<p>G
see, I knew your job rocks.
playmobile was wonder until lego become clever and hand grasping everything from sword to light-saber.
oh… you mean plastic is even hard to come by in denmark that Lego had to be smaller yet?
but oh the quality of solid plastic and image printings, man. no Legoman face faded til this day.
(suggests he still play with them occasionally… should I be worried?)</p>
<p>switters:
I know which part you mean. I am planing to watch the movies mentioned in this movies so that I can get more understanding of American culture. her Chinese friend is called “Xiao Wang”. I love all their conversation. they went to “Nai Nai” grandmother’s house for dinner, they get together in China after their all have kids.
bears:
it is true. I even can see me in Xiao Wang. I maybe more Chinese compare her. watch Chinese movies/TV,cook Chinese food everyday, and even choose Chinese Church… </p>
<p>When I visited D in Oct, D told me she is having a culture shock, feel her college life is way too American. It is funny, she grow up here but get this kind of experience. She is more used to it now, which is good.</p>
<p>Ok so two more books about immigrant/young people cultural or college experience</p>
<p>1) Red Earth and Pouring Rain- might be my favorite all time novel, although I say this about many books. Its by Vikram Chandra and combines Indian mythology, epic history and millenium generation college kid experience.</p>
<p>2) The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai- two main characters, one an illegal immigrant in NYC, one a young woman in Darjeeling. A must read.</p>
<p>I was talking about “twiglht” somewhere and wonder how that would fate in art forum.
here is my old thread, last year.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/815895-esl-middle-aged-parent-need-help-twilight.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/815895-esl-middle-aged-parent-need-help-twilight.html</a></p>
<p>Ok here’s what I remember about the Twilight thing…
When MICA girl was perhaps in 7th or 8th grade, the original Twilight book came out. She read it and she read several of the sequels. I didn’t read it. The book got passed along to Aspie girl who was not impressed. Aspie girl has higher literary standards than the other two, but lately she has fallen for manga hook, line, and sinker (that is from the influence that her younger sister, Manga girl, has over her). Manga girl is also a voracious reader, so she eventually tackled the whole Twilight thing, but she was not impressed either. Bleach is a much bigger deal to her, she wears a necklace from the ‘tenth division’ and never takes it off. She brings up something called ‘cosplay’ which, as far as I can tell, is something similar to scifi cons, where people dress up as characters. For Christmas I bought her a costume for ‘cosplay’. But, back to Twilight… about two years ago, Manga-girl’s friends were all super Twilight fans. Must have coincided with the movies. Manga-girl would go along with them to the movies, but she really wasn’t terribly impressed with the books or the movie. I think MICA girl went with some friends to the first movie, but so far as I know, she never read the latest book or saw any other movies… she’s ‘done’ with Twilight.<br>
A couple of years ago MICA girl’s therapist asked me for our copies of the Twilight series so she could read them and see what the big deal was all about (her other patients were all into these books and her own kids were too young to be interested)… so I loaned her the Twilight books. She returned them, unimpressed. I have another friend who read the books when her daughter was Twilight-hypnotized and she thought they were drivel. Poorly written, non-consequential.<br>
Velveeta for the mind, I guess. Some people are happy to get Velveeta – and some people are happy that their kids are at least eating the Velveeta – and others want something with more bite and substance. A nice Camembert or Gorgonzola perhaps. My kids tend towards the Gorgonzola side of things, while their cousins love Velveeta. Not sure where all this manga falls. Manga-girl insists that it’s ‘literature’ and will improve her SAT score just as much as reading Jane Austen would. Don’t know about that. I tried looking at one of the manga books and was put off by the starting from the back thing. I don’t see much difference between manga and the comic books I read when I was a kid (along with MAD magazine). I just like to see variety in their literary diet.</p>
<p>I can go on and on about “cosupurei” or literature in manga but I spare you.
I don’t know what manga girl is reading, for most stuff they sell now is unknown to me but what she said is what I always thought and said.
I bet you do gain vocabulary. Manga artist have to do intensive research if they want to be taken seriously, because they are the screenplay writer, costume, backdrops, props designer, draftsman, camera, director, producer, publist all rolled in one.
those who laugh at manga is laughing at books, play, films, music, entire liberal arts rolled in one plus possible science research, engineering side of things as well.
bow to manga!!
I guess it could be said about teen fantasy novels as well. problem is, bad one sells better than the smart tedious one. I am yet to find a teen girl -sorry sexist but so far the fact to me- who finished reading LOR.
(Gmom, I will fight you in trivia, but lose for sure)</p>
<p>Oh, all three of my teen girls read Lord of the Rings, Bears! No worries there! Manga-girl, in fact, loves really big long books. She’s the one that will read War and Peace.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of artist-turned-young-adult-author Maggie Stiefvater? She has several books out (but they aren’t the horse choker kinds of books my kids like) and Aspie girl has enjoyed them. Maggie was a bit dismayed that when her books were coming out, the Twilight saga hit it big and her editor made her change her main character’s love interest’s name because there was a character with the same name in Twilight (was there a Sam? Somehow I’m remembering some discussion about a Sam). Anyway, Maggie’s first book was about a faerie assassin, then she wrote some other books about werewolves and such. Urban fantasy – that was what I was trying to think of.</p>
<p>My younger two daughters also like to dabble in fan-fiction – especially ‘Bleach’. Manga girl thrives on her fans anxiously awaiting her next chapters. She rushes in from school on Thursdays and kicks me off the computer because that’s her ‘publishing’ day. She’s quite a case that girl. </p>
<p>Sadly, I’ve never taken the time, nor had the inclination, to read one of Maggie’s books. Too busy and too much ‘real life’ to deal with. Maybe when I get to revisit unemployment in June I’ll make myself a list of books I’ve always wanted to read and read them. Or better yet, maybe I’ll get back to my botanical art – though I suspect that most of MY art supplies have been absconded with… either by MICA girl (‘you don’t really need those doubles in your Caran d’Ache colored pencils, do you Mom?’) or Manga-girl… (“have a homework drawing due tomorrow and can’t find my graphite set, gonna borrow yours, Mom”)… so it goes.</p>
<p>ref
Cooper thread page 16 #238, 240
“Half a Life” is FINALLY in store at B&N
and, it is PUBLISHED by McSweeny’s, not only sold!!no wonder it was on their front page!!!
I had no idea it is a publishing house as well.
Book is small-sh, cloth bound, nice font, nice margin, nice paper.
I was moved, and it says located in San Francisco!!
when I checked up CCA to SFAI, I spied Cronicles from the city bus window, did visit the shop of Citylight.
only wish I knew!!
so came home, googled it, it does not have a physical store BUT, get this, founded by Dave Eggers.
that explains everything!!!
By all means, I should support them instead of Amazon from now on.</p>
<p>G-mom you are lucky to have a family that loves to read. My S is a voracious reader since tiny, tiny and tends to read the highbrow stuff mixed with some scifi. LIke me he has to be careful not to start a new book at night because he may not sleep. BUT…about twighlight…my D hates to read…really hates it unless it is a school assignment. Many times I have to start her off by reading out loud…you know how when you read it is effortless and you just “see” what is happening in the book in your mind. She doesn’t get that sensation…the mechanics of reading just are too much to allow her imagination to go free…she does best when I read first so she can relax and imagine the characters and then can continue, albeit painfully, to finish reading the book. Sometimes, even that won’t work…I read the ENTIRE harry potter series out loud to her. S came home and got her started on 1984 for her English class by reading out loud to her each night. </p>
<p>The twilight series is absolute crap but has a thrilling story for tweens hidden in horrible prose…she read them one summer and I was totally thrilled that she liked any book at all. I didn’t even have to read them out loud she just wanted to know what all her friends were raving about. We went to the second twilight movie in Spain…dubbed in spanish it was much more amusing than Edward in English. </p>
<p>She also loved the dreadful Clique books. If I could find more trash she would read on her own I would be happy…recommendations?</p>
<p>My nieces (three of them approx the same age as my girls – our families vacation together, we will spend xmas holidays with them) all have various types of issues with reading. Your daughter sounds a lot like my youngest niece – the mechanics of reading take so much energy she’s never gained the fluency needed to be able to play the story in your head. Hard for me to understand, since reading seems so effortless to me. I do get too absorbed in books and then things don’t get done… which leaves me in the doghouse with DH and the girls (they prefer to have some dinner, and not at 10pm – though truth be told, if I’m involved in a book, they’re lucky to get dinner at 10pm). </p>
<p>The two younger girls are into the manga books and insist that they’re great literature that will build their vocabularies for the SAT test just as much as their latin classes will. FAMMoM, has your D tried manga? Current big deal with my kids is ‘Bleach’; but while they have some real books, they read a lot of it online. Amazon has this “Manga Best Sellers Triple Starter Pack: Naruto1, Bleach1/DBZ1” </p>
<p>The girls also liked ‘The Book Thief’ and Madeline L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. Laura like "Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ series, Sherlock, Inkheart/Inkspell, Eragon series (the Inheritence cycle).</p>
<p>Has she ever tried any of the ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ books by Lemony Snicket or the Brian Jacques Redwall books?</p>
<p>I love McSweeneys, problem is that often Amazon is cheaper. However, I visit their hurt book section and have a subscription where you get a book and a dvd every quarter. Their customer service rocks tho, as i didn’t know how to order, ended up getting charged for what was supposed to be a free book with the subscription renewal. Ended up getting a credit, plus they sent me 2 books, and the lady said don’t worry about returning it. It was a book for my D so I know she’ll have a friend at school who will like the extra copy! D does a lot of reading, but avoided Twilight like the plague.</p>
<p>Well…thanks for the suggestions. The fantasy/sci fi that most kids love (Redwall, wrinkle in Time, Lord of the Rings, Ender’s Game) is poison to D but she did read the latter for school and said she liked it (not enough to reread or read the prequel). She did read a few of those romantic ones that they keep turning into movies…the notebook, dear john, etc. and my sister’s keeper…Absolutely no interest in things that take lots of extra imagination (like odd creatures, space, other dimensions)–an antipathy which makes sense if the mechanics of reading are such a burden. I assume Manga would not go over well…again, if the characters don’t look or think like her so why would she be interested in those? When she was little she would read american girl doll books (I made her read the entire Kaya series in order to get the doll) and the magic treehouse sometimes. We are talking extreme girly girl here so stories of romance, shopping, and fashion are much more likely to be considered pleasure reading. Don’t get me wrong…I have tremendous respect for her smarts in math, science, etc. and I can only be awed by the way she muscles through school reading taking only accelerated or AP classes but pleasure in reading may never happen for her unless it is full of stuff that is relevant for her to be ‘easy’ reading. Does that make sense? I remember my brother with dyslexia would only choose to read books and magazines related to soccer and snakes…his two first passions. He did eventually get into the Tolkien series but it took almost 1 year to read the trilogy. Funny…he was an English major before doing a masters in Engineering.</p>
<p>here fammom
my CC kid buddy rec. surburb smart cute sexy girl HS to columbia
I did not read-read (skimmed few chapter…aaghhhh help me!!)
but it fits bill, I think.
there are more books about the girl before this one and after, should start from the first?
Charmed Thirds
Megan McCafferty
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Charmed-Thirds-Jessica-Darling-Novel/dp/1400080436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292793151&sr=1-1-spell[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Charmed-Thirds-Jessica-Darling-Novel/dp/1400080436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292793151&sr=1-1-spell</a></p>
<p>still using Amazon for ref, still don’t know how to paste like angry dad said.</p>
<p>FAMMoM: None of my girls are much into the romantic stuff. Manga girl is now reading Robert Jordan Wheel of the World series, I think. She just went off with an armful of books from my shelves. I tried to entice her into reading shogun, but the spider that was nesting in the binding put her off. I thought maybe your D would go for the manga because it has a lot of drawing in it – but I don’t think there’s much in the way of romance. I’m sorry to say but manga girl seems to love blood and guts. go figure. She likes to draw blood too. Never saw so many drawings with blood splatters in my life.<br>
The answer is all my kids are crazy.
I just pretend they’re normal, lol. At least to myself, but then I get smacked up the side of the head when it just isn’t so.</p>
<p>Oh blood spatters…S is still refining ways to animate those! Started with a fascination with dracula and anybody else in a cape at age 4. I had hopes that this meant that he wanted to save the world and wasn’t afraid of blood…must mean an MD in the family finally. HAH! he still does the blood spatters and really admires gory art but even I admit he would be a liability in an emergency. Thanks BandD for the reference. I am doing my last minute shop ideas online and a book is in everyone’s stocking each year so this may work.</p>
<p>One of D’s first animations was a dog spewing blood from its mouth. She also has blood references in her drawings too. For christmas she wanted animal skulls and just texted me a pic of a deer skeleton she found while walking in the woods with H and the dogs. The setter brought her a deer leg, and of course she had to go see where that came from. Says looks like someone shot it, split the skull to take the antlers and dumped the rest of the deer. I will now have a deer skeleton in my back yard being worked on. At least it’s not an intact dead coyote. Having animal control take that away broke her heart. Normal?? Normal is boring.</p>
<p>I saw it first in this “smart” bookstore on Prince street while killing time before going to New Museum free. noted nice cover. cute robin with wooden feet.
Today, newly piled face up in hot spot of local B&N. </p>
<p>Timothy McSweeney’s
Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying,<br>
issue four re issued
a faithful reproduction of our winter 2000 issue</p>
<p>I read that McSweeney’s started out as literary magazine with rejected pieces from other publications. Timothy McSweeney is this made up person from Eggars family joke? or something.
I am fuzzy and warm because design, picture, font, fourteen small booklet in nice box, everything is so quaint? is it a right word?
it is plastic wrapped with no sample copy. don’t mind buying one but too bad I hate to own things.
I will buy for birthday gift for my lit. friend and gonna ask her if I can read it, too.
sold at all these sites now. how about it?
<a href=“http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/catalog.detail/object_id/8fa7842f-7b7e-499b-8fa3-bb52925a6bed/McSweeneysIssue4.cfm[/url]”>http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/catalog.detail/object_id/8fa7842f-7b7e-499b-8fa3-bb52925a6bed/McSweeneysIssue4.cfm</a>
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/McSweeneys-Issue-4-Dave-Eggers/dp/1934781924/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293597279&sr=1-1-fkmr2[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/McSweeneys-Issue-4-Dave-Eggers/dp/1934781924/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293597279&sr=1-1-fkmr2</a>
<a href=“http://search.barnesandnoble.com/McSweeneys-Issue-4/Dave-Eggers/e/9781934781920/?itm=1&USRI=mcsweeney’s+issue+four[/url]”>http://search.barnesandnoble.com/McSweeneys-Issue-4/Dave-Eggers/e/9781934781920/?itm=1&USRI=mcsweeney’s+issue+four</a></p>
<p>why was I at B&N is, can not stop reading the Steve Martin’s trash.
It is better than “Art for Dummies” that old Met director wrote for us, with lots of colored photos of mentioned art works.
As the heroine moves upway sideway from Sotheby’s to Uptown gallery, then to Chelsea, then of course 9-11 happens and so forth.
if you can hold down cringe-y itchy dialogues, actually good read to fantasize what’s up in hi hi art world sexy life.
thou the author actor was laughed at for few obvious mistakes he made in text, so what? I think it is an achievement. corny but lots of fun.
love the sudden totally unrelated reference to star wars, Sinatra, Israel Arab conflict or Elvis.</p>
<p>B&D - I have some past issues, but don’t think I have that one. Otherwise I’d send it to you. I will look tho, altho if I do I haven’t read it yet.</p>
<p>WNYC public radio is promoting this book since yesterday
[Amazon.com:</a> Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (9781594202841): Amy Chua: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Hymn-Tiger-Mother-Chua/dp/1594202842/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294882529&sr=1-1-fkmr0]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Hymn-Tiger-Mother-Chua/dp/1594202842/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294882529&sr=1-1-fkmr0)
just published like, now. don’t know when I can get to start
sooooo
loveblue, are you the tiger mother, or raised by one?</p>