AliceBakerBlog

Free Again

The New York Times has been my internet homepage for years--casting an eye over the news and style features is my favorite way to start the day.  And there's always the obligatory visit to the Times Obituary page to see if "anyone good has died" (as my mother used to express it).

Awhile back, the Times began labeling some content as Premium, requiring paid subscriptions for access. 

Apparently this practice has not yielded the hoped-for results.  Savvy web readers were easily able to access the restricted articles and columns from other sources (as in media databases like those available here at our library...), meaning a loss in readership for the newspaper's website.  The very good news is that The New York Times has done away with restricted content--all is now free again.

All that's required is a free account.  Highly recommended.

Bookworm

One of the great pleasures of podcasts for me has been the discovery of Bookworm, a book review/author interview program broadcast by KCRW in Los Angeles.  It goes without saying that left to my own Wisconsin devices, I would never have heard this program.

The host is Michael Silverblatt, one of the most astute readers I have ever encountered.  His literary scope is absolutely encyclopedic.  Silverblatt not only reads the books he discusses, he gets inside them in the most thoughtful and analytical way.  It's obvious he digests his reading and devotes careful thought to it all.

It must be a delight to be an author interviewed on Bookworm.  Unlike some talk shows, where it's obvious the interviewer has only the most superficial knowledge of the book being discussed, Silverblatt is ready with observations on themes and comparisons to other writers and books that elicit unexpected insights from the authors.  Stacey Levine spoke about her fascination with girls' pulp fiction of the 50s and 60s, especially series like Cherry Ames, and how their scrambled syntax inspired the crafting of Frances Johnson.  Cherry Ames! 

Must. Read. This.  Book.

Some of the books and authors are scholarly and esoteric, some are very approachable.  This show has led me to authors and books I might not ever have found otherwise.  This is why I've been researching Jane Bowles in odd moments all day...

I subscribed to the podcast version of Bookworm through iTunes.  It's free.  If you have an iPod or other such device, you can be all signed up in minutes.

Happy News

From war to natural disasters, it's been a rocky year. Tired of all the depressingly sad news in the media today?  Relief is here, courtesy of Sites and Soundbytes, itself a frequently updated listing of Internet gems.

Happy News is full of positive news items, the things that often are either buried in the back pages, or completely overlooked by the mainstream media.  When the world and its travails weigh you down, this is a good antidote.

Naming the Names

Here's a bit of goofiness for a Tuesday morning:

Car Talk.  I listen to it on NPR and always enjoy it, even though I have no particular interest in thinking about automobiles as long as mine keeps running dependably.  But the two hosts of Car Talk enjoy themselves so much that the listener can't avoid getting sucked in.  If only all car talk was so genial and fun.  It seems like the subject of car trouble at my house always evokes a certain amount of Tension and Angst.

But I digress.  To the casual listener, one of the best parts of Car Talk is the end of the show, when the hosts, brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi, read through a long list of mock credits, wildly punning names of the "contributors".  I have been known to attempt to write some of it all down while driving, which certainly isn't a good idea.

If you're like me and have ever strained to catch all the names, help is here.  From the Car Talk website, the definitive list of credits.  And it just goes on, and on, and ON.  But it's fun.  And it's fun to think that someone somewhere got paid to think it all up.

Storytelling

It's hard to get out of the holiday mood and buckle back down to work.  Feel like kicking back and listening to (or reading) a good story?  Superhero Journal suggests several venues and websites, all fitting under the broad umbrella of storytelling.

Storycorps is a story collecting project, traveling the country with mobile recording facilities with the purpose of collecting stories from ordinary people.  It's been operational since 2003, and visited Milwaukee last month.  The stories are frequently featured on NPR.

The Fray is another storytelling project, begun by Derek Powazek, which has spawned a vibrant interactive community.  There is a great story-filled website, and this group also sponsors Fray Days in various cities.  The first Milwaukee Fray Day was in December of 2004.

Mortified is a collection of the most embarrasing and pathetic entries from teenaged diaries, shared by the actual writers.  It's been showcased on stage and also featured on This American Life on NPR.  Listening to it, a member of my family nearly drove a car into a tree because she was laughing so hard.

Superhero suggests Telling Stories, by Tracy Chapman, as accompaniment.

Times Online

According to an article in Ad Age, The New York Times will begin charging for some of its online content beginning in mid-September.  While most of its news and features will remain accessible and free, The Times will begin requiring paid subscriptions for access to selected columnists such as Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman, along with 14 other columnists from other sections of the paper and two from its International Herald Tribune edition.

Paid subscriptions will include full access to Times archives.  Currently, there is a fee charged to retrieve articles over a week old.

The Times has been my personal homepage for years.  It's dynamic and frequently updated, full of great writing and features.  I have long marveled that all that content is offered up free.  Sorry to see the free ride end, but a paid subscription might be an investment worth making.

Upheaval at Ms. Magazine

"In the last two years, I believe Ms. has been lively, provocative, thoughtful, and a fierce feminist example of advocacy journalism at its best.  I wish the magazine's owners all the best as they move forward with the kind of publication they envision."

Editor Elaine Lafferty has been at the helm of Ms. Magazine for the last two years.  Some sort of internal upheaval is apparent from the tone of the Editor's notes in the newest issue.  Alternet explains how conflicting visions of editorial policy and philosophy have stirred up the current problems.

Let's hope they get solved, and solved quickly.  Ms. is too valuable a resource to be threatened by any disorder.