OK, it might seem silly to give people a guideline on what to watch/read/listen to when you’re feeling down or stressed, or you need to cope with something trying. Indulge me, take a look around these pages, and then, indulge yourself.
Besides being a fan of all things entertainment, I have actually studied, reviewed and recapped quite a few forms of the Entertainment medium. If you’d like to go check out my work, at Blogcritics and Cinema Sentries, please do. But come right back now, or I’ll have to go all Jack Bauer on your ass!
Doing this kind of writing IS work, but it’s been fun as well. I think the earliest piece I did was a book review of Joe Finder‘s The Company Man. Have you heard of Finder? (Dude’s been on the New York Times bestseller list quite often.) I had not, but I certainly follow his work now. It was fun getting the advance reader copies (ARC) before they hit the streets. And if you ever saw the movie High Crimes with Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Jim Caviezel, and Amanda Peet, well he wrote the novel! Same goes with 2013’s Paranoia starring Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford and Amber Heard.
I have also sat with the press folks at a couple of live concerts, been invited to cover a red carpet TV p
remiere in New Orleans, and was short-listed by Fox for a London trip contest. I think I’ve got that screen shot around here somewhere. If you look close, you can see my 50 word submission on — something — about the show 24. I can’t quite remember what the topic was, but I know that I wrote this at our family weekend at Loon Mountain, and Tom was just starting to get sick.
I’m not sure I was even aware that I was on their website at first, and definitely didn’t realize I was supposed to be campaigning for votes. I know I had made some half-hearted attempts to procure a passport, (in case I actually won the trip) but Tom’s issues quickly became priority. Stuff that was going on with him was so scary, I couldn’t concentrate on much else.
I do remember a wee bright spot while I was still working on reviews, and going slowly. During this time I often felt like I was moving through molasses, weak against the thick currents of stress and worry. I know I let people down by not finishing these works on time, but mostly everyone understood.
I had to contact the PR/Management people for Nikki Sixx as I was reviewing his book, The Heroin Diaries, a Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. (Sixx was the frontman for Mötley Crüe) I needed to say that the review was going to be late, after the street date.
I can’t find original email response, but paraphrasing, it went something like this: “Nikki doesn’t want to put extra stress on you, just do what you need to do, and best wishes to your son.”
So, I think that sort of brings this full circle.
Bottom line, there are lots of ways to cope and find sanity, a little escapism and/or education is a good plan.