Top Dancing Movies

singing-in-the-rain1This summer I replaced my old vinyl flooring for hard wood. The hardest part of the change was putting furniture back on that floor. The floor was calling to me, begging to serve its real purpose in life. Its siren call harassed me until I succumbed. I danced. I rejoiced in the movement, the grace and fluidity coursing from the floor through my body. Ah, to dance.

Dancing is a universal language of heartfelt sentiment. Whether we are the ones doing the dancing or simply watching the dancing, the feelings the dance arouses seem to engrain themselves on our collective memory.
Can you forget how you laughed to see Patrick Dempsey lead the entire high school in the African Anteater Mating Ritual Dance in “Can’t Buy Me Love.” What about when Patrick Swayze danced with Jennifer Grey and lifted her sky-high in “Dirty Dancing”– can you still see her pale pink dress flowing? And if a guy slides into a room wearing nothing but a dress shirt and gym socks? You know it: Tom Cruise dancing in “Risky Business”.
I happen to be a fan of dancing and dancing movies in general. So when I see a dancing film pop up on Netflix and I start wiggling in my seat, my husband groans and indulges me—he knows I have a passion for quirky, off-the-wall movies. That said, here are some movies that make me want to get up and start dancing.

Singing In The Rain—This oldie-but-goodie stars Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor as silent movie stars trying to adjust to the age of “talking films.” A classic Gene Kelly film, this movie is FULL of dancing, from the comedic stunts in “Make them Laugh” to the soft shoeing and jazz in “Broadway Rhythm”.

Shall We Dance?— I feel happy every time I see this 1996 Japanese film. Shohei Sugiyama is a middle aged Japanese businessman who feels caught in the rigid structure of his life. Bucking cultural norms, he decides to jump out on a limb and take a ballroom dance class. Skip the Richard Gere and J.Lo. re-make and see the original.

Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School— A grieving widower finds solace and a second chance at life when he attends a dancing lesson for a dying man. My screen saver is magenta in honor of this movie. Miss Hotchkiss teaches that dance can “exorcise demons, access deep seated emotions and color your life in joyous shades of brilliant magenta that you never knew existed.”

Need a little satire in your life? Pick “Strictly Ballroom”. This Aussie movie follows a young ballroom star with ambition to dance “outside the lines” of traditional ballroom steps. Add an overbearing mom, distant father, over-the-top dance partners and a shy girl, and you have an ugly duckling love story wrapped in a mockery of the prevalent ballroom culture. Now when I hear Cindi Lauper’s “Time After Time” or Doris Day’s “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” I can’t keep my feet from doing the Rhumba.

So pop up some corn this weekend and indulge in a dance flick. I won’t hold it against you if you start dancing in your seat. Be warned, “Dancing is a very powerful drug.” (Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School)

Erica Miller has taught Cooking and Exercise Classes for 12 years. She focuses her dancing passion by choreographing routines for her Zumba classes. Check out Erica’s exercise tips, healthy recipes and Zumba dances on her blog. 

5 Famous Hotels From Films

The Next Big Thing!

Attachment-1My fabulous fellow author, Berk Washburn asked if I’d like to take part in this fun blog chain called ‘THE NEXT BIG THING’. Thanks, Berk – I’m very flattered that you thought of me! It is designed to raise awareness of our work, or work in progress. We do that by answering ten questions about it. We then graciously thank the person who nominated us, and tag other authors whose work could well be that NEXT BIG THING.

Enjoy the answers that are particular to my novel, Dissension. It will be released on February 23. (Only another month! Yay!!!)

What is the working title of your next book?

Dissension, book 1 of the Blood Inheritance Trilogy
Where did the idea come from for the book?

Just my brain. I tend to wander off in my head and think of different scenarios. In this case, I thought of a vampire drinking blood while looking into the eyes of the man she loved, knowing he was repulsed by it. From there, it turned into a book that I had to turn into a trilogy, because my imagination just doesn’t know when to stop. 🙂
What genre does your book fall under?

It straddles over both paranormal romance and urban fantasy.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Michael Ealy would be awesome for Tafari’s character, though Tafari’s skin is several shades darker. I can’t think of who to play Leisha yet, but I can see Hayden Panettiere playing Rinwa. And Bryce Dallas Howard would make a very intimidating Annette.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Vampires and Immortals battle against each other to be the first to find the prophecy child.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

An agency: Jolly Fish Press (love working with these guys!)
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Two years, but I only dabbled with it at that point.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Anita Blake series meets The Bourne Identity meets The Dark Hunter series meets Ghost Walkers series.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always loved reading about vampires. I guess I live in my head so much that it was inevitable for me to make up my own myth of how vampires were created in the first place.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Leisha’s estranged husband is also her mortal enemy. As a vampire, will she be able to kill her immortal husband if they end up battling over the prophecy child?

I’d like to pass the torch to a deserving author, and let her tell you all about her work. I read her book and enjoyed it fully! It’s a different genre than mine, but it’s an easy read and very much worth picking up. 🙂 Her post will bear the same title and will be live shortly. Here she is: Rebecca Rode.

3 Quick Writing Tips

Writing-keyboardYeah, we all know that writing is tough and that you have to put in the hours to see some real improvement. Trial and error isn’t that fun, though; a few tips might work a little better than running around blind. For the impatient out there – yeah, you – here are a few things that you can tweak to make your prose better right away.

SHORTER PARAGRAPHS

This is more of a web-based tip, but it can help you improve more traditional writing as well. The simple reason shorter paragraphs are better for the internet is simple – they read quicker. In a lightning-fast land of Tweets and information overload, it’s vital to grab a reader’s attention and keep a piece moving forward.

Brevity is a general tenant of solid writing, anyway, as most people have a tendency to over explain things. It’s natural to worry if your readers will understand what you’re saying, but have a little faith: drill down as far as you need to, but don’t hold their hand like a child. They’ve been crossing streets by themselves for a while now – you won’t leave them behind when you pick up the pace a little.

If you want to reel in a speeding freight train – or just make people focus on a specific passage – throw in a longer paragraph to break things up. Consistency can lull people into a certain reading rhythm – shock them out of this trance by throwing in something different. A lengthier section will play with their eyes and force them to slow down in order to adjust to the change.

SCRAP THE ADVERBS

This means most things that end in “-ly.” Adverbs slow down your prose and are lazy descriptors. It’s a lovely way to essentially waste a lot of the reader’s time by saying remarkably little. See how awful that was?

Adverbs waste your reader’s time and don’t add anything useful. Much better.

I aim to include no adverbs in the things that I write. Yes, this can be frustrating, as it’s easy to fall back on old standbys like “unfortunately,” “simply” and “actually.” It also might seem like there aren’t any ready replacements for these words. Don’t fret – once you restrict your use of adverbs, you’ll soon find yourself constructing sentences that you never would have written before. Cutting the adverbs might just be the easiest and quickest way to improve your writing, and all it requires is some discipline.

MOVE THE CONCLUSION

I’ve seen a lot of bloggers embrace the five paragraph essay as their primary means of communication. Yeah, this will work, but it’s also boring and lends itself to a distinct “the cat sat on the mat” feel. It smells like the work of a child, not an adult with grown-up ideas and ambitions.

You have to crawl before you can walk, which is why the school system outlines the traditional essay in such great detail. Once you have the five paragraph setup down, though, you can start to play with the format to keep your readers engaged. An article that follows a flexible thread will be much more interesting to people than a paint-by-numbers article.

Ok, you’ll still need a thesis (for the uninitiated, this is the sentence in the intro where you tell the reader what the hell the article they’re reading is about) and some topic sentences. But your essay should grow as you progress through your list of points. Come at your thesis from different angles and end up in a place that’s kind of different than the starting line.

A cool way to do this is to flip the conclusion. In a normal essay, the conclusion will restate the intro in different words. While this is serviceable, it’s also a bit insulting readers and implies that they are too stupid to remember what you said only a few hundred words previous. An ending of this variety is more padding than actual content.

What you can do instead, then, is go somewhere different – but related – as you wrap things up. As an example, this particular article is about some quick writing tips. I’m not going to talk about the NFL or home crafts in the conclusion. But I could do a number of things: talk a little about print and web copy, detail a basic program on how you might implement this stuff or discuss the purpose of writing. What it won’t be, however, is a retread of what I’ve already said – you got that message, you have a working memory and repeating everything is a waste of my time and yours.

This technique leaves the door open for future posts – perhaps you’ll touch on an interesting idea in your final words that warrants a closer look or a dedicated series of articles.

HACKING FOR NON-GEEKS

Change never comes all at once; while there are only three tricks here, it’s not realistic to expect that you’ll internalize them all right away. Therefore, you’d probably be best served integrating a single one into your work over the next few weeks. If you find yourself doing it without thinking too much, you’re ready to move on and try another.

People often believe that craftsmanship is a race. This is a mistake; excellent writers are the product of consistency, not speed or sheer will. It’s not so much that doing the little things is tricky. What you’ll find is that they can be wearing, because there will always be an urge to revert to lazier habits. Posting an article without re-reading? Easy. Using tons of adverbs? I can think of hundreds screaming to be let loose from their cage right now.

You’re not a writer unless you wake up every day and do the things that a writer does. That means writing crap and struggling to explain the ideas in your head. It means nailing it one time in ten and then realizing you could have done a hell of a lot better.

You wake up, set a word count, remember what it is you need to improve and then do the damn work. If you do that, congratulations – you’re a writer. No magic, no fanfare, no parades, no press releases.

Enjoy your stay. Because when everything coalesces, there’s no feeling that’s quite comparable.

Nick Johansen is the owner of tinderboxed, where he writes about creative entrepreneurship with irreverent, colorful glee. When he’s not doing business stuff, he pens novels and short fiction. His first book, Only Coyotes Die Here, is available on Amazon.

5 Largest Geek Conventions of 2012


  • In today’s societal day and age, being a geek has started to become less of a “bad” thing, and turning into more of a good thing. As someone once said “The geek shall inherit the Earth.” The number of geeks and nerds can be seen by the numbers of people who attend the Sci-Fi and Anime conventions around America. Each year there are four major conventions that are held in different parts of America, their attendance steadily growing as they continue to thrive. Listed below are the top four conventions that are held annually.

    • San Diego Comic Con

    The San Diego Comic Con, or Comic Con for short, has been around since the 70’s and has grown into the largest comic book convention in America. Their number of attendees has now reached beyond the 100,000 mark and into the 130,000s. This convention features an exhibit hall that is over 460,000 square feet, more than 600 events total, workshops and educational programs, and not to mention games for people of all ages. Also featured are tons of vendors, selling pretty much everything you can think of from comics to plushies.

    • Atlanta Dragon*Con

    Dragon*Con was created in 1987 and has grown into one of the largest general geek conventions on the East Coast. This conventions attendance has grown to over 52,000 plus people over the years. It spans 5 hotels, and features over 3500 hours of interesting things to attend such as seminars, artist and actor panels, demonstrations, as well as other workshops for subjects such as art and writing. Many members of the geek fandom attend this convention dressed up in costumes, otherwise known as cosplaying. Many characters can be seen here such as Batman, Superman, Star Wars Characters, and even RoboCop.

    • Los Angeles Anime Expo

    The Anime Expo was created in the 90’s in Northern California and has grown from its original 1,000 plus attendees into a massive 40,000 plus number of attendees. Some of the features included in this four day fun-filled even include guest panels, a huge arcade, concerts, and even table-top gaming such as Dungeons and Dragons, as well as other games like Munchkin and Fluxx. The biggest attractions at this event aren’t the guest panels or the gaming, but instead are the Masquerade cosplay competition and the Anime Music Video competition, both of which can get extremely extravagant.

    • Baltimore Otakon

    Otakon was formed in 1994 and has grown exponentially from its initial attendance of 350 attendees to numbers over 18,000 attendees. This convention is named after a popular video game character from the game called Metal Gear Solid as well as a play on words using the word convention and the Japanese word for anime fan “otaku”. This convention has usually set its focus mainly on anime and related subjects. However, in 2012 Otakon has officially made the announcement that they have made a partnership with a up and coming gaming studio.

    If you decide to become one of these amazing conventions attendees, make sure to bring a camera. There is nothing like the feeling of getting a picture of Batman fighting Rainbow Bright, or any other silly combinations you may happen across.

    Featured images:
    •  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: depositphoto

    Richard Smith, a freelance writer, recommends Epic Displays if you are in the market for a display set-up for your next convention or trade show. Be sure to check out their website for more information.