Monthly Archives: September 2010

The reality of the Web, not the dream

This original conception of hypertext fathered two lines of descent. One adopted hypertext as a practical tool for organizing and cross-associating information; the other embraced it as an experimental art form, which might transform the essentially linear nature of our reading into a branching game, puzzle or poem, in which the reader collaborates with the author. The pragmatists use links to try to enhance comprehension or add context, to say “here’s where I got this” or “here’s where you can learn more”; the hypertext artists deploy them as part of a larger experiment in expanding (or blowing up) the structure of traditional narrative.

These are fundamentally different endeavors. The pragmatic linkers have thrived in the Web era; the literary linkers have so far largely failed to reach anyone outside the academy. The Web has given us a hypertext world in which links providing useful pointers outnumber links with artistic intent a million to one. If we are going to study the impact of hypertext on our brains and our culture, surely we should look at the reality of the Web, not the dream of the hypertext artists and theorists.

—Scott Rosenberg

Emotional Attachment

There is much more emotional attachment to the paper book than there is to the CD or the DVD. It is not logical — it’s visceral.

—Mike Shatzkin

Actually, it is logical. (It might not matter to you, but the different response is totally logical.) You don’t sit across the room from a book; you interact with it—hold it, look at it, turn the pages, etc. A book is not just visual; it’s also tactile + olfactory (old book smell!) + a little bit aural (think: sound of the pages turning). You don’t interact with music and movie media in the same way. You listen to music. You watch/listen to movies. But you don’t smell or touch the medium while you’re watching or listening. You might not even be in the same room with the device delivering the movie or music. I started a post on this eons ago. I should finish it!

Out there by herself

The problem is that doubles is played by partners. Two people simply should not stand on the same side of the net. Part of the reason tennis is so compelling is that a player has to confront the fact that she’s out there by herself. A doubles player does not. Consider the Bryan brothers, the best doubles team playing, one of the best teams ever. One is left handed, one right; one is Bob and one is Mike. Otherwise, they pretty much share a life. The zygote did not fully split. They always have each other. They are never, ever alone.

—Louisa Thomas

(I have no explanation for the sudden quoting of tennis commentary. I don’t even watch tennis.)

Life can be disappointing

Tennis is aspirational, like certain other distractions in life, and most people who play it recreationally, and who may have started as kids, in their dreams always dreamed about becoming great singles players, not great doubles players. In their dreams they held up the singles trophy on Centre Court. Doubles reminds them that they’re no longer young, that life can be disappointing, that not all dreams come true, and that not anything is possible.

—Michael Kimmelman

What makes them enjoyable

For me, to deny books their physical structure simply ignores far too much of what makes them enjoyable. The commitment they require, the way they force you into a state of simultaneous calm and focus — these are things I have yet to duplicate by any other means. Not to mention other factors that I’m terrified have been lost in the transition from paperback to screen: the mood it puts you in to carry a particular book in your bag all day, or the giddy/strange feeling of seeing your favorites on someone else’s shelves.

—Emma Silvers

Making Stuff

All those years ago, I didn’t think it unusual to spend so much time making stuff. This had a lot to do with my grandmother, a woman who, when she was not preserving produce, was ceaselessly creating other kinds of goods. She spent her evenings at her handwork: The needlepoint and cross-stitch samplers she’d frame and hang on walls; she hooked rugs and sewed the odd quilt, made Christmas ornaments and wine cozies and doorstop covers. As a little kid, I followed her lead, pulling thick yarn through big-holed plastic patterns of butterflies and strawberries, later graduating to friendship bracelets, some small needlepoint and, briefly, origami.

—Rebecca Traister

Kindness

It’s a lovely moment at the end when [David] Letterman comes to the most human question of all, which is just this: “Boy, I feel like I want to do something for you. Can I do something for you?” And when [Michael] Douglas says, “Awwww, gimme a hug!” you realize that they’ve actually each offered a kindness: Letterman gave him the hug and Douglas let that be the thing that Dave could do for him.

—Linda Holmes

Paternity leave

I am not unemployed, and I am not a stay-at-home dad. I’ve got a “real” job; I just haven’t gone to the office since last December. In total, I’ve spent 18 of the past 36 months on paternity leave here in Sweden, my adopted country, “off” work to care for my two kids. And, yes, I still get paid.

—Nathan Hegedus

(Just thought it was interesting that he said this precisely this way. Of course, he’s a man, and it’s Sweden. Still, it reminded me how surprised I was to see women trying to avoid self-identifying the same way.)