Summer Reality Shows are Back!

Girl Enjoying a Georgia Peach

Cherries

Peaches, Watermelon, Bing Cherries ... 
and the upcoming "Big Brother"

... the new signs of Summer heat up Network and Cable Television. 

(Big Brother 11)
 
It wouldn't be summer without "Big Brother."  Despite my love/no love relationship with this reality show, I always catch myself scheduling my nights around an airing of "Big Brother" from early July to mid-September.

Once again, we'll see the standard Jeff and Jordan romances, cat fights between Lydia and Natalie clones over a Jessie stud wannabe, scheming alliances like Kevin and Natalie's and explosive rebellions that forced "Big Brother 11" producers to send Chima packing without a nomination ceremony.  

(Television Viewer)

No matter how much I try not to watch, I'm surrounded by close friends and family members who will phone me during the time slot and ask:  Are you watching "Big Brother?"  And of course my answer is always:  Oh, yeah ... did you see what so and so just did?

Sunset Palms

It gets worse.  On a long weekend vacation, I rush back from a sunset walk on the beach just to watch the 12 insane house guests who by now have turned into preschoolers.  (no offense to preschoolers)


It would be nice to see some seasoned and ethnically diverse "Big Brother 12" housemates or any not obsessed with their looks and born before the Internet. 

(True Beauty)

Speaking of beauty obsession, a newcomer on the reality show summer scene and in its second season is the ABC show, "True Beauty" -- where shallow, beauty-obsessed young men and women are lured into thinking they're competing to become (this season) Mr. or Ms. Las Vegas and all the fame and fortune that come with it. 

  (Candid Camera)


What they don't know is that they're really being judged on their inner beauty -- physical beauty plays second fiddle.  On the first challenge, they create a hot look for themselves on a limited budget.  Hidden cameras follow them 24-7 through challenges and through their personal time.

It almost reminds me of the old "Candid Camera" Show.  Hmm ... what would Allen Funt think about, "True Beauty?"  I'm thinking he would've dug it.

An actress who pretends to be the store's sales person helps each contestant create an eye-catching look.  She tempts them into stealing an outfit that's over their budget, as the three "True Beauty" judges and America candidly watch.  Some pass the test and, sad to say, some don't.

I missed the show last night, but I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if the young woman who flunked the first test and the second test last week was shown the door.

 (The Next Food Network Star)


Then we head over to the food and interior design side of reality television where our bullies are not fellow contestants, but appear to be the judges of "The Next Food Network Star" and "HGTV Design Star."  

Their job is to bring out the best in each finalist where ultimately one will win a cooking show on the Food Network.  If they can't stand a little constructive bullying, then they need to get out of the kitchen.  Whether they're cooking in it or hanging cabinets.

 (HGTV Design Star 2010)

Yes, summer and reality television heat will both sizzle in the upcoming weeks.  Stay in either one too long, you may get fried.  So what's a summer viewer to do?   You slather on extra sun block, crank up the A.C. and go back for more.  Ah ... don't you just love summertime drama?

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And They Lived Happily Ever After?

There's nothing worse than an unsatisfying ending to a movie.  Okay, there are a lot of things worse, but an ending that doesn't give you a good payoff for the turns, spins, peaks and valleys of a movie -- just leaves you unsatisfied. 

It's like when someone serves you a slice of strawberry shortcake.  It looks so pretty with its whipped cream icing and plump strawberries.  You can't wait to take a bite.  But when you bite it, all you taste is a stale mess.  Now you've got strawberry juice dripping from your mouth and a stain spreading on your brand new, white silk blouse. 

I know what you're thinking.  We can't expect every movie to always have a happy ending, but it would be nice to have a hopeful one or at least one that makes sense.  Last weekend, I saw Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too?"  

I loved the first one.  Satisfying ending ... definitely, I was already writing the sequel by the time the credits rolled on the screen.  I couldn't wait to see the sequel.  It was supposedly set three years later, but it felt more like three months later.  

(Why Did I Get Married Too?)

I didn't see any growth in the characters (except for one couple) and maybe that was the whole point of the movie.  Of course, this is purely a subjective view.  I don't want to give away the movie for those who haven't seen it yet. Unfortunately, the ending left me deflated and not wishing for another sequel.

On the other hand, Tyler Perry's "Madea's Family Reunion" took you on a domestic roller coaster ride that gave you a satisfying ending and floated you away on a "Happily Ever After" cloud. 

There can't always be a happy ending, but the ending should be a climax for the events of the movie.  Some may watch it and say it was.  But for me, the ending seemed too easy. It didn't make sense.  I guess there was a glimmer of hope.  

I'll use this analogy to describe what would've made the ending more satisfying for me.  When you get a boo-boo, you put on a band-aid.  Once it starts to heal, you rip off the Band-Aid so it can breathe and finish healing.  Everyone sees the yucky sore for a little while, it's not pretty, but then it heals and disappears.  Only you know your boo-boo was there.
  

There are two consequences.  Either you'll no longer wear those stilletoes that made you fall in the first place and created the boo-boo.  Or you'll learn how to walk in them. This approach would've made the ending in Why Did I Get Married Too?  more satisfying to me.    

(Because I Said So Cake)

Often symbolism help give you that satisfying ending.  The above black & white polka dot wedding cake with red rose buds played a symbolic role in the  the movie, Because I Said So starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore.  

Growing up, how many times have you heard your Mom say, "Because I Said So?"   That many.  If only I had a dollar for every time, you would be calling me Joan B. Trump.  That infamous response by parents to squash a child's question easily becomes a battle cry when the questions don't stop in a timely manner."  

Just the title alone tells you this is a family dramedy.  You'll discover from the first scene that it's a grown baby daughter vs. controlling mama drama.  Daphne (Diane Keaton), the mom, doesn't think her youngest daughter, Milly (Mandy Moore) can find Mr. Right on her own, so she secretly places a personal ad.  

(Because I Said So Fashion)

Mom wears her favorite black and white polka dress when she interviews potential son-in-laws.  Out of her three daughters, she believes Milly's the most like her and tells her this every chance she gets.  Of course, Milly thinks they're night and day.  Did I mention, they're both in the food business?  Daphne is a baker, Milly is a caterer. 

Daphne buys Millie a  red and white polka dress and insists she wears it to an event she's catering the next day.  Daphne doesn't know that Mom arranged for her chosen Mr. Right, a wealthy architect, to show up there.  He gets Milly's attention when he compliments her on the polka dot dress.  

Mom stops by her apartment before the date with Mr. Right and is shocked to see her wearing the polka dot dress again and Mr. Wrong at the door.  He's the guitarist Mom vetoed at the pre-screening interview.   

Throughout the movie, all of their boo-boos get bandaged and aired out for healing.  And then we get a satisfying ending where the boo-boo is barely visible.  You see, while Daphne's looking for Mr. Right for her daughter, she finds a Mr. Right for both of them. Daphne, in turn, finally accepts with new eyes that she is her mother's daughter  and she's okay with it.  Ah!  Satisfying.  Don't you love it!   
 

(Edge of Darkness)

A satisfying ending can also mean a sad ending.  In Mel Gibson's 2010 thriller, Edge of Darkness about a cop, Thomas Craven, who investigates his daughter's murder, a contracted hit by her employer.  Emma Craven is first poisoned with Thalium after drinking organic milk and shot to death when Dad tries to rush her to the hospital.  

His dead daughter who guides him through dreams and his imagination.  He also drinks poisoned milk to flush out Emma's killer.  Hand-in-hand, Father and daughter are victorious at the end.  At the end of Edge Darkness, we leave with faith that good will always take the upper hand. When I watch thrillers, I need to see this kind of ending. 

Yes, we live in the real world, but can't we enjoy a hopeful-ever-after escape now and then?  

(How Stella Got Her Groove Back)




  

Sleep Well, Miss Lena Horne ...

"It's So Hard to 
Say Goodbye to Yesterday..."

I can't get that song from the "Cooley High"  1975 movie out of my head when I think about Lena Horne's home-going on Monday, May 10.  It's sad to face the painful fact that this era has gone, but certainly not forgotten.  

(portrait depicting Harlem Renaissance - 1904-1935)

I'll never forget this Harlem Renaissance Baby, Hollywood Glamour Girl, Night Club Gem and Broadway Darling who strutted the entire entertainment package.

 (Lena Horne - Starlet)

Wrap it up with a social conscious bow, and you've got a wonderful gift for the world to enjoy for years to come.  Lena Horne had beauty, brains and a social conscious.  She knew who she was and where she came from, but more importantly wanted all people regardless of the color of their skin to have access to the same opportunities in life. 

(Lena with Frank Sinatra)

One would think that the title: civil rights activist would not be in the same bio of a Hollywood icon, but she was both.  Her distinctive singing style captivated many, even those who didn't enjoy contemporary standards.  Stormy Weather was the only popular song my mother hummed, when she wasn't humming her favorite spiritual.

Growing up, I remembered how the older African American women, the elders in my life -- always referred to her as Miss Lena Horne.  They saw her as an elegant, talented lady who could have passed for a white actress in the 1930s and 1940s to win coveted roles.  But she did not and would not.  

Max Factor even developed an Egyptian makeup shade exclusively for her, but she refused to go along with the studio's efforts to portray her as an exotic Latina.  

She once said, I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become, I'm me and I'm like nobody else.

(All Star Pics)
(From Yahoo News) 

When Horne was only two her grandmother, a prominent member of the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) enrolled her in the NAACP.   Activism didn't become a part of her life until 1945 when she was performing at an army base and saw German soldiers sitting up front while black soldiers were confined to the rear. 

Eighteen years later, she joined the Hollywood stars who Marched on Washington in 1963 for Jobs and Freedom when Martin Luther King gave his "I have a Dream" speech. 

Lena Horne was a star from the time she emerged out of her mother's womb.  Born in 1917 in Brooklyn, her mother left her in the care of her grandmother to find work in show business.  

By age 16, Horne danced in the Cotton Club's chorus line where the entertainers were black and the clientele white.  She became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.  

She left the Cotton club in 1935 to tour with Noble Sissle's orchestra billed as Helena Horne, the name she continued using when she joined the Charlie Barnet's white orchestra in 1940.  A movie offer from MGM came when she headlined at the Little Troc nightclub with the Katherine Dunham dancers.

(Cabin in the Sky)

She had roles in numerous movies and more substantial parts in the all black productions:  Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather in 1943.  Because of the communist scare and her progressive political views, she was blacklisted and unable to find work in Hollywood.

 (Stormy Weather - Black Classic Movies.com)

Some of the legendary performances shown in the movie, Stormy Weather include:  (From Black Classic Movies.com)

•  Bill “Bojangles” Robinson showing his fancy footwork in multiple tap dance routines.  He was 65 years old when the movie was made and had been in show business for over 50 years.
•  Fats Waller performing Ain’t Misbehavin’, which was the song that made him famous.  He also performs a standout duet with Ada Brown singing the bluesy song “That Ain’t Right.”
•  Lena Horne singing the title tune “Stormy Weather,” which would become one of her signature songs.  She also dances with Bill Robinson and sings other memorable songs like “Diga Diga Doo.”
•  Katherine Dunham and her dance troupe performing memorable, Caribbean-inspired dance numbers.         
•  Cab Calloway in his trademark zoot suit leading his orchestra in the hip musical compositions “Jumpin’ Jive” and “Geechy Joe.”

•  The Nicholas Brothers performing a breathtaking dance number is one of the best dance routines ever captured on film.

(Lena Horne)

Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne performed in nightclubs, television and released well-received albums. 

She announced her retirement in March 1980, but starred in a one woman show in 1981 -- Lena Horne:  The Lady and Her Music that with more than three-hundred performances earning her a special Tony Award and won two Grammy Awards for the accompanying album and a third in 1995 for An Evening With Lena Horne.

Her distinctive jazz and blues style earned her critical acclaim for the songs:  Stormy Weather, The Lady is a Tramp and Cole Porter's Just One of Those Things, just to name a few.

(The Wiz)

Her last movie role was in 1978 as Glinda the Good in the movie, Wiz.  She also won two stars on the  Hollywood Walk of Fame – one for motion pictures and one for her work in the recording industry.

Sleep Well, Lena ... We'll miss you.  

A Little Help Here .... My Favorite Go To Things

 (Kaiser - Flickr)

...WHEN I GET ON THAT WRITING CLIFF 
AND CAN'T GET OFF!

Whew! Sorry for the delay.  I've been putting in long hours incorporating final edits on my novel and working on television spec scripts, not to mention the day-to-day grind.   

I'm happy to say, I don't have writer's block, but time spent on a writing plateau can also send you babbling and screaming for help.  You've got to have a plan.  I've got five of them.

When I get stuck on that Writing and Editing Cliff and Can't Get Off ... I pray, read, watch, sip and move. 

1. I Pray and Read the Holy Bible 

A mainstay in all areas of my life, it frees me when I'm stuck on a plateau or creatively blocked.  I reach this plateau when my creative juices have spun a great story, but doesn't move in a balance of peaks and valleys needed to produce a riveting final product.  

Here are some of my favorite "shake the plateau" scriptures:

"Now glory be to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of--infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes."  Ephesians 3:20.

"Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers.  If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human man can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus."  Phillipians 4:6-7

2.  I Read "Self Editing for Fiction Writing" By Rennie Brown and Dave King, Harper Perennial.   When a story slows down, repetition and proportion are usually a few of the culprits.  This book reminds me that repetition is not a fiction and scriptwriter's friend.

Of course, there's  an exception to this rule called advertising copywriting.  Repetition in direct mail letters and ads help induce consumers to buy.




But since we're talking about fiction writing, I reach for my go-to book "Self Editing for Fiction Writers," when these culprits push me up that cliff.

Here's what it says:

"Often writers are too close to what they accomplished in their writing to see that they have accomplished it twice or more.   ... Don't underestimate your reader's intelligence or your ability as a writer."

"It's the influence of movies and television--readers are used to quick jump-cuts from scene to scene rather than long transitional shots.  Fiction writers are much more free to use ellipses, to leave more of the mundane, bridging action up to their readers' imaginations."

That sounds good to me.  

I also step out of my fiction for a while and lose myself in a favorite movie or the latest book from a favorite author.  I  love romantic comedies, family sagas  and thrillers.

(Confessions of a Shopaholic - Style Bakery)

3.  I Watch a Movie
I'll watch fave movies like:  "Confessions of a Shopaholic"  "Because I Said So," "Why Did I Get Married?" "Flash Forward," and the list goes on.  

There's nothing better than to see how a story flows and feel the effect it has on you on the silver screen.  Then it's back to the laptop I go.

No ... not just yet.  I need to do some real life drama watching I call a visit to Starbucks or any urban chic cafe chain will do.

 4.  I Sip a large Strawberries & 
Creme Frappuccino at Starbucks.

I take my Starbucks gift card that a wonderful angel recently gave me and start my people watching.  Just watching and listening to patrons jump start ideas on making characters more three-dimensional and dialogue richer.

 (Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino - Starbucks)

At this point, I'm feeling pretty good.  I've got the rope and I'm climbing down, enjoying the scenery along the way.  I step on a small landing carved into the mountain where I meet ... uh-oh ...  Procrastination Patty.  She encourages me to sit with her and enjoy the view from up high. But I can't stay there, al though it's comfy.

I need to see passionate artists working under extreme pressure and time constraints to make their dream happen. I need to watch a Food Network Challenge show.

 (Food Network Challenge - Last Cake Standing - Elisa Strauss)

(Mr. Krabs - Winner of Food Challenge's Sponge Bob Birthday Cakes- Fancy Cakes By Lauren.)

5. I Watch a Food Network Challenge Show.
Yes, you read it right.  My favorites are the cake challenges.  I love to see how talented cake designers and pastry chefs get off their sugar mountains when they run into trouble.  

What's amazing, they're not creating these sweet masterpieces in the privacy of their homes, they're watched by a panel of scary judges, a compassionate studio audience (you know they're chatting away) and millions of viewers.  That's enough to make you bawl for your mommy.

At times, a cake piece falls off just when a team plunks it on the judge's table.  They've got  fifteen minutes to fix it. No, they don't go backstage.  They have to do it in front of the cameras and staring eyes.  I guess for $10,000, I'd do it on skates wearing a super hero costume with my mother-in-law as the judge.

Our food challenge contestants show fearless creativity, courage, strength and the ability to think fast on their feet.  These are the  qualities that also sustain a writer with a little help from a go-to friend or two.

And last but not least,
 

(Dancing with the Stars)

5. I Dance it Out on the Rebounder.
Dancing With the Stars has nothing on me when I get going on my mini trampoline.  When I'm done, I'm ready for my laptop.

And this time, I make it to the ground, waving goodbye to Procrastination Patty and Plateau Paulette. 

 

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Made You Look!

Happy April Fooled You Day!

"So don't be anxious about tomorrow.  God will take care of your tomorrow too.  Live one day at a time." Matthew 6:34

My sister loved April Fool's day.  She had auburn hair like the cartoon diva above.  I have one question, how did Ms. Cartoon Diva find my old curlers?  We had every color in the rainbow.  

Every year, Diane's tricks got better and funnier.  One April Fool's Day when I was in 5th or 6th grade, she set our alarm clock an hour and a half earlier, then pushed it back to my wake up time without me being the wiser.  

This was my face when I stomped back home from the school bus stop, thinking I had missed the bus, until I saw my sister laughing hysterically at the front door.  Mom was just glad I got dressed and ready for school on time without a whine and a dance.  
Ah ... good times.


I don't know why, but the movies 50 First Dates and Ground Hog Day remind me of a perpetual April Fool's Day.  Okay, maybe I do know.  It's like, you woke up one morning and the world said, "you're it ... April Fool."  Can you imagine waking up to the same day ... the same activities.  I don't know about you, but I'm always glad to see a new day.  It gives me another chance to get it right, or at least make it better.

I loved those two movies, the layering, the subplots and again, the foreshadowing was wonderful.   In 50 First Dates, the main character, Lucy Roth, an artist living in Hawaii with her Dad and brother--has a car accident that destroyed her short term memory.  On her way home from picking a pineapple for her Dad's pineapple upside down birthday cake, she swerves into a tree avoiding an animal.
 
Her life becomes a rewind.  She only remembers the day of the accident minus the actual accident.  She knows her life up to that point.  With the previous day erased, she wakes up every morning to her Dad's birthday and performs the same activities. 

She goes to her favorite breakfast spot, builds a waffle house on her plate and meets Veterinarian Henry Roth aka Adam Sandler, her rewind amour.   Each day she meets him for the first time and falls in love by nightfall.   

Her rewind life is no picnic for her dad and brother either, who re-create it everyday.  When she finally goes to sleep, Dad and Brother get busy dumping the pineapple cake, paint over in white the same mural she creates in the garage, they replace the newspaper with a preserved duplicate, and stash the taped football game.

Womanizer Henry has his own April Fooled payback happening.  After spinning so many lies to get women to forget him, the one woman he wants to remember him can't.  Is that what you call just desserts served cold?  By the end of the movie, this dilemma blesses them both.

(Ground Hog Day)

In the movie Ground Hog Day, an egotistical Pittsburgh Weatherman, Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, is mad at the world for having to cover Ground Hog Day for the fourth year in a row.  If anyone should get stuck in rewind, it's him.  He relives Ground Hog Day over and over again, but at the end becomes a more appreciative person.  Like 50 First Dates, the movie's hilarious.

If I had to be trapped on a day, I would want it to be in Hawaii, preferably South Maui, Kihei to be exact.  

(Makena Beach)

My April 1 Rewind Day would start before sunrise with prayer and scripture reading, then off to work on a script assignment or manuscript deadline on the lanai of my A-frame home on a hill with beach and mountain vistas.  

At sunrise, I'd get my daughters ready for school, fix them and hubby banana pancakes (plain for him and none for me), sip my decaf Kona and then walk them to school ten minutes away. 

(Shutterberry - Flickr.com)

On my way back, I'd stop at Star Market for a large Lion's coffee, and off to the Cinnamon Roll Fair-Hawaii on South Kihei Road for a cinnamon bun.  After my calories-laden breakfast, it's off to the Kihei Aquatic Center where I teach two Zumba Water classes.  

Lunchtime you'll find me stopping at Foodland for a plate lunch, a mango ice cream cone at Baskin Robbin's and back to my office mat on the beach where I'm churning out more pages for that television script assignment.  

After work is done, I'd pick up the kids, finish homework and take a jaunt in the waves at sunset with the family.  Back home, hubby and I would prepare an outdoor barbeque dinner of Poke, grilled Mahi Mahi, Kai Beef Ribs, Taro Sweet Potatoes, Jasmine Rice and Collard Greens. (I had to slip in my southern roots) 

An hour later, I'd make strawberry, pineapple, kiwi smoothies that would mark the end of a very peaceful day that I'll do all over again.  Aloha!

Happy April Fooled You Day!  
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