The cover to 32 decembre, Bilal’s latest, just-published, comic album. Comic albums in France are generally larger than American comics. A French album measures 24cm by 32cm, or roughly 9 1/2 inches by 12 1/2 inches. An American comic measures 6 1/2 inches by 10 1/2.
Production values are usually better on these albums as well, […]
Update on the French, which I first mentioned a week ago. I’m now in the tenth chapter of the book, and I think it’s going pretty well. The book is set up in a way that makes learning the language pretty straightforward. The author introduces a point of grammar and some accompanying vocabulary, discusses it […]
NY libraries putting out donation boxes in an attempt to offset deep budget cuts. [librarian.net]
Another reason to study a foreign language: Stephen Kinzer, writing in today’s New York Times, discusses America’s current apathy for works of foreign literature.
Writers, publishers and cultural critics have long lamented the difficulty of interesting American readers in translated literature, and now some say the market for these books is smaller than it has […]
In my latest demonstration of geekery, I’ve decided to teach myself to read French. I’ve been wanting to pick up another language for a long time, and some of you might remember the whole week, about two years ago, during which I was enrolled in a Japanese class at IU.
I have several reasons for doing […]
First in a random series of rude subway behaviors that get under my skin:
I hate jackasses who sit down between two people and open their knees like they’re birthing a damn cow, crowding the people on either side of them. I hate it more when I’ve made room for them to have a seat in the […]
It was funny, folks, but it’s so last week. Move on.
I assume some of you have seen a blank white page when you visited today. I think it’s some kind of glitch in the software I use to post to my weblog, because it happens at random and I’ve never been able to isolate anything that I’m doing wrong.
So, this is kind of a test […]
Dog-sick this weekend. Blargh. But it gave me a chance to read E. B. White’s excellent little essay, “Here Is New York.” If White’s name seems familiar, you probably know him either through Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style or through his own book, Charlotte’s Web.
White writes of the City:
There are roughly three New […]
Reuters reports that several bands–Metallica, Green Day, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers among them–are denying iTunes the right to distribute their music. The bands take issue with Apple’s iTunes service for allowing users to download single tracks. Reuters talked to Mark Reiter, from Q Prime Management Co, which represents Metallica and the Chili Peppers. […]
