⭐BOOK FEATURE: REEL TO REEL: MOVIE MISTAKES FROM HOLLYWOOD'S FAVORITE FILMS⭐ BY ISLA GREY⭐

 

REEL TO REEL is a collection of some of Isla Grey's "Movie Mistakes" column for Bellaonline spotlighting the fun goofs found in some of our favorite movies...

By Isla Grey

Title: REEL TO REEL: MOVIE MISTAKES FROM HOLLYWOOD’S FAVORITE FILMS
Author: Isla Grey
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 287
Genre: Nonfiction / Entertainment

BOOK BLURB:

Lights, Camera, Action! From the very beginning, the world of cinema has captivated us. We have found ourselves laughing at our favorite comedies, crying when love finally comes to fruition, being beamed to other worlds or battling in the midst of action sequences. While movies might be the perfect entertainment, most have slight imperfections, mistakes, which go unseen, until they’re released and caught by the movie audience. These mistakes don’t detract from the film, and finding them are just as fun as watching the movie.

For the past several years, Isla Grey has written a “Movie Mistakes” column for Bellaonline. “Reel to Reel” is a collection of some of those columns, spotlighting the fun goofs found in some of our favorite movies. Can you spot them? Grab the popcorn, sit back, and happy movie watching!

The Wizard of Oz

The story of Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto’s trip to the Land of Oz is one of the most beloved movie tales of all time. After their home is hit by a tornado in Kansas, the pair find their house has landed in an unusual land as well as sitting on top of what used to be the sister of the Wicked Witch of the West. The grateful Munchkins and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, urge Dorothy to travel to the Emerald City, home of the powerful Oz, the one person who could help her get back home to Kansas. During her travels, Dorothy befriends the unusual trio of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion who come along with her on the journey.  Dorothy must also watch out for the evil Wicked Witch of the West who’s not only out for revenge for her sister’s death, but more importantly, wants her sister’s ruby slippers, which are now Dorothy’s.  Here are a few movie mistakes to look for while watching “The Wizard of Oz”.

☐ Dorothy and Toto arrive in Oz and meet the Munchkins. During one part of their song and dance routine, they give Dorothy a lollipop and flowers.  The Wicked Witch arrives, and Dorothy can be seen holding both items in some views and just the flowers in others. During some portions of the scene, she’s holding neither.

☐ If you watch Dorothy closely when she starts walking down the yellow brick road, you’ll notice her hair becomes longer by the time she meets the Scarecrow.

☐ Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet the Tin Man when the Wicked Witch of the West arrives. The Wicked Witch of the West throws fire at the scarecrow and disappears. Scarecrow falls to Dorothy’s left while the Tin Man is on her right side.  They stand up a couple moments later and the Tin Man is now on her left while the Scarecrow is on her right.

☐ The Tin Man sits down on a tree trunk. Dorothy’s basket has his oil can, but it can be seen falling out and onto the yellow brick road. In the next view, however, the oil can is back in the basket.

☐ The foursome reach Emerald City and the Cowardly Lion starts a song and dance number. During the scene, the Tin Man makes a crown out of a ceramic flower pot and places it on the Lion’s head. In the next close-up view, the crown has changed position. Also, during this scene, when the guard tells them to go away, the crown falls from the Cowardly Lion’s head and bounces on the ground instead of breaking. Something else to look for-- during the Cowardly Lion’s solo, after the crown has been placed on his head, you can see the white vertical wire behind him that swishes his tail back and forth.

☐ Dorothy, Scarecrow, The Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Toto are walking through the Haunted Forest. The Cowardly Lion is carrying a net and mallet. He’s still carrying them when he tries to run away but in the next view of him, they’re gone.

“The Wizard of Oz” (1939) stars Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, Clara Blandick, Charley Grapewin and Terry the dog. It runs 101 minutes and is rated G.

 

Isla Grey is from Central Virginia and at an early age developed a love of movies.  She shared many Sunday afternoons watching old favorites with her grandmother that included everything from “Gone with the Wind” and “Rio Bravo” to “Titanic” and “The Mummy”.

Working as Bellaonline’s Movie Mistakes editor since 2012 has given Isla the opportunity to indulge in two of her passions—movies and writing.

When Isla isn’t writing or watching movies, most of her time is spent with her ever active daughter and her band of cats.  She also enjoys good music, reading biographies and ghost stories and taking quiet strolls.

Website:  www.islagrey.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/IslaGrey1

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorIslaGrey

ASYLUM HARBOR

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Book Feature and Excerpt: Made in Korea by Sarah Suk

 

 

Netflix’s Start-up meets David Yoon’s Frankly in Love in Sarah Suk’s MADE IN KOREA (On Sale: May 18, 2021), a feel-good romantic comedy about two entrepreneurial Korean-American teens who butt heads, and maybe fall in love, while running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school. Perfect for fans of K-Beauty and Korean pop culture, this sweet #OwnVoices hate-to-love romance speaks honestly to the Asian-American experience, exploring everything from the power of fandom to the pressures of tight-knit immigrant families. Don’t miss this captivating summer debut, perfect for AAPI Heritage Month!

 

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK

There’s nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their school’s most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris.

 

Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parents’ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to “make new friends,” he sees an opportunity—one that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents won’t cover…

 

What he doesn’t realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTY’s biggest competitor.

 

Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in school—all while trying to resist the undeniable spark that’s crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.

 

But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.

Excerpt:

[from pages 51-54]

I pushed through the crowd, ignoring the complaints of the students in line and Charlie calling out behind me.

Amelia was at the front, batting her eyes at Wes as she filled her tiger-striped tote bag with face masks.

A tote bag that said CROWN TIGER in big metallic

letters across the front.

“Oh, hey, Valerie!” Amelia said, spotting me. “Are you a Royal Stripe too?”

“A what?” It was taking all of my control to keep my voice level.

She pursed her lips. “Well, if you don’t know, you obviously aren’t one. It’s the name of Crown Tiger’s fandom.”

“That’s great.” I turned to Wes, who was desperately trying to avoid eye contact with me, even though I was

literally standing right in front of him. How dare he pretend I’m not here? “Hey. Wes Jung. Can I have a word?”

“Oh, hey, Valerie,” he said in an Oh, I didn’t see you there! Kind of way. I wanted to take Amelia’s tote bag

and throw it at him. “Sure. Um, Pauline? Will you be okay on your own for a sec?”

Pauline glanced at me before giving him a nod. The angry, coiling feeling in my stomach grew tighter. Of all

people, why was Pauline Lim helping him? She didn’t even care about beauty products. She’d never shopped

with us once since we started our business.

Wes followed me to the side of the room. The first time we’d met, I thought I’d set him straight. I hadn’t heard

anything otherwise last week, so I thought things were back to normal, as they should be. So why was he back?

And the better question was, why was he back selling face masks?

I stared hard at him, trying to figure him out. He was tall with cool glasses that made me wonder if he really

needed them or if they were just for fashion. With his strong jawline and full lips, he could probably be a model

if he wanted to. He even had that deep, soulful look in his eyes that people loved in models. Ugh. Kristy Lo

was right. He was annoyingly handsome. I shook my head quickly, clearing my thoughts to focus. He kept

rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, like he was nervous around me. As he should

be. He had no idea.

“This, um, this isn’t what it looks like,” he said, looking at me with something like hope. “Can I explain? Please?”

For a second, I considered taking a deep breath and saying yes, fine, go ahead—like an adult would do, like Samantha would probably do. If I tempered my anger and looked at Wes, really looked at him beyond his potentially fake glasses, I could see that he had an air of open honesty to him that made me want to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then I heard Kristy Lo’s voice carry across the band room, exclaiming, “Give me two of everything. I won’t need another face mask for weeks!”

My walls immediately snapped back into place. The tight feeling in my stomach grew into flames. I knew what that fire was. Anger. Pure, unfiltered anger.

“You mean you’re not selling face masks at school and stealing my business?” I said, my voice faux cheerful.

“I’m not stealing—”

“You’re new, so maybe you don’t know how things work around here, but are you aware that you can’t just

sell products at school without the principal’s permission?”

He mumbled something unintelligible. I leaned forward with my hand cupped around my ear. It was a petty

action, and I hated it when Samantha did that kind of thing to me, but I did it anyway.

“What? I can’t hear you.”

His cheeks turned pink as I got closer to him. He glanced down at my mouth and then looked away, mumbling,

“I said I did get the principal’s permission.”

My smile faltered. “Oh? Well, do you also have a teacher mentor? Because you can’t run your own business

at school without a mentor from the faculty.”

“Mr. Reyes,” he said. “Mr. Reyes is my mentor. He said I can use the band room to sell.”

“What?” I blinked fast. It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me. “You . . . you got permission to

start your own K-beauty business?”

“K-pop merch,” Wes said quickly. “It’s different from V&C. Today’s merch just happens to be face masks.”

“And your last sale just happened to be lip balm?” I asked, my voice rising.

He paused for a long moment. “People can still buy from both of us?” he said finally, but it came out as a

question, uncertain and naive.

“We’re high school students. You think we grow money trees in our backyard?” I cried. I glanced at the crowd,

where I spotted Natalie, Amelia, and Lisa Carol, who had been shopping with me since I first opened, gushing

over their new face masks. I turned

back to Wes, gritting my teeth. “And it looks like our buyers do

overlap, whether you think so or not.”

I can’t believe this. It took me years to build up my business, and this new guy thinks he can just waltz

in here and steal all my customers? Who the hell does he think he is? Does he even know anything

about running a business? He looked genuinely upset at how distressed I was, but before he could say anything, Pauline slammed her cash box closed and cried, “That’s it, everybody! We’re all sold out! Thanks for coming.”

I stiffened. I felt a lump rise in my throat. Shit, was I going to start crying? Now? I had to get out of

there. Shouldering past Wes, I ran as fast as I could out of the band room. I heard him call my name, but I

didn’t turn back.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Suk (pronounced like soup with a K) lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she writes stories and admires mountains. When she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the water, taking film photos, or eating a bowl of bingsu. Made in Korea is her first novel. You can visit Sarah online at SarahSuk.com and on Twitter and Instagram @SarahAeliSuk.

 

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Book Feature: The Anatomy of Desire by L.R. Dorn

One of the most intriguing debuts of 2021—A suspenseful, gender-bending reimagining of Theodore Dreiser’s

An American Tragedy, written as a true crime docuseries

 

Read an Excerpt: CRIMEREADS

 

STARRED PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Remarkable debut . . . . Readers will breathlessly await the verdict.”

STARRED LIBRARY JOURNAL: “This riveting mock podcast docudrama ratchets up the suspense as readers glimpse every angle of the story from a 360–degree view.”

WASHINGTON POST: “THE ANATOMY OF DESIRE cruises along with nary a bump in the road.”

 

LR Dorn’s THE ANATOMY OF DESIRE (on sale May 11, 2021) captures the unbridled ambition and dark side of the American dream. In a gender-bending modern reimagining of Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 classic, An American Tragedy, the narrative takes the form of a true crime docuseries with characters speaking through transcripts of recorded interviews.

 

Documentarian Duncan McMillan directs a suspenseful seven-part true crime series: The Three Lives of Cleo Ray. “It’s not enough just to ask questions and listen to the answers. We have to read between the lines to find the truth. Every one of us wants to be heard, but the words we speak are only the first clues. The real meanings often lie behind the words,” he says at the beginning of the series.

 

Cleo Ray is an enormously popular fitness coach and social media influencer.  She moved to LA as Claire but rebranded herself and gained hundreds of thousands of followers, a gorgeous boyfriend, and a glamorous circle of friends.  One summer day, Cleo and a young woman, Beck Alden, set off in a canoe on a quiet, picture-perfect mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, her face cut and bruised, and Cleo is missing. Authorities suspect foul play and news about Cleo's involvement goes viral. Who was Beck and what was the nature of her and Cleo's relationship? Was Beck n infatuated follower who took things too far? If Cleo is innocent, why did she run? Was it an accident? Or murder?  As secrets come to light, it becomes clear just how much Cleo has sacrificed to get to the top-and how far the fall from grace will be. What lies ahead is the trial of the century.

The audio version of THE ANATOMY OF DESIRE will be performed by a star-studded cast including Santino Fontana, Shelby Young , Marin Ireland, JD Jackson, Dan Bittner, Vikas Adam, Gabra Zackman, Fred Berman, Darrell Dennis, Oliver Wyman, Jonathan Davis, Hilary Huber, and Lisa Flanagan.

 

LR Dorn is the pen name for Suzanne Dunn and Matt Dorff. Suzanne grew up in Bucks County, PA, and received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.  They developed their collaboration while working as screenwriters in film and television. Matt is a Los Angeles native and a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. THE ANATOMY OF DESIRE is their debut novel. They live in California.
https://www.lrdorn.com/

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #1 of 2021

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

(NETGALLEY)

It was called "The Titanic of the South." The luxury steamship sank in 1838 with Savannah's elite on board; through time, their fates were forgotten--until the wreck was found, and now their story is finally being told in this breathtaking novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she's shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can't resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking. 

Everly's research leads her to the astounding history of a family of eleven who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who was never found, along with her child. These aristocratic women were part of Savannah's society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions. This is a moving and powerful exploration of what women will do to endure in the face of tragedy, the role fate plays, and the myriad ways we survive the surviving.

(REVIEW COMING SOON)

(NETGALLEY)

One night changed everything.

For Laura and Sandy, one tragic event changed the course of their lives forever.

Now they are the only ones who understand each another, drawn together by the night that changed everything.

But one of them is keeping a secret that could destroy their fragile friendship. Only she knows just how closely their lives are linked.

When the secret is revealed, will their friendship survive? Or will the truth tear them apart?

(REVIEW COMING SOON)

***********

WHAT I'M READING NOW:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love.

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.

Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.

UP NEXT:

I've been working on reading challenges so am not sure what will grab my attention next. I have next years TBR pile chosen already so it may be something off of my Netgalley list. Will have to see what grabs my attention. 

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