MP did not like coffee. Not one bit. He didn't have many nice things to say about the surrender monkeys across the channel, either. In this 1661 diatribe against the "Arabian Berry," MP reminds us that those who favor diatribes don't enter into them to persuade but because their cause is all but lost. They are venting in the same way USC football fans will be venting all week: not to change things, but because they can't. So often the racist, fearful speech of reactionaries is lost to history because history has a way of steamrolling right over them and casting them aside like a nutria carcass along the I-10 highway in southern Louisiana. But today we resurrect the hate- and fear-inspired diatribe against things new and foreign with this week's coffee review.

A Coffee-house is free to all Comers, so they have Humane shape, where a Liquor made of an Arabian Berry called Coffee is drunk. Six or seven years ago was it first brought into England, when the Palats of the English were as Fanatical, as their Brains. Like Apes, the English imitate all other people in their ridiculous Fashions. As Slaves they submit to the Customes even of Turky and India.

Read on at cannedcoffee.com.

Tomorrow is a very big day for books in southern Louisiana. First, there's the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge. I'll be hosting a panel on Do You Know at 10 am with Sarah Inman and Jason Berry. Brother Dave will be there too. We'll also be signing the book after the event.

Jason will also be on two separate panels to talk about 1) the environment and 2) his new novel, Last of the Red Hot Poppas. And Sarah will be reading from her novel, Finishing Skills. The event is free, so come on down.

In New Orleans, the 5th annual New Orleans Book Fair will take place. Our peeps at Nolafugees will be hawking Chin Music books along with their own latest creation, Chris Rose is Dead 2 Me. We're hoping to be able to get there after our Baton Rouge appearance, so see you all at one or the other of these book fests.

Design Observer report that Steven Heller, a voracious and devout commentarian and voice of the design world has just launched a personal site. It's unfortunate (but perhaps contractually / legally otherwise impossible) that his articles are not currently archived on the site, but rather linked to in their original online publications. Which, in the case of the NYTimes is often behind a pay-wall. (There is a small side-note informing us, "PDF articles will be available soon for download." Hopefully the NYTimes stuff will also be included. Although, not to miss a chance to be pedantic, for the sake of searchability and liquidity of information it would be great if these texts were also offered online in html/text form.) I'm happy to note though that he has archived his interviews for direct download from the site.

For anyone wanting a burst of erudite design commentary, pop on over.

In other news, 37 Signals has just re-released their Getting Real book for free in HTML form, for $19 in PDF form and for $29 in lulu form. Having sold over 23,000 copies at approximately $19 a pop (some of those 23,000 must also be via their bulk discount rate) that means they've pulled in over $400,000 in pure profit since March 1st.

Between this book and their job board they are doing an amazing job monetizing their huge audience. Without putting too much strain on the imagination, one could even see 37 Signals starting a publishing branch of their company. Would it be such a stretch to see them rivaling O'Reilly? 23,000 copies in the publishing world is nothing to balk at. Go get 'em guys.

And of course this is all on top of the real meat of their business: award winning pay-per-month online software.

(Update: The correct date is Thursday the 16th of Nov.)

It's almost that time of the year again — November. And obviously that can only mean one thing: Tokyo Book Release Party! In celebration of Poppas of course.

THE DIRTY SOUTHERN POLITICIAN WORKSHOP is being held at SANBANCHO Cafe between Kudanshita, Hanzomon, and Ichigaya stations (about 10 mins walk from any of them). It's being held on November 16th (Thurs.) and runs from 7 - 11pm. Free entry. Live sax playing. New Orleans Gumbo. Food and drinks served by the bar.

If it's anything like our Kuhaku event two years ago, this should be blast. Hope to see all you Tokyoites there.

More info + map:

Chin Music Press Invites You To:
THE DIRTY SOUTHERN POLITICIAN WORKSHOP
(New Orleans Amakudari Koushu Kai)

Last of the Red Hot Poppas book release party

Thursday, November 16th, 19:00 ~ 23:00
At SANBANCHO Cafe (near Yasukuni Shrine (Kudanshita sta.))
NO COVER CHARGE

Join us in celebration of the release of Last of the Red Hot Poppas, a novel about one of the dirtiest of dirty southern politicians.

Drinks and food (including a special one night only New Orleans gumbo dish) served by SANBANCHO Cafe.

Sponsored / Produced by:
Chin Music Press
and Yushin Printing

Graciously Hosted by:
SANBANCHO Cafe - 03 3265 9017

Directions to the event:
SanBanCho Cafe is located near Yasukuni Shrine, 8 minutes from Hanzomon St., 10 minutes from Kudanshita St., or 12 minutes walk from Ichigaya station. (see attached map)

SANBANCHO Cafe
Chiyoda-ku
Sanbancho 28-4
03 3265 9017

Digits Wolfowitz has hit a wall. Japan's little steel cans of coffee no longer appeal to him. In fact the whole country has lost its luster for Digits, this week's reviewer:

My attitude to canned coffee mirrors almost exactly my attitude to its country of origin.

When I first came to Japan years ago as an enthusiastic youth, I thought canned coffee was the greatest thing mankind had yet produced, and I drank cans and cans of the stuff ...

Read on at cannedcoffee.com.

The All Things Web 2.0 blog, Mashable, reports on a new Seattle based social network for lovers of books called Shelfari.

As a part-Seattle based company, how could we let this news go by without bringing it to the attention of our readership?

There are apparently other companies who have a leg up on the book-lovers social network market, but as YouTube proved (as there were many video sharing sites before them), being first doesn't exclusively imply market control.

I think it will be very interesting to see if the social interlocking recommendations on a service like Shelfari is able to trump the simpleness of Amazon and it's "recommended picks" for the casual book browser.

This film by Jason Berry offers some clues.

Colleen Mondor has just reviewed Last of the Red Hot Poppas on Bookslut. Here's a taste:

From their trademark shortened book size that fits perfectly in the hand, to the elegant title page and sewn-in bookmark, everything about this book is a collector’s dream. It’s a beautiful art object that also includes a well-written and smartly-told story.

Just bumped into this brilliant little site on book covers. Why hadn't I seen this before?

Ben Pieratt from fwis posts mini-reviews of covers new and old. Ingeniously simple integration with blog software allows for quick searching and commenting by users.

They even do interviews with designers like Jon Gray.

And while sifting through comments I ran into a link to Mark Melnick's site, which features some beautiful cover design work.

So go and get inspired!

The Ballard burglar is by no means a smart man. Imagine ripping off the headquarters of Chin Music Press and: 1) looking for cash (who they kidding?) 2) looking for expensive hardware (ibid) and 3) not stealing a book (idiot!).

So, yeah, we got broken into over the weekend. And so did some of the neighboring businesses. Some of them had far more substantial losses than we did. The semi-literate burglar ransacked several offices, looking for cash and small items he could carry, dropping many of the things he was trying to steal along the way (my neighbors arrived at work today to find a new video camera on their floor!) and finally opening a door to an office that still had people in it! OK, this guy is not a master criminal. He probably doesn't even have a bachelor's. But he did make a proper mess of CMP HQ. For a moment Sunday, sifting through all the papers on the floor, I thought I was in my brother's apartment (ba-dum bum).

But we're back to normal now, although with a cancelled credit card.

We also received a rather tepid review of Poppas in the Baton Rouge Advocate Sunday. But then — and it may sound cliche, but these sorts of emails make my day — we received a message from a reader of DYK that said in part:

"I just purchased Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? from Elliot Bay and read it in the same day. As an evacuee from New Orleans to Seattle, it was moving to see people outside of New Orleans realize what an impact the city has. You were able get writers who captured the essence of the city that is so unique and beautiful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

All in all, it was a good day.

Back from a 10 day jaunt to Hanoi. Beautiful city. Lots of coffee drinking and book reading ensued. One incredibly delicious hamburger was consumed. Pho? 10 bowls or so.

Finally sifted through 600 articles from a variety of feeds. Here's a few of the more interesting bits I bumped into:

Beautiful NYTimes infographic summarizing a very complicated series of Middle East relationships in a single image.

Design Observer has some words on the great Pentagram co-founder and brilliant designer Alan Fletcher, who recently passed away.

DO also announces the results of their Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing: congratulations to Thomas de Monchaux and Katherine Feo.

Khoi Vinh interviews the articulate and talented artist Louise Ma. Part of his ongoing series of monthly archive illustrations.

Sydney has commissioned a photography project much in lines with the work of Ken Kitano in an attempt to "provide a representative male and female “look” for the 160,000 residents of Sydney’s City of Villages." Two things are a bit unsettling about this: 1) no mention or credit is given to the photographer. And 2) it would have been nice of them to reference some prior art in the project.