When I worked at Hallmark Cards, I had the good fortune to work with a lot of very talented writers and artists.
Maura Cluthe was one of ‘em.
She has her own website now — with a shop where you can buy posters, prints, books, buttons and stickers featuring her distinctive artwork.
My favorite?
Her new happy blue button.
Look at that face — gotta love those big, angelic-yet-mischievous eyes.
I wonder if she gives volume discounts? 
Posted in Art, Business, Design, Humor, Internet, Life, Shopping
Tagged art, artists, artwork, big eyes, books, Business, buttons, cute as a button, design, Hallmark Cards, happy blue button, Humor, Internet, life, Maura Cluthe, online shopping, posters, prints, shopping, stickers, volume discounts, website, writers
Today is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride & Prejudice.
Fans around the world will celebrate this, one of our greatest works of literature, and its prolific author Jane Austen.
Myself?
I celebrate the movie and its unforgettable Mr. Darcys. I use the plural because I find everyone has a favorite.
Mine is Matthew Macfadyen, who starred opposite Keira Knightley. I loved his interpretation — quiet, shy, judgmental, passionate.
I’ve loved everything else he has acted in as well.
Thanks, Jane, for the introduction.
Posted in Books, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies
Tagged anniversary, books, entertainment, Humor, Jane Austen, Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Movies, Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice
It’s Follow Friday!
I’m stealing a Twitter convention to recommend the amazing blog Bookshelf Porn.
The name’s the thing. This blog offers hundreds of photos of bookshelves.
Public. Personal. Retail. Library. Traditional. Modern. Whimsical.
Dusty.
And they all are lined with those much beloved precursors to our ever-present blogs –
BOOKS
They are a thing of beauty. The blog is, too. I can practically smell the leather and the pages and the dust and the mold…
Ahhhhh. Time to camp out at the library for a few hours.
Posted in Blogs, Books, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet
Tagged blogs, book pages, books, bookshelfporn.com, bookshelves, commentary, dust, entertainment, follow friday, Humor, Internet, leather books, library, library stacks, life, mold, Twitter
Do you ISBN?
If yes, it will cost you.
A friend has a book close to publication, and today she purchased her ISBN — International Standard Book Number — that you see pictured above. This 13-digit number identifies the author, title, edition and format being printed. Publishers, booksellers, and libraries use it for ordering, listing, sales records and inventory control.
That’s all fine and dandy.
But having writers pay for the identifying number assigned to their book would be like me having to pay for my Social Security number. Or the passwords I use to access the many accounts in my life. Or the name tag they give me at ComicCon.
Wait. I guess I essentially do pay for all those things.
Sorry, Tina. I tried.
Posted in Books, Business, Commentary, Humor, Life
Tagged author, book title, books, bookseller, Business, comiccon, commentary, Humor, International Standard Book Number, ISBN, library, life, name tag, password, publisher, publishing, Social Security
Wanna meet new people? Hold random conversations in airports, restaurants, and even restrooms?
Carry this book around with you.
Everyone is curious if it’s any good.
(It is.)
Tagged books, Humor, JK Rowling, life, The Casual Vacancy, Travel
If you play, ya gotta pay.
I must owe a lot.
I just spent a week in Italy; it was incredible. I returned on Sunday, but had to turn around and go to Boston on Monday for a quick work trip.
It really hurt.
We’re talking, everything hurt. My sleep cycle was still wonky. The drive up and back that day was delayed by weather and traffic. The class I taught went well, I think, but it sucked every last ounce of energy from my body.
Which made everything hurt more.
Luckily, there’s a manual:
I haven’t read it. I don’t even know what it’s about. But with that title?
It’s fate.
Or I may still be so tired that it just seems inspired.
Yeah, that could be it.
Posted in Books, Health, Humor, Life, Travel
Tagged books, delayed traffic, everything hurts, Health, Humor, if you play ya gotta pay, Italy, life, sleep cycle, Travel, vacation, work trip
eBay hates Harry Potter.
Or, at the very least, has it in for the Weasley twins. 
In their 2012 Fall Sellers Update, the Internet auction site banned “wizardly enchantments, magic spells and potions.”
Divination Professor Sybill Trelawne would also be out-of-luck, because psychic readings have been nixed as well.
What are they thinking?
Hogwarts would be a shade of its former self without Snape sneering in potions class. And with no deadly spells or enchantments to cast, Harry’s ultimate showdown with Voldemort would be no more. The whole legend up in smoke.
It’s just a book series, you say? Well, of course it is….
Now that eBay’s banned all the fun stuff.
Posted in Books, Business, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Movies, Shopping
Tagged auction site, book series, books, Business, divinations, eBay, enchantments, entertainment, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Humor, Internet, life, magic, magic spells, Movies, potions, Professor Sybill Trelawne, psychic readings, ruiners, shopping, Voldemort, Weasley twins, wizard
Isn’t it funny how our brains work?
The weather this morning was perfect — cool and comfortable with blue skies overhead. As I walked along with Rory Dog, I couldn’t help but notice the clouds. They looked like thin schmears of white frosting on the sky.
But instead of making me hungry, they made me think of a book I read a hundred years ago — The Ivory Cane by Janet Dailey. It was one of my mom’s romance novels, but the story sticks with me to this day.
The heroine Sabrina was an artist, blinded in her 20′s in a car accident. When she frosted a cake, she had to run her fingers along the icing to see if it was completely covered. Her family called her creations “fingerprint cakes.”
Of course, she still got the guy. (It was a Harlequin romance.)
My brain conjured all that up from the sight of a wispy cloud. But I still don’t much like cake.
Posted in Books, Commentary, Humor, Life
Tagged blindness, blue skies, books, brain, cake, car accident, clouds, fingerprint cake, frosting, Humor, iciing, Janet Dailey, life, memories, romance novels, The Ivory Cane book, weather
I went to see Steve Carell and Keira Knightley in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World yesterday. It was supposed to be the first movie in a double feature afternoon.
But Seeking was less comedic and far more dark and thought-provoking than I had anticipated, so going to Rock of Ages like I had planned seemed, well…
Wrong.
But I still had a cinematic “WOW” moment. AMC showed a trailer for Keira’s next film, Anna Karenina, which comes out in November. Full disclosure: I’ve never read the book, but I actually felt the air leave my lungs.
It looks epic.
I wanted to cheer or comment from my seat, but for once I kept quiet. See for yourself!
Posted in Advertising, Books, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies
Tagged advertising, AMC theatres, Anna Karenina movie, books, coming attractions, commentary, double feature, entertainment, epic, Humor, Keira Knightley, life, movie theatre, movie trailer, Movies, Rock of Ages movie, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Steve Carell
Parenthood
Got a book recommendation for you.
It was an impulse buy in an airport bookstore. But Amazon.com recommended it to me a few weeks later…
So obviously it was a good choice.
Life is good.
Then one of his son’s classmates is murdered, and Jacob is the prime suspect.
Regardless of the mounting evidence, Andy’s belief in his son’s innocence cannot be shaken. I found his blind faith at the same time completely believable and infuriating.
Andy and his wife come to realize they don’t know their son. Laurie and Jacob don’t know everything about Andy, either. It is an unpredictable and heartbreaking story…
Expertly told.
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Posted in Books, Commentary, Entertainment, Internet, Life
Tagged airport bookstore, Amazon.com, book recommendation, books, commentary, Defending Jacob book, district attorney, entertainment, evidence, impulse buy, innocence, Internet, life, murder, novel, Parenthood, Presumed Innocent, prime suspect, review, Scott Turow