Writing blog
A terrorist, armed with 3 guns and multiple rounds of ammunition, invaded my daughter’s home. He was not an Islamist extremist or White-Supremacist or schizophrenic—just an ordinary psychopath and a “good friend”. She tried to escape through the nearest door with her 9-month old baby in her arms but she was shot multiple times. She was pronounced dead at the scene. And her baby, wounded in the wrist, was found like the fictional character Dexter crawling in her mother’s blood.
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My mother’s oldest brother died of a self-inflicted gunshot to his heart. “He took off and carefully folded the new clothes he had put on just as carefully only a short time before, sat on the edge of his bed, and with his still strong left hand pulled the trigger that sent a single bullet cleanly through his heart. The coroner told us later that he had died even before he fell back upon the bed.” Published in The New York Times in 1977.
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Movie Critic Dorri Olds is a Manhattan-based award-winning freelance writer who was born obsessed with movies and celebrities. She’s written for a variety of publications including The New York Times and The Jewish Daily Forward and is a weekly contributor to Petside. Olds sees a dizzying number of movie screenings, interviews A-List actors and is a member of the exclusive organization American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA). You may contact Dorri with your comments and questions.
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Devan Sipher, wedding columnist for The New York Times, has written his first novel, ‘The Wedding Beat.’ It is a humorous romantic chicklit book about a guy who writes a wedding column for a big newspaper.
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Woody’s attitude regarding paparazzi seems much healthier than, say, Alec Baldwin’s. Alec Baldwin allegedly punched Daily News photographer Marcus Santos. Here also is a photo of Alec wearing a bedspread over his head. During an interview with Marcus Santos he said that Alec Baldwin came at him “like a raging bull.”
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If Woody hadn’t set the bar so high, critics of his new movie wouldn’t be as niggling. Alec Baldwin summed things up, “Woody Allen’s less successful efforts are far better than most other films you’ll see.” So, while it doesn’t have the magical intrigue of Midnight in Paris, Woody’s zany humor throughout To Rome With Love makes it well worth schlepping to the theater for.
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On June 18th at 9pm (EST), HBO premieres the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival documentary ‘One Nation Under Dog’ which explores the passion and devotion that dog lovers have for their furry best friends. It covers many complex issues about dogs and dog owners in our society—from dog bites, dog cloning to dog cemeteries and pet loss grief groups.
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ASJA American Society of Journalists and Authors June 2012 newsletter is out! Read the article about the annual conference Writing Boot Camp Recap.
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May 2012 ASJA Monthly cover article Writer’s Voice with quotes from writers Gina Wendkos, Sally Wendkos Olds, Steve Geng, Bruce Frankel, Dani Shapiro, Susan Shapiro, Janine Latus, Harvey Shapiro, Howard Fast, Robert Gottlieb, Blaise Pascal and agent Ryan Fischer-Harbage
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Movie Review: God Bless America. Stir in a bit of Michael Douglas in Falling Down, a pinch of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, and a dash of odd pairing—think Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in Leon: The Professional—and you’ve got something that tastes like this Bobcat Goldthwait flick.
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