Posted in Culture, Food, tagged cooking, hipsters, learning how to cook on 25 Feb 2016| 8 Comments »
I thought this was only a problem with men of my generation and older, but (surprisingly) I’ve heard complaints from enough young folks that I’m now convinced a fair fraction of hipster males also exhibit this…deficit.
Gentlemen, you MUST learn how to cook.
Why? Consider the following.
Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials, voter turnout on 08 Feb 2016| 4 Comments »
To my young friends:
You’ve posted a lot of memes about how my generation (Boomers) really screwed up things for you, like education, the economy, the environment, and the world in general.
And you’re right. (more…)
Posted in Books, Writing, tagged book marketing, creative writing, marketing your book, Writing on 21 Jan 2016| 7 Comments »
I’m not telling you anything new when I say that the publishing industry has changed a great deal in the last twenty years. However, throughout these decades of upheaval, there are two things I’ve observed that have remained pretty damned consistent:
Posted in Movies, Writing, tagged Axanar, CBS, copyright infringement, Paramount, Star Trek on 04 Jan 2016| 5 Comments »
Miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Hehe…Probably not.
Either way, it was an interesting holiday fortnight, writing-wise—a couple of rejections, a friend had his book series canceled, another friend’s newest got some great reviews, and one of my books is going out-of-print—but the one piece of writerly news that really sparked a discussion was a bit involving CBS, Paramount, and Star Trek.
You remember Star Trek, right? That other sci-fi mega-franchise. The one with good writing? The franchise that actually did break new ground?
Yeah. That one. Star Trek.
Posted in Culture, Music, tagged Hugo Rinaldi, Music, San Rafael High School, teaching on 15 Dec 2015| 5 Comments »
This week one of my high school teachers passed away. Reminiscing about our relationship got me thinking about the nature of teaching. It’s a very nebulous and squirmy thing, teaching is.
Hard to pin down. Hard to define.
Hugo Rinaldi taught music at San Rafael High School, leading the orchestra. Where most students only have a particular teacher for a single class, for a semester or perhaps a school year, I was Hugo’s student for my whole four-year run at SRHS. He conducted the school orchestra, the youth orchestra, and the chamber orchestra, all of which I was a member. He encouraged me to switch from violin to viola. He gave me the opportunity to conduct orchestras, bands, operas, and musicals.
Being a music teacher, Hugo didn’t have “classes” in the usual sense. There were no syllabi, we had no tests. We had rehearsals. Our homework was to practice our parts. Our finals were the concerts we gave for our proud (but often wincing) parents. He didn’t instruct us on how to play our instruments; that was the realm of our private music teachers. Hugo taught us how to play in an orchestra.
Big whoop, right? Like I’ll use that in my daily life.
Here’s the thing: I do. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Seattle, tagged introverts, Seattle, Seattle culture, Seattle Freeze, Seattle unfriendly city on 09 Dec 2015| 8 Comments »
It’s a rule I have: Never take food from a guy who talks to himself.
Call me crazy, call me cold and unfriendly, I don’t care. If you’re having an animated conversation with people I cannot see, I may have … reservations … about most anything you offer me.
Thus the other day when Kevin (a guy I never met before) got off the bus behind me, talking a blue streak to no one in particular (he was not on the phone) and then, as we both walked toward the car park, asked me if I wanted a free bagel, I demurred.
I mention this because Kevin then went on to tell me how he just doesn’t like people here in Seattle. We’re not as “friendly” as the people on the streets of his hometown, New York City. People here—according to Kevin—are cold, unfriendly, and not to be trusted. Leaving aside for the moment that “friendly” is not the word that immediately leaps to mind when I think of New Yorkers, this is not the first time I’ve heard Seattleites described as being as cold and unwelcoming as our weather. It’s an actual thing, and it’s called the Seattle Freeze.
Posted in Books, tagged America Star Books, class action lawsuit, fraud, indie authors, Miami Book Fair, Publish America, Writer Beware on 01 Dec 2015| 6 Comments »
Indie authors, take note:
Back in September, I reported of an unsolicited query I received from a representative of America Star Books (ASB), offering me a spot in their “Hot Indie Authors” brochure. This brochure was to be distributed at the Miami Book Fair, held the weekend of 20 Nov 2015. My response was essentially “Sure, go ahead; show me what you can do.”
Then I waited.
My intention, for reasons that are obvious to some, was never to enter into any agreement with ASB. I just wanted to see what (if any) result would come from being included in their brochure (if indeed that actually occurred). I also wanted to see what sort of communication I’d receive from ASB, and how much.
The results of this experiment both met and exceeded my expectations.
But not in a good way. (more…)
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 