This week's inspiring pop culture moment: Nate Berkus

Courtesy of OWN

Each week we take a look around our pop culture world and try to find one moment that stood out as the most inspiring. It might be a celebrity who is doing charitable things; a TV shows that inspires us to be better. Here is this week's most inspiring pop culture moment.

There’s a lot more to learn from Nate Berkus than just how to create a pretty environment. As one of Oprah Winfrey’s trusted inner circle of experts, the interior designer rose to TV fame and unparalleled business success.

But he’s also experienced hardship. He survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka but lost his partner, Fernando Bengoechea, in the tragedy. And his self-titled daytime chat show was canceled after just two seasons. In a recent exclusive interview, the optimistic author of a new book The Things That Matter talked about bouncing back from adversity.

Mitch Albom Introduces You to The Time Keeper

Courtesy of ABC/Hyperion

We love a good book that tugs at your heartstrings. So needless to say we’ve read all of Mitch Albom’s books. Ever since he spent his Tuesdays with Morrie, we’ve been hooked. We usually cuddle up with a cup of cocoa and some tissues and pour through the entertaining but inspirational tomes in a day. So we’re very excited that Mitch has a new offering — The Time Keeper.

We were excited to get an exclusive interview with the best-selling author about the book, in which he travels back to the world before people kept track of time. His main character actually becomes Father Time, but the protagonist must suffer for teaching people to count the minutes he’s created by living his days in a cave.

As Mitch explained what happens next, “He’s given a chance to come back to Earth during our time. And he sees what the world has become with Blackberries and iPads and digital displays. And he’s charged with finding a very young person and a very old person to see if he can teach each of them what the true meaning of time is.”

We Still Love a Good Old Fashioned Library

 Photo by Arnoldius

It’s 2012 so most people we know are rocking Kindles and Nook, reading 800-page tomes on a convenient, but cold, little computer screen. Not only do we still prefer to hold a good old-fashioned print version of a book in our hands, we’re even more nostalgic than that. We actually get our novels and non-fiction from the local library.

This practice seems to shock a lot of people. But not only does it save us money, it brings us back to our childhoods. At least once a week after our mother picked us up at school, we’d go a few blocks down the street to the Braintree Public Library and dive deep into the kids’ section in the basement. There we’d submerge ourselves in everything we could get our hands on — from Dr. Seuss to Judy Blume.

So we were touched when we saw the M.N. Spear Memorial Library in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, viral video asking for support in their effort to raise $1.4 million for a new building, which the Mass. government will match with $2.1 mill in additional funding if they meet their goal by June 30.

As their YouTube short explains (via readable signs to boot) their current location has no running water, limited space and a grated floor that melts patrons’ shoes. In addition to their fundraiser, they’ve taken to Tumblr with the “Where Would You Be Without Your Library” campaign.

This Week’s Inspirational Pop Culture Moment — Spontaneous Smileys

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

During the New York City leg of our Oprah’s Lifeclass tour, we were lucky enough to meet Ruth Kaiser. A longstanding fan of Ms. Winfrey’s, Ruth had come to see the master in person. And like many devotees, she has her own method of paying it forward.

She described how her recent offering, The Smiley Book of Colors, which features happy faces that are found in every day objects, came to be. “I started that as a Facebook project about four years ago and all of a sudden thousands of people signed up and I started getting smiley pictures from people all over the world. And it was just my little idea that if you have this in your head, then as you wander around life you just accidentally see one on the curb or you see one on a building and for that little tiny moment you feel really happy and excited and charged up. And that’s the whole point.”

Our Holiday Reading Wish List

There's one drawback to being a TV addict. Spending a lot of time in front of the tube doesn't leave a lot of time for reading. That's why we love the holidays so much. This time of year many fall shows have wrapped up, most current shows are in reruns and mid-season replacements don't start until January. And so we can can curl up on the couch with a blanket and some cocoa and read... about TV, of course. Here's our holiday reading list of all the TV-related books we want to catch up on.

1. Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch
The Emmy-winning star of Glee has written her memoirs about the happy accidents that occurred on her road to success. It also covers the personal issues she dealt with along that way that at one time turned her into a real life Sue Slyvester. We've loved Jane since her days in the Christopher Guest movies like A Mighty Wind and Best in Show, and look forward to reading about her journey.

2. The Importance of Being Ernie: From My Three Sons to Mad Men, a Hollywood Survivor Tells All by Barry Livingston
We want to peruse this one just for the title alone. Who doesn't love a good literary pun? And when it's written by Barry Livingston, more commonly remembered as the bespectacled youngest brother from My Three Sons, how can you go wrong? Barry recounts his memories of his rivalry with Ron "Opie" Howard, working with Fred MacMurray and meeting Elvis.

3. Arrested Development and Philosophy: They've Made a Huge Mistake (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) by J. Jeremy Wisnewski and Kristopher G. Phillips
Fans of the prematurely canceled TV series got good news recently that Arrested Development is coming back. Apparently Netflix has signed a deal to revive the show in 2013. The on-again, off-again movie plans are still uncertain. But while we wait for the Bluth's to re-conquer the small screen, we're going to take a philosophical journey into what makes them tick when this book is released on December 20.

4. The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars and Restaurants of Mad Men by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin
Speaking of shows we're eagerly waiting to see again, it feels like it's been decades since Mad Men graced our living rooms. To ease the withdrawals, we might just not cook up some tasty treats (liquid and solid) from the Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook. It includes recipes for  Oysters Rockefeller and the prefect crown roast and other culinary delights from the 1960s New York restaurant scene.

Get Your Friends Chewed for the Holidays

Photo from Chewed.com

By now we've all survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday and all the silly names that have been assigned to the approximately 30 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And if you're anything like us you have not even started your list, let alone stepped foot in any stores or ventured onto websites to purchase gifts. If so, and you know any pet lovers, we have a gift suggestion for you.

Photographers Arne Svenson and Ron Warren have turned normally discarded used pet toys into works of art in their book Chewed. They previously co-authored the book Sock Monkeys, so you already know the Passionistas are fans.

Chewed contains 140 full-color photographs of stuffed, plush pet toys as you've never seen them before. Where most animal owners see chunks of stuffing, ripped up fleece and missing limbs, Svenson and Warren saw an opportunity for art. The Chewed website states that the book is a look "at the comically twisted results of our pets' desire to tear, shred, dismember, eviscerate — to transform — their favorite toys. Each of these victims of rapturous chewing is presented in a formal yet irreverant style that considers the viewpoint of the infatuated pet."

According to the website it was their beloved sock monkey that led Svenson and Warren to start their latest book. They write, "We visited a friend and were met at the door by her dog, who presented us with a slobbery mass of yarn and stuffing: the gutted remains of a handmade sock monkey. Having spent years photographing sock monkeys for a previous book, we were well aware of their 'un-chewed' form. Intrigued that such a benign plaything had so readily become an eyeless, armless, one-legged monster, we realized that we had found our next project – portraits of chewed toys as seen through the eyes of the adoring chewer."

As the authors began artfully shooting the mangled remains, stories of pet owners four-legged friends and the objects they chew were uncovered. And so Svenson and Warren decided to approach authors to include their tales inspired by the photo sessions. Contributing writers include Augusten Burroughs, William Wegman, Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham, Bill Persky and Andrew Zimmern.

A few of our personal favorite photos include, the armless orange orangutan, the what-we-believe-to-be monkey almost completely covered in duct tape except for his forehead and ears and last but not least the headless squirrel.

Read more about the book at the Chewed website.

For related stories check out:
The Dead Celebrity Cookbook
Pawnee by Leslie Knope: A Must-Read for Parks and Rec Fans


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The Dead Celebrity Cookbook

Every once in a while a pop culture idea so great comes along it makes us ask, "Why didn't we think of that?" Enter Frank DeCaro, author of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook. The writer/performer is best known as the former movie critic on The Daily Show and now hosts The Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

In the forward to his book he admits that he has been obsessed with collecting recipes from stars who have passed away. The fascination with food eaten by entertainers who have gone to the great beyond began after a Dead Celebrities party he attended in the early 1980s. Dressed as nature lover Euell Gibbons and surrounded by friends who looked like Judy Garland, Sid Vicious and Ernest Hemingway, he realized the only thing missing was the food the stars would have enjoyed eating.

And so he began collecting cookbooks, biographies, magazines and pamphlets looking for the recipes of the stars. But what he has compiled here is more than just some cheesy white trash fare (although there is plenty of that to go around). DeCaro wraps each recipe in a history as rich as the gravy you'll be pouring on Frank Gorshin's Pepper Steak.

In the intro the author reveals why he put the collection together. "I miss those days when celebrities still had mystery about them, and a glimpse into their radar ranges seemed, for any fan, like a window into a world of glamour and excitement."

Pawnee by Leslie Knope: A Must-Read for Parks and Rec Fans

NBC Photo 

A few weeks ago there was a Parks and Recreation episode that centered around a book written by Amy Poehler's character Leslie Knope. Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America is a history of the fictional locale where the show takes place. But good news P&R fans. The book is real.

The publication is "written, researched, typed, collated, proofread and run through spell check" by the one and only Deputy Director of the Department of Recreation and soon to be (maybe) city council member, Leslie Knope. She also got a little help from Nate DiMeo and the creative team from the NBC show.

Readers can revel in chapters like "The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness," "Raccoon Safety Information," "Nick Newport's Letter to His Children" and "A Brief Note on the Typeface."

In the introduction Leslie proudly proclaims, "We're not Indianapolis. And maybe we're not even Bloomington. But what Pawnee lacks in fame or beauty, we make up for in heart. Like the pudgy, sarcastic best friend in a romantic comedy, we are actually really interesting and cool if you look hard enough."

The book features some of the city's slogans through the years like "Pawnee: The Akron of Southwest Indiana" or "Pawnee: It's Safe To Be Here Now." Our personal favorite is "Pawnee: A Place and a Town." There's a visual tour of JJs diner including Ron Swanson's favorite menu item "The Four Horse-Meals of the Egg-Pork-alypse" which includes lots of meat, naturally. And special guest author, shoeshiner and Mouse Rat lead singer, Andy Dwyer, takes readers on a tour of the best concert venues in Pawnee.

The book has received glowing reviews from the characters on the show, none more positive than the one from Chris Traeger (played by Rob Lowe), "Literally the greatest endeavor of human creativity in the history of mankind." Sounds like a must-read for Parks and Recreation fans.

For related stories check out:
Parks and Recreation on Punk Ass Book Jockeys and Guest Stars
Nick Offerman on Mullally, Meat and Chest Hair


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Our Favorite Furry Pop Culture Primates

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes out this week and we're excited to see it. Those of you who have been following the Pop Culture Passionistas know by now about our very strong allegiance to the ape and monkey worlds. First to get our definitions straight for all the smarty pants out there, we know man is a primate. But for our purposes here, we are focusing on the furry, non-verbal kind — monkeys and apes.

It's true we never met (or watched on TV or in a theater) a monkey we didn't like. But there are a few pop culture primates that hold a special place in our hearts. Here is our list of the top ten.

10. Marcel on Friends 
Imagine how happy two monkey loving girls where when Ross on Friends got a pet monkey. The Capuchin became the paleontologist's companion for part of one season, until the cast reportedly got tired of her antics. But Katie the Capuchin (and her look alike stand-in, the aptly named, Monkey) went on to do numerous commericials and films including Outbreak, Ace Ventura II and George of the Jungle among others. We also remember hearing she played the famed "monkey with a cold" in the Sprint commercial, although we don't see that listed on her resume.

9. The Wizard of Oz Flying Monkeys 
The first time we were ever frightened by monkeys was while watching The Wizard of Oz. In fact for many years, every time Nikko and the other flying monkeys were dispatched by the Wicked Witch, we would bury our heads in our pillows. We never really got a good look at the creatures until we were almost adults and could watch that part without any resulting nightmares. Fortunately it did not scar us for life.

8. Bubbles
We liked Michael Jackson just as much as the next girl (although we prefer Off the Wall to Thriller). But the thing we most envied about Jackson, more than his intense musical talent or his ability to moonwalk, was the fact that he had a pet chimp. Jacko took Bubbles with him everywhere he went — movie premieres, concerts and recording sessions. A primate lover's dream.

Jimmy Fallon Puts His Thank You Notes in a Book

Photo by Lloyd Bishop/NBC 

Jimmy Fallon is not just  a talk show host, he's also a published author. He wrote a book in 2003 called I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life with his sister Gloria Fallon. He has also penned a children's book called Snowball Fight. Last week the latest edition to Fallon's bibliography was released — Thank You Notes. The offering is filled with his famous Friday night quips giving gratitude to over 150 subjects he is indebted to.

Each page will feature a special note to one person, place or thing and a photograph of the recipient. He highlights a wide array of topics from Hillary Clinton to a lightbulb he's too lazy to repalce.

Kim Niemi, Senior Vice President of NBC Universal Television Consumer Products Group said, “Jimmy’s keen sense of humor and wry wit really shine in these segments and we are very excited to bring them to the fans in a collection of books." Here are a few gems:

1. "Thank you, slow walking family walking in front of me on the sidewalk. No, please, take your time. And definitely spread out, too, so you create a barricade of idiots. I am so thankful that you forced me to walk on the street and risk getting hit by a car in order to pass you so I could resume walking at a normal human pace."

2. "Thank you, Miley Cyrus, for being 16 and acting like a stripper at the Teen Choice Awards. If you REALLY wanna piss off your dad, why not just cut off his allowance?"

3. "Thank you people who give me homemade jam as a gift. What are we, Quakers? Exactly how much jam do you think I use? You know this is going to sit in my fridge for three years until I throw it out to make room for beer, right? Just checking."

4. "Thank you horseradish, for being neither a radish nor a horse. What you are is a liar food. (I’m looking at you, too, Grape Nuts.)"

5. "Thank you people who say 'Wow, you’re really photogenic,' for not saying what you really mean: 'Wow, you’re really ugly in person.'"

If you like the book, you might want to send Jimmy a thank you. You can pick up a copy at amazon.com and be sure to watch him weeknights on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35 a.m. EST/ 11:35 Central on NBC.

For related stories check out:
Jimmy Fallon Says “It's the 0-1-1, Son”
Our 2010 Top 10 Musical Moments on TV


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Do You Have a Taste for The Hunger Games?

Courtesy of Adam Spunberg and Savanna New

The Harry Potter franchise wraps up this summer with the final installment of the blockbuster films. The Twilight book-to-movie adaptations will be on screen in November 2011 and 2012. So it seems like the perfect time for young-adult fantasy fiction fans to fully turn their attention to The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins’ trilogy about a post-apocalyptic world originally hit the shelves in 2008. And this past Monday director Gary Ross (of Pleasantville fame) started shooting on his quest to take the first flick to the silver screen. Not surprisingly legions of fans are springing up around the world, and now they have a place to turn for all things related to the novels and the impending movie — Picktainment’s Hunger Games Fireside Chat Podcast.

In a recent interview hosts and producers Adam Spunberg and Savanna New told us about the web series. “Fireside Chat is a weekly, talk show-style podcast dedicated to all things Hunger Games. We report on the latest Hunger Games news, have intelligent and frequently hilarious discussions, play games and interview a wide range of special guests.”

They recounted how the podcast came about and has flourished with the support of Phil Wallace, Founder and President of Picktainment.com. “We came up with the idea after doing a special Hunger Games casting series with The Hob (a Hunger Games fan site) for Picktainment. We’re massive fans of the trilogy, and we found the Hunger Games community to be so welcoming and creative; as we got to know the wonderful people at different fan sites, we couldn’t help trying to organize a group event.”

The Hunger Games Fireside Chat is especially fun because it’s not pre-recorded. They explained, “Unlike most other podcasts, we broadcast live and our shows go unedited. We like to think of our shows as ‘events’ in which the entire online Hunger Games fan community can participate. Each week, we encourage people to chat on Twitter as they listen, using our hashtag #HGFiresideChat, and we always accept fan-submitted questions and discussion ideas.”

As a result they’ve been getting great support from the franchise’s followers. “The outpouring of support and enthusiasm has been more than we ever expected. Hunger Games fans are so passionate about the material, and we’ve tried very hard to give them a show they can enjoy listening to. Thanks to them, we’ve flown up the iTunes charts and hit listener totals we never dreamed of.”

In fact Spunberg and New credit Internet communities devoted to the films with making their podcast such a big success. They remarked, “Our show works because of the invaluable contributions from the Hunger Games fan sites. Every week, we are joined by The Hob and Down with the Capitol, along with frequent appearances from Hunger Games Trilogy Fansite, Hunger Games Network, Hunger Games Examiner and Sam from Mockingjay.net and IamtheMockingjay.net. We also have great relationships with international fan sites, like Hunger Games France, Hunger Games Germany and the always friendly Hunger Games Philippines.”

Of course they’ve also been able to book a wide range or really interesting guests, which doesn’t hurt. There guests range from writer Amy Wilkinson of MTV’s Hollywood Crush blog to New York Times best-selling author Jerome Presieler. They’ve spoken with Hunger Games role player “Delly Cartwright” and with Kelly Croy, a motivational speaker/artist/7th grade teacher at Oak Harbor Middle School who incorporated The Hunger Games into a learning curriculum.

The Hunger Games Fireside Chats take place every Monday at 7 p.m. PST and occasionally on Fridays, as will be the case this week. The producers noted, “We will be holding a special International Show on Friday, May 27, at 6 p.m. PST because of the Memorial Day Holiday.”

And they plan on keeping the show going for quite some time. Spunberg and New admitted, “We have had so much fun putting it all together, and we have some really exciting plans in the works for the future.” That will hopefully include interaction with the team making the first movie. They respectfully acknowledged, “Of course that would be great, but we don’t want to interfere with cast and production crews while they’re filming. Later on, we’re optimistic that we’ll have opportunities to hear from them.”

So if you’re a Hunger Games devotee, or just wondering what all the fuss is about, check out the Fireside Chats live every Monday night at 7 p.m. PST at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/firesidechat.

You can also catch archived episodes at the site as well or search for “Hunger Games Fireside” on iTunes.

For other Pop Culture Passionistas interviews check out:

Leigh Anne Tuohy Keeps Giving on Extreme Makeover
 
An Interview with Sweat Equity's Amy Matthews


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Bruce Campbell Takes Center Stage on Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

  Photo by David Giesbrecht/USA Network

 

We have been fans of Bruce Campbell for a long, long time. Although we aren’t really horror fans, we totally dig the Evil Dead trilogy. We hate westerns but we loved The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. And we struggle to get through dry celebrity bios, but we couldn’t get enough of If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. So we can’t help but enjoy watching him each week on Burn Notice. On Sunday, April 17, Campbell will star in a two-hour prequel to the series called Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe. In a recent conference call interview he talked about shooting in Columbia, his Hawaiian shirts and his dream for Axe in season five.

Bruce discussed the ups and downs of shooting in South America. “Columbia was challenging but, therefore, authentic because the story actually takes place there. Normally what happens in Hollywood is they say it takes place in Columbia and they shoot it in Burbank, California. So it was refreshing to go to the actual place. But as a result it was very difficult.”

He added that the weather was not as unpleasant as it can be in Burn Notice’s usual home, Miami. “In Bogota, Columbia, it’s about 65 degrees on average down to about 50 at night. So they’re near the equator but they are at 8600 feet. So they have a strange sameness about their weather. So no, it was not Miami at all even though we’re near the equator.”

When asked the greatest challenge about filming in Columbia, Bruce joked, “Being the leading man again. Yes, Jeffrey Donovan is number one on the call sheet in Burn Notice and I’m number two. And in the Sam Axe movie I’m number one. And boy that’s a drag, let me tell you. It reminds me of the old days where you had to show up everyday and work all day long and be the hero. So I had to kind of get back into that mode.”

Surprisingly being the hero is not a role that comes naturally to the man who played the chainsaw wielding Ashe in the Evil Dead movies. Bruce confessed, “I’m very unheroic. I mean I saved a dog from drowning in an icy pond once. But beyond that that’s the lack of my heroics. The rest of my heroics are written by writers and performed by stunt people.”

He’s actually way more comfortable in Sam Ashe’s clothes than he is in his courageous shoes. Bruce said of his Tommy Bahama wardrobe, “I wore that before Burn Notice so to me it’s normal. I’ve always liked that relaxed style. So when Burn Notice came up and [Axe] wore Tommy Bahama, I was like, ‘That’s perfect. Just give me the normal shirts that I wear.’ So I’m all over it. [I] could be the spokesman. We did a list currently I think I’ve worn 250 different Tommy Bahama shirts. And so I should get like basically a truckload of free shirts.”

In addition to his comfortable wardrobe, Bruce seemed grateful for the more carefree lifestyle that being a successful actor affords him. He divulged, “I just took a bike ride for no apparent reason today in Southern Florida for about three hours. Going in no particular direction because I have to work tomorrow, but I didn’t work today and I worked the day before. So today’s not a workday so I get to… not work. I’m sort of a professional delinquent.”

And that’s a gig Bruce would like to hold onto. When asked his hope for Axe in Burn Notice's upcoming season five he quipped, “Just keep him around. Just don’t kill him. Don’t hit him with a bus. That’s all. Just keep him alive.”

Catch a very alive Bruce Campbell when Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe on Sunday, April 17 at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central on USA Network.

 

Lisa Ling on Oprah, American Idol and Our America

Photo by Jaime Cary/OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

We really dig Lisa Ling. Of our generation of journalists she seems like the one we’d feel most comfortable sitting down and having a cup of coffee with. And still, she’s one of the best at what she does. We believe it’s because she’s willing to leave that cold, detached reporters veneer at the door and show her vulnerability to the people she interviews. We were lucky enough to have an exclusive interview with Lisa this week. Here’s what she had to say about Oprah, American Idol and her show Our America.

As the first season of Ling’s new show on OWN, she’s already covered some pretty intense topics including transgenders, faith healing, mail order brides and people who believe you can “Pray the Gay Away.” And for those of you like us who, thanks to Lisa, got completely sucked into the lives of each person she profiled, we have good news. On Tuesday night, she’ll be checking in with some of the people from these earlier episodes.

We asked Ling if there was something she’s dying to cover next season. She replied, “Yes, but I can’t tell you what it is right now. It was a topic that I picked for the first season but they wanted to see how things went and now that it went really well they approved it. I wish I could tell you but I’m super excited about next season. A lot of the topics that we’re going to be covering, you’ve heard about but I hope to present them in a light that really provokes people to think about them differently.”

Jane Austen Unites the World Via Twitter

 

Here’s what we love about the Internet. First of all two people from two different parts of the world who’ve never met can become really close friends. And second of all, there’s something for everyone — even a couple of Jane Austen fans with a dream. 

 
Take for example Adam Spunberg and Lynn Shepherd. He’s a 28-year-old editorial producer for Major League Baseball, Advanced Media from the Upper West Side of New York. She’s a 47-year-old author and freelance copywriter from Berkshire England not far from Oxford. The two met over a mutual appreciation of the British novelist Jane Austen. Adam recalled their initial encounter, “Lynn started following me on Twitter after I had a discussion with someone about Austen and baseball.” 

Lynn added, “Then he started reading my own modern version of Jane Austen, Murder at Mansfield Park. We talked about that, and somewhere along the way we became fast friends.”

From there a very high tech concept based on the works of a very traditional author came about — The Austen Project. Adam explained, “Every Tuesday, contributors from all over the world tweet our Austen-esque novel, A Ball at Pemberley, in turns. People sign up for time slots beforehand and then follow along throughout the day, electrifying the story with amusing banter and surprising twists. Each week we post the new tweets. So far the story has really worked.”

The bookish adventure has evolved over time, Lynn noted, “We originally invited ideas for the story from potential contributors, and ran a poll for people to choose their favorite. Since then we’ve been holding a story-telling session every week, starting early for people in Australia and running right through the day to close with those on the West coast of North America.”

It may sound complicated but it really isn’t. The first step is simply to join the group. Lynn remarked that people “just need to sign up at www.austenproject.com, and they can then book up to two slots on each writing day. They obviously need to keep up with the development of the story, especially what’s written in the slots immediately before them.”

From there, Adam described the process. “When it’s their turn, they tweet the hashtag #A4T with each tweet, which can then be read by anyone on Twitter. Once their time is up, they write “DONE” and the next person goes.”

So far it’s been smooth sailing according to Adam, “Believe it or not, this complicated, confusing process has run without a hiccup, resembling more an efficiently run train station than a chaotic airport (such as LaGuardia, for instance).”

As far as writing goes, being a part of the Austen Project really doesn’t eat up too much of a participants time. Adam noted, “The tweeting time slots are a mere 15 minutes, so it really isn’t much of a writing commitment.”

But be forewarned, it’s easy to get sucked into a time warp when you’re following the ever evolving tale. Adam disclosed, “Of course people naturally find themselves following along, voting in polls, and discussing the story. The minimum requirements are low, but expect the excitement to take hold of you for longer stretches.”

Especially since, as Lynn pointed out, no one knows what to expect — including the project’s creators. “We did have an original plot idea, but we deliberately didn’t dictate how it would evolve, because we wanted it to be a collaboration in the true sense of the word. We’ve certainly had some unexpected developments, and some surprise new characters — including a certain ‘Mr Firth.’ It’s all a bit chaotic, I must admit, but that really is half the fun.”

The other half of the fun is tracking the international community that’s developed as a result of the madness. Adam revealed that participants come from “all over the world, literally. As of now, there are contributors from 15 countries and six continents.” That’s something he never says he never expected when they had the initial idea, “I never in my wildest dreams imagined we would have contributors from Ecuador or Pakistan, yet those two tweeters (@leOnelaaaa and @Farah_Khan1 respectively) are phenomenal. Of all the wonderful things that have emanated from this project, the worldwide participation may be my favorite.”

Lynn doesn’t seem surprised that Austen would have such a far reach for literary fans, “She has such an enormous worldwide following, and has inspired so many people like me to try to write in her style. We though that her work more than anyone else’s would attract people to get involved, and we’ve been proved right.”

But that doesn’t mean she’s the only author who’s going to get the Twitter treatment from this creative duo. Adam teased, “Not to give anything away, but don’t be surprised if the next installment has a new Eyre to it, and the following one a Twist.”

That should beat the Dickens out of potential tweeters curiosity.

To find out more about the Austen Project visit austenproject.com. To buy a copy of Lynn’s Austen-esque novel Murder at Mansfield Park go to lynn-shepherd.com. And to stay on top of all that Adam’s up to check out adamspunberg.com.

So Many Reasons to Love Henry Winkler

Photo by Patrick Harbron/USA Network 

This needs to be stated matter of factly from the get go. Henry Winkler is the nicest guy in Hollywood. We had met him several years ago at a book signing for one of the installments in his Hank Zipzer children’s book series, and we walked away feeling all warm and fuzzy about The Fonz. So when we got the email last week about an upcoming conference call interview with the Happy Days icon, we were very excited. Not only did he not disappoint us, we could tell the every single person on the phone was genuinely touched by his kindness of spirit and generosity of time.

He might have been there to promote Royal Pains, which he did with grace, but he touched on a career full of pop culture jewels, gave some heartfelt advice and even gushed a bit about our home town. He covered so many great and diverse topics that rather than add a lot of our own subjective filler, we just thought we’d let the very eloquent man speak for himself.

So without further ado, here are some of the highlights of our chat with Henry Winkler.