New literary festival for Toronto

Currently reading: George Murray’s Glimpse September 2, 2010

I just finished George Murray‘s Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms, and it’s so good I’m going to back and read it again. Each aphorism is a fortune cookie of apocalypse. Here’s the full review I posted over at Goodreads: “George Murray’s Glimpse is an irresistible force meeting an unmovable object in your mind. Forget five stars […]

peter darbyshire

Will the last person to die turn out the lights? September 2, 2010

previous | index | next Good news! We’re hiring again!

peter darbyshire

Oh, what the heck September 2, 2010

I’ve already got an iTunes account, so I joined Ping. Just search for me by name.

peter darbyshire

Reading at Word on the Street August 31, 2010

I’ll be making an appearance at Vancouver’s Word on the Street, Sunday, Sept. 26, at 3:40. I’ll be at the Authors Tent, in between readings by Susan Juby and Lee Henderson, who are both great writers and awesome people. It’s going to be an interesting hour! The WOTS readings are longer than most literary readings [...]

peter darbyshire

Life will always find a way August 30, 2010

previous | index | next I took this photo in Hawaii. I thought I was capturing the sunset, but it turns out it was just a U.S. military experiment.

peter darbyshire

Can you get a restraining order against an ad? August 30, 2010

The New York Times has an interesting article about ads that stalk you online. I had to change my cookies and login to get away! The shoes that Julie Matlin recently saw on Zappos.com were kind of cute, or so she thought. But Ms. Matlin wasn’t ready to buy and left the site. Then the [...]

peter darbyshire

“All societies end up wearing masks” August 29, 2010

For those readers who like The Warhol Gang, you may also enjoy this selection of quotes by Jean Baudrillard. One of my favourite bits: “Disneyland exists in order to hide that it is the “real” country, all of “real” America that is Disneyland (a bit like prisons are there to hide that it is the social in [...]

peter darbyshire

“A world two seconds away from ours” August 23, 2010

Another nice review, this time from Shelf Monkey, who calls The Warhol Gang “a rallying point for a new generation of young fans crying out for a satire to call their own.” Hear, hear.

peter darbyshire

The Warhol Gang now available on Kobo August 23, 2010

You can now read The Warhol Gang e-book on the Kobo service, as well as on Apple’s iBookstore. A Kindle version is in the works, I think, and should be available soon. Soon we will have taken over every digital service, and then the revolution will truly begin. (Thanks to Monica Murphy for the tip.)

peter darbyshire

I’m so Sticky August 23, 2010

I’ve scanned my two books into the StickyBits service and attached a few bits. If this doesn’t make any sense to you, go over to StickyBits and check it out. In short, it’s a social sharing service of sorts that allows you to attach files to bar codes entered into the system. I’ve attached a [...]

peter darbyshire

New literary festival for Toronto

January 22, 2009 — peter

The Globe and Mail Open House Festival is scheduled for May 8-10.

Still, the agenda for the first-ever Globe and Mail Open House Festival and its roster of “acts” is impressive, details of which were released yesterday. Sellers has persuaded more than 25 writers, strategists, pundits and one politician (Toronto Mayor David Miller) to commit to the event. The participants include not only Canadians, such as Naomi Klein ( The Shock Doctrine), Margaret MacMillan ( Paris 1919), Elizabeth Hay ( Late Nights on Air) and thinker Thomas Homer-Dixon, but also international figures: Pulitzer Prize nominee Ha Jin, veteran New Yorker staff writers Calvin Trillin and Adam Gopnik, British novelist Zoë Heller ( Notes on a Scandal) and Oprah Book Club pick David Wroblewski ( The Story of Edgar Sawtelle), among others.

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Comment on The people behind the broken store windows by Frederick

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The way I see it, the image of 90% of all Canadians, took a terrible beating. Most Canadians feel a tremendous sense of defilement. Most Canadians are proud of the way our country has responded to the worlld be it in 2 world wars, or in the United Nations peace keeping services, or by the representation of Canada in the UN, or by the way […]

Comment on Gov’t wants to lose luggage stickers by sex toys toronto

You have to be really careful with airport security. They don't mess around there especially after the 9/11 attacks. You can get in huge trouble for even messing around. Just don't do it.

Comment on It’s hard to make a living in the arts… by peter

Yeah, but think how much more I'd spend on beer.

Comment on Gov’t wants to lose luggage stickers by August

Any sort of joking about security at the airport has long, long been something that can get you detained or arrested. It happened to my grandfather in the early '80s. They do not mess around.

Comment on SFU to build observatory on campus by Zachariah Wells

Are they building it _above_ the ubiquitous clouds that shroud Burnaby Mountain?

Comment on It’s hard to make a living in the arts… by Zachariah Wells

Peter, I think newspaper editors make a smidge more 'n that in Charlottetown and Summerside. And the housing's way lower!

Comment on Vancouver’s Sophia Books to close by Mme Claudie Brule-Vu

Absolument desolee d'apprendre vos difficultes et votre fermeture. N'y aura-t-il donc plus un seul endroit ou acheter vos livres en francais a Vancouver?? Desolee pour vous. Et pour nous. Merci infiniment pour votre presence dans le passe, services efficaces et plaisir chaque fois renouvele lorsque je pouvais me permettre de vous rendre visite en v […]

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How do we get rid of the BEANCOUNTERS in the CBC management ? If CBC radio did not exist, there would be only silence in my house.

Comment on Indigo moves to counter slumping book sales by Paul

I wonder if Indigo is some kind of Stephen Harper New World Order plot to destroy book culture in Canada. After all the independents are destroyed, every Indigo location will switch into a Pottery Barn.

Comment on Indigo moves to counter slumping book sales by peter

I was resisting the Onion angle, but it really is irresistible, isn't it? I can understand the desire to broaden the business when the core of it is shifting to digital files. But I don't really get how a cultural centre would move into products that have little or anything to do with culture. It's abandoning your own identity, and they'l […]

CanCult uncut

Extremely Bad Advice: Harassment Resources July 29, 2010

Dear Steve, Like most people in office environments, I am forced to work in close proximity to a person with no concept office decorum. This work neighbour is a passive-aggressive know-it-all who indiscreetly eavesdrops while watching CPAC on his computer with the sound blasting. His personal hygiene is questionable and perhaps worst of all, he hoards suppli […]

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what are 3 million books worth? July 27, 2010

That's a question the framers of Canada's Bill C-32 are going to have to ask themselves after a recent Federal Court of Appeal decision to support a 2009 tariff certified by the Copyright Board of Canada. The tariff was under review at the request of all provincial Ministers of Education (except Quebec's) and a number of individual school boar […]

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U.S. Developments Demonstrate Canada's C-32 Digital Lock Rules More Restrictive Than DMCA July 26, 2010

Since the introduction of Bill C-32, I have consistently argued that the digital lock provisions are far more restrictive than what is required under the WIPO Internet treaties. Now two recent developments in the U.S. demonstrate that the Canadian proposal is also considerably more restrictive than what is found in the U.S. First, a significant new appellat […]

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Trevor Herriot: Why the Saskatchewan literary community is so strong July 23, 2010

The Love, Saskatchewan festival takes place at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto this weekend. All this week, authors from the prairie province will be guest editing The Afterword. Today, we hear from Trevor Herriot, the award-winning author of River in a Dry Land, which was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and Jacob’s Wound, which wa […]

Special to the National Post

Scott Pilgrim July 21, 2010

Hat tip to Torontoist: a wonderfully thorough map, made by U of T geography PhD candidate Ben Spigel, of identifiable Toronto locations in the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, all cross-referenced to Google Street View. It includes oddball locations like the Ossington railway bridge, and specific houses on Marchmount (near Shaw and Davenport) and [... […]

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Eight Covers for Arcade Fire’s new album revealed July 15, 2010

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NOW magazine hosts North American alt-weekly conference in Toronto July 15, 2010

NOW magazine and the City of Toronto today begin hosting a three-day conference of the Asssociation of Alternative Newsweeklies conference. The association represents 130 alt-news organizations from across North America, with a combined weekly circulation of over 6.6 million and 17 million in print readership. The keynote speaker today is Maher Arar, and a r […]

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Extremely Bad Advice: Dead End Boyfriend July 15, 2010

Dear Steve, I am 24 years old and live with my boyfriend of four years. I have a good, full-time job and am going to law school every night. My boyfriend also works for the same company, so we get to spend some time together each day. But ever since we began working together last year, I’ve noticed something: He’s a complete slacker. Every morning for months […]

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Quick Hitters:: Kathryn Calder July 14, 2010

As is the case for many music fans, I stumbled onto Kathryn Calder because of her talents as a collaborator. I think the first time I heard her was playing with Carl Newman on his solo tour @ Lee’s Palace, but since then I’ve seen her fill out melodies and hooks for The New Porns & The Immaculate Machine. As talented as she was – and is – never did I t […]

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Tour Dates:: Tom Fun Orchestra July 14, 2010

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Andrew Nikiforuk Is Tyee's First Writer in Residence (in News) July 15, 2010

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The Proust Questionnaire, with Shane Neilson July 12, 2010

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Chloe director Atom Egoyan on how film festivals have reshaped independent cinema July 12, 2010

Atom Egoyan is looking at a picture of himself standing next to Sonny Bono, and reminiscing. The flashback is not pharmacology-related. Egoyan is thinking about the bizarre connections and friendships you make on the festival circuit, an increasingly focused group of filmmakers who are finding themselves pushed to the fringes once again.

(author unknown)

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Minister James Moore Lied July 5, 2010

I pirated this image I posted a suggestion to Heritage Minister James Moore the other day in response to him calling copyright reformers “radical extremists”. The name calling didn’t shock me at the time because I had heard similar rhetoric from a CEO of a major Canadian publishing house. But what I didn’t realize last week when I floated my suggestions to t […]

DJ Champion has leukemia July 5, 2010

Quebec's DJ darling Maxime Morin has publicly revealed he has leukemia, a form of blood cancer.

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12 or 20 questions: Sarah Selecky July 5, 2010

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Not just idyll chatter; Toronto poet seeks to teach strangers the value of verse July 5, 2010

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CRTC Extends Net Neutrality Rules to Wireless Data Services July 5, 2010

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New literary festival for Toronto

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