Linky Love

7:42 Jan 26, 2011 52

Starting as I don't mean to go on, my review of Nights in the Gardens of Spain is going to run very long, and a little late, so here's some culture-related linky love to tide you over.

Friend of Muse, BookieMonster reminds us all that Book stores need love too - and call for your recommendations.

Auckland Libraries Super Tour 2011 -- just what it says on the tin. Whatever you think of the Super City, nice to see the public libraries getting some love.

Kiwi comic-blogger Adrian Kinnaird notes a doco screening Wellywood comix geeks shouldn't miss.

Skins creator Bryan Elsley defends the US version of his show against charges of "child pornography." Elsewhere, one of my favourite American tele-bloggers, Maureen Ryan, asks a more interesting question: Is the real problem not that the show is too raunchy, but a shortage of sinners being punished hard and fast enough for American tastes?

Neil Gaiman is in Sydney -- and being a damn sight less annoying about it than Oprah.

I haven't seen Los Bros Coen's re-make of True Grit (The Dude may abide, but Jeff Bridges should be de-rezzed for Tron: Legacy), but I can't imagine it equalling Charles Portis' wonderful novel. I can't put a better case for it than this.

Still having problems getting your head around the WikiLeaks cables? Try reading them as a Patricia Highsmith novel, with jokes.

GRATUITOUS YOU TUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY:

If anyone can explain why the indecently fabulous hip-hop geek goddess Janelle Monae isn't bigger than Justin Beiber, answers on a tear-stained postcard. Please.

52 responses to this post

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 Newer→ Last

artig, 09:40 Jan 26, 2011

Bookstores do need love in order to survive. Unfortunately I predict that love is going to be more difficult to find in future. I have spent a great deal of money in bookstores, both new and second-hand, through the years. But since getting an ereader almost 6 months ago I haven't bought a single paper book. So far there is a collection of about 50 ebooks instead. Some of them were free, but most were paid for from local and overseas suppliers.

BoP • Since Oct 2010 • 41 posts Report
Sacha, 11:04 Jan 26, 2011

Is the real problem not that the show is too raunchy, but a shortage of sinners being punished hard and fast enough for American tastes?
Probably NSFW especially in puritan households - the US series reverse party trailer clip (drugs, flesh, snogging, etc):
and the UK version (similar content, less slick but minus the moral payoff):

Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report
Tom Beard, in reply to artig, 11:34 Jan 26, 2011

But since getting an ereader almost 6 months ago I haven't bought a single paper book. So far there is a collection of about 50 ebooks instead. Some of them were free, but most were paid for from local and overseas suppliers.
Which suppliers? I had a serious think about buying an e-reader, but then I thought of a random selection of books I'd read recently and looked them up on four major ebook stores (Whitcoulls, Kindle, Nook and Sony). The first two only stocked 3/10, and the others 4/10. If I had an iPad with ebook reader software for all of them, I could get 5 out of the 10.
Now, I'm not exactly a reader of airport blockbusters, but to my mind my selection wasn't wildly obscure either. Granted, not everyone's into Iain Sinclair or W.G. Sebald, but when a store omits major works by some of the greatest writers of the last century (e.g. Waugh, Ballard and Nabokov) it won't me much use to me. And quite frankly, any bookshop that doesn't stock Calvino is not a bookshop.

Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report
Russell Brown, 12:01 Jan 26, 2011

Planning to watch US Skins tonight. Will let you know.
In other news, I can't decide whether US Being Human has missed the mark or is just going to be different.

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report
Tim Michie, 12:16 Jan 26, 2011

I can't decide whether US Being Human has missed the mark or is just going to be different
And the US producers of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) declare
The version we're proposing is quite different in tone and content from the original. We also have a new title in mind
so... take out all the good then?

Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to artig, 12:21 Jan 26, 2011

I suspect my relationship with the e-reader is going to be cellphones all over again -- late, reluctant and deeply ambiguous. I don't want to be a tiresome luddite about it: They work for plenty of people, and anything that encourages reading is good with me. But I still love books as objects, and the serendipitous discoveries and happy accidents that come from browsing through a meatspace bookshop or library can't be replicated on-line.

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Sacha, 12:26 Jan 26, 2011

I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.

Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report
Lilith __, in reply to Sacha, 12:48 Jan 26, 2011

I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.
+1
Also, does the US Skins trailer look eerily like the ALAC ad with the student party where the guy goes outside and throws up on the lawn, and then you see the whole thing in reverse, including the vomiting?

Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha, 13:31 Jan 26, 2011

I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.
Delicious irony is that the biggest bitch I've seen about Being Human, Skins and the William H Macy-headlined version of Shameless (pilot written by Paul Abbot), is that they're too respectful of their parents...
Extra irony points: As the flagship of the venerable Law and Order franchise is cancelled (and the latest spin off is shedding cast and crew like a leper with his fingers caught in a blender), Law and Order: UK seems to be the only part of the family looking healthy.

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Danielle, in reply to Sacha, 14:10 Jan 26, 2011

There are ways to phrase that reasonably accurate sentiment without being quite so... whatever that was, Sacha.

Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report
Sacha, in reply to Danielle, 14:11 Jan 26, 2011

Being so annoyed? Cultural imperialism pisses me off, especially when it's done so poorly.

Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report
artig, in reply to Tom Beard, 14:13 Jan 26, 2011

I'm not your average reader or book buyer. My reading is practically limited to relatively recently published non-fiction. And so far I've found sufficient to satisfy my needs on Whitcoulls, Kobo, Amazon and O'Reilly. Several shops, especially UK ones, will not sell to overseas buyers, and it has been necessary to jump through hoops to get some of the Amazon ones. Geographic restrictions are the bane of ebook buyers.
Some time ago I did search for some novels without any luck. David Lodge was one well-known author with nothing available at the time.

BoP • Since Oct 2010 • 41 posts Report
giovanni tiso, in reply to Tom Beard, 14:18 Jan 26, 2011

And quite frankly, any bookshop that doesn't stock Calvino is not a bookshop.
And Tom's so tall and handsome too. *sigh*.

Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report
artig, in reply to Craig Ranapia, 14:20 Jan 26, 2011

I also appreciate books as objects, except when I have to pack them and move them to a new location, or find room for new ones in the library. So it surprised me that I've hardly opened a paper book since getting the ereader. However visits to bookshops are not entirely ruled out, since e-ink ebook readers are more or less useless for books with colour illustrations.
Magazines are something else entirely, and I still buy and read those. So far I've only subscribed to a single emagazine, and that's mainly due to the cost of postage for the paper version from the USA.

BoP • Since Oct 2010 • 41 posts Report
Danielle, in reply to Sacha, 14:21 Jan 26, 2011

Being so annoyed?
Well, the point is that sometimes it works out OK. See the American Office (at least in the first few seasons, it's fallen off a bit now) - I was hugely dubious, and it became its own fantastic thing. So it isn't necessarily that all of them are 'provincial hicks'.
Then again, I am the first to whine when they can't understand me in a restaurant, so I suppose I should shut up. :)

Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report
giovanni tiso, in reply to Sacha, 14:23 Jan 26, 2011

I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.
Must you? How about this: I wish Shakespeare got over his need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with his stupid accent.
Really, Sacha, come on.

Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report
recordari, in reply to giovanni tiso, 15:02 Jan 26, 2011

I wish Shakespeare
Or Chaucer, for that matter. Talk about provincial hick. Not even English.
[Trolley]

AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report
Islander, in reply to recordari, 16:21 Jan 26, 2011

'Sumer is icumen in'
though I actually agree - somewhat- with both Sacha and Giovanni.
I mean, a nation that uses 'Fall' but finds our 'fortnight' risible? A nation that uses non-metric measures in this day & age? (With some local oddities thrown in?) And expects the rest of the world to - if not follow suit- at least understand their useages?
Yep, I really understand that they're rilly big & rillyrilly powerful - but the PROC is now headed to be #1 on this wee planet out on the edge of nothingness, and they're not expecting the rest of us to be familiar with their useages.
Yet.

Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report
Danielle, in reply to Islander, 16:48 Jan 26, 2011

a nation that uses 'Fall' but finds our 'fortnight' risible?
I would be quite keen on seeing any examples you can find of Americans finding 'fortnight' 'risible'. In my experience they either have no idea what the word means or calmly accept it as a dialectical difference. Much like, say, 'autumn' and 'fall'.

Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report
giovanni tiso, 16:57 Jan 26, 2011

Yes, I must say that the only pieces of linguistic snobbery I've ever experienced or witnessed have been directed at the American dialect.

Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report
Islander, in reply to Danielle, 17:22 Jan 26, 2011

Danielle - I've had numerous personal encounters with USA citizens (especially during the book tours I made during 1985 through to 1995, but also in Hawai'i 1978, and in many dozens of emails/letters throughout that period) questioning
'fortnight'."That's Shakespearean" is the polite response from the literate. The impolite response (mainly from e-mailers I must say) is (translated) "wanky use of archaisms."
Giovanni - you havent read the reviews of one, especially, of my books. A constant complaint is that, basically, I write ANZ english - and a lot of overseas reviewers dont like that.

Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report
Russell Brown, in reply to Sacha, 17:49 Jan 26, 2011

I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.
Well, it worked with The Office and All in the Family ...
And, really, it's a damn shame that Honest, the US remake of Outrageous Fortune was a bit crap (without being nearly as crap as the British version). Had it caught on that would have been very good for its creators. So I'm alright with it in that sense.

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report
Sue, 18:05 Jan 26, 2011

on the subject of US TV, I'm enjoying episodes but then I'm not sure if it's the writing or than I'm a green wing fangirl, so stephen mangan and Tamsin Greig can do no wrong in my eyes.
can i just make a big note of hooray for bookstores and the printed word. Everyone i know with an e-reader keeps telling me books are dead, but i truly believe they are so very wrong.

Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 527 posts Report
giovanni tiso, in reply to Islander, 18:05 Jan 26, 2011

Giovanni - you havent read the reviews of one, especially, of my books. A constant complaint is that, basically, I write ANZ english - and a lot of overseas reviewers dont like that.
You mean just American or also British? I've often been puzzled by anglicised/americanised editions that localise the spelling - as if one couldn't deal with the few differences.

Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report
Islander, in reply to giovanni tiso, 18:13 Jan 26, 2011

I mean all English versions (there were 7 at one time - there are still 4.)
Because of the contract terms, it is the original ANZ version (heavily spell-checked after the initial Spiral editions!) that is used in all English-language versions.

Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report