I just started a graduate program in creative writing and there’s a lot of talk about The New Yorker. All my professors are either current or former editors of the magazine, or their very good friend is an editor, or they just manage to name drop someone from the publication during the first class.

I subscribe to the magazine, mostly because I feel like as a young writer, I’m supposed to read it.  When I do read it, I happily stumble upon some gem by Gary Shteyngart or Ian Frazier. But honestly, most of the issues go unread.

Apparently every writer is trying to get in there, and if you’re in, you’re it.

Well the holy grail just lost a little bit of its shine. Read more »

YouTube announced on Thursday that it would begin broadcasting major Hollywood movies and TV shows in addition to its user-created content, a move no doubt made to better compete with major online video provider Hulu. Which is great, but my only concern is, with all the hoopla over the Hollywood content, will the grassroots content remain as popular? Will users choose to spend their time watching big studio-made TV shows instead of kittens inspired by kittens? God, I hope not.