Saturday, April 28, 2012

Smart Gals Sip – Drinks With Sarah Bird, Nanci Wilson and Carla Jackson At The Four Seasons


When best-selling author, screenwriter, and Texas Monthly columnist Sarah Bird (pictured far left) said she was “addicted to my blog” I thought, “OK, I can die now. My life is complete.” When she posted the following message on Facebook after we had drinks Thursday night, I nearly died laughing,  “GADSZOOKS did we have a good time!! Thank you to SueAnn, Kween of the Social Konnectors and a blue-nailed hoot to boot!!” Obviously, the woman has a way with words, and although I’m not worthy to touch the hem of Sarah’s garment when it comes to writing, I guess I’m worthy enough to share wine, cheese, tuna tartare, quesadillas, nachos and french fries with her. I asked the waitress at the Four Seasons to bring us three of their best hors d'oeuvres and she apparently thought I said bring them all! Anyway, we ate well. I met Sarah through my blog and through Facebook, and what a fun connection that has been. Sarah is in the middle of a top-secret and very exciting project that I can’t tell you about, but which involves her famous book, The Flamenco Academy. Oh yes, and go buy all of her books. You can thank me later. 

Nanci Wilson (pictured above center) is an Investigative Reporter with two Emmy awards, six Emmy nominations, a National Journalism Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. I met Nanci at her and my grandsons’ joint-birthday party in San Antonio. Just so happens that her grandson and my grandson are best friends.  It took us about 20 seconds to become friends as we stood in the kitchen at my daughter’s ranch, ignoring the birthday clamor going on around us. Nanci had Sarah, Carla and I staring drop-jawed at her stories of the investigations she has been and currently is involved in – no secret information was exchanged as what she told us was already a matter of public record, but the inside scoops were tantalizing and fun! I want to be Nanci’s “deep throat,” metaphorically speaking of course. I know a couple of illegal things going on in Austin that haven’t been investigated yet! (Nanci – call me). 

If you think that Carla Jackson (pictured above right) cannot possibly be as interesting as Sarah and Nanci, you’re wrong. Carla is the Co-Producer of 2011 Austin Film Festival Selection, San Diego Black Film Festival Selection, and DC Independent Film Festival Selection, A Swinging Trio. Be sure to watch the movie trailer. It is hot and provocative!! Carla is also the Associate Director, Center for Public Policy/Political Studies at Austin Community College, although I’m not sure when she has time to sleep. She’s also currently producing a feature-length documentary, "Black Sun," that chronicles two celestial events: the May 20, 2012 annual solar eclipse and the November 14, 2012 total solar eclipse. The movie follows two African American astrophysicists who study the solar atmosphere during eclipses. The film's goal is to inspire more minority children to choose science-related careers. I was so impressed by Carla and her descriptions of moviemaking that I invested a little money in the "Black Sun" project, which entitles me to my name in the movie credits! Woo hoo! I'm a movie producer! Actually, you can be too. Go to this link and sign up to support the project.

As you’ve heard me say before, I’m a recluse, and these Very Smart Gals get-togethers are my self-induced therapy, but the time I spent with Carla, Nanci and Sarah was more than therapy, it was fantastic fun! 

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 84


#84 – “If you have an injury make a poultice and tie it on the injury with a soft rag to draw out the bad stuff.”

When I went to the list of the 100 things my mom taught me a million times and saw #84, my first thought was, “What in the hell am I going to say about that?” But after I woke up this morning, excited to finally have time to blog, then drank too much of too strong coffee, the thoughts came rushing out so fast they were like bodies piled at the only exit of a burning building. So here are the fortunate survivors (thoughts). Writing is such wicked fun.

“Poultice” is a creepy word and even a creepier thing to me. Every time my mother said the word “poultice,” I would involuntarily twitch, look around to see if anyone else heard her, and then visualize the Wicked Witch of the East’s ugly stepsister – the one with hairs growing out of her facial moles.

Perhaps you’re wondering what a poultice is? Although there are many variations on the ingredients for a poultice, mom’s poultices were flour and hot water mixed to the consistency of cookie dough, spread onto a soft rag (important part of the formula), and then applied to anything that hurt: bug bites, snake bites, broken bones, bronchial congestion, splinters, blisters, gunshot wounds, and day-to-day booboos.

The principal behind this ancient, yet fairly effective formula/technique, is that as the poultice “paste” dries and cools, it “pulls out” the bad stuff – infection, inflammation, bullets and splinters – taking the pain with it. A little research (very little) revealed that Native Americans used mashed pumpkin as a poultice, and the Romans used porridge, which makes sense as no one really wants to eat porridge anyway – well, except me. I’m an inexplicable Malt-O-Meal freak. Click on Read More Below...

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


I sort of liked The Hunger Games – the effortless read; the way I knew the definition of every word in the book; the lack of thinking involved. Although the book was written for teens, it is enjoying universal popularity, not unlike the Harry Potter books/movies. I’m not sure what that says about us as a society – we love adventure at any age, or we dumb-down to relax. Just the fact that millions of teens are reading is a good thing.

For the three people out there who haven’t read The Hunger Games (yet), it’s about a future dystopic society in which the evil rulers hold an annual game pitting teens chosen by lottery from each geographic district, against teens from other districts for a fight to the death. The winner gets food for their family and to, well, you know, not be dead.

The main character is 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, whose name I love.  I found it refreshing that Collins  (pictured right) had a female heroine with two boyfriends, unlike the typical theme of a male hero with two women cat fighting over him.

Collins’ writing was, hmmm, I want to say, “good enough.” It didn’t make me want to recite passages, but it told the story well, and in some parts of the book was brilliantly descriptive, like her narrative about the costumes the contestants wore.

Of course the end is pretty predictable, but most of the story is interesting, exciting and compelling. I do recommend that you read The Hunger Games, just for fun; and if you need the relaxing benefits of more mindless entertainment, the trilogy, which includes Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Not that I’ve read them. I haven’t, and probably won’t.

I will, however, watch the movie, but only because the girl that plays the part of Katniss, Jennifer Lawrance (pictured left), was so wonderful in the Indy film, “Winter’s Bone.” I am always reticent to watch movies made from books I’ve read because they seem to disappoint me and not do the books justice. I somehow doubt that will be an issue with The Hunger Games.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø


Here’s what I liked most about The Snowman: (1) The main character. (2) The plot twists.

What I didn’t like about The Snowman: (1) For some reason the Scandinavian names of the characters in the book made it illogically hard for me to keep up with who was who. (2) Other than the main character, I didn’t engage with the other people in the book.

Both #(1’s) above are somewhat related because the main character in the book had one of the few pronounceable names – and what a name it was – Harry Hole. I kid you not.  Harry wasn’t a particularly likable guy, but he carried the plot along well enough.

On the other hand, Nesbø was masterful at taking the reader down dead-end trails and making you read on to find out what the hell was going on. 

Here's the plot. There are a series of murders of women and Harry Hole (snicker, snicker), in between drinking binges, tries to find the killer. His efforts are pretty lame and the plot has no backbone, but you really don't care because there is suspense, blood, drama, a surprise ending, and the story moves along at a quick clip.

In the photo to the left, author Joe Nesbø looks like the type of guy I would fall tragically in lust, I mean love, with - a bad boy.  

In the photo to the right, he looks like a psychotic meth-dealer.

Need a good murder mystery to take your mind off of ________ (fill in the blank)? Read The Snowman by Joe Nesbø.