In the Name of Fairness

The Prowler wrote last month:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also looking at how it can put in place policies that would allow it greater oversight of the Internet. “Internet radio is becoming a big deal, and we’re seeing that some web sites are able to control traffic and information, while other sites that may be of interest or use to citizens get limited traffic because of the way the people search and look for information,” says on committee staffer. “We’re at very early stages on this, but the chairman has made it clear that oversight of the Internet is one of his top priorities.”

Many commentators are watching the anti-choice crowd, currently in power in our federal and many state governements, for bills to make the semblance of ideological diversity a legal requirement. Liberal views don’t get enough play on the air or apparently on your blog, you filthy capitalist, so liberals must administer the airways and Internet in order to get their views into your head. I heard on the news several days ago that while Senator Jim DeMint proposed and saw passed an amendment to reject The Fairness Doctrine from the FCC, another amendment passed the Senate to allow the FCC to enforce ethnic diversity in media ownership. If there aren’t enough of the right people running media outlets in a particular area, the Feds will insist that someone sell their company to one of those select people. It’s another reason we call them the anti-choice crowd. If we don’t make the choices they want us to make, they will use legal force to choose for us.

So the current word on the street is that The Fairness Doctrine may be dead, but it’s spirit will live on in many other laws.

In related news, David Limbaugh writes about “The Orwellian Presidential Bully Pulpit.”

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W.B. Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W.B. Yeats, written in a time of economic and political turmoil.

Decisions, decisions

Our friend Loren Eaton meditates on the question of whether writers are happy or unhappy people (and if unhappy, whether that’s a necessary condition). And he links to a good article by Nathan Bransford, literary agent, on how to be happy though creative.

Happy or sad? Happy or sad?



I’m thinking. I’m thinking.

New Bestseller Lists

Hardcover, softcover, and manga are now categories in new NYT bestseller lists for graphic novels. Number one on the hardcover list: Starman Omnibus, Vol 2. At the top of the softcover list: Watchmen, out in theaters today. On the Manga list: Naruto, Vol. 38.

Bad buttons and shabby sheaths

According to this report, Hillary Clinton “dropped a brick” (as the English say) when she met with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. She’d had her crack staff put together a joke red button that was supposed to have the word “Reset” printed on it in Russian.

Instead, the word inscribed on the item by the Best and Brightest was one that means “overloaded.”

OK, I’ll cop to it. It’s all my fault.

In their zeal for equal opportunity, the State Department chose not to hire an actual Russian interpreter for this translating exercise, because Russian speakers have an unfair and undemocratic lock on such jobs.

Instead, in a bold affirmative action move, they broke the glass ceiling by hiring a Norwegian translator instead. And that translator was me.

My bad.

The little video Phil posted below advertises a fantasy game set in a sort of imaginary Viking world.

One thing that caught my attention was that the hero wears one of those over-the-shoulder back scabbards.

Allow me to rant about those for a moment. Continue reading Bad buttons and shabby sheaths

The Friday Fight: Fantasy

I doubt history plays much into this storyline, and since no character will really die if he gets stabs, the animated violence is pretty thick. Skarin is the hero’s name. That’s Swedish, I believe, but is it Norse?

Watching an idea become incarnate

It occurs to me that you might be interested to know the inside story on the glamorous, high-energy process of getting a book published. So I’ll tell you where I am as of today with West Oversea (available soon wherever fine books are sold. Ask for it by name).

A couple days back I got e-mails from my publisher and my editor, asking for input on the actual production of the physical book.

I got a .pdf of the manuscript as it’s been laid out, and the editor wanted my opinions on some issues. Would I mind if they moved the List of Characters from the back to the front? (Not at all.) What did I think of the “Kells” font? (I love it with a love that is more than love, but I think the body of the back cover copy should be in something more immediately readable.) Can I get some kind of blurb for this book, to supplement the reviews of older books? (Yes, I can. In fact I was amazed at the enthusiasm with which a couple fairly prominent personages, whom I know only by e-mail, agreed to read the galleys and write something for us. One guy I’d really hoped for isn’t answering my e-mails, but you can’t have everything.)

I mailed her a sheaf of copies of my old reviews yesterday, along with a copy of The Year of the Warrior, because she’d like this volume to resemble that earlier volume a little. (Which is nice.)

She notes that I’ll have to make some changes in the Afterword, where I thank people. That’s more true than she knows. I wrote the Afterword back in 2002, and at least one (very likely two; I’m not sure yet) of the people I thanked have passed away in the intervening Seven Lean Years. And I suspect I’ll want to thank her too, before I’m done.

This is one of the best parts of the process. I can’t wait to see the cover art. And looking forward to holding the actual, bound book in my hands is—well, I won’t say it’s like waiting for your child to be born. The two things aren’t even in the same ballpark (from all I hear). Let’s say it’s like waiting for the puppies to be born.

Book Reviews, Creative Culture