Plain words, uncommon sense
Hannah Stephenson of GLOSS mag and I were talking about graphic novels the other day and here is her recent review of Skim, which is written by Mariko Tamaki with illustrations by Jillian Tamaki.
A totally gorgeous book, I was envious of her copy and only had a couple of minutes to “skim” the book, pardon the pun.
Quote: Skim is an astonishingly genuine portrayal of a teenage girl dealing with an absurd range of problems in high school.
CBC Orchestra: gone.
Canadian Tire Catalogue: gone.
Is it C_C acronyms that are disappearing of are we losing Canadian institutions faster than I can keep up.
The CBC Radio Orchestra was the last radio orchestra in North America. It was started in 1938 during radio’s hay days.
Canadian Tire Catalogue, well, I vaguely remember ordering Christmas presents from this and the Eaton’s catalogue. That activity was short lived.
What else is gone?
Looking for something to do on Thursday, March 27 at 7:00 PM?
If you’re in Vancouver, consider coming to Rex Weyler’s book launch at the Chapters at Broadway and Granville.
Rex Weyler is the author of Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast) and he and I worked closely on the online campaign for the book. I’m a huge fan of Rex and think he’s a great storyteller.
Since Good Omens is a bit of a Christian story and I’m all for thematic convergence, I’m going to try to make it.
Rex will read, speak about his new book The Jesus Sayings, & sign books.
Coffee and desserts will be served (and who doesn’t love desserts)!
Here are some quotes about the book, which I also noticed in the Globe and Mail this weekend:
Quote:
“Weyler liberates the historical Jesus to tell the Christian origin story anew. He speaks truth to power in this solid and exciting re-telling of the diversity, politics, and mythology behind the origins of Christianity. There is integrity and trustworthiness in this work and in this author, whose history of activism helped launch the global Greenpeace movement. Read this book.”,Mathew Fox, author of One River, Many Wells and Original Blessing
“This book scores high points in readability, relevance and insight. Weyler shows us that Jesus still has the power to inspire, and that it is up to us to make sure this inspiration draws out the best in humanity, and not the worst.,Pacific Rim Review of Books, Steve Black
“Rex Weyler is a master journalist, who brings us face to face with the Jesus who walked the earth, changed western civilization, and remains relevant to modern readers.”,John Izzo, Ph.D., author of The Five Secrets You Must Discover before You Die
“Weyler takes his readers on a historical tour of the ancient sources, describing how the earliest accounts of the life and message of Jesus grew over time and in response to changing circumstances. Weyler has done his research and is a great storyteller.”,The Gazette, Montreal, Lorenzo DiTommaso
What books are on your radar? What are you reading that’s fantastic?
I heard Diane Schoemperlen has a new book out, anyone reading it? Is it good? I loved Our Lady of the Lost and Found.
Tonight I’m going to get back into Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. I’m liking it a lot so far.
Via Trend Hunter I discovered Edoc Laundry. It’s interactive fashion. Each shirt has a hidden code that you take to the website for additional graphics. Very cool.
This week was a hairy-eyeball week. The kind where you spend a lot of time doing work and very little time doing things like sleeping and eating. Every now and then, I can handle those types of weeks, especially when they bring about quotable gems like the following:
Quote:
* Don’t hire a dog and bark yourself.
* Spreadsheets aren’t strategy.
* What is the square root of Fuck All?
* Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
* Where there’s baloney, there’s a pack of baloney.
* I’m going to come back in and pretend the day is starting fresh.
It’s funny what you’ll say after 5 hours of restless sleep. Next week’s forecast looks like sunny days full of calm, deft precision, lots of sleep and less mania. I’m hoping to use some of these pearls from James & Co.
Quote:
* The only person who likes change is a wet baby.
* I’m not anti-social. I’m selectively social.
* Surely it’s no coincidence that the word “listen” is an anagram of the word “silent”.
And since we’re on the topic of quotables. Here are some of my favourite Dilbertisms.
Quote:
* I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow’s not looking good either.
* I love deadlines. I especially love the swooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
* Tell me what you need, and I’ll tell you how to get along without it.
* Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.
And that my friends is the week past and the week ahead. Stand back, I’m coming through.
BPIDP?
For those of you not in book publishing, BPIDP (pronounced bippy-dip, not kidding) announced some policy and program updates.
http://pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/padie-bpidp/reports/bulletin-newsletter_e.cfm
My personal favourite is #3.
Quote: 3. Enhanced funding for new technology initiatives
After a successful six year investment in bibliographic data improvements through the Supply Chain Initiative for Publishers, BPIDP will be reorienting its support for new technology initiatives in 2008-2009. In keeping with the findings of several recent industry studies that have identified the need for increased training and professional development in this area, BPIDP will provide funding to support publishers’ acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies.
Starting in 2008-2009, BPIDP will fund up to 75% of eligible expenses for technology-based business planning projects and internships for individual publishers. Technology-focused professional development projects for publisher associations will also be eligible for the same level of support. This assistance will not be a permanent measure but rather a limited initiative to help the industry build the foundation for the effective application of new technologies.
Now if only I knew of someone with knowledge of the publishing industry and experience with technology! (About my services page.)
Congratulations to the BC publishers and authors who are shortlisted for the 2008 BC Book Prizes.
The full finalist list is available at 12:01 on the brand new BC Book Prizes website.
The BC Book Prizes website is what I’ve been working on for the last couple of months so I’m really pleased to see it live and corresponding to the announcement of the finalists.
And way to go David Chariandy of Soucouyant, Meg Tilly of Porcupine. and Douglas & McIntyre for Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs. These were 3 BC books that really stood out for me this year.
Go check out the new BC Book Prizes website. And if you like the new site, give them some link love. The BC Book Prizes are going to be blogging from the road this year.
Each year several authors tour the province, bringing BC books to communities across the province.
Are they coming to a town near you? Check the tour schedule.
And if you’re out of province, follow along with the tour blog.
Fun times! And, there’s some Flickr action happening too.
Charles Bock and the fine folks at Random House are giving away a free PDF of Charles Bock’s novel Beautiful Children. It’s available until midnight this Friday (February 29).
I think it is a cool idea.
Quote: Galley Cat is reporting the following:
Bock’s reasoning for approving this giveaway is simple: “I want people to read the book. If that means giving it away for free on-line, great.” UPDATE: Not that he’s letting this “free” stuff go to his head; as an anonymous tipster pointed out, in tiny, faint lettering at the bottom of the website, there’s a little note that says “© Copyright 2008. Charles Bock. This is our intellectual property, so kindly don’t fucking steal it.”
Download the free eBook until Feb 29.
(Source: Dan Wagstaff, thanks Dan!)
Blogging expert Susannah Gardner got into the back-end of a couple of different blog systems and showed us how to add these widgets to sidebars and content.
(And David’s blog will be just fine–she’ll fix that little code error. I’m just kidding. Adding widgets is easy.)
Couple of widgets I learned about:
* www.polldaddy.com (cool surveys for your site)
* www.thisnext.com (cool this is what you want to buy next)
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