From the middle section of a longer interview with the rapper DMX: Are you following the presidential race? Not at all. You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton. His name is Barack?! Barack Obama, yeah. Barack?! Barack. What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where […]
March 13, 2008
U23D at IMAX
One good thing about living in the society of the spectacle is that every once in a while it produces something truly mind-blowing. In this case, a U2 concert movie filmed in a new 3D technology, playing on the huge IMAX screens. Unbelievably good. The experience is nothing like previous 3D movies. This is absolutely […]
March 4, 2008
Copying Makes Evolution Possible
Susan Blackmore in Wired: The whole idea of a meme is that it’s information that is copied with variation and selection. So any idea that is copied from person to person is a meme. But an idea that you think up for yourself and is not expressed is not a meme. The emphasis has to […]
February 25, 2008
And Then Came New Hampshire…
The maker of that video has a new project alive. You can add your own photo to the montage of video. Very innovative. And beautiful heartfelt text on the Creators page. Bravo.
February 12, 2008
The Point and Pixish
The Point looks really interesting. The Point is a social platform for people to solve problems they can’t solve alone. Start an ultimatum, fundraiser, or social contract. Whatever the cause, use a campaign to bring it to the tipping point. Also, beautiful minimalist design. Bonus link: Pixish, Visual Assignments For Creative People. Less beautiful design, […]
February 1, 2008
Fully Immersed in Something
For when you truly have money to burn, Ultra Geeky Home Cinemas. Instead, perhaps consider this? (All 4:21 are worth it, lyrics and images.)
January 25, 2008
A Way To Live
A life. Some projects. A very thoughtful five-minute “game.” (Read the creator’s statement.) If you want, you can support this life. Update: I didn’t know it at the time I wrote this, but the Wall Street Journal covered the game in today’s issue.
January 23, 2008
On Twitter
rentzsch: yay morphed a client meeting into client work-time. “Nothing new to talk about, how about I just keep working?” “Sure.” I love sane clients I never understood Twitter. I checked it out way back when, probably around when it first started, readin’ the blogs and all, and I just didn’t get it. “Okay, you’re […]
January 20, 2008
On Brazil
When I was at the Unbroken Chain conference someone brought up the movie Brazil and when they learned I hadn’t seen it the whole room became animated with encouragement: “Oh man! You have to check it out! Wow, never seen Brazil… Dude, it’s awesome, you won’t believe it.” Well, okay then. We watched it last […]
January 17, 2008
Running Out of Ideas?
Amusing one-line review of Handmeon, pointing to the Boston Globe article: Handmeon.com is a cool idea, perhaps showing that Web 2.0 entrepreneurs may be running out of ideas. Well, I laughed out loud. He goes on to say, “Actually, I do think it’s a pretty interesting social experiment.” Thanks Pito, for taking a look.
January 17, 2008
In Praise of Melancholy
The Chronicle: Ours are ominous times. We are on the verge of eroding away our ozone layer. Within decades we could face major oceanic flooding. We are close to annihilating hundreds of exquisite animal species. Soon our forests will be as bland as pavement. Moreover, we now find ourselves on the verge of a new […]
January 14, 2008
The Game Was Completely Up
The Economist: In 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting […]
December 28, 2007
The 50 Most Loathsome People In America, 2007
Possibly the most sarcastic link ever posted at Notio. Also probably the funniest; an instant classic. Via Kottke, with whom I post the following excerpt: 9. You Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at […]
December 26, 2007
The Spectacle Has Not Quite Yet Been Supplanted
Based on my suppertime family viewing, I like Jeopardy better than Wheel of Fortune. I also note, based on a one-hour television ad review, that nobody can sleep, everyone has stomach upset, most people have aches and pains, and many people are depressed. You probably couldn’t give away a Buick Lucerne to anyone I know, […]
December 24, 2007
State of the Music
Wired Magazine has done us a public service by hiring David Byrne to report on the current state of the music industry. It results in two feature articles: David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music (with a striking photo!), and David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars. Both […]
November 18, 2007
Quote for the Day
“It is by deferring mediocre actions and by being utterly intent on foreseeing the unforeseeable that we prepare ourselves for being thoroughly contradicted by happiness.” —Gaston Bachelard, The Dialectic of Duration, pg 63. The Unbroken Chain blogging fiesta didn’t materialize (deferring mediocre actions), but it was a rilly rilly great weekend. I met some fine […]
November 15, 2007
Free Guitar, But You Gotta Pass It On
While I’m attending the UMass Dead conference (warning, possible blogging fiesta), I hope to give away a virtually new Ovation Legend acoustic guitar. It’s a Handmeon, so whoever receives it has to promise to also give it away. If you’d like to own it for a while, register at Handmeon and bookmark the object, requesting […]
November 10, 2007
Handmeon in the Local Media
The Valley News published a great story about Handmeon today: “In tiny offices in Hanover, three men are trying to use the Internet to infuse with spirituality an activity that’s become increasingly fraught and expensive: gift giving. Their company’s quiet launch, built up over the past few months, coincides with the gift-giving season. “Handmeon will […]
November 6, 2007
Arrau’s Chopin
I am giving away a 7-disc set of Chopin’s piano works ($55) over at Handmeon, and in the process did some writing about the collection and how I’ve related to the work. I’m going to continue to post for a week or two, ruminating on the compositions, before I send it on its journey. If […]