Date: 2009-11-12 08:56 Subject: Deja vu...with an emphasis on the "V" Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: television, v

A couple of nights ago I watched the second episode of V, yet another remake of the '80s that the American entertainment industry seems to be specializing in.  And, I'm afraid that while the first episode was nice gripping television, this new episode I found to be one of the most boring hours I've ever watched.

The problem is that I've seen it all before.  Now, I don't remember much about the miniseries from the 80s, and even less of the TV show that followed it, but I do remember enough - and this is one of the problems with doing a direct remake.  All the suspense of figuring out what the visitors want is for nothing, because anybody familiar with the first version already knows.  We know they're evil, and we know they're going to create a fascist state, and we know why.  To make matters worse, one of the principle actors, Joel Gretsch, is left essentially playing the same character he played in The 4400, but this time with a priest's collar.

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Date: 2009-11-09 09:44 Subject: H1N1 incompetence Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: h1n1, kingston

As of yet, I haven't gotten my H1N1 flu shot.  This bothers me.

More specifically, what bothers me is why I haven't gotten my shot yet.  Now, I know the news has reported that there has been a massive shortfall of vaccinations, which during a pandemic is shocking in and of itself, but that's not what I'm going to take issue with.  And, with a shortfall where instead of a million flu shots being delivered to Ontario there were instead around 150,000, the critical cases taking priority makes perfect sense.  Again, that's not what I'm taking issue with.

I live in Kingston Ontario, a city with a population of around 120,000.  It's a relatively large city for its population - it can easily take 45 minutes to drive across it on city streets (the city alone is 450 square kilometres, not counting the outlying regions).  So, how many H1N1 clinics are set up for early delivery to priority patients?

One.

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Date: 2009-11-04 12:19 Subject: Cory Doctorow's experiment - Part III Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: cory doctorow, publishing

I've already written twice on this subject, but it's time to add some additional commentary.  Part of this comes from wondering just what Doctorow is trying to prove - after all, I said in my very first post, if he's trying to provide a proof-of-concept that free online marketing works, he's a few years too late.  Publishers picked up on that ages ago.  If there is an original development in his experiment, it's providing free audio books, which should help as well - after all, the audio book segment of the market is quite small, and can act as a gateway to the printed book market for new customers just as well as an e-book can.

But, for all of the ways that Doctorow is getting his online marketing right, he seems to be doing everything he can to shoot himself in the foot on other levels.  And now I've learned a new one.

Let me explain - having written two pieces already, I couldn't, in good conscience, let him go forward without at least trying to warn him about the pitfalls he might be facing.  So, I left a comment or two on his blog.  This started a small discussion, which ended with a recommendation from me that he cut out the middleman, deal directly with the printer, and limit his revisions to one every two or three months...and a comment from him stating "Good thing I'm not doing wholesale deals, then. As the article states, fulfilment is via Lulu."

Uh oh.

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Date: 2009-11-03 17:19 Subject: Cory Doctorow's experiment - Part II Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: cory doctorow, publishing

In my last post, I covered some of the logistical issues of Cory Doctorow's proof of concept experiment with PoD publishing and e-books.  In this (shorter) post, I'm going to cover the marketing mistake he's making, one that may effectively shoot his sales in the foot on the reader side.

To review, in his article, Doctorow said:

"Now, lots of people have used POD as a way of avoiding a lot of sunk costs in publishing ventures. But I want to see how far I can push it. With my previous books, my readers have sent in typos as they discovered them and I've fixed the electronic texts immediately, storing up lists of changes for my publisher to incorporate in future printings. But POD means that I can fix typos as soon as they're reported, and what's more, I can add an acknowledgment to the reader who caught it on the page where the correction appears, as a footnote. I have a feeling that readers will happily buy a second copy of the book in order to have a printing in which their name appears."

So, let me pose a question.  Imagine that you're a Doctorow fan, and you want to buy his next book.  You're not a fanatic fan - you don't really care about whether you can get your name into one of the revisions.  But, you do know from the publicity that the book will be corrected as time goes on, so the copy that you could buy right upon release will have more errors than the copy you can buy two months later.  So, what do you do?

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Date: 2009-11-03 13:18 Subject: Cory Doctorow's publishing "experiment"...and why he's setting himself up for failure Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: cory doctorow, lulu, publishing

Getting The War that Changed the World ready finally brought me into contact with one of John-Allen Price's friends in the field, Michael A. Stackpole.  And, having a bit of time on my hands at last, I read a bit of Michael's blog, and came across an interesting experiment in my field of publishing.

Cory Doctorow is doing a proof of concept experiment with Print-on-Demand publishing to show that online free samples work.  Well, one of my immediate knee-jerk reactions is "no sh*t, Sherlock."  Free samples are one of the cores of my company's advertising strategy, and publishers big and small have been giving away samples of everything up to chapters of books to the full books themselves since the industry got started.  It works particularly well with e-books, since most people don't actually consume books electronically - this means that if they like what they read, they'll buy the printed copy of the book.  In my case, I use the first 50 pages or so of original books, and the full edition of e-books, with a nice message letting the reader know where they can buy a printed copy.  It doesn't bring in a huge amount of new sales, but it does help spread the word.

The big problem is that while his experiment essentially sets up a publishing company, up to and complete with a marketing strategy powered by a quite decent amount of money, he has proceeded to make one very serious methodological error that runs the risk of making him fall flat on his face.  I'll let him say it in his own words:

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Date: 2009-11-03 11:55 Subject: And the book is OUT... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: john-allen price, legacy books press, the war that changed the world

It's official - John-Allen Price's The War that Changed the World is now out and available for sale.  So far it's appeared on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Barnes & Noble.

The book came out beautifully, I am pleased to say.  And, it's one of John's best.  And, as usual, there's a free online sample to be had.

So, download it and enjoy!

Date: 2009-10-16 15:15 Subject: Loving a franchise too much, or too little? Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: alien vs. predator requiem, movies

Over two years late, I finally saw Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.  And, I can't decide if it was a case of the creators loving their franchises too much or too little.

Let me put it this way - the biggest surprise I had with the movie was finding out that I'd already seen it.  AVPR (I saw the unrated version) is around 90 minutes of alien kill scenes reproduced (complete with music) from the other, better Alien movies, with about five minutes of collective plot development on the front and back ends.  If you've seen Alien 1-4, you've seen AVPR.

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Date: 2009-10-06 14:35 Subject: One of my favorite moments in the life of a book... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: legacy books press, publishing, the war that changed the world

Well, after a lot of hard work, I'm down to one of my favorite moments in the life cycle of a book.  The War that Changed the World is out of editing, the cover is finished, and even has a blurb from Michael A. Stackpole.  All that I'm waiting for now is a phone call from the author, wherein he'll go over any typoes in the page proofs.

This is going to be a special one, I think.  John-Allen Price hasn't just told the story of the Franco-Prussian War - he's essentially told the story of the entire 19th century after the Age of Napoleon, using the war as a nexus point.  And, to make matters even better, he's brought history to life.

That isn't as easy a task as one might think.  Lots of people write history, but in the end what you get are names and dates - the humanity ends up being removed.  What John-Allen Price has done is made it about the people, and drawn out their humanity.  Instead of names and dates, he presents people with all their perfections and flaws, and how their lives ended up intermingling to change the world.

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Date: 2009-09-21 08:47 Subject: Raising the level of discussion Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: global warming

Once, quite some time ago, I said something I regret in a conversation with my father.  I don't remember what we were talking about, but the discussion turned towards the bizarre weather, and I only half-jokingly made a reference to global warming and said, "thanks, your generation."  Now that I know what I know today, that comment makes me feel like an ass.

I was reminded of that by an email that came in, a comment to one of my earlier climate posts, where I talked about how we'd be able to actually answer the question of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) once the sun went into a lengthy inactive period.  This person, who will remain nameless, replied with one word, "Idiot," and a link to wikipedia.  I deleted the comment - I don't mind somebody disagreeing with me, but verbal abuse crosses a line.  If you want to disagree with me and have your comment stick, then you have to be civil about it.

The problem is that I see this type of behaviour in the AGW crowd a lot.  In some ways, it can be disturbing.  A Science and Public Policy Institute review of Global Warming for Dummies noted with some concern that the authors actually advocated censoring anybody who wrote out against the AGW thesis.  One of the reasons that I changed sides - as noted by my little story above, I was originally on the AGW side - was that the AGW side acted more like a doomsday cult than actual scientists.  Data that opposed the thesis was treated as tainted, and the people who explored it were attacked as being puppets of the oil industry, or some other industry with an interest in not going "green."  This data was also met with the phrase "scientific consensus."

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Date: 2009-09-15 09:39 Subject: Falling into a double-standard Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: canada, politics

Those who watch this journal regularly know that I tend to spend a lot of time watching or talking about politics.  Particularly under this Parliament, it could be described as the game of all games - a power-hungry Prime Minister is facing off against often less-effective opponents who can only keep him in check by threatening to bring down his government.

Today, I find myself falling into a double standard.  Today, I am finding myself condemning Jack Layton for doing what Michael Ignatieff has done in the past - appearing to get ready to prop up the Harper government for concessions.  One could argue that I'm an Ignatieff fan and not a Layton fan...and that would be true.  Layton has always struck me as just a bit on the wacky side, with a less-than-close relationship with reality.  Ignatieff and his savvy intelligence appeals to the hard pragmatist in me.

And now, the news is full of speculations that of all parties, the NDP will prop up the Harper government, after it offered them a tiny bone on Employment Insurance.  Now, they haven't actually gone through the confidence vote yet, and the government could still fall.  But, the media is slowly exhaling, expecting Layton to cave into an obvious ploy to keep power.  And this time, it's leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

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Date: 2009-09-07 08:51 Subject: And the Liberal ads are out... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: canada, politics

Perhaps it's a case of making an unofficial election campaign official.  Who knows?

Either way, the Liberals have released their own pre-election ads, just days after announcing that they intend to bring down the government at the next opportunity for a confidence vote.  One could say that this just leaves the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois as the only two parties not campaigning out of season...but one could also argue that the Conservatives started up the season early some time ago, and the Liberals are just fighting back.  At least the Liberals waited until they had declared they would try to force an election before putting the ads out.

But, these ads do remind me of another campaign - way back when, the Ontario Progressive Conservative government under Ernie Eves was after its third term as a majority government.  They were neo-cons, and bad ones at that.  Eves' predecessor, Mike Harris, became one of the most hated Premiers in Ontario's history, attempting among other things to institute a 60 hour work week, and using the teachers and nurses as scapegoats, before handing the province over to Eves.  The Conservative message was "Stay the course," and the ads they offered were pretty much all attack ads.  Dalton McGuinty's Liberals took the high road, offering Ontario change and reasons to vote for them.

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Date: 2009-09-04 00:42 Subject: The science, the whole science, and nothing but the science... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: fear-mongering, global warming

I've written before on the problems of global warming science.  And, indeed, the things I've been writing about - the politicization and the fear mongering - have only been getting worse.  Even the U.N. General Secretary is now warning of impending doom along the lines of The Day After Tomorrow.

But, having seen a bit more of the science behind it, I now have to say that I was wrong on a few levels.  Indeed, there is a lot of good, solid research being done on global climate change.  The field is not nearly as politicized as I had thought when it comes down to basic science.  And to all those scientists who I painted with an unfair brush, I apologize.

Oh, by the way, all this research I just mentioned completely blows away the so-called "scientific consensus" on man-made global warming.

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Date: 2009-08-24 11:58 Subject: "The voters don't want an election" Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: canada, politics

It's coming up to the point where the government is about to have to answer for its deeds over the summer.  In September, Michael Ignatieff will be deciding whether to bring down the government or let it stand for another quarter year or so.  I wouldn't want to be in his shoes - he's been doing a delicate balancing act ever since he gained the Liberal leadership, and doing it well.

But what is really interesting is the rhetoric coming out of the government.  The Conservatives are desperate to keep their jobs, and their PR bears more resemblance to a worm squirming on a hook than a government standing tall.  Stephen Harper has gone on record saying that Canadians don't want an election.  He said the same thing before the summer break of Parliament ended, and indeed, he was backed up by polls that said that most Canadians didn't want an election.

But the main message from the Conservatives has been a negative one for some time.  Ignatieff is not somebody Canada wants as a leader, Canadians don't want an election - this is not rhetoric from a position of strength.  So, what would be rhetoric from a position of strength?

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Date: 2009-08-14 10:00 Subject: There was a time... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: battlestar galactica, creative bankruptcy

There was a time when studios would at least wait a few years between remakes and re-imaginings.  The film industry has been doing these things since the very beginning - the famous The Ten Commandments was itself a remake of an earlier silent version, and I don't think anybody has been able to keep track of how many retellings of Dracula there have been.

But now...apparently 20 years is too long to wait.  Same with 10 years.  Universal has just confirmed that there's going to be a Battlestar Galactica feature film - and it will be a brand new re-imagining of the original series.

Think about this for a moment.  We just HAD a re-imagining.  It gained enough critical acclaim to give Babylon 5 a run for its money.  It ended less than two years ago.  There is a TV movie and a spin-off series coming.  There is literally no excuse to do a re-imagining or remake at this point.

If this isn't a sign of creative bankruptcy, I don't know what is.

Date: 2009-08-10 11:00 Subject: Answering the great climate change question Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: global warming, solar activity

I know I've covered this in the past, but I want to re-iterate something here - when it comes to the question about whether or not human beings are responsible for climate change, I am a skeptic.

This does not mean that I am a denier, although there are those who would immediately peg me as such.  Being a skeptic means that I require proof before I will believe.  Unfortunately, far too much of the evidence is based on faulty assumptions such as the discredited "hockey stick" graph by climatologist Michael Mann, which cherry picked its data to remove the Medieval Warm Period so that it could present the last few years as the warmest in the last thousand.  The corrected data demonstrates that indeed, we are warmer now than we have been in the last 400 years, but we're still only approaching the warmth of the Medieval Warm Period.

So, when climatologists continue to talk about a scientific consensus, and treat anybody asking pertinent (or, to them, impertinent) questions as apostates and heretics, that only serves to make me more skeptical, not less.  Science is about reproduceable results.  And something interesting is in the process of happening.

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Date: 2009-08-07 16:57 Subject: Afghanistan Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: afghanistan, canada

Well, NATO is asking Canada to reconsider its end-date in Afghanistan, and the response from the government has been a polite refusal.  The decision is made - combat operations are finished as of 2011, which will have Canada pulling out of the battlefield after ten years of war.

I want to discuss that for a moment.  First of all, I want to stress that my own personal opinion is that we should finish what we started.  We have a peace and security that Afghanistan lacks, and we also have the ability to help them achieve it.  So, on a personal level, I'm for extending the mission to "as long as it takes."  But then again, that's easy for me - I'm not one of the people who is going to end up on the ground dodging Taliban mortars.

Today I'm going to argue the opposite side.  Today I'm going to support the end date as it is set and point a couple of things out.

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Date: 2009-08-03 16:30 Subject: The strange case of Joel Tenenbaum Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: joel tenenbaum, riaa

Only yesterday I wrote about Joel Tenenbaum, the graduate student who was fined $675,000 in damages by the court in a lawsuit brought by labels under the RIAA.  Tenenbaum had perjured himself through most of the court case, only coming clean during his jury trial.  I characterized the damages as self-inflicted because of the perjury, and I stand by that.

I had no idea that it was going to get even more interesting, though.

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Date: 2009-08-02 09:40 Subject: A self-inflicted $675,000 judgement Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: idiocy, joel tenenbaum, riaa

There's an old saying that most people are their own worst enemies.  I know I've had a few moments where that's been true of me.  In the case of Joel Tenenbaum, it cost him $675,000.

Tenenbaum was one of the students sued by the RIAA in the United States for filesharing.  Now, I am no fan of the RIAA.  They've taken copyright law and turned it into a club for extortion, doing it in the names of artists everywhere, which I imagine includes me too (and I do not like having innocent people sued in my name).  They have consistently overvalued damages from file sharing, making ridiculous claims about how much money has been lost.  The Tenenbaum case was one where this all could have been challenged, and an additional barrier put up against RIAA thuggery.

Unfortunately, the defendant was Joel Tenenbaum.

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Date: 2009-07-30 09:34 Subject: When a dead heat isn't a dead heat... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: canada, politics

The Toronto Star reported today that a recent poll had the Conservatives and Liberals in a statistical dead heat.  The Liberals have a 34% approval rating, and the Conservatives a 33% approval rating.  One would think, then, that the two parties are in a dead heat.

But they're not.  This is one case where context is very important.

The Conservatives are actively campaigning, launching attack ads through the mail.  The Liberals are not.  So, you have the Conservatives with a 33% approval rating while in campaign mode, while the Liberals are sitting at 34% without any campaigning at all.

If I were a Conservative party strategist, I'd be very worried about what will happen when the Liberals actually DO start campaigning...

Date: 2009-07-29 09:13 Subject: The War that Changed the World, and the Secret History of Star Wars... Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: legacy books press, secret history of star wars, the war that changed the world

I have two pieces of publisher news today.

The first is that the second printing of The Secret History of Star Wars should be available for order sometime today, or tomorrow at the latest.  There are a few changes to it, although none are earth-shattering.  It was a very large book, and to make matters more complicated, one that went through at least two different word processors before being typeset.  In a nutshell - enough typographical and formatting errors managed to creep in to make a second printing necessary.  These have now been fixed.

(For those who are a bit confused, when you're using print-on-demand technology a second printing means that you've sent in a revision to an already-published book.  This should not be confused with a second edition, which has updates and some major changes, although in a couple of years Michael Kaminski may indeed decide to do that.)

And, to my great joy, John-Allen Price informed me yesterday that he had finished The War that Changed the World.  The book can now go into proper editing, and I'm expecting to be sending it to the printer around early September.  That's a bit of a delay, but John does need to approve the galleys/page proofs, and that IS an essential step.  Typos are minimized by it.  To make it even more exciting, John has located some illustrations in some period books of the war, and he's going to try to get me the files to put them into this one.

For those who are wondering, John-Allen Price is planning to tackle the Crimean War for his next book.  That will be his third foray into the 19th century as a historian - his first was the introduction to Jomini's Art of War.

More to come as I edit...