getting work and keeping work (neil gaiman and gifs)

grace dobush

This Neil Gaiman commencement speech was mentioned recently on NPR and is now available as a book, “Make Good Art,” designed by Chip Kidd. The thing that really stood out to me in the interview was his two-of-three rule (this “secret knowledge” for freelancers starts around minute 14):

You get work however you get work. People keep working in a freelance world — and more and more of today’s world is freelance — because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. They’ll forgive the lateness of the work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as…

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Learning Calligraphy

Learning Calligraphy.

My Literary Girlfriend

I can’t say enough good things about Patricia Highsmith. I doubt that we would have got on as friends – her apparent bipolar personality combined with an abiding alcoholism would have made that difficult. But her beautiful mastery of both words and plot earn her a portrait in my mental Hall of Fame. I just finished Ripley’s Game, the penultimate story in her five tales about the laconic sociopath, and I was blown away by her ability to coldly document a family man’s slide into a part-time job as a mob assassin. Ripley is Dexter before there was a Dexter. Check out the WW Norton reprints of this series; they have really nice covers.

P.S. You can get them at BMV. I bought mine for $2.99.

“The Road” in 2010

Yeah, so I haven’t written in awhile. Honestly, working through my personal backlog of books has made me a bit ashamed of the mediocre titles I’ve purchased over the past few years. Many of them are so ‘blah’ that I can’t bring myself to even document my reaction to them.

Thank goodness for Santa, who provided me with a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ve stayed away from McCarthy in general, mainly because of a particular bad review of his body of work from the Atlantic Monthly a few years ago. Though this story does start out slow, it turns into a total page-turner after the first third. I was so gripped by the daily push for survival by Man and Boy that I finished the book in about a day.

It is truly a book for our dark times. I even agree with George Monbiot that it may be read as a classic environmental jeremiad. Check it out for yourself.

Kudos to Austin Clarke!

Last night was my final public appearance as a member of the Toronto Book Award jury. Set in the sprawling new Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library, it was a great night to celebrate the great community of writers working in our city.

If you haven’t checked the Toronto Star today, you might not know that Austin Clarke was the winner this year for More, his Faulkner-esque tale of a Regent Park resident reflecting on her life in the city while searching for her lost son. His acceptance speech was full of good humour and bonhomie. He is a deserving winner and will be a great ambassador for both the city and the Toronto One Book program.

For two other angles on the evening, check out the City of Toronto and CBC web sites.

Toronto Book Awards Finale This Week!

This week, I’ll be attending the official announcement of the winner of the City of Toronto Book Award. Click here for the full run-down on the award, the authours and the jury’s assessment of the work.

It’s been a great three years for me on the jury. Unlike most book award juries, our main qualification for membership is our residence in the city and our mutual love of reading. Theoretically, none of us has any scores to settle with literary or publishing rivals. We just look for the “most evocative” account of the many stories unfolding in the city every day.

My 2008-09 Faves

Okay, so I keep a log of everything I read each year. For 2008-2009, I read exactly 113 books. Here are some of my favourites from the past year:

• Howard Zinn – A People’s History of the American Empire – graphic non-fiction – He doesn’t “blow my mind” like Good Will Hunting suggested, but he does find new ways to present history in two ways: graphically, of course, and “from below.”
• Jim Thompson – The Alcoholics, South of Heaven, The Killer Inside Me, etc – crime fiction – he’s gotten more popular over the years, especially after a series of movie adaptations starting with the Grifters. All in all, his first-person voice is note-perfect whether he writing the psychopath, the thief or the alcoholic.
• Michael Lewis – Moneyball – sport journalism – I’m a tad jealous of this writer because he’s so darn successful, but you can’t deny his wonderful style. Even if you dislike baseball and all corporate cultures, you will find this story of a perpetual underdog competing cleverly with bigger opponents to be an engaging read.
• Joan Didion – Miami – I don’t always follow her tangents, dut Didion’s clear writing is a joy and wonder to follow from page to page. Her sketches of the Cuban community provide more insight than you might find otherwise on television or in print.
• Cory Doctorow – Content – internet journalism – this guy is on the cutting edge of the creative commons, etc. His dissection of the futility of digital rights management and “ownership” in the digital age is food for thought.
• Howard Brenton/David Hare – Pravda – play – I love British drama and I love satire, especially when it turns its attention to the modern media. Great read for a gloomy afternoon!
• The Bill McKibben Reader – environmental journalism – I was pleasantly surprised with McKibben’s mix of environmental activism and sincere spirituality. It’s a great introduction to his work and far more enjoyable than, say, clunky Paul Hawken.
• John Steinbeck – The Long Valley and The Grapes of Wrath – fiction – I came back to Steinbeck after a long break and his work holds up over time. In the short story collection, “The Red Pony” will tug at your heart as strongly as “Old Yeller.” The novel will probably make you want to join the communist party.
• Jock and Andy Diggle – The Losers – graphic novels – this re-vamp of the WWII team is updated for the post-9/11 age. I disliked the conclusion, but the story is a welcome break from the general stupidity of mainstream superhero comics. Note: a film version of this series should be completed next year, directed by Peter Berg and co-starring Idris Elba. It’s going to be great!

Whew! Now, I’m going to have to read through my backlog for 2009-2010. I’ll try to be more regular in my reviews. Smaller is easier than bigger to manage.

Books of Impact!

This is a response to something I did on Facebook. My friend Hume suggested that I (and many others) select fifteen books I’ve read that will always stick with you. Choose the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. In no particular order with further annotations:

1. The Bible, edited by Jehovah – Okay, I don’t live by it, but I kind of agree with Northrop Frye that it is the template for most of Western Literature.
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis – Too Christian for me now, but I loved these stories at one time.
3. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner – his crisp prose and mix of fiction and non-fiction showed me a different way of writing.
4. Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano – this is what Pierre Berton could have done if he thought “continental.”
5. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. leGuin – beautiful story about “making choices.”
6. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick – the basis for Blade Runner.
7. Class by Paul Fussell – this book made me laugh at myself and secretly hope that I can return to my working-class ancestral roots.
8. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut – an ode to the art of illustration in a roundabout way.
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – more prescient than 1984, assuming that both books are supposed to be prophecies.
10. The Star Rover by Jack London – nice reincarnation story.
11. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow – words to live by: “a educated man with a business is a king.”
12. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – I can’t believe I did it!
13. East of Eden by John Steinbeck – pretty Biblical in its plot and themes, but makes you want to move to California.
14. Content by Cory Doctorow – opened my mind to different ways of viewing content “ownership.”
15. Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman – his mass media criticsm may seem quaint now, but he still makes some good points.

One person listed a series of magazines as one their “influential books.” This is a good line of thought to pursue. Why shouldn’t periodicals have as much influence on us as a book?

Mid-August Movie Madness!

With some extra time on my hands, I’ve been watching more movies (not cinema) this week. Here’s some quick reviews if you are looking for some weekend watching:

• The Children – S and I spent Tuesday night at this After Dark Film Festival showing at the Bloor Cinema. It’s a cautionary tale of the dangers of children. Apparently, contemporary super-flus can turn them into sociopathic killers. More mortifying than actually scary, it’s a good rental for couples that have not yet handed their lives over to the next generation.
• Confessions of a Shopaholic – Oh, my God! Isla Fisher = hilarious! The rest of the movie – run like hell!
• Kundun – this Scorcese film has been unjustly ignored. It might have something to do with the fact that the Chinese government hated it. While the acting and pace is a bit langorous, the cinematography and art direction is worth a look. Personally, I love the Philip Glass score.
• Logan’s Run – Cheesy? Not at all! This study in Malthusian hedonism actually stands up as plausible. The auteur behind this piece had the foresight to predict GPS tracking and laser surgery, among other things. I love the “futuristic” 1970s architecture, too. The sets look like virtually any Canadian University that was built in the 1960s and 1970s (e.g. Carleton, Waterloo.)
• Nights in Rodanthe –  Nicholas Sparks is tough enough to handle at the best of times. I think that I’ve got his “system” nailed after enduring a few of his opuses. Take an attractive mid-to-late life couple, have them solve their personal emotional problems through one hot weekend together and then kill one of them off in the final act. I don’t care if I’m spoiling, in this case. On the plus side, Diane Lane still looks gorgeous.

Some of these titles are on Rogers On Demand. For the hard-to-find items, S and I always head to Film Fest DVD Rentals on Duplex Avenue.

Geek Effusion after Sunday Brunch!

Susie and I went out to the Bedford Academy for brunch last Sunday and whom do we see there but Robert Wisdom (aka Major Howard “Bunny” Colvin of HBO’s The Wire.) At first, we let him enjoy his shrimp and pad thai in peace. As he went to leave, I guess that he decided to acknowledge my bashful smirking and girlish giggling. Mr. Wisdom came on over and just said, “Yeah, it’s me.”

He’s in town for the upcoming ABC series, “Happy Town.” He shook our hands (twice!) and thanked us for our effusive praise of his work in the most Dickensian of TV series. Another bystander told him that she fully supported his work in the Western District (look it up.) If you see him around town, here’s a tip – he does photos but demurs at autographs.

Anyway, that’s how we spend our Sunday afternoons…with the greatest actors of contemporary television.

P.S. Please also go see “District 9.” Truly, it’s one of the better sci-fi films I’ve seen in recent memory. Like the best of the genre, it provides sharp commentary on human failings and current issues (in this case, racism, militarism and treatment of refugees.) If you’re not cheering for Christopher Johnson and son by the end, then you’re on the wrong side. Here’s hoping that “District 10” is already in pre-production!