Everyone caught the Jim Cramer / Jon Stewart... thing last week, right?
In case you did, boingboing did the usual bang-up job of summing up the setup, and then Comedy Central posted the full & unedited version of the interview on the web. It's good stuff.
Monday, March 16, 2009
"lately there's been a lot of activity from a group that's secretly invading the Earth"
Look, there really isn't any way to do this link justice. Just click.
Okay, I'll say one thing. That dude with the eyepiece is named "Professor Monster." No, really.
Okay, I'll say one thing. That dude with the eyepiece is named "Professor Monster." No, really.
The internet's current belle of the ball
(I love how all stories about the Internet start with the phrase, "so, there's this guy...")
So, there's this guy. He did a super-cool thing that we don't seem to have any vocabulary for.
He wandered around youTube, and found a whole stack of random clips of people playing instruments. Dudes giving guitar lessons, little kids showing off trumpets, mullet-equipped gentlemen jamming on theramins. They all have that grainy, home-made quality that makes the half of youTube that I don't use to watch Battlestar Galactica clips so much fun (and / or terrifying. YMMV, and with youTube even more so.)
Anyway. He took all these clips he found, and mixed them all together into new songs. On paper (or the metaphorical blog equivalent) this sounds like a TERRIBLE idea - like all those kids cutting together Star Trek versus Stargate SG1 combat movies with an iMac, enthusiasm, and not much else.
The really surprising thing is how good it is. No, scratch that - it's not good. It's phenomenal. They sound professional - and I mean that in the best way possible. You keep having to remind yourself that this is 100% amateur work, and at just about every level of abstraction.
Go check it out if you haven't already.
It's pretty easy to be down on "the future" for more or less failing to deliver the classic list of future props we were "supposed" to have by now - jetpacks, hoverboards, PanAm flights to the space station, robot maids, that show from Running Man, etc. But this is one of those things that makes you step back and smile at the fact that the future we're getting is actually so much better than the one on the cover of Omni in 1985.
So, there's this guy. He did a super-cool thing that we don't seem to have any vocabulary for.
He wandered around youTube, and found a whole stack of random clips of people playing instruments. Dudes giving guitar lessons, little kids showing off trumpets, mullet-equipped gentlemen jamming on theramins. They all have that grainy, home-made quality that makes the half of youTube that I don't use to watch Battlestar Galactica clips so much fun (and / or terrifying. YMMV, and with youTube even more so.)
Anyway. He took all these clips he found, and mixed them all together into new songs. On paper (or the metaphorical blog equivalent) this sounds like a TERRIBLE idea - like all those kids cutting together Star Trek versus Stargate SG1 combat movies with an iMac, enthusiasm, and not much else.
The really surprising thing is how good it is. No, scratch that - it's not good. It's phenomenal. They sound professional - and I mean that in the best way possible. You keep having to remind yourself that this is 100% amateur work, and at just about every level of abstraction.
Go check it out if you haven't already.
It's pretty easy to be down on "the future" for more or less failing to deliver the classic list of future props we were "supposed" to have by now - jetpacks, hoverboards, PanAm flights to the space station, robot maids, that show from Running Man, etc. But this is one of those things that makes you step back and smile at the fact that the future we're getting is actually so much better than the one on the cover of Omni in 1985.
“When a 14 year old kid can blow up your business in his spare time, not because he hates you but because he loves you, then you got a problem.”
It's been making the rounds on the internet lately, but in case you missed it: Clay Shirky on Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable.
Well worth a read if you have any interest in the current (fully justified) hand-wringing about the future of newspapers.
The money quote: "Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism."
Well worth a read if you have any interest in the current (fully justified) hand-wringing about the future of newspapers.
The money quote: "Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tetris in HD is a work of pure, unmitigated evil
Seriously, go try this out.
I was going to say something snarky here, but I really can't beat this comment from Chris Harriman, one of the great thinkers of our time: "It turns out that the width of the playing field is extremely relevant. This is a horrible creation."
Also, mad bonus points to whoever was on the ball enough to register "sovietrussia.org"
Sam's back in the saddle
Sam Raimi has a new movie coming out. A horror movie where a bank employee is cursed for not giving a gypsy woman an extension on her mortage? Yes, please. Really, the only thing this trailer is missing is Bruce Campbell. (And, let's be honest, that's a pretty big deficit.)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Watchmen credits
Short version: I thought Watchmen was spectacular.
And, the opening credits have wandered, loose, out into the interwebs. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to skip this for the moment (but really, it doesn't actually give anything away.)
And, the opening credits have wandered, loose, out into the interwebs. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to skip this for the moment (but really, it doesn't actually give anything away.)
I'm having one of those "I'm glad I live today" moments
First, check out this video made by a 12-year old.
When I was twelve, I was writing unplayable text adventures in BASIC on my Tandy 1000, and doing stuff like this was, essentially, impossible, much less commodity software. Yay future!
Then, go read this article on Why TV Lost. It's a pretty fascinating analysis as to why that TV meets computers convergence that everyone was talking about in 1990 (when I was... twelve) didn't happen, and facebook happened instead.
When I was twelve, I was writing unplayable text adventures in BASIC on my Tandy 1000, and doing stuff like this was, essentially, impossible, much less commodity software. Yay future!
Then, go read this article on Why TV Lost. It's a pretty fascinating analysis as to why that TV meets computers convergence that everyone was talking about in 1990 (when I was... twelve) didn't happen, and facebook happened instead.
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