Gigi's Meeting with MacGyver

By Gigi

When I was twenty years old, I experienced the most thrilling celebrity encounter I knew I'd ever have. I met Richard Dean Anderson -- MacGyver himself -- and personally handed him a copy of the MacGyver movie I filmed at age seventeen.

I wrote about the details of the movie itself here, a project I wrote, directed, and starred in with my best friend one summer during high school. We were so sad that our favorite TV show was ending, so for a summer project we put our high school theater tools to good use and made a continuation of the series ourselves, set in the mountains outside of Los Angeles and full of MacGyver-isms.

 Yup, that's our MacGyver Movie, "The Rescue of Mac and Sam," in his hand.

Here's the interesting thing about that experience: Once I gave MacGyver -- er, Richard Dean Anderson -- that VHS tape with my homemade cover, my childhood desire to meet celebrities was over.

Growing up outside of Los Angeles, I had plenty of opportunities as a teenager to attend concerts, music video shoots, Jay Leno episode tapings, etc. It was interesting at the time, and I do think it's cool that I've had my photo taken with my favorite rock stars -- which, to be fair, is much easier to do when your favorite bands are the not-quite-superstars Toad the Wet Sprocket and Teenage Fanclub -- but once I gave my movie to the man I thought of as MacGyver, my childhood hero, what else did I need?

As it turned out, not a whole lot. I never even learned if Richard Dean Anderson watched our little movie (he was wonderfully gracious when he accepted it) but it wasn't really about him; it was about me and my friend doing something meaningful for us. I continued to be enamored with writing screenplays, but I lost my fascination with celebrities. Sure, I'm still going to click on The Daily Dish on the San Francisco Chronicle website, but I was done standing in line to meet someone famous.

At least, I thought I was over it. Fast forward a dozen years, when I started attending mystery writer's conferences. At a convention last year, I saw Aaron Elkins on the attendee list. If you're not familiar with Aaron Elkins, he writes an amazing forensic anthropology mystery series featuring "skeleton detective" Gideon Oliver. I love these books. I've loved them since I was a kid. I knew that if I met Aaron Elkins at the convention, I would completely freak out.

It turned out he had to cancel, so I never learned if I would have freaked out in his presence or not. When I thought about my reaction to this near-encounter with a minor celebrity, I realized there were a few more authors who I'd probably become either speechless or a babbling idiot in front of -- and they're all writers who made a great impact on me when I was a kid.

I've discovered some great authors as an adult, as well, but I don't have the same gut reaction when I think of them. They're people who write amazing books, who I'd be happy to meet and tell them how much I love their books, but I doubt I'd be tongue-tied around them.

Is there something magical about the celebrities we latch onto as we're growing into ourselves? Whatever it is, I hope you'll forgive me if you run into me at a mystery writer's convention and I'm a babbling idiot because I've just spotted Aaron Elkins.

Another Anniversary: Goonies are Good Enough

by Gigi

It's been a great year since we launched this blog. In the time since we started planning the Pens Fatales last spring, I signed with an agent, bought my first house, wrote my first Young Adult mystery, and have had a blast on this blog. (At left is one of my favorite photos I've taken of the group.)

The other Pens have thoroughly summed up how this idea grew into something more than we ever imagined. I couldn't say it any better myself, so instead, today I'm going to talk about another important anniversary that's happening this week: the 25th anniversary of The Goonies.

Oh yes, I'm talking about that cult movie classic from childhood.

The Goonies has a special place in my heart. Like the MacGyver homage I wrote and filmed as a teenager, The Rescue of Mac and Sam: A Mission of Friendship, I also made a Goonies movie.

A friend and I were lucky enough to spend a summer in Europe when we were 16. Thus was born The Goonies Go To Europe.

Remember the story of the Goonies? A scrappy group of kids goes on a treasure hunt in search of one-eyed Willie's pirate treasure along the Oregon coast, to save their parents' houses from being foreclosed.

Like my MacGyver movie, the starting point of our movie was the end of the real movie, where the Goonies have found the treasure, captured the bad guys, and everyone is happy. The premise for our "sequel" was that the authorities didn't believe the riches were from a pirate treasure, and the Goonies' parents have been sent to jail. Thus, our Goonie alter egos, "Hikey" and "Feta" -- instead of the real characters Mikey and Data -- go on a Goonie adventure to prove their innocence.

We filmed scenes like running from bad guys through an overgrown glen in Scotland (where we accidentally fell down a muddy hillside -- but at least we got it on tape!), and found a clue in the mouth of a lion in Trafalgar square.


Unlike my MacGyver movie, this one didn't have a coherent plot. But with our spoofs of Data's ingenious inventions -- e.g. duct tape on our shoes to climb back up that muddy hill -- we captured the spirit of the adventure. (Um, at least that's what we were going for.)

Last weekend was the official 25th anniversary of the real film. Filmed in and around Astoria, Oregon, "The Goon Docks" storefront was set up in Astoria, and the whole town was participating in a Goonies treasure hunt and other activities.

I was visiting Oregon at the time for my dad's birthday, so I got to check out the festivities.

We went by the Goonies house in Astoria, and out to the coastal rocks that gave the Goonies the fateful clue that led to their great adventure.

I had to fly home before the screening of the new Goonies documentary. But I think it was for the best. I want to remember the magic of the movie that inspired my imagination when I was a kid, not learn about whatever happened behind the scenes.

Yeah, it's been a great week with two exciting anniversaries.