I'm For Sale Cheap!!!!

Or maybe not so cheap if y'all get into a bidding war! Regardless, I'm part of an auction - all of which is open to you (and all of which is worth checking out!). Here's what you can get from me:

You can bid on a one hour phone call with me to discuss writing, poetry, whatever (or, dare I say it, turn it into Skype visit!) and get a signed copy of The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.

And you can bid on two hours of my social media consulting services - currently going for a huge discount to my normal rate.

There are some really amazing things in this auction, by the way (your kid in a Marvel comic! A personalized greeting recorded by The Ice King from Adventure Time! Various table reads here in Hollywood, signed swag, and two times me!), and it's for a school that does absolutely extraordinary things for some amazing students.

Bidding ends Saturday evening, so hurry, I say. Buy me for a great cause! And thanks!

The Cybils Awards announced!

Well, I'll start off by saying that The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. did NOT win the MG Cybil award. Sigh. It was a thrill to be nominated, however, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Ultra by David Carroll, the MG winner. It was the one book in the category I hadn't read... and the others were so fantastic that I know that Ultra must be amazing.

The list of Cybil award winners is a great collection of books for kids across a whole range of areas. As always, I highly recommend checking 'em out.

And congratulations to all the winners!

This Post is Kinda Dumb....

So, on Sunday afternoon, I visited the one and only Dumb Starbucks in the US. All of us in line knew we were part of something that was art or a promotion or both, and I don't think anyone was waiting (and waiting and waiting!) for the free coffee. We were waiting because it was fun. It was community. It was... dumb in the best way!

What is Dumb Starbucks? Well, it's a place that is a "working

Dumb Venti, Dumb Grande, Dumb Tall

coffee shop" that looks like Starbucks, has a menu board like Starbucks, appropriates the logo of Starbucks... but simply adds the word "Dumb" in front of everything. Well, except the seasonal drink, the "Wuppy Duppy Latte." (Quoth the barista when asked what the drink was, "It's whatever you want it to be.")

It was exceedingly well done, including three Dumb CDs (one of which was part of a whole series of dumb music of the world).

And yes, it turns out that the whole thing is the brainchild of Nathan Fielder who hosts a Comedy Central show called Nathan For You. He claims there will be one in Brooklyn in two weeks, in fact, though who knows if it'll happen.

It wasn't just performance art which might've been more satisfying, but the way it played out was probably the same regardless. Here's the message from the founder that keeps in the spirit of the launch.

Now, I was gonna tie this into a writing post ("pay attention to detail") or a social media post ("go viral with IP borrowing at your own risk!") or both... but I decided, no, I'd just share my dumb experience. I got my drink, had a blast, and got more than enough enjoyment out of it to pay me back for my time. It was a win!

I hope you had an equally enjoyable weekend....

Elegy for a Cookie - a cookie poem/a food poem

Elegy for a Cookie
by
Greg Pincus

I walked in from my car - you fell off of your platter.
You landed unnoticed, alone.
Oh, how I wish you had made a loud clatter
Or simply picked up the phone!

But no, you just stayed on the ground overnight
Exposed to the cold and the dew.
Now, come the morning, you're truly a sight:
You're less yummy solid, more goo.

The world was a cruel one for you, you poor guy -
A place full of heartache and hurt.
Yet I toast you my friend, with a tear in my eye:
You would have been one fine dessert.

Yes, this is based on a true, sad story of a cookie that escaped my post-Super Bowl party dessert-extraction expedition. Poor cookie. Poor me, who didn't get to eat said cookie!

Today, however, cookieless though I may be, I know I can eat my fill of poetry simply by checking out the Poetry Friday roundup over at No Water River. Great links to check out there and... a giveaway!. It's like a win-win!

By the way, if you want to get all the new poems hereabouts emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!