What I'm working on now, plus book trailers!

I've decided to start cross-posting from the Blue Rose Girls blog again. Otherwise, this poor blog will remain neglected.

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I'm in the throes of editing hell...actually, I'll rephrase that--I'm in editing HEAVEN! Just a whole lot of it at once, is all. But the books are SO GOOD, and this is the meaty part of my job that I love the most. Speaking of, I've been meaning to update my "How I Edit" post from almost exactly five years ago, as technology has changed my process somewhat. Perhaps that will be for next week.

What I was working on this past weekend specifically was finishing up an editorial letter for the first book in Libba Bray's new four-book series, The Diviners. It's a YA historical paranormal with hints of horror (okay, more than just hints) set in New York City in the 1920s. Flappers, Ziegfeld's Follies, speakeasies, political protests, secret government experiments, cults, ghosts, supernatural powers, and oh yes, a serial killer. It's magnificent, and coming out next Fall.

This past weekend I've also been working on Chris Colfer's middle grade novel The Land of Stories, coming out next August. It's a fantastical adventure to a fairytale land, and it's a page-turner, with unexpected twists and turns, a lot of heart, and best of all it's funny. I was reading it on the subway and found myself chuckling out loud at the dialogue. I'm excited for the world to see that this kid can write as well as he can sing. And boy, do I love his voice (I can listen to his version of Blackbird all day).

So, while I keep editing, I wanted to share with you two trailers that were released recently. The first is for Peter Brown's hilarious new picture book You Will Be My Friend!, starring Lucille Beatrice Bear, who some of you might remember from his last book, Children Make Terrible Pets. You Will Be My Friend launched earlier this month, and on Saturday I attended his book launch party at Powerhouse Studio in DUMBO. And as Lucy would say, OH! MY! GOSH! This is the cutest trailer EVER!



This second trailer is for Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone which officially pubs tomorrow! Happy early book birthday! There's been an incredible amount of excitement and buzz for this book, and the love, especially from bloggers, has been tremendous (and well-deserved, although I may be biased...).



Isn't that cool?

Okay, back to work!

Travel

I love these series of three videos. Makes me want to travel again.


MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.



LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.



EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

The last one is especially compelling. :)


Discovered via Gawker. More information here.

Furball Friday: Venus and Serena on Animoto!

I went a little batty last weekend and decided to make an animoto video of the pics I've taken of the kitties over the past year:



Yes, I'm obsessed.

Felix and Adrian's wedding

Two weekends ago I flew up to New Hampshire for Felix (my older brother) and Adrian's wedding. It was a very intimate, casual, and beautiful ceremony and lunch (yummy, too!) in the small town of Sandwich, New Hampshire where Adrian grew up. There were about 15 friends and family in total in attendance. After a lovely exchanging of the vows in front of the fireplace, and a champagne toast, we sat down for lunch. With three tables, Felix and Adrian were able to rotate after each course.

Here's an animoto video of the day:



The bride and groom were practically beaming in happiness the whole time.

Best wishes for a wonderful life together, Felix and Adrian!

2010: My year in photos

I haven't made an animoto video in ages, and so when I saw Grace's year-end video, I was inspired to make one of my own. Except mine is quite a bit longer. What can I say, I'm still photo crazy!

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

I love this:


Sign Montage from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear from ekai on Vimeo.

Vote for Jon and Stephen.

Newbery red carpet videos

Grace Lin had really wanted to do the red carpet video at ALA, because she wanted to tell the story of how she picked and eventually found her dress, but because we were in the receiving line for so long after the banquet, we didn't have a chance to do it until close to midnight when we were both exhausted. Grace made me do it first, and although I had hoped that the video would end up being lost somewhere, I just discovered that they've edited my video with Grace's, asking us about "the call." Please excuse us in advance for our babbling, and I also want to apologize for getting our School and Marketing Associate Director's title wrong (I called her Manager). Sorry, Victoria! You can also view the video on YouTube here.



Grace had posted back in January details about the call here.

And, of course, she also got to tell the story about her dress!


Check out all of the red carpet interviews here. They really did a wonderful job! And, of course, it's fun for me to relive it all. :)

SHARK VS TRAIN and HAPPYFACE book trailers

Yes, we're silly. During our office Halloween party last year, I decided we should take advantage of our costumes and film a few impromptu book trailers. First, here's one for SHARK VS. TRAIN by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld.



voiceover: Connie Hsu
Shark: Alvina Ling (aka, the editor of the book)
Train: Maria Mercado (aka the designer of the book)

And here's one for HAPPYFACE by Stephen Emond




Singer: Alvina Ling
Happyface: Connie Hsu (aka, the editor of the book)

And here are our costumes:

 (2nd Happyface is the designer of the book, Ben Mautner)

OMG, giant bunny!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

via Jezebel.




*Please note, US residents only!

Video Monday

For today's post, I thought I'd take a page from Fuse #8's Video Sunday and recommend some videos for your entertainment. The first is an absolutely joyful student-made one-camera video to the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling":




The second is the first of three pitch videos for Sesame Street, made back in 1968. I love how Kermit is such a hippie. Groovy!



(Thanks to Gothamist for the link, you can see links to the other parts here.)

The last two videos are from me.

Two weekends ago I went on a long bike ride around Manhattan, and randomly came upon what appeared to be a unicycle meet-up of some sort. What was great is that the riders all seemed to be teens:




And finally, some of you know that I rode the MS Ride yesterday. I did this ride in 2005 and loved going through the Lincoln Tunnel. Yesterday I went through the tunnel again and took this video. Warning: I wasn't very good about keeping the camera steady, so for those of you who get motion sickness (Grace), you may not want to watch:



Have a great week, all!

Happy wedding, Tracy and Kirk!

Book Launch for WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON

In honor of Grace Lin's book launch for her new novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, here's a video I took of her showing off the book:



Head over to her book site for more book launch fun and giveaways!! The T-shirts she's made are adorable.

Hypocrisy

I thought this clip from last night's The Daily Show was particularly good:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Bill O'Reilly's Right to Privacy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

More SNL

Here are a few more videos I've especially enjoyed:

Jesse Jackson discussed the Bradley Effect:

Hall & Oates split on who they support:

Scary, sad stuff

I'm trying not to be political on this blog, but I wanted to share these two videos that almost made me cry. If you're a McCain/Palin supporter, you may not want to watch. Then again, maybe you should... I know (I hope!!) that people like this are in the minority, and I'm sure there are equally horrible people on the other side, but regardless, this election is really bringing out the ugly in people. For those people who say racism isn't alive and well, I think this is proof enough.

Really sad:


Really frightening:



If those didn't work, you can view them here and here.

Italy trip--highlights

Happy Blogiversary fellow bloggers and blog readers!

I woke up this morning to an NPR story about blogs, which reminded me that it was my day to post. According to a Wall Street Journal article"Happy Blogiversary" that was reported back in July, one of, if not the first blog was Robot Wisdom.

On Dec. 23, 1997, on his site, Robot Wisdom, Mr. Barger wrote: "I decided to start my own webpage logging the best stuff I find as I surf, on a daily basis," and the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as the primordial root of the word "weblog."

Other early blogs were CamWorld and Scripting News. It's incredible that these blogs are celebrating their 10-year anniversaries this year--I wonder who among us will still be blogging 5 or 10 years from now. Will I?

The NPR.com page also has a little chart about who blogs and why people blog. I'd say the reasons why I blog are pretty much in line with the reasons why most people blog.

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The above is partially re-posted from the Blue Rose Girls blog. I asked over there, and I'll ask here. In the spirit of the long life of blogs, is there anything more/less/different you'd like to see with my blog?

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A few other Random things for this blog on this Christmas Eve morning. The first is a game my brother Felix introduced us to last night. It seems simple, almost stupid, yet it's oddly mesmerizing and addictive. The game is here. The goal is the trap the kitty, keeping him from escaping off the board.

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And then two videos. These have been around a while, but I just saw them around Thanksgiving and meant to share them earlier. First, Daft Bodies:




And then Daft Hands (this one came first):




Enjoy!

Don't try this. But watch it.

Another video I love. So soothing, somehow, although ridiculously dangerous and inconsiderate. I rode on the back of my friend's Vespa last night from Chelsea to Williamsburg, and it reminded me of this video, and also of riding my little scooter in Taiwan, weaving in and out of traffic, the fierce wind blowing, feeling like I'm flying. I need to get on my bike again soon!

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

Saw this over at Earl Picken's blog. Really cool.

the week after

Here's a video my friend Miguel took of me during the marathon. This was at mile 11. Pardon my chomping on a Power Bar.



Yesterday morning I woke up and suddenly wasn't sore anymore--and today I'm feeling the first pang of letdown. There is no longer a physical reminder of my adventure, and I'm already wondering what my next one will be. I knew this would happen, just didn't want it to happen so quickly! It's funny how both unexpected and predictable life is sometimes.

In other news, I've had a fun week of happy hours, including the kidlit blogging drinks on Monday night--it was fun seeing so many familiar faces, and meeting some new people--I love the children's book community!

And finally...why does Grey's Anatomy have to be so gut-wrenching? Then again, you just know. That happy couple will be happy again. At least for a while.