Something Good: Rescue Doggies

Someone shared this gorgeous and well produced 2-minute video on Twitter, which made me feel great, so besides RTing it I'm sharing it with you. *smiles*

Now, have you noticed the message at the very end?


If not all, most of you know that I'm a dog person. In fact, I have not one but two rescue dogs (that are my inspiration for the #FridayFlash Writer's Pets Contest).


My dogs are lovely. They got even lovelier (if that's possible :P) after I came in contact with Cesar Milan's teachings. Have you ever heard about the show The Dog Whisperer?


If you haven't and you have a dog, you're considering getting one, you simply like dogs, of even if you're afraid of them, I suggest you take a peek. The man is amazing! What he did for me and my lovelies just through his show is incredible, and what he does for the most troublesome dogs I've ever seen... Ohhhh! 


"What does he have to do with the video, besides the obvious fact that there's a dog featuring in it?" you ask.


Well, Cesar has many campaigns to promote rescue dogs adoption, but this one called my attention the most: To Hell and Back - The Story of Micheal Vick's Pitbulls


Let me ask you something: when you think of pitbulls, is aggressiveness the first image that comes to mind? If your answer is "yes", you're not alone. But you know, this is not necessarily true. When people say that dogs are just like their owners, they're more right than you imagine. But not because their natures are the same, but because it's in dogs nature to make themselves what their masters want in order to please them.  


So, if you care to see things under different perspectives, check out that article about pitbulls. 


And to add to my opinion about human-dog relationship, check out this other article about non-verbal communication between humans and dogs: Beyond Words: Human-Animal Interaction. It's mind-boggling!


Now, after seeing the movie and reading the articles, tell me you don't want to adopt a rescue. Impossible! You might even consider getting a lovable and submissive pitbull like Cesar's rehabilitated ones, eh? ;P (Well, not unless you're a cat person, in which case you're forgiven, heh.)


Oh, if you ever decide to adopt a rescue dog (or any dog for that matter), will you let me know? :)


Psst, check out Cesar's tips for getting a new dog. ;)

Spotlight Time! Kristin Neff

The Spotlight Time series was created to showcase people's work I feel deserve a special attention. The book  Self-compassion - Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind, by Kristin Neff, certainly falls into that category. See why.

*

I've come across this book through a newspaper article named Down With Self-Esteem? At first, I was intrigued but suspicious, but as I read, all suspicion vanished. In her book, the article explains, Kristin Neff, PhD makes a good point of differencing self-esteem from self-compassion. 


The former is based on narcissism and excessive competitiveness, which lead people to feel constantly unsatisfied with themselves, their egos frequently hurt. Their behavior and life stile consequently reflect these feelings, as well as their interaction with others. The latter means accepting that we are all human thus fallible, not only in theory but in practice. 


My reaction to this general idea was the same you're probably having: "Okay, that's a nice thought, but how the heck do I do that?" 


First of all it's important to mention that Kristin doesn't say that we shouldn't have any self-esteem, but that there shouldn't be a reason for us to like ourselves. The moment we question that, we start comparing ourselves to others and things go downhill. We should care for ourselves no matter how many mistakes we make, how fat we are, how better we'd like to be. This is where self-compassion comes in. 


Self-compassion doesn't mean to settle with less than we'd like. Of course we should strive to be better people, to have good things and to feel good about our bodies, but we shouldn't compare ourselves and "our things" to others('s). Self compassion means not judging ourselves when we make mistakes, means being gentle with ourselves when we're in pain, caring for ourselves instead of punishing ourselves for not being (or looking) as successful as our neighbor. 


So how do we do all that? We start by paying attention to how critic we are about ourselves. If you're scratching your head now, you can test your self-compassion level on Kristin's website. Look how coherent are the criteria:

• Self-Kindness
• Self-Judgement
• Common Humanity
• Isolation
• Mindfulness
• Over-Identification
• Overall Score

After having a first "self-criticism x-ray" I suggest you take a look at her website, where you'll find lots of information on how to start treating yourself better (and others by consequence). Then we can all read her book and put this beautiful thinking in practice.


Don't you think we could make good use of this self-compassion thing in our writing as well?

Uh, oh! Randomities Won the Versatile Blog Award!

A while ago, Angela Perry bestowed me with the Versatile Blogger Award. This is one of my favorite awards, because it implies that your writing is not limited to a certain genre, voice or else. Thanks, Angela, for the honor!  


Since the rules for this award became a bit confusing, I'll break my own rules and share a bit more of myself, but I'll not follow Angela's to the letter. (I have principles, you know? :P)


I'll stick to four random facts then:

• I have recently moved across the ocean. That's why my tweets seem to come up so late, but I'm actually going to bed much earlier than when I was in Italy. 

• Most of you already know, but to my new friends I'm revealing that Mari Juniper is a pen name. As a former attorney I have this weird obsession about privacy, which is why I'm not telling anything else about the item above. Sorry? 

• Do you have a favorite writer? I do. It was Neil Gaiman's wonders that drew me to the writing career. Do I want to write like him? No, of course not. I want to write like myself, but I certainly want to write as well as he does. ;) 

• You know I have two dogs, right? If I could, I'd have three. No, four! Gee, My house would probably become a shelter... :P

Okay, breaking one's own rules is fun, but it's more fun to share the love! So, I'm sending the Versatile Blogger Award to:


>> Kevin Mackey, from KjM on the web.


>> Chuck Allen, from Chuck Allen


>> Sonia Lal, from Story Treasury


>> Helen Howell, from Helen Scribbles


There you go. Now go share the award love, my friends! :) 

Random Cool Things #10 - Water

Lately, randomities hasn't been as random as it used to be. There has been mostly stories, book reviews and a lot of knigh-posts, which are all great! But today I'd like to present you something different I stumbled upon on, err.. StumbleUpon. :P


So, check out this video of water caught at 700 FPS. Amazing:

Team Ghost - High Hopes from 16ar on Vimeo.

Earth B-Day

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This Friday, April 22, is going to be Earth Day. Earth is around 4 billion 600 million years old. We know it's not going to be actually Earth's birthday, but let's pretend it is? Let's also pretend Earth is a bit younger, say, 46 years old. 


'Til she was a 7-year-old kid, she was a mystery. We know almost nothing about her at that tim. They say these first years are the most important to the formation of the personality, so it's a bit scary knowing nothing about such a close friend, eh?


Earth grew into an adolescent and a young gorgeous woman without we knowing much about her either. Our knowledge about her starts when she was already a delicate and mature 42-years-old. 


Dinosaurs came over when she was already 45, and mammals arrived only eight months ago. Half a week ago some monkeys that looked more or less like a man evolved into men that looked like monkeys. 


Three days ago, she had her last glacial era (that encompassed the whole planet), and the modern man as we know came over in the last four hours. Just an hour ago man discovered agriculture and established himself in fixed locations.


Industrial Revolution happened a minute ago, and in the last sixty seconds man managed to transform the paradise that Earth is in a dumpster. Man has multiplied and spread out like a plague, causing the extinction of more than 500 species, and has devastated our kind lady in search for fossil fuel and minerals. 


Like a child that sees only himself and is unable of measuring the consequences of his actions, man has made inviable many other life forms and is now affecting the whole environment, causing problems to his own survival. 


Only a few seconds ago, part of mankind has become aware that the most serious problem man has to solve is to reestablish harmony with nature.(*)

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Whew, thank god we're not too late! 


So, what do we do? 


Nah, I'm not lecturing about all the green actions you can take to move towards that goal. It would be nice, though, if you gave it a thought.


In the mean time, check out a few websites that talk about the issue:

•  Earth Day Network, where you'll find what you can do, and the events in the US.

• Green News.info, where you'll find all kinds of news in Italian, and Earth Days events in Italy.

• Cesar's Way, where you'll find what you can do with your dog for Earth Day. Being a huge dog lover, I should tell you that you'll find loads of useful information on this website. It's definitely worth a closer look. 

Happy Earth Day!


(*) This analogy is not mine. I took it and free-translated from an official paper on safe driving and citizen awareness raising. 

Uh, oh! Randomities Won the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award!

That's the yummier blog award Randomities has been graced with. Don't you feel hungry just by looking at it? I know I do! 


Now, I don't know if I thank Angela Perry for the nice reminder, of if I go over there and kick her in the butt for trying to make me fat. Kidding! Thanks, Angela! I really appreciate (in many ways, I should add) your award. 


As for the award rules, I'm going to comply this time:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. 

2. Share four guilty pleasures that you have.

3. Pass the award on to six blogs.

So, there I go sharing my pleasurable guilt with you:

• This award's image got at me. Yes, I'm totally addicted to sugar, even though I'm aware that it's highly poisonous. I'm not talking only about our beloved chocolate, but also about good quality biscuits to go with coffee, cakes with tea, desserts, ice cream, pastries... Hmmm!

• Wine. Oh, how I love good wine! Not in excess, of course, but in small amounts, with good food. Ahhhh! The taste of the wine itself is wonderful, and the combination with food is something different all together. Then you taste the food without the wine and it's yet another palative experience. And there's the dessert wine to go with all those wonderful sins I mentioned... Hmmm! (Gee, I'm hungry.)

• There's no guilt in that, I love cooking for friends! I don't take as much pleasure in every day cooking, but even so it can be quite nice, depending on the day. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm no great cook! But I do manage. ;)

• I love writing "bad people". The more wicked the greater the fun! Of course I take care to make them believable. (Hoping dearly that they are!) Talking about it, I'd like to direct you to a cool post on how to write good villains. It reflects my exact feelings about it. (Thanks Dani, for sharing it!)

And now to the fun part! I'm sending out some fattening love to these six irresistibly sweet bloggers:


--Danielle La Paglia, at Dani's Flash Fiction Blog


--Cecilia Dominic, at Cecilia's Random Writings


--Cathy Webster, at Life on the Muskoka River

--Kevin Mackey, at KjM on the web


--Sam Adamson, at Future Nostalgic


--Monica Marier, at Attack of the Muses


--Laura Eno, at A Shift in Dimensions


Finally, I'd suggest you got back to Angela's post and read her comment on SEO and love-spreading. She's got it all right! ;D

Women

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By instict a woman perceives the truth and anticipates it.

José Martí

Happy Women's Day! 


Here's to a year with better working conditions, less and less (and less!) genital mutilation, more equal treatment, less slavery, less envy of our life-creating potential, less fear of our power, more love.  


To a day in which every day will be a woman's day, as every day is a mankind day.

Book Review - Conclave, by Roberto Pazzi

When we think of magical realism, it's usually Gabriel Garcia Marquez that comes to mind. Conclave, by Roberto Pazzi, is another good example of the genre.

While the narrative is (somehow) centered on the figure of the humble and somehow mysterious Cardinal Malvezzi, he is not the book's main character. The true protagonist is the conclave itself, the process with which the Pope is chosen. Months go by and the Cardinals cannot agree on a unanimous choice. While the media loses interest in the twice a day released black smoke, bizarre things happen in the Vatican. A plague of rats, the attemptive escape of full Cardinals, and an embarrassing death, color the solemn reunion.

As these and other impossible events are at work, the author reveals the day-to-day life of the Vatican in its most important assembly, the real reasons for the religious inclination of key characters and their deepest motivations and desires. The political and social background increase the urgency in the decision-making that seems more unreachable at each page.

There are many humorous scenes in this book that drew more than one laugh of me, which are intertwined with deep reflections on religion, vocation and the human condition. Although these reflections are interesting and welcomed, they slow down the reading. Also, I would like to see more details about the external interference by political figures and the media, as well the internal intrigues, which are only outlined in this novel. It feels that the author wanted to bring these processes to light, but he did not dare going too far. I'm really sorry that he didn't, but it's understandable considering that he comes from the very country where the Vatican is set. That said, I highly recommend this unique book.

Book Review - Hungry For You, by A. M. Harte

 From the cover of Hungry For You, by A. M. Harte, we can see that this book is set for zombie lovers. Each of the ten stories and the opening and closing poems are related, directly or indirectly, to "zombiness". 

We are not talking only about stories featuring the traditional zombie apocalypse though. There are creative post-apocalypse settings ("Hungry For You"), surreal ones ("Seven Birds") and others very simple and familiar ("Dead Man's Rose"). 

These are no ordinary zombies either. In some stories they have feelings, they talk and fear and love as their limbs fall apart. There are zombie humans and former humans, dogs, roses and swans. The cause of their disease - no curses in this anthology - is as varied as it can be: from ordinary bites to tea bags. 

The story that gives name to the book is my favorite. It's set in a post-zombie apocalypse where the remaining zombies feed not of flash or brains, but of human sins. Their feeding method is quite surprising, and it's the same for zombie humans and animals. Although I'd warn the purists for some strong wording and sex references (which fit perfectly the context), this story created a world worth exploring further; I'm curious to see more of it. 

I had fun seeing very creative explorations of the zombie theme, but I was a little disappointed at a few editing issues I found. The first story starts with an apparent typo and an impossible to ignore grammatical error. There are some plot issues I'd like to see fixed at "Dead Man's Rose" and "The Cure", and sometimes the pace suffers from over description of the character's actions, as in "Dead Man's Rose" and "The Perfect Song". 

Despite these problems, the book is a very pleasant and even surprising reading. The opening poem, by Gabriel Gadfly, and the final one, by the author, are another highlight of the book. Overall, it's a recommend. 

*

A. M. Harte is a speculative fiction enthusiast and a chocolate addict. She's a writer, editor, practical joker, and the author behind the online dark fantasy publishing project Qazyfiction. She is excellent at missing deadlines, has long forgotten what "free time" means, and enjoys procrastinating over at http://amharte.com. She can also be found on Twitter and Facebook. 

Neil Gaiman Needs Help with "The Price"

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I'm sure you know who Neil Gaiman is. You don't? Sinner! Just kidding, heh. He's the award winning author who wrote one of the best comic books ever made, Sandman, and several fantastic(al) books, which latest are Coraline -- that was made into a spooky animation -- and The Graveyard Book, which won the Newberry Medal. He's also my favorite writer. (As if you hadn't guessed it by now, heh.)


You see, Gaiman also wrote a short story called The Price that you can hear here, narrated by him, for free. The story is so good that Christopher Salmon wants to make it into a 3D animation. 


If you care about my opinion, I love Gaiman's comics and novels, but I'm not as affectioned to his short stories. Every author has a weak point, right? However, The Price is fantastic! It's gripping, chilling and surprising. Curiously enough, I though it'd make a great animation when I read it. 

Check out this video, which I hope will tick your curiosity, if I haven't yet. ;)

"So why all this?" you ask. 

Well, if you saw the video you know what we need to do. If not, I'll summarize it for you. ;) 

To make the project into the real thing, they need to raise $ 150,000. 3D animation are expensive, eh? They're almost half under way, but there are only ten days to go, so your help is most needed! 

Check out the widget on the sidebar to see the progress. So far, more than a thousand people are backing the initiative! Now go and do some good. :) 

p.s.: Here's the movie's website. Pretty! 

I'm Back!, NaNoWrimo, Apologies and Thank You's

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Hello my dear virtual friends! I'm finally back, I've missed you and I have a question for you. 


"Uh, you're dumping all that at once?" you ask.  


Err, that's part of my coming back, so please bear with me: have you ever been without internet for almost a month? Has your library a limitation for long web addresses that prevents you from posting and visiting your friends' blogs? 

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Ops, that was more than one question, heh. You know what's the weirdest thing about the isolation? It's when you come back. You'd think I'd be staying online all day, catching up with all the friends I miss so much.



Oh, no. 


The fact is that after all this time, when one's life is turning upside down, apparently upwards, and then downwards again, one can lose one's grip on things. So one decides that isolation is a good thing for a while, to reassess decisions and goals etc. But when inside one's shell, one forgets that there are people out that who care about her, and that one's absence worries them.

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This is the moment I apologize. I'm sorry I haven't replied the awesome comments left in my absence, and I'm sorry I've worried some of you. On the other hand, I felt so very loved with your emails and DMs checking up on me! Thank you, I heart you all. :D 


On another matter, this post's headline mentions NaNoWrimo... Ahem, with all these twists and turns I couldn't keep up with the challenge, so this year's NaNo project flunked. But know that I'm doing it again next year. There's no quitter here, no sir! heh

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The NaNo failure made me think about what does it mean to be a writer. Instead of reproducing all the speech I had written, I believe the image above synthesizes my conclusions. 

This picture has nothing to do with
this post. I just like it and wanted
to put it somewhere. Please ignore me
and keep reading.
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Am I out? Hum, no. But I will have to slow down for a while, at least until life gets less dizzy. This means that Randomities will return to its original concept, that is, being erratic. So, the trolls are still on, as well all the weird stuff I make you put up with, but I'm allowing myself not getting concerned about posting frequency, traffic, stats, and all. I hope that in the mean time you'll keep an eye on us - me and Randomities - until I put life back on track. 


Thank you all for reading! I'm off to reply some long due emails now, of the people from whom I deserve a good kick in the soft parts, heh. ;) 

Random Cool Things #9 - Pixels

Tetris rules! haha

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Caricato da onemoreprod. - Animazioni e video artistici

I hope this levels up the mood in here, after the latest dark twist of the troll serial. ;)

Uh, oh! Randomities Won a Double Award!

The lovely - and now super-busy - Anne Tyler Lord granted Rantomities not one but two blog awards at once. Thank you so much Anne! :)

You all probably know by now that there are slightly different rules for each award, but they all encompass: 1) Thanking who awarded you, and 2) Passing it on to a certain number of  people, letting them know that you did so. 



Well, since I am sort of a rebel when it comes to blog awards, I'm going to maintain the basic above and change (almost) all the rest. 


I'm passing this double award to fewer people than the normal, and since I'm changing everything the only rule I'd like the following friends to keep is to pass these on together, as Anne and I did. Just to make things interesting. ;)


Most awards ask us to tell something about ourselves, so you can kill your curiosity at this old post and this other one. There's nothing new to tell, I'm afraid, except my reasons to keeping things for myself, if you didn't know them yet. 


Now to the fun part, I'm passing on the double award to:

• Estrella Azul, from Life's a Stage
• Danielle La Paglia, from Danni's  Flash Fiction Blog
• Icy Sedgwick, from Icy's Blunt Pencil
• Nishida C., from Breathing Butterflies

The Great Chocolate Conspiracy: Episode #2 -- #FridayFlash

Welcome to The Great Chocolate Conspiracy! 


Chocolate Digestive biscuits have disappeared from the shelves right across the eastern seaboard of the USA, and now the shortage has spread to London. Detective Chief Inspector Sam Adamson and his international team of investigators from the Metropolitan Police's Confectionery Crimes Unit (CCU) have been tasked to solve the mystery.

This is the second installment of a multi-part flash fiction story that originated during a chat between the authors on Twitter. You can read how it all began here. (links to all the installments will be added to the author list as they are posted)

The next installment will appear on Friday, September 17th at Monica Marier's Attack of the Muses!, and you can keep up on developments in the meantime by following the #GtChocCo hashtag on Twitter.

*

The Confectionery Crimes Unit arrived at the Dulles International Airport in D.C. with more than an hour of delay. Apparently the chocolate digestives had disappeared from the Heathrow Airport too, which caused protests and confusion. The CCU intervened, preventing violence to arise and allowing the airport to resume its activities.


DI Marier grumbled to herself when remembering the self satisfied smile her boss shot at the cameras as he explained how he'd managed to control the mob in 'no time'. She smirked at the memory of a journalist asking if the CCU would bear with the economic costs of another  confectionery crime, since it was the department's responsibility having let the criminal escape in the first place. DCI Adamson's face paled and he mumbled an inaudible excuse, retreating to the boarding gate where his team paced. Adamson had been speaking to the press for over half an hour, increasing the flight's delay to the point of getting the plane's crew in the verge of desperation. 



The Crumbly Cake Squad climbed down the plane's stairs tired and stressed. There were more news of digestives vanishing, which filled the flight with rumors and tension. When the flight attendants came with breakfast there were outraged cries all over the plane. 


Adamson was so engrossed with his own thoughts that he forgot about his luggage, leaving Marier to coordinate Fox and Bournville, while Juniper and Motley conferenced quietly. Adamson passed right beside a tall woman with a sign bearing his name. Marier signaled the already overwhelmed Bournville to hold her belongings and ran past the brunette to inform her boss that their contact was already there. 


"Oh, good," said the absent minded detective.


Adamson poked the woman on the arm, who instinctively reached for her gun. They stared at each other. 


"I'm Detective Chief Inspector Sam Adamson and this is my team, Detective Inspector Monica Marier, Vice Ispettore Mari Juniper and Professor Gracie Motley," he said indicating each woman, who showed their IDs.


Releasing her shoulders, she flared a CIA badge. "Especial Agent Danielle La Paglia. I was informed there would be six of you?"


"Ah yes," said Adamson, "Fox and Bournville are bringing the luggage." He nodded in the direction of the struggling officers. 


"I expect you'll be needing to contact your back up team, so we'd better get going," said La Paglia to Adamson, who hadn't taken his eyes off her. 


"Back up team?" 


"You didn't leave anyone to support the operation back home?" She took a snickers bar from her pocket and started munching on it. 


Marier controlled the urge to roll her eyes. She had tried to suggest something like it but Adamson had insisted on having everyone with him. 


Adamson clenched his jaw and pointed to the approaching PC's, "You two are heading back. Marier, take care of the procedures; we'll meet at the hotel once you're done."


Marier's snort was covered up by a woman's cry. They all ran in that direction, leaving the pouting officers behind. 


"All chocolate is gone!" cried the desperate woman.


"Please tell us what happened m'am," asked La Paglia, showing her ID. 


The woman grabbed La Paglia's shoulders. "Don't you see? There's not a single chocolate bar in this airport. There are no chocolate cookies, no hot cocoa, nothing! Everything that contains chocolate has vanished. I saw it with my own eyes!"


"Bastard," said Adamson punching his palm, "he won't stop with digestives then." 


La Paglia tried to calm down the hysterical woman, while the others interviewed costumers and employees and Adamson paced tapping his chin. After taking note of her contact information, La Paglia raised her head to see chaos in the airport. People were breaking things, screaming and fighting. She sat down, cleaning the coffee from an empty table with a napkin and asked for reinforcement, after which she turned to Adamson and questioned him as to what they'd found out. 


"Wait a minute Missy," he said pointing a finger at her, "this is my bloody operation. Don't you come giving me orders just because you're tall and pretty and a bloody cool spy." 


"I..." 


"Now, report your findings Marier," he added, interrupting the flabbergasted agent, who started fidgeting with her coat. 


Marier cleared her throat before confirming that all chocolate had vanished from the airport and the vicinities; it was already on the news. They had to raise their voices in the middle of the cocoa-less chaos to discuss their findings.


"The American press is bloody too fast," he mumbled, gazing at the coffee shop's TV.


They were deciding how to proceed when La Paglia stood up. She was sweating, her face white as a sheet of paper.



"They're gone," she mumbled, "they're all gone."


"What?" asked the concerned Motley. 


"My snickers," replied La Paglia, "they've vanished from my pocket." 


A heavy silence fell upon them as La Paglia's face changed from helpless to determined. "I'm going to catch the son of a bitch who did this. I swear to god, even if it's last thing I do I'll bring this bastard down," she said with clenched fists. 


Adamson bemused smile didn't pass unnoticed to his team. Juniper winked at Motley, who smiled, and Marier crossed her arms. 


Later that day they all assembled at Marier's hotel room waiting for further instructions. She whispered to Motley, "Why does it always have to be my room?"


"That's because Adamson trusts you more than anyone else here, sweetie. You've been working with him the longest."


Marier sighed and Motley touched her arm sympathetically. 


"So," asked Juniper, "how come the CIA got involved in this? I was expect the FBI to step up."


"I love your accent. You're Italian right?" said La Paglia


"Yes, and thanks," said Juniper. "Is there a reason to avoid my question?" She grinned amicably.


"Well, it seems our director is not very good at jo ken po**," said La Paglia, scratching the back of her head with one hand, the other verifying the contents of her refiled pocket. 

*

** Rock, Paper, Scissors

B-day Giveaway - Winner Announced

That's it folks. My birthday has passed, I'm officially one year older now and all remains the same. As expected, eh? heh


For reasons different than getting older -- I soon found out -- I needed humor, and you provided me lots of it. I was particularly entertained by the appearance of some characters on my party to which creators I'd like to give a special thanks:


>> Laura Eno, for bringing Jezebel to the party, who behaved almost perfectly by not eating the guests, although she scared the birthday girl, knowing that I'm terrified of her. uh 
>> Grace Crone, for bringing her dragon Aurmid to the party, who made a crusty roasted goat  with the help(?) of my trolls Kratan and Kutril. 
>> Jodi MacArthur, for offering her beloved Carnivorous Pony as a gift and giving me some amazing intergalactic coffee. I tried to put the Pony together with Jezebel for a chat but it seems it didn't work. Too bad, heh. 
>> Lexx Clarke, for zombifying his artist to my entertainment. 
>> Angie Capozello, for the moisted donuts Nox and Grimm brought me. I didn't even notice the dog drool in them, see? heh
>> Sam Adamson, for Botchett's and Swazzle's sneaky visit. The only prank they've played on me was stealing some ice cream; since it was delicious I understand them, heh. 


Before I announce the winner, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time comment and made an effort to be funny, entertaining or simply wished me a happy birthday. I did, and it was thanks to you! 


One final thanks goes for Monica Marier, who graciously gave an ARC of her debut novel Must Love Dragons, which I read in one sit. I had a very quiet and entertaining birthday, which is precisely what I wanted. Besides, I had the coolest party here at Randomities that I'll never forget. Thank you all from my heart! <3


Now, my gift card was of $20. Since most books you asked as a present cost much less, and you all were so successful in amusing me, I've decided to giveaway two books, which will go to:


1) Maria A.Kelly, for drawing the first chuckle of the day, and a good one, with fingers and all! She chose Laura Eno's new book, Prophecy Moon. 

2) Angie Capozello, for bringing be donuts in the most funny way possible. Besides I'm a drooler over Nox and Grimm! (pun intended, heh) She chose Sara Ash's Children of the Serpent Gate, book 3 of the Tears of Artamon. 


Maria and Angie, please send your physical addresses to: mari dot juniper at gmail dot com. I hope you girls will enjoy your presents. Please let me know what you think once you finish reading them.  

Thanks everyone for playing and have a great weekend! :)

B-day Giveaway!

Soo, the 27th is going to be my birthday. Yay! 


You see, since I'm a very nice girl, almost as nice as my trolls, I'm giving you a present. And, you can choose whatever you want! 


Well, within certain boundaries, of course. :P


The idea started out because I was lucky enough to win Jamie DeBree's contest, thanks to another lucky call from Johanna Harness' #amwriting buttons. Jamie is a very generous author who gave me not only the eletronic and paper copy of her book, Tempest, but also an Amazon gift card of $20. Wow! 

So, you can choose any book you want, whichever genre or author suits your humor, and I'll send it to you as long as it doesn't cost more than those 20 bucks. 


All you have to do is leave a comment. But hey, not any comment will do. Since I'm getting inevitably older, I need to have some laughs. Haha, getting old is not fun. So the trick is, I'll give a b-day present to the person who posts the most creative comment that contains the fundamental element of humor until midnight GMT+1 of August 27th, 2010. (Italy time)

A b-day without a party is lame, so I'm offering you some Italian goodies in the attempt to bribe you to stick around for a while longer, heh. 


Over there at the buffet you can find prosecco, white and red wine, several types of bruschettas, prosciutto with melon, and of course water and non alcoholic beverages at will. To sweeten your mouth there are many flavors of gelatto, like the famous amarena, dark chocolate, mint-choc, lemon, strawberry and one of my favorites, yogurt with wild berries. 

Yumm, grab your spoon and dig in! 


Don't be shy. If this is your first visit, hang around and meet the fantastic people that frequent Randomities. You might make some new friends. ;)


To my regular visitors, a HUGE thank you! Meeting you guys is the best birthday present I could ever ask for.


Now, almost everyone knows by now that I'm a dog person. So I'm counter balancing the cat picture up there with this one. Happy my-birthday to you! :D

Note: The following links lead to where I've found each image: cake, girl, cat, gelatto, spoons, doggie.