Archive for the ‘Writing/Publishing’ Category

It must be true. I saw it on the internet.

My friend Marc posted a video on his website yesterday. It’s interestng — a sort of “Oh. My. God. Social Media is not a fad. It is taking over the world!” manifesto … with waves of what Marc called “facts and figures that are hard to ignore”. Having watched it, a few things struck me: [...]

The difference between a ‘disc’ and a ‘disk’…

They’re pronounced the same, but, technically speaking, there is a distinct difference between a disc and a disk.

Critic — a definition

A critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by good taste. — Whitney Balliett, Jazz critic and book reviewer for the New Yorker magazine 1954-2001. Yep, that about sums it up. Does it for me. (Of course, like beauty, ‘good taste’ is in the eye of the beholder.)

Sacred cows and calls for censorship

“Don’t mention the war” — Basil, Fawlty Towers I took some interest in a recent comment on a discussion forum which attacked a journalist for reporting bankruptcy proceedings being undertaken against a failed property developer — accusing the journalist of improper motives for the story. The critic himself has a somewhat unfortunate track record in business [...]

Wow, BRILLIANT writing!

Petulance and the Prize By Garrison Keillor New York Times October 14, 2009 – NYTimes.com Evidently some people were disappointed that Dick Cheney didn’t receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and believe me, I sympathize — I thought Philip Roth should’ve gotten the literature prize instead of that grumpy Romanian lady with the severe hair — [...]

Ripples flow from this brave woman’s stand

There’s a good article on The Independent website about the Liskula Cohen/NYC model case, which I mentioned earlier. The more I read about this gutsy woman and what she’s standing up for the more I like. Having been victimised by someone lobbing slimeballs at her from behind a mask of anonymity, she pursued Google to [...]

How to protect yourself from extortion: Er, live a ‘clean’ life

David Letterman Reveals Extortion Attempt Over His Affairs – NYTimes.com By Bill Carter October 1, 2009 David Letterman, the late night talk show host, said on his show on Thursday that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt over charges of sexual affairs with staff members, claims that he conceded were true. Mr. [...]

Today’s ‘Word of mouth’

Credibility, celebrity and their effects… Stephen Fry, whose Twitter followers now number 770,000, recently spiked sales in a book he liked… A book of short stories has leaped up Amazon’s book charts to become second only to Dan Brown after Stephen Fry endorsed it on his Twitter feed. Early today (10th September), the actor told [...]

OK, now this is getting silly …

Blogger told to stop advising on immigration A blogger who came to New Zealand from Britain has been warned to stop giving immigration advice on her blog – or face prosecution under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act. The Immigration Advisers Authority says Helen Winterbottom was breaking the law by posting on avalonsguide.com, and has told [...]

Handling the truth… and a parable

Col. Jessep: You want answers? Kaffee: I think I’m entitled. Col. Jessep: You want answers? Kaffee: I want the truth! Col. Jessep: You can’t HANDLE the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? I have a [...]