Na has some great articles on her site you might want to check out.
http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/what-is-bunraku-puppetry
http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/what-is-table-top-puppetry

Nice dragon!  I really like this style.  What is the medium. Looks kind of like paper or cardboard cut and shaped. Very neat!

That is really nice. Never seen a marionette play an accordion like that before.  I was a bit confused at first by the hand to the right of the screen then realized two puppeteers where manipulating the puppet.  He had some really nice movement.

Paul's company is very strong and it would be a great experience for a puppeteer starting out.  He is a demanding artist though so be ready to work.    That is not a bad thing by the way.

StoneLion Puppet theater is also in the Kansas City area and if by chance someone reads this in the future and the position at Paul's is filled you could contact them and see if they have anything available.  Both companies are always doing different projects and people often move on so it never hurts to check with them.

http://stonelionpuppets.org

Sounds like you had a great anniversary! My parents went on the Alaskan cruise and really enjoyed it.

While I think it is a good idea to have some really good professional pictures for a portfolio (i.e. neutral background good lighting), if you don't have that then don't sweat it.   Would love to see what you worked up.  Not sure about the black and white but well wait and see.
 

Hmm... interesting concept. Like Na I had never heard of this so I did a bit of research on the idea. The first one I came across was this site that actually helps book authors organize a blog tour. http://www.blogtour.org/  From most of the sites I found this seems to be something that has been heavily targets towards book authors. http://www.novelpublicity.com/blog-tour/ http://yodiwan.com/2009/06/11/whats-a-book-blog-tour/

I don't see why other types of media should not take advantage of this idea.

I paint them.

I would say external hard drives are you best bet. I know that is the route I've gone. Pretty easy really since at least on  PC you can plug them right in via USB and away you go. Simply upgrading to a new PC is not going to fix that fact that you are going to continue to need more space.

The other alternative would be to use a service that gives you disk space on large servers i.e. the cloud. There are really simple easy services like http://dropbox.com and there are more advanced services like http://vps.net/ and https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362776742_2?ie=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&docId=1000796931&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-A5&pf_rd_r=0FQJ4EBD2JJ3A8AN0NGA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1364264882&pf_rd_i=507846 The advantage of storing your data on a cloud is that most services allow you to continually upgrade the amount of space you need as you go along yet all your data is kind of all in one place. The thing is in the long run this may cost more since you continue to have monthly payments.  BTW: Starting accounts at Drop Box are free so if you want to test out this concept that may be the way to go at least to see if you like it.

This is another find from FB. Steve Axtell posted it but I wanted to make sure our none FB members got to see it.



I really like this piece. It is so simple and tender. You can read more about this show at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jv1yr There is a link to the show but it is BBC so it is only available to those in the UK.  I really hate that they do that. Perhaps it will show up in other markets. I'll have to keep an eye on BBC America for it.  Nina does have a FB page. http://www.facebook.com/nina.conti