Wednesday, December 17, 2014

NEW: Libidinous 1: Short Stories, Poems, and Novel Excerpts [Erotic]


Libidinous 1: Short Stories, Poems, and Novel Excerpts [Erotic]

approx. 77,974 words Total



http://libidinous.neale-sourna.com/



Includes:



Three—By Invitation Only

Poem: A Lesson in Passion

Hesitation [extended version from PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE version]

Dez at the Silver Pole

Tenure_MFM

Poem: Tief [Deep]

Grant's Boone - Initial Interview

Pandora 72

Poem: Angel/Angelus

Tenure_MMM

Steve's Monkey's Paw

Aegis [novel excerpt]

All Along the Watchtower, book 1 [novel excerpt]

Hobble (An Adult Fiction) [novel excerpt]

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

NaNoWriMo Forum question answer on: Sex scene? [writing them]

Great advice here. I had two sex scenes in a screenplay a long while back where one flowed nearly perfectly with few changes between bad girl and our hero and the other between him and the literal girl of  his dreams was completely redone about three to four times.

I knew exactly what the motivations, emotions, and character issues were for the bad girl and hero with bad girl.

But with the love interest, it took me a while to whittle it down to the right emotions, motivations, and character issues for a relationship that needed to be more than a bewitched booty call for the bad girl / bad witch trying to hook her guy magically while reenforcing it with sex. When love and a long-term commitment was on the line and the "good girl" / good witch, I found I had hangups I had to get out of the way.

Write. Then edit.

Rewrite. Edit.

Keep whittling and feeling or sensing your way through the who these people are and why they are having sex. The bad girl was entrapping him and he couldn't stop it then; but with the "good girl" [I make quotes because it is a loaded concept still in this culture] and the hero had a tender minefield of their own individual issues, goals, hopes and each touch, each kiss, each sigh, and choice of what they actually do comes from character and personal goals and writer complications as their ubergod.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

How does your character do...The Merits of Solitude._8 Ways to Embrace JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out


https://www.yahoo.com/health/8-ways-to-embrace-jomo-the-joy-of-missing-out-97585805333.html

8 Ways to Embrace JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out
Photo by Getty Images

I was a junior in college when I went to see Dear John by myself. It was the first time I’d been to a theater alone, if only because the movie trailer suggested I would ugly-cry like all get-out. The fewer people who see me in that state, the better.

As willing as I was to fly solo, I “just knew” it would be a terrible time. I “knew” that not having a friend to talk to during the previews or feel awkwardly comforted by when I lost control of my tear ducts was going to make for an experience I’d deny ever happening later. So imagine my surprise when I not only enjoyed myself, but I did it all over again the next month. And I didn’t stop there. 

My newfound appreciation (dare I say preference) for alone time made its way to restaurants and concert venues. Sure, I would bring a book or a barely-checked Twitter feed to focus my attention away from sad-eyed strangers wondering if I had friends or was being stood up—but those fell away when I realized I didn’t care (much) about what people might be thinking. 

Now, instead of feeling embarrassed by the idea of showing up someplace alone, I feel empowered. It’s just me, my thoughts, no small talk, and some pasta. It’s perfect.

And I’ll let you in on a little secret: Alone time—even when it involves missing out on social events or activities—is also, apparently, good for us all.

The Need to Know

Time alone is technically known as solitude, or the time you spend getting to know yourself. It can be tough to embrace a desire for solitude as a normal, healthy thing, given that society tends to favor extroverts (or people who thrive on socializing and activities), and some science shows being outgoing is a greater indicator for happiness

Then there’s social media, which is all about the power of social interaction. Take all these factors together, and it’s no wonder solitude gets the short end of the stick.

Yet there can be so much joy in these solo hours—or what blogger Anil Dash first dubbed JOMO (joy of missing out) in a popular blog post nearly two years ago. Put another way, JOMO is the opposite of FOMO (fear of missing out). It’s relishing alone time, letting go of needing to be “in the know,” and unplugging from emails, text, social networks, and events in an effort to embrace solitude and cultivate one’s relationship to one’s own self. 

image

If solitude hasn’t ranked towards the top of your to-do list lately, intentionally spending time alone might sound, well, boring. But not all boredom is created equal. Daydreaming, for example, promotes creativity, while a lull in external stimulation can encourage us to go after our goals

Meanwhile, research shows that alone time can also boost cognitive power and overall well being, with some of the best ideas and work coming from a quiet, inner place.

Perhaps most importantly, solitude allows us to engage in what psychologist Anders Ericsson calls Deliberate Practice. It’s easier to turn our focus inwards, and resolve (or refine) personal problems and behaviors, when there are no distractions. And the insight gained from this practice is what Ericsson says is the key to exceptional achievement and success.

The takeaway? Taking breaks from constant connectivity to enjoy some alone time is just as important for our overall health as hitting the gym or cooking up a healthy dinner.

Your Action Plan

Solo movies and meals are certainly one way to ease into spending more time alone, but there are a thousand ways to solitude. For beginners to well-seasoned enjoyers of solitude, here’s how to uncover the joy of missing out. 

1. Allow yourself to be uncomfortable at first.
Even if solitude appeals to you, it’s something certain personality types (read: introverts) may feel more comfortable doing by default. If you’re less sure about spending time alone, start small. Try sitting quietly for 10 minutes or not bringing your phone along for a 15-minute walk—hey, it’s a start! 

It’s also helpful to choose activities you enjoy, whether it’s sitting outside in the grass or doing yoga, says Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

2. Bring along “safety blankets.” 
Books, phones, and even a notebook and pen are all things you can bring to the literal table when practicing solitude. By focusing on what’s in front of you, you’re less likely to worry about onlooking strangers and what they might be thinking about you. 

As you get more comfortable, you may feel the need to leave these blankets at home. But there’s no rush or rule that says it’s not really solitude if you have them with you (especially non-tech “blankets”). 

Again, start small. While it’s ideal to spend time alone without access to social media, take some baby steps if you need ‘em by bringing along the tech gadgets the first few times you venture out solo. 

3. Take a seat at the bar.
Having someone wait on you in a dining room full of other people’s friends and families can be intimidating—so take a seat at the bar instead. Not only can it be a more comfortable choice for first time solo diners, but you’ll notice how many other people are also there to enjoy a drink or a meal alone.

4. Schedule solitude every day.
Once solitude starts to feel more comfortable, pencil it in every day the way you would exercise or a lunch date, says Cain. This keeps you accountable to your self.

5. Unplug throughout the day.
You can’t reap the benefits of solitude if your phone is notifying you of every new email, or text, or snap. Similarly, sitting quietly doesn’t mean silently scrolling through your Twitter feed. Once you’ve graduated from the “baby steps” phase, try to remove that stimulation for a few minutes, hours, or even a whole day at a time—whether it’s leaving your phone in another room or turning it off completely—so that you can really focus and reflect on your own. 

6. Meditate.
Meditation is a particularly great way to practice solitude, and it can be accomplished in as little as 60 seconds a day. Research finds the practice also relieves stress, benefits the brain, and may reduce risk for heart attack and stroke. Not used to meditating? We’ve got 10 unexpected ways to get started.

7. Experiment with what works for you. 
Reading a book in the park? Great. Venturing out of town with a perfectly-crafted playlist to attend a local book fair? Equally great, if not even better. Once a solitary comfort zone is established, upping the ante can enrich your experience

It also gives you the opportunity to explore and discover what you truly love to do, and to find value in what you’ve already been doing. 

8. Believe Like Bukowski.
Author Charles Bukowski once wrote that “isolation is a gift.” And he’s right. The creative and reflective power that comes from solitude is worth the break from social media and group outings. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t ever spend time with your friends and family, just that it’s important to remember that spending time with yourself can be just as joyous. 

So let yourself enjoy, and be grateful for all that alone time gives you.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Original Mr. Grey (2002), Before Fifty Shades of Grey

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.


Writers: (screenplay), (short story), 2 more credits »

Secretary (2002) Poster
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274812/


Adult women are now the largest demographic in gaming By Aja Romano on August 25, 2014

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/adult-women-largest-gaming-demographic/




Congratulations, gamer girls—you're officially at the top of the food chain when it comes to games. A new study released by the Entertainment Software Association has revealed that adult women now occupy the largest demographic in the gaming industry. Women over 18 made up a whopping 36 percent of the gaming population, followed by adult men at 35 percent. 

Teenage boys, who are often stereotyped as the biggest gamers, now lag far behind their older female counterparts, making up just 17 percent of the gaming demographic.

The picture that emerges from the study is one of expansion across the board. More people are playing more games of various genres across more platforms, with social games on mobile and casual games on PCs emerging as huge leaders. 

According to the study, last year saw a significant boom in women over 50—their numbers jumped by a whopping 32 percent between 2012 and 2013. The study also revealed that 59 percent of Americans play games, with gaming consoles present in 51 percent of all U.S. households. 

All of that means that stereotypes are breaking fast in the gaming industry, particularly the longheld stereotype of the adult woman as an outlier who sticks to mobile games and "social" games on Facebook while the more hardcore gamer, the "serious" (male) gamer, goes for console games.

Though this stereotype has long persisted, and even been used as a hiring tactic, the new data suggests there's little if any truth to it—especially not when you consider that the average adult woman has been gaming for 13 years.

Sorry, male gamers of Reddit and 4Chan, but Angry Birds only came out five years ago. 

Unless you want to try to argue that women have just been playing Bejeweled for the last 13 years, the math just doesn't add up. 

And while the total audience for mobile social games is now bigger than ever, the audience for computer and video games is now an even 50-50 split between male and female genders.

Screengrab via The ESA

So what games have women been playing all these years, now that we know they haven't just been wasting time trying to get their Facebook friends to give them free lives on Candy Crush

Casual computer games, mostly. The report ranks online and mobile puzzle games, board games, trivia games, and card games as coming in second to the boom in social games, which more than doubled in popularity between 2012 and 2013.

Meanwhile, action and first-person shooter games continue to be the top sellers in video games, with Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty ranking as the bestselling video games of 2013. For computer games, Starcraft II and The Sims franchise gobbled up the top 10 computer game titles, with Sims titles consuming eight of the top 12 computer game titles sold last year.

The study also took a close look at parental behavior regarding monitoring the gaming activity of their teens and children. The study indicated that parents seemed deeply engaged when it came to monitoring the kinds of games kids played. Additionally, 47 percent of adults who play games with their kids said they do it because they love gaming as much as their child does.

And it's easy to see why. While the study didn't assess the age or gender demographics of specific games, the titles of the bestsellers attest to the diversity of the games themselves: Pokemon XFinal Fantasy XIVNBA 2K14. Bioshock Infinite. World of WarcraftJust Dance 2014.

Whether you play Diablo or Pet Rescue, you can rest assured that you're in good company. 

View the whole study online here.
 
H/T PBS; Photo via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY SA 3.0

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

5 Things Outlander Teaches Authors About Persevering Posted by Arthur Gutch on Tue, Aug 26, 2014

http://blog.infinitypublishing.com/bloginfinitypublishingcom/bid/207609/5-things-outlander-teaches-authors-about-persevering?source=Blog_Email_[5%20Things%20Outlander%20T]

When it was first published in 1991, Outlander became a worldwide best seller. This romantic tale of a woman who fell through time and the Scotsman she falls in love with is filled with authentic details of 18th century Highland life. Fans have followed the pair and their lives for well over 20 years, devouring each new book in the series as it's published.
Author Outlander Persevere

The story of Claire and Jamie is one of perseverance. As a modern woman and a distinctly traditional man, they aren't exactly a perfect match. But their love is stronger than any forces that may stand in the way of their happiness.

Whatever life throws at them, Jamie and Claire never give up, stubbornly standing until they reach their goals. Writers have a lot to learn from Claire and Jamie, and some of the most important lessons have to do with sticking to their goals, or perseverance.

Hit the Ground Running

You've got a goal, so gather yourself up and start strong. Claire lands on the ground in the middle of a battle, and literally is running for her life within two minutes. You may not be in danger of being shot by a Redcoat, but a strong start will give your day energy that can help push you closer to your goal.

Accept the Inevitable

The only way Claire can escape the clutches of the evil Black Jack Randall is by marrying Jamie, so she accepts her fate and deals with it. When your job changes and you have fewer hours to write, when your children get out of school for summer, when something happens to your writing situation that you simply can't change, accept the inevitable. And then do what you can to adjust your work around it.

Use Your Knowledge

Claire finds herself living in a castle and has to do something to prove herself useful. She uses her hobby of learning about plants to transform herself into an herb women: someone who can doctor people with medicinal herbs. Use your own knowledge when you need to get through tough parts of your book.

Is your character being chased? Does she have a difficult decision to make? Add a scene or two that only you could write with your own particular knowledge. You'll add a touch of authenticity to the book, as well as getting through a tough scene that was stuck in place.

Learn to Adapt

Claire learns to live 200 years in the past by adjusting and adapting her actions to fit in. She uses her knowledge and skills in ways that would seem natural in the 18th century, and she learns to enjoy the life she's created. You can adapt your lifestyle to accommodate working toward your goal by changing your schedule, changing your favorite hobby from television watching to writing, and even taking advantage of small breaks to get in 100 words at a time.

Never Give Up Your Goal

Claire falls back through time at the end of the first book and comes back to modern life. The second book opens 20 years later with her putting her plans into place to go back to find Jamie again.

In the years between the two books, she's given birth and raised Jamie's daughter. She waited until the daughter was grown before acting, but she never gave up her goal of moving back through time and reuniting with her one true love.

Keep your determination just as strong. If you have to write your book 100 words at a time, that's what you have to do. Life is never perfect, and every project gets hit with at least one or two bumps. Keep your goal in mind every day and you'll eventually reach the finish line, those lovely words: The End.
 
Keep the Faith and may the Force be with You!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Yay Keanu and OMG for the author rights. Really?! / Keanu Reeves TV Show ‘Rain’ Greenlighted

Yay Keanu and OMG for the author rights. Really?!
http://www.inquisitr.com/1422752/keanu-reeves-tv-show-rain-greenlighted-actor-to-portray-half-japanese-half-american-assassin/

Keanu Reeves TV Show ‘Rain’ Greenlighted: Actor To Portray Half-Japanese, Half-American Assassin

Keanu Reeves to produce and act in 'Rain' TV show
The Keanu Reeves TV show Rain was recently greenlighted. The show will allow the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure star to showcase his many talents. The actor will star in the hour-long series, which he will also executive produce.

The handsome 49-year-old actor has appeared in minor roles on the small screen in the past, but the Keanu Reeves TV show Rain will mark the first time that the Beirut-born actor and producer has taken on a leading role in a television series.

Rain is also the first project from Los Angeles-based Slingshot Global Media, reported Deadline.

Keanu Reeves’s TV show will be based on the best-selling John Rain book series by Barry Eisler. The author of forty books, Eisler recently changed the titles of his John Rain novels, according to his author profile on Amazon. Eisler eloquently explained his decision to rename the books.
“Why have I changed the titles of the Rain books? Simply because I’ve never thought the titles were right for the stories….
The sad story of the original Rain titles began with the moniker Rain Fall for the first in the series. It was a silly play on the protagonist’s name, and led to an unfortunate and unimaginative sequence of similar such meaningless, interchangeable titles: Hard Rain, Rain Storm, Killing Rain…
Now that I have my rights back and no longer have to make ridiculous compromises about these matters, I’ve given the books the titles I always wanted them to have–titles that actually have something to do with the stories, that capture some essential aspect of the stories, and that act as both vessel and amplifier for what’s most meaningful in the stories.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Barry Eisler himself has a fascinating background. The author upon whose novels the Keanu Reeves TV show is based was once a CIA agent, a technology lawyer and an executive. He has a black belt in judo and has earned numerous awards for his writing.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Keanu Reeves will not be involved in the Point Break remake. Reeves starred as FBI Special Agent John “Johnny” Utah, alongside Patrick Swayze as Bodhi, in the original 1991 flick.

The upcoming Keanu Reeves TV show project is so new that the Internet Movie Database doesn’t even have any information about it yet. However, fans looking for some insight on possible plot twists and characters would be well advised to check out Barry Eisler’s novels.

The Huffington Post reported that the beloved Matrix actor will portray a half-Japanese, half-American assassin in the Keanu Reeves TV show Rain.

[Image by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc via IMDb]

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1422752/keanu-reeves-tv-show-rain-greenlighted-actor-to-portray-half-japanese-half-american-assassin/#CTWTLoUwwy7rTwRG.99

Monday, July 21, 2014

Universal's "P.J." 1968, starring George Peppard

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOIlik2me3sC1px5ECAlC9aOfAX4uH1WY



Universal's "P.J." 1968, starring George Peppard
Great guiltless pleasure. Love this still. Great characters + solid actors = Great Film That Holds Up

Must admit, I'd only seen this on broadcast TV, so crazy surprise on the "cat fight" and the subway incident. Ah, NYC.

Bet PJ moved to Cleveland. Or to Boston and changed his name to BANACEK.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Lower job churn hurts young workers Job-hopping can boost résumés, lifetime pay By Josh Zumbrun at The Wall Street Journal

Here's a premise for comedy, drama, or dramedy.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/lower-job-churn-hurts-young-000000652.html


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Work
Work
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Quitting a job often can be a good thing. But not enough workers have been doing it.

During and after the recession, the U.S. economy has been too weak for many workers to undertake the sort of job-hopping that economists say is critical to building careers and advancing the nation's long-run growth prospects. The consequence: Even many Americans who have remained employed have stunted their earnings growth by staying pinned down to their current jobs.

The weak job churn is among Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's leading concerns about an economy that is improving steadily, but with substantial scars just beneath the surface.

Ms. Yellen, who is set to deliver the Fed's semiannual report to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, regularly highlights her concerns about the lack of dynamism in the labor market. "People are reluctant to risk leaving their jobs because they worry that it will be hard to find another," she said earlier this year.

One such person is David Clark, a 31-year-old in Atlanta who said he never planned to spend most of his 20s in the same ad-agency job.

"For a while I closed my eyes and stuck my fingers in my ears and hoped I could ride it out at this one place," Mr. Clark said.

The recession hit two years after Mr. Clark graduated from college, leaving him stuck in a position that offered no opportunities for advancement in an economy that offered little hope of jumping elsewhere. "I became a little emotionally frozen because every time I'd look for jobs there would be nothing," he said.

By hopping from employer to employer, especially early on, workers find jobs better-suited to their skills, build their résumés, bid up their salaries and boost lifetime earnings prospects. They eventually settle down and change jobs less frequently.

"One of the characteristics that is uniquely American is that changing jobs is the way you get promoted," said Anthony Carnevale, an economist who directs Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.

While the nation's jobless rate dropped to 6.1% in June, the lowest in nearly six years, the improvement masks the fact that many workers who held jobs throughout the downturn and recovery struggled to advance.

 Their plight is best captured by the collapse in the monthly hiring rate, from 5.5 million in 2006 to as low as 3.6 million in 2009, according to the Labor Department. It was 4.7 million in May, the latest figure available.
People leave jobs by two main ways: voluntarily quitting for a better job, which is beneficial, or getting laid off, which is detrimental. In the recession, the rate of career-damaging layoffs spiked. It has since returned to its prerecession levels.

The number of people voluntarily leaving positions fell by nearly half to 1.6 million in 2009 from 3.1 million in 2006. It stood at 2.5 million in May.

As churn slowed, workers began clinging to their jobs. From 2008 to 2012, the most recent year available, the median tenure of workers ages 25-34 in their current job rose by 19% to more than three years. Workers ages 35-44 saw their tenure climb 8% in the same period, to about five years, and those ages 45-54 saw their tenures climb by 3% to eight years.

Job tenures are longer in other industrialized economies, economists say. Direct comparisons aren't available, but in most developed countries average job tenure is more than a decade, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 34 mostly advanced nations.

Without more frequent switching, fewer U.S. workers are finding the jobs and wages that suit their skills. As much as 66% of lifetime wage growth occurs in the first decade of a person's career, according to one widely cited estimate first by economists Robert Topel and Michael Ward in the late 1980s. Other researchers since then have found similar effects.

Many graduates beginning careers in a recessionary economy end up "two steps back from where they might have been in a full-employment economy," Mr. Carnevale said. "The evidence says it can damage you for a career."

To be sure, some workers are starting to break free as the economy heals—offering hope that more careers will get back on track.

Charles Albert was grateful to land a job at Northern Illinois University's admissions office after he graduated from the school in 2009. He expected it to be a brief stop. Still there two years later, he was "starting to feel the pains of the economy."


"I was making $25,000 a year in Chicago," said Mr. Albert, now 26. "That does not go very far."

After six months of applying for jobs, he made the jump from recruiting students for a school to recruiting for health-care and insurance companies. Over the past two years he made two more jumps, becoming a recruiter for higher-level jobs and bumping up his salary until he became the director of research at Jobplex Inc., a Chicago recruiting firm.
The churning process eventually worked for him, but many of his peers weren't so lucky. 

"I have friends who graduated the same year I did who still are working the same job they did right out of undergrad," Mr. Albert said.

Young workers always have earned less than those with more experience, but the gap has widened. In 2004, the median wage for workers 25-34 years old was 5% lower than the overall median wage. Today, it is 8% lower.

Graduating into a recession can have enduring hit on earnings. Men who graduated in the early 1980s downturn suffered an initial wage loss of 6% to 7% for each percentage-point increase in the national jobless rate, according to research by Yale economist Lisa Kahn.

Even 15 years after graduation, their wages were 2.5% lower than those who didn't enter the labor market during that downturn, showing how recession scars linger.

So far, the damage to young workers from the most recent recession appears much more severe than in the 1980s, Ms. Kahn's recent research found.

"I would say everyone is optimistic now, but that doesn't mean they are not thinking about the recession anymore," said Tunc Kip, 31, the president of Atlanta's junior chamber of commerce. "There is still a lot of thought about how things were a couple years ago. It makes people a little more conservative with decisions toward shifting careers."

Mr. Clark, the young ad man in Atlanta, watched his agency struggle throughout the recession as one of its largest clients, Eastman Kodak Co., entered bankruptcy. He occasionally found himself envious of older relatives and friends who started their working lives well in advance of the recession and "didn't have the brakes slammed on their careers the same way we did."

In March 2013, nearly four years after the recession ended, he finally landed a job with a different ad firm in Atlanta, Ogilvy & Mather, and began the long process of catching up.
"I'm happier," Mr. Clark said. He is earning more money and has some savings, but not enough for a house. For him and his wife, "having a family is not really on the horizon, because we're not building up the base."

And "in the back of my mind," he frequently reminds himself, "it could all fall apart again."

Write to Josh Zumbrun at josh.zumbrun@wsj.com


Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of the chart accompanying this article incorrectly referred to a measure of job tenure as an average. It is a median. (July 14, 2014)

Monday, June 23, 2014

Angelina Jolie's Cleopatra.... To Be More Realistic.

Cleopatra: the ultimate mysterious woman, femme fatale, intellectual and political woman drowning in an ocean of Roman testosterone, negative "race" relations, disrespect and fear of female/mother powers._NS

http://www.albawaba.com/entertainment/angelina-jolie-585269

Angelina Jolie's Cleopatra won't be the sex-symbol Elizabeth Taylor's was!

Published June 22nd, 2014 - 16:39 GMT via SyndiGate.info

Angelina Jolie's Cleopatra will be more realistic than Elizabeth Taylor's.
Angelina Jolie's Cleopatra will be more realistic than Elizabeth Taylor's.

Vivien Leigh’s Cleopatra was coquettish. Elizabeth Taylor’s, sophisticated and cool. Angelina Jolie, who recently confirmed that she will be the next Hollywood starlet to don the Egyptian queen’s headdress, is aiming for more historically accurate.

“Her life story was written wrongly,” she said. “We are trying to uncover the truth about her as a leader and not just a sex symbol – which she really wasn’t. She didn’t have many lovers, maybe only two, and they’re men she had children with.”

Hollywood has been fascinated with Cleopatra since one of the fathers of cinema, Georges Melies, featured her in a short silent film in 1899. The queen, described by Sony Pictures entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal as “the greatest female heroine to ever live”, has since inspired more than 50 movies.

But for all the art, plays, and films the Western world has produced about Cleopatra’s life, “we know surprisingly little about her,” said Maria Wyke, author of book “The Roman Mistress”, which explores the pharaoh’s appearances in cinema.

Almost everything historians know about Cleopatra’s life was written by her enemies, Wyke said.

The story of how Cleopatra seduced Roman ruler Julius Caesar by smuggling herself into his palace rolled up in a carpet – perhaps the most oft repeated narrative from her life – came from a record of the Battle of Actium recorded by her opponent, the Roman general Octavian, Wkye said. 

Octavian, Caesar’s heir, identified Cleopatra as a threat after the powerful Roman general Mark Antony abandoned his wife, Octavian’s sister, to pursue a long-term romance with Cleopatra, becoming a de-facto step father to the Egyptian queen’s son with Caesar. 

The historical record frames the battle, which took place on the Ionian Sea, as a “primal struggle between the West and the East, liberty and slavery, republican government and monarchy, and man and woman”.

“To Octavian and his regime, Cleopatra is doubly bad; she is the enemy and she is a female,” Wyke said. “They saw Cleopatra as trying to challenge Rome. They saw her doing it through her sexuality, trying first to seduce Julius Ceasar and then Mark Antony.”

In their records, the Romans offer little context about how the queen worked to promote the safety and security of her people, she said.

“We don’t have a much of a sense of Cleopatra from Cleopatra herself,” she said.
Over the years, film adaptations of Cleopatra’s stories have changed as social attitudes have evolved, Wyke said. 

In films aired in the early 20th century, for example, the queen was portrayed as a “dangerous man killer” because it wasn’t considered appropriate for women to have a public political role. 

In the 1930s, after American women were allowed to vote, Cleopatra was given more opportunity to be a ruler who cared about her country, but in the end, she fell on her knees before Mark Antony and confessed that her love for him was greater than her love for her country.

“She says, ‘I’m no longer a queen. I am a woman,’” Wkye said. “There’s a sense that you can’t be both. When she says that, it restores her to the right priorities that she should have as a woman.”

Because the story touches upon fundamental social issues, such as race, gender and power, filmmakers tend to “map contemporary concerns onto the image of Cleopatra,” said Trevor Fear, a professor at Open University who studies the impact of Cleopatra on audiences.

“Cleopatra and our response to her very much becomes a barometer by which we measure ourselves,” he said. “It also inevitably means that responses to her vary and change depending on a society’s attitudes – she can be seen negatively as disrupting ideological norms, or positively for the very same reasons.”

The latest film is an adaptation of Pulitzer-Prize-winner Stacy Schiff’s nonfiction book, “Cleopatra: A Life,” which paints a more nuanced version of Cleopatra than has historically lit up the silver screen.

Jolie said she had always envisioned Cleopatra as “very glamorous”. Ancient sources say the queen dressed up as the goddess of love, sailed in a perfumed boat, and served drinks made from pearls.

“Then I read her story and found a different side to her – that she was a mother, leader, and an intellect who spoke five languages,” she said. “All of that is more interesting than what she is summed up to be.”

By Elizabeth Stuart

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Monday, June 16, 2014

'Game of Thrones': The biggest differences between the book and the show

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Game of Thrones and the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

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When a popular novel (or series) gets turned into a movie or a TV show, the best and worst kind of fan is someone who already read the book.

On one hand, these folks can be great, helping other fans fill in context that can’t be incorporated into a visual presentation of the story. There’s the inner monologue, descriptions of food and far-off places, and the tiny details that just don’t make the cut. And, unless he or she is a complete jerk, a well-read fan can tell you what you want to know without spoilers.

On the other hand, the people who read the book can also be entirely insufferable and obnoxious about it, apt to remind you when things aren’t exactly how it happened in the text. A lot.

I am one of those people. I haven’t received any complaints—yet. For the past couple months I’ve spent my Sunday nights making jokes on Twitter and live-texting with my boyfriend (also a book reader) as Game of Thrones played in the background. Whenever something played out differently from the books, he was sure to let me know.

Now the most popular show in HBO’s history (and currently one of the most-watched shows on TV), it’s had its ups and downs. Some of the hiccups seem to be an inevitable part of trying to adapt a more than 5,000-page (so far) series into a television show. 

No matter how much we want some minor character to appear, it’s just easier to consolidate him or her into someone else. 

Also, because some characters’ story arcs are further along than others, we sometimes see parts of three different books in a single episode, not to mention some characters still alive in the books are now dead and vice versa.

The changes, as well as any further deviations from the story that result, are all filed under what A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin likes to call the “butterfly effect.”

“There are at least four characters who are dead in the TV show who are alive in the books still,” Martin told Conan O’Brien last year. “Hopefully it will end the same way in the TV show as it does in the books.”

That isn’t to say that Game of Thrones has abandoned the books completely; True Blood, set to take the coveted Game of Thrones time slot following the season finale on Sunday, hasn’t been even remotely faithful to the book series it’s based on for years. And even if the show eventually overtakes the books, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss already know how it ends, generally-speaking.

So in a way, we hope they know what they’re doing when they, for example, killed Pyp and Grenn (who are both still alive by the end of A Dance With Dragons) during the Battle of Castle Black. And I full-heartedly support scenes that feature two non-point-of-view characters sparring words ( Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, and Varys).

But how justified is the frustration from the book purists? With the final moments of Season 4 still fresh on your mind, we’ll look back at the biggest story departures and the angst they have caused.


1) Jaime Lannister isn’t supposed to be at the Purple Wedding.
Frustration Level: 3.5/5
 

As touching/slightly disturbing as it was to see siblings Jaime and Cersei at their son Joffrey’s side as he struggled to take his final breaths, it just didn’t happen. In fact, Jaime and Cersei don’t reunite until after Joffrey Baratheon’s death at his own wedding to Margaery Tyrell. (More on that later.) So for a couple of episodes we have Jaime’s man-tears and sulking about while Cersei cringes at his golden hand.

On the other hand, Jamie’s presence allows Joffrey to mock him in fantastic manner while he reads from the White Book, a scene that happens internally on the page.


2) Arya Stark and the Hound’s storyline/run-in with Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne.
Frustration Level (Arya/Hound): 1.5/5


Frustration Level (Brienne/Podrick): 3/5


After the Red Wedding, Arya and the Hound don’t really have much to do before she heads off on a ship to Braavos. The inn fight in “Two Swords” was supposed to result in the Hound’s possibly fatal injury, but you can’t just have Maisie Williams show up in a couple episodes before her character leaves the Hound to die.

The result was a buddy comedy spin-off in the making between our two favorite cold-hearted killers, even if their relationship is a lot friendlier in the show than it is in the books.

While the Hound does plan to take Arya to Lysa Arryn, they never make it. There’s never the possibility of another Stark reunion only to end in disappointment yet again; in fact, just stop getting your hopes up until The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring tell us otherwise.

They also never run into Brienne and Podrick, who are tasked with finding Sansa Stark and returning her to Winterfell (pretty much a failure). Brienne and Podrick never run into Hot Pie and find out that Arya is alive, although Brienne does eventually hear that the Hound traveled with a girl, mistakenly thought to be Sansa.

It’s just killing time until she and Podrick go on even more adventures, and it certainly feels like it.

Luckily, their meeting was wrapped in a shiny and convenient plot bow: Brienne and the Hound fought for Arya, resulting in the latter’s life-threatening wounds, and Arya still headed off to Braavos after refusing to kill him mercifully. Well done.


3) We don’t actually see any of the Theon/Bolton plot or Yara’s rescue attempt.
Frustration Level (Boltons): 1.5/5


Frustration Level (Yara): 4.5/5


Did you hate all of the gratuitous Theon Greyjoy torture scenes? Well, in the book you only read about them after the fact when we finally meet up with Theon and Reek again in A Dance With Dragons. But as creepy his relationship with Ramsay Bolton is, it’s fascinating to watch Theon turn into Ramsay’s plaything—something so broken that he ran back into a cage when his sister Yara (Asha in the books) went to rescue him.

Which actually doesn’t happen. Yara’s rescue attempt wasn’t at all suspenseful for book readers because we know that Theon’s stuck as Ramsay’s pet for a long while. The decision to add a rescue attempt to the show could also put a damper on the siblings’ actual reunion as it happens in ADWD. Asha doesn’t even recognize Theon until he tells her who he is, and when she does find out, she’s in shock.

The scene in the show does serve to remind us that Yara is still around, as is her and Theon's father, Balon Greyjoy, who should’ve died before the Red Wedding if the show stayed true to the books.

The added scenes with the Boltons aren't all bad, though. They provide a view of what’s going on in the North as well as this Lion King-like scene:




4) Jaime and Cersei Lannister’s “altar sex scene.”
Frustration Level: 5/5


There’s been so much said about this scene that I doubt I could add anything of further value; even Martin was forced to weigh in, and he noted that the butterfly effect was why the scene had changed.

The sex scene between Jaime and Cersei in front of their son’s corpse, while consensual from Jaime’s potentially unreliable point of view in the books, took what fans saw as a decidedly non-consensual turn in the television adaptation. After an uproar, the writers and director couldn’t agree on whether the scene was intended to be entirely consensual or not, which just made things worse.

It sparked an ongoing debate about violence against women in Game of Thrones, which seems to happen more often than in the books (for example, Daenerys Targaryen’s first time sleeping with Khal Drogo is a lot more consensual in the novel). It's unclear why the showrunners made these choices, but fans clearly aren't happy.


5) Ser Pounce shows up once—and never again for the rest of the season.
Frustration Level: 5/5


Even though Ser Pounce isn’t introduced as a minor character in the books—and a kitten at that!—until A Feast For Crows, he made his only appearance in the show in a scene between Tommen Baratheon and Margaery that never happens in the text. While we assume the cat was inserted to break up the tension and any possible creepy undertones between Margaery and the much younger Tommen, the cat's never heard from again and fans were understandably upset at losing their new favorite character.
After all, he is the Pounce that was Promised.


6) The White Walkers turn a baby into one of their own.
Frustration Level: 2.5/5


I rated this change right in the middle of the line because it was completely polarizing. Either people loved it, in part because it was something new for book readers (and it confirmed what the White Walkers did with Craster’s sons), or they hated it because it wasn’t straight from the books and could’ve potentially spoiled them. (I tend to fall on the former side of the debate.)

It’s a slow burn of a plot point for sure, but it served to remind us that the Wights and White Walkers are still out there. And whether you think the main White Walker is actually the Night’s King, which HBO quickly removed from the show’s synopsis page, or not is a battle of theories for another day.


7) The whole Craster’s Keep subplot with Bran/Hodor/Jojen/Meera and Jon/Night’s Watch.
Frustration Level: 2/5


More unnecessary rape scenes—we already know that the mutineers at Craster’s Keep are a nasty bunch—but for the most part, I liked these added scenes. To be frank, without them Bran Stark and Jon Snow wouldn’t have had much to do this season.

Bran, Meera and Jojen Reed, and Hodor end A Storm of Swords by getting to the other side of the Wall with help from Sam Tarly. They meet up with Coldhands (who sadly isn’t in the show yet), who then makes Sam promise not to tell Jon. Jon gets back to Castle Black just as a battle is starting.

Both characters are too important to the show (especially Kit Harington) to keep out for that long. So there's a totally new plot that a) offers a way to get rid of the mutineers without having to bring in Coldhands; b) allows Jon to prove himself to the Night’s Watch; 3) demonstrates Bran has more Warging skills; and 4) teases another meetup, especially because Jon knows Bran is alive.

Does any of that happen? Of course not. But considering how thin their storylines are this season it’s a consolation, even if many fans don’t like it and Jon’s story is still rather flimsy until the Battle of Castle Black.

After the final episode, Bran’s story is now in ADWD territory with yet another character’s death who is not yet dead: Jojen. In the books, Jojen knows when he’s going to die, but he was last seen going through a depression. There are theories about whether he’s even still alive.


8) Stannis Baratheon and Davos Seaworth never travel to Braavos.
Frustration Level: 1/5


Stannis meets with Tycho Nestoris to discuss money, but that doesn’t happen until The Winds of Winter, in a chapter Martin released early. What’s great about it happening sooner in the show is that we got to see Braavos, a place we only hear about until Arya’s arrival in Season 5. Davos, ever the Stannis fanboy, gets to demonstrate what’s so great about his king. And even better, it works.

Plus, Stannis really doesn’t have much to do until he crushes Mance Rayder’s wildling army at Castle Black.


9) There is actually a witness to Lysa Arryn’s murder—who is then framed for it.
Frustration Level: 2.5/5


As many have pointed out, Sansa and Littlefinger weren’t alone when Lysa made her exit through the Moon Door at the Eyrie. There was also Marillion, a singer who was last seen losing his tongue at the orders of Joffrey in the show.

In the book he has his tongue and is a favorite of Lysa’s at the Eyrie. He is there for Littlefinger and Lysa’s wedding, where he attempts to rape Sansa. He also brings Sansa to Lysa at the Moon Door where she can confront her niece, and we know what happens next.
Instead of trying to sell a suicide story, Littlefinger just frames Marillion for the murder, and the singer eventually admits to it after being tortured.

Also, there is no way that Littlefinger’s character in the books would’ve let Sansa go into that meeting with the Council without them being on the same page. The show did allow her to shine, though, making some of us want her to win the game even more.


10) No mention of Tysha, Tyrion Lannister’s first wife, when he is freed by Jaime.
Frustration Level: 2/5


While the deaths of Tywin Lannister and Shae played out largely like they did originally (even the whole Tywin dying on the privy thing), some of the emotional context was missing from what was otherwise an excellent scene.

When Jaime freed Tyrion, he told him the truth about Tysha, Tyrion's first wife who he thought to be a whore. (For context, here's the scene).
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGtIgaWapoc

It turns out Tysha was a peasant girl who genuinely loved Tyrion, but Tywin made Jaime lie about Tysha being a whore to punish Tyrion for running off without his permission and marrying a commoner. Tyrion, upset about the news, tells Jaime in return that Cersei’s been sleeping around while he was held captive.

It’s in part why Tyrion finally pulls the trigger on that crossbow; Tywin won’t give him a direct answer as to Tysha's whereabouts and only says that she went “wherever whores go.”


11) No Lady Stoneheart.
Frustration Level: 6/5


Fans waited for the reveal of Lady Stoneheart—Catelyn Stark brought back from the dead and out for pure vengeance against anyone associated with the Freys, Lannisters, or Boltons—at the end of season 3 and were disappointed when the final scene showed the slaves of Yunkai lifting Dany up and shouting “Mhysa!”

Some figured it might’ve been too soon to introduce Stoneheart because it might’ve cheapened Catelyn’s death if she was brought back only one episode after the Red Wedding. Ending the fourth season with Lady Stoneheart, however, made a world of sense. 

After all, the season covers the remaining parts of ASOS—and what an ending it would be. 

It’d compare to the White Walker reveal and Dany’s dragons hatching.

Lena Headey’s Instagram account seemed to “confirm” the spoiler, and as the final episode aired Sunday night the hype was never higher.

But, it didn’t happen. Even when the credits rolled following Arya boarding a ship to Braavos, there was hope for an after scene a la the Marvel franchise. But then, nothing. Now fans are inconsolable (just search “Lady Stoneheart” on Twitter), and what may have been the best episode of the season has been tarnished.

Lady Stoneheart, of course, could appear in a future season with a proper introduction and not just a last-minute tease. In the next day or so, Benioff and Weiss will do many interviews, and I’d be very surprised if nobody asked them about choosing not to include her.

They may be angry, but will it be enough to make them stop watching? Probably not.

Photo via Game of Thrones/YouTube | Joffrey heads by Jason Reed