Wednesday, April 15, 2009

First chocolate bribes are in the mail + look: tattoo packs! + an unplanned plug for Friday Night Lights

Yes, the first CHOCOLATE BRIBES are in the mail! Thank you so much for your reviews!
That one on the top is en route to FINLAND. (Hi, Sara!) I love the idea of my book living in distant countries; it's kind of like Magpie is really there, doing her gypsy thing. Anyone who wants to send me a picture of Blackbringer out and about in the world, I love those. I have an Afghanistan one (hi Marianne!) that I treasure.

The CHOCOLATE BRIBE is still very much in play (scroll down to last post or click here for details). I have not yet even exhausted the first round of chocolate (though only milk chocolate remains right now, but never fear: I will restock on dark. But as a milk chocolate person myself, I'll never understand the preference for dark. To me, it's like the difference between black coffee and sweet milky coffee. Sure, one is more pure, but the other is more delicious!) Please continue to post Amazon reviews. You will be rewarded with chocolate and tattoos!

Speaking of which, WHEW! I spent the whole day yesterday, and most of the day before, getting my tattoo packs together! Here they are, all packaged:
I think they look awesome. But imagine, for a second, putting 700 sets of tattoos into little bags, folding 700 header cards over, and then stapling 700 header cards in place. And that's not including the design time, or running around town to buy bags and pick up printing. Here are the 500 I sent to my editor:
This photo represents an entire day spent at the kitchen table, and I'm not even kidding when I say I gave myself a repetitive stress injury from the stapling. Okay, I'm kind of kidding. It's not an injury per se, but for a while I've had a small problem with getting a burning pain in my right trapezius when I'm working with my hands for too long, be it putting together Laini's Ladies or whatever. And the stapling really had it screaming. I had to keep stopping to whimper and stretch. Poor me! It made me think of how I heard a while back that librarians were no longer stamping books because of the repetitive stress. It was hard to imagine stamping books bringing on pain, but I believe it now. (How feeble am I, complaining of stapling pain? ha ha. Ask me about childbirth in a few months!)

All that time at the kitchen table, I had my computer before me, watching shows on hulu.com. I tried to watch Netflix online, but my computer does not support it, which was too bad, because I was all ready to see North & South, after posting the kiss video a couple of weeks ago! But alas, no. I ended up watching episodes of Dollhouse, which in spite of my Joss Whedon love I find to be extremely "meh," and Fringe, of which I had seen only the first. It's not bad, really. I love the old guy, the one who played the Steward of Gondor in LOTR?

Speaking of TV, two of our favorite shows have come to an end for the season: Damages and Friday Night Lights. Wah! I just want to take a moment to say here that if you have not seen Friday Night Lights, you are missing something wonderful. Don't say, "I'm not into football," because I am so not into football and I love it. It's not about football. It's about teenagers, family dynamics, struggling toward the future, hoping to have a better life than what you've seen all around you for forever. It's about mentoring, striving, falling in love, winning, losing, growing up, and all that real stuff. It's so well written. Seriously. The characters are phenomenal, it's not melodramatic (with the exception of a bit of a shark-jumping in Season 2, which everyone would like to pretend never happened), and . . . just . . .

. . . just WATCH THIS. This is especially for you, Stephanie, because it's set to a Coldplay song. I have this idea that if I can make a Coldplay connection in your brain (however false a connection), I can get you to watch the show! ha ha. But seriously:
Ah, so good. The football sequences, when they come around, are like in that montage: exciting, brief, and always tied into the emotional story of the characters. The game in the mud? So. Good. Rent Season 1. Seriously. There are three seasons and they're all good. Season three almost didn't happen because, as is the case with most good shows, not that many people watch it!!! But it DID happen, thanks to a bizarre partnership between NBC and Direct TV. A fourth season, from what I hear, is looking hopeful, and after having just seen the season finale, I soooooo hope it happens. What a great starting point they have now to recreate the show. I mean, most of the cast has graduated high school (including my TV boyfriend, Tim Riggins, below, soon to be seen as Gambit in the Wolverine movie), but I really really want to see what happens next! I [heart] Coach Taylor and his wife -- they're the best couple, and seriously, if more kids had mentors like them . . . well, just watch the damn show (which is what I think Coach Taylor would say, sounding irritated) and tell me if you never get teary eyed, because I shall want to call you a robot.
[Caption: one reason to watch Friday Night Lights]

Okay. Huh. Where did that impassioned promotion of Friday Night Lights come from? I don't know! We don't watch very much TV, it's so rare to find a really good show, and when you do, they tend to get canceled (Firefly, sob sob. Wonderfalls! Pushing Daisies!) because most people are watching CSI: Topeka or whatever. So, come on, people!

Oh, and please continue to post Blackbringer reviews! Chocolate will come your way!

AND, remember: Lips Touch ARC, with a one-of-a-kind ink illustration by Jim, is on auction HERE! As someone did point out in comments to my last post, the cover is here sneakily outed. It's not the grand unveiling I had planned, but oh well :-)

17 comments:

Sara said...

I'm so with you on FNL. The acting is phenomenal. And what a setup for next season. (You can have Riggins; he's totally hot, but I'd be more likely to date Landry.)

Laini Taylor said...

ha ha, Sara! I'll date Tim Riggins, then marry Landry. How about that? Just kidding. I love Landry. And Matt! So many good characters!

Megsie said...

I feel for your hand...700 (times 2?) staples = ouch! And as for childbirth, well, you're right, but at least they have drugs for that.

Stephanie Perkins said...

Wait.

All I'm seeing is a pack of muscle-y guys with chiseled features and polo shirts. WHERE IS CHRIS MARTIN??? I hear him, but I do not see him. Chris? Are you there, my love?? Is your skinny, awkward, colorfully dressed body hiding behind all of the tears and football padding? Did you approve of your song to be set to high school sports footage or did someone with impeccably good musical taste STEAL your song for a cheap YouTube promo to sucker people like me into watching this BLATANT TEXAN FOOTBALL PRIDE PROPAGANDA??

Shame on you, Laini. I will NOT give in. NEV-AH!

(Or maybe I'll ask Jarrod to pick up Season One from our friend Jeff tomorrow. It could swing either way.)

Hoontah said...

I'd never seen North and South until your kissing post. Wow! What a show. Forget about Colin Firth. I'll take Richard Armitage any day.

I feel your pain about canceled shows. I miss my weekly fix of Veronica Mars. I heart Kristen Bell.

Laini Taylor said...

ha ha Stephanie. I'm sure Chris is a TOTAL fan of Texas highschool football!! Give in, give in. At least try it. There's kissing. I promise.

And Kristi, I miss Veronica Mars too. We were hopeful about news it might morph into a Veronica in the FBI Academy show, but alas, that did not happen. Did hear that Logan is in a new political pilot along with Lila from Friday Night Lights, though :-)

Lisa Schroeder said...

Oh how I love you, my FNL sister. And yes, it has been renewed for TWO MORE SEASONS, thanks to a partnership with Direct TV. That means we have to wait until January again, but whatever. I will wait.

I love that song by Coldplay and if I didn't watch the show, that video would totally make me want to watch it! So good pick!! I need to see if seasons 1 and 2 are on DVD and get them from netflix to watch. I think I actually missed part of season 1.

I SO balled the episode before the last one where Tyra wrote her essay. You know, it's a show where people have hearts. They have hearts and they help each other when they're down, and they don't give up, no matter how hard it gets. I love heart!!

Laini Taylor said...

Lisa, right back atcha, sister! Two more seasons, woo hoo! So curious to see what they'll do! I agree about Tyra's essay, so good! There were so many places where I teared up :-)

Flemmily said...

Hello Laini,

Thanks for your comments (I too am an Emily turned Flemmily, though my spelling as more to do with my last name and less to do with, well, phlem.)

Your name is familiar to me as well--I heard Tim Travaglini (sp?) rave about your books at SCBWI NYC in January. I haven't read them yet, but they're on my short list!

Thanks for dropping by www.justcallmeflemmily.wordpress.com !

Marianne said...

I will feel strangely sad if anyone outdoes Afghanistan with their exotic location for Magpie/Blackbringer photo, you know. She was such a perfectly pitched inspiration for me in that place at that time - along with Buffy, Magpie reminded me that it is possible for one small girl/woman to kiss evil ass. x

Lexi said...

Ah! The Lips Touch cover is beautiful!
And you HAVE seen Dr. Horrible, right? I make a point to watch at least the first act on Hulu everyday, to prepare myself for life.

Sara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sara said...

Hi back at ya, Laini! :D

I might just have to go to Moominworld with my Blackbringer to get you a picture of your favourite Moomin character holding it - incidentally, do you have a favourite? :)

Laini Taylor said...

Sara -- do you really have pink hair??? Sister!!!

And of my GOD how I would love a picture of Blackbringer at Moominworld!!! A favorite character? So difficult! I love Snufkin and Little My, but I love all the Moomins too!

Sara said...

Yes, I do have pink hair like your gorgeous self - I love it so much, I've never stuck with a hair colour so long before (1½ years thus far)!

I shall see what I can do about making the abovementioned happen. ;)

Charlotte said...

Moomintroll is so much my favorite. But Snufkin, especially in the short story with the dragon, is lovely too. However, I think little My might be the one that would like the book best, and go off to try to get her own crows. I am finding it very easy to picture this.

I've posted my review on Amazon, Laini--my first ever!

K said...

I love FNL! It's such a good show and I think so many people just miss what it's truly about! I'm excited about two more seasons! :D