Happy 4th and an E-Card Utility for All Occasions

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!



Here is an article by Peggy Noonan, one of my most favorite writers, that expresses the sentiments of the day very well:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010269

In case you're wondering where I got the image from, here is my source (thanks to my client and reader Steve G.) :

Click here for iCards

It is a great utility to send quick, tasteful, and free postcards through e-mail.

Enjoy!

Joel Siegel (1943-2007)

We have lost film critic Joel Siegel to colon cancer. May he rest in peace.

I have never met Joel Siegel but in a sense I knew him better than a lot of people that I've met in person.

How come? Because we shared a passion for arts and the movies. Because I also loved movies for their own sake, for their own beauty and exhilaration, since I was a little kid.

Just like Joel, I also always enjoyed talking about movies, thinking about movies, and meditating on the art of script writing and movie making on a daily basis. It is not a career choice. Not the result of a cost-benefit analysis. It is love, strictly.

In that sense, I knew Joel Siegel and knew him quiet well. I exactly knew where he was coming from.

I used to watch Joel occasionally on ABC News' "Good Morning America" show where he was the entertainment editor. But I also frequently came across his writings on the Internet and enjoyed his vast knowledge and true passion for the moving images.

Hollywood has lost a kind, good-hearted friend. But Joel lived well. He did what he enjoyed doing most. We should all be just as lucky.

Is it UP or DOWN?

News Item 1:

"Bookstore Sales Continue Slide

Retail sales at bookstores in February 2007 were down as compared to the previous February, according to preliminary estimates recently released by the Bureau of the Census. In addition, the Bureau adjusted both January 2006 and January 2007 figures upward, but the end result was that bookstore sales decreased by 1.4 percent this past January..."

News Item 2:

"Did You Know...

Of the 172 bookstores that participated in both the ABACUS 2006 and ABACUS 2005 surveys, 104 stores (or 60 percent of the total) reported an increase in sales between 2005 and 2006. The average sales increase was more than 10 percent. Booksellers who would like to receive a customized set of tools that can be used to evaluate their store's financial performance can join the 2007 ABACUS survey via an enhanced web form now..."

(Source: The same issue of “Bookselling This Week,” a Publication of American Booksellers Association, April 26, 2007)