Posted by on under threshhold, e book, bestselling author, royalties, two books, ly, bestseller, poverty, novel, math, income level | 
"If I published only one book a year, and it did as well as this one, my net would be only around $2500.00 over the income level considered to be the US poverty threshhold," writes a bestselling author. The math: $50k advance, half of it lost to agent and other costs, and even bestseller royalties don't immediately cover the advance to create a return. But ... what if one wrote two books in a year?...
Tagi: threshhold, e book, bestselling author, royalties, two books, ly, bestseller, poverty, novel, math, income level
Posted by on under boing photos, off kilter, blow darts, william s burroughs, william burroughs, peter ross, poet john, photographer peter, john giorno, windowless room, lawrence kansas, lower east side, belongings, bottoms, locker room, ymca, typewriter, morning news, land |
In the 1970s, William S. Burroughs lived in New York City's Lower East Side in a former YMCA locker room, a windowless room affectionally referred to as The Bunker. Of course, Burroughs spent his later years in Lawrence, Kansas, but after his 1997 death, Burroughs's friend and landlord, avant-garde poet John Giorno kept the writer's Bunker bedroom intact. Photographer Peter Ross took a lovely series of photos of Uncle Bill's belongings. From an interview with Ross in The Morning News: How did you choose what articles you wanted to photograph? Most of the items just jumped out at me. How could I pull a book titled Medical Implications of Karate Blows out of a stack and not photograph it? Or the typewriter with his name on it? The blow darts and board that hang on the wall in his bedroom? Well, how did you decide on the angle for each photograph--why the bottoms of the shoes, for example, instead of the tops? I challenged myself to try and find what was unique to the items. I was looking for something historical and specific to their owner, and short of that I was pushing for an off-kilter angle or placement. Shoes are just shoes, but only one man wore the holes into the bottoms of this pair. Just think of where these shoes have been, the conversations they have witnessed. These shoes likely have met many of my heroes of New York's 1970s and '80s culture. "Burroughs" by Peter Ross (Thanks, Xeni!)...
Tagi: boing photos, off kilter, blow darts, william s burroughs, william burroughs, peter ross, poet john, photographer peter, john giorno, windowless room, lawrence kansas, lower east side, belongings, bottoms, locker room, ymca, typewriter, morning news, land
Posted by on under boing boing, brian cox, video link, soliloquy, theo, shakespeare |
Video link. Actor Brian Cox attempts to teach Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy to Theo, age 2 1/2. (Thanks, Lisa Mumbach!)...
Tagi: boing boing, brian cox, video link, soliloquy, theo, shakespeare
Posted by on under medical marijuana, autistic son, logical choice, self injury, mth, magen, dhes, alg, slate, anxiety, happiness, pot, parents |
Marie Myung-Ok Lee wrote a great piece for Slate about giving cannabis to her 9-year-old autistic son. Last summer, we reached the six-month mark in our cannabis experiment. We'd been using medical marijuana to help quell our autistic son's gut pain and anxiety, and we were seeing some huge changes in his behavior and, presumably, his happiness. J was smiling, interacting (one of home-based therapists said she'd never encountered such an affectionate autistic child), even putting his dirty dishes in the dishwasher—rinsing and everything!—not only without being told, but without ever having been asked to do such a thing. The more I'd been reading, along with J's doctor, about the effects of cannabis—analgesic, anti-anxiety, safe—the more it seemed a logical choice. I've also heard from other parents who've decided to try cannabis for their children. One of the kids has Smith-Magenis, a genetic disorder that includes autismlike behavioral symptoms including self-injury. Another is an autistic child who'd refused to eat and was near death. Post-marijuana, he is thriving. The Smith-Magenis boy, who'd been about to start court-ordered medication, is also doing well. Why I Give My 9-Year-Old Pot...
Tagi: medical marijuana, autistic son, logical choice, self injury, mth, magen, dhes, alg, slate, anxiety, happiness, pot, parents
Posted by on under boing boing, main reference library, library hosts, album artwork, library thanks, darlings, mosh, david j, props, gig, subway, punk, metro, toronto, heart |
David sez, "I thought you might be interested in this fantastic article about Toronto punk darlings, Fucked Up, playing a free show at the Toronto Reference Library last night. I love the quote in the article, 'Fucked Up admit to getting most of their album artwork from the Reference library and give props to its "solid microfiche collection".'" When I was 14 years old, I "de-enrolled" myself from the high-school I'd started out at, stopped going to classes, and took the subway to Metro Ref every day, burying myself in a dozen subjects (and yes, seriously raiding the microfiche). It really warms my heart to see these pics. Fucked Up Make Some Mosh at the Reference Library (Thanks, David J!)...
Tagi: boing boing, main reference library, library hosts, album artwork, library thanks, darlings, mosh, david j, props, gig, subway, punk, metro, toronto, heart
