Uncategorized - Weekly Wilson - Blog of Author Connie C. Wilson

On the Wednesday, February 25, 2009, episode of “American Idol” two clear front-runners emerged. Actually, one of them, Adam Lambert from Hollywood, has been out front for the entire competition.

The other, Allison Iraheto, a 16-year-old nearly inarticulate redhead from Los Angeles, blew the socks off the other female competitors. While Allison was not that interesting in her interview segment, the judges heaped praise on her rendition of “Alone” by Heart, saying things like, “You just blew it out of the box. So now we’ve got real singing going on tonight” from Randy Jackson. Or, from Kara, “You don’t even know how good you are.” Paula said, “I think you can sing the telephone book. Congratulations, you did an incredible job.” Simon weighed in with “The competition just started right now.” Clad in a black sparkly strapless dress with a gray belt, the teen-ager reminded of Kelly Clarkson or Pink or any number of other singers who can belt it out, and her remark, tellingly, was, “I don’t even remember what happened.

So, who will the third member of the trio to “get through” be? I don’t know, but I would guess it will be either Megan Joy Corkrey (the girl with one tattooed arm), a 23-year-old Utah native; Matt Giraud, the talented 23-year-old piano bar Kalamazoo, Michigan native, who sang a Coldplay song from Viva La Vida, this year’s album of the year at the Grammies; or Kris Allen, also 23, from Conway, Arkansas, who sang Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”

The third winner will be the one who (m) the audience voters “like” best. Megan is very likeable, much like Brooke White on another season of “American Idol.” She has a daughter, Ryder, who is 8 years old, and the judges reacted well to Megan’s performance with comments like, “You did everything right” (Paula) to “You look gorgeous, but you oversang at the end.” (I agree with this assessment). Simon pronounced her “relevant, current,” comparing her to Duffy or Amy Winehouse, but said, “I just wish the vocals were a little bit better.” Kara DioGuardi called her “a package artist’ with a smoky jazz quality. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet on Megan Joy Corkrey, save for one factor.
Most of those voting seem to be teen-aged girls. Kris Allen is a very cute 23-year-old Conway, Arkansas boy and did a credible job with his song. Normally, he hides behind a guitar, but, this night, in a totally nondescript outfit consisting of a tee shirt and hair that seemed noticeably darker than when he auditioned previously, he received remarks like,” You showed confidence and personality. It’s very easy to forget someone like you.” Randy said, “Nice jump off, baby.” Only Kara felt that “This was just the wrong song…completely wrong.” Paula said, I’m gonna’ disagree (with Kara) completely. You nailed it.”

So, the vote is split on Kris Allen’s performance this night, but I wonder if teen-aged girls would rather vote for a cute boy than a cute girl?

I could go through the rest of the contestants and parse their performances, but suffice it to say that my original pronouncement that Jasmine Murray (age 17) looked a lot better than she was capable of singing turned out to be true with her rendition of “Love Song” by Sarah Morellis. Jeanine Vailes (age 28) sang a Maroon5 song while wearing short hot pants. It was off-key and the song is pretty monotonous, anyway. That remark summed up a lot of the selections, but not all. Jesse Langseth, age 26, from Minneapolis, Minnesota sang “Bette Davis Eyes” and did “okay” but Randy nailed it when he commented on the “five-note range” that this song and several others have, compared to Adam Lambert’s high notes on the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Kai Kalama, singing “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” had pitch issues and his performance was panned as “corny, old-fashioned. Nothing distinct. Nothing original. Nothing memorable” (Simon) to Randy’s “Too safe.’ [His hair looked like the Arab guy from “Lost” had been electrocuted in a rainstorm; it was wild and out-of-control, but his singing was neither.]

I really must comment on the Jerry Lewis/Richard Simmons-like split personality of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle. He sang, “I’m not going” from “Dreamgirls” while wearing white tails, Bermuda shorts, dark socks and tennis shoes. Ryan Seacrest commented, “That is the first time a contestant has gone to second base with our logo,” a reference to Norman/Nick’s shtick, where he hugged the “American Idol” logo and screeched his way through to the end of a very off-key, albeit humorous, performance. Nick/Norman belongs in a revamp of a Jerry Lewis comedy, not in a singing competition. Simon said it best when he commented, “I pray you do not go through to the next round.” Everyone agreed that Norman/Nick’s performance was funny, but, unless we are going to go the Sanjaya Hairdo-of-the-Night route, being funny usually doesn’t get you through to the twelve best singers in the competition. Comments: “Most atrocious horrific comedy. That was funny. At least we remember you. You wear the same shirt, like Simon, every week. You’re fun. You’re memorable.” He was compared to Olivia Newton-John, although I think Jerry Lewis and Richard Simmons are closer. If all of America is dying to laugh at someone for a few more weeks, then Norman/Nick can keep shrieking his way along, but it is quite obvious that he isn’t that great a singer. He could give lessons on how to become less inhibited.

Matt Breitzke, age 28, from Bixby, Oklahoma: “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. Breathy. Weird shirt with embroidery. Sweating bullets. No dancing ability whatsoever. Comments: “Boring. Didn’t suit you. An uncomfortable performance. I really like you, but I absolutely hated that song.” (Simon) It didn’t show you to be the great Matt we saw in Hollywood (Randy). “Not edgy enough. Fell really flat.” (Kara) Not going to be a welder joining the oil rig guy (Michael Sarver), from the looks of it.

Mishavonna Hensen, age 18, from Irvine, California sang “Drops of Jupiter,” another song that was bad, in that it showed little or no range. She wore an odd balloon-skirted outfit and Simon commented, “You act like a 50-year-old.”

I would point out that “American Idol” seems to “save the best for last.” They did last week, with Danny Gokey, and they did this week, with Adam Lambert. Lambert is a pro. He struts around like the spirit of Elvis has inhabited his soul. Some comments: “I don’t’ even have words. You’re in a league of your own.” (Paula) “Brilliant at times, but excruciatingly bad at times. Love it or hate it.” (Simon) “I loved it! One of the most current,” said Randy, citing “My Chemical Romance ” and Robert Tyler and the vampire from “Twilight” as some of the groups or individuals that Adam’s singing summons. Randy said, “Dude, it was the bomb!” Kara commented on the range that Adam showed, which was, indeed, a pleasant change from a night of mostly monotone songs.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s (February 26, Thursday, 2009) results.

I can make this short and sweet, or long and drawn-out.

I am selecting short and sweet, which is not normally my style.

On the Wednesday, February 25, 2009, episode of “American Idol” two clear front-runners emerged. Actually, one of them, Adam Lambert from Hollywood, has been out front for the entire competition.

The other, Allison Iraheto, a 16-year-old nearly inarticulate redhead from Los Angeles, blew the socks off the other female competitors. While Allison was not that interesting in her interview segment, the judges heaped praise on her rendition of “Alone” by Heart, saying things like, “You just blew it out of the box. So now we’ve got real singing going on tonight” from Randy Jackson. Or, from Kara, “You don’t even know how good you are.” Paula said, “I think you can sing the telephone book. Congratulations, you did an incredible job.” Simon weighed in with “The competition just started right now.” Clad in a black sparkly strapless dress with a gray belt, the teen-ager reminded of Kelly Clarkson or Pink or any number of other singers who can belt it out, and her remark, tellingly, was, “I don’t even remember what happened.

So, who will the third member of the trio to “get through” be? I don’t know, but I would guess it will be either Megan Joy Corkrey (the girl with one tattooed arm), a 23-year-old Utah native; Matt Giraud, the talented 23-year-old piano bar Kalamazoo, Michigan native, who sang a Coldplay song from Viva La Vida, this year’s album of the year at the Grammies; or Kris Allen, also 23, from Conway, Arkansas, who sang Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”

The third winner will be the one who (m) the audience voters “like” best. Megan is very likeable, much like Brooke White on another season of “American Idol.” She has a daughter, Ryder, who is 8 years old, and the judges reacted well to Megan’s performance with comments like, “You did everything right” (Paula) to “You look gorgeous, but you oversang at the end.” (I agree with this assessment). Simon pronounced her “relevant, current,” comparing her to Duffy or Amy Winehouse, but said, “I just wish the vocals were a little bit better.” Kara DioGuardi called her “a package artist’ with a smoky jazz quality. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet on Megan Joy Corkrey, save for one factor.
Most of those voting seem to be teen-aged girls. Kris Allen is a very cute 23-year-old Conway, Arkansas boy and did a credible job with his song. Normally, he hides behind a guitar, but, this night, in a totally nondescript outfit consisting of a tee shirt and hair that seemed noticeably darker than when he auditioned previously, he received remarks like,” You showed confidence and personality. It’s very easy to forget someone like you.” Randy said, “Nice jump off, baby.” Only Kara felt that “This was just the wrong song…completely wrong.” Paula said, I’m gonna’ disagree (with Kara) completely. You nailed it.”

So, the vote is split on Kris Allen’s performance this night, but I wonder if teen-aged girls would rather vote for a cute boy than a cute girl?

I could go through the rest of the contestants and parse their performances, but suffice it to say that my original pronouncement that Jasmine Murray (age 17) looked a lot better than she was capable of singing turned out to be true with her rendition of “Love Song” by Sarah Morellis. Jeanine Vailes (age 28) sang a Maroon5 song while wearing short hot pants. It was off-key and the song is pretty monotonous, anyway. That remark summed up a lot of the selections, but not all. Jesse Langseth, age 26, from Minneapolis, Minnesota sang “Bette Davis Eyes” and did “okay” but Randy nailed it when he commented on the “five-note range” that this song and several others have, compared to Adam Lambert’s high notes on the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Kai Kalama, singing “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” had pitch issues and his performance was panned as “corny, old-fashioned. Nothing distinct. Nothing original. Nothing memorable” (Simon) to Randy’s “Too safe.’ [His hair looked like the Arab guy from “Lost” had been electrocuted in a rainstorm; it was wild and out-of-control, but his singing was neither.]

I really must comment on the Jerry Lewis/Richard Simmons-like split personality of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle. He sang, “I’m not going” from “Dreamgirls” while wearing white tails, Bermuda shorts, dark socks and tennis shoes. Ryan Seacrest commented, “That is the first time a contestant has gone to second base with our logo,” a reference to Norman/Nick’s shtick, where he hugged the “American Idol” logo and screeched his way through to the end of a very off-key, albeit humorous, performance. Nick/Norman belongs in a revamp of a Jerry Lewis comedy, not in a singing competition. Simon said it best when he commented, “I pray you do not go through to the next round.” Everyone agreed that Norman/Nick’s performance was funny, but, unless we are going to go the Sanjaya Hairdo-of-the-Night route, being funny usually doesn’t get you through to the twelve best singers in the competition. Comments: “Most atrocious horrific comedy. That was funny. At least we remember you. You wear the same shirt, like Simon, every week. You’re fun. You’re memorable.” He was compared to Olivia Newton-John, although I think Jerry Lewis and Richard Simmons are closer. If all of America is dying to laugh at someone for a few more weeks, then Norman/Nick can keep shrieking his way along, but it is quite obvious that he isn’t that great a singer. He could give lessons on how to become less inhibited.

Matt Breitzke, age 28, from Bixby, Oklahoma: “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. Breathy. Weird shirt with embroidery. Sweating bullets. No dancing ability whatsoever. Comments: “Boring. Didn’t suit you. An uncomfortable performance. I really like you, but I absolutely hated that song.” (Simon) It didn’t show you to be the great Matt we saw in Hollywood (Randy). “Not edgy enough. Fell really flat.” (Kara) Not going to be a welder joining the oil rig guy (Michael Sarver), from the looks of it.

Mishavonna Hensen, age 18, from Irvine, California sang “Drops of Jupiter,” another song that was bad, in that it showed little or no range. She wore an odd balloon-skirted outfit and Simon commented, “You act like a 50-year-old.”

I would point out that “American Idol” seems to “save the best for last.” They did last week, with Danny Gokey, and they did this week, with Adam Lambert. Lambert is a pro. He struts around like the spirit of Elvis has inhabited his soul. Some comments: “I don’t’ even have words. You’re in a league of your own.” (Paula) “Brilliant at times, but excruciatingly bad at times. Love it or hate it.” (Simon) “I loved it! One of the most current,” said Randy, citing “My Chemical Romance ” and Robert Tyler and the vampire from “Twilight” as some of the groups or individuals that Adam’s singing summons. Randy said, “Dude, it was the bomb!” Kara commented on the range that Adam showed, which was, indeed, a pleasant change from a night of mostly monotone songs.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s results.

Novella Review: “The Shallow End of the Pool”

By Connie Wilson

On January 19, 2009

In Uncategorized

(Reviewer’s note: this novella is one of the Finalists for a Bram Stoker this year.)

The Shallow End of the Pool

By Adam-Troy Castro

Adam Troy-Castro’s novella The Shallow End of the Pool is a slim volume (56 pages) published by Creeping Hemlock Press, a small publishing house whose anthology Corpse Blossoms was a Bram Stoker finalist in 2005. Husband and wife R.J. and Julia Sevin of Gretna, Louisiana were frustrated by the shortage of “generous-paying, atmospheric and bizarre short story anthologies” so they founded Creeping Hemlock Press.

The book is blurbed by Tom Piccirilli, (who, coincidentally, was one of the contributors to Corpse Blossoms.) Castro has been at this for a while, with nominations for a Hugo, a Nebula and a Stoker award, and it shows. His writing is compelling as he sketches the tale of a bitter divorced couple attempting to settle their long-simmering marital score, once and for all, using their now-grown offspring. The ex wife is referred to as “My Mom the Bitch” in the very first sentence, and that is where things went downhill, for me.

Don’t get me wrong: the story is well written. I salute Adam Troy-Castro for the talent he obviously possesses, but this small volume had two problems:

1) The plot is implausible because it is inconsistent with feminine human nature and

2) This short novella needed to be proofread much more expertly before it was released to the public.

Let me recap the plot and explain my reservations, while expressing admiration for the writer’s descriptive prowess, which, for me, were undercut by the number of errors that should have been caught by the Creeping Hemlock Press proofreaders.

A couple who has had a nasty divorce bring their now teen-aged 16-year-old children, Ethan and Jenny, raised separately (the son by the mother; the daughter by the father) to an abandoned swimming pool in the desert, trap them there, and set them on each other like pit bulls, in a fight to the death to settle the bitterness between them, once and for all.

This is where my reservations with the logic of the piece reside. A man wrote it; the protagonist is female. Girls can be cruel savages (I once had my nose broken during a fight between two 8^th grade girls), but the end of this novella (which I’m not going to reveal) flies in the face of the female’s nurturing instinct. It’s a man’s take on it, but Jenny’s actions do not seem representative (to me) of the average female.

Defenders will argue, therefore, that she is far from “average.” She’s not average, but she’s not inhuman, and women who are normal are about nurturing. So argue that she’s not “normal,” and I’ll give you that one, but I’m not budging on my next point, because it’s true, even if you don’t want to hear it.

The writing is accurately plugged by Blu Gillian (Hellnotes) as “vivid.” I agree. As Blu put it, it will ‘bruise you, bloody you, and burn you like a hot Vegas day” (a nicely-turned phrase). But genre fiction is often scorned by the establishment and when there are errors of grammar/sentence structure/syntax that could and should have been fixed by those responsible, before publication, we empower the literati to put down horror/genre fiction and horror and genre writers, in general. It’s a never-ending battle. As Rodney Dangerfield said, “I don’t get no respect,” and careless, sloppy errors like the ones here are the reason why. There’s no reason that the story couldn’t have been just as ‘vivid” and yet have the careless errors fixed before the book went public. (If you’re reading this, R.J. and Julia, I’d like to offer my services in that area.)

Genre fiction is action-packed, interesting, worthy in its own right. It’s a vital force. It’s pop culture. But it should still abide by the rules of conventional composition. There shouldn’t be face-off(s) at the O.K. Corral like those that have occurred at awards ceremonies in recent years between genre writers and the serious establishment types, who persist in looking down their collective noses at genre stars. As someone who values and has taught English composition at several levels for a very long time, while watching writing standards slowly sink in the west, I’m having some difficulty embracing the first page of a novella that starts out: “My Mom the Bitch lived in a desert fortress,” when Mom should be capitalized only if it stands in place of the woman’s name and never if a possessive pronoun (“my”) precedes it. In fact, the capital “B” on Bitch is not correct, if you want to get technical (and I realize that most of you do not).

Embrace all genres, but embrace the rules of standard educated English when you’re writing, no matter what you’re writing. Please don’t send hate mail, carping about the pickiness of these comments. First, walk a mile (or more) in my shoes, trying for decades to teach these rules to indifferent students who then go forth to write incorrectly.

But they aren’t professional writers, while Adam-Troy Castro is, and a good one, too, except for the dereliction to duty on the part of the trained eyes of those of us who try to pass the torch of proper usage, (even though the hand-off has been pretty shaky in recent years, and getting worse with every year that passes, it seems.) I exult in a book that is both this descriptive, has a great plot, AND uses proper grammar correctly.

So call me old-fashioned and get it over with, but I’m not dropping that torch on the floor while it’s still lit. It might burn down the whole damned English language house, and I’ve done my best to keep that torch burning brightly at several colleges and elsewhere. And so have my mother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, going back uninterruptedly for 82 years (and, no, I don’t mean me, personally, but all of us, collectively).

So, what other things were “wrong” that cost this otherwise-vibrant book my vote for a Stoker? There were many errors, but here are 7 that leaped off the page, for starters:

Number One (p. 7) “between my brother and I” (It’s “between my brother and me”, object form, object of the preposition “between”).

Number Two (Page 12): The sentence is missing “the” before the word “section” in this part of the sentence (4^th line): “…I used a pair of wire cutters to peel a three-sided flap away from THE section over the steps….” (capitals, boldfacing, and underlining are mine, to indicate the MIA article).

Number Three (page 16, line 11): “He made the mistake of asking me to name the first thing I’d want for myself when WE were done,…” (capitals, boldfacing and italics mine, to indicate another MIA word, a pronoun, this time).

Number Four (page 5): “I hadn’t ever worn the getup against it a similarly-hobbled opponent tasked to kill me, …” (Why is “it” in there?)

Number Five (page 29…and there were 8 other instances I’m not mentioning between page 16 and page 29): “When I woke, (introductory dependent clause here, so it needs a comma) the sun had arrived, illuminating a sky that the wire above us sectioned into little diamonds.” [I would even check Webster’s to see if it should be “when I awakened,” but that’s just me.]

In that one sentence, the existence of vivid description (good) is hurt by the distraction of the missing grammar basics (bad).

Number Six (page 36): (line 14) – “…presented to the sun that would soon be attacking both of us will all its considerable force.” (boldface and underlining mine, to demonstrate that nobody read this thing as carefully as I did before it was published, or they would have recognized that this word should be “with.”) These are careless errors which, if they came from unknown writers or freshman composition students, would probably cause the short story or novel to be ripped a new one, handed off to others to correct, or…(if a student in a high school or college class)…would lower the paper’s grade.

Number Seven (page 47, 3 errors in one 60-word paragraph, the 3^{rd line} on the page): “Ethan because he knew what was happening and myself because a tidal wave of white agony had flowed down my back at the moment of impact.” (This error occurs again in the last line on page 54). I’m not even mentioning the need to put a comma after “Ethan.” Okay. I lied. I mentioned it, and I’d have one after “happening,” too. But that’s just me…the old fuddy-duddy, the Dutch girl with her finger in the hole in the dike.

Okay. Enough. Hopefully, I’ve made my point (with fragments) and I won’t be attacked for trying (in vain, it seems today) to defend the established conventions of the English language.

Yes, there were great writers of the Hemingway/Fitzgerald caliber who had to have help, occasionally, from expert editors.

So, where were they on this one?

Babies Elise & Ava Wilson Greet the World on January 11, 2009

By Connie Wilson

On January 17, 2009

In Uncategorized

New babies Elise Kiara and Ava Katherine Wilson joined the world on Sunday morning, after starting to be born Friday night. The girls had a big weekend. They were in the process of being born for about 34 hours before Mom Jessica and Dad Scott were able to welcome them into the world (see Scott’s blog at www.wilsonweblink.blogspot. com for pictures and video).

I saw the girls for the first time today, Saturday, January 17th and they are 6 days old in this photograph (Elise is 4 hours older than her chubbier older sister.) Ava weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 and 1/2 inches. Elise was 5 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 and 1/2 inches. Both girls are doing well at their home in Bridgeport (Chicago), Illinois.