Chris likes. A lot.

The franchise is alive. I watched the movie this afternoon and it had it all. I won’t give anything away except to say the casting choices and the style were terrific. Some of the characters were uncanny in how close they were to the original actors, yet at the same time they made the parts their own. Simon Pegg is a comic genius. Chris Pine truly became Capt. Kirk. Zachary Quinto breathed new life into Spock and really fleshed out the character. I could go on and on, but instead I think I’ll go see it again. Oh, and I really admired the restraint shown in not putting too much focus on the Enterprise itself, but instead keeping it on the characters.

It’s a whole different take on my world, and I love it! (I’m new at this posting photos stuff, but apparently you can click on the photo to make it bigger because I haven’t figured out how to make them bigger on this page.)

In RV Tour news, mom and pops braved mass protests in the streets and a lost parking garage to set a new personal best of 11 stores in one day. I suspect it wasn’t the parking garage that was lost, but you don’t argue with the woman who brought you into this world, especially when she hadn’t received your Mother’s Day card yet. The tour rolled into Toronto yesterday and landed smack dab in the middle of a Tamil/Sri Lakan protest going on in the city. After a brief and unintended exercising of their right to protest they moved on and notched eleven more stores, and were greeted warmly in each and every one. By now I shouldn’t be surprised at how kind and generous the bookstore staff have been throughout the US and Canada. My parents have reported nothing but positive experiences throughout their many, many visits. To all those staffing the shelves from sea to sea shining sea, you are a remarkable group of people.

Thanks today to:

Rosanne at Chapters in Oshawa; Pam at Chapters in Ajax; Manager John at Book City Toronto (Queen Street); Lloyd at Indigo (55 Bloor Street); Kristine and Mortisha at World’s Biggest Bookstore in Toronto (hey Jessica, my dad tells me you had the display up for my book, thanks!); Aviv Z. at Indigo in Toronto (Eaton’s Center); Ben at Bakka Phoenix (I was there for the first time last summer and it’s a wonderful independent bookstore on Queen Street); General Manager Angele St. Pierre at Chapters in Toronto (Queensway); Anna at Chapters in Mississauga (189 Rathburn Road); Customer Experience Manager Bethany and Tara at Coles in Mississauga (Erinmills Town Center); Jackie Henderson at Chapters in Mississauga (3050 Vega Blvd)

Mom is actually okay with this, she thinks it looks “safe and nice and high up with lots of visibility” but is hoping they have it in white, or maybe champagne.

Having spent a few days in Belleville, ON visiting my brother, my folks are now barn-storming across southern Ontario. Dad is having so much fun he’s starting to eye other provinces while mom is, well, becoming increasingly proud that one of her sons isn’t an author.

Thanks today to the following very nice staff that took time out of their days to meet and chat with my parents. There’s even a couple of photos of places they visited (see below):

Carole Walsh and Patricia at Greenley’s Bookstore in Belleville; Jane at the Belleville Public Library; Tara, Darren and John at Chapters in Belleville; Customer Experience Manager Megan Smith at Chapters in Kingston; Oscar Malan and Aislinn at Novel Idea Kingston; Steven at Indigo in Kingston

If I knew how to dance, I’d be doing it right now. If you click on this Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Light-Burning-Shadows-Book-Elves/dp/1416570535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242081459&sr=1-1 you’ll be able to zoom it and see it larger. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. The artist this time was Alan Dingman. I’m officially a huge fan.