Good news! Jillian’s Irish Historical, Redemption for the Devil, is on sale at Amazon.com for the rest of the month. Only .99
May25
Monthly Archives: May 2012
May23
Top Five Foreign Films
FAVORITE FILMS NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Since listing my all time top 5 films is an impossible task for me since I’m very much into films and have lots of favorites, I’m going to alter the prompt a mite bit and name my top five foreign films instead.
1. First and Foremost, if you have never watched a foreign film (and by that, I mean one not in English) I recommend you start with this one. My number one choice. It’s exciting and the story is complex and well done. The movie? BLACK BOOK. It is sooo good. I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s about a Jewish girl who works for the Dutch resistance in WWII. She becomes involved with a Nazi officer. It’s such a powerful story.
2. BREAD AND TULIPS is another good foreign language film. It’s light fare compared to #1 above. It’s a romance and a lot of it takes place in Venice, Italy, a place I love.
3. WALK ON WATER is a story about a member of Mossad (a very handsome Lior Ashkenazi) who is assigned to a misson whereby he must get close to the grandchildren of a Nazi war crminal. This is a lovely story and is pretty light fare as well. It’s a drama, but it’s not as dark as BLACK BOOK.
4. ARMY OF SHADOWS is another dark one about WWII. It is another resistance group movie. It seems like a lot of the foreign films use that era as their setting and story base. I guess it’s because so much happened during that turbulent time in history. This one has Jean-Pierre Cassel, the very handsome father of Vincent Cassel, in it. This is a tragic film, so be ready to have your heart hurt with this one.
5. Another foreign film with a lot of drama is THE THIRD MAN. This one is set in Vienna, Austria and is a cold war film. It has Joesph Cotten and Orson Welles in it. This one is also dark, but that’s the beauty in this one. The director captured the dark tone quite well with the shots of the city at night. The city of Vienna is almost another character in the movie.
So, check some of these out sometime. It’s fun when the film itself is so excitng that you forget you’re reading the words. One word of caution, though, don’t watch HIROSHIMA, MY LOVE if you want action and fast pace.
May17
Tea with Alan Rickman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChRYSf_9SoM
Someone shared this on Twitter yesterday and I love, love, love it. ENJOY!
May16
Donovan- FINALLY
One of my favorite singers of all time finally got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yep, Donovan Leitch, 60s and 70s folk/rock singer finally got his due this year. So glad.
Jillian has been inspired by this man on several fronts. She loves his music and the name of this song inspired her to write a witchy story. Jillian also used Donovan as the inspiration for Emma’s father in Solo Honeymoon, her debut novel.
In honor of this awesome man, enjoy this song!
And for reading: The Season of the Witch
May8
Seeking Inspiration
When I need inspiration, I watch movies. I love all kinds including foreign films. I watch not only for the plot, but for the pacing, the dialogue and the scenery. Any one of those things can be the impetus for some new inspiration for me. Sometimes even a character in the film may trigger an idea. I love cinema- of any era.
And then, there is always these two guys: 
May7
Someone I Admire
MY DEAR FRIEND
Someone I admire is my friend, Margo. She has a lot on her plate but she seems to always pick herself up and keep moving past that stuff. She’s an inspiration because she never lets herself be held down too long. She’s an optimist and always believes things will get better- and they eventually do.
She’s a romantic and I love that about her. I tend to see the gritty reality too often and have a lot of cynicism and her belief in the absolute goodness of people is a trait I wish I had.
May2
Things I Don’t Understand
The Stuff I Don’t Get:
The following three things are things I’ll never understand:
1. How people can be cruel to children and animals. Both are so innocent and trusting, I just can’t fathom how someone could hurt either.
2. NASCAR- It’s grown people driving in circles for hours. What is the fascination? I don’t get it.
3. Mandarin Chinese- mainly because it’s got that whole other alphabet thing going on. It would be hard to learn a new language along with new characters, so I’m not even going to give it a whirl.
Ramblings of a Writer 