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The color is repellent, almost revolting, a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. --Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in "The Yellow Wallpaper." |
Tuesday, February 9, 1999 Computers, Copyediting, Content, Colors They're out to get me at the computer lab. It's the only reasonable explanation. In today's installment, I was informed that the person I need to speak to (who, you may recall, is the replacement for the person I was advised to speak to, who's out for the week), called in sick. It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Anyway, I've been advised to call her voice-mail again, and I suppose I shall do so. Stay tuned.
In brighter news, the former professor with a need for a proofreader tracked me down today. It seems that I was a bit mistaken as to exactly what needs to be done. Basically, they're reproducing the book directly from the pages of the original printing; that is, they're not retyping it, they're just photocopying the pages of the first edition. They can, however, make a few changes, if necessary. He remembers there being a couple of minor typos in the book, and my job is to find them. He doesn't want to do it himself, because it's been ten years since he wrote the thing, and he knows that if he looks it over now, he'll want to reword everything, and that's not a good idea. So, I've got the job. It shouldn't take very long at all; it's just a matter of reading through the book again and keeping an eye out for errors. Oh, and I even get to insist that "jism" be spelled correctly in the new edition. The power of it! :-)
The new issue of Brill's Content came in the mail yesterday. It's not the same magazine I subscribed to. But, rather to my surprise, I'm finding that I like it. I kept finishing articles, metaphorically licking my fingers, then doing a double-take, and saying "Wait... I'm reading Brill's Content?!" I still regret the loss of the magazine that was, but the magazine it's becoming is better than I'd feared.
I've added another journal to my list. Pamie's, to be exact. It's all the fault of Beth / Lizzie / Xeney, who mentioned her in a recent entry. But I like her writing style a lot, and, besides, it's just nice knowing that somebody else out there hated Buffalo 66 as much as I did. One thing I hadn't anticipated when I originally wrote up the list of journals I keep tabs on is that I'd end up using it myself. But it's more convenient than using my rather unwieldy bookmark list. In fact, I've set it as my startup page in Netscape. I've added a list of links to other, non-journal, sites I read, plus a link for those wanting to be added to my notify list. Which gained its second member today, so that much is well with the world. Speaking of which, said second member pointed out something I'd noticed: The shade of yellow used on these pages is rather glaring, although I think that varies somewhat depending on the monitor used to view it. To be honest, when I switched to the solid background color, I spent at least ten minutes fussing with the exact shade, before deciding that what I had was close enough already, and that nobody else would care if it wasn't quite right. So, a question. Does anybody else think the current background shade is too harsh? Would you prefer it if I switched to a paler shade of yellow? I like vivid colors in general, but if it's at the expense of readability, it's just not worth it.
I still have to read "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." And as I'd like to spend most of the day tomorrow at a public hearing on campus, I'd better do that now. See you soon!
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