affaire de Coeur. You can check it out on Dyanne’s website or the Romance Slam Jam’s newsletter.

In the I-told-you-I’m-not-crazy-department, Ms. Snead makes this observation:

If you poll the average romance reader, they don’t read African American romance. Why? Romance readers indulge passionately in this genre because they want escape and fantasy. They want to believe there is a partner out there for everyone. They want to fantasize about who this person is. If you can have a heroine with all her foibles be loved by the end of the book, then there is hope for the reader. Many readers accept and love romance with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, faeries, elves, and the like, yet cannot accept a hero and heroine of color.

I know this is true. I’ve actually had a reader tell me so. Black people in any other genre, she can read about them and enjoy the story. A black heroine? Not so much. I think that’s sad, but then I also know some readers who only read black woman/other ethnicity male romances and won’t pick up one with a black hero.

Sigh. There are days when I think I’m only writing for myself. Then again, if I were writing for the market, all my heroines would be blonde.

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Seressia December 14th, 2007

From Publisher’s Weekly:

Essence Magazine will honor African-American writers and help public libraries by launching two overlapping initiatives this winter: the Essence Literary Awards and the Save Our Libraries campaign.

The nominees for the awards–in fiction, nonfiction, children’s, poetry, commentary/public affairs, memoir and photography–will be selected by the editors of Essence and will be announced on December 19th. The winners will receive their awards during Black History Month, on Feb. 7, 2008, at a ceremony in New York city that will also kick off the Save Our Libraries campaign. Emcees Hoda Kotb of the Today Show and Dr. Ian Smith will preside over the event, which will honor the winning writers, as well as a “Storyteller of the Year.”

Terry McMillan will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to contemporary African-American literature. McMillan, who is writing her eighth novel, Getting to Happy, added, “There are so few venues for African-American writers to get attention. This is a positive way to draw attention to African-American writers whose work is of high standards and merits attention.”

“We love books,” Bass said, describing editors at the magazine as committed to coverage of African-American authors and their work since Essence launched in 1970. Essence currently dedicates at least 3-1/2 pages to authors and books each month, second among women’s fashion/beauty/ lifestyle magazines only to O: the Oprah magazine.

You can still vote. Go to http://www.essence.com/essence/literaryawards/ and pick your choice, or nominate one.

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Seressia December 13th, 2007

I’ve had the crud for three days now. Today was the shivering under two blankets during 74-degree temperature. My eyes are throbbing and I think I have a temperature. However, now I’m watching Under a Tuscan Sun and feeling loads better. And wanting to book a flight to Italy, crud and all.

Italy is on my calendar for 2009, however. A girlfriend’s trip, with the intent of leaving a mark like Gozdilla left on Tokyo. Next year is Cozumel, San Francisco, and Chicago, with a possible retreat in Maryland. The neat thing about writers and readers conferences is the opportunity to visit cities I’ve never been to, and expand my shot glass collection. Well, Cozumel is strictly a vacation, and I’ve been to Chicago before… Anyway, I still need shot glasses from those cities, but I must get over the crud first.

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Seressia December 8th, 2007

I’m now in the holiday spirit. Oh, I’m not singing carols yet, or listening to them on the radio, but I’ve started the process.

The bah humbug has as much to do as going into the Macy’s LABOR DAY WEEKEND to find it piping in carols and Christmas decorations as the general holiday blahs. Perhaps I’m entering my approaching-forty crotchety phase, but I believ eyou celebrate Labor Day in September, Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, then Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza, and Yule in December. Nice, neat, orderly.

Yesterday I went and bought a fresh wreath and some pine bough. I love the smell of fresh pine. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any live trees under 6 feet. But I did find a wonderful rosemary tree for the dining room table. I’ve always wanted one, and it’s making the bottom level of the house smell wonderful. Also picked up a trio of poinsettias–two to punch up the earthtone colored living room and one on a stand outside the front door. Decorated the pine wreath and mounted it over the bough-draped fireplace, put the weathered grapevine wreath on the front door along with some extra bough, hung stockings on the mantel for my niece and three nephews. Rearranged the living room and bought a nice single-sized tree and trimmings. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Yule, and I’m beginning to feel it.

Just call me Marquisha Stewart.

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Seressia December 5th, 2007

So last night was the ending of Volume 3, Generations, and the beginning of Volume 4, Villains. As 10:01 rolled around, I sat on the couch and thought, “WTF?”

Don’t get me wrong—it was a good ending for a show that even the creator Tim Kring admits lost its way. Some great moments include:

1. Parkman jumping off Nathan’s back, saying, “We’ll never speak of this again.”
2. Hiro putting Kensei in the coffin. Entirely human, poetic justice. And when Adam claws his way out in a decade or so, he’ll be even more twisted.

But am I alone in feeling this way?

1. I cheered when Maya was “killed.” It has nothing to do with the actress and everything to do with the fact that she was a whiny, TSTL heroine, and no romance writer worth her salt would ever write a main character this way. I mean, come on. Killing people by crying black goo—shouldn’t you have been working on that way before Sylar tested you? And you’re on the run from the Mexican authorities for killing said people with said goo, so of course, you’re gonna stop and rescue a guy lying in the middle of the street, and be so wrapped up in your “I’m a crying murderer” misery that you don’t notice the creepy vibe Sylar gives off, but you immediately take his word for everything over your brother? Then you happily believe that your brother took off without saying goodbye and then proceed to break into some guy’s apartment and cook like you’re one big happy familia, only to be shocked when Sylar turned out to be bad? YOU DESERVE TO DIE.

2. All of these people believing going public with their abilities is the right thing to do. THIS IS AMERICA, PEOPLE. This nation don’t cotton to people being different. Ask me if you should go public, and I’ll answer with two words: Area 51 (okay, one’s a word and one’s a number, but you know what I mean.)

3. What’s with the cheerleader saving the world yet again? How is it that Claire’s blood can bring the dead back to life? I asked this question to fellow viewers and they pointed out that Claire and Peter never died. Well Claire and Peter had the abilitiy swimming in their bloodstream before they bit the big one. These others were already dead. Noah, as far as we know is normal. He was shot in the eye, obstensibly the brain, DOA at the Company. He shouldn’t have been able to come back. Maya, yeah she’s got the strain or whatever, but if she was dead, her blood wasn’t circulating, so how did the injection anywhere but in her heart bring her back to life? WHY BRING HER BACK TO LIFE AT ALL?

4. You once again punk out with Micah’s parents. It was a punk way to kill DL, and it was a punk way to (allegedly) kill Nikki. The only way to redeem this is to show how these senseless deaths affect Micah and make him turn into a villain, or at least Batboy. Bruce Wayne is a great vigilante hero with a bad streak.

5. Someone on USAToday commented that Sylar has more lives “than a soap opera character.” I so agree. I remember being stunned last year when all the Heroes let Sylar slide his bloody, battered ass down into the sewers AND DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. You knew he was bad, you knew he was gonna blow up NYC—so of course you let him get away. (How did he get that manhole cover off by himself anyway?) And I just loved how he was still bruised and bloody in the middle of the Central American jungle, yet was somehow able to walk through the wilderness unscathed to the road the Wonder Twins were riding on in Calire’s stolen SUV that Claire had the keys to.

6. I don’t get Monica’s powers. I thought that once she saw how something was done, she retained it. Didn’t she make the tomato flowers more than once? So how come she didn’t get all WWE on the thieves? I guess because they didn’t write it that way. And how did dude afford all that gas he had to burn that building?

7. One thing I’ve noticed is that these writers start their female heroes strong, and then they completely wimp out on them. The fact that a third personality popped out of Nikki and went clubbing proves that her super strength is a part of her, Jessica’s just able to use them better. DL’s death should have made her more determined to use her powers to protect the family she had left. It wasn’t her super strength that got DL killed, it was her multiple personality disorder. Like Nikki, Claire started off cool, then went to whiny-ville. Yeah she’s a teenager, but she should have learned enough over the last year to know that laying low keeps you alive. Elle is fascinating, but if they turn her good (I hope they don’t) they’ll make her wimpy too. And I think I’ve said all I need to say about Maya.

::DEEP BREATH::

Okay, I’m over it now. I would say now back to your regularly scheduled programming, but we’re going to inundated with reality shows until the writer’s strike is over.

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