iPad on my mind

Here is my iPad, fresh out of its minimal and exceedingly well designed packaging. It arrived Saturday on its first day of release. It’s unlike me to adopt new technology as soon as it’s available — I usually wait for the second or third generation. But in this case, I felt that the iPad was too important for me to wait. First off, as an iPhone developer, I wanted to make certain my apps were operative. Secondly, I suspect this is the first  “real” e-book reader that will be a contender on the publishing market. (Sorry, Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader!)

I must admit to being amazed at how many people have asked me about my experiences with the iPad so far. And I also must admit to enjoying the frisson of attention that came my way whenever I’ve used the iPad in public. It was a lot of fun to pull it out at my local coffeehouse and see the heads swivel in my direction.

Here are some quick thoughts on the iPad so far:

1. I like the iPad very much — it’s very well done. Some have commented on the 1.5 lb weight. At first it felt slightly heavy to me. But now it doesn’t. It feels solid and ergonomic. The size feels right too — not too big, not too small. It’s a pleasure to hold and look at. Screen is gorgeous!

2. My apps work well on the iPad. (Whew!) That written, I do intend to eventually redesign the Goddess Tarot app for the iPad, to take advantage of the larger screen size.

3. As an author, I recognize that digital books are now a permanent part of the publishing landscape. I don’t see them as replacing print books, however — just an extension. As such, the iPad is the only device (to date) that is appropriate for full color, illustrated books. I do plan to develop e-books for the iPad. First up is a digital version of THE BOOK OF GODDESSES. In time I hope to make my backlist of children’s picture books available anew.

4. Related to #3: I do have a Kindle. Alas, I never bonded with it. It just never felt comfortable to me, with that button to click to turn the page, the fugly (no other word for it) design of the device as well as the e-books themselves. There’s only one scenario in which the Kindle outshines the iPad — if you’re reading in direct sunlight, the iPad’s glossy screen is almost impossible to make out, like most laptops.

5. The big “if” to me was the quality of the iPad’s iBook app. I immediately downloaded it, nervous but excited. I must admit to feeling a bit emotional (yes, several tears were shed) the first time I opened the iBooks app. After all, I’ve been a book designer for well over two decades –  in this regard, the iPad is MAJOR. (I’m sure Guttenberg is rolling in his grave at this pronouncement.) The book which comes loaded in the iBooks app is a fully illustrated edition of WINNIE THE POOH. It’s a smart choice for showing off the strengths of the iBooks interface. Plus who doesn’t like WINNIE THE POOH? The illustrations look gorgeous. The type design is lovely, though not as stellar as I’d like to see. That written, compared to the e-books available on Kindle, the iBook e-books feel like gorgeous high end art books!

6. I’m happy to report that, based on my few hours here using the iPad, the iBooks app is deeply immersive for reading — so much better than a Kindle or a computer. The iPad’s strong point as an ebook reader is that it replicates a similar sensory experience where you can “disappear” into a book. The pages actually roll and curve as you “turn” the page.  As mentioned in #5, the book design still needs much refining, but it’s moving in the right direction.

7. For comparison’s sake, I also downloaded the Kindle app for iPad. It’s a much clunkier reading experience, though there’s many more books available via Amazon than from iBooks. But all this will change over time, especially since iBooks have wisely chosen to use the ePub digital book standard, which most digital publishers use. The Kindle format is proprietary to Amazon only.

8. The first book I downloaded was WOLF HALL, which I’ve been dying to read about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn et al. It’s a big, thick book –  one that it would be hard to carry around to read on the subway, for example. So I’m curious how it will hold up on an e-book reader. For example, I can easily imagine reading it in bed — the backlit display means that I can read without an external light source. So say goodbye to reading with a flashlight under the covers!

9. One technical note: The only iPad downside I’ve noticed so far is that it seems less sensitive to picking up wifi signals than my iPhone or laptop. This is hopefully a first generation glitch, not something serious. I’ve read that other users have had this issue too.

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Some people have asked me if I consider the iPad a substitute for a computer. My cut-to-the-chase answer: No. That written, the iPad is so light and portable I can easily imagine using it in the place of my laptop for when I’m out and about — to check my e-mail, or to edit a manuscript. (You can edit and write on the iPad, using Apple’s proprietary Pages application, which is similar to Word.) The iPad is also great for videos; instead of dragging a portable dvd player along to entertain my child during a long plane ride, I can bring the iPad.

The short version is that the iPad is really a device for consumption, rather than creation. And sometimes that’s all you want.

In closing, Farhad Manjoo of Slate recently wrote a round up of the iPad that sums up many of my thoughts. Here’s an excerpt:

So, why would you pay at least $500 for a machine that merely replicates your other gadgets’ functions? Because the iPad is the best media-consumption device ever made. Or, to put it another way, there is no better machine to use on the couch, the bed, or in the bathroom…. The iPad’s killer app is reading. The iPad is especially great for settling in with a book or a long article. Indeed, in nearly all scenarios, the iPad makes a better book-reader than the Kindle. Yes, Apple’s tablet lacks the Kindle’s paperlike E Ink screen, but that’s a feature, not a bug. E Ink e-readers can’t display color images and animation, and they don’t do graphic design. Those elements are critical to the presentation of newspapers, textbooks, magazines, children’s books, and lots of other printed content—all of which the iPad handles beautifully.”

• Filed under art and words, iPhone apps, publishing, the world around me | 13 Responses

Publishing Monday: Links all around — and a book new video!

It probably won’t surprise any regular visitors to this blog that I’m passionate about publishing in all it’s forms. So here’s a quick round up of recent news and links that I found worthy or interesting. Enjoy!

1. First off, I must admit that I’m excited about the iPad. I’ve had so much fun programming apps for the iPhone that I look forward to seeing what I can for the iPad. I’m also pleased that my iPhone apps will run on the iPad, though I may eventually want to update them to take advantage of the larger screen.

Now that it seems that there’s a device that can showcase full-color e-books, one of my first intentions is to create a digital version of THE BOOK OF GODDESSES. I’ve ordered one and look forward to having it in my eager hands on April 3rd. I think that there’s all sorts of Brave New World possibilities for book designers here, though I must admit to a Luddite fondness for the pleasures of the printed page. In the meantime, here’s some information about creating e-books for the iPad in InDesign — much easier than creating iPhone apps for sure. And here’s an inspiring article about the book design opportunities offered by the iPad.

2. I’m still in decompression mode after the whirlwind of activity involved in Mary Sharratt’s reading and signing here last Monday. It was wonderful to have her — Mary gave a compelling presentation that everyone loved and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner with her and her husband afterward. We had a lot of fun talking about museums, art, writing, travel, and publishing. But since it was our first time livestreaming, we (friend/gallery publicist Diane Saarinen and I) had quite the learning curve!

Fortunately, all went well, despite a few technical glitches, and next time will be much easier. Best of all, Mary’s reading can be viewed online here.

3. Live in NYC or close by? This Saturday is our Spring offering of my Publishing 101 workshop at the gallery. It’s chock-full of as much inside publishing skinny goodness I can cram into two hours. There are a still a few spaces left. More info here. Or register here.

4. Here’s a Huffington Post article from an editor/author on how social networking and blogging have transformed publishing — in some ways, for the better. (Surprise, surprise!)

Like many other authors, I have a love-not love relationship with social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and blogging. First off, you need to be consistent with one’s efforts. When I’m on a book deadline or in the midst of serious muse time, I have a difficult time multi-tasking beyond the essentials (food and sleep, anyone?). On the other hand, the connections I’ve made online are ones I treasure and make what I do worthwhile and delightful. Some have even transformed into “real world” friendships and beyond.

5. Finally on a related note, when author Catherine Delors (MISTRESS OF THE REVOLUTION) asked me to design a book video for her new novel FOR THE KING (Dutton, July 2010), I enthusiastically complied. Below is the result of our collaboration, during which we had a lot of fun and listened to a lot of Berlioz . I “met” Catherine online during my DOOMED QUEENS blog tour when she graciously hosted me on her beautiful (and newly relaunched) blog, Versailles and More.

• Filed under events, friends and colleagues, iPhone apps, publications, publishing, publishing 101, studio and gallery | 5 Responses

Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere: raffle winners! and Valentines! and cute kids!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated during last week’s “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere”, which was held to mark the relaunch of the Love Tarot app. I had a truly wonderful time reading all of your comments, stories, opinions, and thoughts. I loved having the opportunity to get to know you, my blog readers, better.

As a side note, your tales of dating woe made me shiver with horror as well as laugh in astonishment. I sincerely hope that things have improved considerably on your collective romantic fronts since then!

Special thanks to Sandra Gulland, Holly Tucker, Donna Henes, and Ruth Ann Amberstone for their wonderful guest posts. Much appreciation to Diane Saarinen for helping me organize this week of Valentine-themed love.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. And today is (drumroll please!) the day in which I announce the winners of our daily giveaways from last week. Congratulations to:

Audra: You’ve won Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland.

Leslie: You’ve won The Lover’s Path by me.

Fran: You’ve won The Queen of My Self by Donna Henes.

Joy Lerner: You’ve won the Goddess Tarot deck and MP3 of The Tarot School’s teleclass for The High Priestess from Ruth Ann Amberstone.

Silverlotus: You’ve won the Amor and Beatrice print.

If you could e-mail me your mailing addresses to kris at kriswaldherr dot com, I’ll arrange to get your prizes off to you pronto.

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In closing, here are some images from the children’s Valentine making workshop we held at the gallery this weekend. For a period of about three hours, my workspace was taken over by about fifteen kids wielding glitter glue and sequins. At one point, a group of them commandoed my work table, transforming it into a private club house. There was even a “No! Grow Ups – Only Kids” sign.

It was overwhelmingly cute.

However you spent your Valentine’s Day (or “Love Day” as one child called it), I hope it was fulfilling and fun!

• Filed under be-mused, creativity, events, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, studio and gallery | 2 Responses

The Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere: The Most Inspiring Love Story Ever?

To finish my “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere” featuring the Love Tarot app, I am compelled to share with you what I consider to be possibly one of the most inspiring of love stories — the tale of Dante and Beatrice. On top of that, we’re giving away a copy of the Love Tarot app and one Amor and Beatrice print (autographed by me) to two lucky blog commentors. Details at the end of this post.

It’s not too late: You can still enter the giveaways from earlier in this week! Here’s what you can win:

Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland.
The Lover’s Path by Kris Waldherr.
The Queen of My Self by Donna Henes.
Goddess Tarot deck and MP3 of The Tarot School’s teleclass for The High Priestess from Ruth Ann Amberstone.

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“Why Dante and Beatrice?” you may wonder. After all Dante never got his girl. She didn’t love him in return. Heck, the poet hardly spoke to her, if we’re to believe what he wrote. Nor did he send her any notes or any other indications of his affection. The truth was that Beatrice Portinari never knew how much Dante Aligheri adored her when she died prematurely in her twenties. Dante’s infatuation with Beatrice was one which he nurtured with subtle stares during church services, cherished greetings during accidental meetings — and transcendental poems shared with everyone but the object of his affection.

Most people know that Dante lived in thirteenth century Florence and wrote The Divine Comedy, an epic poem describing his vision of a journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. The first part, the Inferno, is the liveliest part of the work. Once you read it, it’s hard to forget its intensely visceral imagery and the sense that the poet is settling some serious political scores. Though Beatrice appears within The Divine Comedy as his guiding angel, she was also the subject of his first book, La Vita Nuova (“The New Life”). It is in La Vita Nuova that Dante fully recounts his love for her, and of how she inspired his art.

In a lot of ways, it’s easy to just consider Dante’s love for Beatrice a courtly love contrivance for his art — but what art! Here’s an excerpt from a poem he wrote about her death:

Great anguish do my sighs give unto me,
Whene’er my thought unto my heavy mind
Doth bring her to me who hath cleft my heart.
And thinking oftentimes concerning death,
There comes to me so sweet desire therefor
That it transmutes the color in my face.
When this imagination holds me fixed,
Such pain assaileth me on every side,
That then I tremble with the woe I feel;
And such I do become
That from the people shame takes me away:
Then, alone, weeping, I lamenting call
On Beatrice, and say: “Art thou, then, dead?
And while I call her I am comforted.”

When I think of all the art, poetry, literature, and (yes!) lovers who have been inspired by Dante, it amazes me. Everyone from Dante Gabriel Rossetti (though one has to pity poor Elizabeth Siddal, whom he plucked out of obscurity to be his Victorian-era Beatrice/Kate Moss) to, well, moi. Dante’s work has been illustrated by Sandro Botticelli, William Blake, and Gustave Dore. On the music front, Rossini and Schumann set his words to music, and it inspired a symphonic poem by Liszt. As for modern poets, Dantesque imagery found its way into the works of Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, Gabriele D’Annunzio, and more writers than I can possibly list here.

All these influences and sources – and this is without even mentioning the films and novels and other art forms that owe Dante their due.

Why is the poet’s love story still so compelling, seven hundred years later? My theory is that Dante and Beatrice reminds us of the power of loving for love’s sake; of the beauty that pure devotion to another can inspire. And what can be more romantic than that?

So here’s the chain of events: Beatrice inspired Dante. Then Dante inspired everyone else. And that is why I consider Dante and Beatrice to be the most inspiring love story ever.

In closing, here’s my retelling of Dante’s devotion to Beatrice, adapted from The Lover’s Path Tarot; this account was based on his La Vita Nuova:

Beatrice was nine years old the first time Dante gazed upon her, he slightly older. Her presence made such an impression that he felt as though his spirit had been infused with light. From that moment, Dante adored Beatrice above all others. Through the years as they grew into adulthood, Dante sought to meet Beatrice, too overwhelmed with love to do nothing more than stare at her. He noticed that Beatrice was so full of grace that any who saw her experienced a happiness which could only be described through sighs. All this convinced Dante that Beatrice was truly an angel. Since he said nothing, Beatrice did not suspect Dante’s love; she thought him dumb with shyness. But her warm greeting never wavered no matter how awkwardly Dante acted.

When Beatrice turned fifteen, her parents arranged her marriage to a wealthy merchant. The first time Dante saw Beatrice after her wedding, she was accompanied by two of her bridesmaids as they walked along the Arno River in Florence. Overcome by the knowledge that she was now another’s wife, Dante turned his face from Beatrice to hide his tears. Beatrice’s bridesmaids misunderstood and thought the poet had insulted their mistress. They jeered at him as they led Beatrice away.

That night, Dante retreated to his chamber in anguished shame. While he slept, a vision appeared to him in his dreams as the stars reached the ninth hour of the night. From a cloud the hue of fire emerged a god-like figure. This being, who identified himself as Amor, the spirit of love, held a woman whom Dante recognized as Beatrice. Amor also held a heart, which he told  Dante was the heart the poet had irrevocably given to Beatrice.

Dante awoke from his dream resolved. His love for Beatrice would be no earthly passion to expire when they died. Instead, he would immortalize Beatrice with poems that would last forever. As their lives unfolded, Beatrice was honored by Dante’s verses as no woman had ever been. The poet’s fame spread—and with it, the story of his love for Beatrice.

Over the years, the story of Dante and Beatrice has inspired many to give their hearts just as completely.”

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TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of the Full version Love Tarot app and an autographed Amor and Beatrice print, which reproduces the drawing for the card shown above. To enter, simply leave a comment for this post; please indicate whether you’d like to be entered for the app or the print. Or both. For a double entry, tell us your about your most intensely romantic experience.

It may not involve another person — for example, I was enraptured during my first trip to Venice like a Victorian heroine overcome by Stendhal Syndrome. Or it might. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that romance is all around us — Valentine’s Day should be a celebration of that, rather than a marker (and marketing ploy) for happily we’re partnered off.

The small print: You have until midnight EST on February 14 to leave your comment. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on this blog Monday, February 15, 2010. Sorry, but this giveaway is limited to U.S. only.

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Top art: Dante and Beatrice from the Love Tarot app by Kris Waldherr.

More about the Love Tarot app: Considered to be the most romantic app in the App Store, the Love Tarot app offers gorgeous tarot readings inspired by famous love stories, such as Tristan and Isolde and Cupid and Psyche. This five star-rated app was recently relaunched to include a tarot journal for users to save their readings and other inspirations.

Available in Lite and Full versions, learn more here. Or download the Full version on iTunes now.

• Filed under giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path, mythic living, tarot and oracles, the art world | 5 Responses

Mama Donna Henes guest post: Have a Love Affair with Yourself

Next up for my “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere” featuring the Love Tarot app, is Mama Donna Henes, an urban shaman and folklorist supreme. Someone commented earlier wondering what an urban shaman does. In Mama Donna’s case, she works with individuals, groups of all kinds, companies, and municipalities to create meaningful, non-denominational rituals for every conceivable occasion. For example, she performs solstice and equinox rituals for New York City; she also presides over the opening of the Village Halloween Parade. She also regularly reads tarot at my gallery’s popular Tarot Salon.

Mama Donna is also the author of several books, including the wonderfully empowering and award-winning The Queen of My Self: Stepping Into Sovereignty in Midlife.* Her blog entry here is adapted from The Queen of My Self — I think it offers a necessary corrective to so much media out there which suggests that a person can’t be complete unless they’re in a romantic relationship. Mais non, ma cherie! After all, our most important relationship with with ourselves.

Today we’re giving away a copy of Mama Donna’s book The Queen of Myself to one blog commenter. Details at the end of this post.

Tomorrow’s post: I conclude the week with a post about what I think is the most inspiring love story. Ever.

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TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: We have a copy of The Queen of My Self! To enter, simply leave a comment for this post. For a double entry, tell us about a an experience where you treated yourself like royalty. (For myself, it was during my recent trip to Montreal. I stayed at a nice hotel, ate at a famed restaurant, and saw intensely beautiful art.

The small print: You have until midnight EST on February 14 to leave your comment. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on this blog Monday, February 15, 2010. Sorry, but the giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canada only.

*If you enjoyed this entry, I hope you’ll become a fan of The Queen of My Self on Facebook. You can also follow The Queen of My Self on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thequeenbook.

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Top art: Isis and Osiris art from the Love Tarot app by Kris Waldherr.

More about the Love Tarot app: Considered to be the most romantic app in the App Store, the Love Tarot app offers gorgeous tarot readings inspired by famous love stories, such as Tristan and Isolde and Cupid and Psyche. This five star-rated app was recently relaunched to include a tarot journal for users to save their readings and other inspirations.

Available in Lite and Full versions, learn more here. Or download the Full version on iTunes now.

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path, queens, studio and gallery, tarot and oracles | 10 Responses