Sex and the Meh

Just saw Sex and the City today. I have to say, though I was greatly looking forward to this movie, I was kind of disapointed. For one thing, it was WAY too long (2 1/2 hours!) And it wasn't as fun as the series. There wasn't a lot of escalating conflict, which, as an author, I know, is necessary for a good story. Just a lot of moping around as various holidays passed and nothing moved forward. (Note to aspiring authors: make sure every scene, every line of dialogue moves your plot forward!) More than once I wanted to smack Carrie and Miranda to just stop their emo bs and suck it up.

The movie didn't have the sparkle that the show had and a lot of it seemed overwhelmingly heavy handed. (The Cinderella shoe/Manolo Blahnik metaphor, for example.) They also didnt highlight NYC like the show did so there weren't a lot of "Oh I know that place!" moments. (At the very end they go out to the Meatpacking District, which was cool.)

Also, and I guess this is inevitable, the characters had grown up. Their problems were actually problems that 40 somethings should (and do) face. In the series, when they were all single girls, I felt like their adventures and problems made me smile cause I could relate to them. Maybe with age and maturity, I will appreciate this movie more. I guess I'm just at a different point in life right now and found it hard to relate.

I will say that Big still has a sexy smile and looks great in a tux. Mmmm... And I liked Charlotte having her happily ever after. That was nice. And the beginning- before wedding day (I'm trying not to give away too many spoilers!) was fun. I liked seeing the characters come together again. But overall, I kind of wish they just left the series as it ended. Oh well.

My last thought - Carrie ended up sacrificing what she wanted for Big, which seemed a bit unfair to me. No matter how many times he'd been married, it was HER first time. Her time to sparkle and be a princess! Why should she be forced to give that up or be made to feel wrong for wanting it? She acted happy in the show at the end - but what about in 5 years? When her daughter asks what her wedding day was like and she has to blush and stammer and make excuses? What's wrong with wanting a fairy tale and did Big not love her enough to offer that to her? I don't know the right answer and maybe I'm too young and romantic, but that just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

So am I alone in Sex and the blah? Or what? What did you guys think???

Marianne

PS Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm still looking forward to the X-Files movie. :) The truth is out there!! Yeah! Of course I'd look forward to David Duchovney reading the phone book. (OMG Californiacation - best new show!!)

Move the island!!

The thing about me is I’m usually very slow to get into television shows. For about two years I didn’t have cable. Now I have the most basic of cables, which I never watch. I dislike watching new shows because the way it works now is they play like three episodes, you get totally hooked, then they take them off the air cause you were evidently the only one in the country who was. So a show at least needs to last a full season before I deem it worthy to watch.

Case in point, Gossip Girl. Now addicted. Awesome, love it.

So when Lost was first becoming the phenomena that it was, I barely paid any attention. After the first season ended, I watched it on DVD. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it – I hate things that are over-hyped – but it grew on me and by the end, when they opened that hatch, I was enthralled.

I thought about renting the second season, but was told by everyone that it sucked royally. So I moved on to something else. Then I started dating Jacob who was obsessed with Lost. He convinced me that I needed to just power through the second season to get to the third and fourth. He provided me with the episodes, so it wouldn’t cost any money and so I decided, why not?

Wow, did I become hooked! So ridiculously hooked. I watched episode after episode – sometimes 3-4 in a row. For two months it was all Lost, all the time. But then, horror upon horror, I ran out of episodes! I caught up to everyone else. And now I have to wait like everyone else for the episodes to appear on television. Argh!

Tonight, as most of you probably know, is the two hour season finale of the show. I’m psyched to watch it—two hours of Lost!! And at the same time horrified—going to have to wait until JANUARY 2009 to see what happens next! How ever will I (and the rest of the world) survive?!!?

And you just know for a fact that it’ll be a cliffhanger ending…

Any suggestions on DVDs or shows that can occupy all the lonely months while I wait for my beloved show to return?

$$$$

Shot a segment at the luxurious DavidBurke and Donatella restaurant today. Beautiful place that I’ll never be able to afford to eat at. Though I’m really curious about their $21 Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich…

Sometimes it can be really hard to live in New York. Especially with a job like mine where you’re always going to hot restaurants, swanky bars, high fashion boutiques, exclusive clubs, etc. etc. You see first hand how the other half lives and let me tell you, it’s more ridiculous than you could even imagine. There is so much wealth in this city! I read blogs like Emily Brills’ and it just makes me a little sick. Not that I want to be a part of the Hamptons scene – it sounds too much like the Cape Cod scene in Massachusetts, which I’ve avoided all my life. But still, and when you’re seeing this kind of thing day after day, it’s hard to remember that this is not the norm.

When we went to Upstairs this past weekend, the bottle service started at $385. That means $385 for a single bottle of Grey Goose and some juices to mix in. We ordered individual drinks and it was $50 for three. Plus tip!

You live here too long and you start believing that this is normal. And then you start to feel poor. Pulling in six figures in this city and you’re practically a pauper. If I got a million dollar book deal (ha!) I still wouldn’t be able to afford to buy an apartment here. MAYBE a studio.

We’re in a recession. Everyone around the country is having to cut back. People are losing their houses and can’t afford to gas up their cars. So why doesn’t it seem to be happening in New York? I don’t understand it!

Anyway, I do love living in New York and get to see and do amazing things that I’d never get to do anywhere else. I’m just saying it pays to once and a while step back and get a reality check. Cause this city will bleed you dry. As Jacob says, “It’s the only city with a cover charge.” (Yes, there’s a city tax, too!)

Marianne

Mama Mia!

For you Mama Mia/ABBA fans out there, here's a story I recently produced for Better TV. (In which I got to interview Christine Baranski.) I wasn't a HUGE fan of the play, but the movie looks like a lot of fun. As does singing Dancing Queen on stage as these women do! Not that I can sing.

Random stuffz

A few weeks ago my computer crashed and burned once again. So last night Jacob brought over his old computer and set it up instead. How much do I love him!? Now I can watch my computer downloaded movie and TV shows again. Yay! I swear, you get used to downloading stuff and suddenly you can’t live without it.

Speaking of, I’m four episodes into Gossip Girl now and “soo totes addicted.” Haha. It’s such a fun show. Trashy, sure. Superficial, of course. But that’s how I like my TV. Call me shallow, but I watch to escape. If I want to learn something, then I turn to the web.

Which reminds me, I’ve also got my Sex and the City tickets for Saturday already pre-purchased! Yay! Can’t wait to see it!!

Jacob also gave me his old Sony e-reader cause he bought a new one. I’ve never really tried to read a book on an e-reader before, but I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll let you know how I like it.

It feels so weird not to have a book due. I’ve been casually working up a proposal, to keep myself busy and stave off the anxiety of no-deadlines. I know I should be relaxing and enjoying myself, but I don’t think I’m wired that way. I’m looking forward to seeing what my editor thinks of The Camelot Code.

Nothing too much else going on. Met Liz for Dallas Barbeque last night. Then Jacob and I watched most of Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2. Oh and we got a new videogame – a Resident Evil game for the wii. Pretty cool. It’s nice cause unlike House of the Dead you can save and continue.

That’s about all for now. Off to Dorchester to pass in my Razor Girl galleys. Can’t believe the book comes out in like three months! Time flies.

Marianne

Weekend Wrap Up

Jacob's friend Manoj was in town this weekend so we did quite a whirlwind of stuff to entertain him. If I lived this way all the time I'd be exhausted and broke. (More than normal, haha)

Friday work closed early so I met up with Jacob and Manoj to go see Indiana Jones. It was a...fun...movie. But I didn't like how unrealistic, over the top the stunts were. And a lot of the dialogue was pretty cheesy. I liked all the tombs and adventure stuff - I just didn't think some of the ridiculousness was necessary for a good movie.

Afterwards we met up with my friend Jamie and her new boy, Dale, down at Hudson Bar and Books. Drank some wine, caught up, then left them to head to Lotus for a little dancing. The place was ridiculously packed. But fun, overall.

Saturday we went down to Lobo in Brooklyn for a Mexican brunch, then shopping at Century 21 downtown. That's such a great store -- designer clothes for cheap. But it's a bit crazy -- packed and disorganized. You really have to be in the right mood to shop there. But if you are then it's bargain city!

At night we went to a nice, quiet Italian restaurant on 62nd and 1st. Forget the name. Then we headed down to Soho to go to Upstairs, which is this exclusive, private dance club where celebrities go. I have a connection with the owner so I got us on the list and we were thinking we were pretty cool at first. The place doesn't even have a sign and you won't be able to find it online. We walked up to velvet ropes and I introduced myself the bouncer. He got the manager who called the owner to make sure we were okay to let in since he hadn't "seen me before." Then we were ushered upstairs, through this really ghetto looking graffiti'ed hallway. We were like, this is either going to get us into a cool club or lead to our deaths. The hallway turned a corner and opened up into a really swank lounge with couches and bottle service and a DJ.

The problem? There was no one there. Not a soul.

Turns out anyone who's anyone (aka not us!) was in The Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend. So the club's exclusive crowd was all away and since they wouldn't just let ANYONE in, there was no no one there. A few groups wandered in about 10 minutes later and there was some good drunk socialite people watching, but on a whole it was too dead to be much fun. You could see how it would be cool, if it were hopping, so Jacob and I might try to go back on a normal weekend.

Sunday we went to Hill Country for some barbeque. (Yes, a Texan comes to NYC for the weekend and wants Mexican food and barbeque!) Then back to Astoria. Manoj left to get his plane and Jacob and I played House of the Dead, watched Nightmare on Elm Street (yes, we're finished with Jason, now it's Freddy's turn!), and some episodes of Gossip Girl. (I'm not sure Jacob enjoyed the latter, haha, but it's research for me!!)

Now it's Memorial Day Monday and I'm working cause I want to take Friday off. It's nice actually. Good and quiet. I'm off now to log a few tapes -- no competition at the viewing machines, yay!

Hope you all had a good weekend!!
Marianne

Sorry for lack of updates!

Sorry, I know I've been a blog slacker. But not much going on except work, galleys, and being ill. I feel better this AM- hopefully it will continue....

Liz and I are busy planning our Tokyo/Kyoto trip which is in 2 weeks!!! One of the things we plan to do? Dress up as geishas!! Check it out. Pretty wild, huh? This will definitely be my best costume experience yet!

I'm glad I'm sick now so that I'll be sure to be better by the time we go. Can you believe it's 15 hours on a plane each way? Insane. I'm sure to go crazy!!

More soon, I promise!
Marianne

SICK!

I'm sick. Grossly, feverishly sick. Sucks. Of course it's better to be sick today - now that I've turned in my book to my editor - then when I was still under deadline. And it's better to be sick now than in a couple weeks when I go to Japan. But still, sickness is never fun. 101.2 fever, not fun.

I better be better tomorrow. Have a great "behind the scenes" of a Broadway play shoot scheduled. So not missing that!!

Mar

Weekend Wrap-up

Had a good weekend. Friday Jacob and I laid low, ate pasta and watched Jason X. (We’re almost done our marathon – one movie to go!) On Saturday we went for a run along the East side, which is very pretty (right along the water.) Only made a 5K though – for some reason neither of us had any energy and it was really warm out. Gonna do a five miler plus tonight to make up for it.

Saturday night we went to our friend Britany’s birthday party. Was fun. She and her friend are really into reading/writing YA books so it was cool to chat about those with them. The first part of the party was at someone’s apartment and then we headed to a club, which was packed! We found a corner table, thank goodness, so we were able to stay out of the craziness, except when hitting the bathroom. There were probably 500 people packed into the small club and two women’s stalls. (One being taken up by a girl dry heaving, ew!)

Sunday afternoon I worked on revising The Camelot Code while Jacob set up the charcol grill we bought earlier in the day. Then we cooked hamburgers. It was my dog Molly’s birthday so she got one, too. She was very happy about this!!! I’m psyched we got a grill – barbeque goodness all summer long!

Then we played House of the Dead 2 on the wii until I had blisters on my fingers from the controller and had to stop. Love that game! Love zombies.

Speaking of zombies, time to read the galleys of Razor Girl. The arcs for this should be available really really soon! Yay. Hope people like it!

Lastly, if you haven’t read Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, go to the bookstore NOW and pick them up. Best books I’ve read in ages. Next up, Corey Doctorow’s first YA book: Little Brother. I have high hopes for this one.

Marianne

I feel like a sell out…

I just created a Twitter account. Makes me feel kind of dirty in that “everyone is doing it” totally over-exposed kind of way. But hey, I felt that way about Facebook and then got completely addicted. So who knows? If you’re interested in following me, I’m under MarianneMancusi.

Speaking of, went to an awesome sample sale yesterday for Rebecca Minkoff handbags and Nicholas K fashions. It was for work – we are doing on a story on them – but I got to do a little shopping while I was there. Check out my new bag:



I like it a lot cause it fits my laptop and everything else important to me, but isn’t too huge to be obnoxious. Plus it’s kind of fun to have a celebrity bag. Silly and unimportant, but fun all the same. Hillary Duff, Lauren Conrad (lol), and Jessica Alba have my particular style. I also got a really cute white sundress from Nicholas K. I’ll photo it when I wear it next.

I’ve been really busy this week revising The Camelot Code. It is shaping up sooo nicely! I can’t wait to show it to my agent/editor. Agent gets it next week, once I’m done reading it over one more time, and editor gets it at the beginning of June, just before my Japan trip.

I can’t believe I’ll be flying to Japan three weeks from now. So exciting! My first trip to a foreign country that’s not Canada or Mexico!!! Crazeee!!!


Enjoy your weekend everyone!!!

Marianne

I feel like this sometimes...

SWAT Writers Coffee Taste Test

Being my friend means being forced in front of the camera once in a while. Here's my SWAT writers group (Liz Maverick, Leanna Hieber, Isabo Kelly, Elizabeth Mahon, and Stacey Agden) taste testing coffees for Better TV.

(This is the YouTube version below, cause I can embed it) - high rez version (better quality) is available here.

Quirky Things Meme!

I got tagged by Elizabeth, Leanna, and Bev for this meme. Man! I’ve got to post this before anyone else victimizes me!!

The rules:

a) Link to the person who tagged you.

b) Post the rules on your blog.

c) Write six random things about yourself.

d) Tag six random epople at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

e) Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on his/her blog.

f) Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Okay, here goes:

1) I love horror movies. The cheesier the better! Jacob and I are currently going through all the Friday the 13th movies in order. Part 9 is next. We even watch the documentaries on the “making of” after the films and rank them in order of goodness. (For the record: 4, 6, 2, 1, 7, 8, 3 so far…) The movie that holds the record for “most cheesy of all time” is Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman.

2) I have a glitter problem. I’m considering a 12 step program. I practically drown myself in it before I go out. And I’m constantly buying new pots even though I’ve been accused of already having every color in the rainbow. And I can’t always keep it to myself, meaning everyone around me – even my dog! – inevitably ends up with a sparkle or two by the end of the night.

3) I’m a big fan of videogames. I get obsessed with MMORPG games. I recently had to give up World of Warcraft – it was too much of a time suck after three years of playing. Now I try to limit my gaming to casual things like House of the Dead for the wii.

4) I like bad ice cream over the good kind. Can’t stand Hagen Daz or Ben and Jerry’s. I love Dairy Queen soft serve the best. I used to get McDonalds ice cream every day after work and the employee that served it to me called me “Princess.”

5_ I have a phone phobia and absolutely go into a panic if I have to call someone that’s not a good friend. If it wasn’t for email, I’d never be able to work as a television producer.

6) I used to live in Orlando and have been to Disney World probably 200 times. My friends and I would go every weekend. We’d do this thing called “Disney Dare” in which we dared each other to do stupid things in the parks and take photos as evidence. My favorite Disney ride, Horizons in Epcot, was closed a couple years ago. We once rode Tower of Terror like 10 times in a row. My favorite Disney character is Pluto and I like to collect Pluto memorabilia. My initials are on a brick outside the Magic Kingdom along with those of my ex-boyfriend’s family. The coolest hotel is The Yacht and Beach Club, cause of the awesome pool. But the Polynesian is closest to my heart and I’ve stayed there the most.

Okay I'm tagging Diana Peterfreund, Serena Robar, Ally Carter, Gena Showalter, Alyssa Day, and Cindy Holby.

Boys that Bite in Japanese

I am so excited about this, I just had to share. Yesterday, I got copies of the Japanese translation of Boys that Bite. Now that was cool, in and of itself, but when I opened up the book I realized it was illustrated! They had a manga artist drew scenes from my book!!!

I'm looking through, completely clueless as to what the Japanese characters mean,but recognizing scenes from the book in the drawings! It was surreal, to say the least, to see my characters come to life on the page.

I decided, while geeking out, to take pics of the pics and upload them. I'm no expert, but they look really beautiful to me!


The cover


Sunny and Jake Wilder


Rayne and Magnus


Sunny and Magnus kissing. Awhhh! I think this is my fave!

The rest of the drawings are here.

Weekend Wrap-up

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

This week I’m blogging over at The Book Binge blog. I’ll be giving away copies of News Blues and These Boots Were Made for Stomping – so please go over and enter! Tomorrow they’ll be featuring a video q&a I did as well.

This weekend was great! On Friday after work I went to Ajune, an awesome spa on the Upper East Side, for an oxygen facial. It’s something Madonna swears by and I’ve always wanted to try. It felt really nice and afterwards my skin was plump and glowy. Highly recommend it!

Later that night, in our continuing marathon, Jacob and I watched Friday the 13th Part 8 – Jason Takes Manhattan. Sad to say, Jason does not, in actuality, take Manhattan. Nor is much of the movie shot there. Most of it is shot on a boat on the way to Manhattan. And most of the Manhattan shots were shot in Toronto. Also, the plot is ridiculous! Even more so then most of the other movies. I put this 2nd to last in my ranking. Three is still worse, though not by much!

The original poster for the movie is kind of cool. I guess they had to change it cause the NYC Tourism board wasn't pleased.



Saturday we went for a run. Ran from 72nd/Columbus all the way to the World Trade Center, by route of Riverside Park. Five mile run! W00t! Funny, Manhattan seems a lot smaller when you realize you can run it. I was pretty tired by the end though.

Saturday night we went to see my friend Sarah’s boyfriend’s band “Gothic Barbeque” play at the Baggot Inn. They were great! Highlight was when Sarah threw her bra on the stage and Jon, her boyfriend, had no idea whose it was, and didn’t know how to react!! Then we went to a really crowded party in the East Village. It was future themed (though no costumes) and had these really cool glowy wine glasses. I want them! They looked something (but not exactly) like this.



That’s all for now! Go over to Book Binge and read my blog there!

Marianne

My creative fans

I love my teen fans. Absolutely adore them. They're so creative and fun and enthusiastic. They beg me everyday for a 4th book in The Blood Coven series - I really hope someday I'll be able to deliver one. I'd love to conclude the series the way it was meant to be concluded and not leave everyone hanging!

Anyway, to get back on topic, here's a video one of my teen readers made about "Stake That!" It's pretty awesome. Check it out and go leave her good comments!! She deserves it for all the work she put into it!



:)
Marianne