Wednesday, June 15, 2011

my creative space::quilt beginnings...

Thanks to the inspiration provided in this book...

and the birth of a baby called Ruby Grace (isn't that a beautiful name)...I am attempting...with this fabric...

the making of a cot quilt...ta da!

I'm so happy with the top layer. The dodgy photos not so much :) The striped fabric will be the backing and I'll have a selection of the quilt top fabrics as the binding. That's the plan anyway...we'll see how it all works out once I get back from my travels.
Lots of creative spaces...probably involving finished projects, over this-a-way.

Can You Help Someone Who Doesn't Want To Help Themselves?

More Greece Debt geekery here.

So the ECB and the EU (read: Germany) are wondering how to stave off a Greek default. They're debating a new aid package for the Greeks who, for years, have borrowed and spent and partied. The Greek government is trying to pitch in and has plans to cut civil service payrolls and pay as well as sell off parts of their bloated government*.

The Greeks themselves are going bonkers in the streets.

The Greeks are demanding an indefinite continuation of childhood with the ECB and the Germans as Mommy and Daddy, paying the bills.
The German government is having an increasingly difficult time selling these bailouts to the German public. Now put yourself in the position of a German citizen and consider that video. What do you feel about the Greeks?

How long before you want to cut them loose and use the bailout money to save the German banks who made the bad loans, assuming you want to do anything at all?

It doesn't seem like the Greeks have any concept whatsoever about the source of wealth**. Right now, their future hinges on the rest of Europe sucking it up in a big way and sending them tens of billions of Euros so they don't end up bankrupt and growing vegetables on their apartment patios to survive.

Seen from a distant view, their behavior seems crazy. It's like they never learned anything practical about economics in their schools.

* - In a completely unrelated development, the US under Bush and Obama has gone in the opposite direction, taking over the mortgage, car and health care industries to one extent or another. There is nothing the US can learn from Greece. Nothing. It's a totally different situation, so don't draw any conclusions at all here. Really.

** - Hmmm. No idea about where wealth comes from. Who does that remind you of?

Joseph, Ziegler, Henderson, win at Society of Author awards

15.06.11 | Lisa Campbell - The Bookseller

Twenty-one writers shared £76,000 of prize money at the Authors' Awards last night presented by Joanna Trollope. Among them Anjali Joseph won the £10,000 Betty Trask prize for Saraswati Park (Fourth Estate).

As previously announced, Philip Ziegler won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Edward Heath – The Authorised Biography (HarperPress).

The McKitterick prize, worth £4,000 was given to Emma Henderson, who has been previously shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Wellcome Book Prize.

Other Betty Trask Prize Award winners were Laura Barton who received £6,000
for Twenty-One Locks (Quercus) and Simon Lelic who was given £2,500 for
Rupture (Picador) along with Robert Williams, who was also awarded £2,500
for Luke and Jon (Faber).

After the presentations, Trollope congratulated all the winners, saying they had the power to influence imaginations with their words. She said: "We (authors) can take everything that has already been said and present it in a way that makes people think ‘I have never heard this before.' All the writers around us tonight have done this."
Joseph said: "I feel really happy, I remember reading the backs of books which had this award cited when I was younger and thinking they must be good, so its nice to get the recognition."
The event took place at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly, London, and was hosted by the Society of Authors.

Specialist stores the answer to Nick Sherry’s dire prediction for book chains

By Michelle Hammond - Startupsmart - Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Small Business Minister Nick Sherry has sparked outrage with his prediction that general bookstores will be absent from the market within five years, but some industry groups say an opportunity exists for start-ups to specialise as the sector shrinks.
Earlier this week, Sherry told a conference that online shopping would wipe out general bookstores within five years, expecting only specialist players in capital cities to survive.
The comment sparked anger in the industry, which has seen the collapse of REDGroup Retail; the parent company of bookstore chains Angus & Robertson and Borders.

Jon Page, president of the Australian Booksellers Association, said the minister had demonstrated a “distinct lack of understanding about the Australian book industry”.

“I doubt he’s even looked at any industry stats to make a remark like that,” Page says.

Daniel Jordan, managing director of Collins Booksellers, also dismissed the comment, stating: “To assume that bricks-and-mortar retailing won’t exist in five years is just plain wrong.”

Small business lobbyist Peter Strong – who also owns and runs an independent bookstore – agrees independents should embrace the challenges presented by increasing online sales and the rise of eBooks.
“We will have a decrease in bricks-and-mortar, but nobody knows what that means. Plenty of people still love their bookshops and love dealing with human beings,” Strong told SmartCompany.

Strong says independent retailers will also pick up additional customers as a result of REDGroup Retail’s collapse.
“A lot of the [independent] booksellers are quite excited about it. Small businesses can respond quite quickly [to consumer trends], which is exciting not only for the business but for the consumer,” he says.
“We believe there is [enough demand]. We just need to work out how many operators will be able to survive in the marketplace. We’re all on a trip of discovery at the moment.”

Rest at Startupsmart.

Tom Cruise takes a shot at Jack Reacher

The Hollywood megastar may have to convince fans he's capable of playing a 6ft 5in vigilante drifter, but author Lee Child is convinced

Catherine Shoard
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 June 2011 11.55 BST

All right, Jack ... Tom Cruise, left, and author Lee Child. Photograph: Victor Chavez/Wire Images; Steffan Hill/Lebrecht Music

He's a 6ft 5in, 250lb saturnine killing machine who travels around the US slaying baddies with nothing but the clothes on his back and the wallet in his pocket. Who better to play Jack Reacher, the hero of Lee Child's series of bestsellers, than Tom Cruise: 5ft 7in, pushing 50, prone to emotional outbursts and regular flashes of gnashers.

But Deadline has confirmed that Cruise is in talks to star in One Shot, an adaptation of the ninth novel in the Reacher series (which so far totals 15 books and 40 million copies). The story sees Reacher initially flummoxed by a case in which a lone sniper murders five people before being captured.

Cruise has long been linked to the series. Before his split with Paula Wagner at United Artists, the pair optioned the books, and Child himself has expressed eagerness for Cruise to take the part. "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way," said Child, in answer to fans who felt Cruise might be too diminutive for the role.

The film is scheduled to start shooting in the autumn, before Cruise starts work on Oblivion, an apocalyptic sci-fi film from the director of Tron: Legacy.

One Shot would be directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has also adapted the novel. McQuarrie and Cruise have previously collaborated on Valkyrie and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Cruise won acclaim for his portrayal of an engaging hitman in 2004's Collateral, directed by Michael Mann.

Breaking News: Last 9/11 survivor to visit Auckland in August

Allen & Unwin have announced they will be touring the last person pulled out of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Genelle Guzman-McMillan's extremely powerful memoir will be titled ANGEL IN THE RUBBLE: How I survived for 27 Hours under the World Trade Centre debris. It will be released in New Zealand in August and Genelle Guzman-McMillan will be visiting Auckland as part of her book tour on 18-19 August.

About the book:

Sometimes terrible things happen...

On 11 September 2001 Genelle started her working day like any other: throwing on her high heels, dashing off to work on the 64th floor of the northern Twin Tower of the World Trade Center, organising coffee for workmates, and settling down to her work. Then they hear a loud bang. The floor shakes, but nothing dramatic seems to have happened.

Clouds of paper start to float past the window. Some time later Genelle and her co-workers discover a plane has slammed into their building. They're advised to remain where they are, which they do. Eventually they take matters into their own hands and begin to make their way down the endless flights of now empty stairs. They were so near their goal. Then the building begins to sway and the entire tower collapses on Genelle. She finds herself alone and unable to move in the dust and the darkness.

This riveting story brings to life Genelle's 27 hour ordeal and rescue from under the debris of the 9/11 World Trade Center wreckage. Genelle, the last survivor to be pulled from Ground Zero, shares her miraculous experiences during those 27 long hours, and the immense richness of her life beyond it.

The remarkable true story of the day that changed Genelle Guzman-McMillan's life.

http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=511&book=9781742378732

Philadelphia, Here I Come: On Selling Irish E-Books Into America

Publishing Perspectives

For many overseas publishers, breaking into the American market is the holy grail. Digital distribution has made it much easier. Eoin Purcell writes:
"Dozens of Irish publishers — big, medium and small — have fallen on the fences of high shipping costs, poor sales and distribution, fluctuating currency patterns, and pure bad luck in their efforts to break into the US market to tap that Irish Diaspora.
"if you follow a few basic guidelines, there’s every reason to think you will see some sales in the US. And if you build your marketing apparatus and develop a strong brand, following or fan-base who know where that will end?”

Read more.

New Booked Up titles revealed for fifth year of programme

The 17 book titles that will be on offer to all Year 7 pupils in England from September 2011 have been revealed. Booked Up, which is celebrating its fifth year, will deliver 650,000 free books from a list that includes winners of the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. The bookgifting programme is run by the national literature charity Booktrust, with the aim of encouraging reading for pleasure and independent reading choice.

Booked Up allows each Year 7 pupil to make their own choice of book from a selection of 17 titles that include fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The programme is designed so that there is a book that will appeal to every child, whatever their ability or needs. Its purpose is to encourage independent reading and support reading for pleasure as children make the sometimes difficult transition from primary to secondary education.

The 2011 Booked Up book list:

Pumpkin Grumpkin by John Agard & Grace Nichols (Walker Books)

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Usborne)

Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari (Macmillan)

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (Hachette Children’s Books)

The Ghost Box by Catherine Fisher (Barrington Stoke)

The Kick Off by Dan Freedman (Scholastic)

Mortlock by Jon Mayhew (Bloomsbury)

Why is Snot Green? by Glenn Murphy (Macmillan)

Big Nate – The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins)

Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John (Orion)

Frankie Foster: Fizzy Pop by Jean Ure (HarperCollins)