Banned Books Week

I've been following a bit of drama the past couple of weeks regarding banned books, mostly involving banning of books my Ellen Hopkins and Laurie Halse Anderson (you can read more about their stories on their blogs, linked in their names). I was mostly watching the events unfold via these authors' twitter feeds (@EllenHopkinsYA and @halseanderson), in which they linked to blog posts describing their experiences with banning, and even news stories about the bans. Each time I read another instance of banning or watched a newscast about it on You Tube, I rolled my eyes and shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all.

Then, last night, I was shocked to hear a news teaser about a local attempted banning (story here). I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I watched the story (even though DH really, really wanted to change the channel), and I think my mouth just dropped more and more as the story continued. Book banning makes me mad, period, but I really lost my cool when a woman came on and said (paraphrased), "I don't want my daughter reading that kind of stuff."

I actually yelled at the TV at that point, and I think DH thought I was nuts.

How is it a library's responsibility to control what *your* child is reading? What happened to actually *parenting* your own child?

Bottom line, I think that this is exactly what is wrong with society today, in general. People are lazy. They want others to control what their child reads. If their child isn't doing well in school, the school is failing the child. People want everything handed to them without doing any of the work themselves.

Ironically, the lead story on another news channel was a child who died from an overdose, and 8^th grade girls who overdosed on prescription meds at school. But, no, these kids are too young to read books about the consequences of doing drugs.

 

Anyway, go out and read a few banned books this week!

They Cut the Climax!

    I was flipping channels the other night, and go ridiculously excited when I saw that Spacecamp was on. So I made Son watch his show (iCarly – I think he has a crush on Miranda Cosgrove) in another room so I could watch Spacecamp.

    Now, I know as well as anyone that when they put a movie on TV, they edit for time and content. I expect it. What I didn't expect was for them to cut one of the most important scenes in the movie. Lemme say that again.

    They cut one of the most important scenes in the movie!!!

    At the end, as they have to re-enter the atmosphere, Kathryn (the female main character) is piloting because Andie (their instructor) got hurt. The ship goes into a flat spin, which is the situation Kathryn was unable to handle in the simulator and the multi=axis trainer during camp. Kathryn's big triumph is that she gets them out of the flat spin and gets them home, proving to herself that she can do it, and that she is meant to be a pilot (something she fights throughout the movie).

    Yeah. They cut that. They cut the whole flat spin.

    Hel-looooooo? Why would you do that? Why cut there? It makes no sense.

 

    Oh, and they also cut one of my favorite lines of all time. Kelly Preston plays Tish – a be-bangled and be-jeweled poster child for 80's Valley Girl. When NASA finally responds to her Morse Code, she says, "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge card – NASA's talking!" Classic.

In which I sing the praises of Walgreens

Today I’d like to take a moment to talk about the awesomeness that is Walgreens. Seriously. It is my absolute favorite store. You can get just about anything you need there.

Run out of diapers? They’ve got ‘em.

Basic condiments? Check.

Lotion? Check.

Cosmetics? Check.

OTC meds? Check.

Prescriptions? Check.

Photo developing? Check.

Need a gift? They’ve got gift cards for just about anywhere, cute seasonal items, toys, cards, and even gift wrap.

Don’t know what to make for dinner? They’ve got canned and boxed solutions and even frozen foods (pizza, anyone?).

You might argue that I can get the same things at Target or Walmart, and you’d be right. Except. Both of those stores are something like five times bigger than Walgreens…at least. It would take a person at least three times longer to run into Target or Walmart to grab something as it takes to run into Walgreens. Another argument against the bigger stores is exactly their largeness. I can’t go into Target without spending at least $100 and well over an hour of my time. Walgreens has lots of cute stuff, but I just don’t find myself grabbing it and throwing it into my cart like I do at Target. I can walk through Walgreens with a list and leave with only the things on my list. As far as Walmart…well, I’m just not a fan. We’ll leave it at that.

Plus, Walgreens has great prices and awesome specials, including the amazing monthly Easy Saver catalog. There have been months where I have gotten $35+ back on products I was already buying.

At this point you’re probably thinking, Wow, is she getting paid by Walgreens or something? No. Just thought I’d share the awesomeness. If you don’t shop at Walgreens, you should. :)

Best Writing Compliment So Far

I just got the biggest compliment I have had so far in my writing career! I'm so ridiculously excited!
One of my critique group members told me that she was so into reading the first three chapters of my story, she almost fell out of her chair when the phone rang!

Hooray!


(How pathetic am I?) LOL.

Off to write more gripping stuff! :)