AMC released an unusual trailer for the final episodes of Breaking Bad, as star Bryan Cranston read “Ozymandias” by the great poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

We’ve embedded the video above–what do you think? If you want to explore more Shelley poetry and essays before the final episodes begin this weekend, we’ve collected a long list of free books by the author. Open Culture has more about the poem:

It seems perfectly in character, then, that the show’s producers would tease the final season with the ominous and dusty clip above, with Cranston reading Percy Bysshe Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandias,” a poem about the hubris of another desert tyrant—well-known for his megalomaniacal folly—Ramesses II (also known by a transliteration of his throne name, Ozymandias).

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How do you map out ideas before starting a story?

One reader asked Community creator Dan Harmon to explain his personal process of “story-breaking,” or how he brainstorms his way into a script. Harmon’s long and idiosyncratic explanation of his creative process might help you chart out your next story, novel or script. Check it out:

Start with random IDEAS.  Ideas can be anything – Poop is an idea, America, pickles, the number six, a raccoon, anything. Some ideas will reveal related ideas, i.e. you may think, upon thinking about raccoons, that you have more than one thought about raccoons.  Clouds of related ideas that your mind recognizes as related in any way are potential story AREAS.  Look for areas that make you laugh and cry. Draw a circle to symbolize your area, because your story will take the “reader” through related ideas in a path around a central idea.

(Link via; photo via)

A reddit user and librarian posted an epic chart recently, mapping the life cycle of a library book.

You can follow a popular or unpopular book through the map of what happens inside this particular library system. It gives readers a glimpse into both the past, present and future of your favorite book. When was the last time you checked out your favorite library book? Check it out:

Stage four (a) “Social Butterfly”: Not being on display all the time hasn’t stopped this book from being a hit. Being kept on hold for months at a time, being checked out like no other, this book is always out of the library. It interacts with new people, tells them a story, and lets them jump into a new world, without leaving the comfort of their recliner.

Stage five (a) “Tired out”: After being out for so long, being around so many people, and being taken everywhere, the book is tired and in need of some rest and relaxation. The binding is a little worn, the edges of the cover hurt, and it looks like a little kid may have even taken a crayon to one of the pages. Luckily, there are people who know how to fix this and the book is taken out of circulation and mended.

 

I spend most of my day writing on this blog or writing emails to sources, but I only manage to send a few print letters every year. During my vacation later this month, I will test drive a stack of Moleskine’s Postal Notebooks in an attempt to reverse this bad writing habit.

Earlier this week, Michele Filgate wondered “Will social media kill writers’ diaries?”

I think letter-writing is a casualty of that same impulse. We spend so much time reading and writing fractured pieces of our experience that we forget to tell our story in the broad strokes of a diary or letter.

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Apple lawyers and Department of Justice attorneys will debate the DOJ’s proposed remedy today 3:00 p.m. EDT.

Earlier this week, five major publishers disputed the DOJ’s proposed remedy in the eBook price fixing case–writing that the remedy could ruin settlement agreements created by the publishers before Apple argued the case in court.  U.S Attorney Lawrence Buterman wrote a letter to the court (PDF), arguing that these measures are necessary. Here’s an excerpt:

 there is reason to believe the Publisher Defendants may be positioning themselves to pick things back up where they left off as soon as their two-year clocks run. Indeed, the very fact that the Publisher Defendants have banded together once again, this time to jointly oppose two provisions in the Proposed Final Judgement that they believe could result in lower e-Book prices for consumers, only highlights why it is necessary to ensure that Apple (and hopefully other retailers) can discount e-books and compete on retail price for as long as possible.

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A number of publishing promotions and job changes were announced this week.

Scholastic has hired Katrina Krantz as director of digital marketing, Caite Panzer as director of rights and global publishing strategy, Kelly Smith as senior editor for nonfiction, and Michael del Rosario as managing editor.

The company has also promoted fifteen staff members.

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How much would you pay for a lifetime subscription to your RSS reading service? RSS reader Feedly raised nearly $500,000 by selling a limited edition lifetime subscription for $99.

AppNewser has more:

Delivering RSS feeds got a lot more interesting and profitable now that Google has left the building. As of July 1, 2013 when Google reader shuttered its RSS service, Feedly has seen a drastic increase in users and now the company managed to raise nearly $500,000 in subscriptions in a span of eight short hours. Feedly introduced its premium lifetime RSS service was priced at $99.99 sold out within the first day – a total of 5,000 happy backers. The money will go toward better hardware to run Feedly.

Shenkar College of Engineering and Design student Shimi Cohen posted a video called “The Innovation of Loneliness,” illustrating how social networks have changed our social interaction.

The animated work (embedded above) was inspired by Sherry Turkle‘s book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other and it serves as a clever book trailer for her work. Here’s more about Turkle’s book:

In Alone Together, MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It’s a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for—and sacrificing—in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today’s self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

(Link via UberMouse894)

David Menasche, a teacher with stage 4 brain cancer, raised more than $26,000 on gofundme (a crowdfunding site) for a road trip to re-connect with 75 former students.

Menasche documented the 101-day cross-country journey in a memoir entitled The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons. In an interview with the Broward/Palm Beach New Times, he revealed that “the purpose of the trip was to regain what brain cancer took from me. Basically, my classroom.”

Menasche met and signed up with a literary agent after one of his students wrote a Miami Herald piece about his traveling venture. Brandi Bowles of Foundry Literary + Media negotiated the deal. Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will release the book on January 14, 2014.

Ever dreamed of being a Marvel superhero? The producers behind Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark are holding open casting calls to find the next Spider-Man (a.k.a. Peter Parker) and Mary Jane Watson.

On the west coast, casting will take place on August 12th at the Hollywood United Methodist Church. Over at the east coast, it has been scheduled for August 19th at New York City’s Stage 48 & Sky-Lounge.

The L Magazine adds that the producers intend to cast a Spider-Man who is “in their late teens to early 20′s of any ethnicity. They must have a great rock singing voice. They can be nerdy with an understated sex appeal and a good sense of humor.”

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