Do you try and write outside your comfort zone often? Why? Why not?

Here’s the Obama blurb; read more, as usual, @ The NRI. (Also, props to Barnaby Hazard Morris, a fellow NRI writer, for the excellent title.)

2010 is a year of change–according to the Obama camp, anyway. Still riding on his “Yes We Can!” platform, US president Barack Obama is on the move, touring India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea in a can-do effort to build better relationships with Asia’s emerging powers.

Although the trip in general is important, Obama’s address to Indian parliament–following a 2006 speech by President George W. Bush–was not groundbreaking. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two presidents’ speeches were quite similar, from the “oldest democracy in the world” spiel to the not-so-subtle references to Indian icon Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi. Obama’s address, however, stands out for its clear acknowledgement of India as an emerging power the US needs to form better ties with, as he backed India’s bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

“The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate,” Obama told the Indian parliament. “That is why I can say today, in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member…[read more]

I think overall the reception has been very very strong. It’s a complicated question because it’s a mixed demographic and – for example, the initial Pogo cartoon audience was largely the upper socioeconomic class, really the upper upper socioeconomic class. Over time as cable penetration started to expand we’ve gotten a very different audience base. And I should say we also have the audience base for Doordarshan as well.

I think the whole idea of television to teach is a fairly new concept. There hasn’t been a rich legacy around that. Public television like Doordarshan, that’s not where its roots are. And certainly commercial television, with the exception of a few shows here and there, have not really used television as a way to engage as well as educate…so it’s been a while to bring the Sesame brand ethos to India, but I think that the reception has been really really strong. Galli Galli Sim Sim, it’s really become very much of a household word…and in fact on many occasions when I’ve been in India, I’d see a bunch of kids and I’d tell them somehow, I’d say Galli Galli Sim Sim, they would break into the theme song, so it’s clear that kids are watching it.

Read more about Galli Galli Sim Sim & its appeal over at The NRI…

Indian stereotypes are a strange, awkward sort of bird. Stereotypes exist for a reason, and they usually have some truth to them. But what happens when a stereotype becomes outdated? Do new ones appear, or do old ones linger like a poorly written joke?

If Outsourced, NBC’s latest offering is anything to go by, old stereotypes stick around, regardless of how racist they are, and how far we have supposedly come.

Outsourced has been a long time coming–the series is based on a 2006 movie of the same name, and the pilot has been under development for at least 2 years. It’s also in a format that’s worked well for NBC, the slightly dark office comedy rife with misunderstandings and office-conflict, a la The Office and 30 Rock. But where the latter question stereotypes, even in their pilots, Outsourced appears to encourage them.

Read more about Outsourced & stereotypes @ The NRI…

read more on Re:Print, the PopMatters books blog

Blogging is hard work. Once you’re set up, there’s idea generation, writing, proofing, posting, and interacting with your readers, usually two or three times a week. And if you spend at least an hour a post (I spend an average of two), that’s, say three hours of work per week, twelve hours of work per month, and 156 hours per year—or thirteen twelve-hour days. If something happens to your blog, that’s an awful lot of work to lose.

Read more @ Guide to Literary Agents.

Read more on how to Geek Up Your Kids with this Superhero A-Z @ GeekaChicas!

Once upon a time, only professional reviewers wrote book reviews. The greater the number of publishing credits and letters after your name, the greater your chances of being taken seriously. Of course, it doesn’t take a degree to work out if you like a book (though in the case of Edward Bloor’s Storytime, you might need an MFA to work out why). And a good review is still a good review—whether it’s over at your friend’s blog, or in the Books section of The New York Times.

via Getting Inside the Book Review: How They Work & Why We Read Them < PopMatters.

“It’s time to explore and color in “Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures!”. Kids can go on adventures in creativity with a combination scene creation and coloring book designed specifically for the iPad.”

The app’s use is fairly intuitive–tap Dora to bring her to the fore, tap colors to select, finger slide Dora around to place her in the scene. Unlike real coloring, everything produced is perfect: kids can’t color outside the lines, and even the most garish hue selections are glossy and pretty, eerily coordinated on the iPad’s shiny new screen. Although fun for a moment or two, I found the app a little soul-destroying–the neat lines and finger taps strip away creativity at the deepest level.

Of course, a child interested in Dora the Explorer may be too young to care about the difference between playing with real finger paints and tapping away with Jobs’ virtual ones. Several children at the store were engrossed in reading books (pausing to shout “look, mom, I’m reading on an iPad and I like it!), coloring, and playing with piano software. Curious, my husband lifted helped him reach an iPad.

Baby, unsurprisingly, wasn’t up to the Dora app. But at 10 months old, he was able to make the iPad go in much the same way he makes his musical cube and piano table go–by tapping and flailing and squealing with joy. Using Magic Piano by Smule, a virtual piano app with a no-fail option, he played one of his favorite songs, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and was able to recognize the melody (no doubt thanks to our regular attendance at Jeff Jam singalongs at Twinkle Star in Cambridge). Unforunately, we didn’t capture the piano playing, as he was playing with me.

Already, Baby is one of the new Apple generation of kids, comfortable with technology and touch screens in a way I’ll never be. Is this a good thing? I’m not sure. Crazy-new-parent Peta screams no, though more rational anti-luddite Peta reasons yes. Historically, familiarity with technology has led to better education, better language acquisition, and better job placement (ah, Ned, you were just a stone’s throw away from a book deal and a COO position at Armani!). That said, television was once a new technology, and the so-called idiot box can have effects on child development, particularly language acquisition, if allowed in excess.

The key? Moderation. Some studies have shown that educational television a la Sesame Street, in moderation, can be helpful. Joe and I have strict-ish limits on television, just in case–Baby watches a Baby Signing Time DVD for, at most 15 minutes twice a week (usually just once a week). Occasionally, he sees some incidental television, but we’re pretty quick to distract him. That said, the Baby Signing Time DVDs are having a positive effect–the kidlet can now sign for more, milk, all done, drink, eat, and dog. Milk, eat, and more are particularly useful, and are eliminating a lot of frustration in our household.

Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures isn’t Baby Signing Time, and, if we had an iPad in our house, I’d probably skip it. But limited access to educational apps and encouraging Baby to be comfortable with technology may be prove to be more useful than I’d previously reckoned. We’re still a long way away from getting a household iPad, though.

Do you let your kids watch tv? Would you let them use an iPad, or other gadget (assuming the cost weren’t prohibitive)?

I like neatness. I enjoy seeing things in their proper places, and baking in a clean kitchen. Most NRIs I know are the same, house proud, well-groomed, and neat as the proverbial pin. Sometimes, though, cleanliness has to go.

Read more @ The NRI…

My articles on blogging at Guide to Literary Agents:

• How to set up a simple writing blog with WordPress
• So you’ve set up a writing blog–now what?

Facebook:

• Creating lists
• Hiding Farmville and other games/applications

Twitter:

• Useful writing chats with schedule
• Creating Lists
• Hashtags
• Writers to follow
• Writer’s Guide to Twitter

My posts on Twitter & social networks:

• If teens aren’t tweeting, why are we?
• 3 ways Twitter can make you a better writer
• Your online presence–getting started with social networking and blogs

Anything I missed? Any other links or lists you’d like to see? Drop me a line!