For those of us who have been participating in Daylight Savings Time, we must turn back our clocks an hour. Fall back, you know.
Now, in New Zealand, they do things a differently: Continue reading Standard Time: Fall Back
All posts by Phil
Theft as Research: Magazine Steals Recipes from Various Sites
Ed Champion reports on the flagrant theft of copyrighted writing by a cooking magazine named Cooks Source. First, the food historian behind this 16th century apple pie article noticed that her article was printed without permission in the magazine. She asked about it and was asked if she didn’t want it published, since it was already online. Once Champion learned about it, he looked for other copy-n-pasted articles in the magazine and found at least five definite instances and several possible ones.
PW Best of 2010
Publisher’s Weekly has ten of their picks for best books this year. Here’s one. The Surrendered
Friday Fight: Sparring
By popular demand, we reintroduce the Friday Fight. Today, let’s warm up a bit.
This was uploaded a couple months ago by the Skjaldborg group.
Epstein on the Acute Slouching of Literary Culture
Joseph Epstein talks about T.S. Eliot’s life and reflects on modern literary culture. “Literary culture itself, if the sad truth be known, seems to be slowly but decisively shutting down.”
Rock Point Books Is Closing
Rock Point Books, an independent bookstore in downtown Chattanooga, is closing next month. They had good author readings at one time. They say the economy weighed them down too much to stay afloat. No word on whether federal stimulus money will be used to save the jobs lost here.
(Photo by Larry Miller/Flickr)
Lee Unkrich of Toy Story 3 Talks Movies
Unkrich: First of all, we don’t make movies for kids, we don’t think of it that way. We try to make good movies, period. We know that kids are going to be part of the audience, and we have a responsibility to make it appropriate for them, but we’re not trying to create quote-unquote kids’ entertainment. Yes, I think a lot of kids’ entertainment has gotten more antiseptic over the years, and parents have gotten more and more protective — and for a lot of good reasons — but I think it has been too much.
When you look back at the origins of children’s literature and entertainment, you have stuff like Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which are very dark, and they were about teaching kids about the world, and that there are bad things about the world, and gave examples of kids overcoming those bad things. We’re not trying to teach anybody any lessons in this film, we don’t have a message, but we do put characters in situations where they do behave in a very emotionally truthful way, and I think it’s good for kids to see something like that.
No Ordinary Family: Good, Lots of Potential
I’ve been watching ABC’s No Ordinary Family online since it debuted. My wife and I saw the premiere on an actual TV while on vacation, and we’ve been enjoying it. The show was given a full season in late October, so I guess ABC is uncertain of its reception. I think it has great potential. I can’t write about it here without at least minor spoilers, but even then I want to spill my guts on deeper issues too which will amount to major spoilers, so watch for the notation if you care to avoid certain things.
If you’ve seen any trailers for the show, you’ve seen about as much explanation they’ve given us for why the Powell family has super powers (which is a word the show writers’ use too much–powers. I’m using my powers right now, but I call it typing or writing. I would love to see and hear less of this word in the show.) In short, the family goes to Brazil for a vacation. Their plane crashes, and sometime after they return home, they discover they have changed. It went by about that quickly in the pilot episode.
Jim, the father, is a police sketch artist and not respected by the rest of the department. When he becomes incredibly strong and bulletproof (nigh invulnerable as The Tick would say), it’s like a dream come true. He has said he failed as an artist before taking up the police work, but I gather he is drawn to the strength of these civil guardians. Now with his great strength, he can help them, but as it usually goes, he works undercover. He has the help of George, a district attorney friend, who is probably the kind of friend every average-man-turned-superhero needs. Continue reading No Ordinary Family: Good, Lots of Potential
Jeffery Deaver Writes Next Bond Novel
Author Jeffery Deaver is writing the next James Bond novel, saying it’s set in the present and that Bond will be a late 20s, Afghan War vet. Deaver appreciates the appeal actors like Daniel Craig have given to the most famous spy in the world, “but the original Bond was a very dark, edgy character.”
Lar's West Oversea Tour in October
The tour is over, but it’s still relevant. Browse the interviews and guests posts through this link or in our October 2010 archives.