Before last week I had never heard of the authour Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler). I do not believe I was alone. In the last week Snicket, the pen-name used by Handler when writing kids books, has been featured in The National Post, his website has appeared on K10k and Handler has also written an article for Salon discussing the top five books with the word “bird” in the title.*

It took me some time to determine whether or not Lemony Snicket (simply the best pen-name out there other than Mark Twain) was actually a children’s authour. His series of children’s books, titled A Series of Unfortunate Events, is certainly written so that a child can read it, but the content is somewhat unusual for a children’s fiction. The beginning of the series, titled The Bad Beginning, involves the death of the Baudelaire children’s parents in a fire. This is followed by, among other things, Count Olaf attemting to marry 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old claus nearly killing someone with a buzz-saw, and an angry mob chasing the children from town.

The people who didn’t like the Harry Potter books will really hate this series. Myself, I think it’s about time we got back to the age old business of frightening small children.

* My favourite book with “bird” in the title, At Swim Two Birds by Flan O’Brien, is mentioned but doesn’t make it to the top five. It should. Thankfully, To Kill a Mockingbird does not make an appearance.

“Student newspaper.” What do those words mean to you? Do they seem to imply an ownership of the paper by students? At the very least wouldn’t you imagine that a “student newspaper” would involve some level of control over the newspaper by the students?

Staff at UPEI‘s student newspaper, The Cadre recently learned that the above assumptions don’t necessarily hold true. Staff had decided not to publish an issue for two weeks so that they might concentrate on their studies – you know, the reason they’re at univeristy? The break from publishing would not have interfered with the requirement that The Cadre publish 10 issues a semester. However, The Cadre was told by its advertisers that they had no choice and had to publish a new issue.

The result of this bullying is The Faction – a minimalist paper which is fully 50% advertising. For my money (the paper is free) this is probably one of the best issues of The Cadre, or any incarnation of UPEI’s student newspaper, that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Nearly all the non-advertising content in The Faction attacks the advertisers and advertising in general, but does so in an intelligent manner.

Well done.

To receive your copy of The Faction go to the Main Building of the University of Prince Edward Island. Room 06 in the basement.

If you can reconcile being a mind-melder for corporate america then you should get into advertising. You can get paid a lot of money to have a lot of fun.

I would like to formally invite you, Ralph Nader, to come run in the Canadian election.

In related news, Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys) and David Was of Was/Not Was (!!!) and their Grand Royal cohorts have offered up a fine Ralph Nader Remix of Countdown.

In the meantime, join the referendum to have Stockwell Day change his name to Dorris. This is classic 22 Minutes, but there is an important point here. However, I’m going to rob my point of any air of legitimacy it may have had by quoting a prime-time TV show about a different country, but I think there is a point in there somewhere:

“You know we forget sometimes, in all the talk about democracy, it’s a Republic. People don’t make the decisions, they choose the people who make the decisions. Could they do a better job choosing? Yeah. But when you consider the alternatives…”

The new Final Fantasy movie looks like it’s going to be a real milestone for computer generated animation. View the trailer and be amazed

Only those with freaky-ass high bandwidth and Quicktime need apply.

I would like a bus. It would be fun. However, as IslandEdition.com has pointed out, I don’t deserve a bus.

As usual, Don makes good point and a good example of why alternative media is important.

If you have Flash, 10 minutes, and an open mind you should visit nosepilot.com.

It’s nice to see someone with talent in animation and flash as opposed to flash alone (NOTE: I have neither).

Due to the prolonged absence of the sun actsofvolition seems to have developed Seasonal Affective Disorder. The following are symptoms of SAD as they affect aov:

1. A change in appetite, especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods – we eat a lot of potatoes and cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing.
2. Weight gain – no.
3. A heavy feeling in the arms or legs – not really, but this seems related to #2.
4. A drop in energy level – yes. Note that this does not imply an initial high level of energy.
5. Fatigue – yes. I am conscience for an average of twelve hours a day. 0.5 of these hours are productive.
6. A tendency to oversleep – I was proud of myself for waking up early today. At noon.
7. Difficulty concentrating – yes. Anyone who has read aov will not need to be told this.
8. Irritability – yes. %@$#& you.
9. Increased sensitivity to social rejection – possibly. Lack of social situations makes answering difficult.
10. Avoidance of social situations – yes. See #9.

While at first glance this seems a strong endorsement of aov as a sufferer of SAD, the diagnosis is far from clear as answers to questions #4 through #10 are constant and integral elements in our personalities.