It's Valentine's Day...do you remember your first kiss?

Hello all!

So, it's Valentine's Day.  Whatever.  But I was thinking, today, about how much the idea of love, falling in love, falling out of love, all that has affected and directed my life.

Then I got to thinking about first kisses, mostly because I'm working on "Fresh Ice," and in romance, the first kiss is a tremendously big deal.  That lead me to my very first kiss.  I'm not going to mention names, dates, or places, because thanks to Face book I'm still sort of in contact with my very first real boyfriend, but I can tell you this:

I was nauseous after my first kiss.

I was fourteen.  He was seventeen.  It was lunch, and we were talking  (and I think that was pretty much the last time I spent time with a boyfriend when we were seriously, legitimately JUST TALKING)  and suddenly he just laid it on me.  Bam.  And there was tongue.

I was really not NOT expecting that.

See, when they make a movie of my life,
I'd like these two people to play Hubby and me.

Nice approach...

When you're young, you see kisses on TV and in the movies, and it's usually some ridiculously handsome guy and an equally ridiculously good looking woman  (I always think of David James Elliott and Catherine Bell.  Seriously, those two should just be the kissing couple in every TV show and movie.)  and there's this first little kiss and then the kiss gets bigger and bigger. And the lighting is always perfect and there might be a mist of some kind, or candles.

And there we go!
Whew!  I need to go watch JAG on DVD now.

Well, when you're 14 and completely unaware, and your boyfriend is a very sweet guy, who is clearly more experienced than you are, you get a little tongue and then you get a little nauseous because you haven't a clue what exactly to do with that.

Bonus, I had gym right after, and it was baseball.  I hated baseball, which is why they put in way out in the outfield.  At least my very best friend was also there with me.  Not because she was terrible, but because she could seriously field a ball.  While we were standing there I told her about the kiss.  (a very John Hughes moment for me.)  She's not a girlie girl, so there wasn't a big hugging scene or anything like that.  But I remember just telling her, "He kissed me...and I feel a little sick to my stomach."

The kissing got better, of course, and that relationship lasted until my parents moved me to another town and another school.  (I doubt it had anything to do with the kissing, but whatever.)  I always think fondly of my first boyfriend, like most of us do.

So, friends on this high holy day on the Romance calendar, recall your first kiss.  Share, if you'd like to.

The death of Original Fiction?

Good morning!



I'm taking a sick day today. Most of you out there know that a grown woman with children doesn't actually get sick days the way most people think of them. Still, I don't have to answer to anyone for about three hours today...so that constitutes a sick day.
More on that at my humor blog: http://itcanonlyhappentosarah.blogspot.com

I was watching TV last night. It's premier week for most of the networks, so there's a lot of great new TV to watch. Something struck me last night: I am not wrapped up in TV shows like I used to be.

When I was a kid, I watched three shows religiously. Don't laugh.



Emergency, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons



Now, mostly I watched those because that's what my parents allowed me to watch. In the days of three channel TV programming, there wasn't much out there to watch. These days, you can spent hours and hours on the couch watching...well, reruns of those shows, I guess. The magic about those shows was that, while they are sequential (You can tell where you are in the "Emergency" series by the length of Randy Mantooth's hair.) they can really be watched in any order. Maybe Little House not so much, because toward the end of the series there were more two part story lines. But those shows, you can sit down right now, watch an episode and not be lost at all


When I got older, I watched the following shows

Dallas, Falcon Crest

The attraction for me for these shows was the endless cliff hangers. Story lines didn't end after the last commercial break. you HAD to tune in the next week. Remember the summer of "Who Shot JR?" I do.



When I got into college, my heart turned to thoughts of romance...and sex. So of course, I never, ever missed "MOONLIGHTING. Different from the shows of my childhood, "Moonlighting" was episodic...you could miss a week. But the "Will they/won't they" storyline, the undercurrent of the episodes, was something I could not miss. Of course, they ruined the show completely when Bruce Willis crashed through Cybil Shepherd's glass coffee table in a passionate embrace for the ages. And they brought in Mark Harmon to try and save the show, which didn't happen. But I digress.



I think most scripted shows today follow the basic template of Moonlighting. Attractive guy/attractive girl. One of them is all business. One of them is a scamp. They work together in some high stress high drama job. Sound familiar? Like half the scripted shows on TV?



Quite possibly the most perfect example of this formula was "JAG." That show was interesting the first season on NBC. My husband loved it. Then it got canceled and CBS picked it up. And set the beautiful Catherine Bell next to David James Elliott. And magic happened. For nine more seasons, their three most popular seasons AFTER they declared their love for each other (but didn't do the dead, take note TV writers...) people tuned in for the drama, for the action, and to see if this was the week these two wonderful characters would finally...ya know. For the record there was never an onscreen love scene between these two. The writers kept these characters beautiful and heroic to the very end, and we love, love, loved it.


The other kind of scripted show out there is the ensemble show. Big dramas that don't really focus on one character. These are the shows that are dying by the scores, and are therefore the focus of this fairly unfocused blog.

I used to watch "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" religiously. Every Sunday I hunkered down for a long night of ABC viewing. Then they moved "Grey's" to Thursday night opposite "CSI" another favorite. I have not watched one second of "GReys'" since. And I can't get into it now because this is one of those dramas that if you miss a couple episodes, you may as well give up. And, the minute "Housewives" drove off the rails with more bodies turning up on Wisteria Lane (I've lived in the 'burbs most of my life...I have yet to find a body anywhere in my neighborhood.) I gave up on that show, too. What do I watch on Sundays now?


Mad Men


Mad Men is the anomaly in my TV viewing week. It is the one scripted drama I make sure I'm watching every single week. I've left parties early to see Mad Men. I've lied about illness to get out of family gatherings to see Mad Men. Why is this the one TV drama I watch, when all others have faded away?

Because it's WELL WRITTEN. It doesn't pander to special interests, to revisionist historians, to today's adjusted social mores. I never feel like I've been preached to after I've watched Mad Men.


Don't get me wrong. I completely support scripted TV. HBO and Showtime have some of the best stuff out there. The big networks, however, have forgotten how to cultivate an audience. Moving CSI: New York to Friday nights isn't going to make anyone happy. And I'd be more excited about new shows if any of them was really new. But if one more rogue lawyer show pops up, I'm going to howl.

And that's the point, isn't it? The death of originality. TV producers don't want to give an original concept for a show more than 8 weeks ("Scoundrels") to make a splash. Only 10 million people watched it? Cancel it! Put on some lawyer show! Better yet, can we get some skanky semi ethnic twenty somethings to be skanky? Because that seems to be working really well for cable. Oh wait...how about a foul mouthed old person? that's it! A lawyer show with skanky twenty somethings and a foul mouthed old person. GOLD!
As writers, it's also the death of original fiction. If it doesn't fit a pigeon hole, it doesn't get published. Book publishers, like TV producers, aren't going to take a risk. They can sell a name. Like TV can sell a Law and Order or a CSI, book publishers can sell a Steele, a Roberts, a Grisham or a Sparks. They don't have to work at it. it just sells. Basic rules of grammar? Original plot? Interesting voice? Forget it. Name on the book. If you don't have that name on the book, it isn't going to get a look.


Is this the death of original fiction? Is it true that the reader today only wants a cookie cutter book that is the same as the last book they read?

Or is today's reader just biding their time until the book equivalent of "Mad Men" shows up?

The eyes have it...part two!

So after writing about Eye Acting the other day, I haven't been able to get the idea of it out of my head. And it got me to thinking...besides the scene in "The Quick and the Dead" (Which I had to go back and watch last night...it's so good!) and, of course, "Robin Hood," (Which I'm seeing again today!) what are some of my other favorite "eye acting" moments?


Here's a partial list...and some of them surprised me!

Russell Crowe, "3:10 To Yuma." This a brilliant remake putting Crowe and Christian Bale against each other was a stroke of casting genius. But there's a quiet little scene between Crowe and actress Vinnessa Shaw that takes very little time, but wouldn't every woman want an outlaw to look at her that way?

David James Elliott/Catherine Bell "JAG: LIFELINE" JAG fans waited and waited and WAITED for almost five seasons for Harm and Mac to get together. True, they were going to wait another three before that happy event, but this episode, set against the back drop of Mac's engagement party, brings out the best of both of these actors. The final shot is the icing on a brilliant cake.

David James Elliott/Trevor Goddard "JAG: MUTINY" Harm and Brumby (played by the late and much missed Trevor Goddard) battled for Mac's heart endlessly, but never better than in this brilliantly written episode. Take my word for it...the final shot is a stunner.
Rick Springfield "General Hospital 2005" In the early 80's Dr. Noah Drake was a hot doc on the make. Fifteen years later, he was a sad, broken version of his former self. And Rick brought it all at us with his eyes.

Rick Springfield "LEGION" Terrible movie. But I keep it on my shelf for one reason and one reason only. Watching Rick's character, seeing the depth of despair in his eyes before you ever know what's up...it's spellbinding. By the end you're cheering and weeping for him, in spite of yourself.

Danny Masterson "That 70's Show" I know...I was shocked when I came up with this one. But in the rare moments Hyde takes off his sunglasses in scenes involving his rocky romance with Jackie, Mr. Masterson gives us more good eye acting than a sitcom probably deserves.
Russell Crowe, "3:10 To Yuma." This a brilliant remake putting Crowe and Christian Bale against each other was a stroke of casting genius. But there's a quiet little scene between Crowe and actress Vinnessa Shaw that takes very little time, but wouldn't every woman want an outlaw to look at her that way?

Rick Springfield "General Hospital 2005" In the early 80's Dr. Noah Drake was a hot doc on the make. Fifteen years later, he was a sad, broken version of his former self. And Rick brought it all at us with his eyes.

Russell Crowe "HEAVEN'S BURNING" This movie confuses me...did they mean for it to be a dark comedy? Because there are moments so over the top you can't help but laugh. But there are two scenes, both with actress Youki Kudoh, that make the movie an eye acting milestone for me. I'll give you a hint...find the scene where they're not wearing much, and then find the scene where they're really dressed up.

Clark Gable..."Gone with the Wind." Ah, Rhett Butler. The original movie bad boy we all wanted to fix. Even under the censorship constraints of 1939, Gable manages to evoke an awful lot with his eyes...like the scene where he leaves Scarlett on the road to Tara, right before a big kiss. Breathless!

So there you go...some of my favorite eye acting moments. Not all of them are a surprise, I'll grant you, and I could add a ton more, but let's not get boring.

Think about your favorite movies or TV shows...what draws you to a character? I'll just bet there's a scene or two of eye acting in your memory banks.

Now, go forth and WRITE!