Looking ahead.

As I hinted last week, I am one of the shortlisted entrants for the CBC Canada Writes 2009 contest. Following my cryptic post, I was given an audition challenge on Tuesday (I had to write fewer than 200 words on a specific topic and do so in under 1 hour, via email). On Wednesday, I had an audition interview by phone. On Thursday I wrote my bio and selected a photo of myself which I sent in about an hour before I left for Vegas.

Now it is in the hands of the judges and it'll be a week before I know whether I make it to the semi-finals....

Too cool not to share...

Honestly, I haven't cared about Douglas Copeland's writing since Microserfs (which is one of my favourite books, btw) though I will admit I haven't read J-Pod. His art, on the other hand, amuses me and makes me think. In Hey Nostradamus! there is a photo of one of Copeland's art installations called Tropical Birds (2003) which basically illustrates the disarray in the cafeteria following the Columbine High School Massacre. It's called Tropical Birds because of the "birdsong" created by all the cell phones and pagers "chirping" in the backpacks strewn around the cafeteria. Very haunting.

This little video clip, commissioned by Randomhouse.ca according to the small print, made me want to find out more about The Gum Thief and/or Glove Pond.



As it turns out, Glove Pond is the novel within the novel The Gum Thief, Copeland's latest. Glove Pond is written by a bitter would-be novelist who is stuck working at Staples. I shall have to read this book as I do have a soft-spot for that kind of metafiction.