Newscoma

Well, you’ve seen Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon, and then you saw Jimmy Kimmell respond with his bro Ben Affleck.

Guess what this video is about.

I have a feeling you never expected this (safe yet not depending on where you are):

[youtube=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skIlZflDs9Y&rel=0&hl=en]

Mabel, who is seeking the highest office in the land, approves. I, on the other hand, am appalled. Appalled I’m telling you.

Not.

From Trendhunter

I am compelled. I’ve never really been a fan of Madonna and there is a lot of good visuals in this video but then again, I found myself with a furrowed brow and a need for bourbon. I don’t drink bourbon. I might start. On one side, I think it’s cool that Madonna is older than me and looks really good. I also love gay bar music. I’ve told you this before. Gay Bar music is the bomb.

Drag shows are even better, but I digress.

So, Madonna and Justin Timberlake are jumping around on cars and there is apparently only four minutes to do something.

I told you I was confused.

Anyway, here it is before they yank it.

I hope I look that good at her age. Who am I kidding? I don’t look that good at my age.

I need life coaches and Jay Manuel. STAT.

[youtube=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqOBvFhikME&hl=en]

I’m so recommending this to local leaders.

It just makes sense, although, I don’t know if there are any sheep around here. Lots of goats, not a lot of sheep.

Cheap and Eco-Friendly.

Image credit 

Ahh.

It’s a day of some oddities. I’d tell you about it, but as you know, in this day and age of government secrecy, some things have to remain secret.

So I’m sitting with Squirrel Queen, who’s been on a roll this week and if you haven’t gone over there you damn well should, watching Unbeatable Banzuke.

Yes, we have satellite in Hoots.

And here is a picture of a parrot. I have no idea why but it cheers me. And another one of a groundhog with a machine gun.

The Innertubes make me laugh.

Something is going on with Amazon. As I know a lot of young, aspiring writers (hell, I’m sorta one. More of a carnival barker but hell, you gotta have dreams) this whole Amazon thing is disturbing on a few levels.

First, courtesy of our own beloved Aunt B., we head here.

Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) is now doing some damage control over its plans to control its print-on-demand value chain, and has issued an open letter to the industry, posted here. It has recently issued a policy telling such publishers that they will have to use its on-demand printing facilities if they want their books directly sold on Amazon’s website.

Umm, okay. Wait. Huh?

There is a new blog that’s keeping a running list about what’s going on called Amazon Troop Surge. Apparently Lulu has signed the contract agreement and there is news about other things going on there as well. They also list seven reasons to boycott Amazon.

Then let’s look here we’re there is more of a breakdown about Print On Demand authors. If you aren’t familiar with POD, then go here to our good friend Kathy T. who released two books last year on Lulu.

This is an interesting situation because it sparks many questions. First of all, is Amazon trying to set up a monopoly?  Second of all, how will small publishers deal with this? 

POD is an interesting concept that has proven successful for some. First time publishers could get their work out in print. How is Amazon’s recent announcement going to effect them. It’s easier and more cost-effective because a book isn’t printed until it’s ordered.

Out of the UK:

“They told us that if our books are not converted to BookSurge, they would turn off our ‘buy buttons’ on Amazon,” says Angela Hoy of Booklocker, a tiny publisher based in Bangor, Maine.

Hoy also runs WritersWeekly, an e-zine dedicated to freelance writing, and late last week, she leaked word of Amazon’s new policy to the web at large. Within 24 hours, a story turned up in The Wall Street Journal.

Countless other publishers have received a similar ultimatum from BookSurge sales reps, and in the case of PublishAmerica, Amazon went ahead and turned off those buy buttons before the publisher had a chance to answer.

With print-on-demand, publishers needn’t print a book until a customer actually orders one. This means that smaller outfits like Booklocker and PublishAmerica can market titles without spending countless dollars on copies that may never sell.

In the past, Booklocker did its print-on-demand printing through BookSurge. But the company now uses Lightning Source, a BookSurge competitor owned by Ingram Industries Inc. “BookSurge was the first printer to print our books, and they were horrible,” Hoy told us. “We lost authors because of them. We had upside-down pages. We had missing pages. We had broken bindings. This was a while ago, but things got so bad, we fired them and hired Lightning Source.”

Something to watch, campers, especially if you are considering printing your own book.

What is Amazon doing here?

Two bloggers this morning are taking on Ben Bernanke.

First out, MissyB. She says:

Was this the kind of leadership we had in mind, way back when in 1776, when we overthrew an out-of-touch government who was not responsive to what wethepeople needed?  Ask yourself that question, if you have time, in between going about the business of fixing your own personal economy.  You know, because that government wethepeople created isn’t helping you to do that, mainly because they don’t know how.

And our beloved Badger, who wrote this with some cartoon art goodness.

This guy must be living in another country, because in my country we be huuuunnngrrryyy.

 You know, the Washington crowd needs to just get out of Washington and talk to some real people.