Musical Monday (85): "Monster Mask" by Pomplamoose

This week's song is a cover of Ron Weiner's "Monster Mask" by Pomplamoose, because it's Halloween. Today is also my Grandma Viola's 80th birthday, and every year, at least one trick-or-treater (most of the kids know it's her birthday, because the town she lives in is very, very small) asks if her birthday is always on Halloween. Cute.



Happy Halloween!

"Science is constantly discovering lots of lovely things out in the universe that have the potential to kill us."

Happy (Early) Halloween from Charlie McDonnell, whose videos are among my favorite internet procrastination aids:



Now back to writing.

Eight Things on a Tuesday

1. The National Book Awards. I was super excited to hear that Franny Billingsley's Chime is included in the nominations. But I was less than thrilled to hear about the colossal faux pas that followed the botched nomination announcement. If you haven't already heard, Lauren Myracle's Shine was accidentally named a nominee. Libba Bray wrote a wonderful (and very swear-y) post on the rest of the story:

However, the NBA stated afterward that, based on its merits as a work of excellent literature for young adults, SHINE would remain on the finalists list. Crisis averted. Or so it seemed.
 
What happened after that is worthy of a soap opera called “As the Incompetence Turns.” Over the next few days, a back-and-forth of “we’re keeping it,” “no, we’re not keeping it,” “it’s worthy,” “no, it’s not worthy” was played out in the media and over the Internet in a very public, very hurtful way that did not seem to take into account that at the center of all this was a real live human being, an excellent writer, whose work and reputation were being dragged through the mud as if it were no big thang while the ruffled feathers of injured egos were patted down in a backroom somewhere.

Lauren Myracle was asked to withdraw from the award proceedings.

I haven't read Shine yet, but I interviewed a high school librarian last week for a grad school application essay who said that one can feel light shining through this book. "It's one of those books where the sun just rises," she said.

There's a good round-up of more reactions at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy.

2. RainyMood.com. The website that does nothing but make it sound like it's raining outside. I visited the website last week, and for a few minutes, I forgot that it wasn't really raining. (via Stephanie Perkins)

3. Books. I'm in the middle of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I have Stephanie Perkins's Lola and the Boy Next Door waiting on my bookshelf . . . but I cannot pick them up again until I finish my English colloquium revisions and the books I'm supposed to be reading right now. Sigh.

4. Cat pictures. They make life better. My kitty turned eighteen last week. Here are some pictures my mom took of her last fall:

Kitty yawn! There has to be a hilarious caption for this photo, but my brain is too fried to come up with one right now. Suggestions?

5. Pumpkins. We have a happy one in our living room:

6. Veggie pizza. Last Friday, my friend Kirstie and I went to the grocery store and picked out some random ingredients. We give you yellow squash, yellow pepper, and potato pizza with basil:

And FYI, putting potatoes on a pizza turned out to be a surprisingly good idea. (And if you try it, you should know that we fried the veggies in some olive oil on the stove before putting them on the pizza, because otherwise they would have spent only 10 minutes in the oven, and they would have been very, very crunchy...)

7. My Judy Moody doodle was still alive on Sunday. The kids at the library left the whiteboard alone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Unbelievable.

8. Pan Am. I got mostly caught up on the TV show this weekend, and am enamored with the clothes and all the spoken French. Also, I can't get over how the ladies carry their purses. I'm not sure I could do this all day:

Happy Tuesday,

Read for the Record

I'm surfacing from my piles of homework and portfolio edits for my senior English colloquium (due at the end of the month . . . gulp . . .) to talk about Read for the Record. This Thursday, October 6th, people across the nation will come together to set a new reading record and support literacy. The book that all these people will be reading is Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama Red Pajama. The book is available for free online reading, and Pearson will donate a copy of this book to a child for every time someone reads Llama Llama Red Pajama online. (Click on through to read the book or learn more about Read for the Record.)

Happy Wednesday, and Happy Reading,