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According to an article on MSN, Vintage Books announced that sales of E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades” trilogy hit 100 million copies sold after spending 100 weeks on The New York Times paperback best-seller list.

Congrats to Ms. James as this is something that is extremely rare in the  publishing industry.

The last book that capture the public’s attention this much was “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.   It made her a millionaire and made movie stars of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

The “Fifty Shades” movie is coming out Valentine’s Day 2015.

“Fifty Shades”  began its publication journey as a piece of fan fiction.  Word of mouth carried this book to the top of the best-seller list.

This is s a lesson for authors everywhere.  Write a book that is intriguing to the world and not just to you.

Happy reading!

Oscars!!

February 25th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

The Olympics are over and we are moving on to the next big event –  The Academy Awards!

They will air on Sunday, March 2.  This year many of the top stars will appear and the films being honored are exciting, meaningful and entertaining.

My favorites include Captain Phillips and Gravity.

Here are my picks!

Best Supporting Actress:

I’d love to see June Squibb win for Nebraska!

Best Supporting Actor:

Jared Leto will talk away with this for Dallas Buyers Club.

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett has this wrapped up for Blue Jasmine

Best Actor:

I’m torn on this one.  I’d love Leonardo DiCaprio to win for Wolf of Wall Street.  He is long overdue for an Oscar win.  However many are predicting Matthew McConaughey has this wrapped up for Dallas Buyers Club.  This is a tight race.

Best Picture:

I’m going for Dallas Buyers Club or 12 Years a Slave.

I love the Oscars and the pageantry.  It’s fun to see the dresses and the drama.

Let me know if anyone is having an Oscar party!  I’ll be on my couch in my sweats cheering on everyone in heels and Spanxs.

 

 

Tonight it’s Game One for the Ladies!

February 20th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Tonight will be a legendary night in the world of women’s figure skating.  The long program for the women at the Olympics is where legends are born!   In the past 25 years it had made stars of Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, Oksana Bauil, Tara Lipnski, Sarah Hughes, and now Yu Na Kim.

Last night, the women came out and performed beautifully.  Yu Na Kim was graceful and divine.  Even the Americans all skated to the best of their ability.

I’m hoping all the women skate well tonight and push each other to make it the best night of figure skating ever!

I’m rooting for Caroline Kostner from Italy and Paulina Edmonds from America.

Enjoy!

Cold and flu

February 18th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

So many people are down with cold and flu.   I thought I would miss it this year but I came down with it on Saturday.    Does anyone have any tips for stopping a runny nose?

Publicity Stunts

February 13th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Great blog posting about publicity stunts!

http://toddmpost.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/publicity-stunts-that-take-off/

Here are his tips for great PR stunts:

The Bottom Line

  • Be credible. Amazon got away with fantastical drones because they have credibility based on their innovation in product delivery services such as Amazon Prime shipping, Amazon Instant Video and Kindle Whispersync. Make sure that the conversation you want to start or jump into is one that you can legitimately contribute to.
  • Align to your values and brand. You can be irreverent, controversial, offensive, or even foolish as long as it is what your target audience expects. Red Bull positions itself as an extreme energy drink, so sponsoring Felix Baumgartner’s jump from 23 miles above the Earth and breaking the sound barrier fit their brand, with the video accounting for 1% of all online conversations at the time. If a stunt can be reasonably misconstrued of being out of character, you run the risk of alienating your audience.
  • Be relevant. To be worthy of attention, stunts need to relate to your audience. Adult Swim caused a Boston bomb scare in 2007 by placing LED placards around town that were misidentified as improvised explosive devices. It wasn’t until hours later that a young staffer in the mayor’s office recognized the cartoon characters because the wrong audience saw it first.
  • Make it shareable. Stunts may get traditional press, but they’re more likely to get major play online. Videos need to tell your story in under two minutes and descriptions need translate to a tweet, so keep it simple. Think visually to translate to Facebook or YouTube.
  • Achieve an objective. No matter how popular, stunts that fail to achieve tangible outcomes are failures. Canadian airline WestJet’s marketing elves crafted a Christmas miracle with video of passengers finding presents at luggage claim they told Santa they wanted before takeoff. Two months later, WestJet may have to raise fares and institute baggage and wifi fees due to a struggling Canadian dollar. Their holiday cheer may not translate into customers if they can’t compete on price.

Shirley Temple Black

February 11th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

What a loss to the world!  Shirley Temple started as a wonderful entertainer and transitioned so beautifully to a diplomat and ambassador.  She is the example of a child star flourishing.

She was perfect as a singing and dancing star with James Dunn, Robert Young and Bill Robinson.  She also transitioned to a serious actress in Since You Went Away,  The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer and I’ll Be Seeing You.

Rest in Peace!

“On the Good Ship Lollipop!”

Happy Birthday, Mom!

February 6th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Happy 70th Birthday, Mom!

My mother’s birthday was yesterday!  She is one of the most passionate, energetic and compassionate people in the world.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank her for her love and support.

I love you Mom!

Sara

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

February 4th, 2014 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

  Such a tragedy.   Such a talented actor.  So sad. 
Hoffman was a great actor.  His Oscar winning performance in “Capote” was amazing and inspiring.  His performances in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” as well as “Patch Adams” were some of my favorites.   I was saddened on Sunday when I heard of his passing.   Since then people have been commenting on his drug habit as much as his talent.
America has a very dark problem.  Our  drug and alcohol issues are in the news every day.   It seems like celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus are promoting alcohol and drug use while most parents are telling kids to Just Say No.
The question remains:  What is the overriding problem that causes people to use drugs and why do we glamorize it?
I’m not going to say I have the answers.  However,  I do know that we glamorize drug use.  News outlets printed how Hoffman overdosed.  We were fascinated by the details.   Why?
We are fascinated by the party culture of Hollywood.  Why?
When are we going to wake up and stop medicating ourselves?  Our lives are precious and special.  Infecting ourselves with drugs and alcohol will only lead to death.
We don’t need any more premature deaths like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cory Moneith, Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Judy Garland, and the list goes on.
During this awards season there will be various tributes to Hoffman.  He was very special but we have to ask ourselves why we award people after their deaths.
Let’s help them with their confidence during their lives and maybe we can have them longer.
Let the award tributes begin…