The Writer's Almanac for January 12, 2010

View this message on the Web Tuesday Jan. 12, 2010  LISTEN Being in Love by Chungmi Kim Awakened from a dream, I curl up and turn. The roses on the dresser smile and your words bloom. The red roses for Valentine's Day. Like in a film thoughts of you unfold moment by moment. I vaguely hear the sound of your spoon scooping cereal the water stream in the shower the buzzing noise of your electric razor like a singing of cicada. Your footsteps in and out of the bedroom. Your lips touching my cheek lightly. And the sound of the door shutting. In your light I fall asleep again under the warm quilt happily like a child. Upon waking on the kitchen counter I find a half grapefruit carefully cut and sectioned. Such a loving touch is a milestone For my newly found happiness. "Being in Love" by Chungmi Kim, from Glacier Lily. © Red Hen Press, 2004. (buy now) It's the birthday of a writer that The Guardian calls one of the "world's greatest living novelists," Haruki Murakami, (books by this author) born in Ashiya City, Japan (1949). His parents both taught Japanese literature, and they talked about it so much that he came to resent it, and he took to reading foreign literature instead. His favorites were 19th-century European works — stuff by Flaubert, Dickens, Chekhov, Dostoevsky. And then, he started reading American detective stories, science fiction, and later, Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut — all of which had been translated into Japanese. He was so fascinated with them that he learned English well enough to read American literature in the original. He said, "It was like a door opening to another world." He later said that "Raymond Carver was without question the most valuable teacher I have ever had, and also the greatest literary comrade." He studied drama in college, but didn't care too much for schoolwork and mostly passed his time in a campus museum reading archived movie screenplays. He met his wife, worked in a record store, and before graduating he and his wife — each age 22 — had started a bar in a basement at the edge of Tokyo. They called it "Peter Cat." It served coffee during the day, and at night it transformed into a jazz club. He was 29 and sitting in the bleachers watching a game between two Japanese baseball teams, the Hiroshima Carp and the Yakult Swallows, when an American came to bat. He hit a double, and for some reason that was an epiphany for Murakami. He said he doesn't know why, he just knew at that moment that he could write a novel. On his way home from the stadium, he stopped and bought new pens and paper, and that very night he began to write. He worked on it nightly for four months, one hour each night, after he'd finished closing the jazz bar. Hear the Bird Sing won top prize in a story contest and was first published in a prestigious Japanese literary magazine in 1979. The entire action of the novel takes place in August 1970 and is the first book in a series called "The Trilogy of the Rat." He decided to become a full-time writer. He began going to bed early and getting up early, eating homegrown vegetables, and doing serious distance running. He's run several marathons in under three and a half hours. His 1987 book, Norwegian Wood, sold millions of copies in Japan and made Murakami a literary sensation. To escape the fame, he and his wife lived abroad for several years, in Europe and in the United States, where Murakami taught at Princeton University. They returned to Japan in 1995. In 2002, he published Kafka on the Shore, a novel John Updike called "a real page-turner, as well as an insistently metaphysical mind-bender." It's about a teenager named Kafka Tamura, a "cool, tall, fifteen-year-old boy lugging a backpack and a bunch of obsessions." Haruki Murakami followed a strict regime while working on the book, which involves a sort of recasting of the myth of Oedipus. Every day for 180 days, he woke up at 4 a.m. and began working on the novel. After five hours of writing, he went for a run. Then he would go to music stores and look for old jazz records, then go for a swim and play squash, then work on the book some more while sipping a Siberian Express, a drink comprised of Smirnoff Vodka, Perrier, and lemon. And then he went to bed at 9 p.m. He finished the first draft, took a one-month break, and rewrote for another two months. Then he took another break from the book, and rewrote again. He said that when he writes, "it's kind of a free improvisation. I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be. Many people don't believe me. But that's the fun of writing a novel or a story, because I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm searching for melody after melody. Sometimes once I start, I can't stop. It's just like spring water. It comes out so naturally, so easily." Haruki Murakami said, "I write weird stories. Myself, I'm a very realistic person ... I wake up at six in the morning and go to bed at 10, jogging every day and swimming, eating healthy food. ... But when I write, I write weird." Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® sponsor The Poetry Foundation National broadcasts of The Writer's Almanac are supported by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine for over 90 years. The Writer's Almanac is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media. sponsor Contribute $75 or more today and we'll thank you with the official Writer's Almanac mug. 77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor Order your copy today. On the Radio Podcast Web Archive Title Author Date Read highlighted interviews of poets heard on the show. Visit the bookshelf now You received this free e-mail newsletter because you previously subscribed or because it was sent to you by a friend. This e-mail was sent to the following address: mybloghaytham@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Contact Us | Forward to a friend � 2010 American Public Media 480 Cedar Street, Saint Paul, MN USA 55101

MENAFN Summary- Daily Business News

Alwaleed: Value of KHC's Citi shares rises by SR300m Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company , announced on Monday that the value of his ... Confidence in Dubai job market increases A new survey carried out by Robert Half, the world's leading specialised recruitment company, has revealed that ... Abu Dhabi rents softening Apartment rents in Abu Dhabi saw marginal falls in the last three months of 2009, as increased residential supply came on ... Saudi real estate market stabilizing Saudi Arabia's real estate market, which was marginally affected by the world economic slowdown, is returning to ... Cowell to leave 'Idol' after current season CHICAGO - Fox Broadcasting said Monday the current season of "American Idol" will be the last for ... Visa-on-Arrival in India for nationals from 5 countries Citizens of Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore have now been qualified to receive tourist visas ... Jeddah health office warns of Al-Khurma fever The Directorate of Health Affairs in Jeddah has warned the public over Al-Khurma fever, particularly people who deal ... Qatar- Traffic fine rumours squashed As rumours continue to circulate about a steep hike in traffic fines, a senior official of the Traffic Department ... Report: Decisive year for Gulf states The powerful cyclical recovery triggered in the second half of 2009 by unconventional monetary policies and fiscal ... Dana Gas announces a new oil discovery in Egypt Dana Gas, the Middle East's first and largest regional private sector natural gas company, is pleased to announce the Al ... Study: 70% of female heart attack victims in Gulf are hypertensive Women More Likely to Die in Hospital Post-Heart Attack than Men The health risks of hypertension for women in the Gulf ... Malkiel's best investing ideas for families While recent economic and market fluctuations may be worrisome, smart investment options remain for families and ... Boy-girl imbalance increasing in China No Abstract SEC charges father and son with fraud No Abstract       If you like this newsletter, help us fix your information: click here To unsubscribe click here, for help or feedback send to Admin Is this email going to your junk/bulk folder? Add noreply@menafn.com to your address book and *@menafn.com  to your safe list.   Articles in this newsletter are different than the ones in MENAFN's Arabic Daily Newsletter.

Technology: Afternoon Edition

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Most Viewed Articles in Technology 1) Report: Google phone $5 less to make than iPhone SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc.'s new Nexus One phone costs about $5 less to make than Apple Inc.'s iPhone, partly because Google's device has far less memory, according to new data from research firm iSuppli Corp. 2) This Will Be The Year Adobe's 2 Million Flash Developers Come To The iPhone It's no secret that Apple doesn?t like Flash . It won?t allow Flash apps to run on the iPhone or iPod Touch despite all of Adobe?s cajoling and pleading, and despite the fact that it's long been working in the labs. The iPhone?s lack of support for Flash is a major inconvenience for both consumers... 3) France T?l?com/Orange Exec Confirms Apple Tablet Is On The Way Apple is doing a fine job keeping shush about the tablet computer it has been working on for several years and which is due to be announced later this month in California. 4) Logging on to the dashboard LAS VEGAS -- What happens in Vegas could soon hit the open road. 5) AOL to lay off up to 1,200 workers to reach target SAN FRANCISCO -- The struggling Internet company AOL was laying off up to 1,200 workers this week because it didn't get enough volunteers to accept buyouts. 6) Security Flaw Makes It Easy To Bypass Verizon Droid Screen Lock Bad news, Droid owners. Android OS version 2.0.1, which all up-to-date Droids are running, has a bug that makes it fairly easy to bypass the phone's screen-lock security mechanism. The security feature, when working, requires users to input a pattern using onscreen dots before they can access most... 7) Washington in spotlight at electronics show LAS VEGAS -- The nation's top techie, the geek-in-chief, strode across the crowded floor of the Consumer Electronics Show like a high-roller in Caesar's Palace. 8) Apple And Verizon: Are Two Star-Crossed Lovers Ready To Consummate? Apple and Verizon. Two star-crossed lovers. A few years ago, when Apple originally set out with the idea of giving the iPhone to one carrier exclusively in the U.S., they first went to Verizon. But the network balked at some of Apple's demands, which at the time of complete and utter carrier... 9) iPhone Beats Droid, Nexus One And Droid Eris In Touchscreen Performance To be honest, I don't really care which is the better smartphone (or super-duper phone ): the iPhone 3GS , the Motorola Droid , HTC's Droid Eris , Google's Nexus One , Nokia's N900 or the Palm Pre. 10) Study: Newspapers still a step ahead in local news SAN FRANCISCO -- Most local news still flows from newspapers even as an Internet-driven upheaval diminishes the depth of their coverage, according to a study to be released Monday. UNSUBSCRIBE | Additional Newsletter Services | Advertising | Subscribe to the Paper | Privacy Policy

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Opinions: Afternoon Edition

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Most Viewed Opinions Columns 1) Al-Qaeda wants you to panic By Fareed Zakaria The real aim of terrorism is not to kill but to provoke an overreaction. 2)  Health reform's final yards By E.J. Dionne Jr. Reaching agreement on a health-care bill is harder in theory than it will be in practice. 3) A paint-by-numbers portrait of America By Robert J. Samuelson A statistical portrait of American life in 2010. 4) Ambition alone won't win peace By Jackson Diehl The Obama administration may be setting itself up for failure in the Middle East. 5) Al-Qaeda has a new strategy. Obama needs one, too. By Bruce Hoffman Overwhelm. Divide. Bankrupt. Spread. Diversify. That's their plan. How do we respond? 6) The NFL shouldn't call all the plays By Drew Brees The Saints QB weighs in on a Supreme Court case. 7) Getting what you wish for at Berkeley By George F. Will Dalton Trumbo (1905-76) was a hero to the American left , partly because of his 1939 antiwar novel "Johnny Got His Gun." Trumbo's title modified the lyric "Johnny, get your gun" from the World War I song "Over There." Trumbo's "Johnny" is horribly maimed in that war. Now we need a novel titled... 8)  Sexual abuse of youths in detention SOME 700 YOUTHS held in juvenile correctional facilities in 2008 and 2009 say that they were sexually victimized by other youths while in custody. About 2,700 minors report sexual contact -- ranging from inappropriate touching to rape -- by the adult employees charged with keeping order in the fa... 9) A seasonal chill IF IT'S JANUARY, it seems, Russia must be involved in a politically motivated dispute over energy supplies with one of its neighbors. This time it's Belarus, the former Soviet republic that used to be called Europe's last dictatorship, until Russia itself headed back in that direction. Strongman ... 10)  The Gitmo obsession By Charles Krauthammer Why are we more worried about a terrorist's Miranda rightsthan our risks? UNSUBSCRIBE | Additional Newsletter Services | Advertising | Subscribe to the Paper | Privacy Policy

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Political News Alert: Palin signs on with Fox News

News Alert
01:43 PM EST Monday, January 11, 2010

Sarah Palin signs on with Fox News

Former vice presidential candidate, who regularly rips the media, is becoming a television pundit at a place where she's likely to feel at home.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/YLCS8G/YP07U/KFUTHU/U0273A/V6GNY/XL/t

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Organ Notes: Telling Tales

View this message on the Web SPONSOR Organ Notes   Telling Tales Some stories, with and without words, prove that music's universal language is completely comprehensible. View complete program     Access the audio for this program If you experience problems with the audio, please let us know. Tour 2010 How about a springtime trip to southern France? Join Michael Barone and a select PIPEDREAMS crew for the experience of a lifetime. Enjoy historic sights and exotic sounds of the King of Instruments in all its splendor - From Provence to the Pyrenees, May 9-21, 2010. Sign up now to guarantee your place. Now Online All of the photos (over 600) and commentary for the Austria Tour are now online! Visit the Pipedreams web site. Special features Pipedreams Mailbag Submit your questions to the Mailbag 24 hour classical music stream Listen to Classical Minnesota Public Radio from the Twin Cities, home of Michael Barone. Choose between Windows Media and MP3 streams. The New Releases You can listen online to Michael Barone's other weekly broadcast, THE NEW RELEASES, updated every Friday. The show reviews new and notable classical music recordings. A glimpse ahead January 18, 2010: Winter Wonders Samples of recently released recordings, a world-wide demonstration of organistic activity. January 25, 2010: Emma Lou! A celebration of the life and work of the industrious and indefatigable American composer Emma Lou Diemer, with comment, compact discs, and concert performances. February 1, 2010: In Black and White A colorful collection of music featuring African-American composers and performers. Program archive National broadcasts of Pipedreams are made possible with funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley C. Dudley, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, by the contributions of listeners to American Public Media stations, and by the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, APOBA, representing designers and creators of fine instruments heard throughout the country, on the Web, and toll-free at 800-473-5270. Where to hear us If travel plans have you on the move, you can still catch Pipedreams wherever you are. Find out where and when Or listen to us online, any time. Visit our Web archive and pick out a show Buy Pipedreams CDs Purchase Pipedreams Live!, Pipedreams Premieres, Vol. 1., and Pipedreams Premieres, Vol. 2. Support us Pipedreams Sponsors Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America Subscribe to “The Tracker” from the OHS Request a free sample copy of "The Tracker", the quarterly journal of the Organ Historical Society. Contact Jerry Morton at: mail@organsociety.org

You received this free e-mail newsletter because you previously subscribed or because it was sent to you by a friend. This e-mail was sent to the following address: mybloghaytham@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Contact Us | Forward to a friend � 2010 American Public Media 480 Cedar Street, Saint Paul, MN USA 55101