Monday, January 31, 2011

In bed


Since I'm still not feeling very well, I am already in bed. I'm going to try to do some study questions on Dvärgen, but then I'm off to bed. With some beauty sleep I will hopefully look and feel better tomorrow.

Oh, and I didn't puke today in school. Just in case someone was wondering. ^^

Where I Write

This is an old post, I'm reposting in honor of the Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop which I found on the lovely Nicki Elson's blog.

Here it goes...

I finally finished setting up a new writing workspace for myself. It's in the room I am calling "The Library," but which any other normal person would probably refer to as a computer room, office, or spare bedroom.

I think it's pretty fair to call it a library since it has a good number of books in it. There's probably like 500 or so. So that's a library, right? Besides, I think library has a nicer ring to it. What's that? Where am I working on my new novel? Why in my home library of course! I am so very literary. Fear me.

Of course, the living room is also handling quite a bit of book overflow. So are the bedrooms. But there can only be one library in the house and it is my writing space.

I was inspired to set up a new area for myself because we got a new computer. It's an iMac and it pretty much rocks. Before, I was using the laptop, which I would just tote from room to room. This usually meant that I would be trying to type the next great American novel while an episode of 30 Rock was blaring in the background.

So, I'm hoping this new workspace will help me stay more focused on my writing. Now I can just go somewhere and write and the words will magically form themselves into Beauty and Meaning and Art.

Oh, pictures, right. I took some today. Feast upon the glory that is The Library!

My desk, complete with ethereal rays of sunlight streaming in:


My new computer (note my beloved Jane, who stands close by to watch over my work):


On the other side of the room, another desk where the laptop can now rest and bill paying can be done (Oh, the organization! I can hardly stand it!):


My reading nook. The chair is actually pretty comfy:


-- Lisa

Daily Thoughts 1/31/2011 (Power Why Some People Have It, WEDC)

Ōta Nampo (大田南畝,1749-1823) was a late Edo period Japanese poet and fiction writer.

Daily Thoughts 1/31/2011

Talked to the Women's Enterprise Development Center in Yonkers about setting up a presentation in February.  I rather like their programs.  I also spent some time weeding in the storage area.

I am also looking at ereader equipment, apps, and ebooks which would part of an ebooks loan.

Today is a quiet, steady day. I put the book, Marshall McLuhan : you know nothing of my work! by Douglas Coupland on hold.  It was in the January 9, 2011 New York Times Book Review.  Our budget is slim these days, so there is not much to order.

I also checked out Power Why Some People Have It-- And Others Don't by Jeffrey Pfeffer.  It is an attention getting title. It is about organizational politics.


Web Bits

Library Posters http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbradley/sets/72157625923493122/

74 State/Marché

Recently, J.Esq (of J&J) graced us with his presence, and his lovely parental units let me and my J join them for a celebratory lunch.

Can we start with the bad and end up happy with the good?

1.  Where the heck did I eat?  MarchéBistro/Bar?  Is one the upstairs and one the downstairs?  Why do both menus say Marché?  What kind of a name is Bistro/Bar?  Why is the name of your hotel the address?  It's almost as confusing at Capitol to Capital/iEatDC.

2. Why is the service so slow even when there aren't so many people there?  It took 45 minutes to order and get our lunch food, and that was sad for the one of us that had to leave early for a work call.

3.  Do you really mean to tell me that restaurants near Empire State Plaza don't know when 800+ people are going out to lunch with their families after the swearing in ceremony? 

4. We got a coupon for staying at the hotel that we were told over the phone we could use for our lunch reservation (made at the same time as the room), but it was really for dinner only, and we didn't receive the promised coupon until we asked for it several hours before check-out and at the lunch where we weren't supposed to be able to use it (more on this under GOOD).





Moving on to the things I liked about eating lunch upstairs at 74 State.  I loved that for lunch you can "pick 2" for $10, like you're at Panera or something (but much tastier selections in my opinion...sorry lovers of Panera [LS!!!]).  Half a sandwich/soup/salad, any combo of those.  This method is totally up my alley because I can have more than one thing without being a piglet.

I had half of a chicken sandwich with mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugula and the Market salad with pickled beets and pecans.  I'd do it again, quickly.  This meal costs less than a salad with chicken at Victory Cafe, but the feel of the place is more upscale, if that's what you're looking for.  Also, Victory's salads are enormous, but that's a different story.

J.Esq's salmon on salad was good, but the salmon was overcooked.  He had specified medium rare, but it was definitely cooked through and beyond.  The grapefruit in his salad was exciting.

The parental units had salads and the soup du jour, a vegetarian mushroom soup that was less vegetable-laden than we expected.  So many veggies were listed in the description, but the cup was mostly broth.  And the bleu cheese was extremely funky--I didn't want to taste it just from the look of it; unfortunately getting new dressing took so long that the naked salad was mostly eaten by the time we received it. 


Desserts were fun--we had a chocolate torte thing that was just okay, but the cheesecake situation you see up there was a good time.  Cinnamon quince, pumpkin, berry, chocolate mint.  It was fun to have a variety to taste.

In the end, we explained to someone who looked authoritative about how we were convinced over the phone to book a hotel reservation at 74 State along with the lunch reservation (originally the parents planned on staying elsewhere), and we'd get a coupon for lunch, etc, and he let us use the coupon anyway.  But we embarrassed the guys at the table who wanted to leave it all alone.  I'm with J.Esq's mom here, though--if you're promised something, and it's used as a selling device, you should get it.  That's good customer service.  Our server was super nice and seemed puzzled by the influx of people at 2pm.

So some good, some missteps, but overall a pretty reasonably-priced, tasty lunch at 74 State.

Marché
74 State Street (obviously)
Albany, NY

Marche on Urbanspoon

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sick :(

I don’t get it. This morning I literally had to drag myself out of bed due to the worst hangover-headache ever and now I can feel how soar my throat has become as well. :s I didn’t drink anything yesterday and yet I feel like alcohol is still running in my veins…Not good! :o

I’m going to go to school anyway and see what happens. The worst thing is that I might puke, but then…oké let’s not go there…hehe. I’ll just go to school and see what happens.

Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley


Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley.




Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley combines the genre of alternate history with thriller writing. The Real is an America where Alan Turing created the theories which led to gates to alternate histories called Turing gates. There are some wonderfully dry thoughts on Schrodinger's Cat in association with the Turing gates.



This is Paul McAuley's best book. I like the main character Adam Stone, an orphan who is recruited into the CIA to change the course of different alternate histories preventing fascism, communism, and rebuillding where there is nuclear war. The descriptions of the visits to alternate America's are wonderful.



Paul McAuley successfully creates a sense of different Americas. There are descriptions of the art of The American Bund where for a short time the "Dear Leader" created monumental art, or the space where an atom bomb fell devastating areas of Manhattan.



I also like that the story starts in the past in 1983 when Carter is elected in the Real. This makes it feel like both a historical novel and an alternate history novel. The novel touches on so many different styles of writing.

Adam Stone is a very hardcore character. He shoots, interrogates, suffers beatings, and keeps on going. He is after a secret plot to change the alternate histories timeline. His actions are extreme, violent, and polemical. This may turn some people off, but I found it interesting.

Most of the technology is todays technology. The money is similar, the guns are similar, the art and culture are different. The differences are often philosophical. Adam Stone describing his past actions as an agent of the "Real" is describing a form of imperialism which can be hard to stomach. He kills for his countries beliefs.

The novel hinges on many philosophical and political ideals. Is it right to create one America under many skies? Is it manifest destiny to push your will in different worlds?

This is a fantastic story. It is full of constant surprises, strongly opposed ideals, and constant tension. It does not end they way you might expect it would. This book will create strong opinions for and against the story.

Are the kids alright?

You might not guess this at a glance, but somewhere underneath the Hollywood styling, designer accessories and buoyant coiffing is a little girl of ten years old.


... And if that's not scary enough, this photo was actually taken when she was nine. Her name is Willow Smith, and she's widely touted as the Next Big Thing on the pop music scene after the success of her first single, Whip My Hair. She's not the first child in her family to hit the entertainment scene in a big way before she even hits her teens;


Recognise him? That's Jaden Smith, as he appeared opposite Jackie Chan in the remake of The Karate Kid. If the parental penny hasn't dropped yet, here's a family portrait to jog your memory:


Yep, Will Smith's kids are looking to end up as famous and successful as their Mum and Dad. And not everyone's happy about it.

Author Terry McMillan recently tweeted that:

The Smith children already act like child stars. There's an arrogance in their demeanor and behavior. I find it incredibly sad. It feels like the Smith children are being pimped and exploited. Or, they're hungry for fame. What about 4th grade?

She further hit out against the gushing descriptions of the children in public media - often from the children's parents - describing their prodigal talent and enthusiasm:

These kids don't already know what they "love". Total bullshit. They're not prodigies. They think Hollywood is real.

And it was in this comment that she tapped the vein of the issue. The coverage of the Smith children has always been carried out with a considered, kid-glove professionalism that ensures a message of their empowerment and stomps upon the merest suggestion of exploitation. The army of managers, choreographers, songwriters, agents, stylists and make-up artists behind the scenes are played down as far as possible, and the resulting efforts touted merely as each child's "individual style", as though it was arrived at in the usual course of nine year-old experimentation, during an afternoon with Mum's pilfered makeup and jewellery.

Not pictured: realistic styling by a 9 year old.

In September 2009, then aged 9, Willow Smith told radio host Ryan Seacrest, "just be an individual, you can't be afraid to be yourself... and you can't let anybody tell you that's wrong". Neat, both in the sense that it would seem to both prove the child's utter commitment to their public image, and absolve any adult stakeholders in Willow's career should things go down the proverbial shitter. Listen to the child, people! She's not being exploited or marketed, she's a talented child, expressing her individuality!

Now, naturally the world is full of little girls and boys who would love to be actors, singers, rappers or the like. In fact, this trend is so common that in a recent survey of British schoolchildren, the most frequent answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" was simply; "Famous". Many of us remember our abortive childhood fantasies of rock stardom or Oscar acceptance speeches, and dreamed feverishly of "real" parents who would pick us up one day and turn out to be rich and famous, paving our way to the red carpets and superdomes of the glamorous people.

No doubt, offered the deal that the Smith children have been born into (mega-star parents, unlimited access to the gears of fame creation) we would have jumped at the chance as well. We would have recorded the singles, we would have starred in the movies. We would probably have loved it - and we probably would have said so just as enthusiastically as Willow and Jaden.

We probably would have thought pretty highly of ourselves, too. Not in our scene, the busboy actors and taxi-driving musicians looking for a break in an industry where it's always been about who you know. Not for us, the cattle-call auditions where children are seen and dismissed in their hundreds per hour. Not for us, the agony of forging a new brand in an industry already splitting at the seams; the talented rubbing elbows with the mediocre, the beautiful frantically exercising their advantage over the ordinary, the rejects by their thousands lining the exit corridor, bitterly stroking the fantasy of a big break that never came.

I can imagine any of us, styled to perfection and adopting our image as our individual style, sitting on a couch with Jay Leno, saying how we were "born to do this", speaking of our love and passion for our work. I can imagine us believing in the adoration, in the money, in the fame, perhaps even until it became integral to who we were. Would we ever be able to be happy without the flash of the cameras and screams of the fans? Would we ever know another desire for our future lives?

So is this exploitation? Or, as McMillan would have it, pimping? Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith didn't respond publicly to McMillan's tweet, but it's clear that their intention is to give their children the best possible foothold in the slippery Hollywood market. Talented though the children undoubtedly are, it is understandable to criticize the way that coveted movie roles and recording contracts have fallen to them as a birthright, and at an age where they will be more likely to internalise their success as the deserved recognition of serious talent than to recognise it as a lucky side effect of their parentage.

But yet, the sheer volume of tickets and albums sold seems to speak for itself in that, for now, the Smith children are at the top of their games, and we are happily spending plenty of money to see them play. Perhaps someone is being exploited, and perhaps it is us.

What do you think?

Sunday's tip of the day

Follow your crazy ideas people. Just do it ;)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Daily Thoughts 1/29/2011 (Ebooks, Book Applications)

Teodor Axentowicz (1859–1938), Reading, 1899, Pastel on Paper.

Daily Thoughts 1/29/2011 

There are piles of snow everywhere outside.  I had to dig my car out.  Anyways, back to books.  I have been reading http://www.teleread.com   The site has a section on libraries in the top menu bars.  I am gathering more ideas about how important ebooks are to libraries.  I also read some of No Shelf Required which is about digital content in the library setting. http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/

What perturbs me sometimes when I read about ebooks is the almost total lack of conversation about digital music.  There are far fewer services for digital music in libraries than bookstores.  I have wondered when the amount of digital music available to libraries will increase.  I see an increase in book applications, but very little movement towards enhanced ebooks with music.  This would be a tremendous combination.  Books on musicians with digital music would be a very good idea.

There are other ideas which have come up.  How would you lend a book application in a library setting.  Libraries already have tremendous problems with lending computer programs.  Book applications are basically computer programs.  I think it would have to become more device focused.  You might want to lend an Ipad with a set of applications on it.  Eventually there will be tablets affordable enough for this. It is something which librarians should be thinking about.  I would like to be able to lend Ipads with book applications on them.  We already have laptops that are used inside our library.

Craaazy

There are no other words to describe last night but CRAZY. I have never experienced a night like this ever before…my gauuud...:o

The main highlight of the night though was that I got to meet one of Sweden’s biggest, prettiest, and super friendly blogger - Kenza Zouiten!!! :D




She was soo tiny in reality, but her personality is sooo big and sweet. That girl is simply awesome :)

Friday, January 28, 2011

Naming Characters

I'm in the process of naming characters for the new contemporary young adult novel I've been thinking about for the past few weeks. I don't know what your process for naming is, but mine goes a little something like this...

(Oh, a quick note: since I'm writing contemporary YA, I always pick names that contemporary teens might have (that would be different if you're writing fantasy or dystopian, though I think you could easily find inspiration from contemporary names).)

First, I think of the main cast of characters. In this case, my protagonist, her love interest, and her other love interest (yes, a love triangle, how original, I know). I like to search for pictures and find out what they look like, do a little background thinking, and then come up with a list of possible names. In the beginning, I'm not married to a name. I may change it as I go on, but at some point, usually very early on, I like to have my names locked down.

The main thing I consider when naming is how old the character is and what his or her parents or family life is like. I mainly do this because in the real world names are determined a lot by a) when you were born and b) who your parents are.

My main characters are all about seventeen, so they were born around 1993 or 1994. If their families are wealthy, they may be more inclined to give their kids upper-class names that are just ahead of the mainstream trends. Or something classic. If the parents are English professors they might have chosen a name from Shakespeare. The state or country they are born in and the character's cultural heritage have something to do with it, too.
  
A good way to check and see if your character's name fits his/her time period and place is to check the Social Security Popular Baby Names site. It lists the most popular baby names in America every year since 1879 (which means, it's only accurate if your characters are American). You can even check by state or U.S. territory or browse popular names for twins. The site will show you the 1000 most popular names for every year for both boys and girls.

I like to head over there, put in the year of birth and then browse through, writing down names that I think might fit my character and his/her situation. Then, I pick a final name. If I’m looking for something super popular, I start at the top of the list. Something quirkier, the bottom. I tend to find good things by browsing in the 100’s or 200’s, too.

Let's take an example:

Edward Cullen was born in 1901. According to the social security site, Edward was the 9th most popular boys name in 1901. Great pick, Stephenie Meyer! Especially since this name has fallen out of usage in the last few years. If Edward was 17, he would have been born in 1988 (based on a Twilight publication date of 2005), and that year Edward was the 62nd most popular name. So, it wouldn't have been unheard of to have an Edward in class with you, but it would have probably been a little unusual. That's why the name sounds bit old-fashioned to Bella.

Bella, on the other hand, is a little different. In 1988, when she was born, the name Isabella did not even make the list of 1000 most popular girl's names in the United States. So, while it wouldn't have been impossible, it would have been extremely unlikely to find an Isabella Swann in 2005. Of course, we know Bella's mom was a Jane Austen fan (she tells Bella she looks like something out of Austen on her wedding day), so she may have named her after Isabella Thorpe from Northanger Abbey. (But, why would you name your child after a back-stabbing social climber?). She may have also been influenced by Wuthering Heights or Measure for Measure, which both feature Isabellas. For her part, Stephenie Meyer's said: "After spending so much time with [Bella], I loved her like a daughter... Inspired by that love, I gave her the name I was saving for my daughter, Isabella." That makes sense, since in 2005, Isabella was 6th most popular girls name.

Jacob, who was probably born in 1989 has the 26th most common boys name from that year. Not bad. I do wonder if his parents might have chosen a name that reflected his Native American heritage though, but I can't quibble too much.

The social security site also has a feature where you can see what names are rising and falling in popularity. (Speaking of Twilight, it looks like the boy's name Cullen has jumped from 782nd to 485th most popular in just one year!)
  
Another naming site I love and check all the time is The Baby Name Wizard. The author has a blog with all kinds of naming trends (amazing information!) and you can search for names to find meanings, origins, nicknames, popularity, and possible names for siblings. I use the sibling one all the time because I like to pick names that go together when I'm naming brother and sisters (after all, the same people who named my main character named his two older brothers).

I don't pay too much attention to name meaning (though sometimes you'll find out someone has a really perfect meaning for their name). I think more about how the name sounds and how it fits the character's life and situation. Last names are a whole different story though. I'm still not sure how to go about those...

How about you guys?

How do you name?
At what point in the writing process do you name your characters?
Do you ever change names?
How do you pick last names? 
Any favorite names from literature you'd care to share?

-- Lisa

LOBBY tonight :D

After 3 whole weeks of clubbing rehabilitation, I am free. Awesome. :D

Daily Thoughts 1/28/2011 (Ebooks)

Painting of Russian writer Evgeny Chirikov by Ivan Kulikov, 1904.

Daily Thoughts 1/28/2011

I finished reading Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley this morning.  I would call it an alternate earth thriller.

I checked the displays this morning.  I also spent some time planning for the website for Twitter and the survey on the website.  I am reading more on ebooks to get better grasp of what I will say in the grant we are working on.

I have been thinking on recent reasons I have run into for ebooks in libraries.  Some of the things which come to mind are:

  • Transmedia literacy the ability to handle information across a variety of different devices.
  • The digital divide does not just apply to computers, it also applies to other electronic devices.
  • There is a need for greater information literacy.
  • Libraries are not prepared for enhanced ebooks or book applications.
  • The Ipad is more than just an ebook platform it has many other functions.
  • Children need to be shown ebooks early to prepare them for the digital future.
  • Libraries are just starting to build ebook collections. It will take time to match their book collections.
  • Libraries need to be renewed so they can be ready for a digital future and not be perceived as obsolete.

Web Bits

DBW Library-Publisher Panel Makes the Case for Ebook Lending
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/888975-264/dbw_library-publisher_panel_makes_the.html.csp

Ebooks and Immediate Gratification from Overdrive's Library Blog
http://overdriveblogs.com/library/2011/01/24/ebooks-and-immediate-gratification/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog+(OverDrive's+Digital+Library+Blog)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

So you may have noticed that we moved.  And yet my name and URL stayed the same, while the headline and logo have been updated.  So although the blog is officially now titled Capitol to Capital, that was too long of a Twitter name, and in any case, it was taken.  Also taken: Cap2Cap, C2C, etc.  So I did like my pal hawaii2DCdee and chose DC2ALB.  We'll see how that goes.  FYI, ALB is an international airport.  Fancy.

I think Capitol to Capital is a cute way to say that we moved from The Capital (with The Capitol) to another capital--a much smaller capital, a place that's less international, has fewer restaurants (but a chockload more mountains), but a capital nonetheless.

So if you use Twitter on the web, please remember my new name and tweet at me there!  I know it's #ff so many not the best day to switch it, but you have to nab a name when you can on the Twitters.

Let me know what you think of the new Twitter handle!  Sorry in advance for any confusion.  We'll keep eating, so I hope you'll keep reading.  The URL is staying the same (at least for now).

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Distractions

After a cup of hot chocolate and really nice & valuable talk at Café Linnéhörnan with Lisa, I was just going to walk through town to catch my bus...but somewhere along the shops I got distracted. Hihi ^^

Bought the coral mini-tee (H&M)


Before I went to Lindex and added these two to my panty collection


Also found an adorable bag! Will use it tomorrow when I go out with my chicas :D

Daily Thoughts 01/27/2011 (Web Content, Cowboy Angels)

The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement," 1866, Paul Cezanne

Daily Thoughts 01/27/2011

On the way to work, I read some more of Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley.  Some of the alternate Americas are very interesting. 

I got to work a little late because of the snow today.  I spent some time working on a grant for ereaders.  I still have quite a bit to do.  I have been looking at the Sony Reader Program for devices and ebooks.  http://ebookstore.sony.com/library-program/  I also spent some time on the Overdrive site looking at compatible devices for the ebooks which we get from them.

I also took a few minutes to look at the new library survey which we have.  We are going to look at it a little more.  It needs some work. http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/111

I put the Web Content Strategists Bible by Richard Sheffield and The Content Management Bible by Bob Boiko on hold through interlibrary loan.  No libraries in our system currently have them.

On the way home, I read some more of Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley.  It has gotten even better, there is now a twist in the turing gates.  The main character adds an element of time travel to the ability to travel to alternate histories.  This makes the reading captivating.

Ebooks, Ereaders, and Digital Content Publishing, The First Digital Show and Tell. January 20, 2011 3:30-6:30 p.m.

Ebooks, Ereaders, and Digital Content Publishing, The First Digital Show and Tell. January 20, 2011 3:30-6:30 p.m.

This was an interesting event to go to. It was at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the sixth floor. The program was sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group and Sourcebooks. The space was very nice. It had a clean, professional comfortable feel to it. This was the first of a planned series by The Book Industry Study Group.

There were two sessions where presenters were doing a round robin going from table to table giving seven minute presentations. A round robin is where you move from person to person in a circle and give a short presentation.

Both the presenters and the daters were an interesting crowd. I sat next to Paul Biba from Teleread which was interesting. He was using a Mac Air book which was incredibly thin and light. Margaret Harrison who is an acquisitioins manager from Vook was also at the table.

It was interesting. The first presenter at our table was Autography LLC. Autography had a way for authors to autograph ebooks. It also allowed them to date and add other identifying marks to ebooks. They showed us some signed ebooks. Thomas Waters and Robert Barrett were the presensters. Http://www.autography.us.com Autography won one of the audience choice awards which was a free ticket to Book Expo America.

The next person was Wendy Bronfin, Directory of Product Management from Nook Color. She demonstrated the Nook Color. It was very interesting watching her scroll through magazines as well as show childrens books on the Nook. The color was the best part. Http://www.nook.com

Mike Violano VP of business development presented a bookstore application for the Iphone called the iFlow reader . It used a rotating slideshow presentation for the books both horizontally and vertically. I liked the look of the reader. https://www.iflowreader.com/app.aspx

Michael Edson, the Principal of the Deti Group gave a brief presentation. He was talking about how to integrated social applications with publishing sites. He showed a twitter screen flow that took up the right side of a screen, next to a publishing article. This reminds me that Twitter is an open API which allows developers to do unusual things with it. http://deti-group.com/

Jonathan Bertfield CEO of Peroozal talked about his new website. This is an author site where authors recommend their favorite books. It is a way to give a unique form of readers advisory. The main authors on the site were thriller authors. I can see how this would have an appeal. I even signed up to the site to look it over more. I think this could be very useful for publishers. Http://www.peroozal.com It won one of the audience choice awards.

Patricia Samara talked about Choice Book Interactive which makes multicultural childrens books. Their series is called Alphabet Kids http://www.alphabetkids.com/ They were there to make contacts so they could make both ebooks and book apps. Book apps are a fairly new innovation. I have not heard of any libraries lending Kindles with book applications.

There was a short break between presentations where we had a chance to wander and have a light refreshment. I took a diet coke. I found it kind of amusing that they had five ladies bathrooms and one mens bathroom.


The second round of presenters started with Bowker. Patricia Payton was presenting a tool for full content indexing for ebooks.. This tool allowed creation of metadata sets for books and magazine publishers. It identifies keywords, assigns relevancy scores to keywords, tags keyword by facet, classifies general subject, audience and reading levels, and identifies similar material. Http://www.bowker.com

Another presenter was Marc Jaffe, president of Cross-Platform Publishing Advisors. He showed an immersive version of Howard and the Purple Crayon for Ipad.

Aaron Travis and Miller Alber from Read Social presented their social book application that allowed people to share notes inside of ebooks. They are focusing on selling the application to developers in different segments of the book industry. This is a tool from Book Glutton. Http://www.bookglutton.com They won the audience prize.

Leah Hultenschmidt demoed a book application for The Fiske Interactive Guide to Colleges. It included video from the colleges, text, pictures of the campus and a variety of ratings. This is more than just a book. It allowed students to generate lists of schools and plan campus visits. I really liked how the application looked. http://www.fiskeguide.com/ They plan on releasing the application for Ipad later this year.

Vook is also an interesting book application. They combine books with video and audioclips. It was quite interesting to look at. One of the most popular items was a pilates exercise book which combined video on how to do the exercises, text, and pictures. It seemed like an excellent medium for how to books. Margaret Harris the Acquisitions Manager also had worked at Overdrive. They are planning on expanding their reach. This is something that I think would be of interest to public libraries. Http://www.vook.com

The final presenter was Andrew Malkin from Zinio. Zinio presents enhanced branding and applications for digital content. It was very pretty to look at. A lot of what they showed was fashion magazine material including catalogs for fashion. The main focus of Zinio is digital magazines.

I found the whole round robin presentation to be quite different. It was a chance to learn about new technologies and talk with people who used them. It was well worth going.

Simply Hot Blogfest

Today, I'm posting a picture of my favorite coffee mug as part of Erica and Christy's Simply Hot Blogfest. Since my camera is out of batteries (and I'm too lazy to look for more), I found a picture of my mug online...


Yes, it's Happy Bunny. He's very five years ago, but at the time I bought it I thought this mug was hilarious. Oh, Happy Bunny, so cute, yet so sarcastic.

And, of course, it's totally true. I mean, mornings do suck, amiright? Seriously, I am not a morning person AT ALL, so this is literally the perfect mug for me.

The weird thing is I don't drink coffee. I know! Blasphemy. I never drink coffee. I don't really like the taste of it, plus caffeine gives me headaches. So, even though I'm not a morning person, I can never drink coffee to wake me up. Oh, the irony!

So, since I never drink coffee, this Happy Bunny mug is the only one I own. Anytime I want to serve coffee in my home, I have to pull out this mug (much to the amusement of my guests).

And that's the full history of my Happy Bunny mug. Looking forward to seeing all your super hot posts!

-- Lisa

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Content Strategy Meetup, January 25,Tuesday, 7 p.m. (Winter Social Session)

Content Management Meetup, January 25, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Winter Social

The meetup was kind of interesting.  I went there to learn more about the profession of content strategy.  It is an emerging profession.

First we met and introduced ourselves. I am hoping I remember most of the people there. There was Peter Gallo who was information architect. Brian E. Kirby was one of the organizers. He works for AIG as a managing editor for web content. He explained his job is more to decide what people are going to do with content than editing. Another of the organizers was Anna Svahn who works for an advertising agency. There was also Elena Melendy who was an independent contractor, Lynn Bernstein who works as an independent consultant, and Liz Weintrob who works for Saatchi and Saatchi as a managing editor and John who works as a technology person.

The atmosphere was quite comfortable. The first thing that they mentioned was a conference called Confab 2011 http://www.confab2011.com/ Anna Svahn was planning on going. It is in Minneapolis on May 9-11.

I asked about content strategy and what it was. They told me that it can mean a lot of different things. The field was relative new. It was about two years old. There is some relation between content strategy and content curation. It is more strategy than data management.

I asked about books which you could read. The first thing they suggested was that I look at Joe Pulizzi who is establishing the Content Management Association. He has a book called Get Content, Get Customers.

Several other books were talked about including; The Content Strategy Bible by Paul Sheffield. This book gives a good introduction to the field. Anne Rockley also wrote Managing Enterprise Content, A Unified Content Strategy. On the more technical side, they mentioned the book, Content Management Bible by Bob Boiko. It is a technical book on how to build a content management system including building, implementing, running, and managing a CMS.

For something a bit simpler, they suggested reading Paul Krug's book about usability, Don't Make Me Think. I mentioned two books, Curation Nation aby Steven Rosenbaum and Letting Go of Words by Ginny Redish. It was interesting hearing about these books.

Most of the people were focused on corporate and advertising data. Liz Weintrob came from a publishing background and worked with Saatchi and Saatchi.

The field is very new. It is about two years old. When I mentioned that I was a librarian they suggested I might be interested in information architecture. I said, no, I am more interested in what goes into a website than the structure, I do collection development.

They described that they were dealing with enterprise content, not smaller systems like Drupal which they use in our library.

I was especially interested in some of the ideas about metadata. They only told me that they are often hired to go in and cleanup existing services which have inadequate descriptors for their records. The search engines and indexes are often not user focused. They are also involved in data mapping and data planning which means they plan out maps of all the data they are going to put in.

I think it was Lynn Bernstein who talked about how she often had to create descriptors for the records from museums and film which had not been properly labeled. It was often a focus on individual records being described. Their objective was to make it easy for the user not the creator. She mentioned three questions.

What do we have?
What are we doing?
What are we going to do with it?

There was an analogy that data was put into a cup. Then the content strategist asks who is going to drink from the cup?

It was a very interesting evening. I learned quite a bit.  As always, feel free to correct me, comment, and think on what was said. Please don't mind my functional, if somewhat personal grammar.

Daily Thoughts 11/26/2011

Capricho No 43, "The sleep of reason produces monsters." Francisco De Goya


Daily Thoughts 11/26/2011


Taking a break and resting today.

Jersey Shore, Not The Snooki Kind


Let's escape the negative degrees here and jump over to summer.  Jersey shore, waves crashing, sun beating down on your reddish, freckled shoulders...

Now that I've got your attention, can we discuss those signs, above?  Over 200 Omelettes is definitely something I can support!

I have a lot of love to give.  Obviously to my mom, husband, siblings original & in-law...but also to the Jersey diner, and the egg products that inhabit them.  Poach 'em, scramble 'em, whatever.  Just bring them my way with another cup of coffee k thanks.

Check out the corned beef omelet I got from Breakfast at Mariner's Cove in Brielle, NJ:



And LC got a big veggie egg white shenanigans.  There were so many omelets to choose from, what could a girl do?  We had a lovely time at this joint, and despite crowds, we weren't rushed at all.

Mariner's Cove Restaurant on Urbanspoon


Jersey shore staple part II: pizza.  We heard from reputable sources that Pete & Elda's has some of the best pies in NJ.  We had to check it out. 

First of all, we waited a while for a seat.  It had been a long day--I drove straight from DC to Brielle for superomelette up top, then hung at the beach all day reading The Help.  Eventually we were seated.  Our pies took fooooorever, but eventually we got them--mushroom/broccoli, sausage, and pepperoni. 

These pies were tasty, but very different from NY style.  The crust wasn't thick and chewy--it was thin and crispy, almost like a cracker.  Look--it doesn't really have an end crust, or as my mom calls it, "the bones."  But it was piping hot, super fresh, and much needed on a breezy summer evening.



Pete & Elda's Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon

Summer, are you here yet?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Daily Thoughts 1/25/2011 (Cowboy Angels)

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti The Persian Sibyl, Fresco, 400 x 380 cm Cappella Sistina, Vatican, 1511

Daily Thoughts 1/25/2011

I read some of Paul McAuley Cowboy Angels.  I think it is his best book so far.  It is really fantastic.  It is a story of an America that spreads its ideals to alternate earths.  Each earth is reachable by a Turing gate.

I love the line:

BROOKHAVEN:  GATEWAY FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND RECONCILIATION
DEMOCRACY AND SOVEREIGNTY FOR ALL AMERICANS.
ONE NATION UNDER MANY SKIES.

I also went to the Content Strategy Meetup which was very interesting tonight.

Semlor ♥

The Semla period has officially begun...Oh, this will be a fat month. ^^










Silhouette - Sold

There is just something about Shelley Smart's photos that draw me, and she so kindly gives me permission, when I ask, to paint those ones that call to me.  

This is one of them.  An amazing photo, taken at sunset of this lone bird gave me the opportunity to put it on canvas.


Thank you Shelley and I would encourage everyone to visit her blog, A Year at the Beach - her beach, seabirds and waves bring a lovely feeling of tranquility.  But please respect her copyright!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Beauty Parlor Welcome Note

Uclés: Labyrinth auratic

Cànem Castellón Gallery is once again avant-garde art by the hand of artist Josep Uclés set under the series entitled "Berlin" which aims to unravel the great unknown world that is the mind.
How is the mind? Is it possible to "see" the mind? The debate about the cerebral representation and location of the mental processes have been encouraged recently catching on. Not that the debate on the relationship between brain and mind, which was always very irregular, has now been enriched with theoretical particularly original. It is more visual approaches, according to Michael Hagner says in Article How the Mind: visual brain processes , based on a number of techniques that go beyond the scope imagology any visualization technique known until now in the neurosciences. In the history of human science, innovations in display technology have influenced the perception of physical and moral nature of man. The neuroimagología has become psychological phenomena in visual categories, thus changing epistemic and cultural status. How deep and long will become these changes is not clear yet, said Michael Hagner but basically there are two possible scenarios. Or brain imaging will come to play a key role in determining our identity, at least in certain areas, or eventually lose their appeal, they see images involving alleged mental states with certain brain regions ultimately prove ineffective if not manage to provide some deeper understanding of how they relate to brain state and mental states. However, Uclés creates an identity and self-image of the mind which refers, no doubt, a sinuous organic reality and stimulating our senses. Appears to stop momentarily aside the purest branch of figuration to meet the mysterious universe that lives within us. To do Josep construct their own reality through fantasy, that is, creates a fantasy world trying to fill the gaps in existing information about the functioning of the human mind. Thus, one could say that his work expresses what would become a series of labyrinthine connections that occur in our bodies to process the information we receive, as a thread Sinop interpretant employs to capture and make sense in itself to our reality. Is a constant reference to the relationship of opposites that is established between the exterior and interior, which in turn, causes a latent tension between you and I, since perception that one will never be equal to that of another, and therefore reality is always different.
Uclés recreates the mind of a deep black color that takes us away with that sense of endless, heartbreaking silence flooded floating adrift as he tries to establish connections over an ethereal atmosphere is almost transparent, like a spot they were virgin, in which the sun's rays illuminating and comforting fall with soft golden highlights that anything unknown that we call mind. Josep again surprises us by giving a masterly great spiritual power, along auratic, all this scientific process connections and establishing networks as a network in our brain.


Daily Thoughts 1/24/2011 (Ebooks, Cowboy Angels)

Discourse into the Night, Blades, William: “Pentateuch of Printing with a Chapter on Judges” (1891)
Daily Thoughts 1/24/2011

I checked the displays this morning and placed some orders for the month.  I also posted a question on Quora and on Linked In, as well as the Linked In group, Ebooks In Libraries.  Quora has been useful for professional questions.  It is an answer system like Twitter.  The question I posted was, "Does anyone know of an example of a successful grant for ebooks and ereaders for public libraries?"

The book, 10 Rules For Strategic Innovators From Idea to Execution by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble has come in for me to read.

We had a meeting where we discussed inventorying the collection in the storage area.  I am also probably doing to be doing some weeding in the 800s in storage.

On the way home, I started reading Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley and flipped through a book on web design.  Cowboy Angels uses Turing Gates where people can travel to alternate Americas.

That One Time I Cooked

I'm kidding.  We cook all the time, but quickly.  Simply.  This was simple too, but it was a lot more food than we normally make.  We had guests, so we had to step up the volume.  When we go, we go big.

Scenes from dinner, aka between prep and serve when I remembered to take pictures, with links to recipes included:


Whole chicken in the slow cooker.  So easy.  Fell of the bone.  I put leftover juices in a gravy boat, but in another life I'd have reduced it to a thicker sauce.  Doesn't he look funny all naked in the crock pot?!  It was hard to get the skin off completely, so it looks like he's wearing socks.


Roasted eggplants that I decimated for a spread made with lemon juice, garlic, and za'atar.


Crusty no-knead on the table, along with salad, the eggplant dip, and Barbera wine from Barboursville.

We also had roasted Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon and Israeli couscous with herbs and parm.


Grandma's cookies: chocolate chip mandel bread and sour cream twists.  I made the last of the twists today and cooked them longer, until more golden.  Either way they are just as I remembered, except they aren't coming to me in a tin while I'm at sleepaway camp this time around.

  and one more


They are made with a very buttery pastry dough--zero sugar on the outside, but rolled in vanilla sugar before baking.  The recipe was recently rediscovered--I hadn't made it since college--and maybe it'll end up on The Shiksa soon, if I get my mom's permission. 

There you have it.  Dinner at my house on a Saturday night, brought to you by Google searching "whole chicken crock pot," my Google Reader, and my Grandma Renee.