quickies: books are your friends edition

+ Buy a book! (Help me keep my publishing job!)

+ Speaking of publishing, romance ebook publishers seem to be taking over (or at least wanting to take over) the dead tree market. I’m interested in ebooks both as a consumer and a… producer? Ebooks are less expensive to produce, and I think they will become more prevalent when the cost of ebook readers goes down, but in the short term, ebooks of popular titles are available, as are a lot of interesting alternative books that might not get picked up by traditional publishers. (This is particularly true of GLBT romances, and some ebook-only publishers are putting out some good, genre-bending romances.)

+ Also, Writer Beware has a good, brief summary of last week’s industry bloodshed.

+ Check out the Brooklyn Hall of Fame.

+ Interesting Times article about art and artists in Green-wood Cemetery. (See also my trip to Green-wood.)

+ Problematic Barbies.

quickies: leftovers edition

Some of this has been sitting in my queue for five days or more. Apologies if this is old news.

+ Terrifying story of a girl who was attacked after rebuffing a cat-caller.

+ One woman combats street harassment by getting naked.

+ Polygamy watch! Creepy photos of Warren Jeffs and his child brides. And an appellate court ruled last week that Texas had no right to take the children, but did not order that the children be returned. Hmm.

+ A desk for fun-loving executives.

+ Speaking of corporate stuff, watch this video from 60 Minutes on Millenials”

So, here’s the thing. Millenials were, according to this segment, born between 1980 and 1995. I was born in 1980, so I guess that includes me, but my personal experience is so far removed from these kids who allegedly arrive at the workplace unprepared and yet entitled. Some of these shenanigans would have gotten me fired but quickly from some of my previous jobs. (Also, you know, I started working when I was 16 and spent the better part of my middle teenage years on a competitive debate team where there were definitely winners and losers, so I guess I managed to escape the expectation that everything should be handed to me.)

One thing I do like: there’s a movement away from sacrificing all to The Corporation. Of course, someone grumbles about the economic consequences of that, but I would argue that letting your workforce breathe occasionally would actually increase productivity, because you’d have a pool of well-rested eager people working for you instead of strung-out disgruntled people.

Thoughts?

+ This makes me laugh every time I look at it.

+ Is it just me, or are there a lot of copyright infringement lawsuits going on right now? Here’s one: Starbucks is suing the Rat City Rollergirls to change their logo. Judge for yourself, but the only similarity I see is that both are… round?

+ A gay superhero may be coming to TV.

That’s all for now. You ever notice how these quickies posts have no theme?

quickies: literary edition

+ Check out the Brooklyn Literary 100.

+ 65% of women aged 25-45 have disordered eating. Not surprising, but still alarming.

+ A man in Italy was arrested for staring at a woman. Sure, it seems extreme punishment, but I’m conflicted because I’ve also been the woman stared at. Women should be able to feel safe when traveling, and if it takes threatening to arrest men who make women feel unsafe in obvious ways (staring unrelentingly at a woman for an hour, say) then maybe it’s something to consider? I don’t know.

+ Mandy Kaling, who is awesome, tells you 10 things you don’t know about women.

+ The Times has a profile of the American Worker. The gist: Americans are overworked and underpaid. Gee whiz, I never could have guessed that!

+ On the other hand, Jezebel says it’s called work for a reason.

+ The Official Village Voice Election-Season Guide to the Right-Wing Blogosphere

+ I’m still annoyed about that Tyra-hosted show about people competing for an editorial job at Elle. It’s apparently not just me.

+ Why is it we work hard to cover up something that is natural and happens to almost every woman. *sigh*

+ How expensive is the beer at Yankee Stadium? I feel like saying, “I paid $9.50 for flat Miller Lite” kind of says it all, though.

+ In case you missed it, a few weeks ago, Peter Sagal of NPR had an awesome feminist rant about Horton Hears a Who.

+ Speech and Debate have a lot in common with sports. Damn right they do! Our debate team in high school brought home more trophies than our sports teams in fact. Does this mean I can say I was a jock in high school?

Also, I bought Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. Perhaps I’ll review it for the blog after I read.

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