Below are simple links to other interesting stuff I've come across on the web in the last day or two; they may or may not concern literature or photography, or indeed the arts at all. You can click here to learn more about how I compile this list and what software I use, if you're interested.

After network shutdown, right-wing bloggers turn on each other like hungry animals
So what's the problem with living one's life at all times like a vicious conflict-obsessed animal, like most far-right conservatives do? It's this -- that when one of your own networks falls apart, like this week with the conservative blogging federation Pajamas Media (the same people who sent "Joe The Plumber" to Israel), people who just yesterday had been friendly comrades instantly turn into violent enemies, with the right-wing blogosphere now exploding this week with recriminations, accusations over blame, and petty insults over Pajamas' bloggers essentially being on welfare, the most offensive thing you can say to a far-right conservative. (See, turns out that Pajamas wasn't actually making any money yet, even after three years; their bloggers were secretly being subsidized by wealthy investors, then being told that they were getting paid with ad money.) Remember, when you choose to view the entirety of life as a perpetual war, that really does mean the ENTIRETY OF LIFE.

TV industry starts admitting: "Maybe we can simply no longer afford 24/7 programming"
For those who don't know, in the past I've compared the transitioning TV industry these days to what happened in paper publishing at the start of the 20th century -- a move away from the then-lucrative thousands of pulps and penny-dreadfuls that dominated the industry, to the publishing of more challenging and mature yet lower-profit full-length novels, especially when combined with all the trailblazers of early Modernism. And now it turns out Variety agrees with me, penning an article about how the TV industry is starting to finally realize that the days of 22-episode seasons and 24/7 programming are coming to a close, to be replaced soon by the new model of dense low-episode projects, the fabled "novel for television" being practiced so well these days by such trailblazers as JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Matt Weiner and more. It's bad news for executives but great news for fans; imagine a world without James Joyce but with still hundreds of pulp-fiction mags to understand what I mean.

National Post: "It's a golden age right now for artistic startups"
A great article from the National Post today, arguing the same thing I've been arguing for the last several years -- that the exact circumstances making all these entertainment-industry corporate behemoths bleed money these days are the same exact circumstances that let small artistic startups financially thrive in a way they never have before. Shared attributes of such startups? Well, according to the article: run by people with legitimate passion for the subject; a roster of artists who are all thematically related; equal promotional attention for every artist signed; and a new emphasis on a smaller amount of more expensive physical product, higher in quality than normal and sold directly to that artist's biggest fans, letting casual fans simply download a digital copy of the project for free. More and more small arts groups in the US are finding real, quantifiable success from such a formula; not coincidentally, this is CCLaP's business plan in a nutshell too.

Broadway "Shrek" loses half its audience just one month after opening
Yet more dire news from Broadway: The new high-budget family extravaganza "Shrek," which was apparently going to single-handedly save the floundering industry, is only a month after opening already playing to half-empty houses, grossing for example $500,000 last week for a show that experts estimate costs $600,000 a week to produce. The biggest problem? Exorbitant ticket prices, including $112 just for weekday matinees, an outrageous price for an economy like the one we currently have, and which Broadway producers don't seem to even realize exists. Will these people finally get a clue and start pricing their shows more reasonably? Or will they continue self-sabotaging their industry and then blaming it on everyone except their own naked greed? Only time will tell, but you probably know already how I feel about it.

AICN: "Here's why Christian Bale had every right to throw a temper-tantrum"
Harry Knowles at Aint It Cool News has a -very- interesting post up right now, purporting to tell the "real story" behind that infamous taped temper tantrum by Christian Bale that's been all over the news this week; according to him, the whole thing boils down to an extra-fidgety director of photography, who had already been warned multiple times not to screw around with the lights while the cameras were actually running and the actors actually acting. He did so again, according to Knowles, right in the middle of the most emotionally intense scene of the entire movie; it was essentially while he was still in character that Bale blew up at this guy, for doing exactly what he had already been told multiple times not to do. Also, a nice editorial from Knowles on why AICN never runs articles about actors' personal lives, and the frustrations of running an entertainment publication in a tabloid-obsessed society.

Screen Actors Guild sues itself, is in danger of completely dissolving
Yet another low point in the pathetic recent history of American Labor: Half of the members of the Screen Actors Guild this week sued the other half in open court, claiming that they illegally took over leadership of the group through a "boardroom coup" using semi-legal loopholes in their by-laws. See, SAG has been without a new contract with Hollywood studios for over six months now; but they also refuse to pressure the studios through a traditional strike, rightly concerned in this shrinking economy and an overinflated industry that they will simply all be replaced with non-SAG actors, within an environment where almost all new shows being developed are "reality" projects that don't need actors to begin with. That's the problem with making insane amounts of money to produce crap; almost no one has sympathy for you when you complain about wanting to make even more.

90,000 sex offenders quickly change screen names at MySpace
MySpace is trying to make a huge PR splash this week after the removal of 90,000 convicted sex offenders from their service; but as even a security expert mentions in this article, those 90,000 were only caught in the first place because they registered under their real names, and MySpace can't even begin to stop these 90,000 people from simply creating another account tomorrow under an alias. That's the problem with trying to trumpet empty security news in order to whip up a little free publicity -- it's ridiculously easy to poke holes in these kinds of announcements, just the moment they're held up for public scrutiny to begin with.

NOT A JOKE: Joe The Plumber to attend Washington economic strategy session
And the comical downfall of the Republican Party continues: A week after flat-out rejecting the Obama economic stimulus plan unanimously, after promising the American people during the 2008 election that the "days of partisanship are over," conservative members of Congress are having a senior-level strategy session later this week regarding it all, and what they should do as an Obama alternative. And which expert economic adviser have they asked to head the session? Why, none other than "Joe The Plumber," the human cartoon character from the '08 election who has never actually worked in the financial sector even one day of his life, nor has ever taken a single economics class in his entire life. Yeah, GOP, -there's- the way to instill confidence among the general population that you somehow know what you're doing. Good job.

Ray Kurzweil launches 'Singularity University'...no, really
So for those who don't know, futurist Ray Kurzweil has this crazy theory that a lot of people take seriously; that in approximately 30 years, humans will finally invent a computer with the same amount of processing power as a human brain, a moment he calls the "Singularity" which will usher in a grand next stage of human evolution, as biology meets machinery in ways we scarcely thought possible. And now he's set up a glorified think-tank to help guide humans towards this moment, called "Singularity University" and run more like a school than a nonprofit. "Professors" include the inventor of SimCity, the founder of the X Prize and Google's chief evangelist; only $25,000 to attend next year's 10-day seminar! Sheesh, that Singularity sure turns out to be expensive!

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