IT'S ALL NEW AND THE KIDS LOVE IT!

Brand spanking new web site, thanks to Blaine Rucker. There are many more videos, both on the home page and the VIDEOS page. If you scroll down the home page, you'll come to a video made by an industrious 15-year-old high school sophomore -- code name "Hyperwires"-- and posted on You Tube. Here is her explanation of the video:

"For another English assignment, I was assigned to read a non-fiction book, give a short speech about it and provide some sort of visual such as a slideshow or poster. I decided to create a video for the book by Allen Rucker which I read, The Best Seat in the House. In the book, he tells of how he was instantly paralyzed from the waist down one Tuesday. I used clips of one of my favorite shows, Lost, because Terry 0' Quinn seems to portray Allen Rucker very well and he plays John Locke who used to be in a wheelchair."

Thanks, Hyperwires, and thank YOU for watching.

IT'S A WHOLE NEW YEAR

In every way. Soon this site will get a remod, courtesy of master designer Blaine, but meanwhile, here is some news you can use:

The paperback edition of “The Best Seat In The House” is now in bookstores and at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. At only $13.95, it fits any budget. Buy one for the library and another for the bath.

I’ll have the distinct honor of visiting wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on Wednesday, Feb 6th. My editor from Harper Collins, Gail Winston, is flying down from New York and we will be meeting recovering paralytics and handing out books. I only hope it does some good.

Check out this user-generated video about the book on You Tube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=koslh7iEs7I
Thanks, "Hyperwires," whoever you are.

I’m writing an article on artist/director Julian Schnabel for the next issue of ABILITY Magazine (http://www.abilitymagazine.com)I met with him last week on an awards-tour swing through LA. If you haven’t seen his film, “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly,” about a man with “locked-in syndrome,” the most extreme form of paralysis, then you are missing out on something profound, moving, and in its own absurd way, comic.

Finally, there is an upcoming one-day So Cal symposium on transverse myelitis and other rare neuro disorders on Saturday, Feb 23th in Anaheim. Sponsored by the Transverse Myelitis Association, noted doctors in the field like Dr. Douglas Kerr from Johns Hopkins will be presenting an all-day educational program. For more information, go to the TMA web site -- http://www.myelitis.org/.

Support the WGA strike! Later.