May 2012
46 posts
Hello, you have a personal tumblr?
Indeed we do!
What good is all that VC startup money if you aren't going to spend a little on some double spacing and interrobangs?
We do have a line item for imported interrobangs, as covered by a federal subsidy. Otherwise we would advocate tapping the strategic interrobang reserve.
This is really only a recent mindset to adopt a standard of a single space sizes for a full stop and it seems rather rude of you to speak on behalf of every editor ever since before 1950 most publications had a much wider spacing. From the 18th century on, the printing standard required an em-space after a period and one could easily argue that the em-space is wide enough to be represented by a double space. So yes, go about being rude to people who were raised on culturally different standards.
If you are writing an article that is going to run in an online publication, don’t use two spaces. Also, “culturally different standards” re: punctuation, LOLOLOLOL.
Official Tumblr Department of Editorial: one space. Two spaces? Don’t you know there’s a recession?
You Should Say Why You Like Things
I’m no expert, but I believe you should say why you like things.
Now, like I said, I don’t exactly know what I’m talking about here, but it makes sense to me for people to explain or at least describe why they like certain things. Otherwise, life becomes a neverending unPinteresting slideshow of flag planting and aesthetic curation. Life turns into the cultural apocalypse that Thorstein Veblen warned us about. And that’s that shit I don’t like.
You don’t need to tell me about stupid-easy Note-baiting and the memeification of ‘life’. Because I’m on it, and it’s fun to do. But at some point, well at any point, it’s nice for someone to tap the brakes.
For example, I know that a lot of people like Lil B but I also know that a lot of people like saying things like “Lil B fucked your ho” and “SWAG!!” a lot. So it’s nice when someone crosses over and talks earnestly about why they like someone like Lil B.
Otherwise, life seems to become, well, see above. Swag! Like! Swag! Swag! Like! Like! Reblog!
And then come the people who point out (rightly) that that method of living and talking about things makes no sense. But they do it (generalizing here) in a really annoying and facile way. I don’t get why anyone likes Lil B he’s retarded. Well, ok. I get it. Lil B is overrated he sucks and he’s gay.
It makes sense for the level of critique to rise exactly as high as the level of ‘hype’ supporting an art object. That should be some sort of Law of the Internet or something. (I call that, btw: B Michael’s First Law Of The Internet.)
That’s why there are entire departments devoted to Shakespeare — even if you don’t like him or think he didn’t exist or think he was an unhappy accident of colonialism and cultural mercenariness — there are at least a lot of smart people talking about why he’s great and why he’s problematic. That’s also why a show like Girls got memefied (see above) but it also created a spirited debate about sex, race, class, aesthetics — the whole thing. Lots of smart people took up the pro and the con side, and the result was a lot of awesome writing and thinking. That’s why people don’t really care about your How I Met Your Mother recap. (Just kidding, I’m sure HIMYM recaps get 111K pageviews.)
Anyway — and now you may be upset — this is just prologue or table setting for my main point, which is that I really like what Kitty Pryde is doing on “Justin Bieber” and “Okay Cupid”, and I’m going to say specifically why because simple cries of “AWESOME!” or “SHE SUCKS SPEND YOUR TIME ON SOMETHING BETTER” simply should not be addressed or countenanced.
They’re not only worthless comments, but they actually have a negative value. Well, or, they’re bad in a way that seems economic to me, a non-economist.
I would just like to thank you for storyboard. When I heard about it I was in two minds — it could either be really good, or kinda lame. I am so happy that it's the former. Truly, a massive congratulations. Everything on their is just so interesting. And it's super pretty to look at. That is all, no question, sadly. Peace, Max.
Great to hear, and thanks for the kind words.
Stories of Tumblr
Last night I attended Tumblr’s Storyboard party in Brooklyn, where local Tumblrs enjoyed drinks & stories stories from Topherchris, Asie, Ruby, & Tommy, hosted by Jess.
As I sat with my group of friends, all of whom I met through the platform, I realized I should have submitted my own Tumblr story, since it’s because of Tumblr that I have new friends, a business, & a stronger sense of worth.
All photos taken by me at Tumblr’s Storyboard Party, May 10, 2012
What is the theme you use for Storyboard? I like the way you use more of the page. Can I use the same layout?
Storyboard uses a custom theme created by Tumblr’s Ministry of Design. We have no immediate plans to release it to the community — it needs some polish and tweaking — but we could certainly look into that once everyone is satisfied with how it looks & works.
Is storyboard going to be predominately an American window to American artist, or are there going to be opportunities to display other work from around the globe?
We are based in NYC, so one of the challenges for us - purely from a language perspective - is finding the amazing creators all over the world. But this month we will head to Brazil and the Netherlands, so expect to see some artists featured there! You can also always check out our international staff blogs for updates from all over.
