Since all I know how to do is tell you how great other things are, I'm here to share with you some exciting recommendations, and must adds for your blogroll. Just like last time, a semi-curated blogroll included these new additions can be found bundled here.
[Tweetage Wasteland]
Dave Pell is an Internet Superhero and his blog talks about how technology affects his life. I need to know how to become an internet superhero myself actually. And so I read on. I see it as a nice companion to Kevin Kelly's Lifestream.
"Back in the early days of the web I was just a dealer. And I followed the advice I got from the movie Scarface: Don’t get high on your own supply. I used the web as a tool to be more efficient at achieving goals I had set for myself in the outside world... Those days are over. Like Tony Montana, I didn’t follow the advice about getting hooked on the product. As the realtime, social web has erupted, so too has my transition from being a dealer to being a dealer and a hardcore user."
-Confession #67: Say Hello to My Little Friend-
[First Person Singular]Sari Botton is an author, writer, and on the search for the perfect blogging platform. This particular Tumblr is about memoirs and essays and having just taken a class in the former, I find all of her links and commentary super interesting. Plus she's just seems cool.
"When you read someone’s memoir, you learn a little bit about the world and yourself by taking a look through someone else’s lens. Sure, there are poorly written ones that never take the leap from personal to universal. But it goes without saying that in any good memoir there will be an intense focus on the writer’s internal drama, and this is part of what makes readers able to lose themselves in his or her story."
-How About We Stop Calling Memoirists "Narcissists"-
[Bill and Dave's Cocktail Hour]
A recent find, I'm just exploring their writings but the site's tagline is, "Raise a glass to the lost arts of writing, reading, and drinking." Their long blog posts are individually awesome and I'm taking them slow so I don't run out of stuff. They are also quite funny, as this story of Dave taking Jonathan Franzen birdwatching illustrates.
"Perhaps the clearest sign that the literary apocalypse has arrived is the ascendancy of something called Bookscan. For those who might not have heard of it, Bookscan is a robot that determines what you will read. No, not a Kindle, which you will soon read on, or a computer, which is likely where everything we read is heading, but a scanning machine that tallies up the exact sales of an author’s book and so tells editors whether or not they should publish another. Long gone are the days when a writer served a working apprenticeship, hammering out a book or three on their way to mastery"
-The Rise of the Machines: Notes on the Literary Apocalypse-
[Dear Jenny Han]Fellow young adult author Jenny Han's Tumblr is all sorts of greatness. I mean, aside from vicariously following her along to signings and on tour, you get to to read her diary entries from way long ago. Yeah, like from the Nineties. If I had a friend like her in middle school, well, I would have had one friend.
"My mom’s mad because I forgot to put the rice in the rice cooker. She says I’m lazy! She keeps saying, 'Being smart at school isn’t the most important thing.' Ha! If only she knew. I’m NOT all that smart at school. So now I’m lazy AND dumb."
-me, Aug 1994-
[Writing Your Feelings]
If I could, I'd answer every provoking question that Susana Mai puts up on her writing blog. I really enjoy her Wednesday feature where she recommends things to read. She's put me on a lot of good stories and authors already. I think Mai is an aspiring writer but I'm pretty sure that "aspiring" is just there for humility's sake. I hope she gets published asap so I can read her book. She also must of put a ton of time into this post, "The First Sentence of the New Yorker's Top 20 Under 40."
"People do not give me change. No one asks me why, but I have imagined my answer. They do not give me change because I do not ask for it. I also do not have a cup. I am too embarrassed of my hands. I wash them with track water, and perfume them with Fat Man's bacon, egg and cheese wrapper daily, but still I am self-conscious, and feel like people will not love me."
-Hoyt-Schermerhorn-
[Hyperbole and a Half]An instant follow based on name alone, Allie Brosh combines illustrations, text, and her mighty observational powers to tell stories that'll make you laugh. And then you forward them to make your friends laugh. And then they forward, and so on and so forth.
"I get sucked into all sorts of unwanted conversations about crazy political conspiracy theories, the annual budget for sports teams I don't care about, advanced scientific debates that I am woefully underprepared for and probing discussions about my breast health. One time, on a Greyhound bus ride to Seattle, I talked to a woman I didn't know for 7 hours about her divorce because I couldn't figure out how to end the conversation. Generally, unwanted conversations happen unexpectedly, so there is very little you can do to avoid them. The Solution: I have no idea; you tell me."
-The Awkward Situation Survival Guide-
