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“The forced, bloated expanding bundle”
I like the phrase. It was used to describe the way Americans are forced to subscribe to cable television–if you want cable, you must pay for a tremendous number of unwanted channels. In the industry,...
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The Financial States of America
If you want to buy a house for cheap, buy one in Arkansas or Mississippi–those are among states in the center strip of the USA with the least costly houses. In fact, the swath extends from Nebraska to...
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Shooting with an iPhone
So the new iPhone 5s includes an 8 megapixel camera. What can you do with a camera phone? Turns out, quite a lot, especially if you happen to be an extremely skillful photographer whose credits...
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Goodbye, Columbus
Juan Ponce de León discovered “America” but Columbus gets the credit! (Hello, Ponce de León. What a story you have to tell! Those who are impatient may scroll down about 2/3 to the part I’ve marked in...
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Did somebody say “Giverny?”
I just stumbled onto a cache of more than 600 recent photos of Giverny, Monet’s home, surrounding town, delicious-looking French desserts, and watercolors. Not a bad way to end the day. Thought you...
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Google Books vs. Every Published Author, Part I
I have written several books. Perhaps you have purchased one of them. If you did, thank you. As a result of your purchase, I probably collected about $1.25 in royalties. You may have read the book, and...
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Google Book Chronicles vs. Every Published Author, Part II
(Be sure to read parts one and three.) The statement from Google: As we have long said., Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalog for the digital age, giving users...
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Google Books vs. Every Published Author, Part III
(Be sure to read parts one and two.) The world is changing. As an author and creative person, I want as much intellectual property protection as possible. As a creator, I want as much flexibility as...
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Two Books About School
…but not books about reading, writing or arithmetic. Not exactly. Both books tell surprising stories about creativity, and support the thesis that experiential learning can be far more powerful than...
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The Other Stuff
Tubi TV Teaser from adrise on Vimeo. Although Netflix, YouTube and other video providers offer a whole lot of stuff, I’ve often wondered where the other stuff resides, why we’re not seeing so many old...
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Studying Funny
There is a dead frog with its guts all over the place. More about this unfunny amphibian later. For now, the challenge is to figure out what’s funny, why it’s funny, how funny is constructed, what...
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Night at the Operas
If I had arrived several weeks earlier, I might have seen “La Traviata” or perhaps “Simon Boccanegra,” but I was only to be in Venice for a few days, and there was no opera scheduled at Teatro La...
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Strolling through Everyday Venice
The day began, as it should this time of year, with a stroll through the ancient streets of Venice: the paths along the canals (“fondamenta”), under the occasional tunnel to somewhere or nowhere...
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An Authentic, Modern Meal in Venice
Venice is a small city overrun not with cars, but with tourists. It is a charming place to stroll, romantic in the dark alleys of the night, a bit spooky when a rat crosses the path (the place is...
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Beyond the Decisive Moment
Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the great photographers of the 20th century. Best known as a prolific street photographer (for whom color was a commercial concession, not an aesthetic option), HCB’s...
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I want to go to Provence. In 1970.
There was a secret shared, and in time, the secret was widely shared. It was beautiful. Tasty and life-affirming, too. And many of us benefit from it every day of our lives. Before 1970–give or take a...
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A Fresh Look at the Cable TV Business
Back in the 1970s, most Americans thought television would be free forever. There weren’t many channels—just CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, and a few independents—but that seemed sufficient—so the audience looked...
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President, Inc.
So here’s something that hasn’t happened before, at least not at this scale. The new President is a businessman, and his personal name is one of his business’s most valuable assets. He lives in Trump...
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A Letter from John Cleese to the United States
Just in case you missed this… Published on November 14, 2016 To the citizens of the United States of America, in light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern...
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Happy Jólabókaflód
I think I’ve got the accents about right, but there might be a cross on that final d. In any case, we’re talking about an Icelandic book flood that occurs this time of year. A friend reminded me with...
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