Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

Hey, I've Read That Movie!

When I found out I was guest blogging here at Samhain, I had no idea what I was going to blog about. I racked my brain, trying to come up with some idea. Then, last week I went to see The Other Boleyn Girl in theatres and discovered there was something I wanted to talk about.

Books adapted for film.

How do you feel about books adapted for film? Have you ever come across one that was so horrible? How about one that was really good? Please leave a comment and let us all know!

I have few “pet” peeves. I really don’t want to retain something that irritates me. TV commercials are probably my number one. You ask why? Well you didn’t but I’ll tell you anyway. Ad agencies make millions and pay writers thousands to write the dialogue and come up with ideas we are forced to watch in order to see a favorite show. Some of them are very bad and I know I could do better, couldn’t you? I’m not going to make a list of all of them but I will refer to one,
The little green English-accented Gecko for Geico. For some reason he rubs me the wrong way. I am an animal lover extraordinaire, not like PETA but I love all living things. So when I say that I desire to press my number nine shoe to his green slimy head, please don’t assume I hate animals. Just him. I am now the proud payer for a satellite system that furnishes TIVO. Gleefully I race through the ads, especially the one with the lizard. Sometimes this is a mistake because I also rush through the opening and closing segments of the shows. For months I failed to hear the beautifully haunting sound of, Explosion In The Skies’, melody, “Think of me as a time of day.” This can be found at the opening of Friday Nights Lights.
The group is from Austin, Texas.
I see I failed to stick to one subject, well, it all concerns TV, so I suppose I’m okay.
Lionel A. La Vergne novelist, Judgment At John’s Hollow from Samhain
http://www.booksbylavergne.com for my other works

What makes a villian?

A few days ago, Mary talked about what makes a hero. Perseverance; doing what’s right, regardless of the cost; thinking of what others need.

But what I want to know today is what makes a villain? Not just any villain, but one we like to read about. George R. R. Martin has made quite a splash with his “Song of Fire and Ice” series, where several of the more popular protagonists are an incestuous pair of twins and a homicidal dwarf. I’m not so sure I like those characters, but Magneto in the “X-men” movies intrigues me. He’s got good goals and grave dignity – he just skips one too many corners on the way.

It's All About The Kiss

The Jen half of Ashleigh Raine: I’m a sucker for a kiss. Whether it’s the first kiss in a new relationship, or the millionth kiss between soul mates who’ve been together for a lifetime or more, kisses are beautiful. My heart beats faster, my hands shake, and I get a little weak in the knees just thinking about that perfect touch of lips to lips. I think that’s one of the reasons why I love reading—and writing—romances. I get to experience the joy of kissing over and over again.

My husband and son both tease me because when I see a kiss on a TV show or in a movie that blows me away, I’ll watch it over and over and over again. It’s emotional porn to me. :) When two people get so involved in each other that the rest of the world disappears around them, that their passion sears the screen, I can’t turn away. Here are some of my favorite kiss moments in recent TV history.

1) Veronica and Logan from Veronica Mars; Season One; Episode 18; “Weapons of Class Destruction”. These two characters went from being enemies to sooo much more over the course of one season. Their first kiss starts as a simple thank you, but quickly evolves into one of the most passionate kisses I’ve ever seen on television.

2) Buffy and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Season Six; Episode Seven; “Once More With Feeling”. I have a “thing” for enemies turned lovers. This kiss, coming at the end of one of my favorite episodes of Buffy ever, sealed the deal for me on their relationship. “I touch the fire and it freezes me…” “I died so many years ago…” [sigh]

3) Captain Jack and Captain John from Torchwood; Season Two; Episode One; “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”. Oh my, what to say about this kiss. It’s hot. It’s sexy. It’s so damn passionate I swear I can hear their teeth clicking together as they each fight the other for dominance. And then they break apart and the fight continues, this time with fists flying. [fans self] Wow, wow, wow… If this show hadn’t already won me over as a fan for life, this kiss would’ve done it.

The Lisa half of Ashleigh Raine: And this is why Jen and I work so well together… She loves the kissing moments, the passionate connection between two people. I do, too, but I’m not obsessed like she is! :) I like the more subtle ones, too. Or the surprise ones.

Valley Girl: When Randy waits for Julie in the bathroom at the party, comes out of the shower and talks her into leaving with him. At the end of that little conversation with him fixated on convincing her and her liking the attention, but unsure because he’s so strange, he goes in for a quick, surprise kiss and then he’s outta there, outta the bathroom while she’s still got a doofy grin on her face. Yeah, that’s my kind of kiss.

I don’t need to be ignited with passion while the curtains catch fire (this is probably why Jen has shutters instead of curtains—all those sexy kiss replays!). I see the kiss as an expression, a tease, a promise of more to come, an incitement of passion, yes, but it doesn’t have to set the world on fire.

First Knight: The kiss that made Guinevere force Lancelot to promise to never kiss her again…unless she asks. What’s great about that one is that it was such a part of the story. I mean, the guy runs the freakin’ gauntlet with all the slashing swords and heavy things that could kill him because the prize was supposed to be a kiss from Guinevere. And when he’s standing in front of her and she’s not asking, he doesn’t take the liberty. Now that’s another powerful kiss and it says a ton about the two characters in having kissed and then not kissed.

I dunno. I dig that stuff. (Of course that kiss between Captain John and Captain Jack in Torchwood was really steamy especially since it turned into a big testosterone-dripping brawl between the two of them. That was most definitely hot.)

So what’s your favorite movie or TV show kiss? Or what’s your favorite type of kiss?

Series and Sequels and Recapturing the Magic

I’m not sure why it is, but it is so rare to re-capture magic. Fool’s Gold came out last week, now to be fair, I haven’t seen it and it made a lot of money at the box office, but I absolutely loved How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, so to see these same actors in a movie again both thrills and scares me.

Romance where you least expect it

With that day fast approaching, I intended to blog about romantic movies. While I’ve been married for, ahem, quite a few years now, I still like to do something Valentiney. When it falls on a weekday that usually means something home-based, as hubby and I work long hours and don’t always feel like going out again. So we do the candlelight dinner scene, and I get flowers from him, but hubs draws the line at a slushy (as he calls them) movie.

Red Carpet Withdrawal

I think the writer’s strike really hit home for me last weekend. Oh, I’ve been following all the developments since the beginning, reading the blogs, tracking the industry news. But it didn’t really impact me until I saw clips from the Golden Globes.

It had been turned into a news conference.

A NEWS CONFERENCE, for heaven’s sake!

Right then I knew it was going to be a long, sad, empty awards season.

My confession

I have a weakness, something I can’t seem to live without lately. It’s rather embarrassing to admit but I’m going to go ahead and shout it out loud and proud on the Samhain weblog.

Paranormal Pot Luck: Mine, Yours, Theirs, Ours

My 106 year old house is haunted. There’s a guy in denim work clothes who stays mostly in the basement, where I don’t go. I caught a glimpse of him the first fall we lived here. We also hear him or deal with his antics when too much work goes on in the basement. Doors open that should stay closed, for instance. Which explains why, when we moved into the house, the door to the basement, and the upstairs level and living room all had chain locks. The regular ones don’t work when the basement guy is pissed. And there’s Ghost Kitty. She’s grey and playful and has showed herself to many of our surprised visitors who mistake her for our cat. Our corporeal cat is far larger, more sedentary, and haunts the vicinity directly in front of the upstairs radiator. She never comes out to see visitors, unless it’s to hiss at them and shoo them away.

Hollywood Writer's Strike

I’m sure by now everyone has heard that the Writer’s Guild of America is on strike. Other than some of your favorite shows going on an early hiatus, what does this mean to you?

Say you’re a cake decorator and you’ve spent six months perfecting your recipe and your design. The bakery, who pays your check, compensates you for your time, then proceeds to sell your recipe, your design and pieces of your cake while they rake in the cash. They’re making money (and publicity) off your product while you receive nothing extra.

Messed up isn’t it?

In a simplified fashion, this is what is going on with the Hollywood Writers.

Ten years ago DVDs, internet streaming downloads, and internet purchase downloads didn’t exist. Now that the movie / tv studios are making money hand over fist with these new technologies while the writer is making nothing more than their standard pay.

A good example is the HBO show, The Sopranos. HBO took in 300 million on Sopranos DVD sales then took in another 200 million when they sold the series to the A&E channel. Yes, I said, 500 million dollars.

What did the writers receive?

Nothing. Not even a kiss on the cheek.

The very popular show, UGLY BETTY, can be viewed online for free and there are commercials embedded in the feed. Commercials that advertisers paid for. The studio claims it is promotional while the writers receive…nothing. Now, how can the studios pull in monies from advertising yet tell the writers that is promotional. Trust me, the IRS doesn’t recognize ‘promotional’ income any differently than income from straight sales.

The fiction / non-fiction writing market is also dealing with this issue. Fifteen years ago there were two basic markets, Audio and Print. Now that the electronic media has come into being, what some publishers are doing with regards to paying the authors for this new venue is a crime, IMHO.

A standard NY house pay scale is between 2 – 10% of a paperback sale price. So here comes the e-market which has quite a few advantages for the publisher: – intangible asset, no warehousing required – low overhead, the file is already 90% in line with the ebook format when its sent to the printer. At this point all it needs is a reformat to the standards and it’s a saleable product. – no editing, paper, supplies etc – only space on a website

So how much (on average) are the authors receiving for this new, viable media?

4 – 6%.

Now, reread the paragaph above about the standard NY house pay scales, I’ll wait.

Do you see what I’m getting at? The house is still making the usual paperback rate for this new media (which is crazy IMO – but lets not go there) while the author gets the same or LESS than the rate for a paperback – a product with considerable overhead.

I think it’s safe to say the days of most companies looking out for their writers has gone the way of the dinosaurs. We are no longer artists, we’ve been forced into the role of content providers. What they do is special, magical, and they shouldn’t have to deal with their employers giving their work away for free. While I do not write for the television / movie industry, I support their strike wholeheartedly. It’s past time for writers to stand up and remind the industry of the value of their work.

Besides, when your favorite shows go into repeats, what would be better than supporting your favorite writers and picking up a book? :)