These days, it seems I can’t visit a bookstore without running into stacks of blooks. “What’s a blook?” you ask?
A blook is printed book that contains or is based on content from a blog.
There are many examples: PostSecret, Awkward Family Photos, $#*! My Dad Says, Graph Out Loud, Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong… the list goes on and on.
For his take on the blook trend, Nora interviewed Tim Carmody. Tim’s a writer, literary historian, blogger, and self-described “BookFuturist.” A shorter version of this interview will air on Spark 121, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 13:52]
Play audio:
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I'm offended by the bleeps in this story.
I would have hoped that the CBC held itself to a standard where the words that are needed, or used to support a story, are used. The suitability of language is a matter of context and maturity.
CBC should be operate without such crude self-censorship.
Hi, David. Dan here, from Spark. I'm responsible for the bleeps. Sorry to hear that they offended you. I completely agree with you that the language we choose to use should be appropriate and contextual.
Let me try to explain the bleeps: the title of the blog is "Shit My Dad Says." The title of the book based on the blog is "Sh*t My Dad Says." The title of the TV show based on the blog is "$h*! My Dad Says."
Nora was reading (and Tim was referencing) a book title that _itself_ is censored. The bleeps are less about censorship, and more about trying to accurately reference the book, not the blog. As a radio producer, "Sh-BLEEP-t" is the best audio approximation of "Sh*t" that I know how to make.
Hope this helps clear things up. Thanks for weighing in.
For the record: to achieved the "censored book title" effect, both Tim and Nora said the word "Shift." The tone, IIRC, is 1kHz.
This is a great idea. I'll do a little research and we'll try to get it on an upcoming show. I suspect, as you do, that part of it comes down to how long you keep your e-reader
I am interested in the whole idea of libraries and electronic media. Today I can go to the library and get access to humungous numbers of books, both paper based and audio (even downloadable MP3 I can also borrow music, movies, and video games on CD/DVD, but at least here in North Vancouver, not e-books.
I believe that I can borrow an individual copy of an e-book from an individual, if we actually exchange the e-book, and I have a compatible reading device.
The downloadable audio books from the library have a time limit on them, and you can't listen to them after they expire (without breaking the digital lock, which isn't worth doing since you can renew it).
I am sure that this leads us back into the copyright mire, but Libraries must have some view of that already. I can see it is easier with physical media , because the library has to buy a copy and they only have as many copies as they buy to lend out. Electronic media poses some different problems.
Jim
I think another precursor of the model would be collections of comic strips. People could read them daily in their newspaper, but for many years people have bought collections of comics.
There's an element of capturing the ephemeral (it's the only place I can read "Bloom County" now), of editing down to favourites (as the "Four Word Film Review" book does), and also of ease of use in locations (cottages, cars, bathrooms) where you may not be able to get the Internet or your scrapbook of original strips, or recipes, or whatever has been collected.