July Coffee Cup and Miscellaneous…
If you’re a Starbucks habitue then you’ve probably seen this cup. It’s surprising how many of their cups I seem drawn to for their color, functionality, and design. This one just screamed the blistering heat of July in Maryland. It’s the gradations of the warm/hot colors in the stylized grid for me it speaks of lazy days sitting on the porch with a good book and a drink — usually iced coffee or tea. Well, at least this cup is large enough for an iced beverage but it’s also a great hefty coffee cup.
Got it on the clearance table too. I’ve noticed lately that the things on sales tables are the things I’m actually looking for at the time. Though I do remember seeing this cup on the shelves for the last several months, but I didn’t want it then. Marketing seems to always be out of step with what I’m looking for as it is for most people. Winter clothes during the heat of summer. Summer clothes while I’m freezing in my woolies. I don’t understand marketing at all — obviously, which probably explains why I nearly always buy things on sale because by the time I want something the “season” has passed and they’re gearing up for the next one that I’m not ready for yet. Maybe it’s them that doesn’t understand marketing which would explain all the Christmas decorations before Halloween.
While I’m writing this post up, Hyperion is boxing up books to pack up the car for our trip to Readercon tomorrow. [Hyperion: I got called into work and lost about five hours of productive packing time.
In fact, I’m moderating the panel: Upbeat and Downbeat in YA Fiction which has the description:
Dark and downbeat endings have become fashionable in YA fiction, even to the point where they have been questioned as a fad gone too far. The trend raises a host of questions about the psychology of young readers that need to be asked and answered. Is the tone and resolution of a work of YA fiction actually more important than in adult fiction, e.g., because the readers are still at the age where their worldview is being shaped? Do young readers have a different tolerance for or reaction to downbeat endings than adults? Do they need to be forcibly exposed to the cruel realities of the world, shielded from them, or gently inoculated?
I’m doing a lot of reading right now for preparation and generating a lot of questions which I’ll then have to pare down to a reasonable number to ask the panel about and hopefully generate some discussion.
If you have a question relevant to the panel that you feel needs to be asked or should at least be considered, drop me a comment. I’m always willing to take ideas under consideration. And to me, my questions sound lame…of course I tend to think that. If I think of something it must be so obvious that a galloping rider on a horse could see it a mile away…and that famous response, “Duh!’ would be the perfect answer. So, help me out.
Well, Ern arrived to help pack up the cars for our caravan to Burlington tomorrow morning. Starting Thursday, my posts will be coverage of Readercon. Hope you enjoy the coverage of the convention — feedback would be helpful.