Archive for June, 2009
Making like a runner stone
Busy with Read These Lips, Volume 3, pending release this month. We’re close.
Gold star lesbian v who?
There is another chestnut…er…discussion about “what is a lesbian” at Planetout if you have/haven’t/still do sleep with men.
From the article:
I do think lesbians who have had sex with men are less invested in their identity as lesbians than lesbians who have never had sex with men.
The comments following are very interesting, if only for the straights POV (weird, I know). For me, the point about being invested in calling oneself a lesbian, and the effect of conduct diluting identity, is I think one reason for being confused – or not. Young adults these days seem to me less invested in any (sexuality/gender) labels at all, or is it because they’re just young? Mind you, mature women post-divorce or in widowhood seem to have the same ideas but we accept that they’ve LIVED and can therefore make informed choices.
Maybe I’m just older. I can remember when calling myself a lesbian meant something powerful, life affirming and cherished, an awareness to be protected and defended.
To be invested in a lifestyle means more than fucking, it’s about building a life, an identity, a community and a direction. Not that that direction can’t ever change. Perhaps I don’t understand the ‘whatever!’ form of laissez-faire that seems more like apathy and ADD rolled in one, rather than an understanding of ‘live and let live’. Or perhaps I’m more invested in this life because I set out to build it, with happiness and regrets, from wishes, sticks, words and bricks, and I can’t understand those that now laugh at my lesbian identity when it means the world to me.
For the record, I don’t view women who identity as lesbian but still actively sleep with men, as lesbians. Call yourself bisexual and live with it.
And that concludes my 200th post on this blog.
Is this us?
Wonder what it would be like seeing this in the elevator at The Standard Hotel? “Holy…” or “Oh my g…, hey, that’s where this is going too.”
YouTube clip here:
but this is a better resolution:
http://motionographer.com/theater/marco-brambilla-civilization/
Marco’s image choices are hilarious, some of them, like the Marshmallow Man and the beauty pageant. The overall clip, and his other works, are modern marvellous.
[via Gizmodo, Marco Brambilla,TEG]
Busted…not busted
Psst! Wanna buy some anonymity? Yes, you, the blogger over there. Oh, you’re English? I’ll throw in a VPN for free.
From the land that made the paparazzi pests to be endured, the High Court of England & Wales yesterday ruled—courtesy of Justice Eady—that bloggers do not have the right to maintain their anonymity.
“You can be unmasked because blogging is a public activity and you will be accountable,” said Eady J.
“Yes!” The Times UK, applicant, crowed.
“Oh, noes!” wailed millions of bloggers.
In the end, sources of juicy news turned their talents away from The Times, and their newspapers became poorer for it.
Moral of the story – go read this rant from the DailyKos about The Times despicable behaviour and why Eady J is pretty unpopular this week.
Now please excuse me while I register multiple alter-egos.
(Added later)
… Not Busted
Across the Irish Sea, Judge Burgess of the Belfast Laganside Court (a lower court than the High Court) had the good sense to refuse a police application to get notes of interviews from journalist, Suzanne Breen. The police wanted to get material that could have identified members of the Real IRA responsible for killing two British soldiers in March.
In his ruling Burgess focussed on the potential threat to the journalist’s life and that of her family if she had co-operated with the… inquiry…
He said there was a potential threat to the lives of Breen and her family “because the risk is not just real and immediate. It is continuing.”
Burgess also accepted that to grant the order would be a breach of Breen’s rights under the European Convention. Importantly, materials held by journalists were exempt under the Terrorism Act 2000. Breen and her editor also made it clear that all relevant information was already in the public domain and that the authorities would not have gained anything useful from them. The police apparently did not offer any public evidence to support the application. [via The Guardian]
LGBT and indie bookstores
Thanks to some prodding, I’m compiling a list of independent bookstores that have an online presence – in the event you don’t want to buy from the you-know-who corporates. My personal book shopping style is a bit random, I hop around – buying from authors, publishers, co-ops, online stores as well as the one down the road. Do whichever you’re in the mood for but support writers, and if like me you can, then also support your local lgbt bookstore.
I hope readers find this list useful. I’ll be adding to it from time to time. If you know of a bookstore that should be included, drop me a line. I’m particularly interested in LGBT bookshops outside the English speaking world, but thanks to the internet there are always other sources. For obvious reasons, this list favours the L in LGBTQ where possible. In some countries, general bookstores are the only place to obtain LGBT books – better some than none.
LGBT & Friendly Bookstores (potentially hundreds, these are just a few)
- The Feminist Bookshop (Aust.)
- The Bookshop Darlinghurst (Aust.)
- Hares & Hyenas (Aust.)
- Libertas / DIVA (UK)
- Charis (USA)
- Moon Horse Books (UK) (opened 2010)
- SCPBooks (USA) (closed in 2010)
- True Colors Bookstore (USA)
- Glad Day (Canada)
- Calamus Books (USA)
- Lambda Rising (USA) (closing end of 2009)
- Giovanni’s Room (USA)
- InsightOut Books (USA)
- Ultra Violet Book Cafe (South Africa)
- Gay and Lesbian Books (Germany)
- Les Mots à la Bouche (France)
- Berkana (Spain)
- Women and Children First (USA)
- Bookshop Vrolijk (Netherlands)
- GinGin Books (Taiwan)
- Pride Exchange Shop (Philippines)
- flipkart.com (India)
- nbcindia.com (India)
- Gay’s The Word (UK)
- Toronto Women’s Bookstore (Canada)
- eXplicitbooks / Little Sister’s Bookstore (Canada)
WD 10th short story comp
Writer’s Digest have run this competition for 10 years. They’re looking for really short entries, up to 1500 words (almost like flash fiction).
Entry fee of USD15.oo per submission. The comp is open to non-US residents.
Deadline, November 1. Grand prize, USD3000 .
Details at http://writersdigest.com/short
Sino gay
Is this China’s first gay pride? A week long celebration in Shanghai with films, parties, socials and officials keeping a close eye, so no parade.
The state view, and the street view.
The cost of cheaper books
Yesterday I wrote about a rights grab by Google Books, starting with out-of-print and orphan books, and a settlement that assumes US copyright holders have forfeited their e-book rights to GBks unless they tick the ‘No’ box.
There is another territorial rights fight in progress, this one in Australia, over access to ‘cheaper books’ for consumers. The government is considering removing or reducing book importation limits for books simultaneously published in Australia and also elsewhere (PIRs), with the idea that this will reduce book prices in Aust.
As a background, the average price in Sydney of a new release paperback ranges from AUD$27-33. Hard covers can retail up to $45-55. Prices are frequently higher the further out of city you live. The avg price of same are USD$15-17 and $25-29 respectively in the US, and GBP£8 and GBP£13 respectively in the UK (scratchy comparison that).
Why the fight you say, after all, cheaper books are a good thing. Well, first of all, the RRP on the back cover is not the bottom line. When we consider postage and handling charges, sales, loyalty discounts, internet bookstores, currency exchange, e-books etc, the final bill can vary greatly. This is especially true for overseas consumers who hope to get a bargain–ignoring exorbitant shipping charges–or early releases, or who can’t get the same book domestically.
Secondly but more importantly, the restriction on PIRs help protect the local publishing industry and in turn, this enables Australiana voices to flourish in the little breathing space available before cheaper imports and external English cultures are dumped into our market. Australia has less than a tenth the population of the USA and about a third of the UK, yet we spend $2.5 billion a year on new books alone. Our independent bookstores and small publishers are surviving. So obviously, there are other less easily quantifiable benefits conferred by maintaining PIRs.
For these reasons and more, there is a real pushback from writers and publishers against lifting current import restrictions. The proponents of the review are, no surprise, the big bookstores. Shades of Borders and B&N, perhaps?
In current economic clime, the cry for cheaper books of equal value might be overwhelming. Australians likely feel more entitled as they have been chaffing under high prices for a long time, partly due to geography, partly volume and perhaps, partly due to the PIRs. As a buyer of lesbian lit, I have little choice but to sometimes buy from overseas–either way LGBT books are always priced higher.
Two points swayed me: USA and UK have their own competition barriers protecting their publishing industry, and in New Zealand–the only other English market to open it’s doors to unrestricted imports–the effect has been disastrous for the local industry and worse still, prices of books have not decreased. I hope the consultation keeps this in mind.
Links:
Richard Flanagan says it better at SWF 2009.
Smelly reads
Not clunkers but eau de livre or the smell of books. In a can! With flavours!
Said to activate olfactory appeal of hardcopy books over electronic book readers. Wouldn’t you know it, the Authors Guild is claiming rights over the nostalgia of that appeal too (don’t know if that is true).
Smell of Books™ is available in five designer aromas.
- New Book Smell (the most popular)
- Classic Musty Smell (because modern musty is so yesterday)
- Scent of Sensibility – “The scent of violets, horses, and potpourri.” (Have they smelled horses?)
- Eau You Have Cats (I know someone who’d like this)
- Crunchy Bacon Scent (Two, please!)
Too funny.
[via GadgetLab]
