Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 12/13 - Mixed Bag

The Sporting News, in print for 126 years, is going entirely digital. Newsweek, almost 80 years in print, will follow suit at the start of 2013. I haven’t looked at a copy of either in decades and it is unlikely I will visit either website. There are just so many fine alternatives on the miracle that is the internet. Here is TSN’s last hard copy cover:

Former NYC comptroller Alan Hevesi has been released from prison after 20 months. He was convicted of “pay for play” schemes. Proving that crime pays, especially for the political class, he retains his pension, $105,000 per year.

The other night I watched a powerful independent film, Shuffle (2011), courtesy of Netflix. It is the story of a 30-year-old man who finds himself at a different stage of his life each time he wakes. It begins as a Twilight Zone-type mystery and evolves to family drama. TJ Thyne, a regular on the Fox TV series Bones, stars, but the film is stolen by the radiant Paula Rhodes, with whom I was completely unfamiliar. She is so charming as the girl next door. Kurt Kuenne served as director, co-producer, writer, composer and editor. I was disappointed to see he has no future works lined up. He deserves a chance. On a scale of five, three-and-half. Those at IMDb were not as enthusiastic, rating it 6.1 out of ten.

Connor McDavid, 15, a Canadian junior hockey phenom, has been signed to a “massive promotional contract” by Reebok/CCM. He is being compared to the Pittsburgh Penguin’s all-star Sidney Crosby, who signed a similar deal at 17. Damn snot-nosed kids. Good luck, Connor.

I knew it would be a good day at the floating book shop when Mrs. Eclectic showed. She bought six books, heeding my recommendations on Isabel Wolff's Making Minty Moore and James Hilton's Random Harvest. Mikhail, whose family's 33rd anniversary in America was yesterday, purchased the last of the Russian books I was carrying. Another Russian gentleman bought Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow, a huge tome. The biggest coup of the day was the donation of a sack full of books by a woman who lives in a second floor apartment of the building I set up in front of. She is frequently on her terrace, smoking. Sometimes wafts of marijuana drift past me and I wonder if she's the one toking. Respecting her privacy, I don't turn and search. Among the 40 or so books she gave me were classics, popular fiction, chick lit, and illustrated magazine-sized pamphlets designed to teach children about the Bible. Thanks, folks.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3