Experiencing the Olympics in England
Hey Americans! Chat about The Olympics with my friend who is over there, right now, in the thick of it!
The ceremony may be old news, but the items director Danny Boyle chose as illustrations of Britishness could easily be a blueprint for a blog like mine, celebrating the differences between US and UK life. This is the intro to a series of posts treating items in the opening ceremony that foreigners might not have understood.
It’s ironic that the Olympics turns so many people into couch potatoes for the duration, sitting on sofas watching the fittest people in sports (UK English: in sport) leap and twist and run and throw. And it’s also ironic that an event that everyone is at pains to say promotes harmony between nations should be so overtly nationalistic, not least at the opening ceremonies, where the trick is to balance two human impulses: to celebrate the characteristics of your own tribe and to welcome visitors from other tribes.
This time last week British newspaper…
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All Good Things Must Pass, but Awesome Things Keep Going
This summer has been peppered with all sorts of amazing things at Half Price Books in Humble. Temara Moore kicked off our summer with doing a reading and signing of Bloop! Bloop! Goes the Poop! M.G. King came and read and signed copies of The Librarian on the Roof! Fireman Ricky Meehan from the local fire department came to our kick off party – in gear! We had a photography raffle for brides, a martial arts raffle for sports fans and health gurus, and a southern fiction gift basket raffle when Melinda McGuire came to town for her book signing. We were also graced with the presence of Delaney Rhodes and Rhonda Dennis. Last, but certainly not least, Archie has been rocking the acoustic guitar every Friday night all summer.
But as our parents told us and their parents told them, all good things must pass. With August 1st here, the hottest month of the year doesn’t urge on the spirit of summer, but does quite the opposite – it reminds us that Fall is just around the corner. Which means: there are only a few performances left from Archie, and all our summery events are bound to begin to morph into more cozy weather activities.
I love cozy weather activities. Wearing sweaters and boots, hunkering down with a hot cup of joe… sigh.
Needless to say, I am stoked about Fall and the wonderful things we are planning. Stay posted to see what awesome things of Fall will replace our good things from summer; I will keep my blog updated and you can always check out the store’s website.
P.S. If you are a Houston area musician looking for some troubadour experience, shoot me a message.
Blogger after my own heart, clearly…
JUST ADDED: CLICK HERE FOR THE TOP 10 JOSS WHEDON VILLAINS!
For those new to Geekiness, here’s the first thing you need to know. Joss Whedon is a god among pop-culture writers. From redefining how television dramas are written with an over-arching story to creating a cult phenomenon unlike any others to experimenting with the internet as a distribution method, he’s a leader in his field. With the stupidly huge success of The Avengers he’s well and truly made a mark on cinema and television as a writer and a director. If there’s one thing he does best it’s creating memorable, complex and downright awesome characters.
So today we’re going to whittle that army of great characters he’s created down the ten best. To make the list they had to fit two simple criteria.
1. They have to be a Joss Whedon original – so don’t expect Iron Man to…
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A Grimm World
The new season of Grimm starts August 13, 2012; roughly two weeks until round two! Because of this, my husband, who just fell in love with the show via Hulu, has been making me watch season one. I say “making me” as though it is this incredible chore, but in reality, it is a relaxing date-night type activity for us once the kiddo has gone to bed.
The NBC original series portrays the Brothers Grimm as magnificent demon hunters, and the main character their detective descendant. As a Grimm, Nick sees demons for what they are and can catch the bad guys of urban legend with his handy dandy Grimm family heirlooms as well as the help of the police department. It’s CSI meets Van Helsing
So, as we wait for 9pm (kiddo’s bed time) to hit every evening, I have decided to start reading my copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
The stories are mostly terrible. In theory I love mythology and folklore, but what I’m discovering more and more is that I adore lengthy retellings rather than the original short stories. Yet, I’m a serious advocate for source documents. Just as I don’t want to watch the TV show Grimm without reading the original stories – I definitely would be appalled at myself for reading a fancy retelling in the form of a novel without reading the original collection of tales. As in most things, I believe in the principle of it.
I found The Little Farmer to be especially awful. What a deceitful and greedy group of people! And the fact that this horrible little man becomes the sole proprietor of the town and all the riches therein is quite appalling. I enjoy stories with a solid moral, a bigger picture, lessons for life about the merits of goodness. Instead, The Little Farmer breeds selfishness and sociopathic characteristics. The Life Lesson being: the cheaters that are most cunning rule the roost. Of course, this is a valid truth in most societies, but in my perfect story I want there to be inspiration to persevere under the pressure to keep up with the Joneses (or just kill them off if you can’t), and do something great in your life. The Little Farmer may walk off a wealthy man, but he has no friends and he has not lived a fulfilling life. Be proud of hard work, rather than trickery.
I am not a fan of people getting rewarded for bad deeds or laziness. Just as I cannot get my novel published until I finish writing it (blaming my main character Dani for being elusive and moody when I’m trying to get her life organized), the princess shouldn’t get a Frog Prince to marry when she hasn’t been anything but mean to him.
There are, however, wise stories in the Brothers Grimm, not just the “only people who share are the people who don’t have anything” kind (a real-life adage from my own father). The Nail is the very story which proves one of my old martial arts instructors’ words correct: slow makes fast; or, as the Grimms tell us: Make Haste Slowly. Stories like these, though the horse suffered much for the sake of the warning tale, is what keeps me reading and what reminds me that the kiddo will benefit from growing up with the stories as well.
Anakalian Whims 