Here's a George Packer quote: "Instead, the response to my post tells me that techno-worship is a triumphalist and intolerant cult that doesn’t like to be asked questions. If a Luddite is someone who fears and hates all technological change, a Biltonite is someone who celebrates all technological change: because we can, we must. I’d like to think that in 1860 I would have been an early train passenger, but I’d also like to think that in 1960 I’d have urged my wife to go off Thalidomide."

I love that last sentence.  I was talking to a friend the other day, and remarked that I can find very little serious artistic examination and critical thought about the negative effects of digital culture. Where are the brown-skinned poets, always so eager to challenge the white boys of academia, who will also challenge the white boys behind Facebook and Google and Amazon?

And how much critical thought is going on at colleges? And in churches? Is there a radical lefty ethic professor out there looking at the cultural colonialism that is part of the web? Is there a radical conservative out there looking at what the ready availability of extreme Internet porn is doing to the sexuality of boys and girls? Where are the questions? Where are the questions? Where are the questions? Read more.

- posted 2 6 10

This is a great, cooperative board game. Or not so cooperative. In trying to save the world from a pandemic, my brother-in-law and I argued too much and died. So don't count on us to save you. In any case, this has quickly become one of my favorite board games of all time. - zmangames.com

- posted 2 4 10

And just think of how much unfettered freedom we give to corporations that do most or all of their business online: trueslant.com.

Thank you, New Republic, for starting a new book review online: tnr.com

- posted 2 3 10

  Lately, I've attended social gatherings with digital mavens, and aside from marveling at the number of times certain folks look at their devices (one guy checked his phone at least twenty times during our five minute conversation), I was also fascinated by the small, yet passionate, number of people with highly digital careers who wanted to speak in depth about their worries of our digital future---of their personal digital futures. These were mostly folks in their 20s, so I am wondering what a mid-life crisis will look like in 20 years? What will the digital dudes do when they wake one morning in 2030 and suddenly come to believe they have wasted their lives? I am not suggesting that digital dudes are more likely to have mid-life crises. Quite the contrary. A mid-life crisis is analog and digital. But what will a digital mid-life crisis be? Will the app designer turn to butter-churning? Will the video game player turn to the church?
         And speaking of the digital church, my wife reports that, two weeks ago, at Mass, she witnessed a man working on his iPhone during most of the service. It's funny and sad. I wondered if he was downloading the Eucharist app. Or maybe he was reading the iBible ("In the beginning, there was Times New Roman font.").  Or perhaps he was tweeting about the homily ( "Jsus wpt"). Or could he have been sitting in a Skype Confessional ("Forgive me, Father, for I have sexted.")?
         A question: What happens to the concept of sacred ground in a 24-hour digital culture?

- posted 2 2 10

Hey, liberals, wake up and start practicing your liberalism when it comes to online commerce. And, hey, don't you love the photo for this article? - themillions.com

- posted 2 1 10

The battle between Amazon and Apple has just begun. In this fight, I feel like a stray dog trying to dig a bunker between two massive armies. - guardian.co.uk

- posted 1 31 10

I love Taibii's anger. I'm wondering if the far left and the far right are both going to run Third (Fourth?) Party candidates in 2012. - trueslant.com

- posted 1 27 10

I've been giving Luke Ridnour a hard time for many years now, and never thought much of him as a player. But he is having a great year, a potentially award-winning year, and I honor his improvement. - insider.espn.go.com.

- posted 1 26 10

Please send what you can - redcross.org

I second this - huffingtonpost.com

- posted 1 24 10

And just think of how much unfettered freedom we give to corporations that do most or all of their business online: trueslant.com

- posted 1 23 10

Oh, this is a fascinating site: edge.org. Check out the question for 2010: How is the internet changing the way you think?

Here is the fictional worse-case-scenario in terms of digital culture. It's a great read, featuring sometimes utterly ridiculous but hyper-cool weapons (I don't want to reveal too much, but it involves motorcycles, sharp objects, and computers), improbably attractive female operatives, scientists, and cops, and, oh, yeah, improbably attractive male operatives, scientists, and spies. As I type this, I realize it would make a great first flick for the new James Cameron, whoever he or she is. I love this book in all its techno-boy paranoid glory. But you should also know the author is a smart dude and knows his digital culture stuff. He's got a few lectures available online, as well. Check them out. - thedaemon.com

- posted 1 22 10

The wisdom of crowds? - ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com.

I love comedians. Love them. Love them. And, yes, I'm with Conan.  - tv.gawker.com.

- posted 1 14 10

Here's a book that explains, in specific technical and philosophical ways, some of the stuff that I intuitively fear about digital culture and publishing: You Are Not A Gadget.

- posted 1 12 10

This is a great book (and other stuff) site: themillions.com.

Wow, such deceit and obfuscation: youtube.com.

- posted 1 10 10

Will the Tea Party run a third-party candidate in 2012? Will it be Palin? That would be wonderful news for Democrats, but I wonder if the disillusioned left will also try to run a third- party candidate, as well.

- posted 1 9 10

The White Stripes' cover of "Jolene" - youtube.com.

Hey, Peter Gordon, creator of the legendary New York Sun crossword puzzles, has created an online puzzle service: fireballcrosswords.com.

- posted 1 8 10

A gorgeous ode to an old way of being - aprweb.org.

Man, oh, man, nobody was sure that Juwan Howard could dunk anymore, but look at the grand old veteran: youtube.com.

- posted 1 6 10

Libba Bray's Going Bovine is a great novel--funny, fantastical, and perfect for the vegans and vegetarians in your life. They'll be saying, "See, we told you so. We told you you'd go on Tolkienian-Orwellian-tilting at windmills nightmare adventures if you ate a hamburger."

latimesblogs - Dear detractors, tell me again why this isn't scary news?

- posted 12 31 09

Since Copper Canyon Press is one of the two or three premier poetry publishers in the country, it would seem apt to describe the release of Sherwin Bitsui's Flood Song as a historical event. It's been many years since a new Native American writer has had a book released by such a major publisher. So I celebrate Sherwin and Copper Canyon and urge all of you to do the same.

- posted 12 30 09

I'm very proud to have Small Press Distribution's best selling poetry book of 2009. And, hey, take a look at #11 on the list. That book of mine is 17 years old. Heck, Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was the #1 song of 1992. And "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was #2. That lil' book of mine has been around for a long time in pop culture years.

- posted 12 29 09

Please, please, please, members of far left, far far left, and outer space left, don't get so angry and irrational that you launch some third party candidate in 2012: trueslant.com.

So I read this tragic article and felt like crying and praying, but pulled up short when I read about the "commod-squadding," and laughed out loud. Well, the Pine Ridge gangbangers either have a great sense of humor, or some old Indian pulled a fast one on a New York Times reporter and spun a good canned fantasy. Commod-squadding? Indians can be so funny in the most desperate of circumstances.

- posted 12 15 09

Shane Battier will be running for U.S. President someday: espn.go.com

- posted 11 20 09

The Onion!

Thank you, Kate Harding: salon.com.

- posted 10 2 09

A great friend of mine, Jess Walter, has a new novel out, The Financial Lives of the Poets, and it is great. It's getting stellar reviews everywhere. It's a funny and sad take on the current economic climate. Buy it now.

- posted 9 15 09

more stuff


back to features

back to home page