October Earth is on ...

Links & reviews - other arts sites.
knip
Posts: 606
Joined: September 10th, 2004, 9:33 pm
Location: C-A-N-A-D-A

Post by knip » October 6th, 2004, 12:59 pm

they caoitalized mine in the first post...i just accepted it and have started to capitalize...i feel so........mainstream

brooklyn
Posts: 11
Joined: September 8th, 2004, 1:07 pm
Contact:

style

Post by brooklyn » October 6th, 2004, 3:37 pm

Yes, this is true, we are trying to adopt consistent styles -- upper case first letters in sentences, names and titles, normal grammar, normal spelling, etc. Maybe it would be a good idea for us to put a note about this on the posting page ... we'll do that soon.

Glorious, I'm sorry to hear you found it "creepy" but we didn't intend to freak you out. I think typography is pretty important for a literary site. I know we've been very loose about this in the past, but this is something we've decided we want to change.

-- Levi

User avatar
judih
Site Admin
Posts: 13399
Joined: August 17th, 2004, 7:38 am
Location: kibbutz nir oz, israel
Contact:

Post by judih » October 6th, 2004, 3:57 pm

Levi,

Zlatko spoke of something in L-Rod's 'pissed off thread' here in General Discussions (no link at my fingertips) about October Earth's use of an editorial approach similar to that of hard copy projects.

From what you say here, it sounds like no mere hard copy, but rather a glossy top quality magazine.

Elegance on the net? The pendulum swing on swimming in Woodstock mud?

judih

brooklyn
Posts: 11
Joined: September 8th, 2004, 1:07 pm
Contact:

hmm, well ...

Post by brooklyn » October 6th, 2004, 4:37 pm

Well, Judih, I actually would say we're just trying to reach the editorial consistency level of an average literary journal, like Granta or Paris Review or whatever.

The truth is, it was a major eye-opening experience for us to put together the "Action Poetry" book. Speaking just for myself, I was surprised how difficult it was to migrate a piece that looked perfectly great on the screen to book format. If you've ever arranged paintings on a wall, or tried to play a piece of music that you'd written on one guitar on a different guitar, you may know what I'm talking about. What I learned is that our writing boards were gathering great writings that *didn't* translate to other formats without a lot of rework. Some of this had to do with typography, but more often the issue went deeper -- the sensibility, the voice, the approach.

At that point I decided that the good people of LitKicks were working too hard to create too much content that couldn't translate to other formats, and Caryn and Jamelah and I started thinking about how we could change LitKicks to inspire people to write pieces that were more likely to take on lives of their own, and live outside LitKicks.

I guess in a way this points to the entire thought process behind the July site shutdown and the re-emergence we are still in the early phases of right now. Better typography and editorial oversight is one goal -- a more quality-oriented general approach is the overall goal.

Hope that helps explain, and makes some sense?

-- Levi

User avatar
abcrystcats
Posts: 619
Joined: August 20th, 2004, 9:37 pm

Post by abcrystcats » October 6th, 2004, 5:00 pm

Well, here's a visceral response. I just got back from checking today's piece out on the Litkicks site. I was edited! It wasn't much, but a couple minor alterations vastly improved the impact of my writing. I'm grateful, actually. I don't hug mistakes in my writing or try to argue that they are part of me or anything like that ...

but ... that's an individual decision, isn't it? Comes backs to one of the basic conflicts between collaborative and individual efforts -- I would hesitate to say that because I am comfortable with the improvements you made to my work, everybody else should be, too.

"the sensibility, the voice, the approach" This gets close to the heart of the matter. It goes beyond editing and almost approaches telling the writer what and how to write. All I'm saying is that some people may be grateful for this guidance and others may not be.

User avatar
Glorious Amok
Posts: 551
Joined: August 16th, 2004, 7:25 am
Location: in the best of both worlds
Contact:

Post by Glorious Amok » October 6th, 2004, 7:11 pm

hiya levi,

it was creepier when it was still just a suspicion, but now that i know what's happening, it's not so scary anymore. however, i was just today reading this article: http://www.litkicks.com/Topics/WhyILikeTheBeats.html and this one phrase "confrontation with normalcy" stuck with me all day. i like that ideal a lot, and i have to check in every so often to make sure my confrontation with normalcy switch is still in the 'on' position. so that might be why your move toward normalcy now seems a bit surprising.

but then, when i went back to copy and paste that phrase from your article, i noticed the rest of that sentence too..."and openness to experience". so i'm still up for the game. it is, afterall, such a great chance to talk for the sake of hearing my own voice....

and that's what writing is all about!
"YOUR way is your only way." - jack kerouac

knip
Posts: 606
Joined: September 10th, 2004, 9:33 pm
Location: C-A-N-A-D-A

Post by knip » October 6th, 2004, 8:11 pm

i'll say that i personally would rather see more info regarding intent, format, style etc. to avoid these types of things

but that's just me


get them wheel's a rolling....i'm a train rider and night-time flyer...choogling down your track...beleebe me

User avatar
Glorious Amok
Posts: 551
Joined: August 16th, 2004, 7:25 am
Location: in the best of both worlds
Contact:

Post by Glorious Amok » October 6th, 2004, 8:22 pm

but i don't mind now that i know how it works.

i get what they're doing now, they're upping the ante, asking us to condense, focus, hone our skills. and that's something i like to see. i appreciate that.

i hope that doreen gets to participate too.
"YOUR way is your only way." - jack kerouac

knip
Posts: 606
Joined: September 10th, 2004, 9:33 pm
Location: C-A-N-A-D-A

Post by knip » October 6th, 2004, 8:32 pm

yeah

do-do seems intent on carrying on and good for her...not gonna comment any further than that on that particular issue


how does that elton john song go?
well, i tried to please levi
i tried to please levi-o
i tried to smile levi
i laid a smile on levi-o
...levi will return...

not sure what i meant by that, other than it was offered in respect


:)

knip

brooklyn
Posts: 11
Joined: September 8th, 2004, 1:07 pm
Contact:

yes

Post by brooklyn » October 6th, 2004, 11:39 pm

Well, when G.A. says "i get what they're doing now, they're upping the ante, asking us to condense, focus, hone our skills. and that's something i like to see. i appreciate that" ...

Yes, exactly, that's what we're trying to do. There is a lot of talent amongst us, and in all of us. There is no excuse for doing the same thing day in and day out, year in and year out. If we're going to write, let's at least put the effort into writing WELL. It's a challenge for me as much as anybody else. I make spelling mistakes too. Good writing is hard, but I think it's worth the effort.

When I see everybody getting angry here, and struggling with their words and feeling misunderstood because a line was edited the wrong way, I just think: we must be doing something right ... because everybody is feeling intensely involved with their own writings and those of others. I hope that means the new format is working?

-- Levi

User avatar
judih
Site Admin
Posts: 13399
Joined: August 17th, 2004, 7:38 am
Location: kibbutz nir oz, israel
Contact:

Post by judih » October 7th, 2004, 12:34 am

good morning!

(very strange sidenote. Since installing a spybot protector and ad-aware, this computer is getting more and more bombarded by pop-ups. In a fury of ads, a carefully spelt response has just been closed. Reflexes are sometimes my biggest enemy)

Levi - one question. Is October Earth the new format, or one experimental format?

That delicious interaction that inspires so many litkickers is dreadfully lacking.

There's no other format on the net that allows for that communal congeniality. Could you, perhaps, open a daughter site for action poets to jive together? If not, we'll do what we can, but hard copy propriety is one language and fast response internet serendipity is another.

Both are valid, but more than that, necessary, at least for me.

This board is a welcome venue, yet it doesn't provide that graphic thrill - building a bizarre architecturally profound landscape of threads supporting threads.

Happy end of Sukkot to one and all. (7 day holiday that has allowed me the glory of participating in Oct Earth)

judih

brooklyn
Posts: 11
Joined: September 8th, 2004, 1:07 pm
Contact:

happy sukkot

Post by brooklyn » October 7th, 2004, 12:57 am

Hi Judih -- well, I'll pick B. October Earth is not the permanent new LitKicks look. It's designed to be a transitional phase, a raft to get us from one side of the river to the other. What we'll find on the other side, we won't know till we get there. But yes, there will be interactivity, among other things. I actually think October Earth is interactive and cross-responsive, but in a subtler and more gradual way.

-- Levi

User avatar
judih
Site Admin
Posts: 13399
Joined: August 17th, 2004, 7:38 am
Location: kibbutz nir oz, israel
Contact:

Post by judih » October 7th, 2004, 1:06 am

Oct Earth is communal, and works interactively as we're all adding our block to the tower. I agree.

We all have the same rules, the same constraints, the same A or B.
Yet as whimsicalone pointed out in her last post about the subject of "don't remember", it's very often A and B.

The raft takes us over the river, and then we portage till the next opportunity to float.

October Ear(th) gives us a chance to be heard, or at least most of us. The format looks portable, from net to print. It's pretty and steady (A and B).

But what to do about anger which is A and B. The overlap will be published on other spots, in other formats.

You are providing triggers for pondering. Even the unsettled smoke is generating thought.

User avatar
Doreen Peri
Site Admin
Posts: 14532
Joined: July 10th, 2004, 3:30 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Doreen Peri » October 7th, 2004, 8:06 am

Hi Levi

As you know, I agree with judih and several other people have expressed the same thing to you about the lack of interaction.

I was just wondering if judih and the others will be joining me in the unpublished pile because they expressed their opinions just like me.

Or perhaps you'd like to reconsider and publish my material alongside theirs, in that I said nothing different than they did.

Just an idea.

Thanks!

User avatar
Doreen Peri
Site Admin
Posts: 14532
Joined: July 10th, 2004, 3:30 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Doreen Peri » October 7th, 2004, 9:06 am

judih

About the pop-up ads you're getting.... Please check the feedback forum. Zlatko was getting the same thing and I posted a link to a good spyware program plus someone else posted a link to a free download.

Zlatko said he used the free link and the problem was solved.

Post Reply

Return to “Other Arts Sites”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests