Resolutions - Schmezolutions!

This is not me. It's a picture of a slim, young lady using the same piece of equipment that sits in my bedroom, gathering dust. The same one I assured my husband I would use. "It's easy on the knees; low impact and will allow me to also exercise my upper body. It's perfect!

Yeah, right. Perfect. The first time I used it, I threw out my chronically bad hip. So, it sits. Gathering dust. Oh, I said that already, didn't I?

That was three years ago and hubby's mind has, mercifully, forgotten my previous declaration of vigorous, never-ending exercise and weight loss, and happily bought into my new sure-fire, motivational gimmick, er-uh...stroke of genius! Besides, he had no clue what to get me for Christmas, so...problem solved.

Wii Fit! How could I miss? Yoga, strength training, aerobics, balance exercises. It's perfect and I can do it in the comfort of my own home! We got it a few days before Christmas and loaded it into our existing Wii program. Before I can start playing, however, I have to set up my profile: Age, height, weight...WEIGHT???? This isn't good. Hubby is sitting on the sofa, watching my progress.

I make him hide his eyes while this stupid little animated Wii board shows me I'm overweight! Don't think for a minute you're going to find out the details if I won't even tell him! Let's just say if I weighed what they suggest, I'd be a walking, talking skeleton.

Anyhoo, hope everyone has a great 2010, and please, leave a comment with the resolutions you enjoy breaking the most! Gotta go. I'm making chocolate fudge and snickerdoodles!

Happy New Year!

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic. She is proud to announce book four, "The Magician's Castle," is due for release in December, 2009. Her children's mystery series was inspired by a recurring dream about a mysterious attic. After realizing that the dream took place in the home of her childhood friend, Cynthia, the dreams stopped and the writing began.

She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, "Women Only Over Fifty (WOOF)," along with published stories, "Ghost Light" and "Christmas Daisy," a Cynthia's Attic short story.

Mary Cunningham Books
Cynthia's Attic Blog
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

FELIZ 2010!!!

Desejo a vocês:


SAÚDE:


DINHEIRO:


SENSIBILIDADE: Para não ficar indiferente diante das belezas da vida.


CORAGEM: Para colocar a timidez de lado e poder realizar o que se tem vontade.


SOLIDARIEDADE: Para não ficar neutro diante do sofrimento da humanidade.


BONDADE: Para não desviar os olhos de quem te pede ajuda.


TRANQUILIDADE: Para quando chegar ao fim do dia poder deitar e dormir o sono dos anjos.


ALEGRIA: Para você distribuí-la colocando um sorriso no rosto de alguém.

HUMILDADE: Pra você reconhecer aquilo o que você não é.

AMOR PRÓPRIO: Para você perceber suas qualidades e gostar do que vê por dentro.

FÉ: Para te guiar, te sustentar e te manter em pé.

SINCERIDADE: Pra você ser verdadeiro, gostar de você mesmo e viver melhor.


FELICIDADE: Para você descobrí-la dentro de você e doá-la a quem precisar.

ESPERANÇA: Para fazer você acreditar na vida e se sentir uma eterna criança.

SABEDORIA: Para lidar com todas as circunstâncias da vida


Recebi esta mensagem de uma amiga e repasso de coração a todos vocês.
Que em 2010 possamos ser pessoas melhores, capazes de tornar o mundo um pouco melhor.

"Eu aprendi que não adianta a gente querer consertar o mundo. É melhor a gente consertar a gente mesmo. Ajuda pra caramba." - Renato Russo


Feliz 2010!
Beijos!

Daily Thoughts 12/31/2009

Edward Burne-Jones (left) and William Morris (right) in the garden of Burne-Jones's home the Grange, Fulham, 1890. Scanned from Waggoner, Diane, The Beauty of Life: William Morris & the Art of Design, Thames and Hudson, 2003, ISBN 0-500-28434-2. The image is c1890. Found on Wikimedia

Daily Thoughts 12/31/2009

Tonight will be New Years eve. It is snowing outside right now, so I am not planning on going anywhere. I am reading book III in the Vulcan's Soul trilogy, Epiphany right now.

Took a break and read some of Publishers Weekly online. There is a nice article on Turning Classics Into Comics. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6712404.html

I finished reading the Vulcan's Soul trilogy. It was nice light and fluffy entertainment. My favorite character in Star Trek is Spock. He is the most interesting character in the show. "Live long and prosper." I do like watching the show sometimes. It is a chance to escape away from the mundane.

Mais alguns presentes de Natal que eu fiz II

Como eu já disse, coloquei todos os presentes na cama e deixei cada um escolher o seu. Só separei esse aqui, que já tinha destino certo: Luciana, a noiva rebelde!
A Lú ganhou esse kit que eu chamei de "Cozinhando com Amor" (o nome é de um livro de receitas óóótimo), apesar de a cozinha estar declaradamente a cargo do noivo. Sabe que ela mudou de idéia está organizando uma big-festa?! Sem falar no gosto que tomou pelo enxoval! Acho que o bichinho da paixão pela casa mordeu ela...Mas isso é assunto pra outro post.

Fiz esses caderninhos pensando em cadernos de receitas. Minha tia, assim que viu o laranja disse que seria o caderno das metas para 2010. Adorei a idéia; colocar no papel tudo o que se quer fazer em 2010 e ir fazendo um acompanhamento: se conseguiu, se mudou de idéia, porque mudou...
Essa almofada foi para minha prima que ama gatos. Ama a ponto de voltar pra casa mais cedo no Natal por saudades da "filha", a gata. Aos 15 anos, apaixonada pelas artes culinárias, correu pra pegar o caderninho xadrez.

E aí foi mais um pouquinho do meu Natal. Na correria, alguma coisa ficou sem fotos, outras sem fazer mesmo e acabei tendo que comprar. Mas foi um Natal alegre, com mãe, filhos, irmãos, tios, primos, sobrinho, amigos, pessoas que entraram para a família, pessoas que estão entrando... no final, uma grande festa!
Beijos!

Reading During Holidays

Christmas Eve just wouldn't seem right if I didn't read Twas the Night Before Christmas to children - just after dinner and before we open gifts. My grandgirls (7&10) know it so well, they read along with me. I truly think the adults listening enjoy it as much as the children.

My daughter surprised me on Christmas morning with a copy of U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton, my favorite author. I plan to take it with me to the KY Book Fair in April, where I bet she will be signing her newest book for fans like me. (Sue is from Louisville.)

Books make great Christmas gifts for young and old alike. Choose them well before Christmas and inscribe them with a Merry Christmas from --- inside the cover. I love to buy books from authors at bookfairs and have them signed for gifts, storing them away until the birthday or Christmas season arrives. It thrills the children to take books to school that are signed and have the teacher read them to the class. The teacher ususally talks about the author - and seeing the autograph makes the book more special.

My hubby received two nature books from our son for Christmas, and he's already planning a trip to see the California Redwoods again. Books stir the imagination and make us want to see far and distant places. I wanted to see Pompeii ever since I read a book about it when I was in high school. I wasn't disappointed when I finally got to walk along those ancient streets in 2007.

The dreary months of January and February are a perfect time to catch up on reading. I just finished Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls and loved it. Now I'm reading Grave Secrets by Charlene Harris.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Marlis Day

Margo Brown Mysteries

The Secret of Bailey's Chase, 2008

Back to Bailey's Chase, 2010

http://www.marlisday.com/

JOÃO EUDES BEBO BOSTA !

Daily Thoughts 12/30/2009

Portrait of a bibliophile, half-length, seated in a library with a folio, a seal in his left hand; oil on canvas; 43¼ x 58 in. (109.7 x 147.3 cm)English School, 17th Century

Daily Thoughts 12/30/2009

I finished reading Vulcan's Soul part 1 last night. It was lighthearted fun. The formula worked for me. I like to think of Star Trek as uboats in space, one step up from Buck Rogers which is the Lone Ranger in space. I am going to give a spoiler. Chekov disappears in a transporter malfunction. Of course, this gives the opportunity for the characters to mourn Chekov. But, is he really dead? It is like Sherlock Holmes and Reichenbach falls; a way to die which allows the character to possibly be brought back at a later date. This is one of my favorite author tricks. Of course Star Trek fans can't take a May 4 trip to Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland to commemorate the death of their favorite character like the International Sherlock Holmes Society.

I've been weeding in the 800s and the storage fiction. I am looking at copies with zero circulation from fiction. A lot of them are classics like Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels which absolutely cannot be deaccessioned. There are also some older quality fiction like Dalkey Archive press books, and some local authors which we should keep.

I had a chance to take a last look at the Kirkus Reviews a little bit ago. Our representative came today and dropped off the latest calendars from Baker and Taylor. We currently have forty boxes of books which we requested to be expedited from back orders. We are trying to get our orders in before the new fiscal year is in place.

Finally, our contract has been ratified after three years. We had been without a union contract for many years and now we have one. Needless to say, it means a nice year end sum for me and many people where I work.

A bunch of books are here for me to read, Finch by Jeff Vandermeer, In The First Circle The First Uncensored Edition by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn which is a story of imprisonment of scientists and intellectuals, The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood-- a kind of a sequel to Oryx and Crake, Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson -- Steve Erickson edits a literary noire magazine called Black Clock which is supposed to be quite good, Retro Pulp Tales Edited by Joe Lansdale-- For a while Joe Lansdale wrote western horror, he wrote several stories for the comic Jonah Hex, and finally E.C. Segar's Popeye, Plunder Island printed by Fantagraphics. This is a lot of early Popeye newspaper strips both in color and black and white printed in a coffee table size book.

An article from Wired Magazine, Study: Rumors of Written Word Death Greatly Exaggerated http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/12/reading-expands-study/ I rather like the idea that reading is not just about books. We read on the internet, on computers, in newspapers, in magazines, and even on signage around the street. We are reading more, not less. The less may be in terms of books. But, even video games have written content in them now. I think we read all the time to do everyday actions and sometimes it makes people less interested in long form books. People are losing their sense of attention with so many words everywhere.

While I was on Twitter, I occassionally find books that are worth reading. Today, I found Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. I often find things that authors want to promote on their own.

On the way home, I finished reading book II of Star Trek Vulcan's Soul Exiles. The authors use another device in this series, a coronet which records beings memories. The story includes the recorded memories of Karatek, a Vulcan on a generation ship exploring the stars as they sought a new home far from war torn Vulcan. These Vulcans would eventually become the Romulans. The use of an object to create memories is a fairly common literary device. You could compare it to the ring in the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, or the Silmaril (elven jewel) in the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien which is used to describe the creation and history of middle earth.

Fat, Broke & Failing?

by Pam Ripling

Resolutions are about resolving things, right? Do you know what the top resolutions are, every year? I’ll bet you could guess. Number one: LOSE WEIGHT! Yep, there’s a reason why all the health clubs, gyms and weight loss centers advertise so heavily in January. Turning that December calendar page is magic, doncha know? Now, now that it’s finally January (the month you’ve been waiting for all year while you stuffed your face), you can finally STOP EATING! Magic. I tell you.

Number two: MONEY PROBLEMS. Make more, spend less, get out of debt! This, just as those December holiday credit card bills are starting to land in everyone’s mail boxes! Or when you realize you’ve just spent your entire year’s allowance and next year’s too! Yeah, that makes sense.

Number three: Get a better job ~ or ~ do better at school! It’s January. Why not. December is over, when you get all the bonuses from bosses and treats from teachers. January offers nothing to distract you, so it’s nose to the grindstone, matey!

You get the picture. Me? My last resolution was a few years ago, and I’m managed to stick to it just fine: Do not make resolutions! How easy was that? FURGEDDABOUTIT!

But if you must, if you simply cannot let a New Years go by without resolving to fix something, let it be the kindness you show others. It doesn’t cost anything, you won’t starve or break the bank!


Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Think Again Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How To Keep It From Happening To You by Sidney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell

Think Again Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How To Keep It From Happening To You by Sidney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell

This book is about decisionmaking. It describes many examples of how and why leaders fail. The focus is on recent discoveries about neuroscience. There are many descriptions on why past experience and emotional attachments are central to decisionmaking. Often experience and feelings can be misleading and it is very hard for an individual to think differently. Safeguards outside of a person in a leadership role are often needed.

This book describes how past experience by leaders often led to disastrous mistakes. Some examples are hurricane Katrina, Admiral Yamamoto's loss at Midway during World War II, and Samsung corporations failed foray into automobile manufacturing. These and other examples are analyzed from the viewpoint of creating checks outside the leader to prevent mistakes.

What is described here in detail is how people fail. Appendix I The Database of Cases is all examples of how people failed because of misleading experience, prejudgments, excessive self interest, and inappropriate attachments.

All of the solutions are presented in the second appendix in hypothetical form. I have a bit of a hard time accepting that the solutions given will work. The authors would have done better to also include some case studies of how things go right. It is very hard to know if the solutions presented will work.

If you want to learn why people fail because of excessive reliance on past experience or emotional attachments this book is excellent. This really is the main focus on the book. It will help a person catch their mistakes and maybe, it might help create safeguards against disaster.

Shadow Dance

Every now and then, one has a favourite painting which replaces the previous favourite painting!

This one was taken from a pic posted on Dana Marie's Inspiration all Around Us blog - she really takes the most amazing photographs and I would encourage everyone to have a look!

There was something so peaceful about this photo and the colours were so appealing.  Hope you like it.

Have a fabulous 2010 everyone!  Winter Olympics in Canada, FIFA World Cup in South Africa - should be a funfilled year!

Daily Thoughts 12/29/2009

Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry

Daily Thoughts 12/29/2009

New and Creative Leniency for Overdue Library Books, article from New York Times. http://bit.ly/72KGbt Our library did a Food For Fines drive where we collected can goods in exchange for library fines which we donated to local food pantries. It is an excellent way to both help the hungry and generate positive publicity.

If a person checks out five dvds at a maximum and has a $2.00 a day late fee per dvd if they are returned late, it can very quickly add up to a considerable amount of money after a few late days. Sometimes people can forget very easily. With more expensive items like video games and even preloaded thumb drives, the fine amounts tend to be higher than books.

Where it can get difficult is with teenagers who are absent minded with videos or video games from the library. They can easily add up very high fines which are difficult for them to pay back. Sometimes libraries do "Read Away Your Fines" programs where they reduce a persons fines for every hour they spend reading in the library. Ths program is especially good for children and teenagers.

There is also the option of doing an amnesty for fines for books and materials. Some of the dvds and oversize books can be quite expensive. It is nice to just have the books back sometimes.

I was looking through Locus Magazine and decided to put The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington on hold. I also saw a book which looked interesting on Linked In,
Choosing civility : the twenty-five rules of considerate conduct by P.M. Forni.

I had a chance to walk up to my local library. It was very cold out. I still try and walk a little bit every single day as a form of exercise. I picked up a trilogy of paperbacks, Star Trek Vulcan's Soul, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz. Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz wrote two other novels based on Vulcan, Vulcan's Forge, and Vulcan's Heart. They have been writing for the paperback series for a very long time and have the formula down pat. This story features Ambassador Spock.

Reso-what?

I'm making a resolution this New Year to not make any resolutions! I could plan on working out—but talk about booooring. If they made jogging in one place entertaining, I might change my mind. (Wii fit might work—but heck, the kids wouldn't let me near that thing. Why bother?)

And why in the world would I want to give up chocolate?

No thank you, I'll pass. Instead, I'm going to celebrate the New Year like any sane person would. Yummy dips and chips. Staying up late watching movies. Calling all the relatives as the clock strikes midnight (you've been warned! ;) ) Then I'll sleep in and make a wonderful brunch the next day.

There isn't any resolution I couldn't make today that I could make for the New Year. If I'm gonna do a thing, why wait? Right? Besides, that way, I get to celebrate reaching my goals all year round!

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Mais alguns presentes de Natal que eu fiz

Todos levaram marcadores para livros... Recebeu o seu Ida???? Que feio, não apareceu nem pra buscar o presente...
Porta-controle para a sogra.
Para minha irmã que vivia reclamando de perder as chaves...

Estes são alguns dos presentes que eu dei neste Natal. Infelizmente não consegui fazer todos, principalmente os masculinos... Para não correr o risco de errar levei tudo sem embrulhar, abri em cima da cama e cada um escolheu o seu. Assim, tenho certeza de que gostaram e que será útil.
Meu olho ja está melhor, apesar de ainda não conseguir usar as lentes. Amanhã tenho retorno e vou saber como realmente está a situação.
Amanhã tem mais uma sessão presentes de Natal!
Beijos!

Daily Thoughts 12/28/2009

This was the Picture of the Day for December 28, 2009. It is also a featured picture on Wikimedia. It is of Oscar Wilde.

Daily Thoughts 12/28/2009

I requested the 2010 Baker and Taylor cat calendars from Baker and Taylor. Baker and Taylor uses two cats as its mascots, Baker and Taylor. Found it on our representatives blog. I am also updating my subscriptions to their review magazines.

Looking at Libriloop which is a closed loop recycler for libraries. It takes discarded library and publisher stock and turns them into different products which it is attempting to sell back to libraries. The objective is to take discarded stock from a specific type of company and recycle it back into the company where it came from. http://02ee0e2.netsolstores.com/about-us.aspx

Took some time to look at Suvudu which is a blog for Bantam Spectra. They are reviewing childrens graphic novels this week. Today, they have an article on Babymouse whihc is one of the better childrens comics. It is lighthearted fun. http://suvudu.com/

If you want to see an interesting set of alternative comics by Jordan Crane, they are available for free at whatthingsdo.com . These can be a bit ironic. There is some mature content, but the quality is very good.

Sometimes, you find things that seem interesting but don't really have a particular place. I saw an event on March 16, 2010 called The Future of Publishing. It looks like one of those things where they are creating something new and random and are not quite sure what will happen. http://www.iirusa.com/futureofpublishingsummit/future-of-publishing.xml?utm_source=FutureofPublishingPostToolsChangePublishingLIGroup&utm_medium=Traffic122209&utm_campaign=Traffic

Today has been a day for wandering on the web. This is an interesting article called Books You Can Live Without from the New York Times. Maybe it is time to cull my personal library again. I don't keep a huge amount of books. Only things with practical value. http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books-you-can-live-without/

Daily Thoughts 12/27/2009

Portrait of Emily Bronte by her brother Branwell Bronte

Daily Thoughts 12/27/2009

I was at Barnes and Nobles near my house. I bought a copy of the childrens book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by Eric Carle. Eric Carle is a wonderful childrens author. His illustrations are full of color and his message is very simple.

I looked at the science fiction and fantasy section, but did not see anything which I wanted to get this time. A lot of the books are about demons and vampires with a touch of noire. Occassionally I don't mind fantasy noire, but most of the time I like my fantasy to be a little more lighthearted with princes and elves and such. I also like original military science fiction. Most of the stuff I am seeing coming out is long winded series. The Charlaine Harris section in the fantasy area is huge. She is very much a writer about vampires.

I took a look at the sample section of Baen Books yesterday and read the first few chapters of Live Free or Die by John Ringo. It reads a little bit like Heinlein, more so than his other military science fiction novels. http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439133328/1439133328.htm?blurb There is more of a plot line with intrigue and trickery than his other books. The book is coming out in February of 2010. If they have an Electronic ARC, I will probably get it.

I had a chance to briefly look at the graphic novels section as well. Something I saw which looked really excellent was an oversize book called The Art of Osama Tezuka by Helen McCarthy. It is a big, beautifully illustrated book.

I read some more of Think Again while having a quiet day. I like to read on the couch. The book has a lot on how we make mistakes based on our past experience, prejudgements, self- interest, and in general how we tend to confirm our own biases at our own expense. It demonstrates lots of examples of this kind of behavior. I can easily see it in all kinds of situations.

I just learned that Year of the Flood is a sequel to the novel Oryx and Crake which means that I must read it. This surprises me a little bit, maybe Margaret Atwood will write a science fiction trilogy.

Her writing is literary enough that some people don't consider it science fiction. They like to call it "speculative fiction". This is the nice term for fiction that plays with reality. You can throw in William S. Burroughs, Doris Lessing, George Orwell, Lewis Carroll, Jorge Luis Borges, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in speculative fiction. It speculates about reality. Magical realism speculates about reality. Of course Robert Heinlein and Neil Gaiman are here as well. The joy and semantics of fantasy literature.

Daily Thoughts 12/26/2009

Miniature books, including Pushkin and Eugene Onegin

Daily Thoughts 12/26/2009

Right now, I am reading Think Again Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It from Happening to You by Sidney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell. The book opens with the decision making process that led to the disaster at Hurricane Katrina. So far the focus has been on pattern recognition and emotions in the decision making process. The examples are quite good; Operation Market Garden during World War II, and Quaker's acquisition of Snapple are two interesting cases they cover. In addition to strategy it also covers the neuroscience of decisionmaking.

I put Retro Pulp, edited by Joe Lansdale on hold for me to read later.

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2009

Houghton Mifflin and Company’s Holiday Books for MDCCCXCVArmstrong & Co, Boston, 1895

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2009

My First Resolutions for the year:

1) While I am not officially going to put together a challenge, I will ask those who follow this blog to do what I plan to do during the next year, read and review 52 books, a book week during the next year. Or at least keep track and read a bit every single week.

2) Attend every single New York Librarians Meetup for the year.

3) Attend the following conferences, Book Expo America, New York Comic Con, New York Is Book Country, and Westchester Library Asssociation at a minimum.

4) Take time to relax and spend time with friends and family.

5) Exercise at least three times a week, cut out candy, soda, and snack foods.

6) Learn more about investing, specifically stocks focusing on alternative energy and clean technology, and keeping a personal budget.

7) Continue working on my blog and social networks.

8) Enjoy life and try to keep inner calm.

I like to think that I am making resolutions that I can follow that are specific and doable. The more specific the better.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

Feliz Natal!

Eu tinha planejado passar em todos os blogs desejando um Feliz Natal a cada um que fez parte desse quase 1 ano do blog. Mas infelizmente hoje acordei com uma irritação no olho esquerdo. Consegui que minha oftalmologista me atendesse e ela constatou uma pequena lesão na córnea. Não é nada sério e já fui medicada, a previsão é que em poucos dias tudo esteja bem, mas tive que retirar as lentes de contato e não tinha trago óculos para a casa da mamis, então perdoem se faltar alguma letra enquanto eu digito ""quase no escuro".
Mesmo com este pequeno incidente, não há nada que me tire a alegria do Natal, de estar com a minha família reunida e de todos os bons sentimentos que afloram em todos nesta data.
O que eu desejo a todas vocês é que possam ter um Natal tão maravilhoso quanto o meu! (mas sem problemas na córnea, é claro)
Muita paz, alegria e saúde para todos!
Assim que estiver melhor volto com as fotos dos presentes que fiz e com o PAP das Matryoshkas que a Natália pediu.
Feliz Natal!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane
Austen and Ben H. Winters.

This novel lampoons Jane Austen by adding extra
chapters and content on sea monsters; death lobsters,
leviathans, man eating clams, minnows,giant octopi, and
Submersible cities abound. Every creature of the
sea is turned homicidally against humanity.

It is better done than the first novel because
it draws from other literature. You can recognize
the influence of Daniel Defoe, H.P. Lovecraft,
Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jules Verne in this
novel. This makes it better than Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies which drew heavily from John Romero films.
This is an article from Slate Magazine about how
Ben H. Winters used classic novels to create the
backdrop for Jane Austen's novel. http://www.slate.com/id/2228262/pagenum/all/

The original novel still fits in very well with
the story. It is a story of the Dashwood Sisters
who have a very small inheritance and are seeking
husbands. Because there is very little background
scenery and Jane Austen is almost focused completely
on the families courting, it is easy to change
the setting of the story. Even the characters
can take on changed physical characteristics like
the hideously tentacle faced Captain Brandon.
Everything becomes monsterized.

Because the mashup is much more seemless, it is much
funnier and sillier than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
In addition to the use of Victorian adventure literature,
there are small puns thrown in; Pierre the Orangutan
is a reference to Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes and
the tentacle faced Captain Brandon looks like Davy Jones
from Pirates of the Caribbean.

This novel may be a bit offensive to some people. Some of
the scenes have wild touches added to them; island tiki dances,
rum, and pirates break up some of the more serious scenes.
I liked the novel, but it clearly will make some
people uncomfortable reading it.

The book includes some 20 black and white illustrations
which mostly add to the story.

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2009

"Bryan Talbot, comics artist. Image provided by the subject to replace one he did not like." from Wikimedia From Bryan Talbot, Author Roger Cornwell,2006-09-05, Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2009

Watching christmas films. Watched The Polar Express which is based on the childrens book The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsberg. Also watched Frosty The Snowman. There is something wonderful about animated holiday films. They are full of fantasy and old fashioned happiness.

Oude Molen

I think this is going to be the last of the plein air for this year for me - after all, it's holiday time and it's Christmas and New Year and there's cricket to watch ... so much activity at this time of the year.  But the group will get together again round the middle of January, although where we'll be going, I don't know!  A wait and see experience.

This little painting (9"x12" is little for me!) was again done at Oude Molen, but boy was the wind doing its thing.  I was all ready to give up, but these die hard plein airheads said, no, it's part of the atmosphere.  So, if you look closely, you will see all the dust and dirt that now decorates my painting!  I guess once it's dry, I will be able to brush it off.

Last week I painted the back of the little shop, so this week, here is the front!

To all those who celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful day tomorrow, and to everyone else, enjoy the holiday season.

Daily Thoughst 12/23/2009

art piece at title page of William Blake, painter and poet by Richard Garnett Publisher: London, Seeley 1895

Daily Thoughts 12/23/2009

Article Forget Ebooks Future of the Book Far More Interesting http://bit.ly/5aEiiY . This reminds me of two trends I have seen in books. The first is the multimedia tablet released by Sports Illustrated which is designed to look like a magazine. The other is the ability to put in a quarter inch thick video screen into a magazine. It is not hard to include thin devices for sound as well.

I remember picking up singing greeting cards. There are also fairly thin electronic ink screens that can put on books as well. When you buy childrens books, they often include push buttons for short songs on the side of the books. These are put out by Disney and Sesame Street. It seems like children will begin expecting to have music and eventually short video clips inside their books.

Things are changing very quickly both in the medium of physical books and online books. I can already see a lot of changes. For example, when I picked up the book Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld it is now being advertised with Youtube video clips as well as being promoted with blog giveaways.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

I have been reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters. There is a considerable difference between this book and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Ben H. Winters makes allusions to creatures from the sea, crawling horrors, shipwrecked sailors, pirates, mermaids, undersea divers, and gentleman adventurers. It seems that he is using images from H.P. Lovecraft, Daniel Defoe, Jules Verne, and H. Rider Haggard to lampoon Jane Austen. These authors are more contemporary to Jane Austen than zombie novels and ninjas.

There are some subtle and not so subtle cracks at the genteel literary romance. This makes the novel extremely outrageous at points and very funny. It is easy to miss some of the literary allusions. For example I just realized that the orangutan in the novel named Pierre is a joke on Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes.

Things are going smoothly with the shifting in the storage area. They have moved everything up to the letter R. Also, upstairs, the library aides are slowly shifting the collection to make room for the paperbacks to be moved to a new location.

I started weeding again in the 800s. A lot of books have been coming in from our year end order. I am looking forward to seeing the art books which are coming in as well as the graphic novels.

Daily Thoughts 12/22/2009

Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, better known as J. J. Grandville, or just Grandville (* 3 September 1803, Nancy -- † 17 March 1847, Vanves, lângă Paris), was a French designer, book illustrator and caricaturist.

Daily Thoughts 12/22/2009

I've been reading Thinking With Type A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton. I changed the font type inside my blog to Verdana because it is designed to be used on a computer. There were some interesting ideas in this book. For example, the blog I am writing is an open text because it can be changed constantly, unlike a fixed text like a printed book. I also like the idea of high page density of letters making people comfortable. Personally, I find too much whitespace annoying in blogs.

After reading more of Thinking With Type this evening, it is not a book which I can recommend as a text about typography. It is very beautiful to look at, but it lacked creative flair. Most of the images did not have much color in them. There was a tendency to use monochromatic and light colors in the pictures.

There were a few things which were useful in the book though, the different ways to break up paragraphs of text were interesting, and the idea of grid layouts for the web seemed practical. The book has its good points, but not enough of them. Maybe my ambivalence is because I do not know enough about the subject yet: a fairly advanced understanding of typography may be necessary to understand this book. I'm wavering on whether this is a good or bad book.

Grandville A Detective Inspector Lebrock of Scotland Yar Scientific Romance Thriller by Bryan Talbot

le loup Et le Chien drawn by Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (September 13, 1803 – March 17, 1847), otherwise known as J.J. Grandville. This picture is very similar in style to the graphic novel.




Grandville A Detective Inspector Lebrock of Scotland Yar Scientific Romance Thriller by Bryan Talbot


The drawings in this graphic novel are amazing to look at. They are in a style that combines art deco with steampunk. The details are interesting and the color is vibrant. You can see things like theater posters, art lamps, and victorian art in the background. This makes the vividly drawn animals stand out even more. The variety of talking animals is rather amazing; talking fish, baboons, pit bulls, rats, cats, rabbits, frogs, moles, and other creatures. It is not at all like anime furries. The style is much closer to Beatrix Potter or illustrated children's fairytales. The image above is fairly close to the graphic novels style.


There is a lot of action and the main character is very much a fighter. The content also has some fairly strong language, sex, and mature themes in it. The French in the story do not like the British. There is a rather funny touch in the story where humans are called doughfaces and generallly act as servants or drivers for horse drawn carriages.


The story is clearly well thought out. Detective Inspector Le Brock must investigate the death of a diplomat, Raymond Leigh-Otter who is of course a talking otter. He is accompanied by his trusted companion, Ratsi. What follows is a trip to Paris in the Grandville district. The action never stops, there are chases, break ins, visits to drug dens, and a conspiracy to uncover.


The devices in the story are pure steampunk. There are automated robots, sword canes, old fashioned carbines, and of course trains. The animals are mostly drawn in period costumes from the Victorian era. I especially like how the turtle diplomat is drawn.


The setting is a Europe where Napoleon has conquered the continent and is firmly ensconced in power. England has gained its independence by guerrilla warfare. There are many references to the British being thought of as anarchists or terrorists. They even make reference to a "ground zero" where the British are thought to have blown up the French Robida tower. Not surprisingly there is a lot of political commentary and intrigue in this graphic novel. There is even a scence where people are protesting the communards in French Indochina.


This is a great story with wonderful art. Bryan Talbot is considered one of the first comic artists for steampunk. He is known for his story, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. I think Grandville is his best story to date. He has drawn many graphic novels. Another one I can recommend by him is The Tale of One Bad Rat.


If you like comic art you will love this. Even if you don't like comic art in general, this book is exceptional in its quality. I can highly recommend it.

December 22, 2009

Yup. Today is December 22, 2009. I can say that a lot of things have happened in the past on this date, but I'm going to stick to the general for today.

For those people that celebrate Christmas, December 22nd (either past or present) can mean one of three things.

1 - "Yes. I have finally finished my Christmas shopping. I can now relax for the next few days, make some cookies, and not worry about having forgotten someone's gift."

Or

2 - "Oh no. It's only three days until Christmas??? I haven't bought a single gift for a single person. How am I supposed to buy gifts for everyone in only three days!?!?"

Or

3 - You're right in the middle between of one and two. You've bought gifts for some people, but not everyone. And you still hope to make the cookies to take to grandma's house for the holiday.

I know quite a few people who, this year, are in the third category. Hopefully, though, everyone is in the first - nice and relaxed, waiting for the holiday.

Regardless of the year, whether it be this year or the past, and regardless of whether or not you celebrate Christmas, I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Daily Thoughts 12/21/2009

Lord Byron, Finden, Edward Francis, 1791-1857 -- Engraver, 1838

Daily Thoughts 12/21/2009

I am glad that Publishers Weekly opened their website so it is no longer a subscription website. It makes my job much easier. They have a very nice list of the Top Books of 2009 up right now. They also list religious reviews which should be useful as well as comics bestsellers. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html

Fast Company Best Business Books of 2009. I like the slideshow format. I am definitely going to read Viral loop : from Facebook to Twitter, how today's smartest businesses grow themselves / Adam L. Penenberg. http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/best-business-books-2009?partner=homepage_newsletter

I feel like reading something a little silly like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters. It looks entertaining. Read Street blog has a book review of Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford where Jane Austen is a vampire. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/2009/12/a_jane_austen_spinoff_that_doe.html

I have four books which I plan on reading on my desk, Grandville A Detective Inspector Lebrock of Scotland Yard Scientific Romance Thriller by Bryan Talbot. It is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel. I also have Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters as well as Thinking With Type A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton and Think Again Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How To Keep It From Happening to You by Sidney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell.

12212012

Ah, remember December 21, 2012?

What a letdown. Kind of like Y2K.

Remember Y2K? A time of worldwide computer geek fear rivaling what they might feel had they misplaced their pocket protectors or suddenly forgot how to download pictures of Angelina Jolie.

I remember midnight on December 31, 1999, staying up past midnight. Between poppers and whistles celebrating the growth of a new hair in my baldspot, er, the beginning of the new century, I kept on eye on my computer.

It was supposed to freak out when it hit 2000, because everyone's computers were supposedly all set for years beginning with '19' hard coded, followed by two changeable digits.

Do you get it?

No?

Well, it's kind of like math, so it's okay if you don't. Just pretend it's calculus and move on without guilt.

Anyway, December 21, 2012 was supposed to mark the end of the world, because in the sixty century BC, Nostradamus and the ancient Greek Seer Cassandra went to a prognosticator convention in South America to help the Mayans make up a calendar that supposedly marked future events with the accuracy of a girl of a girl applying eyeliner.

After a week of partying and placing winning wagers on future SuperBowl games, they were tired and ... well, hungover .. so they wrapped up the convention by putting the final touches on their new calendar, which had an arbitrary ending date of December 21, 2012, which is a noteworthy date only in that they liked the number 12212012.

Not really, what really happened is they got tired of chiseling a big hunk of rock.

And that's why ...

Huh?

2012 isn't here yet?

Oh, my bad.

Well, just stick this post somewhere you'll find it later, and remember, you heard it here first.

Norm

http://fangplace.blogspot.com
http://fangface.homestead.com

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan combines alternate history with steampunk. It is a young adult novel which can easily reach a more general audience. It is 1914, the Britsh are Darwinists manipulators of life threads, the dna which Darwin discovered. The Austrians are Clankers masters of steam driven clockwork machinery. The world is tilting towards war between the two factions. It is a story of extremely different worldviews.

The setting alternates between a giant hydrogen filled whale airship, the Leviathan which is British and a young Austrian noble, Aleksandar Ferdinand who is on the run.

The book is beautifully illustrated with finely detailed black and white drawings. Many are full page with pictures of steam driven mecha, ladies in bowler hats, airships, and other images. The images convey a mix of the future and the past. Keith Thompson did the artwork.

The two teenage main characters are very likable, Deryn Sharp, a teenage girl disguises herself so she can be an airship cadet. When Aleksandar and Deryn Sharp meet we get an interesting clash of cultures.

The historical details mesh well with the fantasy details. There is an afterword in the book which explains what is historical and what is fantasy.

There is very wide spacing between lines, wide margins, and a non-standard font Hoefler Text. Even the chapter headings look nice. This makes the book a pleasure to read.

Scott Westerfeld wrote the Ugly series which was a New York Times bestseller. Leviathan is on the current Locus Magazine bestseller list.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes out.

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2009

Exterior view of the Jones & Co bookselling premises in Finsbury Square, London, which were known as "The Temple of the Muses", Published Nov. 15, 1828, Jones & Co. Temple of the Muses, Finsbury Square, London

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2009

I happen to enjoy reading some of Cory Doctorow's books. My favorites are the ones on copyright. He is very good at creating polemics which makes his speaking entertaining. The title really says it all How To Destroy the Book by Cory Doctorow. http://thevarsity.ca/articles/23855

I have been looking at my Google Webmaster Tools to see who is following me. Pop Goes the Library followed the mention of their book into my laundromat readings. I was at the laundromat today. I am there every Sunday. This is the second or third time I have been followed to the laundromat by blogs in my readings. http://www.popgoesthelibrary.com/popbook/?p=164#respond

I also found another interesting blog which is following me, Tales of a Literary Nobody, http://literarynobody.com/

Finally, I am still being picked up by the Book Carnival blog. I really should submit some more of my reviews to them. Their readership has grown considerably. http://bookcarnival.wordpress.com/

Six Pixels of Separation Everyone Is Connected Connect Your Business by Mitch Joel President of Twist Image

Six Pixels of Separation Everyone Is Connected Connect Your Business by Mitch Joel President of Twist Image

Mitch Joel writes about social media in this book. Many of the concepts he covers are very new; unconferences, meetups, and mobile technology. His book covers many ideas that I have not seen written about in other books.

At the same time, he reminds you that social media is about connecting with people. The reader should answer emails sent to them from social networks. It is hard to know who you will make contact with. If you are using social networks, it is very likely that you will meet the people who you are connecting with online. This is quite true. I am meeting a colleague from Linked In who I have not seen in a while. I also went a librarians meetup that was the result of social networking.

He also describes how people are becoming digital nomads. With wifi, a laptop, and a cell phone it is possible to work in many different places. We have many people who come into our library to use the wireless connection for work. It has become necessary to have a cell phone to function in the current economy.

Some of the concepts he is describing are new to me. For example, he explains viral expansion loops, or self replicating groups of people that pull more people into social networks. This is what powers Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. It is viral marketing targeted to pull people in.

In one chapter, Mitch Joel is sitting in the car with Chris Brogan and describing how Chris uses his cell phone to tap into social networks to get directions to a conference. It is an explanation of how social networking taps into the real world with maps, information, and help.

The book flows quite well. It appears to be very innovative. The author describes how he met his agent through his blog. His blog is called "Six Pixels of Separation-- The Twist Image Blog." The title of his blog is very similar to this book. Right now, I am following Mitch Joel on Facebook. The message he is giving on Facebook is very similar to his book. He has a consistent message across multiple platforms. It is an excellent example of how to integrate many different services under a single message. This includes a podcast.

Mitch Joel is not writing a how to book for using facebook, linked in, blogger, or other social media sites. This is a strategy book for people who need tips on improving their existing social media connections. It is also an encouragement to use the internet. He is being a technology evangelist for social marketing.

This book is entertaining and informative. If you want to learn how to give a consistent message and slowly build a social media platform this book will be useful. There is a lot of spin in this book. It is not an academic book. There are no notes. There is an index. Occassionally he puts some website links in the text and mentions the author and title of a book.

Ice Skating

Ice skating is one of the most famous winter activities. It’s almost a cliché—you know, the snowy scene with the frozen pond and figure eights before a cup of hot chocolate?

Well, that’s not my version of ice skating.

For eight years I was a competitive figure skater. When asked what sport I “played”, I’d proudly answer, “I ice skate!” Sometimes the response I’d get would be a few blinks and then I’d be asked what I did in the summer.

Uh…it’s called an indoor rink.

In fact, I think I’ve skated on an outdoor rink all of twice. I know winter and ice tend to go together, but a figure skater can’t train only two months a year, especially on uncut ice. Figure skaters are athletes—the real ones skate all year. And yes, figure skating is a sport. Some people question this, but I can attest that during my (long) time as an ice skater I conditioned, competed, was injured, was nervous, and accomplished many goals on my skates. Yes, it’s an art, but it’s an intense sport too. Unlike in dramatized movies like “Ice Princess” (my personal least favorite), no one skates a few times on their backyard pond, whips off a few triple loops based off physics equations, and goes to nationals within a few months. Figure skating is…nothing like “Ice Princess”, which is kind of a huge fail of a movie. Skating takes guts, endurance, and strength. It also mandates that you get over that aversion to launching yourself through the air and landing on a thin metal blade.

Even though I’m not skating anymore, I still have what it left me: experience with competition and nerves, a tolerance for low temperatures, strong legs, and the knowledge of how much I dislike wearing makeup. I watch the winter Olympics for the skating, and in my opinion it’s one of the best winter sports out there.


Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com
My novel, RAIN, will be released as an ebook February 15th!

E alguns presentes começam a ficar prontos...

Estes saquinhos para sapatos serão parte dos presentes que eu darei de Natal. A princípio, são para minha irmã e para minha prima. A princípio, porque até o Natal pode ser que eu redestribua os presentes... Fiz pensando nas duas porque são as que mais viajam, portanto as que mais vão usar.

É um começo. Pra quem tem mais uns 20 presentes por fazer...

Beijos!

Daily Thoughts 12/19/2009

Cover of the pulp magazine Weird Tales (January 1942, vol. 36, no. 3) featuring The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft. Cover art by Gretta.

Daily Thoughts 12/19/2009

Library Journal has an article on the book Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars which I reviewed earlier. They are reviewing it partially because of many publishers decision to not release ebooks until the hardcover has come out for a while. When two formats of books come out at the same time and compete with each other at the same time, it is called cannibalization. One format eats into the other formats profits. This is why first the most expensive format, hardcover comes out, then trade paperback, then mass market paperback afterward. Where ebooks come in this value chain is an interesting issue.

When do you release a format to maximize profit for the publishing company? I know that Baen books releases its electronic advanced readers copies before it releases its hardcovers. This is an example from Baen http://www.webscription.net/p-1180-the-crucible-of-empire-arc.aspx . They have created a revenue stream from their electronic advanced reading copies.

The article from Library Journal http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6712145.html raises some interesting issues. Are publishers creating the same kind of panics which occurred with the music industry. I know that if you want to, you can find many copyrighted works on Scribd which are available for download. I also have seen, but not downloaded pirated copies of the bestsellers on torrent sites. It is getting quite difficult to protect electronic works.

This morning I went through the donated books from the newsroom. The material which we already had went into the book sale which the Friends of the Library. There were a few interesting books. Right now, I am looking at A Village Life by Louise Gluck which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. We also just got a copy of Digital Barbarism A Writers Manifesto by Mark Helprin. This is a statement about the changes which are occurring in copyright. There is also a donation of botanical books which I have to look through.

Am really looking forward to reading Scott Westerfield Leviathan. The trailer looks very good.