February 01, 2006
Carol Taylor On Editing An Anthology
The process of editing an anthology is a multi-faceted one. In addition to editing stories, depending on what each story needs and working with authors depending on what each author needs, you are also taking care of the schedule, the budget (my publisher pays me and I pay my writers), and the contracts (I have a contract with my publisher and my contributors have contracts with me). You also have to make sure that you get what you need from the writers on time for the first draft and for any revisions. Then after you've delivered the book to your publisher, you work on the production process. You have to vet all copy, review and correct your copyedited manuscript, and make sure the book looks exactly the way you want it to, which is far easier said than done.
An excerpt from Felicia Pride's interview of "Editor-as-Entrepreneur" Carol Taylor in BackList, "A Publishing and Literary Newsletter of African-American Interest."
Carol Taylor (no known relation) was one of my professors in the Publishing Certificate Program at the City College of New York. I also assisted her a bit (mostly clerical) on the second installment of the series, Brown Sugar 2: Great One Night Stands - A Collection of Erotic Black Fiction.
February 07, 2006
New Nano, Cheaper Shuffles & Countdown to One Billion At The iTMS
Not too long after introducing a 1GB iPod nano for $149 (and lowering prices on the sturdy shuffle line -- the 512MB is now $69 and it's bigger sister 1GB version is now only $99), Apple announces a new contest to celebrate:
Apple's iTunes Billion Songs Countdown
We've got one billion reasons to celebrate, and we're starting with you. As we mark our way to one billion, the music fans who download every 100,000th song will receive a prize package featuring a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card.
And if you're the lucky grand-prize winner who downloads the billionth song from the iTunes Music Store, you'll receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes Music Card to jumpstart your digital music collection.
I've made two purchases so far, with maybe a dozen more purchases to come. More on that tomorrow.
Of course, I'm a bit disappointed that Pepsi didn't air a new commercial for us to "Drink Pepsi, Win Music."
February 08, 2006
"Invite (All) to the Way of Thy Lord With Wisdom And Beautiful Preaching..."
From The Inner Circle (Johannesburg, South Africa-based LGBT Muslim organization) responding to recent violence after "blasphemous" cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad:
The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had a neighbor who used to maliciously throw his garbage at the door step of the Prophet's home, every morning. The Prophet would then pick it up and throw it in the disposal area along with his personal trash. One morning the Prophet didn't see any garbage on his door step and he didn't really care much about it until a week passed by without any garbage being put on the Prophet's door step. So the prophet went to his neighbor and paid him a visit to check up on him. The neighbor was sick and in bed. The prophet then started taking care of his neighbor who eventually embraced Islam because of the prophet's display of good character.
Had the prophet acted in any hostile way, it would have only driven the two neighbors even further apart. This is a classical example of how the prophet implemented the verse:
Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance... -- Q-16:125
I have nothing more to say about the violence and senselessness surrounding the cartoons.
February 12, 2006
Good News! The NEW RashawnBrazell.com is here!
Good News! The NEW RashawnBrazell.com is here!
On behalf of the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund, we are proud to announce the re-launch of our website, RashawnBrazell.com. While nearly a year ago we gathered on the corner of Nostrand Ave. & Fulton St. to mourn Rashawn's passing, today we celebrate a notable landmark in the life of the fund that we've created to provide a sustainable tribute to his memory.
The newly designed RashawnBrazell.com features:
· Application materials for the Memorial Scholarship and Mentoring Program
· An outline of our exciting new initiatives
· Colorful photo galleries
· A welcome from the founders
· A fully searchable news blog with dates for upcoming events
· A user-friendly "donate now" option
· An extended biography of Rashawn with photos from the Brazell family archives
And much more!
The urgency of the RBC yahoogroup's call for change challenged us to provide the community with avenues for significant grassroots action. To this end, we invite you to check out what we have in store for 2006. If you share our commitment to combating the racism and homophobia encountered by gay men of African descent, we'd love to have you on board for what promises to be an exciting year. As always, we invite you to email us directly with your feedback and questions.
In solidarity,
Larry D. Lyons II and Mervyn Marcano
Founders, Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund
info@RashawnBrazell.com
February 13, 2006
V-D, 2006
I've seen this before, but thanks to Keguro for this:
What's the difference between love, true love and showing off?
Spitting.
Swallowing
Gargling.
Happy Valentine's Day (if you're so inclined).
February 14, 2006
Reminder: Kevin So Trio, Wed at Rockwood Music Hall
From the Kevin So notify list:
Dear Family, Friends, and Fans alike !
*** Happy Valentine's Day ***
We've got another gig tomorrow night (Wed) and well worth coming to...
The show will be videotaped as well and we need YOUR HELP to help pack
the place. Please try to make it out and keep on spreading the good
word.
peace and peppermints
ks
KEVIN SO & MIDNIGHT SNACK
WEDNESDAY NIGHT FEB 15 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL 9PM showtime
196 ALLEN ST (btw Houston and Stanton)
NO COVER
Rockwood Music Hall
with
FUNKY BRIAN QUINN - bass
MR PETE DEMEO - drums
Website: http://www.myspace.com/kevinsoandmidnightsnack
2006 WingBone Records
www.kevinso.com
Binyavanga Wainaina (& Others) On Tour
A heads-up from Mr. Keguru (he listed on the LGBTPOC listserve, info via Kenyan Pundit [I think]):
Binyavanga Wainaina, the Kenyan author of the instant classic "How to Write About Africa" and founding editor of Kwani (site under construction) will be doing a series of readings with other writers in the U.S. over the next two weeks.
How to write about Africasome tips: sunsets and starvation are good
ALWAYS USE THE WORD 'AFRICA' OR 'DARKNESS' OR 'SAFARI' IN YOUR TITLE. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.
Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress... -- from Granta 92: The View From Africa
Africa is too large and diverse for generalisations. It has 54 nations, 5 time zones, at least 7 climates, more than 800 million people, and, according to the latest diligent research, maybe 14 million proverbs. This series of talks and readings seeks to present some fresh voices from all corners of Africa, in all their differences. All events are free and open to the public.
SOUTHERN SWING:
Wednesday, February 15th
College Park, MD - University of Maryland
David C. Driskell Center, 5.30 pm
Kwame Dawes and Binyavanga Wainaina
Thursday, February 16th
Fairfax, VA - George Mason University
Center for the Arts, Grand Tier, 6.30 pm
Kwame Dawes and Helon Habila
Friday, February 17th
Charlottesville, VA - University of Virginia
Harrison Institute Auditorium, 4.00 pm
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kwame Dawes and Helon Habila
NORTHERN SWING:
Tuesday, February 21st
New York, NY - Mercantile Library of New York
17 East 47th Street, 6.30 pm
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Helon Habila and Binyavanga Wainaina
Thursday, February 23rd
New York, NY - New York University
19 University Place, 7.00 pm
Adekeye Adebajo, Philip Alcabes, Daniel Bergner, John Ryle and Binyavanga Wainaina
Tuesday, February 28th
Cambridge, MA - Harvard University
W.E.B. DuBois Institute, 7.00 pm
Brent Hayes Edwards, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts and Binyavanga Wainaina
February 17, 2006
nOva Slim: All Nice And Re-Vamped
Baby Bruh nOva Slim ain't frontin' as he showcases an entirely new redesign. Clean, fresh and exciting... yes, EXCITING muvafucka!!
I'm especially enjoying the left-side panel with external links.
Maybe I should hire him to redesign my lame blog.
February 18, 2006
Save The Date: NYC Bloggers To Meet April 13th
Heads up from Louis Pagan, (AKA Latino Pundit):
The New York City Weblogger Meetup Group
This will be the very first Meetup for The New York Weblogger Meetup Group!
We'll use the time to get to know each other, talk about being Bloggers, and discuss what we want out of our Meetups.
When: Tuesday, April 11, Thurday, April 13, 2006 at 7:00 PM
Where: (A location for this event hasn't been chosen yet)
What: This will be the very first Meetup for The New York Weblogger Meetup Group! We'll use the time to get to know each other, talk about being Bloggers, and discuss what we want out of our Meetups.
Don't know what happened to all of my Meetup groups. Especially the Brown Bloggers (link removed as there's no there there). It'd be cool to meet up with some new peeps and extra cool to meet up with the 'Fam again.
February 21, 2006
damm u howard!!!
For mature audiences, so you should be 18 years of age or older. 21 and older in the more backwards states. Which means this is probably not work-safe. And I make no claims as to who the male is in this video (that's why I have quotes around his name dammit!!)
No Howard, you're definitely not "the last person" to see "Colin Farrell's" sex tape.
February 24, 2006
Happy Birthday Mr. Jobs
Apple CEO Steve Jobs turns 51 today. Here's to much more to come -- years for Steve and Apple's success.
February 27, 2006
Octavia Butler, Sci-Fi Genuis, Dead At 58
This is a complete and total shock. I've only read "Kindred" and was recently thinking about getting her last novel, "Fledging." It's a vampire tale and lately that subject matter has fascinated me. Wanted to see what incredible things she had done with the genre:
Octavia Butler, 1947-2006: Sci-fi writer a gifted pioneer in white, male domainShe remains the only science fiction writer to receive one of the vaunted "genius grants" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a hard-earned $295,000 windfall in 1995 that followed years of poverty and personal struggles with shyness and self-doubt.
"People may call these 'genius grants,' " Butler said in a 2004 interview with the Seattle P-I, "but nobody made me take an IQ test before I got mine. I knew I'm no genius."
Butler's most popular work is "Kindred," a time-travel novel in which a black woman from 1976 Southern California is transported back to the violent days of slavery before the Civil War. The 1979 novel became a popular staple of school and college courses and now has more than a quarter million copies in print, but its birth was agonizing, like so much in Butler's solitary life."Kindred" was repeatedly rejected by publishers, many of whom could not understand how a science fiction novel could be set on a plantation in the antebellum South. Butler stuck to her social justice vision - "I think people really need to think what it's like to have all of society arrayed against you" - and finally found a publisher who paid her a $5,000 advance for "Kindred."
"I was living on my writing," Butler said, "and you could live on $5,000 back then. You could live, but not well. I got along by buying food I didn't really like but was nourishing: beans, potatoes. A 10-pound sack of potatoes lasts a long time."
February 28, 2006
Steve Jobs' Idea Of 'Fun'
So today Apple will reveal what they meant when they sent out invites to select media with the teaser of "fun" things to be introduced. I'll be watching Mac Rumors (and other Apple/Mac news and rumor sites) for their coverage of Apple's media event. Like them, I foresee an introduction of a new, improved iPod boombox. Something that connects with an iPod, but maybe just as easily with iTunes, or even maybe something similar to AirTunes. Some expect (but not I) that it will give Mac/Computer users the ability to wirelessly broadcast videos from iPods. We'll see. I don't expect to see a "true" Video iPod, especially one with touch-screen capabilities. Or a PDA. Hell, not even a Mac mini with Intel inside.
Time will tell. I'll update when I can.
My Next Machine: The Intel Mac Mini
Update: 11:40pm-
1. Don't care for the iPod Hi-Fi. I'm sure Apple will sell enough. I don't want a bombox, no matter the sound.
2. Apple-branded leather iPod cases? See above. They sold 30,000 sets of iPod socks. This will sell way more than enough to justify Apple's foray into this accessory market.
3. Mac mini, even with a much-maligned integrated graphic card is more than enough for a typical switcher and a long-term procrastinator (like myself). The former will bring their existing hardware (keyboard, mouse, etc.) and the latter will have a greatly improved machine. My current Mac is more than seven...SEVEN years old. That's generations ya'll. I'll be blunt: FUKK GAMES!! I'm grown folk. I don't care about integrated graphic cards. I'll get one of those damm Mac mini mate-thingies and will be satisfied. Very satisfied.
4. Mac fanboys are the biggest bunch of pissy punks when they're unrealistic rumors are not realized. Look up their reactions to the original iPod, the Mini iPod, the iPod Shuffle, the Nano and hell, even the original Mac mini. 'Nuff said.
Taken directly from Mac Rumors, the newly introduced, greatly improved Mac mini will be my next Mac: Intel chip (including duo-core!!!, 3 - 4 times faster, FrontRow software, etc.).
More details , with more to come (maybe)--
10:25 am MacCentral: Predictably, the new Mac minis also feature iLife 06, Apple's recently refreshed suite of applications that includes iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, GarageBand and iWeb. Also standard is Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger," a remote control, Front Row, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, four USB 2.0 interfaces, FireWire 400, GigaBit Ethernet, DVI video out, and Dolby Digital 5.1 and analog audio in and out.The entry-level Mac mini system, available starting today, is a 1.5GHz Core Solo system with 667MHz bus, 512MB RAM, 60GB SATA hard drive and "Combo" DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for $599 -- $100 more than the previous base model.
The 1.67GHz Core Duo-based model features an 80GB SATA internal hard disk and 8x "SuperDrive" that can burn DVDs as well as CD-Rs, for $799. I'm mos def getting this configuration!
"Fifty percent of our entire product line is now available with Intel processors, in less than sixty days," said Jobs.
10:25 am iLounge: 'Let's talk about music.'
Jobs discussing iPod and iTunes numbers.
10:24 am iLounge: Second model with Core Duo - 1.67, 80GB drive + SuperDrive - $799
Both available today.
10:23 am Engadget: 10:20am PT - If you've got a Mac mini hooked up to a television in your living room, you'll be able to see the media that you've got on every machine you've got hooked up to your network in your house. And, of course, the Mac mini comes with iLife 06... widely regarded as the best in the industry. (SHOWING OFF iLIFE APPS) Let's look at the standard features in the new Mac mini, Tiger and iLife 06, Remote and Front Row, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth, DVI video out, SPDIF and analog in and out.
10:23 am iLounge: Standard features: Tiger + iLife '06, Apple Remote + Front Row, Airport Extreme + Bluetooth, DVI Video Out, USB, FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet.
Price: $599
10:22 am MacCentral:The Mac mini appears physically the same as it did before, but it's 2.5x to 3.2x faster than its predecessor (using the same benchmarks Apple offers for the iMac and MacBook Pro), thanks to the inclusion of the new Intel Core Solo CPU, depending on clock speed. For the Core Duo models, it's 4.8x or 5.5x times faster on those tests.The updated Front Row application is also being offered to users of other Macs running Front Row -- Jobs is calling it "Front Row with Bonjour," Apple's nomenclature for zero-configuration networking.
10:21 am Engadget: 10:19am PT - Demoing streaming video downloaded from iTunes over Front Row via Bonjour sharing. Releasing this as an update this week for the Mac mini and all other machines with Front Row.
10:21 am iLounge: Media from any other mac or windows computer running iTunes will be piped over to the Mac mini hooked up to your television set.
Mac mini comes with iLife '06.
10:21 am Engadget: 10:19am PT - Demoing streaming video downloaded from iTunes over Front Row via Bonjour sharing. Releasing this as an update this week for the Mac mini and all other machines with Front Row.
10:20 am Engadget: 10:17am PT - I guess they forgot to load the content on this mac mini, I guess I'll have to demo a new feature. "Shared music," uses Bonjour, allows devices to communicate seamlessly, and built that into Front Row. (DEMOS FINDING PHIL'S MACBOOK PRO, BROWSING HIS MUSIC FAST. STOPS ON COCAINE BLUES, BIG LAUGH
10:20 am Engadget: 10:15am PT - IR sensor is added next to the disc slot, the apple remote only uses six buttons, which is less than some of the other remotes out there (SHOWS MEDIA CENTER REMOTES WITH OVER 40 BUTTONS).
10:19 am iLounge: Can stream iTunes TV shows.
10:19 am MacCentral: It works similarly with shared albums using iPhoto, and shared videos.
10:18 am iLounge: Shared Photos - Same idea only for photos.
10:18 am Engadget: 10:13am PT - As you know, the Mac Mini has always been BYODKM, and it continues to be that way, you can use it without products if you want, looks the best of course, or you can use it with anyone's. Of course you can always hook it up to televisions. It doesn't plug into cellphones though. One of the other things we're adding to the Mac mini is Front Row, which means we have to add a remote control.10:09am PT - Introduced the iMac, doing really well out there, MacBook Pro reviews are off the charts, two of the things helping this transition are universal applications. Rosetta turned out to be much stronger than we thought it would be, running most PowerPC apps. Today we're introducing our third machine, the mac mini based on Intel's Core Solo processor.
10:16 am iLounge: -- New Feature --
Share Music - Bonjour technology, allows devices to find themselves automatically over a network.
10:15 am MacCentral: The redesigned Mac mini features gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, analog and SPDIF audio outputs and more."And, of course, you can also hook it up to televisions," Jobs told the audience. It's been widely speculated that Apple might use today's event to introduce a Mac model with better home entertainment integration.
The new Mac mini, like its iMac sibling, features Front Row, an application that makes it possible to view movies, listen to audio, watch music videos and more from your Mac, in full-screen, using an infrared remote control from across the room. The Mac mini now sports an infrared sensor in the front of the Mac min, next to the machine's optical disk drive slot.
As demonstrated by Jobs, Front Row now has a new feature -- the ability to support shared music libraries accessible through iTunes. So using Front Row, you can listen to the contents of other machines running iTunes on the same subnetwork.
10:15 am MacCentral: Jobs introduced the new Intel-based Mac mini, Apple's low-cost consumer desktop system. The base model features an Intel Core Solo CPU -- a single-processor, single-core CPU. But the company is also introducing a Mac mini that features Intel's Core Duo processor -- the same kind of CPU that powers the iMac and MacBook Pro.