Nearly 2,000 people thronged an Oregon college auditorium for an appearance by the author of "Wild," hours after a movie based on the best-selling memoir about a thousand-mile hike earned two Oscar nominations.
Cheryl Strayed wrote the book about her walk along the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 and described it Thursday night to an overflow audience at Oregon State University.
It was the largest crowd at the university's LaSells Stewart Center for such an event, college official Shelly Signs said. Hundreds watched on monitors in the lobby and another auditorium, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported.
Oscar nominations were announced earlier in the day: Reese Witherspoon was named for her performance as Strayed, and Laura Dern for hers as Strayed's mother.
"How could this even be possible? It makes me want to cry," Strayed said. "It's astounding to me that one day people playing me and my mom would be nominated for an Oscar."
The book describes how Strayed reacted to her mother's death from lung cancer, and how she walked her way out of a dark time that included adultery and heroin use.
"When she died, I didn't know how to live," Strayed said. "In my sorrow I lost my way. I got married; I did a lot of things married people shouldn't do. … Well, I did a lot of things single people shouldn't do, except in moderation."
Looking for a way out of her mental state, she hiked the California and Oregon segments of the trail that runs along the mountainous spine of the West Coast from Mexico to Canada.
The university audience cheered and clapped for Strayed's stories and asked questions about mother-daughter relations, her approach to writing and her work as an advice columnist.
Strayed began writing "Wild" in 2008.
As the book was being prepared for publication, in 2012, Strayed sent a copy to Witherspoon, who bought the rights before it hit the shelves.
Six weeks after release, the film has taken in $30 million.
Strayed had a small part, as a pickup truck driver who drops off Witherspoon at the starting point of her hike.
And she had a line: "Good luck."
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More