Reading Club: America’s prudish audio book morality

Likability is indeed just another word for “morality.” A huge section of the American reading public does not want art for art’s sake, or even realistic characters; it wants the books and audio books we read and the movies we see to be clever public service announcements, meant to uphold public morality.

Naturally, these unrealistic modern Achilles types must have some “likable” flaw, which is almost worse. It leads to the aesthetic of “quirkiness,” which has brought such success to Jonathan Safran Foer and Wes Anderson (probably the two masters of the modern safe-quirk genre).  Salon

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Obama Childrens AudioBooks Already A Success

The book was written before Mr. Obama took office in 2009. Proceeds will be donated to a scholarship fund for the children of fallen and disabled soldiers, the publishers said.

The book will address “groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped” the United States including former U.S. President George Washington, the first black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and artist Georgia O’Keeffe, the publisher said. The ten other subjects were not revealed.  Reuters

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More Positive Press for free Audio books and ebooks

Ebooks have text but no sound — the page displays on the screen.  Free Audio books are books that are read aloud and don’t show text.  Both are increasing in popularity,  In the last seven months, the number of ebook and audio books has jumped signficantly.

The advantage of free audio books to customers is the availability. Books can be downloaded any time of the day or night. Once the loan period is over, the book disappears, so there are no late fees.  ResourceShelf

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Amazon’s Hardware Plans may include audio books

Amazon is hiring a ton of hardware people, and sources close to the company say that it plans to expand beyond the Kindle e-reader to make new kinds of gadgets like audio books to help customers access the content it sells. Most likely, those gadgets would include audio or video players.

More than 70 job listings appear at the website for Amazon’s hardware division, Lab 126. The New York Times’s Bits blog says it has sources “with direct knowledge of the company’s plans” who say that these positions are open in part because the company is planning to finally design and produce new kinds of hardware.  PCSpeed.Net

Are the British better writers than Americans?

While it’s folly to generalize about the literature of an entire nation, I think British novelists tend to be more ironic, and I like irony. I enjoy the suspicion that a writer may be pulling my leg. The British are also good at wit—the art of “thinking in fun while feeling in earnest,” as J.B. Priestley put it. American wit sometimes seems like what Mr. Priestley described as “men sitting on pats of butter or smelly cheeses.” PC Speed

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Murdoch may be key to Apples plan to offer 99 cent digital rentals of TV shows

Apple plans a six-month trial of 99-cent rentals for each episode of a TV show. The digital downloads would be viewable on the iPad, above, and other devices. (Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press / January 26, 2010)

Executives of the media baron’s News Corp. are said to be split over whether to go along with the plan. NBC, CBS and Single episodes of such popular shows as “Glee” or “Lie to Me” are available to purchase for as much as $3.99 at Apple’s iTunes store. Some executives of News Corp., which owns the Fox network, worry that offering 99-cent episode rentals will cut into lucrative DVD sales and pull viewers away from watching network TV, thereby eroding a $20-billion advertising market, these people said.Time Warner are opposed, while Disney is in favor. LA Times

How to react when Social Media Attacks Your Brand

Social media disasters occur for a number of reasons, the first being that your company probably messed up. It may not have been intentional, but something, somewhere down the line, went wrong enough for someone to complain and it was enough for others to vocalize that complaint en masse. One mistake is all it takes for social media to turn against your brand.

TOY STORY 3 The first animated film to gross $1 Billion

Woody and Buzz are the gifts that just keep giving.

TOY STORY 3 has recently crossed the $1 billion mark, Disney announced Friday. That makes the sequel the first animated film to reach that milestone.

It’s more good news for a studio that’s having a very, very good year at the box office. In addition to Toy Story 3, Disney’s 3D fantasy film Alice in Wonderland also took in $1 billion. DVD Town

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Google plans pay per view films

Google’s YouTube video site is in negotiations with Hollywood’s leading movie studios to launch a global pay-per-view video service by the end of 2010, putting it head-to-head with Apple in the race to dominate the digital distribution of film and television content.

Google has been pitching to the studios on the international appeal of a streaming, on-demand movie service pegged to the world’s most popular search engine and YouTube, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.  FT.com

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