funny? or just funny?

I've got so much of my new book's plot and characters figured out, I'm really excited! But one thing I still haven't resolved is The Level of Humour. So I'm reading and watching comedies (and romantic comedies) right now to figure it out. Maybe in November I'll just have to plunge into Nanowrimo, write up 50 000 rough words of rough copy, and see what level of humour it achieves. And then decide if it's funny enough, or if I need to ramp it up.

Wherein I defend 2 romcoms

Reading Entertainment Weekly's "40 Bad Romantic Comedies" lists (there are two.) Most of the movies I haven't seen, because I'm pretty good at avoiding bad movies. But I (and most of the commentors) have to disagree with two choices:

Two Weeks Notice is one of my favourite rom coms. The hero is irredeemably stupid, and that's a rarity in romances. And the heroine is consistently frumpy, ethical and intelligent. It's a great combination.

The other one we all defended was Head Over Heels, which I just saw on TV this week. It's not a good romance, but it's a great comedy. The heroine is an art restorer, but she lives with four models, and they're trying to figure out if the hero is a murderer. He doesn't even appear on screen much, because most of the movie's goodness comes from watching the dumb models. If you made a movie about Zoolander's roommates, this would be it. I love comedies about Groups of Dumb Guys (Judd Apatow movies, The Hangover, etc.), and it's a nice change to find a comedy about a Group of Dumb Girls. I totally recommend.

Michael Jackson in white face blackface

Have you read the story yet about the blackface routine done on an Australian game show, and Harry Connick Jr (who was a guest judge) 's reaction to it? Good for him, for stepping up and saying something right then, on the show.

click here

Update on my life

OPINIONS
I don't understand this Nobel Peace Prize thing. Very silly. The guy is in the middle of two wars, not to mention he would have only JUST got in office when he was nominated and had therefore done nuthin' up until then, not to mention what's he done that's so peace-prize-worthy? Clearly the Nobel PP is as reliable a marker for "good work!" as an Oscar.

SAVING YOUR LIFE
All the managers have to take First Aid training at my work, and I'm the virgin--I've never had any training at all. That's always made me nervous, so I'm glad to finally be doing it. I had my first day today, then a second one next week. Here's what you can now do in my presence:
- get burned
- get a cut
- slice off your thumb
- choke on something
- go into shock
- become unconscious
- get a nosebleed
But don't have a heart attack until after next Friday. Fernando's jealous. Because he works in a hospital where every nurse has advanced FA training, they only give the orderlies CPR.

Did you know?
- In Quebec you're legally obligated to stop and help someone in distress.
- But you're protected by a Good Samaritan Act if the person sustains some other injury while you're helping them--protected from being sued.(My trainer said only BC doesn't have a Good Sam law, but that's not the case according to internets.)

DREAMS
On the other hand, it's a bad idea to go for a nap when you get home from a day-long session of First Aid. I had the WEIRDEST dreams/nightmares than I've had since the time I dreamed my plane crashed into a building. It meandered through many weird things, all vaguely themed on First Aid, but ended with a monster who wanted to eat me. And it was okay if he only ate a bit at a time, but I was afraid he'd eat me completely so I was calling around trying to get someone to pick me up and give me a lift out of there.

OLD BOOK
Taking a small break before I rework the synopsis.

NEW BOOK
Breakthrough! I finally figured out which Shakespeare-Henry-V character will be the Male Romantic Lead in my story. And I've also finally got a handle on said Male Romantic Lead. It's very exciting. This was one of the sticking points in my book (the fact that I want a love story in my book, even though I'm basing this on Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V which are not romances.)

NOMBLY
I'm fairly resigned to a Nombly-less life. My campaign to make the other cats hang out with me more seems to be working--I'm seeing more of them, and not only at feed time. I think Sherry's a bit confused though. "Why do you suddenly find me so fascinating? Oh well, extra pets. I'm in."

MUSIC
Good haul at the library today:
- Malcolm X soundtrack (used to have on tape)
- Best of James Bond (in case I'm missing a song or two)
- Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen (wrote lots of famous Cotton Club type songs)
- Bryan Ferry doing Dylan covers
- The Neptunes Present... Clones
- Morcheeba
- last Alanis Morissette album (figure it's worth a listen)
- Public Enemy's It Takes a Million...