What is a Print?

During my time working for an art gallery that partially specializes in fine art lithographic prints, I’ve noticed that many people really have no idea of what a print exactly is.  The Museum of Modern Art has prepared a special Flash exhibit that explains the concepts behind four of the most common ways of producing a fine art print, these being engravings, etchings, lithographs, and serigraphs.

Why Today’s Music Sounds Horrible

This article is really nothing new; all of us who have grown up with MP3s know that sound quality has greatly diminished since they were introduced.  I myself, I’m shamed to admit, had largely forgotten just how good a CD can sound until I was forced to get a car after our move to the Chicago suburbs.  This article is actually best for a sampling of what artists in the industry think about the change.

What frightens me is that this goes across the boards in all the arts, not just music, although I’m wondering if an exception can be made in the case of the new HD-DVD format.  Regardless, that says nothing about the quality of the actual stories that Hollywood is producing today.

Creative table of contents from Esquire

I don’t know if I’m like most people in this, but despite being a magazine editor, I almost never look at the Table of Contents when I open a magazine.  Today, however, the newest issue of Esquire opened to the contents when I flipped it open, and I couldn’t help noticing much the same layout I see all the time when I work on the magazine: They’ve made it look more or less like the InDesign page view layout. While quirky, it’s also slightly useful in that you know ahead of time how long it’s probably going to take the read something. The New Yorker could probably benefit from this!

Wal-Mart gets rid of over 1,000 magazine titles.

The supergiant retailer, which is apparently responsible for around 20% of all magazine sales in the United States, will cease carrying many magazine titles commonly found in their stores. Among these are Forbes and The New Yorker (I can’t imagine the Wal-Mart crowd reading that anyway).

How cell phones can save books

According to an article in Computerworld, releasing books in cell phone format (much as they apparently do in Japan) might be one of the best ways to save books.  I personally can’t see it taking off.

The article is also worth looking at merely for some of its links, such as this one to an article in American Thinker, which poses the question: “Is a new Dark Age at hand?” One of the main signs of a coming Dark Age, according to the author, is the “triumph of triviality.” It’s all too tragic, therefore, that the article was accompanied by an advertisement proclaiming that “Dark Age Ringtones” were for sale.

Pig out: UK agency effectively calls three little pigs racist

UK “cultural sensitivity” reaches a new low: A government agency denied an award to a book based on the story of the three little pigs called Three Little Cowboy Builders because it “raises cultural issues,” specifically toward Muslims.

The details of the trial seem almost like parody, with the judges saying things like this: “Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?”

As I’ve never actually seen the book, I can’t draw any real conclusions, but just the idea of a pop-up book based on the tale of the three little pigs seems quite award-worthy, especially if it’s anything like I’m imagining.

Read Lolita and get smart

Here’s an interesting guide to reading: Books That Make You Dumb. Virgil Griffith has made a graph of based on the 10 most popular books listed for Facebook at certain universities. The basic equation that he uses is Books <=> Colleges <=> Average SAT Scores.

Much of this is predictable: For instance, Lolita, 100 Years of Solitude, Crime and Punishment (my personal favorite) occupy the highest end of the chart; and Zane, B More Careful, and True to the Game take up the bottom part. There are, however, some surprises: For example, The Alchemist is oddly high for what I would expect, and, by Griffith’s calculation, “smarter” people write “The Bible” as opposed to “The Holy Bible”.

Total Plot Inertia

One of my favorite pastimes is reading hilarious reviews of bad products, and one of the best I’ve come across in a long time is this review of the tenth book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. This is especially classic:

Part of what really makes Mr. Jordan’s worlds so unique are the wonderful characters which populate them. I like nothing more than to scratch my head in befuddlement as yet another Aes Sedai is reintroduced into the plot whom I can no longer recall. It gives me an excuse to page to the back of the book and open up the ‘Robert Jordan Appendix of Useless and Irrelevant Characters’ which is always such a joy. I’ve created my own drinking game based on this called, [...]
For anyone who wants to play along the rules are simple:

1.) Is the character you’re looking up totally irrelevant? Take a drink.
2.) Do you have reason to suspect said character will remain totally irrelevant? Take a drink.
3.) Does the character twitch her shawl? Take two drinks.
4.) Is she looking “cross-eyed” at someone? Take a drink.
5.) Do you know the exact design of the embroidery on the fringe of her shawl? Of course you do – take a drink. For your own sanity, consider taking another.

Amazon.com acquires a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Anyone wanting to know more about J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard should check out Amazon’s page on the copy they bought at Sotheby’s. Stories aside, the book itself is actually quite beautiful.

Could you open a public library today?

I came across this article while searching for more information on the Amazon entry. Stephen Dubner thinks that book publishers would have a major problem with someone trying to start a library today.