Scott Adam's theory on the death of author as a profession

[Dave Zeltserman]

This is somewhat related to the Garrison Keillor thread:

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_adams_theory_of__content_value/

"I predict that the profession known as "author" will be retired to history in my lifetime, like blacksmith and cowboy. In the future,
everyone will be a writer, and some will be better and more prolific
than others. But no one will pay to read what anyone else creates.
People might someday write entire books - and good ones - for the
benefit of their own publicity, such as to promote themselves as
consultants, lecturers, or the like. But no one born today is the next
multi-best-selling author. That job won't exist."

[Jon Loomis]

This is the nascent trend in the publishing world that I find most worrisome. The expectation that consumers of electronic media have--especially young consumers--that all electronic media should be available to them at no charge. Combined with the thousands and thousands of amateur writers who are perfectly willing to give their work away for free, and the ease with which ebooks can be ripped and uploaded to file-sharing sites accessed by millions of consumers worldwide, and there goes traditional publishing as we know it. I suspect Warhol will be proved entirely and exactly right as just about everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, but no one will make any money as a result of that fame. Adams is also probably right: the era of the professional author is drawing to a close. Fortunately, there will be plenty of jobs cleaning up BP's oil spill along the Gulf Coast for generations to come.

[I. J. Parker]

Well, yes, the numbers are what's killing writing. And by the way, the fact that many, many books are ghost-written for people who wish to improve their professional credentials in other fields is already with us. Similarly, anyone who has a name already (the importance of publicity!) will have a book on the market, regardless what they have done or whether they can write or have a story to tell. And these people will get millions of dollars in advances, and appear on national TV programs, and people will buy their "books." The latest bestseller is by Laura Bush, a housewife and former school librarian. Not sure what to blame this on if not "readers" who'll buy anything by a famous person. Off-hand, I cannot imagine what she could possibly tell us that would make the book worthwhile.

[Jon Loomis]

I cannot imagine what she could possibly tell us that would make the book worthwhile

I'd like to know why she's always got that creepy frozen grin on her face--she looks like she's been preserved in formaldehyde and stuffed with sawdust. I'm guessing the answer is that she's heavily medicated, but you never know. I'm also curious about whether W still refers to himself in third person as "the President" while he's padding around his Dallas McMansion in his boxer shorts, cursing at the Guatemalan housekeeper and demanding that his Secret Service guy run out for another case of Jack. I mean, he must, right?

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

Wrong. She is an only child who became an obsessive/compulsive reader (probably to compensate for her lonely childhood). She might read your book one day. She is one of the few First Ladies who actually had to make the money to pay her own rent, car payment, pump her gas, etc. (Maybe Betty Ford had to do a little of that and/or Pat Nixon and/or Rosalyn Carter) She is not one of those rich prep school girls (like Barbara, Hillary, Jackie, Mamie, and Nancy) She married late in life and had difficulty being blessed with children, but persevered and succeeded.
In addition to being a school teacher and librarian, she worked at the Houston Public Library (So she had to fight Houston traffic everyday to get downtown and pay to park--just like real people.) She has a Master's degree from an acclaimed Library Science program at a university which holds the 6th largest library in the world.
They don't live in a McMansion. They live in a large older, used home (most McMansions are newly built 5,000 sq. ft. boxes on some zero-lot line lot where a tiny, ancient house in a close-in neighborhood was razed) on a very large lot in a cul de sac. Their home in "North Dallas" is surrounded by real Mansions, so their's is small in comparison. For example, their place backs to Tom Hicks' (former co-owner of The Texas Rangers and the Dallas Mavericks) mansion and 20+ acre place. Ross Perot lives somewhere in the neighborhood also. When they lived in Dallas previously (pre-Gov), W taught a Sunday School class at Highland Park Methodist Church (on the SMU campus). They attended regularly.
She probably has that expression on her face, because the photographer said "Hold it" and snapped the shutter. I like the fact that her eyebrows are uneven, because so are mine. She does a lot of her own cooking. Laura is a genuinely nice, kind person (say those who worked in the Texas Capitol when W was Gov.) I think she is pretty and takes good care of herself--unlike her immediate predecessor. I don't think we are allowed to speak our mind about the appearance of the present First Lady. I don't think Laura tried to grow vegetables, but she contributed in other ways, like informing cloistered muslim women about Breast Cancer. Why so vicious?

[Jon Loomis]

I don't think we are allowed to speak our mind about the appearance of the present First Lady.

I'm baffled here. Words fail. Seriously--where are you coming from with this?

Why so vicious?

I actually feel kind of sorry for Pickles. I mean, look at the guy she's married to. I'd be Xanaxed into a coma, too.

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

The press raves about how fashionable and elegant she looks. In fact, she has an extremely disproportionate body and doesn't dress to compensate--if she could. When I hear the press describing Michelle, what they are saying is so incredibly false, I truly feel as though I am in the crowd of The Emperor's New Clothes. So, I sense any criticism--as was so often leveled at Hillary's hair, thighs, and pantsuits, is forbidden by PCness.
Laura always looked like the "Nines." (But, we learn to do that in Dallas) and you never heard a peep about it from the Press. Since her husband is a reformed alcoholic, and she did great harm while drinking and driving as a teenager, I would be willing to bet that she shuns all narcotics, including alcohol. (But, not her daughters! You can have that one.) Who is Pickles?

[Dana King]

"In fact, she has an extremely disproportionate body and doesn't dress to compensate--if she could."

Wow. Just when I think this couldn't get any shallower, a little water gets let out of the pool.

[Jon Loomis]

In fact, she has an extremely disproportionate body and doesn't dress to compensate--if she could.

Disproportionate compared to what? Whose standard of beauty are you trying to impose, here?

Since her husband is a reformed alcoholic

So he says. And yet he acted really, really hammered in public on a number of occasions during his presidency. And fell down a lot. Go figure.

and she did great harm while drinking and driving as a teenager

Killing a guy and getting off scot-free? You could call it that.

I would be willing to bet that she shuns all narcotics

Then the only other possible answer is that she has, in fact, been prematurely embalmed. Poor Pickles!

Who is Pickles?

It's an affectionate nickname some of us have for Mrs. Dubya.

[I. J. Parker]

ROTFLMAO! What we have here is a conservative who hates Hillary and Obama.

[Jon Loomis]

Not to mention crime writers/readers (see below). And yet she's hanging around on a crime-writing forum. Again, go figure.

[Jack Getze]

Maybe Joyce is a professional antagonizer.

[Jon Loomis]

You can get paid for that? Sign me up!