Category Archives: media
On Getting Your Name Out There, Part 2: The Story That Sells the Story
For the first part of this series on authors, author sites and author blogging, go here first. When approaching an author site, what I find least interesting is a sort of bland, safe, risk-free aesthetic, a headshot with links and … Continue reading
New World, Again
1. Oh horrifying new world, where every site I visit wants me to have a profile and to receive mailings. I have over 600 messages from them unread in my gmail account, and this is because I resent the time … Continue reading
News of the World
Note: this has been updated, 5/17/2010. Lately I kept thinking of what I thought was a quote of Susan Sontag’s from a posthumous essay, and wrote a post about it. Here is the actual quote, supplied by Joshua Benton over … Continue reading
Go Ahead
[photo via Gothamist] 1. On the train down to New York Thursday, in the seats across from me, a 26-year-old American soccer player who works on an organic farm and a 30-something Turkish artist talk to each other for most … Continue reading
Filed under books, letters from away, media
“Consider Writing an 86 Proof Sentence.” – Charles Baxter
1. Saturday, I drive to Vermont with my friend Tayari, to Bread Loaf. The mosquitoes are terrifying. At a cocktail reception, as we take turns outside spraying ourselves, Sigrid Nunez advances a theory that this is because the bats are … Continue reading
Filed under letters from away, media, novels, political art, politics, what is right with us, writers, writing
Funny, Not Funny, Fun
Carbs In Carbs: Pasta in a bread bowl. That is all. Astrologer Eric Francis explains why the news media freak-out regarding Swine Flu feels so weird. Mark Taylor makes a big hippie wish in the NYTimes for the end of … Continue reading
Filed under apocalypse, dance break, fiction, media, music, writers, writing
Americans Still Apparently Practice “Shunning”
A highly informal poll of readers of this blog finds they miss the news roundups, so, they’re back. Americans still apparently practice “shunning”. James Franco will star in a film about Allan Ginsburg’s “Howl”, perhaps making his life as an … Continue reading
Filed under current events, media
Dead Magazines, Undead Language
At the airport after the CLMP blogging panel, as I wait for my flight to my sister’s for the holidays, in the magazine stands, I see newly dead magazines: Men’s Vogue and Radar. I pay quietly for my Us Weekly … Continue reading
The Good News Bad News Bears
After running the US into the ground and bankrupting the economy by running a permanent campaign and trying to create a “permanent Republican majority”, Republicans would like to warn you about the dangers of one-party rule. This is an amazing … Continue reading
Filed under blogs, current events, media, politics
Maybe Someone Could Spend 150k On A Voting Machine That Works In Florida
Campbell Brown, late to the faux feminist outrage ticket, angrily defends Palin against a purported double-standard over criticism that the GOP spent 150k on her wardrobe last month. Somehow forgets Republicans attacking Democratic candidates as elitist, also Republican attacks against … Continue reading
Filed under current events, media, politics
