Gawker and the NY Post are both reporting the latest in Cougar news.  Women are not actually hunting down young men in huge numbers.  I know, all of you cougar-istas are surprised by this finding, and I’m sure your age-appropriate SO is sighing in relief, and yet, we consider to be surprised that all of humanity is not exactly alike.

Drudge is reporting that 25% of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim. I believe 20% of earthly residents believe that aliens (space, not the other kind that make Lou Dobb’s head explode) have actually landed on earth and walk amongst us.  73% of Americans are unable to believe this S&IT, which has gone on to become a best-seller, 73% of All Americans Unable to Believe this SH&T My Father Says.  And 89% of all Americans believe politicians are corrupt (I just made that one up, but I bet it’s true).

Also, in other news, both Wired and Newsweek are reporting that the Internet is dead, although NPR and BNET both say that the reports of the Internet death (by both Wired and Newsweek) have been greatly exaggerated.  I say that you are not actually reading this post on the Internet, instead it is being channeled through your computer via the Psychic Friends Network (which actually died in the 1980s, but nobody knew, because DUH!).

Also, the New York Times is reporting that John Lenin is still dead.

Fiction is not dead.  On the Internet, nothing will ever die.

August 17th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Funnies, Newsflash, Uncategorized | No Comments »

I love this opening line from a gawker article:

A Harlem man who dresses up in Times Square as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz yesterday stabbed a tour bus ticket seller with a screwdriver in what police described to the Daily News as “a turf beef.”

I could put this in a book, and my ed would say: now, kathleen, really?  Really? And I would strike it out because it could NEVER HAPPEN.

August 12th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

WSJ has a really good article on the upcoming Kindle and Amazon’s ereader strategy.  To be fair, I have a Kindle, I love it, nearly as much as my children, sometimes more.  People (publishers and a good chunk of authors) are not happy with the Amazon cut-throat pricing strategy (reminescent of Wal-Mart in its earlier years), but looking objectively, I think the world has gone very dog-eat-dog (or book-eat-book) and I don’t fault them for it (and I do LOVE $9.99 hardbacks that I would never read before).

This is my favorite quote from the article:

“For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going
to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not
going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets,” he said.

At the RWA, there was a lot of mainstreaming of digital books, digital rights, e-readers.  The first time that I’ve ever noticed the the Publishing Powers That Be have openly embraced the idea with not only excitement, but legitimacy as well.

A $139 Kindle sold at Target is a game-changer.  I will most likely buy one for both of my kids.  My daughter is a selective Luddite (with two computers, an ipod, and an iHome).  She eschews the idea of reading a ‘book’ (picture hoity voice) on a device.  Of course, she can heft a 50 pound Harry Potter volume with ease.  I, now in my dwindling arm muscle years, have aches to accompany JK Rowling.  My son (who is no Luddite and LOVES tech), loves to read on the Kindle and loves the idea of instant book gratification.  I have friends who are voracious readers, who will now probably take the dip.  In my expert opinion, Amazon is going to sell a hella-lot.

There are a lot of what I deem ‘not-hardcore’ readers who poo-poo the Kindle.  It doesn’t have color.  It doesn’t play TV shows.  What if I want to browse the web?  If this is you, do not buy the Kindle, because you are not a hardcore reader.  You do not read cereal boxes at breakfast.  Your bathroom is not accessorized with a magazine rack.  Your bedside table is not invisible beneath the pile of books.  If these symptoms apply to you, then you, too may have readeritis, a serious, but non-debilitating disease that causes a slight twitch when you are jonesing for a book.  The tingle of excitement when you hear about a story that appeals.

I think the Kindle is here to stay in some form or fashion.  I think Amazon is going to rule the ebook market, and I do believe we are in for some wild roller-coaster e-swings.

You heard it here — not exactly first — but probably two-hundred-and-twenty-two-second.

August 4th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Kindle, Reading Matters, Techie Things | No Comments »

The NY Daily News is reporting that according to an Australian survey, half said that the happy endings of rom-com have ruined their view of an ideal relationship.  From the article:

One in four Australians said they were now expected to know what their
partner was thinking while one in five respondents said it made their
partners expect gifts and flowers ‘just because’.

July 20th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

I’m blogging at  WhineSisters today for all those female world Cup fans out there.

Simao of Portugal

July 2nd, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

From the Chicago Tribune, a quote from Garrison Keillor on the future of publishing:

Call me a pessimist, call me Ishmael, but I think that book publishing is about to slide into the sea. We live in a literate time, and our children are writing up a storm, often combining letters and numerals (U R 2 1derful), blogging like crazy, reading for hours off their little screens, surfing around from Henry James to Jesse James to the epistle of James to pajamas to Obama to Alabama to Al-Anon to non-sequiturs, sequins, penguins, penal institutions, and it’s all free, and you read freely, you’re not committed to anything the way you are when you shell out $30 for a book, you’re like a hummingbird in an endless meadow of flowers.

And if you want to write, you just write and publish yourself. No need to ask permission, just open a Web site. And if you want to write a book, you just write it, send it to Lulu.com or BookSurge at Amazon or PubIt or ExLibris and you’ve got yourself an e-book. No problem. And that is the future of publishing: 18 million authors in America, each with an average of 14 readers, eight of whom are blood relatives. Average annual earnings: $1.75.

From Kathleen O’Reilly, quoted to nowhere in particular:

It should be noted that publishing is not going to slide into Lake Wobegone, where all authors are above average.

I couldn’t resist.

June 29th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Cool People, Funnies, On Biz, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Not only is this a high-dollar Scrabble word, but it sounds vaguely naughty, sort of like pedagogic, which everybody thinks means something *bad*, but actually means something very high-brow. 

The Onion has a great article on this one, South African Vuvuzela Philharmonic Angered by Soccer Games Breaking Out During Concerts.

Just needed to share.

In other news, Kathleen has finished Book 1 of Seven and is Moving onto Book 2.  Sanity is completely overrated. 

June 18th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Jezebel mentioned an article in the Washington Post on romaction movies, which is a mash-up of romance and action set to a catchy disco beat (I love the nightlife, I love to boogie, I need some rom-act-shun! ahem… sorry).

Actually, most of the great movies do have romance in them for one very good reason. It’s a great way to show someone loves the hero/heroine and thus, they are cool-dudes-people. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Titanic, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind… Ah, yes, love how Hollywood can stumble over these new “fads” with people.

I was skimming through Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (RIP Blake) and one of the great pieces of writing advice in there is the addition of the Save the Cat scene. The place where the audience sees the hero rushing in to save the cat, because even though he’s an alcoholic, drug-dealing, cheating-hearted ex-con, he still loves Kitty Anon enough to risk his life and limb in order to save the little friskers. Cue the audience going “ahhhh….”

Romance is save the Cat on a larger scale. Romance makes everyone lovable. The great romances are the beauty and the beast. If beauty loves beast, he doesn’t seem quite so furry.

There’s a quote in the Washington Post article that cracks me up:

Dergarabedian calls the new genre “romaction-comedy” and likens the hybrid to a science experiment. “I imagine movie executives sitting around a conference table like guys in a laboratory, trying to build the perfect box office beast,” he says. “They’re trying to figure out, ‘How do we get the guys to go to a movie with their girlfriends and not feel like they’re being dragged to it?’ “

This cracks me up because frankly, if the movie is well-written, everybody wants to see it, male, female, furry beasts.

I hope Hollywood continues this “trend” because I like my heroes and heroines with heart and if this is the only way that Hollywood can figure out how to do it, fine by me. But Hollywood? With that romance thing? You can’t just tell it, you have to show it.
Sigh.
It’s probably hopeless.

June 7th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Blogroll, On Writing Miseries | No Comments »

Or, how the big-box retailers stopped worrying that reading wasn’t cool and learned to love the e-reader.

It isn’t a huge surprise that less than a week after Apple released the AWESOME, SPECTACULAR, HOLYMOLYTHISTHINGWILLCHANGETHEWORLD ipad, Target and Best Buy have drunk the e-Kool-Aid. Not that I’m implying that there is something *hinky* about e-reader luv. Not that I haven’t been known to lovingly caress my Kindlicious (it’s a pet name). But it is fascinating to note the timing. Seems that Best Buy is getting the Barnes & Noble Nook, and Target (who is sometimes known to strangely and mysteriously know my purchasing decisions even before myself) is selling the Kindle.

Woot! (and no, neither device can be found on woot — yet).

April 8th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Reading Matters, Techie Things | No Comments »

As a romance writer who has also penned computer programming manuals, I am always pleased to see geeky love things. Saw this on Wired, and needed to repost. My fav is buried in the comments: “You autocomplete me.” ROFL.

Top 10 Geeky Ways to Say “I Love You”

Posted using ShareThis

April 6th, 2010 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »