31 May 2007
30 May 2007
Authors take aim at one publishers new contract stipulation
So, picture this:
You have your first book published. It’s a great time to celebrate, because despite the many books that are published each and every year, its still a hard business to break into. Of course, as I’ve always said, if Chuck Norris (yes, the most woodenheaded “actor” to come out of Hollywood since, well, ever) can get a book published, then anyone can.
Usually, when an author signs a contract, the terms usually go two ways: the publishers holds a copyright for a certain number of years. Once those years are passed, the rights revert back to the author so he or she can shop it to another publisher. The other way, was when sales reached an agreed upon low level, or the book was declared out of print. Once again, then the rights went back to the author to sell it to another publisher.
Now, one publisher is trying to change these terms, and it seems to pissing off the Authors Guild. Simon & Schuster, which one line happens to include the Star Trek line of novels under its imprint, Pocket Books (and all owned under the umbrella of Viacom) wants to change those rules in what now is being considered a standard S&S contract.
Essentially, S&S new deal states that a book is in print, and thus under its control, as long as it’s available in any form, even if there is no copies to be ordered by standard bookstores. According to the Guild, S&S “would be able to stop printing a book and prevent the author from publishing it with any other house.”
Simon & Schuster responded by saying that the Guild was “overreacting,” that the company was embracing new technology, basically the ever increasingly popular print-on-demand technology. This new format means that a book can be published in trade paperback one at a time, because the book exists in the publishers database -something that cost the publisher virtually nothing to keep. They go onto say that they are embracing POD will keep authors books alive and available to both online and brick and mortar stores.
The National Writers Union has joined The Writers Guild in calling on Simon & Schuster to rescind the changes in the contracts. The Association of Authors Representatives has yet to take action, but the president of the company, Gail Hochman, told Publishers Weekly, that “the change is a mistake.”
And even though print-on-demand is the wave of the future, and if the publisher feels the only feasible way to keep some older titles available is in this format, then its believed, by the Guild and NWU, that those right should be controlled by the author, and not the publisher.
PW
You have your first book published. It’s a great time to celebrate, because despite the many books that are published each and every year, its still a hard business to break into. Of course, as I’ve always said, if Chuck Norris (yes, the most woodenheaded “actor” to come out of Hollywood since, well, ever) can get a book published, then anyone can.
Usually, when an author signs a contract, the terms usually go two ways: the publishers holds a copyright for a certain number of years. Once those years are passed, the rights revert back to the author so he or she can shop it to another publisher. The other way, was when sales reached an agreed upon low level, or the book was declared out of print. Once again, then the rights went back to the author to sell it to another publisher.
Now, one publisher is trying to change these terms, and it seems to pissing off the Authors Guild. Simon & Schuster, which one line happens to include the Star Trek line of novels under its imprint, Pocket Books (and all owned under the umbrella of Viacom) wants to change those rules in what now is being considered a standard S&S contract.
Essentially, S&S new deal states that a book is in print, and thus under its control, as long as it’s available in any form, even if there is no copies to be ordered by standard bookstores. According to the Guild, S&S “would be able to stop printing a book and prevent the author from publishing it with any other house.”
Simon & Schuster responded by saying that the Guild was “overreacting,” that the company was embracing new technology, basically the ever increasingly popular print-on-demand technology. This new format means that a book can be published in trade paperback one at a time, because the book exists in the publishers database -something that cost the publisher virtually nothing to keep. They go onto say that they are embracing POD will keep authors books alive and available to both online and brick and mortar stores.
The National Writers Union has joined The Writers Guild in calling on Simon & Schuster to rescind the changes in the contracts. The Association of Authors Representatives has yet to take action, but the president of the company, Gail Hochman, told Publishers Weekly, that “the change is a mistake.”
And even though print-on-demand is the wave of the future, and if the publisher feels the only feasible way to keep some older titles available is in this format, then its believed, by the Guild and NWU, that those right should be controlled by the author, and not the publisher.
PW
29 May 2007
Buring books in Missouri: A protest
Sometimes, you got to do something drastic to get people’s attention. And book burning usually gets just that. On Sunday, Tom Wayne, owner of Prospero’s Bookstore in Missouri held a book burning. But unlike plot line from Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451, this burning had nothing to do with an oppressive government, but with a man fed up with American’s who no longer read for pleasure.
"Tom Wayne, the owner for the past 10 years of Prospero’s Bookstore, a used bookstore in the Missouri city, lit fire to the books, after his attempts to thin out his inventory of 20,000 used and antiquarian titles failed. According to Wayne, local libraries and thrift stores he contacted with offers to donate books refused them, telling him they had no room."
Publishers Weekly
On a personal note, I understand Wayne’s frustration. Having worked in a bookstore for nearly 20 years, the decline in sales cannot always be blamed on lack of product. Hell, there are thousands of books published each month. But today, most people think that reading tabloids and People magazine constitute reading.
And what books they do buy are tawdry novels of James Patterson, he of the 16pt font letters and page and half chapters. Literature is facing it’s a dark time as people claim they have no time to read, but will rearrange their schedule to watch American Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
While James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Dan Brown fill a hole of light fiction, has anyone picked up a book by Joyce Carol Oates? A prolific author yes, but each book is filled with many wonderful scenes.
Even Stephen King, in an article back in April in EW, claimed that the publishers where basically kowtowing to critics:
"As of March 26, Fieldwork was No. 24,571 on the Amazon best-seller list, and not apt to go much higher. The reason why is illustrative of how the book biz became the invalid of the entertainment industry, and why fiction sales are down across the board (with the possible exception of chick lit). Critics, with their stubborn insistence that there's a difference between ''literature'' and ''popular fiction,'' are part of the problem, but the publishers themselves, who have bought into this elitist twaddle, are also to blame."
Entertainment Weekly
American’s are missing out on the great work that is out there, once again claiming their busy lifestyle prevents them from reading anything heavier than James Patterson. But like most things, it’s all empty rhetoric. Turn the TV off, stop wasting your money on needless sequels to Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: God This is Not the Last Film. Turn the damn computer off, pick up a newspaper, a novel (but not James Patterson), or, God forbid., a nonfiction book of the historical genre (or any other nonfiction genre).
"Tom Wayne, the owner for the past 10 years of Prospero’s Bookstore, a used bookstore in the Missouri city, lit fire to the books, after his attempts to thin out his inventory of 20,000 used and antiquarian titles failed. According to Wayne, local libraries and thrift stores he contacted with offers to donate books refused them, telling him they had no room."
Publishers Weekly
On a personal note, I understand Wayne’s frustration. Having worked in a bookstore for nearly 20 years, the decline in sales cannot always be blamed on lack of product. Hell, there are thousands of books published each month. But today, most people think that reading tabloids and People magazine constitute reading.
And what books they do buy are tawdry novels of James Patterson, he of the 16pt font letters and page and half chapters. Literature is facing it’s a dark time as people claim they have no time to read, but will rearrange their schedule to watch American Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
While James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Dan Brown fill a hole of light fiction, has anyone picked up a book by Joyce Carol Oates? A prolific author yes, but each book is filled with many wonderful scenes.
Even Stephen King, in an article back in April in EW, claimed that the publishers where basically kowtowing to critics:
"As of March 26, Fieldwork was No. 24,571 on the Amazon best-seller list, and not apt to go much higher. The reason why is illustrative of how the book biz became the invalid of the entertainment industry, and why fiction sales are down across the board (with the possible exception of chick lit). Critics, with their stubborn insistence that there's a difference between ''literature'' and ''popular fiction,'' are part of the problem, but the publishers themselves, who have bought into this elitist twaddle, are also to blame."
Entertainment Weekly
American’s are missing out on the great work that is out there, once again claiming their busy lifestyle prevents them from reading anything heavier than James Patterson. But like most things, it’s all empty rhetoric. Turn the TV off, stop wasting your money on needless sequels to Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: God This is Not the Last Film. Turn the damn computer off, pick up a newspaper, a novel (but not James Patterson), or, God forbid., a nonfiction book of the historical genre (or any other nonfiction genre).
28 May 2007
The atheists at the corner bookstore
The book business, like most media outlets, love trends, sequels and franchises.
The latest of these trends, was The Secret, which has and will continue to spawn, more books with similar themes and even a few books that will take aim at decrying it. About a month or so ago, I talked about those books, mostly religious based book houses, that would be de-bunking the ideas promoted with in that bestselling book.
Religion sections within book stores has grown, somewhat over the years. They’ve always carried Bibles, in what ever format you wanted. And the popularity of the TV preachers like Joel Osteen. T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyers have kept the sections pretty filled up.
Of course, many other religions are in this section, including Judaism, Buddhism, and a getting bigger, Atheism.
And that’s where the latest trend is, as publishers look at the success of recent bestselling tomes on the subject. In a recent Los Angeles Times article on this subject, writer Rachel Zoll talked to Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena -a prominent evangelical school - and he reflected on the success of such books like Sam Harris’ The End of Faith and its hugely popular follow-up, Letter to a Christian Nation. Or past titles over the last year or so, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett and the current hit, released a month ago, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.
“I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but it’s almost like they all had a meeting and said ‘let’s counterattack’” he told Zoll.
But Mouw seems to also believe that while these authors -in their view - say that Muslim extremist, Jewish settlers and Christian right activist are from the same mold, as in using “fairy tales posing as devine scripture to justify their lust for power;” that they also believe that actions done in the name of religion are behind the current global conflicts, he also says that conservative Christians are partly to blame. That they have invited this current crop of titles because their rhetoric has been so “strident.”
“We have done a terrible job of presenting our perspectives as a plausible world view that has implications for public life and for education, presenting that in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of people who may disagree. Whatever may be wrong with Christopher Hitchens attacks on religious leaders, we have certainly already matched it in our attacks.”
Of course, these views by Mouw may not be shared by other leaders in the religious community. And while Hitchens claims “religion kills,” others are saying that the recent spat of these titles only reflects that “contrary to what they were taught in school, faith is not dead, “ so says Rev. Douglas Wilson, who is a senior fellow in theology at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. And that these books are merely “secular panic.”
“It sort of dawned on the secular establishment that they might lose here,” Wilson told Zoll. “All of this is happening precisely because there’s a significant force that they have to deal with.”
Oh, good, more rhetoric.
Still the success of these books has taken the leaders of religion to try counter the sales. And while believers far out number nonbelievers (a 2005 AP-Ipsos poll said only 2% of U.S. respondents claimed they did not believe in God, while other surveys claim 14% of Americans consider themselves secular -which could include believes who say they have no religion), they understand the implications.
Thus the many books that will be published to counter attack them, much the same that is happening with The Secret. And while over the last 15 years, as noted by Lynn Garret of Publishers Weekly, that religious titles (both nonfiction and the huge growth of Christian Fiction) have become the fastest growing category in publishing, the flip-side of all of it are these books.
“It was just the time,” she said, “for the atheists to take the gloves off.”
The latest of these trends, was The Secret, which has and will continue to spawn, more books with similar themes and even a few books that will take aim at decrying it. About a month or so ago, I talked about those books, mostly religious based book houses, that would be de-bunking the ideas promoted with in that bestselling book.
Religion sections within book stores has grown, somewhat over the years. They’ve always carried Bibles, in what ever format you wanted. And the popularity of the TV preachers like Joel Osteen. T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyers have kept the sections pretty filled up.
Of course, many other religions are in this section, including Judaism, Buddhism, and a getting bigger, Atheism.
And that’s where the latest trend is, as publishers look at the success of recent bestselling tomes on the subject. In a recent Los Angeles Times article on this subject, writer Rachel Zoll talked to Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena -a prominent evangelical school - and he reflected on the success of such books like Sam Harris’ The End of Faith and its hugely popular follow-up, Letter to a Christian Nation. Or past titles over the last year or so, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett and the current hit, released a month ago, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.
“I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but it’s almost like they all had a meeting and said ‘let’s counterattack’” he told Zoll.
But Mouw seems to also believe that while these authors -in their view - say that Muslim extremist, Jewish settlers and Christian right activist are from the same mold, as in using “fairy tales posing as devine scripture to justify their lust for power;” that they also believe that actions done in the name of religion are behind the current global conflicts, he also says that conservative Christians are partly to blame. That they have invited this current crop of titles because their rhetoric has been so “strident.”
“We have done a terrible job of presenting our perspectives as a plausible world view that has implications for public life and for education, presenting that in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of people who may disagree. Whatever may be wrong with Christopher Hitchens attacks on religious leaders, we have certainly already matched it in our attacks.”
Of course, these views by Mouw may not be shared by other leaders in the religious community. And while Hitchens claims “religion kills,” others are saying that the recent spat of these titles only reflects that “contrary to what they were taught in school, faith is not dead, “ so says Rev. Douglas Wilson, who is a senior fellow in theology at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. And that these books are merely “secular panic.”
“It sort of dawned on the secular establishment that they might lose here,” Wilson told Zoll. “All of this is happening precisely because there’s a significant force that they have to deal with.”
Oh, good, more rhetoric.
Still the success of these books has taken the leaders of religion to try counter the sales. And while believers far out number nonbelievers (a 2005 AP-Ipsos poll said only 2% of U.S. respondents claimed they did not believe in God, while other surveys claim 14% of Americans consider themselves secular -which could include believes who say they have no religion), they understand the implications.
Thus the many books that will be published to counter attack them, much the same that is happening with The Secret. And while over the last 15 years, as noted by Lynn Garret of Publishers Weekly, that religious titles (both nonfiction and the huge growth of Christian Fiction) have become the fastest growing category in publishing, the flip-side of all of it are these books.
“It was just the time,” she said, “for the atheists to take the gloves off.”
26 May 2007
Wonder what she's saying
I have no idea why this kid is naked with a towel covering up the junk, but I find it very sexy. Plus, I wouldn't mind being her, even if its all innocent joking.
25 May 2007
24 May 2007
Minor quake last night
So, last night, just after Lost, I finally crawled into bed. I rolled on my side and suddenly the bed started to shake, like someone was at the foot of my bed, pushing it back and forth.
It was odd. At first I thought I was mistaken, that the movement came from something else. Then, this morning as I was getting ready for work, KTLA reported two minor earthquakes located in Devore, about 20 mile north east of where I live. Apparently, the first 3.9 hit at 11:11, while the second one, also 3.9, hit at 11:15. That second one I felt.
So, I survived my first “felt” quake since moving here 20 months ago.
I don’t know if I should panic, or just pray they don’t get any bigger than 3.9.
It was odd. At first I thought I was mistaken, that the movement came from something else. Then, this morning as I was getting ready for work, KTLA reported two minor earthquakes located in Devore, about 20 mile north east of where I live. Apparently, the first 3.9 hit at 11:11, while the second one, also 3.9, hit at 11:15. That second one I felt.
So, I survived my first “felt” quake since moving here 20 months ago.
I don’t know if I should panic, or just pray they don’t get any bigger than 3.9.
What We Leave Behind
Today would’ve been my father’s 73rd birthday. Strange, really, to think about that number. Seventy-three seems so old, even as my mom turns 72 next month. But my mom does not look like she’s in her 70's. You see, while 73 is old, the more mind-numbing thing is he’ll be dead 39 years this July 19. How do you wrap your mind around this? How do you understand the concept of losing your own father to cancer at the age of 34?
To this day, I miss him. Which, I guess, I should. I also am very angry that the fates, God, or whatever you believe in, took him away from me, my siblings and my mother. Why, I would cry like Sally Field in Steel Magnolia, what did my mother or us kids do that forced the universe to take such bold move and remove my father from this earth?
But, then, there is no reason. It just is.
I have very little memory of him, which pains me more than even him not being here for that 73rd birthday. He died two months short of my sixth birthday. And from what I heard from my mother, I seemed to have fallen to pieces.
I have no memory of much of that time. I do see flashes of life after my dad’s death. I remember the funeral -I think it was a cloudy day. I remember some Christmases and bits of special occasions, like my communion, but most of that time, say from the time he died to the time my mom remarried in 1972 are gone.
I know from what my mother has told me, that I sort of came unglued. Hiding in closets when teachers left the classroom. I apparently did many other things that eventually forced my mom to put me in some special school for -what, if I remember correctly - developmentally handicapped people. I even took the yellow short bus to school.
Funny, while I don’t recall what I did there, I do know I hated it with a passion. And it put me behind a year in school, which lead to many self-esteem issues I still have today.
Anyways, in Back to the Future II after a brief trip from 1985 to 2015, Doc and Marty return to 1985, only to discover that the timeline has somehow changed. They eventually figure out that 2015 version of Biff had somehow returned to 1955 and given his younger self a sports book that had all the winning scores in them. Young Biff would eventually use that almanac to become very wealthy and that would alter the future.
As the Doc tries to explain to Marty what happens, he draws a line on a chalkboard, representing time as a straight line. Somewhere in 1955, Old Biff hands Young Biff the sports almanac. This event eventually skewers the timeline, creating an alternate version of 1985. Later, Marty discovers that the Old Biff visited Young Biff during the events of the first film. As Doc and Marty head back to 1955 (again), the Doc ponders that it was “Unbelievable, that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that, that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum.”
1968 appeared to be another one of those “junction points”, if you ask me. So many things happened that year, so many historical things: Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinated, the war in Vietnam further eroding and dividing a nation.
And while my dads death -in the grand historical notion - is nothing, there are plenty of what if’s that came out of that year. Could we be living in an altered timeline? Is there another version of 1968 that never lost its King or its Kennedy or, even, my father?
Quantum Mechanics teaches you the idea that there are infinite worlds, and in that theory, my Dad is alive.
There are not that many images of my dad that exist today. He had a fondness for taking photos and super 8 films, but somehow never ended up in the pictures of the film. A few years ago, I discovered a five minute or so role of film in my mom’s hall closet. I took that film to a place where I used to live in Forest Park. There they converted the 8 millimeter strip to a video tape.
When I got it back, I watched what was on it. What played across the screen, was a brief history of us kids. Summer time in the backyard, with my brother and sister playing in the plastic pool. My little sister, just learning to walk, the pond beyond our property. The scenes shift to me playing cars with my siblings, shifts back to a snow covered yard and then back to a gathering in my moms house. And it is here, in a flash of maybe a second or two, is my father. He looks at the camera, and smiles a bit (though, I wonder if its just the bright light that forces the smile). It’s the only “moving” picture that I think exists of him.
My mom has pictures of him before they got married and a few of him in uniform during the Korean War -though I’m not sure he ever served there. But that is all that remains of him.
I’ve tried to remember him, what his voice sounded like, but I have no physical memory of him. And to this day, I wonder what is real or what has been placed in my mind by my mother and my Uncle Harold, who seemed to have great admiration of him.
Its bizarre to think that 39 years has gone without him here. And I wonder, a lot now, what life we all would’ve lead had he not died on the July day in 1968. I know its silly, and ultimately pointless, but I still would like to see that version of my world.
Would my parents still been married (it would be 49 years this year)? Would we all been more successful in life, would I be living in California as I do now?
Would I still have been gay?
So many things, so much potential lost in the fog of history. And while I’m happy for my life now, and while I’m happy my mom has finally found a man who worships the ground she walks on and I love him dearly, I wish 1968 never happened.
I wish that I could travel back to July of that year (or even earlier, at the time he took up smoking) and prevented his death. Though, I now realize that the cancer that eventually killed him was not caused fully by the smoking.
I realize the foolishness of that first sentence, but it does not change my feelings. I know that had he not died, my life and life of my siblings would’ve been better. I cannot explain why I know this, but I do.
God has a lot to answer for, believe you me. He needs to explain to me why this happened, what great purpose it served for four kids to grow up without a father.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
I miss you!
To this day, I miss him. Which, I guess, I should. I also am very angry that the fates, God, or whatever you believe in, took him away from me, my siblings and my mother. Why, I would cry like Sally Field in Steel Magnolia, what did my mother or us kids do that forced the universe to take such bold move and remove my father from this earth?
But, then, there is no reason. It just is.
I have very little memory of him, which pains me more than even him not being here for that 73rd birthday. He died two months short of my sixth birthday. And from what I heard from my mother, I seemed to have fallen to pieces.
I have no memory of much of that time. I do see flashes of life after my dad’s death. I remember the funeral -I think it was a cloudy day. I remember some Christmases and bits of special occasions, like my communion, but most of that time, say from the time he died to the time my mom remarried in 1972 are gone.
I know from what my mother has told me, that I sort of came unglued. Hiding in closets when teachers left the classroom. I apparently did many other things that eventually forced my mom to put me in some special school for -what, if I remember correctly - developmentally handicapped people. I even took the yellow short bus to school.
Funny, while I don’t recall what I did there, I do know I hated it with a passion. And it put me behind a year in school, which lead to many self-esteem issues I still have today.
Anyways, in Back to the Future II after a brief trip from 1985 to 2015, Doc and Marty return to 1985, only to discover that the timeline has somehow changed. They eventually figure out that 2015 version of Biff had somehow returned to 1955 and given his younger self a sports book that had all the winning scores in them. Young Biff would eventually use that almanac to become very wealthy and that would alter the future.
As the Doc tries to explain to Marty what happens, he draws a line on a chalkboard, representing time as a straight line. Somewhere in 1955, Old Biff hands Young Biff the sports almanac. This event eventually skewers the timeline, creating an alternate version of 1985. Later, Marty discovers that the Old Biff visited Young Biff during the events of the first film. As Doc and Marty head back to 1955 (again), the Doc ponders that it was “Unbelievable, that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that, that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum.”
1968 appeared to be another one of those “junction points”, if you ask me. So many things happened that year, so many historical things: Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinated, the war in Vietnam further eroding and dividing a nation.
And while my dads death -in the grand historical notion - is nothing, there are plenty of what if’s that came out of that year. Could we be living in an altered timeline? Is there another version of 1968 that never lost its King or its Kennedy or, even, my father?
Quantum Mechanics teaches you the idea that there are infinite worlds, and in that theory, my Dad is alive.
There are not that many images of my dad that exist today. He had a fondness for taking photos and super 8 films, but somehow never ended up in the pictures of the film. A few years ago, I discovered a five minute or so role of film in my mom’s hall closet. I took that film to a place where I used to live in Forest Park. There they converted the 8 millimeter strip to a video tape.
When I got it back, I watched what was on it. What played across the screen, was a brief history of us kids. Summer time in the backyard, with my brother and sister playing in the plastic pool. My little sister, just learning to walk, the pond beyond our property. The scenes shift to me playing cars with my siblings, shifts back to a snow covered yard and then back to a gathering in my moms house. And it is here, in a flash of maybe a second or two, is my father. He looks at the camera, and smiles a bit (though, I wonder if its just the bright light that forces the smile). It’s the only “moving” picture that I think exists of him.
My mom has pictures of him before they got married and a few of him in uniform during the Korean War -though I’m not sure he ever served there. But that is all that remains of him.
I’ve tried to remember him, what his voice sounded like, but I have no physical memory of him. And to this day, I wonder what is real or what has been placed in my mind by my mother and my Uncle Harold, who seemed to have great admiration of him.
Its bizarre to think that 39 years has gone without him here. And I wonder, a lot now, what life we all would’ve lead had he not died on the July day in 1968. I know its silly, and ultimately pointless, but I still would like to see that version of my world.
Would my parents still been married (it would be 49 years this year)? Would we all been more successful in life, would I be living in California as I do now?
Would I still have been gay?
So many things, so much potential lost in the fog of history. And while I’m happy for my life now, and while I’m happy my mom has finally found a man who worships the ground she walks on and I love him dearly, I wish 1968 never happened.
I wish that I could travel back to July of that year (or even earlier, at the time he took up smoking) and prevented his death. Though, I now realize that the cancer that eventually killed him was not caused fully by the smoking.
I realize the foolishness of that first sentence, but it does not change my feelings. I know that had he not died, my life and life of my siblings would’ve been better. I cannot explain why I know this, but I do.
God has a lot to answer for, believe you me. He needs to explain to me why this happened, what great purpose it served for four kids to grow up without a father.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
I miss you!
22 May 2007
21 May 2007
Venture Bros. quotes I like
Brock Samson: Don't you have nothing else to do but harp on Dr. Venture? Why haven't you tried the World Domination thing, you afraid of the big leagues?
The Monarch: Please. How stupid do I look to you? World Domination. I'll leave that to the religious nuts or the Republicans, thank you.
The Monarch: [in Dr. Venture's laboratory] Here I am in the heart of the lion's den and I don't even care!
[indicating a machine]
The Monarch: I don't even feel like taking a whizz on this! I used to DREAM about taking a whizz on this!
Molotov Cocktease: Brock Samson, you dog.
Brock Samson: Molotov, you bitch.
Dr. Venture: Oh, you don't know when to stop with all this, do you? You just keep pushing my buttons!
The Monarch: You're my arch-enemy! That's what I do! That's my thing!
The Monarch: Please. How stupid do I look to you? World Domination. I'll leave that to the religious nuts or the Republicans, thank you.
The Monarch: [in Dr. Venture's laboratory] Here I am in the heart of the lion's den and I don't even care!
[indicating a machine]
The Monarch: I don't even feel like taking a whizz on this! I used to DREAM about taking a whizz on this!
Molotov Cocktease: Brock Samson, you dog.
Brock Samson: Molotov, you bitch.
Dr. Venture: Oh, you don't know when to stop with all this, do you? You just keep pushing my buttons!
The Monarch: You're my arch-enemy! That's what I do! That's my thing!
20 May 2007
Three of the best jokes from SNL's Weekend Update on 5/19
A new bird called the goregeted puffleg, which is blue and green throated hummingbird species, was discovered in the cloud forest in Columbia. Though still nothing on Bin Laden.
NBC announced on Monday they will once again renew its long-running drama series Law & Order, which as near I can tell, is about a kindly old grandfather who teaches cynicisms to a series of supermodels.
During the concert of the Virginia symphony at the 400 anniversary celebration of Jamestown, President Bush briefly took over conducting the orchestra, which explains why the orchestra is 4 trillion dollars in debt.
NBC announced on Monday they will once again renew its long-running drama series Law & Order, which as near I can tell, is about a kindly old grandfather who teaches cynicisms to a series of supermodels.
During the concert of the Virginia symphony at the 400 anniversary celebration of Jamestown, President Bush briefly took over conducting the orchestra, which explains why the orchestra is 4 trillion dollars in debt.
ABC's Pushing Daises the best new show of the 2007-08 season?
At this early date, it’s hard to get too excited about the fall TV schedule. I’m not what they call "appointment bound" TV viewer anymore, though I sometimes have it on just for the background noise. With Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars gone, The CW has lost me (though I adore Everybody Hates Chris). Even their two genre shows, Smallville and Supernatural have become predictable (along with Smallville just becoming dull).
As of right now, though, I can say the only new show I’m looking forward to is Pushing Daises. And what I’ve read so far from the critics who’ve seen the pilot, this seems to be the best show that anyone of the five networks revealed last week. Created by Bryan Fuller, the series will star Lee Pace as man who discovers he can resurrect the dead with one touch. This is helpful to the police in solving murders, cause if he touches them again, they die for good. But when the brings his dead girlfriend back to life, he realizes that he can never touch her agian.
For the most part, I consider Bryan Fuller to be a genius. As a writer who benefitted from the late Michael Piller’s open door policy for Star Trek spec-scripts (that Berman and Braga quickly abandoned when Piller left the day-to-day workload of Voyager after season two), Fuller penned the fifth season Deep Space Nine creepfest Empok Nor. This lead to him to hired over at Voyager, where he became a producer and story editor. He would also write some of the better episodes, such as Work Force. He went on to write the TV remake of Carrie and then created the Showtime series Dead Like Me. The show followed an 18-year-old girl who dies when a piece of the MIR space station falls from the sky and hits her on the head. Darkly comic and quirky, the show follows George as she helps in catching the souls of people moments before they're destined to die. Fuller departed the series early on, however, working on only the first quarter of the season. "We had creative differences", he told Starlog Magazine in 2005, “about how the series should go. The studio and the network wanted it to be more like Touched by an Angel, and I didn't, so I was replaced. It was bummer, but I would rather have them kill my baby than have me kill my baby.”
His fascination with death and the mystery of the universe would be carried over into his next series attempt, Wonderfalls. Co-created with Emmy winning director Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle), Wonderfalls revolves around a Niagara Falls souvenir shop worker, played by Caroline Dhavernas (and co-starred Lee Pace as her brother), whose life is forever changed when she finds that inanimate animal figures--plush toys, ceramic figurines, cartoon characters, etc.--are communicating with her. The cryptic messages she receives from her not-so-furry friends lead her to endeavor to help those in need. Fuller told Starlog that...”They tell her to set little events into motion, which appear to result in catastrophe, but out of that catastrophe, good things happen.” Was she crazy, deranged or is God talking to her? “The basic premise is about this young person who finds out she's a pawn in the universe's plan.”
Originally set to air in the fall of 2004, FOX held the show until March. Its premiere episode aired on a Friday, which as many know, is a death slot. Plus, there was very little promotional material for it. My guess is FOX had no idea what to do with the show, mostly because of its satirical vibe which FOX is not known to support. Predictably, the show failed to score ratings. FOX decided to re-air the pilot the next Thursday, where it actually scored a higher ratings than its Friday slot. Strangely, FOX kept the show on Friday, where they pulled the show after its fourth episode.
But the show had become a cult, and eventually all 13 episodes produced were released on DVD. 20th Century Fox was surprised at its success.
Fuller went o to write the pilot for The Amazing Screw-on Head, which aired on Sci Fi in July 2006.
As he prepared his Pushing Daises pilot in 2006, he was hired by Tim Kring to be the showrunner of NBC’s new fall show Heroes. As executive producer, he help shape the hit series first season, also penning the two most talked about episodes, Collision and Company Man.
He’ll leave Heroes now, to begin work on the first 13 episodes of Pushing Daises. As I’ve said, what I’ve heard about the pilot from reviewers is that its lush and hilarious. And it seems to be in a good part of the schedule on ABC. It’s chances of success are good, but it faces some competition from NBC’s disturbingly popular Deal Or No Deal and The CW’s highest rated show,America’s Next Top Model. FOX will offer the potentially good pairing of Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton in Back to You and the second season of ‘Til Death. Still, FOX’s track record with sitcoms are well known, as they have little patience with anything that seems near to being actually funny.
There are other potential shows this fall, like the mid season show, The Sarah Conner Chronicles. But again, the network that The Simpsons built, has demonstrated it has little forbearance with scifi of late. NBC’s The Bionic Woman has potential, but up against ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, has little chance of finding a wider audiencebeyond the cult fanboys and girls. And Reaper seems interesting, if only for the appealing star of the show, Bret Harrison, who played the goofy boyfriend in Grounded For Life and starred in FOX’s underrated sitcom The Loop (which had a 7 episode run last spring and FOX plans to burn off the 10 episode second season starting in June).
As of right now, though, I can say the only new show I’m looking forward to is Pushing Daises. And what I’ve read so far from the critics who’ve seen the pilot, this seems to be the best show that anyone of the five networks revealed last week. Created by Bryan Fuller, the series will star Lee Pace as man who discovers he can resurrect the dead with one touch. This is helpful to the police in solving murders, cause if he touches them again, they die for good. But when the brings his dead girlfriend back to life, he realizes that he can never touch her agian.
For the most part, I consider Bryan Fuller to be a genius. As a writer who benefitted from the late Michael Piller’s open door policy for Star Trek spec-scripts (that Berman and Braga quickly abandoned when Piller left the day-to-day workload of Voyager after season two), Fuller penned the fifth season Deep Space Nine creepfest Empok Nor. This lead to him to hired over at Voyager, where he became a producer and story editor. He would also write some of the better episodes, such as Work Force. He went on to write the TV remake of Carrie and then created the Showtime series Dead Like Me. The show followed an 18-year-old girl who dies when a piece of the MIR space station falls from the sky and hits her on the head. Darkly comic and quirky, the show follows George as she helps in catching the souls of people moments before they're destined to die. Fuller departed the series early on, however, working on only the first quarter of the season. "We had creative differences", he told Starlog Magazine in 2005, “about how the series should go. The studio and the network wanted it to be more like Touched by an Angel, and I didn't, so I was replaced. It was bummer, but I would rather have them kill my baby than have me kill my baby.”
His fascination with death and the mystery of the universe would be carried over into his next series attempt, Wonderfalls. Co-created with Emmy winning director Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle), Wonderfalls revolves around a Niagara Falls souvenir shop worker, played by Caroline Dhavernas (and co-starred Lee Pace as her brother), whose life is forever changed when she finds that inanimate animal figures--plush toys, ceramic figurines, cartoon characters, etc.--are communicating with her. The cryptic messages she receives from her not-so-furry friends lead her to endeavor to help those in need. Fuller told Starlog that...”They tell her to set little events into motion, which appear to result in catastrophe, but out of that catastrophe, good things happen.” Was she crazy, deranged or is God talking to her? “The basic premise is about this young person who finds out she's a pawn in the universe's plan.”
Originally set to air in the fall of 2004, FOX held the show until March. Its premiere episode aired on a Friday, which as many know, is a death slot. Plus, there was very little promotional material for it. My guess is FOX had no idea what to do with the show, mostly because of its satirical vibe which FOX is not known to support. Predictably, the show failed to score ratings. FOX decided to re-air the pilot the next Thursday, where it actually scored a higher ratings than its Friday slot. Strangely, FOX kept the show on Friday, where they pulled the show after its fourth episode.
But the show had become a cult, and eventually all 13 episodes produced were released on DVD. 20th Century Fox was surprised at its success.
Fuller went o to write the pilot for The Amazing Screw-on Head, which aired on Sci Fi in July 2006.
As he prepared his Pushing Daises pilot in 2006, he was hired by Tim Kring to be the showrunner of NBC’s new fall show Heroes. As executive producer, he help shape the hit series first season, also penning the two most talked about episodes, Collision and Company Man.
He’ll leave Heroes now, to begin work on the first 13 episodes of Pushing Daises. As I’ve said, what I’ve heard about the pilot from reviewers is that its lush and hilarious. And it seems to be in a good part of the schedule on ABC. It’s chances of success are good, but it faces some competition from NBC’s disturbingly popular Deal Or No Deal and The CW’s highest rated show,America’s Next Top Model. FOX will offer the potentially good pairing of Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton in Back to You and the second season of ‘Til Death. Still, FOX’s track record with sitcoms are well known, as they have little patience with anything that seems near to being actually funny.
There are other potential shows this fall, like the mid season show, The Sarah Conner Chronicles. But again, the network that The Simpsons built, has demonstrated it has little forbearance with scifi of late. NBC’s The Bionic Woman has potential, but up against ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, has little chance of finding a wider audiencebeyond the cult fanboys and girls. And Reaper seems interesting, if only for the appealing star of the show, Bret Harrison, who played the goofy boyfriend in Grounded For Life and starred in FOX’s underrated sitcom The Loop (which had a 7 episode run last spring and FOX plans to burn off the 10 episode second season starting in June).
19 May 2007
Team of Rivals: The Polictal Genius of Abraham Lincoln
In the 142 years since his assassination, there have been many books, many millions of pages written about Abraham Lincoln. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals is just the latest, and while it appears she covers the same ground as the ones that came before -and, perhaps, that is good - she decided to make it a multi biographical look at the three men he selected for his cabinet. William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates where all his opponents for the Republican nomination of 1860, and Goodwin takes a look at all these men -well known ones at that - and how they disdained Lincoln.
Of course, Lincoln was the nowhere kid, a lawyer from Illinois who had a backwood upbringing and no experience. But, Lincoln had a great ability to work with the best people, and the sixteenth president had the wisdom and the confidence to choose these men to aide the country in its most darkest days.
Today, Lincoln’s life is one of magic and time, and while the South’s POV will remain that history is written by the winners, Goodwin offers a chance to reflect on why the Civil War happened. It was never about emancipation of the blacks, but it was. It was never about succession, yet it was. Here she pieces this all together, along with Lincoln’s political genius at soothing egos, his leadership style, his understanding of human behavior and how they were all sewed together to save a nation at the crossroads of history.
Of course, Lincoln was the nowhere kid, a lawyer from Illinois who had a backwood upbringing and no experience. But, Lincoln had a great ability to work with the best people, and the sixteenth president had the wisdom and the confidence to choose these men to aide the country in its most darkest days.
Today, Lincoln’s life is one of magic and time, and while the South’s POV will remain that history is written by the winners, Goodwin offers a chance to reflect on why the Civil War happened. It was never about emancipation of the blacks, but it was. It was never about succession, yet it was. Here she pieces this all together, along with Lincoln’s political genius at soothing egos, his leadership style, his understanding of human behavior and how they were all sewed together to save a nation at the crossroads of history.
Flip flop fall
I love wearing flipflops, and unless I'm working, I wear them as much as possible (and year 'round now that I live in California).
However, they can be a problem when walking. I usually get the cheap rubber ones, but I do have a few leather style ones.
So, I was walking home this evening from Staters Bros.
I had a few bags, but nothing heavy. As I crossed the street and came to the sloping curb that would take me up to the side walk, I stepped with my right foot. Some how, I miss judged the step, and only partially made slope.
Gravity shifted, my foot slipped off the flipflop and the next thing I know I'm heading for the sidewalk. My bags, in my left hand, fly upwards, as I fall downwards.
Some how, I was able to curl myself in and basically sommersaulted hitting my right elbow and landed on my right thigh -which contained my wallet and checkbook. I have a small "rug burn" scratch on my elbow, but my thigh is killing me.
Landing on the wallet was like landing on a rock, it was hard and didn't move.
I could be negative here and say that my falling was the universe telling me I should've not bought that steak I had for dinner. It was a bit expensive, but I had a taste for red meat. And it was good, all cooked on the grill.
Right now, it hurts, and I'm sure it will bruise -though I don't bruise easily. It may just do nothing but feel like a deep tissue bruise. If it does change colors, it won't happen for a few days.
And since I rode my bike, and my right knee is still acting up, I might be a gimp for a day or so. I'll take Aleve. That should help with the pain.
So, what else did I do with my Saturday night? Washed the floors in the kitchen and my bathroom.
Wow, I have no fucking life.
However, they can be a problem when walking. I usually get the cheap rubber ones, but I do have a few leather style ones.
So, I was walking home this evening from Staters Bros.
I had a few bags, but nothing heavy. As I crossed the street and came to the sloping curb that would take me up to the side walk, I stepped with my right foot. Some how, I miss judged the step, and only partially made slope.
Gravity shifted, my foot slipped off the flipflop and the next thing I know I'm heading for the sidewalk. My bags, in my left hand, fly upwards, as I fall downwards.
Some how, I was able to curl myself in and basically sommersaulted hitting my right elbow and landed on my right thigh -which contained my wallet and checkbook. I have a small "rug burn" scratch on my elbow, but my thigh is killing me.
Landing on the wallet was like landing on a rock, it was hard and didn't move.
I could be negative here and say that my falling was the universe telling me I should've not bought that steak I had for dinner. It was a bit expensive, but I had a taste for red meat. And it was good, all cooked on the grill.
Right now, it hurts, and I'm sure it will bruise -though I don't bruise easily. It may just do nothing but feel like a deep tissue bruise. If it does change colors, it won't happen for a few days.
And since I rode my bike, and my right knee is still acting up, I might be a gimp for a day or so. I'll take Aleve. That should help with the pain.
So, what else did I do with my Saturday night? Washed the floors in the kitchen and my bathroom.
Wow, I have no fucking life.
It's Hour Come Round At Last
Star Trek: Hidden FrontierHere it is, the final HF episode.
For 14 months, I worked behind the scenes of this online series, helping out when and where I could; eventually becoming an assistant director and then was able to helm the penultimate story, The Center Cannot Hold.
In this time, I've meet some of the nicest people you could ever see, and I have made some dear friends. As a crew, everyone works as a team and as an extended family. I cherish them as I would gold or diamonds. And they are honorable and odd, and that is a great combination.
To all of the cast and crew, I salute you, and love you and will hold you all in the palm of my hand and show the world that there are people who understand that some dreams can come true.
For 14 months, I worked behind the scenes of this online series, helping out when and where I could; eventually becoming an assistant director and then was able to helm the penultimate story, The Center Cannot Hold.
In this time, I've meet some of the nicest people you could ever see, and I have made some dear friends. As a crew, everyone works as a team and as an extended family. I cherish them as I would gold or diamonds. And they are honorable and odd, and that is a great combination.
To all of the cast and crew, I salute you, and love you and will hold you all in the palm of my hand and show the world that there are people who understand that some dreams can come true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)