Despite having recently won the Newbery Medal for best children's book, Neil Gaiman occasionally suggests children weren't his intended audience in The Graveyard Book. He mentions European librarians have the book shelved in both the adult and children's sections, while American librarians argue over placing it in the children's or young adult sections. Gaiman seems not too concerned, hoping that all have access to it; I agree. It is an excellent book for readers of any age.

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January 12, 2009 was the scheduled release date and as planned this book is available now on Amazon and in some bookstores. I hear that there may be release events on Friday and Saturday. Steve also mentioned that pre-ordered books were to be in the mail as of last Friday. So yayyy, it should be here soon



I saw this information on Facebook where I have just set up a Facebook page! Feel free to friend request me.

I finished reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin last night and have already moved on to the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire Series, A Clash of Kings. The book is 800+ pages so it took a while to get through. The first part of the book took more time to get through since there are loads of characters and getting the lay of the land takes some time. The last portion of the book is really engrossing and flies.

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground."
This line from AGOT resonates through this book particularly for a few characters who appear to be in line of succession for the Iron Throne. The most intriguing characters were Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister and probably Jon Snow. The series features characters who give new meaning to the word grey. In sharp contrast to HP where most are at least in the author's mind either good or bad, this book is filled with characters who leave you wondering whether they are aligned with good or evil. Littlefinger and Varys the eunuch definitely kept you guessing. There are two main families in this book, the Starks and the Lannisters. A third family Targaryen is introduced mainly through background information and through two characters Danaerys and her brother Viserys.

I have questions that I take from this book into the next: Who are Jon Snow's parents, did Danaery's son really die, what will happen to Sansa and the boy hitler she is betrothed to? There are plenty more but those come to mind immediately. If you know those answers don't tell me.

Here is a cool banner from vanity_made that depicts another great line from the book as well. This will be a fun series to read especially with the upcoming HBO series on A Game of Thrones and the long awaited release of the 5th book in the series. I feel as though I came to the series at a good time.

One of the things I am looking forward to this year is the Middle School production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." My son got a part after trying out at the urging of his friends who later dropped out. I am proud of him for sticking out the audition process which has to be tough on a 14 year old boy and landing the part of the book voice. He is also going to be in the scene for Brotherhood of Man with a little solo and plenty of song and dance. I am sure this means I will end up painting the entire set but hey I live for this crap.

I have also been considering what I might do with myself now that the kids are pretty self sufficient and I have a lot less volunteer stuff to do than when they were younger. I have been trying to get a job in social work or psychology but having been out of the field for 8 or 9 years hurts on top of entering a weak job market. The money stinks too which is a big drawback. I am considering options such as painting murals and faux finishes since I do get calls for jobs occasionally despite not really marketing myself as an artist. Despite a weak economy, I live in an area that is close to some very wealthy neighborhoods. If I can make this work, I think I would prefer doing the murals. I am still thinking on it though.

I have so much to be grateful for at the end of this year. My daughter is being taken off the immune suppressants to give it a go without drugs to see if she is in a remission of her autoimmune disease as yet still unnamed. She is going to have a minor surgery to clear up some damage to her vocal chords next week but it looks as though she is doing much better. She got all A's and one B+ in her first semester at Penn so that was great too. Hopefully one of these days she'll decide what she wants to do but hey I am still figuring that out so I don't have room to talk there.

( Infringing on Bluestocking's shout outs. See them all behind the cut! )

So, today I am recovering from the massive dinner for 20 I have once a year for my family and in-laws on Christmas. This is a beast of a dinner that I have made into a monster. The first year I had it I made the mistake of making Le Bec-Fin crabcakes so now everyone expects them every year. I usually make a tenderloin roast with bernaise sauce so we had that as well. For sides I have redskin mashed potatoes and Potatoes gratin with mustard and cheddar cheese, green beans with roasted peppers in balsamic vinaigrette and candied carrots. We had cheesecake, tiramisu, and a Philly classic Stocks pound cake. Top this all off with a the case of champagne my brother in law contributed and we had about an 8 hour feast that I am sure has some feeling not so terrific today.

This whole out-of-control dinner started the year my father died as an effort to have everyone together for dinner instead of one visit with my family and dinner with my in laws or vice versa. I got what I asked for so now I am left with spoils of doing this once a year. Generally, this wouldn't be so bad except for timing everything to come out at the same time. I think it might be easier to establish Middle East peace than to get everything ready for serving at the same time. By the time the dinner is on the table I am ready for the rag bag.

It's usually about this time that some of the craziness starts to unfold. I was reading an article about holiday movies which made the point that we like movies that show families more dysfunctional than our own. There is definitely some comedy that unfolds during these dinners that might make these movies look tame. Truth be told, I don't know anyone who doesn't describe their family as dysfunctional and perhaps one of the benefits of age is getting past the point where you are tangled in the dysfunction enough to watch it unfold as if it were a movie. I am not all the way there yet but my husband and I had a good joking debate on whose family was more dysfunctional. Mine won this year but he added in a moment of wisdom, "so far." We have about 5 more days for his family to win but I am pretty sure he knows it is unlikely. At least we can laugh about it. So how was your Christmas?

Here are a few pictures of my home decorated for Christmas. I hope that all my friends have a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year!

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Wednesday my daughter graduated from high school. You'll have to indulge me a bit while I flat out brag about her. She graduated fourth in her class of 600. She was shooting for valedictorian but missed by some ridiculous thousandths of a point on her gpa. Who knew it came down to that kind of difference in points. They are doing away with it next year because it puts too much pressure and emphasizes the wrong values in education. She would have been better off had she not taken music because it is not a weighted grade. If she had taken a study hall she would have been better off under the current system. When her counselor explained all this to her she decided to shoot for top ten and she was plenty proud of herself when the top ten students were announced at graduation. Needless to say her father and I were pretty proud as well.

Here are a few pictures of her with her friends. There is one with my husband and son. I, of course, avoided the picture by taking it.

Columbia Law professor Tim Wu has posted an article that he intends to publish in a law review on tolerated use of secondary and derivative works that complement (without substituting) for the original. In my opinion, this article has clearly been inspired by the Lexicon trial. In his opening, Wu refers to fan websites as "marketing." that in plain economic terms adds value to the original:

"One reason that many uses of copyrighted works are tolerated is that they cause no harm to, and in fact help, the owner of the original copyrighted work. For example, if I create a film that is obscure, and a fan creates a loving website for the film that uses images from the film, it is probably the case that the fan has infringed. Nonetheless it is also obvious that the web site creates value for the owner of the original work. In fact, many fan websites and other tolerated uses are exactly the kind of thing that content creators pay for when it is called “marketing.”

In economic terms, what the fan has created is called a complement (as opposed to a substitute) – a good that makes another good more valuable. For those unfamiliar with this concept, examples are plentiful. More lenses make my camera more valuable. The sale of screws makes a screwdriver more valuable. My coffeemaker becomes more valuable the more varieties of coffee are available. And so on."

 

Wu's suggested approach would have tremendous impact on fansites such as The Leaky Cauldron, Mugglenet and many others.  Infringing material would not have to be tolerated and under threat of removal since it would be legally protected.  Such cites report on and build enthusiasm for the original work but do not compete with it directly.  This would have the additional benefit of protecting the high dollar markets such as licensed movie adaptations for the author.  Other copyright experts have expressed a desire to open that market believing that the movie licensed and clearly influenced by the author will likely be the best anyway.  Such an approach would allow multiple versions of the Potter movies that would compete with the licensed Warner Brothers version.  Personally I think this might be a bit of an extreme change that might harm the author unnecessarily.  I will freely admit that I haven't really examined the arguments for such a change very closely, however. 

What I like about Wu's approach is that it deals with the concerns raised in the Lexicon case head on.  Clearly any author who wants to write a complementary work such as an encyclopedia can claim infringement and effectively destroy the market for a competing entry.  Without the benefit of Stanford pro-bono involvement, RDR would be completely at a loss to effectively make their case in court.  The copyright owner, in effect, can expand their copyright protection by virtue of deeper pockets rather than the strength of their case. 

Here are links for the final briefs filed by the plaintiffs and defense in the Warner Brothers/J K Rowling v RDR books trial. These are not for the faint of heart. The plaintiffs filing is 169 pages and certainly could use the readers guide the judge requested. The defense brief is a merciful 55 pages.
WB/JKR Findings of Fact & Law
RDR Findings of Fact & Law