By: Anne Bustard,
on 12/30/2009
Tiger Woods, athlete
Dec. 30, 1975-
Tiger Woods by David R. Collins, illustrated by Larry Nolte (Pelican, 1999)
Tiger Woods, the gifted young African American golfer, faced prejudice with positive character and determination as a child and as an adult. He won his first U.S. Amateur Championship at the age of 19.
Visit the Tiger Woods Official Website to learn more about this great golfer.
Posted on 11/21/2009
The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton
Reviewed by Gerry Donaghy
Powells.com
At a recent Book Expo America, author Sherman Alexie, in speaking to an audience of independent booksellers, expressed his desire to hit a woman who he saw using Amazon's Kindle on his flight to New York. I wonder if Alexie would have been so quick to resort to fisticuffs if the woman in question was reading one of his books (he claims to refuse to allow electronic versions of his novels to exist, but he seems okay with his poetry on the Kindle).
But such is the emotional power that books have over readers. They inspire thought and action, and they are brandished as totems to express who we ...
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By: Eric Orchard,
on 11/21/2009
This is a little round-up post of things on my mind. Above is a sketch of Mike Mignola's Hellboy, one of my favorite comics of all time. I draw Hellboy all the time but this is the first drawing I've done that I like, probably because I did it in my own style rather than copying Mignola.
First, I wanted to share this BBC article with you. It's a Front Row radio episode about comic books and posits that we are now living in a golden age of comic books. Whatever you think it's a great article. The bit about comics starts about 13:13 into the show.
On my iPod is a new playlist called Chamber Pop. I'm obsessed with all these little musical subgenres that Wikipedia has articled to an almost academic point. Chamber Pop began in the 1960's as Baroque Pop with the release of the seminal pop album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys which was a major showcase for the genius of Brian Wilson. The idea is a type of pop music that introduces atypical instruments ans arrangements more associated to classical music. This music has continued and found a renaissance in the 1990's with music from Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo and now The Decemberists, although now it's referred to as Chamber Pop. If you like rich, layered pop this might be for you.
Something else worth mentioning is my new addiction to audiobooks. It appeals to both my love of multitasking and my boundless laziness. What really love about them, other then being able to "read" while drawing, is that I can finally read all those classics I've just never gotten around to like the Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon and Joyce's Ulysses. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
By: Molly Blaisdell,
on 11/21/2009
Day 21 of the Golden Coffee Cup! That's three weeks, folks. Only a little more to go. You can do this! Take time to imagine yourself completing your goal. See the end of your work. Keep working. No clue what a Golden Coffee Cup is? Click here.
Today we get a smoking-the-pipe high five from one of my favorite poets, Edgar Lee Masters. 
Edgar was the first author that awakened me to the importance of silence and what it communicates to us. It is in this silence that we may find the chinks that let the light in, that we may hear the still small voice underneath the chatter of the world. Silence can also be white hot anger or a reflection of intense suffering. There are so many colors to silence.
I hope that you think about silence today. I hope you try it out. Empty your mind and just float. I often have such vivid flashes of imagery when I choose to be silent within.
See if you can inject some silence into your work. Search for what is not said. Can you make your reader pause? Can you still the heart of the observer of your work? I hope you find something surprising, unique, or, even better, profound as you explore the boundaries of silence.
Keep working and come back tomorrow for more of the java.
I have known the silence of the stars and of the sea,
And the silence of the city when it pauses,
And the silence of a man and a maid,
And the silence of the sick
When their eyes roam about the room.
And I ask: For the depths
Of what use is language?
from Silence by Edgar Lee Masters
By: Bella Stander,
on 11/21/2009
By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/21/2009
I got into a discussion with a friend last week about the horrible theatrical cartoons of the 1960s. I call them “drive-in cartoons” because I see no use for them except to be filler at drive-in theaters, allowing time for kids to get concessions or for teenagers to make-out before the main feature. Almost all 1960s Walter Lantz cartoons, Terrytoons and later Warner Bros. cartoons (the Larriva Road Runner and Daffy-Speedy crap) fall into this definition. Most would include the Paramount cartoons into this club. I don’t, but here’s one that’s pretty bad - and a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Two By Two has the distinction of being the cartoon that got Howard Post fired from his position as head of the Paramount Cartoon Studio. It wasn’t the abysmal quality of the film, the awful character designs or the lame jokes. It was the fact that he was spoofing a story from the bible; it offended someone (A Paramount exec? An exhibitor?) and got him canned. Personally, I’m offended that the highly creative Post - whom I am a huge fan of - conceived such a poor rip-off of Daffy Duck (aka “Quacky Whack”). At one point, Quacky impersonates God… perhaps this what ticked off the Paramount brass? Shamus Culhane (Post’s successor) says in his book that Paramount was pressuring him to create a “Bugs Bunny” type cartoon. Perhaps Post was simply trying to give his bosses what they wanted… unfortunately, he failed quite miserably. Here… you be the judge:
By: David Hohn,
on 11/21/2009
Sat in on the Game Art Preproduction class today at AiPD. They're working on a very cool project this term! These are some demo sketches I did during the critiques.
Posted on 11/21/2009
I'll be in conversation with Austrian author Josef Haslinger at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York on Tuesday, 24 November (at 18:30), with John Cullen reading from his (unpublished) translation of Haslinger's Phi Phi Island, describing his experiences during the tsunami of 2004.
Maria Simma interviewed him for Transforum, and we'll certainly be covering some of that ground, too.
(The film version of Haslinger's Das Vaterspiel is also set to premiere (in Germany and Austria) next week; the English title is, apparently, Kill Daddy Good Night (which can't hurt at the box office ...).)
By: admin,
on 11/20/2009
By: brettdl,
on 11/20/2009
Look in the sidebar right next to this column. Scroll down just below the ads and genre list. What do you see?
Our new widget!
Yes, you too can have this glamorous widget for your website or blog. It shows off a different nominated title whenever you refresh the page -- though you can customize it to show just your favorite genres.
It comes already loaded with our Amazon affiliate ID and you can customize the colors too.
Many, many thanks to Tracy Grand at JacketFlap once again for our fabulous widget.
--Anne
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By: Minh,
on 11/20/2009
Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman are stopping by today for a visit to promote their clever new book, Joey Fly Private Eye. (Da-da-DAA!)
They've prepared a really cool packet of stuff to go with it... but my slow internet connection wouldn't let me load all of it (it's a conspiracy, a cover up, I tell ya!). But for now we've got a cool video...
and cutout paper dolls...
Until next time...
By: Betsy Bird,
on 11/21/2009
When the Mountain Meets the Moon By Grace Lin Little, Brown and Company $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-11427-1 Ages 8-12 On shelves now. When an a... Read the rest of this post
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Before my first novel was published, I used to write short stories. After a few years of sending out my work, I realized I was selling about one story in every ten. Often “selling” merely meant publication in return for free copies of the magazine it appeared in, but I’m not talking about money here, I’m talking about an editor liking my story enough to publish it and bring it to a wider readership (which for short fiction is often as good as it gets). So for every story of mine that made it into the wider world, there were another nine hopefuls that saw only the inside of my computer. Other writers talk of their bottom drawers, but I prefer to think of my published work as the tip of an iceberg, or – because ice seems too cold for creativity – the tip of my “storyberg”. The unpublished stories make up the much larger chunk below the waterline that nobody can see.
Since I have published around 50 short stories, that means 450 unpublished ones floating around below the surface… a fair amount of work! Was it wasted? Out of interest, I recently went back and re-read a few. Some of my earlier efforts clearly deserve to be drowned in the depths for all eternity, but others aren’t so bad. They just didn’t fit the market at the time, or (more likely) never found the right market because I gave up sending them out. But those 450 unpublished stories were clearly necessary in order to write the 50 that did make it into readers' hands. Every single one of them needed to be written, or the tip of my storyberg would not exist.
These days I write books, and the process is similar. “Song Quest” was my twelfth novel, but the first to be published. Since then I’ve had 12 more books published, but have about 100 other projects in various stages of progress in my files, most which will never see the light of day. At certain stages of an author’s career, it seems necessary to grow the storyberg below the waterline rather than above so that the whole thing can continue to float when the next project makes it into the sunlight. Sometimes it seems as if no progress is being made, and other authors' storybergs seem to be growing so much faster than mine - but, of course, I cannot see how much is lurking below their waterlines and I suspect the author who publishes everything they write does so at their peril, since top-heavy storybergs will not stay afloat for very long.
By: Stacey,
on 11/21/2009
“Let our testimony be our pen.” – Anonymous African American Male from Chicago
I found myself rushing to get my lunch from the Reading Terminal Market so I could eat it while listening to Alfred W. Tatum yesterday afternoon. My sandwich landed up sitting in the bag for an hour and 15 minutes since I was [...]
By: Alina Chau,
on 11/21/2009
I have been trying something different with the Snorrie board. Here is the latest version of the Snorrie board, I pick smaller sections from the entire story and try to play with different camera angel and cut ... This week will be a bit crazy, with CTN Expo and Thanksgiving coming up ... I may not be able to put up any new post till after Thanksgiving! So Early Happy Thanksgiving!!
Also I would love to invite all of you to two of my my coming Gallery shows:
“Gifted Artist” is a charity art show and auction to benefit the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in Loma Linda, California. The event will be held on Saturday December 19th from 5 to 10pm at the CCAA Museum of Art in Rancho Cucamonga.
POWER IN NUMBERS 4
At Nucleus Gallery
December 12, 2009 - December 28, 2009
Opening Reception / Dec 12, 7:00PM - 10:00PM
I have been up-dating my web-site lately. Please come by and check it out!! Happy weekends!!
By: Jay Asher,
on 11/21/2009
My Philadelphia visit has to be cut short a few days, but I thought I'd quickly share some of the fun times and cool people that made these two days so special.
On Thursday, I gave two library presentations where several high schools sent students. Every student had been given a copy of Thirteen Reasons Why before their visit, which always makes the Q&A much more interesting. And I finally autographed a book for someone with the title "Sister"!
On Friday morning, at the National Council of Teachers of English conference, I was on a panel with David Levithan and Lauren Myracle to discuss intellectual freedom. I'd never met Lauren before and had only caught a glimpse of David in the past, so I was really looking forward to this panel. We've all had different experiences with our books being banned or challenged, so hearing their thoughts was fascinating. But beyond what they had to say about tampons, thongs, erections, and the word %$@&, they both seemed like genuinely wonderful people.
After I signed books on the conference floor, I grabbed some autographs and photos of my own. As many of you know, Gordon Korman is a rock star to me. When he offered a blurb for my book, I was in heaven. But I actually haven't seen him in person since before I'd even finished writing Thirteen Reasons Why. So it was great to catch up!
I love Gene Luen Yang's Printz Award winning graphic novel, American Born Chinese. Though I already have a copy back home, when I saw that he was signing books, I had to buy another so I could have it autographed.
Of course, when I heard that Sandy Asher was nearby, I had to finally meet her. But no, we aren't related...though we tried to find some distant relative in common.
Though I've seen Laurie Halse Anderson at a few writing events, chatted with her briefly a couple times (and sent her a gushing fan letter for Chains), I've never had the pleasure to actually hang out with her. Suddenly, I'm sitting behind a table with her at a booksigning! For this event, with Laurie and Lauren, I temporarily changed my name to Laurel. So here's Laurel Asher, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Lauren Myracle...
The people who showed up were brilliant! They had such amazing questions. In this photo, I think Lauren's showing the crowd how she can make her hand disintegrate...
And in case you were wondering, yes, of course I devoured a Philly cheesesteak during my visit!
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By: Jennifer DeDonato,
on 11/21/2009
One warm sunny morning Zippo the Hippo shook off the last watery mud from her morning bath. ”That was just what I needed,” she exclaimed.
“Aggg!” whimpered Godfrey
“Who is that? And what could be wrong on this beautiful day?” she asked, as she trotted over toward where the noise can from.
Alice Smith Graphics @clipart4resale.com
“It’s me, Godfrey,” said the giraffe, pacing back and forth across the open field. “What’s so beautiful about it? They’re always picking on me. Why if I had a leaf for every time someone teased me…I wouldn’t have to look for food for days.” 
Zippo shook off some more mud as she thought about what Godfrey had said. “Who’s picking on you? What did they say?”
By: Jennifer Tolman,
on 11/20/2009
Ok, I decided to get in on the fun. I love the Avalanche blog, and the topic this week was none other than Twilight, and they are having way too much fun making fun of it.
I personally, haven't seen the new film New Moon, but the first one was absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I did read the books, and loved the books though, except for the last one.
But I have to admit, the characters are just too easy to make fun of. ... And I tried to think of some ideas, but just ended up with a portrait and some blood on it.... yuck.
By: Kristin Nelson,
on 11/20/2009
STATUS: I’m done for the night.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? LANDSLIDE by Dixie Chicks
Considering all the chatter over the last two days, today has been relatively quiet. SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) did issue a statement. You can find that here.
Also, the Ashley Grayson agency blogged with their response.
On a wholly different note, I have a Friday funny—sort of. Do you remember my blogging about an Eddie Murphy movie being shot on our street about two summers ago? For two days in a row they had the extras and the movie crew filming. Sara and I remember it vividly as a car alarm kept going off incessantly. With our windows open on a nice summer day, it was all we could hear for two days running.
Can’t imagine why if you don’t remember. That was a year and a half or two years ago. I only remembered a couple of weeks ago when my husband said he caught the film while on an airplane trip.
The movie is called IMAGINE THAT and no, neither Chutney or I are in the film. In fact, I can’t imagine what they were doing on our street for all that time because in the film itself, there is a brief flash of the front façade of our office in the SH Supply Company building in the scene where Eddie Murphy is fumbling in his briefcase for something while driving. About 10 seconds later, the car drives down the alley behind the building.
Exciting stuff I’m telling you. Grin.
There is one big scene where Mr. Murphy dances on a concrete wall and there is a beautiful lit up staircase behind him. This leads to the bridge that goes over the railroad tracks and into lower downtown. Very noticeable by the bridge support which looks like a ship’s mast. (You can actually see that scene in the movie trailer.)
Well, that takes place right in front of the Platte River Park where Chutney and I often go walking on nice days.
Anyway, highly amusing to watch a movie set in Denver and in Lodo where our office is located.
I’m out. Have a great weekend.
I was looking over my bookshelves today, trying to find something to read. It’s kind of like trying to find the right outfit for your brain.
No, not that, I can’t be sad today.
No, not that, I don’t want to pay that much attention.
Maybe that one, it’s funny and makes my butt look smaller.
What?
I stood there for a while, trying to talk myself out of reading anything speculative. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything “traditional” and it’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve read anything written for adults. But as I looked over the books, nothing jumped out at me. I think the reason why is because I read to escape. There are too many things going on in my life right now and it’s nice to be able to sit down and travel to a new world. I don’t want to read about moms juggling a bunch of kids. I don’t want to read about health care reform. I don’t want to read about families in crisis, even if the characters are well-rounded and the language is well done. I even tried to watch thirtysomething and I just couldn’t do it. It was too real – not an escape, not fun to watch.
But then, I started to think about the speculative books I’ve read recently. Catching Fire, Going Bovine, The Maze Runner. These are not necessarily uplifting books! They deal with family issues, crises, conspiracies, the end of the world, even health care (sort of). So what makes it bearable to read when it’s speculative, but not bearable when it’s “traditional”? And where can a girl find some new, funny, science fiction? Is that an oxymoron?
What do you guys think? How is it that the imaginary worlds (or the fantastical happenings) of speculative fiction make real life issues so much more… entertaining? Why is it not a drag to read about life and death angst when it comes from a maze, but is almost unbearable for me to read about in a contemporary setting?
I know I’m not alone here, so I’m calling you out! Let’s talk about why speculative fiction pushes our buttons without, you know, pushing our buttons.
Kari is grouchy that there’s nothing to wear in her brain closet.
Thanks to Charley Parker of the blog Lines and Colors for his thoughtful review of Imaginative Realism.
Lines and Colors is an art blog that I check out every day, and it has led me to many discoveries that have changed my thinking about making pictures.
By: Alyssa F.,
on 11/20/2009
It seems like I've been apologizing a lot for being absent from the blog lately. Kind of a bummer, since I hate it when life gets in the way. And although I've been kind of boring lately, I will make it up to you in December. Promise.
Anyway, don't have much to talk about tonight, but I am cleaning out my bookshelves again. It's that time of year again when I go through all the books I have and reorganize, reshuffle and decide which books I maybe can live without.
Which is really kind of hard for me, but maybe great news for some of you, especially if you're participating in one of the upcoming swaps. I guess I need to look at it as making room for all those wonderful new books I'll (hopefully) get for Christmas.
Meanwhile, don't forget about my Design a Button contest. You'll get a book of your choice if you win...
Now I'm off to go organize shelves. I'll come back when maybe I have some pictures.
Posted on 11/20/2009
Sorting for the reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in our Lily and Stag Inn Reading Group forums has been opened over on the Leaky Lounge. Our Reading Groups offer Lounge members an intimate environment in which in-depth discussions about the Harry Potters novels take place with your fellow group members. For the Half-Blood Prince reading group, members will travel along with H... Read the rest of this post
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photo by ahisgett www.flickr.com
Chinese New Year
February 14, 2010
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, contemporary, multicultural
*Young girl as main character
*A Gift is a good introduction to the Chinese New Year for young children with wonderful illustrations and a nice family message!
Short, short summary:
A Gift by Yong Chen tells the story of Amy, whose Mom is missing her relatives back home in China around the Chinese New Year. Soon a package arrives for Mom and Amy. Inside the package is a letter from Amy’s aunt (Mom’s sister) about a rock that Uncle Zhong found in his fields in China and how Uncle Ming turned it into a necklace for Amy for the Chinese New Year. At the end of A Gift, Yong Chen explains more about the Chinese New Year and the symbol of the dragon.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. In 2010, the Chinese New Year will be on February 14. (To see dates for other years, click here.) Make some Chinese New Year recipes with your class or at home with your children. In art, make dragons. Ask students to find a few facts about the Chinese New Year through their own research. You can also make a Chinese New Year information bulletin board. Invite a native from China to be a guest speaker about celebrations and customs for the Chinese New Year.
2. Amy has never met her relatives in China, but she knows all about them from her mom. You may have students in your family who have never met some of their relatives; or if you are at home with your children, you may have relatives living overseas whom your child has not met. Use A Gift by Yong Chen to start a discussion with your children or your class about these relatives. If you are a teacher, ask students to bring in a photograph of a relative they have never met–they can also bring in an old photo of a deceased relative if necessary. Ask the students to share some information about the person in the photo by interviewing their parents.
3. Ask students to draw or write (depending on their age and ability level) about a special gift they have received, what it was, and why it was special.
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