Welcome to Wednesday Links! This is where we share some things we’ve seen on the internet recently, and hopefully help encourage you all to take a nice midday (or whenever you’re reading this) break!
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BookPage has posted their top ten romances of 2018 and honestly, this is probably the “Best of” romance list I’ve seen so far. What do you think of their list?
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Author Roni Loren is over at Frolic.Media listing her five favorite types of romance heroes! It’s hard to pick a favorite from her picks, but I’m torn between “the vampire” and “the funny guy.”
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Have you heard of AI Weirdness? Creater Janelle Shane trains neural networks to do some bonkers things and recently, she’s let a neural network come up with cookie names. Tag yourself! I’m Merry Hunga Poppers.
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I recently watched the Dumplin‘ adaptation on Netflix and I cried six times. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it, and Teen Vogue had a great interview with the film’s star, Danielle MacDonald:
Plus-size women and girls in films are still overwhelmingly relegated to one-dimensional roles: the funny friend or the ugly duckling turned bombshell after undergoing a drastic physical makeover — rarely are they depicted as the protagonist or being happy with themselves as they are, without a weight-loss plot tied in. “There aren’t often plus size, very real normal women in film. It’s never their story,” Danielle says. But Willowdean breaks away from those tired tropes. Not one to put up with anyone’s nonsense or tolerate abuse about her size, she’s sharp-witted and strong-willed. That’s not to say she doesn’t have her fair share of vulnerabilities — she does, but they aren’t seen as personal failings; they’re evidence of her complexity and humanity.
And, if you’ve watched it, I’d love to know what you think!
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Lastly, let’s leave on some good news! Alyssa Cole’s A Princess in Theory has been optioned!
https://twitter.com/AlyssaColeLit/status/1071096635650961408
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Um, I think you need to edit the sentence “honestly, this is probably the “Best of” romance list I’ve seen so what.” After five readings I still have no idea what you might have meant to say.
I really enjoyed Dumplin’; it’s a refreshing change from stories about self-loathing lonely girls who can only be happy with a diet/makeover and a hot boyfriend (who only notices them after the makeover). Willowdean has good friends, and a hot boy certainly notices her, but he thinks she’s beautiful (his word) when she’s all hot & sweaty in her polyester waitress uniform.
@Vasha: Fixed! It was supposed to be “so far.”
There’s an Aussie women’s footy player in the AFLW who just got a Fullbright scholarship to do health research at Boston University. Dr Erin Hoare of Deakin University and the Geelong Cats.
(Btw Geelong is not the wealthiest part of Melbourne, and she doesn’t sound like an exception, so there’s an element of Australian and American Dream fulfilment.)
Thought romance writers might be inspired again. Or nonfiction: someone interesting to interview.
(PS, if you want to see the press article on this, have to go through Facebook to avoid the paywall.)
I also enjoyed Dumplin’! I loved her crew that trained together for the pageant, I thought they were a great cast of characters. I also like the fact the pageant girls that were really serious about it, weren’t portrayed as villains.
Oh my goodness, I have to take a break from that AI posting, because I’m laugh-crying too hard to see! Thank you.
Oooh! I went down the rabbit hole on Janelle Shane’s neural networks a while back, when my brother texted me a link to the D&D spells one. I submitted both character name/class/race combinations, & character biographies, for a couple more. They’re fun!
Also, SO excited about “A Princess in Theory” being optioned! (Also also, the linked tweet mentions that “Next Year in Havana” was also (also also?) optioned – I highly recommend that one if you haven’t read it.
Perhaps I should lay off the caffeine now…
I like Keaton Patti’s “I forced a bot to watch 1000 hours of X and then asked it to write one of its own, here’s the first page” gags. Here’s the one for Hallmark Christmas movies:
https://twitter.com/KeatonPatti/status/1072877290902745089
WHICH I WOULD ABSOLUTELY WATCH. “I bought Christmas and now it is never. Unless we go on dates” is refreshingly direct.
@Ren Benton: OK, the bot had me at “small town snow globe refillery”!
Another great thing about Dumplin’ — there’s more than just one plus-size girl. And they have completely different personalities and arcs.
I loved Baking With AIs. It should be an episode of The Great British Baking Show to actually make recipes to fit these names.
Personally I’m looking forward to JK Rowling’s next novel, “Harry Potter and the Hallowy Maples”
Another big thumbs up for Dumplin’! Between Dolly, drag queens and a huge dose of self-confidence this was such a lovely movie.
“A Christmas tree explodes his family on purpose”
Son #1: I guess that makes it a Tannenbomb.
Also, over on Tor today, Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer touts her favorite reads, and tells people to “get over yourself and read some Romance! And also fanfic.” https://www.tor.com/2018/12/13/a-love-letter-to-murderbots-hamster-princesses-and-other-cute-reads/
I loved Dumplin’!!! From the nostalgic “9 to 5” to the loss to the REALNESS of being a plus size woman, this was a wonderful movie! I think it’s also the only movie I’ve ever seen Aniston in that didn’t make her into a hero. This was probably her most reality based character, and it was refreshing!