We here at the Family Valued paperless office, open-air garden shed, and maladapted pressroom have randomly selected a ten-year-old from among the one immediately available.

So, what do you think of when I say anthropomorphic espionage?
I think of some word that I don’t really know what it means and spies.

What have you been reading lately?
Two books about a spy cat (The Stink Files by Holm & Hamel); and I’m reading a third one which is out. And I’ve read one book about a spy mouse (Spy Mice by Heather Vogel Frederick).

What’s with the animal agents?
Probably because people like spies. It’s America and there are a lot of spies. They were in the First World War and World War II.

When do these books take place? What happens?
Modern times. The plot for Spy Mice: there’s these two children and they get bullied by mean people and they find out about this spy mice agent, Glory Goldenleaf. The big villain is a rat. He has his own spy organization. He has Glory’s father prisoner and they try to rescue him.
The Stink Files books are about Mr. Stink, a.k.a. James Edward Bristlefur. The first book is about him adjusting to city life because he’s from London and he’s used to being out in all that open space.

You know London is a city, a very large city?
It’s not as cramped, you know. The second Stink Files is about a cat show and chasing down a villain in the cat show. The third one that I’m reading is about James Edward Bristlefur winning a contest and him being treated like a king. Cats think of him as the king of Catlandia.

What’s your favorite part of the books?
“Do you expect me to beg for life?” “No, Mr. Stink, I expect you to die.”
I would definitely recommend them.

May, 2006

“Airigami: the art of folding air in specially prepared latex containers.” I love anyone that can raise whimsy to the level of art. I love Larry Moss. He has made the world safe for balloon sculpture. At www.airigami.com, you can see the fantastic flying octopus (almost 20,000 balloons, 10,000 cubic feet of helium) and the giant soccer players (40,781 balloons, 40 feet high). Moss has written books (Twisting History- Lessons in Balloon Sculpting) and performed at the White House.

This year, he will bring the infamous, spooky Balloon Manor back to Rochester after a one year absence: Return to Balloon Manor will be in Irondequoit’s Medley Centre October 20-29. If you were not at the first Balloon Manor, you missed an amazing experience like no other haunted house.

And among all those large scale projects, I love the way Larry Moss personalizes each event. His magic act reaches everyone in the audience. I have watched children swamp him as he makes animals and things, granting each one their own shaped bag of helium.

This year, Moss has brought that personal touch to the Balloon Manor as local kids can enter the Design a Monster drawing contest. Details are at [link expired], but hurry since entries are due by August 8.
A Grand Prize Winner for ages 9 and under; and ages 10 to 18 will be chosen. Their drawings will be made into balloon monsters to appear in Balloon Manor. Runners-up will receive tickets to Balloon Manor and Seabreeze Amusement Park.

July, 2006

Celine Dion, Volare, Nana Mouskori, Katrina & the Waves, and, most of all, ABBA. And this year: the hard rock band Lordi, whose lead singer, Mr. Lordi, creates his own costumes with plastic skulls, reindeer fur, etc., etc.

For those of you who haven’t guessed, today’s topic is the Eurovision Grand Prix (or Eurovision Song Contest). For fifty years now, the other side of the world gets together and tries to find a really good song that they can play on their radios until blood comes out of their ears. As of May 20, dateline Athens, that song will be Hard Rock Hallelujah by the Finnish band, Lordi. Yes, they had European Idol a long, long time ago. And it’s a broadcast hit from Egypt to Ireland. For crying out loud, the Ukrainians hosted it last year and opened their borders so that fans from participating countries could come and go as they pleased. Try that with Simon Cowell’s dressing room some time.

This is not an amateur contest. Participating countries are allowed to submit one song (selected by any means available; Serbia & Montenegro were banished for an inability to select a song), which is then performed by a musician or group who do not have to be from the originating country (i.e., Canadian Celine Dion). Each country ranks everybody else’s songs through two or so rounds and a winner is selected. Fame and fortune follow. Nowadays, you can visit www.eurovision.tv and follow the results from anywhere on the planet. You can also hear snippets of the songs or buy the complete set of entries, should you need to know what happens when good songs get writ large.

May, 2006