U.S. Gas Prices
A heat map visualization via Gas Buddy
U.S. Gas Prices
Author: coffeehousejunkie
Poetry Is Dead
Society… did not favor the reading of poetry…. By the ’90s, it was all over…. consider that poetry is the only art form where the number of people creating it is far greater than the number of people appreciating it…. People don’t possess the patience to read a poem 20 times before the sound and sense of it takes hold….
I am part of a world that apotheosizes the trendy, and poetry is just about as untrendy as it gets. I want to read books with buzz… and I can’t remember the last book of poetry that created even a dying mosquito’s worth of hum. I am also lazy, and poetry takes work.
–Bruce Wexler1
NOTES:
1) Bruce Wexler, “Poetry Is Dead. Does Anybody Really Care?” May 5, 2003, Newsweek, accessed July 7, 2008, http://www.newsweek.com/id/59182/page/1 (page no longer available)
B.I. – a poem sketch with photo
before the internet
i often read
books or magazines
during breaks and lunches
at the office —
then i ate
at my desk and surfed
web pages or placed
orders on amazon.com
for books i didn’t read
and remain in storage.
i often read
books or magazines
during breaks and lunches
at the office —
then i ate
at my desk and surfed
web pages or placed
orders on amazon.com
for books i didn’t read
and remain in storage.
now i read
books and magazines
during work breaks and lunches —
while someone else
in some other office
sells his/her x-men comic
collection and some other
digital fetus in another office
far far away
buys a x-men comic collection
during lunch hour
and later sells it
because he/her
didn’t make time
to read it.
Sunset at the Arboretum
The North Carolina Arboretum (http://www.ncarboretum.org/)
Caffeinated poem
Caffeinated poem: A few weeks ago I had compiled a set of poems to submit to various poetry contests including Boston Review. But I was reading Robert Pinsky’s book Gulf Music and never sent them. It’s not that I forgot to send them. It is just that compared to Robert Pinsky, my poems appear un-submittable. So instead I wrote a poem on a paper cup after drinking a latte from The Dripolator.
Tumblr. – The Documentary.
The Knife metaphor
“Blogs shouldn’t be work”
As newspapers, including mine, have begun to take a nosedive, the powers that be have decided that blogs must pay. The numbers (hits) are watched incessantly, and increasing them has become the criterion for survival, not just of the blog itself, but of the writer behind it. In a real sense, the blog has become an albatross, or a target painted on my chest. If I didn’t have one, no one would be looking at those blog numbers – they’d be looking at other numbers, true, but there’d be no pressure on the blog. There’s the rub: a blog with pressure becomes work, and blogs shouldn’t be work.
—Timothy Mangan1
NOTES:
1) Richard Chang, Paul Hodgins and Timothy Mangan, “To Blog or Not to Blog,” May 25, 2008, ARTSJOURNAL weblog, accessed June 5, 2008, https://www.artsjournal.com/npac/2008/05/to-blog-or-not-to-blog.html
The therapeutic value of blogging
writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways…. people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere. “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.
Jessica Wapner, Scientific American1
NOTES:
1) Jessica Wapner, “Blogging–It’s Good for You,” June 1, 2008, Scientific American, accessed June 5, 2008, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
Poet charts online reaction to chapbook release
Jilly Dybka released her self-pub book recently and has this to share about the books early impact (link):
Book release announced May 16, 2008
Stats provided May 25, 2008
400 daily readers of Poetry Hut
83 downloads of Trouble and Honey
5 individuals donated via PayPal
13 copies ordered via Lulu.com
Jilly provides her own interpretation of these numbers, but the numbers seem a bit off.
To make an accurate assesment of the data she would need to track daily page views, daily individual items sold (and/or downloaded), and daily revenue. Or at least track it weekly. From the collection of data she could discover and project sales trends, adjust marketing and promotional compaigns, and (in general) provide herself a statiscal analysis of the publishing effort of Trouble and Honey.
IMHO, I think it is too early to determine anything regarding this chapbook release.
Day in the Life of Asheville
I’m surprised that one of the photos I submitted to the DITLO project was chosen as the jugde’s pick. The Day in the Life of Asheville photo project took place between 12:00 noon April 18 through midnight April 19 in Asheville, NC city limits.
asheville transit center
outside books and news
Izzy’s
ash and steven
Can a computer write books?
From Jeff Gomez, author of Print Is Dead: Books in our Digital Age
Philip Parker, a science professor who has “written” more than 200,000 books…. But Parker doesn’t really write the books; instead he has invented a series of “computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a subject… and… turns the results into books in a range of genres….”
…just because the rats in Ratatouille are computer generated, the idea and the story and the dialogue weren’t computer generated. Computers are increasingly helping us be more creative but, in the end, that’s all they’re doing: helping.
There’s already services available that convert blog content to book format. Like Gomez stated, it still requires the human touch to generate the content. Technology made it easier to collect the information into an enjoyable package.
I’m confused
Micheal Smith (head of the International Digital Publishing Forum) says”
E-books are a growing niche for now… but I certainly don’t see a time when everybody will be reading them. People just love what the traditional book represents to them. Link
Yet…
Public sightings of e-books remain rare compared to iPods or iPhones… Link
And…
Publishing house Penguin said today that it…. is… working on turning its 5,000 title Penguin backlist into ebooks for publication this year and next. Link
Yet…
The publisher is digitising its entire worldwide backlist so that it can make the most of the emerging ebook trend. It also hopes the print-on-demand opportunities – whereby customers can have one-off copies of out-of-print titles printed, bound and shipped to them – will give older books a new lease of life. Link
Does that last part make sense to you? Penguin plans to publish ebooks and POD out-of-print titles? Why? Why, I ask, if the ebook is available would you want a POD of that title?
Here’s an idea; why not offer limited edition printings of out-of-print titles to collectors and bibliophiles. Due to limited supply, Penguin could charge more for these special lifestyle objects. Ebooks are geared for a completely different audience—an audience who just wants the content and not the packaging. Don’t waste time on POD. POD books are for university creative writing students and vagrant poets.
The Web never sleeps
Our always-on wired world doesn’t leave room for contemplation… Charles Bukowski once lamented that writing poems that were published soon after felt like throw-away journalism. But…. the Web never sleeps.
Jeff Gomez, Print is Dead1
NOTES:
1) Jeff Gomez, “24 Hour Posting People: Bloggers feel the pressure,” April 7, 2008, Print is Dead, accessed April 12, 2008, http://printisdeadblog.com/2008/04/07/24-hour-posting-people-bloggers-feel-the-pressure/ (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
History of My Blog
Down the road
Seth Godin writes:
“The best time to look for a job next year is right now.”
The best advice I received years ago by an old radio disc jockey was—always think two or three jobs down the road. It changes your perspective on what you are doing currently.
Could it get any worse?
More doom and gloom about the declining influence of books and readership.
MSM outlets report these desperate stories, yet the printer who manufactures the books I help publish report that book sales increased from 2007 by 7.4% . Maybe people aren’t reading the books they buy. Juvenile hardcover increased 46% while adult hardcover is up almost 8%. Further, audio books is up almost 20% and e-books are up 23%.
Can Kindle increase the number of people reading?
When is the intro better than the quote?
“There are a multitude of ways to resist modern corporate culture. One can turn the TV off, walk to work or live off the grid.” Link
This intro copy is better than the actual blog post. I was hoping for a some business wisdom like a list of: ‘7 highly effective ways to resist The Man’ or ‘21 irrefutable rules for living outside the matrix.’ But, nay, verily, only a blog post about something that didn’t require reading beyond the intro paragragh.
[end transmission]
Take this poem and read it
Take this poem and read it (or not, I was just suggesting you might like it… or maybe need it… oh, nevermind).
Deborah wonders if poets need to do a “better job of writing with an audience in mind.”1
Seth suggests that people might improve their writing2 if they think like bloggers. He offers 9 tips:
- Use headlines.
- Realize that people have choices.
- Drip, drip, drip.
- It’s okay if you leave.
- Interactivity is a great shortcut.
- Gimmicks aren’t as useful as insight.
- Don’t be afraid of lists.
- Show up.
- Say it.
What would happen if poets adapted those nine tips into their poetry?
NOTES:
1) Deborah Ager, “Border’s Books,” April 2008, 32 Poems, accessed April 7, 2008, https://32poems.com/prose/borders-book/
2) Seth Godin, “Write like a blogger,” April 07, 2008, Seth Godin’s Blog, accessed April 7, 2008, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/write-like-a-bl.html (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
It all ends up on the scrap heap
Every product starts out as inspiration, moves to the drafting board, the production line, and then goes into someone’s hands before ending up, finally, on the scrap heap.
Jeff Gomez, Print is Dead1
NOTES:
1) Jeff Gomez, “Our books, our shelves; Adrian Tomine’s New Yorker cover,” February 22, 2008, Print is Dead Blog, accessed April 5, 2008, http://printisdeadblog.com/2008/02/22/our-books-our-shelves-adrian-tomine%E2%80%99s-new-yorker-cover/ (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
Coffeehouse Junkie 