Luckylyn

I started The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz. This is the first of a series he’s been doing. I liked the Odd Thomas books, so I hope to enjoy this too.

I started The Jackal by JR Ward today. Overall I enjoy the Black Dagger Brotherhood Universe a lot. I hope I like this one too. Some books in the series are more engaging for me than others. Regarding the ending of Mexican Gothic ,

Follow the Stars Home is so good. It deals with serious issues and the cast is so good. The problems of characters in the current Hallmark movies are so repetitive and shallow. Theses movies used to have depth even if they had cliches.

Loving Leah is one of my favorites. The actors are good and the leads had great chemistry. I appreciated that the girlfriend wasn’t cartoon evil and had understandable upset reaction to the situation. This movie is a really great romance that works so well. It’s definitely one of those movies I watch whenever it’s on.

That is my thinking as well, that Leti and Tic’s son is Christina’s backup plan. Christina is a long range thinker. Christina does nothing that is not ultimately useful for her goals. Montrose’s speech about being Tic’s father because a man has sons showcased how he has linked his self image in being a father. Montrose learned through his abuse that being a man meant brutality so Montrose inflicted that same brutality on Tic. I pity what Montrose suffered at the hands of his father, but I have no sympathy for his abuse of Tic. There’s something self serving about how he uses his image as a father as some sort of coping mechanism and proof of his masculinity. I also find myself judging George not for not intervening in Montrose’s abuse because they were still kids and both fearful of their father but the way George was a bystander to Tic’s abuse. It’s worse because he could have used the leverage of being Tic’s possible father to get Tic away from Montrose. When it comes to being a father, both of them failed Tic. Also why didn’t George marry Dora and raise Tic himself? Did George support the marriage of Dora and Montrose because he thought somehow that would help his brother? Is that what Montrose meant when he said George helped him more than anyone else? Why did Dora stand up for Montrose when he was abused but not for Tic? I desperately need a flashback episode that explains the circumstances of Dora and Montrose’s wedding? I am glad that people are learning more about their history. It is sad that events like the Tulsa Massacre are not taught in schools. So much promise and loss of life because of bigotry and they got away with it. If we don’t learn our history we repeat it. It’s scary how much ugliness still exists in modern times. It is not some remnant from the past but a horror that could happen again if people do not actively resist racism.

There was an animated series that included Clara and the kids.

I don't blame her for Norman's mental illness. It is not clear whether his issues were genetic since Norma's mother was mentally ill or as a result of the trauma of being raised with an abusive father. What I blame Norma for is how she handled Norman's mental illness. By trying to conceal things, she created a situation that blocked Norman from getting help earlier before things had gone too far. She also fostered an intensely unhealthy co-dependent relationship with Norman making it extremely difficult for him to connect to anyone outside of her. Both her sons suffered trauma based on how she treated them. Norma suffered from too much attention and Dylan suffered from neglect. Vera Farmiga did amazing work as Norma because she managed to be compelling while at the same time being a mess of a terrible person.

So I agree. So far the narrator is fine with dialog but is so flat for the narration. Reading it is more engrossing than listening.

I really think the format was interesting and well edited. I will never under choosing murder instead of divorce. Shanan was not perfect but she did not deserve death. Neither of them were saints. No one is. What he did to his children was incomprehensible. There’s a You Tuber called Live Abuse Free who did several videos on the case including a 3 part video on Chris’s mother’s book. The videos go into details of the family dynamics and the bad blood between Shanan and Chris’s Family.

I’m starting Mexican Gothic today.

I just started The Bittersweet Bride by Vanessa Riley a romance about a widow looking for a marriage of convenience reunited with a former love.

Have any of you seen Space Station 76 which uses the 70s aesthetic? I thought it was just going to be a spoof of 70s sci-fi and it was promoted like a comedy. It’s more drama than comedy but I enjoyed it despite how heartbreaking some aspects were. The parts that are funny are hilarious. Any scene of Misty and the robot therapist is comedy gold.

That’s one I always enjoy when it’s on.

Her lawyers even threatened to call fanfic writers employers which would have outed some writers who are closeted at work. She took things to such an unnecessarily nasty level.

I love the scene in a Doris Day movie, I think That Touch of Mink, when one character asks his secretary to remove her glasses and is surprised she doesn’t suddenly become gorgeous. Mocking that trope is fun.

When I mentioned Jane Austen and Shakespeare, I didn’t mean that someone could sue on their behalf. I was referring to the idea that people have been inspired by other peoples’ works for centuries. So an author who reads Pride and Prejudice and then decides to write a ‘hate to love’ trope novel (ex: Bridget Jones Diary) is very similar to someone who decides to write fan fiction. The tropes are not the author’s original idea, but they are making a new product inspired by what has gone before. When I watch Amy Hecklerling’s movie Clueless I can see how she was inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, but Clueless innovates to become it’s own story.

Into The Omegaverse: How a Fanfic Trope Landed in Federal Court This was a take on some fascinating author drama. I agree that tropes are a part of creative fields and that you can not own them. There’s a difference between writing a story with established tropes and plagiarism/copyright infringement. You can’t own a genre. I do think Addison was abusing the system to eliminate authors she viewed as competition. At one point Ellis mentions Patricia Briggs as predating Addison. I wanted to state that Patricia Briggs take on these tropes does not support nonconsensual sex. The mating bonds she includes in her stories always include consent. Briggs treats rape as the horror it is and not romanticized in any way. This does make me wonder over whether or not Stephanie Meyers would have had a legal claim against EL James since 50 Shades of Grey was originally a Twilight fan fiction called Masters of the Universe. I think it’s a good thing that Meyers did not attack James. I know that the book Remedially Rocket Science by Susannah Nix was originally Arrow Fan fiction. What is the legality of turning fan fic into novels with names/situations changed for profit without giving a writing credit/percentage to the creators of the material that inspired the fan fic? Is it on the same level as simply using established tropes or borderline copyright infringement? What about authors who write novels inspired by Jane Austen or Shakespeare? I do not want to see fanfic mired in court cases and that community damaged. I know some authors go after fanfic aggressively like Anne Rice who used lawyers to threaten and harass fanfic writers.

I love Christmas but hate how the start up of airing Christmas movies now starts all the way in October. I like Freeform giving Halloween prominence. I hope we get 30 days of Thanksgiving too. As much as I love Christmas, I think airing Christmas movies should start no earlier than Black Friday. Showcasing Thanksgiving would distinguish Freeform as alternative to people who want an alternative to Hallmark’s Christmas starts in October programing.

I’m reading At All Costs by David Weber. It’s part of the Honor Harrington series of books. The series is fascinating. The conflict gets more interesting over the series because initially who the good guys were was more clear but as things have progressed there are good and bad people on both sides of the conflict. It’s been frustrating and enthralling to see the conflict continue because of manipulations, miscalculations, bad luck, and mistakes. The only thing I don’t love is the lengthy tangents describing the tech. I understand that the tech is important to the story because technical advantages/disadvantages do effect outcomes. I’m sure there are fans who really appreciate Weber’s attention to detail. I just think those parts go on a bit too long. I call those tangents “Tech Porn” and I’ve gotten used to it.

I’m reading The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory . This book features Carlos who was one of the friends in The Wedding Date. I’m really enjoying it so far. Lots of humor and characters with personalities I find interesting. I agree that learning about Henrietta Lacks shows so much about the inequalities in how patients are treated and how easy it has been for people to be taken advantage of by doctors they should have been able to trust. They used her, profited, and she wasn’t informed or allowed to benefit from the contribution of her cells that was basically stolen from her.

I thought the lack of detail made sense because Martin had so many issues regarding sex. He was so uncomfortable that it took so much to get him to understand that his desires were okay. There’s a scene where he explains that he hadn’t wanted to want sex and so didn’t know what to do about Will. Considering how his character grew up and the information he learned about what a predator his father was Martin’s issues worked as an obstacle. On some level, he was always judging himself for his feelings for Will and feels so unworthy of love because of the lack of it he had growing up. So it took effort and Will’s love/patience to help Martin get past it to act on his feelings. I think my favorite of the Sedgwick Series was the first one, but I liked each book a lot. I thought the final book in the Regency Imposters series was my least favorite Cat Sebastian book. It’s not a bad book but the pacing seems so much slower than the others. I feel like it takes a while to really get going. I ultimately liked it but it took time for me to connect to the characters. I recommend Cat Sebastian’s Turner series as well.

I wish I could like your post 100 times. Bomer was born to put on a suit.

Camille in Cookie’s Fortune is such a terrible person but she’s fascinating to watch. You can tell Glenn Close is having a great time playing her. There’s something so fake about her and the way she tries to seem polite but is just a monster of a person. The plot of the movie involves Camille finding out her relative Cookie has committed suicide. Camille decides that suicide is too much shame for the family so she destroys Cookie’s sucide note and then stages the scene to look like a murder. When someone is arrested for this murder that didn’t happen Camille does nothing to help him even though she knows for certain it was suicide. She just happily moves into her wealthy relative’s home and starts using her stuff while there’s still blood from the death fresh in the house. She treats her sister like a doormat and is perfectly willing to let a man she knows is innocent go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit while she profits from the death. The ending where

Donna - Parks and Recreation