i won't grow up...

If there has ever been a rock band that was meant to write a children's book and cd, it's the Barenaked Ladies. Case in point, check out this animated video for one of the songs from their forthcoming Snacktime release.



It's obvious that these guys grew up on Sesame Street, School House Rocks and other classic children's programming of the 1970's. I can't wait to get the book and cd when they come out in May. And no, I don't have kids. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, right?

everyday I write the book...

I don't read nearly as much as I would like to (or should) but I've always been a huge fan of Douglas Coupland. He is the brilliant Canadian author of Generation X among many others. His latest book, The Gum Thief, was released on September 25 and was promoted via You Tube. What, you say? He used a video sharing site to promote his book? Oh yeah! Coupland released 9 videos over a 3 week period that feature him reading clips from his book set to video. Did it work? Who knows? I, for one, did not find out about the campaign until a month after the book was released and only thanks to a news article on CBC. While the videos are a clever promotion, I wonder if they actually helped drum up any sales that the book would not have received through traditional advertising means.

Here are all of the videos squished into one, for your viewing pleasure.

for every light that shines, a shadow falls

I don't read nearly as much as I would like to, partly due to my current online addictions, blogging & Facebook. So if someone is going to read to me, I'm all for it.

I'm really into podcasts because content wise, they are far more interesting to me than what is available on mainstream radio and television. One of the most prolific podcasters out there is Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff. He produces a number of different and excellent programs from the crass Pacific Coast Hellway to his hysterical account of Hollywood from the assistant's prospective Where's My F*cking Latte (also available in the traditional format, known as a book). His work is both provocative and entertaining.

His literary brilliance is especially evident in Shadow Falls. I'm not sure exactly what genre this book would fall into but I would describe it as suspense-mystery-fiction, if that makes any sense. What's interesting for me is that if I saw this story in book form at a store I wouldn't give it a second glance. I usually go for light, funny, fluff books. Yes, I am a chick lit nut. Forgive me. Let's just call it a guilty pleasure and move past it. Unless everyone I know has told be to read it (eg. The DiVinci Code) it's not likely that I will pick it up. But I'm completely addicted to Shadow Falls. I find myself cursing at my iPod when the episode is over because I can't wait for the next chapter. I'm completely hooked. This story is really freakin' good!

I guess the point is that podcasting has exposed me to a host of interesting things that I never would have heard about otherwise. It's also given people like Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff the opportunity to get his stuff out to the public, make a living off it and retain ownership of his work. His copyrights are his own. He has full control of how is work is used. He doesn't have to answer to "the man." He's free to be as creative as possible. Isn't that what being an artist is all about?

take it outside...

One of the things I love about the Internet is how it breeds creativity. I saw this featured on blogUT. Miranda July is a performance artist, writer, director, actress and musician. To promote the release of her latest book, she has created an entire website on a dry-erase board. Sometimes the only way to get noticed is to differentiate yourself from others. This very clever website might just do the trick.

And yes, I ordered the book.

if you could read my mind...

Alright e-Liz. This one's for you. I found this on Pel's blog.

I'm ashamed at how few of these I have read. Does it count if I have seen the movie? Is it wrong that if I've seen the movie, I don't want to read the book? Is there something wrong with me because I have zero interest in the Lord of The Rings?

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read,
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)