The Underdog's Filmmaker

John Schlesinger was once quoted as saying, 'What interests me is not the hero but the coward... not the success, but the failure.' That sense of empathy and melancholy pervaded the director's best films, which will be remembered as compelling portraits, not just of their particular times and places, but of characters at their most vulnerable and damaged.
· Failure [Washington Post 07/26/03]

Secret Service guy & prankster

Los Angeles Times cartoonist Michael Ramirez says the Secret Service agent who called last week to talk about his Bush cartoon "was very nice, but it was so casual and laid back (that) I really assumed it was a crank call." Ramirez tells Brooke Gladstone: "He said, 'I'd like to meet with you somewhere and talk to you. I'm with the Secret Service.' And I said ... 'How do I know you're with the Secret Service?' And he said 'Well, I've got a black suit and black sunglasses and credentials!'" The agent never got to see the cartoonist, though.
· Cartoonist Draws Attention [WNYC ]

Masterpiece Max Wyman: My life as a critic

Oscar Wilde talked about criticism as the truest form of autobiography. If you do it honestly, what you write often reveals as much about the writer as about the subject, and the job becomes a very public form of personal growth and exploration.
I blush to think of some of the pronouncements of that callow son of the 1960s. But then, I blush still when I run up against the daily evidence of how little I know and how much remains to be learned. Blush, then feel that old thrill of anticipation at what fresh experience in the creative world might bring: what Robert Hughes famously called the shock of the new.
· Shock of the New [Vancouversun]

Velvet Revolution Making Music as a Political Act::or how the Velvet Underground Influenced the Velvet Revolution

Dedicated to the Memory of Mejla Hlavsa

In Thirteen ways of Looking at America we showed the various ways in which American culture got simulated by the indigenous population of the Czech lands and how these adopted cultural ways merged with the domestic ones, often creating curious hybridizations.
· The Plastic People of the Universe [Angram ]

Today, you will set aside your shame and show your faults to the world! Today, one day of your life, your faults will run free and wild! You'll flaunt those faults like a fat ass!

A FAULT-FINDING MISSION LUNATIC FRINGE: NOW, WITH MORE POWER!

Apparently the Pentagon has joined in the fun of "Flaunt Your Faults" Day.

Today is a good day to list your faults:
Why? Because faults are like fat asses. The more you try to hide them, the more obvious they are to everyone around you. It's not a good idea to keep your faults tied up under the bed, or shoved into some musty corner of the closet. You shouldn't squeeze them under the floorboards or roll a huge rock over them, either. Faults need cool, fresh air to breathe. Otherwise, they suffocate, panic, and turn over the big rock, and the next thing you know, you're doing life without parole for the murder of the woman in front of you in line at the Coffee Bean who kept flipping her ponytail in your face.
Your faults can be your friends! Who knows you better than they do? They see you at your weakest moments, but they still love you for who... well, they stick around, at least, waiting for their next moment to shine.
"That's not really me!" you say. "I'm not usually so angry or demanding. I'm usually much more easy-going than that. I'm just under a lot of stress right now, this week has been crazy..."
Who do you think you're fooling with that bullshit? And how do you think your faults feel when you disown them, Judas? They're there for you when times are tough, but you won't even acknowledge them in public!
Today is a good day to welcome your faults into the sunshine! Give them some fresh air! Celebrate them for what they are - troublesome traits that make other people dislike you! It's time to give your faults credit for scaring off new friends while alienating the old! it's time to give your faults the respect they deserve for standing in the way of progress, for shielding you from real change, for warding off opportunities left and right.
Just think of where you might be without your faults: sitting by some pool in Belize, sipping on a fruity cocktail, chatting with your manager about the concept for your next book and whether or not it's time to announce your engagement to international financier Richard du Fromage.
One of my faults is that I don't usually like international financiers. This is very selfish of me, since, if I dated international financiers, I could take my friends and family on luxury cruises in the Mediterranean.
I do like garlic. That's also a fault.
· Another fault is that I like linking to [TinyLittlePenis.com]

This blog will present a wog perspective on matters. And this wog will decide what matters. This meaningful and touching piece matters whether you are a wog or convict or aboriginal or all three...Trust me read it!

WHAT AM I THINKING ABOUT? Francesco Paolo "Gino" Santomaggio

Now is the time to dream. To be strong and not to think of bad times, but let Gino speak softly in spirit and keep us all feeling good ...
· From Wog [Wogblog ]

Right/Wrong Anne Moore

Why do simpletons like Ann Coulter and Michael Moore sell so well? A longing for clarity in a too-complex world...
· And the looniest of all -- they wind up as bestselling authors [Washington Post]

Blogging Bee the Blog

Now that California's political shenanigans have made the nation's front pages, you might want to keep up with the coming gubernatorial recall campaign by reading Sacramento Bee political columnist Dan Weintraub's (relatively) new blog, California Insider.
Weintraub started the blog in April. Even though he self-identifies as a member of the "dreaded mainstream media," he inspires bridge the gap between David Broder and Mickey Kaus, "hoping that the combination produces the best of both worlds and not the worst."
Weintraub's latest post: Debunking a Drudge "world exclusive" report that former Rep. Jack Kemp is going to run for governor.
Good move by Weintraub to move into the blogosphere. Politics should not be left to the thumbsuckers.
· World Exclusive [TimPorter ]

Literary UnderWorld

I want a door to be opened, opened wide, and I prefer the back one. Let's see if some fresh air breezes in. While style triumphs over substance in mainstream fiction; substance is the driving force behind underground writing.
· Underground writing [LiteraryRevolution ]
· Karol [King Wenclas ]

Internet Virtual Power

Teenagers and young adults spend more time on the Internet than watching television, indicating a shift in media consumption for a demographic prized by advertisers, said a new study released on Thursday.
· Constructive Time [Forbes]

PS: Watch it, then bin it
DVDs that self-destruct after 48 hours may be available at corner stores and petrol stations by Christmas. Anyone who follows upon this stupid idea should Self-Destruct. Keep it simple and environmentally friendly; invest in the internet...

Literary UnderWorld

I want a door to be opened, opened wide, and I prefer the back one. Let's see if some fresh air breezes in. While style triumphs over substance in mainstream fiction; substance is the driving force behind underground writing.
· Underground writing [LiteraryRevolution ]
· Karol [King Wenclas ]

Blogging Business
· Business Links [Inc ]

Blogging 'Blogs' shake the political discourse

There's been a wash of articles this month that appear to solidify weblogs as a solid online content platform for politics, business and public information. This continued level of acceptance will hopefully enable more conservative institutions (like courts) to embrace the platform more widely. Recent articles include:

'Blogs' Shake the Political Discourse, by Joanna Weiss; Boston Globe (July 23, 2003).

Legal And Appellate Weblogs: What They Are, Why You Should Read Them, And Why You Should Consider Starting Your Own, by Gary O'Connor and Stephanie Tai; Journal of Appellate Practice and Procedure (posted July 22, 2003).

A Blog for Everyone, by Mark Ward; BBC News (July 22, 2003).

What Are Blogs and Why Is Everyone So Excited About Them? by Jerry Lawson, Brenda Howard, Dennis Kennedy, Ernest Svenson and Tom Mighell; LLRX.com Internet Roundtable Discussion #36 (Posted July 21, 2003).

Welcome to the 'new' Web, same as the 'old' Web, by Christine Boese; CNN Headline News (July 15, 2003).

Moblogs Seen as a Crystal Ball for a New Era in Online Journalism, by Howard Rheingold for Online Journalism Review (July 9, 2003).

· Welcome to the 'new' Web, same as the 'old' Web [Bag and Baggage]

What I'm saying is that you're doomed to write what you write. And you're doomed to either commercial success or artistic success. You can't say you're going to write well and going to have survival value. No one can guarantee survival value.
-William Eastlake

Cold (War) River Online editing

Jozef Imrich published his book Cold River as an e-book last year, but wasn't satisfied with the results -- admitting that the book could use considerable editing.
He's taking an interesting approach to getting that done, publishing the book online (at http://coldwarriver.blogspot.com) where he's soliciting outside help to fix things up (join in !) -- as well as in this way allowing readers to track the progress and changes of this work-in-progress
· Work-in-Progress [Saloon: Mr Michael Orthofer, Managing Editor, at the Complete Review ]

Internet Are Online Search Tools Lulling Journalists Into Laziness?

E-mail interviews and Web searches can be helpful when used with discretion, but some experts fret that reporters are letting their guard down, making themselves vulnerable to online hoaxes.
· Stories [OJR]

Chicago Manual of Style' enters the 21st century For the 15th Time, Look It Up

Even a brilliant piece of writing will have difficulty finding a publisher if the author has neglected to dress his manuscript decently.
· Dressing Manuscripts [Chronicle ]

Navel-Gazing: Not Just For American Writers Anymore

If every generation has a hallmark literary style, Generation X has certainly laid claim to the autobiographical essay. But the all-about-me style is not just an American phenomenon. A new generation of German writers are making a name for themselves with a similar style. World War II and the Holocaust are no longer the dominant themes in these existential tales by the young writers. Instead, they are writing about the role of the artist after the fall of the wall, the life of the immigrant and, obsessively it seems, about the elusive nature of happiness.
· For Young German Writers, All Is Ich [The New York Times 07/24/03 via artsjournal.com] (You may have to register for free to access the review::Username: ajreader ::Password: access)

Art opens people up and delves deep. Anyone who's ever poured out his passion on a dance floor, sung John Mayer in the shower or felt rapture at Swan Lake knows it.

The Woman Who Danced Away Her Cancer

It may be a bit new-ageish for some, but more and more people are becoming convinced that art has some profound healing powers. One of the leaders of the art-as-medicine movement is California choreographer Anna Halprin. For more than 30 years, Halprin has been working out the dynamic of art's multidimensional power to heal mind and body, which many believe in but few have experienced in such a visceral, immediate way. Halprin claims to have beaten cancer with an intensive program of painting and dance, and while the medical community isn't about to give a lot of credence to that particular claim, doctors admit that art does appear to have some sort of as-yet-unexplained benefits to human health.
· As-yet-unexplained benefits to human health [San Francisco Chronicle 07/24/03]

There are an awful lot of better ways to get rid of one's angst and one's anger than writing, so I think the aim is to write for pleasure even if you're writing about concentration camps and the black death; and the pleasure one imagines is the reader's pleasure.
-Harry Mathews

Novel Looks at the Publishing Biz

Three new works of fiction examine the troubled industry's nexus of art and commerce. Alas, only two spin tales worth reading
Has book publishing fallen into a state of material and moral rot? Consider a few symptoms: Publishers' seasonal catalogs loaded with already-ripe-for-the-pulper schlock. Fat advances that are thinly disguised payoffs to prominent pols. "Authors" (athletes, porn stars, celebrity girlfriends) barely capable of penning a shopping list. Media conglomerates dependent on big-name writers, whose books get piled in giant stacks meant to stampede superstore customers.
· The list goes on... [Businessweek ]

Of all the insights literature shares in her medium, I like best those given to us by the sculptor Henry Moore, expressed at age 80: The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is - it must be something you cannot possibly do!

Reading Room Snooping on Readers

OOn the whole, I wouldn't choose to go fishing in a library or a bookstore. The library is a bit dusty, and while the local bookstore may be the final resting place of a forest or two, it's water-challenged.

Nevertheless, the same phrase keeps coming up again and again. As worriers describe the government's ability to search through the records of readers, they label it a ''fishing expedition.'' They define it as part of John Ashcroft's all-terrain venture to catch-and-not-release terrorists.

This fish tale began in the anxious weeks after 9/11 when Congress passed the Patriot Act with hardly a dissent. The Patriot Act became the perfect example of the revised adage: Legislate in haste, and repent at leisure.

Deep in the troubled waters of the 340-page law is Section 215, a provision that gives the feds the right to inspect or seize the records of any reader, Web surfer, book buyer, or book borrower. The government can simply get approval from a secret court without showing probable cause. Moreover, a gag provision means the librarian or bookseller can't tell a customer that the government is reading over his or her shoulder.
This expedition resembles ocean dragging more than fly-fishing.
· 'The True Patriot Act Account [CommonDreams]

Writers The Key to a Successful Freelance Career

The key to a successful freelance career is routine. Give yourself a strict schedule, just like any job. People may complain about the inconvenience of the workforce – getting out of bed at an early hour, dealing with the boss and the co-workers – but that keeps us honest and productive. Without such czex and balances, some of us fall to pieces.
· A Diary [TheMorningNews ]

Internet eMedia

The Editorial Board Group Blog:
If I do say so myself, group blogs like E-Media Tidbits -- where several like-minded people contribute to an ongoing weblog -- are a great idea. In what may be a first, the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News in Texas now has its own group blog, DMN Daily.
· The blog is in reverse chronological order [Sillicon Valley]

Anglofacism -v- the public broadcasters

Isn't it interesting that Blair and Howard are trying to give Murdoch more power at the same time as they're trying to destroy their public broadcasters, and that the Murdoch press in both countries is gleefully beating up on the same targets?

The BBC and the ABC are bodies largely independent of government by legislation, with legislated responsibilities, standards and review mechanisms. They are directly accountable to the people. Not to big business, not to big government, you understand, to the PEOPLE. They are bodies charged with acting in the public interest, not for private profit, to strive to make big business and big government accountable to the people. Their democratic role is to keep the powerful honest through fear that if they aren't they'll be caught out. Private media, by contrast, is virtually unaccountable to anyone except its owners.
· Our ABC [Webdiary ]
· Extraordinary Editorial: Criticism of newspaper for failing to cover the project as aggressively as it should have [Boston ]

Immigrants

Hollywood Keeping Immigrant Stories At Arm's Length

When this nation of immigrants began flocking to the movies, they went to see stories about themselves. From 1905, when nickelodeons first appeared, to the end of the 1920s, when Hollywood began to create a star system, innumerable romances, comedies and melodramas featured immigrants and working-class laborers as their central characters... [But] in recent years, Hollywood has shied away from exploring the immigrant experience, in part because it's become such a political hot potato, in part because well-heeled studio executives find it hard to identify with the subject.
· Immigrants [Los Angeles Times 07/22/03]

The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
-- Robert Frost

Slovak Castles A castle for the price of a soul

To climb up to · Lubovna Castle, take the half-hour-long red trail, leading from the Stara Lubovna town centre.
I WANT to build a castle up on that hill, and live there until my very last breath, the old lord, named Lubovensky, told his sons, when he saw the hill rising above the town now known as Stara Lubovna.
· She agreed under the condition that he sold his soul to her [Slovak Spectator]

Slovak Castles Strazky Chateau: A hidden treasure

The village of Strazky, located near the eastern Slovak town of Kezmarok, came into the possession of the Horvath-Stansith family in 1556. From 1584 Strazky Chateau housed the Latin Academy of Humanities, a university-level school for the children of Spis nobles with a rich library.
· The last heiress of the family, Margita Czóbel, died in 1972 [Slovak Spectator]

Where there were castles, there were slaves. My very own Vrbov was at different times slave to lords in the watchtowers of Kezmarok, Levoca and Poprad.
Theodore Zeldin’s research published in the last decade of the 20th century sums up the story of Slavs:
‘Before twelve million Africans were kidnapped to be slaves in the New World, the main victims were the Slavs, who gave their name to slavery. Hunted by Romans, Christians, Muslims, Vikings and Tartars, they were exported all over the world. Slav came to mean foreigner; most religions taught that it was acceptable to enslave foreigners; British children who were exported as slaves - the girls fattened up to fetch a higher price - ended up as Slavs.

Slave Music Fujara

A traditional Slovak wind instrument enters the twenty-first century...
Inspired by the number of web sites offering information about the Australian aboriginal wind instrument - the didgeridoo, he created www.fujara.sk, a web site devoted to the fujara, in English.
Why in English? If a Slovak wants to, he or she can easily find out about the fujara, there are many possibilities.

Writers Language, in the words of Ahab, Taxes me

A stone hurled into the hull of a boat and with each stone the boat sinks further in the water...
· Needles through the heart. [Washington Post]

Blogging & Flaming The blogging world seems to be constantly reminded that Tim Blair tends to write as a bully

Did you ever play a game called hot potato when you were a child? The rules are simple. Children sit in a circle and pass along a potato while music is playing. Whoever is left holding the potato when the music stops is "out" and has to leave the game. The winner is the one who never got stuck with the potato. Many bloggers are playing a higher-stakes version of hot potato. The potato in this case is the recent exchange between Tim B and Address in Reply [Tim Dunlop]

It is hard to tell why Blair felt the urge to make a reference to Tim Dunlop's son in his post... This is certainly not going to earn winning points from reasonable bloggers.
· Attack [Tim Blair]
· Attack in Reply [Tim Dunlop]

If you want to set something afire, you must burn yourself

Prague Winter On Wenceslas Square

In 1969 Jan Palach set himself alight in Wenceslas Square in Prague and ignited a protest movement against the Communist Government of Czechoslovakia. This year in the Czech Republic there has been a spate of copy cat suicides by self-immolation. Encounter this week recalls the death of Jan Palach and considers the ethical tradition in Czech political philosophy.
· Carry out your dream, no matter how unlikely it may seem [Encounter: Our ABC]

Marietta, as she was familiarly called, reminds young people of the third millennium that true happiness calls for courage and a spirit of sacrifice, the rejection of any compromise with evil, and readiness to pay in person, including with death, for one's faithfulness to God and his commandments.

Holy See Pope recruits online guardians

It appears that the Pope is in need of something more than celestial assistance to protect his website. The Vatican has hired security experts to thwart hackers and fend off viruses aimed at infecting its website: Vatican.va
Vatican.va is subjected to around 10,000 viruses a month and at least 30 hack attacks every day. Perhaps they want to make the site even more holy!

Not only virtual, but also real life of Pope John Paul II has been obscured by sheer numbers — creating more saints than any other pope (473), preaching to the biggest crowd in history (5 million in the Philippines in 1995) and travelling more than any other pontiff (at least 126 countries).

In September Slovaks, and particularly my cousin Andrej, will be third time lucky by entertaining Pope under the High Tatra Mountains.
I understand that Pope is partial to my Mamka's pyrosky. (Those potato pyrozky are the best in the world and hundreds of strangers agree with this statement. To survive as a cook at the local school for twenty odd years was not a small achievement especially in a kitchen without a running water. Maybe the sweat and blisters made so many boys to fall in love with Mamka's cooking. Mamka's cooking is what I miss the most in exile.)
· The loss of Europe's Christian memory and heritage [Jesus Journal]

Memoirs The art of the memoir . . .

In an interview for the Black Warrior Review, Thomas Bligh talks to Connie Sumterville, the author of a best–selling memoir, Turning 24 (2000), about why she has returned to the form after the failure of her novel, Family Friction.
· 20s [Webdelsol ]

Search Engines Google beefs up news searches

Google on Monday unveiled refinements to technology for searching daily news, its latest effort to become the Web's go-to hub for headlines.
· Advanced [NEWS ]

Blogging Online news for online journalists

For those of you who missed this year's NetMedia 2003 Online Digital Media conference in Barcelona, we have produced this six-point summary to help you guide your news site to profitability.
· A six-point plan for online profitability [ Journalism]

Feeling Misquoted? Weblogs, Transcripts Let the Reader Decide

Journalism is an imperfect art. Take away the reporter's personal bias, political ideology, geographical orientation, upbringing, mood, and hangover -- and you still have potential problems. Like the recording of an interview. Record it on tape? Take notes only? Get it via e-mail? Despite all these efforts, journalists still get quotes wrong, editors sometimes chop them up into mincemeat, and interviewees get angry.
· imperfect art [OJR ]

Solid ABC reports are savage snarls. They're rude and gross. They ridicule the high and mighty. They dare to undress Wrans of this world. They slap down the pompous. They sting. They get the blood boiling. And they make their point -- with the clarity and nuance of a right uppercut. Amen!

Are you from the ABC? ABC review rubbishes claims of war bias

The ABC's complaints review arm has rejected Federal Government allegations of widespread bias in its coverage of the Iraq war, finding no evidence of systemic anti-Americanism.
· Bias [ SMH]

· Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft, Switching Languages [

Leadership Time for a Leadership Tune-up

I was wrong. Yes, skills and behavioral training are important, very important, at all levels, but now I believer it's the managers - the top editors - who need the most training because they must lead the way, must create a culture of change and must model that culture through their own words and actions.
· Tim @ His Best!!! [TimPorter ]

Reading goes retro Third hand-books stores

This article about used-books stores is an ode to all of their joys and treasures.
It is at the used-books store, the least sensible of all businesses, a place perpetually teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, where you can drink in the utter futility of books without a $4 latte chaser. For devotees of the used-book store, Los Angeles has quietly become one of the last bastions, for L.A. has become one of the last great American book towns.
· Second Hand [Los Angeles]

Out of print bestsellers

A funny thing happened on the way to obsolescence. The Internet revolution, which was supposed to consign printed books to the shredder, instead energized the market for old ones. Thousands of used bookstores no longer need to wait for an interested buyer to spot some cherished but lost title on a dusty shelf. Databases on the World Wide Web can now connect the most obscure book with anyone who can recall a favorite title or author.

While towers of Hillary and Harry threaten to crush shoppers at Barnes & Noble, we were delighted to get the first out-of-print bestseller report from BookFinder.com, the world's largest searchable book inventory. These titles enjoy the conflicted distinction of being the most wanted of the least available books in America. By analyzing data from out-of-print book searches between July and December 2002, BookFinder produced 10 topical lists of the most requested titles.
· Titles [CSMonitor]
· Book Finder [.com ]
Sell your own book well enough and the publishing powers that be just might come knocking at your door.
· Erroneous Zone

Media Distrust

If I mysteriously disappear anytime soon it's safe to assume I have been bumped off by the assasins over the media rainbow...(smile)

Large print newspapers are owned by large corporations, whose owners mingle with the so called well-to-do of society, and large corporate advertisers, who very often have plenty of reasons to stay out of the news, therefore decide whether or not we hear the real story. I think this is exactly why on-line news will prosper. We should read un-biased stories written by jounalists that are uninfluenced by their ownership, influencial friends and large corporate advertisers.

Slanted Views Web sites generate buzz for political chattering class

T.J. Rooney, Pennsylvania's Democratic Party chairman, says he checks it five or six times a day. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter peruses it on Fridays on the train home to Philadelphia.
And scores of politicos and reporters across the Keystone State and in Washington are constantly clicking on www.PoliticsPA.com, a must-read for Pennsylvania's political junkies.
· Junkies [Los Angeles]
· Department of Continuous News
[Washington Post]
· Tiny costs, big influence: Turf News a.k.a. Grassroots [OJR ]

The horror of human impotence.
"Pure Presence of Being

First the writer withdraws from the world into a timeless and otherworldly realm: fascination. The fascinated person loses all sense of time, self, space, and is just a perceptive consciousness. Blanchot has compared fascination with death and with the impossible mission of Orpheus.
· A story? No. No stories, never again. [Skidmore ]

Blogging Joke's on you, says the Westminster blogger

Labour MP Tom Watson's ironic appeal to the nation's youth is becoming an unlikely hit in the internet community.
Westminster held a world-first in July2003 AD, when around 120 bloggers descend on parliament for a discussion on how politicians can best use the "blogosphere" to further policy and public interaction.
· Maaa Dear Watson [BBC ]
· Parliamentary blogosphere [Guardian ]
· Editorial pages are predictable, repetitive, and usually cranky [TimPorter]
· Jourggers [TM]

Losing Local News to the Web

Mark Glaser of the Online Journalism Review reports that local Web-only news sites “are moving in on editorial and advertising turf that was once a safe haven for newspapers.”

In the last decade, as online traffic grew and newspaper readership continued its decline, newspapers treaded the editorial waters wearing the axiomatic lifejacket that local news was too time consuming and too expensive for a Web-only company to do.
· Listen up, newspapers [ TimPorter]

It is not the kings and generals that make history but the masses of the people, the workers, the peasants, the doctors, the clergy.
-Memorable sayings from Nelson Mandela

Tribute to a living legend

An international Who's Who of stardom will descend on Johannesburg from Friday to celebrate the 85th birthday of Nelson Mandela.
· During the times of tensions, it is not the talented people who excel, it is the extremists who shout slogans [ SMH]

My name today is Anger

I want you to be angry with corporate thieves, angry enough to risk some time, money or freedom to make their lives miserable. Motivation can come from many places: love of the forest, revenge for your friends death, injury or ruined lives; or from hate. Often you hate something because it threatens something you love – Love and hate.
· Love & hate [Indymedia ]

We will never achieve what we can't imagine, so what are we hoping for?
· Hope & Fear [CurrentPsychology: via Gianna & Margo

The New Literary Lottery

Good news for aspiring writers: Advances for first-time authors have blown sky-high. The catch? If the book doesn’t sell, the fallout can kill your career.
· Literary Dances [NYMetro ]

:: blog.forwriters.org :: is a free blogging service for writers and authors, and it is offered by ewritersplace.com, a site devoted to
· Try it [ForWriters ]

Blogging I'm not telling you everything

Come to think of it, anonymity is like virginity--once you've lost it, you can never have it back.
· I wish I could [Shesellssanctuary (Gianna)]

Media Moblogs Seen as a Crystal Ball for a New Era in Online Journalism

But futurist Howard Rheingold says the ultimate democratization of the media will not be about technological advances; rather, it will entail upholding old-fashioned standards to earn viewers' trust.
· Trust [ OJR]

Land of Queens Yes, they're rednecks and Big Bad Axemen

Brown, the primary colour of bulldust, described her culture shock at arriving in Brisbane to be confronted by suntanned Queenslanders who look like crustaceans decked out in floral prints and mirror sunglasses.
· Wealth is wasted on Queenslanders [ ]
· 'Crazy' roo axed to death [ SMH]

Truth

Truth is Out Truth, Advocacy, & Scholarship

I care more about the truth than I do about what side I am on. So I frequently criticize arguments offered in support of positions I agree with. I guess that is why I am a scholar and not a lawyer or political activist.
· Truth [Isolum ]

Randiest People

Horny: Bloggers on the other hand are some of the randiest people you will never meet. This is where the medium offers built in protection. If you did meet some of them, your hard-won virtue would be instantly up for grabs -- and I don't mean that metaphorically. Women bloggers who have received one-too-many penis enlargement spams are particularly dangerous in this regard. And the guys, forget it. They were already pervs or they wouldn't be blogging.
· Undressed [RageBoy ]

Traditional publishing is about putting on a show; building a network of weblogs is like hosting a party.
Simon Waldman in the Economist

Underestimate their power at your peril. Just ask former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines... Expect more scalps to follow.
The Guardian cites the generic blogger as one of the 100 most influential voices in media in the UK

Informed We Understand; Misled We Wage Wars

Infomaniacs of this rather fragile world, sadly peppered with liars & bullies, Unite!

Government Open Government Information Awareness

MIT just opened its Open Government Information Awareness site. The site offers a remarkable amount of information about all three branches of the federal government. The amount of information now at your fingertips is simply daunting. By way of example (and certainly not in limitation), the site gives a list of contributors to the campaigns of members of Congress, a detailed listing of the expenditures of those members, and their financial disclosure filings.
Well designed sites such as this raise any number of questions. For instance, given the proliferation of bloggers of all stripes (both in topic choice and political viewpoint) and the ready accessibility of information, the market for commercial alternatives, newspapers for instance, would seem to be seriously eroding.
· The implications are huge [OpenGovernment ]

Right to Know

The premise of GIA is that individual citizens have the right to know details about government, while government has the power to know details about citizens. Our goal is to develop a technology which empowers citizens to form a sort of intelligence agency; gathering, sorting, and acting on information they gather about the government. Only by employing such technologies can we hope to have a government 'by the people, and for the people.'

McKinley noted wanted to "seed" the site with such information to give people a sense of what was possible.

McKinley built two clever features into the system to help keep the information as accurate as possible. The first one enables users to rank the credibility of other contributors. The second feature automatically notifies the subject of a submission -- whether individual or organization -- and asks it to respond. They can confirm or deny the submission -- and denials are noted, though the submissions are not purged.

For instance, say a scandal breaks, but the politician in question is later exonerated because of a specific fact.
Users can poll the system to see if that fact was logged, and find out who contributed that fact, and when they did, without knowing their real name. They can then rank the credibility of that contributor, and ask the system to notify them if he or she makes further contributions in the future. Thus, they can learn whether they trust or mistrust a contributor, while the contributor still retains anonymity.

As more information gets added to the site over time -- from databases and from individuals -- the Open Government Information Awareness site has the potential to be a great source of ideas and data for journalists.
· I, for one, hope it catches on [ WashingtonPost]

This link is dedicated to my former boss at the NSW Parliamentary Library, Dr Russell Cope

How to Research Less and Find More...

Law Libraries: Books and Online Services are Both Essential

Revolution or Evolution for Law Libraries? - More seasoned practitioners are loath to give up traditional libraries; firms would do well to listen to them.
· Seasoned Mentor [Libraries]

Internet Survey of Electronic Access to State Government Information

State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information, June 2003, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), 292 pages, pdf.
The purpose of this study was to assess the level of permanent public access to electronic government information across all state governments... The survey results reveal that no state is comprehensively addressing these challenges. Very few states have updated their statutes to explicitly incorporate electronic government information into their public access, Freedom of Information or depository laws.
· Depository Laws [American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), 292 pages, pdf]

Education The Eclipse of Judgement’

A Curator describes how the darkening of the sky, the silence of the birds, and the sudden drop in temperature preceded the moment of total darkness, which passed over ‘like the shadow of a huge bird of prey’. He uses this metaphor as the theme of his book, with chapters headed ‘The Eclipse of Language’, ‘The Eclipse of Learning’, ‘The Eclipse of Content’, and ‘The Eclipse of Judgement’. Then, as on that memorable summer day in 1999, a thin sliver of light appears on the horizon. The last chapter is called
· ‘The Passing of the Eclipse’ [ Spectator]

Professionalism Journalism professor Farrar was merciless -- and memorable

J.D. Mullane recalls getting into an argument with Temple University journalism prof Fred Farrar nearly two decades ago. You want to be a journalist? Then you think like a journalist and notice detail because detail is the essence of all great journalism and all great writing. That's what I'm teaching you.
· Character Lessons [Phillyburbs ]

Of the 60,000-some books that land in his office yearly, Steve Wasserman, editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, has room to cover only about 1,500. “It’s triage every day,” he says. “I feel like a First World War surgeon might have felt on the battlefield at Verdun.”

Editors On Reviews More Books, Fewer Reviews

"This is an interesting time for books. While there are three times as many books being published now compared to 25 years ago, many magazine and newspapers that publish reviews have faced page cutbacks. A few have increased coverage—both the Los Angeles Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have fattened their review sections recently. And there are new arrivals to the scene. Last year Speakeasy, affiliated with the Loft literary center in Minneapolis, and Readerville, the print version of the Web site of the same name, were launched. In March of this year McSweeney’s introduced the Believer, a four-color monthly with long reviews (of poetry as well as fiction) and interviews. The overall trend, though, has been toward what one New York Times editor recently referred to as 'the incredible shrinking book review,' the result of a weakened economy and an accompanying decrease in advertising for the media industry."
· Literary [Writers & Poets Magazine 07/03]

Web

Information The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive

It's magnetic. It's like a tar baby: the more you touch it, the more you have to.
· Online compulsive disorder [NY Times; Registration required USER: ajreader; PASSWORD: access]

Internet Research

How to keep up on news about search engines and comparisons.
· Searching about Search Engines [LLRX ]

Here's the newest techno-word: Informavores.

Best Friends!!!

Best Friends Toddler cuddled his dog to combat night in the cold

July 7 2003
A two-year-old boy and his pet German Shepherd dog have survived a night in near freezing temperatures, east of Adelaide. But the boy was possibly saved by Bear, the four-month-old dog who stayed with him all night, right up to his discovery this morning in a paddock about two kilometres from his home.
· We grow up thinking more is known than actually is [SydneyMorningHerald]

Reasons for Love, Freedom, Hope...

Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate.
wrote the poet Rupert Brooke.
(poem metaphorically entitled Lauren the Love of my Life in Exile)

Reasons for Love, Freedom, Hope... Be and/or Have?

Since passion is about fantasy and marriage is about reality, passion and marriage are the oddest of odd bedfellows. My own experience has been that passion ebbs and flows in marriage. We are pair-bonding creatures—like swans or geese. We can also be as promiscuous as baboons or bonobos. Those are the two extremes of human sexuality, and there are all gradations of chastity and sensuality in between. The glue that holds couples together consists of many things: laughter, companionship, tenderness—and sex.
· Embracing passion means living with fear [MSNBC ]

Freedom is a breach in the walls, a broken gate.

Not How I Crossed the Walls, But That I Crossed the Iron Gate At All...

Most people outside Czech and Slovak Republics have no clue who Bessie was, and there's no reason they should. Yet Bessie has her own niche in the political history of the Iron Curtain. She is the only dog to receive a Political Asylumn.

This book is like having an old itch finally scratched.

COLD RIVER - A Survivor’s Story: A MEMOIR
By Jozef Imrich with countless soulmates
Publication Date: July 2002
Double Dragon Publishing
eBook Price: $ 4.99
Hardcover Price: $ to be advised in 2004
Available in: Adobe Acrobat, eBook Reader, Gemstar eBook, Microsoft Reader, Palm Reader.
ISBN: 1-894841-06-9
· Cold War River: Crossing of Memories

Why

You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'
George Bernard Shaw

23 year old Memories of Escape

I remember 7 of July 1980. Australia is my country, Prague is my hometown.
· One Man Survives the Iron Curtain Crossing

Bohemian youth mixed with a desire for freedom defies even the unbreakable barriers such as the Iron Curtain. A daring escape which almost left none to tell the story.

James Bond once said, ‘You only live twice.’ Once when you are born and again when you face death. He may well have been referring to my life on 16 May 1958 and 7 July 1980

My life, all of it, comes down to 7 July 1980.

This story is everybody's story, for the capacity and desire for freedom are engraved right into our genes. Let me begin with a story I read about in the paper, in the train, on my way to work last year in July. I read it and I could not believe it, and I read it again. Then perhaps I just stared at it, at the newsprint spelling out the story of Andrea ... of Houston who killed all five of her children.

Not in a burst of gunfire, but by methodically drowning them in the bathtub. Anyone who's tried to give an unwanted hair-wash to a kid will appreciate the effort involved in holding five struggling youngsters under water. The oldest, seven-year-old Noah, was the last to die. He ran, for his life. But she caught him and dragged him back to the bathroom, and forced him under, legs kicking, arms flailing. He was old enough to know, as he looked up and fought against the weight of her hands, that his own mother was killing him.

This morning I am reading about another mother who tried to toss her kids into the river. A good samaritan recovered the woman and one child.
Naomi Gaines would have been able to see the crowds shortly after 9 p.m. as she stood with her 11-month-old twins on the Wabasha Street Bridge facing east on an observation deck.
Without warning or calling out to anyone, Gaines, a mother of four, dropped her babies over the 5-foot railing into the debris-laden river 75 feet below. Late Saturday afternoon, one of the children was still missing and presumed drowned.

Back in July 1980, two burial vaults awaited the caskets of my two drowned friends. Our mother country Czechoslovakia forced them under, legs kicking, arms flailing.

--Biography:
Jozef Imrich was born in Czechoslovakia in 1958 and escaped to Austria in 1980. Jozef has lived and worked in Australia for 20 years, for almost 18 years of which he worked as a reference officer and a researcher at the NSW Parliament. Indeed, life doesn't get much stranger than that. Jozef was the youngest boy in the family of six and therefore, statistically, the person most likely to seize upon the rebellion culture, the child to keep the family awake at night. Everyone is born with some special talent, and Jozef discovered early on that he had two: a good sense of where to hide samizdat magazines and sound research skills. Jozef is, above all things, every dictator’s & every power hungry bully’s worst nightmare.
One of Jozef’s favorite quotes from Anna Karenina is: Where was I left of? On the reflection that I couldn’t conceive a situation in which life would not be a misery, that we were all created in order to suffer, and that we all know this and try to invent means for deceiving ourselves. But when you see the truth, what are you to do?

Voice

Double Dragon, Publisher Who Gave Cold War River A Voice

Digital publishing industry is not like just any other industry. It’s a pioneering business, sure. It’s a profession, absolutely. But it is more than a business and a profession. Storytelling is a craft. It is a way of life.

Storytelling is a passion. It is a passion for explaining a complex world. It is a passion for the power of the written word. And, most importantly publishing is a “calling.” A calling, a habit of the heart.

For a cynic like myself, someone who has earned the moniker Darkside among his Antipodean, Bohemian and Canadian friends, I am frighteningly optimistic about epublishing ... We have it in our power to begin the world of reading over again!
· Overnight Success takes 20 something years for survivor-writer [Dual Loyalty]

Rogues Provocateurs

Yesterday's Hero Rogues Gallery: Collecting Despots & Assassins

Wonder where those garish statues of former dictators end up? Nearly 20 statues of leaders and heroes of authoritarian regimes occupy the rolling private garden of Harlan R. Crow, a Dallas real estate investor. Heavyweights like Stalin, Mao and Lenin stand among lesser-knowns like Klement Gottwald, the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia. Many of the statues, some as tall as 20 feet, were bought from the sculptors or from public officials as regimes crumbled. A few, like the large bust of Princip, were acquired as bullets whizzed by.
· Goddwald [The New York Times 07/02/03] [ Registration required USER: ajreader; PASSWORD: access]

Rogues Provocateurs

Yesterday's Hero Rogues Gallery: Collecting Despots & Assassins

Wonder where those garish statues of former dictators end up? Nearly 20 statues of leaders and heroes of authoritarian regimes occupy the rolling private garden of Harlan R. Crow, a Dallas real estate investor. Heavyweights like Stalin, Mao and Lenin stand among lesser-knowns like Klement Gottwald, the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia. Many of the statues, some as tall as 20 feet, were bought from the sculptors or from public officials as regimes crumbled. A few, like the large bust of Princip, were acquired as bullets whizzed by.
· [The New York Times 07/02/03] [ Registration required USER: ajreader; PASSWORD: access]

Always On

Information The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive

It's magnetic. It's like a tar baby: the more you touch it, the more you have to.
· Online compulsive disorder [NY Times; Registration required USER: ajreader; PASSWORD: access]

Internet Research

How to keep up on news about search engines and comparisons.
· Searching about Search Engines [LLRX ]

Impartiality

Media Journalists Only Look Dead

As E.J. Dionne wrote in his 1996 book, They Only Look Dead, the press operates under a number of conflicting diktats: be neutral yet investigative; be disengaged but have an impact; be fair-minded but have an edge. Therein lies the nut of our tortured relationship with objectivity. Few would argue that complete objectivity is possible, yet we bristle when someone suggests we aren't being objective - or fair, or balanced - as if everyone agrees on what they all mean.
· Re-thinking objectivity fascinating article in Review [Columbia Journalism Via Infomaniac]

SixApart

Mitteleuropean Instapundit #1 Current Events in the blogosphere, based on new blog entries in the last 3 hours

Updated Sat, 05 Jul 2003 16:59:16 PST, more information available on my blog.

1. called on God for a sign and was struck by lightning (4) (Cosmos)

· Media Dragon 60 inbound blogs, 65 inbound links Created 48 minutes ago (Cosmos)
Lightning Strikes I'm not opinionated, I'm just always right He was asking for a sign and he got one; so be very careful what you wish for... · Preacher Who Practices [Via BBC
· Amazing Strike!!! [No 1 in the Technorati world]
(PS: I would like to thank the 11 siblings and their children on my father's side and 7 siblings on my mother's side for spreading the word under the law called Six Degree of Slavic Separation)

Taxing Iron

Two news items today bring out my lightish and seriousish side:

Borders Iron Curtain Between Poland And Czech Republic

There is a village in the Jeseniky Mountains called Bila Voda (Clinton would like it, because in English it means White Water). It is just a few yards away from the border with Poland and there is a very similar Polish village just that close to the border with Czech Republic. The people from both sides of the border are friends and if they want to visit each other, all that seems necessary to do is to cross a ditch and walk about 50 meters or so.
· They wish it was that easy, though [via Czechout: Petr Bukovka]

Cold War River

You spend the second half of your life getting over your first half:
Cold River has no great debates or brilliant insights about politics. But it is political through and through because the characters are nothing, and mean nothing, outside of the political situation in which they find themselves...
· Overnight Success takes 20 something years for survivor-writer [Dual Loyalty]

Iron Curtain Germany, 17 June 1953: politics and memory

Fifty years ago, on 17 June 1953, people in communist East Germany rose against their rulers - and were crushed by Soviet tanks.
· What does this event mean now and who owns it today? [OpenDemocracy ]
· Are the June days trauma or triumph, national wound or source of pride?
· Narrative of June 1953
· Inherent violence of its communist adversary

Media: Interviews

Media How To Beat Tim Russert

Get inside his head and shake vigorously
Already, candidates Lieberman, Kerry, Edwards, Sharpton, Gephardt, Graham, Clark, Moseley Braun, Kucinich, and Dean (twice) have appeared on the show, with Russert humbling practically all. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes this week that Dean's allegedly poor performance on the June 22 Meet the Press has elicited a barrage of what Kurtz calls "negative commentary" from the media, which had previously cuddled up with the candidate.
· How to beat Meet [Slate]

Defamation

Defamation Bloggers Gain Libel Protection

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers.
Online free speech advocates praised the decision as a victory. The ruling effectively differentiates conventional news media, which can be sued relatively easily for libel, from certain forms of online communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot be sued as easily.
· Barbed [Wired ]

New Forces of Voices

Profiles Interviews

Discover the New Voices of 21th Century AD
· Believe me, new forces are out there in the words of the Terminator, they are Hear!(sic) [ABCTales ]

Media Dragon Tails

Hard Rivers Soft Sites

In a move aimed at bolstering the use of its Microsoft Reader program, the software giant announced on Wednesday that it would offer free downloads of e-book wostsellers over a 20-week period.
· FREE eBooks every week! [News ]

Elections

Spread the gospel

Bloggers in America are aiming to spark a political revolution that will be delivered by the web. Neil McIntosh reports

With an army of webloggers presenting reports and transcripts of the candidates' every public move, he sees as inevitable a new atmosphere of plain talking. "The 2000 election in the US was a tie, and the candidates never told us about themselves," says Winer.
They lied, they struggled to make themselves stand for absolutely nothing, and the voters were powerless to do anything about it. In 2004, they won't be powerless.
· The question is, will they use the power? [Guardian ]

Blogging Spread the Word

Blogs are honest. One of the biggest issues that come up in companies is, I can't allow this; we have to go through legal. When a company gets into that mode, that mindset, they are not going to benefit from blogging. Blogs cannot feel like they're coming from a corporation. The people reading [them] will run away. Blogging comes from the passion of the people who are writing them. If you vet everything through communications, you lose the soul of it.
· Blogs are timely -- Blogs are not spam -- Blogs are affordable-- Search Engines love blogs [Pohlypartners ]

Blogging New World as Old World

At a recent Internet advertising conference in New York, a panelist in one session did the unthinkable: repeatedly using the word "hits" to describe traffic to a Web site. The faux pas caused one attendee to leave the session shaking his head. Approaching a small group of Internet ad executives standing outside the room, he began railing: Didn't the panelist realize that...
· hits are no longer considered a valid Internet measurement metric?!
[MediaWeek]

Jobless journalists' Web site sure beats reality TV

You want reality programming? Try finding a job.
That's the message from eight unemployed journalists who launched their own reality Web site on the Internet last week, filing compelling dispatches from the point of view of the paycheck-challenged.
The idea for www.8goodpeople.com sprouted in the unemployed brain of local tech journalist Connie Guglielmo after seeing a teaser for Monica Lewinsky's reality dating show. You know, the show where a woman tries to find Prince Charming, except the male contestants have to wear a mask that makes it look like they know how to work a guillotine.
· Prince Charming [Los Angeles]

Blogging Where Virtue and Print Intersect

Despite the hoo-ha over this particular scooplet, Weintraub and his higher-ups don't see the blog as being a serious scoop generator.
If it's too big of a scoop, or too big of a story, my instincts are still to put it in print. Over the years, that might change. But right now, my print column can reach up to a million readers, and my blog might be a few thousand people. Still, there are times when a scoop makes sense for the blog -- when the.
· Timing is crucial to beating a TV report or a competing print story [ OJR]

Blogging Web Spinning

The Washington Post has a big plan to duke it out with the New York Times. The plan calls for extending the Post's reach into national and international news markets where the Times has always had an edge. Nimbler deadlines, more aggressive reporting, and sharper writing are all part of the formula.
And to pull it all off, the Post will hire two additional staffers.
The new hires will be reporters-cum-rewrite-specialists whose names may not appear too often in the Post's print editions. They'll be working on the paper's freshly constituted Continuous News desk, a cluster of about five employees charged with feeding the paper's Web site,
· WashingtonPost.com to make a household name from Brno to Brisbane. [WashingtonPost ]
· Yes, there are many dead people who are more interesting than you and I. [BlogofDeath ]

4th July: Only In Amerika
Blogland's man of the people

Howard Dean is emerging as the Man of the Blog. The cash poured in. By 10 a.m. on Monday morning, Dean had collected $70,000 through his Web site. At 11, he was up to $115,000. Every half hour, Mathew Gross and Zephyr Teachout, the campaign's full-time bloggers, posted updates on the money count, adding, along the way, further incentives for people to pry open their wallets.
· These days The Blog is becoming the daily political necessity [Salon]

In the age of the leak and the blog, of evidence extraction and link discovery, truths will either out or be outed, later if not sooner... The future, wielding unimaginable tools of transparency, will have its way with you.
William Gibson

Corporate Blogging
Dare to Cross

The economy is changing. And the most highly-desired jobs? Those with creative outlets, flexibility, a sense of individuality. The production of wealth comes not simply from labor or raw materials or even intellectual brilliance. It comes from new ways to give people what they want.
· By matching creativity and desire, the economy will renew itself [Wired 06/03]

Unedited Knowledge

Do you dare start your company down this path? Can you find someone in your company who's passionate? Who has true, unedited knowledge to share? Maybe you're not ready to go out in the world with a full-fledged blog, but at least give this person voice in the form of a column with at last two or three blog characteristics. Let this person reach out and touch your customers in a new way. See what the response is like. Your newsletter readers will welcome the freshness and reward you with renewed interest -- in not only your newsletter but also your company.
Daring Creativity

The tragic weakness of most organizations today, whether public or private, is that they are designed to suppress truth and transparency. Most are set up in such a way that everyone in them seems to know the truth, but nobody ever tells it to anyone else.
* No organization can be honest with the public if it is not honest within.
* No organization is served by silence...
A Culture of Candor

Tales of Many Conversations
· Inspiring Chat [Conversation with D]

Business Weblogs— A pragmatic approach
· Corporate America has discovered the blog [Boston]
· WacWorld [MacObserver]
· In the age of the leak and the blogger [eamon]

Blogging The Outer Reaches of the Blogosphere

The revolution is not being televised, nor is it being printed in magazines or newspapers. The revolution is appearing at the edge of the web, on the last pages before the end of the internet. These sites are known as weblogs, and they are changing journalism...
· One post at a time [Exclaim ]
· bloggers rush in where angels fear to tread [TechCentralStation ]
· Ways & Means of Blogging [ SMH]