Most Cited

I don't know why I think you guys will find this interesting but I found this interesting. What are the most cited journals of the last ten years? Let's take a look.

Quote from an interview with Tom Waits

Pitchfork: Do you have a favorite sound?

Tom Waits: Bacon. In a frying pan. If you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording. Almost exactly like that. You could substitute it for that sound.

It's that time of the Year again

It's not even December and "best of" lists are starting to come out. The Guardian asks writers to name their favorite books and the New York Times lists their annual 100 Notable books.

A dog's life

A short comic about the life of a dog named Murphy.

Second Piece of Silliness

This is the other joint document we mashed up at our last meeting (at which we had hot green tea, by the way).

Once the sky ripped open
as I was walking to school.
Aliens abucted me and I just couldn't cope with them
so I killed them.
Then I walked in to the nearest building and screamed,
"Aliens are taking over the world!"
Only they were dead so I was lying.
I didn't see the three million aliens standing behind me
and naturally chaos ensued.
Then I heard a lound ring,
opened my eyes and, to my relief,
I was lying in bed.
That is, until I saw the aliens standing over me.
The aliens were holding smoking laser rifles
and were wearing matching kilts.
They whipped out bagpipes and started to sing/sling
me around until they bound me up and took me
aboard their ship and a million other aliens
all did the same thing.
They extracted all my knowledge of math from my brain
and English
and social studies
and science
and my life experience
and secrets
and random things
and all my knowledge of medieval torture devices
and all my knowledge of rocket science
and all my knowledge of faery lore
and the person died.
Until I awoke and refused to refer to myself in third person.

Guess what? This is the blog's 100th post! YAY!!!!! (Did you know that multiple exclamation points are a sign of a deranged mind?)

Alright. I havn't posted ina long while so here is the dialogue thing I wrote at the last meeting. It is, of course, brilliant.

*********

" Why are you so angry, Ed?"
" My tie is strangling me!"
"Why don't you take it off?"
" I have to look responsible! See! I'm crossing out all the swear words in my story. Gosh darn these darned ties!"
"Take it off Ed! (Ed. note: I just realized that taken out of context that could sound pretty bad.) Be free! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"
"You're right! This isn't a tie, it's one of those doggie choke collars, choking my freedom of expression!"
"Ow, my eye! Careful where you throw that thing!"
" Sorry."
"S'okay. Now that you're free what will you do?"
" Say whatever I want about those *bleep* *bleep* *bleeping* *bleepers*!"
" Ed! I'm shocked to hear such words coming out of your mouth! "
" But, but...I thought you said I was...free?"
"Just 'cause you're free doesn't mean you can do anything you want. You have to be responsible. Here, put this tie on."

*********

I would post the pictures too but, you see, my scanner broke. *Grumble, grumble*

Tonight's Meeting

We had 5 1/2 in attendance tonight. Matthew came in late so we can't count him fully. Things got a little wacky when we passed a couple of sheets of paper around again. I'll put one up now and another tomorrow.

Two Frogs walked into a bar. They walked because they did not have a car. When they came in they started to sing a song, except it turned out completely all wrong since Joe sang a C minor and Bob, D major. They didn't make a very good wager. So they had some pizza and orange juice and talked with a melancholy moose. Then they walked out, forgetting that they did not have a car, and died. A necromancer came along and he revived them. Then the frogs hopped away and walked into a bar. It was the same bar and there was blood on the floor, their blood. They slipped and impaled themselves on the moose's antlers, sending them both flying through the large window and over a cliff to an icy death. Then another frog came along to see both of the frogs floating up in the sky and the frogs hit the other frog and killed it. The three frogs lay there, stinking and attracting flies. The all of a sudden one started to wiggle, then another, then another! The three frogs got up and started to walk to another bar with the flies still flying all around them. Then they came across a moose wearing a toboggan. The flies from the frogs attacked the moose, started eating it alive. The moose screamed like a girl and ran off. The dead frogs laughed. They stole the moose's toboggan so it was cold as well as being eaten alive because the frogs were cruel having suffered death twice (is that even possible?). Anyway back to the story...As the frogs laughed hysterically, pieces of them began to fall off until they were only piles of stinking fly-attracting flesh that will never come back to life again. Or will they?

I'm just putting this out there so y'all can get used to it by the time I come back. My name is now Mitchell. It's not legal yet, as that would be a paperwork nightmare when combined with college and financial aid, but it will be legal as soon as possible.

So, yes. I will be changing my display name to reflect this. Just giving y'all a heads-up.

I just used the word 'y'all' twice (now three times), didn't I? Shame on me.

Meeting This Thursday

I already sent an email out earlier today but it never hurts to be repetitive when it comes to meetings. We are meeting this Thursday at 6 pm at Morrison Regional Library. I heard a rumor that Unkown Entities may show up this time. Is it true?

Also, to celebrate Thanksgiving, Clare is going to bring a dish of her special recipe, pumpkin yogurt. I can't wait.

Meg Rosoff's top 10 adult books for teenagers

Whenever I take a few minutes and try to find something worthy of posting here for the few that visit I always hope I can find something as perfect as this.

I was trying to think of an adult book or two I would add to this list. Maybe "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Ender's Game."

Mmm...indignant rage

What's my favorite thing about working with the public? Today it's the lady who sent the wrong 35 page print job to the printer and got pissed off at me because I wouldn't refund her money. The best part was while she was adding money to her printing account so she could attempt her printing again, her cell phone started ringing. She looked up from the cash machine for a moment and let the phone ring so I could see how angry she was. Good for her.

Poet Musician

There is a local songwriter named David Childers that I am very fond of and he has a webpage where he writes occasional diary entries and poetry. Right now he has a poem up. Give it a gander while it's still on the front page. Powerful stuff.

A new poll

This is a very serious poll and your answers will be utilized to improve the quality of this blog.



Nominate a book

A friend of mine is involved with a bunch of bloggers that have created their own yearly award for Young Adult books. If you are curious you can see it here.

Pulling off your own head

A serious discussion on this subject here.

What kind of a name is R.A?

I don't recall his name ever coming up at one of our meetings but R.A. Salvatore is coming to town and he has personally invited you to come see him speak:

An Evening with R. A. Salvatore
On Friday, November 17, New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore comes to the Wachovia Playhouse at ImaginOn: the Joe & Joan Martin Center to promote the final adventure in his Sellswords Trilogy: Road of the Patriarch! FREE and open to readers of all ages! A book signing will follow the presentation and books will be available for purchase from Joseph-Beth Booksellers. The doors open at 6:30 pm and seating is limited to 250. Co-sponsored by Joseph-Beth Booksellers and the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County
ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center - The Wachovia Playhouse
11/17/2006 at 7pm
Age Range: All Ages
Contact: Kelly Czarnecki, 704-973-2717