January themes

January first is here, and the MAD Book Challenge is officially up and running! From this day on, you may start the Book Challenge any day you wish! (Refer to the Book Challenge Rules for more information--link in the sidebar).

That means it's time to release the THEMES for the month of January. The first "week" of the year will begin today but end on Sunday the 11th of January, giving you a little extra time to get those first couple of books. However, from that point on, a week will go from Monday to the following Sunday (with the exclusion of the final week of the year, which will run from 28th December to 31st December--so keep in mind that you have a shortened week to read the last book of the year if you're starting on a day OTHER than Monday).

Keeping that in mind, here are the Themes for the first four weeks of the Book Challenge:

1. (Jan. 1 - Jan. 11) Book by a hot author
   ----[Definition of "hot" author has been extended to "cute"]
2. (Jan. 12 - Jan. 18) New book by an old favorite author
3. (Jan. 19 - Jan. 25) Humorous book
   ----[May be comedy, parody, satire]
4. (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1) Dinosaur(!) book
   ----["Dinosaur" book defined as a book where, if you remove dinosaurs from the story, the plot no longer makes sense]

Any and all questions can be emailed to me at themadpodcast@gmail.com. Just make sure to use the subject line "MAD Book Challenge" and I'll get back to you right away.

Vlogtacular

Time for the second MAJOR podcast announcement!!

Starting in the year of 2009 we will be doing our very own VLOG. You can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/themadpodcast (there's also a link in the sidebar). There are five of us, and five week days, so we've assigned one day of the week to each MADer. Every week day one of us will post a vlog. The order is:

Monday: Staci
Tuesday: Sarita
Wednesday: Deborah
Thursday: Marshall
Friday: Sarah

Important Book Challenge news

I just made some important changes to the rules post about the Book Challenge. If you've already read the post and don't want to go searching through it to find the changes, here they are:

• Originally I said that any book over 1000 pages would count as two books. This has been changed to 800 pages, after I realized that, holy crap, books over 1000 pages do not exist.
• If you read the same book two times during the course of the year, it still only counts as one book toward the challenge. This is to prevent people from just rereading the Harry Potter series like eight times to win the challenge.

Remember, the Challenge begins TOMORROW!!! (If you want to start at the same time as me and the other MADers. You can technically start the challenge whenever you want, as long as you set the deadline exactly one year after the day you start. But still.)

So get those books together, because tomorrow I'll be announcing the themes for the month of January.

MAD Book Challenge

Remember how, a couple of posts ago, I told you that some very important announcements were coming up? Well, here it is: the mother of all announcements.

I'd like YOU to participate in a little program I've come up with, called the MAD BOOK CHALLENGE. Here's the essentials--in one year, we're going to read 52 books. That's one book a week.

Now, depending on how much of a reader you are, that may or may not sound difficult. So I've come up with a set of RULES AND REGULATIONS to make sure nobody cheats at the Challenge, and to give you an opportunity to prove your amazing reading skillz.

The Book Challenge will start on January 1st, 2009, but will continue indefinitely (meaning it won't end at the end of 2009--it starts over in 2010) and you can join at any time. You get exactly 52 weeks from the day you join up to read all 52 books. In order for a book to be counted toward the challenge, it must meet the following requirements:

1. It must be FICTIONAL, unless otherwise specified by the Challenge Leader (me).
2. It must be a minimum of 150 pages in length. However, use your judgement here: certain factors, like size of the text and difficulty of the reading make some books count more or less.
3. You must not be obligated to read the book for some other reason--for example, a book that you read for your English class does not count toward the Challenge, unless you read it a second time outside of class.

(NOTE: Any book over 800 pages will count as two books.)

Of the 52 books that you read for the challenge, AT LEAST TWENTY SIX must be books that you have never read before. This is all about expanding horizons, so you are NOT allowed to only do re-reads. If you read the same book twice over the course of the year, it still only counts as one book (meaning you can't just re-read the Harry Potter series over and over, for example).

You do NOT have to read one book per week--this is only recommended. I acknowledge that there will be some weeks when you don't have the time--so you only need to have 52 done by the end of the year. If that means you do most of your reading in the summer and hardly any in the school year, that's what works for you and you're still a winner.

By finishing all 52 books by the end of the year you gain the status of MAD READER. We're considering creating some kind of certificate or something (but that's it, I'm afraid. You're going to have to do this for the love of reading).

However, I am also going to offer some bonus stuff for those of you who find reading 52 books unchallenging. Every week (note that a "week" in the challenge starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. This means that the first official "week" of the challenge, if you start on January 1st with me, will be 11 days long, and the final "week" will only be four. Make sure you schedule appropriately for this) I will announce a THEME. If you manage to read a book from each theme that I announce, you'll earn a special gold ribbon status as a MAD READER.

Each "week" I'll also be announcing opportunities for Bonus Points, sort of mini-challenges. Some Bonus Point opportunities that will be available year-round are the following:

1. For every new book (one that you haven't read before) that you read OVER the required 26, you get five bonus points.
2. For every books that you read OVER the required 52 (new or re-read regardless) you get 25 bonus points.
3. For every book that you read in another language, you get 50 bonus points. (Clarification: if you are bilingual, a book in your second language does not count. "Another language" here refers only to a language that you began studying seriously in middle or high school)
4. Those MADers who are participating in the Challenge will tell the title and author of the book they're reading each week. You get five bonus points each time you read one of the books a MADer is reading.

If, by the end of the year, you manage to not only read a book for each of the 52 themes, but also earn 1000 bonus points, you will achieve the sort of platinum level status of a MAD READER and my infinite respect.

So, I will (obviously) be participating in the Challenge, and I know for certain that Marshall and Sarah will. I think Deborah and Sarita are going to give it a try, as well. I want as many people as possible to get involved in this project, so invite your friends!

And start preparing a stack of books to read for 2009, so that you'll be ready when the Challenge begins at midnight on New Year's.

Good luck!

[If at any point during the challenge you have a question about the rules & regulations, make sure you e-mail me at themadpodcast@gmail.com for clarification. Just put the words "MAD Book Challenge" in the subject line and I'll take care of it as soon as possible. Thanks!]

Newsflash

So, if you're one of the like, two people on the entire planet who haven't seen the new Twilight movie, I should inform you of the following:

1. The guy who played Jacob in the movie is an actor named Taylor Lautner.
2. Taylor Lautner did a really good job as Jacob.
3. Taylor Lautner is not tall enough to play Jacob as he appears in the following books (he grows a whole bunch between books 1 and 2)
4. They're considering recasting the role. So they can get a taller guy.

I would give a lengthy explanation of the MADers' opinions about this whole situation, but I think the following g-chat between Sarah and myself, shortly after the news was announced, pretty much clears it up:

Sarah: READ MY EMAIL I AM SO PISSED

I AM EVEN GOING THROUGH THE STAGES OF GRIEF

me: ha i literally just read it yeah, that kind of sucks

Sarah: OMGOGOMGOGMOGMMG

me: i mean, can they even do that?

Sarah: I WANT TO KILL SOMEONE

MUST HAVE BLOOD

AHHHH

me: ...it seems like replacing him would not work

haha must have blood

Sarah: I

me: smirk

Sarah: WONTSEE IT

me: oh, yes you will

Sarah: (hahaha, no pun intended)

NO I WONT

I WILL NOT SEE IT IF THEY REPLACE HIM

me: well, I will see it anyway. i'll be annoyed, but i'll see it

Sarah: HE IS A SEXY SEXY MAN AND HE DESERVES WIRK

WELL YOU ARENT GOING WITH ME

WORK*

me: haha actually, i'd be more confused than anything. there's no reason why they can't keep taylor lautner on

Sarah: HE DOEST FIT THEIR EFFING CHARACTER DESCRIPTION

SARAH IS PISSED

me: but i mean, the only reason he doesn't fit the description is like height wise and they can fake that i mean... can't they just make taylor lautner work out a lot and then stand him oon some crates?

Sarah: HE HAD EFFING CHEST MUSCLES

NICE ONES

(AND THEY HAD ROSE STAND ON CRATES, WHY NOT HIM)

DIES

me: the books make it seem like he grows a million feet or something, but bella actually asks how tall he is and he's really only like six four or something

Sarah: I KNOW

me: so it's not like he has to be eight feet tall or anything

Sarah: I KNOW

me: they need to take a step back and reconsider

personally, i can't see them changing actors. i doubt they want the kind of negative feedback they're going to get from fans because they're GOING to get negative feedback

people liked him

Sarah: I HATE CHANGING ACTORS

me: it really doesn't work

Sarah: AND HE IS FANTABULOUS

me: once you get an actor you have to commit- it would be worse for the movie to have him suddenly change completely than for him to be a few inches too short

Sarah: I KNKNKNNNOOOOWWWW

me: and you're right, i could - well, not really, but i'd at least be a bit more understanding if he was a bad actor in the film. the fact that he did a good job just makes this whole thing ridiculous - they're only changing actors because of a physical description? and at that, something that can be fixed easily enough?

Sarah: YES I AM SO PISSED THEY CANT DO IT , ITS STUPID AND IDIOTIC

me: I actually wonder whether or not this is only some kind of publicity stunt? Because I can't see them seriously considering this

It doesn't make sense

Sarah: I HOPE SO CAUSE AS I SAID<>

me: Personally, I'm not going to get too mad unless we hear official word that they're definitely going to change actors. Until then, I wouldn't be surprised if this was all a publicity stunt

entertainment weekly?

Sarah: IM PISSED NOW

and idk

me: hm

Sarah: I HAVE TO BE I CARE TOO MUCH HE IS HOT

me: and a good actor

Sarah: AND FREAKING PERFECT FOR THE ROLE HE PLAYED IT SO WELL

me: he did

ah, well. as long as they don't switch out jackson rathbone

The only thing that might need some explanation is when Sarah mentions "They made Rose stand on creates". She's referring to the actress who played Rosalie in the movie--she was too short, so they made her stand on crates and wear HUGE heels and stuff.

Aaand we're back

Today is December 1st - which means that NaNoWriMo is officially over.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo is a program during the month of November where you attempt to write 50,000 words in only 30 days (incidentally, I recommend this for anyone even vaguely interested in writing. To say the least, it is a real experience). I've been participating in NaNo for years, and this year was no different.

The problem with NaNo is that it kind of consumes your life, and so I apologize for the lack of blogging this past month, which Deborah pointed out in the last post - I was busy writing. (As a matter of interest, I will shamelessly brag to anyone who will listen that I managed 101,046 words, making me pwntastic).

But now that NaNo is over and December is here, things should get moving again pretty quickly. I'll be on the blog a bit more, for one. Also, for those of you who haven't checked your iTunes, Episode 7 (the one about Dr Horrible) was just released, so get to listening! And as always, send us your listener feedback.

We are planning on recording Episode Eight - about the musical 1776 (which is about the declaration of independence - I mean, come on. Awesome) sometime this weekend, and that will be edited and out within a week or two of recording, depending on how crazy school gets.

And check this out - you can expect super ginormous LOADS of bonus stuff coming from the MAD Podcast very shortly. Let's just say we're going to give you guys one heck of a Christmas present - we have several very important announcements to make.

Keep an eye on this blog, because I'm going to make the first of those announcements here very shortly. It's kind of long, though, and I have to get confirmation from the other MADers that we want to post about it now - but it should be out by the end of the week.

And... I'm not saying anything, but you might just see a Bonus episode of the show sometime in the near future. A very special Bonus episode.