Another article about someone getting fired for blogging. You wouldn’t think this would be so hard, but you’ve got to use a bit of common sense when you blog. Especially when blogging about your employer.
Monthly Archives: February 2005
Expectations in Publishing
Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons has sold 239,000 copies since its release in November and is being considered a failure. Sam Lipsyte’s Home Land has sold 2,000 copies in six weeks and is being considered a success. Both were published by the same house.
How’s that for expectations, huh? In a sense, Lipsyte’s book was a success simply because it was published. By way of comparison, my book has sold 11 copies in five weeks. A smashing success.
Inside Christian Publishing
An enlightening (if old) article on the Christian publishing industry, “No Longer Left Behind.” It includes some inside history on the development of the Christian publishing indstury, as well as the role of agents in the rise of authors.
Name That Monkey
The Wildlife Conservation Society is auctioning off the chance to name a new species of monkey. The new monkey was discoverd in Madidi National Park in Bolivia in 2000. The auction will begin Feb. 24 at charityfolks.com.
Update: Those naming rights went for $650,000 to an anonymous buyer who outbid Ellen DeGeneres. The new name has not yet been decided on.
Grasping at Stories
I’ve been futzing with stories lately. Writing a novel taught me that I can do it, and I’m eager to try it again. I just don’t know what story I want to tell. Yet.
I love the idea of the epic. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s something mythic and gigantic and fun and I just love those stories. I’d love to tell one of my own. Of course they’ve all been told before. Coming up with a new story, even a few new elements, is incredibly difficult. But I’m giving it a go.
The Nerd Hero & The Punk Rock Princess – Episode 1
My fingers tingled. The sword flew across the room and into my outstretched hand. I raised it in one fearful arc and brought it down with all the might I had. Sparks flew and the reverberation drove through the shaft of the sword and into my arm.
I dropped the sword and stepped back.
Low the Great Destroyer
The Duluth band Low were featured in the Star Trib on Sunday, focusing on the buzz surrounding their new album, The Great Destroyer.
You can snag a couple Low mp3s from Sub Pop Records.
You can also catch a video of Hollis, the 5-year-old daughter of two Low members, signing albums and drawing pictures of monkeys.
Donald Miller Isn’t an Asshole
Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What, ‘talks about faith without sounding like an asshole’ in this mainstream interview covering his strange success in the world of Christian publishing.
Postgame Blog
Star Wars music for the award ceremony? Wha?! Can we skip the ticker-tape and championship hats and get on to the Simpsons?
There’s the U2. All Because of You. Very nice placement (better than the Sunday Bloody Sunday earlier).
Verdict: The commercials were so-so (though I probably missed a bunch), nothing amazing. I never understand how you could spend millions of dollars and not put a truly amazing commercial together. What a waste o’ cash. Next time they should just give it to me.
Simpsons in less than 10 minutes? 10 minutes? But I want it now!
We’ll be back with more shameless promotions–at least they have a sense of humor.
Yikes–get Darrell Waltrip out of there. Darrell, we want you to hype NASCAR on Fox. What, make a bunch of dumb jokes and never actually hype the Daytona 500? I can do that. Ah, screw it. Let’s just skip to the Simpsons.
Hey, Best Web Site Ever. (Meh, nevermind. It looks like they have extra videos online–Lute Fruit w/ Martin Prince–but they just open with photos, no video.) The Flanders riff on The Passion is great.
Best line: “I’m the worst thing to happen to sports since Fox!” – Homer
More SuperBowl Blogging: 2nd Half
A chimp photocopying his butt. Primates–is there anything they can’t do?
It just goes to show that you can’t have a Super Bowl without chimp commercial.
Wow, that Napster commercial sucked. It gets attention points by doing something different–nothing. Make me actually read what you put up there? Lame. Apple employee Josh Lewis rips the service a new one (would you expect anything else?), but he has a point.
More car commercials: The Honda Ridgeline belt buckle commercial was a bit better, but it’s still not outstanding. They’re trying to break into a tough market and they’re failing to hype the real differences between their truck and the real kings of the trucks: Dodge, Ford, Chevy. The Prius commercial was inventive, but ho-hum. There are so many better ways to sell an eco-friendly car.
And I’m not so sure if I care about Verizon’s broadband TV phone. Why would I want to watch trailers and music videos on my phone? Meh. The Olympus M-Robe (mRobe, MRobe, mrobe?) looks pretty funky and could be a nice challenge to the Photo iPod (why just hold pictures when you can take them as well?)–but what’s up with that name?
Movie commercials: Sahara looks cool (but what the heck is it about?). War of the Worlds looks crazy (but I’m sorry, I don’t think an old school Chrystler minivan would be able to escape tumbling freeway). Batman Begins looks interesting (though not as exciting as I’d expect).
What? The game’s over. That sort of got interesting.
Here’s some other Super Bowl bloggers: Timothy Goddard and USA Today (Why are they blogging exactly what’s happening on TV? Aren’t you supposed to have some commentary? Some stupid jokes? Some inane comments?).
That Cadillac commercial with the eloping couple was pretty good. Though I was wondering what the mom’s car was if it could beat the fancy-schmancy roadster.