A quick book/project/general update

Hey all!  My, the ol' reading has slowed again of late.  Yesterday I had a day off and hoped to get some reading done in between little chores (I have an entire flat to clean/tidy/purge so 'little chores' is the best way to break it down without wanting to curl up in bed and not bother), but wound up waking up with a headache, feeling a bit crap all day and barely reading (or doing) a thing...  Except watching Gilmore Girls, but more on that in a minute.  I gave up on Michael Gurian's The Wonder of Girls yesterday afternoon, after it veered away from interesting biological reading and careered helter-skelter into 'touchy-feely put-your-daughter-on-a-pedestal' territory.  On the other hand, it might free me up to get really stuck into My Cousin Rachel (every time I write that it just sounds rude), which really deserves a prolonged period of attention at some point!

Now, to my two current projects, one of which is going better than the other at the moment...

~ The 'Page to Screen' Event ~

This one's slowed off a bit for the time being!  Which doesn't really matter since it doesn't start for another month and a half or so, but still, I really need to at least sketch out a few articles and reviews at some point.  I've got a handful of guest contributors along for the ride - one writing about the Twilight movies, one on the expectations surrounding The Hunger Games, and a couple more who are on board but haven't decided what to submit yet - but if anyone else still fancies joining in, drop me a line at emp501@hotmail.co.uk.  I'm hoping to run the event for AT LEAST a fortnight over the summer, with reviews and editorials, and themed giveaways.  Maybe sometime at work this week, or after work one day, I can sit down and start sketching out a game plan!  *sigh* 

~ The Gilmore Girls Project ~

I'm trying to come up with a complete Seasons 1-7 list of book and movie references!  Now, I know I'm far from the first to do this, but I wanted to do it myself anyway because a lot of the others seem to have missed things...  I probably will too, but I'm really throwing myself into it, Googling every reference and cross-checking against about five other websites and lists, everything from transcripts to GG wikis, so I'm hoping I get most of them.  It's great fun - I'm mid-season 2 right now - and hopefully I'll be able to use the final results to form a book challenge for 2012, and to make up a 'films to watch' list when I finally get round to signing up to LoveFilm.

And I have to say, so far the lists are just fantastic.  I'm pulling out every reference I can find, from direct 'book sightings' (like books Rory is reading) to obscure movie mentions.  If there's any question as to whether the reference is for a book or a movie (things like Gone With The Wind), I've added it to both lists.

As a quick taste, here's ten random movies pulled from the List So Far:

1. Saving Private Ryan (Tom Hanks)

2. Heathers (Winona Ryder, Christian Slater)

3. The Shining (Jack Nicholson)

4. Grease (John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John)

5. The Godfather (Marlon Brando)

6. Sunset Boulevard (William Holden)

7. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Matthew Broderick)

8. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder)

9. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon)

10. Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman)

And ten books:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

2. A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf

3. Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke

4.  The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

5. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare 

6. Notre-Dame de Paris - Victor Hugo

7. The Group - Mary McCarthy

8. Swann's Way - Marcel Proust

9. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

10. The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan

See what I mean about all the awesome titles?  This is going to be SO brilliant!  : )