Got 60 seconds? Watch the cancer metastasize:
http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Importance of Story
(Soon, this parenthetical place holder will be filled with an irreverent yet poignant vignette on the importance of continuity within one's personal narrative. but, as i've not yet started it and haven't cracked a textbook since 2008, i'm gonna have to hit the PAUSE button till later. Sorry.)
Until I catch up, ENJOY:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rives_controls_the_internet.html
And, if you're bored, compare and contrast:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html
(These are all TED Talks and if you don't know what TED Talks are or what TED is you should probably watch a few more TED Talks on TED.com and burn a few dozen hours tickling your brain.)
Until I catch up, ENJOY:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rives_controls_the_internet.html
And, if you're bored, compare and contrast:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html
(These are all TED Talks and if you don't know what TED Talks are or what TED is you should probably watch a few more TED Talks on TED.com and burn a few dozen hours tickling your brain.)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Video
I've always thought---\\\---
---strike that---
I've sometimes thought ---\\\---
---strike that too---
I've just thought (and would like to state said thought as a past glimpse of enlightenment so as to now use that thought as a literary device whereby I move from past to present, engendering continued contemplation and well reasoned discernment along the way leading up to the present where I take said thought from discorporal vapor to living body in 6 short paragraphs) that video is cheap. It's easy. Its-
Ok, it's not that easy.
But, it is, right? You know the viral videos that spin out of control after some jackass left his camera phone on
on record, and some other jackass loses his grip and topples head over heels onto
someone
famous
who, (interject interjection here), said something like:
"They blanked up the whole blanking party with their blanking blank up!"
Fuck.
That stuff is blanked up. But, we love it! Of course, the other extreme is the finely tuned dramatic shorts cooked up in some college film lab - depicting "SOLITUDE" as it has never been portrayed before in black'n'white - well, sepia tone - and finds an audience of ONE
(MOTHER
of one of the "actors" - and I put actors in "quotes" because of a Scrubs episode where Doctor Funnyname pokes fun at other Doctor Funnyname and a J.D. is like, "
**sidebar**") and doesn't fare so well at the box-office.
By a show of hands, who followed that last sentence start-to-finish, apostrophes and all?
It's like a freakin' algebra equation!
Anyhoo, the point is Video is the antitheses of what I do. I write and write and write with little to no thought of grammar, syntax, editing or general sanity. I'm a big fan of those things in theory and can be a really big snob about them in others' writing, but fuck if I care who thinks this bit of verbiage is running on past its prime or not; or who thinks ending sentences in "not" is poor form or not. I just don't want to be borning. Editing takes time and effort and guts. Because a finished product is open to all manner of criticism and judgment without the out,
"It's just a work in progress."
Video is a short shitty hunk-o-wood that you whittle down to 1/tenth its size and create from one mundane stream a Flow which transcends content. And becomes
Entertainment
or art or satire or what-have-you. But it's a product. It's a metric shit-ton of hard work packaged so you can't hide the bow.
Stream of Consciousness is what eye due. It's the drivel that dribbles past my inner I and onto the
--don't say "page." don't say "page"--
floor right in front of the urinal where I was too busy reading the 8 and 1/2 by 11 on the wall to keep track of my aim. *phew* Nailed It!
This part is easy. The stream. What's tricky is making it flow. Effortlessly, seamlessly, working without a net. Because the misspellings, misprints and left out words that I'm sure litter this page ruin the pace this race is running past my brain cells and onto the
--don't say "page." don't say "page."--
canvas - shit that's trite - and
ruin the whole effect.
I made a video for Someone today - the kind of Someone who deserves a capital 'S' - out of 2 minutes of footage 2 hours of editing and a MacBook. (And it wasn't that good!) It's exactly the opposite of what I do! What I'm writing now took 20 minutes of typing with 20 seconds of, "Wait, I should of used a period instead of a 'muthr fuckin right ee did!'"
By now I've sure you'm guessed- ^Strike that. Reverse it.^ (and make that 26 seconds)- that this whole post was to say I'm thinking about video as a means of communication. Making the 40 second clip for Someone was fun. It was a new kind of creative. Doing something similar for many is a little intimidating. And i love
Anonymity.
But, maybe, in weeks to come I'll post a short film or two about, "Pleuratude" or some postmodern bullshit for your critiquing pleasure. Or not.
(If you've made it this far, thanks for working your way through this one. Not having read it myself, I'm sure it was arduous. Thank you for your time. I promise to do better next time. Or not.
But I'll try.)
---strike that---
I've sometimes thought ---\\\---
---strike that too---
I've just thought (and would like to state said thought as a past glimpse of enlightenment so as to now use that thought as a literary device whereby I move from past to present, engendering continued contemplation and well reasoned discernment along the way leading up to the present where I take said thought from discorporal vapor to living body in 6 short paragraphs) that video is cheap. It's easy. Its-
Ok, it's not that easy.
But, it is, right? You know the viral videos that spin out of control after some jackass left his camera phone on
on record, and some other jackass loses his grip and topples head over heels onto
someone
famous
who, (interject interjection here), said something like:
"They blanked up the whole blanking party with their blanking blank up!"
Fuck.
That stuff is blanked up. But, we love it! Of course, the other extreme is the finely tuned dramatic shorts cooked up in some college film lab - depicting "SOLITUDE" as it has never been portrayed before in black'n'white - well, sepia tone - and finds an audience of ONE
(MOTHER
of one of the "actors" - and I put actors in "quotes" because of a Scrubs episode where Doctor Funnyname pokes fun at other Doctor Funnyname and a J.D. is like, "
**sidebar**") and doesn't fare so well at the box-office.
By a show of hands, who followed that last sentence start-to-finish, apostrophes and all?
It's like a freakin' algebra equation!
Anyhoo, the point is Video is the antitheses of what I do. I write and write and write with little to no thought of grammar, syntax, editing or general sanity. I'm a big fan of those things in theory and can be a really big snob about them in others' writing, but fuck if I care who thinks this bit of verbiage is running on past its prime or not; or who thinks ending sentences in "not" is poor form or not. I just don't want to be borning. Editing takes time and effort and guts. Because a finished product is open to all manner of criticism and judgment without the out,
"It's just a work in progress."
Video is a short shitty hunk-o-wood that you whittle down to 1/tenth its size and create from one mundane stream a Flow which transcends content. And becomes
Entertainment
or art or satire or what-have-you. But it's a product. It's a metric shit-ton of hard work packaged so you can't hide the bow.
Stream of Consciousness is what eye due. It's the drivel that dribbles past my inner I and onto the
--don't say "page." don't say "page"--
floor right in front of the urinal where I was too busy reading the 8 and 1/2 by 11 on the wall to keep track of my aim. *phew* Nailed It!
This part is easy. The stream. What's tricky is making it flow. Effortlessly, seamlessly, working without a net. Because the misspellings, misprints and left out words that I'm sure litter this page ruin the pace this race is running past my brain cells and onto the
--don't say "page." don't say "page."--
canvas - shit that's trite - and
ruin the whole effect.
I made a video for Someone today - the kind of Someone who deserves a capital 'S' - out of 2 minutes of footage 2 hours of editing and a MacBook. (And it wasn't that good!) It's exactly the opposite of what I do! What I'm writing now took 20 minutes of typing with 20 seconds of, "Wait, I should of used a period instead of a 'muthr fuckin right ee did!'"
By now I've sure you'm guessed- ^Strike that. Reverse it.^ (and make that 26 seconds)- that this whole post was to say I'm thinking about video as a means of communication. Making the 40 second clip for Someone was fun. It was a new kind of creative. Doing something similar for many is a little intimidating. And i love
Anonymity.
But, maybe, in weeks to come I'll post a short film or two about, "Pleuratude" or some postmodern bullshit for your critiquing pleasure. Or not.
(If you've made it this far, thanks for working your way through this one. Not having read it myself, I'm sure it was arduous. Thank you for your time. I promise to do better next time. Or not.
But I'll try.)
Monday, February 2, 2009
Theory and Practice
For a couple of years now, research has shown that the majority of sinus infections are viral and not stopped by antibiotics. I have in light of this taken my most recent bout of throbbing head pain in stride, waiting - as we so often hear - to "let the virus run its course." After a week+ of missing classes (though this hardly deviates from my normal schedule) and feeling like a small Korean family is steaming rice in my frontal sinuses, I'm giving in:
"Gimmi the Z-pack 3-pack, doc, and don't hesitate to throw in a few Percs and Vics as a reward for my stoic endurance.
"Cough syrup with codeine, eh? I'll just stick with the antibiotics."
I once heard a wise old man say (actually he was a 23 year-old playing the Wise Old Man in a short lived off-Broadway production), "In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice they're different." Deep down, I believe my sinuses are in the throws of a viral attack which will achieve a sustainable ceasefire in the next 3 or 4 days. But, sure as the day is long, I'll be taking those antibiotics like my intracranial pressure depends on it and credit them for my soon to be good nasal health. Medical school and all, I find comfort in the confines of this long held assumption about reality and continue to cling to it when the going gets infected.
I wonder if my generation will - if any generation has - change who we are based on what we've learned and not simply teach it to our progeny. It seems like a faster way to enhance our social evolution than leapfrogging through time in 20 year gaps. The world, Our world, creeps and crawls like a panther stalking its prey. It moves through the night like the air around it is growing ever thicker, muscles straining, tensing, as it slows before-
It Pounces.
Like a gunshot. Like a snapped rubberband. With a war or a march or a hunger strike, we are shaken to our roots as the next generation finds its footing. In the time it takes their elders to shrug, a new paradigm becomes the norm (or not, as the 60's showed us), gets settled and sticks around for a while.
But,
what if we kept changing? What if revolution was a way of life, keeping us constantly on our toes - thinking about and questioning new ideas, and moving Forward? Would we, as many conservatives fear, lose our grip on what little truth we have and forego civilization for chaos? Would we step into more profound truths that have eluded even the most enlightened revolutionaries for lack of concert in their musings?
I suppose it comes down to intentionality in looking for the Real and acting accordingly no matter how much it makes you squirm. Everything's on the table, no strings attached, zero APR*. That sounds nice. Scary, but nice.
I'm gonna give my sinuses another day to sort themselves out before starting the antibiotics.
*(for 6 month trial period only, then 29.97% variable APR on purchases and 19.97% APR on Balance Transfers through 9/31/2009.)
"Gimmi the Z-pack 3-pack, doc, and don't hesitate to throw in a few Percs and Vics as a reward for my stoic endurance.
"Cough syrup with codeine, eh? I'll just stick with the antibiotics."
I once heard a wise old man say (actually he was a 23 year-old playing the Wise Old Man in a short lived off-Broadway production), "In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice they're different." Deep down, I believe my sinuses are in the throws of a viral attack which will achieve a sustainable ceasefire in the next 3 or 4 days. But, sure as the day is long, I'll be taking those antibiotics like my intracranial pressure depends on it and credit them for my soon to be good nasal health. Medical school and all, I find comfort in the confines of this long held assumption about reality and continue to cling to it when the going gets infected.
I wonder if my generation will - if any generation has - change who we are based on what we've learned and not simply teach it to our progeny. It seems like a faster way to enhance our social evolution than leapfrogging through time in 20 year gaps. The world, Our world, creeps and crawls like a panther stalking its prey. It moves through the night like the air around it is growing ever thicker, muscles straining, tensing, as it slows before-
It Pounces.
Like a gunshot. Like a snapped rubberband. With a war or a march or a hunger strike, we are shaken to our roots as the next generation finds its footing. In the time it takes their elders to shrug, a new paradigm becomes the norm (or not, as the 60's showed us), gets settled and sticks around for a while.
But,
what if we kept changing? What if revolution was a way of life, keeping us constantly on our toes - thinking about and questioning new ideas, and moving Forward? Would we, as many conservatives fear, lose our grip on what little truth we have and forego civilization for chaos? Would we step into more profound truths that have eluded even the most enlightened revolutionaries for lack of concert in their musings?
I suppose it comes down to intentionality in looking for the Real and acting accordingly no matter how much it makes you squirm. Everything's on the table, no strings attached, zero APR*. That sounds nice. Scary, but nice.
I'm gonna give my sinuses another day to sort themselves out before starting the antibiotics.
*(for 6 month trial period only, then 29.97% variable APR on purchases and 19.97% APR on Balance Transfers through 9/31/2009.)
Sunday, February 1, 2009
the last 8 years in an adolescent nutchell
The Bush Years - Dawson's Creek Style
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/01/013007.html
(ps. it's not that i'm ridiculously lazy, a bit sick and somewhat distracted that i'm posting so many links and so few uniques. it's because i am genuinely entertained by them (while being rediculously lazy and a bit sick).
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/01/013007.html
(ps. it's not that i'm ridiculously lazy, a bit sick and somewhat distracted that i'm posting so many links and so few uniques. it's because i am genuinely entertained by them (while being rediculously lazy and a bit sick).
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