Arnold Schwarzenegger's Tell-All Due Out Next Week

Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, is set for release next week on October 1st. It's available for pre-order now. There are reports that it is a no-holds barred tell-all.

He begins with his journey from his homeland of Austria to the United States into the world of bodybuilding. He chronicles his life as a Hollywood superstar, and then his transition into politics. He also uses the book as a platform to come clean about his affair with his, and then wife, Maria Shriver's housekeeper and the resulting love-child.

Good Morning America reports

"...that Schwarzenegger lays out exactly how he was blindsided by ex-wife Maria Shriver when she waited until he left office to set up a couples' counseling session to confront him about the child he secretly had with the housekeeper."

Are you freaking kidding me?! He was blindsided by a counseling session to address his infidelity? That just irritates the hell out of me. I don't anticipate purchasing the book. I wouldn't feel right about letting him make money for being a pompous, cheating ass. That's just me though. Sure, his life has encompassed much more than the cheating-lovechild-scandal, but I feel bad for Maria. And to now have that which must have been a horrible time in her life immortalized in print, makes my heart ache for her. I truly hope that she is doing well now.

Anyway, here's the trailer.



What are your thoughts?

Thanks a million for stopping by. Talk to you soon,
Angela          

Disco Diva Donna Summer Has Died

Donna Summer, 63 died this morning in her home in Key West, Florida after losing her battle with breast and lung cancer. My sincerest condolences go out to her family.

She wrote her memoir Ordinary Girl: The Journey with Marc Eliot in 2003.

Ordinary Girl is legendary singer-songwriter Donna Summer’s delightfully candid memoir about her journey from singing in a Boston church to her unexpected reign as the Queen of Disco—and the tragedy and spiritual rebirth that followed.

Donna Summer was born on New Year’s Eve in Boston. Her childhood was filled with music. Inspired by Mahalia Jackson, she began singing in church choirs at the age of ten. A few years later she joined a Boston rock group, and by the end of the 1960s she was living the life of an artist in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

Soon after, Donna left the United States to join the German cast of Hair. She was still in her teens, a shy, ordinary girl who was suddenly feeling the jolt of the sexual revolution. She lived in Germany for seven and a half years, modeling, acting, falling in love, getting married, and giving birth to a daughter. She met a producer named Giorgio Moroder, and together they created a song called “Love to Love You Baby.” It became one of the world’s premier disco hits.

Donna Summer returned to America as a star, a “sex goddess” who bore little resemblance to her own sense of who she was. She describes what that personal transformation felt like from the white-hot center of the disco era, and how, over the next two decades, it contributed to a sometimes harrowing spiritual journey.

With heart and humor, Donna Summer relives the decadent days of disco and shows how she transcended them. This is the inspiring tale of an “ordinary girl” on an extraordinary journey.

Donna Summer on
 
 
 
 

On Writing with Intent

Thinking about writing a memoir? Marion Roach Smith, writer and memoir writing instructor, has written a book that may help guide you to writing the next bestseller. The Memoir Project: a thoroughly non-standardized text for writing & life shows you how to "write with intent." In her interview with Neal Conan on NPR's Talk of the Nation, she illuminates the distinction between memoirs and autobiographies. 

 "An autobiography is really the story of a whole life," she says. "A memoir, if you want someone else to interested, should really be [about] an area of expertise within that life."

Smith's other books include: 

• Another Name for Madness, Houghton Mifflin, 1985; Pocket Books, 1986 - This is the story of her mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease when Marion was 22. The book emphasizes the impact on family members.
• Dead Reckoning: the new science of catching killers, Simon and Schuster, 2001; paperback, 2002 - This book is co-written with famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, takes the reader into the world of forensic science. 
• The Roots of Desire: the myth, meaning, and sexual power of red hair, Bloomsbury, 2005; paperback 2006 - A witty and entertaining investigation into the power of red hair.

With that, I'm going to segue to another tidbit of bookish news. 

EPIX is working on a 3D animated version of the late British comedian Graham Chapman's A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI. It will feature recordings Chapman made of his book in 1982. The film's world premiere will be in both 2D and 3D on EPIX and EpixHD.com in Spring 2012. It will be released theatrically in the UK by London-based Trinity. Chapman is best known for his membership in the Monty Python comedy troupe. He also starred in the films "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian." He died of cancer in 1989 from cancer.

La Toya Jackson Today Show Interview

 

La Toya Jackson was on the Today Show peddling her new book, Starting Over. She claims to know who her brother's killer is. She doesn't name names, but says to READ THE BOOK and you'll know. I don't know. She just came across as a salesman to me in the interview. I, for one, am getting tired of the celeb memoirs. They must sell though, because there is a new one released every time I turn around. Does it have to do with our infatuation with reality TV? Does it have to do with our sick sense of voyeurism? Interesting interview nonetheless.

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Interview with Matt Lauer

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Interview with Kathie Lee Gifford and Kota Kotb