While I'm Achooing

I'm still feeling pretty under the weather, although I think I'm over the worst of the sniffles. While I'm recovering I thought I'd recommend a movie I watched yesterday for any of you who are P.D. James and/or Jane Austen lovers.

Masterpiece Mystery! adapted Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, which was the late author's murder-mystery continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I did read the book when it was published, and I think this production is pretty faithful to it. Among its many charms it is very suspenseful, features ordinary-looking actors versus the usual beautiful people, and offers a satisfying look at Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship six years after they marry.

It's a clever whodunit, but it's also a window to a fascinating time period. The way criminal cases were handled back then in particular is a real eye-opener. It's 180 minutes long, and split into three episodes, so I really should call it a mini-series.

I'm going back to bed (sniff!). See you all tomorrow.

Collectibles

I'm back and mostly recovered from road drag (like jet lag, only harder on the lower back.) The weather was not especially great for long-distance driving, and I never again want to navigate my way through the mountains in the freezing rain and pitch-black darkness, but all's well etc.

A couple of months ago I ordered my reward for finishing my latest book, and weirdly enough it arrived a few hours after I turned in my revisions to my editor:



I didn't get a chance to take my kid to see Breaking Dawn part 1 last year when it came out in the theater, and although she's really outgrown the whole Twilight thing I thought we'd watch it together to see [part one of] how it wraps up. I didn't realize I'd ordered the collector's edition, though; I just clicked on the DVD edition that came with a $5 rebate. I like rebates.

When I took the DVD out of the shipping box it felt rather heavy, so I opened it to see if the discs were made out of marble or something. Inside was the usual shot of the star-crossed menage plus a couple of ordinary discs:



But under the pop out wedding scene in the center I found this:



It's a real fake flower from the real fake wedding in the movie; an actual prop from the film. I know this because a certificate of authenticity is also encased in the acrylic holder; I got bogus bud #19124. While it's not especially rare -- going by the numbers there are 157,999 other collector's editions out there -- I admit, I was kind of charmed. I've never before owned an authentic movie prop. My fake flower is a little flat-looking; maybe Bella stepped on it on her way to the altar. Or sat on it at the reception. There was a reception, right? How do vampires have a reception?

Anyway, I showed it to my kid, who also thought it was neat. She was a bit puzzled over the reason for my purchase, though. "I'm kind of over the whole Twilight thing, Mom," she said, "so why buy the movie?" Before I could make an excuse, she wagged a finger at me. "Aha! You never finished reading the last book."

"I've been busy," I told her, and that was true enough. And while I sincerely admire Stephenie Meyer for getting so many teens to read, and wish her all the best and much continued success, nothing on this earth could convince me to pick up that novel again.

The fake flower is pretty cool, though, and I think it shows some true inventiveness on the part of the Twilight marketing team. For diehard fans of any age there's probably nothing quite as exciting as owning a tiny piece of something that is so significant to them.

I've been working on my own modest assortment of promo items for the release of Nightborn. I decided to go with things I love to do (read, quilt, assemble, bead) and use what skills I have in those departments to design, make and/or put together my giveaways. I've also come up with a special Nightborn design of my BookLoop to give away with every book I sign, which makes that a (very limited) edition collectible. And while my promo will never match the plethora and distribution of Twilight fake flowers, I think readers appreciate having a one of a kind item just as much as the mass-produced variety.

What do you think of collectibles for readers? Let us know in comments.

Screen Time

While I don't watch broadcast television, I do buy movies and a select few TV series on DVD as rewards for meeting my writing goals. I also swap them with friends as reciprocal gifts for birthdays and the holidays, which is fun because we don't tell each other in advance what we're swapping.

The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds was one of my rewards for finishing my last novel, and features Sandra as a demanding NY Publishing senior editor about to be deported back to Canada, and Ryan as the male assistant she strong-arms into becoming her fiance. I'm generally not a fan of films that portraying powerful women as demanding, heartless harpies from hell because it caters to misogynistic attitudes, but I like Sandra's movies, and as I expected she plays her role as smart and funny versus offensive and insulting. The screenwriters also did a nice job with the back story that actually supports her characterization.

Most of the story takes place in Alaska, during a visit to meet Reynolds's family, and gets pretty goofy at times, but there's enough drama to keep it from becoming utterly silly. Betty White (who plays Reynolds's 90 y.o. grandma) obviously had the best time with this project; she practically steals every scene she's in. The logical but realistic end wrapped up the movie neatly without sending my blood sugar through the roof or ticking me off, something that tends to be a problem for me with romantic comedies. I wonder, though, does Ryan Reynolds have a lazy eye, or maybe is a tiny bit cross-eyed? There were a couple of times during the movie that I swear, his right eye just didn't seem to be staying in sync with the left. Anyway, see the official trailer here.

Chuck Season One: This was a birthday swap gift that I received from a friend who (thanks to me) is now completely hooked on Burn Notice. I think I'm hooked on Chuck now, too; if you're looking for pure farce, you don't get much better than this. Chuck is a computer repair tech/geek/lonely guy who works at a big electronics chain store. He lives with his sister, he got kicked out of college, and he's basically every poor slob who could never get a date in high school. All that changes when via synaptic download Chuck accidentally becomes the government's most valuable intelligence asset.

The characters really make this show, and Adam Baldwin, who plays one of Chuck's handlers, is really priceless as brutal/humorless gung-ho patriot. He deadpans so well that I swear, every time the guy raises a steely brow I crack up. I'm charmed most by Zachary Levi, though, who plays the title role and in every episode grabs your heart with his awkward but sweet and surprisingly deep portrayal of the character; a true prince with principles and a pocket protector.

What I'll be watching over the holidays:

Castle Season One -- Another swap gift, one that came in for Christmas (our theme was favorite on-screen genres, and my pal got the SyFy Channel's Dune and Children of Dune mini-series in return from me.)

I'm a bit nervous about this one. I rarely watch movies or shows about writers because (inevitably, I suppose) they never get it right, or they make us into some idiotic variation of the wonderfully rich, helpfully curious old gal author from Murder, She Wrote (yeah, there's some heavy-duty realism for you.) About every ten years one comes along (ala Author! Author! with Al Pacino, Impromptu with Judy Davis, and Finding Forrester with Sean Connery) that is entertaining, but mostly I avoid them.

That said, I think Castle might be okay for three reasons: 1)It stars Nathan Fillion, who I think is an amazing actor, 2) Nathan plays a mystery author, one genre I don't consider personal territory, and 3) I got my friend (a devoted SF-hater) hooked on Frank Herbert enough to ask to borrow the first book, so this is like swap karma. I'll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, here's the trailer for season one.