“I couldn’t do anything else but drive a tractor. I felt like this is the only thing I had. … I don’t do it to get a message across. I’m writing just because there are certain kinds of raw material. The material may be very strange, but it takes shape in the course of writing. Whether that has a message or not is not my concern.”
Tag: 12.01.13
Will Ebooks Build An African Book Culture?
“More than 160 million people are now connected throughout the continent, mostly on mobile phones. With internet access surging and connectivity increasing, the doors are being thrown open to digital publishing.”
TV Show Tweets Out Its Script To Build Fans
Beginning Monday morning, the script of the first episode, written by the show’s creator, Frank Darabont, who developed “The Walking Dead” for AMC, will be released in a stream of Twitter messages in its entirety — except for the surprise ending.
Even Hardcore Skeptics Sometimes Melt To Master And Commander Series Charms
“This is Jane Austen on a ship of war, with the humanity, joy and pathos of Shakespeare — and brilliantly written. I have read them perhaps 20 times. I will read them many more.”
Do You Miss Roger Ebert As Much As Everyone Else Does?
Then you can help build a life sized bronze statue of him in Champaign, Illinois, where his Ebertfest is held every year.
Jean Kent, 92, Fiery British Redhead Of Stage And Screen
“Kent, the fiery, sexy, red-haired bad girl of British movies in the 1940s, was a fine actor, and clearly enjoyed life, her work and – while it lasted – her cinema fame.”
Is Science Fiction A Genre In Crisis?
Its problem “comprises the generic-ness from which the label genre stems: in this case, the outdated stylistic tics and aesthetics of a marginal pulp-modernist medium, the clichés, the well-worn assumptions and comfortable call-backs, and the outdated institutional values in which they were nurtured and framed.”
Happy Birthday, Maria Callas! Love, Google
Head to Google on Dec. 2 to celebrate what would be the opera star’s 90th birthday.
What Happens When You Outfit An Entire (Massive) School District With iPads?
“When the first group of campuses received the tablets this fall, more than 300 students at three high schools almost immediately removed security filters so they could freely browse the Internet.”
André Schiffrin, 78, A Force In Literary And Cultural Publishing
“Taking risks, running losses, resisting financial pressures and compromises, Mr. Schiffrin championed the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Günter Grass, Studs Terkel, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, Noam Chomsky, Julio Cortázar, Marguerite Duras, Roy Medvedev, Gunnar Myrdal, George Kennan, Anita Brookner, R. D. Laing and many others.”