MontlakeBlog

Entries as of Wednesday, March 10, 2010
 Monday, 1 March 2010  |  And now a great artist!

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Larry, the crazy guy who drives the bus that takes me to work every day, had what he called a brilliant idea last week. We (ie, the riders) would draw pictures of old Larry, and fax them into the bus office, where bus company officials would judge same and declare winners.

Unlike you, I cannot draw AT ALL. But I like Larry, and I was certain that no one would enter this contest. So, I took a picture of him one day when I was getting on the bus, and played with it in Photoshop Elements. You might not know that most photo editing applications have buttons and commands that can convert your ordinary pictures into Great Art. I even saw an Impressionist tool, several years ago, but it doesn't appear on any of my editing applications now.

Anyway, I made it into a sketch. Faxing wouldn't allow color, so that made the most sense.

And, of course, I won. Has Photoshop ever lost? My only "drawing" in more than sixty years of life, and I win first prize. There were five other entries, by the way, all "real."
posted at 09:02 PM | | [2] |

 Thursday, 11 February 2010  |  E-reading, the phenomenon

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Unless you're interested in the ebook business, you might not be aware that there's a war going on, with lots of battles. A recent one pits Amazon against major book publishers.

That battle has the Amazon principle of $10 a digital copy against the publisher's desire to set their own pricing. One thing that struck me is that I have paid $15 for more than one book that fits in the supposed $10 category, which suggests that publishers have always had the right to set a price, but then there might be details and changes of which I am not aware.

I never gave this much thought before, but the fight has got me thinking about it. I think that Amazon's position was probably declared to make the ebook experience as attractive as possible. After all, until Kindle there was no ebook experience (practically speaking). I would say that a typical new "best seller" sort of book is marked at $25 by the publisher, sells at $16-17 at major book stores, and then appears on Kindle for $10. It all seemed pretty reasonable to me.

Amazon's point is probably that it costs "nothing" to produce an ebook, so why bring its price up into the printed book realm? The problem with that stance is that we're not in an ebook world yet. The ebook version of a book is still a side-line. The publisher is printing a good number of copies of physical books, so the savings that he would see if he did NOT (and only made ebooks available) isn't happening. And, as several publishers have argued, their role is more than just printing a book. They edit and advertise, to name just a couple functions of which they've reminded us.

I've related an experience at least once before in this blog where I bought a book from an author who had set up a card table in front of a mall major bookstore. I liked his energy and bought a copy. I didn't think to look at the publisher, but I know now it had to be a vanity press (where you pay the publisher to print your book), because it was absolutely awful. I only read about five pages, then gave it to someone at work who just might like the genre enough to finish the book.

It's a subtle role, that one. Many, many stories circulate about famous books rejected by all major publishers. But it's probably fair to say that a book as awful as that self-published book seldom makes it through the traditional publishing process.

And the traditional "subsidy" model is threatened, too. Under the Amazon scheme, can a publisher afford a royalty payment to the author (which he gets to keep, even if sales don't repay that amount)? Does there have to be a publisher at all (see previous paragraph)?

It will all get sorted out, of course. That is what me mean by "the market." All the entities that have to risk money (or stand to gain it) will work out among themselves ways to continue in business.

But the whole issue of just how a book becomes known (sufficiently) has been on my mind recently. Again and again, a book or author gets recognition by a critic, and that critic's opinion affects those who read the critic. I've been reading of Shakespeare, recently, and it seems clear that if he had not had an influential promoter or two a hundred or two hundred years after his death, we wouldn't know who he was.

I've probably always naively thought that success comes from word of mouth, but I don't think so. Sometimes, of course. But mostly, it must be that word gets out in a "broadcast" manor (advertising being the most prevalent). Will the future of ebooks have enough broadcast support to allow writers to exercise their art and ply their trade? Stay tuned...
posted at 12:41 PM | | [1] |

 Wednesday, 10 February 2010  |  Winter, 10 Feb 2010

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I haven't written of our winter storms here in the Washington, DC area. This is not North Dakota (where I lived through sixth grade), but a few times in the past couple weeks you might find that hard to prove.

As I write this, we're finally seeing the "little" storm that was supposed to start yesterday. It's a "blowing snow" storm, what we North Dakotans would call a 'blizzard'. There is, in fact, little snow falling on the ground, but it's moving east in the air somehow. I guess it will fall somewhere.

I'm off work again today, even though I don't directly work for the government (which has been shut down since last week). When I first got here, the tendency to shut the city down over apparently minor weather events seemed pretty silly to me, but having lived here more than ten years, I hold that the density of the population here simply argues for keeping as many cars off the roads as possible during these bad times.

It's annoying to be shut in for so long, but I got out on Monday when I went to work (we were sent home), stopping in a store on the way back. And as the owner of the world's largest private collection of DVDs, I'm not having any trouble finding things to do.

In fact, I just made a movie. I set the camera in my window, let it run for five minutes or so, and then used Windows Movie Maker to add a bit of music. Getting the equipment set up was the only hard part. Creating the movie took only about five minutes. Unfortunately, the resulting size of the finished 3-minute product is greater than the size of an individual file allowed on SkyDrive, so I used one of my video utilities to greatly compress the result (the picture suffers the most). It isn't Antonioni, but you get the idea.

Take a look at what I'm seeing out my window even as I write this. [It looks as if you have to download the file; on my machine, it won't play from the SkyDrive storage location; right-click, and choose Save Target As...]
posted at 10:49 AM | | |

 Saturday, 6 February 2010  |  Winter at Colonial Williamsburg

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It is a sometimes-realized dream to go to Colonial Williamsburg during the winter. I think that I came to this understanding after experiencing the place during the summer (it's hot and humid in this part of the country, and if anyone's going to Williamsburg, they're probably doing it at this time), plus the fact that I like cold weather. I'd like to say that I make it each year but I don't.

Part of the dream is to hit it on a day when it snows. One of the few folks sharing my inn this time noted that she has been going to Williamsburg 2-3 times a year (from West Virginia) since 1974 and had never encountered snow. Until this time.

I was ill prepared for this trip. I've been living with flu (and, perhaps, pneumonia) for a few weeks now, and the week before I left (on a Friday) I felt I had to work a full day because I had the opportunity for a week's worth of very rare training. The result of this was not only did I not get the rest I needed but didn't have the energy to plan anything. But I lucked into a couple good choices, anyway.

Snow was predicted for that weekend even before I left. I pondered for days whether to rent a car (my usual mode of Williamsburg transportation) or take the train. As the certainty of snow increased, I leaned toward the train. My only hesitation had been that I've traveled there via train twice before, and it is boring. It would be one thing if it took the scheduled three hours, but the five hours of this trip is more typical. On the plus side, if airplanes could be as comfortable as Business Class on an Amtrak train, then the airlines would go out of business. You can almost make a seat into a bed, and still not disturb the person sitting in back of you!

The train eventually did arrive, and I wearily (due to my physical condition) hoisted my backpack and computer onto my shoulders and set off for wherever I was to check in. Aiming for the Visitor Center, I almost didn't recognize it when I reached it, because there wasn't anyone there! Oh, my goodness. I'm used to busloads and crowds of folks. I was directed to the fancy hotel that handles Colonial Housing (I don't know why I thought this might have changed), and trekked another half-mile to that.

My room (four-poster bed and a fireplace) was the reason I scheduled my trip for that weekend. It was not available earlier in the week when I'd planned to make the trip. I settled in, and reached the prone stillness I had been seeking, as I finished the incredibly exciting thriller I'd begun reading on the trian—Darkness Under Heaven (by J.F. Chase), a China-based thriller that absolutely nails the Chinese nature. There are a lot of bodies on the ground by the time this one ends and—who knows, I'm not saying—maybe a world war or two. In addition to the truly remarkable understanding of the Chinese people, Chase's man-woman dialog and resulting relationship is top-notch.

No snow yet, and I made a reservation for dinner at Shield's Tavern, the only inn open during winter months. That was terrific (but reading a Kindle by a single candle light is challenging), and I retired with one of the DVDs I'd purchased at the Visitor Center (they have a small collection of 1940s stuff). It was late, so I didn't summon the requisite Housekeeper to light my fire. Hmmm. That sounds more interesting than it was.

That night, the snow began and it fell all day Saturday. Absolutely gorgeous, of course. I had worn the only boot-like shoes I own, and they took me around the neighborhood where I eventually learned that most Colonial Williamsburg folks had not come to work, and that the inn would not be serving lunch or dinner that day, no one having come to work to prepare them. OK. Fortunately, Colonial Williamsburg is across the street from the College of William and Mary, so there is enough "young pressure" to have coffee-shop-type places open, and I had a good meal at Aroma's. And back for the next 1940s movie. Still snowing. I had checked, and no other businesses (including the movie theater) had opened that day and evening). Didn't bother with Housekeeping, again that evening, knowing that no one would be there.

Next day, full sun and a deeply snow-covered wonderland from the 18th century. I walked around taking more pictures, and had a fine lunch at the now-open tavern. These are hefty meals, so I decided not to book a dinner (which I ended up having at the coffee shop), and found a nice collection of BBC drama DVDs at the college bookstore. Settled into my room early enough to justify a call to Housekeeping but, alas, no one answered. Oh, well. Next year (or whenever). So, Rosemary, Thyme, and I spent a few hours together before I fell asleep.

Walking (first, to check out, then to the train station) was tough, as the snow had by this time been replaced by sheets of ice (it warming enough during daylight hours to melt the top snow), but I gave myself plenty of time. I needn't have bothered, because the train ended up being an hour late arriving (from Newport News). But choosing the Monday over a more normal Sunday return had been a lucky choice. Joining me waiting for the train were the would-be passengers from Saturday and Sunday, when the train had not run at all!

So, all in all a fine trip. An adventure, truly. The rare, rare snowfall on Williamsburg balanced the inconveniences of disrupted or non-existent business services, and I won't soon forget that three-night stay.

By the way, I'm writing this as the next Mid-Atlantic storm dumps several inches on Virginia.

Williamsburg snow photographs
posted at 12:41 PM | | |

 Sunday, 24 January 2010  |  Recovering from flu, 2010

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A friend at work responded, when I reported that I wouldn't be going in that day—again, that she remembered I'd had the flu about a year ago. I think I was still claiming that I have just a cold, at that time, and I really thought so. On Thursday, I became very aware it wasn't a cold, and Friday and Saturday were miserable days with all the true respiratory flu symptoms.

This morning, I went looking for any blog entries about having the flu a year ago and, sure enough, there are a couple. I'm simply amazed at the difference in symptoms.

As you can read, in that earlier incident the symptoms were all dramatically apparent, both coming and going. This time, nothing of the sort. I'd convinced myself I had a cold, only taking off the time from work because I had it available. By Friday, I couldn't have gone to work, anyway. And the whole fever thing was different. Last year, it was dramatic and constant until it broke. This year, it came and went as it felt like, sometimes not staying for more than a couple minutes. Now, on Sunday, I feel pretty good but not perfect, and will spend the day with guiltless entertainment.

You see, when you're sick, you have few obligations. If you're conscious enough to read or watch a screen, then you can choose whatever you want. For sure, I didn't have the power of concentration that any of my several subjects of study would have required, so I pigged out on pure couch-fare. Here are some of the things I encountered.

I went through a Julie London phase a couple years ago (probably documented in this blog), and looked for any of her films that might be available on DVD. Poor pickings, but I found a couple. A week or so ago, I wrote to a friend with a quotation from Julie London about her voice ("just a thimble-full," she wrote), and he responded with the incredible coincidence that he had just watched a Western on TV in which she starred! [Man of the West, with Gary Cooper] Oh, my gosh. So I looked it up and saw that not only is it now available (and wasn't when I had my first Julie London moment) but that it had rave reviews both in its first release (1958) and in citizen reviews on Amazon. No brainer, and it had arrived as I was starting my time-off. I even got the second Western she did that year (Saddle the Wind), another wide-screen, full-color extravaganza. As a kid who grew up in the 1950s, watching Westerns during the day was the big plus of being sick. Man of the West greatly rewarded my viewing. The only thing in the film that didn't work well was the action sequences—mostly fights, I guess. Gary appeared to be in great shape (at 57), but it just wasn't there. Everything about the film is special, and I gave back the star I took away for action sequences, when I realized afterward that it is one of the few 1950s Westerns you can watch in the 21st century. Saddle the Wind didn't fare so well, and does in fact seem like a 1950s Western.

And I read a wonderful novel by John Crowley called Four Freedoms, 2009. Although I see that his reputation is in the fantasy world, this book is about the homeland experience during World War II, primarily about plant workers during the incredible civilian industrial transformation in the United States during that time.

By Saturday, I was looking for a long uninterrupted entertainment experience for that afternoon, and found it among my DVD collection of mini-series. This one, the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice that I've already seen a jillion times. Wonderful, and by the time it was over, the extreme effects of this flu incident were over. I'm still somewhat tired and still discharging that stuff from my head that flu so efficiently produces, but it looks as if I'll survive another bout. And I've still got a couple Westerns in my collection to see me through the rest of the day...
posted at 06:07 AM | | [1] |

 Thursday, 7 January 2010  |  The title of my next book

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My bus driver and I got to talking about taxes, this morning, trading stories about our encounters with the IRS and other financial woes.

"If we don't watch it," I said, "we're going to be out on the street together."

"Yeah," he said. "Standing in the same soup line. You watching my back, I yours. Two spoons, please, and one big bowl."
posted at 06:46 AM | | |