Blinding Gossip

I’ve got gossip on the brain this morning. I consistently read the columns of my favorite goss guy (cause I can't stand to read real news anymore) and found on a message board a website that keeps track of what they call ‘blind items.’ These are tidbits of gossip that are so juicy, and litigation-worthy, that they’ll tell the story, but not say outright who it is. Then everyone tries to guess. If it’s generally accepted that the answer has been discovered or narrowed down to two or three possibilities, they post the names.

I have to tell you, it’s addictive and mildly disconcerting. If most of this stuff is true – and who really knows – the majority of Hollywood heavyweights are total cokeheads in setup relationships to cover their secret sex lives. The kind of stuff that will either make your toes curl or nauseate you. As Hollywood couple after couple break up, it makes me wonder...is true love even possible in that kind of environment? We go to the movies and watch these larger than life actors in sweeping romances that make us swoon. Maybe we even envision them as we're writting our stories as inspriation. Then we find out later that in real life, the hero’s gay and cheating on his wife in massage parlors and the heroine’s a junkie porn addict.

How depressing.

Thank goodness for books because it looks like the only real heroes left are in the pages of our latest must-read. If we’re lucky, we’ve got our own hero at home too, but for some, the book is as close as we get. There’s definitely an advantage to a paperback hero - the characters don’t have real lives to ruin their images. Our heroes are just that – heroes. They swoop the heroine off her feet, save her from most certain peril, and do so while saying heartfelt things that make us go “awww.”

To add on to Instigator’s post yesterday...I read and write romance for the HEA. While we can never be 100% certain we'll have it in our own lives, we can most certainly have it in our books. Without that ending and the promise that they’ll be together forever and deliriously happy, all we’d have are these Hollywood romances to look to. Not exactly what I’m hoping for.

Regardless of what they do in real life, I'm a sucker for a good romantic movie. Granted, I'm picky, but I do have a slew of DVDs of ones that made the cut. My absolute favorite romance of all time has to be either You've Got Mail or While You Were Sleeping. (I consider Princess Bride to be more comedy than romance, but it's definitely in my top 10 movies of all time, regardless of category.) What's yours?

One commenter today will receive a copy of Return to Me on DVD - another one of my favorite romances with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. (Also includes Bonnie Hunt, my snarky twin separated at birth...)

SP

Okay - one week down and here's the verdict:

140/350 pages = 40% completed

(zokutou is down again...)