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Debbie Ridpath Ohi reads, writes and illustrates for young people.

**PLEASE PARDON THE CONSTRUCTION DUST. My website is in the process of being completely revamped, and my brand new site will be unveiled later in 2021! Stay tuned! ** 

Every once in a while, Debbie shares new art, writing and resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.

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Monday
Dec222003

Boskone!






I'm pleased to announce that Urban Tapestry will be the Featured Filkers for Boskone 42 (February 18-20, 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts). Boskone is New Englandís oldest science fiction convention, and has
spotlighted filkers since 1992. Many thanks to the Boskone organizers for the invitation!






Still haven't finished my Christmas shopping, I'm bad. I want to see Return of the King again! See Allison's Livejournal for more reports and photos from the Gathering.

Today's Blatherings photos are from Vienna. Not sure about those containers hanging above the pretzels...does anyone know what they are? I've noticed them above other pretzel stands as well.






2004 Resolutions page: be brave and post your own! If you post here, please send me your snailmail address and I will mail you a prize early next year (not sure exactly what yet :-)). Deadline: Jan.1st. Please put "prize address" in the subject header, thanks.


2004 Predictions page : what do -you- think will happen next year? (in politics, filk, science, etc.)







December/2003 comments:
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Sunday
Dec212003

New Year's resolutions



Allison and Jodi, at The Gathering.


See Allison's Livejournal for reports and more photos from The Gathering. In the picture above, Allison and Jodi R. modeling the ears that Allison's husband John made for them.

Went to see "Return of the King" yesterday afternoon again, this time with Parki and Jeff. Enjoyed it even more. I'm already going through a bit of withdrawal, however, knowing that there will be no new Lord of the Rings movie coming out next year. :-(

I've set up a 2004 predictions page for those courageous enough to predict what will happen next year, either news items or personal predictions. Here are the predictions for 2003, in case you're curious.

I also set up the page for 2004 New Year's Resolutions. Here are 2003's Resolutions. Mine got waylaid in most cases because of my tendinitis. :-( I kept thinking that my tendinitis would completely heal, and it never did.

So even though I do expect a complete recovery in 2004, I'm going to head into the new year assuming it's not, at least in terms of my predictions. 2003 was a somewhat depressing year for me in terms of working on my novel. Because it takes me so long to do any kind of editing with ViaVoice, trying to fit in the occasional hour here and there at a time while working mainly on my nonfiction articles was too frustrating, especially when I kept figuring that things would get back to normal in a month or two.

Jeff and I had a very long talk last week, and we've decided that in 2004, I should make my novel writing a priority so that I'm able to get something to my agent. So I'm going to be spending far more time working on my novel (I have three manuscripts that need revision), with the assumption that I'm going to be using ViaVoice, putting fiction at a higher priority over my nonfiction. I will be patient with ViaVoice and resign myself to the fact that everything will take longer. I will take frequent breaks from the keyboard (since even using ViaVoice requires some typing) to prevent another setback. I will continue to do my columns and the occasional article, but focus on finishing my novels.

Hence my resolution for next year:

In 2004, I resolve to get at least two completed manuscripts to my agent, even if I have to use ViaVoice.

And yes, I feel incredibly lucky to have a husband who will support me in my efforts, both financially and in spirit.

What about you? Please post your resolution here. I promise not to nag or to follow up at the end of the year; the purpose of this message board is solely for your own motivation and commitment to following through. DEADLINE: January 1st.


December/2003 comments:
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Friday
Dec192003

Urban Tapestry newsclip  excerpt



Vienna subway.


Arms a bit sore today, so I'm going to keep off the keyboard. Meanwhile, feel free to check out this Pulse24.com page for a news clip containing a very short (about 2-3 seconds) segment from our performance at the Medieval Times. :-)


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Thursday
Dec182003

post-movie



Me, in lineup with Allison and Jodi. Note my
Weta Eye of Sauron t-shirt! I'm holding up one finger because there was
only one hour to go until the movie. Photo by John.



Hey, apparently Urban Tapestry made it onto CTV news and CITY-Pulse news! Pretty cool.

So I lined up with Allison, her husband John, Jodi and a huge crowd of other Lord of the Rings fans to see "Return Of The King" last night. After three days of solid programming and events related to the movie and books (and longer... "I've been waiting for this for 25 years," Allison said), we were all super-hyped and pumped high with expectations. We had our packages of tissues, had carefully timed our liquid intake so we wouldn't have to leave our seats during the three-and-a-half hour movie...we were ready!



We ran into Adam English during the convention. Sadly, we
missed seeing his Blandalf the Beige costume.



And we weren't disappointed. HOLY TOLEDO, what a fantastic experience. The three hours flashed by in a heartbeat; I was stunned when I realized that the movie was coming to an end. Not just the movie, but also the years of excited anticipation, the speculation. I was glad I brought an extra package of Kleenex :-)... I was a water faucet by the time the credits rolled. When I got on the subway to go home, there were two women next to me who obviously came from the same showing; they huddled together with tissues clutched in their hands, red-eyed and blowing their noses.



Allison and some of her Tolkien Online friends.


Can't wait to see this again. And again. And...well, let's just say that I am very much looking forward to the release of the extended version of this movie, which apparently includes about an extra hour's worth(!). Looks like I'm not the only one who loved the movie; Metacritic has a 95% reviews rating for "Return Of The King" while Rotten Tomatoes has a 98% rating. I'm tremendously curious about what ranking the movie eventually ends up with on IMDB.

Kudos to Peter Jackson and his crew; they had better score bigtime at the Oscars next year.

Some more photos from The Gathering:



Urban Tapestry on Monday night.




David Barker with a temporary Elvish tattoo
(Translation: "one ring to rule them all")





Me and Michael (Luisa's and Reid's son). Photo by David.



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Wednesday
Dec172003

return of the king opens today, woohoo!



Urban Tapestry and the Gondor Knight after the
Medieval Times show. The staff at the Medieval Times modified their
usual show to incorporate a Lord of the Rings theme, with the
help of The Gathering people. Note Jodi's elf ears!





One of the highlights of the convention for me so far:
attending the highly entertaining reading from The Hobbit
by Mark Ferguson (on the left, plays the Elven King Gil-Galad
in the first Lord of the Rings movie) and Craig Parker (plays
the Lothlorien elf Haldir in the first two movies).





Guiseppe Festa (guitar) and Tom Maringer. Both very
nice guys, and we did a CD swap with Guiseppe.





One of the winning costumes at the Masquerade. The costume behind her and to the left was the most entertaining, I thought...a giant finger wearing The Ring. Someone else came as Peter Jackson. :-D




I took this photo from the stage last night while
we were performing. So cool to see people dancing to our music!
We've been told that Urban Tapestry was on the news last night,
not sure what station.





More dancing. Allison, Jodi and I did a lot of this
ourselves, later in the evening after the show. Way fun...





... especially dancing to the music of Glass Hammer.
Really a talented and friendly group of individuals; I chatted with
some of them before the show. Wish they lived closer to Toronto.




December/2003 comments:
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