Driving Me Crazy.....

Sorry Gang, I've been in and out so much visiting schools, I let this get past me. I think my schedule is driving me crazy. Starting today, I'm slowing down.
I started driving at 16 in my brother's old stick-shift jalopy. Although we had some good times piling teenagers into the homemade convertible, we probably took way too many risks.
My first real car came with my first teaching job. It was a 1965 Volkswagen beetle, dark green. It cost $1,800. brand new. We drove it as a second car for years.
I'm driving my third white Dodge caravan. Love it. Love the space, the high seat. My vanity plate says, "Whodunit" in honor of my mystery series.
I know I must trade one day for something greener, but not yet. Thought you might like this picture of my grands driving across my driveway.

The Guild BTS Specials

There are two new Guild specials up on MSN Video.

First one is Meet the Characters where the cast talks about their character and how they interact with the other characters. http://bit.ly/xEiGZ

Second one is Meet the Extras and that's the one I shot, produced and edited. I talk with several of the extras during the four day shoot for episodes 9, 10, 11 and 12. http://bit.ly/PdBSR

A little taste as to what will be on the DVD in May.

Dino

I recently went to Dino with a group of TWELVE. After seeing the information on the web site about the various minimums imposed for private parties (requires a non-OpenTable dealing for parties of 11+), I thought--you know? Dino is a good, reasonable place. I'm going to get in touch and see if that minimum ($700 I think) reaaaally applies (maybe they are just kidding?). Dean Gold got back to me super quickly and said I should give him a call--we could order off the menu with no minimum at a semi-open kitchen table so long as we (with a 6pm reservation) are out by 8ish for the next group coming in. Subject to a cancellation fee, but we're planning on showing up in full family force.



Not everybody loved Dino. The naysayers said that the pasta dishes were too rich and heavy, and I think the menu was intimidating to some because it's not the standard Italian joint they are used to. Some of us were getting ready for the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, so--carbs, right? I forgot that L would likely want to avoid something too heavy and cheesy, so she decided to forgo the pasta for the rotisserie half chicken. She said it was kind of bland--I didn't taste it myself.

Maybe I'm just easy to please (feel free to invite me over to try your cooking--it's a confidence booster). I LOVED my risotto primavera with morels and ramps (onion/leek-like vegetable), and swooned over Mom's lasagna. Father and son got the Tuscan bread soup, and when I asked them what had been in their now-empty bowls, they said "really good soup." The teenager got "fish" that was "good." When I asked her what made it good ("The sauce?" I prompted. "Sides?") she said "it just was." J liked his halibut with baby bok choy, and the roasted red pepper sauce on the plate (which was orange!) was delish.

A said the golden tilefish was "small but good."



In a large group it seems like most people don't love their food, and it's not because the food isn't great, or even good. It's because it's hard to please 12 people, aged 14-82. And everyone is somewhat stressed from traveling, worrying about everyone else (is there anything for Grandma to eat? What time is it? When do we have to be at the next place?), and it's not the leisurely, wine-laden situation that J and I had at our first visit to Dino last year.

Dino
3435 Connecticut Ave NW
Metro: Red Line to Cleveland Park

The Sad Stories of Hoover and Lotto

Ten years ago, a young man of my acquaintance made an interesting decision. Well, two interesting decisions. The first was to experimentally apply a vacuum cleaner for the purposes of sexual release. The second was to tell all his high school buddies about it.

It must have come as a big surprise to this young man that his friends didn't think his idea to be as clever and revolutionary as he did. Rather than congratulating his creativity, they merely pissed themselves laughing, dubbed him "Hoover", and continued to call him that until the end of high school.

My Very Clever Polyamorous Friend notes a similar situation which arose in his single-sex boarding school. Apparently a young man was overheard telling an unknown party on his mobile phone that; "I've had a look around, and I'm pretty sure I've got the biggest one in year 9". The unfortunate youth was evermore known as "Lotto" (The Big One).

High school was riddled with bizarre and cruel nomenclature, which prompts me to wonder; what would you do if the world at large knew your high school nickname? Could Hoover, an attorney nowadays, still hold up his head at the office if his colleagues knew?

Here are a few other examples which might be difficult to explain:

- Clever Sister's friend "Babs" (thus named for looking "like he works in a kebab shop")

- Clever Bitch's ex-boyfriend "Scrotum" (so named, ironically, by a peer support leader who looked down on the shivering year 7 and guffawed; "Hey, this kid looks like a scrotum!").

- Clever Bitch's friend "Bald Eagle" (a word to the wise - never let your friends see your junk until there's some grass on the pitch).

Luckily, Babs had a shave and Eagle grew some pubes. Scrotum still looks a little like one, but is a financial adviser nowadays. Still, I wonder if any of them live in vague unrest, fearing the day that someone finds out their high-school nicknames. Those things stuck for five years - if you let them back in now, they could be for life.

What are the worst nicknames you recall from your high school?

Baby You Can Drive My Car

by Pam Ripling

My first car: Of course, it was older than dirt, older than me, older than the universe.

Have fun with me as I reminisce about my history of driving.

Ah... the 1963 Oldsmobile F-85, forerunner of the popular Olds Cutlass that debuted the following year. Mine got me to school and back, cracked block and all. Four doors, bench seats... I hated my parents. HATED them! The most uncoolest car in the lot.


The Ghia. My beach car. Wrecked it twice before selling it to my boyfriend, who wrecked it again. Great car, bad karma.

Did you know the trunk was in the front? 1969 VW Karmann Ghia. RIP.






Funny thing about driving a BMW. People flip you off for no reason. I wrecked this car, too. Ran over a median curb. Hard enough to set off the airbags. My bad.

We called this '02 530i a "Friday car", because it had so many defects--myth is that Friday afternoon workers are tired and want to go home. 'Nuff said. But it drove like a dream.



I know, I know. I never should have gotten rid of this one. Can you spell C L A S S I C? The 1966 Ford Mustang is still a hot selling car today.

Now this one, my boyfriend wrecked and we then painted it orange. Bad idea. You've heard of orange peel-textured paint? This one was the worst ever.



We called it the "kidney-shaker". Give you a clue? I learned to drive a stick-shift in this monster. Great for off-roading, not the most comfortable vehicle around town.

If you ever get offered a ride in the back, turn it down. Trust me. Take note: 1972 Toyota LandCruiser.





Now this is a car. My beloved '91 Miata. Drove it all the way to Las Vegas and back, alone. Sunburned the heck out of my head. Was worth every mile. Once crammed three kids in it -- please don't tell their parents. I still miss this gem.

Note: Not good when vs. Escalade on freeway.


1973. VW "181" Thing.

Top down, barreling down the I5 into Mexico with my 2 BFF's. Broke down only twice.

How did we live to tell? We called it the square rolling lemon. Wonder why?


Okay, now you know my life in cars. But here's the catch. One of these is a blatant, all out lie. Can you spot the fraud?

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 www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Getting No Sleep

Well last night I went to bed around 1am, well that is when I actually got into bed, but our neighbor dog was barking and for some reason he loves to bark right outside our bedroom window. He/she is some sort of pitbull mix so the bark is loud. The barking started about Midnight and continued non-stop until 4:30am when I finally was able to fall asleep.

As those of you who know me I am a huge animal lover but around 2:30am I was ready to kill that dog, or at least turn the hose on it. This dog barked constantly, I'm not kidding.. non-stop for hours by the time 4am came around the dog was losing it's bark.

We have a fan in our bedroom and I turned it on full blast to drown out the bark but that kind of worked and I was finally about to dose off.. I don't know when he stopped but when I got up at 7:30am he wasn't barking.

I don't blame the dog, these neighbors are horrible to it. They use to have two dogs and then they had puppies. But now they seem to have just this one dog now. They never take it out for walks or give it any kind of attention and when it's raining you can hear it whimpering in the backyard and it breaks your heart. This dog barks all the time and had a barking spree a few months back but only lasted a few hours.. this time it over over 3 1/2 hours. Though I know it's not the dogs fault all my rage last night was toward this poor puppy.

"Followers"

V asked me why I don't have any followers. I told him that I have three, but I thought adding the gadget was sort of weird because I only have three "followers," but I definitely have more readers. At least 4 or 5.

Apparently he thinks the gadget is useful. Here it is. On the left. Follow if you'd like. You're all leaders in my book!

Lessons in Life and Driving

You know that poster about everything we need to know about life we learned in Kindergarten? Let's see if it applies to driving...

Don't hit people, keep your hands to yourself.
Oh, I think this is a match. Even though they say 'keep your hands on the wheel' in driver's ed, they also tell you not to mess with the driver lest the car become a weapon of mass destruction.

Watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Well, I know from being both a kid and a mom that Moms will do the arm bar thing for whoever or whatever is in the passenger seat (even if it's just her purse) if something happens on the road, so I'll count this one too.

In Kindergarten you learned the biggest word of all: 'LOOK'
This definitely applies, though often while driving it becomes 'LOOK OUT'...for the squirrel, bicycle, or (ahem) the Kindergartner.

Congratulations! You can rest easy knowing you've actually been learning to drive since Kindergarten!

Regan
Accomplished driver and author of the Hobbitville saga and the Shadows of Justice series available at Quake and Echelon Press

10,000 Downloads

Knights of the Guild podcast which I started three months ago has just hit 10,000 downloads. It's amazing on how many people listen and continue to listen to our podcast. We actually have fans which is so weird and what is even weirder is they can't wait to meet us down in San Diego for Comic Con this year.

I just want to thank all those who listen and enjoy Knights of the Guild.. Jenni (my co-host) and I are just fans who happen to work on the second season of The Guild and want to share our experience with other fans.

The Guild fan community is so wonderful.. ::cheers:: here's to many more podcasts and downloads.

Lost Dog Cafe

Dear Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar:

You are the sweetest, most lovely beer I've met in a while. I missed you during Passover!!!!

Love,

Me.

The world has many beers. Just look at the Brickskeller Beer List! And while I don't have some organized system where I try them all one-by-one, I try to vary what I order. So what I'm saying is, RHBN is my flavor of the month (or three).

Oh right! Lost Dog Cafe. This hoppin' neighborhood joint is full of pizza, beer, and 20-somethings. We didn't get carded, but a pair of girls next to us did--maybe they thought an underage couple wouldn't have the chutzpah to sit at the bar and order beer? Don't look for a beer list--just take a look at the shelves behind the wall, and choose quickly (because if you keep scanning and looking and reading, your eyes will get very tired).



J had Yogi the Lab's Pie without the red onions (so just barbecue chicken, green onions, and mozzarella) and it was tasty. I like their BBQ sauce, which is featured on many of the sandwiches available.

I had the Burro on K's recommendation. She loves it, but it wasn't for me. It was essentially (and tasted like) an okay-ish version of TJ's 5-layer dip (with beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole) and shredded lettuce on a flatbread. It didn't seem like dinner. I know now I would have been better off with something hot and cheesy, but I was in a weird mood that night. Any night where I can pass up a hot pizza with basil on it is definitely a weird night. Next time I want the Pedigree Pie, with garlic butter, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, spinach, parmesan, fontina, mozzarella cheese, and basil. YUMMMMM.



The Burro





Yogi the Lab Pie






Lost Dog Cafe
5876 N. Washington Blvd
Arlington, VA
Metro: More of a driving place, but not super far from East Falls Church Metro on the Orange Line

I Had A Fast Car...

Dear Diary,

Even though I’ve found happiness here (finally!), I can’t help but think of the world I came from. My friends, my family, my job…and there are so many simple things that I miss, like turning on the radio or the television any time you want to, taking a shower whenever you’re dirty, toothpaste, cell phones…you get the drift.
Out of all the things I had, though, I have to say the one I miss the most here is my car. It’s not that I had a tricked-out sports car or anything—it was a Subaru Outback sedan, kind of a maroon color, but I loved it.

I miss it for the obvious reason, of course—we’ve made most of this trip on either horseback or foot, except for the very memorable dragon ride—and that takes a toll, not to mention time. It’s become a fact of life now that, when I roll myself up in the blanket next to the fire at night, my back hurts, my legs and my feet ache, and I’m exhausted.

You don’t realize how much cars protect you, either, from the dust and pollen in the air, bugs flying in your face and down your shirt, and of course, from crazy alien guys attacking you with spears. I never thought about how safe being encased in that glass and steel capsule made me feel until I didn’t have it anymore.

But there’s the memories, too, and I think that bothers me more than anything. Memories of driving in the summer with Shannon and Ashleigh, all the windows down, singing to the radio at the top of our lungs, our hair whipping each other in the faces. And sitting in the parking lot of Rita’s with a strawberry ice, bare feet propped up on the open windowsill, talking and giggling and slurping Italian ice…having a car, and being in a car, kind of symbolizes being carefree to me now. And carefree is something I don’t know if I’ll ever be again.

--June

June is the heroine of Surviving Serendipity, by Jacquelyn Sylvan. Buy now at Amazon or Quake Direct!

The Next Day

Today Harry and I planned on driving around and looking about over 20 homes in the Van Nuys and Pasadena area. It's funny how one street can be beautiful and quiet and then the next street over is run down and old looking. We found about seven homes to look at in Van Nuys/Lake Balboa. We even found another really nice neighborhood over my the Van Nuys airport.. very excited about that because the houses were nice looking and it seems there were several in our price range.

Our trip to Pasadena wasn't so great. We had five homes to look at there and the first one was okay on an okay street. The part of Pasadena we were looking at is very old and the houses are very old. Most of the streets and houses were very "lived" in and I felt comfortable driving down some of them. So needless to say our experience in Pasadena, at least the area that we could afford was not a good one. We did find one home actually on Kenneth Way that was nice looking and the area looked okay but it was right next to the freeway.

So we emailed our Realtor Mary our finding and hopefully will be able to look at some of those house that we liked from the outside. And that ends day two of our house hunting. We were excited to find the two nice areas of Van Nuys and that gives up hope that we might be able to actually find a home that is nice looking and in a nice area.. keep your fingers crossed.

House Hunting : It Begins...

Well today we officially started our house hunting. We saw three houses with our Realtor Mary.

The first one was in Glendale, though the neighborhood was quiet, the area was a bit "lived" in and the house needed quite a bit of work, which would have been fine if the neighborhood was a bit nicer.

House number two was in Burbank and the neighborhood was much better, we actually really liked the place. The outside of the house needed a little work but the houses on both sides were so nice and you could tell their owners really took care of it. Well we went inside and I couldn't believe it. The layout was nice.. but you walk into the kitchen and there was so much water damage that the hardwood floor was bulking and breaking.. Mary warned me not to fall through the floor. We continued to walk through the house and though the set up was nice and the rooms were big there were holes in the ceiling, walls and floors. It was banked owned and they were asking $390,000 for it.. $390 for this place.. it was a total tear down and rebuild.

House number three was in Valley Glen/North Hollywood. This was our first house with actual
people living in it. It's very strange walking around a persons house while they are watching you. The house was nice on the outside and looked great on the inside. The neighborhood was okay to good but the only issue with this house it was a short sale. A short sale is a very complicated process where the bank has to agree upon the offer and price of the house. It can take months and the price can vary from what the realtor started it at... since this house was already at our maximum amount we decided to not even try.

So we didn't find our dream house, but we learned alot about what we want and what we absolutely don't want. I was a little discouraged as the market may be a bit soft now and a buyers market and we are willing to spend $400,000 but it's still not enough to get a decent house in a decent area.

After we did the three houses with Mary we decided to expand our number of cities that we were going to look in. We expanded our listing to include Van Nuys as there are some nice areas in Van Nuys.. we found about eight homes and printed out directions to each one and headed back out to look at the outside and neighborhood of these houses, if we found one that we liked we would let our Realtor know and she could schedule a viewing of the inside. So we drove around for about two hours and viewed many houses... one surprise was an area of Van Nuys called Lake Balboa. Many of the streets were tree lined and in really nice shape. There were a few houses in this area and it seemed the price was more in our range. So we sent three of these listings to our Realtor and hopefully will be able to take a look at the inside of this place next week.

All in all it was a very eye opening experience. Buying a house is suppose to be a fun and rewarding experience but so far it's frustrating, stressful and exhausting... and this is only the beginning. But in the end Harry and I will own our very own house.. and that is exciting.

Watercolor Memories

I don’t know how to begin….ah. Well, my name is Andy, Andy Riley actually and I’m a little nervous, never spoke to this many people before you know. I’m filling in for Martin Bartloff today who asked me to introduce myself to ya’ll and say a few things about fantasy and stuff.

I grew up in Virginia and lived there most of my life. At seventeen I moved in with my aunt in Baltimore. That wasn’t my idea and I didn’t want to, but my aunt made me. She threatened to call the police if I didn’t get on that train. I don't like her; she was very mean to me and treated me like a moron. I ran away after ten days of pure ugliness, got back on a train to Virginia. Not sure that was a good thing though. I made some bad decisions, but you can believe me, I’m not a bad kid!

Hey when I was nine I had a video game called Final Fantasy, does that count? No? Well the game sucked anyway and I joined a soccer team for a while to get out of the house. That reminds me. Have you ever been soaked in a rainstorm so bad, the wet clothes felt like you weigh three times as much as normal? I have!

Once I went on a long trip with my friend Jason and his parents, the Mitchell’s. We drove on the Interstate for hours. I was so bored and stared out the window the whole entire time when suddenly I found myself in a fantasy world. I was at this beach and there was a humongous waterfall crashing into the lake. There were great looking girls all over the place, a ten foot table with the finest foods imaginable. My dad waved at me from a balcony of a gigantic mansion and my mom was planting flowers in a garden as big as a parking lot. Great isn’t it? I think we were rich or something. I had my own yacht and the guys who used to bully me growing up were working for us as servants. They were preparing a bonfire for a huge party we were having that night.



Jason was there, fishing off a boat in the lake. He reeled in one catfish after another and they were all as big as sharks, just like he always said. It was a fantasy world with no worries. I leaned back in my beach chair, enjoying the great view, sipping ice tea. Then a female voice whispered softly through the sound of the waterfall. “You…strong... Andy.” I couldn’t understand what the voice said, so I leaned forward. The voice became louder, repeating the same over and over again. “You have to be strong now Andy.” The voice was my mom's. I turned to look and my mom was no longer in the garden anymore, and there was no garden, mansion, or yacht. Everything was gone, only Jason remained on the boat in the lake, trying desperately to get my attention.

“Andy wake up, wake up dude wake up!”

I was scared so I yelled for my mom and dad, but when I opened my eyes Jason was right in my face.

“Mom, dad? Dude it’s me Jason, are you in a coma or something?”

I thought I had dozed off in the car, but Jason said I was asleep for hours. His mom handed me a bottle of water from the cooler. I drank and closed my eyes again, trying to return to my fantasy world, and my mom and dad, but I realized the sound of the waterfall was fabricated by the worn door gaskets of the Mitchell's rusted car and that my parents had both died.


If you want to know more about me you’re gonna have to read Martin’s YA novel “Torn from Normal” aka “Like a Snowflake in Summer.” I’ll be here all day, answering any questions you might have. Ask me anything you like, I’ve lost everything, time I got plenty.

Andy Riley.

Martin Bartloff - Follow me on Twitter

http://martinbartloff.blogspot.com/

Follow Martin on Myspace

Fantasy has Wings!

Fantasy often brings to mind images of magic, wizards, mayhem, and dragons. I've loved hearing stories about dragons, both good and bad, since I first started reading fairytales. The great thing about these creatures is that they are so captivating that they have appeared in nearly every culture of the world since ancient times. Chinese, Japanese, even Native American cultures all had some sort of dragon- whether they breathed fire or not! Dragons may never have really walked the earth, but they are part of the world's history- and are a figurehead for fantasy.

My favorite fantasy books of all time have included a dragon (or other mystical winged creature) in some way, shape, or form. Eragon and the rest of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance books are probably the most well-known dragon novels right now. I have read and re-read every one, and Paolini makes Saphira and the other creatures so real, I can almost imagine flying with them through their travels.

Even the Harry Potter books featured dragons in The Goblet of Fire.

But I am a firm believer in a classic tale- and you can't get much more classic than J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit or Anne and Todd McCaffrey's the Dragon Riders of Pern. Tolkien's Smaug may have been the villain of The Hobbit, but he was the epitome of a gluttonous, winged jewel-thief.

The Pernese dragons are probably my ultimate favorites, though. While they aren't technically magical, they're genetically engineered, plus they have telepathic and teleportation abilities. Later in the series, the dragons even discovered that they had telekinesis! Anne McCaffrey's books cross the bridge between science-fiction and fantasy. The adventures that the dragons and their riders get into are amazing, making the Pern books an epic fantasy saga that is never to be forgotten.

So go out, grab a fantasy, and grow wings! You never know where your dragon will take you next!

Iris Black

Enter Sam's Space now!

Up Early

Well I got up at 6am this morning, I couldn't really sleep. I'm really excited to go out house hunting today. The past week I have been looking online for houses as well as having our Realtor send us listings and it's been some what discouraging. We really wanted to live in Burbank above Glen Oaks as we really liked the neighborhood. And even though home prices have come down they are still way over priced in SoCal. We can find plenty of listings in Van Nuys and North Hollywood but most of the areas we find houses in our price range are in a more "lived in" area. Some of the houses are gorgeous but because of the area we won't consider them.

Pasadena seems to have more houses in our price range and the lots of alot larger but the houses our 80 to 100+ years old. I know this being our first house, we will not get our "Dream" house but I would like something half way decent. I just have to keep telling myself that we need to find a great neighborhood and an okay house because we can always fix up the house.. fixing the neighborhood is a bit harder...

Well we are heading out in a few hours.. I'll let you all know how that goes.

House Hunting

Today we got our final line up of the houses we are going to see tomorrow. This will be our first outing with our Realtor. She plans on showing us three houses tomorrow. The three that we are seeing were in our possibility list. Even if we don't like any of them it will be nice to actually see what's out there in our price range and get a better idea of what we can expect. I'll post more once we have gone out with Mary.

Quiet Day At Work

Today was a quiet day at work, the EP went up north and several of the editors worked until the wee hours the previous night so they came in later in the day. I thought this was going to be the calm before the storm but he storm never came.

One highlights of the day was having lunch with my buddies/co-workers Will and Ben. We went out to Islands and had a really nice lunch. It's always great to hang out with co-worker outside of work. Both of these guys are friends who I happen to work with. We consistently joke with each other which is great because you don't always have that kind of connection with co-workers, but with these two it was instantly there.

Later in the day Will got some great news.. he got a call back for a viral web commercial that he had audition for the previous day. He said he felt good about it and did his best. They obviously agreed with him and asked him to come back on Monday.. Congrats and Good Luck Will.

Green Fingers

This term Y3G are finding out all about plants in science and will be growing them from seed.
On Tuesday the 21st April (which was the first day back for the children after the Easter holidays) we all planted a sunflower seed in a pot of damp compost. We are gong to keep a record of how each seed germinates and how the plant develops and we will keep you posted with our results on the blogspot.
Eventually we will be planting our sunflowers in the border at the front of the school like we did last year.
We must remember to take some photographs this year!

Living Your Fantasy

One of my favorite things to do is attend comic cons every year. Forget the stereotype of some dingy hotel ballroom packed full of smelly and expensive discolored comics, creeping with a bunch of “Comic Book Guy” character doppelgangers from The Simpsons. The larger cons are exactly the opposite. Sharing the common thread of offering thousands of comic purveyors to the starving masses, comic cons these days are more of a pop culture assemblage. If you live in San Diego, New York or Atlanta , you know what I am talking about. These places are where the three biggest comic cons happen. The San Diego Comic Con, Dragon Con and The New York Comic Con.


These cons (or conventions to be exact) manifest the wildest dream of every fantasy fan into reality. Not only is it completely acceptable to dress like your favorite superhero, movie character, or villain, it is actually honored and adored. Trust me; your first encounter with a group of fully-geared Stormtroopers in line at Subway will be a bit surreal. The point is anything goes. Not only can you hear about the filming of the second Dark Crystal movie from Jim Henson’s daughter, but you can sit in on panels on everything from Jughead to Battlestar Gallactica.


These events are an absolute Mecca for everything the fantasy fan could desire. Want to meet Ray Parks who played Darth Maul in Star Wars? How about Sarah Michelle Gellar? Or does Natalie Portman strike your fancy? All have attended these types of events, and for the fans, the excitement lies in the chance to connect with their heroes in one form or another. To thank them for capturing the roles of their beloved characters on film and to involve themselves with the actual person that played the character if only for a moment.


Cons are treasure troves though which new ideas, fantastic artists and epic adventures await discovery. At Dragon Con in Atlanta I experienced the full creativity of the fantasy fan as troupes of Steampunks proudly marched through the halls. Everything appreciable is there. Who knew people dressed up as characters from Serenity, or in full on latex laden Hellboy costumes? They do and they love it. If you get a chance, every fantasy fan should attend one of these events. Heck, for the bold at heart, try dressing up in your best Cat Woman or Freddy Krueger outfit; you will be in good company.

http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com

Restaurant 3 Happy Hour

The following positive and constructive comments sum up our recent happy hour at Restaurant 3:

"This beer is really good!"
(ladies, remind me what kind of beer again?)

"Good, but a little too greasy."



"When I asked for a veggie in place of fries, I didn't think they'd be swimming in butter."




"I'm going to put balsamic on ALL my pizza from now on!"


"Too much roll, not enough lobster."



Full disclosure: Monday HH at R3 is HALF-PRICE "bar bites," which means that the most expensive item above (the Lobster Roll) only cost $7.50. So things that are "yummy" and "tasty" must be qualified as "half-price tasty." For example, I had the pulled duck sandwich, and it was really good. I'd definitely have it again for $5.50, but would I have it for $11? I'm not sure. I asked for a fry replacement and was offered asparagus--it would have been awesome if the 'gus wasn't chillaxing in a jacuzzi of Paula Deen's favorite ingredient (that's butter, friends. Watch some Food Network). It wasn't crowded at all (maybe because Monday isn't the hottest HH day and spots like Whitlow's and Lib Tav seem to monopolize the after-work scene), and the bartender was super nice. They were out of the risotto tater tots, even though we were there before 5:30pm (and HH begins at 5pm). Maybe they ran out over lunch?

I'll go back to R3 for HH with any of you on a Monday; I want to try those risotto tater tots and their burger. It's a great deal for some interesting and tasty food with a very low cost. Way better than my first experience, when the service sucked, the meat was undercooked, the food wasn't even very good, and it was way too expensive for all of its flaws. And $5 glasses of wine? I. Am. In.

Restaurant 3
2950 Clarendon Boulevard
Metro: Orange Line to Clarendon

KOTG Microcast #4

For Microcast #4 Jenni and I discuss Amazon officially announcing the release of Season One and Season Two of The Guild on DVD. We also discuss what Extras will be on the Second Season DVD.

Thanks,

Kenny & Jenni

Pre-Order The Guild Season One at Amazon.com

Pre-Order The Guild Season Two at Amazon.com

Twilight - Fantasy or Horror?

The big word for 2009? Twilight.

While vampire stories used to be strictly considered horror, lines between genres seem to be blurring. But Stephenie Meyer's Twilight still didn't make the top 25 with fantasy readers. (It came in at #31.)

According to this list of the Top 100 Fantasy books, the real favorite was -
Ta-da! The Lord of the Rings, which ranked at #1.

I admit, I didn't read many from the list either. How many did you read? (Well, seeing the movie counts for something, right?)

And what is Twilight - horror or fantasy?

Here's the top 10 Fantasies with older and some new authors:

1 Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
2 Harry Potter series, JK Rowling
3 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkein
4 Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan
5 A Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin
6 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
7 The Belgariad Series - David Eddings
8 Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
9 Magician - Raymond E. Feist
10 His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

** Your turn: What's your favorite fantasy book? (Or movie?)

Postcard: Inkpad eats NYC!

Just want to give you all a link to Inkpadchocolate's recent very sweet trip to New York City. She had some very able hosts/guides, but I did indeed send her this article from the Post (yummmmmy, a 7-stop eating tour of NYC) and last year's blog post. I'm happy to see she took at least one of my suggestions.

Beware: her blog will make you crave treats you didn't know existed.

My Greek Holiday

Oh, I have been so lax about photographing and posting my paintings. I just don't seem to strike the right time of day to take photos and all the latest ones have such glare on them. Even this one, which was taken by a friend of mine while on holiday in Greece, had a shine on it that I battled to subdue.

I need to search back through r.garriott's photoshop tips on lessons to combat this!

In the meantime, I painted this in January before I went to a cold, snowy, Sweden. Quite a contrast!

Look at that Shining Star!

I don't have children so I miss out on a lot of moments reserved for proud parents. But over the course of time I have become a member of a few families that have embraced me and who I have grown to love dearly. One of those families is "Team Quake." Even though I own the company, it is still heartwarming to be embraced by the authors I publish.

Right now I want to share a moment that involves a member of the "Team Quake" family. Fifteen-year-old Iris Bailey is currently the youngest author to be published by Quake. In fact, today is the release of her first short story with us--Just one of the Guys.

Not only is Iris a tremendous writer, but she is one of the most brilliant youngsters I have ever met. I can honestly say that there has been more than one occasion when I found myself floundering on my end of a conversation with her. She is just brilliant.

I am so proud to announce that on top of all of Iris's other accomplishments (and I don't even have time to go into all of them), Iris has been accepted into the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics. If you are not familiar with establishment, it is an extraordinary school for academically talented high school juniors and seniors. The positions for enrollment are limited and well-earned.

I've known Iris for several years, and have watched her grow into a beautiful and committed young woman. I hope you will take a moment to help me congratulate Iris on this accomplishment.

Iris is only one aspect of what makes Quake such a great place for you and your kids to become a part of. It is the creative and personal goals for each member of "Team Quake" to offer entertainment and encouragement for people of all ages to chase their dreams and strive for all that is important to their spirit of survival and success.

Congratulations, Iris, we are all so very proud of you and all you are sure to become.

And don't miss Iris Bailey's Debut Short Story Just One of the Guys available May 1st!

Listening Time: Second Edition

Remember the first one? No? Click here. It turns out that I have another hobby (those who know me aren't surprised right now). I eat, drink, learn, work, run, and maybe above all of those things, I listen to podcasts. Many podcasts. Tons of podcasts. Seriously.

So food stuff comes up. If you love Food Network and Paula Deen, then I suggest this (past) weekend's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me (the NPR news quiz) with the Queen of Deep-Fried Butter Balls herself, Ms. Paula Deen. Her laughter is infectious.

Paperwork

Today we got the pre-approval paperwork for our home loan.. it's amazing because this is only the paperwork for the pre-approval and there is a ton of it and it's very complicated.. I can't wait to see the actually paperwork when we buy a house...

New Podcast Business Cards

Check out my new Knights of the Guild podcast business card.. it turned out pretty good.. I also made one for Jenni, my co-host.

"Straight Preferred"

The advertisement hanging at my local cafe was one of those handmade types with little tear-off phone number tabs at the bottom. Someone was looking for a new flatmate, and specified some important information for potential applicants; price, location, and "preferred criteria" for the new roomie. He or she should speak English, hold a professional job, have no pets, and only smoke outside. And then, my mouth fell open. Did that really say "straight"?

It did. Someone had, apparently without shame, publicly stated their unwillingness to consider a gay person as a flatmate. Not content with simply meeting some applicants and having a chat, the advertiser was so uncomfortable with or afraid of homosexuality that he felt the need to deter gay applicants at the first opportunity.

To some minds, this is fair enough, as the advertiser has a right to choose their new flatmate, and that they might as well get their prejudices out in the open in order to spare any potential gay applicants the time and trouble.* To me, it feels like plain old discrimination. Let's not forget that we have laws against this type of thing; if the advertiser had have been looking for an employee rather than a flatmate, his eligibility criteria would have gotten him into a lot of trouble. However it appears that whilst his prejudice would not be tolerated in a professional context, it is entirely acceptable in his personal life. And the fact that he didn't hesitate to post a discriminatory advertisement in an inner-city coffee shop speaks volumes about the attitudes towards homosexuality in our society.

The elephant in the room here is that discrimination against homosexuals has in recent years become far more socially acceptable than the old-school bastions of racism or sexism. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Opinion pages of the broadsheet newspapers. Whereas no respectable paper would dream of publishing a radical treatise on why women are inferior to men, or white people smarter than black people, it is all too common to flick the papers open and find a long-winded article or letter defining homosexuality as a sin, linking it to paedophilia, or declaring it a mental illness. Despite our legislation, it seems that gays are an easy target, particularly when you invoke your religion as an excuse for your prejudice.

Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about the kind of person who has a blanket opposition to gays, or any other minority group other than tolerate them in the way that they refuse to tolerate others.
Or maybe just scribble "Hate Criminal!" at the bottom of their advertisement.

* The situation is similar at my university, where international students commonly advertise for flatmates, specifying "Asian preferred" on the posters. If this is defensible, it is so on the basis that people may feel more comfortable living with people who are from culturally similar backgrounds, however I somehow doubt that this argument would save me from being called racist if I had posted an advertisement stating "white preferred".

Is it reasonable to specify your preference for a particular racial group or sexual orientation when advertising for flatmates, or is it just discrimination?

Fantastical Paths from Pages to Film

Fantasy books.

Fantasy movies.

Fantasy books adapted into fantasy movies.

Hey everyone! It’s Melanie Ryder, one of Alyssa Montgomery’s characters, and I’m back for yet another blog!

One of my favorite genres to read is fantasy books. I simply love how authors create their own universe that you can easily blend yourself into and understand.

But one thing that always amazes me, however, is how they are able to take that fantasy book and adapt it into a movie that plays on the big screen. An idea that was once on paper has now come to life as an absolute vision so everyone can now, not only read it, but see it.

How cool is that??

I think one of the best examples of this adaptation is Harry Potter. These are my favorite books, and I get so excited each and every time the next book is made into a movie. What the people who work on the Harry Potter movies are able to do is amazing! Both Cal and I absolutely love the floating candles in the Great Hall (and not to mention the sky). And what about Quidditch? Those scenes were exactly as I had pictured them in the books! (And Parker wants to let you all know that the scenes are exactly the way he pictured them too).

So now that you all know about my love (and Cal’s and Parker’s) for the Harry Potter books and the adaptation of them into movies, what about everyone else? Are there any fantasy books that you love the movie adaptations of?

Melanie Ryder can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).

PSA: Free Cone Day

It's that time again...time for Free Cone Day at most Ben & Jerry's! Search HERE for your local scoop shop. TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009! So today (Tuesday), or tomorrow, if you're reading this late on Monday. Which means you aren't watching 24, like some people.

Last year I crankily linked you to nutrition facts. Whatevs, it's free cone day. It's a small scoop anyway.

Last warning: Lines get long on FCD. Be patient!

*I in no way specifically promote Ben & Jerry's as the official ice cream of my blog, but when something is free, I usually eat it. It's not a very discriminating policy. If you were giving away ice cream, I'd probably publicize your event, too.

2 Amys

The end of Passover was blissful. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about eating the bread of affliction and thanking everybody who could have possibly been involved in getting my ancestors out of slavery in Egypt, but matzah leaves much to be desired.

So for the second year in a row, we noted (not celebrated) the holiday's end by eating at 2 Amys. Check out my last post to read a more colorful description of 2 Amys background (certified by a Neopolitan pizza association, the definition of ripieno, etc).

We had BEER. I had Bells Kalamazoo Stout (I liked it a lot, but I wanted it to be a little colder...if possible), and J had the Hitachino Nest White Ale--I love the cutie patootie owl on the bottle, and it was DELICIOUS. Sort of sweet, but not in a gross way. A really refreshing Belgian-style wheat beer. But $9. YIKES.



We ate the exact same thing (as last year, not each other). Abruzzese pizza for J. Ripieno Basilico for me. J's pizza was (again) delicious, but he was definitely eying my ripieno when the ricotta started oozing out of the delicious crust. In fact, he took that opportunity to scoop some cheese up for himself. Thanks a lot!

J's pizza



My stuffed pizza



For appetizer, we shared bruschetta with tomato fondutto--delicious grilled bread (bread!!! REAL BREAD!!!) with olive oil, garlic, then topped with delish tomato excitement. If you get the regular bruschetta, that refers only to the grilled bread rubbed with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.



It was so good that when our neighbors on the right were peeking over, I assured them that it was amazing and that they had to get it. They didn't. Fine!

We remembered this time that their homemade ice cream is divine, so we ordered both the strawberry w/chocolate chips ice cream AND the apple spice cake (which came with...drumroll...a side of vanilla). J unsurprisingly went nuts over the apple cake, and unfortunately I think strawberry w/chocolate chips is now my favorite-but-impossible-to-find flavor. So fun.




2 Amys
3715 Macomb Street NW
Metro: A hike from the Red Line to Cleveland Park, or drive.

Fantastic Fantasy

Fantasy is one of the oldest writing genres on the planet, going back to Beowulf, King Authur, er, Arthur, and other mystical, magical beginnings.

It's a style with no rules, and when science started catching up, it spawned two related genres, Sci-Fi and the more fantastical of horror. These three genres intertwine like a handful of worms.

Fantasy is also the most liberating genre of all, because, frankly, anything goes. If you want your vampire to be all sparkly and pretty, sure, go for it. Wood elves, trolls, goblins ... do you want your elves to be good elves, or something darker and more foreign? Doesn't matter, there's no right or wrong way to do it.

In fact, the more novel, the more unique, the better. Books that give us a new look at an old topic are all the rave. Look at the success spawned by Wicked. Imagine, taking the old witch from the Wizard of Oz and making her someone you cared about.

I think this is one of the reasons I was drawn to the genre. After all, reading is, in a way, escapism, and if you're going to escape, why not go to a world so completely different than ours that your fascination with the world brings you more colorfully and lucidly into the story.

Look to the success of games like Dungeons and Dragons. If you liked the first Harry Potter, you loved them all, and you lived the story along with Harry, Ron and Hermione all the way to the end.

Fantasy allows the author a freer hand than any other genre. The science in Sci-fi has to be palatable, if not provable. Mysteries have to walk the line between being too easy and too hard to solve. Westerns have to be ... um ... I dunno, I don't read them. But the horses have to be vegetarians and have four hooves, all of which touch the ground.

When I wrote my Adventures of Guy series, I didn't intend on them being fantasy at all. My heroes were three college roommates and a mother from up the street who get involved on a Quest. Of course, every quest has to have an elf, sorcerer, Unbeliever, a warrior and attorneys, er, otherworldly evil creatures.

But fantasy? Nah, I just wanted the freedom to have whatever I wanted to happen in the stories happen , and if it took a bit of magic, so be it.

Still, though, I have to admit to some surprise when reviewers started using the word 'fantasy.'

But with my upcoming book, Fang Face, all pretense is thrown away. It's definitely fantasy ... a vampire story, cut and dried. And I get to make the rules. The vampires don't sparkle, can't come out in the day once they are fully Undead, and they can't tolerate Doritos.

And believe me, I love the freedumb ... freedom ... to do whatever I want.

Norm

www.normcowie.com

Choosing a House

After our full day or running around Harry and I went over the email our realtor sent us on potential houses. Out of 31 homes we liked 8 and marked them as a possibilities and had 1 favorite, but rejected the rest for being to small, to expensive, an auction, or just not to our liking... we even had one next to a cemetery which creep me out but Harry found my reaction hilarious. So now we send this back to our Realtor and she sets up appointments to view them next weekend.. we're very excited.

The house pictured to the right is the one we liked the most.. will see it next weekend.

Stealing Gas and Running Errands

Today we had to run some errands. Since we did nothing yesterday we had to get a bunch of things done before I went back to work on Monday. But when I got in my jeep I noticed I had absolutely no gas. The night before I had at least a half a tank as I drove to the store to buy some soda but today there was nothing. Someone must have syphon my gas out of my jeep during the night. It just amazes me that someone would do that.. So was drove directly to the gas station hoping my car would make it... and will filled up once again.

After getting gas we went to CVS for prescription, Bank to deposit money, Target to buy some tools, Vet to pick up some skin pills for Daisy, Barnes and Noble to buy a book on house buying then had lunch at PF Chang's (first time and it was very good), then I had to go to work for a few hours and Harry helped me transfer files, then we went grocery shopping then home were we watched more TV and I did a little bit more editing of The Ready Room podcast..

All in all a very packed day.

Never judge a book by it's cover

Last Saturday on a British TV show called Britain's Got Talent as very modest and quirky woman took the stage to laughs, eye rolling and ridicule from the crowds and judges. Then she opened her mouth and this angelic sound came from it. The crowd went crazy with applause, the judges jaws dropped and this very sweet older lady blew away this crowd.

My friend Tim Tweeted and posted on the Treksf forums the video of this since being in the US I wasn't able to see this. I watched it on Monday morning and was in tears. It was so inspirational, moving and the perfect way to start my week.

What is more is this woman's background and the life she lead. She had been taking care of her dying mother for years and years until recently when she passed away. She lives with her cat Pebbles and has never been kiss. So the song she sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserable just fit her life so well, it added another dimension to this lovely woman's performance.

Now five days later I still cry watching her performance and am moved beyond words.. I've watch it about 20 times so far. Her video on YouTube has had more then 16 million hits in five days, she has become a worldwide celebrity over night and I couldn't be more happier for her.

Today I watched her first (of many) US appearance on CBS Morning Talk Show and she is very quiet and awkward and you can tell she still not quite sure what is happening.. but she sang again live and it was FANTASTIC.

Bottom line is we put FAR TOO MUCH emphasis on looks and FAR TOO LITTLE on just accepting a person for his or herself. And shame on us. I have never been one to judge people on look alone but this video and Susan's courage to stand up there as inspired me to double my effects in accepting everyone. Susan, you are an inspiration. You are a BEAUTIFUL person with a voice to match!!

If you haven't seen her check her out on you tube.

Recording The Ready Room

Today was my day to rest, I had to record the latest Ready Room podcast with my friends Jen and Rick and that was alot of fun since we haven't all been together for over a month since we all have been busy here and there. So that was alot of fun. I did a little editing but most of the day was spent with Harry on the couch trying to catch up on some missed TV. So it was a nice relaxing Saturday.

Sweet Secrets

Gossip is like sugar: it can be really bad for us but we just love the stuff. Why is that?

I think the popularity of gossip comes from two basic elements: the first is summed up in the old saying that "knowledge is power." Everyone wants to be in the know, right? Everyone wants to be the first one to tell the news. The second element is the sense of belonging. If you have a secret to tell about someone else, or if someone shares a secret with you, there's a bond between the two of you. Kind of an instant "us" situation, as in shared secret knowledge between "us." No wonder the people sharing the gossip can get such a warm fuzzy from it! Unfortunately, the person being gossiped about is frequently in a position to get hurt, which is what makes gossip a twisty, slippery, and very often nasty thing to handle.

Is all gossip bad? Maybe not. It's pretty harmless to share the news that Jenny's hot cousin is coming to stay at her house for the summer again this year, or that Wyatt was the first to get a job at the new clothing store at the mall. Once we cross into the territory of spreading tales about someone's really personal stuff, though, that's when the change comes in. Like with sugar, that's when the line is crossed from nibbling a couple of cookies to chowing down an entire cake with ice cream on the side and a candy bar chaser.

So maybe think of gossip as a very sweet dessert. It's okay to have a little serving of it, but if you have too much, well, remember that the initial rush feels super, but the subsequent crash can feel really bad for a long time after.

Ophelia Julien, author of Hunting Spirits coming May 2009 from Quake

Layin' the Smackdown on Chatty Cathy

I get it…Everybody wants to be in on a big secret; it’s human nature. People are naturally curious and everybody wants to appear important by being “in the know.” But is it worth someone’s reputation? Gossip, like cockroaches, has followed us since the Stone Age.

First people talked trash about how bad Cro-Magnon’s sloped head looked in that animal skin. I mean really! He’s going out like that? Then people talked smack over the back fence when they were hanging out the laundry about how much Mr. Jones’ paid for that fancy car. Then they got on the telephone to dis’ Martha’s meatloaf recipe.

Today we have an updated term and method for gossip. We call it “cyber bullying.” Problem is, once you post: “Cindy is a slut,” as they say about venereal disease…that crap is forever. Even if you take it down, if someone has forwarded your text or email or link, then it’s out there. Why, my dear friends, do you think they call it “viral?”

The bad thing is this kind of gossip has lasting effects. When you’re done reading this, go Google “suicide and cyber bullying.” You’ll get 126,000 hits in 0.19 seconds.

Ancient people felt so strongly about gossiping that it made the BigTen. Commandment number nine says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

I used to be a cop. I wish I could share the stories and pictures of the young men and women (teenagers) who I helped shove into body bags because someone “heard” they had said something untrue and scandalous about them. Take it from me, slander and a 9mm ain't a goood mix.

Our grandmothers had it right when they said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” 'Nuff said.

Still at Work

Well it's going on 12 hours and I'm still at work.. it's not the longest I have every been at work but it's been awhile since I pulled a shift longr then 12 hours. Oh well luckily it doesn't happen to often and I do still have my internet to keep my company. I hope to get out of here soon.. I've already eaten an entire bag of popcorn and now feel sick.. want to get out and pick up some dinner for the hubby and me.

It's One of Those Days

We had six outputs to upload to the Network today. Each one takes about three hours to prepare. Even though everyone knows it takes a long time and we ask they have to ready by lunch time it never happens that way.. it's not 4:30pm and we have gotten one episode done. The other shows were either no where near ready or they tell us it will happen in ten minutes which stretches into four hours.. so now we wait. Jermey my day AE has to leave at 5pm today which means I will be the one waiting for these editors/producers to give me their episodes so I can get them up on the network ftp site.

Besides those uploads we have DC special and webisodes that we have to upload to the network.

It's going to be a long night.

Gossipy Minds Want To Know

Gus and Cynthia "Dishing The Dirt"

Cynthia and I don’t gossip, never did. We just get mad at each other and say stupid things. But, plenty of our friends do. And, this is waaaay back in the 60s! We'll gossip about things like: “Cindy’s wearing Tom’s letterman jacket!” Or, “I saw Mike walk Linda to Geometry class.”

Gossip is more difficult in mine and Cynthia's time. You actually have to physically whisper in someone’s ear! Ewwww! Oh, sure we always have the phone, but it's impossible to say anything private with my nosy brother eavesdropping. And, believe it or not, I can't take the phone into my room because the receiver is connected by a cord! I know. Hard to imagine.

You guys have it so easy today with email and texting.

“OMG. Did u c C n T :-<>” (for those of you over age 30, the symbol :-<> shows surprise).

I may just be an old-fashioned, 1960s twelve-year-old (soon to be thirteen!), but the statement above seems to lose something in the translation. On the other hand, texting might keep flu bugs from spreading. Waaahh...choooo!

Still, Cynthia and I are gonna have to study this texting thing. I just figured out that lol doesn’t mean, “lots of love!” Now, there’s a gossip topic! Think of all the people I woulda thought were sending me “love” before I realized they were laughing with (at) me! LOL!

Getting off the gossip track, so I’ll bring this puppy back around (somehow).

Do you like gossip, as long as it doesn’t involve you? Or, is gossip always mean? What’s your favorite way to gossip? Ear-to-ear ? Text-to-text?

Gossipy minds want to know.

BFF, Gus

Mary Cunningham Books

Quake

Cynthia's Attic Blog