Exciting! News?

[trinityofone]

Things have been really hectic at work, so once again I have very little idea what's going on with the rest of the world. But! Thrillingly, our first preview copies of my first issue of the magazine arrived yesterday. My name in the masthead: YAY! And quite a few stories by me, several of which don't entirely suck: DOUBLE YAY! It's the September/October issue (of Hollywood Life, okay? There, I said it, excitement overrides paranoia) and it'll be available soon! Buy it Leaf through it at the newsstand when you can!

Speaking of accomplishments, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but my father has for more than a year been working on a documentary about artist Edward Biberman. I've seen the final cut, and it's fantastic; he's now submitting it to festivals. He also has a website that just went live: Check it out here! See? Pretty! Cross your fingers for him, okay? =)

I've recently become addicted to LibraryThing—siriaeve's fault, natch. It's a website that lets you catalogue your books online. I have 1010 listed so far, and I'm stopping there for now because I'm too afraid to touch all the books in my closet. I thought I'd start playing with the review function next; are there any titles you'd particularly like to see reviewed? I've marked everything I've read with the tag "read"—creative, I know. And that's about half of them. I'm not sure if that's good, or pathetic.

ANYWAY. Speaking of books, I finally got the prizes for the SGA Bulwer-Lytton contest mailed out last week—sorry for being so slow. And doubly sorry: once I got to the post office, I realized that I didn't actually have liviapenn or wolfshark's addresses. Can you guys e-mail them to me (again)? I'll make another trip to the post office on Saturday.

And...that's it, I guess. For a post that was supposed to be all Exciting! News! this was very dull.

ETA: Oh, and I just remembered that I am supposed to be interviewing a violinist named Joshua Bell soon. Does anybody know anything about him? (I am, of course, about to do my own research, but I'm curious about your opinions, whether you've heard of him, etc.)

Comments

[inthekeyofd.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!! I will definitely be picking that up..of course I don't know your real name, so I will just assume all the good articles are yours. *smile*

Also, definitely checking out the website..a documentary, I love documentaries!!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I don't know your real name, so I will just assume all the good articles are yours. *smile*

That's definitely the way to go! *vbeg* Even if they are by different people, just work with the understanding that everything good is mine!

No, seriously: thank you. I appreciate the support—as does, I'm sure, my dad, even if he doesn't know about it!

[siria]

I am... confused. Isn't everything always my fault? *tilts head sideways*

Also, I am currently updating my LibraryThing! It is addictive! It has made me reorganise all my books in RL, and I am currently surrounded by a large stack of Penguin Classics. Awesome.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yes. I blame everything on you. Famine and plane crashes and our matching underwear. *nod*

Unfortunately, my LT blitz has had no effect on the organization of my books in RL. But my room's looking pretty good now, if overcrowded. I should take some pictures, so you can be less afraid regarding your approaching (yay!) stay.

[siria]

Your underwear is always to be blamed on me.

...wait.

I have taken advantage of my parents' absence to reorganise my bookcases. Much shuttling between the loft and the sitting room as I rearrange things to my satisfaction. I have more mythology books than a sane person should have, I think. Also, why are they all in hardback? Ow, my back. *complains like Rodney*

Pictures are yay!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oh, God yes: just pulling mine down to grab ISBNs killed my spine. I am going to need a prescription mattress soon.

And speaking of having too many [blank], here's a question for you: why do I have not one, not two, but THREE biographies of Helen Keller?

[siria]

I have, uh, three biographies of Jane Austen, two separate editions of her letters, two separate copies of her juvenilia/Sanditon, a couple of different volumes of Austen lit. crit., and the Making of the 1995 A&E/BBC adaptation.

In comparison, you're fine.

And hah, ISBNs. I have found that my besetting sin seems to be buying obscure historical biographies which date to a time before people knew the love that is an ISBN. Why don't more people have obscure autobiographies of 17th century outlawed English priests? I ask you.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you actually like Jane Austen. You are a Jane Austen fan. I mean, we're not talking about the number of U2 or Neil Gaiman things I have, but about Helen Keller—who's lovely, don't get me wrong, but in whom I have a passing interest at best. Not enough to justify THREE BIOGRAPHIES.

And you should see some of the other stuff I have under the tag "bizarre"...

Re: ISBNs: I actually had the same problem with a lot of books. Library of Congress numbers came in handy occasionally, but for other things I had to search by title, publisher, and year, and others I still haven't been able to enter at all. Not to mention the fact that for a lot of books, I apparently have the one really obscure cover that no one else has. And I refuse to use substitutes! We're going for full realism here!

...I need help.

[siria]

Ah. That does make a slight difference, yes.

*looks at tag* ... Trin, I'd ask? But I honestly don't want to know. (Why are they watching us?)

I have no idea what Library of Congress numbers even look like. Thankfully, searching Trinity's catalogue does bring up a lot of stuff that amazon.co.uk doesn't have, especially the older stuff; but even TCD doesn't have everything.

The cover thing is also really frustrating. I... may have caved so far as to scan and upload a cover for my copy of Malory's Tales of Arthur. I'm still searching for others.

I know it may come as a shock, but I think we are both slightly anal, Trin.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Why are they watching us?

Maybe they're bored?

I'm much more "WTF, Trin?" over the fact that I still have the two terrible, self-published novels written by one of my ex-boyfriends. Ew.

I would totally follow your lead with the scanning thing if I had a scanner. Us? Not anal at all! *g*

[siria]

But I think I am very boring. I mean, the most exciting part of today was the time I spent playing Bloc Party very loudly and jumping up and down on my couch (yes, I'm 12, why do you ask?). Why would they want to watch that?

See, what you want to do is keep the two very bad self-published novels. They will come in useful for blackmail purposes later, should said ex-boyfriends ever acquire money, or a social standing which they wish to protect.

[furina-1975.livejournal.com]

*****More than you ever wanted to know**********

Library of Congress Call numbers look like this:

QA169.B68 2004. The letter, or letters let you know the general subject. QA is math, the number in this case would let you know the specific subject or type of math. These are standard, if you have LOC number that first part (QA169) will be correct for that book everywhere. The cutter number (B68) is not standard, unless you buy bibliographies from the LOC. In the case of the library I work in they are applied by Catalogers according to very specific rules. In most cases the letter part is the first letter of the author's last name. The year is, obviously the publication date. I think that outside of the Library of Congress and college libraries that they are not used much. I prefer them to Dewey call numbers but that is just me.

[siria]

Hee, that is very helpful, thank you. We really don't use them over here, but now I will know what will await me should I ever go to school in the States.

ISBNs

[spankys.livejournal.com]

I hate to break it to you guys, but they're (whoever "they" are) adding 3 more numbers to the ISBN. Yes, they will be 13 numbers instead of 10. In new books, there is often both isbns listed, but pretty soon there'll only be the 13 digit ones. Ah, progress!

[wolfshark]

I just sent you my address :D

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Did you send it before and I am insane? You don't have to answer that. ;-)

[wolfshark]

I can't remember, so I guess that makes us both insane?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I'm cool with that. Insanity loves company!

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

As one who used to play viola in an orchestra, I have DEFINITELY heard of Joshua Bell. The girl you met the first night we met in Dublin? She's completely and utterly obsessed with him. Like, wants to have his babies obsessed with him. It's a bit scary. He's a great violinist, not, like, the best ever of all time, but he's very good, and very charismatic (for a violinist). Definitely worth buying one of his albums, if you like classical music.

So why are you interviewing him? He's not very Hollywood (although he's more Hollywood than most classical musicians, I guess....)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I'd don't know why I'm interviewing him, really; it's not like they ever tell me anything. But it's for our "My Favorite Things" column. Apparently, I am meant to discover his favorite things. And if he says, "Eliza's friend from Indiana," I will be sure to let you know.

Definitely worth buying one of his albums, if you like classical music.

Silly girl. In magazine industry you do not buy CDs, they buy you you get comped them. Which, hopefully, I will be soon.

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

Oops. My mistake. Of course you'd get comped them - they want their interviewer to like them! Silly, silly me.

Somehow I think he's probably a little more scared by Eliza's Friend In Indiana than anything else. She's fun, but in very small doses.

Aaaaanyway. Congrats on your first issue! That's seriously exciting. You should frame it.

Also, I will definitely check out LT when I get back to uni. I only have twenty or so books here right now, though, so it's a little more difficult to get a comprehensive listing of all the books I own. And really, I need to be back in the States to do that, because most of them are living at my mom's house because moving at the end of uni is a bitch, as I'm sure you recall.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I would frame it, but then I would have a scary photo of Teri Hatcher staring at me all the time. Perhaps I should just make a blow up of the masthead and draw a big red circle around my name? ;-)

God, moving books is SUCH A PAIN. (Literally!) I mean, I love love love my library, but it makes it seriously hard for me to ever consider moving to another country, or even to another state, on a permanent basis.

[birdsflying]

Yay! If I was in the states, I'd totally leaf through it on the stands! :g:

Re: Joshua Bell. He's a fantastic violinist - my favourite stuff is the work he did for Ladies in Lavender. Started very young and does a fair bit of soundtrack stuff. Really must get some of his albums for myself.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

If you really want, I can send you a copy. Possibly even from work, because you are obviously a Very Important Person in the British entertainment industry. *cough*

And hmm, I am beginning to think I was rather out of it for not having heard of Joshua Bell at all. I should Limewire him.

[birdsflying]

Hehehehe! If you can swing it, I'd love a copy! :dons VIP hat:

I'm a bit of a classical nut and I listen to classic fm if I have the radio on, so I pick up all these bits and pieces. :g:

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Awww. Vice versa! They can interview us together in Cool People Weekly, and we can make embarrassing asides about things the other said when drunk on absinthe!

people you don't know will be reading your name!

Heh. That's true! I wish my name were less generic. Other Associate Editor Amanda and I were complaining about that; we are the generic name twins. I should change mine to Trin for reals.

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think everyone on my flist is famous. Except for me, of course.

Joshua Bell? He's good, and young. I've been trying to get my son to listen to him, maybe get him to practice his own violin more.

Congrats.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I suspect the "and young" factor is why we're doing a piece on him. This magazine is scary-obsessed with youth.

And dude, I am so not famous. I like the way jarsy put it: People who don't know me will be reading my name! Yay?

Eh, it's still pretty cool. Thanks for the congrats.

[http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/]

A most definite yay! You rock.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks! I am pleased to share my dorky spasms of joy! ;-)

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

Joshua Bell? You're going to interview JOSHUA BELL?

Gugh.

THUNK.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I needed a moment to compose myself.

I play violin. Joshua Bell is a bit of a celebrity. Not only is he a good violin player, but he's fairly young and rather (for a classical musician) good looking. He's not at all stuffy, and he's American. He also seems to have interests outside the world of classical music. All these things make him a bit of a unique entity in the violin world.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

he's fairly young and rather (for a classical musician) good looking

Ahh, yes. *looks at press packet* He does seem to have rather boyishly charming floppy hair and very white teeth.

I'm glad people seem to like him. Do you have anything you want me to ask him? Something along the lines of what his favorite [blank] is?

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

Well, I very recently read an article on him in Strings Magazine, so I know he's really into tech. In fact, he works with the media lab at MIT, which is wicked major tech along the lines of Rodney McKay smarts. So I'd ask: What's your favourite piece of technology? Basically, what's his favourite techie gadget?

He maintains his own website, including forums, so you could ask which question asked there was his favourite.

He's also really into sports, so you could ask his fave there.

And the man's a classical musician, but he's done crossover stuff. I'd want to know what his favourite type of music was just to listen to - not to play, but to listen to. Maybe his favourite band?

He's actually appeared on an episode of Sesame Street. I'd like to know, therefore, this last and perhaps most vital question: Who is his favourite muppet?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Those are all terrific questions. I will definitely ask him; thank you!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Big Bird. ;-)

[darcydodo]

Joshua Bell is really quite famous. And I just told Ari (who actually plays violin), and he was like, "oh wow." I'd obviously be more excited if you were interviewing an opera singer, but I'm sure that will come eventually. ;)

(And this has segued into a discussion on Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon, though not together.)

Yay for magazine with your name on it! I'll try and convince my parents to go out and buy a copy.

Joshua Bell

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

I see that lots have others have already squeed about Joshua Bell, but I wanted to add my voice as well. I suspect that at least one of the reasons you're getting to interview him is that he's done movie soundtracks--thus the "Hollywood" connection. Plus, young, handsome, eligible bachelor, etc...

I liked the soundtrack he did for The Red Violin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Violin) -- a cool movie if you haven't seen it already.

My favorite album of his is a classical/bluegrass fusion he did with some other artists, "Short Trip Home" released in 1999. The sweetness and wistful quality of some of the tunes on this one is quite appealing, and it's nice to hear some versatility in a classical artist.

good luck on the interview!!

(and on cataloging your books--last time I tried with my library, I got a scanner and a library database program, etc., and found that something like a fifth of my books don't have ISBNs and had to be entered manually. We got tired after about 5000. And then we started donating boxes of books to charity just to cut down on the sheer clutter....)

wags, Springwoof

[callherblondie.livejournal.com]

Wow, you get to interview Joshua Bell. My dad is the biggest classical music nut out there (he collects classical albums and has thousands of them). If I got to interview Joshua Bell for my job, I think I would finally be seen as successful in my dad's eyes. ;)

[lilac-way.livejournal.com]

Joshua Bell is in his late 30s -- that must be very young for violinists? (Just becasue everyone keeps commenting how young he is.)

Ask him if he gets back to Bloomington often. Did he like to eat at the Snow Lion Tibetan restaurant? Or was he more of a Janko's Little Zagreb steakhouse kind of guy?

His father was supposedly a Kinsey researcher -- you could ask what he thought of the movie? Well, unless he hated it. I suppose that could be a touchy subject. Though Oliver Platt looked JUST LIKE Herman B Wells.

(Gee, if you can't tell, I went to Indiana University)

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

Hooray for the first issue! (I don't suppose it's available in the UK though, right? *sigh*)

[maeritrae.livejournal.com]

I don't know of Joshua Bell on his own merit, but I think he worked with Josh Groban for the track Il Postino on Closer.

[delurker.livejournal.com]

Yay!