“Michaela DePrince was little more than a toddler when she saw her first ballerina – an image in a magazine page blown against the gate of the orphanage where she ended up during Sierra Leone’s civil war. It showed an American ballet dancer posed on tip toe. … She wished “to become this exact person. … I saw hope in it. And I ripped the page out and I stuck it in my underwear because I didn’t have any place to put it.”
Tag: 07.11.12
Sci-Fi Author Uses Facebook To Pursue Man Who Pirated His Book
“Wizard hero Richard Rahl smites wrongdoers with his Sword of Truth. His creator, the bestselling fantasy author Terry Goodkind, turned to Facebook to name and shame a fan who pirated a digital version of his latest novel, The First Confessor.”
The Day My Magazine Completely Vanished From The Internet
Andrew Gallix, editor of 3 AM, recounts what happened when he awoke last week to discover that the magazine’s web site had disappeared without warning.
China’s Movie Box Office Sees Huge Gains
“Halfway through 2012, Chinese box-office revenues have totaled more than $1.25 billion, with the final tally projected by blogger Robert Cain of chinafilmbiz to surpass $3 billion. That would represent a surge of about $1 billion from 2011’s Chinese revenues of about $2.06 billion.”
E-Books Versus E-Music (A Cost Comparison)
“Back in the day, music was expensive and books were cheap. A cassette (ahem) ran almost $15 and then a CD was at least $20. My books were (usually) paperbacks for less than $10. The library was also well-stocked with books that I wanted, while the music selection was less impressive.”
Study Urges Hollywood To Give Films That Show Smoking An ‘R’ Rating
“By eliminating smoking in movies marketed to youth, an R rating for smoking would dramatically reduce exposure and lower adolescent smoking by as much as one-fifth.”
Chinese Censors Order Pre-Screening Of All Online Movies, TV
“China’s broadcasting and Internet regulators have told Internet video providers that they must prescreen all programs before making them available, tightening state censorship of increasingly popular online drama series and mini-movies.”
What The Blue Ridge Mountain Musicians Did For US Diplomacy In Afghanistan
Some might ask “What difference can a folk singer from the Blue Ridge Mountains make in a tortured place like Afghanistan?” It’s a valid question–partly answered by one of the State Department officers who said our visit did “more for diplomacy between Afghanistan and the United States than any diplomat had done, more then any road that was built, or any power plant that was constructed in the last year.”
The Art Project, Apple, And The Secret Service
“The moment this deeper conversation began, the project turned into a collaboration with Apple and the Secret Service. I didn’t own it anymore, it belonged to the commenters who were keeping it alive in spite of my virtual death.”
Study: Our Literature Has Increasingly Become More Self-Absorbed
“Language in American books has become increasingly focused on the self and uniqueness in the decades since 1960,” a research team led by San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge writes in the online journal PLoS One. “We believe these data provide further evidence that American culture has become increasingly focused on individualistic concerns.”