Pity the clueless agent and editor fooled by Another case of Faux Memoir
Riverhead Books (Penguin USA) has offered to refund purchase price to buyers who ask
A White Valley Girl Pretends to Have Grown up in Gangland
It reminds me of a young person in a gym encounter:
Young person (to oldster): What do you do?
Oldster: I'm a novelist.
Young person: Do you write fiction or non-fiction?
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check out the newly launched
http://wowowow.com
and the NYT coverage
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/fashion/06WOW.html
I did write in and comment about the silly high-heeled shoe icon as the tag for "The Women"...am I the only one of the opinion they could come up with an icon that was not emblematic of gender specific torture and bondage and many trips to the chiropodist/chiropractor?
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Panelists (L to R) : Lawrence Lessig, Andrew Keen, Hal Varian, Tom Rubin, Paul Cappuccio, and the Honorable Alex Kozinski
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Not Katrina, but when the rain comes down, so do the palm branches...
We DO need the rain:)
Photo credit: YoursTruly
Rightfully reserved
Use with caution
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From the BBC:
Hedgehogs join 'protection' list
Hedgehogs and house sparrows have been included on an updated list of
species and habitats which need protection.
The new Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) has identified 1,149 species and
65 habitats in the UK as being in need of conservation and greater
protection.
When the action plan was launched in 1997, it listed 577 species - half
the number included in the updated version.
Wildlife experts said this was a result of wider research and not
necessarily down to more habitat being destroyed.
Other animals added to the list for the first time include the grass
snake and the garden tiger moth; while otters, bottlenose dolphins and
red squirrels are deemed to remain in need of habitat protection.
A separate study, also published on Tuesday, also highlighted the
decline in the UK's hedgehog population.
The study by the University of London for the People's Trust for
Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society listed
tidier gardens and urbanisation as key factors affecting the fall in
the number of the small mammals.
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The New Spam puts me in mind of retail ploys ubiquitous in the carriage trade of brick and mortar.
My regular readers may recall I announced a talk I'm giving January 20 in Berkeley on patents and open source (see earlier Post). Haberdashery distinguishes Live appearances from Internet radio and conference calls. My voice is ready for prime time with one cup of coffee bean slurry and a two minute Zen-oid clearing exercise. "Live" requires donning some variety of garb or raiment.
Suffice it to say as part of preparing for a Live event, I had occasion to be in a retail establishment. A high rent brick and mortar, part of the entertainment is a full performance of the siren song of seduction. Cued by my exit from the fitting room in raiment, the attending sales diva emits the comforting percussive short gasp, a nd delivers the solo a cappella : "no one looks as good in that [insert genus or species here] as you do!!!" The well-choreographed retail staff hit their marks at the chorus and extoll the truly stunning and remarkable and singular fashion triumph. Playing the role of "the Mark", you a) suspend any disbelief in the credibility of the sirens and b) leave the store with some tissue paper and a bag with handles, and, tote that Logo Bearing Bag hither and yon, further advertising either i) you are the sort of person who obviously benefits from patronizing such establishments and are to be emulated; or ii) thank heaven you finally found the answer to whatever image issues you present, cuz the answer is , of course, in the bag, and such bold admission that you currently are the "before" picture and laudably seek to portray an "after". In short, you are walking endorsement.
A primitive siren song of sorts is emerging int the New Internet Spam. Daily I get communications asking me to link, shill, promote, mention, recommend or otherwise advertise other blogs. And at first glance, they appear to be written to me, as they reference my blog. Upon closer inspection, they are little more than impersonal fliers- it becomes obvious the sender has not read my blog, is not seeking to make any connection, and is simply selling themselves. One amusing digital shyster poses as a Germanic admirer who writes in ESL prose, and offers gusty encouragement to "keep up the good work" and includes a link to some pharmaceutical company. Lars the Bot as I've dubbed "him", is starting to really care about my writing career. As his attentions increase, no doubt he'll send me a list of the techno music he prefers. [Be still my heart].
Another type is the self-promoting attorney at blog, who apparently want to post, link and be merry in the promiscuous and indiscriminate digital lemming fields of blogland.
And the lust for "blog traction", to "get a buzz", to show traffic and get numbers of hits...of getting three of your anonymous friends to post equally self-serving and uncritical comments [Lars has friends tell him how great he looks and then the thread is all about how anyone who is anyone should want to be like them, those lucky guys]. Is the least common denominator now click your heels [post] and repeat three times [get your cronies to cackle in tune]. Based on this rigorous discourse, whatever you post is worthy or repetition a la linking/endorsement? So, Toto, you want me to carry the bag with handles with the Logo on the side, do you -
Even the Cliff Notes for Dale Carnegie's "How to Make Friends and Influence People"
arm one to spot the impotence of the tepid New Spam. Lars and his friends can be forgiven as they are earnest Bots, and to their credit, they actually pretend to be personal despite their illiteracy. But among attorneys at blog, mass mailings to other attorneys bespeaks a sort of unsophisticated desperation to get any scrap of attention. In a profession where relations of trust and confidence are paramount, the New Spam is clumsy fumbling of a powerful communication tool and a missed opportunity for genuine relationship of value with other professionals.
I suspect the root cause of the sham shilling is a shopping ettiquette deficit. Had any of the attorney at blog prose posers honed their interpersonal skills in the badlands of brick and mortar retail, they would know there are powerful magic words to utter to close the deal....i.e. to get the Mark to Link to You....
When "the Mark" says "I don't know if I like this Linking to your Blog....I'm not sure it's a flattering look"....the prose poser MUST intone the ritual response, to wit: "No one looks as good in that [blog] as you do!"......
Comments? Lars?
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