On writing elegantly… Michael Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for The Washington Post, writes about the elegance of simple writing in a story in The American Scholar. He has a host of writing tricks he employs. Most of all he believes in not writing phony. An excerpt: “Instead, I listen carefully to the rhythm and flow of my sentences, pay attention to my word choices—the thesaurus is always near at hand—and try to convey a slightly nonchalant air, as if my essays and reviews were casually tossed off in about 20 minutes.” Read here.
The Daily Beast‘s Lloyd Grove on CNN’s new “Go there” campaign… In his story, Grove writes that CNN’s new plan is to fill the 9 p.m. time slot vacated by Piers Morgan will be something from the network’s documentary unit, CNN Films. “Just because CNN has always done a talk show doesn’t mean we should be,” Zucker said at a presentation event Thursday afternoon in Manhattan. Read here.
Vox Media writes a post even a 5-year-old could understand… If you want a place that reminds you of Simple Wikepedia, Vox is your next stop. Today they tease with a provocative headline that made me want to read their dumb story: “Why the heck does everyone hate Gwyneth Paltrow?” I personally hate the word “heck” with a passion. But I clicked anyhow. Which led me to a severely disappointing “9 questions you were too embarrassed to ask about Gwyneth Paltrow.” Question number 1: “Who is Gwyneth Paltrow?” Are they fucking serious? Question number 2: “Who is Chris Martin?” The further they go, the slightly more complex it gets. But the whole process is so irritating that by the end of it I just want to throw my computer off my balcony. The big problem here is this story could be insightful and thoughtful and give me the information I want. And I think, EZRA YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS. If you’re a complete moron, new to America or English and don’t know who Gwyneth Paltrow is, read here.
