Three years ago at the bi-annual conference for the Society for the Study of Southern Literature, Brannon Costello and I began considering the possibilities of the question:how do comics represent the South? To what extent do comics creators wrestle with what Scott Romine calls the “qualitative geography” of the region, that elusive sense of place and specter of history that shadows nearly every author, poet, or artist whose creative aspirations wander below the Mason-Dixon line?
Unless you are an established author with a built in fan base a catchy cover may not be enough to bring attention to your work especially on the internet. That’s where book trailers come in handy. In a 30 seconds or less the viewer can get the gist of what your work.
I’ve enjoyed making trailers for my novels but I’ve hit a wall in terms of how many times I can say sweeping novel?
Allow me to introduce you to Blac and Dub Dub, they will be marketing my books from this day forward. In their first adventure their Christmas Eve plans are cut short for a mission that involves jolly Saint Nick
enjoy
So I walk into the Verizon store to get a phone, and the walls are covered with posters from their Rule the Air campaign, my friend joked, “They look a lot like your book covers.” I had to confess there were strong similarities. But hey, I like my book covers and I like the posters from the Rule the Air campaign. I hope Verizon feels the same way about my Read the Page campaign
Abraham Verghese is the author of three best-selling books, Cutting for Stone, his first novel now in paperback, and two non-fiction books, My Own Country, and The Tennis Partner, which were both critically acclaimed. He blogs regularly on The Atlantic.com, and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The New Yorker. He lives in Palo Alto, California, and is a tenured professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is Senior Associate Chair for the Theory & Practice of Medicine.
Last season was particularly interesting, as I latched on to a clear favorite early in the show and rode out the competition for a couple months hoping he’d win, which he did. I’ve written about my man Antonio in this space before.
But no more! This year’s edition of the show sucks. New producer, new look, bad result.
The show has been transplanted from suburban Los Angeles to Manhattan. The challenges have gone from being room-makeovers and useful renovations to gimmicky games wrought with corporate promotion.
The worst part is the contestants. Unlike 2009, when any of the final four seemed worthy of having their own show, no one in this year’s crop seems to have much talent at all.
Bereft of a contestant who has the right blend of inspiration and know-how, I chose Alex Sanchez as my favorite because he simply seemed more competent than the others.
After watching Alex finish a project one of his teammates had to abandon because he shot himself in the hand with a nail gun, I thought, “Oh, look! There’s a guy who can build something without screwing it up. I like him.”
Alex also was the guy who noticed that another teammate had affixed her crown molding upside down, well into the second wall. Both of those teammates, Michael and Casey, are still alive in the competition but Alex is not. He was booted on Sunday in what looked to me like a conspiracy.
Granted, Alex had the least personable camera style of the five that remained, and he wasn’t likely to win the whole thing as a result. That’ll probably be Courtland because he’s the only one with a personality strong enough to carry his own show.
But Alex got screwed in the elimination. With four contestants on the hot seat, the judges chose to focus on the last two finishers from each team, instead of simply the bottom two of four, as determined by criteria I won’t explain here.
So, rather than be judged against his talentless teammate Michael, who in my opinion conspired with Casey to squelch Alex’s influence on their stupid kitchen photo-shoot project, he went up against Emily, a cute, bubbly blonde woman whose previous professional experience played into this week’s challenge.
Alex had a shot of beating Michael but no chance against Emily. It’s like the producers were hell-bent on getting rid of him, perhaps because he just wasn’t wacky enough to be entertaining.
Thus, I’m done with “Design Star.” I might watch again this year after Michael and Casey are eliminated but we’ll see.
The show just isn’t the same anymore. In fact, it’s now more like other reality competition shows, most of which are terrible. And given Alex’s demise, it doesn’t seem fair either.
By the way, Antonio’s show has gone through various scheduling changes this year, and HGTV has been cagey about why. I wrote an e-mail to the network months ago inquiring about the show’s status, to which an auto-reply indicated I’d hear back from someone. In my mail, I mentioned I’m a newspaper reporter/blogger, and wanted to share what I learned with my readers. They never wrote me back.
The next season of “The Antonio Treatment” debuts Aug. 15. Watch it. But blow off “Design Star.”
Blaine Crimmins is the community editor of The Colony Courier-Leader. He may be reached at bcrimmins@acnpapers.com.
Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.
Read this New York Times article by Rick Moranis
pretty good
Agree or disagree the Monument to African Renaissance, a 164-foot structure — about a foot taller than the Statue of Liberty — depicting the figures of a man, a woman and a child, arms outstretched, facing the Atlantic Ocean is breathtaking and a marvel, It is disturbing that a work of art of this scale has received so little coverage , that said on with the controversy
Click here for CNN article
“This renaissance statue is a powerful idea from a powerful mind,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson in remarks to the crowd of hundreds waving flags at the foot of the lighted monument. “This is dedicated to the journey of our ancestors, enslaved but not slaves.
