“Cuando los lagartijos corren.”

When I was young (I can’t remember exactly how young), I borrowed my older sister’s copy of Tiger Eyes. I fell in love and never ended up giving the book back.

“A 17 year-old girl sets out on a journey from heartbreak and confusion to transformation as she discovers love and life after tragedy in ‘TIGER EYES.’” [Tiger Eyes Movie FB info]

I’ve read the story so many times and with each read I would feel just as connected to the characters and just as touched by their stories as I did the first time.

I can think of a number of reasons why I might have related to Tiger Eyes, but the fact is that it became very important to me.

I felt (in the way that readers do) that Davey (the main character) would have been my close friend. Wolf (the other main character)…well, I loved Wolf as I suspect many others did and as I suspect I still will when I reread the book as I intend to a.s.a.p

I remember being 11 or 12 and finding a tiger’s eye stone in a store and HAVING to purchase it.

In my last year of elementary school and my first year of high school, many of my art class projects were somehow related to lizards and many of them incorporated or were inspired by the phrase “Cuando los lagartijos corren” – When the lizards run. It’s a meaningful line in the book. It always stuck with me. To this day, it’s one of the first things I recall when I think of the story.

I still have that copy of Tiger Eyes. It sits on my shelf beside my bed with other treasured books.

So obviously, when I heard a Tiger Eyes movie was being made, I was beyond excited.

The film adaptation of the coming-of-age tale Tiger Eyes is co-written by Blume and her son, Lawrence Blume, who is also directing. “For years and years people would tell me they wanted to do something but they never know what they wanted to do,” Judy told Entertainment Weekly last year. “I wanted someone to feel passionately about it.”

“I’m embarrassed to say it, but every time I see the movie I cry my eyes out,” said Judy Blume of the movie.

Starring Arrow’s Willa Holland (Kaitlin Cooper — you in there, girl??) as Davey Wexler, a 15-year-old whose mom moves their family from New Jersey to New Mexico after her husband/Davey’s father’s murder, and Tatanka Means as Wolf, a young man she meets in the canyon and is bitchy to at first but then they become bff — and maybe something a little more. [Jezebel]

The trailer for the movie has now come out and I’ve watched it. I cried. Perhaps if you don’t know the story, it won’t seem very emotional. But if you know the book, even the short glimpses of storyline are enough to wrench your heart.

I couldn’t be more excited to see this movie. And I’m sure I’ll end up owning it and really hope that I’ll end up treasuring it as much as my copy of the book.

I’ll just be sure to keep a box of tissues beside me every time I watch it.

“Life is a good adventure.”

Want to find out more about the movie and follow all of the developments?
Check out the Tiger Eyes movie website.
Follow the Tiger Eyes movie on Twitter.
‘Like’ the Tiger Eye movie on Facebook.

In theaters, Video On Demand, and iTunes June 7th, 2013.

The Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA) – of which I’m proudly a member – is kicking off its fundraising for this year’s count and they’re looking for your help.

From CWILA:

Right now, we don’t have enough funds to administer our Count for 2012, but your financial support can make the difference.  Please spread the word.

Who we are

CWILA is a non-profit group of 350 writers, critics, visual artists and academics devoted to working for better, more equitable critical culture in Can Lit. Alongside our work in feminism and the literary arts, CWILA members are active in arts curation and advocacy, environmentalism, queer rights, indigenous rights, and other political issues.  We are in the process of incorporating federally as a non-profit and applying for charitable status.

Do you know of anyone whose work and values align with CWILA’s? Please encourage them to join and support us.

Our organization has three main goals: 1) to track statistics on gender representation in reviewing; 2) to bring relevant issues of gender, race and sexuality into our national literary conversation; and 3) and to create a network supportive of the active careers of female writers, critics and their literary communities.

Our major projects

Our major projects include the annual count, the Critic-in-Residence program, interviews with women in Can Lit, a forthcoming program designed to connect critics with under-recognized books published by small-press publishers, and a national conference on critical culture to be held at UBC in the fall (funding dependent).  We have received a small grant from the Institute for Gender, Race, and Social Justice (GRSJ) at UBC to create a research network but we still need your help.

Our impact

On June 13, 2012, we published our findings at www.cwila.com and within 24 hours the website went viral, with over 8,000 unique visitors in the first month, traffic coming from around the globe and media coverage in national and international newspapers, including The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and The Montreal Gazette. The site also received commentary from online sources, foundations and organizations like The Canadian Encyclopedia Blog, Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory, and The Poetry Foundation, and from literary journals such as The Capilano Review, Room, Jacket2, LEMON HOUND and Quill & Quire.

While all of that media attention has been helpful, what really matters is that we’ve heard from writers, editors, publishers, scholars, critics, arts administrators and artists from across the country that CWILA has made a difference. And we’ll be able to measure more of that difference when we produce the Count for 2012 with your help.

Please support our organization by either sending us a cheque made out to CWILA OR by clicking on the link below to give on-line:  www.cwila.com.

Thanks for your support!

Be sure to pop over to www.cwila.com to find out more about the awesome work CWILA is doing. And don’t forget to help them out with a donation if you can! Thank you!

Thanks to Patricia Tomasi for including a quote from me in her article, From push-over to taskmaster to greatest boss ever: Managing myself in a dream world on canada.com.

In today’s tech age, it’s easier than ever to create the job of your dreams, which incidentally, turns into the life of your dreams. Case in point: Desirée Ossandon, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Canada Arts Connect who quit her job three times to pursue a life of passion.

“I’m always open to new opportunities, so I’ve taken a few positions over the years at wonderful artistic organizations, but in the end I leave them behind to come back to what I really love. It’s not easy to give up the stability that a ‘normal’ job offers, but getting to live your dream is definitely worth it!”

Read the rest here.

I can’t express to you how happy I am that this film now exists.

The Punk Singer: The Documentary about Kathleen Hanna is a look at the life and career of one of the heroes of Riot Grrrl and punk. The film also addresses why she has pulled back in recent years.

I can’t overstate how much I admire Kathleen Hanna. Her work and her music have meant so, so much to me over the years.

I have to see this. I have to see this.

…I have to see this.

The first question that the mention of a documentary about Kathleen Hanna prompts is usually, Why hasn’t one already been made? Credited as a founder of the third wave of feminism and Riot Grrrl – Hanna has been a seminal radical activist, musician, and cultural icon for over twenty years. She’s also been a lightening rod for controversy, and a famously private person. Five years ago, she disappeared from the public eye, and is only now re-emerging. The Punk Singer combines twenty years of archival footage and an intimate look at four consecutive seasons of Hanna’s present life, to tell the story of what happened, and who she is now.
[The Punk Singer FB]

http://www.twitter.com/punksingerfilm
https://www.facebook.com/thepunksinger

It would be impossible to discuss Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s work without touching on how beautifully he captured the nature of his subjects.

This short animation by 18bis of his poem, “The Me Bird,” does justice to the lovely images presented by Neruda in an alternative medium.

Pablo Neruda’s poem, “The Me Bird,” is the Chilean writer’s ode to a “bird of a single feather.” The words are gorgeous enough, but Brazilian design and graphics studio 18bis took it upon themselves to create a stunning layered animation that brings the short work to life… (The Huffington Post)

Find out more about the making of the film and 18bis at The Huffington Post.

If you haven’t seen Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk, “The Art of Asking”, watch it now (below). If you have seen it, you should probably watch it again.

Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.

Alt-rock icon Amanda Fucking Palmer believes we shouldn’t fight the fact that digital content is freely shareable — and suggests that artists can and should be directly supported by fans.

Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk, “The Art of Asking”

Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk, “The Art of Asking” (TED.com)

Movie adaptations of novels can be a great addition to stories that are already well loved. But we can all name examples of films that have done a brutal job of bringing a book to life.

Despite The Catcher in the Rye being one of the most beloved books of all time, J.D. Salinger was of the opinion that it should never be made into a movie.

Next Movie has posted a letter written by J.D. Salinger explaining why…

In 1957, Salinger penned a very thoughtful letter to a producer named “Mr. Herbert” on the issue of selling the adaptation rights to “Catcher” and explained that the merit of his novel, as he saw it, was the narrator’s inner dialogue — the “novelistic”-ness of the novel, as he put it.

Salinger wrote, “the weight of the book is in the narrator’s voice, the non-stop peculiarities of it, his personal, extremely discriminating attitude to his reader-listener, his asides about gasoline rainbows in street puddles, his philosophy or way of looking at cowhide suitcases and empty toothpaste cartoons — in a word, his thoughts. He can’t legitimately be separated from his own first-person technique.” In other words, a movie would totally screw up making Holden a screw up.

We often assume stories are just stories, translatable from one medium to another. But that’s not always true. Some stories are better told through the written word. Some are better suited to being witnessed through film. And some are more suited to being told in person, looking into the eyes of the storyteller themselves as there voice reaches your ears directly.

Could a movie possibly capture and properly express Holden’s “voice, the non-stop peculiarities of it…— in a word, his thoughts” in the same way the book does?

Salinger went on to say that even if some of Holden’s inner turmoils could be translated into working dialogue, an idea which he wasn’t very comfortable with, such a film is “essentially unactable.”

“It would take someone with X to bring it off, and no very young man even if he has X quite knows what to do with it. And, I might add, I don’t think any director can tell him,” he declared.

Who could possibly play Holden? Iconic characters are notoriously difficult to take on and it’s incredibly easy to critique an actor’s portrayal of a character that we already feel we know.

Find out more here at Next Movie.

*   *   *

I don’t agree with all of these, but I definitely agree with some:

• 50 Best Book To Movie Adaptations (TotalFilm.com)
• The 20 Greatest Book To Film Adaptations……. (IMDb)
• Best Movie Adaptations (323 books) (Goodreads)
• 25 best book to film adaptations (The Telegraph)

• 50 Worst Movie Adaptations (TotalFilm.com)
• The 10 Most Badly Bungled Classic-Book-To-Film Adaptations (Flavorwire)

• best and worst movie adaptations (Goodreads, Games and Debates)

*   *   *

What other books do you feel should never be made into a movie? Why?

What books would you like to see made into a film? Who would you want to direct it and play the main character(s)?

In 2008, I started a little blog called Canada Arts Connect. CAC is now a booming national business with members, listings, programs, and an online magazine with columnists and guest writers who cover all areas of the arts (i.e. visual arts, music, literature, dance, theatre, film, TV, fashion, craft, design, and more).

To find out more about how Canada Arts Connect came to be and got to the point that it is, check out The Story of Canada Arts Connect.

And as always, if you’d like to know more or connect, please feel free to contact me at info@DesireeO.com or DesireeO@CanadaArtsConnect.com.

March marks the 5th anniversary of Canada Arts Connect! Woooooooooooooooo!

If you still don’t know about my biz (and why don’t you, may I ask?!! ;)), it began as a little blog and is now a national arts community that includes memberships, listings, upcoming programs, and an online magazine.

Check out Canada Arts Connect here and Canada Arts Connect Magazine here.

A big, huge, gigantic THANK YOU to everyone who has supported CAC! You’re all awesome! Be sure to keep an eye out for what we have coming up next!

Check out Canada Arts Connect & Canada Arts Connect Magazine now…
Main website: http://CanadaArtsConnect.com
Magazine website: http://CanadaArtsConnect.com/magazine
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CANArtsConnect
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CanadaArtsConnect

Have you ever wanted to bid on an Andy Warhol piece but couldn’t make your way to an NY auction? Well, how does an online auction work for you?

Happening now until March 5, Christie’s is conducting an auction of Andy Warhol’s work via their website.

The inaugural online auction of Andy Warhol @ Christie’s opens…with a spectacular selection of more than 125 original works by the artist sold to benefit The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. With estimates ranging from $600-70,000, the weeklong sale offers buyers around the world extraordinary access to Warhol’s work.

This auction is not a solo event, but the second phase of an ongoing partnership between Christie’s and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Throughout 2013 (and beyond, as well as a first event that occurred in November 2012 which saw a result of $17 million) there will be a series of “online-only sales of original works of art by Warhol from the Foundation’s collection.”

Proceeds go towards the Warhol Foundation’s grant-making programs which support artists and non-profit arts organizations.

Find out more about the auction and to browse & bid, visit the website here.

*   *   *

Are you a Warhol fan? What are your favourite pieces by him?

Will you be putting in a bid on anything in this auction?

What are your thoughts on online auctions?

When it comes to my career, I want to do EVERYTHING. Just to name a few things off of the top of my head…

• I want to write poetry.
• I want to write fiction.
• I want to write non-fiction.
• I want to write a column again.
• I want to create music again.
• I want to perform again.
• I want to run Canada Arts Connect.
• I want to run Canada Arts Connect Magazine.
• I want to expand Canada Arts Connect and Canada Arts Connect Magazine with programs and projects and endless opportunities.
• I want to explore projects that I’ve never even imagined.
• I want to collaborate with different artists and writers and musicians and all kinds of creative people.

…But…

…that’s a lot.

Sometimes I think I need to cut back and focus on one or two projects. But then the panic sets in. I see others working on amazing things and I feel that desperate tug in my chest that tells me how much I want to be doing something similar in my own way.

I feel like I’m wasting time not working on these projects now…even though I work constantly. I have so many ideas, but usually have just enough time to jot them down and file them away for a time when (hopefully!) I’ll be able to work on them.

So I work harder. And I work more.

And then I become exhausted. Literally exhausted from the pressure and panic and sense of desperation that comes along with my intense ambition.

I take a few breaths. Remind myself that I can’t do everything at once and if I take the proper time needed and focus on one or two things, then I can successfully accomplish them, put them aside, and move on to the next ambition-filling project.

…And then I have another idea…and it starts all over again.

*   *   *

Are you incredibly ambitious or do you go with the flow?

Do you experience ambition exhaustion? If so, how do you manage it? How do you manage everything you want to do?

What are some of YOUR ambitions?

I’d love to hear your answers in the comments below!

“Handwriting is an imprint of the self on the page.”
- Dr. Rosemary Sassoon

At the end of last year, I was doing up my holiday cards and, yikes, my handwriting was terrible! I had no idea it had gotten so sloppy.

I “write” daily – blog posts, poetry, business-related documents, and lots & lots of emails and texts. Yet, other than the occasional note, I rarely write by hand.

When I was young and in school, things were much different. I wrote by hand for hours and hours each day. Notebooks full of stories and poems, pages of essays, and binders packed with assignments — the vast majority of them handwritten (only “final copies” were typed up and printed out to hand in). Each night, I would write well past a reasonable time, scrawling any and every thought that came into my mind onto the paper clipped to my favourite clipboard (doesn’t every teen have a favourite clipboard? No? Huh.). I remember being specific about the pens and pencils I used. Even having those little pencil grippies to make it easier to hold (my friends and I each had our favourite kind). I recall having little indents in my fingers where the pens perpetually pressed into my skin. I could even do those cool pen tricks.

But now…not so much.

And although I don’t see myself leaving behind my keyboard anytime soon, I don’t like that my handwriting has become so messy. For professional reasons, from an artist’s stance, and for personal improvement, I’ll be re-working my style and practicing it until it becomes easy and natural again. Call it a New Year’s Resolution if you want, but I definitely intend to stick with this effort.

“Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.”
- Jean Cocteau

Interested in improving your handwriting as well? Here are a few helpful links:

• How to Improve Handwriting [videos]
• 8 easy tips to improve your handwriting

What is your handwriting like? Is it nice or not? Would you like to improve yours or do you have any tips on nice handwriting? Please leave your comments below!

I’ve written about the responsibilities of the artist before. When I asked what those responsibilities might be, I received a lot of different answers:

• to “create a pathway to experience.” - dsharpdavis
• “…to suspend time, even if just for a moment.” - Jacqueline W.
• “…to evoke, invoke and provoke” - Bartlett Gallery
• to “…poke into the edges we haven’t gone into or dare not go into.” - Maggie S.

No one answered, “to explain their art.” Or, “to justify their creations.” Not one, “to alleviate the curiosities of those who experience the work.”

However, when discussing a piece of art, the one question that inevitably pops up is, WHAT DOES IT MEAN? But who’s responsibility is it to answer this question?…that is, if it’s anyone’s responsibility at all.

If an artistic piece is to have a purpose and if there is intention behind the artist’s work, does the artist have a responsibility to discuss (and even justify) what they have created?

Does an artist have to talk about their art? Does a writer need to talk about their writing? Does a musician need to talk about their songs?

Or should/can they just put it out there and let people accept/understand it as they will?

Is it a responsibility for the artist to be available to represent and explain their work?

Happy New Year!

Last year was amazing in a lot of ways (and really rough in other ways), but it was another jam-packed 12 months that I’m incredibly proud of.

I have big expectations for 2013 and am excited to get things started right away. I’ll be busy with my creative creations, art-world involvement, and artistic adventures as well as Canada Arts Connect & Canada Arts Connect Magazine, so be sure to check back regularly to see what’s up. Or follow me on Twitter to stay connected.

Let’s have an amazing 2013, friends!

Last week I saw Colm Wilkinson perform at the River Run Centre in Guelph, ON. Colm Wilkinson: Broadway, Christmas, and Beyond included many of the songs he is best known for along with an assortment of other classics, a wonderful 7-piece band, and two lovely female vocalists (one who played Fontine with him in Les Mis).

I had tears in my eyes before he even got on stage, from just talking to my partner about what this meant to me. I’ve been a fan since I was…ten? eleven? twelve? Very young. And this was my first chance to see him in person.

After the band opened the night with a brief snip of The Phantom of the Opera, Colm walked on stage and began the performance with Music of the Night, so of course I started crying during the very first line of the very first song. He also performed Bring Him Home, Hallelujah, Silent Night, a Beeges song (!), Danny Boy, and so much more.

There was storytelling, jokes, lots of laughter, and of course, the most magical music. For those of you who know of Colm Wilkinson, you’ll understand how incredibly wonderful this performance was. For those of you who know me, you’ll know how much seeing him perform in person meant to me.

The tour continues until December 22. Click here to check out dates and locations.

Our seats were so close, I felt it would be rude to take a picture during the performance. Here’s the stage pre-show.