Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Happy Boss’s Day Larry SMITH

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

LS_headshot_SMITHtee.JPGThought I’d send our fearless leader, Mr. Larry Smith of SMITH (our Leonidas, if you will) a quick Happy Boss’s Day note.

Dude, you’re an awesome friend and editor. I always appreciate your help and patience—especially when it comes to the technical stuff. Yuck. Thank you for giving me a shot!

BTW: Thank you Jeffrey Yamaguchi for the incredibly helpful reminder!

Don’t forget to send you happy thoughts (and a beer) to the L-man today!

Weird Job: The Dalai Lama

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

736535619_7aff8b97d1.jpgI went to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama give a public talk at Radio City in NYC on Sunday. (And my blogging pal, John House, had his own brush with the Dalai Lama a while back. )While it was sometimes difficult to understand His Holiness (English is not his first language), the Dalai Lama is totally on the level. I mean, he gets it and didn’t over-complicate any of his points, which included the importance of cultivating inner peace and inner prosperity (just because you’re financially well off, doesn’t mean you lead a very rich life). Some other great and very simple points (FYI, this is in a nutshell): prayer is great, but if you want to change something, YOU have to be the force behind change—prayer won’t always cut it. We are all connected. We are the same: human beings. Compassion rocks, we should all try to be compassionate. Non violence is a good thing.

The Dalai Lama is also an honest man. At the very beginning of his talk, he made it clear to his audience that if you’re looking for a miracle, you’re essentially barking up the wrong tree—His Holiness doesn’t do miracles and he can’t cure you. (more…)

Boss’s Day is Tuesday, Oct. 16

Monday, October 15th, 2007

Have you interofficed your card yet?

Probably not… Because you either didn’t know of the existence of Boss’s Day (yes, it’s a real day), or you simply refuse to have anything to do with it, for legitimate reasons galore, I am sure.

Well, here are some ideas (incentives, maybe?) at 52projects.com in case you are thinking about sending a card.

Be sure to also check out the newly relaunched workingfortheman.com.

Social Conscience and Shameless Self-Promotion

Monday, October 15th, 2007

Last week, I went to a book party forgrip.jpg Frances Moore Lappé, inspirational author and activist, and inspirational mother of Anna Lappé and Anthony Lappé. In addition to writing about the place of the individual in politics and society, she published Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad in a totally individual way. Eschewing traditional publishers, she decided to “walk the walk” and form Small Planet Media to retain full control over the creative aspects and production values of the book. She found a union printer willing to print with soy ink on recycled paper and adopted a Creative Commons copyright to help encourage the dissemination of the book’s message. Buy a copy here, or check out a short webumentary first. I’m just sorry your screening won’t come with awesome vegan hors d’oeuvres.

banr.jpgIn other book news, Not Quite What I Was Planning is coming together quickly. We’ve gotten some early press, and some of the book’s best six-word memoirs are taking a warm-up run in the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, available now.

66 Celebrities Who Blog

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

Lasorda.jpgrosie.jpg
We tend to steer clear of celebrities unless they play well with the rest of us—and mesh with our storytelling mission. In our Brushes With Fame area, for example, readers write about celebrities landing, alien-like, on their turf (at say, the urologist’s office). And one of the many things that we love about gathering six-word memoirs is that we can showcase the short life stories of never-published writers right next to those of chart busting wow-I’m-on-Oprah authors.

It’s in that spirit that I give you a post on Cowboy Gossip that lists 66 celebrities who blog. I’m fairly certain that this list is the only time in history where Rosie O’Donnell and Tommy Lasorda have appeared together, and co-exist as just two crazy kids blogging about their life, be it about gay parenting or the joys of baseball in October (far from mutually exclusive, of course). The beauty of blogging is that it’s a level playing field, one where a Hairstory and the Dude’s story are all just a click away—and only as good as their last post.

Rosie from Flickr user no-frills marilyn; Tommy from Flickr user CJM. Thanks to to SG for the tip.

Goodbye Cruel World

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Is the web the new zine? And are literary magazines dead? A harsh but well-written blog polemic claims the answers are yes and yes. I’m curious to hear what our readers think, but for now I’m feeling my “campaign to save book reviewing” feeling—can’t we all just get along??
harpoon.jpg

UPDATE: The rather terrific nonfiction lit mag The Crier is on financially necessitated hiatus. Hmm.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Six Words on Your Evil Boss

Monday, October 8th, 2007

hatejobbook.jpgHappy Monday. If you don’t have Columbus Day off—and one wonders how it can still be a national holiday except in, say, Arizona—then you’re probably not psyched to be at work and staring at your overpaid, demanding, unappreciative, and possibly even ungroomed boss. We feel you. And so do our friends at True Office Confessions. Taking a page out of our six-word book, TOC is seeking six-word reviews of your boss. Submit your best six here.

Book shot from Flickr user candrews.

The Best Timewasting Game Trailer Of All Time

Friday, October 5th, 2007

Once again, YouTube is sort of sucking this week, but I did find one good video, professionally-produced though it may be. If only I’d seen it years ago; so many lives could have been spared/papers turned in on time.

Happy Furry Friday

Friday, October 5th, 2007

857929775_966e2c1b8b.jpgHere’s wishing everyone a Happy Friday… or rather a Happy Furry Friday. Flickr users have posted some awesome “Happy Furry Friday” pics that I just had to share. Plus, if you’re having a lousy day at the office, these will definitely put a smile on your face.

Unless you hate cats.

Sorry, I’m a cat person, but I did include two pooches, you know to be nice.

Here’s a question: do you have special voices for your pet, like when you’re making them “talk?” Discuss amongst yourself—or, better yet, tell us!

Happy Happy Furry Friday SMITHs!

189766598_407327d475.jpg

255533588_2e6be1e855.jpg (more…)

Eat, Pray, Oprah

Friday, October 5th, 2007

LizG-BN.JPG I was on line at the bookstore at the airport yesterday (New Yorker? The Atlantic? SI with my fightin’ Phillies on the cover? I went with Vanity Fair, perfectly sweetened plane candy) and saw that the woman in front of me was buying Eat, Pray, Love. “Is it a gift or are you buying it for yourself?” I asked her (she looked so ecstatic about the purchase I figured that, like me, she took serious delight in gifting it people she was sure would devour it).

“For me,” she said. “I’m on my way to Rome.”

As Eat, Pray lovers know, the first section is set in Rome, and one of the greatest 100-page sprints of a memoir opening I’ve ever read. My Rome-bound friend was in for a treat.

I told her that the book’s author Elizabeth Gilbert would be on Oprah tomorrow (today) and that the little online magazine I run was one of two spots graced with an excerpt (Oprah’s O was the other), which we asked for back before the book’s publication after reading the galley. What I didn’t tell my new friend was that I first met Liz back when we were both writing stories about Burning Man (she for SPIN, me for P.O.V. magazine) and that such wild success—E, P, L has sold more than 1 million copies—could not have happened to a more talented, humble, groovy person.

“I haven’t been this excited since Bono was here,” Oprah tells Liz today. Here’s to that—and the power of a great story.

 
SMITH Magazine

SMITH Magazine is a home for storytelling.
We believe everyone has a story, and everyone
should have a place to tell it.
We're the creators and home of the
Six-Word Memoir® project.