Gimme Shelter

Gimme Shelter is the tragically beautiful story of Abigail "Apple" Bailey, a pregnant teenager trying to escape her life. Her mother is a drug addict. She's been in and out of foster homes since she was twelve. She's been physically and emotionally abused her whole life. She's never met her father. Her only connection to him is a letter he wrote before she was born.

I'll keep this relatively spoiler free.

The movie starts with Apple cutting off all her hair, stealing all her mom's money, and escaping in a cab with her mother screaming after her "you need me." Apple goes looking for her father, and finds him in Jersey. He works on Wall Street, and has a wife and kids. He agrees to let her stay with him for a while, until she can get on her feet. But she takes off again after discovering that she's pregnant, and being told she can only stay with her father if she gets an abortion. After several weeks, she steals a car and gets in an accident. She wakes up in the hospital, where she talks to a priest. She's then placed in a home for pregnant teenagers who want to keep her baby.

This movie starts off grim, and stay that way for most of the movie. She breaks into the home's owner's office with the other girls at one point, which turns out to be a major bonding moment for all of them, as they read each other what's written in their files.

I thought this movie was a very realistic portrayal of how hard it is for someone with a drug addicted parent. I found Apple's mother June (Rosario Dawson, in a stunning portrayal of this drug addled, abusive woman) particularly pitiful. She always has dark circles under her eyes, and she's thin as a rail. She stalks Apple throughout the movie, trying to convince her to come home. She tells her daughter that she wasn't much older than Apple when she got pregnant, and that "nobody wanted me to have you."

The last half of the movie is so moving, and so beautiful, when Apple has her baby, and finally begins to heal from her past.

 Vanessa Hudgens shone in this movie. She was adorable in all three High School Musical movies, but this showed that she has real acting chops. Her repeated mantra of "I'm not scared... I'm not scared..." made my stomach clench every time she said it. She gives forth an extremely convincing performance, especially in the dinner scene with Brendan Fraser (her father), where she yells at him for never being there for her. Another one of the scenes where she surprised me was when she's in the hospital, with the priest. He's trying to convince her that God is looking after her, but she shoots back with "Where was God when I was suffering and being abused all these years?"


Yes, this movie made me cry. Yes, I would watch it again. It's a rare combination of heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time, without managing to be preachy. A beautiful movie.

Research

I don't like doing research for stories. I wish I just knew everything, because tracking down reliable information can be tedious, and, well... I write thrillers. I can't just Google "how to poison someone without any trace." It makes life difficult.

But, there are some ways that can make research fun! Some of the things that have been the most beneficial to me are cop shows, and, yes, Tumblr!

1. Cop Shows
I watched Psych, Monk, Sherlock, and Awake. Psych and Monk are both full on information about how to effectively murder someone, which is great when you write thrillers! Awake was a very psychological show, and it got you inside the mind of someone who might be completely insane. Sherlock is a wonderfully crafted mystery series, absolutely perfect for anyone looking to write mysteries. If you write cop stories, thrillers, mysteries, or horror stories, I would highly recommend these four shows.

2. Tumblr
Thanks to Tumblr, I found this website: Havocscope. It's a great database for black market listings. It doesn't actually give you links to buy things on the black market, I promise. It's a compilation of news stories about the black market.

3. WebMD
WebMD has an entire article about autopsies.

4.  cdc.gov
Centers for Disease Control. Lists symptoms for various poisonings. I have found it very helpful in the latest thriller that I'm working on.

5. Movies
One of the benefits of writing novels, is that you can watch movies for research. I am currently working on a story about a girl in the foster system, and to research, I watched the movie Gimme Shelter, with Vanessa Hudgens. A beautiful touching movie, it totally deserves its own post. And it will get one. But right now, I'm mentioning it because it was another way I was able to make research more fun.

What are your favorite ways to research?

Second Blog

I started another blog!! You can visit me here, at "This is My Serious Blog." But don't worry, I'm still going to be posting here! Don't worry. :)