:: The Old Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: Saturday, November 30, 2002 ::

I've got to look into this a little more.
tim 11:40 AM [+]

Eyeshot
I think you could spend a lifetime surfing eyeshot and still not cover it all.
tim 11:34 AM [+]

PMC: for those of you who believe that Post Modern Culture is the way fo the future
tim 11:30 AM [+]

Jacket Magazine is an Australian literary e-zine. It's not the most organized site but it's got a lot of great stuff on it.
tim 11:25 AM [+]

Finding Question for the Answer
When Allen Iverson stepped on the NBA court for the first time he was labeled with the nickname The Answer. The NBA was in a bit of a funk (a whole generation of players that revolutionized the game had retired or were on the tail end of their careers) and it needed a boost. In comes AI the man with the skills to wow crowds and apparently the attitude to attract and engage them. Unfortunately for the NBA the Answer came with a catch - he was the anti-player. The NBA had not had a hero like Iverson before this - one which raised as much spite and anger as respect and admiration.
In Larry Platt's new book, Only the Strong Survive Iverson's career, his social life and his cult of personality are examined. Go to Salon for a fantastic review of what seems like an interesting read.

tim 4:06 PM [+]

Great Russian Literature
Harry Potter is getting a royal spoofing in Russia. Apparently, Porri Gatter and the Stone Philosopher is set to take the wind out of Harry's sales. Read more here.
tim 4:38 PM [+]

I haven't read it yet but sonething tells me that A Word A Day is pretty self explanitory.
tim 12:42 PM [+]

Freedom of Religion Vs. Freedom of Speech
Zamfara's deputy governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi told religious leaders in the state capital, Gusau: "Like Salman Rushdie, the blood of Isioma Daniel can be shed."
BBC.
Holy Cow. Some people take their Beauty Pagents a little too seriously. A fatwa has been put out for the head of Daniel, author of a supposedly insulting story about the pageant, in which she references the Prophet Mohammed. She suggests that he might like pageants and could possibly even find a wife at one.
tim 12:24 PM [+]

Topping the List
The Globe 2002 Top 10 & Top 100 of the year.
tim 6:17 PM [+]

Re 11.5.02
I swore to read 5 pages a night of Fall on Your Knees. This fantastic book by Anne-Marie MacDonald is engaging, full of well-developed characters and unassuming plot devices. Number of pages I would have had read by now if I had stuck to my promise: 90. Number acutally read: 10. It's important to remeber this number also includes the amount of pages I read (10) during SSR with my class on Friday.
tim 1:46 PM [+]

Poetry magazine wins the lottery.
tim 5:54 PM [+]

I haven't read it yet but, I can't think of a more fitting tribute to Peter Gzowski than this.
tim 3:29 PM [+]

IBM and the Nazi's
There's a new book out that examines the links between Nazi Germany and American computer giant IBM. Read a review here.
Here are a few highlights from the review by Sreeram Chaulia
"This book is not for the faint-hearted or for those who are Pollyannaish about corporate ethics. It will make the readers exclaim in disbelief, clench in anger, frown in disgust and marvel in contempt that the company which boasts of finding "solutions for every problem" once offered "solutions" of a horrendous nature, all the while posing as a dependable friend of the American administration and a crusader for peace.

What is the essential lesson of IBM And the Holocaust for humankind? "Unless we understand how the Nazis acquired the names," writes Black. "More lists will be compiled against more people" (p 16). Like Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost (recounting Belgian genocide in the Congo), Edwin Black's book is both a vista to a nauseating past and a profound eye-opener for the future inhabitants of the planet that inculcating zero tolerance for genocide is simply not enough. What is also needed is zero tolerance for the technology of genocide."

tim 10:50 AM [+]

Book Wish List Additions
John Raulston Saul - On Equilibrium
Michael Chossudovsky - The Globalisation of Poverty
Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and its Discontents
Mary Ann Glendon - A World Made New. Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
tim 10:35 AM [+]

Detroit What?
Detroit may bill itself as HockeyTown USA but, here in CDN we know have three or four official birth places of the game. There's a new book that throw's Halifax-Dartmouth's 'hat into the ring'. Well I guess since this at least three cities, it'd be it's 'hat onto the ice' - a hat-trick. Get it?
tim 9:57 AM [+]

I was reading an older copy of NOW magazine recently and I came across an interview with Naomi Klein. It's more of her same thing but I found one things she was quoted as saying to be very interesting.
“I wanted to call it (her new book Fences and Windows) Ammo," she says "because that's how activists approach books - not with reverence, not with 'this is my guru,' but as potent piece of information." I think this calls into the question the nature of literature and knowledge. It seems to me that literature becomes something people can hang their hat on, or call to service whenever they need it, rather than something that is absorbed and integrated. I know this is what I do - look for the nuggets and come out swinging. The question for authors then becomes, if this is what readers are looking for (nuggets of information), are they obligated to provide just that? Certainly the editors of Maxim and their ilk seem to think so. Is literature likely to follow?

tim 2:39 PM [+]

Reading Wish List
? Water
Naomi Klein Fences and Windows
Russell Banks Rule of the Bone
Albert Camus The Fall
Margaret Laurence The Stone Angel
Wayne Johnston The Navigator of New York
Carol Shields Unless
Eric Schloser Fast Food Nation

tim 4:03 PM [+]

The Giller has some controversy
tim 10:38 AM [+]

While it may appear as though I haven't been making regular updates over the last couple of days, allow me to remind you that appearances can be deceiving. I've been updating my CD Wish List on Freelistenin'. Check it out, there's tons of cool bands and links.
tim 10:36 AM [+]

The Giller
Austin Clarke, author of The Polished Hoe won this years Giller Prize.
tim 12:38 PM [+]

Okay, Okay
So I'll read ten pages tonight.
tim 6:47 PM [+]

Promises Promises
I hereby resolve to read a minimum of 5 pages of a book every day. This is on top of the school work and newspapers I do and read. I am currently reading Fall On Your Knees by Anne-Marie McDonald. It's excellent.
tim 11:16 AM [+]

Blank Slate Revisited
In speaking with Adrienne, she pointed out many faults that can be found in the science of Steven Pinker. Largely the criticism attacks the faulty science employed by people like Rushton. As it turns out, much of Rushtons research was based on old world science which involved, among other insipid acts, asking Africans to voluntarily measure their own penis's. Who among us would not stretch the truth for jokes or pride? The results of this 'science' was then extrapolated to various obnoxious conclusions. So while Pinker may argue that the science itself is not faulty, it remains that the methods, the conclusions and application are. Hmm, maybe the science is faulty after all.
tim 11:05 AM [+]