Archive for the 'Literature' Category

Author and Visionary Christopher Hitchens Passes Away at 61

By: alex.chrum, December 16, 2011 in Literature, Passings, Politics and Science. Closed Tags: , .

“Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.” –Christopher Hitchens

Yesterday, December 15, 2011, controversial author, journalist, humanist and political activist Christopher Hitchens lost his battle with esophageal cancer. Hitchens, an outspoken atheist, was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant minds of our time.

Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate in New York in 2005

In fact, he was voted the world’s fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll. While exceptionally smart, he was also remarkably accessible, writing for The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate and other publications. In 2007, he published a book on atheism and the nature of religion titled God is Not Great. His central argument, which is both incredibly powerful and controversial, is that the concept of god is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom. He believed that free expression and science should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. Undoubtedly, he was one of the most prophetic and brilliant minds of the century.

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Think Quarterly: Google’s Crossover Into the Media Business?

By: Suzanne Obszanski, March 24, 2011 in Internet, Literature and News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Designed by creative agency The Church of London, Google quietly launched Think Quarterly, an online magazine of sorts published four times annually. Featuring no advertising, the publication is absolutely free to view.

Google quietly launched Think Quarterly, an online magazine intended to serve as a "unique communications tool".

Think Quarterly, published at www.thinkquarterly.co.uk, is a communication tool intended for business partners and “anyone who is interested”. With feature interviews on Vodafone UK CEO Guy Lawrence and Google Chief Economist Hal Varian, among others, most of the content is aimed to provide thought pieces about major business and technology, including topics from a variety of freelancers and contributors, like the Guardian’s Simon Rogers.

Google denies they are aiming to crossover into the media business, instead claiming the publication is simply a “unique communications tool”. Matt Brittin, Google’s managing director in the UK and Ireland, wrote, “Our first issue is dedicated to data – amongst a morass of information, how can you find the magic metrics that will help transform your business? We hope that you find inspiration, insights, and more, in Think Quarterly.”

Britin, Google’s Managing Director, also noted, “Our first issue is dedicated to Data – amongst a morass of information, how can you find the magic metrics that will help transform your business? We hope that you find inspiration, insights, and more, in Think Quarterly.”

As speculation continues to swirl on Google’s intent for the future, Google execs will swear up and down its ranks that they have no intent to produce content, only organize and manage it. Only time will tell.

6 Things You Need to Know About Justin Bieber’s Forthcoming “Memoir”

By: Sam, August 2, 2010 in Celebrities and Literature. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Sixteen year-old musical performer and future author Justin Bieber

This is the photo the people pimping Justin Bieber's book want you to use when you write about it.

We’ve been trying our darndest to post even less about probable Milli Vanilli-esque pop hoax Justin Bieber, but just when we thought we were out, he pulls us back in. This time, the darling Canadian teen wowed us with the announcement of his forthcoming memoir, which will be published by HarperCollins this fall.

We’ve braved the depths of the press release linked above and emerged with the following mind-blowing facts:

  1. The book is ostensibly written by Justin himself. He’s just that amazingly talented that at age 16, already years removed from anything most people would recognize as “school,” he’s ready to write a memoir of his amazing life so far in the span of just a couple of months.
  2. It’s an “illustrated memoir” filled with “behind-the-scenes photos.” Last we checked, the word illustrated excluded photos–maybe Justin really did write the book and press release himself. Also, reading between the lines here it looks as if this is going to be a book with many (exclusive!) pictures and very few words, which is sure to disappoint some of his fans, but also excite those who are too crazy about him to sit down, hold still and read.
  3. The book’s title is Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story. That is not a typo. Double colons! Use of the number two (in numeral form) in place of the word “to!” It’s enough to drive us to exclamation points!
  4. The press release includes a quote from Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books. Wait–this is a kid’s book? Nowhere else is this mentioned in the release. In fact, everything else implies that Justin will be published by the grown-up arm of HarperCollins, alongside luminaries like Neal Stephenson, Anthony Bourdain and Jon Stewart. We suppose the pictures should have tipped us off, though.
  5. Justin Bieber himself is quoted as saying that the book “is just another way for me to say thank you to my fans.” This shouldn’t be surprising, because who doesn’t thank someone by trying to trick them into buying something they’ll be embarrassed to own in less than a year? It’s why we’re always making people buy Justin’s CDs.
  6. If you’ve read this far, you should probably be aware that Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story will be available wherever books are sold for $21.99 in October.

If by some quick of fate someone gets us a copy of this masterpiece, we’ll publish a full review. Please do not send us a copy.

Hey Internet, Google Will Not Tell You How to “Watch Twilight Eclipse Online Free”

By: Sam, June 30, 2010 in Literature and Movies. 0 Comments Tags: , , .
A promo image featuring the cast of Twilight Eclipse

Unless you're already a pirate, this is the closest you'll come to seeing Eclipse online. Now get to a movie theater before the next showing sells out!

It’s no secret the latest Twilight movie, Eclipse, is out today, and though teen girls (and teen girls at heart) everywhere are flocking to theaters to get their vampire/ werewolf/ romance fix. For some folks though, dealing with the crowds at the theater and the overpriced popcorn are just too much. Hey, we understand–we’re still working our way through the 2008 Best Picture nominees on our Netflix queue. If you fall into this category and you just can’t wait to see what those teen vampires are up to this time you’re probably one of the folks who has driven terms like “watch eclipse online for free no surveys, watch twilight eclipse online, watch eclipse online, watch eclipse online free, and watch eclipse” straight up the Google Trends charts today.

While there may be a lot of people looking to watch Eclipse for free online, we’re here to tell you that you’re not going to magically find a site that will let you watch the film with a simple Google search. Sorry, but it’s just not going to happen. Now, if you happen to be a regular viewer of pirated, first-run films, you already know how to get your hands on Eclipse. If you’re not, though, let us please reiterate: you are not going to find a bootleg version of Eclipse just by Googling it. We know we’ve helped you with the World Cup in the past, but trust us when we say this is totally different. Our World Cup trick was totally aboveboard and relied on accessing something that was already freely available to roughly 70% of the US population. Live events that are broadcast on TV are usually pretty easy to watch on the Internet anyway, thanks to the magic of sites like Justin.tv and Ustream. Movies are something else entirely, though, especially major movies like Eclipse. The MPAA police are all over this. Googling for a free way to watch Eclipse online is basically like that scene in Office Space where they try to figure out how to launder money: If you were really serious about doing it, you’d already know how and would have made some plans in advance. (Come to think of it, this is kind of a common theme in Mike Judge movies. Extract does something similar.)

Even if you were to find a site hosting a copy of the film, it’s unlikely the quality will approach even YouTube quality. If you really care about what happens to Bella, Edward and Jacob then you should really go see it at the theatre. Do it for Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. They’re young and counting on you to turn their millions into tens of millions! While you’re at it, don’t forget about Twilight saga author Stephenie Meyer, who’s just ruthless enough to cut us all off from future books and movies if the box office receipts aren’t enough (we think). Why risk it?

A Pleasant Bloomsday to You, Sir

By: Sam, June 16, 2010 in Holidays and Literature. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .
Statue of James Joyce on North Earl Street, Dublin

This statue of James Joyce in Dublin is known as "The Prick with the Stick." Really.

Happy Bloomsday, folks! Ok, ok, we admit we didn’t know what Bloomsday was either until about five minutes ago, but now that we do, we’re happy to observe. Bloomsday is a celebration of the life and works of James Joyce, named for the main character in his masterpiece Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. (Incidentally, the Gene Wilder character in Mel Brooks‘ The Producers* is also named Leo Bloom, which can’t be a coincidence.) Bloomsday is observed on June 16th because Ulysses is the chronicle of Bloom’s day in Dublin on June 16th, 1904.

The LA Times has an excellent blog entry listing Bloomsday events and observances in the US and Canada, including New York, Los Angeles, Syracuse and Philadelphia–where you can see the original handwritten Ulysses manuscript. We confess that we’ve never really gotten around to reading Ulysses, so we can’t really say this from a position of authority, but apparently the book is quite good and well worth a read. What we do know is that Ulysses (and indeed much of Joyce’s work) is all about Dublin, and to us, Dublin is all about Guinness, so if you do nothing else on this Bloomsday, enjoy a pint for old James Joyce.

*The original, 1968 film is fantastic and still hilarious today. Seriously. See it.