In the coming up version of List Central users will be able to include embedded content in their lists, including youtube videos and the like. In testing this feature with video contents I noticed a serious problem with the way the flash content of the videos interacted with the List Central Interface. Specifically, my Ajax style pop up forms would be partially behind the video content, making the edit list item form next to unusable. Not good!

With the help of John Oxton I was able to figure out how to get the flash content to stay behind my floating html content. Essentially it took two steps:

1. Add a wmode parameter to the embed code, as well as a wmode attribute to the embed element, both set to transparent. The Perl code I used to do this is:

$EmbedCode ~= s/<embed/<param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></param><embed wmode="transparent" /;

2. Set the z-indexs in the CSS, giving my floating HTML content a higher z-index than the div containing the flash content.

2 easy steps, and voila! Everything is layered just how I intended. Beautiful!

Earlier this month I wrote my first book review on Serendipity: A Novel by Louise Parker. Essentially, I gushed a bit about a book I really enjoyed. I was absolutely honoured, and quite surprised,  when the author took the time to thank me for my review of her novel!

@LouiseShaffer‘s tweets really made my day!

Over on my other blog, Road 2 Nowhere, I tend to gush about music I love. I absolutely adore music. I’m no good at making it, no one would ever accuse me of being a musician! What I am is one hell of a music appreciator. What I love about Road is that I have a place to share all the awesome music I love so much with anyone who will listen.

While loving something is great, and telling people about things you love is grand, it’s really not reviewing. Thoughtful criticism is the most useful offering you can give to a creator, be she an author, musician or artist. I don’t know that I’m the person to offer such insights. My motivation to write about another’s work always comes from that same place, the desire to share something I enjoy. I do not have the drive to write about things I don’t enjoy, and usually I don’t get through entertainment that I don’t enjoy. Reading crappy books is not for me. I may start a bad book, but once my interest is lost, I’m not going to be picking that book back up. My apologies to all the crappy books out there. Listening to sub-standard music is not for me either.

So, I’ve made a decision, to admit to what it is that I do, and what I enjoy doing: giving recommendations. I’ll leave the reviews for the critics.

I have been reading quite a bit lately, so I thought I would try my hand at some book reviews, starting with my most recent read: Serendipity: A Novel by Louise Shaffer.

Serendipity - Louise Shaffer

A charming story about 4 generations of women, from New Haven to New York. Told from the perspective of the youngest, Carrie, in 2008, shortly after her mother passed away. Carrie had not known her grandmother, due to a riff in the family that was not talked about. Her mother’s passing found Carrie being all on her own, and obsessing about where she came from.

The reader gets to know several lovable characters as the pieces of the puzzle of the secrets and history of Carrie’s family get revealed. Old Uncle Paulie, the 83 year old, older brother of Carrie’s grandmother, who is still as sharp as he ever was and moved to a nursing home only to keep a friend company. George Standish, another man in his 80′s who had been Carrie’s grandmother’s gay best friend and musical conductor through the hay day of Broadway theatre in the 60′s and 70′s. Mifalda, Carrie’s paradoxically humble and proud Italian-American great-grandmother. Lu Lawson, Carrie’s grandmother, a great star of the Broadway stage, who lived her life exactly as who she was, with no apologies. And Bobby Manning, Carrie’s eccentric father, who lived hard, writing smash hits for the Broadway stage, and enjoying his successes, dying too early when Carrie was a small girl.

I fell in love with all of these characters that Louise Shaffer painted so beautifully through this character driven story, with the intrigue of family secrets, personal discovery and growth and most importantly, love and forgiveness. Serendipity: A Novel is a wonderful, and quick read, that is a great escape on a Sunday, sunny afternoon.

I’ve been having some fun playing with Google Suggest to see what others are searching. Some of them are so funny. I thought I’d start a series on the funniest ones I encounter, starting with the questions of the ages: “why”:

The top suggestion is the standout one for me: “why can’t I own a canadian”? with the runner up being “why are canadians afraid of the dark”. What the…? Who is it that wants to own me and my people, and why do they thing we are afraid of the dark?!?!?