Deborah Woehr

Robert DeNiro is one of my favorite actors. I loved his performance in Midnight Run as well as that movie (forget the title) where he and Sean Penn are escaped convicts who pretend to be priests so they can hide out from the police. When I saw the previews of Hide and Seek in the movie theater, my curiosity was piqued. In all respects, this appeared to be a ghost story, due to the large house in the woods and the creepy reference to an “imaginary friend” named Charlie.

The movie begins with Alison Callaway (Amy Irving), pushing her daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), on one of those twirly kiddie rides in their local park. Mother and daughter are laughing and smiling. David Callaway (Robert DeNiro) enters the scene, smiling at his wife and daughter. They look like the picture-perfect family.

By the end of the next scene, it’s clear that they are not the perfect family. Emily stands in the doorway of the bathroom, watching her father cry as he holds his wife’s lifeless body, an apparent suicide. David, a psychologist, takes his daughter to upstate New York so they can heal from their grief.

Dakota Fanning did a superb job of playing a disturbed child. As the movie progressed, I became convinced that she was causing the mutilations to her dolls and re-enacting the scene of her mother’s death to get back at her father, using an imaginary friend named “Charlie” as a scapegoat. I felt sorry for both characters.

Then the movie made a hairpin turn. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the plot. However, I will say that it was the most emotionally charged suspense thriller I’ve ever seen, mainly because a child was involved.

The reason I give this movie 4.5 stars is because of Robert DeNiro’s weak performance, especially at the end. For one thing, he was too old. The director should have casted someone ten years younger to play this part.

[rating: 4.5/5]

I’ve reached Chapter 8. I no longer feel frustrated, no longer fighting the urge to throw the manuscript in the trash. Just as I was getting my creative juices flowing this morning, my husband announces that he’s going to throw the breakers so he can install a ceiling fan in my oldest’s room as well as track lighting in the family room. Turn the computer off, he says. This was at 9am. It’s now almost 6pm, but that’s okay. He’s Tim Taylor, only without the black cloud of doom and destruction. I miss that show.

Now, I’m back at the keyboard and will start plowing through this chapter.

My sister-in-law has used the Netflix video service for over a year now and swore by it. So did my brother. It’s been years since I’ve rented a video for several reasons. Mostly, it was the hassle of remembering to collect the videos and drive back to the store to return them by the due date. This is the same reason why I don’t go to the library.

I finally broke down and signed up for a subscription the weekend before last. So far, I’m impressed with their service. There were several movies I missed due to the lack of time, or just plain forgetting. An American Haunting was one of them.

On Sunday, I watched Hide and Seek, which starred Robert DeNiro. It wasn’t the ghost story that I thought it might be, but an intensely emotional thriller that struck many chords in me. Have any of you seen The Departed? I’ve added that to my movie list.

I’ll be posting some reviews soon. Just thought I’d give you a fair warning.

I read an article that stunned me this morning, called What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know. David Bach discusses the universal debt clause and how credit card companies use it to hike your interest rates to the point where you can’t pay off your balances. If you’ve never heard of this clause before now, I suggest you read this article. Then follow up with research on the subject.

So many people have complained about their credit card companies that Congress is looking into it.

Have any of you ever heard of Rotten.com? My husband heard about this site from a good friend in 2002 and told me about it. It is not for people who have weak stomachs. I came away from it physically nauseated and disturbed by some of the photos. The worst were the kids. Back then, the site was open for anyone. Today, thankfully, you have to register with a credit card.

Why am I mentioning this?

Last night, I was writing an exit scene for one of the minor characters, who was instrumental in trapping Amanda in Prosperity. This woman was a victim of an accidental shooting. I not only wanted a visual of the wounds, but some facts on how the body reacts when a bullet from a .38 revolver pierces it through the stomach. I watched part of a documentary where they showed a dummy getting shot by a .45 Magnum. The force of the bullet made the dummy fly 5-10 feet and hit the wall. I’ll have to go to AskAnExpert.com to get my answer, perhaps.

In the meantime, I wound up writing a generic reaction (i.e., She grunted with pain and turned white.), which will have to suffice for now.

I copied this from Michael’s blog, who copied it from Interstellar Adventures. The reason being is this list is so freakin’ long. I agree with Michael in that they should have included Ray Bradbury in this list because he is a phenomenal writer. I’d also like to include Richard Matheson, Douglas Clegg, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Instructions:
Look at the list of books below.
*Bold the ones you’ve read
*Italicize the ones you want to read
*Leave the ones that you aren’t interested in alone.

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3.To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4.Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) (watched the movie)
5.The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6.The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7.The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12.Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16.Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King) (I had to watch the movie first before I could get into the book. I’ve since read it 3 times.)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21.The Hobbit (Tolkien) (My introduction into fantasy.)
22.The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23.Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26.The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) (One of the most depressing books I ever read.)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32.The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33.Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34.1984 (Orwell) (Awesome book.)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) (Great story)
40.The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)(Too sappy for me)
45. Bible (parts only)(The book of Job)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47.The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48.Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49.The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50.She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51.The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54.Great Expectations (Dickens)
55.The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62.The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73.Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75.The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78.The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100.Ulysses (James Joyce)

Reflections of a Gorgeous Day

Yesterday was not a day for spending indoors. While it didn’t get up to the 70-degrees that the weatherman predicted, it was a beautiful day. My husband and I took full advantage of this by taking the boys up to the Chabot Observatory in Oakland. We won the tickets at a Cub Scout raffle last month. Before that, we didn’t know that it existed.

There were plenty of space exhibits for everyone to see, but most of them were aimed at kids under 8. The best part was seeing a show in the planetarium. It reminded me of the Pink Floyd laser light shows I used to go see when I was sixteen.

Then there was the view. I took a couple of shots, and once I figure out how to download individual pictures to my computer, I’ll upload them here for you to see. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, which allowed us to get a spectacular view of the Bay Area. My husband saw the U.S.S. Hornet (a ship he and my oldest got to spend the night on during a Cub Scout outing) and pointed it out to the boys.

We left the observatory about 2:30 and drove home via Dublin. It felt strange riding down the freeway I used to commute on everyday. I’m glad I don’t have to make that trip anymore because it is hellish.

Once we got home, everybody went to their computers or played video games. I managed to write a few paragraphs for Prosperity before my husband came into my office and suggested that we go out for dinner. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant. On our way in, we saw the moon, full and orange from the eclipse. I still had my camera and tried to aim for a good shot, but it was too far away. By the time we finished dinner and left the restaurant, it was back to its normal color.

More Changes

This was a tough week at work, with the majority of the employees leaving. I’ve never worked at a place (other than my husband’s family business) where the people treated each other like family. The place feels like a ghost town now. My contract has been extended to the end of this month, which may change, depending upon the workload. Right now, I’m extremely busy, which is what I like.

As of tomorrow, I’ll be working the early shift, as the guy who handled the opening process has returned to his old job. I’ll get off work in plenty of time to pick up the boys, which is great because I’ll get my quality time back with them, not to mention 30 minutes a day for reading, which I’ve really missed since I started working. Right now, I’m reading Joe Hill’s (Stephen King’s son) “Heart-Shaped Box.” I’m just about 100 pages into it, and am enjoying it so far. The King family is a very talented bunch.

Progress

As for my own writing, I’ve been working every day. It’s been a frustrating process, going back and correcting the multitude of mistakes that I’ve made with Prosperity. I’m almost finished with Chapter 6, that’s how slow-going it’s been. Slim progress is better than no progress. With that, I will close this long-winded post and get back to work.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.