Video I love: Help! I can’t open this newfangled “book”

Posted on September 14, 2009 by SloanParker

Once a week, I post a video I’ve seen recently that I’m loving. So here’s this week’s Video I love …

It’s a sketch of a monk who tries to read a book (as opposed to a scroll) when books were first introduced.

Enjoy!

Note: This video has English subtitles.
<<embedded video below>>

I love this video for several reasons:

I love books.
I needed a laugh when I first saw this. And this one had me busting up.
I worked in an IT department for 10 years. I answered quite a lot of help desk calls and usually ended up having to go out to the person’s desk. The mannerisms in this video are spot on! And the bit at the end when the book is flipped the wrong way was perfect. (A tangent: My favorite story from work was when a woman who usually called me once a week left me a voice mail. We had the same first name and when she left her message, she said, “Hi. This is …” only she gave my full name instead of hers. It seems she was that frustrated by her computer, she had lost all knowledge, including her own name. She never did catch her mistake, so at least she didn’t have to feel bad about that).

This video does make me wonder what it will be like when my parents try to read an ebook for the first time (although they are pretty tech savvy as compared to some, so I guess we’ll see. My brother will probably be worse. He still needs his kids to boot up the PC when he wants to play solitaire).

Was it good for you too? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Sloan Parker

Announcement: Twitter and Facebook sucked me in

Posted on September 13, 2009 by SloanParker

I tried to put it off (since I like to spend a lot of my time writing and reading) but today I took the plunge. I’m now on Twitter and Facebook as well as MySpace. Below are the links to locate me at each site. I hope you’ll stop by and say hello.

Twitter
Facebook
MySpace

I’m limited on how much time I can spend on-line (in favor of my writing), but I am enjoying getting familiar with the sites and making new friends. I like the simplicity of Twitter and the formatting for commenting on Facebook.

How about you? Which social networking sites do you like to use? Which is your favorite? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Sloan Parker

GLBT Bookshelf

Posted on September 11, 2009 by SloanParker

This past week, I finished writing an article about GLBT Bookshelf, a new on-line community. As their web site states, this is a site for “writers, artists, publishers, reviewers and readers … with a difference. We’re a GLBT Community, where the emphasis is on gay books. If you enjoy a great gay read, this is the place for you!”

The article will be featured in the upcoming Rainbow Romance Writers’ chapter newsletter. I had the pleasure of talking with the site’s creator, Mel Keegan. Mel is passionate about this site, and I could see why. It’s a global community dedicated to supporting and promoting GLBT books … and ONLY GLBT books. Kinda nice, huh? Writers of gay stories often have to deal with discrimination against their writing in contests, bookstores, and other areas of the business. It’s nice to have a site where all the books, opinions, reviews, and more are not excluded or judged for their gay content. You can click into the Bookstore and all the books are GLBT, categorized by genre. Way to go Mel Keegan and the other site administrators.

So check it out. You can browse for books, post reviews, participate in discussions, look at cover art, and more at www.glbtbookshelf.com.

Here’s the page I created on the site. My page includes info on my writing and free fiction. I also list some of my favorite authors and books since I don’t just write gay stories–I read them too!

What do you think? Have you checked out GLBT Bookshelf yet? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the site.

Sloan Parker

Quote I love: US President Obama, words to inspire

Posted on September 9, 2009 by SloanParker

Have you ever looked back on your childhood and thought about those special moments when an adult made a minor comment that drastically affected the way you looked at life?

I can think of several that had lasting, positive impacts on my views of the world and myself in it. Most were made by adults who were just making conversation at the time or who had said only a few words to me. They probably had no idea what they were saying would have such importance in my life. And they probably have no recollection of the conversation at all. That’s the great (and sometimes not so great) thing about human nature. The world and people around us impact our view of ourselves, our abilities, our dreams. One small comment might inspire a child to try harder in school, which in turn might send them on a completely different path, one that leads to more reading, more education, a better job, a brighter future.

So I applaud President Obama for these words …

“Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams.”

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

What better way to inspire kids who may not see much of a future for themselves than to become President of the US and remind kids just where you came from so they can see that it is possible to achieve great things in life!

Anyone else like this part of the speech? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Video I love: Love Scene from Shelter Movie

Posted on September 7, 2009 by SloanParker

I saw this clip from the movie Shelter recently and thought it was a nice love scene. I have yet to see the movie, but it seems like something I’m going to like. And there have been quite a few good reviews and awards.