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Category: Other Entertainment

What’s happening in TV shows, movies, and other entertainment venues I enjoy besides books.

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There's been a lot of smexy news lately.  I guess those surveyors got tired of politics and decided to delve into the down and dirty.  Who can blame them?

The latest women's health/men's health survey says that most women (52%) want sex about 2 to 3 times a week and women's biggest complaint is not having enough sex (46.8%).  This year lots of ladies are happy with their sex lives (72.4%), with the happiness scale ranking in this order - from happiest to least happy:  dating women, women living with partners, single women and married women.

Most women have had 2-3 partners but 17% have had between 16 and 40 - so there have been some busy ladies out there.  (You know who you are, right?) Almost 30% of women have lied to a partner about their number of lovers. 

The biggest sexual mistakes men make are rushing foreplay, trying too hard to please and not communicating enough.  (They won't talk about their feelings in bed and  they won't talk about their feelings out of bed.  Has anyone tried under the bed?)

Most of the women (65.3%) said that orgasm wasn't important. (Maybe that's why they felt they weren't getting enough sex. )  The majority of women didn't know whether they had found their G-spot or not. 

The things ladies would most like to try in the bedroom? Costumes/role play, toys, porn with a partner, sex with another woman and watching each other masturbate.

With all that great sex the ladies have been having, I was mighty glad to hear about another study.  It says that the regions of the brain that control love also control sex.  This means that romance novelists are right - great sex can actually morph into great love.

“Love and sex are clearly overlapping and they are different,” says Jim Pfaus, a professor of psychology at Concordia University in Montreal who's been studying love and libidos for more than a decade. “You can have desire for sex without love.” 

However, the study found that they're also very similar and reside in the same area of the brain. A part of the brain called the insula is cradled deed in the cerebral cortex. It influences emotions. The striatum is in the forebrain.  It gets messages from the insula.  So how do the messages work?

In order to map out the location of sexual desire and love, researchers reviewed 20 studies that used fMRI technology. First, they looked at the regions of the brain that lit up when sparked by love. They then compared the findings of all the papers to see what regions were activated when someone felt aroused or amorous.  

What they discovered was a bit surprising -- love and sexual desire both activate the striatum, showing a continuum from sexual desire to love. Each feeling impacts a different area of the striatum.

Sexual desire activates the ventral striatum, the brain’s reward system. When someone enjoys a great dessert or an orgasm, it’s the ventral striatum that flickers with life. Love sparks activity in the dorsal striatum, which is associated with drug addiction.

“You don’t make a connection that love is a drug; it acts just like drug addiction," says Pfaus. "Anyone who has had someone break up with them feels like a drug addict in withdrawal. You end up getting cravings.”

Yet, that's not all.  Overlap between sexual desire and love was also observed in the insula.   “[The insula] translates emotional feelings into meaning,” explains Pfaus. “You take the internal state and give it external meaning.”

The areas of overlap indicate that sexual desire transitions into love in many cases, and the feelings aren’t separate.  “Even love at first sight, can it happen? Of course it can happen," says Pfaus. "And when it does happen, do you want to play Scrabble with each other? When it happens, you normally want to consummate it.”

So, all that great sex ladies have been having lately -  hopefully, it's leading to love. We all know where that should lead, right? 

Yep,  straight to a happily ever after.

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I made and ate barbecue chicken for supper.  As I write this, several hours have passed since supper.  Yet, I am not a chicken, barbecue or otherwise.

It's been cooking show reality TV night at my house which is a family event.  We all watch Hell's Kitchen and my kids and I watch Master Chef.  Yeah, verily,  chefs aplenty have paraded across my TV screen.  I've watched them and enjoyed all of Gordon Ramsay's antics.  Yet, anyone who has ever eaten my cooking will tell you that I'm no chef, certainly not of the master variety.  

Presently I'm reading Brenda Novak's historical romance boxed set. It contains 2 books:  "Of Noble Birth" and "Honor Bound."  I'm reading the 1st One - "Of Noble Birth."  It's about a son who should be heir to a dukedom who was rejected at birth because he was born with a birth defect - a deformed arm.  The son becomes a pirate and he's just abducted a seamstress whom he believes to be his half-sister. (She's not of course.)   Yes, I'm reading it and I'm enjoying it but you know what?  I'm not a seamstress, heir to a dukedom or a pirate.   Go figure.

What's even more amazing is that the book I finished right before I started Brenda's excellent boxed set was "Fifty Shades of Grey" - the whole trilogy.  Despite that, my hubby is not in the back building a red room of pain.  I haven't turned into a submissive who wants to be beaten.  Maybe there's something wrong with me?  I mean, I read the book and I enjoyed the book so by some theories recently espoused by arch-feminists - I should be picking out handcuffs and matching riding crops by now. 

That's the theme of a recent piece I read in the UK Independent, entitled "Do Women Really Want To Be So Submissive" by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.  The publication  is from the home country of Erika Leonard a/k/a EL James, the author  of "Fifty Shades."  Ms. Brown thinks that in creating the book Ms. Leonard "has cannily exploited "post-feminist" confusion and sexual restiveness in a period of plenty."

...continue reading "Fifty Shades of Feminism?"

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Galleycat, the people who know all things related to books, publishing and authors, realize that a lot of Twitter users don't make the best use of socializing for fun and profit.  They've put up a "Cheat Sheet" to teach writers to tweet more effectively. 

While aimed at those of us whose idea of a good time is pounding the keyboard, the tips in the article sound beneficial for all tweeters.  The tips are taken from a data report by Buddy Media, and Galleycat passes along the hints in a handy, easy to save "Cheat Sheet."

I found some of them surprising.  For example, they say that the best time to tweet is between 8 am and 7 pm and tweets during those hours receive a 30% higher engagement rate.  That surprised me because during most of those hours many poor, unfortunate writers are - like me - chained to a day job we're trying to write our way out of.  If these are the hours with the highest traffic, lots of day job writers must be tweeting on the clock.  (I take the 5th on that). 

The "Cheat Sheet" also says you should tweet 4 times a day - or less.  That, I really don't get.  Lots of the people I follow seem to tweet links to or reviews from their books alone more times a day than that!  I don't tweet book links a lot.  Some days I'll tweet one, but I worry about people thinking I'm ONLY engaged in the forum to drive sales.  I guess that's one of the reasons all writers are there, but I don't think it should be the main one - it's certainly not mine. 

The main reason I'm on the site is that it is one of the best ways on Planet Earth to interact with a huge range of people I'd never normally get to meet, and all those folks pass along lots of different info.  For example, from Twitter I knew we'd gotten Osama long before the press publicized it. 

Maybe I should tweet more sales links and reviews.  Some of the people who do - I shall NOT name them - have amazing sales numbers.  I guess my "Southernness" interferes with me being an effective tweeter of sales links -- imposing is impolite, don'tcha know?

I'm guessing most of us could use some lessons in twitterology and this "Cheat Sheet" seems to give some great pointers that pass along lots of info in a quick and easily understandable chart. 

Enjoy - and if you don't already, follow me on twitter @quackingalone.

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Move over blind dates, matchmaking services and online dating - the new trend for finding love is pheromone parties. 

According to dictionary.com, pheromone means: 

/ˈfɛrəˌmoʊn/ Show Spelled[fer-uh-mohn]
noun Animal Behavior . any chemical substance released by an animal that serves to influence the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species.

Partygoers are asked to sleep in a shirt for 3 nights and then put it in a zip-lock bag, freeze it and then bring it to the party.  The freezer bags are placed on a table and an index card with a number is put in each bag.  Attendees sniff the bags.  Once they find one they like, a picture is snapped of the person with the bag and projected on a wall.  Then the owner of the item should come forward and love should soon follow. 

The problem?  Some of the owners are too shy to step forward even when they recognize their bag. 

Studies have been conducted into the science behind the smell of attraction.

Research studies using similar T-shirt experiments have shown that people prefer different human scents. But whose smell they prefer is dictated by a set of genes that influence our immune response — which researchers say is nature's way of preventing inbreeding and preserving genetic adaptations developed over time.

"Humans can pick up this incredibly small chemical difference with their noses," said Martha McClintock, founder of the Institute for Mind and Biology at the University of Chicago. "It is like an initial screen."

In one such study, McClintock and her colleagues had participants sniff inside a covered box without knowing that in some cases they were smelling worn T-shirts. What they found was people preferred the odors of those who had different genetic makeups from their own, but not radically different.

What it comes down to is that what smells like love to me may smell like bad news to you, and vice versa.  Love is one of the greatest forces in the universe and time after time, it has refused to be boxed, labeled or categorized.  When love is ready for you it will find you - so long as you don't try to tie it down, pen it up or define it out of existence.

So what does love mean?  It means anything and everything -- with a cherry on top.    

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Last week, I headed back to Dallas and the Southfork ranch along with a bunch of other folks.  According to news reports, 6.8 million of us watched the premiere last week, meaning that TNT won the night last Wednesday.   In case you missed it, here's a run down on the episode.  I think its well worth watching.

The series kept the music score, and hearing the theme song casts a bunch of right back into some better years when the economy looked brighter and adulthood was a bright shiny light, beckoning us to where all our dreams would come true.  Some of us (me in particular) are still trying - but the Dallas premiere reminded me why I should have my fingers on a keyboard during every spare moment. 

JR is back in true, dastardly form and has there ever been a villain we loved to hate as much as this one?  Bobby is still the white knight tilting against windmills - and both men have young, hunky sons carrying on their legacies.  Everyone wants Southfork, and a deep, abiding love of land is a theme that really resounds with most Americans. 

As the series opens, JR's son, John Ross discovers oil on Southfork, a place the late Miss Ellie refused to allow ever to be drilled, and apparently her will spoke to that.  John Ross is trying to have the will tossed out.  Christopher, Bobby's kid, has been exploring alternate energy.  In the opener, Bobby, who has run Southfork, is planning to sell it to help fund Christopher's new company.  But an explosion in China means the alternative energy may not be ready for prime time, and we learn that JR and John Ross are bonding the way only Ewing's can - by trying to stab each other in the back in their attempts to gain control of the ranch.

There are also love issues aplenty, as JR is with a girl whose true love is Christopher.  In the opener, Christopher marries another woman and we learn that his romance with JR's girl broke up because of an email he never sent.  We also learn that that Christopher's new wife is running a scam with her brother, meaning that she wants the power and the wealth more than the love of any man - so she fits right in as a Ewing.  Viewers see right away that John Ross's girl belongs with Christopher and Christoher's new wife belongs with John Ross.  Yep, it feels a lot like a nice, steamy romance novel - a good one from back in the "old school" days.  

My favorite thing about the new Dallas is that just like the old one, it's over-the-top all the way.  That's my POV and writing style for all my romance novels.  So, if you like the new Dallas, pick up one of my books and you'll see the same high-kicking spirit that takes you over the top and keeps heading upwards. 

And if you missed the premiere of the show last week, tune in this Wednesday for a Dallas-sized dose of love and lust, power and passion, honor and betrayal

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I've now finished reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" by EL James. As everyone on the planet likely knows by now, Grey is a trilogy and "Fifty Shades of Grey" is part 1. The books have received everything from lavish praise and adulation, to a life-changing movie deal for the author, to scorn and demeaning comments for the writer and the book's fans. I must've been fated to read it because I was still mulling over whether the books were worth the investment when my eldest bought me Fifty Shades in paper for Mother's Day.

And no, there was nothing weird about the gift. Zack had heard me mention it and recalled my saying that it was written as a tribute to Twilight. Zack's a big Twilight fan, and he knows I like tribute books (mine - Dangerous Relations: Griffin's Law is my nod to Grey's Anatomy).  So, being a thoughtful child, he picked up this one for me.

Here it sat, in my house as a gift for Mother's Day.  I hadn't decided whether to take the plunge and buy it - and this is where I have a confession to make - I'm not an erotica reader. My first acquaintance with the genre came with my first ebook publishing venture -  way back before Amazon built  the Kindle,  when no one ever dreamed that books would be mainstream in any form but paper, there was a little company called Mobipocket.  I first epublished there (later, Amazon bought Mobi and used the platform/engine to build the Kindle). Erotica sold better on Mobi than anything else, so I'd occasionally peruse the covers. Floating torsos.  Multiple torsos. The covers would show three or four men and one woman or sometimes several women and one man, and all of them would be naked and hovering. 

Ick.  What that reminded me of was growing up in a little town called Hartsville, SC where there was one of  THOSE drive-in theaters.  And sometimes, even respectable married ladies would venture in.  My Mom and my aunt took me and my cousin a couple of times as elementary school kids.  They told us to sleep in the back seat, but as long as we were quiet, they weren't going to interrupt their guilty pleasure to spank us for not sleeping.  Invariably, in the movies someone would show up for their first day at a new job and before they'd even filled out the tax forms, everyone in the office would be naked and going at it hard.  Or someone would move into a new house and order a pizza but they'd end up with the delivery guy, the plumber and welcome wagon ladies who brought a lot more than bundt cake.  It sort of put me off the genre.  As young marrieds, my hubby and I would sometimes rent one of those movies to enjoy together and as we wandered around the back section of the video store, I'd hand him a box and ask -- does this one look like it might have a plot?  (In case you're wondering, the answer always turned out to be no).

I hadn't decided whether I wanted 5o Shades, but it seemed to want me.  It's nice being wanted.  Then I started hearing high and mighty PC types calling Fifty Shades - "Mommy Porn."   Okay, if the PC crowd hated it, then I had to give it a try.  At least there are no floating torsos on the cover.

...continue reading "What Could Be Stranger Than Fifty Shades? My Review"

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Today it was my turn to post over at ADAN. Our topic this month is memories.

Please boogle on over and check out my post about Memory Bridge. And if you're a fan of Shonda "Sunshine" Rhimes or her new show "Scandal", you might check out my mini- rant on how I think she got it wrong.

Don't forget to comment - on writing, memories OR on two of my other favorites subjects:  Scanal and Grey's Anatomy.

So, waddle on over and quack back in the comments on the ADAN blog!!

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If y'all have been keeping up with all the links I've been faithfully posting at the QA Facebook page, then you know that Shonda promises that this season's finale will be a real tear jerker.  If you had "liked" QA on Facebook, then you wouldn't have missed any of the links that support this story.  I'm not gonna add 'em here - go dig on FB.  And be sure to "like" our page while you're there so you don't miss out again! 

But getting back to Grey's, the finale this year is so sad that the cast cried at the script read-through.  For the love of all ducks - the writers cried when they read it!  Do you know how hard it is to make a bunch of hardened writers cry?  What is Shonda doing to us?   I hear she just adopted a new baby.  Maybe Shonda is thinking that if she doesn't get any sleep this Summer - none of us will either!  To achieve this mass emotional break-down Rhimes "kills off' a major character in the finale and ends it with the lives and fates of many of our faves in jeopardy.

So which of our favorite Docs is heading off to give the Angels a hard time?  I hate to even guess.  Seriously.  Seriously.  I love all of them in different ways for different reasons.  I've watched Grey's since the episode it debuted and most of the Docs have grown to feel like old friends.  For that reason, if I had to pick one to die, it'd be April or Jackson.  I haven't grown as close to them as the others.  Jackson's a cutie pie, but he's no McDreamy and despite her last episode "bad girl" turn, my history with April is mainly finding her annoying.  So my first choice in the deathstakes would be April with Jackson coming in at number 2. 

But we really can't always get what we want, can we?  (The fact that I'm still trying to get to a point where I write romance full time proves that one to me.)  If someone else has to die - someone I know and love - my first choice for that would be Chief Webber or Alex Karev.   I'd cry for either one, but both of them really feel kind of at the end of an arc.  Yeah, I'd like to see Webber kick up his heels with Jackson's Mom some more and Alex's peds turn has gone a long way towards making him less terrible, but neither is so intimately involved in the show that I'd miss 'em each time I watched. 

What scares me the most is imagining that Shonda would do away with one of the real core-crew.  If Mer or Der dies or their contracts aren't renewed then the show is over for me.  I don't think it could survive the loss of either and I wouldn't care enough to stick around and watch the others try to muddle through whatever 1 or 2 seasons they might manage without Mer/Der.  I'd hate to see any of the others die, either.  Okay, Shonda says a bunch of the others will be in jeopardy at the end of the finale - I get that.  But there's a big difference between having some fly off to practice somewhere else and having them die.  A BIG DIFFERENCE.  I've seen hints from Rhimes that some of our faves may fly off and then come back after they find that the grass really wasn't greener after all. 

Like I said Mer/Der leaving would be a deal breaker for me  -- either of them dying is unimaginable.  It's hard, so very hard, for me as a writer to picture Rhimes killing off the couple she built the show around.  If she does it I'll see it as assisted suicide.  To me it would mean that Rhimes really wants to go off and work on her other shows but can't leave Grey's in anyone's hands but her own.  The other death that would be almost as hard as Mer/Der would be Cristina.  I understand that Sandra Oh wants to leave, but if she must - let her fly off to start somewhere else, giving the viewers hope that we'd see her practicing in another City and that she might return.  I could possibly even tolerate that with Mer/Der - provided they weren't gone too long.  A character I can logically see going out in some heroic manner is Owen -- his bravery under fire would ring true to character. 

Bravery under fire - did I say that?  Yes, I did.  Shonda has hinted that the finale - titled "flight" - will be reminiscent of the ferry crash or the hospital gunman - though it won't be either of those things.  A lot of people think it may involve a plane crash.  That's possible, but this week's epi precedes the finale and it's called "migration."  That seems to mean that people will be heading off to other places.  But they're all heading off to different spots for interviews and it's unlikely - possible, but unlikely - that so many would be on the same plane.  That makes me wonder if its either 2 planes colliding with each other on a runway - or possibly a plane or more crashing into the airport.  The latter makes the most sense to me.  Another possibility is that it's a terrorist take-over of the airport where most of the residents are waiting for flights and friends or family are there to see them off.  That would involve some very tense scenes, gunfire, and the possibility that someone would die a hero - which is the only death I can imagine Shonda choosing for one of her main characters.  I've even given some thought to the possibility of an earthquake or a tsunami following an earthquake - either might allow for a kind of "flight" that would end a life.

The only thing I'm certain about is that I'm stocking up on tissues for the finale.  If it turns out that there's terrorism or some kind of show down at the airport - I only have one question:  HAS ANYONE HEARD WHETHER BRUCE WILLIS HAS BEEN BOOKED FOR A CAMEO?

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Published on 1 Comment on GREY’S ANATOMY SUPERFAN? CRAWL IN THE WAY-BACK MACHINE AND TEST YOUR GREY-Q ABOUT HOW IT ALL STARTED

Note:  Answers appear in the comments - but don't cheat.  That hasn't worked out so well for Owen now, has it?

1.   What did the then-Chief Webber call the beginning of our faves' internships?

2.   Which intern got to perform the first surgical procedure?

3.   What intern wasn't originally on the Nazi's team?

4.   Which intern gave McDreamy his nickname?

5.   What was Meredith's first surgical procedure?

6.   Which intern got to perform the first assist in heart surgery?

7.   What made New Yorker Derek decide to like Seattle?

8.   Who was the unlucky intern who woke Bailey the first time?

9.   Which intern hated the nurses?

10.  What's the first thing Meredith threw at Derek?

11.  What color shirt was Derek wearing when he met Meredith that he thought made him look "very cute"?

12.  What was Cristina's description of Mer to the other interns during their first meal in the cafeteria?

13.  What did Mer do after her 1st Code Blue and who witnessed it?

14.  BONUS QUESTION: What book did this author write as a tribute to Grey's Anatomy?