The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Effervescent Brain Salt
- Enemy585: you're the platform, get Mario to safety!
- The Modern Face of Letterpress
- Sanrio Small Gift launch party kicks off 10 days of fun in Los Angeles
- Entire New Zealand town goes steampunk
- Sarah Palin email hacker sentenced to one year in prison
- North Beach Italian cooking show
- Will TSA genital grope/full frontal nudity "security" make you fly less?
- Dictaphone ad
- Melissa Forman and Andy Council at Corey Helford Gallery in LA, 11/13/2010
- Tough day at work, huh, sad panda? (BB Flickr Pool)
- Never-before seen JFK portrait includes kid with toy gun in odd position
- Make inner-tube laces, turn your shoes into slip-ons
- HOWTO make a terrifying specimen jar
- Steampunk's founding fathers talk shop
- XKCD creator looking for light diversions during tough times
- Man proposes to ex-girlfriend, she declines, he tries to run her over with car
- Georgia college to students: Use P2P for any reason and we'll report you to the police
- Marwencol
- I have a bad feeling about this ...
- Charles Burns' new graphic novel: X'ed Out -- exclusive preview
- An appeal for smarter, nuanced thinking about stem cell research (via rap video)
- Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck: Wonders In The Sky
- Camping with Battery Powered LED Christmas Lights
- New art from Femke Hiemstra and Ryan Heshka
- Technology is not the "Jesus" of the poor
- Inside Full Fathom Five, James Frey's young-adult-novel assembly line -- New York Magazine
- Grassroots Securities Deregulation
- Fallen soldiers of the SPAM War (Boing Boing Flickr Pool)
- More than one way to kill a lobster
| Posted: 13 Nov 2010 12:16 AM PST  The best thing about effervescent brain salt is that it's not immediately clear whether it's salt to make effervescent brains even more delicious, or salt to give you an effervescent brain, or effervescent salt for brains. Also, it appears to come in a Tabasco bottle, and EVERYTHING THAT COMES IN A TABASCO BOTTLE IS ALWAYS AWESOME. |
| Enemy585: you're the platform, get Mario to safety! Posted: 13 Nov 2010 12:14 AM PST  Enemy585 is a reverse-platformer: imagine a Super Mario style flashgame, except you play the little platform that Mario rides on, and your job is to carry him to safety. Meanwhile, all the bad guys of the dungeon flash thought-bubbles at you explaining what they're doing and how they feel about it. Enemy585 (via Super Punch) |
| The Modern Face of Letterpress Posted: 12 Nov 2010 09:43 PM PST
Meet Stephanie Laursen. She's a letterpress printer, who wants to set up her own shop one day. She's already apprenticed at three locations. She's practical about what she needs to make it work. As far as I can tell, she didn't fall through a wormhole from 1930. Stephanie is fully rooted in 2010.
Today, I've heard about Frederic Goudy, the Bentons (père et fils), and W.A. Dwiggins, as well as the life of Beatrice Warde, the collapse of a preeminent type foundry after a hundred years, and a wood-type museum's resurgence. Sumner Stone (Adobe's first type design chief) reminisced about the history of fonts before and at Adobe. The school has a beautiful letterpress shop, the cleanest one I believe I've ever stepped foot in, with a full panoply of flatbed and platen presses, metal type, wooden furniture (the blocks used to space elements in a locked-up page), leading (mmm....delicious lead), and the like. It smells marvelous. Jenny Wilkson assembled and runs the shop. Kate Fernandez, a designer, put together a keepsake for the event, and participants were invited to pull the second color on the poster, which was printed with a combination of wooden and metal type. I was the last to go. Stephanie, a bit north of 20, told me about her career so far, which included a stint in Nashville at one of the oldest continuously operating presses; it makes use of type that goes back generations and slightly more modern printing equipment from the 1950s. That's her ampersand tattoo above, which she had inked after she left the Nashville shop to continue her journeywoman apprenticeships and finish at California College of the Arts. I said, with my 42 years of perspective, what are your plans, young woman? What will you do with this letterpress experience? She has many ideas, including getting a job at or having work printed by Chronicle Books and opening her own shop in which wedding invitations would form the backbone of income. I've been discovering over the last few months that that's a viable plan. While letterpress may seem quaint and nearly obsolete, you can buy restored gear or old presses that can be refitted; use a combination of handset type, engravings, and photopolymer plates (created often from pure digital output); and take instruction at hundreds of places: schools like SVC, book arts groups, private presses, and extension programs. It's not a boom industry, but there's interest beyond nostalgia.
Letterpress lets you get your hands dirty and produce unique works of beauty, turning elements of mechanical reproduction to your own ends. You control the process from start to finish, and the results, like all crafts, are as limited or expansive as your own skill. You need no intermediary. Type hits paper. And young people like Stephanie, perhaps for the first time in 30 or 40 years, are thinking about letterpress as a path for a profession. More photos | Seattle City Arts magazine on Washington state letterpress The back of Stephanie's business card, with a bit of extra contrast to reveal more detail that requires subtle examination.
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| Sanrio Small Gift launch party kicks off 10 days of fun in Los Angeles Posted: 12 Nov 2010 05:15 PM PST  I don't have a Boing Boing business card, but I smooth talked my way to the front of the interminable line to get into Sanrio's Small Gift launch party last night, held in a hangar at Santa Monica Airport. Set up like a carnival, there were games, a miniature golf course, a ferris wheel, and lots of food -- I was treated to Pink's hot dogs, Beard Papa's cream puffs, frozen yogurt, and enough Sanrio adorableness to shut down my pancreas. If you missed the Small Gifts party, there's still plenty of activities in store. For example, our friends at Flux have created some fantastic workshops with Crowded Teeth, Gary Baseman, Naoshi, and others that will be featured this weekend and next. You can read about the workshops and purchase tickets here. Small Gift LA will be in Santa Monica from Nov 12-21. Many people came dressed as their favorite Sanrio character. More photos after the jump!
A well-preserved Erik Estrada dazzled his fellow party guests with an illuminated Superman shirt!
Boing Boing favorite artist Audrey Kawasaki had a painting in the show.
Here's Audrey's painting. It is $7,000.
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| Entire New Zealand town goes steampunk Posted: 12 Nov 2010 05:10 PM PST  Michael sez, "Oamaru in New Zealand's South Island is a small rural town with a difference. The town has been handed over to steampunk, the Mayor even the Prime Minister are in on it. Check out the gallery pics." Central Base (Thanks, Michael!) |
| Sarah Palin email hacker sentenced to one year in prison Posted: 12 Nov 2010 04:19 PM PST Former Tennessee student David Kernell, who was convicted of hacking into Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, was sentenced today to one year in custody. |
| North Beach Italian cooking show Posted: 12 Nov 2010 04:04 PM PST Jeff Diehl says: John "Gianni" Mola asked me to help him make a web cooking show, so I did. I think it turned out well. For a cooking amateur like me, I find his recipes and kitchen techniques simple to learn, while seeming advanced at the same time. Gianni also embodies an appealingly full lifestyle that really shows North Beach at its best.Gianni TV |
| Will TSA genital grope/full frontal nudity "security" make you fly less? Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:54 PM PST |
| Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:52 PM PST  This old Dictaphone features some oddly compelling copy: "To secretaries who leap like stricken deer at every blast of the buzzer -- to executives who can't break work jams and can't understand why -- Dictaphone solves their most vital problems." |
| Melissa Forman and Andy Council at Corey Helford Gallery in LA, 11/13/2010 Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:33 PM PST   Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City is presenting Melissa Forman's first solo exhibition, with work by Andy Council in the loft of the gallery. Looks like a cool show! (Melissa's work is on the left, and Andy's work is on the right.) On opening night, Saturday, Novmber 13: "Gourmet treats will be provided by the Border Grill mobile feast, our traditional free drinks and snacks in the CHG party tent, music by DJ Lynk, and -- a FREE set of four exclusive 5X7 mini-giclee prints of Forman's works to each of the first 300 guests. These prints will be of the same quality as larger prints, suitable for framing, and never again available in this format, so arrive early!" More images after the jump.
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| Tough day at work, huh, sad panda? (BB Flickr Pool) Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:23 PM PST  "Tough Day at Work," a photograph shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool by BB reader will_i_be. |
| Never-before seen JFK portrait includes kid with toy gun in odd position Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:00 PM PST  LIFE this week released the photograph above of president John F. Kennedy stumping in Logan, WV—part of a collection of never-before-published images discussed at PBS.org. (Via Submitterator, thanks TCD004) |
| Make inner-tube laces, turn your shoes into slip-ons Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:31 PM PST  Instructables user Jacco1997 explains how to turn your lace-up shoes into slip-ons by fashioning custom laces made from inner tubes. They look awesome, and the procedure is plenty simple: "Lay out the inner tube and cut it the same length as the shoe lace. Then take that tube and cut two 1 cm. wide strips from it." Make laced shoes into slip-ons with inner tubes (via Make) |
| HOWTO make a terrifying specimen jar Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:25 PM PST  Whoops I Think I Broke It has a quick HOWTO for making your own glowing, mysterious, revolting specimen jar filled with little bits of ick from the Elder Gods' plane of existence: Now all we need is a "thing"Project Thing In A Jar (via Super Punch) |
| Steampunk's founding fathers talk shop Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:18 PM PST A reader writes, "Tim Powers, James Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter, all Cal State Fullerton alumni, give their university's paper an interview about their creation of steampunk, their friendship with Philip K. Dick, writing bad poetry for the paper when they attended the school, and Powers' book 'On Stranger Tides' being optioned for the next 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie." Next 'Pirates' movie based on book by CSUF alumnus (Image: Janelle Conner/Daily Titan) |
| XKCD creator looking for light diversions during tough times Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:12 PM PST |
| Man proposes to ex-girlfriend, she declines, he tries to run her over with car Posted: 12 Nov 2010 01:55 PM PST A 22-year-old man in Whittier, California was arrested yesterday for allegedly trying to run down his former girlfriend after she turned down his proposal of marriage. LAPD helicopters spotted him afterwards wandering around with a bouquet of flowers. The victim survived. More at the Los Angeles Times. Photo via Yelp.
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| Georgia college to students: Use P2P for any reason and we'll report you to the police Posted: 12 Nov 2010 01:51 PM PST  (cc-licensed photo by RocketRacoon) Valdosta State University in Georgia recently installed network software that administrators say can personally identify students who use P2P software of any kind and for any purpose. Any students using P2P software will, according to reports, be disciplined by the school and reported to the police. Snip from Torrentfreak's report: In July, the US put into effect a new requirement for colleges and universities to stop illicit file-sharing on their networks. This legislation puts defiant schools at risk of losing federal funding if they don't do enough to stop illicit file-sharers on their campus.Unfortunately for students, the system as described cannot distinguish between lawful and unlawful use of P2P software. Boot up a BitTorrent client to download a public domain film or a large data archive for research? You may not be violating copyright law, but you'll still be reported to the cops. More in the university's newspaper. Apparently, the tightened screws are in response to more widespread use of Ares Galaxy, which does a somewhat better job of evading existing school network controls designed to sniff out P2P use. |
| Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:42 PM PST [Trailer Link] Jeff Malmberg's documentary Marwencol, about outsider artist Mark Hogancamp, opens tonight in Los Angeles and a number of other cities. Check here for yours, more cities rolling out in weeks to come. In LA, Henry Rollins will be hosting the 7:30 show at the Nuart, with filmmaker Jeff Malmberg. I'll be there, too, and hope to see lots of other Boing Boing friends. The film documents Hogancamp's physical and mental recovery from a brutal beating by five strangers that left him in a coma. When he came out of the coma, he was left with brain damage and catastrophic memory loss. Eventually, he runs out of insurance coverage for therapy, and develops a kind of "homemade" therapy by creating an alternate world called Marwencol. You can read more about Hogancamp's story here. The LA Weekly has a review here, and LAist has more, and they interviewed the director earlier. LA folks: if you go tonight or tomorrow (the film's only showing for one week!), you can enter a raffle to win one of Hogancamp's prints. Check out the photo gallery. In the photo by Mark Hogancamp, below, "Captain Hogancamp marries Anna in front of the hanging SS who had ravaged Marwencol." |
| I have a bad feeling about this ... Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:07 PM PST Ed Yong says: "Words you don't want to hear in conjunction with wildlife deformities: sudden, widespread, unexplained." |
| Charles Burns' new graphic novel: X'ed Out -- exclusive preview Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:05 PM PST  (First, let's get this out of the way. Yep.) Charles Burns' new graphic novel, X'ed Out is the 56-page beginning of a longer work to be published by Pantheon. I don't know if it will end up being as massive as Burns' epic-length Black Hole, but if X'ed Out continues to be as terrifically creepy as this first installment, I hope it goes on for a very long time. Like Black Hole, X'ed Out features artsy, angsty, twinpeaksy teens who take drugs and engage in risky behavior, but it's more hallucinatory than Black Hole. The story here bounces back and forth between Doug -- a student who does a performance art gig wearing a Tintin mask while reciting William Burroughs-inspired cut-up poetry (Doug goes by the moniker Nitnit and Johnny 23) -- and an otherworldly character who looks like a cross between Tintin and Doug. Their stories parallel one another's in several ways (for instance, both have bandaged heads -- for unknown reasons.) Both Doug and TinTin-Doug seem to think that the other character is merely a hard-to-remember dream. One major chunk of the story focuses on Doug's fascination and blossoming relationship with Sarah, a girl in his photography class who takes portraits of herself nude and tied up. ("If you got your hands tied behind your back, who's takin' the picture?" asks one of her classmates. Sarah doesn't answer, but an obvious guess would her unseen, scary, and jealous boyfriend.) The other part of the story follows Tintin-Doug as he wanders in a daze through a vaguely middle eastern village populated by monsters and misfits. He teams up with a dicey little fellow with a backpack who becomes his guide in this mysterious world. (The preview that follows this review will introduce you to him.) I've really just scratched the surface here. There is something going on with an older man who appears to be both a stranger, Doug's father, and an older version of Doug. There's also images of fetal, dead, grublike creatures that pop up in different guises every few pages. I loved every second of this book. Unfortunately, it took only 45 minutes to read it (though I did go back through it to appreciate Burns' exquisitely rendered art), and I know that I'll have to wait for many months before the next issue comes out.
Buy X'ed Out on Amazon |
| An appeal for smarter, nuanced thinking about stem cell research (via rap video) Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:05 PM PST There may come a time when old white guys rapping about science is no longer funny. But we are not there yet. With some help from MIA, Dr. Jonathan Garlick of Tufts University explains that all he wants to do is cure disease. Stem cells can help. But first, we need a national conversation that acknowledges both the positives and the negatives, and laws that reflect nuanced reality, rather than panic. Thanks to leharrist for Submitterating! |
| Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck: Wonders In The Sky Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:27 PM PST  In 1969, Boing Boing contributor Jacques Vallee published Passport To Magonia, a timeless cultural history of UFO sightings, the first study of how modern UFO sightings are just the latest interpretation of weird "visitation" experiences people have had throughout history in different forms: angels, demons, fairies, devils, Our Lady of Fatima, and on and on. (No, Jacques doesn't think any of the above are extraterrestrials who traveled here in spaceships.) This folkloristic study of UFOs has become a Fortean classic. Now, Jacques and co-author Chris Aubeck have written a terrific companion volume to Passport To Magonia. Wonders In The Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times catalogs 500 reports of mysterious aerial phenomena dating back all the way to ancient Egypt. Guess what? People have seen strange lights in the sky since way before Roswell, Communion, and the X-Files. They just described them using the language and metaphors of their time, instead of calling them flying saucers or gray aliens. Wonders In The Sky is an engaging, well-researched compendium of those weird reports. (No, Jacques still doesn't think UFOs are spaceships flown here by extraterrestrials.) Jacques was recently a guest on Coast To Coast AM talking about the book, and the interview has been uploaded to YouTube in multiple parts. Jacques Vallee on Coast To Coast AM, 10/24/10 (YouTube) Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times (Amazon) |
| Camping with Battery Powered LED Christmas Lights Posted: 12 Nov 2010 11:56 AM PST  I have discovered that these battery-powered LED Christmas tree lights are really great for camping. They are not really bright, lack the noise from a gas lantern, they are non flammable, use rechargeable batteries, seem pretty durable (I have had them in the back of my truck for a while now) are ridiculously cheap, and they don't seem to attract bugs like all other lights that i have used. I have slowed the use of my headlamp. No more blinding people when you look at them while camping. I also like not having to use the loud mantle lanterns or the hurricane type lanterns that leak oil and spill. I string them up around the awning attached to my truck and then to the inside of the shell when I sleep or camp in there. I got mine for around 5 dollars including shipping. Outside of using them for camping they are also really fun to swing around at night while taking long exposure photos. -- Thomas O'Brien [Note: I recently saw these in use while camping last month, and can say that they performed admirably and provided just enough light without being annoying.--OH] Battery Powered LED Christmas Lights 30 white LEDs, 3 meter string $5 Comment on this at Cool Tools. Or, submit a tool! |
| New art from Femke Hiemstra and Ryan Heshka Posted: 12 Nov 2010 11:01 AM PST   Opening at Seattle's Roq La Rue tonight, new phantasmagorical paintings from Amsterdam-based Femke Hiemstra along with Ryan Heshka's pulp science fiction-inspired worlds of wonder. The show runs through December 4 and is also viewable online. |
| Technology is not the "Jesus" of the poor Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:58 AM PST In Boston Review, Kentaro Toyama argues against technology as a panacea for global poverty. (Submitterator/DEP33) |
| Inside Full Fathom Five, James Frey's young-adult-novel assembly line -- New York Magazine Posted: 12 Nov 2010 11:03 AM PST New York Magazine says: "Writer Suzanne Mozes explains what it was like working for James Frey's Full Fathom Five, where, in the hopes of scoring another Twilight, Frey had set up a young-adult-novel assembly line of low-paid young writers with little job security. Mozes, ultimately kicked off the line, offers her account of Frey's experiment: Inside Full Fathom Five, James Frey's young-adult-novel assembly line -- New York Magazine (Photo-illustration by Gluekit) |
| Grassroots Securities Deregulation Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:59 AM PST 
In July, I blogged here about the "crowdfunding exemption" petition, File No. 4-605, which the SEC had just posted to their website. The petition seeks to allow people to solicit investment of up to $100,000 in amounts capped at $100 without having to register with either the SEC or their state's department of corporations (a process which can cost $50,000 and up). Many people, myself included, believe that this simple exemption, which the SEC has the authority to allow, presents minimal risk to investors and would have many positive effects on innovation, culture, opportunity, the economy, etc. The fun news is, the proposal seems to be gaining traction! It turns out that others have been advocating similar exemptions, including Michael Shuman, author of Going Local and The Small-Mart Revolution. And now, the American Sustainable Business Council, a lobbying and advocacy group with many right-on members, has decided to support SEC rulemaking petition 4-605 as part of a new "Sustainable Economic Development" campaign, which will also encourage the SBA (Small Business Administration) to promote "TBL" accounting (Triple Bottom Line: financial, labor, and environmental). But note that the ASBC's new campaign will be on their back burner (and won't appear on their website) until January or so, because they're currently focused on other efforts, which require the current Congress during its remaining time in session. Meanwhile, Jenny Kassan of the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), who authored 4-605, did a great radio interview about the petition on Oct 29 on "U Need 2 Know" with Frank Knapp (tagline: Talk Radio for the Brain), on WOIC 1230 AM, Columbia, SC. Knapp starts out by saying he's "fascinated" by our proposal. The interview is about 12 minutes long-- check it out! Members of the public are invited to comment on the proposal by emailing rule-comments@sec.gov with "File No. 4-605" in the Subject line. All comments are posted to the SEC's website here, and a nice variety of people have sent in original and thoughtful comments, including Michael Sauvante, Mark White, James J. Angel, Danae Ringelmann, Eric Saint-Andre, Andres La Saga, Peter J. Chepucavage, and myself. Also, CREDO Action member Mimi Plevin-Foust has posted a petition on Change.org that does a terrific job of summarizing the issue and lets you submit a comment to the SEC by clicking a "Sign" button. Mimi's original goal of 100 signers was quickly met, so she raised it to 200, and then 500. Note that the letters generated by the CREDO/Change.org petition are sent to the office of SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, not rule-comments@sec.gov, so they will not appear on the SEC's website. (Even if they did, they would not be listed individually; the SEC handles robo-letters by tallying them anonymously as "Letter Type A", as you can see in the comments submitted for this previous petition: 2195 unnamed / undated robo-signatures tallied at the top of the page, and about 25 original letters listed by date and author.) Someone from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the same office that likes Maker Faire, MAKE, and Mythbusters, contacted me to recommend that I attend the SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation (a.k.a. Small Business Forum) next Thursday, November 18th. He said that OSTP is looking at crowdfunding as a possible way of promoting entrepreneurship and high-growth startups. Great! This was very encouraging, and others who also know Washington have made the same suggestion. So I'm going, along with representatives from the SELC, who drafted File No. 4-605, the ASBC, and many others. Almost every day over the past week, I've learned about someone else from some other interesting-sounding organization or company who will be joining our crew at the all-day forum. It's open to the public, so come on down! You can register to attend in person or remotely. A bunch of us are also gathering the night before the forum, Nov 17th, at CommonWealth Gastropub starting at around 7:30, to meet in person, hang out, and scheme. All are welcome-- it should be interesting and fun! As for the SEC Forum itself, the stated purpose of which is for the SEC to listen to the needs of small business, the official agenda indicates that it's all presentations and discussion by the SEC and their invited panelists until 2pm, at which point we reassemble into breakout groups to develop recommendations (we'll all be in Room 6000). The agenda does not make it clear how the resulting recommendations make it back to the SEC, and also indicates that that neither SEC Commissioners nor SEC staff are expected to be present at these discussions. So I guess we'll be left alone to play paper football and trash the place. For more info on this campaign and to sign up for updates visit crowdfundinglaw.com. |
| Fallen soldiers of the SPAM War (Boing Boing Flickr Pool) Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:16 AM PST  SP AM War, a photograph contributed to the Boing Boing Flickr Pool by BB reader Dawn Endico of Menlo Park, California. |
| More than one way to kill a lobster Posted: 12 Nov 2010 09:03 AM PST  In Wired, we learn of the Big Mother Shucker—a compression tank that simultaneously kills and shucks lobsters by subjecting them to 40,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. The lobster dies a quick death, and the humans benefit from not having to spend so damn long fighting with exoskeleton for itsy-bitsy pieces of meat. But, say you don't have any way of producing pressures greater than those found in the Mariana Trench. What, then, is the best and most humane way of dispatching one of these delicious crustaceans? According to Jennifer Basil, associate professor of Biology at City University of New York, Brooklyn College, it's boiling. That's because lobsters, like most invertebrates, don't have the same kind of brain we do. Instead of having one, big central mass of neurons—i.e., the brain—lobsters spread their thinking around their bodies in several smaller masses, called ganglia. "Every segment has its own little brain doing its own thing," says Basil. Which is why, she says, it's better to boil the lobster and kill all those mini-brains at once. "Cutting it up just creates two uncomfortable lobsters." |
"There's at least several steampunk conventions now, and they don't really have many books in the dealers room," Powers said. "They have tons of costumes and goggles and ray guns. It's more of a costume phenomenon, which has always been a big part of science fiction fandom. It seems that it has evolved dynamically into another area and sort of out of dutiful loyalty keeps referring back to me, Blaylock and Jeter." 
Alan sez, "In today's XKCD comic, Randall Munroe notes that he's not doing so well and asks for fun distractions to be sent to sick@xkcd.com." 
Frey emphasized that this was collaboration -- not my own project -- and that he needed writers who will listen to him. He gave as an example a King Arthur adaptation he was working on with another writer. That author had listened to his criticism and rewritten it in a different voice; because the author was receptive, Frey was positive the book would sell, and big. Another project, a Gossip Girl–like series he had worked on with two writers employed at Star magazine, he said had gone south. The writers hadn't made his requested character changes, so Frey had recently fired them. "He reintroduced the idea that he was modeling his company on Damien Hirst's art factory, a warehouse in which a reported 120 employees work to create fine art signed by Hirst. He considered Full Fathom Five an improvement on the way traditional book packagers like Alloy work. Generally, a book packager conceives an idea, hires writers to generate the content, and sells the package to a publishing house, much like a film-production company selling a project to a studio. The book packager's writer will sometimes share in the revenue but usually just take a standard fee, to the tune of $10,000. Frey seemed to think that writers who had a bigger share in the profits would deliver better books… | You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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