Pink Plumeria
Archive for July, 2007
Shelly Senbei
These are popular Japanese-style rice cakes, very different from the big rice cakes you may be familiar with. These are dense - no pressed bits - and crisp. They come in several flavors, but this is our favorite. It’s a salty rice cake topped with a sugary glaze. Sounds weird but they are very tasty.
Inside the package, there are a dozen single serve packs, each with two rice cakes inside.
A Potterish Post, Nary a Spoiler
I finished the seventh book in the series yesterday. Wow. I was sad at the end, not because of the deaths (well, maybe a little) but because it was over. The whole series. No more looking forward to the next one, no more waiting to find out what happens, no more fighting between kids and adults to read. To READ! People are fighting over the chance to read because of J.K. Rowling. Many people have critiqued her for not being an excellent writer, and yet she crafted a story and an entire world that inspired people to pick up a book (or seven). I have to wonder who will fill those shoes.
Like Tim, I do wish that Hogwarts had played a larger role in the story. I found a couple of chapters to be slow and almost dispensable; tThe first one-third of the book was a little slow for me. The latter portion was exciting though, and I was surprised more than once.
A few fun Harry Potter things to note, and then I’m moving on:
The current issue of Muse magazine has an excellent article on the whole Harry Potter phenomenon worth checking out. Some factoids:
400,800 trees were needed to make the paper for the initial print run of HP. According to Eco Chick (warning - spoiler), Scholastic saved 200,000 trees with the US printing by using eco-friendly paper.
J.K. Rowling earned $75,000,000 in 2005.
The Deathly Hallows audiobook will run 21 hours long.
Mugglenet, a HP fan site created by a (then) 12-year-old homeschooled boy by the name of Emerson Spartz averages 1.5 million hits per day. A site with this kind of traffic can generate as much as $4500 per DAY.
Play Harry Potter Hangman or try your hand at a HP crossword.
Harry Central at Kidsreads.com features the aforementioned spellbook, a Harrypedia, and free bookmarks.
Finally, in response to the Harry Potter spoilers and the gargantuan efforts made by the publishers to avoid them, Seth Godin writes:
Cast a Spell, Potter style
Extend the fun of Harry Potter with this complete glossary of spells from the HP series. Fun stuff.
Blog Nod: Kelly at Big A, little a
Good Reads
Anyone on this book site? I just joined (I think I like it better than librarything). I’m here in case anyone would like to join me.
Dear….
…Grocery store bagger: When I ask for paper bags, that doesn’t mean paper bags inserted into plastic bags. Less is more.
…Friend of a friend: I don’t mind that you called to ask if I have any really good ideas for games for your son’s birthday party. Really, I don’t. But when I send you the information, a simple ‘thanks’ would be nice.
…Brad’s boss: Thank you for taking the time to tell me that he is a good worker and pleasant to be around. Thank you.
…Insurance person who is handling the claim from when we were rear-ended: Please check to see where the 808 area code is. 5:00 a.m. is a really BAD time to catch me. I will not be nice.
…Insurance person who is handling the claim from when we were rear-ended: Be very grateful that it was my husband who picked up the phone.
…Waitress: Thank you for being so nice to my son. And for bringing an extra straw so I could share his chocolate milkshake with him.
Lava Flow
There is not a bank account big enough to pay me well enough to take on a job like this. These scientists are monitoring the current flow as it happens on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Can you Place your States?
State-tris is a takeoff on the game tetris with easy, medium, and hard levels. I discovered that I have no idea where Alabama is.
A Peek into the Magazine World
You all know about the air-brushed beauty brought to you by the magazines that grace your supermarket checkout. Fewer of you may know how picky many magazines are about the real people who make their pages. While I’ve not run directly into it, I have writer friends who speak of sources that they couldn’t use because they didn’t look good enough to photograph for the magazine. Fully qualified, excellent sources for a story, rejected because they are not considered attractive. Blech. Now Real Simple magazine is under the spotlight for a casting call seeking only attractive families, and only those that have a mom, a dad, and 1-3 kids. Love the picture Gawker used to illustrate the story.
