Joyful Jubilant Learning

Art imitates life

As I pondered this month’s Learning at the Movies theme, I thought of a few of my own “rules” I’ve developed about movies:

Pretend there is no Godfather III

The first two Godfather movies were awesome and made a huge impression on me. However, when I saw the third one I was tremendously disappointed. I’m not even linking to it on IMDB. The problem is that this dud of a movie has now tainted the trilogy forever, at least for me. I’m hoping they come up with a way to unreleased it and release a different movie in its place.

What I learned: Past performance is not always an indicator of future results – each project requires my dedication, creativity, hard work, and a compelling story so it doesn’t taint my past success.

Careful with the accent

Some actors try to use accents that aren’t their own and do it very poorly.  Some can get away with it such as Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Forest Whitaker, and Hugh Laurie to name a few. Most can’t.

What I learned: Be careful trying to be what you’re not.

Just for the record: Adam Sandler’s accent in The Waterboy in no way resembles any Cajun accent I’ve ever heard – and, as a half Cajun from Louisiana, I’ve heard a lot of them.

Avoid movies with Mario van Peebles in them

The first time I remember seeing Mario van Peebles in a movie, it was Highlander III. He was just not believable in his role in that movie, and that was one of the primary reasons I didn’t like that movie (OK, maybe it was a bad story but I find it convenient to blame Mario).

I’ve now seen him in quite a few other movies, and can’t stand watching him.  It’s not that I think he is such a bad actor – it’s just that I can’t get past my initial negative perceptions of him for ruining the Highlander family of movies for me.

What I learned: Making a bad first impression can limit my future success, and make it easier for people to “typecast” me in a way I may not deserve.

Kevin Costner is not good in everything

I really enjoyed the first few Kevin Costner movies I saw. One day, though, I was watching one of his movies and it just seemed like he was playing the same character, the same way, over and over again. Eventually, I couldn’t see the character – only the actor. Not a good thing.

What I learned: I don’t want to play the same character all the time. I need to move outside my comfort zone and develop new skills and to expand my repertoire in life – at work, home, etc. – to keep things interesting.

A corollary: Just because Kevin Costner is the star doesn’t make the movie good, and just “being the boss” doesn’t mean your ideas are all great ones.

Beware Russell Crowe and Mr. Hyde

Russell Crowe is an amazing actor. The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander, Gladiator, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma… the list of great movies he’s made goes on and on. He is also famous for lots of stupid outbursts and inappropriate behavior off the screen – and he has fallen out of favor in his career at various points due to his negative PR.

What I learned: Don’t let my strengths make me blind to my weaknesses. I can be awesome in one part of my life, but that doesn’t mean I can get away with being lousy in another part of their life – eventually, “being lousy” will negatively impact “awesome.”

Weird works for Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has played some unusual roles: Jack Sparrow, Donnie Brasco, Sweeney Todd, Gilbert Grape, Edward Scissorhands, and more. He made them all work and I believed every one of them – sometimes I’d describe myself as “captivated” by his characters. Not many actors could pull off that range, but he clearly can.

What I learned: Sometimes daring, unexpected choices can pay off. Have the confidence to put it out there – but give it your all when you do.

It’s not just star power

I was watching Primer the other day, and I really enjoyed it. This is a movie full of unknown actors from an unknown director, and it was made for about $7000 (yes). It is also really good, doesn't look cheap, and was very well received (it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival), and has become very successful on DVD.

What I learned: You don’t need a “star” on your team or a huge budget to achieve awesome results. Any team can be wildly successful if they have a great idea, strong commitment, and the ability to work together toward a common goal.

These are just a few things I’ve learned from the movies. What about you – got any parallels between the movies and real life to share?

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Dwayne Melancon is the author of Genuine Curiosity, where he is always on the lookout for new things to learn.

Pangea Day is May 10th

When we decided on this month's theme on film and learning from the movies, we had honestly forgotten about Pangea Day coming this month, yet what a perfect fit!

I will quickly point you back to our archives today:

Added to the JJL Calendar: Pangea Day 2008

Add the Saturday May 10th celebrations to your calendars as well!

Pangea Day came to be when visionary documentary filmmaker, TED Prize winner, and Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim spoke to an audience of “the world’s leading thinkers and doers” at the 2006 annual TED Conference, and unveiled her inspiring wish to change the world through the power of film.

You can go directly to the site for a few short trailers, and for the broadcast information:

Pangea Day 2008.

Quick thoughts: What if we were to have an open-mic kind of conversation here at JJL on our film-inspired learning triggers while the 4-hour internet broadcast is scheduled? The 4-hour program begins at 18:00 GMT ---there is a handy time converter there at the Pangea Day site so you can check what time that will be where you are :)

Going with Heart: The King of Hearts

One of my favorite movies of all time is the King of Hearts from 1966.

Here is the summary from a Wikipedia entry on the film:

This 1966 film, directed by Philippe de Broca, stars Alan Bates as Charles Plumpick, a kilt-wearing Scottish soldier who is sent by his commanding officer to disarm the bomb. When Plumpick enters the town, he unknowingly leaves the door to the insane asylum open while being chased by the Germans. When the Germans have left the town, all of the inmates leave the asylum and playfully take over the town. The adorable lunatics coronate Plumpick King of Hearts with surreal pageantry as he frantically tries to find the bomb before it goes off. The film ends with the question of who is more insane, those in the asylum or the soldiers on the battlefield.

I love the movie because it is romantic, charming, and carries a powerful message in a gentle and loving way.

I loved the blurring of the line between insanity and sanity and that things are not always as they seem. The movie resonates with findings from social cognitive psychology that mentally healthy people do not face reality.

Research from Dr. Shelley Taylor and others have found that mentally healthy people do not face reality! They buffer reality with 3 positive illusions: unrealistically positive views of the self, illusions of control, and unrealistic optimism.

I believe Dr. Phil is off base at times when he cajoles us to: Get Real!

Frequent readers of this blog will identify that this film fits with my signature story. Click here to read the post on signature stories and Don Quixote.

Keep both your heart and mind open and you might just find a very rich kingdom of living and loving both inside yourself and connected to your relationships.

If you get a chance, give yourself the royal treatment and watch the King of Hearts.
~ Post by David Zinger

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JJL Editorial Postscript:
David's own website (www.davidzinger.com) is devoted to work engagement and he is working hard to foster higher levels of authentic employee engagement that will be of benefit to all.

Click here to visit and join the exciting and growing network David founded for people interested, involved, or engaged in employee engagement.

Click here for more from David here at Joyful Jubilant Learning. His last article for us was on our April theme of Digital Learning: 4 Zingers in Digital Learning.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Surprised by joy

I am a C. S. Lewis fan not because I understand all that he writes but because I don't. He makes me think and I appreciate any author who can do that. In his autobiographical work Surprised by Joy, he writes of his pursuit of "joy". Through a painful childhood involving a horrendous schooling and abandoning father he learns valuable, lifelong lessons.

The book's last two chapters focuses on his journey from atheism to theism and from theism to Christianity. Lewis ultimately discovers the true nature and purpose of joy and its place in his own life. In fact, at the end of the book, he points out that the pursuit of joy has lost all meaning since he met its Source (there's a great lesson there, too).

During his writing of this work, he begins a penpal relationship with Helen Joy Gresham who lived in New York. According to Wikipedia, "She was an American poet and writer, a radical communist, and an atheist before converting to Christianity in the 1940s." Ultimately, they marry and he is "surprised by Joy". Soon after their marriage, she dies of cancer, leaving Lewis to finish rearing her two boys from a previous marriage.

What does all this have to do with movies? One of my favorites is Shadowlands which tells this endearing love story. It is filled with marvelous lessons that everyone needs to hear and learn. Perhaps the most thoughtful is at the end of the movie. Lewis and the two boys are walking across a shadowed pasture land (powerful imagery); as you see them walking away, a closing summary lesson is presented:

Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I've been given the choice: as a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.

~ Dean Boyer

JJL Editorial Notes:
Read more from Dean here at Joyful Jubilant Learning! Most recently he has written:

• Teaching with the heart of aloha in a digital age
• A Celebration of Children
• Children and Their Books

Change it up!

When my kids were younger I was quite a sucker for Disney movies, for besides being pretty good TV for my children (other than the occasional miss), they proved to be a goldmine for complementary management lessons I could take to work. Carefully chosen video clips are great for spicing up an otherwise run-of-the-mill staff meeting.

A favorite scene for me was in the Mighty Ducks movie about a group of young misfits finding camaraderie and their youthful purpose as an emerging hockey team. In this particular scene their errant coach is m.i.a. for a crucial game, and they convince their school-assigned tutor to pretend she is their coach so they won’t have to forfeit the game.

As you might imagine, she has no clue about hockey and just slightly more about coaching them, but she recognizes a downhill slide when she sees it, and gestures helplessly as the game deteriorates.

“This is not working! What do we do?” she asks a benched team captain in desperation, and he replies, “Just stand up there where they can see and hear you, and yell, ‘Change it up!’”

She looks at him as if to say, yeah right, that will help, but not having any better ideas she fills her lungs and screams, “Change it up!”

Almost instantly, players scramble to change positions and try a different play sequence. The tutor still doesn’t really understand what’s going on, but she’d mustered the momentary confidence to direct them, and in fearlessly changing course, trusting in her direction, the players snap out of the auto-pilot of their losing streak’s grip. The game starts to turn in their favor, and soon victory is theirs.

As the saying goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” If you want more, or you want different, you’ve got to “Change it up!”

Describing the scene has become a favorite way for me to explain to managers about the positives that can come with change. The movie was pretty popular, for heads would nod and there would be smiles in remembrance as Disney would deliver a great analogy for me time and time again. The best way to look at change is with that expectancy of shift; change makes things happen. The change itself is rarely good or bad; what makes it appear one way or the other is the way we humans handle it.

There’s two kinds of change

There’s bad change, and there’s good change. Here’s the rub: The exact same change can be either one or the other depending on our point of view about it. Normally it seems to work something like this:

When change happens TO us, and gets imposed on us, causing us to be reactive, we think of it as bad change. It shakes up our sense of security, and makes things unpredictable. We scramble to do the best we can, but it’s pretty stressful.

On the other hand, good change is change we intentionally and deliberately CHOOSE; we use it for the catalyst it has the potential to be, so we can get more than we’ve gotten before. We “Change it up!” on purpose. The phrase we usually use for this good change? Strategic Initiatives. Initiative.

Bad change is imposed and involuntary. Good change is initiated and championed.

With bad change people react as victims. With good change, they take actions they choose as leaders.

Change is going to happen one way or another. So choose it. Design it. Plan it. Execute it.

Ho‘o — make things happen.

Ho‘ohana — make things work, and make ‘em work your way.

If the Mighty Ducks could do it playing a seemingly hopeless hockey game, so can you.
~ Rosa Say

Postscript: This posting has been newly edited from another which originally appeared at Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching. You can click over there to read comments and a trackback by JJLers Chris Owen and Dean Boyer.

What have you learned from the movies? You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Post author Rosa Say is the author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii's Universal Values to the Art of Business, and she currently writes for Managing with Aloha Coaching, Value your Month, Value your Life.

Rosa also serves as the managing editor of Joyful Jubilant Learning; her letter for 2008 can be found on our About Page.

For all of Rosa's writing aggregated in just one place, visit her Tumblr, Ho‘ohana Aloha.

A Word a Day Keeps Your Mind at Play

As the final, (and one day late) post in the theme on digital learning tools I share a simple yet powerful one.

One of the most powerful tools in our learning toolbox is vocabulary.  Having a broader, deeper and bigger vocabulary correlates with intelligence, communication effectiveness, thinking prowess and success.  When we know more words we are able to think in more nuanced ways.  When we have a broader vocabulary we can share ideas more specifically and effectively.

I'm not suggesting we expand our vocabulary in order to impress people or "throw some words around", but rather that when we expand our vocabulary (and any reader of Rosa's work should understand this quickly) we enable new ways to think and interact with the world around us.

So, I've quickly given you the case for an expanded vocabulary, and there are a variety of ways to make that expansion happen.  Readers Digest has famously given readers a way to Increase Your Word Power for many years.  There are in numerous books on vocabulary building in any bookstore (often including some in the very discounted remainder area).

But this post is about digital tools you are thinking - so let me share the two I use.

A Word a Day.  Each day more than 600,000 people receive an email from Wordsmith.org.  That text email shares a word of the day (big surprise), history, usages and an example in a sentence.  Often the words for a week will follow some kind of theme.    This week's theme is words derived from the names of mythical creatures.   Today's word?I've been a reader for many years (I'm guessing far beyond ten) and I love the service.  I don't remember every word and some of the words are a bit academic and obscure - and while they are all interesting, they don't all lend themselves to frequent usage.  This is why I also read,

sphinx (sfingks) noun - A mysterious, inscrutable person.

Another word from this week?

argus (AHR-guhs) noun - An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.

Will I believe I can use these words in conversation or written communication in the coming days?  Absolutely!

Daily PowerWord.  Produced by Success.bz these words tend to be a bit more practical at times.   A recent example?

Credible (KRED-uh-buhl) adj. - believable

Which leads to my next point.  Sometimes you will know the word (with either service). This is actually great!  How many times during a day do you read an email that reinforces your intelligence?

Seriously, there will be days when you know the word you receive from one of these services (or another of their like-minded brethren), and that is one reason I subscribe to two different services.

Reading the words each day is valuable, taking these tools, like many we've learned about this month, and applying them to our lives is another thing.  These services do a great job of leading you to the trough of greater vocabulary - it is our opportunity then to drink of those words, use them and make them a part of our vocabulary and our lives.
~ Kevin Eikenberry

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.

More from Kevin here at JJL.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

May at the Movies!

May is here, and we are so ready!

How about joining us at the cinema, for a matinee or late night show in May?

Whichever time of day you might choose, the popcorn will be fresh and buttery rich, and the company even better ...

In May, come with us to the movies!

This month we will be swapping stories about the learning we have done from movies.

I mean really, what could be more fun than that?

Movie audience found on Flickr by rpb1001.

I'm thinking we'll be in for some surprises... movies are so diverse, yet they are something which are pretty universally experienced. They are magical, mystical, mythical, mania-creating... just about every adjective you can think of can describe a movie that someone, somewhere, has seen and enjoyed.

But what have we learned from them?

Get Published on Joyful Jubilant Learning! Got a story to tell longer than what you want to squeeze in the comment boxes? Get published here on JJL as a Guest Author! What have YOU learned from the movies? Write your contribution to our month's theme, and send it to our Community Mailbox, with a short bio so we can introduce you to the community properly (you'll see what others do here). Essays for this month will be accepted up to May 21st for the publishing spots we still have available. This month's calendar: May 1 through 24: Learning at the Movies May 25: Rapid Fire Learning (We are the Digital World: Rapid Fire Learning for April 2008 and past index) May 26 through 31: Special Attractions

 

How about a little warm-up?

If we started a course called Learning from the Movies 101, which one would you add to our curriculum, and why?

...For instance, I think Dwayne might put his hand up and volunteer another crazy learning connection from Hysterical...

Remember Zombies?

Dwayne got us from this:

"The widow haunts an old lighthouse, and her spirit sweeps the town with a ghostly beacon from time to time. When the beacon shines on the unsuspecting people of the town, Captain Howdy appears, kills them, and turns them into zombies."

All the way to this:

"When it comes to lighthouses with constructive beacons, there are two simple guidelines: Seek one, and be one."

Good one, Dwayne.

So let's warm this month up with a fun start:

Scroll down to the comment box, and share one of your movie favorites with the rest of the Ho‘ohana community!
~ Rosa Say, managing editor, on behalf of the JJL Authors Hui

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Photo Credit of the Del Mar in Santa Cruz, California: "The Karate Kid" on Flickr by diebmx.

It's an All-You-Can-Eat Digital World

One of my family's favorite restaurants is the Golden Corral; a restaurant chain famous for bringing new meaning to the traditional "All-You Can-Eat" concept.  From salads to sushi, there is nothing one would want for. We enter with hunger, excitement, and anticipation to sample all the new tastes and flavors. Unfortunately, we leave the experience miserable, overstuffed, and frustrated that we did not make wiser choices. So...what does my family's eating habits have to do with digital citizenship?

Every time I enter cyberspace, I feel like I am at the Golden Corral. As I log onto my computer, the same hunger and excitement enters my gut.  In this digital smorgasbord, there are endless
tools, applications, and resources to choose from. It is easy to get overstuffed, but digital natives know this: No matter how great (or FREE) the eats, you gotta know when to say enough is enough!

So, here is my lesson for the day (The teacher in me, never goes away). I present my rules for staying happy and healthy as you enjoy the smorgasbord of the Digital World:

1. Grab a small plate: It is important to start VERY small. I know it is tempting with so many scrumptious choices of tools and tricks, but less is better.
2. Select your Entree: What tool or application is your staple for staying connected. Is Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin? This should be your primary nutrient.
3. Choose one or two side dishes: These tools are important additions to the main entree. They should enhance but not overtake the meal.
4. Let's not forget dessert!: It's okay to treat yourself. There are so many free tools that may not extend your business or enhance your personal networking capabilities, but man they are sure fun! Indulge, enjoy, and explore, but do so in moderation. Too much of a good thing, is still too much!
   

Here's what my digital plate consists of:

My main entree: Of course, my blog and blog networks
My two favorite sides: Twitter and StumbleUpon
For Dessert: This tool is a researcher's dream!  I LOVE SearchMe; an incredible visual searching tool. It makes searching and researching as sweet as a piece of chocolate!

Like any good meal, everyone can chose what to put on their plates. Think carefully about what will most satisfy and sustain you. For me, I think I have found a perfect balance. Are you ready to dig in?  Bon Apetite, my friends! 

I Learn From You

I wrote this a couple of years ago, but it captures the essence of digital-dave-learning...I learn from you.

The Yellow Brick Road

....Another Six Degrees of Blogging Adventure.

Today's journey will be magical, mystical and liberating.  First, I need to instill a thought about our preferred method of travel and then quickly instill a more dominant one.

Do you remember how Dorothy returned to Kansas?  Ok, hold that thought.  Because I can no more wear women's apparel than drink a glass of battery acid, we must overlay the visual of soft, worn and comfortable red leather cowboy boots onto the screen.  Whew!  I feel much better.

Other than early Clint Eastwood movies, no movie has touched my heart over the years more than The Wizard of Oz.  It has provided so many personal metaphors and has been such a source of inspiration that, "Oz is the Yellow Brick Road," became the mantra for the journey of my life.  So, come along with Toto, Dorothy and I and lets explore the Yellow Brick Road.

Man on the Silver Mountain by Rainbow is playing on our iPod as we click our boot heels three times. There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Fog lifts from the yellow cobblestone and a gentleman appears.  "Welcome to the Nest!" Tony Clark greets us with warm enthusiasm.  He then asks, "Why Settle for Just One Path?" This question and the ensuing conversation captures my attention and holds me spellbound.  Toto's ears perk.  I thought I was the only person in the world who could not zero in on a clear understanding of passion and work!!  Toto nods.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Ronnie James Dio belts out Catch The Rainbow, rainbow, rainbow... on the iPod as Chris Cree talks about work and passion.  "I’ve been doing quite a bit of introspection these days. It’s not that I’m narcissistic or anything. I just keep hearing folks say over and over again that you will be most successful career wise if you work where your passion is." Yep brother, I hear that too!  Chris mentions that we should check out another Chris.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

A bit further down the road and we meet Chris Johnston from Chris's Blog.  Chris relays the question, "Is this job for the money or does it give them fulfillment in life?" Chris is actually referring to Noah  Kagan's post at Okdork.com, The Paycheck vs. The Life. The discussion that follows this post is quite lively.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

..." Danger, danger the Queen's about to kill
There's a stranger, stranger and life about to spill..."  more iPod, more Rainbow, more Yellow Brick Road.  ..."Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby...change directions."  We can do that in cyberspace, really, we can. I can't seem to continue via links with the passion/work discussion so I throw out a few sandbags and change course.  Chris tells us about Elli and Elli tells us about freedom and inspiration.  Elli gazes down at Toto and then back at us, "you guys need to see Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools." I'm thinking that Dorothy has seen it all but she humors me.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Ritchie B jams on Cold Hearted Woman as we read Kevin's post - Consensus Web Filters.  Kevin, who was the founding executive editor of Wired has a very interesting site and it is well worth spending some time exploring.  The connection to Wired magazine strikes a chord of ironee today.  I just started reading Chris Anderson's The Long Tail this morning.  Chris is the editor in chief of Wired.  Toto notices my expression and barks, "you're not in Kansas anymore David."  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

The three of us swirl round in circles through cyberspace.  Cows, barns and flying monkeys pass us by.  (Didn't those flying monkeys creep you out?)  The iPod is gone but music begins to fill the cloudscape.  Jimi Hendrix picks a few strings as Judy Garland eases into Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Dorothy smiles.  Tota barks.  I cry. Judy and Jimi are beautiful man.  My soul lifts as we descend.  We are back on The Yellow Brick Road, right where it intersects with Rt. 66.  Christine Kane stands there holding her guitar.  She looks at Dorothy eyes wide open. They start to talk.  I start to walk down the Road.  Toto follows me.

Jimi...Judy?

"Somewhere over the rainbow
  Way up high,
  There's a land that I heard of
  Once in a lullaby.  

Somewhere over the rainbow
  Skies are blue,
  And the dreams that you dare to dream
  Really do come true.

  Someday I'll wish upon a star

  And wake up where the clouds are far
  Behind me.
  Where troubles melt like lemon drops
  Away above the chimney tops
  That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow

  Bluebirds fly.
  Birds fly over the rainbow.
  Why then, oh why can't I?

  If happy little bluebirds fly

  Beyond the rainbow
  Why, oh why can't I?"

Dave Rothacker

....Another Six Degrees of Blogging Adventure.

Today's journey will be magical, mystical and liberating.  First, I need to instill a thought about our preferred method of travel and then quickly instill a more dominant one.

Do you remember how Dorothy returned to Kansas?  Ok, hold that thought.  Because I can no more wear women's apparel than drink a glass of battery acid, we must overlay the visual of soft, worn and comfortable red leather cowboy boots onto the screen.  Whew!  I feel much better.

Other than early Clint Eastwood movies, no movie has touched my heart over the years more than The Wizard of Oz.  It has provided so many personal metaphors and has been such a source of inspiration that, "Oz is the Yellow Brick Road," became the mantra for the journey of my life.  So, come along with Toto, Dorothy and I and lets explore the Yellow Brick Road.

Man on the Silver Mountain by Rainbow is playing on our iPod as we click our boot heels three times. There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Fog lifts from the yellow cobblestone and a gentleman appears.  "Welcome to the Nest!" Tony Clark greets us with warm enthusiasm.  He then asks, "Why Settle for Just One Path?" This question and the ensuing conversation captures my attention and holds me spellbound.  Toto's ears perk.  I thought I was the only person in the world who could not zero in on a clear understanding of passion and work!!  Toto nods.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Ronnie James Dio belts out Catch The Rainbow, rainbow, rainbow... on the iPod as Chris Cree talks about work and passion.  "I’ve been doing quite a bit of introspection these days. It’s not that I’m narcissistic or anything. I just keep hearing folks say over and over again that you will be most successful career wise if you work where your passion is." Yep brother, I hear that too!  Chris mentions that we should check out another Chris.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

A bit further down the road and we meet Chris Johnston from Chris's Blog.  Chris relays the question, "Is this job for the money or does it give them fulfillment in life?" Chris is actually referring to Noah  Kagan's post at Okdork.com, The Paycheck vs. The Life. The discussion that follows this post is quite lively.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

..." Danger, danger the Queen's about to kill
There's a stranger, stranger and life about to spill..."  more iPod, more Rainbow, more Yellow Brick Road.  ..."Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby...change directions."  We can do that in cyberspace, really, we can. I can't seem to continue via links with the passion/work discussion so I throw out a few sandbags and change course.  Chris tells us about Elli and Elli tells us about freedom and inspiration.  Elli gazes down at Toto and then back at us, "you guys need to see Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools." I'm thinking that Dorothy has seen it all but she humors me.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Ritchie B jams on Cold Hearted Woman as we read Kevin's post - Consensus Web Filters.  Kevin, who was the founding executive editor of Wired has a very interesting site and it is well worth spending some time exploring.  The connection to Wired magazine strikes a chord of ironee today.  I just started reading Chris Anderson's The Long Tail this morning.  Chris is the editor in chief of Wired.  Toto notices my expression and barks, "you're not in Kansas anymore David."  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

The three of us swirl round in circles through cyberspace.  Cows, barns and flying monkeys pass us by.  (Didn't those flying monkeys creep you out?)  The iPod is gone but music begins to fill the cloudscape.  Jimi Hendrix picks a few strings as Judy Garland eases into Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Dorothy smiles.  Tota barks.  I cry. Judy and Jimi are beautiful man.  My soul lifts as we descend.  We are back on The Yellow Brick Road, right where it intersects with Rt. 66.  Christine Kane stands there holding her guitar.  She looks at Dorothy eyes wide open. They start to talk.  I start to walk down the Road.  Toto follows me.

Jimi...Judy?

"Somewhere over the rainbow
  Way up high,
  There's a land that I heard of
  Once in a lullaby.  

Somewhere over the rainbow
  Skies are blue,
  And the dreams that you dare to dream
  Really do come true.

  Someday I'll wish upon a star

  And wake up where the clouds are far
  Behind me.
  Where troubles melt like lemon drops
  Away above the chimney tops
  That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow

  Bluebirds fly.
  Birds fly over the rainbow.
  Why then, oh why can't I?

  If happy little bluebirds fly

  Beyond the rainbow
  Why, oh why can't I?"

Dave Rothacker

Our ALAWB2008 Audiobook Winners Announced!

I am sorry to be so terribly late with this!

I was so excited about our Digital Learning theme in April that I almost forgot about awarding our audio book prizes to to the reviewers who participated in A Love Affair with Books for 2008!

The drawing was done in the old-fashioned, yet reliably fair way of putting all our guest reviewers names in a hat, once for each book they reviewed, with my hubby doing the drawing honors.

Drum roll please!

And our winners are... in the order in which their names were drawn:

1. Karen Wallace
2. David Zinger
3. Ben Whitehouse
4. Dwayne Melancon
5. Kevin Eikenberry

To our winners :) Go to Audible.com and choose any book you like, whether we had reviewed it here during ALAWB or a totally different one. Then let me know of your selection via our community mailbox and I shall send you a link for your download.

Ho‘omaika‘i ‘ana – Congratulations!

Once again, mahalo nui loa to all our guest reviewers, and keep reading!
~ Rosa Say
as your managing editor,
Joyful Jubilant Learning

• Book Obsessions: Must we really wait a whole year?