Blogger Gets Published

Cool news!

“Blogger Christian Lander’s STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE, a ‘study’ of
upper-middle-class white people, satirically exposing a culture that
prides itself on individuality and diversity, yet manages to express
these beliefs in exactly the same way (white people: Whole Foods, Wes
Anderson, Starbucks, graduate school, kitchen gadgets, Barack Obama,
Apple products, the movie Juno, expensive sandwiches, etc.), promising
two-thirds new material, to Jane von Mehren at Random House Trade
Paperbacks, with Jill Schwartzman editing, by Erin Malone at the William
Morris Agency (NA).” From Publishers Lunch (Publishers Marketplace)
March 24, 2008.

I thought this was a witty site and guess others have as well. Some of the comments on the site indicate that some people just may take themselves a tad too seriously.

Then again, the idea of someone’s website content being published in book form isn’t that new. For example, The Darwin Awards.

I am also curious about this deal:

“Marie Claire editor Sarah Wexler’s LIVING LARGE, weaving together
first-person reporting and original research to examine America’s
obsession with supersizing — whether its our cars, TVs, meals,
churches, or homes — and the real-world impact of our hunger for all
things big, to Yaniv Soha at St. Martin’s, by Emmanuelle Alspaugh at
Wendy Sherman Associates (NA).” From Publishers Lunch (Publishers
Marketplace) March 24, 2008.

This is something I will want to check out. I wonder if she will talk about how six foot fences are a slow, persistent removal from our neighbours and those that we will need to lean on for help if the economy really does take a nice little (HUGE) nose dive. Right now, we have the wealth to go it alone, but when we no longer have that, our separation is going to hit us hard. Who will we turn to? We are disconnected and turning away from our humanness and filling the void with consumer products and that only makes the hole bigger–thus the need for bigger products to fill that bigger hole.

On a lighter note, here is something fun for the writer inside: shirts! Check it out by clicking here.

As well, for a few hoots and giggles, check out Nathan Bransford’s March 31st blog entry on Mad Lib queries. If you don’t laugh, go get checked out, there is something broken. 

Random Bits and Ends

My daughter is trying to make our old cat learn tricks. You see once upon a time, an 11-year-old girl by the name of Jean decided that she would teach her cat, Andy, how to do tricks. He was quite the performer and began a legacy of cats that do tricks in her childhood home. Alas, our cats are not so interested. Much to the disappointment of my four-year-old.

We pick up the new car tomorrow! Yipeee! And with the Golf, we’ve had more calls and another no show. Tonight we have someone who is considering buying it coming over to take a look–a friend. Cross your fingers for us.

What is it about today’s society that we don’t care much about others and are hesitant to extend common courtesies? Is it the commonness of six foot fences? We don’t need our neighbours and they don’t need us? I mean, not ten years ago if I had a breakdown on the road, cars would stop to make sure you were okay–heck, even if you weren’t broken down they would check. Now you can hang out at the side of the road with the hood up and nobody will stop. They assume you have a cell phone and will call and pay a stranger (tow truck) to help you and that you don’t need them. Maybe we are too rich. Maybe we are removed from others and their realities. We have big fences, distant emails where we feel we can say anything (we didn’t say it to their face, so the meanness doesn’t count), cell phones, fancy everything. Why borrow the neighbour’s drill when we can go buy our own? Why call on the neighbour to feed your cat when you leave when you can pay someone? You wouldn’t want to be indebted to someone. God forbid. Maybe I’m just being cynical, but I see change coming…and this time, I’m not sure if I like it. (Or maybe I’m just getting old.)

Found another friend on Facebook. Or rather, she found me.

Still researching agents. Considering joining Backspace. Looking for contests. Seems like winter is the season, not spring-summer for entering.

I was listening to Coffeehouse on Sirius radio and there was good ol’ John Lennon and that got me thinking. It must be hard for Yoko Ono and pretty much anyone with a famous significant other who lives in the spotlight and then suddenly dies. Like John Ritter’s wife–so much hubbub around his death. And I was thinking, it must be hard for Yoko to get over John. (Lennon, not Ritter.) I mean, he was suddenly taken from her, just right there on the street. All is good and then literally, BANG, he’s gone. And here, years later there are reminders of him popping up where ever she goes. She must never know when to expect his voice or face to pop up. It’s gotta be hard.

What is it about Kraft Dinner that is so appealing to little kids?