Earlier today Caster Semenya, olympic running champion for South Africa, was welcomed back into the world of sports after eleven months of trials and tests to determine her gender and ability to race in the women's division. Many challenged Semenya's gold medal at the last summer Olympics because she ran so much faster and had a bigger muscular build than other racers, calling into question her gender. The truth was that Semenya had both male and female sexual organs, making her an intersexual* individual. I have been doing loads of research on intersex conditions lately, in preparation for my next novel, and I learned that there are different types of the condition, none of which should have kept Semenya out of the competition. Most intersex people identify strongly with one gender or the other and this is backed up by physical characteristics, such as genitalia, without being equally male or female.
What this athlete was exposed to was inappropriate, demeaning, ridiculous, and as I see it, unnecessary. If an intersex individual who is primarily female and identifies as such wants to represent her country in the world Olympics, she should be able to. And now that she has returned many question whether or not she had a surgery to make her body more female so that she could be considered one. If this is the case, I am royally pissed off and overall very disappointed in the world, based on their treatment of this woman. She is a person, a living human being, and to go through that kind of ridicule and trial is beyond what any person should have to deal with. Intersex people are people too and should be treated with the same kinds of respect.
Caster Semenya, on the other hand, has handled the situation very well and is an inspiration to intersex people. I plan drawing a little on her strength and her story when I write about Sky's dilemma in my next novel. Semenya, I am very sorry that you were treated the way you were, but you have my support in anything you do. Good luck on the race.
*Another term is hermaphrodite, but there is a slight difference.
Showing posts with label observe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label observe. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Doctor Who: Science Fiction or Fantasy?
The following post contains spoilers for the newest episode of Doctor Who, 5x03: Victory of the Daleks, so if you do not wish to be spoiled, please refrain from reading. If you do not watch the show, however, you can still understand this post.
In "Victory of the Daleks," the Doctor's nemeses, the Daleks, show up during the London Blitz. Now that part I am entirely okay with, because Doctor Who is all about time and space and the crazy juxtaposition that could arise from someone like the Doctor being able to travel through and interfere with both. What I am not okay with is having WWII planes in space, attacking a space ship, with technology stolen from aliens. I feel like that crosses the line between science fiction and fantasy.
Within the genre of fantasy a reader can find hidden worlds, magic, and impossibilities; in science fiction the reader can find the same aura of wonder and amazement, but also a sense of truth and a million possibilities. Science fiction examines the world, where humanity stands, and all of the potential roads we could travel, and where they would take us. This genre stretches the imagination as far as the edge of space and approaches every "what if," all the while staying within the immense realm of possibility.
And that's the thing: science fiction has limits, regulations, guidelines. Sure, they're very loose sometimes, but they are there. In fantasy you can explain something by calling it "magic" and that's enough. In science fiction, you reveal the process or the machinations, you are forced to give an actual explanation. And, to an extent, this explanation must be somewhat realistic, or rather, scientific. Science fiction is a blend between the "science" of reality and the "fiction" of fantasy.
Philip K. Dick argues that "The real origin of science fiction lay in the seventeenth-century novels of exploration in fabulous lands. Therefore Jules Verne’s story of travel to the moon is not science fiction because they go by rocket but because of where they go. It would be as much science fiction if they went by rubber band."
While I agree with him, I have to point out that while spaceships are real and entirely plausible today, they were not in WWII. My suspension of disbelief lets me believe that The Doctor's TARDIS can exist then because it is a time machine. I cannot, however, extend that to cover RAF planes from that era suddenly being upgraded in a matter of minutes and then flying into space, armed with alien technology. I would have believed it, if they had gone by rubber band. The truth of history here is that the space race would not occur for another 20 years. Furthermore, are we supposed to believe that those planes could make it through Earth's atmosphere without burning? Or that the laughable gas masks worn by the pilots would allow them to breathe in space? I don't buy it. Come on, Moffat, you can do better than that.
Doctor Who has, for many decades, been seen as wholly science fiction, but when it begins to cast off the limits and rules of reality, I'd argue that it's crossed over into fantasy. And I like fantasy, but don't try to pass it off as science fiction, because there is a world of difference there. Fantasy approaches the impossible, science fiction approaches the possible, but not yet probable. If you want me to believe that mannequins can come to live or that someday humans will be living out our years on a space station while the sun burns away our beloved planet, that's fine. I accept that these are possible. When you want me to believe that a time before space travel had aircrafts more advanced than the ones we have now, 60 years later? That I cannot do.
So dear Stephen Moffat, please check your facts when reporting on history, and give us something fantastical, but believable. Give us the science fiction we've come to expect from Doctor Who. Oh, but for the record? I'm totally digging Matt Smith as The Doctor and I can't wait for the next episode.
In "Victory of the Daleks," the Doctor's nemeses, the Daleks, show up during the London Blitz. Now that part I am entirely okay with, because Doctor Who is all about time and space and the crazy juxtaposition that could arise from someone like the Doctor being able to travel through and interfere with both. What I am not okay with is having WWII planes in space, attacking a space ship, with technology stolen from aliens. I feel like that crosses the line between science fiction and fantasy.
Within the genre of fantasy a reader can find hidden worlds, magic, and impossibilities; in science fiction the reader can find the same aura of wonder and amazement, but also a sense of truth and a million possibilities. Science fiction examines the world, where humanity stands, and all of the potential roads we could travel, and where they would take us. This genre stretches the imagination as far as the edge of space and approaches every "what if," all the while staying within the immense realm of possibility.
And that's the thing: science fiction has limits, regulations, guidelines. Sure, they're very loose sometimes, but they are there. In fantasy you can explain something by calling it "magic" and that's enough. In science fiction, you reveal the process or the machinations, you are forced to give an actual explanation. And, to an extent, this explanation must be somewhat realistic, or rather, scientific. Science fiction is a blend between the "science" of reality and the "fiction" of fantasy.
Philip K. Dick argues that "The real origin of science fiction lay in the seventeenth-century novels of exploration in fabulous lands. Therefore Jules Verne’s story of travel to the moon is not science fiction because they go by rocket but because of where they go. It would be as much science fiction if they went by rubber band."
While I agree with him, I have to point out that while spaceships are real and entirely plausible today, they were not in WWII. My suspension of disbelief lets me believe that The Doctor's TARDIS can exist then because it is a time machine. I cannot, however, extend that to cover RAF planes from that era suddenly being upgraded in a matter of minutes and then flying into space, armed with alien technology. I would have believed it, if they had gone by rubber band. The truth of history here is that the space race would not occur for another 20 years. Furthermore, are we supposed to believe that those planes could make it through Earth's atmosphere without burning? Or that the laughable gas masks worn by the pilots would allow them to breathe in space? I don't buy it. Come on, Moffat, you can do better than that.
Doctor Who has, for many decades, been seen as wholly science fiction, but when it begins to cast off the limits and rules of reality, I'd argue that it's crossed over into fantasy. And I like fantasy, but don't try to pass it off as science fiction, because there is a world of difference there. Fantasy approaches the impossible, science fiction approaches the possible, but not yet probable. If you want me to believe that mannequins can come to live or that someday humans will be living out our years on a space station while the sun burns away our beloved planet, that's fine. I accept that these are possible. When you want me to believe that a time before space travel had aircrafts more advanced than the ones we have now, 60 years later? That I cannot do.
So dear Stephen Moffat, please check your facts when reporting on history, and give us something fantastical, but believable. Give us the science fiction we've come to expect from Doctor Who. Oh, but for the record? I'm totally digging Matt Smith as The Doctor and I can't wait for the next episode.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Free Twilight Book: Generous Giveaway or Masterful Marketing?
Yesterday it was announced that Stephenie Meyer is going to release a fifth Twilight book, but it's not what you'd expect. Let's get the facts first: this is not Midnight Sun, it is a completely different book, a novella actually*, about Bree Tanner. Don't know who Bree is? You're not alone, I didn't remember her at first either**. Cut for spoilers: She is one of the (spoilers!) newborn vampires created by Victoria in the 4th book, the only one to escape the Cullens, and was later killed by the Volturi.
What I find particularly interesting about this book, though, is the way it's being marketed & distributed. First, starting on June 7th, the entire book will be available free online. Sounds generous, right? Well, it is—but only for a month. After that it will be printed in book form, $1 of which is going to be donated to the Red Cross. Still pretty generous, but it's also very clever.
The first clever marketing tactic here is offering the book free online, for a limited time only. Putting a book online gains readers you might not get otherwise, makes the book easily accessible, and the more people who read it, the more people who like it, the more people who are likely to purchase it later. The New York Times recently printed an article on this, about how offering an ebook for free can not only gain readers, but put your book on the bestseller's list, something that attracts even more attention.
So you tell all your friends to hurry up and read it online, creating a sense of immediate need, but what if you don't get it on time? What if you don't finish reading before it goes offline? How will you keep up with your fellow Twilight obsessed friends? No worries, you can buy the book in print! And a true fan will likely buy the book anyway, regardless of reading it online, so they can own it and reread it whenever they want***. The added bonus here is that you're doing a good thing, because $1 of your purchase goes to helping people through the Red Cross! Why is this important? It has to do with embedded giving, which I won't pretend to be the expert on, but here's the bottom line: By tacking on that donation, you are more likely to buy the book. You feel good about yourself, because you helped people, but you don't need to go out of your way to do it. You get to support change by doing something you were going to do already! When I think about this (thanks to one of my professors), I think about Product RED. You were going to buy that shirt or that laptop or that book anyway, but now you get the added bonus of feeling good about the purchase. It takes away some of the hesitation we might have for spending the money. What I'm saying here is that by putting that sticker on there that proceeds will go to the Red Cross, readers are more likely to pick it up. It's not as deceptive as this argument may first suggest, but it is clever.
An argument that's been raised over the past two days regarding this (largely by anti-Twilight people) is that Meyer is only printing a fifth book as a way to milk more money out of her fans. I don't think that's true. Surely she'll be making more money, but she's not making any thing off the free copies and honestly, I think she's sincere in saying that she wants to do something for her fans. True Twilight fans have been begging for a 5th book since the 4th one come out. If JK Rowling put out an 8th book, wouldn't you want to read it? Didn't you want to check out The Tales of Beedle the Bard when it came out? It's the same thing. There is a demand by the fans for more to read in the Twilight world, and Meyer's fulfilling those wishes. If she only wanted to milk the fans, she would have released Midnight Sun despite the leak.
Will I be reading the book? Probably not, but I'm not the biggest fan of the books. For the people who are, I can understand their excitement at having something more to read, I would feel the same way. And I really do think that Little, Brown is being rather clever here with the way they're marketing it.
*Although 197 pgs hardly sounds like a novella.
**actually, still don't, but I am trusting some of my friends who are die hard fans.
***This reminds me very much of another post I need to make, on the ethics & arguments behind downloading ebooks. I will get to that soon, I hope.
What I find particularly interesting about this book, though, is the way it's being marketed & distributed. First, starting on June 7th, the entire book will be available free online. Sounds generous, right? Well, it is—but only for a month. After that it will be printed in book form, $1 of which is going to be donated to the Red Cross. Still pretty generous, but it's also very clever.
The first clever marketing tactic here is offering the book free online, for a limited time only. Putting a book online gains readers you might not get otherwise, makes the book easily accessible, and the more people who read it, the more people who like it, the more people who are likely to purchase it later. The New York Times recently printed an article on this, about how offering an ebook for free can not only gain readers, but put your book on the bestseller's list, something that attracts even more attention.
So you tell all your friends to hurry up and read it online, creating a sense of immediate need, but what if you don't get it on time? What if you don't finish reading before it goes offline? How will you keep up with your fellow Twilight obsessed friends? No worries, you can buy the book in print! And a true fan will likely buy the book anyway, regardless of reading it online, so they can own it and reread it whenever they want***. The added bonus here is that you're doing a good thing, because $1 of your purchase goes to helping people through the Red Cross! Why is this important? It has to do with embedded giving, which I won't pretend to be the expert on, but here's the bottom line: By tacking on that donation, you are more likely to buy the book. You feel good about yourself, because you helped people, but you don't need to go out of your way to do it. You get to support change by doing something you were going to do already! When I think about this (thanks to one of my professors), I think about Product RED. You were going to buy that shirt or that laptop or that book anyway, but now you get the added bonus of feeling good about the purchase. It takes away some of the hesitation we might have for spending the money. What I'm saying here is that by putting that sticker on there that proceeds will go to the Red Cross, readers are more likely to pick it up. It's not as deceptive as this argument may first suggest, but it is clever.
An argument that's been raised over the past two days regarding this (largely by anti-Twilight people) is that Meyer is only printing a fifth book as a way to milk more money out of her fans. I don't think that's true. Surely she'll be making more money, but she's not making any thing off the free copies and honestly, I think she's sincere in saying that she wants to do something for her fans. True Twilight fans have been begging for a 5th book since the 4th one come out. If JK Rowling put out an 8th book, wouldn't you want to read it? Didn't you want to check out The Tales of Beedle the Bard when it came out? It's the same thing. There is a demand by the fans for more to read in the Twilight world, and Meyer's fulfilling those wishes. If she only wanted to milk the fans, she would have released Midnight Sun despite the leak.
Will I be reading the book? Probably not, but I'm not the biggest fan of the books. For the people who are, I can understand their excitement at having something more to read, I would feel the same way. And I really do think that Little, Brown is being rather clever here with the way they're marketing it.
*Although 197 pgs hardly sounds like a novella.
**actually, still don't, but I am trusting some of my friends who are die hard fans.
***This reminds me very much of another post I need to make, on the ethics & arguments behind downloading ebooks. I will get to that soon, I hope.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Amazon Release Dates & the Battle Against New Mediums
First, yes, I finished my first draft and met my deadline a day ahead of schedule, and that is why I am posting again. Sorry to not have told you sooner! Edits are pushed off just a bit, but I am reworking an old idea now, so no worries, I am writing still!
About a year ago, Garth Nix released the sixth book in his Keys to the Kingdom series, which ended in a dreaded cliffhanger, the lives of most characters hanging over the edge, their fates as unknown as the void of nothing. And that was the end of the book, with no conclusions and no certainty. It has driven me crazy for a year, let me tell you. But now, in March of 2010, the seventh and final book in the series, Lord Sunday is out, or coming out, depending on who you ask.
I, like most online consumers, consult amazon.com first when looking for quick facts, like publishing dates. Amazon lists Lord Sunday to come out next Tuesday, but borders.com shows it as having come out on the 1st of March, not the 16th. This means that Borders released the book more than two weeks before the shopping giant Amazon. What's more, Amazon shows the audio book being released a week before the book, which brings about another issue. Not only are sellers releasing items on different dates, making book birthdays hazy and confusing anxious buyers, but the audio books are available, adding to the shift we've already begun to see where consumers are favouring audio books and ebooks to hard copies.
Audio & ebooks already have advantages over real books, in that they are more compact, easier to carry and store, and easily distributed. They also tend to be cheaper, by and large. But with these new medias, you lose a part of what is so wonderful about books. You lose that sense of holding something real in your hands, the ability to imagine a character's voice for yourself, the eternal battery power of a book, and that new book smell. Books capture memories between their pages, little pieces of you, and other forms blend in with the rest of the medias we absorb every day. A page in an ebook has less effect, read between the hundreds of internet pages viewed every day; a chapter in an audiobook drowned out by mp3s and radio broadcasts. Still, the market is shifting, and if a reader is desperate enough for the book, they may be moved to buy an ebook or audiobook simply because it releases a week before the corporeal copy. This also loses publishers money, so I'm forced to wonder why sites like amazon would set up the dates as such.
I am reminded, of course, of the recent troubles with amazon and publishers such as MacMillian, where it becomes apparent that Amazon simply doesn't care about the publisher's rights, but even so, wouldn't they make more on an item with a higher price?
All of this said, I am buying my book from Borders, like I originally intended, and I will be buying a physical copy. I'm a little miffed that I was misled by Amazon's dates, as I could have been reading the climactic conclusion already, and all this anxious waiting over the past week could have been avoided. Unfortunately, I cannot wait for shipping, but I am forced to wait for a new in-store coupon to arrive in my email. We'll see if I'm able to hold out until then.
Coming Soon: reviews of Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson & Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney, a post on biographies prefacing novels, & the writer's journey as seen in Harold and the Purple Crayon.
About a year ago, Garth Nix released the sixth book in his Keys to the Kingdom series, which ended in a dreaded cliffhanger, the lives of most characters hanging over the edge, their fates as unknown as the void of nothing. And that was the end of the book, with no conclusions and no certainty. It has driven me crazy for a year, let me tell you. But now, in March of 2010, the seventh and final book in the series, Lord Sunday is out, or coming out, depending on who you ask.
I, like most online consumers, consult amazon.com first when looking for quick facts, like publishing dates. Amazon lists Lord Sunday to come out next Tuesday, but borders.com shows it as having come out on the 1st of March, not the 16th. This means that Borders released the book more than two weeks before the shopping giant Amazon. What's more, Amazon shows the audio book being released a week before the book, which brings about another issue. Not only are sellers releasing items on different dates, making book birthdays hazy and confusing anxious buyers, but the audio books are available, adding to the shift we've already begun to see where consumers are favouring audio books and ebooks to hard copies.
Audio & ebooks already have advantages over real books, in that they are more compact, easier to carry and store, and easily distributed. They also tend to be cheaper, by and large. But with these new medias, you lose a part of what is so wonderful about books. You lose that sense of holding something real in your hands, the ability to imagine a character's voice for yourself, the eternal battery power of a book, and that new book smell. Books capture memories between their pages, little pieces of you, and other forms blend in with the rest of the medias we absorb every day. A page in an ebook has less effect, read between the hundreds of internet pages viewed every day; a chapter in an audiobook drowned out by mp3s and radio broadcasts. Still, the market is shifting, and if a reader is desperate enough for the book, they may be moved to buy an ebook or audiobook simply because it releases a week before the corporeal copy. This also loses publishers money, so I'm forced to wonder why sites like amazon would set up the dates as such.
I am reminded, of course, of the recent troubles with amazon and publishers such as MacMillian, where it becomes apparent that Amazon simply doesn't care about the publisher's rights, but even so, wouldn't they make more on an item with a higher price?
All of this said, I am buying my book from Borders, like I originally intended, and I will be buying a physical copy. I'm a little miffed that I was misled by Amazon's dates, as I could have been reading the climactic conclusion already, and all this anxious waiting over the past week could have been avoided. Unfortunately, I cannot wait for shipping, but I am forced to wait for a new in-store coupon to arrive in my email. We'll see if I'm able to hold out until then.
Coming Soon: reviews of Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson & Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney, a post on biographies prefacing novels, & the writer's journey as seen in Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Apple iPad: Communications & Publication
Okay, this is not a technology blog, but I am going to talk about the new Apple iPad. Why? Because we live in a technologically advanced society where each new toy--shiny as they may be--affects the way we live, and even the way we read. This is not a technology blog, but it is a blog that looks at literature, publishing, and communications, and the iPad, and Steve Job's unveiling of it, encompasses all of those.
Communications - Audience, Rhetoric & Presentation
What I like about Steve Jobs is that he is not the corporate CEO archetype. When Jobs showed up on stage earlier this morning to present the new Apple gadget, he was wearing jeans and tennis shoes. Not exactly what you would expect from the head of a leading technology company on the day of its big presentation. In doing this he presents himself to the people as one of the people, as someone just like them. Now, this is a great strategy for gathering attention, reaching out to those who are not the technology-following geeks, and essentially it helps them identify with Jobs. What they see is an average man sitting on his couch using the new iPad. Jobs is showing the community at large that they too can easily use and apply this new technology to their everyday lives, they don't need to be technology wizzes in order to understand it. In fact, for many people who already have the iPhone or the iPod Touch, the technology may not be that much different. That's two (or arguably three) audiences that Jobs is already appealing to in his presentation, without having to say anything yet, and then you add in the technophiles of all sorts and you have a ready-made fanbase. And, he's also adding one more audience: those who have trouble viewing small screens. Now, I'm not saying that the elderly are going to pick up the new iPad or anything like that, but they might. Why? Because the larger screen, with the ability to magnify and resize text easily, would be appealing to them, especially in conjunction with the new iBooks app. They would be able to use an eReader on a larger scale that would be backlit and easy to read. The same applies to any webpage, now that the older generation are also becoming a part of the new technological world. The topic of iBooks & the iPad as an eReader is something I'll come back to in a moment, but first I want to look at the rhetoric and presentation of this new device, from a communications standpoint.
I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I believe that it is important to examine the syntax that Jobs uses. Sure he may have overused hyperboles* like "magical" and "awesome," but they work well for him. Through his use of hyperbole Jobs has built up this product in the consumer's mind--which could help or hurt him in the future, only the sales will show. Will some consumers look into getting an iPad based on the colourful and ambitious dialogue? Maybe. Will some others criticize Apple for not living up to it? Probably, in fact, I would argue, definitely. How this plays out in sales though, remains to be seen.
Another effective strategy for the Apple team is the way they have used communication and social medias as a business tool. What's the best way to get the word out quickly these days? Social medias like twitter, where rumours of the new Apple "tablet**" have been circulating for weeks. There have been talk about the new features the iPad might employ, as well as what it will look like, and what the cost will be. What I find brilliant, when looking at this strategy from a marketing standpoint, is that Apple "accidentally slipped" a few price ranges that one should expect from the new toy, generally centering around $1000 a pop. Why does this matter? Because everyone went in expecting that sort of price, and were then shocked to find that it was only going to cost $499 (with additional data packages at $14.99 & $29.99 a month). This may seem expensive, but in comparison to the $1k we were expecting? It's a steal. Now, I will admit that this may have also hurt them in a way. By releasing a higher price, they made the public expect a larger product, like a tablet computer, which is not what this is. So now the public's attention might be shifted (as my friend Mike pointed out again just now) more towards what the iPad isn't, based on rumours and early projections, and less on what it actually is. But make no mistake, it's still a great way to market and make the product seem as if it has more value. Not to mention that the web has been craving for any solid data for months, creating all sort of buzz. By keeping most things under wraps, this works in the same way that GoogleWave did in that people want to know more, simply to be in the know. We're a very nosy society that way, and Apple is great at using that in their favour. They keep it a secret and therefore we want to know. And as soon as any hard data gets out, it's everywhere. Even now, hours later, 7 out of the top 10 topics trending worldwide on twitter are related to Apple, the iPad, and the release this morning (also how it will compare/compete with Amazon's kindle). Social media is a great thing for this, creating all sorts of hype.
Possible Effects for Publishing & the eReader Market
This new device is probably going to be used primarily as a multimedia device, and I don't see anyone writing anything long form such as novels on it, at least not without the aid of the keyboard dock***, but I do see people using it to watch movies and listen to music. The new larger screen even makes it somewhat superior over the iPhone in that it allows high definition videos to play on YouTube. More and more I am finding that I--as well as many others--cannot view a video on YouTube in regular dimensions because it has been recorded to be viewed in high def. And really, if you have the option, high def is the way to go, so it's great to see that in a device such as this (I'm still unsure of what to describe it as). But one thing I think the iPad is going to be great for is that it can be used as an eReader with the new application, iBooks. What is iBooks? Think kindle, only Apple. In the presentation today Apple even said that they would be using the same kind of idea--as well as interface--as Amazon's highly-acclaimed Kindle. And with the ebook market growing so rapidly****, it's no shock that Apple would want to get in on the action. Like I mentioned previously, this ebook is something that others are not: it's big. That may sound silly and obvious, but it's true, and that's going to appeal to a lot of readers out there. It is all the convenience of an eReader, on a bigger format, and one you can easily maneuver thanks to the touchscreen technology. Something else that you can do with the new iPad is you can buy books right from the iTunes store without having to connect with a computer to do so. Plus, there are already so many free ebooks online free that you can read! But the great thing? A lot of large publishing houses have teamed up with Apple to make iBooks work. Some may even be releasing books earlier on iBooks than they will for the Kindle, Sony, & Nooks--spelling trouble for companies who previously held the market and now may have bigger competition than they expected.
So what will this do to publishing? Well, I predict that we will see an increase in ebook sales, or rather, a continuation of a trend that is already in place. Though this might also speed that up. Another thing is that prices may go down as these companies compete with each other, and that could be a huge problem for hard copy books, a market that is already taking a hit from ebooks. Who wants to spend $20 or more on a hardcover book, or even $10 on a paperback, if soon you will be able to buy many books online for far less--or even free? How this, and also other digital readers like the Kindle, will affect the publishing market remains to be seen, but you can be sure that the market is there for an eReader and that it's not about to go away. Another thing this may do for publishing is, again, an extension of a trend that is already there, but some publishers may choose to release a book only in ebook format, possibly only on iBooks. This could be good or bad for marketing, but it saves on publishing costs (especially those of overprinting a book, which could also be disastrous for a novelist), and it creates a kind of exclusivity for that book, making readers value a digital reader, and possibly one eReader over another.
These are all very early predictions for something that was just released today, but certainly things to think about. I would be very interested in what others have to say, so please, let's get a discussion going in the comments. Again, this is not a technology blog and I am focusing on this new iPad from a communicative, rhetorical, and publishing standpoint, so I am looking for things primarily related to those subjects.
And thank you for reading this far, that was a lot to take in, I know.
*Is an overuse of hyperbole redundant in and of itself?
**I would argue now that this is not a tablet computer, nor is it the new version of the iPhone rumoured to come out sometime this quarter, but it is somewhere in between and therefore we cannot truly call it a tablet any longer.
***Which, I must say, looks really shiny. And is a great idea, because it then makes the iPad into a touchscreen desktop computer. I think that's a huge selling point, at least for me. I don't mention this because again, this is not a blog to look at the technological aspects, you can find those anywhere else.
****I refer you to this very interesting article on ebooks & advertising that features Maureen Johnson!
Communications - Audience, Rhetoric & Presentation
What I like about Steve Jobs is that he is not the corporate CEO archetype. When Jobs showed up on stage earlier this morning to present the new Apple gadget, he was wearing jeans and tennis shoes. Not exactly what you would expect from the head of a leading technology company on the day of its big presentation. In doing this he presents himself to the people as one of the people, as someone just like them. Now, this is a great strategy for gathering attention, reaching out to those who are not the technology-following geeks, and essentially it helps them identify with Jobs. What they see is an average man sitting on his couch using the new iPad. Jobs is showing the community at large that they too can easily use and apply this new technology to their everyday lives, they don't need to be technology wizzes in order to understand it. In fact, for many people who already have the iPhone or the iPod Touch, the technology may not be that much different. That's two (or arguably three) audiences that Jobs is already appealing to in his presentation, without having to say anything yet, and then you add in the technophiles of all sorts and you have a ready-made fanbase. And, he's also adding one more audience: those who have trouble viewing small screens. Now, I'm not saying that the elderly are going to pick up the new iPad or anything like that, but they might. Why? Because the larger screen, with the ability to magnify and resize text easily, would be appealing to them, especially in conjunction with the new iBooks app. They would be able to use an eReader on a larger scale that would be backlit and easy to read. The same applies to any webpage, now that the older generation are also becoming a part of the new technological world. The topic of iBooks & the iPad as an eReader is something I'll come back to in a moment, but first I want to look at the rhetoric and presentation of this new device, from a communications standpoint.
I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I believe that it is important to examine the syntax that Jobs uses. Sure he may have overused hyperboles* like "magical" and "awesome," but they work well for him. Through his use of hyperbole Jobs has built up this product in the consumer's mind--which could help or hurt him in the future, only the sales will show. Will some consumers look into getting an iPad based on the colourful and ambitious dialogue? Maybe. Will some others criticize Apple for not living up to it? Probably, in fact, I would argue, definitely. How this plays out in sales though, remains to be seen.
Another effective strategy for the Apple team is the way they have used communication and social medias as a business tool. What's the best way to get the word out quickly these days? Social medias like twitter, where rumours of the new Apple "tablet**" have been circulating for weeks. There have been talk about the new features the iPad might employ, as well as what it will look like, and what the cost will be. What I find brilliant, when looking at this strategy from a marketing standpoint, is that Apple "accidentally slipped" a few price ranges that one should expect from the new toy, generally centering around $1000 a pop. Why does this matter? Because everyone went in expecting that sort of price, and were then shocked to find that it was only going to cost $499 (with additional data packages at $14.99 & $29.99 a month). This may seem expensive, but in comparison to the $1k we were expecting? It's a steal. Now, I will admit that this may have also hurt them in a way. By releasing a higher price, they made the public expect a larger product, like a tablet computer, which is not what this is. So now the public's attention might be shifted (as my friend Mike pointed out again just now) more towards what the iPad isn't, based on rumours and early projections, and less on what it actually is. But make no mistake, it's still a great way to market and make the product seem as if it has more value. Not to mention that the web has been craving for any solid data for months, creating all sort of buzz. By keeping most things under wraps, this works in the same way that GoogleWave did in that people want to know more, simply to be in the know. We're a very nosy society that way, and Apple is great at using that in their favour. They keep it a secret and therefore we want to know. And as soon as any hard data gets out, it's everywhere. Even now, hours later, 7 out of the top 10 topics trending worldwide on twitter are related to Apple, the iPad, and the release this morning (also how it will compare/compete with Amazon's kindle). Social media is a great thing for this, creating all sorts of hype.
Possible Effects for Publishing & the eReader Market
This new device is probably going to be used primarily as a multimedia device, and I don't see anyone writing anything long form such as novels on it, at least not without the aid of the keyboard dock***, but I do see people using it to watch movies and listen to music. The new larger screen even makes it somewhat superior over the iPhone in that it allows high definition videos to play on YouTube. More and more I am finding that I--as well as many others--cannot view a video on YouTube in regular dimensions because it has been recorded to be viewed in high def. And really, if you have the option, high def is the way to go, so it's great to see that in a device such as this (I'm still unsure of what to describe it as). But one thing I think the iPad is going to be great for is that it can be used as an eReader with the new application, iBooks. What is iBooks? Think kindle, only Apple. In the presentation today Apple even said that they would be using the same kind of idea--as well as interface--as Amazon's highly-acclaimed Kindle. And with the ebook market growing so rapidly****, it's no shock that Apple would want to get in on the action. Like I mentioned previously, this ebook is something that others are not: it's big. That may sound silly and obvious, but it's true, and that's going to appeal to a lot of readers out there. It is all the convenience of an eReader, on a bigger format, and one you can easily maneuver thanks to the touchscreen technology. Something else that you can do with the new iPad is you can buy books right from the iTunes store without having to connect with a computer to do so. Plus, there are already so many free ebooks online free that you can read! But the great thing? A lot of large publishing houses have teamed up with Apple to make iBooks work. Some may even be releasing books earlier on iBooks than they will for the Kindle, Sony, & Nooks--spelling trouble for companies who previously held the market and now may have bigger competition than they expected.
So what will this do to publishing? Well, I predict that we will see an increase in ebook sales, or rather, a continuation of a trend that is already in place. Though this might also speed that up. Another thing is that prices may go down as these companies compete with each other, and that could be a huge problem for hard copy books, a market that is already taking a hit from ebooks. Who wants to spend $20 or more on a hardcover book, or even $10 on a paperback, if soon you will be able to buy many books online for far less--or even free? How this, and also other digital readers like the Kindle, will affect the publishing market remains to be seen, but you can be sure that the market is there for an eReader and that it's not about to go away. Another thing this may do for publishing is, again, an extension of a trend that is already there, but some publishers may choose to release a book only in ebook format, possibly only on iBooks. This could be good or bad for marketing, but it saves on publishing costs (especially those of overprinting a book, which could also be disastrous for a novelist), and it creates a kind of exclusivity for that book, making readers value a digital reader, and possibly one eReader over another.
These are all very early predictions for something that was just released today, but certainly things to think about. I would be very interested in what others have to say, so please, let's get a discussion going in the comments. Again, this is not a technology blog and I am focusing on this new iPad from a communicative, rhetorical, and publishing standpoint, so I am looking for things primarily related to those subjects.
And thank you for reading this far, that was a lot to take in, I know.
*Is an overuse of hyperbole redundant in and of itself?
**I would argue now that this is not a tablet computer, nor is it the new version of the iPhone rumoured to come out sometime this quarter, but it is somewhere in between and therefore we cannot truly call it a tablet any longer.
***Which, I must say, looks really shiny. And is a great idea, because it then makes the iPad into a touchscreen desktop computer. I think that's a huge selling point, at least for me. I don't mention this because again, this is not a blog to look at the technological aspects, you can find those anywhere else.
****I refer you to this very interesting article on ebooks & advertising that features Maureen Johnson!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Girls and Breaking Out of the Boxes
I don't normally post anything personal here, but I don't think this is just me and I feel like I should address it somewhere. Here seemed as good a place as any.
My friend Jordyn, of Ten Cent Notes did a piece awhile back that was printed in Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires Up Their Lives Today and was afterwards interviewed by Bitch Magazine, which you can read here. I have yet to read Jordyn's piece (no worries, I soon will), but the interview struck a chord with me.
This part especially:
I spoke briefly with Jordyn after she posted that, telling her how I liked that bit and we had this little interchange over twitter:
And, honestly guys? I don't think that's too far off from what most girls want. This is also something that I believe most girls have dealt with in life, too, and not just in high school. From the time we are young we, as girls and boys, are taught a duality for how women are to be perceived. It's something women have fought against for a long time, but has become so engrained in our lifestyles and in the media that it's hard to break free from it. There are the pretty girls, and there are the smart girls. But do we ever look at a pretty girl, say, the homecoming queen, and think "wow she's so intelligent"? Or look at a really smart girl, the bookworm in your calculus class with the glasses, and talk about how gorgeous she is? I don't see a lot of that happening around here, to be honest.
As I mentioned in the quote above, I've been perceived as both pretty and smart, but never can I think of an instance where it has happened at the same time. I have had guys come up to me and hit on me without ever having spoken to me, because they think I'm pretty (and for the record, I hate that). I'm more than my looks, and I want people to see that. Or sometimes I write something really great, or give a good speech, and someone tells me how smart I am. Like Jordyn, I feel that the word "smart" can sometimes mean "boring." Smart girls aren't exactly known for having fun or being fun, and in the media especially, they are rarely portrayed as pretty.
So we get put into boxes, like Jordyn says, and we feel like we're stuck there. Sometimes, we are--but that's only because the girl accepts her fate to remain there. A "smart" girl gives up on her looks, why should she bother if no one is going to notice? A "pretty" girl gives up on her studies. Why does it matter when everyone tells her she can get by without them? It's a cycle spurred on by those very same girls who are trapped within it.
I'm not saying we can start a revolution here, because that can't happen overnight. What we can do though, is start with one girl. Maybe it's a guy telling the bookworm she's pretty, maybe it's telling the model that something she said had depth and meaning. There are girls like that out there, most girls are not one or the other, despite which box she's been thrown into. All a girl wants is to be accepted for all that she is, not for one quality or the other, and we should be able to see that in them. Not only that, but we should tell them, because sometimes they've been in one box too long to see that they can break free. The pretty girls don't always think they are pretty, and the smart girls don't always feel so smart. Sometimes, all a person needs is someone else to remind them of how great they are. That's not such a hard thing to do. It's a start, anyway.
Thoughts on the subject? Experience with it? Share them in the comments please!
My friend Jordyn, of Ten Cent Notes did a piece awhile back that was printed in Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires Up Their Lives Today and was afterwards interviewed by Bitch Magazine, which you can read here. I have yet to read Jordyn's piece (no worries, I soon will), but the interview struck a chord with me.
This part especially:
On the biggest misconceptions about teenage girls in America: The idea of "pretty or smart." Many girls are both, but everyone gets lumped into one category or the other in spite of it, and sometimes that holds girls back. A lot of times it's hard to step out of the box others put you in, even if you want to, and I think it's especially difficult for girls, because the lines are firmly drawn.
I spoke briefly with Jordyn after she posted that, telling her how I liked that bit and we had this little interchange over twitter:
Jordyn: I've had guys tell me that I "look smart". I kind of figured that was code for "boring". lol
Me: I've gotten both, but never at the same time. I'm either smart & boring/nothing special, or I'm pretty with nothing to offer. And I really hate that. I want someone to think I'm pretty (even when I don't) and to tell me I'm special (even when I'm not).
And, honestly guys? I don't think that's too far off from what most girls want. This is also something that I believe most girls have dealt with in life, too, and not just in high school. From the time we are young we, as girls and boys, are taught a duality for how women are to be perceived. It's something women have fought against for a long time, but has become so engrained in our lifestyles and in the media that it's hard to break free from it. There are the pretty girls, and there are the smart girls. But do we ever look at a pretty girl, say, the homecoming queen, and think "wow she's so intelligent"? Or look at a really smart girl, the bookworm in your calculus class with the glasses, and talk about how gorgeous she is? I don't see a lot of that happening around here, to be honest.
As I mentioned in the quote above, I've been perceived as both pretty and smart, but never can I think of an instance where it has happened at the same time. I have had guys come up to me and hit on me without ever having spoken to me, because they think I'm pretty (and for the record, I hate that). I'm more than my looks, and I want people to see that. Or sometimes I write something really great, or give a good speech, and someone tells me how smart I am. Like Jordyn, I feel that the word "smart" can sometimes mean "boring." Smart girls aren't exactly known for having fun or being fun, and in the media especially, they are rarely portrayed as pretty.
So we get put into boxes, like Jordyn says, and we feel like we're stuck there. Sometimes, we are--but that's only because the girl accepts her fate to remain there. A "smart" girl gives up on her looks, why should she bother if no one is going to notice? A "pretty" girl gives up on her studies. Why does it matter when everyone tells her she can get by without them? It's a cycle spurred on by those very same girls who are trapped within it.
I'm not saying we can start a revolution here, because that can't happen overnight. What we can do though, is start with one girl. Maybe it's a guy telling the bookworm she's pretty, maybe it's telling the model that something she said had depth and meaning. There are girls like that out there, most girls are not one or the other, despite which box she's been thrown into. All a girl wants is to be accepted for all that she is, not for one quality or the other, and we should be able to see that in them. Not only that, but we should tell them, because sometimes they've been in one box too long to see that they can break free. The pretty girls don't always think they are pretty, and the smart girls don't always feel so smart. Sometimes, all a person needs is someone else to remind them of how great they are. That's not such a hard thing to do. It's a start, anyway.
Thoughts on the subject? Experience with it? Share them in the comments please!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Money Issues in YA vs Adult Books
I generally reserve this blog for reviews, links, and other "formal" bookish stuff. In my mind there are "blogs" and then there's stuff to put up on my LiveJournal. I'm going to try to redefine my idea of "blog" this summer and work more personal thoughts into this, instead of only reviews. Whenever I want to say something about a book or literature, I will say it. I'll still leave out spoilers, of course.
Generally, I believe that children's literature (including Young Adult) holds more positive qualities than adult literature does, but this isn't the case in all areas. The biggest thing for me, lately, is that in regards to money, adult books seem more realistic. There's a simple reason for this: adults worry about money more. Because they spend their lives working for that money, and they have to pay the bills for water, heat, electricity, medical, insurance, etc etc etc. Then they have to buy groceries and toilet paper and rubber bands. Whatever. The point is, adults are constantly aware of how much money is going in, and how much money is going out. This is reflected in book catered to the adult audience. We see many issues of money in this genre: characters needing to pay rent, or trying to get a raise, worrying about how they'll pay their medical bills whenever something goes wrong.
In children's books, you don't see this. First off, because children don't pay their own expenses, they rely on their parents. This doesn't mean that children don't worry about money. When do we get to read the stories about the child who hides in the bathroom for the first ten minutes of lunch period so they can be at the end of the food line so that no one is around to hear them when they tell the lunch lady they get a free lunch? The story of the kid who has to buy all their clothes at the second-hand store and purchase all their shoes a size or two larger because they can't afford new things all the time? The kid who doesn't go to birthday parties just so they don't have to show up without a gift because the family couldn't afford one?
We don't read these stories very often. I think the main reason of this is that children who are reading the books don't want to read about those problems all the time--especially if they're living them. They might just want to escape the problem, put themselves in place of the main character, and live like royalty for a few hours. That's totally understandable.
With YA however, I see it a little differently. Young adults are no longer children, but not yet adults. They're somewhere in the middle, age-wise, and in this issue as well. Or, at least, in my opinion, they should be. That doesn't mean that they are. This is the age, especially in the later teens, that one gets their first job and starts to pay some things on their own. Sure, these things may just be movie tickets or new cds (assuming they even buy hard copies anymore), but it's their own money, and they need to keep track of it. Even still, you don't see this as much as you would expect. Yes, in John Green's Looking For Alaska this issue is tackled through The Colonel, who is always having Pudge pay for his cigarettes because he can't afford them. We go to his trailer even. But the thing is, the Colonel, much as I love him, is not the main character here. He's not the narrator either. It's all Pudge, and Pudge has the money to pay for cigarettes for both of them, to pay for McDonald's, and his family can easily afford the private school. Generally, the main characters have money. This may also go back to how poverty-stricken children want to escape their money issues through literature, but it may just be a way to make things easier on the author. Things are so much easier to get going if the character can afford them.
Still, there are books that address these issues, I'm not saying there aren't. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a great example. The family is having financial troubles and are barely keeping their head above water at the point where the story begins. The hotel is beginning to fall into disrepair and we see the ways this impacts the family members. It's great, and more than that, it's believable. It's something that some of us can relate to. So why aren't there more books out there like this one? Why do our main characters always have to be upper middle class with spare cash and cars (even if they're not new)? Will books featuring a few money issues (even small ones) become more popular in our current economic situation, or will we see rise to more books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the poor boy finds the golden ticket--a way to rise above the current situation? I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything mentioned. Leave them in the comments.
Generally, I believe that children's literature (including Young Adult) holds more positive qualities than adult literature does, but this isn't the case in all areas. The biggest thing for me, lately, is that in regards to money, adult books seem more realistic. There's a simple reason for this: adults worry about money more. Because they spend their lives working for that money, and they have to pay the bills for water, heat, electricity, medical, insurance, etc etc etc. Then they have to buy groceries and toilet paper and rubber bands. Whatever. The point is, adults are constantly aware of how much money is going in, and how much money is going out. This is reflected in book catered to the adult audience. We see many issues of money in this genre: characters needing to pay rent, or trying to get a raise, worrying about how they'll pay their medical bills whenever something goes wrong.
In children's books, you don't see this. First off, because children don't pay their own expenses, they rely on their parents. This doesn't mean that children don't worry about money. When do we get to read the stories about the child who hides in the bathroom for the first ten minutes of lunch period so they can be at the end of the food line so that no one is around to hear them when they tell the lunch lady they get a free lunch? The story of the kid who has to buy all their clothes at the second-hand store and purchase all their shoes a size or two larger because they can't afford new things all the time? The kid who doesn't go to birthday parties just so they don't have to show up without a gift because the family couldn't afford one?
We don't read these stories very often. I think the main reason of this is that children who are reading the books don't want to read about those problems all the time--especially if they're living them. They might just want to escape the problem, put themselves in place of the main character, and live like royalty for a few hours. That's totally understandable.
With YA however, I see it a little differently. Young adults are no longer children, but not yet adults. They're somewhere in the middle, age-wise, and in this issue as well. Or, at least, in my opinion, they should be. That doesn't mean that they are. This is the age, especially in the later teens, that one gets their first job and starts to pay some things on their own. Sure, these things may just be movie tickets or new cds (assuming they even buy hard copies anymore), but it's their own money, and they need to keep track of it. Even still, you don't see this as much as you would expect. Yes, in John Green's Looking For Alaska this issue is tackled through The Colonel, who is always having Pudge pay for his cigarettes because he can't afford them. We go to his trailer even. But the thing is, the Colonel, much as I love him, is not the main character here. He's not the narrator either. It's all Pudge, and Pudge has the money to pay for cigarettes for both of them, to pay for McDonald's, and his family can easily afford the private school. Generally, the main characters have money. This may also go back to how poverty-stricken children want to escape their money issues through literature, but it may just be a way to make things easier on the author. Things are so much easier to get going if the character can afford them.
Still, there are books that address these issues, I'm not saying there aren't. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a great example. The family is having financial troubles and are barely keeping their head above water at the point where the story begins. The hotel is beginning to fall into disrepair and we see the ways this impacts the family members. It's great, and more than that, it's believable. It's something that some of us can relate to. So why aren't there more books out there like this one? Why do our main characters always have to be upper middle class with spare cash and cars (even if they're not new)? Will books featuring a few money issues (even small ones) become more popular in our current economic situation, or will we see rise to more books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the poor boy finds the golden ticket--a way to rise above the current situation? I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything mentioned. Leave them in the comments.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Technology & its Influence on Publishing
[Originally posted 21 April 09 on the 5NerdsomeWriters collaborative blog.]
Last week I finished reading The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot and I loved it. I loved the main character for her gumption (though she could be irrational at times), her best friend for her fiery spirit, and John for being an all around great guy, even if he lied from the very beginning. I liked watching the story unfold and seeing how a web of lies can ruin things for a character. Most of all, I liked seeing how they entire book was presented through a series of emails. And I do mean the entire book. Not one bit of dialogue or pretty prose outside of those emails interchanged. It meant that we might not get all the details we wanted in a certain situation, but we got to read a book in a new way, something fresh and modern. I'm not saying I want all books to be written in this format--in fact, far from, because I would really hate that--but it was neat to see it here.
As some of you know (because I brag on Twitter...sorry) I'm a beta reader for Jordyn Turney's novel-in-progress Love or Something Like It (LOLSI for short, we realize that is not the correct acronym). Her novel is presented in a very similar way, but I think for a better reason. LOLSI uses not only email, but IM, Facebook, & Twitter as well. Why? Because the main characters are teens and this is how they communicate with each other. These two aren't exactly the first of their kind to come about, there have been others (like Lauren Myracle's TTYL which I want to read soon). Like I mentioned with LOLSI, the format really has to fit the book for it to work, but at the same time, I'm predicting an increase in sales in these kinds of books because they are the social norm for teens and even juvenile readers these days--that's how they understand messages, so why not publish their books in that format? But y'know, if you're writing about 18th century England? I don't think IM is the correct format for your book, just saying.
It just goes to show how technology has a huge effect on the publishing industry and books. Before the printing press the majority of people were illiterate because why should they learn to read when there were no books available? Also, you couldn't be sure of the exact meaning of a text because new copies were made (and often translated) by monks who would change the wording or the meaning to reflect their personal and religious beliefs. Beowulf is a perfect example of that. Even after the printing press, not many knew how to read, it wasn't until the Turks invaded that books and technology returned to the western world (they called them the dark ages for a reason, it was like we went back 1000 years in time, lost a lot of tech & literature). And now books are in decline again, taking a back seat to anything electronic (though ebooks have yet to pass hard copies, thankfully), and someday, who knows? Maybe we won't have books anymore, at least, not in the format we know them as. At the same time, it is equally possible that books will outlast modern technology, seeing how long they've lasted already. Only time will tell.
[On a side note, my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel had some parts that were presented in facebook messages or IM because that's what the characters used. I doubt this book will ever make it to publication though because I doubt I'll ever want to finish it. 2/3rds through the month I started to hate it, soo...yeah. Not gonna happen.]
Okay, that got a little long, but I'm serious when I say it could have been much longer if I talked about all the technological advances (even just the big ones) and historical events that affected publishing and literacy throughout history. I know a lot...on the bright side I'll pass my theatre history test this unit!
Last week I finished reading The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot and I loved it. I loved the main character for her gumption (though she could be irrational at times), her best friend for her fiery spirit, and John for being an all around great guy, even if he lied from the very beginning. I liked watching the story unfold and seeing how a web of lies can ruin things for a character. Most of all, I liked seeing how they entire book was presented through a series of emails. And I do mean the entire book. Not one bit of dialogue or pretty prose outside of those emails interchanged. It meant that we might not get all the details we wanted in a certain situation, but we got to read a book in a new way, something fresh and modern. I'm not saying I want all books to be written in this format--in fact, far from, because I would really hate that--but it was neat to see it here.
As some of you know (because I brag on Twitter...sorry) I'm a beta reader for Jordyn Turney's novel-in-progress Love or Something Like It (LOLSI for short, we realize that is not the correct acronym). Her novel is presented in a very similar way, but I think for a better reason. LOLSI uses not only email, but IM, Facebook, & Twitter as well. Why? Because the main characters are teens and this is how they communicate with each other. These two aren't exactly the first of their kind to come about, there have been others (like Lauren Myracle's TTYL which I want to read soon). Like I mentioned with LOLSI, the format really has to fit the book for it to work, but at the same time, I'm predicting an increase in sales in these kinds of books because they are the social norm for teens and even juvenile readers these days--that's how they understand messages, so why not publish their books in that format? But y'know, if you're writing about 18th century England? I don't think IM is the correct format for your book, just saying.
It just goes to show how technology has a huge effect on the publishing industry and books. Before the printing press the majority of people were illiterate because why should they learn to read when there were no books available? Also, you couldn't be sure of the exact meaning of a text because new copies were made (and often translated) by monks who would change the wording or the meaning to reflect their personal and religious beliefs. Beowulf is a perfect example of that. Even after the printing press, not many knew how to read, it wasn't until the Turks invaded that books and technology returned to the western world (they called them the dark ages for a reason, it was like we went back 1000 years in time, lost a lot of tech & literature). And now books are in decline again, taking a back seat to anything electronic (though ebooks have yet to pass hard copies, thankfully), and someday, who knows? Maybe we won't have books anymore, at least, not in the format we know them as. At the same time, it is equally possible that books will outlast modern technology, seeing how long they've lasted already. Only time will tell.
[On a side note, my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel had some parts that were presented in facebook messages or IM because that's what the characters used. I doubt this book will ever make it to publication though because I doubt I'll ever want to finish it. 2/3rds through the month I started to hate it, soo...yeah. Not gonna happen.]
Okay, that got a little long, but I'm serious when I say it could have been much longer if I talked about all the technological advances (even just the big ones) and historical events that affected publishing and literacy throughout history. I know a lot...on the bright side I'll pass my theatre history test this unit!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
BEDA09: Day 7: You Will Never Find the Perfect Swimsuit
Yay! I made it a whole week so far!
Just get that through your head right now. Unless of course you are a mannequin, in which case I'm a little afraid and will avoid you. No offense to you personally, I just have a fear of mannequins. Anyway...moving on.
Now, this may be different for guys because I don't have any experience in buying men's swim trunks, but this is true for women. Swimsuits are not made for you. They are made to make you feel like a lesser version of yourself. They do this through size discrimination. And really, it doesn't matter what size you are, the swimsuit business discriminates against you.
If you are really tiny: All the suits are too big for you. Sorry.
If you are small: You cannot have those cute skirt bottoms. This is what I spent a long time looking for today. I'm a size 4 and I have big thighs and I think the skirt bottoms look better than the others. What are those called anyway, the ones that look like panties? I don't know. But they don't make skirt or short bottoms for anyone under size 10, which is very unfair.
If you are a medium size: There is nothing in your size either, sorry. This is a scheme to convince you that you are too big, which you are not.
If you are a bigger size: There are no cute suits. This is also a scheme to convince you that you are too big to wear a suit, which you are not.
The media & the swimsuit industries are out to ruin your self-esteem. They want to make shopping for a swimsuit as painful as possible so that you will go home & starve yourself. Or take some sort of diet pills. They want you to become horribly anorexic, which by the way, is not sexy.
But who cares what the swimsuit industry thinks? GO SWIMMING ANYWAY. REBEL. BE HAPPY WITH THE WAY YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. DON'T GIVE INTO THEM.
Just get that through your head right now. Unless of course you are a mannequin, in which case I'm a little afraid and will avoid you. No offense to you personally, I just have a fear of mannequins. Anyway...moving on.
Now, this may be different for guys because I don't have any experience in buying men's swim trunks, but this is true for women. Swimsuits are not made for you. They are made to make you feel like a lesser version of yourself. They do this through size discrimination. And really, it doesn't matter what size you are, the swimsuit business discriminates against you.
If you are really tiny: All the suits are too big for you. Sorry.
If you are small: You cannot have those cute skirt bottoms. This is what I spent a long time looking for today. I'm a size 4 and I have big thighs and I think the skirt bottoms look better than the others. What are those called anyway, the ones that look like panties? I don't know. But they don't make skirt or short bottoms for anyone under size 10, which is very unfair.
If you are a medium size: There is nothing in your size either, sorry. This is a scheme to convince you that you are too big, which you are not.
If you are a bigger size: There are no cute suits. This is also a scheme to convince you that you are too big to wear a suit, which you are not.
The media & the swimsuit industries are out to ruin your self-esteem. They want to make shopping for a swimsuit as painful as possible so that you will go home & starve yourself. Or take some sort of diet pills. They want you to become horribly anorexic, which by the way, is not sexy.
But who cares what the swimsuit industry thinks? GO SWIMMING ANYWAY. REBEL. BE HAPPY WITH THE WAY YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. DON'T GIVE INTO THEM.
Monday, April 06, 2009
BEDA09: Day 6: Meeting Guys & Girls at the Gym & Why This is a Bad Idea
Okay, so today I finally had the time and the determination to take that little card over to Cardinal Fitness to get my free day's worth of a workout. I have had this card for a few weeks now, ever since my co-worker Susan gave it to me. First off, this was not an insult or a hint to loose a few pounds. I work at Jenny Craig and Susan had just worked out a little deal with the guy at Cardinal so that they would each refer clients to the other and he gave her a whole stack of day passes. She offered one to me and I took it.
Fast forward to today when I finally go. I show up, walk straight to the front desk and say to the three people standing there "I need some information on joining up, please." I said please because I am generally a polite person. The guy looks at me, slides a little clipboard over and has me write down some information (they will likely use this info to bother me by phone tomorrow, or by mail next week). One of the girls wanders off, and the other one turns to the guy and says "I got this one." He looks at her and says "Nah, it's cool," then turns to me and offers to show me around. I get a short tour of this place, and it's pretty small, honestly.
Now, I need to mention something here. This trainer is cute, he is very cute. Not my type really, but cute. He had nice hair and about a billion freckles. He smiled a lot. So I think I only heard about 80% of what he said (which honestly is only slightly less than usual...ADD child here) because I was trying to figure out not how to get his number (I'm happy with my current situation, thanks), but why fitness trainers are all so good looking. Yes, they are healthy and healthy is attractive, but come on, you get a lot of your looks from genes. So is there a gene that makes you want to work in a health club? Are you somehow drawn to gyms because your great-great-aunt on your mother's side was once a world class gymnasts' trainer? I have no idea. I didn't have time to figure this out or ask him questions about his lineage (which would be weird, but not completely out of character for me), because he immediately started trying to sell me the program. By the way, the deal changed and I could no longer join for $10; I'm not happy about that. We'll get back to that point though in a minute.
I whip out my pretty little card and say "Actually, I want to use this today." Freckle Boy looked disheartened (I wonder if they work on commission) but he took my card and my ID (I'm not sure why) and tells me to have fun. I ask him where the ladies locker room is because he didn't say or because I was too distracting wondering about his great-great aunt on his mother's side. Who I suspect was secretly Irish, but moved to Russia because that's where the gymnasts were at the time. This is beside the point though.
A few minutes later I'm on that treadmill and I'm wondering a few things. The thought that kept coming up though was why do people always want to meet someone at the gym? This is a horrible place to find a potential date people!! Yes, your date will be healthy and maybe muscular and/or athletic. Or they could be like you and just pretending to get a proper workout while on the prowl for a date. Plus, now think long & hard about this one: do you really want to meet someone while you're all sweaty & gross? More importantly, do you want to meet someone while THEY are all sweaty & gross? I don't know about you, but I don't. Plus, if you get the date and they turn out to be a horrible person that you never want to see again, how do you face them at the gym next time?
From what I observed today with my free day pass is that no one really wants to meet someone at the gym. Okay, that's not true. Everyone wants to meet someone somewhere and the gym is not off-limits. There were people checking each other out, but in the end, the gym is not an ideal place to meet someone. Most people just plugged in their headphones and walked on the treadmill or sat on a bike. Headphones are the perfect thing to send the "I-Don't-Want-To-Talk-To-Anyone-Now" vibe. It works about 93% of the time, try it. Some girls were texting on their phones (I'm not being sexist, I'm just reporting what I saw), which gives off the I'd-Rather-Talk-To-Someone-Else vibe, which may be even more effective at getting people to leave you alone. It's easier to listen to music though if you're running. Most women did not wear a lot of makeup, because they were working out. They're going to get all nasty anyway, why go through the hassle of getting pretty first? It's a waste of time and effort. No one dresses up to look nice when they go to the gym--it's simply impractical.
So, tell me, why do people always think that when they join a gym they'll meet someone fabulous and amazing to sweep them off their feet (or someone you can sweep off their feet)? There are thousands of places better to meet someone! Unless, of course, cute, freckle-faced trainers who were somewhere along the line secretly Irish, then by all means, join the gym and if I decide that it's not worth going to my first choice gym and go to Cardinal, then we can work out together. I'll even talk to Freckle Boy for you & be your wing-girl. It's something I'm good at. But if that's not what you want, ignore the stories and look for someone where you are comfortable.
If you like books and want to meet a cute, Nerdfighting girl who likes books also, try Barnes & Noble. If you are caffeine-addicted and want to meet a nice guy who doesn't make fun of you for drinking four cups an hour, try Starbucks. There's always the internet, but be careful there. And if you're in Chicagoland and need a wing-girl who writes really long blogs like this one, call me.
Fast forward to today when I finally go. I show up, walk straight to the front desk and say to the three people standing there "I need some information on joining up, please." I said please because I am generally a polite person. The guy looks at me, slides a little clipboard over and has me write down some information (they will likely use this info to bother me by phone tomorrow, or by mail next week). One of the girls wanders off, and the other one turns to the guy and says "I got this one." He looks at her and says "Nah, it's cool," then turns to me and offers to show me around. I get a short tour of this place, and it's pretty small, honestly.
Now, I need to mention something here. This trainer is cute, he is very cute. Not my type really, but cute. He had nice hair and about a billion freckles. He smiled a lot. So I think I only heard about 80% of what he said (which honestly is only slightly less than usual...ADD child here) because I was trying to figure out not how to get his number (I'm happy with my current situation, thanks), but why fitness trainers are all so good looking. Yes, they are healthy and healthy is attractive, but come on, you get a lot of your looks from genes. So is there a gene that makes you want to work in a health club? Are you somehow drawn to gyms because your great-great-aunt on your mother's side was once a world class gymnasts' trainer? I have no idea. I didn't have time to figure this out or ask him questions about his lineage (which would be weird, but not completely out of character for me), because he immediately started trying to sell me the program. By the way, the deal changed and I could no longer join for $10; I'm not happy about that. We'll get back to that point though in a minute.
I whip out my pretty little card and say "Actually, I want to use this today." Freckle Boy looked disheartened (I wonder if they work on commission) but he took my card and my ID (I'm not sure why) and tells me to have fun. I ask him where the ladies locker room is because he didn't say or because I was too distracting wondering about his great-great aunt on his mother's side. Who I suspect was secretly Irish, but moved to Russia because that's where the gymnasts were at the time. This is beside the point though.
A few minutes later I'm on that treadmill and I'm wondering a few things. The thought that kept coming up though was why do people always want to meet someone at the gym? This is a horrible place to find a potential date people!! Yes, your date will be healthy and maybe muscular and/or athletic. Or they could be like you and just pretending to get a proper workout while on the prowl for a date. Plus, now think long & hard about this one: do you really want to meet someone while you're all sweaty & gross? More importantly, do you want to meet someone while THEY are all sweaty & gross? I don't know about you, but I don't. Plus, if you get the date and they turn out to be a horrible person that you never want to see again, how do you face them at the gym next time?
From what I observed today with my free day pass is that no one really wants to meet someone at the gym. Okay, that's not true. Everyone wants to meet someone somewhere and the gym is not off-limits. There were people checking each other out, but in the end, the gym is not an ideal place to meet someone. Most people just plugged in their headphones and walked on the treadmill or sat on a bike. Headphones are the perfect thing to send the "I-Don't-Want-To-Talk-To-Anyone-Now" vibe. It works about 93% of the time, try it. Some girls were texting on their phones (I'm not being sexist, I'm just reporting what I saw), which gives off the I'd-Rather-Talk-To-Someone-Else vibe, which may be even more effective at getting people to leave you alone. It's easier to listen to music though if you're running. Most women did not wear a lot of makeup, because they were working out. They're going to get all nasty anyway, why go through the hassle of getting pretty first? It's a waste of time and effort. No one dresses up to look nice when they go to the gym--it's simply impractical.
So, tell me, why do people always think that when they join a gym they'll meet someone fabulous and amazing to sweep them off their feet (or someone you can sweep off their feet)? There are thousands of places better to meet someone! Unless, of course, cute, freckle-faced trainers who were somewhere along the line secretly Irish, then by all means, join the gym and if I decide that it's not worth going to my first choice gym and go to Cardinal, then we can work out together. I'll even talk to Freckle Boy for you & be your wing-girl. It's something I'm good at. But if that's not what you want, ignore the stories and look for someone where you are comfortable.
If you like books and want to meet a cute, Nerdfighting girl who likes books also, try Barnes & Noble. If you are caffeine-addicted and want to meet a nice guy who doesn't make fun of you for drinking four cups an hour, try Starbucks. There's always the internet, but be careful there. And if you're in Chicagoland and need a wing-girl who writes really long blogs like this one, call me.
Friday, April 03, 2009
BEDA Day 3: Why I Believe Seventeen is Great
Have you ever looked at the magazines at the grocery checkout? Yes, of course you have, because there are only two things to look at while you're in that line: magazines and candy (I'm sure you look at both). And what is the one thing all those magazines have in common? Sex. Not even just sex appeal either, though there is plenty of that to be found*. All of these magazines boast that they have the best sex secrets for you! Seventeen Magazine is no exception. Except for one thing: these "secrets" are appropriate for their audience: girls 14-19. When you flip open the magazine, find the correct page, & get to reading, you'll see that all of the secrets are actually tied to young girls talking to their mothers about sex. What kind of magazine is this?! A great one, in my opinion. It doesn't say that no one should be having sex in their teens, but it does say that talking to your mother first will help, even make your sex life better! Because you will have safer sex, be more prepared, know what to expect, and feel less guilt. Your mother may also help you know when you are truly ready, and not just having sex because of pressure from boyfriends or friends or even society.
So Seventeen Magazine? Is on a list of approved reading for Jez's younger sisters. Well...the teenaged ones anyway.
*Refer to my post yesterday to read my hygienist talking about sex appeal in ads.
So Seventeen Magazine? Is on a list of approved reading for Jez's younger sisters. Well...the teenaged ones anyway.
*Refer to my post yesterday to read my hygienist talking about sex appeal in ads.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Inkheart vs Stravaganza & A Wrinkle In Time
Okay, those of you who follow me here know that I also have a blog on which I post my favorite quotes: Typeset Quotes. When I was on there today I clicked the Madeleine L'Engle tag and it took me to all of the posts on wordpress with that tag (which is odd & I don't like this feature) but it lead me to this post (which contains big spoilers for A Wrinkle in Time). In the post the author compares A Wrinkle in Time with Cornelia Funke's Inkheart. I brought this up with my friend Casye and I think that blog would have been better if they had continued with the Inkheart line of thought, because it was interesting. So I have a few points to add to what they said.
I will do my best to exclude spoilers, but I promise nothing for the little stuff. Big spoilers will not appear here, ever.
A Wrinkle in Time: main character is Meg
Inkheart: main character is Meggie
Well...yes, that's true, but I don't think that really says much about the book.
A Wrinkle in Time: father is mysteriously missing
Inkheart: mother is mysteriously missing
Okay, a good point, and a driving point in each book. This is actually a very common theme in books, to not have one parent there. It's definitely prevalent in Disney movies and I really do not understand that. The fact that one of the parents is gone is a good emotional topic with the main character. Do they feel resentment? Do they feel pain or sadness? Are they indifferent? Something like this can be taken in a lot of different ways.
Now, when we bring in the "mysteriously missing" part, we open a whole new world of questions. Where have they gone? When did they go? How did they get there? Was it against their will? Will the child find out? Does someone else know and keep this secret from the child? Will the child go to find them? Will they ever find them? These kinds of questions are the things readers wonder, and that's exactly what the author wants. These are the kinds of questions, when approached in a good way, make a great book. I think this worked out well for both of the examples listed.
A Wrinkle in Time: a stranger shows up on a stormy night (Mrs. Whatsit)
Inkheart: a stranger shows up on a stormy night (Dustfinger)
Okay, now this is the point that I really wanted to discuss. It is a very good correlation between the two books, but I think it can be taken a step farther. They are strangers that show up on a stormy night, yes, but they are also strangers who become integral to the plot and very important to the main character. Meggie would never have known about her father's gift in Inkheart if it were not for Dustfinger, nor would Meggie & Mo know about the kind of trouble they were in. If Dustfinger hadn't shown up at that time, who knows what would have happened. We may have never met Elinor! That would have been a travesty! And without Dustfinger the story would have ended at book 1 (and we wouldn't have been able to see Paul Bettany shirtless in the movie ;D )
In A Wrinkle in Time, nothing would have happened without the appearance of Mrs. Whatsit on that stormy night. We would not have known that Meg's father was still alive, that there was such a thing as a tesseract, anything about The Black Thing, never have met Mrs. Who & Mrs. Which, never gone to Uriel or anything else. We would have spent the next 100 pages sitting in the Murry's kitchen talking about how bed sheets have gone missing in the town. I don't think I am even exaggerating here. This is proof that a good character, or a good entrance, can be the deciding factor in the success of a book.
[On a side note, these are also my two favorite characters in their respective books.]
------
Now, when I was trying to think of other things to say between these books, all I could think of was how similar Inkheart was to the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. I've been thinking this a lot lately as I've just begun reading City of Secrets the fourth and newest book in the series. Let's take a look, shall we?
Inkheart: Main character can be transported in & out of book worlds
Stravaganza: City of Masks: Main character is transported between worlds with the use of a book
This is very imporant in both books, in fact, the entire plot of each book rests on this point. Inkheart would be nothing without the ability to bookjump (I'll borrow the phrase from Fforde's Thursday Next series). I mean, really, do you want to read about a book doctor? Let's spend whole chapters on how he chooses which endpapers to use. NOT. And City of Masks would have been extremely depressing if all it we read about was how Lucian was slowly dying of cancer. No, it's so much better if he gets transported to Talia where he is healthy and awesome and gets to have adventures. As readers, don't we all wish books would open themselves up to us in new ways and let us simply fall in? They already take us on adventures, but we only get to live these vicariously, wouldn't it be so much better if we experienced these for ourselves? I thought so, that's why these books are such a hit.
I need to cut this short because it's 23:49 and I have an anthropology exam at 900 which I know nothing for. But let me just add this one last thing:
Inkheart: Meggie has an aunt Elinor who is obsessed with books
Stravaganza: City of Secrets: Matt has an aunt Eva who is obsessed with books
I will try to expand on this tomorrow if I can.
To all you readers out there, I do highly recommend Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, Stravaganza: City of Maks by Mary Hoffman, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and also Thursday Next: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.
I will do my best to exclude spoilers, but I promise nothing for the little stuff. Big spoilers will not appear here, ever.
Inkheart: main character is Meggie
Well...yes, that's true, but I don't think that really says much about the book.
Inkheart: mother is mysteriously missing
Okay, a good point, and a driving point in each book. This is actually a very common theme in books, to not have one parent there. It's definitely prevalent in Disney movies and I really do not understand that. The fact that one of the parents is gone is a good emotional topic with the main character. Do they feel resentment? Do they feel pain or sadness? Are they indifferent? Something like this can be taken in a lot of different ways.
Now, when we bring in the "mysteriously missing" part, we open a whole new world of questions. Where have they gone? When did they go? How did they get there? Was it against their will? Will the child find out? Does someone else know and keep this secret from the child? Will the child go to find them? Will they ever find them? These kinds of questions are the things readers wonder, and that's exactly what the author wants. These are the kinds of questions, when approached in a good way, make a great book. I think this worked out well for both of the examples listed.
Inkheart: a stranger shows up on a stormy night (Dustfinger)
Okay, now this is the point that I really wanted to discuss. It is a very good correlation between the two books, but I think it can be taken a step farther. They are strangers that show up on a stormy night, yes, but they are also strangers who become integral to the plot and very important to the main character. Meggie would never have known about her father's gift in Inkheart if it were not for Dustfinger, nor would Meggie & Mo know about the kind of trouble they were in. If Dustfinger hadn't shown up at that time, who knows what would have happened. We may have never met Elinor! That would have been a travesty! And without Dustfinger the story would have ended at book 1 (and we wouldn't have been able to see Paul Bettany shirtless in the movie ;D )
In A Wrinkle in Time, nothing would have happened without the appearance of Mrs. Whatsit on that stormy night. We would not have known that Meg's father was still alive, that there was such a thing as a tesseract, anything about The Black Thing, never have met Mrs. Who & Mrs. Which, never gone to Uriel or anything else. We would have spent the next 100 pages sitting in the Murry's kitchen talking about how bed sheets have gone missing in the town. I don't think I am even exaggerating here. This is proof that a good character, or a good entrance, can be the deciding factor in the success of a book.
[On a side note, these are also my two favorite characters in their respective books.]
------
Now, when I was trying to think of other things to say between these books, all I could think of was how similar Inkheart was to the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. I've been thinking this a lot lately as I've just begun reading City of Secrets the fourth and newest book in the series. Let's take a look, shall we?
Inkheart: Main character can be transported in & out of book worlds
Stravaganza: City of Masks: Main character is transported between worlds with the use of a book
This is very imporant in both books, in fact, the entire plot of each book rests on this point. Inkheart would be nothing without the ability to bookjump (I'll borrow the phrase from Fforde's Thursday Next series). I mean, really, do you want to read about a book doctor? Let's spend whole chapters on how he chooses which endpapers to use. NOT. And City of Masks would have been extremely depressing if all it we read about was how Lucian was slowly dying of cancer. No, it's so much better if he gets transported to Talia where he is healthy and awesome and gets to have adventures. As readers, don't we all wish books would open themselves up to us in new ways and let us simply fall in? They already take us on adventures, but we only get to live these vicariously, wouldn't it be so much better if we experienced these for ourselves? I thought so, that's why these books are such a hit.
I need to cut this short because it's 23:49 and I have an anthropology exam at 900 which I know nothing for. But let me just add this one last thing:
Inkheart: Meggie has an aunt Elinor who is obsessed with books
Stravaganza: City of Secrets: Matt has an aunt Eva who is obsessed with books
I will try to expand on this tomorrow if I can.
To all you readers out there, I do highly recommend Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, Stravaganza: City of Maks by Mary Hoffman, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and also Thursday Next: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Top 10 Lists (as per Yahoo)
I got bored today and found a Top 10 list on Yahoo, then I began looking at the other lists they have posted for 2008 and there's a few interesting things here.
What I stared out with, before these Top 10 lists, was a list of the banned words for the coming years. These are words to be "banned" for overuse and pointlessness. Interesting to me, was that for the first time and emoticon was listed. It was <3, which I can understand with its overuse...but I still like it. One word I'm really glad to see on that list is "Maverick". A lot of the things Sarah Palin was going on about annoyed me, the first being "Joe the Plumber," the second being "Maverick." It ended up being far overused to the point of absurdity, imo. Odd ones I didn't expect were "staycation" (which is something I hadn't heard before, it apparently means not vacationing because of high gas prices) and "monkey" (this is just odd).
The Top 10 Searches on Yahoo in 2008, I find it kind of sad that "Britney Spears" is the number one searched phrase of the year, when Barack Obama is in the #3 spot. And why, may I ask, is the WWE in #2? This kind of makes me fear for the future, when our nation cares more about drama queens & wrestling than they do about politics and HISTORY. I can easily see why Miley & Naruto made it onto the list, with their fan followings being so huge, and with Cyrus's minor dramas throughout the year. I swear, people are looking for a scandal with that girl. The media apparently doesn't like a genuine good girl, they have to work so hard to find something wrong with her. What I don't understand about this list is how "RuneScape" made the #5 spot. I thought RuneScape was old and outdated by this point? Guess I was wrong. (I'm not a gamer at all, mind you)
The Top 10 News Stories. The thing that most bothers me about this list is that Patrick Swayze made it onto the list, but the Olympics didn't. Yes, China is on there, but that's not the same thing, now is it? Now, I can see why the hurricanes might come in first, but I do think that the election should hold the #2 spot. This goes back to my Top 10 searches, same argument there. I don't understand how Shelley Malil made it on the list at all.
The Top 10 Celebrities. This is the list I got to when I decided I definitely wanted to blog this (because my Twitter followers would be annoyed at me, haha). So, the 2008 "Brat Pack" is as follows (in order): Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Chris Brown, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Jamie Lynn Spears, Hayden Panettiere, Zac Efron, & Selena Gomez. First off, for the most part, I love them all. I have nothing serious against any of them (though I don't approve of JLS's pregnancy, I do approve of her keeping the child). A trend here? Most of them relate to Disney. Now, Rihanna and Chris Brown don't trace their roots back to Disney, but they have dealt with the company a few times, and Hayden was originally a Disney star. The rest are currently employed by the company in one way or another. I suppose they know how to pick their stars (and are also masters of PR). Another interesting point here is that none of them are over the age of 20 (though Rihanna will turn 21 in February). Something else is that they all make more money than you & I will ever make.
[interesting point: I am the same age as Chris Brown & Hayden Panettiere]
The Top 10 Olympians. Now here's a list that finally recognizes the Olympics! I like this list :) Coming in first, of course, is Michael Phelps. I love him, and the world loves him. And what he did was simply amazing. He really should have been on other lists, but I guess Yahoo users aren't all like me. I'm glad to see Shawn Johnson & Nastia Luikin on that list, as well as Misty May-Treanor. I'm disappointed that Keri Walsh didn't star on that list with her partner. They are a team after all.
The Top 10 Politicians. I'm glad, first of all, that Barack Obama is #1 on this list. Sarah Palin is second, which I still find ridiculous because she was a running mate, and she received more attention than McCain did. Alternately, I'm disappointed not to see Biden on this list, because if you're going to pay attention to Obama, you should look up his VP pick as well.
The Top 10 Women. I don't have much to say about this list, but I figured at this point I may as well include all the lists. For the most part, I really agree with this list, because I can see how all of these women have been influential throughout the last year. Whether I believe they should have been or not is a different matter. I'm kind of amused that Tina Fey is on that list, though.
The Top 10 Farewells. I would really question the sanity of these list makers if they hadn't put Heath Ledger on the top of that list. His death shook the internet and the fan base response was enormous. I saw the same happen with Bernie Mac & George Carlin. Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture (I had to look it up to remember), had a large influence with his death, so I agree with him being on the list. Others, I had to look up because I didn't know who they were, or even recognize their name in some cases. But I am sure that their deaths were a big thing to talk about in certain circles outside mine own.
Yeah, fine, I skipped the economic one. It was boring & I didn't have much to say about it other than our economy sucks right now. You can go see the list here if you really want to.
What I stared out with, before these Top 10 lists, was a list of the banned words for the coming years. These are words to be "banned" for overuse and pointlessness. Interesting to me, was that for the first time and emoticon was listed. It was <3, which I can understand with its overuse...but I still like it. One word I'm really glad to see on that list is "Maverick". A lot of the things Sarah Palin was going on about annoyed me, the first being "Joe the Plumber," the second being "Maverick." It ended up being far overused to the point of absurdity, imo. Odd ones I didn't expect were "staycation" (which is something I hadn't heard before, it apparently means not vacationing because of high gas prices) and "monkey" (this is just odd).
The Top 10 Searches on Yahoo in 2008, I find it kind of sad that "Britney Spears" is the number one searched phrase of the year, when Barack Obama is in the #3 spot. And why, may I ask, is the WWE in #2? This kind of makes me fear for the future, when our nation cares more about drama queens & wrestling than they do about politics and HISTORY. I can easily see why Miley & Naruto made it onto the list, with their fan followings being so huge, and with Cyrus's minor dramas throughout the year. I swear, people are looking for a scandal with that girl. The media apparently doesn't like a genuine good girl, they have to work so hard to find something wrong with her. What I don't understand about this list is how "RuneScape" made the #5 spot. I thought RuneScape was old and outdated by this point? Guess I was wrong. (I'm not a gamer at all, mind you)
The Top 10 News Stories. The thing that most bothers me about this list is that Patrick Swayze made it onto the list, but the Olympics didn't. Yes, China is on there, but that's not the same thing, now is it? Now, I can see why the hurricanes might come in first, but I do think that the election should hold the #2 spot. This goes back to my Top 10 searches, same argument there. I don't understand how Shelley Malil made it on the list at all.
The Top 10 Celebrities. This is the list I got to when I decided I definitely wanted to blog this (because my Twitter followers would be annoyed at me, haha). So, the 2008 "Brat Pack" is as follows (in order): Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Chris Brown, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Jamie Lynn Spears, Hayden Panettiere, Zac Efron, & Selena Gomez. First off, for the most part, I love them all. I have nothing serious against any of them (though I don't approve of JLS's pregnancy, I do approve of her keeping the child). A trend here? Most of them relate to Disney. Now, Rihanna and Chris Brown don't trace their roots back to Disney, but they have dealt with the company a few times, and Hayden was originally a Disney star. The rest are currently employed by the company in one way or another. I suppose they know how to pick their stars (and are also masters of PR). Another interesting point here is that none of them are over the age of 20 (though Rihanna will turn 21 in February). Something else is that they all make more money than you & I will ever make.
[interesting point: I am the same age as Chris Brown & Hayden Panettiere]
The Top 10 Olympians. Now here's a list that finally recognizes the Olympics! I like this list :) Coming in first, of course, is Michael Phelps. I love him, and the world loves him. And what he did was simply amazing. He really should have been on other lists, but I guess Yahoo users aren't all like me. I'm glad to see Shawn Johnson & Nastia Luikin on that list, as well as Misty May-Treanor. I'm disappointed that Keri Walsh didn't star on that list with her partner. They are a team after all.
The Top 10 Politicians. I'm glad, first of all, that Barack Obama is #1 on this list. Sarah Palin is second, which I still find ridiculous because she was a running mate, and she received more attention than McCain did. Alternately, I'm disappointed not to see Biden on this list, because if you're going to pay attention to Obama, you should look up his VP pick as well.
The Top 10 Women. I don't have much to say about this list, but I figured at this point I may as well include all the lists. For the most part, I really agree with this list, because I can see how all of these women have been influential throughout the last year. Whether I believe they should have been or not is a different matter. I'm kind of amused that Tina Fey is on that list, though.
The Top 10 Farewells. I would really question the sanity of these list makers if they hadn't put Heath Ledger on the top of that list. His death shook the internet and the fan base response was enormous. I saw the same happen with Bernie Mac & George Carlin. Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture (I had to look it up to remember), had a large influence with his death, so I agree with him being on the list. Others, I had to look up because I didn't know who they were, or even recognize their name in some cases. But I am sure that their deaths were a big thing to talk about in certain circles outside mine own.
Yeah, fine, I skipped the economic one. It was boring & I didn't have much to say about it other than our economy sucks right now. You can go see the list here if you really want to.
Friday, November 07, 2008
NaNo Advice: End of Week 1
Good Ways to Boost Your Word Count and Keep Yourself Writing
I've learned a few tricks along the way from my own NaNo experiences (from this year as well as 06) and from other competitors ranging from first timers to old hats. I thought I'd take a little break from writing to share these with you. (btw, this is not me avoiding actual writing. This is me coping with my ADD in a positive way.)
+ Add a lot of defining words. "He said" "She said" may not always be necessary, but put them in there, an extra two words per piece of dialogue are a great way to add to your word count.
Take that a step farther. "She said, sounding offended." or "He told her with unquestionable certainty upon his face." Add as much as you want without sounding too wordy!
Of course, if you don't mind wordy, by all means, get that word count up! If the count is what matters, take a lesson from Dickens & write up a storm! Sentences that take up a full page? No problem!
+ Another great way to add to your word count is to include quotes. You don't have to wrack your brains trying to think of something new to type! Find a quote that works with your story and roll with it! John Green used "Song of Myself" at least fifty times in his NYT Best Seller "Paper Towns" and writers like Cornelia Funke, Ann Brashares, & Jasper Fforde begin every chapter with an applicable quote! There's no shame in borrowing words to raise your count.
Right now my own characters are quoting Shakespeare's famous lines from "As You Like It": "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts." The best part? It fits my story perfectly. In fact, it has greatly inspired me and helps convey my theme of acting & masks in high school even more than I could alone!
+ Word wars. Timed, themed word wars with a friend. These work best through some form of instant messenger, and hey, there's one built into Facebook if you wish to use it! I personally stick primarily to MSN, so if you want to war with me through that (I still have friends on my list from NaNo in 2006 I warred with daily), leave a comment here and I can send you my contact info.
This is a great way to boost your count quickly and might give you some new inspiration for how to deal with a section if you choose to use the theme (you need not, you can just continue writing for the wars). If you have teenaged characters like I do, any theme can fit what they're talking about. Just today in the lunch room with my friends we talked about the origins of "saved by the bell" and ended the period by singing "Gaston" from Beauty & the Beast. Nothing is really far out of the realm for us college students, and the same goes for many other age groups so long as you have a good group of friends to chat with! It's okay if your dialogue is ridiculous. Sometimes it even makes the characters more believable.
+ A tip to keep going and keep up with your word counts (though admittedly I am behind because of a late start, but catching up quickly) is to set up a goal/reward system with yourself. This is what has worked best for me this past week. Prior to NaNo's kickoff this year my internet was down for almost a full week. I generally watch my favorite television programs online, so I had missed a few episodes. I would tell myself "Okay Jez, write 1000 words and you can watch Grey's. Then after you write another 1000 words, you can watch Private Practice." I even made the amount of words relate to the amount of time I'd spend not writing when I was enjoying the reward part. 1000 words for 1 hour of television. 500 words for a half hour. Or I'd get to a certain milestone before I could write up a new blog post (such as this one, I just finished chapter 10 & went over 9000 words).
+ If you're going to procrastinate, find a way to make it work to your advantage. I can honestly check Facebook every half hour or so with a clear conscience because my characters spend so much of their lives in the digital world. A fair amount of my novel consists of wall posts, instant messages, and SMS texts. So, by seeing what everyone else is doing on Facebook, I'm really researching how my characters should talk, what kinds of typos they should make, and how they'll spend their time.
When I spent ten minutes reading Michael Wesch's blog post on a look back at his famous YouTube video, A Vision of Students Today, I was gathering a teacher's perspective on how children learn today, and how the school system limits learning. One of Delilah's favorite teachers, her choir director Mrs. Rembrandt, agrees with Wesch and I was able to use his ideas to my advantage, and make them fit the story.
With a little creativity any time-waster can be used in your novel. Maybe your character likes to avoid homework by playing fifty games of Tetris just like you do. Figure it out. Make it work. I could tell you not to procrastinate at all, but that would be stupid and hypocritical for me to do. You are a writer, you are going to procrastinate. It's part of who we are. So instead of avoiding the "meaningless" ways of procrastination, make it work for you!
+ And try a program like Word Counter if you're on a Mac, or an online widget for PCs to keep track of how far you are in your novel. If you see that you are 79% of where you need to be for the day (that's where I am now, I'm behind, remember?) it seems a lot less farther away than if you were to take out the calculator & figure out that you have another 2456 words to go until you're back on track for the month. Plus it's cool to watch it update in Word Counter, it makes me feel more accomplished for those 100 little words I wrote than if I had only barely increased my word count for the day.
+ Most importantly, don't give up. So you're 2456 words behind, so what? That's exactly where I am, and I'm not letting it bother me. There are 23 more days in the month. That's just 107 extra words a day, that's nothing! You can catch up in no time at all! It's only week 1, you've still got time. Don't give up now, just keep going and even if you don't win, you can come close. Then when NaNo09 rolls around, you'll know you can get to 40,000 words and 50,000 won't seem so scary. That's what I'm doing. In 2006 I made it to 25,000 words before my computer crashed. I knew that I could have made it that year, and because I made it at least halfway that year before I was cut off due to technical difficulties, I know that I can make it this year. And I think if you really try, you can too.
I leave you now with two quotes that I hope shall inspire you, or at the very least, you can use them in your novel about someone writing during NaNoWriMo (hey, it happens).
Other helpful links: Maureen Johnson (accomplished writer of 6 YA books!) tells you how to survive NaNoWriMo. Involves lots of pretty pictures from old movies & witty observations.
Professor Michael Wesch's blog on Revisiting "A Vision of Students Today", which I mentioned above & used in my own novel.
The Quotation Page's Quotes of the Day. You can use these or use this site to search for quotes that pertain to your plot.
(Now, if I could write this whole blog post, a full 1448 words in twenty minutes, surely you can write 50,000 words in a whole month)
I've learned a few tricks along the way from my own NaNo experiences (from this year as well as 06) and from other competitors ranging from first timers to old hats. I thought I'd take a little break from writing to share these with you. (btw, this is not me avoiding actual writing. This is me coping with my ADD in a positive way.)
+ Add a lot of defining words. "He said" "She said" may not always be necessary, but put them in there, an extra two words per piece of dialogue are a great way to add to your word count.
Take that a step farther. "She said, sounding offended." or "He told her with unquestionable certainty upon his face." Add as much as you want without sounding too wordy!
Of course, if you don't mind wordy, by all means, get that word count up! If the count is what matters, take a lesson from Dickens & write up a storm! Sentences that take up a full page? No problem!
+ Another great way to add to your word count is to include quotes. You don't have to wrack your brains trying to think of something new to type! Find a quote that works with your story and roll with it! John Green used "Song of Myself" at least fifty times in his NYT Best Seller "Paper Towns" and writers like Cornelia Funke, Ann Brashares, & Jasper Fforde begin every chapter with an applicable quote! There's no shame in borrowing words to raise your count.
Right now my own characters are quoting Shakespeare's famous lines from "As You Like It": "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts." The best part? It fits my story perfectly. In fact, it has greatly inspired me and helps convey my theme of acting & masks in high school even more than I could alone!
+ Word wars. Timed, themed word wars with a friend. These work best through some form of instant messenger, and hey, there's one built into Facebook if you wish to use it! I personally stick primarily to MSN, so if you want to war with me through that (I still have friends on my list from NaNo in 2006 I warred with daily), leave a comment here and I can send you my contact info.
This is a great way to boost your count quickly and might give you some new inspiration for how to deal with a section if you choose to use the theme (you need not, you can just continue writing for the wars). If you have teenaged characters like I do, any theme can fit what they're talking about. Just today in the lunch room with my friends we talked about the origins of "saved by the bell" and ended the period by singing "Gaston" from Beauty & the Beast. Nothing is really far out of the realm for us college students, and the same goes for many other age groups so long as you have a good group of friends to chat with! It's okay if your dialogue is ridiculous. Sometimes it even makes the characters more believable.
+ A tip to keep going and keep up with your word counts (though admittedly I am behind because of a late start, but catching up quickly) is to set up a goal/reward system with yourself. This is what has worked best for me this past week. Prior to NaNo's kickoff this year my internet was down for almost a full week. I generally watch my favorite television programs online, so I had missed a few episodes. I would tell myself "Okay Jez, write 1000 words and you can watch Grey's. Then after you write another 1000 words, you can watch Private Practice." I even made the amount of words relate to the amount of time I'd spend not writing when I was enjoying the reward part. 1000 words for 1 hour of television. 500 words for a half hour. Or I'd get to a certain milestone before I could write up a new blog post (such as this one, I just finished chapter 10 & went over 9000 words).
+ If you're going to procrastinate, find a way to make it work to your advantage. I can honestly check Facebook every half hour or so with a clear conscience because my characters spend so much of their lives in the digital world. A fair amount of my novel consists of wall posts, instant messages, and SMS texts. So, by seeing what everyone else is doing on Facebook, I'm really researching how my characters should talk, what kinds of typos they should make, and how they'll spend their time.
When I spent ten minutes reading Michael Wesch's blog post on a look back at his famous YouTube video, A Vision of Students Today, I was gathering a teacher's perspective on how children learn today, and how the school system limits learning. One of Delilah's favorite teachers, her choir director Mrs. Rembrandt, agrees with Wesch and I was able to use his ideas to my advantage, and make them fit the story.
With a little creativity any time-waster can be used in your novel. Maybe your character likes to avoid homework by playing fifty games of Tetris just like you do. Figure it out. Make it work. I could tell you not to procrastinate at all, but that would be stupid and hypocritical for me to do. You are a writer, you are going to procrastinate. It's part of who we are. So instead of avoiding the "meaningless" ways of procrastination, make it work for you!
+ And try a program like Word Counter if you're on a Mac, or an online widget for PCs to keep track of how far you are in your novel. If you see that you are 79% of where you need to be for the day (that's where I am now, I'm behind, remember?) it seems a lot less farther away than if you were to take out the calculator & figure out that you have another 2456 words to go until you're back on track for the month. Plus it's cool to watch it update in Word Counter, it makes me feel more accomplished for those 100 little words I wrote than if I had only barely increased my word count for the day.
+ Most importantly, don't give up. So you're 2456 words behind, so what? That's exactly where I am, and I'm not letting it bother me. There are 23 more days in the month. That's just 107 extra words a day, that's nothing! You can catch up in no time at all! It's only week 1, you've still got time. Don't give up now, just keep going and even if you don't win, you can come close. Then when NaNo09 rolls around, you'll know you can get to 40,000 words and 50,000 won't seem so scary. That's what I'm doing. In 2006 I made it to 25,000 words before my computer crashed. I knew that I could have made it that year, and because I made it at least halfway that year before I was cut off due to technical difficulties, I know that I can make it this year. And I think if you really try, you can too.
I leave you now with two quotes that I hope shall inspire you, or at the very least, you can use them in your novel about someone writing during NaNoWriMo (hey, it happens).
If writers stopped writing about what happened to them, then there would be a lot of empty pages.
Elaine Liner, We Got Naked, Now What, SXSW 2006
Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment.
Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, 'A Woman of Independent Means'
Other helpful links: Maureen Johnson (accomplished writer of 6 YA books!) tells you how to survive NaNoWriMo. Involves lots of pretty pictures from old movies & witty observations.
Professor Michael Wesch's blog on Revisiting "A Vision of Students Today", which I mentioned above & used in my own novel.
The Quotation Page's Quotes of the Day. You can use these or use this site to search for quotes that pertain to your plot.
(Now, if I could write this whole blog post, a full 1448 words in twenty minutes, surely you can write 50,000 words in a whole month)
Monday, November 03, 2008
Encouraging Reading, Part 2
My younger brother Joe just read Small Steps by Louis Sachar in less than a day. I just loaned him A Wrinkle in Time by Madeliene L'Engle, which I've been re-reading lately. I figure he'll finish before I get a chance to read it again (NaNo takes time!) so I let him have it tonight.
My brother never really was a reader, but suddenly he can't seem to get enough of books. He'll read a book every now & again, but they're usually for school. A great motivator for him though, is to see his friends read a book, or to convince him that it's the "cool" thing to do. (And btw, reading is cool)
Another great way is to find a book that he really loves, and this is usually the hardest part. His class is currently reading Holes in school, and he finished far before the class did because he liked it so much. This was only a few days before I went to see Louis Sachar at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, IL with my mum, so we brought him along. He seemed to really get into it and we bought him his own copy of Holes which he got signed. In his presentation Sachar mentioned Small Steps, which I had always seen around, but never knew the story of. Joe really wanted to read it, but we were already buying so much that night, we passed on it. The next week I bought one of the signed copies Anderson's had from the event. Then a few days after that my mom caught Joe reading my sister's copy of House by Ted Dekker, which she thought was too scary. To keep him from reading that, I presented my new, shiny copy of Small Steps, which he immediately devoured.
So, this just adds to my theory that all you need to do to get a child hooked on books, is to find that one right book for them. Holes is one I like to suggest, as is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (this one looks daunting, but it's half pictures & flip book! Kids love that). The other night a mother saw me looking through the children's books at the Sachar event and asked me to recommend a book for her daughter, and after talking to the woman I suggested The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by EL Konigsburg.
I think the problem is that most people don't pay attention to a child's unique interests enough to be able to pick out the right book. They'll suggest something new, or a best-seller, or maybe something they loved as a child. And sometimes these work, but some children are really stubborn and they need that exact right book for them, not for you. So talk to your child, find out what they want to read. My children's literature professor last year said that she's sometimes annoyed with the fact that all her son wants to read are Pokemon novelizations, but that she'd rather him read those than read nothing at all. If it gets them started reading, I agree with her. If they find something they love to read, they won't find books so boring or scary, and maybe they'll pick up another. And another. And another.
Just listening to your child is probably the best you can do in any situation, in my opinion anyway. I don't think parents always do that.
...Okay. Back to my NaNo, I promise. (I've written about 1700 words today so far)
My brother never really was a reader, but suddenly he can't seem to get enough of books. He'll read a book every now & again, but they're usually for school. A great motivator for him though, is to see his friends read a book, or to convince him that it's the "cool" thing to do. (And btw, reading is cool)
Another great way is to find a book that he really loves, and this is usually the hardest part. His class is currently reading Holes in school, and he finished far before the class did because he liked it so much. This was only a few days before I went to see Louis Sachar at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, IL with my mum, so we brought him along. He seemed to really get into it and we bought him his own copy of Holes which he got signed. In his presentation Sachar mentioned Small Steps, which I had always seen around, but never knew the story of. Joe really wanted to read it, but we were already buying so much that night, we passed on it. The next week I bought one of the signed copies Anderson's had from the event. Then a few days after that my mom caught Joe reading my sister's copy of House by Ted Dekker, which she thought was too scary. To keep him from reading that, I presented my new, shiny copy of Small Steps, which he immediately devoured.
So, this just adds to my theory that all you need to do to get a child hooked on books, is to find that one right book for them. Holes is one I like to suggest, as is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (this one looks daunting, but it's half pictures & flip book! Kids love that). The other night a mother saw me looking through the children's books at the Sachar event and asked me to recommend a book for her daughter, and after talking to the woman I suggested The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by EL Konigsburg.
I think the problem is that most people don't pay attention to a child's unique interests enough to be able to pick out the right book. They'll suggest something new, or a best-seller, or maybe something they loved as a child. And sometimes these work, but some children are really stubborn and they need that exact right book for them, not for you. So talk to your child, find out what they want to read. My children's literature professor last year said that she's sometimes annoyed with the fact that all her son wants to read are Pokemon novelizations, but that she'd rather him read those than read nothing at all. If it gets them started reading, I agree with her. If they find something they love to read, they won't find books so boring or scary, and maybe they'll pick up another. And another. And another.
Just listening to your child is probably the best you can do in any situation, in my opinion anyway. I don't think parents always do that.
...Okay. Back to my NaNo, I promise. (I've written about 1700 words today so far)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Moonvertising
Moonvertising
I knew this was coming eventually: using the moon as a gigantic billboard. Starting March 21st Rolling Rock will have their logo imprinted on the moon's surface with a laser. Every full moon companies will be able to do this. We're turning the moon into the galaxy's biggest advertisement.
Tasteful? I don't think so.
My father made a good point about this, in a few years the children growing up will never know what a full moon looks like without somebody's banner plastered across it.
What has the world come to when we can't even gaze up at the stars without being subjected to this kind of media infiltration? I keep thinking of MT Anderson's Feed and how the moon was transformed into a tackier version of Vegas and there were flashing billboards at the bottom of lakes for all the "upcars" going above to see. Is that what's next for us? Because, after all, isn't the point of science fiction to prevent certain futures from becoming reality?
Another thing I wonder about is what effect will this have on the moon? If it changes things, even a little bit, it could really affect us here on Earth. The moon controls the tides, and if the tides are changed, well...just watch The Day After Tomorrow. That's the most extreme example, of course, but the moon does have affects on the tide & the tide in turn has affects on other parts of our ecosystem.
For the record, I'm against this. But I'd like to hear your thoughts, so sound off!
I knew this was coming eventually: using the moon as a gigantic billboard. Starting March 21st Rolling Rock will have their logo imprinted on the moon's surface with a laser. Every full moon companies will be able to do this. We're turning the moon into the galaxy's biggest advertisement.
Rolling Rock is an independently spirited beer that does things differently, which is why we're trying a new, more tasteful marketing approach this year: putting our logo on the moon -- movertising.
Tasteful? I don't think so.
My father made a good point about this, in a few years the children growing up will never know what a full moon looks like without somebody's banner plastered across it.
What has the world come to when we can't even gaze up at the stars without being subjected to this kind of media infiltration? I keep thinking of MT Anderson's Feed and how the moon was transformed into a tackier version of Vegas and there were flashing billboards at the bottom of lakes for all the "upcars" going above to see. Is that what's next for us? Because, after all, isn't the point of science fiction to prevent certain futures from becoming reality?
Another thing I wonder about is what effect will this have on the moon? If it changes things, even a little bit, it could really affect us here on Earth. The moon controls the tides, and if the tides are changed, well...just watch The Day After Tomorrow. That's the most extreme example, of course, but the moon does have affects on the tide & the tide in turn has affects on other parts of our ecosystem.
For the record, I'm against this. But I'd like to hear your thoughts, so sound off!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Chicago Ranked 36th Most Literate City
For the last 10 years Central Connecticut State University has ranked America's largest cities in terms of most literate. This is done using six factors: number of booksellers; education; Internet Resources; Library Resources; Newspaper Circulation; and Periodical publications.
The top 10 are as follows:
Minneapolis, MN
Seattle, WA (last year's #1)
St. Paul, MN
Denver, CO
Washington, DC
St. Louis, MO
San Francisco, CA
Atlanta, GA
Pittsburgh, PA
Boston, MA
Living in the South Chicago Suburbs, I was curious how well Chicago ranked and was dismayed when I found it at number 40, falling from 39 last year, but rising from 46 in 2005. Overall 69 cities were ranked, so 40 puts Chicago in the bottom half. With Chicago being the 3rd most populated city in the US this puts are literacy rate low. In 2000 there were 78 libraries within the city limits of Chicago and 596 public schools (elementary & secondary). 28.2% of Chicagoans above age 25 have not received a high school diploma.
I've checked many different sources and all the data I received from each one disappointed me. What could we do to raise our rankings? What could we do to keep kids in school? What could we do to promote reading?
Support the schools. The better the school, the more likely a student is to stay through high school and the higher standard of learning the school provides.
Support local libraries. Some people see libraries as outdated because they don't have the funds available to keep up with the technological growth.
Support organizations such as First Read that help children learn to read and provide them with the resources necessary.
Or the simplest thing anyone can do:
Read to children. As a parent, the best way to encourage education is to read to your child. Teach them how to read, how to improve their skills, and make it interesting. Also children do what they see their parents do. If a child sees a parent reading, they'll want to read. But if they see their parent do nothing but watch tv, they might not take the initiative to do anything else.
You can also read to your younger siblings or cousins or neighbors. You could volunteer at your local library or elementary school. Just read to them.
The top 10 are as follows:
Minneapolis, MN
Seattle, WA (last year's #1)
St. Paul, MN
Denver, CO
Washington, DC
St. Louis, MO
San Francisco, CA
Atlanta, GA
Pittsburgh, PA
Boston, MA
Living in the South Chicago Suburbs, I was curious how well Chicago ranked and was dismayed when I found it at number 40, falling from 39 last year, but rising from 46 in 2005. Overall 69 cities were ranked, so 40 puts Chicago in the bottom half. With Chicago being the 3rd most populated city in the US this puts are literacy rate low. In 2000 there were 78 libraries within the city limits of Chicago and 596 public schools (elementary & secondary). 28.2% of Chicagoans above age 25 have not received a high school diploma.
I've checked many different sources and all the data I received from each one disappointed me. What could we do to raise our rankings? What could we do to keep kids in school? What could we do to promote reading?
Or the simplest thing anyone can do:
You can also read to your younger siblings or cousins or neighbors. You could volunteer at your local library or elementary school. Just read to them.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Never Underestimate Nerds in Large Groups
On Monday 17 December 2007 at 12:00 (EST) the "Power Project for Awesome" hit the net, or more specifically, YouTube. What was this project? It was a fabulous idea thought up and made possible by John & Hank Green, the brothers of Brotherhood 2.0, in which they asked all of their NerdFighters (their fans) to make a video on YouTube, all with the same thumbnail center image. In these videos the brothers asked us, the video-making NerdFighters, to promote a charity. Then, over the course of the next 24 hours the NerdFighters took the web, commenting, rating, favoriting, and subscribing to these hundreds of videos in order to get them onto the Most Discussed Page on YouTube. This way, all the videos on that page would have the same thumbnail and would also help the cause to decrease WorldSuck. And it worked.
This project was one of the best uses for the internet and social networking I've ever seen. It combined viral marketing with charity in a way to decrease WorldSuck by increasing the amount of awesome the NerdFighters daily put out. John and Hank have really come upon something great here and have banded together over 4000 people worldwide and have not let them hanging. The project started out with two brothers making videos and grew to a movement. These two did not forget to be awesome.
The impact of this project--not just the Power Project for Awesome--but Brotherhood 2.0 in general--is unbelievable and I doubt we've even seen the full extent of its affect yet. In the beginning, John and Hank were fun to watch and gave us entertainment, then they gathered a following which grouped every weekday in the comment threads on the videos (both on YouTube & Brotherhood2.com). And then it grew to a large, awesome community with the creation of the Brotherhood 2.0 forum, My Pants. In My Pants (that joke never gets old) the NerdFighters were able to connect with each other and talk about ways to decrease WorldSuck and generally spread around the awesome. But the Power Project was a whole other level of awesome. It took a great idea and great people and combined them with an even greater cause. All it took was a mailing list and a few thousand devoted NerdFighters. YouTube didn't know what hit them.
It all goes to show you, don't underestimate the power of nerds (or rather, NerdFighters) in large groups.
Brotherhood 2.0 is winding down to its last days now, ending on the 31st of December 2007 with the end of the year. It's been a good run, but all good things must come to an end. We will miss the daily videos, but I don't see the end of the NerdFighter movement anywhere in sight. These are the kinds of things that last. Trekkies will never give up their costumes and stop going to conventions and the NerdFighters will never stop their fight against WorldSuck.
Thank you, John and Hank Green, for giving us something special.
And now, I will link to my favorite videos involved in this project, as well as more articles & information on it.
Hank Green's explanation of the project
John Green's video on the project
Power Project for Awesome: italktosnakes, cause: First Book
Power Project for Awesome: skystreak22 in which they show us a computer from 1985, cause: Hearts & Horses
Power Project for Awesome: ransriggs, causes: one laptop for child; Reading is Fundamental
Power Project for Awesome: SongsfromaHat which features an awesome song, cause: Mr. Holland's Opus
Power Project for Awesome: Charlieissocoollike, cause: Teenage Cancer Trust
Power Project for Awesome: Johnnysmooth, cause: SOS Children's Villiage (we share this cause)
Power Project for Awesome: Namlhots in which Tom donates a kidney, causes: Red Cross & Locks of Love (we share this cause)
Power Project for Awesome: ObsessiveJez, hey that's me!, causes: Locks of Love & SOS Children's Villiage (part project/part Insomniac Theatre, my infrequent vlog)
All of the videos involved in the Power Project for Awesome
Brotherhood 2.0
The Brotherhood 2.0 channel on YouTube
The My Pants Forum
This project was one of the best uses for the internet and social networking I've ever seen. It combined viral marketing with charity in a way to decrease WorldSuck by increasing the amount of awesome the NerdFighters daily put out. John and Hank have really come upon something great here and have banded together over 4000 people worldwide and have not let them hanging. The project started out with two brothers making videos and grew to a movement. These two did not forget to be awesome.
The impact of this project--not just the Power Project for Awesome--but Brotherhood 2.0 in general--is unbelievable and I doubt we've even seen the full extent of its affect yet. In the beginning, John and Hank were fun to watch and gave us entertainment, then they gathered a following which grouped every weekday in the comment threads on the videos (both on YouTube & Brotherhood2.com). And then it grew to a large, awesome community with the creation of the Brotherhood 2.0 forum, My Pants. In My Pants (that joke never gets old) the NerdFighters were able to connect with each other and talk about ways to decrease WorldSuck and generally spread around the awesome. But the Power Project was a whole other level of awesome. It took a great idea and great people and combined them with an even greater cause. All it took was a mailing list and a few thousand devoted NerdFighters. YouTube didn't know what hit them.
It all goes to show you, don't underestimate the power of nerds (or rather, NerdFighters) in large groups.
Brotherhood 2.0 is winding down to its last days now, ending on the 31st of December 2007 with the end of the year. It's been a good run, but all good things must come to an end. We will miss the daily videos, but I don't see the end of the NerdFighter movement anywhere in sight. These are the kinds of things that last. Trekkies will never give up their costumes and stop going to conventions and the NerdFighters will never stop their fight against WorldSuck.
Thank you, John and Hank Green, for giving us something special.
And now, I will link to my favorite videos involved in this project, as well as more articles & information on it.
Hank Green's explanation of the project
John Green's video on the project
Power Project for Awesome: italktosnakes, cause: First Book
Power Project for Awesome: skystreak22 in which they show us a computer from 1985, cause: Hearts & Horses
Power Project for Awesome: ransriggs, causes: one laptop for child; Reading is Fundamental
Power Project for Awesome: SongsfromaHat which features an awesome song, cause: Mr. Holland's Opus
Power Project for Awesome: Charlieissocoollike, cause: Teenage Cancer Trust
Power Project for Awesome: Johnnysmooth, cause: SOS Children's Villiage (we share this cause)
Power Project for Awesome: Namlhots in which Tom donates a kidney, causes: Red Cross & Locks of Love (we share this cause)
Power Project for Awesome: ObsessiveJez, hey that's me!, causes: Locks of Love & SOS Children's Villiage (part project/part Insomniac Theatre, my infrequent vlog)
All of the videos involved in the Power Project for Awesome
Brotherhood 2.0
The Brotherhood 2.0 channel on YouTube
The My Pants Forum
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Christmas Shopping
First off, thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on the question in my last post about whether or not I am required to give a present to my dad's girlfriend. A special thanks to my good friend Eliza who suggested I get a nice ornament for the tree at their house, that way I'm able to give them a gift without it going specificly to any of them. It will go to my dad & his new family.
And now, on to more about Christmas shopping. So far we have survived Black Friday & we've also survived the biggest internet shopping day of the year (Black Monday?). I mostly survived my staying indoors because my car is in the shop, honestly. But here's the thing: where is all this shopping getting us? Are we better people because we went out and spent hundreds of dollars on things?
I was thinking about this long before Hank Green (of Brotherhood 2.0) brought it up, but he makes a very good point. People don't want our stuff, they want our time. Your family does not love you for your income & the things you might buy for them with it. Neither do your friends. And if they do, well, I'm sorry, they're not really your friends. Call me a cynic if you will, but I don't like the idea of going out and buying gifts for people, I'd rather not give gifts. And here's the truth: most people don't want more stuff. They will have it out for awhile, put it in storage, or maybe they'll throw it away, unless they're nice and give it to Goodwill or Juvenile Diabetes or any other such charity. I'd much rather give my money to a charity instead, to the people who actually need it. Because, let's face it, my family does not need another anything that I would buy them. They would like it, yes, but they don't need it.
When did Christmas become so materialistic anyway? That's not the point of the holiday, no matter if you are Christian or not. I believe that Christmas is to celebrate Christ, but if you do not believe that, well, I'm still willing to bet that you think of Christmas as a holiday to be spent with your loved ones. Why does our environment pressure us so much to give gifts at the holidays? Why do we give into that? What's the point?
The only gift I know I'm giving this year is a CD to my friend Katie of me singing 15 of our favorite Christmas carols. It's something I make for her because I love her and it's something she wants. Plus, it doesn't take up an awful lot of space.
And now, on to more about Christmas shopping. So far we have survived Black Friday & we've also survived the biggest internet shopping day of the year (Black Monday?). I mostly survived my staying indoors because my car is in the shop, honestly. But here's the thing: where is all this shopping getting us? Are we better people because we went out and spent hundreds of dollars on things?
I was thinking about this long before Hank Green (of Brotherhood 2.0) brought it up, but he makes a very good point. People don't want our stuff, they want our time. Your family does not love you for your income & the things you might buy for them with it. Neither do your friends. And if they do, well, I'm sorry, they're not really your friends. Call me a cynic if you will, but I don't like the idea of going out and buying gifts for people, I'd rather not give gifts. And here's the truth: most people don't want more stuff. They will have it out for awhile, put it in storage, or maybe they'll throw it away, unless they're nice and give it to Goodwill or Juvenile Diabetes or any other such charity. I'd much rather give my money to a charity instead, to the people who actually need it. Because, let's face it, my family does not need another anything that I would buy them. They would like it, yes, but they don't need it.
When did Christmas become so materialistic anyway? That's not the point of the holiday, no matter if you are Christian or not. I believe that Christmas is to celebrate Christ, but if you do not believe that, well, I'm still willing to bet that you think of Christmas as a holiday to be spent with your loved ones. Why does our environment pressure us so much to give gifts at the holidays? Why do we give into that? What's the point?
The only gift I know I'm giving this year is a CD to my friend Katie of me singing 15 of our favorite Christmas carols. It's something I make for her because I love her and it's something she wants. Plus, it doesn't take up an awful lot of space.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Where to Write: Making It Your's
So, wherever you write, be it your office, your room, or your bathtub, you need to make it a good place to write, because there are really some bad places.
First off, you need a door, not just any door, a door you can shut. Actually, this is what writer Stephen King recommends too. In order to write you need to be able to shut out the rest of the world in order to create new ones. You need to be able to cut out distractions, because, let's face it, writers are easily distracted. Another great thing about doors is that they don't just keep people out, they keep you in. And it's bad if you leave your writing space because you're going to get distracted, and you won't write anything. So, step 1, close your door, it's no use to you writing if you leave it open.
Now, get comfortable, you want to spend a lot of time in this place, right? This is another clever ploy to keep you from leaving, but it also makes you more at ease to write. So, make sure your chair is comfortable, and if you're not in your chair (in your closet?) maybe bring a pillow or a few blankets. Write in your pjs if you have to*. And bring snacks, something to munch on while you chew on new ideas, and keep something to drink on hand of coarse too. Something that will help you write, most writers suggest tea, but I'm nothing without a Coke (I'm a serious caffine addict).
Make the environment a writing environment (so not too comfy). Keep paper and all different kinds and colors of writing utensils on hand because sometimes things are easier to figure out on paper than on screen. Keep sticky notes nearby--making notes is never a bad thing. Make reminders for yourself that will make you want to write, or can help you encourage you to write when you get stuck**.
Keep it your writing space. Don't make it the same as your goof-off space.
Finally, to make it wholly your writing space: go write there. Now's a good time, isn't it?
*Some writers will not write in their PJs because it inclines them to want to sleep or goof off. Some actually get up, shower, eat breakfast, dress for work, just like they would any other job, except that they go into the next room instead of some big building downtown. It helps put them in the mood to write because they then feel like they need to work. Try this is the comfy approach doesn't work well.
**I have things like pictures of my characters, notes of encouragement (the whole series of Pamela Johnson advice posts from Anita Loughrey's blog, notes, and even a family tree to remind me how different characters are related. And notes like "make a map!" and "act it out!" help when I get stuck.
First off, you need a door, not just any door, a door you can shut. Actually, this is what writer Stephen King recommends too. In order to write you need to be able to shut out the rest of the world in order to create new ones. You need to be able to cut out distractions, because, let's face it, writers are easily distracted. Another great thing about doors is that they don't just keep people out, they keep you in. And it's bad if you leave your writing space because you're going to get distracted, and you won't write anything. So, step 1, close your door, it's no use to you writing if you leave it open.
Now, get comfortable, you want to spend a lot of time in this place, right? This is another clever ploy to keep you from leaving, but it also makes you more at ease to write. So, make sure your chair is comfortable, and if you're not in your chair (in your closet?) maybe bring a pillow or a few blankets. Write in your pjs if you have to*. And bring snacks, something to munch on while you chew on new ideas, and keep something to drink on hand of coarse too. Something that will help you write, most writers suggest tea, but I'm nothing without a Coke (I'm a serious caffine addict).
Make the environment a writing environment (so not too comfy). Keep paper and all different kinds and colors of writing utensils on hand because sometimes things are easier to figure out on paper than on screen. Keep sticky notes nearby--making notes is never a bad thing. Make reminders for yourself that will make you want to write, or can help you encourage you to write when you get stuck**.
Keep it your writing space. Don't make it the same as your goof-off space.
Finally, to make it wholly your writing space: go write there. Now's a good time, isn't it?
*Some writers will not write in their PJs because it inclines them to want to sleep or goof off. Some actually get up, shower, eat breakfast, dress for work, just like they would any other job, except that they go into the next room instead of some big building downtown. It helps put them in the mood to write because they then feel like they need to work. Try this is the comfy approach doesn't work well.
**I have things like pictures of my characters, notes of encouragement (the whole series of Pamela Johnson advice posts from Anita Loughrey's blog, notes, and even a family tree to remind me how different characters are related. And notes like "make a map!" and "act it out!" help when I get stuck.
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