reading, watching & listening to
sharing a selection of things I'm reading and find thought provoking
reading, watching & listening to
David Mamet Memo to "The Unit" Writing Staff
David Mamet's memo provides guidelines for the writing staff of the TV show "The Unit" regarding the importance of drama, storytelling, and creating engaging scenes that advance the plot.
screencraft.orggreat writing style. ALL CAPS. shouting on the page.
The idea that we could have so much community with so little effort was an illusion. We are digitally connected to more people than ever and terribly lonely nevertheless. Closeness requires time, and time has not fallen in cost or risen in quantity.
I do not blame anyone but myself for this. This is not something the corporations did to me. This is something I did to myself. But I am looking now for software that insists I make choices rather than whispers that none are needed. I don’t want my digital life to be one shame closet after another. A new metaphor has taken hold for me: I want it to be a garden I tend, snipping back the weeds and nourishing the plants.
honest, anti-hype
Smaller, slower distribution could mean better content, better relationships, and better businesses — doubtless at smaller scales than what was hoped from BuzzFeed, Vice, etc., but then those didn’t work out. The benefits of cultivating and controlling your own distribution are mutual comprehension between a publication and its consumers; feelings of loyalty and trust; and perhaps an ability to survive in the long term, building a more durable institution.