Monday, September 26, 2011

Reposting

My epub class has a blog!

Here's my first post there:


Once upon a time, books were often illustrated with watercolors, or colored pencil. Because of this, many illustrations were soft and detailed. As photos and brighter colors became easier to produce, new styles of illustration developed.

Right now, ereaders are either back-lit or black-and-white, and many illustrations are produced unthinkingly by copying the print version. Some publishers, however - especially publishers of kids' books - have started to design animated, interactive illustrations for back-lit ereaders. I doubt people will pay much attention to the static black-and-white pictures with these around, but there's a third option coming. For now, the complaint is that the color's too faint, and perhaps it really won't be released until the color's as bright as a computer screen. But I think that would be a shame. I'd like to see what artists and designers would come up with for pastel colors on a small screen. It could be an opportunity to be innovative, rather than trying and failing to recreate the illustrations we've been used to in print.

But design is just the obvious adjustment to make in a new form. Content is changing in more ways than that. Length is much more flexible. Editability, for better or for worse, has increased. Even basic grammar's been affected, whether it's just using the electronic format to back up an old rule, writing an addendum to a rule specifically to deal with electronic formats, or straight-out changing the rule because of electronic publishing.

How else might content change?

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I'm not really crazy. I promise.

Me: You should really get some work done.

Me: Nah, I don't feel like it.

Me: Seriously – homework, cleaning, something.

Me: In a bit.

Me: A new blog even?

Me: I'll get to it.

...
3 hours later
...

Me: It's getting late.

Me: Mmm.

Me: You do realize you have a paper due tomorrow?*

Me: Yeah, I'll do that next.

...

Me: Hello?

...

Me: Remember that paper?

...

Me: Really, it's getting late and you've got a long day tomorrow. Just do the paper.

Me: Yeah, yeah.

...

Me: Just write the paper and go to bed!

Me: ...I think I'll watch Balto III, that sounds like a great idea.

Me: PAPER! BED!


And that is why the internet is evil. Because of course it is entirely to blame for my concentration problems and it will single-handedly destroy the world momentarily.
...Does the internet even have hands?



*Disclaimer: The paper in question was only a one-page, informal response paper, and it did, in fact, get written. Don't worry, Mom.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Slices of Life

...couldn't get into my office (don't ask!) so I...

...need your advice. Please cable ASAP...

...wanted to thank you for the chicken dinner...

...tell her NO!!!! We can't afford so many...

...so sorry to compromise, I promise it was with much swearing and raised voices...

...to my darling, overly-invoiced B––...

...no need to be so offensive...

...wife wants your chicken recipe...

...should have read your letter before I acted on it...

...a letter from a reader who seems to think he's related to you...

...the Dialogue with Ritalin correspondence...

...misinformed. We are not out of stock; in fact we've had trouble selling...

...I'm not chasing, this was just on top of a pile...

...that wonderful chicken...

...Emergency! Print run should be stopped...

...have no record of that...

...deadlines are not made to be broken...

...but what about Japan...

...know the mail is unreliable...

...find enclosed the picture I'd like...

...unsure who holds permission...

...just moved my office and not everything has reappeared yet...

...but we have never paid a reset fee...

...rename the chicken recipe in honor of your book...

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Wedding Adventures Part 3:The Wedding!

I think this part is best told in pictures:





 More pictures from the party if you view whole post...

Thursday, September 15, 2011

War Beneath the Waves

I miss my book reviews, even though I can't read all the bestsellers anymore, so here's a new section: Treasure Hunt. Books that I picked up at Borders' liquidation sales, or that I found cheap at used book stores. I've got quite a pile of these I've been meaning to go through anyway.

So first up is War Beneath the Waves, by Don Keith. It's a nonfiction book about a submarine crew in WWII, who suffered one of the worst depth-charge attacks anyone has ever survived – even though the top three officers were incapacitated early in the attack.

The story is interesting, the point – that such heroism deserves to be told and recognized – is appreciated, but somehow the editor in me is as fascinated as the historian. It's trying to figure out what went wrong.

I enjoyed this book. I really did. And any one section of it was an easy read, well-explained and plainly worded. The problem comes in the structure of the book as a whole. This was very obviously not written all in one go – or if it was, then the editor messed up badly. I could almost see it as a series of essays that were patched together, except that I don't know why anyone would write single essays on the events.

Terms and backgrounds are explained, re-explained, and re-explained again. Each time in slightly different wording, with a slightly different focus on the details. Each time as if the author thinks you've never heard it before. But the worst part, I think, is the timeline. This is not a linear story.

At first it seems to be following the man who will take command of the sub when no one else is available – Charlie Rush. But it keeps jumping. The main storyline meets someone important or interesting, and suddenly it's jumped back and is telling you their history. He gets assigned to a base or ship, and you get its history. These are all fascinating tangents – but they start to overlap after a while, and worse, you lose track of when you are in relation to the (supposed) main event of the book. The actual depth-charge attack consists of about four chapters, the central one only ten pages long – in a book with fourteen chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue.

It would probably make a great movie.

*************************************

Crystal Ball

Friday, September 9, 2011

A New Year

I'll continue talking about the wedding later, but while I've been pulling that together, life's been happening. Isn't it funny how that goes?

So I've had my first two classes for the semester - ePub overview, and copyediting. I'm excited for both. In the very first class for ePub, he already went over all the basics of HTML and had us make practice pages. And he actually made us stop and think about what each line meant, so I no longer think of the opening few lines as "the gibberish that makes it work that I copy-and-paste onto each page." In the process of learning this, I also realized that I essentially used the hard way when I made the farm's page. If you look at that page and select "view source," you'll see I'm using "XHTML 1.0 Strict" as opposed to "HTML 4.01 Transitional" which is what we used in class. The key difference is the strict vs. transitional - if I left out one end tag on the farm's page, it would screw up the whole thing; if you leave out an end tag in transitional but it can figure out what you meant, it'll do what you meant.

Wow, that sounds cool when I say it like that. And science-fictiony. It's technology that acts on what you think, not what you tell it. Sort of.  :-)

Oh, and I wore my China shirt to the first day of copyediting. "The waves swept overt the coast II typography cocktail."




Ever wondered if this could be true?

Wedding Adventures Part 2: Setting Up

So I'd made it to the farm after all, and we had three days till the wedding. By the time I got there, the mess left behind by Irene had already been picked up, and Ty had mowed. There were still signs to do, however, and some cleaning and planning.
There was also a farm to run still - and a hurricane to respond to, just to keep things interesting. The cooler had a neighbor's fruit in it, because he'd lost power, and Ty, Z, and I all spent some time sorting apples into half-peck bags (way smaller than the farm normally uses, but there was a carton of them in storage) so that they could be sent on to their dojo, which had become an emergency supply depot.

We weren't sure when the tent was coming, so we didn't actually take everything there until late, but Uncle George managed to fill the back of his truck with food, clothes, flashlights, and soap, and it did get there eventually.

As more people began showing up, the work got faster.
This sign:
took me hours, though honestly it shouldn't have.

Then, with more people working, washing 12 dozen glasses took less time than the sign - and with still more people, doing this:


was even quicker.

Finally, the tent was up, the places were set, the signs were ready, Tug's doggy cam was on, and everyone was dressed (this last point being quite the accomplishment, with 20 or so people playing musical bathrooms).

to be continued...

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Eeevinrude!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Update on Unbroken

Unbroken was one of the Bestsellers I reviewed that I really liked - so I think the continued attention is well-deserved.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Wedding Adventures Part 1: Getting There

I checked on my train Tuesday night, and according to the website, it was going to be leaving on time. So I was up late, packing and planning, and getting everything ready to go.
When I got up in the morning, I collected my stuff and dragged it all with me to Emerson to pick up my September T pass, then back to Copley for the walk to the train station. I finally get there... and my train's been cancelled. Apparently the tracks are still underwater (they didn't know this the night before?) and so trains still can't get to Albany. No alternate transport was offered.
The solution? Rent a car and drive! (Thank you Mom!)

I ended up with a little Fiat I decided to call Evinrude after the dragonfly in The Rescuers. It was a cute car - I have a picture I'll share when I get home again and can upload it - but he had such a tiny engine! But my brave little Evinrude and I made it over the mountains - barely - and met up with Uncle Tom in Albany.

About those mountains though... we were being passed by cars pulling giant boats bigger than Evinrude. And another time, trying to get around a truck going about 20mph, I had the gas pedal flat on the floor and realized I wasn't actually gaining any speed. Still, I got here, and that's what counts.


Meanwhile, Uncle Dave's playing hide-and-seek with a typhoon trying to get here in time; Dad's train was also cancelled; Matt and Jess will be leaving directly from work and driving all night; and Jess (the other one) will be driving straight through from Pittsburgh after classes, and picking up Steph from Rochester on the way.