random facts

so i went to seattle for christmas and visited some family there, so that is why i didn't post on christmas. sorry. i hope everyone had a great christmas. on my way home, my plane got delayed from 8am to 11pm that night. so i was stuck in the airport all the time, for i didn't have a car. so while waiting for my plane that night, i was goofing off on my droid phone. i downloaded an app that gave you just random facts. well there were some facts about writing and the english language and i thought i would share them with all of you. i will comment that i'm typing it straight from the app, so don't mind that bad grammar, it's not me, it's the app. hehe.

~ stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
~ it was accepted practice in babylon 4000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month we know today as the honeymoon.
~ in shakespear's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. hence the phrase 'goodnight, sleep tight'.
~ no word in the english language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
~ the first novel ever written on a typewritter was tom sawyer.
~ the longest one-syllable word in the english language is 'screeched.'

xkcd

there's this great comic called xkcd which is a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language. and there are some great literature and language comics in this comic that i thought i would share some of them. hope you enjoy them as much as i do.

alternate energy revelution
certainty (for all you teachers)
tag combination (great thinking on one's feet)
skateboarding is not a crime (censorship? no, it's ok)
literally
emoticon
hitler (actually about art, but had to share)
the raven
i will find you (about love, but my absolute favorite comic)
ted talk
fortune cookies
pick up lines (not so great thinking on one's feet)
microSD (it's so true about library's for me)
leaving (what you say is important)

maya angelou's cooking advice

maya angelou has recently published a cooking book. and it is actually with cooking recipes from her. but what i'm posting about is that she was interviewed by npr and she was quoted saying this:

"You need the best ingredients when you're going to cook," she says. "The writer has to take some nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, et cetera, and boil them up in such a way that you can throw them against the wall and they'll bounce."


i thought this was a great quote, that i just had to share. you can read the whole article about maya angelou's cook book on npr's website. 

quotables

here's another installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"we believe too much in ourselves, like high walls perched on a cliff when a storm impends, confident and self-assured." - huang guobin
-"we too, could be glorious." -muse
-"i need some distraction oh beautiful release memory seeps from my viens let me be empty and weightless and maybe i'll find some peace tonight." - sarah mclachlan
-"i think i'm losing my grip but i can still make a fist." - nine inch nails
-"the coldest blue ocean water cannot stop my heart and mind from burning." - the white stipes
-"i am not afraid of storms for i am learning how to sail my ship." - louisa may alcott
-"some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes" - tori amos
-"all music is folk music. i ain't never heard a horse sing a song." - louis armstrong
-"there are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them." - louis armstrong
-"oh, i swear that i'd sleep forever if you never left my dreams. so while the world passes by, i'll lve in the frames, in the picture stills of memories." - ?
-"when you walk through the waters i will be with you you will never sink beneath the waves." - ?
-"she was struck by the simple truth that sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people." - nicholas sparks the lucky one
-"god grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, courage to change the things i can, and wisdom to always tell the difference. - ?

thor movie trailor

for those of you who don't know, thor the comic has been made into a movie. the offical trailor has been released and i thought i would share it with all of you. it looks pretty cool. i'm definatly excited. the only thing i could care less about is the 3d.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOrM7X5WQqc

dancing in the snow

today is the first real big snow fall of the year so i thought i would share a poem that was inspired by the snow.


Dancing in the snow
With my soul all a glow
Hand and hand with the ghost
Of the person i love most

tom waits book

Singer Tom Waits is to make his publishing debut next year with a book that combines his poetry with images of the homeless, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Hard Ground is described as a portrait of homelessness, combining Waits's words with images of people who "live on the hard ground."

This is the publishing debut for Waits, the eccentric troubadour who, after 40 years, dozens of film appearances and about 20 albums, has noticeably avoided committing himself to print. He remarked in a 1975 interview that poetry is "a very dangerous word."

"I don't like the stigma that comes with being called a poet," he said. "So I call what I'm doing an improvisational adventure or an inebriational travelogue."

Hard Ground is modelled on the 1941 classic, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which combined James Agee's poetry and Walker Evans's photographs of Depression-era farmers.

Although this is Waits's first collaboration with O'Brien, the photographer has frequently taken pictures of the singer. He also shot the cover of Waits's recent album, Glitter and Doom Live.

Hard Ground is to be published by University of Texas in March 2011.

-Edmonton Journal, November 28, 2010

happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving everyone! hope you have a good day. here is a good thanksgiving day poem.

Save Room
By Joanna Fuchs

As meals go, Thanksgiving dinner
Is always a feast--a five star winner.
Here comes the salad, dressed just right,
The golden brown turkey--a savory delight;

The stuffing now, and then the gravy,
The jello mold, all wiggly and wavy.
Take some cranberry sauce and candied yams;
Is there room for fresh made rolls and jams?

More dishes tempt me; ah, but I
Must save some room for pumpkin pie!

brave new world banned

Like many great works of literature, Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World has, at various times, been banned, challenged as a fraud, or otherwise pissed upon by the nitpicking masses. In this particular book's case, banning it is more than a little ironic, seeing as the book itself presents a society where almost no one reads books anymore. Regardless, the latest effort at prohibiting Huxley's opus comes from right here in Seattle at Nathan Hale High School.

As KUOW reports today, it seems a Native American student who was required to read the book took issue with the its depiction of native people. The girl's mom, Sarah Sense-Wilson, agreed and wrote the school to have it removed from the curriculum, writing: "(The book has a) high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society."

The school eventually agreed, promising to remove the book from students' required reading list and releasing a statement apologizing that the "cultural insensitivity embedded in this book makes it an inappropriate choice as a central text in our 10th grade curriculum."

In the book, Huxley tosses around the word "savage" frequently. His portrait of a mainstream society where babies are not born, but created in factories and bred into specific roles, is offset by a frontier-like outlying culture in which babies are still "born naturally." It's this culture which is owned by the "savages."

What Sense-Wilson and her daughter seem to be having trouble grasping is that the "savages" in the book are only called "savages" because the mainstream society which they aren't a part of is so perverted. In reality, Huxley's savages are indeed the heroes and the normal ones, while the drugged-out, apathetic test-tube people that populate the fictional mainstream culture are the oddballs.

Regardless, the parent and daughter seem content to cherry-pick various excerpts from the book as proof of its offensive nature, like: "'Remember that in the Reservation, children are born. Yes, actually born, revolting as that may seem. Those, I repeat, who are born on the Reservation are destined to die there.'"

Not only is Sense-Wilson offended by the language, she appears to think Brave New World is not at all well-written, either. She tells KUOW that it should be taken out of all Seattle schools and banished to the public library, but that even there, no one will want to read it. "Most of the kids I've talked to don't even like the book so I doubt it would even get an audience in the library."

Tell that the Modern Library who rated the book as No. 18 in its list of the "100 Best Novels" of all time, or to the tens of millions of readers who have thumbed through it since it was published in 1932.
 
-reported by curtis cartier for the seattle weekly blog 11/17/10

another the great gatsby movie

so it turns out there is another adaptation of the great gatsby being made. the director will be Baz Luhrmann who did moulin rouge. leonardo dicaprio will be jay gatsby, tobey maguire will be nick carraway and amanda seyfried will be daisy buchanan.

the only thing i don't like about the line up is tobey maguire. i used to not like leonardo dicaprio, but he has grown on me and now i am a fan. and amanda seyfried i have no problems with. and i like the director. moulin rouge and romeo and juliet were great movies. visually beautiful. so hopefully the roaring 20s will be just as beautiful in the great gatsby movie. so other than that, i will keep my judgement about the movie to myself. i'm sick of the book (i had to read it way too many times in school) but always like a good movie. so hopefully the movie will be good.

2010 national book award winners

the fiction winner is: lord of misrule by jaimy gordon.
the non fiction winner is: just kids by patti smith
the poetry winner is: lighthead by terrance hayes
the young peoples literature winner is: mockingbird by kathryn erskine

congrats to all the winners!

celebrate censorship

Join the National Coalition Against Censorship on Monday, November 29, 2010 at 6:00PM for NCAC's Annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders at City Winery in Tribeca, in NYC. Rub shoulders with publishers, authors, entertainers and other movers and shakers in the world of arts and letters. This year's program focuses on book censorship in schools and honors courageous people who fight against it.


HONORING
Lauren Myracle - Most Censored Author in 2009
Dee An Venuto - Media Center Coordinator, Rancocas Valley High School, Mt. Holly, NJ
Jordan Allen - First Place Winner, 2009 Youth Free Expression Project film contest

EVENT CHAIR
Michael Jacobs - Chairman & CEO, ABRAMS

HONORARY CHAIRS
Judy Blume - Award Winning Author
Jane Friedman - CEO & Co-Founder, Open Road Integrated Media
Chip Gibson - President & Publisher, Random House Children's Books
Michael Pietsch - Executive Vice President, Hachette Book Group & Publisher, Little, Brown and Company
Peter Workman - President & CEO, Workman Publishing Company

quoteables

here's another installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"the length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder." - alfred hitchcock
-"i am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. i am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. anything i can not transform into something marvelous, i let go. reality doesn't impress me. i only believe in intoxication, in ectasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, i escape, one way or another. no more walls." - anais nin
-"and i'll hold on to the dream of this beggar's plea and optimistic fantasy; just hold the hand and drop the knee." - cartel
-"we need to feel breathless with love and not collapse under its weight." - snow patrol
-"i may not have gone where i intended to go but i think i endend up where i intended to be." - douglas adams
-"the truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." - bob marley
-"life is the curse. sleep is the remission. death is the cure." - ?
-"it's funny, the one's you don't expect to love, are the ones you never forget." - ?
-"friends are like bras: close to the heart and there for support." - ?
-"sometimes its the smallest decisions that can change your life forever." - keri russell
-"there is never a right time to do a difficult thing" - joan porter
-"a poet can survive everything but a misprint." - oscar wilde
-"never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow." - plato
-"i wish this house felt like a home." - the white stripes.

alan rickman reads!

alan rickman in his read poster for the american library association.

good news for print books

E-books and e-readers may be making headlines off campus, but a new study by OnCampus Research, a division of the National Association of College Stores, reaffirmed last fall’s OnCampus Student Watch study that 74% of college students prefer print. According to the study taken by 627 college students earlier this month, only 13% purchased an e-book within the past three months. And just over half, or 56%, did so because it was required for class.

“It seems like the death of the printed book, at least on campus, has been greatly exaggerated, and that dedicated e-readers have a way to go before they catch on with this demographic,” says Elizabeth Riddle, manager of OnCampus Research. “The college-age market is definitely a growth opportunity for companies providing digital education products.”

Nor did dedicated e-readers fare significantly better on campus. Only 8% of college students own a dedicated e-reading device, and 59% of students who don't own a device have no plans to purchase one anytime soon, i.e. within the next three months. Of those who did buy an e-book, the overwhelming majority, approximately 77%, read it on a laptop or Netbook. Currently the iPhone is the e-reader of choice with 23.9%, followed by the Nook at 21.6%. Nearly 15.7% read on the Kindle DX and the same number use the Kindle 3. Although 26% expressed interest in purchasing an iPad, only 13.7% own one, roughly the same percentage as the Sony Pocket reader.

article by: Judith Rosen for publishers weekly, Oct 28, 2010

happy halloween!

since today is halloween, i thought i would post the great edgar allan poe's the raven. it's such a great poem. and i think it fits perfectly with halloween. hope everyone got lots of candy and had a spooky day.

the raven

scary stories 2

Axe Murder Hollow
A Pennsylvania Ghost Story
retold by S.E. Schlosser

Susan and Ned were driving through a wooded empty section of highway. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, the sky went dark in the torrential downpour.
“We’d better stop,” said Susan.
Ned nodded his head in agreement. He stepped on the brake, and suddenly the car started to slide on the slick pavement. They plunged off the road and slid to a halt at the bottom of an incline.
Pale and shaking, Ned quickly turned to check if Susan was all right. When she nodded, Ned relaxed and looked through the rain soaked windows.
"I’m going to see how bad it is,” he told Susan, and when out into the storm. She saw his blurry figure in the headlight, walking around the front of the car. A moment later, he jumped in beside her, soaking wet.
“The car’s not badly damaged, but we’re wheel-deep in mud,” he said. “I’m going to have to go for help.”
Susan swallowed nervously. There would be no quick rescue here. He told her to turn off the headlights and lock the doors until he returned.
Axe Murder Hollow. Although Ned hadn’t said the name aloud, they both knew what he had been thinking when he told her to lock the car. This was the place where a man had once taken an axe and hacked his wife to death in a jealous rage over an alleged affair. Supposedly, the axe-wielding spirit of the husband continued to haunt this section of the road.
Outside the car, Susan heard a shriek, a loud thump, and a strange gurgling noise. But she couldn’t see anything in the darkness.
Frightened, she shrank down into her seat. She sat in silence for a while, and then she noticed another sound. Bump. Bump. Bump. It was a soft sound, like something being blown by the wind.
Suddenly, the car was illuminated by a bright light. An official sounding voice told her to get out of the car. Ned must have found a police officer. Susan unlocked the door and stepped out of the car. As her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she saw it.
Hanging by his feet from the tree next to the car was the dead body of Ned. His bloody throat had been cut so deeply that he was nearly decapitated. The wind swung his corpse back and forth so that it thumped against the tree. Bump. Bump. Bump.
Susan screamed and ran toward the voice and the light. As she drew close, she realized the light was not coming from a flashlight. Standing there was the glowing figure of a man with a smile on his face and a large, solid, and definitely real axe in his hands. She backed away from the glowing figure until she bumped into the car.
“Playing around when my back was turned,” the ghost whispered, stroking the sharp blade of the axe with his fingers. “You’ve been very naughty.”
The last thing she saw was the glint of the axe blade in the eerie, incandescent light

scary stories 1

with halloween approaching i thought for the next couple of days i would share scary stories and poems. the first story i share is, of course, going to come from edgar allan poe. this story is the tell-tale heart; which is a personal favorite of mine. hope you enjoy.

the tell-tale heart

turkish publisher on trail and also getting an award for the same book.

A Turkish publisher on trial for publishing a classic erotic novel by French writer Guilliame Apollinaire has been recognised with a special award by the Geneva-based International Publishers Association.

Irfan Sanci, owner of publishing house Sel, is being prosecuted under article 226 of the Turkish penal code, an anti-obscenity law, for publishing a translation of Apollinaire's Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan (The Exploits of a Young Don Juan). The novel, first published in 1911, features the escapades of a 15-year-old hero who impregnates three women, one of them his own aunt.

Sanci is due to receive his award from the IPA's Freedom to Publish committee on November 2nd at the Istanbul TÜYAP book fair, with his next court hearing currently scheduled for the morning of the same date.

Sanci said of his situation: "I am being punished in my own country but am also getting an international award. This is tragic. Everything aside, Apollinare's book, which is a part of the world's cultural heritage, is being tried for hurting the public's sense of shame."

-my thoughts on this: i love that the publisher is also getting an award for publishing this book.

liu xiaobo - day break

so i was reading some of liu xiaobo's poetry and i came across this poem and just wanted to share it. i love the last stanza. one of the best i've ever read.

Daybreak
for Xia

over the tall ashen wall, between
the sound of vegetables being chopped
daybreak’s bound, severed,
dissipated by a paralysis of spirit

what is the difference
between the light and the darkness
that seems to surface through my eyes’
apertures, from my seat of rust
I can’t tell if it’s the glint of chains
in the cell, or the god of nature
behind the wall
daily dissidence
makes the arrogant
sun stunned to no end

daybreak a vast emptiness
you in a far place
with nights of love stored away

6. 30. 1997

morton arboretum

a week or two ago i went to the morton arboretum and there were these scarecrows that different kid groups have made. boy scouts, girl scouts and other groups like that. well one group had made this scarecrow librarian. it was amazing. here are the pictures of it. the little signs at the bottom are book titles. hurray for books and librarys and scarecrows!

Indonesia revokes book-ban law

For more than four decades, the attorney general's office could unilaterally prohibit publication or distribution of books deemed "offensive" or a "threat to public order." But the Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday, October 13th, such power should rest with a judicial court. In striking down the law, Judge Mohammad Mahfud told the court: "Any banning of books must be done through the legal process in a court."

"It's great," said historian Hilmar Farid. "It symbolizes the end of a period of darkness for all of us. It will allow future generations to learn the truth about everything, from science to history."

A group of authors and publishers whose books were banned last year asked the Constitutional Court to review the 1963 regulation that allowed it. Their books - and others - touched on sensitive topics like separatist-torn Papua province, inter-religious conflicts, the role of the military and even scientific research.

-my thoughts on this is that it's sad that they can still ban books through the legal process of the courts. but at least now there is a legal process and it's not just the attorney generals office that gets to decide. it's a step in the right direction. in my opinion there should be no book banning, but hey small steps.

world's biggest book

the worlds biggest book has been created. it's a six-by-nine-feet (two-by-three-metres) atlas. which you can buy for a cool $100,000. the book contains maps of whole continents, as well as sharp images of famous sites collaged together from 1,000 individual pictures. the book took around a month to produce and australian publisher gordon cheers is limiting the print run of his monster atlas to 31. he has already sold two volumes to museums in the united arab emirates and is confident he will sell the whole lot. cheers worked for british publishing giants penguin and then random house, but neither firm was interested in his project, so he left to found his own company.

2010 nobel peace prize

Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." The announcement was immediately met with a rebuke by the Chinese government, which said in a statement that "Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law," and that awarding him the prize ran "completely counter to the principle of the prize and is also a blasphemy to the peace prize." Liu is currently serving an eleven-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power" through his writing and activism.

2010 nobel prize winner in literature

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, "whose deeply political work vividly examines the perils of power and corruption in Latin America," was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mr. Vargas Llosa is the 102nd person to win the literary prize and will receive about $1.5 million.

a kids idea of reading in the 21century

september 29, 2010 — in the 2010 kids and family reading reporttrade, a national survey released today, children age 6 – 17 and their parents share their views on a wide range of topics regarding reading in the 21st century. the study, conducted by scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and harrison group, a leading marketing and strategic research consulting firm. This study was conducted by scholastic, in conjunction with quinley research and harrison group in the spring, 2010. it surveyed 1,045 children age 6-17 and their parents (for a total of 2,090 respondents) online, using knowledge networks nationally representative panel. here is what the study said.

-from the age 6 - 17, the time kids spend reading books for fun declines while the time kids spend going online for fun and using a cell phone to text or talk increases. Parents express concern that the use of electronic and digital devices negatively affects the time kids spend reading books (41%), doing physical activities (40%), and engaging with family (33%).

-The study also found indications that technology could be a positive motivator to get kids reading -- 57 percent of kids (age 9-17) say they are interested in reading an eBook, and a third of children age 9-17 say they would read more books for fun if they had access to eBooks on an electronic device. This includes kids who read 5-7 days per week (34%), 1 to 4 days per week (36%) and even those who read less than one day per week (27%).

-Eighty-four percent of parents acknowledge that today's kids have to know how to handle far more information than parents did when they were children. Yet one disturbing statistic suggests a need to strengthen the critical thinking skills of today's children -- 39% of kids (age 9-17) agree with the statement, "The information I find online is always correct."

-The study also reveals that today's children have a broad view of what constitutes reading: 25% of kids (age 9-17) think texting back and forth with friends counts as reading. Most parents don't agree – only 8% of parents count texting as reading. 28% of kids (ages 9-17) think that looking through postings or comments on social networking sites like Facebook counts as reading; only 15% of parents agree.

-The report found that the power of choice is a key factor in raising a reader. Nine out of ten children say that they are more likely to finish book they choose themselves. And parents don’t try to overly influence that choice toward award winners or classic literature. Nine out of 10 parents say "As long as my child is reading, I just want my child to read books he/she likes."

-66% of kids (ages 9 – 17) agree with the statement, "I'll always want to read books printed on paper even though there are ebooks available."

-86% of kids feel proud and have a sense of accomplishment when they finish reading a book.
 
-Only 50% of kids say reading books for fun is extremely or very important; compared to 89% of parents.
 
-71% of parents wish their child would read more books for fun. 75% of children (ages 9-17) say they know they should read more.

quoteables

another installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"you will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm." - colette
-"'i wish to be loved by another', she answered. 'but i desire no man's pity.'" - eowyn from lord of the rings
-"love is like pissing your pants; everyone can see it but, only you can feel it's warmth." - ?
-"although i can accept talking to scare crows, lions and great wizards of emerald cities, i find it hard to believe there is no paperwork involved when your house lands on a witch." - dave james
-"life is pain, princess... anyone who says differently is selling something." - the princess bride
-"i'm not afraid of happy endings, i'm just afraid my life won't work that way." - jack off jill
-"to make you laugh is all i want." - early november
-"it's a dangerous buisness going out your front door." - lord of the rings
-"the appearance of law must be upheld, espically when it's being broken." - gangs of new york
-"society honors its living conformists and it's dead troublemakers." - mignon mclaughlin
-"fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity." - graffiti
-"the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous." - salvidor dali
-when i was a girl i was told that anybody could become president. now i'm beginning to believe it." - ?
-"where zen ends, ass kicking begins." - hyde from the 70s show.
-"sometimes that's all life is, one desperate act after another." - the sword of truth novels by terry goodkind
-"we all can be only who we are, no more, no less." - sword of truth novels by terry goodkind
-"and if you don't know where you're going any road will take you there." - george harrison
-"when i see, you're coming down the street my heart skips a beat." - george harrison

katy perry booted off of sesame street

sesame street did a video with katy perry and elmo but the song was they taken off of the show because of katy perry's cleavage. you would think that before they taped the video, they would have thought that her clothes would be a problem. i understand it's a kids show but, don't make the video and then be like, sorry we aren't gonna air it now.

chicago read out 2010!

today was the beginning of banned books week and i went to a read out in chicago to kick off the week. it was great! author's chris crutcher and lauren myracle were there. here are the pictures i took during the readout.

this is chris crutcher.

the robot guy from the ala's think for yourself compaign (look at the front of the podium).

the ala president, roberta stevens

two sisters reading the book and tango makes three by justin richardson and peter parnell

lauren myracle before she read from her book. sorry it's not in focus.

me with lauren myracle after she signed my book.

bunny

there is a comic called bunny by huw davies that i totally love. and over the years he has made many comments on different literature and i thought i would share the comics with everyone.

http://bunny-comic.com/50.html
http://bunny-comic.com/76.html
http://bunny-comic.com/104.html
http://bunny-comic.com/127.html
http://bunny-comic.com/132.html
http://bunny-comic.com/136.html (this comic doesn't have anything to do with writing; but those of you who have been following this blog know my love for muse and so i had to share the muse comic on here)
http://bunny-comic.com/173.html
http://bunny-comic.com/178.html
http://bunny-comic.com/183.html
http://bunny-comic.com/188.html
http://bunny-comic.com/267.html
http://bunny-comic.com/312.html (another muse bunny comic)
http://bunny-comic.com/318.html
http://bunny-comic.com/389.html
http://bunny-comic.com/418.html
http://bunny-comic.com/447.html
http://bunny-comic.com/466.html
http://bunny-comic.com/485.html

banned books week!

john milton is really just a dirty old man

dr jennifer batt, an english lecturer at the university of oxford, was somewhat surprised when she came across a filthy, innuendo-laden rhyme "by milton" while reading a forgotten, early 18th-century poetic anthology; the oxford and cambridge miscellany. it cannot be proved for sure if the poem is by milton but the poem is introduced in the volume as An Extempore Upon a Faggot, by Milton.

the rather smutty ditty reads: "Have you not in a Chimney seen / A Faggot which is moist and green / How coyly it receives the Heat / And at both ends do's weep and sweat? / So fares it with a tender Maid / When first upon her Back she's laid / But like dry Wood th' experienced Dame / Cracks and rejoices in the Flame."

the coarse, and frankly misogynistic verse likens a young woman to a faggot, a bunch of damp sticks, which, when cast upon the fire, produces moisture "at both ends", like (according to the poem) a weeping virgin when sexually aroused. by contrast, the more sexually experienced woman is more like dry wood, which becomes joyfully enflamed when put on the fire.

it is all rather a long way from the lofty, christian sentiments of milton's great epic, Paradise Lost.

schwarzenegger is hamlet!

holy crap i found this and cracked up! the govenator is the hamlenator. hehe.

stockton school board bans book from school curriculum

for those who think that books aren't banned any more, here's a real life school banning in today's age.

stockton school board (stockton, MO) voted unanimously to uphold it's decision in april to ban the novel, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by sherman alexie; from the school curriculum. board member rod tucker said his main concern was the book's language, that it had too much profanity to be of value. he rejected the argument that most kids are familiar with such language and use it regularly.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is about a young resident of an Indian reservation who decides to attend a white high school. there are descriptions of masturbation, sexual language and foul jokes, along with themes encompassing racism, alcoholism and violence. there are also descriptions of how the protagonist, junior, tries to realize his dreams while surviving both life on the reservation and at a new school.

my thought is, whatever parent thinks his child, whether its a boy or a girl, doesn't talk about these kinds of things with theirs friends, they are delusional. sorry parents but it's true. you may not want your kids to read these kinds of books, but i guarantee, they are talking about it with their friends.

books challenged and banned in 08-09

i was at the offical banned books week website and they had a list of the books reported as banned or challenged in 2008-2009 across the country. there's just under 500 in the last year. here's the list, it's a pdf file. in the paragraph before you get to the books, it talks about banned and challenged books and there was a great point made that i wanted to point out to everyone:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in Texas v. Johnson, said, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

i don't mind if someone doesn't like a book and think it's offensive. that means the book made you think. you don't have to like the book, hell i don't have to like that book. but the minute you start saying that no one should read it and we should take it out of the library or out of a school corriculum, is when it's not right. and to me, that's what banned books week is about. the freedom to choose what i can read. it's my freedom, not anyone else's to dictate. and i'm going to celebrate that freedom.

banned books week 2010

this year banned books week is from september 25 - october 2.

for those of you who don't know what banned books week is: from the american library association:
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them. The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings or restrictions.

this year chicago is kicking off banned books week with a readout in bughouse square (washington square park) on september 25th from 12pm-2pm. authors chris clutcher, lauren myracle, carolyn mackler and others will read from their work and share their experiences as targets of censors. after the readings there will be book signings from the authors in attendence. bughouse square is located on 901 N Clark St, Chicago, IL.

literary jewels

jeremy may is an artist that creates rings and other jewelery out of the pages of literary works. here are some pictures of his work. you can go to his website here.

 

heart of darkness graphic novel

selfmadehero has published heart of darkness as a graphic novel. the cover art alone looks awesome. i can only imagine what the art looks like inside.

poetry postcard 13

seeing how it's september now, i assume this is the last postcard with poetry on it i will be getting. it was very cool to get the postcards and i loved reading everyone's poetry. this last poem is called: trees.

we have seen the trees roots like long legs
stretched out above ground ocopus like,
we remember the times as children at night
outside our windows the trees did a hula dance
then a wild frug, winding down swaying
waltz like. trees do these dances at night
sometimes by moonlight, but after we sleep,
after we cleep they uproot themselves
cautiously, disturning the eath so little,
moles are blamed for any piles of dirt,
they dance away on their root tips
embracing limbs with other trees,
they know their dances well, and
they choose their partners carefully.
the chestnut on the corner loves a maple,
she is big leaf maple and rebuff him.
sometimes at night a slight rumbly noise
may awaken you, it's the trees running home,
occasionally they stop in place and retend
it's where they grew, they are so nonchalant,
oh yes, there were nights they liked to frighten you,
wave their limbs and look like monsters,
you thought it was the wind that made them so,
but really they're great actors, fortunately
during the day they stay in their places, espically
in summer on bright days when their shade is needed.

poetry postcard 12

the latest poem does not have a title.

in a heavenly field trimmed
and rimmed in gold,
st bartholomeu slunes(?) in
a reddish light -- his halo
burning through the muscle
and corpuscle(?). bartholomeu's
tendons stretch along his
arm and the sinew holds
each finger around his
shin, clutched in his
own fist. helt aloft in glassy(?),

quoteables

here's the latest installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"i wasn't looking but somehow you found me." - carly simon
-"love is real it is not just in poetry and stories." - bright eyes
-"then you lay me down in an unmade bed and you show me things that aren't easily said." - black crowes
-"you strain your face to bear that smile your teeth clenched all the while." - craig's brother
-"i will learn to say goodbye to yesterday." - vanessa carlton
-"and when you lie down to sleep i'll protect you from the demons of the night." - stone temple pilots
-"did you ever notice the people who are most adamantly against abortions are people so ugly you wouldn't want to touch them in the first place?" - george carlin
-"nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time." - theodore roosevelt
-"before i can live with other folks i've got to live with myself. the one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." - atticus
-"how to fight loneliness, smile all the time." - wilco
-"fight for your opinoins but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth." - charles a dana
-"getting fired is nature's way of telling you that you had the wrong job in the first place." - hal lancaster
-"the things you own end up owning you." - fight club by chuck palahniuk
-"they say abortion will send you straight to a fiery hell. that is if the fanatics don't beat satan to the kill." - jewl
-"we're a mess. but it's a great mess, a glorious mess." - thom york

poetry postcard 11

the latest poem is called: the loss of one more link. the writer notes on the postcard that the poem was composed from bits and pieces of emails sent after joan's passing.

in the early hours of a march morning,
during a peaceful and painless sleep,
in the presence of those who dearly love her,
aunt joan passed away.

it is hard to accept that she is gone.
she was such a lady,
so welcmoing and fun to be with,
a breath of fresh air, yet also
worldly and sophisticated!
we would look forward to her visits,
prepare everything just right:
now there is a void within our lives,
the loss of one more link
to mumsie and my old world relatives.

and so, by way of homage and remembering,
i gaze upon an artifact from the past:
a black-and-white photograph of
a wartime wedding dinner, with a young joan,
smiling, an intense groom, janusz,
and all four sisters, alas, now dwindling fast.

words of support and consolation come:
joan is with her sisters, sympathetic company,
no longer suffering. thus we continue living
with the greatest of sorrows,
badly shocked and shaken.

how are things with you, janusz,
during these days of grief and sadness,
stabilized and getting better?
our thoughts and prayers are with you now,
to restore strength, more suitable conditions.
we send you these comforting words,
our love, beautiful flowers,
wishing you peace and mending:
better days will come, please be assured.

postcard poetry 10

the newest poem is called: misplaced

i have lost
many things
libarary books,
phone numbers,
christmas present i remember buying.

my mother, teasing,
says i'd lose my head
if it were not welded
to my neck by
spinal column, muscle, and sinew.

poetry postcard 9

the latest poem on my postcard of poetry is called: some call this home.

foot hills rising out of morning
fog - expanse of fileds lined
by roads heading straight to padilla bay - i can tell
how long you lived here by
which way your head turns
traveling south, how the "l"
in padilla curls off your tongue
and how the pace of your heart
slows here, close to the rim.

people reading around the world

steve mccury is a famous photojournalist that you would know best from this photo. well through his travels across the world, he has also taken photo's of people reading. mccurry says: "There’s an intimacy people have with a book and its author that is similar, what couples have. [Reading] is a common link in our shared humanity, a thing we all do that is regardless of where we are economically or socially." so i thought i would share some of his photo's that he took of people reading. you can find all of the photo's on his blog.

covers still matter

with the digital age coming to great heights these days, with e readers and all, the question of what will happen to book covers comes into question. will they still be as important as they use to be. personally, the only book reader i see myself getting is the ipad. and that's because it does so much more then just read books. so i'm not a fan of book readers. i will be buying books for a long time into the future. so i think that book covers are still just as important as they have always been. espically, i am currently working on my chapbook, and the cover will be very important to me. well, here's a book that has gotten its self banned for the cover it has.

annabel lyon's novel the golden mean, has gotten banned. the cover features a naked man lying on the back of an equally naked white horse. stores across canada and the UK are selling the book, lyons revealed on her blog though, that british columbia ferry company, bc ferries, is not stocking it. what i find interesting is that bc ferries asked the book's publisher, random house canada, that it would carry the book if it featured a "belly band" wrapped around the offending parts. but random house refused, and the transportation company decided against stocking the title. and i think good for random house for not bowing down to the demands of the company. annabel hasn't taken the banning to heart for she wrote on her blog ""Oh, BC Ferries. You have one too, you know you do!"

here's a picture of the cover of the book:

postcard poetry 8

there is no title for the poem on this postcard.

oh, i ain't got manners,
and i ain't got talent,
but i know what it's like
to chase that rabbit,
so when the dogs are weighed
and the band starts up the hurry
my money's on the six
and i ain't go no worries.

out of print clothing

found this awesome website called out of print clothing that sells tshirts that have out of print book covers on the shirt. and when you buy the shirt the website donates one book to a community in need through their partner Books For Africa.

their mission states this:
Out of Print celebrates the world’s great stories through fashion. Our shirts feature iconic and often out of print book covers. Some are classics, some are just curious enough to make great t-shirts, but all are striking works of art.
We work closely with artists, authors and publishers to license the content that ends up in our collections. Each shirt is treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book.
In addition to spreading the joy of reading through our tees, we acknowledge that many parts of the world don't have access to books at all. We are working to change that. For each shirt we sell, one book is donated to a community in need through our partner Books For Africa.
How we read is changing as we move further into the digital age. It's unclear what the role of the book cover will be in this new era, but we feel it's more important than ever to reflect on our own individual experiences with great literary art before it's forever changed.

the shirts i want are: catcher in the rye, brave new world, slaughter house five, moby dick, fahrenheit 451.

postcard poetry 7

the most recent postcard poem was titled: steptoe bute, idaho

so what is it
that makes the grainlands
so fruitful,
the spilt blood of 100 dragons
or the sloswed(?) wine of the wealthy
as they viewed from the top
an they own?
or could it be as simple
as the sun rising with the uneat(?),
each reflecting the owner
back to itself?

rizzoli and isles

so side note before i jump into my post. if your going to peg me as a certain type of reader, i would say i'm a fantasy reader. that is your safest bet. i do read other things. i read science fiction, fiction, poetry, historical fiction and from time to time, non-fiction. but i have never really picked up a mystery/murder book. well there is always a first.

i started watching the show rizzoli and isles on tnt. it's on monday's at 10/9c. it's a great show! i'm very sick of cop shows (it seems thats all that's on tv these days) but i really like this cop show. and i like this show because of the two main characters. i love how they are written. completely different people. rizzoli is a tomboy, shooting from the hip, kind of cop. she's had to work for what she has and she has the brains and the skill to stand behind what she does.she's just awesome. she's definatly street smart. i love her attitude. isles is from the rich side of life. very intelligent, book smart. but is good at her job also. takes things just a little too literal, but is quick on her feet. with both of them working together, they make a great team. sooooo as i was watching the show i realized that it is based off of a book series by tess gerritsen. so i decided that if i like the show i might like the books. i trotted on down to the library, in my jamies. for i refused to get dressed that day. hehe. and i got the first book in the series. which actually doesn't have isles in the book. she doesn't enter the series until the second book. but i got the first book called the surgeon. and so far, i love it! i've been hooked from the very first page. i can't wait to finish the book and i'm excited to get the next one. the characters are just as awesome in the book. and i love how tess gerritsen weaves her story. so if you like murder/mystery books, i say go and get this one. it will have you on the edge of your seat.

quoteables 2

so i was cleaning out a box of books and i found my old quote notebook. i thought i had lost it, but thankfully i had just put it away for safe keeping. so i thought i would do another installment of quotes this month using my first quote book i ever created. hope they inspire. (and as a side note, happy birthday dad! and happy anniversary mom and steve!)

-"fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." - oscar wilde
-"i respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education." - wilson mizner
-"the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." - george hyman
-"giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - p.j. o'rourke
-"brush the cobwebs out of the sky." - radiohead
-"it's the devil's way now there is no way out you can scream and you can shout it's too late now because you have not been paying attention." - radiohead
-"we are all prisoners here, of our own device." - the eagles
-"freedom of speech exists if what you say is accepted by the majority." - sorrow
-"they say they fight in the name of god but it's only to protect themselves jesus comes to our world with love he doesn't come to our world with war." - narnia
-"you can bet your life that i'll be the first one dancing in the street." - ben lee
-"love ain't suppose to be this bad, make you cry mega ultra sad." - ben kweller
-"you're your favorite stranger." - tori amos
-"if the sun refused to shine, i would still be loving you. when mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me." - led zeppelin

postcard poetry 6

there's no title for the newest postcard of poetry i have gotten.

her pennies
have wheat
you can eat
his crickets
have legs
that play mozart
your ears
have corn
so sweet
my body into(?) child
comes
to hearts.

jd salinger's toilet

it seems that someone is selling jd salinger's toilet for one million dollars on ebay. what is this world coming to? salinger was a great writer and all, and i love catcher in the rye, but still. do i want to own his toilet, no. i will be very surprised if someone buys it.

postcard poetry article

here's an article about the postcard poetry.

postcard poetry 5

the newest postcard with poetry has titled it's poem: Mt. Rainier

we leave the
chores
hardness
grief
behind
and travel to the
glacier covered
mountain that
reassures us.

poetry postcards 4

yesterday i got another postcard of poetry in the mail. this one is called: Ziggy Stardust

fall alseep to
rain
awake to
rain
a memory of her
intimacies, mattress
chat and
david bowie lyrics.

poetry postcards 3

today in the mail i had gotten 5 postcards with poetry! it was a lovely surprise, for i was starting to get worried that i wasn't going to be getting any more postcards. so here are the new postcards of poetry in no particular order.

the first poem: Last Time
I was half-
blind with
love
now the truth-
your eyes
are bloodshot
and like
the moon,
vacant.


                                             the second poem has no title:
                                             to sunflowers, exercise
                                             plus red not poppies those
                                             in seattle have in paper i do
                                             vienna! tho' pennsylvania
                                             the collection "barnes" an-
                                             other nor the iconic man
                                             and woman in gold
                                            works of mass exposure
                                            yellows whites AND green
                                            and RED floating vienna
                                            river perch in botanical
                                            garden meanls of fortune


the third poem: Streetlight
i fold my cold fingers
into my palm

the yellow streetlight
won't warm my hands

but when i say your name
you begin to begin


                                          the forth poem has no title:
                                          don't judge me.
                                          you haven't journeyed down my roads.
                                          you want change-
                                          i only know this way of life.
                                         you seek healing for our wondedness,
                                         yet i feel no wound.
                                         take time to know me.
                                         let me know you-
                                         then we can decide.


the fifth poem: Sheer Cleft
it was just a simple situation
but someone objected
and filed a complaint.
which irritated the other guy,
bringing in a third perspective
and the problems just piled up
and up and up and up and up.
i can see distant horizons
but i just can't get down
from where i reside
on the peak of progress
at the edge of the edge.

dragons of the hourglass mage

so i know this blog is about writing and everything but i just have to share this cover art. i'm a huge(!) dragonlance fan and have been for years. dragonlance is the series created by margaret weis and tracy hickman. and they have had some amazing cover art for their books. well i have finally purchased the last of the books they said they would write for the series; dragons of the hourglass mage. and i just love the cover art, that i had to share it with all of you.

as a side note, if your looking for a great fantasy series, you should definatly read the dragonlance books!

poetry postcards 2

i have gotten my fourth postcard with poetry on it. there is no title for this poem.

Mother, transformed
by gravity's
invisible power,
fragility of
tissue, calcium
leakage, by
89 years of
work and sun.

poetry postcards

so for the month of august, i have joined this mailing group that mails a postcard a day to someone with poetry on it. you sign up to be part of it and the idea is that everyday for the month of august someone will send you a postcard with original poetry on it. i have been sending mine out and so far i have gotten 3 postcards. i thought i would share the poetry i have gotten, and then continue to share through the month as i continue to get them. bare with me about some of the words, the handwriting isn't always the best. if i'm questionable about a word, i will put a question mark next to it.

poem one has no title:
Begin with a bright
curve
a bold line drawn
like Vienna in gold
on your upper lip
the scudding(?) clouds piling
for seduction
round and loose
While innocence sleeps
unwakeable
on your neck...


                                                   poem two: First Tourist Sight
                                                   The dervish(?) begins whirling
                                                   Arms spread out
                                                   And a little red cap atop
                                                   his head

                                                   he quickens his pace
                                                   his skirt slowly rises above
                                                   his boots
                                                   until it balloons around his
                                                   figure

                                                   he transforms into a white
                                                   blur
                                                   no longer human
                                                   in joyous worship


poem three: Ghost Memories
Wearing mist shrouds
they rise from Earth
to haunt the muted sky
echoing the past

kickstarter part 2

up date on the wonderful kickstarter project i was telling you about. in the 3 days left for them to raise the money, they raised $1400 more than they needed! woot woot! i'm so glad this project got the money it needed. here's the link again if you would like to check it out. and congrats to the desert island supply co!

kickstarter

so i don't know if you've noticed, but on my list of websites to visit i have kickstarter. which is this great website that lets people start projects with the help of people from all over the country. you pledge so much money and then the people from the project give you things in return of pledging your money. but you don't have to pay what you pledge unless the project reaches it's projected goal within a certain amount of time.

so for example: say i'm trying to publish a book of poems. so i figure i'm going to need about $5000 to fund the whole thing. so i say on kickstarter, i need that much money. and if you pledge say $10 i'll give you an individual poem signed by me. if you pledge $50 i'll give you the whole book of poems numbered and signed by me. so on and so forth. but you only have to pay your money if i reach my $5000 goal.

well i ran across this kickstarter project and it only has until august 7th to reach it's goal. i wanted to share it with you for it's a writing group trying to raise money to better their writing space. the group is called the desert island supply co (disco) and it's a writing group for kids aging from 6-18. i think this is a great little group and should reach it's goal. here's the link to this specific kickstarter.

clinton-mezvinsky wedding poem

normally, i could give a crap about celebrity weddings. i don't care who was there, what they wore or anything else like that. but this time i am interested. chelsea clinton married marc mezvinsky and at their wedding a poem by leo marks was read. i like the poem, so i thought i would share it with all of you. (also a side note, happy birthday mom!)


The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

just a thought

"Do not read J. D. Salinger on a Kindle,” he says, with a snort of disgust. “Grab that broken paperback.”

i was reading an article and this was part of it. i knew i just had to share it. the rest of the article dosen't matter. this shows how i feel about the kindle's of the world perfectly.

quotables

here are this months installment of quotes, hope they inspire.

-"i like things that go into hidden, mysterious places, places i want to explore that are very disturbing. in that disturbing thing, there is sometimes tremendous beauty and truth." - david lynch
-"missing you is easy. its the waiting to see you again that's hard." - ?
-"all i've got is a red guitar, three cords and the truth." - jimi hendrix
-"fettucini alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults." - mitch hedberg
-"families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts." - ?
-"you can't predict who you'll fall in love with. love's the one thing that doesn't have a pattern - it's a totaly mystery. if you over think it, you're wasting your time." - taylor swift.
-"all the possibility and promise just weighs on me so heavily." - straylight run
-"and i had to leave the house of television to start noticing the clouds. it's amazing the stuff you see when you finally shed the shroud." - ani difranco
-"but she wanted to love someone the way she felt when painting - fearless, messy, vivid." - austenland by shannon hale
-"i cannot believe my eyes, how the world is filled with filth and lies." - dr. horrible's sing along blog
-"i'm so full of love it deeply sickens me." - motion city soundtrack
-"your still alive she said. do i deserve to be? is that the question?" - pearl jam
-"if you are dead, no one can criticize you, or, if they do it doesn't hurt." - sylvia plath
-"every day of every hour i wish i was bulletproof." - radiohead

dating by the book

so there's a new dating website that finds you matches based on what kind of books you like to read. on the website alikewise.com you fill out some information about your self, but the biggest thing you fill out is what books you like. you can then click on the book you have listed and then see who else has listed the book on their profile. you can also search the website by a book you like or by an author you like. i think it's an interesting way to find people to date. i know i like it when i find people who are just as interested in books as i am. so if you've tried other dating websites, why not try this one. it's free. and everyone like's free.

jane austins fight club

yes you read that correctly, jane austins fight club. on youtube, someone made a video using jane austins characters to create a fight club. it's pretty awesome/funny! so go here and watch it for yourself.

the great gatsby video game

Join Nick Carraway as you explore the mansions and bungalows of Long Island, the parlors of New York City, and the heart and soul of the Roaring Twenties. Attend extravagant parties and lush gatherings as you dance the Charleston with a happy couple harboring scintillating secrets. Sip bootleg gin with a mysterious millionaire desperate to bring the passions of the past into the present in Great Gatsby, a fun Hidden Object game (this is exactly how they explain it on the website).

how much you want to bet that the most important thing to find is at the green light on daisys dock?

steampunk at the renaissance faire

so this weekend i went to the renaissance faire in bristol, wi. it was tons of fun. i did some letterboxing, walked around, ate, spent lots of money and watched some really cool shows. while jeremy and i were there eating a guy and a girl walk by with really cool costumes on. i continued to stare at them and i realized that they had steampunk outfits on. so it didn't really fit the renaissance faire, for all the steampunk i've read and read about so far, fits in the victorian age which is the 19th-20th century. but it was still really cool to see. espically with me just getting into the reading the literature (which i've read 4 stories now and i'm totally into it. woot woot for steampunk as literature). so i thought i would share the outfits with you guys to show you a little bit of what the steampunk outfits can look like.

quoteables

this months installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"all the money you made won't buy back your soul." - pearl jam
-"and this is how i choose to live, as if i'm jumping off a cliff." - relient k
-"we're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." - japanese proverb
-"good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after." - anne marrow lindbergh
-"true love suffers and is silent." - oscar wilde
-"i'm broken down and hungry for your love with no way to feed it." - jamie cullum
-"military glory - that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood." - abraham lincoln
-"people who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them." - dave bary
-"there are times when a beautiful image makes sense as good storytelling in ways that are not easily explained." - david mazzucchell
-"let me ask you something, what is not art?" - ?
-"the most courageous act is - still - to think for yourself. aloud." - coco chanel
-"i've never believed in god, but i believe in picasso." - diego rivera
-"life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one." - stella adler

i write like...

so there's this website called i write like that when you paste some of your own writing into the box, it will analyze your writing and tell you what famous person you write like. well i put in my a lighted carousel poem and the website said i write like:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

steampunk

so i have always know about the genre streampunk in the literary world. i was first introduced to it when i took a cyberpunk class in school. and until recently i hadn't really given steampunk much thought. well i had been looking at some steampunk fashion and have totally fallen in love with it. (here is an etsy site that i have fallen in love with.) steampunk clothing, jewlery, all of it is just soooo cool! but having never read any steampunk literature, i didn't want to buy anything in the fashion part. i didn't want to be one of those people. you know the people i'm talking about. the people that dress and act like the genre, but really know nothing about the actual literature. so i have gone to my friendly local library and got the book steampunk edited by ann & jeff vandermeer. it's a collection of steampunk stories in one book. it is laid out for someone who knows nothing about steampunk and it's literature. so i'm totally excited about reading the stories and seeing if i like steampunk literature. and even if i don't like the stories, i feel i can still go out and wear the fashion. for at least i can say i didn't like the stories. but if i like the stories (and so far so good) i can say hey man this genre is awesome! so never be one of those people. go out and read the stuff you are trying to look/act like. so i will report back if i like steampunk literature or not.

obama (kinda) quotes emma lazarus

In his immigration speech today, President Obama cited the most prominent symbol of America's immigrant tradition: The Statue of Liberty. He also quoted famous lines from the Emma Lazarus poem inscribed at the base of the statue -- at least some of them. Read on, and see if you can spot the difference (i got this from the oval-usatoday's website and they credit their friends at Politico for noticing this).

Here's Obama, according to the White House website:
Give me your tired, and your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free ...
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

And here's the Lazarus poem:
Give me your tired, your poor.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Yes, the president left out the section about "the wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
Politically correct? Or did he just overlook the line?

detriot librarys and mcdonalds team up for kids!

students in detriot are encouraged to visit their local library to pick up a mcdonald’s bookmark. each time they check out books, the card will be stamped by a librarian. once it’s stamped five times, the student can then take it to a local mcdonald’s in exchange for a complimentary happy meal or mighty kids meal. as an added incentive, each library will host a drawing every month and award a backpack and a $20 gift certificate redeemable at border’s bookstores to the lucky winner. entry forms can be filled out at one of the 24 library locations.

totally sweet! wish i lived in the detriot area.

happy birthday to me!

today this blog is one year old! woot woot! i can't believe i've been doing this for a year. it doesn't seem that long. it started out as a simple blog for a story i was writing. then i decided to change the direction and write about all things to do with writing. adding along the way things that are going on with my writing.  for today's post i think i'm going to highlight different posts i have done over the year. so here are some of my favorite posts from this past year. 

the very first post i ever did
critics
tuna poem
celebrate banned books
the wheel of time turns
dr. horrible comic review
death
life is full of them
the first quoteables
world war z
the power of words
poetry coat
muse quoteables
poetry/art swap
a lighted carousel

wow, if you went back and read all of those, your amazing! thanks for sticking with me and i hope the next year is just as amazing as this past year has been. keep writing and keep reading. 

the power of reading

A short film dramatizing the “power of reading” has won two Film Craft Lions awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. read an article about it and watch the film here.

quotes 3

this is the last installment of quotes for this month (seeing how it's the last day of the month). hope they inspire.

-"Can miles truly separate you...? If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?" - ?
-"You know you love someone when the mere thought of losing them brings you to tears."- ?
-"I wish that I could hold you now... I wish that I could touch you now... I wish that I could talk to you... be with you somehow." - ?
-"Good-bye is only truly painful if you know you'll never say hello again." -?
-"The few hours I spent with you are worth the thousand hours I spend without you." -?
-"Today was just one of those days where everything I did reminded me of you and every song I heard somehow related to you. I hate days like today, because they remind me of the one thing I dont have." -?
-"Just the thought of being with you tomorrow is enough to get me through today." -?
-"It's not a 'good-bye', only a long 'I'll see you later.'" - ?
-"when i think where a mans strength begins and ends, i think that i never had such a friend." - ?
-"i'll make you a mixtape that will charm you into bed. it details everything thats running round my head." - jamie cullum
-"love ain't gonna let you down no more." - jamie cullum
-"love is the triump of imagination over intelligence." - henry louis mencken
-"there is always some madness in love. but there is also always some reason in madness." - friedrich nietzsche
-"a good relationship is like fireworks: loud, explosive." - jeph jaques

wimbledon poetry

for this years wimbledon competition there is a poet in residence. and at poetry trust you can read his poetry. here is what he has so far.

fahrenheit 451 anyone?

so i know banned books week (bbw) isn't for another couple of months (it's september 25 - october 2) but i thought i would share some books that have been challenged to be banned, restricted or removed from school curricula and library shelves. the list comes from the american library association (ala) and from the office for intellectual freedom (oif).

top ten most frequently challenged books of 2009:
1. ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. “Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

also this year, the ala and oif came out with the top 100 challenged books of 2000-2009.

and as a side note, i have read four of the books listed in the top 10 of last year. i have read numbers: 3,4,6 and 9. all were good books and i'm glad i read them.