New Blogs

I have stopped updating this particular blog. If you care to follow my other blogs they can be found here:

AV and Red's Adventure Blog: http://avandred.blogspot.com/
      A joint blog with my fiance, AV. Content is very similar to this blog.

Little Red Studios: http://littleredstudios.blogspot.com/
      Chronicles of my art projects with photos!

Cheers!

Little Red Shoes

As you may know, I am an artist as well as an engineer. For the past few months while looking for a full time engineering position (which I have found!) I have been doing a lot of painting. More than I've done in the last few years. Since I had the time and resources, I decided to start a website (and small business) to showcase my work!

Are you in the market for something new and special? Something made just for you?

Check out my website, LittleRedShoes.net

To give you a little background, for Christmas last year, I painted a pair of ballet flats for AV's sister.

The very first pair of shoes

I also painted a set of ceramic mugs for his parents. I loved working on those projects and they were very well received! But Little Red Shoes didn't come about until after I received a commission to paint two pairs of shoes.

I had an interview at the Public Library downtown for a volunteer position and I had worn a pair of ballet flats I had painted in neon colors.

My original shoes

In the elevator someone complimented my shoes. A bit later my phone rang; the woman in the elevator was calling to ask if I might do a commission for her daughter!

With these two new shoes I had enough for a small portfolio, so I set up a website to showcase it!

So if you are looking for a gift for yourself or someone you know, look no further!

As anyone can tell you, fun shoes can make you feel awesome. You provide the shoes, I provide the awesomeness!

The Starlight Special, my signature shoe design

Not a shoe person? How about a custom painted glass or vase?

A custom 21st Birthday Beer Stein

Still not quite what you're looking for? I can also paint lightswitch and outlet covers, either individually or in matching sets.

I love lightswitch covers, they're easy to change and install and can add a little of your personality to any room. I'll be putting them up in my new place next week!

I love using a fish motif in the bathroom :)

Feel free to look through my other projects, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed working on them!

All my work is reasonably priced and I'm open to any and all commissions, any size or medium. So remember to look me up when you need something new and different!

What do you think of my work? What kind of gifts would you buy for yourself or your friends?

Midsummer Snowfall

 It's like a bajillion degrees out, so cool off with Kelly and his enormous snowcone!

OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

The Challenged 100 Challenge: TTYL

The first book in the Challenged 100 Challenge is TTYL by  Lauren Myracle.

I don't plan to read the books in any sort of order so the selection of this book was completely arbitrary. I just happened to see it on the shelf last time I was at the library.

Plot Synopsis: TTYL documents the first few months of 10th grade through the instant message conversations of best friends Zoe, Angela, and Maddie.

Zoe is the good girl. She discusses religion with her 24 year old teacher Mr. H and starts attending a church/bible fellowship with him. Long story short, he's hitting on her and invites her to go hottubbing with him. She doesn't know how to say "no" and ends up going. Thankfully Maddie and Angela come to her rescue.

Angela is the boy crazy drama queen of the group. She's dating "ROB TYLER... in my french class!!!" who eventually dumps her for Tonnie. She then sets her sights on the college student helping out with the theater class, but surprise! he has a girl friend. So she finally ends up with the guy next door (I guess? It was the end of the book and she kinda blew it off)

Maddie is ... I don't know. She starts hanging out with Jana, the "Queen Bee" who she previously didn't like. She ends up blowing off Zoe and Angela and going to a party with Jana where Maddie gets trashed and dances on a table topless. Jana takes photos and they circulate throughout the school. She stops talking to Zoe or Maddie until Maddie begs her to help rescue Zoe from Mr. H.

Why it's banned/challenged: Drugs, sex, age inappropriate material, and inappropriate student-teacher relationship.

Do the accusations hold up?: Yes and no.

Drugs - underage drinking. Sex - the main characters are virgins but there's a fair amount of discussion about sex. Age innaproriate material - see below. Inappropriate student-teacher relationship - did you not see the synopsis about Zoe and Mr. H?

The problem I see is that while the characters are 15-16 years old and doing things that age range might be doing, the audience is going to be 10-13. The assumption is then that those young readers are going to think that the situations in the book are normal for 15-16 year olds and that's what they should be doing. Not okay when you're talking about getting trashed and taking off your clothes.

Should it be banned: No. It's not really endorsing sex or alcohol, but it doesn't really discourage them either. If a younger kid is reading it make sure they understand how you feel about alcohol and sex.

Should you read it?: I wouldn't recommend reading this book, mainly because the IM format is obnoxious and the first 2/3 is rediculously boring.

The Challenged 100 Challenge

As I was cleaning up some stuff from last semester, I came across a list of frequently banned/challenged books. I always wonder what people are thinking when they determine that a book should be banned. Who's to say that someone else shouldn't be able to read a book of their choosing? How bad could a book really be that someone feels the need to remove it from the shelves? And really, what happened to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press??

Whenever I hear about some book getting challenged or banned I always immediately assume that it's some religious freak who also doesn't believe in modern medicine. Now, that's probably a little harsh (and incorrect) so maybe I should look into those challenged books and see if there's really something "questionable" going on.

So here's the challenge: I am going to read all 100 of the Top Banned/Challenged Books for 2000-2009. Stay tuned as I report back on why those books were banned/challenged and whether that reason is really all that valid. 

See the list from the American Library Association here.