Unstressed » Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog A weblog from the editors of Linebreak Sun, 08 May 2011 07:06:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Whither handwriting http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/23/whither-handwriting/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/23/whither-handwriting/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:39:16 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1520 Handwriting is dying because its laggardly pace impedes thinking, according to an essay by professor Anne Trubek, who includes a brief history of handwriting and the teaching of penmanship alongside her argument.

When a new writing technology develops, we tend to romanticize the older one. The supplanted technology is vaunted as more authentic because it is no longer ubiquitous or official. Thus for monks, print was capricious and script reliable.

[...]

Whatever we use to write, there will be a shortfall between conception and execution, between the ideas in our heads and the words we produce. We often insert nostalgia into this gap.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/23/whither-handwriting/feed/ 0 Events as the future of media http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/22/events-as-the-future-of-media/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/22/events-as-the-future-of-media/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:08:50 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1519 Robin Sloan says the future of media — media that successfully captures both attention and money — may be in events, especially events that act as generative occasions for original creative work.

A specter is haunting the internet, and I think it’s even scarier than the chal­lenge of getting people to pay money. It’s the challenge of get ting them to pay attention. I think it’s only going to get worse—which is to say, better, because we as internet users and blog readers and tweet slingers will have more cool, weird, interesting stuff to look at all the time, and it will just keep coming faster and getting cooler and fragments and—ack!

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/22/events-as-the-future-of-media/feed/ 0 Elizabeth Gilbert’s classical approach to creativity http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/elizabeth-gilberts-classical-approach-to-creativity/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/elizabeth-gilberts-classical-approach-to-creativity/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:43:12 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1517 Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on changing our approach to creativity is just exquisite. She argues that it may be healthier and more practical to adopt a Greco-Roman view of creativity, where inspiration comes from capricious external forces, than to continue with the humanist idea of the suffering artist who’s solely responsible for the success or failure of his creations. There’s a section on poet Ruth Stone’s writing process around 10:15.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/elizabeth-gilberts-classical-approach-to-creativity/feed/ 0 What’s wrong with the magazine business http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/whats-wrong-with-the-magazine-business/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/whats-wrong-with-the-magazine-business/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:32:15 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1516 John C. Abell, bureau chief for Wired.com, runs down the scammy subscription practices of print magazines.

I made the mistake of picking up a magazine in Barnes & Noble over the weekend, showering both my feet and the floor in subscription cards. Do people actually mail those silly things in?

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/whats-wrong-with-the-magazine-business/feed/ 0 Excellent and obscure http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/excellent-and-obscure/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/excellent-and-obscure/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:19:31 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1514 At The Guardian, David Parkinson recommends the best 10 foreign, non-Hollywood films of 2009.

I promise to take it easy with the best-of lists over the holiday. The last thing the Internet needs is another set of bullet points.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/excellent-and-obscure/feed/ 0 The next step for magazines http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/the-next-step-for-magazines/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/the-next-step-for-magazines/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:15:03 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1513 Laura Miner muses on the evolution of the magazine and the development of Pictory, her excellent new site for multi-author photo essays.

It’s interesting to think about Pictory in the context of a magazine, because, while some people will call it an online magazine, in reality it is something else entirely — something new that we don’t have a word for yet. Innovative sites that bill themselves as online lit journals have the same problem. They’re not journals at all — and the use of old labels muddies our thinking.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/21/the-next-step-for-magazines/feed/ 0 If copyright was absolute http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/17/if-copyright-was-absolute/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/17/if-copyright-was-absolute/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:42:22 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1512 Marco Arment, maker of Instapaper, asks and answers what would happen if copyright were perfectly enforceable 100 percent of the time:

Today’s demand for permissively licensed content is nearly zero because most people can get away with small-scale infringement. If that were no longer possible, all of these infringements would be replaced by much more demand for permissively licensed content. Any publishers unwilling to satisfy the demand would be left in the dust by those who would.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/17/if-copyright-was-absolute/feed/ 0 Sweet Charity http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/16/sweet-charity/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/16/sweet-charity/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:51:26 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1509 Lately I’ve been looking for poems of charity and gratitude — maybe because I feel so little of either this time of year. This recording of “Sweet Charity” by John Clellon Holmes is my favorite so far. (Holmes’s books of poetry are sadly out of print, though a few of his novels remain.) The poem was read by Donald S. Hays last year at the anniversary celebration for the Arkansas MFA Program in Creative Writing.

sweetcharity

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/16/sweet-charity/feed/ 1 Quick! Fling your shoes into the machines! http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/15/quick-fling-your-shoes-into-the-machines/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/15/quick-fling-your-shoes-into-the-machines/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:12:42 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1505 Nick Bilton responds to plans by major publishers to delay ebook releases in order to boost hard cover sales:

I can tell you one thing: When I’m looking for a new book on my Kindle and told I have to wait four months for the e-book version, I won’t be heading to the bookstore. Instead, I’ll click the back button and buy one of the 360,000 other e-books available now.

Didn’t anyone at these publishing companies watch what happened to the music and newspaper industries over the last 10 years?

Also, a best-selling business writer has taken ebook rights away from his print publisher in an exclusive arrangement with Amazon.

]]> http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/15/quick-fling-your-shoes-into-the-machines/feed/ 0 Stillwell http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/15/stillwell/ http://linebreak.org/blog/2009/12/15/stillwell/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:33:52 +0000 Johnathon Williams http://linebreak.org/blog/?p=1504 I’ve got a new poem up at 42opus this week. Thanks to Brian Leary et al for the beautiful presentation.

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