I have a search set up for the word "unearthly" on Twitter. (Yes, there's a post forthcoming about why I should not read reviews--just as soon as I actually decide to STOP reading reviews, ARGHH, help me, I can't stop, I can't STOPPPPP. . .)
Ahem. It's been very educational, my daily Twitter search. Here are 10 things I've learned from Twitter so far:
1. The word "unearthly" is most often tweeted in terms of the time of day. "Why am I up at this unearthly hour?" is a common one, with lots of variations. Seriously. Search "unearthly" at any time of day and most likely you will find at least 5 or 6 people saying "Why do I have to be up at this unearthly time?" This reminds me that it's, as Tucker phrases it "the butt crack of dawn" somewhere in the world, all the time.
2. The second most common usage applies to beauty: "this morning the sunset was unearthly," or "so-and-so has an unearthly beauty." A lot of guys trying to pick up on girls, this way, or nature enthuists waxing poetically about how unearthly the earth is, which always makes me smile.
3. Unearthly is the name of a beer. I am so not a beer drinker, or much of an alcohol drinker, in general. Uck. I rather think beer tastes like bear pee (not that I have ever tasted bear pee-- but totally what I IMAGINE bear pee would taste like). But it gets good reviews, as beer goes. I am happy that Unearthly beer is supposedly good. There's a guy on Youtube who does a set of beer reviews called Greg's Beer Reviews, and I got a real kick out of watching this beer-bellied (of course, right?) long-white-bearded guy talk about the sophis-ocated taste of Unearthly beer. Awesome.4. There is a Brazilian black death/metal Cookie Monster band (you know, the type where the lead singer sounds like he is the blue furry monster shouting "COOKIE!!!! COOKIE!!!!") called Unearthly. I would give you a link but I'd like to spare both your eardrums and the sight of this guy say, wearing a bloody crown of thorns or making a cross bleed or something else to do with fire and/or blood. Just picture a big tattooed guy screaming COOKIE!!! COOKIE!!! in Portuguese and you'll get the picture. . .
5. There is another band called Unearthly Trance. This one is a sludge metal/doom metal trio from New York City (basically the same thing as above, only screaming COOKIE!!!! COOKIE!!!! in English).
6. The original Doctor Who begins with an episode entitled "An Unearthly Child."
The clip is worth watching for the music alone. . .
"Well, it must be a simple answer. . ." Ooh-wee-ooh!!!
7. There was another 1957 film called The Unearthly. What's here is the MST3K mock-up of a commercial that ran during that film, not the film itself, but I thought this was funnier. Gotta love MST3K.
8. Someone WANTS to make a film called Unearthly. It's about a girl who is lost in the Bermuda Triangle, from what I can tell. A few days ago the producers started tweeting a lot trying to get donations so that they can make the film. This momentarily freaked out a lot of my fans, who thought that MY Unearthly was being made into a film and went WOO-HOO!! WOO-HOO!!! Oh.
(A timely update on the Unearthly film situation. The film rights for Unearthly have been sold, but as of yet, nothing is on film. Such is the way of Hollywood. Lots of hoops to jump through. Some things are going forward, but I'm not allowed to tell you about that stuff, sorry. Believe me, the minute Unearthly officially gets underway as a film or TV series, I will be right here going WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO!!!)
For all those disappointed by this, I direct you to these 2 Unearthly-inspired videos. Enjoy.
This video made me catch my breath, since when I was originally writing Unearthly, the Clara in my head bore a strong resemblance to Amanda Seyfried. Can anyone tell me what movie this footage comes from?
I thought this girl did a pretty good job casting my characters! The only person that really made me go, NO, NOT EVEN, was the person she chose for Maggie. This Tucker didn't much do it for me, either, but hey, well done overall.
9. A lot of people are reading my book. YAY!!!! Goodreads has this thing where it posts your progress on a book to Twitter. So I do my little Unearthly search, and voila! so-and-so is on page 235 of Unearthly! Often I flip to the page to see what part that person's on! It always gives me a little thrill, knowing that right at that very moment someone is reading my book! How surreal is that? Awesome.
10. I should not read the reviews. Most of the time they are good but every now and then I start my day by clicking on a link for a review and pbbbbt. (See back up at the top for me screaming for help--there needs to be a hotline for authors who can't stop reading the reviews.)
That's it. 10 things. Doesn't Twitter make us so much smarter?