The First Wives' Club by Olivia Goldsmith

Most people would think of the best-seller "The First Wives Club" (or the movie starring Bette Midler, which I have yet to watch) when you mention Olivia Goldsmith.

After all, a group of angry first wives who gang up to get even with their ex-husbands who dumped them for younger, trophy wives makes a juicy story.

A management consultant

After quitting her lucrative New York-based job as a management consultant with an international firm, Goldsmith set a deadline for her dream. In 1989 she decided to give herself two years to write and sell her first novel.

But 3 1/2 years and 27 rejection slips later, her savings were depleted and she was $40,000 in debt.

Hollywood, Hollywood

Then the novice author did what few have done: She sold her story to Hollywood before it was published. "I got a call that three studios were in a bidding war over it," she says. Once news of the movie deal became known, selling the novel was a different story.

"A studio spends $35 million to make a movie, word gets around," she says.

Although she did not write the screenplay for First Wives, Goldsmith says being involved with the movie-making process taught her a new appreciation for the genre.

"I'm not a screenwriter, they yell at screenwriters," she says, "but I'm in the movie."

Goldsmith has a cameo at the beginning of the film - she plays a mourner at a funeral. She says doing the shoot proved one thing:

"I'm a writer. I don't like to have 340 people looking at me, waiting to determine if I can flare my nostrils on queue."

Goldsmith's desire to write dates to high school in New Jersey. She didn't have anything published then, but she remembers liking "the writing process."

An avid reader, she enjoys a variety of fiction styles - from Mary Karr to Toni Morrison. But when it comes to themes, she has a favorite:

anger and frustration as motivation.

"It's always about an outsider vs. an insider. It's always about bullies. We're angry because it's unfair. I hate unfairness; it gives me anger. And anger fuels things."

Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

While "First Wives Club" is very funny and I think Bette Midler would have been fabulous in the movie (I have not had a chance to watch it yet), I tend to pick up "Switcheroo" by Olivia Goldsmith any time I need a good laugh. :)

P/S I was sad to read that Olivia Goldsmith died at the age of 54 on Jan 15, 2004 as she was being prepped up for plastic surgery.

Seeing her photo, I immediately thought of Brenda Cushman, the funny, straight-talking Jewish woman in First Wives Club.

Despite her success and her wonderful sense of humor (like Brenda), Olivia Goldsmith had her own demons to deal with too.

Born Randy Goldfield in New York City, she changed her legal name to Justine Rendal and wrote under the pen name of Olivia Goldsmith. She grew up in Dumont, N.J. and attended New York University.

Rest in peace, Olivia Goldsmith. Sad to see you go...

The Negotiator

How do you feel when you show children, teens and young adults a "good guy, bad guy" movie and the good guy wins in the end?

When I was younger, I was more idealistic and believed in "doing the right thing".

Today? I advise my young charges to be smart, to be realistic and to live in the real world.

Am I being cynical or jaded? Maybe a bit.

The world is not sunshine and rainbows and I feel that we should not be condescending towards young people by insisting that it is.

I am optimistic and I still believe that there are good people around...I just think that we should also be smart and not mess with the rotten apples.

Anyway, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey are dynamite in this gripping movie about a corrupted police force where "a hostage negotiator who, after being framed for murder, tries to clear his name by taking people hostage."

"The Negotiator" is Samuel L. Jackson and he is one of the top negotiators, Lt. Danny Roman, in hostage cases but he ironically holds people hostage when he is framed for murder.

Another negotiator, Lt. Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey) is brought in to negotiate with the negotiator!

The movie involves a lot of dialogue, which may be boring to kids, but it's a great movie to watch with the family on Friday night.

I remember watching it with the kids and they had so many questions about what's going on!

I also find that the movie is useful to teach children about what to do in the case of a hostage situation.

Although the movie is about betrayal and corruption...I made the decision not to delve too much on the topic of the police pension fund.

I still believe in sunshine and rainbows, remember? ;-)

Mona Lisa Smile

Synopsis: In 1953, free-spirited Berkeley graduate Katherine Watson accepts a position as a teacher at Wellesley College, a women-only school where she finds students who are torn between their thirst for intellectual freedom and the repressive mores of the early 1950s.

A Revolution Studios film, written by Larry Konner & Mark Rosenthal, directed by Mike Newell, starring Julia Roberts, Marcia Gay Harden, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, & Maggie Gyllenhaal

As much as I love books, I find that suitable movies communicate and educate audiences much more than a lecture or a tutorial ever could.

With an all-star cast like Julia Roberts, Marcia Gay Harden, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie and Gyllenhaal, the movie is not as inspiring as Dead Poets Society...

The movie is supposed to be about female students at the prestigious Wellesley College "who are torn between their thirst for intellectual freedom and the repressive mores of the early 1950s".

Seriously, I enjoyed the movie for the beautiful cast and costumes and I think my freshmen class of Chinese students were captivated by the mainstream US college culture...

They enjoyed the story and could relate their mothers' experiences with some of the characters' experiences and plights.

One of the best parts of the movie (for me) is when Marcia Gay Hayden chooses to get married and raise a family although Julia Roberts feels that she should pursue her postgraduate degree. Personally, I felt a bit disappointed when her loving fiance felt that her place is still in the home (this movie is set in the 1950s) but I thought that Hayden's role was that of a strong woman who feels that being a housewife is her worthy pursuit in life - not Julia Roberts' ultra feminist stance for intellectual pursuits.

In any case, I was left wondering why the book or movie is titled "Mona Lisa Smile" because other than the art history professor, I could not see any logical linkages between Mona Lisa and the women's experiences in the movie.

University of Melbourne - Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

No. 1 in Australia in Modern Languages

Linguistics and Applied Linguistics is a challenging and stimulating discipline, offering many opportunities for original work.

Applied Linguistics will be of particular interest to those studying second or foreign languages, and to anybody seriously interested in practical issues to do with communication in social contexts.

It is also a useful general preparation for a career in second or foreign language teaching, including teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) or as a Second Language (TESL).

APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Applied Linguistics is concerned with practical issues involving language in the life of the community. The most important of these is the learning of second or foreign languages. 

Others include: 

1. language policy, 
2. multilingualism, 
3. language education, 
4. the preservation and revival of endangered languages, and 
5. the assessment and treatment of language difficulties.
   

 

Research expertise

Our research expertise includes areas as diverse as 

1. Australian English, 
2. cinema studies, 
3. popular culture, 
4. food studies, 
5. pragmatics and discourse analysis, 
6. sociolinguistics, 
7. Applied Linguistics, 
8. language education, 
9. European and Latin-American literatures, 
10. travel writing, 
11. first and second language acquisition, 
12. gender and sexuality studies, 
13. gesture and sign language, 
14. health communication, 
15. language and identity, 
16. language and technology, 
17. language documentation and description, 
18. language and autism, 
19. memory studies, 
20. Indigenous languages of Australia, 
21. second language testing and assessment, 
22. second language writing, 
23. speech perception and production, 
24. psycholinguistics, 
25. translation and 
26. cultural mediation. 

You can read about some of our research stories on our website and in tweets from @indiglang and @CoEDLang.

Other areas of interest include professional communication, for example, between doctors and their patients, between lawyers and their clients and in courtrooms, as well as other areas of institutional and cross-cultural communication ranging from the boardroom to the routines on an answer phone.

Click here to go to Areas of Study

• Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy - Assoc. Prof. Neomy Storc

Guides - Graduate Research Hub of University of Melbourne

Graduate Subjects

Generic skills

The generic skills that students who complete this course should develop are:

• the ability to communicate effectively;
• the ability to convey information appropriately and accurately; and
• the ability to apply knowledge in practice, research skills development.

Graduate attributes

The Melbourne Experience enables graduates to become:

• knowledgeable in their specialist discipline with skills to examine issues with multiple disciplinary perspectives;
• aware of social and cultural diversity in communities; and
• potential leaders in their professions and their communities.

For further information please see http://provost.unimelb.edu.au/teaching-learning 

Links to further information

http://arts.unimelb.edu.au/asiainstitute