NGdC

Super economist Paul Krugman had some real zingers in his column for the New York Times today. Here are a few of the highlights.

Talking about how many conservatives reacted to Chicago losing its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games…

the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.

Krugman goes on to say…

How did one of our great political parties become so ruthless, so willing to embrace scorched-earth tactics even if so doing undermines the ability of any future administration to govern?

The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.

Paul Krugman is my fucking hero. (link to his blog / column)

-N

I know that the Arcade Fire Wayne Coyne feud is sort of old news dot com, but today I found this old Rolling Stone blog post where I think the whole thing started. Here is a clip from the post which opens with a quote from Wayne Coyne speaking very openly about The Arcade Fire…

“I’m a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness,” says Coyne. “We’ve played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit. Whenever I’ve been around them, I’ve found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, ‘Who do they think they are?’ I don’t know why people put up with it. I wouldn’t put up with it. I don’t care if it’s Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit I’d be like, ‘Fuck you, get outta here.’

He continues, “People treat Arcade Fire like they’re the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ‘em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I’ve been around groups. I’ve been around the Edge from U2 and he’s the fucking sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don’t, then fuck ‘em.”

In short: I agree. Word! Preach on Wayne.

In addition: Not that long ago I gave a talk about authority in new media at PAB2009. I’ve continued to work on this talk because I want to make it better. I plan to include this little bit of info into future versions of the talk.

The point I want to make is that the New Media superstars should always work hard to make sure that no one says about them what Wayne Coyne says about the Arcade Fire. i.e. they might very well be damn good at creating New Media that matters to lots of people, but that does not mean that they can act like they are dickhead rock stars.

(Please note — This post is NOT some sort of passive aggressive dig at any one in the New Media community. I’m just sayin…)

I’ve been doing lots of thinking about what makes a book “lit” or as “art”(more than a book).  I’m guessing that the answer will be very different depending  on who is asked, but for me the answer is that books that make me really feel something are the books I elevate to the status of art. 

Here is a list of three cooks such books:

1. Everything Matters! by Ron Currie Jr.

This is a book about the end of the world.  The main character is a guy named Junior who has heard a voice from the time he was born.  The voice tells him things, and those things are always true.  One of the things the voice tells him is that the world will be hit by a comet when Junior is 36, and there is nothing that he or anyone else can do to stop this from happening. 

The main point / question of the book is: When faced with an unavoidable end does anything we do matter? 

We are all coming closer and closer to our own end, the same way that Junior and the people in this book are.  Junior happens to know when it will happen. 

When I was reading the book I frequently thought of people who are told they only have a X amount of time to live… Some of them lose hope, some of them don’t. 

This book made me feel happy, sad, confused, angry, introspective, and very grateful.  It is a really good read, and if you have ever wondered “what is the fucking point of this life?” than you should read it. 

2. The Principles of Uncertainty by Maria Kalman

I don’t really know how to describe this book.  The best I can do is to say that is is a collection of writing and pictures that Kalman did over a year of her life.  It is whimsical, honest, and very moving throughout. 

I’ll often reach for this book when I need inspiration, because it is so full of amazing ideas that get my own thoughts going.  I also reach for it when I’m having a bad day because it makes me feel better. 

It is a book that you will need to buy in print, because the text is the authors own hand writing, and the pictures are her paintings.

This book made me feel supercharged, lucky, and inspired. 

3. All Over Coffee by Paul Madonna

All Over Coffee is a collection of single panel “comics” (some would say illustrations) that author Paul Madonna did of things in San Francisco.  I call them “comics” because there is text on most of the drawings.  The content of the text is often little bit of conversation that Madonna heard when he was in the location that he was drawing, other times they are thoughts that Madonna had as had as he drew the location, sometimes I’m not sure what the text.  (Because of the content of the book it can’t be read as an eBook.) 

This book made me feel like I need to slow down and enjoy the beauty of the everyday world around me, it also made me feel an urge too explore.  It often made me more aware of what goes on around me… sort of a reminder that everyone has a story.  (Which I know… but it is good to be reminded.) 

Recently I found out via twitter that Cory Doctorow is offering his new novel “Makers” for free, which is nothing out of the ordinary, Doctorow has made all of his books 100% freely available through the web for many years now. However, what makes this new novel titled “Makers” different is the distro method which is being used by the books publisher Tor. This novel is being released on the Tor website as a 81 part serial.

(Here is a link to part 1 of 81 for those of you who want to start reading it right away.)

When I saw this I was thrilled. I’ve been a long time reader of comic books, a collector of old pulps (original and re-prints), and a huge fan of serialized fiction in general for a very long time. I’d even go so far as to say that I think the serial is the best delivery method for science fiction, sword and sorcery, fantasy, hard boiled crime / detective fiction, horror, super hero, and adventure stories. The serial has always sucked me in to the story in ways that novels can’t always do… It is almost as if by only giving me a bit of a story at a time I would become MORE hungry for the rest. The wait for that next bit of story made it so rewarding when it finally arrived. Here are two examples that I think will illustrate my point..

I believe that my love of the serial comes mainly from years and years of being an avid comic book reader: With comics there were times where I was ready to break someone’s neck to see what was going to happen next when I would get to the last page of an issue! But when I read graphic novels, or “trade paperbacks” as they are called now-a-days, which contained entire story arcs I never got that same feeling.

The other example I want to talk about was watching Battlestar Galactica each week on T.V. (well on my TiVo really) made me so hungry to find out what happened next… I can’t even put it into words… It was intense. I don’t think that people got the same level of excitement if they bought the DVD box sets. The wait added so a level of satisfaction when a new episode would be aired.

I’m not saying that graphic novels, or DVD box sets are in any way inferior to serialized method of distribution, but I am saying that they are clearly different, and that I happen to enjoy the serial more than the –here is everything in one big slab-- style. Nonetheless, I also realize that there are many people who prefer the slab to the serial.

Today the web makes offering a serial a virtually costless distribution method, there is no paper and ink cost, no shipping costs, no and warehousing costs. The only money that publisher puts out is to pay the author and for their web hosting [bandwidth], which the publisher will have to pay anyway. It is for those reasons that I’m of the belief that offering the content as a serial first then collecting and repackaging all the little units of story to be sold as one big slab is the best way to satisfy the different sorts of content consumers that exist today.

Not only can the serial can be sold via subscription, which creates a new revenue stream for the content publisher, it can also be given away for free on the web as Doctorow is doing. Some people might not see the wisdom in that but Doctorow is not one of those people. As I said earlier in this post, Doctorow has given away most of his content for free via the web and Creative Commons license for a very long time now, and he has not suffered for it. As evidenced by the fact that his freely available work continues to sell enough for publisher to keep paying him to make more content.

Despite the success that Doctorow has enjoyed as a writer, there are still many people who would suggest that he is a bizarre sort of phenomenon, and that most other writers would not benefit from giving away their work for free (as a serial or in any format). To such naysayers Doctorow usually states that he believes a writer’s biggest enemy is obscurity. Making content free via serial on the internet exposes more people to it, which in turn increases the likelihood that more people will buy the slab that collects it all when it becomes available. It also increases Doctorow’s name recognition, which is something that every author wants.

Some people like to argue that making content freely available via the web killed off the newspaper, which was the most classic of serial publications. To such people I would say that fiction and news are very different products. Unlike news fiction does not change after the text is released. The day to day moving and shaking of human beings which is reported to the general reading public by newspapers on the other hand changes all the time. The most current that text / news is the better it is. (He who has the most current news, or “Scoop” wins.) The news that is released via the web is more current than the news that is released as ink on dead trees. In addition to this it is far more easy for most people to get to a website than it is for them to get to news stand (or other place that sells physical news papers.) Portable communication technology has only increased, and will continue to increase, the ease of access to information via the web. Lets look forward not backward.

Tor and Doctorow are on to something here. Publishing is changing, and the ways that people read and interact with text are changing too. Those are facts. One of the most obvious changes is the “shorter attention span” of readers who are use to IMs, Twitter, YouTube videos, and the like. The serial (which is later collected into one single volume) is a way to pump out quality content to those readers who enjoy shorter bursts, with out alienating readers who enjoy a big slap of text that they can move though with out stopping.

The content producers / publishers who realize this and change and meet the readers where they are will enjoy success. The content producers / publishers who maintain an anachronistic mind set will fail.

I’m hoping that this is the start of a trend that other publishers science fiction, fantasy, and other providers of what “pulp fiction” has become (such as Soft Skull Press and Picador Crime) pick up on as well.

I saw that Julien Smith had done a new In Over Your Head Podcast.

This is me talking back to Julien and anyone who would like to listen.

The show is about turning 30… then turning 31.

Does the world change, or does the person, or do both?

What do you think?

-N

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Dear Reading Public,

I have said this again and again, and now I’m going to say it again. I honestly don’t know why I keep saying it over and over, maybe I think that if I say it (or write it, podcast it, email it, or whatever) enough, it will sink in.

Print is alive and well.

It is a fact that the methods for delivering the printed word to readers are rapidly evolving now days, but that does not mean that the printed word is dying or dead, as many people seem to believe it is.

~1~
Words are words are words.

Whether the words someone wrote appear on paper or on a screen does not matter. Let’s make this a simple If/Then statement…

If the words that the reader reads are the words that the writer wrote,
then it does not matter what the words appear on, or what size they appear in, or what color they are.

In other words: The words are what are important, not the way they are displayed.

I can understand people wanting to read the words on paper. I like reading words on paper. Paper is a good storage device for words of fiction and non-fiction. But if the words appear on something besides paper it does not mean that the words are dying or that they have died.

~2~
This has happened before.

The time period that we are in is a time of great change for several industries that have been built up around the printed word.

The paper industry
The book seller & news stand industries
The print shop industry (makes paper into books, magazines, and newspapers)
The publishing industry (pays the writers who make the words)
The print news industry

I’m sure that there are others, but I think you get the idea.

The only constant in life is that there are no constants in life. That goes for the life of a person and it goes for the life of industry/industries. The printed word is at a point in its life cycle where things that have been considered givens are being changed or disregarded.

Change is difficult for people to deal with. As the industries that bring the printed word to readers change, there will be many false starts, mistakes, and at times things might be just plain fucked up. But every mistake will be a learning experience; every challenge will be an opportunity to grow.

I was at a wedding reception once, and when the best man gave his speech he said, “Remember that no meaningful… no worthwhile change ever comes without a temporary surrender of security.” Those words ring true for the people and the industries that bring us the printed word.

~3~
What about print journalism?

There are some bad things happening to the printed word as a result of the changes it’s going through; for example, the closing of many newsrooms that produced great works of print journalism. It really sucks that newsrooms are shrinking… Notice that I said newsrooms and not newspapers. I say that, because a newsroom is the heart, soul, and brain of a newspaper.

I truly believe that when someone finds a way to make a newsroom profitable in the age of the web (and mark my words someone will find a way… There is far too much money to be made for someone not to find a way…), you and I will get the same quality of journalism on the web that we got from newspapers.

In short: the newspaper might not be as strong as it use to be; it might shrink, it might go the way of vinyl records or eight tracks, but the newsroom will survive, and print journalism will survive with it.

~4~
What about book sellers & newsstands?

These are affected by the creation and subsequent advancement of two technologies:

1. Internet (mainly web-based) technologies; and
2. Print-on-demand technologies

The cost that has been associated with the creation, fabrication, and distribution of a book in the physical form is greatly reduced. While this is bad for book, magazine, and newspaper sellers, I believe it is a good thing for the reading public.

I say this because I believe that today web-based and print-on-demand technologies have made it much easier to get more books and more information presented via print into the hands of more people for less cost. I believe that these technologies will go a long way towards increasing literacy and appreciation for the written word.

The printing press was a huge technological leap that increased literacy and appreciation for the written word. I see the web-based and print-on-demand technologies of today as doing much the same.

The web and print-on-demand technologies are the printing press of the now.

The companies and the people who attempt to sell mass-produced physical artifacts that contain the printed word will shrink; they may even go the way of the Pony Express. That is the cost of progress. It’s bad for those industries, but good for the world.

~5~
To sum it all up.

Change does not mean death or dying.
The words don’t change. It doesn’t matter if they are on paper or a screen.
Newsrooms will find a way to survive, even if newspapers don’t.
The web and print-on-demand technologies are the printing press of today.
What is bad for people who sell the printed word might be good for the world.

The reading public (that’s us) are living in a time of great change. The change will involve many mistakes and much learning. It will be both scary and exciting. The change will be bad for some, good for more.

Please don’t mistake the growing pains of the industries that create, fabricate, distribute, and sell the printed word with the dying or death of the printed word. They are not the same thing.

Thank you.

-Neil Gorman

1. This is really bad ass.

2. I now believe that the song “We Diden’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel is one of the greatest songs to run to. DON’T YOU EVEN GIVE ME THAT SNARKY LOOK!

Listen… I know that might sound kind of nuts, but it is the truth.

Don’t believe me? Try running with out listening to that song, then run listening to that song. There will be a difference.

Cheers.

-N

In this show I tell a story that starts with me becoming a Chicago Blackhawks fan when I was in the 7′th grade back in 1992. As I tell the story I work my way to the present day when the Hawks are playing the Detroit Red Wings, and I talk about how very VERY much I want the Chicago Blackhawks to beat their bitter rival the Detroit Red Wings.

Be advised: I use dirty, un-kind words frequently in this podcast.

-N

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I woke up today before my alarm started to tell me that it was time to wake up, and I knew that something what is up with me today, something seemed off… The feeling that something was wrong grew as I got ready to leave my house and go to work.

When I wake up feeling like this I know that I will have to be extra careful as I go through my day, because if I’m not chances are that I’ll end up doing something foolish. In fact, I’m writing down that I have to be careful right now to re-enforce that idea in my own mind.

The last time that I woke up feeling this way I snapped on someone who I should not have snapped on. I was lucky because I quickly realized my mistake, and made an apology which was accepted. If I’m not extra careful today I might not be lucky again.

My plan for now is to make sure that I can find something, a idea, or something I can repeat to myself, a mantra, whatever, that I can use to anchor myself if the day starts to take a turn for the worse.

I’m out of time for now.

It’s later in the day now, and I can head home from work. I made it through the entire day with out snapping, which I think is a good thing, because there were several times today when I really felt very close to snapping. So on that front I have a victory.

However, the level of anxiety that I have been feeling through the day has not diminished. It has not really increased either.

I’ve always seen anxiety (and anger) as secondary emotions that stem one of three primary emotions.

1. Fear — A feeling of being threatened in some way.
2. Hurt — A feeling of being wronged, taken advantage of, abused, etc.
3. Lack of control (or) out of control — A feeling of having lost control over events that are taking place in the life that your living. This is the “ship with out a rudder in the storm” sort of feeling.

In my case I think the anxiety is coming from a combination of fear and lack of control…

And again I’m out of time for now.

-N

I had an interesting thing happen that inspired me to sit down in front of my mic and do a podcast, which is something that I have not done in a very long time.

If I can get some good / positive / constructive feedback on this thing I’ll do more like them.

-N

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