June 4, 2014
the Romeo & Juliet of government funded digital TV social media accounts
While Australian public TV channels ABC2 and SBS2 contemplate a possible merger, on their official Twitter accounts sparks fly.
ECM versus Google Glass
Personal electronic warfare? Glasshole.sh detects any nearby Google Glass trying to use wifi and disconnects it. In a networked world, it renders you invisible.
Unlike another HBO series based on novels, this trilogy is now complete.
Darren Aronofsky is developing Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy (Oryx and Crake, Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam) as an HBO series. Atwood says on Twitter that she's "met+ brainstormed with the Team and they're terrific!" Aronofsky had signed on with HBO in January.
21 days. 39 years. 8-ish genres. 6 one-hit wonders. 1 Russell. 1 Ron.
I only agreed to do it because I thought it wouldn't happen. Twenty-one albums in 21 nights? More than 270 songs? Are you nuts? Sure, let's do it.
In May and June 2008, Sparks celebrated what was nearly their 40th year as a band with an astonishing three-week concert series: every night, they performed one of their then-21 albums in its entirety, ending with the just-released Exotic Creatures of the Deep. Unlike most groups that formed in 1969, Sparks has kept themselves appealing and intriguing through a series of reinventions that saw them playing glam rock and disco, new wave and a couple varieties of synthpop. Unusually for a band in its third decade, 2002 saw a critically-acclaimed near-complete reinvention of their musical approach, one that emphasized minimalist layering, unusual (and hilarious) genre juxtapositions [note: kitties], and unusually clever and sinister approaches to lyricism. 21x21, then, was a virtuosic tribute to a virtuosic band, one whose appeal was far, far more than surface deep. Which is why, thank God, there is... [more inside]
In May and June 2008, Sparks celebrated what was nearly their 40th year as a band with an astonishing three-week concert series: every night, they performed one of their then-21 albums in its entirety, ending with the just-released Exotic Creatures of the Deep. Unlike most groups that formed in 1969, Sparks has kept themselves appealing and intriguing through a series of reinventions that saw them playing glam rock and disco, new wave and a couple varieties of synthpop. Unusually for a band in its third decade, 2002 saw a critically-acclaimed near-complete reinvention of their musical approach, one that emphasized minimalist layering, unusual (and hilarious) genre juxtapositions [note: kitties], and unusually clever and sinister approaches to lyricism. 21x21, then, was a virtuosic tribute to a virtuosic band, one whose appeal was far, far more than surface deep. Which is why, thank God, there is... [more inside]
Why the Zapatistas are stronger than ever
Marcos stepping down demonstrates the strength of this autonomous community. On May 2, 2014, José Luis Solís López, better known as Galeano was murdered in the community of La Realidad in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Galeano was murdered by three gunshots after he, unarmed, was surrounded by paramilitary troops and refused to surrender. The attack took place on the eve of a meeting that the Zapatistas had planned to hold with other indigenous organizations and indigenous people of Mexico during which spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos had planned possibly to reappear after a public absence of nearly six years. During the attack, a number of people were injured, and a Zapatista school and health clinic in La Realidad, both of which were symbols of the movement’s autonomy, were destroyed. [more inside]
Smiley Smile
Tom Smucker, one of the first wave of rock writers, gives The Beach Boys Smiley Smile a close listen.
Problem solved!
After the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canadian prostitution laws (previously), the Conservative Party has introduced new measures that would legalize the sale of sex, but that also criminalize the purchase of sex or soliciting in public, print or online. [more inside]
The future that everyone forgot
Apple's WWDC keynote showcased some of the upcoming advancement in their platform, but let's take time to reflect on The future that everyone forgot. Chris DeSalvo, formerly of Danger, talks about the Hiptop/Sidekick and what they did. Such as in 2004 they created a GameBoy Advance + Hiptop phone that never shipped. Chris also went onto Google, worked on Android, and penned another piece of phone-lore: The Day Google Had to 'Start Over' on Android
stop street harassment!
A study (pdf) released by the nonprofit Stop Street Harassment shows that 65% of American women have experienced some form of street harassment – 41% of women were subject to physically aggressive harassment in public like being flashed or fondled. Men also report being harassed (and men who identified as LGBT were much more likely to be harassed than heterosexual men). No matter who was being harassed, men were most likely to be the harassers.
Transportation planning and alternatives to drunk driving
Ban the Box: a move to remove criminal history from job applications
65 to 70 million U.S. adults, 3 or 4 of every 10, have an arrest or conviction record, greatly reducing their chances of getting a job, if they even get an interview, as many job applications ask applicants to check a box if they have a criminal record. "Ban the Box" is the slogan used by groups who are trying to counter this practice. The ban is spreading with cities and states around the country "banning the box" from government job applications, and some jurisdictions are forcing private employers to ban the question, too. A few major companies have removed such questions from their applications ahead of the local and state requirements, with Target following Wal-Mart's decision (previously).
Rocky Mountain High
New York Times editorialist Maureen Dowd traveled to Denver to try some THC-laced cookies. Her experience was unpleasant. [more inside]
Sophie, PC Music and the Post-Ringtone Era
Last year, Sophie's "Bipp" came out and blew a bunch of people's minds. It was XLR8R's best track of 2013 ("On a very basic level, it's almost impossible to define exactly (or even approximately) what 'Bipp' is.") Now the mysterious Sophie is going to be working with equally unusual J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (of "PONPONPON" fame/notoriety), pointing toward something singular and unprecedented on the horizon. On some level "Bipp" might be a pop manifesto of sorts, or a distilled blueprint for the future - global and k-/j-pop influenced, strange and disorienting, candy-coated and synthetic to an uncomfortably garish extent. A lot of people are wondering what happens next. Well, a post-Bipp (or post-ringtone) era might be underway: enter A.G. Cook, Hannah Diamond, and the rest of the shadowy collective PC Music. [more inside]
"Let's go get 'em, boys," he said, arming himself with a fungo bat....
The 1974 Cleveland Indians baseball team "were a smorgasbord of mediocre and forgettable talent playing in an open-air mausoleum" where 85% of the seats at home games went unsold. So the Indians tried to drum up business with a "10-Cent Beer Night" promotion. What could possibly go wrong? The final tally, 40 years ago this evening: 25,134 fans in attendance. 60,000 Genesee beers at 10¢ each. 50 cops. 19 streakers. 7 emergency room injuries. 9 arrests. 2 bare moons. 2 bouncing breasts and 1 sportswriter, punched in the jaw. [more inside]
They know when the boxed bird sings.
Vinkensport (finch sport), or vinkenzetting (finch sitting) is a Belgian, primarily Flemish, sport involving a box, a bird, and a counting stick. The bird that sings the most times in an hour wins. Here is a short and somewhat doubtful documentary.
Why is gender ever a thing?
A Linguist on the Story of Gendered Pronouns. Gretchen McCulloch talks about why we have pronouns, why gender is a thing in English, and how gender is a thing in other languages. [more inside]
Selling Buddhism -- Selling Out the Religion
Joanna Piacenza tackles difficulties she sees in the American conception of Buddhism. She was spurred out of writing silence several months ago by Time Magazine choosing for the second time in a decade to sell their magazine with a consumerist representation of Buddhism depicted on their cover with an pretty and ethereal looking white woman. Today, she published an article in First Things on why she believes Buddhism can't be just "an add-on: an energy boost in your spiritual smoothie," but is a religion and the American attitudes that she sees as enabling this misconception.
Sorry, cord-cutters.
Cable TV apps (aka 'TV Everywhere') are soaring in popularity, according to the Adobe Digital Index.
It's like The Oscars, but with just the good parts
The World Cup of World Cup 2014 songs
We join the action in the quarter finals, where the line up is as follows: Croatia v Spain, Bosnia v Italy, Brazil v Argentina, and Belgium v Chile, in The Guardian's World Cup of World Cup 2014 songs, as voted for by Guardian readers.
1,000 Days of Syria
He tells you he is one of the martyrs now. He tells you it is not safe for you to stay in your apartment, that soldiers may come soon. At any moment. You agree. It is time to go. You don't have the leisure to cry now over Ali's death now but you are eternally saddened. You pack only the most essential belongings for yourself, Emad and Yara. Before you head down the stairs with your children, you take one last look back at your home and whisper, xaatrak to yourself. Goodbye.
1,000 Days of Syria is a "choose your own adventure" historical fiction newsgame, in which you live the first 1,000 days of the Syrian conflict through the eyes of one of three optional characters. Guardian article, wiki, trailer. [more inside]
1,000 Days of Syria is a "choose your own adventure" historical fiction newsgame, in which you live the first 1,000 days of the Syrian conflict through the eyes of one of three optional characters. Guardian article, wiki, trailer. [more inside]
"not far short of 50% have come into the language from French or Latin."
hmmmm?
Now and Seventy years ago
The U.K. newspaper The Guardian combines photos from today and D-Day to show what's happened on and around the D-Day landing beaches in the seventy years since. [more inside]
They told me I was gonna have to work for a living
Interview with David Graeber Why do the least productive people get paid the most money? What ever happened to the big increase in leisure that everyone was expecting 50 years ago? Graeber tells us. [more inside]
A lexicon; a vocabulary; a wordbook.
James Somers thinks you’re using the wrong dictionary.
In 1807, [Noah Webster] started writing a dictionary, which he called, boldly,An American Dictionary of the English Language. He wanted it to be comprehensive, authoritative. Think of that: a man sits down, aiming to capture his language whole. Dictionaries today are not written this way. In fact it’d be strange even to say that they’re written. They are built by a large team, less a work of art than of engineering. When you read an entry you don’t get the sense that a person labored at his desk, alone, trying to put the essence of that word into words. That is, you don’t get a sense, the way you do from a good novel, that there was another mind as alive as yours on the other side of the page.
Vroom aww
My Mom's Motorcycle "This is a short film about how my mom became the owner of a motorcycle ... more deeply it is about how people use objects to connect with times, ideas, and people."
I am right here.
Samantha Peterson slams her case for having a fat body in this world. No metaphor necessary. (SLHP)
they cannot soar into the air and fly away so quickly
Liao Yiwu, poet, author of Bullets and Opium and former political prisoner, writes on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
My father died in the fall of 2002. At the last hour, he couldn’t speak any more, but he would fix his eyes on me, his son, the political prisoner. The police had searched me and taken me away in front of him many times. He died worried about me. Maybe in his last moments, when he couldn’t speak anymore, he still wanted to tell me not to provoke the Communist Party. Tank Man vanished into thin air—another proof my father was right.
Who could ask for more?
ShuffleComp is an in-progress Interactive Fiction competition where all the games are based on a song chosen partially by the intfiction boards and partially by the game's author. While the voting/judging is ongoing, all the games submitted for the competition have been released and are playable now!
On Adam Phillips
Symptoms are forms of self-knowledge. When you think, I’m agoraphobic, I’m a shy person, whatever it may be, these are forms of self-knowledge. What psychoanalysis, at its best, does is cure you of your self-knowledge. And of your wish to know yourself in that coherent, narrative way. You can only recover your appetite, and appetites, if you can allow yourself to be unknown to yourself. Because the point of knowing oneself is to contain one’s anxieties about appetite. Psychoanalyst and writer Adam Phillips interviewed by The Paris Review.
>RUN PROJECT 23
Bartek Hlawka & co. present "Another World", a short film based on Éric Chahi's cinematic platform game of the same title (also known as Out Of This World in North America and Outer World in Japan). [more inside]
the snow instigateth not lugubriosity within me…
The Egyptian singer Nesma Mahgoub, in the song’s chorus, sings, “Discharge thy secret! I shall not bear the torment!” and “I dread not all that shall be said! Discharge the storm clouds! The snow instigateth not lugubriosity within me…” From one song to the next, there isn’t a declensional ending dropped or an antique expression avoided, whether it is sung by a dancing snowman or a choir of forest trolls. The Arabic of “Frozen” is frozen in time, as “localized” to contemporary Middle Eastern youth culture as Latin quatrains in French rap.So Disney used to translate its movies into Egyptian Arabic but recently switched to Modern Standard Arabic, which is somewhat more formal.
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