Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
This I Believe. . .
The Importance of Singing with Others . . .
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97320958
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Paperback Dreams
A one hour public television documentary about independent booksellers and the people who love them
Independent bookstores function as literary laboratories, and publishers rely on them to champion new and controversial work. To passionate booksellers, selling books remains revolutionary. PAPERBACK DREAMS celebrates what these stores offer our local communities, and mourns the cultural loss that comes when a good bookstore closes its doors. Most folks don't realize how patronizing large chains and internet booksellers is adversely affecting our culture and our communities. What follows is an excerpt from the blog for PAPERBACK DREAMS.
Notes from the Road: Salt Lake City and Albuquerque
A few weeks ago, we kicked off the better part of two months of taking Paperback Dreams on the road. We’re screening at independent bookstores around the country, and I’m trying to make it to as many as I can in person. Check out the schedule here. Though there is a lot of sadness about Cody’s closing, and about the struggles of independent bookstores nationwide, it’s energizing to see how many great stores are still working hard, serving their communities, and even finding success in tough economic times.
About sixty people turned out for our first screening in Salt Lake City. We had an all-star panel, who together have been selling books for well over 100 years. It included Tony Weller, owner of Sam Weller’s, and the third generation of one of America’s preeminent bookselling families; Anne Holman, manager of The King’s English, which has occupied a corner of Salt Lake and the hearts of devoted readers for over 30 years; Ken Sanders, whose Ken Sanders Rare Books and counterculture legacy brings a shot of vibrancy that outsiders don’t expect in Utah; Patrick de Freitas, whose Waking Owl Books thrived just blocks from the University of Utah campus until Amazon went online, and took his core clientele with it; and Drew Goodman, who runs the trade books section of the University of Utah Bookstore, and who brought firsthand experience from working at both Borders and Barnes and Noble.
Even after spending three years talking to booksellers, there were some eye openers for me, like Tony Weller’s illustration of the 80-fold disparity between the growth of the chains in the 1990s, and the growth of the book market. That kind of speculation ultimately resulted in higher book prices for consumers, greater losses to small publishers, and more books going into landfills. I’ve also been quoting Ken Sanders’s short summary of the problem: “Endless growth for the sake of growth is the logic of the cancer cell.” You can read short interviews with most of the booksellers from the panel via the links in the previous post. . .
Watch Paperback Dreams on Public Television.
Paperback Dreams starts airing on PBS stations across the country.
Independent bookstores function as literary laboratories, and publishers rely on them to champion new and controversial work. To passionate booksellers, selling books remains revolutionary. PAPERBACK DREAMS celebrates what these stores offer our local communities, and mourns the cultural loss that comes when a good bookstore closes its doors. Most folks don't realize how patronizing large chains and internet booksellers is adversely affecting our culture and our communities. What follows is an excerpt from the blog for PAPERBACK DREAMS.
Notes from the Road: Salt Lake City and Albuquerque
A few weeks ago, we kicked off the better part of two months of taking Paperback Dreams on the road. We’re screening at independent bookstores around the country, and I’m trying to make it to as many as I can in person. Check out the schedule here. Though there is a lot of sadness about Cody’s closing, and about the struggles of independent bookstores nationwide, it’s energizing to see how many great stores are still working hard, serving their communities, and even finding success in tough economic times.
About sixty people turned out for our first screening in Salt Lake City. We had an all-star panel, who together have been selling books for well over 100 years. It included Tony Weller, owner of Sam Weller’s, and the third generation of one of America’s preeminent bookselling families; Anne Holman, manager of The King’s English, which has occupied a corner of Salt Lake and the hearts of devoted readers for over 30 years; Ken Sanders, whose Ken Sanders Rare Books and counterculture legacy brings a shot of vibrancy that outsiders don’t expect in Utah; Patrick de Freitas, whose Waking Owl Books thrived just blocks from the University of Utah campus until Amazon went online, and took his core clientele with it; and Drew Goodman, who runs the trade books section of the University of Utah Bookstore, and who brought firsthand experience from working at both Borders and Barnes and Noble.
Even after spending three years talking to booksellers, there were some eye openers for me, like Tony Weller’s illustration of the 80-fold disparity between the growth of the chains in the 1990s, and the growth of the book market. That kind of speculation ultimately resulted in higher book prices for consumers, greater losses to small publishers, and more books going into landfills. I’ve also been quoting Ken Sanders’s short summary of the problem: “Endless growth for the sake of growth is the logic of the cancer cell.” You can read short interviews with most of the booksellers from the panel via the links in the previous post. . .
Watch Paperback Dreams on Public Television.
Paperback Dreams starts airing on PBS stations across the country.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Harvest time
My friend Mindy has a blog (icantbegoodallthetime.blogspot.com) where she posts lovely photos & tales of good food. I was inspired by her as I was steaming the last of my grapes into juice this weekend. They were so vibrantly colorful in my sunny kitchen! My nighttime photography doesn't do their natural beauty justice. The brilliant purple of the concord grapes make them as much a pleasure to look at as to taste. The green "concord" grapes (I have no idea what varieties I'm tending to in my yard) created an opaque juice the color of pear flesh.It makes me cry to think of all the many years that the birds, the wasps, and I consumed only a few clusters of grapes while the bulk of them just rotted on the vine. I didn't know juicing grapes was so easy (albeit time-consuming). I think a steamer will be my next purchase for the kitchen.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Water
THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE ON THE PLANET THAT WE MUST FACE!
This documentary film "FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER" shows that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no longer be ignored. For those of you in the Salt Lake City area, you can attend a free screening at the Post Theatre, 245 S Fort Douglas Blvd, University of Utah Campus on Thursday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m.
This documentary film "FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER" shows that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no longer be ignored. For those of you in the Salt Lake City area, you can attend a free screening at the Post Theatre, 245 S Fort Douglas Blvd, University of Utah Campus on Thursday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Political Parody (continued)
So it appears that, in lieu making my personal statement(s) about the coming election, I'm just going to let the SNL gang help us laugh at the more ludicrous aspects of the campaign.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Welcome to the Twin Cities!
Ha! You have to appreciate Jon Stewart.
Billboard on I-94 in the Twin Cities, greeting motorists arriving from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, home to the Republican National Convention.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Large Hadron Collider
I'm too simple to know whether I should be excited or frightened by physicists seeking the "God particle" and other phenomenal phenomena. Scientists reassure us that creating black holes with the LHC is nothing to worry about. What do you think? Is September 10, 2008 going to be doomsday?
You can learn more on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89562587#share
Has the LHC destroyed the world yet?
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
Large Hadron Rap:
You can learn more on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89562587#share
Has the LHC destroyed the world yet?
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
Large Hadron Rap:
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Inklings
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. TolkienWhy I Read
rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read "The Hobbit" - my first foray into Tolkien - when I was about eleven years old. When reading this and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, I had the most fantastical and vivid dreams! I'm glad I discovered JRR Tolkien at this age because he fed my mind in such a way that I ever after approached all books with a desire to let myself fall into the world an author was creating for me with complete abandon. Certainly, not all writing is creating the kind of magical fantasy that Tolkien is. But cultivating this attitude relatively early in my reading life, has opened wonderful worlds to me beyond which even this incomparable author could not have envisaged. So, I thank JRR Tolkien for a book that sparked my imagination (and, I'm certain, the imaginations of millions!).
View all my reviews.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Baby Steps
OK. So I'm admitting that I have no idea what I'm doing here. It just seems that this is the next method by which I am to communicate. Having long ago forgotten what a personal letter is, I'll just put myself out here for the whole world to see. Hopefully I'm banal enough that only friends & family care to linger or return. I've lost contact with too many of you and that makes me sad. I look forward to the possibility that we will reconnect out here in cyberspace (and then maintain our connections).
Just bear with me while I learn how to make this work.
Marti
Just bear with me while I learn how to make this work.
Marti
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