Those who’ve aren’t sick of hearing about the Flux “Novel” project here at 3Quarks and OTR may have noticed that Ben McGrath, who wrote the New Yorker Talk of the Town piece on the show, described blogging as a “contemporary method of wasting time.” Something about this faux bon mot irritated me – isn’t all writing a waste of time if you look at it that way? (Not if you’re writing for the New Yorker, seems to be the implication.) I’m pretty sure that web logs are here to stay and that most mainstream periodicals have accepted them as an interesting way to spread ideas. Guys, what century is it?
As usual, Gawker noticed this first and had the best response:
‘[McGrath] appears to have survived the ordeal to the “living installation” called “NOVEL” without vomiting once.’
Read “The New Yorker Unlocks Secrets to Blogging” here.
You can sort of hear the culture being upended. Gawker probably leads as many opinions as the New Yorker (maybe more?); the technorati decide what to make of McGrath rather than the other way round. Very interesting.