Another OSC Interview

Orson Scott Card was asked about the Ender's Game movie during an interview with Del Rey posted on http://www.computercrowsnest.com. No real new news, but some fans need to take to heart what Uncle Orson had to say, since there's going to be a lot of us disappointed about what's left out:

Q: Just to shift gears, what can you tell us about the forthcoming Ender's Game movie?

OSC: We’re still working on developing the right script. My screenplay isn’t terribly faithful to the details of the story, but perfectly faithful to the spirit and meaning of the story. But when you have a film that’s going to cost a hundred million to do it properly, you don’t bet it all on an author-written screenplay! Right now David Benioff (Troy) and his writing partner, D.B. Weiss, are working on it, and I have high hopes, because I think Troy was a brilliant adaptation of an impossible-to-adapt story. I’ve heard from people who are irate at what Benioff left out of Troy, but my feeling is, the movie didn’t erase The Iliad, it merely introduced it to a huge audience and brought the visual power of the story to people who had never seen it. The visualization of Achilles was incredibly well done, and I think it is Brad Pitt’s greatest performance.

Okay, the movie Ender’s Game is going to leave things out. So what? It won’t erase the book. If anything, it will draw people to the novel. What I want is for EG to be a great movie first, and an adaptation of my novel only second.

Another study showing the benefit of choline for pregnancy

When I first got pregnant, I wanted to know what I supposed to eat to grow the healthiest baby possible. Luckily, right before I conceived, I spoke at the 2009 American Egg Board's Annual Meeting in Chicago and got the chance to learn the benefits of choline for a healthy and smart baby.

Choline is not an essential nutrient technically because your body can make it on it's own. However, you need much more than your body can make both for your own brain health and your baby's.

Recently, Science Daily news published a summary of a recent scientific investigation showing more evidence for the importance of choline in pregnancy.

In summary: a new research study published in the January 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal by a team of University of North Carolina researchers shows that choline plays a critical role in helping fetal brains develop regions associated with memory.

"Our study in mice indicates that the diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline in that diet, can change the epigenetic switches that control brain development in the fetus," said Steven Zeisel, the senior scientist involved in the work and a senior member of the FASEB Journal's editorial board. "Understanding more about how diet modifies our genes could be very important for assuring optimal development."

To read the rest of the story click here.

Although the title of this story is, "Finally, an excuse for pregnant women to eat bacon and eggs", which I think is just silly because why the heck CAN'T a pregnant women eat bacon and eggs in the first place? Because of the fat? Oh yes, that's right... fat is bad and it's going to kill us. Give me a break.

In any matter, egg yolks are one of the richest sources of choline a mother can get in her diet. Each yolk contains ~125 mg of choline, where the recommended dose of choline for women (humans) is at least 450 mg per day. This is why I recommended pregnant women eat two eggs a day in a blog post I wrote July 2009.

Other than the benefits for your child's memory and brain development, choline is also necessary to help prevent any neural tube defects in a growing fetus - yes, even with adequate folic acid in the diet.

So, sure, you can eat bacon (nitrite free would be best), but don't forget about those eggs and their yolks! It'll help you produce a little baby Einstein... and who wouldn't love a child that could pay their own way through college due to amazing brain power? Heck, I would!

For more information on choline, check out these reports:

Choline, the new essential nutrient

Eggs: a good choice for moms to be

Sources of choline

Another new blog and facebook page!

I personally am loving all of the singing time blogs out there! I just found this brand-new blog that someone linked to on the yahoo groups page.

(If you are not a member, you should join! It's an awesome resource!!)

The blog is called "Singing Testimonies". It only has two posts up, but quite a few ideas. One I think I will use this sunday.

Also, I have started a facebook page so we can better share ideas and ask questions. I receive lots of questions and great suggestions via the comments on this blog, but I'm afraid many do not see these suggestions. I hope the facebook page will be a better source.

You can check it out here. Let me know what you think!
*Remember, it was just created...so there's nothing there yet! That's where YOU come in!*