The Comets’ tale

They pen lyrics in English, find inspiration in the strangest places, and have a new album under their belts. Chelsea Mooney meets Madrid’s Autumn Comets

Inspiration for songs from the Madrid-based group, Autumn Comets, comes from unusual sources: whilst they include their favourite bands, they also mention nightmares about snakes and even a drunk woman at a concert. In fact, lead singer and guitarist Julian P. Campesino says that the title of their new album, Moriréis en Camboya (You will die in Cambodia) originates from a fan at a concert in Zaragoza. “There was a woman, who was in her late 40s. She was really drunk, and she was yelling things like ‘Más punteos, Robert Palmer!’ and ‘Más rock maricones!’” Suddenly she stood up on a table and said “Moriréis en Camboya!” Julian’s brother, Pablo, who’s the drummer of the band, turned and said, “That’s going to be the name of our next album,” and although initially it was just a joke, the more they talked about it, the more it seemed to fit. Sure enough, Moriréis en Camboya will be released on 5 February.

Hampden native, business partner seek funds to market hammock that shelters campers from elements

Most debt-swamped, recent college grads aren’t attempting any projects that require them to fundraise $40,000 in 30 days. However this is exactly what Michael Brown, a Hampden native, and Ryan Stolp are doing.

Tufts engineering alumni, Brown and Stolp, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to produce and market the Alpine Hammock they have invented.

The Alpine Hammock is a one-man shelter that can hang as a hammock in trees, and features a bug net and rain fly that can be zipped up to protect the camper from the elements. For areas without trees the Alpine Hammock can be laid down and used as a bivy sack.

“We took the best features of both bivy sacks and hammocks and put them together into one fast, light, protective and easy-to-use outdoor shelter,” Brown said.

Brown and Stolp have the ideas and the motivation to follow through with the project; however, the money to fund the Alpine Hammock is an issue.

“As recent college graduates, our student loans limit our ability to fund the project ourselves,” says Stolp.

Google Settles Copyright Lawsuit in France

Google is still facing many lawsuits related to its goal of digitalizing every book worldwide before 2020; however, on Monday June 11 they resolved pending cases in France.

Six years ago, the French Publishers Association and the authors’ association Société des Gens Lettres filed court cases against Google’s books project, claiming that the company was violating copyrights on out-of-print books. On Monday the groups dropped the claims against Google, as an agreement was made.

With the new terms, publishers get to decide which books can be digitalized. “The authors will be able to say yes or no to the indexing of their works,” said Antoine Gallimard, the president of publishers group SNE.

Google says that the chosen books will be sold in Google Play, which isn’t currently available in France.

Other details have not yet been released, but it has been said that part of the deal is that Google will donate money to a program that supports young children learning to read.

Google hopes this agreement will help advance their project in France and around the world. France is now the only country that has a book scanning accord that includes most books worldwide.

“Our hope is that these pathbreaking partnerships will help jump-start the emerging French electronic book market,” said Philippe Colombet, the CEO of Google Books France.

The New York Times reports that this isn’t the only digitalizing book proposal that France has going on. Parliament has given permission to the French National Library to digitalize “orphan works”. Orphan works are books that are out-of-print with an unknown copyright holder. Under this new law copyright holders are given six months to come forward and protest the digitalization of the book.

As progress is being made in France, US authors are still fighting Google on this subject. In Google’s opinion the authors should need to file individual law suits. However, last month the suit was given class-action status by Judge Denny Chin. The Author’s Guild is happy with this verdict.

“It is, without question, more efficient and effective than requiring thousands of authors to sue individually. Requiring this case to be litigated on an individual basis would risk disparate results in nearly identical suits and exponentially increase the cost of litigation,”  Judge Chin said.

Google hopes that an agreement similar to the one made in France can be made in the US and other countries. As of now, the company has scanned and digitalized 20 million books, and would like to continue on its ambitious goal to have all books online by the end of the decade. But for now the search engine is happy with the results they had in France.

“All conditions are now in place for Google to participate in developing digital books in France and contribute to spreading French culture,” said Colombet.

Originally published on Toonari Post, June 18 2012

Jennifer Crusie: Crazy People Shows Versatility, Progress: Review

Bestselling author Jennifer Crusie claims she was born to write novels rather than short stories, but her newly-released collection of short stories, Crazy People: The Crazy for You Stories, proves that she is a versatile writer. The Ohio native has written 16 books, and over thirty of her essays have been published in magazines and anthologies. Crusie originally compiled this collection for her MFA in fiction at Ohio State University.

Anyone who has read her book Crazy for You, will recognize characters such as Quinn and her best friend Darla. Crusie first wrote about Quinn and Darla here, and they helped her develop the subsequent novel, which was one of the top ten romances of 1999 as selected by Romance Writers of America.

The collection is unique in that you get to follow Crusie’s writing process. Crusie illustrates the development of her characters through notes at the beginning and end of each story, providing readers with an insider’s look into what Crusie was thinking when she wrote them.

EXPOntánea: Photographer Uses Trees to Display His Work

Germán Merino is a photographer who has had exhibits in one restaurant, two bars, and over eighty trees. As a new photographer looking for business, Merino has developed EXPOntánea, a self-run exhibition where he displays his photos on trees around Madrid, Spain.

“I began taking photos without any artistic interest, like any amateur that likes photography. It was after showing them to friends, they asked me, ‘Why don’t you do an exposition? Or study photography? Or do something related to photography?’” he says.

Torrijas: A Traditional Easter Recipe From Spain

It was estimated by the Asociación de Empresarios de Pastelería Artesana de Madrid (AEPA) that bakeries in Madrid would sell 3.6 million torrijas (or 450,000 kilograms) this Easter season. Easter may be over, but this typical Spanish Easter treat can be enjoyed all year long. They are easy to make and require very simple ingredients.

To some they are known as the Spanish version of French toast. They date back to the 15^th century, when nuns created them as a way to not waste leftover or stale bread.

Taman Safari Indonesia: Striving to Protect Animals

You would never think you’d get the opportunity to hold a baby tiger, ride an elephant through jungle trails, or see inside a hippopotamus’s giant mouth from only a few feet away—and certainly not all in the same day. But all these unique experiences, and many more, are available at the Taman Safari Indonesia, located in Cisarua Bogor.

At Taman Safari the animals are not imprisoned, but protected. The park is the home to thousands of animals, many of them endangered. There are no small wire cages, most of the animals wander around freely and when there are enclosures they are large and spacious. Not only does the public get to see animals but since the park tries to replicate the natural environments of the animals, the park is full with lush plants, trees, and flowers.