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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Friday, May 16th, 2008 | ||
| ihartmorganwebb | 11:10p | 2008.05.16 CNN Appearance Ms. Webb recently appeared on CNN and had a discussion with CNN's Nicole Lapin regarding video game vixens. In the discussion Ms. Webb says that she identifies with Cortana of the Halo series and enjoys her as a stong female... |
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nebris |
9:08p | OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies |
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delicata77 |
9:03p | from Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros The music and the spirals of cigarette smoke rising up like genies. The other kids already asleep wherever they fell. Draped on a chair. Or on a volcano of coats. Or under a table. Everywhere except their beds. But no one notices. The bodies below moving and twirling like bits of colored glass in a kaleidescope. Tables and chairs pushed to the edges to make room for dancing. "Vereda tropical" playing from the hi-fi. Aunties in silk dresses so tight they seem to explode like orchids, aunties laughing with their big flower mouths, and the air sweet-sweet with their ladies' perfume, and sweeter still the men's cologne, the kind men wear here in Mexico, sweeter than flowers, like the sugary words whispered in the women's ears--- mi vida, mi cielo, muñeca, mi niña bonita. The men in their shark suits, gray with a little lightening bolt of blue, or olive with a gleam of gold when they move. A stiff white handkerchief in the pocket. The man's hand leading a woman when they dance, just a little tug, just a little like when you yank a kite to remind it--- Don't go too far. And the woman's hand nesting inside the man's big heart-shaped hand, and his other hand on her big heart-shaped hips. A beautiful woman with black-black eyes and dark skin, who is our mother in her good fuchsia satin dress bought at the Three Sisters on Madison and Pulaski, and her matching fuchsia cut-glass earrings. Swish of stockings against the cream-colored nylon slip with its twin shells of lace on top and an accordion pleat at the hem, and one strap, always one, lazy and loose and asking to be put back. My father with a curl of lavender cigarette smoke, his mouth hot next to my mother's ear when he whispers, his mustache tickling, the roughness of his cheek, and my mother throwing her head back and laughing. ---------------------------------------- Thanks, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} atomic_star, for loaning this book to me. Current Mood:  calm |
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madeupwordhere |
8:58p | PRINCE CASPIAN Paraphrased: LUCY: "You're bigger!" ASLAN: "I grow bigger I noticed his extra fluffiness first. Every time Lucy rushed to tackle Aslan in a hug, she sank into the fluffiness of his mane. Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep is as great as Liam Neeson as Aslan. |
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jblaque |
7:28p | The Good Ol' Days... ... when men were men, and coffee was as good as fresh-perked... "He didn't even kiss me goodbye." ☺ Current Mood:  AmusedCurrent Music: 'Poor Millionaire' - Gregory Isaacs |
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rootology |
8:57p | Prince Caspian: what, no hobbits?!
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idealistagain |
11:37p | Democrats finally figure out who the opponent is. Finally, a news story that seems to be getting big that doesn't relate to idiotic personal disputes between Clinton and Obama. Bush goes to Israel, addresses the Knesset, and basically (though not in so many words) insinuates that Democrats are the equivalent of Nazi appeasers in the 1940s. OK, nevermind the fact that it was a Democratic administration that led the nation through World War II and that it was many of FDR's Republican rivals who advocated U.S. neutrality when the war in Europe began. Who needs to let accurate history get in the way of a good political stunt, eh? Oh, and by the way, I could get really nasty here and go into all the details of how Bush's grandfather was knee-deep in financing the Nazi war machine, but I'll be nice just this once. After all, Bush seems to be doing a good enough job of hanging himself without my help these days. McCain, being the "maverick" that he is, decided he wanted to jump right in, agree with Bush, and pick a fight with Democrats on this. Democrats, to their credit, seem to have suddenly forgotten their personal disagreements, closed ranks, and basically said "Bring it on". Obama, to his credit, has come out swinging, giving a speech in which he laid into McCain's foreign policy and called it "naive and irresponsible". Maybe there is something to be said for Obama after all if it turns out that he, unlike so many other Democrats we've seen, actually has a backbone. It feels great to finally be fighting John McCain instead of fellow Democrats. Let's hope this trend continues. Current Mood:  optimistic |
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metaquotes [ bethanyedwards ] |
11:49p | Well I suppose you might as well follow through... ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood:  giggly |
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jon_a_ross |
9:40p | Assault_Marines Nick's models, presented much better then my own have been. I feel for the Tyranid that gave of it's life to spread over these guys. |
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scans_daily [ dr_hermes ] |
10:47p | Gabe Jones makes his point ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
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antitheism [ ghost_warlock ] |
9:40p | Jesus vs. mermaid Revealing Starbucks logo gets mixed reviewsMermaid's makeover draws a response as coffee chain tries to break slump Starbucks Corp. has a new more revealing logo of its trademark mermaid. The logo — which offers a more revealing look at the coffee chain's mermaid symbol and goes with brown instead of green as its color — is getting mixed reviews from marketing and public relations experts. "It's unusual," said Sally Baker, who runs Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Great Ideas Public Relations. "I'm not sure most people will get it." ( Read more... ) |
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lanthanomai |
10:42p | link for you today FontStruct: Create and share your own fonts online c/o those nutters @ Blogdial Current Mood:  chipper |
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jenlight |
10:41p | Writer's Block: Pick an era, any era The super-space-future with hover-crafts and time machines and robots with feelings who fall in love and zombie slaves. Do I really need to explain why? |
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scans_daily [ doop ] |
10:35p | Wolverine, in "Coney Island Baby" ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
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metaquotes [ thecityofdis ] |
10:37p | wordsofastory pens an archaeological hit... ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
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vonandmoggy |
10:10p | Tony Shenton and Fantagraphics As some of you may have heard, Fantagraphics signed an exclusive distribution deal with Diamond earlier this week. Folks like Tom Spurgeon and Brian Hibbs have covered most of the impact from the macro side of things so I thought I'd touch on things from a bit of a different angle. It's also a personal one, so bear with me. Fantagraphics has been represented for the past number of years (exactly how many I'm not too sure about) by a fella named Tony Shenton. Tony is one of the few (the only?) independent sales reps that I know of in the Direct Market. In the booktrade, of course, reps are still fairly plentiful. Perhaps not as plentiful as they once were, but they're around all the same. Now, I have a soft spot for reps. For those who don't know, a rep basically visits with a store owner or manager and helps point out key titles in a particular publisher's catalogue. They often share marketing information and also just help point out works and authors that might otherwise get overlooked. Fundamentally, I think they make a store owner/manager better. Smarter. On top of it, they'll also give a heads-up for titles that get shortlisted for awards or are otherwise "hot" from a media point of view. Y'know, the stuff one needs to make their job better. I should say here that it isn't essential for a publisher to have a rep. I dealt with a number of publishers that didn't have any at all. And I should note that there's a distinction between house reps (those work for a particular publisher exclusively) and independent reps (those who rep a number of publishers, typically smaller publishers, at the same time). The former will tend to be on salary and have a geographical territory they're responsible for. Here in Ottawa, it wasn't unusual for my house reps to deal with Eastern Ontario all the way to the maritime provinces. That's a vast amount of geography to cover - and they're often covered by a single rep in a single car. Not for the faint of heart. Independent reps probably have it worse. Typically they're paid by commission, typically their territory is huge, and typically they're repping a massive amount of publishers, each with their own terms, release dates, and other quirks. In the booktrade, at least here in Canada, some of these indy reps have formed into various houses (groups like Hornblower Books and the Literary Press Group). And they'll have trade shows (Moggy will remember ye olde Chimo Hotel book fairs) where they, along with house reps, sell their wares to all the booksellers in a particular area to make things go that much quicker. In comics, from what I've been able to gather, sales reps are few and far between. Marvel has folks like David Gabriel and DC has folks like Bob Wayne, but I don't think of these guys as reps. More marketing directors or whatnot, which is a different beast entirely. Some of the smaller publishers will have their owners act as "jack of all trades" (I mean, I get blown away by the energy that a guy like Chris Staros must have over at Top Shelf. What the hell doesn't that guy do?). And Image has Eric Stephenson as their "go to" guy. But none of these are a sales reps like I know sales reps. Which brings me to Tony. Comics is a hard business and the Direct Market is a defacto monopoly. There is only one distributor of any note - Diamond (Cold Cut, now reborn as Haven Distribution, is there, I suppose, but Cold Cut's market share was always very, very small and Haven's most likely won't be any different). On top of it, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image are all exclusive to Diamond. And a number of smaller publishers (AIT/PlanetLar and Oni Press, for example) have also gone exclusive with Diamond over the past ten years. Tony, then, has repped many of those publishers who are betwixt and between. They're either not exclusive to Diamond, are too small or considered to be not appropriate for Diamond to distribute. Some of these are basically self-publishers. Others are large - Tony reps companies like Drawn & Quarterly, NBM and, until now, Fantagraphics. All are important from the point of view of bring diversity to comics that isn't (I think it's fair to say) represented by what Diamond distributes. I will never begrudge Fantagraphics for making a move that they see as important to the viability of their company. It was only a few years back that they were deeply in trouble and issued their public cry for help. And one could probably make a good argument that they have an obligation to the authors and creators they publish to keep their work in print and as available as possible. While there's been some categorization that Fantagraphics has joined the dark side, I don't really feel that way myself. As much as I don't like Diamond's defacto monopoly, it most likely will ensure that Fanta's books are better stocked and retailers earn a better discount on them at Diamond then they would have previously (though perhaps not if a retailer dealt with Fantagraphics directly - something they now cannot do).  Von and TonyFor Tony, though, it's not good at all. While I'm not sure exactly how much of a loss this is, make no mistake - it's a biggie. It hurts Tony's margins, it makes his total list that much smaller, and he loses the prestige that Fanta has as an arts publisher (not to mention their Eros line of arty porn, too). Worse, there's always the chance that if the move is successful for Fanta, publishers like Drawn & Quarterly might, as Brian Hibbs postulated, follow suit. With all of the commentary regarding this move, not much has been written regarding how it effects Tony Shenton (though to be fair, both Tom Spurgeon and Brian Hibbs have mentioned it). It's easy to forget the human beings involved in downsizing, mergers, and the like. People get laid off all the time. Small businesses go out of business all of the time. I wanted to take a moment and say that this move by Fanta does effect someone. Tony Shenton. I'm hoping that Fantagraphics has, at the very least, treated him well through this entire process. I will also add that if you're a small or self-publisher, you may want to consider getting in touch with Tony about repping you. Especially if there are parts of North America that you aren't getting your book(s) into. His website is here (along with a listing of the publishers he reps), his myspace page is here, and you can always email him directly, too. Tony is a good guy and this hurts. Von Current Mood:  sadCurrent Music: Memorial Cup |
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aurienne |
10:17p | hafla! going to my first ever hafla tomorrow (saturday) -- it's at Avalon - 7:30-9:30PM, $5. http://www.avalonyogastudio.net/id28.ht |
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seattle [ tidal ] |
7:12p | lost technologgggggy If you know of the whereabouts of a brand new white macbook in a black case left at a number 70 bus stop on fairview ave across the street from the Residence Inn on South Lake Union, PLEASE aid it in it's return to me. My heart is aching tremendously for it. |
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politicsforum [ meus_ovatio ] |
9:06p | Yay for gay! This is one of those things that qualifies as both "never the right time" and "anytime is the right time." I am too much of a cynic, when my second, albeit stronger, reaction is "Oh great, another court ruling that will energize the conservative base." Is the country ready? No. It never will be. It never is. You don't "get ready" for change. You reject it or embrace it. The country will "be ready" for homo-love just as soon as it isn't a big deal anymore- by time and by custom. The country wasn't ready for the emancipation of slaves, the country wasn't ready for women's suffrage, the country wasn't ready for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the country isn't ready for gay marriage. Tough beans. Get used to it. Get over it. It doesn't matter. We do not make decisions about civil liberties based on some tyrannical, societal gauge of "readiness". Was England ready for free American colonies? Nope, don't think so. Change comes only by force, in whatever fashion. Yes conservatives, we are forcing this on you. No, it isn't even for your own good. In fact, it has absolutely nothing to do with you. |
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scans_daily [ starwolf_oakley ] |
9:46p | Black Widow thinks about her husband. (Not entirely SFW) ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
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scans_daily [ nightauditguy ] |
8:45p | Captain Britain and MI13 ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
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scans_daily [ cyberghostface ] |
9:30p | New trailer for The Dark Knight ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood:  excited |
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rfjason |
6:18p | HA! Well if that don't beat all!  What say you LJ? Current Music: Ghostland Observatory - Sad Sad City |
| Saturday, May 17th, 2008 | ||
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scans_daily [ superfan1 ] |
7:55a | Tiny Titans #4 ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
| Friday, May 16th, 2008 | ||
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scans_daily [ nightauditguy ] |
7:40p | Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1 of 3 ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) |
