Monday, July 23, 2012
Final Cut King's Post-It Mario
It does get hard to write your password on the damn little things when they move around like that, but still useful.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Coming Soon in Marina Times: Cara Black, Mystery Writer
Murder, she wrote!Ah, sorry, that's probably way overused. Nonetheless, this past Friday was even more pleasant than a normal Friday, because I had the pleasure of interviewing San Francisco-based mystery novelist Cara Black. She is the author of about a dozen popular novels set in Paris and starring private investigator Aimée Leduc.
We talked about her relatively easy entry into the world of publishing, murders real and fictional, and the city she loves so much, Paris.
She was at The Commonwealth Club of California to take part in a Bastille Day celebration (one day early), and I interviewed her before that program. The interview will appear in an upcoming issue of The Marina Times.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Kemal Kayankaya: A summer Frankfurter everyone can enjoy
My review of the mystery novels of Jakob Arjouni, from the July 2012 issue of the Marina Times:
BOOK NOTES
Kemal Kayankaya: A summer Frankfurter everyone can enjoy
By John Zipperer
Mystery novels about Germany that show up on our shores tend to be either reprints of World War II-era books or new novels set in that time. It’s an interesting milieu, but it’s unimaginative. Jakob Arjouni escaped those confines by writing mysteries set in modern-day Germany, dealing with very modern problems and featuring a refreshingly different kind of protagonist.
Kemal Kayankaya is a German private eye, mostly working the underside of Frankfurt. He can be found dealing with the prostitutes, local mobsters, two-bit thugs, and other lowlifes among whom Kayankaya generally finds his life, his customers and his friends.
Kemal Kayankaya: A summer Frankfurter everyone can enjoy
By John Zipperer
Mystery novels about Germany that show up on our shores tend to be either reprints of World War II-era books or new novels set in that time. It’s an interesting milieu, but it’s unimaginative. Jakob Arjouni escaped those confines by writing mysteries set in modern-day Germany, dealing with very modern problems and featuring a refreshingly different kind of protagonist.
Kemal Kayankaya is a German private eye, mostly working the underside of Frankfurt. He can be found dealing with the prostitutes, local mobsters, two-bit thugs, and other lowlifes among whom Kayankaya generally finds his life, his customers and his friends.
Go the @&*# to sleep, Charlie
Another article of mine from the new issue of the Marina Times:
AT HOME | Living with pets
Go the @&*# to sleep, Charlie
Moving can be a traumatic time for animals
By John Zipperer
Tired parents across the country have read or heard about Adam Mansbach’s indelicately titled Go the F*ck to Sleep, a storybook for parents at their most stressful time: children’s bedtime. My household includes no children, but it does include two cats, neither of whom generally finds it difficult to get to sleep.
Then we moved, and one of our cats was so unnerved by the change that it seemed as if he would never go to sleep.
 |
| At last, Charlie fell the heck to sleep. Photo by John Zipperer |
Go the @&*# to sleep, Charlie
Moving can be a traumatic time for animals
By John Zipperer
Tired parents across the country have read or heard about Adam Mansbach’s indelicately titled Go the F*ck to Sleep, a storybook for parents at their most stressful time: children’s bedtime. My household includes no children, but it does include two cats, neither of whom generally finds it difficult to get to sleep.
Then we moved, and one of our cats was so unnerved by the change that it seemed as if he would never go to sleep.
Life of Crime
My latest Zippy column from the Marina Times:
ZIPPY
Life of Crime
by John Zipperer
Among the many pleasures of living in a big city, one of them is definitely not coming home and having police cars parked in your driveway, crime scene tape lining the street, and medical examiner vehicles parked nearby.
A suspicious death in a nearby home had brought out San Francisco’s finest, and we’ve gotten to know them a bit better in the ensuing week as they collected evidence, handed out flyers,
ZIPPY
Life of Crime
by John Zipperer
Among the many pleasures of living in a big city, one of them is definitely not coming home and having police cars parked in your driveway, crime scene tape lining the street, and medical examiner vehicles parked nearby.
A suspicious death in a nearby home had brought out San Francisco’s finest, and we’ve gotten to know them a bit better in the ensuing week as they collected evidence, handed out flyers,
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Horror Film Mag in 3-d
I've written here in the past about the importance of magazines — especially higher-priced niche magazines — including specials in their issues to give people a reason to buy print editions rather than digital editions (though I'm not against digital magazines; I produce some myself).
So a tip of the hat to the folks at horror film magazine Fangoria, whose next issue will feature three-dimensional content, including a poster; 3-d glasses are included in the magazine. And a bigger tip of the hat (or a tip of a bigger hat) to whatever cheeky marketing mind put "Presented in FangoVision 3D" atop the cover.
Fangoria has been very worth reading this past year or so for horror film buffs. The best reason for that is not the posters or 3-d gimmicks, but the refreshing and quirky and surprising editorial coverage inside — the best reason to pick up a magazine. But the gimmicks are fun and in the spirit of the publication and the genre, so it's a well-done job all around.
If that's not enough for you, then note that they're also taking 3-d off the printed page to their website, where they will be streaming a 3-d version of Horrors of Spider Island soon.
Keep surprising the readers, and they'll keep coming back.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Free Audio: Politics, Climate, Supreme Court, and More
Here's a link to the free audio for my Week to Week program from Friday, June 29, 2012.
The panel (shown in the rather poorly lit photo above; my apologies) were (left to right) John Diaz, editorial page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle; Dr. Larry Gerston, San Jose State University professor, political analyst for NBC 11, and author of Not So Golden After All: The Rise and Fall of California; and Greg Dalton, founder and host of Climate One.
Naturally, we spent a lot of time on the Supreme Court's health-care ruling, so much so that we never got to the really important stuff, such as Tom and Katie's divorce.
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