Loved loved loved this little video that's making the rounds on YouTube, about books coming to life in a bookstore after closing time. The accompanying music is a perfect match for the frolicking and fun. It's so wonderful to experience this kind of creativity. Made my day......(Friday the 13th, no less!)
.
As it says in the end--"There's nothing quite like a real book". Enjoy! You can find the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SKVcQnyEIT8
and mentioned on a blog called The Scholarly Kitchen here:
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/01/13/the-joy-of-books-a-short-inspired-film-full-of-passion/
and some information about who made the film and who did the music here:
http://keithlyons.me/2012/01/14/the-magic-of-books/
Friday, January 13, 2012
Brain food
I thought I would write a short post today about a blog I
love reading and getting updates from via Twitter: The Scholarly Kitchen. It was established by the Society for
Scholarly Publishing; I’ll let their written statement about their mission
(found on the blogsite) tell their story for me.
--The mission of
the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly
publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members
through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in
February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments
in publishing.
......................................
The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.—
......................................
The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.—
I recently joined the Society for Scholarly Publishing
because I was so impressed with their blog. The posts are clever and intelligently-written—reading
them is like eating a gourmet meal—apropos their being a scholarly kitchen. You
enjoy the meal and know you’ll come back for more. There is a panel of authors,
whose professions vary from CEO/publisher of a medical journal to senior editor
to associate dean to consultant—a broad spectrum of professionals who know what
they’re talking about.
You won’t regret dining here: http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Stream of consciousness for today
Running for
the bus get to Inch hair salon methylparaben-free hair products Evelyn my
hairdresser talking about American Horror Story talking about The Walking Dead
talking about zombies talking about ghosts talking about dreams scaring us to
death sitting in a chair waiting to get done listening to song You don't have to change is it Anneli Drecker yes it is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1BNr4P_X3A) spacey music like the feeling flipping through photography book
Richard Avedon great photographer Dovima model from the 1950s do you know her remember
her remember Veruschka Twiggy so cool loved her as teenager Lauren Hutton
Richard Gere American Gigolo good movie Andy Warhol Stephanie Seymour avant
garde flipping through Elle magazine wondering who wears the clothes so strange
looking at the hairstyles looking at the shoes new spring trend ankle socks spiky
sandals models so thin anorexic nothing like Liz Taylor so beautiful flipping
through Interiors book all the summer homes wooden insides by the sea streamlined
kitchens peaceful for wealthy folk how much it costs how much we want do I want
not really life simpler not many possessions not much debt walking home mild
winter sun shining lovely day outdoors good feeling coming home writing working
photos hobbies daily life feeling good feeling happy liking life brand new year
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The privileges of power
I just had
to comment on the latest development in the never-ending saga of the Oslo
University hospital merger of four large city hospitals and the health
enterprise Health Southeast that owns this hospital. The managing director of
the latter, Bente Mikkelsen, made it into the news big-time during the weekend, when it was
reported that she was planning to participate in a five-month long course on
strategic leadership at the NATO Defense College in, of all places, Rome,
Italy! The course was to start in February, and was to be paid for by the
Defense Department (the reason for its involvement was not explained), whereas
the cost of room and board would have been paid by her employer. The total cost
of the course plus room and board was outrageously expensive. She was also to
retain her regular salary during her leave of absence. According to one of my
colleagues, she had been interviewed on TV and had said that she looked forward
to sitting outside in the warm Rome sun and drinking a glass of wine (wouldn’t
we all love to be doing that). Her decision to take this course and to leave
her directorial duties behind her in Oslo for five months did not meet with
much support among hospital personnel at any level. And I can report that she
was the butt of derisive jokes the entire day. After a massive uproar on the
part of the public and hospital personnel, she dropped her intention to take
the course. But she offered no apology for her poor judgment and timing.
Why did
this incident garner so much media attention? Because she was planning to
hightail it out of Norway at exactly the time the newly-merged hospital needs her to be there to oversee the
progress associated with the merger that she set in motion at the behest of the
current ruling political party—a merger that has proven to be quite
controversial, difficult to achieve, and one that will cost more money than it
will save. As Jay Leno once said to Hugh Grant on national TV when the latter
had been caught doing something naughty—what were you thinking? The same
question applies here. The hospital runs with a huge budget deficit at present.
While the rest of us are told to save money,
while budgets are being cut and employees are being laid off, it was ok for the
managing director to spend money on a
NATO course (still no explanation as to why she needs this course) and to talk
about how much she looked forward to enjoying the warmth of Italy. Talk about
lack of emotional intelligence. I’m sure those employees who have recently lost
their jobs were thrilled to read this. I’m sure they wished her well and were appropriately
concerned for her career progression. By the way, the answer to the question what was she thinking is--she wasn’t.
Monday, January 9, 2012
A little update
I have a new personal website as of this past weekend: http://paulamdeangelis.wordpress.com/
The format of my photography blog has also been changed as of this past weekend: http://oftheangelsdesigns.wordpress.com/
Thanks for stopping by!
The format of my photography blog has also been changed as of this past weekend: http://oftheangelsdesigns.wordpress.com/
Thanks for stopping by!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
University of Oslo Science Library at night
I took some photos for the University of Oslo’s Science Library in
December 2011. The library is in the process of consolidating eight separate
science and math libraries into one large Science Library that will be moving
into the newly-renovated Vilhelm Bjerknes’ building on the Blindern campus. I
was asked to take some night photos outside the new building as well as to take
some indoor photos on one of our inspection tours of the building. Here is one of my photos of the Science Library at night.
Clearspeak
It happened
again—I was reading the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten and flipping through
the Culture section, when I came to the book review section. I came across a
review of a new book by an (American) author. The nationality of the author
doesn’t really matter for this discussion; what is important was that this was
his third book, that his first book had been an amazing debut, and that it had
sold very well. It had also been well-received critically. The small headline that
introduced the actual review provided the following message (translated more or
less literally from Norwegian): ‘only the
mountains are the same as in the first book; nothing else achieves the heights
that were achieved in the first novel’. Clear enough message, I thought—I expected
to find a negative tone throughout the review. But no, quite the opposite. The
reviewer used his column to praise the book, and ended his review by saying the
following: ‘it is almost unthinkable that
(the author) would be able to achieve the heights that he did with his debut
novel, but with his new book he has shown that he didn’t just have one good
book in him. This book is undoubtedly one of the year’s most important American
books’. Why did this review irritate me, when it was in fact well-written and
positive to the author? Because these types of reviews or newspaper articles are
not uncommon these days. Because the introductory headline and the review
itself were at odds with each other. Because the headline creates the
anticipation of a negative review, when in fact it was not negative at all.
This is how
I would have written the introductory headline: ‘despite the fact that the third novel does not live up to the standards
set by the debut novel, the author’s third book is very good and will be one of
the year’s most important books’. Nothing more and nothing less. You then know
what you have to deal with when you read the review. Your expectations of
praise and some criticism will be met. You will get a clear message of what the reviewer meant about the book.
I look for
Clearspeak in most conversations and in most of what I read and listen to in
the media these days. Unfortunately, I find that Clearspeak is in short supply.
What is Clearspeak, you wonder. Clearspeak is the opposite of Obscurespeak, and
even of Newspeak (a la George Orwell). It is the ability to express one’s
thoughts and meanings clearly, so that your listeners and readers understand
you. It is the ability to use words and vocabulary in an honest and direct (not
necessarily politically-correct) way, again so that your listeners and readers
understand you. It is not about being politically-correct or cowardly or any of
those things. Clearspeak says—'I have an opinion or a specific meaning about
something and I feel comfortable with expressing it clearly. I want you to know
what I think'. Obscurespeak says—'I have an opinion or a specific meaning about
something but I feel uncomfortable with expressing it clearly, so I will
introduce a certain amount of confusion so that readers and listeners cannot ‘attack’
me for my opinions and meanings afterward. I’m not sure I really want you to
know what I think. I am afraid'. Obscurespeak is obfuscation. It is also
Safespeak—it protects the writer or speaker from being taken down or attacked,
because your readers and listeners are too busy trying to figure out what it
was you meant by what you wrote or said. Obscurespeak is the new language of
huge bureaucracies as well, because if the average ordinary person actually started
to understand what is written in the rules, regulations, tax laws, import laws,
etc. he or she might actually start to ask some clear and direct questions that
politicians wouldn’t want or be able to answer. Understanding how society and
the government work might lead to grass-root revolutions and to an overthrow of
politicians and bureaucrats who worship Obscurespeak and even Newspeak. Perhaps
that day is coming and that is what they’re afraid of.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
An excerpt from Fading Away, a short story I'm writing
........The marriage of her parents
Frank and Anna had been marred by the sense of mission that her father felt in
regard to keeping his siblings close and in frequent communication. Her
father’s siblings had also grown apart like in Rob’s family, but theirs was a
bitter and endless drama that eventually became a cold war. It had become his
life’s purpose to reunite them, but he never really understood or accepted that
he could not achieve this on his own. It would have required enormous good will
from the six of them--three brothers: Frank, Eugene, and John, and three
sisters: Colette, Maria, and Loretta--to accomplish that. They argued with
each other from the early days in her parents’ marriage and prior to their
marriage. The pattern was always the same-- argue over trivial things (to
others but not to them), then slam the doors shut and close their hearts indefinitely
to the very people with whom they had grown up, open up a bit again, perhaps on
a whim, and then slam doors shut again for even longer. Eventually the doors
slammed shut for good.......
Saturday, December 31, 2011
A poem by Robert Frost
The Road
Not Taken
Two
roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And
sorry I could not travel both
And be
one traveler, long I stood
And
looked down one as far as I could
To where
it bent in the undergrowth;
Then
took the other, as just as fair,
And
having perhaps the better claim,
Because
it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though
as for that the passing there
Had worn
them really about the same,
And both
that morning equally lay
In
leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I
kept the first for another day!
Yet
knowing how way leads on to way,
I
doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall
be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence:
Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took
the one less traveled by,
And that
has made all the difference.
-------------------------------
Another hope for the new year--that I choose and take the 'road less traveled' far more often. Whenever I have done so in the past, it always led to good things. So here's to new roads, unknown roads, roads of mystery and roads of joy. Happy New Year!
Hopes and wishes for the New Year
Some hopes and wishes for the New Year......
·
That
I reclaim what was once a very important virtue to me—patience. I seem
to have lost it during the past few years. Or perhaps I cast it to the wayside
without really being aware of doing so.
·
Ditto
for faith. Having trust and faith in the present and the future, that all
unfolds as it should, in time. Faith and patience seem to go together. I had
more of both when I was younger, during times that were much more difficult
than any present situation.
· Hope too. Without it, life seems rather meaningless and bleak.
·
That
people drop their envy and learn to compliment others when a compliment is
warranted. This doesn’t mean faking it or being superficial. It means being
honest. When someone else has succeeded, achieved something you haven’t, or
simply looks nice one day, for God’s sake, be happy for them. Let them know
that you are happy for them. It doesn’t diminish who you are. It may be your
turn the next time. And then you’d like others to be happy for your success
too.
·
That
the focus on competition in all things is de-emphasized. It is important to
know and recognize that all individuals have different talents and strengths.
It is not necessary for an artist to compete with a scientist for the same
goal. Ditto for a scientist and an accountant, or a scientist and a politician.
God bless the differences between us. I don’t want to be an accountant, but I have
a lot of respect for what they do. Please respect my profession (science) and
stop asking us to be something we’re not at work (accountants, secretaries,
administrators, delivery people, media wizards and IT-experts).
·
That
this culture learns for good that
differences are good. All men are not created the same. We are different from
everyone else already at birth. That is what the word individual denotes. We may enjoy the same access to opportunities,
education, healthcare and the like, but we are not the same and we will not use
these opportunities in the same way as everyone else. Can we for once
acknowledge our differences and even celebrate them?
·
And
while I’m at it, I hope that my workplace learns to respect its employees. They
certainly haven’t done a very good job of this up until now (if ever). Perhaps
2012 will be the first year that employees in my workplace feel valued and
useful. That would be an amazing thing and go a long way toward creating the
kind of loyalty and dedication my workplace desperately seeks.
·
That
politicians and administrators stop trying to regulate every little aspect of
our lives. A lot of us feel micro-managed, at work and outside of work. Can we
stop now please? Can we be treated as the adults we are and not reduced to the
level of kindergarten children in all things? I know how to read, write, and
interpret what I read, make my own decisions, and take care of my health. Ditto
for so many other things. I’m a skeptic by nature, so leave me alone. Don’t
force your opinions down my throat. I don’t need a hundred ‘besserwissers’ (German for know-it-alls)
to lecture me every time I decide to do something that falls outside of the A4 (conforms to same standard) lifestyle that defines a lot of Scandinavia. There’s always someone to tell me ‘you
don’t want to do that’ (yes, I do) or ‘why do you want to do that, it’s not
going to work’ (because I want to and I didn’t ask for your opinion or your
advice, and yes, I think it’s going to work).
·
That
skepticism of the media increases, that we become warier of what we let into
our minds and hearts, and that we learn to recognize evil for what it really is
and how it manifests itself in modern society—as banality, hopelessness,
indifference, apathy, need to control, need to dominate, need to destroy—in short,
a type of negativity that is soul-destroying.
·
That
we work for justice, fairness, honesty and compassion to counteract the
negativity around us. All we need to do is to start in our personal lives—treat
the people around us fairly, honestly and with compassion. And they will do the
same with those around them. And so on.
·
That
we ‘light a candle rather than curse the darkness’. Let’s light a thousand,
even a million candles.
Friday, December 30, 2011
A little humor from authors about writing
·
I’m
writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.
Steven Wright
·
I
love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Douglas Adams
·
A
critic is a man who knows the way but can’t drive the car.
Kenneth Tynan
·
I
just wrote a book, but don’t go out and buy it yet, because I don’t think it’s
finished yet.
Lawrence Welk
·
A
blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.
Sidney Sheldon
·
All
the words I use in my stories can be found in the dictionary – it’s just a
matter of arranging them into the right sentences.
Somerset Maugham
·
Asking
a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it
feels about dogs.
Christopher Hampton
·
A
good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed
envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a
temptation to the editor.
Ring Lardner
·
A
young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning
writer, on the other hand, sometimes has the misfortune of getting into print.
Marguerite Yourcenar
·
Writing
a novel is like spelunking. You kind of create the right path for yourself.
But, boy, are there so many points at which you think, absolutely, I’m going
down the wrong hole here.
Chang-rae Lee
·
Most
writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.
Richard Curtis
·
It
took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t
give it up because by that time I was too famous.
Robert Benchley
·
Writing
a novel is like paddling from Boston to London in a bathtub. Sometimes the damn
tub sinks. It’s a wonder that most of them don’t.
Stephen King
·
Being
a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.
Lawrence Kasdan
·
Everywhere
I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that
they don’t stifle enough of them.
Flannery O’Connor
·
It’s
a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.
Andrew Jackson
·
There
are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they
are.
Somerset Maugham
·
Your
manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not
original, and the part that is original is not good.”
Samuel Johnson
The gift of time
Christmas is
the season of many gifts, but it is not the material gifts that matter most. What
matters most is the gift of time—making
time for others but also for ourselves--visiting good friends, picking up the
telephone to call friends and family, writing some Christmas cards—in a
nutshell, remembering and even prioritizing others, some of whom may be sad,
lonely, frustrated or just a bit down, and who may perk up a bit because you
got in touch with them. Christmas can make us feel a bit down sometimes;
especially when it seems as though everyone else around you is happy except you.
It is a family holiday, but if you have no family to speak of, or if you and
your family are estranged, what then? Where do you go if you are alone without
family? If friends don’t invite you to their homes, do you sit alone and wallow
in past memories that will only make you sadder? Do you force yourself to go
out and celebrate Christmas with other folks who are alone and perhaps lonely?
Life is
short. This can never be emphasized too often for me. Time
is a gift. To have the time to read a good book, write, work on a hobby, be
with family and friends, talk on the phone, visit an older person who may be
alone, spend time with a child who enjoys your company—all those things are
gifts, not only to others but to ourselves. Our souls grow and expand when we
nourish it in these ways, likewise our hearts. In the final analysis, it is not
how many hours we spent at work that will count when we are old. No one will
care when we are eighty years old that we worked sixty hour-weeks. No one will
remember that we did so. If you love your work, you are lucky, but I also think
that those who truly love their work
are also those who understand the work-life balance. They understand the blessings
that they have been given—they treasure those blessings and respect them. There
are many reasons to work overtime for years on end or to constantly tell others
that you are so busy at work that you didn’t have time to call or write or get
in touch. Sometimes it may just be about not wanting to go home—to an unhappy
home, to an empty apartment, or to the overwhelming quiet that will cause one
to reflect on one’s life and on what may be wrong with it. Sometimes
overworking is simply an excuse to not face up to the changes that need to be
made in our lives. Overwork is a panacea, and can be used as a drug to dull the
pain of an unlived life, or a life lived in the shadows or under a ‘bushel
basket’. Let’s make 2012 the year that we step out from under the bushel basket
and shine our light out to the world, the year when we show the world that we love
ourselves enough to share our time, talents, love and compassion, the year when
we make time for others. The world will be a better place for it.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
What others have written about Christmas
o
Christmas
waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more
beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale
o
He
who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy
L. Smith
o
I
have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time;
a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long
calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their
shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were
fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on
other journeys. ~Charles Dickens
o
Happy,
happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days;
that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport
the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own
fire-side and his quiet home! ~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick
Papers, 1836
o
There
has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries. ~W.J. Cameron
o
Christmas
is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us
that we're here for something else besides ourselves. ~Eric Sevareid
o
Our
hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are
better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at
Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
o
Christmas
is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial
flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving
o
Gifts
of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry
Christmas. ~Peg Bracken
o
Instead
of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the
year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true
sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.
Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.
~Francis C. Farley
o
It
is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis
o
For
centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means
fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.
~W.J. Ronald Tucker
o
I
sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into
it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for
me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year.
And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly -
waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why,
this is Christmas Day!" ~David Grayson
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Christmas in Oslo
The Norwegian Opera House |
Downtown area near the waterfront |
Oslo waterfront |
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas at the Mall (Sandvika Storsenter)
We were out shopping today for Christmas gifts at the largest mall in Scandinavia--Sandvika Storsenter. It is located to the west of Oslo and is a short drive from the city. It has a large wall aquarium, so I snapped a few shots of the fish, especially the ones who were curious about what was going on on my side of the glass that divided us. We were also in an electro-boutique--sells everything from computers to stoves to smoothie machines. Had to snap a few photos--I mean really--walls of ovens and washing machines! Norway is so different than when I moved here. It has everything now in the way of material goods, thanks to the wealth created by the oil money. Twenty-two years ago, you had only a few different types of stoves to choose from; now, you can't count the choices. Supermarkets--the same thing--it's hard to know what to buy sometimes. Abundance is the operative word--an abundance of everything.
It gets dark here early now, so by 3:30 pm, it is nighttime for all intents and purposes. So it was interesting to get some evening shots of all the Christmas lights and decorations. On the drive home to Oslo, we stopped at the harbor area so that I could take some photos of the Opera House and the surrounding area at night. I'll post some of those photos in a later post.
It gets dark here early now, so by 3:30 pm, it is nighttime for all intents and purposes. So it was interesting to get some evening shots of all the Christmas lights and decorations. On the drive home to Oslo, we stopped at the harbor area so that I could take some photos of the Opera House and the surrounding area at night. I'll post some of those photos in a later post.
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