It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

It is now closing in on December - thanks Black Friday, and all your minions - and I am still looking for more work. I was going to call this entry another "On the Job Hunt", but this feels more personal; more emotionally draining.

Let me explain: I got two letters in the mail from my family stating their concern over me and my situation in Montreal. This is fair. I have not done too well by staying here. In fact, I am pretty broke and have not been able to find work that lasts more than the space of six months a few times a week (teaching gigs, mostly). And now they are all wondering if I am going to head home for the hella-(sorry) holidays.

I do want to go back. I have never spent the break away from my family while living in Canada and I do not want to start a trend. But it is all a question of money. I get paid this week, just in time to end my main teaching contract, but I have not yet found anything to fill in the three weeks leading to those days. This is hard. Plus, I have another story to finish for another short-story contest and some other work that I want to get published. Amazing how I can be so busy and so broke.

So, that is where I stand. I am waiting on some other work, but I am not getting any hopes up. But I will keep on posting!

Kendall on Kindle

Okay, I've read the ads and one review about it, so I think that I can comment on this new reading device. The Kindle is now available...in Zimbabwe, Myanmar and the Falkland Islands. Us hosers will have to wait for Amazon to notice us. This intrigues me, because I have just read a review of the device by Ian Brown, columnist for Canada's very own Globe and Mail. Apparently, the international version of the device was not available, so Mr Brown made due with a less universal version. This gave me enough info to form some thoughts on e-books and e-readers.

Mr Brown did not like it. Did not expect him to. Complaints: no page numbers (only something called location numbers); percentages given (stating how much of the book has been completed or needs to be read, in case you cannot wait); the "text-to-speech" feature (far too robotic-sounding); heaviness; screen's lack of a light source (for night readers); rushed text (a little confusing, but I think he meant that we have to be careful about how often we click if we are on a particular screen); poor choice of literature (no Philip Roth, no Diary of Anne Frank, no One Hundred Years of Solitude; it does have Twilight and Mr Brown states that it is good for genre fiction). Telling line in his review: "[R]eading on a Kindle is to reading a book as having sex while wearing (two) condoms is to having sex: It's still technically intercourse, but doesn't feel the same".

On that happy note, I want to say that I agree with this review without having used the device. I do own a laptop, but I have no desire for an iPhone, Blackberry or any other portable device that eats up my time and costs more than it is worth (a friend mentioned someone he knows who got a +$400 phone bill after taking his portable device with him on vacation). I use books, which means that I have piles of them available at hand, and there is a library nearby that also feeds my addiction. I do not want to boil this collection down to a digital code. But I think that this new device is going to be a hit.

Yes, there is no cover, no spine, no pictures of the authors who created the work and no way to share the book your reading with someone who does not own the device. But I remember the complaints about the first paperbacks (the first Penguins were condemned by George Orwell), but they survived and remain with us today. It will be hard to get the latest toy out of curious hands and much harder to critique anything that allows people to read more frequently. But I am not here to praise it. I have my doubts.

I don't think that I will use it because I cannot think of any books that I would like to read on it. I subscribe to magazines and newspapers on line because of the convenience of scanning for the latest news. I read books in order to expand my knowledge and sensitivity about what makes us what we are (yes, I love fiction and poetry). To read on a Kindle is not to read at all; it is to scan. I cannot imagine reading War and Peace or anything by Shakespeare on one. So, not for me.

But perhaps for that lover of genre fiction it is a true gift (would work well with Choose Your Own Adventure books or the Adrian Mole series). Let's see how this plays out.

Who Cares What Stephen Harper Is Reading?

Okay, let me explain for those of you outside of our borders. Our Canadian prime minister has been the recipient of a book and a letter once a week from the Booker-Prize-winning author Yann Martel. Reason why? Mr Martel would like Prime Minister Harper to read more literature (mainly novels) and expand his horizons (emotionally and intellectually).
I heard Mr Martel speak at a local bookstore this week and take questions from the audience after reading sections from the book. There was praise; there was also an attack that the author easily took out with his wit and intelligence. But I wonder now about the whole project. Yann Martel excluded non-fiction from the list and admitted that he himself did not read a great deal of poetry. This made him suspect to me.
Of course, I have my own list. This is a list of ten books whittled down from my own mental and physical library:
1) Siddhartha by Herman Hesse: This is about a leader forced to grow up and consider the life he is leading and how life should be lived.
2) Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: All men should read it and learn how a life of cooking can change your life.
3) The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick: A quick guide to the history of the world.
4) On the Road by Jack Kerouac: A spirit of freedom and a sense of what the world offers is important.
5) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: Any leader who wants to send young people to war should be made to read this slim work of genius.
6) The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley: A life with all its flaws. Needs to be read and understood.
7) The Penguin Book of Interviews: An introduction to the minds of great men and women.
8) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie: His best book and the one that received the Booker of Bookers (should be on any list).
9) A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul: The Nobel-Prize-winning author's best work (a family and a man trying to live as a full human being - inspiring).
10) A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel: A study of the act of reading (a perfect conclusion to the project!)

Epiphany at Expozine

You never know where or when you will have a revelation. I went to Montreal's annual fair for independent art, literature and esoterica - officially, it is MONTREAL'S EIGHTH ANNUAL SMALL PRESS, COMIC AND ZINE FAIR! - and nearly collapsed. This was partly my fault (I overdressed for the weather), but I feel that I can also blame the building itself. It was held, once again, in Eglise Saint-Enfant Jesus's basement, a conference room with a stage, a bar/restaurant and too many vendors. It was the first time that I ever felt close to fainting, and to do so among so much bad art did not seem like a professional thing to do. I only managed to speak to one friend, grab a bottle of water, and then rush out for some fresh air.

Listen: I don't think that I am any more cynical than the next goatee-sporting, indie-music loving fan. But I have to wonder now why I have devoted so much time to this particular festival. I always end up with the same free merchandise and find myself attacked by ads for anarchism (sorry, I don't have the time or the money for it), bad scribbles passed off as art and books that are incredibly limited in scope (why can't indie publishers write about things not covered by the big labels; they just seem to present the same material in a new package).

This is my last Expozine; not that anyone should care. I do regret this, but I think that I can be honest and admit that I was given a sign that forced me to take a really hard look - and sniff (another sense memory to burn away) - and say that it is no longer for me.

My best to these dreamers.

A Day to Remember

I did not watch the Remembrance Day ceremonies this morning, but I did wear the poppy and read and listened to news about the events on the web. Rather too convenient and I am bothered by this. I live in a city where the poppy is still optional in some people's minds and the veteran whom I received mine from was bitter about his retirement plans.
I hope that people do remember what these men and women gave over several conflicts and what our soldiers are still giving today (whatever you may think of our government's policies in Afghanistan or the U.S. here and in Iraq, these soldiers deserve our respect and thoughts).

On the Job Hunt (Part Four)

I think that I am a patient man. I have to be considering some of the things that I have had to face with potential employers. I have just spent the past week dealing with two companies that claim that they not only haven't received my application - including my written work (essays and mock campaign material) - but also that they ad I read was a fake one posted on Craigslist. Interesting...
If any of you have had the same problems, please share.