During this year, I've done posts about Allison Winn Scotch's (C'95) book The Time of My Life and how it was optioned by the Weinstein Brothers, was reviewed in People Magazine, made The Today Show's top 10 books for the fall, and made the New York Times Best Seller List! (#31).

Now news that last week, her book came out in paperback!

The Time of My Life (per Allison) is about an unhappy housewife who has been “whisked seven years back, back to her old life, her old self, back to the moments in which she made decisions that charted her future course. And now that she’s back, she’s faced with the same roadblocks and obstacles, only this time, armed with hindsight, she can choose a different path and finally lay to rest all of her "what ifs.”

Read a full synopsis of The Time of My Life here...+/-

“From the outside view, Jillian Westfield has a pitch-perfect life. Her cherubic 18-month old daughter, her wildly successful investment banker husband, a four-bedroom, five-bath, lemon-scented home with landscaping and neighbors to match. But that doesn’t stop her from mulling over the past, from pushing away the "what ifs" that haunt her when she allows them to seep into her consciousness. What if she hadn’t married Henry? What if she hadn’t abandoned her job at the first sign of pregnancy? What if she’d never broken up with Jackson? What if she answered her mother’s letter? Because underneath the shiny veneer of her life, Jill waddles around in a faltering marriage, brewing resentment, and an air of discontentedness.

But after an ethereal massage in which her therapist releases her blocked chi, she wakes up to discover that she’s been whisked seven years back, back to her old life, her old self, back to the moments in which she made decisions that charted her future course. And now that she’s back, she’s faced with the same roadblocks and obstacles, only this time, armed with hindsight, she can choose a different path and finally lay to rest all of her "what ifs."

Much more than a story about a real life desperate housewife. Instead, it speaks to so many of our tiny, lingering doubts, the same doubts that send us googling old friends and exes or wistfully pulling out pictures of days gone by. And through Jillian’s journey, in which she rediscovers the mother who abandoned her, reacquaints herself with the strengths she once deemed important, and may literally rewrite her future, we all get a chance to peek inside the windows of our own "what ifs," and consider if the path we took was the one that has granted us the most happiness.”

Read Allison's insider's advice on how to become a published novelist

Get The Time of My Life (paperback)

Get Allison’s The Department of Lost and Found

Other Penn authors!

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Last year I did a post about Whitney Cummings (C'03) being one of Entertainment Weekly's "12 Future Stars of Comedy". 

As you'll see in the above preview clip from this Sunday night's Friar's Club Joan Rivers roast, it is apparent why Whitney was given this title!

The video above is hysterical and definitely a not-safe-for-work video ...and Whitney pulls no stops when it comes to Joan's face!





Check out my other Funny Friday posts HERE!

More of my not-safe-for-work posts HERE!

More Penn stand-ups!

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Last week I did a post on Hollywood-guy-to-watch-out-for Jonathan London (C'01, WQHS Radio, The Hollywood Club).  And now a fun follow-up!

In that post, Jonathan talked about how he "shot a film for school called Gay By Dawn (featured in Pennfest 2006 - program HERE, photos HERE).  It was a comedy horror short and it played really well at festivals for about two years. I knew it played well with festival audiences because it was weird, but just kept sending it to any festival that would take it and was shocked that it lived so long."

Well, we have it now to show on DT and it is funny! 

Synopsis:
"In the deep, dark woods, four rednecks tell ghost stories around an open fire. But when one tells a tale about the horrors that may lurk around them, fear becomes suspicion. Will they make it out in time? Or will the very woods around them turn them Gay By Dawn? Finally! Gay By Dawn is here! Four rednecks discover the true nature of terror in this multiple award winning comedy short."

Check out my other Funny Friday posts here!

Check out who is registered on DuelingTampons.com

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Did you know that there was a Time Capsule buried in the Quad in 1940?

Who knew?!

According to the American Time Capsule Database, the contents of the capsule apparently contain:

• President Roosevelt's speech at the University of Pennsylvania's bicentennial celebration
• Letters from each administrative officer of the university to his successor of 100 years hence

Anyone know where in the quad this was buried exactly?



Other great Now and Then Thursday posts

More from my "Who knew?!" series

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

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Where most people are sending out traditional resumes to companies, Eric Barker (C'94) used Facebook in the most brilliant of ways for his job search.  Check this out...

Eric recently graduated from an MBA program and to try to get a job, he bought Facebook ads that specifically targeted employees of Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Youtube and IDEO.  It cost him a little over $100, and so far he's gotten help from Microsoft employees and other companies who like his tactics.

Per his quote in the The Baltimore Sun,

"Barker, a former Hollywood screenwriter with an MBA, said his Facebook campaign has cost him little more than $100. He's targeted ads to Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Youtube and IDEO -- basically companies that are in media. He's gotten contacts and interviews, ironically, with other companies who were impressed by the ad.

He said he "went nuclear" with the Facebook approach because of the rough job market and he needed to get attention quickly. "My background is in Hollywood," he said. "Nothing in Hollywood gets done effectively through formal channels. Everything is done by friend of a friend and reputation. The real world is not that much different."

His dream job would be something in product marketing and/or development, he told me.

About his Facebook approach, he said: "We're all marketers now, like it or not. Getting access [through the Web and interactive social media tools] is easy. It's now all about marketing and branding yourself."

More about Eric here:

• Consumerist
• Boston Globe
• The Baltimore Sun

And Eric is also going to be featured in the upcoming book "Facebook Fairytales" by Emily Liebert. It's authorized by Facebook and will have an interview with Mark Z himself. The book covers 25 true inspiring stories of people and Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/FacebookFairytales

Eric is still interviewing, and encourages any alumni to reach him via his info HERE

Eric also used DuelingTampons.com to get in touch with alumni for leads.  Learn how he did that HERE!



Other great Website Wednesday posts

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

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