Alternate Version Blogfest: Guess the Movie!

Woohoo, Alternate Version Blogfest!

For new visitors, this blogfest is where we take a piece from our writing and rewrite it in a completely different style. In the blog fest announcement, I already rewrote a paragraph from my YA fantasy Midnight Thief as a) a scandalous romance, and b) as a thriller. So this time, I thought I’d pay tribute to one of my favorite movies. See if you can figure out what it is. For reference, here’s the original snippit.



“Most times you won't have the luxury of resting after a fight.” At first she thought it was Riley speaking, but then she realized the voice came from off the mat. She sat up to see James watching from the side. This was the first time she had seen him here during her practice. Hastily, she climbed to her feet. 

James stripped off his outer tunic, tossed it on a nearby box. and walked onto the mat. He reached a pale but well muscled arm towards Riley, who tossed him the dagger he had been using. James caught the dagger and in the same motion beckoned Kyra toward him. She stood, frozen in place. He motioned again, more curtly. This time she obeyed, muscles tense as she approached him.

“Let's see what you've learned.”

And the modified version.


“Most times you won’t have the luxury of resting after a fight.”

At first she thought it was Riley speaking, but then she realized the voice came from off the mat. She sat up to see James watching from the side.

Riley cupped his hand around Kyra’s ear and whispered, “That James, so hot right now.”

James stripped off his outer tunic, and Kyra’s breath caught in her throat. Why had she never noticed how really, really, ridiculously good looking James was? He reached a perfectly tanned and muscled arm towards Riley, who tossed him the dagger he had been using. James caught it and pursed his lips, looking at Kyra with a gaze that reminded her of cold blue steel.

“We know you can steal good,” he said, his eyes narrowing in challenge. “Let’s see if you can fight good too.”

Any guesses?

 I call this version Kyralander, based on Zoolander, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. If you’re ever looking for a dumb but surprisingly entertaining movie, I highly recommend it.

For those who participated, I’m really looking forward to seeing what you wrote. Follow this link to see all the other entries.

17 comments:

  1. LOL! I got Zoolander right at "That James, so hot right now." Hilarious.

    Mine's all scheduled to post first thing in the morning. This was a lot of fun, thanks for hosting :)

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  2. I loved "Why had she never noticed how really, really, ridiculously good looking James was?" Cracked me up, I love that movie!!!

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  3. Very nice. I would have never guessed the reference even though I own that movie. Now I want to watch it, even though it's on VHS. (Yes, I still own vhs tapes, lol.)

    Great job and look forward to the other people's posts in the blogfest.

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  4. For the curious, the four references are "James, so hot right now", "really really ridiculously good looking", "blue steel", and "fight good" (reference to center for kids who can't read good).

    Dawn -- wow, VHS? I didn't realize Zoolander has been around that long.

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  5. Haha! I think you have a knack for this alternate version business :)

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  6. I've enjoyed all your alternate versions of this scene. Great fun! I've posted my alternate version over on my blog...this was a harder challenge than I anticipated. Thanks for the opportunity to stretch some writing muscles!

    Looking forward to reading everyone else's work!

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  7. Nice.
    I think you maybe like that movie a little too much....
    My piece is up now.
    Thanks for hosting this!

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  8. Iapetus -- Bite your tongue! There's no such thing as liking Zoolander too much :-P

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  9. Nice alternative spin on Zoolander ;)

    And thanks for putting together this AV blogfest. It was lots of fun and really got me thinking about music writing in a fresh way.

    Here's my post
    http://christophercatania.com/2010/04/01/alternate-version-blogfest-the-adventures-of-johnny-rawkriter/

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  10. First of all, a big thanks for hosting this. At first I was like, what in the world am I going to write for this? And then when I wrote it, it was so just off the wall, that I loved the whole exercise. So, thanks!

    Secondly, fun! I like that sort of off-the-wall version. I haven't seen all of Zoolander, but I have seen parts, and I totally can see those bits here.

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  11. Zoolander is wicked ridiculous and awesome. So cool to see the references here. :) I really liked the alternative version.

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  12. This re-write is so funny. It oozes ZOOLANDER!

    I did an alternative piece from one of my WIP. Thanks for this opportunity, Elaine
    http://notexactlyblogging.blogspot.com/

    Why is it I can cut and paste into everyother Blog on the planet? Just not mine?!

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  13. You had me at "really, really, ridiculously good looking."

    *snort* *snarf*

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  14. Livia ~ I'm so sorry, I got behind. I won't bother to go into the long list of excuses, but my entry isn't ready yet. I hope to have it up by later tonight or first thing in the morning. I really hate not being able to live up to a commitment.

    Sorry again.

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  15. My post is finally up, too!
    http://bit.ly/a5PWNC

    Thanks for hosting, Livia, and for the challenge!

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  16. Great stuff! I got it at “That James, so hot right now” too, but the other references were brilliant. Thank you Livia, this whole blog exercise has been really, really ridiculously fun. :)

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