My update?

I recently completed a class at Baruch College (and for that matter, the web design certificate!) in Adobe Flash. Here’s my final project. Too bad no one anywhere seems to let you embed .swf files for free:

http://megaswf.com/serve/85316/”

I also had been meaning to share the fun Comic Con video I edited and took some footage for:

Wintergirls

OMG, how could I forget to mention Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson as a potential book club read? I just tried starting it for a second time. Talk about an emotional read. It is going to be hard to get through (the reason I put it down last time, I was trying to read it on a trip back from Boston and it just brought so many memories of high school being an awful time) but I’m really glad Laurie Halse Anderson writes books like this for teens. Let’s see how I feel at the end. The end of Speak I wasn’t really sure I bought so I’m curious to see how this one ends.

Goldfish and Paracetamol

Bonus points if you name the artist who has a song by that name, I can only think of one person who might and she’s got more important things to do like get her PhD at Harvard than read my blog.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about starting a YA book club. I’m not sure if I should do it on Meetup or Internet based but as much as I enjoy all the book clubs I’ve done and do now, it’s really rare that we read YA books. This is of course, mostly motivated by Hunger Games. Yes, I finally read it in a whirlwind few days. I especially recommend reading it at the gym because you barely notice you’re exercising.

I’m saving Catching Fire and Mockingjay for family vaca to Peru but the concept behind Hunger Games is so appalling, yet hits so much at why I know I watch reality TV (ie to be like, why on earth are you doing that? why do people put up with such insanity? though in  Hunger Games they have no choice…), only in the most extreme possible way, you cannot put it down. I’m curious to see how the next two stand up. Any more fights to the death?

There are so many good YA books out there that I’ve either already read (Anne of Green Gables, Alanna: The First Adventure, etc.) or want to read (The Eternal Ones, never actually managed to read Brian Jacques) that I think there could be a lot mileage. However, sometimes I read reviews of YA books and people are like, “This is definitely for teens, too juvenile.” And I want to be like, “What did you expect?” Surely if we can make teens read “adult” books than we can read books for “kids”. For me, part of the fun of YA (or maybe tragedy) is remembering what it was like to be awkward at 16, wanting something far more exciting to happen than ever did at my high school. I can’t believe that was over 10 years ago because believe me, I do sometimes have bad dreams about high school still! I’m always happy to wake up and realize that time of my life is completely over, which is maybe why I empathize with the characters who are outsiders.

Anyways, I digress. YA Book club, anyone out there have any thoughts? Would you do it via blog? I guess if no one responds that’s a resounding, “No!”

Audio Book Speed Listen: Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

I guess you could call me an audio book speed listener because since my last reviews on 7/9 of two audio books, I’ve finished two more. That said, neither was more than 10 CDs.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett unabridged in 41 hours long. Abridged is 10 hours. If you can handle the whole one, good for you. But for some of us, it’s just too frickin’ much about cathedrals. Also, let’s be honest, Follett’s writing is for the mass market. It’s pretty fluffy but I like that it spans so many years and you do get an interesting story out of it, albeit one filled with cliches. The nice thing about the abridged version is because it’s so short things move pretty quickly. I tend to distrust abridged versions, for example I loved Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on audio book until I found out it was abridged. My friend who was reading the book was like “something, something his brother.” And that’s how I learned it was abridged because you hear about the guy’s brother once and then he totally disappears. It’s like when they make a movie and leave out characters entirely (yes, I’m talkin’ ’bout you Harry Potter). She says I didn’t miss much but who knows?? I have a good feeling with Pillars I in fact did not miss much. Or rather I missed a ton but I don’t feel the lack of it.

For me, the main distinction of Pillars abridged was that it was read by Richard E. Grant, of Withnail and I fame. I like him and despite the fluff, enjoyed this audio book.

Now since I’m at the end of the my lunch break, I’ll be a good girl and review Savvy by Ingrid Law later.

Blood, Sweat, and Mango Lassis: The Making of My ALA Video

It’s about time I posted my ALA video here since it’s been on the Penguin site for several days now.

Making the video was fun but I can’t even pretend that I knew what I was doing in the beginning. While I only had 20 mins of footage to go through, some authors had a lot more screen time than others. One guy was an illustrator and mumbled everything, including forgetting the title of the new book he illustrated so I had to cut him. Also the sound wasn’t great to begin with because when you add in all the crowd noise and people enjoying ALA and there were parts rendered unusable sound wise. (OMG how dare people have fun! JK)

But I hope you enjoy my modest efforts Oh and at one point I had a computer malfunction, hence the mango lassi to perk up my bad mood.

By the Water’s Edge, Contemplating Audio Books

Who knew the Hudson River Park had it’s own Wifi? Now I do. And so, I gaze on the landscape of Jersey as I type this.

Might as well weigh in on the last two audiobooks eh?

First, there’s Bloody Jack by LA Meyer. It’s the first in a series though I’ve yet to try the other books except one unsuccessful attempt to read the pb of the second book a few years back. I had read that the narrator won an Audie for a later book in the series so I figured I’d give it a go. It was fun, if a bit silly. She’s girl pretending to be a ship’s boy so she can leave behind the streets of London where she has to beg all the time. Naturally, she falls in love with another boy and when he finds out she’s a she, he falls deeply in love with her as well.

The good thing about Jackie/Mary is that she’s a very strong and capable girl to the point where she’s better at fighting pirates than most of the other boys. I’d have to say my hands down favorite part is when she writes her will because she thinks she’s dying when she gets her period.

The audiobook I listened to after that was Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. It was an interesting concept, vampires caused most of the wars, a noble man hunts them because they killed people close to him and he eventually becomes president as vampires take over the south. I have to say while listening to it, I imagine it would make a lotof Southerners unhappy. They’re not all complicit in supporting the vampires but a lot of them are.

The main plus of this audio book was that it  did make me want to know more about the life of the actual Lincoln as I knew he was from Illinois but had no idea he was born in Kentucky and moved about what was then the frontier for a part of his childhood. Pretty much all his education was self-motivated. I have to assume some of these facts from the audio book are true, eh?

So right now my iPod usb cord is on the fritz. My comp doesn’t know it’s connected, yet it will still charge the battery, so hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to start listening to Savvy by Ingrid Law once I get this techfail fixed.

The ALA 2010 Haul

I went to ALA in Washington D.C. this past weekend (though it being Monday, there are still quite a few librarians down there). ALA is, of course, the American Library Association. No, I am not a librarian but I am a friend of librarians. This fact can be demonstrated by my getting in via a librarian friend Leigh and running into a former roommate and future librarian of America, Ariel, plus Smithie and I believe currently a librarian of America, Gillian. See? Librarians just love me.

It seems fitting that I should catalog my swag from two days of ALA.

The highlights would have to be the Theodore Boone gavel pen (promo item for John Grisham series for kids), DVD of The Yes Men Fix the World, my Hello Kitty tote bag from Running Press, the Nat Geo zebra bag, and the Republicans graphic novel.

The Vlad Tod tote is not from ALA but they were mighty popular there!

I also got a lot of galleys. I’m very interested to read I am J by Cris Beam, which is about a trans teenager. If there’s a lot of books out there about exploring the trans identity in teens, I haven’t read them. It’s not out until March ’11 so not sure if there’s a site for it yet.

I had to take Taurus Eyes by Bonnie Hearn Hill because I’m a Taurus There was also an Aries one. Queen of Your Own Life I got autographed for my mom. Perhaps this is a bad habit of mine but when I saw people lining up to get books signed (which usually meant free books) I got in line after them. This is how I found the Queen book and got free lip balm from Hank Phillippi Ryan for her series. Apparently, Ms. Ryan is also on NBC News TV in Boston, if the name rings a bell.

Here are most of the other galleys or pubbed books I got. Yes, Republicans is in the pic above but  you know you love it.

My Name is Mary Sutter Audio Book Review

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliviera

Listen to an excerpt on Penguin Audio Book Break (yes, I’m the producer and it’s an great program)

I think this was a pretty entertaining Civil War era story. Gone with the Wind it ain’t but that’s not a bad thing. Mary Sutter is a determined woman who wants to be a doctor and everyone thinks she’s nuts. Of course, us modern folks know she’s not and can share her indignation over her rejection from Medical School.

Luckily for Mary the war starts in the first chapter and she can go down to Washington and force her way into surgeoning. Too bad it doesn’t turn out to be the fulfilling career choice Mary hoped it would be. Contrary to what I learned on Grey’s Anatomy studying to be a surgeon doesn’t involve hot makeout sessions or even clean, sterilized equipment.  Being a surgeon in the Civil War meant cutting off legs with no latex gloves, not much water and certainly nothing as paltry as washing hands in between operations. To be fair, they certainly wanted to get as many limbs off as possible with the countless men laying on the dirt at times injured and bleeding, waiting to be treated.

If they couldn’t perform surgery for what ailed their wounded soldiers, the best they could do was often just giving the patients whiskey. Contrary to what you might be thinking, they didn’t give them whiskey while amputating unless they had no choice. The preferred method was chloroform, so if you didn’t watch out you could kill your patient with that as well.

The crazy thing about listening to audio books is when you read a book, you can just skim over unsavory parts about cutting through muscles and all the blood. But when someone is reading the book to you (an excellent Kimberly Farr who apparently also did part of The 19th Wife, which I enjoyed on audio), if you’re like me and easily grossed out, the audio book drives home the stark misery of the Civil War. There is no glory and honor. Just men trying to survive. Everyone loses someone dear to them in this book, sometimes from stupid things like unknown infections or rifles discharging while being cleaned. But through all the misery, there is the compelling heroine.

Mary is not flawless, she has her own foibles, which makes the story work. Mary is a modern woman going for her goal but held back by her time period. My main disappointment with this book is how the love story resolves itself but then I often think love stories are hatchet jobs and not really necessary to the plot line. So if you’re a romantic at heart, you might enjoy it.

O my

I seem to have forgotten to blog in a few months (I use the word “forgot” liberally here). But I’m hoping to get on top of things more.

I’ve recently listened to some audio books and read some great books so now I gotta get down to the business of reviewing them.

But first, I’m going to drink a beer flight at the Pourhouse with Sarabuhbara and watch some England vs. Algeria World Cup on this half day Friday. I love those little white uniforms and the pulled up socks the Brits wear, mmhmmm. Google image search, for those who want a visual.

Nanowrimo

So I don’t really have time this month to update the blog on account of it being National Novel Writing Month but I thought I’d put in a widget for my word count:

I am down for the day, alas but hopefully will do 1,000 after my mini vegan quiches get out of the oven.