Comments for Meanwhile...

Comment on Directly to Go by Jens

Jens — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:33:34 +0000

Excellent post, Alex. You said it.

Comment on Directly to Go by Steph

Steph — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:17:14 +0000

Yep, definitely disappointed this last year or so. It was a pretty sweet gig there for a while. Part of me wants to get the hell out of there ASAP, while a morbidly curious part of me wants to stick around and see how it all goes down the crapper.

Congrats on your new job! Here’s hoping the rest of us can get off this ship before it sinks.

Comment on Directly to Go by James Y.

James Y. — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:05:44 +0000

I think I can safely say for everyone up there that we all are greatly disappointed with the past 11 months’ turn of events. It was a pretty sweet gig for about four years and now it’s crumbling before our eyes and it’s kind of heartbreaking.

Especially since, and I’m speaking for myself now, the merger with Reuters seemed like such a potential-laden development that would really bolster our company’s reputation and infuse it with the stability a respected centuries-old institution would bring. Which I guess it has . . .

. . . for the surviving executives. And our Indian colleagues. Us? Не так много.

Like you, I’m not so full of malice anymore as I am a certain jaded sense of disillusionment.

Comment on Directly to Go by Alexander Burns

Alexander Burns — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:38:43 +0000

And I’m not really saying any of this with malice, simply reporting things as they unfolded. I’m more disappointed than angry.

Comment on Directly to Go by Alexander Burns

Alexander Burns — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:22:28 +0000

Absolutely. Publishing as an industry is likely to keep trimming down, particularly because of the shift from print to electronic.

Comment on Directly to Go by James Y.

James Y. — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:18:58 +0000

Now, tell us how you *really* feel about TR.

But in all seriousness, good catch with that job. The American publishing industry as it has existed on the whole is a dodo bird. With the so-called countries ruined by centuries of Imperialism supplying an abundance of educated and cheaper resources borne of their post-colonial aspirations, and the exponentially booming customer preference for electronic media, it’s only a matter of time before all publishing companies are comprised of American executives who oversee the work of American authors being produced in third-world countries for electronic publishing.

A career switch to a field, like law, which is wholly based in the States is an absolute must these days and the closest thing you can get to a guarantee you won’t be laid off because some kid in India can and will do the same work for a pittance.

Good luck in your new endeavors!

Comment on Directly to Go by Alexander Burns

Alexander Burns — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:52:03 +0000

I guess it is research, I hadn’t really thought of it like that. It’s pouring through stacks of photocopied legal documents, mostly.

Comment on Directly to Go by donna

donna — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:12:33 +0000

Oh man, sounds like that place has not been fun lately… My job hasn’t been either, but the sheer audacity of their hypocrisy just… astounds me. I’ve never worked for a corporation, other than my little retail job, but that sounds par for the course… Still can’t believe it, tho.

So now you get to do research, huh? Hmmm… Are we talking google research or do you have to search among books or something?

Glad the pay is good, and I’m hoping all goes well for you.

Comment on Consumption by Alexander Burns

Alexander Burns — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:53:15 +0000

Something odd I’ve noticed about “The Scar” is he tends to repeat himself a lot. It lacks some of the subtleties of “Iron Council.” I’m still enjoying it.

Books start talking about kings and my eyes just glaze over. I think it’s just because there are so many like that. I wonder if that’s a result of how we learn history – we learn all about royalty, but the lives of the commoners are often a footnote.

It was called Night of Knives, by Ian Esslemont. It actually wasn’t guilty of point #3 so much. It might actually be a fine novel, I don’t know. I just had a hard to getting into it when I also had The Scar sitting there waiting to be read.

Comment on Consumption by Jens

Jens — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:11:17 +0000

Jesus, no kidding (about point #3). I started reading George RR Martin’s “A Game of Thrones,” it having been recommended by a hundred different people, and it is shiteing awful. I honestly DO NOT care about wealthy people born into privilege and power. Is it the democrat/socialist in me, or just fatigue from reading about so many goddamn princesses?
Who was the writer of this ejectae?
“The Scar” is good, but it’s my least favorite Mieville. Like Perdido Street Station, it could stand to lose about a hundred pages. Unlike PSS, though, it lacks his great sociopolitical themes.
“Kraken” was good, recommended. I picked up “City & the City” in Portland, and now own all of his books, even his short story collection. Oh yeah!