Musings on education, techology, and life..
Representative Poetry Online has created a wonderful resource crosslisting birth and death dates, events in the poetry world, significant publications, commentary, and more in one resource. Oddly, Richard Lovelace, the poet who wrote the poem which inspired my daughter’s name (Althea), died on my birthday!
with Web Del Sol is that it sucks. This article makes big claims. I would argue that it’s not much like a bazaar, much more like K-Mart after the Christmas rush. The founder rides on the backs of others, and hangs from the coattails of those doing the hard work of editing and creating publications on a regular basis.
The sad thing is that some of the participants have apparently been brainwashed into believing that WDS is actually giving them something unique for their money (and for the value of their archives and materials).
When you absolutely, positively can’t do it on your own– hire a nag!
If it’s all just a joke, then I admire Dave Egger’s recent self-publication of the followup to his well-received (and rightly so) book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Publishing only 10,000 copies so that it can’t become “too popular” and having no advertising budget or review copies is a funny comment about those who accuse others of selling out.
On the other hand, if he is serious in this intent, then one has to wonder what happened to his gray-matter since his last book was published. I should hope he would like to leave arguments without reason to his hipster critics.
The issue here is that this action exposes the fundamental lie in those who would accuse him of “selling out.” If they can be appeased by limiting the marketing mechanism, then it clearly shows that their criticism is not about the work at all. If A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius had sold only 1000 copies instead of hundreds of thousands, then the bandana-wearing posse would have shut their mouths, embracing him as one of their own, fighting the system, man!
But since the book sold well, he is a sell-out, despite the fact that the substance of the book is exactly the same? Let
s get real here. Selling out happens, but only in rare circumstances where one has some other kind of fame to capitalize on. When a movie star publishes a book of fiction, it is most likely a sell-out. When he or she publishes many books, then it is likely a real expression of interest and passion, even if the books suck. When a mere mortal published a book that becomes a big-seller, he or she is not selling out. He or she is blessed.
Cries of “selling-out” come from those who are jealous and/or can’t think deeply enough to understand the difference between being popular and being a popularity seeker.
The Solow Paradox refers to the fact that when you look at society and studies regarding productivity, computers and computer use are everywhere in the former, but occur rarely in the latter. This has changed somewhat in in the last five years, which is partly to be expected (because computers are becoming an integrated part of most people’s lives) but much more surprising (what took so long?).
I wonder if, in absolute terms, they represent much increase at all, though they certainly have changed processes and emphasis in the workplace and in our lives. It strikes me that perhaps all of these studies in productivity boil down to a kind of general law that there is only so much productivity to be had in our system, that we are getting most of it, and that the pool is never destroyed (or increased), only redesistributed.
One of the single best sites on the net, Arts & Letters Daily, is brought back from the dead… it’s far more interesting than the bland title would lead you to believe, and should be of interest to anyone with a modicum of interest in the world we live in.
I clearly remember when I never thought I would live to be this old. And the road is still so long…
“Every time someone misuses an apostrophe, Baby Jesus cry’s” — and “Only perfection is devine.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
RelativeLinks is worth keeping an eye on. Reviewing online poetry publications, particularly those which are not just promotional vehicles for a print magazine, is a wortwhile focus. I found a few of the current reviews a bit “light” for my tastes, and some of them could use a little more formatting to make them easier to read, but these are small gripes in a publication that I am sure will continue to get better.
Adios you plagiarist. The time is coming, Doris Kearns Goodwin, when your lies won’t matter anymore either.