Plain words, uncommon sense
Since releasing her self-titled debut album in September 2008, the Montreal-based chanteuse has become one of Quebec’s hottest acts. Her songs are consistently on the francophone Top 10 list…and she’s earned a Juno nomination…and a spot on the longlist of nominees for the Polaris Prize. Coeur De Pirate was Q’s live performer for a special show recorded in CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio. This is the first song she performed ‘Comme Des Enfants’.
It is beautiful and I love it every time I hear it.
It’s been a week of books and art. Here are some of the things I’ve appreciated most:
The Design Files: Interview with Nicholas Jones
I love these stunning sculptures made of beautiful old books.
Daily Imprint: We Heart Books
I want to hang these flash cards on the wall. L is for Ladybug.
Another book loving artist is Cara Borer.
The photographs are as wonderful as the sculptures.
And everything in this Fun Forever post is amazing!
I especially like the George Russell cutouts. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourites.
Found Shit: Words Create Worlds
Anagram Bookshop Art Ads
And please go look at Rachael Ashe’s altered book series on Flickr. I want to buy some for my office.
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith is the New No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Novel. And it came from Santa.
In short, Mma Ramotswe walks to work to eschew laziness. Mma Makutsi worries about the new saleslady at her fiance’s furniture store, and the ladies look for a soccer traitor. It’s typical McCall Smith and it’s wonderfully comforting to partake in the ebb and flow of this series.
Daily Grommet recently had the chance to host Kate Inglis on their blog (http://blog.dailygrommet.com/2009/12/14/an-interview-with-kate-inglis/) and give a few lucky commentators a copy of her book! Lucky fans. If you missed the draw, you can grab a copy at most bookstores.
Book City Jackets offers printable PDF book jackets.
Author Kate Inglis is one of those people who you meet and never want to leave. I’d move in next door if she didn’t live on the opposite coast. But aside from being lovely, she’s a great author.
Her first book, The Dread Crew is an imaginative tale of filth, friendships and backwoods pirates. It’s the story of a boy, a crew of dirty, warty, natty, rude, pugnacious, revolting, disgusting pirates who show up demanding things from the villagers that they hoard.
The Dread Crew is one of those tales that starts in the woods when a mother is walking with her restless tot, home is still a ways away, and there’s nothing fueling the walk expect whatever story she can pull from the air. Anyone who’s a mom knows how this works, but few of those stories actually find their way to the published page.
As Kate says, “it occurred to me that writing something silly was highly speculative, a debatable spend of martial and mothering time. I shrugged. I kept it to myself because I thrive in the pressureless void of low expectations. I hadd 15,000 words before telling my husband–with my mouth full, behind my hand–that I was writing a novel. A three-year spell of insomnia was my groundswell. Getting published was an accident.”
Listen to my audio preview of the book: (MP3 6 MB should play with Google Reader)
Follow me on Twitter or become a fan of the Boxcar Marketing Facebook page to be entered into the draw for a Reading Is Sexy Calendar.
I’ll make the draw on December 16 and promptly mail you the calendar. I have 2 calendars to give away, 1 for the Twitter followers and 1 for the Facebook fans. So yes, you could get more than one chance to win.
The 2010 Reading Is Sexy Calendar promotes literacy and raises funds to help kids and adults with dyslexia. Proceeds go to the Canadian Branch of The International Dyslexia Association.
You can look at my lovely mug for all of January.
See Emme’s behind-the-scenes photos.
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Attention Readers: This calendar is hot.
The 2010 Reading Is Sexy Calendar goes on sale this week to promote literacy and to raise funds to help kids and adults with dyslexia become literate.
I sat down (virtually) with Emme Rogers to talk about the calendar.
Who does the calendar supports?
The Canadian Branch of The International Dyslexia Association
http://www.interdys.org/
Our goal is to promote literacy and raise funds to support those with dyslexia.
What was the impetus behind the idea?
Back in the spring, Ian Martin (http://www.twitter.com/IanAMartin) was starting up his publishing house, Atomic Fez Publishing, and was trying to goad me into saying “Reading Is Sexy” as often as possible on twitter. This sparked the idea for doing a “Reading Is Sexy” calendar promoting literacy.
Initially the calendar was supposed to be shot “calendar girl” style, like the one Bryne Pen did on Salt Spring to raise funds and awareness for The Land Conservancy. Alas not all our models understood what I meant by that, so it will likely be our theme for next year.
We chose the International Association of Dyslexia as our charity because they interact with Emme online (@onbida) and Emme is dyslexic. That said, she is one of the lucky kids who had access to help, so she has never treated her dyslexia as a crutch, but rather as her secret superpower. It is why she looks at the world in a different way, is not limited to typical rules dictating how things work, and has approached life with perseverance, hard work and problem solving.
Who is Emme?
Emme is the girl next door. You know the one. She was the Tomboy who always out climbed the boys to reach the most precarious limits of the tree in the yard. The one who you just gave the ball or the puck to on the soccer field or hockey rink for fear of her side tackle or crosscheck. The one who loved making mud pies, but wouldn’t be caught dead at a tea party. You know the one. The one whose Mom couldn’t watch what she was up to for fear that she’d have a heart attack. That girl. The one whose friends you didn’t mess with, not because she was manipulative, but because she hated injustices and wasn’t afraid to say so. Just ask the boy next door. Maybe he’ll pull out the photo of the black eye he was sporting the day he was a ring bearer.
We’ll Emme’s all grown up now and she’s no longer “Leo the Late Bloomer.” A homosexual drama teacher has taught her how to put on makeup. Somewhere along the lines she lost her fear that her bum is too big and she wears fitted clothes now. And, if wonders will ever cease, she actually likes to put on a party dress, minus the runners and hockey jacket.
So in essence, Emme represents that secret hidden voice in many of us women — the things that go through the heads of our mothers, girlfriends and ourselves — the only difference is that she says these things aloud, and rather then be embarrassed about these thoughts or insecurities she screams them aloud for all the world to hear.
And yes, she’s a total character and given her tomboy past finds it totally hilarious that she is now seen as Vancouver’s / Canada’s gal-about-town and go to girl on all that is hot and sexy in this lovely world of ours.
Who’s in the calendar?
Photographers
If you’d like to support the Canadian Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, please buy the calendar.
And if you’d like your calendar signed by the men and women of “Reading Is Sexy”, please come out to the Launch Party and Literary Celebration on Thursday.
Local: Gudrun Wine & Cheese Bistro (150-3500 Moncton Street, Steveston, BC)
Date: Thursday December 3, 2009
Time: 7 pm until late
Stop by for author readings, calendar signings by the models, and the auctioning of some of Robert Shaer’s photos from the shoot. Plus Gudrun goodies, wine and beer will be on sale.
Oh, and have a closer look at Miss January.
I’m reading Andrew Zuckerman’s photography book, Creature.
I had a sneak peak at some new books from Random House of Canada Ltd. and these are my favourites:
See the list on Amazon’s Listmania
1. Ossuaries by Dionne Brand (poetry)
“Dionne Brand’s mesmerizing new collection of poems is about human zoos; bones, culture, the fabric of our times.”
Brand is awesome, I’m sure to love this one.
2. Book of Mercy by Leonard Cohen (poetry)
“Leonard Cohen’s classic book of contemporary psalms is repackaged. As lovely as the first publication 25 years ago.”
It’s a beautiful package.
3. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: Book 10 by Alexander Mccall Smith
“The 10th Precious Ramotswe novel is as adorable as the first.”
Precious is precious. I love this series.
4. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
“Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this bestselling tale of a family haunted by the past – and perhaps more – has received ecstatic reviews around the world: Waters is exceptional!”
I really, really liked Fingersmith and have been meaning to read more Sarah Waters. This is it!
5. Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health by Rick Smith
“How the toxic soup of our lives is killing us.”
Do I need a book to tell me this? No, but it would be interesting to know how to better navigate the world.
6. Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail
“Good food grown in small spaces.”
I have herbs on the balcony and am ready for more.
7. Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd
“A heart-in-mouth conspiracy novel about the fragility of social identity, the corruption at the heart of big busunderbelly of the everyday city.”
A dark, twisted book with quirks that are sure to be my style.
8. The Waterproof Bible by Andrew Kaufman
“Kaufman can’t be missed.”
All My Friends Are Superheroes is a brilliant book. I must read this one.
9. Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
“Angels are big this year. A book to watch.”
Monique’s prediction: angels, oil an religion. We’ll be as fascinated by these things in 2010 as we were by vampires in 2009.
10. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag: A novel by Alan Bradley
“Flavia is back.”
For Sweetness at the bottom of the pie, this young detective is by to thrill me with her fascination of poisons.
11. Dahanu Road: A novel by Anosh Irani
“Anosh is dark humored but one of my favs.”
Gawd, I love him.
12. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
“Taxidermy!”
Life of Pi guy gets every stranger with taxidermy in this novel. Yes, please.
13. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath
“Nobody likes change but a wet baby–and even then.”
From Made to Stick comes Switch. I won’t switch. I’ll stick.
14. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
“The internationally bestselling true story of the remarkable ten-year-old Yemeni girl who dared to defy her country’s most archaic traditions byfighting for a divorce.”
This story just seems unbelievable!
15. Boom! by Mark Haddon (young adult)
“I’ll have whatever Mark’s having. Love his work.”
Positioned for young adults, I think this will be a killer hit with adults too.
The New York-based Shen Yun is coming to Vancouver at the end of March. The show is an amazing revival of China’s five-millennial-old artistic traditions that thrived before decades of suppression by the Chinese communist state. It is presented by two non-profit local organizations, NTDTV and Falun Dafa Association.
Queen Elizabeth Theatre from March 25, 28, 2010.
$39, $59, $79, $109, $139
ORDER TICKETS
Online: www.ticketmaster.ca/shenyun
Ticketmaster: 604-280-4444
Presenter Hotline: 1-800-683-0191
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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