So, we decided that over this Thanksgiving break, we would be having a Norman Reedus Movie Marathon. We began with Dark Harbor. Which, as an added bonus, featured Alan Rickman as well. So, it’s about this couple that stops to pick up this dude on the side of the road and he’s all beaten up and whatnot, which, I’m pretty sure I would avoid. Then again, when a free Norman Reedus slaps you in the face, you don’t turn that down. So. A movie with Alan Rickman AND Norman Reedus? The only thing that could make that movie any better would be…well, actually, the one thing that could make that movie better is ACTUALLY IN THE MOVIE. So you need to watch it and see for yourselves exactly what had me and my sister literally screaming out loud. (With glee!)

Then, we watched The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow, which had a lot of Reedus but sadly, nothing to do with The Messengers, (which was pretty scary.) Norman plays John, a man intent on saving his family and his farm, only to be undone by the hellish scarecrow he puts up on to scare away his crows. After that it’s all pretty much down hill, but really, who cares, because…hey. Norman Reedus running through a cornfield. Who needs anything other than that? There were even some sexytimes in the movie, though of the disturbing sort and I will admit it, I shouted “WHAT THE…!” at one point, but overall, a fun movie to watch if you…you know. Are enamored of the Reedus. As we were.

From there we went directly into The Boondock Saints, which, hello. Guns and more guns and some drinking and some smoking and some other stuff. This is actually one of the first things I saw Mr. Reedus in, lo those many years ago, and honestly I thought had an Irish accent for like, forever. Which was sort of disappointing when I realized he didn’t. Until I realized it wasn’t disappointing because he’s awesome no matter what his accent. Anyway, I love the Saints and have not yet seen Boondock II because it’s not on streaming and darnit, I don’t have disc service any more.

Next up was Tough Luck.

And can I say…I loved it. Carnival? Grifters? Norman Reedus doing slight-of-hand (again?!?) And the twists and turns…well, it was quite a pleasant surprise. Carny!Norman Reedus is delightful.

This is the movie in which we discovered the sleight-of-hand isn’t something from just one film, which made us both believe that if one should need a quarter, Norman Reedus will probably pull one out from behind your ear. No problem. Also. He smokes a lot.

And then, finally, with time running out, we watched The Crime. Featuring nekkid Harvey Keitel, which I’m not gonna lie, is not hateful. And also, sad, mourning and vengeful Norman Reedus. Who smokes a lot. And has a dog! And resists the wiles of some woman who is all “YOU WILL BE MINE!!! NO MATTER WHAT!” and while I can’t really blame her for the, you know, *wanting* part of it, her methods of securing le Reedus are…well. I haven’t finished watching the movie yet because we had to stop with 22 minutes left, but I sure hope she gets what’s coming to her, and it’s NOT more Norman Reedus. This is the movie in which my sister said “NORMAN REEDUS CAN DRIVE A TAXI.” But you know, then we were like, well, no shit, he’s NORMAN FUCKING REEDUS. He can drive a fucking taxi! He can do ANYTHING!

And finally, the last thing we figured out about Norman Reedus (other than he’s never just Norman, you know, he’s NORMANREEDUS) is that he’s alway cut up or bruised or covered in blood or punched in the face or something in every movie. We haven’t seen a movie yet in which there is no injury done to him. Which is sad and also unbearably sexy, and of course, we know he’s not REALLY beaten up all the time, but still. Guh.

So, that was my weekend. One long delightful blur of Norman Reedus movies, and the best part, the very best part, is that I haven’t even watched them all. PLUS I have the new Walking Dead to watch (spoil me on this week’s episode, and I will cut you) and that is ALWAYS fantastic.

So, in short, I am enamored of Norman Reedus, enabled by my sister and my friend Jen, who both appreciate him as much as I do. If not more.

Dear Norman Reedus. Thank you for being born.

sincerely,

M

PS– his haiirrrrrrrrrrrr. Oh. God. His hair. *killzmedead*

I’m working on a project without a contract or a deadline (other than self-imposed) and this has allowed me to be a bit of a slacker. But see, I’m using Scrivener to write it, and Scrivener has this awesome feature which allows you to put in your deadline, what days you’ll write and when to reset your count. Then it will give you a target of how many words per day you need to write.

I had a target of 4,000 something…NOT undoable. But I didn’t, for one reason or another, do it.

Today, the target says I have to write 10451 words in order to get back on track.

Umm…well, I already know I have plans for this evening which will prevent any sort of night time catch up (not to mention that I’m braindead at night now. Summer’s my time for late nights.)

So what I’m going to do today is turn off the internet. And write. All day. Starting in approximately 4 minutes from the time I’m typing this, until at least 3 pm, when I’ll be interrupted (and hopefully not before.)

I will drink coffee. And Coke Zero. I will eat carrots and hummous. I will listen to music very loudly. I will go to the bathroom a million times (see the coffee/Coke Zero sentence.)

But, I will write.

Now, I know I have the “luxury” of doing this as my full time job, which is awesome and all that, but even if you do NOT…you still need to write. Those of you doing NaNoWriMo understand this goal setting thing of a certain amount of words per day = a total amount by a certain time. I think it’s something like 1667 words a day? Or summat?

I’m pushing today for 10451.

Wish me luck. Even if I don’t make that amount, and it’s entirely likely I will not, since that’s a brain buster for me…but then again, it’s entirely possible that I WILL do it. But I’ll be brain busted tomorrow…However, I’m behind, I’m going to work.

I have no appointments until late today. I have no pupil dilation. I have no errands to run, bills to pay, books to balance. I have nothing to do but get down to it, and that’s what I’m going to do.

Also. This.

Just…this.

Please tell us all a little bit about your latest album!

I’m so excited about it.  The new record is called ‘Light the Love.’  It’s a 5 song collection of tunes that I wrote over the last 10 years that have never found their way onto another record.  What’s so beautiful and surprising is that it all hangs together nicely.   There is still a journey.

‘Light the Love’ puts my whole career in a new perspective.  I realize that my message as a songwriter is very much about self-actualization and it always has been.  My first record, ‘Race the Light’ is about finding one’s power in the wake a devastating, life-changing break-up.  ‘Never Was’ has nothing to do with love, but is about the demons that are born by the struggle of balancing one’s dreams with the reality of the world.  It’s about being aware of the potential, the fire that lives inside of you, but being terribly afraid that you will never truly be able to access it.

‘Light the Love’ is about making peace with those demons… Accepting them as part of your life and your path and not letting them actually impede motion or damper possibility.  It’s about lighting your fire and letting it burn.  It’s about Light coexisting with Dark.

It was produced by George Stanford, who is one of my very favorite singer-songwriters (Listen to his songs Lemonade or Don’t Be the One and try not to love them.)

How long have you been playing/singing and recording music?

I’ve been singing all of my life.  I picked up the guitar when I was 17 and started writing songs.  I recorded a little album on my brother’s 4 track cassette recorder in my basement and gave it to all my friend.  They encouraged me to start playing live, so I began a Friday night residency at a coffee house in my home town.  I recorded my first studio album in 2004.

How long did you work on this album?

George and I recorded it in his home studio over the course of 2 years.  We got together every couple of months for 3-4 hours at a time.  Every other record I’ve done has been a laborious process – rewarding, but long… 12 hour sessions, every day in a row until it’s done.  With ‘Light the Love’ we took a very casual approach. Each song got the chance to breathe and I think it worked out really well.  George and I found our groove as time went on and the last songs we did together are the strongest.  It was worth it to switch up the process, even though it wasn’t a conscious choice… just sort of how it happened.

    Please tell us a little bit about how different (or not) this album is from your previous albums.

In terms of sound, it kinda splits the difference between my two previous records (I’m not including Sad Britney, because it is it’s own thing.)  ‘Race the Light’ has big production.  ‘Never Was’ has very minimal production.  ‘Light the Love’ finds a balance between the two.  It’s basically the songs as I perform them live with touches of magic here and there to elevate them.  There is something eerie going on in a lot of the songs and I respond really well to it as a listener.  The biggest difference is George’s touch.  I’m playing the acoustic and I do a little bit of electric in ‘Hard To Breathe.’  I think I played a shaker once or twice, as well.  But the rest is George and he’s a genius.

It’s the only record of mine where I don’t feel insecure listening.

What’s your favorite song on the new album?

My favorite song on the album is ‘Light the Love.’  I love it so much that I forget that it’s me.  I turn it all the way up and let myself be taken away.

  Tell us a bit about your musical influences.

My influences are mostly women.  When I started writing songs, I was listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, and Ani DiFranco.  It’s probably where my heightened emotion comes from.  Now I listen to a lot of softer people.  I’m mad into Bon Iver and James Blake.  I went through a serious Iron and Wine phase, although I’m on a break with them/him.  Ryan Adams is my favorite singer-songwriter, though I doubt you can hear that in my music.

Where can listeners learn more about you and how to buy your music?

I’ve got a website – www.chrisdallman.com.  I’m on Twitter (@chrisdallman) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/chrisdallman)  I’m an open book. As far as purchasing, you can buy CDs on my website or digital download everywhere they are sold – iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, Emusic, Rhapsody, Spotify.  I hope people buy them so I can make another.

    Any live shows coming up?

I have the EP release show on September 26th in Los Angeles, but the truth is that as much as I love touring I can’t seem to pull it off financially.  Every time I’ve done it, I’ve gone into great debt.  I hope to get to the east coast soon for a few pop-up shows, but, unless my audience grows and people start buying my music as opposed to downloading it illegally, I have to rely on other means to get my live show out there.

Ustream is a great resource.  I haven’t done one in a month or so because I’ve been so crazed with making a living and getting the new record out there, but I will be doing them periodically to connect with my fans all over the world.  Basically, I set up my webcam in my living room and play a show.  It’s not the same as being in the room, but people seem to like it and I have a lot of fun.  My cats sometimes make an appearance.  I have 4 felines and I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so the odds are good   Sometimes I announce the web shows ahead of time and sometimes I am in the mood and do a set with a moment’s notice.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Christopher Dallman on Amazon.com

Find him on Bandcamp.

AND excitement! One lucky commenter today will WIN Christopher’s latest album, Light the Love! Leave a comment below and one winner will be drawn at random by midnight, Sept. 26, 2011. Good luck!

Music, in particular. I try to include acknowledgments or dedications or track lists in all my books to give the reader some idea of what I was listening to while I wrote the book, and to give the artists who gave me so much inspiration some support. And, if the opportunity arises, I have no problem telling the musicians that their music inspired me, and that they’re given a shout out in the front of the book — or even giving them a copy of the book if they seem interested. I mean — just because I love their music doesn’t mean they would love my book, but I figure it would still be a little kick to see your name in the front of it, you know.

It’s no poem written in my own blood on paper I wove from my own hair or anything,  but still, they might like it. (Maybe even better…!)

And seriously, it’s absolutely no secret that I get inspiration from other sources like actors and movies and books and stuff, too. TV shows. Stuff like that.

But in those instances, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER give a book I wrote that was inspired by a real person to that person. Or even mention that he/she was the inspiration for a certain character, ESPECIALLY if the book is a sexy one (which at this point, most of them are!!)

Why?

Because there’s a huge difference between someone’s WORK inspiring me to write something, and that person being the mental image I have of the hero, or whatever. And I don’t think any actor out there would be surprised to know they inspire fantasies or thoughts, it would be supremely uncomfortable to actually face the person and say “hey, I wrote this super sexy, graphic novel, and you were basically the face I thought of when I wrote it.”

Because…even though the books are NOT ME and the heroine is NOT ME…that is usually what people connect to.

Because honestly, even when I’ve told people their MUSIC inspired me, some of them get a little giggle or a wink-wink nudge-nudge and say “ah, so I’m your inspiration” or some such thing, which leaves me sputtering and stuttering and red-faced, because…erm…ahem…erm…

It’s just fiction. Ya know?

(I mean, that person very well might have inspired me by virtue of their playing music and singing and stuff, but that’s totally different from being the HERO in the story! And me being the heroine.)

The reason I’m thinking about this is because I have an upcoming novel which is probably the most wish-fulfillment of any book I’ve ever written. The heroine is not me — she has issues I don’t have, including something wrong with her brain that sends her back in time to meet up with a guy she particularly admires from some old movies…(Oh, if only, right?!) — and she’s not me in so many, many ways. But what happens to her, and the novel itself, rose entirely out of late-night lust sessions with a friend of mine in which we swooned over a certain person and I wondered what would happen if I COULD go back in time…

BANG SHANG A LANG, muthafuckas! Bang shang a fecking lang.

But here’s the thing…

I will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER tell that person he was the total inspiration for the book. And I totally could, he’s not out of my reach, all it would take is a couple keystrokes and I could spill my virtual guts and reveal all my secrets. But the fact is — it’s still just fiction, I made everything up — it is, after all a TIME TRAVEL book, for crying out loud. And who knows, maybe he’d get a kick out of being the reason why I wrote a book I think is one of my favorites, simply because it was so easy and so much freaking fun. (And the research, oh, god, the research was tremendously…erm…invigorating.)

Because at the end of the day, fantasies are personal, and because I write sexy books, some people assume that what I write in them is about me. Or my fantasy, or what I’ve done or would like to do, or approve of, or whatever. And the fact is, sometimes that’s true and sometimes it’s not. But ultimately, none of it’s real, it’s all fiction, I’m not my characters even when they have bits and pieces of me inside them (both the dudes and the ladies, ‘cuz that’s just how it works). So because of that, I will never reveal to my inspiration just how much he actually inspired me for the book. Never. Never, never.

Because…what if he didn’t like it?!!!!

Musicians — no problem. I use music to write all the time and listen to so much wonderful music, I want the people who make it to know how their work’s inspired mine. I hope they like knowing what they created helped to create something else. I hope they get a little kick out of seeing their name and songs in the front of the books.

But telling someone he inspired my hero? Feels too personal.

M

IT IS LIKE ACID IN MY MOUTH!

I’d ask someone to save me, but frankly, I kinda like being killed.

On the one hand, I’m sort of consumed by the pretty, pretty, but on the other…I just don’t know. It’s a little too soft rock for my general musical tastes (though I love boys playing guitars, that’s more like folk or acoustic than soft rock) and the video is…

It’s manipulating me, that’s what it is!

DAMN YOU BARROWMAN with those pretty eyes and that pretty smile and that sexy fireplace!

M

WOOOOOOOO!!!!

Blood, guts, harsh language, full frontal male nudity! YEAH! Love the dialogue. Love the visuals. Love so much about it!

But one thing.

I totally get the visual appeal of the gladiators. I mean, hello, hotbodies! But the smell! OMG they must’ve smelled SO BAD!!!!! And please, I know that people did smell bad back then, but those Roman ladies bathed in milk, they used perfume, they at least bathed. Those gladiators, are all sweaty and dirty and bloody and blech!

So, while I’m thoroughly enjoying the show, loving it, in fact…I just can’t get behind all this “OMG I MUST TO MAKE TEH MONKEYLOVE WITH TEH CHAMPION!”  I sort of just laugh and crinkle my nose when the ladies get all hotsy totsy for the gladiators.

Though I mean, yeah, I get it. They’re hot. But stinky!!!!

I’d make mine wash first.

M

*loves*

WARNING: NSFW

And this:
She was what?
Oh.