It can be scary out there for a grad. The job front is ominous, you haven’t figured out how to answer the ubiquitous question, “What are you going to do with that degree?,” and what… you’re moving back in with your parents?! Advice from graduation ceremonies can sometimes miss the mark, so don’t worry–Kathryn and Ross Petras have curated some of the best, in quote form. Here’s a selection from their book “Dance First. Think Later.”–sure to set any grad on the path to success.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” –Ian Maclaren

“If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.” –John Gierach

“Don’t let other people tell you what you want.” –Pat Riley

“When a door is hard to open, and if nothing else works, sometimes you just have to rear back and kick it open.” –Muriel Siebert

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” –Abraham Lincoln

“Don’t anticipate life; meet it. When you try to anticipate, you’re being an idiot, because nobody’s got the brain to outwit nature. I’m talking here about patience, about believing in yourself.  I’m talking here about having the courage to wait.  You’ll get what you deserve.” –Rod Steiger

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” –Elbert G. Hubbard

“Don’t try to go too fast. Learn your job. Don’t ever talk until you know what you’re talking about.” –Sam Rayburn

“Never turn your back on a friend.” –Alfred Hitchcock

“Trust that little voice in your head that says, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if…’ And then do it.” –Duane Michals

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” –Epictetus

Paul J. Wiedorfer, who died last Wednesday at 89, was a 23-year-old Army private when he charged German machine-gun nests on Christmas Day 1944 and saved his company from a deadly ambush. This incredible feat of courage earned Mr. Wiedorfer the Medal of Honor.

This fall, Artisan Books, a division of Workman Publishing, will release the third edition of Medal of Honor, a book  that celebrates the nation’s highest military honor and its living recipients. Updated to coincide with the medal’s 150^th anniversary, the book of 143 incredible tales of bravery and courage—from World War II to the War in Afghanistan—will feature a foreword by NBC news anchor Brian Williams, a letter from every living president, and new essays on the history of the medal.

The stories in this book affectingly chronicle the selflessness and sacrifice of our troops—something all Americans honor on Memorial Day.

Ah, summer!

We celebrate its arrival this Memorial Day weekend, when the grills of America are lit with unbridled glee. From sea to shining sea, grillmasters and barbecue aficionados will offer up the standard fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, maybe Texas-style brisket if they’re feeling adventurous.

But for the maestro who wants to knock the socks off of family and friends, there’s a mind-boggling dessert that will confound, amaze, and impress them—and make their taste buds sing. It’s as American as apple pie—and often served with it, as a matter of fact. But here it gets the live-fire treatment. I’m talking about grilled ice cream.

Yes, ice cream. But isn’t that an inherent contradiction? you ask. Isn’t putting a frozen dessert over hot coals a bit like mixing oil and water? Perhaps, but in the ambitious, able hands of America’s master griller, Steven Raichlen, grilled ice cream becomes not only doable, but delectable, too! Read on for the how-to.

Grilled Ice Cream
from Planet Barbecue! by Steven Raichlen

The Scoop

Where: Azerbaijan (the easternmost of the Caucasus Mountain republics, bordered by Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea)

What: Coconut-crusted ice cream balls grilled shish kebab-style over blistering hot charcoal

How: Direct grilling on a grateless grill

Just the facts: Because of the delicate nature of the ice cream and coconut coating, you’ll need to grill these kebabs on a grateless grill; suspend the skewer between two bricks positioned at opposite sides of the grill. You can use any flavor of ice cream for this recipe—Chef Mehman favors vanilla. Stateside, I’m partial to Häagen-Dazs’ crème brûlée; its burnt-sugar flavor reinforces the taste of the flame-charred coconut.

The Method

The strangest thing I’ve ever grilled? It’s a question I’m asked often. So is Azerbaijan’s most famous grill master and TV chef, Mehman Huseynov, and the hyperkinetic chef has a ready answer: ice cream. Yes, ice cream. Skewered on a slender ribbon of steel, crusted with beaten egg and shredded coconut, and seared over the fire. The secret to grilling ice cream is to dip the frozen balls in egg and coconut several times before grilling. The hot fire cooks these ingredients into a hermetic crust, which seals in the melting ice cream. It’s essential to work quickly and over a very hot fire to sear the exterior before the ice cream has a chance to melt.

Makes 8 to 12 balls; serves 4

1½ pints of your favorite ice cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups grated or shredded dried coconut in a shallow bowl

You’ll also need
Flat metal skewers, at least 12 inches long

Advance preparation
4 to 6 hours for refreezing the ice cream

1. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the ice cream into 2-inch balls. Place them in a baking dish and return them to the freezer to freeze the balls solid, 1 to 2 hours.

2. Place the eggs and vanilla in a shallow bowl and beat with a fork. Dip each ice cream ball in beaten egg, turning it with forks to coat it all over, then in the coconut, turning it with forks to coat it on all sides. Return each ball to the egg to coat it again, then coat it in the coconut again. Return the balls to the baking dish and freeze them again until solid.

3. When the coconut-covered ice cream balls are frozen solid, skewer them on flat metal skewers and freeze them again.

4. Set up the grill for grateless grilling, following the instructions below and preheat the grill to as hot as it will go. Arrange 2 bricks on the grate at opposite sides of the grill.

5. Place the kebabs on the grill, resting the ends of the skewers on the bricks. Grill the ice cream balls until the coconut is browned on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, 4 minutes in all. Work quickly; the idea is to sear the coconut without melting the ice cream. Slide the ice cream balls off the skewers into bowls or onto plates and serve at once.

Note: Grateless grilling

In many parts of the world, from Turkey to Japan to India, grills do not have grates and the food is cooked suspended directly over the fire. The method is particularly good for grilling skewered ground meat kebabs, tofu, and glazed foods that would otherwise stick to the grate. The easiest way to do grateless grilling on an American-style grill, either charcoal or gas, is to place two flat bricks, paving stones, or pieces of metal pipe on the grate, one at the front and one at the back. Position them just far enough apart so that the ends of the skewers will rest comfortably on them as supports. The food will be suspended over the grate and will be fully exposed to the heat.

For more sizzling recipes, check out Planet Barbecue!

Welcome to another installment of Inside the Author’s Studio, where we give you a peek into the minds and studios of your favorite Workman authors.

Today, to celebrate the release of his new book–and just in time for two events notorious for inspiring sucky video (graduations and weddings)–we venture into the studio of Steve Stockman, author of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck. Let’s hope he can save us all.

Recent book you loved/learned from

Loved City of Lost Girls by Declan Hughes/learned from The Information by James Gleick/always recommend  The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Favorite bookstore

I’m glad you asked.  I’m having a contest to figure that out right now.  It all revolves around shelf display for my new book…. But while that contest is underway, I’ll give a shout out to our great local book store Village Books in Pacific Palisades, CA.

Hidden talent

Would you call forgery a talent or a craft?  Hmmmm.  I’m also a pretty good cook.

Bookmark, dog-ear, or virtuality?

Dog-ear if it’s mine and my wife is unlikely to read it, else bookmark.

Book you are most ashamed never to have read

I took a course in college called “Proust, Joyce and Faulkner.”  Read all the Faulkner.  Skipped all but one of the Proust with no regrets whatsoever.  Still sorry I never read past page 20 of Ulysses.  And still have an incomplete in the course.  I think the professor retired this year.

Most frequent form of writerly procrastination

My real job.

Favorite childhood book

Follow My Leader by James Garfield

Alternate ambition (i.e. If you weren’t a writer, you’d be…)

I’m a director, but what I’ve always really wanted to do is act.

Your perfect meal

A giant loaf of hot Greek-Italian bread from the Columbus Bakery in Syracuse, NY, and some awesome cheese.

Big dream

A line of “….That Doesn’t Suck” books.   That I don’t have to write, but that I still get checks for.  Not sure if this is a “dream” or a “fantasy.”

Super power of choice

Immortality probably has its downsides, but I don’t think I’d notice them for the first few hundred years.

What viral video do you wish you had shot?

I’m very fond of “Where the Hell is Matt?”  I like its spirit.  I talked about it in the book (page 114) and did a blog post about it here:  What in the Hell is Unity?

For those of us hitting the air conditioning hard this summer, what are your recommendations for the top 5 films to line up in the ol’ Netflix queue?

I got to do my top 100 or so titles in the back of the book, which was a blast.  So from that list, here are 5 good summer flicks from that list that you may never have seen, or forgotten and need to see again:

-Animal House (1978) School’s out.  Really out. The father of raunchy R-rated pics like The Hangover.  

-Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) For the 4th of July: A fast-moving catchy musical that time travels you back to America’s 20th century war efforts.

-The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The best, by far, of the six Star Wars movies. If you haven’t seen it lately or shown it to your kids, do it! 

-The Sixth Sense (1999) An intelligent horror movie that will scare the hell out of you and make you cry? Yep. A must-see even if you know the surprise ending already. 

-Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Tarantino again. Why aren’t there more female action heroes? This should be a trend. I count this as one film. 

What Workman book would you like to receive as compensation for your involvement?

I still haven’t got around to reading Water for Elephants.  And I promise it won’t be like Ulysses.

—

Steve Stockman is a writer and director of commercials, short films, music videos, and TV shows–and the author of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck.

I am lucky enough to still have four living grandparents. This is something I’ve never taken for granted, because not only were they great for playing board games and serving me second helpings of dessert when I was a kid, but they always were and continue to be excellent storytellers. Not only that, but their own personal histories are so varied and interesting.

Unsurprisingly, given their generation, my grandparents’ early lives were touched by war in ways larger than I can imagine. My paternal grandmother, for example, lost her first husband in World War II. While she was home raising their two children by herself, her future second husband—my dad’s dad—was training Navy pilots for combat overseas. Ten years later, when the war was over and Europe was struggling to rebuild, my maternal grandfather was stationed in France, where he claims to have done little more than play baseball with his fellow recruits (though I have a feeling this may be an embellishment for the sake of the story).

Whether you have an uncle who fought overseas or a grandmother who grew a victory garden at home, chances are you know someone whose life has been directly impacted by war. This Memorial Day, take the time to honor those who gave their lives for our country by listening to the stories of those who are around to tell them. Below are some questions to help get your conversation started. If you want you can even break out a notepad, tape recorder, or video camera and preserve the stories for future generations.

• If you joined the military by choice, why? What did you hope to achieve by enlisting, and how did your family respond? If you were drafted, how did you feel about having to go into the service?
• When you left home, what were your good-byes like?
• Where did you go for basic training? What was the hardest part? What friendships do you remember from that time?
• What were some of the greatest challenges you encountered overall?
• What was your experience of combat? What helped you get through it? What have been the effects on you and on your family?
• What changes did you feel in yourself as you went through these experiences?
• What was military food like? Describe a typical meal. Is there anything you won’t eat now because of your years in the service?
• Who were your friends? What did you do together when you weren’t on the front lines? Have you stayed friends?
• What were the hardest physical challenges? How did you cope?
• Were you ever wounded? How did your injury happen, and how and where were you cared for afterward?
• Were any of your friends wounded or killed in combat? How did those losses affect you in the field? How do they affect you now?
• Who inspired you during your service? How?
• How has your military experience shaped the person you are today?

For more about interviewing friends and loved ones, pick up a copy of The Oral History Workshop by Cynthia Hart with Lisa Samson.

Did you know that Michael Jackson’s patented gravity-defying lean is actually…patented?! It’s true! In 1993 the smooth criminal himself was granted U.S. Patent #5,255,452 for a “method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion.” (Spoiler alert: It’s not magic.)

M.J.’s not the only celebrity inventor out there. Near the end of his long career, Marlon Brando created a new device for tuning a drum. Back in the day, famed escape artist Harry Houdini dreamed up an improved diver’s suit that’s easier to put on (and take off) than previous versions. And in 1987 Eddie Van Halen secured the patent for a musical instrument support apparatus that helps a musician hold his guitar perpendicular to his body, thus allowing for more tasty licks per minute than ever before in the history of rock.

So what does this have to do with you? Well, you’re an independent inventor, right? You’ve thought up an idea for the next big thing—we’re talking bigger than sliced bread (and you’re just in time, too, because it’s National Inventors Month). But before you go bringing your invention in front of potential investors, you’ll want to make sure your creation is protected. Nothing kills the high of a “Eureka!” moment like someone ripping off your million-dollar idea—or, maybe even worse, someone claiming that you ripped off theirs. That’s where the United States Patent and Trademark Office comes in. Secure a patent and you can “prevent others from making, selling, or using your invention (or its functional equivalent) for a twenty-year period from the date the patent application is first filed.” That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Of course there’s much more to learn before you release your product to the masses—regarding patents and beyond. For more about getting your idea off the ground and into the hands of many, pick up a copy of The Independent Inventor’s Handbook by Louis J. Foreman and Jill Gilbert Welytok.

It’s showtime, folks. In a matter of days, The Jacob Javits Center will be transformed into a hive of book publishing and bookselling madness. At the center of the storm–or so we like to think!–lies the hub of the nonstop energy and excitement that is the Workman booth (#4152). If you’re attending, please stop by and say hello! Our schedule of author (and publisher) appearances is below.

Tuesday, May 24
1:00-2:00 p.m.: Meet Grace Bonney, author of Design*Sponge at Home (Artisan Books)

2:00-3:00 p.m.: New York Times bestselling author Patricia Schultz will be signing copies of 1,000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die, and telling you about some of 200 totally new destinations in thie fall’s new (color!) edition of 1000 Places to See Before You Die.

Wednesday, May 25
9:30-10:30 a.m.: Steve Stockman, author of How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck, will talk about effective book videos. Conference Room: #1E15.

11:oo a.m.: BEA Panel: “Why Now Is the Time More Than Ever for Publishers to Invest in Print” with Bob Miller, Workman’s Group Publisher. Conference Room: #1E15.

11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Help us set a brand-new world record (yes, really!) with Dan Rollman and Corey Henderson, authors of the forthcoming Recordsetter Book of World Records.

2:00-3:00 p.m.: Rufus Butler Seder, author of Gallop!, Waddle!, and the forthcoming The Wizard of Oz: A Scanimation Book, will be signing copies of Star Wars: A Scanimation Book.

4:00-5:00 p.m.: Meet Barbara Kafka, author of The Intolerant Gourmet (Artisan Books).

Thursday, May 26
10:00-11:oo a.m.: Sophie Blackall, author of Big Red Lollipop and the Ivy and Bean series will be signing a beautiful poster to celebrate her forthcoming first book for grown-ups, Missed Connections.

I recognize how highly unlikely it is that any of you missed the totally epic 2 minutes and 21 seconds on April 26, 2011 during which members of Workman Publishing and the independent sales reps teamed up at our annual spring sales conference to set the new world record for the Longest High-five Chain. But, on the off-chance you did, let me extrapolate: We topped out at 96 high fives, which was more than enough to break the previously held record of 66, set on March 13 of the same year. (If this event had a soundtrack, it would launch into “We are the champions, my friend…”)

Click below to bear witness to the record-setting spectacle:

[blip.tv ?posts_id=5088587&dest=-1]

The only thing that could have made it sweeter? If it had taken place 5 days earlier on National High Five Day!

—

The RecordSetter Book of World Records: 300+ Extraordinary Feats by Ordinary People by Corey Henderson and Dan Rollman (those yellow-suited fellows who you may recognize from their regular appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or their popular website) is due to hit store shelves in October 2011. But if you simply can’t wait till then, visit the Workman booth (#4152) at BEA in the Javitz Center at 11:00 next Wednesday morning (5/25) to be part of record-setting history!

Spring is in the air, and with it come some of the best celebrations of the year: Weddings! Graduations! Sweet sixteens/other coming-of-age ceremonies! (I guess those last two could happen at any time of year, but don’t you feel like they’re always in the spring? No? Just me?)

But nothing taints a great memory like a bad party video. We’ve all seen it: The wedding footage that barely features the bride, and then only from the opposite end of the church. The graduation video with such poor audio that the commencement address sounds like a lecture by Charlie Brown’s teacher. The bat mitzvah video that showcases a few too many rambling uncles and a few too few boogying tweens.

How to prevent such unfortunate home video gaffes? Enter Steve Stockman, film guru and non-sucky-video-maker extraordinaire. Use the below excerpt from his new book How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck—which, by the way, promises to teach you just that—as a reference and you’re guaranteed to create a great memento of that special day. Then be sure to check out Steve’s website for lots more video tips, including his guide to shooting graduations in particular.

How’d he do that?? Watch the video below (introduced by Randy Jackson–yes, that one, dawg) for a particularly spectacular performance by our resident author and magician Joshua Jay. NOTE: Before you hit play, please place your hands securely below your chin so you can safely catch your jaw when it drops off your face.

Joshua Jay is the author of Magic: The Complete Course, Joshua Jay’s Amazing Book of Cards, and the forthcoming The Complete Magician (a complete kit with book, DVD, and magic props!).