Worth Reading June 2010

Some posts from those definitely worth reading (at least for me on this gloomy June day):

• Jeff over at Stuff Running 'Round My Head has a wonderful take and look back at the criminally short-lived Firefly series by Josh Whedon - Space Cowboys
• Author John Kenneth Muir has another of his fine Cult Movie Reviews, this time examining Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Denis Lehane's mystery thriller novel, Shutter Island
• Movie blogger J.D. at RADIATOR HEAVEN (love that title) flashes back to the 60's with his marvelous review of Oliver Stone's The Doors
• I always appreciate blogger/reviewer Livius film examinations, especially when he turns his keen eye at a western. In this case, Howard Hawk's middle version of a story he told three times in his career, El Dorado
• Rachel, the Scientist Gone Wordy, has a very interesting opinion in regard to books and genres in The Business of Genres, or Thoughts on Indicating OTHER
• Expiration Date author, Duane Swierczynski, has news about his new writing gig (hint, she was played by Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2)
• author Steven Hart highlighted a funny skit (if it just wasn't so accurately tragic, or tragically accurate) for us in Spill, Baby, Spill
  

Oh, well. I need to sign off now...

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L.A. Times Festival of Books: The Weekend

Yes, our weekend at the L.A. Times Festival of Books blurred by so fast. But, at least I got some snaps of it! Be sure to check out Pop Culture Nerd's slide show (with captions) of the event and Jen's related post on Reed Farrel Coleman (who was all over the place at the fest):

L.A. TIMES Festival of Books Slide Show

REED FARREL COLEMAN - THE "HARD-BOILED POET"

L.A. Times Festival of Books: The Pre-FoB Party

With the L.A. Times Festival of Books now a wonderfully blurred memory, I have say on a personal note, it was the best ever. Having Jen and Christine (as well as the the authors) travel across the country to attend, along with Pop Culture Nerd, made it so. I don't think I've ever been in a room with so many relaxed people enjoying the company than at the festival's prelude. Kudos to The Mystery Bookstore for throwing another of their splendid Pre-Festival Parties last Friday. For more fun insight, I refer you to today's PCN Part 1 post:

L.A. TIMES Festival of Books Highlights, Part 1

Addendum: check out Jen's  MBS PRE-FOB BASH post, too.

From top to bottom: the first three show how many showed up early at The Mystery Bookstore. Author Alafair Burke and Christine. Christine, Jen, Elyse (aka Pop Culture Nerd), and author Brett Battles. Jen and Christine. Christine, author Sophie Littlefield, and Elyse. Elyse wondering where Brett got that t-shirt. Jen and Brett, author Reed Farrel Coleman (who has a great photo of author Christa Faust and Mystery Bookstore's Linda Brown in a post) and Jen. Elyse, Christine, and Jen in their natural smiling state.

If you're on Twitter, search on hash tag #latfob for all of the related tweets that came from the past weekend's festivities. More tomorrow...


Tehnorati Tags: L.A. Times Festival of Books, Pre-FoB Party

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Ready for the FoB: Favorite Movies of L.A.

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The city of Los Angeles has been my home since birth. The same goes for my wife of 21 years, and naturally, my kids. One of the ongoing joys for this Angeleno family of mine is our annual trek out to the neighborhood of Westwood and participating in the annual L.A. Times Festival of Books on the campus of U.C.L.A. Besides all of the festival exhibitions, panels, and indy book store booths available for those who love books, there are all sorts of happenings, references, and information on the history and the ongoing discourse of film at the festival, too. Every year, some of the book panels are dedicated to the movies in our lives, along with the remarkable craft of screenwriting. You even have actors and directors promoting their written work from time-to-time. I found out today that David Lynch will be on hand to sign his latest book, Catching the Big Fish, at Book Soup's booth come Saturday.

As well, there's always something going on in this city, and sometimes they involve both book and film... and they conflict. Case in point, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) chose this same weekend for their inaugural TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood (April 22 - 25). Late last year, my friend Corey encouraged me to go this (he'd been having his own TCM-fest on cable). I didn't realize, at the time, it was going to all occur on this weekend! Arghhh... So, on top of the Festival of Books, some of the all-time great film classics will be on glorious display in theaters by the area of the Cahuenga Pass. I'll still try and make a couple of the films late at night this weekend (if time and energy allow) while spending my daylight hours with my good blogger friends over at the book fest by the Sepulveda Pass. I'll also begin lobbying TCM to move next year's film fest away from the same traditional weekend as the Festival of Books (we'll see how that goes). In the meantime, I will complete the latter segment from yesterday's FoB post which was based upon the recent Jacket Copy blog interview of author T. Jefferson Parker and his annual attendance at the festival. JC's last question for the local  author fit well into this week's forthcoming festivities:

"Do you have a favorite book or movie about Los Angeles?"

TJP's favorite L.A. movie: Chinatown. In keeping with his excellent book choice of yesterday, the author sure knows his movies (my answers are after the jump).



I've moved and updated this post to my current blog, which can be found here.

Technorati Tags: favorite movies, Los Angeles

Ready for the FoB: Favorite Books of L.A.

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When I think of the month of April, besides the annual bloodletting involved with state and federal income tax preparation, this time of year has a decidedly literary bent for those of us who love reading. I'm referring to the upcoming and annual L.A. Times Festival of Books. It really is a large, one of kind event where books and authors take center stage big time on the campus of U.C.L.A. The collegial setting seems to bring out a huge number of local readers and draws others from across the country. Last year, I got to meet book blogger Jen in her first foray out here to cover this event (and that was a real treat). And because of her, and the nature of the web, last year's event led to further connections with writer/blogger Naomi, who just so happened to recommend a book panel post by the blogger known as Pop Culture Nerd (who was also there and lives in the southland).

Following all these folks on the internet then led to friendships and further connections to a host of others I now read on a regular basis. This now includes the spirited reader and social butterfly, Christine. All of this makes for lively conversations flying through the ether. Jen is soon to be heading to SoCal from Ohio once more to attend this year's FoB, and Christine will be making her first visit (leaving a day later from Nashville) to be present at the book event, as well (though, she's already familiar with L.A.). So, it promises to be a much bigger happening this time around in 2010. The coordination of the when and where's for this group is already in full swing. I'm sure we'll have a brainstorming session during Friday's annual Pre-FoB party at The Mystery Bookstore. We'll be primarily plotting to see how we can 1) covertly abscond Naomi, Novel Whore, and Lesa temporarily away from Ohio, New York, and Arizona (respectively) and into LaLa Land orbit for next year's book occasion, 2) find our missing and dear friend Corey Wilde, and 3) figure out why the publisher continues to hold back Don Winslow's great sequel to The Dawn Patrol, The Gentlemen's Hour, from U.S. readers. In the meantime, Pop Culture Nerd already started the Festival of Books sneaks by linking us to the recent Jacket Copy blog interview of author T. Jefferson Parker and his annual attendance at the festival. I thought JC's last question for the local  author fit well into this week's forthcoming festivities. So, I'll use his response for a couple of posts this week to stay in that celebratory spirit:

"Do you have a favorite book or movie about Los Angeles?"

TJP's favorite L.A. book: True Confessions. And a good choice it is -- one I'd expect from the SoCal native…

This post has been updated and moved to my current blog, which can be found here.

w00t: WeHo Book Fair

After a busy day of getting flu shots for the kids, attending a classroom school picnic, and a 3-D Toy Story double feature (which I highly recommend, btw) on (the Roman god) Saturn's day, I took some time for myself come Sunday. I left my poor spouse late in the morning to fend for herself, to deal with our children and their homework (seriously, I have no scruples), and I selfishly headed out to West Hollywood to attend an event, all by lonesome.

Just across the street from the Pacific Design Center, at the West Hollywood park, was the site of the 9th annual West Hollywood Book Fair. Previously, I was so clueless about this event and that it has been running as long as it has. This was my first visit to this book fair (and I only found out about it by stopping at author Sophie Littlefield's web site). Brilliant. Pretty soon now, I'll be able to dress myself and find my way to the beach one of these days. That's pretty pathetic (I've only lived in this city my entire life). Sheesh! Anyway, I did make it to this event and really had a great time - mainly for the book panels hosted at the festival, and the people I either met for the first time or the friends/authors I got to hang with for a short while.

From Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer

From the book fair's web site on its history:

The West Hollywood Book Fair was founded by the City of West Hollywood in May, 2002 as a means of continuing West Hollywood’s history of participating in reading and literacy programs. The inaugural West Hollywood Book Fair was held on Saturday, October 5, 2002. The Fair was a tremendous success as a community literary event.

The Book Fair has grown in size and prestige each year since. It is now known as one of Southern California’s most eclectic literary events, and is inclusive of nearly all genres and age levels. The 8th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, held on September 29, 2008, drew over 30,000 guests, 400 participating authors and artists, 150 volunteers and over 180 exhibitors. The authors appeared in panels, live storytelling and theatrical and poetry performances and in writing workshops on 12 stages.

Luckily for them, they weren't depending upon the likes of me to get the word out before today. How did I ever miss this? Anyway... here are some of the pictures I happened to take while I wandered around the event:



From left to right, top to bottom: that's comic book artist and writer Mike Mignola (right after he signed a Hellboy comic for my teen son), author Charlie Huston (third from the left) at the Ghosts & Goblins: Exploring the Supernatural in Mystery Fiction panel, author Sophie Littlefield (seated center) at the Take Back the Night: Feminism and Powerful Women in Fiction panel, thriller and comic author Gregg Hurwitz (rightmost) at the Wonderful Words & Worlds: New Fiction From Great Writers panel. Author Julienne La Fleur in her Lessons from Oz booth (before she autographed her book for my daughter), and author Charlie Huston (again) attempting to hide from a stalker with a camera. All very gracious and fun people.

Gregg Hurwitz, who I've met more than a few times this year at other events, was the same very

Image via Wikipedia

approachable and genuine cool dude he's always been. He autographed both copies of his Vengeance of the Moon Knight (#1) comic for my teen (and I) after his really lively and fun book panel. Charlie Huston, and it seems like all of those who write crime fiction in general have this trait, is very considerate to his fans and the people he meets for the first time (he also wrote for Marvel and the same Moon Knight character that Gregg now has taken up). I was late to his panel, but when I arrived it was very interesting hear his and the other panelists thoughts concerning Richard Matheson's seminal story, I Am Legend, and its impact on their and other's work.

But, the person I came to meet and hear at the fair was simply the showstopper. Sophie Littlefield was as great as bloggers Jen, Pop Culture Nerd, and Corey have written about her and her debut book (yes, Corey, she is somethin'). She's one of those magnetic people that have that rare mix of considerable wit and charm about them while also remaining very accessible. She also hung out with the people below with no qualms, and even showed up to Gregg Hurwitz's book panel just to meet the guy (who knew she's a fan). Plus, she writes crime fiction. What else do you need? Years from now, I can tell my kids I knew her before she got all rich and famous (and bounded off to Monaco for the tax break). It won't even bother me when they roll their eyes in disbelief. I'm really looking forward to finally reading her book, A Bad Day for Sorry (once I pry it away from my wife, who now has it). As well, PCN graciously provided the following shots from yesterday, too:


(photo © pop culture nerd of some old guy hitting on Sophie)

Say... isn't that golfer Corey Pavin talking to Sophie? See, you can meet all sorts of people here in the City of the Angels. Not that you should go by what I know (it seems). But I have to add what really made it an even more special book fair was joining up with the Pop Culture Nerd herself (below and center) and her dear friend (the resident U2 expert, and the one who was in (vicariously) Robert Crais' The Last Detective) Debbie (left). Not only are they both great, interesting, and friendly folk, but they make quite a beautiful and vivacious set (especially when you add Sophie {on the right} to this group), don't you think?:

(photo © pop culture nerd {but cropped by le0pard13})

I've always liked that word... 'vivacious'... so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence. [yes, I'm still channeling Kill Bill] And I better stop there because I'm a married man and running around with other beautiful women can cause conflicts. So, after returning home from the event and spreading around the items I picked up at the book fair with the family, life in my household returned to normal. Later, when the kids were in bed, I attempted to resume my accustomed domestic partnership (and tranquility) with my bride of 20 years and tried to thank her (and snuggle) for letting me attend said fair (all while she watched The Next Iron Chef). To which she-who-must-be-obeyed responded:

You know, you have evil children who don't finish their homework. And one of them lies about washing his hands.

Uh, oh...

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Brevity's Pull

In Praise of the American Short Story

While I don't always agree with A.O. Scott, movie critic of the N.Y. Times, he always gets me to really reflect upon the subjects he writes up. And in this piece, he's drawn me in to a subject that I haven't given enough due. It's a marvelous piece of writing and praise of the short story. Outside of high school/college, I've haven't always made it a routine of reading them. And if it wasn't for authors like Poe, Stephen King, and Clive Barker, in later life, it would be an even shorter road for me. Thinking about it, I should also give credit to bloggers Jen and Corey for their unwavering reading devotion to the short form. And, to those like Naomi, Gay of Words in Place, and Nordette (aka Vérité Parlant) who practice the laconic art so beautifully. And yes, I'm attempting to get some credit for knowing of talented folks like these ;-).