Sundowners, books & a party

We will be hosting a party at Ike’s bookstore in Durban to celebrate our matrimonials in South Africa.

Ike’s is on the second floor of a two-story colonial building, with shelves of books all over, books laid out on tables, many old and rare, especially from/about countries and lands in Africa. It’s not packed with serpentine towers of books facing you at every step, like bookstores in Mumbai or Delhi, but has broad walkways and much mulling space between bookcases. There’s a little room off the main one, with a lovely old table and nicer bookshelves with some of the more precious finds. But the best part is stepping out of the large french doors onto the balcony that encircles the store. There, there’s ample room for a sofa, chairs, table – calling out for marrying the cocktail hour with a good sunset, conversation or perhaps that simplest of pleasures – reading a good book. Very civilized.

An example to follow

A friend read the recent businessweek article on Dan Gillmor and Bayosphere in which I’m quoted (accurately) and said “guess who got the negative quote”. I hope he was kidding, but it forced me to think about the quote, and any future quotes. What’s the difference between a negative quote and a critical quote? There are rare cases where I feel the former is justified, whereas the latter is probably the norm for me. But to the readers eye, perhaps the line is blurred. If you have a tip to help differentiate one from the other, I’m all ears.

Bad School

Synablog, new entrant on my blogroll, reminds us about how crazy life can be when he tries to log onto smashcast at school. Read More.

Businessweek on Smashcast

Heather Green from business week captures the spirit of smashcast.org in her most recent blog entry.