This was the world during the writer's strike.
We have now moved on!
I could have posted a link to a serious news source about the writer's strike ending, but why do that when John Stewart sums it up so nicely?
But in all seriousness, apparently American's seriously don't like smart people. Considering the popularity of Jessica Simpson on "The Newlyweds" should this come as much of a surprise? NYTimes article here. Americans are getting statistically dumber not because of our school system but because it's the cool thing to do. I say screw it! I still want a Ph.D.!
Then there's John Grisham's interview. Now, I've never read a Grisham novel, but I think I've seen a movie or two that was based off of his books. Legal thrillers never were my thing. But the man has an interesting take on his writing. He knows he's doing it to entertain, and basically thumbs his nose at the idea of timelessness. And you can't really argue with someone who made $9 million last year alone. Despite this I know people who would continue to write off entertainment writers. These are the same people, mind you, who adore blockbuster actors who haven't done a serious or influencial movie in years, if ever. If the movie industry has moved past the idea of "intellectual" being so seperate (and superior) from "entertainment" why is it so prevelant in fiction writing? Assuming of course that you're talking about well written work. A bad movie is a bad movie regardless of content or intent and the same is true of a novel.
I'm still entertained by the amount of stigmas that remain in the publishing world. There's the "popular fiction" stigma, the "genre" stigma, the "straight to paperback" stigma. The latter of which is an increasing phenomena because of the expense of producing hardcover works and consumers being willing to wait until it comes out in paperback -- or better yet, as an ebook. A more lengthy discussion seen in the Jan.-Feb. Poets&Writer's Magazine.
