Must be all those Victoria magazines my mom had lying around when I was a kid.
Vintage bowls from here.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Spoilers ahead
Oh, on another note. We Netflixed 500 Days of Summer. Loved the outfits. And Summer's wallpaper. Here's my review:
This is a movie about a total bitch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Summer was upfront with Tom about not wanting a boyfriend. Summer didn't know she would meet someone else she did want to commit to. Tom just wasn't the one for Summer and that wasn't Summer's fault. Etc. Etc.
That's all very well and true, but when Summer ran into Tom at the wedding, she should never have led him on like that--especially if she was dating someone who was going to propose in just a few days. She should not have led him on at that wedding, and she should not have invited him to her party on Friday. And once he showed up at her party she should have taken him aside and told him she had gotten engaged. She knew how he felt about her. It was bad enough that she led him on for the whole movie, hiding behind "I told you I didn't want a boyfriend." (I'm not saying she wasn't honest. But wasn't it obvious to her that he wasn't being honest about not wanting to be serious?) I felt like it was just MEAN the way she kept giving him hope. If anyone other than Zooey Deschanel played Summer, the whole world would agree with me.
Despite all that, I was pretty neutral about the whole thing--didn't love it, didn't hate it--until the end when Tom meets a new girl (thank goodness. MOVE ON, TOM). But her name? Good grief. Say it with me, folks:
Autumn.
500 Days of Summer, could you POSSIBLY get any more twee?
This is a movie about a total bitch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Summer was upfront with Tom about not wanting a boyfriend. Summer didn't know she would meet someone else she did want to commit to. Tom just wasn't the one for Summer and that wasn't Summer's fault. Etc. Etc.
That's all very well and true, but when Summer ran into Tom at the wedding, she should never have led him on like that--especially if she was dating someone who was going to propose in just a few days. She should not have led him on at that wedding, and she should not have invited him to her party on Friday. And once he showed up at her party she should have taken him aside and told him she had gotten engaged. She knew how he felt about her. It was bad enough that she led him on for the whole movie, hiding behind "I told you I didn't want a boyfriend." (I'm not saying she wasn't honest. But wasn't it obvious to her that he wasn't being honest about not wanting to be serious?) I felt like it was just MEAN the way she kept giving him hope. If anyone other than Zooey Deschanel played Summer, the whole world would agree with me.
Despite all that, I was pretty neutral about the whole thing--didn't love it, didn't hate it--until the end when Tom meets a new girl (thank goodness. MOVE ON, TOM). But her name? Good grief. Say it with me, folks:
Autumn.
500 Days of Summer, could you POSSIBLY get any more twee?
Queen takes knight?
The latest battle on the publishing warfront. Over the weekend Amazon stopped selling all books published by Macmillan due to the ongoing e-book pricing disagreements. They capitulated later****, but the damage had been done to some books' Amazon rankings. Amazon is taking the stance that they think $12.99 and $14.99--the prices publishers want to set for e-books--is "needlessly high." I really recommend clicking those links; the articles aren't long and they present a clear overview of the situation that's more and more going to affect how the books you read are published:
Last Thursday, Mr. Sargent flew to Seattle to explain the pricing and new sales model to Amazon. He said Amazon could continue to buy e-books on the same terms it does now — allowing the retailer to set consumer prices — but that the publisher would delay the release of all digital editions by several months after the hardcover publication.
Amazon buys and resells e-books in the same way it handles printed books, by paying publishers a wholesale price that is generally equivalent to half the list price of a print edition. Because Amazon has discounted the price of most new and popular e-books on its Kindle e-reader to $9.99, it loses money on most of those sales.
Amazon’s goal has been strategic: it aims to establish a low price for e-books that will have the ancillary benefit of helping it sell more Kindle devices.
Amazon’s decision is also a victory for Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, who first pitched the idea of selling e-books under the agency model to book publishers earlier this year. Now Apple, whose iPad tablet is due in March, can compete on fairly equal footing with Amazon.
(bold emphasis mine)
What do you guys think? If you had a Kindle, would you resist paying $12.99 or $14.99 for an e-book? Keep in mind that this content is exactly the same as a $26.99 hardcover. Same text, same editing, same copyediting, same page design.
****Update: Note that Amazon announced they would cede, but the "buy" buttons on Macmillan book pages have still not been activated.
Last Thursday, Mr. Sargent flew to Seattle to explain the pricing and new sales model to Amazon. He said Amazon could continue to buy e-books on the same terms it does now — allowing the retailer to set consumer prices — but that the publisher would delay the release of all digital editions by several months after the hardcover publication.
Amazon buys and resells e-books in the same way it handles printed books, by paying publishers a wholesale price that is generally equivalent to half the list price of a print edition. Because Amazon has discounted the price of most new and popular e-books on its Kindle e-reader to $9.99, it loses money on most of those sales.
Amazon’s goal has been strategic: it aims to establish a low price for e-books that will have the ancillary benefit of helping it sell more Kindle devices.
Amazon’s decision is also a victory for Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, who first pitched the idea of selling e-books under the agency model to book publishers earlier this year. Now Apple, whose iPad tablet is due in March, can compete on fairly equal footing with Amazon.
(bold emphasis mine)
What do you guys think? If you had a Kindle, would you resist paying $12.99 or $14.99 for an e-book? Keep in mind that this content is exactly the same as a $26.99 hardcover. Same text, same editing, same copyediting, same page design.
****Update: Note that Amazon announced they would cede, but the "buy" buttons on Macmillan book pages have still not been activated.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Beginning of the end (or the new beginning, whatever)
This NYTimes article about the James Patterson juggernaut is interesting, but what I wanted to share from it is this succinct summary of how publishing began to freefall:
"The story of the blockbuster’s explosion is, paradoxically, bound up with that of publishing’s recent troubles. They each began with the wave of consolidation that swept through the industry in the 1980s. Unsatisfied with publishing’s small margins, the new conglomerates that now owned the various publishing houses pressed for bigger best sellers and larger profits. Mass-market fiction had historically been a paperback business, but publishers now put more energy and resources into selling these same books as hardcovers, with their vastly more favorable profit margins. At the same time, large stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders were elbowing out independent booksellers. Their growing dominance of the market gave them the leverage to demand wholesale discounts and charge hefty sums for favorable store placement, forcing publishers to sell still more books. Big-box stores like Costco accelerated the trend by stocking large quantities of books by a small group of authors and offering steep discounts on them. Under pressure from both their parent companies and booksellers, publishers became less and less willing to gamble on undiscovered talent and more inclined to hoard their resources for their most bankable authors. The effect was self-fulfilling. The few books that publishers invested heavily in sold; most of the rest didn’t. And the blockbuster became even bigger."
"The story of the blockbuster’s explosion is, paradoxically, bound up with that of publishing’s recent troubles. They each began with the wave of consolidation that swept through the industry in the 1980s. Unsatisfied with publishing’s small margins, the new conglomerates that now owned the various publishing houses pressed for bigger best sellers and larger profits. Mass-market fiction had historically been a paperback business, but publishers now put more energy and resources into selling these same books as hardcovers, with their vastly more favorable profit margins. At the same time, large stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders were elbowing out independent booksellers. Their growing dominance of the market gave them the leverage to demand wholesale discounts and charge hefty sums for favorable store placement, forcing publishers to sell still more books. Big-box stores like Costco accelerated the trend by stocking large quantities of books by a small group of authors and offering steep discounts on them. Under pressure from both their parent companies and booksellers, publishers became less and less willing to gamble on undiscovered talent and more inclined to hoard their resources for their most bankable authors. The effect was self-fulfilling. The few books that publishers invested heavily in sold; most of the rest didn’t. And the blockbuster became even bigger."
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Walk like an Egyptian
In the colds of January, as manuscript pages pile up around my ears (I am almost being literal; you should see the floor by my bed), where do I turn when I need a comfort read? I'll tell you. Elizabeth Peters.
I don't know why I love her books so much--wait, yes I do. They combine mystery, adventure, romance, and often an historical aspect or setting with very feisty feminist protagonists and lots of intelligent humor. I am equally devoted to her Amelia Peabody series and her Vicky Bliss series, though I also adore her standalones, her Jacqueline Kirby mini series, and her pseudonymous Barbara Michaels paranormals.
This past week I have been redevouring the Vicky books, in which our art historian heroine takes off from her Munich museum job at a moment's notice (her boss doesn't mind because he usually joins her as a Watsonian sidekick) for sundry international locations and the antiquities capers they contain. I think my favorite is the penultimate, Night Train to Memphis (that's Egypt, not Tennessee). I've read it so many times that the ink is smudged. Chris said, "I need to get you some new books." No way! You can have your Jonathan Lethems and Jonathan Safran Foers. Give me Elizabeth Peters any day.
I don't know why I love her books so much--wait, yes I do. They combine mystery, adventure, romance, and often an historical aspect or setting with very feisty feminist protagonists and lots of intelligent humor. I am equally devoted to her Amelia Peabody series and her Vicky Bliss series, though I also adore her standalones, her Jacqueline Kirby mini series, and her pseudonymous Barbara Michaels paranormals.
This past week I have been redevouring the Vicky books, in which our art historian heroine takes off from her Munich museum job at a moment's notice (her boss doesn't mind because he usually joins her as a Watsonian sidekick) for sundry international locations and the antiquities capers they contain. I think my favorite is the penultimate, Night Train to Memphis (that's Egypt, not Tennessee). I've read it so many times that the ink is smudged. Chris said, "I need to get you some new books." No way! You can have your Jonathan Lethems and Jonathan Safran Foers. Give me Elizabeth Peters any day.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
My king hung on quite valiantly
Super busy at work. And all I want to do is read chess tips, now that Chris has taught me how to play!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Upon re-reading this post, I sound quite sci-fi.
It's a new week.
And I had the nicest weekend. We slept in both days, and on Saturday went to see Avatar in 3D; Shelby came over and Chris made jambalaya and we watched the special features on our Star Trek Bluray (!) disc. On Sunday I painted my nails and tidied the place and did laundry and knitted and we took down the tree.
Consequently, I avow to be a more cheerful bird this week.
What about you? What are you up to this week? I need to go shopping for a baby shower this weekend (one that is ending at the same time that a certain football game starts. My poor Saints-cheering husband is deciding whether he's going to drive me to the shower as he had previously blithely agreed to or let me brave my uninsured self behind the wheel...)
And I had the nicest weekend. We slept in both days, and on Saturday went to see Avatar in 3D; Shelby came over and Chris made jambalaya and we watched the special features on our Star Trek Bluray (!) disc. On Sunday I painted my nails and tidied the place and did laundry and knitted and we took down the tree.
Consequently, I avow to be a more cheerful bird this week.
What about you? What are you up to this week? I need to go shopping for a baby shower this weekend (one that is ending at the same time that a certain football game starts. My poor Saints-cheering husband is deciding whether he's going to drive me to the shower as he had previously blithely agreed to or let me brave my uninsured self behind the wheel...)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)