hey folks,
i'm back in vermont safely and the whoosh-rumble of the road is (for now)
a thing
of the past. my hair is still harsh to behold; without the weasley context,
it
just looks goof-ass. alas, a proper bed beckons. cheers, love, and stillness,
william of the bozo locks
hey all,
it's harry potter day. and what a day. it's raining (we've got a team
working on
improving the weather right now) and everyone is excited for the big party.
i've
moved on from "cupcake blonde" to "light auburn blonde" in true arthur
weasley
fashion, and it's all so exciting i could spit.
i'll be heading back to new england on sunday - my phone is still wonky if you
need a call; e-mail me with your number (i cannot access my address book, but
i
can call out.
but for now, it's harry potter and the deathly hallows time. my shift
starts in 15
minutes... can't wait. details (and unfortunately pictures) to follow. cheers
and
magic,
wil barbour, department of the misuse of muggle artifacts, ministry of
magic,
london, uk
hey folks,
so many things going on... and at such a rapid pace! i've been writing
unfinished
emails about camp, but you should know it was a success; a rousing one at
that.
perhaps a day will come when i will soak you all with the details...
harry potter release party coming up on friday night. there will be another
story
there. i'm ditching my role as prof. kettleburn in favour of mr. arthur
weasley;
so last night, phase one of the transformation. to get red hair, i have to
lighten
my curly, dark brown locks. so now thanks to 'hi-rez' hair lightener by
softsheen-carson (crystal blonde), i pretty much have golden yellow hair. if
this
is freaking you out, believe me when i tell you that i am doubly freaked.
although
i doubt it will work, i will be trying to suppress all photographic evidence
of
this....
in other news, my phone is on the fritz... email me if you neet to reach
me,
provide a number (can't access my phone's phonebook) and i should be able to
reach
you.
wish me luck. cheers and peace,
william of the unnatural blonde
hey everybody,
ok, so the segment was not all that well produced. mediocrity and funky-bad
edits
combined with dippy commentary made for a cutesy but uninformative fluff. but
amid
the bit of wonderful footage of our wicked great kids, there were two
glimpses of
wil, son of dionysus, marching along with the best. muy tired tonight, so i
can't
tell you about all the capture the flag stories, famous quotes from camp, and
the
exciting cheese-off. perhaps tomorrow. cheers and peace,
wil of the orange cabin
hey folks,
what i failed to mention amid all the poisonous, ailmenty, harsh and
completely
wonderful times we've been having at camp half blood, is that last tuesday we
had
a couple of special guests come to the party. the author of "the lightning
thief"
***on his own birthday, mind you*** came out to the park and read to us and
answered questions from the kids. it was magical, with cake. we also had a
small
film crew following us around all day.
so you all have to check out the 'today' show this friday, june 15th, on
nbc, at
about 9:15am (eastern) (the second hour, i believe) where al roker will be
interviewing rick riordan about his percy jackson books and they should be
showing
footage from camp. look for our bespectacled leader topher talking to the
campers.
look for thomas, the big leader of ares cabin and our grecian drill sargeant.
look
for the possibility of me wearing my denim kilt and distinctive headgear.
please
tape, tivo or otherwise record the show as we will be starting our final day
of
camp that morning (we fully plan to have it recorded by a friend down here
and
watch it friday evening at our "cast party"). there. one more week to go! go
team
demigod! cheers and sacrifices to the gods,
william, son of dionysus, keeper of the water cups, and wearer of silly
hats
hey folks,
between the bug bites, mild infections (right big toe), heat stress and
fast
moving campers, i have found peace and salubrious calm. mostly it comes in
the
form of the dude-i-can't-moves at the end of each day of camp half-blood.
reprising my role of wil, son of dionysus, has been and continues to be an
awesome
adventure in exhaustion and weight loss. we have taken over a corner of
mckinney
state park in austin, decorated it with trappings of greek mythology and
proceded
to make 8-14 year olds run around while we try to soften the death-grip we
hold on
the first-aid kits. some of the pitfalls include: retrieving fake spears and
stray
dodgeballs from poison oak infested woods, the not so very subtle combination
of
capture the flag and concrete, a fascinating array of insects set on "ow!",
having
one's table go last for snack time (think dolly madison supersimple
carbohydrates,
go-gurts, and tooth-rattlingly strong gatorade), and texas sized heat and
humidity.
i have actually failed to use sunscreen for 10 days now, with no short-term
ill
effects (that i know of). i have my hat, and my grecian water cups and a not
at
all grown up attitude (when i'm not wiping blood off camper's faces and
knees).
it's awesome to the olympian degree and later i'll show you the pictures and
the
various scars. until later, cheers from the gods,
william of the survivalist's concern and scion times two
hey people,
it's the last night in hinesburg, and tonight was a doozy. i ran
concessions at
the "pickin' for friends" benefit concert at the town hall. if you didn't
know,
friend and children's librarian extraordinaire, tom, runs a monthly 'pickin'
party' at the town library where we get together, decide on a specific key
(not
that anyone has to adhere to that key) and just sing and play and jam on song
after song; mostly in the folk vein, sometimes a little bluesy, occasionally
jazzy, frequently bluegrassy. i'd say that 'crossover' is our strength.
everything
works and there are no wrong notes. anyway, tom threw together this concert
including "the bring-down-the-house band" made up of members of our pickin'
group
and including rik palieri (websites will give you great intros to these fun
and
talented people; check out rik at www.banjo.net to see his podcasts and
other
media thingies), rebecca padula (her website is a trove of musical and
progressive
joy: www.rebeccapadula.com ),
and my ol' buddy from the cvu audio-visual department lyle king (dig his
happening
tunes: www.lyleking.com ). the whole evening was fun, folky, kids running
around,
apple cider, brian's boffo brownies, wendy's way cool kugel, salsa and chips
and
the music, while it did not actually bring the house (or, in this case, the
town
hall) down, it was all brilliant.
and now i must get to bed, because i've got breakfast with some friends and
then
i've got a 30 hour drive ahead of me. call me psycho. i deserve it. i will
try to
find the wi-fi hotspots between here and texas and fill you in with
happenings
including the camp half blood goings-on. i always bring my camera; i almost
never
use it. i'll try to make a better effort this trip.
ooh, in case anyone needs to reach me on the road. email me or call my
texas
number- 512.536.4986 (and probably leave a message... you know me...) i'll be
down
there at least until the fourth of july. until next time, cheers and peace,
wil of the yee and haw
hey readers,
i've got two reviews for you today: scott westerfeld's "uglies" (a
favourite of
school libraries and teen fiction shelves at the bookstore) and pete
hautman's
"godless" (the second hautman novel into which i have delved).
i totally get the appeal of the westerfeld. it's about a society where
adolescents
look forward to their 16th birthdays when they undergo an operation to turn
their
pimply, imperfect, awkward young teen selves into attractive, instantly
popular,
carefree, partygoing young adults. 'uglies' can't wait to transform into
'pretties' and go to live in the party towers in 'new pretty town'. we meet
tally,
an ugly who can't wait to be reunited with her boyfriend who gets the
operation a
few months before. while she is dreaming of the pretty life, she meets
another
friend who shows her the world outside the city and the secret of the
community
known as the 'smoke'. the smokies are a band of runaways who realize that the
operation changes you in more than apperarances; the operation also
brainwashes
you into the pretty society. not that the uglies aren't brainwashed into
thinking
that prettydom is not the best thing in the world. so it's the smokies versus
the
special cruel looking
pretties that conduct the operation in the city laboratories.
the message is obvious. tally comes to realize that one's appearance is
secondary
to the freedom of being your self, flaws and all. the plot is contrived just
so we
can get the parable here. the story is way fun, and worthy, but i don't know
if i
should read the sequels... more later perhaps.
the second review is a great book that blows my previous review of pete
hautman's
"rash" (from 2/8/07) out of the water supply... let me explain.
"godless" is the tale of jason bock and his attempt to rebel against his
parents
religious views and his church youth group. jason makes his own religion out
of the
town water tower: why not? if catholics can look up to an invisible god of
ancient
stories to fill our souls and guide us, why can't jason and his friends look
up
(literally) to a ten-legged god who provides, hydrates, fills our pools,
waters our
lawns and makes our life possible? of course, organizing a religion (the
church of
the ten legged god, or chutengodians for short) is not all that easy.
everyone has a
different take on how to worship. the results are just about as funny and
serious as
our own history of reformation, fanaticism, factionism and zealotry. it's
easier to
comprehend just how brilliant this book is by reading it. hautman doesn't
just mock
organized religion. he works in the things in which we believe (or don't
believe),
and the reason our faith clings steadfastly to what others might see as
absurd. it's an awesome 'good book'.
keep reading stuff and i will go knock the snow off my car... again. is it
me, or
is it april? cheers and pages for now,
william of the springy spring spring
hey readers,
i've fallen behind in my reviewing. so much reading. so much planning and
packing.
so many little things to attend to before i take of for austin this weekend.
but
here are a couple of books for you by kathe koja:
i was in the school library last week and i asked my friend a., a
librarian, what
i should read next. she had just been looking at a summer reading list online and
the title "the blue mirror" came up. and, wouldn't you know, the book was
right
out on the new arrival shelf (new to the library... kathe koja wrote it in
2004...), and since it is a slim book (119 pages) i just started reading
during my
free period. i was halfway done by the time i had to sub for a science class.
"the blue mirror" follows maggie, a student on the edge of life. her mom is
a
winston smoking, alcoholic mess, her school life is miserable (when she goes
to
school that is), and her only solace is sitting in a booth at the 'blue
mirror'
coffeeshop and sketching the local colour. one day she spies a gorgeous boy
wearing a gothy/townie signature blue lipstick. cole is a hunk, but he's also
a
bad boy. maggie is smitten. and we watch to see how close to the edge maggie
gets.
it's a case of the bad element, and while the writing is engaging and
surreally
real, the content reads a little short and flat. but i gotta say it's worth
reading for some positive messages amid the chaos.
on the back of the book is a review of another koja book: "buddha boy" and
had all
the right review adjectives (compelling, eye-opening, etc.) and since "buddha
boy"
was also 119 pages, i said to myself, "why not?"
the main draw for this book is an understated introduction to buddhism. the
narrator, justin, (and the rest of edward rucher high school) can't quite
figure
out the new kid in school. he wears an oversized tie dyed t-shirt with a
dragon on
it, carries around a beggars cup during lunch, has a shaved head and smiles
all
the time. the 'buddha boy's spiritual name is jinsen. justin is intrigued by
jinsen just 'cause he's so wierd. and jinsen is perfect fodder for mcmanus,
the
school jock/mr. popularity/bully just 'cause he's so wierd. you should read
this
for the relationships that grow, the artistic and religious philsophy
expressed,
and how the calm, peaceful jinsen affects justin and the whole school. it's a
subtle indictment of bullying and an affirmation of kind buddhist neutrality.
kathe koja certainly has a hit with this one. i kind of hope she comes out
with a
sequel. i loved this story.
coming up next email: a tale about a special girl by julie anne peters.
until
then, cheers and ennumerated pages,
william of the one after the other
hello readers,
i come to you with a short tragedy: "inexcusable" by chris lynch. it's a
shocking
cautionary tale about a high school senior named keir sarafian. keir is
popular,
self assured and an overall good guy, so he proclaims himself. the story
snapshots
the last month of school with proms and graduations, family life (his sisters
are
already off to college, single dad struggles to survive and provide despite
alcoholism) and the relationship he has with gigi, one of his best friends in
school. the cover of the book has black lettering on all white except for a
black
lace bra in the bottom right. quickly we learn that something has gone wrong
between himself and gigi. but how can that be when keir is such a good,
sensible
guy? he knows that 'no' means 'no', but it's not like what you're thinking...
to
kier it's a grey area. to us it really is black and white.
this is a rugged little read that goes from sympathetic to pathetic in 165
pages
and leaves you feeling both wrong and wronged. this is teen fiction at its
scariest and most blunt. i think that this book is an important guy book so
long
as we understand that this sort of thing can happen (to anyone? not sure...
but
read it anyway). no explicit sexuality but beware the heavy drug use in this
novel. well crafted by chris lynch; i'm glad i read it.
something more upbeat for next time, yes? cheers and black type,
william of the occasional roughness
good morning readers,
so it turns out that after you die, you wake up aboard a cruise ship;
something
along the lines of, say, a norwegian cruise line; big ship, not exciting like
a
carnival cruise; it's not hurricaine season, and the food's good. and there
are
some wierd coin operated telescopes on the lido deck where you can look upon
those
you left behind. the ship's port of call is "elsewhere", which is the name of
this
book by gabrielle zavin. the novel begins with the recently dead girl liz
(hit by
a car while riding her bike to the cambridgeside galleria) at age 15
debarking in
elsewhere where she must live her life again in reverse: for every day she
lived
on earth, she will live a day in elsewhere growing younger until she's an
infant
again. very cute premise. i was thinking: is this just going to be a cute
story
and that's all?
well, it's an entertaining read; liz has to come to grips with being dead
and not
ever being older than 15. no prom dresses; no massachusetts state drivers
licence;
no growing up, meeting a guy and falling in love. liz does meet her
grandmother
who died at the same time as liz was born, so grandma betty is about the same
age
as liz's mom. it's a wierd little scenario. is it heaven? is it some
whackazoidal
reincarnation scheme? will liz ever get over her frustration of being dead?
by the time i finished, it was a light story of family left behind and
found,
friends, and, ironically, full of the meaning of life. oh, and cute, and
that's
all.
i give it a stamp of approval and two tears of joy. cheers and pages,
william of the good ship chupa-chup
hey readers,
i'd like to pass on to you a long overdue list of favourite books. but
first a
question:
if the visible spectrum of light is 'linear' (by wavelengths: from violet
(at
380nm) on up to red (740nm)) and red is as far apart from violet as can be...
then why does purple blend into red and vice versa on the colour wheel?
i don't have an answer, it just leapt into my head this morning and refused
to leave.
******
ok then, where was i? oh yeah. i give to you the first of a series of top
six
lists in childrens literature. why six? i'm not sure; why not six? it's just
a
comfortable number for me now. anyway: the first list is: top six teen
fiction
books (not s.f./fantasy).
#6 A Separate Peace by John Knowles - kind of "old school" literature but
definately
classic and a little uncomfortable at times. gene returns to his alma mater,
devon
prep, and reflects on both local dilemmas from his youth and the global
reality of
wwII. the characters override the plot and you're left as torn and
sentimental as
gene is. similar in feel to Cormier's The Chocolate War, but it hits harder.
re-read
this one if you feel the need; you won't be disappointed.
#5 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. even if
you do
not like math, you gotta read this if you haven't already. christopher can't
not try
to solve the mystery of the death of the neighbour's poodle. his logical
thinking
and guilelessness of his severe autism makes every piece of reasoning and
every
action he takes incredibly heroic. he can solve math problems but only likes
red
food (he freaks with brown or yellow food). he's sharp in his own way, but
unable to
fathom any complex human behaviour. he's a force for good and love and
groaning.
this is haddon's debut novel and it is stunning.
#4 Many Stones by Carolyn Coman. i read this in a book group years ago. even
if i
did not quite belive the psychology of why berry weighs herself down with
stones
after her sister is killed in south africa, the rest of the book struck me as
genuine. the theme of racism comes at you sideways: berry doesn't quite grok
all the
nuances of apartheid, but i thought that what goes on during her trip to
attend her
sister's memorial service was incredibly powerful. this is the sleeper hit of
my
little list here.
#3 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chboskey. i've heard this book
called
"trite", and it definately has its own formula: in diary form, we see into
the
highschool life of charlie. sex, drugs, fitting in (or as in this case, not
fitting
in), family troubles, a first crush and literature figure into this quirky
"novel".
i guess one reason that this hits home is that i've seen a few sharp,
intellegent
freshmen myself. i just want to root for charlie without him knowing. a
quirky read,
but worth it.
#2 Looking for Alaska, by John Green. i wrote a review last september saying
how i
would put this book on my list of very best teen ficton books. seven months
late...
sorry! in this strong story, miles goes off to boarding school and really
connects
with his peers for the first time. miles (and everybody else) connects with
alaska,
a beautiful, articulate and independant girl. slowly, we see events unfold
for
miles, alaska and their circle of friends.the way in which green sets up the
plot is
very 'hook'-y but not over annoying. it ends up powerfully tragic, but i
don't want
any beans spilled here. it won the printz award and no wonder. great stuff.
#1 The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. what an odd book: death narrates the tale
of
liesel's life in nazi germany. liesel steals books before she can even read,
but
grows to love the freedoms that writing can hold. stealing from nazi book
burning
piles and the mayor's wife is both an act of defiance and of love. as the war
gets
closer, she comes to understand life through a frightened community and the
jewish
man hiding in the basement. wierd book and wonderful for its quirky
narrative. and
powerful as all get out.
by no means are these the be-all-end-all picks for the life of best teen
fiction;
most of us have plenty more to read... but these are definitely faves you
should
check out. whew. that's all for now. if you figure out the colour thingy, let
me
know. until next review, cheers and dust jackets.
william of the april snow showers
hey readers,
i was in a bookstore on thursday having just gabbed with a friend working
the kids
section and having just grabbed a new title off the shelf. as i was heading
out of
the section i overheard a fellow patron mention "the lightning thief". i
immediately donned my imaginary booksellers cape and asked the woman (butted
in,
more like) "you mean the rick riordan book?". and she said:"actually we're
looking
for the new one". and i said: "you mean this one?" holding up my copy of "the
titan's curse" which is the third in riordan's series "percy jackson and the
olympians". i helpfully conducted the bibliophillic patron to the relevant
location and took my leave before the woman could utter "who was that, umm...
unmasked... big... friendly, i suppose... maybe crazy person?".
to speak of the third book in this wildly popular chapter book series, one
must go
back to the beginning. i'm pretty sure that i recently told all of you that i
rarely re-read books. ha! i'm such a liar! a couple of weeks ago i read 'the
lightning thief" (book one) and "the sea of monsters" (book two) again in
preparation for the new "the titan's curse" (book three) which just came out
may
1st. so i should give those of you who don't know a bit of background (i
apologize
if you've heard my recap of "the lightning thief" i tend to tell this story
quite
a bit).
we begin with perseus "percy" jackson on a museum field trip. percy's
academic
record is spotty: between adhd, dyslexia and certain events that, if you ask
percy, were entirely not his fault. wierd things just happen. like at the
museum
when his pre-algebra teacher sprouts wings and attacks him. percy was given a
pen
from one of the few teachers he likes. when it's uncapped, becomes a sword.
there's something poetic that riordan is driving at about attacking a math
teacher
with ink, in spirit, but i digress. after percy dispatches the teacher he
goes
back on the bus... and no one knows a thing about this pre-algebra teacher,
and
why is percy acting so wierd?
well, it turns out that percy is (mostly) non-crazy. but he is the son of a
greek
god. this explains why english is so hard to read, but ancient greek is no
problem. it explains all the wierd happenings in his past; it's simply
monsters
from greek antiquity that want to find and destroy percy. it turns out that
his
best friend is a satyr sent to seek out and protect demigods like percy. it
turns
out that the friendly teacher works at a summer camp for half-bloods (the
name
given to the offspring of a god and a mortal) called, simply enough, camp
half
blood where the children of the gods learn how to fight monsters and become
heroes. adventures ensue and you're just have to read all the stories of
percy,
grover, annabeth, chiron, mr. d, et al. for yourself. it will explain a lot
about
the nature of los angeles (come to think of it, it's no wonder angel lived
there
(never mind this parenthetical bit)). it will make you think more about blue
candy
than you do now. it will
make you
occasionally make you want to look up something in your copy of edith
hamilton's
"mythology" (or maybe that's just me). it will make you cheer. it will make
you cry
(none more so that the latest installment).
i wish i could tell you all about the new book, but i don't want to give it
all
away. i will tell you that rick riordan used to write adult detective fiction
and
believe it or not, his style of sarchasm, snark, deadpannery and flair for
the
dramatic work very well in a children's chapter book literature. i will tell
you
that i cried like and angry, hungry baby at several points in the book. do
both of
us a favour and read them all... then we can discuss the finer points of "the
titan's curse".
one more note (iffin' youse don' know already) the percy jackson series is
the
reason i'll be driving down to austin, texas again in two weeks. i think i'll
leave it here for some of you to wonder. not terribly unlike the ending of a
rick
riordan novel: to be continued...
cheers and mysteries,
william of the southbound odyssey