The WELL: inkwell.vue.192: Gary Wolf, "Wired -- a Romance"

#189: virtual community or butter? (bumbaugh) Sat 13 Sep 03 06:22

Sat, 13 Sep 2003 06:22:00 PDT

Didn't give much information readers didn't already know?! That/those reviewer/s is/are on drugs! Gary, I followed the "Wired story" from afar in those halcyon days, enough that most of the characters are familiar, but I learned loads reading your book. SOmeone's posting reviews without looking at the book.

Just last night, I was telling someone about the Wall-Street-Journal-endorses-the-mania moment, about which you pointed out that then the last cynic was in the market and it *had* to come crashing down. A fine observation at the end of a well drawn scene.

I really enjoyed it. Thanks. [Read entire topic]

#188: Gary Wolf (garyisaacwolf) Fri 12 Sep 03 15:14

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:14:00 PDT

Thanks to all of you for piping up here. You are a much more sympathetic group that the reviewers on Amazon, the most recent of which accused me of talking about the character's pets and flowerpots rather than the interesting things that went on the company, adding that I didn't give much information that readers wouldn't already know. Jeez! Some people are so ungrateful. This is payback for all the mean restaurant reviews I wrote when I was a reckless, unfeeling young man. [Read entire topic]

#187: an oceanic sofa of bliss (sd) Fri 12 Sep 03 13:03

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 13:03:00 PDT

just got mine (a day or two late) and i'm enjoying it. thanks gary. [Read entire topic]

#186: Kevin Kelly (kk) Tue 9 Sep 03 13:31

Tue, 09 Sep 2003 13:31:00 PDT

And, BTW, they ARE happy. Two kids, two houses, and a marriage that survived the worst (an achievement I never expected).

I hope this glimpse of Wired's ability to ignite passion will convince those have not yet read Gary's book to hurry to Amazon and order it.

Gary, thanks for writing the book, and for extending it via this conference. [Read entire topic]

#185: Gerard Van der Leun (boswell) Tue 9 Sep 03 10:11

Tue, 09 Sep 2003 10:11:00 PDT

I second that. A nice bit of a book all around. I note that, in the end, Louis and Jane are sitting around on a tiny pile of millions, so I guess -- given what they had before -- they came out ahead. Don't you wish all romances had as happy an ending? [Read entire topic]

#184: Steve Silberman (digaman) Thu 4 Sep 03 21:59

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 21:59:00 PDT

Thanks, Gary and Kevin! [Read entire topic]

#183: virtual community or butter? (bumbaugh) Thu 4 Sep 03 12:31

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 12:31:00 PDT

Time flies! We're near the end of the third week of what was announced as a two-week stint in the Inkwell for Gary Wolf (sing along: "a three-hour tour"). Everyone is welcome to stay, of course, and continue the discussion. Still, I wanted to step in briefly to thank everyone who has contributed here, but especially to express our appreciation to Gary and Kevin for their time and efforts in the topic. [Read entire topic]

#182: Chip Bayers (hotwired) Wed 3 Sep 03 20:45

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 20:45:00 PDT

I think you overestimate what pugnaciousness at Wired and Hotwired got you. Gary and I were each, at separate times, cut off at the knees when we challenged Louis, for example. And Battelle and Plunkett at the magazine were usually flattened, or just got out of the way, when conflict arose because they knew most if not all battles with Louis were unwinnable. [Read entire topic]

#181: Seahorses of the Liver (mnemonic) Wed 3 Sep 03 18:10

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 18:10:00 PDT

I think I get that Louis's personality was the primary reason for his assholiness to Andy Lack (I know more about how Louis works now than I did then, partly through life experience and partly through Gary's book). I think the thing that's harder to explain is why people who had more sense didn't protect Louis from his worst impulses, especially when it involved something as important as the MSNBC relationship. You don't have to know much about Louis, or Wired, or Lack, or NBC, to know that when a network exec flies across the country and is stiff-armed by the director of a project he's investing in, things are not going to go well. And I don't just mean there's going to be a tiff -- I mean the whole relationship is likely to go sour Real Soon Now. (As in fact it did.)

One of the earliest impressions I had of the Wired TV division (and this may reflect hiring decisions made by folks other than Louis) was that *no one* seemed willing to tell Louis in any way that this whole thing was being fucked up. When I wrote an evaluation of the first show, I was (I think) comical in the extent to which I bent over backward to communicate to Louis that the show sucked big-time, while saying there was something there that could be fixed. I remember thinking, I'm already on the outs, so I've got nothing to lose by telling Louis the truth, but I have to couch it in a way that might lead to Louis's actually listening to what I was saying. It was quite an exercise -- especially since I was doing this to give Louis ideas about what to say when he met Lack next in, I think, Chicago.

That memo is still posted in the Media conference on the WELL, I think, somewhere. I know I kept a copy, and gave one to Gary when he was researching the book. To the last, I wanted the show to succeed, but once the first segment aired it was doomed.

I wish some of the pugnacious people on the magazine side or the Hotwired side had been at the TV division -- it seemed to me that the TV people were constantly shivering with trepidation about Louis's likely criticism as to this or that minor thing. [Read entire topic]

#180: Steve Silberman (digaman) Wed 3 Sep 03 12:32

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 12:32:00 PDT

Brilliant writing, Gary! [Read entire topic]