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This page was going to be some
retrospective on things I have read and perhaps a
little discussion about some of them, but that would
be too much for me to handle with efficiency.
Instead, I realized my late blossomed internet
reading habit. I have been soaking a lot in from
online versions of magazines, and other purely web
based information sources (sometimes, I am ashamed
to mention, more than my course textbooks).
As the internet becomes a more
reliable source of information and more information
becomes available online, I am sure it will save a
lot of paper in the future (especially if there are
more readers like me). NO, the paper saving scheme
is not bull, I have saved a lot of paper by simply
downloading my assignments and course information
from my course pages online. I guess it is a matter
of how much you can stare at the screen.
Another thing that only recently got
my attention was Hypertext, a new evolution in
literature, text with word linked to other pages.
Much more interesting than those choose your
direction fantasy novels. The reason for this sudden
interest is a recent contact with a friend who won
the first NYU Press Prize for Hyperfiction.
Thanks to him, I also got to design the site where
the winners were being presented.
Read my friend Adnan Ashraf's
beautiful hypertext
The
Straight Path
These are the things I normally
stare at...
www.suck.com
This outrageously cynical site is my daily read.
Forget sucky journalism, try sucky journalism that
actually manages to get a point across and shows an
ulterior layer of intelligence behind it. The
cynical authors of the daily articles have fictional
names that make it all the more interesting. People
I imagine to be middle-aged are actually younger. I
love their biting criticisms. Their stronger reader
mail gets attention in the fish section, with actual
replies by the authors to each mail. Suck has
"bite me!" written all over.
Salon Magazine
This is now replacing Time in my list of magazine
reads since it is free and intelligently written.
Their correspondents are comparable to that of NY
Times. I usually read an article or two on each
issue, and muse through the rest trying to learn new
vocabulary terms, and trying to determine the people
behind the magazine [right leaning or left leaning].
New
York Times Online
Well, it would be a lie if I said I read it daily.
But, I have been using its Arts/Living section as my
guide to movies. I have been reading reviews of
movies I watched and will watch, and have been
trying to figure how the taste of the reviewer (in
most cases Janet Maslin) compares to my taste.
Suck.com actually thinks she is sort of a female
Siskel, would be interesting to see her with Ebert.
Scientific
American
I always buy this magazine whenever I get the chance
to. Luckily, their online edition is quite
comprehensive as well, including quite a few of the
articles in the paper edition. This is the most
scientific you can get without actually being a
scientist or studying a science field. Although
there are scientists behind the articles, the
content is intelligible enough for high school
graduates (or at least the ones I have as friends)
to understand.
Popular
Science
Their online version is not all that great, but
nothing beats the actual paper version. They do such
a good job of integrating science and technology.
Not only do I find out about technology that is
already out and available long before they make it
to the insipid television media, I get to learn
about how some cutting edge science works.
TIME magazine
This magazine has always proven to be a great read
for me. For some reason, I hold Time in higher
esteem than Newsweek and US News & world report.
The latter probably because of the Americacentric
news.
BUT, these are just some sources of
journalist writing. There are of course the tons of
sites I visit everyday, many personal sites have
quite interesting things to say. Besides personal
sites, collaborative sites such as poetry,
literature and non-profit magazine sites are very
interesting reads. A good source of such sites is
glassdog.net
www.glassdog.net
A great site with listings of collaborative efforts
on the net. Includes prose, poetry, experiments,
magazines, and much more. See the site oursouls,
a collaboration I conceived of and designed, listed
there!
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