Scientists excavating in an Armenian cave discovered a size 7 right shoe that is 5,500 years old.
Author: David Barker
America’s Next Top Stick Person
Apparently there”s this show on TV, hosted by Tyra Banks, which celebrates eating disorders in America. I’d love to watch it sometime, but it’s only on during my designated times when I lock myself in the bathroom and make myself puke into the toilet. It’s this after-dinner ritual I have.
Ulysses Unseen or How Apple got into the Censorship Business
Remember Apple’s “1984” commercial — the one where the woman smashes the giant video screen while thousands of blank-eyed automatons look on, and then a voice tells us that “On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ”1984.””
Queering Pride Toronto
One of the worst things that can happen to a marginalized group is to go mainstream. When the revolutionaries become the ruling party, you know you’re fucked.
Bill C-32 – Copyright Modernization Act and DRM
The conservatives said they were going to introduce new copyright legislation within six weeks. That was back on May 05, 2010 and true to their word, they introduced Bill C32 — the Copyright Modernization Act on June 2nd.
Canada Gets New Lit Mag: Poetry Is Dead
Introducing the latest poetry magazine to show its face in Canada—this one from Vancouver: it’s called Poetry Is Dead. Irony abounds. For example, on page 1 we have a (moderately graphically altered) excerpt from John Donne’s 10th sonnet. Ironic because an avant garde poetry magazine is opening its doors with a work from the classical…
Griffin Poetry Prize Winners Announced
This evening marked the 10th annual Griffin Poetry Prize. Prizes were awarded to Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (international) for The Sun-fish and to Karen Solie (Canadian) for Pigeon. Read the Griffin Trust’s press release here. Learn more about Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin here. And read a review of The Sun Fish in The Guardian. Learn more about…
Sean Stanley wins best foreign book trailer
The Moby Awards are the creature of the MobyLives book blog by the Hoboken-based Melville House Publishing. They celebrate the best (and worst) in a growing book-publishing trend — the book trailer. If movies can have them, then why can’t books?
The Certainty Dream
There’s a traditional view of how a poem relates to the world that has been with us for almost 2,500 years. This view is a reflection of an equally traditional view of how our world is organized. Although we’d like to describe ourselves as up-to-the-minute advanced scientific creatures, this ancient view is still with us in subtle ways.
Poem: There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
A children’s verse takes on a sinister tone when it’s tied to the irresponsible conduct of BP, the world’s 4th largest TNC, an organization which continues to feed us lies even as it becomes apparent that BP has perpetrated one of the worst environmental disasters in history.
Margaret Atwood Acknowledges Mistake
One of the most difficult things for a person to do is to admit when he’s wrong.
G8 to share Deerhurst with Mosquitoes
With the G8 leaders summit fast approaching (June 25th & 26th), security seems to be on everybody’s mind, but the biggest threat to the safety and comfort of world leaders will probably come in six-legged packages.
Writer’s Digest posts advice from Jerry Jenkins
There’s a post on Writer’s Digest titled “8 Basic Writing Blunders” directed at writers of fiction. Pretty standard stuff: avoid clichés of one sort or another; don’t tell the reader what s/he’s supposed to think; don’t be all preachy; don’t use more than one coincidence to drive the plot. But notice who wrote the article: Jerry B. Jenkins.
Becoming Human by Jean Vanier
ean Vanier’s Becoming Human serves as an excellent companion piece to Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget which I reviewed earlier this month. You may recall Lanier’s thesis: in creating software that facilitates online interaction, designers often contribute to alienating experiences because they fail to give prior thought to the question of what it means to be human.
Yonge Street at Night in North York
Last night me and my camera walked a section of Yonge Street to see what we could see. I walked from Cummer Ave. south to Empress. I like Yonge Street because there’s lots of traffic and lights. In other words, it’s visually interesting.