Neil Gaiman's American Gods weblog
on
American Gods
·
· Score: 1
Neil Gaiman has a weblog at http://www.americangods.com/journal.html where he's documenting the trials and tribulations of writing and getting American Gods published. I haven't read the book, but if it's as good as his funny & informative off-the-cuff stuff on the weblog, I'll be at the bookstore early on the release date.
It's currently very hard to search for information on the Web that is less than 2 weeks old. When you're keeping up with current events and industry developments, 2 weeks is just too long to wait for information.
That's where specialty search engines like Moreover come in. Eventually, sites like this will let you search those bits of the Web that change often (news sources, weblogs, discussion groups, sites like Slashdot, message boards, financial news, etc.), allowing people to keep up with things as they happen.
Existing search engines are great at finding things that are archived on the Web, but poor at keeping up with what's currently happening. Looking for all the articles on the latest Shuttle mission, as well as what people are saying about it? You might find one or two things about it on Yahoo! or Google, but a search engine like Moreover will find the fluff article on CNN, the more in-depth article on Space.com, and a discussion about the mission on Slashdot. That's pretty powerful.
I somehow got my hands on a copy of the movie on Sunday, three days before the official release and have watched it twice so far, once with the English dub and once with the Japanese dialog and subtitles.
On the one hand, the literal English translation of the subtitled version is better than the spoken English version. It "sounds" more Japanese and is truer to the spirit of the film. The English dialog, tailored for a mainstream audience and to match the lip movements of the characters, seems hokey and forced in comparison.
On the other hand, if you are unfamiliar with the movie, reading subtitles interferes with viewing the great cinematography. The film is very pretty, and it's a shame to be reading when you should be enjoying the scenery.
Bottom line: the Japanese language version is much better, but first time viewers might want to view the English language version so they can follow the movie and see the stunning visuals more easily.
Also, for an excellent review of the film (from an animator), check out Don't Miss Miyazaki's Epic (contains some spoilers).
I guess that all depends on your point of view. The GIMP rocks when compared to, say, Microsoft Paint, but really can't hold a candle when compared to Photoshop 5.5 or 6.0.
The GIMP is basically Photoshop 3.0, which did rock...back in the mid-90s. Yes, it's free. Yes it runs on Linux. Yes, it's open source friendly and all that stuff. But for professional (and even semi-professional) graphic designers, there's no question that Photoshop 5.5/6.0 is preferable to a Photoshop 3.0 clone any day.
I think one of the reasons this book (and the Web site) is resonating with so many people is that it's telling people what they already know...but they didn't know that they knew it (confused yet?).
I mean, this is all stuff wired folks have known for ages, having had 5+ years experience with e-mail, Usenet, and the Web, interacting in the "new economy". What Chris and Co. did was to write the whole thing down, so that everyone could get a sense of how things are playing out.
And this isn't just preaching to the choir, as some critics have said. It's evident from reading the book that it is, like Hemos said, a business book aimed at business people...people who don't know who their audience is and need to relearn how to be people and businessmen and businesswomen at the same time.
Looking at the release schedules of the first three SW films, it is hard to imagine Lucas passing up all that revenue by prematurely releasing Ep. 1 on DVD.
All three of the first movies were released on VHS in a timely fashion. Everyone rushed out to buy them. Then a few years ago, they were released again, with new cover art, slightly remastered (if I recall correctly), and with interviews of Lucas. Everyone rushed out to buy them.
Soon after, they were completely remastered and released in the theatres. Everyone rushed out to see them. The completely remastered versions were then released to video. Everyone rushed out to buy them.
Episode 1 was then released in the theatres. Everyone rushed out to see it.
Fast forward to the future. Lucas releases Episode 1 on VHS. Everyone rushes out to buy it. Lucas then waits a year or more to release the original trilogy on DVD. Everyone rushes out to buy them.
At some point, Episode 1 will be released to DVD...but I wouldn't count on that being anytime soon. Lucas is all about the money folks. He knows he has a huge fan base for the Star Wars movie series that will buy anything he puts out. How do you make the really big money from that? You make those folks pay for the same damn thing over and over again.
The Jet-Set are only the arbiters of society because of money. As long as they have the money and as long as the world is primarily capitalistic, they will dictate most everything one can imagine. The Net-Set usurping this power would imply a significant shift in the capital structure of society, which I don't see happening in either the short or long term.
Eventually, someone will make money off of the weblog concept....just not very much. As a general rule, people don't pay for content on the Web...most Web publications are free. However, some pubs offering premium content (WSJ, Playboy, etc.) are making money from subscriptions, and premium quality weblogs will be no different. People will pay for constantly updated pointers to the best information in a specific subject area.
As an example, antique collectors might pay a small subscription fee for a weblog that keeps track of the best auctions currently running on eBay.
In the end, it's important to remember that the content of a weblog is essentially the same as a magazine like Newsweek: timely + information + opinion. Weblog or not, if a publication is timely enough, has good information (or in the case of a weblog, pointers to good information...the pointers become the information), and the readers enjoy/identify with the opinions, then there is the potential for that publication to make money.
When's the last time you heard of a company as big as Microsoft going from full steam ahead to nothing in 20 years? I realize this is the tech industry and things can change quickly, but this just doesn't seem realistic.
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The Taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to and from the small planet of Naboo.
While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace, to settle the conflict...
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks to a tipster, I broke this story on my site yesterday morning...AP and /. have no love for weblogs? ;). This morning, that same tipster has provided the Final Jeopardy question/answer which cost Ken his streak. If you don't mind the spoilers, click through to find out.
Neil Gaiman has a weblog at http://www.americangods.com/journal.html where he's documenting the trials and tribulations of writing and getting American Gods published. I haven't read the book, but if it's as good as his funny & informative off-the-cuff stuff on the weblog, I'll be at the bookstore early on the release date.
That's where specialty search engines like Moreover come in. Eventually, sites like this will let you search those bits of the Web that change often (news sources, weblogs, discussion groups, sites like Slashdot, message boards, financial news, etc.), allowing people to keep up with things as they happen.
Existing search engines are great at finding things that are archived on the Web, but poor at keeping up with what's currently happening. Looking for all the articles on the latest Shuttle mission, as well as what people are saying about it? You might find one or two things about it on Yahoo! or Google, but a search engine like Moreover will find the fluff article on CNN, the more in-depth article on Space.com, and a discussion about the mission on Slashdot. That's pretty powerful.
I somehow got my hands on a copy of the movie on Sunday, three days before the official release and have watched it twice so far, once with the English dub and once with the Japanese dialog and subtitles.
On the one hand, the literal English translation of the subtitled version is better than the spoken English version. It "sounds" more Japanese and is truer to the spirit of the film. The English dialog, tailored for a mainstream audience and to match the lip movements of the characters, seems hokey and forced in comparison.
On the other hand, if you are unfamiliar with the movie, reading subtitles interferes with viewing the great cinematography. The film is very pretty, and it's a shame to be reading when you should be enjoying the scenery.
Bottom line: the Japanese language version is much better, but first time viewers might want to view the English language version so they can follow the movie and see the stunning visuals more easily.
Also, for an excellent review of the film (from an animator), check out Don't Miss Miyazaki's Epic (contains some spoilers).
I guess that all depends on your point of view. The GIMP rocks when compared to, say, Microsoft Paint, but really can't hold a candle when compared to Photoshop 5.5 or 6.0.
The GIMP is basically Photoshop 3.0, which did rock...back in the mid-90s. Yes, it's free. Yes it runs on Linux. Yes, it's open source friendly and all that stuff. But for professional (and even semi-professional) graphic designers, there's no question that Photoshop 5.5/6.0 is preferable to a Photoshop 3.0 clone any day.
-jason
I think one of the reasons this book (and the Web site) is resonating with so many people is that it's telling people what they already know...but they didn't know that they knew it (confused yet?).
I mean, this is all stuff wired folks have known for ages, having had 5+ years experience with e-mail, Usenet, and the Web, interacting in the "new economy". What Chris and Co. did was to write the whole thing down, so that everyone could get a sense of how things are playing out.
And this isn't just preaching to the choir, as some critics have said. It's evident from reading the book that it is, like Hemos said, a business book aimed at business people...people who don't know who their audience is and need to relearn how to be people and businessmen and businesswomen at the same time.
Looking at the release schedules of the first three SW films, it is hard to imagine Lucas passing up all that revenue by prematurely releasing Ep. 1 on DVD.
All three of the first movies were released on VHS in a timely fashion. Everyone rushed out to buy them. Then a few years ago, they were released again, with new cover art, slightly remastered (if I recall correctly), and with interviews of Lucas. Everyone rushed out to buy them.
Soon after, they were completely remastered and released in the theatres. Everyone rushed out to see them. The completely remastered versions were then released to video. Everyone rushed out to buy them.
Episode 1 was then released in the theatres. Everyone rushed out to see it.
Fast forward to the future. Lucas releases Episode 1 on VHS. Everyone rushes out to buy it. Lucas then waits a year or more to release the original trilogy on DVD. Everyone rushes out to buy them.
At some point, Episode 1 will be released to DVD...but I wouldn't count on that being anytime soon. Lucas is all about the money folks. He knows he has a huge fan base for the Star Wars movie series that will buy anything he puts out. How do you make the really big money from that? You make those folks pay for the same damn thing over and over again.
It's brilliant.
Nice article, but the guy who cracked the box wrote up a detailed account of *exactly* how he did it, complete with code:
http://hispahack.ccc.de/en/mi019en.htm
Very interesting reading.
-jason
http://www.kottke.org
"home of fine hypertext products"
The Jet-Set are only the arbiters of society because of money. As long as they have the money and as long as the world is primarily capitalistic, they will dictate most everything one can imagine. The Net-Set usurping this power would imply a significant shift in the capital structure of society, which I don't see happening in either the short or long term.
-jason
http://www.kottke.org
"home of fine hypertext products"
As an example, antique collectors might pay a small subscription fee for a weblog that keeps track of the best auctions currently running on eBay.
In the end, it's important to remember that the content of a weblog is essentially the same as a magazine like Newsweek: timely + information + opinion. Weblog or not, if a publication is timely enough, has good information (or in the case of a weblog, pointers to good information...the pointers become the information), and the readers enjoy/identify with the opinions, then there is the potential for that publication to make money.
When's the last time you heard of a company as big as Microsoft going from full steam ahead to nothing in 20 years? I realize this is the tech industry and things can change quickly, but this just doesn't seem realistic.
-jason
This is probably what all the hubbub is about:
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The Taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to and from the small planet of Naboo.
While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace, to settle the conflict...