Monday, September 15, 2008

Two Worth A Read

I've had these two articles on my list to mention but I keep getting sidetracked. Darn Facebook! Anyhoo, the first is actually a blog posting about the recent court decision regarding JK Rowling and the Harry Potter Lexicon. While I don't find copyright mesmerizing, it can be interesting to see what happens at times in regards to fair use (esp. in our digital age, although this one has nothing to do with that). I won't go into detail about this one so if you're a non-copyright person you won't be bored. Basically it boils down to, "Have some original content if you are writing a commentary or guide to another work." So, here's the link to Getting Fair Use Right: Maximize What you Give, Minimize What You Take.

Another article that came across my desk a while back that I thought was quite interesting, was The Atlantic's article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? With online and digital literacies, are our minds changing how we interpret and read texts? The author of the article touts, "...the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind...Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." This quote jumped off of the page at me! How true that feels--we skim, skip along and scan to our hearts content but do we really sit down and read content like we used to? (Or did I ever being of the generation that is more of a Net Gen than earlier ones?) All food for thought. I'm not going to philosophize much more, it's just find to contemplate!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Oh No! Is it me or the book?

I keep falling asleep while reading my latest book pick. And yes, it's a Jane Austen-ish book. I'm trying to get through The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. I'm enjoying it, I just can't seem to stay away while reading it....is it the book or the baby that is doing this? I'll let you know how it goes...:)

In the meantime, here's a JA quote:
"The person , be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." --Northanger Abbey