Review of The Great Gatsby

People often ask me if I'll ever set a book in my romantic time travel series in the 1920s. Hmmm, definitely something to consider. In the meantime, see what I thought of Baz Luhrmann's attempt to capture the era, in The Great Gatsby.
http://www.chicklitclub.com/movie-night.html#thegreatgatsby

The First Mothers Day

Mother's Day Proclamation

by Julia Ward Howe, 1870

The First Mother's Day proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace, a reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War.

"Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: 'We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.'

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, 'Disarm, Disarm!'

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace."

The F Bomb is Not My Idea of Romance - Friends with Kids - A DVD Review

Click here for my DVD review of Friends with Kids:
http://www.chicklitclub.com/movie-night.html#friendswithkids

What Michelle Obama and Cousin Margaret Have in Common

I think my cousin Margaret looks like a white Michelle Obama. Though I don't think Margaret tends to agree, I maintain there's something in the smile that is so very similar, every time I see the first lady, I think of my cousin. For her privacy's sake, I won't post a picture of Margaret here, but just imagine Michelle with very blond hair, blue eyes, lighter skin and there you have it. Funny though, the similarities don't stop there. Margaret is a really special woman in my eyes; like Michelle, her family has always come first though she has one more child than the Obamas, her youngest about a decade older than the first family's youngest. Margaret also has a husband who is at the top of his profession, and, like Michelle, she is proficient in the same field as he, but she's chosen to devote her children's formative years to being there for them. She's encouraged her kids in sports and in the arts and they have flourished in those areas. They're steady and well-adjusted, having benefited from a mom who was supportive without smothering. Margaret believes in fitness and a healthy way of life. She likes gardening. And, I believe, if she were constantly in the public view like Michelle, she'd be practical about style, buy American, be comfortable yet attractive. Her politics tend toward the liberal, but she's no radical. She's a devoted daughter, sister, cousin and niece. Family comes first. You can count on Margaret to be the one of her siblings who will always make the effort to be at weddings, funerals and other important family occasions, even if it means traveling far to do so. She remembers birthdays. She's the person whose calm demeanor makes you want to just hang out with her. She's easy to talk to and fun.

I could probably say many of those same things about Michelle, but of course, I don't know her personally, nor can I be sure she possesses the qualities I sense she shares with Margaret. But I don't think I'm far off. What I do know of how Michelle chooses to raise her family, run her life, and present herself in public, has made her one of the women I admire most in the world. I'd certainly vote for her if she ran for president, but I don't think she would be ambitious in that way. Nor do I think ambition led her to support her husband in his political aspirations; she simply believes in him and wants him to do his job well.

My life is very different from Michelle Obama's, obviously - closer, I suppose to Margaret's. But I'm such a quirky mix of writer, mom, time-travel fanatic, and all the many hobbies and pursuits I enjoy, I'm probably rather different than both of them. Yet I take inspiration from them, quite literally, breathing in, when I can, in their calm strength, their rock-solid values. I'm privileged to know Margaret, maybe someday I'll meet Michelle. I wish for all women at least one role model, like these two, to look up to.

My Favorite Reads of 2012

Please visit this guest post I did for Tam's Two Cents. It reveals some of my favorite reads from over the past year.
http://tamssbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/author-spotlight-giveaway-georgina.html

Silver Linings Playbook - Review

Please catch my review on Chicklit Club! http://www.chicklitclub.com/movie-night.html#silverliningsplaybook

What TV Cooking Shows Tell Us About Ourselves - Guest Post

Mad genius and author of the School of the Ages series offers his insight on cooking shows, the inspiration for his thrilling story from Carnival of Cryptids, An Anthology of Strange and Mysterious Creatures, released February 1st. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology go to charity.

Nerd-girls have certainly been known to indulge in the guilty pleasure of cooking shows - so read on fellow nerd-girls!

Beautiful Italian Chef, Giada de Laurentiis

What TV Cooking Shows Tell Us About Ourselves
by Matt Posner

We're human. We like to watch other people.
We like competition.
We like celebrities, but we like them to be flawed; we like glamour, but we like human frailty too.
We like, above all, food.
TV cooking shows give us everything. Dramatic contests. Portraits of drive and determination. Overconfident villains, modest heroes, and identifiable just-plain-folks.
TV cooking shows give us a variety of people. There are many nationalities, many styles, many regions represented. The competitors have drama and emotion to share. They have complex stories sometimes -- often, in fact. Most want to start their own restaurants with the prize money, but many are there for pride, or to prove something to their families who have doubted them, or to reunite with distant loved ones. Some are there mainly to prove to themselves that they have recovered from desperate adversities, or to test themselves in the spirit of competition.

On cooking shows, everyone isn't the same, the way they sometimes seem to be in scripted TV (where physiques, hair, clothes are all composed to industry standards). We see white chefs, of course, but we also see blacks, Latinos, and Asians at work. Males and females compete on an equal footing, and the same is true for straight and homosexual people. (Chopped in particular selects many lesbians to compete.) All body types appear, endomorphs and mesomorphs, thin, fat, and in-between. Ages range from very young and fresh-faced to gray with life experience. Hairstyles, everything from baldness to flowing locks to mohawks and dyed spikes.
Whatever these people look like, wherever they come from, whatever their lifestyles away from the kitchen, we can admire and root for them. Where is that more true than on TV cooking shows?
Back to food. Watching a TV cooking show gives us a chance to see cooking techniques demonstrated, including crowd-pleasers ranging from amazing knife-work to pulling strands of sugar into the air. We get insight into the specifics of culinary science, such as how to combine flavors and textures. We learn about ingredients we've never heard of before, from world and regional cuisines. Sometimes these are comical (goat brains) or bizarre (razor clams).  Strange ingredients mixed into standard recipes produce combinations that have never been served before and possibly never will be served again.

For,  you see, TV cooking shows are great displays of creativity. As much as a singing or dancing competition, TV cooking shows show us people striving to express themselves in striking and impressive ways.  Culinary innovation, coming from people who know what they are doing, is definitely a recipe for high-quality entertainment.
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My story for Kindle All-Stars 2:  Carnival of Cryptids is about an imaginary "underground TV" cooking contest of the future called "The Paring Knife." With only a judge and a taster, the competitors face danger if they are eliminated, as they are attacked by the knife-wielding "Paring Knife Kids."  Fitting the theme of the anthology, the chefs are cooking creatures from the roster of cryptozoology, all of them apparently robbed of their mystery. Like the chefs I described above, the competitors all have their stories, as do the commentary team, the "official taster," and the sole arbiter, a tyrant known as "Big Poppa Judge." Like a perfect cooking-show recipe, these elements come together in a striking blend of horror and laughter worth the price of the book alone.

But there are many more stories in Carnival of Cryptids. Seven stories by working professional writers of adventure, science fiction, horror, and suspense, selected and introduced by the intense bestselling Bernard Schaffer -- well, you'll like it. All proceeds from sales of the book are donated to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Kindle All-Stars 2:  Carnival of Cryptids. Available February 1 for Kindle at all Amazon.com outlets.  http://www.amazon.com/Carnival-Cryptids-Anthology-Mysterious-ebook/dp/B00B87EB9A/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1359653552&sr=8-13&keywords=matt+posner