Thoughts For Today

Juan Gris c1919 Stilleben mit Gitarre, Buch und Zeitung. it is abstract figure it out for yourself. I like it.

Thoughts For Today

This morning, I sat in the diner drinking coffee and reading the paper. Nothing was particularly striking in the news. It was relaxing to watch people go by the window. It was raining outside so the diner had a comfortable warm feeling to it.

I have the day off because I am working this Saturday. I am going on a road trip tomorrow. I had my car washed this morning after I went to the diner. Then I went back to the Barnes and Noble in my neighborhood and spent some time looking at computer books. Digital photography is considered to be part of the computer books. I am not sure which cameras are the ones I should order books on. I also have to order books on digital video. I'll have to figure this one out. I put some books down to order on a list.

I'm back home now sitting at my computer. I have been doing the exercises from the Yoga RX book every morning. They are very relaxing. I feel a little less wound up than usual. I am one of those people that likes to be constantly doing things.

I finished reading The Media Savvy Leader. I will probably let it sit in my head for a day or two before I start writing my full review. I like to put things down for a bit before I write the full review.

I read The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett. It is classic science fiction from the 1940's featuring Eric John Stark who is a combination of wild man and adventurer. Remember "beware the dark man of prophecy." Leigh Brackett is a very interesting writer. She has many movie scripts to her credit. This is a nice little summary of her life. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/brackett.htm

I finally recieved a copy of Iron Man on dvd from the library. I had been waiting for it for about two months. The film is solidly pleasing. Nothing spectacular, but still very entertaining. It is of course a retelling of the creation of Iron Man for a more modern audience. The film and special effects were interesting to watch. I like that Iron Man was recreated in Afghanistan.

They also included some interesting things from the comic. They properly portrayed Tony Stark as an alcoholic which he is in the comic. I also liked the cameo where Robert Downey Jr. who plays Tony Stark says "Is that you Hugh Hefner?" to Stan Lee the creator of many comic books. Stan Lee is known for creating Spider Man, X-men and many comic book characters. If you watch the marvel films closely, Stan Lee is in many of them with cameo appearances.

I read the mass market novelization of the film done by Peter David. It pretty much follows the film closely. Peter David is one of the better comic book writers.

I also liked the trailer which was include on the dvd for the movie The Incredible Hulk. Apparently Tony Stark makes a brief appearance in the Incredible Hulk.

There is a rumor that there is going to be an Avengers film. This would include a variety of characters. In order prequel this, they might have to cross pollinate some of the films which are coming out with characters from all over the "Marvel Universe."

Watching superhero films is kind of nostalgic and immature. I rather like going back to my childhood sometimes. It makes you remember when you were little reading comic books, or swapping them with your friends.

I ordered a couple of the large collected works, The Essential Iron Man, Volume 1 for our library. It was $16.99 for 512 pages of comics. The Essential series are very long 500 plus pages each. They cover all the old marvel superheros series. There are other series like this in both comics and manga. DC has a similar series called Showcase Presents which compiles major superheros into large trade paperbacks of 500 plus pages which are not that expensive.

Darkhorse has Omnibus editions of Aliens and Predator that are in full color. They are about 400 pages each and cost about $24.95. I think they also have Star Wars Omnibus Edition.

There are also some manga collected works. Fruits Basket has "Ultimate Editions" which combine three manga into one volume in hardcover for a reduced price from buying the manga separately. Battle Royale also has "Ultimate Editions."

One of the reasons I like buying these things for libraries rather than smaller editions is that they are bigger and a little heavier. They are easier to shelve and not as flimsy as many of the thinner comics. The collected editions in paperback are also usually a little cheaper.

I read some of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman has a wonderfully fantastic imagination. This book is for young adults, but it is reachable for all audiences. It is a fantasy about a little boy raised by the denizens of the graveyard. There is a kind of magical, otherworldly quality to the writing. Dave McKean illustrates the book.

Good Morning, Good Evening, The Media Savvy Leader

Jean Béraud Au Café -- The image seemed to be classic.

Good Morning

Obama won the election. It is kind of an anticlimax. I hope it goes smoothly and he really does bring some change. More than anything else, I am very glad Sarah Palin is nowhere near the white house.

I placed Carthage Ascendant and A Secret History by Mary Gentle on reserve. These are alternate history novels. I also placed The Mammoth book of best crime comics / edited by Paul Gravett on hold as well.

Good Evening

Today went like clockwork. Everything was very predictable and smooth. I spent an hour setting up a new display for the main room on energy issues; alternative energy, oil, nuclear, energy efficiency, clean technology, and similar materials. Then I spent an hour weeding books from the social science. Then an hour putting in new looseleaf pages into the New York Code of Rules and Regulations. Then an hour selecting materials to order for the computer books section. Finally, I took an hour dinner. Now, I am sitting here thinking about what to say.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman came in for me to read.

The Media Savvy Leader by David Henderson

I had some time to read some more of The Media Savvy Leader by David Henderson. My favorite points in this book is that we are all now part of the media. Anyone can use a cell phone to take pictures, or a camcorder to record an incident. People are often at the scene of events as they happen before the news get there. Disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the London subway bombings are witnessed directly by people who record the incidents as they happen.

The second point is that everyone can also be part of the media. There is nothing stopping people setting up blogs or posting videos to youtube. People may not be reporters, but they are definitely participating in the media process. A leader or a CEO should be part of that process or lose out as an effective communicator.

I really liked this idea and the way it was presented in the book. It is one of the reasons I am blogging right now.

I have a few points to make about the book. The style is very journalistic, even if it is personable. It is like sitting across the room from a media pundit. There are very few spelling and grammatical errors. I only found one on page 217, the word conjures was spelled congers.

There was also only one picture in the entire book on page 220 of a learjet. It would have been nice if there were some more pictures in the book. Chapter 11, which talks about citizen journalism could have really used some photographs.

Read It Raw From The News Wire Services

Read It Raw From The News Wire Services

I was reading some more of the book, The Media Savvy Leader. David Henderson confirmed one of my biases. When he wrote about the best way of getting your story published is to get it published to a wire service like AP (Associated Press) or Reuters.(P.83)

I prefer to read my news immediately as it is coming out on the wire services. These are available for free on the internet. I often like to read Yahoo!News because it will post the news within minutes of it coming off the wire services. I think that the longer you wait to read the news, the more likely people will attempt to change the content of news articles. There are many services for monitoring news. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_monitoring

Mr. Henderson has not talked about news monitoring in his book so far, but I think it is a very important topic.

I have watched articles change within hours with corrections to their statistics, statements about a specific ethnic group, or political views. It is not just left or right wing political groups which are monitoring the news, it is corporations, government, religious groups, and lobbyists.

You often have to wait a full day before the news appears in the newspapers. By then, it has been massaged to be nonobjectionable or accurate by various interest groups. The news has become sanitized and safe to put in databases like Proquest, Lexis, and similar places. It is a piece of packaged information.

After it has become safely placed in the newspapers, it is then picked up by television. David Henderson opening chapter heading for Chapter 9 is "Journalism Driven by Profit and Fear." He accurately describes that television news is a profit driven industry maintained by ratings. He does not call it "Infotainment"-- but that is what it happens to be in my view. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infotainment

I admit I rather like weird news as well. I like to visit Snopes, the urban legends page sometimes. http://www.snopes.com

The next step in the process after it gets to the mainstream television channels is that it changes from infotainment to pure entertainment. Barack Obama and John McCain both made it to Saturday Night Live. Also, places like The Onion lampoon the news as it comes out. http://www.theonion.com/content/index The news once it is in the papers effectively becomes somewhat questionable.

There is a natural progression in my viewpoint from News (Citzen Journalism, Wire Services)--> Information (Newspapers, Magazines, Magazine Databases)--> Infotainment (Most television news) --> Entertainment (The Onion, David Letterman, Saturday Night Live).

I prefer to have my news fresh from the wires because of this. I have read that breaking this cycle is quite hard for mainstream news because of media censorship. There is an excellent book called Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free press, by Kristina Borjesson, Editor.

These are my views and not necessarily the views of David Henderson. I am just taking some insights from his new book, The Media Savvy Leader Visibility, Influence, and Results in a Competitive World. The book will be released on January 8, 2009.

The Media Savvy Leader, Daily Thoughts

Good Morning

Happy Halloween to you all.

The Media Savvy Leader, Visibility, Influence, and Results in a Competitive World by David Henderson

I was reading a bit of The Media Savvy Leader. I noticed that there was quite a bit on public relations in the book. On the back of the book, the category is business/marketing. There is no indication that there is any public relations content on the front or back cover. It might be good to get the word public relations somewhere on the back or front cover. It would help clarify what the book is about to the reader.

There is no CIP data with categories for the book The Media Savvy Leader. This is an example of a Cataloging In Publication Entry.

MacKowski, Chris.

The PR Bible for Community Theatres/ Chris MacKowski

p. cm

ISBN 0-325-00440-4 (alk. paper)

1. Community Theater-- Handbooks, Manuals, etc. 2. Publicity-- Manuals, Handbooks, etc. I: Title: Public Relations Bible For Community Theater II. Title

PN 2267 M34 2002

792.022-- dc 21 2002003541

There is an important reason to include this. The library has to determine where the book is going to go in the building. It is better that you determine the call number and the subject headings than they do. Call numbers and subject headings are chosen at the discretion of the librarians. The book, The Media Savvy Leader, could be put in a variety of other locations than you want, media studies, or communications for example if you don't give this information. I am assuming you want it to be in business, marketing, and public relations.

Also on P.73, there is a reference that the Handbook for Bloggers by Julien Pain and Dan Gillmor being available for free on the internet. There is no url for where the book is located. It might be nice to have a link. Here it is: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

I also think you might want to include a list of recommended books and websites at the end of the book. You do cite some books. This would be appreciated. It does not have to be formal.

So far I am enjoying the book immensely. There are a lot of useful tips on how to talk with the media. I really like the bullet pointed lists.

Daily Thoughts

This morning, I wrote my monthly report and sent it to my supervisor. I also did a new display, Making Comics. This includes titles on drawing, storyboarding, and writing. I put Scott McCloud's Making Comics, Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics, How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema and many other titles in one of the glass cases in our lobby.

Planet Stories has reprinted The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett. Leigh Brackett wrote the script for film, The Empire Strikes Back my favorite of the Star Wars films. She is one of the best of the classic space opera writers. I really enjoyed The Hounds of Skaith. Her character, Eric John Stark is an excellent example of the classic adventurer character.

I found this article on Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury. Apparently, Doonesbury has predicted an Obama win and some papers are considering not putting the strips in because of the ethics of having the strips put together before the election is finished. It is kind of an interesting idea.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-doonesbury1-2008nov01,0,2244580.story

Good Morning, The Media Savvy Leader

c1900 , Louis Rhead, Morning Journal

Good Morning

The Media Savvy Leader by David Henderson

Yesterday, at work, I received a nice new package. Dave Henderson from http://www.davidhenderson.com/ had sent me a nice, fresh new copy of The Media Savvy Leader of which he is the author. The book is due out on January 8, 2009. He sent me this book because I was on Twitter.

He might like it if you followed him http://www.twitter.com/davidhenderson . I am also on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/bookcalendar . I read my Twitter every morning. I started reading the book last night on the train home from work. The writing is very direct and understandable.

I also posted a bit about the books on Blogcatalog in two different groups,

Book Readers
http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/book-readers/discuss/entry/which-book-are-you-reading-right-now#comment_245546

Twitterers http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/twitter/discuss/entry/i-got-a-book-sent-to-me-from-a-fellow-twitterer .

I hope this helps him get a little publicity for his new book.

Today has been another busy day. I spent a little more time looking through the McGraw Hill Professional site at science books. I also compiled a list of patron requests from the reference desk.

I spent another several hours weeding more of the 300s. I also pulled damaged books and suggested books for replacement.

No new magazines came in for me to read today. I got a call to do another business program which would be a combination of computer tutoring and introduction to business. It sounds kind of interesting.

Afternoon Thoughts

International Year of the Book, Postage Stamp 1972, The Vatican. I just found the image interesting.

Afternoon Thoughts

I removed the symbol for The Society of Midnight Wanderers. They are going into hiatus and coming out with a new design. I look forward to seeing something new and interesting in the future from them. I have always liked some of the blogs on Society of Midnight Wanderers. I especially like The Uneasy Supplicant among the blog membership. http://uneasysupplicant.wordpress.com/

This morning was a much easier day. Last night, I forget my pen on the subway and ended up finishing reading Too Many Curses instead of taking notes and doing writing exercises. I enjoyed it anyways. Having more than one option to do at a time is a way to avoid wasting time. Time is not something which ever comes back to you in life. Money can be earned, but time flies away.

Sometimes, I think of my muse. I think of it not as a female muse, but as "Mr. Muse" a kind of shadow that follows me in my writing. I am beginning to think of him as an undefined character, a kind of everyman. It is a way to envision my voice in writing.

David Henderson is sending me an Advanced Reading Copy of his book, The Media Savvy Leader. It sounds kind of interesting. He has a website here. http://www.davidhenderson.com/ . He found me on Twitter.

I did more everyday things today, ordering lots of annual reports, starting on ordering industrial books, filing looseleafs, and general reference duties. I also redid the central display as a current events display. I am thinking of doing a display on the financial crisis in the United States. It might take me a couple days to do it properly. Later this afternoon, I get to do some more weeding of the collection. It is another day, another dollar. I also have to order a bunch of missing Job Information Center titles as well.

Today is wrapping up nicely. I am going to the New York Anime festival tomorrow. It will be a welcome break from the routine of the library. I will get to walk around and look at anime and manga. I hope they have martial arts films as well. I think it will be a lot of fun. The writer of Vampire Hunter D is doing a panel in the evening.