The high today is supposed to be 1° (34° F), but this morning it was a balmy -2°! It’s beginning to look a bit like winter is on its way, and this Californian is knitting madly, so I’ll keep this quick:
Now that Arthur C. Clarke is ninety, he’s made his gift wishes known on Youtube. He wistfully commented that he wished Earth would receive alien contact. That’d be one heck of a birthday gift.
An interesting study gearing up in the UK — playground song as subversive humorous political commentary. How many playground ditties contain the name “Tony Blair?” Well, they’ll all have to be changed now. Fortunately, Bush rhymes with everything.
Poet Wendy Cope cruises the Web making sites remove her poetry. She’s obsessive about copyright law, and hates the idea that no one is paying her. The Guardian Blog argues that reposting poems is doing no one harm. Poetry People: what say you?
“More careful analysis shows that the entire product line–books, DVDs, ball gowns, necklaces, toy cell phones, toothbrush holders, T-shirts, lunch boxes, backpacks, wallpaper, sheets, stickers etc.–is saturated with a particularly potent time-release form of the date rape drug.
We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept, which was spawned in the Disney studios.”
WHOA! The online edition of The Nation has nothing nice to say about Disney Princess products.
We’re a little late, but we wanted to wish a Happy Blogversary to Jen Robinson — two years of reading and writing and sharing about children’s literature in her semi-professional capacity. Three cheers for those of us without kids who dare the strange glances of parents and librarians, wade into the kid’s section, and champion books for our favorite age group. Thanks, Jen, for all you do!
And now a cup of something hot is calling me! More soon from the frozen north!
Thanks, Tanita! It’s definitely helped me, meeting other adult advocates of children’s books who also don’t have children. I used to feel a bit odd hanging around the children’s section of the library, but I’m mostly over that. Thanks for all you do, too! And stay warm over there.
Hey, TadMack. I’ll have to check out that piece in The Nation.
I know you’re a Grace Paley fan, so wanted to let you know that there are 2 poems by her in the current (12/24-31) issue of The New Yorker. And they’re available online! Yay. I linked ’em at the blog today.
http://www.newyorker.com
Stay warm. It’s cold as all get-out here, too, but not below zero. Ew.
Susan T.
Chicken Spaghetti
I thought that the Guardian Blog post was an apt response to Wendy Cope’s article about copyright infringement. While I understand (and have shared) Cope’s frustration with people photocopying her poems and sending them out to all their friends, I do think it stands an artist in good stead to offer some of his or her works for free and say, “Okay, now, if you liked those, then please consider buying this.” The musician John Vanderslice has lots of free mp3 downloads on his site, and he shakes his head in wonder when he goes to other bands’ sites that have one free song, and it’s streaming media. Generosity of spirit goes a long way in terms of publicity, I think.
I agree, A. — I entered a writing competition, and as a thank-you for entering, a writer has sent me a month of short stories — for free. I am loving his work, and you can bet I am HIGHLY motivated to pay for more.