For lovers of the skins of Moles

Caveat writer waiver: I have moleskins. I love moleskins. I do not like apricot jasmine tea. I have been known to prance.
clipped from www.theonion.com
SAN FRANCISCO—After gently unfastening the elastic strap keeping his dearest musings safe from prying eyes, little literary artiste Evan Stansky penned a few more darling thoughts into his clothbound Moleskine notebook Wednesday. “These are much higher quality than the notebooks you find at CVS,” lilted the auteur, who couldn’t be bothered to use—dare it be said—a journal of lesser craftsmanship or pedigree, or one not famously used by such legendary artists as van Gogh and Hemingway. “They’re a little more expensive, but I try to write on both sides so I don’t go through them as quickly.” At press time, the princely scribe was seen finishing his apricot jasmine tea, asking a mere mortal sitting nearby to watch his literary accoutrements, and then prancing off to the Starbucks powder room, light as a feather.
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October 21st, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Rape-Nuts

Ah, Congress, Congress, Congress… Why do you amuse me with your continual antics? Is there something in the oath of office that says, “I must give comedians fodder for jokes.”

more about "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Rape…", posted with vodpod

October 16th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


Heh Heh Heh….

There are no words. From Gidmozo:
clipped from gizmodo.com

$130,000. That’s how much Waldo—an autonomous underwater robot from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida—costs. Now they have to find it, and the bloody thing doesn’t even wear a white and red striped sweater.
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September 8th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


Jane Friedman is one smart cookie….

Galleycat is covering the new Jane Friedman (ex-Harper Collins honcho) digital publishing venture. I think the idea of backlist titles in digital is HUGE. I’ve already mentioned this to a couple of people that there are a lot of established authors who have books that are out of print, or manuscripts tucked in drawers and there is a great opp for anybody that can facilitate getting the books pubbed easily and cheaply. It’s a win/win/win for authors, readers, and the publishers who are on the ball.
clipped from www.mediabistro.com

Here’s more from the article: “One house she has talked to is Kensington Publishing; a source says Friedman is interested in doing a deal with Kensington because of its extensive backlist of romance titles. ‘She seems to think romance is where the future is, and the money,’ says the source.”

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August 27th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


And we would have gotten away with it, if not for those pesky Twittering kids!

Aha!!! The mystery to Inglourious Basterds is solved! It’s not Brad Patt, it’s Twitter!!
clipped from mashable.com

Earlier this morning we reported that Twitter (Twitter) may have played a role in generating box office revenue for Inglourious Basterds. The so-called “Twitter Effect” has also been credited with sinking Bruno on day two and giving District 9 an added box office boost.
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August 24th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


At the Blaze Blog Today

I’m posting at the Blazeauthors blog today. Taking an informal survey on the whys of reading romance and has the why changed and why the why has changed….

August 24th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Blogroll, Reading Matters | No Comments »


Inglourious Basterds? Really? Really??

This week, the new Quentin Tarantino movie opened #1 at the box office, raking in $37.6M, which isn’t blockbuster numbers, but I was surprised. For those who haven’t read the storyline, here’s the synopsis:

“Inglourious Basterds” begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus(Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” Raine’s squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich.

So, I’m thinking, is it:
a) World War II – Nazi evil, die suckah!
b) Brad Pitt
c) Quentin Tarantino
d) everything else sucked and people really wanted to see a movie

I really did love Pulp Fiction, but I’m thinking d) on this one. We watched Defiance a couple of weeks ago, and I’m sorry, but I’ll take Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber over Brad Pitt any day. Feel free to debate and discuss the artistic merits of BP vs DC and LS.

And also watched Sum of All Fears a couple of days ago, and I realized how energy Liev Schreiber brings to a role. Absolutely nothing to do with anything, but I noted it. :)

August 24th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Newsflash | No Comments »


Book Ads

Fast Company has a nifty little article on Amazon patents for embedded ads. Now, to be fair, the idea of ads at the beginning or the end, don’t bother me, and enough books have ads at the end (granted, for their own publishing house). However, I’m not sold on the idea of embedded ads, although they’re ubitiquous enough online, and I’ve learned to ignore them… However, one of the bits in the article fascinates me. The idea of an ad that relates to the text. Mention a restaurant, and that ad shows up on an opposing page (although what opposing page on a Kindle?)

However, think of what this means to somebody like Candace Bushnell. Mention Prada and you get an ad next to it. Mention the Waldorf and you get a coupon for a free night (I wish!). Or maybe the JR Ward books. Mention Nike and you get Tiger Woods in the middle of a battle with the Others.

And would authors get kickbacks? If I slip in say, Pepsi, rather than Coke, would Pepsi pay me for the placement? The business model for publishing is changing, and I’m curious where it will end up. Finger Licking Fifteen sponsored by KFC?

Just thinkin…
clipped from www.fastcompany.com

Amazon’s just filed a number of patents that point to the inevitable but perhaps undesirable expansion of advertising onto its much-vaunted Kindle e-reader. If it happens, would you tolerate in-book or in-magazine embedded ads?
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August 9th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »


Blogging today at Romance Bandits!

I’ll be here today, blogging on travel hell. Lots of great travel-atrocities so far….

August 7th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Blogroll | No Comments »


Signed, Sincerely Confused in Chatahoochie…

This makes me nervous. I have always used ‘best,’ ever since my very first agent signed her emails ‘best’ and I thought it was NY publishing lingo, and I adopted it for my own. Now, people get brushed off by ‘best?” People are appalled by “cheers!” People are underwhelmed by Ciao?” Oh, sincerely noes!

So, question here. What’s your favorite sign-off, and what’s peeves you?
clipped from lifehacker.com

The New York Times’ Style section discusses how the sign-off can set the tone of an entire email. For example, some folks consider signing an email message “Best” as a brush-off, while the cozy “xoxo” inappropriate (in business messages, anyway.) Well, duh.
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August 5th, 2009 Kathleen O'Reilly Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »


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