Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

From the Shameless Self Promotion Department we have the following entry.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this article about the new Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice. The article is mostly an interview with the two executive producers, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, but touches on a subject that I should have mentioned but was too bashful to do (and boy howdy, do I really need to get over that!): I was published recently in a Smart Pop anthology of essays examining Grey’s Anatomy.

The article mentions the unique popularity enjoyed by GA, which is the subject of my essay, and really, it’s past time I mentioned the book because the folks at BenBella were wickedly fun to work with. My essay is an analysis of the hybrid status of GA as both a popular show and a cult show - it has a deeply devoted following usually found among cult shows, but it’s also watched by millions of people every week through multiple seasons. It brings in ratings and has a huge internet community devoted to fanfic, spoilers, and behind the scenes info. In the analysis, I trace that hybrid cult/pop status to what I believe to be the root cause: the writer’s blog that allows the show’s fans access to the team of writers working on each episode.

Not once do I mention romance, though, and since this is at best shameless promotion, I felt a little squidgy about mentioning it. But since the fall season is starting up and the book is (ahem) on sale now, I figured I might as well run this up the flagpole. If anything, you can go find my real name and read my spanky bio, which makes me giggle even though I wrote it. 

From the “Giggling hurts with an abdominal incision” department: big mad props to Jezebel for hosting a Smell Test on the streets of Chelsea in New York City between Vulva perfume and Britney Spears’ new scent, In Control.

Hat tip to Dionne Galace for the link. 

Fresh on the heels of the news that the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has removed the hyphens from some 16000 words comes a fantastical announcement: today is officially National Punctuation Day! [Hat tip to Lucinda for the link on the sad fate of all those hyphens. I wonder where they’ll all go?]

The official NPD site is a treasure chest of awesome, from the tips on how to celebrate which include sleeping late and eating a bagel (both of which I did - thanks!), to cooking the official meat loaf of National Punctuation Day - there’s a PDF of the recipe on the main page of that site.

I’m bummed that there aren’t more pictures of bad punctuation in action; do you have any egregious examples near you? 

I received a PR notice about a new CBS Show called “Moonlight”, which, according to the release, is about “Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin), a captivating, charming and immortal private investigator from Los Angeles who defies the traditional blood-sucking norms of his vampire tendencies by using his wit and powerful supernatural abilities to help the living.”

Check out the publicity photo and let’s count the verbal and visual vampire clichés as I assign random point values to each!

1 pt: “Saint X” in the last name of the hero - subtle reinforcement of heroic character!

2 pts: crossing vampire with private investigator to come up with angsty secretive reinforcement of heroic character! As my television guru says, it’s Angel plus additional Law & Order angst and drama - it’s Law & Order: Vampire Unit with, I suspect, emphasis on the vampire’s unit.

10000000 pts: That looks suspiciously like a MULLET! On PRIME TIME! I think I have to go lie down from the overwhelming awesomeness.

3 pts: Wayne Newton belt buckle - subtle reinforcement of… I have no idea.

2 pts: Extremely skinny woman in skin-tight dress showing off the fact that if she turns to the side, you can barely see her. Subtle reinforcement of unattainable body image for women. Mortal women.

3 pts: Additional skinny yet supremely buxom woman with unflattering wide-legged pants and anorak - to contrast with extremely skinny woman. Subtle reinforcement of L.L. Bean attire as unflattering fashion choice? (Does L.L. Bean sell silver anoraks?)

4 pts: Can we talk some more about St. Hero’s attire? Black shirt, black jacket, black pants, silver sparkly belt buckle? He’s like a superhero… IN HIS PANTS.

3 pts: Completely nondescript male sidekick.

1 pt: Sidekick’s shirt is too tight.

1 pt: Sidekick’s pants are too long.

3 pts: Nice placemen of big silver phallus emerging from St. Angst Superhero’s tushy, eh? Subtle reinforcement of gay subtext? I can only hope so!

December Quinn AND Dionne Galace were brave enough to forward me this link, and really, it’s just a very very good thing that I can read only English and Spanish because I’m sure in French this whole page translates to “Sarah runs screaming from the room praying that she never samples this particular smell.”

Click the link for Etat Libre d’Orange and click ‘Les Parfums.’ Look for the penis at the bottom of the screen (how often do I get to type that?!) with the words “Secretions Magnifiques.”

Then, if you don’t read French, imagine what the whole paragraph says in terms of olfactory descriptions. And if you DO read French, please do let us know if the text is as bad as my imagination says it is.