Olympics 2012 -14

It's hard enough to make the Olympics, let alone win an event. But sometimes, the sting of losing can be offset by the satisfaction of at least taking home some kind of hardware in the form of a silver or even bronze medal. 

Finishing in fourth place, however? That's where it gets a little tough to swallow. 

Luckily, David Mitchell is going the extra mile to make sure those oh-so-close losers get some kind of recognition. The Derbyshire, England resident is mailing athletes fourth-place medals to honor their accomplishments and ensure that they go home with a little hardware along with some heartache. 

"There used to be 84 countries in the Olympic Games, now there are 204," Mitchell told the BBC in an interview. "Performance levels have become so much higher that it is so hard now to get a medal. I thought, it's time this increase in the competitiveness and the standards was taken account of." 

So Mitchell, a bookshop owner, went to a local trophy store and began buying medals to send to the unlucky athletes who would otherwise have nothing to show for their efforts. One side of the medals have the athlete's name and event, while the other side displays "In Recognition of your 4th Place Olympic Games 2012." 

The first recipients of Mitchell's homemade hardware are scheduled to be British diver Tom Daley and his synchronized diving partner Peter Waterfield. The two messed up a key dive and were knocked off the podium, and although they might be a little upset at their fourth-place status, Mitchell hopes he can cheer them up. 

"I hope they don't find it insulting," Mitchell said, "because it's meant seriously and supportively." 

It's not much, but if we've learned anything from playing sports ourselves, it never hurts to get a medal at the end of the day.

Women's gymnastics all-around champion Gabby Douglas likes her hairstyle just fine, thanks.

The 16-year-old said Sunday she was a little confused when she logged onto her computer after winning her second gold medal in three days and discovered people were debating her pulled-back look.

''I don't know where this is coming from. What's wrong with my hair?'' said Douglas, the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in team and all-around competition. ''I'm like, `I just made history and people are focused on my hair?' It can be bald or short, it doesn't matter about (my) hair.''

Douglas uses gel, clips and a ponytail holder to keep things in place while she competes, a style she's worn for years.

''Nothing is going to change,'' she said. ''I'm going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it.''

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

Olympics 2012 - 3

 

Well the games have started, all be it before the opening ceremony, GB ladies soccer team beating NZ 1-0 and USA beating France 4-2.

 Of course there are some who already will not be taking part in the games. Greece with all it’s issues have already sent one of their smallest group of athletes ever, and this has been reduced even more by the banning of Triple jumper Voula Papachristou who was expelled from Greece's Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party.

It was her attempt at a joke Sunday that went viral. Commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, Papachristou wrote: ''With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!''. Her tweet prompted thousands of negative comments that snowballed Wednesday leading to her being banned.

 

She is not the only one however, Moroccan runner Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, one of the medal favorites for the woman’s 1500 meters has been tested positive for the diuretic furosemide at the Paris Diamond League meeting on July 6. 

 

Selsouli became an Olympic medal favorite after clocking 3 minutes 56.15 seconds in the 1,500 meters - more than four seconds below her personal best time at the Paris event…hmm wonder how she managed that?

 

To me perhaps the most worrying is for the French athletes…

 

A convoy of cars carrying French athletes and officials crawled through central London, enmeshed in a fiendish traffic jam.

 

To their right: A specially created and pristine Games Lane set aside for the exclusive use of the so-called "Olympic Family", much to the chagrin of many Londoners.

 

Alas, it appeared no-one had told the Gallic branch of the lineage.

 

So off they went, trundling east in the direction of the Olympic Park at 2mph, perhaps even grousing at the infamous London traffic.

 

One hopes for the sake of the French that their sprint relay tactics are a little more well-honed.

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

OLYMPICS 2012 -2

I have posted before about the opening ceremony, being full of animals and comparing the three cows to the thousands of people who took part on the Chinese ceremony, now comes a possible block busting leak.

"Previous reports of director Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics   detailed an epic retelling of Great Britain's history in three sweeping acts through a massive display of song and dance (and cows). Boyle and company have done everything they can to keep the details from leaking out and spoiling the surprise for the four billion people that are expected to watch it. One more detail, however, leaked out, and it may be the best one yet.

 

The British Sunday Times news paper  reported that Boyle is planning on staging an epic battle for the soul of Britain between the evil Voldemort from the "Harry Potter" series and a massive crowd of flying nannies styled after the iconic British nanny from the book and film "Mary Poppins." The report also said other fictional characters from British literature such as Peter Pan and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" will make an appearance in the ceremony presumably to represent the mark his country has made on art, literature, and film.

 

 I'm not doubting Boyle's vision for the ceremony or Britain's influence on the world, especially when it comes to England's contributions to the creative world. However, "Harry Potter" and "Mary Poppins" does seem a little shallow when it comes to praising Britain's footprint on popular culture. If it were up to me, the opening ceremony would include a massive battle for the soul of the world between Manuel from "Fawlty Towers," John Cleese from Monty Python and the last five Doctor Whos who join forces to destroy a crowd of rage infected zombies from "28 Days Later".

 

Now THAT'S an opening."

We'll have to wait and see

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

Badger Causes Wobbly Lines

We have been a little light on the funny side of life over the last few weeks, but today is a good one...

Workmen painting white lines on a main road left a gap for a dead badger because it was not their responsibility to clear up the carcass, a council has said.
The animal was killed on the A338 near Downton on the Hampshire-Wiltshire border but when Hampshire County Council workmen came to paint white lines in the centre of the road, they decided to leave a space until the body had been removed.

The responsibility for picking up the remains was the responsibility of New Forest District Council.

Businessman Kevin Maul, of Winterbourne Dauntsey, Salisbury, Wiltshire, who spotted the gap in the lines, said: "I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I saw this poor old badger who had been there over a week.

"Then I drove home to see his body between the lines - they had painted the road, but left a gap where he lay."

Mel Kendal, Hampshire County Council executive member for the environment, said: "We would usually liaise with our colleagues at the district council, who dispose of animal carcasses on the highways, to ensure the badger was removed before the white line-painting crew did this stretch of road.

"This appears not to have happened in this case and the white line-painting crew did what they thought was best until arrangements could be made to dispose of the carcass.

"These arrangements have now been made and the gap in the white lines will be filled in, at no extra cost to the council tax-payer


Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

"Across the Pond" News

It's been a while since I passed on any news about my book, perhaps you thought there hasn't been any?

REVIEWS:

My total on Amazon is now numbering "103"

Since the last time I wrote about reaching the magic "100" I have received a five star and two four star reviews. Here are a few snippets of what the reviews say...

"...a cute love story. Highly recommended for teens."

"Ahhh, young love! This book reminded me of what it was like to fall in love. The young characters were so sweet, I wanted to meet them. This is an easy read and definitely worth your time."

"This is a great read for tweens and teens - and the rest of us who still love YA fiction. There is romance, adventure, misunderstandings and even a big bully you can watch get his comeuppance! Fred comes from England and stays with Brit and her family in America while his parents go to Australia. While he's there, he and Brit fall in love.

Brit and Fred are funny and endearing. I admit it took me a few pages to really get into the story, but when I did, I couldn't stop reading! It's also fun to watch Fred work out all the differences between the languages of the two countries. All in all, Across the Pond is an enchanting story of first love."

RADIO NEWS:

While my own "Book and Chat" radio shows are going from strength to strength I have appeared as a guest recently on these shows.

Literary Pizzazz

Red River Writers

Author Buzz

BOOK SALES:

I managed to sell over twenty copies of my book in the couple of days I was at the Big E, not a huge amount, but more than I expected. I am also working with Barnes and Noble and Borders to have copies on the shelves, though you can already order it for them, it now being distributed by Ingrams.

An E-Book PDF file of the book is now available check out the book web site for more details

http://across-t-pond.com

I have also been asked to a couple of events to talk or be on authors panels.

So that's some of the latest news I thought I would share with you.

Barry



BARRY EVA (Storyheart)

Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Views, Reviews and Weird News

So what have I got to offer you in this weeks "Views, Reviews and Weird, well perhaps not so weird News?

Some fresh reviews at various blogs, a radio appearance or two and history coming back to life



VIEWS:

It was interesting to hear this week, that Amazon are charging over $2000 for a video book trailer. Just look around people there are many many many people and companies out there that will create your book video for a tenth of that. Not only that but they will "splat" (tech term lol) your video on other sites such as google, facebook and yahoo as well as Amazon for that price. Again this is just another one of the "big boys" catching unsuspecting authors and charging them up the kazoo.

I have also this week had some lovely feed back from my radio shows, with an ever increasing list of people who want to be on the shows. one thing to remember I WILL ALWAYS FIND A SPACE FOR A SHOW WITH A BLOGGER!!

So any blogger out there contact me and I'll book you either for a written blog interview of for a radio show.

REVIEWS:

It has been a great week for reviews of every kinds, these are two new ones on Amazon:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teen Memories, July 28, 2009
By Mick (Wisconsin)
Across the Pond is well written and any teenager would enjoy this book,especially the girls.

Fred comes over to America from England (across the pond) to stay with an American family. The family has a daughter, aged 14 and named "Brit" who takes a fond likeing to him. He really likes her, too. He protects her, listens to her fears and they plain like each other.

I sympathize with Fred once being a teenage boy myself as he has to 'take care of' a bully named Steve Harris. He put Brit in a horrendous spot before he got to America. Fred wants his revenge on him. If you are an adult this book will bring back a lot of memories by taking you back to your teen years.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Love, July 28, 2009
By Cassie Mae (USA)
I really enjoyed this book as I like to see the differences of America through the eyes of someone from another country. Across the Pond shows the comparison of words and things with the US and England. I did not know we had so many words that were interestingly different.

Fred comes to stay with the American family who has a daughter his age. The teen romance that ensues is cute and innocent. You hope for them and anyone that tries to get in between them you disagree with.

The baseball game that Fred sees for the first time at the stadium is exciting for him as well as the American family.

This is a great read for a mother and daughter and/or female teenagers to read through the emotions these teens go through. Anyone that has been in young love will relate to this book.

NEWS:

Not weird just something I thought I'd share. A few weeks ago, the eldest man in England died and I blogged about him on my Sunday UK Blog. Remembering WWI etc.

This last Sunday the last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111. This just leaves one remaining soldier who fought in WWI
The sole British survivor of the war is former seaman Claude Choules, who is aged 108 and lives in Perth, Australia.

It is hard for many who know only perhaps modern war fair to understand the millions of deaths that happened over several years for a few miles forward and backwards on the trenches. The use of gas, tanks barbwire and machine guns meant the daily going "over the top" was almost suicide.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8168691.stm




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Latest Storyheart and Across the Pond News

Across the Pond is a YA, teen, romance or what ever you like to call it book for the young and young at heart.


Over the past few weeks I have been lucky enough to have interviews and reviews posted at all sorts of blogs and locations, about myself and my book "Across the Pond". Many of these I have shared with you on one blog or another. This week is no exception with several blog write-ups as well as some fresh reviews on amazon (those I'll share tomorrow).

Today though I received notification from a previous guest from my "Book and a Chat" blog radio show... Cherie Burbach. Cherie and I had a really enjoyable show.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond/2009/04/22/A-BOOK-AND-A-CHAT-with-Cherie-Burbach-internet-dating-special

So today I received notification that Cherie had posted an interview that I had with her, nice enough. Then I went to her site Working Writers and read her introduction.

I first talked to Barry Eva a few months ago, when I was a guest on his show A Book and a Chat. He made me feel immediately comfortable and as a result, the interview was one of the most fun I’ve ever done. Barry has a natural ability to put someone at ease and talk about the things that people are really interested in.

As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also an accomplished author! His book, Across the Pond, gets rave reviews on Amazon and shows just how much Barry’s fans appreciate him.

I know you’re going to love this interview.

Talk about a build up!!!

Any way here is the link, I hope like Cherie kindly states you will "love this interview"

http://workingwritersandbloggers.com/2009/07/29/interview-barry-eva/




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Views, Reviews and Weird News

So what have I got to offer you in this weeks "Views, Reviews and Weird News?

Some fresh reviews at various blogs, a radio appearance or two and history coming back to life



VIEWS and REVIEWS:

GOODREADS ****

I do not typically read books that are geared towards younger readers or young adults, but I am very glad that I decided to try this book. It is very well written and kept me engaged to continue reading and finish it in one sitting. It is a heartwarming story of teenage life, love, and angst, as seen by characters that live in different settings. Yet, it is universal in its story, where anyone that reads it, will be able to relate to it. It did not have the quality of being a book that was "too young" for me to read and I believe it will reach readers on every level. I highly recommend this selection.

LIBRARY THING ****

I do not typically read books that are geared towards younger readers or young adults, but I am very glad that I decided to try this book. It is very well written and kept me engaged to continue reading and finish it in one sitting. It is a heartwarming story of teenage life, love, and angst, as seen by characters that live in different settings. Yet, it is universal in its story, where anyone that reads it, will be able to relate to it. It did not have the quality of being a book that was "too young" for me to read and I believe it will reach readers on every level. I highly recommend this selection.


THE KIDS BOOK CONNECTION

I enjoyed Across the Pond. A strong cast of characters, an interesting plot, some great baseball, and a deep secret all come together for an engaging and fun read.

WEIRD NEWS:

Medieval battle records go online

The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.

The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.

The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.

Thomas, Lord Despenser is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.

Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem.

'Remarkable survival'

The website is the product of a research project by Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading.

Dr Bell said: "The service records survive because the English exchequer had a very modern obsession with wanting to be sure that the government's money was being spent as intended.

"Therefore we have the remarkable survival of indentures for service detailing the forces to be raised, muster rolls showing this service and naming every soldier from duke to archer."

He said accounts from captains showing how funds were spent and entries detailing when the exchequer requested the payments can be found.

The free-to-use website, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, also shows which soldiers rode the furthest.




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Views, Reviews and Weird News

So what have I got to offer you in this weeks "Views, Reviews and Weird News?

Firstly my book is now available at Book Stores!

I've received some heartwarming views and reviews from readers and have some classic weird news to share.

VIEWS:

"Across the Pond was an amazing book that I imagine all teens would want to read. I was wondering if you would consider writing a second part all about Brits journey to England. I would almost bet that if you continued on with this as a series you could have the same effect as the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Also I was wondering what your radio show is about. Thanks for letting me review your book."

"Teenagers will adore this little gem which promises to hold your attention throughout. It is light-hearted yet with undertones of passion."

REVIEWS:

I have not only reached the grand total of "NINETY" reviews at Amazon during this last week, but also have several fantastic reviews on other sites.

http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/2009/07/across-pond-by-storyheart.html

http://www.tcm-ca.com/reviews/3088.html

http://gardenofbooksa.blogspot.com/2009/07/across-pond-by-storyheart.html

http://irecommendgreatreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/across-pond.html

http://abookloversdiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-across-pond-by-barry-eva-aka.html


WEIRD NEWS:

This weeks we have some classic weird news

Bride's bouquet brings down plane

The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding when the flowers caused a plane to crash.

The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported.
However, the flowers were sucked into the plane's engine causing it to catch fire and explode.
The aircraft plunged into a hostel. One passenger on the plane was badly hurt.
But about 50 people who had been in the hostel escaped unscathed, as did the pilot.

Entangled

The incident happened at Montioni park in Suvereto, near Livorno, where the wedding reception was being held, Corriere della Sera said.
A passenger on the aircraft, named as Isidoro Pensieri, 44, had the job of throwing the bouquet as pilot Luciano Nannelli flew past.
It is believed the bunch of flowers became entangled as it was thrown, and was sucked into one of the engines.
Ms Pensieri suffered multiple fractures and a head injury. She was taken to hospital in Grosseto by helicopter and then transferred to another in Pisa, Italian media reported.

LEG CUTTING FUNERAL HOME TO CLOSE

US SMOKERS $23,148,855,308,184,500 HABIT




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

The Weather, Guests and Childrens Stories

Somebody remarked at work today, that I should be used to all the wet weather we've been having so far in Connecticut this so called Summer.

While perhaps once upon a time it was true that the UK did get a lot of rain and perhaps not as hot a summers as in the US, with the climate change those days are gone.

Throughout the 90's and early part of this decade, in the South of England, we had drouts and hosepipe bans (means you can't water your garden). We had many Summers where the temperature was hotter than many places in the Mediterranean.

An article on today,.s BBC states... "The UK needs to plan now for a future that will be hotter and bring greater extremes of flood and drought." The fact that there's also been Tornado's of sorts in the UK over the last few years. Perhaps it's my country that will have to get used to American weather.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8107014.stm

A BOOK AND A CHAT

Guest for the next few weeks on my Radio Show are:

June 20th Joan Early
June 23rd Nancy Thayer
June 27th Kim Smith
June 30th Alley – Humor and Pencaps (blogger)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond




FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES:



THE THREE CURSES OF RIBANIA

http://romance2read.com/sirpot.mp3

PETER AND KINGS TEAPOT

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ov5xU7BcvE

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHH6kxD


SIR POT AND THE GOAT

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXABQ3T7cj0

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4ZFHsLN6Y

I do so hope you enjoy them



Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"