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I'm a day late posting. Darned holidays completely throw me off.

I was watching T.V. the other day and was struck yet again by how very much I absolutely love Love Actually. In terms of romantic storytelling, it's one of the best examples. Richard Curtis just gets it, you know? Plus, Rodrigo Santoro. ROWR.

On a general writing forum I've been mostly lurking on, it's been incredibly illuminating reading the discussions between people who consider themselves "serious" writers. I mean, some of them consider themselves to be Serious, in the "searching for the essential human truth in the prose" sort of way and some of them just consider themselves to be "serious" in the "I want to get published" sort of way. Regardless, what's pretty universal is how utterly clueless so many of these serious writers are about some of the things I consider to be basic about writing to get published. Like how to format a manuscript and theories on simultaneous submissions. Makes me ever-more grateful for RWA and the yahoo group "teenlitauthors." I think those of us who come up through RWA, in particular, are probably better prepared for the surprises of the business end writing than almost any other writer out there. You just wanna bop people over the head and say "snap out of it!" when they start going on about things that are so far removed from reality, you wonder if they're talking about the same industry.

Simon Baker from The Mentalist is a total woobie and I want to smish him and take him home.

Ditto for Zach Levi from Chuck.

Back to writing, isn't it funny how every few months you'll have a kerfluffle or watch a writer absolutely implode? I think it happens more during the winter-- first the Stephen King/Stephenie Meyer brouhaha which has prompted more outrage than anything I've seen in recent memory, including a rage-filled You Tube vid where the complainant goes on for eight minutes as to what a complete hack King is and how he just doesn't understand how absolutely amazing Twilight is and how he's just a dried up jealous hag whose movies all went straight to DVD. Or something like that. Okay then. (Warning: Not Safe For Work language in the vid. Girlfriend was really ticked off.)

Then I've been seeing a couple of instances where authors are venting their spleens at other authors or groups just... you know, I don't know why. I have no idea what they gain from doing so. I know that the old axiom is "any publicity is good publicity" and I suppose in most instances it's true, but I don't know-- for me, I see an author completely lose it like that, it does tend to make me think twice about buying their books. The internet's a great thing, but it has really made the world a smaller place.

Okay, enough about kerfluffles. Oooh... the Oscars are this weekend. I've seen NOTHING, except Dark Knight. Which is sad, but such is my life. I do want to see Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button, in particular, and I hope I get to see them in a theatre. Obviously, it looks like those are the two frontrunners, but you know when it comes to the awards themselves, it's not just about who wins-- the gowns, baby! I can't wait to see the gowns. *is shallow* And Hugh Jackman hosting! *is very shallow*

Okay, I think I've been quite random enough-- oh, except Duffy (my new favorite girl singer) released an EP of material off Rockferry. She just so neo-retro and really stands out in the crowd. And not anywhere near as much a mess as Amy Winehouse, bless her heart.

So, tell me-- what's going on with you guys? What's caught your attention? Books? Movies? Music? Kerfluffles? Share!