October, 3, 2004 archives

slick: a novel by daniel price is a very clever first novel by a los angeles writer, set in the intersecting world of crisis pr management, the rap industry, and the news media. besides having all the necessary elements of a great novel (plot, characters, dialogue), it’s also loaded with all sorts of clever and interesting tidbits.

the official website for the book has a good chapter-by-chapter reader’s guide. it fills in some bits of back-story, explains some plot and character points, and points out the real events that are woven into the story. (it is full of spoilers, so read it after the book.)

should i blame the book for making me more sensitive to how the author is often billed as a media critic and the guy behind abused by the news, a site whose creation only barely pre-dates the publication of the book, and he doesn’t really seem to have any real background as a media critic beyond that? (which is not to say he does not deserve to be recognized as a media critic. but i think the book is leverage into that, as opposed to a background in media criticism being the leverage into writing a novel that borrows from that field.)

(i picked up the book based on the mention over at la observed, which provides a peek behind the scenes of a pr stunt used to promote the book.)

i’ve been noticing a real upswing in good t-shirts for sale on the web lately. it’s like a distributed second wave following the earlier mini-cottage-industry of cafe press products. this please touch my monkey shirt and the others from glarkware is an example, as are the shirts from threadless.

threadless is a really interesting example of this. it’s run like a kuro5hin for shirt designs, with designs being submitted and voted upon by the users.

kotaku is the new gaming-related blog from gawker media. from the kotaku faq:

5. What’s the coolest game ever?
    X-Com: UFO Defense.

evan williams, co-founder of blogger, is moving on and leaving google. good luck!

the number of days i have where i wish i could just kick back, read books, and putter around without having work hanging over my head is definitely on the increase.

jobs are for chumps.

reason has an interesting article about the drug enforcement agency’s microgram newsletter, now on the web, and puts it in the broader context of the government’s failure to compete in the marketplace of ideas on the internet, at least with regards to controlled substances.