Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Movies
March 30, 2012 | Friday | 56 Comments
Earlier this week, news broke that Universal and Focus Features paid a staggering amount of money for the film rights to 50 Shades of Grey - rumors are "in the neighborhood of $5 million (US)." And on this week's Entertainment Weekly cover, readers get a choice of a cover featuring the clothed Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence or a very naked, mostly faceless woman rubbing her shoulder blade (or shaving her armpit) with a copy of 50 Shades of Grey. The continued media saturation around 50 Shades, especially as it's cast alongside the Hunger Games movie, got me thinking about book-to-movie deals, and how…
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April 18, 2011 | Monday | 18 Comments
Guilty Pleasures is a movie about romance, by which I mean the genre, as told through three readers, a writer, and a cover model (Sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn’t it?. It premiered in the US in North Carolina at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and mega-power librarian Jennifer Lohmann went with her book club to see it. What follows is her review and reaction. I found it very fascinated particularly in light of my own questions about the Mr. Romance pageant at RT, and the ever-changing way in which romance and its readers are portrayed…
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June 25, 2010 | Friday | 12 Comments
From Theresa Meyers at Blue Moon Communications via JoAnn Ross:
Tweeter! Twits! BWAHAHAHA.
I was with him until he said, “Don’t give it away for free.” Free offerings aren’t unilaterally successful but in some cases is a fabulous promotional tool - and one free book doesn’t diminish the value of the rest. This is an ad for a $7500 Conference at NYU Stern. You can read more at http://www.doctormedia.tv.
What do you think - of the video, and of the conference?
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June 14, 2010 | Monday | 135 Comments
I was sucked into watching a terribly written but strangely compelling Disney movie (Starstruck - do yourself a favor and do not go near it. If you lose two hours of your life, you can’t blame me) and it got me thinking about crack. I know we’ve talked about this before but what is it that makes some books, movies, or tv shows utterly cracktastic so you cannot put them down? Sometimes its the train wreck factor, like Toddlers and Tiaras. I have met more than one person who has encountered the show and has not been able to look…
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March 10, 2010 | Wednesday | 40 Comments
Every now and again I take a break from romance reading. Sometimes it’s to scour my brain and take a break from tropes that seem over familiar or frustrations that seem perennial. Sometimes it’s because I love good mystery novels, though I don’t often review them here, and I crave the puzzle and change of pace that good mystery provides. And sometimes I’m curious about a book that I hear mentioned over and over. If I hear about a book from different people in completely different contexts, it catches my attention because most of the time, the different groups of…
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January 09, 2010 | Saturday | 49 Comments
Sharron writes: So I read this story a whole lot of years ago. I can remember it clearly enough to know I adored it; not enough to actually remember the bloody title. Or author. Or any character names. Our hero: distant, brooding English movie actor with a secret childhood trauma. His speciality? Horror movies (including the Slasher Charlie series, Blackbeard, and Dybbuk, which was his breakout role). He plays monsters, in short. Totally gone off women because of all the women who wanted to sleep with the monster. He shagged most of them, then went off them once he realised…
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June 03, 2009 | Wednesday | 38 Comments
While looking around the internet (my GOD it is HUGE, have you seen it?!) I came across a new site: IndieReader: “For Self-Published and Print-on-Demand Books and the Readers Who Love Them. The site, run by author Amy Holman Edelman, aims to be a combination promotion and reader community site devoted to PoD and Self-published books: We recognize that self-publishing has become a viable and financially desirable option for many authors, first-time and established alike…. People are naturally drawn to what’s unique and genuine, be it Indie movies, Indie music…or Indie books. They are tired of hearing about the next…
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April 21, 2009 | Tuesday | 14 Comments
Let me just say, that if you guys open a hotel, I’m coming to live there. Picking a winner for the heaping pile of signed books was not easy! Runners Up: - Cirlot described rooms that I wanted to go play in, and so many of you came up with romantic pairs that were perfect. - Tessa’s Cal and Min from Bet Me suggested by many! - Meaghan’s Jamie and Claire from Outlander - Saam’s Margaret and Thornton from North and South - the BBC version, if you’re not familiar with it. - Kerry D’s Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe…
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April 01, 2009 | Wednesday | 3 Comments
Hooray! Time to pick a winner of the signed copy of Nora Roberts’ High Noon.
And, drumroll please, teh winnah is… Maureen! Hooray! Please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Maureen, with your mailing address.
Unhappy that you didn’t win? Cheer up! You can watch the movies online the Wednesday after they premiere on television. So, for example, Midnight Bayou will be available at MyLifetime until 30 April.
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March 30, 2009 | Monday | 103 Comments
Taking a break from the DABWAHA madness, Lifetime has offered a contest for y’all to further promote the Nora Roberts Suite of films. Now, between you and me and the rest of the internet? I don’t know how these things could be better promoted from where I’m sitting. I’ve seen the ads in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the subway stations I travel in, both uptown and downtown, and on signs on the street. And the posters are definitely eye-catching, if not for the icy color schemes than for the bizarre expressions on some of the actors’ faces. Jerry O’Connell…
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February 03, 2009 | Tuesday | 20 Comments
Petty larceny time! I’m stealing an hour of your life by giving you the heads up about Literature Map. Name an author, see the orbit of other authors similar to that one. Keep clicking. Look up - it’s an hour later. Heh. Orbit has a new book available for one crispy American dollar, or one folded up, soft and fuzzy American dollar, which ever you have. This month: Iain M. Banks’ Use of Weapons. (Is it me or is the use of additional vowels in names like “Iain” and “Niall” somehow intriguing?) Visit Onedollarorbit.com for details. (And coming up in…
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January 29, 2009 | Thursday | 22 Comments
Today’s advice letter is all about taking the risk with a person for the second time after the first time didn’t work out. Dear Sarah: I love that you have an advice column called “Everything I need to know I learned from Romance Novels.” I haven’t noticed any topics on relationships (although maybe I just missed those emails) so I thought this was a great opportunity for you (to be well rounded advisors capable of dishing on any topic) and me (although mostly me, because you could probably do without complicated questions from confused women). I recently reconnected with my…
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January 08, 2009 | Thursday | 62 Comments
Every Thanksgiving, I try to watch my copy of Babette’s Feast, which, if you haven’t seen it, is an amazing and beautiful film. So this seems especially cool, though totally out of my price range: as part of Zagat’s Vintage Dinner Series this year, on 12 January, Café des Artistes will present the entire menu from the movie, from turtle soup to quail in puff pastry. A lecture on the film will follow the dinner, which is priced at $160.00 per person. If I could send myself and some readers, I totally would, but there’s no freaking way. But! I…
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January 03, 2009 | Saturday | 5 Comments
Awhile back I posted a message from Moreena, a reader whose daughter was undergoing liver transplants. The family stayed at nearby Kohl’s House in Chicago, which was sorely lacking in the romance department. Moreena wrote in with an update that made my day. I can’t even tell you how awesome I think you guys are. Srsly. Y’a'll Rule. ...we went to the Kohl’s House a few weeks back, and they were thrilled with the response they got from your readers. Let’s just say I almost miss being at the place, just for the fun bookshelf that now stands by the…
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December 25, 2008 | Thursday | 15 Comments
It’s time once again when the email queries of those seeking advice are answered by the power of Greyskull and the wisdom of romance novels. Dear Smart Bitch Sarah: I’m sure you’re going to bust my ass for this question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. You promised not to reveal identities so I’m holding you to it. My wife reads a ton of romance novels. She loves them. I’ve got no problem with that, but my question is this: how is a real life man supposed to measure up to all the sexy men and incredible sex in…
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