Books
The headline reads: New Drug Deletes Bad Memories
Wow! Sounds like this must be cutting edge science, right?
Only two problems: the drug isn’t new and it doesn’t “delete” memories.
In fact, this drug has been around for a long time and for years has been used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy to treat Post-Traumatic Stress, panic attacks and other anxiety-spectrum disorders.
And no, it doesn’t delete or erase bad memories. Rather, it blocks the physiologic effects (racing heart, palpitations, sense of panic, etc) produced by the stress hormones when people re-live those memories.
Why does the media feel like it has to lie to us in order to get our attention long enough to tell us the truth?
Although, I must admit, these folks (Dinner guest finds host’s wife and son in freezer) might have wished it was the truth!
Books
What is going on here?
Police in Oklahoma arrested a 12 year old and her 10 year old sister.
Why? What normal childhood hi-jinks did these two girls get involved in?
They kidnapped a neighbor’s infant baby. Yes, these two budding criminal masterminds snuck into the neighbor’s house at night, took the baby and left a note demanding a ransom of $200,000.00
They were caught when their mother found them hiding the baby boy. If it wasn’t for the fact that babies are hard to hide when you’re too young to drive them anywhere, these girls would have followed through with their plans.
And then there’s the 11 year old who led police on a high speed chase topping 100mpg. Where was she headed in such a hurry? To pick her sister up at a concert.
Oh yeah, she was also intoxicated when the police stopped her.
Finally, how about the 4 year old who called 911 almost 300 times last month? What was her emergency?
She wanted the police to bring her food from McDonald’s–guess her mom was trying to get her to eat healthy.
So…..the big questions: Where were the parents? And where did things go wrong with these kids?
Books
Happy Fourth of July!
Today we celebrate the birth of our nation. Yes, there will be fireworks and hotdogs and picnics. But without our heroes, it would all be meaningless.
Heroes come in many sizes. There are the larger than life ones: presidents and astronauts and religious figures.
Then there are the men and women who live next door. The often unsung heroes.
The wife preparing her family before she leaves for war. The father who carries a beeper and leaves the fireworks to go care for a sick child in the ICU. The ones working today wearing the uniforms of police, fire, rescue, EMS, nurses, etc…
We Americans pride ourselves on our humble roots that gave birth to a great nation. A nation built by heroes.
Who are your heroes?
While you’re standing at the grill today, take a look around–they might be standing right beside you.
Don’t be shy, shake their hand, and let them know that today’s celebration is for them!
Thanks for reading,
CJ
Books
I don’t have alot of time for TV. So it peeves me when I’ve been following a show only to have it yanked around on the schedule or suddenly vanishing.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NBC’s highly acclaimed but little viewed offering from Aaron Sorkin was one of the few shows I watched religiously–or tried to. It was gone, supposedly cancelled, then back, then gone again only to show up on another night for its final episodes before it really was cancelled.
I loved this show–not just the witty dialogue that drives any of Sorkin’s work, but the characters. It was funny, it was charming, it was serious, it was clever, it was controversial, it was tongue-in-cheek…so why didn’t people “get” it?
I think because there was a disconnect in the marketing of the show. First it was billed as a comedy about the “behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live”. But there was another comedy debuting at the same time, 30 Rock (notice the similar titles), that truly WAS a comedy about behind the scenes of SNL.
And Studio 60 was so much more than a comedy. Then it was billed as a “romantic drama”–what was that? NBC’s answer to Grey’s Anatomy? And Studio 60 isn’t a romance.
The final nail in the coffin was when the show was condemned for taking current events and using them. Not in the comedy sketches, not to poke fun of (like the real SNL) but as part of a story line affecting the characters.
Hello? A TV show that can’t use real life events and see how its characters would respond? Guess that would make it either a comedy or a soap opera, right?
Studio 60 was a well written, highly entertained show that was poorly defined and marketed. It was cross genre, refused to its dying breath to be pigeonholed.
And now it’s dead…..why do I care? Because my books are, you got it, cross-genre. Poorly defined and unpigeonholeable.
They’ll be shelved in general fiction–that large mass of books that encompass everything from Homer’s Odyssey to speculative meta-fiction. They’re a blend of women’s fiction/medical suspense/and thrillers with romantic elements.
They’re different from anything else out there. Which makes me wonder if I should be worried.
People are always asking for different, but when you give it to them, like with Studio 60, they turn away and don’t want it, instead choosing the same old, same old.
Hmmm….think maybe Aaron Sorkin would take my call if I asked him for advice? What do people really want from their entertainment?
Books
So, I finally made it to my eye doctor for my checkup today. New doctor since I moved last year. And he did that eye drop thing–you know, the dilation where bright lights hurt and everything goes fuzzy for a while?
As I’m leaving, he says I’m fine to drive but not to read until the afternoon.
“Sure,” I say, thinking about the bifocals–excuse me, “progressive” lenses–that I’ve been forced to get. Yep, I’m getting old.
So I’m driving home, squinting despite the clouds and sunglasses, and it hits me–what’s he mean NO reading??? Is he nuts? I spend maybe 12-14 hours a day reading, either for fun or research or while writing, answering emails, checking out blogs, news online, more writing, etc, etc……
NO reading???
I got home and thought, to heck with this, and immediately sprang to my computer intending to catch up on emails and then plow into the new scene I dreamed up.
Big mistake. Not only couldn’t read a darn thing, I got a splitting headache from trying.
Maybe it was the glare from the monitor….tried a book. Whoa, no way!!
It was only 11am what the heck was I gonna do for the rest of the day until I could read again? Clean the house–yeah, right, in your dreams.
So I did the next best thing and had my own private film fest. Popcorn and all. Watched What Women Want with Mel Gibson and some actress, then saw Braveheart with Mel Gibson and some actress….anyone seeing a trend here?
Lethal Weapon was up next when I realized I could read the writing on the case, so thought I’d best get back to work.
So, what would you do if you couldn’t read for a day?
