Simply Irresistible – a favorite forgotten movie

Friday night, I had the living room to myself. The sons and hubby were busy playing their video game together--one of their Friday night activities. So, I thought I'd watch a movie. The DVD I pulled off the shelf was Simply Irresistible starring Sarah Michelle Geller and Sean Patrick Flannery.

It's really a simple story in many ways. Boy meets Girl so on and so forth. It's about food, romance and opposites attracting. Added into the mix is the magical component of falling in love over food. Yes, a seriously magical element.

Sarah plays a young woman named Amanda who has inherited a small family restaurant after her mother's death. The restaurant isn't doing well and might go under. Through the direction of some kind of guardian angel, she meets Tom, a department store executive. She's not his type but after he tries her food he can't get her out of his head...or his appetite.

The story gets even better after that and silly too. Oh and did I forget romantic. This is a movie that makes you hungry. It's sweetly sensual in the delectable sense of the word. And just like the savory, luscious deserts Amanda makes in the film, you will be completely satisfied by the end.

September Reads

It seems unreal that another month has past and we are into October already. Before you know it,  Christmas will be here! I didn't get a whole lot of reading done this past month. With school back in session, I didn't do much writing either. I did spend time editing my mystery and my reading reflects that.

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
Yep, this is the first Nancy Drew book written back in the '50's. It's been so long since I read one of these; I thought it would be fun to revisit one of my favorite series.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
This is the title I read on my PDA late at night. I've always loved this story but this is first time I've actually read the play.









Dead Girls don't wear Diamonds by Nancy Martin
This is book two in Martin's Blackbird Sisters Mysteries. I liked it alot. Better than the first one. Cute writing and a more interesting plot.

James Franco--Actor & Writer…Umm Excuse Me?

So, I opened my Entertainment Weekly magazine this afternoon and perused an article about James Franco and an exclusive excerpt from his upcoming book release. Who knew James Franco could write?

Now I know this isn’t so very exciting because of late there have been quite a number of celebrities out there who think they can write when in fact they  ^(a) aren’t actually doing the writing or ^(b) the writing is subpar (and I’m being generous here). As an author myself, it infuriates me when these celebrities use their fame to publish without putting in the effort or the talent. It’s just not right.

That’s simply not the case with Franco. This is a project he’s been working on for five years under the tutelage of some noteworthy professors and novelists. Mona Simpson, Amy Hempel, and Michael Cunningham.

The star of the Spiderman trilogy, Tristan + Isolde, the Julia Roberts film Eat, Pray, Love and recently a stint on the soap General Hospital wasn’t just given his writing contract. He actually earned it. According to the article, Franco is currently attending Yale working on his PhD. Looking into his academic record, I see he started at UCLA in creative writing but dropped out after a year to study acting. Eventually, he went back and finished that degree. He wanted his schoolmates to realize his serious intent. In his final quarter at UCLA, he took 62 units instead of the normal cap of 19. He later attended film school at NYU and studied for his graduate degree at Columbia. Seeing all his academic achievement, I can finally forgive him for Pineapple Express.

Good for you James Franco. Though I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book, I applaud his hard work and wish the best for the short story collection release. Palo Alto (incidentally that’s where in California Franco was born and grew up) hits stores October 19^th.