Category: film

Hi everyone!

I’ve started a blog segment on Villains. The bad guys that go up against the heroes and heroines in our books.

Today’s interview is with indie filmmaker Jay Floyd, who I met after I watched his first feature film, FORGIVING THE FRANKLINS.

Click here to read the Q&A.

Stay tuned – we have other writers, actors, and actresses scheduled for our Villains segments! 

Summer is typically a great time for the release of new movies, everything from the action adventure over-the-top antics of Transformers to the more subtle, lovely indie films that give our souls a bit of a lift on sad days.

I’m a huge movie buff, but in the last year I see films dwindling and dwindling. Then, to my surprise, I found a few gems out there that I thought I’d share…

Fave #indiefilms of this summer:

1. BEGIN AGAIN (Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley) – lovely piece set in New York City that incorporates heartache, love, being an artist, and starting again. All with the Big Apple as the backdrop. Lovely, lovely.

2. THE ONE-HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY (Helen Mirren, Rohan Chand) – a war between restaurants with charm, wit and passion. Fantastic :)

3. AND SO IT GOES (Diane Keaton, Michael Douglas) – Humorous and fun romantic comedy. Curmudgeon Michael Douglas lives next door to a questioning-her-worth Diane Keaton while suddenly getting his granddaughter dropped off on his front steps. Great emotion, great moments, even cried in a few places.

There’s something that rings melancholy in the air when an artist dies. This isn’t to say that it’s not sad when others pass on, but my heart has a deeper pang when a creative soul dies. How much more work would they have shared with the world, making it a better place? How many more books written, films acted in, projects made by, paintings made by, if the artist’s time had not been cut short? I learned today that one of my favorite actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman, has apparently died of a drug overdose. What saddens me more is that this type of death could have been prevented. It wasn’t a deadly car crash, a heart attack, something that we can’t control. This was something in his control, and he lost his battle to it. And I also find regret. About a year ago, I had the opportunity to see him in a Broadway play. I opted to see something else instead. Now, I will never see him on Broadway again. Regret, indeed. No matter what demons are out there, a message to artists: keep going. Let your heart keep beating so you can continue your artistic pursuits. RIP.

Wow! For those of you who love vampire stories, I have a great recommendation for you. I just discovered it today. Apparently it was made in 2007-2008. How could I not have known about this back then? The series is called MOONLIGHT and stars Alex O’Loughlin (who currently plays the lead on Hawaii Five O – see photo below). He is a vampire, but plays a private investigator as his cover job. And he’s a good guy, much like the character in TRUE BLOOD was. This vamp only kills bad guys, and only when necessary. He’s charming and protective of the innocents :) His cohort is played by Sophia Myles. She plays an investigative journalist who wants the next story. Between her trying to solve crimes to report and the vamp being able to find killers, the two of them in this show are fabulous! I love this series so far. For those of you vamp fans, check it out :)

Kevin O’Loughlin – quite a hunk!

Hi all, For those who have traveled to New Orleans (and even those who haven’t), do you ever wonder what movies portray the city accurately and those that don’t? For my listing, check out the guest blog today, where I list some of my faves and dislikes. The nice Casey Ryan from Twitter is hosting my article: Read guest blog here.