books, hiking, internet, music

books on .mp3

Rick Mc

Finally!

Libraries where I live offer books on .mp3 on a CD disk.

I love listening to audio books when I travel. I am loading up now for my next trip (Mexico & Central America). Three books ready for upload to my mp3 player:

  • The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
  • Running with the Bulls, My years with the Hemingways, by Valerie Hemingway
  • Northern Lights, by Nora Roberts

    • Ripping books from CD, in comparison, was slow & painful. Death to the audio CD.

    Use the IMPORT function on your iTunes (or other inferior) music software to get the track order sorted correctly.

    I am very happy with my Rio Cali waterproof mp3 player — but the way to go today is with the iPod Nano, the first good iPod.
    Rio Cali 256 MB Sport MP3 Player

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    books

    books – Ulysses, by James Joyce

    Rick Mc
    James Joyce’s Ulysses is the book I most admire. Yet I don’t believe I have read it straight through.

    I have listened dozens of times to unabridged audio versions — to relish the rich Irish dialogue.

    You have heard it is an original masterpiece of language. That it’s a comic tragedy of Greek epic proportions. (I don’t blame if you skip the stream of consciousness last third of the book.)

    What is it about?

    A normal 24-hour-day, June 16th, 1904 in Dublin, Ireland. All my grandparents came from Ireland so I feel a wee bit o‘ kinship.

    It concerns defecating, shaving, eating, shopping, coveting, whoring. There’s a funeral. And, of course, drinking.

    It’s wonderful to compare the dark, savvy worldview of Stephen Dedalus with that of cheerful Leo Bloom.
    McCharles family, miscellaneous

    World Fantasy Convention 2008 in Calgary

    Rick Mc

    No, you cannot yet buy your tickets.

    Cowgary unexpectedly won the bid November 6th. My brother Randy was as surprised as anyone — and he was the man pitching cowtown.

    You see Calgary had just finished hosting a very successful Western North American Science Fiction & Fantasy conference: Westercon 2005 – Due North!

    Enthusiasts from that event decided to make a bid for the Worlds, last minute. And they won.

    You can countdown the days on the World Fantasy website.

    music

    Favourite tunes of late

    Rick Mc

    <img Natasha Bedingfield photoI tend to listen to a few songs, old and new, over and over.

    The best of the new songs over last 6 months are rap / hip-hop — the most innovative genre right now.

    Kayne West – Gold Digger
    Natasha Bedingfield – These Words (I love you, I love you)
    50 Cent – Hate it or Love it (G Unit remix)

    Of the three, only Gold Digger has a video I would bother watching more than once. It is fantastic. I find most music videos lame. Why are there not more interesting videos in 2005?

    I should put in a good word for alternative Canadian supergroup, Our Lady Peace. Their new song Where are you is great. Interesting video too.

    economics, internet, product endorsements, TV

    TV You’ll Want To Pay For

    Rick Mc

    Rick’s opinion: TV is ripe for a fall. We pay $50 a month or more for a service which with we are generally dissatisfied.

    Apple’s Steve Jobs personally reinvented the music industry with iTunes. The winners are recording artists & the fans. The losers are the middlemen.

    I don’t think Apple will reinvent the television industry. But they will be remembered as the company who first alerted the general public.

    TV You’ll Want To Pay For – How $2 downloads can revive network television. By Ivan Askwith

    TV

    Dead Like Me – TV show

    Rick Mc

    Friends in Saskatoon turned me on to a quirky, philosophical show about grim reapers. The central character is Georgia, an 18-year-old killed by a toilet seat falling from space.

    Shot in Vancouver, it was excellent.

    Was because the show was cancelled after the second season. The series is dead though still in reruns and available on DVD.

    It’s too bad good things must end.

    official website for the TV show Dead Like me