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Monday Miscellany

1. Heh. Carrie Ryan, in addition to being the author of a kickass post-apocalyptic story (The Forest of Hands and Teeth -- what a title, right?), also has a great post here about what should and should not be in books written for children.

2. Elmo is still awesome. Really awesome. And red. ZOOM ZOOM!

3. Editorial Ass has a nice post about when to take someone else's advice on your writing. Long story short: it depends. But she gives some good general guidance. The most recent piece of advice I'm listening to is the advice I heard last week that my male main character is coming across as too much of a coward. Duly noted, Twinsburg. Duly noted. :)

4. I was fully prepared to dislike the show The Sing-Off. It was billed as the awful mutant baby of American Idol (which I hate) and Glee (which I love), like the Alien Baby in Alien 4*. But it's actually more like America's Best Dance Crew, but with singing. One of the things that's nice about it, like ABDC and Dancing With The Stars, is that there's not a whole lot at stake. Sure, there's a recording contract and some money, but no one, including any of the contestants, thinks that an a cappella vocal group is going to be the next Kelly Clarkson or whoever. They're doing it because they love to sing, and it's fun to watch. Take a look:



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* Don't get me started on that horrific crap pile of a movie. Seriously, I could go on all day.

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