lit randomness: hobart, christopher miller, china underground & more

We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon. and Wed. Persistence in randomly set dates is a virtue!
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Games Issue: At Hobart.
If you haven’t checked out the bonus material for Hobart’s Game Issue, it’s a damn-fine treat, perhaps a blessing that’s not in disguise, but right there out in the open. Pieces on Ninja Hunter, Magic the Gathering and less nerdy stuff too, if that’s stuff is nerdy. Hobart is awesome as always.

Fav. fiction about authors, by an author (Christopher Miller) who has a fictional book (Cardboard Universe) coming out about an author: At Conversational Reading.

China Underground Intro by Zachary Mexico: At Pop Matters.
Looks promising. Soon to be out from Pop Matters/Soft Skull

Bookshop conversation about Word in Brooklyn: At Bookslut Blog.

a declaration, a rant: Newspapers have had the longest wake ever

The other night I watched the movie The Paper for the first time. It’s by Ron Howard, so there is some sap squeezed from the tree as the lead character played Michael Keaton fights for truth in a world only concerned with bottom lines and he makes his child’s birth despite his wife’s doubts about his priorities. I’m not as concerned about the narrative tension as the moment in time. It’s 1994. Only a couple of people in the movie have cellphones. Layout is done on the computer, but there is no Internet. And in a moment of pure nostalgia from the 2009 vantage point, Glenn Close, playing a harried newspaper exec, exclaims–”I only have 350 (reporters) when the Daily News has 700!” Oh, the tragedy. 15 years later and a staff of 350 is the luxury and 50 (or less) is the norm for standard newsroom procedure.

What I’m writing has been written a million times before but only by other newspaper people–the newspaper is dying and they’ve had the longest wake ever. Except no one cares. Their death has been extended and exaggerated by worried columnists who’ll freak if their stuff isn’t printed on paper but instead read by thousands more on a computer screen. Jack Shafer in a Slate piece yesterday writes about the New York strike in the 60s and uncovers that while newspapers were desired, other media stepped into the void. We’ve already seen that happen, especially as newspapers missed their cultural moment to adapt and survive. More after the jump…

Media: Taibbi on Valerie Bertinelli, uh, Thomas Friedman

In the New York Press, political writer Matt Taibbi challenges NYTimes columnist Thomas Friedman as jumping on the bandwagon for the “green” movement. Wait for the graphs, where he applies Friedman’s methodology to Valerie Bertinelli’s physique.

The best: “This is Friedman’s life: He flies around the world, eats pricey lunches with other rich people and draws conclusions about the future of humanity by looking out his hotel window and counting the Applebee’s signs.” (From NY Press).

From NY Mag: Saving the Gray Lady

I’ve been kind of entrenched in the New York Times lately. I browse its website everyday and I currently have a copy of “The Trust” floating around my house from the library. NY Mag is always pretty critical of other journalistic ventures, but in this piece by Emily Nussbaum they give the Times some props for their technological innovations. And they’re right. The techniques featured in the article would increase access and take the way information is consumed to another level. It would no longer be just reading, but reflecting on that subject’s world.
The best:
“…there is something exhilarating about watching web innovation finally explode at the Times, with its KICK ME sign and burden of authority.” From New York Mag.

Can bands and content providers co-exist? TuneCore CEO thinks so.

Of course he does. Jeff Price is the CEO of the company. But his argument actually makes rational sense. His company’s model is that a website controlled by the artist allows them to pick the advertisers off their page and get money from the revenues. Most of the media (and scenesters) have always sided with the right of Napster, Pirate Bay, or YouTube about their content–but if you were the artist wouldn’t you want some money off your song instead of giving it to those content providers for free?

This example makes the most sense: “Imagine ABC getting the TV show ‘Lost’ for free, then broadcasting it and keeping all the advertising revenue.” From HuffPo.