What's in YOUR eBook reader?
(That is supposed to be a play on "What's in your wallet?") Today's blog is on reading materials. This past Christmas, I got mom an eReader (a Kindle Fire, specifically) because we have all generally agreed the age of print media is on the decline, and all my friends' parents had eBook readers. And yet, ironically (but probably not in line with the definition of irony) -- my Christmas list had a bunch of books and DVDs on it. Books, the supposed dying medium, and DVDs, another group angry about illegal downloading along with music. (I admit, there was no music on my Christmas list this year - but in years past, while illegal downloading has been popular, I have asked for CDs for Christmas.)
I think it was Lily Allen who was all for illegally downloading her music, because she understood the necessity to make money through music in other ways - legal downloads, youtube watches, concert sales, band merchandise, etc. I think more '20th century media' needs to come to this conclusion -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer is facing heavy cutbacks, resulting in many "Save the Plain Dealer!" billboards across North-East Ohio. We are not the culture of the 50s and 60s where pa goes out to get the newspaper in his robe every morning and reads it at breakfast, looking over it occasionally to tell advise his young son "Well if the bully hits you, hit'm right back!"
Newspapers, book stores, bands/musicians all need to adapt to modern media. We live in the age of the internet, you need to find a way that you are making money but up to the minute reporting, like CNN and Fox News. I hate Fox News* (the cable channel), but something about their advertising technique must be working.
I wrote this in part because over at Plunderbund, they're memorializing the 27 year anniversary of Columbus becoming a one-newspaper city. The Columbus Dispatch has since degenerated into useless rags as fangirl-ish as Fox News for our awful Governor. Too bad Plunderbund doesn't have a small magazine, maybe once or twice a week. I'd read that if it were cheap. Honestly I think I prefer magazines to Newspapers anyway, in the words of the internet: Ain't nobody got time for that!
Lastly, I wanted to comment on the book I just finished "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by The White House." by Valerie Plame Wilson. (2007) This book was AWESOME! People may remember back in c. 2003, there was a bunch of hype about the White House having outed an under cover US secret agent, putting her life and many other lives in danger. It resulted in 'Scooter' Libby's Federal grand jury investigation, and his resignation from the Bush administration. Anyway, the book itself is an interesting look into the mind of a woman working at the CIA, being a mom, and being in the national spotlight. It definitely rekindled my dislike for the Bush administration, and reminded me that men such as Karl Rove will stop at nothing for power -- they will literally put our national defense in jeopardy. I also rented the film based on the book, which was okay, but I think I'd prefered if Sean Penn wasn't in it. I can't wait to make a lesson plan about the movie and story for a Social Studies class someday!
Anyway, now I'm finishing up "Dreams from my Father" (1995) the first book by President Obama, written while he was finishing up her Law Degree at Harvard (so ten+ years before he was President.) It's got it's interesting points, but there are also long parts where even I get bored and don't know what he's talking about. He gets almost too flowery, speaking in symbolism and metaphor about "hope and change" as the sayings go, and this is long before he even dreamed of being President - ha! But it does make me think how outrageous accusations against him for being born in Kenya, or a "secret Muslim" are -- in addition to the paper trail, it is simply illogical that someone would create that much false data on the off chance of running for President some day. There is some not-so-flattering information in the book too, wouldn't he have done some kind of cover up work if cover up work was his method of rising to power? Instead he wrote a whole book, which was widely sold more than ten years ago, about his *first* trip to Kenya, and the emotional tidal wave that came with that, and his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii. Anyway, almost done with that, and then I'll be on the market for some books to read in 2013.
Video of the Day: "Taylor, the Latte Boy" - performed by Kristen Chenoweth. I had never heard of this until the other day when a former Circle K Adviser mentioned it in a Facebook status, so I googled it, and it was hilarious! It reminds me of various friends who have been in love with baristas over the years.
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| Stolen from Andrew Chittenden, over at Chittyland. |
I think it was Lily Allen who was all for illegally downloading her music, because she understood the necessity to make money through music in other ways - legal downloads, youtube watches, concert sales, band merchandise, etc. I think more '20th century media' needs to come to this conclusion -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer is facing heavy cutbacks, resulting in many "Save the Plain Dealer!" billboards across North-East Ohio. We are not the culture of the 50s and 60s where pa goes out to get the newspaper in his robe every morning and reads it at breakfast, looking over it occasionally to tell advise his young son "Well if the bully hits you, hit'm right back!"
Newspapers, book stores, bands/musicians all need to adapt to modern media. We live in the age of the internet, you need to find a way that you are making money but up to the minute reporting, like CNN and Fox News. I hate Fox News* (the cable channel), but something about their advertising technique must be working.
I wrote this in part because over at Plunderbund, they're memorializing the 27 year anniversary of Columbus becoming a one-newspaper city. The Columbus Dispatch has since degenerated into useless rags as fangirl-ish as Fox News for our awful Governor. Too bad Plunderbund doesn't have a small magazine, maybe once or twice a week. I'd read that if it were cheap. Honestly I think I prefer magazines to Newspapers anyway, in the words of the internet: Ain't nobody got time for that!
Lastly, I wanted to comment on the book I just finished "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by The White House." by Valerie Plame Wilson. (2007) This book was AWESOME! People may remember back in c. 2003, there was a bunch of hype about the White House having outed an under cover US secret agent, putting her life and many other lives in danger. It resulted in 'Scooter' Libby's Federal grand jury investigation, and his resignation from the Bush administration. Anyway, the book itself is an interesting look into the mind of a woman working at the CIA, being a mom, and being in the national spotlight. It definitely rekindled my dislike for the Bush administration, and reminded me that men such as Karl Rove will stop at nothing for power -- they will literally put our national defense in jeopardy. I also rented the film based on the book, which was okay, but I think I'd prefered if Sean Penn wasn't in it. I can't wait to make a lesson plan about the movie and story for a Social Studies class someday!
Anyway, now I'm finishing up "Dreams from my Father" (1995) the first book by President Obama, written while he was finishing up her Law Degree at Harvard (so ten+ years before he was President.) It's got it's interesting points, but there are also long parts where even I get bored and don't know what he's talking about. He gets almost too flowery, speaking in symbolism and metaphor about "hope and change" as the sayings go, and this is long before he even dreamed of being President - ha! But it does make me think how outrageous accusations against him for being born in Kenya, or a "secret Muslim" are -- in addition to the paper trail, it is simply illogical that someone would create that much false data on the off chance of running for President some day. There is some not-so-flattering information in the book too, wouldn't he have done some kind of cover up work if cover up work was his method of rising to power? Instead he wrote a whole book, which was widely sold more than ten years ago, about his *first* trip to Kenya, and the emotional tidal wave that came with that, and his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii. Anyway, almost done with that, and then I'll be on the market for some books to read in 2013.
Video of the Day: "Taylor, the Latte Boy" - performed by Kristen Chenoweth. I had never heard of this until the other day when a former Circle K Adviser mentioned it in a Facebook status, so I googled it, and it was hilarious! It reminds me of various friends who have been in love with baristas over the years.
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