Tuesday, May 24, 2011

RSL Event: Monday 6 June at 7pm

The Tagore Memorial Meeting
Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Linda Grant
Chaired by Colin Thubron


Born in Calcutta in 1956, Amitav Ghosh is one of the most talented English-language writers to have emerged from India in the past twenty years, and arguably the most international. In novels which include Circle of Reason, winner of the Prix Médicis Etranger, and The Shadow Lines, winner of the Shativa Akademi Award, and in such non-fiction books as In an Antique Land and The Imam and the Indian, he has written about India, Bangladesh, Burma, Egypt, Cambodia, Britain and America. In 2008, he published Sea of Poppies, the first in a trilogy, set in 1838 just before the Opium Wars, and following an old slaving ship on a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean carrying a crew of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. Described as ‘a glorious babel of a novel, in which people speak everything from pidgin and Bhojupuri to the comically mangled English of a Bengali babu and a young Frenchwoman’, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. This month, he publishes its keenly awaited sequel, River of Smoke. He speaks to prize-winning novelist Linda Grant.

We are grateful to the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust for sponsoring this event.

This event is free for Fellows and Members of the RSL. There is a limited number of tickets for members of the public at all RSL events, available on the door, from 6pm, on a first-come-first-served basis. Tickets are £8 (£5 concessions).

Venue: Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House

The Case for Self-Publishing

By NEAL POLLACK, New York Times Magazine, Published: May 20, 
Many thousands of years ago, when I was still a whelpish newspaper reporter in Chicago, I did a short profile of a retired television repairman who’d written a memoir entitled “The Perilous Life of Boris B. Gursky.” As a boy in Ukraine, Gursky said, he was stepped on by a horse; when he was a young man in Mexico, his stepfather had tried to murder him; and when he was a middle-aged man in Chicago, his ex-wife had clawed his face with her fingernails and threatened him with a loaded pistol. Most perilously, Gursky suffered from prostate cancer. He wrote, “My body had become so sensitive from staying too long in an environment surrounded with radiation from television sets.”
Illustration by Kristina Dimatteo
The book clocked in at fewer than 150 pages. Gursky produced it through a vanity press that he’d seen advertised in Writer’s Digest. They sent him a booklet containing a few basic editorial instructions and charged him $10,000. He mailed copies to the Elgin, Ill., public library, the White House and everyone in the United States who shared his last name. Such was the state of self-publishing in 1995.
In addition to a great many bad books lost to the sands of time, there’s also a long history of successful self-published authors getting big deals with major houses.
Today, though, self-publication crackles with possibility as never before. Witness the March news that the thriller author Barry Eisler had backed out of a half-million-dollar deal with St. Martin’s Press, his new publisher. He’d decided that he could, over time, make more money publishing without their help.

Conversely, young Amanda Hocking, she of the vast success generated from self-publishing nine e-books, accepted a seven-figure advance from St. Martin’s, the same publisher that had just lost Eisler. Hocking issued a sassy statement that she was tired of answering e-mails all the time and just wanted to write. One way or another, it suddenly seemed that self-publishing was the key to infinite auctorial riches.

It’s unlikely that such riches will reach me, but I’ve decided to give self-publishing a try myself. It seems to be what the kids and Barry Eisler are doing. Within a month or so, I’ll finish the first draft of a short novel. Sometime soon after, I plan to release it as an e-book, and there may be a limited-edition print run. We’ll see what happens from there.

Read the full story at New York Times.

Survey: ‘One in Every Three People Who Download eBooks on Their Digital Readers Do So Illegally’

By Maryann Yin on Galley Cat, May 24, 2011 

The High Low tackled one of the toughest questions facing publishers: “Will eBooks become the next Napster?” They quoted some surprising statistics.

Here’s more from the article: “One in every three people who download e-books on their digital readers do so illegally, according to a survey of 1,959 consumers conducted by a British law firm … Record labels notoriously lost millions thanks to Napster (which was eventually ruled illegal), and now publishers are staring down the same tunnel.”
The same survey also revealed that twenty five percent of those who admitted to illegally downloading eBooks would continue to do so in the future. Because illegally downloaded books are not physical objects, pirates tend not to classify their activities as stealing. What do you think about this dilemma?

Wellington poet Kate Camp will spend a year in Berlin from September 2011 as this year’s recipient of the Creative New Zealand $60,000 Berlin Writers’ Residency



Kate will use her time in Berlin to to complete a collection of poetry and explore collaborations with local artists.

“Berlin is such an exciting place for artists in every form. Being able to devote all my energy to writing for the year, and having the chance to collaborate with other writers and artists, will be an amazing blast of creative oxygen,” says Kate Camp.

“When they established this residency, Creative New Zealand had the vision to pick Berlin as the city that would give New Zealand writers and artists unparalleled access to the global arts community. It’s a real privilege to be stepping into that world.”

Camp is the author of four collections of poetry, the first, Unfamiliar Legends of the Stars, won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 1999 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She is now established in the front rank of New Zealand poets, and is also a familiar voice on Radio New Zealand where she discusses classic literature. In 2002 Camp was writer-in-residence at Waikato University.

Established in 2000, the biennial Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers’ Residency enables a New Zealand writer to focus on a writing project over a sustained period and respond to the life, people and culture of Berlin. It also provides professional development opportunities for the writer to build networks, appear at literary festivals, and give lectures and interviews.

Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright said the residency is highly regarded by the literary sector and contributes to the development and profile of New Zealand writing.

The selection panel - made up of literary practitioners - thought that the high-quality projects proposed by Camp were unique, and through her proposed collaborations she would also be a wonderful ambassador for New Zealand literature.

Kate Camp is the author of four collections of poetry from Victoria University Press: Unfamiliar Legends of the Stars, Realia, Beauty Sleep, and The Mirror of Simple Annihilated Souls, and the essay collection Kate’s Klassics published by Penguin. Her poems have appeared in anthologies and journals including Brick (Canada), Heat (Australia), Landfall, and Sport. She has had poems selected for Best New Zealand Poems in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2010. In 2003 and again in 2006, she was short listed for the prestigious $60,000 Prize in Modern Letters.

The Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers’ Residency alternates with the biennial Creative New Zealand Berlin Visual Artists’ Residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien. Funded through the Arts Board, it incudes the rental of an apartment in the heart of Berlin, a monthly stipend and travel allowance for the recipient.

Previous recipients are Sarah Quigley, Tina Shaw, Kapka Kassabova, Philip Temple, Tim Corballis, Lloyd Jones and Sir James McNeish.

Oink


Click for bigger.

Dog isn't looking forward to his bath


YouTube link.

Via Daily Picks and Flicks.

Cat enjoys a shower in sink


YouTube link.

Man exposed himself because restaurant ran out of chicken legs

A Gastonia man suspected of taking off his pants and exposing a fast food worker to his private parts over the restaurant’s lack of chicken legs has been arrested. Jason Douglas Gross, 32, was released on an unsecured bond after turning himself in on Saturday.

Bojangles’ worker Jaqueline Green said Gross came through the drive-through window of the Bessemer City Road store at around 8 p.m. on May 16. He was a passenger in a minivan driven by an unknown woman who had ordered a chicken leg dinner.



When they arrived at the pick-up window Green told them Bojangles’ had run out of chicken legs. She tried to substitute the legs for something else. But once the couple found out they were out of chicken legs, the man went berserk. Green said the man asked her twice, “You don’t have any f------ legs?”

When she replied no, the man said “Here’s a f------ leg for you,” and pulled his jeans down slowly and then his boxer shorts, fully exposing his private parts. “He did it gradually,” Green said. “It’s going to be forever engrained in my head.” Green called the manager to the window and explained what happened. Green and the manager were able to get licence plate number on the minivan and called police.

Shoe shoplifter used text messages to steal on demand

Police in Louisville, Kentucky, have arrested a man they say had his shoplifting technique so mastered, he had customers placing orders for various items via text message. Police say 36-year-old Sean A. Harrington was caught stealing merchandise from Rack Room Shoes near Six Mile Lane, on Friday afternoon.

According to the report, Harrington was allegedly, "concealing shoes down the front of his pants" and left the store without paying. From there, he allegedly proceeded to a Marshalls clothing store, and allegedly stole clothing valued at $99.95.



Police eventually caught up with Harrington and arrested him. When a security at Rack Room Shoes reviewed their surveillance records, they discovered that Harrington had stolen a total of $539.89 worth of goods from their store between April 17 and May 20.

Upon Harrington's arrest, police were able to examine his cell phone - and they made a significant discovery. The arrest report states that the phone, "had numerous text messages of others ordering merchandise from [Harrington], who would then go out and steal specific items." He was charged with receipt of stolen property and theft by unlawful taking.

Slow recovery for dog found shot and buried alive

'Star', a dog that survived being shot in the head and buried alive in Malta is making a slow recovery. The female mixed-breed was found on Thursday in Birżebbuġa on the way to Għar Ħasan. Welfare officers went to a field nearby to investigate a report of three ill-treated dogs. There they heard the sound of muffled whimpering that led them to a wooden plank held in place by part of a tree trunk.



When they lifted the plank they came across the nose of a buried dog poking out of the soil. As they dug out the dog they found it had been shot in the head, its snout had been tied shut and all four legs were bound together. Star, named by welfare officers, was then taken to the animal hospital where over 40 lead pellets were removed from her head during an operation.





The horrific story has touched the hearts of people around the world. A woman from Canada contacted the Animal Welfare Department to send Star a personalised blanket and the Amsterdam Fire Brigade wrote in to ask how she was doing, said Janice Chetcuti from the department.


YouTube link.

Some people even suggested setting up a trust fund that could be used as a reward to catch the perpetrator, she said. Ms Chetcuti also said she had received over 20 requests to adopt Star. Meanwhile, she added, Star was slowly recovering at the Ta’ Qali animal hospital but was still quiet and looked depressed. The case is being investigated by the police.

New Zealand casino staff forced to wear flea collars

Workers at the SkyCity casino in Auckland are having to spray themselves with insect repellent and wear flea collars to keep from being bitten on the job. Employees have complained about infestations on the casino floor for years and, despite the carpet and areas around gaming machines being cleaned regularly, the problem has persisted.

Unite Union national director Mike Treen said workers had been complaining to SkyCity management, as well as the union, for years. He knew of a number of workers who attached flea collars to their ankles to stop being bitten.



"Some of them have them on to try and prevent being bitten. Some people react quite badly - [they] get really bad spots and it can affect their health and then result in time off. It's definitely a health and safety issue." Mr Treen said workers were also provided with cans of flea repellent - if they wanted them - so they could spray themselves before starting work.

The union said part of the ongoing problem was that casino management were unwilling to shut the floor down for a day because they would lose too much money. "It's just about 24-hour, seven-day business," Mr Treen said. SkyCity said that the casino floors were cleaned every day.

Hitchhiking groundhog causes mess in car



Full story, which bears little relation to the news video, here.

Vuvuzelas 'may spread diseases'

Vuvuzelas - the horns used by football fans celebrating last year's World Cup - not only cause noise pollution but may also spread diseases, say experts. A short burst on the instrument creates a spittle shower similar to a sneeze, travelling at a four million droplets a second, a PLoS One journal study shows. In crowded venues one person blowing a vuvuzela could infect many others with airborne illness like the flu or TB.

Organisers are considering whether to allow them at the 2012 London Olympics. Dr Ruth McNerney, who carried out the latest work at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said a "vuvuzela blowing etiquette" may be needed rather than a ban.



"Just as with coughs or sneezes, action should be taken to prevent disease transmission, and people with infections must be advised against blowing their vuvuzelas close to other people," she said. Her team investigated the vuvuzela hazard using a laser device to measure how many droplets were produced by eight volunteers using the horns. On average, 658,000 lung particles, or aerosols, per litre of air were expelled from the instruments.

The droplets shot into the air at the rate of four million per second. In comparison, when the volunteers were asked to shout, they produced only 3,700 particles per litre at a rate of 7,000 per second. "When attending a sporting event and surrounded by vuvuzela players, a spectator could expect to inhale large numbers of respiratory aerosols over the course of the event," Dr McNerney warned.

Marmite made illegal in Denmark

According to the marketing slogan it is a taste that you either love or hate. But Danes will no longer get the chance to make up their own minds on Marmite after the British delicacy was banned under food safety laws. The strongly flavoured dark brown spread made from brewer's yeast has joined Rice Crispies, Shreddies, Horlicks and Ovaltine prohibited in Denmark under legislation forbidding the sale of food products with added vitamins as threat to public health.

Many well known breakfast cereal and drink brands have already been banned or taken off supermarket shelves after Danish legislation in 2004 restricted foods fortified with extra vitamins or minerals. But Marmite had escaped notice as an exotic import for a small number of ex-pats until the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration telephoned Abigail's, a Copenhagen shop selling British food, to ban the famous yeast spread.



"I don't eat it myself, I don't like it but Marmite was one of our best selling products. Not a day goes by without someone coming in and asking for it," said Marianne Ørum, the shop owner. "All the English people here are shaking their heads in disbelief and say that it is insane. I agree but it is the law. It's becoming impossible to run a business in this country. We are not allowed to do anything anymore. It is the way Denmark is going."

The shop has now started a "Bring back Marmite" campaign to overturn a ban that is seen as discriminating against Britons living and working Denmark. A spokesman for the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said: "I cannot comment on the Marmite case because our expert is away until Thursday."

Couple caught having sex against wall of police station are expecting a baby - Update

A couple who were caught in flagrante delicto outside a police station are now expecting a baby. Andrew Moore, 45, and Charlotte Howell, 27, were spotted being intimate outside Gloucester Police Station at 5.30pm on February 1. Members of the public saw the couple and two Police Community Support Officers caught them in the act.

The PCSOs tried to cool down their ardour and told them to move on but the couple became aggressive and were arrested. Moore and Howell admitted outraging public decency. Gloucester Magistrates sentenced Moore to a community order with 200 hours of unpaid work. Howell, who has recently found out she is pregnant, was also given a community order with a four-month curfew between the hours of 7am and 7pm.



David Nicholas, prosecuting, said it was "an unusual case". He said: "Mr Moore's trousers were around his ankles and Miss Howell had a pile of clothing beside her. Police officers were called from the station and it seems they had a measure of difficulty disengaging Miss Howell and Mr Moore from their activity. They were arrogant and aggressive and said 'If you don't want to look, you don't have to'."

Lisa Ellis, defending, said Moore and Howell were in a relationship together. "They had a couple of drinks and got carried away," she said. "They were in their own little bubble and not really thinking about what they were doing. They both regret their actions." After the case the couple said they were pleased with the outcome and stopped for a cuddle at the very spot where they were caught.

Previously.

Man jailed for garden fork 'mooning' attack

A 26-year-old man has been jailed for five years for stabbing another man who bared his backside as a taunt. Jay Jay Hind dropped his trousers during a confrontation in Russell Rise, Luton, on 15 July last year. Nathan Mwanje used a garden fork in the attack causing a wound that needed 28 staples, Luton Crown Court was told. Judge John Bevan QC said he understood the provocation but he had to take such a disgraceful act seriously.

Mr Hind said in an impact statement: "I know it was childish to bare my bum. I honestly believed I was going to be killed." Mwanje, 26, pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent but was convicted by the jury. Judge Bevan said: "You were provoked by him mooning at you but you simply lost your temper. You attacked him with a garden fork which has been a life changing experience. It is disgraceful what you did, and I have to take a serious view of this."



Cameron Crowe, prosecuting, said Mr Hind and his uncle Jeremy had parked their van in Russell Rise because Jay Jay wanted to finish smoking a joint. Mwanje began to take photos of the van and occupants with his mobile phone as he was concerned about attacks of vandalism, the court heard. "An argument developed and flippantly and childishly Mr Hind exposed his buttocks," he said.

"The defendant picked up a long garden fork and jumped over the fence and began thrusting the fork at the man's chest. The victim suffered multiple injuries to his hands. He tried to run back to the van but was chased. Mwanje struck Mr Hind on the top of his head with the fork." Robert English, defending Mwanje, said: "This was wildly out of character and not premeditated."

Parents asked not to wear pyjamas when taking children to school

Schools in east Middlesbrough have asked parents to stop wearing pyjamas on the school run.

Headteachers across 11 schools have requested that mums and dads show decency and respect when attending school premises.



Parents are turning up to schools at the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up as well as attending meetings with teachers in their pyjamas.

The schools sent letters home to parents asking for their wishes to be respected. Since the letters have been issued many schools have noticed a sharp decline in the number of parents wearing pyjamas in the playground.

Council won't remove wasps' nests if ladder is required

Town hall chiefs have been labelled ‘barmy’ amid claims Pendle Council refused to remove a wasps’ nest – because it required the use of a ladder. Barnoldswick councillor David Whipp made the comments after a resident contacted him to complain about the incident.

They said their request for an officer to visit their property had been dismissed over the phone because the nest could only be reached with a ladder.



Coun Whipp, who represents the Craven ward, said: “This is a crazy situation. Many wasps’ nests are at a high level in roofs. Presumably it’s down to stupid risk assessments.

“Apparently they’re supposed to use a long pole to apply the poison. The council provides a service to clear wasps’ nests, but is saying that they won’t do them if they need a ladder. It’s completely barmy. Perhaps the council needs to advertise for Spider Man to carry out this work.”

Recipe of the Week Blog Hop - BBQ Baked Beans

This is a recipe that my mother in-law makes and now me! I have made it for grill outs, church pot-lucks and bon fire parties. Always a good hit. And it's super super easy!

BBQ Baked Beans 

Ingredients
2 cans of Busch's Baked Bean or any other brand you like

BBQ Sauce Ingredients



1 cup Ketchup
2 T. Worceshire Sauce
3 T. brown sugar
½ t. Cinnamon
1/8 t. red pepper
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. cloves
¼ t. ginger
½ t. garlic salt
Chopped Onion (optional). 

Directions


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Add baked beans into 9x12 glass baking dish. Add all BBQ sauce ingredients and mix together. Bake for 30-45 minutes.


Please link up your recipes below! Don't forget to link back and grab the blog hop button!





Photo Dump

I've been pretty busy lately, working, and spending a lot of time outside. Here are a few photos from the past week.

Feeling a little domestic...but now that Nathan is gone for work all week I have to eat these by myself. Not the best move.


Bella peed her bed when she was being doggie sat the last time, which is totally weird, but here she is in her new comfy nest.


 Ahhh the feeling of the sun and the water. Tan me!


Pool party for Nathan's robotics kids.


Nathan doing what he does best, cooking up some tasty grub.


I had to capture this nastiness in all its glory. Its love bug season here in Florida, this year seems to be the worst I've ever seen it. Solid pile of bugs right there. yeah. Vomit.


 It's been a while since I've been to a High School graduation. Nathan is a mentor for the Cocoa High Robotics club, we came to cheer them on as they walked across the stage.


We were really saving this thing for the next pool party, but we couldn't wait to blow it up to see how big it actually was. Biggest. Beach ball. Ever!


Right before the 90º weather came our way, we had a cool 70º day. It has been 2.5 years since we've gone mountain biking. Ever since I had my last major seizure to be exact. It was wonderful to get back out on the trails and feel the breeze. What an adrenalin rush, not to mention a total body workout. I wish we lived closer to some trails and didn't have to drive and hour to get there.

So yeah, there you go....a day in the life I guess. I'm not good at telling amazing stories, or writing beautiful poetry, but I love to take pictures of random moments in time. I think photos tell their own sort of story.

-Kat

Cheezburger of the Day

Pan Mac acquires self-publishing star Hocking

The Bookseller - 24.05.11 | Graeme Neill

Pan Macmillan has bought UK and Commonwealth rights (including e-books) to seven books by self-published US sensation Amanda Hocking.
Julie Crisp, editorial director at Tor, bought the rights from St Martin's Press in the United States. Hocking was subject to an intense auction in the US for her novels, with Amazon emerging as a shock underbidder.
She self-published her first novel to Amazon's Kindle in April 2010 and has since sold more than one million books.

The deal is for the Trylle Trilogy and a new four-book series called Watersong. The Trylle trilogy will be published in spring 2012 and the first book in the Watersong series will be released in autumn 2012 in paperback and e-book format.
It is described as a romantic coming-of-age tale about two sisters and their struggle to do right by each other and the men they love.

Crisp said: "We're thrilled to have Amanda Hocking on the Tor UK list. She’s been incredibly successful at self-publishing her Trylle series already and we’re thrilled to be able to work with her in publishing these, and her new Watersong series, and helping her to reach a much bigger readership.
"She’s a wonderfully imaginative, original and accomplished writer and I’m sure she’ll be a worldwide sensation."

Douglas Lilburn: A Search for Tradition & A Search for a Language






Illustrated with sketches and
watercolours by Rita Angus
Introductions by JM Thomson
Afterword by Jack Body





•              The perfect gift for people interested in New Zealand culture, art or music
•              Hard-cover with full-colour illustrations including watercolours and sketches by Rita Angus, some published for the first time
•              Thought-provoking writings that are still relevant
•              Includes a time line of Lilburn’s life, and a list of available scores and recordings of his works
•              All proceeds go the the Lilburn Residence Trust, which maintains Lilburn’s former home as
               New Zealand’s only residence for composers
•              Published to mark the 10th anniversary of Douglas Lilburn’s death in June 2011
*             A beautiful and quite special book which I shall treasure.

These are words, like Lilburn’s music itself, measured, carefully poised, challenging.
Allan Thomas

Above all, he [Lilburn] shows us not only how to stand upright, but also how to dance around a little.
Bill Manhire

... you just wish a copy was on every Kiwi bookshelf.
William Dart

In 20th-century New Zealand, outstanding music, art and literature sprang from the tender roots of a new culture shaped by physical and artistic isolation.
These talks, given in 1946 and 1969 by Douglas Lilburn, the first composer to develop his career almost entirely in New Zealand, describe with astounding clarity the uncertainties and demands of a creative life.
Issues of heritage, education and environment are confronted with an uncompromising honesty that has the power to challenge cultural thinking in the 21st century.

Published by: Lilburn Residence Trust in association with Victoria University Press
ISBN: 978-0-473-18379-0
RRP: $24.99
Publication date: June 8, 2011
Size: 185mm x 152mm portrait, 112pp
Distribution: Archetype / Random House
Info: www.lilburnresidence.org.nz

BN Presents "Simple, Pure" $139 Reader, Says Nook Color Is No. 2 Tablet

PublishersLunch

If I'm being honest, as I usually try to do, the working book trade press corp showed up at Barnes & Noble's Union Square store this morning with a bit of resentment. Why was the company pulling us away from the Javits floor on the opening morning of BEA to introduce an already leaked eInk touchscreen device? Particularly when those nice Canadians from Kobo unveiled their $129 touchscreen reader modestly at Javits Center yesterday. Also odd at first, and then just plain annoying (and a little pathetic), was a claque of roughly sixty people wearing black t-shirts emblazoned with "nook," apparently instructed to clap and whoop loudly at regular intervals during the presentation.

As expected from pre-announcement leaks, the new device is an eInk Pearl display full-touchscreen ereader, with a six-inch screen, priced at $139, which will start shipping on or about June 10 (available for pre-orders now). They say it weighs just under 7.5 ounces, and promise that it has "battery life of up to two months on a single charge," proclaiming twice the life of Kindle's device. (It's a "wholly contained battery unit.") By removing the buttons - Lynch touted the Nook as having 37 fewer buttons than the Kindle - the Nook is a smaller, more paperback-sized reader. 
Lynch also says their engineers have mostly solved the "flashing" effect of page turns, saying "users will see 80 percent less flashing." Later in the presentation the company notes they developed "proprietary technolgoy so that each page dissolves into the next." Another software improvement lets readers "flip" through any book quickly.

Lynch did side-by-side comparisons with the current Kindle model to demonstrate BN's product leadership, though there was no mention ofthe Kobo touchscreen model introduced yesterday.
Lynch pitched the new model as designed for people "looking for just a simple, pure reading experience." Separately, talking about Nook Color, he declared that "it's our belief that it's the bestselling android tablet in the US," and the second bestselling tablet of any kind, albeit way in the rear-view mirror of the iPad. During the Q&A session Lynch declined to predict how much their market share might continue to grow, saying simply he expects "we will continue to gain share--I won't give you a number because it's arbitrary." He also said "we are looking at international opportunities. There are a lot of people very interested" and "clearly it's a big opportunity."

As Borders ceo Mike Edwards recently leaked in part, Monday morning at BEA the Kobo executive team announced their new ereader — a $129.99 model with an eInk Pearl screen—which raises the bar for tomorrow’s announced features and price point for Barnes & Noble’s expected touchscreen ereader. Kobo will have the new model on display starting tomorrow at their BEA booth, and visitors to Borders' Columbus Square location can test it out between noon and 2 PM Tuesday. Kobo says the new model will ship in early June, though Borders' release says it won't ship until July. Kobo's wi-fi model will remain in production, now officially priced at $99.99 (where it has been discounted to recently).

As we reported recently based on an internal Borders interview with ceo Mike Edwards, Borders will indeed rebrand its ebookstore and ereading app under the Kobo name, and will "share in the profits of all Kobo e-content sales" from devices sold by all US retailers. Kobo also claims to have 10 percent of the US market, according to the FT

Amazon's Kirshbaum move could reduce competition—BEA

The Bookseller -24.05.11 | Gayle Feldman

Responses to Amazon.com's hire of Laurence Kirshbaum as publisher have varied from worried to fear of a "dampening" effect on competition among delegates at the BEA conference.
Word that started to spread Sunday night was confirmed first thing Monday morning with the announcement that Kirshbaum, former TimeWarner c.e.o.-turned-agent, would be heading up Amazon's publishing operation in New York.

Everybody knew that an Amazon push into frontlist publishing was coming: the move into original genre books and the cooperation with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was not enough to satisfy the giant's ever-hungry maw. Highly-placed executives from New York houses have been migrating to Amazon for a while, and the company ratcheted up expectations after circulating a recruiting letter for various personnel a few weeks back. The question was only when.

The news spread swiftly around the Javits Center even though the exhibition floor was not yet open, the first day of BEA being devoted to conference sessions. For Kirshbaum, it seemed a natural: as Workman's Bob Miller put it, "Larry missed running the whole show. Being an agent just wasn't the same."
Independent booksellers took the news in their stride: "it didn't surprise" outgoing ABA president Michael Tucker, whose store is in San Francisco. Another major indie bookseller, Elliott Bay's Rick Simonsen (on Amazon's home turf of Seattle), saw it being "of more concern to publishers than to booksellers at this point. Remember, most booksellers have to deal with B&N's Sterling [publishing subsidiary] already. And Amazon will now get trapped in the real world!"

The proprietor of a store much closer to New York, who preferred to talk on background, said that given the state of Borders, and the likely difficulties Amazon may encounter with B&N, indies might actually get higher discounts on the books Amazon publishes since they will need a bricks and mortar storefront.
What people on the publishing side are feeling—again, off the record for the most part—is worried. Publishers, already feeling squeezed, have been feeling even more so since Monday morning.
Agent Richard Curtis, who doubles as proprietor of E-Reads, one of the earliest e-publishing and POD reprinters of out-of-print books, said: "I think Larry is an iconic branded figure in the American book business and will be the perfect person to bring the old and new worlds of publishing together.
"However, because of Amazon's dominant retail position, their wealth and leverage could have a dampening effect on competition. B&N's publishing has had that effect: as an agent, I'll call a publisher and pitch a non-fiction project. ‘We'd love to do it,' they'll tell me, and then add, ‘but we know Sterling will undercut on price for the same kind of book."

And Amazon clearly intends to publish far beyond the Sterling model; they would not have brought Kirshbaum on board if they were not looking to go for some of the biggest fish in the frontlist fiction and non-fiction ponds.

Kirshbaum himself of course had been one of the earliest digital enthusiasts, before the world was ready for digital: at TimeWarner, he had started iPublish, a short-lived and very costly (reportedly the company lost some hefty millions) attempt at harnessing the future.
Another question is the role HMH may play. A few years ago, the company had a well-publicised liquidity crisis. It is unclear how HMH stands in terms of liquidity today, but a couple of observers wondered how the Kirshbaum hire and HMH connection will fit together in future.

Perhaps the Amazon news was not far from the minds of the publishing executives who participated in an IDPF roundtable. One attendee posed the following question from the floor: "Of the big five publishers [the questioner forgot there are actually six], how many will be around four years from now?"
Sourcebooks' Dominique Raccah predicted, "We will lose 50% of publishers." For Bloomsbury's Evan Schnittman, they are already "all just part of each other".

Buzz Reviews: Blue Nights, by Joan Didion

PublishersLunch

Review by Rachel Syme
When The Year of Magical Thinking appeared in 2005, it established Joan Didion as the high priestess of anointed grief counselors -- her meticulous and minimalist memoir of losing her husband to heart failure hit a cultural and emotional chord that continues to reverberate. In Blue Nights, Didion’s new memoir, she turns to motherhood with a similar clinical detachment -- again a shock, but in this case, one that feels much more uncomfortable. Didion’s gimlet eye is always welcome; the conclusions that she draws from it, maybe less so.

Two months before Magical Thinking's publication, Didion’s 39-year-old adopted daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, died after a battle with pneumonia and brain bleeding. Another beloved figure in her life was dead, and once more Didion chose to process it through writing, this time questioning whether or not she was a good mother. What is troubling to read -- and what will most likely drive the book’s buzz throughout the fall season -- is Didion’s uncompromising conclusion: that she likely never really understood her daughter; that she never gave the girl a chance to blossom into a fully-formed person.

Given the fervor that offbeat parenting memoirs cause today (i.e. Tiger Mother), Didion’s confession that she raised her adopted baby girl “like a doll,” and that she had no concept of changing her life to accommodate the new baby, will likely drive conversations around Blue Nights. When Didion and her husband found out they were getting baby Quintana, they planned a trip to war-torn Vietnam, a trip scuttled by a scheduling conflict, not any sense of danger towards the baby.

She also ignored the signs of Quintanaa’s borderline personality disorder at a young age (at five, the child was already calling mental hospitals to ask for assistance.) Didion notes that even as a girl, Quintana – prone to night terrors and asking big questions about safety, sanity and death – realized her mother’s own inability to relate. “How could she have imagined that I could take care of her? She saw me as needing care myself. She saw me as frail. Was that her anxiety or mine?”

Instead of apologizing for her maternal shortcomings, Didion simply asks the hard questions about parenting, her way of proving that she did love Quintana. She is willing to probe her own failures, willing to ask whether she could have done more, if there might have been a way to save her child from pain, or even death. She also acknowledges the current shift towards a more hands-on parenting approach: “We now measure success as the extent to which we manage to keep our children monitored, tethered, tied to us,” she writes, noting her own flaws in that method.

Blue Nights' emphasis on Didion's own health problems and her acquiescence to finality makes clear she is reaching the end of her career, working through her demons in the best way she knows how. Didion’s great gift as a writer is her precision, but it was a skill that complicated her parental instincts. Blue Nights is indeed beautifully written, but as it gracefully identifies Didion’s pathology, it is also a symptom of it: when a mother is full of sharp questions but no answers, curiosity but little warmth, a child is bound to feel lost. As Didion asks, “When we noticed her confusions, did we consider our own?”

Rachel Syme is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in NPR, Elle, The Daily Beast, and other publications. She is at work on a book on F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham that will be published by Random House.

Knopf   (Fourth Estate in ANZ)
208 pp.
US$25.00
ISBN: 9780307267672
Publication Date: November 1, 2011

the office look

assalamualaikum ppl :)

this, a double meaning title which r - the environment of my office and also, my new office look :P nothing much to be done today and i planned to go for a lunch with namin. *thanks bby utk beberapa minit tu* :) by the moment i was about to leave the office, there was nobody there. cehhh, i was all alone at the office rupenye.

and i wanna show u, this is what my office looks like. and i've been to a few number of advertising & production company, and most of the companies are simple, stylish yet modern enough and unique. i just love the colors and the ideas. and this is 1 of the example. but this is only the production part. the management part which is on the upper floor is much much much gorgeous ;)


i love the view. and it is a very cold room. tp still boss angkut kipas jgk '-___-''
and this is the office part. we've meeting room, editing room, etc etc.


and this is where i spent 90% of my working hours.
it's a dubbing room. as u can see the door itself is fully covered with sponge.


lobby / hall. whenever it was too cold, i would seat here for a while.
just to make myself feel much warmer.


and this is the pantry. and i do really love the view, again... :))


as for today, dah hari ke 2 mama abah hantar/ambil pergi kerja. sbb kembara repair. phewww. dan dan lah 2 hari ni balik awal sbb semua ada urusan, so dlm 5pm i dah nak kene balik. so i kene la tnggu few minutes jgk sbb mama abah stuck dlm traffic jammed :(

td balik je kerja, terus pergi ambik spek i! tp kan power mata kiri dah jd 175. pdhal i pakai spek i yg kiri 125 elok je. tp 175 tu pun terang je nmpk, tak de plak rase terlebeyh. tp jd pening plak sbb dah biasa 125 kan. waaaaa. but, it totally changed my look. i look more likely like a corporate woman :P


ta-daa. much more mature, i know :P
*abaikan muka sememeh balik kerja*


and. everytime balik kerja, like everyday actually, i mmg berniat nak kemas bilik. but then sampai rumah, nampak katil, nampak laptop, terus tak jadi. tskkk. okay i dah ngantuk gila, so good nite, sleep tight ppl~ astalavista.




Top-to-Toe Radish Stirfry



Green tops and pink bottoms! Such a beautiful combination.
No I don't mean clothes (my fashion-savvy sister will probably axe me). I mean radishes.
I got a bunch of them while working at Pimlico farmers' market on saturday, purely because they looked too pink and pretty to miss. It's not a ditzy girly thing. Just look! They are pretty.


I like radishes raw and sliced thinly to add a little kick to salads, or in tzatziki style dips. But I don't think many people know that radishes are absolutely delicious cooked too! Also, did you know that the radish leaves can be eaten too, much like beetroot? The leaves look a little like pea shoots, but have a slight radish-y sharpness. Here's a super fast stirfry with some sesame oil, garlic and spring onions (also bang in season) to celebrate the whole radish, from top to toe!

Top-to-Toe Radish Stirfry
Ingredients
1 bunch of radishes, washed
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 spring onion (white and green parts), chopped
1 tsp fish sauce (or you can use naturally fermented soy sauce)
dash of white pepper
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. Separate the leaves from the radish roots. Quarter the roots.
2. Heat pan over medium-high heat, and add the evoo. Add the white parts of the spring onion, garlic and sesame oil and toss for 1-2 min.
3. Add the radish roots and stir-fry for 3-4 min till their insides turn from an opaque white

to a glossy translucence.


4. Add the radish leaves and the seasoning, and stir-fry for 1 more min until the radish leaves are wilted. Scatter the chopped green parts of the spring onion over to serve.


I really like my radish cooked for a change. The sharpness of the radish mellows, and it takes on a mild daikon radish/ turnip-like sweetness. The leaves add a nice contrast of texture (a bit like pea shoots), and of course, you can never go wrong with sesame oil and toasted garlic!

Oh and if you're wondering why you only see pink bottoms but no green tops in the plastic bags of radishes from Tesco's, and you feel unfairly shortchanged, it's time to make a trip down to the farmer's market ;)

This is part of Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

A Big, Hairy, Green Spider

... or maybe a Watermelon Spider* since the abdomen looks like a watermelon. Either way, he was pretty cool. We found him meditating in the Catican. I left the photo fairly big and he's worth a click to see him in full detail. The eye structure in particular was fascinating for me.


* - In reality, it was a Green Lynx Spider, Peucetia viridians. Identification thanks to the Spider Identification Guide. You can read lots more about him here.

Les Madeleines and all things classic

Note:  I've been nominated for Babble's 100 Top Food Blogs!  I have 19 more votes to get into the top 50.  If you like what I've done here, would you follow the side link to Babble and vote for me?  I am on page #2 "Snippets of Thyme"

The last Literature Club get-together this year for my daughter.  What fun these teen girls have meeting together, discussing wonderful literature and snacking on little cakes and cookies.  Each month, one of the group hosts a literature club based on the classics.   Jane Austin's collection of wonderful masterpieces are popular choices for this group.  You could pick up any one of these girls and transport them to that era and they would fit right in.  I wanted to send my daughter, whose name is Madeleine, with  sweets that seemed fitting for something that might be eaten during the time of Emma or Pride and Prejudice.




It was an easy decision..hint, hint...Les Madeleine cakes.  These are so versatile and delicious for events like a Literature Club.  They aren't really cookies and they are too small to be considered cakes.  The daintiness of the graceful shell pattern make them a quaint little party food.  

The good thing about these delectable little cakes it that they are a snap to make.  I have a non-stick Madeleine mold and these cakes cook nice and fluffy  then slide easily out of the pan. My daughter just likes them plain but I have seen fruit dips that can be set in a bowl for dipping these cakes.  I have also seen chocolate dipped Madeleines that add more richness making them more of a dessert than a snack.


Since it was a Literature Club get-together, we thought packing these nicely in one of our "book boxes" would be a whimsical idea.  


We lined the "book box" with a pretty napkin, arranged the Madeleine cakes snugly inside and off she went to spend a wonderful evening with her girlfriends.  Often, after discussing the literature they watch the movie version of the book.  Beautiful scenes of dancing and parties are typically a part of any Jane Austen novel.  How different society is today than when young Jane fretted over her future.


Les Madeleine cakes are such a  classic sweet to accompany these great works of literature.  They were discussing themes for next year and have chosen classic "fairy tale" novels and how they have changed in their modern interpretations.  I just might have to read along the sidelines too... perhaps with a few Madeleines to keep me company.

So many books, so little time...





Les Madeleine Cakes/Cookies:
Prep Time:  20 minutes
Baking Time:  10-15  minutes


Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
Beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla and half of the milk until thick and light yellow. Add the flour and baking powder bit by bit and continue mixing until smooth. Stir in the rest of the milk and the melted butter.

Carefully grease your madeleine tray if necessary. Spoon about two tablespoons of batter into each mold. Bake for 15 minutes at 375°F. Cool on a rack.

Makes 24 madeleines.

You could flavor your madeleines with different things, perhaps orange or lemon zest. A dusting of powdered sugar would look nice as well.