Pirates Ahoy!

A bunch of my nephews and nieces came to stay for the weekend. After they'd all gone home, I went to clean up the mess in the toy room and this is what I found had been done to my pirate ship:

My pirates are gonna be living in high style now! I'm guessing one of my nieces got tired of the plain old boring dollhouse and decided to liven things up a bit. At least those scurvy pirates will travel in comfort as they plunder the seven seas. Do you think they have a doily for when their walking the plank?

Contest! With PRIZES!

Contest Now Closed



A friend of mine is putting on a great contest with lots of cool prizes! I'm one of the sponsors donating a prize. Click the link below to find out more.

http://windwaithemermaid.blogspot.com/2011/11/contest-with-lots-of-prizes.html

All Ready for Halloween!

I found this adorable Halloween bedspread for sale online and had to buy it. When I went to bed the first night, I quickly discovered the ghosts glow in the dark. How cool is that? And don't you love the matching ghost accent pillow? I'm all set for Halloween. Are you?

Book Trailers Are Hard Work!

This last month has been filled with a flurry of work while I and my family prepare to film the Forbidden Sea book trailer. Things are never as straight forward as you might think when filming. Especially when you have no budget to speak of. A lot of things don't come out exactly as you'd like them to--but then again pleasant surprises pop up along the way as well. People who have read Forbidden Sea will see right away that some literary license had to be taken with the storyline in order to condense it down into a trailer length plot that makes sense to people who have not read the book. We have Denn in a scene he was not actually a part of in the book, but it works better that way for the trailer. Adrianne does not have short hair like she does in the novel, but the girl who plays her is PERFECT for the part, so I figured it was a trade-off worth making. The actor who plays Denn is the real boyfriend of the young actress who plays Adrianne, so the chemistry between them is just right--and he definitely looks the part. We still have more filming scheduled for next weekend. I hope everything continues to come out as well as it has begun. I can't wait to see the finished product!

I So Wish I Had That!

Before you know it, Christmas will be upon us once again. So here it is.  A list of totally bizarre stuff you can buy online but probably never will. Someplace deep inside, though--you know you wish you could.

WARNING: Clicking on links below will take you to outside websites over whose content I have no control.

Glow-in-the-Dark Toilet Paper (you know you want it)
http://www.amazon.com/thu-GLOWROLL-Glow-Dark-Toilet/dp/B002VKDO1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318475803&sr=8-1

Remote Control Wand (must have)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/home-entertainment/cf9b/?cpg=cj&ref=&CJURL=&CJID=1764687

Bacon Band-Aids (I kid you not)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Customer-Favorites_2AA/Item_Funny-Food-Bandages_CF2912_ps_cti-2AA.html

Food Face Plate (yes, you may play with your food)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Item_Food-Face-Plate_CE5342_ps_dpr.html

Skel-a-Gnome (hold me back)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Customer-Favorites_2AA/Item_Skel-A-Gnomette-and-Skel-A-Gnome-Garden-Sculptures_CF2993G_ps_cti-2AA.html

Food Jewelry (Can you smell the bacon?)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Skillet-amp-Eggs-Earrings_CH0342_ps_cti-4BY.html

Peace Sign Toaster (All I can say is--WHY would you ever want one of these?)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Peace-Sign-Toaster_CH1192_ps_cti-4BY.html

Flavored Dental Floss (Eeeew!)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Flavored-Dental-Floss_CE5402G_ps_cti-4BY.html

Darth Vader Lamp (Uh--okay . . .)
http://www.thingsyouneverknew.com/product/star+wars+darth+vader+character+lamp.do

Nose Gel Dispenser (not even going to comment)
http://www.shopgadgetsandgizmos.com/product/18294/?gclid=CMLT1aPj5KsCFQgaQgodoguCHA


I know what I'm putting on my Christmas list this year . . . how about you?

A Halloween Treat

It's Halloween time once again and I thought I'd post an appropriate link to celebrate. Usually when you think of haunted houses, you think about scary stuff. But the cute ghosts of the world have a right to haunt houses too! For anyone who likes their ghosts adorably cute and not so scary, check out the link below to find out all about Whispia--possibly the cutest ghost in the whole world.

http://hauntlinginmyhouse.blogspot.com/

P.S. I predict that glow-in-the-dark dolls are going to be all the rage this year.

Absolutely Fascinating Part 5

Yes, it is that time once again. The time when I give you a peek into some of the strange and bizarre things that go on in this world. As a  librarian, I have uncovered some absolutely fascinating but completely useless knowledge over the years. If you want to entertain yourself for a while try looking up information on the Internet about these bizarre but oddly enthralling subjects.

WARNING: Clicking on the links below will take you to outside webpages whose changing content I have no control over.  Click at your own risk.

Virtual pop stars? 

I kid you not. These girls don't actually exist. The holographic singer's voice is even synthesized.That's right, that is actually a computer singing, not a human being. And she's got a sold out concert in L.A. this coming Monday, right here in the USA. Just a little too freaky for me.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/07/01/lah.japan.cg.video.star.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

And this leads us to . . . 

The Uncanny Valley

This is a psychological fear of something that looks human but isn't. We humans tend to feel uncomfortable or even fearful when a man made object gets a little too human looking, but isn't quite the real thing. Example: ultra realistic robots, CGI, or even dolls. (Think wax museum.) Something seems just a tiny bit off to us when we look at them and this triggers fear. Scientists have tried to study this phenomenon for years. Watch the video below to see some great examples of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4 

Think of all the people who are terrified of dolls--or clowns. That's the Uncanny Valley. Freaky, huh?

Almost as freaky as . . .

Training Your Goldfish to Do Tricks

I saw the guys on Mythbusters attempting to train goldfish once. To my amazement, it actually worked. I've had lots of pet goldfish in my life--none of them did anything like the ones in the video below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Iznh9VbsY

Distorted Beauty Perceptions

This video shows the way society has distorted our perception of beauty. That gorgeous woman you see on the billboard, she doesn't exist. So why do woman spend so much time and money trying to look just like her? It just shows how much we've all bought into the myth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgoGfnD8sc

If you are interested, here are links to past Absolutely Fascinating posts with even more strangely curious stuff to read up on:

Absolutely Fascinating Part 4
Absolutely Fascinating Part 3
Absolutely Fascinating Part 2
Absolutely Fascinating Part 1