Remember, remember...I almost forgot!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.

Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!

via Wikipedia

Photo by heatherbuckley 

It's raining (regency) men!

video via Risky Regencies (yes, I've been hanging on to this one for awhile)

NaNoWriMo Angel

I found this calendar with a great quote when I was poking around last week for a calendar to use for NaNoWriMo. I ended up going in my own hacked-together DIY direction to track my progress, but this was too cute not to share.

#NaNoWriMo Day 2: Full of FAIL

Well, I've got a big, fat goose-egg of a wordcount tonight. Plenty of excuses. None worth sharing. 

I WILL do better tomorrow!

Do you know where to vote tomorow?

Okay, NaNo-ers, on your marks, get set...

Go!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins by LilGirl and Auntie Erin

It's Talk Like Jane Austen Day!

What an amiable and agreeable thing, to speak like our dear Jane today! 

Since it's so close to Halloween, I thought I'd share a video that mashes up the holiday with Jane's work quite nicely:



The book trailer for the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, was perhaps more fitting, but it's not for the squeamish (I have one foot in that camp), so I'll just link to it here for those more stout of heart.

Check out how you can get free tickets to Haunted Hollow!

I know it's last minute, but if you're interested, Haunted Hollow has free tickets here.

Happy Halloween!

Bwahahahaha!!! }:)

Zombie apocalypse hits Sears!

Sears has embraced its "Zombie Side" with a special website - you can view it in English (if you're shopping for your zombie friends) or Zombian (if you are a zombie). They've even got some helpful videos:



I tend to exercise just like this!




I think I've been on an elevator with this guy...er, zombie




Don't let your zombies get cold!

Sometimes costumes are TOO good

see more Historic LOL

Behold the power of Lord...er, I mean...Lady Vader!

I'm pretty strict about my rule on not putting pics of LilGirl on the Internet, but last night, hubby got by with tweeting this one because she's wearing a mask. It got retweeted by the official Star Wars Twitter account, which was pretty cool. So here's her 15 seconds (if that) of (fairly anonymous) fame:

http://twitter.com/#!/starwars/status/28936718957

Doin' it all for my baby! Doin' it, doin' it...

For your Halloween week viewing pleasure!

Would you give up your ipod to stay out of jail?

Apparently, this guy's got his priorities confused:


see more Failbook

Houston, we have a check-in!

I don't use Foursquare, but I'm always interested in hearing about the more interesting check-ins. This is one badge not too many people will unlock:

You'll be humming it all afternoon

I'm always amazed when people can rewrite lyrics so well (it's a talent I absolutely don't posses).

JoT 1458: Bye bye polycarbonate pie as sung to Don Mclean's American Pie.

So, pumpkin seed oil is really interesting...

This is just craaazy and cool:

"The oil in pumpkin seeds has a very rare quality. In a thin layer, it's green. In deep pools, it is red. Pumpkin seed oil is one of the most dichromatic substances in the world."

io9 has an explanation here.

What did I learn from NaNoWriMo last year?

If you're thinking about trying NaNoWriMo this year, I'm over at Heartland Writers Group today talking about what I learned from NaNo last year.

Friday Fun: Zombies in Plain English...yes, again

I know I post this every October, but I still love watching it, so here we go again:

Want your kid to read? Let them pick their own book!

According to the Kids & Family Reading Report Online Press Kit:

"Nine out of ten children say that they are more likely to finish [a] book they choose themselves."

Um, no offense, but "Duh!"  

Finding a book on your own, whether by chance or through the grapevine, is half the magic of reading books. Amazon counts on this. Teachers and parents tend to forget.

In fact, I've started to realize the more I push a book, the less likely my daughter is to want to read it. Gee, I have no idea where she gets that (I once gave a book report in high school for an assigned book in which I mostly listed the reasons I didn't finish it.)

Report via @gregpincus via @glossaria