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Hello, everyone, this is the great and powerful but tired CARLMAN. Everyone had a good time at WordPlay Saturday, as you can see.








Even though you see Master Jedi Zack in the far-left photo in the second row of pictures, nobly helping a youngling have fun, some of the guys fell (briefly) under the influnce of the dark side and hung around with Darth Bill. Cyber Kid 303 even helped the sith lord attempt to chase Jedi Master Zack from his tent. We have the whole thing on Sith Cam and will post it as soon as Darth Bill gets past the Borg invasion in that quadrant (Hey, am I mixing up my sci-fi epics here????) As for you noble Jedi, do not fear--I'm sure the dark side effects will wear off soon. Master Zack got some pictures on Jedi Digital Cam and will present his side one day.

It's always good to come back from a busy weekend and find reviews and comments from our firends. It was really good to hear from three of you!! Our first was from Lord Vader:

I just finished my next book in the Narnia series. It was called "The Horse and his Boy" by C. S. Lewis. It was alright, but I wish the battle scene would have been a bit longer. It was a little easy to tell what was going to happen in this one. I can't wait to go onto the Price Caspian book.

Mikie (a.k.a Lord Vader)

We just finished reading that one at home and loved it. Too bad you thought it was only alright. But you'll enjoy Prince Caspian a lot. And wait until you get to The Dawn Treader!!! That's my favorite.

Then I heard from cyber kid:

Viking It and Liking It is one of the amazing books in the Time Warp Trio series with Joe, Sam, and Fred by Jon Scieszka where they get whisked back to ancient viking times. There they meet Leif Eriksson who discovered North America. I like it because it is full of adventure, humor, and history. It is Jon Scieszka's best.


Yes, the Time Warp Trio books are good. Have you read The Not-So-Jolly Roger. It features Blackbeard, who sailed up and down the coasts of North Carolina! Finally, we had another one from the BRUNER BOYS BEWARE:

We had a good time at WordPlay Saturday with Darth Bill. We saw snatches of CAPTAIN VERB (actually pretty funny) and heard storytellers. We checked out a graphic novel on INDIANA JONES and Keagen had finished it before we even left downtown... but he read it twice more. We are half way through City Of Ember and it's getting really good. The scary part was when Lina lost her baby sister in the dark when the lights went out... YIKES! And Dune snuck into the engine room and saw the generator and was upset because it was worse than he thought and has no idea how to fix it. We will let you know more when we finish it this week.

Wow, evryone's tallking about The City of Ember! I might have to drop everyting else I'm reading and pick it up. Has anyone seen the movie? Is it any good? Will you BRUNER BOYS see it after you finish reading the book?

Well, I've still got lots to do before I take my Odinrest. I really want to talk to you all about The Maze of Bones and Charles R. Smith, Jr. but the work of a CARLMAN is never done!

Wait, what's this??????? Darth Bill at MY computer!!!!!! Only a sith would dare approach the desk of the Great and Powerful CARLMAN. Yeah, he said something about this post already being up on the screen and just wanted to take down the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows poll, but who knows what evil he was plotting on MY computer?

BEGONE!!

That's better. I have much to do. See you guys later.

Sweet Land was, well, one of the sweetest and most touching movie I have seen in awhile. Set in Minnesota after WW1, it's about, yes, Norwegian bachelor farmers, mail order brides, religious intolerance and a woman who will not take no for an answer. Brilliant acting and I dare you not to tear up at the end, and smile.

How odd and wonderful to be in Louisville and catch this HBO special: The Leopards Take Manhattan, a wonderfully sweet documentary about some kids, their drums and xylophones, their teacher and a trip to NYC.

Don't fail to get ONCE on DVD this week! So sweet and poignant and beautiful.

The Toronto Star reports that Halton's Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass from school library shelves, pending a review by its trustees. Author Philip Pullman, who describes himself as an atheist, apparently wrote the series His Dark Materials as a response to C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia (which ironically have been challenged themselves).

Read a synopsis of The Golden Compass. It was voted the best children's book in the past 70 years by readers across the globe, according to news articles. Although it was published in 1995, the controversy is unfolding now because it has been made into a movie which will be released soon. Students can ask librarians for the book but it will not be displayed on shelves.

Toronto Star readers have voiced their opinions, many coming out in support of the presence of the book in schools.

If you love books and a love story, you HAVE to see Miss Potter on DVD ASAP!! It was wonderful and beautiful.

I know they are centuries apart, but it's eerie that an Anne Hathaway would play the part of Austen, no? Eerie, but nice.

Just saw Edie's story on DVD. Omigod, how depressing to SEE her downward spiral, vs. reading about it. And Guy Pearce as Warhol is brilliant!

Maybe I'm the last to catch this, but PBS is running the 7 or so Posh Nosh clips from BBC2 some evenings. Omigod they are hysterical!! They are fabulous send-ups of cooking shows. I never laugh out-loud at home - just one of my foibles - but I laughed at least a dozen times last night during the paella episode. It is the perfect combination of droll and the absurd that the Brits do so well.

Great NPR piece on the making of Once, set in Dublin. Director wanted to make a modern musical, where we'd totally believe when the characters broke into song. As a kid, I had a big problem buying into that suspension of reality, but have grown to love it, and i can't wait to see this movie.

How happy am I that the riff from Tone Loc's Funky Cold Medina is in Shrek 3?!