Filed under: Events | Tags: Anvil, Arsenal Pulp Press, Books on the Radio, D&M Publishers, Geist Magazine, W2, W2 Culture and Media House
Every Wednesday @ 7pm in February 2010. 112 W. Hastings Street. DTES!
Filed under: Enthusiasms | Tags: Books on the Radio, Smells like Content, The Books, Video Poetry, YouTube
Balance.
Repetition.
Proposition.
Mirrors.
Most of all, the world is a place where parts of wholes are described
within an overarching paradigm of clarity and accuracy.
The context in which makes possible an underlying
sense of the way it all fits together,
despite our collective tendency not to conceive of it as such.
But then again, the world without end is a place where souls are combined,
but with an overbearing feeling of disparity and disorderliness.
To ignore it is impossible without getting oneself into all of kinds of trouble,
despite one’s best intentions to not get entangled with it so much.
Meanwhile,
the statues are bleeding green.
And others are saying things much better than we ever could;
as the quiet become suddenly verbose.
And the hail’s heralding the size of nickels.
And the street corners are gnashing together like the gears
inside the head of some omniscient engineer.
And downward flows the garnered wisdom that has never died
Then finally,
we opened the box, we couldn’t find any rules.
Our heads were reeling with the glitter of possibilities, contingencies…
but with ever increasing faith we decided to go ahead and just ignore them,
despite tremendous pressure to capitulate with fate.
So instead, we went ahead to fabricate a catalog
of unstable elements and modicums and particles.
With not zero total strangeness for brief moments which amount
to nothing more than tiny fragments of a finger snap.
Meanwhile,
we’re furiously seeing green.
And the map has started tearing along its creases due to overuse…
when in reality it’s never needed folds.
And the air’s withholding the sound of its wellspring.
And our heads approach a density reminiscent of the infinite productivity of the center of the sun.
And therein lies the garnered wisdom that has never died.
Expectation -
leads to disappointment. If you don’t expect something big huge and exciting…
usually…
I dunno,
just, uh yea…”
Filed under: Enthusiasms | Tags: Books on the Radio, Canada Reads, CBC, Sean Cranbury
Me and my fold-out record cover poster of Isaac Hayes get down to the business of recommending some books for CBC’s Canada Reads program.
Filed under: BC Booksellers Association, Bookstore Showcase | Tags: bookstore closure, Duthie Books, sad news
After 53 Years Duthie Books is Closing Their Doors. Photo by Jacek S.
Alright. It’s getting a little dusty in here.
I’m going thru the phases. First: Denial. Now: Crushing realizations. Some time later: Acceptance or something like it.
Here’s a letter that I just posted on Steven Beattie’s blog that sums up how I feel right now.
Sad news.
As someone who worked at the original Duthie’s flagship store in downtown Vancouver back in the 90’s it’s easy for me to say that this is sad news but it’s hard for me to say that this is terribly surprising news.
It was pretty clear from certain emanations that Cathy’s heart just wasn’t in it anymore and hadn’t been for quite some time. And given the current industry/economic climate, that’s not hard to understand.
The writing on the wall was in very clear, plain script. It wasn’t difficult to read.
I’m sure that Cathy has known for a long, long time that this day was coming and it must have been an incredibly agonizing decision for her to make.
It’s a very heavy legacy to put an end to.
It’s easy for people to point fingers at all of the usual suspects and get puffed up in a righteous rage about news like this but to me, one who worked there when the franchise was at its peak in the mid 90’s and who has friends who lost their jobs there today, I think it’s more honest to say that the train had simply reached the end of the line.
53 years is a long time and Cathy and Celia and Ria, my old buddy Mike Varty, Jane Sayers, Dina Del Bucchia, Susan Jahnke and everyone else that prowls those aisles should be proud of what they’ve done.
They should be happy that they’ve made such a huge impact on the culture of this city and even though the curtain is coming down on a legendary piece of Vancouver’s literary culture we have to believe that there are better days ahead of us.
All of us.
Thank you and best wishes to all of my friends who worked at Duthie Books over the years and to the Duthie family for making it so good while it lasted.
I’m going to go over there tomorrow and buy me some books.
The Famous Duthie Books on 4th Avenue Window. Photo by Szimek S.
Filed under: Enthusiasms, Interview | Tags: Closing Bigger, Self-publishing, Shane Gibson, Socialble!
Click here to listen to Shane Gibson and Sean Cranbury talk leadership in social media.
I will flesh out this post later this weekend and will include a list of Shane’s recommended books and other things.
But I wanted to get this interview out there ASAP.
In the meantime, check the interview and check out SociableBook.com.
Filed under: Bookstore Showcase, Enthusiasms, Events | Tags: Agenbite, Big in Japan, Bruce Rutledge, Chin Music Press, Cliff Lee, Jennifer Abel, Sophia Books, sushi, Thick as a Brick, Thomas Gammarino
Click here to listen to Tom read from his debut novel Big in Japan at Sophia Books.
Great audio recording of Thomas Gammarino, author of Big in Japan: A Ghost Story, published by Chin Music Press, reading at Vancouver’s Sophia Books in mid-January.
Buy Big in Japan.
Great crowd, excellent story, it was lots of fun.
The entire Chin Music Crew came up from Seattle to support the event.
There was a full room, delicious sushi and sake and everyone trooped off for further food and drinks afterward.
An awesome reading with a great introduction by Sophia Books owner and resident maestro, Marc Fournier.
If you haven’t seen any Chin Music Press books please take a look at their website and if you live in a neighborhood with a good independent bookstore that knows their stuff, ask them if they have any Chin Music books.
Stay tuned for the Books on the Radio interviews with Tom, Bruce and Jennifer later this spring.
Filed under: Creative Commons, Industry Change, Interview | Tags: Creative Commons, Vancouver, TEDx Vancouver, Kris Krug, @kk, Static Photography, SxSW, Geeks on a Plane, Photography, China, Copenhagen, COP15, Fresh Air Media Centre, Honolulu
Books on the Radio vs Kris Krug: We'll be in the garage fixin' the car!
*Click here to hear the extendo-interview with Kris Krug*
I first met Kris Krug earlier this year at the Alliance for Arts & Culture Annual General Meeting at the VPL.
Come to think about it, it was also the day that Michael Jackson died.
Copenhagen Bikes. By Kris Krug.
The end of an era, I suppose.
Or maybe, better put, it was the end to the end of an era for a voice that had long ago fallen silent.
But I digress.
A few days later, the good folks at Burnkit put us in touch and I went over to his place.
Kris had agreed to show me some tricks for listening to the internet and give me advice on how to best participate in online discussions using social media tools.
Over the course of our conversation I discovered a couple of things about Kris: He’s a very open guy with a wicked intelligence and a lot of different talents and interests.
He’s outside the box and he’s not going back in.
*
I spend a lot of time following people in the online/social media circles just to see how the game is played, who is playing it with style and who actually has something to say.
A portion of this time is spent watching what Kris is doing and how he’s doing it.
He mixes style, substance, ridiculous photography skills, support for cool projects with a vision for technology that is open, inclusive and always pushing forward.
Detained in Copenhagen. By Kris Krug.
It’s about positive hunger at a very fundamental level.
*
So it’s great to bring this wide-ranging and unexpurgated 40 minute extendo-interview to you here.
(It will run at just under 30 minutes when it airs on CJSF 90.1 FM.)
We talk about Kris’ beginnings as a photographer, his use of social media and Creative Commons to distribute and cultivate awareness of his work.
We discuss his experiences at the Olympics in Torino and Beijing and the upcoming 2010 Winter Games in his adopted city of Vancouver.
We talk Geeks on a Plane.
And TEDx Shanghai, Honolulu, Vancouver.
Kris tells us about the book that he’s working on that showcases the underground art scene in Shanghai and his interesting ideas for publishing that book.
We talk about the True North Media House and the W2 Culture and Media House.
It’s an awesome interview.
Just listen to it and let me know what you think.
Open Hand, Copenhagen. By Kris Krug.
Kris Krug Rocks Copenhagen with Daryl Hannah. Mint. Photo. Op.
Filed under: 1, Events, Imagination, Industry Change | Tags: Monique Trottier, Kassia Krozser, Richard Nash, Future of Publishing, Hugh McGuire, Lorraine Murphy, Raincoaster, Shebeen Club
Monday, January 18th, 2010. Sean Cranbury @ the Shebeen Club in Vancouver.
New Ideas, Opportunities, Communities: Living with Book Publishing 3.0
2009 was the year that Book Publishing came crashing into the present.
The digital revolution could no longer be kept at bay as this traditional industry was assailed on all sides.
The true revolutionaries didn’t loot and pillage, however – they leapt into action and quickly built opportunities for publishers, book professionals, writers and readers to come together and talk about these changes and to create the dialog around the changes to come.
Photo by Kris Krug.
The revolutionaries moved from a traditionally passive mode to one of activity and demonstration.
In this installment of the Shebeen Club, Sean Cranbury will discuss how the digital revolution has created opportunities for creative and passionate individuals to demonstrate their ideas, open up dialog and build new communities.
Vancouver has become a focal point for new ideas that are transforming the industry. Bookcamp Vancouver demonstrated this nicely.
Sean will also discuss the increasing impact of social media technologies on book marketing, writer/reader relationship and its potential to turn publishing workflows upside down.
Join us for a lively Bookcamp-style discussion!
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Recommended Reading:
The Future of Publishing by Sean Cranbury & Hugh McGuire from Open Book: Toronto.
Shaping the Future of Publishing by Monique Trottier from BookNet Canada Blog.
eBooks Have Arrived by Hugh McGuire from BookNet Canada Blog.
The Unicorn Will Not Save Publishing by Kassia Kroszer from Booksquare.com.
Just When I Thought Publishing Couldn’t Get Any Worse by Richard Nash, Cursor.
The Emergent Landscape, or, the Continuous Permanent Reinvention of Publishing by Richard Nash, Cursor.
It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times… by Bob Miller, Harper Studio.
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Sean Cranbury is a Vancouver writer, editor, broadcaster and social media consultant.
He was an organizer of Bookcamp Vancouver 2009 and his radio show/blog, Books on the Radio, is broadcast on CJSF 90.1 FM. He also writes for the Vancouver Biennale and the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative.
Sean is co-creator of the ridiculously successful viral, community-based book recommendation site, the Advent Book Blog, and is also working on the real-time collaborative fiction experiment called Eyes of Vancouver.
Eyes of Vancouver aims to demonstrate a potential new workflow for publishers and independent or self-published authors that puts community-building first and physical publication last.
You can find Sean:
Filed under: Imagination | Tags: Going West, Maurice Gee, New Zealand Book Council
Filed under: Imagination | Tags: agents, Ali G, autobiographies, Banjos, Book Publishing, five thousand dollars cash
