Posted: May 20th, 2010 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Animals, Books, Fun, Scary, Writing | 3 Comments »
When the world is threatened with destruction thanks to a curse from a talking, decapitated witch’s head, what’s a kid to do?
If you’re Thatcher Hill, you stop dusting the fake mermaids and other assorted grotesqueries at your uncle’s seaside Museum of Curiosities, join forces with a princess from the fabled lost city of Atlantis, and kick some monster-squid butt.
Greg van Eekhout’s new middle-grade novel Kid Vs. Squid has it all—thrills, spills, and chills, and it’s a laugh a minute, to boot. Spend the summer with Thatcher and see how much fun a rundown boardwalk can be!
Slimy squid, hero kid. Kid Vs. Squid by Greg van Eekhout is published by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Posted: March 24th, 2010 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Animals, Curious Things, Fun | 5 Comments »
Most school sports teams have a mascot that cheers them on to victory and urges them not to give up when the chips are down. Here a few good ones.
Stanford University’s mascot, The Tree.
A big smile from The Tree. Photo found at SF Weekly
Xavier University’s mascot, The Blue Blob.
The Blue Blob: blobby! Photo found at Comcast.net
Scottsdale Community College’s mascot, Artie the Fighting Artichoke.
Artie the Fighting Artichoke. Eat your vegetables! Photo found at TopTenz.net
And University of California at Santa Cruz’s mascot, Sammy the Banana Slug.
Sammy the Banana Slug. Don't call him slimy! Photo found at TeamExpress
Brenton Silbert-Ford portrays Wilbur Wildcat, the mascot of the University of Arizona.
Brenton Silber-Ford takes a break from mascot-dom. Photo (c) Ernie Somoza/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Brenton has come out from behind the fur to reveal that he is a veteran mascot performer. He was a high school student in San Diego, CA when he put on his first mascot suit at Sea World. His character? A fun-loving otter.
As Wilbur Wildcat, he is famous for his good dancing. Despite the hundreds of rabid fans who cheer him on at every Wildcat game, he says mascots aren’t in it for the glory. “You do it for the kids and the fans,” he says. “Not for anyone else.”
Posted: March 11th, 2010 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Books, Curious Things, Fun, Wolves | 7 Comments »
As you know, I have a book called The Boy Who Howled coming from Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books this fall that deals with the thrilling subject of a boy who was raised by wolves. I was excited to learn of a new book called The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood that features THREE children raised by wolves and had to read it pronto.
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood is everything a book should be. The terrific cover is by Jon Klassen. Published by Balzer+Bray.
My verdict? It is worth its weight in gold. Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley faces endless obstacles in her mission to tutor Alexander, Cassiopeia, and Beowulf, three wild children whose bark is (perhaps) worse than their bite. And mysteries abound at creepy Ashton Place. Hilarious and scary. Pick up a copy and see!
Read an excerpt here.
Posted: February 19th, 2010 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Curious Things, Fun, Toys | 6 Comments »
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too old to play with toys. I’m as old as the hills, and though I don’t play with toys very often, I am still very into them. Thus I was intrigued to learn about the American International Toy Fair, the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere, which was held recently in New York City.
Many hot new toys for 2010 were unveiled. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye.
The Perplexus 3-D maze, with three mind-bending levels to solve, will keep you busy turning, rotating, angling, and balancing to get its metal ball down the correct track.
The Perplexus 3-D maze is tricksy, my precious! Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
Bioloid Robot Kits from Robotis are the first educational robot kits based around “smart serially controlled servos” which are not only capable of switching between positioning and full continuous rotation, but also provides you with access to sensory feedback such as position, speed, temperature, current draw and voltage of each servo. Bioloid kits are designed in a way that allow the user to construct multiple types of robots. Warning: these kits are super expensive! Good for wish lists, for sure.
Bioloid Robot Kits are responsible for these cool bots. Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
Simpler and less expensive fun can be had with a Motorized Bubble Light. I’ve got a weakness for the magical beauty of iridescent bubbles. To see them lit up in all their glory would make for wonderful nighttime fun.
The Motorized Bubble Light features glow-in-the-dark wand and dip tray. Mesmerizing! Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
Celebs are hopping on the toy wagon too. Check out one of the WWE’s most successful superstars of all time, Triple H, and his personalized action figure.
I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of this guy. Even his action figure looks like it could hurt me. Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
In case you haven’t heard, skateboards are old news. Today’s street-riding thrills come courtesy of the RipStik. Just twist and go!
It's as easy as it looks to ride a RipStik, once you figure it out! Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
And now it is time to introduce the Toy of the Year for 2010. It is fun, it is inexpensive, it is A MECHANICAL HAMSTER!
Meet Zhu Zhu.
Zhu Zhu is honored to be named the Toy of the Year. He wasn't expecting it! Photo found at huffington.post
What do Zhu Zhus do? They zoom around! What could be funner? Here’s another look at this playtime wonder.
Zoom, zoom, zoom! Photo found at huffingtonpost.com
Zhu Zhus also make toilet-flushing or teeth-brushing sounds when they enter the bathroom of their special habitat and sleeping noises and alarm-clock sounds when they go into their bedroom. That’s enough for a Toy of the Year these days. All hail Zhu Zhu!
Posted: December 4th, 2009 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Adventure, Curious Things, Fun, Photography | 6 Comments »
Photographic artist Ruth Kaiser has an eye for smiley faces. She can spot them in the most unlikely places. Since she saw her first smiley face in a spilled drink, she has photographed more than 2,000 happy images as part of a photo project she calls the Spontaneous Smiley Project.
Where does Ruth find inspiration?
On a metal plate with screws.
Photo (c) Ruth Kaiser/NewsTeam. Found at www.telegraph.co.uk
On a stack of cinder blocks.
Photo (c) Ruth Kaiser/NewsTeam. Found at www.telegraph.co.uk
At the beach.
Photo (c) Ruth Kaiser/NewsTeam. Found at www.telegraph.co.uk
And even with a couple of ordinary twigs.
Photo (c) Ruth Kaiser/NewsTeam. Found at www.telegraph.co.uk
Have you seen a smiley face where no one would expect it to be? Grab your camera and join Ruth’s Spontaneous Smiley Project.
Be warned, however: smiley faces are everywhere, and the fun of collecting them may be contagious.
“One day,” says Ruth, “as I was crouched with my camera in hand over ‘Spilled Soda on the Sidewalk Smiley’, a man came along and asked, ‘What in the world are you taking a picture of?’ I showed him the Smiley. He smiled. I smiled. He went on his way. About two minutes later, he came running back in my direction. ‘Quick,’ he told me. ‘Bring your camera. I found one!’”
Posted: November 22nd, 2009 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Animals, Books, Favorite Things, Fun | 6 Comments »
The tall Mr. Dahl.
Six foot five-inch tall writer Roald Dahl is one of the Immortals. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his other great books will live from now until the end of time.
Two of Mr. Dahl’s books have been made into stop-motion films. Stop-motion is a form of animation where moveable models are photographed in incremental movement. A model is photographed, then repositioned and photographed again, and again and again until a required action is completed.
The first of Mr. Dahl’s books to become a stop-motion adventure was James and the Giant Peach in 1996.
James and the Giant Peach—the book.
Grasshopper and James mid-adventure in the stop-motion film version. Photo (c) cinefantastiqueonline.com
Now Fantastic Mr. Fox has received the amazing stop-motion treatment.
Fantastic Mr. Fox—the book.
A scene from Fantastic Mr. Fox, the stop-motion film. Photo (c) bbc.co.uk
Wes Anderson is the director of the filmic Fantastic Mr. Fox. He talks about bunk beds and toy trains—the inspiration behind one of the scenes in the movie—here. Included is a sketch of his ideas, and a clip of the scene in question from the new film.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox on the set of their new stop-motion film. Photo (c) huffingtonpost.com
A peach that grows big enough to live in and a fox that talks may sound crazy, but not to those who enjoy having fun. “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men,” Mr. Dahl was known to say.
The Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the great writer. It is the current home of Mr. Dahl’s writing chair, where James and Mr. Fox came into being. Not everyone gets to sit in Mr. Dahl’s chair, but author Val Tyler can boast of having done so.
Mr. Dahl in his chair. Photo (c) Roald Dahl Museum
Ms. Tyler in Mr. Dahl's chair at the Roald Dahl Museum. Photo (c) valtyler.co.uk
No wonder she looks so happy. She’s probably picking up a lot of great ideas!
Posted: October 31st, 2009 | Author: T | Filed under: T Writes | Tags: Animals, Fun | 3 Comments »
Or Happy Samhain, if you’re Celtic!
Pumpkin seeds are the ultimate Halloween treat for these trick-or-treating lemurs.
A pair of Lemur catta (ring-tailed lemur) play with a jack-o'-lantern at the Czech Republic's Dvur Kralove Zoo. AP Photo/CTK, Alexandra Mlejnkova.
