Writely

Ok Google, I'll play right into your Gmail-ish word-of-mouth free advertising scheme: I'll trade somebody one red paperclip patch for a Writely invite. My email is oneredpaperclip@gmail.com - first person to score the hook up scores the patch. Also, I can't say I've ever said the word "networking" without a sarcastic tone in my voice, or even begun to try and understand what something like a "traditional business model" is, or go as far as call myself witty, but bingo. The book publishing industry is going to have a shake-up along the lines of Napster or Bittorrent, right about....well, soon. it's just that computer monitors suck for reading books right now. But that'll change. What do you guys think?, should I write a book and then freak out like Lars Ulrich when somebody puts it online and it gets downloaded for free by every single person on the planet? E-ink or whatever the electronic product ends up being called that will replace books is going to flip the publishing industry on it's head. Blogs are just the start. It's gonna get a whole lot more intense when book-replacing technology arrives and you can read any book ever written, right now. And for free. Who's kidding who? - "Booktorrent" ain't that far away. We just don't want to read books on our 17" CRT computer monitors. But the technology will change. Apparently, it's getting close. But how can such a forward-thinking and potentially revolutionary-for-the-publishing-industry product have such a backwards, bad-looking website? Hand-shaking pictures were off limits, like, 7 years ago. Or maybe that is the exact first instance of the no-longer ironically funny hand-shaking picture on a website. Maybe E-ink is so far ahead of the curve they need to go backwards to accurately describe the impact they'll have on the marketplace. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Nothing spells "impact" more than an anonymous pair of hands shaking.

Okay, back to reality - or at least my blog-represented version of it. We had a such a rad day up in St. Alexis. Even though it's the Festivale de la Truite Mouchete, and probably as big as small town fishing derbys get around here, I can't say I've ever been stoked about fishing. I know other fishermen, and I'm reading Mike Iaconelli's book right now, and today I saw a guy wearing one of those "The Happy Fisherman" shirts, but I can't say I'm that much of a fisherman. Nope, I'm just not that much of an angler. Much more of a fish-eating man. Other than eating fresh trout I've gotta say the highlight of the last 24 hours was the speedway motorcycle races. I'm not sure how to accurately describe dirt-track speedway bike racing, except that it's kinda like the exact opposite of motocross. The tracks is flat, the same size as a hockey rink, and the bikes don't have any suspension. It's kind of like short track speed skating on dirt. With motorbikes. But with less fluorescent spandex tights. And more binge drinking.

Maybe it's just easier to show you a video:



Now that I think about it, I guess it doesn't quite come out the same on a video screen as in real life. And the video doesn't even begin to accurately show how amazingly drunk everyone in attendance was. Whatever, it was awesome. And not awesome as in like a Vice magazine hipster ironic awesome either - I'm talking, like, one rung below monster truck awesome. Rumor has it that here in Quebec every summer there's a snowmobile-on-water racing series. Probably the only thing that stands a chance to knock Monster Trucks from the top rung. Probably. In the video, that's my hand blocking the dirt spray from going straight into the camera lens. I still have dirt in my hair. I guess I should probably have a shower.

Yep, it's good to get out of the apartment. There's just so many good things that aren't in our apartment. For example:

As mentioned, speedway motorbike racing(2), Grown men wrestling on the speedway finish line while remote control monster trucks circled them and the crowd encouraged every ounce of it, Harley smoke shows, outhouses with fully functional plumbing, over-sized above-water lake-located spotted trout with plumbing and lighting, rock-and-roll-homage-12-songs-in-one-culminating-with-a-stirring-arms-raised-"And she's buying a stairway to heaven" finale/cheer, spotted trout, danger, 60 year old men wearing G-Unit hats, fireworks, camouflauge, used-car advertisements featuring Michel Barrette, smiling spectacled strawberries, one red bicycle, this thing, and last but never least, one red covered bridge.

Yes, it'd be more than unbelievably good to have one red covered bridge in our apartment, and I'm sure Dom would be as equally thrilled with that, but for now a life-sized former table cloth one red polka dot Dom is gonna hafta suffice.

Until soon - Kyle