2020 was eleventy billion months long. I barely remember most of what I consumed, but I think I managed to keep a decent list going here on my blog. It’s by no means comprehensive. I bet you I’m leaving off a book, a movie, or a performance that really made me flail! I’m not going… Read More Mala’s Best of 2020 Pop Culture Round-Up
It doesn’t feel like five years. It feels like five minutes. Like I’m in between the two shattering calls from my brother that changed everything. “Dad had a heart attack.” “He’s gone…Mala, he’s gone.” I had to change my brother’s assigned ringtone eventually. For years afterward, every time he rang me, I was catapulted back… Read More Like Sands Through the Hourglass
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about characterization and plotting on soaps—as kind of an expansion on a Twitter thread I wrote back in 2017. When it comes to most kinds of fiction writing, there are “plotters” and there are “pantsers.” A plotter outlines and diagrams every beat, every decision, that goes into creating a… Read More Soap Writing 101: Plotting, Pantsing, and Pretty Little Liars
A few months before my birthday last year, I composed a lofty post with 40 Things To Do When I Turn 40. Now, here I am facing down 41 and realizing that I never completed that list. There were 14 things undone! So, this year, I’m giving myself another challenge: Knock out those 14 items AND complete… Read More New Year, New-ish Goals
Angelus: No weapons… no friends… no hope. Take all that away and what’s left? Buffy: Me. -Buffy the Vampire Slayer Figuring out who we’re meant to be can be a lifelong process. I’ve spent years propelling myself around like a pinball, batted between this gig and that gig. A few months ago, I considered getting… Read More Becoming, Part Two
Forty. Damn. I can honestly say that I didn’t think I’d ever get to this milestone. (And it’s still more than a month away, so maybe I need to knock on some wood!) I’ve been trying to think of how to celebrate the Big 4-O and discarding plans at every turn. International travel? Who has… Read More 40 Things To Do When I Turn 40
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the campaign for “the Internet’s Boyfriend” Tom Hiddleston as the new James Bond. For an actor, there’s no doubt that the opportunity to play Bond is next level. It’s a long-running, wildly successful, franchise. You go from stolid period dramas to a blockbuster paycheck. Everybody knows your name.… Read More Tom Hiddleston as Bond? Paging Dr. No!
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