robotnic.co

Reading Week #3 – 11/04/2014

by //

Aye Write
Aye Write

Welcome to Reading Week #3!

Don’t forget you can sign up here to get Reading Week via email.

 

– ON ROBOTNIC.CO –

… I have been a lazy shite. But I’m BEDA-ing over on Tumblr.

 

– ARTS & CULTURE–

Syreeta McFadden on teaching the camera to see her skin. Buzzfeed Ideas, led by Ayeesha Siddiqi is getting off to a great start.

New documentary, American Blogger, is blowing up – but not for the reasons the filmmaker probably expected. This perfectly demonstrates how showing what you saw isn’t journalism – tackling what you didn’t see is the missing piece of this guys’ puzzle.

A bunch of female filmmakers are joining forces for a new initiative for, well, women filmmakers.

Vlogbrother Hank covered Mass Incarceration in the US — sitting this with arts and culture as the animation is pretty great.

In the US, it seems like social media might be “saving” the independent bookshop… if you believe the “little guy” is going to die out completely because Amazon has a 30% market share. (Definitely tune into Book Riot’s next podcast to see what they have to say about this.)

 

– DIGITAL –

Where are the real outsiders in new media? Or, why being a white dork who made it mainstream doesn’t make you diverse.

YouTube wants its creators to build ‘fanbases’ rather than audiences. Which does not mean what I think it means. As Steven put it, sooo 2008.

OnTumblr’s Emergent Optimisation. For me this was more interesting from a cultural than a design or development perspective.

Drooling over the New Yorker’s digital strategy.

 

– LONGFORM / JOURNALISM –

Ann Friedman on Moving for Love. 2 years on, I barely give a thought to Evan’s and my long distance days.

[ETA: Page no longer exists.]

Ann Friedman again, on journalism: Starting Niche.

Yep, it’s the Longform Podcast again. Check out Amanda Hess on this week’s episode. She’s the one who wrote that (first) article on James Deen. Random House non-fiction editor Andy Ward was a good listen, too.

The Hidden Brain: How Ocean Currents Explain Our Unconscious Social Biases via Brain Pickings. I’d like to read this book now.

 

– &c. –

Currently reading: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (even though he was the most insufferable Longform guest I’ve heard yet)

Currently holding off watching: Game of Thrones Season 4, because meh.

Number of Burritos eaten this week: 1. Must try harder.

What were your best reads of the week? Drop them below or tweet me.

Reading Week #2 – 04/04/14

by //

my-misspent-youth-insta

It’s link list time again!

The above is a recent read – My Misspent Youth by Megan Daum. Recommended.

If you’d like to receive this by email, please sign up here and I’ll begin emailing this out once 25 or so people have subscribed.

— ON ROBOTNIC.CO —

52 Books: March Reads (check back this weekend)

#FridayReads – 04/04/14

— ARTS & CULTURE–

“I see a lot of writing that describes what a piece of art is about, not so much about how it is about it.”
— Matt Zoller Seitz. Please, critics, write about the filmmaking.

The Dollar-And-Cents Case Against Hollywood’s Exclusion of Women. In which the new FiveThirtyEight is already giving me warm and fuzzy feelings.

I enjoyed these Time Out comment reviews of Under the Skin more than most of the professional ones I’ve read.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw points out the inherent sexism in, like, every Captain America review ever.

Jeopardy champ & author Tom Nissley may have bombed in his Tournament of the Decades which aired this week, but then he went and bought a bookshop!

 

— DIGITAL —

What You Think You Know About The Web is Wrong. In which attention beats clicks. (Well, no shit.)

I blogged about measuring the success of your social media efforts — yanno, if you’re interested.

 

— LONGFORM / JOURNALISM —

Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore?  Psych!

“[We don’t need] one more guy with a Jew-fro writing about Bruce Springsteen — I mean, it’s a crime! It must stop! David Remnick wrote a profile about Bruce Springsteen, he assigned that to himself. How dare he! That should not have happened. I mean, I didn’t read it, but I’m sure it was a terrible piece of writing.”
Elizabeth Wurtzel on the Longform Podcast made me lol at work. She is also pretty insufferable.

The Current debated Lena Dunham as a feminist icon back in January. Features Roxane Gay and Kate Carraway, among others.

Speaking of Roxane Gay, she wrote a great (& true) piece in defence of unlikeable female characters: Not Here to Make Friends 

Megan Daum points out that you can’t put a trigger warning on life. Kinda disappointed that my alma mater is in on this. (I should state that I’m not anti-trigger warning, just that one can’t expect to be coddled from everything one finds upsetting or repulsive.)

How Not to Quit — Sarah Nicole Prinkett owes you (well, her readers) her career.

— &c. —

Turns out Glasgow thinks it’s a good idea to blow up some people’s former homes as an Opening Ceremony spectacle. Not cool, Glasgow 2014.

This made me want a tiny tattoo.

 

What were your best reads of the week? Hit me up with your links on Twitter!

Reading Week #1 – 28/03/14

by //

instagram-hangsaman

It’s time to start a weekly link list. It’s entitled Reading Week. Partly because it will be, for the most part, weekly; partly because most of my recent reading and listening has been in the pursuit of some sort of education. And we all know that the best week of the university semester is reading week.

Each week I’ll post some links I’ve been enjoying from cultural podcasts, longform journalism, digital trends, book news, and film writing.

If you’d like to receive this by email, sign up here and once it hits 25 names I’ll start sending out an email newsletter.

‘Til then – enjoy!

— ON ROBOTNIC.CO —

Writing About Old Dudes Who Write About Old Dudes – On reading Gay Talese.

I joined Scottish Book Trust to review S. by JJ Abrams & Doug Dorst.

 

— ARTS & CULTURE —

How Heathers Changed the Teen Movie Forever – just don’t mention its predilection towards sexual assault.

What I’m Reading by Jessica Stanley – make sure you check out her Tumblr, too.

“The Lottery” Letters – since I picked Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (pictured) for book club this month.

 

— LONGFORM —

Tavi Gevinson is the latest guest on the Longform podcast – and you’ll wish you’d made something of your blog at 13, too.

Rebecca Coriam: Lost at Sea – just as I thought I didn’t really get Jon Ronson (thanks to this [rubbish] book).

Ghosting: Andrew O’Hagan on ghostwriting the Julian Assange autobiography. All 30,000 words of it.

The Creepy Way Fathers Across the Country Are Controlling Their Daughters’ Virginity – & why it helps no-one.

Pixel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in the Gig Economy – great stuff by Sarah Kessler

 

— DIGITAL —

Are you using Pocket yet? It’s, like, literally the only way to get on with life without keeping 200 tabs open.

Good UI has some interesting tips for your website.

SF Gate has a funny cut & paste piece for out of town journalists covering Silicon Valley.

 

— HUMOUR —

On the Internet, Nobody Knows Your’e a Human Who’s Turned Into a Dog – I dunno, I thought it was funny.

 

— & c. —

Currently reading: The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales by Kirsty Logan

Currently looking forward to reading: Sleep Donation by Karen Russell

What have you been reading this week?