Monthly archive

February 2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Oscar's night out

Though I am not privvy to the financial details of the deal made between ABC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I'm guessing the network paid a whopping amount for the rights to tonight's Oscar telecast. Why? Because no one at the network or on the local affiliate stations can shut up about it.


I haven't seen so many on-air stories, online predictions from local news anchors and interviews with the hosts for any televised event since one network paid an exorbitant amount years ago to steal the Olympics coverage away from a competitor. The producers and the network are clearly hoping for a ratings bonanza.


And despite my dismay at the degree of hoopla, I'll be one of the viewers tuned in, along with several dinner guests who will actually enter my condo on my own red carpet, which is being duct-taped into place to avoid trips and falls. This is not the Kodak theater, after all, and my red carpet is a bolt of red fabric. Still, it promises to be festive around here tonight.


And I do have my opinions about the likely winners. I'm even willing to go out on a limb and put them here, in writing, so you can judge either my taste or my ability to do reasonable guesswork.


For best actor, my solid choice is Colin Firth. How any exceptionally articulate actor could master a role requiring him to stutter and make speaking look so incredibly challenging is astonishing. It was, for me an Oscar-worthy performance.


Though I did not see Black Swan -- it veered too far toward dark psychological horror for my taste -- the smart money's on Natalie Portman for best actress. I can't argue with that. Some folks believe sentiment could be on Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, but I wasn't wowed by that performance.


Much as I loved Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech, for me both the supporting actor and actress nods come from The Fighter. Christian Bale was fantastic, as was Melissa Leo.


Now for best picture. Though there's an argument to be made for the relevancy and topicality of The Social Network, my bet's on The King's Speech. For me, it didn't miss a single beat. I found The Social Network truly fascinating with some of the sparkling dialogue for which Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) is known, I just wasn't bowled over by the way the story was structured.


As we all know, though, movies, books, TV and all the arts are truly subjective, so I know you all have your own opinions. Feel free to share them here by clicking on comments. Or jump on over to my fan page on Facebook. We've made it easy for you to find. Just go to my website, www.sherrylwoods.com and click on the Facebook link, then "like" the fan page and jump right into the conversation. It's definitely the place to be for contests for giveaways of my books from time to time, so you'll want to be linked to it. See you all there.

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Monday, February 21, 2011

Home of the brave

News reports are often filled with stories of bravery -- soliders serving in war zones, a good Samaritan who steps in to save someone's life, even a grandmother wielding a shopping bag to prevent a smash-and-grab robbery overseas just recently. But the bravest of all may be a tiny girl in Miami who told of the abuse her grandparents were doling out to two of their adopted children.


If you've been following this horrendous story at all, it came to a tragic conclusion last week with the discovery of the father's pickup on the side of the highway, steeped in toxic chemicals, his adopted son close to death in his arms, his daughter's body in the bed of the truck. The father claimed to be so distraught over the death of the daughter that he intended to take his own life, along with that of her twin brother.


The torment he'd allegedly put those two children through, with the mother's apparent complicity, is unspeakable. More horrifying, though, is how the system failed those children.


Over time there had been signs, some so blatant it defies credibility that anyone could ignore them. The children went to school all but starving. The daughter's hair was falling out. Reports were duly filed, only to have the children yanked out of school for home schooling. At every turn, when someone tried to help, excuses were offered and, incredibly, accepted.


Only when this tiny child told of what she'd seen in the home did anyone get serious about conducting the kind of thorough investigation that had been justified long before. And even then, parental lies were accepted, the investigation delayed by just long enough for one child to die and another to wind up in a burn unit, suffering from near-fatal chemical burns.


I find this whole sad scenario so disturbing because of what it says about too many people who see signs of child abuse and make only the most cursory attempt to intervene. And, yes, I know I'm making judgments, something I swore off doing as this year's new year's resolution, but who cannot judge experts who took their time, who trusted adults reported to them as being capable of abuse and accepted their lies at face value?


Of course, hindsight is twenty-twenty. I'm sure every adult who had contact with those children is devastated by what happened, by their failure to do more. And therein lies the lesson for the rest of us.


When a child's life or safety is at stake, we all have to do more. We have to speak up and keep talking until we know someone is listening, until action has been taken. We can't pray for a brave child to do what we as responsible, caring, civilized adults have not done. That scared voice of a child may come too late. 


 

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

What are my choices?

I am beginning to understand why Congress rarely gets anything done. Once two or more people get involved in making a decision, it is never quick or easy. Add in political ramifications and I'm sure you see what I mean.


In my life, however, the decision-making has usually been left to me. I am, after all, a well-documented control freak. I would be very good at running a benevolent dictatorship, but a democracy? Not so sure.


Here's what I mean as it applies to daily activities. If I'm thinking about going out for lunch, I grab my purse and go. If I think I need a Starbucks boost, I'm there. If I want to see a movie when it opens on a Friday, I hop in the car and head for the theater at the showtime that works for me. A lifetime of being independent has conditioned me to do things on my own.


However, I do have a lot of friends whom I enjoy. Making plans with them involves coordinating and concessions. For example, I've just spend four days exchanging emails with a group of four friends trying to pin down a time and location for lunch. Three are retired. One still works a demanding job. And then there's me with a writing schedule that looks like a dream to an outsider, but pretty much has me twitching. Two people rarely check their emails. One travels a lot. Getting us all together in one place is like herding ducks. I think I finally nailed it down this morning. We'll see.


When I went to Ireland a few years ago with my cousin, we made the decision on impulse. She's even more spontaneous than I am. We grabbed airline tickets, picked a hotel from a couple of choices, zeroed in on a couple of day trips. I picked the sites. She picked the pubs. It worked out well.


Now there's the trip to Paris I'm planning for this fall with a friend. Again, as with that Ireland adventure, I'm used to making a decision in two seconds flat, making the reservations and hopping on a plane. That's a lot harder to do with someone else, who has every right to share in the decision-making. We have spent weeks going through countless guidebooks and websites, making pro/con lists, comparing notes via email and long distance calls. I'm knee-deep in compromise. And today I think we just eliminated the hotel that had seemed to be the top consensus choice. Back to square one. I may need a week in a country inn just to recover from the decision-making.


I would love to know who wields the power when you make plans with family or friends. Some wives I know organize all the social engagements. I know at least one husband who decides every detail of their travel plans. I think friends who have regular get-togethers on a certain night of the week or month are incredibly smart. It takes all the guesswork and planning out of it. What do you do to make sure you fit these things into your busy lives?


You can respond to this by clicking on comments below or hop over to my fan page (Sherryl Woods Author) on Facebook and comment there. And if you haven't yet "liked" that page, be sure you do it. I'll be doing one last give-away of an advance reading copy of Driftwood Cottage in the next week or so. Any of you who are fans of the Chesapeake Shores series don't want to miss the chance to get an early peek at the next book!


 

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Karma is a . . . wonderful thing!

I'll just bet you thought I was going to say something else, perhaps use the word recently used by an NBA player who's less-than-beloved by the fans in his old city of Cleveland. Well, the sentiment here is the same, but I'm known for using little to no profanity in my books. Better not to start on my blog.


The reason I'm so delighted with karma today is that the temperature in Dallas is predicted to be a high of 39 with a snow and sleet mix. Inside the new football stadium, of course, it will be temperature-controlled, but apparently some poor souls from Green Bay and Pittsburgh have been relegated to watching the Super Bowl on giant TVs in the parking lots.


Now Packer and Steeler fans are obviously used to inclement weather. They don't seem all that fazed by the lousy welcome to Dallas for this year's Super Bowl. By the time they've filled up on barbecue and beer in the parking lot, they may not even notice it's cold. Hey, even I used to brave Ohio Stadium to watch the Buckeyes in the freezing cold. Now? You'd have to pay me.


And I'd be willing to wager quite a chunk on the notion that the Steeler and Packer fan base would rather be in a parking lot with the sun shining, the skies blue and the temperature hovering around 80, warm enough to spend their non-football time at the beach or on a golf course.


Why do I care about this? Because the NFL has been trying to blackmail the taxpayers of South Florida into footing the bill to do millions of dollars in renovations to the stadium used by the Miami Dolphins. Their leverage? Without the extra new skyboxes and a partial roof to shield attendees from the protenial of rain -- in the middle of the Florida dry season -- they won't bring the Super Bowl back here again.


Add in the fact that the NFL and the stadium owners not only want taxpayers to cough up the money for these renovations to a relatively new stadium, but they're apparently also thinking of expanding the season and moving the Super Bowl to President's Day weekend. This is otherwise known here in South Florida as Gridlock Weekend, thanks to the giant International Boat Show, combined with one of the country's largest art festivals in Coconut Grove. Add in a three-day holiday weekend in February and, often, Valentine's Day, and frankly, the hotels -- and roads -- are already packed to capacity. The arrogance of the NFL and the willingness of local officials to even consider this absurd proposal is fairly astonishing. This is Miami, though, so who knows?


Okay, let's take a vote here and now. Would you rather go to Florida's beaches during Super Bowl week and hang out in the sunshine at 80 degrees or get bashed in the head with ice sliding off the dome of a stadium in Dallas? Just curious. Admittedly, I'm biased. The minute I discovered it was possible to be warm in February, I went on the hunt for a job in Florida. That was over thirty years ago. I love gazing at snow falling from a cozy chair next to a blazing fire, but slipping and sliding on the icy streets? Not so much.


How about you? Feel free to comment here or jump on over to my fan page on Facebook (Sherryl Woods Author) and chime in there

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