Five of the best things I discovered on the internet in 2011

Five of the best things I discovered on the internet in 2011 in no particular order:

1. Kanye West -  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Yeah, not the kind of music my demographic are supposed to like but I saw it trending on Twitter so checked it out on YouTube. Wow. A delightful combination of samples from all kinds of classic music including King Crimson from the 70s. But these simply expertly background the comment, rhythm and virtuosity of KW. I can easily compare this music to the virtuosity of Stairway to Heaven

and Bohemian Rhapsody.

What do you think?

 Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield gave it five out of five stars, citing it as West's best album and "his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus [...] Nobody else is making music this daring and weird".^[127]  source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy

Well not this daring and weird since King Crimson huh? Wow from the calm in the centre of the storm 1969.

2.  https://twitter.com/ I joined twitter - not really expecting anything. Found that I can talk to people around the world freely, find them, find people with my interests. Find anything at all I could possibly think to look for, ask about, and find more than I could ever imagine cause the people on twitter are into anything imaginable. And most are friendly, and talk about themselves and their interests and if they are lonely, or happy, they give good advice, quote from their own thoughts and those of famous others, share recipes and knitting patterns, hates and loves, create trends based around hash tags and titles, soccer players, rugby games and movies or television programs. Discuss live internationally and online if x should have been red-carded or not, if the Kardashians have their support or have set some kind of example.... the opportunities to get involved in the veins of the world are there - only on Twitter.

3. http://www.goodreads.com/   This is a superb site for anyone who reads or writes. Which maybe half the population of the developed world. 
Of course there are lots of people who can read and write but never actually do those skills - with the exception of texting, perhaps which I do count as writing and reading. LOL
So hey - Check out this amazing and illuminating website - which I have tested to the max by adding all kinds of literature to my profile and - yep - they had a link somewhere to the book. 
A BIG improvement on my childhood in Southland NZ where if I wanted a book of a classical work I had to ask and then the librarian would find a fusty volume in the basement! Now of course libraries simply turf out books when the withdrawals become below a certain point and kids who want to read Plato or Suetonius or Vergil - as I did, can download it free from my next fave website and Awesome Project:-

4.  The Gutenberg Project.http://www.gutenberg.org/

Firstly, let's celebrate the inventor of the ebook 

Michael S. Hart (1947-2011)

Project Gutenberg's founder, Michael Hart, passed away September 6. 

Here is a Brief Obituary 

Wow, how many authors like myself are benefiting by this young man's vision back in 1971? 

I like this man, he and GBS are like me, we want the world on our own terms:

'A lifetime intellectual, Hart was inspired by his parents, both professors at the University of Illinois, to seek truth and to question authority. One of his favorite recent quotes, credited to George Bernard Shaw, is characteristic of his approach to life:

 "Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world.  Unreasonable

 people attempt to adapt the world to themselves.  All progress,

 therefore, depends on unreasonable people."

Michael prided himself on being unreasonable, and only in the later years of life did he mellow sufficiently to occasionally refrain from debate. Yet, his passion for life, and all the things in it, never abated.'

All authors and readers light a candle for this talented man and support the project as thousands of classic books are being made into ebooks and not for profit, like Google Books scanning project no doubt is for.

5. http://jakonrath.blogspot.com   Joe Konrath is a kick-ass author, gun promoter and very successful writer from every angle you observe him.

I had the longest belly laughing session ever at Joe and DWS 'fisking' a memo from Hatchette publishing co. This would only be hilarious to ppl like myself who have been published by big trade publishers and have watched the employees - paid handsomly from OUR book sales - trying to prove why their jobs are necessary to anyone.

Anyone considering a career in writing or publishing would be wise to read his entire blog.

Any author trade published would be advised to read his blog as well as that of http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=860 and buying this book http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/

I launched my small publishing company Quintessence Publications and published eight books since March 2011. 

I will get more books published in 2012 but these fine people and many others who are available in links from their blogs are enormously helpful to me and hundreds of other authors, wanna-be authors and people who simply want to express themselves.

Thanks Joe K, David G, Dean Smith and his wife Kris.

Awesome people - setting an example of helpfulness and caring - spreading the love of writing and helping others throughout the world. 

Enjoy this list and watch this space for more marvelous authentic voices from New Zealand and the rest of the world whom I will be publishing in 2012.

Happy New Year

Christine Leov Lealand