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No Means No

June 4, 2014 By Mark Leave a Comment

It’s been a long haul, but we’ve finally gotten to a place in the world — or at least in the U.S. — or at least in the aspirational version of the U.S. that is depicted by mainstream media — where we acknowledge that physical intimacy always requires consent from both parties. This is important because in the not-so-recent past it was considered bad form for one of the parties to say yes, meaning a whole lot of confusion got built into what should have been a fairly easy vetting process. On some occasions no meant no, but on other occasions it meant not yet, or try harder, or I want to say yes but I was told I’ll go to hell so don’t actually pay attention to the words coming out of my mouth. Unfortunately, not only did this often lead to hurt feelings, it also made it difficult to prove guilt when a crime was perpetrated.

It is only a good thing that no now always mean no. This is not to say, however, that confusion can’t still take place, as happened Monday night on Louie when Louis C.K.’s quasi-eponymous onscreen persona unilaterally decided he was going to kiss a recurring character named Pamela no matter how she felt about the matter. (You can see the moment, and the confusion it caused in at least one viewer, here.)

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Filed Under: ~ Tangents Tagged With: drama, Louie

Louie DePalma Pricing

March 18, 2010 By Mark Leave a Comment

I am publishing a collection of short stories as an e-book. Continuing a series from last week, I’m trying to work through the relevant pricing issues and set a price for that content.

Think about any subject long enough and you’re bound to end up in the weeds…

The title of this post refers to a deservedly famous Taxi episode in which Jim burns Louie’s apartment to a cinder, presenting Louie with the opportunity to quantify the practical limits of greed.

The problem with this approach in my case is that the DePalma price for an e-book is probably one dollar over the high end of the acceptable range — meaning something like eleven or twelve dollars. And I would only be able to get that price if the customer borrowed my car and wrapped it around a tree prior to making a purchase.

As much as I would like to embrace my inner greed, I just don’t see a useful lever. To my chagrin, market forces seem determined to have their way with me.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: e-books, greed, Louie, price