Author: Kelley

My holiday present to you is a lizard!

I am so looking forward to Rango (and I will say that the list of Animated Films I Have Ever Actively Wanted To See is about two, maybe). Here’s the latest trailer, which has only increased my Glee Quotient for the movie.
 

 
And as a special holiday treat, here is a brief look at the “Making of” process. I love that the film wasn’t made with actors trapped in a booth voicing to existing animation. I would imagine that can be pretty frustrating — all talk, no action, as they say. But Rango was made with actors creating the roles physically as well as vocally. Actors doing and being. And they look like they’re having so much fun, don’t they?

Fun is Good. I like it a lot. I hope you’ll have some the next day or two. Happy holidays.
 

 

The prodigal website returns

Thank you to all who supported me during the recent difficult time in which my website went missing. You’ve all been wonderful, and I thought you should know that the site came home last night with only one shoe, no underwear, a tattoo on her right arm, an empty champagne bottle in her bag (a real feat of engineering, it took me five minutes to extricate it and oh my god, the cleaning bill…), and a goofy grin.

She’s sleeping it off now. I’m so happy to see her back, I’ll probably just give her more champagne later. Along with a stern talking to, of course. I’ll go work on that now.

Enjoy your day!

Seattle, get your Santa on…

Fabulous photographer Jennifer Durham is featured in today’s Seattle Groupon with a Santa/family photo special offer. Jennifer is a seriously excellent photographer: check out her portrait work and her gorgeous landscape photography.

Memories are a powerful thing. A lot of people can show you what the moment looks like: it’s a different sort of talent to capture the internal reality. If you’re in Seattle, go to Groupon and seize the moment for yourself or someone you care for.

And enjoy your day. I hope it brings you something lovely and memorable.

Another one of those great videos…

I’ve posted these before — the fantastic public-space songfests that T-Mobile sponsors around the world (and yep, they deserve that plug from me, I’ve had a lot of pleasure from these videos). Here’s the latest, from Heathrow airport. The really cool thing is realizing that no instruments are used: humans are the orchestra as well as the voice.
 

 
And, if you want a peek behind the curtain, here’s a lovely “Making Of” video that makes me feel even better about people and the things we do for each other sometimes…
 

 
Enjoy your day.

Preorder Solitaire


 

Solitaire will be republished by Small Beer Press in January 2011.

Please go visit the marvelous bookpage they have set up: you will find this cover, the new author photo by the incredible Jennifer Durham, all kinds of nice quotes, and an opportunity to preorder the book either in printed version or in DRM-free PDF download.

You can also find Solitaire at Amazon.com, B&N.com or your favorite independent bookstore.

I’m so excited about this. I can’t imagine a better home for Solitaire than Small Beer Press, who value stories, are patient and kind to writers, love books and sell the hell out of them to anyone who will sit still. I am fortunate indeed to be with them (bows in the direction of Massachusetts). And I hope you’ll be excited for me too; you can show the love by preordering and making my publisher feel like he didn’t get a pig in a poke (smile).

If you’d like to support the relaunch of Solitaire and have ideas for events, marketing, reviewing, interviews, advertising, viral videos or anything else, please let Small Beer Press hear about them (info at smallbeerpress.com). Solitaire is a good book; I want it to make lots of new friends.

And please go look at the bookpage, and drop a comment over there if you’re inclined to let Gavin and the Small Beer crew know that they have done a cool thing by bringing Solitaire back to the party!

Impegnata! Ocupada!

Which means busy but honestly, most anything sounds so much better in Italian or Spanish. There’s a reason they call ’em Romance languages (okay, I know that’s not the reason, but really, don’t you think it should be?).

    Today I have:

  • Worked out
  • Done a week’s grocery shopping
  • Made breakfast and tidied up
  • Read the paper
  • Talked with my sweetie
  • Made split pea soup
  • Had a shower
  • Put in a load of laundry
  • Made the bed
  • Read the entire internet
  • Had some writing ideas
  • Done some nonprofit email business
  • Figured out how to FTP files to my new host server
  • And written this blog post….

And it’s only just 11:30. You should now imagine Austin Powers saying Productivity, baby! It’s amazing what I can do if I just get up early enough. And keep drinking tea…

I am off to do Many More Things. I leave you with some of the music I’ll be listening to today: this gorgeous song from the Italian group Madreblu. I do not have time to provide you the English translation (I’m on a schedule, you know!), and the ones I’ve found online don’t really capture the rhythm and metaphor of the song in my opinion, but I welcome any Italian-speakers who want to comment here. It’s a really beautiful song.

I wish you the perfect balance between busy and peaceful! Enjoy your day.
 

To use the E-Phonic MP3 Player you will need Adobe Flash Player 9 or better and a Javascript enabled browser.


 
Certamente
Madreblu

Certamente passera qui su di me
sicuramente non mi rimarra
quasi niente
tornero alla verita
ma latente la tua voce suonera…suonera

chiaramente poco tempo durera
e velocemente l’impazienza
prima o poi scomparira
nella mia mente tutto si cancellera
pero latente la tua voce…la tua voce giochera

aspetto qui, aspetto
il temporale aspetto
che questo caldo arrivi alla fine
non riesco a dormire
aspetto qui, aspetto
il temporale aspetto
che questo caldo arrivi alla fine
e mi faccia dormire

certamente passera qui su di me
immediatamente io mi scordero di te
completamente tornero alla realta
e lentamente la tua voce…la tua voce se ne andra

aspetto qui, aspetto
il temporale aspetto
che questo caldo arrivi alla fine
non riesco a dormire
aspetto qui, aspetto
il temporale aspetto
che questo caldo arrivi alla fine
e mi faccia dormire

Thankful for…

…so much that it is hard to find the perfect words and the graceful phrases.

I am blessed to have so much love in my life.

Between writing prose and essays and screenplays, and editing, and reading, and music and movies and television, and all the conversations with Nicola, I live my life immersed in story. I love that so much.

I love my family and friends. You all make me feel that the world is a bigger and better place because you are in it.

I am grateful for every single laugh, smile, kiss, hug, moment of excitement, beautiful view, birdsong, meal, hard workout at the gym and hot shower afterward. All the conversations, the beer and wine and tea and coffee. The small special moments that wouldn’t matter to anyone but me, and the moments that I share with others.

I am grateful to every person who has ever read anything I have written.

I’m grateful to every client who has trusted me with their work, and allowed me the privilege of helping.

I am grateful for all the help I’ve received — with writing, with life. I’ve learned a lot, and am thankful for the teachers who were patient with me when I did not learn gracefully.

I am so thankful for writing that even thinking about how to say so makes me want to burst into tears. I am thankful to Nicola for saying it so well.

And more, and more, and more. And none of this really says what I am feeling, which is that I am so glad to be alive and to be myself, and becoming more myself all the time. So many people, friends and strangers, have a part in that. You’re reading this, so you do too. I’m grateful to you all. Thank you.

Enjoy your day.

I don’t always want a rearview mirror

This is so creepy to me in so many ways that I’m not sure where to start: an NYU artist has had a camera surgically implanted in his head.

There’s a reason that the expression “eyes in the back of your head” is almost never on anyone’s “ten reasons I love you” list. In a metaphorical as well as literal sense, standing behind someone is sometimes the only privacy some of us have from each other in the moment. If you are not looking at me now, I don’t necessarily want you to see me later. Imagine how this man’s family and friends and colleagues now have to redefine their own sense of privacy.

And there’s a psychological piece of this for me, too. I’m not a big believer in living in the past. There are plenty of things that are large in my memory. I mine my own experience for writing, and to discover my own personal plot line, and as a way of sharing/showing myself to people whom I want to know me. But I do not live in my own rearview mirror. And I do not understand how this man will make art from his minute-by-minute “behind me” experience of a year. Perhaps that’s just my failure of imagination. But there are some things that I don’t want to see, and I think this might just be one of them.

I would certainly take him off my party list (raises internal eyebrow at the potential horror of “RearCam Guest”…)

Enjoy your day.