Hi There Everyone,

Great News I now have an official Facebook Fan Page!

Simply search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” on Facebook and Join my Fan Page today as that is where
photo’s and Video’s and News is being posted more regulary than at this blog.

So my advice is to join my facebook fan page and keep checking back here on a regular basis as the plan is to release
some exclusive photo’s and videos via this blog every now and again which will not appear on my facebook fan page and
then also put some stuff on Facebook which won’t appear here!

As you can see in the above video I sleep very well even when in noisy room’s, indeed
I reckon I could sleep through an earthquake I take after daddy like that : ) !

To finish for today here’s a quick video clip which daddy made by accident when he
was trying to take a picture of me on his mobile phone..

So Remeber to go to Facebook and search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” in the Manchester Network (England)
and join my Fanpage today!

Keep checking back as I have some important and amazing news coming very soon!

Hugs

Ashleigh

You asked for it you got it! 

You can now read the entire second book of the Vampire Diaries: The Struggle online free for a limited time thanks to Harper Teen and the CW TV Network!

Read The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle 

Need a boost? Need to feel less alone – read this!

N.B.:Scientist don’t believe – we test hypothesis.

By Greta Christina, From Alternet: “Atheism isn’t an attack on diversity, it’s a defense of reality.

Do atheists hate diversity?

Is the very act of atheist activism (trying to persuade people that atheism is correct and working to change the world into one without religion) an act of attempted conformity? Are atheists trying to create a drab, gray, uniform world, where everyone else is just like them?…It’s probably pretty obvious that I think the answer is a big fat “No!”  But it certainly is the case that many atheist activists, myself among them, are working very hard to persuade religious believers out of their beliefs. Not all atheists do this, of course; many have the more modest goals of separation of church and state and religious tolerance, including tolerance of atheists and recognition of us as equal citizens. But a good number of atheists are, in fact, trying to convince religious believers to become atheists. I’m one of them….

If there’s one single idea I’d most like to get across to religious believers, it would be this:

Religion is a hypothesis.

Religion is a hypothesis about how the world works, and why it is the way it is. Religion is the hypothesis that the world is the way it is, at least in part, because of immaterial beings or forces that act on the material world.

Religion is many other things, of course. It’s communities, cultural traditions, political ideologies and philosophies.  But those things aren’t what make religion unique. What makes religion unique, among all other communities/philosophies, etc., is this hypothesis of an immaterial world acting on the material one. It’s thousands of different hypotheses, really, positing thousands of immaterial beings and/or forces, with thousands upon thousands of different qualities and temperaments. But all these diverse beliefs have this one hypothesis in common: The hypothesis that there is a supernatural world, and that the natural world is the way it is because of the supernatural one. Religion is not a subjective opinion, an ethical axiom or a personal perspective. (These things can be connected with religion, of course, but they’re not what make its unique core.) Opinions, axioms and personal perspectives can be debated, but ultimately, they’re up to each person to decide for themselves. Religion is none of these things. Religion is a hypothesis. It says, “Things are the way they are because of the effects of the immaterial world on the material one.” Things are the way they are because God made them that way. Because the Devil is making them that way. Because the World-Soul is evolving that way. Because we have spiritual energy animating our consciousness. Because guardian angels are watching us. Because witches are casting spells. Because we are the reincarnated souls of dead people. Whatever.

Seeing religion as a hypothesis is important for a lot of reasons. But the reason that’s most relevant to today’s topic:

If religion is a hypothesis, it is not hostile to diversity for atheists to oppose it.  It is no more hostile to diversity to oppose the religion hypothesis than it is to oppose the hypothesis that global warming is a hoax; that an unrestricted free market will cause the economy to flourish for everyone; that illness is caused by an imbalance in the four bodily humors; that the sun orbits the earth.  Arguing against hypotheses that aren’t supported by the evidence is not anti-diversity. That’s how we understand the world better. We understand the world by rigorously gathering and analyzing evidence… and by ruthlessly rejecting any hypothesis the evidence doesn’t support. Was it hostile to diversity for Pasteur to argue against the theory of spontaneous generation? For Georges Lemaitre to argue against the steady-state universe? For Galileo to argue against geocentrism?

Many believers will argue that religion doesn’t fall into these categories. They’ll argue that religion can’t be proven true or false with 100-percent certainty, and therefore it’s reasonable for people to believe in any religion that appeals to them. (And it’s unreasonable for anyone to make an argument against it.)

But that’s not entirely true. Many religions, from young-earth creationism to astrology, do make testable claims. And every single time those claims have been rigorously tested, they’ve folded like a house of cards in a hurricane. They can’t be disproved with 100-percent certainty, but almost nothing can, and that isn’t the standard of evidence we use for any other claim.

Much more to the point, though: When you start seeing religion as a hypothesis, the fact that it’s unverifiable suddenly stops being a defense.

In fact, it’s completely the opposite. The fact that religion is unverifiable becomes one of the most devastating arguments against it.

One of the most important things about a hypothesis is that it has to be falsifiable. If any possible evidence could be used to support a hypothesis — if your hypothesis will be shown to be true whether the water in the beaker gets hotter or colder, stays the same temperature, boils away instantly or turns into a parrot and flies out the door — it is an utterly useless hypothesis. If any event at all can be fitted into it, then it has no power whatsoever to explain past events or predict future outcomes. It is, as they say, not even wrong.

And that’s just as true of religion as any other hypothesis. If any outcome of, for instance, an illness — recovering dramatically for no apparent reason, getting gradually better with medical intervention, getting worse, staying the same indefinitely, dying — could be explained as God’s work, then the God hypothesis is useless. It has no power to explain the world, to predict the future, or to tell us how our behavior will affect the outcomes of our lives. It serves no purpose. (Except, perhaps, a psychological one.)

The fact that religion is unfalsifiable doesn’t mean we have to accept it as a reasonable possibility. It means the exact opposite. It means we should reject it wholesale….

And I think the problem comes from how we think of diversity.

Historically, we pretty much have two models of dealing with religious beliefs that are different from ours. We have (a) intolerant evangelism and theocracy – forcing religious beliefs down other people’s throats, through social pressure at best, and legal strictures and even violence at worst. And we have (b) uncritical ecumenicalism: The idea that all religions are part of a rich, beautiful spiritual tapestry and they’re all at least a little bit true — and that even if they’re not, it’s religious bigotry to criticize them or try to persuade people out of them. It’s a model created largely in response to intolerant evangelism and theocracy… and therefore, it’s a model in which any criticism of any religion automatically gets slotted into that ugly category.

Atheism is offering a third option.

We’re offering the option of respecting the important freedom of religious belief, while retaining the right to criticize those beliefs, and to treat them just like we’d treat any other idea we think is mistaken.

The atheist movement is passionate about the right to religious freedom. (With the notable exception of a few assholes on the Internet. Name me one movement that doesn’t have its share of assholes on the Internet.) We fully support people’s right to believe whatever the hell they want, as long as they keep it out of government and don’t shove it down other people’s throats. We see the right to think what we like as a basic foundation of human ethics, one of the most fundamental rights we have — and we have no desire whatsoever to overturn that…We see religion as — yes, you guessed it — a hypothesis about the world. We see it as a hypothesis that has never once in all of human history been shown to be correct. We see it as a hypothesis that at the very least has been falsified numerous times, and at worst is unfalsifiable and should therefore be rejected on that basis alone. And we see no reason to treat it any differently from any other deeply flawed, completely unsupported hypothesis. We see no reason not to criticize it, to ask hard questions about it, to make fun of it, to point out flaws in it, to point out the good evidence contradicting it and the utter lack of good evidence supporting it… and to do our damndest to persuade people out of believing in it.”

Emphasis mine

see: http://www.alternet.org/story/144199/why_i_want_to_turn_religious_people_into_atheists

You may not agree with all of John Wesley’s theology. Indeed, some of his statements are baffling.

But one thing you can’t deny is that he was a seriously hard worker. His commitment to preaching and teaching and leading was phenomenal.
And sometimes he got sick.

Weakness and Fever
Here’s an incident from May 1741 which is encouraging. Wesley claims (and I have no reason to doubt the claim) that he was supernaturally healed mid-sermon!!

Friday 8th May, 1741
‘I found myself much out of order. However, I made shift to preach in the evening: but on Saturday my bodily strength quite failed, so that for several hours I could scarce lift my head.

‘Sunday 10th. I was obliged to lie down most part of the day, being easy only in that posture.

‘Yet in the evening my weakness was suspended while I was calling sinners to repentance.

‘But at our love-feast which followed, beside the pain in my back and head, and the fever which still continued upon me, just as I began to pray, I was seized with such a cough that I could hardly speak.

Believing and Receiving
‘At the same time came strongly into my mind, ‘These signs shall follow them that believe.’ I called on Jesus aloud, to ‘increase my faith’ and to ‘confirm the word of his grace.’

‘While I was speaking, my pain vanished away; the fever left me; my bodily strength returned; and for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain. ‘Unto thee, O Lord, do I give thanks.’
(John Wesley Journal, Baker edition, Vol 1, p.310)

© 2009 Lex Loizides

Happy Turkey Day everyone!  I know it’s Thursday, and tonight’s episode of Supernatural is the start of repeats.  But there are quite a few spoilers out and about regarding the show.  There have been a few spoilers and news come out over the past couple of days, so here’s the lowdown on what you can expect when Supernatural returns, January 14, 2010….

*********Spoilers Below********

Season 5 marks the 100th episode for Supernatural, though when that exactly will be is not been revealed, Entertainment Weekly had a few spoilers about what you can expect in that show!
Time flies when you’re battling demons and preventing apocalypses and stuff. Case in point: Supernatural will celebrate its milestone 100th episode this spring with an hour that focuses largely on Dean (Jensen Ackles).
“We’re aiming for it to be a big mythology episode,” reveals Supernatural boss Eric Kripke, adding that, “The Archangel Michael plays a very large part as we explore his relationship with Dean.”

Spoiler TV

This is only a rumor, but I have heard through the grapevine that Jensen will be directing the 100th episode.  Granted this has not been confirmed so take it with a huge grain of salt.

I do have a sort of announcement, with Supernatural being on a type of hiatus I probably will only update you on it’s status once a week (probably on Thursdays).  I’m hoping to make it a bit of countdown till SPN’s return!

Hebrews 1:8-9 “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, Is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

It’s too easy to mistake trends and techniques for the anointing but the presence and power of the Spirit, while sovereign, is attracted to uprightness of heart. Church growth formula’s and the latest conference technique may get your team and congregation intrigued for a while but if it lacks the substance and direction of the Holy Spirit, it will be fruitless.

There is a growing trend within the Body of Christ towards philosophy, psychology and other related fields of popular cultural thinking, while helpful on one level, can often contradict what God’s Word says on critical matters. We must contend for the authority of God’s Word in every area of our lives. The Scriptures are the divine rule for Christian thought and life practice. Yes, the Church will differ at times on different interpretations of the text but we must strive to seek out biblical answers to cultural issues without compromising what the Bible clearly teaches.

The Bible clearly teaches on issues like homosexuality, immorality, divorce and remarriage, adultery, money, absolute truth and the list goes on and yet the biblical passages that speak to these things are under threat both within and outside the Church. We must be committed to being clear what the bible is clear about and holding in tension what the bible isn’t clear about.

God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and love is gracious and compassionate but it is also righteous and just. God and sin are not compatible with each other and God despises wickedness in our hearts and yet he loves us enough to sacrifice his own Son on the cross to save us from our wickedness. 

The anointing of the Spirit is sovereignly bestowed on the believing heart but it is drawn to an upright heart of faith that is set apart and purified for the masters use. We must be careful not to presume upon God’s grace and excuse ourselves out of being holy as God is holy. Our righteousness is not by our works but by faith in Jesus Christ and the work Christ has completed on our behalf.

Anointing without character has a short life span and will be recalled if a person willfully persists in their sin. Guard your heart against false teaching and the spirit of the world which seeks to steal the truth and authority of God’s Word in your life. The anointing of God is precious, purposeful and powerful. Please don’t take it for granted and don’t scoff at what it follows.

Lead the Change!

Title: Journey Through the World of Spirit / God, Gaia and Guardian Angels
Author: David L. Oakford
Media: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Reality Press
Date: 2007

This review originally appeared at Earthpages.org as a voice-over video on December 28, 2007. When recording I had no notes other than the memory of what I’d just read. As such, there’s a certain live quality to this review that I hoped to preserve in this transcript.

The soundtrack was spontaneously composed and recorded just before I made the review. The book was inspiring and plain text just wasn’t enough.

In editing the transcript some extraneous material (e.g. “ahh” “sort of”) was removed.

So here’s the original voice-over review and its much overdue and slightly edited transcript.

Original Introduction

I had a choice… spend hours trying to get something representative down in writing or have some fun doing a video review. I chose to do a video review.

This is my first video review and it’s been a while since I was a DJ but I think it gets the message across: “This is a great book…”

Transcript

This is a great book! I really enjoyed this book. I read it during the hustle and bustle of the pre-Christmas shopping period. And I just found it was a wonderful way to be reminded of things I already believed in but I think I needed a little refresher course–and this book was it.

It starts off with David’s very honest and frank account of teenage angst and disillusionment. He’s planning on ditching out on his parents at about age 19 to go find himself. He’s going to, I think, live in a tent and travel around and live on the cheap and find a deeper meaning that he couldn’t find in his teenage years.

But before he plans to leave he wants to say farewell to all his friends. So he goes to a party, a farewell party, and one of his buddies comes up to him and gives him some pretty dangerous drugs. The buddy warns David not to take the drugs until he’s instructed on how to use them but David doesn’t listen and proceeds to slip into a coma. At that point he starts to have some pretty interesting experiences.

He starts off by seeing his friends – if I remember right, they’re in a car – but his friends can’t see him. Then he’s back in the house, looking at his motionless body; and he’s still fully awake and alive, moving about the house, sort of hovering like a spirit.

He notes that he can’t move objects. His hand goes through the faucet. And Jim Morrison and the Doors are playing and the music is very irritating to David, which I found interesting because I’ve always liked the Doors — as it deals with otherworldly themes — but it all just sounded like noise when he was in this refined consciousness.

He then proceeds to bigger and better things. A spirit guide comes to help him, one of several otherworldly beings whom David claims to meet in this account. And the spirit guide, whom David calls “Bob” – [laughs] it’s just so much like this book; it’s so unpretentious and straightforward and incredibly well-written, to boot. Anyhow, the spirit guide shows David a scene of the pyramids in Egypt, how they stand today and how they stood around the time of their construction.

One thing I found very interesting about this is that David claims the past and the present interact in some kind of mysterious way, like interacting, overlapping fields.

I think that’s fascinating. To read that in a book… that kind of thing is quite rare. You find it a bit in the Jane Roberts books, the Seth Books, and you find it I believe in Emmanuel’s Books if I remember right (I haven’t looked at those for a few years).

But it’s a fascinating idea that time is interactive, and I found that present in this book. I also found the idea that the heavens are interactive with our Earthly reality. David saw, as a matter of fact (after the Egyptian experience)… his guide took him up to a spiritual city. And this spiritual city apparently interacts with our Earth, and life on Earth, in ways we don’t fully understand.

The bottom line is the spiritual beings (and David outlines quite a few of them)… their basic message is that we should love one another. And I really can’t find any fault with that message whatsoever.

On page 74 David writes:

The unvarnished truth is that I went to heaven, or at least one of them, that is connected to Earth and brought back the simple message to love one another.

You know, I find there’s no conflict here with my Catholic faith. Some of you may know that I, myself, converted to Catholicism in 2001 and some Catholics might not like this book. There are a few swipes at organized religion and I understand that perspective. I used to be like that when I was a kid, actually.

I never went to Church or anything like that. If I didn’t have spiritual experiences within the Catholic Church I wouldn’t go. The whole reason I converted is because I do have spiritual experiences. But for those who don’t have spiritual experiences in the Church I understand how they can just see it as seemingly wooden and formulaic—it’s not, it’s not just that.

And I think this is one point I would disagree on but other than that, I mean… hey, Earthpages is about dialogue so I try to look for the interesting and the good and if I disagree with something I just say so.

I would highly recommend this book. I think it’s incredibly well-written, honest and there’s such a complexity to the account that it really makes one feel that it’s not just a hallucination. Some materialist psychiatrists will say that all near death experiences are just the brain’s way of trying to make you feel good before you die but, I don’t know, I just think that this book… the complexity, detail and duration of the near death experience really tends to make one think there’s something to it.

–MC

PHIL SGRICCIA will be directing the 100th episode !

Season four of Supernatural, an American television series, began airing on September 18, 2008. This is the third season to air on the CW television network. Season four regular cast members include Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles.

This season focuses on Sam and Dean continuing to hunt demons, the introduction of a mysterious angel, Castiel (Misha Collins), as well as Sam Winchester’s new powers, and Dean’s return from hell and his memory of his time spent there. This season also touches on the brothers’ continuing hunt for Lilith, who is trying to release Lucifer on the world.

Four months after being dragged to Hell by Lilith’s minions, Dean inexplicably wakes up, buried underground in a coffin.

Supernatural fans are a funny, passionate bunch. I had thought there’d be a huge outcry after “The Real Ghostbusters.”  Instead, tempers flared after the terrific “Abandon All Hope.” Natalie better expressed (her and) my dismay at the fandom; and being a published author, did a much better job than I ever could.

Tempers have flared and debates have raged over Supernatural since its first season. Is Wincest ok or not? Was Jessica forgiving or angry at the end of “Bloody Mary”? Sam is selfish and whiny. Dean is bossy and gets too much screen time. You name it; you can find Supernatural fans to argue about it.

In the case of “Abandon All Hope,” two beloved recurring female characters (ok, one beloved and one semi-beloved) were killed off. Cries of misogyny rang throughout the internet; the complaint being Supernatural has killed off every well-loved recurring female character.  Oh, and while we’re at it, they’ve killed off a disproportionate number of black men, so the show must be racist as well.

We Supernatural fans tend to act with our hearts instead of our heads.  I have my own thoughts on these matters, but for now am going to concentrate on the cold, hard facts.  During the show’s two month hiatus I will be reviewing each episode and compiling a list of casualties.  The victims will be broken out by sex and then by ethnicity.

Will the facts support my beliefs?  Truthfully, I don’t know.  But I plan to have a lot of fun finding out.

Como la mayoría de la series por estas fechas Sobrenatural también a entrado en periodo de hiatus, y no volverá con nuevas emisiones hasta el día 21 de enero. Mientras tanto os dejo la promo que ha salido del episodio 11 de la quinta temporada títulado “Sam, interrupted”.

Sinopsis: [proximamente]

FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON

Night Huntress World, Book 1
(a sexy spinoff from the Night Huntress series)
by Jeaniene Frost
release date: 02/09/2010

pre-order on Amazon Immortal Fiction

back cover description: 
The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows – her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield – and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family’s dark past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness – and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who craves a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human – even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the demon nightmare together…

• read chapter one excerpt on her blog

“He was a real kid once, just like any of us” begins the supernatural legend of the Pricker Boy; the son of a fur trapper hardened by lies and taunts transformed into a creature with a protective skin of thorns who haunts the woods. The Pricker Boy is a campfire favorite amongst Stuck Cumberland and his childhood friends who meet each Summer until a mysterious package containing mementos of their youth challenges their belief. Slowly, the truth begins to reveals itself hiding just beyond the Widow’s Stone, prickling the bond of friendship and trust. Reade Scott Whinnem is the author of  The Pricker Boy;  a paranormal fable that both plunges into the depth of darkness at the edges of reality and captures the darkness of human depth.

1) Was there a “Pricker Boy” story that you grew up with during your own childhood?
No, but we did have the story of old Carob Astor; a murderous hermit who lived in a house in the woods out by the reservoir. He grew crazier as he got older, eventually becoming nocturnal and wandering around town looking into people’s houses while they slept. Eventually, he started mangling people and the police had to hunt him down and kill him. But evil like that couldn’t die, of course. I’d tell the tale and then we’d head out into the woods in the dark to see his house. It was a ridiculous story but what a great scare. My early encounter with the Pricker Boy came in the form of a nightmare that I had when I was extremely young. In my nightmare, a boy whose entire body was covered with thorns lived in the bushes near my grandparents’ house. I could see him from the edge of the yard as he tried to crawl out and grab me. I knew he was going to drag me under the thorns but I was too scared to move. I woke up screaming. I was about seven or eight. Now, over thirty years later, I get to bring him to life for everyone to enjoy!

2) What stories (or movies) and legends scare you now?
I’m not scared by much but then again, I refuse to watch a lot of modern horror. Many modern horror movies just try to make people feel uncomfortable by showing torture and mutilation. As I said earlier, I was writing that kind of thing when I was a teenager. Doing that is a lot easier than writing a good, spooky ghost story.

I can’t remember the last movie that really scared me. I go back to the classics; all the way back to the original Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman. I’m not going to say that they’re still scary after all these years but they have great atmosphere and emotion. The only writer who really frightens me is H. P. Lovecraft, and that’s because he leaves so much of his work open for the imagination to play on. Right now, I’m reading Ancient Images; my first Ramsey Campbell novel which has great atmosphere.

3) What do you think are key ingredients for good horror and suspense?
The scariest real life stories are the ones that defy explanation and I mean unexplained phenomena as well as unexplained human behavior. Too many stories, especially movies, try to tie off all the loose ends and explain everything away. Take Jack the Ripper, for instance. That case still fascinates people today because it wasn’t solved and because his behavior was so bizarre. People have theories as to who he was and why the murders stopped but no one will ever know for sure.

Sadly, when it comes to horror, too many writers create wonderful atmosphere only to have the story climax with a chase scene and a gun fight. Fred and Velma pull the rubber mask off the monster and then explain away all the tricks he was able to perform. Perhaps there’s a cheesy wink to suggest that the monster isn’t really gone but usually everything gets packed away nice and neat.

I think that good horror isn’t afraid to leave the door cracked just a bit. I didn’t try to explain away every little thing in The Pricker Boy but I did try to satisfy the reader. The few things that aren’t explained in the end are hinted at and left up to the reader’s informed judgment. I hope that because of this, the story will stick with people for a while after the last page is read.

4) What sort of comments have you received from both adults and young adults who have read The Pricker Boy?
I tried as much as possible to avoid indicators of time in my writing, so my characters don’t spend much of their time texting, emailing, and playing video games during the course of the book. Because technology plays no significant role in the story, my adult readers have been able place the time period of the book during their own adolescence, which has made for a nostalgic ride for them. Consequently, the story seems to work for adolescents and senior citizens alike. I like the fact that the book is accessible across age groups.

So far, the response has been great. Several people have told me that they had to turn on a few extra lights in the house as they got towards the end, which is very gratifying. One adult friend, who isn’t familiar with YA fiction, said that she was surprised by how frightened and how moved she was by the story. She’d thought, ‘It’s a book for kids, so how bad can it be?’ She said that when she finished chapter four, she knew she was in for a bumpier ride than she’d anticipated. She got scared by the scary bits and she cried at the sad bits. I suppose it’s odd to say that I want my readers to get scared and to cry but I really do. I want them to be moved by the story and the early buzz is that they are.

5) If you travelled back in time, what is one thing that your present self you would tell your former self?
When I was in graduate school I had a friend (we’ll call him Clyde) who every once in a while would get a bit weepy and start calling friends up and telling them why he liked them so much. One night he called me. I’d given him some of the screenplays that I’d been working on and he wanted to tell me how much he liked my writing. He told me that he saw me writing novels one day. I said that I didn’t think I was a disciplined enough writer to pull something like that off, and that even if I could write one, the chances that it would be publishable were slim to none. He said I was wrong. Here we are almost fifteen years later and it turns out Clyde was right.

So I think that given the opportunity, I’d head back and tell my younger self that given time, I was capable of a great deal more than I thought I was. But since I can’t do that, I’ll pass it along to your readers. Chances are you’re capable of a lot more than you think you are. Given time and steady work, you’d be amazed at what you can create.

6) What is your approach to writing?
It’s tough to balance because I teach full time, which is why I do most of my writing during the summer. I find that the only way I can get a manuscript done is to get up early and work every day. I start at page one and work all the way through. I keep ideas on scraps of paper and tack them to a corkboard that I’ve divided up into sections by chapter. When I’m ready, I pull down all the notes, organize them as much as necessary, and write the chapter.

Sometimes I’ll produce ten or fifteen pages in a day, and sometimes I’ll only produce a page and a half. I try not to look back, just plow forward to the end. By the end of the summer I’ll have a working manuscript. I let it sit for a while and turn my attention to other projects. When it’s settled, I head back in and try a rewrite. This time I take rewrite notes, and using the corkboard again, I reorganize my thoughts. Eventually, I’ll have something ready for reader feedback. Then I rewrite again, and again, and again…

7) What advice would you give writers trying to publish their work?
Be stubborn, develop a thick skin, and learn the etiquette of the publishing world. There’s usually going to be a lot of rejection before your work gets accepted. There are a lot of people pounding on the doors of the publication houses because they’re convinced they’ve written something remarkable. Maybe they have and maybe they haven’t. But the point is that there is a lot of shouting going on and that’s going to make it difficult for the editors and agents to hear you sing. A little thing like learning how to write a proper query letter, doing research through some of the Writers’ Digest books, and targeting your submissions to specific people goes a long way. It takes time and patience. It has taken me years. But I love it enough that I’m willing to keep hacking away at it. So keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

Thank you to Reade for kindly doing the interview and to Jessica Shoffel of Random House!

Disc 1 contains episodes: The Magnificient Seven, The Kids Are Alright, Bad Day at Black Rock

The Magnificient Seven

This episode picks up after the end of season 2 where Dean and Sam released a bunch of demons from Hell.  Turns out a few of the demons were the seven deadly sins that possessed humans.  While hunting Dean, Sam and Bobby meets up with a married hunter couple.   They manage to defeat the demons but this is just the beginning of the war.  Bobby is worried that these demons they released are a lot more powerful than anything else they have ever faced before.  One twist is a woman starts following Sam around and in the end saves his butt.  We never find out who she is though.

I really enjoyed this episode.  There were its funny moments as Dean is sure trying to live life to the fullest in his last year of life.

The Kids Are Alright

Dean wants to return to a town where he had a fling with a woman 8 or 9 years ago.  It turns out she has a 8 year old son that Dean suspects are his.   While there they find out that te children in town are slowly being replaced with changelings that feed on their moms and are killing anyone that gets in their way.  Fortunately the children are still alive and being held by the mother changeling.  Sam and Dean manage to rescue the children and Dean finds out that te boy is not his son.  The episode ends with the mystery woman from last episode showing up and telling Sam to check out what happened to his mom’s friends.  It turns out they are all dead.  He contacts the girl and she reveals that she is a demon but she wants to help find out what is up with him and that she might be able to help save Dean.

This episode really hit me hard and freaked me out because of the kids.  I have a daughter of my own and can’t imagine what I would do in this case.  The changeling kids have reflections that reflect their true selves and the moms see these reflections and are starting to go mad.  One mother even tries to kill her daughter.  That would kill me.  I cannot wait to find out what happens with this mystery girl/demon.

Bad Day at Black Rock

The hunter that tried to kill Sam, Gordon, is still in jail but he has a hunter buddy who comes to tell him about the demons being let out of hell.  Gordon tells the hunter that Sam needs to die.  That hunter gathers a buddy to go after Sam.  I love the line this hunter gives when the other is looking at a Jesus statue-Don’t play with my Jesus.  Don’t know why but that cracked me up. Anyway, while they are trying to find Sam Dean and Sam find out someone broke into their dad’s storage unit of protected items and steals a lucky rabbit’s foot.  Turns out the foot is cursed so when the holder loses the foot they end up dying.  Sam touches the foot and then has the foot stolen from him.  So they need to figure out a way to break the curse and get the foot back.

This episode cracked me up.  I love when Sam had his bad luck and lost his shoe.  The pathetic look on his face was priceless.  Then when Dean has the rabbit’s foot and uses his luck to save Sam was hilarious.  This hunter friend of Gordon though is a nut case.  Apparently he thinks he is on a mission from God to kill Sam.

Disc 2 contains: Sin City, Bed Time Stories, Red Sky at Morning and Fresh Blood.

Sin City

A town went from a normal town to basically a sin city.  Dean meets up with an old friend who ends up getting killed by a demon.  When Dean goes after the demon he traps her in one of those protective circles but she causes a cave in that traps both of them.  While waiting to see if Sam makes it to them first or if another demon rescues the girl they start talking.  He finds out that the demons they let out are in chaos since they killed the Yellow Eyes demon and Sam is taking over as the demon leader.  Sam and Bobby together with the help of the demon girl that seems to be protecting Sam rescue Dean.

So I’m wondering if this girl is helping Sam and Dean to hunt down the other demons so that she can take over leading the demon hordes?  I really do hope they figure out some way to save Dean.  I love him and by far he is my favorite brother.

Bed Time Stories

Sam and Dean are investigating a number of murders that seem to be from fairy tales.  They find out that a young girl who was poisoned by her step-mother is in a coma is acting out the fairy tales her father is reading to her.  She is angry that no one is listening to her about what happened.  Sam finally convinces her dad that he needs to listen to what she is trying to say.  Once he acknowledges what happened the girl’s spirit moves on and the killings stop.

The episode finally ends with Sam calling the crossroads demon and threatens to kill her unless she releases Dean.  This demon finally drops a name of the demon helping Sam.  Apparently her name is Ruby.  The cross road demon lets Sam know that even if he kills her, her boss owns the contract Dean made so the deal is still valid.  Shockingly Sam ends up killing the demon.

This was not one of my favorites but it was still an interesting episode.   The ending was a total surprise to me when Sam shoots the crossroad demon.  Is his darker side taking over?

Red Sky at Morning

The brothers are investigating a series of deaths by drowning on land.  Turns out each victim saw a ghost ship before their deaths.  While investigating they run across the same woman who tried to steal the lucky rabbit’s foot a couple episodes back(I think her name is Bella) and end up working together.  They find out they need the hand of a sailor who died long ago to stop the spirit.  They steal the hand but then Bella steals it from them and sells it.  After she gets the money she sees the ship and goes running to the brothers for help.  The brothers have found out that the spirit goes after people who have killed another family member but Bella refuses to tell her story.  Not sure how they do it but somehow they come up with a ritual to save Bella without the hand.  I guess they summoned the ghost’s brother and that takes care of the ghost.

This episode didn’t really grab me although I was distracted doing work.  I like Bella but the story itself wasn’t that great.

Fresh Blood

This episode opens up with the crazy hunter, Gordon, approaching Bella to find out where the brothers are.  They make a deal for their current location.  In the mean time the brothers have captured a girl who didn’t know she was turned into a vampire.  Turns out this guy vampire’s nest was wiped out by hunters so he’s feeding blood to girls telling them it’s a drug.  While Sam and Dean try to rescue another victim, Gordon and his hunter buddy show up.  Everyone scatters and Sam and Dean manage to get away but Gordon gets captured by the vampire.  As revenge for all the vampires he killed the vampire changes Gordon into one.  Gordon kills his hunting partner after he refuses to let Gordon go after Sam using his vampire powers.  In the showdown Sam ends up literally popping Gordon’s head off using some barbed wire.

I am really starting to like this Bella and I am sooo glad Gordon is gone.  He was a total whack job.  Can’t wait to get the next disc in!

Suddenly the book started to speak about spells, magical potions and things like that...

I was confused – it felt so off-the-topic!

Then an overwhelming dizziness flooded on me, and I felt like the room was whirling upside down around me.

I guess I fell asleep at that point? The last thing I remember brightly is that I started to read the recipe for some sort of a cursed juice… and I have no clear memories of what would have happened straight after that, so it must be just a hazy dream…

I had a misty feeling of picking different plants...

...and maybe even some sort of bugs?

Then there were glasses with juice, or something...

And the dream... or whatever it was... started to get nightmarelike features.

"We're all doomed to die!" said Marisha's terrified voice, "Unless... "

This manga is soooo beautiful. The story is really good and the pictures is great. Then you are reading this you’re going to smile, cry.

Alternative Name はなのこえ
花情曲,La Voix des Fleurs ,The Voice of Flowers

Years of Released 1991

Status Completed

Author(s) Natsuki Sumeragi

Artist(s) Natsuki Sumeragi

Genre(s) Drama, Historical, Josei, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy

Summary

4 interconnected love stories:

1)The Enchanted Peony – A valedictorian finds a beautiful peony.

2) The Butterfly Visits the Spring Garden – A butterfly turns into a human and meets a human boy.

3) The Cry of the Tiger – A man has to stay the night in the mountains where he meets a recluse family of three.

4) The Serpent Princess’s Sanctuary – A brother and sister meet after being separated at birth.

click to read

Hana no Koe Vol.001 Ch.001

With the US Thanksgiving holiday coming up I thought it worth repeating this article from 2 years back.

There are many religious ceremonies and prayers giving thanks to a god. I often think these are rude on two grounds:

• I many case these are imposed on people who don’t share the belief in a god (consider our parliamentary prayers, Christian prayers and “grace” in a mixed social situations);
• Thanks are directed at a mythical being while the real people responsible for the goodness in the world are ignored.

The later point was made by Daniel C. Dennett in his article THANK GOODNESS! In this he expressed his thanks for recovery from nine hours of serious heart surgery. It’s worth reading the full article but consider this extract:

Yes, I did have an epiphany. I saw with greater clarity than ever before in my life that when I say “Thank goodness!” this is not merely a euphemism for “Thank God!” (We atheists don’t believe that there is any God to thank.) I really do mean thank goodness! There is a lot of goodness in this world, and more goodness every day, and this fantastic human-made fabric of excellence is genuinely responsible for the fact that I am alive today. It is a worthy recipient of the gratitude I feel today, and I want to celebrate that fact here and now.

To whom, then, do I owe a debt of gratitude? To the cardiologist who has kept me alive and ticking for years, and who swiftly and confidently rejected the original diagnosis of nothing worse than pneumonia. To the surgeons, neurologists, anesthesiologists, and the perfusionist, who kept my systems going for many hours under daunting circumstances. To the dozen or so physician assistants, and to nurses and physical therapists and x-ray technicians and a small army of phlebotomists so deft that you hardly know they are drawing your blood, and the people who brought the meals, kept my room clean, did the mountains of laundry generated by such a messy case, wheel-chaired me to x-ray, and so forth. These people came from Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Haiti, the Philippines, Croatia, Russia, China, Korea, India—and the United States, of course—and I have never seen more impressive mutual respect, as they helped each other out and checked each other’s work. But for all their teamwork, this local gang could not have done their jobs without the huge background of contributions from others. I remember with gratitude my late friend and Tufts colleague, physicist Allan Cormack, who shared the Nobel Prize for his invention of the c-t scanner. Allan—you have posthumously saved yet another life, but who’s counting? The world is better for the work you did. Thank goodness. Then there is the whole system of medicine, both the science and the technology, without which the best-intentioned efforts of individuals would be roughly useless. So I am grateful to the editorial boards and referees, past and present, of Science, Nature, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, and all the other institutions of science and medicine that keep churning out improvements, detecting and correcting flaws.

What a wonderful approach! It really does show how inadequate the religious ceremonies of thanks are. Next time someone tries to impose a religious prayer to “Thank God” for a meal I suggest replacing it with thanks to the people responsible for the meal, the production and transport of the food, the researchers who made this production possible and society in general for all the goodness that is out there.

See also
Daniel C. Dennett: Thank Goodness not God on Thanksgiving
‘In honour of Dan Dennett’ by Richard Dawkins

Related Articles:
“Let us pray . . . “
What do we teach our children?
Religion and Schools
Atheism and religious diversity
Discrimination at school
Christian prayer problems
Destiny of Christian privilege?
Trends in religious belief in New Zealand
Religious diversity includes “non-believers”
Religious Diversity Statement

Permalink

Dobrze wiedzieć, że wikipedia przetrwa nawet 3 wojne światową xD

Zastanawiałem się nad kontynuacją stylu z poprzedniego wpisu o NEEDLESS ale doszedłem że wyglądało by to na bardzo “naciągane” i wymuszone. Btw naprawiłem w końcu linkowanie do oryginalnego rozmiaru obrazka.

Gido i Obito omawiają na początku odcinka kilka naukowych spraw po czym wracamy do sceny z poprzedniego odcinka, w której Blade poznaje Eve – i, w której (być może) zrodził się jego fetysz małych dziewczynek ale to tylko moje spekulacje . Blade staje się pierwszą znaną nam ofiarą “wymyślania własnych imion dla innych” i zostaje nazwany Ishida przez Eve. O pierwszej połowie odcinka nie w sumie zbyt dużo do pisania. Blade spotyka się z Eve (która z powodu jego zmienionych genów jest jedyną osobą na świecie mogącą wydać na świat jego potomka) i okazuje się, że już jako dziecko nie była zbyt… zbyt… “rozgarnięta”. Blade ma sporo testów co nie podoba się Eve bo nie być przez nie z nim. Gido i Obito rozmawiają o niskim poziomie “mocy” Blade’a wywołanej zapewne minimalną wymaganą ilością nasion edenu. Pewnego dnia zdenerwowana ciągłą rozłąką z Bladem, Eve puka do jego okna i zabiera go ze sobą na dach instytutu gdzie spędzają sporo czasu na bardzo przyjemnej drzemce. W tym czasie cały instytut staje na głowie by odnaleźć Blade’a (ją też), który zniknął nie pojawiając się na treningu. Dwoje zaginionych budzi się w nocy. Eve dostaje czasowy zakaz spotykania się z Bladem.

Szkoda, że nie spytał go co to jest dziewczyna

Już wtedy miała słabą pamięć do imion.. i nie tylko

Może i tłumaczenie zajmuje pół ekranu ale dzieki temu wiem o co chodzi z tą sceną ^^

Śmieciarka przywozi do instytuty niechcianego gościa (zgadliście Arclight’a), który ledwo przypomina człowieka (a w sumie to bardziej zombie) i zabija personel ośrodka. Zostaje ogłoszony alarm. Eve znika a Blade martwiąc się o nią rusza jej szukać zamiast według rozkazu stawiać czoło intruzowi. Przypadek sprawia, że Arclight znajduje Eve ale Blade odnajduje ich nim cokolwiek może się wydarzyć. Gido rozpoznaje Arclight’a, który w trakcie walki z Bladem traci rękę, która z kolei odrasta przy pomocy doppelgägera – choć czyni go to jeszcze bardziej obrzydliwym ze względu na to jak się ukształtowała. Arclight ucieka a Blade podąża za nim. Ten pierwszy wyczuwając coś dziwnego włamuje się do pewnego miejsca gdzie znajduje pewną “rzecz” (nie powiem co i jak bo byłby to gigantyczny spoiler). Blade’owi niestety nie udaje się go powstrzymać i dochodzi do wybuchu związanego ze zjawiskiem omawianym na początku odcinka. Wybuch na pierwszy rzut oka przezywają tylko Eve, Blade i Gido, których ochroniła tarcza stworzona doppelgägerem i wspólnym wysiłkiem pierwszej dwójki. Gdy Blade i Eve dochodzą do siebie okazuje się, że cierpią na amnezję. Gido widząc nadciągające oddziału wojska po dowództwem Triple Six (pewnej frakcji rządu) postanawia uciec i ukryć się z Bladem i Eve w Black Spocie. Wracamy do rzeczywistości i widzimy jak Gido sobie wszystko to przypomina mimo, że chciał o tym zapomnieć. Ostrzega on wszystkich by uciekali bo za chwile nastąpi gigantyczny wybuch. CDN.

Po raz pierwszy mogli zobaczyć prawdziwe gwiazdy

Mobbing w pracy

Arclight coś niewyraźnie dziś wyglądasz

Ktos tu ma kogoś na sumieniu...

Nie wyglada to dobrze zarówno dosłownie jak i w przenośni

Hey ho, hey ho do Black Spotu by się szło!~

Série "Sobrenatural" garante boa audiência no horário nobre do SBT

A série Sobrenatural, que se aproxima do final de sua 2ª temporada, continua crescendo no Ibope e mantendo a vice-liderança.

Nesta segunda-feira, 23 de novembro, a série do SBT chegou a 11 pontos nos picos e obteve média de 9 pontos durante sua exibição, das 21h13 às 21h58; contra 8 da terceira colocada e 37 da primeira.

Nos confrontos diretos, marcou 9,3 contra 9,1 de “A Fazenda”, da terceira colocada (entre 21h13 e 21h38), e 10 contra 6 de “Bela, a Feia”, também da terceira, entre 21h39 e 21h58.

Synopsis:

Set in some unknown future, most of human civilization has been destroyed by a environmental catastrophe called the Seven Days of Fire that not only almost destroys humanity, but also the Earth’s original ecosystem. Rebuilding itself, the Earth develops the Sea of Decay which is literally a growing jungle of giant plants, insects, and fungi. But the new natural self preservation, including the air within the Sea of Decay is lethally toxic. Among the scattered surviving human settlements is the Valley of the Wind and one of it’s leaders Princess Nausicaa that seeks to bring peace between the warring human settlements and the insects. But when a plane crash lands nearby and the cargo is discovered to be carrying an embryo of one of the God Warriors from the Seven Days of Fire is found and Nausicaa realizes that things are about to go from bad, to worse.

Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 1 (it’s a movie)

Review:

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is yet another story about what could happen if the Earth’s own natural habitat is destroyed by the humans that live there but at least Nausicaa does this in a sci-fi setting that manages to keep things interesting with it’s own unique vision of the future. When you think about the age of the film (1984), it’s depiction of the barren wasteland that humanity struggles to survive in is very well portrayed in a way that has never really been presented before. Not only does this movie entertain you but also shows you that even after we’ve destroyed our own planet that humans are still fighting amongst each other for who gains control of nothing, which not only makes you think but is also showing you how pathetically sad humans can be. What makes it worse is when the story makes you realize that Mother Earth is trying to rebuild her environment for humans through “tough love” by using a lethal atmosphere and and deadly creatures to keep us away while she is at work, but humanity [i]still[/i] seeks to destroy her opposition and each other through our own stupidity instead of leaving nature to take it’s course. Princess Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind inhabitants do realize this and attempt to make everyone understand but there are those who feel her message is all for naught and think that what the human race doesn’t understand… should be destroyed. A movie and bonds with it’s audience through a presentation of disparity and a warning of what life could be in things to come, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind may end on a positive note but also manages to implant it’s haunting vision of the future into the back of your mind.

The only real downside though is that the cast of characters that are devoid of any individuality making them completely uninteresting, but, luckily enough the plot tells a tale that is enough to keep your attention through the entire show even with it’s environmentalist theme. The animation is a little on the dated side and the plot sounds like it would only appeal to hippies, once you watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind you realize just how far this anime movie was ahead of it’s time. Worth a one time viewing. But y’know, with all those giant insects roaming around I couldn’t help but keep thinking that I wanted a giant boot to come down and squash everything.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (trailer)

Recommendation: |Above Average|

Media type: DVD
From: Buena Vista Home Entertainment/Walt Disney
Spoken languages: English;Japanese
Subtitles: English