Archive for August 2009
The Full Metal Jacket
We are just a typo-fix away from a completely finished Tinsel book jacket. I think the designer, Michaela Sullivan, did a fantastic job of finding the right mix between the glitzy gaudiness and the moody blue serenity of Christmas. Also, they want to use a metallic-finish paper for the jacket. It’ll be shiny!
Read MoreAre you Sheetz or are you Wawa?
Some nice feedback on this Style section feature I wrote on the east coast/mid-Atlantic convenience stores chains. You got your Sheetz and you got your Wawa. Which one do you like better? Me, I dig both. Mostly I just dig driving around for no reason, thinkin’ while drinkin’ enormous diet sodas. Even though I know…
Read MoreTinsel’s first review
The patented, automated self-Googler Narciss-o-Meter netted the first review of Tinsel this afternoon, in the Aug. 24 issue of Publisher’s Weekly. It’s not a wild rave, but my editor loves the phrase “the gift book that keeps on giving.” I like words such as “impeccable” and “solid.” PW reviews books way before their release date,…
Read MoreVirgin Birth (The Making of a Book), con’t
Note: This is the second part of a series of blog entries between now and the end of the year, in which I talk a little (or a lot) about how Tinsel got made. You can read Episode 1 (“the Idea”) here. Today’s entry is about writing the proposal. If it bores you to absolute…
Read More75034: Frisclosure
The Dallas Morning News came out today with its semi-annual foreclosure data for the first half of the year. Frisco, the suburb where I reported and set my book, Tinsel, has a high rate — the highest in the D/FW area it appears — especially in the 75034 ZIP Code, west of Preston Road, where…
Read MoreWho’s gonna drive ya home tonight?
Yesterday I turned 41. Not much to report — I don’t think it’s possible to have a more boring birthday than the one I had yesterday, mostly because I’ve been fighting off some weird head cold. After a long day at work for both of us, and a muggy walk home (just once I’d love…
Read MoreNo thanks, we’re just lookin’ …
July retail numbers are out today. Economists were hoping for “flat as a pancake” and got Less Than Zero instead. Ylan Mui has the fast report, with a picture of somebody’s bored someone just-a shoppin’ at the Kohls. Above, one dude does his part at Express for Men, which, back in the glory days, was…
Read MoreJulia & Houghton
Michael and I went to see “Julie & Julia” on Saturday afternoon and we both really liked it. It’s true what the critics are saying, though — whenever the story switches back to 2002-’03 and the “Julie blogger so frustrated with her life” parts, you simply bide time until the action reverts back to Meryl…
Read MoreHe is Risen
The ever-intrepid Derba in Dallas sent these iPhone pictures from her shoppin’ rounds on Saturday with the subject line “He is Risen.” Baby Jesus is ready for you now. Derba reports FOUR AISLES of this — where? Sam’s was my guess, but I shoulda known better: It was Hobby Lobby. (What was she doing there?…
Read MoreIt’s the hap-happiest season of all…
The Staples commercial is back! From 1995, probably one of the best Christmas TV commercials ever, only it’s about Back-to-School. (Which is second-biggest retail event of the year, and often a harbinger of the Christmas forecast.) I’m sure retailers are wishing it was the mid-to-late ’90s again, too. In 2009, they get excited about year-over-year…
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