May, 2008

Bloomsbury USA

The Shining City by Seth Greenland first published by Bloomsbury USA in 2008.
Greenland returns with his trademark razor-sharp wit to take on middle class malaise & skewer American culture in his new novel...
Marcus Ripps is just an average guy who is trying to make enough money to pay his mortgages & keep his wife happy. Desperation sets in when he finds himself out of work. The bills keep piling up, sending him upwards of $80,000 in debt. When his brother dies and leaves him a dry cleaner, Marcus is mystified as to why his estranged sibling would make such a gesture. Soon he discovers that the business is a front for a very lucrative West Hollywood escort service... Seth Greenland moved from NYC to LA, where he lives now. He has sold the film rights to Shining City to Warner Brothers in a million dollar deal.

THE GUM THIEF - BOXED SET
By Douglas Coupland first published by Bloomsbury in 2007.
The first and only story of love and looming apocalypse set in the aisles of an office supply superstore. We meet Roger, a 43-year-old divorced father of 2 who embraces failure head on by taking the most mind numbing and soul crushing job the suburb have to offer: “aisles associate” at Staples. We also meet Roger’s co-worker Bethany, in her early twenties and at the end of her Goth phase. She is looking at fifty more years of sorting the red pens from the blue in aisle 6.
One day, Bethany discovers Roger’s notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she found out that this old guy she’s never considered as quite
nice is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her:and, spookily, he is getting her right.
These two retail people strike up an super-extraordinary epistolary relationship. Through a complex layering of narratives, The Gum Thief reveals the comedy, loneliness, and strange comforts of our life.

HOW TO TALK ABOUT BOOKS YOU HAVEN'T READ
by Pierre Bayard first published by Bloomsbury in 2007.
The New York Times named this book “a survivor’s guide to life in the chattering classes.”
If people are expected to have read all works of literature, & thousands published every year, what're we supposed to do in those funny situations in which we’re forced to talk about books we haven’t read?
This book is witty, a huge hit in France that has drawn huge attention from worldwide critics. A literature professor and psychoanalyst Bayard argues that it’s more important to know a book’s role in a ccollective library than its details. Using examples from Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and the movie Groundhog Day, Bayard describes the varieties of “non-reading” & the sticky situations that might confront us. He offers his advice on what to do. His advices are ppractical, funny, thought-provoking.
How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read is in the end a love letter to books, offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them
He starts his book with Oscar Wilde quotation: "I never read a book I must review; It prejudice you so."

April, 2008

From DK Publishing Hachette Book Group USA

The Yom Kippur Warby Simon Dunstan first published in Great Britain in 2007. This is book about the Arab - Israeli war of 1973. Simon Dunstan is a well-established author, film-maker, photographer. He lives in London and specializes in armoured warfare. His books have covered such topics as the Challenger main battle tank, the British Guards, warfare in Vietnam, armored warfare in Korea.The Yom Kippur Warillustrated with full colour artwork, detailed maps and photograph. This title provides insight into the hostilities that enveloped the Middle East, the after-effects of which are still felt today.
Simon Dunstan ends his book this way "...The Golan Heights is contested ground. Currently it is quiet but it has been the focal point of fierce fighting. If you are going to visit, remember, it can be dangerous. Keep to clean paths. Take a guided tour if you can. Never try to get into a closed military area. You may not live to regret your mistake. Road routes and numbers can change over time. What was open a few years ago may be closed now. Use your common sense, there is much to see, but travel carefully..."
Shadows in The Desertby Dr. Kaven Farrokh also first published inGreat Britain in 2007. This book is about the empires of ancient Persia that remain as mysterious today as they were to the scholars of Ancient Greece & Rome.
Shadows in The DesertKavenFarrokh
dedicated to his mother Sara who worked hard for his education and who always encouraged Kaven
to stay the course.Shadows in The Desertcontains information that never before published in English. This book provides a history of Persia's wars with East and West from the 6th century BC.Shadows In The Desertoffers an insight into the exchange of ideas and culture that occurred during clashes in military technology, medicine, science, arts, religion. This book is beautifully illustrated.
F-15 Eagle EngagedwrittenbySteve Davies and Doug Digly. This over-sized book first published in 2007 in Great Britain by Osprey Publishing.
F-15 Eagle Engagedabout themost successful jet fighter with a kill ratio that exceeds 105: 0. The Eagle has never lost an air-to-air dogfight. F-15 flown by the US Air Force, by air forces of Japan, Saudi Arabia, Israel. It is the world's foremost operational air superiority & intercept warplane.
F-15 Eagle Engagedcontains technical documents, fascinatingunpublished first-hand accounts from the pilots, combat records...
Steve Davies has written 5 books on the F-15. He is a full-time freelance aviation photojournalist. He is widely recognized as a leading expert on modern military aviation. Doug Dildy is retired US Air Force colonel. He spent 9 years in Western Europe and retired with 3,200 hours flying fast jets. Almost half of that as an F-15 Eagle pilot...
Several great books published in 2008. It is theCounterinsurgency in Modern Warfare. Editors Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian have recruited excellent lineup of contributors who provide an introduction to leading counterinsurgency campaigns of the 20 century- Dr Sergio Catignani, Major Bruce Gudmundsson USMCR, Colonel Richard Iron OBE, Dr Peter Lieb, Professor Anthony James Joes, Lieutenant Colonel John A. Nagl, Professor Douglas Porch, Dr. Pichard Stubbs, Professor Charles Townshend, Jonathan Walker, D J.R. T. Wood.This book contributes significantly to contemporary debates about what leads to failure or success in counterinsurgency.
The US Army In The Vietnam War 1965-73by Gordon L. Rottman first published in 2008 in Great Britain. Gordon L. Rottman entered US Army in 1967 and volunteered for Special Forces... He writes about tactics, weapons and equipent, unit organization, command, control, communications and intelligence during the Vietnam War 1965-1973, America's longest war.
BookBrushes & Bayonetsby Lucinda Gosling also first published in 2008 in England. It is 200 pages of cartoons, sketches, paintings of World War I. Author of this book uses 250 illustrations that were taken from the archives of the Illustrated London News. These unique drawings illustrated the outbreak of war, soldiers on leave, love and marriage in wartime, victory and peace, allies, women during in wartime, enlitment, recruitment and training...
The selection features well-known artists and lesser-known illustrators. It is sketches and drawings by Bruce Bairnfather, Howard K. Elcock, H. M. Bateman, Alick P. F.Ritchie, Frank Reynolds, Fortino Matania, Edwin Morrow, T. Mackenzie and others.
Many of these illustrations are published the 1st time in 90 years...

CHARLES LAPICQUEL’embarquement pour Cythère, 1980, private collection © photo Jean-Louis Losi Charles Lapicque © Adagp Paris 2008

His art works at this exhibit - from Abstract painting to Realist works, a very colorful itinerary that crosses all of the XXth century - will be on display at MUSÉE DE LA POSTE 34 boulevard de Vaugirard – 75015 PARIS. www.museedelaposte.fr . CURATOR: Josette Rasle.

This large retrospective dedicated to Charles Lapicque, with 85 paintings, most of them emblematic, and 60 drawings from different museums (Pompidou Centre, museum of Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the museums of Dijon and Besançon), is the first in the last 40 years. It shows that the artist, attached to the New School of Paris, is one of the most original of the XXth century and an innovator, in particular in his use of color and space. His work echoes those of medieval, baroque and modern painting.

Born in 1898, Charles Lapicque died in 1988. Throughout his long career his work was both disconcerting and seductive, from the most conventional painting to works that either Mondrian or Jacques Villon would have gladly claimed as their own. He painted, almost simultaneously, transformers, automobiles, a butcher's wife, a roast, landscapes, still lives, or even sails of boats. This surprising variety, expressed in a seductive palette that is served by perfect technical control, somehow reflects his life: after being an employee of the electric distribution in Normandy, he took up his studies when the crash of 1929 hit France and presented his doctorate, with a thesis on L'Optique de l'œil et la vision des couleurs (The eye's optic and the vision of color). Lapicque was not only an artist but a champion tennis-man as well and was included on the list of the Just by the State of Israel for his activity during W W II.

2008 Art Competitions Worldwide

5,4 million auction recorded by 2,900 auction houses, "Art Market Trends 2007" is a 44-pages report of macroeconomics and microeconomics

analyses updated to match the auction events and the artworks prices evolutions. This report published by ArtMarketInsight, Artprice’s press agency,

in collaboration with Artprice’s econometrics department also includes genuine rankings such as the TOP 500 artists by turnover, the 100

highest auctions of the year.

Fragment: "Looking at 2007 auction results, we get the impression that art is particularly attractive for speculators and the appetite of sellers has been growing with each new sale. To meet this appetite and simultaneously create some of their most spectacular sales, the two rivals, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, have indeed been playing the ‘bidding game’; however recently this game has turned inward towards the sellers with both companies offering guaranteed sale prices. Needless to say, such a marketing ploy has turned out to be a particularly effective competitive lever for both houses.

In order to extend their market share and influence, the auction houses have opened satellites in high-growth economies like China, India and the United Arab Emirates. Hence, more than the collectors, it is the big auction houses that are likely to be the worst hit by an art market correction. Firms like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Artcurial and Koller have made major investments with a view to consolidating their international footprints, particularly in China. Moreover, in their competition to attract the most sought-after pieces, they have begun competing on price estimates, a practice that may well be very unsuited to a contracting market context. "

March, 2008

Paul McCartney Will Pay

A judge awarded Heather Mills a total of $48.6 million in the financial settlement of her divorce from Paul McCartney.

A document released by the Family Court said that the judge awarded Mills a sum of $33 million plus the assets she currently holds worth $15.6 mil.

Mills said that she is very happy with this.

The court ruled that the couple's 4-year-old daughter Beatrice should receive a "periodical payments order" of $70,000 per annum. McCartney will pay for the child's nanny and school fees.

Mills had sought almost $250 million, while McCartney had said she should receive $31.6 million, including her own assets, which the court assessed at $15.6 million.

Judge Hugh Bennett found that the total value of all of McCartney's assets, including his business assets, was about $800 million. He said there was no evidence to support the widely published figure that was more than twice as much.

Mils said that she is so glad it's over... It was an incredible result in the end to secure her and her daughter's future and that of all the charities that she obviously plan on helping and making a difference with — because it has been her life for 20 years.

She said that obviously the court do not want a litigant in person to do well, it's against everything that they ever wish, so when they write the judgment up they're never going to make it look in favor.

But all know that it was always going to be a figure between 20 and 30 million (pounds), Paul was offering a lot less than that, which you'll see in the judgment, and very much last minute to put her and Beatrice sadly through this ... incredibly sad.

Sex Scandal

Spitzer, who will step down on Monday, said that he wanted to atone for his private failings. He said that over the course of his public life he has insisted people take responsibility for their conduct. He can and will ask no less of himself. For this reason he is resigning as governor. With Spitzer's resignation, Lt. Gov. David Paterson (who is legally blind) is set to become New York's 1st African-American governor. Spitzer said that he is deeply sorry that he did not live up to what was expected of him. He will try once again outside of politics to serve the common good. He added that his greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time he falls.

In a statement released after Spitzer's resignation, Paterson said that his heart went out to Spitzer and his family. It is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from them. Speaking ahead of Spitzer's announcement, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican, said it was time for New Yorkers to move forward. Wednesday, Spitzer's lawyers were negotiating with the U.S. attorney's office in NY in an effort to avoid prosecution, a source with knowledge of the discussions. Spitzer has not been charged with any crime. The source would not describe the status of the negotiations. Federal agents have determined that Spitzer, a key ally of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, used a call-girl ring at least eight times in the past eight months. The allegations, revealed Monday in The New York Times, were outlined in federal court papers detailing a meeting last month in a Washington hotel room between a prostitute and a client called "Client 9." An affidavit says "Client 9" paid $4,300 for two and a half hours with a prostitute. The source said Spitzer rented two rooms. One under the name of a political donor. Spitzer's alleged involvement with the ring was caught on a federal wiretap. The prostitute, identified only as "Kristen" worked for the Emperors Club, which charged between $1,000 and $5,500 an hour and operated in NY, LA, Miami, London, Paris. Legal experts not involved in the case have said Spitzer could face charges relating to a violation of the Mann Act, which makes it a federal offense to transport someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Those experts say the governor may also face some type of money laundering charge; "structuring," in which a large transaction is divided into smaller ones to conceal the amounts and the source to avoid federal bank reporting requirements. Spitzer, who took office in January 2007 with a landslide victory after serving 8 years as the state's attorney general, built his career on rooting out public corruption and became a national figure with a series of high-profile Wall Street investigations...

Pregnant Lisa Mary Talks

In The Tinguely Museum

What happens when machines start producing art? Do artists become simple engineers? What can we consider as the artwork: the machine, the final product or the process of creation? From Jean Tinguely's drawing machines dating back to the 1950s to the ones currently produced by Angela Bulloch, Jon Kessler or Cornelia Sollfrank, all of them have a common feature. They produce their own art. Depending on the mechanical process involved, visitors may keep certain works such as drawings produced by Jean Tinguely's Meta-Matics & certified stamped sheets produced by Damien Hirst's or Olafur Eliasson's machines. To create a machine as an artwork & to entrust it with the responsibility of developing further artworks is a radical step. It means delegating creativity to a piece of equipment. Do such art machines then possess a “soul”?

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