Rob Salkowitz: Links and Buddies

Sat, 18 Jan 2003 01:06:11 GMT

The Ladder of Success

Independent publisher Scala House Press just got some much-needed exposure in a glowing write-up in today's Seattle Times. Scala House are the fine folks who brought Miha Mazinni's terrific novel Guarding Hanna to American audiences, and their other stuff is worth a look too. The Scala House gang are refugees from Publishing Online, a defunct e-book outfit I was briefly affiliated with back in 2000. It's encouraging to find a corner of the economy where bits-and-bytes are yesterday's news and the promising new trend is good old ink-and-paper publishing.

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 16:12:13 GMT

What’s New in Blogville

FIONA is on about Illuminati conspiracies.

Hate Central has unleashed a fresh rant, always worth a look.

Meg’s Food and Wine is extolling the virtues of fine Beaujolais.

Scott Rosenberg has descended from the mountain to recommend the always-essential Orwell essay “Politics and the English Language.”

Daniel Dolinov reflects on folk music, real and otherwise.

Beyond Salon:

Oliver Willis has a new picture up and is pimping his upcoming PBS appearance.

Boing Boing blasts the Supreme Court’s bizarro copyright ruling, as is 3bicle.

Ernie the Attorney takes a more balanced view, while fellow legal-eagle Howard Bashman actually supports the Court’s interpretation. You learn a lot about the law reading those two guys.

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 17:15:16 GMT

Light Rayne Lately

Philosopher, political polemicist, thinker about science and force of nature Rayne has assumed another aspect the last few days: poet of domesticity. Her closely-observed essays on the mid-day moms at McDonalds, exurban wildlife and birds of prey nesting in the backyard are all finely-wraught pieces of prose worthy of actual publication somewhere. Anyone scared off by her more tempestuous moments should be sure to give a look to these most excellent blogging efforts.

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 22:00:15 GMT

New Kids on the Blog

Been poking around the Salon pond today and found a couple newcomers of greater or lesser interest:

Instant Message... Married with a Girlfriend is, or promises to be, the story of its author's seduction into Internet infidelity. A little dramatic, but worth a look.
The blog that is today called Sense No Separation has had a few other titles in its brief life. Some kind of mystical philosophy and lefty politics going on there.
I guess I didn't get the memo about For Whom the Blog Tolls, a worthy news and comment soapbox, because all my pals beat me to it.
Tachyon TV Weblog features the hilarious rantings of a British sf and media junky, earning it a well-deserved high ranking in the daily polls.
Le Pretre Noir is trying to find out if the Salon blogosphere is big enough for two loquacious and introspective preachers. Looks to be a little less edgy than Real Live Preacher, but well-written.

Incidentally, Notes from Atlanta is suddenly racking up the hits, thanks, apparently, to a reference to a gymnast named Lavinia Milosovici. Wassup with that?

Tue, 10 Dec 2002 16:56:15 GMT

Oliver, Oliver!

Lately I've been enjoying the blogging of Oliver Willis, who seems on the verge of parlaying his skills into a wider career in journalism and punditry. If you like the perspective and variety offered here at Emphasis Added, you'll probably like Oliver as well.

And Another Tip of the Blogroll Cap...

...to Paul Andrews, the preternaturally insightful Seattle Times tech columnist, lovely and talented husband of voluntarily-simple Cecile, and all-around wise fellow, who just added EA to his blogroll of honor. Yay Paul!

Fri, 06 Dec 2002 17:22:03 GMT

First Thursday

Yesterday night was "First Thursday" here in Seattle, indicating the day of the month when galleries beckon to the unwashed public with plates of stale crackers and bottles of cheap wine. Gallery prowling wasn't really on my agenda when I met my friend Min for a beer over at Linda's Tavern, but somehow one thing led to another and before long we were sucking down Carling's Black Labels at the downtown loft space of collagist and sculptor Jesse Paul Miller. Miller had opened his second-floor studio - a working artist's space in the true sense of the word - to the public for First Thursday, but the viewing was now over and only a handful of friends were left hanging out.

The impromptu gathering gave me a closer look at Miller's work, which I'd seen hanging in various spaces around town but never paid special attention to. He works in mixed media, assembling objects and collages from newspapers, old postcards, ticket stubs and all the various ephemera of modern life. Sometimes he will take an object like an old record player and ornament every square inch of the surface with abstract designs in ballpoint pen. He deliberately cultivates a throwaway quality in both his choice of materials and in the often-casual presentation of the work. Min bought a death-mask made of doodled-on newspaper and packing tape and Jesse remarked how he loved the "ridiculous fragility" of the piece as he carefully packed it in styrofoam chips.

Miller, who is also an experimental musician, had been an early collaborator with the singer/guitarist of the band Min currently plays in, the A-Frames. Min had the final mix of the new A-Frames CD which the band had just finished over the weekend, so we put that on at high volume for a first listen. More about that when I get my own copy, but fans of abrasive indie-punk will rejoice when this hits the streets in the spring.

Wed, 13 Nov 2002 21:13:50 GMT

E-Books Done Right

Fans of old-school popular literature must proceed forthwith, without fail, to Blackmask Online, the greatest collection of free e-books I have ever seen anywhere online. There are over 10,000 titles to choose from, in subjects ranging from serious (drama, criticism, modern thinkers) to the just-plain-fun (pulp fiction, adventure stories, humor, esoterica), all in a variety of easy-to-download formats. Presumably most of this treasure trove is public domain (and if it's not, I'm not telling). It's totally amazing - go forth and enjoy!

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 16:28:06 GMT

The Raven Sharpens His Beak

Blogging colleague The Raven subtly changed his tag-line recently from the innocuous "It's a little bit you, and it's a little bit me" to the cheeky "Every day's another chance to stick it to the Man." This morning he's got some funny stuff on the Feng Shui racket here in Seattle, and fans of creepy fiction should be sure to catch "The Quiet Dogs," his well-crafted H.P. Lovecraft pastiche from a few weeks back.

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 17:17:41 GMT

Miha Speaks

Author Miha Mazzini, now safely back on Slovenian soil, offers a greeting this morning:

Dragi obiskovalci iz Slovenije, izpolnjujem svojo obljubo. Evo! :)))))

Thanks and same to you, Miha, whatever you said.

Wall of Paul

Techno-blogger (and Seattle Times columnist) Paul Andrews is back in business this morning with advice on how to live a Microsoft-free existence now that the courts are not going to be any help. He was offline for nearly a month while he sorted out the usual DSL-related problems. Welcome back Paul!

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 17:09:03 GMT

Wither ALD?

The following notice appeared this morning when I clicked over for my Monday morning fix at the wonderful Arts and Letters Daily site:

The magazine Lingua Franca and its parent company University Business LLC filed for bankruptcy earlier this year (Trustee, Robert L. Geltzer, of Tendler, Biggins & Geltzer, 1556 Third Avenue, Suite 505, New York, NY 101128). We understand that the assets of University Business, including this Website, are to be auctioned in New York City on October 24, 2002. For further information, we suggest contacting the Trustee.

Since the filing, Arts & Letters Daily has been kept afloat by the goodwill of its editors, Tran Huu Dung and Denis Dutton, and it is now time for them to move on. They will continue to supply content on other similar sites with which they are associated: SciTech Daily Review; Denis Dutton’s Philosophy & Literature site; Business Daily Review. Human Nature Review has fine science reporting, Arts Journal is our favorite for arts news, and Google News is invaluable for newspapers and magazines.

Of these, Dutton's P&L site preserves most of the ALD flavor, though they all look pretty good. Still, I will miss the wide-ranging scope of ALD, their hobby-horse issues (Darwin vs. "Intelligent Design", censorship, European authors), the exhausitve list of media links and the way that the site managed to bring the warm, bookish charm of an elite literary journal to the arctic cool of the Web.

OK, I'm sick of writing obituaries. On to new topics now...

Wed, 25 Sep 2002 18:13:16 GMT

To the Barricades!

A big Emphasis Added shout-out to Leslie Blanton's take-no-prisoners rant on the evils of the financial industry. Keep calling 'em like you see 'em Leslie!

Tue, 24 Sep 2002 18:08:28 GMT

She Was Seven in '75

Caroonist Ellen Forney's funny, kitschy retro comic strip gently posed a challenge to right-wing notions of family values. See COMIX for more.

Fri, 20 Sep 2002 16:10:20 GMT

Ravin' About the Raven

The blogger known as The Raven has put together an eye-pleasing site featuring tart observations and an admirable consistency of tone. Thursday's piece on the hazards of public sculpture to the blind, and Wednesday's exceprts from William Shatner's new book are typical of this bird's well-chosen nesting.

Mon, 16 Sep 2002 16:20:18 GMT

A Few Political Blogs I Like

Daily Kos - Insightful political commentary, real facts, good links, sensible perspective.
Critiques of Editorials - Well-chosen subjects, gets to the heart of the matter.
The Agora - Good, concise bits of news, disarming perspective.

Fri, 06 Sep 2002 19:01:55 GMT

MediaPlant: The best Web and digital media communication firm in Seattle (and, as such, had nothing to do with creating this site). Good folks, good friends. Check 'em out.

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 18:57:24 GMT

Buddies

Paul Andrews - Technology columnist for the Seattle Times among others, with an interesting take on culture, politics, and life as we know it.

Dragnet Records - Min Yee, musical savant and bassist for the amazing punk band the A-Frames, maintains this site of bleeding-edge noise happenings, reviews and observations.

Daft Musings - Carolyn Bickford was blogging before it was popular (before it was even a word, I think...). Browse her archive of observations, sign up for her mailing list, and be sure to check out the wonderful ComicBase product that she edits for Human Computing.

Fun Stuff

Seattle Mariners Baseball - Baseball116 (named for the number of wins in the M's amazing 2001 season) is THE place for Mariners news, chat and links. Not affiliated with the M's or MLB.