Good
Morning Blogees!
Welcome
to my headful of scattered thoughts that I will be attempting, in this blog, to
sort out so I can dazzle you.
Sometimes
I come across tidbits on the Internet that truly touch me, and the other day
someone posted a segment of an interview with Dustin Hoffman that, as a woman,
warmed my heart and increased the respect that I already had for him.
He
said that when he read the script for the movie “Tootsie” he told his wife that he had to do the movie
because when he was considering the part, he had makeup people turn him into ‘Dorothy
Michaels’ to make sure he would be believable as a woman. He was disappointed that they couldn’t make
Dorothy more attractive. Then he
realized that ‘Dorothy Michaels’ was an interesting woman he started thinking
about all the interesting women he’d overlooked previously in his life because
they hadn’t been attractive enough by standards he’d been brainwashed into
believing, to draw his initial attention.
And,
with tears in his eyes he said, “That movie was never a comedy to me,” which is
probably the most honest and sensitive thing I’ve ever heard come out of a man’s
mouth—ever.
While
there were hilarious aspects to that movie, I completely identified with Dorothy
Michaels’ frustration and struggles to gain respect. Not only have I been ignored because I’m less
than the physical standard of a beautiful woman, but because I chose to be a
stay-at-home mom instead of working outside my home when my children were
small.
Even
though I’ve written six novels, three novellas, and dozens of short stories, many
of my husbands’ friends (both male and female) ignored me completely, even when
they were sitting around my dinner table eating food that I’d prepared. It’s like I wasn’t even in the room much of
the time.
When
I read about Dustin Hoffman’s epiphany, it touched me very deeply, and provided
a little much-needed balm to a very sore spot.
Thank you, Mr. Hoffman, for your honesty and your sensitivity, for your
respect for women, and for making such a wonderful movie.
**
Okay,
while looking up that link, I came across this appearance of Dustin Hoffman and
Robert DeNiro on Letterman which cracked me up.
**
Okay,
next subject.
I’m
reading a well written book called “All the Darkness in the World” by Andy
Deane. I love reading Andy’s stuff
because he has a gritty, non-pretentious literary style that is just perfect
for the horror genre. He has a gift for
writing seriously vivid imagery that I admire and brings to mind some of the
imagery of Stephen King, though Andy’s style is all his own. (For instance, there’s a scene describing another
character as ‘meaner than a hungry piranha with a hemorrhoidal flare up’ and
then a scene where his character is describing the worst thing he could imagine
as ‘an asshole full of shit-eating ants.’)
Can you say immediate cringe?
Well done, Andy!
I
had the pleasure of meeting Andy face to neck (He’s about six-three or four,
topped off with another six inches of usually blue Mohawk),
when he appeared with
his band, Bella Morte, at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia a few years ago.*** I’d been a fan of the band long before his
books came out, and walked up to him at his merch table across from the
Cruxshadows’ table and reached up and pinched his cheeks, saying, “Andy, you’re
so goddamned cute!” He was taken aback,
and George shouted across the aisle from the Cruxshadows table: “Oh my God! Somebody has finally rendered Andy speechless!” I am honored, because Andy is not the shy
type. I’ve spent many pleasurable hours
at DragonCon panels (writing, Goth, Music) laughing at the hilarious ‘on the
road’ stories tossed back and forth by Andy and Bella Morte, The Cruxshadows, Ego
Likenesss, The Last Dance, and Voltaire (who, appropriately enough, wrote an
intro for “All the Darkness in the World.”)
Okay,
I digressed in a big way, but I like that story. Almost as much as I like “All the Darkness in
the World.” Andy Deane is a top shelf
horror writer, and pens a great read in “All the Darkness in the World” as well
as in “The Sticks.” Grab copies of both
and enjoy the chills!
*** Thanks to www.tumblr.com for the image of Andy Deane!
**
On
the home front things have been relatively quiet. Been running on fumes the last couple of
days, waking well before my usual four a.m., which is my writing time (Because
even the dogs are unconscious at that hour!).
I used the time to my advantage and got the “From the Perch” column of “Owl’s
Eye View” plotted out for the coming year, plus penned some disquieting short
stories. But I’ve been kindof stressed
recently. Sometimes no matter how much I
want to pitch in and be a help I simply can’t physically manage it, which
pisses me off like you wouldn’t believe, and at those times there isn’t enough
St. John’s Wort in the universe. Writing
and being here to help my daughter-in-law with the munchkins and the household
as much as I can is pretty much my raison d’etre. When my freaking broken body gets in the way
of the
“Broken Old Broad” title gets a little too real (even though, when my 4 year
old grandson says it, I can’t help but laugh, no matter how pissy my mood
is). Ah well, fiddle-de-fuckin-dee….tomorrow’s
another day.
**
There’s
a five hour respite from the rain before the next freaking storm is
predicted. Cait and Joe are taking the
kids and the dogs to the park to burn off some energy. Thank goodness—everybody’s been cooped up
because of bad weather all week—it’s the stuff of horror stories. Muahaha!
Okay. Back to writing short stories.
Hugs!
Ter
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