more film blurb cliches

"Touching" and "heartfelt".

"inspirational"

Why is inspirational so overused as a describing word for Hollywood movies?

Here we go:

GRACIE

Inspired by one family's real story.

Set in 1978 New Jersey, Gracie is the story of sixteen-year-old Gracie Bowen, who, after a family tragedy changed her life, fought for and won the right for girls everywhere to play competitive soccer.

This inspirational summer family soccer movie stars Dermot Mulroney, Elisabeth Shue, and Carly Schroeder, and is directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth)

The novel Gracie by New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Weyn is published by Newmarket Press.

Notes struck by a reading

I recently watched (on a plane so only semi-voluntarily) the movie Perfume. A movie with interesting moments. I was intrigued by Dustin Hoffman's character describing the makeup of perfune. There is the head note which is what you first smell, then the heart note which makes up the core of the scent and then the base note which is what lingers with you.

I was left wondering whether something similar worked with a book. Does a great book leaves a base note - something indefinable, buried deep within the telling of the book, which only comes out over time, sometimes long after the book has been finished.

current overworked phrase

"not the sharpest knife (tool) in draw (toolbox)"

Toronto

It's interesting being in a country that doesn't have dual flush toilets, and seems to only have dot ca, no dot com, or dot org, or dot anything else, just a simple declarative .ca. And they are so very very polite - almost shockingly so. So much more polite than there compatriots across the border. Bob Andersen, my Black Hills partner, explained that the Americans are brought up to believe in the individual and the Canadians are brought up to believe in the group and supporting the group.

If you're looking for an interesting hotel in Toronto let me recommend the Drake. It's on Queen Street, a long street that is like Gertrude St and Brunswick St combined into one long street. And just behind the Drake is the Portuguese district - I hadn't appreciated that the fourth language in Toronto is Portuguese.

It's not all a bed of roses of courses - the news is describing the outrage of a man who brutally cut off the ears of his dog with a kitchen knife or hacksaw - "in a brutal attempt to make him look meaner".

online bookshops

There's a plethora of media reading group popping up: ABC (on Tuesdays) Age in this Saturday's Age and A&R, among others. Interesting. What will it do to book sales? Are books something particularly suited to online success a la Amazon? New media enhancing old?