Do you know a boy (or girl) age 10-14 who needs a good book to read at camp? Or to get them off their X-Box for a few hours? Then buy them a copy of Greg Logsted's new book ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH. Greg and his whole family (wife and daughter) are repped by the same agent as I, and I think that kind of makes me family as well. So, to steal a phrase from Nadine Dajani's (actual) brother: Buy my brother's book or die.
Here are the deets:
Thirteen-year-old Cody Saron has been home schooled his whole life by his father, an undercover agent for the CIA. Cody has never lived the same life as other kids his age. He never went to a regular school, never lived in one place longer than a few weeks, never had a friend or played on any sports teams. Cody’s a black belt in the arts of Tae Kwon Do and Ju Jitsu. He speaks five languages and has traveled to every corner of the globe. But what Cody isn't prepared for is . . . junior high.
When the danger surrounding Cody's dad heats up like never before, Cody is sent to stay with the aunt he's never known, Jenny Williams, in her small Connecticut suburb. Cody knows how to pick a lock or follow a trail, but he has no idea how to fit in with regular kids, how to handle his first crush, or how to make it through a day of classes. How will he ever fit in?
“I just finished reading Greg Logsted’s Alibi Junior High in a single sitting. Thankfully the family had other things to do for a while because the author nailed me to the pages with his premise and with the fantastic pacing of this young adult novel. I wasn’t tempted even once to get up and go do something else. Logsted starts his spell on page one, and readers will have to stay with him to see what ultimately happens to Cody Saron, the 13-year-old professional spy.” ~ Mel Odol, INDENVER TIMES
Greg Logsted currently lives in Danbury with his wife and fellow author, Lauren Baratz-Logsted and their daughter Jackie. He is the author of Something Happened and coauthor of The Sisters 8 series for young readers.
So all the Michael Jackson stuff is driving me a little crazy... But I have to say this song remains one of my all-time favorites.
My parents used to let us watch the Sonny & Cher show occasionally... not 100% sure I actually saw this (clearly lip-synced) performance, but boy did I love the song when I was a little kid.
The arrangement is pretty schmatzy by today's standards... But such a pretty, heart-wrenching song that in spite of being about a rat, really spoke to me as a pre-tween.
Pride is a tough emotion for me. Or is it a trait? I suppose Catholics say it's a sin.
Whatever it is, one thing this pursuit for publication has taught me is I need to ignore my pride, or at least swallow it. And I need to stop confusing it with self confidence.
In fact, the two can be diametrically opposed.
Pride makes me embarrassed I haven't got a contract from a major house, yet.
Pride makes me want to avoid talking to non-writer friends and family about my writing. (My writer friends totally get it.)
Pride makes people think writing makes me angry, when really, it makes me happy.
Self-confidence keeps me going.
Self-confidence keeps me positive.
Self-confidence reminds me I'll reach my goals -- some day.
L'il C on SYTYCD often makes me a little crazy with his various prognostications.
BUT this week, in amongst all his crazy talk, unnecessary alliterations and misused words, was a gem:
Lack of self-confidence is the heaviest anchor you can put on your creativity.
I'd like to amend that, slightly, and say that pride can be mighty heavy, too.
Hey, I just learned of two contests by fabulous writers! Part of me doesn't want to tell anyone about them, to increase my own odds of winning... but I flunked out of evil villain school.
Eileen Cook is giving away a $75 gift certificate for books. That's right! Wow.
If that's not enough, Victoria Dahl is giving away not one, but four, of her new releases!!!! (Four exclamation marks in honor of giveaway.) Awesomely cute cover, too.
Heading off to Ottawa for the May two-four weekend to play with my sister. Tulips are probably done, already, but hey, might still be a few.
Interesting Canadian trivia... Holland sends millions of tulip bulbs to Ottawa (capital of Canada) every fall that come up in brilliant colour all over the city each spring. This is to thank Canada, not only for being the allied troops that landed on their beaches on D-day... but also for letting their royal family (the wife and kids, anyway) stay in Ottawa during the war.
And about May two four. Yes. Canadians celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday. Who cares she's been dead for a over a hundred years. Chick still deserves a party. The holiday falls on or about May 24th each year (officially falls on the second-to-last Monday in May)... But the real reason it's become known as the May two-four is that "two-four" is Canadian slang for a case of beer... As in, "Hey, let's pick up a two-four and head up to the cottage." And, well, lots of beer is typically consumed on the Victoria Day weekend.
Party on Garth! Party on Wayne!
(Okay, I know for SNL purposes, those guys were supposed to be in a suburb of Chicago, but every one up here, and anyone who knows anything about Mike Myers knows Garth and Wayne were actually from Scarborough, Ontario. Stan Mikita's Donuts was so obviously Tim Hortons.)
Okay, so this is pretty funny. And a very clever and different way to promote a novel. I don't know Lara Zielin but will keep an eye out for her debut Donut Days in August now I've seen this.
Kenneth going into anaphylactic shock: My real name is Dick Wittman.
Okay, only funny if you watch Mad Men. But if you aren't watching Mad Men, why not??? For the smart people who are into Mad Men, here's my analysis of the first episode of Mad Men.
But back to 30 Rock... I bounced up and down in my chair clapping when Salma Hayek revealed her What the Frak? Battlestar Galactica t-shirt.
Inside jokes on one of my favourite comedies, based on two of my favourite dramas. All they needed was a Tim Riggins reference and my life would've been complete.
Okay... So when I first saw this on Moonrat's blog I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Sure, it was funny, but I feared that its target audience would take it seriously and so it made me a little sad about the world (at least our neighbours to the South), and angry about misleading propaganda and misinformation.
And then the brilliant Steven Colbert does a parody of it and I almost died laughing. Seriously. Have watched it six times already and laugh out loud, every time. "Oh God. The homo storm got me!"
Wow. Survivor tonight was the best blindside ***of the audience*** I've ever seen. Those rascally editors/producers.
They sure had me convinced they were getting rid of Coach. Maybe I just wanted to believe it, because I can't STAND Coach. I'd even started another blog post about arrogance never getting you anywhere that I had to delete to start this one after the vote. Crap. Arrogance won.
That guy defines the word arrogant. And ridiculous. And narcissistic. And immature. And misogynistic. And about a dozen other negative words I can't think of right now. (I used up my allotted vocabulary editing today.)
Brendan seemed really nice and I thought he deserved to stay, but again, it's the all about the edit. He did make a huge mistake by not staying loyal to the Exile Island alliance right from the merge. But it seems like this season NO ONE is staying loyal. To anyone. I now think/hope Debbie will win. I used to be rooting for Taj or JT.
I don't think I remember another season where this far in there weren't stronger alliances. Quite honestly, it seemed like Brendan was the only one not totally in it for himself this year. I actually believed him when he said he hoped JT would win.
All I care about is that Coach doesn't win. Get that guy out of there. He makes me crazy and not in a good way. He absolutely encapsulates the personality type I most despise.
So, enjoyed this movie. Paul Rudd, anyone? And it was fun and his character was dorkily adorable and the Seth Rogen Jason Segal* character wasn't nearly as obnoxious as I was expecting--even showed some vulnerable layers...
But I couldn't help thinking... They've done it. Hollywood has figured out how to marginalize women, even in romantic comedies. A romantic comedy where the girl is the side-kick. Even managed to make her a secondary character at her own wedding.
Sigh.
Still enjoyed it. How about you?
*(Hmm... they are slightly interchangeable. Still. Sloppy, Maureen. Sloppy!)
Do you know a boy (or girl) age 10-14 who needs a good book to read at camp? Or to get them off their X-Box for a few hours? Then buy them a copy of Greg Logsted's new book ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH. Greg and his whole family (wife and daughter) are repped by the same agent as I, and I think that kind of makes me family as well. So, to steal a phrase from Nadine Dajani's (actual) brother: Buy my brother's book or die. 
