Month: May 2011

Silver Feather Award (IWPA)Joins E-Lit Awards

On May 30, 2011

In Books, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews, travel

On May 21 at the Union Club, the Chicago branch of the Illinois Women’s Press Association awarded its Silver Feather awards for writing excellence to several of Connie’s projects, including both of her most recent books, It Came from the ’70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now and Hellfire & Damnation. Both books have already scored (first-ever) E-Lit awards for their Kindle versions ($8.50 and $2.99, respectively, on Amazon and Barnes & Noble). Hellfire & Damnation, which is organized around Dante’s Inferno and its 9 Circles of Hell, also placed 7th (of 46 nominees) on the Preliminary Stoker Ballot. (Stephen King placed 10th on that ballot) from the HWA (Horror Writers’ Association. A sneak preview of one of the stories from the sequel to follow went up (for 99 cents) as a Kindle short story (6,500 words) on May 17th, entitled “The Bureau.”

A third book Ghostly Tales of Route 66 in Kindle format also was named a Gold Medal winner in the E-Lit awards in the travel category earlier this year. ($9.50 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble). It has only recently been made available in other than print format, although the Kindle format contains several new stories never before published, but has no pictures as the print versions do.

Other categories awarded Silver Feather awards for excellence in writing by the IWPA were:

Photo on the Web for “The Tall Ships in Chicago at Navy Pier” on www.WeeklyWilson website.

Writing for the Web: “Obama in Iowa for Health Care Initiatie: Tea Partiers Rally Outside Iowa City Fieldhouse.”

Writing for the Web, Column or Commentary: “Opinion: Phil Hare Is Better Choice than Bobby Schilling in Illinois’ 17th District Race,” Yahoo! News.

Videos for the Website, Special Interest Site: Hellfire & Damnation, Quad Cities’ Learning, dba Quad City Press

Writing for the Web, Feature Article: “What Did General Stanley McChrystal Really Say in the ‘Rolling Stone’ Article that Got Him Fired?”, Yahoo Contributor Network

Website Development, Special Interest Sites: www.ConnieCWilson.com, Quad Cities’ Learning, Inc.

Blogs, Webcontent, Special Interest Sites, “Weekly Wilson: Chicago Film Festival: Encounters of the Famous Kind,” WeeklyWilson website.

Connie signed copies of her newest book, It Came from the ’70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now at the BEA (Book Expo America) on Wednesday, May 25 from 2 to 3 p.m. and she will be selling and signing copies of all of her books at Printers’ Row on Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

If you miss her there, try the RME (River Music Experience) on July 30th in Davenport, Iowa, during the Bix Road Race weekend which coincides with the RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Race Across Iowa) race finale. She will also be heading out for appearances at an assortment of Family Video stores with the movie book and delivering a lecture at the Moline Club in the near future. (Stay tuned for further developments.)

New York City BEA (Book Expo America) and BlogWorld

By Connie Wilson

On May 28, 2011

In Pop Culture, Reviews, travel

I’ve just returned from nearly a week in New York City where I attended the Book Exposition that is the largest in the world and signed copies of “It Came from the ’70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now” from 2 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25th at the HWA (Horror Writers’ Association) table.

The same day as the signing, I attended the Adult breakfast where Mindy Kahl MC-ed and Diane Keaton was the Celebrity author. The author of “Middlesex” and Charlaine Harris, who created Sookie Stackhouse (of the “True Love” television series) also spoke.

New York Times Best-Selling Author Jonathan Maberry signed before me at the HWA booth, and there was much to admire and browse. No plays this year, but I also attended BlogWorld and a Book Bloggers’ Conference at which Otis from Goodreads was present. A workshop on “Monetizing Your Blog” will help me be a better presented on June 25th during “Blogging for Bucks” at the Midwest Writers’ Center conference. No wild parties or late nights, but many early mornings and presentations during my week in the Big Apple.

On the way out, I sat next to the parents of a Chicago Sun Times reporter being honored with the Pulitzer Prize for his article on Chicago’s “59 Hours of Violence.” How cool is that? On the way back, I sat next to the new anchorwoman in Sioux City, Iowa and a woman who takes formal portraits of Arabian horses.

“Modern Family” Ends Season with Episode “See You Next Fall”

By Connie Wilson

On May 21, 2011

In Reviews, Television

ABC, May 18, 2011, 10 PM (ET) In an episode entitled “See You Next Fall,” “Modern Family” saluted Alex Dunphy’s graduation (Ariel Winter). Alex is graduating from junior high school and, as Manny (Rico Rodriguez) says to Luke (Nolan Gould), “Do you realize, in just two years we’ll be graduating?” At the moment, Luke is staring at a beach ball floating in the pool and says, “I think I’m moving it with my mind.” Manny—barely missing a beat—says, “Well, at least I will.”

The episode was the perfect blend of wit and slapstick. It was written by Danny Zuker (prominent in the credits each week) and directed by Steven Levitan, one of the series’ creators. Top notch attention, in other words, to this episode.

The opening laughs are centered on Cam’s (Eric Stonestreet) fall into the backyard child’s pool. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler-Ferguson) laughs and Cam is offended. Once they join the rest of the family at Jay and Gloria’s for a pre-graduation party, his iritation is simply intensified when he accidentally walks into both a sliding glass door and the screen door. When the entire group laughs, Cameron, in high dudgeon, says, “Cruelty is genetic.” There is also concern over Jay’s drooping eyelid, which he is reluctant to admit occurred when he had Botox. Cam blurts out, “What were you thinking? You’re a veteran!”

As is foreshadowed during Jay’s attempts to get his gate to automatically rise, the entire graduation group is stuck behind the uncooperative gated fence. Gloria’s solution is to throw a bicycle built for two over the fence, quickly followed by Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell). They set off for their daughter’s valedictorian address on the bicycle-built-for-two, which promptly suffers a broken chain. There is already concern among the family that Alex’s speech, which is essentially one long complaint about her treatment by her fellow classmates, will be inappropriate and make her a social pariah. The good advice from older sister Haley (Sarah Hyland) is that Alex simply mouth the words to a mindless pop song. As the line in the script has it: “It’s a graduation…a celebration of being done with thinking!”

The climax of the episode is the arrival of Phil and Claire at the graduation ceremony. They literally fall down the hill outside the ceremony, causing Cam to laugh. The lines were great in the episode. One of my personal favorites was Luke’s unspoken solution to the “we’re-stuck-behind-the-gate” problem when Phil says (with Luke’s solution still unspoken), “We don’t have time to build a rocket.”

A great episode of the best sitcom series currently on the air.