I'm not going to say it's because of my snark (and my alter-ego Asshole Avenger™ - now in comic book stores), but I noticed that the promoted twitter feed for Diablo III has changed their second line to "Face death on next-gen console" right after I replied "And in #Ferguson they have to go into the streets to get that thrill. MT @Diablo Face death in your living room #adfail".
Also started new classes today for CT.
Stewart Sternberg gives an anecdote regarding story ideas. Yup.
"Whatever happened to writing for love not money" asks the article in the telegraph. Ah, new writers, they're so precious when they're that young a naive. Let me stomp all over your dreams now. Publishers Weekly tweeted this out (and I saw it first from Katheryn Cramer) and it caused a pretty interesting discussion on twitter. So let's be clear on this, yes some "artists" make art without regard to commercial value or even attempts to sell or monetize that art. Most of those people have another source of income (stipend, already rich, a spouse that earns enough, etc), or also do art with the intent to sell. The "starving artist" isn't starving because they want to or it's some pathway to sainthood. They're starving because they can't make a living from their art. That's not the same as "making art for the love of art." That's, "why won't these money-grubbing bastards buy my shit." I'll note here that yes, artists have starved to death, and it's part of the "stories that we tell ourselves" that artists should be hungry and that "suffering" leads to better art. Let me call bullshit on that right away. People also die with the Great American Novel in their desk drawer. Why don't you ever get to read these masterpieces? Because that's now how you publish because nobody gives a damn about the novel they've never seen or heard of. That said, one of my responses sums it up, "I write because I love writing & story. I edit & work 2 get better because I want the money." Also, please note, I haven't made much money from writing (and zero dollars from fiction writing, although there are other rewards like the friendship of smart people, which I value highly). And when my future ability at making a living become overwhelmingly under threat 5 years ago, the first thing to go was the writing (okay, maybe not first, but I haven't done a lot in the past two years compared to the decade before that). Also, please note, this isn't an argument about what publishers and the public pay artists (which includes writers). That is a whole different kettle of worms.
"Honestly, it's less about Showtime and more about these hack crowdsourcing campaigns that certain agencies are selling to them. There are lots of folks doing very cool things with user-generated content, but to ask professionals to compete against each other for potential 'exposure' is completely different. It's demeaning, and it lowers the value of everyone's work." Standing slow clap. (Grokked from Eric VanNewkirk)
You know all those people in 2008 and 2012 who talked about this "Oh noes, class warfare" stuff? Well, yea, it's been going on for some time now. It's just the losing side has finally woken up to knowing that there is an actual war going on.
"… a PublicMind survey out of Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 'people who said they consumed no news' fared better on a current events questionnaire than people who had been using Fox News to find out what was going on in the world… People who categorically don’t watch the news know more than people who watch a network whose primary function is ostensibly to relay the news." Just going to leave this here. (Grokked from Nathan Gendzier)
No comments:
Post a Comment