Author name: Booksquare

We think it’s okay to lie in headlines. Nobody believes them anyway, right? Sony’s acquisition of MGM is a minor source of fascination for us, not only because we were witness to Sony’s revamping of the MGM lot. We like the weird full circle aspect of the story. But it makes us wonder: do brand names matter that much to the consumer? We’re not talking about Gucci or Prada — we’re looking at publishers (labels, studios). When you go into a store, do you think, “Wow, it’s the latest from HarperCollins.” When it comes to art, are corporate labels as […]

If there is one* universal truth, it is something like this: independent publishers and labels will always have distribution woes. The machinery is set up to accommodate the big guys. Last week, we reported on Imajinn and their Chapter 13 filing; this was, in part, because the cash going out the door exceeded the cash coming in. It wasn’t necessarily the result of poor business decisions. Book distributors, like most people who pay bills, don’t necessarily take the concept of “Net 30” very seriously**. The distributors will argue that they can’t pay until they get paid. The bookstores will argue

This article about Damian Loeb and his use of photographs (by other artists) as the basis for his paintings leads us to wonder: what does copyright represent? We are not being obtuse. Much. Where does stealing end and homage or inspiration begin? If Loeb had identified his sources, would that have changed the nature of the argument? Though we like to think the opposite, copyright is not as black and white as it could be. And on an unrelated note, we particularly enjoyed the media relations director’s statement — it smacks, ever-so-slightly (which is sarcastic for “a lot”) of defensive.

For a long time, we assumed we couldn’t write such things because we weren’t clever enough. This theory has not been laid to rest, but we now see it’s more than cleverness: it’s the fact that we failed miserably in our musical education. If only we had stuck out the piano lessons despite a lack of talent — it is notable that we possess a prodigious ability for self-deception (hence sticking with softball for so long because we enjoyed the fantasy world wherein we could hit and catch; reality was somewhat different, though we did possess the advantage of a

Last night, we got into the car to hear “Blietzkrieg Bop.” It was still playing as we parked at the grocery store. When we started the engine again, it was to the tune of “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” By the time we heard “We Want the Airwaves”, we knew something was up. Though rumors of his illness taking a turn for the worse persisted, Johnny Ramone continued to make the local scene, popping up on our local radio station regularly. He wanted to live. We doubt we need to tell anyone how to celebrate the life of any Ramone…just

At the risk of offending John Grisham fans (which is not our intent), we have to wonder: what is the point of sending a potentially explosive device? What sort of message is to be inferred by the author from a failed attempt like that? It makes no sense at all. We are slowly coming to the conclusion that maybe there is something to this dueling* thing. Cowardly fighting (and we classify using the mail to hide one’s dirty work as cowardly) is so last century. If you can’t face the object of your anger directly, and give them a chance

If anything, their opposition to the Patriot Act (or parts thereof) will change the world’s bizarre perception of librarians. They are not meek, they are not mild-mannered, they are not mousy. Librarians are highly educated individuals. Working in a quiet place does not mean you’re a doormat. We are hoping this changed perception will extend to fictional librarians — no more gray suits with racy underwear underneath, please. It’s been done to death. Thank you. A friend recently had a rash of interesting traffic to her website. Now it’s possible that her research on the Internet lead her down some

We’re quite excited about this — it was just yesterday that we reminisced about our childhood, and Judy Blume certainly played a big part in molding the person we became. Hmmm. We suspect she would immmediately disassociate herself from anything having to do with affecting the person we became. Nonetheless, she played a part. It may not be a point of pride for her, but we would like to note that we do not possess a criminal record and we pay our taxes. We also stop for pink lights. Judy Blume to receive National Book Award