1. He sure plays a mean pinball. Nine-year-old Caine Monroy was bored while waiting after school at his father’s auto parts shop in East LA. Instead of zoning out on his PSP or otherwise getting into trouble, he decided to build an entire amusement arcade out of cardboard boxes and packing tape. The problem was that no one really came by to play.
Then, as if straight out of a fairy tale, Caine’s knight in shining armor arrived in the form of filmmaker Nirvan Mullick, who needed a part for his old car. Nirvan was amazed by Caine’s brightness and tenacity (as I think you will be also) and wanted to help make Caine’s dream come true. He shot this short documentary and, with the help of social media, got dozens of people to play at Caine’s arcade. Through donations and revenue from the film, they’ve now raised about $204,000 for Caine’s college tuition, something that was once unthinkable for Caine’s dad.
Look at this boy go. Check out the look on his face when he sees how many people have shown up to play his arcade. (Have a tissue handy.) I think I’ll call him to build a bookcase for my living room.
2. It’s time for another round of Search Termapalooza! Below are just a few of the search terms people have entered and, for better or worse, ended up at this blog:
- “New photos of Anne Frank” (It seems “new” photos of her would be hard to find.)
- “Picture of basement pipes licking”
- “Useless flyers”
- “Blood pooling” (Is that like car pooling? Or is it what happens when you lose at The Godfather’s billiards match?)
- “Worlds most funniest Battle Gettysburg picture” (You mean one of the Civil War’s deadliest battles?)
- “Helicopter tail dog”
- “Copper rain gutters are expensive”
- “Little house of tulip horrors”
- “A strawberry by any other name” (A budding Shakespeare perhaps?)
- “Struggle picky husband”
- “Drag punk cangro”
If you have a blog, have you received some interesting search terms recently?
3. Anchors Away. It’s Fleet Week here in NYC – a spring tradition when sailors from around the world show up in their dress whites to celebrate…well, I’m not really sure what they are here to celebrate. (Sex and the City did an entire episode about Fleet Week, but since this is a family-friendly blog, I won’t post any clips.) But the parade of ships up the Hudson River is a neat sight. Not only are the giant battleships and air craft carriers on hand, but also the tall sail ships and fire boats. I took a stroll down to the river walk to watch them arrive.
(Flickr user jphillipobrien)
4. Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne
5. Back to Basics. One more small plug for my class which starts on June 4. I’m teaching an online creative writing course through The Loft Literary Center. It’s a fun class for beginning writers, where we discuss one element of fiction each week such as dialogue and setting. There are writing exercises and readings from master works highlighting that week’s topic. I developed the syllabus and put together all of the course materials myself and I’m proud of the result. If you or anyone you know might be interested, please forward the link above or in the sidebar on the right. Registration is open until the first day of class. So far about 7 people have signed up so it’s sure to be a fun course.
Have a great weekend everyone! If you’re in the US, hope you enjoy the extra day off!
