Ibland är jag som sådan att jag är helt hundra på att jag kommer klara av vissa saker galant. Yeah right, men skam den som ger sig. Som jag skrev igår hade jag fått två bilder av min chef som jag skulle göra banor runt om som ankarpunkter och därefter vektorisera bilderna. Piece of cake my ass!! Att göra banor runt objektet är inga problem, men sen att hitta funktionen för att först spara banan och sedan vektorisera objektet var en helt annan femma. I över åtta timmar har jag idag letat efter bra tutorials för Illustrator på Google och Youtube, men inte hittat någon som på ett bra och enkelt sätt beskriver hur jag ska gå tillväga. Men som sagt… Jag ger inte upp. I morgon fortsätter jag och då ska jag fan i mig lära mig hur man gör. Denna gången ska envisheten segra!

Ikväll var jag på ICA Maxi och handlade lite. Bland annat en tavelram till Minnes- och Hyllningstelegrammet jag fick av AIK till min 40-årsdag. När jag skulle betala mina varor stod hon där. Den blonda, trevliga och snygga kassörskan som jag inte sett på ett tag. Hon är alltid glad och pratsam, men glad ska man vara i det yrket tycker jag och till viss del pratsam. Hmm… Om jag skulle ta och tjata lite mer med henne nästa gång jag träffar på henne på Maxi. Ja, ja… Vi får se hur det kan bli med den saken. Jag ska ju dit på fredag igen och hämta en tårta. Jag måste även dra till Rusta för att köpa lite engångsartiklar (tallrikar, bestick och muggar) inför lördagen då resten av min familj och mina närmaste vänner kommer för att fira mig. Då blir det lite party!!

Yes! Snart så! I Augusti 2010 kommer Mummel slå upp portarna igen. Mummel brann ju som bekant ned den 28 december 2008, men nu håller man som bäst på och bygger upp hela kvarteret och tydligen så ska kvarteret i grunden se ut som det gjorde förut. Den enda hyresgästen som är klar i dagsläget är Mummel, så i augusti när Mummel slår upp portarna igen kommer kusin Zeke och jag sitta där och njuta av varsin iskall Guinness tappad från fat och lyssna på skön musik, förhoppningsvis underbar house.

Det var vad jag hade idag.

Skål!

Idag när jag kollade vad brevbäraren hade slängt in genom brevlådan såg jag ett stort vitt kuvert på dörrmattan. Jag tog upp kuvertet och vände på det. Då såg jag världens vackraste märke nämligen AIK skölden. Snabbt som attan öppnade jag upp brevet gissa om jag blev glad när jag såg vad det var. Det var ett Minnes- och Hyllningstelegram. Så här stod det på telegrammet.

Solna den 22 november 2009

Allmänna Idrottsklubben gratulerar å det hjärtligaste på Din stora dag.

Jag blev så glad att lyckotårar började rinna nedför kinderna.

Tack så hjärtligt AIK för den fina gesten och allt ni gör för oss supportrar. Det värmer. Tack också för att ni gav mig de finaste av presenter när våra stolta fotbollskrigare vann, först SM-guld 2lax9 och helgen efter det Svenska cupen 2lax9. En bättre födelsedagspresent än Dubblish kunde jag inte få. Detta kommer jag leva på väldigt länge.

Vi ser hur solen stiger över Råsunda,
vi ser hur Hovets is é blank och klar.
Och bönderna dom gapar utav fasa,
och snutarna dom spejar och dom tar.
Vi ser dom svarta tröjorna i AIK,
vi vet att alla vägar bär oss rätt.

Å vi e AIK
å alltid e vi med er,
och alltid ska vi se er ta poäng.
Å vi e AIK
å alltid e vi med er,
och alltid ska vi se er ta poäng.

Ibland så kan det blåsa kalla stormar,
ibland kan himlen vara ganska grå.
Men när det gäller laget som vi älskar,
så skiner solen snart på oss ändå.
Vi hört om stora tider som har svunnit,
vi vet att snart så är det dags igen.

Å vi e AIK…

Vi följer Gnaget genom livets skeden
Vi minns de sköna stunder som har flytt
Och varför sörja tider som passerat
För allt det bästa är det som är nytt
Och aldrig ska vi glömma segersången
Den sjunger vi tillsammans om igen

Å vi e AIK…

Det var allt jag hade för denna veckan. För evigt trogen AIK!

Over and out!

Signing a book for George Murray at the Ship in St. John's.

This week has been a busy one, what with the St. John’s and Gander launches of my book, Never More There, and the interviews and publicity that go along with it. Both events went quite well.

In St. John’s I was introduced, very kindly I might add, by George Murray, who some of you might know through Bookninja – the awesomest site on the web for literary and book news. I had a chance to chat to some people I haven’t seen in a while and make a new friend or two. The weather was the only negative of the evening: the cold, wind and rain is not what you want to deal with when all you want is to go out and enjoy a reading and book launch, right?

I read at the Gander Launch of my book.

 In Gander, things went off without a hitch. A teacher colleague of mine, Brian Mosher, introduced me to the crowd and had some wonderful things to say. I was lucky enough to get permission to use the art gallery in the Arts and Culture Centre for the launch and I’m quite happy with how the location worked out. A number of great people came out to help me celebrate my book and it was a wonderful feeling to be able to read from my own work for them.

I mentioned some publicity. Below are a couple f articles or interviews you can check out that have helped promote these events. I believe The Telegram in St. John’s will have an article in the next couple of weeks as well.

• Article in The Beacon.
• Interview on The Weekend Arts Magazine (CBC):

• Interview on The Central Morning Show (CBC):

Four days spent in Prague, not seen for ten years – Monday and Tuesday in Hradec Kralove – Currently in Olomouc, beautilful and lively – Leaving for Krakow tomorrow – Will cross the boarder by feet, cheaper than with the Train – Everything ok! – Staying in very friendly hostel, called Poet’s Corner

Ever really needed to send a message to someone? Really wanted to say something personal? Couldnt find a card that fit the bill?

Now you can! A Gratia Telegram for exclusivetelegrams.com is a completely customisable personal and unique way to send a message.

The Telegram style messages can be personalised with your Own digital media and words.

They are printed on 100% cotton paper and as such will last a Lifetime. They come with a guarantee that says so. They are as green as can be as the cotton is a by product of the cotton industry and as such has no enviromental impact.

The Envelope is of the same quality and Material. These Telegram style messages will bring Delight and Joy to those who receive them and those who send them.

The occasions to send them are endless: Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, Christmas, Graduation, Births, Just for Love ad the list goes on

“The Color Blue”

October 18th, 2009

“The faintest ink is better than the best memory.”

Mad Men is many things, but I think the attribute most apparent in “The Color Blue” is its meticulous attention to thematics. One of the things that has been missing in some of the recent episodes, as great as they are, is that sense that everything is adding up, that Sterling Cooper campaigns and character interactions will all add up to something, or more accurately multiple things that have ramifications to both past, present and future in the show’s universe.

What’s interesting about this week’s episode is how they manage to juggle multiple different storylines, weaving characters like Lane and Kinsey back into our storyline while nonetheless providing some substantial character work for both Don and Betty. I like when the show really focuses on a single character, but there is something that much more impressive about a small Kinsey story turning into a theme that has meaning beyond the walls of Sterling Cooper. After a season where some felt things were moving too slowly, things are moving at an enormously fast pace, and the show is actually opening up its world rather than narrowing it in response.

The result is a really intriguing hour of television, changing the game by taking hidden feelings and putting them on paper.

The mystery phone call to the Draper residence, answered by Sally but turning out to be a wrong number, is like the Telltale heart. For Sally, the phone call is a slight, as if the person on the other end was offending her by refusing to speak. However, for both Don and Betty, the phone call is a sign that their secret affair is entering into their home life despite their objections. For Betty, the call could be Henry Francis refusing to accept the end of their affair, a notion that both terrifies her and excites her (he wasn’t entirely wrong to call her out for using the hangup as an excuse to call him). For Don, meanwhile, the call is his new mistress breaking a code of silence, invading his life in a way that violates his code (to use a Dexter term). However, considering that both Henry and the teacher claim that they were not the one who made the phone call, it remains an unknown quantity, perhaps the most dangerous thing in this universe. While Peggy’s pitch for Western Union implies that a phone call isn’t forever, the ramifications of this phone call somewhat say otherwise.

What was interesting about the other side of the storyline is how it, in many ways, represents the other side of Peggy’s pitch, that a telegram is forever. Don, who leaves the teacher’s brother on the side of the road to fend for himself as an epileptic who can’t hold onto a job, he is capable of taking the paper that represents his past life and sticking it in a drawer and moving on. The scene where he chooses to allow the brother to chart his own path raises a lot of questions about Don’s past, giving him a chance to do for someone else what he wasn’t willing to do for his own brother (who, we know, hung himself after Don refused to acknowledge him), but he also imparts the device that anyone can change. It’s a fact which we know, based on the early parts of this season isn’t entirely true: he’s still as haunted by his past as anyone else, and while he has put it behind him to the point of Roger being able to list off his accomplishments (or not bothering to list them all, really), he still has that shoebox in the drawer that features his true past.

The biggest event of the episode, of course, is Betty finding that shoebox, complete with his marriage license to Anna Draper, the deed for her house in California, both Dick Whitman and Donald Draper’s dog tags, and the photos from his childhood. It’s a sign that what’s on paper is, in fact, forever, and that Don leaving that key in his pants in the washing machine has always been a ticking time bomb waiting to happen. How Don was that careless, we’ll never know: I am actually somewhat skeptical about how this hasn’t happened before, as Betty has been in more paranoid states than her current one, and has even tried breaking into the drawer. What’s interesting is how quickly the episode has Betty going to the drawer, perhaps her own experience with an affair making her more finely tuned for suspicion; there’s no sense of a delay, it was almost instinctual. In the process, we get the scenario we’ve always been waiting for: what will Betty do when she finds out that her husband isn’t who he says he is?

The answer, however, has been delayed as Betty has no idea what to do with this information, and more importantly doesn’t understand it. She sees the photos and the deeds and presumes that he has another wife, and another life entirely, which is somewhat true (he does have a mistress with whom he spends his nights under the guise of Conrad Hilton) but not the result of the box. The box tells about Don’s past, not so much his present, and as a result Betty’s reading of the facts involved is unlikely to be very precise. Perhaps this is why she only pouts, and dresses up for the big event where she has to listen to Don’s accomplishments while silently questioning how many of them were valid. It makes for a fascinating dynamic, a true telltale heart that is rife to tear this family apart.

The episode, in some ways, rushed into the moment so fast that it never really stopped to consider where the characters are. We saw Don really start his affair last week, and now it is as if he’s always been in that relationship, which makes this episode function more cleanly than if he was stumbling his way through it. Betty, of course, isn’t quite as comfortable with Carla having her suspicions about her current activities, but that’s really part of the dynamics of the show that really got boiled down here. However, the episode wasn’t afraid of extending the stories beyond these characters, with Lane and his wife returning to the series and even Kinsey and Peggy getting their own creative story. Combine with the 40th Anniversary raising questions about the role of the past, and you have an episode where things connected pretty cleanly and yet in a way which inspired a controlled chaos that really leads into the final three episodes.

Cultural Observations

• This is short because I’m a bit busy this week, but don’t take it as a sign the episode wasn’t interesting. We’re just coming to that point in the season where we’re really laying the groundwork for the next few episodes, and while I wish I had time for speculation I don’t think it’s really in my schedule right now. As such, you can check out more detailed deconstructions from the usual suspects: Sepinwall, Ryan, Goodman, Phipps.
• I loved Lane’s “Churchill rousing, or Hitler rousing” more than this quick post can possibly represent.
• Also a comic highlight: Paul Kinsey theatre. Oh, and Peggy burping into the microphone and apologizing to her secretary for it. And Roger’s mother wondering if Mona knows about Roger’s new wife.

Teragram, una división de SAS Institute Inc, y proveedor líder de tecnologías de procesamiento del lenguaje natural multilingüe, ha anunciado el lanzamiento de su Gestor de Análisis de Opiniones (Sentiment Analysis Manager, SAM), una herramienta de análisis de redes sociales que recoge las opiniones en los soportes digitales y captura la información relevante que permite a los responsables de marca ver qué están escribiendo sobre sus productos los usuarios finales. Teragram lanza SAM poniendo a disposición de los profesionales de marketing sus tecnologías de investigación con las que ayudar a controlar mejor la imagen de marca de sus productos en el mercado.

“La cantidad de datos presentes en las redes sociales, tales como blogs y muros de mensajes, está creciendo a un ritmo muy rápido”, afirma Fern Halper, partner de Hurwitz & Associates. “El desarrollo del Gestor de Análisis de Opiniones indica que Teragram entiende el valor de la minería sobre este tipo de contenidos de cara a evaluar la reputación de una marca. Cada vez más, las compañías están buscando esta clase de soluciones para mantener la competitividad”.

SAM recoge automáticamente las opiniones que aparecen en los sitios web más importantes como Amazon o Overstock, así como las reflejadas en redes sociales tales como blogs y mensajes en Twitter, y refleja la opinión global de las valoraciones combinadas. SAM también analiza el número de estrellas en el ratio de un producto para extraer la opinión general de un consumidor sobre un producto, y busca y evalúa tanto las frases positivas como negativas para obtener un análisis más detallado de estas evaluaciones online.

Más información: Is-portal.com

Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon, ca. 1972

William Safire, 1929-2009

   Of course, that was before Agnew muttered — far less belligerently — another (Latin) phrase, nolo contendre while on trial for bribe-taking, after which he preceded his boss in slinking ignominiously out of office — the only time in American history that a president and his veep have both had to resign in disgrace.

   And speaking of language and history … I’d like to know when (and why!) people began (mis)spelling the word “honey” as if they were referring to a follower of Attila the Hun (A.D. 406-453).

   It has been explained to me that such now-common spellings as “u” (versus “you”), “ur” (versus “you’re”), and “2” (versus “too”) are a result of the pervasiveness of texting as a means of communication. Such abbreviated forms, I’ll grant, are something akin to a latter-day Morse Code. Moreover, as with telegrams, there is often a limit on the number of characters which can be sent in any given text message.

Attila the Hun, 406-453

   It seems especially ironic to be using this as a term of endearment, inasmuch as the infamous Attila and his barbaric hordes were notorious for their brutal savagery while enslaving much of Europe during the fifth century.

   The answer, I would submit, can be found in the inglorious American educational system, rapidly deteriorating to sub-Third World levels and churning out young people who are as illiterate historically as they are grammatically. So, in the interest of following the dictum that counsels us to “light a candle rather than curse the darkness,” I will present a little remedial history lesson (courtesy of Wikipedia).

   As it demonstrates, this is by no means just ancient history, either, since for a generation of Americans who lived through two world wars, “Hun” was by far the worst thing you could call anyone.

Attila the Hun was Khan of the Huns from 434 until his death. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the River Danube to the Baltic Sea. During his rule he was one of the most fearsome of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires’ enemies: he invaded the Balkans twice, he marched through Gaul (modern France) as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chalons.

Attila is known in Western history and tradition as the grim FLAGELLUM DEI (Latin:”Scourge of God”), and his name has become a byword for cruelty, rapacity, and barbarism.

During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave the order to “make the name ‘German’ remembered in China for a thousand years, so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German.” This speech, wherein Kaiser Wilhelm invoked the memory of the 5th-century Huns, coupled with the “Pickelhaube” or spiked helmet then worn by German forces reminiscent of ancient Hun helmets, gave rise to later English use of the term for the German enemy during World War I. This usage was reinforced by Allied propaganda throughout the war, and many British and American pilots referred to their foe as “The Hun.” The usage resurfaced during World War II.

Four years after the London-based events of My Cleaner, Maggie Gee has transported the three main characters from London to Uganda.  Trevor, Vanessa Henman’s ex-husband has travelled there to repair the well in his ex-cleaner’s home village.  Vanessa has travelled separately but has not told either Tevor or Mary, thinking that she will just get in touch once in situ. As the three mill around their set, there are many almost-but-not-quite-meetings which add a farcical (perhaps even A-Midsummer-Night’s-Dreamish) element as well as an implicit commentary on the state of their relationships.

Vanessa’s trip to Uganda is triggered by an invitation to attend a literary conference.  Her delusional self-assurance disappears when mingling with more successful authors and she becomes more far more sympathetic than she ever was in the previous novel. Gee’s pen flows with knowing satiric glee during these scenes in a luxury hotel where authors and critics pontificate on literature. 

“One is tempted”, the lecturer continues, “when contextualising the oeuvre of the postcolonial writer per se, to neglect the fundamental importance of positionality in any historiographical act.”

(I’ve haven’t the faintest idea what it means but it made me smile!)

While Vanessa becomes more sympathetic, the reverse is true of Mary Tendo, who, always a force to be reckoned with, becomes utterly insufferable on her home turf! “Shut up, woman”, cries Trevor after one earnipping experience, giving voice to this reader’s sentiments.   The always likeable Trevor,  henpecked ex-husband in My Cleaner becomes the henpecked volunteer in My Driver … until Vanessa’s post-conference trip to visit the mountain gorillas transforms him into a modern-day Tarzan.

Gee presents the many facets of the Ugandan setting: village life, city life, the majesty of the landscape and the wildlife.  Political instability and  the dangers of civil warfare are never far away.  In a pivotal scene 

Trevor and a group of camera-hung guests are in a little steamer with a painted tin roof, chugging slowly, peacefully through the water past things he has never seen before … great groups of hippos half-submerged in the water, fitting tightly together like a shiny hippo jigsaw-puzzle, patches of pink round their wrinkly eyes, patches of pink at the backs of their ears ….

Over drinks at the end of their idyllic day, the tourists hear ominous stories.  “There’s a darker side to this country” explains the storyteller and it’s one that Gee maximises in sections where an unnamed conscript treks through the country,  pondering his unspeakable and unforgiveable acts.  If you’ve read My Cleaner,  it’s not difficult to identify him.  But if you haven’t (and there is no need – My Driver stands on its own two feet), there’s an added mystery to solve.

The Uganda of My Driver is a complex place, delightful yet dangerous, stamping its mark firmly on the story, rendering this novel much darker than its predecessor.  So is Gee pondering Uganda’s Heart of Darkness?  Returning to the literary conference for a moment:

“We’re just storytellers,” Vanessa reflects in a discussion about Heart of Darkness, “trying to make sense of the world. Maybe Conrad was struggling, too.”

Maggie Gee’s not struggling in presenting the country that has fascinated her since she herself attended a literary conference there.  It may not always be pretty but neither is it desperate.   There’s hope that wounds can be healed - there’s adventure and atmosphere; the novel fulfilling the promise of the beautifully designed dustjacket.

NEWS FLASH

BBC-1’s The One Show will screen a story on telegrams, which was filmed at the BPMA, on Wednesday 9 September at 7pm.

Reporter Gyles Brandreth visited the BPMA to make the story, which is part of a series for The One Show entitled “You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone”. Brandreth viewed a Victorian telegraph machine and telegrams about the sinking of the Titanic. He also interviewed Roger Green, a former messenger boy who works at Birmingham mail centre.

This edition of The One Show will be available on BBC iPlayer for one week after the broadcast.

Today’s post is from one of the most creative brides I’ve ever encountered on W@W. She’s been sharing a lot of amazing DIYs to the group so I bugged her to do a guest post on moonsnjunes. Hallelujah, the incredibly talented Twisted Len has obliged.

Len (who is engaged to Orj — check their wedsite here) will show us how to make Western Union telegrams as Save-the-Date cards.  She stumbled on the idea while browsing this site and it was just. absolutely. perfect for their 1920s themed wedding. Len says:

The blogger Jen used Western Union telegrams for her wedding program but I thought it would be more appropriate to use them as Save-the-Dates since telegram messages are meant to be short. I also found out that the Jazz period, which we chose as our theme (1920s-1930s) was the height of the telegram age. WU telegrams were widely used at that time to send invitations to social functions.

(So, is she or isn’t she a detail-obsessed bride? LOL.)

Len bought all the materials from National Bookstore and spent a measly P200 to make 60 STDs. Happiness for the budget (and for Orj)!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Light yellow or any cream tone paper
• Brown coin envelope size #8
• Rubber stamps to add authenticity
• Stamp pad
• Paper cutter

WHAT TO DO:

1) Download the WU telegram template here, as shown below.

2) Pick an old typewriter font from this site. It has  a huge selection of old typewriter fonts but Bohemian Typewriter was used for this telegram.

3) Delete default entries and replace it with your message. (Note: Telegrams were sometimes handwritten by the clerk so you can also use long hand for the message)

4) Trim the telegram to correct size (real WU telegrams are 8″ wide and 6.5″ high).

5) Fold the telegram as shown:

When properly folded, it should fit any standard 6.75″ envelope. If you’re using a window envelope, the name and address of the recipient shouod be visible through the window.

TIPS ON WRITING THE TELEGRAM:

• The first line is for the date and some WU in-house codes to indicate where the telegram came from and the number of words. (We went with our anniversary date and initials for the date and codes)
• The second line is for the sender’s address while the third line is for the name of the recipient together with their address.
• Your message goes on the fourth line. Since telegrams were priced by the words, limit the words you’ll use and be concise.

This is what the final product should look like:

OPTIONAL TOUCHES:

• Vintage stamps. Len used Scrapblog (it’s free but you’ll need to register) to make a stamp and printed them on the brown envelopes that contained their telegrams.

• Stickers. You can use this to seal your telegrams or you can include them in your mail so the guests can stick ‘em to their calendars or planners as a reminder of your wedding date. Your stickers can be your monogram, as what Len did, or a couple picture.

That’s it! Pretty simple. I want to send Len a trillion thanks for sharing this, and Len wants to give her Bakushi a zillion thanks for lovingly tolerating the mess that her place has become because of all her DIYs. And we promise to pick up another DIY from that mess soon to post here. Til then. Ciao!