Category Archives: Books

Daniel Radcliffe, dirty dawg!!!

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Wait till JK Rowling finds out about this!!!

On the other hand, rowr!

101 most influential imaginary friends

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my imaginary friend can beat up your imaginary friend. No, really he can.Having read this USA Today list (which I came to via Fark) I must say it’s pretty solid, even though they leave off, through an entirely understandable wish not to be firebombed, the names of a lot of imaginary religious characters. One correction, however, seems absolutely neccessary:

Big Brother is no longer imaginary.

1. The Marlboro ManBush doublespeak

2. Big Brother

3. King Arthur

4. Santa Claus (St. Nick)

5. Hamlet

6. Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster

7. Siegfried

8. Sherlock Holmes

9. Romeo and Juliet

10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Read the rest of the list here. But know that they will be watching you…

Big Brother

Shebeen Club October Meeting: Creativity Tips for Writers

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the bar of the ShebeenCross-posted on the Shebeen Club website too. 

What: The Shebeen Club : Creativity Tips for Writers
When: 7-9pm, Tuesday, October 17 (3rd Tuesday of each month)
Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 217 Carrall Street in Gastown
Why: Up your creativity with one of the world’s best creativity catalysts
Who: Contact lorraine.murphyatgmaildotcom for more information
How(much)? $15 includes dinner and a drink

Background: Each month The Shebeen Club gathers to catch up, gossip, eat, drink and learn about literature in all its many versions. We’ve featured Ann Vicente, maker of fine art books, actor and speech coach Jesse Jhames reading James Joyce, and many talented local authors including Robert Chaplin, James Sherrett, Sylvia Lim, comicbook empresario Sandford Tuey, and poet Lucan Charchuk, among many illustrious others.

Heir to the popular Stammtisch, created by Christoph Kapp of McGraw Hill, the Shebeen Club revives the warm camaraderie and vicious rivalry that has characterized all great literary meetings from the days of the Algonquin Round Table to last week at Gawker. The pen is mightier than the sword, so every third Tuesday of the month ditch the remote, stuff a messenger bag with manuscripts, adjust your berets, and head down to the Shebeen.

The Procedure: Sink into a warm velvet banquette and enjoy our programme: your basic meet-and-mingle from 7-7:30, followed by a riveting, yet brief presentation, followed by Q&A and then breaking up into casual groups for wandering, boozy reminiscences of the time you snubbed Jay McInerney in the airport. A fine dinner of bangers and mash or vegetarian pasta from the kitchen of the Irish Heather, plus one glass of wine, beer or pop are included in the $15.

This Month: Our next Shebeen Club meeting is this Tuesday, October 17th from 7-9pm, and our featured speaker is Linda Naiman, internationally-known creativity instructor.

Linda Naiman will present strategies for cultivating creativity used by writers, artists, entrepreneurs and scientists, to help you keep your own creativity fresh and alive. Topics include: The distinction between creativity and problem-solving, the right-brain myth, the genius myth, and principles that encourage creativity.

This is an exercise-based workshop, so be ready to participate! Pencils and notebooks out, ladies and gentlemen!

Bio: Linda Naiman is founder of Creativity at Work.com , a Vancouver-based coaching, consulting and training group at the forefront of transformational change in organizations. She is co-author of Orchestrating Collaboration at Work, and is known internationally for pioneering arts-based learning and development in organizations. Her work has been documented in several books: Art-based Approaches: A Practical Handbook to Creativity at Work (Chemi 2006), Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results (Silverman 2006), and Artful Creation: Learning Tales of Arts-in-Business (Darsø 2004). Her work has also been featured in The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, and Canadian Business Magazine. Linda is an associate business coach at the University of British Columbia, and an adjunct faculty member of the Banff Centre Leadership Lab. She holds a BFA from California College of the Arts, and a diploma in Graphic design from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.
For more information, contact: Lorraine Murphy, raincoaster media ltd www.shebeenclub.com or  lorraine.murphyatgmaildotcom 778-235-0592

James Bond, where are you when we need you?

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Miss Tibet, 2005And don’t tell me he’s here. Daniel Craig may be a fine actor and a decorative one at that, but he’s just no James Bond.

But, in that, he’s set the standard for spies around the world today. Not only do the Americans have problems with their middle-management selling them out for a powerboat and a two-bedroom condo in South America, but apparently India‘s spies are not exactly equipped with nerves of steel. Nerves of spun glass perhaps. Got this via Fark.

Miss Tibet and Miss China, 2002. You won't be seeing this tableau again soonEVERY beauty pageant comes with its requisite dose of melodrama: temper tantrums, lost tiaras and controversial disqualifications.

But this year’s Miss Tibet contest took the customary histrionics to new heights when it opened yesterday in Dharamsala, the Indian town where the Dalai Lama has lived since fleeing his homeland.

On the eve of the competition, one entrant was ordered to withdraw because she serves in a covert Tibetan unit of the Indian Army specialising in high-altitude combat. Pema Choedon, the soldier turned beauty queen, was so upset that she had a panic attack and was taken to hospital.

That’s some combat specialist! I bet Sandra Bullock could kick her ass!

Miss Congeniality, being uncongenial

In ass-kicking news, the one Tibetan who could give Bond a run for his money in the Cool department says he wants a shot at the crown as well.the swimsuit competition. Believe me, nobody's too eager for him to get this idea anytime soon

When the first contest was held, the government-in-exile’s prime minister denounced it as “un-Tibetan” and “aping Western culture”.

The Dalai Lama has since softened the official line.

“If there is Miss Tibet, why not Mr Tibet?”

capitalism goes too far: book sale blasphemy!

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Orwell is going to rise from the grave and come for you

from I Believe in Advertising, via Gawker. I don’t care if it IS 30% off, it’s still got to piss off the gods of literature! And then there’s Dumas, Discounted:

Dumas discounted!

and GGM Marked Down to Move:

GGM, marked down to move!