Ring! Ring! Ring! We’ve all heard it far too many times. Cell phones. It seems some would have to surgically get theirs removed from their ears in order to live without them. They take them to work, home, to dinners, even to the bathroom. God forbid they miss a call. Irritating, and someone would say mildly entertaining, to watch. But what if we were that type of person?
Yes, messages, calls, meetings and even alarms are a few things that we manage through our cell phone. There are some moments when we feel that without cell phones our lives would have been handicapped, but is it really so?
Are you someone who goes to sleep with your Blackberry tucked under the pillow? You know you have a problem but you just can’t help yourself? Well, consider this. We wonder sometimes what our lives would be like without them. But consider this, ten, twenty years ago people didn’t have cell phones and yet they lived life just fine.
Sometimes our fear is that we’ll miss an important call, or that some emergency will happen. I had a friend that always worried about that but he knew he had a problem. He was missing out in life and it was irritating his friends and family. So, he gave himself a challenge to spend one week without a cell phone. Yes, he left it at home. He knew most phone calls could wait until he got home to return them and if his family was to call him with an emergency what could he do anyway? They lived thousands of miles away.
Do you know what happened? One week turned into two weeks. Two weeks turned into three weeks and today, he doesn’t even use one. Yes, life does go on. See what a difference it makes in your life.
Commentator Dennis Palumbo is a psychotherapist but he used to be a screenwriter. And that makes him uniquely qualified to make an observation about how therapists are portrayed in the movies now as oppose to decades past.
DENNIS PALUMBO: In "Now, Voyager," kindly therapist Claude Rains is paternal and insightful and he obviously knows what's good for his patient.
(Soundbite of movie, "Now, Voyager")
Unidentified Woman: Tell me, how is Charlotte?
Mr. CLAUDE RAINS (Actor): (As Dr. Jaquith) Better every week. In fact, she's almost well but she doesn't believe it. (Unintelligible) still looks (unintelligible). You'll find her feeling depressed today because under this morning, I told her she's a fledgling (unintelligible).
Unidentified Woman: A fledgling?
Mr. RAINS: (As Dr. Jaquith) Well, it's time, better to get out of the nest and try her own wings.
PALUMBO: He's a lot like Lee J. Cobb in "Three Faces of Eve," helping Joanne Woodward parse out the three distinct personalities tormenting her. Like Claude Rains before him, he's a model of the patriarchal culture, a therapist of unquestionable motives, and unimpeachable authority. One of the good guys, which begs the question how did we get from there to Hannibal Lecter. Because with rare exceptions, that's where we are.
Look at how male therapists are currently depicted on film and television. Instead of being caretakers, they're troubled, predatory, even psychotic. Richard Gere in "Final Analysis," Bruce Willis in the "Color of Night," Robert de Niro in last year's "Hide and Seek." On TV shows, like "Law and Order" and "CSI," a male psychologist or psychiatrist is as liable to be the bad guy as any garden-variety contract killer or spurned lover.
Now, I know enough to be skeptical about Hollywood's notion of any profession. But I can't help wondering what's going on? How did the onscreen image of male therapists go from father figure to the most likely suspect?
Maybe this change simply reflects one that's occurred in the culture at large. After all, the past 40 years has seen a challenge to the whole idea of male authority. In terms of image, professors, doctors, and scientists of the male persuasion have suddenly gone from being saint to sinners. Same with therapists.
No wonder today's TV and film writers find them irresistible as villains. All that education, respectability and power turned to the dark side. But it wasn't just society's growing mistrust of male authority that turned Lee J. Cobbs' gray suit and pipe into Anthony Hopkins face muscle and leather restraints.
There was also a trend starting in the '50s, a popular film that threw cold water on the whole idea of psychological treatment as a positive tool to alleviate suffering. Films, like the "Manchurian Candidate," "The Snake Pit," and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," suggested a nefarious way psychology could be exploited or used for evil.
Let's face it. The world's a pretty treacherous, confusing place, nowadays. Our most sturdy institutions - government, the Church, education - traditionally headed by men seemed to be letting us down. It's no different with therapy. Nowadays, much like priests, male therapists suffer from the failed expectations of a disillusioned public. Our distrust and suspicion buffed to a stereotypic finish by the narrative demands of TV and film.
So now, to the hallowed images of tough private eye, brilliant physician and ruthless attorney, we can add the unethical, manipulative, and frequently, homicidal male therapist, coming to a theater or TV screen near you.
Hmm. Sounds like we could use a walk like Claude Rains right about now.
Had a nice call last night with Nik Halik whom I want to tell you about. Nik is a self-made millionaire and coined a new term--Thrillionaire--to describe what he aspires to be and to help other people be as well. He has a very active web site dedicated to this called http://www.thethrillionaires.com
http://www.vagabondinglife.com/
I was able to chat with Nik on the phone for about an hour about his travels to 112 countries as well as some of his adventures like going to space, flying in a Russian fighter jet, and sleeping overnight inside the Great Pyramid.
Nik advocates making a “bucket list” of dreams and adventures that you hope to experience and then making them come true by attracting positive things to your life with the right mindset.
No matter how difficult the goals may seem, start making small systematic steps toward making each come true, then move on to the next one. Nik is mostly through the list he made as a kid…..imagine the skepticism he met with when he said that he wanted to become a rock star or go to space?
Just for fun, here are some highlights from our conversation:
Where are some of the favorite places that you have traveled?
Nik answered that he loves Morocco, the Middle East, and South America because you are “forced to assimilate” yourself.
After traveling so many places, where would you most like to live?
Nik currently has homes all over, including Australia, Greece, and the US. I asked him where he preferred to live and his answer was that he “still hasn’t found where he wants to live….and would live in space when the option becomes available.”
Since you’ve been a rock star, what are you playing on your IPOD right now?
Not surprising, Nik was listening to some hair bands (I like the guy already) as well as Radiohead, Enya, and even Yanni!
Talk about some of the places that you’ve been:
Nik loves Antarctica and has been there 5 times already. The Titanic (of course) and he was one of a very small handful of people to sleep overnight in the Great Pyramid (inside the sarcophagus, mind you!)
Did you get any sleep inside of the Great Pyramid?
Nik answered, “not much….a little”. He was kept too busy with a strange vision and supernatural experience that changed him.
Do the Russians think you are mad?
He answered “yes”. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he has deep dived to the Titanic with them, trained as a cosmonaut with them, and experienced zero gravity and MACH 3 with them! Why the Russians? Well, you won’t exactly find the ability to do all those things at Disney World.
In 112 countries, have you ever had any “close calls”?
Nik was nearly kidnapped in Bogota, Colombia a few years ago and suggested that I “dress like a backpacker” rather than a businessman to not draw attention to myself. He told me this the week that I was on my way to Bogota…!
What did you think about running with the bulls in Pamplona?
“I ran twice. The first time I fell on my face in about 8 seconds. Try running with the locals who know to start further down the path rather than where all the tourists begin.”
After getting banged up on the street with some not-so-happy bulls close behind, I applaud him for getting back up and doing it again the next day! The most difficult part…? Surviving the party!
What advice can you give to people in university?
“Travel a couple of years before you jump into the workforce. Get to know yourself first….you will come back far more mature.”
Nik’s book The Thrillionare details some of his adventures (like mountaineering and tornado chasing) and gives a very motivational insight into his way of thinking. I am reading it for the second time and will be writing a review.
Nik recommends that we list our goals and then share them with others to be held accountable; set specific dates for when you will take that big trip rather than just talking about it and do research to “internalize” that goal.
Visit The Thrillionaires website: thethrillionaires.com
One great interview deserves another. Before heading off to South America, I had the opportunity to spend an extraordinary hour with Nik Halik on the phone and my life paradigms haven’t been the same since.
One great interview deserves another. Before heading off to South America, I had the opportunity to spend an extraordinary hour with Nik Halik on the phone and my life paradigms haven’t been the same since.
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Dr. Kenneth Atchity of AEI is a Yale graduate and Intellectual Property brand manager and producer of such films as the forthcoming Jim Carrey film, Ripley's Believe It or Not.
In this interview, he shares with us why his company has shifted focus to building brands rather than individual titles and why he's looking for the next Ann Rice.
What have you done to brace yourself for the economic changes to the industry?
I've moved my intellectual property management company, AEI, into brand launching (see www.thethrillionaires.com, as our first official example of a brand we've launched) and motion picture financing (currently in casting with "Boobytrap").
What can authors do to avoid eating Ramen noodles and counting pennies?
Somehow focus and diversify at the same time. And never give up.
What do you think about all these technological changes happening? How have they changed the marketplace?
They've put the marketplace, in both LA (film and television) and NY (publishing) on edge and in a tailspin, if you can imagine that mixed metaphor. Coupled with the Recession, we're dealing with the toughest marketplace I've ever seen in my long career. Everyone's afraid to be stuck holding the wrong goods, when the delivery vehicles for stories are changing at an exponential pace. Not surprisingly, this skittishness on the part of the established companies will accelerate their decline. Instead of meeting the situation head on and being aggressive about maintaining their way of life while also adapting (ebooks still account for less than 5% of the market), they are hiding their heads in the sand for the most part, afraid to introduce new authors, afraid to spend money and, in the end, afraid to lose their jobs.
Of course the public's desire for stories has grown instead of diminished, creating a fertile field for the new media that will deliver them. Today's author must be a media entrepreneur and use all the tools at his or her command, especially the Internet to get the attention of a readership. Thinking outside the box is the only way to succeed in a world where all the boxes are collapsing around us.
What's hot now, what are editors looking for? And what type of manuscripts and proposals are you currently looking for that you never seem to get?
Editors are looking for thrillers, romance, action, and compelling storytelling of all kinds. That hasn't changed. That's what we're looking for. Especially in the Young Adult arena, especially stories written by women for women. It's such a tough market for male novelists I urge nearly every unpublished male author to publish through an entrepreneurial publisher until the majors beat a door in his path.
Most of all what I'm looking for is a new BRAND to launch the next Sue Grafton, the next Ann Rice, the next Chicken Soup.
What's the best way for writers to approach you?
By email, at kenatchity@aeionline.com Keep it under 4 lines in the original query. If I'm interested, I'll ask to see more. If you're a nonfiction writer, add another 4 lines about your platform and how you know you can sell your book.
What's one of your pet peeves when writers query you?
Emails that begin, "Dear Agent." For one thing, I'm a literary manager, not an agent. For another, it shows that the writer hasn't bothered to do his homework and is just spamming the universe hoping for a positive response from ANYONE.
And finally, what is something about you that very few people know?
Very few people know that I'd rather be a gumbo chef!
2009 Book of the Year Award Finalists AnnouncedForeWord Reviews is pleased to announce the finalists in the 2009 Book of the Year Awards. The finalists, representing 360 publishers, were selected from 1,400 entries in 60 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its best.
The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from our readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor's Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America in New York City on May 25. The winners of the two Editor's Choice Prizes will be awarded $1,500 each. The ceremony is open to all BEA attendees.
ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across a number of genres. The Awards program often serves to provide these worthy projects with a second wind of publicity.
Winners to be announced at Book Expo America on May 25th in New York City.
Dennis PalumboThe author Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities) once said that the purpose of fiction was, among other things, to chronicle a society's "status details." In other words, to give the reader a felt sense of the social, cultural and political realities of the world the novel portrays.
Usually, this task has been seen as primarily the province of the "literary" novel, such as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, or Updike's "Rabbit" novels. But I believe that, in a similar manner, the best crime fiction has been exploring and illuminating the contours of American society for years.
For example, to get a sense of how Los Angeles worked in the 30's and 40's -- how money and power actually operated in the lives of both the powerful and the desperate -- you need only read Raymond Chandler. The "mean streets" that private eye Phillip Marlowe walked took the reader from the monied mansions of robber barons to the back alleys of two-bit hustlers and the chumps they made their prey.
Just as, fifty years later, nobody provides a clearer view of contemporary L.A. than Michael Connelly, particularly with his Harry Bosch novels. From the O.J. trial to the Ramparts police scandal, from the self-inflicted woes of the wealthy and influential to the municipal response to torrential rains, Connelly uses his dogged police detective to dissect life in the City of Angels.
For a wry, amused and knowledgeable look at Boston society, high and low, you'll find few better guides than the late Robert B. Parker's character Spenser. Or equally few authors who capture the self-delusions and broken-hearted dreams of petty criminals as well as Elmore Leonard. And I can't think of a writer who better reveals the dark, noirish heart of the ostensibly laid-back surfer scene than Kem Nunn.
My point is, great crime fiction offers what no sociology text can provide. To feel the living, breathing essence of New Orleans, both pre- and post-Katrina, check out the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. In similar fashion, Tony Hillerman brought the Native Americans of the modern Southwest to life in his novels about Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. Just as Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski gave fictional heft to the idea of a strong female protagonist, and Walter Mosley's "Easy" Rawlins gave us perhaps our most well-known African-American one. Since its inception as a genre, crime fiction has both mirrored and commented on society's often-tumultuous change. In short, it told the truth about it.
So forget FrontLine. If you want to get the straight dope about the thriving gun trade going on along the border between the US and Mexico, look no further than T. Jefferson Parker's thriller, Iron River.
If you want to know what it's really like to be a cop, read Joseph Wambaugh. If you want to hear the authentic street rhythms of New York's Lower East Side, read Richard Price.
What all these fine crime novelists have in common is their use of suspense and intricate plots to underscore the conflict among vivid, fully-realized characters; and, moreover, how that conflict is inevitably intensified by the social context these fictional men and women find themselves in. Utilizing the high stakes and narrative drive of crime fiction, these writers demonstrate how issues of class and status, and the yearning to re-invent oneself, continue to define the American character.
In my view, no genre of fiction illuminates the "status details" of our evolving, conflicted society better than crime fiction. Where and how that conflict is played out, and how realistically it's depicted, determines how powerfully the novel affects us.
In a line stretching from Dashiel Hammett to Dennis Lehane, from James M. Cain to George Pellicanos, from Ed McBain to Sue Grafton, the best crime fiction -- like all great fiction, period -- shows us who we are.
Dr. Jin Kyu (Suh) Robertson started out as a factory girl at a Korean wig factory, and immigrated to America as a housemaid at the age of 22 speaking little English and with only $100 to her name. Overcoming incredible odds, she became an officer in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Major with a Masters degree from Harvard University, and later received Ph.D. degree also from Harvard. Not only major Korean television broadcasting companies made documentaries of her life, but the Korean government even recognized her as one of the most influential overseas Koreans in 2008. Jin is a bestselling author (over a half million copies sold) and a most-sought-after motivational speaker (over 500 keynote speeches delivered) in Korea. She is also a radio talk show host of Voice America/World Talk Radio in the U.S. (www.voiceamerica.com/worldtalkradio). She is committed to reaching out to the world to inspire and motivate billions of people also reach their dreams. Jin is currently preparing for her book to get published and ready to deliver inspirational keynote speeches in English throughout the world.
90% True = A True Story
50% True = Based on a True Story
20% True = Inspired By a True Story
"Based on True Events" means only a true event or events happened. Characters are fictional.
"From Crime To Crime: Mind Boggling Tales of Mystery and Murder" (Tallfellow Press)
