FTC may propose internet taxes on news sites to fund old school journalism outlets. “[G]overnment policy would encourage a tax on websites like the Drudge Report, a must-read source for the news links of the day, so that the agency can redistribute the funds collected to various newspapers. Such a tax would hit other news aggregators, such as Digg, Fark and Reddit, which not only gather links, but provide a forum for a lively and entertaining discussion of the issues raised by the stories. Fostering a robust public-policy debate, not saving a particular business model, should be the goal of journalism in the first place.”
Amis: Un-Fun Books Win Awards
Author Martin Amis suggests “unenjoyable” novels win literary awards.
“It all started with [Samuel] Beckett, I think. It was a kind of reasonable response to the horrors of the 20th century — you know, ‘No poetry after Auschwitz’. He described it as a mistake, saying: “You look back at the great writers in the English canon, and the American, and they are all funny.”
Writers such as Dickens, Jane Austen, and George Eliot all shared that trait, he said.
The Faux BBC 100
You’ve seen the lists before saying the BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed. Here’s the list you haven’t seen.
1 Conceit and Chauvinism – Jane Austoon
2 The Dane of the Drinks – PBJ Tokien
3 Jan Eyrie – Charlot Blont
4 Harry, the Boy Who Grows Up to Become a Wizard and Whip an Evil Sorcerer’s Butt series – JK Rowlin
5 To Catch a Mockingbird – Larper Hee
6 The Bible: The Book That Changed the World – Many anonymous authors
7 Withering Snipes – Emily Blont
8 Nineteen Ninety Nine – The Artist Formerly Known as Georgey O.
9 His Dark Materials – Canni Getalight
10 Profound Potential – Charlie B. Dickens
11 Wee Women – Louisa McAlcott
12 Tess: A Sad Novel You Won’t Want to Read – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 33: Prequel to Hyperbole- Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Francis Bacon (The Brain Behind Shakespeare)
15 Daphne Du Maurier – Rebecca Continue reading The Faux BBC 100
Forgotten and Imaginary Books
And now, more of the imaginary or forgotten in the literary. Here’s something from The Believer Magazine, “Short Takes on Books That Don’t Exist: Eleven Essential, Imaginary Beach Reads for Summer” by Steve Hely
From the Guardian a few years ago, here’s a list of books you may not have seen before.
Thunderhead
An awesome photo by Steve Coleman
Reedikuluz
The National Spelling Bee is on now, and there are protesters outside the competition who want our spelling rules changed.
Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the population from learning how to read, write and spell.
“Our alphabet has 425-plus ways of putting words together in illogical ways,” Mahoney said.
The protesting cohort distributed pins to willing passers-by with their logo, “Enuf is enuf. Enough is too much.”
Thanks to Peter Sokolowski for this link. He is a lexicographer with Merriam-Webster and claims, “English spelling is arbitrary, but it is the key to the rich history of the language. Normalize the spelling, and we lose touch with history.”
Ten Writing Mistakes
Mary DeMuth has some common writing mistakes, like weak verbs and wordiness. That needs another “ness,” doesn’t it? Wordiness-ness. Wordliness. That’s better. How about verbessence?
Tough Black Men
Ken Blackwell suggests, “Maher says what liberals think.” So, don’t ask for outrage, cause it ain’t comin.
Milosz' Poem: So Little
Czeslaw Milosz wrote this poem of death or perhaps the end of an experience:
“The white whale of the world
Hauled me down to its pit.”
I'm so excited, one of my eyebrows twitched
I’m kind of excited about this. Thanks to Grim’s Hall for putting me onto it.
This is a painting I’ve loved for years. It’s included in Osprey Publishing’s volume, Elite 3: The Vikings. Osprey publishes many, many fine books on military history, replete with illustrations. By far their best artist was the late Angus McBride, who painted this one. It illustrates a moment just prior to the death of King Olaf Trygvesson, an event that happens (offstage) in my novel, The Year of the Warrior.
I have a couple quibbles. The saga says that Olaf was wearing a red kirtle (or cloak, translations differ) over his mail that day. And anyone who wears mail knows that—especially with a shirt as long as that one—you wear it with a belt, to take some of the weight off your shoulders.
But I consider it probably the best Viking painting ever done, and I’ve got one coming. Osprey has made a limited number of prints available, and my order is in, my copy in the mail. They only announced it yesterday, so if you’re interested you might e-mail them yourself and try your luck, but I wouldn’t count on any being left by now. I think this is a print a lot of people will want.
Which reminds me of the funniest thing I heard during the Viking fighting in Elk Horn last weekend— “There’s no laughing in combat!”
And speaking of Vikings, I’m going to be representing the Viking Age Club and Society in Story City, Iowa tomorrow and Saturday at the Scandinavian Festival. Then I’ll be with the other Vikings for Danish Day at Danebo Hall in Minneapolis, on Sunday.
If I live.
As always, my renter will be protecting my house. He recently contracted rabies.