Review: NOW IS GONE by Geoff Livingston
With the Internet continuing to evolve at a dizzying pace, where six months can feel like six years, most printed books about new media are outdated by the time they hit bookstore shelves. One published back in 2007 should, by all rights, be completely worthless at this point. That Geoff Livingston’s now is gone: A
Amazon Rank, #AmazonFail
I’m probably one of Amazon.com’s favorite types of customers, living and working in spitting distance of a Barnes & Noble, Borders and several good independent booksellers, browsing their shelves but doing most of my book buying via Amazon. Over the years, I’ve spent thousands of dollars with them, on books (and other products) for myself
The Force is Strong in Him
My 8-year-old son has become a huge Star Wars fan over the past several months, without overt encouragement, as he’s now seen all seven movies, and the new Clone Wars animated series has become appointment viewing for us almost every Friday night. He has three lightsabers, two of which he bought with his own allowance;
Garden Photography, Writing and Planthropology
I went to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum a few weeks ago to check out Ken Druse give a presentation of his amazing new book, Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites, and took my wife’s fancy new camera with me to take pictures. After the presentation, I wandered the snow-covered grounds of the Arboretum and
Random Reviews: Inkheart, Wanted, Chalk
We’ve been having a lot of Blockbuster nights since we bought the house last summer, while managing to catch whatever kid-friendly movies worth seeing in theaters whenever possible, and I’ve been reviewing a lot of them on Flixster but wanted to round up the most recent batch and post them here, including expanded commentary on
How Wonderful Is It?
Back in 1996, when I was publishing my short-lived zine, zuzu’s petals — which, in a wonderful bit of circularity, played a significant role in my getting married! — I wrote a pretty cynical essay about why I loved It’s A Wonderful Life, not so much for its purportedly uplifting message, but rather for its “unintentionally subversive message”.
Review: TRIBES by Seth Godin
Just do it. Or, as Gandhi put it, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” That, in a nutshell, is the primary message of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin’s masterful mini-manifesto on what it takes to be a leader and why YOU should be the one to take
Review: The Incredible Hulk
I skipped The Incredible Hulk in theaters because I was fully expecting to be disappointed, but my son really wanted to see it and Iron Man was unexpectedly good, so we picked up the DVD and I was pleasantly surprised. Ed Norton isn’t as dynamic an actor as Robert Downey, Jr., unlikely to carry a
Breaking Ground
There are 8 million stories in the naked city, plus another 2-3 million, give or take, if you count the transplants who still commute in for work from the surrounding cities and towns in Long Island, Connecticut and, yes, New Jersey. From Bloomberg to Bloomfield is my story, a native New Yorker on his third
Go see Liberty City
I went to see Liberty City last night, April Yvette Thompson’s multi-layered, one-person account of her upbringing in the infamous Miami neighborhood during the chaotic 70s, told against a backdrop of the rise and fall of the Black Power movement, the Crack epidemic and the Liberty City Riots that led to Miami being declared a disaster area, literally and figuratively. Co-written