16 May, 2009 by The Healer.

This weekend we’ll be heading up to the Lion’s West Windsor Renaissance Faire once again, a charity event that’s been getting bigger every year.  I’ve had my eye on a new pouch from Lusty Leather.  Assuming the weather holds out, we’ll be reporting back about our adventures.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
       ~May 15, 2009~

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29 April, 2009 by The Healer.

Looking at the blog I realized that the last time there was a post on this blog was all the way back in November.  Add to that our lack of publishing lately and it’s no wonder people have been asking, “Where has Healing Fireball Publishing gone?”  The answer to this question is that we are still around and I am plugging away at new material.  I know that I posted on several forums that Healing Fireball Publications was back and that we had a site update and several products in the works and then we only published sporadically and the site has stayed the same.  The truth is unfortunately the rest of my life has gotten in the way as I am preparing a manuscript about my research at work and it has been eating up my time.   

Never fear, though, as the completion of this work draws to an end and whenever I have a moment I have been working on several new Just Add Dice projects and I still have several Two Bit Tables and other products lined up for when I have more time.  The web page overhaul has been slow but I am working on it and hope to have it finished soon.  As for the blog we are once again approaching the summer and the faire and con season.  I hope to post more of our faire and con reports soon.  I am also still trying to get my wife to post some descriptions of her trip to Ireland.  Well, that is where we stand right now; we here at Healing Fireball Publishing would like to thank our fans for being patient with us.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
    ~April 28, 2008~

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25 November, 2008 by Carol.

On Thursday, I was able to visit the Free Library again to see the renowned actor, Christopher Plummer. He’s probably best known as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Incidentally, he hates that movie with a passion, although he’s apparently gotten more of a sense of humor about it in recent years. The interview was very interesting, and he was quite charming and funny. He also certainly did not seem to be almost 80. I even asked a question about his voice-over work and found out he’s going to be in the next Pixar movie. He spoke extensively about his theater work and his favorite roles. He commented that he would really like to be able to play Hamlet now, because when you’re the right age for the role, you don’t have the technique or wisdom to play it correctly. He also appreciates King Lear as a character, but doesn’t think the pacing of the play showcases him correctly. I was able to get a copy of his new memoir, In Spite of Myself, signed for my dad (shhh…it’s a surprise).

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25 November, 2008 by Carol.

On Wednesday, Chris and I went over to the Free Library in Philly for a panel discussion in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Oxford English Dictionary (nerds!) The panel featured Ammon Shea, whose book Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, relates some interesting words he would while being the only person to read the OED from cover to cover. Shea had a lot of entertaining comments, and I wish he was given more opportunities to speak. Next was Jesse Sheidlower, author of The F Word and the only North American editor-at-large of the OED. He was very well-spoken and interesting. The final panel member was Barbara Wallraff, author of Word Court and Word Fugitives and a “professional dictionary user.” The only problem with the panel was the moderator and local children’s author, who seemed to think she was presenting to children. She wasted a lot of time with her slow-as-molasses readings of book excerpts and she didn’t seem to know the format for the evening. I wish the panel had taken it upon themselves to moderate the moderator.

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6 November, 2008 by The Healer.

Our local Ritz Theatre offers several “Showtime at the Ritz” series.  These include classic movies grouped by theme.  In the past they have done a musical series, a Kung Fu action series, and, our favorite, the traditional October horror series - “Attack of the B Moves.”  The crown this series it always ends with the “Quadruple Bypass,” a marathon of four horror movies ending with the classic Night of the Living Dead at midnight.

Since my wife is a super fan of B horror movies, we attend this event every year.  This year the Quadruple Bypass took place on the day before Halloween.  The featured movies were: The Bat with Vincent Price, a serial killer movie centered around a single house and the secrets that it holds.  Werewolf in the Girls’ Dormitory, a mystery movie set in a school for the rehabilitation of criminal girls where one of the school’s residents is suffering from lycanthropy.  The House by the Cemetery, an avant gard, confusing movie about a monster in the basement of a house.  It is important to say that the cemetery near the house plays almost no role in the movie and the movie’s actual plot is so muddled and confusing that I found it impossible to follow.  Finally, of course, the classic Night of the Living Dead - this is the black and white Romero movie portraying a world where the unburied dead have begun to rise.  This is the movie that really defines how zombies move, attack and are killed.  All in all this was a fun series of movies and a great way to start our Halloween.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~November 5, 2008~

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30 October, 2008 by The Healer.

Well, as I mentioned in the intro post for the Wandering Fireball category, my wife Carol went to Ireland a few weeks ago. She will hopefully be putting up a series of posts on that trip soon. But to tide us over while she’s sorting through photos I thought I would write a post about the journey I took while she was away.

Since Carol was away I decided that over the weekend while I was alone I would take place in the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to visit 13 participating lighthouses. For each lighthouse you visit they give you a souvenir button. If you finish the Challenge you get a plastic completion tag. Also if you do a night climb at one of the places you also get a night climb tag. The lighthouses in the Challenge are located on both the Atlantic coast and the Delaware River. They range in height and power from small metal columns with little lights at the top to large concrete structures that loom over the skylines and have giant lights.

So after researching the locations of the houses I decided to try to make the eight hour trip in one day. I began my journey at 6:00 am getting up before the sun to get breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts and head to the first lighthouse in Tinicum, New Jersey. When I got to Tinicum I signed up for the Challenge and got my first button. I also bought a lanyard to hold my buttons and a lighthouse passport. The passport can get stamps at many lighthouses across the United States, including all the lighthouses on the challenge sights. If you fill the passport you can send it in to get a patch. The rest of the trip went rather smoothly; I only hit traffic around Atlantic City and the construction around Sandy Hook. The one interesting trip was that the Twin Lights lighthouse which is a large stone structure on the top of a hill around the Sandy Hook area. The structure is built on this small area so there is no parking around it. You have to park instead at a nearby school and walk through the woods to get there. All in all it was an enjoyable trip. For anyone interested there is a similar event in Long Island and Maryland.
 

   
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~October 29, 2008~

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14 October, 2008 by The Healer.

A few weekends back me and Carol went to see the Real Pirates at The Franklin (formerly the Franklin Institute).  Unfortunately, the special exhibits hosted by The Franklin don’t permit photography and this was no exception, so we where unable to take any pictures to post here.  The exhibit itself features the recovered remains of Black Sam Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah.  The relics of this ship are displayed in glass cases that are interspersed throughout some large sets filled with wax figures representing a pirate tavern and the ship herself.  The size and scale of these sets was rather amazing and between the cases was plenty of facts about life on a pirate ship.  The most amazing thing, however, was the honest-to-god pirate treasure chest recovered and overflowing with recovered dubloons and pieces of eight.  There were also several parts of the display designed for children, from a place where they could raise the Jolly Roger, to a knot-tying station, to a ship identification station and a table where you could touch dubloons that where handled by pirates.  In all this is a great exhibit for both adult and child fans of pirates.  It will be at The Franklin until 11/02/08 so if you get a chance you should go check it out if you’re a pirate fan.
~Christopher Baldi “The Healer”~
~October 13, 2008~

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14 October, 2008 by The Healer.

Our roving pirate reporter MUM the pirate cook has returned from his day at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and he filed this report.

Arrr! it was a fine day to revel in all things piratical.  The sky was clear and the weather cool and the breeze gentle.  Once I got in to the village I made a line for the tap room and the Swashbuckler’s Stage to see the bawdy shows of the Sultry Sirins of Sin and the Rakish Rogues.  I had me a plate of fine gourmet cheeses and breads for lunch and sampled the pubs finest Privateers Gold Ale.  Then me lads I journeyed over to O’Malley’s Pour House Stage to see the rowdy Celtic band Coyote Run and the magician Sir Isaac Fawlkes.  As the weather started getting cool I went over to the Royal Tea Shop and got me a glass of Ice Wine Tea to warm the bones.  On me way over to the Globe Stage for closing I stopped at the Pirate’s Treasure Ship and picked up an interesting dagger that also works as a pair of scissors and a pearl-handled strait razor that should help with the whiskers.  The finale at the Globe Stage was a raucus party worthy of a pirate, including fire breathing, music performances and dancing.  Finally on the way back to the ship i stopped by the wine shop and got a taste of warm spiced winter wine which was a fitting end to the day.

Well thanks for that great report, MUM, sounds like a raucus and rowdy pirate festival as always.

~Christopher Baldi “The Healer”~
~October 13, 2008~

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10 October, 2008 by The Healer.

It’s time for another pre-faire rundown.  It’s another Pirate Jamboree!  Our new roving reporter and resident pirate cook, Mum, will be attending the PA Renaissance Faire’s Pyrate Invasion this weekend.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the PA Faire, it is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and, like the Maryland Faire, they have a different theme each weekend.  The faire is located on the beautiful Mount Hope Winery in Manheim, PA.  So come down and meet us, matey!

~Christopher Baldi “The Healer”~

~October 9, 2008~

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6 October, 2008 by Carol.

Capping off a busy week, Chris and I traveled to the much-anticipated Collingswood Book Festival.  My favorite part about this festival is always the Town Book.  As usual, it was something I probably wouldn’t have picked up on my own.  This year’s selection was The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, a novel that delves into the concept of identity while the narrative follows a band a changling fairies and one of their own who has taken the place of another.  The festival hosted a book discussion last Tuesday and the author was there on Saturday to give a presentation and autographs.

We ended up bringing home more books than we have space for, as usual.

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