By n
ow you probably have realized that nothing is sacred with me. or at least, nothing is secret. Accomplishments and failures alike, I blurt them all out, announce them on facebook and twitter, sometimes in the middle of a crowded supermarket. I practically accosted the lady at Fed Ex blurting out, "Do you know what's on this flash drive? It's my book that I'm sending to my publisher." You think I'm kidding? I really am that manically obnoxious. Why the hell not, you only live once. Better to burn out than to fade away.So yes, I make scenes in real life. It's part of the reason I was voted most dramatic in high school, even though I was never in a play. I prefer to make my books and in real life scenarios reap smiles or complete bursts of uncontrollable laughter. I will do almost anything for a laugh. I'm actually so programmed to this I often get laughter when I'm not gunning for it. I'm a goof, and a snarky human being, as long as everyone's happy, it's all good.
But we can't always be in good spirits, can we? I don't deal with other emotions well at all. Most eventually get churned out as anger. I don't do sappy or sentimental well either. In writing or in real life. Want someone to help celebrate some good news? I'll be there with bells on. Need a shoulder to cry on? Later alligator. It's not that I don't care (If I don't I'll be sure to let you know ;-) more that I don't know how to show I care without looking like a great big tool, so I freeze.
To put it bluntly, I'm emotionally bound-up.
In books, this can lead to seemingly cold heart-ed characters that over think and act like robots. Even the ones who aren't robots.
So what's the laxative for this? How do I add more fiber to my emotional make up?
Immersion therapy. Watching An Affair to Remember, or Steel Magnolias always gets the old tear ducts producing. Me listening to Kieth Urban's Memories of Us is a twelve Kleenex event. Reading Where the Red Fern Grows, or any other book where the dog dies equals fricking waterworks. You can kill all the people you like and I won't flinch(Yes, Sparky, I'm looking at you,) but when a dog dies, I'm a goner.
So here's what I want to know. What books/ movies / songs do you recommend to produce those much needed tears to keep everyone around me thinking I really am human?
13 comments:
Movies: Steel Magnolias, My Dog Skip, and I heard Marley and Me is pretty sad, so I haven't seen it yet.
Love Steel Magnolias! Old Yeller. Gah, I still can't watch that one. Glory (of course that one's about the Civil War). What was that movie that came out a couple years ago with Angelina Jolie and that hot, dark-haired British actor? Beyond Borders? OMG, I was a mess. I watched that thing while I was 7 months pregnant with my first baby and I walked out of there completely horrified. Barely slept for a week. Truly disturbing.
Amelia, totally agree about Steel Magnolias. Not when Julia Roberts kicks but when Sally Field loses it after the funeral. The way she just went off like that really gets to me.
I'm terrified to watch Marley and Me, I might never regain control!
Kaylea, I watched that movie when I was preggers too but nothing doing. I also watched Passions of the Christ and Cold Mountain, both of which made me break down into a sobbing heap. I should not be allowed to watch movies when gestating a child, it gets messy.
I'm no help here, I'm not much of a crier. I totally agree with you about Sparky. Rather than sad, he makes me feel manipulated.
Don't get me started on Sparky and his rant against "trashy romance novelists".
I'm the same way, Jen. I used to be only able to cry at movies. Otherwise, it was more like Hulkstress SMASH. Especially if someone made me feel something I didn't want to. I used to make my husband miserable when I'd miss him. Stupid, but there it is. LOL.
The dark headed guy with Jolie was Clive Owen. If anyone was interested. I liked him in Shoot 'Em Up.
As I've gotten older, if I know something is going to make me cry, I don't watch it. Life is hard enough without looking for reasons to sit in the corner with with a plastic spork trying to open a vein.
But since you asked *ahem*
Songs
Have you heard Johnny Cash's rendition of NIN's HURT? He knows pain like Trent Reznor never has. Each word drips with suffering rather than angst.
Thrash Unreal's Against Me. Yeah, it's a little bit teeny bopperish, but man, it was me. For a long time. Not the junkie part, but the rest of it. It sucked. A lot.
Books
Elizabeth Lowell's Untamed, Enchanted, and Forbidden. I cry every time I read those books. And when I do reread them, I always do all three. Even though I've read them a million times, sometimes I still wonder if the hero is going to be in time to save his lady love. There's so much sacrifice, pain and redemption in these books. LOVE THEM.
Susan Kay's Phantom- It's the best telling of Phantom of the Opera ever. I bawl every time I read that one too.
Movies
I don't know if these are still the same for me, but when I was in HS, Last of the Mohicans did it every time. I loved how everyone had to die for them to be together. Oh yeah, suffer.
Now, don't laugh, but March of the Penguins. I'll never forgive Disney for this one.
I have had a man's brain matter splatter on my uniform and I stayed and worked my shift, but dead baby penguins make me bawl like a little girl.
Oh, and uh... I was in Steel Magnolias in HS. Can you guess who I was cast as? LOL.
I ALWAYS cry during "28 Days" with Sandra Bullock - the part where the sisters are having that final heart to heart.
Also, Lacuna Coil are some of my favourite music to listen to when I'm in a dark mood and/or to get me in a dark mood for writing ;) The Smashing Pumpkins too - their music is often both sad and romantic.
I'm no help. everything makes me cry lately! Especially laundry. ;)
who on earth is Sparky????
Nicholas "I don't write romance" Sparks.
Saranna: birds of a feather, eh? Let me guess "I'm not as sweet as I used to be"? ;-)
Trisha: Never heard of Lacuna Coil, I'll have to check them out!
{{{Liane}}} See this is why I suck at the tender stuff. If you need an ass kicked, I'm right there for you. All I can think to say is Love you and praying for the best possible outcome. It seems so inadequate though.
Karlene: What Gail said. Nicholas Sparks. Another NC author and A#1 Arrogant Tool. He gets off on tragedy and thinks his only peers are Earnest Hemingway types. I don't think I've publicly told him to lick my left one yet this year. Have to remedy that.
Here's the link to a summary of Sparky at his most Arrogant, in case anyone missed it. Not only did he puff himself up, he slammed another author in the process. So not cool. If I ever meet him I will knee him in the 'nads.
http://www.laineygossip.com/Nicholas_Sparks_Miley_Cyrus_interview_with_USA_Today__1apr10.aspx
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