David Lubar's Blog, page 32

Unlink to the past

I don't have many commercial links on my web site. At the bottom of my book page, I had links for Indie Bound (which still strikes me as a bit too kinky and frisky a name), Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Powells. I removed the Amazon link this weekend. Amazon won't notice. They don't get much traffic from my site. I'm also not going to buy anything from Amazon right now. Again, they won't notice. But that doesn't matter. I'm not doing it to hurt them. I'm doing it to make myself feel ...

Beware the Tor nado

Okay -- almost everyone knows that Amazon played bully with Macmillan by stopping the direct sale of all Macmillan books in response to an attempt by Macmillan to renegotiate ebook prices. (If you don't kow this, you're not wasting nearly enough time on the Internet during the weekend.) Blogs are awash with various aspects of this. A many-headed debate is frothing across the Internet. But I believe one potential backlash against this muscle flexing hasn't been part of the discussion.

Con...

Holden steady

According to a spokesperson for the late author's estate, the death of J. D. Salinger will have no effect on his interview schedule.

Soft(ware) palate

Inspired by programs such as Wii Fit, I've decided to create some dieting software that uses the WiiMote in a unique manner. I'm calling my program WiiGurgitate. It comes with a decorative drop cloth.

The pirate in the mirror

We're all law breakers. Have you ever driven above the speed limit? Have you ever jay walked? Have you ever littered? Unless you are a saint, you've knowingly broken the law many times. (If you are a saint, I don't want to hang out with you. Please go away.) Of course, you only break the laws that don't matter, or are stupid, or don't hurt anyone. Me, too. I ain't no saint. And, arrrgg, me hearties, we're all pirates. Have you ever given a friend a copy of a song or a movie? Have y...

'Twasn't pirates sunk our ship, 'twas crap

I think this week is some sort of anti-piracy thing. Or maybe it was last week. Today, a bit about piracy in the game industry.

Picture this. 1982. I'm at my new job designing video games for the Atari 2600. My boss starts talking about how piracy is killing the business. On his desk is a stack of video tapes, hand-labeled with movie titles. I point to them "Isn't that piracy?" He shakes his head. "That's different." The game industry took a nasty dive a year or so later. But it ...

I dropped the ball

Near the beginning of this year's football season, I decided I needed to find a team to root for. The Saints were definitely contenders. Had I actually followed through on my whim to be a true fan this year, I would have had an amazing season on the couch. But I dropped the ball. I didn't even watch any games until yesterday. But that one was a heart stopper. I definitely have a side to root for at the Super Bowl. I wish I'd invested more effort into following the Saints through the se...

Fairy Rock Mothers

Somebody needs to tell Dwayne Johnson that the role of tooth fairy has already been claimed by Eric Cartman.

Keeping abreast of my problems

While I was at the local upscale supermarket, my wandering eyes fell upon a box of sliced duck breast. Beneath the small cut-out window which displayed the meat, I saw the words, "Contains up to 15% solutions." That was great. If I bought the box, I'd only need to solve 85% of my problems from now on.

In which I briefly care about others

Lots of nice news out there. Carrie Jones made both the NY Times Hardcover (Captivate) and Paperback (Need) kids' best-seller lists. See what happens when you stop writing about duct tape? David McSomething Gill made the final BBYA cut for Soul Enchilada. I was especially happy for that because it sucks to get nominated for something and not make the final cut, and I would have hated to see that happen to him since he crafted a dandy novel and he's a super great guy. So, yay for him. Ok...