Totally amazing. Keen to learn more about hooping? Checkout http://www.hooping.org/

“Carlos Ruiz Zafon is Spain’s bestselling contemporary writer and the author of six novels, including the international bestsellers ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ and ‘The Prisoner of Heaven.’ His work has been published in more than 40 languages and honoured with numerous awards.”

“Writing is an experiment.” A young reader may be smarter than the adults around them who never read books at their age, and can still grasp an adult orientated narrative, although parts of that narrative may not register with young readers because they have no comprehension of what an adult might. Many experiences come with growing old. Zafón likes to write his novels with this emotive-like intelligence in mind, and as a result his stories are peppered with intrigue for the whole family. Well, maybe not the whole family. Zafón spoke a little on science-fiction which I liked, and how much more it is to do with our present time. I can agree with that. Writing in the past or future setting allows you to look at your world objectively and cuts out all the unnecessary humdrum we are constantly surrounded with today (all the pop-culture references, social-media, etc) and concentrate on the story. And get this; Zafón deletes all his draft work and research when his books get published. “No paper-trail.”

Zafón made comments on the post-Spanish Civil War in relation to novel-writing (a question raised by an audience member in respect to people who actually lived through the War) that I didn’t fully understand, but I understood his resolve. Also, he acknowledged his translator Lucia Graves (daughter of poet Robert Graves,) who is without a doubt a main contributor to Zafón’s success in English-speaking countries. Don’t quote me on any of that, I’m not even sure if what I’ve written can be considered paraphrasing, but there is some of what I gained from going. The rest is for me

Congratulations to Vishakham who was the other runner-up, and first prize winner Tessa, whose prose entry won her the competition’s top prize to a Kathryn Burnett workshop. To be honest, I am more than pleased I got runner-up and got to see Zafón. More so considering Kathryn tutored me five years ago, but let’s keep that a secret between us She’s aight.

Re-Entry is an independent, post-apocalyptic Science Fiction Film, set in the year 2018.

Too cool Ray Jay.  I’m looking forward to this.

It’s as if China’s breach of privacy and intellectual property laws have become a part of their flipping economy, and nothing can be done about it. For better or worse, I’m too entertained to genuinely care. Deduce yourself a conclusion, consumer — ripoff or coincidence:

Detective Langlang (2010) vs. Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Vantage Point (2008) vs. Seven 2 One (2009)

Eaters (2009) vs. Daddy Day Camp (2007)

The Message (2009) vs. Talk To Her (2002)

Wow. Cheap products don’t seem to be the only things being duplicated and sold, like those bootleg copies of DVDs; entire narratives are being taken and produced as China’s own as well. Not entirely fair to the original scriptwriter. Although to be fair, the Hollywood film industry has an embarrassingly sterile record of originality. Heard of Movie Poster Templates anyone? Still, China, must try harder:

More identified sources of inspiration @ Wenxuecity.com

Ground control to Commander Hadfield, you are major cool. After five months aboard the International Space Station, this performance marks Hadfield’s final hours in space, before his ISS expedition ended and he returned to Earth via a Soyuz space capsule:

During his time aboard the International Space Station, Hadfield became a popular Internet figure, implementing social media to promote space science to the masses:

Good stage presence… Space, stage presence. Thanks Commander Chris Hadfield.

Tisk-tisk, such a fussy eater.

Creative Writing on Campus in partnership with the Auckland’s Readers and Writers Festival invite you to a panel discussion with writers Paula Green, Sue Orr, and Selina Tusitala Marsh, chaired by Alex Jespersen. They will be discussing the realities and practicalities of being a writer in New Zealand, from how they started out as writers to the process of arriving to where they are now.

For more information on Auckland’s Readers and Writers Festival, check out
www.writersfestival.co.nz

And just for good measure — the prequel with Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig playing their girlfriends:

Something for the ladies I suppose