My Fondness for You is Floundering

Doug, how about E (as the evil younger brother of F) Or how about Q (as the deadbeat dad of O)?

Generation A, Coupland's 2009 answer to Generation X, hits bookstores today.

Early reviews indicate little promise of appeal for anyone besides devoted Coupland readers:

As in most Coupland tales, matters such as corporate branding and selective consumerism are wittily portrayed with heightened importance.

The world is also beset by a new prescription drug called Solon, which attenuates people's perception of time, thus enabling transatlantic flights to go by quickly and people to forget about the long-term future and its anxieties. Solon users are never lonely, constantly engaged and happy. Solon is immediately addictive.

This is all fine and dandy, but halfway through the book no story seems to be developing. I want to give this book a fair shake, so I'm worried. Then all five characters are abducted and taken to Haida Gwaii, where a perhaps-mad scientist makes them improvise fictional stories. These pretty much take up the remainder of the book.

--Les Wiseman, Victoria Times Colonist

That said, the Random House website touts the book with glowing quotes from Esquire UK, GQ UK, and the National Post.

I want reviews from anyone who reads it!

Accidents Happen (sorry, little guy)

"The Accident" (2008) -- Jeremy Hatch is a ceramicist and sculptor who holds a BFA from Emily Carr Institute and an MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He has attended residencies and exhibited his work throughout Canada and the United States. Jeremy currently employs a ceramic process of slip-casting porcelain to produce large unglazed sculptural installations. He has expanded his material investigations to incorporate rubber, plastic and fiberglass into his ceramic work. Hatch was the recipient of British Columbia’s 2005 Visual Arts Development Awards.

Take a look at Canadian Design past and present at The Canadian Design Resource

Kudos, Geist

With issue 72, Geist switches to vegetable-based inks and eco-friendly paper: 40 percent post-consumer fibre inside and 100 percent post-consumer fibre for the cover.

They’re marking the occasion with a new logo and cover design by Steffen Quong, with art created by Rebecca Dolen, featuring several styles and weights of the Bodoni and Nobel font families and the issue number set in Blender. Steffen Quong is a freelance designer in Vancouver, and Rebecca Dolen is an artist and co-proprietor of the Regional Assembly of Text.

Can you believe it?

The CBC Radio 3 Podcast is four years old! Today, Grant Lawrence released the 200TH PODCAST with new tracks from Metric, Arcade Fire, Joel Plaskett, MSTRKRFT, Handsome Furs, plus Super 90 Second Egg, Canadian Dictionary, and Failed Features.

Right click and save this. Happy listening !

Jill Barber charms SXSW (UPDATE)

UPDATE: Here's some Canuck-style gossip for ya. It looks like love over here... unconfirmed but my research tells me that Lawrence and Barber are sweethearts - thus, the mushy tweets.

CBCRadio3 host Grant Lawrence has been totally crushing on Halifax singer Jill Barber all week at SXSW, via Twitter:

"GrantLCBCR3 Seeing sexy Jill Barber play at Canada House at 1245pm"
"GrantLCBCR3 Best legs in Austin: Jill Barber"
"GrantLCBCR3 Jill Barber crooning sweetly at and seductively at Habana Calle 6. Nice break from the cacophony! Like being at a resort!"
"GrantLCBCR3 Jill Barber doing Sam Cooke's "Cupid", which is Jay Malinowsky of Bedouin Soundclash's all-time fave song."

You can hear the lovely tune as Jill performed it for GO! on CBC Radio for Valentine's Day below. She starts at 1:06:18 but the whole show is great. If this flash player doesn't work, search "The Soul of Love" at this link.

Pagan Love

Kyrie Kristmanson - Song X