Vaboomer -- Baby Boomer Views & News

NEW! Nancy Drew Inspired Boomer Mystery Series--NOW on Kindle

Now Available -- Kindle copy:

 

Art Theft & Sex Trafficking

The Mystery of the Ming Connection is a light-hearted and riveting page turner with two serious themes: international art theft and sex trafficking.

Boomer retirees become Sleuths

 The story opens with the theft of a valuable Ming Dynasty jar from the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Sandra Troux and her life long friends, Bobbi Power and Lizbet Sheridan, are quickly engaged in pursuing the elusive Gold Scarf Man, the probable art thief, across Korea and China. Two additional thefts of Ming porcelains from Seoul and Beijing threaten to set off an international scandal that is overshadowed only by a series of scurrilous kidnappings of local and foreign girls and young women—the closest to home being Bobbi’s college-student daughter Sophie Rose, adopted from China as an infant.

Taina Ziping

At the site of each theft and kidnapping is left a curious coin on which is engrave

d the words in Chinese characters — "Taina Ziping" and a right-facing swastika, the hideous sign of the Nazis. Two of the words on the coin hark back to the Taiping Rebellion of 1800s China. But what do the other two words mean and why is the Nazi symbol engraved on it as well? Is the coin left as a clue, an arrogant calling card, or a threat? And what does the Taiping Rebellion, the Nazi swastika, the desire for a valuable gold and diamond bracelet, art thefts and kidnapping all have to do with each other?

Chased on the Great Wall of China

In a series of thrilling chases and adventures—by horseback on the Great Wall, through the streets of Beijing in a blinding blizzard, and underground in a secret Xian tunnel system filled with cells of trafficked girls, Sandy and her sister sleuths pursue the heinous criminals to unravel the mystery of the Ming connection. The book’s climatic chapter brings the super shero trio face to face with the surprising and heart-stopping solution of The Mystery of the Ming Connection.

NOW here is another mystery: WHO IS CRYSTAL SHARPE? AND WHY IS HER BOOK FEATURED ON VABOOMER?

To Find Out:  Buy this exciting new mystery on Amazon Kindle:  

Order Kindle copy here:

 

 

Hornaday at Washington Post Deems "Orphan" a Depraved, Worthless Piece of Filth

I wouldn't bother to see this movie. And Anne Hornaday's scathing review confirms my opinion. Read on...it will singe your ears.   Hornaday Review 

 

Washington Post Editorial Review:

 It's hard to know where -- and with whom -- to begin when assessing the depraved, worthless piece of filth that is "Orphan," a high-gloss horror show about a well-meaning couple who bring home a 9-year-old girl to join their family, only to discover, way too late, that she's a homicidal psychopath.

Surely writers David Leslie Johnson and Alex Mace deserve their own circle of hell for thinking up the story, which moves with breathtaking cynicism from disturbing to grotesque to perverse to ludicrous.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax") gets a shout-out for hyping up a worthless script with slick visuals and jumpy fake-outs. Both Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga are apparently in desperate need of a paycheck -- otherwise how to explain lending their considerable talents to such rank exploitation? Oh, and what have we here: None other than Leonardo DiCaprio is listed as a producer of "Orphan," proving that his concern for the environment clearly doesn't extend to poisoning the culture.

In fact, the only people who should escape unscathed from "Orphan" are the three young actors who play Farmiga and Sarsgaard's children, adopted and biological.

Sadistic Violence

The sadistic violence, symbolic incest and flirtation with pedophilia in the film -- not to mention its shameless perpetuation of toxic stereotypes surrounding the adoption of older children -- leads one to think their work on this film wasn't employment so much as child abuse.

Shame on Warner Brothers

Finally, let's hear it for those fearless executives at Warner Bros., currently bloated like engorged ticks with billions made from Batman and Harry Potter, for using all the time, talent and treasure at their disposal to put out bilge like this. Their lust for money, apparently, is exceeded only by their contempt for the suckers who keep on forking it over. Shame on them all, every single one. .

-- Ann Hornaday (July 24, 2009)

Orphans Deserve Better Campaign website:

Donald Tang: A Man Moved by Love

How Love Can Shape a Boomer's Life

My Country Series books

I came across Donald Tang, a trailing edge boomer, because I am starting to work on a new book, the first in our new www.thimbleberrypress.com My Country series intended for middle school social studies classes.  (In the works also in this series is Vol II. My Country: Haiti, which will be in English, Creole and French with a companion Draw on Culture Activity and Coloring book.)

I was noodling around the internet, since almost all my China research materials and books are in NJ and the local library in Calumet, Michigan has 6 books on China, the most recent of which was published in 1984. I found my way to the Asia Society of So Cal site and discovered Donald Tang who is now its Chairman. This quote from a 2007 speech really grabbed my attention:

He Came for Love

Following the woman he loved from China to America, here are his words:

And I want to use this occasion to thank my girlfriend of 28 years, my wife of 23 years, the girl who stood by my side since I was 14--if I have done one thing right in my life it has to be my choice of a partner in love, my partner in life, my partner in giving, Thank you, Jean. And for giving me the greatest gifts of all, our daughters Rosemarie and Elaine.

For many of us, the kids are what inspire and motivate us to make a difference--because they are the future, they are what we are living for, not only in India, in China and but everywhere in the world. They are our legacy.

Wow! here is a man after my own heart--that love can and should be the greatest motivator. So let me add to my list in a former post about the GNH (Gross National Happiness)and so on with GNL (Gross National Love), GNE (Gross National Ease), and GNHR (Gross National Harmony). How amazing it would be if we measured our world on these metrics...

The article below is from a year or so ago and he is now embarking on new projects that will bring Chinese culture and language to the US! I have worked so long on these projects that  I am thrilled with some one of his skill, talent and heart undertaking such a project. And that kids are at its core--well, kudos, Mr. Tang.

So enjoy this profile of Donald Tang...

(Read More:)