| Recently released books: April 08, 2007
To their ranks should be added Joshua Ferris, whose "Then We Came to the End" feels like a ready-made classic of the genre. Set in a Chicago-based ad agency reeling from the 2000-2001 dot-com crash, it's a satire narrated by a corporate "we" who are having a hard time coping with impending job loss and the revelation that "employment, the daily nine-to-five, was driving us far from our better selves." Ferris, drawing on his own ad agency experience, neatly skewers the turf battles that afflict his characters, especially when it comes to claims on office furniture. He's wise to the protocol of meetings and "postmeeting meetings," and he nails the dynamics of workplace rumor. "Talk was like the flu," he writes. "If it started with one, soon it infected all. But unlike the flu, we couldn't afford to be left out if something was going around." The ad campaigns his characters work on range from trying to make "customers feel like heroes when purchasing ...
Coastal Community News: Historical society seeks volunteers
ENCINITAS ---- The Encinitas Historical Society needs docents for Fridays or Saturdays, two times per month. Service times are flexible. Volunteers receive education and informational materials and orientation. Call (760) 753-5726.Seniors meet to dance ENCINITAS ---- The Encinitas Senior Center invites anyone 50 and older to dance from 2 to 4 p.m. every third Friday of the month at the club, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive. Cost is $3. Call (760) 943-2250. .
Kyle Justin - Live at the Tin Angel
- The acoustic guitar prowess of Kyle Justin booms on Live at the Tin Angel. Justin has put his imprint on the Philadelphia music scene and with his emotional lyrics, which are laden with romance and pure passion, women across the country will be giddy and clamoring to hear Justins ballads.
The first track has just acoustic guitar work from Justin and not much else to distract from its overall fancy. Justin lays his soul bare for listeners as he tenderly sings lyrics such as, The droplets upon her face, as they roll down to her neck. She prays under the night sky while it's pourin rain, she's standin on the fence, of whats real and what's pretend, Gabrielle, you could stop rainfall. But the dark clouds you havent learned to push them away. You will some day, Gabrielle. The carousel spins in her head, often confused by the books shes read.
Ubisoft Announces Jam Sessions Guitar Title for Nintendo DS
Today Ubisoft announced that Jam Sessions, a groundbreaking music title exclusively for the Nintendo DS in which players actually strum a guitar via the Touch Screen to make music, will launch in EMEA territories this summer. "Jam Sessions is an amazing title with limitless potential to entertain and engage a wide audience of people who love music, guitar and singing," said John Parks, EMEA Marketing Director. "Basically, it’s a guitar in your pocket but that’s just the beginning. It’s a chance for people who have never thought of themselves as ‘musically inclined’ to jump right in and play through entire songs, compose their own music and sing along with friends." Players will rock out, or smoothly strum, on the lower screen of the Nintendo DS system, producing an authentic sound digitally remastered from an actual acoustic guitar.
Sam Savage’s Literate Rat ‘Firmin’ Has An Appetite For Books
A highly literate rat named Firmin, by his own admission a dilettante and a buffoon, is the delightful little raconteur who recreates for us his lifelong love affair with books in Sam Savages Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, a fiction finalist for the 2006 Discover Award, part of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. Having a rat narrate the story of his life may sound odd, but this particular rat, who has always felt close to the words panache and debonair, is no ordinary rodent. Firmin begins life in the basement of Pembroke Books, a second-hand bookstore located in a part of Boston rapidly succumbing to urban blight. His mother, Flo, seeks refuge there one stormy night, where she constructs a nest of shredded paper in a tight space behind the water heater and gives birth to 13 baby rats.
High Functioning Autism: Do you know what it feels like to be ...
If we continue to simply say that this kid is just a monster, we will be enabling other "monster" kids to commit future heinous acts of violence. This is why we, and the media, and the politicians, can not turn away. This is why we have to look at Cho Seung-Hui, read his manifesto, look at his video and study his sad history of being bullied, and of having untreated illnesses. There is so much that we need to learn from this unfathomable insanity. It is safe to say that we have behaved horribly with regard to mental illness and developmental disorders in this country. I draw a lesson from the horrific slaughter at Virginia Tech. There were so many extreme warning signals - a cry for help - from this tormented young man for so many years. What I am about to write will cause much hate mail from the Autistic Community.
Telefutura and Jhonny Gonzalez: Spanish for “Refuge”
Included in every boxing fan's Top 100 goals are the following: See as many competitive fights as I can, and learn Spanish. Admittedly, the first goal is higher up the list than the second. Of course, there are also a few bilingual fans who are exceptions. But such exceptional fans are offset by many others who wasted high school elective classes on French and Latin and now need to catch up. Would you believe there's a single resource that can help with both goals and comes free in most basic cable packages? It's called Telefutura, and its invaluable "Solo Boxeo" program is on every Friday. Along with two well-matched weekly brawls, Telefutura also offers humorous, informal commentary and ringside appearances by world champs. But don't mistake this as a charitable plea to help some failing Spanish-language network.
Egyptian Man to Sue Over CIA Rendition From Italy
The lawyer of an Egyptian imam, believed to have been illegally abducted from Milan in 2003 by the CIA, has been in Italy to meet with Italian prosecutors. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome the lawyer gathered information about an upcoming trial in which his client may lodge a civil case. .
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