New Moon rising

This is how I spent my evening last night with the girls...

Mark Kano totally rocks

I'm obsessed with Athenaeum. I have all their albums, including the six-song demo from like 1997ish. I spent 45 minutes in a Tower Records in Chicago looking through a Spin magazine in 1998 trying to find out who sang the song "What I Didn't Know" and then practically accosted a sales guy to ask him if he knew. As it turned out, the store just so happened to have the song on a listening station and thus my absolute devotion to the band was born.

I've seen them multiple times in concert as Athenaeum (and as the stripped down version of Mark and Mike). I begged the owner of The Bay in Chattanooga to let me in the night before my 18th birthday because the bad was playing and you had to be 18 to get in. Thankfully the owner was awesome and I rocked out with Karen to some of our favorite music.

So, now to the point of my story. I found out today that Mark Kano, the lead singer, has a solo album coming out at the end of the month!!! So I pre-ordered a copy and then sent him a nice little email telling him how excited I am about it (in a much less anxiety-inducing way than above). I told him he made my day. Then this afternoon I get this reply:

"Thanks Susan. YOU just made my day! I hope you enjoy the record! Best, Mark"

Yes, that startling, high-pitched noise you just heard was me freaking out like a crazy fangirl.

A work of art

From my very first interview at Talk, I've coveted two metal wire seahorse sculptures on the boss' wall. They are whimsical and intricate and utterly stunning. After multiple discussions with Michael Van Hout, the artist and one of Deb's very close friends, I finally have a pair to call my own. The house is quickly turning into a modern art gallery. And I love it.

Muggle Quidditch? I could totally play this game...

For the first time, ever, I wishes I lived in the northeast. At least for the weekend. This Saturday at Middlebury College, the Intercollegiate Quidditch League Tournament will be in full force. 14 teams will compete to win the illustrious title of quidditch world champions, complete with trophy and major bragging rights.

Though they won’t be flying like in Harry Potter, these athletes ride brooms around a field and play with imitation quaffles and bludgers. They have the goals positioned on the ground so the hoops are high enough in the air to be a challenge. As for the golden snitch, well, instead of a speedy golden ball, it’s a person who turns the match into a game of hide and seek, making the seekers run all over campus trying to locate him. That's a position I could totally play.

Living Twilight

So tomorrow I am going to Phoenix for a work conference. And you know the most exciting part? I get to go to Sky Harbor Airport where Bella runs away from Alice and Jasper in Twilight. Then I get to take a cab into Scottsdale. Hopefully I won't be racing toward a demented vampire set on killing me though.

It'll be kinda cool to have that part of the book come alive for me once I've seen what it all looks like though. I may just have to take a detour to the bathroom on level three of Terminal 4 and take a picture for Karen and Ash, just for fun.

You are invited...

Is my beloved Veronica coming to the big screen?

Michael Ausiello made my day today with this post about how Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas had an impromptu meeting about making a Veronica Mars movie! (Yes, that sound you just heard, the one that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard from a distance, was me sqealing my head off in sheer delight!) I don't know if it will ever come to fruition, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Direction

After years of rebelling against romance of any kind in my writing, I have finally given in. For the longest time, I didn't want to be seen as one of "those" writers. I didn't want to be chick-lit or romance novel-ish. I wanted to be respectable. I wanted to be literature.

I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer and have my stories mean something. Somehow in my mind I felt that being literary mean that I had to give up the things I enjoy (ie romantic love) to be replaced by grown-up plots and ten-dollar words. But I read romance novels, devour them actually, and I lap up any good love story. And stories don't have as much impact on me if they don't make my heart sigh.

So why do I consider these authors and books to be serious literature, but not my own?

And that's when something clicked in my sluggish brain. This deep rooted seed of romance sprang to life and my novel has a new purpose. The mental block lifted and I could clearly see the path Aden was to take to get to the happy ending. Just by accepting that two characters are meant to be (which in my head I knew, but never allowed to be acknowledged on paper), everything fit in place.

I'm in love with a vampire

Well, actually a whole family of Vampires – the Cullens. But Edward Cullen is top of the list with his golden eyes, bronze hair, wicked crooked grin, and unequaled love for one Miss Bella Swan.

I immersed myself in my latest obsession, The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, this past weekend and read the 2,515 pages of all four books in a four day stretch. Back-to-back. With only brief interludes for minimal food and bathroom breaks. Otherwise, I was all vampires all the time. And it was well worth the aches from sitting in a chair with my neck cocked down to read.

I cannot express how much I LOVE this series. In the next few days I will try though. I cannot stop thinking about the four books so I will do more blogging as the scenes keep replaying in my head like a widescreen. You'll also soon get to watch the trailer for the Twilight movie set for release on December 12, 2008. (Robert Pattinson - who played Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire - completely brings Edward to life.) Cannot wait!

Dwelling on what should have been

Just like too many cooks spoil a broth, too many trivia teammates second guess each other and we come in third.

I know I should be happy that we placed, but I'm not. It's annoying that we had right answers and then changed them. Oh well. There's always next week.

She's not done yet

Because no one, including J.K. Rowling herself, is quite ready to let go of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of our beloved (and hated) Potter characters, Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Amazon are releasing The Tales of Beedle the Bard – the book Dumbledor willed to Hermione upon his death. Proceeds will go to the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) charity. This amazing addition to the Potterverse will be available December 4th. Amazon is also selling a leatherbound version for those with a little extra cash lyring around. I unfortunately am not one of those people, but I will be getting my grubby little hands on that standard edition!

When is a cake more than a cake?

When it's made by a bunch of half-crazed carpenters and artists turned bakers. That's when.

For a TV show with such an animatedly loud cast of characters, Ace of Cakes slunk quietly into my life. But now that the Baltimore bakery Charm City Cakes is on my radar, my goal in life is to one day get a Duff Goldman and crew masterpiece. And I'd probably be as girly as the group of librarians who requested that the cavalier, smartass Geoff deliver my cake.

Just spend one half hour on Thursday nights watching Food Network and you’ll be sold on them too.

Let the anticipation begin...

I received an email from Ash first thing this morning which made my day. Probably my week. Maybe even the month.

The Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince teaser-trailer hit the internet. Go watch it. Now. You won't be sorry. It gave me chills. I've watched it twice already and will probably watch it another million times before the day is up. Enjoy!

We are the champions...

We came in first tonight. With three perfect rounds at trivia, and one not so perfect round. But all that really matters is that we earned that $30 gift card. Free beer next week!

Where Have All The Cool Cards Gone?

With the recent lack of my beloved Squibnocket cards, I found myself at a loss for witty, eccentric, kick-ass greeting cards. Then Michael Ausiello (formerly) from TV Guide posted his partner's stationery site in his (former) weekly Ask Ausiello column. Pretty Bitter is awesome! I already purchased a nice supply so that I will be well stocked.

Long Time Gone

They did it. After 39 hours and 2 minutes, Anthony finally shut up. And won the world record for longest consecutive karaoke singing by one person. With the help of Jeff, our very own Karaoke Kong, the two took over a local bar and rocked out for three days. I wasn't on hand for the record-breaking song (I had a client meeting – stupid clients), but as you can see from the video, Mark and our friends Jeff, Krysti and Andrea were there to cheer Anthony on. Since the event, the story has made it onto Yahoo! News and ESPN's Top Plays.

Pool Table Fiasco pt. 2

After six months of no one knowing how to make the table and slate fit together, the one thing Mark had been asking all long was what eventually worked — why not just drill new holes in the rails to accomodate the new slate holes? Simple enough. At least it's done now and Mark can releive some stress up there while I watch my shows.

And the first one to use it was Chaucer.