From now on I am hoping that some campsite reviews will soon begin to adorn this blog. The purpose behind this exercise is simply to create a usefulguide that can be used by ourselves (and anyone else for that matter) to possibly help decide where to go camping in the future. The idea being that these entries will focus on particular details that might not be picked up by more general guides. Ideally I would like to come up with a 'final layout' or universal template to use for all reviews, but I realise that may never be quite possible as things like location, size, etc of each site might automatically require new/different categories. Anyways, the first entry will hopefully go up soon along with some useful camping links. If this works and the required dedication is achieved then this might well turn into a lifelong quest.
Oh yeah, things like festivals, B&B's and hotels will hopefully also feature (for starters I will focus specifically on UK based places).
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Golden Apple
Speculation is rife about the new Apple must-have invention of the year.
The islate or ipad - nobody knows its true name, function or purpose – is due to be introduced to the world this Wednesday, 27 January 2010. One thing everybody does seem to agree on is that it will, in all likelihood, be a huge success and further add credence to the widespread belief that everything Apple does turns to gold.
The most interesting aspect about all of this – for me anyways – is the potential effect this new gizmo could have on the media industry. E-book sales have been increasing, if not drastically then at least regularly. Insiders are already predicting that the ipad will revolutionise the publishing industry. Magazines, journals, books and newspapers would all come as close as possible to being carbon copies of their print originals (with all the added online content).
Will this be the tipping point of electronic publishing? Hard to say, but if anybody can pull it off then I would expect it to be Apple.
The islate or ipad - nobody knows its true name, function or purpose – is due to be introduced to the world this Wednesday, 27 January 2010. One thing everybody does seem to agree on is that it will, in all likelihood, be a huge success and further add credence to the widespread belief that everything Apple does turns to gold.
The most interesting aspect about all of this – for me anyways – is the potential effect this new gizmo could have on the media industry. E-book sales have been increasing, if not drastically then at least regularly. Insiders are already predicting that the ipad will revolutionise the publishing industry. Magazines, journals, books and newspapers would all come as close as possible to being carbon copies of their print originals (with all the added online content).
Will this be the tipping point of electronic publishing? Hard to say, but if anybody can pull it off then I would expect it to be Apple.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Last day at work etc etc
Last day at work - until next Tuesday at least. Still, feels like this is meant to be the end of something or the beginning of something altogether different! Not sure what it is but I have a slight hunch. Best way to spend your last day in the office? Listening to tunage, drinking a helluva lot of coffee to stay awake whilst perusing the paper. Bottle of wine over lunch helps some existential dilemmas but not for making the time pass quicker.
Dirty Projectors' 'Bitte Orca' album of choice to spend a wine induced afternoon haze. Type of music? Undiscrabable to my very limited musical knowledge. These guys are quite good at it though (scroll to bottom of page). For me it's feet up until 5 and straight to the pub.
Adieu!
MM
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New name, same old story
It has been a long time since my last entry - I actually can't believe that it has been nearly four years - but I have decided to once again try and write a few entries to the cyber world.
As a first entry I would like to try and explain the new name of my blog. 'Cafe Aleph' is both a tribute to a little cafe in Panama and a short story written by one of my favourite authors, Jorge Luis Borges.
The 'Cafe Aleph', as far as I am aware, was the first of its kind in Panama - a cultural and creative hub that attracts (I am assuming it still exists) all kinds of artists. In my mind I have some sort of romanticised memory of sitting there drinking coffee and playing chess or listening to gigs. For me it was part of the cultural revolution that slowly tapped into Panama's unique cultural heritage - a blend of American and Latin influences not found anywhere else in Latin America. In my opinion Cafe Aleph dragged Panama into the 21st century and made being an artist, a hippie or anything non-conventional for that matter, cool. Being away from home (Europe), this was always as good as it got!
The connection to Borge is both straightforward and abstract. In 1949 Borges wrote a short story called 'The Aleph'. Without going into too much detail, like many of Borges' stories it deals with the author's personal conflict with time and language. The Aleph is a small point of space which contains the entire universe and everything within it is apprehended simultaneously. It is because of this that language cannot and never will be able to accurrately represent it. Borges once said of it that infinity is to time what the aleph is to space. You cannot really countenance its existence, it is beyond man's finite mind to comprehend it. I guess the Internet sort of fits that bill and I have, since I was a child, for some reason had some sort of obsession with infinity (and time).
Anyways, I will try and post regular updates on just about anything and everything. For now, though, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
MM
As a first entry I would like to try and explain the new name of my blog. 'Cafe Aleph' is both a tribute to a little cafe in Panama and a short story written by one of my favourite authors, Jorge Luis Borges.
The 'Cafe Aleph', as far as I am aware, was the first of its kind in Panama - a cultural and creative hub that attracts (I am assuming it still exists) all kinds of artists. In my mind I have some sort of romanticised memory of sitting there drinking coffee and playing chess or listening to gigs. For me it was part of the cultural revolution that slowly tapped into Panama's unique cultural heritage - a blend of American and Latin influences not found anywhere else in Latin America. In my opinion Cafe Aleph dragged Panama into the 21st century and made being an artist, a hippie or anything non-conventional for that matter, cool. Being away from home (Europe), this was always as good as it got!
The connection to Borge is both straightforward and abstract. In 1949 Borges wrote a short story called 'The Aleph'. Without going into too much detail, like many of Borges' stories it deals with the author's personal conflict with time and language. The Aleph is a small point of space which contains the entire universe and everything within it is apprehended simultaneously. It is because of this that language cannot and never will be able to accurrately represent it. Borges once said of it that infinity is to time what the aleph is to space. You cannot really countenance its existence, it is beyond man's finite mind to comprehend it. I guess the Internet sort of fits that bill and I have, since I was a child, for some reason had some sort of obsession with infinity (and time).
Anyways, I will try and post regular updates on just about anything and everything. For now, though, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
MM
Friday, September 29, 2006
The Man Booker Prize
Keeping With the Expectation of Not Keeping With Expectations
This entry is overdue but time has been in short supply lately. The Man Booker Prize is undoubtedly the biggest literary event of the year and the winner usually benefits from heavily increased sales. Not only does the book that is short-listed sell well, but perhaps more importantly, winning the Man Book Prize or even being short-listed, has the potential of shifting some backlist titles.
This year’s list is as follows:
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss – Hamish Hamilton
Grenville, Kate The Secret River – Canongate
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down – Canongate
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men – Viking
St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk – Picador
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch – Virago
The only title that I am familiar with is the latest Sarah Waters novel, although I have never read any of her books. I do, however, remember the strong advertising campaign that was run for her and she has now become the favourite to win the award.
Personally I am a bit disappointed that David Mitchell’s, Black Swan Green didn’t make the shortlist, but then again that was somehow expected—at least on my behalf. David Mitchell has been short-listed three times, which is an exceptional account considering that he has only written three books prior to Black Swan Green. His last book, Cloud Atlas should have won him the most coveted award in the UK publishing industry, but he was robbed by the seemingly dull John Banville. If Mitchell would have been short-listed this time round he probably would have won just because the judges wouldn’t have known what else to do. Give him the award and people say he received it because he has been nominated three times before, or don’t give it to him and risk creating a strong biased against him that would mean he won’t be nominated again and probably never win. Conisdering that he was once again the favourite to win the award – according to the bookies – it is a shame to not even see him on the short-list. My prediction though is that his next book will win it! (Remember, you read it here first.)
In regards to this year’s list there isn’t really much more to say. I am delighted that Canongate have two titles on the short-list and I hope that they win it, although neither of their two books have really grabbed my attention. The only one that sounds distinctively interesting—to me at least—is Mother’s Milk, of which The Guardian says, “St Aubyn's novel is a sequel to his 1990s trilogy, Some Hope, which follows the fluctuating fortunes of the privileged, dysfunctional Melrose family. Fans will be familiar with his wonderfully malicious prose, which is, if anything, even more dazzling here than in the previous three books.”
The winner will be announced October 10 and I promise to be on time to deliver the winner and some useless ramblings.
This entry is overdue but time has been in short supply lately. The Man Booker Prize is undoubtedly the biggest literary event of the year and the winner usually benefits from heavily increased sales. Not only does the book that is short-listed sell well, but perhaps more importantly, winning the Man Book Prize or even being short-listed, has the potential of shifting some backlist titles.
This year’s list is as follows:
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss – Hamish Hamilton
Grenville, Kate The Secret River – Canongate
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down – Canongate
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men – Viking
St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk – Picador
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch – Virago
The only title that I am familiar with is the latest Sarah Waters novel, although I have never read any of her books. I do, however, remember the strong advertising campaign that was run for her and she has now become the favourite to win the award.
Personally I am a bit disappointed that David Mitchell’s, Black Swan Green didn’t make the shortlist, but then again that was somehow expected—at least on my behalf. David Mitchell has been short-listed three times, which is an exceptional account considering that he has only written three books prior to Black Swan Green. His last book, Cloud Atlas should have won him the most coveted award in the UK publishing industry, but he was robbed by the seemingly dull John Banville. If Mitchell would have been short-listed this time round he probably would have won just because the judges wouldn’t have known what else to do. Give him the award and people say he received it because he has been nominated three times before, or don’t give it to him and risk creating a strong biased against him that would mean he won’t be nominated again and probably never win. Conisdering that he was once again the favourite to win the award – according to the bookies – it is a shame to not even see him on the short-list. My prediction though is that his next book will win it! (Remember, you read it here first.)
In regards to this year’s list there isn’t really much more to say. I am delighted that Canongate have two titles on the short-list and I hope that they win it, although neither of their two books have really grabbed my attention. The only one that sounds distinctively interesting—to me at least—is Mother’s Milk, of which The Guardian says, “St Aubyn's novel is a sequel to his 1990s trilogy, Some Hope, which follows the fluctuating fortunes of the privileged, dysfunctional Melrose family. Fans will be familiar with his wonderfully malicious prose, which is, if anything, even more dazzling here than in the previous three books.”
The winner will be announced October 10 and I promise to be on time to deliver the winner and some useless ramblings.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Stifled Innovation—Let's Make It Work
As there has been some talk about economists, intellectual property and patents, here is another small entry on the topic.
In regards to B.C.’s comment on Stiglitz, who feels that patents stifle innovation (this is presumably the reason for which he sells the right of his inspiring ideas to the publisher willing to pay the most) here are a number of blogs from other, arguably equally renowned economists, who willingly share their ideas for free.
The first is Brad Delong, of the University of California, Berkeley. The Economist recently described his blog as featuring a morning-coffee video-cast and an afternoon-tea audiocast. His topics are wide ranging, interesting and include topics from the Treasury to Trotsky.
Another quite interesting blog is by a professor of economics at Harvard, who was also at one point a chairman of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. His name is Greg Mankiw and he also uses blogspot for his blog, which I hope indicates that he is personally responsible for the maintenance of the site and doesn’t let some IT buff at Harvard do it for him. The Economist says that “his site began as a group email sent to his students, with commentary on articles and new ideas. But the market for his musings grew beyond the classroom, and a blog was the solution."
It is worth looking the article up in The Economist, I am sure it could be retrieved online. Part of the article revolved around the idea that big universities such as Berkeley and Harvard will lose some of their exclusivity if some of their most popular and sought after authors make their thoughts available for free to the public. Essentially though, it argues that by exhibiting their ideas online, professors actually serve as a kind of magnet to attract potential students to those particular universities. Not only then do they serve as a kind of advertising for learning, but they get to share their ideas and create debates. That for me is globalisation working at its best; people around the globe sharing their ideas and experiences and taking full advantage of technological advances have given us.
I am not a huge critic of Stiglitz (and certainly not a big fan) but surely he can combat “stifling innovation” by making some of his ideas freely available via a blog or a podcast and maybe, just maybe, really make globalisation work.
In regards to B.C.’s comment on Stiglitz, who feels that patents stifle innovation (this is presumably the reason for which he sells the right of his inspiring ideas to the publisher willing to pay the most) here are a number of blogs from other, arguably equally renowned economists, who willingly share their ideas for free.
The first is Brad Delong, of the University of California, Berkeley. The Economist recently described his blog as featuring a morning-coffee video-cast and an afternoon-tea audiocast. His topics are wide ranging, interesting and include topics from the Treasury to Trotsky.
Another quite interesting blog is by a professor of economics at Harvard, who was also at one point a chairman of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. His name is Greg Mankiw and he also uses blogspot for his blog, which I hope indicates that he is personally responsible for the maintenance of the site and doesn’t let some IT buff at Harvard do it for him. The Economist says that “his site began as a group email sent to his students, with commentary on articles and new ideas. But the market for his musings grew beyond the classroom, and a blog was the solution."
It is worth looking the article up in The Economist, I am sure it could be retrieved online. Part of the article revolved around the idea that big universities such as Berkeley and Harvard will lose some of their exclusivity if some of their most popular and sought after authors make their thoughts available for free to the public. Essentially though, it argues that by exhibiting their ideas online, professors actually serve as a kind of magnet to attract potential students to those particular universities. Not only then do they serve as a kind of advertising for learning, but they get to share their ideas and create debates. That for me is globalisation working at its best; people around the globe sharing their ideas and experiences and taking full advantage of technological advances have given us.
I am not a huge critic of Stiglitz (and certainly not a big fan) but surely he can combat “stifling innovation” by making some of his ideas freely available via a blog or a podcast and maybe, just maybe, really make globalisation work.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Stiglitz Lecture - A Contribution
MM, I am honoured.
Stiglitz’ insight, comprehension and prose have left me in awe on numerous occasions. Yet I was a little disappointed by his lecture. Pen poised, I sat and awaited a riveting sentence, something that would ignite hope in me, a proposal of how globalisation could be made to work, and thus assist me in finishing my dissertation. Unfortunately he reiterated the unacceptable but not so shocking facts that the rich make money from the poor, that there are more people living in poverty than ever before and many are losing faith in the governing institutions. He argued that patents stifle innovation, that knowledge was a public good and that there was a social cost of withholding it. So why Stiglitz, did you not share more of yours? Given that the example provided for patenting was Blackberry computers rather than something a little more socially pertinent, maybe he assumed we were all economists and I actually missed the point.
The week before this, I attended a lecture that launched the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report. Here, Hiener Flassbeck announced a move away from the Washington Consensus—in which Stiglitz had his hand—recognising China and India as the new drivers of the economic world. Hiener’s discussion felt original, which is not to say it was all well received. The point is that it was apparent that more of the realities of the complexity of international development were being addressed. It is clear that neo-liberalism will always fail some. It is capitalist in essence and socially unsympathetic. It is about time social protection, education and health top the agenda.
Although Stiglitz may have made some moves away from a rigid economic line and had me almost convinced, I now believe he still represents the wrong side of an ideological battle. While he may be tweaking the methods, he appears to promote a market-led approach to development. This is one approach amongst many and this needs to be more widely acknowledged. The alternatives need to enter the mainstream development discourse, I personally would like to hear a little more of what China, India and Scandinavia have to say. It is a positive thing that Stiglitz has exposed some of the deficient actions of governing institutions and possibly engaged more people in this debate. I have not read his new book, maybe it does offer some answers, but I can’t help hoping he was on a three book deal.
BC
Stiglitz’ insight, comprehension and prose have left me in awe on numerous occasions. Yet I was a little disappointed by his lecture. Pen poised, I sat and awaited a riveting sentence, something that would ignite hope in me, a proposal of how globalisation could be made to work, and thus assist me in finishing my dissertation. Unfortunately he reiterated the unacceptable but not so shocking facts that the rich make money from the poor, that there are more people living in poverty than ever before and many are losing faith in the governing institutions. He argued that patents stifle innovation, that knowledge was a public good and that there was a social cost of withholding it. So why Stiglitz, did you not share more of yours? Given that the example provided for patenting was Blackberry computers rather than something a little more socially pertinent, maybe he assumed we were all economists and I actually missed the point.
The week before this, I attended a lecture that launched the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report. Here, Hiener Flassbeck announced a move away from the Washington Consensus—in which Stiglitz had his hand—recognising China and India as the new drivers of the economic world. Hiener’s discussion felt original, which is not to say it was all well received. The point is that it was apparent that more of the realities of the complexity of international development were being addressed. It is clear that neo-liberalism will always fail some. It is capitalist in essence and socially unsympathetic. It is about time social protection, education and health top the agenda.
Although Stiglitz may have made some moves away from a rigid economic line and had me almost convinced, I now believe he still represents the wrong side of an ideological battle. While he may be tweaking the methods, he appears to promote a market-led approach to development. This is one approach amongst many and this needs to be more widely acknowledged. The alternatives need to enter the mainstream development discourse, I personally would like to hear a little more of what China, India and Scandinavia have to say. It is a positive thing that Stiglitz has exposed some of the deficient actions of governing institutions and possibly engaged more people in this debate. I have not read his new book, maybe it does offer some answers, but I can’t help hoping he was on a three book deal.
BC
Monday, September 11, 2006
Under the Golden Arches
Here Mr. Stiglitz under the golden arches, signing away for all those hungry book lovers. I have been desperately trying to convince B.C. to write an entry on the lecture and actually discuss a bit more of the content rather than rambling about publishing injustices. However, so far I have not had any luch and will herewith abandon the idea and move on to another subject.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Globalization, Stiglitz and Penguin
It is funny how intrinsically linked these three topics are, although not surprising.
I went to a talk at City University on Thursday to hear Joseph Stiglitz talk about his new book Making Globalization Work. Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000 and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. He is undoubtedly one of the most famous economists in the world. His most popular books include The Roaring Nineties and Globalization and Its Discontents. This lecture was essentially a promotion for his latest book, which like the two above mentioned books, is of course also published by Penguin.
The lecture was generally quite interesting, especially because he spoke quite about the importance of Intellectual Property. Other than that I have to say that I wasn’t too taken by the lecture, as he didn’t really seem to say anything we didn’t already know. He touched on the fact that globalization was meant to decrease the discrepancy between rich and poor, which it hasn’t in most countries, particularly Africa. I can’t even remember the other examples he cited for why Globalization isn’t working, but the truth is that I can’t imagine too many people saying that Globalization is a full-out success and that generally, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
A funny example given by Stiglitz in relation to Intellectual Property revolved around one of his early books, piracy and China. He said that in the 80’s, somebody actually phoned him and asked him to write a foreword for a pirated edition of his book. Stiglitz, apparently, was quite excited and pleased about the prospect of doing this because for him it merely meant that his thoughts would be read by more people. He claimed that if one in ten people read it in China that would probably be more than the rest of the world accumulated. Needless to say, his publishers were fiercely opposed to the idea and dissuaded him from doing so.
Somehow I can’t get my head around the idea of making globalization work. Why if, for instance, if the discrepancy between rich and poor is constantly increasing, do you publish your book with Penguin, who are owned by one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, Pearson? The answer Stiglitz would give would probably be that their global presence makes it attainable to a wider group of readers. I don’t see how that is true, as even small indie publishers are in a position to license publishing rights on a global scale, especially with a brand name such as Stiglitz. The same goes for the book signing that ensued the lecture, sponsored by high-street giant Waterstone’s. Why not use Foyles or an independent? If you want to make globalization work and decrease the gap between rich and poor, conglomerates and indies, then surely you would do your part and support the weaker of the two. For me, personally, it wasn’t good enough to hear him say that through rational analysis and policies we will be able to make globalization work.
I went to a talk at City University on Thursday to hear Joseph Stiglitz talk about his new book Making Globalization Work. Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000 and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. He is undoubtedly one of the most famous economists in the world. His most popular books include The Roaring Nineties and Globalization and Its Discontents. This lecture was essentially a promotion for his latest book, which like the two above mentioned books, is of course also published by Penguin.
The lecture was generally quite interesting, especially because he spoke quite about the importance of Intellectual Property. Other than that I have to say that I wasn’t too taken by the lecture, as he didn’t really seem to say anything we didn’t already know. He touched on the fact that globalization was meant to decrease the discrepancy between rich and poor, which it hasn’t in most countries, particularly Africa. I can’t even remember the other examples he cited for why Globalization isn’t working, but the truth is that I can’t imagine too many people saying that Globalization is a full-out success and that generally, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
A funny example given by Stiglitz in relation to Intellectual Property revolved around one of his early books, piracy and China. He said that in the 80’s, somebody actually phoned him and asked him to write a foreword for a pirated edition of his book. Stiglitz, apparently, was quite excited and pleased about the prospect of doing this because for him it merely meant that his thoughts would be read by more people. He claimed that if one in ten people read it in China that would probably be more than the rest of the world accumulated. Needless to say, his publishers were fiercely opposed to the idea and dissuaded him from doing so.
Somehow I can’t get my head around the idea of making globalization work. Why if, for instance, if the discrepancy between rich and poor is constantly increasing, do you publish your book with Penguin, who are owned by one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, Pearson? The answer Stiglitz would give would probably be that their global presence makes it attainable to a wider group of readers. I don’t see how that is true, as even small indie publishers are in a position to license publishing rights on a global scale, especially with a brand name such as Stiglitz. The same goes for the book signing that ensued the lecture, sponsored by high-street giant Waterstone’s. Why not use Foyles or an independent? If you want to make globalization work and decrease the gap between rich and poor, conglomerates and indies, then surely you would do your part and support the weaker of the two. For me, personally, it wasn’t good enough to hear him say that through rational analysis and policies we will be able to make globalization work.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Indie Start-ups
It seems that there have been a few interesting blog articles on starting your own publishing company around the web. Personally, there is nothing I would enjoy more than starting my own publishing company, but reading blog entries about remortgaging one's house, when I can barely pay my rent is very daunting. The idea of being a competent, independent and hopefully successful company is very enticing. What's more, working from a small office, not having a boss, not having to adhere to bureaucratic and administrative rules...what a dream!
If anybody out there is keen to start their own publishing venture and likes the sound of being independent then now is probably as good a time as ever to start. The independent publishing - and more recently independent bookselling sector - have been flourishing. Ventures such as Faber's Independent Alliance is drawing small publishers and booksellers together to try and compete with conglomerates like Penguin, HodderHeadline, RandomHouse and HarperCollins. For an interesting article and more information on the Independent Alliance read Andrew Franklin's article for The Guardian. Andrew Franklin is the founder of Profile Books, one of the most successful independents in the trade. It is an article well worth reading.
But back to the subject matter, as I have managed to get distracted. One account of a successful independent's journey to establishing itself in the trade comes from Clare Christian and her company The Friday Project. Her account is posted on Charkins blog and can be read here. Another good article also comes in the form of a blog from the small independent publishers Snowbooks, which can be read here.
Check them out and who knows, that indie start-up dream may be just on the horizon.
If anybody out there is keen to start their own publishing venture and likes the sound of being independent then now is probably as good a time as ever to start. The independent publishing - and more recently independent bookselling sector - have been flourishing. Ventures such as Faber's Independent Alliance is drawing small publishers and booksellers together to try and compete with conglomerates like Penguin, HodderHeadline, RandomHouse and HarperCollins. For an interesting article and more information on the Independent Alliance read Andrew Franklin's article for The Guardian. Andrew Franklin is the founder of Profile Books, one of the most successful independents in the trade. It is an article well worth reading.
But back to the subject matter, as I have managed to get distracted. One account of a successful independent's journey to establishing itself in the trade comes from Clare Christian and her company The Friday Project. Her account is posted on Charkins blog and can be read here. Another good article also comes in the form of a blog from the small independent publishers Snowbooks, which can be read here.
Check them out and who knows, that indie start-up dream may be just on the horizon.
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