Blooker Prize Blog

Julie and Julia: From Blook To Flook

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If Meryl Streep wins the Oscar that many have already predicted for her portrayal of Julia Child in Julie and Julia, Nora Ephron’s terrific new movie http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/julieandjulia/site/

inspired by Julie Powell’s equally terrific blook of the same name, then we’re grown-up enough to realize that she’s unlikely to start her acceptance speech by thanking the Blooker Prize for making it all possible by naming Powell’s book its first winner back in 2006.  

And nor should she, since by the time Julie and Julia won the inaugural Blooker Prize back in 2006 it was already a bestselling blook in North America, based on Julie Powell’s hugely popular blog, chronicling her bid to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s book in her tiny apartment kitchen.

Even so, that doesn’t mean that we’re not allowed to point out that the global coverage that Julie and Julia gained on winning the first Blooker… well, at least didn’t do it any harm.

But it is thanks to Nora Ephron’s movie – already a notable success in North America, before hitting European screens this month – more than to the Blooker that Julie and Julia is not just the world’s most famous blook but also now it’s first fully-fledged “flook” – as in a film based on a blook. (We thought of calling it a “mlook”, as in a movie based on a blook, but… well, that’s a lot harder to say.)

It might be the first fully-fledged flook – at least in the English-speaking world, since there have been some in Japan – but it is not the first blook, or even the first Blooker nominee to hit the screen.

Indeed, when Julie and Julia outscored another Blooker nominee, The Intimate Adventures of A London Call Girl: Belle de Jour, to win the first Blooker, one headline declared, “Cooker Beats Hooker To Win Blooker”.

Yet, Belle de Jour, then beat Julie and Julia, to the screen, albeit the small screen of British TV, starring Billie Piper. It is now due to see its third series hit British TV screens this autumn. Meanwhile, The Washingtonienne, another Blooker entrant, is currently being made into an American TV series by HBO.

But the flook of the moment is undoubtedly Julie and Julia.

Julie Powell is still very much an active blogger at http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/ and the author of a forthcoming new book, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession – that is, when she isn’t giving TV interviews promoting the movie. See her interview on ABC’s Nightline here: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=8254397, or another good clip of her http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7R-O5Aj6n8, courtesy of moviesandshakers.com.

But above all, see the movie of Julie and Julia. 

Keep checking the Blooker blog for news and updates on the next Blooker Prize.

It's no secret...blooks get noticed by The New York Times

The Blooker, and blooks in general, got a nice mention in the New York Times this week - Blogs Into 'Blooks': The Cranky and the Chaste. The article (from the Fashion & Style section) focuses on two recently published blooks, one of which has just been submitted to the Blooker.

My Secret: A PostSecret Book
by Frank Warren - www.postsecret.com

$19.95 (Regan/HarperCollins) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"The sensational PostSecret project returns with a never-before-seen collection of postcards created by teens and college students from around the world. Compiled by Frank Warren, postsecret.com founder and author of the national bestseller PostSecret, the handmade cards bear compelling and personal messages that have remained secret--until now. Raw and revealing, My Secret expresses the hopes, fears, and wildest confessions of young people everywhere." Also, it comes with stickers!

For the record, he other blook mentioned in the article, one that has not been entered for the Blooker yet, is The Thrill of the Chaste ($13.99, W Publishing Company) by Dawn Eden--based on her blog The Dawn Patrol.

This Times piece follows another recent article on the blook phenomenon--this time from the Wall Street Journal: How Demon Wife Became a Media Star And Other Tales of the 'Blook' in Japan. The WSJ piece focuses on the smash success in Japan of Demon Wife Diaries, by a blogger known by the pen name "Kazuma," and the spreading popularity of blooks in the Japanese market.

Business Week recognizes blooks

The current issue of Business Week had a big article on the phenomenon of blooks, and it includes a slide show highlighting all three Blooker winners and other high-profile blooks. To be honest, we're pretty ticked off that it mischaracterizes Lulu.com as a vanity publisher and down-plays the significance of the Blooker Prize. However, it does spot-light what we've known all along, blooks are not a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon. In addition to the Blooker winners, non-fiction short-lister All the President's Spin gets a mention, as wall as entrant Warren Meyer and his blook Coyote Blog: Year One (available at Lulu).

Other blooks mentioned in the article/slide-show:

My War: Killing Time in Iraq by Colby Buzzell
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend - nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize!
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives by Frank Warren
Straight Up & Dirty by Stephanie Klein

None of these books were entered in the 2006 Blooker Prize, but there's always next year!

Speaking of blooks that were not considered for the Blooker, I wanted to mention Katrina and the Lost City of New Orleans by Rod Amis. Contest judge Robin Miller was one of the original editors of the blook, and for that reason, we had to disqualify it for entry. We did not have an official "honorable mention" list this year, but if we had, Rod's book would have been at the top.

Blooker news circles the globe!

The news of the announcement was broken first in the UK by The Independent, followed closely by The Telegraph and USA Today. Once Reuters picked it up, press all over the world began reporting on the winners of the first annual Lulu Blooker Prize!

Countries that have covered the announcement so far:

• France
• The Netherlands
• Romania
• South Africa
• India
• North Korea
• Indonesia
• Australia
• Canada

Oh, and I nearly forgot, NPR Marketplace, BBC World Service, The New York Times...

Date clarification

It has come to our attention that one of our press releases incorrectly stated that the winners of the 2006 Lulu Blooker Prize will be announced on April 6. The actual date, as posted on the on the official Blooker site, and correctly reported in the BBC and elsewhere, is Monday, April 3, 2006.

The incorrect date was picked up by Reuters and subsequently reported in a number of articles worldwide. We apologize for this unfortunate mistake and any confusion it has caused.

blook buzz

The announcement last week of the Lulu Blooker Prize short-list produced a flood of press coverage all over the world both in traditional print media and online. Stories on the short-list have been featured in The Daily Telegraph, The Times of London, The BBC (not only once, but twice), The CBC, and US News and World Report .  Getting picked up by Reuters doesn't hurt either!

The UK press, perhaps not surprisingly, has focused its attention on British entrants Russell Davies and Belle de Jour. Of course, they're not the only Blooker finalists getting attention. Kevin Cornell has been interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Tornotoist loves Ryan North!

We know there are other exciting stories in the works, and we'll post about them here when they happen.

 

Home and abroad

The past month has seen lots of great coverage for The Blooker, both in the international press and closer to home. Most notably, in October The Times of India featured this really nice write-up. More recently, The Raleigh News & Observer (our local paper) interviewed esteemed Blooker judge Paul Jones. (Will the mystery of the rubber chicken ever be completely solved?) Stephen and I had a chance to rub shoulders with Paul (he blogs about it here) and other local bloggers and podcasters at a recent meet-up, and yes, we talked up The Blooker! We're also getting noticed by academia, although this notoriety may only be short-term...

Blooks are bloring?

In response to today's very entertaining letters to the editor on The Register UK's recent story on The Blooker I won't bother to cobble together a defense of techno-utopianism, nor will I make any attempt to draw the attention of that estimable paper's indignant readership to any of the outstanding writing making its first appearance on the web these days. I will simply note that from my very American perspective the vigor of debate in good old England remains inspiring. Here, here!

Recent blog coverage of The Blooker Prize has been positive (see also the Technorati feed). The Washingtonienne herself surprised this blogger with a shout-out yesterday, which I will, in the interest of fairness, ignore for the time being. And of course readers should remember that neither I nor Jason, my fellow Blooker blogger, have anything whatsoever to do with judging this contest. As employees of the contest sponsor, we're just  MC'ing this gig. And having a great time so far.

I'm wondering if we should have a special category next year for scandalous memoirs? But while The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl is entered in the nonfiction category, The Washingtonienne is a novel. The Stripper Files, by Amanda Miller, is entered as fiction, too. We'll see what else comes along. 

Blooks in the blogosphere

'Blooks' . . .  'Blogosphere' . . . Blimey. It's not pretty witnessing the birth of a new term. But I wouldn't have expected snarkiness from a site called "Blogebrity." Oh yes,  snarkiness is the coin of the realm among blogs. And I love it.

Edward Moyer of CNet wrote a very nice column noting the creation of The Blooker Prize--"Blooker Prize Rewards Books Based on Blogs"-- and he even took the time to peruse a few books on Lulu, as well as to note the controversy that has arisen over the term blook. If you missed it in the post, Tom Evslin of the blog Fractals of Change commented on the controversy, which is really not so much of a controversy as it is a confluence of notions about of a new kind of book. Evslin himself is posting a novel in serialized form on the blog Hackoff.com (I hope he finishes it in time to enter) and so is Pete Townshend, of all people (yes, that Pete Townshend)--see "The Boy Who Heard Music." I'd love to see his book entered in the Blooker Prize contest, too.

Blooks of the Times

The Times Online UK weighs in on the notion of a lit prize for blooks: "From blogs to books, new awards highlight the best of the net." The story makes it sound as if all the books mentioned -- by Wonkette, Salam Pax, et al. -- have been entered in the contest. They haven't -- yet. I hope they will be, but that will of course be up to the authors/publishers.

You can follow expanding blog coverage of the announcement via Technorati, or Google's new blog search engine.    -Stephen