Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
“Red Is for Rage,” second book in “The Color of Evil” series, will be FREE as a Kindle KDP give-away on June 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30th. If you haven’t already purchased a copy, this is your chance to pick up on the adventures of Tad McGreevy and his classmates at Sky High High School in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Even if you have already read the paperback, download a Kindle copy to help drive the book to the front page of the Amazon rankings.
Book #3, “Khaki=Killer” was released in late April and continues the adventures of the boy with Tetrachromatic Super Vision (a real thing) and, therefore, the ability to “see” auras around others and to relive their evil acts in nightmares. The whole cast is back, including Tad’s best friend Stevie Scranton, Michael Clay (the evil Pogo), Charlie Chandler and Andrea SanGiovanni, Jenny SanGiovanni, and all the Sky High cheerleaders who are her friends.
As William F. Nolan—named a Living Legend in Dark Fantasy—said of the book, it’s good because you will soon learn to care about the characters—and isn’t that what really makes you want to continue reading a book?
I hope you enjoy your FREE copy of RED IS FOR RAGE, available starting tomorrow by downloading it onto your Kindle. If you do not own a Kindle, you can still obtain a free copy, a free “app” and read it on your computer. (I KNOW you have a computer, or you wouldn’t be reading this!)
Thanks or downloading “Red Is for Rage” during its 5-day promotion that starts tomorrow, June 26th, and continues until the end of the month. The book was the winner of the Pinnacle Award in the Thriller category from NABE (National Association of Book Entrepreneurs), won an E-Lit Gold Medal, and was the Silver Feather winner from Illinois Women’s Press Association.
Bought tickets for Bruno Mars at Tinley Park on the lawn to celebrate Amanda Burkert Kelly’s graduation from Western Illinois University. We were so far away that Bruno was pretty much a speck, and my attempts to sneak closer to shoot video were met with resistance from the PTB. However, I did get the following pictures and really bad video.
Rob Reiner appeared in Chicago on Wednesday, June 18, at the Icon Theater on Roosevelt Road for the preview of his new film, “And So It Goes,” a dramedy aimed squarely at Baby Boomers, which stars Diane Keaton and Michael Douglas. The 67-year-old director of “The Bucket List” (another film focused on “mature” people) was his usual warm, engaging self in the Q&A that followed the film. While the film may only rate a “C,” Reiner gets an “A+.”
With Rob Reiner in Chicago at the Icon Theater on June 18, 2014 preview of new film “And So It Goes.”
I first met Reiner in 2004 when he came to Davenport, Iowa to campaign for presidential candidate Howard Dean; he gave me a big bear hug that night. When I mentioned it, he gave me another big bear hug. His persona is truly engaging, enthusiastic and down-to-earth. He appeared fit and virile. I wish I could say the same about either Diane Keaton (a vocal opponent of plastic surgery, who became the spokesperson for L’Oreal in 2006) or for Michael Douglas. Both of them looked their respective ages (68 and nearly 70), and, to my untrained eye, Douglas looks sick (He was diagnosed with cancer August 16, 2010.)
I enjoyed Reiner’s Q&A after the film much more than the movie. Who wouldn’t want to hear behind-the-scenes stories from the director of such great films as “Stand By Me,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “A Few Good Men,” Misery,” “The Princess Bride,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The American President” (another film starring Douglas)?
Reiner even has a small part in the film, cast as a piano player who accompanies Diane Keaton as she sings, (a la Michelle Pfeiffer in 1989’s “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”) When asked how he happened to take on the part of Artie Burns, the accompanist, Reiner said, “I needed an actor who would work for scale, and I found me. Plus, I had always wanted to have a role where I got to wear such a natural-looking toupee.” (A joke, as the rug is referenced with comic intent.)
Rob Reiner answering audience questions in Chicago on Wednesday, June 18, 2014.
Reiner’s point-of-view on the romance that slowly builds between Diane Keaton’s warm, giving widow and Michael Douglas’ unbearably cranky curmudgeonly widower in the film is, “Essentially, it’s always the same story. My view of the way woman and men react with each other. Women are more evolved, more mature. (applause from the crowd) It’s all about grabbing on to life and having fun with it.”
Reiner went on to say that turning 60 brought him to the realization that, “Thanks to medical science, we won’t be able to get out of here!” He pointed to his Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson 2007 hit, “The Bucket List” saying: “I think there’s an audience out there for this film,” meaning the baby boomers, the largest group in our nation (which begs the question of whether baby boomers actually leave home to go out to the theater).
The film’s message (and Reiner’s advice): “Live until you’re no more.” The script recites truisms like: “Love always comes at a price” and “Sometimes, life outlives love.” Unfortunately, the script also had dick jokes and lines like, “I’ve sold houses older than you and in worse condition,” and “What she (Keaton) lacks in curb appeal she makes up for with historic charm. She slept with Elvis.”
Originally, in the script by Mark Andrus (who also wrote “As Good as It Gets,” hence the extremely similar-sounding title), Keaton’s character was a woman who did something with tapestries and weaving, said Reiner. Declaring that pursuit essentially boring, Reiner credited Keaton, herself, with suggesting that Leah be a woman of a certain age embarking on a new career as a singer.
Keaton does all of her own singing in the film. Like Pfeiffer before her, she surprises with a pleasant delivery of old favorites like “The Shadow of Her Smile,” “Both Sides Now” and “Blue Moon.” Douglas’ character suggests she add some “more recent” tunes, specifically mentioning Bonnie Raitt. Reiner commented that he really liked the idea that Keaton was starting a new chapter in her life at an advanced age (in the film, Leah says she is 65; in real life, Keaton is 68) because his own mother started a singing career at age 65. (Audiences may remember Reiner’s mother Estelle as the older woman restaurant customer in his film “When Harry Met Sally” who says, “I’ll have what she’s having,” after Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm at the lunch table with Billy Crystal.)
Reiner described the famously eccentric Keaton telling him, “I don’t act. I just am who I am.” Reiner went on to say that there is no division between Keaton’s onscreen and off-screen images. “She just takes the dialogue and makes it come out of her mouth,” said Reiner. If only she could have taken the dialogue and made it better. The director also commented that Keaton recently told Jimmy Fallon on the “Tonight” show that Michael Douglas was one of the actors with whom she wished she had shared an onscreen kiss, but the two had never worked together.
The two share an onscreen kiss in this film, but there is no real chemistry. Douglas, in fact, as he closes in on 70 on September 25th, is showing every year. He has famously battled Stage IV tongue cancer since August of 2010. In an article that appeared January 11, 2011, medical experts said there was “a high chance of recurrence within 2 to 3 years.”
Of the “carpe diem” theme that repeats throughout the movie, Douglas, after some recently publicized marital troubles with wife of 14 years Catherine Zeta-Jones ( 25 years his junior) told “People” magazine’s Elizabeth Leonard, “When you’ve accomplished a certain amount in your career, you’re not so focused on your ambitions. It makes you appreciate— and hopefully you do that sooner rather than later—the value of your partner.”
Since part of the theme of the movie deals with Oren Little’s (Michael Douglas’) son, Luke, being a reformed heroin addict and ultimately drawing prison time, one wonders what was going through Douglas’ mind. His son Cameron with first wife Deandre Douglas has been in and out of trouble with the law for drugs since 1999 and will have to continue serving a prison sentence until at least 2018. Since much of the film deals with a son, estranged from his father, who must leave his 10-year-old daughter with his irascible father while he goes to prison, that theme may have hit close to home for the movie’s male lead.
Reiner had nothing but praise for Douglas’ professionalism onset, saying the two had both come from a background in series television (Douglas on “Streets of San Francisco;” Reiner as “Meathead” Michael Stivic on “All in the Family”) and were both the children of famous men. He remarked of Douglas, “ He’s just got incredible craft. He hits his mark and knows his lines.” (Douglas won his Best Actor Oscar in 1987 portraying Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street.” He also won an Oscar in 1975 for producing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and an Emmy last year, portraying Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra.” Keaton won her Oscar April 3, 1978 at the 50th Academy Awards portraying Annie Hall in the Woody Allen film of the same name.
Reiner noted, “Of all the movies I’ve made, not one of them could be made today, because the studios just don’t make them.” He singled out “A Few Good Men” as being particularly problematic, because of the politics in the plot. Reiner added, “The studios only make three kinds of movies today: blockbusters, usually from comic books; animated films; and R-rated raunchy comedies.” Reiner didn’t mention the recent glut of horror movies, but he might have. Recently 5 previews at my local movie house were all for slasher films.
Other questions for Rob Reiner, post-film, and his responses:
Question 1, about Diane Keaton’s wardrobe. “Did Diane Keaton just wear her own clothes in the movie?”
Reiner responded indirectly, saying that, “All the things she wore are the things she knew she could wear.” (One woman in the theater audience commented that a certain dress had been worn previously by Keaton in another film).
Question 2: “Was it difficult to get the money to make this movie?”
Answer 2: “It’s always hard to get money from people. Give me five dollars! See (Reiner laughed), she won’t give it to me!” He noted that it took 4 years to get the financing to make “This Is Spinal Tap.”
Question 3: “What was the purpose of having Oren deliver the baby in the film?”
Answer 3: “It shows Oren’s (Douglas’) character arc. He was turning his back on life (after he was widowed). Then circumstances, a series of events, start affecting him. They’re all designed to make him come back to humanity.” Earlier, Reiner had noted that, after passing 60, he was enjoying life the most he ever had. “And so you go along and live your life. Be in the moment where you are. That’s all you have.” He joked that there was “a 100% demographic” of baby boomers for the film, saying, “60% of them will want to see it, but only 40% of them will have the ability to get to the theater.”
Question 4: “You recently played Max Belfort in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ for Martin Scorsese. How was that?”
Answer 4: “I actually met Mr. Belfort. He’s a very excitable fellow, but shorter than me, and you can see how his son Jordan could be so charming and convincing. When Martin Scorsese calls, you just do it. What is more unbelievable? That Leonardo DeCaprio is a Jew, or that I’m his father? Maybe I’m better-looking that I thought!”
Question 5: “Have you ever worked with Albert Brooks?”
Answer 5: “Yes. I worked with Albert in ‘The Muse.’ I played myself, so I was pretty believable.”
Question 6: “What is on your own personal bucket list?”
Answer 6: “Just doing what I’m doing now. In terms of life fulfillment, I’m doing what I want to do.”
Question 7: “There is a reference to Sammy Davis, Jr. in the movie, and none of the younger people know who he is. How did that come about?”
Answer 7: “That’s just so typical. Recently, I was with my family and we ran into Warren Beatty coming out of a restaurant. Now, I have three children who are 20, 23 and 16 (with second wife Michele Singer, a photographer he married in 1989 after meeting on the set of “When Harry Met Sally.”). They had no idea who Warren Beatty was, although they vaguely had heard of Bonnie & Clyde.”
Question 8: “Will you ever come back to Illinois and Chicago to direct a film?”
Answer 8: “Filmmakers today go where the tax breaks are. It was Michigan for a while—then Louisiana. If you have a small budget, you follow the tax breaks. We shot this in Connecticut because of the tax breaks. If they give you 30% above AND below the line, you go there to make a film.” He added that Chicago is a great place to make a movie and that the college scenes in “When Harry Met Sally” are represented by the University of Chicago. A representative of the Illinois Production Alliance in the audience said that Illinois does have good tax incentives for filmmaking in the state, and Reiner responded that he’d love to be able to make another film in Chicago.
Question 9: “You were politically active at one time, supporting Howard Dean in the 2004 election and also becoming active in California in 2006. Are you still considering running for office?”
Answer 9: “I sat my family down and polled them on whether I should run or not. I only polled 40%. When you only poll 40% in your own family, you shouldn’t run.”
The theme of the movie is (relentlessly) “carpe diem.” As Douglas, himself, told “Uinterview,” “When you’re older, you focus that energy on the people closest to you, on your family.”
My favorite story told Wednesday night involved a scene where Diane Keaton’s character is auditioning for a singing position that her self-proclaimed “manager,” Oren Little (Douglas), has arranged for her. Renowned singer Frankie Valli played the small part of the club owner listening to Keaton sing in a darkened room. “Diane didn’t know that Frankie Valli was sitting in the back listening to her sing and she got very nervous about it. She didn’t know he was in the movie at all. I told her, ‘Don’t feel bad. I have to play piano in front of Liberace!’” (a reference to Michael Douglas’ Emmy-winning 2013 television role opposite Matt Damon.)
The film opens in July (either July 11th or July 14th, depending on the source).
My daughter, Stacey Kristen Corcoran Wilson, age 26, a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville (who worked, briefly, for Taylor Swift’s 13M organization and traveled Australia for a year) just completed 5 weeks of training and graduated from Southwest Airlines—5 weeks of 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 pm. days. Apparently, Southwest invited around 1,000 wannabee stewardesses to come and train in Dallas their TOPS headquarters, putting the up at the downtown Sheraton. Only 700 of those are expected to make it through and (eventually) be hired.
Stewardesses are not paid during their time training, although they do get a lump sum payment of $1200 at the end of the 5 weeks’ of training, if they make it through. Unfortunately, not all do.
The RN who flunked First Aid. The 62-year-old divorced guy who made it all the way to the day their uniforms arrived (they have to buy their own uniforms) and then did not get 90% on a test and was sent home. The degreed older man who stormed out muttering during a test. Many were called, but few were chosen.
At the end, trainers with names like Margo, Ken, Becky, Alan, Alfonso, Renee stood by as host Andrea Bradford read off the names of 78 graduates of the 285th Southwest graduating class, turning them loose to fly for Southwest—thought to be the best domestic airline to work for. (Please excuse the preposition at the end there.)
Why is Southwest the “best.” I could go on about the “warrior spirit,” the “winning smile” or other things mentioned during the hour-long ceremony that began at 3:00 p.m., but the truth is they pay the best and have the most lenient policies in regards to letting relatives (i.e., Stacey’s father and me) fly free (“No Revenue,” it’s called) as well as many other very user-friendly employee policies that are as favorable as the fact that Southwest lets you take 2 bags without extra charges.
I now must learn to pack light, which will be a struggle, but I’m so excited for the daughter, who is off to see the world. I think back to her high school graduation, when I posted a picture of her wearing wings and a crown (and a darling ballerina outfit) and holding a wand and suggested that she now spread her wings and see the world.
And she has. As Andrea Bradford said, “Represent us well. Congratulations. Well done, and welcome aboard.”
Just returned from seeing “Godzilla” and, Boy, am I confused! Here’s an actual line from the movie that sums it up: “You have no idea what is happening!”
I cannot refrain from writing something snarky about this movie. It cries out for snark. I would warn any of you who do not want your viewing of the film ruined that my snarky comments may contain “spoilers.” This assumes, of course, that you CAN spoil “Godzilla” after 9 attempts at bringing the Japanese “top of the primordial ecosystem” monster to the big screen. (And, sometimes, as in 1998, to the small TV screen). Snarky remark #1) WHY was Bryan Cranston wearing the world’s WORST toupee? Doesn’t Bryan have normal hair of his own, now that he’s no longer playing Walter White on television? What was wrong with Cranston’s real hair? I can’t decide which was the more horrible hair treatment: this thick brown dog-like rug or the Obama chia pet plant. It’s too close to call. Snarky remark #2) So many good actors. So little for them to do. By all means, stick us with that uncharismatic leading man nobody has ever seen before for 90% of the movie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) when there are really good actors standing around doing nothing (or disappearing from the plot after 15 minutes).
Seriously, folks, Bryan Cranston, [fresh from “Breaking Bad,” possibly the Best Dramatic Series Ever on Television] takes THIS role? What’s wrong with this picture? [Of course, Jessie Pinkman (Aaron Paul) didn’t do any better with his first film foray, a fast car movie that sank like a rock].
French actress Juliette Binoche, from the 2006 film “The English Patient” and 2013’s “A Thousand Times Good Night” (a wonderful film which I saw at the Chicago Film Festival last year) played Cranston’s wife for about 15 minutes. What a waste. Or, what about Sally Hawkins? Say it isn’t so, Sal! She finishes co-starring opposite this year’s Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, playing her blue collar sister in “Blue Jasmine,” a Woody Allen film which Hawkins also was wonderful). So, next film: “Godzilla”? Sounds logical— (not). [Please tell me it’s not ALL about the money!]
The wonderful Japanese actor Ken Watanabe (playing Ishiro Serizawa) who was in such great films as “Inception” (2010); “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006); “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005); “Batman Begins” (2005) or, my personal favorite, 2003’s “The Last Samurai,” (where he played Katsumoto), now takes THIS part? Watanabe mainly looks puzzled throughout. “Blue Jasmine’s” Sally Hawkins looks like she could use a stiff drink.
And then there’s David Strathairn, who was in both “Lincoln” and “The Bourne Legacy” in 2012, the excellent made-for-TV film “Temple Grandin” in 2010 and, for me, most memorably, played Tom Cruise’s ne’er-do-well brother in “The Firm” in 1993. He is reduced to playing Admiral William Stenz, and coming up with a lame-brained plan to defend against Godzilla that sounds like a military action designed by George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. Good actors are reduced to shouting lines like, “ARE WE AT FULL FUNCTION? TAKE US OFFLINE! DO IT NOW!” The poorly planned and even more poorly described or executed military defense against the mutant monster (“I guess we’re monster hunters now.”) makes “W’s” bombing of Iraq over non-existent yellow cake uranium look like genius. Snarky remark #3: I did like this line, “It’s gonna’ send us back to the Stone Age,” because, after “Godzilla” outings on film in ’54, ’67, ’77, ’78, ’84, ’94, ’98, ‘and ’99, I thought we WERE back in the Stone Age, if we’re still watching this giant lizard terrorize the populace. (And, let’s be honest: wasn’t half the original fun watching the dubbing that never matched the actors’ mouth movements? Good cheesy fun.)
There is only ONE survivor of the train disaster (Most Creative Use of a Train since the kids’ film “Super 8”)—who is, of course, Bryan Cranston’s son, Ford Brody (played rather wanly by a British actor no one has ever heard of, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, whose previous credits consist of “Kick-Ass” in 2010 and “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging” (2008). [It’s difficult to know what this young actor’s name is, since it is listed as Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but when you look him up on IMDB, it says Aaron Perry Johnson.]
After 14 months away at war as a Navy demolitions expert, Ford Brody, returns to Elizabeth Olsen, playing wife Elle Brody and doing a good job, and his young son (C.J. Adams) but almost immediately has to jet off to bail Dad out of a Japanese jail.
Next thing you know, we’ve got MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), or, as I like to call it/ them: Mostly Uninteresting Tyrannosaurus-like Oddities. There are at least 3 of them…and there’ll be lots more if the female gets to lay her eggs. What do they eat? Why, radiation, of course. What do they look like? Hard to tell. As the old song goes (hum along): “A big tail here, a big tail there. A big foot here; a big foot there; Here a tail, there a fin, show ‘em o’er ag’in and ag’in.”
So, it isn’t until the odd monsters start fighting amongst themselves that we really get a good look at the entire clan. All I can tell you is that there is a creature very reminiscent of “Alien.” There are two flying horrors. There is a bear-like dinosaur-ish fire-breathing monster perhaps once seen swimming in Loch Ness. All of them are awkward and have trouble moving gracefully and, apparently, they don’t get along well—although why is not clear. (Watanabe murmurs: “Let them fight,” which is all the poor guy really gets to say; he mostly just looks worried.) Here’s a line I enjoyed, from the botched military plan, proposed by Nit-wits #1 and #2: “This bomb we’re going to use makes the bomb we tried to kill it with in ’54 seem like a firecracker!” Of course, no thought given to the fact that detonating a nuclear bomb just off the coast of a major U.S. city (San Francisco) would probably not be a very good idea. Just what we need: another half-baked military fiasco, planned with no back-up Plan B, and depending on (drum roll, please), Bryan Cranston’s son, Ford Brody, who has just returned from military duty, [so he isn’t even on active duty any more, but seems intent upon trying to get himself killed in either Hawaii, San Francisco or Tokyo]. The plot’s constant carping about how Ford Brody wants to return to his wife and child made me instantly think of Brad Pitt in “World War Z.” It was Brad’s insistence on a similar plot point that made THAT movie go waaay over budget when everything had to be re-shot, and now we have the same plot again. Only, this time, no zombies. Just MUTOs.
At one point, Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) announces that he can defuse a bomb in 60 seconds, which would have been helpful, since detonating an atom bomb that close to San Francisco would be a not-too-bright move, but then he falls asleep onboard a boat with the bomb, so good luck with THAT plan! Are there no bright spots?
Well, I noted that John Dykstra’s name flashed on the screen, listed as helping design the awkward creatures. If you don’t know his name, look him up on Wikipedia, because he is The Man. I learned that the original score was composed by Alexandre Desplat, with Music Supervision by Dave Jordan and that it was recorded on Sony Pictures’ Barbra Streisand Sound Stage. (Who knew Babs had her own sound stage?) I learned that the film is dedicated to Richard Fowkes and Jake Foerster, who are almost as well-known as the film’s leading man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I learned that we bury our nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, which sounded yucky. I learned that the list of stunt people and digital special effects people probably earned more than the combined GNP of several African nations. I learned that Godzilla maybe is “the good guy,” not the “bad guy, by film’s end?” [Although, if that is the case, why all the bombing and hostility?] I learned that they nearly blew up Oakland, California, but, if memory serves from my college days at nearby Berkeley, that would mainly take out tattoo parlors. (Please: no hate mail from Oakland; it’s a joke, Son.) And, ultimately, I learned that saying, “That’s gotta’ smart!” every few moments to my husband will eventually earn me a punch in the arm. And, as my parting snarky comment, may I utter these immortal words, “Godzilla has left the building.”
On Saturday, May 17, 2014, I was honored to receive the Silver Feather Award from the Chicago chapter of IWPA (Illinois Women’s Press Association). The ceremony was held at the downtown Union League Club, a venerable institution with REAL Picasso paintings on its walls.
Judges for the 2014 Mate E. Palmer award included Max Ashrafi of Villa Park, a graphic designer at Triton College and College of DuPage; Dave Berner of Chicago, associate professor of radio at Columbia College Chicago, author, and former news reporter and anchor for WBBM Newsradio 780 in Chicago; Irina Cline of Oak Park, an employee of the University of Illinois in Chicago who is currently translating Bori Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum’s “Literary Mores” from Russian to English; Synoma Hays of Melrose Park, who is on the board of the North Riverside Players; Mike Knezevich of Downers Grove, who is Vice President of Regional Radio Sports Network, the play-by-play announcer for Indiana scholastic baseball, basketball, and soccer and announcer for the Chicago Bandits pro softball team; Henry Kranz of Oak Park, one of Chicago’s most active and tenured poets; Kelly Lucia of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who is a web content specialist; Ashley Mouldon of Seattle, Washington, who works for Youth in Focus and, also, for the dog rescue organization Old Dog Haven; Mark R. Trost of Hennepin, MN, who is an author, essayist, editor, humorist and communications consultant, as well as a blogger; and Bill Vint of East Troy, Wisconsin, who is a freelance journalist with more than 40 years of newspaper and magazine journalism and marketing experience.
With Beck Sarwate (R), President of IWPA, and Dana B. (L) at the Union League Club on Saturday, May 17, 2014.
I mention these impartial, objective judges because so many groups to which I belong (and I belong to A LOT of writers’ groups) do not have impartial, objective voting by outside judges. The entire contest degenerates into a thinly veiled popularity contest. As a result, the entire awarding of a prize or trophy becomes an exercise in the “Good Old Boy” network of vote trading, cronyism and nepotism. It was a real thrill to know that acknowledged professional experts in their fields judged my work (and that of the other entrants) solely on the basis of the work—not on whether I was this week’s Flavor of the Month or “traded recommendations” or some other totally biased method. It was refreshing—and different— to say the least. (And not the norm, at all.) Now, on to the actual articles and books that won the Silver Feather this year for me, for the second time in three years. (I did not enter in the intervening year, as the deadline saw us in Australia/New Zealand and I was releasing RED IS FOR RAGE from far, far away.)
Student winners of IWPA Journalism awards, with one advisor on the job since 1964 (50years).
There were 22 individuals who were honored, but only one trophy is awarded. The announcement of the IWPA member awards and those of the students present from schools around the area followed a luncheon and a speaker. This year, the competition was computerized for the first time, which meant an enhanced bit of difficulty for many members, including me. (There are always bugs and glitches the first time through something like this, but it was handled masterfully by those in charge.)
2014 Silver Feather Award (front); 2012 Silver Feather IWPA Award (left); Midwest Writing Center Writer of the Year Award (3/20/2010), (R).
In all, contestants entered 70 different categories. First place winners compete for NFPW (National Federation of Press Women) honors to be announced this summer, and I have at least something that will be in additional competition. The areas that my work was awarded recognition included the following:
1) Advertising, including posters, billboards and banners, as well as Pinterest Book Cover Boards and the Quad Cities’ Learning site (www.quadcitieslearning.com). 2) Young Adult Novel RED IS FOR RAGE
, second in THE COLOR OF EVIL series. (www.RedIsforRage.com). 3) Writing/News Story, Online Publication: “Rock River Flooding in Illinois Sets Record” and “Mississippi River Flood is 13th Worst” (Yahoo; this story has had over 10,000 “hits” on Yahoo) and I currently have over 1,000,000 hits total. 4) Writing/Personality Profile: “William F. Nolan on 60 Years of Friendship with Ray Bradbury” on www.WeeklyWilson.com. 5) Writing/Specialty Articles, Hobby or Craft: “Flugtag Flying Competition in Chicago on Saturday, September 21, 2013” (WeeklyWilson.com and Yahoo) 6) Writing, Personality Profile: “Blowback by Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett,” in the ITW (International Thriller Writers’ newsletter and on WeeklyWilson.com.
When judged without considerations of vote-trading, popularity or any of the nepotism that mars so many awards, my writing for the year 2013 earned the highest accumulated number of points, and the lovely star-trophy went home with me. (I also received certificates attesting to the above.)
Thank you, Judges and IWPA, and I hope to see you at Printers’ Row at the IWPA Tent on June 7/8 (from 2 p.m. on) when I will have 10 different books on sale to interested book browsers at the Midwest’s largest book outdoor book fair.
Last night, while I was enjoying “Motown, the Musical” at the Oriental theater in downtown Chicago, Alex was eliminated from “American Idol” in one of the more anti-climactic developments in the competition. In fact, earlier in the day, I had tweeted that it looked like our new American Idol was Caleb Johnson, no matter what. It was simple logic that dictated that Alex would get the boot this night. It would be so much “neater” and “easier” if the two were most comfortable onstage (Caleb and Jena) got the nod.
Which they did. The “Finals” will be Caleb (who had injured his vocal cords when he appeared on the show on Wednesday) and Jena (who should really just give up and spell her name “Gina” if she wants everyone to pronounce it that way).
Caleb has been consistently the Powerhouse and, with the routine exception that Harry Connick, Jr., wanted him to sing fewer shout-out-loud numbers and more ballad-like beautiful songs, he always had the best production values: things exploded, microphone stands were trashed; fire—all the usual histrionics onstage. Gena had one good night with glow-in-the-dark sticks and, at only 17, she definitely has a bright career ahead of her.
On the other hand, what was the name of the girl who finished second to Philip Phillips? You don’t remember: Join the club.
I do think Jena (say it “Gina”) will go on to greater glory because she is so comfortable onstage AND has a good voice AND can play piano while singing (no small feat.) The voting found her in the bottom 3 one night during the competition, however, so that bodes ill for her winning it all.
We both went off to watch the fantastic Broadway hit (me for the second time) secure in the knowledge that it would be Jena and Caleb, with Caleb winning. And we were right.
My Young Adult Paranormal Thriller series, (with horrific overtones), is out and available for purchase from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats. I will also be autographing and selling the book at Printers’ Row in Chicago (Jun 7/8) at the IWPA (Illinois Women’s Press Association) tent and I will be signing and selling copies at the Book Rack in Moline on May 31 from 1 to 4 p.m.
To catch people up on the series, 3 books which build one upon another, THE COLOR OF EVIL will be FREE on Kindle on May 24 (Sat.); May 25 (Sun.); May 31 (Sat.); June 1 (Sat) and June 14 (Sat.) This book led all others in Stoker recommendations when it was released in 2012 and has won E-Lit, Silver Feather and Lucky Cinda awards.
The second book in the series, RED IS FOR RAGE, won Pinnacle awards in the Thriller category in 2013, was named a “Page turner of 2013” by Shelf Unbound magazine, a Silver Feather award from IWPA and its cover was named “Best of 2013” of independent books by Shelf Unbound magazine. RED IS FOR RAGE will be FREE on Kindle KDP program on June 15 (Sun.); June 21 (Sat.); June 22 (Sun.); June 28 (Sat.); and June 29 (Sun.)
Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s third book in THE COLOR OF EVIL series, KHAKI = KILLER is now available for purchase in both paperback and E-book formats.
Recently named a “PageTurner” by Shelf Unbound magazine, NABE Pinnacle Thriller winner, E-Lit Gold Medal winner and 2 time Silver Feather (IWPA) winner , The Color of Evil series describes the adventures of the young man (Tad McGreevy) with the power to detect auras around others (Tetrachromatic Super Vision) and, in his dreams, to relive the crimes of those with “the color of evil.”
KHAKI = KILLER picks up where RED IS FOR RAGE left off, with Melody (Harris) Carpenter fighting for her life after a fall from atop a human pyramid formation at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The budding romance between Janice and Stevie grows more serious, but Janice’s parents oppose her relationship with the son of a murderer. There are more revelations about Earl Scranton’s motives. Other romances develop (Tad and Jenny; Charlie and Andrea).
When Heather Crompton and Kelly Carter mysteriously disappear, tension in town ratchets to a fever pitch. Retired police officer Charlie Chandler reorganizes the rag-tag team that helped find Stevie Scranton and bring him back to Cedar Falls, Iowa. This small band of volunteers must try, once again, to determine what could have happened to the two cheerleaders who disappeared while ice-skating on the Cedar River.
Michael Clay (aka, Pogo), still lurks in the background, searching for Tad McGreevy, and hoping to permanently silence “the boy who can see the future.”
Tensions run high and the stakes run even higher in KHAKI = KILLER, Book #3 in THE COLOR OF EVIL series.
Praise for Khaki= Killer:
“Connie Corcoran Wilson weaves a deftly fine scalpel in an age where a crude blade is more the norm. Her work is a smooth, subtle hybrid mix of science fiction, thriller, and horror that realizes a unique and pointed vision in the great tradition of Phillip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. Her voice is a wonder to behold, at once dark and somber while maintaining a glimmer of hope that shines in the hearts of her heroes, who cling to the light. Like Stephen King, nothing escapes her discerning eye. The result is tale after tale that bleeds life onto the page, both literally and figuratively.”—Jon Land, bestselling author of the Caitlin Strong Series (Best selling author JON LAND of the Caitlin Strong series).
“Connie Wilson is back—-She’s good! She’s DAMN good! In a world of mainly bad-to-fair writers, she stands above the crowd with plot, description , and strong character. Believe me, you’ll enjoy her latest! that’s a guarantee!…She’s a born storyteller!”—William F. Nolan, Living Legend in Dark Fantasy, “Logan’s Run,” “Logan’s World,” “Nightworlds”
“Wilson’s characters come alive on the page. Comparisons to Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Philip K. Dick aside, Wilson has spent 33 years teaching students in this age range. She knows what she is talking about.”—Gary Braver, author of “Flashback” and 8 other thrillers.
“THE COLOR OF EVIL series is old-school psychological horror, artfully blended with new-school shocks and twists. ..Bravo!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author, multiple Bram Stoker winner
At the end of Thursday night’s “American Idol” program, Harry Connick, Jr., could be seen mouthing the words, “I didn’t see that coming” to his fellow judges.
What Judge Connick was referencing was the surprising vote given to the 5 remaining contestants, where those still standing could stay together as a team of five and two would be voted off next week, instead, OR one contestant would bite the dust, as per usual.
My spouse commented, “Well, this isn’t exciting at all. You know they’re all going to vote, ‘Yes, stay together as a team of five.'”
Except that they didn’t.
The vote was (supposedly) anonymous and TWO of the five remaining contestants said, “Lower the boom.” And Sam Woolf was let go, as a result.
I am going to speculate a moment on who may have voted to use the guillotine this night.
First, it is quite obvious that Caleb Johnson is going to be in the Finals unless there is some very unusual circumstance that arises that I cannot predict. I have been of the opinion that Jena Irene would be the second finalist because she is, quite obviously, the most at ease on stage, despite her relative youth (17). The others left in the competition are Jessica Meuse, who had a good night on Wednesday, and Alex Preston, who also was viewed favorably by the judges.
Personally, I thought that Alex Preston would get the boot. He is a good musician, but he has no “cools” and what’s with the no socks look? If the group of five HAD voted to boot two out next week, instead, my spouse and I were convinced it would be Alex and Jessica. [Perhaps we should have remembered that Sam had to be “saved” by the judges and has been in the bottom three more than once.] But we didn’t remember that. We both thought that Alex, while a good musician, was too geeky for the finals and that Jessica is the lesser talent of the girls.
So, we now have four finalists: Caleb Johnson of Asheville, North Carolina; Jena Irene of Farmington Hills, Michigan; Alex Preston of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire; and Jessica Meuse of Slapout, Alabama. They are listed in the order I think they may finish, but, again, Alex and Jessica, for me, are interchangeable entities. What he has over her in musical expertise and artistry, she has over him in appearance, presence and cools.
If I were a betting woman, I’d guess that Caleb voted “no” to “sticking together as a group” (so much for the goodtimes P.R. the show churns out each year). Caleb probably just wants to get to the end and get the golden ring, which it looks like he will do.
As for, “Who was the SECOND “No” vote?” I’m guessing it wasn’t Sam Woolf, but I wouldn’t put it past Alex or Jessica or Jena Irene to oust one of the others. After all, it’s a competition and they all want to win.
But who will? Caleb, of course. The Big Question is: who will come in second?
Rob Reiner Appears in Chicago with New Film “And So It Goes”
By Connie Wilson
On June 19, 2014
In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews
Rob Reiner appeared in Chicago on Wednesday, June 18, at the Icon Theater on Roosevelt Road for the preview of his new film, “And So It Goes,” a dramedy aimed squarely at Baby Boomers, which stars Diane Keaton and Michael Douglas. The 67-year-old director of “The Bucket List” (another film focused on “mature” people) was his usual warm, engaging self in the Q&A that followed the film. While the film may only rate a “C,” Reiner gets an “A+.”
With Rob Reiner in Chicago at the Icon Theater on June 18, 2014 preview of new film “And So It Goes.”
I enjoyed Reiner’s Q&A after the film much more than the movie. Who wouldn’t want to hear behind-the-scenes stories from the director of such great films as “Stand By Me,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “A Few Good Men,” Misery,” “The Princess Bride,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The American President” (another film starring Douglas)?
Reiner even has a small part in the film, cast as a piano player who accompanies Diane Keaton as she sings, (a la Michelle Pfeiffer in 1989’s “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”) When asked how he happened to take on the part of Artie Burns, the accompanist, Reiner said, “I needed an actor who would work for scale, and I found me. Plus, I had always wanted to have a role where I got to wear such a natural-looking toupee.” (A joke, as the rug is referenced with comic intent.)
Reiner went on to say that turning 60 brought him to the realization that, “Thanks to medical science, we won’t be able to get out of here!” He pointed to his Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson 2007 hit, “The Bucket List” saying: “I think there’s an audience out there for this film,” meaning the baby boomers, the largest group in our nation (which begs the question of whether baby boomers actually leave home to go out to the theater).
The film’s message (and Reiner’s advice): “Live until you’re no more.” The script recites truisms like: “Love always comes at a price” and “Sometimes, life outlives love.” Unfortunately, the script also had dick jokes and lines like, “I’ve sold houses older than you and in worse condition,” and “What she (Keaton) lacks in curb appeal she makes up for with historic charm. She slept with Elvis.”
Originally, in the script by Mark Andrus (who also wrote “As Good as It Gets,” hence the extremely similar-sounding title), Keaton’s character was a woman who did something with tapestries and weaving, said Reiner. Declaring that pursuit essentially boring, Reiner credited Keaton, herself, with suggesting that Leah be a woman of a certain age embarking on a new career as a singer.
Keaton does all of her own singing in the film. Like Pfeiffer before her, she surprises with a pleasant delivery of old favorites like “The Shadow of Her Smile,” “Both Sides Now” and “Blue Moon.” Douglas’ character suggests she add some “more recent” tunes, specifically mentioning Bonnie Raitt. Reiner commented that he really liked the idea that Keaton was starting a new chapter in her life at an advanced age (in the film, Leah says she is 65; in real life, Keaton is 68) because his own mother started a singing career at age 65. (Audiences may remember Reiner’s mother Estelle as the older woman restaurant customer in his film “When Harry Met Sally” who says, “I’ll have what she’s having,” after Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm at the lunch table with Billy Crystal.)
Reiner described the famously eccentric Keaton telling him, “I don’t act. I just am who I am.” Reiner went on to say that there is no division between Keaton’s onscreen and off-screen images. “She just takes the dialogue and makes it come out of her mouth,” said Reiner. If only she could have taken the dialogue and made it better. The director also commented that Keaton recently told Jimmy Fallon on the “Tonight” show that Michael Douglas was one of the actors with whom she wished she had shared an onscreen kiss, but the two had never worked together.
The two share an onscreen kiss in this film, but there is no real chemistry. Douglas, in fact, as he closes in on 70 on September 25th, is showing every year. He has famously battled Stage IV tongue cancer since August of 2010. In an article that appeared January 11, 2011, medical experts said there was “a high chance of recurrence within 2 to 3 years.”
Of the “carpe diem” theme that repeats throughout the movie, Douglas, after some recently publicized marital troubles with wife of 14 years Catherine Zeta-Jones ( 25 years his junior) told “People” magazine’s Elizabeth Leonard, “When you’ve accomplished a certain amount in your career, you’re not so focused on your ambitions. It makes you appreciate— and hopefully you do that sooner rather than later—the value of your partner.”
Since part of the theme of the movie deals with Oren Little’s (Michael Douglas’) son, Luke, being a reformed heroin addict and ultimately drawing prison time, one wonders what was going through Douglas’ mind. His son Cameron with first wife Deandre Douglas has been in and out of trouble with the law for drugs since 1999 and will have to continue serving a prison sentence until at least 2018. Since much of the film deals with a son, estranged from his father, who must leave his 10-year-old daughter with his irascible father while he goes to prison, that theme may have hit close to home for the movie’s male lead.
Reiner had nothing but praise for Douglas’ professionalism onset, saying the two had both come from a background in series television (Douglas on “Streets of San Francisco;” Reiner as “Meathead” Michael Stivic on “All in the Family”) and were both the children of famous men. He remarked of Douglas, “ He’s just got incredible craft. He hits his mark and knows his lines.” (Douglas won his Best Actor Oscar in 1987 portraying Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street.” He also won an Oscar in 1975 for producing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and an Emmy last year, portraying Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra.” Keaton won her Oscar April 3, 1978 at the 50th Academy Awards portraying Annie Hall in the Woody Allen film of the same name.
Reiner noted, “Of all the movies I’ve made, not one of them could be made today, because the studios just don’t make them.” He singled out “A Few Good Men” as being particularly problematic, because of the politics in the plot. Reiner added, “The studios only make three kinds of movies today: blockbusters, usually from comic books; animated films; and R-rated raunchy comedies.” Reiner didn’t mention the recent glut of horror movies, but he might have. Recently 5 previews at my local movie house were all for slasher films.
Other questions for Rob Reiner, post-film, and his responses:
Question 1, about Diane Keaton’s wardrobe. “Did Diane Keaton just wear her own clothes in the movie?”
Reiner responded indirectly, saying that, “All the things she wore are the things she knew she could wear.” (One woman in the theater audience commented that a certain dress had been worn previously by Keaton in another film).
Question 2: “Was it difficult to get the money to make this movie?”
Answer 2: “It’s always hard to get money from people. Give me five dollars! See (Reiner laughed), she won’t give it to me!” He noted that it took 4 years to get the financing to make “This Is Spinal Tap.”
Question 3: “What was the purpose of having Oren deliver the baby in the film?”
Answer 3: “It shows Oren’s (Douglas’) character arc. He was turning his back on life (after he was widowed). Then circumstances, a series of events, start affecting him. They’re all designed to make him come back to humanity.” Earlier, Reiner had noted that, after passing 60, he was enjoying life the most he ever had. “And so you go along and live your life. Be in the moment where you are. That’s all you have.” He joked that there was “a 100% demographic” of baby boomers for the film, saying, “60% of them will want to see it, but only 40% of them will have the ability to get to the theater.”
Question 4: “You recently played Max Belfort in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ for Martin Scorsese. How was that?”
Answer 4: “I actually met Mr. Belfort. He’s a very excitable fellow, but shorter than me, and you can see how his son Jordan could be so charming and convincing. When Martin Scorsese calls, you just do it. What is more unbelievable? That Leonardo DeCaprio is a Jew, or that I’m his father? Maybe I’m better-looking that I thought!”
Question 5: “Have you ever worked with Albert Brooks?”
Answer 5: “Yes. I worked with Albert in ‘The Muse.’ I played myself, so I was pretty believable.”
Question 6: “What is on your own personal bucket list?”
Answer 6: “Just doing what I’m doing now. In terms of life fulfillment, I’m doing what I want to do.”
Question 7: “There is a reference to Sammy Davis, Jr. in the movie, and none of the younger people know who he is. How did that come about?”
Answer 7: “That’s just so typical. Recently, I was with my family and we ran into Warren Beatty coming out of a restaurant. Now, I have three children who are 20, 23 and 16 (with second wife Michele Singer, a photographer he married in 1989 after meeting on the set of “When Harry Met Sally.”). They had no idea who Warren Beatty was, although they vaguely had heard of Bonnie & Clyde.”
Question 8: “Will you ever come back to Illinois and Chicago to direct a film?”
Answer 8: “Filmmakers today go where the tax breaks are. It was Michigan for a while—then Louisiana. If you have a small budget, you follow the tax breaks. We shot this in Connecticut because of the tax breaks. If they give you 30% above AND below the line, you go there to make a film.” He added that Chicago is a great place to make a movie and that the college scenes in “When Harry Met Sally” are represented by the University of Chicago. A representative of the Illinois Production Alliance in the audience said that Illinois does have good tax incentives for filmmaking in the state, and Reiner responded that he’d love to be able to make another film in Chicago.
Question 9: “You were politically active at one time, supporting Howard Dean in the 2004 election and also becoming active in California in 2006. Are you still considering running for office?”
Answer 9: “I sat my family down and polled them on whether I should run or not. I only polled 40%. When you only poll 40% in your own family, you shouldn’t run.”
The theme of the movie is (relentlessly) “carpe diem.” As Douglas, himself, told “Uinterview,” “When you’re older, you focus that energy on the people closest to you, on your family.”
My favorite story told Wednesday night involved a scene where Diane Keaton’s character is auditioning for a singing position that her self-proclaimed “manager,” Oren Little (Douglas), has arranged for her. Renowned singer Frankie Valli played the small part of the club owner listening to Keaton sing in a darkened room. “Diane didn’t know that Frankie Valli was sitting in the back listening to her sing and she got very nervous about it. She didn’t know he was in the movie at all. I told her, ‘Don’t feel bad. I have to play piano in front of Liberace!’” (a reference to Michael Douglas’ Emmy-winning 2013 television role opposite Matt Damon.)
The film opens in July (either July 11th or July 14th, depending on the source).