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Archive for April, 2010:

Thanks to Megan Halpern over at Melville House (MobyLives) for her recent post challenging the idea that digital media is a necessarily “greener” alternative to paper. Halpern points to an important article by Don Carli at PBS MediaShift, which calls the choice between paper and e-media a “false dilemma.”

As Carli explains, “going paperless” (with our bills, with our books) may feel like a great leap toward reducing our carbon footprint because the evidence of our consumption disappears, but the environmental benefits of digital media are as-of-yet largely illusive:

Just because we cannot see something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. While paper mills emit visible plumes of steam and waste paper can pile up visibly in our homes and businesses, the invisible embodied energy or “grey energy” used to manufacture digital technologies and the toxic e-waste associated with electronics are largely out of sight and out of mind, but their impacts can be profound.

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Check out this interesting company that highlights “iconic and often out of print” book covers by putting the images onto T-shirts. The company is called, as you probably guessed, Out of Print, and it’s not just a clothing company. As Out of Print states on its mission page, “We work closely with artists, authors and publishers to license the content that ends up in our collections. Each shirt is treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book.” In addition, the company promotes literacy though its partnership with Books for Africa; for each shirt Out of Print sells, a book is donated to a community in Africa.

Current shirt selections include George Orwell’s 1984, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (I think that was the cover of the edition I read!), Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and plenty more. Shirts come in both men’s and women’s styles, and hey, wouldn’t these make great gifts?

Although poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) is not a pop lyricist, the words to one of his best-known poems, “Le Pont Mirabeau” (”The Mirabeau Bridge”), were put to music by Marc Lavoine, pictured above on the cover of his CD titled simply Marc Lavoine (2001). “Le Pont Mirabeau,” the first track on the CD, is a bridge in Paris that spans over the Seine River. Apparently Apollinaire had to walk over the bridge to get to the home of painter Marie Laurencin, his girlfriend from 1907 to 1912. It is also the bridge where poet Paul Celan likely killed himself in 1970. His body was found miles downstream.

Below is Lavoine, since the 1980s a successful French actor and crooner, singing “Le Pont Mirabeau.”

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Finally, a book cover that does justice to the work of Margaret Atwood! Beautiful. Too bad for us Americans that it’s the U.K. edition (here’s the U.S. hardcover: http://www.yearoftheflood.com/us/). There’s also a lovely special slipcase edition (right).

     

 

The U.K. paperback that comes out later this year is also striking. It’s one of a series of Atwood cover designs by Nathan Burton (the Caustic Cover Critic has a post about the designs on his blog).

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[Image from Curious Pages]

I stumbled upon a great blog called Curious Pages that features interesting children’s picture books. The subtitle for the site is “recommended inappropriate books for kids,” which should give you an idea of the types of books highlighted. The images of and from the featured books are entertaining enough, but what makes the blog posts even more engaging is the commentary—funny and somewhat irreverent.

If you are a fan of illustrated books and dry wit, check out Curious Pages.

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