Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all my family and friends and all the rest off the internets. Also, Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating it.

May God grant us good will and cheer for this coming year.

Here's what I thought about Rove McManus and ABC's The List!

Alright! Let's get right to it!


It hard to say how I feel about ABC's the List and how Rove did. I thought it was a good end of the year count down show - and arguably the only one I'll watch; let alone blog/tweet about. However, it paled in comparison to Rove's chat show in Australia. And just because I can, here's a fancy list format!

What Worked and What Didn't:

1. 3 formats in one show! For me watching, it was like watching Rove try to host a live chat show (including studio audiance), host 5th Grader, (the graphics, logos and set kinda sorta reminded me of 5th grader), and do a Entertainment Tonight type show, with a shit ton of voice over, all in one show.
   
   I didn't think it was at all necessary to have a live audience. No fault to Rove, but I don't think they fully understood what was going on - the at home viewers never saw the audience, but from what I can tell, it wasn't a laugh track because the laughs were mild.
   
   How can Rove improve? Work on better blending these TV styles together. Americans like their Celeb related anything fast paced, punchy, and full of shiny graphics and obnoxious music. You had it all Rove, the graphics, the jokes, the punchy music - they just didn't flow together. I felt like the pacing was really slow... Rove...be your fast, funny self - we can keep up - I promise.
   
2. Lack of Energy. I don't know, maybe it was the pace of the show but Perez Hilton wasn't hyper, Rove was mildly hyper, and frankly I'm used to hyper Rove. It's 10pm at night. I want hyper, witty, and energy or I'm going to bed.
   
   How can Rove improve? Just be your wacky, lovable self.
   
3. Jokes and their levels of funny: There were a LOT of jokes that WERE FUNNY, but there were equally a lot of jokes that fell flat.
   
   Here's why: most of the celeb jokes worked fine, and jokes where Rove was making fun of himself were 50/50. I laughed at a lead in joke after a commercial break: "if you're just joining us; I have no idea who I am either." It's funny because yup, most of America don't got a clue who you are - and that's funny. That works.
   
   Starting the show off with a quasi monologue about how it's a great time to be Aussie and how an Aussie is the sexiest man alive, hosting the Oscars and in this season's number one romantic movie is great - I laughed loudly when you said, "oh sure they're all Hugh Jackman."
   
   However, when you pulled out a pillow that you were sitting on to show us how short you were - didn't. America doesn't know you're pint-sized yet. We've never seen you standing next to someone else. There were no guests. And camera angles are deceptive.
   
   I know the short jokes are a comfort zone, because if you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at?! But - this was your chance to stand and sit tall because the TV behind you and the desk weren't THAT big. ;)

It's an interesting experiment. All in all, I think Rove did okay. Ratings will probably not fair well because 10pm is a tough time slot. Just ask Eli Stone. You pushed him out of his this week. ;) It was something ABC wanted to try in this time slot, I think in part because Leno is going to be filling it next year on NBC. None of the networks really have a handle on what to do with 10pm right now.

If anyone in Hollywood is listening.... sketch comedy show like Roundhouse on Nickelodeon in the 90s... it's been a while since we've had a good one.


There's a place for Rove on American TV, I just don't think counting down lists is the right place.

PreviewThe List Now and Watch The List Tonight!

ABC uploaded a clip from tonight's The List hosted by the Aussie Rove McManus and you can watch it here!
The List airs tonight on ABC at 10pm EST.

For my Aussie friends, I'll be tweeting my reactions LIVE on my Twitter www.twitter.com/tamaryn.

Shortly after The List airs, I'll put up a blog post right here at TamaRant.com with my full review of the show.

See you tonight fans of Rove and fans of pop culture.

Check Out "The List" Preview

RoveFeed alerted me to this (link in the side bar)



Looks good! Can't wait for Tuesday!

Hey! Plot Bunnies! Get to Work!

The image to the left is not what I'm using to write my novel, but it's appropriate because the page is blank. My pages aren't totally blank, but my mind is.

Let's talk about plot bunnies. They're those crazy things running around in a writer's head (or in my case, wannabe) that get jumbled up and spit out a story.

They're the master minds behind character development, pacing, structure and all those other important things that make reading a book worth your time.

My plot bunnies have been distracted. They're typing up more weird dreams about being eaten by animals. They're spending way too much time thinking about TV shows that I watch and writing "deleted scenes" known as fan-fiction. My plot bunnies are being very bunny like and hopping all over the place - and they're leaving their bunny poop all over too! Do you know how hard that shit is to clean up?

Right now, I'm trying to wrangle them in. This past week I spent no time on the writing. Well, I wrote a couple of fan fictions, just to keep the muscle going. Keep those fingers flexed. I'm trying to just give my mind some time and go back to the writing with fresh eyes.

There are some questions I need to better answer before I continue.

A) What is my main character's goal
B) How does she/he grow or change?
C) What incident propels him/her to go after what she wants?
D) What is the main event? (then re-address B))
E) How is the character and the story resolved?

I'm not saying I haven't thought about these. I have. I just have to keep going back to those questions because I want to make sure I stay on track. I want to make sure that I keep good story telling in mind. I'm not writing a thriller. I don't need major cliffhangers.

I need to spit out the story and go back and revise the hell out of it.

Breaking News...Rove McManus to Host in AMERICA - ABC's The List

AllHeadlineNews.com and RoveFeed (link in the sidebar!) is reporting that Rove McManus, will host a end of the year pop culture countdown show called ABC's The List.

"Celebrity News Service is looking forward to the one-hour special, which will be hosted by one of Australia’s most popular television personalities, Rove McManus."

I just checked TVGUIDE.com and it's listed. :D

This is HUGE for Rove. It's his first solo hosting gig in the USA. I expect more coverage to follow in the Aussie presses... but it's a great opportunity to get his name and face out to the US Market.

I'll have more as it develops.

Make sure to watch ABC's The List, Tuesday, December 23rd at 10pm.

10 Awesome Things for the week of 12/1 -12/7

Man, this past week was incredibly eventful. Not everything was awesome, but the trick is trying to find the beauty in the suck. Let's see how I did as I count it down...

10. On Monday I was still experiencing vertigo (and as I write this, I still am); but that didn't stop me from packing my lunch and having a good World AIDS day. I also watched a lovely episode of Jon and Kate plus Eight. I saw some people on it I know!
I also found out Kate is going to be in my Town this week signing her book. I wrote it down on my calendar. ;)

9. On Tuesday, I ran up over a curb. (Not awesome; full of suck). I dented the wheel and broke the wheel barring. Yes. It's expensive. I took it to the shop at lunch to find out if it was drive able for at least a little bit. Then after multiple phone calls to multiple places - made an appointment on Friday to have it fixed.

8. On Wednesday, I started writing a book. It started with a line to describe how I felt at the end of Tuesday - but I promise you it's not a book about cars.

7. Also, on Wednesday, I got sick. Again. I was coughing up green stuff. Eww. I drank copious amounts of tea and ate lots of Vitamin C to ward it off. While I was at the grocery store, I found a really cool travel mug for my tea. It's the little things.

6. On Thursday, I got a significant amount of work-work done sooner than I had planned. This was happy for me. I also spent some time working on the book and outlining key issues that I'll need to address later. Like those nasty things called tense and point of view.

5. Also on Thursday, I went to the archives. The archives is parent's house. I searched for my Shakespeare anthology. (Most of my books are at my parents house because that's the last place I lived with book shelves.) I found it, and some random stuff from when I lived in Chicago.

4. Friday I was still really sick. I spent all of Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday sleeping. When I did get up to eat... I ate Lucky Charms. That's it. That's all ate all weekend. It was like being seven again.

3. On Saturday, I watch morning cartoons. Oh childhood.

2. Worked more on the writing thing. It's harder than it looks!

1. I lost six pounds over the weekend. Being sick is the best diet.

In my Dreams John Green

I'm known to have some pretty eeffed up dreams.

warning: what you're about to read is graphic in nature! But not that bad if you've ever sat and watched animal planet for an hour.

I frequently dream I am eaten alive by spiders in my bed. I frequently dream I'm eaten alive by alligators. I frequently dream I'm eaten alive by a cougar who jumps through my window to drag me away, eat me then leave my rotting flesh in a tree so it can snack on me later.


Like I said, some eeffed up dreams.

So two nights ago, I dreamed that John Green, best selling author of Paper Towns, Co-Ruler of Nerdfighteria, was at my house having lunch.

I believe we were enjoying grilled cheese and tomato soup when out from freaking nowhere my pet tiger jumped onto the table and ate John. The oddest thing about this dream is not that John Green was having lunch at my house, not that I owned a pet tiger, nor that my pet tiger ate John. No, it was that after my pet tiger had her lunch I said something like, "I knew it was a bad idea to own a tiger" and then I did the dishes.

Moral of the story... I should not reread Paper Towns with Animal Planet on as background noise.

*Waves @ John* Sorry you didn't get to finish your lunch John. Oh, and also sorry for the whole death by a tiger thing.

On Writing Again

Lately, I've been forcing myself to write. Creative Write. Fiction Write. Not Copy Write. The latter I spend all day at work doing; I've given up doing it at home.

So. I've been writing. Something I haven't really done since college. However, there's been a story inside of me that I've been carrying around since high school, but every time I tried to tell it the story came out flat and wholly uninteresting.

When I verbally retell titillating tidbits from high school I'm interesting, funny, and my high school days seem far more scandalous than they felt at the time. (Maybe that's because I'm an adult now and I get what others were playing at.)

When I tried to put it down on paper it was too me centric. I was struggling with just getting out the emotional stuff. What I wrote were long, purging narratives that lacked the most important things to any well written story - a conflict and a resolution. In short, it lacked plot.

UNTIL NOW!

So the other day, I sat down in front of my computer and started with a line that described how I felt at the end of that particular day. (It had been a long, long, stressful day.) Then, and I'm not sure how, I tapped into my sixteen-year-old-self and started writing something I'm excited about. The things I've been missing just hit me. I have a plot, a conflict, teenage angst, (you have to have teenage angst). There's a pinch of mystery, a dash of Shakespeare and a dollop of verbotene liebe (forbidden love).

Now I fully realize that lots of stories deal with teenage angst and forbidden love set against a mystery. Some of them are even good! Most aren't. I have no idea where in the spectrum my story will land. None whatsoever. However, I'm excited about it. Like really, truly excited about it.

I have so much excitement about it that I've let no less than eight people read it. I had people read it who come from all circles of life. One's a lawyer. A few are artists. One works at a Publishing company. (She's a good friend, back off!) Two of them are my parents. All of them said the same thing: "It's good. I'm hooked. I want more." A few, who write themselves, offered some unasked for but helpful questions about the character development. One added that she's was emotionally involved from the start.

This has made me encouraged enough to actually try and finish it. You know, not just write 10,000 words that go nowhere and offer nothing.

So regular readers of TamaRant may see a shift emerge. I may spend more time talking about my experiences at playing like a writer. You might see blog posts that do nothing but talk about my love for Romeo and Juliette. You might read the likely-to-be-boring posts about how much I love Panera workers. You might see polls on what's the best name for a science teacher (My vote: Mr. Iago). I ask you not to be alarmed but to play along with me as I travel this new chapter, and the next one, and the next one....

World AIDS Day - 2008

Each December first, the world celebrates World AIDS Day. It's not really a celebration in the sense of balloons and cake. It's a day to spread awareness of the AIDS pandemic and remember those loved ones who've lost their lives to AIDS.

AIDS and HIV affects all walks of life and all types of people. If you practice unprotected sex (that includes the often over looked oral sex) or if you use unclean needles, I encourage you to get tested. Getting tested is easy. Often health clinics offer free, confidential testing.

For more information about World AIDS Day and to learn more about AIDS and HIV, visit www.worldaidsday.org. To find an HIV testing site near you, visit www.hivtest.org.

It's time to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS - you can help by first being responsible with your own health.

I know and have known many who are and have been affected and this blog post is to honor them.

10 Awesome Things for the week of Thanksgiving

This past week brought with it Thanksgiving and 10 Awesome things...

10. I was given free tickets to see BoA preform live at MTV in NYC on Dec. 3rd. However, I can't go because a) I don't live anywhere near NYC and b) I work.

9. I gave away my free tickets to see BoA preform live at MTV to one lucky TamaRant reader. I'm that nice. :D

8. After some debate, I bought a new curling iron on Black Friday. I needed one because I stepped on and broke my old one. Glorious.

7. My family and I drove to Detroit to visit other family. We played Trivia Pursuit the Pop Culture edition.

6. The girls team won at Trivia Pursuit the Pop Culture edition.

5. I conversed with the Nomad regarding the new look for TamaRant. When it's finished it's going to be so pretty.

4. I progressed considerably with my German comprehension. Learning a language by watching teevee is awesome. I'm thinking about being more like the Nomad and audit a class at my old college.

3. The snow fell six inches in one night. Lake-Effect is both beautiful and awful at the same time.

2. My work installed new lights in our building. My eyes finally adjusted and have stopped feeling like they're bleeding.

1. I had a happy Thanksgiving. I ate an amazing amount of turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. My brother and I fought over the whipped cream. It was just like old times and it was good times.