Bone #9: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith

Published January 2009 by Scholastic

ISBN: 978-0439706322

The Recommend:

This is the 9th and final installment of the Bone graphic novels (not counting the ‘prequel,’ Rose, which also appeared this year but which is kind of forgettable).

My son James and I read the whole series all last year, and EAGERLY awaited the release of #9 early in 2009. The ninth book brings the whole epic story to its conclusion, and we were not disappointed.

Not only does Smith tie up all the plotlines, but he also is able to do such wonderful things with the characters, developed so thoroughly after so many books that they become real people. The story and the characters lingered with us for months after we finished the ninth book.

This series is serious literature, accessible enough to kids, but with enormous depth and dynamics.

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About John Maxwell

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John Maxwell has been involved in the Internet and new media since the early 1990s, in web design, content management, electronic publishing, learning technologies, and virtual communities.

After working on educational technology at the Open Learning Agency in the late 1990s, he completed a PhD in education at UBC, focusing on the cultural trajectories of “personal computing” over the past four decades.

An alumnus of the first year of the MPub program (1995/96), Maxwell is now an assistant professor in the Master of Publishing Program at SFU, where his focus is on the impact of digital technologies in the cultural sector, the history of computing and new media, and contemporary myth-making in the face of digital media.

As a photographer in very busy studio we have many high school age clients (as well as their older sisters and even mothers)  that ask about modeling as a career.  Modeling is a Plan B career choice, meaning something you do as you going to school working on your Plan A career choice. You have to realize that like acting and singing there are people who are very talented and very beautiful that never go anywhere in these professions.  With that being said, in all of these professions there are countless stories of a person from a small town being discovered.

In preparing to become a model you of course need photos of yourself, with a head shot being the most important.  Many Seniors will use their senior portraits from their Senior Session.  Many models will have a multiply images card designed with the height, weight, dress size etc. typeset over the images as a large business card to send or leave with people you might meet with.  The idea is get started as inexpensively as possible.  Many studios offer “modeling packages” with come with a certain number of images for a portfolio and pre-made cards with your images on them.  The problem with this is the portfolio images look like they were done in one session (which they were).  A portfolio is put together over time with images being taken from different shoots, in different locations, with different style of hair and make-up.  So focus on the card first and “build” a portfolio over time.

Anytime there are many people competing for a few jobs you have people along the way who are “willing to help you” (for a fee of course) or creepy people that take advantage of younger people with ambition.  At the top of the list of those willing to “help you for a fee” are modeling Schools.  They have been around forever, with some being better than others.  Modeling schools don’t guarantee any work resulting from their courses and in fact the vast majority of people that go through modeling schools never have any paid modeling jobs (A model is someone who gets paid for photographs being taken of them).  They do teach things that are important for the aspiring model, but with the price these schools charge and without greatly improving you chances of getting paid modeling jobs, the worth of their education is something you and your parents will have to decide.  The hardest thing to do is use good judgment when you are excited about something and a person is telling you they can help you achieve what you want.  This a good time to talk with parents, teachers or other adults with your best interests at heart.

And then you have the creepy people.  Always take a parent with you to any meeting with anyone.  There are many people out there taking advantage of young people looking at modeling as a career.  In addition to bring a parent for your safety always meet in person in a public place or professional office or studio.  Any professional who can truly help you will have no problem with a parent, guardian, brother or sister being present.  They should also be with you anytime photos are taken and at no time leave the room you are in.

Another problem with a young person choosing a career in modeling is that you have your mother and grandmother telling you that you are so pretty, you should be a model and then you have everyone else telling you not to waste your time pursuing a career in modeling.  It’s hard getting helpful feedback and the worst people for honest feedback is your family.  Every mother and grandmother thinks their daughter/grand-daughter is the most beautiful girl on earth and that is the way it should be, but these people have a bias, since they love you.  As you look at shows like Top Model and others, you will notice that the models are not always the most beautiful people.  They are often very tall, very thin girls that look very average.  There faces don’t have many of the unique qualities of very beautiful people.  These models faces are more of a blank canvas for the make-up artists and photographers to work with. In our studio I will see this often.  A young lady will come in for her session and make-up and she appears very plain, but after her make-up is done and she sits down in front of the studio lights her face comes alive and she looks stunning.

Modeling is a career choice to have fun with.  There are many young people that have never been discovered, but yet had some of the most exciting times of their lives doing a modeling job here or there for one company or another.  The key is to have fun, be safe and plan for modeling to be a secondary career choice while you are going to school for a career that will last a lifetime.

Last time, we learned that comics were good for kids; yet I lamented the aging up of most modern comics and the dearth of really great kid stuff. But that’s just a relative dearth, my friends, and there have been many things that have caught and held the attention of my little ones, even Oldest Boy who (until recently) was a reluctant reader.

Representing readers who are 9, 7, 5 (and 39), here is the Scott family hit parade:

1. Runaways

This series created by writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Adrian Alphona for Marvel is one of the first books Oldest Son asked for. At 8, he actually finished the first volume and sought out others I own. Though originally sold under Marvel’s “All Ages” line, “Runaways” has since lost that marketing demarcation because the stories and situations do trend a little older (but not too much).

The premise is one of those that’s-just-so-killer ideas that every writer wishes he had: When a group of bored kids discover that their parents are actually supervillains, they run away from home and try to atone for the sins of their fathers (and mothers). Vaughn created compelling characters on such a compelling mission that when he stepped away from writing duties, none other than Joss Whedon himself asked to take over.

Marvel originally made its bank with a comic about a teen superhero (perhaps you’ve heard of Spider-Man?), and “Runaways” honors those roots well with a set of modern kids from 8 to something less than 18. They’re sarcastic, bored, beset by teen ennui and heartache. When they start to get too mopey, a fight breaks out, a bad guy gets stomped, zippy dialog gets zipped, and things trip right along. A reminder: It’s still more a teen book than a kid book, and it may lead down roads you’d rather not walk with your kids. Sex is spoken of obliquely (though canoodling is practiced often), and a few characters are gay. This generally runs below the radar, except for one storyline in volume 7 that features one gay character struggling with an arranged marriage with a member of the opposite sex.

This is no problem for my household. “Runaways” meant reading and reading is good. Here are two Runaways covers that indicated just how much range and anything-goes glee this series is capable of. Is it superhero action? Teen drama? Chick lit? the answer: Yes.

One more piece of evidence. Just take a look at this gorgeous preview from one of the later volumes. With a real economy of image and word, you can figure out all the main characters: who’s lovelorn, who’s a doofus, who’s a leader, who’s a cutie-pie 8-year-old super-strong mutant with a penchant for cosplay kitty hats. These characters have always been characters first, superheroes second, and that’s just good storytelling.

2. Bone

How’s this for a great story:

1. Independent cartoonist self-publishes his own black-and-white fantasy comic.

2. Rather than bankrupting him, as the odds would dictate, the comic gains a loyal following and survives to be collected in 9 thick trade paperback books that sell admirably well for $20 a pop.

3. Years later, mega-publisher Scholastic takes an interest. They colorize the books, shrink them to digest size, cut the price in half, and market them like crazy to kids in stores and book fairs. Popularity goes through the roof.

Everyone should own a few copies of the “Bone” series based on the price-to-value ratio alone, let alone the delicious storytelling for all ages within. The story is part Tolkien-esque fantasy, part Walt Kelly “Pogo” comic strip. (I resisted these books at first because I thought they were a rip-off of my much-loved Pogo comics. Boy was that dumb.) Oldest Boy and I have enjoyed the whole series.

Writer-artist Jeff Smith strikes an incredible balance between fantasy storytelling — dragons, evil rat creatures, talking animals, medieval villages and the rest — with silly Sunday funnies. The hero, an amorphous white blob-thing called Fone Bone, is simultaneously cuter, funnier and deeper than Mickey Mouse himself. You can tell the original comics were self-published because Smith often takes pages to dwell on some small but gorgeous detail, some wee bit of action, or just some leisurely sight gag. Major publishers would never let this kind of fat go untrimmed, but in a “Bone” book, it isn’t fat, it’s luxury.

The story begins very breezy and light: the adorable Bone creatures get lost in a valley beset by evil creatures yet buoyed by funny, charming people destined to greatness. It begins to bog down in later volumes with magical-fueled plotting that makes up its own rules as it goes, but the story remains quite readable, and kids and adults alike find the characters too compelling to put down. They’re just too irresistible. The art is consistently amazing, switching at will between goofy Disney cartoon and breathtaking landscapes. Pages of panels will sometimes employ a movie-like “fixed POV” where the “camera angle” stays the same while small, almost insignificant details change from panel to panel. The effect is like watching a movie at times.

Through no coincidence, Warner Brothers is working on what may be a trilogy of “Bone” movies. Consider that a book that could give you ACTION …

… and BEAUTY …

… is also capable of clever COMEDY:

It should be a lock for a blockbuster.

3. The Incredibles

BOOM! Studios is ignoring conventional wisdon by being a startup company (founded: 2005) with a significant portion of its wares aimed at a kid audience. Thanks to a license with Disney/Pixar, it publishes several familiar character stories, including an “Incredibles” series by EIC and comix legend Mark Waid. “Licensed story” often means “cheap cash grab” or “boring, under-thought plot” but under BOOM! the stories are just as fun and smart as the source material.

You know who loves this? Youngest Daughter. (I’ve already mentioned she’s a sucker for the movie, that wonderful, discriminating little wonder.) BOOM! also released a successful Muppet Show title that (shh!) Youngest Daughter will find in her stocking this year.

4. Tiny Titans

Art Baltazar is responsible for 90% of the cuteness in the galaxy. Just look at his cast pic of the Tiny Titans, the shrimp-sized version of DC’s Teen Titans:

Awww! The Tiny Titans monthly comic is rather uncategorizable. Baltazar’s super-sweet art aims in two directions: at the ankle-biter set, as well as adults who can appreciate the irony and comedy of  turning angsty teens into kindergarten stick figures. The jokes split that difference, too, as one part Bazooka gum wrapper, one part deep inside joke. My boys liked the comic cuteness — it’s Twinkie-sweetness didn’t put them off at all; I think they totally got the humor behind it.

I don’t always get the DC inside jokes, but Baltazar and author Franco (he of the single name) remember their classic Harvey comics well enough that these super-light reads still have more in common with Richie Rich and Capser than a DC Comics superfan panel at Comic Con.

That’s not all

These are just what’s clicked in my house. There is more to choose from out there: the amazing classic Disney comics by Carl Barks still hold up — these are the old Uncle Scrooge adventures to strange lands, and man, they don’t make ‘em like that any more. We’ve dabbled in more old stuff like Tintin and Asterix, though the jokes were either a little highfalutin or dated for Oldest Boy to connect with. (We’ll try again in a year.) And heck, even Archie, still exists in all his undead variations:

If you can’t find something to read, it isn’t Archie Comics’ fault. Youngest Daughter maintains a perpetual fascination with Betty & Veronica, though she remains a bit unsure about those oafish Riverdale boys.

The choices are there. Now, what are you planning to buy the little nippers on your list Christmas?

Governor Pat Quinn

(Chicago, IL) — December 15, 2009. From the Illinois 2010 candidate and cow-pie trail mix…

… After two-rounds of voting, the Democratic Party of Evanston on Sunday endorsed Governor Pat Quinn over Comptroller Dan Hynes with 70% of the vote.

Quinn, who appeared at the endorsement session, had 58% of the vote in the first round –60% is necessary for an endorsement–and Hynes had 37%.

… Though the Evanston Democrats mustered the votes to give their nod to both Quinn and U.S. Senate hopeful David Hoffman, they were unable to endorse one of their own for the state House seat being vacated by State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston). 

Here’s how the Evanston Dems votes on the Hamos successor stacked up: Patrick Keenan-Devlin took 119 votes or 46%; Jeff Smith had 57 votes or 22%; Eamon Kelly collected 47 votes or 18%; Robyn Gabel managed 33 votes or 13%, and Ed Moran, 1 vote or 0%.

David Ratowitz

… GOP U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz (IL-5)—who’s aiming to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley in November—today got the official endorsement of Republican Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.

Peraica said, “His grassroots campaign is firing on all cylinders, aiming well beyond the February Primary to retake Illinois’ 5th Congressional District for Republicans in November.”

Can Ratowitz do that on 2-cylinders?

… GOP governor hopeful State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdales) chatted about Illinois’ cratering budget with Ray Hanania on WJJG AM 1530 today. Dillard is trailing in 4th place at 9% out seven Republican candidates seeking the party nomination, according to a new poll by the Chicago Tribune.

… State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) today received the endorsement of the Illinois Federation of Teachers over opponent Jim Madigan, a civil rights attorney and gay rights activist.

Sara Feigenholtz, Barack Obama, Susana Mendoza

… State Reps. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) and Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) snuggled with POTUS (aka Barack Obama) at a White Holiday holiday party on Monday.

… State Rep. David Miller (D-Chicago) met with Martin Luther King speech writer, Clarence Jones, in Skokie today.

… Illinois Federation for Right to Life endorsed two Republican candidates for governor State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan.

… Illinois Federation for Right to Life also endorsed a batch of Democratic legislators: State Reps. Joe Lyons, Careen Gordon, Lisa Dugan, Bob Flider, Daniel Beiser, Dan Reitz, John Bradley, Brandon Phelps, and Esther Golar was recommended. Deanna Demuzio was the only Democratic State Senator to get the pro-life group’s backing.

… Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Scott Cohen from Chicago plans to spend $3 million of his own dough in the seven-man race for the Lite Guv Democratic nomination. Cohen thinks, however, that his opponents should limit themselves to raising only $100,000 each. If they have $3 million in between their own sofa-cushions, well, that’s ok to spend. Uh, huh.

You can’t make up this stuff.

… Comptroller Dan Hynes took part in Bishop Dukes’ Hat & Scarf Giveaway, which began at Liberation Christian Center and ended at the Miles Davis Grammar School in Chicago.

What is a perfect food? Something so good that it makes you sit up, your taste buds surprised, delighted. Something that is perfect in and of itself, something that when on a plate or in a bowl really doesn’t require embellishment. Something delicious. Something that when it has been absent from your diet, you long for. Something you would travel an hour or more to eat. Here are 10 perfect foods. Enjoy.

Pork

Someone asked me this year to name the one single food I would choose if going onto a deserted island – the island being magically supplied with a never ending supply of fresh whatever you choose, and equipped with the means to cook it.

Without thinking, I chose pork.

Chops, roasts, ham, sausage, bacon, cracklins, hocks, feet, so many delicious cuts and ways to prepare them.

Oh my, did I forget whole, whether cooked in the ground or turned on a spit. I’ve had pig both ways, and they may be some of the most delicious meat treats on earth.

Growing up, I hunted. Wild pig, or boar, tastes different than the domesticated animal we mostly eat. Variety.

I would still happily choose pork as my deserted island food. Pork is my # 1 perfect food.

Chili Relleno

A Poblano chili, fried, stuffed with cheese, battered and fried again, topped with a ranchero sauce.

Ingredients matter. Pick good chilis, good cheeses, and don’t forget the sauce. Salsa or a simple tomato sauce will not do. A good ranchero sauce will permanently stain clothing, it looks like a tomato sauce, but pepper, chilis, herbs and spices lurk beneath the surface, and the flavor is at one complex and delicious, bringing heat but not too much.

I have had Chili Relleno just a handful of times that makes you sit up and take notice. Often, they are limp, soggy, indifferently sauced; but in the hands of some cooks, this can be one of the best foods.

I like a chili relleno that has enough firmness, just a bit of crispness, that the shell can be pierced with a knife and ranchero sauce can be poured into as well as on top of the chili relleno.

Manna. Amazing. Each part, just okay, but together, the sum is so much, exponentially, better than the parts. The search for the perfect chili relleno can become an entertaining life quest. If you don’t have long to live, I’ll give you a hint: the best Chili Relleno I have ever tasted was in the least likely of mexican restaurants in Millbrae, CA.

Good hunting.

Blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream

I wrote in an earlier entry about my first attempts at a fruit pie, they came this year. I made three perfect blackberry pies from fruit freshly picked, and served it with a premium vanilla ice cream. Three entire pies were devoured in under 24 hours.

My pie when cut maintained it’s shape. The fruit filling was perfect, neither too wet nor too dry; my pie crust was flaky, yet sturdy. Each slice of pie looked delicious.

Two things are critical when making a great fruit pie; use fresh fruit and make your own crust.

Cioppino

This was my favorite dish growing up. Thanksgivings in northern Californian Italian American households often featured a great crab cioppino instead of a turkey; or if both were served, the turkey would remain largely untouched for Friday sandwiches while pot after pot of cioppino were consumed.

Cioppino is said to have been created at Alioto’s restaurant on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. It may have started there, but they do not make the best cioppino.

Needless to say, my mother made the best cioppino I have ever tasted. An Italian American fisherman’s stew, similar to a bouillabaisse, it features a HOMEMADE tomato sauce, white fish, clams, shrimp, and crab, lots and lots of dungeness crab. Cioppino without dungeness crab is not cioppino, just a fisherman’s stew.

On my mom’s passing I recreated my mom’s recipe (a family secret), but I ran into Guy Fieri who shared a recipe with a huge licorice twist, using lots of anise.

This is a dish that can have as many different recipes as cooks, and all are good, many great.

The best restaurant cioppino I have ever had was at Fontana’s in Cupertino on Steven’s Creek Blvd. Perfect meal at Fontana’s: ceasar salad (I know it is not Italian), gnocchi al pesto, and cioppino; served with a bottle of Ruffino Chianti Riserva Ducale, Gold Label. Hint, unbutton your top pant button when sitting down, that’s a lot of food.

Gnocchi al pesto

The best Gnocchi I’ve ever tasted were made by the wife of one of my dad’s business associates. My dad ran the mechanic’s shop for a garbage company in Santa Rosa. One of the partners, when vacationing in Italy, met and married an incredibly young Italian girl. Old enough to eventually bear him a son and daughter, when she came to the United States she could not speak any English.

Margarite could cook though. Taught by her mother, aunts, and grandmothers, Margarite cooked 9 course lunches for the garbage company partners and their male sons. After lunch, the men would retire to the bocce court to smoke cigars and drink grappa, while Margarite cleaned the table and did the dishes.

One of the dishes Margarite made was gnocchi al pesto. Gnocchi are little potato dumplings, light fluffy, delicious, hand formed. Pesto should be a blend of basil, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pine nuts and olive oil, however some people get cheap and try to substitute a Wisconsin parmesan cheese or walnuts. Combine freshly made and boiled potato dumplings in a coating of pesto and oh my God. I still remember the first time I tasted Margarite’s gnocchi as being revelatory. Food can shock and delight and surprise.

The best restaurant gnocchi I have tasted is at Firenza by Night in San Francisco’s North Beach.

Lox and bagel

I was a little hungover after spending a night out with friends at the Whisky on Sunset in West Hollywood last week. I got in my car and went in search of breakfast and found the Bright Spot in Echo Park. Close to ordering sausage and eggs, I saw the lox and bagel plate and surprised myself by ordering it instead of the pork plate breakfast.

I am so glad I went with the lox and bagel. The lox was fresh and generously portioned, affixed to the lightly toasted bagel with a schemer of cream cheese. Wonderfully briny caper berries were scattered on top of the lox. Sliced cucumber, sliced tomato, and sliced red onions, along with a small pile of alfalfa sprouts came on the side and I used some of each for each bite.

The capers providing a sea saltiness and the sprouts offering a peppery note, the cucumber and tomato, both fresh, married with the smoked fish, cheese and bread in each glorious bite.

This meal only works when the ingredients are fresh, otherwise it is just food, but what I tasted last week at the Bright Spot in L.A.’s Echo Park inspired me to return the following morning for a repeat, and to attempt to make it at home yesterday.

Veggie sandwich

There is no wrong here, but the more piled, varied, and creative, the better.

I love lettuce, spinach leaves, sprouts, tomato, cucumber, carrot, asparagus, beet, radish, pickle, onion, and olive on a Straun bread, or stuffed into a pita shell, with cheese, most often cream cheese, and maybe a little mayo. A sprinkle of salt and pepper. You can taste the healthy. Each flavor distinct. Fresh. Wonderful.

Kobe beef

I did a $200 dinner for one in Philadelphia at Morimoto, Iron Chef (both Japanese and American versions) Masaharu Morimoto has always impressed me with his cooking, and my travels allowed me to dine at his original restaurant. I went with the multi course chef’s tasting menu. I could describe the o-toro fatty tuna and caviar with bonito flakes and ponzu with fresh wasabi, the way the tuna, unthawed, just melted on your tongue into goneness. the pop of the salti caviar. I could teasingly describe the scallop carpaccio (I love scallops), thinly sliced scallops seared in hot oil, with yuzu and micro greens; or the broiled lobster and asparagus, the lobster dripping oils and all kinds of delicious. No I will not tease you with the supporting cast,

The star of the night was the Kobe beef. I have never in my life tasted beef so…beefy. It was like the essence of beef permeated every deliciously orgasmic taste of beef. Served with a foie gras sauce because it wasn’t already too effin great already.

Caprese salad

There are a few moments when you realize that the way you learned to do something is not the best way. My father’s zucchini was bitter, he allowed the garlic to burn, and I was never really a fan. Zucchini, almost anywhere else was better.

We’ve had tomato, and mozzarella, and basil, and olive oil,  and salt and pepper in our kitchen growing up. How did we not combine them into this simple, ubiquitous, and delicious Italian summer salad.

It was not until I was working for Windsor Vineyards, returning with Susan Johnson from a San Francisco trade show for the winery, having not eaten all day, that I tasted my first Insalata Caprese at Pomodoro in the Strawberry Town & Country Village in Mill Valley. I wanted to kick my own butt for not having made this before.

Simple and delicious. The only variables are the freshness of your ingredients. The fresher the better.

Cheesecake

I used to watch the Frugal Gourmet’s every new episode on PBS. Jeff Smith cooked with love. Food was the center of family and friend get togethers. Cooking was magical.

Imagine how unhappy I was when the man I watched each week, the man who wrote the cookbooks I bought, turned out to be a very flawed human being, a pedophile. Still, he has passed on, so let’s let go of the sin, and hold on to the sinfully delicious cheesecake.

Jeff’s New York style cheesecake recipe is the best I’ve ever found. Better even than Alton Brown’s cheesecake recipe.

The trick to stellar cheesecake is quality ingredients. I go to Traverso’s market in Santa Rosa for high quality Italian cream cheese when I make a cheesecake, I would never use Philly cream cheese in a cheesecake.

Do not use a store bought pre-made pie crust either. Make your own graham cracker crust too. It’s easy.

Making a cheesecake is a bit of a production, so I usually make between three and five. They don’t last long.

Once I made four cheesecakes and forgot just one ingredient: vanilla. I can not stress enough the importance of not making my mistake. It was an expensive and disappointing mistake. Quality vanilla is essential for a good cheesecake.

A good cheesecake should be tall, not flat, it should taste amazing and have a great texture. Each bite should reward the taster, and there is no such thing as too many bites.

Cheesecake, made correctly, does not need a topping of any kind. Cheesecake, made correctly, would be better than any possible topping. Cheesecake should be served unadorned. Fruit can be served on the side, as an accompaniment.

The best restaurant cheesecake I have tasted came from Katz’s Deli and Bar in Austin, TX. At least a pound, as big as your head, as delicious as any you will find.

Cover: Jeff Smith Winning Moto-Cross Des Nations

Contents: Clymer visits Indian and Horex Factories; Joe Hunt – Sultan of Spark; California Customs; Time for an electric check; New Model BSAs Bow; New motorcycles from around the world; News Flash from the A.M.A. Competition Committee Meeting; more

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Selling is sometimes perceived as such a bad word. We think of the classic used car salesman yell out, “what can I do to sell you this car today”.  But in reality selling is nothing more than find out what people want and then helping them to get it. I own countless products that originally I did want to buy or should I say I Did want to buy, I just didn’t want to hand over the money.  I enjoy these products everyday and am thankful to the sales people who helped me get them.  I wouldn’t ever tell my wife this, but truly don’t “need” a Dodge Viper, a Harley or a large home, but I sure am happy I have them!  If you believe in what you sell and see the benefit of what you sell to your clients, then you really are not selling, you are just helping them to get it.

In the business of photography, your marketing plan gets a person interested enough to pick up the phone and call your studio.  Once the phone rings everything changes, your marketing is over and now it time for the selling (helping them to get what they want) to begin. There are four parts to a successful phone call or a call that turns a prospect into a client and they are #1 Ask Questions #2 Excite #3 Engage #4 Ask for the Sale.

Potential clients call your studio and most phone calls take two paths, how much is an 8×10 or we were thinking of having a portrait taken.  The first group is more assertive than the second.  The first thing you do is ask permission to ask a question, because truthfully you can’t answer or handle that phone call until you get some information.  At this point you ask questions to find out what type of portrait she is thinking of having done, the number of people, what ideas she has in mind, a possible budget, etc.  Once you get all the information you need from the caller to answer her questions intelligently you have two choices, either proceed and go to step #2 or refer them to someone else. You have to be honest, if the caller says her budget is $50 and your minimum order is $500 they don’t qualify as a potential client.  Now if her budget was $200 and minimum order is $500 at least she is in the ballpark (call me an optomist!)

Step #2 is excite.  As a phone sales person you have to start explaining the process of doing business with your studio with an explanation of the session(s).  While you don’t want to skirt the issue of cost or the number of clothing changes and images to choose from, these are mundane facts that don’t excite anyone, as you can tell in the typical studios phone salesperson’s voice.  In our studio we photograph seniors.  As a senior (or parent of a senior) which explanation of a session would excite you more?  Example 1  “In our “senior” session it comes with 2 clothing changes, 6 different backgrounds and about 80 images to choose from…”  or Example 2 “the most popular session is the senior session, you would be photographed in our main studio area, which has a Dodge Viper, a Harley, swings, bridges, New Yorks steps, spiral stair cases and a huge variety of background and sets to choose from, I think the only thing that isn’t in our main studio is the beach and a huge park, but don’t worry we can set up an appointment to go their as well!”

You need to remember that you only have words on the phone, so use them to paint pictures in the mind’s of your clients.  If you do outdoor, talk about the beautiful nature light, the flowing water of the stream;  in your mind right now you are picturing what I am talking about, that is what you must do with your clients.  Until my clients are excited enough to see themselves sitting on that Harley, leaning against the Viper or feeling of the water from the stream flowing over their feet they aren’t excited enough to move to step 3 or book a session.  Once they visualize themselves in what your are describing they are starting to sell themselves.

After you have explained what they will be doing in the session, so the person on the phone sees themselves doing it and have answered their first question of how much or how to, are you getting closer to continue to step three or refer them away.  Most loving parents or excited seniors in our situation will start asking more questions “does it cost more to include a friend” or “what do you think I should wear for the Viper” this isn’t a problem, this is a sign of excitement.  They are seeing themselves in the picture you have painted and now they are trying to make sure it is the right picture for them.  Answer their questions, but again paint more pictures with your words as you answer the questions they ask.  “Does it cost more to include a Friend?”  Don’t just say no or yes, explain how you will coordinate their clothing as well as the scenes or sets you might use for their portraits.

Do Not look at questions as problems, the lack of questions is a problem.  People ask questions when they are interested and getting ready to buy.  If the person on the phone wasn’t interested they would have said, “thank you and good bye” after you answered their first question.  Now that you have gone through Step 1, (ask questions), finding out the needed information and Step #2, exciting them painting pictures of their session in their mind, now it’s time to move to step #3, Engage.  The sales process is not,  ‘excite them and then ask them to buy’, you must “test the waters” because it is a process.

Step #3 is the transitional stage between prospect and client and between being interested and finalizing the buying process.  After you have excited the person on the phone and answered all of their questions it is time to engage them by giving them an option of session times that would work for the type of session they are doing.  Again, you will not get an immediate yes, they will say this or that time or day doesn’t work, or they have to check with their senior (or husband for other types of photography).  These objections are what sales people call stalls, which everyone does when they see they are getting close to buying something, so don’t look at them as problems, look at them as your have done you job well to this point.

If the stall has to do with day or times, give them other days and times.  A better stall (for them) is the “I have to check with someone else”, because most untrained sales people don’t know how to respond to that which is why it works so well most of the time.  A good response is to simply say, “what do you think he/she will say when you ask him”?  The women in almost every family are the schedulers/planners of everything.  Their husband might have a work schedules, but the wife knows every spare minute he has in every day of his week. The key to overcoming this stall is to ask more questions, “does he work on Saturdays” or “what time does he usually get off” or “is it possible that he might take a long lunch”.  Help them help themselves.  Chances are if you, as a salesperson, don’t book this call it will probably be put off and forgotten and this family won’t have beautiful portraits to enjoy.

If you persist, the prospect will slowly overcome their fears and agree to a time, but that is not the end, it is not a sale.  When they agree to a time, it is the first step in the transition to the final sale.  In business, a sale is made when their is an exchange of money, until then you got nothin’!  In this economy, the next time that potential client balances her check book or watches the news to see another 1000 workers were laid off in a nearby town, she will change her mind.  If she is nice, she will call and cancel, but because you were so nice she is embarrassed to call so they just won’t show up to avoid the guilt.

Step #4 is asking for the sale.  Asking for the sale is nothing more than, after the appointment time has been agreed upon,  saying,  “Our sessions our prepaid to reserve the time with the photographer and staff would you like to put the on a credit or debit card?”  Airlines, Hotels, Spas and even restaurants on special nights ask for a guarantee that you will show up at the time that is reserved for you, so most clients that are serious won’t even question you about it.  If the client felt that making the appointment was the easiest and kindest way to get off the phone, they will question why the session is prepaid or ask if they can pay when they show up.  Again this isn’t a problem, you can explain that the session lasts for a certain period of time which is a substantial part of your day and is reserved just for them.  You continue with Your reschuling policies to easy their concerns and they will agree, that is if they are serious about keeping the appointment.  You can’t run a profitable business with potential clients not showing up for their scheduled times, which is why they must prepay for their session and you must be given a notice of cancelation in enough time to reschedule that time for someone else.

These are 4 steps that will take your callers effectively from prospect to client, provided they qualify to be your client in the first place.  We use this four step method in training our staff, because it breaks down the process of booking an appointment into 4 short segments that employees don’t become overwhelmed with.  Sales, whether on the phone or in a viewing appointment is a step by step process, which once the steps become second nature you can lighten up and have some fun with your callers.  When you are at this point you will book the majority of phone calls you take.

I just read in this article from July 2009 that Bone’s author is planning a trilogy named Quest for the Spark. The first part would be done 2010!

…

MORE BONE! ^_^

Sort of unrelated to the news, but here’s a page from one the rare Bone mini-comics. You can read them all here.

Facebook, Twitter and My Space, everybody is talking about them, but is social media the new marketing frontier for your business?  Many business people talk about huge returns in using social media marketing,  but it really depends on two things, you and what you are marketing.   First, you don’t need to be on every social media site and it’s best you are not. You must select the social media sites that work best with what you are trying to sell and who you are selling it to.  We are photographers, Facebook is by far the most used and the most user friendly for us since it is set up to be a photo share site.  Twitter works well for some types of clients, while some photographer use My Space although it’s a little scary out there, hence it’s neck name ’scary space’.  The best way to select the site to use is look at the demographics of each social media site.  We photograph high school seniors, Facebook is the best choice for us.  Another photographer looking for families or Business portraits clients might find Twitter or LinkedIn as better source of prospective clients.

What ever sites you decide to participate in, the key to success in any social media site is to create posts that are interesting.  You also have to learn to sell without selling.   To be consistently interesting means that we all have to deal with our egos and our issues of self-importance.  While there are many things in our daily lives that are humorous and others might find interesting, no one really cares that you are having a latte or just picked up your children from school.  How much personal posting your friend/followers/potential clients can handle depends on who they are.  If you are a young parent and marketing to people for Childrens Photography, you are your demographic, so your friends would be much more interested in your personal life than if you market to high school seniors.  If you want to market in social media to friends/followers that are older or younger than you, set up a personal account for your family and friends and have a separate account for your business friends/followers. We do this on Facebook where we have 2000 friends who are seniors on one account for the studio and over 2000 photographers on another account for all of my books and DVD’s.  This way seniors aren’t bored with posts to photographers and photographers don’t have to read about what my local senior are doing.

In social media there are way too many posts which fit into two categories, you have the warm fuzzies that think that everyone is fascinated with every mundane thing in their lives and then you have the infomercials, which are business people that have the selling subtlety of a used car sales person. As photographers we sell portraits, your friends and followers don’t care about portraits unless they are in them or know someone who is in them.  Before you post anything, you have to put yourself into your friend’s/follower’s shoes and ask yourself, what’s in it for me? and/or if I read this post about a person, I knew very little about, (or just on a professional level) would this be interesting or funny?  Posting photos of clients is always a sure way to get the attention of the person in the portraits and every friend or follower who knows that person.  A post with suggestions on how to prepare for a session has a broader appeal, but is less likely to be viewed/read and add a posting that states that you just updated your website is a yawn, which nobodies cares about because it benefits you, not your friends/followers.

Humor is one way to talk about personal things without putting your friends to sleep.  “I am having coffee” really doesn’t interest any one, “I am having coffee and spilled it on my laptop” adds humor and a little sympathy to the mundane.  “I just picked up my son from school” (who cares) “I just picked up my son from school and he had ripped out the seat of his pants” (funny, in a folksy way)  Even when using humor, most people tend to over-post. I try not to post more than twice a day, but most of the time it’s once a day.  I post in the morning for photographers and evening for high school seniors.  Then, if I have anything comes up during the day I post again after I am done for the day for photographer who are my demographic since most are close to my age and we are in the same profession.  I seldom post more than once a day for seniors, since I am closer to their parent demographic than theirs.

The second group are those business people that take a non-personal approach to social media and just cut to the hard sell.   This is even worse than the warm fuzzies endlessly talking about coffee and their children.  If you fall into this Non-Personal hard-sell category you have missed something, especially with the name “Social Media”.     People want to do business with people they feel are friends or at least friendly.  Posting an ‘occasional’ sale or event is something that might interest friends/followers and even if they aren’t interested, they won’t be put off by it.  Posting sales, events and specials all the time turns you into a nonstop infomerical, which nobody wants.

I personally find twitter is annoying for this reason.  While you have the coffee post-ers you also have the majority of people posting things to get you to come to their blog or website.  Once you go to the website they tell you to download a free this or a downloadable that, only  to find another infomerical about buying one of their products with no benefit or reward for your time if I don’t want to buy what they have for sale.   Capitalism at it’s worst.  It’s like the guy trying to sell life insurance and mutual funds at a funeral.  There is a time and place for everything and while sales drives all of our business, social media isn’t a place for used car sales tactics, not to mention you look desperate.  I have my books linked constantly to my post, but  I give photographers a huge amount of information for free in my posts, my articles on Gather.com, my videos on YouTube and now on our blog.  I truly want to help photographers while I am boosting my book sales.

So in closing, talk about coffee and your kids less, talk about your clients and post their portraits more.  Try getting involved with people before you try selling them something and always put yourself in your friends/follower shoes and ask, “what’s in it for me”?

Wait, some of you might be thinking. Who is Robin Tunney?

Robin Tunney; image courtesy of tvdramas.about.com

I think Tunney was slated to be a star when she started cropping up in movies in the 1990s. While stardom didn’t happen for her, she’s had steady work, currently starring on The Mentalist, a CBS procedural. She was supposed to co-write a book on feminism with her friend Liz Phair, with whom she worked on the movie Cherish. I’m still waiting for that last one.

For many in my age group, we know her from back-to-back appearances in Empire Records and The Craft. As both movies were slumber party staples in my friend group, featured teen girl characters, and were accompanied by popular soundtracks, I knew I’d need to revisit them.

Empire Records came out in 1995 and developed a bit of a cult following, despite poor reviews and a dismal box office performance. It also instilled a personal desire to work at a record store, particularly an indie fighting to stay that way. At 13, it looked so cool and fun to “work” all day at such a place with hip teens and twentysomethings.

Well, maybe not them specifically, as the characters in Empire Records aren’t believeable as people so much as underwritten Generation X versions of cool kids dreamt up by a team of movie executives: there’s Joe, the anti-establishment boomer-era owner (Anthony LaPaglia); Lucas, the Zen-like hipster (Rory Cochrane); A.J., the sensitive artist in love with the unattainable Corey (Johnny Whitworth); Corey, the wholesome speed freak perfectionist (Liv Tyler); Gina, Corey’s slutty best friend who wants to be in a band (Renée Zellweger); Mark, the stoner (Ethan Embry); Berko, the rocker who clocks in between gigs (Coyote Shivers, who was married to Tyler’s legendary mother Bebe Buell at the time); and Debra, the rebel girl accountant who shaves her head after attempting suicide (Tunney).

Oh, they are so selling out; image courtesy of chartrigger.blogspot.com

The writing is the movie’s biggest problem, though I’ll never understand why casting directors thought someone as boring as Tyler would ever be a huge star (I’d ask this question again later in the decade when Katie Holmes started landing movie roles). The motivations of the characters, though meant to be read as young and madcap, are childish and inconsistent. The boys pine after girls, eat pizza, get high, and glue quarters to the floor. The girls pine after has-been teen idols doing in-stores, alternate between loving and hating each other, and get together with the boys who pine after them. Both sexes deliver such profound lines like “If I can love her in that skirt, than this must really be it” and “I went to rock and roll heaven, and I wasn’t on the guest list.”

That second line is the answer given to a question about bandaged wrists. It’s delivered to withering effect by Debra, potentially the movie’s most interesting character. She’s not glamourous like her female co-workers or sophomoric like her male colleagues. She also seems to have gone through real pain, deeper than the surface angst used to promote OK Soda and perhaps closer to the actual pain brought on by parental neglect and low self-esteem. In the early 1990s, these and other issues were particularly relevant to young girls, some of whom would form or discover riot grrl and queercore and develop their own queer and/or feminist identities. We only get a sense of Debra’s absent mother, resistent intellect, boredom with men, feelings of inadequacy, and the hope for something better.

Note: I’d recommend watching director Allan Moyle’s far-superior Times Square. Rest assured that the tale of two girl runaways falling in love amidst downtown New York’s early-80s squalor will get its due on this blog.   

It’s weird that slashed wrists bridge Tunney’s two major performances to date. Clearly suicide, perhaps most unfortunately personified by Kurt Cobain, was on young people’s minds at the time. I’d hedge that this has more to do with class frustration, racial injustice, conflicted feelings about sexual orientation, coming out to unsupportive families and communities, dysfunctional home lives, and a lack of any real support system. I’d also add that it’s an on-going problem.

Absent mothers also connect Debra and Sarah, the latter of whom lost her mother during childbirth. As The Craft was originally pitched as “Carrie meets Clueless,” it seems necessary to point out that these movies feature girls with compromised mother-daughter relationships. Carrie’s mother is a crazed witch. Cher Horowitz, like so many other fairytale heroines before her, lost her mother at an early age and has only an idealized memory of her. Sarah has similar baggage, along with the additional burden of being responsible for her mother’s death. Oh, and carrying on the ability to perform witchcraft. That’s a hell of a lot for any teenage girl to shoulder, especially when she’s moving to Los Angeles with her family.     

A heartening aspect of The Craft , no doubt motivated by how successful Clueless was, is the presence of girlfriends. Sarah meets shy Bonnie (played by Neve Campbell) and becomes friends with a trio of Goth girls. Two other movies came out in 1996 that focused on girl gangs – Girls Town and Foxfire. For a more nuanced analysis of these two movies and their depictions of homosociality and developing feminist politics, I highly recommend checking out my friend Kristen’s thesis Revenge, Girl Style. 

The Craft entertains the progressive potential of girl friendship, particularly for outcasts. There are also hints at the queer possibilities of homosocial bonding and witchcraft. It even contains racially charged moments, particularly when Rochelle (played by Rachel True), the coven’s lone African American member, casts a spell on Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), a popular blonde who is on the swim team with her. After enduring Lizzie’s racist comments about her hair, Rochelle turns her bald, thus rebelling against normative, white-centric notions of feminine beauty. 

But these suggestions are sidelined. Because what the movie is really about is the battle between Tunney’s kind-hearted Sarah and Fairuza Balk’s destructive ringleader Nancy, who is jealous of her frenemy’s natural aptitude for witchcraft. It should also be noted that Nancy is working-class and coded as queer. The movie makes a considerable effort to undo her queerness, putting men in between her and Sarah, whether they be ex-boyfriends or Manon, the supernatural male figure that the girls worship. The movie ends with Nancy trying to kill Sarah, resulting in a showdown that tears the group apart, causes Sarah to move, and leads to Nancy being institutionalized. The final shot is of Nancy in a straight-jacket trying to fly out of a padded cell. The movie’s message: we are the weirdos, mister. Just don’t expect us to stay friends or keep a hold of our sanity. So much for sisterhood.

Nancy's farewell; image courtesy of channel4.com

Sisterhood is often lacking in movies, but is emphasized to market teen movies, if only to tap in to the girl market. But much of this was eclipsed in story development to make way for more lucrative prospects, none more pronounced at the time than the soundtrack. A considerable number of American teen movies in the 1990s featured a soundtrack, many boasting songs by alternative rock artists. Unlike The Craft and Empire Records, and more in line with All Over Me, Girls Town and Foxfire paid particular attention toward showcasing female artists, particularly those closely associated with hip hop and the then-waning riot grrrl movement. Scholars like Jeff Smith and Mary Celeste Kearney have addressed this in their work, theorizing that the soundtrack served as a way to cultivate potential audience markets and a source of textual identification for fans.

While female artists are present on the soundtracks to Empire Records and The Craft, they’re not the focus, perhaps out of fear of alienating a broader audience. This might further explain why The Craft soundtrack features covers of popular songs from lesser-known acts. Our Lady Peace contributes a version of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Heather Nova covers Peter Gabriel’s “I Have the Touch,” and Letters To Cleo take on The Cars’ “Dangerous Type,” a tactic they’d repeat when covering Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” for 10 Things I Hate About You at the end of the decade. And let’s not forget the double-nostalgia of former Psychelic Furs’ front man Richard Butler covering The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” with his post-Furs project Love Spit Love. 

Cover to "The Craft" soundtrack (Sony, 1996); image courtesy of thesoundtracktoyourlife.co.uk

A major problem both of these movies share, and is evident in other titles of this period and in the Brat Pack movies of the 1980s, is the need to broadly define its characters as members of a generation, rather than as complex young people with particular problems oftentimes informed by their identities. And while ennui and an ironic fluency in popular culture were markers for Gen X, these young adults were more than just sneering (white) kids in flannel, combat boots, and barettes. At least off-camera.

Oftentimes, they were frustrated by how little high school and a liberal arts education could get them in a job market, particularly during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the economy had yet to recover from the 1987 market crash. They were annoyed at the shrine their parents built to the 1960s, as it was clear just how empty and hollow their promises of revolution were. In some ways, they were no different than people my age or boomer hipster Paul Kinsey on Mad Men, turning to interesting records, movies, books, and TV shows, but knowing they wouldn’t make them any happier, politically mobile, or economically viable.

Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey, proving the every generation has its hipster; image courtesy of readingunderthecovers.blogspot.com

Some of these people formed bands, often annointed with glossy but unremarkable one-word monikers: Sponge, Drill, Lustre, Cracker, Elastica, Spacehog, Dig, Hole, Belly, Hum, Bush, Toadies, Oasis . . . In a particularly cruel example of market imperative, many of these bands broke up or were without major label record deals by the end of the decade.

I still have Elastica's debut album!; image courtesy of forgottenfavorite.com

But it’s hard to convey all of this in a 90-minute movie, especially one that hopes to cash in on the wages of the very demographic these popcorn flicks were hoping to represent. Some did a decent job of conveying this generation’s ambivalence, particularly indies like Kicking and Screaming. I’d also add that Reality Bites highlights these problems, even pointing out the crass ways in which corporate America capitalizes on the very market its created. While I wish Winona Ryder’s filmmaker character Lalaina didn’t end up with Ethan Hawke’s slacker Troy, I understand why she can’t be with Michael (played by director Ben Stiller), who works for an MTV-type network that makes worm’s meat out of her documentary about her friends. 

Richard Linklater’s second feature, Dazed and Confused, did a considerable job at suggesting that Generation X inherited their sense of slacker frustration (and detached nostalgia for Schoolhouse Rock and The Brady Bunch) from their parents. That Linklater cast a bunch of twentysomething unknowns like Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Jason London, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, and Marisa Ribisi to essentially play the teenagers and young adults who would become their parents may strengthen Robin Wood’s argument that Dazed is a horror film. 

Some television shows also did a good job articulating the nuances of the slacker era. I’d offer up British programs like Spaced, along with MTV’s Daria and ABC’s My So-Called Life. The latter featured an angsty girl protagonist, complex teenage characters, depicted boomer parents being just as clueless and angsty as their brood, and created an immortal stoner heartthrob named Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto), whose band Frozen Embryos changed their name at the end of the series to perhaps the most perfect of Gen X band names: Residue.

Angela Chase (Claire Danes) with the object of her affection; image courtesy of thefbomb.org

But it’s always different for girls, and unfortunate that Tunney and many of the actresses of her generation were not given the consideration they deserved (though I love that Austin Chronicle writer Margaret Moser fancies herself as being like Balk’s character in Almost Famous). Some may attribute this to their flat delivery or lack of believability, but I’d wager that this has more to do with poor character development on the part of screenwriters and the industrial emphasis on youth than it does on the actresses. At 19, Kristen Stewart is playing the slouched-shoulder ingenue of a multi-million-dollar film franchise, its latest installment complete with a soundtrack featuring of-the-moment, indie and indie-friendly artists like Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Lykke Li, Grizzly Bear, and Thom Yorke. I only hope she has that sort of star power at 25.

Kristen Stewart at the "New Moon" premiere in Los Angeles; image courtesy of justjared.buzznet.com

Governor Pat Quinn

(Chicago, IL) — November 23, 2009. From the Illinois 2010 elections candidate and cow-pie trail…

… Ron Powell, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 881, announced his union’s endorsement of Governor Pat Quinn in the 2010 Illinois Democratic primary for governor at a news conference in Chicago today, Monday.

… “Governor Quinn has consistently stood strong in his position that every Illinois worker has a right to earn a living wage,” said Powell.

“From supporting living wage policies in the City of Chicago to increasing minimum ages standards for all workers, Governor Quinn has never shied away from joining in the fight to protect the rights of Local 881 members and all working families throughout Illinois.”

Quinn is a former Local 881 member.

… Comptroller and Democratic candidate for Governor Dan Hynes takes his campaign to restore fiscal responsibility in Illinois on the road to the Effingham. Hynes meets voters at the Knights of Columbus tonight Monday, at 7:00 pm.  The event will be at 1501 W Fayette Ave, Effingham, IL.

… Speaking of Hynes, the Comptroller will be holding a fund-raiser on Monday, December 7, 2009 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. The event will be held at Carpenters Hall, 50 E Erie St, Chicago.

… U.S. Democratic Senate hopeful David Hoffman is looking for friends–preferably the Facebook fan types. Hoffaman’s director of online organizing Lara Sanders recently sent a few days ago an e-mail with a Facebook friend challenge.

“We have set a goal of reaching 1,500 Facebook fans by the end of November. Click here to become our fan now!” Sanders wrote.

In the Facebook fan-race, Hoffman is lagging Alexi Giannoulias but leading Cheryl Jackson:

• Giannoulias–4,904
• Hoffman–1,193
• Jackson–213

And that’s approximately how the race will end up on February 2, 2010.

… Hoffman’s also sent out an e-mail scrounging for money ballyhooing a new poll.

“Geoff Garin, our pollster and long-time advisor to Senator Durbin, shows in a polling memo that in a general election Alexi Giannoulias loses to Mark Kirk by 17 points, and I beat Kirk by 5 points,” wrote Hoffman.

But you gotta first beat Giannoulias in Facebook fans. Priorities.

Robin Kelly

… Democratic Illinois Treasurer front-runner candidate Robin Kelly has lined-up an impressive progressive Honorary Committee for a fund-raiser at the Ann Sather restaurant on Chicago’s north side on Thursday, December 3, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Headlining Kelly’s event are: 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin in conjunction with State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, State Rep. Greg Harris, House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang, State Rep. Harry Osterman, MWRD Commissioner Debra Shore, Committeeman Carol Ronen, 43rd Ward Alderman Vi Daley, and 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores.

… Democrat Ed Mullen, who seeking the state House seat being vacated by John Fritchey on Chicago’s north side, had a busy weekend, canvassing the district’s neighborhoods and knocking on 750 doors, which pushes his total to almost 5,000 doors hit. Mullen also picked 6 new campaign volunteers. Mullen faces Ann Williams and Dan Farley in the Democratic primary. Scott Tucker is unopposed in the GOP primary.

… Metropolitan Water Reclamation District candidate Todd Connor has a fund-raiser chaired by Robert Kohl, Amy Maggio, Clark Pellett, David Ormsby, and businessman Philip Palmer at Palmer’s Lake Shore Drive über-luxe apartment on Thursday, December 3, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Out come the Guccio loafers. Oo là là.

… Democratic candidate Julie Hamos in Illinois’ tony 10th congressional district has a new television bio ad hitting the airwaves. The spot does justice to Hamos.

… Illinois Republican Governor candidate State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) rolled out an education plan last week that was part thoughtful, part reckless, and part pointless. The thoughtful part calls for more charter schools, the reckless aims to financially starve state local schools through vouchers, and the pointless seeks to abolish the State Board of Education–that’s just pushing the deck chairs off the Titantic.

Oh, well. Can’t have everything.

The Brady Plan highlights:

• Eliminating the numerical and geopgraphic cap on charter schools in Illinois. Current legislation limits the number of charter schools to 120 at one time — 70 in Chicago, 45 for the rest of the state and 5 devoted to re-enrolled high school drop-outs.

• Increasing tuition tax credits by 50 percent a year. As it stands now, an eligible Illinois household can receive a maximum $500 in education expense tax credits a year.

• Empowering school boards by action or parents by referendum to open their school district to vouchers, allowing state tax dollars to follow the student. The voucher would be at a minimum level equal to the pupil state support of that school district.

• Allowing every high school student in Illinois the opportunity to achieve in their high school years a two-year associate degree through cooperative efforts between the state’s 49 community college districts and regional offices of education.

• Abolishing the State Board of Education.

… Democratic State Representative candidate Jeff Smith, who is angling for the Evanston House seat being relinquished by Julie Hamos, has a birthday fund-raiser at Tommy Nevin’s Pub, 1450 Sherman Ave, Evanston, Wednesday, on December 9, 6:00 p.mm-8:00 p.m

… Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos has a fund-raiser at Bourbon Street, 115 Bourbon Street, 3359 West 115th Street, Merrionette Park from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Secretary of State Jesse White is the Honorary Chair, and 19th Ward Alderman Virginia Rugai, Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin, and Committeeman Matt O’Shea, Committeeman Michael Looney headline the event host committee. A party.

Sandman’s Death as portrayed by Bone creator Jeff Smith. <3

State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago)

(Chicago, IL) — November 17, 2009. From the Illinois 2010 elections candidate and cow-pie trail…

… In Democratic State Rep. candidate David Schroeder’s battle against incumbent Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) in the Illinois 5th House district, the challenger has gone harsh. Schroeder is equating Dunkin’s challenge to his petitions to an alleged “sex smear” attack by Dunkin against Alderman Pat Dowell in the 2008 3rd Ward Committeeman’s race.

In a press release yesterday, Schroeder said:

“Last week he made a frivolous challenge to the petitions of our campaign in an attempt to rob the voters of the 5th District of their Democratic right to vote for the best candidate. This is politics-as-usual for Ken Dunkin, during his race for 3rd Ward Committeeman he illegally released campaign material under a fake campaign committee’s name, making outlandish and intolerant sexual claims against his opponent.”

In that 2008 race, a direct mail piece attacked Dowell ostensibly over property taxes, but whose purpose was to crudely claim Dowell is a lesbian–as if there is something wrong with that. The postal permit indicia on the piece belonged to Dunkin. That attack was despicable.

But whether Dunkin’s petition challenge amounts to an equally reprehensible political tactic, THE iLLINOIS OBSERVER would have to disagree. Petition challenges are permitted under Illinois election law. There is nothing immoral or ethics in the exercise of a candidate’s rights under the law. Petition challenges are legal politics.

Moreover, to equate a petition challenge to a “sex smear” attack devalues the immoral and unethical calumny that the attack on Dowell represents. They are not equal. Schroeder is wright on Dowell, but wrong on the nature of Dunkin’s petition challenge.

… State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) is a hosting wing-ding tonight–a.k.a. a fund-raiser–at Charlie’s Ale House on Clark Street. 5:30-7:30.

State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge)

… State Senator Dan Kotowksi (D-Park Ridge) endorsed yesterday Metropolitan Water Reclamation District candidate Todd Connor in the Democratic primary. Kotowski, a growing poltical heavy-weight, joins a growing rank of elected Cook County Democrats who are breaking ranks with the Cook County Democratic Party’s slated candidates: Michael Alvarez, Barbara McGowan and Mariyanna Spyropolous to back Connor, a former Navy officer.

… The Democratic Party of Evanston is hosting a candidate debate for the five Democrats seeking to replace State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) in the Illinois House at the Kingsley Elementary School on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 1 pm. The debate will be moderated by Bill Smith, publisher of Evanston Now. The candidates are:

• Robyn Gabel (www.robynforrep.com)
• Patrick Keenan-Devlin (www.patrickforillinois.com)
• Eamon Kelly (www.eamon2010.com)
• Edmund Moran
• Jeff Smith (www.electjeffsmith.org)

…  David Hoffman, candidate for U.S. Senate, hoping to run against Mark Kirk, discusses the State of Illinois Politics tonight, Tuesday, November 17, 7:00 p.m. at the Highland Park Country Club.

… Porter McNeill, a former staffer to House Speaker Michael Madigan, is in a tight race for the open 71st Illinois House seat being vacated by Democrat State Rep. Mike Boland in north western Illinois, will have a fund-raiser in Chicago organized by former Madigan staffers at Lizzie McNeill’s (cute)– 400 N McClurg on Friday, December 18. 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Gov. Pat Quinn

… Ann Williams, another former staffer to Speaker Madigan and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is also an Illinois House candidate and is aiming for the seat being vacated by Democrat State Rep. John Fritchey, and has her funder at John Barleycorn in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood 658 West Belden Avenue, on December 3rd.

… Governor Pat Quinn will be honored at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150’s 20th Annual “Statesman of the Year Award Ceremony,” to be held at the Operating Engineers Hall, 6200 Joliet Road in Countryside today, Tuesday, November 17 at 6 p.m.

… State Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) yesterday scooped up an impressive haul of Republican backers for his Lt. Governor campaign: State Senators John Millner (R-Carol Stream), Brad Burzynski (R-Rochelle) and Pam Althoff (R-McHenry). Additionally,  State Representatives Suzie Bassi (R-Palatine), Franco Coladipietro (R-Bloomingdale), Michael Connelly (R-Lisle), Sid Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove), Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), Randy Ramey (R-Carol Stream), Sandra Pihos (R-Glen Ellyn) and Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein).

As always, thanks for visiting “Raging Against the Dying Light,” all dozen of you. ( : I have a lot of loose threads in this one, my main articles for November and December are in formation and so now’s the time to spew out what I refer to as a “Geek Diatribe” to touch on all the incomplete facets of interest I write about on this site. This time it’s all light too, no politics or religion!

First off, the 2009 Baseball season is over. I find it a very depressing of an end at that…I’m not a vehement Yankee hater, I have extreme love for the history of the team and readily admit the talents and watchability of most of the current Yank roster, but I always have a bit of anger over the unrestrained budget the team has to work with and the idea that they can “buy’ the championship…and the fact that A-Rod alone earns a higher salary than several combined teams. So, there’s always the hope that they will be shutdown and it will be proven that money can’t suppress the drive to overcome that thrives in the underdog teams; the Phillies would have been a much more satisfying win. But the whole thing got me thinking about the structure of the current season; it’s November, and Baseball is just now wrapping up. It’s cold, grey over much of the country and well on the way to winter. Now, I never thought I’d specify that the season should be shorter since Baseball is really the only sport for me, but the season should be shorter! It’s a spring and summer game, and the now extended season length drags it into competing too heavily with football broadcasts and ticket sales, and the game just doesn’t seem appropriate this time of year for whatever reasons. I say, start it in early spring as is done now, start the post-season in September and have the World Series the first week of October. Anyway, as many people thrive for the play-off season when things heat up, as fun as that can be I prefer two other key baseball phases—the opening game through the first two weeks of the season and the events of and games leading up to July’s all-star game and home-run derby. A lot of this ties in with many of the teams still having a shot, but just as much at factor is the time of the year and the way it perfectly fits with the game. I imagine football fanatics feel the same way about fall and February.

Item two on the geek docket is the best music of the 2000s. I’ve pretty much got the 50 picked out for albums and almost for songs, I just have to properly rank them which requires listening to them and making the call on order. It’s a compulsive geek trait for any type of list like this, but you can’t just arbitrarily throw them together. There’s a distinctive reason why item A is at 17 and item B is at 16…or at least there should be. As I was working on my list I noticed that “Paste” magazine already has their “50 albums of the 2000s” on their site. I really like “Paste” and they’ve turned me on to a lot of good music over the years, but their list was off (in my mind) on several accounts—for one thing, it’s early November, there’s still 2 months of music yet to be released. Related to that, their “Best of ‘09” list isn’t up yet—it seems fairly backward to sum up a decade before the last year of the decade. As to the selections, there’s the obvious nerd-centric private idols that the publication adores and will rank highly and mention continuously even if no one else does as highly—everyone does this, my lists are guilty of it as well. “Paste” is very noticeable for adoring a core 5 bands that can never do wrong, as is Rolling Stone and AMG and it’s interesting because these core 5 never overlap in the same regard between these publications. That’s a very signifying factor that when it comes to art and pop criticism, there is no great science. There may be general critical consensus that something new and groundbreaking is “excellent” but it often differs from group to group and certain styles and personalities latch on to certain sounds. I won’t ruin the article for you, but the #1 album of the decade for “Paste” sums up their stance and personality as a publication, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure my “1 choice does the same thing for me, as will RS and AMG’s. Another observation on “Pastes” selections is that they was heavily eschewed towards music made by bands established in the ‘00s, with a few ‘90s bands new work thrown in but very little attention paid to career artists releasing very notable work in the decade. No mention of critically acclaimed and massively entertaining work by Dylan, Young, Springsteen, U2, etc. Jazz, Hip Hop and Blues were almost completely overlooked as well, and although Indie is a major focus for “Paste,” they’re an eclectic publication so I expected more variety. The 2000s, looking at them as a whole, may very well have produced the bulk of music that will stay with me the longest. I was a junior in High school at the beginning of the decade and as it draws to a close I’m a first year grad student working on a Masters. In between there was college, work, marriage. I’ve moved several times and grown a lot, and the music I’ve heard that’s stuck with me from each phase of this decade is formative and memorable. Granted, most of my all time favorite albums were made long before this time, but there’s something to be said for what was new and vibrant amidst the average, waiting just to be found.

On to the next one; I always cap up the year’s best in graphic art and prose– comics and graphic novels—with a top ten list at the end of each year as well. This year has been phenomenal with trend breaking literate work in Graphic Novels- – “Asterios Polyp” by David Mazuchelli, The illustrated book of Genesis by R. Crumb, pretty much the entire Vertigo monthly catalogue, creator owned and controlled titles by Jeff Smith and Terry Moore (“RASL” and “Echo,” respectively) and notable work from indie publishing houses IDW (“Locke and Keye“), Boom Studios (“The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh“), etc. As far as mainstream work, generally meaning the “big two” (Marvel and DC), it’s become clear that despite cornering 65 percent of the market and being host to millions of loyal fans who refuse to read books published by anyone else, Marvel is far inferior to almost every other publishing company, especially DC. It just hasn’t been Marvel’s year. They sell out to Disney for a big paycheck. They opt for raising the majority of their titles to a higher price point– an entire dollar more, making most of their mainstream titles 3.99, a price DC reserves for special events and “important” stories. Unlike Marvel, when DC charges 3.99 they provide ten additional pages of story as well as better paper and ink quality. Marvel heads (here’s looking at you, Joe Quesada—by the way, stay retired from penciling, your art is atrocious) originally stated that this was the result of a tighter economy and to combat mounting paper costs but later Quesada admitted in an interview that it was really because “this is a business” and they wanted to see how much profit they could make if the cost of the titles continued to go up and sales didn’t dip accordingly. To make matters worse for Marvel, their output hasn’t been good enough to justify such tactics anyway. The only really smart move they’ve done recently is re-tool “Amazing Spider Man” last year, shedding the excess titles, hiring a great staff of rotating writers and artists for it, releasing it thrice monthly and generally making it the best popcorn, fun-for-everyone-over-13 book as possible. They have even (thus far) kept it price-pointed at 2.99 and the stories from it all year have been great escapist fun. Other than that, they’ve consistently dropped the ball. Big tie-in events and mini-series? DC’s “Blackest Night” is far better than Marvel’s “The List” or whatever they’re calling it now (since it’s an ever continuing fall-out tale from last summers “Secret Invasion” which was far inferior to DC’s “Final Crisis” at that). Thor? An Eisner-winning surprisingly smart book by Stracinzski is now moving on without Stracinzki and staying at 3.99 (without the extra ten pages). Then there’s the it-just-won’t-die slew of “Marvel Zombies” mini’s that get worse with each sequel. Or dumb ideas like “Marvel Apes” or “X-Babies.” There’s the never-reveal-the-ending-to-the-mystery compost-heap “Hulk,” which gets ever more ridiculous and stopped being fun half a year ago. They were building up steam with “Uncanny X Men” each issue after 500 then lost it having each issue be part of an asinine tie in to an asinine concept series. The only other worthwhile Marvel title right now is “Fantastic 4,” while DC has been on a run with their mainstream work as well. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are producing the best Superman mini in years, “Secret Origin,” and their entire run on “Action Comics” was terrific last year. Since Batman’s death, every tie-in Bat title has been excellent., notably, “Batman and Robin,” with Grant Morrison and initially Frank Quietely but “Detective Comics” as well if only for J.H. Williams III’ impressionistic and unconventional art. “Green Lantern” and every “Blackest Night” tie in has been great sci-fi and “Wednesday Comics” was a truly original and successful idea. Of course, “JSA” has fallen off and “JLA” seems to never work, but the point is that much of their mainstream work is great and most of it is approachable and more affordable than their competitions. Most importantly, where DC has it’s “Vertigo” imprint which puts out a lot of great, intelligent adult-geared work and DC utilizes that imprint heavily, Marvel’s “Icon” imprint which allows creator funded work to be released doesn’t get nearly enough emphasis. “Criminal” by Brubaker and Phillips is back again with another miniseries, and it’s great. “Kick Ass,” is always fun whenever Mark Millar bothers to get it out (he’s late on everything lately), but what else does Icon have? And why no funding from Marvel? Why not more emphasis?

Okay, last up (and briefly) is “The Wire.” Harvard recently announced a college course that will utilize “The Wire” in its curriculum. If any show has ever been worthy of this, it’s this one. The smartest, most important and best produced television show of all time. Five seasons, so check them all out. That’s all for now.

I’ve just started reading Trinity: a novel of Ireland by Leon Uris, as I finished The Professor and the Madman this morning, and this was one my DH expressed an interest in my opinion of. I’ve seen novels by Uris before, but not read any of them. At the moment this is sharing the opening set-piece of Dubliners: the wake of an old man, respected in the community (if not by all), as viewed by a young boy connected to his family. I haven’t got far enough in it to say more than that as yet. Already, though, it’s got my DH and I discussing Irish history again, which is never a bad thing.

Still, if I’m to get to even having read a quarter of last year’s total books (320), I do need to get a move on, as I’m at precisely a fifth (64) today. Not that anyone besides me does or should care about that…

37. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

I believe I was given one copy of this and offered two or three more. Not sure if this says more about me or the book (I was being offered once read copies, where the purchaser thought it unlikely they’d reread the book). It is perhaps more of a book of children’s fairy tales than might be expected from Hermione’s fascination with it in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but for those who enjoyed the Harry Potter series in its totality it’s certainly worth reading once, and for more than the sake of completeness.

38. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon

After 2008’s reading of the original American version, this was me going back through the series as I knew it originally. As I pointed out then, they are only fractionally different. I still love the story and the writing in this series, but on this reread I was getting disturbed by the huge amount of violence (sexual and non) within the books, so it may be awhile till I go back to them, presuming I do. I haven’t even got hold of or read An Echo in the Bone (the newest book, which came out this September just gone) because of this.

39. What Diantha Did by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I listened to this back to back with Mr Hogarth’s Will, as described two days ago, and since they have some overlapping themes I thought I was going to get them thoroughly mixed up, but I think I have them more distinct now than I did at the time!

Unlike Mr Hogarth’s nieces, who are educated to provide for themselves, and then turfed out to do so, Diantha has to do a lot of persuading of her family that she be allowed to try so to do (so far so like Agnes Grey), especially since she has a young man desperate to marry and look after her (so not like any book I’ve come across before the current generation). This is a clever, practical, principled young woman with her own plan of action, to benefit many women young and old, who will not be deterred from her path, especially by those she loves.

40. Posing for Portrait Photography: a head-to-toe guide by Jeff Smith

One of those random books I read for work, but I like to think it has and will help in my snapping, even though it’s decidedly written for those in or going into professional portrait photography. (I did some ‘proper photography’ courses in school, after learning a lot from my father, but these day I use an automatic digital camera mostly to record my crochet here and on Ravelry, and otherwise to snap pics of friends, family, and touristy stuff.)

Oh, and while I’m discussing improving photography skills, I just came across a really interesting photography blog. It is aimed towards proper photography, but those of us trying to get beyond ‘just snaps’ (again) can learn and be inspired too.

Will Calhoun performs with saxophonist Jeff Smith, dancer Ethel Calhoun and Tibetan vocalist Yung Chen Lhamo on October 28, 2009 at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York. © Lia Chang

Will Calhoun poses with a photograph he created during his travels, after his performance at the Chelsea Art Museum on October 28, 2009. © Lia Chang

Will Calhoun and Tibetan vocalist Yung Chen Lhamo on October 28, 2009 at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York. © Lia Chang

Dancer Ethel Calhoun at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York on October 28, 2009. © Lia Chang

Calhoun spent a ten year period traveling, mainly to Africa and the Outback of Australia to research music, rhythm, sound, and to learn music that was spiritually based, and not based on entertainment. He took many photographs and field recordings. The photographs on view were from one of his favorite desert locations in the central part of the Moroccan Desert.

“It was a beautiful experience to be out in complete silence, riding a not so friendly camel for two days.” shared Calhoun. “The music you’re going to hear tonight has been influenced from my photographing, my travels and a combination of me growing up in New York City, in the Bronx, growing up on hip-hop, being a kid and going to the Village Gate, listening to music at the Village Vanguard, salsa, electronic, rock ‘n’ roll-all these combined in improvisation.”

The performances featured Calhoun on wave drum, flute, his drum kit and several indigenous drums, exploring traditional/electronic rhythms laced with digital visuals, and married with his photographs that were projected on the wall behind the artists.
!!!
Calhoun’s latest release on the Halfnote label, Native Lands is Jazz meets World, meets trance-inducing Urban music. This double CD/DVD package in which Calhoun marries his far reaching interests in a genre-bending collection that taps key expressionists from various backgrounds. Among those contributing are Pharoah Sanders, Mos Def, Buster Williams, Stanley Jordan, Kevin Eubanks, Marcus Miller and Wallace Roney, as well as Nana Vasconcelos from Brazil and Cheick Tidiane Seck from Mali. The album includes a DVD with over ninety minutes of music videos and documentary materials that chronicle the last ten years of Calhoun’s life and travels.

Selections from Calhoun’s “Native Lands” CD/DVD are also featured in the Streaming Museum exhibit, New Era: The Middle East , at Tina B. Contemporary Art Festival 2009, in Prague’s Wenceslas Square and in the historic district on the Vernon City Gallery facade, as well as throughout the Streaming Museum network in cyberspace and public spaces on 7 continents through December 8. For additional artist information, schedules and locations, go to www.streamingmuseum.org.

Tina b. Prague Contemporary Art Festival (tina-b.eu) is an international contemporary art project directed by Monika Burian, which strives to combine the creative energy of the cultural scene in Central and Eastern Europe with emerging talents and trends from around the world. Tina b. is held under the auspices and with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the City of Prague. An acronym for “This Is Not Another Biennial”, Tina b. is also the personification of a fictitious character, the festival’s enigmatic female patron.

About Streaming Museum
Streaming Museum (streamingmuseum.org), a new hybrid Museum that presents multi-media exhibitions in virtual and public space on 7 continents. Launched January 29, 2008 by Nina Colosi, the museum is produced and broadcast in New York City, with exhibitions generated in collaboration with international cultural, educational, and public centers; artists, curators and visionary creators. The Streaming Museum was inspired by Nam June Paik who in the 1970’s envisioned the Internet, predicting an “information superhighway” as an open and free medium for imagination and exchange of cultures. Streaming Museum is sponsored by The J. M Kaplan Fund, FJC Foundation, ONSSI, and is amember of the International Urban Screens Association.

Will Calhoun on Myspace
www.willcalhoun.com



Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer and an award-winning multimedia journalist. Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, VIBE, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog. As a photographer and videographer, Lia is frequently tapped to collaborate with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Barbara Eden and Robert Goulet.
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Stanley Jordan

Want to save thousands on property taxes? Brian Kondas here with Jeff Smith real estate investor and property tax specialist who spoke at the general SREIA meeting in August 2009. Just in time because the Truth in Millage notice called the TRIM notice will be mailed out mid August. It lists the proposed assessed value, millage rates, and the proposed property tax. The owner has only 25 days from when the notice is sent to file an appeal through the Value Adjustment Board (VAB).

How is property tax calculated?

The property appraiser takes the assessed value divides by 1,000 and multiplies by the millage. For example, $100,000 assessed value divided by 1000 and multiplied by 25 millage = $2,500 property tax.

When is the property value assessed?

January 1^st each year

Where can you find your appraised value?

www.hcpafl.org

What to do when you file an appeal?

• Request a property card and check for accuracy. Is the finished square footage correct?
• When you go to court, prepare a written statement and stick to it because it gets written into the record
• Take pictures for evidence
• Ask how he reached his number
• Ask to see his comparables
• When you complete your petition say you “don’t know” the insurance coverage amount

What is the process of appealing?

First ask for an informal hearing and make your case for free. Then you can file petition for a formal hearing and pay $18.

What are the criteria for appealing?

According to Florida Statue 193.011 you can appeal on the following criteria:

1. Present cash value
2. Highest, best use
3. Location – is it near power lines, water treatment, drug houses, etc.
4. Property Size
5. Property Cost = price paid – cost (closing costs, commissions, etc.)
6. Property Condition – get contractor estimates for repair cost
7. Property Income
8. Net Sale Proceed

Where can you get property tax information?

www.hillstax.org

Jeff Smith is giving a “Beat the Tax Man” one-day seminar this Saturday, August 8, 2009 at the Quorum Hotel, 700 N Westshore Blvd. One of Jeff’s student saved $10,000 in property tax. Find out how to build your winning case. The seminar is $140 each to pay email admin@sreia.com or call Sandy 813-287-1516.

Have a question for Jeff? Call him at 813-382-4540 or email jsmithtrustee@yahoo.com

Brian Kondas

(Chicago, IL) — October 26, 2009. From the Illinois 2010 elections money trail …

… State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) co-hosted a Democratic fund-raising brunch for IL 10th CD candidate Julie Hamos with Charles Stanford and Bob Messerly at their sprawling, swank home in Chicago’s East Lakeview neighborhood on Sunday, October 25.

The early head count was for 18-20 people–and nearly 70 Prada-heeled swells showed with checks in hand for Hamos.

Also mixing in the room were State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), State Rep. Deb Mell (D-Chicago), Water Reclamation District Commissioner Debra Shore, former Deputy Cook County Clerk Brandon Neese, and State Rep. candidate Ed Mullen who’s seeking the departing State Rep. John Fritchey’s seat on Chicago’s north side.

Meanwhile, Hamos has a new health care video out …

… Deb Mell raked-in some campaign cash at Chief O’Neill’s restaurant in Chicago on Thursday night, October 22.

… Democratic State Rep. candidate Daniel Biss, who is seeking the seat being vacated by Beth Coulson (R-Glenview) in Chicago’s north suburbs, is looking to scoop up some dough at Hackney’s on Lake in Glenview on Sunday, November 1. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky is the special guest.

… Evanston Alderman Mark Tendam and attorney Neil Moglin are hosting private event in their Evanston home on Friday, October 30 for State Rep. candidate Jeff Smith who seeking Hamos’ state House seat.

(Chicago, IL) — October 26, 2009. In the race to succeed State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), who is giving up her state house seat on Chicago’s north shore to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by Mark Kirk, five Democrats filed nominating petitions early this morning.

Diving head-first into the race are: Robyn Gabel, Patrick Keenan-Devlin, Eamon Kelly, Edmund Moran, and Jeff Smith. All candidates are from Evanston.

Stay tuned.

Comic Book Resources have some excellent news for fans of the brilliant comic book, Bone.

Author and artist, Jeff Smith was talking at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. He said that he is “very happy” with the progress on the project so far and added that Warner Brothers would “probably end up making three films” in order to complete the “Bone” storyline.

Smith also spoke about his previous attempts to bring “Bone” to the big screen as a hand-drawn animated film. Smith noted that even though he had several of his friends in the animation industry onboard to help him, the project was unable to get made.

“It was just too big, too expensive,” Smith said. “I ended up just spending my time trying to get everyone to get along with everyone else.”

“I was kind of doing a love letter to Carl Barks and Walt Kelly,” Smith related to the crowd. “And talking in that language, I was hoping other cartoon heads would dig it. It really is the story I wanted to read when I was nine.”

Bone is simply brilliant. I highly recommend you pick it up. At first you think it is just a simple little tale of lost little creatures, but it builds and builds to an epic adventure with gorgeous art and memorable characters. To capture the whole thing then a trilogy is the way to go.

What do you think about Bone becoming a movie trilogy?

In a couple of months I’ll be a certified K-6 teacher in the State of Florida and a year after that I will have my Master’s Degree and finally enter the workforce.  One of my private missions is to increase the acceptance and presence of comics in the classroom.  This issue has been coming up a lot lately as my ‘Reading in the Intermediate Grades’ professor is very open to the idea and I’ve been showing her examples from my own collection that I think would be well suited to the classroom.  Here are some of the books I’ve presented to her:

Jim Lawson is my favorite illustrator ever but all biases aside this is a great book for a classroom because 1) it’s well-researched, 2) it’s meticulously illustrated, 3) kids love dinosaurs (especially boys, who supposedly don’t like to read as much as girls).

This book really feels like it was made for schools and it probably was. Most of the story takes place in an elementary classroom, the main character is an elementary student living with a non-nuclear family. The main twist is that all of the characters are monsters. This is part of a series of three books.

I know a lot of libraries keep copies Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo series but I don’t think many schools do. However, this is a very intelligent, well-researched series with great art. The whole thing takes place shortly after the Tokugawa Shogunate took power in Japan, meaning the countryside is lousy with out-of-work soldiers that have nothing better to do than make mischief. A perfect series for boys in 4th grade and up but there are a lot of strong female characters for girls to relate to, as well.

Out of everything I’ll list in this post, Jeff Smiths’s Bone is the only property that’s made any actual headway into the classroom, thanks to its republication, in color, by Scholastic. The series starts out like Carl Barks Disney comics and ends up like a darker Lord of the Rings, all with great art. My professor already has a few of the books in her classroom-type library.

Rick Geary has made a career out of portraying horrific crimes in completely dispassionate and analytical ways. He has also created graphic adaptations of several classic novels and biographies. Almost all of his comics are ideal for the classroom given their detailed, thoughtful presentations. However, some of the Victorian Murder books describe rather graphic or REALLY FRIGHTENING situations (like the H.H. Holmes book) while others are rather ho-hum and nonthreatening (like the Death of the Abraham Lincoln book).

In the years leading up to World War II, Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist and this book collects it all. It’s almost surreal to view illustrations of Hitler by Dr. Seuss but you’ll get over it. This book would be perfect for high school students that are studying the WWII era. I mean, talk about reactivating background knowledge, it’s Dr. Seuss, the guy that drew all of your favorite kids’ stories about cats, elephants and Loraxes!

I think these books are great and don’t require an excuse to be included in the classroom, however if I were forced to justify including them I would say that they can be used to entice reluctant readers into actually giving it a shot. Additionally, they can be used for students that have difficulty with comprehension and visualizing what they read. You don’t want to hold their hands all the time and always use illustrated materials but comics are like movies on paper, sort of a transition between picture books and text-only books (although they can certainly be as sophisticated as a text-only book).

The End (for now)

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Jay Paul Deratany (left), Greg Jarvis, Governor Pat Quinn, other guests.

(Chicago, IL) — October 13, 2009. From the Illinois 2010 candidate and cow-pie trail …

… The latest installment of a CTA-threatened “doomsday” has already wormed its way onto Governor Pat Quinn’s schedule.

Before arriving at a private fund-raiser, Quinn met last night with anxious CTA bus drivers–many of whom whose routes have been targeted for reduction as part of CTA Chairman Terry Peterson’s plan to close a $300 million budget deficit–and the Governor noted it was a l-o-n-g meeting.

Mayor Richard Daley is looking to Springfield for help, but folks should expect no legislative action during the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session that begins today. The curtain on CTA “doomsday” skits falls the moment just before bus drivers are cleaning out their lockers and after the fat lady has passed out–and not a millisecond sooner.

Anyway, Quinn said funding college grant assistance for 138,000 students during the Spring semester–the Illinois Monetary Award Program or MAP–is his veto session priority.

… Quinn was feted by a Gucci-heeled crowd at at the Lincoln Park mansion of Chicago attorney Jay Paul Deratany, who ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Review in 2008–a seat once held by Quinn himself.

Todd Connor

… Other candidates circulating among the progressive swells included Cook County Board Commissioner Bridget Gainer; U.S. Senate-hopeful David Hoffman, Chicago’s former Inspector General; Jeff Smith who’s angling for Julie Hamos‘ Evanston State House seat; and Todd Connor, 31, a former Navy officer and a former Illinois Inspector General, who’s looking to grab a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Hoffman worked the crowd and left no guest’s hand unshaken and Connor left no guest unimpressed.

… Speaking of David Hoffman, he has a new poll out that says he’s losing his U.S. Senate race–but that he will win if–and a big fat, tubby if–if enough Illinois voters hear that message he’s crafted. Hope he lifted a few wallets at Quinn’s event.

… Illinois 2010 Republican Governor candidate Dan Proft yesterday blasted an email out to folks to provide “a sample of my media appearances” – and to prove his campaign–slumbering in single-digit polling purgatory–still has a pulse.

… Yesterday, a group of African-American ministers answered Todd Stroger’ prayer and endorsed him for Cook County Board President. Now if Stroger can attach a wing to that prayer–he may have a holy ghost of a chance.

Afterward, primary opponent Alderman Toni Preckwinkle issued a statement saying: “The County includes African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, people of European descent … This isn’t an African-American primary, this is a Democratic primary.” True. But a candidate needs to build a coalition among these groups, Alderman.

… Illinois 2010 U.S. Senate-hopeful Cheryle Jackson reports raising $355,000 for her late-start bid to capture Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. That’s some serious scratch. A couple million more and–bingo–she’s in the hunt.

… Jackson’s Illinois U.S. Senate opponent in the Democratic primary Alexi Giannoulias appeared on CNBC to discuss his plan to rein in debt settlement companies, those good samaritans with the late-night commercials that promise to clean credit problems and really only clean your wallet.

SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-Let It Die (2004).

I’ve recently discovered Feist through Broken Social Scene.  I know that she is huge (and “1,2,3,4″ is a really great song that we used for our son’s 4th birthday video), but it took me a while to catch on.

This first album (technically her second, but her first was released only on tour in 1999 and is out of print) is, to me, shocking that it catapulted her into fame.  Not because it’s bad, but because of what a strange amalgam of songs, none of which are indie rock, are on this “indie rock” record.  The opening songs are sort of mellow rock, but really they strike me as more of a mellow jazz or maybe torch singer-style.  And then there’s all that disco!

The exception is “Mushaboom” which is an amazingly catchy song that defies categorization, at least on this record.  It’s sort of folky but dancey and has an absurd but defiantly fun chorus.  After some folky bits and some jazzy torch songs, the disc morphs into something of a disco album.  Not modern R&B but actual 70’s disco.  I mean “Leisure Suite” sounds like it could be played in the background while men with thick mustaches lie in front of the fireplace with their woman of choice.  And then there’s the genuine disco song: a cover of the Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out.”

I was really taken aback by the disc because it was nothing like what I expected.  But once I got used to what the style actually was, I found the album really compelling.  Feist has a great voice.  It’s seductive and very pretty. In many ways the disc reminds me of Fiona Apple (although I think Fiona has a stronger more interesting voice and a better selection of background instrumentation).

But comparisons aside, this is a really solid record, one that I have enjoyed many times.  Oh, and once again, the British cover is more interesting.

[READ: January 2007 (and earlier)] Amelia Rules

I first discovered the Amelia Rules comic at The Joker’s Child in Fairlawn, NJ, (one of my favorite comic book shops).  There was something about the art work…a weird amalgam of simple lines and computerized coloring that really grabbed my attention.  But it’s the story that kept me coming back.

Amelia is a young girl whose parents are getting a divorce.  Amelia and her mom move to a new town in the country, away from the city where she grew up.  She winds up spending time with her Aunt Tanner, a former rock goddess (and there’s a cool subplot about that later on) turned country recluse.

Amelia tries to make friends in the new neighborhood.  And the boys she hangs out with are Reggie (whose goal is to become a superhero) and Pajamaman (the one unrealistic character in the story, although he does achieve more depth than just the “weirdo who wears pajamas all the time” as the comic continues).  Amelia also gains a nemesis, Rhonda, who has a thing for Reggie but who is generally too cranky to do anything but snark about everything).

So I started reading this comic and managed to go back and get every issue.  Although at some point I missed issue #11, I think because when I moved, my new store didn’t carry the single issues.   The issues have been compiled in four books (I’ve read three, as I didn’t know #4 was out).

Book one is The World’s Gone Crazy The Whole World’s Crazy (issues 1-5, plus extras).  [UPDATE: It's absurd and embarrassing to have given this book the wrong title when A) I had the book in my hands as I typed it and B) there's two pictures of the cover in the post.  But it's even more embarassing to have it pointed out by the author.  Mea culpa].

As the series opens we meet Amelia and all of the characters in the story.  Amelia turns out to be the perfect main character for this series: she is smart (but not a brain), very funny, and with a clever wit.  She reads people pretty well, but she’s still a young girl who makes major goofs. There’s a gym class issue, a great Halloween issue and a surprisingly touching Christmas issue (where Pajamaman gets his depth).  There’s also a very good arc of Amelia trying to deal with her dad now that he’s not living with them anymore.

The second book, What Makes You Happy (issues 6-10 plus extras), introduces us to G.A.S.P., Reggie’s superhero gang and their rivals, the Park View Terrace Ninjas (who have uniforms!).  [UPDATE: As the comment below correctly points out (duh), G.A.S.P. (which stands for the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals) appeared in Volume 1.  But they really gain prominence in Volume 2].  This volume also features the excellent Tanner back story.  And we meet one of Amelia’s old city friends, Sunday (and how weird it is to hang out with someone you miss but haven’t seen in a long time).

The third volume, Superheroes (issues 11-16 plus extras), sees Amelia passing 4th grade when she’s told that they are moving.  Again.  There’s also a very humorous plotline in which the kids decide that everyone named Steve is nothing but trouble.  And G.A.S.P. goes on the attack. And finally, we meet  Amelia’s new friend Trishia.  We learn later on that she is suffering from Venticular Septal Defect, a very serious heart disease.

So as you can see, the stories vary from the ridiculous to the serious.   Amelia is a warm and totally winning character.  And she deals with each crisis in a reasonable and really human way.  It’s an emotionally rewarding series, and it’s appropriate for all ages.

My only gripe comes with the whole HUH nature of figuring out just what is going on with the series. Even the website which is beautiful, offers very little in the way of information about the series.  There’s no information about the single issues.  There’s precious little information about the beginning of the series, and just forget about trying to figure out what books are available.

At least it seems to get updated a little more frequently now (Oct 5th is the last update), which is nice.  But it’s a shockingly incomplete resource for information.  I tried to contact them/him a few years back to see about ordering the last single issues that I’m missing, but I never got a response.  I’m delighted that the issues are in trade paperback now, but I’m still not sure what the state of the individual issues is.

And how weird that the Books link on the website lists only three books. The front page says that book #5 is due out soon.  But there is no mention of  Book #4 When the Past is a Present (issues 17-19 plus extras) which according to Amazon has been out since 2007, but which seems out of print now, but is being reissued in 2010.  So much chaos here!  (In some way to explanation, the trades were issues by one publisher and are being reissued by Simon and Schuster, but seriously Ameliaverse, let us know this.  I kept coming to your site waiting to see if Book 4 ever came out but it never got mentioned on the Books page!  Gah! Even if the book is not available, the least you can do is tell your fans about the books and what’s happening with them!

I’m also unclear if Gownley is actively writing anything in the series anymore.  Does volume 5 contain new stories?  The Ninja Christmas issue sort of does).  Are there any regular issues coming out? And don’t just post this information ala a blog.  This basic information should be easily accessible somewhere.

I understand the difficulties involved in making a comic and making a successful one at that.  I would think that Jimmy Gownley would want people to know as much as possible about this fantastic series (and his previous one, Shades of Grey, as well).  I’m just surprised what little information is available from the source’s mouth.  (Wikipedia makes things a little, but not much, clearer)

But for heaven’s sake, don’t let any of that stop you from reading the books.  They’re really great.  And even if you can’t find them in print, check them out at your library.  (They’re probably near Bone, another great comic).

Whether you’re 10 and living the life of a 4th grader or are older and remembering what it’s like to be a kid, Gownley doesn’t look down on anyone.  It’s a rare find.  And an emotionally enjoyable one, too.

I love to cook. I am pretty good at it. I learned some of my recipes from my mother, some from television, but mostly, I learned to cook by working in restaurants.

I always started as a waiter, not someone who worked in the kitchen, but I often moved up to head waiter, and occasionally manager.

As a restaurant manager, I had to be able to step in for anyone from bartender to busboy, from dishwasher to chef. Before starting any manager position, I arranged to work each position at least one shift to demonstrate to myself and my employees competency.

Having come from the front of the house, I always spent at least a week in the kitchen, learning to prepare all of the dishes. I came to enjoy cooking.

I can make soups, and am a saute demon, but I never mastered baking.

I love cheesecake, and long ago mastered frugal gourmet Jeff Smith’s recipe. A graham cracker crust is simple to make, and the quality of the ingredients used makes the biggest impact on taste – specialty Italian cream cheeses from Traverso’s market will always make a better cheesecake than Philly spread.

Last week, for the first time ever, I made a fruit pie. I had a gallon of fresh picked blackberries find their way into my kitchen, so the time seemed right to learn.

I found a simple pie crust recipe on the ‘net, and found a recipe for blackberry pie filling. Although, I know next to nothing about baking, and I know that baking is the most measured ingredient specific cooking discipline, I tweaked both recipes and was blown away with the result.

I made three blackberry pies, served with french vanilla ice cream, they were gone in less than 24 hours.

I am my most harsh critic when it comes to cooking, so when something I cook tastes great to me – well, it’s damn good.

Inspired by my success, yesterday, I made four strawberry pies. My pie crust is as good as any I’ve ever tasted – just sayin’ – and you can’t go wrong with strawberry anything for dessert. Served with fresh whipped cream and a touch of mint…why didn’t I start baking sooner?