Romantic Comedy Movie Generator

Get ready for a double dose of romance! Today, I’m over at Myndi’s blog talking about my favorite Romantic Comedy movie. I also share a formula for most movies of the genre.

Movie Poster

Movie Poster

I am a fan of Romantic Comedies, but even I can’t deny there’s a blueprint for making them.

If you enjoy those movies, here’s a bonus game! Close your eyes and pick one item from each column (the stars, the “fun” industry they work on–either as co-workers or rivals, and the high-concept conflict that sets the story in motion) to make you own movie!

Male lead	Female lead	Industry	Complication
Matthew McConaughey	Sandra Bullock	Sports	Pregnancy
Ryan Reynolds	Jennifer Lopez	Books	Weird Relatives
Hugh Grant	Queen Latifah	Fashion	Scandal
Ryan Gosling	Kate Hudson	Law	Strict Parents
Gerard Butler	Drew Barrymore	Cooking/Restaurant	Bankruptcy
Jason Segel	Katherine Heigl	News	Billion-dollar Deal
John Cusack	Meg Ryan	Detective Agency	Forced to Go on a Road Trip Together
Ashton Kutcher	Reese Witherspoon	Travel/Hotel	Witness Protection
Colin Firth	Cameron Diaz	Dance	Mistaken Identity
James Marsden	Jennifer Aniston	Advertisement	Switched Luggage
Harry Connick Jr.	Amy Adams	Daytime Soap Opera	Stranded in an Island
Richard Gere	Renee Zelwegger	Real Estate	Nephews and Nieces Staying Over
Ben Stiller	Julia Roberts	Circus	Needs to Marry to Get inheritance
Jamie Foxx	Rachel McAdams	High School	Amnesia
Jason Bateman	Penelope Cruz	Casino	Hired as The Other’s New Assistant
Gael Garcia Bernal	Emma Stone	Dentist	One is a Ghost
Chaning Tatum	Lucy Liu	Zoo/Aquarium	One is a Thief
Tom Hanks	Halle Berry	Competitive Dancing	Broken Leg
Taye Diggs	Anne Hathaway	Farm	One is a Secret Agent
Steve Carell	Keira Knightley	Neighbors	End of The World *

(* the Steve Carell-Keira Knightley-Neighbors-End of The World combination is a real movie!)

If you’re feeling it, you can mix all of them together. The result is ”Love Actually,” “Valentine’s Day,” “New Year’s Eve,” or the hilarious un-PC fake trailer that 30 Rock showed this year:

You can also add the other Romantic Comedy requirements (suggestions between parentheses):

• quirky best friends or relatives (Joan Cusack, Judy Greer, Ed Helms),
• real-life celebrity guests (Dolly Parton, Michael Jordan, Larry King),
• circumspect supporting actors (Judi Dench, Hector Elizondo, Michael Caine),
• endorsements (Major League Baseball, Fedex, Herbalife),
• spurned fiancée (Jeff Daniels, Selma Blair, Bill Pullman)
• slapstick scene (crotch-hit, slipping and falling in restaurant, kissing stranger by mistake)
• favorite deus ex-machina (mysterious benefactor, never-before-mentioned acquitting evidence, sudden and unexpected support from boss/teacher/parents)

Last-minute airport scene sold separately!

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Please use the comments section to share your blockbuster with us! What others actors, jobs, and subplots can be used? Again, if you don’t remember how to put together a standard Romantic Comedy, pop over at Myndi’s blog to get the recipe.

 

The Best Action Movie You Haven’t Watched Yet

After seeing “The Avengers,” I was satisfied and impressed. However, I thought it could have been even… bigger. Maybe they were saving a true epic story for part two, like so many other adventure movies. I loved the action scenes, and they reminded me of an unheralded epic movie.

Have you ever heard of “Endhiran” (“Robot”)? It’s the most expensive Indian movie ever made, and the most popular in terms of box office. It’s also the most confounding. It’s the story of a super-strong robot that becomes sentient, falls in love with a human, learns to self-replicate, and goes rogue (it’s Terminator meets Transformers, only it’s a romance ).

Below is a clip of the movie, with only action sequences. The scenes get more and more outlandish. You’ve been warned.

I have mixed emotions about this movie. The action scenes are creative, but the CGI is a mixed bag. They create astounding visuals. However, the quality is wildly uneven. The special-effects were created by Stan Winston Studios (responsible for “Jurassic Park” and other CGI-heavy productions). The movie has an interesting plot with dashes of existentialism, includes several song-and-dance sequences, and has a 3-hour running time. Shankar is the director, and the two stars are Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai, two legends of Indian cinema.

If you know me at all, you know this post is just an excuse to run another picture of Aishwarya Rai.

It’s not my favorite action movie, but I have to admire the ambition and the inventiveness–and some parts of the execution. What are some of your favorite action-adventure movies?

 

The Value of Things Earned

My family was lower middle class. I went to good private schools, but that was it. We could buy food, lived in a good apartment, and had health insurance. Everything was all right. Vacations were extremely rare, but it didn’t bother me: we lived on a coastal city, and I only had to cross the street to get to the beach–which I did every day. Not bad. So, my family had all the basics covered.

Material things, though, weren’t a priority. I didn’t wear brands. My clothes were mostly hand-me-downs, sometimes from my aunt (making me the only boy with mom-jeans in middle school), or from the discount bin. I had toys, but I’ve learned to surf on borrowed surfboards, and I’ve never learned to skate. My grandparents gave me a BMX bike one Christmas. I could barely stand on tiptoes while seated on it, and it was my bike until I was tall enough that my knees hit the handlebar.

I was frugal with my allowance. After saving for a few weeks, I could buy comic books, graphic novels, the cheapest walkman I could find, and pair of okay tennis shoes. This thrifty mentality came from my upbringing: for the sixteen years that I lived at home, my family had never bought a piece of furniture, or a new appliance. No problem. Again, we had the basics, and a well-managed allowance went a long way.

Then I went to live by myself. All the furnishings on my apartment where twenty- or thirty-year-old secondhand stuff my grandparents had loaned to me. Including a white mini-fridge—emphasis on the “mini.” It didn’t work well. Okay, it didn’t work at all. Granted, I only needed it for mayo, ketchup, eggs, and frozen food, but still. It’s disheartening to come home after school and internship and find warm ketchup.

The internship was a paid one, though, and I saved for three months to buy a fridge. It was cheap, an ugly brown color, and not too big. But it was new, and it was MINE.

Courtesy MS Word clipart

I remember those days vividly. That sorry fridge was the first thing I bought with money I had earned. I actually showed it to many of my colleagues as if it were a piece of fine art. To my surprise, my friends didn’t sneer. They got it.

The pride I felt was immeasurable. For months, a smile sprouted on my face every time I went into the minuscule kitchen. I would open the fridge and grin like an idiot for a few seconds. The cold air hitting me was like a wave of joy. Then, still beaming, I’d get the bottle of ketchup.

Cold ketchup, as it should be.

What was the first purchase you made with your own money? Was it a car, a tattoo, an album, a gift? Were you proud of it?

 

Hard Rock, Fast Cars

Every time I go for a long car ride, I select one of my Hard Rock playlists. Road trips and rock’n'roll music are perfect for each other. Any stretch of asphalt gets even better when “Highway Star”, “She Sells Sanctuary”, “Highway To Hell”, “Heading Out To The Highway” and, of course, ”Born To Be Wild” are blasting out of the speakers.

Apparently, ad agencies think the same. They’ve been using some of my favorite songs–my battle hymns–in car commercials. At first I was upset (“You know, the commercialism of it all, man”), but now… what can I do?

“Rock’n’Roll” by Led Zeppelin selling Cadillacs seems like a no-brainer:

And the great “Hush” by Deep Purple fits the Jaguar ad:

But Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye” doesn’t scream Honda Odyssey, a minivan:

Sometimes they get creative, as in this use of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on The Water” (for the Dodge Avenger):

Or in the Honda Pilot’s brilliant version of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”:

I don’t know much about cars. Nowadays, I’m pretty much this guy in the Jetta ad (the song is “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent):

Even though the ad companies want me to feel like this guy:

“Kickstart My Heart”, indeed. I’m still torn about corporations using songs I love to peddle stuff. Do you feel upset when they use “The Lorax” to sell cars? Or “Star Wars” characters to sell candy and cell phones?

 

The Graveyard of Blog Posts

Some blog posts are alive and well. They live in the sunny internet, being read and commented on, and sometimes even admired. However, some of their brethren are marginalized, hidden, and, sometimes (gasp!), even deleted.

Every time a blog post doesn’t make it, a smiley turns into a frowney

Not all blog posts see the light of the day. After a thoroughly unscientific research, I came to realize these forgotten posts are split into five groups:

1. Untimely. Blogging about Mother’s Day in June, or baseball close to Christmas etc.
2. Too silly. Some bloggers use personal anecdotes to illustrate bigger aspects of life. The kid who embarrassed a helpless parent, the salesperson who wouldn’t take no as an answer, the old high-school flame who hit on the married blogger: they all become a character in the blog post, and the starting point of a more serious discussion about behavior, society, or culture. But sometimes the blogger just can’t make that connection. Instead of a riveting blog post, the piece ends up reading like a lukewarm Facebook status update.
3. Too controversial. The blogger has a strong opinion, and not a popular one. The blogger might think the post will offend or turn off her potential readers and decide to archive the post. Maybe she’ll unearth it when she is more established and the readers won’t look at her with suspicion. Renée Schuls-Jacobson wrote a great piece about a mysterious post that she decided not to publish. Side note: as we all know, stay away from politics and religion. See also Rachelle Gardner’s post about topics to avoid.
4. Too personal. The blogger wants to share a personal event of his life. It might be a medical struggle of some sort, a chronicle of hard times, a grim tale of violence. However, the blogger sees that this particular story is too private, and that it could change the audience’s perception of the blogger. The blogger could be forever linked with the post, for better or worse.
5. Not good enough. The idea is brilliant; the execution is not. I have a few of those buried in my hard drive I have at least three drafts for which I can’t find the right tone.

Personal example of number 3: I wrote a post about a beloved figure who I think has his accomplishments grossly overrated. I was fair, and I wasn’t attacking this person in any way, but his following is so rabid that questioning his quasi-divinity would put the mob in a frenzy. Result: deleted first draft.

Did I miss any reasons? And what about you? Have you ever dropped a blog post?

 

At a loss for words?

We all have favorites. Not only we take sides on historical rivalries (PC/Mac, Coke/Pepsi, draft/bottle, breastfeeding/bottle), but we also have strong preferences when several options are available (Haagen Dazs flavors, phone apps, types of exercise, books). They become our choices, and they end up defining us.

And some of us have this strange relationship with words. I love the word “weird,” for example (can’t imagine why). However, go-to words are not the writer’s best friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a novel, an essay, an email, a blog post, or a text message. If we use a word or group of words repeatedly, readers will see us as lazy, unimaginative, unprepared, or worse: weird.

The answer? Thesauri and dictionaries! Some writers love their trusty copies of Webster, Oxford, or Roget. I rely on Webster’s, but I like the flexibility of online sources.

I use Bing search engine (I’m a PC). For example, suppose you want to use the word “pedantic,” but you aren’t sure of its exact meaning. You can type “define pedantic” in the Bing search bar, and it’ll return results from the Bing dictionary and from many other sources (dictionary.com, Merriam-webster.com, sometimes even Wikipedia).

Then you might think that using the word “pedantic” is a little pedantic. No problem. Type “synonym pedantic” and you’ll find many alternatives from Bing, thesaurus.com, synonym.com.

You can use “define” with phrasal verbs too. Note: I prefer to use a copy of McGraw Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

It’s handy if you’re looking for slang or idioms too. Sometimes it returns results from the Urban Dictionary. As a YA writer, I find this site invaluable. Beware: many of the entries are inaccurate, hilarious, and wildly profane. Please use your best judgment.

Online sources are usually more up-to-date than hard copies. They are also fun when you’re doing free word association. You can go through many links in the chain faster than if you were using a hard copy, and bookmark them for later use.

Do you have “go-to” words? Do you use other sources? Which words baffle you? Once I mixed up “asymptotic” and “asymptomatic”—ouch. Please share!

 

Farewell, Firefly: 5 TV shows gone too soon

TV executives, like gold prospector, sift through the silt and water for years to find the precious, shiny nuggets. Only the TV execs throw the gold away from time to time. Here’s a list of five of my TV favs that suffered a sudden, inexplicable death.

Pushing Daisies

One of the most creative series on TV. It was quirky and imaginative, and even its visuals were unique—what I called goth-bubblegum-kitsch. It wasn’t a fantasy, and it wasn’t real—maybe magical realism? The story of the Pie Maker who can bring people back to life for one minute was a treat. It just couldn’t find an audience on broadcast TV; If it had run on regular cable, it’d be on air until today.

Better Off Ted

This is one of my favorites. It’s pitch-perfect. Most shows take four or five episodes until the cast gels and the writers get into a rhythm, but this one took off from episode one. It was a brilliant satire about the corporate world, starting with the (hilarious) fake company ad at the beginning of each episode. Portia De Rossi once again nails the character. And the two lab guys’ stories were like a series-within-a-series.

Sports Night

“Sports Night” was Aaron Sorkin’s test-drive before he created “The West Wing.” All the key aspects of the latter are in the former: rapid-fire, crisp dialogue, walk-and-talk, a workplace dramedy that allowed the characters’ personal lives to arise because of the job problems. Felicity Huffman is the highlight of the strong cast. It was also the rare series that talked about sports.

Arrested Development

It aired 50-so episodes—and this was still not enough. The Blunt Saga had solid, creative writing, but its real strength was the perfect casting. The brilliant-crafted characters matched the actors so well. The quietness of Michel Cera and Jason Bateman contrasted with the craziness of David Cross and Will Arnett. At least now I can see (hear) Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter in “Archer.” It also featured the underrated Portia De Rossi. I miss those “in the next episode” bogus scenes…

Firefly

This will always be a head-scratcher. Did the Fox executives even watch this before relegating it to the Friday night purgatory? It’s a space western with clever plot, sharp dialogue, a great hero, and brilliantly handled worldbuilding. Put it another way: it was the best version of “The Chronicles of Han Solo” anyone could ever create. And they killed it.

At least some of these gems are now on Netflix.

By the way, if you enjoy TV series, please check out Tiffany A. White’s blog. She knows everything about TV.

Did I miss a favorite of yours? Please let us know of other treasures that were gone too soon.

 

ROW80 Goals + Achievement Unlocked

ROW80, or A Round of Words in 80 Days, is “the writing challenge that knows you have a life.” It allows you to set specific, measurable, and adaptable goals for yourself. What it’s not mentioned enough: you meet amazing people who share your interests, you cheer them on, and you celebrate their accomplishments as if they were yours.

MOTIVATION:

I need to know whyI’m doing things. In my outlines, each scene has a clear, indisputable reason to exist. Likewise, each goal must fulfill a clear need. Here’s what I need to do and why:

• Write – to keep me sane
• Develop outlines – to be able to write. I just need the basic plot, the ending, and a line describing each chapter. Then I’m free to create.
• Use my most productive hours to write – so I don’t get frustrated by slow progress.
• Know where the next checkpoint is – to keep me motivated and focused.
• Connect with people – for many personal and professional reasons.
• Exercise – to have energy to accomplish all the above.
• Study and research – to support my writing goals.

Round 2 ROW80 Goals (April 2 – June 21, 2012) :

I’m going to try a few different things this time around. For this round, I’ll track my progress via bottom-post updates, not full-fledged posts.

I’ve tried to create a daily schedule that included all aspects of life, and I’ve discovered that I need around thirty hours every day. Also, I know I’ll miss at least two weeks in vacations and conferences. Taking that into account, here are my super-flexible goals for this round:

Writing Goals:

1. Write 4 weekdays every week.
2. Finish Crimson outline.

Community Goals:

1. Post twice a week. Create posts in advance when possible.
2. Connect with people and support fellow bloggers and writers: up to 2 hours per day chatting, promoting, encouraging, tweeting, sharing, reading, and commenting on posts. Turn off the wireless when limit is reached. I’ll keep track fo this one with the Blog Comments tool.

Personal Goals:

1. Exercise 4 times a week (including workouts, runs, other activities)
2. Study, research, or read 4 nights a week. One night is for the critique meeting

***

It’s weird sharing goals and, at the same time, celebrating a goal accomplished: my YA novel BEWITCH ME was selected as one of three Children/YA finalists at the Sandy Writing Contest.  All three finalists are from the Pacific Northwest. Does rain help write YA? Judging by this result and by my critique group’s superb writing, the answer is a firm “yes.”

***

Even if you don’t take part in ROW80, I encourage you to visit the participant’s blogs and give them a shout out from time to time. We appreciate the support.

Have a great week!

 

The “Lucky” 7 Meme And Me

Most writers agree that sharing our precious pages is worrisome. What if I made a mistake? Will readers “get” my writing? And, worst of all, what if they don’t like it? Putting yourself out there is always a source of great trepidation for us introverts. It keeps us awake at night.

Clearly, Jennifer L. Oliver, Jessica O’Neal, and Kristy James don’t care about my insecurities or my sleep patterns. How else can you explain that the three of them tagged me with the Lucky 7 Meme? Of course, they don’t have a thing to worry about: their excerpts are great!

These are the rules of the Lucky 7 game:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP

2. Go to line 7

3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.

4. Tag 7 authors, and let them know.

However, I was triple-tagged, and I have three novels from three different series… Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. I decided to go all-in. Here are three excerpts, one from each YA novel.

I’ll now hide under a rock.

***

[Novel 1: page 79, line 7 – the previous 2 pages contain spoilers.]

They were ushered into the winter garden where his mother painted on a canvas. While they walked the length of the room, the boy noticed her careful strokes. She had been an artist, praised in the Riverside region, but unknown outside the state. Her artwork included oils, murals, and, eventually, sculptures. She used to write small poems and embed them in her artwork. Even after she moved to the clinic, she had continued to paint with the same poise, but to him the results were somewhat… simpler. He followed with great apprehension as her art declined, in a slow but steady pace, from gallery showcase to elementary school level.

***

[Novel 2: page 77, line 6. This chapter is narrated by our 17-year-old male protagonist.]

I feel simultaneously empowered and intimidated. I want to explore this new world; I want to know its secrets.

As if reading my mind, Jane turns to me. She throws her bottle to the side of the road. In the otherwise silent night, the sharp noise of shattered glass sounds foreboding.

Her hands go behind my neck. She gently pulls my head toward hers, until our lips touch.

I surrender. I don’t know where she’s taking me, but I don’t care.

Jane can’t turn off her badassness even while kissing. Her tongue aggressively searches for mine, her breath smelling of beer, nicotine, and cherry—I’ve never imagined it as a tantalizing combination.

***

[Novel 3: page 7, line 7 – there’s no page 77 yet. A teenager girl is in trouble.]

The dagger ended Josh’s pain; maybe it’ll end mine too. Sitting on the limo’s floor, I try to subdue the shakes by propping my feet against the opposite seat. I pull up my sleeve. My forearm illustrates my story of attacks. It’s hard to find a space free of transversal cuts. The one close to my wrist tempts me, but I can’t afford to bleed to death. Not yet.

I choose one close to the back of my elbow. With gritted teeth, I steady my hand and make a slow, deep cut. A thin crimson line welcomes me. Two drops drip from the dagger, and the blood reminds me of a distorted, gory smiley face. It’s not enough pain, though.

***

Constructive criticism is always welcome!

Now, to pass along the joy of the Lucky 7 meme. These 7 friends of the blog are tagged:

1. Ingrid Schaffenburg
2. Jillian Dodd
3. Ellie Ann Soderstrom
4. Susie Lindau
5. Kathy Owen
6. Marcia Richards
7. Renée Schuls-Jacobson

Congratulations–and sorry about your upcoming sleepless nights

Update: After this scheduled post was published, I realized that Charis Malloy had also tagged me. Thank you, Charis!

 

The Eleven Questions Game

Karen Rought is The Midnight Novelist. She is also a copyeditor for Hypable, a blogging machine, and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She tagged me with the fun Eleven Questions Game. First, the rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions on your blog. Create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Here are the eleven questions Karen asked me. It was incredibly hard to answer them.

1. What book or series can you read over and over again without getting bored?

I’ve read the “Harry Potter” books several times, but “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is still tops.

2. If you decided not to be a writer, what would your other dream job be?

Billionaire philanthropist. Or game designer.

3. What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done in your life?

You mean, besides deciding to be a writer? River-rafting, diving, trapeze, punching a bully, marrying, moving, getting a tattoo, and job interviews are all scary. But the scariest is having kids.

4. If there was one fad that you could bring back from when you were a kid, what would it be?

The New Wave color palette from the 80s: bright pink, neon blue, blinding yellow, electric green etc. Fantastic.

5. Who is the one person that has singlehandedly inspired you the most in your life?

This is hard. Probably my grandfather.

6. If you could take a trip to any foreign country RIGHT NOW, which one would you choose?

England. I have always loved England, but I’ve never been there.

7. What is one talent that you’re hopeless at, but you wish you had?

That’s easy: playing the guitar. Not only I’m a headbanger, but I’d love to go back in time and be part of my friends’ bands. Also, playing guitar seems incredibly relaxing.

8. What TV show are you most addicted to?

I was addicted to “Lost,” but it’s not very rewatchable. The one show that I’ll watch over and over is “The West Wing,” especially its first four seasons. “Gilmore Girls” is a close second. “Archer” is third.

9. If you were stuck on a deserted island, name three objects and three people you would want with you.

My answer would be wife and kids, but I suppose I wouldn’t want them stuck on a deserted island…

If the goal is getting out of the island: the President of The United States, a helicopter pilot, and a secret service agent. The objects: a charged satphone, a fueled helicopter, and a deck of cards.

If the goal is staying on the island: Robinson Crusoe, Tom Hanks’ character from Cast Away, and Steve Martin. Three things: knife, rope, and flint-and-steel.

10. If you could be any animal, what would you be?

A Hungarian Horntail dragon, if available. If not, an eagle.

11. What is one trait or physical characteristic that you are proud of/love about yourself?

In my not-so-humble opinion, my movie knowledge. Very useful if you’re a writer, by the way.

And here are my eleven victims friends:

1. Melinda VanLone
2. Rachel Funk Heller
3. Piper Bayard
4. Leanne Shirtliffe
5. August McLaughlin
6. Lena Corazon
7. Alicia and Roy Street
8. Natalie Hartford
9. Jenny Hansen
10. Coleen Patrick
11. Barbara McDowell

Congratulations. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to answer the following questions and post them on your blog:

1. What is your favorite historical period and why?
2. List your top five favorite movies.
3. Your house is on fire. Your loved ones–humans and pets–are already safe outside. They have your driver’s license and a flash drive with all your backups (files and all the media you own). You have time to save one more object. What would you get?
4. Who let the dogs out? You can invite any three people in the world for a dinner–anyone alive. Who are your guests?
5. Congress/the gods/smiling extraterrestrials said you can only have one type of food every meal for the rest of your life (they’ll supplement your diet with vitamin pills). Which food would you choose?
6. In an episode of “Friends”, they all reveal their freebie list: five celebrities with whom they can hook up without upsetting their partners. Who’s in yours?
7. (Huge spoiler alert.) Some people think the Hunger Games is bloody. In Harry Potter 6, fifteen characters die. In HP7, the body count is over fifty (see here). JK is rewriting the series, and she let you choose one character from any of the seven books to get a reprieve. Who would it be and why?
8. What’s your worst fear?
9. You can choose your own nickname, with an assurance that no one would ever mock you. Tell us your choice.
10. What’s the best vacation you have ever had?
11. Congress/the gods/smiling extraterrestrials said you must move to any fantasy or sci-fi setting (books, movies, videogames, rpgs) of your choice—permanently. Where would you go?

Even if you’re not in the list, feel free to write your own in the comment section below. I’d love to know more about you.