creeping into videoworld

We watched Golden Compass last night – loved it. Now I want to go back and reread all the Pullman books. I am happy to report that BH’s ring stayed on his hand all day, and neither of us were threatened by an angry mob of tent caterpillars.

There is a great discussion going on at the Readergirlz PROM forum about the cost of prom night. What do you think is a reasonable amount of money to spend? Should schools or parents be trying to cut down on how much teenagers spend?

I am sticking one toe gingerly in the water of videos. I just got a new camera and spent last night trying to get the dog to do something interesting while I was recording her. She peed. I don’t think you want to see that.

Instead, here is a quick interview with me recorded by Ed Spicer after his galley group of teen readers in Michigan read TWISTED.

Do you want me to post more videos or do you shudder at the thought? Should we post them to the website or just the blog? What do you want to see?

10 Replies to “creeping into videoworld”

  1. I definitely favor posting videos in the blog. Maybe the website too. This is such a great interview, and very helpful to the writing process. I suggest you position the camera at eye level so that you don’t have to look down at it. You are a good subject, and you speak well. Way to go.

  2. You got the boy POV perfectly..I mean, even though I’m not a boy it seems true to me. It kind of made me feel like I was spying on a guys life, reading his thoughts.

  3. weakandweary

    I love the Golden Compass series, though I have yet to see the movie.

  4. Prom

    As the mother of two high school girls, I think as long as teens are working for their own money and paying for the dance/accessories themselves, they can decide how much is reasonable to spend. I do not think schools or parents should be paying for hotel extravaganzas, restaurants, limos, gowns and tuxes, thus making more of the night than it actually is…teaches shallowness. But then, materialism and shallowness are pervasive in our schools. Prom is just another example of that. I personally am for a simple, classy senior dance to celebrate graduation. Less is more.

  5. Hm – I tried to post a reply to that forum thing and I don’t think it worked. MySpace is dumb. But here’s what I said:

    There are a bunch of charities whose goal is to mitigate the costs of dresses etc and send less affluent girls to prom. In my neighborhood, the one is called Princess Project. From their website:

    The Princess Project promotes self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them.

    As the costs to attend high school prom soar, The Princess Project has made this tradition a reality for over 9,000 Bay Area girls since 2002.

    But there are similar things across the country, if you google “send girls to prom charity” or something, a ton of stuff comes up.

  6. Personally I hate when something I’m happily reading — sitting at my computer quietly and doing three other things at the same time — all of a sudden begins making noises and requiring my undivided attention. But I know my students love video; they’re more patient with anything projected on a screen, though I can’t say I understand why. We’re reading Macbeth right now and they’re perfectly happy to listen to the soliloquy three times through if it’s an actress on the screen as opposed to me or another student reading it.

  7. Awesome video! Who is that masked man?

    Laurie,

    Thanks so much for posting this! I DO have teen videos and I do have release forms signed! Someday soon I hope to have a bunch of new teen videos on my site. Today was my last day of school! Woohoo! Now I just have two graduate classes to finish up.

    I will be bringing my video camera and my Mac to ALA in Anaheim and I would love do MORE author videos. My teens love seeing the faces of authors, love hearing them speak about the books they love. So, if you will be at ALA and would be willing to do a 3 minute video, please let me know ( info@spicyreads.org ) I think I can even do one without screwing up so abysmally–just ask Laurie about the fabulous videos we did when Laurie was in Grand Rapids.

    Ed Spicer
    http://www.spicyreads.org

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