NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK (April 12-19)

Book Lovers Unite! I know there are lots of you out there and to celebrate the upcoming event April 12-19, 2009 is National Library Week, I'm going to be offering games, prizes and fun features during this special week.

To celebrate and help spread the love of reading, I’d like to hear what your favorite book(s) of all time happen to be.

Please include your favorite book list in the COMMENTS section and I’ll compile a final list.


Remember:

"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill."

Barbara Tuchman (Historian/Author)

2009 GAP Conference

The Oregon Commission for Women held an All-Day Conference at Portland State University on March 7, 2009.

I went to this conference on Saturday and thought it was invigorating: filled with people and panelists who are full of passion and creativity.

Portland State University in conjunction with the Oregon Commission for Women hosted the 2009 Gap Conference in Smith Memorial Student Union. This all-day conference was open to the public and admission was free.

The goal of the Oregon Commission for Women is to Bridge Gender Gaps in Education, Health Care, Employment and Leadership.

One way the commission is hoping to get more young women involved is by appealing to their interests in movies, theater and films.

Lana Veenker of Veenker Casting,

who helped with the casting of the Twilight movie last year in Portland, participated in a panel discussion, answering questions presented to the group with humor, passion and perspective. You can read her blog here.

Lourrie Hammack the President of Laika House, which produced the amazing stop-motion animated film CORALINE which was written by Newberry Award winning author Neil Gaiman was also on the panel together with Jan Johnson, also from Laika House.

The panel was rounded out by Ellen Bergstone Beer, who is involved with the Women’s Film Initiative and Film Action Oregon.

It was an eye-opening panel discussion moderated by Susan Castner from the Oregon Commission for Women.

Nike’s own Phil Knight owns Laika House and his son, Travis, who is the CEO of the production company, which used to be Will Vinton Studios, here in Portland, Oregon and which became well known due to their advertising campaign for the California Raisins are taking Laika into new areas.

Laika House has recently done animated work for Dole, M&Ms, Soyjoy, Coca Cola, Carnation Breakfast Essentials, Apple, Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food, Nike, the Oregon lottery and more.

The Women’s Film Initiative is working to engage Portland Women in the film-making industry and has contributed more than $17,000 to help fund five different film-making projects: three documentaries and two narratives have been supported by these funds.

If you are interested in getting involved in this program, here is the contact information for the Oregon Commission for Women: 3218 Pringle Road SE, Suite 270, Salem, OR 97302, Phone: 503-378-2139, Email: oaco.mail@das.state.or.us

The Watchmen - The Minutemen

The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbens

The family all went to see the movie Saturday night. Lars, Jake, Luke, Kara and I really enjoyed the show. MacKenzie, Luke’s girlfriend, came too.

I thought the cinematography was absolutely amazing. The angles of the camera made everything seem so rich and the colors were so vivid, that this film seemed full and deep.

This show was based on a graphic novel written in 1986.

One of my favorite lines was: “There is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise on this.”

Also, I love the line, "Who Watches Over the Watchmen?" and I thought it was interesting that the superheroes were really The Minutemen not The Watchmen. But maybe the watch correlation came into the script with Dr. Manhattan's Dad being a Watchmaker...?

There were so many great lines, I’m going to have to watch it again—maybe when it comes out on DVD (because taking a family of six to see a show nowadays is crazy expensive—just one pop and one bucket of popcorn was over $12.00) to see them all again.

It was a beautifully written story and the movie stayed true to most of the graphic novel, which I find admirable.

The character I connected with the most is Rorschach—especially since he was the writer, with his journal. I also thought he was heroic because he tried to warn his “friends” that someone was trying to kill them. And, he was willing to sacrifice himself and die for what he believed in.

I thought it was a fun/entertaining movie. Of course there were a few things I didn’t like. There was a bit of gore (I had to turn away a couple times) and if you’re a parent thinking of taking your children to this superhero show, think again. You need to be aware of the sexual scenes plus Dr. Manhattan was always nude, which my 20-year old daughter said, “I don’t know why he never wore clothes.” That didn’t bother me because he seemed so comfortable “in his own skin” and he did have a perfect physique. Plus, he did wear a suit once or twice: like for the funeral and the newscast.

However, MacKenzie (who doesn’t come from our gene pool and has her own opinions that don’t seem to be so similar as ours) wasn’t that into the film. But she’s not that into action films or superhero shows. And, maybe she didn’t think it was so good because she didn’t understand why they (Dr. Manhattan and Lori) went to Mars and why they couldn’t just talk on Earth. Also she didn’t understand why no one tried to save Dr. Manhattan when he got stuck in the time-lock vault or what made him turn blue. Maybe it was the magical/mystical elements that took her out of the story so she couldn’t enjoy it like we all did. Somehow the superhuman aspects didn’t seem to bother any of us.

SPOILER ALERT: (Don't read further if you haven't seen the show)

Two things I didn’t like about the film:

1) The movie digressed from the actual novel in that Dr. Manhattan became the scapegoat rather than an alien Squid, which I would have been happier with; and,
2) I hated that Dr. Manhattan killed Rorschach, who was the moral superhero, even though some people might have thought he was totally crazy. He believed in doing the right thing no matter what and even if it caused a bad outcome. I’m a person who doesn’t believe in situational ethics so I really identified with that.

My son put a link on his web comic about The Watchmen from a spoofed comic: check it out here. Of course, remember it's only a spoof.

THE BLOOM AWARD - writing contest

Blooming Tree Press is going to have a mystery contest in honor of Mildred Bloom. You can read all about it here.

On-Line Comic

My sons, Luke

and Jake

have been working on a graphic novel together even though Luke's away at school (the University of Oregon). Plus, the two of them put together an on-line comic strip. I just thought I'd share my sons' on-line comic link.

If you're not easily offended by boy humor, check it out here.

(P.S. I don't know why Luke's photo is so much bigger...honest)

ANSWER TO THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY AND EARTH-FRIENDLY FRIDAY

Answer to Thought for Thursday: To stop them from stealing pepper, it was used as currency at the time.

Now for EARTH-FRIENDLY FRIDAY: With the high price of gasoline and the recession hitting the economy and all of us pretty hard, why don't we try walking a little more? Rather than going for a Sunday afternoon drive, why don't we all go for a Sunday afternoon walk? It will be good for the heart, health and be Earth-Friendly too. We don't have to do a lot, if we all do a little, we can make a big difference.

And, if you happen to live in Portland, Oregon, you just might be in luck because my hometown is one of the top ten most walkable cities in the country. Check it out here.

THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY

This one is for all you writers working in the historical fiction area/genre:

QUESTION: In Elizabethan times, why did dockworkers have to have their pockets sewn shut while ships were being unloaded from the Orient?

Come back tomorrow and find out if you were right. ;-)