Suggestions for the Long Winter Evenings ahead
Christmas is on a Wednesday this year (this upcoming Wednesday, in fact) so no doubt many of my readers have a whole week off.
— for those that don’t, thank you for taking that holiday bullet for the rest of us. You keep our nation running. *salutes*
If you do have the time off, don’t get too smug too soon: that’s a whole week and you’re going to be at home with family (possibly a largish sample of extended family) and you’re going to be stuck. You don’t get to pick the music, what’s running on the TV, or even who got invited to the big family get-together: you’ve nothing but an iPad and crappy wifi already overloaded by teen-aged relations sulking in corners with smart phones doing their best to ignore everyone.
Join them.
In deference to unknown and possibly crappy available internet (either at home or in the airports or wherever) the sites below are text-heavy — though there are some podcast, streaming audio, and YouTube options sprinkled in there too. All are good, long reads.
After you’ve exhausted your usual bookmarks and feeds but before you give up and, you know, talk to people, Try these links out and see what fits:
- http://thefeature.net/
“A hand-picked selection of the finest articles and essays saved with Instapaper. articles and essays picked by richard dunlop-walters • operated by and for instapaper • powered by tumblr”
- http://longform.org/
http://longform.org/pages/about
“Longform.org recommends new and classic non-fiction from around the web. Articles can be read on a browser or saved to read later with Readability, Instapaper, Pocket or Kindle. Article suggestions, including writers and magazines submitting their own work, are encouraged. Longform considers pieces over 2,000 words that are freely available online.”
- http://longreads.com/
http://longreads.com/about/
“Longreads, founded in 2009, is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling on the web, across both nonfiction and fiction. Longreads are defined as anything over 1,500 words. They’re stories that are best enjoyed away from your desk — whether it’s on a daily commute, an airplane, a subway, or your couch. Longreads features stories from hundreds of the best writers and publishers on the web, as well as exclusive stories never before published online.”
- http://boingboing.net/category/feature
http://boingboing.net/about
“Boing Boing is… weird, wonderful and wicked… Independent… a daily mix of… ‘all manner of posthuman irreverant things,’… a pioneering group blog… read by millions of readers every month.”
We all know Boing Boing – if you don't I'm not sure how you're accessing the internet – but they also do long-form http://t.co/Qj5NLkRyfD
— Matt Blind (@ProfessorBlind) December 23, 2013
- http://moreintelligentlife.com/features
http://moreintelligentlife.com/about
“More Intelligent Life (moreintelligentlife.com) is the online version of Intelligent Life, a lifestyle and culture magazine from The Economist. The website offers not only content from the print edition, trickled out over the course of its shelf-life, but also the Editors’ Blog, which carries daily posts from the editorial team—quickfire observations and opinions that allow readers to eavesdrop on the conversation in the office. Access is entirely free.”
- http://www.theverge.com/longform
http://www.theverge.com/about-the-verge
“The Verge was founded in 2011 in partnership with Vox Media, and covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture. Its mission is to offer in-depth reporting and long-form feature stories, breaking news coverage, product information, and community content in a unified and cohesive manner.”
The Verge has a link for just their deep reads http://t.co/iwo8UbbPCC <- in case you like their stuff but not the firehose tech news feed
— Matt Blind (@ProfessorBlind) December 23, 2013
- http://www.tested.com/
http://www.tested.com/about/
“‘So, what kind of stuff can I read about on Tested?’
“The short, pithy answer is: We’ll cover anything that’s awesome. The longer answer is that we have many interests, ranging from breakthroughs in science, amazing tales of exploration, and discoveries in nature to emerging technologies and new consumer products that promise to change our everyday lives. Tested is the place where we’ll explore those topics in depth, asking the hows and the whys about the things that excite us the most. The number one rule of Tested is simple. We want to make Tested the site that we’d be most interested in reading. If you think there’s something we should be covering, but aren’t, please let us know!”
- http://arstechnica.com/features/
http://arstechnica.com/about-us/
“Ars Technica was founded in 1998 when Founder & Editor-in-Chief Ken Fisher announced his plans for starting a publication devoted to technology that would cater to what he called “alpha geeks”: technologists and IT professionals. Ken’s vision was to build a publication with a simple editorial mission: be “technically savvy, up-to-date, and more fun” than what was currently popular in the space. In the ensuing years, with formidable contributions by a unique editorial staff, Ars Technica became a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, breakdowns of the latest scientific advancements, gadget reviews, software, hardware, and nearly everything else found in between layers of silicon.”
Nearly everything at Ars is a good long read, but they've a "features" link also http://t.co/pE4NpCrnUh I know folks have time off this week
— Matt Blind (@ProfessorBlind) December 23, 2013
- http://freakonomics.com/blog/
http://freakonomics.com/about/
“Q: What is “Freakonomics,” anyway?
“A: It’s a book we wrote back in 2005. It exceeded our expectations by a factor of about 100, which is why we are still here, carrying on the conversation on our blog and elsewhere. It also spawned a variety of offspring – a second book, SuperFreakonomics; a radio show; a film; even a pair of pants. Some people think we are smarter than we are.”
- http://www.monocle.com/
http://monocle.com/about/
“Launched in February 2007, Monocle is a global briefing on international affairs, business, culture and design headquartered in London. In print Monocle’s 10 issues a year are dense, book-ish and collectable and call on a global team of staff editors and over 30 correspondents from Beirut to Milan, Washington to Singapore.
“Online Monocle focuses on broadcast and has become one of the most viewed news sources in many of our key markets. Our journalists report from around the world and craft films that are more documentary in form rather than a collection of clips. And we have made over 250 of them to date.
“And then there’s Monocle 24, our round-the-clock radio station that launched in October 2011 and is broadcast from our headquarters at Midori House in Marylebone. You can listen live via our player at monocle.com, as well as downloading shows from our site or iTunes; we also have a handy app. The station delivers news and comment, plus magazine shows covering a range of topics including food and drink, urbanism, design and print media. Our newsgathering operation will soon stretch to new bureaux in São Paulo and across Asia, as well as more correspondents in emerging and established territories.”
Monocle Radio has moved well past the 'podcast' – The Curator weekly show is the best way to sample the channel http://t.co/3wqsnVJqqt
— Matt Blind (@ProfessorBlind) December 23, 2013
[In the past I’ve also characterized Monocle as “the global hipster rag” and I stand by that.]
↓… two examples of publishers doing fan outreach – more than just a listing or a catalog: Stuff we want to read and share.
— Matt Blind (@ProfessorBlind) December 23, 2013
- http://www.tor.com/
http://www.tor.com/page/about-us
“Tor.com, a site for science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers, presents original short fiction, new sequential art, extensive art galleries, and commentary on science fiction and related subjects by a wide range of writers from all corners of the science fiction and fantasy field; both professionals working in the genres and fans. Its aim is to provoke, encourage, and enable interesting and rewarding conversations with and between its readers.
“Tor.com’s philosophy is one of publisher agnosticism, and as such, boasts contributors and content from many different SF/F publishers, as well as fans from all corners of fandom.”
- http://suvudu.com/
http://suvudu.com/2008/07/do-you-suvudu.html
“Suvudu is a new [14 July 2008. -M.] website catering to news from all sci-fi and fantasy creative media–books, audiobooks, gaming, manga, comic books and movies! Content will include podcasts, videos, reviews, interviews and original blog posts, all brought to you by some of the best talents in the sci-fi, fantasy, graphic novel and gaming industries. Imagine the San Diego Comic Con–but on a website all year round! Sounds great, right?
“That’s just the beginning. Sci-fi and fantasy fans will also play a role in Suvudu. Visitors are encouraged to comment on the posted content, contribute information they deem pertinent, and send in suggestions to make Suvudu the best it can be. Links to offsite blog and website content will be highlighted. As a community sharing and growing with one another, every relevant bit of news will have benefit–given voice on Suvudu for those who would hear it.”
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Merry Christmas, and happy web surfing this week (and possibly next). And remember, if my website recommendations don’t work out, there’s always potential eggnog abuse to see you through. Cheers!
