and so you stand or sit
and drop these packets
of words into the electronic
river. off they float--
and yet they stay,
retrievable, for the river
flows and freezes both at once,
visible to all, theoretically.
in practice the electronic river
is a vast obscuring mass,
an orderly crash
of infodataimage.
these word-packets
are lost and found,
gone and here,
disappeared and
recovered like the legendary
vowels missing from the ancient,
mysterious word, Html,
the pronunciation of which
the imaginary scholars
at Borges University
bicker about over
glasses of claret
in the Minotaur Library.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Advertising: The Literary Genre of the Age
After, oh, 1920, let's say,
advertising became
the dominant literary genre.
It's stories, images, and ethos
hold culture's imagination.
Advertising's the myth,
the epic poem, the novel,
the drama of our age.
Other genres pretend
at the edges, play at their
old importance. It is assumed
that publishers advertise novels,
especially best-sellers, that studios
advertise films, especially
block-busters, and that other
studios advertise music, but
novels and films and music
and the rest
publicize advertising,
the master genre
that sells space, real
and virtual, and that turns
a profit, which is the god
of our creation myth.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
advertising became
the dominant literary genre.
It's stories, images, and ethos
hold culture's imagination.
Advertising's the myth,
the epic poem, the novel,
the drama of our age.
Other genres pretend
at the edges, play at their
old importance. It is assumed
that publishers advertise novels,
especially best-sellers, that studios
advertise films, especially
block-busters, and that other
studios advertise music, but
novels and films and music
and the rest
publicize advertising,
the master genre
that sells space, real
and virtual, and that turns
a profit, which is the god
of our creation myth.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Difference-Maker
The universe is big.
It doesn't care. It
goes on forever.
We don't. Still,
today I saw
and heard a woman
laughing. So by
definition, the universe
produces humor and
joy, not to mention
women. That kind of
fact can be a real
difference-maker.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
It doesn't care. It
goes on forever.
We don't. Still,
today I saw
and heard a woman
laughing. So by
definition, the universe
produces humor and
joy, not to mention
women. That kind of
fact can be a real
difference-maker.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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