Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of.
The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?
Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Jeff Kinney
Question: Given all the jobs that you have--game designer, fatherhood, Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie work, etc.,--do you have a certain time that you set aside to write?
Kinney: I still treat writing like a hobby, working mostly at night and sometimes on weekends. But when a deadline looms my hobby time gets extended into the wee hours of the night. It's not uncommon for me to work until 4:00 a.m., and I'm usually back at work by 9:00 a.m.
Q: Did you get to choose which character you would play in the Wimpy Kid films (Mr. Hills)? What do you enjoy most about working on the movies?
Kinney: I never any real desire to appear in the Wimpy Kid films, but one day my wife encouraged me to be an extra in one of the crowd scenes. So I walked onto the set, ready to ask the assistant director to put me somewhere in the back. It happened that right at that moment the director was look! ing for someone to play the role of Mr. Hills, Holly Hills's f! ather. W hat I didn't realize was that I'd be front and center in the church scene, and in the new movie, I'm even more prominent. I'm incredibly self-conscious so appearing on-camera was a real stretch for me.
Q: In 2009 Time magazine named you as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World--what’s the first thing you did after you found out?
Kinney: I thought it was a practical joke, so I tried to track down the source of the joke. I eventually reached a voicemail of a reporter who said they worked for Time, and at that point I thought it was just a well-planned practical joke. It took me a while to realize it was for real. It was a big honor, but I don't take it very seriously. I'm the fourth most influential person in my own house.
Q: Would you ever consider making Wimpy Kid into a newspaper comic strip or creating another one? Do you have any favorite comic strips that you currently read?
! Kinney: I've considered it. I set out to become a newspaper cartoonist but failed to break in. But I like the freedom books give me, so it would be tough to cram my ideas into three or four panels.
Q: What is (or could be) you motto in life?
Kinney: I was inspired to write by a Benjamin Franklin quote: "Well done is better than well said." But I always encourage kids to "create something great," because the tools to create something original and find an audience are available to them like never before.
Q: What was your favorite year in school, and why?
Kinney: Fifth grade was my favorite year. I had a great teacher, Mrs. Norton, who encouraged me to be funny and challenged me to be a better artist and joke-teller than I was. I liked it that she didn't coddle me.
Q: Kids now ask for a book that is “like Diary of a Wimpy Kid,†and with this series you’ve created a whole! new subset of books for young readers--how does it feel to be! the per son behind such massive book enjoyment, reaching reluctant readers, and spawning any number of titles that aspire to be “the next Wimpy Kid?â€
Kinney: I'm happy that kids are reading. I think graphical books reach kids who might otherwise see books as work. Books should be fun!
A modern Walden--if Thoreau had had three kids and a minivan--Cabin Fever is a serious yet irreverent take on living in a cabin in the woods while also living within our high-tech, materialist culture.Featuring rustic interiors as well as North Woods architecture, Cabin Fever visits more than two dozen charming retreats old and new, large and small, in the mountains and along the water, from the wilds of New York out to the wild, wild West. Author Rachel Carley explains where our love for the rustic comes from and shows the amazingly varied guises in which ! it appears today.
After serving as settlers' cabins, log homes enjoyed a phenomenal popularity in the late nineteenth century. Wealthy families such as the Vanderbilts, Guggenheims, and Carnegies summered in areas as remote as they could find, building what were euphemistically called camps. Those less affluent, following the era's prescription for fresh air and simplicity, traveled to even more rustic hotels and vacation cabins to get their share of the refreshing woods. Cabin Fever presents some of the best of these old lodges and private cabins, along with striking new homes that give a contemporary twist to the ideal of the rustic life.
To help fill a cabin, a whole camp, or even an apartment with the latest in rustic style, the book's catalogue shows where to find home furnishings from twig bedsteads to Hudson Bay blankets to Adirondack chairs. Brimming with exceptionally creative ideas for achieving this truly American look, this enchanting guide to liv! ing with the rustic style will cure every variety of cabin fev! er.The c raze for "getting away from it all" in buildings of log, stone, and unpainted lumber has been a part of American life since the 1800s. From the Gilded Age retreats of the Catskills and Adirondacks to the rugged Wild West lodges of Yellowstone and Yosemite, Cabin Fever celebrates the architectural elements that make cabin style unique: gleaming hand-peeled and polished logs, cowhide sofas, and river-rock fireplaces. Some are large, old, and built as public lodgings, like Putnam Camp, the Adirondack summer retreat founded by philosopher William James, which still has the cheerful austerity it had when Freud and Jung mingled there with Harvard academicians. Others, like the grand hunting lodge nestled on the edge of a marsh, are more recent monuments to quirky private visions of the perfect rustic retreat. Rooms in both are accessorized with animal heads, native American blankets and art, snowshoes, antler chandeliers, and willow twig furniture. The book's ! appendix includes catalog sources for everything from small wooden summerhouses to buffalo-plaid blankets, and a list of hotels in the grand old style (like Yosemite's Ahwahnee and the Grand Canyon's El Tovar). Even if you can't have a piece of the wilderness to call your own (and the burl furniture to match), you can still enjoy the rustic yet substantial comforts of Cabin Fever.
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DVD Features:
Alternate endings
Audio Commentary:Commentary by D. Guggenheim, J. Mardsen
Deleted Scenes:Deleted Scenes - 11:07
Filmographies
Interactive Menus
Music Video
Other:Travis's gossip Interviews "Grab Bag"
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer!
A dishy, incisive exploration of gossip â€" from celebrity rumors to literary romans à clef, personal sniping to political slander â€" by one our “great essayists†(David Brooks)
To his successful examinations of some of the most powerful forces in modern life â€" envy, ambition, snobbery, friendship â€" the keen observer and critic Joseph Epstein now adds Gossip. No trivial matter, despite its reputation, gossip, he argues, is an eternal and necessary human enterprise. Proving that he himself is a master of the art, Epstein serves up delightful mini-biographies of the Great Gossips of the Western World along with many choice bits from his own experience. He also makes a powerful case that gossip has morphed from its old-fashioned best â€" clever, mocking, a great private pleasure â€" to a corrosive new-school version, thanks to the reach of ! the mass media and the Internet. Gossip has invaded and changed for the worse politics and journalism, causing unsubstantiated information to be presented as fact. Contemporary gossip claims to reveal truth, but as Epstein shows, it’s our belief in truth that gossip today threatens to undermine and destroy.
Written in his trademark erudite and witty style, Gossip captures the complexity of this immensely entertaining subject.
The first thing that strikes you is the rhythm. The Gossip have been making punks dance since they debuted five years ago, long before dance punk existed. Soulful and jagged, you can hear everything from Dischord to Motown. The vocals resonate with the confidence of the lyrics, asking people to hold on just a little bit longer, reassuring youth that there are others out there, and spitting in the face of all who say otherwise. Their third album was recorded by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi). This is the sound of a band destroying and surpass! ing all expectations placed on them. Kill Rock Stars. 2006.It'! s flatly unfair that the Gossip aren't a massive success, a rocknroll giant slayer, especially as they unleash another 10-song, 30-minute zinger like Standing in the Way of Control. Singer Beth Ditto's boundless, whether shouting out the title song's chorus or feather-dusting the lyric on Meg White-sounding album closer, "Dark Lines." The band rocks with an unerring simplicity, a leanness that writhes. The big-beat, hop-along (and sing-along) "Listen Up," is the centerpiece here, a stripped focus on the Gossip's core conviction, that rhythm can rock like little else. The tune has Ditto holding court over a bluntly simple one-two beat, cautioning a crowd that by rights ought to be tenfold larger: "now gather round/now listen up," warning them that "some people talk way too much." As Ditto stuns, drummer Hannah Blilie's beat pounds, and Brace Paine's guitar lays down a simple law. Ignorance of that law is no excuse. --Andrew BartlettHere’s the dish, GG fans: the 22 epi! sodes of Season Four couldn’t be juicier! And Gossip Girl is there to keep you clued in to the buzz, secrets and scandals of Manhattan’s elite. Between Blair and Serena’s thrilling summer in Paris, Chuck’s new girlfriend and new identity, unexpected fatherhood for Dan, a power play for Bass Industries, Blair’s too-haute-to-handle internship at W Magazine and a vicious conspiracy that threatens to bring down one of your favorite Upper East Siders, Season Four sizzles with some very surprising hookups and meltdowns. With lies and betrayals at every turn, Serena, Blair, Nate, Chuck, and Dan struggle to “keep their friends close and their frenemies closer.†The fourth season of Gossip Girl starts to show a little age; while the fashions are as couture as ever and the scandals the right level of sleaze, the season takes some inexplicable turns. But no season is complete without its parade of troublemakers, so up first is Georgina (Michelle Trachtenberg), who! se pregnancy announcement at the end of season three throws se! rious wa ter on Dan's romantic possibilities with Serena (Blake Lively). Then there's Juliet (Katie Cassidy, daughter of '70s teen idol David), an impostor whose elaborate scheme to take down Serena is connected to her past and involves some serious loony-bin activity (Cassidy, who was the best thing on the short-lived Melrose Place reboot, makes a terrific foil--much less irksome than Georgina, who has by now overstayed her welcome). Finally, there's Russell Thorpe (Spin City's Michael Boatman), a ruthless businessman who angles to take over Bass Industries from Chuck (Ed Westwick). But none of these villains hold a candle to the internal evildoing within the Upper East Siders; Dan (Penn Badgley) plots against Chuck, Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) plot against Serena, then turn against each other, mapping both of their exits off the series; Serena and Chuck plot against her mother, Lily (Kelly Rutherford), and finally Lily's sister Carol plots agains! t her by employing her daughter Charlie (Kaylee DeFer). Incomprehensible love matches ensue (the show's creators seem intent on having Serena circle romantic possibilities with… pretty much everyone), but the friendship that naturally evolves between Dan and Blair becomes the season's most pleasant surprise. That Blair becomes the center of a complex romantic web between Chuck and an honest-to-goodness prince (Hugo Becker) steers the season back in the right direction; Meester and Westwick remain the emotional centers of the show and anchor it when it veers too far into Crazytown. --Ellen A. Kim
Evil speech can destroy friendships, break up marriages and ruin businesses. Gossip-negative talk, put-downs, rumors, accusations-not only hurts the person being talked about, it also hurts the person speaking and the person listening. In short, gossip has a negative impact on everyone. Yet, despite these negative consequences, gossip has been around since the begi! nning of humankind and continues to be a popular but destructi! ve pasti me.
Throughout this timely and enjoyable book, readers will learn what the Bible and Jewish wisdom have to say regarding speech and how their teachings relate to our world today. Readers will also learn via real-life examples how to break the gossip habit and how to teach others to do the same. Gossip will help people develop skills to improve their lives by getting along better with others; mending old hurts and reclaiming lost relationship; keeping good relationships from going bad through hurtful words; and strengthening relationships they already have by speaking in a more encouraging and productive manner.
The purpose of this book is to extinguish the fire of evil speech and help us live in a gossip-free environment. The result? Positive interactions with the people around us, the healing of relationships and a more complete self.
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