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I'm Not Boring You, Am I? |
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Dr. Robert Runté on popular culture, education, and life. Recent Posts
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The Princess, The Mermaid, and Their Hot Air Ballon by Tigana Runté March 2003 Blog Indexes:
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Benoit Virtual Book Tour M. D. Benoit
Labels: virtual book tour Fire on UofL grounds Fire as seen from my wife's office windowThis one is from my wife's cell phone, taken about a month back when there was a fire on the grounds next to my wife's office. About the time she snapped this photo it occured to her that the fire was also moving towards the parking lot, and ours was one of the half dozen cars in the stalls right by the front doors. She ran out and moved the car; we came back later and found the the burn line had come within about 20 feet of where we park. More lunch time art Tigana's serviette artTigana produced this "portrait of a young girl in dress with a bow" while we were waiting for our order at East Side Mario's the other day. Photo is from my cell phone again, so little blurry, but I think you can make it out. Labels: Tigana Three more videosFrom John Herber's blog:Why Star Trek Fans Can't Get Dates
Labels: video clips Upcoming Book Tour - April 4th, 2007From 28 March to 11 April, M. D. Benoit will be going on a virtual book tour to promote her upcoming alternate reality novel, Synergy. During that period, ten people (myself included) will host her on their blog for one day. There will be discussions on the book, interviews with the author, and so on. Every day during this period, on her own blog, Life’s Weirder than Fiction (http://mdbenoit.com/blog), she will announce where she will be that day, as well as talk a bit about her host.Synergy’s Virtual Book Tour will culminate with a Virtual Book Launch, on 14-15 April (http://mdbenoit.com/synergy). M. D. can be contacted at mdbenoit (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll be hosting the Benoit Virtual Book Tour April 4th. Please be sure to come by the blog on that day, as she will attempt to respond to whatever comments you leave on my blog that day. Labels: virtual book tour Infestation photo of our roof, showing replaced cedar shakes
Labels: Home Kasia Sings the Blues(Again, apologies to Googlers looking for that Polish singer....)Kasia has started to sing original compositions about her life -- commentary on events as they unfold. For example, on the way to day care in the morning, we often get this: Oh, I don't wanna go to school, Don't wanna go to school Don't wanna go to school, Oh, don't wanna go to school today. The thing is, it comes across as the Blues, not as whinning or complaining, or as an actual request not to go to school. (She actually seems okay with day care when she gets there and enjoys being with her friends.) She just sings her stream of consciousness, and it often has this rythmic repetition and slight melancoly, as if she's been listening and preforming the Blues for years. But once out of her car seat, it's all smiles and and three year-old giggles. What's fascinating to me is that Kasia's Blues style is developing in contrast to Tigana's more musical theater and country tendencies -- perhaps reminiscent of Carrie Underwood. I'm sure that the emergence of Kasia's self-compositions reflects Tigana's current preoccupation with singing and songwriting (Disney-style "why can't we all just love each other" compositions) as Tigana starts voice lessons...but how in the world did Kasia come up with the Blues as her own thing? We are not particular fans of the Blues, never play it on the radio or CDs... and lord knows neither Mary nor I sing about the house -- so how does a three year old reinvent such a distinct genre? Though come to that, who allowed Tigana to hear country? I figured that must have been the inevitable fallout of living in Southern Alberta, even though Country is banned from our house. It is the one musical form I cannot stand. I'd much rather listen to traditional Chinese Opera than Country. Hell, I'd rather listen to Klingon Opera than Country. But living in Lethbridge, I knew that Tigana would be exposed, and now that she has taken to it, what can I say? I'm not about to tell her she can't sing that way. I'll just bite my tongue and attend her Country concerts, if it comes to that. (Or is it just that Country singers all sound like 8 year olds, never having outgrown that annoying twang thing that kids get at this age?) Some clipsThis one forwarded by Chartlon Barreto is pretty funny:Apple's iRack And this one posted on Central Ganglion by Bernie Klassen is also hilarious: British shopping channel Labels: video clips Wind Tigana and Kasia inside their tent, enjoying being blown across the yard.
I took the kids into the backyard after work to pick up our castiron garden furniture, which had been tossed about the place, and watched tiny Kasia trying to walk against the wind. It brought back the memory of Tigana at this age, playing in the playground at Montessori, when the wind literally picked her up and deposited her a couple of feet away. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I might not have believed it. But as Mary and I rushed over to see if she was okay, Tigana looked up at us mournfully and asked, "Mommy, why does the wind hate me?" Labels: Lethbridge, wind Two Launches On Sunday, we took the family to the Helen Schuler Nature Center for their 2PM nature walk program, but found that this week's program was instead sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency, and dealt with the sky. The talk was perfect for Tigana, bit old for Kasia, but the highlight was the launch of a model rocket -- read, 2 liter plastic pop bottle and pint of water. The speaker had the kids draw pictures, and then taped them to the rocket as payload. They launched the rocket from a safe distance, and its explosive take off ripped all the payload off in flight. To Kasia's great delight, her drawing drifted through the sky back from the distant launch site right into her waiting hands. It was way cool.  In other news, M.D. Benoit (author of Jack Meter mystery novels) is launching a new SF title in April, and will be conducting a national book tour -- and "I'M Not Boring You Am I?" is scheduled as one of her stops! Stay tuned for further details as they are finalized. Labels: virtual book tour |
