I love my job

Our publicists recently interviewed one of our author-illustrators, Adam Rex. Here is one question they asked and his answer:

Q: Are you—or were you ever—afraid of monsters?
A: I’m afraid of people who act monstrously. I only have sympathy for actual monsters. Nine times out of ten, they’re just confused, lonely fish people or whatever.

What a great answer. I love that I get to work with people who can 1) have a reason to ask a question like that and 2) give an answer that is that funny.

(The question is in regards to Adam's book coming out this September called Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. It's quite brilliant. For an early review, click here.)

Today's Oddities

Wonderfully random stuff today. Enjoy children.

Ninja Appreciation Day

From author Andy Auseon’s blog that really made me belly laugh:
The Daily Weird:
Today at an intersection, a young woman yielded for a turn at a red light. Apparently her turn signals were broken. How did I know this? As she peered out the window to check both ways, she held a small green arrow on a Popsicle stick over her head so the car behind her could see it. When she turned, she put the sign away, for next time, I guess.

My Cat Hates You

Stuff On My Cat

Cats the Look Like Hitler
Note this site is supposed to be funny, not offensive. Advance apologies for any offense.

And something for all you dog lovers, lest you feel left out of the cat humor:
Do Dogs Have Lips?

It's really slow at work today.

The Week in Review

It was a busy week. First, it has been hot. I have rarely said that while living in San Diego. But it was all week. Hot, hot, hot, and humid. Go figure. Last Saturday, I slept during the hottest part of the day like I was some sort of savanna animal. I wasn't tired per se, but it was too hot to do anything. I don't have air conditioning in my apartment because I rarely, if ever, need it. So I did a lot of reading, Sudoku, and napping. This past weekend, I was so desperate for some air conditioning that I escaped to the movies to see anything that was playing. I ended up in The Lady in the Water. Review below. I also took care of chores such as my laundry and going to Target, but got them done before I got too hot. I know, those of you in Texas are probably thinking I don't know what hot is so I should stop my bellyaching. On Sunday, it was cooler, and I wasn't as miserable. But 95 degrees with 99 heat index is hot by anyone’s standards.

On Tuesday, I went to a Padres - Phillies game. Pads won but it was not a pretty game. I also had a big presentation on Wednesday. My department presented our marketing ideas for the spring 2007 list. It went very well and turned into an extremely productive meeting for us and the sales reps. On Thursday, Dave, one of my NYC friends, was in town and we had dinner at a great new restaurant. He was in town for Comic Con, which I also attended on Friday. I was really looking forward to the spectacle known as The Con by those in the know, and it did not disappoint. The rumors that many of the attendees come dressed up as Star Wars, Star Trek, and other movie/comic book/tv characters held true to the extreme. I looked fairly "normal," and men definitely outnumbered women at least 4 to 1. We went to Comic Con instead of doing much work on Friday. Yay! I had a lot of fun looking at all the costumes and hairstyles people put together for this event. Sometimes it was hard to tell if someone was dressed up or if they have green hair in their “real” life too. There were lots of Batmen, Storm Troopers, Darth Vaders, Sailor Moons, Boba Fetts, Jedis, Leias, and an Aquaman or two. To a lesser degree, but still represented were Aquabats, Robin, SuperGirl, WonderWoman, Jessica Rabbit, and Wolverine. Star Wars is definitely the cult of choice and the most recognizable. I didn’t see any celebrities since we stuck to just the exhibits. I ended up buying a few things: a madcreator.com t-shirt, an Ugly Doll, a graphic novel, and a fine art print. The print is artwork from one of the children’s books Harcourt publishes. The artist, Gris Grimly, is Madcreator.com, and he had a booth there. A gallery was selling his fine art prints & originals in an adjacent booth. I’m very pleased to have this print but it’s just one more thing that I need to get framed.

This weekend is Gay Pride. Can you imagine if Comic Con and Pride were the same weekend? *That* would be a serious culture clash. But highly entertaining.

And now a review:
The Lady in the Water.
Hmm. The previews make this look like a very scary movie. It isn’t. It has some “jump & scream” moments, but it’s not scary. It actually has several well-done comedic moments sprinkled in amidst the gloom. I’m not sure what the goal of this movie was supposed to be. What was Shyamalan’s point? The movie starts with a short stick-figure animation and voice over. The voice is telling the story of the water people and how they used to talk to the land people. They would tell them things about living together, the future, and keeping peace. But then the land people stopped listening because they were distracted with material goods and there was war. Okay. From that it goes to the dreary, Soviet-era apartment building (but with a great sapphire blue pool) and it’s stuttering, tragic superintendent, Cleveland Heep (Giamatti). The Lady, named Story, makes an appearance early on, so there’s not a lot of waiting around for her to show up. But there is still lots of set up. Through the arrival of a new tenant – a pompous movie-critic – the audience is introduced to the building’s tenants. Not a very imaginative way to introduce characters, but I suppose it was the most time-efficient. The beginning is slow. Slowly, Heep uncovers the story of the Narf and figures out that Story is one of these creatures, otherwise known as a water nymph. Through the story, he figures out what she’s doing there, who she needs to meet, what is trying to kill her, and how to return her home. It’s tedious. There is a monster in this movie. It’s a creepy, red-eyed, camouflaged dog/wolf thing, known as a Scrunt. I think the Sixth Sense was scary because there isn’t a monster. I also thought Signs, while a mediocre movie, was scarier before the alien was shown on screen. In this one, the Scrunt is shown almost immediately and I think that really makes it less scary. Anyway, this is a long review for a so-so movie. The cast is strong – Giamatti, Balaban, Jeffery Wright – but the story just isn’t there. Shyamalan even plays one of the key roles in the story. It could have been a really cool movie if it had been a little tighter in both exposition and pace. The story of the Narf is actually quite good, but certainly only a bedtime story – as the subtitle says – for a whacked-out kid. So I’m not sure how the animation story at the beginning of the movie ties into the end of the movie. Was there supposed to be a political message? Was the connection between the two so subtle I missed it? As soon as the credits started rolling, one audience member said quite loudly and clearly, “I didn’t get it.” I don’t think she was the only one.

Ags in Space

During the second spacewalk on Monday, the spacewalkers replaced a cable reel to a rail car needed to move large pieces around the space station and installed a pump compartment for the complex's cooling system.

"That was a great (spacewalk) and it showed that Aggies can be taught to work locks, latches and anything else," flight controllers wrote in their daily morning electronic message to Discovery's crew, referring to Fossum, a graduate of Texas A&M. "Miracles never cease."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/11/space.shuttle.ap/index.html

Summer reading & the Fourth

I started this post right after the Fourth of July as a post-weekend wrap-up, but here it is a week later, and I'm just getting around to finishing it up. Added a few things in order to make it more current.

I know that summer is almost half-over already, but it's never too late to pick up a good book or two to pass the hours.

Some books for summer reading in no particular order:
1) Harry Potter series - because they are fun
2) Twilight (is anyone surprised about this? All other teen vampire books are great too: Blue Bloods, Vampirates, Peeps) - because teens, vampires, and romance makes for a winning combination any time of year
3) The Poisonwood Bible - because of the characters & the setting in Africa
4) All the Pretty Horses - because it's so heartbreakingly beautiful
5) Three Junes - because of the interconnected storylines
6) Me Talk Pretty One Day - because of the laughs
7) Life of Pi - because of how it makes you think and then knocks you over with brilliance
8) Burger Wuss - because it's about one of the worst summer jobs a kid can have: flipping burgers
9) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff - because with a title like that, don't you want to read it?

I am currently reading Kiki Strike about a girl who discovers a "Shadow City" beneath New York City. Quite interesting so far. I really loved The City of Ember, which is also about a civilization that is underground, but the citizens don't realize they are underground. I'm sure it's a metaphor for something. Kiki Strike has the same sort of feel as Ember, but I have a feeling it is going to turn out quite differently. Recently finished Blue Bloods, which is Gossip Girls with vampires. Pure fluff but fun. (Susan, I have two copies, so I'll pop it in the mail along with New Moon so you don't have to wait till October to read it.) Not sure what my next read will be but I do want to get into Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I've had for ages but haven't had the time to start. It's a really thick book.

I spent part of the holiday in LA with the parents and part down at home. I hadn't been home in a while, and with a *five* day weekend, I was able to feel like I had a full weekend at home. I did six loads of laundry, went to Lush and spent money, saw The Devil Wears Prada, and ate yummy, yummy food for two days up in LA. Then I drove back to SD on Sunday. Once in SD, I saw Superman with some friends, attended a 4th of July bbq, watched the fireworks, napped, went to the beach, read, and watched Wimbledon. It was a very fine weekend.

This past weekend, I saw one more movie and I'll give you a bottle of rum if you get it on the first try. Of course it was Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
My thoughts on the three movies? Here ya go:
Pirates: So much fun but very long. Didn't think it as funny as the first one but Capt. Jack is back in fine form. He's not actually the hero of these movies. The hero is supposed to be Orlando Bloom's character, but I felt he was really pushed to the background for Johnny Depp. Johnny's entrance to the movie, and his exit, are perfect, and his skin just glows, as usual.
Superman: Don't bother. The first big action sequence is the best part of the movie and the rest is a huge snore fest. Very little dialogue throughout the whole thing and several dramatic devices are used more than once, rendering them ineffective. I couldn't figure out what Parker Posey, queen of the Indie film, was doing in this train wreck, although she does steal every scene she's in.
Prada: Good! Two-thumbs up. Meryl Streep is excellent and will certainly be nominated for at least a Golden Globe. Anne Hathaway is charming. It's a really good summer movie and a chick-flick of high quality. Think Bridget Jones. Perhaps a tad long, but full of couture eye-candy and locations that make it very fun. Stanley Tucci also holds his own as a loveable art director. Why isn't he in more movies? He's good.

Other than seeing Pirates over the weekend, I didn't do much. Hope your weekend was good.

New Orleans

I wrote this as part of my ALA report for the staff that didn't attend the conference and thought it is what I would say on this blog, too. Added a few things such as specific landmarks, but mostly this is my raw reaction to what I saw in New Orleans last week. I hope to soon receive a set of photographs that another person on my tour took. I will post those when I receive them.

A personal report about New Orleans

The ALA conference was the first major conference to be held in New Orleans since Katrina. As soon as we arrived, cab drivers and others in the service industry welcomed us warmly and jubilantly to their city. There seemed to be a sense of relief because a convention in town is getting back to “normal life.” Cabbies were talkative and eager to share their stories. There was copious and voluntary over tipping by all. All expressed their thanks for ALA and that we decided to come to New Orleans. Souvenir shops along Canal were selling shirts that read, “Librarians Do It By the Book: ALA 2006.” We were welcomed in by shopkeepers in the Quarter and constantly asked, “Are you with the librarians?” I have been reading messages on librarian list servs, and everyone is so proud to have been part of this conference and that they were able to do something, even if in a small way, for New Orleans. It sounds like most librarians had an excellent, if sobering, experience in New Orleans.

The French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse District, and area around the convention center, were all pretty much up and running. There are still boarded up businesses and many for sale signs. There is a little spark missing from these usually noisy and boisterous neighborhoods. Things were just a little more subdued and low-key. The convention center is not fully repaired. Halls A-C were under construction. ALA occupied the halls at the far end in halls G-I. The convention center did have all new restroom fixtures and new carpeting.

Many of the Harcourt staff were able to step out of the convention center for a brief tour of some of the damaged neighborhoods. Progress is slow but there are signs that some residents are returning to rebuild. It is a strange site to see a FEMA trailing sitting in the front yard in front of the damaged homes. Gutted debris is everywhere and waiting to get picked up. Trash pick up has not resumed a regular schedule, so no one knows how long it will sit there. It is going to take a long time and the destruction is seemingly without end. There is no part of the city unaffected. There seem to be two cities – the areas that received minimal damage and the ones that have been essentially destroyed.

I was toured around by a contact who lives in NO. Two other attendees went with us. We visited the Eight and Ninth Wards, Lake View, and all the area in between. I have personal ties to the city, so recognizing the once vibrant residential neighborhoods in this ghost-town, overgrown state was surreal. We went up Elysian Fields from the Ninth Ward. We passed Brother Martin, where school was just letting out. The waterline six feet from the ground was clearly visible on the school. We continued on and eventually got up to where I went to school, Ben Franklin. Our escort works at UNO, and wanted to show us the campus. The London Street levee breach is very close to this area, which I hadn't realized. We saw where the levee had been repaired. It was a huge gap. On the way back to the convention center, we also passed the church where Greg & Brookes got married. It appeared to be running again. In the surrounding neighborhoods, front doors were hanging open and windows were broken out. We stopped on one deserted block and went into a house. Remnants in the house included family photos still on the mantel and walls, children’s toys, old year books and report cards, and a Bible, all violently and carelessly strewn about on the uprooted oak floorboards of this once charming home. These items brought the reality of the hurricane to a whole new level that the media just can not convey. Standing out on the sidewalk after touring the little Victorian house, I looked at all the other houses on the block and realized that we would find the same thing in each of them. What was so eerie is that not a living thing was on that block. Not a bird or bug. Yards on what was obviously a well-kept block, were overgrown and the asphalt jagged and cracking, resembling tiny fault lines.

One of the most gristly and haunting images I’ve brought back with me is the spray painted symbols on almost every structure in the flooded areas. Crudely written in black and red paints on the front door, or on the front of the structure, are symbols and abbreviations indicating if bodies were found within, the location in where they were found, which agency searched the structure, and on what date. There were also separate markings for dogs and cats. “Three, attic.” “Ten cats, no dog.” There were also roofs with ragged holes where people had punched their way out of their attics. And under the interstates, there were thousands of abandoned, stripped down cars, some with people living in them.

But the city is still there under all of this. In the Ninth Ward, on a tiny porch of a double-shotgun house, spray paint emblazoned on the front door, sat a woman rocking away the afternoon. The city still needs a lot of help and time to recover. But they want to recover, and desperately so. The will to go on is there, and no doubt people will return to this fabulous city.

Links

I mentioned in my last post that Susan has started a blog, and I added the link. I've also added two book related blogs that I frequent for, ahem, work purposes. One really is work related. It's the blog of The Horn Book's editor-in-chief, Roger Sutton. The Horn Book is one of the creme-de-la-creme children's book review journals. Roger's blog definitely covers some children's literature topics, but he also uses it to just talk about what amuses him. It will probably have very little interest for most of you.

The second link I put up is for the website for Stephanie Meyer, the author of my current favorite books, Twilight and New Moon. These books are YA and are sooooo much fun to read. They center around a teenage girl, Bella, and her romance with a vampire. They are hot - in more ways than one. They are also extremely popular right now with just about every female in the book world, regardless of age, and with teenagers. So many of us here at work love these books that we put in a group order for the Edward Cullen (he's the oh so sensitive, yet dangerously deadly vampire) fan club t-shirts. (The tees are being sold by the author and currently she is sold out. But we got ours!) Again, this site will have very little interest for most of you unless you get hooked on Twilight. If you are tempted to pick up the books, you must read Twilight first. I believe I reviewed, or at least raved, about Twilight in a previous post.

I may add a few more links if I come across anything worthwhile.

Suppose I need to let you know what's been going on lately.

On the work front, we've had two new people start in our marketing department. Both are from Boston. Both are young - 23 & 22. Both are female. Both have four letters in their first names. One is our new assistant and one is the associate. They both started in the past two weeks. Amanda and I are so happy they are here because it means we are now back at full staff and we don't have quite as much to stress us out. The associate, Lori, has some experience already, so she's been able to just jump right in and is grasping how we do things very fast. The assistant, Kara, is straight out of college, so she's going to take a little longer to get up to speed, but so far she's doing fine.

I leave for New Orleans on Thursday for the American Library Association Annual Conference. This is my last conference for several months (November!) and I am looking forward to getting it done so I can have a little break. Preparation of conferences starts about a year out, but most of the nitty gritty prep work takes place in the last three months. It is very stressful. Basically, the prep work is me making sure everyone knows what they need to do, flights are booked, materials ordered, credit cards are down, reservations are made, and making sure everything is packed & shipped. Once I get to a conference, I have to make sure everything runs according to plan and that people are where they are supposed to be. And I'm on call 24/7. If an author has a problem checking in to their room, I get called. If an editor isn't sure when they are supposed to meet up with an author, I get called, even though it's written plain as day on their agenda. So even though I get to travel and go to big cities, I don't really get to relax much until I get on the plane to go home. I typically sleep the entire flight home. But it's a fun job. Despite the stress and annoyances.

So New Orleans is Thursday to Tuesday. I'll be home late Tuesday. I do have a little down time and I already have a dinner planned with some publishing friends. I'm looking forward to a beignet and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde.

ALA is also the first conference since the hurricane to take place in NO. The hotel & restaurant people I've talked to on the phone keep saying they are so glad we are coming and they "love the librarians." So far things are running smoothly, but we'll see how it goes once we get there. I don't know if I'll have time to get out to some of the flooded areas of the city. The French Quarter, CBD, and convention center areas are what I'll primarily see, and they are all supposedly just fine.

Last weekend, I woke up with a sinus infection. Not fun. I went to the doc on Tuesday and she gave me some antibiotics that have kicked the junk right out of my head. I'm still not 100%, but today is a huge improvement over last Saturday. Better to be sick this week than next.

What else? Oh, I've finally seen some of the summer movies. I've been so behind. I've seen X-Men, Cars, and Nacho Libre. All enjoyable, and all very fun summer flicks. Nacho Libre is a hilarious movie to the right person. To like this movie, you must like two of the following three things: 1) Jack Black 2) Mexican wrestling 3) physical humor combined with great one-liners. If none of that appeals to you, you will not like this movie. I saw it on Tuesday night at a free screening. Cars is fine, but I don't think it's as good as Pixar's other recent films. The cars are cute, but it just didn't have the pacing or multi-level humor that other Pixar's have. Paul Newman is the perfect voice for the old 1950's car. I enjoyed the music a lot in Cars. X-Men was not as good as the previous two (One is still my fave), but it was pretty good. Jean is freakishly scary, and the end - stay till the very end after the credits - makes you wonder if there will be another one. Supposedly, there will not be an X4, but rather, a Wolverine spin-off.

The weather here has been picture perfect this week, and I've started my beach walking after work again. Last night was really nice because I was a little later than usual and caught the sunset.

And what am I reading? Several things at once but all are for work. Manuscripts for spring 07 books, a couple fall books I need to catch up on before ALA (because the author will be there and there is nothing worse than getting caught by the author when they realize you haven't read their book yet), and that's about it.

A couple weeks ago, Texas's own Robert Earl Keen was in town. It was a small concert at a really interesting outdoor venue right in the San Diego marina. Lovely night with great music, fun singalongs, and a mostly Texas transplant crowd. There were plenty of Wranglers, plaid shirts, boots, and hats. Saw a few Aggie hats & rings mixed in, too.

Sorry for the rather boring post today, but life is just continuing without much variation lately. Going to also add a couple links to other blogs. Check out Susan's to read about her life in the wild west.

Kayaks and Craps

The holiday weekend in Vegas was fantastic. My co-pilot for the drive to and from Vegas, and my paddle buddy, was my coworker and friend, Steve. We left Saturday morning bright and early. We covered the long, boring desert drive to Vegas without much traffic, or at least less traffic than I expected for Memorial Day weekend, and arrived in Vegas pretty close to ETA of 3:30 p.m. It's a six hour drive. We did encounter amazing winds that were screaming across the desert flats and whipping up pretty thick sandstorms. We made a pit stop for lunch and gas at some desolate place in the middle of nowhere. When I opened my door, the wind instantly slammed it shut. We heard later that winds were estimated at 50 mph that day. All this wind did not bode well for our river trip on Sunday. Last year's kayakers encountered strong headwinds and had to constantly paddle. It was not a leisurely float down the river and folks who had been on that trip were not going to go through it again.

But luckily, Mother Nature was kind and could not have given us a more perfect day. We all met at a Von's grocery store in Boulder City at 7AM. That's early. It was a cool 60 degrees, but very clear and sunny, and almost no wind. Just a gentle breeze. We bought lunch and water, and then headed to the Hacienda Hotel & Casino just near the Hoover Dam where we met the outfitter. The outfitter drove us down a bumpy, rocky, narrow, and winding road to river level. We saw bighorn sheep along the way and we'd see many more when we were on the river. I had a very good eye for spotting them thanks to the practice I've had when visiting Susan out in the boonies. (Thanks Susan!) Our launch site was literally as close to the foot of the Hoover Dam that civilians are allowed. I've looked down the Hoover Dam a couple times, but looking up at it is completely different. It's 700 feet high and it just looms. We had a group of 30 people, which meant 15 two-man boats. We all launched successfully and set off letting the current and the gentle tailwind do most of the work. For lunch, we stopped at one of the several "beaches" and did a short hike up to a hot spring. The river water was 53 degrees coming out of the dam, so the hot springs and their jacuzzi hot temperatures felt great. After a leisurely lunch and water gun fight, we hopped back in the boats and continued on. The Colorado River has a lot of minerals and other things in it that make it very clear and very green. We were riding the part of the river that goes through what is called Black Canyon. We poked into a couple small caves where the lighting made the water glow emerald. We also played the fun game of how-many-kayaks-can-get-in-the-cave-and-then-turn-around. About six is the answer. We wore our PFDs the entire time and reapplied sunblock liberally. The temp never got above 82 degrees and I hardly broke a sweat. We really didn't have to paddle too much. Often, two or three boats would link up and we'd float down together sharing snacks, jokes, and other tidbits. We met a few people who were paddling upstream (why upstream, I have no idea. Don't they know downstream is less work?), but essentially, we had the entire river to ourselves. During the eleven miles we were on the river, we saw nesting cormorants, trout (huge!), lizards, ducks, the aforementioned bighorn sheep - some even right down at river level getting a drink, hawks, and swift-like birds. Our end point was Willow Beach in Arizona. Thanks to the fantastic conditions, we were about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The outfitter took a bus of tired but happy paddlers back across the Hoover Dam to our cars. Almost everyone fell asleep on that ride back.

I actually didn't spend a dime on gambling. The weekend cost enough without spending money on gambling. We did walk the strip Saturday night and went in and out of a few casinos. The best thing we saw was a car that had been pulled over by two policemen on *horseback.* The LVPD was out in force Saturday night. I think there were police every block. They were in cars, on bikes, on foot, and on horse. How does one get pulled over by a horse? Of course, traffic was only inching along, so I guess it's possible.

The kayak trip has been an annual event for the past three years, but the trip organizer retired from Harcourt on Friday, so next year's trip is questionable. He said he wants to continue to organize a Memorial Day trip (he has family & friends that come too, so it's not just Harcourt people who do this), but it might be a white water raft trip. That's fine with me.

The drive home on Monday was just as I expected - copious traffic with unpredictable speed up-slow down pockets. Once we passed the 15 and 10 juncture, it was smooth sailing. All those Angelinos who clogged up the freeway went their way, and we went ours.

It was a very good weekend.

Continuing Life

Things here in San Diego have been gloomy. Usually the grey, constant marine layer doesn't happen until June - "June Gloom." But today is a gorgeous, clear blue sky day. Warm, too. I have the windows open, the music on, and laundry going. Tomorrow I'm going out to the Wild Animal Park with a friend from work. I've only been to the park once, with Susan about a year ago. Mom and Dad visited SD while I was in Chicago, and went to the park. They loved it. It is really fantastic and I like it better than the zoo even though the zoo is pretty cool, too. It is the San Diego Zoo after all. Not too shabby.

I'm also going to drive around and look at neighborhoods and houses. Mom and Dad totally surprised me by recently urging me to buy a place instead of continuing to rent. So I'm looking into things. I'm a little daunted by owning something as big as a house, but gotta take that plunge sometime. The state actually has several assistance programs for first time home owners and my salary is still low enough that I qualify for all of them. So that's something on my mind. My lease is up July 1, but I know that letter to renew will be arriving sometime very soon. Not sure what I'll do yet.

What else is new? Hmm. Not much. Susan sent me a huge book called ANIMAL published by DK for the Smithsonian Institute. It has sections for each animal class (Mammals, fishes, amphibians, etc.) and is chock full of photos and information. I've been looking at a section a night. Thanks for the b-day present Susan!

Summer movies are here but I haven't seen a one yet. Kayaking in Vegas next weekend. Robert Earl Keen is here on the Wednesday after Memorial Day. Looking forward to that, too. More later peeps.

Ashes and Snow

Over Easter weekend, I went up to LA. While I was there we went to what has turned out to be one of the most memorable art exhibits I've ever seen. The exhibit is called Ashes and Snow and features photographs of artist Gregory Colbert. The subject of each large-scale photo is people with animals. Animals such as elephants, cheetahs, hawks, lions, whales, apes, and more. When looking at the photos it's hard to believe they were not created in Photoshop or manipulated in any way. Nor are they stills from the three films that are also part of the exhibit. There are photos of women with lions, children with cheetahs, people with elephants, and a dancer with a hawk. In none of the photos does it look like the animal is attacking or dangerous to the human. As mom said, the animals look protective of the people. The photos are not labeled to titled, so the viewer can draw his or her own conclusions. Each photo has an element of the surreal and there is something mystical about the relationship between the animal and the human.

There are also three films that are of people and animals, too. Two are shorter and one is an hour. The films are sort of extensions of the photographs. Seeing the interaction on film completely erases any lingering doubts about the validity of the photos. One of my favorite sequences is of an Egyptian dancer with a hawk. The still photographs of her are stunning and then to see the film of the dance with the bird swooping above and around her is really amazing. The entire sequence is graceful and full of unexpected beauty, with just a touch of danger because you don't really know what that bird is going to do. The dancer keeps dancing as if she is completely unaware the bird is even there. That's actually how many of the people behave in the films. The people are sitting, walking, dancing, or whatever with the animals all around them but not directly interacting with them. And everyone - the people and animals - are so calm. In one part of a film, there is a boy/girl laying down on a sand dune with his/her eyes shut surrounded by panting cheetahs.

The exhibit space for this show is equally as unusual and also demands some of the viewers attention. The space is called the Nomadic Museum. It is constructed out of "152 steel cargo containers stacked 34 feet high combined with largely recyclable and reusable materials to form the structural elements." Really do click on the link above to see photos of this structure and the inside of the exhibit. Go to "Exhibitions" then to "Nomadic Museum" then to "Santa Monica Pier" to see what I saw. The interior of the space is dark and one can't help but whisper because it resembles a cathedral. The noisy ouside world completely disappears. It's dark with only the photos lit with spotlights. The photos are not framed, but suspended in midair by wires. The museum is built on the beach right next to the pier, but we weren't walking on sand. There is a boardwalk surrounded by black stones. Extremely minimalist decor.

The Ashes and Snow website doesn't list any more US dates yet, and the show has closed in Santa Monica. It is going to Japan next. I told my friends at work about this show and one of them did go up on the last weekend to see it. She was so glad she did. She took her husband, eight year-old daughter, and in-laws. All of them loved it.

It's really an exhibit that you come out of feeling like there is something different. Actually, the reentry to civilization in the parking lot at the noisy, neon, Santa Monica pier is somewhat jarring and an interesting foil for the calm, dark, peaceful experience. Walking among the evening crowd at the pier when we had finished, I felt like I had just been part of something extraordinarily special that they had no clue about. Yet, it was so close and all they had to do was walk across the parking lot to experience it for themselves.

Maybe the Nomadic Museum will come back to the US and all of you can experience it too.

Catching Up

Since it's been so long since I updated this, here is the down and dirty version of what I've been up to in the last month or so.

-Preparing for Texas Library Association & International Reading Association conferences
-Going to the aforementioned TLA and IRA conferences (they were back-to-back this year, lucky me) in Houston and Chicago
-made it through sales conference three days before leaving for Houston and had lots of fun hanging out with work chums both in SD and from NY
-Celebrated my 29th birthday on the road in Houston
-Visited Tom, Holly, and new baby, Ellie, in Houston
-Visited College Station for the first time in five years, by my calculation and recollection
-Attended my first game at Minute Maid Park with publishing friends on my birthday, Astors vs. Dodgers
-Easter
-Attended three Padres games so far this season and it's only the beginning of May
-Hanging out with friends
-Went to the Shedd Aquarium during my semi-free day in Chicago
-Visited the amazing photography exhibition, Ashes and Snow, in Santa Monica (review to come)
-Watched the entire Freaks & Geeks series
-Haven't had much energy to read, but I did just polish off the sequel to Twilight, New Moon. Vampires, werewolves, teen romance=so good!

It's been busy. But all is good. No colds, injuries, stress-induced breakdowns, or the like. I'm in the home stretch now. I am now turning my attentions to preparing for the American Library Association annual conference at the end of June in New Orleans. Should be a snap after the last two weeks.

I also am looking forward to a kayak trip in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. Two nights in Vegas and a lazy float down a river. Should be nice.

Hope all of you are well and I'll write again soon.

It's amazing!

Just got this, and had to share it with you immediately!

Check out this guy as he juggles to the Beatles' Golden Slumbers and Carry that Weight. You have to have speakers because the juggling is set to the song.

Now a movie review

Two posts in two days? Can you contain yourself?

I'm actually so exhausted with work, that I thought I'd sit here at the end of the day and write my take of recent movie I've seen. As if you care.

First, The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Hmm. While this does fall into the crude humor genre, it has a surprising amount of heart. It's a strange mix of body/sex humor and moments of sincerity. Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. When I was watching it, this didn't really occur to me. I was actually pretty put off by the language and the stereotypical characters & situations. But the next day, I found myself thinking about it. That's always a good sign. Steve Carell really played the character brilliantly. He toes the line of making himself a cartoon of a sex-less, socially stunted, nerd - he collects action figures, tucks his pants into his sock when riding his bike, cooks elaborate breakfasts for no one but himself, and watches "Survivor" with his elderly neighbors. He's the polar opposite of Vince Vaughn in Swingers. But Carell keeps the character on this side of the line by making him a very sincere guy. His friends are the stock characters - guys who think they know the answers about sex and women and actually have it all wrong. I felt some of the minor characters completely gratuitous and two of them probably filled the quota for allowable utterances of the f-word. It was an assault on the ears. The supporting characters are actually pretty boring with the exception of Catherine Keener ("What's she doing in this?!" was my reaction to seeing her name on the credits) and the character actress who plays his boss at the electronics store. The ad-libbing she does is great. Watch the extra scenes to see it.

So while the 40 Year-Old Virgin is not the best movie ever made, it does have some surprises and really good laughs. Who wouldn't laugh at the chest waxing scene?

The second movie I watched recently is Walk the Line. Another hmmm. I liked the movie and didn't find it as slow as some of my friends thought it was. The acting by everyone in the cast was great, as was the production value. But the whole story felt a little empty to me. Like something was missing. I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Enjoyable and filled with great music.

The Da Vinci Code Update.
I finished the book last night. I predicted most of the outcome correctly. But I did think the Newton poem was clever. The last fifty pages or so was the best part of the book. I figured out where the Holy Grail was, but I'm a little surprised the author made it an actual place. I thought he'd make up some fictional place. It was easy to picture Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, and Jean Reno as the characters. I'm glad I read the book but I might have ruined the movie by knowing the ending.

To keep in the art mystery vein, I started The Lost Painting. I'm only on chapter seven and I'm hooked.

Let me know what you're reading and watching.

Book Report

Last weekend, I read a fabulous book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The main character is a 10 year-old girl, Lisel, who is living with foster parents in a small suburb of Munich during the early days of WWII. She cannot read but learns with the help of her patient foster father. She loves the words and she soon discovers that books are the one thing she cannot resist. She starts stealing books from Nazi book burnings, from the library in the mayor's house, and even from a grave digger. Meanwhile, a German Jew comes to hide in her family's basement. Lisel shares her books with him and together they find solace in the words.

The expected hardships and dangers associated with war are also part of Lisel's life - rations, air raids, and death. Zusak portrays daily life in Nazi Germany as "normal" because it was for that time. Lisel must join Hitler's Youth when she turns ten, public display of the Nazi flag is mandatory on Hitler's birthday, the abandoned Jewish neighborhood, "Heil Hitler" instead of "hello", and yet, Lisel and her best friend ride their bikes and play soccer in the street just like kids anywhere would do. It's normal life for them.

So what makes this book different from any other WWII novel? Lisel's story is narrated by Death. Readers meet Death on the very first page. Death is portrayed as an observer who only involves himself in people's lives when he must take them. He is a reliable narrator but Zusak humanizes Death just enough, that by the book's end, he's actually a slightly sympathetic character.

The Book Thief was originally published in Zusak's native Australia as a book for adults. It weighs in at 540 pages. Zusak's American publisher, Knopf (imprint of Random House), has decided to publish it as young adult, but quietly. This sort of thing happens quite often. The bestseller, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, was originally published in the UK as a young adult book, but when it jumped the pond, it was published as an adult novel. The Book Thief is sophisticated, meaty, compelling, and solid. The author is going to be at ALA in June, and I'm going to haul this book and another with me for him to sign. Go read it!

Incidentally, Zusak's previous novel, I Am the Messenger, is also fantastic. It's completely different from The Book Thief. Set in Australia, the protagonist is a 19 year-old guy who makes his living illegally driving a cab. His ho-hum life is disrupted when he foils a bank robbery and anonymously receives a playing card in his mail - the ace of diamonds. Written on the card are three names of people he doesn't know. He must figure out what role he is to play in their lives. Part mystery and adventure, I Am the Messenger, is full of angst, love, family, humanity, and connection. Smartly written and a really good story.

Since finishing The Book Thief this weekend, I have finally begun reading The Da Vinci Code. Am I the last person on the planet to read this thing? I'm not quite done with it - probably have one more night of reading - and I'm not impressed. Sure, it's an engaging story but I'm finding some sloppiness in the storytelling. There are holes and far too many convenient coincidences. I think that parts of it are repetitious as if Dan Brown underestimates his reader's ability to remember things from one chapter to the next. I have found myself skipping those repetitions. I also am finding it extremely easy to predict plot points. I'm almost a little bored with it. I think it will make a better movie than book.

What?! Flying cows?

This has to be the most bizarre news story ever.

Snoopy, the bad novelist, would approve

This year's 10 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton contest, a.k.a. "Dark and Stormy Night Contest" (run by the English Dept. of San José State University), wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel:

10) "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

9) "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

8) "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

7) "André, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... André creep... André creep.'"

6) "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back-alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."

5) "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."

4) "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."

3) "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

2) "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

AND THE WINNER IS...

1) "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly,'You lied!'"

I swear I've heard #4 somewhere else before. It made me laugh then, and it makes me laugh now.

What was I thinking?

Hey, I have an idea, why don't I go to Montana in the dead of winter? Sounds great! As I write this, at 9:12PM, the outside air temp is 3 degrees according to Susan's outdoor thermometer. Did you catch that - 3?? At what temperature does the liquid in an eyeball freeze?

It was gorgeous here today. Twenty-one when I landed, and I think the high was around 28, but beautiful sunny skies. It snowed a whole lot last night and the ski hill we're headed to tomorrow has around 20" of fresh snow. Weather conditions should be about the same.

More later if my fingers haven't fallen off because of frostbite.

The Weekend Is Going Downhill

I'm headed to Big Sky country this weekend. I'm going skiing with Susan and Pat at their neighborhood ski hill. Here's where we'll be: Teton Pass
I'm flying buddy pass in and out of Great Falls via Salt Lake. Here's hopin' the flights stay available for my return trip from Salt Lake. Flights are a little questionable.

Found this site today. I like the LiveScience site anyway, and then I found these science myths. If you are a fan of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters (and I know there are at least two of you out there), then you'll like these.

Olympic sized rant

The ice dancing costumes have compelled me to break my blog silence. Did you catch the ice dancing at the Olympics? What is up with the costumes? I know the theme was Latin dances, which can have a bit of color, sexiness, and passion, but does that equate gaudy? Almost every costume was a day-glo shade of orange, yellow, or red. And tacky, tacky, tacky. What was with the feather poof? And the leopard print with matching circa 1980 Jazzercise headband? I remember ice dancing costumes from a couple Olympics back that were flowy, less bedazzled, and covered up more. The flow of the women's skirts would accentuate the leg movements not distract. It's not just the women showing a lot of skin, the men also seem to think it's a requirement that they show off their chests. In some cases, at least on tv, it appears that some could use some more time in the gym and a bottle of tan in the can. Not that I am one to talk about tans.

Also regarding the Olympics: can the media let the speed skating "feud" go? Who cares if the two guys like each other or not? They don't have to like each other. I think each skater should just keep his mouth shut and not give the media any more fuel. Soon, the women's figure skaters will get all the attention and we won't hear about any other sports.

The media has also done a pretty good job at making some of the athletes pretty uncomfortable during interviews. Do we, the public, really have to hear that poor skier who fell talk about it again? Or that Russian pair who ended up winning the gold but all the interviewer wanted to ask about was that scary fall they had back at some other event months ago. Clearly, they didn't want to talk about it. The NBC people need to get a clue and be a little more sensitive to their subject's feelings. Sure, the falls and tragedies are dramatic, but it disturbs me that NBC is using these things over and over again to get ratings. Why not concentrate on the personal achievements and positive outcomes? Not the falls and negativity. Davis won a gold medal, but all that was talked about was what Hedrick said in response to it and their feud. Ug. Ted Ligety won a gold, but we all know Bode finished fifth. The games are supposed to be inspiring, uplifting, and positive. Even when Apolo got a bronze the other night, the after-event interviewer asked him if the Koreans teamed up on him. I thought his answer was smart, but even brining up that idea was poor form. He won a medal - why not talk about that?

Arg. One last gripe. All the commercials. Can't stand them. It is in serious debate if I will ever eat at KFC, drive a Chevy, have a VISA, or get All-State insurance in the near future.