Last night, I was not in the Living Room because I was watching a Brazilian film at a film festival called The Year My Parents Went on Vacation. I hope that just made me sound smart. Did it make me sound smart? I wore a navy blue turtleneck to make myself look smarter as I sat there to watch the film. I hope I looked dark and broody and film-serious.

The film seems to be traveling on the film festival circuit because the filmmakers were going up to New York today. In fact, I just sent Josh on a google hunt for the film and here are some more locations where it will be playing. It is in some Jewish film festivals, though it's not really a "Jewish" film per se. It's a Brazilian film with a Jewish storyline.

December 4th in New York at the JCC in Manhattan (it looks like it's free!)
December 6th and 9th at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
Sometime in the summer for the Palm Springs International Film Festival

The film is set in 1970's Brazil during the time of the Disappearances. This dark period in South American history has interested me since I saw a production of Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden (did that make me sound smart?), which is one of my favourite pieces of music (that must have made me sound smart). It is one of the most brilliant plays I've ever seen or read and I loved the production I saw in particular because there was a moment where the character of Paulina slips off her underpants and stuffs them in the mouth of Dr. Miranda. All I could think as I watched that scene was "damn, it's a really lucky thing that the actress doesn't have her period at the moment and need to wear a pantiliner. How did she time that?"

See, smart thoughts.

Anyway, the movie I saw was set during the Disappearances and it is about a boy whose parents need to go on "vacation" (read: hiding) to escape the regime. They drop him off at grandpa's apartment in Sao Paolo and, of course, grandpa has had a heart attack that day and died. So this boy is alone in the city, with no way to contact his parents, and a vague promise that they will be there to get him when the World Cup begins. Why did I love it--beyond the fact that I was bawling five minutes into the film when the parents had to say goodbye without saying goodbye (my friend hissed at me, "pace yourself!"), I loved the way a community came together to take care of this twelve-year-old boy who was literally dropped on their doorstep. It was a little bit like a human stone soup where the boy was the stone and the community members were all vegetables, adding themselves to the pot until this boy had a rich and flavourful life in Sao Paolo.

Plus, the directors were there and it made me love the film more to able to interact with them in the lobby after the film. Which brings us to the Barren Bitches Book Brigade and all of the author participation that is going to go down in the next few months...

The dates and details of the next few tours for the BBBB are now posted on the past tours link (I should probably change the name since it has past tour and current tour information). I am excited to report that EVERY book that we're reading has author participation. I think being able to speak with the authors and having their participation makes the tours really exciting. We kick off the new year with Karen Fowler and The Jane Austen Book Club, which is currently in theaters if you want to watch the movie version. Then we'll be chatting with the hysterically funny and smart Beth Kohl from Embryo Culture. AM Homes will be there for The Mistress's Daugther, Sara Gruen for Water for Elephants, and Sinead Moriarty for Baby Trail. I am beyond excited that we're doing books by TWO bloggers: The Empty Picture Frame by Jenna from Epiblog and So Close by Tertia from So Close. Some authors are sending along pages from upcoming novels for us to enjoy as a teaser and others are open to real-time live chats in the Living Room. So...lots of exciting things on the book front.

But slipping in between the tours are also going to be cool online chats with authors. The first one is coming up in January and I need you to vote on a time/date. Darci Klein of To Full Term will be in the Living Room to discuss her book and answer questions on pregnancy loss. If people are divided between two times, she may be able to hold two separate chats. The four possible dates/times:

• January 8th at 10 a.m. EST
  
• January 8th at 8 p.m. EST
  
• Jaunary 9th at 8 p.m. EST
  
• January 10th at 8 p.m. EST

The earlier time is probably better for those overseas and the later times are probably better for those who don't want to enter a chat room while at work (because...you know...it's good to get work done at work). So vote by leaving a comment below as to which time works best for you. You can also sign up by leaving a comment or sending an email right now. Even if you can't finish the book in time, you can still come with general questions about pregnancy loss, writing, and even pregnancies following a loss. All I need from you is your blog name, blog url, and an email address where I can reach you if you've never participated in a book tour before. And a vote for favourite time or date.

Oh, and it goes without saying that this is open to anyone and everyone--whether you have a blog or not.

So, that's all the cool, upcoming book information (and I'm setting up a bunch of these author chats for the future) and film information and hopefully I've come across as smart. And turtleneck wearing. And here are some cool posts I read this week:

I really loved this post at Won't Fear Love. Julia writes: "At breakfast this morning she declared her baby dolly hungry, then promptly pulled down the top of her dress and stuck the dolly's face to her nipple? And then sat, holding the dolly in place with one hand, operating the fork with the other, and chatting non-stop for the next several minutes? What?" But then Julia floored me later in the week with this post on grief. Tertia asked bloggers to discuss their experience with grief and Julia brought out this thought on abiding, allowing another person their grief and sitting with them (literally or figurative) instead of walking away. It is a post that every person trying to comfort another should read.

Growing Our Little Bean had a hysterical, theatrical post this week, staging an actual discussion with her clinic's nurse during the follow up appointment to her D & C. You will need to click over to read this scene with the Condom Fairy because any clips from the post will spoil the tongue-in-cheek humour in the face of post-loss grief. Absolutely loved it.

Lastly, Yodamistress at We Are What We Repeatedly Do has a post about her sister's children. She writes about her transformation--from questioning parenthood to her own desire to parent--all through her experience with her niece and nephew. She writes: "In spring 2006 my sister and the SD went on vacation to Gatlinburg for a week and left the kids with us. I was soooo nervous. To be honest, half the reason I agreed to do it was because I secretly thought it would be a “wake up call” to Zeno and I about how difficult juggling jobs and kids really was." And of course, it was the moment where she fell in love with being a Mommy. It is a beautiful post that aches with love for her niece and nephew as well as her own longing to have a child that is entirely her own.

Have a wonderful weekend with lots of relaxation. I am seeing more movies at the film festival including one filmed by an old college friend! That was a kick in the head when I saw his name in the catalog. Which reminds me of another kick in the head that happened last night, but I guess that discussion will need to wait for another time because this is growing into the longest Blog Roundup in the world. And don't forget to sign up for the online chat with Darci Klein and vote on a time/date.

Catching up on emails this weekend if you're still waiting to hear back from me. Lack of ovulation coupled with early period on my final cycle before returning to the clinic kicked me in the ass today and stole too much of my time.