KOTG Podcast Update

I'm very excited about this. Knights of the Guild podcast has just crossed the 4000th listener/download mark in 28 days. Our promo which went up first on Feb. 1st has gotten 1006 listeners/downloads. Then we posted our first episode #1 on Feb. 15th and so far it has gotten 2002 listeners/downloads and then recently we posted our first microcast #1 on Feb. 23rd and so far it has gotten 1043 listeners/downloads. As of today the three podcasts have gotten a total of 4051 listeners/downloads.. how cool is that.

Thank you to all those Guildie fans who embraced our little podcast about our favorite webseries The Guild.

Teen Slang...Anyone?

I'm needing teen slang for my latest book, but I can’t seem to find anything that’s “suitable.” I’m from the “groovy” generation, so you can imagine the depth of my problem.

Please help, if you can. I need acceptably clean words for:

Dork

Cool

Friend

Family

Awesome/Great - I did find that the teen slang word for this is “Sick.” Right? Although there seems to be some disagreement on this one. With most teens, awesome seems to be, well, still awesome! So, maybe I'm not so out of touch.

Want to find out your slang I.Q? Here's a fun test on, of all sites, Good Housekeeping! But, it's an easy way to find out if you’re “Groovy” or simply "Awesome."

Happy to hear some other suggestions, too, so my next book, "The Magician's Castle" can be simply "awesome!"

You can also check out the Urban Dictionary of Slang

Mary Cunningham

Mary Cunningham Books

Cynthia's Attic Blog

Quake Books

Pictures of our trip to Hainault Forest!

Front Page

While at lunch with my buddy Christopher last week we started talking about websites and stuff. He knows I've been working on mine new one for quite a while. Back in Oct. 08 I purchased the domain www.geekyfanboy.com and wanted to transfer my current personal website from yahoo geocities. Though I'm internet savvy I'm not really good at HTML and decided I would try my hand at Dreamweaver. Well it's been months and I have built a few pages but not like they are suppose to be build. Instead I created them in photoshop and then just import the entire thing as one image. Anyways I was conveying my frustration to Christopher and he mentioned Front Page which is a microsoft program. He said it was fairly easy to use, kind of like page builder from yahoo geocities.

So Today I finally "acquired" a copy and gave it a shot. Well I have to say that Front Page is a website building for dummies and is perfect for me. It's pretty much set up like most of the MS programs. I only had an hour or so to play with it but I already built most of my main page, with Dreamweaver it had taken me weeks. So I'm off to a good start. So it will still take me a while to get everything transferred but at least I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks Christopher for the heads up.

Snowbound Shed

I think I'm coming to understand the subtleties of the snow here in Sweden. Yesterday in the morning, it was only -1 deg C and by midday, we were up to plus 2! As a result there was a lot of melting snow and slush. Waking up this morning there had been a light snow 'shower' and the areas that were snow free yesterday, have a dusting of white again. The apples that we threw into the back garden for the deer and the birds sank into the snow but were visible, now they too are covered with a sprinkle of white. The birds still find them though, clever things that they are!

I did this drawing of the shed (which in Summer is going to be the playhouse) in the garden. It is a typical small Swedish garden shed. When I did this, the snow had melted quite a bit and the roof was nearly its normal dark colour. I have subsequently taken photographs of it covered in snow again, and will try and depict those at a later stage.

Podcasts

Today I finished editing The Ready Room podcast #47, Next I have to prep another Knights of the Guild podcast. I think will get at least one more microcast out before we release our second episode.

I don't have the stats of The Ready Room podcast since Rico over at Treks in Sci Fi hosts it but I do have the stats for Knights of the Guild and for a show that has been out a almost two week it's doing pretty good. Check them out.

Podcast Stats:

Feed: 1883 / Download: 358 / Streaming: 1499

Total Listeners 3740

Have a Play Day!

You're never too old to have a Play Day or Play Date. It isn't something just for babies or toddlers.

Dogs have play days, so why shouldn't you?

You're never too old to play. Scientists say play is a vital part of childhood. It unleashes the imagination. It encourages creativity. It lets a child work out their fears or worries.

The same is true for teens and adults. Let yourself have fun. Do something that lets your creativity loose. Draw. Color. Dress a doll. Play with miniatures. (Pictured is the witch's greenhouse I'm working on. More pix, see my blog.) Make a card. Do rubber stamping or make a scrapbook page. Try a new hobby.

Enjoy yourself! You'll feel better. You'll have a better, more balanced view of life. You'll smile. And we all can use more of those, can't we?

** I collect miniatures. And Sam, with her bff Lita, are hunting for a lost miniature painting in Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. Many of the miniatures described are in my collection. I'll be sharing some of those photos soon.

The Perils of Team Projects

It was probably Socrates, or some equally impressive scholar and mentor, who came up with the grand plan of partnering students for a single project, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. There wasn't a school year that went by that didn't involve at least one of these ominous team efforts. If the word on the street is right, partner projects seem to torment students today as well.

Oh, it all starts out fine, especially if you like who's on your team, but then someone (usually the person with all the notes) gets sick, someone else's dog eats the diorama, or someone just 'forgets' their part. Knowing you'll share the final grade, do you cover the weak link on the team, or just cross your fingers and hope for a miracle? When it's over, do you prepare a power point and take your case to the teacher, clearly labeling everyone who dropped the ball?

Partner projects are supposed to teach us how to work with others, how to organize an effort and how to blend individual talent into a cohesive presentation. Nice theory, but how do you make it happen? How do you influence others to participate when they'd rather use group research time to catch up on their sleep?

Looking back, I have to wonder if partner projects weren't created just for the amusement of the administration. It might have started as a social experiment complete with hidden cameras: leave children alone with an assignment and watch the sparks fly – from a safe distance. Or maybe those pesky projects gave the super smart kids a chance to be popular. Everyone envied the group with the genius, especially if they could convince the genius to do all the work.

I suppose partner and team projects are really opportunities to learn how to learn and there's no doubt it takes lots of practice to learn how to play nice with others. I'm trying to recall a team project that went smoothly…and coming up empty. Unless marching band counts? That's where I learned to apply humor, compassion, and snack foods in equal measure to soothe the wounded and weary during long practices and competitions.

Are there any perilous team tales in your past - or present?

Regan

Download the first Pixie Chicks story at Quake today and find more adventure with Regan's Dream Works novella in the Missing anthology available now from Echelon Press.
To learn more about Regan visit her website or her blog.

It's a BOY!!!!!!

My brother called me today to inform me that he and my sister-in-law found out the sex of their baby... It's a BOY!!!! I'm going to have a nephew... I would be happy with either I just want a healthy baby.. but I have to admit I was hoping they were having a little boy. Can't wait to spoil him rotten.

Minh's

While it's still cold, do yourself a favor and head to Minh's for an enormous bowl of pho. (Most Americans say pho like "fee fie PHO fum" but it's really more like "fuh"--the problem is, most people won't know what you MEAN when you say "fuh" so you're stuck seeming confusing and pretentious at the same time).

Yes, the ginger beef is also good. Yeah, there are other dishes (like pretty much anything made in a clay pot) that are delicious.

But the savory soups outdo them all--I'm a huge fan of beef noodle soup #2, which contains well-done brisket. Others have rare beef, or both rare and well-done TOGETHER (J's choice). The "cup" is pretty big--you and a friend can each get a cup and share an entree (or get two and you've got leftovers for lunch). Get "large" and don't bother with entrees. They are not kidding around with the large, my friends!

So quick! Hurry! Before it gets warm again!

Minh's Restaurant
2500 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA
Metro: Court House

Knights of the Guild Microcast #1 Quest for the Finale

Today we released Knights of the Guild Microcast #1 : Quest of the Finale.

Since folks have been emailing us to release our podcast more then once a month Jenni and I decided that we would do microcasts in between our main casts. They will be two to fifteen minutes podcasts on one single topic. Our first microcast will be a discussion about The Guild Season Two Finale. You can check it out on itunes or click on the link below.

http://knightsoftheguild.podbean.com/

E-Books

E-Books. These electronic books have slowly begun to gain recognition, especially with the younger generation. I myself, have my books - Where Are You? and Mr. Mysterious - solely available in E-Book format.

E-Books come in all different genres – just like paperback books do – with the wide variety of stories to choose from so a person is free to pick one that suits their liking. They have the ability to take a person on an amazing ride through the depths of its electronic pages in the same fashion that a paperback book is capable of.

With the rising appearance of E-Books on the reading scene, I know one person in particular who hates reading paperback books - she has fallen in love with E-Books. While she does own paperback books and will occasionally read a paperback novel when she cannot find the book available in E-Book format, she would much rather curl up in bed with her E-Book reader instead of a paperback.

So why don't you come and check out the teen E-Book titles from Quake now!

Alyssa Montgomery

Got Milk?

This year, as in every other year, the Oscars provided a chance for the film industry to slap itself and its subsidiaries on the back and proclaim a job well done. This job is taken up with the greatest gusto most years by the winner of Best Actor, and in 2009 Sean Penn didn't let us down. He thanked everyone - the Academy, the cast and crew of the film Milk, campaigners for equal rights and social justice, and even the American people for electing Barack Obama - a matter of rather tangential relevance. Glaringly obvious, however, was the omission of his gratitude towards Harvey Milk, the man whose courageous life and death were the basis of the film.

It might be easy to argue that there isn't much sense in thanking a dead person, if it weren't for the fact that other acceptance speeches are rife with nods towards deceased relatives, friends, mentors and "late-greats". Penelope Cruz, accepting the award this year for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, thanked her dear friend "who is no longer with us". And it appears that being alive does not guarantee you thanks from the highly-paid actor or actress that portrayed you in a successful film. Just ask Erin Brockovich, who Julia Roberts failed to acknowledge after winning Best Actress for portraying her in Erin Brockovich. That must have really hurt.

Surely, amidst all the tears and laughter and congratulations thrown around the auditorium, there was something forgotten, when the inspirational figures whose lives were the fodder for Hollywood films are ignored.

Motherwell's "Elegy to the Spanish Republic" at Phila Museum of Art

If you go to art museums, you surely know this is one of Robert Motherwell's over 200 versions of Elegy to the Spanish Republic. This one was painted in 1958-60 and is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I saw this one again recently, and I have seen many similar versions in many other museums.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Fangs in school

On my other blog (fangplace.blogspot.com), I discussed whether a boy should be expelled from school because of acne ... no, not that, heck, if acne was a reason to keep kids out of schools, they'd be empty.

What I meant to say, was if he got caught at school with a penknife.

Anyway, this touched on something from my upcoming book, Fang Face, where school authorities discuss banning a teenage girl from school just because of a little blood problem.

No, not anemia.

Her problem is that she likes blood. To drink. This isn't all of an uncommon feeling among her kind, seeing as she's in the process of being turned into a vampire.

But she isn't yet fully a vampire, and frankly, the law requires she attend school.

This was a fun thing to research. I called an administrator at the local high school, and asked her how a school might respond to something like this, and her answers surprised me.

I want to throw it out to y'all. How do you think a school should respond if it were asked to let a vampire attend classes with the other kids? And how might you respond if your child were in the same school?

The floor's open...

Norm

www.fangface.homestead.com
www.fangplace.blogspot.com

Oscars

Today I watched the Oscars with host Hugh Jackman. First of all Hugh Jackman was great he was funny and charming and is such a great singer and dancer. They also did several different ways to present the awards that I really liked. For the four actors awards they brought out five previous winners to say something nice about each nominated actor. I really liked this. They also handed out awards like doing a movie. Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. All in all it was a fun show.

Lost Marathon

Today Harry and I finally sat down and forced ourselves to watch Lost. We haven't watched a single episode since it came back this year. We had six hours of unwatched Lost to catch up on. We kept putting it off because Lost is one of those shows that you really need to pay attention to and most of the time when we watch TV it's at the end of the day and were tired but I have been trying to avoid spoilers the past month and knew I wouldn't be able to stay spoiler free for long plus I was really missing it. So we sat down early today and started with the two hour premiere then took an hour break, got some stuff done and watch another few hours, break, and finale watched the last two hours. OMG it was so great having six hours to watch because we didn't have to wait each week for a new one, but when we got to our last episode we were on the edge of our seat and once again are will have to wait a week for another new Lost.

Bye King Street Blues, Hello Velocity Five Sports Restaurant & Bar

We weren't exactly fans of King Street Blues (read: it's greasy and mediocre at best), so it's sort of exciting that a new sports bar is opening.

Velocity Five (VV--they play on the Roman numeral...) should do well in that awkward spot by the Metro, especially considering that Ray's is it's new neighbor. Much like Guajillo and the Italian place down in the old Ray's strip mall, VV should at least get some of the people who are starving, didn't "call ahead" as per the new policy, and cannot wait 2 hours for steak.

The homepage looks more like ESPN than a restaurant, and the menu is full of wings, but maybe it'll be a little interesting. I'm unclear about why they have a sushi menu, but if they say it's the most exciting sports restaurant of the millennium then I'll at least try it. We'll see what their happy hour specials are--it's nearly impossible to get a cheap beer around here. $3.50 is NOT a special, people.

Velocity Five Sports Restaurant & Bar
Coming soon to 2300 Clarendon Boulevard
Metro: Orange Line to Court House

On the Road

Sunday today, and my grandson is going to have his birthday party although his birthday is still 4 days away. He will be 7 on Thursday.

The plan was to have the party outside where they could play and have a fire to cook sausages for hotdogs. But this morning we awoke to more snow and where there was a little bit of thawing, the world is now black and white again. And the snowflakes are swirling down. So no snowball fights, no building of snowmen, just indoor games.

During last weekend we went down to Stockholm and visited, yes, wait for it

As a South African, Ikea is a whole new world to us. There are no stores quite like it. And quite frankly, it's a whole lot warmer in a building than it is outside.

We also took a drive through to Uppsala, the university town which was founded in 1477.(the University, that is). The Swedish Institute of Space Physics is also there as is the Astronomical Observatory. All very high tech! It was also the main pagan centre in Sweden. I took some photos on the way there and from the blurry images and my memory, came up with this drawing.

It's Tax Time

Tonight I have an appointment to met my Tax guy Mike to do my 2008 taxes. I found Mike seven or eight years ago through my friend Renee. Mike is one of the nicest and funniest guys. He doesn't act like your typical stuffy accountant. He is super popular (because he is good) and every year I have to book an appointment with him earlier and earlier (now booking at the beginning of November). What is great about Mike is he explains everything in simple terms. I understand everything he is saying. Today I found out he is a geek also, he loves Star Trek, Stargate and many more sci fi TV shows. So besides him doing my taxes, we got to have a really good chat about Trek.

BTW In 2008 I made the most I have every made which worried him a little bit as it pushed me into a different tax bracket.. but in the end I'm getting back a bit from Federal taxes and a little back from State (or an IOU). As long as I don't have to pay and I get enough back to cover his fees I'm happy. So it was another good Tax season for me.

Podcasts, Podcasts and More Podcasts

Today I recorded my Ready Room podcast with my friends Jen and Rick. It had been several weeks since we did a recording and it was a lot of fun getting back together, well at least via the internet. Jen lives in the Texas and Rick in Washington. Now I have to edit the podcast together for a Wednesday release.

Also today I edited our Knights of the Guild Microcast #1 Quest for the Finale. I hope to release that early this week.

Sportsmanship

I’m sitting in the stands at my son’s baseball practice right now. The coach just gave them the rules—not suggestions; not what he would like them to do, but what he demands they do—regarding sportsmanship. He just looked to the stands to tell us, the parents, the rules apply to us too. If we want to be present to watch our kid slam one over the fence, we have obey the rules of good behavior.

I’m pretty happy about that.

This week two basketball games in two different states have shown all of us the polar opposite sides of sportsmanship. In Mississippi in a not-so-friendly rivalry, the score got one-sided. The losing team began intentionally fouling to stop the other team’s drives to the basket. After one foul, two players began fighting. The benches cleared and before long, the fight spread to the fans—parents and other students—in the stands. When it was over, 12 people had been arrested, another dozen or so treated for injuries.

I sometimes see things in shades of black or white rather than grey. This is one. The high school athletics officials in Mississippi should suspend both programs for a year. Not fair to the players who didn’t start it? Too severe for those guys—who may not get to college otherwise—hoping to win a coveted full-ride athletic scholarship? Too bad. Fights like this don’t just pop out of nowhere. They’re bred from a culture of slack discipline.

Now to the other game. Dekalb, Ill. High School went on the road to play Milwaukee Madison. They, too, are rivals. Three hours before the game, the Milwaukee team surrounded their teammate, Johntel Franklin, as he stood in his mother’s hospital room as she lay dying. Her cancer had returned full force and the family decided to take her off life support. Johntel’s coach offered to cancel the game, but he said no. He told his coach and his team to go win it for him and for his mother.

The game started an hour late. Just as the 2nd quarter started, Johntel walked into the gym. His coach called a time out and told him to come sit on the bench with his team. He asked the coach if he could dress out and play. Illinois state athletic rules say if a player in not on the roster at the beginning of the game, the team has to take a technical foul, giving the opposing team two free foul shots.

The Dekalb coach, knowing Johntel’s mother just died argued with the referees for a full ten minutes, saying he didn’t want the points and asking them to just let Johntel play. The referees refused. Dekalb had to take the free throws, so the coach asked for a volunteer. The team captain raised his hand. The coach whispered something to him and he trotted to the foul line.

He bouced the ball, spun it in his hand and did what his coach told him to do—he threw the ball about two feet and let it dribble away. The second shot barely left his hand. The playing field level again, the teams resumed play. Johntel scored ten points—for his mom—and Dekalb, the team that gave up two gimme points, lost what turned out to be a very close game.

Sometimes winning is not measured by points on the scoreboard. It is definitely not determined by who gets the last punch in at a basketball game. Sportsmanship is high class. You don’t need to look any further than Dekalb High School to see that.

"Black Fire I" by Barnett Newman at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

All right, this blog is called "Contemporary Art Revealed," and I have posted about Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and Modern paintings over the past 10 days. So here's something from 1961, Black Fire I by Barnett Newman. Newman was known for his vertical stripes he called "zips" and for his large vertical blocks of color (often black). This painting is usually on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where I saw it again a week ago.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

The wall label at PMA describes the painting as follows: "Black Fire I conveys a dark grandeur through simple means: the tensions between edge and field, opacity and transparency, order and spontaneity, black pigment and raw textured canvas." Wow. Sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words.

Inpromt to Podcast

Tonight Jenni came over to my place around 10pm to record a special microcast podcast for our Knights of the Guild podcast. It was a lot of fun.

Negative Comments

Well I knew it was bound to happen as you can't please everyone but it still doesn't take away the sting of reading our first negative comment about Knights of the Guild #1 podcast. I was checking out twitter and noticed this person has posted this. "I love The Guild, but I'm not gonna lie. I found Knights of the Guild episode 1 to be slightly boring." I know it's not a horrible review but it still stings. But like my friend Sean said.. now you got your first negative comment over with the rest will be easier. And I'm sure they will but.. it was just tough after reading all the great things folks have said about KOTG #1 to hear that one person thought it was boring. Oh well everyone has their opinions.

Lunch with Christopher

Today I got to have lunch with my buddy Christopher. He was my best man at my wedding and I haven't seen him since my birthday in September. He's a super busy guy at Disney and we never seem to be off at the same time. Well today we finally decided that we would do lunch and met at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. It was great catching up on each other's lives.. at least as much as you can in an hour. We say the same thing everytime we seperate.. let's not wait months to do this again and of course it's always months before we see each other again. I guess it's just the way it is at the moment, but when we do get together it's like no time has passed at all and that's one thing I love about Christopher, even though we don't see each other as much as we both would like we've still the best of friends.

Mary Cassat at Philadelphia Museum of Art

On my visit a week ago to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I again saw one of my favorite Impressionist paintings owned by the Museum. It has been off display for a while, and now it is back. The painting is Mary Cassatt's portrait of her sister Lydia at the Paris Opera House in front of a mirror which reflects the interior of the Opera House. It was painted in 1879 and is titled Woman With A Pearl Necklace in a Loge. It is bright, lively, and when you see it in person it's like you are there enjoying the opera scene with her.

Mary Cassatt was born in the Philadelphia area, and moved to Paris after art school at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in order to further her art career.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Bat Room Color Dark Orance

The betrayal

A mention the word TREASON l can not isolate the emotional blow that the word carries per se ... we've all heard of betrayals, betrayed many of us have is that there are different types of treachery, from treason to ourselves and our ideals to treason, treason who believed in us and that is to be betrayal is inevitable that he should have confidence ... that confidence allows you to close your eyes and throw you back knowing that the person in whom you trust to hold.

pain of betrayal, there are some that only uncomfortable but heartbreaking betrayals that saw shattered a relationship, a feeling, a series of moments that we felt genuine ... and we all have right to make mistakes, we have the right to decide whom to trust and do expect to receive the same, trust and mutual respect ... but there is treachery to the missing words.

There are people in which we place full trust, a lifetime of honest and sincere friendship, all faiths and experiences and, over time, without even showing signs of it wielding the weapon that hurts us, the betrayal.

confidence in the world we inhabit is a gift, a gift rarely given. Most of us young adults, have friends from all circles of life, rarely is there new friends why? because in those circles of life we \u200b\u200bknow that we are sure that we are supported and protected, we know we can find approaches to situations that do not understand and can find support when things go wrong and sincere hugs when things go wrong.

Unfortunately even in those circles, so sure, as sincere can be someone or something that breaks the harmony and remove the worst and lowest quality of a human, hurt his brother, his friend, to those who supported him when the worst happened ... and the reasons could be many, when we talk about feelings is common to say "just happened, nobody planned it" but even that excuse is absurd because there is a second, a fucking second that you can decide whether or not to fall in love, to hurt your brother or friend or not.

... but humans are specialists in finding excuses to find justification for hurting others, finding grounds to minimize the impact of our actions "and I did what I did because you ..." but the fact is simple, a betrayal of a friend, a couple who put our soul, the betrayal of a brother even breaks my heart. Why? they are the ones to whom we entrust the deepest secrets, who opened his soul and those who take refuge when the world seems to fall, because they are who put them in dreams and in many cases we put our plan of life here, hoping ever be injured by them ... those are the betrayals that left indelible wounds and in many cases incurable.

only hope that the time to do its part, lift your head and look at the sky ... welcome the opportunity to see who really are people around us. No words can make you feel better who was betrayed, there is enough hugs ... is empathy with the situation and full support. Of the others the same universe will ... some people can stoop so low that in the same mud are comfortable and do not deserve even a thought of us ... and its lack is so pesonal, his personal emptiness that seems to need to hurt others to feel less miserable.

Dewey Readmore Books - One Special Cat

Must admit...I’m a dog person. But one special yellow cat stole my heart.

Dewey Readmore Books was the resident cat at Spencer Public Library, Spencer Iowa after a heartless soul dropped him into the library book return one cold January night in 1988. Library director, Vicki Myron, a single mother also in a struggle to get back on her feet after a series of tragedies, found him the next morning, hoarse from crying and suffering from frostbite.

He stole the hearts of the staff when, despite his discomfort, nudged each one of them in a gesture of thanks. Their decision to adopt him was rewarded by 19 years of loyalty. A contest was held to pick a name, and Dewey (named after Melvil Dewey of Dewey Decimal System fame) Readmore Books was officially added to the staff.

Patrons and friends donated pop cans and money, from as far away as New York, to pay for Dewey's food. Don’t get me wrong. Dewey was no charity case. As an official library staff member, he had his own job description.

Now, Vicki Myron has put Dewey's story in print. To "readmore" about this special cat, click on Amazon.


Or visit: Spencer Public Library

Mary Cunningham
Quake
Cynthia's Attic Blog

Sweet Charity

"Outrageous" repeats Clever Lawyer, her wedding-ring flashing in the sun as she flicked her chocolate locks out of her face. "Just outrageous. It was my word of the day."

"So what did they say?"

"They told me that, if that was my attitude, I shouldn't bother coming to the next meeting." Her face hints at the world of frustration she is feeling. At the moment, my friend Clever Lawyer is in a world of shit at her high-end law firm. And it all comes down to the question of charity. HighEnd LawFirm is having a charity gig, and has appointed a committee to allocate the funds to deserving recipients. There are so many of these out there that several long meetings have been neccessary in order to whittle down the list to something manageable. For the most part, the committee agreed on the merits of charities coming their way - until this one.

"It was a charity that organises wheelchair sports", says Clever Lawyer, "and I didn't have a problem until I read what $50 will buy."

Fifty dollars, it turns out, will buy one player, from one team, bottled water for an entire sporting season. This is where Clever Lawyer got her back up. In front of her were brochures from charities that feed the starving, house the homeless, provide basic medical supplies for women giving birth in villages without running water. Here were horrible diseases that needed a cure, here were political prisoners being tortured and disappeared. And here were a bunch of people who needed bottled water in order to play sport ?

In a fatigued aside, Clever Lawyer sarcastically mutters, "And it's not as though bottled water is one of the biggest rorts of our time, is it?" She has a point - we are lucky enough to live in a place where potable water comes out of the tap, with the added bonus that it is cheap and doesn't hamper the world with yet another disposable plastic bottle. Clever Lawyer asks the charity committee if it wouldn't perhaps be reasonable for sports players to refill drink bottles from the tap, rather than drinking $50 worth of charity-funded bottled water in a season.

Deadly silence descends. One committee member, high on her own self-righteousness, asks:

"So - because they're disabled, they don't deserve bottled water?"

Clever Lawyer, a handful of charity fliers in each hand, desperately tries to explain that she thinks they could find a charity with a more pressing need for the money. Maybe it's her use of the word "outrageous" - or maybe not, but she is shot down from every angle. Political correctness reigns supreme, and she leaves the meeting feeling demoralised, her head pounding from the lashings of political correctness which doesn't allow her to admit that feeding a famine victim, providing childhood vaccinations, housing a homeless person or saving an endangered species is more important than supporting sporting endeavours (complete with bottled water) for a group of wheelchair-bound Australians who, despite their disabilites, have homes to go to, food to eat, clean water to drink, and healthcare provided by the state.

Now, neither she, I, or anyone else I know would claim that disabled athletes don't deserve support. Their experiences of marginalisation from society are probably at least as painful as the conditions which rendered them disabled, and any scheme which assists them to participate in a team sport is laudable. But it's a question of priorities. Charity funds are finite, and the fact remains that they are urgently required for more pressing problems both here and overseas. All the politically-correct posturing in the world won't change the fact that spending $50 on bottled water for one player, in one team, during one season, is money that is, quite literally, being pissed away for no actual benefit.

And, in answer to Clever Lawyer's query - $50 constitutes about one-twentieth of the money required to dig a well in a developing country, supplying an entire village with clean water. Stack that up against 20 team-sports players drinking expensive water that they could get for free out of a tap, and the contrast is exactly what Clever Lawyer dubbed it: outrageous.

Are some charities more deserving than others?
Do you think it is in bad-taste to spend charity funds on bottled water for sport?
What is the best/worst use of charitable funds you know of?

Matisse "The Moorish Screen"

Henri Matisse painted The Moorish Screen in 1921. It shows his daughter Marguerite and his then-favorite model Henriette Darricarre in an interior of incredibly rich carpets and wall coverings and the titular Moorish screen. Although I have seen this on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it is now on display in the Museum's Perelman Building as part of the exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera."

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Challenged

Pam's terrific post on Huck Finn got me thinking. I'll bet there are many other challenged books that would surprise people. It's not just small towns from a decade ago doing the banning, either, as in the movie Footloose (Does anyone still know that movie?) - I get several challenges each year on materials for teens in the library. While I do respond in a nice way to patrons who complain, I have not yet removed an item, and am lucky to have support in that decision from my director. But - lots of school and public library folks lose their jobs over this kind of thing - even today!

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes a list each year of the most challenged books from the year before, and the reasons the books are challenged. Here's the most recent one - how many have you read?

The 10 most challenged books of 2007 (ranked in order) reflect a range of themes, and are:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence
3. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language
4. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman Reasons: Religious Viewpoint
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain Reasons: Racism
6. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
7. TTYL, by Lauren Myracle Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou Reasons: Sexually Explicit
9. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit
10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

There's Huck Finn at #5! This is the first year in a while that Harry Potter has not made the list, and I think Golden Compass took its place with the popularity of the movie. I'd be surprised if Twilight did not make the list for 2008. I've found that tell folks a book is challenged only makes people want to read it more!

-Amy Alessio

Editor, Missing: A Mysterious Gathering of Tales (Echelon Press, 2008)

Knights of the Guild Episode One

We just hit 1500 listeners to Knights of the Guild Episode 1 in less in then four days.. How cool is that. It's so strange to know that fifteen hundred people have listened to Jenni and I talk about our love for The Guild webseries. Now the real test will they come back again for episode two??

Matisse "Still Life on a Table" at Perelman Bldg of Phila Museum of Art

The second of the two Henri Matisse still life paintings I referred to yesterday is Still Life on a Table painted in 1925, the year after the painting featured yesterday. This painting, not usually on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is currently on view at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera." You can see many similarities between this painting and the one featured yesterday.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Taverna Cretekou

When A asked me a month and a half in advance if I was free for dinner, I figured sure! Why not! Greek food, Old Town, all the good stuff.

Taverna Cretekou is right in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria--a lovely place that just doesn't have rent cheap enough to lure me that far from D.C. proper.

We started with an assortment of appetizers--spanikopita, hummus, tzatziki, and some grape leaves.

I got the Glossa Aegeou, flounder stuffed with spinach, feta, and pine nuts in a lemon and white wine sauce. The fish was fishy, which was weird for a mild white fish like flounder. The spinach/cheese delish tasted like it walked right out of an Eggs Florentine situation, but the floppy fish left much to be desired in texture, unfortunately.

My pals dug the Garides Cretekou, a casserole of prawns with tomato, garlic, and feta. A couple weeks later, B went back with her pops and he loooved the Arnaki Kikladitiko--braised lamb with black olives, red wine, and both (!) fresh AND sun-dried tomatoes.

My pals love this place, so I think I'll go back and get the Kotopoulo Lemonato--basically herb-y lemon-y chicken deliciousness (at least it sounds like it). The service is very friendly, the house white wine was yum, and we had a lovely time. I just picked the wrong thing, I think.

Taverna Cretekou
818 King Street
Alexandria, VA
Metro: Blue or Yellow Line to King Street

February 18: Still Newsworthy, Huck Finn Turns 125

by Pam Ripling


Raise your hand if you’ve read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain [pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens](1835-1910). If so, did you read it on your own, or was it assigned reading? What did you think about it at the time you read it? Has your opinion changed now that (if) you are older?

I ask these questions because while on the surface, this “classic” appears to be about a boy’s adventures on a river raft with an escaped slave, there are some very deep concepts between the pages of Twain’s sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. And while the escapades are wildly different than those of today’s youth, the protagonist’s underlying goals are the same: freedom and adventure.

Can you imagine being kidnapped by your own drunken father, whose intention is to steal money from you? No wonder Huck fakes his own death, steals a canoe and shoves off down the Mississippi River, content to go where the water takes him. When he comes across Jim, a runaway slave, they become natural traveling companions, each seeking a personal freedom as they traverse the river together.

The book was and still is considered nothing if not controversial. Many libraries banned the book, citing young Huck as sacrilegious, immoral, and his stories inappropriate for children. While some consider the story to be a satirical, powerful attack on racism, others claim its intent was inherently racist. Twain’s liberal use of the “n” word still shocks readers who may not realize the moniker was common language in the 1840’s, and the work would likely be deemed unrealistic without its use.

It might surprise you to learn that as recent as 1998, an Arizona high school parent sued a school district for mandating the reading of Huck Finn, asserting that the book exacerbated existing racial tensions between students.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1884, in England, and in 1885 in the U.S. One-hundred twenty-five years later, the debate, and the book’s reputation as a “classic”, still stirs controversy. One might well wonder if Twain really intended to evoke emotion with a strong statement about the human condition, or if he was just writing an adventure story about a boy, his friend and their travels down the Mississip. What do you think?

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at http://www.beaconstreetbooks.com/.

The Guild Cast Live Web Chat

Today the finale of the Guild season two is up on MSN Video http://tinyurl.com/bblnes
Look for the guy in the blue and white checkered shirt who is videotaping the fights.. that's me.

Also the Behind the Scenes Video that I cut a few months back was finally put up on MSN Video you can see it here. http://tinyurl.com/b2lwy9

And tonight the Cast and Director of The Guild did a live web chat on Ustream. Felicia asked if I would be a moderator. It was crazy, hundreds of people all chatting at once. Of course we had our trolls who where there just to make trouble. I had to ban about 15 people but it was a lot of fun. The picture above is a screen grab.

Matisse "Still Life" at Perelman Bldg Phila Museum of Art

Two Henri Matisse still life paintings that are not usually on display are now on display at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This one was painted in 1924 and is titled Still Life. You can see Matisse really loved his textiles.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Closet Classics Complainer

“A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”

This quote really spoke to me. I’ve read Bronte, Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and Poe and all the literary giants responsible for what we call “The Classics.” The stories were great, very ingenious and wonderfully fraught with high emotions and deep meaning.

Yet, to be honest, the writing bored me to tears. Yes, I know that this is something a writer should never admit to. I know that it’s important to support the best in literature and ensure that each generation, upon each generation, continue to value these masterful works. But honestly? I skimmed some of the more ‘descriptive’ passages to get to the story itself.

Think about it. It’s few and far between that you hear readers say that one of the classics is their favorite book. Ask them, and right now they’d say, “Twilight, hands down.” Or maybe, “Harry Potter still rocks!” A few years ago, it might have been, “The Lovely Bones” or “The Secret Life of Bees” or maybe “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

Yet when they talk about the classics, they talk about it in terms of authors, “My favorite Jane Austen is Emma.” Or maybe, “I absolutely adore Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.” The underlying message to me says they respect and admire these authors, but of the lot to choose from, those were the best of the bunch—not necessarily a completely favorite book.

Now before someone comes in and says this is completely false because they know so-and-so who is a genuine classic fan, or they profess to be one themselves, let me just be clear right off the bat that I know these folks do exist and I say, more power to them!

I, however, fall more into that category about everyone wanting to say they’ve read the classics, but would rather not read them. I want the action and the romance, the supernatural and paranormal, the horror and the comedy, and I want it in modern language that doesn’t leave me feeling like I spent six hours translating after two hours of reading.

What about you? Are you a Closet Classics Complainer? Or do you count one of the classics as your absolute all-time favorite novel ever?

Warmly,
Jenny:)


J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Knights of the Guild Podcast

Our podcast Knights of the Guild http://knightsoftheguild.podbean.com has been out for two days, I think you can say it has been an success. We've had 780 listeners for the promo and 1295 listeners for Episode 1 for a total of 2075 listeners in the past two days. Our site has been up for about two weeks and we have had 3307 visitors and it's still growing every hour.

It's great having a built in fan base and from the reaction of our first podcast they seem to be liking what we are doing.

Now it's time to plan out podcast #2

Matisse "Head of a Woman"

Matisse used models extensively and frequently painted figures. This Henri Matisse painting from 1917, Head of a Woman, is somewhat unusual in that it includes only the head. This is one of the Matisse paintings owned by but not usually not on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and now on view in the Perelman Building exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera."

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

The Rihanna Factor

If you weren’t camping out under a rock, I’m sure you heard about the Rihanna/Chris Brown story last week, the one where he beat her to a bloody pulp in his rental car. I bring this up because it highlights a very important issue. Rihanna is rich, famous and beautiful, but it didn’t protect her from domestic violence.

I know when I think of domestic violence, I always think of older, married women. But the demographic most vulnerable to domestic violence is actually young women age 16 to 24. Statistics say that one in four high school relationships is physically or sexually violent.

The only bright spot here is that there are warning signs. Excessive jealousy, which many teens see as a sign of devotion, is one, characterized by things such as controlling what their partner wears and does and who they see. Sometimes this is as far as it goes, but more often than not, it escalates to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

If you’re a teenager, right now you’re creating the habits you’ll follow for the rest of your life, which is why everyone’s on you not to smoke or do drugs. This is another one of those habits. If you let a significant other control you or abuse you now, chances are you’ll be allowing it for the rest of your life. So please, please, if what I just described sounds like your boyfriend or girlfriend, end it now before it's too late. And don't do it alone; get some help. If he or she becomes threatening, you might even have to get a PFA (Protection From Abuse, or a restraining order). Sounds melodramatic, I know, but so is getting hospitalized with a busted-up kidney or something worse.

And if someone you know is dating someone who acts overly jealous or controlling, or if you think your friend is getting physically hurt, do something. Talk to your parents or theirs, or a guidance counselor. Yeah, this is going to involve some betrayals of confidence, and your friend will probably freak. But this is one of those situations where freak-outs are kind of necessary. And would you rather have a friend who’s a statistic or a survivor?

Find Jacquelyn Sylvan's book, Surviving Serendipity, at Amazon or Quake Direct!

Guild Cast Interviews

Today I was finally able to do the cast interviews of The Guild for the Second season DVD specials that I plan on doing. These were suppose to be done in January but everyone was busy and we weren't able to get to them until today.

Today I got to interview Sandeep (Zaboo), Robin (Clara), Jeff (Vork), Vince (Bladezz), Tara (Dena), Amy (Tink), Fernando (Wade), Felicia (Codex) and Michele (Riley). It was a long eight hour day but it's always fun hanging out at Felicia's house (where we did the interviews). Now with those done I can get started on editing the DVD specials.