John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

It's Aaron Sorkin (not really!) on Tumblr

Sarah Nicole Prickett's piece in Saturday's Globe and Mail was both hilarious and depressing; the former because of the obvious laughs, the latter because it showed how even a great writer like Sorkin can be, well, clueless. 

Coming out of media interviews with Sorkin to tee up his new HBO series The Newsroom, Prickett was not seduced by Sorkin's Sorkin-ness, and challenged him on a number of things, not the least of which is how the world has changed, including the undeniable fact that many people get their news from the internet and not traditional choices, like newspapers and TV. 

From the final grafs: 

“Listen here, Internet girl,” he says, getting up. “It wouldn’t kill you to watch a film or pick up a newspaper once in a while.” I’m not sure how he’s forgotten that I am writing for a newspaper; looking over the publicist’s shoulder, I see that every reporter is from a print publication (do not see: Drew Magary). I remind him. I say also, factually, “I have a New York Times subscription and an HBO subscription. Any other advice?”

He looks surprised, then high-fives me. Being not a person who high-fives or generally makes physical contact with interview subjects, I look more surprised.

“I’m sick of girls who don’t know how to high-five,” he says. He makes me try to do it “properly,” six times. He also makes me laugh; I’m nervous, and it’s so absurd. He loves it. He says, “Let me manhandle you.” 

And now look, a Tumblr site coming right out of Sorkin's words. Hey Internet Girl is not at all subtle, but the fact it exists (and was created so quickly) says something abou the times that Sorkin appeared to dismiss. (Personally, I don't see how the author of The Social Network can be clueless about digital culture, but I can see how the author of everything Sorkin has written can be a little, um, arrogant while dealing with others.) 

The astonishing growth of Tumblr

I've been quite enjoying my Tumblr page, and have been curious to see the growing influence of Tumblr and its microblogging format in moving eyeballs around the digital world. 

This infographic from Mashable fills in quite a lot. 

Front Pages

Here's a great Tumblr recommendation. Front Pages takes exactly that, from prominent newspapers each day, courtesy of the Newseum's digital roundup.

 

A new look on Tumblr

I installed a new theme on my Tumblr feed: Cork board, I think it's called. I love that I can click two buttons, and the entire look and feel changes. Snap.

Have a look. I'll likely pick a new look before the end of the month, at the rate I'm going!

What's in your breakroom?

We have a staff lounge at work, and it's actually pretty decent. There's also a canteen on our main floor, which supplies coffee and hot lunches, and for which I'm ever grateful ... especially at this time of year.The staff area is a place to have a snack, eat a meal, chill out, wait for a ride, or just watch the ducks swimming across the parkway by the Health Sciences Centre. (I work at the CBC building, for those just joining us.)

I came across this Tumblr collection, Break Room Diaries, the idea being pretty clever: what do break rooms look like? I might get around to a snap of ours. For now, a glimpse into a place that is often mundane but also where a lot of the good stuff at work happens.

Proof that muppets are meant to have muppet eyes

Muppetswithpeopleseyes is a Tumblr feed with a difference, and a hilariously creepy one at that.

Here's Scooter with human eyes - and none of the scampy charm you'd see backstage at the theatre.

Creepy, indeed. But nothing on Big Bird, who now reminds of one of the guys who sits in the corner of the pub making cracks about everybody else.