Parry and Carney

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. The particular strip above refers to a recent plot development in Parry and Carney; Parry and Carney is a niche comic strip by a paleobiologist who also runs The Dinosauricon (http://dino.lm.com). Carney eats everything, true to his nature. In fact, he ate Parry in the first strip. :-D

I rarely understand Mike Keesey's blog posts, though I love some of his blog titles, like "In the Mesozoic, No One Can Hear You Scream". Despite my ignorance of paleobiology, however, I've gotten hooked on his comic. :-) I especially love the two most recent creatures he's introduced, Ferd and Dan. Deep down, I know Ferd's and Dan's days are numbered, but I can't help but nurture a feeble hope that they may be spared Parry's fate.

In honour of Parry and Carney's one year anniversary, I posted the following in Mike's comment board:


A SONG FOR CARNEY
In honour of the one-year anniversary of Parry & Carney
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Carney, here's a song for you
And though it has no chorus
or music, hey, it's hard to find
a rhyme for carnotaurus.

As for parasaurolophus,
a rhyme's out of the question,
Besides, Carney bit off Parry's head
without trace of indigestion!

THE END


In response, Mike has challenged readers of his comic to come up with a rhyme for "parasaurolophus." No one has so far (well, except for him :-). If you think of one, I urge you to go over to this comments board and post!



Speaking of songs, thanks to Peter Alway for posting his lyrics about mergansers in response to my post about the merganser ducklings. You can hear the lovely tune here and see the lyrics here.




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Urban Tapestry on MySpace and our NEW DRUMMER!

The new Urban Tapestry MySpace page is up. The graphics above and below were created for this UT page. I'm going to re-do the group collage when I have more time...I know the lighting's wonky.

Just making modifications to the stylesheet for this page and my own MySpace page has taught me more about CSS. Thanks to those who helped me test the UT page with different browsers!

Anyway, you can hear four full tracks on our MySpace page:

THE LADY is based on Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and was written by one of my music partners, Jodi Krangle. Jodi runs The Muse's Muse, an excellent resource for songwriters. The Lady won a Pegasus Award for Best Song a couple years ago.

THE FRIENDSHIP SONG is by me and is about friendships, sort of. :-) Recorded in concert.

ANOTHER STORY started out as a children's song by me, but got a bit darker than I expected. I took the unfinished song to my music partner Allison Durno, and she finished it by coming up with a great chorus. Recorded in concert.

HOMECOMING is by me, and is based on Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man" from his collection, R Is For Rocket. It's about love and loss. Recorded in concert.



Allison, Jodi and I had a great practice last night. We did a lot of GAfilk planning and (*gasp) even played some music! Our get-togethers do tend to be more social than work...hey, the three of us are FRIENDS as well as music partners...but we get more serious when there's a gig coming up.

Well, as serious as Urban Tapestry gets. We do have fun when we get together.

I haven't told Allison and Jodi yet, but I think the group needs a drummer. Not just any drummer, mind you, but this particular drummer. Thanks to Jeff for the tip!

Today's Blathering is shorter so you have time to finish reading yesterday's mega-huge entry, by the way.

:-D

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Cottage, MySpace, Mr. Twilight and Hula Girls

Just got back from the cottage, where leaves are just starting to turn colour. The lake water has chilled to the point where leisurely swims are no longer possible; it's more of a quick dip and muffled shriek (ok, the shriek is more from me than Jeff) and a hurried scrub with Campsuds before rinsing and fleeing back into the sauna.

The photo below was taken Saturday morning, when a mist lay heavy on the lake, muffling all sound:



I love this sort of mist, a mysterious shroud that hints of magic and the unknown behind the silver. I sat for about an hour on the dock, watching the mist slowly melt into morning.

Later we saw merganser ducklings speed by in pursuit of fish. There were at least 15 ducklings earlier in the summer; they swam by the dock regularly. I don't want to speculate about what happened to the missing ducklings. :-(



I'm currently working on two different articles for Writer's Digest. If you count Market Watch, this means I'm working with three different editors at the company.

Thanks so much for the feedback to my M-Audio disappointment! I'll respond soon.

I've posted a MySpace page, mainly for PR/marketing and networking; I've noticed more and more authors establishing MySpace pages, especially now that MySpace has launched a separate Books section. I'm also working on an Urban Tapestry page.

If you send me a friend request thru MySpace and you've never met me, please also send me a message letting me know so I know you have SOME idea of who I am (I'm already getting way too many "friend" requests from people with a zillion friends on their list, who either want to sell me something or just add me to their Friends trophy-list).

My MySpace header graphic:



From what I can tell, MySpace seems mainly geared towards young people right now. In general, customised user template designs are pretty cluttered and difficult to read, and many users seem obsessed with adding as many people as they can to their Friends list, whether or not they have any real connection with those on the list. I used a nice template by Mike D. and made a few modifications. Like me, Mike also noticed the whole "I have more Friends than you" trend in MySpace, and wryly added the word "billion" to the Friends count template. I changed this to "bazillion." :-)

If you click on the "Alien Jellyfish" soundclip I have on the left side of my MySpace page, by the way, you can hear me playing flute on Chris Conway's fabulous "Alien Salad Abduction" CD. My Urban Tapestry music partners, Allison & Jodi, also participate on this track.

MySpace seems to be pretty good at helping to promote indie musicians. Through a soundclip on John O's MySpace page, I discovered that Alex Bohnhoff (Jeff's and Maya's son) has a musician's page with soundclips. I met Alex while staying with Jeff and Maya some years ago, and he was just learning guitar back then. Holy cow, he's so good now! I'm even more excited about attending Consonance next year, where Maya, Jeff AND Alex will be Guests of Honour. I'm a huge fan of Jeff's & Maya's, and now Alex's. :-) You can find more info about their CDs and listen to soundclips on CDBaby. Their music AND writing news can be found at the Mystic Fig Studios Web site.



Speaking of Maya, I just pre-ordered her new Del Rey book from Amazon, Mr. Twilight (by Maya Bohnhoff and Michael Reaves). More on this in an upcoming Blathering, but it's a dark fantasy with a healthy dose of humour. Please do support Maya by pre-ordering, or buying the book when it comes out! If this title sells well enough, Del Rey is going to turn this into a series.



Jeff and I had fun seeing Hula Girls at the Toronto Film Festival with Craig. Here is Craig's review. The movie was predictable and sappy...but I adored it. It pushed all my buttons in the right way, and I ran out of tissues by the end of the movie (Craig offered me the napkins that came with his popcorn). I want to own this movie, and hope the subtitled version comes out in North America.

Allison, Jodi and I are getting together tonight for GAfilk prep. We're already pretty hyped about GAfilk, where we'll be Guests of Honor. Toastmistress: Linda Melnick, Interfilk Guests: Summer & Fall. Less than four months to go!





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Chocolate and Trek, M-Audio disappointment

I recently received word that one of my novel manuscripts has gotten the ok from an associate editor, and has been passed up the chain. It's not an acceptance but it's a wee step closer, so I'm excited. Please do cross your fingers for me!

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. My column spotlights Shannon Hale's Web Site; Shannon is the author of one of my favourite books for young people, "The Goose Girl."

He's Dead, Jim! has also been updated with my "Charlie X" report and a cartoon so Trek-nerdy that only those very familiar with the original series will likely understand it:



I finally got a reply from M-Audio about Intel drivers for my Duo. Unfortunately it's not very hopeful:

"Hi Debbie, I do not think that we will come out with MAC intel drivers for the Duo any time soon. We are still trying to get the rest of our line updated on this new MAC and it will take time just for that."

Grrr. :-(

I've decided to sell my Duo USB Mic Preamp (it works with NON-Intel machines...anyone interested?) and get one that works for me. I'm very disappointed with M-Audio, especially since they have been trumpeting the news that they are supporting Apple's Intel-based Macs on their site. The truth is that they're releasing drivers for some but not all of their products.

Looks like I'll have to miss the first session at the Tranzac tonight, ah well. It will give me more time to practise my tunes!



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Why I read kids' books

Photo above by Kirstin Tanger. Congratulations to my friends Katy and Steve, who were married in Germany last week!



A few weeks back, I was buying some books at the front counter of a chain bookstore. The conversation went something like this...

CLERK: Oh, my nephew loved this book! Your kids will enjoy it, I'm sure.

ME: Actually, these books are for me.

CLERK: Yes, they'll make great gifts for any children.

ME: No, I meant I bought them for myself. I like reading kids' books.

CLERK: Oh! (obviously shocked, she turns her focus back on processing my order)

I like reading books supposedly written for young people. I don't read them for market research; I read them for my own pleasure. I always have, even when I theoretically "grew out of them."

Overall, I find books written for young people tend to have more hope and have more satisfying endings (for me, anyway). Yes, bad things exist in the world and things really suck sometimes, but I don't read books to be reminded of that, not unless the focus of the book is positive (the character lifting himself or herself out a bad situation, etc.).

I want characters with whom I can connect on some emotional level. I like happy endings but if not happy, then at least satisfying. But most of all, I want a good story. I've come across so many adult books which focus more on clever writing and style than on substance. I think there's less of this in the kids' book industry simply because young people don't put up with it. If a story doesn't grab them, they won't read the book...it doesn't matter how highly regarded the author may be, or if it's been well-reviewed. Kids are a tough audience.

From time to time, I run into adults who sneer at the thought of children's books being worth reading for anyone out of grade school. These people also tend to be the same sort who turn their noses up at anything too mainstream or too accessible. "I can't believe you enjoyed Harry Potter," they'll say, rolling their eyes. "If you want some REAL literature, then try (insert name of well-respected ADULT book here)."

But I digress.



I originally started out writing this Blathering to post a list of books I've read recently. I've been sadly remiss in keeping my Summer reading list up-to-date, so I've added some more of the books I've read in the past month. As you may notice, a large percentage of these are books for young people. :-)

Some recent reads:

	Crispin: The Cross Of Lead by Avi. A good read. Looking forward to the sequel!
	Fair Peril by Nancy Springer. I thought this was a book for kids at first, but it's definitely for adults (or older teens). Enjoyed this.
	The Long Walk: The True Story Of A Trek To Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz. Inspiring story of survival (for adults) about a Polish cavalry officer who was captured by the Red Army in 1939, escaped from a Siberian work camp.
	Replay by Sharon Creech. Unique writing style, touching story.
	Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I make a point of rereading this every few years. One of my favourite books for young people. Ever.
	Incident At Hawk's Hill by Allan Eckert. I reread this recently while unpacking my book boxes. Enjoyed it just as much as I did when I was a kid.
	Pendragon: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale. First of a popular series. D.J. MacHale is the creator of several popular television series. Not really my style, but I can see the appeal.
	Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. Thanks to Allison for the loan! I had somehow missed reading this when I was a kid.
	Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl. A great book for any adult who loves food writing. I adored Reichl's "Tender to the Bone."
	Replay by Ken Grimwood. Thanks to Allison for the loan. Very much enjoyed this!
	Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Book One by Rick Riordan. Really enjoyed this, and I predict this series is going to be Big. I'm looking forward to the next book!
	A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle. Finally read this and quite enjoyed it. Made me want to go back to France and eat more food.
	Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. I love Lois Lowry's stories, and this was no exception.
	Same Stuff As The Stars by Katherine Paterson. A good read. Not surprising, since I love Katherine Paterson's past work.

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