Stuff I've Been Consuming 2

BOOKS READ:Legend, Marie LuHow a Book is Born, Keith GessenThe Fault In Our Stars, John GreenA Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer EganMOVIES WATCHED:A Separation, Asghar FarhadiChronicle, Josh TrankAnswer This!, Christopher FarahThe Secret World of Arrietty, Hiromasa YonebayashiAct of Valor, Mike McCoy and Scott WaughThe Artist, Michel Hazanavicius[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]Don't you hate it when something you've been looking forward...

Skeleton Key

This n+1 podcast episode with editor Keith Gessen about the publishing industry, "The Book is Good," is well worth the thirty minute listen. (I highlighted Gessen's How a Book is Born: The Making of The Art of Fielding a few weeks ago.) The meaty part of the interview starts around the 4:40 minute mark and there are quite a few interesting things to reflect upon.For one, Gessen challenges the idea that the monetary success of a few blockbusters are...

Throwback Thursday: ValueTales

Growing up, my friend Frank had a whole set of these books featuring cartoony illustrations of important historical figures and their achievements. They featured Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln among many others. Each title focused on teaching you a value lesson, whether it be leadership, courage, adventure, honesty, or curiosity.For the longest time I couldn't figure out what these were called. Googling...

Five Step Plan

A sorta weekly feature of things I co-sign: (1) 25 Things I Learned From Opening a Bookstore. I'd like to work in a book store someday but they've never called me back. Not once.(2) Cometbus #51: The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah. The history of Telegraph Avenue's book stores, as told by one of my favorite writers.(3) How Many Book Sales Equals "Success?" The easy answer is "more" but that's probably not precise enough.(4) A Call for a Unified E-book Market. Proprietary formats suck. Kill the DRM too, whatever that acronym stands for.(5)...

They're Flocking This Way

Since I've been Chinese all of my life, I know how to measure self worth by numbers. 4.0, 1600 (now 2400), valedictorian, 3.14159265, 1.3 billion, 888, M3, six figures, half price, two for one, one child... Since Twitter self-esteem can often be tied into how many followers you have, I thought it would be nice to put together a handy guide to what you've achieved so far and how much your parents will love you. And if they'll humble brag about you...

The Wizard Will See You Now

Last August I joined Rachael Harrie's Third Platform-Building Campaign and met some great people. As a blog addict, being exposed to so many sites was like being joyfully let out of rehab. I followed, I RSS-ed, I stalked, I cheered, I invested emotionally. I also tried to start "bangarang" as a group cheer but that attempt floundered like Spielberg's enthusiasm for Hook 2 so we're gonna need something else. Or we can just golf clap or something.Rachael...

Five Cents

A sorta weekly feature of things I co-sign: (1) YA Book Club. I heart the logo for this book club. Okay that's not the reason I'm joining. Okay maybe it is. This month they're reading The Fault In Our Stars.(2) Bad review bingo. Definitely my new favorite game. Now I just need to gather a living room full of defensive authors together to play. Can I count on you plus one?(3) John Scalzi answers when you can call yourself a "writer" or a "good writer." My personal answer for both is: "Tomorrow? Please?"(4) Possible Problems and Obstacles for Superheroes...

Throwback Thursday: Bunnicula

Seriously, where did the green light for this book series come from? I'm certainly glad some genius editor had the foresight to publish this because how else could I have grown up with fears of a blood sucking bunny? How many people, when you read Bunnicula as kids, thought vampiric pets were actually biologically possible? Raise your hand higher! Don't you miss the times when small domestic animals were the stars of books? Now it's all about...