Dec 21
The website of the Ephemera Society of America discusses the newly active American poster market, resurgent in the past ten years. The number of poster auctions conducted in the United States increased from two in 1990 to at least eight in 2002. There are now vintage poster fairs in several major U.S. cities, and collectors worldwide are seeing new value in American creations in this category, especially American posters produced between the two World Wars. World War pieces, such as Norman Rockwell’s patriotic World War II quartet shown in my mom’s poster retrospective at Savannah’s Telfair Museum in 2002, The Four Freedoms, fetches over $3,000. Read more here.
Tags: Miscellaneous
Dec 21
Robin Sloan has published a Flash ‘documentary’ describing the downfall of the fourth estate and their replacement by the rise of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Friendster (you had me until that last one). The vision is interesting, and potentially accurate on some points, but I think it underestimates the value and tenacity of ‘old media.’ The conclusion is that people get what they want - gossip and false trivia. To quote Ray Davies and the Kinks - Give the people what they want… We hope everybody gets what they deserve. Click here to see the animation - it’s a bit long (~8 minutes) - but well worth it.
Tags: Web
Dec 21
In one of the most interesting articles to appear in WIRED in a long while, Chris Anderson explained the concept of ‘the long tail.’ Now, he has announced a book deal on his blog. This will be a must read for me. So, what is this concept, you ask? Chris explains it like this ‘Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream.’ Basically, instead of the traditional bell curve to define interest - very little at either end of the graph, with most interest in the middle - the long tail of the digital age sees tremendous value (read revenue) in the tiny blips of niche interest. Check out his blog, and the WIRED story. It’s eye opening.
Tags: Web
Dec 21
Face it. For a certain type of kid, Santa is a horrifying character. Huge boots. A beard hiding most of his face. A huge, angry, red suit. Questionable breath. Well, with some Santas. Anyway, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel has published the results of a reader contest for the best photos of children scared of Santa. Click here to see the gallery.
Tags: Miscellaneous
Dec 21
News reports confirm a recent rumor - that J.K. Rowling’s sixth installment the Harry Potter series is complete, and will be released on July 16th. The new novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, marks a two-year gap between new HP novels, unlike the lengthy three years between “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and Potter V, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which came out in summer 2003. Rowling likely had extra incentive to finish the current novel up now - she’s currently expecting her third child.
Tags: Books
The website of the Ephemera Society of America discusses the newly active American poster market, resurgent in the past ten years. The number of poster auctions conducted in the United States increased from two in 1990 to at least eight in 2002. There are now vintage poster fairs in several major U.S. cities, and collectors worldwide are seeing new value in American creations in this category, especially American posters produced between the two World Wars. World War pieces, such as Norman Rockwell’s patriotic World War II quartet shown in my mom’s poster retrospective at Savannah’s Telfair Museum in 2002, The Four Freedoms, fetches over $3,000. Read more here.
