Sunday Shards (Jan 8, 2006):

Smokler on January 8, 2006

On my mind this week

*Episode 3 of my podcast is ready. I’ve posted it at this new dedicated Odeo channel so it’s now easier than heck to sign up for it.

*If you live in San Francisco, please see Duma at the Balboa before it goes away. The movie is hanging by a thread and it’s one fabulous, beautiful piece of work.

*MacWorld is this week!

*Seems now you can recycle your ipod at any Apple Store.

*Reactions to John Stewart’s appointment as host of the Oscars.

*Point by point evidence of why I don’t get Starbucks at all.

*Scarrryyyy Slate piece on what business movie theatres really are in (via Cinema Treasures).

*I despise the Frat Pack.

*Rockrgrl magazine is shutting down. Their website doesn’t say why (via Scott Andrew).

*The LA Times asks, rather obviously, why don’t men read relationship books (via ArtsJournal)?

*I’m off and running with my second book proposal. YeeChah!

Google Goes Video:

Smokler on January 8, 2006

Will you be patronizing Google’s new Video Store when it opens? Episodes of CSI and Charlie Rose look rather attractive to me. I’m thinking this may be yet another nail in the coffin of the corner video store. Seeing this item (via Largehearted Boy) about the closure of the legendary Rhino Records Westwood, where I used to browse on weekends when I worked as a day laborer for Warner Brothers in the early 1990s, got me thinking there may simply not be a market for retail music and movie stores in our digitally delivered future. And while that convenience sure sounds great, the fallout may be much sadder and more painful than I had originally imagined.

Thoughts? Feelings?

Podcast Episode #3: Now on Odeo

Smokler on January 7, 2006

So hey, I’ve finally finished Episode #3 of Your 10 Minute World which clocks in at 14 minutes. Trimming evades.

I’ve exported all three episodes to a dedicated Odeo channel which will make subscribing much easier. Simply drop this URL into whatever you use to listen to podcasts. Or click on this graphic…

Subscribe to My Odeo Channel

I’ll be posting show notes on this page from now on too.

Read Recently: “Don’t Get Too Comfortable: Essays” by David Rakoff

Smokler on January 5, 2006

Rakofforg_1

Title: Don’t Get Too Comfortable: Essays

Author: David Rakoff

Backstory: Heard on Writer’s Voice Radio. Purchased during the bilio-orgy that was A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books’s 30th anniversary sale.

Notes: Enjoyed Rakoff’s first collection and would like to have his way with words someday.

Verdict: Enjoyable, sometimes slight, thoroughly crafted. I’m putting it by my desk in hopes of osmosis.

Happy New Year Load a’ Links (January 4, 2006)

Smokler on January 4, 2006

Sunday was New Year’s Day so this week’s link dump will be today. Enjoy!

*10 Web Trends the Should Die in 2006 (via micropersuasion).

*Louis Menand on “Literature’s Global Economy” (via ArtsJournal).

*My man Baratunde asks if we can please kill the music industry. I’ll second that.

*N+1 weighs in on the “reading crisis” (via Readerville).

*Lengthy profile of Roger Ebert, one of my heroes (via Kottke).

*The Real People Network (another fine Lasica project).

*Police Squad is coming to DVD (via Brad).

*Has book reviewing gone creepy (via ArtsJournal)?

*Do you understand how Urbantic can help your life? Because I don’t.

Hello there 2006…

Smokler on January 2, 2006

Hello 2006, whatcha knowin? Technically I’m not on vacation anymore so I should getting back to work. But it’s going to take a few days to clear the X-box related dentritus out of the office, to clean out the inbox and adjust to not watching Unsolved Mysteries at 11 in the morning.

Give me a day or three. In the meantime, I’ll start regular blogging again.