Go ahead and imagine. I’ll wait.

Not a pretty sight, is it? I have plans and they don’t include home-made coupons, cards or boxes of candy. I won’t be sharing those with anyone but if you haven’t come up with anything to do here is a list of suggestions:

Victorian Poetry Slam

WHERE: James J. Hill House
WHEN: Feb. 14, 2012 7 p.m.
COST: $10; $2 discount for MHS members.
PHONE: 651.297.2555

Reservations recommended

Cold Feet, Warm Hearts: A Night of Song, Story, and Love

Kevin Kling and friends Dan Chouinard, Bradley Greenwald,  Prudence Johnson, Simone Perrin and Claudia Schmidt celebrate Valentine’s Day with songs, poems and stories about the many sides of love.  Whether it’s family, friend or soul-mate, a little heat on a February night is never a bad idea!

WHEN: Sat., February 11, 7:00pm
WHERE: O’Ssaughnessy Auditorium
COST: Tickets available. Contact the O’Shaughnessy Auditorium
PHONE: 651.690.6700

Literary Love Fest

Improv poetry, music, a reading by local authors, and Hot Buttery Love (warm gingers and whiskey).

WHERE: Kieran’s Irish Pub
WHEN: Mon., February 13, 6:00pm
COST: FREE! (Except for the drinks and the food. So, yeah….)

Art of Romance Soiree

Featuring live music, chocolates, refreshments, gifts, new exhibition of artist Becky Kerhwald’s Heart series.

WHERE: Artist Mercantile
WHEN: Fri., February 10, 4:30pm-8:00pm
COST: Free! (you should probably think about buying something for your sweetie).

A Sweethearts Tour of Italy Wine Dinner

Live music with Lee Engels, Italian wine, great food, wonderful atmosphere.

WHERE: La Cucina De Nonna Rosa’s
WHEN: Valentine’s night
PHONE: 763.537.3700

If one of these doesn’t work then try jewelry. Good luck!

Or a house.

Or a decent job.

I was in my early twenties and producing my own wine from my own grapes seemed possible in that same way becoming a doctor or a jet pilot still seem possible at that age. The reality is that I cannot combine these activities into a single hobby. I have attempted vegetable gardening with some limited success and I cook food for my family every night, also with some limited success*. With work and kids and the house and writing, winemaking was always too much work.

This is a new year, right? And in the new year we are supposed to look ahead with hope that we can make ourselves better people, right? Tackle new projects, learn new things, all that sort of thing. So, in the spirit of the new year I present this:
Midwest Homebrewing & Winemaking Supplies in St Louis Park is hosting a class on winemaking and I might just go.

WHAT: Winemaking 101 (Winemaking From Kits)
WHERE: Midwest Homebrewing & Winemaking Supplies
5825 Excelcior Blvd
952-925-9854
WHEN: Jan 7 & 21 @ 10:30 am
COST: Unavailable
NOTE: According to the website class size is limited so call 952-925-9854 to register and reserve a seat!

What little research I’ve done tells me that if I start now i should have some wine by Summer. Just in time for gardening.

* My son would argue with my assessment of my cooking skills.

Researchers at Igarashi Design Interface Project have developed a clamp that BRINGS STUFFED ANIMALS TO LIFE!

Yuta Sugiura, Calista Lee, Anusha Withana, Yasutoshi Makino, Daisuke Sakamoto, Masahiko Inami, and Takeo Igarashi have developed PINOKY, a ring that clamps around body parts of stuffed animals and makes them move. These rings use motors to move the appendages and can be controlled wirelessly or play back recorded movements.

Seriously, this is really cool! Where can I get these things?

No, really, I have a fifteen year old daughter in need of a serious freak-out

These are the books I should have been reading instead of what I did read. Good thing I have all of 2012 to catch up.

New York Times
Fiction

The Art Of Fielding
By Chad Harbach

11/22/63
By Stephen King

Swamplandia
By Karen Russell

Then Thousand Saints
By Eleanor Henderson

The Tiger’s Wife
By Téa Obreh

New York Times
NonFiction

Arguably
By Christopher Hitchens

The Boy in the Moon
By Ian Brown

Malcom X
By Manning Marable

Thinking Fast and Slow
By Daniel Kahneman

A World On Fire
By Amanda Foreman

Esquire Magazine

Evel
By Leigh Montville

The Family Fang
By Kevin Wilson

Train Dreams
By Denis Johnson

Townie
By Andre Dubus III

Ratification
By Pauline Maier

The Terror of Living
By Urban Waite

American Boy
By Larry Watson

Men in the Making
By Bruce Machart

The Submission
By Amy Waldman

Confidence Men
By Ron Suskind

NPR

NPR gathered together a bunch of lists which I am reprinting here.

Booksellers’ Picks: Catch The Year’s Freshest Reads
Recommended by Lucia Silva, Portrait of a Bookstore

A Christmas Tree For Pyn
By Olivier Dunrea

The Toaster Project: Or A Heroic Attempt To Build A Simple Electric Appliance From Scratch
By Thomas Thwaites

Unpacking My Library: Writers And Their Books
By Leah Price

Forgotten Bookmarks: A Bookseller’s Collection Of Odd Things Lost Between The Pages
By Michael Popek

How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive
By Christopher Boucher

Recommended by Rona Brinlee, The Book Mark

Birds Of Paradise
By Diana Abu-Jaber

The Girl Who Would Speak For The Dead
By Paul Elwork

A Good Hard Look
By Ann Napolitano

On Canaan’s Side
By Sebastian Barry

Pasta By Design
By George L. Legendre

Rules Of Civility
By Amor Towles, hardcover

Recommended by Daniel Goldin, Boswell Books

American Boy
By Larry Watson

The Unwanteds
By Lisa McMann

Gimbels Has It!
By Michael J. Lisicky

The White Woman On The Green Bicycle
By Monique Roffey

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
By Simon Garfield

This Burns My Heart
By Samuel Park

Top 5 Books For Backseat Readers (Age 9 And Up)
Recommended by Michele Norris

Heart And Soul:The Story Of America And African Americans
By Kadir Nelson

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making
By Catherynne M. Valente

The Secret History Of Balls: The Stories Behind The Things We Love To Catch, Whack, Throw, Kick, Bounce, And Bat
By Josh Chetwynd and Emily Stackhouse

Drawing From Memory
By Allen Say, hardcover

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach
By Brenda Woods

Tall Story
By Candy Gourlay

Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children
By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Inside Out & Back Again
No author listed

The Unforgotten Coat
By Frank Cottrell Boyce

The Romeo And Juliet Code
By Phoebe Stone

Conversation Starters: 2011′s Top 5 Book Club Picks
Recommended by Lynn Neary

State Of Wonder
By Ann Patchett

The Sense Of An Ending
By Julian Barnes

We The Animals
By Justin Torres

Caleb’s Crossing
By Geraldine Brooks

The Sojourn
By Andrew Krivak

From Tiny To Tome, The Best Gift Books Of 2011
Recommended by John McAlley

The New York Times Magazine Photographs
By Kathy Ryan

Harry Potter Page To Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey
By Bob McCabe

Life Upon These Shores: Looking At African American History, 1513-2008
By Henry Louis Gates

The Art Museum
By Phaidon Press

The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology Of Humor From Mark Twain To The Onion
By Andy Borowitz

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
By Andrew Bolton and Susannah Frankel

Pilgrimage
By Annie Leibovitz and Doris Kearns Goodwin

Theodore Gray’s Elements Vault: Treasures Of The Periodic Table With 20 Removable Archival Documents, A Model Pop-Up Atom, A Poster, Plus 10 Real Elements Including Pure Gold!
By Theodore Gray and Nick Mann

The Art Of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse To The Magic Kingdoms And Beyond
By Christopher Finch and John Lasseter

The American Heritage Dictionary Of The English Language
No author listed

Plot Driven: Alan Cheuse’s Top 5 Fiction Picks
Recommended by Alan Cheuse

The Tiger’s Wife
By Tea Obreht

The Art Of Fielding
By Chad Harbach

Once Upon A River
By Bonnie Jo Campbell

1Q84
By Haruki Murakami

The Night Eternal
By Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Sherlockian Mysteries That Will Keep You Tied Up
Recommended by Maureen Corrigan

The House Of Silk
By Anthony Horowitz

On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art Of Storytelling
By Michael Dirda

Ghost Hero
By S.J. Rozan

The End Of The Wasp Season
By Denise Mina

A Drop Of The Hard Stuff
By Lawrence Block

2011′s Best Cookbooks: Revenge Of The Kitchen Nerds
Recommended by T. Susan Chang

Cook This Now
By Melissa Clark

The Food Of Spain
By Claudia Roden

All About Roasting
By Molly Stevens

The Food52 Cookbook
By Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs

What Chefs Feed Their Kids
By Fanae Aaron

The Country Cooking Of Italy
By Colman Andrews

Lidia’s Italy In America
By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali

The Food Of Morocco
By Paula Wolfert

Ruhlman’s Twenty
By Michael Ruhlman

American Flavor
By Andrew Carmellini

The Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book
By Judy Rosenberg

What Sticks: Five 2011 Books That Stay With You
Recommended by Heller McAlpin

The Sense Of An Ending
By Julian Barnes

There But For The
By Ali Smith

Blue Nights
By Joan Didion

The Art Of Fielding
By Chad Harbach

Moby-Duck
By Donovan Hohn

Wow. Really apologize for that break there.  Didn’t mean to be away so long. How about I get back into this with a couple calendar entries?

A Christmas Story

For those of us who like Jean Sheppard and miss the glory days of boiled cabbage and Red Ryder BB guns. Proceeds benefit Camp-Get-A-Well-A.
WHERE: New Hope Cinema Grill
2749 Winnetka Ave. N.
New Hope, MN 55427
763-417-0017
WHEN: Thursday, December 8, 7:00pm
COST: $10 suggested donation

Toys for Tots Santa Brunch

National artists and cartoonists will attend. Books will be sold and signed. Presentations will be … presented. Come! See! Be amazed!

Good Christmas presents too.

WHAT: Minneapolis Indie Xpo
WHERE: The Soap Factory
514 2nd St. SE
Minneapolis MN 55414
WHEN: November 5 & 6, 10am through 5 pm
COST: Free!

*That’s Independent Cartoonist Exposition.**

**Gah! That sounds so old fashioned now.

Everyone is invited to an open poetry night at the Golden Valley Library. That’s everyone — all ages, all languages, all authors (family-friendly language is encouraged, natch).  Dig out that your favorite poem or write one of your own, then bring it over and share.

WHERE: Golden Valley Library
830 Winnetka Avenue North
Golden Valley, MN

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 6–8 p.m.

PRICE: Free!

Where the service is available, patrons can search a library’s web site and select “Send to Kindle” when they locate the book they want. Patrons will need an Amazon.com account and a Wi-Fi or USB connection to receive the book. The books will remain on the Kindle for two weeks and have most of the standard book features enabled. For instance, margin notes made in the book will be backed up and available if the patron borrows the book again or chooses to buy it.

Check it out, folks.

All Hallow’s Read

Okay, stay with me folks. On Halloween everyone who likes books should give a scary book to everyone else. This is a great idea.

Wait! Where are you going? Stephen King likes this and so does Joe Hill. Yes, I know Joe is Stephen’s son but still….

I think this is great. I plan to raid Project Gutenberg and start pumping out copies of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on my printer to hand out with my candy.

Yes, I am that much of a book geek (and I work in printing). Sue me.

So give a book for Halloween. Even the New Testament (I hear the ending will scare the bejeezus out of you).

Stay tuned for instructions on how to print those books for passing out (as soon as I figure out how). Except for the NT. I’m pretty sure you can get those for free somewhere.

Ghost Stories is a prose investigation into the history of the Great Plains and the famous (and not so famous) who still haunt our past.  Low dives into life and death through both Native American and European approaches to life and the afterlife. What better way to start Autumn the with a good ghost story.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 14th, 7:00 PM
WHERE: Birchbark Books
2115 W 21st St
Minneapolis, MN 55405
COST: FREE!