Click here to hear me talking about remarkable Utah women on Radio West.

The first quarter or so of it was a bit painful for me to listen to – I’d never done a remote-studio live show before, and it was strange talking to someone who wasn’t there (no, I’m not good on the phone, either). But I hit my stride and most of the “Um”s disappear about 15 minutes into it.

Thanks again to Jennifer and indomitable producer Elaine Clark for having me on the show!

Motorcycle Touring in the Southwest came out in late winter, so off we went to the burgeoning metropolis that is Phoenix, Arizona, for Arizona Bike Week. Thanks to the folks who came to Chandler Harley-Davidson and Changing Hands Bookstore to see us!

Christy and Steve, mugging with copies of the book at Changing Hands

Steve and I were in Phoenix a couple years ago, researching Motorcycle Touring in the Southwest, but we hadn’t spent much time in the city.
I imagine there may have once been a brief time when Phoenix was nice. It may have lasted ten years, maybe even twenty – sometime after the spread of air-conditioning but before the housing bubble. These days, Phoenix is a shining example of the worst kind of sprawl – miles and miles of McMansions cloistered behind fake-adobe walls.

And the strip malls! Every business in Phoenix seems to be housed in a long stuccoed  rectangle surrounded by an enormous parking lot.  And they all look pretty much the same. Even the hospitals looked as if they should include a liquor store.

And everything is so huge! The buildings are huge; the cars are huge. The city itself is unbelievably massive. We added 100 miles to the odometer on an errand that never took us out of the city’s northeastern quadrant.

We did manage to escape to the outskirts, where beautiful desert prevails. I always loved the desert, but I think I love it more now that I spend entire winters feeling as if I will never be dry and warm again. Riding the bike in Arizona, I felt the heat flow through my jacket and onto my skin. I felt completely dry. I felt downright dessicated. And it felt good.

Even Changing Hands, Phoenix's best indie bookstore, was in a strip mall. Fortunately, the inside is pure bookstore goodness.

Attractive young people looking wistfully off into space. What more could you ask of a love story?

I’m inspired by a couple clever commentaries about two of today’s most popular authors. Like these critics, I don’t understand why the authors in question are so damn popular.

First, Roger Ebert (one of my favorite critics of all time, and one of the best culture writers operating today), takes on Nicholas Sparks in this review of the latest Nicholas Sparks movie.

“Sparks recently went on record as saying he is a greater novelist than Cormac McCarthy. This is true in the same sense that I am a better novelist than William Shakespeare. Sparks also said his novels are like Greek Tragedies. This may actually be true. I can’t check it out because, tragically, no really bad Greek tragedies have survived. His story here amounts to soft porn for teenage girls…. I resent the sacrilege Nicholas Sparks commits by mentioning himself in the same sentence as Cormac McCarthy. I would not even allow him to say “Hello, bookstore? This is Nicholas Sparks. Could you send over the new Cormac McCarthy novel?” He should show respect by ordering anonymously.”

I have to admit I’ve never made it through a Nicholas Sparks novel, for the same reason that I’ve never made it through a triathlon: my puking would get really old, really fast. (For the record, I’m not a big fan of Cormac McCarthy, either, but that’s a different story.)

Sparks also raised the ire of romance writers by claiming he’s not one of them. That may be true, but not in the way he thinks. Most romance novels are less predictable and better written than the schlock Sparks writes. The Seattle RWA chapter is thinking of retaliating by holding a “Write Like Sparks” contest, in the tradition of the Bulwer-Lytton contest for opening lines (a la “It was a dark and stormy night”).

(Angst-ridden women. Unavailable men. Predictable plots. All the stuff of romance.)

NPR, another favorite source for insightful criticism, recently took on the Queen Bee of the publishing world: Stephenie Meyer, author of the “Twilight” series. On Linda Holmes’ Monkey See blog, Marc Hirsh complains:

I’m 220 pages in, and so far Bella has moved to Washington, started school, been saved from an accident, gone to the beach and gone to Seattle. How is that 200 pages of content? It would be fine if she had an interesting internal life or if Meyer were a perceptive observer (or a sharp describer). But none of these things are true. She is spinning her wheels like a car stuck in mud. (See what I just did there?)

I’m thrilled if that life is interesting enough to make for a good novel, because it describes a pretty typical week in my own existence, which until now I thought was fairly pedestrian.

Both Sparks and Meyer are worth reading for one reason: To learn how they do it. How do they get so many readers? What is it they appeal to? Is is that women have some kind of deep conviction that they don’t deserve happiness unless it comes with a lot of angst? That men have to be unavailable (emotionally, if not physically) to be desirable? That we really do like the “bad boys,” but not if they’re described vividly enough to make them seem truly bad?

I don’t know, but I do know this: I would like those readers to be my readers someday. I’m cheered by the fact that apparently, I already have one thing going for me: I’m not terrific at writing fiction.

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Jeff Bridges talks about the benefits of film, music, and the Dude after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Favorite moments: Michelle Pfeiffer, in a fab dress, introducing Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges in charming fashion and commending him for balancing work ethic and family life (a rare Hollywood feat for which he deserves a whole different award). A nice tribute to John Hughes, whose movies narrated our childhoods. Gabourey Sidibe’s tears as Oprah Winfrey described her blooming talent. Sandra Bullock’s beautifully worded and delivered acceptance speech, which combined humor and deep gratitude.

The most striking thing about this Oscars was just how much mature women kicked ass. Mature not so much as in age (though Helen Mirren cloaked herself in a beautiful gown and an air of dignified humility) but in attitude. Early on, I was worried about the tone of the whole broadcast when it seemed all too set on featuring aggravating and talent-short starlets like Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, and Amanda Seyfried, all of whom just looked embarrassing and completely unprepared to be there. And why WERE they there? They have a lot to learn from the likes of Mo’Nique, Meryl Streep, and Kathryn Bigelow, who loaded the ceremony’s second half with plenty of reasons feel hope for the future of women in cinema. (And maybe John Hughes could have taught them how to act like real human teenagers.)

When Barbara Streisand announced Bigelow’s name as the first-ever woman to win Best Director, I could almost hear the screams of joy coming from the Reel Grrls Oscar party (co-hosted by SIFF, NWFF, WIF Seattle & Artist Trust) across town. For the advocates and students at the country’s only year-round filmmaking program exclusively for girls, this must have been an exciting night indeed. It’s the sort of thing that gives all of us hope that we can achieve our dreams someday.

And that means the biggest winner of all, as far as I’m concerned, was the future: a place where many creative visions can come to fruition. Now, back to working on my screenplay…

(Helen Mirren, nominated for her role in "The Last Station." Photo: Sony Pictures Classics)

(This is a spelling error, not a grammatical mistake, but you get the idea. Bandon, Oregon. Photo by Christy Karras.)

In honor of National Grammar Day, I bring you some thoughts on one of my favorite subjects.

First, photos of ridiculous grammar gaffes (and other signage errors) from the Huffington Post.

Second, this column from the Chronicle of Higher Education. I like this one not only for its main argument, the “fewer” versus “less than” controversy (although I agree with the columnist on that) but also for its mention of vague or otherwise useless terms that should be banned. In this case, those words are “utilize,” “proactive,” and “lifestyle.” I don’t mind “lifestyle” so much, but I’d like to add my own: “facility,” along with “very” and “somewhat” and a host of other adverbs. Just be specific, people! A “facility” could be a hospital, a baby-food factory, or a weapons armory. Why not just say what you’re talking about?

Feel free to vent about your own peeves. And happy Grammar Day!

Click here to go to the morality games section of philosophersnet.com.

(Thee Emergency performing at Chop Suey in a shot from "$5 Cover." MTV photo.)

I went last night to a special screening of “$5 Cover: Seattle,” the MTV project I covered extensively during Sundance. This was the first time we all got to see Lynn Shelton’s 12 short narratives in a row, which is definitely the way to see them. Though each tells its own mini-story, with Seattle’s independent musicians as characters, they all weave together, and sometimes a story that arises in one is resolved in another down the line.

The shorts were great, as were John Jeffcoat’s mini-documentaries about the bands and the even wider-ranging “B-side” docs produced by Sue Corcorane. But the striking thing about the whole event was the over-the-top talent on display. If you’re not checking out the independent music scene in Seattle, well, then, you’re missing out on one of the best things about living here.

I also found it interesting that while Seattle’s all-male bands get a lot of publicity, and rightfully so, the women are just as worthy of note, if not more so. Among the standouts in “$5 Cover: Seattle” (which will hit the network’s website in June): the two-woman powerhouse Thee Satisfaction, garage-pop Tea Cozies, Thee Emergency, whose lead vocalist, Zana “Dita Vox” Geddes, proves she has screen presence and acting chops as well as a voice to die for. Thee Emergency is the last band you hear in this preview for the series:

Click here to see the trailer for “$5 Cover: Seattle.”