Monday Tally is a weekly link round-up of some of my favorite posts discovered over the week. If you have suggestions for Monday Tally, please e-mail sophisticated [dot] dorkiness [at] gmail [dot] com. Enjoy!
I’m a huge fan of getting into television shows late in their run so I can sit down and watch watch a bunch of it in a row. The Guardian had a fun article about the appeal of watching multi-season tv shows over again from the beginning:
The final page of a novel is planned and meant; the final scene of a TV drama is often accidental and dictated by external events. The rerun screening gives viewers their equivalent of the pleasure that comes from taking a well-thumbed hardback from the shelf and opening at page one.
One of the big challenges that a lot of online newsrooms have is keeping up with monitoring the online comment sections. I like this point in this article from Poynter about fostering conversations is for newspapers:
Many commenters treat news stories like bathroom stalls — transitory outlets for anonymous self-expression while no one’s watching. Healthy online communities, on the other hand, can feel very similar to offline communities — your book club, your favorite bar, your office — with familiar faces, in-jokes, and social norms.
That goes along with this Salon article, which argues that we should get rid of anonymous comments altogether.
Nicolas Carr, author of The Shallows, wrote a nice post about the idea of information overload. I like the distinction between situational overload (trying to find a particular piece of information in the vast sea of available information) and ambient overload (the idea that “we’re surrounded by so much information that is of immediate interest to us that we feel overwhelmed by the neverending pressure of trying to keep up with it all”).
I’ve never heard of Livescribe before, but after reading this post about digital notetaking I really, really want one of those pens.
I can’t remember who linked to this on Twitter (sorry!), but I’m in love with this list of food-related books and movies. There are so many I want to read.
Books for My TBR
- Suits: A Woman on Wall Street by Nina Godiwalla because of a Twitter endorsement by Kate (The Parchment Girl).
- The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Robert Godwin because I loved his previous memoir, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun.
- My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe because of a review in Shelf Awareness.
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Who leaves anonymous comments, when you can simply make up a name, like The Girl from the Ghetto?
Anytime I read my hometown online news (My local papers, The Detroit News & Free Press, aren’t even available 7 days a week in hard copy, how sad!), the comments are just a joke. Everyone is a hater, just ripping on each other and anything that is posted on the website. It’s like being snarky has become the only way to behave anymore.
While I enjoy some snark, there is always a time & place for it.
Girl from the Ghetto: I’ve always figured since you can just make up a name online, there’s no reason to be anonymous. I think newspaper comment sections get especially bad, since the online portion of a newspaper is rarely the company’s top priority — comment moderation is the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to daily tasks.
Every time I read the comments threads on a newspaper article, I end up telling myself never again. (Of course, it never takes–I can’t help myself.)
Funny that you mentioned the Livescribe pen today. I just proofread an article about them this afternoon. Must be something in the air.
Teresa: I tend to avoid comment sections most of the time, but every once in awhile get drawn in. It’s usually a car wreck 🙂
Funny connection with the Livescribe pen. I feel like what I read about it was almost too good to be true. But if it worked as it says… amazing!
I hate anonymous comments. It always feels like a hit and run to me.
Ash: Yes, definitely. And having all sorts of “Anonymous” people in a thread makes it impossible to follow a conversation.
I was going to leave an anonymous comment saying anonymous commenters are jerks, but (a) it wasn’t that funny and (b) I am logged into Wordpress and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t let me post anonymously. :p
Love the article about watching TV shows on DVD! I do that all the time and I like the feeling of justification that article gave me.
Jenny: Nah, that would have been funny 🙂
I was sooo happy when I found the tv article for the exact same reasons — I do that all the time and liked being supported by a major British newspaper.
That book on Zimbabwe sounds VERY promising. I might have to add it to MY TBR, too !!!
Maphead: I liked Godwin’s memoir a lot, so I’m optimistic about this one.