Migraines, Books, and Poppets

I detest migraines. I can't wait until my next neurologist appointment so that I can see about trying some new meds. The ones I'm on now are just not working. I'm still getting migraines every 4-5 days and they're just plain annoying. I'm very unpleasant to be around when I have one and am known to snap at people and not answer my cell phone while my head is throbbing. Sorry Jroy. I need something to make these go away. My meds work, but they take about an hour and a half to kick in. So for now, I'll just blog away and then crash in bed until it goes away so that I can read. Reading is impossible with a migraine. They take away my only true love :(

Speaking of reading...After my oh so long 3 hour work shift tonight, I decided to go to Barnes and Noble and peruse the aisles while having a coffee. I ended up buying the rest of my challenge books. All except Grendel because I couldn't remember who wrote it. Now that I am home, I see that it is in fact John Gardner who wrote it. Grendel is a retelling of Beowulf through the monster's eyes from what I understand. I've never read Beowulf, but am hoping that I can make it through this one without doing so. I would like to read Beowulf eventually though since I know there is a screenplay written by Neil Gaiman that is currently being made into a movie.

So for the banned books challenge, I bought 3 of the 4 remaining books: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and The Best of John Bellairs which contains The Figure in the Shadows. The Figure in the Shadows is the second in a three book series and this book just happened to have the whole series for $9.99. So I'll likely be reading that whole series for the challenge. The reason I picked this book is because there are plenty of Edward Gorey illustrations in the book. Edward Gorey makes anything good :)

And I also bought a copy of Midsummer Night's Dream for the Once Upon a Time challenge. There were about 100 versions of this book at B&N, but this one looked best to me. I was surprised that I didn't already own a copy of this, but alas, I did not. It will be nice to reread this one.

Thank God for the Barnes and Noble member program! I only saved about $5 tonight, but those $5 savings definitely add up.My two little red poppets wanted to send greetings to Elaine's little red poppets in the UK, so I allowed them to and took their photograph with all of my new books. They say "allo!"

We planted a vegetable garden recently which makes me very happy. I love growing veggies. I'll take some pictures when they start growing veggies. We also got a Bougainvillea vine that can weave throughout the patio covering. Looking forward to that as well.

Feeling Good on a Friday and Web Wanderings

So in yesterday's post, I vented about sexual abuse because of a patient at the hospital right now. Well, this morning, I'm looking through the paper and see that the guy who did this to my patient was arrested on 3 counts of child sexual abuse! I was so happy to see that this man will be behind bars, but still wish I could take all of that pain away from my patient. For some things, there is no true justice, but at least this is something.

So that was a good thing and so was going to the gym. I finally made it back. But come to think of it, it really wasn't that long since I've been....just 2 days. I like to be hard on myself about things though.

On to web wanderings!

Quixotical has posted a wonderful review of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. This book has been waiting patiently on my shelf to be read. It's being neglected by challenges, though in hindsight it would have fit perfectly into the fantasy challenge. Quixotical has been posting these wonderful little pictures of poppets with books for the fantasy challenge and I hope that the pictures continue throughout.

Up next is my favorite Friday Favorites of Carl V.'s yet. It's focus is Charles Vess, that wonderful, magical artist. Vess has done work on Gaiman's Sandman and Stardust, Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Aldieu, many comics and graphic novels, and the list just goes on and on. I like Carl's comparison, he's very much today's Arthur Rackham. Like Rackham, Vess is able to perfectly capture magic at it's purest in every painting or drawing he does. Thanks to Carl, I discovered that Vess has a comprehensive artbook coming out in August that I'm totally psyched about!

The Friends of English Magic blog has a wonderful interview with Jane Goldman all about the Stardust movie. It silenced many of my fears but confirmed one of them. Some fears are silenced because she said that everything we as fans loved about the book, the whole feeling of the book, is still there. What made me upset is that she said Yvaine had to be introduced really early in the movie unlike the book. I'm scared that this confirms that no time is spent setting up who Tristran is and where he comes from. Please be in there! She also mentions a "making of Stardust" book that will be released around the time of the movie as well as a visual companion book. Boy am I going to be poor come August!

Finally, their are two new editions to the blogroll. The first is Bookfoolery and Babble. This blog is fantastic! The author takes amazing photographs which are all over her blog and she has great taste in books and offers wonderful reviews. I enjoy her blog very much and hope that others can as well. The second addition is Colleen Gleason's blog. Colleen is an author who wrote The Rest Falls Away, a book that has had so many rave reviews and one that I must get around to reading. In fact, she's giving away 15 copies in a raffle of sorts through her blog. She touches on all sorts of subjects on her blog and her posts are always fun to read.

Being a Bum

Today was quite a mentally exhausting day. Working at a psychiatric hospital, you eventually learn not to take the problems home with you. And overall, I've done a pretty good job of leaving work at work. However, there are certain days that are just hard not to take home with you. One of the most upsetting things about working with children is seeing the amount of sexual abuse that goes on. I was shocked at how often this happens when I started over there, and even more shocked to find how hard it is to prosecute offenders. When they do get prosecuted, they're only in jail for a year or two, then they're back on the streets. Sexual trauma has such a huge effect on children. In my opinion, people who do this to kids should be locked up with the key thrown away. While they are satisfying their addictions, they are ruining the lives of these kids, or at least making their lives alot more challenging than they need to be.

So after all of that, I had decided that I was going to go to the gym again to work off some steam. But I made the mistake of laying down in bed first and now I'm in my pajamas going nowhere.

On a totally different note, Subterranean Press released the cover for their version of Neil Gaiman's M is for Magic, which I have already ordered and I was so disappointed. The cover is just horrible in my opinion. Yesterday's blog post had the most anticipated cover, and this has to be the most disappointing cover. Oh well, at least it's signed and numbered by one of my favorite authors.

One other thing I wanted to mention was that Endicott Studio had a post today about a new book on Charles Vess being released. It's Modern Masters Volume 11 and it's subject is Charles Vess and it looks amazing. It focuses mostly on his graphic novel and comic book work. Looking forward to this one!

Musings and Most Anticipated Cover of the year

Here it is folks - the cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been released. I like it, very orange. This picture is the dustjacket laid out without the words on it. I just can't wait for this book to come out!

Today was a fairly productive day. I sort of flew solo at the hospital today which felt good. I feel like I've become much more capable and competent in the counseling profession. I've found that counseling skills definitely grow over time. I know I have a lot further to grow, but at least I'm moving.

Went to the gym again today which felt great, though somewhat exhausting after the work day. The show Workout on Bravo! always brings out that urge in me to get to the gym. And that urge couldn't come at a better time with the Mexico trip coming up soon. Great show by the way, very interesting people.

And finally, there's been a new addition to the blogroll. It is Jenclair's blog, A Garden Carried in the Pocket. Her's is a blog that I've visited for awhile and realized that it deserves to be a regular. She always has wonderful things to say about books and just life in general...and she's a fellow Louisianian! And spellcheck actually didn't try to correct Louisianian. What can I say, I'm smart.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is such a classic, and sadly, I had never read it. Now that I have, I can see why it's a classic and can see why it will always remain one and remain relevant. This was a very powerful book. Picture a world engaged in war, a world full of censorship, a world where there is no speed limit, a world where people do not engage with each other, but rather engage with the walls. This is the world that Ray Bradbury has created in Fahrenheit 451.

451 is the number that the firemen wear on their uniforms. The jobs of the firemen are not to put out fires, but rather, start them. Books are banned in Bradbury's world. Books are seen as not real, silly, impersonal, influential, propaganda and will not be tolerated by the government. So it is that the job of the firemen is to burn every book in existence and to imprison the owner of the books. Quite a scary thing. One of the firemen, Montag (the central character) has kept some books of his own. Upon reading them, he finds that books should exist, and you can see the dilemma that this could cause. That's all I'll say so as not to ruin the story for those who have never read this.

This is also my first Bradbury work, and I'm very happy that I've finally discovered him. He is Orson Scott Card's favorite author, so I figured he had to be a pretty damn good writer...and he is! I look forward to reading more of his work. I have Something Wicked This Way Comes sitting on my shelf, so that'll be the next Bradbury. I also have a short story by the name of The Homecoming illustrated by Dave McKean.

This was book 3 for me in the Banned Books Challenge. It's very ironic that this book has been banned seeing as the book is about books being banned and censorship. My thoughts on why it may be banned is because of Montag's challenge of authority. This is shown as a good thing in this book and he is the hero, and it's generally not well taken in our society when one goes up against the government or any form of authority. I think it's ridiculous to ban this book though. This book speaks volumes about power in the wrong hands, ignorance, and many other themes that I could go on forever about. Bottom line is that this is a wonderful book and although it has been banned in some places, I'm glad to see that it is required reading in so many other places.

Other Reviews:

Melody

I May Be Broke, But I've Got Peter Beagle

Thanks to Carl, I had to go spend money on a book today :p. It's really not his fault though, it was my choosing. One of the books that I signed up for for the Once Upon A Time challenge was Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Now, I have all the other books that I'm reading for the challenge sitting on my shelf, but I just had to have this one first even though I had only $18.99 in my checking account (it's called being a grad student). On the positive side of being a grad student, my stipend should be coming in in about 4 days, so I'll manage.

I tend to do this alot with books. I have probably about 50 books sitting on my to be read shelf, including the other 4 books I'm reading for the challenge, but I still manage to always "need to buy" another book. That's one thing I like about these challenges - I can commit to reading some of these that have been sitting on the shelf, lonely and abandoned for far too long. Unfortunately though, I don't own the rest of the books that I signed up for for the Banned Books Challenge, so I'll have to be buying those. It's worth it though.

So now I just need to finish Fahrenheit 451 tonight for the banned books challenge and then I can start The Last Unicorn. Can't wait!

Another great thing about these challenges is that I'm getting to meet all of these other great bloggers out there who have also signed up for the challenges. And with fantasy being my favorite genre, there are lots of new friends out there!

Once Upon A Time Challenge

Carl has officially posted the details for the Once Upon A Time Challenge, and I'm so excited about it! This challenge covers my favorite genre - fantasy, fairy tales, mythology, and folklore. I really hope that lots of people participate in this challenge. It's a genre of literature that can appeal to anyone. You don't have to be a fan of wizards and knights to enjoy fantasy, the genre branches off in so many directions. If there's anyone out there that's looking for something to read for this challenge, let me know what kind of stuff you like and I'd be more than happy to help you find a perfect fit.

My List:

1. The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
2. Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card
3. Moonheart by Charles DeLint
4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
5. The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

Bonus: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (A perfect wrap up to the challenge)

Now hopefully, I can finish all of these by June 21st, Midsummer Night's Eve, in addition to the Banned books challenge which ends in June as well.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

What a classic! Everyone knows the story of Alice in Wonderland, made even more popular by Disney years ago. All I knew of Alice was the Disney cartoon and the artwork of Tenniel and Rackham. What I didn't know was the brilliant writing style of Lewis Carroll, the author who created Alice and her Wonderland.

Carroll is one of the most clever writers I have read. I kept thinking to myself as I read this book, "how the hell did he come up with this?" The dialogue is pure genius. I loved every minute of the Mad Hatter and his tea party.

The story is very short and without much of a plot, but that is what can be expected of a dream. It's sort of just a walk down the rabbit hole and through wonderland. But in that walk, we meet fascinating creatures; creatures and objects present in the real world, but with a fantastical twist.

What I loved more than anything was the book itself. I got a beautiful edition of this book through Dreamhaven, published by Firefly. It was a $30 on sale for $7.95. It's hardcover, clothbound, with thick, high quality paper and illustrations that I've never seen before for Alice.

The illustrations are done by Ralph Steadman. His work looked familiar and I found out that he is the artist from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I didn't know what to think of the images at first, but I liked them by the end. They are definitely geared towards a more adult audience, but then again, I forget what it's like to be a kid. He adds a certain edge to the characters. The characters become menacing and bizarre. He gives a great introduction in the book and explains why he drew each one of the images the way he did.

The book was read for the banned books challenge. Once again, I'm not exactly sure why the book was banned, but I would guess that it would be banned due to some suggestive drug-influenced scenes and the crazy queen who wants to cut everyones head off. It's amazing how many wonderful books people have attempted to keep away from the public's eyes. Amazing and sad.

Some interesting Alice news, Marilyn Manson is currently shooting a movie that he wrote called Phantasmagoria which is a biopic of Lewis Carroll as he wrote Alice in Wonderland. Manson will play the Queen of Hearts.

I leave you with a fun quote from the Duchess taken from her and Alice's conversation on where exactly mustard comes from:

"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise"

Who comes up with this stuff?!

Blogging out of Boredom

It's been a nice, quiet Sunday...exactly what I needed. Today has mostly consisted of laying in bed reading a book, filming a mock counseling session for clinic, and starting a diet. I've found that if you find the right food, eating healthy isn't so bad. And crystal light is the only thing saving from soft drinks. I hate diet drinks, but Crystal Light really doesn't taste "diet-y".

I got my free Windows Vista upgrade in the mail last night and decided to install it on my computer and I absolutely hated it! So I'm back to XP already. Vista might be cool if you buy a new computer with it already installed, but it's more trouble than it's worth if you're updating an already existing computer. Half of the programs don't transfer over and most of my files wouldn't open with Vista. I'm fine with my XP!

Can't get into the Simpsons tonight for some reason, but I loved the evolution of Homer opening. New Family Guy tonight which makes me happy.

I wish I had another day off. I have the morning off tomorrow from the internship, but I have clinic and supervision in the afternoon. I'm not complaining too much though, at least I can sleep in a little bit.

eh...that's all I've got for now.

A Night of Moving and Web Wanderings

I'd like to make this short and sweet since I should be sleeping, but I know it's not going to be.

I have to wake up once again at 6:30 tomorrow morning for a 14 hour shift...so chances are there won't be any blogging tomorrow night.

After a long but rewarding work day, we decided to go to my Gram's house to take more stuff out of storage since Katrina. Lord knows when we'll be in a real house again, but this rental is at least a little bit bigger, so I can fit some of my prized possessions. Tonight I got the rest of my books :D, my entire comic book collection :D, the rest of my Buddhas :D, and some other little knick knacks that I was missing. So I'm feeling pretty good about having all of my old friends back. I also stumbled across an old school bag that was packed with all of my old poetry and journals. Kind of scared to read those, but looking forward to it at the same time.

On to web wanderings....Quite a few cool things that I found today.

Needless to say, number one on the agenda is the Stardust trailer. It's wonderful! I'm a little less nervous about the movie now. I can see that a few things have been spritzed up from the novel, but I'll have to let little things slide I guess. The one that bugged me for some reason (I really have no clue why) is the little special effect they put in when Tristran crossed through the wall. That little wavy thing. The actors look great...they seemed to have picked the perfect cast. Can't wait to see it...looks much better than what I imagined.

The next thing I found is a new anthology coming out on May 1st that looks incredible. It's a collection of short stories entitled Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy. The table of contents is as follows (and what an incredible one it is):

The Witch's Headstone, by Neil Gaiman
Holly and Iron, by Garth Nix
Color Vision, by Mary Rosenblum
The Ruby Incomparable, by Kage Baker
A Fowl Tale, by Eoin Colfer
Slipping Sideways Through Eternity, by Jane Yolen
The Stranger's Hands, by Tad Williams
Naming Day, by Patricia A. McKillip
Winter's Wife, by Elizabeth Hand
A Diorama of the Infernal Regions, or The Devil's Ninth Question, by Andy Duncan
Barrens Dancing, by Peter S. Beagle
Stone Man, by Nancy Kress
The Manticore Spell, by Jeffrey Ford
Zinder, by Tanith Lee
Billy and the Wizard, by Terry Bisson
The Magikkers, by Terry Dowling
The Magic Animal, by Gene Wolfe
Stonefather, by Orson Scott Card

Carl V. at Stainless Steel Droppings is beginning an incredible challenge on Monday that I think everyone should participate in. It's the Fantasy and Fairytale challenge. He's releasing all of the details on Monday. It's not just a normal challenge though. While the challenge is going on he's offered us Friday Favorites (his weekly art post) that include plenty of fantasy artists, essays on music, film, and books that relate to fantasy, and wonderful discussion on the topic. Can't wait for this one! I think I'll do Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn as one of my books since I always wanted to read that. Feel free to make some suggestions to me if you're a fantasy reader. Always looking for new stuff.

And last but not least, Tori Amos has released the details on her new album American Doll Posse over at her website and it looks to be another great one. A world tour is following the release.

Working Out and Job Search

After much complaining and whining "do i have to?" to myself, I finally got my butt to the gym today. And it felt great! I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I would be. I remember the first time I ever did the elliptical, I thought I was having a heart attack after like 3 minutes. I managed to go my normal 33 minutes (330 calories) today without a problem. I just really need to do something to get in shape before Mexico. That may be a lost cause at this point, but hopefully I can get rid of some of this gut. I don't want to be mistaken for a beached whale.

Jroy has been my motivation for this. She's done incredible. She lost tons of weight and is now in the "toning up" phase. I wish our gym offered classes like hers does, but I guess I can't complain. I pay less than $30/month and it's 24 hour access. I do like my gym, but I would rather like it to have workout classes.

Speaking of workout, there's an excellent show on Bravo! called Workout. I watched it last season, and the new season started on Monday. It's basically a show about a personal trainer who opened up her own high end fitness center. It focuses around her, her girlfriend, her trainers, and her clients. Great show and a great motivator.

After I had just about given up on the high school counselor position, I get a call from them. I don't know what to do now. I have a job offer at the hospital I'm at now, and I think I want to take it, but I think that maybe I should go on the interview at the high school as well. I don't know. I had sort of convinced myself that I didn't want the job. The job consists of mostly scheduling classes for the kids and not too much counseling. I really want a job that focuses on the counseling. What to do, what to do. I'll figure it out.

I'm also considering putting of the CRC exam (certified rehabilitation counselor) until October. I'm registered to take it in April, but I don't know when the hell I would have time to study. I could also put off the CEU's for awhile if I wait until October. I most likely won't even use that credential. The credentials I want are my LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and NCC (Nationally Certified Counselor). Those are what I would need to do any kind of private practice counseling, which is what I ultimately want to do.

In other quick news, Neil Gaiman has announced that tomorrow will see the release of the Stardust trailer...yay!!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

I read A Wrinkle in Time as a child and didn't remember anything except for the cover, which I used to love. The cover has changed since the last time I read the book, but the beautiful story has not. I must say, the only thing that I actually recalled when reading this book was the dog's name (Fortinbras) and the tesseract. But it was such a delight to read this book again.

This book is the first in a series of four. I wasn't aware that there were sequels, and now I'm very happy that there are. Meg and Charles Wallace are 2 of 4 children in their household. Both are not the most popular at school. Their parents are both brilliant scientists, but their father has been off on "business" for awhile and no one has heard from him. On a stormy night, a Mrs. Whatsit arrives at their door. Mrs. Whatsit sets into motion a time travelling, and space travelling voyage that is beyond what any of the children could ever expect. This is everything great about Sci-Fi. Wonderful and sometimes scary new worlds, new cultures, new creatures and beings...Everything a reader would love. It is up to the children in this book to find and rescue their father and ultimately rescue the world (which I hope continues in the storyline).

This is a wonderful book for readers of all ages. Though I didn't remember most of the story, I did remember that as a child I couldn't put this book down. It's magical, and L'Engle has such a passion in her writing. She has a passion for literature, for words, for other worlds, for the imagination, and for the power of children.

I read this book as the first book in the Banned Books Challenge. I'm really confused as to why this book would be banned. Most books are banned due to religion or politics, and my closest guess would be religion. There's one passage in the book where Mrs. Whatsit is talking about the many people who have come to Earth trying to fight the shadow that is enclosing Earth. The first she mentions is Jesus and then puts him in the company of DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Shakespeare, Bach, Gandhi, Buddha, Beethoven, etc. I certainly don't think that this merits the book to be banned, but I can see how some extremists may do so.

I felt an especially close bond with this book as I saw L'Engle's obvious love for Shakespeare's The Tempest, my favorite play of his. In fact, when talking to the children, Mrs. Whatsit quotes my favorite quote where the title of this blog is taken from..."We are such stuff as dreams are made on..." And excellent quote to sum up this wonderful story.

Spring Break for Grown-Ups

I was thinking of spring break alot today. The other 2 interns that I work with (from another school) are on spring break right now, so it's been busy for me - which is a good thing. LSUHSC (my school) doesn't give a spring break, which kind of sucks. So today got me thinking what I would do if I did indeed have a spring break, and I realized how much life has changed.

The last time I actually went on vacation for Spring Break was probably about 3 or 4 years ago. Of course, we went to the beach, got trashed 5 days straight, slept very little, and well....things that go on at spring break. If I were to actually have a spring break today, I would do nothing of the sort. Spring break for me now would include relaxing in bed catching old movies and tv shows, reading shitloads of books, hanging out at the coffee shop, maybe going to some cool shops around town, and taking walks. All of that sounds wonderful. Funny how the idea of fun changes as we grow older.

I'm still very much looking forward to Mexico in May. I'm still all about getting trashed on the beach, but it's not so much getting trashed just to get trashed. Now it's more about relaxation and taking time to myself, something I've learned that I don't do very much.

Guilt Trips on a Monday

Without getting into too many details, I really hate it when people make sad attempts at putting guilt trips on people. If you need constant reinforcement, there are probably certain professions (such as counseling) that you probably don't belong in. Geesh...

Today was actually a decent Monday aside from the above comment. I think what kept me going strong today was that I know I don't have my ethics class tomorrow night....just the internship and I actually enjoy that, so it's all good.

As I walked into school today, I noticed a piece of paper in my box. This paper was strange. It was a form to fill out to nominate ourselves for the dean and/or chancellor's award. Who does that? Shouldn't it be the faculty's job to nominate us for said awards. I just find it strange and conceited to nominate one's self for an award. What does it actually mean when you get it in that scenario.

And finally, I've been enjoying Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. It's the first book I'm reading for the Banned Books Challenge, which I'm getting a late start on. I read this book as a child and absolutely loved it. It feels good to revisit it. Carl is starting a Fantasy and Fairy Tale challenge really soon that I'm REALLY looking forward to. Already starting to think of my books. I think I'll finally read The Last Unicorn for this one.

Happy St. Patty's Day...and stuff

Happy St. Patrick's day everybody. This holiday seems to be really big in New Orleans, but of course there's always a reason to party down here. I've noticed as friends and loved ones have moved to other states that many things that are huge here just aren't as big in other places. Me and Megan were talking about this last night. We went downtown and pretended to be tourists and ate at our favorite restaurant, Angeli, with Chris and Angela. I've never appreciated downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter so much until I started seeing what other downtowns look like. I love downtown anywhere, but New Orleans is just so special when it comes to that.

I wanted to bring my camera with me last night, but as usual I forgot it. I was going to take pictures of poppets eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde and looking at the Saint Louis Cathedral for Poppets on Tour over at PoppetPlanet. The forums are wonderful at PoppetPlanet, and even if you don't know much about Poppets, I still think that anybody would enjoy the forums. Lots of fun stuff to talk about. Check them out.

I've already found a really cool website through PoppetPlanet called The Toy Maker. It consists of all kinds of cool things that you can print out to make your own toys, boxes, gadgets, etc. Many of them are free and the art on them is great. They also have a book on Amazon that looks like a winner.

In other Lisa news, the Vernal Equinox sale is officially underway and there are lots of Little Red Poppets for sale for $9 and what's up so far is beautiful. I bought a Luck's Dancer Harlequin from her during the last sale, and there's one up for this sale that is a Dryad Dancer, and it's beautiful!

We're going to see VAST tonight at the Howlin' Wolf and that makes me very happy. They are one of my few favorite bands that I still haven't seen perform and I'm looking forward to it. In addition, I get to check out the new Howlin' Wolf which is supposed to be much bigger and much nicer.

Just wanted to give a quick update. I've been slacking off on the blogging. It will probably resume more regularly once Megan leaves :( and definitely once school ends.

Web Wanderings (3/15/07)

I'd like to start off the web wanderings of the week with Lisa Snellings-Clark's amazing PoppetPlanet. The site is "officially being launched on Saturday" but is now open for the viewing and it is wonderful! It's everything that a poppet lover could want an more. Included is a poppet registry, photo's of poppets traveling the world, beautiful art by Lisa, a wonderful forum that I shall be joining shortly, and a store. Lisa is opening up the Vernal Equinox Sale on March 17th (this saturday) which I'm sure will feature all kinds of amazing art.

Next up is Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. In the most recent letter from the editor there is talk about Peter Beagle doing an all new short story and interview for the next issue. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on when the issue arrives online. I've never read anything by Beagle, though The Last Unicorn always seems to be on my list and i saw in this letter that he recently wrote a sequel to The Last Unicorn called Two Hearts which is a novelette that won the Hugo for best novelette and is also nominated for the Nebula.

Neil Gaiman has announced his new corporation website by the name of The Blank Corporation which looks to be very cool. Not alot is up there yet, but the site is still great already.

And finally, Endicott Studio's did a great little short article on one of my favorite artists, Mark Ryden. Ryden's work is extremely commercial yet there's so much meaning and hidden details in his paintings. I just love the look of his stuff so much. It can be so bright, set so somber and sinister at the same time. If by any chance anyone from Los Angeles reads this, I recommend that you go to his exhibition called the Tree Show at the Michael Kohn gallery from now until April 28th.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

It really doesn't get much better than this. Stardust is everything that a fantasy lover, a romantic, a historian, an astronomer, a lover of books could possibly want. Gaiman has never disapointed me and has always over exceeded my expectations. Stardust is no exception to this.

Stardust is the beautiful story of Tristran Thorn and a fallen star. The story takes place in the village of Wall, but mostly in Faerie, located right outside of Wall. Every nine years, the inhabitants and creatures of the land of Faerie host a market right outside of Wall. People come from all over the world to visit the market where all sorts of magical things are traded for promises and contracts. Young Tristran Thorn is a product of this market as the reader will discover in the early chapters. Tristran falls in love with Victoria Forester, and on one night vows that if she will marry him, he will retrieve a fallen star that has fallen into Faerie. Stardust is the story of finding that star.

Tristran is not the only person looking for the fallen star. There are three princes who's right to the throne depends on finding the star and there is a witch who seeks the star so that she may gain the beauty of youth. It is Tristran who finds the star first and we find that the star is a beautiful woman named Yvaine. I'll leave the rest of the thrilling, warm, romantic, awe inspiring story to the reader.

Stardust is one of the most magical books I have read in a long time. Gaiman has an amazing ability as an author to pick the perfect word each and every time. I felt a warmth inside the whole time I read this book. It's absolutely beautiful and everything that fantasy should be. He has a gift like no other when it comes to his power with words and ideas. This is very much a classic fairytale, but at the same time, he makes it just not another fairytale. There are witches, princesses, spells, talking things that don't normally talk, castles, revenge, romance, yet it is such a beautifully unique book.

There is another version of this book that was illustrated by the amazing Charles Vess that was published in 1999, and I would love to get my hands on that. Gaiman and Vess are releasing yet another version of Stardust on May 2nd with all new illustrations that will be published by Vertigo.

In addition, we can all look forward to Stardust the movie to debut in August I believe. I can't wait to see this movie on the screen, but at the same time, I have my apprehensions. I'm having a hard time picturing Michelle Pfeifer as the witch and with Robert DeNiro as anything at all. But I have no doubt at the same time that I shall enjoy it.

Add this book to your collection if you don't already have it. It's a beautiful story that you'll want to start all over again as soon as you turn the last page.

But I do Like Wednesdays

Just a quick catch up. Megan's in town and that makes me very happy. She's only in until Sunday, but at least it's some time that we get together. Tonight was nice. I met her after work, we went and got some chinese from our old favorite take out place, ate it by candlelight on the floor at her house, and then went target shopping where we bought more junk food. That was followed by just driving around and listening to music and showing off all of my fun Dave McKean things that I've bought since the last time she was in town. He's pretty much her favorite artist. They have very similar styles. Megan's big into collage/paint/sketch art, and McKean uses that same combination. A very simple night, but exactly what I needed.

Didn't get to see 300 as planned, but we will make it out to the theater soon. Tonight was just not enough time for a movie. Still haven't finished Stardust. I've been dying to finish it up (only like 20 pages left) but unfortunately, my life doesn't even allow me the 10 minutes it would take to do that. Maybe I'll just stay up late tonight and suffer tomorrow.

Tomorrow is nerve racking. My faculty supervisor is coming to observe me at the hospital and meeting with my supervisor. I'm pretty confident that all will go well, but still nervous nonetheless.

I Don't Like Mondays

I'm not a big Friends fan, but I'm watching the episode right now where Monica and Rachel are educating Chandler on how to "please" a woman with the "2,4,6...2,4,6, 7...7...777". That gets me laughing everytime.

I hate Mondays with a passion which is why I don't answer my cell phones on Monday afternoons (sorry Jroy). I tend to just be miserable and make people angry when I talk with them on Mondays. If I was just at the hospital, I would be fine. But I have to get reamed at school after that and then sit through supervision after that....doesn't make for a good day.

What does make for a good day is that I got the 6 book series of Spiderman Blue in the mail today illustrated by Tim Sale. He's such an incredible artist and I love the covers of all 6 books. His art was also great for Daredevil: Yellow, a series that I remember loving, but haven't read in a long time. If the storyline is as good as Daredevil was, I'll be very pleased. Review forthcoming whenever I get around to reading them. As it is, I'm still reading the 250 pg Stardust after a week. I get no reading time to myself anymore. No time period.

I'll be more social tomorrow, or if not tomorrow then Wednesday.

A quite vulgar thing was just said to me, and I'll leave you with this. "I'm pissed at you. You ate my damn panini". Just sounds dirty, doesn't it.

Being a Good Blogger

I don't have much to write about, but I figured my thousands of loyal readers should not be deprived on this glorious Sunday. And yes, I am delusional.

The party was alot of fun last night, though it ended quite early. All of the guests were gone by 10:30, so the rest (6) of us just hung out until we saw the cable box suddenly jump from 2:00 A.M to 3:00 A.M. We decided that it was a sign that we should indeed be in bed, and so the party ended. Lots of good food, lots of beer, and lots of friends made for a very welcome break from this oh so hectic last semester. Here's a picture of some of the guest and our wonderful teacher would be the Indian lady in the middle and I would be the second person on the left of the sofa. We made a promise once again to her to come to India, but it will have to be in the winter. In the summer, temperatures tend to get as high as 120 degrees with daily scheduled power outages. In the winter, it's around 80 degrees but gets as low as the 50's in January. So needless to say, we will be there in the Winter and she's promised me I can ride an elephant through the streets of India :)
Megan's coming in town next week which makes me very happy :D We plan on going to see 300 while she's here. I can't wait to see that. I had a friend tell me that he saw it Friday night and that it was incredible. He's also a history buff and said that it was very accurately depicted and the fighting styles were also very accurate. Carl also wrote a really great review of the movie on his blog.

Another addition to the blogroll is Amy Reads. I highly recommend her blog. Latest 2 posts concern female heroines and video game covers. She's a big comic book fan and has lots of cool stuff to write about. And she's also from New Orleans!

Why Do I Need a Title has a great little short PSA for us all.

Literacy Chic continues her Quick Lenten Meals series with an amazing sounding recipe for Fusion Shrimp Wraps.

And Quixotical is LONG overdue for a new post ;)

That's all I've got.

Edit/Add on: I hate NASCAR...it took away two bonus episodes of the simpsons. This distresses me.

A Bittersweet Adieu

For the first time in my life, yesterday, I actually screamed when I got into my car after work with no one else around. Maybe it's not such a movie cliche after all. People (or just I) apparently really do this. And boy did it feel good. Yesterday wasn't so much a bad day, just a very intense day. The accumulation of an intense week. The screaming was followed by a cigarette, loud music, beautiful weather, and all the windows rolled down while driving down the expressway. Quite cathartic.

Now that the crazy is out of me, I'm on to my next challenge. Tonight we are throwing a party for one of my past teachers from India. She's a wonderful person and has always related well to us mere grad students. In fact, she was my saving grace immediately following Katrina as she showed me the benefits of online counseling. I actually hate the idea of online counseling, but that's a whole other post. But she did help me immensely. So tonight she and her husband are coming to say their last goodbyes for awhile and head back to India on Monday. It should be fun. We're having a potluck dinner/drunkfest at Chris and Angela's and the guest list is pretty sizable. We'll probably head out to the casino after that so that I can loose money that I don't have.

We've made a pact with my teacher that we will come visit her in India in due time. I need to stop promising all of these really out of town friends that I will come visit them. I've never really heard of rich counselors, but it looks like I'll have to be one to support just my reading habits (or book buying habits) and my travel interests.

Stumble Upon and Lisa Snellings

I'm feeling kind of blah today, but what the hell...I'll do a post anyway.

If you use any Mozilla browser, I highly recommend that you download Stumble Upon as an add on for your browser. It's a really neat little feature that I just discovered. You check off your interests from a huge list that they have. Then there's a little button that you click that says "stumble." It brings you to a random site that others with your interests have said that they like. If you like the site, you can click on "like it" and if you don't, you can give it a thumbs down and your interests are tailored to that. In addition, anytime you're at a site that you like, you just click "like it" and it becomes available to others with your interests. I've gotten some really cool results such as this, this, and this. Check it.

Lisa Snellings-Clark had a really cool post today. Lots of cool news including more details on the much anticipated PoppetPlanet. She's also announced a new sale that will run from March 17th through the 24th with some new art and poppets by her. I love the green poppet named Gaia on the post. She's also announced that she will be a guest at Balticon, and I really wish I could go. I'd love to meet her, she seems like such a cool person.

I really wish we'd have a good sci-fi convention here in New Orleans. I would love it. They have one here occasionally, but it tends to become an alien porno/fetish convention. Just doesn't do it for me....

In one other small piece of personal news, I feel that I finally reached a landmark in the internship. One of the social workers was out today so I kind of filled in for her and ran a family session by myself today unsupervised. I feel that I did really well. Family sessions are meetings with the family and our patient. They typically last an hour, but mine managed to last for two causing me to miss lunch. Lots of issues to work through, but I feel like I made some progress with them.

Ooh, one more thing. I wanted to plug Orson Scott Card's online magazine entitled Intergalactic Medicine Show. It's only $2.50 an issue and you get tons of stuff for that price. It usually has about 6-7 decent length short stories, Orson does an Enderverse short story for each one, there's young adult short stories, sometimes a comic, usually an audiobook or two, review columns, there's been a Card serialized novel called "Hot Sleep", and each issue has a new clock for your desktop which is really cool in the I-Wei's Amazing Clocks section. In addition, each short story always has incredible art to go along with it. I know he said that sales weren't too good, so I wanted to plug it. Really great deal. 4 issues to date with tons of stuff. At $2.50 a piece, you could get them all for $10. How cool is that.

A Long Overdue Sick Day AKA Tons of Cool News

Due to maybe a fever and mostly horrible sinus pain, I decided to have a day of rest. And it has been most appreciated so far.

I woke up feeling horrible and sneezing my head off, but still got dressed and headed to work. After getting my coffee and still not feeling better, I decided that I would be doing myself a favor by taking the day off, and I've made it quite an enjoyable day off.

First things first, I went and finally got my passport. I've been needing to do that for awhile, so I finally got my butt to the post office and payed an arm and a leg for a passport that should be here in 6-8 weeks.

Came home for a little while, layed in bed and read some of Stardust, which is wonderful so far. Gaiman never fails.

While laying in bed, I saw on CNN that Marvel is killing Captain America in the latest issues that hit the stands today, so I decided to stop on by the local comic shop and check it out. I haven't been to the comic books store in probably two years now, and it was great to go back, but I don't think I have the finances to support that habit again.

While I was there, I picked up the Captain America issue in which he does in fact die. However, I recommend that you also get Civil War: The Initiative #1. Not saying anything, just get that as well. All the marvel books are kind of combined into one right now with this whole "civil war" series. I also picked up old favorites Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men which are still as great as when they first appeared on the shelves as well as the first 2 Dark Tower books, a 7 issue run of the Stephen King series that Marvel is putting out. The artwork for the Dark Tower books is done by Jae Lee and is really beautiful. While at the shop I also found Stardust fully illustrated by Charles Vess (the older version) but did not buy it because I didn't have the extra 20 bucks. A new version is being published soon though with all new illustrations by Vess.

I picked up a special movie issue of Wizard which has plenty of cool stuff in it, one of which is a feature story on the Stardust movie with quotes from Gaiman and Vess. Wizard published a list of 100 upcoming cool movies in the back. Many were surprises and many were movies that I have been looking forward to for awhile. Here are my favorites:

28 Weeks Later (sequel to 28 Days Later, May 11, 2007 (my b-day))
Batman: The Dark Knight (2008)
Books of Magic (Based on a comic written by Neil Gaiman)
Castlevania
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16, 2008)
Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
Fraggle Rock: The Movie (Ahmet Zappa writing screenplay for Jim Henson Productions)
Halloween (directed by Rob Zombie, Oct 17, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov 21, 2008)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (June 2008)
Indiana Jones 4
Jurassic Park IV
Magneto (yes, the Magneto)
Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds's End (May 25, 2007)
Power of the Dark Crystal (Sequel to the Dark Crystal, in production at Jim Henson Productions, May 2008)
Resident Evil: Extinction (Sept 2007)
Shrek the Third (May 18, 2007)
The Simpsons Movie (July 27, 2007)
Spiderman 3 (May 4, 2007)
Star Trek XI (about the early days of Kirk and Spock, 2008)
STAR WARS TV!!!! (will run at least 100 episodes, set between eps III and IV, early years of Luke)
Wolverine (yes, the Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman)
Wonder Woman (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

edit: also just saw from Reel Fanatic's blog that M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie entitled The Green Effect due out in 2008! His description is that "his new flick will be part-"War of the Worlds" sans aliens and part-"Soylent Green" madness."

One more piece of news...according to Locus Magazine's incredible online list of upcoming books, Orson Scott Card will release 2 more books in edition to SubPress' Space Boy. The first comes out in September. It's written by Card and Aaron Johnson, is published by TOR and is called Invasive Procedures....based on one of his short stories. The other one comes out in November and I've been looking forward to this one for 3 years. It's called War of Gifts, is published by TOR, and is basically "christmas in battle school"...an Ender's Game book.

That's all I've got....that's enough.

Cell by Stephen King

Cell phones. Everyone has one these days and it seems that the world couldn't function without them anymore. Suspend disbelief for a second. Imagine a new wave of terrorism where a terrorist could create a program that sent an electronic pulse through a cell phone that reprogrammed the human mind and caused pure chaos. Wiped the hard drive clean in a way leaving only man's most primal urges...the urge to kill. Scary thought. Though it could never happen in real life no matter how you look at it, it's still a scary end to the world, and would be a widely effective means of doing so. And that's why this is a work of fiction, and very good fiction at that I might add.

I must say that Stephen King has really improved as of late as a writer. I used to like King occasionally, but thought of him as kind of a joke (though there are a few masterpieces like The Shining in his collection). His latest two books, Cell and Lisey's Story, are wonderful though. King has gotten a much better feel for character development, and I find that I attach really closely to his characters. Several parts of this book almost managed to choke me up.

On October 1st, Clay Ridell is walking around in the heart of Boston after having his comic book finally accepted for publication. While waiting to get ice cream, a woman hangs up her cell phone and goes mad, biting and killing a man. Suddenly this erupts all around him and in a matter of minutes (we're talking everyone who has a cell phone), the apocalypse seems to begin. "The Pulse" has erased everyone's mind and eventually forms a telepathic link between all of "the phonies". Clay meets up some of the few who don't have cell phones and the book follows them struggling to survive and find ways to save the world. While trying to save the world, Clay is constantly on the look out for his young boy who owns a cell phone but may or may not have had it with him at the time that the pulse started. It is eventually discovered that "the phonies" "reboot" at night by "sleeping" in fields in masses and listening to elevator music. Opportunity strikes, but of course salvation is not an easy task.

So that's a very non-descript description of the book, but I don't want to give anything away. What I really liked about this book, is that it's the first real piece of Science Fiction that I have read by King, and I was very pleasantly surprised. This book looked incredibly stupid to me, I must admit, but it was a present from my brother so I figured I'd read it. I'm really glad I did. More than anything it feels like a really great, classic zombie story with a modern twist. It's not all blood and guts though (though there is certainly alot of that), it's also a very human and very touching story.

I never thought that I'd be recommending Stephen King twice in one year, but I do highly recommend this book. It's a wonderful read that is constantly engaging. Not much filler in here. My only complaints are that not enough closure is gained at the end (for me anyway), and we're never told about who or what created the pulse in the first place, though we can assume that it was a terrorist attack. Maybe a follow-up short story would be nice. Give it a shot, it's great.

One more interesting piece of knowledge - at the end of the book, it is announced that Stephen King does not own a cell phone.

Some Fun Book News

This post is mostly about Subterranean Press. You'd swear that I work for them, but I don't...they won't even send me ARCs which I would happily review ;)

I was very excited to wake up this morning and see that M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman shall be coming out this summer from SubPress. Even more exciting is that they have a limited edition that will be signed by Neil and Gahan Wilson, the artist who is doing the artwork. They are also numbered. So I pre-ordered it. It is a collection of short stories for "all ages". The price is normally $60, but if you buy it today and mention the newsletter in the special instructions box, you can get it for $48 dollars. But only today. And that is precisely what I did.

The second book that I ordered through them is The Space Boy by Orson Scott Card which is coming out in August. Artwork is done by his cousin (or nephew...can't remember). This one is limited to 2000 copies of the limited edition and is signed and numbered by the author.

SubPress' newsletter also mentions 2 new books forthcoming from John Scalzi. The first is Old Man's War which is a Hugo nominee (or was..not really sure) and the second is The Ghost Brigades. I keep advertising for John Scalzi on here, but I've yet to read one of his books! What can I say, he just sounds like an author I would like. I think this mostly because of Carl's review of The Android's Dream which sounds right up my alley.

SubPress is also carrying a free online magazine with all kinds of cool stuff including short stories by Poppy Z. Brite, John Scalzi, and Joe R. Landsdale. Very cool.

If you order any book from SubPress between now and Friday, they will enter your name into a drawing for 2 very rare editions of Stephen King books that they have published. Free stuff rocks!

Finally, on Endicott's blog, they have published a review of China Mieville's Un Lun Dun. It sounds great. I really want to read this book. I've hears so much about it and it's all good. Plenty of people are comparing him to Neil Gaiman, a connection which is once more maid in this article on Endicott's blog.

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your week got off to a good start.

Widgets and such

So lately I've been enjoying all of these little online widgets and things. Not really sure what half of them are though.

My newest is del.icio.us. I'm not entirely sure what this is though or what the purpose of it is. Whatever it is, you can view mine here. From what I understand, you can also add my blog to your del.icio.us by clicking the new little widget at the bottom of my sidebar. Would someone like to explain to me what this is? I know that you can share your del.icio.us with others, but I'm not entirely sure how or why one would want to do this. There has to be something cool about it. Whatever it its, it's a widget, and I should have it.

Another new widget that has been added to the page is this cool little thing that you can also see on the sidebar that shows what cities people are from that visit your page. And you get a picture of the country's flag next to the city. If you click on mine, you can get your own. neat-o.

Next up is Forecast Fox from Mozilla. You have to use Firefox as your browser to use this, but it gives you the temperature and forecast for your area for the next 3 days and has been very useful to me when getting dressed in the mornings.

I've become a big fan of Live Bookmarks...You can subscribe to individual web pages as long as they use the service. The webpage is stored in your bookmarks folder and each site is further broken down into individual and updated posts for blogs or websites that publish news. How convenient! Very easy to subscribe to a page. If live bookmarks can be used for the page you are visiting, a little button pops up on the far right of the address window when you're at the page. Just click it and you are subscribed to posts.

I also have Vista on it's way to me in the mail which has all kinds of new widgets that come with it that sit on your desktop. I wasn't really sure that I wanted Vista, but I figured I'll try it out. It looks cool. I get it for free since I bought this computer in November. Should be here in about 4-6 weeks. Just nervous about it because I'm so used to XP, but I shall adjust and stay up with the times.

What is it about widgets that are so appealing? I guess that it's just become the age of information, and anyway to get any new info just automatically appeals to everyone.

Random post, whatever...I'm del.irio.us.

Current State of Mental Health Care in New Orleans

There is an excellent article in this week's Gambit Weekly (a New Orleans weekly publication) entitled Psyched Out. It talks about the current state of mental health care in New Orleans, and the statistics are somewhat shocking. According to the article, there are only 22 psychiatrists in the area right now as opposed to the pre-Katrina level of 196. Throw in the massive increase for a need of psychiatrists since Katrina and what you have is a total mess. There are also only 82 psychiatric beds now open as opposed to the pre-Katrina level of 422. This article doesn't take into account the hospital I work at which currently has 200 beds, all of which are taken. The article is talking mostly about emergency room beds. Since Katrina, 6 hospitals have closed in the area leaving only 4 available for mental health emergencies. The wait in these emergency rooms is approximately 10-12 hours according to the article.

The article is not available on the Gambit website, but it should be available by tomorrow.

The Prestige

Magic is a pleasure bred deep within us all. If for a moment we can be taken away from a world that has become normal, we call that magic. Reading a fantasy novel can be magical, seeing a wonderful film can be magical, noticing an intimate moment in the world can be magical.

The Prestige is truly a magical movie. While it's plot focuses on magic and illusions, the real magic comes in the portrayal of human emotions in this movie. The Prestige is a story of love; a story of obsessions, revenge, identities, and trickery all done in the name of love. Love can become obsessive at times. Love for another person or love for perfection.

The movie follows two rival magicians in London. Both are trying to achieve the ultimate performance. What starts off as a friendship ends in a competition so fierce that nothing is forsaken. Both magicians strive for the secret (or the prestige) of the others trick. What one has the other wants. I don't want to say too much more as I don't want to give away the movie for those who have not seen it. But it is wonderful, and I would recommend buying this one rather than renting it. You'll want to see it again as soon as it's over.

The acting was superb in this movie. I'm becoming more and more of a Christian Bale fan. I've always liked him, but I've only recently come to respect him so much as an actor. He was amazing in this movie. The surprise performance of the movie for me was David Bowie as Nikolha Tesla. He was wonderful! I expected his acting to be forced, but it was perfect. Nods to him. Hugh Jackman is wonderful as always, as is the gorgeous Scarlett Johansen. I've come to find that I like just about any movie that she is in. Michael Caine is wonderful as always and has that same charm that he always has.

The movie was filmed beautifully and captured the era perfectly. Every scene has a eerie yet comforting darkness about it and it is the total lack of special effects that makes this movie so wonderful and so authentic. The story relies much more on human emotions and interaction than the magic itself. I would've been happy with just a movie about magic, but what makes The Prestige so wonderful is that it does an amazing job at portraying the human psyche and the lengths that we go to for obsessions and for perfection.

Web Wanderings and Fun Finds

Plenty of fun stuff on the web today. I'll go down the blog list. In this post, Neil Gaiman talks about an upcoming issue (April 2007) of Fantasy and Science Fiction that is somewhat of a tribute to Gene Wolfe. He wrote an article about Gene Wolfe as did two other authors and there is something (maybe a short story) called Memorare by Gene himself. In the same issue, Charles DeLint does book reviews. I used to subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction a couple of years ago and I'm not really sure why I didn't renew. I think I just may have to once again.

Next up is the second entry in Literacy Chic's Lenten Meals series. In this entry she gives a delicious recipe for Shrimp or Crawfish jambalaya. I know her from living here in New Orleans, so I can assure you that this is a great, authentic recipe. I highly recommend that you try this one out for a taste of real New Orleans cooking, and use Louisiana crawfish if you can find them (much better than Chinese crawfish. We had boiled crawfish for dinner tonight and they were deeeelicious.

Lisa Snellings-Clark writes about an interview she did for Fantasy Magazine which I'm looking forward to. She also talks about Poppet Planet and mentions that the gallery will be open again around St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait to see the poppets for that (assuming she makes them). Neil Gaiman has also changed the Magnificent Oracular Journal to hold a Lisa Snellings-Clark poppet.
In Carl's Friday Favorites, he introduces us to an artist by the name of Raymond Swanland. His images are breathtaking and he has the ability to capture so much life in his paintings. I especially like the second one down by the name of The Golden Hills of Westria. Great stuff!

Subterranean Press offers their edition of I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury which looks wonderful. But unfortunately at $150 for the cheaper version, I will not be buying this one. If you have the money, I'm sure it's worth it though. It's numbered and signed by Bradbury himself.

Finally (in web wanderings at least) in his latest Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column, Orson Scott Card reviews a new documentary called Done the Impossible: The Fans Tale Firefly and Serenity. It is a DVD that captures the huge underground fan base for Firefly, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever on tv that was unfortunately canceled after only 12 episodes to make way for reality shows. This DVD looks great and I can't wait to check it out.

Enter the fun finds. While not as numerous as the web wanderings, still great stuff.

I got in my car today and caught the tail end of an ad on XM Radio for some new show with Orson Scott Card! I knew there was a reason I loved XM so much, they love my favorite author! I'm not entirely sure what it is though, and their website and a Google search did nothing for me. Anyone know about this? What I do know is that he will apparently have a show on Sonic Theater, XM channel 163. I just discovered this channel today after hearing the ad. It's so great! It's like audio books 24/7 and every night they play sci-fi stuff. How cool. Alot of these are the great old time sci-fi radio shows. Can't wait to see what Orson Scott Card is doing with this channel.

Finally, I decided to make a stop by best buy tonight and picked up a couple of goodies. The first is the soundtrack for Children of Men, and what I've listened to so far is great and just as haunting as the movie. I've been wanting this since I saw the movie. The music was great. Glad I finally bought it. I also picked up The Prestige on DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. First of all, it has something to do with magic. Anything related to fantasy in some way is ok by me. Second, the actors are great. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and the smoking hot and still talented Scarlett Johansen. Can't wait to see this. I'm sure my review will be posted later tonight.

For Dave McKean Fans

Now that I think about it, if you're a Dave McKean fan, you probably know about these, but if not, you may find your new favorite artist.

The first is Dustcovers. I just got this in the mail today and it is a wonderful book. It is a collection of all of the Sandman covers that Dave has done for Neil Gaiman's masterpiece comic series. Along with his covers, the book also collects some other illustrations, sketches, and an extra little short collaboration by the duo. Each picture has commentary from both Neil and Dave. I would say it's a must have for any Sandman, Gaiman, and/or McKean fan.

The second is another great collaboration of Gaiman and McKean's. It is entitled The Alchemy of Mirrormask. It's another great art book collecting Dave's art for the film Mirrormask. It has early sketches, paintings, sculptures, etc. along with original ideas and brainstorming for the film from both McKean and Gaiman. It would make an excellent coffee table book if you're brave enough to put it there (I tend to be slightly protective of my books). It's an amazing book that brings you from the beginning to the end of the production of Mirrormask and has all kinds of treats in between. Highly recommended.

Finally, Subterranean announced a new title by author Gordon Dahlquist entitled Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, which is a victorian-era novel from what I get with wonderful cover art by McKean. This one may be worth it for the cover. The novel sounds interesting as well.

That's all I've got for now.

Spirituality in Counseling

A short reflection on the matter written for an ethics class:

When I first began my current internship I was told never to bring up religion in a session. I asked “why not?” and was told that religious views are very varied and you may insult someone or cause a serious debate that would get in the way of therapy. I then asked “what about bringing up spirituality?” and was told that spirituality and religion were the same thing. I disagreed with this, but decided that my place would be best served by accepting the rules of the organization.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Counseling and Development, Young, Wiggins-Frame, and Cashwell (2007) describe the role of spirituality in counseling and what training a counselor may need in order to be competent in this area. Young et al. based their research off of a former article which “reported that 75% of Americans reported that religion and spirituality are important to them” (p. 47, 2007). Young et al. also point out the difference between religion and spirituality. According to this study, spirituality is defined as

A capacity and tendency that is innate and unique to all persons. The spiritual tendency moves the individual toward knowledge, love, meaning, peace, hope, transcendence, connectedness, compassion, wellness, and wholeness. Spirituality includes one’s capacity for creativity, growth, and the development of a value system.

Religion, on the other hand is defined as “the specific organized and codified form through which individuals may express their spirituality” (p. 48, 2007).

In this study, the authors report that 68% of counselors felt that it is important or very important for counselors in training to have formal training in addressing spiritual and religious issues. However, only 46% of respondents said that they were prepared to integrate spiritual issues into counseling. What we have here is a huge demand with little supply. The authors point out a number of ways in which we can help start the process of working spirituality into counseling.

The first suggestion is that there is a need to build curricula with an emphasis on spirituality. They suggest that this can be either one course, or it can be worked into all areas of study. Second, there is a need for research on the subject and knowledge on how one can incorporate spirituality into counseling. Third, there is a need to evaluate the role of spirituality in the lives of others and how religion and spirituality may contribute in the development of psychological disorders. Finally, there is a need for greater dialogue on the subject in professional literature. The word needs to get out on the subject in order for the subject to gain ground.

I have always felt that spirituality is one of the greatest assets to a counselor. The majority of people have some sort of spirituality, whether they have religion or not. Without spirituality, we would essentially be robots who only performed basic life functions. Spirituality plays a huge role in the psychology of our minds. Spirituality helps to develop our morals, our place in the world, our relational issues, our connectedness with others, etc. Major breakdowns in one of these areas can cause huge psychological illness.

As counselors, I feel that it is our role to acknowledge the spirituality of a person and let that be a major factor in the person’s recovery. The counselor does not have to have the same religion or any religion at all when counseling a person, but we should have a basic awareness of our own spirituality and the empathy to understand another’s spirituality when helping a person recover. I feel that we need to examine innate qualities such as spirituality when treating a person and use that as much as possible in their treatment. Essentiality, the counselor acts as a guide while the client seeks out the answers that they can best come to terms with. It’s important to teach a client how to pay attention to their moral traces when examining any given situation and to trust their gut feeling when appropriate.

In order for this to become an effective mode of treatment, more education needs to be given on the area. The authors of this article suggest this as well and give a starting point for how to incorporate spirituality training into courses. As I mentioned before, I feel that spirituality plays a major role in a client’s recovery and it is our duty as counselors to have knowledge in this field.

Reference: Young, Wiggins-Frame, & Cashwell. (2007). Spirituality and counselor competence: A national survey of American Counseling Association members. Journal of Counseling and Development. (85)1, p. 47-52.