Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Twilight
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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November 21, 2011 | Monday | 54 Comments
So many readers have recommended this book to me. SO MANY. It has a 4.49 average after 1,728 ratings on GoodReads and 4.5 stars after 100 reviews on Amazon. Readers on Twitter have told me how much they adore this book, how they love the hero, love the story, love every one of the 200k pages of this book (which ends on a cliffhanger and continues in volume two, Fifty Shades Darker). Alas, this book didn't work for me. I kept trying, and going back to it more than I normally would because of the number of people who adore…
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February 03, 2011 | Thursday | 67 Comments
Here’s some sad, sad Pac-Mans, to quote Stephanie Leary. VIDA posted their count of major publications, their reviewers by gender, and their reviews by gender of the author. Oh, that is one hurtin’ Pac Man collection right there. The New York Times book review pages feature books by men twice as much as books by women, while The New Yorker features books by men four times as much as books by women. I knew it was bad but oh, holy night, that just dropped my jaw. VIDA is ready to “invest our efforts and energy into the radical notion that…
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January 29, 2011 | Saturday | 152 Comments
I received this email and know you are going to have an absolute fiesta of recommendations. We’ve talked about YA books, including this post from 2005** about YA books that Candy loved. We’ve talked YA romance before, too, but since there is SO much to choose from, what would you recommend for a 13 year old reader who is becoming interested in romance? I’ve been a big reader since I was a little girl so it has been a joy watching one of my nieces become an avid reader. Knowing I am the big reader in the family, she has…
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October 06, 2010 | Wednesday | 60 Comments
How you doing? I hope you’re having a pretty swell day. It might not be swell by the end of this but if the coffee was good this morning, that’s a win. I’m writing to talk to you about Kelley Armstrong’s book covers. First, this comparison was sent in by alert reader Ashley-Anne, who found them separately and had to send me the cover images. Oh, my my. It’s happened before, and I understand, obviously, that there are only 35 stock images to go around. Look at the pink legs that were everywhere. And yes, the tulle-wrapped legs are evocative…
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September 08, 2010 | Wednesday | 26 Comments
I’ve done this graphic before but some jokes, they never get old. Have a peaceful and sweet new year, folks.
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May 04, 2010 | Tuesday | 27 Comments
Usually with any conference or event I attend, there’s always one memory or item I remember best, something that sort of encapsulates the entire event. Sometimes, it’s not a good thing (Pittsburgh’s RT, while hosted by my home town, was a hot mess of groping and asthma attacks for many) and sometimes it’s something outside the script, like at RT in Orlando, when Beth Ciotta turned to Heather Graham and remarked that she couldn’t believe Heather’s daughter, who had just danced onstage, was no longer 3 years old. That moment reminded me that although many people disagree about RT and…
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April 28, 2010 | Wednesday | 3 Comments
Way back in the day, Buffy vs. Edward: Twilight Remix was featured as a Friday Video. now it’s up for a Webby Award among the remixes and mashup videos. It’s up against Auto-Tune the News, which I also featured on Friday Videos. Man, I have some strange taste, it seems.
Voting ends tomorrow, 29 April, so if you want to go show Buffy some love, get on it soon.
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April 10, 2010 | Saturday | 90 Comments
From the department of “Again already?” there’s hyperventilation about whether or not kids are reading and growing more stupider by the minute because they don’t read. Truly, take a breath people. Remember that annoying song in 1997 about how everyone has to wear sunscreen but not credit the correct source of all that wisdom? (It wasn’t Vonnegut, fyi). In the middle is this bit of perspective: Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old. And when you do you’ll fantasise that when you were younger prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children…
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April 05, 2010 | Monday | 6 Comments
I go away for a week, and the inbox explodes with awesomeness. Links ahoy! From Kim: sexy erotica from the 1770s was discovered in a Lake District manor house. OH LA LA. One tale is called The Crafty Chambermaid’s Garland and details the story of a young woman who tricks a man into marrying her. Written in 1770 it states: ‘The Merchant he softly crept into the room. And on the bedside he sat himself down. Her knees through the counterpane he did embrace. Did Bess in the pillow did hide her sweet face. ‘He stript (sic) of his clothes…
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March 05, 2010 | Friday | 29 Comments
Thanks to Lobo, here’s a trailer made of clips from an entirely different movie: Pride and Prejudice by way of Disney:
Oooh, and there’s one for Brokeback Mountain:
And Twilight!
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January 28, 2010 | Thursday | 24 Comments
Grab your lasso and your chaps, because we’re going back to college to round up some romance in academia links. First: on 23 February at 12:30 pm at Brandeis University, documentary filmmaker Laurie Kahn, who directed Tupperware!, a documentary about Tupperware and the women behind it, for PBS’ American Experience, will be talking about her new work-in-progress, “Creating the Popular Romance.” From the press release, sent to me by awesome reader Michael: The world of romance novels (who writes them? who reads them? who publishes them? why are they so popular? and what do they say about our culture?) is…
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January 08, 2010 | Friday | 66 Comments
First, from Kristen Painter, My New Pink Button, a dye to down your nether lips (or neither lips, whichever you currently possess) back to a lovely pink, should the normal process of aging and hormonal changes mean that your downthere is a bit more brown or red in color. A: OMG, this MATTERS?! I’m filing this under ‘Really? You bleach your anus? Why?’ B: I better see some seriously florid and elegant descriptions of nether lips that reference the color. I barely pay attention to what my own hard-to-see parts look like, but I darn well want to know what…
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December 30, 2009 | Wednesday | 43 Comments
After seeing Laura Clawson‘s article about romance novels on Daily Kos, “Romance Reader, Unashamed” (and seeing the most awesome comment thread ever in terms of knowledge and enthusiasm) I had to get all nosy and beg Ms. Clawson for an interview. Behold! Laura’s a contributing editor at Daily Kos, and a senior writer at Working America. Even better, she’s a romance fan - wait until you see her favorites list. So what made you write this article about romance, sexual politics, discrimination and misogynist myths about romance? Laura: I think that when the second Twilight movie came out I’d seen…
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November 30, 2009 | Monday | 13 Comments
You know my theory - you never forget the first romance you ever read. Paige is looking for hers: So I’ve recently become nostalgic for the first romance I ever read, but unfortunately, when my mom found it hidden under my bed many years ago, she confiscated it and got rid of is, so I was hoping you romance aficionados would help me out and be able to pull a title from somewhere so I could find it and read it again. Here’s what I remember: It was a Harlequin published sometime between 2000-2003; and I’m pretty sure it was…
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