by Dan Rubinstein; Natasha Mekhail; Lindsey Norris and Gunnar Blodgett
REGRET THE ERROR: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech By Craig Silverman [Viking Canada]
For years, I kept my favourite newspaper correction notice in my wallet: “Incorrect information appeared in yesterday’s paper about Hay River, NWT. The town still exists.” It gave me a smile every time I looked at it, and reminded my why magazines should never rely on newspaper stories to substantiate facts. Craig Silverman, who launched regrettheerror.com in 2004, has seen some doozies in his day. From a Florida newspaper: “The article should have stated that iPods are designed to last ‘for years,’ not… ‘four years.’” But some are more chilling. From a daily in Kentucky four years ago, the correction that inspired Silverman’s website: “It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission.” Regret The Error is an ambitious and engaging exploration of the history and meaning of media mistakes. Cumulatively, these blunders, both basic and complex, erode public trust of the media. The remedy? It’s simple, really: accuracy. In many ways, democracy depends on it. _Dan Rubinstein
TELUS SECOND LIFE STORE
Before joining Second Life, I saw the virtual world as a sad refuge for the insecure. A place where one could disguise a sagging real-life physique in Lara Croft plasticity. But for what? To perform everyday tasks that the user was probably neglecting at home. Like shopping. Why spend real money on a fake character? Well, my views have changed. I’ve grown attached to my little avatar. Even found her some new, free clothes to replace those default stretch pants. Then I wandered into Second Life’s Telus store. It looked like the real deal: all chrome and glass and white advertisements with anthropomorphized wildlife. There was no one behind the desk (hey, this is real!) but my avatar sent a query to the manager, an actual Telus employee, who emailed back the next day. I even saw a cute clutch-purse phone that I briefly considered buying before remembering my opposition to animation spending. A goodie bag on the counter contained free phones and T-shirts. And, I must say, not many stores let you change tops and adjust the buoyancy of your breasts right there in the showroom. _Natasha Mekhail
PAGEFOUR SOFTWARE
[softwareforwriting.com]
I despise Microsoft Word. It often crashes and its dictionary defaults to American spelling. On the hunt for a better word processor, I found Scrivener. It looks way cool, but only runs on Macs. Scrivener directed me to PageFour, an easy-to-use program designed for large-scale writing projects (no graphs or tables allowed). PageFour is free if your documents are less than 20 pages or $34.95 for a licensed copy. Its features include the Snapshot, so if you don’t like the way you rewrote yesterday’s paragraph, you can easily get your original without the hassle of “save as.” I also like the Smart Edit function, which will highlight all your overused phrases. (I am prone to overusing “not bad.”) I estimate that the tab-style document browsing and lack of crashing will save me 43 hours every year. Not bad. My only complaint? It looks unsophisticated. The major users are obviously writers, not designers. But it’s not bad for a freebie. _Lindsey Norris
THE AGE OF SPEED: Learning to Thrive in a More-Faster-Now World By Vince Poscente [Bard Press]
Believing a fortune teller’s prediction that he’d die by 40, Vince Poscente decided at a young age to get the most out of his life. This allowed him to progress in four years from amateur skier to gold medalist in Olympic speed skiing. Today, his obsession with speed is no longer a private affair but a global phenomenon. Speed, says Poscente, is inevitable. Accept it, accelerate and enjoy the ride. Your objective is to find the “groove” at 200 kilometres per hour, then to maintain perfect aerodynamic form. At this point of smooth euphoria, you will be able to balance the various elements of your life: family, work, leisure, philanthropy, friends, learning, etc. You’ll also be able to reduce the tedium and spend more time on the things that matter most. It’s simple, Grasshopper: we are either physical and mental Olympians, or we are road kill. _Gunnar Blodgett
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CARIBOU [EDMONTON: APR. 15, STARLITE ROOM; CALGARY: APR. 16, GRAND THEATRE]
Caribou makes the kind of music that incubates in your iPod playlist and reinvents itself each time its number comes up. Only when you’re walking down the street, head swaying, does it click to fish the thing out of your pocket and figure out what the heck you’ve got on. A little organic rock, a little electronica (I believe the correct indie term is “dream pop”), you never get the same thing twice. One-man recording show Daniel Snaith of Dundas, Ontario comes from a family of ivy-league mathematicians and it shows in his grasp of music mechanics. He pulls apart sounds and recombines them with scholarly precision. His new album, Andorra, contains more vocals and less sampling than the earlier, mostly instrumental The Milk of Human Kindness, but that’s the nature of this head trip. His concerts are a multi-sensory experience with Snaith’s textured soundscapes set to video projections. He also performs with a band so as not to fake it onstage. Yes, Caribou is a complex listen, but well worth a spot on your social calendar. _Natasha Mekhail
Category: Life
