Discussion

Who Is Marcus Flutie?

by April (Books&Wine)

Who Is Marcus Flutie | Good Books & Good Wine

Disclaimer: I actually LOVE Richelle Mead’s books and totally know who Marcus Finch is because I am audio-ing The Indigo Spell as we speak.

Let’s be real. The only Marcus F. that matters is Marcus Flutie.  He entered the picture way before this usurper of the MF initials and will forever be the only MF of my heart. Chances are you totally know who Marcus Flutie is, but if not — I have hit up the twitter machine for answers.

Clearly, the twitters is in the know about Marcus Flutie. If you aren’t well. It’s time to meet him! He’s the main love interest of writing goddess Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series — a 5 book series that follows protagonist Jessica Darling from high school all the way to post grad life. You guys there are so many things about Marcus Flutie that should make him unappealing. He’s a stoner. He is a white boy with dredlocks. He wears clothing ironically. He’s been all over the block if you know what I mean.

YET. YET. He has this total appeal. He’s incredibly smart. He’s very comfortable in his own skin and always seems to be above high school bullshit. We get to see him grow along with Jessica as the series progresses. While he makes questionable decisions, so does Jessica. McCafferty gives neither character a free pass — and honestly I love that. I love that we legit get to see Marcus Flutie as a human with faults and all. He starts out as an enigma, but you guys we actually get to go so much more in depth and he becomes totally realized and THAT IS WHY HE IS  THE ONLY MARCUS THAT MATTERS.

Also? Some choice quotes:

From Second Helpings:

“You, yes, you, linger inside my heart
The same you who stopped us before we could start.”

From Charmed Thirds and no it’s not a spoiler, we all know their relationship has ups and downs:

‘“I thought Marcus was going to be in my life forever. Then I thought I was wrong. Now he’s back. But this time I know what’s certain: Marcus will be gone again, and back again and again and again because nothing is permanent. Especially people. Strangers become friends. Friends become lovers. Lovers become strangers. Strangers become friends once more, and over and over. Tomorrow, next week, fifty years from now, I know I’ll get another one-word postcard from Marcus, because this one doesn’t have a period signifying the end of the sentence.

Or the end of anything at all.” ‘

From Sloppy Firsts:

“yet you forget
there will always be
a part of me in you
yes
I taunted and tempted
you
with my forbidden fruit
does that make
me
the serpent too?”

From Perfect Fifths:

““Gone for a while
Hoping, always, to return
If you will let me””

I know, I know totally tantalizing out of context. But for real, you need to read Megan McCafferty’s series because it is AMAZE and you will be like oh goodness, how have I lived my entire life not knowing who Marcus Flutie is.

Dude, You TOTALLY Have Time To Read

by April (Books&Wine)

Y’all, this post has been a long time in the making. Sometimes I am strongly tempted to go off on an epic rant when people do that whole insult disguised as a compliment sort of thing, but then my brain kicks in and is all, HEY GIRL HEY you need to use logic and reason and not fly off the handle. Within the past few weeks, I’ve been on the receiving end of comments where people express amazement and a little bit of condescension that I have SO MUCH TIME OMG SO MUCH TIME to read or I must be a speed reader because of my number of books read last year and my current Goodreads challenge goal.

I totally don’t read this fast:

Baby Reading GIF

I could have raged, but instead, I was like maybe I could use this opportunity to share my genius time management strategies with the rest of the world, because it could be totally helpful for people who just don’t get how organization works. Speaking of which, maybe you could point me in the direction of review organization and motivation tips?

Oh, and sidebar, not all of the GIFs pertain to the topic, but lol, I just really liked them and how they were reading themed.

Surefire Tips For Reading More:

Always Have A Book On Your Person

She Devoured One Book After Another GIF

I’m one of those girls who always has, as Jamie termed, a big ass bag. In that bag I shove in make up, my phone, my wallet, pens, a notebook, my current book and my Kindle just in case I don’t want to read my current book. Y’all, this has been to my advantage SO MANY TIMES. Like seriously, okay maybe it’s embarrassing to whip out a book while you are waiting in line at the grocery store, but if you have a smart phone you can download free reading apps and sneak in some of The Hunger Games while you’re just standing there, instead of complaining about coin purse lady.  Or maybe you’re trapped at the doctor’s office or trapped at an oil change — books make these appointments so much better. And seriously, I do not know a single person who does not have waiting time in their lives, but I also don’t know anyone with a personal assistant, so there is that.

Daniel Radcliff Reading Harry Potter GIF

Audiobooks Get The Job Done

Look, I know audiobooks take forever to get used to and not everyone takes to them like a fish to water. THAT IS FINE, but honestly if you give up after one book, I’m not entirely convinced you’re giving audios the old college try. Seriously every single one of us has to do boring stupid things like cleaning our living areas unless you have a maid, in which case I’m super jealous. You know what makes cleaning go faster? AUDIOBOOKS. Legit, all you need to do is put one on your phone or music player, borrow it from the library and prepare to turn into one of those people who is obsessive with cleaning. I bet if you get a good audiobook going, your house will end up looking like a Pinterest board.

Or maybe you drive places and certain music turns you into a maniac, not that I know people like that, ahem. Audiobooks can be very calming and can make you slightly forget about the car ahead of you doing 35 in a 55. There are so many good and different audiobooks out there — likely there is an audiobook for every single person who is able to hear, so if you don’t find one that fits you TRY ANOTHER. I know, I know it’s scary to not give up and actually see something through, but I promise YOU CAN DO IT. Plus, your life will be totally enhanced after you fit audiobooks in. I mean, that’s how I am reading classics and non-fiction and doorstoppers these days AND I LOVE IT.

Ignore The Twitters

Cat Reading GIF

UGH YOU GUYS! My biggest weakness is twitter. I swear to god, I get home from work and check the old twitter application and get sucked into a black hole of controversy lurking and link clicking and book envy and funny content retweeting. Maybe your weakness is Pinterest though or lol Facebook. While these are useful tools and super fun, they’re also total time wasters most of the time, like honest to god my life is not entirely improved by lurking people’s controversies and issues. What I try to do is set a time every night where I turn the computer off and throw my phone in do not disturb mode and just read until bed time. It’s a bit amazing how much time goes into social networking and how much I could reduce that time. If you aren’t convinced, I suggest keeping a time log or something so you know where all of your time is going.

Set A Timer

Reading Get Out Of My Room GIF

I actually do this a lot and had mentioned it in my Bout Of Books post where a few people replied saying they hadn’t considered this. Y’all, I would be screwed if I lost my phone because I rely on it for EVERYTHING including the timer. What I try to do every once in awhile is set my timer for like 30 minutes or an hour and do nothing but read in that time frame with no distractions. I actually was shocked once when I read 90ish pages in 30 minutes with zero distractions. I am not a speed reader by any means, but I’m a total magpie and so I found that I can accomplish SO MUCH MORE when my attention is only focused on one thing.

Participate In A Readathon

Matilda Reading GIF

I think my favorite thing ever about blogging besides the people and the events and the drinks are Readathons. I participate in almost every readathon I can because I am a hermit and I’m blessed with weekends off and no children. OH OH and if you are not a blogger, readathons are annual events where communities of book lovers come together and decide to marathon read, some are 24 hours others are week long. These events are quite motivational and a fun way to challenge yourself to drop everything and read.  A few readathons I like participating in are Bout Of Books and The Dewey 24 Hour Readathon.

As you can see, there’s plenty of ways to fit reading into a busy schedule, it’s just a matter of organizing your time and taking advantage of waiting time and various moments.

Do you have any tips for fitting in reading time? With your busy life and schedule how do you prioritize books? Have you used any of the strategies mentioned above — how do they work for you? I’d really love to see your thoughts in the comments and yo, I’ll totally respond because conversation is kind of the best ever and something I am striving to cultivate.

‘Relax, It’s NOT A Competition’

by April (Books&Wine)

Does book blogging ever feel like a competition to you?

  • Who has the highest page views?
  • Who gets the most books in their mail?
  • Who gets the most comments?
  • Who leaves the most comments?
  • Who has the most twitter followers? Facebook fans? Repins?

Two Corgis On A Treadmill

Y’all, book blogging is exhausting.

Especially if you are the slightest bit neurotic like I am. I’m about to admit some not too pretty things about myself. I hope you all don’t hate my guts afterwards. I often build up blogging to be a competition in my mind. It’s the dumbest thing, and I know it’s totally WRONG but I can’t help it.

I admit to:

  • Not visiting a blog because I was all omg we are competing for page views.
  • Seeing someone I’d never heard of with 2,000 Facebook fans and thinking, oh they probably required it for a contest.
  • Being catty with others on the twitters.
  • Reading book after book after book after book because I am too afraid of going one day without content and my page views dropping.

You guys, this stuff is not easy to admit, but the funny thing is, when you say things out loud or in my case, in the Add New Post box, you realize exactly how ridiculous you sound.

It’s funny how sometimes when you take a step back and just breathe, you are able to put things into perspective.

Epiphanies That Occur When Taking Said Deep Breath:

1. Just because I visit another blog and give them hits does not mean that it takes away from my page views. This whole stay in your shell, people might be more popular attitude is utterly WHACK! Also? It’s false logic, self. Rather, I need to remind myself that hey, I am making FRIENDS and I should not be  jealous of those friends.

2. This is not high school. The amount of facebook likes a blog may have does not determine a blog’s worth. You know, if people want to require the liking in their contests, fine GO FOR IT. Hell, if you can get people to click the like button just to win free books, you are obviously awesome at social media and have something I could learn from rather than be catty or jealous.

3. Twitter is NOT the girl’s bathroom or the cafeteria table. I have been working very hard on my occasional attitude problem and being positive and NOT gripping constantly. I’ve got a long way to go, but I AM trying. Plus, I think that stuff tends to turn people off.

4. The pressure fricken sucks. It gets to me a lot. I tend to box those feelings up and stuff them away, because ugh, who wants to look weak after having book blogging induced high blood pressure? Not me. However, because this is my safe place, I will come clean and admit I feel that pressure constantly. It is why I always have an audio going in the car instead of music, even when I am in a music mood. It is why I am constantly reading at night after work instead of say, winding down with an episode of The Office or one of the many movies in my netflix queue. I mean, yes it is fun to have a high books read count and a high amount of reviews, but at the same time, it gets so exhausting. And on top of that maintain twitter, facebook, pinterest and my SEO. Make sure to leave at least 30 or so comments a day. It is a wonder I have not had a nervous breakdown. I have a wonderful blog partner, Allison, who really helps as far as writing reviews and participating in community activities. I think it’s time to let that pressure ease up.

Book Blogging is NOT a competition, I think I need to remind myself of that a little more often.

A few questions for you, in closing:

  1. Do you ever feel the need to churn out content constantly?
  2. Do you feel intense pressure in relation to our shared hobby?
  3. Have you ever found yourself thinking catty things or being petty out of jealousy?
  4. Do you ever feel like blogging is a competition? What do you do to snap your self out of it? Are you able to snap yourself out of  that attitude.

Legitimacy, Professionalism And Book Blogging

by April (Books&Wine)

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed. My brain was racing with thoughts. Shocker, right? This morning was also full of tossing and turning and thoughts rattling around in my brain. All these thoughts were centered around ALA, conferences and book blogger behavior. And while I realize that I am probably not the best person to write a post on professionalism (come on, you all know me), I thought I would take a crack at it anyways because this is starting to become something I really care about.

Image is everything.

Look you guys, book blogging is a relatively new part of the book industry. We are changing the landscape. People in the industry perceive us in a  variety of ways. Personally, I want to be perceived as a no-holds barred person who is passionate about books. I want to be taken seriously. Yet, when you act like an animal at an event, when you hoard books, when you treat librarians who pay hundreds compared to the pocket change of $25 to go to a professional event MEANT FOR THEM like second class citizens, when publishers refer to us as locusts, that reflects badly on me. That reflects badly on the whole community.

It is not fair. I get that. But people will judge our community based on the actions of one or a few bloggers. It’s why when you take multiple copies at an event like ALA when librarians are in PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT meetings and committees people start to assume that bloggers are grabby. Look, this needs to be said — when one blogger pushes and shoves and fights for a copy – that reflects on all of us. People will look at that blogger and dismiss the rest of us. You can whine and complain about how that person does not affect your image until the cows come home, but the sad fact is some people will make judgements about our community based on the actions of some people.

Attending events like ALA and BEA are a privilege for bloggers. The conference organizers, at least for ALA, do not have to have those events open to the public. ALA does not have to charge only $25 for bloggers to get in. If enough librarians are concerned about blogger behavior or are vocal about it to the board — that could mean the closing of ALA to non-professionals, because those of us who are not librarians are not entitled to be there. Again, this is where you need to THINK about how your actions come across. When you are grabbing stacks and stacks and stacks of books, people are watching. People who actually have a stake in ALA. People who form opinion based on that one grabby person. And look, I know I am repeating myself over and over, but I want to drive that point home.

How can we be considered legitimate if we can’t even act professionally at events? If we don’t take the concerns of librarians and industry professionals running the event seriously? When there is concern about people taking extras for giveaway to promote their blog, I think we need to listen. I don’t think there’s a call to be dismissive. I think that we need to take a good, long hard look at ourselves in the mirror. I think we need to acknowledge those concerns. Maybe that means an apology. Maybe it means making reparations and donating books to the library. Maybe it means considering your actions at every conference you attend. Maybe it means you should know better if it isn’t your first conference.

Maybe I am not the best person to write this post because let’s face it, I have a flair for the dramatic. Yet, that does not stop me from caring about how I am perceived, about how my community is perceived to people outside of it. I spend ball park 20-30 hours a week on my blog. Yes, yes, I know I need a life outside of this. So, maybe that is why I feel so invested in this. Maybe that is why I feel so critical of our behavior. Because I don’t want my blood, sweat, and tears to be for nothing. I don’t want my entire community to be seen as ARC hungry hoards. Because yes, this does affect me, because it affects our image.

That stated, I want to make some reparations. My local library does not have a teen group and does not accept ARCs. I have a bag full (not from ALA, I did not go) that my boyfriend was supposed to drop off at the library near where he works, but it sounds like he will never do it. Librarians, if you are interested in some YA/MG arcs and a few finished copies for your teens and your teen programs please email me – I would like to send you a few. I know it does not completely diminish what you witnessed, but it is a start.

That said, friends, how can we be part of the solution?

Also, Kelly of Stacked has a fantastic post about what librarians do with ARCs, being a book blogger and a librarian and ALA. I think you need to read it because it is eloquent and brings up excellent points.

If you’d like to learn more about professionalism, book blogging, networking, and publishing – might I recommend looking into Book Blogger Convention.

Via Pam’s suggestion – If you’d like to truly support ALA, you can buy a membership in ALA or YALSA. Here’s a link with more information on how to join.

Busting The Big Blogger Blues: A Survey And Event

by April (Books&Wine)

So, I was browsing my google reader when I came across a survey on Smash Attack’s blog for a Busting The Newbie Blues event. The survey was geared at established bloggers, and as a fan of talking about the process of blogging, I had to just click on over and find out what it’s all about. Apparently Busting The Newbie Blues is an annual event hosted by Small Review and this year Ruby Reads has teamed up to host a sister event for bigger bloggers, obviously called Busting The Big Blogger Blues. I KNOW, that’s a lot of introduction, but I love the concept so I’ll obviously participate.

When did you start your blog? 

I started my blog in July 2009.
Do you ever still feel like a newbie?
Not anymore, I think I’m well established and have carved out my own place in the book blogosphere.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? Did you make any mistakes new bloggers can learn from?
You want me to be brutally honest? Standing up for one of my friends who was harassed via a fake twitter account/blog. It was terrifying to write up that whole post, but I think the truth sets you free.
As for mistakes, I make them all the time. Don’t censor yourself, but at the same time be prepared to back up what you say and to be called on it.
What did you find most discouraging about being a new blogger? How did you deal with this?
This is kind of funny, but when I was new I used to follow a ton of blogs. I had a few followers too, right. Not many. But I would leave lots of comments. And I’d notice in the follower box someone would be following all these blogs but not mine and I took it personally. I know, that was dumb. And I’d meet all these people who already had cliques and friend groups and be jealous because I wanted to be in the friend groups. Anyways, I just dealt with it by keeping my head up and continuing to reach out and be social and comment on other blogs. FYI commenting and just TALKING to people will get you very far in your blogging experience.
What do you find most encouraging?
Genuine connections. Look dude, I know when someone is copy pasting the same comment on every blog, I was not born yesterday. But when someone leaves me a heartfelt comment or tweet or says HEY WE LOVE YOUR LACK OF FILTER, that’s encouraging.
If you could go back in time and speak with your newbie self, what five bits of wisdom would you tell yourself?
Don’t get caught up in the followers game.
Work hard and you will see results.
If you have an opinion, share it.
Don’t be afraid to say hello to your blogging idols. They are human and awesome and one day you will have a great dinner with one of them.
Buy an agenda book now, since you kind of suck at google calendar.
What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?
I love humor and discussion posts. Absolutely, I think I naturally have a decent sense of humor, I am okay with making fun of myself and joking and talking about who is a douchecanoe in the books I read. I love discussion posts, because to me when you devote the space to an opinion, even one I disagree with, it shows passion. All of the blogs I am head over heels in love with blog with passion and that’s something I strive for as well.
What do you dislike about blogs you’ve seen? Do you try to avoid this?
I hate the followers game — you know OMG FOLLOW ME FOLLOW ME CONTEST FOLLOW FOLLOW. Look, it’s great to build an audience, it truly is, but I think a lasting audience is going to stay because you are putting out relevant, quality content. Not interest that lasts so long as a rafflecopter count down. And yes, I do avoid this.
I will admit that my traffic and stats matter to me, but I have a platform where I want to build a sustainable audience, one that is there because they like my honesty or my humor or my taste in books.
How did you bring your blog to the attention of so many people? 
SEO, baby. SEO.(Google it). Also, I am quite brash and open and honest on twitter. Some people dislike that which is fine, but some people are drawn to it, I suppose. I spend a lot of time networking. A LOT OF TIME. Think a whole Sunday afternoon to visit new to me blogs on In My Mailbox and leaving individual, unique comments.
When and how did you get your first ARC (or first few ARCs)? 

To be 100% honest, I don’t even remember. I started out reviewing library books and books I purchased, and eventually grew an audience where publishers offered me copies. I’m pretty positive that ARCs have no bearing at all on how established someone is as a blogger. I’ve seen plenty of blogs that I wouldn’t exactly add to my google reader get lots of ARCs, and other blogs who have been at it for a LONG time refuse review copies. What I think being established boils down to is making a name and reputation for yourself, so when people hear your name or your blog name — they know who you are. Like when I hear The Story Siren – I think oh, Kristi she’s the YA queen. Or when I hear Anna Reads, I think awesome stick figure videos. Or when I hear The Book Smugglers, I think analytical, thoughtful reviews of speculative fiction.

“Better grab an umbrella I make it rain”: On Monetization

by April (Books&Wine)

Book Blogger Taboo?

I notice every once in awhile when I hop on the twitters people say monetization like it’s a dirty word. They act like monetization is the most taboo thing a book blogger can participate in and that one should be ashamed of it. I can’t help but laugh derisively at that. I mean, okay I will be the last person to say I’m not judgmental, because I totes am, but WHO THE FRICK ARE YOU to judge someone for wanting to make cashmoney on the side.

Make It Rain, Get Money, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe

Make It Rain

[click to continue…]

I Reserve The Right To Call You A Lazy Idiot

by April (Books&Wine)

Few things get my ire up more than the handwringing over the lack of YA book books, or the assumption that ‘the new authors being signed by agents and publishers. Chick lit, romance, paranormal, vampires and urban teenage fantasy. Girl stuff written by women’. There are current YA books being published that have boy appeal, I swear, they aren’t even that hard to find.

I have the easiest tool ever to find them too! Okay, so there was this search engine company founded in 1998, small company but you may have heard of them, GOOGLE? That ringing any bells? If my grandma can figure out how to google, I bet you could as well. And if you can’t google ‘boy books’ you are lazy. Yes, LAZY.

If you don’t know how here are some simple steps:

1. Go to the address bar, that is the thing at the top of your browser, type in http://www.google.com

How To Google, Address Bar, Mozilla

So simple a cave man could do it

2. Once the google website loads, you will see the giant google logo and below it, a box where you can type in a search query, so for this example, I will type in YA Books For Boys. Hit enter after you type query.

Search Query, Google

Now With Drop Down Options!

3. After you hit enter, all the results pop up. Then you click the links that sound the most interesting to you, and there are A LOT to choose from.

The Number Of REsults, google search

That Google is one fast bastard

Some tough love for you: do your research before you pop off at the mouth about the lack of YA books for boys. Assuming the only YA books being printed are for females and of the genres listed above displays incredibly ignorance of the YA genre, and I do reserve the right to mock it like it’s hot, as it’s really not that impossible to find books with boy appeal.

Here is a list of great authors who write books that can appeal to boys:

  • John Green
  • David Levithan
  • Chris Crutcher
  • Francisco X. Stork
  • Marcus Zusak
  • K. Ryer Breese
  • Patrick Ness
  • Walter Dean Myers
  • Sherman Alexie
  • Garth Nix
  • Neil Shusterman
  • Neil Gaiman
  • David Clement-Davies
  • Charles Higson
  • Jonathan Maberry
  • Michael Northrup
  • DM Cornish
  • Jeff Hirsch
  • Nick Lake
  • Matthew Quick
  • Jay Asher
  • Pittacus Lore
  • Suzanne Collins
  • Chelsea Campbell
  • James Dashner
  • Ilysa J. Bick,
  • Carl Hiasson
  • Frank Beddor
  • Rick Yancey
  • John Barnes
  • James Patterson
  • Nancy Farmer
  • Scott Westerfeld
  • Charles de Lint
  • SE Hinton
  • Diana Wynne Jones
  • Jonathan Stroud
  • Steve Kluger
  • Alison Goodman
  • Rae Carson
  • Megan Whalen Turner

But OMG, the amount of work it takes to find these authors, gosh that took me like a whole five minutes of brainstorming. Man, it is just SO rough.

Further, I think that if you aren’t able to find a gender neutral cover, you are LAZY and not trying hard enough. Sure the covers that are turned out in the store typically have a female head/body on them, but look at the ones that only have a spine. Gender neutral covers: Divergent, The Knife Of Never Letting Go, Looking For Alaska, Trapped, Ashes, The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian, The Thief, The Looking Glass Wars, Rot And Ruin, The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, The Maze Runner, Unwind, Flash Burnout, The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors, Monster, and so on and so fourth…

But, I think if we simply look at this in terms of must find great boy books, or that is a boy book or that is girl book, we lose out on same great stories because of the sex we happen to be. Instead of thinking along these gendered lines  (FYI gender is totally a SOCIAL construct, crazy right?!?!) maybe we should instead look for great books for PEOPLE. Kids, YA is neither a boys club nor is it a girl’s club, but a people club. Sure you might have to leave the best seller section of the store to find more than just Twilight (which FYI some males do like, 2 of my 8th grade males from student teaching and one 12th grade male ENJOYED and admitted to enjoying), but honestly it’s not that hard. And if you are like the majority of people reading this blog, I would assume you know how to shop on the internet, it’s not super hard to find a great YA book on amazon with people appeal.

There are definitely people who have responded to ‘the boy book argument’ much more eloquently than me. Check them out below:

Aja blogging at The Mary Sue

Maureen Johnson

Renay at Subverting The Text

Lady Business

TeishaGATE

by April (Books&Wine)

“Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is.”

-Winston Churchill

I have a vested interest in the truth. As a book blogger, I guess you could say that I’m a member of this new media press. I believe one of the fundamentals of the press historically is disseminating the truth. From Watergate to the Pentagon Papers to the Weiner pictures, the truth will come out.

And frankly, I think it’s time the truth has come out about the infamous Teisha Little.

I know I’m going to take flack from the people who say if you just ignore it, it will go away. I don’t believe that at all. I don’t believe in sticking my head in the sand. I don’t believe in standing idly by while my friends are being called plagiarists with no evidence. I don’t believe in standing by when the parenting skills of my friends are being criticized. I don’t believe in standing by when someone uses gay slurs. As a bystander, I see it as my responsibility to speak out in the face of evil.

I’m not sure how many of you have ever been picked on or bullied in your life, but I’m sure you know how much it hurts when someone calls you names. It absolutely has a real effect. We also know that cyberbullying has a legitimate effect on a person. I’m doing this because someone who I would consider to be a good friend, who I’ve met a few times, was slandered by ‘Teisha Little.’ Who stated ‘it wasn’t until recently that a f****t brought to my attention the fact that that white-ass pasty-ass wrinkly-ass saggy piece of shit’. Sorry, but that crosses the line. It’s not only hurtful to the person in question, but also hurtful to GLBTQ people, as it uses a gay slur. That doesn’t sit right with me at all.

So I did some investigation.

You see, while the internet can be full of depravity, it can also be full of wonderful tools.

My first tool? Tineye.

Tineye is image recognition software. Upload or post an image link to tineye and it will scan the internet for matches. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions or make any accusations until I had proof that Teisha isn’t a real person. I give you exhibit A:

Teisha Little

Teisha Little Blogger Profile

This is the blogger profile picture as found here: http://www.blogger.com/profile/01127689467396323934

A quick search on Tineye yielded these matches:

http://www.beautifulhairstyles.com/red/pictures/redhead05.jpg

http://makeup.mojforum.si/makeup-post-2912.html

http://mediaphoto.doctissimo.fr/dossiers/s/i/sisi-caline/9632-Coiffures-dames-court-tres-court-/IM-672525-coiffure.jpg

So, we can conclude from this evidence that the blogger avatar photo is not real. Moving further down this path of evidence, I also have proof that the twitter avatar image is not Teisha but a youtuber named Tracy Tina.

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkU2ch0sRI

The next step in this process was uncovering the identity of ‘Teisha’. With the help of Pam, this happened. We found Teisha’s commenting IP address, as Teisha had left various comments on Pam’s blog. We then compared the IP address to that of other commenters on Pam’s blog. There were results.

The IP address matched that of a very well known blogger, who later admitted to posting the Teisha comments on Pam’s blog as well as to posting the Teisha comment on Alex’s review of Rage.

I have photographic evidence of this.

TeishaLittleGate

Evidence

You’ve seen the evidence. I’m not naming names on this post, yet I need to say this whole situation disheartens me. It bothers me when someone I would consider to be ‘cool’ would spew such hatred about other members of the blogging community.

How as a community are we supposed to react when one of our own is being defamed? With technology today, it’s pretty easy to trace an anonymous source with the right tools. It’s not acceptable in my eyes to treat people this way. I really don’t think we should stand for this sort of thing as community members. Yet, that begs the question, how do we handle this respectfully? How do you respectfully call someone out when you have cold hard evidence?

I don’t have all the answers, but maybe you have some thoughts.

Filling The Silence: My Audiobook Year 2010-2011

by April (Books&Wine)

Ya’ll this has been the year of the audiobook for me. I’ve dabbled before, but this year I have turned into a full on convert. I bit the bullet and got audible on my iPhone which has been the perfect venue for listening to audiobooks.

Audiobook Week Logo

Audiobook Week hosted by Devourer Of Books

You know, I’m actually at the point where I feel guilty if I listen to music while driving instead of audiobooks. I never thought I would be a fan of audio. I always thought of it as cheating, however, now I realize it is a wonderful new medium in which to experience stories.

I credit Harry Potter with really hooking me on audio. Ya’ll Jim Dale does some amazing narraration, and brought my Harry Potter experience to a whole new level. You see, I wanted to re-read Harry Potter but didn’t exactly have time. Enter audiobooks. I’d listen while driving.

Eventually listening while driving turned into listening while doing the rare workout into listening while doing dishes.

Now I find I actually don’t mind doing chores as long as I have a good audiobook to listen to.

I also find that if it’s just me all by myself in the office, a nice audiobook helps to pass the time while I work on things like documentation or putting together my work newsletter.

My name is April and I am an audiobooks addict.

This post is based on a prompt from Jen at Devourer of Books who is hosting audiobooks week. Check it out here.

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