Special Edition: Dress Up/Dress Down with Lyndell Williams
Please join me in welcoming best-selling author Lyndell Williams to Living After Midnight!
Marcus Kent’s Closet
In the urban romance, Sweet Love–Bitter Fruit, Harlem lawyer, Marcus Kent wakes up each morning before the crack of dawn. He kisses his sleeping wife snuggled next to him and slips out of the bed, heading into his walk-in closet. The small room contains a spectrum of clothes reflecting the professional and personal activities filling his busy life.
The first thing Marcus does is slap on some sweatpants, tee shirt and hoodie before grabbing a pair of running shoes at the bottom of the wall filled with high-end sneakers. His morning run ensemble complete. He passes walls of designer business suits and ties. Everything in its place, just the way he organizes the rest of his life. Carrying his sneaks, he brushes his lips against Toni’s cheek, quietly stepping to the apartment entryway before putting them on and heading out the door.
After running through the New York City streets, Marcus returns home for a quick shower and to change into one of his tailored suits before going to work at the community center he opened and is the executive director. A muscular Black man who is well over six-feet tall, he doesn’t have the luxury of shopping at just any store. Not that he would ever do so. He puts a lot of stock and money in making sure his clothes make the right impression. He has a list of tailors in his cell phone that he uses to construct a professional appearance that shows he is all business and success.
After breakfast, he grabs his gym bag and goes to work as a community organizer. Throughout Sweet Love–Bitter Fruit, Marcus’ clothes serve as a motif for the layers of social demands on a person. His wife, family, friends, employees and community have expectations for him to be what they need. Additionally, because the clothes hang on a character impacted by some of the same stereotypes as real people in society, he has to be constantly aware of what he wears.
The realities of assumed criminality when someone like him dons a hoodie remain in the back of his mind. He is a large Black man in America. A Gianni Campagna won’t keep people from being bigoted. He encounters a lot of people who reduce him by the color of his skin, but he doesn’t let it stop his flow. Whether he is shrugging into a Thomas Pink dress shirt or playing ball with his friends in a pair of IconX Joggers, Marcus is unapologetically himself.
After a long day of fighting for social justice, Marcus returns home, slips on a pair of pajama bottoms and makes sure to prepare the next day’s attire. He likes to walk around the apartment and hold Toni in the bare minimum, one of the reasons why everybody knows not to have the nerve to stop by unannounced. At home with his wife is where he finally gets to be relaxed and vulnerable, shutting out the demands and stresses of the world. It is his peace and when he gets to decompress, making a bare chest and feet a must. Whatever he wears, Marcus Kent is the quintessential alpha, who will be strong for those around him and gentle with the woman he loves.
Check out some of Marcus’ clothing choices at the Sweet Love Bitter Fruit novel inspirations Pinterest board.
Sweet Love, Bitter Fruit
Blurb – Harlem lawyer Marcus Kent fights for justice while preserving a stable, passionate marriage with wife, Toni. Smart and confident, he has it all together—that is until his world turns upside down.
Not only is someone stalking his sister, but an intern at work is also getting too close for comfort.
On top of all of that, Toni’s renewed infertility obsession causes them to continually argue, adding more strain and cooling off their steamy union.
Struggling with insecurities and yearning to have a child, successful psychologist Toni Kent looks to her husband for support. Unfortunately, relentless distraction and stubbornness prevent Marcus from being there when she needs him the most and jeopardizes their happy home.
After multiple failed in vitro attempts, Toni is ready to try again, but Marcus is done. He doesn’t want another headache or more heartache.
Will a baby-making impasse tear this dream couple apart?
From the author of My Way to You, a new novel about keeping the flames of love and passion burning in a world determined to snuff them out.
Enjoy this excerpt:
~~~~~~~~
Marcus sipped some cold coffee from a mug. Toni didn’t do the jealous wife. Probably because he worked his ass off to make it clear she was the only woman who held his interest. Only an idiot would take a good woman like her for granted because there was always another man ready to snatch her up. “What are you doing with the rest of the afternoon?”
Toni shifted in her seat. “Well, I have an appointment with Dr. Algiers.” He slammed the mug down on the desk, making her jump. “Marc.”
He tossed the rest of the burger on the open wrapper. “So that’s what this little lunch visit is about? The in vitro. I thought we settled that.”
“No. We just never talked about it again. I haven’t taken it off the table.”
He rubbed a palm against his aching jaw. “What do you need?”
“I was hoping you would come with me. We can talk some more on the way there.”
He wiped the coffee off his hand and desk. “I’m not doing that. I’ve said all I’m going to about this.”
Toni pushed the stack of files and leaned across the desk–her mouth twisted into a scowl. “Well, I haven’t. I’m ready to start treatments.”
He pinned her gaze. “You do what you want, but I’m not signing up for another fertility sideshow.” It was his turn. He flinched as the stapler crashed through the window. Sounds of the city seeped through the hole it left. “What the hell, Toni?!” The door opened. Marcus glanced up and jabbed his finger. “Out!” Whoever was on the other side never appeared. It closed with a soft click.
Toni’s glare burrowed right into him. “I told you before that this isn’t only about you. What about what I want?” She paced in front of his desk. “I’m there for you, Regina—everybody. When are you and everybody gonna take their heads out of their asses and give a shit about what I want?”
He opened his mouth when the phone went off again. “Son of a—Marcus Kent.”
“Hey, man,” Faisal’s tense voice shot into his ear and plucked the nerves down his spine. “We have a situation.”
Author Bio
Lyndell Williams (Layla Abdullah-Poulos) is an adjunct instructor, anti-racism and gender equity advocate and a cultural critic.
She is the founder and managing editor of the NbA Muslims blog on Patheos and a cultural contributor for Radio Islam USA. She is a contributor to the online publications About Islam and Haute Hijab.
Williams is the lead content editor WriteType Editorial Services and mentors aspiring writers across genres.
She’s had numerous short stories published in collections and enjoys a growing list of subscribers to her Layla Writes Love online short story series.
Williams self-published her first interracial romance novel My Way to You. The novel made it onto four Amazon bestsellers lists its premiere weekend.
She is committed to the traditional use of literature as social commentary to affect positive social change.
Williams is married and the mother of six children.
Website - https://laylawriteslove.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/laylawriteslove/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/laylawriteslove
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laylawriteslove/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWpN2YTkr9cGO9Z7-AB8xNw
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/laylawriteslove
Amazon - http://amazon.com/author/laylawriteslove
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https://open.spotify.com/show/4G0FXyBdBJUol2ixhQtYta
Newsletter http://bit.ly/2keDszX
Dress Up Dress Down Wednesday with Kris Bock!
Join me in welcoming Kris Bock to Living After Midnight!
My heroine is opening a cat café offering fancy coffee drinks, homemade baked goods, and the chance to play with rescue cats (and maybe even adopt one). She normally wears jeans and T-shirts, since she'll be scooping kitty litter. She does sometimes dress a little nicer:
She had yet to decide if she preferred meeting vendors in person to talking to them on the phone. On the one hand, you made closer connections in person, and it seemed to leave less room for misunderstandings. She got to study the items she needed to order, to judge quality. But on the phone, she could try to drop her voice a bit and maybe they’d think she was older. In person, people often thought her even younger than 24. She put on makeup for meetings, and even wore skirts and heels, but that didn’t seem to help. She probably looked like a little girl playing dress-up.
This gets into trouble though. She comes into the café after a vendor meeting. Her sister, Marley, is in the kitchen talking to Colin, the man Kari thinks her sister should like. Kari pauses to spy on them, hoping to hear signs of romance. Turns out they're talking about her.
She considered dropping to the floor, crawling to the door, and pretending she’d just arrived.
That was ridiculous. More specifically, it would be ridiculously embarrassing if she got caught. Better to keep going to her office, close that door quietly, and hope that when they realized she was in the building, they wouldn’t guess when she’d entered.
Her shoes squeaked on the floor. She froze.
Marley said, “Someone needs to teach that girl how to have fun.”
Kari stepped out of her pumps, crouched to grab them, and crept forward.
Domino wound between her legs and meowed loudly, annoyed that she was ignoring him.
Had the voices from the kitchen stopped?
Kari rushed the last few feet to her office. She reached her closed door and turned the handle. The door opened with a creak. Had it always made that noise?
In the main room, a cat yowled, and another hissed back amidst the quick sounds of scuffling.
Kari leapt over the child gate. Her foot caught. She grabbed at the swinging door. Her shoes flew out of her hand and across the room, landed with a clatter, and skidded under her desk.
She’d forgotten she was wearing a skirt that restricted her movement.
Poor Kari! Some of us shouldn't try to dress up. I'm one of those people. A few days ago, I went to a friend’s house to soak in the hot tub. In the dark, I missed a step off the back porch and sprained my ankle. Imagine the damage I could do to myself in heels! Good thing I live in New Mexico, and our fashion standards aren't high.
Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance
What do you do when you meet the guy of your dreams? Set him up with your sister, of course.
Kari doesn't have time for love when she's opening her new cat café. Renovating an old restaurant, hiring employees, fighting with the health inspector – oh, and welcoming 16 shelter cats – keeps her plenty busy. She's doing this for the cats, the community, and most of all her family. The café will give her sister, Marley, a job worthy of her baking skills.
Then a tattooed military vet wanders in claiming to be a master baker himself. The café doesn't need another baker, but maybe Marley needs a man. Surely she'll fall for a guy this sweet, this sexy, this tasty.
Colin has other ideas. It's Kari who makes him want to pour on the sugar and turn up the heat. But he's spent the last two years recovering from physical and psychological wounds. Is he really ready for a relationship? He's not even sure he should commit to Samson, the fluffy marshmallow of a cat who steals his heart.
Get this sweet romance on Amazon, or free with Kindle Unlimited.
Kris Bock writes novels of romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats.
Kris also writes romantic suspense set in the Southwestern U.S. If you love Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, try Kris Bock’s stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue in the Southwest. Read excerpts at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.
Kris Bock Blog: The Southwest Armchair Traveler
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#NanoWriMo2019 for the All Around Win!
Once again, I am jumping into the insanity of National Novel Writing Month. Last year, for the first time in a series of efforts, I actually won—I had a 50,000 word draft of a novel I titled Too Close. Yay, me!
Unfortunately, most of those 50,000 words are not good. Not good at all. When I am ready again to focus on this novel (I LOVE the premise, although I am not ready to share it), I’ll have to start pretty much from scratch. Hopefully, I’ll be able to salvage some of the better sections.
Consequently, this year I’m doing things differently. I’ll share with you the lessons I learned the hard way.
Lesson #1: Plan your story. The rules of Nano permit and even encourage outlining of your plot and scenes. I do always plot but in the past I’ve waited until Nanowrimo started to really look at the story in detail.
Lesson #2: Plan your time. I work, so scheduling writing time is essential—in the past, I’ve just winged it. Bad idea. I’m also going to be realistic about holiday expectations, meals in general, and well…housekeeping.
Lesson #3: Screw housekeeping. “A clean house is a symptom of a rigid mind.” I heard that somewhere. Really. did.
Lesson #4: Sedate the “internal editor”. Prevailing wisdom says to turn off your internal editor. You know, the voice in your head that tells you your writing sucks. But in order to prevent ending up with a huge percentage of words you can’t use, you need a little self-editing. Instead of killing him or her off (or “it”—My internal editor is a pesky troll named STFU), just give it a valium. Or a hard punch in the head. This will help you achieve a balance between letting the words flow and making sure they’re good.
Lesson #5: Hire a dog/cat sitter. Or leave the house. If you are lucky enough to not have an attention-seeking or high-strung puppy or kitty then this doesn’t apply to you. My Chloe is a marauder and a menace. I LOVE HER DEARLY but cheese and rice she doesn’t like me to work. I have to leave the house.
I hope you find a few kernels of help in these lessons. If you’re participating in #NanoWriMo2019, good luck. And if you’re in need of a Buddy, drop me a tweet @TrevannRogers or a comment and let’s connect.
Dress Up/Dress Down Wednesday with Patricia Preston and Darlene!
Hi ! Thanks for stopping by Living After Midnight! I’m excited to hear about your clothing, Darlene but I admit, my mouth is already watering to learn about your cookbook!
Thanks for featuring Darlene from “Darlene’s Redneck Recipes.” She is always ready to run her mouth and Darlene loves clothes. So straight from the 50’s, here’s Darlene Higginbottom, who is going to use the name Darlene Durand when she becomes a movie star…
“I’m just so happy to be talking about clothes and not cooking. I can tell y’all right now that clothes are my favorite thing. I mean, what’s more important to a girl than looks? Beauty is my priority, especially since I plan to be a movie star/sex symbol. I mean, me and Marilyn Monroe are practically twins, honey. If Elvis and Marilyn can make it in Hollywood, I know I can.
Back to my clothes. Well, I learned when I was sixteen the importance of tissue paper and padded D-cup bras. I’d wear one of those beneath my pink twin set and the boys would be falling all over themselves. I never had to carry a book. That’s because I’m enterprising and every enterprising gal knows how to manipulate a man.
Back to my clothes. I just love a wiggle dress. They fit every curve just perfect. I have a red one that I wear with black heels and of course, I always have the seams on my stockings straight. Honey, when I wiggle down the street, I can’t count the wolf whistles. Like everybody else, I have swing dresses and circle skirts. What I love to wear under those skirts, besides a frilly garter belt, is a can-can trimmed in lace. So every now and then, the lace peaks out from beneath the hem of your skirt. I’ve known men to miss their mouths with their coffee cups. What a mess. Anyway, I think wide cinch belts are fantastic with circle skirts and a knit top. Those belts, pulled really tight, make your waist look tiny. Of course, you may can’t breathe, same as with a girdle if you can manage to get the sucker on. But they do trim up the belly.
One more note on being chic, wear a neck scarf. Are they not the cutest trend ever? Just tie it in a bow on the side of your neck. I’ve got white chiffon neck scarf and I love it.
Now I will tell you I’d never be caught dead in one of those flowery dusters that old women, like my granny, loves. Maybe I’ll love them when I’m old as dirt, but not now. It’s like this: while I’ve got it, I’m gonna flaunt it as every woman should.
Darlene’s Redneck Recipes~Humor and Home Cooking
Over 200 mouth-watering and simple-to-make recipes narrated by Darlene Higginbottom, 50’s movie star wannabe and comic character from “Laid to Rest.”
Although Darlene’s no expert in the kitchen and hates cooking, she’ll be sharing down-home recipes that are favorites with her family and friends. She’ll also provide a hilarious commentary on Southern foods and traditions such as why the cornbread skillet is sacred, picking poke sallet, and frying everything. From cornbread to fried chicken, it’s all about comfort food that Southern mommas have cooked for generations.
Full of butter, fat, and everything that’s bad for you but tastes so good that Darlene promises you’ll be swooning and asking for seconds.
“If you’re a cook or if you have one on your Christmas list, this cookbook is a must-have, especially when it comes to the pie recipes.”~Darlene
Amazon links:
Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z1DJVMF
Paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/1688547436
About Darlene’s creator:
Award-winning author Patricia Preston writes single title contemporary and historical romance and Southern humor. She is represented by the Seymour Agency and currently has several titles available online. Her writing awards include the Lone Star Writing Competition for Historical Romance, Harlequin’s World’s Best Romances Short Story Competition, and William Faulkner Award for Short Fiction. Besides writing, she also enjoys photography, graphic design, movies and trips to historical sites. Please check out her website at www.patricia-preston.com where you can find out more about her available titles, sign up for her newsletter, follow her on social media, and read her blog. She appreciates all her readers and she is always grateful for reviews.
Dress Up Dress Down with Author Cheryl St. John #giveaway
Join me in welcoming Cheryl St. John to Living After Midnight! Cheryl will randomly pick winners to receive a copy of her ebook Dancing in the Dark. All you have to do to be eligible is comment on this post!
Cheryl, tell us about your heroine, Kendra!
A redhead, Kendra Price doesn’t shy away from pinks or reds, but shines in those colors. She chooses red, coral, pink or turquoise for most of her clothing, and she always carries a signature orange bag. After a challenging childhood and a traumatic end to her relationship with her first love, she left Spencer, Colorado with her sights set on a dance career. Her talent has earned her success and a monetary payoff, so she can afford to buy herself nice clothing. Her attire gives her confidence.
Because she dances every day, she has a wide assortment of dance attire, leotards, shorts and stretchy midriff tops. She has never kept her costumes, but offers them to dance schools and students. She has a passion for teaching growing teens not only dance, but how to care for their bodies and avoid injuries.
While on her travels, she has shopped in department stores across the country, so her clothing is unique and of good quality. She would probably never wear something ordered from a catalog, because she likes to shop and try on her ensembles.
One of Kendra’s favorite things to do is spend a day fishing from her aluminum runabout on Twin Owl Lake and on those days, comfortable shorts, a summer top, tennis shoes and a sun hat are her go-to outfit.
Here is Cheryl’s Pinterest board showing Kendra’s clothing:
https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/dancing-in-the-dark/
BIO:
Cheryl has always loved the exciting and diverse worlds available between the covers of books. As a child she wrote stories & drew covers, then stapled them into little books. She cut all the tiny images from the book club advertisements in the Sunday newspaper & glued them to bits of cardboard so Barbie® had a full library. She is the married author of more than fifty books, both historical and contemporary. Her stories have earned numerous RITA nominations, Romantic Times awards & are published in over a dozen languages. One thing all reviewers & readers agree on regarding Cheryl’s work is the degree of emotion & believability. In describing her stories of second chances & redemption, readers & reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters & real-life situations.”
The author lives in the Midwest, USA. When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she’s checking out garage sales, flea markets & antique malls. Among her collections are teacups & teapots, roosters, chicken kitchen timers, vintage spice tins, wooden recipe boxes, Barbies®, charm bracelets, vintage jewelry, Kokeshi dolls, white stoneware, Delftware, souvenir spoons, Goebel birds, Royal Copley planters, vintage hankies & BOOKS. Cheryl admits she’s a bargain hunter with the heart of a hoarder, trying to live as a minimalist. The struggle is real.
Cheryl kicked off the Aspen Gold Series with Dancing in the Dark. She and her critique group devised a continuity series, filled with diverse and entertaining characters.
Readers are loving the books: "The Aspen Gold Series is by far the best series I have read in a long time" and "Love the series and love not having to wait 6-12 months for the next book," are common praises on the Aspen Gold Facebook page: https://www.aspengoldseries.com/
Aspen Gold Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/n9n7p3
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Newsletter Signup: http://eepurl.com/bqCji9
email Cheryl at: SaintJohn@aol.com
amazon author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Visit her on the web: http://www.cherylstjohn.net/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cheryl-st-john
Like her Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/CherylStJ
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_CherylStJohn_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylstjohn/
She's a Pinterest junkie! https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24516.Cheryl_St_John
EXCERPT:
He opened the screen door, closed it behind him and walked across the porch, taking the stairs two at a time. I hate it when you leave, but I love to watch you go. That backside and those long legs in a pair of jeans could stop hearts. An elusive memory came into focus. He was fourteen or fifteen, tall and lanky, his shoulder-length hair bleached from the sun as he walked toward his dad’s old Mercury, turning back with a grin to wave at her. The image was so clear that she felt the same peculiar sense of loss and longing she experienced every time he’d left to go home. But today Dusty didn’t turn around…or grin…or wave. He put his toolbox in his truck, climbed in, and turned the vehicle around in the drive.
She watched the truck until it reached the road and stared after it long after the vehicle had disappeared behind the trees. He had never married. What did that mean? He was probably liked by everyone in Spencer, and he was a catch. Surely there were women who’d gone after him. He couldn’t have held out, thinking there was still hope for the two of them. She’d made that crystal clear.
This wasn’t the life she’d planned. She didn’t want to be bitter or unforgiving, but here she was, watching him go. She missed what-could-have-been so badly that she lived with an empty ache. But she had dance. She had determination. She had self-respect.
What she didn’t have was the man she’d wanted with her whole heart.
UNIVERSAL BUY LINK:
Dancing in the Dark: https://books2read.com/u/mKx2B9
#Review: The Good Place
Sometimes, entertainment comes from the most unexpected places.
When I saw a promo for The Good Place, I thought there was no way it could be anything but stupid. I continued on, hopping around #Neflix and as is often the case, 247 clicks later I hadn’t found anything that I wanted to see. Desperate, I took a deep breath and returned to The Good Place. I’m glad I did.
The premise of the series is that after we die, we experience one of two possibilities: We either go to The Bad Place and endure a hell made especially for us, or we go to The Good Place where whatever we desire is available to us. The story centers around Eleanor, convincingly played by Kristen Bell. She lands in The Good Place, only to realize she is there by mistake. Ted Danson also plays a pivotal role, but it is an ensemble cast with no weak players.
To my great surprise, the show is Laugh Out Loud funny. The humor is witty, with a humorous take on the human condition. I laughed because I could relate. It is also an emotional journey, with characters who are flawed, broken, with deep wounds that impact their choices and their beliefs more than they have realized. Moreover, the story arcs are creative and unexpected in that, “ did that really just happen” sort of a way, while still being true to the characters personalities.
I hope Netflix renews the series. I’m already addicted. 5/5 Stars
New Release! #anthology #RomanceBooks
I am excited to announce my curvy girl rockstar romance, Rock and Cinnamon Roll It’s in the newly released anthology Dangerous Curves Ahead (published by Riverdale Avenue Books and edited by Rachel Kenley). It’s available at all major outlets. You can find the links here: Dangerous Curves
Fall: A Beginning and an End
Fall is the end of the summer…an the beginning of the year.
I’m shocked to realize summer is almost over. Not officially of course, but all the signs are there. The sky is a crisper blue than usual. And I have this overwhelming need to get organized. Fall seems like it should be the beginning of the year. I have been out of school for many years, but the sight of school supplies still thrills me.
But that isn’t what shocked me this morning. About 2:30AM Chloe began to whine and then bark. She is elderly and not in great health, so I understand needing to go to the bathroom at odd hours. So I dragged myself from my warm bed and headed for the back door. At 2:30 I didn’t take the time to put on shoes or throw a robe over my short pajamas. I also didn’t turn on lights. The shock came when I stepped outside into the dark and realized how cold it was. The thermometer said 47 degrees. 47. What happened to 80 as our overnight temperature? Wasn’t that just last week? Well, maybe not. I do tend to compress time. Shivering, I rushed Chloe back inside and threw on a sweater to try to get warm.
I know that truly cold weather is several months away, but my bourgeoning desire to “nest” makes more sense as it approaches. I’m looking forward to cozy sweaters, sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking cups of warm tea or cocoa. How about you?
#Review: Another Life (Neflix Series)
A binge-worthy space ride.
Another Life is a new sci-fi series on Netflix. It’s about a relatively young space crew that’s charged with exploring the origins of a substantial alien artifact that landed on Earth. It’s a difficult journey, fraught with danger that is both unpredictable and horrific, led by Commander Niko Breckinridge.
Many facets of this show appeal to me. First of all, the lead character is a strong, take no shit commander who, at the same time, is broken due to various traumatic events in her life. She’s played spectacularly by Katee Sackhoff, a veteran actress of Longmire, Battlestar Galactica, and more.
Relationships among the crew are fairly unsurprising but filled with sex, drama and scandal. Hooks me every time.
My one issue with the show Is this: it seems to reach into the sci-fi bag of tricks and pulls out monsters and issues from a long line of successful classic shows instead of trying to innovate. For example, “woman versus alien that grows in human hosts” from Alien, musical communication with extraterrestrials a la Close Encounters of the Third Kind, inadvertent intoxication of the crew courtesy of Star Trek, and “oh, crap, I’m stuck in a sleep pod and I don’t want to wake up” from Stargate Atlantis.
As a fiction writer, I know all too well there really aren’t any new themes/plots/tropes, so this isn’t a fatal flaw. But it was so overt and frequent it occasionally took me out of the story.
All in all, if you’re looking for a binge-worthy space ride, Another Life is worth checking out. I’m looking forward to Season 2.
Rating: 4/5 stars
#Review: Hobbs and Shaw 5/5
I admit it: I agreed to see Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw for one reason—Joe Anoaʻi, aka Roman Reigns. Gosh, that man is gorgeous. It didn’t matter that his role was tiny, or that he didn’t utter a word. This was his film debut and I needed to see it. In that regard I was not disappointed. Joe/Roman was prominently on screen anytime he was in a scene.
The movie as a whole also does not disappoint. The premise is engaging. Who doesn’t love family drama, especially when you know all parties truly have everyone’s best interest at heart? The action scenes get your adrenaline pumping and, unlike some movies, didn’t drag on so long that whatever disbelief you suspended crashed back.
The glue that holds it all together is the cast. Idris Elba and his fine self makes the perfect villain. Vanessa Kirby as Hattie Shaw steals the show in terms of her fight scenes. She is totally bad-ass. But as the two protagonists, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham carry the full weight of the movie, and no one could do it better.
The chemistry between them reels you in. Their physical prowess and impressive comedic timing make you glad you showed up and stayed for the ride. I know I am.
Overall rating: 5/5 stars
PS Stay for the credits!i
My 600lb Life and Me
I have been trying to lose weight for a few years now. I’ve joined Weight Watchers, Tops, followed Atkins, Body Clutter, and the Body type diet. You name it, I tried it. I might have lost a pound or two but always gained it back. The desire for sweets and potato chips was stronger than my desire for fitness.
I also have the bad habit of watching TV while I eat. This adds to my tendency to overeat because I’m not paying attention to the food. Then I discovered the TV show My 600 Pound Life, which follows a patient for one year in their weight loss journey. Now, if I watch TV while I am eating, I watch this show. Trust me, this makes me acutely aware of how much food I eat.
I binge watched every season in their entirety, fascinated with the success stories and in awe that the doctor, renown bariatric surgeon Dr. Nowzaradan, didn’t throw in the towel with several of these patients. I certainly would have.
The show is mesmerizing, and I believe it’s at least partially responsible for the combined 64 pounds my partner and I have lost since starting this “Program”. I recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their weight.
As a writer, I also realized that the show closely follows the Hero’s Journey. Each episode begins with the ordinary world of the patient. We see the patients at home sharing their backstories. It’s a bit of an info dump but it works. Next, they are offered the chance of help, but something stands in their way. Transportation to Houston where the doctor is located can pose a huge issue. Finally, a call to adventure forces the patient to make the trip and they meet the mentor, Dr Nowzaradan. Entering Houston, they cross the first threshold to become his patient. Win, lose or draw, their lives are never the same.
After the call is answered, we follow the patient through a series of tests and challenges. The doctor’s first order is to go on a very low-calorie diet and lose a large number of pounds in a month. Most patients fail this test and fall prey to temptation, some several times. They receive assistance from nutritionists, physical therapists, counseling for their emotional issues, and sometimes drug rehabilitation. With the help of these allies they deal with their issues (or not), and experience a revelation. Their reward is weight loss surgery. But the surgery is not the magic elixir many of them believe it will be.
Now the patient must learn to eat properly and increase their activity using all they’ve learned. There is usually a setback but with the mentor’s help, they pull things together and begin to lose again. The show ends on a hopeful note with the patient making progress towards their transformation.
Over the course of their multi-year journeys, these heroes can loose 400-500 pounds. By their example, I’m reminded that I too can reach my weight loss and fitness goals.
#Review: GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS 4/5 Stars
Drawing of a monster.
When will people learn that Godzilla is one of the good guys? How many times can he save the world before humankind stops trying to kill him?
Such was my lament after watching GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS.
No spoiler alert. I’m not going to go into detail about the plot. Suffice to say it’s similar to every other Godzilla movie: Humans do something stupid that unleashes humongous scary, deadly creatures determined to destroy the planet. Enter the benevolent yet dangerous nuclear lizard to beat the radioactive snot out of them. We try to kill him, he saves us in spite of ourselves.
I really enjoyed this movie. Although I didn’t see it in IMAX or 3D format, the special effects were great. The colors were vibrant, the monsters detailed and awe-inspiring. I did see it in a Dolby Atmos theater. What a thrill for the seats (and the walls!) to vibrate when Godzilla roared!
If you’ve read any of the reviews by professional critics, you know it wasn’t well-received. They had serious issues with the plot. What did they expect for a Godzilla/Kaiju movie?
The measure for me is whether or not I’d see it again. Hell yeah, I would. I’ll watch every Godzilla movie, hoping that we eventually get it through our stubborn heads that he’s on our side.