Saturday Spotlight: Borganix

It's been quite awhile since I found something new (or just new to me) that I cared about and actually enjoyed enough to write a Saturday Spotlight about.  This weekend, I'd like to share some music with you, but let me start at the beginning.  My friend from high school used to be in this band that was named after him, called Unkle Nancy and the Family Jewels.  Look them up on YouTube for a good time.  In particular, if you can find anything from an album called Lovely... you've found some amazing work that I can't get enough of.  Lyrics like, "I want you to know me like the sun knows the sky" are what make that album for me.  But then Unkle Nancy's health needed some attention so not a lot of new music came from the guys for a good long time.

Me listening to Unkle Nancy in Berlin

Now, my friend and a couple of his friends, Marv Ellis Daddy-yo and met diggy are working together to bring us something new.  Both the sound and the medium are pretty unusual, but really pretty great.  The sound is a mix of everything, but in a good way.  They found a way to mix kind of alternative with rap and add a flute without sounding insane or like total wankers (because I watch a lot of British TV).  The music is hot, the lyrics are hot (and explicit; it's rap) and the guys need our help to take it to the masses.  Instead of trying to release a traditional album, which they've already successfully done, so why beat that dead horse? they're going to release a series of podcasts called Borganix.  I'll post a link to their Gofundme and here's what I need from you: just click the link, read the description and listen to the music.  If you like it and feel like donating, knock yourself out, then share it with your friends.  If you can't drop some spange, it's cool and if the music isn't your style that's cool too.  Either way I'm just saying, try to think of a friend who might like the tunes and share, share, share!  Don't pressure anyone to donate, but do give them a little nudge until they listen.  I think a lot of people will like it, so let's get the music out there!  Thanks, pals!  Here's that link: https://www.gofundme.com/borganix

Saturday Spotlight: Post Secret

Every Sunday, I go to PostSecret.com and spy on other peoples' secrets.  They make or buy a postcard, write their secret on it, then mail it anonymously to Frank Warren, who runs the website.  The story goes, he was a student doing an art project for college, and his idea was to hand out blank, self-addressed postcards for people to use for anonymous secrets.  Well, the idea was a great one, and it picked up steam until people were -very creatively sometimes- making their own to send in.  He's ended up with enough postcards to post a long list of them on his website every week and publish seven hardcover books full of the most interesting ones.  I have four of the books.

One is actually signed.  Frank Warren did a thing on Facebook once, where if you like & share or whatever, he'd pick one name at random and send an autographed book and a real actual secret that he received in the mail.  I won!

So, go on.  Give me something to look at next Sunday.  Make a postcard and send it to:

Post Secret

13345 Copper Ridge Rd

Germantown, MD

20874-3454 

Or, if you want you can even send a donation.  He gives the money to a suicide hotline called HopeLine and they've raised over a million dollars so far.  True story.  They also do art exhibits (I've been to one) and he does speaking engagements.  Check out the website, you'll see.  Here's a link.  ----->  This here.

But maybe prescreen before you bring the kids, okay?  It's sometimes very heavy.

Saturday Spotlight: Jay Are Adams

Do you ever sit around thinking, "Hmm... what should I be looking up on YouTube right now?  I need something hilarious but not filthy, so what am I to DO?" Try Jay Are Adams.  His profile on there is Caliryda21 and he's really funny.  He's even funnier in person as a stand-up comedian but he does these little songs on YouTube that he probably never does in person (I'd guess) so following him on there is pretty fun.  He's also on Instagram (you'll want to follow him there... you'll see), Snapchat and Twitter @JayAreAdams and of course Jay Are Adams on Facebook.  If you just look up 'Jay Are' on Facebook, he has a Page you can 'like' as well.   

I pretty much hoard every business card I get...

This dude is military, which is pretty cool with me.  I met him while he was stationed near me for some training or something.  He was at an open mic and he completely KILLED IT.  So funny!  He's pretty funny on Twitter too, which is good because it's sometimes a couple of weeks or a month between YouTube videos but they're worth your time.  Give him a try.  I'm telling you, you'll like him. 

Saturday Spotlight: Derek E Dykes

This post may be short since I'm writing it on my cell phone. Yikes. I'm a pro at putting things off, and this is where it's gotten me. So, first of all, I'll have to start out with a little background info on myself. When I read a book, even if the story is amazing, I can't enjoy it unless the author's voice is one I can relate to. Because of that, I hate... I mean DESPISE... buying books directly from the author. At cons, you often meet authors, they're often nice people, and they're usually selling their books (you know, doing their job). When I pick a book in a bookstore, I read passages at random to determine how I think I'd like the book. I'm terribly picky and I most often put the book back. Since I can't even IMAGINE doing that with the person who wrote the book staring me down, I tend to pick one book for con weekends almost at random and just hope for the best. 

Last year I hit the jackpot! An author in a panel for writers mentioned a plot detail and I decided to buy that book. It's called Madness and it's by Derek E Dykes.  Set in the future, it involves mental illness, murder, future tech and pure evil. In the beginning of the book the main character, who's an FBI agent, happens upon a decades-old crime scene.  The victim's DNA shows that she's a positive match for our heroine's maternal grandmother, who died not decades ago but only a year ago.  I don't want to give too much away, but it's really intense and at one point I literally had to put the book down to hyperventilate. 

I actually ran into him at the con today and he very graciously posed for a picture with me.  I was a little disappointed that he didn't have any books with him but not to worry.  He'll have some tomorrow, and you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there to get the next book; I'll get as many books as there are in this series.  (Two.  There are two more books in this series.  I was being dramatic.  But I am buying both of the other two.) 

I think he actually did the cover art as well

Nice work Derek Dykes, you beautiful twisted freak.

Saturday Spotlight: Dr Valerie Crane

This week's spotlight is on a local author I'm blessed to know personally.  She's actually my pastor's wife and one of the best people in the world to get parenting advice from, as I see it.  Her kids are all grown up now, and they're all polite (which is my main parenting goal, to be honest) and smart.  They've also never been in any major trouble, they're great parents themselves, and they're normal, well-rounded non-Stepford people.  As you know, I have two kids myself, so as soon as I had access to her book, Oh Mother, Where Art Thou?  I snapped it up.

Buy it here

It is full of advice and tips that are actually practical and she explains very well her logical and Bible-based reasoning behind it.  It's not too long, either.  Just right for a new mom looking for an experienced mom's perspective.  I recommend it. 

Saturday Spotlight: Vincent Croce

This Saturday, the spotlight is on an Instagrammer with roughly a zillion followers.  He lives in Europe and posts mostly landscapes.  My favorites are his snowy pics, but that's just what I like in general.  So definitely check him out and scroll until you can't anymore.  Don't skip any along the way, though; they're all beautiful.  Check him out on Instagram, he's my favorite! And you'll notice his Tumblr link is in his bio, too.

You digging my sweet cell phone screenshot skills?

Saturday Spotlight: Kreativa Katten

Decorating day planners is kind of a whole big thing.  Like, my planner is basically a scrapbook or journal that I'll keep forever, and there's a really big industry and countless social media groups dedicated to it.  My problem is, the products are mostly very sophisticated and girly and not at all nerd-friendly.  That's not me.  I'm not fancy.  I wanted to start the year on a pop-culture-y note and keep it up for as many months as possible.  I searched all over Etsy for hours trying to find nerdy planner stickers that were cute, priced well and relevant to my particular fandoms.  I decided to start with Firefly, and there was only ONE shop on all of Etsy to get them from, Kreativa Katten.  There was some confusion at first, and I did have some special requests besides Firefly, but they not only fixed everything but they took my suggestions, had conversations with me about them and made me a loyal customer.  She didn't ask me to review her, so this is all me.  (In fact, I didn't know what I was even going to write about until crunch time!) I really kinda hope she doesn't mind the mention. 

Here's what I ended up with:

 

 

And put to use:

 

As you can see, 'high numbers' is a relative term

Saturday Spotlight: Jim Sullivan

I grew up way out west in California.  Not the cool, glamorous part like Hollywood or Malibu, but just out somewhere in the center of the desert.  Want proof? The town is called Desert Center.  Google it right now and you'll find news articles and blogs proclaiming it a ghost town.  I know this because after being free of the place for almost 25 blissful years, I decided to Google it (took a page out of Lot's wife's book), and that's exactly what I found.  One guy, Jim Sullivan, goes to all kinds of these ghost towns, explores and posts pictures which, frankly, cut me pretty deeply.  He beautifully captured the despair I felt as a city girl living in a town whose population hovered around 300 people at the time.  Our closest Wal-Mart, movie theater, drugstore... our closest HIGH SCHOOL was an hour away.  Keep that in mind as you look through the pictures.  Here's a sample of the ones that hit me the hardest, but for sure check out his blog.  There are tons more there, and he's done quite a few other towns, too.

 

Saturday Spotlight: Nerd Out With Me

I've decided to try doing an occasional Saturday Spotlight to bring your attention to something new and exciting that I love, and that you might not have heard of before.  It will mostly be indie or fledgling projects, like books or bands but today it's a blog.  And, no, it hasn't escaped my notice that at this point, anything I spotlight will already be much more well-known than myself.  I enjoy irony.

So, this Saturday a super fun blog called Nerd Out With Me is in the spotlight.  This blogger, Tig, is a stranger to me but seems like a pretty fun dude.  He does a 'guess the movies' thing every Tuesday where he posts screen grabs and you can then wrack your brain like you're taking finals, trying to remember what movies they're from.  There are also "pic dumps" on Wednesdays, which feature nerdiness in photograph form.  He posts a ton of pictures relating to movies, video games, TV shows and all kinds of pop culture stuff.  It's seriously SO great. Check him out and let me know what you think.

If you have any spotlight suggestions, comment them below because I'd love to check them out.  Thanks, and don't forget to subscribe!