Two great things from writer Jonathan Lethem: 1) “The Promiscuous Materials Project,” in which Lethem offers “stories are for filmmakers or dramatists to adapt. They’re available non-exclusively—meaning other people may be working from the same material—and the cost is a dollar apiece,” and 2) a monumentally important essay entitled “The Ecstasy of Influence,” nearly all of which (spoiler alert) Lethem “stole, warped, and cobbled together” from other sources. Both projects are heavily indebted to what I think is one of the most important books of the last few decades, Lewis Hyde’s The Gift (for which Angus Hyland of Pentagram has just designed a new cover). More about The Gift in my essay “Form-giving.”