Making a killing from courtroom dramas

HE isn’t hotter than Harry Potter, but for a man who has 235 million books in print, John Grisham has become platinum standard for fans of legal thrillers.
The latest from this Arkansas-born storyteller has an initial print of 2.5 million copies. Movie rights for The Associate, which made its debut on Tuesday, have already been sold to Paramount Pictures, with actor Shia LaBeouf in the title role.“I used to be Number One but then came Harry Potter. I really miss being Number One,” he deadpanned during a Tuesday appearance at a crowd­­­ed Barnes & Noble in Man­hattan to promote The Associate, a story set in New York, which Grisham described as a city that he had always loved but never featured in his previous books.
He produces a novel almost every year, always having about two or three ideas in his mind for the next book, mostly from stealing ideas everywhere.
“We all steal, that’s what we do,” he joked.
But there isn’t much sex in his writings because, according to his wife (in a previous TV interview), “he doesn’t know much about it”.
“I don’t know why she answered that way. It wasn’t necessary at all,” he said, poker-faced again.
Once he wrote something which he felt was erotic and raunchy, but his wife, who reads quite a lot of other naughty stuff, just “howled with laughter” after reading it.
He runs by his story ideas to his wife all the time. “If I can’t pitch it to her in about three sentences, I’m in trouble.”
To start on a book, Grisham has an outline for each chapter as he wants to know how the story goes.
“The more time I spend on the outline, the easier it gets, but sometimes I get lazy. If I don’t know the ending, I won’t start on it.”
But he admitted to not spending much time on characterisation. “I just want people to pick up my book and spend all night reading it, skipping work.”
He taught himself on what works and what won’t. Reading bad books, he said, reminds him not to write likewise.
Grisham remembered his early days as a small-town Mississippi lawyer always hanging around the court as he did not have too many clients.
One day, he listened to the testimony of a 10-year-old rape victim. “It was an emotional train wreck for all us in the courtroom. She took us through every emotion that a person could have,” he recalled.
When the court took a recess, Grisham left. Then he remembered that he had left his briefcase there.
He returned and, walking past the defendant, a thought came to him. Had he been the girl’s father, “just give me a gun, I could easily do it”.
“How many of you can convict me of something you would want to do yourself?” he asked himself. “It was a father’s revenge, a retribution.”
With that, an author was born, and A Time To Kill was published in 1988. “I wasn’t thinking about money or a career,” he said, “I just wanted a story told.”
By then, he had been severely bitten by the writing bug and decided that he had enough of a secret hobby.
The 54-year-old author spends six months every year writing, typing on the same computer that produced the 18 books he had written so far.
He believes the “insatiable appetite” for courtroom dramas and scandals has been the key to his commercial success.
“We have always enjoyed books and TV shows about lawyers. It’s ingrained in our DNA,” he said.
What does he do in the other six months? “People ask me that all the time,” he said, “but I really don’t know.”
Grisham shows little love for his critics. “Most of them have a manuscript in their drawer which can’t get published.”
Life, he said, is easier if you ignore the critics. The great thing about writing, he said, “is that you don’t have to retire”.
“I can’t say when I will quit. I’m always looking for something to write, I’m always looking for something to steal and then turn it over to my hyper creative imagination.”
Movie versions of The Firm, The Client and The Pelican Brief (he likes simple titles) came out within a year of the books being published.
“I write them that way. My books read like a movie.”
With all his wealth now, Grisham spoke of building schools in Kenya, health projects in Brazil and non-profit work to fight social injustice in the United States, because his heart remains in the law.
“The way the laws are abused in this country, the way we implement the death penalty, is absurd. These hot button issues really get to me.”
He is on the board of directors of Innocence Project, whose mission is to help prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA tests. “To date, 232 people in the US have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row.”
A Time To Kill will always be special to him because it was his first book. “And there was no deadline to finish it,” he said.
Another favourite is A Painted House, drawn from his childhood in rural Arkansas, and “there is a lot of family history there”.
“I have received more than I can dream of,” he said of his success. “This is the icing on the cake.”

Selling on the presidental dream

YES, you can. So said Harry Winston, the preferred jewellers of celebrities walking the red carpet in La-La Land.
With that Obama-inspired tagline, the ultra-luxury brand advertised on Wednesday a diamond ring that cost at least US$25,000, or RM90,100. As for Brooks Brothers, which was established in 1818, it boasted about its most famous customer, Abraham Lincoln, who wore an overcoat by the label during his second inauguration in 1865.
“Inspired by our past, we look toward the future,” the clothing line declared a day after the presidential inauguration in an advertisement billed “One Country, One Destiny”.
Dunkin’ Donuts proclaimed on TV that “You kin’ do it”; Movado, the Swiss luxury watchmaker, congratulated Americans for “a time of pride, promise and hope”.
Politics has been inspirational to Madison Avenue, the oft-used term for the US ad industry, and the newly-minted president has been good for business.
At Union Station, the historic Washington DC train station which is just a short walk from the Capitol Building, stalls have sprung up focusing solely on Obama memorabilia. Some stores have catchy names such as Making History, Life on Capitol Hill, and President Cigars.
Life-size cardboard cut-outs of Barack Obama are on almost every corner.
And for just US$20 (RM72), one makeshift photography shop would juxtapose your image with that of Obama’s; both of you in a pose that makes it appear as though you and the 44th US president are best friends.
Jan 20 was a happy, happy day for those Americans who believed that theirs was a Promised Land once more.
“I was in depression for eight years until Nov 4 last year,” said New Yorker N. Robinson, currently unemployed, referring to Obama’s victory in the election.
One cafe in mid-town Manhattan handed out free coffee between 10.44am and 1.44pm on Tuesday as a toast to the new commander-in-chief.
For husband-and-wife team Matt and Delia Paine, the post-inauguration period meant that they could finally take a break after working 16 to 18 hours a day for the past three months.
Delia, an artist, has a hugely successful business of making Obama buttons that have been worn by high-powered Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and second in line to the presidency.
The couple opened a kiosk in Union Station throughout this month, next to another stand that was also selling keepsakes of the first black president. Obama sandals, anyone?
“We brought 10,000 Obama keychains, buttons, zipper pulls and refrigerator magnets for our one-month duration here,” said 39-year-old Matt who is in the construction business.
Originally from Oregon, they relocated to Washington DC just for this occasion and brought along their two school-going children.
Business was great and orders came from other countries, too, after they were featured by news provider AP.
The consumerism of Obama led to one news report in The New York Times observing that “hope does not come free, and change will cost you”.
Still, Obama’s inspiring words have continued to stir Americans everywhere.
For 57-year-old Augusta Ogden, the inaugural speech completely overwhelmed her as she stood watching the ceremony in Times Square on Tuesday.
She wept when Obama spoke about forefathers who “packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh”.
“Those were my ancestors he was talking about,” Ogden, an artiste manager, said. “I’m proud to be here. We have faith again. Finally, the light in America has returned.”
Marketing manager Andre Spelbrink, a Dutch who has lived in New York for 25 years, was charmed by Obama’s message.
“He appealed to everyone to stand together although that can be a tough thing to do. But of course Obama put it in a much better way!” (With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.)
“It’s good to hear from a US president who can speak well,” Spelbrink said.
Most presidential inaugural addresses have not been very memorable, according to historian Donald Kennon. His favourite was Lincoln’s second inaugural speech when he said:
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”
During the presidential race the Obama campaign frequently sent out personalised e-mails to supporters that were signed “Barack Obama”.
On Wednesday, an e-mail came again. “Thank you for being part of the most open inauguration in our nation’s history.”
It went on to say that work had started on remaking America. “Our journey is just beginning. Thank you for all you do.”
(signed) President Barack Obama.

Hawaii Hunk, or plain Barry, he’s special

YOU can run but you can’t hide from Barack Obama. America’s next president smiles from countless magazine covers, peers at you from 2009 calendars sold on sidewalks, and gazes from commemorative coins advertised on TV.
The US media has showered him with love, so far. Tabloids searched for superlatives to describe their 44th president who will take office on Jan 20, while lifestyle magazines put his wife Michelle on their cover.
“Fit For Office”, said the New York Post three weeks ago, showing a frontpage photo of a shirtless Obama, lean and mean during his Hawaii holiday. “Buff Bam is Hawaii Hunk”, said the tabloid, concluding that “he looks more like the next James Bond than the 44th president”.
Another newspaper attributed his calm demeanour to the Aloha spirit.
By now, people know more about him than their next door neighbour of five years.
Obama’s early years have been well-documented. “Barry” back then, he connected with his non-black schoolmates through basketball. Barry listened to jazz. Barry was a cool 20-year-old college kid, wearing leather jackets.
These days, the president-elect is known to eat healthily, preferring fish instead of meat. He snacks on Planters Trail Mix, drinks organic Black Forest Berry Honest Tea and exercises at least 45 minutes a day.
His attempts to quit smoking has not escaped media attention, either. He reportedly smokes three cigarettes a day, but sometimes goes up to seven.
Small wonder then that Republican rival John McCain, at one point during their bruising campaign, called Obama “the biggest cele-brity in the world”, bigger than the likes of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
“I would definitely describe this as a honeymoon period for him,” said Quill managing editor Amy Guyer of the Society of Professional Journalists, explaining the rosy reports.
“He hasn’t had a chance to do anything wrong yet, so the press will be favourable,” she said.
But she personally believed that the press would soon get more critical once Obama was in office “because he will be making policy decisions then”.
However, Guyer did not share the view that Obama was a mega-celebrity, so to speak.
“I don’t think he is any more of a celebrity than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton, or Sarah Palin or even McCain,” she said. “They all appeared on talk shows during the election (like The Daily Show or Saturday Night Live). They were all viewed in the same critical eye as celebrities.”
Obama, she said, was getting more coverage right now because he won the election.
There is also another obvious point – Obama has made history in the United States. He is the poster boy of what had always been dismissed as an impossible American Dream.
If Princess Diana was the world’s most photographed woman, then Obama must surely be the man whose face appears most frequently on magazines now.
“Another week, another magazine cover devoted to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama,” Reuters said in August last year, back when he had not even clinched the presidency yet.
Rolling Stones, Men’s Vogue, GQ, People, Us Weekly, Time (seven times last year, not counting those in which he appeared along with somebody else); that’s just among the handful of big publications which had featured him on their cover.
That’s not even counting those magazines devoted to the black community. Ebony, one of the oldest African-American magazines, named Obama Person of the Year.
ASIS (artists, street, info, style) put him on the cover this month, Sister 2 Sister featured Obama and Michelle while Black Hair and Black Style magazines opted for the next First Lady.
Obama topped the list of Google’s fastest-rising search terms last year. Books written by him, or about him, are on the bestsellers list. In Washington these days, everybody wants him over for dinner.
Obama spells money, naturally. Newspapers sell photographs and reprints of the historical day. “Own a piece of history,” said Chicago Tribune in its marketing of the front-page story and photographs from that momentous night in Grant Park.
As for political analyst Juan H., he shares McCain’s view of the Hollywood factor in Obama.
“McCain was right,” he said. “But the blame is not Obama’s alone. The mainstream media, owned and run by liberals, prefer such a leader anyway.”
He recalled that the US press had shown similar affection to Clinton when he won the White House though “they hated Bush from day one. They also hated Bush Sr”.
“Basically, the media will protect Obama they way they had protected Clinton,” he said.
“Media rules in the US are simple. They like you if you are ‘black’, ‘women’, ‘pro-abortion’ or at least dislike anti-abortion groups’, etc etc,” he said.
NewsBusters, a blog dedicated to exposing liberal media bias, quoted a recent write-up which exemplified how the press was star-struck, fawning over Obama:
“President-elect Barack Obama radiates a certain stylistic sophistication that’s at once Kennedyesque in its reverence for the clean-cut, American style, and modern in its confident embrace of a look that’s both effortless and urbane.”
That story, taken from Myrtle Beach Online of the The McClatchy Company was most frivolous, NewsBusters said, citing also other examples to show how most publications would protect Obama when his transition phase hit choppy waters.
“The Old Media is standing ever ready to prop up their messiah. And this is the sort of ‘news’ we can expect for the next four years,” NewsBusters concluded.

Rush, rush, New York, but still enchanting

BESIDES singer Billy Joel, 47 million people are also in a “New York State of Mind”. That’s the record number of visitors who came to Gotham last year, giving the city some cheer to what was otherwise a gloomy 2008.
Its social calendar remained busy – two days before New Year Eve, the cheery news came that the city had hosted 47 million tourists including 9.8 million foreign travellers. They spent US$30bil, creating another first.
For all the cliches (“The city that never sleeps!”, “Greatest city on earth!”), there is something about New York where the subway runs 24 hours a day and the Apple store on Fifth Avenue opens 24/365.
Sometimes, however, patience runs low among the locals. Take gossip columnist Cindy Adams who writes about the rich and famous here. She devoted one previous article for the out-of-towners, telling them to “walk briskly. Forget sauntering. Even jobless New Yorkers rush.”
Native New Yorkers are not terribly fond of people who keep gazing up at the skyscrapers and thus holding up the foot traffic instead of watching where they are going.
“We appreciate our skyline but stop looking up,” Adams wrote. “And lose that stupid camera that’s always slung across your chest.”
Try explaining that to teenage visitor Connor Wright from the UK.
“The buildings here are a lot taller,” said Wright, 14, no doubt referring to the Empire State Building, a New York symbol. He found the city much livelier than where he came from.
Aimee Murata, an 18-year-old student from Southern California, wasn’t entirely comfortable with the throngs of people. “It’s so crowded!” she said. “I’m not used to being around so many people.”
Murata was in Times Square where it is often “people mountain, people sea”; to borrow a Chinese phrase referring to packed places.
New York, Murata discovered, moved at a much faster pace. “They even walk faster.”
Jersey girl Iva Croston often takes a one-hour drive to New York for the food, shopping and ballet performances.
“New Jersey is tops for shopping but sometimes you want to come to New York City for a better selection of styles. I like buying winter coats here,” said Croston, resting on a bench near Rockefeller Centre.
Croston, an IT system engineer, however, doesn’t buy New York’s reputation for its famous pizzas.
“Nah, I don’t think so. You can find better ones in New Jersey,” she said, citing names such as Chimney Rock Inn.
She pointed out, too, that finding a public toilet in Big Apple can be a headache. “It’s quite stressful. And most restaurants allow only patrons to use their toilets.”
Foreigners have observed that public toilets here often have a gap between the door and the wall, which means people could easily see you from the outside if they peer into it.
The partition wall does not extend all the way to the floor, either, leaving a space big enough to view the person’s legs in the next cubicle. Do not be surprised to see a hand wandering over to retrieve the earring that she dropped and which had rolled over to your side.
Or that little boy who followed his mother to the toilet, poking his head out from below the partition and looking out at you innocently.
Shazelina Zainul Abidin, a counsellor with the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations, finds life in New York is much more hectic. She previously worked as Second Secretary in the Malaysian Embassy in Washington DC
“But it’s interesting as well. Everyone’s walking to everywhere. And I mean everyone. Just the other day, I was ambling along 20th Street, getting elbowed in the process, and who did I see walking past? Tommy Hilfiger.”
Washington DC, she said, was a place meant for driving. “The only place I can think of where people actually enjoy walking in DC is Georgetown. But that’s because it’s more of a university area and a shopping district.”
Shazelina, however, dispelled most images about Big Apple as seen on TV.
“I know New York is one of the fashion capitals of the world, but you don’t see too many people walking around in designer clothes. Sex and the City tend to exaggerate how average New Yorkers dress up.”
“People here have to walk. During the winter, they are bundled up in their thick half-length jackets, which resemble windbreakers. Certainly not what you would see in fashion magazines,” she said.
In DC, however, she found that people would wear nice, long winter jackets of all colours and fashion.
Indeed, New Yorkers’ choice of colours are often confined to neutrals such as black and grey. One traveller, wearing a fuchsia jacket, went to a New York museum, prompting a guy at the coat check to comment:
“You’re not from New York, are you? Nobody here wears that colour.
“People who work in DC are more fashionable,” Shazelina said. “And it’s not something they wear just to the opera or to a show. They will put on nice long winter jackets to the office and everywhere else.”
New York isn’t likely to create another record of tourist arrivals this year. A survey of New Year resolutions showed that Americans intend to spend less this year.
But for all its quirks, New York remains enchanting to people near and far. As Billy Joel sang “I know what I’m needing; And I don’t want to waste more time; I’m in a New York state of mind.”